Ok. I'm in a brain fog, and am just kinda stuck creatively. I would love some creative input.
So in a drunken stupor, Grynsk Berylbore from Bremen in Icewind Dale, antagonized the party to a point were they killed him, and burned his house down with his body in it. This wasn't out of nowhere. They have had multiple dealings with him, and they were always adversarial. All starting way back in the 1st and 2nd session where he was a jerk, and then they humiliated him in public, then he framed them for assualt... ect. They are unsure if anyone saw the murder/arson. They have a good reputation in town, and most of the residents found Grynsk annoying. How would you handle this? Wanted posters? hire the party to find the killers? investigate the arson? an unfortunate tragedy? arrest them on sight?
In addition, they let the plesiosaurus live, and one of the PC's befriended it. What sort of ramifications long and shot term would this have on the town? Obviously a heavy impact on the food supply since they rely mostly on Knucklehead, and Grynsk ran the fishing portion... but what else?
Don’t know the adventure, but in D&D worlds, I usually assume most murders can be solved with a casting of speak with dead. And while the townspeople may not have liked the guy much, surely they wouldn’t condone his murder.
Don’t know the adventure, but in D&D worlds, I usually assume most murders can be solved with a casting of speak with dead. And while the townspeople may not have liked the guy much, surely they wouldn’t condone his murder.
I agree. They would not condone it. Questions still remain though, 1) Does the town even suspect it was a murder? 2) If so, now what? Where do they find a caster capable of casting 3rd level spells in a town of 150 people? 3) If they do have a 3rd level caster, why get the help of adventurers? 4) Lets assume the town knows the PC's killed him, now what? How do they effectively move against a group of moderately leveled adventurers?
Admittedly, the group is mostly good, and would attempt to do the right thing... mostly lol. So I doubt they would try and fight the entire town militia if they did come after the PC's. Narratively though, that would be a huge gamble on the part of the town, not to mention the actual campaign derailing effect that COULD have on the game if it all went sideways lol.
Don’t know the adventure, but in D&D worlds, I usually assume most murders can be solved with a casting of speak with dead. And while the townspeople may not have liked the guy much, surely they wouldn’t condone his murder.
I agree. They would not condone it. Questions still remain though, 1) Does the town even suspect it was a murder? 2) If so, now what? Where do they find a caster capable of casting 3rd level spells in a town of 150 people? 3) If they do have a 3rd level caster, why get the help of adventurers? 4) Lets assume the town knows the PC's killed him, now what? How do they effectively move against a group of moderately leveled adventurers?
Admittedly, the group is mostly good, and would attempt to do the right thing... mostly lol. So I doubt they would try and fight the entire town militia if they did come after the PC's. Narratively though, that would be a huge gamble on the part of the town, not to mention the actual campaign derailing effect that COULD have on the game if it all went sideways lol.
OK. Just hear me out. The townspeople can find signs of battle and correctly assume there was foul play. An investigation is launched in which the players are asked to take part, along with a "neutral" group of adventurers that happens to come to town (I used the B group from Acquisitions Incorporated in a similar manner in my campaign). So even if the players try to cover it up, the antagonistic adventurers are pushing for a solution. Also, what was mentioned before about someone knowing and blackmailing them, could be fun. Set these events in motion, sit back and enjoy the chaos you have created!
If you don't want the distraction from the main plot line then I'd let them more or less let them get away with it. They can encounter villagers talking about the event, saying that he wasn't the nicest person but they'd miss him. You could have the villagers mention his sister and talking about how was she going to support herself without the money he contributed every month. You could even mention his own kids that the sister fosters since he was drunk too often to be a good dad. However, he did what he could.
I don't know how much would fit with the story you have created but often the players don't ask about family or about why the guy was the sort of person he was. If that comes out in the aftermath and the players aren't actually playing evil characters then they are likely to feel a bit guilty about it and might investigate a bit more when they decide to off someone who is more or less just being annoying.
As for finding evidence, this is a world of magic not science. I'm not sure what sort of evidence of a struggle would survive a fire. Did they use accelerants and would it be obvious if they doused the place in oil before setting it alight (if they did, the whole ruin could smell of burned fish oil - though if he stored fish oil that might be a natural side effect and go unremarked).
Speak with dead in this version of D&D isn't as easy as in previous editions.
"You grant the semblance of life and intelligence to a corpse of your choice within range, allowing it to answer the questions you pose. The corpse must still have a mouth and can’t be undead."
It specifically has to be a corpse AND it has to still have a mouth. It is questionable whether a skeleton has a mouth at all and if the lower jaw was crushed or removed it certainly does not - so the spell doesn't work. In this case, the remains would have to be sufficiently in tact that there is still a mouth. If there isn't then Speak with Dead doesn't work. (I ran into a module from WotC I was running where this was specifically mentioned.)
This information may or may not be common knowledge and Speak with Dead might or might not work on the burned remains (up to you) ... so if the town is suspicious enough, it still might not be that easy to resolve.
Is it bad that this brings me a smidgeon of happiness? lol My party hated him, too.
I agree that consequences may derail the campaign a little and that you might just want to ignore it. If you think it will be fun, then you can have the minority contingent in Bremen investigate the fire and take it from there, or you can introduce some instability about who will take over now that Grynsk is gone (kind of stealing the Good Mead town speaker plotline) and make the party see the consequences of their actions through that lens.
As for the plesiosaurus, that sounds like a clever way of resolving the quest to me. Perhaps the PC can convince the beast to stop eating the fish and turn it into a town attraction rather than a town bane. Friendly, neighborhood Nessie kind of deal.
Is it bad that this brings me a smidgeon of happiness? lol My party hated him, too.
I agree that consequences may derail the campaign a little and that you might just want to ignore it. If you think it will be fun, then you can have the minority contingent in Bremen investigate the fire and take it from there, or you can introduce some instability about who will take over now that Grynsk is gone (kind of stealing the Good Mead town speaker plotline) and make the party see the consequences of their actions through that lens.
As for the plesiosaurus, that sounds like a clever way of resolving the quest to me. Perhaps the PC can convince the beast to stop eating the fish and turn it into a town attraction rather than a town bane. Friendly, neighborhood Nessie kind of deal.
Haha, not at all. We must have similar parties. They even gave the plesiosaurus a name... Nessie (of course). I ran him as an abrasive blowhard who's tolerated by the town because he controls the fishing industry.
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Ok. I'm in a brain fog, and am just kinda stuck creatively. I would love some creative input.
So in a drunken stupor, Grynsk Berylbore from Bremen in Icewind Dale, antagonized the party to a point were they killed him, and burned his house down with his body in it. This wasn't out of nowhere. They have had multiple dealings with him, and they were always adversarial. All starting way back in the 1st and 2nd session where he was a jerk, and then they humiliated him in public, then he framed them for assualt... ect. They are unsure if anyone saw the murder/arson. They have a good reputation in town, and most of the residents found Grynsk annoying. How would you handle this? Wanted posters? hire the party to find the killers? investigate the arson? an unfortunate tragedy? arrest them on sight?
In addition, they let the plesiosaurus live, and one of the PC's befriended it. What sort of ramifications long and shot term would this have on the town? Obviously a heavy impact on the food supply since they rely mostly on Knucklehead, and Grynsk ran the fishing portion... but what else?
Don’t know the adventure, but in D&D worlds, I usually assume most murders can be solved with a casting of speak with dead. And while the townspeople may not have liked the guy much, surely they wouldn’t condone his murder.
I agree. They would not condone it. Questions still remain though, 1) Does the town even suspect it was a murder? 2) If so, now what? Where do they find a caster capable of casting 3rd level spells in a town of 150 people? 3) If they do have a 3rd level caster, why get the help of adventurers? 4) Lets assume the town knows the PC's killed him, now what? How do they effectively move against a group of moderately leveled adventurers?
Admittedly, the group is mostly good, and would attempt to do the right thing... mostly lol. So I doubt they would try and fight the entire town militia if they did come after the PC's. Narratively though, that would be a huge gamble on the part of the town, not to mention the actual campaign derailing effect that COULD have on the game if it all went sideways lol.
OK. Just hear me out.
The townspeople can find signs of battle and correctly assume there was foul play. An investigation is launched in which the players are asked to take part, along with a "neutral" group of adventurers that happens to come to town (I used the B group from Acquisitions Incorporated in a similar manner in my campaign). So even if the players try to cover it up, the antagonistic adventurers are pushing for a solution.
Also, what was mentioned before about someone knowing and blackmailing them, could be fun.
Set these events in motion, sit back and enjoy the chaos you have created!
If you don't want the distraction from the main plot line then I'd let them more or less let them get away with it. They can encounter villagers talking about the event, saying that he wasn't the nicest person but they'd miss him. You could have the villagers mention his sister and talking about how was she going to support herself without the money he contributed every month. You could even mention his own kids that the sister fosters since he was drunk too often to be a good dad. However, he did what he could.
I don't know how much would fit with the story you have created but often the players don't ask about family or about why the guy was the sort of person he was. If that comes out in the aftermath and the players aren't actually playing evil characters then they are likely to feel a bit guilty about it and might investigate a bit more when they decide to off someone who is more or less just being annoying.
As for finding evidence, this is a world of magic not science. I'm not sure what sort of evidence of a struggle would survive a fire. Did they use accelerants and would it be obvious if they doused the place in oil before setting it alight (if they did, the whole ruin could smell of burned fish oil - though if he stored fish oil that might be a natural side effect and go unremarked).
Speak with dead in this version of D&D isn't as easy as in previous editions.
"You grant the semblance of life and intelligence to a corpse of your choice within range, allowing it to answer the questions you pose. The corpse must still have a mouth and can’t be undead."
It specifically has to be a corpse AND it has to still have a mouth. It is questionable whether a skeleton has a mouth at all and if the lower jaw was crushed or removed it certainly does not - so the spell doesn't work. In this case, the remains would have to be sufficiently in tact that there is still a mouth. If there isn't then Speak with Dead doesn't work. (I ran into a module from WotC I was running where this was specifically mentioned.)
This information may or may not be common knowledge and Speak with Dead might or might not work on the burned remains (up to you) ... so if the town is suspicious enough, it still might not be that easy to resolve.
Is it bad that this brings me a smidgeon of happiness? lol My party hated him, too.
I agree that consequences may derail the campaign a little and that you might just want to ignore it. If you think it will be fun, then you can have the minority contingent in Bremen investigate the fire and take it from there, or you can introduce some instability about who will take over now that Grynsk is gone (kind of stealing the Good Mead town speaker plotline) and make the party see the consequences of their actions through that lens.
As for the plesiosaurus, that sounds like a clever way of resolving the quest to me. Perhaps the PC can convince the beast to stop eating the fish and turn it into a town attraction rather than a town bane. Friendly, neighborhood Nessie kind of deal.
Haha, not at all. We must have similar parties. They even gave the plesiosaurus a name... Nessie (of course). I ran him as an abrasive blowhard who's tolerated by the town because he controls the fishing industry.