If players aren't plotting ways to break the DM's plans, that means they aren't trying hard enough...
Nerd By Northwest #365 – “Players Plotting Perfidy”
(Click on the image to see the full-size version)
When my D&D group last played through this adventure, we didn't have too hard a time taking on the dragons, even being a small party of four. Apparently in the 5th edition version of this adventure the dragons are on the young side, so they didn't have the strength or legendary action powers that older dragons possess. And yes, I'm sure it also helped that we didn't charge in blindly like a bunch of noobs!
Our heroes here could potentially have an even easier time of it, having six adventurers and with four of those being higher-level spellcasters. Yeah yeah, some haters might point out that one of those casters is "only a bard", but he still technically counts. And if the show Futurama has taught us anything, it's that "technically correct" is the best kind of correct...
So Dan the Dungeon Master made the encounter harder... not by changing the encounter via increasing the strength of the opponents like an amateur, but by introducing hostages in the mix. And while some in the party like Pete's character Sir Marko might have a more mercenary attitude, Dan knows some of the others wouldn't be quite so heartless as to blast away hostages along with the dragons (or would at minimum recognize the value of having two more experienced adventurers on their side).
But for every clever & devious Dungeon Master, there is often two or more equally & devious players around to throw a spanner in the works. So I'm afraid the numbers just aren't in Dan's favor... 😏
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