Worm chase

[tim01300]

Hey everyone,
I'm looking for help to try and create a noncombat encounter in the middle of the underdark. Party is disguised as drow, working for the drow and returning to the drow city after a mission. Basically we have had a decent amount of combat encounters lately and I'm trying to come up with something a little different. Some sort of underdark puzzle or skill challenge. (party is 6 man, lvl 12ish)

My first thought is a massive ancient purple worm chases the party, I'd have to make it really big to keep them from fighting it. I'm looking for ideas or ways to run this so it's fun and not just a "I use two move actions to run away".

Any help?

[DrMotives]

Terrain? If this worm's territory is the Underdark version of say, Yellowstone park, with sulfur ponds & steam vents haphazardly strewn through a maze like tunnel system it gets a lot more interesting. Wild fungi & lichens act more like traps than combat encounters, giving diseases or poison effects as the PCs race through without checking so they don't get eaten. A loose sandy floor hides sinkholes and crumbly ground over dangerous fissures. It's all structurally shot to hell due to over-tunneling from hunting worms.

Maybe the safe space nearby is the city carved into the stalactites half a mile above it all in the ceiling of the vault this whole place. The duergar who live in the roof-city take bets on the life-span of people running for their lives through the steam vent & purple worm infested wilderness below. So the whole time your PCs are trying to navigate and escape, have them roll listen checks which reveal drunken laughter from above.

[Darrin]

When I read the title, I thought you meant the PCs ride inside a purple worm's mouth cyst (A&EG p. 86), and they get into some sorta Cannonball Run thing, where several purple worms are in a "Undermountain Rally" race.

Now I'm disappointed.

However... that could still be an encounter. Purple worm pulls up to the PCs, mouth opens, illithid driver pops out and asks them for directions. Or asks/tricks/dominates them into laying a trap for one of the other contestants behind him.

[Firest Kathon]

Look up the chase rules (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/gamemastering/other-rules/chases) from Pathfinder.