Murder most foul, as in the best it is

Criminal Activity

After the festivities, the Queen is murdered and the Circle of Six is caught up in a murder investigation. Caia is accused of murdering Queen and they have 12 hours to prove her innocence or be put to death.

After the festivities, the party has been given room to sleep in. Climbing into the single bed, they will find it inordinately comfortable, and, despite it seemingly being sized for only one they fit in the bed comfortably. Shortly before dawn, the Moz in a sleepy slumber sees what looks like Caia burst through the door into the room. She is holding a knife covered in green pixie blood. She drops the bloodied dagger on the floor. Moz looks over to see Caia asleep next to her in the bed. A moment later several pixies stormed through the doors. They see the bloodied dagger and the party. One blows a small horn and several more pixies arrive.   The party was brought before the royal family where they discover that Queen Gerbera has been murdered. Drangea has taken charge and declares herself acting regent. Drangea proclaims that Peoni is too friendly with the accused. Peoni does not protest her aunt's argument.   Queen Gerberas' body is brought out on display in a coffin made of a nutshell. Drangea calls a trial to pass judgment on Caia and her accomplices. Drangea sits upon the throne and calls forward several witnesses that saw Caia running through the halls to Gerbera's room. She declares these witnesses, plus the bloodied knife, to be overwhelming evidence to have the party all executed immediately.   The party can put forward their own case, stating the innocence, but it falls on deaf ears. Luckily Prylis a Gnome Wizard the party befriended at the party steps forward on behalf of Caia. She declares a Trial by Accusation.   Drangea visibly annoyed at this doesn't have the right to refuse. Trial by accusation is an old fey tradition that gives the accused twelve hours to prove their innocence by proving another's guilt. To be found innocent the characters must investigate Gerbera's death and find the true culprit. All members of the Court are to be completely cooperative in the investigation.   The Circle first chooses to look at the Queen's room. The late queen's room is built around an extremely large four-poster bed. A collection of seashells are displayed in a glass case beside the bed, and the wardrobe contains many fine silk gowns. There is a pool of pixie blood staining the bed. They discovered that the trail of blood led to the middle of the room where there is a teleportation circle that must be activated by a code word. Afterward, they talked to the guard outside the door where he told them that the queen never left the room that night.   Next, they investigated Drangea's living quarters. Drangea's room is a neat little chamber, largely decorated in sanguine silks. It boasts a four-poster bed and portraits of Gerbera, Peoni, and a man they don't recognize with blue hair. An ornate staff in the shape of a coiled snake hangs from the wall above the bed. Upon touching the staff it changes into a giant poisonous snake and the party narrowly defeats the abjuration.   On to the Throne room the party investigated the Queen's Body. They identify the body did not die from the knife wound on her side. Alcath and Gilly together find a tiny prick in her eye and uncover the cause of death was poison. Caia discovers a secret passageway behind the throne to the Pixies Hoard where the party is attacked by Quicklings one of which they encountered before at the entrance to the Lochkin Lake. Brerenax also finds a tiny dart in the horde of treasure.   The Circle then heads over to Princess Peonies room. They find Nettles the Grassy Forest Troll he tells them he misses the Princess and asks someone from the group for a hug. After Caia gives him a hug he tells them he was told to come back to this room and tells them how he met the Princess and was taken into her care. He then asks to leave because he is hungry. Peoni's room contains several piled books on history and the arcane. The walls are decorated with maps of Allenia and a diagram of the planes. After some digging around in the books and around the bed a severed head of someone that looks exactly like the Forest troll is found bound and gagged under a floorboard under the bed. He then speaks and says "I am glad someone found me!! I have been under there for what seems like days." He explains that he was assaulted from behind and this head was severed and hidden under the bed. Real Nettles says he is hungry and if he can eat some food his body can regenerate. The party decides to keep the head with them.   The party then rushes out to see if they can catch the fake Nettles escaping. They ask the guards if they saw anything suspicious and Captain Bulba says he saw a guard that had left his post and was traveling toward the end of the hallway. The Captian persued and the guard was no longer there.   The adventures headed back to the treasure room thinking the perpetrator had gone straight for the transportation circle in the Queen's Bedroom and may be hiding in the treasure room. The guards posted at the secret entrance have not seen anyone come through the door or in the treasure room. A search begins through the room and with a series of casts of fairy fire Alcath is able to ping the assassin with an outline of purple magic outlining its invisible form. In pursuit, the party is able to restrain the assassin with Gilly grabbing their legs, quick use of entangling from Moz and Brerenax tying them up with a rope. The see she has a magical flute that helps her disguise herself while it is being played. They take the flute from her.   Gilly then interrogated the assassin. Resigned and after much back and forth the Banshrae Assassin agrees to give all the evidence needed to incriminate the true architect of this whole plot in exchange for her freedom and her flute. The party agrees and the truth is revealed.   Several months ago Drangea hired the Banshrae assassin to slay her sister for her. A short time afterward, she would need to study the life and mannerisms of one of the courtiers and assume their form with the wood and bone flute to take on their appearance and voice. She then waited in Calabeag patiently for Drangea's signal to kill the queen.   This signal finally came on the night the party arrived. She waited until all the non-pixie courtiers had left the party and then used her wood and bone flute to disguise herself as Caia. She stole into Gerbera's room and stabbed the queen. But the queen survived, managing to flee to the room's teleportation circle.   Unfortunately for Gerbera, Drangea had foreseen the possibility and armed herself with a poison dart and blow gun and was waiting for this possibility in the treasure room where Drangea slew the queen and brought her body back to her bedroom where it was "discovered" by Drangea.   Then the Banshrae Assassin fled to the party's room, once more disguised as Caia, and framed her.   After fleeing the party's rooms while invisible, she noticed she was dripping blood and so washed herself off in the bathhouse before reassuming her earlier disguise as Nettles.   She tells them there is documentation in Drangeas room for the contract to kill the Queen signed by the Queen's sister hidden in the safe in the wardrobe. Also that Drangea has the murder weapon the blowgun on her person. This is all the evidence the party will need to prove their innocence.   They quickly head to the room and find the secret panel in the back of the wardrobe. They find 2 documents. One speaks of the upcoming efforts to start a war between the Unseelie and Seelie Fey. The other is a contract with Drangeas name incriminating her of plotting to kill the queen.   The party heads to the library and speaks with Prylis about the repercussions of Drangea being involved with the death of the Queen. They receive information about the nature of the trial who will be there and how it is most likely to happen. While they are resting they are summoned to their sleeping quarters.   They were met by Drangea who offered them 5000gp each to blame the assassin for her death and then be on their way. They would be considered heroes and put on their way. After a little deliberation, the party was not convinced.   The party was ushered into the Throne room where Drangea, Peoni, and Captian Bulba were present. After Aela presented the evidence against Drangea to Princess Peoni showing that Drangea have plotted to kill the queen and had the murder weapon the Princess broke down crying. Drangea with no other option attacked the party with a pair of Yeth hounds and some Darklings that had been lying in wait in case something went array. She also had one more trick up her sleeve as the blood from the Queen's Corpse formed into a Fey abomination called the Meenlock. During the battle, Nettles rushed into the room to save the Princess. Near the head of the battle Drangea in a last final attempt to sprint to the door. Gilly intercepted her and grabbed her ankles to prevent her from fleeing. Brernax then used his longbow to land the final blow. With here dying breath Drangea exclaimed "This solved nothing, War is coming and you can not stop it"