OOC Kingdom of Ashes (Spies Like Us)

Archon · Dec 1, 2004

hey guys,
as your resident sneakmaster i thought i'd start up a thread for the side game. What we need to know first off is, "who's playing?"
after that we can figure out what we're going to do and what our characters are going to look like.
so, to start things off...
1.) - Me.
aka Mik

The_Universe · Dec 1, 2004

Archon said:
hey guys,
as your resident sneakmaster i thought i'd start up a thread for the side game. What we need to know first off is, "who's playing?"
after that we can figure out what we're going to do and what our characters are going to look like.
so, to start things off...
1.) - Me.
aka Mik

Well, I do not want this to have a required group in any way shape or form.

What I think might be a better idea is to come up with a plan for how you'd infiltrate the king's inner circle (ie, how are you going to spy on him and communicate your findings without getting caught?) and then choose the ideal "members" for the team.

Assume, for this stage, that you're the spymasters, not the spies.

At least, that's what I think. For characters, anyone participating will want at least 1 level of rogue. I'm envisioning characters of level 6-10.

Laurel · Dec 1, 2004

hehehe... like this. Almost orders that get sent first

Then who ever can/wants has the fun of playing it out and at the moment decision craziness

Is this a one time shot? Or just see how it goes where it goes and for how long it goes?

From Liz's list anything we want to add, leave for more time, concentrate on first, have splinter groups, etc. all those fun questions.....

Here's Liz's posted list from other thread:
(1) Find a way to plant someone in Tain's inner-circle (INTRIGUE!!)
(2) Do a very dangerous scouting mission to where Tain is living (DANGER!!)
(3) Send in Xath or Justice as a very special gift for Tain... get him drunk and talking (SCANDAL!!)
(4) Ask Big Blue (NOT VERY EXCITING!!)
(5) Capture some of Tain's inner circle and question them (EXCITEMENT!!)

The_Universe · Dec 1, 2004

Laurel said:
hehehe... like this. Almost orders that get sent first Then who ever can/wants has the fun of playing it out and at the moment decision craziness

Is this a one time shot? Or just see how it goes where it goes and for how long it goes?

From Liz's list anything we want to add, leave for more time, concentrate on first, have splinter groups, etc. all those fun questions.....

Here's Liz's posted list from other thread:
(1) Find a way to plant someone in Tain's inner-circle (INTRIGUE!!)
(2) Do a very dangerous scouting mission to where Tain is living (DANGER!!)
(3) Send in Xath or Justice as a very special gift for Tain... get him drunk and talking (SCANDAL!!)
(4) Ask Big Blue (NOT VERY EXCITING!!)
(5) Capture some of Tain's inner circle and question them (EXCITEMENT!!)

We'll see how long it goes, or if it goes at all. I would expect it would last longer than one session, but it will not be essential if it does not.

As for Liz's list: I think #1 is the focus of this particular side mission. The rest can be the focii of the Circle.

Laurel · Dec 1, 2004

just an initial rambling.....

So how do we get someone or a few someone's planted as Tain's inner circle.... anyone up for The Stand?

"M-o-o-n that spells moon."

Anyways, so I think we know or we just think Tain is in Thainsport, so we are sending people there.... right?

But how to get them close.... kill a servant and pretend to be them? Find someone close enough and switch with them? Contrive/play a scene of someone trying to kill Tain, but wait look who comes the rescue, Tain should now be greatful?

How to get into the city-- Teleport? Sewers? through the forest and over the walls to dastardly king's palace we go?

We may have to do some of #2 scouting to do #1.... Can we first try to just find out if Thainsport is actually under attack by draconid army? Didn't the head red mage in Caer Albion say it was, though he could always be decieved or lying or who knows what else..... ?

Queen_Dopplepopolis · Dec 1, 2004

Things we need before we make a plan:

(1) We need to find out *who* Tain's friends are, now. We have killed a lot of them lately. So, we need of find out if they've been replaced and the like.

(2) We need to find out if any organizations are working with Tain, if we can. If we can get into those organizations, we can get into his inner circle.

(3) We need to find out Tain's extended family tree. Could pass off as very distant relations... or, maybe we could even *be* some distant family relations.

(4) We need to *know* the city surrounding Tain's palace.

(5) We need to know the workings of the palace - at least from the outside.

(6) A blueprint of the palace would be very helpful.

(7) We need to be really good at mundane forms of sneakery and the like. The less magic we have glowing all around us, the more powerful we'll be once into the palace.
Gadgets and magic items are nice - but in a situation like this, we need to be able to operate without them so that we do not pull too much attention to ourselves.

(8) Resources - money. 'Nuff said.

(9) Detailed, fully worked out deceptions. If we are to work our way into Tain's inner circle, our stories about who we are, where we come from, etc need to be absolutely flawless.

(10) Everyone that participates in the planning process needs to be detachable. No "solid" characters necessary - this is so that, when some people have time, we can play without worrying about hurting people's feelings because they are left out.

After we have this - and probably some other things that I haven't thought of, yet - we can make a plan.

Queen_Dopplepopolis · Dec 1, 2004

Laurel said:
So how do we get someone or a few someone's planted as Tain's inner circle.... anyone up for The Stand?

"M-o-o-n that spells moon."

Anyways, so I think we know or we just think Tain is in Thainsport, so we are sending people there.... right?

But how to get them close.... kill a servant and pretend to be them? Find someone close enough and switch with them? Contrive/play a scene of someone trying to kill Tain, but wait look who comes the rescue, Tain should now be greatful?

How to get into the city-- Teleport? Sewers? through the forest and over the walls to dastardly king's palace we go?

We may have to do some of #2 scouting to do #1.... Can we first try to just find out if Thainsport is actually under attack by draconid army? Didn't the head red mage in Caer Albion say it was, though he could always be decieved or lying or who knows what else..... ?

I think the key is working our way *into* his circle. Who do you tell your secrets... your friends. I that these side characters need to be Tain's friends... or, at the very least, his friend's friends.

The_Universe · Dec 1, 2004

Queen_Dopplepopolis said:
I think the key is working our way *into* his circle. Who do you tell your secrets... your friends. I that these side characters need to be Tain's friends... or, at the very least, his friend's friends.

Or obsequious servants, who can listen to he and his friends talk....

Queen_Dopplepopolis · Dec 1, 2004

The_Universe said:
Or obsequious servants, who can listen to he and his friends talk....

That works, too. Don't know if Tain is dumb enough to talk in front of his servants... but, I've always wanted to get someone drunk and get information out of them!

However, I don't think this is a sneaking through sewers type of thing... that's the point I was trying to make.

We don't need to sneak into the city or anything like that.

Laurel · Dec 1, 2004

Queen_Dopplepopolis said:
I think the key is working our way *into* his circle. Who do you tell your secrets... your friends. I that these side characters need to be Tain's friends... or, at the very least, his friend's friends.

Yes, but those friends that I tell things too I didn't gain over night. And as has been stated many many a time in all the different threads pretending to be someone close can be dangerous... if he asks questions only his best bud would know (like who did you kill last week?) that PC is stuck.

Sevants were and are known for being big secret carriers or the biggests gossips. If you want to know about the royalty you don't talk to thier family or friends or to her, you talk to her personal maid.
Severvants are the shadows that go unnoticed, moving from room to room to beneath anyones notice for them to care. But necssary for more wine, or books or anything meanial to have done.
Generally servants are the ones that see people at thier worst, and at the same get to overhear the most.
If our people are sneakies they just have to have a place there, as a high servant to the king they can go around late at night without being asked questions.
From most books and stories and movies and such that I have seen people have done far more damage, gotten further and learned more by pretending to be a servant then by working through all the nuances of becoming someones best friend.

I am not saying that by posing as a servant this individual would become the most knowledgable about everything Tain is doing, but it may be easier to keep a servant close to Tain for a longer time.

We may only be playing this as a one-time deal, but I thought the hope was for these PC's to become NPC's that can continue to feed information to Hywrl.