Who murdered Abbess Alona? Another one-off...

Who murdered Abbess Alona? Another one-off mystery.

This post follows my previous D&D mystery encounter which you can check out here. Our perpetrator is, once again, the trickster cleric Petra Corsair, and the mystery isn’t so much about discovering “whodunnit”. The mystery is about conflicting information, who the trickster cleric is currently disguised as, and leaving shadows of doubt.
I’ll give you a quick breakdown of the scenario, NPCs, and what skill checks I laid out for the players to collect their clues from. When running a mystery, it may help to write things similarly to how I have below - depends on your DM style. I like this kind of breakdown because I can quickly recall an each NPC’s motivations and what knowledge they have at a glance.
Introduce these social encounters as if comes out organically in play. It’s unwise to railroad a mystery plot because all the fun comes from the players steering the investigation where they may. Maybe they miss something and it leads to a comedy of errors!
What you need to know
The village guards have found the body of Abbess Alona outside the religious sector gates. Alona was a cleric to Pelor who exhibited strange behavior while Petra lived with them while disguised by Abbess Victoria. Abbot Branigan, the village’s religious leader, has been notified and reached out to the PCs to help discover what happened. If the corpse is investigated with skill checks, probably Perception or Investigation checks, they can learn some initial clues about her death.
DC 5: Abbess Alona has small, deep cuts all over her body.
This is because of Petra’s ‘inflict wounds’ spell, which was used to kill Alona.
DC 13: The PC must pass a DC 10 CON save or be stunned for one minute as they feel a sudden nausea wash over them.
The players, in my game, have heard accounts of villagers feeling nausea around areas where Petra has used magic. This sort of clue is optional, but you can take this concept and apply it to the lore in your own game.
If a player casts ‘detect magic’, they will discover the necromantic energy of Petra’s ‘inflict wounds’ spell. This is a possible red herring because one of the NPCs is known to have practiced necromancy in her past.
If the PCs investigate the crime scene, they won’t find any physical evidence of Petra’s involvement, thanks to her ‘pass without trace’ spell, but a DC 10 Investigation check for clues will find a hunting knife with the initials AH on the hilt.
The players may assume this belongs to Alona, the murder victim. Further investigation or a similar check may reveal that the knife is made with better materials than what Honeyglen can provide, and its military-grade.
This is a planted clue left by Petra, meant to coincide with Bree’s testimony.
The NPCs
Abbess Thasha
Worships Kelemvor, god of the dead. Tends to the sick and dying.
Old halfling woman. Practiced necromancy in her youth.
If the PCs persuade Abbess Thasha to talk, they can learn the following info with Persuasion checks. She will initially not want to speak with the PCs, hidden in her quarters behind a locked door.
DC 17: She remembers once finding a door in the abbey cellar locked, and thought she heard the voice of Abbess Victoria and somebody restrained through the door. It sounded as though Victoria was reading something. Thasha hid and eventually saw Abbess Alona leave the room alone.
If the players look at the cellar room, they must pass a DC 15 Investigation check for clues to find the burnt remains of the scroll used by Petra to cast ‘modify memory’ from the scroll, and ‘charm person’ on Abbess Alona.
Abbess Bree
Worships Milil, god of poetry and song. Writes hymns and declarations.
Middle-aged halfling woman. Eager to appear sympathetic and courteous to the PCs.
If the PCs talk to Abbess Bree, she will eagerly open up and tell the PCs she is ‘an honest halfling’ and that she worships Milil, a NG god of poetry and song. She claims she saw Abbess Alona stabbing herself once in the arm, ‘as if to see how it felt. I think she was secretly very depressed.’
This is a lie. She is trying to make Petra’s murder evidence seem plausible, because the cultist is threatening to hurt her if she doesn’t clean up after her attacks. A DC 14 Insight check will show the signs that Bree is lying.
If confronted, Bree attempt to flee. If caught, she will immediately break and beg forgiveness, confess her relationship with Petra, and will tell the PCs that Petra also demanded she bring her plate mail from a guard post.
This is a clue that Petra is disguised as the soldier named Erik.
If Abbess Claudia’s story is brought up, Bree will tell the PCs that ‘Claudia is, unfortunately, unpleasant company. She’s a shut-in, along with Thasha. She never goes far. I doubt she saw anything.’ A DC 14 Insight check will show the signs that Bree is lying.
Abbess Bree won’t know where Petra is, but if the knife at the crime scene is brought up, she will confess the trickster cleric planted the knife to back up her story.
Abbess Claudia
Worships Lathander, god of vitality. Cultivates the land and people with magic.
Young human woman. Bothered by the PCs questions as she tends to her work.
If the PCs talk to Abbess Claudia she will complain that ‘I don’t actually know too much, and it’s possible I’m misremembering. I’m not sure why the Abbott wanted me to speak with you.’ The PCs will be informed that she worships Pelor, the sun god.
DC 12: She claims that during the last orc raid, she was the sole witness to seeing Abbess Alona with several bundles of ammunition in her arms during the last orc raid. She then brought them to a red-haired woman in a barn, who took them and put them in a bag, then disappeared.
This is the truth. If Bree’s story is brought up, Abbess Claudia will tell the PCs ‘Bree hasn’t written a sonnet in weeks. She’s not well or she’s lost her faith. Funny how you shouldn’t take the word of a cleric to words.’