u/8yearholdout

Hi all! I am DM my ROTF campaign with XP advancement (so that the world feels more open and advancement can be quantified more easily than milestone/checklist). What level should my party be when I give them the “we know where the fortress is, go hike for 2-3 days then break in” hook? My main concern is having them at a high enough level that they can handle the dragon if they decide to chase the dragon *before* infiltrating the fortress, not after. My instinct is to wait for level 5, but if anybody has experience with how to approach this I’m all ears :)