pukunui
Legend
Hi all,
I am currently running Scourge of the Sword Coast, and my players have put themselves in an awkward situation for the second time. In both cases, they have stumbled across an enemy group's leader and killed him, then retreated to a well-defended location for a long rest before emerging to deal with the remaining enemies.
In the first case, I decided to have the remaining enemies withdraw while the PCs were resting, but I'm not sure if I should do that in the second case as well.
The first time they were exploring a ruined castle inhabited by orcs. The orcs' back story involved three tribes being brought together after their leaders were killed by an orc wight. When the PCs found and killed the wight, they retreated to a secret chamber that the orcs didn't know about. That left the surviving orcs more or less leaderless, other than a shaman. I figured that since the wight was the only one holding the tribes together, they would fragment and fall to fighting amongst themselves until the shaman decided to take his group and retreat. So when the PCs emerged from their secret hideout, they discovered that the remaining orcs had abandoned ship, as it were.
This time, however, the PCs have assaulted a dwarven fortress that was taken over by duergar. They defeated all the duergar on the upper level, then ended up going straight to the duergar leader on the lower level. They killed the leader and his guards but it was a hard fight, so they decided to barricade themselves in his room (which only has one exit) to get a long rest.
The surviving duergar have no obvious leader among them, but neither are they fragmented by tribe or clan. So in this instance, I'm uncertain if I should have them stay or withdraw. If they stay, they might just wait the PCs out, since they know where they are. Otherwise, they might just decide to cut their losses and retreat back into the Underdark, perhaps taking their slaves with them.
Anyone have any suggestions?
I am currently running Scourge of the Sword Coast, and my players have put themselves in an awkward situation for the second time. In both cases, they have stumbled across an enemy group's leader and killed him, then retreated to a well-defended location for a long rest before emerging to deal with the remaining enemies.
In the first case, I decided to have the remaining enemies withdraw while the PCs were resting, but I'm not sure if I should do that in the second case as well.
The first time they were exploring a ruined castle inhabited by orcs. The orcs' back story involved three tribes being brought together after their leaders were killed by an orc wight. When the PCs found and killed the wight, they retreated to a secret chamber that the orcs didn't know about. That left the surviving orcs more or less leaderless, other than a shaman. I figured that since the wight was the only one holding the tribes together, they would fragment and fall to fighting amongst themselves until the shaman decided to take his group and retreat. So when the PCs emerged from their secret hideout, they discovered that the remaining orcs had abandoned ship, as it were.
This time, however, the PCs have assaulted a dwarven fortress that was taken over by duergar. They defeated all the duergar on the upper level, then ended up going straight to the duergar leader on the lower level. They killed the leader and his guards but it was a hard fight, so they decided to barricade themselves in his room (which only has one exit) to get a long rest.
The surviving duergar have no obvious leader among them, but neither are they fragmented by tribe or clan. So in this instance, I'm uncertain if I should have them stay or withdraw. If they stay, they might just wait the PCs out, since they know where they are. Otherwise, they might just decide to cut their losses and retreat back into the Underdark, perhaps taking their slaves with them.
Anyone have any suggestions?