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Give the players some time to digest all the information from Scene 1. Answer any questions they have.
As a note, if some of your players are early and some are late, it's totally okay to advance the early players to Scene 2 so they can think about planning while they wait for everyone else to show up.
Q: What's our status in the Empire?
A: You're sort of the official adventurers assigned to this town. The Empire knows that you're not going to do anything crazy like backstab your allies, or defect to the Federation, or steal the Orb for yourself and run off to live in the woods.
Q: But I'm not an elf, is that okay?
A: Basically all the nobles in the Empire are elves, but they're pretty cosmopolitan about other races, especially as adventurers.
Q: Is there a reward for fetching the Orb back?
A: Yes, the mayor will pay you a hundred gold each.
Q: I roll a Persuasion check at the mayor. Can we have more than that?
A: Yes, the mayor will go up to two hundred gold each, on a good Persuasion check.
Q: Can we have it in advance, for expenses?
A: Yes, you can have half of it in advance.
Q: Is this the Alchemist's Fire from the Player's Handbook that deals 1d4 damage?
A: No, this is much bigger and hotter than that.
Q: Can we take a boat across the river?
A: It's a fifty-foot drop to the river, then you'd have to cross horizontally across fifty feet of whitewater rapids, then scale the sheer cliff face on the other side.
A: Also, nobody has any boats.
Q: What's up with this bridge, exactly?
A: It's a rope bridge, a little like the one shown at right. We have four guards on our side of the bridge, and they have four guards on their side. Either side can cut the bridge with axes if necessary. The bridge was sort of expensive to build, though, so we prefer that they don't do that unless it's a real emergency.
Q: Does anyone cross the bridge regularly?
A: Oh, yeah, there's a baker that crosses pretty much every morning to sell fresh-baked elf bread (lembas) to the humans. Makes a pretty good profit apparently. Her name is Adaralan.
Q: Can we cross with her? And we'll say we're her guards or something?
A: Sure.
Q: What about papers? Do we need papers to cross the bridge?
A: People don't usually need papers, but I'll write you whatever authorization you want. I've got the Mayoral Seal of Cedar Valley, and I'll probably get killed if you don't get the Orb back. Who would you like your papers to say you are?
Q: What more can you tell us about the Orb?
A: There were some instructions on how to use it. Um, if the storm dies down too much, we're supposed to open the case and do something to make it angry, like collect taxes in front of it, or forge a steel greataxe, or wear metal armor or something. If the storm gets too wild, apparently nature stuff calms it down. But the case is supposed to keep it contained so it can't call tornadoes or anything.
Q: How long do we have to retrieve the Orb?
A: Well, it depends on what the Federation is doing with it. It would be really bad if they took it deeper into their territory.
Q: How long will it take us to get to Freehaven?
A: It's about a two-hour walk to the bridge, and then another two hours from the bridge to Freehaven.
Q: How can we find the Orb? / How can we find Freehaven?
A: Well, there's a giant storm cloud, so I guess just look for the center of the storm.
Q: You mentioned the Federation ambassador insulted the Empress?
A: Yes, she claimed that the Empress was a "red dragon". She's a GOLD dragon. Red dragons are brutish and evil; gold dragons are good and noble.
Q: And the Empress is good and noble?
A: We try not to criticize the Empress, especially where people can hear. It's not safe.
Q: What do we know about Freehaven?
A: We've got an embassy there. Try talking to Ambassador Niodien at the embassy -- she probably knows more about the current state than we do.
A: But Freehaven seems to be mostly run by a druid council. The Orb is kind of a druid artifact, so the druids might be able to help you with it. Unless they're behind all this. Which they probably are.
Q: Who's on the druid council in Freehaven?
A: Well, there's Mayor Boris, Erik the Bear, and Natasha Stormcaller. Their names are pretty accurate -- Erik is known for turning into a bear, and Natasha does weather magic.
Q: You said the Federation was mostly human, but we're mostly elves. Will that be a problem?
A: I think they have a few elves over there, but yeah, if you show up there and you're an elf, they'll probably assume you're from here. Do you need a disguise kit?
When you feel like the group has done enough planning, you can ask them to confirm that they're heading to the bridge, and move to Scene 3.
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