Yeah, a creative DM might treat this as an opportunity for a campaign in which the players are more involved, as opposed to a railroaded dungeon crawl. But that demands a good deal of preparation or improvisation skills.
In that situation I’d probably have the farmers tell the players that the harvest is doomed because the Harvest Goddess is displeased with the Dark Elves’ Unholy Rituals, and will not bless the land—a situations the players can solve by either kicking Dark Elf ass as originally planned, or by having the group’s Cleric bless the lands, or by doing something to please the Harvest Goddess (organize a great feast, bake a legendary apple pie, find the rare Papilla Gourd that grows deep in the forest), or even having the farmers convert to the Dark Elves’ Nature Goddess who will bless the crops (for a small price).
Yeah, a creative DM might treat this as an opportunity for a campaign in which the players are more involved, as opposed to a railroaded dungeon crawl. But that demands a good deal of preparation or improvisation skills.
In that situation I’d probably have the farmers tell the players that the harvest is doomed because the Harvest Goddess is displeased with the Dark Elves’ Unholy Rituals, and will not bless the land—a situations the players can solve by either kicking Dark Elf ass as originally planned, or by having the group’s Cleric bless the lands, or by doing something to please the Harvest Goddess (organize a great feast, bake a legendary apple pie, find the rare Papilla Gourd that grows deep in the forest), or even having the farmers convert to the Dark Elves’ Nature Goddess who will bless the crops (for a small price).