D&D 5E Murder Investigation and Trial

[Eltab]

Can anybody in the village ritual-cast Zone of Truth? THAT will mess up any PCs who were thinking about lying. Especially if you hide the circle under a big rug and make the PCs stand on it.

A "chief elder" could be the judge / jury for the trial. He might be assisted by Inspector Poirot (from Murder on the Orient Express) or Inspector Javert (from Les Miserables).
Plot hook: Regardless of the outcome of village justice, "Inspector Javert" decides that the PC is guilty in truth and begins hunting him with intent to execute him after the PCs cross over to somebody else's territory or head towards a known dungeon.

Ask each PC and the important NPCs what they know - separately. It would be a hoot if the PC killer's own friends told the court that their friend is also a blabbermouth, while the NPCs' friends tell the Court that their friend keeps his opinions and impulses to himself.

If the Chief Elder still can't decide, have him exile both prime suspects ... with only the clothes on their backs.
Oh, don't forget to mention - they are shackled to each other by a chain long enough that either could use it to choke the other!

 

[Saeviomagy]

Can anybody in the village ritual-cast Zone of Truth? THAT will mess up any PCs who were thinking about lying. Especially if you hide the circle under a big rug and make the PCs stand on it.

If you are affected by a zone of truth, you know that you are affected, and you can just walk back out again.

A "chief elder" could be the judge / jury for the trial. He might be assisted by Inspector Poirot (from Murder on the Orient Express) or Inspector Javert (from Les Miserables).

I wouldn't expect there to be a separate investigator unless it's some other NPC with a heavy investment. That said, I'd expect there to be no shortage of trackers in a stone age village, most likely including the elder themselves.

Plot hook: Regardless of the outcome of village justice, "Inspector Javert" decides that the PC is guilty in truth and begins hunting him with intent to execute him after the PCs cross over to somebody else's territory or head towards a known dungeon.

This sort of thing is a good idea. Even if the PC gets off scott free, there's no certainty that individual village members will be satisfied with the verdict.

Ask each PC and the important NPCs what they know - separately. It would be a hoot if the PC killer's own friends told the court that their friend is also a blabbermouth, while the NPCs' friends tell the Court that their friend keeps his opinions and impulses to himself.

I'd expect that the only witnesses brought forth will be ones the elder selects. And I doubt they will include the PC's friends unless those friends are particularly well respected.

So in terms of making an adventure from this: convince the people who you think will be witnesses to say that you didn't do it, or to say that the orc did it.

If the Chief Elder still can't decide, have him exile both prime suspects ... with only the clothes on their backs.
Oh, don't forget to mention - they are shackled to each other by a chain long enough that either could use it to choke the other!

Yeah, if neither are liked or have allies in the village, then I do think that a verdict that hedges and applies to them both will be likely.

 

[Imaculata]

If the rest of the party tries to help protect their murdering colleague by lying to the local authorities, they could be convincted as well, if they can be proven to have lied.

 

[Shadowdweller00]

Really depends on what resources the village has available. Some options:

1) A village with magic means of interrogation might use that.
2) A superstitious village might have a priest or soothsayer to use divination spells like augury to determine guilt. Or have a random official look for supposed omens from the gods or spirits without the use of spells (perhaps colored by personal bias) otherwise.
3) A village with skilled hunters available might simply investigate the crime scene and look for tracks.
4) Less scrupulous villages might simply try to torture a confession out of any persons of interest.

Based on the description given, I'd personally tend to have the remaining elders try to "arrest" the PC with whatever warriors are available based on the poor roll for hiding tracks. The remaining elders meet and accuse the halfling of the crime, stating that it was well known that he was on bad terms with the slain NPC and that his tracks were found near the murder scene. The PC then gets a chance to defend himself...to come up with a plausible alternative description of events and either persuade, deceive, or intimidate the remaining elders into accepting his defense...possibly with the assistance of willing companions. If the elders decide that the PC is guilty, they might consider punishments such as stoning (physical attacks supposedly to the point of death, but possibly allowing the PC to "play dead" or fight his way free instead); or something like throwing him in a pit with a cave bear or other appropriate beast. IOW, the PC gets a chance to resolve the issue through social means...and if that fails through some sort of threatening combat.

 

[dpkress2]

Let's say I made this into a 4th edition style skill challenge. The goal being for the Halfling to avoid getting caught. (8 successes before 3 failures)

I wonder what ways the various skills could be used be the players and for what purpose?

Acrobatics: ????
Animal Handling: ????
Arcana:???
Athletics: ????
Deception: Obviously lying and/or blaming the Half-orc
Insight: ????
Intimidation: Bullying someone into confirming an alibi or lying in his favor
Investigation: ????
Medicine: Some clever interpretation or deception about the cause of death. Timing maybe?
Nature: Same. (also the path he took to get back home led him through heavy brush)
Perception: ????
Persuasion: Same as deception I guess
Performance: Telling an elaborate tall-tale to sow confusion (There is a bard in the party, who is the halfling's biggest ally)
Religion: There is a religious dispute that is tide to this scenario.
Sleight of hand: (Planting/removing incriminating evidence)
Stealth: Acomplishing the deed without witnesses (I could argue he already did this.)
Survival: Same-ish as nature, medicine?

Any ideas? If you were a player what skills would you use and how to get the Halfling out of this?

 

[Sadras]

I can already see the scene in my head. Just before Clouseau declares the barbarian PC cleared as a suspect, he turns around, and says: "Just one more thing, sir..." -And that is when he deduces what actually happened in brilliant fashion.

You're mixing Columbo with the esteemed inspector. The real question is if Clouseau makes the trip to the village alone or with Kato.

 

[Sadras]

It would be nice to create some scenario in which he has a slim chance of coming out of this. Or at the very least creating the illusion that he does.

This is exactly why I suggested a social encounter where the halfling and half orc vie to convince tge elders/judges that the other guy did it.

I'd forget the social encounter... or rather include it, both make convincing arguments, but in the end the elders decide to leave it to the Gods. Essentially letting both unlikables kill each other in the process.

Tyrion (Halfling) vs the Mountain (Half Orc) - why would you pass up this opportunity?

 

[Eltab]

Animal Handling: ???? You have to make nice with a bloodhound so it doesn't 'alert' on you or your odor.
Arcana:???
Athletics: ???? Some kind of physical challenge: "The killer fell down that steep slope. Let's see if the suspect can climb / descend it?"
Deception:
Insight: ???? You realize one of the judges can be bribed / schmoozed / otherwise gain his favor, and how to do it
Intimidation:
Investigation: ???? See also Sherlock Holmes and various Inspectors listed above.
Medicine:
Nature:
Perception: ???? There is more evidence still waiting to be discovered; somebody else was sneaking around too (doing something else entirely).
Consider the song "The Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia"
Persuasion:
Performance:
Religion:
Sleight of hand:
Stealth:
Survival: Can you prove the tracks could not possibly have come from him? (too long a stride &c)

I'm a Paladin at heart and I would not WANT to 'get my co-adventurer out of this'. I would want to let experience teach him to quit pulling this kind of stunt.

 

[dpkress2]

Well you guys were all pretty helpful. I had the session last night and it ended up pretty epic. Before I tell you what happened I need to offer a few more details that I didn't in the original post.

The barbarian's weapon was a greatclub that was literally a bone. (very low-tech world) From first level on the barbarian had planned to take warlock levels and he wanted the bone to be the source of his powers. We talked out of game and it was strongly implied that the bone was "evil" and sentient. So he took his warlock levels and started carving runes in the bone that would represent his spells. I didn't give the bone any special powers other than he could use it as an arcane focus. It also had not reached "full sentience" yet. I still have yet to figure out what that would be. But the bone would turn cold when the barbarian did something it approved of. It would turn cold and be painful to touch in a way that the barbarian enjoyed.

This evil bone was the real reason the druid did not like the barbarian. The bone AND the barabrian were both a bad omen in his eyes. The druid made his sentiments very public and the rest of the village generally agreed with him.

Cue the party cleric....

The party cleric (Nature domain) was a subordinate to the druid. The druid followed a sect of their common religion that the cleric was beginning to find suspect. The cleric started to view the druid as a false prophet and was thinking of ways to dispose him. The cleric and the barbarian had a casual meeting one day about what they can do about the druid. The meeting left with the barbarian saying "I'll take care of it" and the cleric wondering what that meant. "Surely he wasn't thinking of...."

The next day the druid was found brutally murdered.

So I planned the next session based on a lot of the advice you guys gave me. I had the party ranger do a little investigative work. Had some roleplay with the party bard. (who is actually the barbarian's twin sister) She had reasons to start suspecting him. Interrogations were had here and there. I was running the whole session as one long 4th edition style skill challenge with the objective being: barbarian gets away with it. I set the difficulty pretty high, but he was getting some successes under his belt. Until the cleric just straight up threw him under the bus to one of the council members. OF COURSE she did. Even though she suspected the druid was starting to lose it, he was still her superior and mentor AND SHE ABSOLUTELY KNEW WHO DID IT, because of her meeting with the barbarian. Now I was taking the players in and out of the room so they couldn't hear what others were talking about. The barbarian did not know though cleric did this. He was suspicious though. He confronted the cleric in the temple.

I had the cleric's younger brother in there consoling her. When the barbarian approached the cleric they roleplayed an excellent argument and the cleric flat-out said. "I turned you in. YOU killed the druid and I told the council." The barbarian rages, one shots the cleric's brother, and PVP ensued. I was very uncormfortable. It was awkward. This is the first campaign I have ever ran that resulted in PVP.

The cleric very intelligently casted Sanctuary and was able to run out of the temple and call for the guards. The guards came and they and the cleric made relatively short work of the barbarian, though the barbarian did kill one of the guards. The cleric had landed a bunch of her spells (Guiding Bolt) and he went down. One of the guards finished him off with a spear to the gut. No more Barbarian.

Now a couple interesting things happen. The first was when they were deciding what to do with the bone. The cleric picked up the bone and when she did I told her: "you grab the bone on one of the carved sigils. It's red hot, and your hand starts to smoke and blister. You drop the bone and the sigil is burned into the palm of your hand."

The second interesting thing that happened goes ALLLLLLL the way back to the very first session. The party had found a large egg (It was an axebeak) and the barbarian kept it in a custom made woven backpack and wanted to hatch it. I immediately wrote in my notes "roll d20 once everyday, and on a 20 the egg hatches." (you see where this is going) After the barbarian was killed and they were discussing things, I thought to myself, "Hey. I forgot to roll for the egg today." I pick up my 20 sided die, gave it a roll and BAM. OF COURSE it's a 20. It was amazing. I just laughed out loud, and began to describe the hatching of the egg. He kept it with him in a custom made basket/backpack.

The party bard took the baby axebeak as a token of her dead twin brother. She blamed the bone on his descent to evil and has vowed to discover it's origin and enact vengeance somehow. Meanwhile the bone was packed up in a very "Raiders of the Ark" style and is currently being stored in the temple.

So three pretty great hooks came out of this:
1. The pet axebeak (I guess that's not really a hook)
2. The cleric's scar from the bone.
3. And the who/what/where/why/and how of this bone <----I still have no idea

I do think that I am going to ask the barbarian player what his dying curse on the cleric would be. I'll let him come up with a power for the cleric but with some kind of negative aspect to it. My first thought was to give the cleric a power that does an INSANE amount of damage (20d6) but that damage is done to her as well. No save. Maybe it starts at d6 but goes up a d6 everytime she uses it.

What do you guys think?

 

[Eltab]

Fossils are fragile, so the bone cannot be an artifact of a Truly Ancient Evil. Then again, it's magic...

Build a little backstory for your world.
There used to be Ancient Evils lurking about and presumably fighting each other. (What happened to them? Where were they? How long ago? Did they WW3 each other and several generations later is your Stone Age world?)
The bone might have been in the skeleton of a living weapon - a cursed mammoth?
Or it could be a leftover souvenier of one of the Old Ones themselves; it's utterly evil (or chaotic) and spreads its essence contagiously. If you somehow manage to keep it long enough, you can become the first member of Ancient Evils: The Next Generation.