Let's assume that roughly 15 people sit in on the War Council, where most of the major moves of the army are planned.
They are all NPCs- as we, the PCs, are off being heroic and doing the dirty work. Most of us are welcome to sit on on these Councils when we wish. It's something my character (the group's resident diplomomancer) will definitely be doing in the near future, as she hasn't really been lately. (As I said, we've been really busy. Hard to find the time when we're a country or two away, actually fighting the war.)
It recently came to the attention of a fellow PC- the resident 'Leader' type, - that the Enemy always seems to be a step ahead. Always.
This lead him to believe that there is a spy.
He told the most trusted of our NPCs his suspicions, and they were confirmed. (No, really. He's trustworthy. He's about the only one that *isn't* a suspect. It's a long story how we *know* it's not him- just trust me, okay?)
We were then told there is, in fact,.. dun dun dun.. a spy!
However, this spy is apparently a tricksy son of a gun, and has thusfar eluded all attempts made by the said Trusted-NPC to smoke it out.
IE: It's going to be our job to figure out, not something we can pawn off on an NPC to do. :P
So, I ask you- what's a player to do?
What's the most efficient way to smoke out a spy- out of roughly 15 potentials? How do you trick a trickster?
Any and all advice would be grand. We've got a couple of weeks of in-game 'downtime' coming in another session or two, and my character will have plenty of time to implement whatever strategies I can come up with between now and then.
(Note: My character fell into the trap of the Fochlucan Lyrist. I know, I know... but the flavor of it is just too good! I'm freakin' Merlin! So I'm working with high diplomacy, 5th level wizard and druid magic, specialized diviner/banned evocation. The party is full of other randomness- and we have an Artificer- so what we don't have, we can fake! :D )
Help? I've got a few things bouncing around in my head, but I could really, really use some advice from others. There aren't a lot of websites out there titled "HOW TO FIND A SPY".
Thanks in advance!
Since it is 3.5, you probably have a stable of divinations at your disposal, or at least in the realm of "buy a scroll"?
If we just ignore magic for the moment, there are of course a few "traditional" ways to do this.
Ask your friend if he doesn't have any suspicions. NPCs are notorious for their bad judgment, but it's at least a place to start.
You could start with surreptitious interviews of the other council members. If you're great at social skills, you might catch them in a lie or something, but that seems improbable. What you can do though is find out what they normally do, where they go, etc. on the sly. Probably not your best option though.
You could interview people around the actual diplomats, starting low, and figure out where they're all from, who came with them, and so on. Your buddy probably knows the basics. Then find some backstory about the people, what they did in the past, any rumors about them and so on. Odds are there won't be much, but it gives more places to look.
If you learn some of the suspicious folks' normal habits, like visiting a certain town on the weekends or always going to see the opera, or any "routine" it gives you a place to tail them. Invisible, good old Hide, hire some professionals, or whatever. See if they don't talk to certain people and whatnot.
You could sneak into their chambers, search their rooms and so forth if you think you can get away with it. Maybe leave a scrying sensor or wildshape into a mouse.
Just for clues, you might have a spellcaster cast detect magic right before entering the council, to see if there isn't just magical sensors there or if any of the members are particularly magicked-up with strange enchantments. It might even be as simple as holes in the wall that others listen in on so investigate the room and surrounding rooms when nobody is there.
You could of course just exploit the spy at least once. Feed false information to the council, say something like troops will go to location X to deliver important supplies or pick something up. Then have it so you gave the leader of the troops an envelope to open the next day, and it gives him "new" orders to set up an ambush for enemy troops who are suspected to try and intercept them. Probably a good idea to reinforce the original numbers somewhere along the way. This would be best if you stay in town and have enough evidence to nab the spy, so that you can get him just as your ambush is working so he doesn't have time to escape or contact his friends.
There's always the possibility of multiple spies so investigate a bunch of people.
Depending on how much input the party has over the decision-making process of the battle, if anyone who asks afterward why the particular bit of information they were given was changed, you could always say it was a last minute decision based on the circumstances of the moment.
Additionally, Sense Motive might help ferret out a spy (or at least somebody who isn't being completely forthcoming). Presumably, it won't be that easy though. So go into your knowledge skills (Nobility, History) to get some background on everyone, see if anyone might have a reason to hold a grudge, etc.
As was mentioned above, then start tailing the suspects, investigating their quarters, talking to their friends and associates, etc. Find out what the word on the street is about these people.
With luck, you'll be able to narrow the list down somewhat in fairly short order. Then you can potentially lay a few traps as described above. Let the information leak that an important shipment, etc. is being made at location Y. Of course if you have 4 suspects, you give 4 different locations for said pickup, and then send heavily armed and prepared troops to ambush the ambushers. Doing this also lets you know which of the suspects is the spy since they each had a different location. Or it at least points you in the right direction.
What's cool about this scenario is that it seems likely that most everyone in your party should have something to do in this investigation as a wide range of skills can be used to ferret out the spy.
Also, be ready to find out that it's actually a player and not an NPC.
Remember that it's always the person you suspect least.
Apparently the Trusted-NPC was thinking along the same lines as you all, at least to initially determine whether or not there was a spy at all, and told everyone that certain troops were going to be at a certain location, and when the enemy showed up there, he knew there was a spy within one of the 15.
I appreciate everyone's responses and suggestions- some of them I had in mind already, some of them I didn't.
Divination is high on my list, as is leaking more specific information.
If I could leak 3 different stories to different groups of them it could help narrow the list. Assuming that works, we can tail the suspects. And in the meantime, I get to put this Gather Information skill to good use. ;)
Really, you can't just trust me to know that it isn't this one guy?
Okay. More info it is.
I know it's not this guy because he's a variation of the Jade Phoenix Mage from the Book of Nine Swords. We're playing in Eberron, and the DM modified it to 'Silver Phoenix Mage'. (The Silver Flame was keeping the Souldrake locked in. Neat, huh?)
The trusted NPC is the most senior of the members of the Phoenix Mages currently active in the world. He is also the most senior Commander of the army- it's entirely because of him that we have this army. So long story short, he's not going to sabotage his own army or his own cause. If he wanted evil to win, evil would have won by now.
I can't wait until after this week's session so I can get back to HQ and start implementing these suggestions. Spy hunting sounds like fun!
Thank you so much, everyone, you've been really, awesomely helpful.
Really, you can't just trust me to know that it isn't this one guy?
More info it is.
I know it's not this guy because he's a variation of the Jade Phoenix Mage from the Book of Nine Swords. We're playing in Eberron, and the DM modified it to 'Silver Phoenix Mage'. (The Silver Flame was keeping the Souldrake locked in. Neat, huh?)
The trusted NPC is the most senior of the members of the Phoenix Mages currently active in the world. He is also the most senior Commander of the army- it's entirely because of him that we have this army. So long story short, he's not going to sabotage his own army or his own cause. If he wanted evil to win, evil would have won by now.
Sidious, Grand Chancellor of the Republic, was in large part the reason the Republic had a clone army to defend itself with against CIS forces in Star Wars. He was the Supreme Commander of Republic forces, and it took three bitter years of gritty fighting for his plan to come to fruition. And that was only the latter part of his overarching plot.
Just sayin'.
Oh! And my suggestion is to read Tom Clancy novels. Knock out some of the ones involving the soviets, like Cardinal of The Kremlin, and one of his later books, like Teeth of The Tiger, and you'll be so well-versed in counter-espionage that your dreams will only be broadcast on secure channels. :P
I do see what you're saying, but this guy is on the verge of death, and has supernatural oaths and obligations to ensure the Flame's survival, and the sealing of the Souldrake.
He may have darker ambitions -past- that, buuuut..... at least as far as we can see so far, he is definitely our ally. We have multiple enemies who seem to have teamed up against us, but the biggest is the Souldrake. And we can trust this NPC to do everything in his power to at least work with us against that enemy. Maybe I should be a bit more suspicious of everyone, though, eh? You never know. Especially with my DM. He's tricksy.
Tom Clancy. Consider it officially on the list. I'll be book-shopping again very soon, almost done with what I'm reading currently, and those will be next.
I do see what you're saying, but this guy is on the verge of death, and has supernatural oaths and obligations to ensure the Flame's survival, and the sealing of the Souldrake.
He may have darker ambitions -past- that, buuuut..... at least as far as we can see so far, he is definitely our ally. We have multiple enemies who seem to have teamed up against us, but the biggest is the Souldrake. And we can trust this NPC to do everything in his power to at least work with us against that enemy. Maybe I should be a bit more suspicious of everyone, though, eh? You never know. Especially with my DM. He's tricksy.
Well, I can agree with you there. Don't see how he could really get any more trustworthy, when you put it like that. Yeah, suspicion is good, but there's always the risk of getting into paranoia, you know? Like when they check the little old ladies at the airports for security; if little old ladies are trying to smuggle bombs onto the plane, we've already lost.