I am trying to balance an open world of opportunity with the structure of a campaign for my library Dungeons & Dragons game. Following last week's session, the party has taken a look at the northern landscape and their map of the region with the resulting decision to head west and then north to avoid a strange scar-like canyon and investigate a ruined tower.
I continued rolling on the encounter tables in Xanathar's Guide to Everything as they journeyed through the hills and they saw... a stone door in the hillside which opens onto stairs which descend 15 feet and then everything is blocked by a cave-in. This was intended for atmosphere. These are ancient lands riddled with old mines by Men and Dwarves. But what do the players do? They plan an excavation!
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The party spends the day pulling away rubble and using timbers to shore up the rocks, managing to excavate a very cramped tunnel though the rubble and down the ancient stairway. As they regroup and investigate the newly-opened old workings, they see... sound of dice rolling... rude Orcish graffiti insulting someone's mother.
As they continue to look around, they also see... sound of dice rolling again... eight Drow warriors with crossbows raised.
No, you don't get a stealth check. You just spent hours moving rocks and building a crude shoring system. And one of you has a lit torch because you can't see in the dark, remember?
Now, as DM, I know where the adventure is supposed to be. I have plans to link parts of their world map to the Underdark, but this is not the time or the place. However, who is to say this is all bad? The players there were not bloodthirsty murder-hobos. Well, not entirely. They decided to talk. Good. We can keep this adventure train on track! The Drow inform the party members who speak Elvish that there are invasions of the Underdark coming from the north as well. Something is threatening their underground civilization, but since they dislike the surface and hate sunlight, they are willing to forgive the party's trespass. The players just need deal with a problem at the ruined tower. The Drow will be free to slay, or better yet capture, the other rumored underground interlopers instead of taking the party as slaves or sacrifices.
And don't worry, these Drow will totally keep their word. wink!
The players present decided to abandon the party members who were not present to go on a nighttime raid. The warrior even sacrifices wearing his heavy armor to avoid stealth penalties, and mentions how much time it takes to doff his gear. Points for paying attention to details! They find their way to the tower and see a dim glow from above, indicating someone is occupying it. The scale of the entrance is far beyond human size, and a rusted iron portcullis is just visible. One player takes some time to cast Mold Earth until there is dirt preventing them from being sealed inside.
Gee, I wonder what I could possibly have done to make them paranoid?
Anyway, I need to quickly decide who would be inhabiting this tower that the Drow would hate, and the party could handle, and fit my overarching scheme for northern invaders.
They very sneakily ascend the remarkably large stairs to the next level, where they see an oblivious hobgoblin captain and the shadowy forms of his squad of hobgoblin warriors sleeping in their bedrolls. The captain is studying maps or documents of some kind by candlelight. He fails to hear their approach.
The party prepares to ambush the hobgoblins, but since there is no rogue in this group, it isn't a perfect stealth assassination opportunity. They do manage to slip behind the captain, and one character puts a knife to his throat while the others prepare to slay the sleeping warriors. It's a bloodbath. It would not have been too challenging if the baddies had been awake, but there would have at least been opportunities for me to make things difficult. Instead, none of these hobgoblins had a chance. Some died peacefully in their sleep before they knew what was happening. Three were lit on fire with the Burning Hands spell. The captain survived the attempt to slit his throat, but failed to connect with his greatsword attack. He got no second chance. Only one soldier even woke up before being stabbed to death.
There was much pillaging of corpses and looting of their ill-gotten treasures. One player even saw a Drow observer nod approvingly before vanishing again into the shadows, presumably to report the party carrying out their end of the deal.
So, what are the consequences of wiping out a band of hobgoblins, and why are they here apparently bent on invading lands which have been peacefully settled for generations? Are the Drow really trustworthy? Why was that stone stairway sealed off in ages past? What else lurks beneath the surface?
