Where to go from here? Ideas for the antagonists

[Ttttttt]

Hello, I recently just ran the first session of my new campaign and was wondering if you all had any ideas that you could spare me. I'm looking at ideas of possible clues, hints, or just anything about things I could throw to my players or give them to make progress in their current investigation. I'll tell you what happened during our first session that happened a few days ago and maybe everyone can give an idea of what I could have next!

(The first arc I'm running right now is also heavily inspired by the Witcher 3 so there might be some similarities there if you have eyes and ears to see them!)

The first session started with them all arriving at a town named Therechild. A location set within a hilly and war-ravaged region called the Rowen Bridglands. The town is small and wraps around a hill whereupon the top a red-brick castle is located where the Baron of the town takes residency. After doing character introductions and spending some time all doing their own things, the characters saw a strange figure ride fast into town and all the town guards followed him to the castle. Suddenly ice begin to rapidly grow on the windows of buildings and frost began to appear in a region that's normally warm. Suddenly an icy flurry appeared and coming from the sky were seven armored figures on skeleton horses who attacked the town. The characters sprung into the action and were able to kill all of them but the leader of them who escaped, not only after they also slaughtered half the town too. The guards then returned with the Baron and the cloaked figure who then invited them all for dinner after they cleaned up the town to thank them for their help. During the dinner, the characters were told that the cloaked man brought a message that this was not the first attack done by these riders and that the Baron was scared for the rest of the towns within the Rowen Bridglands. He hired the characters to stop these riders and to bring a message to the nearby town of Tark's Landing, warning them of the attacks. The characters then of course asked for anything they could have to help and after refilling supplies spent the night at the castle where we ended the session.

I'm planning on having the next session in a bit or so and was wondering if there were any ideas for the next session that people could give me. I'm planning on having them travel to the next town (which they said they were) and during the walk something happening. I'm thinking that the riders are reborn soldiers of a civil war that occurred four years prior to the start of the campaign. I also lastly know that the Baron is bringing the message to the town because it's run by his daughter, and even if they are not in good relations he still cares about her (the characters know this too).

Any ideas? Could literally be about the enemies or cool encounters for the next session!
Thanks, everyone!

[Darth Credence]

The first thing that comes to mind for me is to have a ghost battle at a battle site from the civil war. I would have a story of a battle that ended up happening at night under a full moon (or moons, depending on the setting). In the end, the battle led to almost everyone being wiped out, and the bodies just left there to rot. The players stop for the night somewhere on the battleground (probably a good place to camp, which is why the battle happened there). The undead rise, as they do every time the moon is in that position, and they proceed to battle. They will only fight the players if the players attack them, which would allow you to have a lot of undead fighting without risking the party any more than they bring down on themselves. Good way for them to learn more about the war - perhaps through speak with the dead, if they can.

[Unoriginal]

What if the baron's daughter heard of the problem ahead of time by her own network, and she hired Yugoloth mercenaries to protect Tark's Landing.

It works (especially if the PCs help), but this causes the leader of the riders to reevaluate their strategy and work to augment their forces' power by unlocking old dungeons all over Rowen Bridglands and attempt to loot them/unleash their content before the next attack.

[Sorinth]

I think you want to try and foreshadow what you can about the mini-boss. I think you'll want to give them a lead to follow before they reach the town but also have the daughter have a mission for them as well so they can choose how they want to go about things.


In terms of encounters, I would have them cross an old battlefield from the civil war where they find a disturbed mass grave where an unknown number of undead clawed their way out of the grave and are out there somewhere. Searching around they should find the clue/lead to follow. Perhaps some war banners that have a sigil that matched the riders who first attacked. Perhaps a grave marker commemorating the battle, or even an NPC that is hiding out after they saw the undead emerge and will give the PCs some knowledge about what animated the undead from the grave (Was it a magical effect that passed over, or a necromancer of some sort, etc...).

Whatever the clue the daughter's town should have a monastery/library/sage where they can get more info on whatever clue they got and have a sorta path to continue to follow it. But the daughter should also have her own mission to send the PCs on. Something like an important NPC is late arriving in town so with undead out in the wilds she wants the PCs to ride out, find the important NPC and escort them safely to town and of course there would be another encounter with the riders + some additional creature (Different leader with different abilities would differentiate the fight a little).

[Ttttttt]

Thanks everyone for the input thus far

I think right now I like the idea of having the riders be revenants (kind've) from the civil war, soldiers who've been raised from the dead who all have something in common that they want to do before they're finally put to rest. I think usually it's someone that they want to kill but I'll adjust it so that they were soldiers on the losing side and they've risen to take down the remaining towns, the ones who had won.

I'm just figuring out ideas right now for hints that I could give my players. I think as they're traveling next session they'll have a moment where they're riding through a battlefield and they'll find signs of corpses missing and maybe I'll drop a clue there.

I love all the ideas so far and will definitely be using a lot of them but if anyone has more ideas for hints or clues I could give to my players that could really lead to anything dealing with the antagonists please let me know!

I'm just trying to really set in a sense of dread and danger for them.

Thanks for the kind help everyone!