Quote Originally Posted by Talakeal View Post
Although I will say that its not quite as bad as you are making it, for example it was less than an hour between the interrogation and the changeling encounter OOC, and as I said above it was not the only solution, it was merely the easiest; talking to the selkies or asking about the mysterious glade in golden gate park would have lead down the same path for example.

As for #3, I still don't know how to present obstacles so they don't come across as puzzles, either at the table or online. It is never my intent to have a puzzle with only a single solution, but for some reason it always comes across that way even though I can't think of a time when that was ever literally the case. Outside of a few printed modules; those are full of stupid mono-solution puzzles.
Multiple dialogue options that lead down the same path still only counts as one solution. If you want to avoid railroading you need to have diverse options such that "I'm not willing to reveal anything to these fae" is "okay, you're not taking that option, so you'll be taking one of the other options," not just a more expansive dialogue tree.

(Also: Talking to the selkies is one of the options that would have worked? Really? Not saying specific words to them, just talking to them? "Hello"->"Yes the Seelie Court will help you attack these werewolves"? If only some fae were looking for specific words then...that actually makes it sound even more like a puzzle. "You can say specific words to the fae who are actively trying to talk to you, or figure out which fae who are not actively trying to talk to you you should actively try to talk to." It sounds like the rogue tutorial in Neverwinter Nights: "To get the key, you can pick the lock on this door, or disarm the trap on this chest, or convince this loyal-but-dumb orc to give you the key he has.")