Murder in Istar - adventure ideas.

Post/Author/DateTimePost
#1

zombiegleemax

Aug 08, 2003 7:46:16
It has been a while since I have seen a generel adventure ideas discussion over here. so here it begins.

This is a copy of a posts that I made a the ravenloft board, change the location to the Istar idea, and I think that we are good to go.
I would like opinions.

Here is a rewritten idea from a Live roleplay I once played.

The PC's enter a rather large town most likely in a domain where high culturel level like dementliu(sp?).

They stay at a tavern called "the last cut". The tavern shares a stockroom with it's neighboor who happens to be one of the towns two doctors. (reneseance surgoens). His name is Doctor Filthow.
The second night they stay at the inn, the torso and head of a farmers body is found hanging from a pole in the stockroom.

The farmers name was Walter Creiss
his arms, legs and abdomen was removed with high precision, with small blades. His eyes were cut out and replaced with cheap pearls. His mouth sown tight (lips sown/sewed together) and filled with dirt, earth and worms.
He has been killed severel days before the hanging.

His wife died 16 years ago, and the only family he has got is two sons.
1. Christian Creiss (farmer is a nearby town, unmarried)
2. Robert Creiss (farmer is the same town, retarted, unmarried, the village idiot.)

Robert Creiss has been treated with experimental medicin and surgury at the neighboorig doctor Filthow.

After the murder Christian begins to visit Robert much more frenquintly, well much more.

the investigation of the murder:

The doctor has an aliby
Christian has a weak aliby, no confirmation
Robert has an aliby.

The pc's discorver that Walter Creiss owned a lot of land at the egde of town, where a lot of powerful people wants to build a new tavern.
the land is inheireted by a woman named Patricia Venholtz, who turns out to be Walter's oldest daughter. The reason why no one has heard about her is that she has a different mother than Robert and Christian. She has an aliby, she have been in the other end of the country the last couple of weeks.


If they scearch the suspects houses and they will at some point, they discorver that christian has some small blades lying in some drawers, he also has a number of disected(sp?) animal corpses lying out back.
He also has a couple of pictures of dwarves hanging around.
Christian has a little cottage of the egde of "his" town. In it, the PC's find a lot of small blades on a long table and the remains of a guarduniform, and the legbones, the bones of the rightarm, and the skull of a man. All the bones are in the fireplace.

Two months ago a guard disappeared in a nearby town.
Not something everybody knows.

Robert has a sort of repressed memory, remember that he is retarted. He has a vision of a white HOUSE by the sea, where a woman/girl (mostly woman) cut Walter with a knife.
-
Christians cottage is white and there is a large LAKE (not sea) nearby.

At the same time they are out there, dr. Filthow gets murdered, back in the town.

Christian also has papers regard the creation of the perfect race (see plot section).

The rest of the investigation I leave in the hands of the DM, now to the plot.

The plot:

Christian has a dwarf fetish, so he is trying to construct a "frankenstein" dwarf, the new supreme speciment of the master race.
He will construct it after a philosofical principal much likes plato's state theory.

He needs the legs of a farmer --> the come from Walter, the body was the remains, the part he didn't need.

He needs the torso and right hand/arm of a soldier --> the guard in the cottage.

He needs the left arm and head of a scholar/doctor --> dr. Filthow

Then he would insert the eyes, the brain and the heart of his retarted brother, making him the first of the new master race.

In addition each of the three victims/ body part providers have to die in a special way.

The farmer must return to earth --> must suffucat in dirt
the soldier must be cleansed --> must be burned
the doctors soul must be outdriven --> he must be drowned.


Final comments:

Put clues and lose ends in the story as you like.
add people and change names as you like

As I have told your I have played this story, I have rewritten it so now it is more simply and I think it fits a little better to conventionel prg now.
But I can tell you that I was pretty scary to play the full story in a LARP.
#2

zombiegleemax

Aug 09, 2003 7:06:00
Just a little addiotional info on the adventure idea:

setting: some towns near the center of Istar. around 100 years before the cataclysm.

make Christian a devote worshipper of "the great dwarf" (who in the case is hiddukel)
Walter is of course a servent of Mishakel.

To increase the paranoia the guard (remains) who is found in the cabin could be a solamnic knight who was on his way to Istar on diplomatic matters, therefor the players could have the inqusision creeping about, and they could easily draw wrong conclusions.