# CSI: Sharn (Help create 100 corpses)



## Shadowdancer (Dec 3, 2004)

One of the many cool things about "Sharn: City of Towers" is Table 8-2: Corpses. It is a table of corpses a DM can use as an adventure seed for his PCs.

Unfortunately, there are only 13 corpses on the table. That's just not enough for a campaign primarily set in Sharn. Plus, there's not much variety to the corpses in terms of race, class, etc.

So let's create a much larger table, with 100 corpses. We already have the first 13; we just need 87 more. I'll start.

14. The victim is a human male wearing expensive-looking clothing, which is soaking wet although there has been no recent rain. A successful Knowledge (nobility) check against DC 10 will reveal the clothing to be common among Aundair nobles. The victim's identification papers show he is an agent for the Royal Eyes of Aundair. By all indications, he died by drowning.

15. The victim is a female elf bearing the Dragonmark of House Phiarlan. She is dressed in an entertainer's outfit, and a broken lute lies next to the body. Searching her clothing reveals two different sets of identification papers: one for an entertainer, another for a licensed inquisitive. A stiletto dagger is buried to the hilt in her back. A slip of torn parchment inside a pouch contains a single word: "Shamukaar"

16. The victim is a female gnome dressed in clothing common to people from Zilargo (DC 10 check, Knowledge (local) required). Her tongue and eyes have been cut out. There also are rope marks around her wrists and ankles. Lastly, her throat has been cut. Her indentification papers indicate she worked for House Sivis.

17. The victim is a male dwarf dressed in the uniform of the Karrnathi military. He has been stabbed numerous times by large blades. At his waist is an empty messengers pouch with a claw insignia on the broken clasp. On the back of his right hand is a criminal mark inscribed with a _pen of the living parchment._

18. The victim is a male hobgoblin. His travel documents show he is from Darguun, and his indentification papers indicate he is a member of the Defenders Guild. Sticking from his neck is a small dart; the dart's tip contains traces of a powerful, fast-acting poison. Nearby, a doll resembling a small human girl with long, blonde hair lies on the ground, with a smear of blood across its face.


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## demiurge1138 (Dec 3, 2004)

19. A medium-sized humanoid, this corpse is notable for having no face whatsoever, just a patch of blank skin. The identification papers show the deceased to be a traveling stage magician.

Demiurge out.


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## Angel Tarragon (Dec 3, 2004)

20) A human clad only in a green vest and pantaloons lies face down in the gutter. A check for identification reveals him to be Shanear Fefelar, a 2nd level ranger in the employ of The Aurum. A sroll with a map of Sharn lies in a pocket on the inside of his vest.


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## Breakstone (Dec 3, 2004)

21) The smoking boots of the victim are found standing in a pile of ash. Inside the boots are a pair of feet, with barbwire tattoos around the ankles. There's a mishmash of soil and junk stuck to the bottom of the boots. A Search Check, DC 15, will reveal a tooth. A Knowledge (Anatomy) Check of DC 18, or a Heal Check of DC 21, will reveal this to be an elven bottom molar.


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## Hand of Evil (Dec 3, 2004)

22.  The corpse before you is your best friend from childhood, clothing torn and in tatters, finger nails cracked, dirty and claw-like, in one a letter...

23.  The corpse before you is a family member...

24.  The corpse before you is the bar maid you had a torrid love affair a few months ago, it hurt when she left town...  (note: add baby ripped from belly)


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## Henry (Dec 3, 2004)

25: The corpse is that of a halfing tribal, face tatooed in the style of his people, but his once proud scaly-hide garments are in tatters. One hand holds a torn piece of cloth - purple, with fine gold threads interwoven, obviously from an expensive garment - and in a pocket on his body, a curious bone wand inscribed with words...

26: The body of a lady of the evening from the firelight district lies dragged into a back alleyway, savagely mutilated by a sharp blade.. closer inspection however reveals that the cuts were performed by someone skilled in the healing arts - or butchery... _(can't have a corpse table without old Jack making an appearance!)_


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## Hand of Evil (Dec 3, 2004)

27.  The corpse of the warforged was battered and crushed, a broken shell, dented and mangled.  A quick search turn up only a few copper pieces, no weapons and a ring bearring the Silver Flame.


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## Patryn of Elvenshae (Dec 3, 2004)

28.  The body is that of a young, half-elven woman: blond hair, bright green eyes, with a tattoo of a half-moon below her left eye.  She has severe bruising about her neck and shoulders.  Her clothing is unremarkable, and she is not carrying any identification papers or money.  A DC 10 Heal check will determine that the cause of death was suffocation.  A DC 25 Heal check within 4 hours of death will determine that, in addition to being strangled, she was also poisoned with a paralytic agent (pick a poison "to taste;" any that does Dex or Str damage is suitable).  After 4 hours, the DC for determining that she was poisoned increases to 30.  A DC 20 Search check will reveal a band of slightly miscolored skin around her left ring finger, as if she had worn a ring often enough to tan differently, but had only recently begun wearing it.


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## Hand of Evil (Dec 3, 2004)

29.  The elf, if that was what it was, was dark of skin almost black, its hair white and long.  The body looks that have been stab, cut, broken, and burned.  By the body two broken scimitars and a crushed figurine of some type of cat...


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## VirgilCaine (Dec 3, 2004)

30. This young male human minor nobles corpse was found in a seedy tavern, stabbed between the shoulderblades once, at the exact point to cut the spinal cord. A tiny amount of green liquid can be found on the clothing around the wound. 

31. This successful dwarven merchant was found strangled to death with a garrote, a strange symbol of two lightning bolt lines imprinted on his throat y the murder weapon. 

32. This armored, armed human male is petrified as if by a cockatrice, medusa, etc. He is 6' tall, wearing studded leather armor and holding a handaxe and a battleaxe, ready to strike. A normal (non-petrified) dart sticks out of the back of his neck.


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## Hand of Evil (Dec 3, 2004)

33. The body before you was old, old even for an elf.  It is not like you have not seen a body before but this one had a stake through the heart and its mouth stuffed with garlic.  Around the neck you notice a chain, maybe there is something of wealth left to be had…


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## Hand of Evil (Dec 3, 2004)

As there is a thread of the same subject over on the Eberron site:

http://boards1.wizards.com/showthread.php?t=344666


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## Patryn of Elvenshae (Dec 3, 2004)

Heh.  I like ours better, HoE.


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## Nightchilde-2 (Dec 3, 2004)

Hand of Evil said:
			
		

> 27.  The corpse of the warforged was battered and crushed, a broken shell, dented and mangled.  A quick search turn up only a few copper pieces, no weapons and a ring bearring the Silver Flame.




Have you been reading my campaign notes?


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## BlackMoria (Dec 3, 2004)

34.   The corpse is of a middle aged man who bears a number of old scars on his arms and face.  He lies face up, his neck slit from ear to ear and his shirt has been torn open.  Scrawled on his chest, in what you assume to be his own blood, is a single word - 'Traitor'.  

35.  The body appears to be of a human male, sans head.  The victim appears to have decapitated, but the lack of blood and the head itself implies the victim was killed elsewhere.  No identification papers or valuables are found on the body, but a tattoo on the right forearm identifies him as a member of a former elite military unit of the Breland military - now since disbanded since the war.


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## jerichothebard (Dec 3, 2004)

36. The corpse at first appears to be that of a young human schoolgirl - pigtail braids, plaid skirt, knee socks.  Further examination shows that it is not, in fact, a human child, but rather an adult halfling woman.  A Gather Info check (DC 17) reveals that she used to work at _the Dancing Rose_, a brothel on the wrong side of the tracks.  She disappeared a few days ago.  Bruises on her throat indicate that she was strangled by someone with very large hands.


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## Wraith Form (Dec 3, 2004)

LOve love LOVE these!  I'll be back a little later to make a contribution, but please keep this thread alive (pun semi-intended)!!

Good job!!


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## BrooklynKnight (Dec 3, 2004)

37. A broken carriage lies wrecked on a dark bridge between two towers. Within the wreckage you find two bodies, and a baby carrier. Upon further examination you discover the two bodies are dragonmarked, one Cannith male, one Orien female. A DC 20 Heal check reveals the female was recently pregnant. The body of the baby is nowhere to be found...


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## Patryn of Elvenshae (Dec 3, 2004)

38.  In the back room of a small-time winesink, you find a body seated at a small, round table.  The three other seats are empty.  The victim is a half-orc, male, young adult.  He has a jagged scar above his right eye, and is missing two fingers on his left hand.  He is transfixed by a length of metal pipe, which passes through his body just below the rib cage and into the chair behind him.  The table is covered with the remains of a card game (pick "to taste").  A DC 20 Search check will reveal two concealed cards (appropriate to the game) in his stockings.  Alternatively, stripping the body will automatically reveal the cards.  A DC 27 Search check will reveal a concealed _alchemical silver_ stiletto, hidden in the lining of his cloak.


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## Sejs (Dec 3, 2004)

39.  The body of this human male lies half concealed behind a pile of crates, old broken furniture and other debris.  He has been stripped to the waist, and his ragged, torn shirt wadded up and stuffed beneith his head, propping it up.  The man's chest has been split open, and his ribs cracked and peeled back like some gruesome roast, exposing his insides to the night air.  His organs themselves are all quite easily accounted for, as they have all been indivudually removed, each wrapped in their own now blood-soaked cloth, and stacked in a neat pyramid beside their former owner.  Judging by the expression frozen on the victim's face, he was likely alive for at least part of the process...


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## megamania (Dec 3, 2004)

This is more a story idea-  you find chunks of body as if broken apart- not torn.  How?

A time limited flesh to stone.  Figure is stone- falls- breaks then becomes flesh.  A strange form of serial killer.


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## Captain Howdy (Dec 3, 2004)

40. There is a naked human female body, cut completely in half at the waist. She is lying on her back with her arms over her head, and her legs spread-eagle. Her legs are placed about a foot away from her torso. Her body and face have been violently slashed, including a long cut across her cheeks forming her mouth into a grotesque smile. Perhaps she was killed somewhere else and brought to this location, because there are rope marks on her ankles, feet and neck. Also, she has apparently been washed clean of any blood that would have been on her skin. 


... lets see if the players can solve one of the great unsolved crimes.


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## shilsen (Dec 4, 2004)

Captain Howdy said:
			
		

> 40. There is a naked human female body, cut completely in half at the waist. She is lying on her back with her arms over her head, and her legs spread-eagle. Her legs are placed about a foot away from her torso. Her body and face have been violently slashed, including a long cut across her cheeks forming her mouth into a grotesque smile. Perhaps she was killed somewhere else and brought to this location, because there are rope marks on her ankles, feet and neck. Also, she has apparently been washed clean of any blood that would have been on her skin.
> 
> 
> ... lets see if the players can solve one of the great unsolved crimes.



 Shouldn't there be a sign on the wall saying "The warforged are not people to be blamed for nothing" "


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## Wraith Form (Dec 4, 2004)

shilsen said:
			
		

> Shouldn't there be a sign on the wall saying "The warforged are not people to be blamed for nothing" "



Um, uhh...double-negatives make my head hurt.  So you're saying "The warforged are people to be blamed for something"?  (coo~coo coo~coo, birdies flying in circles above my head like in the cartoons)


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## Wraith Form (Dec 4, 2004)

(disclaimer:  I want to apologize since I don't actually own the Sharn book, nor do I have the Eberron CS available to provide details regarding nationalities, etc.  That shouldn't stop me from adding to this fun, albeit gruesome, thread!)


41) A corpse is hauled out of a well in the ___(insert name of slum/poor quarter here)___. It appears to be a scruffy half-elven male, middle-aged, slightly overweight and slovenly; dressed in grease-stained tan tunic and frayed-cuff black trousers. He's been stuffed down there for only a few hours. In a belt-pouch with a vine leaf clasp can be found 19 gold coins from a foreign city and a document within a crushed, laquered wooden scroll-tube. The ink has smeared & run to the point of illegibility after being submerged, but if magic is employed it turns out to be an intimate letter addressed to "Irina" and signed from a "Arthenis". Investigation reveals that an "Arthenis Ravenos" lives within the city--and he's still alive. (For a real twist, he claims he didn't author the love letter, doesn't know an "Irina," nor was he ever approached by a blackmailer...and magic proves that he's truthful.)


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## JackGiantkiller (Dec 4, 2004)

At first glance, this is the body of a human male. Age is apparently late thirties. The deceased is bald, with a small red goatee beard. Platinum earrings in the ears have not been touched. There is no sign of decomposition of the body, but his clothes have rotted almost completely away.  The cause of death is not apparent, as he has no visible wounds. His nearly naked flesh does sport one oddity, however...scattered patches of tiny red scales, especially around scent areas (either side of neck, armpits, groin, cleft of buttocks.) His hands are calloused and rough, a swordsman's grip. His fingernails are clean...cleaner than the rest of him.


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## shilsen (Dec 4, 2004)

Wraith Form said:
			
		

> Um, uhh...double-negatives make my head hurt.  So you're saying "The warforged are people to be blamed for something"?  (coo~coo coo~coo, birdies flying in circles above my head like in the cartoons)



 Just quoting (from memory, so I could be wrong) a sign painted on a wall at a Jack the Ripper murder scene (and no, the sign said "Jews", not warforged ). I think that's what Captain Howdy was alluding to in No. 40.


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## Wraith Form (Dec 4, 2004)

shilsen said:
			
		

> Just quoting (from memory, so I could be wrong) a sign painted on a wall at a Jack the Ripper murder scene (and no, the sign said "Jews", not warforged ). I think that's what Captain Howdy was alluding to in No. 40.



Ouch. And I thought I was a Ripper fanboy. D'OH, I feel foolish.

Thanks for the clarification.

Cap't, nice Exorcist avatar!


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## Hand of Evil (Dec 4, 2004)

43.  Ah, the rainy season, storms are blown in and rain comes down heavy, some of the streets of Sharn become very dangerous not that they were dangerous before but because of the flash floods.  The pratice is called corpses fishing and that is what you see before you, a net pulled accross the street to capture 'items' washed down from the higher streets.  Small animals most likely go into some pot, supplies sold, bodies like the one you see before you are stripped, clothing and items sold.  The corspe in life must have been beautiful, long hair blonde, shape and figure that even in death was remarkable and along the back a dragonmark of house...


Note: flash flood idea was based on stuff I have seen from the news happening in Hong Kong, cars, properity, animals, and people being caught in them being washed out to sea.


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## Wraith Form (Dec 4, 2004)

Nothing remarkable about this poor dark-haired child would call attention to her in life, but in death she's a tragic figure--found decomposing in an abandoned building, with a light coat of dust covering her naked form. Apparently born of some wealth, she had good skin, strong teeth and long bones for a child under 10 seasons. She was brained by a blunt object. Scuff marks on her back and shoulders indicate she was dragged by her feet to this location.

 The thing that sends a chill down your spine is the fact that her hands, both missing, were removed, but not with a blade...closer inspection of the jagged, bloody stumps reveals the markings of _human(oid) teeth _on her bones and flesh....


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## Torm (Dec 4, 2004)

Pretty sure Wraith Form meant that to be #44, so...

45. In a remote location, near a bridge that is out and has been closed for repairs, a human male, mid-40s, is found sitting on the ground with his back leaning against the footstep of the compartment of a very nice (but showing signs of age) enclosed four passenger carriage. He has his knees up slightly, and a crossbow wedged between them positioned to point at his head, with no bolt loaded - from the immediate look of things, this is because it has been discharged through said head. A decent Heal check (DC 10) will determine that the bolt that went through the man's head was fired from the back to the front. His papers will identify him as a professor of language and literary studies, specializing in religious works, at the University. Both horses have been freed or taken by someone. Inside the carriage is a box containing a fine set of china, that does not look to have been secured well enough to have travelled there that way. A Search check (DC 15) will find a hole in the carriage that another bolt passed through.


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## Gulla (Dec 4, 2004)

[I haven't read the Sharn-book so I don't know what is in the first 13...]

46. The floor and walls around the door seem charred. On the floor in the middle of the room is a heap of clothing. A finely wrought robe, a pair of bracers, a pair of slippers, a thin headband with a saphire and some silk undergarments. Throughout the heap is a fine, gray dust...

Håkon
remembering the demise of our ranger/scout


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## Wraith Form (Dec 4, 2004)

Torm said:
			
		

> Pretty sure Wraith Form meant that to be #44, so...
> 
> 45. In a remote location, near a bridge that is out and has been closed for repairs, a human male, mid-40s, is found sitting on the ground with his back leaning against the footstep of the compartment of a very nice (but showing signs of age) enclosed four passenger carriage. He has his knees up slightly, and a crossbow wedged between them positioned to point at his head, with no bolt loaded - from the immediate look of things, this is because it has been discharged through said head. A decent Heal check (DC 10) will determine that the bolt that went through the man's head was fired from the back to the front. His papers will identify him as a professor of language and literary studies, specializing in religious works, at the University. Both horses have been freed or taken by someone. Inside the carriage is a box containing a fine set of china, that does not look to have been secured well enough to have travelled there that way. A Search check (DC 15) will find a hole in the carriage that another bolt passed through.



Yes, I did mean #44, and (points up at Torm's quote) nice one!!


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## Captain Howdy (Dec 4, 2004)

shilsen said:
			
		

> Just quoting (from memory, so I could be wrong) a sign painted on a wall at a Jack the Ripper murder scene (and no, the sign said "Jews", not warforged ). I think that's what Captain Howdy was alluding to in No. 40.




No... The Black Dahlia murder. One of the weirdest ever. You can read about it at crimelibrary.com, I think.


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## shilsen (Dec 4, 2004)

Captain Howdy said:
			
		

> No... The Black Dahlia murder. One of the weirdest ever. You can read about it at crimelibrary.com, I think.



 Ooh - interesting! That's one I'd heard of but never read up on. I think that gives me an idea for an Eberron campaign. Thanks.


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## Wraith Form (Dec 4, 2004)

The portcullis gate guard was panicked. "I didn't kill him!" he protested emphatically. His breath reeked of cheap alcohol and blatant fear.

 On the ground was the body of a giant of a man--clearly human--with long sinewy limbs and a deep chest, dressed in the Brelish garb of a caravan guard. That broad chest was currently impaled by the sharpened ends of the portcullis gate tips. The huge man lay face up, dead in the wan mid-morning light, in a pool of his own blood. The portcullis gate bisected the corpse, his head and upper torso on the interior of the portcullis tower and his legs and lower torso pointing toward the street.

 There was no evidence of the man's weapon, nor any evidence of identification papers or purse. Despite his Brelish dress, it was clear he wasn't a native of that land. The symbol of the merchant house he once represented was embroidered boldly on his tunic, now swathed in blood. A writhing dragon tatoo crawled--literally, as it was clearly magical in nature--around the circumference of the muscular bicep of the man's left arm.

 It'd been foggy the night before: low-hanging, thick, roiling clouds that were shoulder-high on a normal man. The guard claimed that, as he'd dropped the portcullis the prior evening, he thought he'd heard a brief muffled scream. The thick, high fog prevented him from seeing more than an arm's legth past his nose. When there was no other outcries, the guard shrugged and continued on to his post in the portcullis tower (and likely his bottle).

 Evidence of bruising on the body, when examined, shows that the caravan mercenary was held down by his ankles and shoulders and his mouth was muzzled by at least two assailants--probably more, as the man was strong and powerful in life and didn't give up without a struggle--as the portcullis was dropped onto his chest.

   His dead, pale feet suggest that his boots were stolen by a street urchin at some point in the morning as the fog lifted.

_(portcullis location details intentionally left vague)_


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## Christopher Lambert (Dec 5, 2004)

#48. The victim is found face-down on a street with it's neck twisted, wearing very plain-looking clothing. Turning the head around reveals the face of one Brand Kron, a well-known playwright.

Visiting Mr. Kron's house to tell his family the sad news, you are met by ... _Mr. Kron_! Magical analysis reveals that he's not a changeling.

#49. You find another dead Mr. Kron a few days later, killed under similar circumstances. And then another, every few days thereafter...


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## Breakstone (Dec 5, 2004)

#50 (or higher, depending on how many Mr. Krons are found!)... Two arms are found grasping the edge of a windowsill outside a rather tall buildings. Both arms end in bloody stumps where they should connect with the body. Across the knuckles of the right hand is the tattooed word "Hold," and across the knuckles of the left hand is the tattooed word "Fast." A Heal Check (DC 12) will reveal a sharp tooth embedded in the bone at the end of the right arm. A Search Check (DC 14) will reveal deep claw marks in the side of the building approximately twelve feet below the arms.


Halfway to 100!


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## Sigurd (Dec 5, 2004)

*Dead Henchmen*

51. Three male human corpses lie face down in the mud. Their throats have been viciously cut and thier necks broken. One of them lies atop a shovel. DC 15 check reveals an oddly coloured dust on their trousers. DC 20 finds Gold leaf beneath their fingernails.

52 A peasant lies cast aside in a gutter. Garbed only in a rough shawl and loin cloth. (DC15) reveals soft hands and a gold filling also a scar similar to a rapier wound on his left shoulder. 

53 Wrapped in scented rags and painted with holy symbols a follower of  ___ lies on the road beneath a tree awaiting the scavenger. Local people know the body will have no valuables and must be the body of a begger. A soft fired clay mask completes the final vestement of this unfortunate -- surely not worth your consideration.....


54 The bar is opening up and the staff is clearing away the signs of yesterdays drinking. Groggy patrons are helped out the door so tables can be cleared, floors wiped and order restored. Last night one of the local thugs had been boistrous and generous today he is curled up beneath a table. Every attempt to rouse him fails. There is a scream. 
     The staff have all seen the dead before, even death in the pub.... but not like this....


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## Sigurd (Dec 5, 2004)

*An Idea & A Bump*

55 A disgarded sack containing 4 heads. The sack has a label on it that reads.... (the name of a local town, a local family, an address).

56 A large sack has a corpse made from sewn together body parts. It smells terribly.


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## Hand of Evil (Dec 6, 2004)

57.  The body before you looks healthy, young man between 18 and 25, and he looks like he died happy with that stupid wide grin on his face, ear to ear.  The other strange thing is all color has gone from his face leaving it a stark white.  Seach (DC 10) finds a small bottle of some purple syrup, some loose change, and a number of flyers for the play 'The Laughing'.


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## Hand of Evil (Dec 6, 2004)

58.  The ally was dark and normally you would have avoided it but tonight you had business in the area and this was a shortcut.  The body or bodies before you must have been going at it, both have their hands around the others neck, both faces purple from lack of air, bottles of 'Mad Dog-Rot Gut-Red Eye' by their feet...


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## fuindordm (Dec 6, 2004)

59.  A shifter bar is found with its door broken, the clientele savaged as if by wild animals.  All of them have a few gold coins in their purses, but of a strange design.  The front side shows a tiger's head, and the back side a coiling dragon.

60. Something tells you this isn't just another mugging.  The unassuming man is missing his purse and has bruises typical of a severe beating, but a Heal check (DC 15) reveals fine crystal shards embedded in his wounds.  More can be found scattered about the crime scene.

61. A cousin of the ir'Tain family is found floating through the sewers, his pockets stuffed with apples.  Alchemical analysis of the apples (DC 20) reveals the presence of arsenic, and a heal check (DC 15) on the body tells you that the victim has symptoms of arsenic poisoning as well.

62. One of the city lifts stops working suddenly and crashes into Lower Dura.  Its walls are plastered with bloody feathers, and several goblins were killed by stone fragments.  Inquiries are met with stony silence by the witnesses, and a Knowledge (Religion) or (Planes) check reveal that the feathers came from a celestial native of Syrania.


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## lior_shapira (Dec 6, 2004)

63. A young Kalashtar male lies crumpled near the entrance to an alley. He's dressed in casual clothes and has three shallow gashes on his right wrist. A search on his body will reveal that he works in the history department of Morgrave university. A DC 15 Heal Check will reveal that he is not dead but his heartbeart is so slow as to be non-existant and his body temperature is way below normal. A DC 25 Knowledge (psionics) check will reveal that he is in some kind of psionic coma


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## BlackMoria (Dec 6, 2004)

64.  A young man is found hanging by his arms, his body covered with blood. What makes this very mysterious is that the body is found hanging from a immovable rod 100 feet above the roof of the House Cannith compound.  A Heal Check DC15 reveals the victim bleed to death from 'a thousand' cuts.  His tongue has been removed, explaining why no one had heard the victim.  The representative of House Cannith refuses to make comment on the crime or the identity of the victim - only that the victim was a minor member of the dragonmarked house.


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## Wraith Form (Dec 6, 2004)

BlackMoria said:
			
		

> ...What makes this very mysterious is that the body is found hanging from a immovable rod 100 feet above the roof of the House Cannith compound...



Quick clarification request:  Do you mean the rod is hovering (presumably magically) above the roof?

Thanks!


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## GuardianLurker (Dec 6, 2004)

65) A partial corpse is found protruding from the exterior wall of a local merchant's vault. Normally, this would be an open-and-shut case of a failed teleport, but the corpse belongs to a member of a prominent family who has been believed dead for years.

66) A corpse that is an unholy blend of male and female body parts (including a face that is half-and-half) fell from the sky to land in the fountain of the city's largest bazaar. Clasped in one of the hands is the token of a noble house, and a fragment of unidentifiable metal.


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## BlackMoria (Dec 6, 2004)

> Quick clarification request: Do you mean the rod is hovering (presumably magically) above the roof?




Clarification - as in Immovable Rod for the Rod section of the DMG's Magic Item chapter.  So, yes, the rod is 'fixed in location' in midair 100 feet above the roof.

Given the value of the rod in and of itself being left behind, and the obvious statement of hanging a House Cannith minor lordling above the House Cannith compound itself, the conclusion one should draw was that someone is making a very powerful statement to House Cannith.  Now what that statement is...


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## TheAuldGrump (Dec 6, 2004)

Captain Howdy said:
			
		

> No... The Black Dahlia murder. One of the weirdest ever. You can read about it at crimelibrary.com, I think.




Heh, there was a picture of her in one of White Wolf's _Wraith_ books as a 'topless dancer'. I wondered if anyone else got the joke. The cigarette burns and tatoos were left out of the description.

67.) The corpse is pale, the abdomen grotesquely bloated. A funnel juts from the mouth and a large number of meat pastries have been shoved down the funnel with a pestle.

67.) the skin on the corpse hangs loosely on the bones, through the still supple integument you can see movement as though many small creatures are writhing beneath the skin.

68.) The head hangs from its haur from the tavern sign, a pool of coagulated blood, perhaps as much as a gallon, lies beneath it, yet the lips are still moving.

69.) Blowfly larva have hatched in the mouth and eyes of this corpse. The wrists bear the scars of the manacle, but are long healed. The left ankle bears a manacle still, the flesh around it callosed, from it depends a chain, the last link deformed.

70.) The buttocks of this corpse can barely be seen above the murky ice of the frozen river. becoming grotesquely visible as the snowman that previously hid it melts.

71.) Ropes run from the figures wrists and ankles to the walls of the alleyway.  Yet another rop is situated so that if the victim relaxed his arms strangulation would ensue. The bulging tongue and blued cheeks indicate that this is indeed what happened, yet there are no ligature marks on either the wrists nor the ankles, and a faint smell of almonds hovers upon the lips.

72.) The flesh of this corpse, laid across the top of a cenotaph, is crisscrossed with fine cuts, while on the forehead a brand reads 72.)

The Auld Grump

*EDIT* And one more - I know someone who found one of these 
The Auld Grump  
73.) A black, grey, and white stack of coarse ash is nearly completly hidden under the shrubs of this pleasant park.The only thing indicating that this pile of calcined ashes is human are the teeth, something has pulverized these burnt remains until nothing larger than the teeth remains.

No foul play, except that you really aren't supposed to deposit your loved ones cremated remains in a National Forest...


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## Janx (Dec 7, 2004)

74) The body was found in at the stables to the sports arena.  The victim is middle aged.  A fine rapier is found near the scene.The killer is unknown, leaving a man's severed head lying next to his own decapitated body.  A head, at this time, with no name...

He probably killed himself due to the lousy wrestling...


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## Hand of Evil (Dec 7, 2004)

75.  This was the work of a professional, the gnome was up against the wall of the ally, the only thing holding him up was the crossbow bolt through his forehead and a good six inches into the plank.  From the look of him he was a tinker and more than likely an artificer (DC12).  Seach of the body turn us (DC 15) the plans of a strange device in the lining of his hat.


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## Dark Psion (Dec 7, 2004)

76) A body sitting against the wall, the skin is blue and the face looks like someone who was strangled and suffocated, but the body, escpecially the neck, shows no sign of abuse.

77) The body is covered in coating slimy ectoplasm. the moment a PC touches the body, the flesh and bone all dissolves into ectoplasm.

78) At first you think you have found a rather fine set of clothing, but then you realize that there is the intact and undamaged skin of an human male within the clothing.

79) You are brought to see a body of a dead changeling, but what is truely disturbing is that he is wearing exactly the same clothing you are wearing right now.

80) Before you is a beautifull gown, but within it is a woman made entirely of ash.

81) At first, you cannot see the body. Then somone points out what you mistook for a child's doll. It is the missing person you have been looking for, shrunk down to the size of your hand.


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## Imperialus (Dec 7, 2004)

82) Arriving at work you find the body of one of your colleagues with his throat slit, crucified to the door with his eyes cut out.  He had recently been investigating a case that was leading him to suspect a prominent member of House Cannith.


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## TheAuldGrump (Dec 7, 2004)

83.) A deliscious smell of roasting pork wafts from the window of the little widow ladies pastry shop, while in the barbershop above the barber strops his rasor.

The Auld Grump, 
In Fleet Street, that's in London Town
When King Charlie wore the crown,
There lived a man of great renown
'Twas Sweeney Todd the Barber.

One shave from him and you'd want no more,
You'd feel his razor sharp,
Then tumble, wallop!, through the floor
And wake up playing a harp, and singing . . .

Sweeney Todd the Barber, by God he were better than the play,
Sweeney Todd the Barber, "I'll polish 'em off" he used to say.
His clients through the floor would slope
But he had no fear of the hangman's rope
"Dead men can't talk with their mouths full of soap,"
Said Sweeney Todd the Barber.

Now underneath the shop, it's true
Where the bodies tumble through,
There lived a little widow, who
Loved Sweeney Todd the Barber.

She made her living by selling pies,
Her meat pies were a treat,
Chock full of meat and such a size
For she was getting the meat from mister

Sweeney Todd the Barber, by God he were better than the play,
Sweeney Todd the Barber, "I'll polish 'em off" he used to say.
For many a poor orphan lad
The first square meal he ever had
Was a hot meat pie made out of his dad
From Sweeney Todd the Barber
(spoken)

It was Saturday night in Old Sweeney Todd's shop
And the customers sat in a row.
While behind a screen Sweeney shaved some poor mug
And his sweetheart made pies down below.

Though none were aware, it were "cut prices" there,
They were rolling up in twos and threes,
And his foot got quite sore pressing knob on the floor
And his voice went from saying "Next please!"

Well in came a swell and he asked Sweeney Todd
"Just a shave and a perfumed shampoo,
For I've just got engaged." Sweeney just pressed the knob and
said,
"There, now it's all fallen through."

Well a bookmaker sat with his mouthful of soap, said,
"They're all backing favourites today,
So I 'spect I'll go down," Sweeney said, "Yes you will,"
And he did, he went down straight away.

But what rotten luck, the darn trap went and stuck
For the hinge he'd forgotten to grease,
And a customer started calling out "Police!"
Just as Sweeney was shouting, "Next please!"

Yes, he ran to the door and he shouted out "Police!"
He shouted out "Police!", nine times or ten
But no policeman came, it wasn't no wonder
Police weren't invented by then.

But up came the bold Bow Street Runners (Hurrah!)
And he had to let many a pie burn
And they dragged him to Quad, and next day Sweeney Todd
Was condemned to be switched off at Tyburn.

And there on the gibbet he hangs in his chains
And they do say a little black crow
Made a sweet little nest in old Sweeney Todd's whiskers
And he sang as he swang to and fro . . .

(sung)

Sweeney Todd the Barber, by God he were better than the play,
Sweeney Todd the Barber, they buried him underneath the clay
And Old Nick calls him from his grave shouting,
"Wake up, Sweeney, I need a shave,
And Mrs Nick wants a permanent wave from Sweeney Todd the Barber."
-----------------------------------------------------------------

It can be argued that George Dibdin Pitt's "domestic drama,"
Sweeney Todd, the Demon Barber of Fleet Street (1842), was the
first true crime play. Critics have speculated, without success,
as to the historical characters upon which the hero and heroine
were based. Stanley Holloway credits R.P.Weston, a prolific
writer for the Halls, with the creation of this cante-fabel which
pokes fun at the melodrama which was so terrifying to Victorians.
Recorded on 'Ere's Olloway, Columbia Records, 1956 and on An
Evening At The English Music Hall, Front Hall records FHR-030,
1984.


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## Shadowdancer (Dec 7, 2004)

84.) The sky carriage hovers about 5 feet above and 5 feet to the north of a bridge running east-west between two towers. There is no sign of a driver. Inside sits the body of a male changeling dressed in expensive woman's clothing. The body has no head. A pool of blood is coagulating on the floor and on the seat around the body.

On the seat across from the body is a large, expensive wooden coffer. Inside the coffer is the severed head of a male changeling. Inside the mouth, lodged well down the throat, is the chrysalis of a moth.


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## Dark Psion (Dec 7, 2004)

85) As a garbage collector is picking up a dead dog from the street, the dog suddenly shifts into the corpse of an elven male.

86) A favorite Halfling inn is found with everyone in it dead, torn apart as if by Clawfoot Raptors. Only one survior is found, he has no wounds, but is covered with blood.


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## Shadowdancer (Dec 7, 2004)

87) The High Abode is a cheaply priced three-level inn on the middle level of Lyrandar Tower, located on the Central Plateau. In a suite on the inn's top floor is the corpse of a naked, male half-elf. The body is lying face-down on the bed, with the wrists tied together and to the metal headboard with silk scarves. A bolt from a hand crossbow sticks out of the body at the base of the skull. There is semen on the bedsheets beneath the corpse.

Atop a nearby dresser is a very expensive music box, magically enchanted to repeatedly play an old Karrnathi love song. The lid is open, and the song is playing. Some gaudy clothing lies in a pile on the floor. Inside an inner cloak pocket are indentification papers identify the corpse as a gigalo employed by The Stocking and Gown, a brothel on the lower level of Lyrandar Tower.


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## Hand of Evil (Dec 7, 2004)

88.  What corpse?  What is before you is the empty clothing of someone, could have been a man, the clothing looks as if the person laid down on the street and just disappeared, just a few feet away a toad was stepped on, flattened into the pavement.


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## Hand of Evil (Dec 7, 2004)

89.  A trail of blood, then the tell tail sign of a body being dragged lead you to the corpse before you.  The wound is ulgy, the throat torn, the shifter did not die an easy death but that is not what stops you, it is the foam from the mouth (DC 12 spot), the dehydration of the corpse (DC 15 Heal), and the appearance of wildness.  Rabies (DC 20 Heal) could start a panic, any shifter would be seen as a carrier...


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## jerichothebard (Dec 7, 2004)

90. Two corpses are found, entwined in the tomb of one of the prominent dragonmarked houses.  The younger, daughter of the house, was 14 at the time of her death, apparently by poisoning, a few days prior.  However, she lies here, with a dagger wound through the stomach, and enough blood to indicate she was alive when stabbed.  Her hands are on the hilt of the blade.  Lying next to her is a young man, son of a rival house, whose face is ashen, and whose breath smells of almonds.  A small bottle lies on the floor nearby.


(Gotta throw one out there for the Bard...)

jtb


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## TheAuldGrump (Dec 7, 2004)

jerichothebard said:
			
		

> 90. Two corpses are found, entwined in the tomb of one of the prominent dragonmarked houses.  The younger, daughter of the house, was 14 at the time of her death, apparently by poisoning, a few days prior.  However, she lies here, with a dagger wound through the stomach, and enough blood to indicate she was alive when stabbed.  Her hands are on the hilt of the blade.  Lying next to her is a young man, son of a rival house, whose face is ashen, and whose breath smells of almonds.  A small bottle lies on the floor nearby.
> 
> 
> (Gotta throw one out there for the Bard...)
> ...




Not gonna miss the young man, he was fat and scant of breath, now he's fat and _really_ scant of breath.

91.) The two bodies are entwined as lovers, but tight ligatures upon their limbs and about their throats show that the embrace was not of their own choosing.

92.) The corpse is emaciated, and pale - seated in the lotus position, hands lying palms up. Beside the body are an untouched loaf of bread and a bottle of sweet wine, its stopper coated with an unbroken wax seal. A gentle smile adorns the cadaver's face, and a faint odor of uncooked dough rises from the flesh.

93.) The richly dressed body rests in a coffin, laid across two sawhorses. silver pieces weight down the eyelids and the odor of the corpse is masked with floral scents. Powdery makeup breaths false life into the face, while the smile is maintained with deft stitches at the corners of its mouth. Rings adorn two of the fingers, and a thin band of gold is placed above slightly pointed ears. The lid of the coffin rests against the wall, and it is obvious that there was intended to be a name plaque upon its surface, but only four freshly drilled holes remain.

The Auld Grump


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## Whimsical (Dec 7, 2004)

Any DM who is running a CSI-style D&D campaign should get the d20 system sourcebook Crime & Punishment. Those who make a DC 15 Knowledge(RPGs) check will note that this book is written by Keith Baker who is also the creator of the Eberron campaign setting.

Coincidence? I THINK NOT!


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## TheAuldGrump (Dec 7, 2004)

94.) It isn't the withered and decayed body that is so strange, dressed in its burial clothes, it is the young woman bearing the corpse upon her back, talking to it, and pausing as though listening to answers.

95.) The body is ancient, the skin leathery and hardened like wood. The corpse's jacket is stiched tight, and a wooden post rises from a laquered base through a long pouch sewn in the garment, holding the body stiffly upright. An ornate helmet masks the face, and beneath the scarlet jacket a polished breastplate gleams through the thick dust that coats the figure. The hands are clasped and wired around a candle holder, but the candle itself has softened through countless summers and hangs like icicles from the fingers. The thick dust obscures what might be a name plate upon the laquered stand.

The Auld Grump


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## Stormrunner (Dec 7, 2004)

96) A hygiene inspection of a (magically-chilled) butcher's meat locker reveals a serious health infraction - dangling among the slaughtered cows, sheep, and pigs is the naked corpse of a female centaur, hung by her heels and gutted like a deer.  The butcher loudly insists he knew nothing of this (and magic shows him truthful).

The centaur's face would be pretty, if it wasn't twisted in a rictus of agony and swollen with blood (lividity) from hanging upside-down.  Her coloration is unusual - blood-bay hide (dark brownish-red, shading to black on hooves, hands, and face) and curly mane/tail of a fiery reddish-orange color (natural, not a dye) - perhaps there was a little bit of fire elemental in her bloodline?  In short, in life she would have turned heads and drawn attention even if centaurs weren't a rarity in the city.  Yet no-one remembers having seen her alive, and the gate guards have no record of her entering the city.

There is no blood on the floor, and no sign of what happened to the internal organs.  From the trails of dried blood adhering to her flanks and the rope marks on her wrists and pasterns, she was spread-eagled on her back by ropes tied to her arms and legs, then disemboweled alive.  Lividity of the face and upper torso (and lack of lividity elsewhere) shows that she was hung up within an hour of death.  Rigor mortis has come and gone (the locker is not cold enough to freeze her solid), so she has been hanging there at least a day.  Other than the rope burns and the huge gaping slash in her belly there are no recent wounds - it seems clear that disembowelment was the cause of death.  There are a number of faint, long-healed scars scattered across her body - the kind of marks one tends to acquire in an active life of adventuring (or just surviving in the wilderness).

Curled around the outer edge of her left breast is a complex black tattoo.  It radiates moderate Evocation magic - and _strongly_ resembles a Least Dragonmark of Fire, but with subtle variations.  Could this be a new type of dragonmark?  Can centaurs even _have_ dragonmarks?  The manner of her death is strongly reminiscent of some kind of ritual sacrifice - but why leave the body where it was certain to be found eventually?


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## Azzy42xy (Dec 8, 2004)

97) Elderly man, bright russet hair tied in large plate. A small silver symbol seems to be weilded to his neck. On closer examination of the symbol it will dissapear ( plane shift ) leaving a small gap in the mans neck. Left eye cut out and replaced with a silver orb. He carries no visible weapons. Clothes very normal - dark browns. On his back lies a basic map of the cosmos and planes. The only thing truely remarkable is a gauntlet of peculiar shape on his left hand. Clearly designed to carry a very non conventional weapon. Cause of death: Brain extraction , very bloody and messy.


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## Imhotepthewise (Dec 8, 2004)

98. The corpse is a short human with an elaborate organ grinder. The organ grinder radiates magic if detected. If the organ handle is turned, the music causes the corpses "pet" to come out of the shadows and dance...


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## Wraith Form (Dec 8, 2004)

I'm sorry, I didn't see you there.  I apologize if I **BUMP**ped you...

 (I have a gift for subtlety, what can I say?)


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## Patryn of Elvenshae (Dec 8, 2004)

99.  A thin trickle of liquid courses out of an alley and across the party's path.  It is exactly like any of a hundred other such things the party has seen while walking the streets today except that every few seconds a bit of the liquid sparkles, as if a brilliant diamond had floated to the surface, caught the light, and receded.  As the flow of water is no thicker than a few pieces of stacked paper, this is not likely to be literally true.

Should the party follow the trickle into the alley, they find that both it and the alley turn ninety degrees to the left a few paces in, and a further few paces beyond the turn is a body.  The trickle appears to originate from a puddle of liquid surrounding the body.

The body, when examined, appears to be that of a human male of Karrnathi descent.  His clothes - well made, but otherwise unremarkable - are soaking wet.  If carefully examined, it can be determined that the poor man's back and chest are covered with lesions, which weep the same fluid.  The fluid, if it is ingested or comes into contact with an open wound, inflicts a supernatural disease (Infection DC: Ingested or Injury 20; Incubation: 1d3 days; Damage: Con 1d4+1, make a second save or 1 point of damage is permanent drain, as slimy doom [SRD]).

The body and the fluid, if examined with Detect Magic, radiate a moderate aura of Necromancy.  Likewise, anyone infected with the disease will radiate such an aura after one half of the incubation period.  The area around the body will have a lingering aura of Transmutation for five minutes after the body is found: the remnants of the Greater Teleport spell which deposited the body here.  There are, therefore, no readily visible tracks to follow to determine how the body got here.


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## Gulla (Dec 8, 2004)

[There seems to be two 98, so then this should be 100, right?]

100. The pile of rubble is neatly placed on the rich carpet. The room seems otherwise neatly cleaned. It is not until you examine the pile closer you notice the top stone closer that you notice it is a stone head. Perfectly sculpted with a look of pure terror. And then it is quite obvious that this is a smashed statue of [important person], wh have been missing for a week.

Håkon


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## Hand of Evil (Dec 8, 2004)

101.  Shiny black swashbuckler boots, red suit with white fur trimming, button nose, rosey cheeks, a portly stout man or elf with a dwarf beard of snowy white, his sky sled in wreakage around him, packages of toys and other small items about.  On the wall in bold letters, 'Save Santa a trip, be naughty'.


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## Robbert Raets (Dec 8, 2004)

Some 'high' society murders.

102. As you enter the upscale appartment, you see a man's corpse lying in the middle of a well-decorated living room. The kitchen is off to the left. The corpse's face is covered by a pillow, which is pinned to his head with a crossbow bolt. Further investigation reveals the the dead man is a pale-skinned human with blond hair. He is grasping a Watch Inquisitive's badge, and doesn't have any tindertwigs on him.
 The appartment belongs to a well-to-do half-elven lady of negotiable affection. She and her skycoach cab are missing.

103. As you enter the upscale appartment, you see a Goblin in a dress lying in the middle of a well-decorated living room. Further investigation reveals the Goblin to be male, and unmarked by violence or (obvious) poison. The appartment belongs to a single male scion of a Dragonmarked House.... 
A representative/spokesperson of said House is awaiting you as you leave the site of the murder....


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## Wraith Form (Dec 9, 2004)

*Coughbumpcough*


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## Wraith Form (Dec 9, 2004)

A quickie: Body found (I'll leave details up to you) on rooftop. Looks to be a few hours dead. No obvious cause of death. 

If someone lays even the barest touch on the corpse, it literally dissolves into a liquified, runny mass of fluids and organs that seep down the roof and slides in a crimson smear down the side of the building.

Victim's clothes look utterly mundane. In hidden, padded pouch in left shoe there are 500 GP worth of small cut amber-colored gems. On a sheet of vellum in a belt-pouch, the words "SEA FLAT 7" appear written in Common on one side, and a scrawled handwritten message saying, "Thank you, and gods be with you--Varith" on the other. Also found in belt-pouch is a small, plain reed (flute-like instrument).

(DM: If the note C-flat is played 7 times consecutively, a magic mouth at the end of the reed appears and gives instructions for a mysterious midnight rendezvous with someone named Kellnor about "the goods". This meeting is days old, and the dead man already met with Kellnor [who won't be showing]. Kellnor may be found in Sharn. He is a little-known but powerful arms dealer, but doesn't know anything about the dead body...or why it liquified. Varith is a blacksmith in a town several miles away and knows equally little about the victim's condition.  It's obvious that the blacksmith knew the victim, but he's not talking.)


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## Sejs (Dec 9, 2004)

TheAuldGrump said:
			
		

> Powdery makeup breaths false life into the face, while the smile is maintained with deft stitches at the corners of its mouth.



 Man, my compliments to the embalmer.  A smile that looks even vaguely natural would be really tricky to pull off.  Definitly a cool idea, though.


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## Wraith Form (Dec 9, 2004)

TheAuldGrump said:
			
		

> 92.) The corpse is emaciated, and pale - seated in the lotus position, hands lying palms up. Beside the body are an untouched loaf of bread and a bottle of sweet wine, its stopper coated with an unbroken wax seal. A gentle smile adorns the cadaver's face, and a faint odor of uncooked dough rises from the flesh.



Bastards.

They killed the _Pilsbury Zen Boy_!  (pout)


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## TheAuldGrump (Dec 9, 2004)

Sejs said:
			
		

> Man, my compliments to the embalmer.  A smile that looks even vaguely natural would be really tricky to pull off.  Definitly a cool idea, though.




Heh, notice I didn't say that you had to search for the stiches. More like a 'nice try' on the embalmer's part...



			
				Wraith Form said:
			
		

> Bastards.
> 
> They killed the Pilsbury Zen Boy! (pout)



 The corpse of someone who has died of starvation/dehydration is often described as having a 'doughy' odor.

Most of my descriptions are taken from real world analogs.

104.) At first they had thought the corpse to have been manufactured from paper mache for the funhouse, covered with bright orange wax and left hanging. It was only after the arm fell off, revealing the white knob of bone that it was realized that the carnival had a corpse on their hands, one that had been with the carnival at least since the current owner purchased it twenty years ago. Beneath the orange wax a hole can be made out, about the size of a crossbow bolt's head.

105.) Cause of death is pretty obvious in this case, the corpse is blackened from the fireball, and the remains of the wand still jut from his left nostril.

The Auld Grump

*EDIT* And another odor item - it is possible to judge if a set of bones is recent (fifty years or less defining 'recent' in this case) by whether or not they have a tallow or suet smell.


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## Wraith Form (Dec 10, 2004)

TheAuldGrump said:
			
		

> The corpse of someone who has died of starvation/dehydration is often described as having a 'doughy' odor.
> 
> Most of my descriptions are taken from real world analogs.



 Aww. c'mon Grump--I was just playin'.  No offense meant, just a little dumb humor!


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## TheAuldGrump (Dec 10, 2004)

Sorry, I'd actually taken it as such, but what I was aiming at in the Pillsbury Zen Boy was suicide, not murder. (Yep, a real Zen ending for our beloved guru...) So I wanted to mention why the odor was there, not because I was in any way, shape, or form upset. 

106.) A finger bone was caught in the lead drain trap. The bone is pitted, only the broad gold ring protected it from complete dissolution. A dark grey sludge nearly fills the trap, which is why a plumber had been called.

The Auld Grump, and some are specific cases...


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## Wraith Form (Dec 11, 2004)

Is this thread dead now?

 I want more..!   Gimme gimme gimme!

 Don't make me pout in order to get what I want...!


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## Ralts Bloodthorne (Dec 12, 2004)

107: In an alley, beneath garbage and muck, lies the partially decomposed body of a goblin, dressed in typical rags. However, this goblin was garrotted, the barbed wire garrotte locked behind his neck and left behind, and the body carefully concealed. On the thick calloused soul of one foot is a tattoo of the silver flame. A Search Check (DC: 20) of the body reveals that the hands are extensively calloused like a monk's, and the body is ropy and with well defined musculature. Magic interroragation reveals nothing more than a black masked women whispering: "Mind your own business, meddler." and a speak with dead gains only the same voice and message. The goblins right hand has had all of the fingers broken, perhaps to have something removed from a death grip. There is also a fragment of crystal somehow merged with the skin of the goblin's forehead that refuses to come off and detects psionics only.


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## Fedifensor (Dec 12, 2004)

For me, a table of 100 corpses is less useful than an 'idea generator'.  Make a few rolls to get a general description of the scene, then let me flesh it out on my own.

For example...

*Race (d10):*  Human: 1-3, Elf: 4, Dwarf: 5, Gnome:  6, Halfling:  7, Mixed-breed (Half-Elf or Half-Orc):  8,  Eberron-specific race (Changeling/Kalashar/Shifter/Warforged):  9, Exotic race:  10

*Possessions (d10):*  Nothing (nude):  1, Looted (nothing valuable remaining):  2-5, Poor (unlooted, but only a few coins/ragged clothes/etc):  6, Working-class:  7-8, Merchant:  9, Noble:  10.

*Apparent Manner of Death (d10):*  Natural Causes:  1,  Mugging (knife/club wounds):  2-4, Combat (swords/maces/other 'warrior' weapons):  5-6, Poison:  7,  Magic:  8, Accident:  9, Exotic (unusual means of demise)  10.


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## TheAuldGrump (Dec 12, 2004)

Meh, random tables of that sort have never enchanted me. (And I have made more than a few of them myself.) Using a description to springboard a plotline from is more fun. (Even I ignored the tables I had spent so much time working on...)

108.) It was the smell that was noticed first, seeping out of the cracks in the poorly constructed brick wall, a mixture of putresence and souring wine. When the workmen cleared away the bricks the corpse was lying in a heap just beyond the wall, fingernails torn in a desperate attempt to claw free from this living tomb. A stout casque, its top removed occupies the furthest corner of the chamber, two tankards lie on the floor, their dregs spilling across the stones. A comfortable chair completes the ensemble...

The Auld Grump


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## Jesus_marley (Dec 12, 2004)

109. The corpse is that of an Elven youth. He has been stripped to the waist and has been cut open lengthwise from his throat to his belt. His insides have been completely removedand are nowhere to be found. Any inspection of his extremities will reveal extensive bruising at the wrists and ankles. A silver ring with an oak leaf seal is on the middle finger of his left hand.

110. The corpse is lying facedown and is still warm. A stiletto protrudes from the base of the victims skull. His right hand and left foot have been severed. The stumps have been cauterized. He has a full money pouch containing 81 silver and 5 gold coins, yet he is dressed like a beggar.


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## shilsen (Dec 12, 2004)

Fedifensor said:
			
		

> For me, a table of 100 corpses is less useful than an 'idea generator'.




Maybe it's just me, but reading just a few of the entries posted on this thread generated a lot of ideas for me, and far more than I can ever use in an entire campaign. Very nice work, folks


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## GreyShadow (Dec 12, 2004)

112. The body of a fit middle aged human male is spreadeagled 15 feet up a wall.  He appears to have been pushed into the wall by great force, except that the body seems remarkably intact.


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## blargney the second (Dec 13, 2004)

I started my current campaign like this:

113.  (PCs make DC 15 Listen check to hear someone screaming, result of 20 or more lets them know that it's above them.)

A body SLAMS into the ground beside their campfire, splattering blood and viscera across the clearing.  (Reflex save to avoid being covered in it, which requires a Fort save to avoid being nauseated.)  When the body impacts the ground, a flood of water is released then magically shrivels up into a golf-ball sized pellet.  A split second later, a small sword shatters as it hits the ground, releasing a cloud of greenish vapour, and a distinctly evil-looking head with wings appears.  (Roll for initiative, monkey boys!)

-blarg


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## TheAuldGrump (Dec 13, 2004)

Hmmmm, 111 is missing, so...

111.) There should be a body here, you were told that there _was_ a body here, but all that is there now is a pool of blood already turning black. And a trail as though the body has been dragged from the pool, leading straight up the wall to the roof...

The Auld Grump


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## Patryn of Elvenshae (Jul 29, 2005)

Liiiiiiiive!


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## Patryn of Elvenshae (Jul 29, 2005)

112)  8 bodies are arranged in a circle, alternating head-in and head-out.  Anyone with 5 or more ranks in Survival can immediately tell that the head-out bodies are aligned with the cardinal points of the compass (N, E, S, W), while the head-in bodies are aligned with the intermediate points of the compass (NE, SE, SW, NW).

Anyone capable of seeing magical auras (via detect magic or the like) can see a snake-like aura winding it's way through the bodies clockwise - out the head of one, into the feet of the next, out of its head, etc., forming a somewhat lopsided cross.  

The aura is strong transmutation and weak conjuration, and will persist for two hours, or until a body is moved from its place in the circle, at which point the aura will fade within 5 rounds.

The bodies are all of young, relatively attractive, elven women.


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## Whizbang Dustyboots (Jul 29, 2005)

113) The body is still warm and smoldering. A dried green substance leaks from the orifices and wounds sustained instead of blood. Upon further examination, the substance is discovered to be green slime, cooked by an intense heat. The victim was turning into green slime from the inside out before apparently being attacked and eventually being the subject of some sort of heat or fire-based spell. There are no other signs of green slime in the vicinity.


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## Whizbang Dustyboots (Jul 29, 2005)

114) The body is unremarkable in every way, except that it casts no shadow.


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## Kae'Yoss (Jul 30, 2005)

All I read was the thread title and I thought "Alright, let me get the chainsaw and the 'List'"


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## Angel Tarragon (Jul 30, 2005)

115) Twelve elven bodies lay together forming a circle, between a balck stone with numbers 1 to 12 on them. Inside the circle lay another two bodies, one large, one small. The large body is pointed at the stone labeled 12 and the smaller one pointing to the stone labeled one.

If the characters happen upon these bodies at midnight the stones will begin to glow and the one labeled twelve will change to 13. The characters can act freely for one one hour, but they notice that everyone in the city is frozen still. After an hour is up the people that were frozen will resume their activity as if nothing had happened. Unbeknonst to them (the people that were frozen) they have lost an hour of time.


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## Angel Tarragon (Jul 30, 2005)

116) The body of a male orc is bound to a slab of wood and is propped up against a building. Around the neck of the orc is an gilded amulet that glows faintly. The orc shows no signs of decomposition and does not smell of death.

117) A young human male lies on the ground face up, without a face. Blood and bone are revealed where his face would be and a tiny sparkle catches your eye. Inspecting his skull reveals a tiny daimond in each eye socket and if they are disturbed the body lurches up lets out a guttural moan and attacks the closest PC. Treat the corpse as a human commoner zombie.

118) A bloody vest lies on the ground, a trail of blood following off into the wilderness. Inspecting the vest reveals a piece of torn parchment and a large tooth. A Knowledge (wilderness) check at DC 15 reveals it to be a T-Rex tooth.

119) The skull of a mind flayer lies on the street. At every five foot interval another bone that belonged to the illithid lies on the ground.

120) A book lies on the ground next a the corpse of a female dwarf. Within the book is an assortment of various cantrips.


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## Tonguez (Jul 30, 2005)

Here's one I used many years ago

121. You find a severed hand half buried in sludge about 300 meters south of the sewer outlet. The body is nowhere to be found. The hand has been roughly torn and has a tatoo (of some group) on the base of the little finger however it is not the hand of any identifiable race...


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## Angel Tarragon (Jul 30, 2005)

I've ported this info over to MS Word, cleaned up (spelling & grammar errors) and made a nice little (74.7 kb) PDF out of it. If anyone would like to have a copy of it drop me an email and I'll send a copy your way:

frukathka [at] yahoo [dot] com


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## Runesong42 (Jul 30, 2005)

117 or 122)  A landslide has recently occured in the area, evidenced by the scatter of large, dog-sized rocks and the presence of dust in the air.  A corpse, or rather, the top half of a corpse, lies haphazardly near the site.  The body is missing its lower half, apparently torn and removed from the waist down.  The lower half is unaccounted for.  The body appears to have a single diagonal stab wound on its back, very near the heart of the victim.  Searching (DC 20) the area reveals a dagger in a pool of blood... but the dagger is ethereal and only partially visible.  The victim's head is caved in, apparently crushed by some sort of blunt trauma.  The victim's blood is present on the pile of rocks nearby.


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## Bront (Jul 30, 2005)

Hand of Evil said:
			
		

> 23.  The corpse before you is a family member...
> 
> 24.  The corpse before you is the bar maid you had a torrid love affair a few months ago, it hurt when she left town...  (note: add baby ripped from belly)



Those two should be interesting for the all warforged parties.


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## Bryon_Soulweaver (Jul 30, 2005)

Dont have Sharn, but here's my try at it



123: You stumble across two bodies in an alley, you would think they were once lovers but on closer inspection they are not. The female is a girl, no older then 13 or 14, the front of her cloths are torn apart. The man is in his late twenties, the marks of lightning striking his back. A (DC 15) search check will show that the man was killed by magic. Magic will show that the man died didnt die from it but from a dagger, straight into his heart and through the spine.

Nothing will show how the girl died, through autospy or magic, but there seems to be fear in her eyes, not of the man raping her but of the killer. There are also no papers on identification.


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## Jack of Shadows (Jul 30, 2005)

124. The body of a male Kalishtar slowly tumbles floating in midair high above the streets and between the great towers. It wears dark cloths and lacks foot wear. The hands and feet are blackened and shrivelled. The eyes are wide open and the mouth is locked in a rictus-like grin.

125. The body is of a young human woman dressed in merchant wear. The head has been severed from the body. Nearby two identical heads lie on the ground each with the same wounds and a match for the body.

Jack


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## Wraith Form (Aug 1, 2005)

Frukathka said:
			
		

> Inspecting his skull reveals a tiny daimond in each eye socket and if they are disturbed the body lurches up lets out a guttural _*mona*_ and attacks the closest PC.



I'm quite certain this is a Freudian slip.


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## Kylearan (Aug 1, 2005)

Before you lie two corpses, embracing each other as if they were lovers. One is a warforged, the other a human male of about 30 years. Interestingly, the human's heart has been removed and placed in the warforged's chest. The man's clothing is nondescript, and no identification papers can be found; you find no valuables whatsoever.
At first glance you notice that the warforged was obviously beaten to death with a heavy bludgeoning weapon while the human died from his chest wound. A closer look (Heal check DC 25) reveals that the human was still alive when his heart was removed (at least, he lived until that moment), and you can see that the 'forged was hit by at least three different weapons, namely a heavy flail, a morning star and a warhammer.

Kylearan


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## Klaus (Aug 1, 2005)

Kylearan's was 126.

127: The corpse belongs to a human male, apparently in his middle years. By the look of his clothes, he is some kind of magistrate. The probable cause of death was severe bleeding, judging by the ammount of blood around him. The disturbing thing is... the bleeding was caused by the tearing out of his eyeballs, which he torn out himself (he still holds them).



Anyone care to assemble the entries so far into a printable table?


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## Hand of Evil (Aug 1, 2005)

Bront said:
			
		

> Those two should be interesting for the all warforged parties.




Sub: Family member use unit member/production model   

Sub: Bar maid use Modular Cog Attachment


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## domino (Aug 1, 2005)

128.  A group of three bodies.  These men were all well known thugs, cowards, but sucessful, if only because they chose their victims carefully.

One is dead with his chest caved in, the ribs peircing his vital organs, his hand still clenched around his dagger.
One has a broken back, from where he was thrown hard against the corner of the building he lies next to.
One has a shattered skull, and a destroyed sword hand.  It's obvious it was his sword hand, because the wooden hilt of the sword is also damaged.

All have been left otherwise untouched.  No monies or personal effects seem to be missing.


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## Angel Tarragon (Aug 2, 2005)

129. The body appears to be female because of its clothing: it wears a white gown covering the majority of the body. Inspecting it reveals that it is a male, most likely in its mid-30's. The corpse is less than an hour old and it reeks of fecal matter. Identification papers reveals the man to be Professor Theurjian of Morgrave University.

130. The bones of an orc are arranged to be in a sitting matter up against a tavern wearing a sombrero, a brown vest and tan pair of pants. A tin cup with a couple coppers glued to its bottom is grasped in its left hand and it grasps a fake cigar by the fingerbones of the right hand. The skull almost appears to have a euphoric look on it. Anyone that touches the skull activates the permanent magic mouth placed on it: "Howdy pard'ner come on in to the Bones of the Happy Orc and have a rootin' tootin' heckuva time!"


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## Angel Tarragon (Nov 26, 2005)

Thought I'd give this a little bump.


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## Angel Tarragon (Jul 15, 2006)

*Casts _Raise Dead Thread_*


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## Dog Moon (Jul 15, 2006)

I remember this thread.  Don't think I participated though.  Some pretty gruesome stuff.  Good thing no one decided to grace this thread with pics.


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## Slife (Jul 15, 2006)

Captain Howdy said:
			
		

> 40. There is a naked human female body, cut completely in half at the waist. She is lying on her back with her arms over her head, and her legs spread-eagle. Her legs are placed about a foot away from her torso. Her body and face have been violently slashed, including a long cut across her cheeks forming her mouth into a grotesque smile. Perhaps she was killed somewhere else and brought to this location, because there are rope marks on her ankles, feet and neck. Also, she has apparently been washed clean of any blood that would have been on her skin.
> 
> 
> ... lets see if the players can solve one of the great unsolved crimes.




It was recently solved.  Ironically enough, the guy who started investigating found out that his father had been the murderer.


131) The charred ashes of the orphanage contain the corpses of seven children and one elder.  A search check (dc 15) will reveal a pearl-handled razor, undamaged by the fire.


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## Wraith Form (Jul 15, 2006)

Slife said:
			
		

> It was recently solved.  Ironically enough, the guy who started investigating found out that his father had been the murderer.



Was that the Black Dahlia?


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## Jondor_Battlehammer (Jul 15, 2006)

132. Two nobles of rival (Dragon Mark?) houses have been missing for several days. Discovering that they had intended to meet, the secret location reveals only a Gelatinous Cube, containing their signet rings and other non-organic personal effects. With the room completely cleaned by the cube, and their house throwing accusations, it must be discovered who killed who. Or were both betrayed? (Or did they succeed where Romeo and Juliet failed? )


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## Ruined (Jul 15, 2006)

133.  A body lies broken, having fallen from a good height. It could be ruled a suicide, but a closer investigation reveals that the victim had recently had his ankles hobbled.


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## Captain Howdy (Jul 15, 2006)

Slife said:
			
		

> It was recently solved. Ironically enough, the guy who started investigating found out that his father had been the murderer.






			
				Wraith Form said:
			
		

> Was that the Black Dahlia?




Yes. It was solved a couple months after I made that original post. You should really read the story about the murder and how the case was eventually solved. Really interesting stuff, if a bit... Creepy.


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## Sejs (Jul 15, 2006)

134.  A room that's been stripped of furniture save for one chair in the center of the floor and a large oval mirror in a wooden stand directly across from the sole window.  In the chair sits the body, though there is no apparent cause of death.  Fine metal wires bind him to the chair at the wrists, ankles, and shoulders, keeping him upright despite his slightly post-living status.  His blank eyes stare straight ahead at the opposite wall.  Notible as the only blank wall the room has.

Each of the other three walls are covered, score upon score, with severed hands each nailed to the wall with an iron spike driven thru the palm.  Trails of blood stain the wall where they've oozed from lost wrists, some long since gone to dust, others still retaining some of their colour.  Further examination reveals that each and every hand making up this sinister collage is a left.


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## Nichols (Jul 15, 2006)

135.  In the storeroom of a seedy bar, a spilt jug oozes a thick, clotted tan-and-red liquid. Inspecting it more closely, you can see solid bits - teeth, fingernails, bone chips - mixed with the foul-smelling stuff. The jug may read "Olberman's Fine Mead," but the contents seems to actually be a liquified corpse.


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## Infernal Teddy (Jul 15, 2006)

136.: The corpse... no, make that _corpses_ of a young elf has been exploded all over the room. The walls, floor and ceiling are splattered with pieces of elf, blood and other fluids. There are at least 6 elven faces, and they are all identical.


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## Infernal Teddy (Jul 15, 2006)

137: (My girlfiend sends you this one...) Nine corpses, all of them artists. Each has had one body part or organ removed: Hands, tongue, vocal cords, feet... With each mutilation matching the artist's work.


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## Wraith Form (Jul 16, 2006)

Say, what's that?  (points over there)

/shameless bumpage


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## Mr. Draco (Jul 17, 2006)

138.  You come to.  Your vision slowly returns from black to leave you staring up at an unfamiliar ceiling.  A man dressed to be the local constable opens the door and leads in another member of your adventuring party.  As you try to sit up, you hear the officer telling your friend about the "Strange location the corpse was found at."  As your limbs refuse to respond to your commands, you realize that the corpse they're talking about is you.


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## TheAuldGrump (Jul 17, 2006)

139. The woman's body is undeniably dead, flies gather in her eyes, and have laid their eggs in her mouth. Yet the chest still rises and falls as though with breath, and her abdomen swells in pregnancy for a child not yet born....

140. This is the fourth body found, the wrists and ankles nailed to the walls of the basement with crude spikes, the number 5 carved in its forehead. The previous bodies bore the numbers 1, 2, and 4. Is there a yet undiscovered corpse?

The Auld Grump


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## Agent Oracle (Jul 17, 2006)

141. The smell of alcohol hangs heavy in the air around this corpse.  The body is of a human male, somewhere between forty and fifty years in age, though highly bloated and decomposed.  Nearby is a freshly opened barrel of rum.


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## TheAuldGrump (Jul 17, 2006)

Agent Oracle said:
			
		

> 141. The smell of alcohol hangs heavy in the air around this corpse.  The body is of a human male, somewhere between forty and fifty years in age, though highly bloated and decomposed.  Nearby is a freshly opened barrel of rum.




Admiral Lord Nelson I presume?

142. The skin has has been stretched tight against the wall, held in place by hundreds of small brass nails. A Dragonmark is centered on the back, but no one can recognize its origin... No sign of the body it was stripped from has yet been found, though the fairness of the coloring would indicate that it was taken from an elf.

The Auld Grump


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## Agent Oracle (Jul 18, 2006)

TheAuldGrump said:
			
		

> Admiral Lord Nelson I presume?




Actually, it's based on a Bavarian Tourist who died on vacation in Jamaca, and then his corpse went missing.  Ten years later, some Hungarian laborers were kicking back after a hard day of working, and one of them cracks open an aged cask of rum.  Guess where the tourist's body had gone   The story is true, but it's about fifteen or so years old.  You see, the family of the deceased was very poor, and they couldn't afford a burial in the tropics, nor could they afford to send him home legally, so instead, they packed his corpse in a barrel of alcohol, and shipped him home air-freight.  But the barrel never made it home.  I just felt really, really sorry for the workers, since they had drank quite a bit of the rum before they found the body inside ~

143. This disturbingly fresh skeleton was tied to a crudely-made torture rack.  It's joints are still held together by cartilage and some ligaments, but almost everything has been torn off the bone by animals.  The tattered rags of clothing it wears indicate that the victim was female, or else a man in woman's clothing.  when there's this little left to work with, it takes some deeper study to determine what occured,


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## TheAuldGrump (Jul 18, 2006)

Agent Oracle said:
			
		

> Actually, it's based on a Bavarian Tourist who died on vacation in Jamaca, and then his corpse went missing.  Ten years later, some Hungarian laborers were kicking back after a hard day of working, and one of them cracks open an aged cask of rum.  Guess where the tourist's body had gone   The story is true, but it's about fifteen or so years old.  You see, the family of the deceased was very poor, and they couldn't afford a burial in the tropics, nor could they afford to send him home legally, so instead, they packed his corpse in a barrel of alcohol, and shipped him home air-freight.  But the barrel never made it home.  I just felt really, really sorry for the workers, since they had drank quite a bit of the rum before they found the body inside ~
> 
> 143. This disturbingly fresh skeleton was tied to a crudely-made torture rack.  It's joints are still held together by cartilage and some ligaments, but almost everything has been torn off the bone by animals.  The tattered rags of clothing it wears indicate that the victim was female, or else a man in woman's clothing.  when there's this little left to work with, it takes some deeper study to determine what occured,




Heh, you may want to look up what happened to Lord Nelson as well then...   

144. The corpse is sitting at a small table in one of Sharn's gardens. A lit cigar smolders in a tray that rests beside a sumptious meal.  Fine brandy has been poured into a cut crystal snifter, lightly held between his stiff fingers. Four other settings are at the table, the meals consumed, the cigars smoked, and the glasses empty. The corpse itself seems strangely... satisfied, smiling gently, eyes closed. Though the cigar still smokes, and the food is still warm the corpse is cool to the touch. [Going away party.]

The Auld Grump


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## Angel Tarragon (Sep 23, 2006)

145. This fully clothed corpse has slight yellow tinge to its coloring, its face is contorted and its lips have swelled to twice their original size. The corpse is clutching a scroll case in one hand and a silver dagger in the other. Opening the scroll case reveals the identification papers of the corpse. The corpse is one Thaddeus Daywood, the las heir of the Daywood estate.


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## Agemegos (Sep 23, 2006)

shilsen said:
			
		

> Just quoting (from memory, so I could be wrong) a sign painted on a wall at a Jack the Ripper murder scene (and no, the sign said "Jews", not warforged




"Jewes", not "Jews".


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## Agemegos (Sep 23, 2006)

TheAuldGrump said:
			
		

> A stout casque, its top removed occupies the furthest corner of the chamber, two tankards lie on the floor, their dregs spilling across the stones. A comfortable chair completes the ensemble...




http://www.m-w.com/dictionary/casque


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## Slife (Sep 24, 2006)

146 The skeletons of a kobold and a viper are here, flesh blasted off their bones.  Investigation will reveal they were simultaneously incinerated by several gods... but why?


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## TheAuldGrump (Sep 25, 2006)

Agemegos said:
			
		

> http://www.m-w.com/dictionary/casque



However it was, in its time, also an alternative (though not preferred) spelling of 'cask' - see Poe's 'Casque of Amontillado' for the term being used in this sense. (And for the scene that I described for that matter, it was shamelessly cribbed from the Bostonian. My choice of spelling was not accidental.  ) Both refer back, if I recall correctly, to a Latinate noun meaning 'head'.

The Auld Grump


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## TheAuldGrump (Sep 25, 2006)

147. Each of the three bodies is seated rigidly in an ornate chair, a woman, a man, and a small girl, all bear an unmistakable family resemblance to each other. A grey cat, subject to expert taxidermy, sits in the girls lap. Beside each chair is a formal portrait of the chair's occupant, framed in a style that matches that of the chairs. In the portaits each is wearing the same attire that they now wear in death, the cat is also featured in the portrait of the young girl. In all of the portaits the subject's eyes are closed. 

The Auld Grump


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## Angel Tarragon (Sep 25, 2006)

148. Six skeletons of orcs lie in the gutter, each one clutching scraps of paper. If all the scraps of paper are reassembled, it turns out to be the identification form of one Thaddeus Myritil, resident roden warlock and member of the Royal Eyes of Aundair. 

If the PCs do their homework, they find Thaddeus to still be alive and will reward the pcs if they give him the scraps of his identification paper with 25 gp per character.


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## Rechan (Nov 5, 2007)

149. The underside of this bridge is coated with dense webbing. Twelve cocooned bodies are found throughout the webbing. Each body is of a half-elf, and after thorough examination, the cause of death is old age. 

150. The body is a halfling woman with a shaved head, middle-upper class clothes, and a single, deep puncture wound in the lower abdomen. 

The identification papers accompanying the body are for that of a man, with every aspect of the papers fit the woman - from the eye color to height, the birthmark on the upper left arm, and the shaved head. 

(Yes, I know 129 had an apparent cross dresser. The trick to this one is: play up that it isn't an obvious case of cross dressing.)

151. A pool of blood is in this otherwise empty lightning rail car. Looking at the pool, it appears to be smeared by something having pressed down onto it. A search (15) DC finds an invisible body on top of the pool. 

152. The zombie of a headless shifter walks in a circle. His head is in his hands. It does not attack when disturbed. The decapitation appears to be perimortem (pre-death) (Heal check 15). 

153. A Circle of Protection (from Chaos) is etched in the center of the alley. Just outside of the circle, the body of a Kalashtar male stands. There is no apparent reason for his up right nature, and a search check 17 (with the Investigation feat) or Heal 17 shows the cause of death to be drowning.


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## TheAuldGrump (Nov 5, 2007)

154. There is no secret or mystery as to where either of the bodies came from. The first floats in the air, held in place by a rope. The other is hanging from a rope, the victim of an upset band of adventurers. They should have known better than to ask a gnome sorcerer to raise dead....

The Auld Grump (ducks)


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## Rechan (Nov 5, 2007)

155. The bodies are of three men. The first has a dagger stuck in his stomach. The other two are curled up in fetal positions, and next to them are two shattered bottles of wine. Close by, a coffer filled with 500 gold can be found buried an inch beneath the surface.

(Name the source, get a cookie.)


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## Rechan (Nov 8, 2007)

Bump. Er, "Raise Thread".


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## Gundark (Nov 8, 2007)

shilsen said:
			
		

> Shouldn't there be a sign on the wall saying "The warforged are not people to be blamed for nothing" "




You're getting two different killers mixed up.


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## TheAuldGrump (Nov 8, 2007)

156. There are parts of corpses scattered about the room in a fashion that at first seems random, but then the signs of careful sorting become apparent.

The bodies are all of people who went missing within the last three days, stripped and disassembled - save for the most recent, a halfling who bears a dragonmark of house Jorasco, garbed in surgical gown, his head twisted around and his neck snapped.

Open upon one of the tables is a book on the crafting of flesh golems, in the margins minuscule handwriting reads 'fresher is better'. Enough parts are missing from the gathered corpses to assemble an entire body, and the side door gapes open into the alley....

The Auld Grump


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## Isida Kep'Tukari (Nov 8, 2007)

157.  This body is of a middle-aged human male, with sticking plaster stuck to his back to make a crude, makeshift knife sheath.  He is barefoot, with what seems to be wounds from glass shards on the soles of his feet.  They've been crudely badaged from the sleeves of the man's shirt.  His clothes are bloodstained and dirty, but of decent quality.  He seems to have died from a stab wound to the chest.

(You get a cookie if you get the reference.)


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## Rechan (Nov 8, 2007)

Isida Kep'Tukari said:
			
		

> 157.  This body is of a middle-aged human male, with sticking plaster stuck to his back to make a crude, makeshift knife sheath.  He is barefoot, with what seems to be wounds from glass shards on the soles of his feet.  They've been crudely badaged from the sleeves of the man's shirt.  His clothes are bloodstained and dirty, but of decent quality.  He seems to have died from a stab wound to the chest.
> 
> (You get a cookie if you get the reference.)



McClain is too badass to be taken out with a knife.


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## Isida Kep'Tukari (Nov 8, 2007)

I'm just _saying_, if he happened to die (which would never happen), his corpse might look like that.  Perhaps if it was a fall?


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## TheAuldGrump (Nov 9, 2007)

158. For the first time the Dragons had sent an ambassador to Sharn, a quiet and unassuming Bronze named Vertigon. He lived quietly, spending much of his time in the guise of a human, reading in the libraries, visiting the finest restaurants, never seeming to either ask nor answer many questions, and meeting with the local heads of the Dragonmarked Houses.

Given the size of the room his body was found in it is likely that he died in human form, else he would never have fit through the door. As it is the room can barely contain his corpse.

The Auld Grump


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## Rechan (Nov 9, 2007)

159. The body before you is bones. Bones that stink. They stick out of a pile of droppings. A heal or Search (+investigation feat) check 20 can designate that the bones show signs of corrosion from digestion, but otherwise the skeleton undamaged.


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## TheAuldGrump (Nov 9, 2007)

160. The stone walls of the room are partially melted, and the wood deeply charred. Of the adventurers only blackened outlines remain. According to the sole remaining witness the last word spoken by a member of the group was 'whoops!'

The Auld Grump, like that never happened to _you_....


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## Dalamar (Nov 11, 2007)

Rechan said:
			
		

> 155. The bodies are of three men. The first has a dagger stuck in his stomach. The other two are curled up in fetal positions, and next to them are two shattered bottles of wine. Close by, a coffer filled with 500 gold can be found buried an inch beneath the surface.
> 
> (Name the source, get a cookie.)



Cantebury Tales, can't remember which of the tellers


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## Deekin (Nov 11, 2007)

161. A headless corpse of a changeling lies in the middle of the room, the floors, ceiling, and walls painted in blood. An investigation check reavals shards of bone embedded in the ceiling.  

(Inspired Scanners)


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## Rechan (Nov 11, 2007)

Dalamar said:
			
		

> Cantebury Tales, can't remember which of the tellers



Aye. You get a cookie.


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## TheAuldGrump (Apr 5, 2008)

162. Not yet a corpse, but barring the immediate aid of healing magic there is nothing to prevent the victim from becoming one.

The victim, a changeling, has been strapped to a table, his skin cut by a razor sharp blade, and pinned back, exposing his anterior flesh, bone, and muscle. The pins are silver, and the cuts show exquisite delicacy.

163. The victim is found in a bloody spread near the bow of a ship at harbor - chunks of flesh still caught in the anchor chain, and flies buzz around the chainport and locker....

164. Why was the miller nailed to his millwheel? And did he drown, or was there some other cause of death, bruising from either the millrace or many, many blows darken the corpse.

165. And who crushed the miller's wife between the millstones?

The Auld Grump


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## Dannyalcatraz (Apr 5, 2008)

Ooops!

I guess I should have _read_ this thread before going on that killing spree!  

From a case in the city of my birth (and slightly embellished):

166+ A family tavern in which the entire family has been slain by heavy crossbow bolts and deep cuts and stab wounds from largish knives, but for two children found cowering & nearly catatonic in the coldest, darkest part of the wine cellar.  Also among the dead is a city watchman who was moonlighting as a bouncer in the tavern.

The children are taken to a healer.

A few days later, 2 more bodies are found in the street near another tavern in the neighborhood, each with property on their persons known to have belonged to the deceased tavern owners.

(The killers were the watchman's patrol partner and her 2 cousins.  She was also moonlighting at the same tavern with her partner and masterminded the heinous crime.  As they squabbled over the take, she killed her cousins.

Once they recover, the children can ID her from the original crime.)


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## SPoD (Apr 5, 2008)

167. A half-elf male and a half-orc female, both in their mid-20's, their corpses still entwined in the act of making love. A single spear has been plunged through his back and into and through her chest, pinning them both to the shabby inn bed. The inn in question rents rooms cheaply, often by the hour, and the clerk can identify the man as a local gigolo (if you can push him from Indifferent to Friendly). The half-orc woman's clothing appears well-made, but not extravagant, and her purse and other valuables are still in the room, untouched from where she laid them.


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## Dannyalcatraz (Apr 5, 2008)

168.  A Lich walks up to your corner table in the tavern where you routinely dine on Wednesday nights..."In 1000 years of searching, I have not been able to discover who is responsible for my death- and I so badly want my revenge!"

169.  A body of a man wearing saffron robes is found in the middle of the road, his throat marked by ligatures.  Despite the manner of his death, his countenance bears a blissful smile.  A peasant's staff and beggar's bowl (nearly empty) sits beside him- even the small wooden cup of water in his hands seems undisturbed.

170.  The body of a man clad entirely in the black of some Eastern rogue covered by a bluish tabard lies in a pool of blood...next to what is evidently his own spine!


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## Dannyalcatraz (Apr 6, 2008)

In retrospect, 168 _should_ have been:

A clutch of Zombies walk into the bar, each one dressed in the togs of the band of troubadours who had played in the tavern not a fortnight before...

The lead zombie, still corpulent and bearded rasps "Weeeeeeeee wouuuulllllld beeeeeeeee graaaaaaaatefuuulllll iffff yoouuuuuu wouulllld briiiiiing ouuuuuurrrrr kiiiillerrrrr tooooo juuuuusstiiice"

"Brainssss!"
"Brainssss!"
"Weeeeed!" *smack* "Brainssss!"
"Brainssss!"

The others chime in...


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## Paradox (Apr 6, 2008)

171. The victim is a teenager, male, and belonging to one of the houses. He is fairly important. He died from a fall from one of the tallest towers.

Investigation reveals the local teens are into "Splatting". It's a sort of race where two people have feather fall tokens, and jump from a tall tower. The goal is to be the first one on the ground safely, but to do that, you have to be the last one to use your feather token. So it's a free fall race to the ground, but apparently the victim's token didn't work. Either he had a used up one, or didn't activate the one he had.

Splatters.


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## TheAuldGrump (Sep 11, 2010)

172. The drowned corpse of the halfling is small, but the drain that it is lodged in is smaller. Also small is the bag of stolen shards, tied to the halfling's belt, that is caught in a small gap in the pipe. Had the thief been willing to untie the bag from his belt it seems likely that he could have escaped the confines of the drain before the rising waters caught him up....

The Auld Grump, casting Raise Dead on a well loved thread....


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## Dannyalcatraz (Sep 11, 2010)

173. A young backwoodsman's body is found on the shore of a river where he and his buddies had been noodling for fish.  They had last seen him when something in the water dragged him under, screaming, presumably a large water predator.

The body, however, belies that theory: aquatic predators don't shear off limbs with surgical precision.


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## TheAuldGrump (Sep 12, 2010)

174. The young female elf's death did not go unwitnessed, though the location of her corpse remains unknown. The killers left an odd scrying mirror in the room that she had been sealed in. Another mirror, showing her slow death by hunger and thirst as it was reflected in the first mirror, was sent to her father's home. On the bricks that sealed what had been the door to her death chamber was written the word 'Remember'.

The Auld Grump


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