CSI: Sharn (Help create 100 corpses)

[Torm]

Pretty sure Wraith Form meant that to be #44, so...

45. In a remote location, near a bridge that is out and has been closed for repairs, a human male, mid-40s, is found sitting on the ground with his back leaning against the footstep of the compartment of a very nice (but showing signs of age) enclosed four passenger carriage. He has his knees up slightly, and a crossbow wedged between them positioned to point at his head, with no bolt loaded - from the immediate look of things, this is because it has been discharged through said head. A decent Heal check (DC 10) will determine that the bolt that went through the man's head was fired from the back to the front. His papers will identify him as a professor of language and literary studies, specializing in religious works, at the University. Both horses have been freed or taken by someone. Inside the carriage is a box containing a fine set of china, that does not look to have been secured well enough to have travelled there that way. A Search check (DC 15) will find a hole in the carriage that another bolt passed through.

 

[Gulla]

[I haven't read the Sharn-book so I don't know what is in the first 13...]

46. The floor and walls around the door seem charred. On the floor in the middle of the room is a heap of clothing. A finely wrought robe, a pair of bracers, a pair of slippers, a thin headband with a saphire and some silk undergarments. Throughout the heap is a fine, gray dust...

Håkon
remembering the demise of our ranger/scout

 

[Wraith Form]

Pretty sure Wraith Form meant that to be #44, so...

45. In a remote location, near a bridge that is out and has been closed for repairs, a human male, mid-40s, is found sitting on the ground with his back leaning against the footstep of the compartment of a very nice (but showing signs of age) enclosed four passenger carriage. He has his knees up slightly, and a crossbow wedged between them positioned to point at his head, with no bolt loaded - from the immediate look of things, this is because it has been discharged through said head. A decent Heal check (DC 10) will determine that the bolt that went through the man's head was fired from the back to the front. His papers will identify him as a professor of language and literary studies, specializing in religious works, at the University. Both horses have been freed or taken by someone. Inside the carriage is a box containing a fine set of china, that does not look to have been secured well enough to have travelled there that way. A Search check (DC 15) will find a hole in the carriage that another bolt passed through.

Yes, I did mean #44, and (points up at Torm's quote) nice one!!

 

[Captain Howdy]

Just quoting (from memory, so I could be wrong) a sign painted on a wall at a Jack the Ripper murder scene (and no, the sign said "Jews", not warforged ). I think that's what Captain Howdy was alluding to in No. 40.

No... The Black Dahlia murder. One of the weirdest ever. You can read about it at crimelibrary.com, I think.

 

[shilsen]

No... The Black Dahlia murder. One of the weirdest ever. You can read about it at crimelibrary.com, I think.

Ooh - interesting! That's one I'd heard of but never read up on. I think that gives me an idea for an Eberron campaign. Thanks.

 

[Wraith Form]

The portcullis gate guard was panicked. "I didn't kill him!" he protested emphatically. His breath reeked of cheap alcohol and blatant fear.

On the ground was the body of a giant of a man--clearly human--with long sinewy limbs and a deep chest, dressed in the Brelish garb of a caravan guard. That broad chest was currently impaled by the sharpened ends of the portcullis gate tips. The huge man lay face up, dead in the wan mid-morning light, in a pool of his own blood. The portcullis gate bisected the corpse, his head and upper torso on the interior of the portcullis tower and his legs and lower torso pointing toward the street.

There was no evidence of the man's weapon, nor any evidence of identification papers or purse. Despite his Brelish dress, it was clear he wasn't a native of that land. The symbol of the merchant house he once represented was embroidered boldly on his tunic, now swathed in blood. A writhing dragon tatoo crawled--literally, as it was clearly magical in nature--around the circumference of the muscular bicep of the man's left arm.

It'd been foggy the night before: low-hanging, thick, roiling clouds that were shoulder-high on a normal man. The guard claimed that, as he'd dropped the portcullis the prior evening, he thought he'd heard a brief muffled scream. The thick, high fog prevented him from seeing more than an arm's legth past his nose. When there was no other outcries, the guard shrugged and continued on to his post in the portcullis tower (and likely his bottle).

Evidence of bruising on the body, when examined, shows that the caravan mercenary was held down by his ankles and shoulders and his mouth was muzzled by at least two assailants--probably more, as the man was strong and powerful in life and didn't give up without a struggle--as the portcullis was dropped onto his chest.

His dead, pale feet suggest that his boots were stolen by a street urchin at some point in the morning as the fog lifted.

(portcullis location details intentionally left vague)

 

[Christopher Lambert]

#48. The victim is found face-down on a street with it's neck twisted, wearing very plain-looking clothing. Turning the head around reveals the face of one Brand Kron, a well-known playwright.

Visiting Mr. Kron's house to tell his family the sad news, you are met by ... Mr. Kron! Magical analysis reveals that he's not a changeling.

#49. You find another dead Mr. Kron a few days later, killed under similar circumstances. And then another, every few days thereafter...

 

[Breakstone]

#50 (or higher, depending on how many Mr. Krons are found!)... Two arms are found grasping the edge of a windowsill outside a rather tall buildings. Both arms end in bloody stumps where they should connect with the body. Across the knuckles of the right hand is the tattooed word "Hold," and across the knuckles of the left hand is the tattooed word "Fast." A Heal Check (DC 12) will reveal a sharp tooth embedded in the bone at the end of the right arm. A Search Check (DC 14) will reveal deep claw marks in the side of the building approximately twelve feet below the arms.


Halfway to 100!

 

[Sigurd]

Dead Henchmen

51. Three male human corpses lie face down in the mud. Their throats have been viciously cut and thier necks broken. One of them lies atop a shovel. DC 15 check reveals an oddly coloured dust on their trousers. DC 20 finds Gold leaf beneath their fingernails.

52 A peasant lies cast aside in a gutter. Garbed only in a rough shawl and loin cloth. (DC15) reveals soft hands and a gold filling also a scar similar to a rapier wound on his left shoulder.

53 Wrapped in scented rags and painted with holy symbols a follower of ___ lies on the road beneath a tree awaiting the scavenger. Local people know the body will have no valuables and must be the body of a begger. A soft fired clay mask completes the final vestement of this unfortunate -- surely not worth your consideration.....


54 The bar is opening up and the staff is clearing away the signs of yesterdays drinking. Groggy patrons are helped out the door so tables can be cleared, floors wiped and order restored. Last night one of the local thugs had been boistrous and generous today he is curled up beneath a table. Every attempt to rouse him fails. There is a scream.
The staff have all seen the dead before, even death in the pub.... but not like this....

 

[Sigurd]

An Idea & A Bump

55 A disgarded sack containing 4 heads. The sack has a label on it that reads.... (the name of a local town, a local family, an address).

56 A large sack has a corpse made from sewn together body parts. It smells terribly.