Andurian
2013-09-03, 10:01 PM
My players are going to enter a large city to sell their accumulated wealth and buy items. If anyone has seen my recent posts, they know I am a new dm and am trying to test my capabilities as a DM. This time, I am trying to make a more elaborate story that will require more RP than combat abilities. I will try to keep them in the city by making it so some of the magic items they want has to be made... ie, they have to wait in the city.
To start it off, it will be a murder mystery. They enter the city at night and are confronted by the city watch and it's commander. They get questioned as to how they got into the town, ect. The guard eventually find one of their own murdered at the gate house. Surprisingly, they city watch do not suspect the players. They are told there is a curfew in effect and a serial killer is on the loose in the city.
If the players (and I know one of the characters will do this) offer to solve the mystery or brags about being a detective, I will have the guard escort them to meet the Lord of the City. The Lord will explain that the murderer is causing unrest and it cannot be tolerated. He will reward them handsomely should they catch the killer, preferably alive for public execution. In the meantime, there are some public entertainment to try and distract the population.... a small group of performers, a combat tournament, ect...
Afterwards (or straight to this) the players will be sent to an inn/bar to stay the night. At the bar, they will see the city watch transporting people home when they wish to leave (the only legal way to travel at night during the curfew). If they try to get information before bed, I will reveal one of the people at the bar had his wife murdered. Slip in some details that his wife was rumored to have been unfaithful beforehand, adding insult to injury, and some other extra info, more so in an attempt to get the players to feel bad for the npc who is passed out drunk. If they talk to him, he will reveal that she worked at a... well... clinic/homeless shelter.
Some info I want to try and pass around... the first killing began three month prior. A whole noble family was murdered in their home. The latest was the city watchman who was responsible for the gate the night the NPCs entered town. He was known to be taking small bribes. This is revealed by criminals if the players talk to them. The one before that was a few days ago, the wife of the man in the bar. She was found dead in a warehouse by the docks.
Places of interest...
Clinic in the Poor Section: There is a lot of injured and homeless here. A cleric runs it with some healers. He seems nice but overworked. He also arrived the day before from a trip into the woods trying to collect herbs.
Performers Tent: The three performers are located here. They have an some animals there. One is large and burly with tattoos, one is a rogue and the final, a sorcerer.
Dock Warehouse: Evidence of a struggle, lots of blood (not cleaned up from murder). Some animal tracks may be found, including some snake skin inside the building and some fur. A homeless bum lives outside. For food and beer, he reveals that he saw someone with tattoos the night of the dockside - murder. He only saw the tattoos on his back, however.
Dock Bar: Sailors with tattoos reside here. May be challenged to duels/armwrestling/other contests. If angered, they fight... and remove tear off their shirts hulk style.
Murdered Nobles House: This is now haunted... Ill continue this later.... I need help here.
Arena: The players can join a daily arena fight. There is purpose to this...
Graveyard: Where the dead are buried. The players can help the caretaker deal with a zombie/skeleton problem in a small crypt. The caretaker will then offer to cast Speak to the Dead for the party... this will fail.
____
The plot: The initial idea is to try and get the players to suspect the performers. They are actually a group of thieves who use trained animals in their heists who travel from town to town under the guise of professional performers. So I will play off of the player's feelings and have one of the performers beat an animal and harass homeless people outside the shelter (and a halfling... one players is a halfling knight dedicated to protecting halflings). This will set the player off (no doubt about it). Combine this with the information that the homeless man saw a man with a tattoo, and the animal tracks, ect. Of course, they only robbed the warehouse, not killed the woman.
The city watch wants to be sure that they are the right people and would like to see the performer's tattoo (a drawing will be supplied by the homeless man). The performer enters the arena contest to try and make more money. The ultimate idea here is to get the final piece of evidence and match the tattoo the performer has by grappling him and forcibly removing his armor (the city watch commander will suggest this). This also offers the players to get some money and fight in the arena. During the arena fights, the homeless man is found murdered. The tattoo matches and the City Watch plan to mobilize that night. They arrive to arrest the performers. Two are dead and the last has been driven mad. They are found with objects missing from dock warehouse.
The arena fights are daily and I want to give the players some time to do other things. If they wish to investigate the murder locations, I will eventually lead them to the Noble's House, which is now haunted. If they can calm the ghosts there (the one that will communicate with them is the child at the end), the child will reveal that the father was a political spy. He sold information through informants. Documents were transferred out of the poor section of the city. He also mentions that there is someone capturing and punishing the spirits of the departed. This leads the spirits to go mad, as they have in the house.
Hints so far:
1: Murdered women worked in the clinic and was unfaithful
2: Performers murdered after harassing homeless and robbing a warehouse
3: Guard was taking bribes
4: Noble was guilty of treason, and someone of magical power is torturing spirits
5: Homeless man died (he was a member of the clinic)
The Guilty:
The cleric of the clinic. He knew of everyone's crimes and took it upon himself to be judge, jury, and executioner. He has gone mad at this point and feels he must clean up the streets at all costs and all crimes are equal, deserving of death. And because he is the true form of justice, he cannot be caught... which means those who see him commit vile acts must be silenced.
When the players confront him, he reveals his insanity. He has ghosts attack the players and starts casting death knell on the weak and dying in his clinic, buffing himself if the players can't heal the people in time. He slowly retreats to a secret dock and tries to flee. If the players have visited the haunted house, ghosts from the house will fight and distract the enraged tortured ghosts, leaving the players to fight the cleric. If the players are on good terms with the city watch, the commander and some guards will do the same, and run in and use a wand of ghost touch on the players, allowing them to fight effectively (one is a star elf and may be able to do so already).
Kind of a quick overview of my current plans for the adventure. How does it sound so far? Does it seem like there are enough clues? I want to try and make the boss fight interesting. I feel the ghosts and casting death knell to buff himself do that to some degree. The players are only level 4 at this time so... can't do too much that is overpowered with the BBEG.
Haunted House:
I also really need help with the haunted house. I have found a layout I can use but how should I do encounters in there? My current plan was to only have activity if it was night time. If it is night, have animated objects fight the party (quick and easy kills, but annoying and keeping the players paranoid). Also, what should I have the players do to pacify the ghosts? I don't want it to be a "We killed dem! WEEE" thing. I was thinking of a, find object A and bring it to the ghost child's room, who can be heard crying and begging for object A (teddy bear?). If the item is found and brought there, ghosts appear to attack the ghost child and the players have to defend him. He then reveals the information of the noble's crimes, and explains how to pacify the ghosts.... (this I don't have any ideas for). While they explore the house, the players witness/hear what happened the night of the murder... woman running away from a hooded figure, blood-curdling screams. A child begging for his now-dead parents, ect. Sad and creepy stuff. I am hesitant about putting traps in... because it's a house where a child lived O.o (oh hey, my kid activated the fireball trap I put in the study... woops).
To start it off, it will be a murder mystery. They enter the city at night and are confronted by the city watch and it's commander. They get questioned as to how they got into the town, ect. The guard eventually find one of their own murdered at the gate house. Surprisingly, they city watch do not suspect the players. They are told there is a curfew in effect and a serial killer is on the loose in the city.
If the players (and I know one of the characters will do this) offer to solve the mystery or brags about being a detective, I will have the guard escort them to meet the Lord of the City. The Lord will explain that the murderer is causing unrest and it cannot be tolerated. He will reward them handsomely should they catch the killer, preferably alive for public execution. In the meantime, there are some public entertainment to try and distract the population.... a small group of performers, a combat tournament, ect...
Afterwards (or straight to this) the players will be sent to an inn/bar to stay the night. At the bar, they will see the city watch transporting people home when they wish to leave (the only legal way to travel at night during the curfew). If they try to get information before bed, I will reveal one of the people at the bar had his wife murdered. Slip in some details that his wife was rumored to have been unfaithful beforehand, adding insult to injury, and some other extra info, more so in an attempt to get the players to feel bad for the npc who is passed out drunk. If they talk to him, he will reveal that she worked at a... well... clinic/homeless shelter.
Some info I want to try and pass around... the first killing began three month prior. A whole noble family was murdered in their home. The latest was the city watchman who was responsible for the gate the night the NPCs entered town. He was known to be taking small bribes. This is revealed by criminals if the players talk to them. The one before that was a few days ago, the wife of the man in the bar. She was found dead in a warehouse by the docks.
Places of interest...
Clinic in the Poor Section: There is a lot of injured and homeless here. A cleric runs it with some healers. He seems nice but overworked. He also arrived the day before from a trip into the woods trying to collect herbs.
Performers Tent: The three performers are located here. They have an some animals there. One is large and burly with tattoos, one is a rogue and the final, a sorcerer.
Dock Warehouse: Evidence of a struggle, lots of blood (not cleaned up from murder). Some animal tracks may be found, including some snake skin inside the building and some fur. A homeless bum lives outside. For food and beer, he reveals that he saw someone with tattoos the night of the dockside - murder. He only saw the tattoos on his back, however.
Dock Bar: Sailors with tattoos reside here. May be challenged to duels/armwrestling/other contests. If angered, they fight... and remove tear off their shirts hulk style.
Murdered Nobles House: This is now haunted... Ill continue this later.... I need help here.
Arena: The players can join a daily arena fight. There is purpose to this...
Graveyard: Where the dead are buried. The players can help the caretaker deal with a zombie/skeleton problem in a small crypt. The caretaker will then offer to cast Speak to the Dead for the party... this will fail.
____
The plot: The initial idea is to try and get the players to suspect the performers. They are actually a group of thieves who use trained animals in their heists who travel from town to town under the guise of professional performers. So I will play off of the player's feelings and have one of the performers beat an animal and harass homeless people outside the shelter (and a halfling... one players is a halfling knight dedicated to protecting halflings). This will set the player off (no doubt about it). Combine this with the information that the homeless man saw a man with a tattoo, and the animal tracks, ect. Of course, they only robbed the warehouse, not killed the woman.
The city watch wants to be sure that they are the right people and would like to see the performer's tattoo (a drawing will be supplied by the homeless man). The performer enters the arena contest to try and make more money. The ultimate idea here is to get the final piece of evidence and match the tattoo the performer has by grappling him and forcibly removing his armor (the city watch commander will suggest this). This also offers the players to get some money and fight in the arena. During the arena fights, the homeless man is found murdered. The tattoo matches and the City Watch plan to mobilize that night. They arrive to arrest the performers. Two are dead and the last has been driven mad. They are found with objects missing from dock warehouse.
The arena fights are daily and I want to give the players some time to do other things. If they wish to investigate the murder locations, I will eventually lead them to the Noble's House, which is now haunted. If they can calm the ghosts there (the one that will communicate with them is the child at the end), the child will reveal that the father was a political spy. He sold information through informants. Documents were transferred out of the poor section of the city. He also mentions that there is someone capturing and punishing the spirits of the departed. This leads the spirits to go mad, as they have in the house.
Hints so far:
1: Murdered women worked in the clinic and was unfaithful
2: Performers murdered after harassing homeless and robbing a warehouse
3: Guard was taking bribes
4: Noble was guilty of treason, and someone of magical power is torturing spirits
5: Homeless man died (he was a member of the clinic)
The Guilty:
The cleric of the clinic. He knew of everyone's crimes and took it upon himself to be judge, jury, and executioner. He has gone mad at this point and feels he must clean up the streets at all costs and all crimes are equal, deserving of death. And because he is the true form of justice, he cannot be caught... which means those who see him commit vile acts must be silenced.
When the players confront him, he reveals his insanity. He has ghosts attack the players and starts casting death knell on the weak and dying in his clinic, buffing himself if the players can't heal the people in time. He slowly retreats to a secret dock and tries to flee. If the players have visited the haunted house, ghosts from the house will fight and distract the enraged tortured ghosts, leaving the players to fight the cleric. If the players are on good terms with the city watch, the commander and some guards will do the same, and run in and use a wand of ghost touch on the players, allowing them to fight effectively (one is a star elf and may be able to do so already).
Kind of a quick overview of my current plans for the adventure. How does it sound so far? Does it seem like there are enough clues? I want to try and make the boss fight interesting. I feel the ghosts and casting death knell to buff himself do that to some degree. The players are only level 4 at this time so... can't do too much that is overpowered with the BBEG.
Haunted House:
I also really need help with the haunted house. I have found a layout I can use but how should I do encounters in there? My current plan was to only have activity if it was night time. If it is night, have animated objects fight the party (quick and easy kills, but annoying and keeping the players paranoid). Also, what should I have the players do to pacify the ghosts? I don't want it to be a "We killed dem! WEEE" thing. I was thinking of a, find object A and bring it to the ghost child's room, who can be heard crying and begging for object A (teddy bear?). If the item is found and brought there, ghosts appear to attack the ghost child and the players have to defend him. He then reveals the information of the noble's crimes, and explains how to pacify the ghosts.... (this I don't have any ideas for). While they explore the house, the players witness/hear what happened the night of the murder... woman running away from a hooded figure, blood-curdling screams. A child begging for his now-dead parents, ect. Sad and creepy stuff. I am hesitant about putting traps in... because it's a house where a child lived O.o (oh hey, my kid activated the fireball trap I put in the study... woops).