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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Painfully" data-source="post: 133636" data-attributes="member: 601">I think you're missing some character motivations here.What does the gem do, and why does the party want it?Why does the merchant want to retrieve his brother alive (not just that he's related, but what will the merchant brother do once he has his bandit brother)?What kinds of things are the bandits stealing?--is it everything?  where do they keep it?--what do they do with the travellers?  kill them or let them go?  do they recruit any of them?What makes this particular trail important?  Can it be travelled around?  Are there interested parties from the other side of that trail that need the trail?Everybody "wants" something.  What does each NPC want, and how do they intend to get it?You've got more of your own answers to this problem than I do.  But if you want some suggestions...Merchant brother wants to be the one to kill his bandit brother.  Yeah, it's evil, but it will make the PC's wonder about whether the gem they wanted was worth it.  And they might be more careful of future employers.part of this might be because the merchant brother is in a social position that might rightfully belong to the bandit brother.  Kinda like the "man in the iron mask," thing, but a little different.or it could be because the bandit brother and merchant brother are fighting for possession of a unique family heirloom that they are both willing to kill over.  Maybe the bandit brother is trying to get it, while the merchant brother is trying to transport it safely to somebody on the other side (to sell for *gasp* money, or just to a collector of rare things).  Maybe the heirloom has unrealized magical traits that both brothers are unaware of.----------------Encounter suggestions:1.  Let the party act as scouts, travelling ahead of the caravan and securing the trail.  A few invisibility spells and silence spells can pay off big as long as nobody slips off a cliff or otherwise gives away their position.2.  Terrain and timing...make it dark.  Suddenly, caravans that need torches just stick out like a bullseye waiting to get hit.  Wait until their meal time, when they are chatting by their fires, or worse, your best fighter PC needs to take a squat in some bushes.3.  Let the bandits choose stealth over quickness.  Have their best thief-type go and incapacitate the guards one-by-one.  I'm thinking a vial of ether or similar knock-out type of drug.  What would the PC's do if they were suddenly eating with a guard they never noticed before...if your PC's are sharp (or get lucky rolls) maybe they'll notice and talk the stranger into giving himself away (think of the elevator scene in the last die hard movie where Bruce Willis spots the guard's badge and talks about the lottery).4.  Anybody have an underground familiar?  Let it scout ahead, and have it ambushed <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" />   Anybody want some fresh gopher?  Possibly use a natural predator, but then the party might get distracted into saving their pet.  Of course, the predator could be a familiar of one of the bandits.5.  Does the merchant brother have something precious to his brother?  If the combat turns stalemate, have the bandit brother offer to trade himself in exchange for something precious to his brother that is with the caravan--something the PCs were told to protect at all costs.  There should be consequences for whatever choice the party makes, either for the trade, or not to trade (possibly they have made a hostage of the caravan leader and will trade his safety rather than the bandit brother).That's all off the top of my head.  It's 4:30 am and I should snooze now before my head falls off my shoulders... night, night.</blockquote>

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