Investigation

An Investigation involves the band seeking clues to prove the solution to a mystery. You can become involved in a mystery either by finding a clue or by talking individuals who need the mystery solved, or the judge. Investigations usually happen during narration, but may be interspersed between other modes. The most notable thing about an investigation is the solution may be completely obvious to you, but you can't get credit for solving the mystery until you can back your solution up with a certain number of clues. Figuring out the mystery before you have all the clues is fine, in fact it can make gathering the correct clues much easier. To prove your solution and reap the rewards you need to bring the correct clues to a designated judge. If you were hired to solve a mystery the judge is likely the individual who hired you. Otherwise the judge is often a ranking police official, or someone who has the authority to act on the solution.

Clue

You search for clues in a specific location. Anyone from the band who is present and searching may roll a cooperative study check. Regardless of the result of the check you will find any accessible clues and be alerted to where inaccessible clues may be potentially located. Instead the check determines how much information you will gain about the clues without further study. Clues are objects that contain information for a mystery. A clue will have a name, descriptive text, and is an L encumbrance item. You can draw your own conclusions about a clue from its descriptive text, but a clue also has a pointer to an individual or a place. When you find clues in a location you can use 1 success margin on the acuity check to read the pointer for one clue. An obscure clue requires an extra 2 success margin to read the pointer. You may decide after you've gathered clues in the location which to use your margin on and in which order, but it isn't clear if a clue is obscure or not until you try to read it.

Inspect

Once you own a clue you may use a project to inspect it. This is a study check that no one may cooperate with. If the check succeeds you may learn the pointer if you don't already know it, or whether or not the clue is a fraud. If the check fails you lose possession of the clue. It is not destroyed, but it falls into the hands of rivals, opponents, authorities, or informants. You may voluntarily give a clue to someone or steal one from someone like any other object. You may interrogate a target to try to make them return a clue or give you a new one (see below).

Interrogate

An interrogation is a contest between the interrogator's study and the suspect's perform. If the interrogator wins the contest the suspect must hand over any clues possessed and the locations of any discovered cues. Note that the clues and cues may not actually relate to the same mystery. If the interrogator loses then the suspect may choose which if any clues or cue locations to hand over, and may even opt to make up a fraud cue location. The suspect receives a bonus (+2) on any future attempts at interrogation unless a fraud has been discovered and traced back to the suspect. The same contest may be used to check for a lie. In either use, the loser of the contest suffers 1 doubt.

Cue

A cue is similar to a clue, but is not a physical piece of evidence you may pick up and examine. A cue has all the same properties as a clue, except it can not be possessed and examined. If you find a cue you automatically gain the pointer, but unlike clues you don't automatically discover cues in a location you are searching. A successful study check when searching for clues will reveal a cue, or a check with a success margin of 2 or higher will reveal an obscure cue. Since you can't possess and inspect a cue there's no way to determine if it is a fraud or even relevant to a specific mystery. Also unlike a clue a cue may be eliminated, and is automatically eliminated if its associated mystery is completed, whether the proof succeeds or fails. Examples of cues include tracks, overheard conversations, and even informants.

Proof

To solve a mystery and get the rewards for the investigation you must have proof. During a proof you must present a minimum number of correct clues to the judge. If too few clues are presented the proof fails and the investigation continues. If enough clues are presented but any of them are frauds or for a different mystery the proof still fails, but the investigation ends and the judge will act on the false proof. You do know that the proof failed because you receive no rewards. Such a proof may cause tragedies, such as an innocent suspect being convicted, or a true perpetrator escaping justice. If you can correct the proof and reverse any tragedies before they become permanent the investigation for that mystery is reopened and resolved, and you gain the rewards. Otherwise you may be able to undo the effects, but you never gain the proof. Rewards for a proof vary. The more complex a mystery, and the more clues it required to prove, the more AP the investigation is worth. You may also gain treasure, favors, or other assets for a successful proof.

Investigation Tactics

Your priority in an investigation is gathering clues and keeping clues. Some abilities allow you to analyze clues to pin down which mystery they belong to, or even tell you where the nearest clue from the same mystery is located. Finding and following pointers is crucial to finding new clues. If you lose a clue because of a failed analysis it's worth the effort to find and recover it. Most mysteries will provide more clues than you need for the proof, but not all do. Some clues or cues may not exist early in the mystery, so pay attention to changing conditions. Be especially wary of multiple mysteries happening at the same time, since you will have valid clues that aren't from the correct mystery in play.

Special Investigations

• Conspiracy. The reward for solving a mystery may be a clue to a deeper mystery. Conspiracies are usually made up entirely of such clues, so you have to successfully prove multiple mysteries to even have a chance at solving the conspiracy. Even finding the judge presents challenges for a conspiracy.
• Puzzles. The clues are all information about the solution of the puzzle, and using the correct clues in the correct order will solve it. Puzzles will often have time limits, and may even occur during the rounds of an encounter.
• Trials. A mixture of a mystery and a dispute. Using a clue grant a bonus (+2) when trying to convince the audience, and a successful proof grants you the authority assistance regardless of the actual social ranks involved.

See Also

• Creating Mysteries

Version 2.5.0
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