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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Ladybird" data-source="post: 6373133" data-attributes="member: 10689">Episode 2, Chapter 15: Beer, Parties, and TrialsWe draw back from the Tigurini, and try to figure out where to go from here."Maybe we can make Orgetorix die nonmysteriously," Henry suggests. "If there are lots of witnesses who see him die, then he can't be replaced.""But our tethers say that he was killed mysteriously," Mace objects."Well, our tethers are going by Caesar's Gallic Wars," Edward points out. "That's the only written source that talks about Orgetorix's death. All we need is for it to be mysterious to Caesar. It doesn't have to be mysterious to the Helvetii."Our tethers tell us that the penalty for treason among the Helvetii is to be burned, which would definitely count as public and nonmysterious. And maybe the kind of death that the Helvetii wouldn't want to talk to the Romans about.So if we want to influence the council to convict Orgetorix instead of acquitting him - or, if we think that someone within the Helvetii wants to kill him - who are the power players? Michel Streetwises around, and discovers two other major leaders. First, there's Divico, who's the senior elder on the council. He was a war leader against the Romans 47 years ago, which makes him very elder indeed. He really doesn't like Orgetorix. Second, there's Dumnorix, who seems to be the Most Likely to Assassinate - he's got a reputation for being crafty. But that's not likely to happen at the moment, because Dumnorix is betrothed to Orgetorix's daughter. ("Good move, Orgetorix!" says Michel.)The next day, all of the leaders arrive. Divico arrives with 150-ish warriors, which by current standards is a good-sized retinue.  Orgetorix arrives with TEN THOUSAND people. Considering that the entire population of the camp before Orgetorix arrived was only 7000, this is a really huge number of people. Not all of Orgetorix's retinue are warriors, but a lot of them are. It's a huge power play, and the rest of the Helvetii are, unsurprisingly, really upset.With that big a group, it's not hard for Michel to mill around with them, trying to get Unobtrusively close enough to hear if anyone is buzzing. Fortunately, nobody is - not the advisors, not the warriors, and not Orgetorix himself. Orgetorix is just as impressive as everyone said he was. He's unfailingly kind to his followers, and has an enormous amount of charisma. He has a lot of physical presence, too: he's very tall and strong, with long blond braids and a huge blond moustache dyed in red and orange stripes. His mantel has red and orange in it too, but also blue and gold, and purple. In this time and place, wearing purple is a power play too: it’s a sign of royalty.As soon as the tribal council begins, Divico charges Orgetorix with treason for his attempts to overtake leadership of the Helvetii. Orgetorix speaks eloquently in his own defense: as long as the Helvetii stay in mountains, he says, they'll never achieve their greatness. They need to go elsewhere to find their destiny.Because of his eloquence (and also probably the 10,000 people camped outside) Orgetorix is acquitted. Chaos breaks out in the council tent. Orgetorix's people cheer; others boo and hiss (but not hissing in a cockroach way.) Divico, trying to distract everyone, shouts, "Bring out the beer!" Will getting everyone drunk really reduce the likelihood of brawling? Maybe not, but it's traditional - as soon as Divico gives the order, women start bringing in kegs of beer, wheels of cheese, and pots of stew. Time for a very tense post-council party!Mace Hunter! never passes up an opportunity for a beer! He starts drinking.Michel and Yves both have the same thought: maybe they could poison Orgetorix during the party and make it look like he had a heart attack? But most of the Helvetii are drinking from horns, not cups, and Orgetorix is sharing his drinking horn with 5 or 6 friends. It would be very very hard to make sure that only Orgetorix got the poison.After a bit more carousing, Orgetorix's men lift him up and carry him back towards his camp. We grab a last round of beer and join the fun, trailing back to the camp. With 10,000 followers, who will notice a few more?When the crowd gets to the edge of the ditch (which is now a moat), Orgetorix asks to be put down. That's when Michel notices some people being Unobtrusive - a few people who are shorter than the others, with mantles that don't look quite right. (Maybe some of those treacherous Romans that the Tigurini warned us about? Michel can tell that they're not timetravelers, but he doesn't know enough about Ancient History to be able to tell much more than that. Whoever they are, they're certainly treacherous. One of them pulls a knife and cuts the throat of one of Orgetorix's guards.Michel texts: Looks like unexplained circumstances are about to start. Look out for interference.That's all he has time to say before the knives get turned on Orgetorix.</blockquote>

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