[Campaign Report/Rant] Indecision and terrible choices: How my players turned Cragmaw Castle into a near-TPK
Hello fellow adventurers and game masters! I wanted to share my last Lost Mine of Phandelver session (with a few homebrew tweaks). It was the classic "I have a plan" situation.
Spoiler alert: they kinda did , but having only the first half of a plan is definitely not a way to finish a dungeon.
Well, here we go. I'll lay out the details, and I want to hear from you guys: did I overdo it, or did they reap what they sowed?
The Party and the Context
My group consists of:
- Duergar War Cleric (Durin)
- Gnome Druid (Lira)
- Half-Elf Rogue (Raku)
- Half-Elf Bard (Elan)
They didn't know the exact location of Cragmaw Castle because they had ignored previous clues. I had even replaced Reidoth the Druid in Thundertree with a gnome caravan tied directly to Lira’s backstory, but they didn’t bite. All they had was a general map stating the castle was somewhere within the Neverwinter Wood.
Round 1: Indecision exacts its first toll
To help them find the castle, I ran a Skill Challenge. They passed, but they accumulated failures along the way and arrived there with one level of exhaustion. They got terrified of this. So, they decided to head back to Phandalin to rest, (I don't allow long rest in uncomfortable places to cure exhaustion) since they now knew the exact coordinates.
I allowed it. However, as they were preparing to retreat, I decided to inject a sense of urgency: they spotted Vyerith (the Doppelganger) shape-shifting in a nearby clearing.
Something was clearly about to go down at the castle.
Even so, they froze. They spent 30 to 40 minutes in real-time arguing whether they should attack or stick to the retreat plan. Time kept ticking, they remained paralyzed by indecision, so I rolled a random encounter to move things along: got a 19. (it was happening!)
A Goblin patrol led by a Goblin Boss. They won, but they burned more precious HP and spell slots. During the interrogation of the surviving goblin, they discovered that King Grol was about to sell Gundren and the map to the Black Spider's envoy. If they went back to town, they would lose Gundren—the whole reason they were there.
Round 2: The Plan (and the worst execution possible)
After an hour and a half of pure indecision, the Cleric's player lost his patience and marched straight toward the castle. The rest of the party followed—exhausted, drained of resources, and completely unprepared.
The plan actually made sense on paper, it was something I could work with: The Bard and the Cleric would draw attention at the main entrance (front), while the Rogue and the Druid sneaked in through the back to locate Gundren and try a stealth rescue.
The Bard approached the front door and tried to persuade the goblins behind the arrow slits. He failed, took a few arrows (which missed), threw his hands up in surrender, and shouted that he had a "very important gift for the King." He rolled a subsequent Persuasion check and passed. The goblin went inside to report.
Here is where I might have gone too heavy-handed: the goblins weren't going to bother King Grol for some random stranger at the door, so I sent the muscle. I brought out all 7 Hobgoblins that were in the castle, plus the 4 Goblins at the arrow slits aiming at them from the door. And what did our two "geniuses" (Bard and Cleric) do in front of a firing squad more than capable of wiping them out? They started verbally abusing and insulting the Hobgoblins.
I held my patience for a bit. I asked for checks that became increasingly disadvantaged to see if the Hobgoblins would tolerate the insults. At first, they did, but soon they failed. We rolled initiative, and all hell broke loose.
Round 3: Chaos inside, Sacrifice outside
While they were distracting a whole platoon out front, I cut the scene to the back. The Rogue and the Druid managed to stealth their way into King Grol’s chambers right as the negotiations were happening. Seeing the intrusion, Vyerith acted instantly: he assassinated Gundren on the spot and stole the map, which was his only goal.
The Rogue and the Druid (already battered and weak) tried to fight King Grol by themselves. Realizing they were going to die, I had Grol order his wolf to hunt down the treacherous Doppelganger, easing the fight for them. And yet, they dice were terrible, so the Druid Wild-Shaped into a horse, the Rogue mounted up, and they fled the dungeon, leaving King Grol behind screaming that they were cowards.
Cut back to the main entrance: the Bard and Cleric were about to suffer a PPK (Partial Party Kill lol) against the Hobgoblin squad. Desperate, the Cleric made a drastic call: he used his action to grapple the Bard and launch him right over the enemy lines so he could escape.
The Cleric's player fully accepted the sacrifice. He used the rest of his movement to provide cover. As a DM, seeing the player’s resolve to sacrifice himself and the sheer heroism of the act, I directed all the Hobgoblins attacks at him. The Cleric went down.
I actually considered taking him prisoner, but after spending minutes insulting a highly militaristic and proud platoon of Hobgoblins, it made no narrative sense (for me) for them to show mercy. The Duergar died right there.
The Aftermath
- Gundren is dead.
- The map is in the Black Spider's hands.
- Half the party ran away.
- The War Cleric is dead at the entrance.
I feel a bit bad wondering if I overdid it by bringing all the Hobgoblins to the door, but I honestly feel like the players dug every single inch of this grave through sheer indecision, terrible resource management, and insulting an army while massively outnumbered.
What do you guys think? As much as I feel bad, I don't think I was unfair.