I'm going to be running a pathfinder game soon and while rummaging through my brain for plot ideas one that occurred to me was to have the PCs set up a dungeon instead of looting one, in order to protect a dangerous magic item/knowledge/artifact from a known and impending evil party.
I wasn't entirely sure how to handle such an endeavor, but my first impression was that I might have the local government and certain organizations donate funds for this specific undertaking. (probably with eyes and ears on the PCs to ensure there is no pocketing and running with said funds.) And the PCs would decide on a best way to allocate these funds to outfit the dungeon with traps, guards, captured monsters, arcane spells, etc.
I wasn't sure if they would outright decide these things, or make up a recommendation/presentation, using skills to try to sway the more qualified to enact their ideas.
I was thinking the PCs could either be the last line of defense, or position themselves how they'd like in the dungeon as well, when it actually played out.
Is this something that is do-able to any degree, or should I probably try something more practical or standard instead?
Also, I wouldn't really know how much gold is appropriate for such an undertaking.
The level range is flexible, the PCs are starting off at level 1, but I would enact this later on, probably. Not sure what level range would be most appropriate/fun. The campaign is likely going to go on for as long as I can keep interest and as long as most of the PCs survive.