help fill out plot hole

[Bacon666]

Hello all

My part of 5 lv.11chars are almost done with a mystery plot (yes, I managed to create a mystery for high-level chars...)

Basically a rakhasha sorc killed the mayor in a small village, buried the body, killed a stranger, used sculpt corpse to make it look like the mayor, put the body of the stranger into the mayors bed, and made sure he himself became the new mayor...

The chars know all of this now (except they still believe the BBEG is human)...

My big problem now is: Why did the powerfull rakhasha usurp the power in a small village in the middle of no-where?

[Mauril]

This is usually the first thing I figure out. Knowing why a BBEG does something goes a long way to explaining his other actions.

Maybe your rakshasa had a grudge against the mayor (or the mayor's parents who were great adventurers). Maybe it's the first step in a larger scheme to gain regional power and he was just testing to make sure it would work in small scale. Maybe the village has access to a very useful resource that the rakshasa needs. Maybe he's just a jerk and wanted some human playthings for a while.

Better yet, why do your players think the mayor was murdered? When I have plot holes, I usually leave them open and let the players (unknowingly) make suggestions on how to fill them. Players often assume you have all the answers, so they assume that if there is a question, that you have an answer. So they talk about the possible answers with each other. Pick the one (or ones) you like, or let them inspire you to a solution.

[♣♠Magic♦♥]

Maybe there are valuable recourses, etc in the village or surrounding areas that he wants. The towns people don't even have to know about them. :)
(Just saw that this was already suggested, but I would like to support it.)
Maybe he intends to grow the village into an empire and knows it would be easier to start small and make it into what he needs than trying to take over something that size.

[Cap. Darling]

The rakshasa is laying low because he have powerfull enemies. He is in the village because he think that some sort of powerfull creatures, pehaps the PCs, will bring him what he need to figth his enemies. By staying the Rakshasa the PCs gain the enemiti of his enemy because ther are cheatet out of there revenge.

[Valandil Ancalime]

It makes the worlds best bacon, from fiendish pigs... but seriously. I like the, "He's testing it out on a small scale", and now that he knows the flaws (that allowed the pc's to figure it out), he will move on to his next test that fixes those flaws. I also like the, listen to the players idea. They could come up with something really clever.

[Touc]

The village hosts an ancient ruin or standing stone that is a portal to a lost bastion of power or an ancient evil that the BBEG believes it can harness. The portal can only be opened if certain steps are taken, and the last may involve a mass ritual that the BBEG believes it can manipulate the villagers into performing. It may succeed in enough steps that danger is created and in this remote area, the PCs are likely the only ones with strength enough to deal with whatever is on the other side.

[Rub-Eta]

Maybe he will start sacrificing villagers to (insert evil god here) to gain power?

[Munchwolf]

Well, you have three basic questions:

* Why did he kill the mayor?
* Why did he create a decoy body?
* Why did he become the new mayor?

He could have had any petty reason to kill the mayor, but that he got rid of the body implies a strong motive (because he didn't want people resurrecting or interrogating the dead body).

This suggests the mayor knew something, something the rakshasa needed other people not to know.

Maybe the mayor knew something that the rakshasa didn't, so he kidnapped the mayor, and placed the fake body so no one would look for him while he was interrogated. Or maybe the rakshasa needed to find out how much the mayor knew.

This suggests the rakshasa had plans ... maybe he was trying to awaken an elder god, or find an artifact, or help a surprise raid on the country, and the mayor learned of them through some scouts or a lower level adventuring party (whom have already been taken care of, or may appear later to help hint at motive). The mayor was kidnapped to find out what he knew, and who he told.

But why become the new mayor? Most likely as a delaying tactic. The king ordered scouts to explore several towns searching for something. It is just that this group turned out lucky (or unlucky) and got word to the mayor to signal the king. The rakshasa got to him before the message could get out, and is now playing mayor to stall or deter more scouts from the area. Maybe there is a rise in the number of bandits, working for the mayor, trying to follow up on the scouts leads (either to prevent more scouts, or find them, or what they knew).

Overall this hints at a greater plan on the part of the rakshasa, but he needs more time to finish it, and the role of mayor will help his get the resources to do so, or help prevent other people from learning of his plan.