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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Croesus" data-source="post: 7170494" data-attributes="member: 35019">You're not wrong to be concerned about Cragmaw Hideout - it's one of the deadliest areas in the adventure, precisely because the characters are low level when they encounter it. My own group were defeated and captured by Klarg and his goblins. They had to come up with a scheme to offer to bring back treasure if he let one of them go get it, then later got away and came back more prepared. You don't need to beef it up for five PCs. 1) Counting the four goblins the party encounters on the Triboar Trail, there are 18 goblins, 4 wolves, and a bugbear using the caves. Make sure if/when the party follow the tracks that they realize there are a lot of goblins and they should be careful in approaching the area. 2) Near the cave, the two goblin guards are not paying much attention. If they do spot the party, two goblins shouldn't want to start a fight with so many adventurers, so they should try to sneak away. Be sure to check their stealth rolls against the party passive perceptions. Maybe the party see them sneak back into the cave. 3) I ran the goblins as very disorganized and cowardly unless Klarg was right there to push them. So if the initial foray into the cave goes badly, the goblins will likely let the party run away, just peppering them with arrows. Likewise, they would be likely to run away from fights that aren't going their way. If the party does flee, maybe they can get far enough away to rest before returning, especially a short rest, as it will take Klarg a bit of time to figure out what happened and decide what to do about it. 4) If these are new players, consider giving hints, like pointing out the wolves in area 3 are hungry, or that wolves don't usually attack armed parties without reason (perhaps a survival check). This may prompt a player into realizing that this fight can be avoided. 5) If worse comes to worst, have Klarg capture the PCs, intending to trade them to the Black Spider for payment. Then the players can attempt to negotiate and/or escape. Once they survive Klarg, things get quite a bit easier for the PCs.</blockquote>

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