On Mon, 29 Oct 2012, Onno Meyer wrote:
Johannes replied to me:
One of our people inside will give the signal, is a lot easier, then
smuggling a pc in. Unless the pcs smell rat early and insist to place
someone inside, that is the logical way to go.
As the GM, you can always decide that conspiracy Ia has no
suitable (suitably expendable) asset and hence uses a PC.
Given Ia's plan works even when no one gives a signal, they don't really
need an asset actually.
The hostage i have in mind is not actually a VIP but a lower class Roman.
She would be brought into the villa as the sort of date, you take to
occasions, that are to rough to take you wife with you. As this she will
be dressed up as noble. The pcs already know her personally, so once they
see her, in the code-dress for the hostage, they will likely smell rat.
To make this work as advertised, she would have to appear as a
woman whose security is important to important people -- enough
to buy the killer of a noble an escape.
Does conspiracy Ia tell the PCs that they have a genuine VIP,
or a fake one? If the PCs think that the hostage is the false
niece of senator X, why would the choice of actress ring alarm
bells?
Ia will promise a real noblewoman, without going into details who she is,
for security reasons. The description of her appearance will be exact
enough, that Tribunus does not have to fear to accidently pick the wrong
hostage.
One of the perks she gets as lower class date of a noble, is that she can
mingle with high society. The hosts and the guests will know her status
and well informed servants will know. But from the perspective of a
"gladiator" it will not be obvious.
They will need someone, who is into the organisation of buying doubles to
get Tribunus in. Someone needs to "accidently" give Tribunus a not that
blunt sword. That could be the same person.
Not sure on the second part. Real gladiator with a balanced
metal club vs. junior officer with a real sword. I would
probably bet on the gladiator.
Winning yes, killing is less likely. If the noble gives up, the combat
will be stopped, and finishing him off, will become difficult. He will
need a way to dish out damage fast, and given gladiator armour the best
hitlocation is the body. This calls for sharp and pointy.
And both Tribunus and Ia prefere the emissary to die. Ia because that
makes more of a diplomatic desaster.
Someone needs to convince the emissary, to fight the Tribunus double
rather then the double of an other gladiator.
That comes back to the number of fights per evening, and you
had mentioned that there are different grades of doubles for
different grades of fight. Make it the only fitting match.
* Certain gladiator types were commonly matched against each
other. One pair are a secutor and a retiarius, you can't
pull them apart.
* One of the gladiators is in his last match before his
promotion to guard. He will fight a specific noble.
* Maybe one of the other fights is between women. Would the
noble from group II fight a female gladiator? Even if he
would, the female noble could complain about him stealing
her designated victim: could a female noble fight a male
gladiator?
* Maybe one of the nobles isn't all that fit and agile. They
have just the right sparring partner for him, sorry.
Either we have someone manipulating the emissary, or we have the person in
charge of picking matches, or someone manipulating him.
I propably have igotten an idea for that. If the person primarily in
charge of buying doubles is not part of Ia but only an assistant of
him, then the sale of the Tribunus double needs to be staged. And
conspiracy III might get wind of that sale and ask for something for them
to be done as rider to the double sale.
But what?
Some of their people to be included to the house staff seems shakey,
because even if some are sold as houseslaves to the same purchaser, they
might get used at other domeciles. And it would take a while until newly
placed spies get a chance to do something.
Is the staff only slaves? Sure, they're the basic workforce,
but they might need some professional specialists -- a good
cook, an extra maitre'd might be hired rather than bought.
I can see that. A group of cooks from Syria, who want a chance, to show
off their cooking skills to Roman nobles. They would be most thankfull if
the pcs could convince the villa owner to hire them. And they really need
help of locals, being from a province, and not understanding the refined
customs of the capitol, that include so seemingly underhand sales of
slaves and such. If they just blundered in somewhere they sure would only
make a fuss, preventing all sorts of doing business.
Propably they are simply thiefs, and the time, when they run away with the
loot can be timed to make the life of the pcs harder or easier, depending
on what is needed.
So the plan sofar:
Ia comes with the offer of the hostage plan to Tribunus. They settle on a
final plan, whatever that is exactly.
III get wind of the preperations to sell Tribunus and offer the pcs an
aliance.
Tribunus is sold, III gets in, and i hope the other pcs find some way to
watch the villa.
A real noblewoman, who does not wear the code dress (but now it propably
would be to early anyway) comes to taunt the gladiators, including
Tribunus, because simply she has a sadistic streak. Just to yank some
chains.
The pcs outside spot the mock hostage, already in the right dress going
in. Now they will have to come up with an other plan and they will need
the cooperation of III.
The final plan of the pcs, whatever it is exactly will be, will be
implemented.
Do i have any plotholes or other errors?
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