Talk:Mission 4: Among the Masses

It crossed my mind to disguise ourselves in his ranks and try to slay him covertly, but Severnaya already beat us to the punch on that. On top of that, I think we can do better. Now, this is still in the brainstorming phase, so I haven't worked out the excruciating details, but it would be great if we could set up a trap on the battlefield for Crusher that would get him killed - even if it's something along the lines of convincing him to charge into a certain death situation.

We may be able to orchestrate a trap by having Mesa show up in the region as a wandering warrior-poet who wins the hearts of Crusher's raiders (a good story and judicious application of Performance charms can pull this off) and decides to champion their cause against the Realm (just imagine playing the plot of the Last Samurai in fast forwards and substitute a drinking civil war vet for a drinking warrior-poet, and samurai for barbarians, and you're pretty set), fighting on their side in the battle (if need be, Mesa can demonstrate in sparring, etc. that he's a capable warrior). Meanwhile, we work with Team B to provide a known location to the Realm (this will have to be done pretty covertly, so as to avoid letting people know assassins were involved) where Crusher will be vulnerable. Ideally, the Realm concentrates a large number of powerful troops in this location, then, during the battle, Mesa finds Crusher himself or someone dear to Crusher and makes his way to this spot with that person at his side (the idea being that Mesa is a trusted figure at this point and is able to convince them that for some reason it's key to accompany Mesa to this particular location). Hopefully, Crusher follows to save said person, seeing the danger, where the focus of the forces there turn to Crusher himself and kill him. This is pretty elegant in that the Realm forces actually do kill Crusher, and we remain shadowy figures pulling the strings from the background. Fay may be able to help in this role by giving Mesa credibility as another disguised wanderer. I came up with this in about 5 minutes, so there may be loopholes and things I haven't considered, but I wanted to get the ball rolling.

There is the issue of suspicion arising out of the fact that the Realm knew Crusher would be heading to that spot, but our clients are well aware that there's a reason the All-Seeing Eye is feared throughout Creation - for all the Realm's foibles, they more than hold their own on matters of espionage. Their foreknowledge of Crusher's eventual location on the battlefield (which allowed them to spring the trap or concentrate heavy firepower there) will be attributed to successful reconnaissance.

We could sprinkle on some added texture to Mesa's role by having him play an instrument common to barbarian tribes, if such an instrument exists. Talented Improvisation allows him to master the instrument on a whim. Fay could also do this whole "Wandering warrior poet" part, given her disguise abilities - the main reason I suggested Mesa is because it will be possible to get large numbers of people to forge an intimacy to him by using Performance charms fueled by personal Essence.

I've been in a hurry every time I update this plan, so I understand it rambles a bit. Let me know if anything needs to be clarified.

Dan 12:36, 2 June 2010 (EDT)