Missing Person Quest

[Starchild7309]

Short back story: In the campaign I am in all elves are starting to go mad. One elf in the city I grew up in I suspect has kidnap and killed my NPC mother and then ran. I know his name and that he was a barrister. He has about a month head start on me and I am not sure where to even begin to look for him or how to go about it. I tried to investigate around his business, but had pretty bad rolls and hit dead ends. He could be anywhere at this point. Any suggestions on a new starting point? Only other piece of info I got was that he had no known friends and kept to himself. I tried a sending to him and he just screamed madly to get out of his head.

[KorvinStarmast]

Short back story: In the campaign I am in all elves are starting to go mad. One elf in the city I grew up in I suspect has kidnap and killed my NPC mother and then ran. I know his name and that he was a barrister. He has about a month head start on me and I am not sure where to even begin to look for him or how to go about it. I tried to investigate around his business, but had pretty bad rolls and hit dead ends. He could be anywhere at this point. Any suggestions on a new starting point? Only other piece of info I got was that he had no known friends and kept to himself. I tried a sending to him and he just screamed madly to get out of his head.

Not knowing your level or class it's kind of hard to help out here. Also
Discuss with fellow players and DM. They are plugged into the campaign world, and none of us are.

[Sigreid]

Did you check your pockets? Sometimes when I misplace something it's in my pockets.

[Brookshw]

I tried to investigate around his business, but had pretty bad rolls and hit dead ends.

Did he have a home aside from his business you can search? Can you hire a cleric for some divination to get a hint? Can you hire someone to look through his stuff? Who were his business associates, do they have any leads? I mean, shouldn't be hard to find some invoices. What was his business, is there something there that could give you a lead?

Ignore your rolls, try to think through it.

[KorvinStarmast]

{snip good suggestions} Ignore you're rolls, try to think through it. Plus eleventy. :smallsmile:

[Starchild7309]

I should have mentioned I am a 15th level Glamour Bard. I tried to get into his office/home (rolls I blew totally). I canvassed the area and using persuasion I was able to find out the little I did. He was a loner, etc.

The rest of the party is currently tied up with something else, this is supposed to be a personal side mission. I am not sure I can hire anyone as I am broke. Right before I showed up to find all this out I spent almost all the gold I had to purchase a new shop for my family to get the out of the slums. Probably the reason the DM gave me a look when I told him what I wanted to do.

At this point it feels frustrating that I have no resources, and due to some initial bad rolls I am stuck. My only other option is to go against my characters normal course of actions and break the law to break into his residence.

Also, due to back story issues I can't go to authorities in this city for help.

[J-H]

What about using Disguise and Deception in some fashion to re-do all your social rolls again as a stranger, but perhaps with advantage due to already knowing some info?

[Brookshw]

I should have mentioned I am a 15th level Glamour Bard. I tried to get into his office/home (rolls I blew totally). I canvassed the area and using persuasion I was able to find out the little I did. He was a loner, etc.

The rest of the party is currently tied up with something else, this is supposed to be a personal side mission. I am not sure I can hire anyone as I am broke. Right before I showed up to find all this out I spent almost all the gold I had to purchase a new shop for my family to get the out of the slums. Probably the reason the DM gave me a look when I told him what I wanted to do.

At this point it feels frustrating that I have no resources, and due to some initial bad rolls I am stuck. My only other option is to go against my characters normal course of actions and break the law to break into his residence.

Also, due to back story issues I can't go to authorities in this city for help.

At level 15 do you by chance have any high powered allies in the kingdom who might assist with a search warrant. Alt., You think you're mother's been kidnapped and killed, that's pretty good justification if you need to break the law.

That aside, the guy was here for business, what's his business? Check around town hall and the merchant quarter, who were his contacts, what was he selling and where does it come from, does he import something from a particular region? Does he have any other properties registered in his name?

Does he have any servants, can you follow them, find out who they are? Maybe there's a way to sneak in through them, pose as a delivery person or repair man, that sorta thing.

How did he leave the city, ask around, horseback, cart, something else? What direction was he heading in (granted a month's passing could make this hard to find out).

[kingcheesepants]

As a high level bard you have some magical options for finding this guy. The most straightforward is scrying which is a 5th level bard spell. If you don't have the money for the components just earn some money. At level 15 1000 gp isn't a lot and since the components aren't even used up you could very plausibly call in a favor and use an NPCs crystal ball or fountain or whatever. If scrying doesn't work for whatever reason, you could use a magical secret to pick up conjure elemental and then summon an invisible stalker, which will be able to unerringly find your target. Other divinations like commune, contact other plane, and divination could all get you some answers as well though not to the degree that the previously mentioned would.

If magic doesn't do it then try other lines of inquiry. Maybe the elves who all went crazy have something in common, perhaps they're heading somewhere specific. And if you haven't even looked in the guy's home that's an incredibly obvious first step,

[lall]

Sending him every day multiple times asking to cut a deal for her or a body part of hers if she’s dead. If you’re broke, maybe there’s a job you and/or your party can do for him. Or just break into his house and tell the authorities he kidnapped you too. Or just wait until you can take True Resurrection or Wish. Should probably use a few Sending’s on mom too to confirm she’s dead.

[Easy e]

Hire some adventurers to find him.


If he was a barrister, he was probably part of a larger organization. I.e. the Bar Association. Go check for leads with them.

[tKUUNK]

Any way to use that Sending spell to trick this guy into meeting you somewhere? like, "There's a treasure buried under the temple at (name of town) and I'm going to find it before you do!" Then just wait.

[Tawmis]

Short back story: In the campaign I am in all elves are starting to go mad. One elf in the city I grew up in I suspect has kidnap and killed my NPC mother and then ran. I know his name and that he was a barrister. He has about a month head start on me and I am not sure where to even begin to look for him or how to go about it. I tried to investigate around his business, but had pretty bad rolls and hit dead ends. He could be anywhere at this point. Any suggestions on a new starting point? Only other piece of info I got was that he had no known friends and kept to himself. I tried a sending to him and he just screamed madly to get out of his head.

Here's the thing...

You could have gotten the best rolls and only gotten clues.

If your DM is ready to have this character appear in the story, they would say, "Roll me Investigation, DC 15." They'd just say, "Roll an Investigation."

And give you the information you need.

Chances are your DM is going to string this along, and as you continue to adventure, and if you remember to keep asking and checking for clues, you will encounter him when the DM is ready to do it.

Like you might head into the next town and hear people muttering about, "That strange elf..." Which would lead you to a clue to speak with them and find out which way they went, etc.