Karameikos - Vaults of Pandius

Guild Warsthe distance was considerable (over the rangefor a Basic Mastery shot). The killing boltitself is also peculiar, as it is a silver bolt.Investigation on the deceased body, however(short of infecting another person with Iosif'sblood), will not result in any trait that couldlead to think to lycanthropy (e.g., unusualhairiness or the like).Political intrigue: As the charactersinvestigate, they discover that both thedeceased (a member of the Torenescufaction) and the Guildmaster (Dimitri Levinik,a supporter of the Radu faction) have lots ofshady dealings to hide -- the Consul wasdiverting funds to a person or groupidentified only as "V." 2 in his documents,while the Guildmaster is involved in drugtrafficking -- forged records of sale ofrestricted alchemical substances importedfrom Ylaruam, Ierendi, and Sind were used tohide the sale of drugs to the Veiled Society.Moreover, Consul Gogean was known to begoing to run for the Guildmaster position onthe next term, and was the most prominentopposition to the Guildmaster within theguild.Guildmaster Levinik is totally uninvolved inthe crime -- it was merely a lucky break forhim that his primary rival was killed -- but hispolitical enemies in the Apothecaries' Guildwant to take advantage of Consul Gogean'sdeath and the suspicions falling on Levinik toturn the advantage to their own faction. Theydo so by planting two false clues. The firstclue is rather straightforward: thieves hiredby the Torenescu faction plant a silver-tippedbolt in Leviniks's office. If the party searchesthe room, the bolt is easily found (no need to2 “V.” is actually the Minister of Finances, Valdo Tisza.See the Gazetteer for more details of Valdo and hissecrets.roll skill checks). The bolt is superficiallysimilar to the one used in the crime, but anexpert weaponsmith will notice subtledifferences in the workmanship. Thissecond bolt is professionally manufacturedby a specialist -- most likely one the manyweaponsmiths in Specularum, whereas thebolt used in the murder seems to have beenproduced by an amateur. The second clueis more subtle. Characters investigatingLevinik will soon characterize him as alecherous old man. A good contact in theSpecularum underground will be able to putthe characters in contact with a hooker who,apparently, saw Levinik talk with a man whoresembled Gogean. The hooker has trulyseen Levinik (several times), but notGogean. She has been magically persuadedto lie by a Torenescu magician. Themagician was disguised, and his identitycannot be ascertained (unless the DM wantsto extend the adventure in this direction),but the tampering with the hooker's mindcan be detected by the usual means (forexample, as an enchanted being, she isaffected by Protection from Evil spells).Family matters: To further complicatethings, the victim had a complex familystory, and several of his relatives saw Iosifthe day he died or somewhat earlier, so theinvestigators may want to hear them.Iosif was a widower, and had recentlyremarried. His second wife, Otilia, marriedhim out of interest, and the two had rapidlyfallen out, but were keeping their marriagefor the sake of appearances -- Iosif even hada mistress, though he kept this a guardedsecret. Gossipers also talk of a possible loveaffair between Otilia and Iosif's son, Simion.Simion is a student at the Scrivener's Guild,and is only a few years younger than Otilia.169THRESHOLD: The Mystara Magazine Issue #1