[MENTION=82106]AbdulAlhazred[/MENTION] , so it looks your take of "I don't feel like there is enough narrative distance between x and y" is sufficient is closest to:
3) You don't feel like the way the situation changed either (a) addressed the premise coherently, or (b) maintained the momentum with the prior state, or (c) would functionally fall on the Falling Action of the dramatic arc (right before denouement)?
So this is a good springboard for talking about the nuts and bolts of handling a singular instance if resolution within a Skill Challenge. I'm going to go ahead and do that. Since this was a success which puts us right at the precipice of ultimate victory or ultimate failure (we're now at 9/10 successes and 2/3 failures), here would be my guiding principles to what comes next:
1) The player should have their PC realize their task.
This should happen in all successes and probably in most failures. In an implicit threat, the Fighter brings about his legendary weapon in an uncanny show of grace and technique, the combination of which is meant to herald a deadly promise.
That happens. The effort delivers its payload.
2) The player's intent is realized through their PC's action.
This should never happen on failures. This only happens on success. The mechanics automatically move further toward success. Broadly, the intent is to move the fiction forward toward the finish line of ultimately realizing their sought goal.
3) Maintain dramatic momentum.
There are multiple vectors for this:
a) Make what happens next exciting and interesting.
b) Observe the continuity of the dramatic arc (the resolution framework will dictate this).
c) Go to the action by hooking into one or more PCs' thematic or archetypal portfolio (make something they're invested in relevant).
4) Change the situation.
As outlined upthread; one or more new obstacles to successful scene resolution need to emerge, which involve interesting decision-points and subsequent fiction.
So lets re-examine the result:
We're now at 9 successes and 2 failures. I back the huntsmen off and the ranking member pays homage to weapon, its wielder, and the bravery/canniness of the PCs for making it to the doorstep of the Wild Hunt's enclave. A brief exchange later, after the ranking huntsmen asks their purpose, and I tell them that there are only two ways to bear witness to the Moon Seer's communing with The Three Fates and gaining their favor:
1) Displace a member of the Wild Hunt in mortal combat (this would be a nested combat Skill Challenge).
2) Track, slay, and bring back the pelt of the avatar of the Elder Spirit, the Primal Beast, that haunts their upper slopes (another nested Skill Challenge).
So we're at the precipice of ultimate victory or defeat; the "falling action" of the dramatic arc where the protagonists get what they want or something else comes to pass.
- PC Task has been realized.
- Player intent has been realized.
- We've got new obstacles.
- We've got new decision-points.
- We've got finality embedded in those obstacles and decision-points.
So now the questions become:
- Is this stuff exciting and interesting to the players?
- Have we gone to the action they've signaled they care about?
- Has the situation changed sufficiently (external context isn't the only relevant bit here...but internal context can be equally, if not more, important)?
That is obviously impossible to answer because we aren't at a table with these theoretical players. But here is how I think we could analyze this further:
- This is mortal combat to assume the mantle of Wild Huntsman (with all the responsibility that comes with it). Are they willing to commit to that level of violence to consult The Three Fates through the Moon Seer? Does one (or more) of the PCs have aspirations to become a member of the Wild Hunt (through fiction/PC build)? Does one (or more) of the PCs have aspirations to undo the Wild Hunt or to oppose one or more of The Three Fates?
- The alternative is direct confrontation with an Elder Spirit whose level of danger, volatility, and status is paralleled only by The World Serpent. That would invariably involve a difficult nested Skill Challenge and an extremely difficult and dangerous combat. Are they willing/capable of going after that prey? What is the fallout of such a pursuit? Would this mean making a mortal enemy of the Elder Spirit of the primal hunt? Or would this mean earning its respect? Does one or more of the PCs have aspirations to hunt/slay the Primal Beast or do they have some sort of allegiance to it?