Forcing characters to make unwise choices

[Xaysai]

While Vincent is trying to stall for time (or convince Cadell he is not harboring the fugitive Loegaire), Vincent acts suspicious leading Cadell to believe Vincent is, in fact, harboring him (or maybe Cadell hears a noise in the house and believes it to be Loegaire). Cadell then roughs Vincent up and threatens to kill him if Loegaire does not come out from where he is hiding and give himself up. Not wanting Vincent to be killed because of him, he comes out anyways.

Or, Loegaire doesn't come out of hiding and Cadell kills Vincent and torches the house to flush Loegaire out and then captures him.

 

[Ireth]

While Vincent is trying to stall for time (or convince Cadell he is not harboring the fugitive Loegaire), Vincent acts suspicious leading Cadell to believe Vincent is, in fact, harboring him (or maybe Cadell hears a noise in the house and believes it to be Loegaire). Cadell then roughs Vincent up and threatens to kill him if Loegaire does not come out from where he is hiding and give himself up. Not wanting Vincent to be killed because of him, he comes out anyways.

Or, Loegaire doesn't come out of hiding and Cadell kills Vincent and torches the house to flush Loegaire out and then captures him.

Of those options, I'd be MUCH more inclined to go with the first one. I really don't want to kill Vincent or his family off in the third chapter of a story in which they're meant to be protagonists. ^^; Otherwise the whole story would be annulled.

 

[Penpilot]

Maybe you're approaching this wrong. Instead of making Loegaire doing something unwise, why not make Cadell do something incredibly smart. Why not have Cadell station men on all sides of the house but out of site. They have nets or whatever since Loegaire can turn invisible. He then starts pounding on the door with a group of men behind in plain site. His intention is to trick Loegaire, if he's inside, into making a break for it. So Loegaire climbs out a window at which point the hidden men can see the window being opened by an invisible Loegaire and they pounce.

Nobody is being unwise here. We have an instance of two people being smart about a situation, but it happens that one comes out on top by being a little smarter.

 

[Ireth]

Maybe you're approaching this wrong. Instead of making Loegaire doing something unwise, why not make Cadell do something incredibly smart. Why not have Cadell station men on all sides of the house but out of site. They have nets or whatever since Loegaire can turn invisible. He then starts pounding on the door with a group of men behind in plain site. His intention is to trick Loegaire, if he's inside, into making a break for it. So Loegaire climbs out a window at which point the hidden men can see the window being opened by an invisible Loegaire and they pounce.

Nobody is being unwise here. We have an instance of two people being smart about a situation, but it happens that one comes out on top by being a little smarter.

The very same idea just occurred to me not long before you posted. XD Seems like the best idea for the situation, I think.

 

[Penpilot]

The very same idea just occurred to me not long before you posted. XD Seems like the best idea for the situation, I think.

Well, it sounds like great minds think alike.

 

[SeverinR]

I saw this in a movie this week.
Stakeland; they are fighting braindead vampires for the whole movie, but it was the pregger woman's time to die.
So the two men are sitting next to a fire, after having fought many vampires and clustered together for protection, and never chased a vampire, cause they were to many.
"let her sleep she'll need it..."
The cans rattle, they see a vampire, so both run after it, leaving preggers to sleep alone.
Suprise, when they get back, having lost the vampire, the woman is gone, they chase after them,
mere minutes behind.
They find her with the super smart vampire, she has been bitten and is being bled dry,pinned by fencing material while she screams to draw them to the vengeful vampire.
It was too convienent and out of character to chase a vampire, and even more so to leave someone unprotected and asleep.

It ruined the movie.
It was script destinies. It only happened because the script said so. The people in the real situation would not have done that.

 

[psychotick]

Hi,

Are you overthinking this? People are true to their natures. If your MC is a thief who specialises in sneaking then the sneaking under a spell of invisibility will be his first choice regardless. And also, what's the ground like outside? Could he end up impaling himself on nasty looking hedges if he jumps? Landing in a soggy moat and being trapped sort of in it? Or simply making too much noise because of the tinder dry vegetation, bringing the guards running?

Cheers, Greg.

 

[Ireth]

Hi,

Are you overthinking this? People are true to their natures. If your MC is a thief who specialises in sneaking then the sneaking under a spell of invisibility will be his first choice regardless. And also, what's the ground like outside? Could he end up impaling himself on nasty looking hedges if he jumps? Landing in a soggy moat and being trapped sort of in it? Or simply making too much noise because of the tinder dry vegetation, bringing the guards running?

Cheers, Greg.

The MC in this case is a former guard, not a thief; he's not accustomed to being very secretive around his own kin, but does so simply out of self-preservation instincts. The ground outside is clear of hedges and soggy from recent rain; one of the main indicators of his presence are the marks left in the mud after he lands invisibly on the ground, which is how the other Fae know he's there (if they didn't first notice the window opening for him to jump out). They're all around the building, waiting for him to try to sneak out any way he can.