So my group finally made it to Wave Echo Cave (in Lost Mine of Phandelver) tonight. They have cleared out about half of it, mostly on the western side. The last place they cleared out was room 11, the hobgoblin barracks. To my utter disbelief, once they finished with the battle they announced they were going to pile the hobgoblin corpses in the corner and have a long rest in the room.
I know (but they don't) that this barracks is the leading edge of the Black Spider's operation. I tried to drop them some hints. I had them all roll intelligence (investigation), hoping I could drop them a hint about what might be going on, but no one rolled above a 9. When they complained that the hobgoblins had very little treasure on them, I even said, "Someone must be underpaying them," hoping they'd make the connection and move to a safer area to spend the night. They haven't even stopped to wonder what a bunch of hobgoblins were doing holed up deep in the mine. Possibly they were more focused on just finishing up for the night, because that's where we ended the session.
But um...I'm at a loss as to what to do now! They really should be discovered before they can finish a long rest; Nezznar has another shift of hobgoblins who are bound to be using the room. But how should I handle it? I'd appreciate it if the board can help me lay out the various options with their pros and cons. I have a feeling I'm missing a lot here.
Thoughts:
I don't feel too guilty about denying them a long rest, since I don't think there's any way they would have eight undisturbed hours in that room. Reality check, though--would that be unfair?
Nezznar would almost certainly want to take them alive, if he hears about them. Could be interesting--he might propose an alliance, as suggested in the adventure.
Should I them some kind of saving throw to wake up as soon as someone opens the door? Is it unfair to assume someone finds them without them waking up?
How about if the remaining hobgoblins try to capture them? I think I have to give them a chance to fight their way free if I do that, but there should be a penalty for being asleep. Automatic surprise round? How many hobgoblins are a fair number to try to capture them? They fought off seven in the room before; it wasn't an easy fight, and they blew some of their long-rest-recharge abilities.
Just ... ack, how do I handle this? 
I don't want to TPK them, but just letting them get away with this stretches the bounds of plausibility IMO. We wanted to finish the adventure this weekend, so we'll be playing another session either Saturday night or Sunday afternoon.
Roll for random encounters. If they're in an active dungeon, roll once every ten minutes.
When someone shows up, have them roll Stealth (at Disadvantage, since they aren't really trying) against the Passive Perception of everyone in the room. Every PC other than the one on watch is at -5 on the check. The one on watch might be surprised (check as normal), but nobody else even gets to act until woken up. If the PC on guard duty dies during the surprise round, before getting a chance to wake anyone up, then a TPK is the likely outcome.
If you want to go easy on them, then tailor the encounter to be a single hobgoblin (going to get something from one of the bunks), who then runs for help during the surprise round.
You're not TPKing them. If anything happens, it's a result of their own choices.
Saying you'd be TPKing them is like a PC declaring they stand still on a fire and then you saying you're the one killing them.
And I'm pretty sure even if a PC on guard dies, he/she would let out a death scream.
Just figure out the normal size of the force that might come into the room and use that. Just remember the monsters don't know everything you know as GM.
Seriously, I would do this:
Check their passive Wisdom (Perception) -5 (disadvantage) vs. Hobgoblin's Stealth, unless they had at least enough brain to do nightwatch.
Nezznar's plan would be: Letting a new shift of Hobgoblins (+ some more, 2 Hobgoblins per PC to be sure) sneak up to them, knock them out simultaniously and tie them up. Or use some sleeping drug instead brute force. When they wake up with headaches, Nezznar will ask for an alliance, but this time in his favor.
If they awake or have a nightwatch, then have them battle against all those hobgoblins (most without armor), they get XP and a lesson, that you normally pull back in dungeoneering to a room you know it's safe. Heck, they could have even leave the Cave, since it's not that big.
I think it'd be bad to spoil them. Let them feel the consequences, their characters are not favored by a higher power, but are mere mortals and as adventurer's, being uncatious means sudden death.
kaitoujuliet wrote:
My PCs went into the storeroom, shoved pitons into the door to jam it close AND kept watch.
Have your PCs posted watch? If so I'd have that one make a perception check (DC 12). I don't feel an opposed stealth check would be appropriate given they're not trying to stealth so I'd set the DC at a normal check (+2 for a closed door). If they make it I'd give them 2-3 rounds to wake everyone. There's a second door for them to retreat out and the hobgoblins might suspect they're getting lead into an ambush.
If the hobgoblins walk into a sleeping group then just take them prisoner and set them to work. You can think about what other slaves might be nearby and the PCs could be set to work with them and before long lead a slave revolt against Nezzner and his drow.
Hobgobilns have to sleep too.
FFSAA wrote:
kaitoujuliet wrote:
If you don't want hobgoblins to attack your players because you fear a TPK, then don't do it. The players won't even notice--they think they're safe and will assume no attack means they made a smart decision. If you do want to have the players attacked, then go for it. There is no right or wrong answer here. It's just what's right for your group. The adventure is a guide, not a Bible.
iserith wrote:
They made their beds, now they have to sleep in them. And probably get stabbed while doing so.
Shocking you all awake, four heavy blows shake the door, and a voice calls:
"Sweet dreams, Fob, you goblinshit! We'll see you in an hour!"
You're telegraphing that more hobgoblins are present and that the 8-hour rest won't be successful, but you're giving the characters at least some chance to recover by allowing them a short rest.
Noon wrote:
Thing is, these are not newbie players. They even found another safe place to sleep while they were going through the earlier parts of the dungeon, and commented on it at the time. That's why I was so floored when they announced they were sleeping in the barracks instead.
Game starts in half an hour; I think I'm going to see if I can give them a hint about what's going on and give them a chance to escape without their long rest.
Somebody who can take down 8 hobgoblins in their barracks is one tough cookie and might be useful in the future. (Although they can't work with the remaining hobgoblins.) Have them wake up captured and BBEG wants to make them an offer they cannot refuse.
Thanks to everyone for your advice and suggestions! I just wanted to let you know how it turned out.
I had a plan of action prepared, based on pulling together several ideas in the thread:
1. I would start by asking the group for a detailed description of what they were doing.
2. After 1d4 hours (I rolled a 3), the previous shift would come to the barracks to sleep. Perception check from PC on watch (if there was one) to hear them coming.
3. If the door was barricaded, they'd try to break it open. This would give the PCs time to escape out the other door--which would take them into more dangerous territory, so it might be a case of "out of the frying pan..."
4. If the door was open, the returning hobgoblins/bugbears would take one look at the PCs and shut the door again. They would then send one of the group to alert the Black Spider while they prepared to attack from the hall. Again, this would give the PCs a little time to get out the other door--but if not, I figured, let them be on the receiving end of their own "stand in the doorway and use ranged attacks" technique for a change!
5. I would try to take the PCs alive so they could be delivered to the Black Spider.
As it turned out, though, the plans were unnecessary. I said we'd pick up as they were getting ready for bed and started asking for details about their preparations for the night. The paladin's player said, "Oh, I already marked all my spells as refreshed." I said she shouldn't have done that, as it wasn't guaranteed they could get an uninterrupted long rest where they were now. They then said "Okay, we go back to the storeroom we saw earlier and sleep there instead."
kaitoujuliet wrote:
Think it would have been better to declare they aren't guaranteed a rest, right from the get go rather than because of an accounting error from a player. That or not declare its safety, reset the spells back to as they were as best you can and go from there. A mix of the two sends a mixed message.
Also it's worth noting the rules on long rests require a whole hour of interuption to interupt the long rest - there were some comments by Mearls about how, after the playtest, they decided to change it to that because the players would just go back to more resting/doing nothing after a goblin came in and threw a rock at them. I don't have a link to that though, ATM.
I'd've told them that they can't relocate to the storeroom anymore because they're already asleep and to just reset their spells and hit points back to what they were prior to the rest. They made a choice and I think choices should carry consequences. However, your table, your call.