Clues of the Real Murderer
by Jahirael Kahn(an idea I just had vaguely based on 'clue' boardgame. The weapons, one of which is magical... would be D&D equivalents, alla dvantageous yet all pin the murder on who bears them. They don't have to be wielded but must all be in plain sight to ANYBODY... pinning the killer as the one who is the wielder. For instance: the lead plpe is obviously a mace +1 with skull fragments of the victim's crushed head that cannot be cleaned off... The dagger is likewise the same but with BLOOD ALL OVER IT!!! but can also never be wiped off and keeps dripping onto the murderer's hand, implicating such... the rope of climbing forever nooses itself around the murderer's neck but works otherwise like a rope of climbing... revolver is a hand crossbow that automatically fires as soon as it is looaded.. The cursed triggerhappy crossbow of Boddy Manor... A candle that must stay vithin ze view and forever cannot be put out...and so on.
Sooner or later they will find the real murderer, and the ghost of Count Boddy.. and all of the other culprits trapped ageless in all the rooms of the 'manor'... or other now-ageless denizens who wander in.
a very square 9 roomed keep more than a manor, but with all the interior decorum of a manor... a library, extensive kitchen, great hall (where boodyis ghost (and corpe are found... maybe the corpse is a zombie animated by the ghost to try and find his killer, so he will accompany the adventurers (slowly) as he follows them around... The ghost and his corpse are very in touch but as he has been rotting for some time so he cannot speak other than gestures and squishy grunts... aslo this is the only way the party can let Boddy's ghost, they must slow down to a sombie-lurch pace to protect it as they explore.. making the denizens (wolves, rats, bugs, bats.. maybe an orc tribe whatever.. level-appropriate mindless stuff etc) fery easy to keep attack them as they plod around (random monsters) .
.. the other culprits are all monsters level-appropriate with a similar flavor to the name.. colonel mustard night be a gnoll or might be an amber golem.. get creative ... Mr. Green might just be a very big green ogre-thing... obviously whever picks up the actual cursed weapon might be screwed ass they try to find the rest of the clues... there s a curse on the manor left by Count Boddy - also a powerful magician which allows no-one who enters this very cursed place to leave or age until his murder is solved. Both the count and his ancient widow were powerful spellcasters in their prime, a migic mouth explains this only entering the manor... the widow, upon their successful solving of the murder - will be uncurse annd simply become a short length of rope or a regular mace, candle goes out... they can keep them or just throw away the junk.. a memento of their successful sleuthing of Boddy Manor up on the moors.... awwooooooooooo... cmon scoob doo gang, lets investigate!
The old farmer who lives down the way says them he says 'i seen people go up that thar road.. aint some of em never come back, so maybe they just kept going, but folks say that place got eet a durn kersssh!
it was a dark and stormy night approached the supposedly haunted the manor of count Boddy, rumored to have been murdered... but by whom? Why? with what?... The party has been beseached by his grieving widow, now 101 years old to solve this murder at last so she can rest in peace knowing.... she is very rich and promises a rich reward, showing
