--- Philip Hart <philiph at slac.stanford.edu> wrote: ... > Either way I'd like to see your solution - I've long wondered myself > if the Mellarian knot had a simpler solution. ... One request--that's popular demand, right? Anyway, this isn't much simpler, but it's much less dangerous, and it allows for the Morganti-switch Aliera-in-Pathfinder thing as a backup. First Vlad checks with the Demon. "Mellar's purpose was to start a Dragon-Jhereg war. What if we get the money back and don't have a war, so Mellar lives another couple weeks with the knowledge that he's thrown away his life for nothing? Then we kill him. Would that be sufficient punishment? Considering that the alternative is a disastrous war, and that my backup plan isn't guaranteed to work and at best gives Mellar a quick death, not necessarily Morganti. Also, if a war does happen, Mellar will have succeeded no matter what we end up doing to him." (In a book, this might happen offstage--Vlad just says that he got the Demon's permission.) If the Demon says no, back to Kiera and Aliera. If he says yes, and Morrolan and the Organization work something out on who gets to kill Mellar [*], then Vlad walks up to Mellar at the party and says something to shake him up, like, "There won't be any war. Your plan has failed, half-breed." Daymar does the mind-probe. If it doesn't work, back to plan B, depending on what the Demon insists on. If it works, Daymar gets the information to the Demon, maybe through Vlad or Cawti, and the money is collected. Fentor asks Mellar's two guards to leave. Then Vlad says to Mellar essentially what he said to the Demon, but in public, in front of as many Dragons as possible. "We saw through your plan, we defeated it by the simple method of not having a war, so you've thrown away your life and wealth and power for nothing. As part of your punishment, you'll be allowed to live with that knowledge for a while longer. Then the people you stole from-- who have their money back--will make an example of you at their leisure before destroying your soul. Your plan wasn't bad, but you're no match for *real* Dragons, *real* Jhereg, or Easterners. We'll be keeping an eye on you and explaining more about your ancestry and your failure. Enjoy the party." Any thoughts? [*] Fortunately, he has more than one life to give for the cause. __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Finance Tax Center - File online. File on time. http://taxes.yahoo.com/filing.html