Hideout under attack

[Gnaritas]

D&D 3.5
In the campaign i DM the party is in some kind of resistance-group.
Depending on what kind of actions they take their hide-out (underground basement in the city, located underneath a warehouse) could be assaulted by soldiers who have discovered their location.

I was wondering how to go about this:
I want them to flee. I want them to feel "hunted" not "they cant touch us", currently i think they have more of the latter feeling.
How would i go about this? The soldiers are pretty easy to defeat, the normal soldiers they have faced yet are level 3 and the party is 5x level 7. Off course i could make this an elite force, i have already introduced a member of this elite force (whom they defeated, but they know he was hard). If i make it clear the invading soldiers are of this elite force, would that suffice? What if the NPC rebels are clearly retreating themselves. If they do not flee, they will die. I do not want them to all die.
I want them to have options. Something like, take the route outside (clearly less stealthy, but at least they can run), take the route underground (with the danger of being trapped if the other side is also filled with soldiers, which should be an approriate encounter).
I am trying to make this an interesting encounter, but i am not sure how to make it such. Should i start by smoking the place, blinding them, which might add to the tension? Is there another interesting logical tactic the soldiers might use? Is there a good reason to let this happen during their sleep or during a meeting?

Any help to make this a more interesting encounter would be appreciated.

[Boci]

Look at the mob template in DMGII. 2 of those and the players will be overpowered in a toe-to-toe fight, but they won't die immediatly, but the mobs won't be able to stop the PCs fleeing, nor will they be particularly effective at persuing. Thats when the elites comes in (but do make sure you give your PCs a breathing space).
If the PCs defeat the mobs, have a surviving rebel NPC shout "The (insert elite devision name) are coming"

[Starbuck_II]

D&D 3.5
In the campaign i DM the party is in some kind of resistance-group.
Depending on what kind of actions they take their hide-out (underground basement in the city, located underneath a warehouse) could be assaulted by soldiers who have discovered their location.

I was wondering how to go about this:
I want them to flee. I want them to feel "hunted" not "they cant touch us", currently i think they have more of the latter feeling.
How would i go about this? The soldiers are pretty easy to defeat, the normal soldiers they have faced yet are level 3 and the party is 5x level 7. Off course i could make this an elite force, i have already introduced a member of this elite force (whom they defeated, but they know he was hard). If i make it clear the invading soldiers are of this elite force, would that suffice? What if the NPC rebels are clearly retreating themselves. If they do not flee, they will die. I do not want them to all die.
I want them to have options. Something like, take the route outside (clearly less stealthy, but at least they can run), take the route underground (with the danger of being trapped if the other side is also filled with soldiers, which should be an approriate encounter).
I am trying to make this an interesting encounter, but i am not sure how to make it such. Should i start by smoking the place, blinding them, which might add to the tension? Is there another interesting logical tactic the soldiers might use? Is there a good reason to let this happen during their sleep or during a meeting?

Any help to make this a more interesting encounter would be appreciated.

Idea:
A. Archers Ready! Darken them with a cloud of volleys!
Make them weak soldiers, but numbers alone is scary.

Sure, 100 lv 2 NPCs seem weak vs a lv 7, but 100 wears ya down. Plus, Volley attacks in one of those army battle books says every 20 attacks has 1 hit as a crit = 5 hits.

That makes more sense if army sent after them (and big open areas like outside though), but they might decides to fight anyway (long battle if they do).
If they somehow beat that first wave, you could send a smaller more elite one:
But if they somehow win, think of what might happen if they somehow do that (what fallout happens now that hideout is a wreck).

B. I like the smoking/ blinding them: it is good tactics by the soldiers. Even if they stay and fight, they will slowly get worser and worser. Heck igniting place on fire means they will have to flee eventually (environmental rules in DMG).
Although, I'd let the PCs attempt to put out the fires (if they have right spells), but that still leaves smoke unless (they have Gust of Wind).

[Lysander]

Take a page from Empire Strikes Back and give them AT-ATs and Darth Vader.

In the beginning the rebels are fleeing their base. They're not running from puny little stormtroopers. They're running from giant semi-invulnerable robot monsters.

So my advice is, in addition to the weak little soldiers that your party and the rebel NPCs can fight against, throw in a few monsters that are slow but extremely difficult to beat. Have your PCs fight one and succeed with difficulty, then realize that about twenty are converging on their location.

Then to top it off, throw in a Darth Vader, a high ranking minor to the BBEG that the party definitely knows it can't beat. They have to get out before this guy gets here.

So give them a general timeline in minutes:

Soon: Lots of easy to beat soliders
Later: Lots of difficult monsters the party can only beat one at a time
Eventually: High ranking enemy the party will get slaughtered by

[Name_Here]

Insist upon them not having been in their armor for reasons X, Y and Z. Armor is heavy and confining so unless they were only just back from battle then they aren't going to have it on. Have the group being seperated to start out with so they have to flee from the soldiers.

and finnally have the guys use tactics. Smoke sticks with blindfight, have them toss in a handful of those rocks that cause deafness, Magical darkness. And then don't have the troops fight to the death. Have a badly wounded trooper break off and start healing in the back either with potions scrolls, dedicated clerics just never have them fighting to the death only breaking off to regroup and reengage.

[JeminiZero]

As mentioned above, giving them clear warning that an overwhelming force is approaching is a good start. Have a couple of drunk soldiers gossiping in the bar abot how several legions have gathered for an assault on the rebel base (because otherwise the authorities try to keep such operations quiet).

Have them come in waves, and each wave falls, the dying laugh bitterly and say that more are coming. When the PCs are down to a few hit points and low on spells, and another wave is coming, they will seriously start to consider retreat.

Last ditch scenario: Prepare a Deus Ex Machina. Fudge the die rolls so that the PCs drop into negatives but don't die just yet. Suddenly, some other rebellion elite forces swoop in, throw blinding light/smoke/whatever and pull them out.

[Lysander]

I'd actually suggest preparing them for this ahead of time. In one session give them a mission to retrieve some valuable intel or item or prisoner from the enemy. The mission's boss enemy is some kind of monster the enemy side is breeding or training or summoning as a heavy hitter. Make it CR appropriate so together the party can handle it, but get an idea of how tough it is.

Then whenever you want to panic them just let them know that a number of these creatures are on the way.

[hewhosaysfish]

What about someone with the authorities ordering the PCs to take some non-combatants/a VIP/the Valuable Thing to safety? Get them thinking in the right terms.

[jiriku]

I want them to flee. I want them to feel "hunted" not "they cant touch us", currently i think they have more of the latter feeling.
How would i go about this? The soldiers are pretty easy to defeat.

Time to break out the shock troops, and present them with an encounter that is well beyond their ability to handle. I'd suggest the low-level troops should be supported by half a dozen clay golems and a couple of enemy casters using AoE damage to wipe out the supporting cast of rebels fast, set the building on fire, and dispel or counterspell anything the PC casters try to do. The encounter should be impossible on its face, and composed of large numbers of enemies so the players can't eke out a win by concentrating fire on a key opponent and taking him down quickly.

[Tiki Snakes]

Large, overwhelming numbers of relatively easy foes. Improbable, overwhleming odds, and very well organised. A perfect police-sting crossed with a finely planned military door-to-door sweep.

But they hit the wrong building, first. They don't know exactly where the hideout is. The PC's get their warning when they see several hundred polezia kick down the door to the building down the street. Bonus points if there are numerous inexplicable explosions, massive civilian casualties and general chaos in the wake.

Perhaps they only notice this happening after the Polezia blow the first targeted building up, and they see them smashing their way into the next one en mass to route out who-so-ever lies within.

Now, there will likely be a cordon around the region, and smaller groups of patrols scouting out secondary targets and potential troublemakers.
However, the PC's have advanced warning, and there is chaos on the streets. There are any number of ways to try and sneak away, break through, or etc.

Or they could take them on, head on if they are particularly gun-ho. If they try to, let them, but give them enough chance to pull away when they realise that sheer numbers are against them. (Ie, Throw mooks at them till they start to panic, but have the mooks pull back to regroup about then after having encountered some real resistance at last.)
Pc's can then go for the emergency escape routes, disguises, or whatever remaining options. Possibly with dramatic chase scene implications.