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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Swarmkeeper" data-source="post: 8431426" data-attributes="member: 6921763">Interesting scenario.  I believe the GM forced their way here, too, rather than letting the story emerge.  I can imagine how it likely happened:  prep work involved the big conflict with the duke's men and the aftermath.  Silly DM - your plans never survive first contact with the players!  (And I say that having been there many times over).Easy to play Monday morning quarterback here but I think a more palatable solution, rewarding the players for their creativity but still pushing the element of danger and possibly ending up in the conflict the DM had prepped, might have been a variation on the following:1. Some of the duke's men come to the farmhouse early the next morning to warn the couple that some vagabonds (description matching the party) are about and ask that they report any sighting to the garrison at the Inn at once for a reward2.  Either the party overhears -or- the couple relays the message when the duke's men move on3.  The party is now faced with the challenge of getting away from this town, too, or risk being discovered by a more thorough search and likely putting the couple in danger for harboring fugitives4.  If there is some kind of magical tracking by the duke, the party should be given some (more) clue(s) so they can take actionTL;DR:  plan scenes not plot; telegraph dangers; root for the players</blockquote>