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Post by Duilin on Jan 31, 2009 23:07:51 GMT
Okay, having watched a lot of Burn Notice in the last week or so, I've devised a potential plan for Duilin and Thurisind to come up with for getting Galphant into the Tower changer, but I thought I'd preview it here so that any problems with it can be arranged.
Basically, I envisioned that there'd be two guards on the graveyard shift watching the outside of the tower. One of them always stays by the gate, but the other one will periodically patrol the perimeter, and thus be out of eyesight. So, basically, Duilin or Thurisind stages some kind of distraction which gets the one guard left watching the gate away for a couple of minutes, to allow Galphant to sneak in without him realizing it.
Secondly, there's the matter of the guards inside the tower guarding the Palantir chamber itself, and the Deputy Warden who is actually on Palantir duty during the night - my idea would be that Duilin (probably, rather than Thurisind) would get access to the kitchens and put some sort of drug in their food to put them to sleep, if that's plausible - this would also allow Duilin to have some interactions with Kirael, I'd imagine. It might also involve Duilin seducing a young girl who works in the kitchen, if there are any of those.
I still haven't figured out how Galphant is going to get out of the tower without being detected - perhaps that's where Duilin spying on Beleg could come in handy.
I'd add that, if possible, I'd like for this to occur before Aegnor and the rest depart for Cameth Brin, as I think I'd like to have Galphant send Thurisind along with them.
Thoughts?
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Post by Gordis on Feb 1, 2009 12:53:06 GMT
Duilin: . The difficult thing would be to devise a plausible path for Beleg. ;D I still think that going one storey down from the tower roof with a rope might be a good idea. I believe there should be a separate stair to the roof of the Tower, bypassing the Palantir chamber. To have two stairs leading up the tower would be a basic safety precaution, after all. In this case, the access to this second stair and to the roof won't be restricted so tightly as the access to the Palantir stair. Maybe noble people would be allowed to the roof to gaze at stars or to gawk at the place where Elendil stood, waiting for Gil-Galad?  I strongly advocate for having this second stair -it will make our plot so much more plausible. Probably there won't be any guards atop the Tower - after all there is a Palantir to watch for approaching enemy, and it must be so cold on the roof on a winter night... Then Beleg can just go to the roof unchallenged and descend using the rope. In the Palantir chamber he is at risk to be confronted by one of the deputy wardens, if the deputy is not asleep, but then he would only face a punishment, if the warden denounces him to Annundil. Perhaps the warden would be silent about the nightly visitor - Beleg is the future King, after all, and loved by all. But most likely the warden will be asleep, and the Palantir covered. EDIT: Earniel and Val -Here I have an additional argument for Sulawen, not Celebrindol, telling Beleg secretly about the marriage proposal. If Beleg were officially notified by his father, then Celebrindol would likely show him the portrait - why keep it secret? All the reason for dangerous sneaking into the Palantir chamber at night would be lost. Another matter if Beleg were supposed to know nothing yet, but learned the news in secret from his mother... Okay, having watched a lot of Burn Notice in the last week or so, I've devised a potential plan for Duilin and Thurisind to come up with for getting Galphant into the Tower changer, but I thought I'd preview it here so that any problems with it can be arranged. Basically, I envisioned that there'd be two guards on the graveyard shift watching the outside of the tower. One of them always stays by the gate, but the other one will periodically patrol the perimeter, and thus be out of eyesight. So, basically, Duilin or Thurisind stages some kind of distraction which gets the one guard left watching the gate away for a couple of minutes, to allow Galphant to sneak in without him realizing it. I think you will need Val's input on that: the plan of Amon Sul is so complex, the tower being integrated into the X-shaped fortress - I am not sure one can walk around the base of the Tower at all. Then there are inner circular corridors - is there a direct access into the tower from the corridors, without having to go outside? Val?? I believe there must be guards at the base of the Palantir stairs, where it starts from the Tower hall. But if we go for "the roof and the rope" solution, Duilin and Thurisind only have to distract the guards in the lower tower hall that are guarding the Palantir stair to let Duilin and Galphant sneak not past them, but onto the unguarded stair leading to the roof. That must be far easier. Or they could hide in some dark recess on this roof stair in the evening, when the stair is still open to visitors, and would need a distraction only to exit from this stair deep at night, after their business is done. That is fine with me - What do you think, Earniel? But again, if we go for "the roof and the rope" solution, only one person has to be drugged, the warden on duty this night. Again, it is far easier. And note, guys, perhaps we are overestimating security in Amon Sul. After all, the fortress was known to fall trice in the last hundred years! And an attempt to use the Palantir unlawfully has never been made before. Perhaps the guard of the tower was somewhat lax, with some weak places in security… OK, fine, then Gimilbeth has to ask Romendacil to be near the Palantir for his clandestine conference with Galphant the next night or the night after. Gimilbeth can postpone the departure of the company to Cameth Brin for a day or two. After all, the result of Galphant's talk with the King of Gondor is of major importance to her as well. If Romendacil says "I will never agree to a King not of Elendil's blood on the throne of one of Dunedain kingdoms: I will send an army to fight the usurper" - then Gimilbeth will likely reconsider marrying Galphant. 
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Post by Duilin on Feb 1, 2009 16:17:41 GMT
I like the roof business - that seems workable to me. In terms of security, my sense would be that there would almost certainly be some guards posted about, but that discipline would be fairly lax given the fact that there's no obvious threat - we've already seen Thurisind fraternizing with the guards.
It seems unlikely, I'd add, that the stairway to the roof, if it is out of eyesight of the guards on the stairway to the Palantir chamber, would have no protection at all. If not guards, it might perhaps be locked at night. I don't think this would present too much of a problem - Beleg could easily be made to get his hands on a copy of the key, of which there would likely be a number of copies, and Duilin should surely be able to pick any locks that might present themselves.
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Post by Eärniel on Feb 1, 2009 23:53:04 GMT
It is for Val to decide whether Celebrimbor would tell Beleg himself... I only thought we could reduce Val's load As for Sulawen, given her history with Gimilbeth, I doubt she would be pleased to have Gimilbeth's young sister as her daughter-in-law. ;D I'm all for reducing Val's writing load, but I don't want to end up stealing his thunder by writing a scene he was preparing. And I want to stress that while I wrote one scene for Sulawen so far, I am by no means claiming her as a character. Everyone can still write for her. Secondly, there's the matter of the guards inside the tower guarding the Palantir chamber itself, and the Deputy Warden who is actually on Palantir duty during the night - my idea would be that Duilin (probably, rather than Thurisind) would get access to the kitchens and put some sort of drug in their food to put them to sleep, if that's plausible - this would also allow Duilin to have some interactions with Kirael, I'd imagine. It might also involve Duilin seducing a young girl who works in the kitchen, if there are any of those. Oooh, clever. I like the idea. We could have the dinners of the deputy wardens on duty scheduled later that everybody else's so Duilin would have less problems picking out the right dish to put the sleeping draught in. And at a later hour there would be less people about, so less obstruction. There are several kitchen maids about that could be useful. The ones I've put names on are Glinwen and her older sister Raneth. They're free for use. (Darn, that sounds dirty...) Nothing else has been defined about them. And if Duilin can seduce ladies of Umbar's high society, I'm sure the kitchen maids will fall immediately for his charms. Kirael is less likely to let any guests come too close to the cooking to interfere, but she can definitely be distracted enough for this to work. The same goes for Narian, the current head cook. But I imagine subtle flattery will work better with her than with Kirael. I still think that going one storey down from the tower roof with a rope might be a good idea. I usually suck at this sort of plotting but let me just throw out a suggestion. Wouldn't there perhaps be some hidden pathway, through which the palantir could be moved in case of need? It could very well be linked to this second staircase. And Beleg would certainly know the way. Well, there's definitely something in that. I'll think about it. |
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Post by Gordis on Feb 2, 2009 0:51:04 GMT
I'm all for reducing Val's writing load, but I don't want to end up stealing his thunder by writing a scene he was preparing. And I want to stress that while I wrote one scene for Sulawen so far, I am by no means claiming her as a character. Everyone can still write for her. Sure we need Val's OK to write something about Beleg. No question there. Val? I usually suck at this sort of plotting but let me just throw out a suggestion. Wouldn't there perhaps be some hidden pathway, through which the palantir could be moved in case of need? It could very well be linked to this second staircase. And Beleg would certainly know the way. You certainly don't "suck at plotting", Earniel! I find this idea brilliant. Suppose there are two stairs: the palantir stair and the roof stair. The latter seemingly is not connected with the Palantir chamber. Yet there is a secret door connecting them, made with high-tech Numenor technology and completely undistinguishable from the wall - something like Moria door opening by a password. The Tower was built to house the Palantir: one would expect things like that. So...Duilin follows Beleg up the stair, hears him whisper some undistinguishable words, then hears the muted sound of a door opening and closing. Duilin continues on to the roof - but Beleg has disappeared. Yet, the roof stair still remains the easiest approach to the Palantir chamber. Thus, perhaps Galphant and Duilin would have to use the rope from the roof, but not Beleg. It would be much more plausible for Beleg to take a relatively easy route. Risking his life climbing down from the roof of the tower for a glimpse of the portrait that sooner or later he would see all the same would be reckless and a tad silly. As for the password - maybe Beleg knows it lawfully, as does his father and all the wardens. For security reasons there should be a few trusted persons who knew the password and could save the palantir in case of sudden attack. It seems unlikely, I'd add, that the stairway to the roof, if it is out of eyesight of the guards on the stairway to the Palantir chamber, would have no protection at all. If not guards, it might perhaps be locked at night. I don't think this would present too much of a problem - Beleg could easily be made to get his hands on a copy of the key, of which there would likely be a number of copies, and Duilin should surely be able to pick any locks that might present themselves. Locked - surely. Visible by the guards in the hall - maybe not. It is not implausible at least. Maybe it is visible, but hidden in shadows with only one torch burning in the Hall (fire security, you know). I guess it is up to you, Duilin, to choose the level of difficulty for your guys. ;D |
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Post by Eärniel on Feb 2, 2009 11:30:34 GMT
Sure we need Val's OK to write something about Beleg. No question there. Val? Anything I end up writing for Val's characters will be sent to him to preview and edit if necessary before posting. |
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Post by Eärniel on Feb 3, 2009 14:06:54 GMT
I've written a scene for Celebrindol telling Sulawen of the marriage proposal, setting the stage for her telling Beleg of Tarniel and the portrait the day after, or on a later date. Val has given his approval and the scene has been added to scribe's post #61, following the scene between Sulawen and her mother.
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Post by Duilin on Feb 7, 2009 3:52:12 GMT
Okay, just did an Aegnor post, moving things along a bit. An Orogost post will follow soon - I've already started on it. After that, I think my posts will have to wait a bit on others - any Celebrindol/Adrahil interaction will have to await the result of Celebrindol's interview with his father, and Duilin and Thurisind are still in stasis until we get to the part with Beleg sneaking into the tower.
Any edits, anyone?
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Post by Eärniel on Feb 7, 2009 12:04:44 GMT
I laughed out loud when reading this part:  |
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Post by Valandil on Feb 7, 2009 13:04:18 GMT
Okay, just did an Aegnor post, moving things along a bit. An Orogost post will follow soon - I've already started on it. After that, I think my posts will have to wait a bit on others - any Celebrindol/Adrahil interaction will have to await the result of Celebrindol's interview with his father, and Duilin and Thurisind are still in stasis until we get to the part with Beleg sneaking into the tower. Any edits, anyone? Wait... why is Beleg sneaking into the tower?  |
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