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<blockquote data-quote="The Little Raven" data-source="post: 4190078" data-attributes="member: 10095">Personally, I'd handle the investigation through the characters, not the Elder. Have the Elder be told that the policy on strangers was violated, but he doesn't have time to deal with what could be a small matter, so he hires the PCs to do it. They should be the ones to discover the mental influence on the guard, and whatever clues lead the Elder to believe it's an undead shapeshifter (that's quite an unexplained jump in the Elder's conclusions).Turn the Skill Challenge into multiple small challenges, divided by phases in the investigation. For example, &quot;phase 1&quot; would be &quot;discover mental influence on the gate guard,&quot; which could be done with Arcana checks (you notice the lingering effects of a charm or whatever), Insight (the guard seems to be acting a bit strange), Diplomacy (talk the guard into sharing the event with you, and you find discrepancies and oddities in the story), or whatever. Then, you move on to &quot;phase 2,&quot; where you need to &quot;discover the stranger's true nature.&quot; Does his room provide any details (Intimidate/Diplomacy to convince the innkeeper, Perception to search the room)? Are any of those clues magical in nature (Arcana)? Does the innkeeper or any citizen remember anything strange about the fellow (Diplomacy)?I hope that helps.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="The Little Raven, post: 4190078, member: 10095"] Personally, I'd handle the investigation through the characters, not the Elder. Have the Elder be told that the policy on strangers was violated, but he doesn't have time to deal with what could be a small matter, so he hires the PCs to do it. They should be the ones to discover the mental influence on the guard, and whatever clues lead the Elder to believe it's an undead shapeshifter (that's quite an unexplained jump in the Elder's conclusions). Turn the Skill Challenge into multiple small challenges, divided by phases in the investigation. For example, "phase 1" would be "discover mental influence on the gate guard," which could be done with Arcana checks (you notice the lingering effects of a charm or whatever), Insight (the guard seems to be acting a bit strange), Diplomacy (talk the guard into sharing the event with you, and you find discrepancies and oddities in the story), or whatever. Then, you move on to "phase 2," where you need to "discover the stranger's true nature." Does his room provide any details (Intimidate/Diplomacy to convince the innkeeper, Perception to search the room)? Are any of those clues magical in nature (Arcana)? Does the innkeeper or any citizen remember anything strange about the fellow (Diplomacy)? I hope that helps. [/QUOTE]

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