After 4 years, 16 days, and 14 levels, the party finally defeated my final villain. They successfully prevented the return of the exiled gods and earned the highest honor in the land.
I am an extremely tired GM. Time to take a few weeks off, then start planning the next campaign.
And then the players look in the big dark cave, and John turns around and says, I’m getting really bad vibes here, let’s skip this one, and the party agrees and continues to the pub looking for another adventure.
Don’t even ask me about the side trip into a dragon cult’s lair when my kid and the group I was running decided to completely ignore a dozen preplanned hooks and go haring off through the woods instead.
Unless they plan to stay out of caves forever, then eventually they’re going to stumble into the one that you have planned…
After a weary day of traveling, the group finds a nice tiny cave to sleep in for the night. While asleep, a wolf attacked and shocked John. John rolled a 1 on his constitution check and then rolled a further 1 on his emotional check. John now has a permanent fear of caves preventing any further cave exploration.
The caves are alive and have developed a taste for poor John. They yearn to feed, and their howls sound through the night like gusts of wind through the trees.
John knows the hopelessness of inevitability. Some day, they will find him. Some day, he will wake up deep in the bowels of the caves, and his cries will add to the howls of the caves on the wind.