D&D 5E Another Phandelver question re: Redbrand Hideout

[Moravave]

Running my first adventure in decades and having a blast. My skills are very rusty - also running the game for intelligent wily adults I really have to stay on my toes.

I'm looking for some "how am I doing/what should I do next" advice.

The players are using the Starter Set pregens, so they decided to pull a Star Wars move, dress up as Redbrands and hold the Rogue (who was an ex-Redbrand) as a hostage.

I didn't want to just have them skip the whole dungeon via escort so I had each group of Redbrands they encountered act stubborn and refuse to take them to Glasstaff. The argument was they were all too afraid to cross the crevasse - giving foreshadowing to the Nothic.

The skeletons didn't attack because they were wearing the cloaks so that encounter didn't happen.

No one got freed from the cells because they wanted to convince the guards to take them to Glasstaff but again the guards refused to leave their posts.

I had the Nothic mess with their minds by laughing at their fears and it asked for meat and money. They gave it both. When it was playing with the "shinies" they decided to kill it. I let them have a surprise round (seems fair right? It was distracted playing with coins) and they killed it within two rounds. It fired off its gaze and missed then was killed. Not that climatic.

They missed the room with the bugbears.

They got to Glasstaffs lab and I made the call that the familiar would know they were imposters (because a mouse would go by smell recognition not outfit), so Glasstaff fled.

We ended the session there and I've been thinking about how I could have done it better. The Redbrands are still technically a threat! They didn't kill a single one. Also wondering what to do with Glasstaff now. I'm thinking I'll have him become a reoccurring villain...but how do they stop the threat? Maybe double the amount of Redbrands to reflect the missed opportunity?

Interested to see if what calls other DMs would make here...

Thanks!

 

[aco175]

The Redbrands will still be a threat to the town and the PCs when they go and come back to town. If they do not deal with them now it will come around and bite them later. Have them send word to the other post like Cragmaw Castle once they realize that have been duped. It will make things harder in the later episodes, but you can give the players the credit this time for being smart.

 

[MrHotter]

Now that Glasstaff knows he has enemies in town willing to fight him, he gets to make the next move. He has more Redbrands than those who were in the manor when the party tried to sneak in. If the party had decimated his Redbrands, then he may have fled, but with all his minions intact, the party should expect retaliation.

You can have him bring some men and his bugbears to wherever the party is staying. You may give them a warning by having them notice a redbrand spy watching them to see if they want to run or hunker down. If you just use the Redbrands that are in the manor he would still have 9 ruffians, one goblin, and 3 bugbears to attack with.

You may have to think about what townsfolk would help them if the fight happens in the town. It could end up with the party being captured if the combined forces are too much for the party.

 

[phantomK9]

I my game, the PCs let Glassstaff live (took him to jail) and didn't quite kill all the Redbrands (but they killed most).
I had Glassstaff escape from custody, thanks to Halia Thornton, and then smuggled to her contacts in the Zhentarim. While he may have been defeated, a Wizard with knowledge of the area is a good asset for them to have. The Zhentarim also quickly recruited any remaining Redbrands that they came across.

The PCs never actually got a change to kill Glassstaff, although he was scene once or twice in the company of some Zhentarim....

This reminds me....he'll need to make a reappearance at some point....

 

[Al2O3]

How far did Glasstaff run? Have they seen him leave the building? Otherwise now is the time they need to fight their way out...

Added after posting:
If all they know is that Glasstaff is not in his room you don't need him to run out of the hideout. He is in his base and all his forces are available to him. Have him find bandits by the bug-out-bag and sound the alarm.

The party are in a reasonably defensible position, so they might be able to cut down Redbrands attacking one at a time through a doorway, or sneak out the same way as Glasstaff escaped. Also, I assume that the bandits would not attack all at once. The drunks may stay back until they have either sobered up or notice that their friends are doing poorly. The prison guards would probably still not leave their posts, not unless things were going poorly for the bandits.

That would be three Redbrands, three bugbears and maybe Glasstaff against the party at first. The party would have a chance to use choke points to prevent more than one enemy to attack at a time (or they can get a siege favouring any ranged PCs sniping away). At level 2 they are still fragile, but should have a good chance.

If they take out a couple of waves of bandits they might still be able to surprise the prison guards if they go back disguised.

Sent from my Nexus 6 using EN World mobile app

 

[GX.Sigma]

In my game, I'd have rolled each time they met a new group of Redbrands--meaning the disguise could get them in the door, but sooner or later they'll probably be discovered. Just like in Star Wars, the disguise got them into the hangar control room, and up the elevator, but the dude on the detention level wasn't fooled.

Anyway, as for what to do next, I imagine Glasstaff will immediately re-enter the building through the main entrance and tell everyone "The people who brought the prisoner are impostors, you fools! Get them!" So now the players have to fight their way out through all the Redbrands.

In the long term, the Redbrands will learn to not just let anyone in who's wearing the uniform. They'll lock down their defenses, and also probably lash out against the townsfolk.