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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Greatwyrm" data-source="post: 1414125" data-attributes="member: 479">Having spent plenty of time on both sides of a DM screen, I'd chalk this one up to your players dropping the ball, not you.  Before anyone goes jumping to conclusions, hear me out.First, the players knew they were going to Hell.  A place with lots and lots of unfriendly beings.  They should have expected a long, nasty fight.Second, the players were planning on rescuing a group of people already in Hell, who couldn't get out on their own.  They should have expected this to be difficult, at the least.Third, you set up a really cool encounter.  I can see the whole thing in my head.  Heroes and allies at the top of the pyramid, Hell's blazing sky behind them, and a fountain of divine power erupting all around them.  All while a steady stream of demons claws their way to the top.Now, it sounds like the players handled #1 and #2 pretty well.  When confronted by #3, they chose poorly.  Why?  This wasn't a fighting encounter--it was a trap.  You may not have planned it that way but that's what it was.  They were stuck in a confined area and steadily taking damage until they could find a way out.  The paint job may have been a fight, but under the hood, it's a trap.Not having all the details, it sounds like your players chose to slug it out in the trap, instead of focusing on a faster way to get out of it.  Maybe you could have dropped some hints as to how you really exepected them to make a quicker escape, but it was ultimately their decision.Anyway, as long as they all come back next week, they must have forgiven you for anything you think you did.   <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /></blockquote>

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