LogPurgatoria-Jason-3

Game log for the 2015/12/13 session of Apocalypse World: Purgatoria, as taken by Jason

Constance leads Falley to Violetta's workshop, where Violetta is still showing the effect of the "insect" sting. She asks Falley to go find a barber to treat the injury. Falley makes sure she's thought this true, and then runs off.

Adrian returns to his workshop. He begins pondering ways to improve Glory's design. Nigel comes calling and they exchange pleasantries, after which he says whether Adrian might be willing to act as armorer for Nigel and Janet's armor. Adrian agrees and offers to begin work at once, so that he won't be distracted. Nigel insists that Adrian join the Knights for second tea before starting work.

They return to the chapel and greet Lady Janet, who shows Adrian the stuck shoulder servo in her armor. After this discussion, your humble correspondent has begun to think that Adrian is Edd China. A little orphan named Simon asks Adrian for food. Adrian tries to make a joke about offering him oil to drink, which nobody finds funny, and Nigel tells an older orphan named Percival to put Simon to his nap. Adrian tells Janet and Nigel that he could fabricate replacement armor plates, but that fixing the stuck shoulder servo will require him to bring the armor to the workshop. The Knights do not seem especially pleased at the thought.

As they talk, some manner of foreign dignitary appears, and chooses not to be put off by Nigel's explanation that the armorer is occupied. He introduces himself as Gaston LeMay, off of Aerolith Aquitaine. He needs his Chasseur-class armor maintained. (Chasseur suits, by the way, are known for their speed.) Gaston assures Adrian that he can compensate Adrian sufficiently that Adrian will be quite pleased to prioritize his needs. Also, Gaston thinks that Nurnburg smells. Nigel takes an increasingly unhappy view of this conversation, but Gaston seems impervious to his protests. Gaston seems unwilling to contemplate any notion that Adrian might have desires other than to rush to Aquitaine immediately to begin work on the project, but eventually accepts that Adrian's honor might require him to finish his existing projects first. Suspicion grows in the room, and though Nigel feels confident that Adrian will not betray him, Adrian thinks that Gaston will probably kidnap him if/when he visits Aquitaine. In fact, after Gaston finally leaves, Adrian says as much to Nigel. Adrian decides to request audience with the Margrave, in hopes of getting some security.

We find Freitag looking out from an observation dome, contemplating the recent battle. Margrave Heinrich and Burgrave Hugo come to visit, and the Margrave compliments the Commissar on his bravery in battle. All agree that it was a pity they could not take the Invictus, but that the Nurnburg won honor merely from the attempt. Heinrich then asks Hugo to take leave a moment so that Heinrich might speak privately with Freitag. He'd like Freitag to make sure that neither Nigel nor Dieter kills the other. Heinrich makes it clear that this is his wish as Margrave, not merely a whim. On his way out, he passes Gaston in the hall, but they don't speak. They merely exchange equally ineffective indifferences.

Freitag goes to the Chapel to visit Nigel. He greets Adrian and then offers Nigel his services as second. Of course, Janet is already his second. An awkward situation! Furthermore, as they try to think of a way out of this, Janet catches Freitag looking at her, and takes offense. She accuses him of undressing her with his eyes. His stammered apologies do not satisfy her, and she picks him up by his collar and slams him against the wall. Nigel stammers out words to calm her, assuring her that Freitag did no such thing. Enraged, she makes a fist and says, "If you want to fuck, bend over, because you're about to get fucked!" Nigel intervenes, yanking Freitag away from her and hustling him out of the room. Janet then tells Adrian to hurry the repairs on her armor, because she has someone to kill. Freitag implores Nigel not to kill or be killed.

Violetta consults her ancestors for insight. Turns out you maybe ought not do that with a paper wasp sting. As happened to Falley previously, she suffers The Gathering.

Falley brings Greeves the barber to Violetta's workshop just in time to hear Violetta's mother, speaking through her, berate her for her various shortcomings, and they also hear Violetta respond, "Mother, you were never going to give it to me, so I took the money." Greeves asks the group to hold Violetta down, which her people do. He wakes her from her fit with a small bowl of burning sulphur, and then shows him the sting on the back of her hand. He immediately decides to lance it. When he does so, nothing comes out. He begins manipulating the stick with his thumbs, which causes Violetta intense agony. He tries leeches on it. They turn black and fall off. That's discouraging. Now Greeves gets curious, and Violetta tells him how she unfolded the paper. Greeves doesn't believe her until Daphne backs her up. Once convinced, he begins laying leeches across her arm, to see how high the poisoning goes. It takes only minutes for the one on her wrist to die. The next one up looks sick but doesn't die. Above that one, the leeches seem well. He concludes that he must take the hand off to stop the poison. Violetta refuses. Greeves acknowledges her right to refuse, but cautions that failure to remove the hand today may require removal of the arm tomorrow. Greeves departs. Falley consults with Violetta, then hynotizes her with 1-hold, and then goes in search of Lady Chatworth, or possibly Timo.

Timo let Falley in. He tells her the whole story. She seems unsurprised and a litle peeved. She opines that it's a matter for Reginald, her cousin. It turns out that the instructions she gave Timo for fetching Reginald were code for "send this fool to the Questioners." Timo warns Falley, who goes on the run, with +1 for Timo's help.

The next morning, nearing dawn, Nigel and Freitag prepare for the duel. It will be held in the square near the cathedral. Nigel has selected foils for the duel, and yields the choice of blade to Dieter. Dieter wanted a duel to the death, but with Freitag's help, Nigel convinces him that a duel to first blood is acceptable, provided that the loser must feast the winner. (Dieter has taken a vow of poverty, so winning this duel is the best chance at a fine meal he's had in months.) They begin! Dieter doesn't even let him finish his warmup before rushing him, and he takes Nigel unawares. First blood to Dieter, but Lady Janet calls Dieter on his poor form. Dieter seems content with winning regardless of his poor form. No sooner has he faced down Janet than Nigel's wound begins to hemorrage. Nigel calls for Greeves immediately. Janet wants to press for an immediate resolution to this new question of honor, Freitag wants to put a stop to the quarrel, and Nigel would like to lie down and receive some treatment now. Janet, disgusted, says that she doesn't know whether Nigel or Dieter is the bigger coward. In fact, she "descends to Freitag's level," again and makes reference to bleeding pussies. Well, now Nigel has no choice but to resume the duel. Dieter seems ready to protest any suggestion that his first blow was unfair, but Nigel eliminates any such concern by reminding him of his vow of no quarter. It's to the death now! Nigel, aware that there's actually a duel on, ripostes with blistering speed and cuts Dieter's cheek. He then asks whether Dieter might not be satisifed, but he will not. This time Nigel's surprising speed allows him to grapple with Dieter and toss him to the ground, knocking him unconscious. Asked thrice, Dieter does not wake to continue the fight, and thus Nigel stands the victor. Nigel and Dieter's squire exchange dinner invitations.

Freitag goes to report the morning's events to the Margrave. Once again, he passes Gaston on the way. He hears muffled noises coming from a trunk being carried by Gaston's servants. The sounds could very well be a human asking to be let out. Freitag, unwilling to overtly breach diplomatic immunity, says that the servant carrying the trunk looks sick and needs to be taken to quarantine. Nope. Gaston pulls a pistol, Freitag pulls knives. That sounds unequal except that Freitag cuts his gun hand, causing him to drop the gun. Freitag then reenacts a favored scene from V for Vendetta and stabs or slashes the whole mess of them, killing a couple. Some of the survivors run, but not Gaston. Unfortunately, the servants with the trunk get away. Freitag orders the men with the trunk to stop, they refuse, and he kills them both. Gaston draws his sword and catches Freitag undr the coat around the inner thigh, getting in under the Commissar's armored coat, implicitly offering him a choice between getting cut or backing down. He does not back down. He breaks Gaston's neck instead, and luckily avoids damage to his femoral artery. Still, once the fight ends, he realizes that the steamer trunk is gone.

Back in the previous day...

Adrian requests audience with the Margrave, and has to wait until late in the night for it. He warns of a possible kidnap plot, but Hugo just doesn't believe it's possible that a Knight from a relatively friendly Aerolith might do such a thing. Adrian suggests that perhaps a neutral airship might be arranged. The Margave reminds him that, being a free man, he has no sworn oaths to or from the Margrave. Now, if he took oath of service to the Margrave, he would have an undeniable claim to the Margrave's protection. He asks for the remainder of the night to think about it, then goes back to his workshop to work on Janet's armor.

Falley decides to try to escape by moving into the servant's hallways, which are separate from the halls and work through their own series of concealed panels in the walls. He brushes past one servant, ducks into the valet's area, and then stumbles into the butler. In a panic, he tries to hold the butlet at gun point, but the butler throws a shoe at him that knocks the pistol out of line and, worse, causes it to go off. Falley runs the other way, into the kitchen, through the pantry, and out into the street. Back to Violetta's workshop, late in the evening.

Falley reports to Violetta and Beauregard immediately says that he told Violetta not to open it. Oddly enough, nobody else remembers it that way, and the apprentices start fighting with one another. Falley suggests that the order of St Cristobal, which protects pilgrims, might be persuaded to offer protection, but we'd have to pose as pilgrims somehow. Violetta consults her ancestors for advice. Her mother tells her to get that looked at, and suggests that if she's in trouble with the Chatworths, she needs help from an Eisenberg or a Von Bulow. She remembers that Dieter Vom Bulow has some quarrel going with Lady Chatworth. She decides to go to him, and Falley agrees to go with her to the chapter house of the Order of Fenris.

They find Dieter awake and in quiet contemplation. Violetta prevails upon the steward (Botsford) to interrupt his prayers, so he comes to us wearing a hairshirt and no shoes. Falley lets Violetta take the lead in the telling her story, leaving out the matter of how she came by the message. Dieter pounces on her hand, digs his thumb into the swollen spot, and turns his wrath upon Falley, who provides assurances that neither of them acted with any intend to harm the Lady. Dieter then offers them sanctuary, and sends Botsford to fetch Greeves. Falley offers to do Dieter's face. Botsford brings them gruel, offers them cots, etc. Then Greeves shows up and tells Violetta that he was right all along. By now her fingertips have fallen off and her finger tips are dark grey. Greeves assures her that prosthetics can provide some function, and moves forward with the amputation. When he finishes, Dieter tells her to have no doubt that he will make Lady Chatworth's champion pay this morning. Which is absolutely just as good as having a hand.

Retroactively, Falley painted Dieter's face for the duel, and got 3 hold for his Artful & Gracious roll.