Hunting down a druid

[Magemakeboom]

An Overview.... So I'm creating an adventure that requires some detective work. The main "villain" is a half-orc druid 6 who has been doing hit and run tactics on a small town. His tactics include obscuring mist, followed by lots of summons. He lets the summons do the work and then disappears without a trace. The reasoning for this half-orc is one of desperation. My campaign is centered around the Church of Zarus, and the half-orc feels his family will never have rest unless he can destroy the worshipers of Zarus.

The town itself is only a hamlet with a population of around 200.

The townsfolk have requested aide.

So my question, what are some good clues to leave to determine the culprit? Any thoughts and assistance would be greatly appreciated.

[eggynack]

On what level do your players need to figure the identity of this fellow. In other words, would figuring out that it's a druid be enough, or a half-orc druid, or a half-orc druid against Zarus? The first and second are easy enough through nothing but witnesses to the events. Anyone who saw anything would notice burly creatures appearing out of the mist, eating stuff, and disappearing, and even folks on the scene later would likely recognize signs of an animal attack without any animals.

For half-orc, it'd amuse me if the main clue were some observer noticing that one animal was flexing absurdly at the others, after which the others were doing stuff, thus demonstrating the classic bully animal ability from half-orc substitution levels. That one takes some system knowledge that I wouldn't necessarily expect though. Beyond that, it's really a matter of this specific fellow, I'd suppose. If this guy has any history with the church, and he likely does, then searching there is a solid step, and putting stuff there to find is a good step on your part.

[Bronk]

I think tracks would be the perfect clues to be prepared to describe, should the group look for them. They could, for example, determine what he's summoning because the tracks of the creatures would appear from nowhere, figure out the most powerful creature that he summoned to determine his level, and finally determine that he's a druid because he only summoned creatures off of the 'summon nature's ally' list, and also by discovering if they can track the druid... he'll have pass without trace, so they will fail. So with a decent tracking effort, they could figure out he's an orc druid of level 5 or 6, but not 7 (when he would get fourth level spells). I'm not sure how they would determine it's an orc though... too bad it's a druid!

They could also wait up for him and catch him in a zone of truth, then trick him into answering questions.

They could be proactive and leave things for him to steal, then use 'locate object', or have a rogue plant something on him.

Or, they could have a cleric or wizard dispel the cloud, and then make a visual inspection...

[sleepyphoenixx]

Identifying a creature by its tracks is a DC 60 skill check (which is ridiculous, but that's the RAW). That's a little out of reach for a party of 6th level or lower.

Divinations are probably the best bet. Another is waiting until he attacks and using wide area BFC to keep him from fleeing. Then Gust of Wind/Dispel the Mist.
Witness reports of animals attacking may be enough to form a suspicion. Wasn't there a quest like that in BG2?

[Bronk]

Identifying a creature by its tracks is a DC 60 skill check (which is ridiculous, but that's the RAW). That's a little out of reach for a party of 6th level or lower.

Divinations are probably the best bet. Another is waiting until he attacks and using wide area BFC to keep him from fleeing. Then Gust of Wind/Dispel the Mist.
Witness reports of animals attacking may be enough to form a suspicion. Wasn't there a quest like that in BG2?

Ouch, I missed that. I never knew I was an epic character while taking Mammal Study merit badge! Perhaps, as the DM, you could cut the characters a little slack if they make a purpose built 'tracking pit'. Otherwise, they could still find out what the creatures were by asking the people they attack.

Also, tracking by scent might work, if they had a dog or wolf (or had it themselves somehow, like with the level 2 'scent' spell), because the DC starts at 10, and 'Creatures with the scent ability can identify familiar odors just as humans do familiar sights.' That probably wouldn't work for the druid, because the druid level 3 ability 'trackless step' ability erases all tracks and trails, possibly even their scent trail. Of course, if they could use 'command' or stun him while he was holding something, they could force him to drop what he was holding and get the scent off of that, then use it to confirm his identity once they round up a few suspects.
http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/glossary&term=Glossary_dnd_scent&alpha=

I totally agree that a combination of divination and taking the battle to the druid would be the best way to deal with the ork. Druids are just very hard to track down, and if you can't see or follow him, that leaves magical answers and tougher detective work.

[sleepyphoenixx]

It depends how good you play the druid. At level 6 he can just use a small bird form, fly in, summon without even touching the ground and leave again. Unless you're close enough to stop him in 1-2 rounds your chances of catching him are slim.

You'd need to see him (possibly against a magically boosted hide modifier and range penalties), get close enough and cast something to stop him from leaving, all before he is finished summoning. Or he may just fly to the other end of the village when he sees you lying in wait since he probably has a pretty good spot modifier.

Finding him in the wilderness is a fools errand too unless you can divine a direction. Scrying a patch of forest won't help you much, and that requires you to get past his likely very good will save. Locate Object, while possible, only works in a limited area so it's not especially useful unless he decides to stick around.

Really, a druid in eagle form who is played with at least basic competency is basically impossible to catch for a party of 6th level or lower unless he wants to be found.

[Magemakeboom]

Thanks everyone! you have all given me some very good things to think about with moving forward!

Much appreciated!

[ElenionAncalima]

The one thing I would emphasize is that the targets have all been worshippers of Zarus. This will give your players a good place to start. From there, I would let them loose on the problem and then see how they try to solve it. Different groups will try different methods, so it is good to be reactive to their strategies.

If they get stumped, perhaps throw a witness into the mix. Have the druid accidently leave a victim alive...or have a passerby who hid and witnessed the who thing from an alleyway.

[Bronk]

I'd also add:
1: Gather Information checks to determine if anyone has a grudge against the town. Has this guy bothered them before, perhaps escalating? Did they run anyone out of town? Did they recently attack some orcs?

2: The PCs can use the spells 'speak with animals' and 'speak with plants' to interrogate, well, any animal or plant that might have seen the druid run off. The 'obscuring mist' spell and it's bigger brother 'fog cloud' are stationary, so when the orc druid leaves he has to leave the fog... and be seen by every creature and plant he passes. They will see him, be able to describe him, and if the PCs follow the trail by just asking around that way, they would even be able to tell if he changes back and forth between his true form and his wildshape form, and eventually his hideout.

The thing is, I've never seen any official source that gives guidance on how to play animals and plants being spoken to in this way. I mean, are animals still Int 1 or 2? What about insects... or would they count as vermin? But then Plants would be mindless! I usually let most vertebrates answer as if they were people acting with the traits associated with their type (like rumbly bears, neurotic squirrels or majestic eagles), but have insects and such reply with one or two words at most. For plants, I have trees be fairly wise, depending on age, shrubs are kinda flighty, and grasses answer like flighty drunks at a frat party. That's just me though.

Edit:
If you don't have a druid in your party, there is a magic item that grants 'speak with animals' once per day that you could leave as loot somewhere: the Acorn of Acuity (Dragon 326, 4120g, also grants +5 to survival checks to the owner).

They could also find some fey to talk to... there might be some that don't like having an evil druid around.

[Vogonjeltz]

An Overview.... So I'm creating an adventure that requires some detective work. The main "villain" is a half-orc druid 6 who has been doing hit and run tactics on a small town. His tactics include obscuring mist, followed by lots of summons. He lets the summons do the work and then disappears without a trace. The reasoning for this half-orc is one of desperation. My campaign is centered around the Church of Zarus, and the half-orc feels his family will never have rest unless he can destroy the worshipers of Zarus.

The town itself is only a hamlet with a population of around 200.

The townsfolk have requested aide.

So my question, what are some good clues to leave to determine the culprit? Any thoughts and assistance would be greatly appreciated.

It should be immediately obvious that it's a Druid, his summons are unique. If the players are new, you might present this as a knowledge check (nature, arcana, local)