Sipex
2011-08-31, 10:11 AM
Alright, I've been DMing a campaign for a while which is heavily doused in conspiracy and social events and I'm not sure what direction to take at this point. I have two options, so I just need opinions, not ideas (although they're welcome if you want to give them).
My Paladin has just caught an assassin spying on her and confronted the assassin in a public way which prevents said assassin from simply bolting. The paladin noticed the assassin never took a shot at her even though there was plenty of opportunity. This is sort of a plot hole on my part (as the group the assassin is part of has no problem with attacking in public before this and the Assassin has a Heavy Crossbow for range) but I've decided to run with it.
To sum up the events which lead to this quickly:
- Paladin is attacked at home by a group of thugs while detective is visiting. This group is a group the Paladin has some experience with. Group is specifically targetting the Paladin.
- Paladin, detective and some party members fight off thugs while snipers (the assassin) fire from outside. Assassin never fires at Paladin but does fire at detective.
- Paladin figures out where a secret hideout of the group is by interrogating a cronie, she tells detective about this and goes off with some party members, leaving detective alone.
- En-route to secret hideout the Paladin & co spy Assassin following them via rooftops and try to lure the Assassin out. They almost succeed but fail a crucial stealth roll so the Assassin gets near them, sees them and runs. Paladin decides not to give chase.
- Paladin arrives near secret hide out and sits in a cafe to watch. Assassin catches up to Paladin at this point and spies on her in the same cafe.
- Detective shows up (following the instructions the Paladin gave him above) and meets the Paladin in the cafe, not expecting her to be there. Detective points out Assassin to Paladin.
- Detective and Paladin devise a plan to sneak into secret hideout and Detective leaves the cafe to start the plan, Paladin is supposed to leave 5 minutes later.
- Paladin confronts Assassin at her table and interrogates her calmly.
Anyways, my four current options here are:
1) The Assassin was payed off by a detective npc the Paladin consorts with to cover the Paladin's ass in secret. The detective in question is currently referred to as a conspiracy theorist by his co-workers as he's constantly suspicious of people and has a lot of craaaazy theories. In this case he's looking to engineer a conspiracy just to finally be right. The Paladin doesn't know any of this however and there are plot holes I can easily see (like why not simply tell the Paladin about the assassin in the first place?)
2) Same as the above but the Detective has sinister motives instead. I can figure those details out later but the major problem here is the Paladin has been backstabbed very recently as it is, so I fear this may seem too cliche and will start getting tiring.
3) The Assassin, although ordered to kill the Paladin, has an agenda of her own. She wants the Paladin to succeed because she now disagrees with the group she works for but can't escape. Thing is, why use the Paladin (when the group in question has much more powerful enemies) and why not reveal yourself to the Paladin immediately (the Paladin has had to interrogate the Assassin quite a bit to get this far)?
4) The Assassin has been paid off by another group to keep the Paladin alive for reasons unknown. Possibly by the enemies of the first group. Problem here is, once again, why not tell the Paladin about her protection?
My Paladin has just caught an assassin spying on her and confronted the assassin in a public way which prevents said assassin from simply bolting. The paladin noticed the assassin never took a shot at her even though there was plenty of opportunity. This is sort of a plot hole on my part (as the group the assassin is part of has no problem with attacking in public before this and the Assassin has a Heavy Crossbow for range) but I've decided to run with it.
To sum up the events which lead to this quickly:
- Paladin is attacked at home by a group of thugs while detective is visiting. This group is a group the Paladin has some experience with. Group is specifically targetting the Paladin.
- Paladin, detective and some party members fight off thugs while snipers (the assassin) fire from outside. Assassin never fires at Paladin but does fire at detective.
- Paladin figures out where a secret hideout of the group is by interrogating a cronie, she tells detective about this and goes off with some party members, leaving detective alone.
- En-route to secret hideout the Paladin & co spy Assassin following them via rooftops and try to lure the Assassin out. They almost succeed but fail a crucial stealth roll so the Assassin gets near them, sees them and runs. Paladin decides not to give chase.
- Paladin arrives near secret hide out and sits in a cafe to watch. Assassin catches up to Paladin at this point and spies on her in the same cafe.
- Detective shows up (following the instructions the Paladin gave him above) and meets the Paladin in the cafe, not expecting her to be there. Detective points out Assassin to Paladin.
- Detective and Paladin devise a plan to sneak into secret hideout and Detective leaves the cafe to start the plan, Paladin is supposed to leave 5 minutes later.
- Paladin confronts Assassin at her table and interrogates her calmly.
Anyways, my four current options here are:
1) The Assassin was payed off by a detective npc the Paladin consorts with to cover the Paladin's ass in secret. The detective in question is currently referred to as a conspiracy theorist by his co-workers as he's constantly suspicious of people and has a lot of craaaazy theories. In this case he's looking to engineer a conspiracy just to finally be right. The Paladin doesn't know any of this however and there are plot holes I can easily see (like why not simply tell the Paladin about the assassin in the first place?)
2) Same as the above but the Detective has sinister motives instead. I can figure those details out later but the major problem here is the Paladin has been backstabbed very recently as it is, so I fear this may seem too cliche and will start getting tiring.
3) The Assassin, although ordered to kill the Paladin, has an agenda of her own. She wants the Paladin to succeed because she now disagrees with the group she works for but can't escape. Thing is, why use the Paladin (when the group in question has much more powerful enemies) and why not reveal yourself to the Paladin immediately (the Paladin has had to interrogate the Assassin quite a bit to get this far)?
4) The Assassin has been paid off by another group to keep the Paladin alive for reasons unknown. Possibly by the enemies of the first group. Problem here is, once again, why not tell the Paladin about her protection?