On Tue, 30 Oct 2012, Onno Meyer wrote:
Johannes replied to me:
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.
Hello Johannes,
why would they need a fake VIP at all? That is only necessary
if the PC can see all spectators from the fighting pit. Is it
some sort of purpose-built arena, or an ordinary yard? See
below for that.
If Tribunus does not see his hostage in the audience, he might get
suspicious and deviate from the plan. If he does not go for a hostage
after the fight, all sorts of things might happen, like him getting caught
and talking, him getting away, him getting a real and usefull hostage. If
he goes for the fake hostage, chances are best, that 2 conspirators are no
longer able to sing.
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.
The conspirators know that Tribunus is a real gladiator, not
a fake one. How much do they mingle with high society in the
game?
Real gladiators mingle a lot with high society. The doubles do not. They
see the audience, when they are brought into the arena.
A large part of the audience will have met Tribunus at parties and such.
They will be impressed, what a good double that is.
Either we have someone manipulating the emissary, or we have the person in
charge of picking matches, or someone manipulating him.
Or somebody who knows long enough in advance how the relatively
few matches are arranged, and then substitutes the 'natural' foe
of the emissary with the PC.
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
Will Tribunus be the Tribunus-impersonator from day one, or is
there a 'genuine fake' Tribunus as well? It would be a real
challenge to play the fake during the traininig.
I don't plan much training. They buy him, check that he does not look
totally embarassing with a sword, check if he starts to cry or makes
something else under pain and schedule him for a fight.
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)
For security, the code dress is multi-part -- this dress, that
jewelry, and so on. The noble happens to match one part.
comes to taunt the gladiators, including
Tribunus, because simply she has a sadistic streak. Just to yank some
chains.
As in "you know you're all going to die"? I thought that was
actually the exception in these fights, not the rule.
The fatality rate for thoose doubles would be much higher then for real
gladiators. The fight is over, when the noble says it's over and that
depends on the noble. The double with the best attitude most likely gets
the noble, least likely to kill his opponent. The one with the worst,
likely gets the one, who has that cool, drive your sword through the
opponent that lies on the floor maneuver.
And even doubles scheduled for a mild opponent can be told, that their
nobles horoscope had said someone will die in his vincinity and he wants
to make sure, that happens to slave who does not matter.
Anyone know any tasteless jokes about dying gladiators?
Maybe she is part of the training, to make an example of a
recalcitrant slave to encourage the others.
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?
How to make sure Tribunus gets a real sword?
Ia had someone work on a blunt, basically making it a scramasax. On first
look it could be a blunt. With a good fasttalk, it could be blunt, that
got that way by being used often. It will be placed with the blunts, in
a place where it is unlikely to be picked accidnetally. A conspirator will
know, which blunt to give Tribunus.
Will the arena layout make problems?
It could be just a spot of sand in the garden, or an ordinary
room. No expensive construction work, no evidence, but also
not well suited to holding fights. How do they prevent a
desperate slave from injuring spectators?
It could be a proper little arena. A sunken pit, ranks for
the spectators, two different back entries for the fighters.
That gives the 'real Colosseum experience', but it would take
a lot of preparation. This would raise the question how the
gladiator is supposed to reach the hostage.
Perhaps something in between. A secluded spot in the garden,
a fenced ring, two gates. How is Tribunus supposed to get
out after the kill?
I am thinking about 2 primitive fences like some hip high rope. 2 to
get a savety margin between guests and fights, to make sure fighters at
the border of the arena, do not accidently hit guests.
The hostage will after the emissary is killed, in panic run to the
emissary, presumbly to check his vital signs, or to say "he is dead Jim"
or something. Which also means she runs towards Tribunus.
The primary defence for guests from desperate doubles are guards. There is
some risk that a determinated one manages to whack a spectator with his
blunt weapon, but after that the guards will rush him.
How is Tribunus supposed to get away? I don't have a detailed plan.
If he does not immediatly flee or makes aggressive moves, the guards will
disarm him and transport him to his cell. (If there is a Ia guard, he has
the problem that this is not in the script and any attack now would be
conspicious) Propably somewhere already pcs are waiting.
Pcs might prepare some ambush, that springs right after the kill. If there
is some sort of attack on the VIPs happening, catching a fleeing slave
will propably not be the top priority.
He might have a chance to flee from the arena, by first apearing to rush
some VIPs, provoking the nearest guards to position themselfs between him
and the VIPs and then run, where some of the guards had come from and now
there is an opening. To get out of the villa, he still might need some
diversion done by other pcs.
if the pcs plan has some serious holes or there is some really bad dice
luck, guards might rush to remove the wannabe hostage from the arena,
leaving their post and create an opening.
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