Alright, I have a question regarding the spawn system(s) for the various caves surrounding Vallaki. On a normal day(IG), I visit 6 of the caves surrounding the city. Of these, only one has a static spawn, The Thoul Cave near the base of the mountains. As i've visited these caves each day, i've noticed a few things that just seem a little odd to me regarding the population or lack thereof.
First, There's been quite a few times when a cave will stay completely empty for several RL days at a time, sometimes even longer. The only opposition i'll meet is the occasional swarm of mundane bats clogging up a doorway. I have no problem with this seeing as I only look for the herbs and such, but it's kind of boring just dashing through the cave freely. Some sort of resistance, anything really, is always fun. I like the random spawns, always have, but sometimes they're lacking.
Second, I've also noticed that some populations never seem to leave. Most people (myself included) don't bother with spawns we deem 'Not worth it' like the Decrepit Skeleton caves. Now, I believe there's a script of some sort that changes the population from time to time to demonstrate new creatures taking over and wiping out the other inhabitants. The problem with this is I have so rarely seen it happen. Just recently (today, in fact) there was a Decrepit skeleton cave that no one entered since the last reset and is still growing in difficulty (which is still not worth the time). I'm not sure how the script runs, if it's even still in employ, but several months IG seems more than suitable for those Skeletons to be evicted by something a little more fearsome.
Last, I've noticed that some spawns just never seem to go away no matter how many times you decimate the population. Using the Skeleton cave as an example, I've completely cleared the place out of loot, creatures, herbs and traps several times already and the bloody things are still making it their home. This is good for some spawns (on an OOC basis), but others not so much.
My question is this: How do these systems work? Are they functioning properly? Is there some aspect i'm missing? I'm more curious about whether or not this is a minor issue in the scripts than anything since, as I stated already, I don't really care about opposition, I'm just there for the herbs. It just seems that things have changed since I originally came to Ravenloft regarding these caves.
I'm not entirely sure if i'm even allowed an answer, publicly or not so, if it should remain a secret, that's fine. Just let me know so I can shut my yap ^^'
Anyway, Thanks in advance for entertaining a curious mind.