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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Wicht" data-source="post: 388338" data-attributes="member: 221">Murder: for the Children    A madman stalks the streets of Xaarum.  With patented ease he has slipped into the homes of citizens and brutally killed them.  The bodies are cut into pieces and then in blood the killer has written on the walls, “For the Children.”    The most recent killing was of a cleric of the Home Foundation.  His name was Goetai and his wife, Rouna (also a cleric) is quite upset about the whole thing.  She wants the PCs to find the killer and bring him to justice.    Goetai was the fifth one killed in this manner.  The fifth in as many nights.  The first was a shopkeeper named Finn, well liked by all, with a large family (seven children).  His wife discovered the body after returning from a visit to her sisters.  The second victim was a beggar named Amoot, also generally well liked.  He lived in a basement apartment and made his living begging in the streets.  Investigation will reveal that he often gave candy to the children he met.  The third victim was an officer of the watch named Kaliou.  He was single and without family.  He had been in the process of investigating a series of deaths around the marketplace.  Several merchants over the past month have been dying at home of some bizarre afliction, perhaps even whilst asleep.  There is no evidence of foul play but Kaliou had grown suspicious.  Kaliou was killed whilst walking his beat.  The fourth victim was a Gnome, a toymaker named Grongo.  He lived alone, except for a housekeeper and an apprentice.  Goetai was killed in his house.  He and Rouna, along with their baby girl had lived a block from the Great hearth, the temple run by Mother Roalee.  Roalee would raise Goetai from the dead, but his heart, like those of the other victims, was missing.Whats Going On    Things are slightly more complicated than might be apparent at first glance.  A cleric of the Harvester, Talast the Tall, has worked his way into the local thieves’ guild (which is headquartered in the Taxman’s Guildhall).  He offers healing to the thieves and in exchange he gets paid and develops connections amongst the underworld.  Talast is a large man, with blond hair and a quiet manner.  Like many of the other thieves and cut-throats, he works when necessary as a tax-collector.  Unlike the thieves however, Talast’s interests are far more murderous.  He is determined to kill as many as he can.  Unseen, untraceable murder is his specialty and his passion.  He delights in poisoning his victims and then watching them die.  Often he uses a divine spell to nullify the poison after the death, making it impossible to detect poison or trace it.      Within the thieves’ guild, Talast ran across another likeminded individual.  Griffin One-hand is a former pirate turned thief.  He is a quiet, passionless man, quite adept at killing others.  He seldom displays any emotions of any sort for any reason.  The lone exception is children.  They make him smile slightly, due to their innocence and carefree ways.  At all other times, however, Griffin is every bit the cold-blooded killer.  The other members of the thieves’ guild are wary of Griffin, but Tharvak Noorum (head of the guild) tolerates him, mainly because he has always been the one willing to undertake the dirty jobs that others didn’t have the stomach for.      Talast saw in Griffin untapped possibilities and befriended him and started a campaign to further warp an already disturbed mind.  He fashioned Griffin into a psychotic through subtle uses of multiple suggestion spells and mind-altering drugs.      Finally, when he perceived Griffin was ready he turned him loose.  For the past five days, Talast has told Griffin of someone he “saw” mistreating a child.  Everyday, Griffin goes and kills that person.  Talast has used Griffin, not only to cause death and fear, but also to kill a watchmen who he felt was nosing in the wrong places (Kaliou).  Talast believes (incorrectly) there is nothing to connect him with Griffin in the way of evidence, and that, therefore, Griffin was the perfect tool for the job.  Talast’s plan is to eventually, in a day or so, make sure that Griffin is found out.  Then he will return to his true calling – undetectable murder.HooksThere are two possible hooks.  The first is that the local watch, in the form of a Captain of the watch, asks the PCs to help track down the killer.  The reputation of the PCs as problem solvers has preceeded them.    The second hook is that Rouna, distraught at the death of her husband, turns to one of the PCs and asks them to help solve the problem,or if possible, find his heart so that he may be raised from the dead.  Clues from the first four murders    Investigation by the PCs may reveal the following.  One of Finn’s neighbors saw a tall man sneaking around Finn’s shop earlier in the day.  He appeared to be up to no good, but he eventually left and Finn was still alive.  This was Talast, scoping out the place for Griffin.    Though its not a clue, a close search of Amoot’s basement home will turn up a well-hidden hidey-hole.  It is a loose brick in the wall behind the bed (there are scrape marks on the floor from where the bed has been moved Search/Spot DC 19).  If the PCs move the bed out, they can find the brick (DC 15).  There is a leather sack holding 200 gold pieces in the hole.  Amoot made good money from begging.    Kaliou’s nieghbor and good friend, Harmin Wainwright, can tell the PCs that Kaliou was very interested lately in a series of deaths around the market and had been looking into it in his free time.  Also, clutched in Kaliou’s hands was a piece of green cloth (torn from Griffin’s shirt in the struggle).  There are no notes in the house concerning Kaliou’s investigations (he kept those facts in his head), but from talking with either Harmin or with some of Kaliou’s associates, the PCs can begin to follow the same trail he did, perhaps drawing notice from Talast.      Anyone questioning children around town will find out that some of them have been given toys lately by Griffin.  He stole several of them after killing the toymaker.  Some of the toys have blood on them.  It is possible for the PCs to stumble onto this clue after they investigate the toymaker’s shop.  There they may notice some of the toys are missing and later see some poor children playing with new toys.  The children, if asked, can aptly describe Griffin.Clues from the fifth murder    The fifth murder should have occurred no more than twelve hours before the PCs are approached, possibly even closer.  Rouna has moved temporarily into the temple itself and the scene is much the way it was when the body was discovered, minus the body.  On the wall in the room in which Goetai was killed, the front room, written in a neat hand, in blood, are the words, “For the Children.”  Rouna was out of the house, at the temple when the murder occurred and there are no witnesses.  Entry seems to have been gained to the house through the back door, which has been picked (Spot DC 20, +5 circumstantial bonus from more than 5 ranks in Pick Locks).  A sharp instrument was apparently used to kill Goetai, though the fact he was cut to pieces makes this harder to determine.  A speak with the dead spell will reveal Griffin’s description and the fact that he was killed with a sickle, nothing more.  Good divination spells reveal the murderer to be ‘A maddened Griffin, twisted by death’s servant, seeking to protect the children.”  The best lead is the tracks leading out of the house, made by Griffin.  A tracker can follow them (DC 13) out of the house well enough thanks to blood on Griffin’s boot, but a block from the house it becomes much more difficult (DC 25).  A trained dog however would have little problem following it (Scent DC 15).  The trail can be followed to within a block of Griffin’s house.  There it becomes too muddled to follow more clearly.    If the PCs manage to obtain a description of Griffin and ask around in his immediate neighborhood, they will either find out the location of his apartment (Gather Information DC 12) or perhaps alert Griffin to their nosing around (a failed check) or perhaps both.      If Griffin is taken by surprise, he will try to escape.  If he manages to escape, or he is alerted to their inquiries, his plan will become one of ambush.   He will begin stalking his pursuers, looking for good times to ambush them.  He will prefer to take them on singly or else snipe at them from rooftops.  If captured somehow, it is possible he will divulge Talast’s name as the one who told him about the ‘abuse’ that the dead victims were supposed to be heaping onto children.  Talast truly believes all the dead abused children and a detect lie spell will say as much.  The sixth murder    If the PCs are slow to investigate or simply follow the wrong leads there will be a sixth murder and possibly a seventh.    The sixth victim will be a halfling woman, a widow who lives alone in an apartment on the south side of town.  There are many valuable things in her house, but none of it was stolen.  Otherwise the clues are identical to those at Goetai’s house, except the track difficulties are all lower by 2.        The Seventh Murder    The PCs will hear about the seventh murder as it is being committed and if they rush to the location, they can catch Griffin before he has a chance to flee the scene.  The victim is a half-elven baker.  Griffin will attempt to kill him at dusk and Talast, through the use of disguise and a small boy will send out word to the PCs that a murder is being committed.  Because he knows about the murder beforehand, Talast will, in effect, sound the alarm with the authorities and the Pcsabout twenty minutes before the murder actually begins, allowing Griffin to be caught in the act.  Again, Griffin will try to flee and then will turn around on his pursuers, assuming he discovers their identity.  Griffin’s apartment    Griffin lives in a basement apartment in a house near the southwest wall of Xaarum.  A questioning of his neighbors will reveal that he often works as a Tax-collector, but has kept odd hours lately.  A Gather Information check (DC 16) will reveal that Griffin often entertained a tall blond man, who dressed in black and came at odd hours of the night.  (Talast is not aware he has been seen visiting Griffin).  There are two rooms in the apartment, an outer room and then the bedroom.  The outer room is decorated with weapons, many of them of high quality.  There is also a small stove, for both heat and cooking, and two chairs and a table.  The whole room is immaculately clean.  The inner room is kept dark, lit only with candles.  The two small windows have been painted black.  Hammered to the walls are hearts (those of Griffin’s victims.  They have been cleaned and slightly smoked and are thus more or less preserved.  There is little way to tell, short of spells, which heart belonged to whom.  If Goetai’s heart is returned to Rouna, she will have her husband raised from the dead.  The other victims have no family that can afford such a work of faith.      Griffin can lock both doors (Open Locks DC 20, or Break DC 18) and can also fire crossbow bolts through a small opening in the door into the bedroom.  He has also sawn away at the ceiling above him so that he can, with a hard tug on a rope, pull down a piece of the floor and escape into the apartment above.  A Gnome and his wife live above Griffin.      The Sittik that Griffin carries is from Talast.  It is hard to find in Xaarum and it can eventually be traced to Talast if that line of inquiry is followed.  There is also a letter, partially burnt in Griffin’s oven that offers some clues.Griffin, male human, Rogue 6: CR 6; HD 6d6+6 (hp 30); AC 16; Mv 30 ft.;  Init +7; Attk +9 melee (1d4+1+poisonsdagger) or +7 ranged (1d8+poison light crossbow); SA Sneak Attack +3d6; SQ Evasion, Uncanny Dodge (Dex, flanked); SV Fort +3, Ref +8, Will +0; Str 12, Dex 16, Con 13, Int 9, Wis 8, Cha 14.Skills and Feats: Hide +12, Move Silently +12, Climb +10, Open Locks +12, Read Lips +8, Gather Information +11, Balance +12, Profession (Tax Collector) +8; Dodge, Improved Initiative, Weapon Finesse (dagger), Weapon Focus (dagger), Possessions: 300 gp, Masterwork dagger with a pink pearl in handle (410 gp value), Black leather armor +1, Short sword, vial of Sittik (6 doses, injury, DC 18, 1d4/1d6 Dex)Remains of Letter in Griffin’s oven:    And then I saw the wretched priest take his son, tie him down and beat him till blood flowed from the poor boy’s back.  Truly it was horrible to watch, but what could I do, I had yet to collect his taxes.  The neighborhood children tell me it is not true, but that is only because he made them lie lest he lose his position in the temple.  Their denials only make the case that much stronger.  Surely each of them has felt the sting of his whip at one time or another!    Dispatching the vile offender can only be a blessing to his child and his child to be.  If this is how he treats other’s children, what must his own be suffering in silence.                    -T</blockquote>

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