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Message: <blockquote data-quote="MojoGM" data-source="post: 2475780" data-attributes="member: 11414">Baradtgnome, Djeta, and anyone else from my NH Cormyr game, move along now. There’s nothing to see here… . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 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)</blockquote>

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