You telling me the gang wouldn’t get sidetracked by a locked door?

My friend ran a one shot session a while back. Lots of fun, new players to the table, but everyone was experienced. The boss that night wasnt the commissar or the backstabbing official that gave us the mission, it was a locked door. Sometimes it’s not about the storytelling or the hooks. sometimes even good players in a good group are dense and all you can do is sit there hoping they figure it out as they bang their heads against the wall.

On the one hand, “Oh yall latched onto an inoccuous flavor comment I made and now you want to go somewhere else entirely? Okay, gimme a minute.”

On the other hand, “please for the love of God I set this situation up specifically for the players background and character growth so stay here a minute and just solve the goddamn riddle. Its horse, okay the answer is horse!”

My friend ran a game recently where the final boss ended up being an open door. Good times.