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Message: <blockquote data-quote="delericho" data-source="post: 5737726" data-attributes="member: 22424">Assuming a standard-sized party and a 4-hour session, and assuming you don't run hugely fast, you're probably looking at 3-4 encounters plus a bit of roleplay/investigation. So...Start with a short "arrival at the tavern" scene. Drop a few hints that something isn't right, but don't dwell on it too much. At most, allow the PCs to rack up a success for the upcoming Skill Challenge...Edit: I just realised that this makes no sense, since the SC doesn't track successes. Instead, I would suggest this - if the players realise something is wrong, and pre-emptively reinforce the tavern, this should negate the first failure scored in the SC.Introduce several NPCs in the tavern. 8 would seem to be about right, ideally with some competing agendas amongst them, and perhaps with one or two the PCs just don't like (but probably don't want to simply kill). Ideally, one of them has been meddling with things left undisturbed.Anyway, the PCs turn in, only to be disturbed in the night...Proceed then to the first encounter, in which the tavern is attacked by zombies/bandits/renegade fae/whatever. Several of them have made it inside, and are tearing up the place. They seem to be looking for something, and can't be reasoned with. There are more outside; the NPCs are holding them back for now.Once the PCs have dealt with the first encounter, proceed to the "Defend the Tavern" Skill Challenge. Basically, the PCs have to reinforce the entrances, encourage the NPCs to fight together, and try to work out what is going on. Likely checks are Diplomacy/Intimidate (for the NPCs), Religion/Nature (for the undead/renegade fae), and so on.Each round of checks represents half the night. Don't bother tracking successes, but do keep a note of the number of failures...After the first round of checks, have two things go wrong at once. Perhaps the zombies start bursting through the floor, and then one of the NPCs tries to escape in the confusion, letting more zombies in through an upper-floor window. Two small encounters, here - how do the PCs split their attentions?The consequence of these encounters: for each failure the PCs suffered in the first round of the Skill Challenge, one NPC is dead (select randomly). Also, if the PCs didn't split their forces to deal with the two mini-encounters at once, another NPC is dead.Then a second round of the Skill Challenge. Some of the NPCs are freaking out and need calmed (some sort of Empathy skill), the damage to the tavern needs repaired (Engineering?). Also, if they had some success in the investigation part of the first round, this unlocks Streetwise, allowing them to identify the culprit and recover the McGuffin. Not that it will help them much...As the night (and session) nears its end, open up with the climactic encounter. The tavern gets hit by all the remaining bandits/zombies/fae (mostly minions, but with a couple of 'normal' monsters - probably aim for a level 3 encounter). After a few rounds, the enemy are then reinforced by an appropriate leader (essentially, another level 2-3 encounter).However, at this point, if the PCs have the McGuffin, they can use it (to weaken the BBEG, to drive off his minions, or to negotiate, as you wish), making that last encounter much less deadly.As before, for each failure in the second round of the Skill Challenge, one of the NPCs is dead.Give out suitable treasure for the encounters (either directly as loot, as a reward from surviving NPCs, or even simply in the McGuffin). Give XP for the encounters as normal, plus a bonus for each NPC who survived (if half the NPCs survive, this should be equivalent to a level 1 encounter - obviously, the better they do the more XP they get).Two notes:- I don't have my PHB to hand, so I've had to take my best guess at skill names. You'll need to insert appropriate ones yourself. The DCs for checks should be taken from Page 42 (or equivalent) of course.- The encounters, and especially that last one, might be too deadly. Use your judgement.I hope that helps!</blockquote>

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