No holds barred Drow, OotA

[Darksidebro]

Hello all.
I'm running OotA and it's been decided that the Drow will catch up with the players. The Drow are ruthless and want to recapture the players, not kill them. So started thinking about devious things to do in combat to shock the players and hopefully instill the fear of Dark Elves into them again.

Some notable things:
- The Drow have caught up to these players before, but the group escaped before the Higher-up drow arrived.
- The group is currently 5 level 4 characters, plus the NPC'S that travel with them (Companion System Cards)
-The Drow currently have 4 Drow, 2 Elite Drow Warriors, A Drow Priestess, a Wounded Drow Elite, and a Drider.
-I rolled Randomly and decided that The Priestess, Wounded Elite, and Drider would arrive 4 rounds after the Forward Scouts make contact.
-PC'S are an Elf Life Cleric, Aasimar Death Cleric, Elf Hunter Ranger, Dwarf Paladin, and Elf Arcane Trickster.

As for tactics, so far I've got:
-Drow cast Faerie Fire on high AC targets or characters that can hide. Other Drow in the group cast Darkness on spellcasters.
-A few drow stay back to hide and constantly pepper the group with sleep darts. Probably staying out of the PC'S dark vision range.
-Drow Elites move into melee, with a few drow crossbow guys as support.

What do you guys think? I don't feel like this is devious enough. Any other ideas?

[Falcon X]

Honestly, I'd just Insect Plague them from the priestess while cutting off the ability to escape it. Then have her cure wounds/mass cure wounds to stabilize everyone.

The forward scouts arriving 4 rounds ahead of time is a problem, but not one if you think tactically. A good scout should be stealthy enough to notice the party, then hang back until the real force arrives. If that is not possible, they should fight defensively, doing what they can to get to the other side of the heroes and block off their escape.

Always use Drow Poison!

[Telesto]

Scouts should be ready to flank the enemy while the force arrives. Hold back, wait for signal or to notice the main force, advance past the party at a decent distance, position in front of the party, as the main force approaches, attack to bar escape.

If the scouts have the time and intelligence they could prepare traps for where the force meets the party. Grapple the PCs, use debuffs and battlefield control spells, knock the party out, bind them with bodywrapings (rope, fabric, whatever). And be absolutely sure they cannot escape.

[Fighting_Ferret]

The infamous drow sleeping poison fired from those hand crossbows.