How do I liven up the hunt?

[LazerPointer]

Just finished my third session as a DM, had about 1.5 hrs. prep time, (lotsa flying by the seat of my pants) and I wanted to pick your fine minds for ways to give an undead hunt in the forest more lively.

There are five 2nd level characters, and one lvl. 1 priest NPC tagging along.

So far: characters met during a town festival, saved a local druid and hunted down the goblins that accosted her. They were travelling to a nearby fiefdom when they stumbled across an outbreak of undead in the forest. The kobolds in the area 'bury' their dead in trees; one of these trees had been chopped down, all the bodies had been laid out, and a large circle of black dust was part of a ritual that was turning them all to zombies. They have discovered that there is a barrow in the vicinity with one sentient undead 'priest' very active in raising as many undead as possible.

As I DM off the cuff, I find I'm very good at making lively NPC's and conversation, but I need to work on my adventure pacing.

They're going through the forest. I'm throwing random, small challenges at them, one zombie here, a small group of skeletons there, as most of the undead raised in the forest amble about without a unified purpose. It was very satisfying to see them blow resources on these lopsided fights.



Eventually they will find the barrow, where I'll throw a lot more weight at them, including ghouls. (and at the heart of the barrow, the sentient zombie-like undead who will stab himself with his dagger before lunging at his foes. good ol' fear of fortitude saves) As I think about this, I guess the barrow should have a big enough expanse of rooms to set up a nice progression of fights before they reach the Sentient.


So how do I make the hunt through the forest for the barrow interesting? (and what would you use to spice up the barrow itself?) If the session had gone on tonight, they would have found it by following the trail of a few skeletons towards the "darker" area of the forest where the trees are a bit gnarlier. Basic clues, I know.

I wanna make 'em work to find it, and have a nice build-up of tension.

 

[Whisper72]

Hmmm... one thing is to have the undead be 'created' at the barrow, and 'mindlessly' radiate outward. This means that the undead closer to the barrow are 'fresher'. Maybe the NPC cleric can notice this.

As a side note, IMHO it is not necessary to play out the whole searching bit for the barrow itself, just have the description of when they stumble upon it be really scary / impressive. Maybe the barrow is a large mound in the middle of the forest, with a ring of stones a la Stonehenge, overgrown with poisonous plants. Maybe these plants somehow 'animate' undead as well, maybe they are even the reason the 'original' zombie/priest awoke as an undead anyway.

As for the barrow itself, use a simple construction. Have it be a straightforward corridor with a few side rooms and a large room at the end. Let that seem like the main room, but it is a false tomb. Underneath the casket at the main room could be a hole in the ground leading to a lower level where the real tomb is situated somewhere in a small 'maze' of several rooms.

Have the 'upper' level be straightforward fighting and a bit of treasure, the lower rooms are one of traps and ambushes. Think of arrow traps, pit traps, maybe a few doors with puzzle traps.

In the centre of this lower level will be the zombie/priest inside a laboratory where he makes the powder (maybe a concentrate from the plants above?) that he uses to animate the undead. Maybe the lab contains some otehr potions as well, and maybe as the PC's enter, they just see the zombie/priest swallow a potion and disappear! (invisibility).

Just some quick thoughts....

 

[Hand of Evil]

Talk about the landscape, every now and then dropping landmarks to the players.

Also treat the wildness like any dungeon, it is the way you should view it, paths are hallways and corridors, encounters are room events. Interact the players, rangers / durids know the land they can read signs, wizards may see a plant they need for a spell. The part can meet a huntsman or hermit, the can see ruins of statues of ages gone by.

 

[Piratecat]

I think you should have a troop of reasonably intelligent undead (ghouls?) start to hunt the party. Herd them into a bog, harass them from the bushes and thickets, snipe at them with javelins... and when they separate to investigate, jump one of them. Make them think that they're no longer in control, and they'll get nervous enough to take the threat very seriously.