A Death that is not explained

[DM Eberron D]

Greetings fellow enworlders,

I am a new-ish DM, I am currently run a campaign with friends (the world is based on Eberron,not actually Eberron)
and because of my inexperience as DM I sometimes find myself unable to explain why a plot evolved in a certain way.

Some sessions ago, a "murder" event took place during the night at an inn, in a really small hamlet (30-40 people living there).
The victim was supposed to get help by the players, so they would escort him next day in order to explore some ruins he
was interested in. I decided to use the guy as plot-hook so that the players think that "someone does not want anyone
to go to the ruins, so he murders anyone that plan to go there".

The victim was found lying on the floor of his room, having a Cult Symbol carved with a sacrificial dagger on his chest,
and the room was full of bloodbath-splatter. Door locked from inside, window barred, second floor of the inn.
The same night of the murder, the warforged fighter of the group (never sleeps-always on guard) had a 1-second glimpse.
He had the same experience 3 nights now.

This was actually an experiment of a time-travel machine that an artificer tries to build. Of course the players do not know that.

I wanted the murder to happen in the past actually, during the time lapse, but it was a on-the-fly idea, that didn't receive much thinking.
The players left to explore the ruins next day, thinking someone tries to stop them, and the warforged never mentioned the glimpse he
had. Several sessions later - yesterday - the players return victorious but without ANY CLUE of the murder. After some discussion with the
villagers - and the artificer - the warforged remembers to mention the glimpse and they start thinking that maybe the murder happened to
the past. However the wizard, reasonably argues and claims that 1 second or even 10 seconds are not enough to kill someone with a ritual
and splatter blood all over the room.

It was already late and we called the session, but they are probably going to investigate the murder next session and can't come up with
any idea how to evolve this plot.

My question is: Does anyone have any idea how can I make it work? How can the time travel interfere with the murder?

The time travel was in the same place they are now. Meaning, the warforged saw for a moment how the inn was 3 years ago. That means that the guy
who died in his room, traveled in the past, in the same room 3 years ago, and something happened there!

 

[GMMichael]

This will help me, maybe you, and probably anyone else reading the thread:

What you have is effect before cause. I'm hearing a lot of "this was detected or seen or overheard," but not a lot of "this is what happened, that caused PCs to detect or see or overhear this."


Which is to say:
Put your pieces together in chronological order. Lay the events out neatly, and then we'll be able to fill in the blanks.

 

[Hussar]

Canvass the group. What do they think happened. Get them to brainstorm an idea or four. Use of those ideas as your base and work from there.

 

[NuSair]

Time travel is tricky and can really muck up a game if not done right.

I am not sure I quite understand how you have this set up. But, this is what I see.

The victim, in the present, has recruited the party to go with them. That night, he is somehow transported into the past, killed, then the scene is returned to the future.

Time is relative. Just because one second passes here, 10 years could pass on the other side.

What did the guy get a 1 second glimpse of?

I could even see setting it up where the guy got transported back in time, spent several days, if not weeks, and ended up getting sacrificed. And have the players try to recreate what happened years ago.

 

[DM Eberron D]

Thanks for your answers and let's clear things up

• THE PLACE:

A small hamlet. 50 villagers. Medium to poor economy (no fancy items on shops)

Major NPCs

- An elder Druid serves as protector and spiritual guide of the village
- The old Mayor, last survivor of an invasion 3 years ago, well respected
- The Cleric of the church of Sov.Host, newcomer, tries to work well with both followers of the Druidic faith and Sov.Host ofc.
- The Artificer, ex-adventurer that lives in the hamlet 2 years now, well respected and helpful, owner of a small tower he built for his experiments
he believes he can travel in time someday, and has devoted his life in a research of this. No personal reasons, for science.

- 3 more adventurers that reside in the inn, a hulking Fighter (AL CN), a Thief (AL NE) and a Wizard (the victim, AL CG)

The 3 adventurers have no connections or ties neither between themselves nor with the rest village

The Wizard is (was) a poor young guy, always reading and studying in research of new spells. Since he has his
spellbook stolen, he had no money and was stuck in the village waiting a chance to acquire some wealth or a new
spellbook. I used that as hook to lure the players in the ruins. The Wizard approached the players saying that he
intends to explore the ruins and if they will escort him they can keep the valuables they will find if they hand him
spellbooks or spell scrolls they may find.

• THE TIME

During the nights the Artificer, in his tower, experiments on a machine he has built. It is supposed to be a time travel machine
which has never worked before. The last 4 days the machine indeed worked but only for a second, the Artificer did not even notice it.
The machine has a fixed range of effect - the village - and whatever is in that range travels in time (past or future). That 1 second
was the glimpse that the warforged had (and the Druid confirmed since he was awake one night and experienced it as well).
So the 4 glimpses the warforged had were 4 semi-successful experiments of the Artificer's time-machine.
The "murder" happened during one of these nights. The Wizard was in his room, alone, resting for the next day he and the players would
begin their exploration of the ruins.
During that time the Warforged was in the ground level (tavern) floor of the inn, following the command of his comrade (party's cleric)
to watch for potential danger. The players - and the NPC Wizard victim - all were sleeping at separate rooms.

• REASON

The apparent reason of the murder was that someone does not want nosy humans near the ruins. The ruins are supposed to be the lair of
a secret cult, and the players walked in and cleared it. However they found no clue of the murder there, since the murder happened during another
timeline and none in this timeline is responsible. That was the initial idea.

Time is relative. Just because one second passes here, 10 years could pass on the other side.

What did the guy get a 1 second glimpse of?

I could even see setting it up where the guy got transported back in time, spent several days, if not weeks, and ended up getting sacrificed. And have the players try to recreate what happened years ago.

That could work actually.

Canvass the group. What do they think happened. Get them to brainstorm an idea or four. Use of those ideas as your base and work from there.

Already did that, the players are not experienced, and their knowledge and speculation is limited, so I got no help.

This will help me, maybe you, and probably anyone else reading the thread:

What you have is effect before cause. I'm hearing a lot of "this was detected or seen or overheard," but not a lot of "this is what happened, that caused PCs to detect or see or overhear this."


Which is to say:
Put your pieces together in chronological order. Lay the events out neatly, and then we'll be able to fill in the blanks.

That's 100% true, it was a on-the-fly idea that I had given zero thought. I am trying to save it now Thanks for naming the issue, however!

 

[Gilladian]

So the wizard is pulled back in time. He doesn't realize what has happened, and just wanders around, talking to people. But he makes no sense to them, because he's out of joint. He mentions the ruins and the cult, which in this time are active here. They get frightened and kill him, sacrificing him to their god. But the moment he dies, he is returned to his own time - a fail safe built into the device by the alchemist.

Hows that?

 

[DM Eberron D]

Yes something like that could work, if we accept that 1 second in our timeline, equals an hour or so in the other timeline.

I now just have to come up with a hint for the players to be able to discover something like this

 

[Eman Resu]

oh just Ground Hog Day em! (the movie, bill murray the rat in the tree trunk you know) until they accomplish a redemption or a task, righting some wrong etc.

 

[Hussar]

Or there is that new Tom Cruise movie to yoink ideas from.

 

[DM Eberron D]

We did play the session, thing took a whole different plot way.


After discussing with a friend also, I decided to keep time travel for later in the campaign, since we are at 3rd level.
I made the murder seem like a ghost story, based on an old myth. Of course someone exploits the ghost myth, for
his purposes. And the idea is that there is a leak in the Sovereign Host priesthood, which creates lots of hooks
for future session.


I thank you all and everyone for the contribution, I really appreciate the help.


Cheers