NW Plot: Triple Murder Mystery

NOTE: The following is all a work of fiction. It is part of a role-playing game and does not describe or allude to any real events or people.

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Information regarding the murders/disappearances of Denith Delmor, Theodora Delmor, and Merric Asteri, in Neverwinter.


Notes from findings thus far. This information is available to all characters.


A timeline of events as known:

-The incident took place in the evening at dinner time.
-Theodora and Merric were seated at the dinner table. Denith's back was turned.
-Some force suddenly consumed them. They only had just enough time to stand up before their bodies were annihilated, leaving behind only their clothes and accessories.
-Denith faced the assailant, a shadowy being that assembled a fleshy body on the spot.
-The assailant extinguished all the candles and the fireplace.
-They both grabbed a set of silverware and fought each other.
-The assailant dropped the silverware and used spells instead: Chill Touch, Inflict Wounds, and Vampiric Touch. It also dealt psychic damage from illusion magic, and drained her blood somehow.
-The fight started in the kitchen and moved into the living room, where Denith was killed.
-The assailant, having stepped in Denith's blood, smeared the footprints to hide them.
-The assailant stole the bedsheet, all the money in the house, and possibly maps.
-The assailant left either by key or some other means bypassing the normal exits, as the windows and doors were all locked behind it.

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Other details about the scene:
-The house has an unnatural chill to the air.
-Theodora's personal correspondences weren't touched.
-Merric's staff was in the living room, not with him in the kitchen.
-No one was prepared for a fight: None of the victims were armed or armored (Merric and Theodora's armors were still in their room), and Denith hadn't brought her weapon.
-The drawers and closet were ransacked but it's unknown what if anything was taken other than money.
-No active magic effects are on the house.
-The curtains were all closed, except the curtain for the office, which was partially open.
-Merric and Theodora's sending stones were left in their clothes.
-There are no fresh animal tracks which would indicate a. anyone had taken animal form b. that Merric's familiar survived.

Details about the assailant:
-Male humanoid with pale skin and pale hair
-Sharp teeth, possibly vampiric
-Able to use necromancy and illusion magic
-Seems likely able to teleport or shapechange
-Due to the two above facts, appearance is subject to changes/glamours
-Can bleed
-Can likely see in the dark
-May be a warlock or even a patron

Details about Theodora:
-Half-elf warlock of undying, serving an undead entity
-Cartographer and bounty hunter
-Pact made her partially/borderline undead; did not breathe, etc.
-Biological parents died, was adopted by Denith along with elder sister
-Polite, quiet, reserved
-Was in contact with mother, but not with sister Shalareth.
-Had various other friendly contacts and business correspondences

Details about Denith:
-Lythari paladin of Selune
-Had a zealous, commanding reputation
-Often on campaigns of destroy evil
-Is a cousin to Richard and Odette Lauder on their mother's side
-Unknown how much she knew about Theodora's pact

Details about Merric:
-Aasimar warlock of a celestial patron
-Lived with Theodora
-Was known to be friendly and polite
-Also known to offer healing and curatives to people
-May have attempted to intervene in Theodora's pact


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Transcript of Speak With Dead interrogation of Denith Delmor:
Q: Can you tell us who killed you?
A: A dark-creature-turned-man unknown to me.

Q: And what happened to Dora and Merric?
A: I believe the foul thing consumed them as my back was turned. Inverted them. It pulled itself out, through her.

Q: You said 'through her'. Who is 'her'?
A: Through Dora, my daughter.

Q: Do you think Theodora and Merric might still be alive?
A: I saw them dissolve and collapse.

Q: Can you give us a description of this dark creature turned man?
A: A humanoid shadow pouring through. Like an undressed scarecrow, pulling itself together, making itself out of them. Growing pale flesh, pale hair, sharp teeth. Becoming solid before me. He put the lights out and I could not see the color of his eyes.



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Kylaen's interview with Shalareth:

Kylaen: You didn't get along with your sister?

Shalareth: No. Not at all. Where should I start?

Kylaen: From the beginning.

Shalareth: Then I'll just come right out and say it, and I don't care if you believe me or not. She's the reason our parents are dead and I'm like this.

Kylaen: You will have to elaborate.

Shalareth: When we were kids, our wagon was buried in an avalanche. She shouldn't have survived. I'm not sure she really did. She was a mangled mess. I saw her. And I saw her wounds heal. I was awake. The whole time. Pinned. She made a deal with that thing from another world, and whatever she did to survive is what finished our parents off. I'm one hundred percent sure they would have survived if not for that cold, dark magic that came out of her. The same magic that made it so that by the time anyone found us, by the time the clerics got to me, their healing magic wouldn't wouldn't even work on me anymore. She may as well have eaten them.

Kylaen: Your sister was a warlock. This I know. You speak of her patron, this thing, whatever it was. You said that it finished your parents off. It rendered healing magic ineffective on you. How? Do you have an idea?

Shalareth: Necromancy, or whatever you want to call it. It made her consume people. It gave her an evil hunger she took out on whoever she could excuse it for.

Kylaen: Do you know the details of her pact? Was she sustaining herself? Or something else? What was your sister bound to?

Shalareth: An entity in the Shadowfell. Her magic fed both herself and it.

Kylaen: The life she drained was siphoned to both herself, and the patron that she had been chosen by for her pact?

Shalareth: That's what she told me.

Kylaen: Why?

Shalareth: To feed. What else do things like that do?

Kylaen: Why did it feed? Why did it, in the first place, require that energy?

Shalareth: Why do mosquitoes drink blood? Because they're parasites. So was she, and so was her master.

Kylaen: Had your sister mentioned anything strange or out of the ordinary recently?

Shalareth: I wouldn't know. We didn't speak. Not once I moved away.

Kylaen: Is there anything else you can think of that would be important to mention?

Shalareth: Dora had something to do with this too, I'm sure. Maybe not directly, but with what she allowed to act through her. It was only a matter of time. So I'm glad I wasn't anywhere close enough to be caught in the blast this time.

Kylaen: Anything you can think of about this creature, about your sister. Even if it seems unimportant, but strange. Anything could help.

Shalareth: I don't know what it was. If she knew, she never told me. It was undead. Something trapped in the Shadowfell.