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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Elder-Basilisk" data-source="post: 1068160" data-attributes="member: 3146">I'm assuming that I'm the real LE church of Hextor not some simpering LN tinged branch.Now, it appears that we have a problem. Our known enemies include a priest of St. Cuthbert, an old woman of unknown capabilities, a female knight, and a female halfling druidess. Judging from my knowledge of adventurers, however, they will probably soon be joined by more adventurers--whose capabilities we cannot assess at the moment. They appear to be hostile to our intentions in the town--with the possible exception of the female knight whose acceptance of a temporary alliance against the obvious common threat of the werewolf in their party indicates a mental toughness that, given the proper encouragement, might develop into usefulness to our cause.We need to develop a considered response to this that will support both our long term and our short-term goals.  We need to speed our gaining of the trust of the populace to levels that support an full scale implication of Hextor's law. So, I plan on calling on some support to implement some of the following plans.Needed additional personel--an arcanist  capable of casting 3rd circle spells including suggestion. A special operative skilled in the arts of disguise and impersonation, 2 fists full of overambitious, incompetent, or dubiously loyal knights who won't be missed.Synopsis: Frame the adventurers for banditry and/or collusion with the bandits, demonstrate the inability of local law enforcement and our forces (under their current restrictions) to deal with the problem. I will then persuade the authorities that the only way to deal with the bandit problem is to allow us to implement martial law and solve their problems for them.The frame up:1. Sow suspicion. Special operative disguises himself as a member of the party--suggest the old woman, the druid, or the new member and meets with known underworld figures or bandits. We arrange for a gossip or informer to observe the meeting.2. We need some verifying details. Arrange for one of the party members--surely one of them will be given to enjoying the seedier side of life and will be perpetually out of money. Have the special operative disguise himself as that party member and take out a large loan from a local loan shark. When the loan shark attempts to collect, it is likely to result in violence--which will tend to confirm the image of them we're presenting to the town.2b. More corroberating evidence. Find a hot tempered member of the party--I'm sure there will be one. Wait until he's drunk a fair amount--adventurers aren't noted for their temperance. Then suggest to a local pickpocket or good-for-nothing that it would be the right time to steal his gold. With luck, the pickpocket will be noticed and dealt with. . . harshly. The more violent and unpredictable a reputation the adventurers aquire, the easier it will be to accomplish our goals.2c. It might stretch credibility to immediately suggest that a cleric of St. Cuthbert is in league with bandits. However, if it is properly presented, we might convince  people of it. If he doesn't serve in any of the community's places of worship, we can stir up rivalry between him and the established clerics. If he does, a well timed suggestion to one of the young women (or young boys) he deals with might place him in a compromising situation. It doesn't matter if he does anything then; simply being seen would create rumors and suspicion. We could then plant symbols of Syrull or Iuz in his quarters where they might be found by cleaners. Or, if it became necessary, use illusions or our special operative to actually allow people to see him committing a crime.2d. After killing bandits, take some of their loot--the more recognizable the better. Arrange for a local fence (or our special operative disguised as a local fence) to sell it to the adventurers--surely one of them will be willing to buy cheap goods no questions asked--and then manuever the owner into describing the stolen object and casually inform him/her that it was seen in town. The adventurers will probably have an explanation but it will still create suspicion and bad feelings.3. Cause trouble between the druid and the community. Many communities place bounties on wolves or other beasts that prey on livestock. Overhunt them and then make sure the druid finds out the balance of nature is being disturbed. When the druid objects to this, emphasize the danger of the livestock--either by summoning fiendish wolves in the night to attack livestock (preferably those of our enemies in the community although we might occasionally cause cosmetic damage to our allies in the communities too so that it isn't obvious that we're behind the attacks) or only verbally through aour agent disguised as a farmer.3b. Alternately, we could instigate a number of attacks by wild animals and then suggest that the proper way to deal with it would be a bounty on wolves or whatever pest of the week is appropriate. Tree huggers can be counted on to object to such things and if handled properly, that should drive a wedge between her and the community.4. The adventurers seem to have a violent opposition to us. So send one of the sacrificial fists to attack some bandits and then leak their location to the party--or if the party is not likely to ambush them while they're pursuing bandits, arrange for the sacrificial fists to encounter the party on their way back from fighting bandits--preferably with bandits who will be allowed to escape in the inevitably ensuing confrontation.5. With the adventurers destroying 20-40% of our forces in the region, we should have demonstrated to the community that it is necessary to bring in more forces. At that point, we convince them to agree to allow the full occupation force in the area.6. Thereafter, we can either hunt down the adventurers with elite forces (I would suggest an arcanist with lots of area effect spells, a large force of elite knights, several priests focussed on spells to effect the weak of mind, and a large force of footment enhanced with the blessings and Recitations of Hextor). Or we could let them go, use them as a mechanism to dispose of disloyal or unwanted elements in our organization and use them as justification for further policies we want to implement. During this process, we could potentially recruit tough minded members of the adventuring party who are distressed by the depravity of their companions. Although I wouldn't give us more than a 50% chance, we might be able to recruit the female knight or some others. (We should be careful not to risk anything we care about in our recruitment attempts however--it doesn't have a very high probability of success.)</blockquote>

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