Log7th Sea: The Search for Salvation-2012/09/13-Jason-1

Game log for the 2012/09/13 session of 7th Sea: The Search for Salvation, as taken by Jason

We head over to Nicolas Crepaux d'Toille's house right after the party, since the alternative would suck much more. When we arrive, his majordomo Anton Mojarro shows us to a suite in one wing of the mansion, which gives us our own common area, with rooms off it where we can sleep. Veritably, it is the lap of luxury. Our wing has five bedrooms, so we pair off with Felix and Janisse in one room, Claude and Léon in a second, and Benito and Nikolai in their own rooms.

Léon talks to Benito about his desire to gain more information about Jean-Jacque Frémiet d'Bas. Benito and Claude urge caution.

Reginald, preferring to keep separate, goes back to the barbershop, where he eventually meets back up with Janisse.

5 Octavus, 1668

In the morning, a butler comes into the common area to offer a meal. Benito asks whether there's a place the Castillian exiles congregate, and the butler gives him the name of a salon where such folk may often be found. Before anyone goes anywhere, Nicolas invites us all to breakfast with him, in a way that suggests that no would be the wrong answer. Léon compliments him on his home, and then Nicolas and Benito talk about Castille. Nicolas speaks Castillian perfectly. After they finish their conversation, Nicolas turns to Nikolai, and discusses the Montaigne/Ussuran conflict in fluent Vodacce. He carries on like this, demonstrating a comprehensive command of affairs in all the nations of Théah. Anton eventually comes in and whispers to Nicolas, who announces that we have a guest. A notably lovely young blonde lady comes in. Nicolas bows and kisses her fingers, then introduces her as Georgette Deneuve Du Surlign. Her family controls the province, making her a person of considerable import. She's delighted to meet us all and even winks at Léon. She takes a seat at the end of the table. It then develops that she came over to pick Nicolas' brain about the state of the war. Of course they speak in Montaigne, so most of us must sit silently and eat while listening to their jibberish. She asks our host what he thinks of San Cristobal, and how well it could be defended against attack from the sea. She's not thinking small here. Nicolas thinks that a naval assault on San Cristobal would be unwise. Really unwise. Léon asks why she asks such questions, given that she's clearly no general. Seems that she works for the Shadow Broker acts as a broker and carrier of information.

Reginald wakes and goes to the local Explorer's Guild chapterhouse, with Janisse in tow. It's a small facility but sufficient. While he's there, a young redheaded woman in travelling clothes enters. Janisse tells Reginald that she knows this newcomer - she's a courier used by the University. Janisse goes to sit with her aquaintance, and Reginald follows. The courier speaks Montaigne with a very rural northern accent but she's friendly enough. Reginald asks her about getting into the catacombs under L'empereur's palace, and she tells them they can get in via the sewers. Janisse doesn't do sewers. Nope. Just plain nope.

Benito goes to Salon Paradis, which is an odd experience. It's clearly a Montaigne salon, but a strong Castillian influence has crept into the decor in deference to their new clientele. People are playing cribbage, which works just fine for Benito. He plays well and the game warms them up to him. When they hear he was recently in the homeland, the entire conversation focuses on him immediately.

Nikolai walked Benito to the salon, but drops him off and goes looking for Tibesti. He hears that they tend to be found near the docks, and sure enough, he finds Tibesti wagons there. Nikolai sees a couple guys fishing in the river, so he goes to talk to them, according to Tibesti custom. He doesn't speak Tibesti but he knows their rituals. They discuss travel, the roads, and the silliness of Montaigne. They also share Ussuran vodka with him. Nikolai immediately seeks to buy their vodka. All of it. He trades them a Vodacce rifle for lots and lots of vodka.

Felix ends up practicing his Drexel moves in the courtyard, and Nicolas comes to watch, until Anton comes for his attention. Felix works out for about ninety minutes.

Reginald and Janisse go shopping. Reginald tries to find something about the animals he might find in a sewer, but finds only fiction. Turns out he'll settle for fiction. They go back to the barber's house.

Léon goes looking for Reginald in the barbershop, Felix in tow. They're at home. Reginald tries to enlist Léon in his sewer plan. Felix counsels against it. Nonetheless, Reginald asks for details of the Sun Palace. Yeah, the Lightning Guard keep people out of there. Léon agrees to go to the Sun Palace with Reginald, although it's not clear that he realizes he's volunteered to sneak in through the sewers. Léon, in turn, asks Reginald to him investigate Jean-Jacque Frémiet d'Bas. Felix tries to convince them that going into the sewers is a horrible plan, but cannot make headway. Silly people! They then get back to the question of Mssr d'Bas, and how Reginald might investigate him. Léon explains that he only knows one way of getting information: the use of alcohol in casual conversation. Before he tries that trick on J-J, he would like some certainty that J-J has no notion of his true identity yet. Léon could perhaps blood a bag, and sent Reginald to burgle the house with the bag. Since Léon can always remove items from the bag, there's no chance of Reginald getting caught with a bad full of stolen property. Reginald will need to get hold of some lockpicks, which may be slightly tricky. Léon bloods a bag they find on site. Reactions to seeing blooding up close, with the accompanying screaming as the universe protests its violation, vary considerably. Janisse offers to bandage Léon's wound, but he prefers to handle it himself.

Reginald goes back to look for Nikolai at the manor and sees him walking out with a rifle. They walk and talk together, with Reginald trying to keep some small distance due to the alcohol fumes coming off the bear. Reginald explains his need for lockpicks. Nikolai usually uses his boots to get past locked doors, but figures the Tibesti will be able to provide lockpicks. He introduces Reginald to the folks he met earlier, and swaps the rifle for the vodka. He cautions Reginald to be social for a while before trying to get to business. As things get rolling, a teenage Tibesti girl plops herself down into Nikolai's lap. He realizes quickly that she was trying to steal one of his knives. He reclaims it but allows her the dignity of suggesting she found the knife he lost. He returns the favor by taking her hair down, appropriating the lockpicks she had tied up in it. She easily sees what he's doing but agrees to bargain for them. Reginald stealthily uses his magical skills to turn pebbles into dice and offers them in trade. He cunningly makes them the same blue as her eyes. That does it. Trade accepted! Now for the serious drinking.

Benito stays at the salon all day and returns for dinner. Léon and Felix also return for dinner. Nicolas puts out a nice spread again, and can't wait to hear all our stories. Léon uses our conversation about Paix to ask about Georgette, who Nicolas suggets might be a bit of a viper, and J-JFd'B, who he claims to know slightly. Nicolas counsels that Frémiet is a dangerous man and asks for details about their interaction. He also informs Léon that Frémier has no subtlety; if he mentioned traitors to Léon, he has traitors on his mind. Best of all: there's a ball tomorrow night. Felix gets to be all deliciousified again!

Nikolai parties with the Tibesti all night. He knows anything on his person will be fair game, so he brings very little. He's one of them, so he won't get treated badly, and he ends up spending the night in the caravan.

6 Octavus, 1668

Reginald, somewhat the worse for wear, goes looking for dice that will match the magic ones. He spends hours looking, but eventually finds something pretty close.

Léon, Benito, and Felix prepare for the ball. Nicolas brings in tailors to make sure we continue to impress and work the trend that Felix set. Felix cannot resist showing his muscles a bit, which only sets our host off again. The tailors come up with something nice, although not nearly so remarkable as the original costume. Benito keeps arguing with them about Castille vs Montaigne fashions, and doesn't win, leaving him uncomfortable in his own clothes.

Nikolai stumbles back to the manor around noon, showing no ill effects. Well played, Nikolai. Reginald comes to the manor to find him and explains why he needs to replace the dice. Yowza. He assures Reginald that they must immediately return to the camp to make things right. On the way, Nikolai stops to buy something nice, to help make this right. He then mutters "play along" and drags Reginald into the camp as though he'd caught him, and Reginald "confesses" to having stolen her dice. They get away with it, although the Tibesti are clearly not charmed by Reginald's bad behavior. What does "gajno" mean, anyway?

On the way back to the manor, they agree to sneak out of the party to look into the d'Bas house.

Reginald gets drafted into the ball shenanigans, and ends up looking amazingly good.

This is when Benito hears for the first time that Léon has a scheme for Reginald and Nikolai. Upon hearing it, he cautions Reginald to be extra careful not to get caught, because Frémier would very much profit from finding a burglar and punishing him. Nikolai assures him that if caught, he will implicate L'empereur under torture. They decide to stash changes of clothes along the way, so as to become less noticable.

Ball time!

The party is at the house of Sabine Thibodeaux du Paix. It's not a masquerade, and is somewhat less flashy than our last party. It's just a woman of society wanthing to entertain her friends and neighbors. That makes it a bit less formal than the previous party. Sabine is older, heavyset, with a powdered wig. She's delighted to see Nicolas, and he deflects her attention toward his new guests. Sabine is single. Nicolas is a widower. He's deflecting her attention. Hrm.....

The spread's amazing, and we all get to eating. You never know when you might be hungry. Nikolai, of course, takes this to extremes, but most people take it in good humor. Reginald's the first one to spot Frémier, who shows no sign of having brought a date. He looks bored, though, so Reginald only waits half an hour before finding Nikolai and sneaking out. He asks Nikolai to let Léon know the score, just to give them a little support. Reginald and Nikolai then sneak out, avoiding all notice.

They rush to their cache of clothing, change in a flurry, and head to the Frémier residence, Claude in tow. Nikolai lifts Reginald onto the balcony, but Reginald sees a light on and worries there might be someone in the room. They go to a different balcony and try again. This time they make sure it's a dark room, and since it's on the second floor, the window isn't locked. Nikolai climbs up after him. Unfortunately Nikolai makes a bit of noise, so he has to hurry to get out of sight. He ends up hiding behind a door as someone tries to open it, meaning he's spotted for sure. Whoever's opening the door sticks his head in to see what's blocking it, and Nikolai grabs yon head and puts his hand over the mouth. He catches the servant completely by surprise and easily gets his hands on him. The man tries to break free but can't match Nikolai's power and is completely under the Ussuran's power. The servant drops the candle, but Reginald immediately grabs it, while Nikolai spins the servant around (so he can't see Reginald) and then chokes him servant out. Reginald searches the room while Nikolai stuffs the servant under the desk, out of the way. Unfortunately, Reginald doesn't find a diary. He sneaks into a different room and searches again. This time there's a lockbox under the bed, which he opens with lockpicks. It contains bonds and a journal. He confirms that it's Frémier's journal, sticks it in a sack, and carefully hides the sack in the room. He relocks the lockbox, they put the unconscious servant in a chair in front of the desk, and they get the hell out. They then sneak back into the party, Reginald unnoticed, Nikolai covering his tracks with scatalogical references to the bathroom.

A few people try to talk to Felix about his bold clothing and Eisen fashion. Felix knows nothing of fashion and talks about how Eisen is poor and chronically starving. Oops. This is what comes of conversing with someone who is not a gentleman.

Léon has to go talk to Frémier to keep him from leaving early. They discuss the city and the comforts of Nicolas' house. Nicolas was well regarded in the diplomatic service, despite "his proclivities." Léon's confusion shows, forcing Frémier to explain that Nicolas prefers men. Léon makes understanding noises and then rushes to make it clear that he himself prefers the company of women. Frémier sort of wants to leave but Léon keeps him occupied until Nikolai rejoins the party. Frémier has an early morning, as he has to travel to the capital in the morning, where he will abide for several weeks.