Need ideas for a suspenseful encounter

[Zeromage1]

Hey guys, my heroes just killed a necromancer and two acolytes in a spooky old mansion. One of them disappeared before the encounter and unknown to them he's been captured days earlier and is in the basement. Is there anyway I can make the encounter of finding him suspenseful? Maybe a pit and the pendulum
Type of thing... Or something completely different. Any ideas?

[Zeromage1]

The idea is that he was going to be used as a human sacrifice for later and there is also a female NPC down there too. She is a commoner.

[KnotKnormal]

I would normally say go sacrifice as you suggested but if the party fails I wouldn't want to kill off the character because everyone else messed up.

other then that, split up the party some how, should be easy in a creepy old mansion. I find that the most suspenseful times I have with my party is when they can only rely on themselves to get a job done, as apposed to one member being able to pick up the slack of others. you want to try to keep up the sense of urgency through out the whole thing with a bunch of annoying mundane crap getting in the way. puzzle doors with time limits are always fun to use. so when they get there and time is almost up and the person is about to die they already have an connection with the NPC or other Player to protect them and they become desperate to do so.

[Baroknik]

I was going to suggest a fight on a bridge, but I think you mean something different...

[HaikenEdge]

I was going to suggest a fight on a bridge, but I think you mean something different...

If it's a creepy old mansion, there's no reason why some of the upper stories couldn't have rotting floors. Floor breaks, leave 'em hanging.