Hi guys,
As you may know, I am running Scourge of the Sword Coast at the moment. The PCs have got themselves into a bit of a tight spot, and I'm wondering how my fellow DMs would handle the NPCs' response.
Imagine you are Shorg, a hobgoblin captain in command of a contingent of goblinoids in the employ of some Red Wizards from Thay. They're working on a top secret project and have hired a bunch of savage humanoids in the area to cause chaos as a way of distracting the civilized humanoids from investigating the wizards' activities.
With the aid of a succubus also working for the Red Wizards, your goblins sacked a human village. After forcing the survivors to help improve the village's fortifications, you then sent them off to be sold as slaves to some duergar. You've now been in charge of the village for close to a month, during which time you've sent out raiding parties to harry travelers and attack isolated farmsteads and the like.
Now you've gotten word that some would-be heroes have broken in to the village via the back door: a covered bridge spanning a section of the village's moat that connects the cellars under the upper village to a fortified underground hideout beneath the adjacent hill.
The heroes got into the covered bridge via one of the windows and proceeded to head north into the hideout. According to one of your goblin underbosses, who was returning to the hideout after his guard shift was finished, the heroes had annihilated all the goblins resting in the hideout, as well as Gabulla, the goblins' spiritual leader, and her pet snakes.
The heroes proceeded to lock themselves inside the hideout and have now been in there for an hour. Inside the hideout, there is a room packed with non-perishable food and other supplies for waiting out a siege. There is also a well with fresh water. There is a fireplace with a cooking pot. A shrine to Chauntea. Even some relatively comfortable bunks. [The only thing that's missing is a latrine ... 
] So they could well be in there for a lot longer.
You have at your disposal a fair number of cowardly goblins and goblin bosses, several brutish bugbears, a hobgoblin mage*, and some hobgoblin grunts, as well as your three elite hobgoblin bodyguards and your pet worg. One of the Red Wizards' darkenbeasts also lurks in the southern well area, but it mostly just does its own thing and doesn't obey your orders, so it may not be of much use to you.
How will you deal with the heroes? Will you set a watch and see if you can starve them out - perhaps destroying the bridge in the process to make it harder for them to get out? Or will you attempt to assault the hideout - perhaps in hopes of taking them prisoner so you can sell them to the duergar too?
Go.
*FYI: The mage is a 5th level spellcaster and knows the following spells: acid splash, fire bolt, mage hand, prestidigitation; burning hands, magic missile, shield; invisibility, scorching ray; Melf's minute meteors.
Here is a map of the cellars:
The covered bridge is in the middle, where a small section of the moat is visible. The heroes are holed up in the row of rooms to the north of the bridge. You've made the warehouse cellar (the western-most room on the south side of the moat) your headquarters. The darkenbeast lurks in the well immediately to the south. The collection of rooms to the southeast is The Jester's Pride, a hobbit hole-like underground inn - where your pet worg, your personal chef, and several of the goblins have taken up residence (while the bugbears reside in the inn's above-ground guest house).
There are more goblins and hobgoblins, including the mage, elsewhere in the village.
Unfortunately, this is not a good position for either side to launch an attack. I'd fortify the hallway leading to the covered bridge... then destroy the bridge and close and nail the door shut. Leave some guards there just in case the intruders somehow figure out how to cross the river without a bridge and open the door. Maybe leave some arrow slits in the barricaded door so they can harry any attempts to replace the bridge. If they try to climb down into the moat then up to the door, well... good luck trying to break open a door while clinging to the side of a moat, and your guards can murder them as they try to come up the side. Otherwise, just ignore the poor hapless intruders until they starve to death or dig their way out.
Mostly agreed.
- From the inside, fortify your door and drill (not chop) some arrow holes.
- Leave the bridge intact so the adventurers do not realize that you are on to them. Prepare a few long logs or planks in case you need a fast replacement anyways.
- Post a permanent watch at your door, and snipe at whoever opens the other door.
- Adventurers don't "just sit still" for very long, so they will probably decide to take some sort of action and "go first" eventually.
- It is possible they will try to Rest, probably after exploring a bit and realizing they are in a dead-end. Maybe give them three hours before trying to break into their side, so the Rest isn't enough to do them any good.
- Also collect whatever reinforcements you can, so you can send in a second wave if the first guys all get creamed (a likely outcome).
- If there are no other reinforcements available, you and your bodyguard will have to be the second wave.
- Do you know if the intruders are Elves? If they are, you will have to move faster.
- If circumstances force your hand, have the bugbears tear the other door off its hinges to let the goblins in and swarm the heroes.
- Do you have any unreliable "allies" you would like to get rid of? Have them support the first wave in.
Pukunui, did your avatar lose weight? 
Presumably, the heroes are attempting to rest-up after assaulting the town. This is the best time to break down that door and get to them, while they are weak. If you give them time, they will regain their strength and can overrun the rest of the goblins.
Thanks for all the advice, everyone.
BRJN wrote:
What spells are available to the sorcerer? Those may come into play.
Gwaithador wrote:
The hobgoblin seals the PCs in by barricading the door that leads to the bridge. He then tasks the goblin boss to put together a team of his best goblin sappers to dig a tunnel from the moat up through the floor of one of the chambers on the north side. Just before they are ready to break through, the hobgoblin orders the barricade and door broken down and sends forces through the door and into the tunnel to hit the PCs from both sides. If the PCs are vigilant and lucky, they might notice the undermining and use it to their advantage.
Block the top of the chimney and have some goblins light a fire outside and start funneling smoke into the adventurers' hiding spot. Set up archers outside of the hiding area to pepper the adventurers the second they leave their den. After softening them up with arrow fire, you can assault them with the rest of your troops, including the wizard. If they decide to stay inside and choke to death on smoke, so much the better.
iserith wrote:
pukunui wrote:
Orethalion wrote:
pukunui wrote:
Orethalion wrote:
pukunui wrote:
Orethalion wrote:
pukunui wrote:
Orethalion wrote:
pukunui wrote:
Orethalion wrote:
pukunui wrote:
Orethalion wrote:
pukunui wrote:
Orethalion wrote:
pukunui wrote:
The boss sends in an envoy to treat with the PCs. They'll be allowed to leave with their weapons and equipment if they give their word to cause no more trouble. The boss sets up archers outside to make sure the PCs stick to the agreement... and to ferry them towards the darkenbeast. Either they'll kill it and remove a thorn in Shorg's side, or the darkenbeast will kill them, and he can claim he sent it a meal.
Collapse the bridge. Collapse the chimney. Collapse everything.
Bury the PCs alive, and move on with the mission.
OrwellianHaggis wrote:
So the Hobgoblin wizard has Invisibility. We can use that to our advantage a couple of different ways.
1. Send a "lone" goblin to deliver a note. He can carry it most of the way across the bridge and then puts it down with a rock on top of it. When they open the adventurers retrieve the letter then the invisible Hobgoblin Wizard can slip in unnoticed. He can listen to their plans and then report back when they go to leave their response. Hopefully it will take less than the hour of the spell and he can return. (Be sure to be fair. Whatever chance you were going to give the goblins to detect the pc's, give the pc's the same ability to detect him) It doesn't have to be the wizard, it could be one of the stealthy hobgoblins or bugbears I suppose.
Armed with the knowledge of whatever the PC's are really cooking up, the hobgoblins can counter it.
2. Or, the wizard could go deeper into the barracks and cause a distraction. Set some stuff on fire, use prestidigitation to make digging sounds come from a side room, whatever. When the party goes to investigate, the Wizard can open the locked iron door and let all the hobgoblin troops in.
3. Or we could go with a simple double-cross. Instead of the wizard, cast invis on a Bugbear. As soon as one of them comes out to get the note, he can shove that poor bastard off the bridge. Or he can grapple him and drag him the rest of the way across the bridge in a surprise round.
Personally, I'd go with #1. I'd invis the stealthiest guy I had. And if I thought I could easily counter their plans, then I would. If their plans were really strong then I'd send another message the same way and go with option #2. If you go with my idea, you HAVE to tell us how it turned out. And if my idea results in a TPK, you tell your players, "Eck sends his regards!" :D
- Eck
Eck wrote:
I know, not very fun for the players is it? I might have the captain fire an arrow across the bridge, with a message attached threatening to do exactly that, if the PCs don't surrender.
"Dear heroes,
I know every entrance to the little hole you dug yourself into, and I have the means to seal them permanently. Cross the bridge at sundown, unarmed, and I will accept your surrender. If you refuse, I will sleep soundly with the knowledge every breath you take, and every grain you eat, is but one in a dwindling supply. And if you are truly lucky, I may be too busy razing the neighboring towns and villages to ever bother excavating this hole for the privelige of mounting your skulls on a pike."
Not bad.
I was just thinking, though, that it might be good to give the PCs a chance to parlay, if for no other reason than the bard's player has been waiting for a chance to cast suggestion on someone.
Pukunui, I'm just putting ideas out...
I have no idea of the stats for this darkenbeast, but the hobgoblin leader might think it has a better chance of dealing with these intruders than his own men would. He might not want to commit the numbers, knowing they'd be assaulting a defended position. Perhaps he actually likes his underlings, and wouldn't want them to be slaughtered in droves.
The darkenbeast is a tricky one. I'm not entirely sure how much the hobgoblins know about it. I don't think they regard it as an enemy. Their Thayan employers just sort of left it there. In terms of its tactics, all the adventure really says is that it shies away from the light (because if it gets exposed to sunlight, it reverts back to the creature from which it was created - in this case, a cow) and it has "standing orders" to retreat to the Thayans' secret base if it gets hurt (unless it's daytime, in which case it just tries to stay in the dark).
Out of curiosity, I've asked my players what they expect the goblins to do. Here's what one of my players said:
i love giving ideas.
1. rig the bridge to blow/collapse. have a welcoming party down below.
2. during the night. they barricade and cover up all the entrances to the area. without the air flow tunnels that ventilate the cellar, we suffocate. (door and keyhole isn't a good enough ventilator for sure.)
3. rig the door to have acid, burning pitch fall on us or some other trap.
4. call for reinforcements... seems basic, but its just what they should do... magical firepower being a necessity if the don't have any.
5. gauntlet the bridge with difficult terrain, caltrops, have a squad of 6 hobgoblins with ranged weapons/2 casters with a cherry pick of spells to hinder us... possibly least effective option
++++++++++++++++
options with spells.
1. invisible in, kill us while we sleep.
2. keep a watch on what the pcs do in the room via clairvoyance (level 3) or other divination.3. break the bridge, make an illusion of the bridge. one of us falls in.
4. runes of freaking warding. (everything can go wrong if we break one.)
5. gust of wind + lightning bolt... or wall of fire there's a lot of spells tailored to screw us in the corridor.
6. arcane lock the door... laugh as we can't leave.
7.clairvoyance check. when we are all in the bunkroom. hypnotic pattern. bust in. kill us 1 by 1.
pukunui wrote:
Orethalion wrote:
pukunui wrote:
Orethalion wrote:
pukunui wrote:
Orethalion wrote:
pukunui wrote:
Orethalion wrote:
Here's what I'm thinking:
I'm going to retroactively say that just as the PCs were starting their short rest, the hobgoblins sent them a message along the lines of "You have one hour to surrender or your hidey-hole will become your tomb". That way we can start with the PCs having spent that hour resting and now they've got to make a decision - do they surrender or do they come out fighting?
It's unlikely they will choose to do stay where they are, but if they were to do that, then the goblins would look at blocking the chimney and burning down the bridge and so on. In fact, if the PCs dither for more than a few minutes, the goblins may just light the bridge on fire anyway out of impatience.
If the goblins were to light the bridge on fire, how long do you think it would take to burn down? Should I give it a few rounds before it becomes structurally weak, so anyone crossing would not only have to face the fire but also the possibility of falling into the moat.
It's in a narrow ravine, so I'm imaginging lots of water vapor to dampen the wood, and not much exposure to sunlight to dry it off. The cover and walls might burn quickly, but even then, I don't think the bridge would be in danger of collapsing after just a few rounds -- or even a few minutes -- unless it were already structurally compromised.
I do think the interior would be quickly clogged with smoke, preventing the party from seeing whatever the baddies set up on the other side. If the bridge is on fire, they probably have enough time to plan a heroic charge, but sans magic, they'll have no idea what's actually waiting for them.
Good points. It reminds me that I also stated at the beginning of the campaign that it was late spring/early summer, so still part of the rainy season. So yeah, that would will be pretty damp.
pukunui wrote:
Firefighters can salvage a house that has been aflame for 20 minutes. (But they still make you stay in a hotel tonight.) A bridge is structurally designed to take a lot more abuse than a house is. So it will be dozens of minutes between when the bridge is set alight and when the PCs hear that distinctive roar-crash.
That's not what the New Zealand Fire Service would have one believe: The Speed of Fire. Granted, that's talking about how long it would take for you to die because of the fire and smoke, rather than how long it would take for the house to become structurally unsound, but still ...
pukunui wrote:
Orethalion wrote:
This is from an article. The link is the video.
In one UL study, researchers built two identical rooms. They filled one room with "legacy" furniture from the mid-twentieth century that was purchased at second hand outlets. The other was furnished with modern couches, tables, chairs, and curtains. Scientists then set the rooms on fire by placing lit candles on the sofas.
During the experiments, UL scientists discovered the fire grew 700-800% faster in the rooms with modern furnishings. In one test, the room with older legacy furniture took longer than 29 minutes for flashover to occur, which is when fire suddenly consumes the room from floor to ceiling. However, in the room with new furniture, flashover occurred in just 3 minutes and 40 seconds.
Excellent! Thank you.
TROGDOR! YOU DM D&D?!
I'm mean...it kinda makes sense, what with burninating all the peasants like you are wont to do. NOW YOU BURNINATE PCs!!!
But I hafta say...I'm kinda disappointed you didn't ask if I could play in your campaign. Did the Cheat tell you not to let me know? I'll have to have a little sit down with him...you know, a little heart to heart.
</off-topic>
Yes. I needed something to do on rainy days when the peasants and their thatched-roof cottages won't burn.
pukunui wrote:
So gust of wind proved to be the hobgoblins' bane, as it snuffed out the fires on the bridge, buying the PCs time to launch several fireballs at their enemies before escaping out the window. They retreated to the relative safety of a dryad's grove before deciding to head back to Daggerford (after spending more than half an hour of real time debating whether to go back and try to kill all the goblins, wander off to the north in hopes of finding out whether the villagers were taken, or give up and go back to town). More later in my recap thread.
pukunui wrote:
Booo. Should have gone with my plan. 
- Eck
Orethalion wrote: