{{Thank you all for your insightful feedback. I see there is no lack of player interest, only an issue to be addressed about the game.}}<br/><br/>{{When I am a player, I have the most fun in games that are open-ended and player-directed; I don't like feeling that I am being "railroaded" through a rigid sequence. My DMing style reflects this: I always try to leave decisions to players. But it's clear to me now that this philosophy is not fruitful here. My primary responsibility as a DM is to make the game fun for the players, so if that means making it less open-ended and more DM-directed, then that is what I'll do.}}<br/><br/>{{Gen: You are right. Players want to post, but they don't know what to write about, so they wait for others to make the post that will move the scene along. Once everyone--including me--is waiting for everyone else, it becomes a deadlock.}}<br/><br/>{{Eidolon: several good points. I only meant for the scene of Talloak's ruins to build suspense, but it seems that it had the unintended effect of implying that the PCs must now conquer the Pyyrn fort single-handedly or die trying. That wasn't what I had planned. There are not going to be a hundred foes bellowing war cries and rolling initiative as soon as they spot the party. Think of Armel as less of a fort than of a town; like Boryg, but not a Pact town. The inhabitants are divided into gangs that are constantly scheming and skirmishing against each other. Strangers are always coming and going through the mist, especially in the crowded marketplace in the northern area, so the arrival of the party will not automatically draw suspicion.}}<br/><br/>{{As for what 10th level characters<span style="font-style: italic">are</span>. They are the exceptional individuals whose skill and prowess in their chosen profession is the envy of their peers. 10th level warriors can dispatch a mob of common foes without tiring, or go toe-to-toe with a supernatural beast; 10th level clerics can heal any injury, even raise the dead; 10th level mages can transmute flesh, teleport hundreds of miles, or take over someone's mind. Because of their strength and versatility, mid-level characters can be more reckless than low level characters when it comes to danger, and the DM does not have to worry as much about accidentally killing the whole party. This is why we started at 10th level. Getting into dire trouble, then somehow getting out of it (and looting everything in the process)--that is what the life of mid-level adventurer is all about! X3 Despite all my zealous attempts to build suspense and make the characters fear for their lives, let me assure you that I'm not interested in a TPK. Some characters might end up digested, of course >3 but the party will never face overwhelming, unfair defeat.}}<br/><br/><br/><br/><br/>"I...understand... the...risk." says Nocke to Chrrou. "Go...ahead... with...it. I... trust...you... to... reverse... it...when... the...time...is...right."