GM looking for advice on current fantasy game.
First a bit of back story.
I'm currently running a fantasy game where the player characters liberated a town from the bad guy who had been controlling it and the underground town that the party had grown up in for the last 50 years. They did this by exposing his deceptions to the people and liberating their Masters from his dungeon (The PC were apprentices under masters of their classes)
They have had a few small adventures in the surrounding area and have found out that a local orc tribe is massing for an attack on the town, their Masters sent them off to get aid from the nearby Dwarven king while they orginise the defence.
They are currently rushing back with the Dwarven forces to aid the town.
My dilema is do I have them be too late, do I have the town destroyed and if I do are their loved ones captured or killed?
On the one hand the town is a good base of opperation, on the other hand it may prompt them to head out to explore more of the world.
Advice would be most welcome.