Daring Enterprise

Daring Enterprise is Polti's 9th Dramatic Situation, but here it is mixed with others because they only change on the moral point of view. Abduction, his 10th Dramatic Situation, is a Daring Enterprise in which the Leader is the abductor, the Object is the person abducted and the Adversary is the guardian of the abducted.
The Elements are

• A Leader
• An Object that the Leader wants to get
• An Adversary who protects the Object

Plot: the Leader takes the Object from the Adversary by overpowering it

This plot is about risk, about the Leader going beyond the restraints of what others think possible to get its goal.

The Object

The Object can be an actual object, a person, a concept (freedom), to conquer a place...

As Object is mostly a passive element in the story, so PCs should not be part of it.

If the Object is a person it could be part of the Adversary or be willing to be taken (or none). In abducting the son of a general, the son is Object and probably an Adversary too; the general is only an Adversary

The Adversary

The Adversary is the union of the different obstacles that getting the Object could have.

• The current owners of the Object
• A difficult place the Leader has to go through (a fairy forest; a labyrinth; enemy territory)
• Any obstacle in the path (fingerprint locks; magic wards; walls)

PCs as Adversary

The PCs need to know that somebody wants the object. Otherwise, the Leader would take the object before they can react.

If the Leader successfully takes the Object from the PCs, the next story could be another Daring Enterprise in which the PCs are the Leader, wanting to recover the Object from the previous Leader, now Adversary.

The Leader

The Leader either has the idea by itself or is challenged.

Matho had the idea of robbing the sacred veil of Carthago

Salammbô was challenged by Matho to recover the sacred veil from him

Deruchette (not an Element) challenged Gilliat to recover the engine of her father's ship

PCs as Leader

You can plan the Object and Adversary and then issue a challenge to the PCs. The risk is that the PCs don't care enough for the Object to accept the challenge.

If the PCs told you what they want with enough time, you can plan what they have to go against to get it and it's like a challenge they issued to themselves.

Example: Preparations for War

The Object is to get the armies ready.

• Get resources to prepare or resist a siege
• Get the people out of the open and behind walls
• Raise the moral of the own army

There can be several Adversary who hamper those efforts

• Pacifists or afraid allied kings, who prefer to remain neutral
• Kings doubting between which side they should choose. 
• Kings' counselors advising neutrality or choosing the other side

The scale can be smaller, like preparing a battle or an ambush. The smaller the scale, the shorter the story.

Example: War 

The smaller scale would be a battle or a combat, although the smaller the scale, the shorter the story.

The Object is to win the war.

The Adversary is the enemy.

Example: Rob/Recover the Object

Also, it can be reversed into Recover a robbed Object

Prometheus (Leader) took the fire (Object) from the gods (Adversary)

Matho (Leader) steals the sacred veil of Carthage (Object) from Salammbô's army camp (Adversary)

Salammbô (Leader) recovers the sacred veil (Object) from Matho (Adversary)

Example: Adventures

The discovery of America

The Labors of Hercules

Gilliat is in love with Deruchette, who declared that she would marry whoever recover his father's sank ship's engine, so Gilliat gets a ship of his own to go and recover the thing.

Development

After being robbed of the Object - or maybe just because of the try - the Adversary can pursue the Leader (Pursuit) or try to get back the Object (another Daring Enterprise)
If the Enterprise goes wrong it can have consequences so dire that the story develops into Disaster.
The Daring Enterprise often makes the Leader known to the Adversary, so it is not usual for it to develop into an Enigma, but it could be. For instance, even when the PCs, as Adversary, know who took the Object, the may need to prove it before taking action and getting the evidence qualifies as Enigma.