So I'm running a Curse of the Crimson Throne campaign and my players tried to book it out of Korvosa on the initial night of a certain character's death. It made sense to do this, but I was afraid if they ran out they wouldn't come back. I had the Hellknights from Citadel Vraid ordered to not let anyone across the bridges. Now does this make sense? I reasoned it out in my mind that the city would like to limit access of who comes and goes from the city until things settle down, but I'm not sure how much sense this actually makes. Would there have been any better way of keeping my players in the city aside from telling them to stay in the city?
So far, I made sure Gaedran Lamm lived so the PC's still have a motive to stay in the city, but aside physically restraining them I can't think of any better ways to do this.
It will probably be harmful to immersion, but if you really need to, just say "Hey guys, look, the AP is built to adventure in Korvosa. There is nothing out of the city for you to do. If you really want to leave though, we could just find another AP"
And yes, you really can find another AP, I had a group that tried Serpent's Skull book 1 and hated it, so we RP'd that our characters took a boat to WestCrown and started book 2 of Council of Thieves.
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Try the section of the forum dedicated to the Crimson Throne AP, here.
Less need to spoil things or be coy and probably your problem has been addressed by someone.
If the king's passing still took place in your campaign and turmoil broke out in the city as a consequence, blocking the bridges makes perfect sense. The Hell Knight despise the riots and will do everything in their power to contain the problem and nip it in the bud. On top of that, your encounter served as a nice introduction to the Hell Knights, so you made the right call.
It might seem a bit heavy-handed to some, but in the sense of the story makes perfect sense for the Hell Knights to bar passage to and from Korvosa while there are riots and turmoil.
It would have become a much different campaign if the characters had left, though you really needn't fear that. You could have done a different module (Paizo has tons) while dropping news from Korvosa into the story. Once things started to settle down and the PCs returned you could have kicked off Seven Days to the Grave! And boom back on track!
Just remember that the APs modules are not set in stone. You can make alterations as you will as long as you take a good look at the storyline and get info to the players that they must know for the story to make sense.
All in all, I say you did a great job trying to maneuver them back towards the story. Atleast they didn't try to fight or sneak their way pass the Hell Knights.
It will probably be harmful to immersion, but if you really need to, just say "Hey guys, look, the AP is built to adventure in Korvosa. There is nothing out of the city for you to do. If you really want to leave though, we could just find another AP"
And yes, you really can find another AP, I had a group that tried Serpent's Skull book 1 and hated it, so we RP'd that our characters took a boat to WestCrown and started book 2 of Council of Thieves.
Great now I have a sudden urge to have one character do all the AP's one after another . . .
As you arrive in the town smithy the black smith turns around and say's "Ahm sorry lads and lassies but we've been having problems with the eternal flame in the past few weeks mayhap you'd be . . ."
He is suddenly cut off as a mysterious cloaked figure who was holding a horses reinss suddenly throws back their head and screams "NOT AGAIN. Why is it everywhere I go I get dragged into these things? Korvosa, the shackled isles, Sand Point THREE TIMES when I thought staying in the same place would work, Osiron, a cruise ship and NOW HERE TOO??"
"Screw this, I'm heading for the River Kingdoms. Things are quiet there."
<Three Weeks Later>
"NOT AGAIN!!!!"
The city might still be in quarantine after the Blood Veil outbreak.