Kidnap/Ressurect Plot/Clue help needed

[Bo is my Coach]

Please help with me with this:

I killed a character last time, Sort of my mistake, so the party is going to try to get him ressurected. They are about 4th level, so Ressurection is beyond their means. I am playing a lead up campaign to Ret to Temple of EE, So I thought that I would have the party leave the body with a church in Verbobonc, then during the night have a party of Tharizdun cultists break in and steal the body and raise him, thinking he is the Champion of EE. To further complicate things, I thought I would have the cultists substitute a living baby in place of the dead character.

My question, What clue or type of clue can I leave behind to lead the party to the cultists? I am thinking of something kind of like the Tanner quest in the Bridge district in BGII. I have DMed for quite a while, but have never been good at mysteries.

Thanks

 

[fba827]

Hmm.. well, couple quick thoughts (mind you, I don't claim to be good at this )

* (easy one) an eye witness. However, this may lead to frustrated PCs if they don't do "talking with others" very well. 'Course, if they search for days on end with no results (and don't seem to be asking for witnesses) then have someone come forward. Even if the witness did not see the cultist. perhaps he/she heard baby cries from the west street heading down the road towards the temple where they quieted down... etc

* (a bit cliche) a scrap of clothing or symbol got left behind by accident (i.e. the infant had ripped the kidnappers cloak and has it in his curled first, etc.). If there is a bard in the group you can give a Bardic Knowledge check (with a penalty since it is only a particular symbol or something)... same idea for knowledge checks or so

* a symbol was _purposely_ left behind. Maybe the cultist didn't want it to be a mystery and maybe they leave behind the symbol on purpose. It could be something drawn onto the infant himself (there has to be some purpose for leaving the child unless it really is just there to confuse)

* have an NPC suggest divinition magics.. the third level ones and higher may indirectly give away it all

* cultists are regular people when not out kidnapping and raising demigods. So pick two of the cultists and assign then a real "life" -- what is their occupation, what is their family like. Then, use that to think what small item may be on their person that may fall during all this and get left behind as a small clue. That clue woudl lead back to the person rather than to the cult though..


(note that i have no experience with RtEE so I don't even know who these cultists or anything are.. just going based on what you've said).

couple things you may want to think about though
* What purpose does leaving a living baby have for these cultists?

* Unless you do some variation to the common raising spells, then the cultists may actually not be able to raise the body. This is because the common raise spells in the PHB all say that the dead spirit knows who and alignment of the person trying to raise him and has the choice to refuse, etc...