Clues needed

[Baron Zamedi]

Hello fellow members of the fraternity. I haven't been here for a while (since my Ravenloft campaign died.) but I come to you now in an hour of need... Need for clues.

You see, I recently got back with a couple of my gamer friends and we decided to start a new Ravenloft game, so I took the task of GMing and things have gone great thus far, that is, until the adventure I'm running took a turn I didn't predict.

The plot of this adventure revolves around a mysterious tomb found outside Nartok in Darkon, and some strange figurines found inside of it. To make the long story short it was opened by a bard who was traveling the countryside to find inspiration for the horror novels she writes, but when she went inside she was corrupted by this figures and by an imp who had been trapped inside the tomb (the tomb in question is a mass grave for a group of defeated cultists that tried to summon a demon some 20 years ago, the imp was the cult leader's familiar.) Now she has allied with the bandits who have their hideout in the nearby woods, and has turned them into cultists with promises of power. During the adventure she acted like she was helping the PC's and had her own kidnapping staged. Now the heroes are going into the woods to confront the bandits, they know something about them is not normal but they don't know that there’s demon worshipping involved.

The thing is, maybe my skill at running mystery plots is a little rusty or maybe my player's ability at solving them is, but they missed some of the clues I had dropped as to the bard's involvement in this story, so now my players are traveling towards the bandit camp and I need some clues for them to discover that the kidnapping wasn't real and that this bard is actually involved in this, i just don't want to break the mood with something to obvious.

Can anyone think of some appropriate clues? I need some help and I'm stuck.

[Jimsolo]

Are there still bandits alive/to be confronted? If so, you should have it pretty easy.

I like to go with a tiered system of clues. First might be a quill pen found in the bandit camp. Next you could have them encounte a bandit in some sort of stealthy situation (where the bandit doesn't see them) and you can let the PCs hear him whistling a jaunty tune that sounds, to them, "eerily familiar." (They heard the bard playing/singing/humming/whistling the same tune some time earlier. This works best if the bard actually DID some music in their presence, but can still work otherwise.) Perhaps the PCs find a musical instrument (of the same type as the bard uses) among the bandit's effects. As a more overt clue, you can have one of the bandits be a more bookish, spectacled sort (ala the one Cowboy in Tombstone) who is found to be carrying an autographed copy of one of her novels after the PCs kill him.

Did the bard do anything significant or unique that made her stand out as an NPC while she was with the group? If so, you can use this identifying trait among the bandits to link her to the group in the PC's mind, making it more likely their thoughts will flow in that direction. (Did she eat or drink something unusual? Dress in a different way? Have an accent?)

Optionally, if they aren't picking up what you're putting down, you can always just not worry about it too much. If you set your adventure up in such a way that the final confrontation of the story will occur no matter what, (say, if the cultist's plans culminate in a ritual sacrifice) then it isn't necessary to know who the cult leader is. Personally, I think the best mystery story is one where I don't figure out the ending, but in retrospect see all the clues that I missed and realize that I could have.

Good luck, and I hope that helps.

[A G Thing]

As Jimsolo said, the bandits provide great chances for this. Another clue is something the Bard said to the group that the Bandit might repeat in the same way could work but that is a balancing act between choosing something memorable that might just seem like a throw away phrase to the bandit saying it.

But lets assume you don't have a lot of bandits left just in case. Classic physical signs might be around, such a boot prints of differing size matching the bard showing an unbound stride, the scent of something unique to the Bard you made note of in passing but in an area that the bard probably would not have been kept much, perhaps another bandit bards possessions that does not have as good gear as the bard but uses similar items thus why have they had/have not stolen this gear to use? A spells lingering trace that the bard is known to know has been cast thus traces may be around. A substance from within town that the bandits should not have had an easy time aquiring but the bard enjoyed or may be connected to them such as a certain vintage of wine or a specialty food stuff. Perhaps just a minor item that the bard once commented on.

You could also put a crack in any story the bard has should they reunite for how they were taken with what a witness or those reporting of it claim. Finally there is always a slip of the tongue should they PC's run into the Bard again that perhaps one of the bandits said something aloud and the bard misses one small but crucial detail in relating their version. Something they could not have or should not have known or do not know that they should.

Anyways good luck with the game!

[Gonzoron of the FoS]

Another one for sneaking up on the bandits, they could be gossiping about her: "Don't go snooping in those purses, Grog. She said we have to bring everything back to base to be inventoried first." "Yeah, we'll she can take her rules and her stupid lute and shove th---- did you hear something?"

[Hamiclar]

what about the Imp? They are extremly arrogant or vain in their knowlegdge and could be tricked with simple you don't know _ ? Has the cultist continued to again starting in the summoning of the Great One. You could for instnace have a reality winkle see Van Guide to Fiends. The wrinkle could be from the imp or the demon that may have arrived earlier. How far is the imp willing to go to sacrice its pawns?

[Trike]

If the bard frequents the bandit camp regularly, she would have her own place to sleep. Maybe a tent. You can make it apparent to the players that this tent is not decorated by a bandit. Some of the bard's personal items are here and this can lead your players to think that there is another player at work. Also, this area would be a good place to stash some items linked to the demon and it's worship. Possibly old symbols linked to the original cult's slaughter or some historical documents about that time period. Maybe some notes written in the bard's handwriting about methods of worship meant for the bandit cultists.

Classic adventures always used to have a letter from the Big Boss giving orders to the bandits involved. But that might be a little heavy handed.

[Rotipher of the FoS]

What was the bard's real motive for involving the PCs at all, and what do they think her motive for helping them was? Clues that poke holes in the bard's fake story should be dropped first, to build suspicion, before ones that reveal her actual motive or intentions.

[The Lesser Evil]

Hmm, well, before making any suggestions, what I'd want to know is, what clues did they miss you gave them before?