Mysteries
A mystery is a type of aspiration that is structured in a narrative quest focused on uncovering secrets and resolving hidden conflicts. Mysteries are solved by discovering clues, analyzing evidence, following leads, interviewing suspects and persons of interest, and completing investigative tasks that lead to a final revelation.
CLUE GATHERING
Clues are discovered through exploration, roleplay, skill checks, or treasure. If actively looking for clues in an area significant to the mystery, certain skill checks may reveal clues such as Perception, Survival, Knowledge, Linguistics, or even just pure roleplaying. Clues may be physical items, testimonies, visions, records, or phenomena.
LOGICAL DEDUCTION
Characters can analyze clues to extract leads—people, places, events, or phenomena to investigate. Doing so often requires a task to be completed such as taking a sample back to a lab for study, going to the archives to find a specific piece of information, traveling to find an NPC to interview or interrogate, or bringing a clue back with you to a specific location to perform a ritual with it that may reveal more clues. Often these tasks come with skill checks to determine their level of success such Knowledge, Linguistics, Sense Motive, or Profession.
- Critical Success: Gain a lead and an advantage (shortcut, weakness, map, etc.).
Success: Gain a lead (side quest or investigation task).
Critical Failure: Gain a false lead (revealed only after completing it).
SUSPENSE AND REVELATION
The GM should escalate tension through time pressure, hostile agents, supernatural manifestations, or moral stakes.
The mystery concludes when characters uncover the truth and resolve the underlying conflict.
MYSTERY RATINGS
Each mystery has three ratings:
Challenge Rating (CR): Average CR of obstacles.
Plot Thickness: Number of required investigative tasks (3�“12 typical).
Complexity: DCs to analyze clues (Low 10�“15, Moderate 15�“20, High 20�“30).
EXAMPLE MYSTERY MODULE: THE WHISPERING LEDGER
CR 5 Occult Mystery, Plot Thickness 6, Complexity Moderate (DC 15-22)
Primary Skills: Knowledge (arcana, religion), Linguistics, Sense Motive, Perception, Profession (merchant), Disable Device
Opposition: Possessed bookkeeper, shadowy auditors, cursed object manifestations
Time Pressure Weekly merchant suicides or bankruptcies
PREMISE
Merchants in the river-town of Blackharbor report disappearing funds and whispered voices guiding them to ruinous deals. A ledger passed between victims appears to predict financial disaster—written in invisible ink that manifests at night.
KEY NPCs
Irren Voss (Human Expert 4)
Attitude: Unfriendly
Complication: Possessed accountant
Secret: Bound to a ghostly tax-collector spirit.
Str +0, Con +0, Dex +1, Int +2, Wis +2, Cha +0, Dodge 15, Parry 14, Armor 1, HP 22, Fort +4, Refl +8, Will +6, Skills: Appraise +9, Bluff +7, Diplomacy +7, Knowledge (Society) +9, Profession (merchant) +9, Perform (Oratory) +7, Linguistics +9, Sense Motive +9
Sister Halvi (Human Adept 6)
Attitude: Friendly
Complication: Skeptical of "ledger spirits"
Secret: Didn't perform proper burial rights 30 years ago like she as supposed to.
Str -1, Con -1, Dex +0, Int +0, Wis +3, Cha +3, Dodge 16, Parry 15, Armor 0, HP 30, Fort +5, Refl +6, Will +12, Skills: Craft (Tailoring) +9, Diplomacy +12, Knowledge (Society) +9, Knowledge (Religion) +9, Sense Motive +12
Kellen Rook (Half-elf Expert 3)
Attitude: Indifferent
Complication: Claims the ledger ruined him
Secret: Smuggler. Actually stole ledger first hoping to fence it for coin.
Str +0, Con +0, Dex +3, Int +0, Wis +0, Cha +1, Dodge 16, Parry 13, Armor 1, HP 16, Fort +3, Refl +9, Will +3, Skills: Acrobatics +9, Athletics +6, Bluff +6, Sense Motive +6, Sleight of Hand +9, Stealth +9
KEY LOCATIONS
Blackharbor Counting House
Lead: Kellen Rooks says there are spectral whispers at night in here.
Obstacles: Access closed by law enforcement, guards patrolling
Clue: Records of vault lost as sea but wreckage is within view of shore
Sunken Dock Vault
Lead: Records of vault lost as sea but wreckage is within view of shore
Obstacles: Storms and dangerous traps from dilapidated wreckage
Clue: Hidden stash of cursed ledgers referring to some death records. The name of some merchant is given but it doesn't say who he is or why he was travelling, only that he had business with the local church.
St. Phantasma Church
Lead: Irren Voss accuses Sister Halvi of knowing the secrets of the ledger.
Obstacles: Sister Halvi and other nuns guard the halls with judgmental eyes
Clue: Death records show a famous magician and merchant who perished 30 years ago never received their proper burial rites. The name is scratched out but partial ledgers match up so missing ledgers on a ship that sank years ago.
Merchant Council Hall
Lead: Sister Halvi says she'd love to help more but the city council has locked the Counting House up.
Obstacles: Political resistance to investigation as rumors are dismissed as attempts to hurt local business and trade.
Clue: �“
The River Barrows
Lead: Death Records + Sunken Ledgers + Counting House Key = Name and burial site of the person who wrote the cursed ledgers.
Obstacles: At the River Barrows, the spirit Tarsuun, the Tax Auditor manifests and protects his grave from meddling investigators.
Clue: Spellbook used to create the curse, including the rite to undo it, and stash of valuables.
Explore River Barrows �“ Final ritual site.
Invisible Ink Ledger Pages
DC 15 Linguistics reveals infernal contract language.
Merchant Death Records
DC 17 Knowledge (religion) reveals prophetic timing.
Smuggler Testimony
DC 15 Sense Motive detects lies.
Counting House Whispering
DC 18 Perception hears a name: Tarsuun.
Barrowstone Marker
DC 20 Knowledge (history) identifies Tarsuun, ancient tax-collector necromancer.
Interview Ruined Merchants �“ Gain testimony and partial ledger.
Stake Out Counting House �“ Encounter CR 4 shadow auditors (2 shadows reflavored).
Break Into Council Records �“ Disable Device DC 18 or political fallout.
Follow Smuggler Kellen �“ Leads to Sunken Dock Vault (trap + cursed items).
Consult Sister Halvi �“ Learn burial rites needed to end haunting.
Random Events that occur after every critically failed attempt to gather clues or after every consecutive failure (2 in a row). Roll 1d8
- Phenomena to Investigate
- Whispering coins rearranging themselves
- Cabinets and drawers opening/closing on their own
- Invisible writing appearing
- Merchants compelled to sign ruinous contracts
- Shadows counting and tallying on walls
- Sudden prophetic dreams of debt
- Strange noises in the other room
Final Task: The Ledger Reckoning
Tarsuun, Bound Ledger Wraith
Unique Undead (CR 6)
Init +6; Senses darkvision 60 ft.; Perception +12
AC 17, touch 14, flat-footed 13
hp 52 (8d8+16)
Defensive Abilities incorporeal, channel resistance +2
Melee incorporeal touch +8 (2d6 Cha drain, debt curse)
Special Abilities
Debt Curse (Su): Will DC 16 or compelled to make irrational financial decisions (confusion in commerce contexts).
Ledger Manifestation (Su): Creates shadow auditors (1d4 shadows once per encounter).
Weakness: Burial rites and burning ledgers reduce hp by 20 and suppress shadow creation.
Resolution & Boon
Destroying Tarsuun and sanctifying the ledgers ends the haunting.
Boon: Ledger of Honest Trade
A magic ledger that grants:
+2 competence bonus on Profession (merchant) and Appraise checks
Once per week: augury regarding financial decisions
Sequel Mystery Hook
Among the ashes is a foreign watermark—a sigil of the Guild of Invisible Hands, a planar banking cabal rumored to finance devils and inevitables alike. Their auditors may come to collect cosmic debts from the PCs themselves.