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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Lendro_Furioso" data-source="post: 5382520" data-attributes="member: 79242">The "investigate a disappearance" idea is great. Now, Hellfire magic should probably leave a telltale sign of some sort (charred remains and maybe a hint of sulfur?). This leads to a trip to the library, or a specialist within the school to discover. Of course no mystery is complete without a false positive on the suspect, so have someone else within the school smell like sulfur, but for unrelated incidents. Just don't make it look like the potions teacher did it and you're safe. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f609.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=";)" title="Wink    ;)"  data-smilie="2"data-shortname=";)" />Have the demon in disguise be the one appointed to brief/help the PC's on what's happened. Have him/her be extra nice and helpful, while guiding them in all the wrong directions. If they grow fond of the NPC the revelation will be all the more dramatic.Regarding the course of the adventure itself, I'd go with the headmaster at first calling in the authorities because he is concerned about the reputation of the school (maybe even more concerned about that than the safety of its students and faculty members). There could be more disappearances, at first a student, then another, and then a faculty member. Make it so the best and brightest are chosen (even among the students), since the ritual would work better if the sacrificed parties were more powerful. The demon would hint otherwise, but if questioned on the subject he would simply say he is not familiar with the report cards of all the students...I would make it so the disappearances also touch a bit on school pride in a way, such as defiling banners, and even the places the attacks took place. This would lead the PC's into investigating people with grudges with the school, and I'd link the evil wizard's loss of powers here. Bear in mind that other candidates should be present. Maybe whoever takes care of the golems also has something in it for the school (they could want a better position, simply). If the party is attacked by golems, they'll assume it's him. Then, through subterfuge, the PC's should find the evil wizard, and race to stop him.One last thing, if you want to spice up the endgame, have the demon actually help them find the final clue. In reality he never intended to give the evil wizard his powers, as that would cost him favours in the outer planes, so he came up with this plan to collect his dues and get rid of the evil wizard. In this case, he would need some leverage to stop the PC's from uncovering his true nature.Hope it helps.</blockquote>

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