Question for a Question
Get Them Talking
This is a simple encounter idea. You place in front of your player characters a creature that is highly knowledgeable about a villain in your campaign, but the creature will not freely give up information about whatever or whomever that is. Instead, the creature will try to get the player characters to answer questions, before it will answer their questions. This exchange allows both sides to gain knowledge about the other.
The tension and drama of this encounter revolves around what questions the player characters are willing to answer, and how the questions they pose can lead to revelations about the villain and the world.
To make this encounter, you need three things at minimum in advance:
- Who is the inquisitor the characters will be questioning and be questioned by.
- What is the rough level of knowledge the inquisitor has about your villain and world.
- What are some of the questions the inquisitor will try to ask during the encounter.
the inquisitor
This should not be your villain marching out of the shadows to monologue to the characters. Instead the inquisitor should be employed by the villain or otherwise knowledgeable of the villain, but not in direct conflict with the player characters and therefore can freely answer many questions that the villain would never answer themselves.
No matter what you choose for this, make sure it is someone the players characters will not automatically attack. You want this to be a roleplay encounter more than a combat one. If the inquisitor is attacked, it should give one warning before immediately leaving. This creature is not here to stop your players from achieving their immediate goals or finishing the dungeon they are currently in. It is here to extract information from them just as they try to do the same to it.
what the inquisitor knows
This inquisitor should not be all knowing of your villain, so do not let them reveal the end goal of the villain or a big trump card the villain may have, unless appropriate. Beyond that, use your own judgment as to whether or not the inquisitor will have answers to who the villain’s allies are, where the villain is, what the villain’s short-term goals are and so on. The inquisitor should have at least a few pieces of insider information on the villain, otherwise the player characters will not have a lot of reason to talk to them.
The Inquisitor's Questions
What questions will the inquisitor ask your player characters? These of course will depend on your campaign and what villains you have running around, but a few types of questions should be posed no matter what.
Nefarious Questions
The player characters are not getting information for free during this encounter, instead each question they answer is benefiting someone opposed to their cause. So have the inquisitor ask a few questions about city fortifications, where precious items or gold is kept, and other things of strategic importance to the characters. Do not hammer your players with these questions, least they stop the conversation for fear of divulging too much strategic information. On the other hand, have the inquisitor threaten to leave if the party does not answer their questions, but they will accept vague answers to continue. You want the inquisitor leaving to be a threat more than something that actually occurs in the encounter.
People, Places, and Events
Most settings don’t have the internet or cameras, and divination magics are only so effective. These questions allow the inquisitor, and therefore the villain, to gain information about key events and non-player characters that the player characters are familiar with. These questions give your villain a reason to know what you as a DM know, which makes it much more believable when the villain acts on that information. Feel free to throw these at your players as you think of them. This can help inflate the number of questions your inquisitor has, so you can stretch the encounter as needed, in case the players seem to have a lot more questions they want to pose.
Questions About Player Characters
Why are the player characters doing things that oppose your villain and what are each of the characters fighting for? Asking about the motives of each character can give each player at least a few seconds of spot light time to roleplay out their answers and allows the villain to learn possible pressure points to use in the future against them.
Intriguing Questions
Theses questions are ones that the player characters do not know the answer to, but the question itself sparks further conversation and interest from the players. These could be questions about special items in your campaign world or the location of ancient leviathans. If a character is asked “Where is the cracked sword of the deep?”, they will not know the answer, but after hearing the question they may want to find the answer. When asked “Where is Lady Razalax?”, the party may have a long-outdated answer, but will wonder why one of their favorite NPC’s is of interest to the inquisitor, and therefore of interest to the villain. These questions can be plot or quest hooks all on their own and are a great way to inject campaign lore into the conversation.
At the Table
With all this questioning do not stick too rigidly to the one question for one question back and forth. Allow the inquisitor to push for two questions in a row when it seems they are close to something important, and on the flip side let some of the inquisitor’s answers explain things beyond the scope of the player character’s original question. On top of that, allow the inquisitor to give out some information for free the player characters do not ask for. This can help you as a DM provide players information you believe will be important for the future, but only do so if the player characters have been answering the inquisitor’s questions up to that point.
When the inquisitor is on its final question, state that plainly to the players and their characters. That way there is a burst of dramatic tension as the players grapple over what their final question to the inquisitor should be.
By the time the inquisitor leaves, the party should have more information on the villain going forward as well as some new understanding of why this villain is opposed to them or why they should feel the need to oppose this villain. They may even have learned some auxiliary information about the campaign world and other groups that could be future allies or threats. On the other hand, the inquisitor, which will pass their information on to people and organizations in direct conflict with the player characters, should know more about who these pesky adventures are, what they have been doing, and possible ways to impede them in the future. This encounter can be reflavored in a ton of different ways to suit your needs so don’t feel like you need to rigidly follow what I have laid out here. This encounter will be played at your table, not mine, so adapt it to fit that environment.
Enjoy!
From the Green DM
Youtube: Green DM
Twitter: @YTGreenDM
Example Inquisitor
In my own version of this encounter, the inquisitor was an Arcanaloth, a bookish fiend that above all wants information and to use information for its own gains. That means it worked for the villain more like a contractor than a devote follower, and it did not feel the need to hide the villain’s secrets.
Also an Arcanaloth knows the dimension door spell to use for means of escape. I gave mine the plane shift spell in case that wasn't enough. You never know when player characters are going to try to chase you really far.
My inquisitor asked questions about the city a player character was tied to, so they became worried it would come under attack. Maybe they were right...maybe not. Only time will tell.
Also the inquisitor asked questions about big events such as the destruction of a great magical barrier and who killed the undead monsters of the snowy north. That way the villain knew for sure that this group of adventurers has been the cause of all their problems.
The inquisitor asked why a player character cared so much about the orc lands when they weren't even an orc. That character did not like that question very much. And the inquisitor asked if the player characters had a knowledge stone, which tried to not answer then just admitted they didn't have one. Which was good, cause the villain want those very badly.
Drop In Version
If you don't want to setup an entire encounter based on this idea, an innkeeper or tavern keeper that barters secrets for secrets is a great way to let your players know some local information while also letting them tell the keeper some juicy details about their characters!