Consequences of Breaking into an embassy (WOTVB Spoilers!) [Archive] - Wizards Community

Consequences of Breaking into an embassy (WOTVB Spoilers!) [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
Gwenfloor
06-03-05, 01:03 PM In Whispers of the Vampire's Blade, the PCs have to break into the Aundairian Embassy in Zilargo. After the fight with Lucan, some noble girl (forgot the name) pulls some strings to get the PCs out with no reprecussions. Do you know the consequences in real life of breaking into an embassy? Aundair would declare war on Breland and tell Zilargo that it was all the Brelish Government's fault! Plus the fact that Lucan and the heroes work for the Brelish Government, this could have some heavy repercussions! I don't understand how the PCs are allowed to walk out of the Embassy and suffer no legal action.
MarkB
06-03-05, 01:09 PM I think you're overstating the matter. It's fairly clear that the embassy is divided into 'seriously-private' and 'public-access' areas, and the PCs only break into the latter, which doesn't even have Aundairan guards. They do so on the night of a major party, when at least some gatecrashers are to be expected, though of course not condoned. And the ambassador is entirely well aware that there are special circumstances involved.

Even if the PCs are clumsy enough to reveal their connection to the Dark Lanterns, the worst that would be likely to happen is civil charges and a letter of complaint from Aundair to Breland.
Radkres
06-03-05, 01:18 PM It's called black mail and she had it on the ambassador.
Cloud Divider
06-03-05, 02:48 PM In Whispers of the Vampire's Blade, the PCs have to break into the Aundairian Embassy in Zilargo. After the fight with Lucan, some noble girl (forgot the name) pulls some strings to get the PCs out with no reprecussions. Do you know the consequences in real life of breaking into an embassy? Aundair would declare war on Breland and tell Zilargo that it was all the Brelish Government's fault! Plus the fact that Lucan and the heroes work for the Brelish Government, this could have some heavy repercussions! I don't understand how the PCs are allowed to walk out of the Embassy and suffer no legal action.
Are you talking about the masquerade ball at the Embassy? I just reread that encounter, and as far as I can tell, the noble that "breaks them out" is the Aundairian ambassador, herself (Neya ir'Krell). She can basically do whatever she pleases...Edit: I looked again - the text is actually a little contradictory. In one paragraph, Neya is a "high-ranking diplomat," while in another, she's an "ambassador". Ambassador > diplomat. Given there's nobody mentioned in the scene or her description that she reports to, other than the Eyes of Aundair and Aurelia herself, that suggests she is indeed, The Ambassador of Aundair to Zilargo. Which as said, is a very high-ranking position. So if she doesn't want to make a diplomatic incident out of it, she doesn't need to.

While technically something closer to tresspassing rather than B&E, it's still quite possibly enforceable.

The thing with Embassies is that (in the modern world, anyway) they're considered to be the sovereign territory of the Ambassador's nation; local laws generally tend not to apply.

In the case of the PC's breaking into the Aundair Embassy, it's probably NOT going to cause a war. There's a few reasons:
1) While the PC's have nebulous ties to Breland, via the Dark Lanterns, those ties are reasonably tenuous and fairly easily deniable. While the Dark Lantern boss-dude told the PC's that he was using "outside help" because he was concerned about corruption in his ranks, outsiders are also far more easily disavowed if things go poorly. The only paper the PC's have that could remotely link them to Breland (politically) is that Letter of Credit. And more likely than not, all it says is something like "I'll pay you back later for whatever favor the bearer requests of you. Signed, V". No Brelish seal, no Dark Lantern official stationery, no wax signet mark of Viorr's. You could try to pin it on Viorr, but he'd just come back and say "How many other people out there have names that begin with 'V'?" It certainly wouldn't stick well enough to go to war over...

Edit the Seconde: I read it again, and it does turn out that Viorr does issue them a letter that states that they are working for Boranel. Viorr could still claim the letter is forged, if it came down to it - or he'd intentionally inserted/left out something VERY subtle that could prove it's a fake). Grizzly old spymasters always have a Plan B...and C...and D. Heck, for a particularly amusing twist, let's posit that the letter is sealed in an envelope with wax, sort of an "open in case of emergency" gig. Except in reality, the letter inside is just...blank! If you like duplicitous boss-types, that'd be a pretty dirty trick. If you're not quite so evil, maybe the letter is written in invisible ink or somesuch, and only the people Boranel/Viorr trusts know how to reveal the writing. Either way, yeah, having a letter stating the PC's are Official Brelish Agents could quite possibly cause major political issues, if the PC's go nuts, and get captured and searched. But hopefully the PC's can get on Neya's good side, so it doesn't come to that.

2) It's trespassing, not assassination, nor espionage. Unless the PC's do something stupid ("Unhand us! We're are on a mission for the Dark Lanterns of Breland!"), it's likely that they'd be handed off to the Trolanport watch in the worst case. Best case, they might be let off with a warning (because hey, they were reasonably helpful in the fight). Even if they did claim to be working for Breland's CIA, they have nothing to prove, and Viorr could just claim that they're lunatics...
3) Going with the plot as written, Neya (the ambassador) is already of a reasonably positive attitude towards the PC's (she's worried about Lucan, and the PC's are trying to help), so there's not really any need for her to press charges.
4) Even if things go badly, the incident would probably more likely be used as political leverage (AKA blackmail): the next time Breland and Aundair go to the negotiating table for something, this issue will come up. The PC's might be held as political prisoners, and traded off to Breland in exchange for captured Aundairian agents.

However, if the PC's went bloodthirsty, and started taking out the gnomish guards at the party and massacred anyone that got in their way, that might make things go a bit worse. Still unlikely to start a war - but very likely that the PC's would get charged with murder (in Zilargo).

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Gwenfloor 06-03-05, 01:03 PM	In Whispers of the Vampire's Blade, the PCs have to break into the Aundairian Embassy in Zilargo. After the fight with Lucan, some noble girl (forgot the name) pulls some strings to get the PCs out with no reprecussions. Do you know the consequences in real life of breaking into an embassy? Aundair would declare war on Breland and tell Zilargo that it was all the Brelish Government's fault! Plus the fact that Lucan and the heroes work for the Brelish Government, this could have some heavy repercussions! I don't understand how the PCs are allowed to walk out of the Embassy and suffer no legal action.
MarkB 06-03-05, 01:09 PM	I think you're overstating the matter. It's fairly clear that the embassy is divided into 'seriously-private' and 'public-access' areas, and the PCs only break into the latter, which doesn't even have Aundairan guards. They do so on the night of a major party, when at least some gatecrashers are to be expected, though of course not condoned. And the ambassador is entirely well aware that there are special circumstances involved. Even if the PCs are clumsy enough to reveal their connection to the Dark Lanterns, the worst that would be likely to happen is civil charges and a letter of complaint from Aundair to Breland.
Radkres 06-03-05, 01:18 PM	It's called black mail and she had it on the ambassador.
Cloud Divider 06-03-05, 02:48 PM	In Whispers of the Vampire's Blade, the PCs have to break into the Aundairian Embassy in Zilargo. After the fight with Lucan, some noble girl (forgot the name) pulls some strings to get the PCs out with no reprecussions. Do you know the consequences in real life of breaking into an embassy? Aundair would declare war on Breland and tell Zilargo that it was all the Brelish Government's fault! Plus the fact that Lucan and the heroes work for the Brelish Government, this could have some heavy repercussions! I don't understand how the PCs are allowed to walk out of the Embassy and suffer no legal action. Are you talking about the masquerade ball at the Embassy? I just reread that encounter, and as far as I can tell, the noble that "breaks them out" is the Aundairian ambassador, herself (Neya ir'Krell). She can basically do whatever she pleases...Edit: I looked again - the text is actually a little contradictory. In one paragraph, Neya is a "high-ranking diplomat," while in another, she's an "ambassador". Ambassador > diplomat. Given there's nobody mentioned in the scene or her description that she reports to, other than the Eyes of Aundair and Aurelia herself, that suggests she is indeed, The Ambassador of Aundair to Zilargo. Which as said, is a very high-ranking position. So if she doesn't want to make a diplomatic incident out of it, she doesn't need to. While technically something closer to tresspassing rather than B&E, it's still quite possibly enforceable. The thing with Embassies is that (in the modern world, anyway) they're considered to be the sovereign territory of the Ambassador's nation; local laws generally tend not to apply. In the case of the PC's breaking into the Aundair Embassy, it's probably NOT going to cause a war. There's a few reasons: 1) While the PC's have nebulous ties to Breland, via the Dark Lanterns, those ties are reasonably tenuous and fairly easily deniable. While the Dark Lantern boss-dude told the PC's that he was using "outside help" because he was concerned about corruption in his ranks, outsiders are also far more easily disavowed if things go poorly. The only paper the PC's have that could remotely link them to Breland (politically) is that Letter of Credit. And more likely than not, all it says is something like "I'll pay you back later for whatever favor the bearer requests of you. Signed, V". No Brelish seal, no Dark Lantern official stationery, no wax signet mark of Viorr's. You could try to pin it on Viorr, but he'd just come back and say "How many other people out there have names that begin with 'V'?" It certainly wouldn't stick well enough to go to war over... Edit the Seconde: I read it again, and it does turn out that Viorr does issue them a letter that states that they are working for Boranel. Viorr could still claim the letter is forged, if it came down to it - or he'd intentionally inserted/left out something VERY subtle that could prove it's a fake). Grizzly old spymasters always have a Plan B...and C...and D. Heck, for a particularly amusing twist, let's posit that the letter is sealed in an envelope with wax, sort of an "open in case of emergency" gig. Except in reality, the letter inside is just...blank! If you like duplicitous boss-types, that'd be a pretty dirty trick. If you're not quite so evil, maybe the letter is written in invisible ink or somesuch, and only the people Boranel/Viorr trusts know how to reveal the writing. Either way, yeah, having a letter stating the PC's are Official Brelish Agents could quite possibly cause major political issues, if the PC's go nuts, and get captured and searched. But hopefully the PC's can get on Neya's good side, so it doesn't come to that. 2) It's trespassing, not assassination, nor espionage. Unless the PC's do something stupid ("Unhand us! We're are on a mission for the Dark Lanterns of Breland!"), it's likely that they'd be handed off to the Trolanport watch in the worst case. Best case, they might be let off with a warning (because hey, they were reasonably helpful in the fight). Even if they did claim to be working for Breland's CIA, they have nothing to prove, and Viorr could just claim that they're lunatics... 3) Going with the plot as written, Neya (the ambassador) is already of a reasonably positive attitude towards the PC's (she's worried about Lucan, and the PC's are trying to help), so there's not really any need for her to press charges. 4) Even if things go badly, the incident would probably more likely be used as political leverage (AKA blackmail): the next time Breland and Aundair go to the negotiating table for something, this issue will come up. The PC's might be held as political prisoners, and traded off to Breland in exchange for captured Aundairian agents. However, if the PC's went bloodthirsty, and started taking out the gnomish guards at the party and massacred anyone that got in their way, that might make things go a bit worse. Still unlikely to start a war - but very likely that the PC's would get charged with murder (in Zilargo).