Hey guys! I'm running my 4 player group through a 5th to ~8th level scenario of my own design. World is Faerūn anno ~1490 with minor diversions. System is 5E, but that's not really important.

Setup:

Helm's Hold used to house victims of the Spellplague able to wield Spellfire. Secret belowground levels were used to experiment on the Spellfire wielders. Helm's Hold was ruined following the eruption of Mount Hotenow. Dwarves from Miradar and a group from the Order of the Gauntlet were sent to clear it out. The players are going to be tasked by a Neverwinter noble to find the Dwarves and Order group, whom their benefactors have not heard from in some time.

The scenario:

After some above ground encounters, the group descend into the Hold. They encounter Spellfire wielding Undead on the first level of the basement. They meet a crazed former prisoner of the Hold (or perhaps the crazed research leader who's dug out a lair nearby), also able to wield spellfire. Further down, they start encountering mind controlled Dwarves and young Mind Flayers (basically CR 5-6 MF's). They meet the trapped group from the Order, who are on the border of extinction and starvation.

Travelling down, the discover the Dwarves have dug a tunnel to the Underdark. In the Underdark, they meet a friendly Mind Flayer tasked by his clan's Elder Brain with killing the leader of the young Mind Flayer group, an Arcanist Mind Flayer.

The final battle is the group confronting the Arcanist Mind Flayer, who came to the hold to learn the secrets of Spellfire and corrupted young mind flayers to do his bidding with the lure of arcane power, and dealing with the betrayal of the friendly Mind Flayer.

My players love to experience the world. They also love to RP, interact with strange and exotic being of outlandish nature. I'm concerned that this scenario will have too much of a grimdark feel to it, with the players being more like passive observers and statblocks than actually having a chance to interact with the world. All in all, in a scenario spanning at least a few sessions, the players only get to interact with the noble, the crazed prisoner, the Order group, the friendly Mind Flayer and the BBEG.

I'd love some thoughts on the idea as a whole, and some thoughts as to how I could possibly inject a little more RP into the scenario.

Spoiler: Layout with encounter ideas
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