Whodunnit?

[atemu1234]

My PCs were invited to dinner at a mansion, in which a few aristocrats were in attendance:

Darian Bloodfyr: Age 24, Black hair, green eyes. Son of a noble family, capable rapier-fighter, betrothed to the daughter of a neighboring noble family.
Drake Samys: Age 28, Silver hair, Blue eyes. Son of the neighboring noble family whose daughter Darian is betrothed to. His family is famed for having a quantity of silver dragon blood in their family tree, a multiclass sorcerer.
Kinnworth Sylvin: Age 35, Salt-and-Pepper hair, Grey eyes. Lord of the mansion in question, married into the Samys family.
Duval Samys: Age 38, Silver hair, Green eyes. Aristocrat who later multiclassed into favored soul; lawful evil but conceals it with Undetectable Alignment.
Mya Samys: Age 21, Silver hair, Blue eyes. Happily betrothed to Darian Bloodfyr.
Isis Samys: Age 34, Silver Hair, Green eyes. Married to Kinnworth, happily so.
Kayn Bloodfyr: Age 48, Gray hair, Brown eyes. Darian Bloodfyr's father, overseeing the courtship.


Post-dinner, all of the above retire to separate bedrooms (save the married couple, who share a room for obvious reasons), and later, one of the PCs (a level 11 wizard) travels downstairs to get a drink and meets Kinnworth. The two speak for a few moments, sharing a decanter of brandy. Shortly after, however, the Kinnworth collapses, seemingly from a heart attack, and dies. The wizard, however, identifies this as a spell (Clutch of Orcus), and they must figure out who the killer is before they're allowed to leave the mansion.

Duval is the murderer, angry at Kinnworth for "usurping" the position of lord of the mansion through marriage rather than through blood. The PCs do not know that anyone is anything other than the spellcaster, and being aristocrats, they want to conceal their "plebian" traits, and using max ranks in bluff will actively disguise their levels in favored class and the other in sorcerer.

So how will the PCs figure this out? I'm still designing the floor plan, so what should some good clues be?

[Blackhawk748]

Well the material component for Clutch of Orcus (love that spell btw) could be found in someones room as a red herring, also they could find Duval's Holy Symbol hidden somewhere in his room (this wont stop him from casting as there is a orison that summons a holy symbol.

[atemu1234]

Well the material component for Clutch of Orcus (love that spell btw) could be found in someones room as a red herring, also they could find Duval's Holy Symbol hidden somewhere in his room (this wont stop him from casting as there is a orison that summons a holy symbol.

This is good, very good. I forgot to mention, also, that none of the PCs have more than a couple ranks in sense motive.

[Amphetryon]

Cleric (or Paladin) casts Zone of Truth with all suspects in the room. "Did you kill Kinnworth?" Easy-peasy.

[Vhaidara]

Cleric (or Paladin) casts Zone of Truth with all suspects in the room. "Did you kill Kinnworth?" Easy-peasy.

And how do you know none of them made their save?

EDIT: I think the real sign will be the one guy who's alignment returns blank.

[atemu1234]

Cleric (or Paladin) casts Zone of Truth with all suspects in the room. "Did you kill Kinnworth?" Easy-peasy.

No cleric, we have an Archivist, and even if he had the spell in a place it's preparable (it's not in his prayerbook, and at level ten he only has nineteen intelligence. It'd be a DC 16 will save, frankly easy for a favored soul.

Edit: I started typing this before the above comment was made.

[DeltaEmil]

In three scenes that allows the Player Characters to find out who did it, leave three clues that will point out towards Duval. The clues should be his motivation why he did, and/or clues that prove that he was at the place from which he could cast the clutch of orcus spell.

In the opening scene, during the dinner,the player characters may find out that 1) Duval dislikes Kinnworth. 2) Duval might talk with a martially inclined PC about the awesomeness of whatever weapon is the favored weapon of his patron deity, and 3) also talk with a religious PC about faith and the nature of gods, as well as sin and punishment.

In the middle scene, when everybody goes to bed, 1) a servant of Kinnworth did see Duval searching around (perhaps Duval seduced or magically charmed the servant for detailed information) for the perfect hiding place to cast his spell.
2) A porter has accidentally dropped Duval's luggage, and Duval's unholy symbol dropped out, which is a special (un)holy symbol that increases the spell DC by 1 as explained in Complete Champion (Duval must make sure that Kinnworth does not resist the spell). The porter may or may not have seen the unholy symbol (or might not have recognized it as as unholy symbol), what matters is that the unholy symbol was damaged and left some trace, like a tiny splitter that broke away from it (not enough to make the special unholy symbol useless), or an imprint in the dirt outside. 3) The guard dogs outside the manor start barking loudly when they smell the stench of either rusted iron and blood (a quasit), or sulphur and brimstone (an imp), the invisible familiar of a conjurer hired by Duval. The familiar is bringing a vial of angel's blood, which does increase the spell DC by another point. The familiar might be hanging around for a little while longer on its own violition, and be a witness who might rattle out Duval if the player characters have trouble finding the clues.

After the murder has been commited, the player characters 1) might find traces of the angel blood at Duval's hiding place, and perhaps traces of liquids from a potion of eagle's splendor which Duval used to increase the DC again, shoe prints and perhaps a piece of his clothes or hair when he fleed the crime scene as quickly as possible. 2) After the successful deed, Duval will try to offer a tiny sacrifice to his evil patron (some gold, a tiny dead bird, a hymn of praise to the forces of darkness) somewhere where he can be alone. Duval might try 3) to eliminate the servant who saw Duval sneaking around and searching for the hiding place, just because of paranoia.

[atemu1234]

In three scenes that allows the Player Characters to find out who did it, leave three clues that will point out towards Duval. The clues should be his motivation why he did, and/or clues that prove that he was at the place from which he could cast the clutch of orcus spell.

In the opening scene, during the dinner,the player characters may find out that 1) Duval dislikes Kinnworth. 2) Duval might talk with a martially inclined PC about the awesomeness of whatever weapon is the favored weapon of his patron deity, and 3) also talk with a religious PC about faith and the nature of gods, as well as sin and punishment.

In the middle scene, when everybody goes to bed, 1) a servant of Kinnworth did see Duval searching around (perhaps Duval seduced or magically charmed the servant for detailed information) for the perfect hiding place to cast his spell.
2) A porter has accidentally dropped Duval's luggage, and Duval's unholy symbol dropped out, which is a special (un)holy symbol that increases the spell DC by 1 as explained in Complete Champion (Duval must make sure that Kinnworth does not resist the spell). The porter may or may not have seen the unholy symbol (or might not have recognized it as as unholy symbol), what matters is that the unholy symbol was damaged and left some trace, like a tiny splitter that broke away from it (not enough to make the special unholy symbol useless), or an imprint in the dirt outside. 3) The guard dogs outside the manor start barking loudly when they smell the stench of either rusted iron and blood (a quasit), or sulphur and brimstone (an imp), the invisible familiar of a conjurer hired by Duval. The familiar is bringing a vial of angel's blood, which does increase the spell DC by another point. The familiar might be hanging around for a little while longer on its own violition, and be a witness who might rattle out Duval if the player characters have trouble finding the clues.

After the murder has been commited, the player characters 1) might find traces of the angel blood at Duval's hiding place, and perhaps traces of liquids from a potion of eagle's splendor which Duval used to increase the DC again, shoe prints and perhaps a piece of his clothes or hair when he fleed the crime scene as quickly as possible. 2) After the successful deed, Duval will try to offer a tiny sacrifice to his evil patron (some gold, a tiny dead bird, a hymn of praise to the forces of darkness) somewhere where he can be alone. Duval might try 3) to eliminate the servant who saw Duval sneaking around and searching for the hiding place, just because of paranoia.

True, but maybe we could come up with some more confusing details for the other aristocrats so that they may be blamed? Just trying to make a cool and interesting campaign.

[Cenric]

Clutch of Orcus, while amazing, is actually really bad for being discrete no? If the wizard can think on his feet and scry to find the heart of the dead guy it will be in your BBEG's hand. Sort of incriminating evidence if you think about it, but since you're past that a detect magic may ping if your FS will have any buffs running.

Also, I'm just curious what does your FS plan to do with the heart he ripped out of the lord?

Edit: I do agree that he shouldnt be the only person you set up evidence against, maybe try to frame your sorceress or...THE BUTLER!!

[DeltaEmil]

Clutch of Orcus, while amazing, is actually really bad for being discrete no? If the wizard can think on his feet and scry to find the heart of the dead guy it will be in your BBEG's hand. Sort of incriminating evidence if you think about it, but since you're past that a detect magic may ping if your FS will have any buffs running.

Also, I'm just curious what does your FS plan to do with the heart he ripped out of the lord?

Edit: I do agree that he shouldnt be the only person you set up evidence against, maybe try to frame your sorceress or...THE BUTLER!!The bloody heart of Kinnworth will of course be found near the maid who is accused of being Kinnworth's sorcerous paramour with whom he is cheating his wife, Isis.

Of course, that means that the witch must be burned.

As for the other aristocrats, do not use too many red herrings. It is better if the player characters have less distracting clues to deal with. It's okay if everybody had a motive, but false accusatory clues should be few, and quickly prove that it was nothing. Of course, false clues planted by Duval might even point out towards him.

I advise to read up that article. (http://thealexandrian.net/wordpress/1118/roleplaying-games/three-clue-rule) It is quite helpful.

[Jergmo]

Questions: Do they have a dog, and is there a butler?

[atemu1234]

Questions: Do they have a dog, and is there a butler?

There's a full wait staff. And Kinnworth, of course, was a hunter.