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So I have a problem. For story reasons the players need to explore and clear out a mini dungeon under the military HQ of a nation. A trap door was found in a basement and being that it was trapped and obviously magical they called in the elite forces. Enter the PCs.
I am concerned that at some point the players will just get the idea to call in some troops and clear the thing out kinda negating the whole adventure. My first inclination was to do a "the door seals itself behind you disappearing into the stone" thing. But it felt cheesy. I have been ruminating for a week and I can't think of a better idea.
Advice please.
Once they go in, the military locks it behind them, captain's orders. They don't want any nasty surprises coming out of there. The PCs are to tap a code on the door or something to be let out. The captain doesn't want to risk his own troops' lives when dungeoneering heroes like the PCs can do the job. They're soldiers, not adventurers.
Wait, you're concerned that the PCs are going to call someone else in to do their job? Why were they called if they weren't the best around that were available? If you can answer that, you shouldn't really have this problem.
Wait, you're concerned that the PCs are going to call someone else in to do their job? Why were they called if they weren't the best around that were available? If you can answer that, you shouldn't really have this problem.
Probably because "the best around that were available" plus a small force of the Captain's men might be better. I think OP is looking for some way to keep the party to just the PCs and not have to worry about negotiating his way out of sending in NPCs to help fight.
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Wait, you're concerned that the PCs are going to call someone else in to do their job? Why were they called if they weren't the best around that were available? If you can answer that, you shouldn't really have this problem.Probably because "the best around that were available" plus a small force of the Captain's men might be better. I think OP is looking for some way to keep the party to just the PCs and not have to worry about negotiating his way out of sending in NPCs to help fight.
Exactly that.
Put a powerful creature in the beginning that the first explorers found sleeping, or managed to remain undetected. Have them return with tales of a horrible beast and send in the Heroes to deal with it. The Captain would then lock the door as A highly regarded expert mentioned. :P
Again, just say that the captain won't send soldiers to do an adventurer's job. They're just trained to fight standard enemies and take orders. An adventuring party is much better suited for clearing dungeons and such.
He might tell you that's above their pay grade. Soldiers don't sail and sailors don't fight, so to speak.
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Or you could just have the captain give the party these orders under a veil of secrecy. It could be something that they figure it best the townsfolk didn't know about, like some secret testing facility where a former head of the military performed necromancy on fallen soldiers or something. It all depends on your setting.
"If some soldiers come up missing for a few days, people are going to start asking questions. Wives are going to come to me asking where I've sent their husbands. That's why we can't send soldiers in. I need this underground lair explored, with as little interruption to daily town life as possible. Here's a small sack of gold to help with any prep work, and a map to the entrance. Good luck."
(Or something like that.)
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Go for the dramatically cheesy. Just as the PCs get the door safely opened, horns blare and drums roll--the garrison is called to full alert because an enemy horde is assaulting the walls. There are no soldiers to spare to go exploring because they've all got posts to protect. The adventurers, on the other hand, have no job except going into the mini-dungeon.
A little foreshadowing will be necessary to pull this off. First, warn the party that the enemy has been seen on the march. Second, hint that the secret passages may be hiding an Item of Power(R) that may be just what's needed to keep the enemy assault from overwhelming the defenders. Heck, crank up the dramatic tension by having the captain say something like, "This is a serious attack. I don't think we can hold out for much longer than (reasonable time for party to finish dungeon run - 1 hour) before we're overrun."
That actually works well. I publish a news sheet at the start of every game as a vehicle for game world news and plot related stuff. One of the stories I wrote talks about tensions with a neighbor and that the military doing exercises as a show of force. So they are lightly manned already. I had a plan for one of the neighbor's navy ships to come into the harbor (carrying a BBEG) and an alert in response might be just what I need.