Between The Lights, Session 2: Ball

[liquidcitrus]

This is an actual-play writeup of a game I am running on the Jenna Moran fanclub on Discord. 

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"I threaded my eye through the keyhole. So I could see inside it to pick the lock."
"Okay, I'll grant you that. But how did you get enough light to see by?"
"I called in a personal favor."

- Sunstories, by Carol Paresi

There is, as is usual for Nobilis, a ball. Specifically, it is the traditional winter ball held in Locus Kethredamen. Maddie attempts to hold a spelling bee. Sasha tries to accuse someone of colluding with Heat. Also present are a great number of NPCs. Mostly Ogdoad (greater spirits), but a couple Nobles too.

It goes rather poorly.

Entrance

<HG> The chandeliers glint. Brass automatons play stringed instruments in the corners. There are plates of hors d'oeuvres next to the hand of every major figure.
<HG>Are you ready to make an entrance?
<Sasha> Absolutely not
<Sasha> but let's do it anyway

Familia Kethredamen emerges from the curtains. Sonja inclines her head and smiles. Lionel has his Glorious on, and the crowd goes wild. Sasha sneaks out wearing her Unblemished Guise, so everyone just assumes she's part of the help, and also they are distracted by Lionel anyway. The three descend to work the crowd. And then Maddie shows up.

<Maddie> I slam open the door to the banquet hall, spending 2 AMP for a level 4 miracle if it's the kind of door that takes more than one person to open
<Maddie> I'm wearing the same clothes from yesterday that got torn up in the chase
<HG> (You get a Chancel discount)
<HG> The crowd goes quiet with what one assumes is either anticipation or dread.
<Maddie> "My subjects, your birthday girl has arrived!"
<Sasha> Sasha bursts out laughing
<Sasha> And then she bites her tongue
<HG> The brass servitors make a valiant effort to fill the awkward silence with what would be a string quartet piece if it was being played by a hundred and three different instruments from all directions.

Maddie descends and shows everyone that she has an incredibly impressive crown with an 8-Will Intention. (I assessed this to have an Obstacle 2 because ragged clothes and cardboard crown, but that still means an effective Intention level of 6.) Maddie pulls this outfit off, and some of the lesser spirits are genuinely impressed. The Maiden of the Winter Solstice, who has seen Maddie at these events frequently, has brought Maddie a bonbon, which Maddie receives with regal grace and then immediately eats.

Sasha attempts to use Aspect to eavesdrop on the gathering to see if there's any gossip about Rhonda (the Power of Cups from the previous session) or Heat (the unhinged Noble from the previous session). There's nothing on Rhonda. There's something on Heat.

<HG> Soil's-Regal and the Marchessa of Lawns are having a rather heated discussion about the exact nature of artificial turf. The Mississippi River's naiad is trying to swipe the last of the miniature quiche tarts before the spirit of the Sears Tower gets to it. Rhonda is not mentioned.
<HG> Lord Fruit is talking to some other Power's Anchor about Heat. Would you like to listen more closely to that conversation?
<Sasha> absolutely
<HG> "-- Heat's already seriously screwed up the seasonal cycles of the apple trees in the region. How the hell is the Prosaic trying to explain this anyway?"
<HG> "Severe El Nino, is what the forecasters are calling it. But this kind of heat wave is unprecedented. If it keeps getting hotter we're going to have a mass dementia animus outbreak. Duke Epidemiology's been telling my boss that there's already way more cases than usual - "

But before she can do anything about this, Maddie has taken the stage again. To announce that she is holding a spelling bee. For forbidden words.

<Maddie> I think at this point, Maddie interrupts by announcing loudly enough for the entire banquet hall to hear: "May I have your attention please? In a few minutes we will begin the first annual Locus Kethredamen Spelling Bee!"
<Maddie> "'A spelling bee,' you ask. 'Isn't that a boring old thing for kids?' Well not this one, ladies and gentlemen."
<Maddie> "Today I will challenge you to spell the most harrowing words in Creation."
<Maddie> "Words you should never speak. Words you should never hear. And worse."
<Maddie> "But for now, carry on! I still need a few minutes to prepare."

Sonja, who has also been listening for discussions involving Heat, tries to insert herself into the conversation between Lord Fruit and that Anchor who was speaking to him. They exchange pleasantries. Sonja tries to bring up the topic of Heat, but the conversation is rapidly derailed onto the topic of Maddie's peculiar announcement and whether it was planned. (It wasn't.)

Spelling

Maddie passes around a signup sheet and has the stage set up with chairs and podiums. The contestants are Sasha, Sonja, a handful of spirits, and... a Noble who is extremely mysterious and indistinct. Sasha inquires with the Raven (her internal representation of the Noble society) as to who this is, and the Raven is uncharacteristically coy about it until Sasha pushes a Treasure miracle into it. Even after the Treasure miracle, the Raven can only say that the Noble is "Rumor."

The signup sheet for the spelling bee has the names of everyone except Rumor. Where Rumor's name should be, there is only a pressed red carnation, meaning "yes". Maddie calls whoever-it-is up to the podium by the name of Carnation, and presents them the first word to spell:

<Maddie> "Your word is..."
<Maddie> Maddie pauses dramatically.
<Maddie> She takes a deep breath.
<Maddie> "..."
<Maddie> "...bulls**t."
<Lionel> Lionel dies a little inside
<Sonja> Sonja pinches her nose and hangs her head.
<Sasha> Sasha uses an Aspect 3 Miracle of Skill: Keeping My Shit Together

The hair-curlingly forbidden words that Maddie was promising earlier? Are cursewords. (Maddie is thirteen, okay?) In any case, Rumor spells the given word with... a flower.

<HG> The figure produces a bit of dogsbane. Yes. That definitely means bulls**t. You're pretty sure it spells bulls**t, too. The fact that the figure never actually spoke it aloud is immaterial.
<HG> (The meaning given for dogsbane in my flower reference is "deceit/falsehood")
<Maddie> "Fascinating! That is... correct. Somehow. You may take a seat."

Most of the crowd figures that there's nothing wrong with this. But not Sasha! Sasha was already suspicious about Rumor's mysterious appearance, and uses this suspicion as a lever to pry whatever Rumor's doing out of her head entirely. Upon which she finds out that Rumor is surrounding themselves with a miracle to continuously blur the details of whatever they're doing.

<Sasha> I take a Wound to resist whatever psychosocial bullshit Rumor is clearly pulling
<HG> ok call it Serious
<Sasha> it gives the Affliction "I must distrust the Dominus Rumor"
<HG> OK then, Sasha, you know that Rumor is definitely talking, and also using a miracle of some description to prevent anyone from actually pinning down what kind of words are going on here and how they are being used. They did spell "bulls**t" correctly, though.

Sasha text-messages her Familia about this - having Anchored her phone, she doesn't even need to take it out to do this, she can just think it at the phone and have it done - as the spelling bee continues to its second, and then third, round. A few participants drop out because they're too embarrassed to spell cursewords. Sasha disqualifies herself by purposely spelling the wrong curseword. But cursewords aren't exactly difficult to spell, so there are relatively few eliminations.

<HG> (Rumor answers being asked to spell a certain word for a certain part of the male anatomy with a sweet william. Which means "manhood". Checks out.)

Most of the audience doesn't realize there's anything wrong with Rumor's... unusual... method of spelling words. Most of the audience. There are a few in the back who are a little more skeptical. Sasha overhears them and steps into the conversation.

<HG> "Who the hell is that?"
<HG> "It's just a spelling bee, Soil, what's the big deal with them wreathing themselves?"
<HG> "Why should they need to wreath themselves for a little gathering like this?"
<Sasha> "It's Rumor."

Sasha dispels her Unblemished Guise, to the consternation of all the other participants in this conversation. They are horrified by Sasha's still being in her 7-11 uniform.

<HG> A collective sigh. "This is a fancy dress ball," says Lawns, "and you should have known this because you wrote the invitations."

Sonja comes in to back up Sasha by insulting Lawns' own choice of outfit. Sasha, for her part, is still preoccupied by Heat and Rumor. She decides to forcibly steer the conversation towards them.

The Accused

<Sasha> "May I suggest re-focusing on Rumor and their obvious connection to Heat and the Green Snake Order?"
<HG> "Who and the what now?" says Soil's-Regal.

Soil's-Regal and the Marchessa of Lawns had nothing to do with the prior conversation on Heat. They are puzzled. (At this point, I warned the players that continuing the conversation under the premise that Rumor was in any way related to Heat, or Rhonda, would be deeply inadvisable. They continued anyway.)

<HG> (the ones discussing Heat were Lord Fruit and someone's Anchor, who are still watching the Mississippi River struggle to spell "motherf**ker")

Sasha asks the Raven a quick question about who might be involved with Heat. The Raven says that Lawns doesn't know anything. The Raven also says that Soil knows something. Sasha decides to try bluffing, proceeding under the assumption that Soil is also colluding with Heat and/or Rumor to see if this will turn up anything.

<HG> Soil's-Regal draws himself up to full height and tosses part of his bearskin over his shoulder disdainfully. "What are you implying, Aliki."
<Sasha> "I, Sasha Konstanian, Baroness of Alienation, Member of the Robber's Order, accuse you of collusion with the rogue Power Heat to unlawfully expand his influence over Earth at risk to the Prosaic."

Soil's-Regal has the twin revelations that a) Alienation has been replaced and b) Alienation's replacement has just accused him of trying to weaken Creation. With a lovely sense of dramatic timing, the entire rest of the ballroom happens to fall silent to hear this.

<HG> ([As Raven:] "What in the name of Cneph's left testicle was that for?")
<Sasha> ("Oh, I'm sorry, was I not catching your implications correctly?")
<HG> ("I said he knows something, not that he's involved! Also, you don't accuse someone based on a hunch!")

Lionel promptly collars Sasha, drags her out into the hallway, and asks what the hell she did that for. She explains. Lionel is not impressed by this explanation.

<Sasha> "Aren't you a power of the Dark?"
<Sasha> "Let me burn up. That's my right, isn't it?"
<Lionel> "If you were human, sure."
<Sasha> "Maybe it's just the heart, just the Raven [that's Noble]."
<Lionel> "Then sort that out first."
<Sasha> "Fine."
<Sasha> Sasha Incarnates into the sense of alienation between her noble and her human sides.

At this point Sasha goes on some sort of spirit journey. I request that this spirit journey happen offscreen, in favor of getting everyone else and the party resolved first.

Meanwhile

While Sasha is on her spirit journey, the situation in the ballroom deteriorates. Most of the spirits and some of the Nobles flee, not wanting to get caught in miracle-slinging. Maddie abandons the spelling bee, and promptly challenges Soil to a duel. Soil is ready to defend himself. Then the cavalry arrive. And by cavalry, I mean a horse. Who is a Noble. And not Stephen from the previous entry.

<HG> Once Sasha has been collared and dragged out into the hallway, [Soil] sighs. "So that isn't Aliki, then?"
<Maddie> "Aliki? I think it's pronounced alkali, and no, Sasha's definitely not an alkali metal."
<Maddie> "As a horse," the horse says, "I think you are completely misunderstanding the question."

(Before you ask, the horse had been mentioned as being at the party before this appearance, so this wasn't a total surprise.)

<Maddie> Maddie side-eyes the horse. "Who are you, anyway? What are you doing in my domain?"
<HG> "I am attending your party. As a horse."
<Maddie> "...would you like to be challenged to a duel as well?"
<Maddie> "We could have a wrestling tournament, maybe!"
<HG> "As a horse, I must respectfully decline this invitation. I have other important things to be doing that do not involve wrestling. Also you would probably break my legs."

After the horse breaks the tension, Maddie tells Soil that her parents will contact him with a time and place to fight, since fighting in the ballroom would be "unsporting". Maddie leaves the ballroom to look for Sasha. She finds Sonja, instead, who has lost her nerve. There is a heartwarming conversation where Maddie reminds Sonja that they are both Nobles and can just decide to be confident. Sonja does so, and then goes back to the ballroom with Maddie.

<HG> Lord Fruit draws Sonja aside as soon as she enters. "Did you know she was going to do that?"
<Sonja> "Nope, no idea. But I'm going with it. Got to present a unified front of course."
<HG> "The living society also must present a unified front," he says, sadly.
<HG> Then he punches you.

Maddie sees Sonja get punched for supporting Sasha's accusation, and reacts by getting angry and preparing for a fight. Soil's-Regal sticks Maddie in a bubble of clay, which he has specifically constructed so that it wouldn't have pores big enough to let Maddie out even if she did turn into fog.

<HG> "Can we not," Soil says, as if commenting on the weather.

Return

Sasha comes back from her implicit character development, now realizing that she seriously screwed something up. She decides to make a statement to attempt to repair this.

<Sasha> "Soil."
<Sasha> "I take full responsibility for the actions of my familia."
<Sasha> "In accordance with the Chestnut Law, I accept seven baseless accusations against my honor, and no more."
<HG> "You are a fool," says Soil, "and I would have you put in the deepest chambers for your indiscretion, were you not of your status."
<Sasha> Sasha smiles and holds up one finger.

Soil elects to save the other six statements for later, turns Maddie's containment back into normal dirt, and leaves. The few remaining guests decide to leave before anything else happens.

<HG> There is now a gigantic pile of dirt on the floor of the ballroom. The brass servitors whir in dismay and begin swarming out en masse with brooms and dustpans.
<HG> Now that everyone is gone, in comes Keith.
<HG> He scoops up a good fraction of the dirt and eats it, crunching on the poor brass servitor that happened to get caught too.
<HG> That did not sound like a successful party, Keith indicates, and also the soil is very salty.

The familia attempts, and mostly fails, to explain what happened.

Oh, and Sonja has one last trick to pull. She decides to make a metaphor that insults Heat, hopefully baiting him into coming for a confrontation.

<Sonja> Before the evening closes, Sonja's going to step outside the chancel. Her nose has been bandaged and she's got something she wants to do. Hopefully it'll catch some attention
<Sonja> Sonja performs a Greater Creation of Metaphors, embedding an aphorism into the everyday vocabulary of mundane people
<Sonja> To say, whenever it's too warm for comfort, "I guess Heat is throwing a tantrum again."

On The Next Episode...

Rumor.

Oh, and also I guess Heat is probably going to come up too.

Comments

[l33tminion]

This is great, thanks for the write-up!