Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 MardukBathory Nov 19, 2014 21:54:21	Hi. I've had a few minor issues that I've been able to solve but I've been going over this all week trying to work out how to make it fit and I just don't have any ideas.   And this isn't a corner my players put me in, this seems more like a mistake in the module itself.   In the "Save the Mill" encounter there's a force outside the mill, pretending to set fire to it. There are more raiders inside waiting in ambush who attack when the group enter the mill but if the players kill/scare off (if I roll any kobalds in the enemy's number they run away after 1 or 2 deaths) the outside enemies then why should the PCs go inside?   I've come to know them well enough that they probably won't stake out the mill and roll a perception check and discover it's a trap.  I don't want to rail road them into entering the mill once they've cleared off the raiders they saw.     Am I missing something in the text? Admittedly I'm reading it before bed, so I'm usually quite tired.....
#2 TheBreen Nov 19, 2014 22:29:00	There's nothing explicit in the text (I have the book, not the PDF), but here are some ideas you can use:   • One of the decoy fires can be inside the mill.   • The characters can realize (either through an Insight check, or because they were told by an NPC) that ground flour is explosive. They'll need to go inside the mill to make sure everything is safe. (This is true; if the mill exploded because flour particles in the air caught fire it would likely take out several nearby buildings as well.)   • The water wheel is making noise. Perhaps one of the characters thinks they hear someone inside near it.   • If any of the kobolds ran away, they could run through the mill and the PCs may give chase.   Good luck, and have fun!
#3 Neptune0923 Nov 20, 2014 14:32:05	The entire module is a sandbox, meaning it's there for you to flesh out. I made this really challenging for my players because they're really good players:    1) The PC's were called to the parpets of the keep and from there the heros saw kobolds and cultists leading villager prisonners into the mill.   2) The villagers were tied up in the mill (about 20 of them) near the ladders leading up to the rafters of the mill, making getting to the ladders a challenge. (Difficult terrain)   3) The kobolds had set up pit and net traps on the paths leading to the mill. Several of them stayed hidden in the woods, waiting for PC's. Others were out there in the open as lures.   4) Inside the mill the cultists were a level up of the PC's in the rafters.  They fired arrows and threw spears at the PC's. They also threw molotov cocktails onto the straw covered floor of the mill.T here were windows that were shuttered in the mill. When things got bad for the cultists, they jumped out of the windows and ran away. I made the PC's use skills to put out the fires. The first success stops it from spreading. The second put it out.
#4 MardukBathory Nov 20, 2014 16:16:33	Thanks for the help guys but somebody pointed out the obvious to me over facebook.  Nighthill requests that the players defend the mill until his own men arrive.  Being still comparitively new players (in total hours played) I think it's ok to stress that they should make a note what he says before or after he says it because he won't be around to tell remind them what their mission is when and if they leave the mill undefended. This means I won't have to add anything to a standard league adventure that mightn't be played out on other DMs tables and nobody will be no risk of metagaming or similar.
#5 MardukBathory Nov 20, 2014 16:16:54	Thanks for your help, both of you ^_^
(Reply to #2) Sorxores	TheBreen wrote:
#7 CFK Nov 26, 2014 23:39:46	Sorxores wrote:
(Reply to #7) TheBreen	CFK wrote:
#9 CFK Nov 28, 2014 5:40:35	TheBreen wrote:
#10 Noon Dec 03, 2014 15:39:59	I don't understand - why do you feel they have to go into the mill?   Okay, they beat the outside defenders and...leave.   That's fine!
#11 akaddk Dec 03, 2014 18:05:24	Don't stress or push them at all. If they don't go in then they don't go in. That's their choice and part of the reward and challenge of playing. If you don't explore, then you don't get challenged, so you don't level up or get loot. They are, after all, ADVENTURERS, not stay-at-home parents living on welfare.
#12 Noon Dec 04, 2014 16:18:11	Side note: if the only way to get XP or loot is to go in, then you are pushing them in.
#13 BRJN Dec 05, 2014 9:18:52	The orders given to the PCs impied (when I read them) the PCs are supposed to be in the mill setting up defensive prep work when the soldiers arrive.  You can't do that from outside.  Also suggest that being seen from the castle going into the mill will be the signal that the relief force should get a move on.  If the PCs just besiege whoever is inside, that's not really getting the job done the way the Guard Commander wants.  The PCs can still do it that way, but pull some of the reward (of course less XP because you haven't really fought everybody).  And if the ambushers kill some Guardsmen (instead of the adventurers they were looking for), the Commander is ticked at the PCs for the rest of the night.   Another thought: have Cyanwrath make an appearance at the mill (directing the other raiders?) before the PCs leave the castle, as a build-up to his Duel later on.  The PCs then know he is a leader and important person.  If the PCs defeat his mill-trap he can complement them on being tenacious and clever, moreso than he expected.  Or if they totally muff the mill, he can deliver a few put-downs to them in public.