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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Quickleaf" data-source="post: 7867661" data-attributes="member: 20323">Why are they climbing the mountain? This determines what sort of stakes they should primarily face while climbing the mountain. For example...Is it to reach an oracle on the mountain's summit? What might be at stake here:<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Oracular wisdom. Does the oracle consider the PCs worthy of its wisdom, based on their choices made while climbing the mountain? In this sense, the mountain is a test of the worthy / test of virtue.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">High cost. What is the high cost of reaching the oracle and are the PCs willing to pay it? This could simply be extreme hazards and risk of death the higher they climb, such that the players might wrestle with "this isn't worth it, maybe we should turn back?" Or it could be a mystical sacrifice – the details of which become clearer the higher they climb.</li> </ul>Is it to reach a beleaguered town in a valley on the other side before an advancing army attacks? What might be at stake here:<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Time. Each challenge presents a cost in terms of time. If the PCs take too long, they might arrive during the army's attack or even after the beleaguered town has been sacked/invaded.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Scouting vantage points. Opportunities to reach overlooks to scout on advancing army, but maybe they risk being discovered by enemy scouts?</li> </ul>Is it to kill a bunch of yetis and bring their heads back to the lowlands to collect on a bounty? What might be at stake here:<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Cold, altitude, and exhaustion. Maybe as the PCs press higher up the mountain in pursuit of more yetis to kill, they face increasingly dangerous cold and altitude (i.e. exhaustion). This gives the players a choice of how much risk vs. reward they wish to take on.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Moral dilemma. Should they be killing yeti, or have they been misled? Or does the attack cause retaliation by the yetis unless the PCs find a way to stop all of the yetis?</li> </ul></blockquote>

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