HELP ME WITH A MURDER MYSTERY PLOT (My players keep out!)

[MojoGM]

Baradtgnome, Djeta, and anyone else from my NH Cormyr game, move along now. There’s nothing to see here…

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Are they gone? Good. Let’s continue, shall we?



I’m working on a murder mystery plot for my Forgotten Realms Cormyr Campaign. As we all know, murder mysteries can be the hardest adventures to write since you need to take into account all the spells that can be used to shortcut to the answer. Thus, I ask for your help.



I’m trying to give as much background as I think necessary to explain the situation, so forgive me if some of this is long winded.



THE BACKGROUND



The characters are in Cormyr, in a small town located in the King’s Forest. The characters are all 6th level. We have a human paladin of Torm, a half-orc cleric of Torm, a human mage (newly recruited into the War Wizards), a human rogue, an elven fighter, and a gnome sorcerer.



For awhile they traveled with another, a human fighter named Darius Crownsilver (one of the noble families of Cormyr). Darius was at times a NPC, later played by a friend who sat in for a few games, then a NPC again when that friend stopped playing. Several months earlier I wrote Darius out by having him summoned back to Suzail (the capital) for a family emergency. His uncle had taken sick very suddenly and was on the verge of death.



Since then, the PCs have learned that Lord Crownsilver died from this illness that resisted all attempts at curing. Also, several other prominent nobles have died in the last few months from separate and seemingly accidental causes.



THE SETUP



Darius will have a letter delivered to the PCs asking for their help. Since the death of his uncle and the other nobles he has been snooping around trying to find out what is going on. Through some digging, he found the name of a somewhat shady tavern owner in one of the towns in the King’s Forest (not too far from the PCs home base) who may have more information. He is on his way there and asks the PCs to meet him.



When the PCs arrive at the tavern, however, there is much commotion going on. Town guards stand at the door and a crowd is gathering outside. The owner of the tavern was murdered! And by a noble member of the Crownsilver family! Yup, the owner is dead, killed in his office by Darius Crownsilver, who was waiting all day for the owner to return from a trip to a nearby town.



HOW IT LOOKS



Darius arrived at the tavern only to find out the owner was out but would be returning that evening. So, he waited around, drank, flirted with the barmaid, and basically killed time.



A short while later the owner of the tavern arrived. After a few brief words with the barmaid, he went into his office. The barmaid told Darius he could go in to see him. He did, and a few moments later the barmaid entered to bring them drinks and found Darius over the dead body of the owner, his dagger plunged into the man’s heart.



The barmaid screamed, other patrons came in and subdued Darius until the guard arrived and hauled him off to be charged with murder. He will ask the PCs to help prove his innocence.





DETAILS



Darius claims he didn’t kill the man. Even though his dagger is missing and it IS his dagger that was found in the dead man (the dagger is distinctive so there is no question it was his). Darius claims that he came into the office, and not seeing the owner took a seat. After a few moments he noticed something lying behind the desk so he got up to investigate where he found the owner dead by his dagger. That is when the barmaid came in and screamed.



The office has no windows and the only doors are to the tavern room and a small washroom (which is where Darius assumed the owner was when he came in, having just returned from a long journey on horse). A complete search of the room will establish that there are no secret doors of hidden compartments. For all intents and purposes it looks like Darius is the ONLY person who could have killed him.



The guards will call in a local priest to do a SPEAK WITH DEAD, but it will have no results (the reason to be explained below).



Investigation will reveal the following series of events:



The owner arrives on horseback alone. Several locals outside see the owner arrive and go into the stable (right near the tavern). About five minutes later the owner is seen by these same people coming out of the stable and entering the tavern. He looks a little unsteady, as if he had been drinking (not unusual). He does not hail the bartender (as he usually does) but rather has a few quiet words with the barmaid and then enters his office.



The barmaid tells Darius that she told the owner that he was waiting to see him, and that he can go ahead inside.



She gets a few drinks at the bar and goes in, where she sees the murder scene and screams!



THE TRUTH



Ok, here it is. The barmaid, who has only been working there a few weeks, is an assassin hired to kill the tavern owner (who has been talking too much about what is going on) AND frame Darius Crownsilver for it (thus eliminating two problems at once).



Here is how she did it: She had an accomplice on the road that used magic to let her know when the owner is approaching. During the time in the tavern, she flirted with Darius in order to take his dagger and then went outside to the stable.



When the owner arrived, she used sneak attack to kill him in one shot. THEN she used Raise Dead to make him a zombie (whether it is from a scroll, a wand, or what have you I have not decided). It is cold so the owner is bundled up anyway, she hands him the dagger with commands to wait a few moments and then go inside.



She returns to the bar, and a few moments later he victim stumbles in. She then quietly commands him to enter the office, stick the dagger in his chest, and lay down and not move again.



She tells Darius to go ahead inside, gets a few drinks from the bar, and enters to “find” the murder scene.



Ok…any flaws in the plan? I looked up speak with dead, and it doesn’t work if the person is undead OR the person makes a will save (which they get if the person has a different alignment than the caster). Since the tavern owner is not the nicest of persons, the cleric would assume that his philosophy opposed his god and the attempt failed.


One of the ways which the deception can be revealed is by finding out the tavern owner is now undead. Also, investigating the stable can reveal blood on the ground and the signs of a fight (however brief). Not to mention the fatal back wound AND fatal chest wound on the corpse (which may raise red flags)

Please give your input or ask any questions. Help me make this a good one!


~MojoGM (Chris)

 

[delericho]

When the owner arrived, she used sneak attack to kill him in one shot. THEN she used Raise Dead to make him a zombie (whether it is from a scroll, a wand, or what have you I have not decided). It is cold so the owner is bundled up anyway, she hands him the dagger with commands to wait a few moments and then go inside.

You mean Animate Dead, of course.

Ok…any flaws in the plan? I looked up speak with dead, and it doesn’t work if the person is undead OR the person makes a will save (which they get if the person has a different alignment than the caster). Since the tavern owner is not the nicest of persons, the cleric would assume that his philosophy opposed his god and the attempt failed.

One of the ways which the deception can be revealed is by finding out the tavern owner is now undead. Also, investigating the stable can reveal blood on the ground and the signs of a fight (however brief). Not to mention the fatal back wound AND fatal chest wound on the corpse (which may raise red flags)

Well, there's a few. The big one is that when the PCs examine the corpse, a Knowledge(religion) check at DC 12 will identify it as a zombie. The zombie can oppose this with a Disguise check, but since it's using the skill untrained, and has a Cha of 1, this is unlikely to succeed. Even with a +10 bonus for actually being a corpse, the zombie still only gets a +5 to the roll, which is pretty poor.

The description of Animate Dead is not clear on whether you can remove the material component from the zombie after the spall is cast. I expect the answer is yes. If not, that's a dead giveaway. Likewise, the fact that the creature is immune to speak with dead might provoke a caster to use detect undead, and then the game's up. Once the zombie is identified and dealt with, speak with dead will undo the frame job quite quickly.

Alternatively, the use of zone of truth and/or discern lies on the innocent man would quickly uncover his lack of guilt. Neither is truly conclusive, since both allow a save, and the latter would depend on the level of the village priest, or availability of a scroll, but either would go a long way to the truth.

Also, the party druid or ranger might use speak with animals to talk to the man's horse.

A character with the Track feat should be able to tell the difference between the tracks of a zombie and those of a human, even one using the same boots. I'm also very surprised that the patrons of the bar didn't notice the bloodstains on the man's clothes. Still, I guess alcohol does reduce Spot checks.

The truth is that the frame job doesn't stand up to any significant scrutiny. The presence of two wounds, one of them presumably not made with the dagger, is a dead giveaway. Finding the real killer is a rather harder prospect.

The biggest problem you have to deal with with your party is the paladin's detect evil ability. Now, it is possible for a murderer to have a non-evil alignment, but it's a fairly unusual case (basically, he'd have to have a long record of noble deeds, and have the murder be a significantly out-of-character action. As I said, possible but unlikely). Scanning the people in the village, the party are likely to find the assassin as the most powerful (if not only) evil character in town.

 

[spyscribe]

The truth is that the frame job doesn't stand up to any significant scrutiny. The presence of two wounds, one of them presumably not made with the dagger, is a dead giveaway. Finding the real killer is a rather harder prospect.

Well, given that you do want your players to solve the mystery, you don't want the frame-up to be too good.

It's a clever plan, although the barmaid/assassin takes quite a risk that Darius wouldn't walk into the room and do something non-incriminating such as call for help or walk out again--not having seen the body. Although I will grant you that his knife being stuck in the body isn't going to look good under any circumstances.

Is there a reason why she doesn't let him get into his office? She delivers his drink as usual, kills him with the dagger, then prestidigitates herself clean and goes to get her fall guy.

Better yet, she goes back to work, and a minute later the whole bar hears the owner bellowing from the back for her to send this guy in to his office. (major image off a scroll will pull that off. She can cast while she was out of sight and then trigger the shout later.)

Now you've got a pile of witneses (including the accused) who are sure the owner was alive before Darious went back there.

If you're worried about speak with dead, she can cut his tongue out, slice his throat, etc. If the corpse doesn't have apparatus to talk, it can't say much.

It's not quite as cool as turning him into a zombie, though.

 

[delericho]

If you're worried about speak with dead, she can cut his tongue out, slice his throat, etc. If the corpse doesn't have apparatus to talk, it can't say much.

That's a bit of a giveaway, though. The zombie thing is far better from that angle.

 

[spyscribe]

That's a bit of a giveaway, though. The zombie thing is far better from that angle.

It would certainly be clear that someone hadn't wanted speak with dead to work, but I'm thinking that anyone who is going to kill someone in a world where the dead can be asked who killed them would be concerned about that.

The act doesn't point at a particular suspect though.

That being said, turning the guy into a zombie and having him stab himself is very cool, and gives the added bonus that the assassin could give him a new order if things got sticky at the inquest. And the shock value of the victim getting up off a slab in the middle of the morgue and lurching after the PCs is worth the price of admission.

 

[thompgc]

You can just rule that the save vs speak with dead was made. Will prevent anyone from attempting it for the next week.

 

[iwatt]

The biggest problem you have to deal with with your party is the paladin's detect evil ability. Now, it is possible for a murderer to have a non-evil alignment, but it's a fairly unusual case (basically, he'd have to have a long record of noble deeds, and have the murder be a significantly out-of-character action.

Actually this isn't much of a problem:

From the assasin spell list:

1st Level: disguise self, detect poison, feather fall, ghost sound, jump, obscuring mist, sleep, true strike.

2nd Level: alter self, cat’s grace, darkness, fox’s cunning, illusory script, invisibility, pass without trace, spider climb, undetectable alignment.

Also, nowere in the description of the assasin does it say that they gain an evil aura (as clerics do). So by the RAW, assasins don't show up when the EVILDAR is activated. Of course most DMs do allow detect evil to work on non-clerics, but that is what undetectable alignment is for.

 

[iwatt]

Also, maybe you could have the magistrate be someone with a dislike for Darius (spiteful ex-lover, loser in a duel, etc..) or even just a drunken incopetent man, who has no interest in investigating anything more than necessary. He has clear cut evidenec that at first scrutiny seems enough to convict. Make the PCs work to convince the Magistrate. Also, make it time sensistive (2 days until execution).

For example:

PCs: "Isn't it strange that the corpse has a wound in his back that has clearly bled profusely, but the dagger in his heart has barely leaked?"

Magistrate: "That just proves that Darius is a coward as well as a murderer. He probably backstabbed the tavern owner and then tried to make it look like he attacked him from the front."

or

PCs: "While affected by a Zone of truth spell, Darius has declared he's not Guilty"

Magistrate: "Well according to Kingdom law, confessions of innocence while under the effect of a spell are not enough to warrant freedom. Only confessions of guilt are admissible as evidence."


By the way, you'll probably haev trouble with the fact that the PCs might decide the killer teleported in and out, or that they were invisible. You might have them chasing down false leads.

Finally: I like what you've done, but there is one thing that kinda bothers me. How did the EVILDUDES know that Darius would go and talk to the tavern owner with enough foresight to set up this frame-job(barnmaid gets the job)? The only alternative I can see is that whoever gave Darius the info on the tavern keeper did it to frame him. This also ahs the advantage of setting up the next step in the plot.

 

[MojoGM]

You mean Animate Dead, of course.

I did indeed. I was typing this at work, away from my books, so my mistake.

Well, there's a few. The big one is that when the PCs examine the corpse, a Knowledge(religion) check at DC 12 will identify it as a zombie. The zombie can oppose this with a Disguise check, but since it's using the skill untrained, and has a Cha of 1, this is unlikely to succeed. Even with a +10 bonus for actually being a corpse, the zombie still only gets a +5 to the roll, which is pretty poor.

I seem to recall a spell that disguises the nature of undead. It doesn't last indefinately, but long enough for the initial inspection.

The description of Animate Dead is not clear on whether you can remove the material component from the zombie after the spall is cast. I expect the answer is yes. If not, that's a dead giveaway. Likewise, the fact that the creature is immune to speak with dead might provoke a caster to use detect undead, and then the game's up. Once the zombie is identified and dealt with, speak with dead will undo the frame job quite quickly.

Well, I'd like to leave several "gaps" so the players have a hope of solving the mystery. I'm hoping to temporarily hide the fact he is undead, at least at first.

Alternatively, the use of zone of truth and/or discern lies on the innocent man would quickly uncover his lack of guilt. Neither is truly conclusive, since both allow a save, and the latter would depend on the level of the village priest, or availability of a scroll, but either would go a long way to the truth.

I would think neither would be absolute proof of innocence since someone could resist. But it could raise doubt, and that is a good thing.

Also, the party druid or ranger might use speak with animals to talk to the man's horse.

No druid, so I'm safe there

A character with the Track feat should be able to tell the difference between the tracks of a zombie and those of a human, even one using the same boots. I'm also very surprised that the patrons of the bar didn't notice the bloodstains on the man's clothes. Still, I guess alcohol does reduce Spot checks.

Nobody has the track feat (a lack they have paid for in the past), but that is a good thought. Now, winter is setting in so the owner entering still bundled in his clothing could hide the blood, but that could be another source for possible clues "If he was stabbed AFTER he came in, why would his outdoor cloak have blood on it?"

The truth is that the frame job doesn't stand up to any significant scrutiny. The presence of two wounds, one of them presumably not made with the dagger, is a dead giveaway. Finding the real killer is a rather harder prospect.

I want it to stand up somewhat, but I also want it solvable. Also, BOTH wounds were made with the dagger, since she used his dagger to kill him in the first place. The clue would be the two wounds, one in front and one in back, both fatal, which could raise questions.

The biggest problem you have to deal with with your party is the paladin's detect evil ability. Now, it is possible for a murderer to have a non-evil alignment, but it's a fairly unusual case (basically, he'd have to have a long record of noble deeds, and have the murder be a significantly out-of-character action. As I said, possible but unlikely). Scanning the people in the village, the party are likely to find the assassin as the most powerful (if not only) evil character in town.

Not too much a problem. We've house-ruled that DE doesn't work unless it is a supernatural evil, to make human motivations unclear. Besides, there are lots of wys to mask alignment, if even for a little while.

But thank you for the feedback. This is EXACLTY what I was looking for. This plan has been forming in my skull for awhile, but this is the first time I've put it to paper. I want people to tell me the flaws, the perks, and how I can leave enough clues for them to solve it.

~MojoGM (Chris)

 

[MadMaxim]

Also, nowere in the description of the assasin does it say that they gain an evil aura (as clerics do). So by the RAW, assasins don't show up when the EVILDAR is activated. Of course most DMs do allow detect evil to work on non-clerics, but that is what undetectable alignment is for.

Well, actually they do. As soon as you have an evil alignment, you're detectable to detect evil. It's just that evil clerics have much stronger auras. Everybody has an aura, if they have any alignment other than neutral.

Detect Evil
Divination

Level: Clr 1

Components: V, S, DF

Casting Time: 1 standard action

Range: 60 ft.

Area: Cone-shaped emanation

Duration: Concentration, up to 10 min./ level (D)

Saving Throw: None

Spell Resistance: No

You can sense the presence of evil. The amount of information revealed depends on how long you study a particular area or subject.

1st Round: Presence or absence of evil.

2nd Round: Number of evil auras (creatures, objects, or spells) in the area and the power of the most potent evil aura present.

If you are of good alignment, and the strongest evil aura’s power is overwhelming (see below), and the HD or level of the aura’s source is at least twice your character level, you are stunned for 1 round and the spell ends.

3rd Round: The power and location of each aura. If an aura is outside your line of sight, then you discern its direction but not its exact location.

Aura Power: An evil aura’s power depends on the type of evil creature or object that you’re detecting and its HD, caster level, or (in the case of a cleric) class level; see the accompanying table. If an aura falls into more than one strength category, the spell indicates the stronger of the two.


———————— Aura Power ————————
Creature/Object Faint Moderate Strong Overwhelming
Evil creature1 (HD) 10 or lower 11–25 26–50 51 or higher
Undead (HD) 2 or lower 3–8 9–20 21 or higher
Evil outsider (HD) 1 or lower 2–4 5–10 11 or higher
Cleric of an evil deity 2 (class levels) 1 2–4 5–10 11 or higher
Evil magic item or spell (caster level) 2nd or lower 3rd–8th 9th–20th 21st or higher
1 Except for undead and outsiders, which have their own entries on the table.
2 Some characters who are not clerics may radiate an aura of equivalent power. The class description will indicate whether this applies.

Lingering Aura: An evil aura lingers after its original source dissipates (in the case of a spell) or is destroyed (in the case of a creature or magic item). If detect evil is cast and directed at such a location, the spell indicates an aura strength of dim (even weaker than a faint aura). How long the aura lingers at this dim level depends on its original power:

Original Strength Duration of Lingering Aura
Faint 1d6 rounds
Moderate 1d6 minutes
Strong 1d6x10 minutes
Overwhelming 1d6 days

Animals, traps, poisons, and other potential perils are not evil, and as such this spell does not detect them.

Each round, you can turn to detect evil in a new area. The spell can penetrate barriers, but 1 foot of stone, 1 inch of common metal, a thin sheet of lead, or 3 feet of wood or dirt blocks it.

Otherwise, I think your setup looks nice.