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Message: <blockquote data-quote="sorites" data-source="post: 5316721" data-attributes="member: 64431">Thanks for all your replies. I'm definitely going to have the organization respond in some fashion -- this will not go unnoticed, and the party definitely knows that. Really, it was mainly that this particular NPC baddie was important to the one character's backstory (the first of three on a hit list, think Kill Bill). Here's a little more info about the campaign. Any more ideas and comments are welcome!The campaign is set in Zhentil Keep in the Moonsea, and the evil organization is the Zhentarim. The NPC was a mid-ranking captain named Marcus. In my game, I've broken the Zhentarim leadership down into five ranks, and Marcus was a three-star. He was a 9th-level Ranger formerly responsible for training and leading a small unit of specialized soldiers, now promoted to administrative duties. I am playing up the martial law aspect of Zhentil Keep. To move around the city, you must have papers and be able to produce them at any time. The Zhentarim are constantly on the lookout for traitors and agents working against them. Fzoul Chembryl recently addressed the citizens of the Keep with a massive display of force. He has thousands of Zhentarim troops stationed in the Keep. Then, during the assembly, he used his Scepter's (artifact) Rod of Rulership ability to command a large number of people to serve him and then brought out a group of four beholders to further illustrate the Zhentarim's might. The beholders floated over the throng of people and zapped anyone who ran away. Those who stood their ground and proclaimed their allegiance to Bane and Fzoul were spared.One of the party members is a former Zhentarim soldier who, so that he might be free of their grip, killed all the members of his patrol (this is his backstory). He is now living underground in Zhentil Keep and biding his time until he can finish off the three remaining Zhentarim who can identify him by face and name. They are: Captain Marcus (three-star), his former superior officer, as yet unnamed (four-star), and Scullya Darkhope, Castellon of Zhentil Keep (five-star). Another party member is a cleric of Shar. In my version of the Zhenatarim, the Bane is "the One True God" and the Church has brought several other "lesser" deities under Bane's dominant fist. Shar serves Bane by secretly working with Zhenatarim investigators as a kind of secret police. A specialized Zhenatarim interrogator acts as the muscle and asks the questions. The Sharran stands cloaked in the corner casting spells like Discern Lies, etc. to determine if the subject is a traitor or not. A mere nod from one of these Sharrans is enough to have a man thrown in prison for the rest of his life (or worse). In reality, the Sharrans give only lip service to Bane and are actively working to undermine the Church's control over the city. They hate the Zhentarim and the Church of Bane and would love to see it all crumble. Therefore, the Sharran PC is actually a double-agent. He works for the Zhentarim and is a paper-carrying member (though his Sharran status is nowhere mentioned on his papers). He also works with the party to destabilize the Zhenatarim. This has led to many in-game arguments as the ex-Zhentarim PC tries to learn the true identity and motivations of his shady party member. (Great RP, there.)The third party member is actually a Master of Masks who uses a combination of Disguise Self, the Disguise skill, and Perform (Act) skill to impersonate lots of different people in the city. The plan was for the group to kill Captain Marcus and then have this guy "become" Marcus. Unfortunately, they forgot to account for Marcus's animal companion (a dog) which they killed along with him in his apartment. After killing Marcus, they put his corpse and the dog's body in their bag of holding. I think Resurrection requires you have a part of the corpse. I'm not sure they would spend the money on a True Resurrection for Marcus. I mean, the Zhenatarim and the Church *do* want to root out traitors in their midst, but a True Res. is quite expensive.Before they killed Marcus, he had become quite suspicious of one of the men serving beneath him. Brandwyn (NPC) is one of the special investigators who had been paired with a Sharran cleric (PC). About half-way through the campaign, the cleric decides to kill Brandwyn, so the party sets and ambush, they kill him, and the Master of Masks (PC) takes his place. So for the last couple of months, Marcus has been dealing with a PC in disguise. The PC's disguise check is always off the chart, as is his Acting skill checks. But there have been enough weird things happen that Marcus no longer trusts Brandwyn. He did not yet realize that Brandwyn was dead, but if he had survived to see the next day, he was going to requisition the use of a Banite Cleric to cast Scry for him. I believe the spell would have failed because the subject (Brandwyn) is dead. That would have immediately made Marcus deduce that his must subordinate is dead, but since he'd been talking to him recently, it *must* be someone in disguise.Now, I think the party is considering getting out of town for a while and laying low. They have a "side quest" (as they put it) to do off in the swamps of Thar if they want to. Or, they might decide to stay in town. Who knows. I'm trying to make this a player-driven campaign, and so far, they are doing a great job. It's been a lot of fun, and I've even had one of the players tell me it's been the best D&D game he's played yet.The PCs are around 10th level right now. There are four in the party. I'd kind of like to have the Zhentarim track and follow them if they leave the city, but I want it to be believable. The Zhentarim has access to a lot of magic and resources, but it is also a bureaucracy and a trade organization. It doesn't waste money. Any thoughts on how I could realistically harass them on the roads leading away from the Keep? I mean, I could throw in some random encounters with caravans and so forth, but I think a scout patrol or something where they are specifically looking for these guys would be best. The only problem: the party left no witnesses, not even a corpse to Speak with Dead.</blockquote>

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