So, my party went from the Graul Farm straight to Fort Rannick, and onward to Hook Mountain. I steered them towards Down comes the Rain afterward, which we have nearly finished last session (besides the players needing to decide what to do about the Infernal Engines.)
So, they did not trust Avaxial a bit, which is of course the right thing to do. But then, I obviously did a less-than-brilliant job in getting it across that the time until the dam breaks is quite short. They hit upon the idea to evacuate the villages in the course of the flood when the dam breaks, rather then meddling with the millenia-old infernal engine. They even discussed getting a mage from Magnimar and having him summoning devils to reset the engine... OTOH, they already stopped the weather magic that led to the flooding in the first place, so they thought with some justification that the danger can´t be that big anymore, as the water flows through the breach in the dam already, and the water level will drop by itself. So, would you let the dam still break? What happens if it breaks? Would you try to railroad them into activating the engine? I might show them that a large piece of the dam falls away just as they are on their way back.
The second thing: I missed the opportunity to lead them towards Myriana, as they thought going from Fort Rannick to Hook Mountain was quite urgent, and went straight that way. I would have to force it upon them now, as we played through the rest of the chapter already. It is a very cool scene, but would you more or less force it on the players? Is it necessary for the story line (besides easing negotiations with Svevenka much later)? The bard in my party does not need to get any stronger, anyways...
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Through various missed cues, clues, being more concerned about the ogres, and still deep in the throes of figuring out just what this campaign is about, my players skipped the dam, Myriana, and Black Maga.
As a result, I skipped the dam and Myriana altogether and I repurposed Black Maga as a sort of "terror in the deep" where they ventured far below Jorganfist. They just encountered Svevenka last session and I made no mention of Myriana. I had them Diplomacy/roleplaying with her just like normal.
-Skeld
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Okay a few opinions for what they're worth.
1) Here's my simple, algebraic explanation for the dam. Normal water level is A - at this level the dam will hold forever. Once the water level rises higher to level B, the dam begins to feel the strain. Eventually it will fail if the water level stays at B (or higher.) When the ogres were working the dam and Black Magga went over and the dam was damaged, the water level was very high (level C.) The broken section let some water run over - hence the temporary flood at TBF. However the water level remains above level B. If those floodgates are not activated soon, the dam breaks. Soon can be open to interpretation...
2) No rational being can be on the dam, looking over the size of the Storval Deep (or see it on a map) and come away thinking evacuation is a sensible answer. The volume of water involved borders on unimaginable. TBF, Pendaka and every village on the Skull River down to Ilsurian are likely to be completely destroyed. Only creatures of evil would refuse to accept a negative level to avoid such a calamity. Especially when a Restoration spell solves the negative level problem.
Do they have anyone with Arcane ability? Knowledge Arcana? The solution is rather simple - summon something in the circle and voila! the floodgates are activated and the devil is destroyed. That's what we call a win-win situation.
Now, if your group is "past" it and it would be cumbersome to reverse course, you can leave it as is. (Though leaving a pit fiend, bound as it may be, alone and open to exploitation sounds like a really bad idea too.)
As for the Myriana encounter, it's really meant to show just how horrific the Kreegs, Lucretia and by extension Karzoug are. Barl and Lucretia have been the powers in the region for some time and everything they've done is simply awful. They are pale imitations of Karzoug. It's not spelled out of course but it doesn't take much imagination to realize (as the chapters progress) that the Runelords and their minions will view the people of Varisia as chattel. If your group has already tamed Rannick, the dam and the clan hold, it may be anti-climatic for them. It does help in Book 6 but that's hardly mission critical.
Thank you for your opinions. I guess I will leave Myriana to her gruesome fate, then. I think I´d force my players into a direction they feel no reason to go otherwise. My party is more action-oriented for the most part.
As for the dam, I tried to get the idea that the Storval Deep is huge across, but either I did a bad job, or they just did not get it. I don´t think that the sorcerer has summoning spells, and I´m quite sure that the bard does not have them. But the cleric could easily summon a monster.
At the moment, they are right at the controlling level of the dam. This is where we ended the last session. So, I could heighten the tension and tell them that the dam makes an ominous noise - but then, this might just give my players the reason to leave it all hastily. Well, I´ll wait and see just how the game goes next time.
That might work. I´m not sure if anybody has these knowledges, but the bard will do. I guess I will have to keep that in mind.