MerakSpielman
First Post
This episode is primarily written in response to the various paladin threads that have popped up recently, in particular, "Plot Killer: Detect Evil" from the Plots and Places forum. As such, it doesn't go into the characterization of the party members (who are in actuality quite a diverse bunch). This was a one-session whodunit, and we all had tremendous amounts of fun and felt clever and thrilled when we figured it out. At some point, we reached such a level of rat-bastard conspiracy theories that I can no longer remember the bizarre things we were coming up with. With no further ado, here's the story:
An example of a paladin’s Detect Evil ability NOT ruining a classic whodunit adventure. The average level of the members of the party is 8th.
In order to gain the favor of an important temple, the party has been sent on a quest. The divinations at the temple have predicted that three days hence, in a specific town, an honest man is going to be slain by the plans of the law. We are tasked to travel to this town, figure out what the divination means, and insure that justice is served, whatever it turns out is actually going on. I.e., if the honest man deserves to die, allowing him to die could be the right thing to do. To myself, the party paladin, this looks like it will be one of those moral dilemma things that can get paladins in trouble, but he’s quite sure he’ll find the virtuous course through the trial ahead.
Setting out immediately, we can’t get there until the day before the death is going to occur. We’re ambushed by ogres on the way, and after we win the fight our party bard quips, “I bet this guy that’s going to be killed is in jail for killing one of the sacred ogres in the surrounding wilderness!” We laugh, but as players we are uneasy. Is this the sort of thing our DM would do to us? Divinations are tricky things. It’s possible that it refers to one of us.
Arriving at the town, we discover there’s a sort of festival going on. People have come from far and wide to participate in a series of games – tests of physical ability. The DM describes it as being akin to our modern Olympics, with tests of strength, martial ability, endurance, etc… Lots of side bets are going on, and bookies are prevalent. Interesting. We split up to inquire if there have been any prominent arrests recently or if there are any executions planned – judging that “by the hands of the law” could point in that direction.
We hit paydirt immediately – it seems that there is a hanging scheduled for tomorrow morning, as a sort of public event on the last day of the Games. Inquiring further, we discover that the person to be hanged is a local cutpurse, a known thief who was finally caught in the act of killing a farmer in a back alley and taking his purse. We’re a bit wary, since this doesn’t sound much like an “honest man,” but we decide to look into it. I go to talk to the criminal through the jail window, and he definitely shows up on my radar as evil. Right. Still, it’s possible to be evil and honest, so I ask him some questions. Derrin (that’s his name) recounts his version of the story: He had finished taking a leak behind a bar when a drunken local farmer bumps into him. The farmer takes offense that Derrin was in his way and drunkenly pulls a knife on him. Derrin defends himself with his own knife and ends up killing the farmer. As an afterthought, he grabs the man’s purse. The Hightower girls turned him in to the Sheriff shortly thereafter – they claim they witnessed the killing but that’s impossible because they weren’t there. This story sounds bogus but maybe it’s true – especially since he admits to stealing the money. Maybe he’s the honest man we’re looking for. He also claims that there’s nothing even a paladin can do to keep him from being hanged tomorrow. His advice? The bookies take bets on how long somebody will swing on the rope before dying. He’s a tough guy, place a bet for him to swing a while.
We go and talk to the dead farmer’s widow. She says that Derrin killed her husband in cold blood, leaping from the shadows and stabbing him in the back. The Hightower girls saw the whole thing. Who are the Hightower girls we ask. There are three of them, the daughters of the old, respected innkeeper Mr. Hightower. They are charged with keeping order during the Games and have the authority to question and arrest suspects and enforce peace during this time. They report directly to the Sheriff. I cleverly (I think) inquire who stands to own the farm and its land now that her husband is dead. Herself, it turns out, though she can’t run the farm on her own and will have to sell it to the highest bidder. She is not evil, so I decide she’s not a suspect.
Time to go talk to the Hightower girls. Contrary to the “girl” description, the three sisters turn out to be in their thirties and forties. They don’t register as evil. From a distance, our cleric casts a few Detect spells and determines that they are all Lawful Good. I introduce myself as a paladin and inquire about how they keep order around here – shop talk, since paladins are very interested in keeping order. They are very forthcoming and are easily led into a conversation about the arrest of Derrin. With very little prompting, they lead us to the scene of the crime and describe exactly how it happened. They were over there on the street, looked down the alley, saw Derrin leap out from behind some debris and kill the farmer, grab his purse and run away. They pursue, and he’s never out of their sight during the chase. Soon, Derrin bumbles straight into the arms of the Sheriff and is placed under arrest. The professionalism and manner of speaking of the Hightower girls impresses my paladin and he reveals his mission to them, describing the divination that sent the party here. The Hightower girls say that there is no way, under any twisted definition of the term, that Derrin can be described as an “honest man.”
We launch into conspiracy mode. Perhaps there is going to be a switch during the night? Perhaps it is not in fact Derrin who will be hanged publicly, but an honest person disguised to look like him? Drugged/charmed/blackmailed into being executed in his place? Perhaps, the Hightower girls admit skeptically, but the prison is under guard constantly. It would be difficult to pull off. Convinced that some sort of switch is going to occur, my paladin decides he wants to spend the night in the jail himself. “You’ll have to talk to the Sheriff about that.” Good. I’ve been wanting to talk to him anyway.
We go to the guard house. The Sheriff is there and registers strongly as EVIL, as does one of his two deputies. Suspicion instantly swivels to orient on him. We ask to look at their arrest records and about staying overnight in the jail, and he is very polite and forthcoming, seemingly very worried that we seem to think something will happen to disrupt the hanging tomorrow. He’s been the Sheriff for over ten years and is well respected in the community – perhaps only Mr. Hightower is better respected by the populace. A little digging after we leave the guardhouse indicates that the Sheriff was a nicer man ten years ago, but he’s gotten a bit colder and cynical as the years went by. Still, there are no overt signs of corruption in his office.
We still feel that somehow he’s behind what’s going to happen. Derrin is not the “honest man,” but somehow the plans of the Sheriff are going to kill somebody tomorrow. We had to find out what said plans were, and how Derrin and the dead farmer tie in to the story. Our new bard makes a splendid Gather Information check, looking specifically for information about who the Sheriff is known to hang out with. Result – the bard happens to meet somebody who has seen the Sheriff spending time with a thoroughly disreputable local halfling. When further pressed, the man admits that the halfling is a poison-maker. Ok, now we have something to go on.
The party splits up, each of us wanting to pursue a different avenue. Some people (including my paladin) stake out the poison-maker’s shop, hoping to see something interesting. One guy goes to check out the evil deputy’s house, on a hunch. One person goes to check in with the bookies and see if there is any useful information to be gained there.
Results:
We see neither hide nor hair of the poison-maker.
The person investigating the deputy’s house returns with two empty vials. Our mage confirms (Alchemy check) that they contained a potent poison, but of a type with which he is unfamiliar.
There has been an unusually large bet placed, but nobody knows with which bookie or pertaining to what.
BIG QUESTION: Where is the poison? It has already been applied to something.
How can we prove that the Sheriff is behind all this? Clearly the deputy must be acting on his orders, but in such a way as to keep the evil sheriff’s hands clean. If there’s going to be justice, we need to find out exactly what is going on with the poison and be able to prove irrefutably that the Sheriff is behind it all.
My paladin and the cleric have Detect Poison, so we go around to several places trying to find it. The grave of the murdered farmer? Nope. Derrin himself? Nope. The Sheriff and the evil deputy? Nope. The gallows? Nope.
With little else to go on, the bard with the awesome Gather Information modifier goes to inquire about the unusually large bet we’d heard rumors about before. He comes back with the following information: The bet in on who will be the overall winner of the Games (apparently you don’t win in individual events, the winner is narrowed down to a single Game participant). The final match is tomorrow, after the hanging. The bet in on the order of 5000 gold pieces on the underdog – the man that everybody expects to lose the final match. Nobody else has placed any bet more than a couple hundred gold.
What’s the final event? Quarterstaff fighting. Alarm bells go off in our heads. Two empty vials of poison? Two ends on a quarterstaff? Do they fight with armor or clothing? They fight bare chested. Indeed. Do they wear gloves? Yes, leather gauntlets to keep their fingers from being broken by the opponent’s stick.
We investigate and one of the quarterstaffs to be used in the match tomorrow does indeed have poison on it. The man who is the favorite and expected to win is indeed an honest man.
Our information-gathering bard goes off and verifies that the Sheriff was the one who placed the huge bet. So he stands to profit from this, but didn’t do any of the dirty work himself, eh?
But how to see to it that justice is served?
We go to the Hightower girls and their father, Mr. Hightower, and hatch a plan. They are the only people we trust in this town, and the only people respected by the people more than the Sheriff. Having them on our side is a major advantage. The plan agreed on, we spend the night, myself in the jail with Derrin, since I already said I would do so (can’t make a liar out of my paladin!). I am convinced that Derrin’s hanging is merely a coincidence and has nothing to do with our mission. (DMs and their red herrings!)
Morning comes, and we allow the hanging to proceed without interference. The crowd thinks it’s a grand show, and my paladin abilities remain intact. Great.
The quarterstaff match begins, and the contestants take the field. The evil deputy comes out with the staffs and hands one to each participant. Some hired mages verify that the contestants are clean of magic “buff” spells. Just before the whistle blows to start the match, my paladin strides forward.
“Hold! Stop the match! There has been tampering! Get me the Sheriff!” There is a dark muttering in the crowd and the Sheriff comes forward.
I snatch the poisoned quarterstaff and thrust it toward his face. “Does this look funny to you?” Predictibly, he shies away.
“What? What do you mean?”
“Poison!” the crowd gasps. The mages come forward and verify the staff is poisoned.
“I’ll get to the bottom of this!” The sheriff cries, “Unthinkable!”
“Strangely enough, empty vials of poison were discovered in his house.” I point at the evil deputy.
The Sheriff gasps, “Guards! Arrest that man!” Turns to me, “I’m so glad you got this cleared up. If you don’t mind, I have business…”
“And we also have proof that YOU placed a 5000gp bet on him winning the contest!” Point at the man who had been wielding the poisoned staff. He has a look of horror on his face and is stripping off his gauntlets carefully.
“Ridiculous!”
“Guards! Arrest the Sheriff!”
The Hightower girls move in to grab him, but suddenly he and his deputy pull out their swords.
“We’re not going down without a fight, you meddlesome paladin!”
I draw my sword, “Strike to subdue, people!”
The rest is history. The Sheriff and his deputy were arrested, Mr. Hightower praised our actions, the people celebrated, the final match was fought fairly, and I told the Hightower girls about the local poison-maker. They assured me everything was in good hands. The Sheriff’s trial was pending, but there was no way he was going to get off after his bookie and his own deputy testify against him under the influence of clerical detect lies. And our party is now something of a group of local heroes!
The End!
An example of a paladin’s Detect Evil ability NOT ruining a classic whodunit adventure. The average level of the members of the party is 8th.
In order to gain the favor of an important temple, the party has been sent on a quest. The divinations at the temple have predicted that three days hence, in a specific town, an honest man is going to be slain by the plans of the law. We are tasked to travel to this town, figure out what the divination means, and insure that justice is served, whatever it turns out is actually going on. I.e., if the honest man deserves to die, allowing him to die could be the right thing to do. To myself, the party paladin, this looks like it will be one of those moral dilemma things that can get paladins in trouble, but he’s quite sure he’ll find the virtuous course through the trial ahead.
Setting out immediately, we can’t get there until the day before the death is going to occur. We’re ambushed by ogres on the way, and after we win the fight our party bard quips, “I bet this guy that’s going to be killed is in jail for killing one of the sacred ogres in the surrounding wilderness!” We laugh, but as players we are uneasy. Is this the sort of thing our DM would do to us? Divinations are tricky things. It’s possible that it refers to one of us.
Arriving at the town, we discover there’s a sort of festival going on. People have come from far and wide to participate in a series of games – tests of physical ability. The DM describes it as being akin to our modern Olympics, with tests of strength, martial ability, endurance, etc… Lots of side bets are going on, and bookies are prevalent. Interesting. We split up to inquire if there have been any prominent arrests recently or if there are any executions planned – judging that “by the hands of the law” could point in that direction.
We hit paydirt immediately – it seems that there is a hanging scheduled for tomorrow morning, as a sort of public event on the last day of the Games. Inquiring further, we discover that the person to be hanged is a local cutpurse, a known thief who was finally caught in the act of killing a farmer in a back alley and taking his purse. We’re a bit wary, since this doesn’t sound much like an “honest man,” but we decide to look into it. I go to talk to the criminal through the jail window, and he definitely shows up on my radar as evil. Right. Still, it’s possible to be evil and honest, so I ask him some questions. Derrin (that’s his name) recounts his version of the story: He had finished taking a leak behind a bar when a drunken local farmer bumps into him. The farmer takes offense that Derrin was in his way and drunkenly pulls a knife on him. Derrin defends himself with his own knife and ends up killing the farmer. As an afterthought, he grabs the man’s purse. The Hightower girls turned him in to the Sheriff shortly thereafter – they claim they witnessed the killing but that’s impossible because they weren’t there. This story sounds bogus but maybe it’s true – especially since he admits to stealing the money. Maybe he’s the honest man we’re looking for. He also claims that there’s nothing even a paladin can do to keep him from being hanged tomorrow. His advice? The bookies take bets on how long somebody will swing on the rope before dying. He’s a tough guy, place a bet for him to swing a while.
We go and talk to the dead farmer’s widow. She says that Derrin killed her husband in cold blood, leaping from the shadows and stabbing him in the back. The Hightower girls saw the whole thing. Who are the Hightower girls we ask. There are three of them, the daughters of the old, respected innkeeper Mr. Hightower. They are charged with keeping order during the Games and have the authority to question and arrest suspects and enforce peace during this time. They report directly to the Sheriff. I cleverly (I think) inquire who stands to own the farm and its land now that her husband is dead. Herself, it turns out, though she can’t run the farm on her own and will have to sell it to the highest bidder. She is not evil, so I decide she’s not a suspect.
Time to go talk to the Hightower girls. Contrary to the “girl” description, the three sisters turn out to be in their thirties and forties. They don’t register as evil. From a distance, our cleric casts a few Detect spells and determines that they are all Lawful Good. I introduce myself as a paladin and inquire about how they keep order around here – shop talk, since paladins are very interested in keeping order. They are very forthcoming and are easily led into a conversation about the arrest of Derrin. With very little prompting, they lead us to the scene of the crime and describe exactly how it happened. They were over there on the street, looked down the alley, saw Derrin leap out from behind some debris and kill the farmer, grab his purse and run away. They pursue, and he’s never out of their sight during the chase. Soon, Derrin bumbles straight into the arms of the Sheriff and is placed under arrest. The professionalism and manner of speaking of the Hightower girls impresses my paladin and he reveals his mission to them, describing the divination that sent the party here. The Hightower girls say that there is no way, under any twisted definition of the term, that Derrin can be described as an “honest man.”
We launch into conspiracy mode. Perhaps there is going to be a switch during the night? Perhaps it is not in fact Derrin who will be hanged publicly, but an honest person disguised to look like him? Drugged/charmed/blackmailed into being executed in his place? Perhaps, the Hightower girls admit skeptically, but the prison is under guard constantly. It would be difficult to pull off. Convinced that some sort of switch is going to occur, my paladin decides he wants to spend the night in the jail himself. “You’ll have to talk to the Sheriff about that.” Good. I’ve been wanting to talk to him anyway.
We go to the guard house. The Sheriff is there and registers strongly as EVIL, as does one of his two deputies. Suspicion instantly swivels to orient on him. We ask to look at their arrest records and about staying overnight in the jail, and he is very polite and forthcoming, seemingly very worried that we seem to think something will happen to disrupt the hanging tomorrow. He’s been the Sheriff for over ten years and is well respected in the community – perhaps only Mr. Hightower is better respected by the populace. A little digging after we leave the guardhouse indicates that the Sheriff was a nicer man ten years ago, but he’s gotten a bit colder and cynical as the years went by. Still, there are no overt signs of corruption in his office.
We still feel that somehow he’s behind what’s going to happen. Derrin is not the “honest man,” but somehow the plans of the Sheriff are going to kill somebody tomorrow. We had to find out what said plans were, and how Derrin and the dead farmer tie in to the story. Our new bard makes a splendid Gather Information check, looking specifically for information about who the Sheriff is known to hang out with. Result – the bard happens to meet somebody who has seen the Sheriff spending time with a thoroughly disreputable local halfling. When further pressed, the man admits that the halfling is a poison-maker. Ok, now we have something to go on.
The party splits up, each of us wanting to pursue a different avenue. Some people (including my paladin) stake out the poison-maker’s shop, hoping to see something interesting. One guy goes to check out the evil deputy’s house, on a hunch. One person goes to check in with the bookies and see if there is any useful information to be gained there.
Results:
We see neither hide nor hair of the poison-maker.
The person investigating the deputy’s house returns with two empty vials. Our mage confirms (Alchemy check) that they contained a potent poison, but of a type with which he is unfamiliar.
There has been an unusually large bet placed, but nobody knows with which bookie or pertaining to what.
BIG QUESTION: Where is the poison? It has already been applied to something.
How can we prove that the Sheriff is behind all this? Clearly the deputy must be acting on his orders, but in such a way as to keep the evil sheriff’s hands clean. If there’s going to be justice, we need to find out exactly what is going on with the poison and be able to prove irrefutably that the Sheriff is behind it all.
My paladin and the cleric have Detect Poison, so we go around to several places trying to find it. The grave of the murdered farmer? Nope. Derrin himself? Nope. The Sheriff and the evil deputy? Nope. The gallows? Nope.
With little else to go on, the bard with the awesome Gather Information modifier goes to inquire about the unusually large bet we’d heard rumors about before. He comes back with the following information: The bet in on who will be the overall winner of the Games (apparently you don’t win in individual events, the winner is narrowed down to a single Game participant). The final match is tomorrow, after the hanging. The bet in on the order of 5000 gold pieces on the underdog – the man that everybody expects to lose the final match. Nobody else has placed any bet more than a couple hundred gold.
What’s the final event? Quarterstaff fighting. Alarm bells go off in our heads. Two empty vials of poison? Two ends on a quarterstaff? Do they fight with armor or clothing? They fight bare chested. Indeed. Do they wear gloves? Yes, leather gauntlets to keep their fingers from being broken by the opponent’s stick.
We investigate and one of the quarterstaffs to be used in the match tomorrow does indeed have poison on it. The man who is the favorite and expected to win is indeed an honest man.
Our information-gathering bard goes off and verifies that the Sheriff was the one who placed the huge bet. So he stands to profit from this, but didn’t do any of the dirty work himself, eh?
But how to see to it that justice is served?
We go to the Hightower girls and their father, Mr. Hightower, and hatch a plan. They are the only people we trust in this town, and the only people respected by the people more than the Sheriff. Having them on our side is a major advantage. The plan agreed on, we spend the night, myself in the jail with Derrin, since I already said I would do so (can’t make a liar out of my paladin!). I am convinced that Derrin’s hanging is merely a coincidence and has nothing to do with our mission. (DMs and their red herrings!)
Morning comes, and we allow the hanging to proceed without interference. The crowd thinks it’s a grand show, and my paladin abilities remain intact. Great.
The quarterstaff match begins, and the contestants take the field. The evil deputy comes out with the staffs and hands one to each participant. Some hired mages verify that the contestants are clean of magic “buff” spells. Just before the whistle blows to start the match, my paladin strides forward.
“Hold! Stop the match! There has been tampering! Get me the Sheriff!” There is a dark muttering in the crowd and the Sheriff comes forward.
I snatch the poisoned quarterstaff and thrust it toward his face. “Does this look funny to you?” Predictibly, he shies away.
“What? What do you mean?”
“Poison!” the crowd gasps. The mages come forward and verify the staff is poisoned.
“I’ll get to the bottom of this!” The sheriff cries, “Unthinkable!”
“Strangely enough, empty vials of poison were discovered in his house.” I point at the evil deputy.
The Sheriff gasps, “Guards! Arrest that man!” Turns to me, “I’m so glad you got this cleared up. If you don’t mind, I have business…”
“And we also have proof that YOU placed a 5000gp bet on him winning the contest!” Point at the man who had been wielding the poisoned staff. He has a look of horror on his face and is stripping off his gauntlets carefully.
“Ridiculous!”
“Guards! Arrest the Sheriff!”
The Hightower girls move in to grab him, but suddenly he and his deputy pull out their swords.
“We’re not going down without a fight, you meddlesome paladin!”
I draw my sword, “Strike to subdue, people!”
The rest is history. The Sheriff and his deputy were arrested, Mr. Hightower praised our actions, the people celebrated, the final match was fought fairly, and I told the Hightower girls about the local poison-maker. They assured me everything was in good hands. The Sheriff’s trial was pending, but there was no way he was going to get off after his bookie and his own deputy testify against him under the influence of clerical detect lies. And our party is now something of a group of local heroes!
The End!
