Need some ideas on what to do next with my campaign. My party is on chapter 3 and they refuse to go into the dragon Hatchery. So, What should I do? They are about to leave to head to Elturel to give Leosin information that is not new intel. Can give more context if the given is not enough. Thank you in advance.
I'd need more context to give any serious advice, but I think adding an NPC for them to rescue to the hatchery would be a good motivator if they haven't found any motivation on their own to explore it yet. There's also the option to just like... skip the hatchery and have them realize they missed out on valuable information by choosing to ignore the hints to go in there.
They were given the task by Leosin to go back to the camp to find out more information. To see if there are any planned raids, any marches coming in or going out, and if there is any substantial treasure/items being taken into or out of the cave. One of the players convinced some kobolds they were there to join the cult. the other 3 were being sneaky and climbing down a huge cliff near the cave and were seen by the kobolds. the kobolds then ran to the cave to let the guards know people were approaching. the guards came out and confronted the party, and the party then killed the 2. then they saw there were 2 more people in the cave system and managed to lure them out of the cave and swiftly killed them as well, after having tried getting intel. Only 1 player went into the cave and only went 25 feet in before turning back and said, they think they have enough intel and should go to the city to get paid for their findings. They did not receive any new information during this encounter.
They are supposed to hit 4th level after completing the hatchery (milestone leveling system) but they did not go in. I can always have Cyanwrath and Frulam reappear later on, but since no dragon eggs were destroyed or anything, how will that impact the story?
Okay, here's what I would do in this situation if I had time to plan to make it seem natural... have another group of cultists come back at this point. If the party tries to fight them off the cultists surrender and offer to help them get into the hatchery, hinting at some of the valuable items and information inside the party hasn't found yet. If the party chooses to continue posing as cultists they can use this new group as escorts to allow them to explore the cave more safely, so they would feel that it's worth the effort to check the place out, since the cultist escort reduces the personal risk to them. If that's not enough to motivate them to check it out, well... that's just the nature of the game. Sometimes your players act in weird, unpredictable ways, and it's up to you whether you want to punish them for it or just rejigger the adventure so the information they would have gotten in the hatchery is found somewhere else.
EDIT:
As for the dragon eggs... they probably won't have any impact during the events of Hoard of the Dragon Queen. But if you're taking your party further into Rise of Tiamat well... you've got 4 Young Black Dragons you can insert whenever you feel like the party has had it too easy.
Ah... the Hatchery... there has never been a more wretched hive of scales and villainy! Man... did we botch that whole area. One of these days I'm going to have to run this from the other side of the wall and see what was SUPPOSED to happen in there. It was the birth of most of our characters walking into somewhere they didn't belong, pointing at an NPC and yelling "YOUUUU!" where upon we all commence to unload. I still hate that guy... and it was also the place where I stole the DMs NPC's Amulet of the Planes and proceeded to joy ride (and nearly kill ourselves faster) across snow covered mountaintops and the ever falling Plane of Air and somewhere underwater before we made it back to Torril. Before it was all over we regretted everything.. but we survived and went on to finish the campaign. But The Hatchery area pulled us together as a group...
You could have the guy with the Order of the Gauntlet and the Harpers show up early. That way you can have plot reasons be inserted into the game for why they need to go to the hatchery. The hatchery is a kind of a messed up area and makes me wonder if Kobold Press is actually any good despite me liking other adventures they put out.
You can also just let the players move on and that will give you the ability to have the young dragons to fight at a pretty early level. You could have one of these and the half dragon show up along with minions someplace on the road. He could tell them he and his kobolds are taking the dragon hunting for the first time and he is glad to see them again. Once the fight starts to go bad on their side, he could send off a kobold to the hatchery telling him to have the eggs moved to safety. That way the players either need to kill the messenger or will know they have a time limit to get there and stop the other eggs from hatching.
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Need some ideas on what to do next with my campaign. My party is on chapter 3 and they refuse to go into the dragon Hatchery. So, What should I do? They are about to leave to head to Elturel to give Leosin information that is not new intel. Can give more context if the given is not enough. Thank you in advance.
I'd need more context to give any serious advice, but I think adding an NPC for them to rescue to the hatchery would be a good motivator if they haven't found any motivation on their own to explore it yet. There's also the option to just like... skip the hatchery and have them realize they missed out on valuable information by choosing to ignore the hints to go in there.
Watch Crits for Breakfast, an adults-only RP-Heavy Roll20 Livestream at twitch.tv/afterdisbooty
And now you too can play with the amazing art and assets we use in Roll20 for our campaign at Hazel's Emporium
They were given the task by Leosin to go back to the camp to find out more information. To see if there are any planned raids, any marches coming in or going out, and if there is any substantial treasure/items being taken into or out of the cave. One of the players convinced some kobolds they were there to join the cult. the other 3 were being sneaky and climbing down a huge cliff near the cave and were seen by the kobolds. the kobolds then ran to the cave to let the guards know people were approaching. the guards came out and confronted the party, and the party then killed the 2. then they saw there were 2 more people in the cave system and managed to lure them out of the cave and swiftly killed them as well, after having tried getting intel. Only 1 player went into the cave and only went 25 feet in before turning back and said, they think they have enough intel and should go to the city to get paid for their findings. They did not receive any new information during this encounter.
They are supposed to hit 4th level after completing the hatchery (milestone leveling system) but they did not go in. I can always have Cyanwrath and Frulam reappear later on, but since no dragon eggs were destroyed or anything, how will that impact the story?
Okay, here's what I would do in this situation if I had time to plan to make it seem natural... have another group of cultists come back at this point. If the party tries to fight them off the cultists surrender and offer to help them get into the hatchery, hinting at some of the valuable items and information inside the party hasn't found yet. If the party chooses to continue posing as cultists they can use this new group as escorts to allow them to explore the cave more safely, so they would feel that it's worth the effort to check the place out, since the cultist escort reduces the personal risk to them. If that's not enough to motivate them to check it out, well... that's just the nature of the game. Sometimes your players act in weird, unpredictable ways, and it's up to you whether you want to punish them for it or just rejigger the adventure so the information they would have gotten in the hatchery is found somewhere else.
EDIT:
As for the dragon eggs... they probably won't have any impact during the events of Hoard of the Dragon Queen. But if you're taking your party further into Rise of Tiamat well... you've got 4 Young Black Dragons you can insert whenever you feel like the party has had it too easy.
Watch Crits for Breakfast, an adults-only RP-Heavy Roll20 Livestream at twitch.tv/afterdisbooty
And now you too can play with the amazing art and assets we use in Roll20 for our campaign at Hazel's Emporium
Ah... the Hatchery... there has never been a more wretched hive of scales and villainy! Man... did we botch that whole area. One of these days I'm going to have to run this from the other side of the wall and see what was SUPPOSED to happen in there. It was the birth of most of our characters walking into somewhere they didn't belong, pointing at an NPC and yelling "YOUUUU!" where upon we all commence to unload. I still hate that guy... and it was also the place where I stole the DMs NPC's Amulet of the Planes and proceeded to joy ride (and nearly kill ourselves faster) across snow covered mountaintops and the ever falling Plane of Air and somewhere underwater before we made it back to Torril. Before it was all over we regretted everything.. but we survived and went on to finish the campaign. But The Hatchery area pulled us together as a group...
You could have the guy with the Order of the Gauntlet and the Harpers show up early. That way you can have plot reasons be inserted into the game for why they need to go to the hatchery. The hatchery is a kind of a messed up area and makes me wonder if Kobold Press is actually any good despite me liking other adventures they put out.
You can also just let the players move on and that will give you the ability to have the young dragons to fight at a pretty early level. You could have one of these and the half dragon show up along with minions someplace on the road. He could tell them he and his kobolds are taking the dragon hunting for the first time and he is glad to see them again. Once the fight starts to go bad on their side, he could send off a kobold to the hatchery telling him to have the eggs moved to safety. That way the players either need to kill the messenger or will know they have a time limit to get there and stop the other eggs from hatching.