The high level premise of the evening is that a number of people have received an invitation and a letter to attend a dinner party at the long abandoned Van Pelt manor. The letter states this is on behalf of the Calabazas Society and it will be lavish and fun.
The players will be given their characters, like a murder mystery evening. They will have a basic background and possibly some facts that may or may not help them in the course of the evening. More details in Player Characters. They will all be in the range of levels 14-17.
Explore the manor and/or the grounds a bit and chat up the host and/or the other guests, and possibly each other. I’m now wondering how this will work if people aren’t travelling as a party initially. I will probably minimize that part. Most of the conversation may happen at the dinner table, as the plan is to have people sit to eat before things get interesting. Also, when people start to sit, it may be noticed that a couple of NPCs are missing, but perhaps more telling is that there aren’t places set for them. At some point someone needs to mention offhand about the rotting pumpkin patch beside the manor, in case the group didn’t see it.
Some how (TODO: flesh out) it is revealed that the people gathered are considered threats or influencial enough that they need to be eliminated. I’m thinking that a bunch of undead attack at this point or maybe something with poison in the food. In any case, one of the NPCs who is a high level wizard is able to help out with some spell that requires concentration to hold back the danger (whatever it is). He tells you to uncover the source of the evil and destroy it.
At this point there is some urgency to try and get through the manor and find the lair. I have some puzzles, but what I still need is some way to get people through the manor in a timely way. I can obviously narrate some of it, but at this point I kind of want them to drive most of it. I’m hoping to have proper maps made, which may help. I don’t want too many encounters as this can really slow things down, but I probably can’t avoid at least one or two. Undead things. Perhaps they are no match for the party so they are over quickly. They end up in my puzzle tile room which traps them until they solve it, it may also reveal some clue that points them to the pumpkins. That lets them into an old study. Maybe Linus’s old study where they can get info on who he is and what he was up to.
Once they get the pumpkin connection, they are led out to the rotting pumpkin patch beside the manor (did I mention that was there?) and somehow there is a sunken bunker situation there, and scarecrows are naturally already around. So then I can use the scarecrow puzzle. They get through and into the heart of the Great Pumpkin Lich lair.
The main boss battle, which will likely involve other undead as well. I will need to run through this myself at least once to make sure I’m not cutting through the party like butter. Once they defeat the Lich, the rest of the undead depart or return to the ground etc. They may also find the nasty blue blanket folded somewhere which is the Lich’s phylactery. If so they could destroy it. Maybe the pumpkin patch is healthy when they emerge. Depending on how much time is left we can see if the wizard survived, but that is basically it.
I’m using a human as the host, but the place will likely be crawling with undead, and I’m wondering thematically if having a Paladin in the group is a good idea as his divine sense would be tingling. :)
What information can different players have that would be useful when combined. I’m thinking something about some strange kid who used to live here. Maybe the elf knew of the house before Linus moved in and knew of some hidden passage way which helps them gathering clues.