An Encounter: the Enchanted Orchard / the Haunted Forest

[Quixote]

Our wandering band of heroes find themselves along the path to Oona's chambers.

The wind blows warm and sweet. The land about them is filled with trees bearing mystic fruit, and the handmaidens of the orchard are kind, generous.
But then the wind changes, cold and sharp, and the orchard is no longer. It is a wild, hungry wood, grasping roots and strangling vines creep over the bones of heroes forgotten, and the deadly branchwraiths that dwell in the shadows are malicious, blood-drinking monsters.

So it's basically two encounters that the players find themselves randomly jumping between. Currently, I'm thinking that the orchard's features will include fruit that recover hp and levy a penalty to Will saves and dryad-like fae that have Sleep and Charm spell-like abilities. The forest's will involve skeletal tree monsters and vines that entangle anyone who remains still for too long. I'll definitely make sure that the wind changing is enough to wake up sleeping characters, so they aren't instantly killed as soon as the scenery flips. But I think the vines will still get them, and the charm effect will work just fine.

Just looking for any input that could take the encounter to the next level. I am not looking for templates for monsters, random charts, rules systems for different planes or anything else that can be relates by hyperlink. I am presenting an idea to a creative community for further creative ideas. Thoughts?

[Mark Hoover 330]

How LONG are these encounters? Do we anticipate players requiring sleep? I had a modified Lyrakian encounter where the PCs were able to enter into a skill challenge with the Azata, essentially trading stories and poems and entertaining one another; success allowed a modified version of her Traveler's Friend effect where they got an 8 hour rest over the course of an hour.

Gelfin Moss (stolen from the movie The Dark Crystal) - this moss grows in enchanted woodlands and is renowned for its healing properties. Using it in place of 2 uses of a Healer's Kit in the Treat Deadly Wounds or Provide Long-Term Care uses of the Heal skill, Gelfin Moss doubles all HP recovered and adds +1 to Ability Score recovery.

For the forest scenes, what about auras that inflict Waves of Fatigue or just general conditions, representing how the unnatural wilderness is draining the PCs' life force to feed its own? There might be a lot of Poisons you could lace the area with. A wasting disease with a supernaturally fast onset time, like say 1 hour, could be fun.

Will either scene contain fauna beyond the fey you mention might be a factor in the orchard? Even if they don't attack, you could describe weirdly twisted animals in the forest; grab some of your favorite animalistic-looking Aberration creatures and go to town! Feral, sickly animals that have been warped and yet somehow survive. Maybe throw in some kind of howling or baying that inflicts a negative condition.

Another thing to think about is landscape dressing. Pools of crystalline water, bubbling tea, honeyed ale and such could exist in the Orchard; consequently in the Forest would be bogs of liquid waste, fetid ponds of blood or even some kind of Ooze or Slime (monster or hazard). In the orchard: singing moss, fronds that braid the PCs hair as they pass, swarms of bugs that form into words or signs to help the characters. In the Forest: Thunderclap Caps - mushroom caps which, if disturbed, explode with a deafening bang; hypnotizing mold that changes colors to distract the unwary while the vines sneak in to attack; Liar Beetle Swarms that don't attack but just try to mislead the PCs.

Oh, and try and get them lost in both places. In the orchard it might just be a friendly prank as the fey giggle and then reward good-natured PCs with candy or something; in the forest use their off-course travel to drop them into hazards.

Finally, what about using the Haunt mechanics to invoke ambient memories or spiritual presence in each place? Say they wander into one spot in the Orchard and the memory of a fey revel takes place; unless the PCs make some saves they're swept up in the dance and might suffer Fatigue or something but also gain some temporary bonus like the effect of a Bless spell for the next hour. In the Forest you could really make it a Haunt with the PCs coming face to face with the vengeful spirits of victims long past.

[Quixote]

Mark Hoover 330 wrote:

How LONG are these encounters? Do we anticipate players requiring sleep?

I've really been keeping the pressure on them; the longer they take to rest, the harder it will be for their plans to succeed.

I don't forsee them having time to rest from the forest/orchard to the gate.

Mark Hoover 330 wrote:

I had a modified Lyrakian encounter where the PCs were able to enter into a skill challenge with the Azata, essentially trading stories and poems and entertaining one another; success allowed a modified version of her Traveler's Friend effect where they got an 8 hour rest over the course of an hour.

This sounds pretty cool, even though I hate the idea of skill challenges.

Mark Hoover 330 wrote:

For the forest scenes, what about auras that inflict Waves of Fatigue or just general conditions, representing how the unnatural wilderness is draining the PCs' life force to feed its own?

It's a cool idea, but I'm not sure I need more elements to hinder them. At least at the same time as the other stuff.

Mark Hoover 330 wrote:

Will either scene contain fauna beyond the fey you mention might be a factor in the orchard?

Of course. From furtive black squirrels to golden stags to ghost wolves.

I might do some mixed combats; branchwraiths, redcaps and some other beastie.

Mark Hoover 330 wrote:

Another thing to think about is landscape dressing...what about using the Haunt mechanics to invoke ambient memories or spiritual presence in each place?

This kind of stuff I've got covered, no problem. I'm mostly looking for another set of eyes on the matters of the actual running of the encounter; storytelling and game mechanics I've got.

[Mark Hoover 330]

I have to admit I don't understand what you mean by "the matters of the actual running of the encounter." If you've got game mechanics AND storytelling down, all that's left is to just storytell your way into the encounter, then run the game mechanics as is throughout the various interactions with the creatures, hazards and so on which you've added to said encounter.

That's running the encounter.

I'd suggest more interesting wilderness dressing, but you've already got that; I'd suggest cool ways to transition between the 2 different wilderness areas narratively, but that's storytelling which you've also handled. What precisely are you wanting help with in regards to running the encounter?

[Quixote]

Let's see if I can articulate this. It's like...

You want to make sure that the encounter is dynamic, interesting and memorable. As well as challenging and thrilling. You do that by making sure that there are a lot of interesting ways to interact with the elements of the encounter for as many characters in the group as possible, so no one is sitting at the table, waiting for it to be over, or feels stuck doing the same thing again and again, which is bssically just waiting for it to be over. This concept of engagement has to do with running the encounter but isn't game mechanics (fog grants concealment, entangle means -4 to Dex, etc.) and it isn't storytelling ("you see before you a dark and brooding forest, full of a malign vigilance"). It's the part of the game that the books don't really help you with and so many novice DMS are terrible at. It's an absolutely vital part of the game that most people don't seem to think about at all.