How to deal with apparent plot hole in Shards of Sin


Shattered Star

Silver Crusade

Alright, so I've been running Shattered Star livestreamed (here it is in case you're curious) and I am anticipating a plothole which my players are on the cusp of noticing.

At the end of our first session, my players managed to capture the sorcerer, (I can't remember his name and my copy of the book is at the house). They have tied him up and taken him back to Heidmarch manor to interrogate him.

Now, when thinking ahead of time about how he might respond to likely questions, I realized something. According to the module, his plan went something like this:

1: Spread rumors about slavers spiriting away people in the middle of the night, taking advantage of the disappearances whose cause he knows nothing about.

2: More specifically, spread rumors about a specific pickup at a specific time and place.

3: Wait at said place at said time for Pathfinders to show up.

4: Capture said Pathfinders for ransom.

5: Brag about this to the A. C.

6: Profit.

The problem is that 3 seems like a wild leap. Why assume the society would take any interest in these rumors at all? It worked out that way only because the PCs happen to be looking for a missing person at that time, but there is no way in the universe, barring scrying, and he has no scrying spells in his loadout, that he could possibly know that they would look into such a thing. That Natalya is an informant is super-duper-top-secret, and it's absurd to suggest he'd have any idea about that, not to mention that the rumors have existed for weeks, ie since before she disappeared. None of the other disappearances have any connection to the society. I suppose I could invent one which he might suspect Sheila would have someone investigate, but then we have to ask why she didn't.

So I guess that's the question I'm asking: How does it come about that this guy believes pathfinders will be sent out to investigate a missing person's case? Alternately, is there something I am misunderstanding here which would render this question moot?


Put some drugs in his pockets. You can get away with a lot of weird motivation that way.


Or he's insane. Or responsible for the missing persons case if you want to do some editing. Or, he's responsible for an entirely different missing persons case that no one heard about, and is very disappointed when the PCs aren't looking for his victims.


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I completely changed the encounter because it felt so thin to me.

Rather than a random sorcerer trying to stun pathfinders, I turned him into Natalia's partner in attempting to take over the Sczarni. The two abducted the child of a Sczarni but were seen (Nat in Tower Girl garb) setting off a cold war among the various Sczarni (explaining why they were largely inaccessible as well).

Sorry if that isn't much help to you.


Well, this isn't a plot hole. I just assume he's seeking to bag any adventurer or do-gooder and auction them off. After all the constabulary doesn't care but sooner or later someone's going to come looking.

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