D&D 5E Ghosts of Dragonspear Castle - Fall of Illefarn

[Hutchimus Prime]

I asked this over on the WOTC Site but figured I'd ask here too.

So I'm getting ready to run "Fall of Illefarn" this weekend after having run the first two adventures over the last several months. I have a few things I'm wrestling with though:

First, what, if anything, did anyone do to give some hints to the PCs about how the Iron Safes work? I'm think about having Derval mention something, but was curious if anyone else did anything.

Second, how're the PCs supposed to know anything about the hammer and it's relationship to the Altar? Also on the back of that question, how did anyone handle Nadir/Arvik getting the Hammer/Fire Key?

 

[jamesmanhattan]

There's like two coins in the entire adventure. One in the black dragon caves. One in that crazy dwarf guy's puppet or something.
I just described the safe's as having slots, "about the size of a coin", but no key-holes. They figured it out themselves.
What sucked is I had to tell the Rogue, "this safe is not pick-able/crack-able".

A Knock spell opened them though, so the Mage was happy. A loud as heck "knock....echo echo echo" was frequently heard after that. There's nothing required to further the plot in any safes.

The only way the PC's are supposed to know about the hammer, is from Durvil's (the old dwarf who dies in front of them) story, and more likely from the painting in the dwarf crypts. If those aren't enough, oh well. I had to explain to my players, and use flashbacks to get them to understand that.

My players were defeated by Nadir when they confronted him in the upstairs room, they couldn't handle all the undead. So Nadir put their unconscious bodies in with the dwarf king, since he was hoping they could get info out of the king, that Nadir couldn't.
After that when they used the hammer in the anvil room, my players killed Nadir, it was tough too, since he hasted himself and was immune to spells (wtf!) and takes half damage from non-magical weapons (or even magical ones if you count Stoneskin as cast already)
Shocking Grasp!+Claw/Claw/Bite! it was hard to withstand that. Oh with a Dominate Person thrown in for good measure.

but the room itself prevents some magic if I remember correctly.

It's cool though, since Nadir can come back via Reincarnation.


Then after that don't forget "The Invisible Green Dragon!" as a "F YOU!" my players still joke about that.

 

[Hutchimus Prime]

James, thanks. That's helpful. So what did your PCs end up doing with the Fire Key after they defeated Nadir?

 

[jamesmanhattan]

I think they gave the fire key to Sir Isteval since he asked them to get it.

 

[Hutchimus Prime]

Makes sense, thank you sir.