[OOC] Two Paths, One Truth (Mateotis & The Kraken)

[The Kraken]

Here you are!

http://scholarlycommons.law.northwestern.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=6668&context=jclc

[Mateotis]

Deprivation of liberty, with many additional new concomitants, instead of deprivation of limb, was a Renaissance Florentine innovation.

And indeed! Never knew these, they're quite enlightening and play right into our hands with the RP, haha. Will try to incorporate some of these elements into my post. Thanks!

[Mateotis]

This post had much more dialogue than action, apologies. But I think they still further the plot properly. I also hope I portrayed Rodrigo correctly, haha.

Feel free to detail the prison and the conditions as much as you wish! Emerico will be there to watch over until Luciano arrives. Of course you also have full freedom to do whatever during that.

Hope you enjoyed the post!

[The Kraken]

Sorry for the long wait, had a busy week again! Hopefully will be slowing down and I will be able to post more. Time will tell.

Wasn't too much content to the post, but I thought it was enough to get to the torture and whatnot in the proper way. Hope its alright!

[Mateotis]

Yours was just fine! Now what do you think about my wall of words? xD

In all seriousness, a couple things to note:
I like roleplays ‘broad’ in a sense that my writings are not strictly limited to the actions of the main character(s) with each other, but many descriptions, side characters, etc. It may just be my deal, but I truly think this expanded scope makes the RP better and more alive. But then again, some would say it's simple fluff, and I totally understand if you view it as such too.
Also, I prefer the...subtler ways of persuasion to simple torture. I don't know, the brutality just doesn't appeal to me much and I can't write it as good, haha. Of course that doesn't mean we can't have any of it—for now I made Luciano rely on solely words (as for her replies, feel free to fill them in between his words!), but if Elena stays unyielding, then eventually he'll be forced to take out the more drastic methods. Up to you!

[The Kraken]

Will be getting a reply up sometime today!

[The Kraken]

Sorry that took so long to get up... had some other stuff today that I didn't anticipate so I didn't get to the post until now!

Hope the post is okay and taking that little bit of control over Emerico at the end is all right. If not, I'll edit. I hope you enjoy! This should continue to get interesting!

[Mateotis]

No problems! I've always said that as long as the reason for such busyness is positive (which in your case is!), it's great because it means your life is going well.

The post was sweet. I think some control over the other's character(s) in any RP over Free is all but necessary from time to time to maintain the flow. The way you portrayed Emerico was just fine, of course.

I'm still thinking up the contents for my next post. I'm just wondering: what if something else would happen while they're in prison? The way I see this current situation is that it's becoming a bit of a stalemate. Elena won't budge by herself and Luciano doesn't want to resort to physical torture (unless absolutely necessary) because he wants her to stay capable so that she could actually aid him. So I thought of something that could break this and sway the situation, leading to a potentially quicker agreeement. What do you say?

[The Kraken]

I'm all for it. I do agree about the stalemate. Each character is so concrete in their ways that neither will be willing to budge so soon, so in order to get things moving along then perhaps a significant event would be the best option.

[Mateotis]

This post is a...little different. And very long, too. Let me say a couple words about it!

Firstly, I thought that tying in the ‘canon’ events gave another layer to the RP, which is always great. You could very well imagine our characters in the game's world, operating separately from Ezio's endeavours but playing an important role anyways.
There is also that something else that we talked about—it was a sudden idea, but I think it's not that implausible. Breaking the Creed usually ends with execution (except if you're Altair, of course), so I took it a step further. All this while not making either side appear ‘better’ than the other (after all, all of this is a Templar plot!). Won't try to explain everything of course, just...I hope you like it!

There was much more description and much less dialogue in this one too, so feel free to fill out any events or other things in the prison within that week if you wish. And of course, how will Elena and Alessandro deal with the ambushers!

All in all, this all is a bit of an experiment from me. If you have anything to say about it, good or bad, please do. Enjoy and thanks in advance!

[The Kraken]

I very much enjoyed the post, especially the intertwining of the original game events with our story's own events. The details and everything were spot on, very good writing my friend. I think the way you brought about the opportunity to have to rely on one side from the other is perfect, as being ambushed by your own people would definitely make one question their alliances. All in all, I think it was an excellent post and I only hope mine can follow up half as well!

A note- it is a holiday weekend here in the States to celebrate our Independence and whatnot. I still plan on getting a post up, but this is a rare weekend that I am home from my internship to see my family and celebrate. I will try to get most of it written tonight but it will likely be posted tomorrow during the day. I apologize about that, but there's a bit much going on for me to sit down and get it done all in one go with all of my family around. It will be up though!

[Mateotis]

Aww, I'm so humbled. <3 Thank you for the kind words!

Yes, I'm well-aware how important this day in particular is for you there on the other side of the ocean. :P I appreciate the willingness, but no rush! If you can get it up, sweet. If you can't, no problem! Just make it as good as you can.

And most importantly... Have fun! :D

[The Kraken]

Viola! There it is! I left it where it is at the end for you to decide where to go next, as I figure everything will be moved inside again due to the utter chaos that just happened in the yard and the warden wanting to get the prisoners under control but I already had a really long post and I assumed that to perhaps be obvious. Let me know any positives/negatives or questions/comments/concerns! I hope you enjoy!

[Mateotis]

It was great! You illustrated Elena's struggle very well. Not knowing who to believe and trust anymore is a major crisis for anyone.

I'll get to work on a post as soon as I can!

[Mateotis]

This one took me a while, but I'm quite happy with how it turned out! It's quite heavy on action scenes, so do tell me what you think about them! I also hope the offer was not too sudden...I'd say it makes sense for Luciano to try and capitalise while Elena and Alessandro are still very much under the effect of everything that just happened.

Enjoy!

[The Kraken]

Another great post as always! :D The action is illustrated nicely, and the way you brought back the rat inside the prison to pin it all on him will definitely have some heavy influence on the two since they were just attacked by their own and now here is a stammering idiot (for lack of a better term).

I will try to work on my post tonight or tomorrow after work and have it up for you so that we can move along!

[The Kraken]

There it is! Little long and not much goin on with it, didn't have much to actually move the plot forward since the resolution of the post was to answer the cliffhanger of a question. But I got a little bit in there. Hope all is well!

[Mateotis]

It's just fine! Loved the part with Elena's realisation that she really only had the illusion of choice. That was the exact intention. :D

Now things are going along more or less smoothly, though I'm sure there'll be smaller or greater clashes between the characters every now and then still. Even more so because the 'conversion' was somewhat sudden.

Faking death is a great idea! Luciano can also once again do some work with forged letters and the like to make it more believable. And then, everything will be set up for a big surprise for the Assassins. Though I still wonder what that might be... Any ideas?

[The Kraken]

Well since it has been mentioned before by Luciano that the Assassins may know of a different artifact similar to the Apple, we could pursue that? Only Elena and Alessandro wouldn't have exclusive knowledge of its existence or whereabouts, but now that they have switched sides, the Templars have a hefty list of Brotherhood allies and conspirators that could be approached and interrogated for information that they otherwise would not have had.

This could turn into some artifact of our own creation or we could tie in with the original story line and lead our characters and big bad Mr. Borgia to the papal staff, since it was the second piece of eden in Brotherhood.

I suppose the biggest surprise at first would be the Brotherhood thinking it succeeded in its assassination of the two traitors, then watching their allies mysteriously drop like flies and be confronted with the two they thought to be rid of. Then there's Elena confronting her brother, each on opposite sides of the fight at that point. Family drama is always fun.

Lots of little tidbits, but it's all I have at the moment. If any of it seems interesting then we can build upon it, and if not we can pursue other avenues.

[Mateotis]

Oh please, all of this sounds interesting. :P

The new type of artifact especially. It can be a lesser known Piece or something completely new. Seeing that the canon pieces in this age are mostly Apples and the Staff (and the Shroud, but it's minor), there is plenty of tinkering possible. Rodrigo will eventually acquire the Staff himself by becoming Pope—though that only happens later, so we can also try to speed things up a little/alter the course (what if he can't bribe his way through the conclave? there are opposing candidates) which would make intervention necessary to secure the power by other means.

For now though, I say we keep with the artifact hunt in one way or another. As you said, Luciano is still being pressed by Rodrigo to find a replacement for the Apple (something I suppose he'll be reminded of soon...) and he will certainly try to steer this newfound ‘team’ in that direction. And for that, the first step is of course finding where it is (and what it is if we go the creative way). Confronting the Assassins and their allies in search of information is indeed what we'll probably have to do, although we might have to take a more...secretive approach to our missions if we want to keep the true fates of Elena and Alessandro secret for as long as possible.

I'll try to set up the first such mission in my next post!

Edit: Also, yes, family drama! Luciano's family played a large part in his story until the present day, much like Elena's in hers. The Vicari are somewhat entwined with the Order and they're also surely affected by the unfolding events. I have a bunch of small idea fragments for them already. We'll see how we can implement these family dynamics, because they certainly have potential!

See, I told you everything you said was interesting. :P