Rock Rakus - Vekeshi Plot Complications

I'm running Zeitgeist for a group that includes some new role players, one of whom is a Vekeshi Mystic. I neglected to have the player attend the meeting at which the Old Stag jokes that he wants Rock dead. So, after delivering the mirror to Gale, this seemed like a legit hit request. I was relatively fine with that, because it has potential to cause some interesting inter-party strife with the Dockers and to make her question the motives of the Mystics a bit.

The complication comes in based on the fact that the rest of the party wanted to keep Rock in jail (even the Dockers....). The Mystic, sensing her opportunity to strike fading away, decides she wants to carry out the hit in an interrogation room.

Two of the 5 party members have left the police station already. The other two assist, trusting that their friend and party member is acting in good faith. The Mystic rolls horribly on her coup de grace and I can't justify flubbing Rock's saving throw for a DC11... They then proceed to stab him to death over a few rounds as he yells to the police. Officers arrive and arrest the three constables.

So, now I have 3/5 of my party in custody for the murder of Rock Rakus in a police station... Their defense is basically "he started it" and I'm struggling to come up with a creative, yet believable, way to resolve things that allow us to continue playing.

Does a fellow Mystic pay their bail and then obfuscate the situation sufficiently that their charges get dropped? Does Viscount Inspector Prince-Hill straight-up kick them out of the RHC? Are constables just trusted more than Rock Rakus?

Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated. Thank you in advance!

This sounds like a great way to put the PCs in debt to a nefarious NPC. Perhaps Governor Stanfield bails them out, then makes it clear that they owe him a favor. Later on, when they're starting to figure out that he might be a traitor, he calls in that favor to send them somewhere irrelevant on some arduous task or other.

Or maybe Morgan Cippiano offers to bribe the judge for them in exchange for a favor, and later on, he cashes in the favor for the RHC to look the other way while he lays claim to Parity Lake and absorbs the last remnant of the Kell Guild's operations.

Whatever you do, this should DEFINITELY feature large in Margaret Saxby's audit!

That sounds like a great approach! My PCs particularly enjoyed Cippiano, so he may be a good "friend." It is definitely going to come up in the audit... I appreciate the suggestions!

Always interesting to see things go a bit left field. Shame to lose Rock Rackus, though. He crops up a lot later in the campaign. My players love him.

gideonpepys said:

Always interesting to see things go a bit left field. Shame to lose Rock Rackus, though. He crops up a lot later in the campaign. My players love him.

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My party also chose to kill off Rock, so I just replaced him with another NPC: the cousin of a PC who served as an undercover contact aboard the Avery Coast Railroad. Since the character is from a PC's backstory, the party has a stronger emotional connection to her, and it's also allowed me to rewrite the character as being less silly than Rock was originally written.

gideonpepys said:

Always interesting to see things go a bit left field. Shame to lose Rock Rackus, though. He crops up a lot later in the campaign. My players love him.

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Yeah, I'm a little disappointed, but it's the direction the players wanted to take things, so I'll roll with it.