CubeKnight
First Post
Anyway, to start things with, I'm the DM (also, our game has a load of houserules, but that's not that relevant in this case), and I'd like some advice on how to handle this situation, as I'm mostly a newbie DM (this is the first campaign I've gotten more than a dozen sessions).
The story so far: The PCs, working for a mercenary company of sorts, were ordered to go and raid an enemy keep (one of the BBEG's HQs) located on a mountain range. Said keep changes location every day, being seen as far as 100 kms (that's around 60 miles, according to google) from the previous location, and thus is quite hard to track. After some events, the party manages to track it, defeat the (really high CR) guard keeping watch on the entrance, go in, and after raiding most of the keep, they come across what looks like a small arena inside the keep. Here, I start throwing out signs that it's really dangerous, and they shouldn't go in there. Well, they do anyways, and long story short, they end up running away from there (enraged magically-enhanced animals running wild inside) retreating back outside the keep to heal and rest.
Now, the problem starts here: I had planned on the guard raising from the ice as an Entombed (Libris Mortis), and facing the party again, while the Keep started to translocate, the ice all around them collapsing due to the magic. Now, if the party managed to defeat the Entombed before the translocation was complete, the spell would fizzle, and start destroying the keep (think Howl's Moving Castle, if you've seen it).
Being the kind DM I am, I waited for the party to heal, and then I started describing the tremors and the like, with the guard crawling out of the ice he was encased in. The party starts to run away, they can't make the DCs for the Jump/Climb checks, and start claiming railroad. After some arguing, when I mention it's been a few minutes, they tell me they didn't tell me they were still next to the keep, that they were running away from it. I end up giving in, and retcon them into running away, hiding in a cave, and feeling the small scale earthquake from there.
However, due to an off-hand comment I made on how they missed the central room leading to the basement, they now feel they didn't accomplish anything, that I'm railroading them, and are just generally raging that they won't be able to go back. (btw, I was just joking, there is no such room. Not like their PCs have any way to know there's one)
I should probably mention, this adventure is partially the personal quest of one of the PCs, as said guard had massacred many members of his tribe, and if they successfully completed it, I'd remove his LA as a reward (he's a Goliath), and he'd make up with his clan, being accepted as a tribe member once more after being exiled. There's no penalty for going back with their tail between their legs, 'sides from not getting the rewards and their boss being disappointed in them.
Now, what should I do to both keep the story going and quell their rage? There's no logical way they should be able to track the keep again (what should happen, IMO), and I don't want to go with a copout "It was all a dream" or "It was a vision from the future" (suggestion from the single PC who isn't raging to quell the others)
Attaching game log, the situation starts at around line #898. And sorry for the huge post >_< I tried to keep it short, but evidently failed.
The story so far: The PCs, working for a mercenary company of sorts, were ordered to go and raid an enemy keep (one of the BBEG's HQs) located on a mountain range. Said keep changes location every day, being seen as far as 100 kms (that's around 60 miles, according to google) from the previous location, and thus is quite hard to track. After some events, the party manages to track it, defeat the (really high CR) guard keeping watch on the entrance, go in, and after raiding most of the keep, they come across what looks like a small arena inside the keep. Here, I start throwing out signs that it's really dangerous, and they shouldn't go in there. Well, they do anyways, and long story short, they end up running away from there (enraged magically-enhanced animals running wild inside) retreating back outside the keep to heal and rest.
Now, the problem starts here: I had planned on the guard raising from the ice as an Entombed (Libris Mortis), and facing the party again, while the Keep started to translocate, the ice all around them collapsing due to the magic. Now, if the party managed to defeat the Entombed before the translocation was complete, the spell would fizzle, and start destroying the keep (think Howl's Moving Castle, if you've seen it).
Being the kind DM I am, I waited for the party to heal, and then I started describing the tremors and the like, with the guard crawling out of the ice he was encased in. The party starts to run away, they can't make the DCs for the Jump/Climb checks, and start claiming railroad. After some arguing, when I mention it's been a few minutes, they tell me they didn't tell me they were still next to the keep, that they were running away from it. I end up giving in, and retcon them into running away, hiding in a cave, and feeling the small scale earthquake from there.
However, due to an off-hand comment I made on how they missed the central room leading to the basement, they now feel they didn't accomplish anything, that I'm railroading them, and are just generally raging that they won't be able to go back. (btw, I was just joking, there is no such room. Not like their PCs have any way to know there's one)
I should probably mention, this adventure is partially the personal quest of one of the PCs, as said guard had massacred many members of his tribe, and if they successfully completed it, I'd remove his LA as a reward (he's a Goliath), and he'd make up with his clan, being accepted as a tribe member once more after being exiled. There's no penalty for going back with their tail between their legs, 'sides from not getting the rewards and their boss being disappointed in them.
Now, what should I do to both keep the story going and quell their rage? There's no logical way they should be able to track the keep again (what should happen, IMO), and I don't want to go with a copout "It was all a dream" or "It was a vision from the future" (suggestion from the single PC who isn't raging to quell the others)
Attaching game log, the situation starts at around line #898. And sorry for the huge post >_< I tried to keep it short, but evidently failed.