Rethink my cunnin' plan!

[Set Abominae]

Ok, so running the first part of an adventure last week, the wizard used a tracking spell to track down a missing person to a rail yard that was moving human "cattle" for certain evil forces.

Thing is, when he got there the person was not among the "cattle". So now he's wondering why the tracking spell led him to where someone WAS rather than where they are.

As the GM, I have to tie up this loose end (as clearly I'd not thought it all the way through and was just running with the flow of the game).

I could have it be that the person was moved just after the wizard's arrival, but that seems a little too cheesy and simplistic an answer. So, what other things could make a tracking spell return a false positive, or in this case a somewhat "stale" positive?

[admiralducksauce]

Like when Binder tries to "clean off" Harry's tracking spell, maybe the person in question tried to sever the link or had it severed for them?  It worked well enough that they got away but the spell could've pointed to the last place the link was strong enough to count?

That assumes they knew they were being tracked, or at least suspected strongly enough to get paranoid.

[computerking]

More detail needed, I think.

What were used as a symbolic links? Was research necessary? Did he get info from (possibly faulty) contacts? How did the spell lead the character around?

With what you have, I would say that maybe the target was further out in the same direction, but was killed or put inside a Ward at the moment the wizard got to the rail yard.

[wyvern]

Depends a lot on what sort of tracking spell the wizard was using.  Off the top of my head, here are some options:
A) The tracking spell was following the person's path, rather than leading to their current location... and the movers were smart enough to drive everyone through running water before carting them onwards.
2) The person is now in the nevernever, beyond the reach of the current tracking spell - but they got into a fight at the rail yard, and the the spell was homing in on some bloodstains left behind.
C) Having done this for a while - and dealt with tracking spells before - the rail yard has some kind of thaumaturgical effect designed to render people un-trackable (possibly transferring their aura into a disposable cannister that - if the PCs had been a bit slower - would've been dumped into some nearby river / sewer / whatever and left essentially no usable trail at all.)
4) The rail yard has an effect that should have totally blocked the tracking spell entirely - if something hadn't decided to interfere and make the wizard's spell lead to the place.  This option works best if the wizard has a sponsored magic, or is in a situation where said something might try to offer him a sponsored magic...
E) The rail yard has an effect that *detects* tracking spells (allowing the target of tracking to be killed or moved as needed), but the guy supposed to be watching that alarm was napping on the job and only acted just before the wizard arrived.

[Set Abominae]

More detail needed, I think.

What were used as a symbolic links? Was research necessary? Did he get info from (possibly faulty) contacts? How did the spell lead the character around?

With what you have, I would say that maybe the target was further out in the same direction, but was killed or put inside a Ward at the moment the wizard got to the rail yard.

Yeah a symbolic link was used (hair).

My thinking was that the person WAS there earlier. I've been considering that the person was moved through the Nevernever shortly before the wizards arrival (as the enemy had knowledge of the wizards attempts to find the person) and there are forces involved that could easily veil a person or move them through the Nevernever.

The more I consider it, the more it makes sense that the enemy had him moved, and have the means to do it (that I'd already established in my back-story material). They stand to suffer some loses if they are connected to the human trafficking (which the missing person would), so they'd want to remove that person from the scene. The wizard already has reason to believe someone magically capable is involved since the train cars carrying the victims were warded and veiled to suppress noise and distract attention (not unlike Harry's "generic nobody" potion).

Besides, it gives me an excuse to introduce hints of the magical adversary in the plot.

But other than veils or world walking, any other "technical" ideas behind misdirecting or "fouling" a tracking spell?

[Masurao]

An easy, but, depending on your game, possibly illogical reason could be that there is/was a brother/sister or identical twin present at the railyard. Which the spell homed in on, after the other was moved into the Nevernever. Other than that, the other options of running water or magic interference would be the best ideas...

[UmbraLux]

Yeah a symbolic link was used (hair).

A few options:

• Did they have the right hair?  Or could it have been hair from one of the victims?
• Did he realize he was being followed and cast a ward circle to break the link?  If so, they might find the circle nearby...
• If he's not a caster but realized they were following him via hair, he could have simply done some drastic dilapidation.  Perhaps they'll find a used waxing kit somewhere nearby.
• Perhaps he simply moved into the Nevernever from here and the trail simply ends.

[Set Abominae]

I think I'm settled on the idea that the magical opposition pulled him through the Nevernever. And on further thought, it occurs to me that this will be advantageous as the movers behind the scenes are intending to "slash and burn" the wizard, victim, and the potentially exposed enemy element in one fell swoop. So extracting the victim to set up the fall would be consistent with their intent to tie up loose ends (in a way that will avoid certain political entanglements with other supernatural forces).

[Set Abominae]

A few options:

• Did they have the right hair?  Or could it have been hair from one of the victims?
• Did he realize he was being followed and cast a ward circle to break the link?  If so, they might find the circle nearby...
• If he's not a caster but realized they were following him via hair, he could have simply done some drastic dilapidation.  Perhaps they'll find a used waxing kit somewhere nearby.
• Perhaps he simply moved into the Nevernever from here and the trail simply ends.

Yeah the wizard had the right hair. The person he's trying to find is a mortal and a victim in the matter.

I think I've worked out a plausible scenario for the victims second abduction.

I know I'm being vague. Trying to avoid giving away too much so as to maintain secrecy in the event of snooping players.

Just had to get my brain running with a community jump-start. If anyone wants I can pm them the details of the plot and see if they can poke any plausibility holes in it for me.

[Sanctaphrax]

My first thought was that the person had been transformed into something unrecognizable.

So they actually were there, but the wizard didn't notice.

But an escape through the Nevernever works too.

[devonapple]

I did a similar thing in a previous adventure, but there was an Outsider Cultist holed up in a heavily shielded structure, manipulating how the sympathetic links to his victims were performing. I hand-waved a lot of it, but it was, at least, intentional. And in this case, the tracking spell led to the "front door" of the compound.

[braincraft]

If it's an inexperienced wizard, or one with gaps in their education: the spell is flawed and only tracks the same part of the subject that you have a sympathetic link to, and the subject was shaved completely when they got to the processing area. So if you look around, you'll find a big pile of hair from all the victims.

[Set Abominae]

If it's an inexperienced wizard, or one with gaps in their education: the spell is flawed and only tracks the same part of the subject that you have a sympathetic link to, and the subject was shaved completely when they got to the processing area. So if you look around, you'll find a big pile of hair from all the victims.

Lol, that's a clever notion, but we've moved beyond that point.

Nah, I've decided he was moved trough the Nevernever and will be the bait in a trap meant to tie up loose ends and eliminate the wizard.