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Old 03-02-2020, 01:04 AM   #366
Icelander
 
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Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: Iceland*
Default Re: Driving Miss Piggy

Quote:
Originally Posted by Varyon View Post
Alright, I've got to know who came up with the pig-in-a-wig scheme (in character and out of character). I'm assuming it's "Gwen Delvano" they are concealing with this trick?
Miss Piggy is indeed supposed to substitute for 'Gwen Delvano' / The Girl with the Kaleidoscope Eyes / Gisella Esther Cortèz Rojas in a magical sense.

It's hard to say whom to credit.

Teddy Smith's player is the one who wanted to conceal Ms. Cortèz's magical aura from divination. I asked him if he wanted to try to scrub all residue from her or if he wanted to move it to something or someone else.

Much discussion of the ethics and practicality of substituting someone else as a ringer followed. The idea of having the ringer be someone with tactical training was discussed, but ultimately rejected, due to the risk of some kind of remote curse.

It was Lacoste's player, I think, who first mentioned a pig. Although, in all fairness, the idea immediately spawned so much raucuous agreement between the two players present that I can't be certain which one of them suggested it and which one backed it instantly.

Both players were firm in their opposition to relatively more mundane substitutions, such as using a live chicken (available on the Penemue already, easier in all ways to handle). It was assumed from the start that the ringer would need to be tattooed to match Ms. Cortèz's older body art, as well as the new ink supposed to conceal her from the cultists. But while Ms. Cortèz would get a broken compass without a needle in a field of poppies, where the shoulder meets the neck, concealed by her hair, the pig would get a functioning compass in a field of forget-me-nots.

In any case, the players absolutely rejected the possibility of tattooing any kind of avian. I was not aware, but apparently there exists a powerful taboo against doing this among all reasonable men and the mere suggestion that they might consider a chicken was regarded as not only out-of-the-question, but also obscene.

Dressing the pig in Ms. Cortèz's clothes (well, specifically, in the clothes Deputy US Marshal Natalie Garza lent her to leave the hospital under the protection of the Marshals Service) was a natural touch, assumed by all as a basic feature of sympathetic magic. A wig also seemed nothing but natural, considering the circumstances, with locks of Ms. Cortèz's hair woven into it for more mystical correspondance.

As for the final touches, i.e. deciding to dispatch 'Night Riders' with the pig in a wig on a drive across America, well, that came from the aimated discussion that ensued. They couldn't keep the ringer pig on the Penemue or they'd introduce exactly the problem that the magical concealment was intended to prevent, i.e. the potential for a terrorist bombing or the magical equivalent.

Granted, making the ringer very easy to find and locating it where all the 'Night Riders' and/or police in the world could ambush any cultists who came calling appealed to the players, so much so that they briefly considered taking custody of Miss Piggy themselves. Waiting in ambush seemed a nobler pursuit, more suitable for PCs, than just waiting around protecting a girl who was really not supposed to be found.

There was some mention that any self-respecting noir detective didn't really go out and find nefarious evildoers by following clues and he certainly did not build a case using forensic accounting, analysis of shipping records, painstaking interviews of hundreds of persons of interests and the other exertions of a 200+ joint task force of federal, state and local law enforcement officers.

All a hardboiled detective needed to do was get it across to the enemy that he was firmly on their trail and then wait for them to send goons to beat him up. At which point he'd disarm the goons expertly and beat out of them the names of anyone responsible. The suggestion was that mutatis mutandis, Lacoste and Smith could imitate the illimitable noir detective in this situation.*

Ultimately, however, the fact that Lacoste could actually contribute quite a lot to a real investigation and manhunt was viewed as significant. Whether the cultists would try again in the next few days was unpredictable, whereas the awful power of investigative technique was inexorable, especially with all the resources of Galveston County, the great state of Texas and the federal government behind the investigation. Whether the cultists tried anything or not, any of them who didn't immediately scatter could be found and arrested eventually, more reliably than in any one ambush, which might not cast the net wide enough.

Influencing the PCs' decision was Teddy Smith's excellent roleplaying, as he utterly refused to contemplate leaving the side of Ms. Cortèz and (in character at least) did not countenance any course of action that might risk the poor, innocent, guileless and defenceless girl. As, indeed, she is, at least at the moment, being Easy to Read, Gullible and whatever other Disadvantages represent having lost most seriously negative memories and retaining only the equivalent of the memories of an incredibly sheltered, happy and trusting teenager.

A bonus is that she didn't think to question that a dangerous cult of magic-users was after her and was easily convinced to subject to ritual tattooing if Teddy thought it quite necessary. Although she did tear up and require him to hold her tight to comfort her pretty much constantly upon discovering that bad people wanted to hurt her, that possiility not having been something her retained memories prepared her for.

*An amusing diversion ensued when Lacoste's player wondered what the technical term was for a plan which involved getting yourself captured in order for the villain to expound to you his wicked schemes. I supplied that it must be well-known in espionage circles as the 'James Bond Gambit'.
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Last edited by Icelander; 03-02-2020 at 01:10 AM.
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