Basic jist: The party was en route to a secret mountain hideout when they heard of a group of very powerful enemies lurking around the area. These guys (called shock troopers) are organized and are attempting to find the hideout. The party has decided that rather than go to the hideout, they would like to try to track down the shock troopers and ensure that they don't find the hideout. I need help making the tracking-down of these shock troops a little more interesting.
Details: So my four players are looking for a secret mountain hideout in my homebrew campaign. Along the way they found out that there was a group of six powerful bad guys lurking around the area trying to find the hideout. They caught on to their tracks and are now following them in order to make sure that the bad guys (called shock troopers) do not find the hideout.
There are a few problems with this line of action. First off the bad guys are way way stronger than the PCs, and they are not something that I'm willing to tone down because I've been talking up about the power of these dudes all game and I don't want the party of 4 to be able to stand up against 6 of these guys in straight-up combat, their first encounter with the shock troopers should be dramatic and difficult.
They are currently following their trail through the mountains and are making good survival checks for tracking. I am at a loss of things to throw at them, however, and after a quick encounter with an earth elemental to spice things up I ended the session.
If my party wants to track down the shock troopers, I will let them, after all it is their game. I just need some help coming up with a way to make it entertaining. Realistically it would end in either "you don't find them" or "they just flat out didn't find the hideout" or "they died on their own" but none of those are fun and exciting. I need some help. Any cool ideas you guys have are welcome.
My current plan: The hideout is concealed within the territory of a minotaur. In this world, minotaurs often live aboveground and hold territory and slaves for the hell of it. I especially like this line because one of my players is playing a minotaur and in the lore he wrote for the race he described out how minotaur territorial conquest takes place. So the minotaur and his goons (which probably consist of goblins, orcs, kobolds, and other various monsters) rule over several miles of wilderness in the mountains. It will be up to the PC's to use this minotaur's forces to overcome the shock troopers.
This can be accomplished one of several ways: perhaps the party could attempt to negotiate a deal with the minotaur (a sort of bounty on the shock troopers, for instance) or they could purchase some warriors (slaves). If they don't want diplomacy, they could try to trick the minotaur's goons into finding the shock troopers in order to weaken the shock troopers enough to be able to finish them off. If the party is feeling especially violent, the minotaur in the party can challenge the ruling minotaur to single combat, which if won will transfer ownership of the land and the slaves to the party. IF the party comes up with any other interesting solutions, then those would all work as well.
Please answer the following:
What level is the party?
Why are all 6 "shock troopers" heading for the hideout at once?
What does the minotaur do with its "slaves?"
Just off the top of my head I'm thinking
1. The PCs encounter traps left on the trail of the shock troopers: if these bad guys are really THAT good, why are they leaving tracks at all? More likely they're deliberately leading the PCs to their own deaths. This option includes a lot of wilderness traps, ambushes by minion monsters charmed/controlled/dominated by the ST's.
2. The minotaur's minions are out: let's say the minotaur is using kobolds. Said kobolds constantly move around the terrain hunting for food, slaves from nearby civilizations, etc. The kobolds have a number of traps and such, some of which lay in ruins from the pasage of the ST's. Some of the kobolds' traps are also manned by kobolds themselves. Finally one of these traps (a pit trap, collapsing bridge, avalanche, whatever) deposits the PCs into an underground dungeon.
3. Slaves: As the PCs are moving through the minotaur's region they come across a group of slaves in transport. One of these slaves will be super-advantageous; a noble with big connections, someone knowledgeable of the ST's weaknesses, a powerful spellcaster, etc. This person can either help the party immediately or provide bargaining leverage w/the minotaur.
Should specify:
Party is level 5
The hideout is the headquarters for a powerful group of assassins (friends of PCs). These shock troopers are part of the Empire trying to stop the assassins. That's why the shock troopers are trying to locate the hideout and that's why the PC's are trying to stop them.
Minotaurs keep slaves as warriors or for fun.
And I like the idea of traps. I'll have to bring it up as they follow the ST's
simple trip lines that will send off signals, a storm comes up, a stray campfire turns the forest into an inferno, don't forget just how useful hazards can be.
EDIT: You can also leave a rear guard allowing the players a taste of combat against these guys while paring their numbers down.