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Message: <blockquote data-quote="General Barron" data-source="post: 2780820" data-attributes="member: 32468">MY PLAYERS STAY OUT!!!I'm looking for advise on the difficulty of an encounter I'm working on. It's a little complicated, and I'm looking for some help ironing out the specifics. Here is the general situation:[sblock]The adventurers have been hired to accompany a duke on a small dungeon dive. The duke is also bringing his trusted bodyguard, his court wizard, and two more guards. As it turns out, the wizard and the two guards are planning on betraying the duke and the adventurers.At the end of the dungeon, the party enters a room containing the book they are searching for. As the rest of the group guards the exits, the wizard, flanked by the turncoat guards, walks up and takes the book, then turns around and blasts the duke with some magic (surprise round). Fighting ensues. The two sides tenatively look like this:Good guys:PC's x 3 (lvl 3 rouge, bard, fighter)Duke (lvl 5 aristocrat)Bodyguard (lvl 6 fighter)Bad guys:Wizard (lvl 8?)Guards x 2 (lvl 3 warrior?)The wizard will kill the duke as early as possible, then work on the bodyguard, or whomever else is the biggest threat. One guard will engage the duke/bodyguard, while the other will stay near the wizard to defend him (using his bow in the meantime). The wizard might also summon something to help defend him. The bodyguard will do whatever it takes to try and keep his liege alive, namely trying to kill the wizard. The duke is meant to die however, hopefully within the first couple of rounds.In the meantime, taking the book triggers a defense system of sorts. The entrence(s) to the room slam shut and lock. A couple golems, or some other powerful, animated guardian will eventually enter the room (after a few rounds or so) and start attacking everybody.Once things start looking grim, the wizard will teleport away to his lab, leaving his two minions to their deaths. The bodyguard, realizing his lord is dead, will stay in the room and attempt to hold the golems back, in order to buy the PC's time to escape the dungeon. The PC's escape, only to be captured by guards at the entrance, who know something is wrong but don't know what exactly has happened. The PC's end up in jail for the murder of the duke, wizard, and bodyguards, who never came back out.----------The levels of the 'good guys' side is basically set. I really need to know what level to make the wizard and the guards. The wizard is a powerful villian that will be back later. The bodyguard is a powerful ally that will also resurface at a later point in time. The duke and the guards are worm food. I also might like to add another NPC adventurer to the PC's side, who will get captured with the PC's (especially if this is required to balance the encounter). The PC's should exit the encounter feeling lucky to be alive.Also, advice on what to use for the guardians would be appreciated. They should be too tough for the PC's to stay and fight, but later on in the campaign, the PC's will return to this site, along with the bodyguard, and will need to be able to actually defeat them. The PC's should be a couple levels higher at that point.[/sblock]Sorry if this is a pretty unclear explaination of what I'm looking for. Thanks in advance!</blockquote>

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