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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Lord Zardoz" data-source="post: 3900459" data-attributes="member: 704">Your mistake was using a common plot trope as a background element:<a href="http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/PathOfInspiration" target="_blank">http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/PathOfInspiration</a>If you introduce ANYTHING into a story that even smells like a familiar plot element from somewhere else, the players will pick up on it, unless it was particularly obscure.  What you did was like describing a typical tavern scene thusly."The tavern is warm and lively, and bustling with activity.  The barkeep is shouting to the barmaid to hurry up.  The raucious and drunken dwarves in the corner shout at every throw of their dice, winning and losing gold on every toss.  A pair of elves sit at one table, talking amongst themselves.  A balor sits in the far corner enjoying a fine beer.  The band is playing a lively tune, and a well dressed Bard in wearing a yellow cloak is singing a ballad about a fallen hero.  The song is great, and some of the patrons are dancing".There is no way you can mention that to your players without them wanting to know more about the Balor.  You may have decided he is just a Balor who likes to have a decent pint of beer from time to time.  He is non hostile, and has nothing to do with the plot.  You may have even told the players to go to this tavern to look for a Bard in a yellow cloak.  None of that matters any more because YOU PUT A BALOR IN THE BAR!The players have been trained by plenty of fiction and plenty of previous games to be on the look out for things like large religious organizations that do anything even remotely out of keeping from their general expectations of a D&D game.If you intend to keep the background element in place, your going to have to do something that will satisfy the players that the organization is nothing more than a background annoyance.  If you were even planning on using that church as a plot trope, then you are going to have to either live with the fact that the players figured it out very early, or you are going to have to seriously retool your plans.IF you really want to mess with them, run a one off session where the players discover something suspicous.  Lets say that a bunch a few families die of plague, their homes are cleaned out by the church, but neighbors mention that the children of the family arent among the dead, and have gone missing.  When they ask around, tell them that a preist was seen with the child a few nights before the child died.  Also mention that the same thing happened a few other times.  When the players bust their way into the church and discover, to their horror, a well run orphanage / day care, run by loving and caring people.  The children were removed from the home to keep them from getting sick.END COMMUNICATION</blockquote>

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