I’ve found this trope works best when all players know the secret, but the characters don’t. If it’s a cool, interesting secret, everyone can play into it and enjoy the dramatic irony.

Glad everyone had fun! I think you are right about introducing “Them” a bit sooner. If their current location is clearly unsafe, then the city would start looking like a better option.

I think the fantasy setting gives you some added challenges as well. Most of the scenarios the genre comes with are modern-ish setting, and I think that helps set the stakes for players without having to mention it. A window breaking nearby is scary because you know what it would be like if it happened to you and you know the fear of stepping on glass, but describing a whole village burning down in Mörk Borg is less scary because it’s so far removed from daily life. For your story, you just need to do some extra legwork to make the threats more personal.

I can’t help with Baby Yoda Basilisks though. :)

This is great advice. I like how this shares the narrative burden with the other people at the table. Mini-encounters like these give you some insight into a characters values, it’s less railroad-y, and there’s always the threat that it could turn into a big encounter if handled poorly. Plus, the players discussing what they want to do takes up some real world time, and that makes the travel seem less instantaneous.

Looks like I’m little late for this one. How’d your game go, OP? For anyone else, I’ve played in a couple games and GMed a few as well. Here’s what I’ve learned:

• As Leokadia said, learning into the ceremony is important. It’s all too easy for players to break the tension with jokes, and the ceremony helps maintain that feeling of solemness.
• Whenever a candle goes out, feel free to fast forward to the next scene where something dramatic will happen. I didn’t do this, and just kept going into the next moment. After the fact, I felt like things would have been more interesting if I had kept things moving.
• it’s easy to forget, but remember that everything is dark. Your players will need to figure out how to see where they are going. If you need a quick way to ramp up tension, you can threaten their light source. Don’t do this too often though.
• Take a bathroom break before play begins. It sucks when you have to pause the game at a tense moment, and then you may be faced with the fact that a light or two went out in your absence