Horde of the dragon queen, episode 6: Castle Naerytar. Attack the castle?

[Dmdork]

To those who have played/dm'ed horde of the dragon queen:

I'm gonna run this mod. I'm reading ep6 and I see my players just straight attacking this castle instead of posing as cultists and/or letting them get lead in by Snapjaw.
However, It seems like they would surely perish, given the odds. Any ideas? The module gives me a few ideas but I was wondering if I could get a lil feedback on this one...

[INDYSTAR188]

I haven't actually run the module (I own it and have read through it) and I think it's probably important to fabricate some event to show the lizardfolks are willing to work with the PCs. Here is an example (http://thecampaign20xx.blogspot.com/2014/10/tyranny-of-dragons-guide-to-hoard-of.html)from a guide on running this module (incidentally the dude at Power Score does a TON of great reviews and other stuff, check it out!).

"Castle Naerytar Requires Careful Planning: When preparing Castle Naerytar - it is a lot to digest. The main gist of this episode is that there is a portal that the PCs will want to go through (it leads to the lodge in episode 7). The magic pass phrase for the portal is on the top floor of the castle. The cultists here have allied themselves with bullywugs and lizardfolk. The lizardfolk hate the brutish bullywugs, who killed their leader.

The adventure seems to want your heroes to pretend to be cultists and infiltrate the castle. It also suggests that your PCs convince the lizardfolk to turn on the bullywugs, so that the exploration of the castle is done while lizardfolk hack bullywugs to pieces. You are going to need to have a good handle on this place. Think in advance on how you will handle it if the PCs want to lead 100 lizardfolk in an assault on the castle!

I cooked up a couple of images which I think will make your preparation easier. This should help you figure out how the bad guys react... it also kind of paints a terrifying picture of what happens if the PCs just try to hack their way in (they are doomed)."

[lunaticfringe]

Consider it a teachable moment?

Or capture them. It's a Castle, should have a dungeon. Prison Break! You can also have them imprisoned with a lizard folk leader who promises to lead his people against the Bullywugs if you help him escape.

[Daishain]

When I ran it, the situation at the castle was considerably more volatile. Snapjaw and his people were more than ready to revolt already, but the cultists effectively had hostages and enough magical firepower on the walls to make a siege action doomed. They needed someone to sabotage the gates and blunt the worst of the defenses, and the party represented just the kind of ace in the hole they needed.

And so, the players woke up completely surrounded by a lizardfolk raiding party, with a single unarmed one in front making gestures that he wanted to talk. The conversation made it clear that assaulting the castle without the lizardfolk's help was a dumb idea. It also brought up the hidden entrance, but the last individuals to enter that way were never seen again.

That chapter ended with the bulk of the cult's forces occupied fighting a small lizardfolk army inside of the walls, leaving the group mostly free to make the run to the portal. There were a few more surprises, not the least of which being a tweaked Bluespawn Godslayer (one variety of the "Spawn of Tiamat" that I'm surprised this module didn't use by default, I imported a few others as well) ordered by Mondath to guard the portal.

[Falcon X]

Several ideas based on running this episode a couple times:

1. Build the plot more to point them in the right direction. Use SlyFlourish's history of the area: http://slyflourish.com/hodq_chapter_6.html
- In one of my game's, Voaraghamanthar approached the PCs shortly after they entered the swamp and asked them to retrieve an ancient tome from the castle for him, promising a hefty reward (Which was delivered!).
- He told them to meet up with his servant, Lockjaw, who would both assist the PCs and be the one the PCs deliver the tome to.
- The PCs immediately knew to work with Lockjaw, which allied them with the Lizardman.
- Now, the players have an army AND a reason to explore the castle rather than just run and destroy.
Practically, my players planned an assault, but first snuck in to see if they could find the item. They did, but accidentally started the fight by setting off explosives while fighting the tome's guardian.

2. Make other things attractive to them. Play up the giant lizard farm and bullywug huts on the way in. Make sure Lockjaw and the PCs realize they could work together.

3. Give a display of force
- In my game, when they approached the castle, the bullywugs were in the middle of running combat drills outside while it was obvious that there was a high level leader and a bunch of lizardmen nearby.

[ad_hoc]

Like most of the episodes in HotDQ, it doesn't focus on the combat pillar.

The PCs will have the best chance of success by engaging in either or both of the exploration and social interaction pillars.

They can try to sneak around and find the portal (and key word).

They can also turn the different factions against each other.

And yeah, if they try to just attack and everyone dies then everyone dies. Time to make new characters and start a new story.

[famousringo]

If you have any NPCs or divinations that can warn them, or if they're at least wise enough to scout the fortress, try to drop them a clue that an unsupported frontal assault will fail badly. Maybe a History check could reveal that a fully manned fortress of that size either requires a sizeable siege army or some very unconventional tactics to break.

Try to get the point across that medieval fortresses were the Death Stars of their age. You don't simply walk up to one and blow it up. You find the teeny-weeny vulnerable hole first.

If that doesn't work, try to leave them an opportunity to retreat once they realize the fight isn't going their way. They'll lose the element of surprise, but they can regroup and try a different tactic later. Maybe fending off a pursuit force could reveal some valuable intelligence.

And finally, yep, capture them and they can work out how to escape.

How my group did it:

We caught Snapjaw moving treasure, he surrendered to us and we tried to interrogate him. It quickly became clear that we could each be of use to each other. We gained Snapjaw's trust, raised an army of lizardmen, and launched a two-pronged offensive. The druid led the lizardmen through the moat and cast Plant Growth on the wall of the fortress to make it easily climbable so the army could rendezvous with the lizardmen inside and arm themselves. The rest of the party snuck in as cultists to secure the main gate, casting Silence on the warning drum and cutting down the guards before they could escape to alert the rest of the fortress. What ensued was a massive battle of party vs. cultist, lizardman vs. bullywug, and giant lizard vs. dragonbeast in the courtyard. We won with light casualties.