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

[MadMaxim]

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.

Okay, then your plan is pretty much bullet-proof regarding the bar maid except for a good Sense Motive check from the paladin. He should be able to feel there's something wrong with her which would of course be opposed by her Bluff check.

 

[MojoGM]

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.

My thought was if she NEVER enters the office until the moment she finds him, and he appears to be quite alive when he goes in, nobody can claim she did it.

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.

This is a good idea...worth considering certainly. But one of the things I wanted to do was make it appear the owner may have been drunk when he returned, since he was sort of shuffling and stumbling (being a newly made zombie and all). But questioning those who saw him BEFORE he entered the stable (perhaps someone working outside) can say he seemed stone cold sober when he arrived. How did he suddenly become drunk? I want to leave lots of little clues and inconsistancies to help the PCs discover the truth.

Plus, I like the idea of Darius being so dense (high INT low WIS) that he walks in the office, sits there waiting until he finally noticed the guy dead.

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.

According to the spell description, there are two possible reasons why the spell could fail, he makes the saving throw or is an undead...I wonder how long it will take the PCs to consider the second possiblity?

 

[MojoGM]

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.

Otherwise, I think your setup looks nice.

As I said, we had house-ruled this long ago, to make plots like this work. As a matter of fact, the other DM (who is currently playing) put this house-rule on the table when he was running his game and we both agreed to it, so they won't suspect it was changed for this reason.

 

[tarchon]

Maybe she commanded the zombie to destroy itself. Presumably, a zombie can commit "suicide" with a dagger, since you can destroy one with a dagger.

 

[MojoGM]

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.

This was my thought...it could be a cool scene.

 

[Rassilon]

Unless you particularly want the clue for the PCs, why doesn't the barmaid sneak attack the tavern owner in the heart ? (the only wound would hen be accounted for with Darius' dagger . . .)

Rassilon.

 

[MojoGM]

Unless you particularly want the clue for the PCs, why doesn't the barmaid sneak attack the tavern owner in the heart ? (the only wound would hen be accounted for with Darius' dagger . . .)

Rassilon.

I wanted to leave that as a clue...or potential clue at least.

Scenarios like this are tough...you want to leave enough clues for the PCs but don't want to overdo it. Figuring they'll only catch about 1/2 the clues you leave, if that, it's better to make it too easy than too difficult.

Lots of good feedback so far, people are picking up on things I missed.

~MojoGM (Chris)

 

[TheAuldGrump]

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."

Under old British trials the defendant was not allowed to speak at all during the trial (during the assize is a different matter). Seems to work here as well.

Another twist that I have used in the past - the victim is a doppleganger who was working as a body double for the supposed victim (no one said that the doppleganger always has to be the bad guy), which means that the reall innkeeper is in hiding somewhere, and can be questioned.

Detect undead is a tricky one, as is Detect Evil - while the assassin can hide her alignment the zombie (always neutral evil) does not have this luxury.

The Auld Grump

 

[Rabelais]

From a player's perspective, I might not actually think to check if he is/was undead.



Another option would be to have the players not actually show up on scene until the trial's over, and the body safely buried. Give it a week or two, the barmaid might even still be in town to make sure that the noble actually hangs for his "crime".

Depending on how long this mystery is expected to last, you really only need a couple of witnesses.

A townsperson to say that the vic was sober when he came into town. "Sure seemed a mite nervous though"

Some sort of inconsistency in the story of the barmaid that the players can exploit.

Access to the body, but not to the SPIRIT of the body.