Plopup Masquerade: Will It Be Effective?

Question

This is a sequel to Just How Dangerous Would a Plopup Be? and concerns an idea I had for making Plopup more dangerous.

Basically, the problem with Plopup is that they are too predictable. Hurt one, and it'll relentlessly seek revenge. They also have a strange penchant for eating scantily clad women. Alongside this, they watch people, particularly women, select one target (or maybe two or three), then use messages, surprise appearances, and the like to unnerve and manipulate their prey.

That being said, their incredible intelligence and mimicry could enable them circumvent all of that. How? By masquerading as adventurers. Adventurers tend to be oddballs, they move around all the time, and quite a few are vengeful folk and/or womanizers. Additionally, a Plopup's high durability and mobility allows them to easily escape situations or kill monsters that would be challenging or even unescapable/lethal to human adventurers.

However, this may not be as genius as I hope, and so I have a question: Would The Plopup Masquerade Be Effective?

Since this demands additional information, in addition to the linked question above there is this link. If there are any problems with this question, please let me know so I can improve it.

Clarification: The masquerade is supposed to be effective against people and sentient beings (elves, dwarves, orcs and the like) in general, since Plopup want to prevent being found out. See, if one Plopup is found masquerading as an adventurer, that'll put all adventurers under suspicion and would lead to all of them being unmasked.

The Plopup are capable of mimicking the form of the human body effectively, but they can't get some things quite right. First up, their physique. Most Plopup can passably imitate a human, but they're revealed as fake humans upon any close inspection; they lack body hair except on their face and scalp, their bodies are unusually rounded, making them look sort of childish or blobby, and their nails and teeth don't look quite right. Their hair is sort of stiff, and sometimes it moves oddly (because the hair is actually tentacles and responds to their emotions, like by spiking up when they're angry). They're also oddly flexible, like a fully Rubberized human (see link 2 for more on those people).

To avoid being revealed, Plopup prefer wearing concealing outfits; cloaks, trench coats, gloves, knee-length boots, cowls and hats, monk habits, mage robes, knight armor, and so on. (There are a lot of options available to the typical RPG adventurer, no?)

Answer 1

The Masquerade is Super Effective because Plopup are so Rare

Let's say that your kingdom has around 2.8 million people in it (chosen because it makes the math easier, but also the population of England at some point between 1000 and 1400). Let's also go crazy on the population of Plops and assume that there is 1 new Plop somewhere in the kingdom for every living person every year, or 2.8 million Plops coming into existence each year. That means there is an average of 1 Plopup each year.

If we assume that the life expectancy of a Plopup is less than or roughly equivalent to that of a human (including the odds of being hunted and killed by Adventurers), then there should not be more than 35 Plopups in existence at the same time as any given peasant.

Running into a Plopup would be nearly as uncommon as running into a member of the Royal Family. I think I could make a fairly decent argument for it being as unlikely as meeting the King himself.

With how many advantages there are to an average person to cover their face and body, there's almost no way that fear of something as rare as meeting a member of royalty is going to result in people forcing strangers (especially Adventurers) to unmask at all times.

Granted, the people have always been suspicious of strangers, especially those who don't show their faces, but that's not going to be significantly more pronounced just because they might be a Plopup.

Answer 2

The masquerade is effective because the Plops get help.

Close associates of the Plop qua adventurer are aware of what it really is. They are ok with that. They are adventurers too and these close associates benefit by the association. The Plop is a formidable ally when it comes to adventuring. Certain adventurer bands might seek out a Plop masquerader for exactly that reason. They know how to manage Plops - how to treat them gruffly but respectfully, how to make sure a Plop gets what a Plop needs, etc. These humans are no paladins - sometimes some human feed will need to be procured for the Plop and that is just how the world works. These humans will be careful of the Plop because of its nature. They are also careful of each other because of their natures. There are humans more dangerous than any Plop but they too have their uses.

And vice versa - Plops masquerade as adventurers because they benefit from the association as well. They can be less careful in the company of their adventurer associates and these associates bring abilities and skillsets that can benefit the Plop. The human adventurers can cover for their Plop associate - make excuses, improve disguises, make suggestions to the Plop about how it might more effectively pass in a given situation. The Plop does not trust them completely. But that does not mean they all cant get along.