Quote Originally Posted by Hatu View Post
...the trap he winds up falling for is absurdly simple. Meeting an untrustworthy enemy all by yourself has an obvious and clear risk - that the person you meet will attack you. ...
Ok, let's consider this. Ansom has a handful of archons with him, has the Arkenpliers (an immensely powerful artifact), and is, himself, one of the most powerful warlords in Erf (at least as far as we know). He is meeting with a single, low-level warlord (Parson's bonus was only 2, if you check). The force brought to that meeting could probably destroy most of GK's remaining forces, given the opportunity! Ansom lost, and died, not because he was stupid, not because he was just a plot device, but because he was the height of nobility and honor in Erfworld, because he was already badly injured, and because Parson got lucky. Plain and simple. It's not a ridiculously easy ploy, it's one that few people would have seen through (yourself included, I'd bet), especially given the foolamancy disguise and the fact that his forces were more than sufficient to destroy any unit Parson sent. If Parson had attacked Ansom, Parson would have been dead. If Parson had given another unit, such as Bogroll, a disguise, and had that unit attack Ansom, that unit would be...dead. Only the element of surprise, Ansom's wounded state, and the fact that no one expected a suicidal assassination attempt (a move that no "noble" would even consider).