The CR calculations are based on very little or no magic items.

When I ran this module in RL, I was more generous with the magic items and I had to double the difficulty of deadly rated encounters to make them a challenge (when they needed to be a challenge).

Ok good!

note- before the adventuring day started, Thurnir again casts  aid on Rodolfo, Beegred and himself for 5 temporary HP  -8 hour duration. 

Sure, that's perfectly reasonable.

Thought about the ASI, thought about grappler....ended on skill expert 

Still gonna try and pull the drows legs off

Rodolfo became [feature]tough[/feature]. 58 hitpoints now. His main bottleneck wasn't running out of spell slots, but running out of hit points.

(Mulling over for the other players... not questions for the DM.)

I suspect we should look for some kind of advantage instead of charging in, but I'm not sure which would work:

• If there is some sunlight high up on the west side, that side can be smashed open somehow (without us being caught in an avalanche) to bring in more light onto the battlefield
• The prisoners are probably weakened, but having more numbers might help. (Even if most scatter and run away after their shackles are broken, a few might fight.)
• Jorian isn't happy with anyone. Maybe if we give him the opportunity, he might backstab Ilvara during the fight to claim power.

After Shoor said he wanted quiet, I was tempted to have Beegred cast Silence.
But I didn't want to start combat before everyone was done RP-ing or plotting.

For the DM:

Since Shoor got so mad, can Beegred get DM Inspiration?
"I have trouble keeping my true feelings hidden. My sharp tongue lands me in trouble."

Aln good ideas,  Thurnir  isn’t that bright.  But he can focus on the leader.  Maybe if she goes down the other drow will back off.. 

Quote from Quasimodal >>

For the DM:

Since Shoor got so mad, can Beegred get DM Inspiration?
"I have trouble keeping my true feelings hidden. My sharp tongue lands me in trouble."

 Lol.  Granted.

We're welcome to try and parlay with the angry drow people

But...

Flaws

So if I'm reading the description right...

Your group exits the mine shaft, entering into what would have once been a natural cave before it was excavated by some unknown civilization some unknown time in the past.  The excavated pit rises beyond the sight of your darkvision, but up high on the western side is the glint of pale yellow light illuminating a small portion of the cave higher up.  All around the excavated pit is a steep path winding around and up into the darkness.

Standing nearly 20 feet up the base of the ramp is Mistress Ilvara, flanked by some of the same guard captains

.. then it's actually a somewhat large open flat area in front of us, the bottom of the pit? Is there anything visible in the flat area?

And that this path on one side of it is probably going to curve around the pit upwards until it reaches the top, which is where the light is showing? So it could be 200 feet or 2000 feet of walking distance to actually get close to the light, in theory?

Also, would Skameros be able to just walk up the wall next to us and get away?

Thurnir flaw:  “if there’s someone else’s plan, I’ll forget it.  If I don’t forget it, I’ll ignore it”. 

The area at the bottom isn't that large.  Just a limitation of the map I've chosen.  But getting to the top means using the ramp to get past the drow, flying or climbing sheer walls.

The shaft of light is several hundred feet straight up.  The ramp spirals around the perimeter of the pit, so there is a lot of distance to cover if you want to walk up there.

Quote from ArgentTheWise >>

We're welcome to try and parlay with the angry drow people

But...

Flaws

Violence is my answer to almost any challenge.

Skameros will still want to try and pull her legs off

You've already used that one in the OOC thread, post 2490.  Your other three are unclaimed.

Quote from Tesservett >>

Thurnir flaw:  “if there’s someone else’s plan, I’ll forget it.  If I don’t forget it, I’ll ignore it”. 

I feel there needs to be a plan first...?

Oh I wasn't trying to claim inspiration - I was just pointing out that Skameros wants to pull the drow lady's legs off with that as the reasoning.

Looking at my sheet - I still have inspiration apparently.

Interesting, thanks.

My current plan for Rodolfo is to Haste himself and go nuts with the fully charged wand of viscid globs. With any luck he might be able to neutralize some of the heavy hitters.

No idea what the drow plan to do with the slaves though.. if they can be used as cannon fodder then that's a LOT of cannon fodder with two casters at the back doing bad things.

But.. it all may change depending on initiative order. If we roll really poorly then there might be nothing left to do at all.

Do it?

Rodolfo is preparing for combat.

But he doesn't initiate it, as his actions really depend on the initiative roll.

(Remember allies in 10’ of thurnir get +3 on all saves) 

Oh I truly think we have a snowballs chance in hell in defeating these drow - but with them in between us and the ramp I don't see another way to resolve this.

And I suppose if this is the end of the adventure then there's no harm in going down swinging.