Adventure Help, Please!

[TheBrassDuke]

So for my campaign, I'm doing adventures in Teirs (1-5, 5-10, etc.). For the first arc I will be building up to a fierce encounter beneath the city, in the depths of a massive crypt. The final boss of Tier One is the Orb of the Undead (ripped straight from Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance), and it has been placed (by whom? A dread Necromancer who will join the party at the end of tier 1; she is working for someone more powerful) in the crypt to begin animating hordes of undead. At some point they will rise to the streets and attack citizens.

The PCs are going to have to battle their way through rat and goblin-infested sewers, and finally the droves of undead pouring upwards, in order to face off against this malevolent sphere.

Okay, so here's where I'm going blind. I don't really know what to do to bring the PCs together at the moment, or what to do leading up to this battle.

This is an unusual point in my career. I'm having some creative block, and I'm not sure why. I had ideas, and now--poof! They're gone.

For reference, I've got:

Gnome Artificer 1

"Dhampir" Rogue 1

Half-Elf Druid 1

Suli-Jann ("Jinn") Sorcerer 1

And an in-and-out Cleric (Creation and Good) 1

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I've basically stated to my players that a week before the beginning, the earth rumbled so hard, a city to the east crumbled to the ground. A bright and blinding flash lit up the evening sky for eight full minutes.

The Druid comes to the city petitioning the governor for aid and questions regarding why his grove is falling apart, seemingly desecrated.

The rogue has been arrested for taking advantage of the widespread panic and looting.

The sorcerer is bound to the Artificer, and is assisting him in exchange for freedom of services down the line.

The Artificer has been in talks with local academics and a few wizards, trying to figure out what happened.

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I'm ashamed of what little I have to go on. It's been very strange, having such a block before game time.

Please help!

[Darrin]

Okay, so here's where I'm going blind. I don't really know what to do to bring the PCs together at the moment, or what to do leading up to this battle.


Well, it's cliché, but it works well enough:

Funeral. Ol' Lord Plothook kicked the bucket, and for some reason {insert PC's name here} is mentioned in the will. He could have been a distant relation, a member of an adventuring party that an immediate relative used to belong to, a case of mistaken identity (missing twin?), or just someone completely unknown to the PC.

Mr. Shyster is the lawyer overseeing the will, and he could be a low-level NPC flunky for the BBEG, or a pawn of some high-level kingmakers facing off over a human chessboard.

Use the inheritances from the will to distribute some mysterious clues to the PCs that will become much more important later. Throw in some noble relations who are now peeved at the PCs for "stealing" their "inheritance".

As the reading of the will winds down and/or up, Lord Plothook breaks out of his coffin as a zombie (necromancy spell gone bad?) to set the mood and give the PCs an idea of what the theme of the campaign will be.

[TheBrassDuke]

That sounds pretty neat, I'll see what I can work with there.

[TheBrassDuke]

Any more suggestions or advice is welcome, too!