The Detective of Waterddep (Just for Fun)

[Kurt Kurageous]

The captain of the Zeelaudia, a packet traveling the coast to Waterdeep, was murdered by one of their passengers who were secured in their staterooms. Marks on the rail above the second of six staterooms indicates that the killer emerged from that stateroom using a grapping device, killed the captain, took the manifest and ships’ strongbox, somehow got it off the ship, then snuck back into their stateroom. The captain’s body was found after the passengers had left their staterooms, and the passengers cannot be trusted to accurately what rooms they were in as the rooms themselves were not numbered. Fortunately the two stewards and the purser recall some facts about which passengers were where. They know that the six passengers were (in alphabetical order) a dragonborn, a hill dwarf, a human, a mountain dwarf, a tiefling, and a wood elf. They know that they were of six different professions (in alphabetical order) a coopersmith, a diplomat, a lawyer, a soldier, a teamster, and a tinsmith.
They also know that:

1. The wood elf ordered goats milk.
2. There was one stateroom between the soldier and the human.
3. There was one stateroom between the diplomat and the stateroom of the wood elf to the right.
4. There was one stateroom between the one who ordered tea and the one who ordered brandy to the right.
5. The Tiefling was in the first stateroom.
6. There were two staterooms between the hill dwarf and the mountain dwarf to the right.
7. There were two staterooms between the one who ordered rum and the lawyer to the left.
8. The human did not order a drink.
9. The fifth stateroom was the tinsmiths’.
10. There was one stateroom between the rum drinker and the coopersmith to the right.

Who do you arrest, and what proof do you offer?

[123me4]

I will attempt to respond as my shameless Sherlock Holmes expy: Auguste Bell.

Upon receiving the clues, 3 things came to mind; the first was that the Tiefling couldn't be the culprit, as he/she was in the first room. Second the human was suspicious for not having ordered a drink. What would he have been doing? Third was the tinsmith also couldn't be the culprit, for the same reasons as the tiefling.
After much time pondering, I found there was not a particularly elegant way of going about solving this logic puzzle, so I went about it as strait forward as I could. I made a table and filled it in with the nuggets of information I had, ultimately coming up with this:

1 | Tiefling | Lawyer | Tea
2 | Human | Teamster | None
3 | Hill | Diplomat | Brandy
4 | Dragon | Soldier | Rum
5 | Wood | Tinsmith | Milk
6 | Mountain | Copper | ?

Therefore, the culprit is likely to be the human teamster, as s/he was in the second room.

However, my investigation would not end there. I would request to see the instrument of the captain's destruction, and inspect it for evidence of it's previous owner (perhaps a divination spell would identify it's former owner). Should said weapon have left the scene, at least seeing the damage (cuts, holes, bruises) could lead to identifying the damage type.

This whole thing seems like a puzzle made to distract me while the culprit made off like a bandit. And those most capable of doing so would be the three shiphands, as they would be the most knowledgable of the captains schedule and organization, and the most capable of providing red herrings to chase after. After all, the culprit always returns to the scene of the crime :smallwink:

(TL:DR) As it stands, I don't think there is nearly enough evidence provided to convict anyone, but the three shiphands and human teamster seem to be the most suspicious of the suspects.

[Kurt Kurageous]

All is correct! (as if you need to be told...)

About how long did it take to grind through the puzzle? Was the fluff interesting enough of window-dressing for a logic problem? Was it credible enough for a first level party adventure?Would you feel you earned the XP to second?

The chief investigator is pleased with your quick work. "You've saved me having to summon the Lesser Inquisitor and have me pay her to cast her to cast her expensive spells. The captain's employer and estate will be pleased to know his fate with certainty, and you have helped boost our reputation as swift and effective finders of facts. This stops the cycle of reprisals that arise from murderous ends such as this. Now, if you could just find out what the Lesser Inquisitor does in her spare time..."

[123me4]

It was fun. I definitely enjoyed the fluff and it could work fine as an adventure. I honestly would love to see puzzles like this in my games.

It took me about 30-45 minutes to complete (but I was distracted with dinner :smallbiggrin: ) putting the table together was about 5-10 minutes.

[Kurt Kurageous]

Here's the generator. http://www.mensus.net/brain/logic.shtml

I just relabeled things to make it work, wrote out the translation of the clues, and there it was.

Thank you for the feedback!