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ShortQuests -- Pocket Sized Adventures! An all-new collection of digest-sized D&D adventures designed for 1-2 game sessions.

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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Majoru Oakheart" data-source="post: 6711065" data-attributes="member: 5143">When I ran it, I think it was fairly clear that he pushed him off the ship because he was a cultist who was spying on him.  Both groups I played it with didn't really think twice about it.  One of the two figured out quickly that he was reading people's minds at the beginning and when he found a traitor got rid of him.  The other group just kind of assumed that he had some sort of inside information but dumped him for the same reason.Don't get me wrong, both groups weren't sure they trusted him.  But they trusted him enough not to immediately hand him over to the dwarves when they asked for him.I did manage to TPK one of the group in the final battle.  A couple of well placed Shatter spells completely wrecked the entire party and the xorn finished them.Overall, I liked the adventure but both groups hated the hamfistedness of the first battle and the contrivances of the chase scene.  One player was VERY angry that not a single guard in the city would help them. He went on and on about how it would be impossible to bribe ALL of the guards in the city.  He wanted to use his bonus action every round to attack enemies or move faster so they couldn't possibly catch up.  I ended up ruling that it couldn't be done to avoid him getting too far away from the rest of the party or turning the chase scene into a full on battle and using all of the time in the session.Plus, I was really confused by the way it was written.  The enemies seemed to each get a roll.  However, it never says how many enemies chase you.  It seemed to insinuate it was every enemy you don't defeat in the first battle.  Which is a LOT of enemies if you immediately run for it.  Which means they have something like 12 or 15 rolls.  Which means they are virtually guaranteed to catch the PCs.  And that battle was designed to be overwhelming.  So, once they catch the PCs, the PCs pretty much immediately lose.But in the first battle, their goal is the book and they purposefully don't kill the PCs.  So, I determined that they wouldn't kill them in the battle that resulted if the enemies caught up with them, either.  But then, the logical thing to do seemed to be to allow the PCs to track them down in the cave and steal the book again, only to start the chase scene all over again....with an unknown number of enemies....who, if they caught the PCs...well, I think at this point they'd just kill them.Overall, the adventure was written in a way that frustrated almost all the players at the table.  They weren't sure if they were supposed to win or lose the first battle.  They assumed there was a way out of the chase scene that didn't involve just running constantly.  The adventure was very unclear about how to run it properly.For instance, it says the xorn grabs Furgis and the book and drags them through the ground.  But it never says where Furgis is during the last fight if he is captured.  I assume he's up there with the cultists.  But it was also brought up at my table that Furgis probably would die if pulled through the ground since he wouldn't be able to breathe.  I just had him die.</blockquote>

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