tonight's d&d session is going to be juicy. the party first has to battle against 3 deadly warlocks with a floating card that has random effects as a lair action. then, they have to pass 5 difficult trials on a mountain pass that everyone has said they'll likely die on. i would not be surprised in the slightest if there was at least one death, maybe not of the PCs but perhaps the NPCs that are with them.

i did make sure that all of these trials were completely passable if they take the right steps and work together. one of the characters can breathe under any conditions so he's straight up immune to two of the trials. i think if they use each character's strengths well they can all make it. i even have safeguards in place for when they fail a roll. they basically have to fail three rolls in a row to actually die, and even then there might be ways they can save themselves.

i won't be surprised if someone dies, but i won't be surprised if everyone lives either. my players have a habit of taking my expectations and flushing them down a toilet so sometimes you gotta' get a little bit crazy with it haha.