Blue
Ravenous Bugblatter Beast of Traal
The personalities involved and why make a big difference to the primary goal of the game - everyone have fun. And that's really going to determine how to resolve this to best fit the goal of the hobby.
Outside that, here's one way I can see it playing out.
Don't spend more time on the bored and the attacker except to have a public execution scene. The other players can intervene if they wish to try to save them, but be clear to the two players to have new characters ready.
That said, the one who attempted to kill the king and is willing to accept the consequences gets some respect from me - he wasn't the one who caused the issue, but once it happened he attempted to save the party. I would have the attempted coup be the catylist for a revolt that will grow over the next few levels, and give the player who attempted to kill the king the bennie with their new character that they can be (at their discretion) well connected with the leaders of the rebellion.
As a DM, I'd be thrilled to have something as dynamic as a PC-action inspired rebellion going on.
As a side note, if it wasn't such a think - attempted regicide against an unstable king known for harsh punishment against dissent, I would have just used this as an opprtunity to show that character failure just leads to a different branch of the story, and isn't a bad thing from the player perspective of having fun, as much as it might not be a place the character is looking to be.
Outside that, here's one way I can see it playing out.
Don't spend more time on the bored and the attacker except to have a public execution scene. The other players can intervene if they wish to try to save them, but be clear to the two players to have new characters ready.
That said, the one who attempted to kill the king and is willing to accept the consequences gets some respect from me - he wasn't the one who caused the issue, but once it happened he attempted to save the party. I would have the attempted coup be the catylist for a revolt that will grow over the next few levels, and give the player who attempted to kill the king the bennie with their new character that they can be (at their discretion) well connected with the leaders of the rebellion.
As a DM, I'd be thrilled to have something as dynamic as a PC-action inspired rebellion going on.
As a side note, if it wasn't such a think - attempted regicide against an unstable king known for harsh punishment against dissent, I would have just used this as an opprtunity to show that character failure just leads to a different branch of the story, and isn't a bad thing from the player perspective of having fun, as much as it might not be a place the character is looking to be.