Make things personal
Ask questions of each character, so that all the players are involved. Try to balance the number of questions you're asking to each. If there's an imbalance, try asking one character what they think about another character's answer or past behaviors—and feel free to make it all sorts of loaded. For example: "Vahid, why do you think Rhianna was wrong to call off the search for the first missing girl?"
When prepping questions in advance, look at each one that you've written and personalize it. Decide to whom you'll ask each question. Fine tune each question to make sense from the character's perspective (remember: address these questions to the characters, not the players). Play on the themes that have started to emerge for that character. Ask the questions in such a way that they presume the character's direct involvement. Or, frame the questions so that the player is telling you what their character believes or has heard, rather than what they know.
The point is to make the whole starting situation directly relevant to the characters, to give them motivations and personal stakes. Get these questions right, and the players will bite on your hook with very little prompting.
As you revise the questions, also think about the order in which you'll ask them. There's a real art to this, and no hard-andfast rule for it. Generally, go chronologically. Ask first about things that happened further in the past, then ask about things that have been happening more recently (or that are still happening). And don't be afraid to cut, either! If you can't figure out when to ask a question, ask yourself if it's really necessary!
I want to start by asking about the missing girl, the one taken prior to the raid. I think Caradoc would identify with her, so he gets this question. It becomes:
"Caradoc, who was the girl who went missing, a few weeks before that nighttime raid by the crinwin? Why was she out in the Wood, alone, in late winter?"
Next, I'll ask Rhianna why they stopped searching for the girl, because she's the marshal and her crew are all woodsmen. I tweak it to make it her decision to stop looking, and to twist the knife with some guilt:
"Rhianna, what prompted you to call off the search for this girl, empty handed? Why do her parents still blame you?"
I think that the next logical question would be about the detail shared by this missing girl and Wynfor. This seems like a chance to play up Vahid's cleverness and caginess. I phrase it so that it's something he's figured out but maybe hasn't shared with others:
"Vahid, it's occurred to you that this girl shares a trait with Wynfor, and with the other kids that the crinwin tried to abduct. What is that common trait?"
Chronologically, the next question is the one about the dead crinwin. I want to ask Blodwen this one, given her ties to the natural and unnatural. I tweak it just a little, to play up the "soft hearted" theme that emerged for her during introductions. It becomes:
"Blodwen, after the crinwin raid, when you examined their small, hairless, child-like bodies… what unnatural feature did you find so tragic?"
I could ask the other question about the crinwin now (about how they move through the trees), but it doesn't really fit and honestly, the more I think about it, the less I want to include it. I decide to cut it!
I do still want to ask about the early spring and the plentiful game. I pick Blodwen for these, but because she's so young, I rephrase the questions to ask what others are saying and doing. I also crunch them together:
"Blodwen, when does Seren the Eldest say we last had such a warm and early spring? What sort of game has been especially plentiful, prompting trappers to spend so much time in the Wood?"
For the question about how trappers ward off crinwin, I feel like this is something Rhianna would know about because of how much time she and her crew spend in the Wood. But I like the idea of getting Vahid involved, playing up his know-it-all status and the brewing tension between him and Rhianna. So I split the questions like so:
- "Rhianna, what do folks who ply the Wood—like you and your crew—always wear to keep the crinwin at bay?"
- "Vahid, why do you doubt the efficacy of this anti-crinwin charm?"
Okay! I'm feeling good, but I'd like to give Caradoc one more. I'll prompt some hope and urgency with this:
"Caradoc, why are you so certain that the missing children are alive?"