Spoilers! Careful, there are spoilers ahead. If you are playing the adventure Lost Mine of Phandelver or ever plan to in the future, please stop reading now.
Hello everyone,
This is a question related to my previous question.
I'm DM'ing the Lost Mine of Phandelver adventure. We've just arrived at the Hideout
beneath Tresendar Manor, belonging to the Redbrands
And there is another point that is not explained in the book.
In Area 4
There are several skeletons. They will 'Attack unless that person is wearing a red cloak or speaks the password Illefarn'. Nowhere in the adventure does it detail where PC's can learn the codeword though. How are PC's supposed to know this?
Best Answer
Spoilers ahead:
As a side note: the adventure book you're using is not a rulebook. It is merely a suggestion on how to play the adventure the way the author imagined it. DM's are allowed (and required, imho) to adapt the adventure according to how the campaign is going.
Sticking to the book is handy for new DM's that are still struggling with all their other responsibilities and don't want to add adaptive storytelling to the list. But the book was not meant to be a cook book, so there are naturally some holes in the text that the DM is required to fill in. This is also good practice, as modifying the initial script in reaction to PC's actions usually leads to a much more enjoyable campaign than just going by the book.
In short: