The Face Stealer
August 16th, 2011
Hello everyone, and welcome back to another exciting Grave Plots, where we bring you new plot hooks and adventure ideas each and every week. Being Doppelganger Week at Necromancers of the Northwest, this week is devoted to the original shape-shifter. The doppelganger possesses one of the best known and most terrifying powers of any fantasy monster: the ability to change its form to look like anyone else. Anyone from the lowliest pauper to the king himself might secretly be a doppelganger with a sinister motive, and you would never know. The mere rumor of a doppelganger in town might cause witch hunts or mass panic, and even that pales in the face of the sort of chaos a doppelganger could cause if he put his mind to it. We’re all familiar with the excitement and mystery that the doppelganger brings to the table, and today’s all about trying to bring some of the fun out in your game. Below, you’ll find a plot that focuses around the fascinating creatures.
The Face Stealer
The PCs are attending a banquet in honor of the duchess Ariena Courte’s coming of age, mingling with the other guests while awaiting the arrival of the duchess’s father and the beginning of the feast. Just as the duchess is completing her rounds, a piercing shriek from the second floor shatters the quiet mood of the intimate gathering. The hurried pounding of boots on stairs heralds the arrival of a young house servant, pale as a sheet, short of breath, and bearing a single piece of cream colored parchment crumpled in one hand. The servant casts a worried look about the room as a house guard marches over to the youth; looking relieved, the youth passes the guard the note before promptly fainting.
The guard unfolds the parchment and gives it a quick look over before hurrying upstairs with a grim look on his face. A short while later he returns, gesturing sharply to his fellow guards to bar the exits to the room before heading over to speak with Ariena and her mother. After a brief discussion both women begin sobbing softly, a token attempt to cover their lost composure failing utterly to hide their obvious grief. The guard then mounts the bandstand and turns to the assembled guests, his booming voice, full of equal parts resolve and poorly masked anger, fills the hall with the following announcement:
“Ladies and gentlemen, your attention please,” he starts, and after waiting a moment for the crowd to settle, he continues on, “I regret to inform you that his lordship Duke Edmund Courte is dead.” He raises a hand in a vain attempt to silence the panicked whispers, desperate mutters, and open grief that follow the announcement, ultimately forced to wait for the initial shock to subside before he can go on. “There is more disturbing news; a note was found with his body. I shall read it now.”
“If you’re reading this note, you will no doubt have discovered a murder done this night; my sympathies to the duke’s family. What you don’t know is that the duke was the second to die by my hand; the first is standing in this room. Don’t bother to check for poison or magic enchantment – he died hours ago during the mid-morning meal, and I devoured his body, taking his form. Even now I stand among you, hidden in the skin of your dear trusted friend. You are now presented with two choices: you can choose to let everyone go home and set a known murderer free. Or instead, you can seek vengeance for these crimes, risking the chance that perhaps an innocent will suffer the horrors of your so-called justice.”
Suspicion and furtive glances fill the hall and the tension rises to an all but tangible level, when the guard again calls for silence and suggests a vote on how to proceed. Despite the general desire for the safety of their own beds, the Duchess’s impassioned vote for pursuing the criminal quickly cows anyone who might otherwise have dissented. After it’s agreed to search for the criminal, the assembly descends into chaos, with accusations and defenses being posited by everyone, without anyone really listening. After a few minutes it becomes apparent to the guards, now preoccupied with ensuring that no one leaves the building, that some amount of order is necessary for these proceedings to have any chance of success. Noting the PCs as experienced adventurers, the task of interviewing witnesses naturally falls to them, burdening them with the responsibility of gathering whatever clues are available and discovering the murderer.
From here it’s up to you to create memorable NPCs for the PCs to question and assemble a trail of clues for the PCs to follow to the killer. Remember that in order to make the adventure challenging, there needs to be multiple likely suspects and no clear single answer. And in order for the adventure to be interesting, you will need a cast of memorable characters with varied personalities, conflicting emotions, and personal motivations. While your adventure should feature characters and suspects of your own custom design, here are a few vague outlines to serve as a sample selection or handy starting place.
The Duchess Ariena Courte: The duke’s daughter has always been the perfect child in the public eye. The death of her father and murder of a close friend has made the ordinarily composed duchess something of an emotional wreck. Questioning her requires a delicate hand, and she won’t respond well to a forceful interrogation. Those who question her carefully learn that despite the outward appearance, the relationship between her and her father was actually quite strained, and that she was looking forward to today as a chance to break free of his influence and be her own person. Regardless of their strained relationship, both her sorrow and surprise following the murder appear to be quite genuine.
Lord Victor Carp: One of the duke’s oldest friends, Victor Carp is a stout man of reserved nature; even the death of the duke seems to have affected him very little. Questioning Carp reveals little beyond that he doesn’t really know anyone at the banquet apart from Igor Rumov, one of the duke’s chief political rivals. While Carp will try to nudge the PCs’ suspicions to Rumov, it quickly becomes clear he doesn’t really know anything useful.
Igor Rumov: One of the duke’s distant cousins, Igor is the duke’s chief political rival, having eyed his lands for a long time. His hot-blooded nature becomes obvious to anyone who attempts to question him, and he will accuse just about anyone other than himself of these heinous crimes. However, despite his harsh temper, he seems too erratic to have executed this kind of calculated crime.
Joh Voris: A new friend of Areina’s, he has grown close to the duchess and her family these last few months. In actuality, Joh is a thief, who built his relationship with Areina in order to rob the family; however, over time he has secretly fallen in love with Arenina. When questioned, he is quick to point out that Igor Rumov approached him with an offer to do business which sounded somewhat nefarious.
Now you just need to add about six more NPCs, decide on the guilty party, and let the PCs do some investigating. I hope you enjoyed this week’s plot and I hope to see you next week for more exciting plot hooks and adventure ideas.