As a DM, how would you catch...

...a PC kidnapper?

My druid shapeshifted into an owl, went invisible, and sat on the roof of a wealthy merchant's mansion until the merchant showed herself. Not knowing that the merchant was actually a powerful Psion, but suspecting her of great evil, the druid cast Baleful Polymorph from the roof, turning the psion into a terrier (the merchant failed both saves). Swooping down, the owl grabbed the dog and flew off, away from the confused and now-panicing household guards.

That night (barely an hour later), the druid used Tree-walk (name? Teleport via trees) and got out of town.

The PC's arent aware of the search that is now going on for the merchant, but suffice to say that there is going to be some reckoning when the Lawful good city guard find the druid.

How would you start looking for a shape-shifted druid who kidnapped a powerful person? What spells would you use (I'm not familiar with Divination spells, really), what prestige classes or regular classes would you start with? Basically, I am custom-building a lawful NPC that is going to go out into the wilderness and track the PC's down and attempt to bring them to justice for kidnapping.

Ideas?

Kealios

What are the searchers resources? What level? What classes? That kind o' thing.

The "bounty hunter" can be any class, and I anticipate him or her to be around 10th level, give or take. Lawful good is preferable, but LN is fine also. The city is a NG government, reasonably large (50k+ population). This person would either be a government employee (city watch specialist, maybe), or a bounty hunter interested in bringing the lawbringer to justice (not looking to fight or kill the PC's, because they are good-aligned, but looking to bring them to justice using mortal means They've already had a deity send an angel after them for a different act the commited...).

Im basically looking for spells that would let me identify the culprit (how can you tell who did something when they were in an animal form?). This NPC would have access to the premesis (he could climb onto the roof where the crime occured and use divination spells, if needed, or guide a cleric/wizard who was helping him). Once he identifies the PC, he will want to track that person (who is now only a hundred miles away, but the searcher doesnt know that), but the trail leaves the city magically, so magical means of location/detection and travel are needed.

First step: Determine the resources that will be thrown at this issue. Who is going to report the Psion missing? If it's the servants, then are they aware of their master's evil doing or not? Inviting the constabulary into the house to explain what happened might tip the guard off to the Psion's bad-ness. Especially if the person investigating is talented enough to track down the druid.

Do the guard know that they are looking for "a shape-shifted druid"? If they know the specific individual they're looking for, then Scry would be the first step. The person performing the Scry will want items that belong to the druid in order to help it work.

Otherwise, a Divination spell (the 4th level spell) asking "Where will I find the kidnapper at X time" would be a good way to try and locate the Druid. Send one decent level NPC in with a nice crew of low-level types equipped with tanglefoot bags to catch the (low-reflex save) druid. I like the Justiciar PrC out of Complete Warrior, I think. Club him into submission, and bring him back to justice. Keep the other PC's seperated from the target - the druid - and just get the target.

Track them for a while to determine where the Psion is - after all, freeing the "innocent" kidnappee is a top priority. Misdirect the party into leaving him poorly guarded if you can. I once did this by having the bad guys hire a batch of orcs to attack the party as if a random encounter - the PC's went running pell-mell after the orcs, leaving no one behind to guard their prisoners, and they were easily rescued. As your guards are LG, an illusion of some sort might be in order instead.

Does that help?

Interesting concept, first I would ask who will be in charge of the merchant's operations in her absence. Do they have the resources to hire searchers in addition to the legal authority. That opens up lots of possibilities-bounty hunters, spies and thugs of all descriptions can be involved. On the legal side, how closely are the church and state aligned? If you get a lawful church involved you get access to lots of divinations and Paladins as searchers.

In terms of spells that might be used, Scrying is the obvious choice. Bards, Clerics, Druids, and Wizard/Sorcerers all get access to it many as early as 7th level. This allows the caster to see the Merchant and 10' of her surroundings. If that isn't enough to reveal her location in itself, then assuming she is reasonably intelligent and somewhat familiar with magic she might well try to get a message to anyone scrying her about her location. Once they start to get close the searchers can use Locate Creature or Prying Eyes to home in on her. Greater Scrying will give the searchers a chance to send the merchant information via the message spell. Thus, they could let her know when they are watching so she could state her location (scry is auditory too) or the names of her captors. I suspect they aren't being too careful about concealing their identity around her. If people know where the characters are based or normally operate a bit of old fashioned detective work might reveal their lair. Given the method of the abduction, the searchers may suspect a Druid. If so, they may put pressure on the local Druidic hierarchy to reveal the kidnapper. The if you want to make it really easy for the searchers just give them access to the Discern Location spell. That foils most protections against divinations and tells the caster exactly where the person is. All they need is some possession belonging to the Merchant and they can find her. This will require a caster of relatively high level--its an eighth level spell, but if that is not an issue then she is as good as found. Alternatives you might want to read up on include Legend Lore and Vision.

If you need to go the non-magical route it will be a little harder, but I suspect that the players will leave some sort of clues. I would suggest a mix of at least some of the following in the search party--rogues, scouts, bards, and rangers. Paladins, spell casters barbarians and psionic types can all add greatly to the chances for success. I'm sure others can recommend some prestige classes as well. You'll need searchers with the skills to investigate--gather information, survival--with tracking, search, spot, and perhaps profession bounty hunter or law enforcer. They would need to look into who has shown and interest in the Merchant, Druids in the area and his associates, other unusual activities in the area. All of these things can lead back to the party. How did they discover the Merchant? Is their someone how knows the party was interested in her? Someone they used as a contact?

That's what I can come up with off the top of my head. It should give you an idea of where to start.


If you need to go the non-magical route it will be a little harder, but I suspect that the players will leave some sort of clues. I would suggest a mix of at least some of the following in the search party--rogues, scouts, bards, and rangers. Paladins, spell casters barbarians and psionic types can all add greatly to the chances for sucess. I'm sure others can recommend some prestige classes as well. You'll need searchers with the skills to investigage--gather information, survival--with tracking, search, spot, and perhaps profession bounty hunter or law enforcer. They would need to look into who has shown and interest in the Merchant, Druids in the area and his associates, other unusual activities in the area. All of these things can lead back to the party. How did they discover the Merchant? Is their someone how knows the party was interested in her? Someone they used as a contact?

That's what I can come up with off the top of my head. It should give you an idea of where to start.

Kealios said:

Ideas?

Click to expand...

If they still have the merchant terrier, then consider having Scry show the terrier as the merchant. The first thing that anyone looking for a kidnapper shoudl do is scry for the kidnapping victim with a piece of their clothing (provided by the family). They'd know where she was unless they hid her from scrying.

Remember that forcing a Druid captive into a chainmail shirt can ruin their whole day. Literally, even if they take it off.

I think a Lawful Neutral bounty-hunter would be more flexible, since they wouldn't care why they druid kidnapped the woman. Just make the bounty a "bring 'em back alive" bounty if you don't want them to assassinate your PCs. A Lawful Neutral Druid using Scry, Commune with Nature, and Speak with Animals along with the Track feat to find out what happened and track down the party could be interesting. Having him or her toss a Baleful Polymorph back at the PC druid could be nice poetic justice, depending on how the Saving Throws go.

You should also consider what the merchants friends and family will do. If they know powerful enough clerics, calling in a Retriever Demon (via Planar Ally) to recover the little dog might not be out of the question. It could provide a nice encounter for your PCs.

Another trick to remember is the Sending spell. It won't work as long as the terrier has a terrier mind, but if a Scrying shows the merchant as a humanoid again a Sending will let her communicate a 25 word message back. It's a great way of getting inside information out.

I'll also point out that this is a merchant, not a prince or mayor or anything. Spellcasting for hire is expensive and someone has to foot the bill. Just like we don't break out the CIA spy sattelites for every kidnapping, unless this woman is far more important to the public than you've indicated there will be a limit to how much the city will pay. A single Scrying + Sending combo is at least 830gp. A Divination is at least another 280gp. These are not small change for spells without assured results. Make sure you know who is paying and why they're paying and how much they'll pay. There's a reason most places just post a flat bounty and leave it at that. Then you only have to pay for successful results.

After all, this is a high level PC who played it very smart. It is entirely possible for them to get away with it scott free.

Your thread title poses the wrong question. You, as DM, know who the kidnapper is. You are quite capable of locating him and/or causing great harm to him.

The correct question is "How would fantasy folk go about solving this mystery?" It's not your job to punish the PC. Just react appropriately to his actions. If the PC gets away with it, so be it. If there happens to be an uber-hunter in the area, so be it.

The first step I'd take is to determine what NPCs care. The second is to figure out what resources are at their disposal. At either one of these steps, you can throw in the "fantasy bounty hunter".

Your player has just demonstrated why druids make great Big Bad Evil Guys.

My recommendations is that you consider that the druid may get away with his plans. Consider failure on the part of the NPCs.

First of all, who is going to search for him? Suppose that his family is happier with him out of the picture? Suppose they just put out minimal effort to get him back?

Also imagine that even if someone starts an investigation that the investigations hit a dead end. All they can do is wait for any ransom demands, then work from there. They may just pay it off if they feel that they can't really do anything against a high-level spellcaster. Otherwise, investigations could restart based on the ransom message.

EDIT: I didn't mean to be a copycat. The posts previous to mine weren't in the page that I was reading and using for a reply.

2nd EDIT: Have you considered having the NPC party try to hire the PC party to find and recover the psion? Without them having a clue that the PC party are connected to all of this?

I'd just set up a scenario where the PC's later discover that they need the merchant and let them then worry about how to find a terrier in a big city. Let them try to interrogate the other children who have already lost their father and sister and now break out in tears at every one of the party's questions.

Then give the party clues that lead them to a large slum where several of the merchant's former employees are now out of work and caring for their families by hunting down dogs to sell as food to the unsuspecting.