Finding a specific object with unknown location

[herceg]

My character has to find a sculpture of a goddess that I never seen firsthand nor ever touched. I know precisely how it looks like. It was stolen from a shrine in a vast forest some time ago (I don't know the time of the theft). The forest is surrounded by different countries (none of which has any presence in the forest itself). The item is certainly on the prime material plane.
This is all I know, my question is, how would you go about finding it?

I can use/borrow the resources of a 15th level wizard and 15th level druid (and also clerical spells up to 7th level).

[herceg]

The spell Discern Location does the trick, but ...
we don't actually have access to anyone who touched it, so sadly that is not an option.

[Telonius]

Any indication of who may have stolen the statue, or the circumstances of the theft? If you're anywhere near the shrine in question, a Legend Lore could help out a bit.

[herceg]

Any indication of who may have stolen the statue, or the circumstances of the theft? If you're anywhere near the shrine in question, a Legend Lore could help out a bit.

No, sadly, I don't even have a timeframe (could be months, could be hundreds of years). I'm in the actual shrine, so I'll use vision, thanks for the tip (I wanted to use it on the statue, hoping for some vague information but this is better).

[Fizban]

Second Legend Lore, which can give you "information that has never been generally known." Or for one level higher Vision at 7th, which has a flat standard action casting time.

Locate Object+Wind Walk would allow you to scan a massive area, but no one who's stolen anything important won't have it outside of a lead-lined container. It does give you another way around defenses though, since you can use Divination to ask when (and possibly where) you should use Locate Object to search, which is more specific and less direct.

Commune is the most obvious, as you're dealing with a religious artifact there is zero excuse for the deity of that religion not knowing about it aside from direct deific intervention. Deities of sufficient strength automatically know everything that happens regarding their worshipers and areas of influence weeks in advance.

Of course if the DM wants you to find it, you shouldn't need anything more than a Divination to get the plot hook delivered directly to you, followed by some throwaway knowledge/info checks to figure out what the prophecy means.

[Zaq]

If you knew who stole it, would that help at all? If so, check out Identify Transgressor (BoVD pg.97-8). Unnecessarily onnoxious requirements (it requires a Desecrated or Unhallowed location, it requires the caster to be high on vodare, and it's a Cleric-only spell with the [Evil] keyword, so divine alignment restrictions come into play), but it might be effective.

[Gildedragon]

we don't actually have access to anyone who touched it, so sadly that is not an option.

yes you do

Animate object + awaken construct the pedestal/floortile or place it was on :P

[herceg]

Locate Object+Wind Walk would allow you to scan a massive area, but no one who's stolen anything important won't have it outside of a lead-lined container.
I'm not so sure about the latter (the statue was quite possibly taken when crazed cultists ransacked the place), but the area where it could be is really massive (the forest in itself is about 500 x 300 miles, and I’m sure that if someone took it intentionally – as opposed to „my, what shiny statue, let’s take it” – they left the forest). So it would take weeks to map it up with the 2 minute/level extended locate object... Would persistent spell help though? Maybe I can get my hands on it. I mean, does the spell work only if the item is already in the radius at the time of casting or it also works if you move around and the item gets in range?

If you knew who stole it, would that help at all? If so, check out Identify Transgressor (BoVD pg.97-8). Unnecessarily onnoxious requirements (it requires a Desecrated or Unhallowed location, it requires the caster to be high on vodare, and it's a Cleric-only spell with the [Evil] keyword, so divine alignment restrictions come into play), but it might be effective.
Hmm, not bad. Given that the deity in question is kind of a goddess of „having sex while on drugs” and that we have access to her priests, maybe this could work.

yes you do
Animate object + awaken construct the pedestal/floortile or place it was on :P
Not that I don’t like the cheese, but… that’s a 9th level spell sadly (and I don’t have yet access to those, not even scrolls).

[Lvl 2 Expert]

Go to the nearest bar, someone will have heard a rumor about it.


On a slightly less silly note, there are some non magical avenues one could try: the underworld from any of those cities might have some stuff buzzing around about it. If they don't you could at least find some mildly competent trackers there, who can tell you if anyone (besides you) left the shrine in the last couple of weeks. Since this is a high end art object it might also pay to look around among the rich and noble. Send the party face or an aristocrat hireling to a good party, let them build up some connections, find some excuse for a series of one on one meetings with people and find out if they know anything. Especially if this happened long ago this could be the way to go. Noble family histories are some of the longer running records in a typical fantasy setting, even if they generally contain almost as many lies as truths.

Ones you track down anyone anywhere who seems to know more you can start playing hardball. Knock them out, tie them up, wake them back up on the river bank tied to a large stone, get a +2 bonus on your intimidate check for location, and one more for having the right tools. Or just have a good time with them and get them drunk. This has the advantage that it's way easier to convince your GM that you're using masterwork wine than a masterwork rock, giving you a total of +6 to your diplomacy or gather information check.

[Fizban]

I mean, does the spell work only if the item is already in the radius at the time of casting or it also works if you move around and the item gets in range?
If you can't visualize the object, the spell fails. If you can, it works, and if the object isn't in range you won't be able to sense it's direction. That said, the spell opens by talking about visual description but then brings in a "must have viewed personally" clause I forgot about, so it won't work here. All the more reason to combine it with a Divination to point you at the right time and area, at which point you search for "general items" as specific as you can get away with. Or use someone who has seen it

Of course if it's actually being held by someone/at a fortified location the Locate Object is moot since if you can find that you hardly need to sweep for it.

Speaking of speaking to things, Speak with Plants and Stone Tell are hard to stop if you don't plan on it before your heist. But like every other divination you're still limited by what the DM thinks you should get out of it.

And speaking of rumors, yeah, there's the old "Bardic Knowledge/Gather Info list this as the maximum DC so I can learn anything" +Moment of Prescience.