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Tonight's session with the Taxidermist's Hall worked out so well I think someone might want to include this drama into their campaign, if possible.
My players took their first stab at finding the lair under the Taxidermists' Guild Hall tonight. They were trying to be clever for a change and get the Taxidermist out of the place for a while so they could go in and have a look around the easy way. They thought they'd try to entice him out of the place by sending in a woman to ask him out on a date. The only female character in the group, is a druid ... a druid being asked to walk into a taxidermist's shop and seduce him into following her to a bar. Pure comedic genius on my player's part, whether by design or happenstance.
The part you might want to consider is that, generically, if you have a female player in the group, you might try signaling to your players that he might be interested in her when they go in for the initial encounter. If they catch on, and the party plays along, letting him close up shop and escorting her on a date, guide them to go to the bar. The one just north of Dead Dog alley is convenient. Let the date continue long enough that the other party members get a fair number of rounds to look around the taxidermist's place, but if they dawdle (taking 10's or 20's to search) have someone come into the bar and warn the taxidermist that someone has broken into his place.
The ensuing race back to the establishment and the dramatic timing of players being caught red-handed midst B&E is priceless.
Even better is when you can have the very good fortune of this dramatic framing:
Every couple of rounds of the guys rutting around the shop I'd return to the scene at the bar, where the druid was having what was to be the "Worst Date Ever." Unprepared for the prospect of having to roleplay the date, the player was stymied when the taxidermist started by asking her, innocently enough, "So, where are you from?" She sputtered something about how she didn't like to talk about her past. When the taxidermist seemed suspicious of this answer she committed an overshare and explained that she'd had an unpleasant childhood. So, five seconds into this blind date with a woman off the street she's telling him in so many words, "I don't want to talk about me. I was abused as a child. I'm damaged goods."
It got worse.
He proceeded to talk about himself. Since he couldn't talk about her he started talking about his work and why he became a taxidermist. He told her about his first hunting trip, and the thrill of his first kill, and how as he watched the life draining out of the animal he knew he wanted to be a taxidermist, "...to capture the essence of the beast in its final, most vital moment." He went into gory detail, as a taxidermist would and since she was a druid I made her roll a Will save vs. bawling her eyes out. She rolled a 2. It was magical.
She excused herself to go to the restroom so she could compose herself. She returned and tried to explain that she was a druid and didn't like to talk about stuffing dead animals, he started to look offended, and she just kept digging the hole deeper from there. "It's not that I find what you do wrong, exactly..." and other such phrases that increasingly offended him. And he just kept rolling low, and she high on their opposed Charisma checks. He was offended, but stayed in his seat.
It was perfect, and the timing was all the more awesome as just when she thought the coast was clear and she was going to be able to keep him occupied long enough that someone came in warned the Taxidermist.
Best gaming session ever. Thank you Dungeon Magazine!
AWESOME. That's totally something my players would do. I once ran an investigation adventure involving a cult of Graz'zt where the PCs had to interview a lot of NPCs and the female half-orc barbarian did her darnedest to get this halfling handyman suspect to go on a date with her. Not as in-depth as your date encounter, but it was definitely funny.
Wow, this is great! My PCs just went in and shook him down until he cracked under pressure and started slinging spells. You obviously have some players that really enjoy the game. : )
I wish I could have been there. As cool as it sounds as a message board story, I bet it was even better to observe on the game table.
In our group, the bard talked Nemein into going into the work room to discuss taxidermy. When Nemein started to go back to the show room, where the rest of the party was snooping about, the (Neutral) bard ran him through the back. The party then tied him to the table in the little meeting room, gaining knowledge of how to get to the Lotus Dragon Lair. Then they stabbed him while he lied tied to the table.
It was such the wicked act.
Anyway your party was way cooler.