Need a spell

[poolio]

Greeting playgrounders, i was hoping someone here would be able to suggest a spell to me that would help my players, they are currently in the desert on a caravan, one of their favorite npc's bit the big one during a murder mystery and was barried out there, i was wondering is there some way they can find the body again after they reach their destination? they have numerous powerful contacts and favors owed, so bring the npc back to life would not be hard, but finding her would be, i though of using locate object, but the range on that is to limited, any other ideas?


thanks in advance to anyone reading this.

[Corran]

Hmm, locate object could work (assuming caravans crossing the dessert from X to Y follow a similar route), but it is certainly a desperate solution (in all likelihood incredibly time consuming and very low chances of success; but not impossible).

Find the path probably doesn't work either, since I doubt that the location of the grave could be counted as one the pc' are familiar with, even if they are the ones who dug the grave.

I dont know...
But why dont you do it like the average DM would? Let them try and fail, and later on introduce some villain who can help them in exchange for something they dont want to do/give. You know, make it fun for you (and them) by presenting them with a hard choice that will have them guessing what they should do as a party.

[iTreeby]

Does it have to be a spell? You could have a special plant thet only grows on burial grounds be sprouting up at their grave. It's possible that even a villain would leave some sort of grave marker depending on the setting because those that are not buried properly may rise as undead. On that note, you could have them raise as an uncontrolled undead. Another option is to have the npc already be alive in the village saying "I got better" if tone allows...

[Bilbron]

Greeting playgrounders, i was hoping someone here would be able to suggest a spell to me that would help my players, they are currently in the desert on a caravan, one of their favorite npc's bit the big one during a murder mystery and was barried out there, i was wondering is there some way they can find the body again after they reach their destination? they have numerous powerful contacts and favors owed, so bring the npc back to life would not be hard, but finding her would be, i though of using locate object, but the range on that is to limited, any other ideas?


thanks in advance to anyone reading this.

You need a combo.

Locate Object has a 10 minute duration and a 1,000' radius, so a 2,000' diameter, or about .4 miles across. So now you need to up your speed. I suggest Phantom Steed for 200' per round movement, which means you can travel 20,000 feet while Locate Object is active, or about 4 miles. Thus, you can cover an area 4 miles x .4 miles, or 1.6 square miles. And, of course, you can cast Locate Object multiple times, if need be, while Phantom Steed is a ritual spell with 1 hour duration.

I suspect this will be sufficient to find your target, if you have even the slightest idea where to look. If you DON'T have the slightest idea where to look, then you might be able to get one by using a Divination spell like Augury, Commune, or Divination. You might also be able to interrogate (by Speak with Dead, if necessary) one of his slayers, if you can capture/kill one.

[Unoriginal]

Maybe the dead's spirit contacts the PCs in ghostly manifestations, due to the nature of the death leading to restlessness?

[Gtdead]

How about summoning an Invisible Stalker?

"Faultless Tracker. The stalker is given a quarry by its summoner. The stalker knows the direction and distance to its quarry as long as the two of them are on the same plane of existence. The stalker also knows the location of its summoner."

Now correct me if I'm wrong because english is not my first language and I've never seen the word in that context, but checking definitions online seem to suggest that quarry can be an item instead of a living thing.

https://www.lexico.com/definition/quarry

Of course you are the DM so you get to decide what an invisible stalker can or can't do, not the dictionary. Using it that way may affect your campaign in ways you may not like.

[Bilbron]

How about summoning an Invisible Stalker?

"Faultless Tracker. The stalker is given a quarry by its summoner. The stalker knows the direction and distance to its quarry as long as the two of them are on the same plane of existence. The stalker also knows the location of its summoner."

Now correct me if I'm wrong because english is not my first language and I've never seen the word in that context, but checking definitions online seem to suggest that quarry can be an item instead of a living thing.

https://www.lexico.com/definition/quarry

Of course you are the DM so you get to decide what an invisible stalker can or can't do, not the dictionary. Using it that way may affect your campaign in ways you may not like.

Nice call. Stat block from Retriever supports the perspective that a "quarry" can be an object:

"Faultless Tracker. The retriever is given a quarry by its master. The quarry can be a specific creature or object the master is personally acquainted with, or it can be a general type of creature or object the master has seen before. "

[Gtdead]

Nice call. Stat block from Retriever supports the perspective that a "quarry" can be an object:

"Faultless Tracker. The retriever is given a quarry by its master. The quarry can be a specific creature or object the master is personally acquainted with, or it can be a general type of creature or object the master has seen before. "

Perfect, I wasn't aware of the Retriever. So I guess this settles it.

[poolio]

How about summoning an Invisible Stalker?

"Faultless Tracker. The stalker is given a quarry by its summoner. The stalker knows the direction and distance to its quarry as long as the two of them are on the same plane of existence. The stalker also knows the location of its summoner."

Now correct me if I'm wrong because english is not my first language and I've never seen the word in that context, but checking definitions online seem to suggest that quarry can be an item instead of a living thing.

https://www.lexico.com/definition/quarry

Of course you are the DM so you get to decide what an invisible stalker can or can't do, not the dictionary. Using it that way may affect your campaign in ways you may not like.

i think so far, for what's been established as a possibility for the contacts the players have, that could be the best option, Thanks everyone for the suggestions, and please, if anyone has anything else to add i am always open to more suggestions.