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Message: <blockquote data-quote="TimSmith" data-source="post: 2175625" data-attributes="member: 10322">Have you read Elaine Cunningham's "Elfshadow?" As well as being a good read (IMHO), I seem to remember Arilyn (the heroine) sneaking into Darkhold so there might be a couple of ideas there for you. I think your idea for an underground approach is best, as it would be reasonable to assume various hidden ways in and out for the factions in Darkhold which are unknown to the other factions. Sigurd's idea of a refugee from some faction war would provide a way to get the information to them plausibly. He might well help the PCs out of desire for revenge, especially if they can get him to safety. Or maybe he's already dead from underdark menaces and they find his body with secret map/instructions etc.In your other thread I mentioned Fiery Dragon's "Alert Factor" system to simplify the level of preparedness and aggressiveness of stronghold forces. Its essentially a distillation of what most people have probably used in some form or other before. You assign a numerical value to the alert level (say zero) and this is what stronghold forces do on a normal day to day basis. (eg don't react to noises much unless they are right outside their room-as they are not expecting trouble and are used to various brawls and anyway don't want to "interfere" with someone in the stronghold who might take lethal offence). Then you write down succeeding levels of response, going right up to Manshoon going to the trouble of making them his mission for the day! Each level of response is assigned a higher numerical level of response by you, according to how much disturbance is necessary for the PC's to trigger this. When PC's take certain actions they may affect the current alert level (usually up, but it can go down as well). So for example casting flashy magic, having a noisy fight, tripping magical alarms (perhaps by using certain spells in the fortress), being seen in the wrong area, being recognised as good guys etc etc all raise current alert value by a number predetermined by you. You then compare the new alert level with your response table and adjust the inhabitants' behaviour accordingly. So, gradually the PC's lives get more difficult as they trigger a higher and higher level of response.I think its a good way of representing the fact that the enemy will not be in super watchful mode all the time and even disturbance takes time to be noted and taken seriously as a genuine threat. The more disturbance, the more the response.If you want the full Alert Factor system, Fiery Dragon have it in "The Battle Box" and "The Giant's Skull" adventure module.</blockquote>

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