Nevill said:
Look, it can be done, we've got a direct confirmation from GM. We ought to at least try it. A locked room mystery should suit our needs fine if we go with a full stealth approach.
Oh, there are a whole bunch of ways to pull it off I think, for example I am reminded of a campaign I ran last year or the year before for a group of three (well four but one had to drop out fairly early).
Now this was not about kidnapping an Emperor no, my players tend to just kill those and take their thrones. But they did kidnap a "popess"/high priestess once, it was something of a long term confidence job.
One of them impersonated a wandering immortal, another managed to get promoted to head of the royal guard, while the third took control of a wandering theater troop.
The "immortal" came to visit the high priestess, he was put through a number of tests based upon stories about his character, walking on fire, ingesting lethal poison that sort of thing. He managed to succeed through preparation, sleight of hand and out-and-out lies. Once it was certain that he was a "true" immortal he became her adviser. He set to work seducing her but it became clear that she was tired of running her empire and wanted out, as they had actually fallen in love he offered to help her with that.
They gathered up all of the religion's higher ups and the local peasants to preform a ceremony of "ascension" and using the actors and props from the theater troop she underwent a "ritual" to become immortal. They did it up in style, think of all those Las Vegas magicians and you will get an idea.
She and the adviser disappeared into thin air, using trap doors/pulley system to "ascend" to the spirit realm. The assembled leaders did not know what to make of this, the peasants bought it though, especially when the guard captain appeared and read her final orders. She appointed the guard captain the new ruler of the empire, ordered the day to be made a national holiday, and gave each peasant in the capitol and surrounding countryside 5 gold pieces (about 1/5 of the treasury).
Now the people cheered and the priests revolted. So the guard captain ordered his archers placed on the walls (to "protect" them and the high priestess during the ceremony) to cut down the priests. The priests were massacred and the peasants were fine with this since each one benefited from the act. The guard captain, now emperor, had to fight a brief war against one of the governors but in the end he took sole control of the entire empire and slowly turned it into a constitutional monarchy.
The player that ran the theater troop became the national poet and opened a proper theater in the capitol.
As for the high priestess and the conman, they lived out the rest of their days in peace and marital bliss far away in the mountains, some say that they really did eventually ascend to the ranks of the spirits but that is another story...