Habes Sanatorium questions


Rise of the Runelords


My party just finished investigating Habes Sanatorium and during the climax of the interrogation the barbarian tries to break into Habes room down stairs . This causes a Mexican stand off with both parties drawing weapons yelling at each other . Most of my players are new to table top so when I showed them the pictures of the tieflings they assumed they were strong half demons . My one experienced player was curious to why a Sanatorium had two tieflings guards out in the middle of now where. When the caster from below showed up I didn't have him come out ready to fight I just had him come out wondering who was destroying doors and making a fuss. After the situation was discussed Habe and his benefactor told the party that if they left with out causing any more harm they wouldn't report this to the Hemlock or the mayor and to only come back with a written order to investigate the entire house not just the prisoner. the party really wants to go back due to the faint smell of rotten meat they discovered walking into one of the rooms. My question is how could I get them to go back? Or just forget about the necromancer down stairs


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Did you give the PCs knowledge checks to identify the Tieflings? That may color their responses later if they know more clearly that they're not "half-demons".

The Necromancer is not going to be happy letting them go if they know there's necromancy going on there. He would want the PC intruders silenced.

Threatening to go to Hemlock or Deverin about the intruders is something of a Bluff attempt (because the caster and Habe do not want Hemlock or Deverin to know about the caster), and the PCs get Sense Motive checks to oppose the Bluff.

It is not clear how the situation unfolded (if the PCs are in the middle of interrogating someone, why is the barbarian in a different place {if that's the case} and not with them)?

Do the players NOT want to go back for some reason? That's not clear. You said they want to, so are you looking for suggestions to justify their return (like the written orders from Hemlock)?

It is not necessary that they go back.. they don't have to complete every area to succeed. So they are certainly within their rights to call this one "done" (although Habe and his backer may have other ideas; as I said, they don't want news getting around, especially to authorities).

Your job as GM isn't to force them to do things. Your job as GM is to apply the effects of their decisions... good or bad... and let them react to the new situation.


Urath DM wrote:

Did you give the PCs knowledge checks to identify the Tieflings? That may color their responses later if they know more clearly that they're not "half-demons".

The Necromancer is not going to be happy letting them go if they know there's necromancy going on there. He would want the PC intruders silenced.

Threatening to go to Hemlock or Deverin about the intruders is something of a Bluff attempt (because the caster and Habe do not want Hemlock or Deverin to know about the caster), and the PCs get Sense Motive checks to oppose the Bluff.

It is not clear how the situation unfolded (if the PCs are in the middle of interrogating someone, why is the barbarian in a different place {if that's the case} and not with them)?

Do the players NOT want to go back for some reason? That's not clear. You said they want to, so are you looking for suggestions to justify their return (like the written orders from Hemlock)?

It is not necessary that they go back.. they don't have to complete every area to succeed. So they are certainly within their rights to call this one "done" (although Habe and his backer may have other ideas; as I said, they don't want news getting around, especially to authorities).

Your job as GM isn't to force them to do things. Your job as GM is to apply the effects of their decisions... good or bad... and let them react to the new situation.

The party asked the barbarian to stay in the other room due to his past luck talking to people. That's why he wasn't with the party.

I didn't even think to give them a knowledge check to identify what tieflings are. Thank you for that reminder.

The situation ended with the party leaving. The barbarian and monk were mad they didn't get to search the entire building meanwhile the paladin responded with" why are there two tieflings there?" It doesn't make sense. I guess I could give them new orders from the sheriff or just chalk it up that I made some mistakes and move on .


If some of the party want to go back, and some don't, then they need to come to a consensus on that before you worry too much about giving them an excuse/reason.

If they want to sneak back in, for example, you have nothing to worry about.

If some refuse to go back without an order, that may be good role-playing.

But the main thing is, they get to decide. If they can't decide, you don't need to force their hand. They may miss out on a clue or two, and some XP, but there is no need to make them go back. In one game I ran, my players entirely skipped going to Habe's at all and moved straight on to other clues (though I suspect there was more than a bit of meta-gaming involved).

Regarding the Tieflings, the Paladin may harbor some in-character bigotry about them, but Tieflings are no more inherently Evil than Elves, Dwarves, Humans, Halflings, etc. are... or than Aasimars are automatically Good. Suspecting them may be a minor character flaw that can become a theme for the Paladin's growth in role-play. Asking them why they're there can give a response like "We're here because it's an out-of-the-way place where we don't have to deal every day with people assuming we're up to no good because of our heritage."

I don't think there's anything yet that you need to beat yourself up over. If anything, you need to watch out not to force the PCs into the choices you want them to make. It doesn't seem like you've done that yet, but your post makes it sound like you're ready to.


I'm going to let the party continue making there way down to the farm without forcing them to go back. I was worried about them missing out on a couple of things but I guess a fight or two and a couple of items aren't going to make or break the story. Thank you for advice . I really appreciate it.


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If they're coming up short on XP or loot, random encounters can fill those gaps.

Although I cautioned against forcing them to go where you expect/want, there's nothing wrong with dropping a hint if they're undecided.

As long as you're all having fun, though, there isn't much need to worry about meeting every possible encounter.


Urath DM wrote:
Regarding the Tieflings, the Paladin may harbor some in-character bigotry about them, but Tieflings are no more inherently Evil than Elves, Dwarves, Humans, Halflings, etc. are... or than Aasimars are automatically Good.

In fact, if the PCs are stuck on the idea that being a Tiefling automatically makes one Evil, and that being an Aasimar automatically makes one good, they're going to be in for some rude surprises very soon.

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