Two players are tracking down "different" absentee fathers who have ended up in the same town, should I make them half-brothers?

I like it, but I'd draw it out as far as possible before the reveal.

Give them hints on the location of Dad A. Then something identifiable about Dad B (like, he wears a hooded scarf thing that is brilliant shades of red and blue, or his armor is a burnt orange, or he wears a bandanna over part of his face to cover his damaged eye and the design over that eye is that of an empty skull, giving him a unique and identifiable feature; even if his eye is fine, by the way).

They get more hints on Dad A, and little about Dad B, except people know of that item of clothing, and haven't seen that man in a few months/years (maybe he went into the nearby forest/mountains and hasn't been seen recently?).

Then, as they zero in on Dad A, they find him wearing this significant piece of clothing from Dad B. And it's not until then that they realize they've been chasing the middle from opposite ends.

Bonus if you can make the special "Dad B" outfit plot related, like he wears the hooded scarf to hide his identity when he leads men into battle (whether for good or evil, could be team captain of a vigilante hero group, or he could be a lieutenant in a thieve's guild, you know?), and does so to allow him to hide that piece of clothing to become "Dad A" and live his life in peace. Except something is going on causing him to gear up again, and you can have the party learn bits and pieces about that as they hunt for the dads (or maybe they take breaks from that plot to hunt for the dads, not realizing it's all part of the same web).

Super ultra bonus points if you can somehow have them thinking they're going to rescue Dad A from the vigilante captain or thieve's guild lieutenant, only to realize that person is Dad B moments before/after they kick the door in, and as they try to rescue Dad A from Dad B, then they realize they're one in the same, just painting on another layer of confusion (before they get to piece things together and learn the truth and charge forth towards that arc's end).

/r/rpg Thread