Dying Skyseer - Industrial Disaster [SPOILERS]

[Shimrath]

My group is just about to descend into the Witchoil Lab and i have a few quick questions about the entrance.

1. The lab is "partially" in the Bleak Gate, so i am assuming that without wearing an amulet, a constable cannot even perceive the spiral staircase leading downward? That's why the dead woman appears to be "stuck" halfway in the stone of the floor?

2. The lift says it cannot be operated without an amulet, so does that mean the lift isn't visible at all to a constable without an amulet?

In other words, without an amulet, does the garden shed simply appear to be a garden shed with no other exits?

 

[Shimrath]

Flayed Bear

I'm not a big fan of multiple encounters with the same creature types, so i cooked up this flayed bear to replace all three flayed jaguars in the lab.

 

[RangerWickett]

Yes, the garden shed looks totally mundane if you don't have an amulet. Which is why we put a dead woman in the floor to pique PCs' interest so they didn't miss the place.

 

[Bruize]

IIRC, the woman in the floor is what caught my players' attention and got then to put the amulets on. The Flayed Jaguar served as a breadcrumb for them to tie the scenes together. My players, while they enjoyed the module, often had no idea what was going on. If not for these breadcrumbs, they may not have pieced things together. Even in Always on Time, my players had a hard time following some of the threads.

I think the Flayed Bear is a good alternative if you didn't want to use the same monster.

 

[Tobold]

My group is at the same point, between the Earthquake and Industrial Disaster encounter. My problem is a different one: There is no technologist in the group, but the Macbannin surrendered and is accompanying the constables in handcuffs. The adventure suggests that Macbannin wants to prevent the industrial disaster. So to what extent is he helping the constables figuring out the "Ideal Solution" described in the encounter? I was thinking that he would tell the group about how the engine and the eldritch machine work, but as he isn't aware of some of malfunctions caused by the earthquake the group would still have to figure out the sequence. What do you think?

 

[RangerWickett]

A key thing is that while Macbannin is ruthless in pursuing his goals, he's trying to do good. He thinks he's working on a proper government project, and he certainly doesn't want the city to suffer. So I'd say your idea is great, as long as you make it clear that he's trying to help. He might even say, "This is how it would work if everything was working right. We didn't have any plans for earthquakes, though!"