Tomorrow is a big event at my university. I’d like to make a fun thing where the people of the Board Game society I am in can try to find me for a riddle, kind of a Where is Waldo in a place where there is a crap tone of people to find the NPC that’ll give them a Riddle (Maybe something to win? No idea how I could do that detail)
Was he in water at some point recently?
He was not.
Was the stick being used by the man prior to death?
It was! The stick was used by the man prior to his death. More specifically the man was compelled to receive the stick before he died.
Did he know he was going to die by the time he’d received the stick?
This is a “Maybe, but probably yes”. While he didn’t know he would die, he did suspect he would be at least injured when he got a look at the stick he received.
Was the stick broken from something?
It was!
Without reading the rest of the comments, this sounds like a weird version of strip Truth or Dare where sticks, one of which is broken, are drawn instead of a spinning bottle.
Or airship pirates using this method to choose which one gets thrown overboard for some reason (and recovering clothes before that).
Was a hot air balloon / blimp with multiple people on board involved in the story?
Was it part of a railing?