The local king has outlawed adventuring, barricaded major dungeons...

>The local king has outlawed adventuring, barricaded major dungeons, and declared that their wealth is now the property of the kingdom. The excavations begin in two weeks.

>the king has to hire extra dungeon delvers
>the Sewer Workers guild has many qualified tradesmen

I see no problem with this.

I see no reason why the players can't sneak in anyway past what will be a very slow excavation on the government's part.
Also, this is definitely going to wake up an ancient creature of some sort. Probably evil too.

The players must infiltrate the dungeon, then escape from the law and head to Fantasy-Switzerland to cash in.

Heist meets Dungeon Crawler. Sounds fun.

And so my ploy to turn my players into libertarians begins...

So, the PCs are excavators? Unless the King plans to excavate them himself.

If the king knew where all the dungeons were, that they were full of gold, and had the resources to get them, why is this just happening now?

I thought the point of dungeons in RPGs is that they're usually hidden, and too dangerous for anyone but specialized adventurers to explore.

Clearly the king is just protecting the populace from the sort of people that make up the party. Evil PCs living in and expanding a dungeon, capturing some low level folksthat wandered in, then the king's men, then tougher mercenaries, the royal guard and on up to summoned angels.

>Wait two months
>See where the King is putting all his dungeoneering spoils
>Raid that instead
Stupid fucker, what did he expect?

>>the Sewer Workers guild has many qualified tradesmen

>"Finally, we Sewer Swabbies will get the recognition and respect we deserve!"
>"Ew gross you smell like sewage, get out of our dungeon!"

>Not knowing that dungeons have huge complex systems of air ducts, plumbing, and sewers
>all that needs cleaning and maintenance
>no one else is gonna do it
>and if they do, Sewer Wokers guild will get the Lawyers guild involved and raise 10 kinds of hell for the king.

Good luck.

But the now disgruntled adventurers are the only ones qualified to handle the necessary security at such sites. Good luck excavating when every open space you find kills all of the workers.

>the local king 'kills himself' in grief after his son tragically 'drowns' during a hunting trip. Leaving the king's, adventure friendly, brother as the next in line to inherit the thrown.

>Raid the king's vault.
>Vault is infested with traps and guards/mobs to protect treasure.
>ssdd

Also the king is actaully a lich.

Increased consolidation of power. Adventurers mapped out the locations and upper levels of the largest dungeons, but expeditions were sporadic, and they often died when hauling gold out of the dungeon. As for the king, he's only just now consolidated enough power among the lords that he feels confident doing so. Before this you would have lords and knights leading expeditions occasionally.

>king overseeing the excavations
>worker picks up a bejeweled skull
>WHAT ARE YOU DOING IN MY DUNGEON?

We have a new king. He floats and he can cast Trap Soul.

>when you are the local king
mfw

That is basically impossible in my setting. The Brotherhood of Adventurers and the Explorers' Guild would look at that King funny for sure, maybe even sue.

Patiently wait for them to get in over their head when they wake up the ancient evil. Do our best to curb it, but make it apparent to the king that, had we had our way adventuring through the dungeon and gaining experience, we probably would have been strong enough to put the ancient evil to sleep again.

And who will be hired to do the excavation ?

Nothing you said made any rational sense.

Why are adventurers mapping out the dungeons they haven't fully explored yet, in a way that lets other people find them?
Why are they dying hauling gold out? Didn't they already clear the dungeon? And if they do die, then whose supposed to be mapping these places?
A king's lords are his vassals, so I'm not sure what you imagine consolidating power with them means, but why are nobility leading people into the most dangerous places in the world, anyway?

If the king is actually a lich this might actually be interesting as this would be a ploy to create more undead without it being to suspicious while getting the pesky adventurers to show themselves.

Cool, I'll sit back and wait for these idiots to get eaten by tons of angry monsters. I'll either get hired to deal with the problem or everyone will get pissed at the king's stupid idea and overthrow him.

Good. This is a wonderful opportunity to welcome the humans to my magnificent palace. I hope they find the gifts I prepared to their liking.

Seal gates two through forty. Leave gate one open. Arm all the traps and bring at least a hundred pounds of onyx to my chamber. I want the dopplegangers to discretely "replace" anyone who dies alone in chamber one and infiltrate the king's expedition forces. Equip each of them with a vial of the good doctor's new plagued vermin.

Transfer all of the cursed items from the vault into chamber one among a bunch of those gold trinkets the humans like so much.

Is that all?... Hmm... Oh, yes, the goblins are becoming a bit bothersome and they are consuming too many resources. Transfer them to chamber one to welcome the humans.

Yeah, sure, he's what, Level 9? 12? And that's probably in Noble, too, and his guards are probably CR 1/2 - CR 4 or some shit. I'm a fucking Level 14 Warlock. Bring it, King Bitchtits. Try and stop me from getting all those phat magic items.