D&D 5E Death dog hunt ideas?

[Quickleaf]

My party of six 3rd-level characters are setting out on a death dog hunt, and I could use some ideas about how to structure it and ways to spice it up.

Backstory is that they're hunting the death dog that brought disease to a halfling family. What they don't know but will find out is that the death dog was kicked out of a pack (alpha struggle) that serves an antagonist tied to the paladin PC. The death dog, scarred and brooding, made a new home for itself in the Lyrchwood where it has taken control of a pack of wild dogs.

Lyrchwood is from Night Below, and is described as having no major predators, a roughly 27 mile long, 12 mile wide stretch of larch woods which was once used for logging. Night Below mentions the wild dogs, but I added the death dog.

I know a couple things for sure:

• I want there to be some aspects of exploration.
• I'm going for a Black Hound / Hound of Ill Omen kind of vibe, and will use Lair Actions to reinforce that.
• Two PCs (paladin and ranger) have canine companions which may be swayed by the death dog's "Howl of the Pack."
• A new PC (moon druid) will be joining the party during their hunt, to replace a PC who died last session.
• I have the "main fight" as 12 mastiffs and a death dog... though I'm brainstorming a way for the PCs to free the wild dogs from the death dog's "spell", since there are many animal lovers in the party and likely they'll want to spare the animals.

[SBLOCK=Lair Action ideas]
The Black Hound
The Black Hound is a two-headed monstrosity that terrorizes the Lyrchwood. Its two heads symbolize the two cultural undercurrents running thru the village of Cairngorm's Hollow: The Old Ways of sacrificing magic-users to the Wizening Tree vs. the new ways of tolerance and denying the spirits advocated by the feudal noble Lady Bridgette. Sages, druids, and witches believe that until the Hollow settles on a united course for their village, the Black Hound cannot be killed.

Stats: Death Dog with 48 hit points, and on natural 20 knocks prone and deals +1d6 damage.

Lair Actions
On initiative count 20 (losing all initiative ties), the Black Hound can use one of its lair action options. The Black Hound cannot use the same lair action in consecutive rounds.

Disorienting Howl: All hostile creatures or prey within 120 feet must make a DC 12 Intelligence saving throw or become lost and be unable to take reactions until the end of their next turn.
Howl of Ill Omen: All creatures within 120 feet that can see the Black Hound must make a DC 12 Charisma saving throw or suffer vulnerability to all damage and be immune to magical healing. >> this may target only guilty creatures a la Hound of Ill Omen, or perhaps such creatures suffer disadvantage on their save??
Howl of the Pack: All mastiffs within 120 feet make a saving throw or Escape attempt, and either 3 mastiffs join the fight at the edge of the map or canine animal companions must make a DC 12 Charisma saving throw or become charmed by the death dog and run off to join the pack.
Trace of Death: Tracks of the Black Hound and any mastiffs within 120 feet turn black and cause nearby plant life to wither; any creature attempting to follow these tracks must make a DC 12 Wisdom saving throw or become frightened of the Black Hound until ??
Shadow Hunt: Until the end of the Black Hound’s next turn, any time it or a mastiff in its pack knocks a creature prone, the creature and any adjacent mastiffs planeshift to the Shadowfell until the start of the creature’s next turn.[/SBLOCK]


Hit me with your ideas!

 

[iserith]

Due to his or her connection with the wild, the druid is also susceptible to the death dog's "Howl of the Pack" when wild-shaped. Make the players aware of this either by establishing that the druid already knows it's possible or by having an NPC tell a tale of "a woodsman closer to nature than to his fellows who became a crazed madman at hearing the bay of the devil dog." Or something along those lines. Don't let it be a "gotcha" when it happens.

 

[Valmarius]

If you want to reinforce the idea that the mastiffs are being controlled, you could introduce a youngster who has lost their dog (or perhaps it's becoming a regular occurrence around town). When the first mastiff attacks a PC, describe it as wearing a distinctive collar or other item that identifies it as the lost pup. Actually, having this encounter earlier would work great as a way to show/teach the PCs that the dogs can be saved. So that they know it's a viable strategy before coming into the big fight.

I like your Trace of Death ability, simply because it gives a really thematic way for the party to track the beast and for you to telegraph the importance of these particular tracks.

 

[Unwise]

I ran a Death Dog style encounter myself a while ago. It was summoned by a PC unknowingly killing a kinsman, or breaking an oath, I can't remember which. The PC who is was hunting would auto-fail any attempt to attack it, though they did not know it and it was intangible to him, and it never missed him. I was going for the unstoppable manifestation of a force of nature/death vibe. He was quiet simple doomed to die, unless others intervened.

The Lair Actions I used all had to do with doom and misfortune.
1) The wolf howls, but only one person hears it. It has marked them and will auto-crit them whenever it attacks, until it uses this ability on somebody else. The idea was to get that person to run the hell away, have the other PCs slow it, freeze it, prone it, whatever they could do to stop it getting to the person.
2) Phantom wolves, a version of phantom foes. They are manifestations of the persons inner guilt, so guilt-ridden characters take extra damage and disadvantage on resistance. Paragons of virtue or psychopaths might get advantage.
3) A variation of fairie fire, the howl dooms people to get hit more and they can't hide from their fate
4) Tripping on a root, the person falls prone. This was used to great effect as the marked/doomed person tries to flee the scene.
5) Reaction when somebody rolls a 1, they hit another PC. This then opens them up to guilt which gives them disadvantage vs some powers.

The dog eventually was defeated when the guy he was hunting decided he did not want to have his friends die to save him and it was hopeless, so he confessed his guilt an accepted his punishment. In effect, it got rid of the effect that made the dog unhittable by him, since he was relatively fresh (having had to stay the hell away from it), he managed to finish it off. I could not have asked for a more epic ending.