When enemies fail their morale roll and flee in a defined space like a dungeon, how do you determine where they end up? Or do they exist in a quantum space?
I was running The Iron Coral from Into the Odd Remastered, and my players encountered the suspicious treasure hunter random encounter. Long story short, the NPC ended up fleeing. The party did not pursue immediately, but they decided to eventually look for the treasure hunter. This led to some fun interactions with the shell-man, but I wasn’t sure whether I should place the treasure hunter in a specific room or wait until that random encounter is rolled again or something else.
How have you handled situations like this?
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I think it depends on the nature of the dungeon, and whether the NPC is a resident of the space or an interloper like the PCs. If it’s an endemic creature like a giant crayfish or a grick, they just flee “offscreen”. They live somewhere in a hole in the walls or natural fissure that isn’t on the map.
If it’s a creature that has a lair which is in a keyed location on the map, then they flee to there.
If they’re an interloper like a wandering monster that doesn’t inhabit the dungeon regularly I guess I’d have them move towards one of the dungeon exits. Probably whichever one it’s most likely they came in.
The same sort of empty rooms that work as a space for the PCs to barricade and hole up in as a rest area would be the places that a wounded or scared NPC would also prioritize.
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I just make a note and stick them somewhere logical, but now I am pondering sticking them on the random encounter table… Might make some interesting circumstances. Even for say like “endemic monsters”… You run into that SAME giant crawfish with the notable wound from the last encounter.
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Thank you both! This is good food for thought.
I usually have creatures flee to their lair. If they are in the lair I usually have them fight to defend it.