Steve Jackson Games - Site Navigation
Home General Info Follow Us Search Illuminator Store Forums What's New Other Games Ogre GURPS Munchkin Our Games: Home

Go Back   Steve Jackson Games Forums > Roleplaying > GURPS

Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
Old 11-18-2018, 05:20 AM   #11
coronatiger
 
Join Date: Apr 2018
Location: Trondheim, Norway
Default Re: Campaign Log: Chaotic Pioneering

Session 2 (continued):

Thoughts on May 18th

Wheat buns, yay! They truly are delicious. Olivia and I got up early to get some and to deliver a report of the events in the woods. The baker wanted me to draw some of the symbols I had seen in the sacrificial cave. I don’t have any training, but I have a steady hand, and made a fair try. It can’t have been too awful, because the baker gave me two gold pieces for it.

Out on the marketplace, we saw Kine selling foodstuffs she had bought at the farm. Since she’s a merchant, I thought maybe she would know where one can buy a good bow. The one I had borrowed from the farmer was a little weak compared to my arm strength. Kine suggested I tried to find either a general weapons trader, or one who specialized in bows, but she didn’t know any here. I asked a passer-by, who was able to give me directions. It turned out this small town only has one weapons trader, and he doesn’t have a very large selection of bows, but I found one that suits my strength, so I bought it and a hip quiver that can hold more arrows than the shoulder quiver the farmer gave me. Since the trader gave me a fair discount, I gave him the old quiver; I had no need for it now, anyway. Before Olivia and I left, the trader told me of two other inns that would offer a bigger crowd than the Golden Swan for my performances. I guess he had seen me there.

We met Magnar at the inn and had a chat. I told him that I had felt a bit naked when the little ones had gotten past him and into melee range with me, and asked if he knew of a practical weapon an archer could use, preferably without having to fumble it out of its resting place before I could apply it to my opponent. If I could hold it while using a bow, that would be ideal, but I couldn’t see how that could be possible. Even a small knife would get in the way. Magnar suggested something called brass knuckles, which is a set of rings joined together to make one’s punches harder. I went back to the arms dealer and asked him about it, but he didn’t have any.

When everyone was gathered back at the inn, Magnar paid us for our services (I got thirteen gold pieces, a small fortune) and tried to recruit us to join the Adventurers’ Guild. I have mixed feelings about it. On the one hand, it pays very well, if today’s payment is representative, and I think our last mission was exciting, even though I was scared during the fight. On the other hand, I don’t want to take too much time off from practicing acrobatics. I have set myself the goal of becoming the world’s greatest acrobat, after all. At least, adventuring will let me practice some complementary skills. Lady Karita declared that she couldn’t sign a contract that had a potential to conflict with her other obligations. In the end, we all agreed to go see the local guild leader tomorrow, and postpone a decision until after we have talked to him.


Thoughts on May 19th

The day started in the regular fashion of wheat buns and reports, although there was less to report today.

After Lady Karita had risen from bed and done her morning rituals, everyone went to the guild leader who explained that the only thing that we bound ourselves to by joining the guild, was if the King or his representative here in the New World would give an order to the guild. Although the governor had given one such order just four months ago, the previous one had been sixty years prior. Except for that event, we could leave any time we wished. I was reassured that there would be plenty of time for training and performing, at least between missions, so I put my name on the guild list. I wrote down my birth name, Maystatea Viashniskaya, since I had the idea that a casual browser shouldn’t identify me by my more famous name, Mattea Vishi. I can’t fault Olivia for not joining, since she doesn’t have my taste for excitement, but everyone agreed that she could come along on our missions, and would be paid according to the amount of help she gives. Lady Karita and Kine signed up, though.

One part of joining the guild was having our portraits drawn for the purposes of identification. On a whim, I asked if it was possible to commission miniature portraits of myself and Olivia, so that we could give them to each other. Thankfully, it was. Feeling rich, we paid for the most expensive quality.

While Olivia was modelling, I browsed the guild members’ advertisements, to see if anyone had a composite bow for sale. There was one, but after reading the description, I think I won’t be able to draw it. I find a notice about a quest, but it doesn’t say much, other than “ask the guild leader”. It reeks of secrecy, but the guild leader tells me that he wants us to take the mission, so he’ll tell us about it when the rest of them return. They left to do various things when he started drawing Olivia.

I buy some healing potions, and give a couple to Olivia, just in case.

The quest is escorting one Fidel Sidel, a member of the area’s ruling family, to a small hamlet where there have been two murders. We will primarily be hired as bodyguards, but if we help him uncover the murderer, there’s a bonus. We’re leaving tomorrow.

Since the innkeeper at the Golden Swan doesn’t let me stay there for free any longer, Olivia and I check out the other two inns. I don’t see much difference between the two, so I go with Olivia’s suggestion. The deal with the innkeeper was a bad one, and I barely earned enough tips to pay for the room at the Golden Swan. We always stay at the best inn we can afford. Of course, it’s a bit cheaper when we share one bed.
__________________
You don't need to spend 100 CP on Status 5 [25] and Multimillionaire [75] to feel like a princess, when Delusion [-10] will do.

Character sheet: Google Drive link (See this thread for details.)

Campaign logs: Chaotic Pioneering / Confessions of a Forked Tongue
coronatiger is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 11-18-2018, 05:24 AM   #12
coronatiger
 
Join Date: Apr 2018
Location: Trondheim, Norway
Default Re: Campaign Log: Chaotic Pioneering

Session 2 (continued):

Thoughts on May 20th

After a brief report to the baker and some buns for breakfast, we all met up with Lord Fidel and the villager who had come to report the crime. They filled us in on the road.

Two boys in their late teens had disappeared from their beds on the 15th, and was found floating in a pond near the hamlet two days later.

It was a dull trip back to the same farm we had been to before. Lady Karita and Lord Fidel talked about things only nobles could care about, Kine grumbled about not having been able to sell all the food she had brought to market, and Magnar kept to himself, apparently not too interested in human or high human nobility. The villager was buried among the cargo on Kine’s wagon. Thankfully, I had Olivia to talk to.

We’re spending the night here at the farm. Lord Fidel has informed us that it is unlawful to turn away travelers who wish to spend the night, and that no farm can be established more than one day’s travel from any other.


Thoughts on May 21st

After yet another uneventful day of traveling, we enter the hamlet in the afternoon, where we are met by the mayor. We’ll be staying in his house while we’re here. He tells us about the ten households here: There’s a dwarf woodcutter couple with their children, a group of boys who came out here from the city a few years ago and a family whose son is slightly deformed and dim-witted (he is being picked on by the rest of the children, which could be a motive for murder, I guess). Then there’s the mayor’s household. He has a few servants as well as his family under his roof. There’s an elderly couple living alone, a drunkard with his wife and teenage daughter, the village beauty. I hope she’s not the jealous type. Let’s see, who else … Oh, the mayor mentioned a man who has some sort of disorder, causing twitches and tics and other unnerving behavior. The rest of the villagers seemed pretty normal to me, from the mayor’s description. We learn that the two dead boys didn’t have any obvious wounds on them, and that another boy disappeared three days ago. Two of the boys were from the boy house, the third was next door neighbor to the drunkard.

When Kine and Magnar started talking about keeping watch during the night, Lady Karita excused herself and went to bed. Olivia and I joined the conversation. We agreed that Magnar should take the second watch, since that’s when it’s the darkest. He, like all dwarves, can see in the dark. Oops. Kine, with good night vision takes the first watch, and Olivia and I share the third, when it’s getting lighter.

I went to fetch the rope from my saddlebags, intending to tie it to the chimney so that the others can climb up to the impromptu watch post on the mayor’s roof. When I came back, Kine was up there already. I should have guessed, her being a cat and all. I tossed the rope up to her and went to bed. Olivia, Kine, Lady Karita and I are sharing a room. Olivia and I tried to do our thing silently, so as not to wake the lady.


Thoughts on May 22nd

Magnar wasn’t particularly quiet when he came to wake us for our watch, so I suspect Lady Karita had words with him this morning. Nothing happened while we sat on the roof.

After breakfast, Lord Fidel told us he was going to take a chair out on the yard to observe. The rest of us talked about doing some sleuthing, and he reminded us of our duty as bodyguards. I thought this was a good opportunity to get some practice done. I mean … He was going to observe, and wanted some of us nearby. I got my rope, noticing that Kine isn’t very good with knots, but the knot held during the night, and that’s what’s important, but I decided to tie it myself from now on. I don’t want to take any chances when Olivia is concerned. She’s an ok climber, but needs the rope to get up to the roof.

So, while Magnar, Olivia and Lord Fidel watched me do target practice while balancing on the rope (I needed to be armed), Lady Karita and Kine went over to the pond at the edge of the forest to see if they could find any clues. After the animal tracking we did last week, we discovered that they were the most observant among us. They returned with a scrap of cloth with some blood on it and told us that they had found what they believed to be drag marks through the reeds. They had tried to follow the tracks into the woods, but without luck. We did a bit of speculation, and thought that either, the bodies had been placed in the pond to terrify the villagers, or, the murderer had unsuccessfully tried to weigh down the corpses with stones.

I suggested that I should talk to the boys at the boy house when they’d finished work. Magnar raised the question of who should come with me, and who should stay with Lord Fidel, but Lady Karita overruled him and said it would be best if I went alone. Boys of that age should be easy to handle for someone with my “talents”.

People were still working in the fields, so I got back on the rope while Kine and Magnar went to look for a third corpse on the bottom of the pond. I suspected that some undressing would be done, so it’s just as well that I stayed in the village, lest my urges be triggered. They returned a couple of hours later, telling us they had found no corpse, but there were a couple of rocks at the bottom of the otherwise mud-bottomed pond, so that might strengthen our second hypothesis.

I went over to the boy house when they’d returned. They were playing a game which consisted of throwing pebbles at a stick, and I asked if I could play too, intending to make a soft approach to the subject of murder. They were more than happy to let me join them; I may have said something about having a weakness for playing with sticks.

When I returned to the others, I could tell them that the two boys who had disappeared had vanished at night, while the rest of them were sleeping, and that one of them had claimed to have something going on with the village beauty. They both had taken part in tormenting the dim-witted kid.

Everyone, including Lord Fidel, went down to the house where the village beauty lived, and Lady Karita knocked on the door while the rest of us stayed back a bit, close enough to hear and see (and be seen), but far enough away that we wouldn’t be too intimidating.

The father of the house opened the door. When Lady Karita asked if she could talk to his wife and daughter, he became rude and belligerent, saying that he didn’t take orders from no mere woman. He’d obviously been at the bottle. Magnar approached him, and a short tussle ensued, during which Magnar slammed the door in his face, and after the man had managed to trip himself, Magnar sat down on him, and that was that. Lord Fidel ruled that the man was to be tied to a tree in the middle of the village until our investigation was concluded. I spoke up, concerned for the man’s safety, him having to stay outside (and tied up!) during the hours of darkness, but Lord Fidel didn’t budge. As a commoner, I didn’t have any say in the matter. I believe he might have listened to Lady Karita, since her family is one of the most powerful ones in the country, but she had clearly been severely offended, and said nothing.

Talking to his wife and daughter didn’t give us much information, except they both denied that the girl had been involved in any way with the dead boy. I suspect they may be lying, but only to prevent us to think incorrectly that they had anything to do with the crime. It’ll be wise to talk to some of the other villagers about it later.
__________________
You don't need to spend 100 CP on Status 5 [25] and Multimillionaire [75] to feel like a princess, when Delusion [-10] will do.

Character sheet: Google Drive link (See this thread for details.)

Campaign logs: Chaotic Pioneering / Confessions of a Forked Tongue
coronatiger is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 11-18-2018, 05:29 AM   #13
coronatiger
 
Join Date: Apr 2018
Location: Trondheim, Norway
Default Re: Campaign Log: Chaotic Pioneering

Session 2 (continued):

Thoughts on May 23rd

Magnar was a bit quieter when he woke Olivia and me for our watch. We got up on the roof, and while nothing happened in the village, we decided that we’d go to bed earlier tonight, since we’d had too little sleep two nights in a row, and it had started taking a toll.

Lady Karita took us aside after breakfast, saying she was most displeased. Even though we had tried to keep it quiet, we had made it impossible for her to fall asleep last night. So, we had to go to bed even earlier tonight.

Kine went to talk to the drunkard, who had hopefully sobered up by now. She didn’t seem to get anything useful out of him though.
Then our two searchers, K&K, goes to look for clues in the forest, planning to spend the day making a circle around the village.

The rest of us went to talk to some of the villagers. First, we saw the family of the other boy who had been found in the pond, not learning much. After a short interview with the elderly couple, who didn’t seem to have a clue about anything that was going on in the village, especially the husband, we went to talk to the dwarves. It wasn’t too comfortable, standing there smiling while they had a lengthy conversation with Magnar in Dwarvish. After a while, they switched languages, and the rest of us got to hear that the dwarves had observed two women from the neighboring house going into the forest some months ago. While it’s somewhat suspicious, it doesn’t necessarily have anything to do with the murders.

When K&K returned, having wasted the day not finding anything, we all agreed that the next step should be to search some of the houses. Lord Fidel noted that if we were seen rummaging through a house, others might try to dispose of evidence they had hidden away themselves. We spent some time coming up with a strategy, which consisted of searching the houses that we were the most suspicious of first, hoping to have searched the important places before the villagers caught on to what we were doing.

Olivia and I went to bed early.


Thoughts on May 24th

We didn’t see anything on our watch, and neither did Kine and Magnar, but at some time during the night, another boy had disappeared from the boy house. The boys had discovered in the morning that the door was unbarred, but one of them remembered to bar it last night. A search of the house turned up clues that the disappearing boy had dressed up and combed his hair before leaving, leading us to believe that the criminal must be a woman.

While K&K and Lord Fidel remained in the village to play cat burglars (Kine would be the cat and Lady Karita the burglar), the rest of us took all the able-bodied villagers into the forest to search for the missing boy. We didn’t find anything out there, but we gave Kine and Lady Karita ample time to go through a few of the houses.

They didn’t find any clues that obviously had to do with the murders, but two identical scrolls were found in secret places in the house of the drunkard and in the house where the two women who had been seen going into the woods by the dwarves lived. The scrolls were titled The Great Chaos, and were philosophical thoughts criticizing the wisdom of colonizing the new world. I don’t know much about these things, but according to Lord Fidel, possession of the scrolls bordered on treason. Kine copied the text hurriedly with the aid of Lady Karita, before they returned the scroll to its hiding place. The second scroll had been identified as identical to the first one during the search, and had been left in place. Magnar, who has some experience, wanted to search the text for any hidden meaning or message.

Kine hasn’t quite been herself the last few days, and today I realized what was going on by the way she was looking at Lord Fidel, who I’ll admit is pleasing to the eye. Kine is in heat! With Olivia’s acquiescence, I took Kine aside and asked if there was anything I could do to help her getting through it. My talent for spotting preferences had told me that while both Lady Karita and Magnar were as straight as nails, Kine might be open to experimentation. After some sequestered time with Kine, I let the other women know it was safe to enter the bedroom, and while Kine climbed up on the roof to take the first watch, the rest of us went to bed.


Here endeth the session.
__________________
You don't need to spend 100 CP on Status 5 [25] and Multimillionaire [75] to feel like a princess, when Delusion [-10] will do.

Character sheet: Google Drive link (See this thread for details.)

Campaign logs: Chaotic Pioneering / Confessions of a Forked Tongue
coronatiger is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 11-24-2018, 01:42 PM   #14
coronatiger
 
Join Date: Apr 2018
Location: Trondheim, Norway
Default Re: Campaign Log: Chaotic Pioneering

Quote:
Originally Posted by coronatiger View Post
I woke up this morning ... with the beginnings of a song spinning around in my head. I got up and finished the lyrics before the song faded. It's set to the melody of a song I can't for the life of me remember the name of, which is irritating because I don't know how to hum in chat.

'Twas a lady and a cat
and a dwarf and little Matt-
e-a searching in the woods to find some cattle
that were victims of a nap.
They walked right into a trap
and it lead them to a goblin-slaying battle.

With her hands upon a bow
Maystatea tried to show
she could hold her own in battle if she had to.
All her arrows went astray
but the dwarf could save the day
and he did and then he said that he was glad to.

All the while and to the side
where the others did abide
waiting eagerly for goblins they'd be thrashing
stood the cat girl with her whips
taunting goblins, making quips,
making sure that they'd come near enough for lashing.

Next to her the lady stands
with no weapons in her hands
looking easy for the picking - a deception.
Stupid goblins make a try
realize too late they'll die
as her throwing stars correct their misconception.

When the goblins have been downed
we know cattle is around:
In the distance can be faintly heard some mooing.
They are brought back to the farm.
(Only two had come to harm.)
And the heroes look for new quests they'll be doing.
With a little help from a friend, I found out from where I had the melody. It's an old show tune called "Hajnnhojnn i bajnn", originally performed by Otto Nielsen. It exposes the particularities of a certain Norwegian dialect, so it may not be very funny to those not speaking the language, but I'll link to a YouTube video so that those who are interested can at least hear the melody.
__________________
You don't need to spend 100 CP on Status 5 [25] and Multimillionaire [75] to feel like a princess, when Delusion [-10] will do.

Character sheet: Google Drive link (See this thread for details.)

Campaign logs: Chaotic Pioneering / Confessions of a Forked Tongue
coronatiger is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 12-01-2018, 03:51 PM   #15
coronatiger
 
Join Date: Apr 2018
Location: Trondheim, Norway
Default Re: Campaign Log: Chaotic Pioneering

Session 3 (2018-12-01):

Thoughts on May 25th

Olivia and I did some brainstorming during our watch, and came up with an idea that could help prevent another disappearance, and hopefully identify the culprit. We tried telling it to the others at breakfast, but Lord Fidel kept interrupting, complaining that our investigation wasn’t getting anywhere. I would have liked to remind him that he is the one who is the investigator, the rest of us are there to help him, not to do his job for him, but I couldn’t get a word in edgewise.

Kine was a little concerned for the durability of the foodstuffs she had bought earlier, so Olivia, our best cook, went with her to take a look. We all met up afterwards to strategize. I wanted to tell what Olivia and I had come up with, but again, Lord Fidel didn’t give me the chance to speak. I’m not used to being ignored! I was tempted to use my charms on him, but figured I could wait a little before revealing our master plan. My charms probably wouldn’t have worked anyway; the man is obviously gay.

Kine and Magnar went to hear if anyone could remember seeing anything on the night the last boy disappeared, while Lady Karita and Lord Fidel took the drunkard inside a shed to interrogate him. Olivia and I stayed outside and “kept watch”.

Nobody learned anything useful, except for Lady Karita, who asked Magnar to sit in on the interrogations of the drunkard’s wife and daughter. It seemed Lord Fidel had made a mess of the recent interrogation, and she wanted Magnar to keep tabs on him while she’d sit quietly in the background, listening for tell-tale signs of lying.

While they were interviewing the drunkard’s wife, my task was to keep the daughter’s mind occupied while she worked in the field, like most of the other villagers. Olivia and Kine came along, too, but allowed me to talk to her alone. I tried to talk about boys and other innocuous subjects, but she seemed nervous, and asked why her parents had been taken away. I tried to calm her down, saying that her parents were helping with our investigation, but wasn’t very successful. It didn’t help that Lord Fidel came to borrow Kine’s whip shortly after fetching the girl’s mother.

At my urging, Olivia told Kine our plan, and she liked it. I was going to set up a performance after supper, doing some contortion. Olivia would talk to each of the boys in turn; we estimated that there were around ten young men remaining in the hamlet that were in the target age group for our murderous femme fatale. As Olivia was talking, I would get eye contact with the man in question, and give credence to Olivia’s words: If anyone tried to get him out into the woods for a secret rendezvous, I would be immensely grateful if he came to me instead. In essence, the plan was to use the lure of a salaciously seductive stranger to overpower whatever feminine wiles could be scraped up in this flyspeck village.

As the villagers started their lunch break, Lord Fidel’s interrogation ended, and while Olivia stayed in the field to keep an eye on the village beauty, the drunkard’s daughter, the rest of us got together to plan our next steps. I leapt up and rushed over to the shed when Lord Fidel said that the two prisoners had been left alone in the same room. I stayed outside the door, listening, hoping to hear one of them comfort the other one with a secret they had managed to keep from us. Instead I heard a scream from the field. My heart twisted in agony and my feet sprouted wings as the all too familiar sound reached my ears.

I turned the corner of the shed, praying fervently that I wouldn’t relive the scene of two years ago, the sight of which had been burned into my memory: Olivia, forced up against a tree by a thug, her dress in tatters at her feet. I had slammed into the man, bringing him to the ground, and thankfully, help arrived before his fists could do any lasting damage to me. Olivia had been catatonic for several days afterwards.

This time, Olivia looked to be doing all right; from the distance it looked like she had brought the attack to a stalemate, circling with her attacker. As my fear of being too late diminished, and my brain started processing the information it had received, I could make out Olivia’s message that the girl had made a run for it.

As long as I could keep Olivia safe, the little runaway could do whatever she wanted. As I approached, I saw her running towards the woods. I also saw three young men on the ground near Olivia, two of them clutching their groins, the third sitting there with a confused look on his face. Well done, my sweet! I smiled at her as I rushed past, taking over the fight. Olivia had kept her wits about her, and hurriedly told me that the boys had started flirting with her to cover the girl’s getaway. Unbeknownst to them, that was a failing strategy against Olivia, since her eyes unconciously start searching for a way out, or a Mattea to hide behind, the moment any male looks at her with the slightest interest. Of course, Olivia had spotted the girl straight away. Her shout had turned into a scream when the boys attacked her. I kicked them all again, for good measure. By then, Kine and Magnar had arrived, and with a short instruction to Kine about watching over Olivia, I took off after the little bitch, Magnar close on my heels, for now.

I overtook her some distance into the woods and tried to grapple her to the ground. We tumbled about for a few seconds, during which she managed to both bite and kick me, and I lost my hold on her. We both got to our feet again, and I landed a solid punch just as Magnar arrived, as heavily armed as ever, and shield rushed her, sending her to the forest floor yet again. She surrendered.

We returned to the village, and while Olivia bandaged my arm, Kine and Lady Karita rounded up everyone in the yard at the center of the village. Someone noticed that one of the women was missing.

Our regular search party, Kine and Lady Karita, went through all the houses, looking for anything suspicious. They didn’t find much, but the missing woman returned. She had just answered the call of nature! Some would suspect her of something sinister, I imagine, considering the awkward timing and lengthy duration of her disappearance, but when you have to go, you have to go, I guess.

We let everyone return home after the search, except for the runaway, the grandmother we were pretty sure was the owner of one of the Great Chaos scrolls, and the four boys who had been involved in the attack on Olivia. I glared fiercely at them throughout the whole proceedings. The woman who had been to the toilet was also held back for some reason I couldn’t figure out.

Lord Fidel and Lady Karita took each of the boys aside for questioning while the rest of us watched over the other suspects. I protested loudly when the boys were let go. An assault on Olivia is unforgivable!

The interrogators questioned the grandmother, who was also let go after a while. Then it was the runaway’s turn. Neither Lord Fidel nor Lady Karita said anything about what she had said, but instead went off to speak with more of the young men.

Finally, the toilet woman was questioned. Her answers were apparently not satisfactory, for Lord Fidel took her to the shed. I tried to ignore the screams, but without luck. How Lady Karita could stand to be in the same room, I don’t know. She’s a cold one. I’ll be glad when this is all over, and I can say goodbye to Lord Fidel.

Our little runaway was mumbling unintelligibly, and fearing she might cast a spell on us, I hit her, making her faint from the accumulated injuries. When Lord Fidel returned to fetch her, he had to buy a couple of healing potions from us, just so he could inflict pain on her again. The devil!

Magnar, Kine and Lady Karita started talking about searching one of the houses an additional time, but by now, Olivia was about to break down, poor soul, so we said good night to the others. When we were alone at last, my need to stay strong evaporated, and we fell asleep in each other’s comforting arms, wetting the pillow with our tears.
__________________
You don't need to spend 100 CP on Status 5 [25] and Multimillionaire [75] to feel like a princess, when Delusion [-10] will do.

Character sheet: Google Drive link (See this thread for details.)

Campaign logs: Chaotic Pioneering / Confessions of a Forked Tongue
coronatiger is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 12-01-2018, 03:54 PM   #16
coronatiger
 
Join Date: Apr 2018
Location: Trondheim, Norway
Default Re: Campaign Log: Chaotic Pioneering

Session 3 (continued):

Thoughts on May 26th

We were still clutching each other when Magnar woke us for the third watch. With a night of sleep separating us from the horrors of yesterday, we were able to talk about what had happened. Talking felt good, and for the first time since we came to this forsaken village, we kept watch without me trying to stick my tongue down Olivia’s throat. We saw as little during this watch as we’ve seen before, though.

After breakfast, we went with Kine and Magnar to the forest to search for corpses and an idol that had been involved in sacrifices. It seemed Lord Fidel’s wicked methods had given results.

Some of the women of the village had been dabbling with things best left alone. After the village beauty had been raped by two of the boys half a year ago, she had been invited into the “circle” by the toilet woman, who hadn’t actually been to the toilet; she had hidden a scroll in the woods before we could search her house. The two of them later lured the boys into the woods and murdered them. As we had suspected, they had failed to sink the bodies in the pond, letting them be discovered. The toilet woman had simply doled out justice, as she saw it, but the girl had gotten the taste for the vileness of witchcraft and human sacrifice, and had continued the killing spree.

Following the map Magnar produced from his pocket, we found the sacrificial site easily. There were two fly-infested corpses impaled on thick spikes, and an idol that looked as if it had grown muscles and an eyeball that looked at us as we moved about the scene. After a short discussion, we agreed to make a fire and burn it.

We made the fire, and Magnar went to throw the idol on the flames, but at the last minute he recoiled, deciding that he didn’t want to touch it. Instead Kine took out her short whip and grabbed the idol with it. She tried to throw the idol into the fire, but failed miserably. For some reason, Magnar decided to shield rush her, and Olivia and I stood there gaping for a few seconds while they fought, neither one of them managing to land a significant hit. When Kine opened herself up for a blow and Magnar failed to take advantage, I understood that he wasn’t himself, which prompted me to run over to where the idol lay on the ground a few yards from the fire. It was heavier than I had imagined, and two kicks didn’t bring it all the way into the flames.

For a while, I looked at all the beautiful butterflies that were swarming around us. I snapped out of it when Magnar slammed into me, and hurriedly kicked the idol the rest of the way into the fire. As the rush of combat subsided, I saw Olivia returning an item to Magnar’s saddlebags. It looked to be a dagger, but that couldn’t be. My sweet, peaceful darling Olivia would never willingly join combat. For heaven’s sake, she even dislikes shooting a bow at a tree for practice!

We argued a bit about what to do with the obviously evil idol, and agreed to postpone a decision until we’d retrieved Snowflake, who had run off during the fracas. We dug a hole, but didn’t use it, finally agreeing that we should ask Lord Fidel for advice.

We brought the corpses back to the village and were promptly sent back to fetch the idol. It was to be used as evidence in the trial. Tomorrow’s trial, however, wouldn’t be much of a trial at all. It would simply be Lord Fidel recounting the evidence, and then the two murdering witches would be burned.

I felt dirty after helping prepare the pyres, and had to take a long bath before joining Olivia in bed. Hopefully, we can leave this wretched place tomorrow, and Lord Fidel soon after.
__________________
You don't need to spend 100 CP on Status 5 [25] and Multimillionaire [75] to feel like a princess, when Delusion [-10] will do.

Character sheet: Google Drive link (See this thread for details.)

Campaign logs: Chaotic Pioneering / Confessions of a Forked Tongue
coronatiger is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 12-01-2018, 03:55 PM   #17
coronatiger
 
Join Date: Apr 2018
Location: Trondheim, Norway
Default Re: Campaign Log: Chaotic Pioneering

Session 3 (continued):

Thoughts on May 27th

In the morning, we gathered the villagers, and Lord Fidel read the accusation against the two women, showed the idol and sentenced them to burn. Just like that. No regret, no remorse. Just a small thing to do before we go.

The stench of burning flesh and the agonized screams of the dying followed me the rest of the day, even though we left soon after death was declared.
Some distance away from the sad, little village, Lord Fidel instructed us to bury the idol, explaining that he wanted the villagers to see us leave with it, but he didn’t want to bring it back to the city.

We ended the day at the familiar farm. I felt a little better; the friendly smiles of the farmers put some distance between us and the horrors we had been forced to witness.


Thoughts on May 28th

Today would be the day of our longed-for return to the city. As my mood had lightened since yesterday, I approached Lady Karita and asked her if she could be so kind as to give me some pointers regarding unarmed combat. She had displayed great skill earlier, fighting the small folk who had stolen the cattle, the ones I now know by the name of goblins. In return, I offered to teach her acrobatics. She looked down her nose at me, asking why in the world she would want to learn that. I responded that I had seen her attempt some fancy moves while dodging goblin spears, and thought she could benefit from some instruction. We managed to find a few minutes now and then during the trip back to town.

On return, we got our pay from the Guild. Everyone got ten gold pieces except for Olivia, who got only five, but everyone thought that split was fair, her not being part of the guild, and it was in accordance with our agreement that she would get paid proportionally to the services rendered. Karita suggested that Olivia and I should take separate watches, but I declined. I hate being alone, and wouldn’t be able to focus on the task at hand if left to my own devices. With Olivia by my side to keep me company, I’ll be alert most of the time.

I talked it over with Olivia, and we agreed that we would like to stay with our new friends, Kine, Lady Karita and Magnar. Maybe we can get a quest taking us away from the place where we are bound to run into Lord Fidel again, sooner or later. But for now, we’re happy here at the Golden Swan, with a room of our own, a loving companion, and a deliciously soft bed to break in.
__________________
You don't need to spend 100 CP on Status 5 [25] and Multimillionaire [75] to feel like a princess, when Delusion [-10] will do.

Character sheet: Google Drive link (See this thread for details.)

Campaign logs: Chaotic Pioneering / Confessions of a Forked Tongue
coronatiger is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 12-04-2018, 04:26 PM   #18
coronatiger
 
Join Date: Apr 2018
Location: Trondheim, Norway
Default Re: Campaign Log: Chaotic Pioneering

These next couple of posts is a dialog between Mattea and Olivia after returning to the Golden Swan Inn. It gives the reader insights into the first part of their backstories, and describes some of their quirks and disadvantages.

Interlude:

Olivia: “Holy mamba, Mattea!” [Pauses] “I wonder what it would be like if that tongue of yours was split like a snake’s.”
Mattea: “Mmm … I think it would have two consequences: First, I could never open my mouth in front of a priest. But that wouldn’t matter, because second, you’d never let me leave this room.”
Olivia: “I don’t think you’re THAT bad at keeping secrets. You do have a tendency to believe anything you hear, but you … Oh, I see what you mean. You wicked, wicked girl!”
Mattea: “It’s so good to be back at a proper inn again. With that bag of gold we got from the Guild, we could stay here forever. And we don’t have to bother about a light-sleeping noblewoman on the other side of the room. Man, was she grumpy that time we kept her awake?!!”
Olivia: [Blushes] “Well, it was your fault that I was so noisy. You and your wicked tongue. Good thing we had the chance to go to bed early most nights, or they’d have found two more corpses in the pond.”
Mattea: “Yeah, and I hope Magnar didn’t beat her to the best room here at the Golden Swan. It’s one of those farthest from this one. Farthest, farthest, is that a word? It sounds funny.”
Olivia: “I got your meaning, so I guess that makes it a word. What do you think about ‘aloof’?”
Mattea: “What’s a loof? Is it a snack? Are you hungry?”
Olivia: “No, silly! It’s like when the nobles look down their noses at us. Like they can pretend that we’re not there.”
Mattea: “Oh, that ‘aloof’. I’m hungry!”
Olivia: “You’re insatiable, Mattea!”
Mattea: [Grins mischievously] “No, I’m in bed.”
Olivia: “Eep! I’m exhausted. Can’t we just talk for a while?”
Mattea: “Sure, what do you want to talk about?”
Olivia: “Tell me why you love me, Mattea. You’re the image of a perfect woman, with your blue eyes and long blonde hair, and somehow, having the arms of a blacksmith only adds to your beauty.”
Mattea: “You’re beautiful too.”
Olivia: “Not like you, I’m not. Men are drawn to you like moths to a flame. And some women too. And they don’t care if they burn. You have the world to choose from; why me?”
Mattea: “I don’t know. Or … at least I don’t know how to describe it. I can only say that I’ve never loved anyone else. I thought I loved Olok, but in hindsight, I know it wasn’t love.”
Olivia: “Olok the bard?”
Mattea: “Yes. Growing up in a traveling troupe of entertainers gave me a variety of grown-ups to observe. Not just those in the troupe, but the spectators as well. And I saw how some of them looked at each other, including my parents.”
Olivia: “Love?”
Mattea: “I thought so, and for the most part, it might have been. I didn’t know there was another feeling called lust until much later. My mother put me on a tightrope as soon as I could walk, and from her and the other acrobats, I learned dancing, tumbling, contortion and so on. My father wanted to teach me juggling, you know, but my talent for gymnastics was so obvious that I’d clearly do better as an acrobat. Cultivating that talent took most of my time, so my other education is sadly lacking. Maybe they thought that they had more time to teach me about adult stuff.”
Olivia: “And then you blossomed into womanhood, unprepared for what the world would throw at you.”
Mattea: “Yes. I was very slow to start the change, but when it came, it was fast. A girl one day, a woman the next. Well, not really, but it felt that way. And then I felt loved, in another way than before, when I had just been a pretty little girl with an amusing gait.”
Olivia: “I wouldn’t call your sensuous sashaying amusing, Mattea.”
Mattea: “I know, but imagine a little girl doing it.”
Olivia: “I see.”
Mattea: “I think it’s a result of being put on the tightrope so early. I do know how to walk like normal people, but that way feels unnatural somehow.”
Olivia: “The last time you told me this story, you mentioned that the village wives held on tightly to their husbands when you were around.”
Mattea: “That’s right. I imagined that it was because they were jealous that their husbands looked at me with more love than what the wives received, but of course it wasn’t love, although I think many of them would have run away with me if given the chance.”
Olivia: “It’s a good thing for me that their wives prevented them from doing that.”
Mattea: “I don’t think I would have been happy in a relationship based on lust. Lust would have turned to possessiveness, and I would have ended up being locked away in a cottage in the middle of nowhere.”
Olivia: “Living like that would have killed you. You’re a free spirit. You must be allowed to run free.”
Mattea: “It’s a good thing it ended the way it did with Olok. I felt miserable at the time, but it allowed me to run free, as you say. Looking back, I don’t think he loved me. But I don’t think he really loved his wife either. Maybe things had worked out between them if he had. In a way I’m thankful to him, though. When he seduced me behind the stage that first time, I learned something about myself.”
Olivia: “I know. The insatiable hunger.”
Mattea: “It would have woken up sooner or later anyway. Being bound to someone at that time in my life would have been worse than what happened, bad as it was. It didn’t take many days before his wife learned what half the troupe already did, the way I looked at him. We spent a lot of time away from everyone else those days. If we’d been around more, she’d have caught on the very next day, I think.”
Olivia: “She threatened to kill you, so you left.”
Mattea: “Yes, but not before leaving a note for my parents. When we met the troupe, more than a year later, they told me that she had killed him, pushing him down the stairs at an inn, but that was later, when she discovered another affair. Nobody suspected a thing before she killed herself the next week.”
Olivia: “Well, you eventually figured out that it was lust you felt towards Olok, not love. But what about Duke Leonard? Wait… It’s nice lying here listening to you, and even though it’s going to be a little painful as well, I think I’d like to hear it again, if you’ll skip the ugly details, the story of how we met, what made you fall for me, and if some of that story is about things you’re not proud of, it’s still a part of the Mattea I know and love.”
Mattea: “I think I maybe could have grown to love the duke if you hadn’t been there. Of course, it wouldn’t have ended well when the king made him marry that hag. I’m SO grateful to you for fleeing with me. I wouldn’t have thought that you’d want to hear about the following months again, though. I only told you the first time because you needed to know, deserved to know, what deprived, filthy whore you had fallen for.”
Olivia: “You mean depraved. But you’re not. I don’t want to hear you say that ever again. Do you hear me?! Never! If you had been a high human or a noble, some fancy doctor would have told you that you have an illness with some fancy name. And then your father would have slapped a chastity belt on you and thrown away the key. I, on the other hand, love you without reservation and understand that you are what you are and that you just have to live with it, that WE have to live with it. I want to be able to fulfill all your needs, but I know that I can’t always be there to take the edge off, and that sometimes you need something I can’t give you, and I accept it. Because I know that you love me, and only me.”
Mattea: “But it hurts you, seeing me with someone else, or hearing about it. I don’t want to hurt you. It makes me hurt too.”
Olivia: “Medicine is never pleasant, and it’s better to hear it from you than from someone else. And it’s not as if you lust for romance or relationships, you just need physical gratification. Come on, let’s not bicker. We love each other, and that’s that.”
Mattea: “But… I take pleasure from it, even when I’m with someone other than you, though I feel guilty about it afterwards.”
Olivia: “I know. It’s all right. Now, shut up and kiss me, Mattea!”
Mattea [after a while]: “That was a cheap trick, Olivia.”
Olivia: “Yes, and it works every time. You see, I’ve found the silver lining to the dark cloud that is your hunger: We can make up any time I wish. Now, get on with the story!”
__________________
You don't need to spend 100 CP on Status 5 [25] and Multimillionaire [75] to feel like a princess, when Delusion [-10] will do.

Character sheet: Google Drive link (See this thread for details.)

Campaign logs: Chaotic Pioneering / Confessions of a Forked Tongue
coronatiger is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 12-04-2018, 04:27 PM   #19
coronatiger
 
Join Date: Apr 2018
Location: Trondheim, Norway
Default Re: Campaign Log: Chaotic Pioneering

Interlude (continued):

Mattea: “Very well. It was early spring when I left the troupe. I went from village to village, inn to inn. I earned some coins dancing in the common rooms. Seeing as I didn’t have to pay for lodgings most of the time – there never seemed to be a shortage of people inviting me to stay in their room – I had collected a tidy sum when I arrived in Toram and the Limping Mare Inn. Many of the people I stayed with even gave me some coins in the morning; at the time, I thought it was for the dancing the previous night, but I was young and naďve back then. You can’t deny I was whoring my way across the land.”
Olivia: “No, but it’s an ugly word, one I’d appreciate that you didn’t use to describe yourself. Please don’t start this argument again, Mattea. I’m not yet up to another bout.”
Mattea: “All right. I didn’t know that the Limping Mare was a brothel owned by the criminal organization known as the Guild. After I had been dancing for a while, they saw what was coming, so they sent one of the serving girls to interrogate me over a meal. I had no reason to suspect anything, so I answered all her questions. I didn’t know until the authorities destroyed the Guild that she told on me to her bosses, who decided I was gullible enough to join them in a venture to undermine the local lord.”
Olivia: “I didn’t know about the Guild’s existence either, even though I grew up in Toram, and like you, I didn’t know they were criminals until later.”
Mattea: “Eline, the serving girl, didn’t say I couldn’t join one of the customers for some fun. The innkeeper, I forget his name…”
Olivia: “I believe you told me it was Markus?”
Mattea: “Yes, now I remember. Markus had said that I couldn’t spend the night in the inn, and I didn’t understand what he actually meant. So, a little while later, a couple of thugs kicked in the door, catching me in the act. I don’t know what they did with my partner, because I blacked out when he threw me off and I hit my head on the floor.”
Olivia: “Then you woke up, got dressed, and met the Guild’s leader, right?”
Mattea: “I still don’t know that Alfonso was the actual leader, but he was senior management, at least. When I met him, he only told me that he was a concerned citizen who wanted me to assist him in helping the local lord get over the sorrow of losing his wife. To reinforce that he was a good guy, he’d had his thugs put me in the bed and drape the cover over me. At our first meeting, he said he only wanted me to keep Duke Leonard company, entertain him with dancing and acrobatics. As you know, he sent me to some people who would prepare me for our meeting.”
Olivia: “Let me see if I remember. That would be the former escort, Sofie something, who taught you about seduction? And Latko Raisa, the famous dance instructor – even I had heard about him – and finally That Bastard Wizard Sofus Bloody Garruson.”
Mattea: “Right. And Lui, but he wasn’t on the list I got from Alfonso at first. He showed me how to undress enticingly, which I know you appreciate, and he took the edge off, as you put it, when I got too bad.” [Pauses for a while, then dries a tear] “I would have liked to kill that bastard wizard.”
Olivia: “I would have liked to kill him too, not for what he did to you, but for how he broke your heart by doing it, and you know how I abhor violence.”
Mattea: “I know.”
Olivia: “But we should be a little thankful too, for the disease-immunity spell he cast on you. And frankly, not having to worry about you getting pregnant helps me deal with you being with someone else.”
Mattea: “I know. It makes no sense that it should hurt so much. I can’t imagine ever wanting to have a baby with someone else, and neither of us could possibly get pregnant by the other, of course. I don’t even think I want a child, at least not yet.”
Olivia: “Me neither. I don’t think our current lifestyle is suited for raising a child. But someday, perhaps, if we join a troupe again, or settle down somewhere…”
Mattea: “Someday, perhaps.”
Olivia: “There are plenty of orphans who would be happy to have a family.”
Mattea: “Yes, of course, I never thought of adoption.” [Smiles] “Would you like me to continue with the story? We’re nearing the point when the rich and famous acrobatic heroine meets the love of her life.”
Olivia: “Please!”
Mattea: “The plan was to introduce me to the duke at the midsummer festival. As part of the entertainment, we rigged a tightrope fifteen or twenty feet high, so that I would be visible from a long distance. I wasn’t really all that famous, back then, having only been part of a troupe with many skilled performers, but my name might have been known to some. The Guild did their best to promote ‘the fabulous Mattea Vishi’ and spread the word that spectators would see such a performance, the like of which they’d never seen before, and never would again.”
Olivia: “I saw you. Like many of the servants at the mansion, I’d been given a half-day off to attend the festival. I thought you were marvelous. That stunt with the gust of wind looked really dangerous.”
Mattea: “It was. I did two things that day that I rarely do when I perform. The first was not to braid my hair, since having it loose for the wind to play with added drama to the performance; usually, I prefer not having it in my face all the time. The other was relying on something out of my control to improve the act, in this case, the gust of wind. I had had a street urchin hang up a scarf a short distance upwind. As you remember, it was a fairly windy day, not so much as to be really dangerous – I’ve always been good at estimating my own skill – but enough so that it would be foolish not paying attention to it. I kept an eye on the scarf so I would have advance warning when the wind changed.”
Olivia: “Then why did you say it was dangerous?”
Mattea: “Most of the performances I did that day were pretty simple. Mind you, with fifteen years of experience on the rope, even a routine performance was enough to impress the general public, but I wanted to do more when the duke arrived. The Guild had people in the crowd looking for him, signaling me when I should step up the act. After striking a pose on one of the little platforms and seeing the scarf upwind begin to move, I started cartwheeling along the rope, just like I’d done many times already that day. But halfway across, just as the wind seized my hair, I launched into a somersault, at a slight angle, so it would look as if the wind pulled me to the side.”
Olivia: “And the crowd screamed on your behalf. But from the way you tell it, it seems like you were in control the whole time.”
Mattea: “Earlier, because of the wind, I’d made sure that even if I misjudged it, if the wind took me, at least some part of me would be near enough to the rope to grab it as I fell. But the way I threw myself off the rope took me to the limit, so if the gust had been stronger than I thought, I would have plummeted to my death. As it was, I managed to hook my leg around the rope.”
Olivia: “It’s lucky you did. The way you used the fall to twist around under the rope and somehow ending in a curtsy atop it looked like magic.”
Mattea: “I even managed to look the duke in the eyes when I curtsied. After getting down, the Guild rushed me off to Madam Lutsia to tidy my hair a little and change into an identical, but newly washed outfit. Then Eline led me to the duke, purchasing two wheat buns with jam on the way. The two of us were facing each other, pretending to eat the buns while Eline looked at the duke approaching through the crowd. On her signal, someone shouted ‘stop thief!’ and I took a small step to the side, smearing red jam on my white jacket as the duke bumped into my back. When the duke started saying he would pay for cleaning the jacket, I took it off, revealing a loosely laced undergarment. Being a gentleman, he had no choice but to hurriedly give me his own jacket, and I agreed to return it the next day.”
Olivia: “I heard from the laundry maids that he had brought home your jacket to have it cleaned. You can imagine what rumors were spreading among the servants that evening.”
Mattea: “Yes. I gave it to the guard who was escorting him, of course. It wouldn’t be appropriate to have a duke take my dirty laundry.”
Olivia: “And yet the laundry maids said that he had handed the jacket to them personally. I guess you really made an impression.”
Mattea: “I really wanted to impress him. After the incident with the wizard, Alfonso feared that I didn’t have what was necessary to ingratiate myself with the duke anymore, so he sent Lui to get me riled up, only to take him away, replacing him with the most foul-smelling, disgusting wretch of a man that ever existed. I hated myself for not being able to resist the desire to throw myself at him the moment he entered the room. Even though I wanted to vomit the whole time, I felt exited, thrilled, ecstatic even, all the usual feelings, while we were together. I felt so dirty afterwards, not only on the outside, but also deep in my soul, having debased myself in that manner. I moved to the House of the Rose, the finest inn in the city, as soon as I stopped crying, wanting nothing more to do with Alfonso or the Guild.” [Bursts into tears]
Olivia: “There, there, don’t think about it. We spent a lot of time at the House of the Rose, didn’t we? That was exhilarating, wasn’t it?”
__________________
You don't need to spend 100 CP on Status 5 [25] and Multimillionaire [75] to feel like a princess, when Delusion [-10] will do.

Character sheet: Google Drive link (See this thread for details.)

Campaign logs: Chaotic Pioneering / Confessions of a Forked Tongue
coronatiger is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 12-04-2018, 04:28 PM   #20
coronatiger
 
Join Date: Apr 2018
Location: Trondheim, Norway
Default Re: Campaign Log: Chaotic Pioneering

Interlude (continued):

Mattea: [Gathers herself] “Yes, it was. Of course, I was deluding myself when I thought that changing inns would let me escape the grasp of the Guild. They had heard that the duke was prone to talking in his sleep, and they wanted someone who could listen and report to them. So, Alfonso painted a picture of how nice it would be to stay with the duke. If I could seduce him, I’d never have to worry about filthy wretches again. Even though I thought that Alfonso had been cruel to me, I believed he had the duke’s best interest at heart. He never told me that he wanted me to spy, as far as I can remember.”
Olivia: “I think he might have, to see if you’d be willing to help the ‘concerned citizens’ by revealing things about the duke that could make them aid him better. But with all the potions of forgetfulness that they fed you over the next year, we can’t be sure. They even gave them to me, those times when we were together when they made you report. You were the obvious suspect when the duke’s secrets were discovered not to be so secret after all, but with all the potions, you truly believed you were innocent, didn’t you?”
Mattea: “I did. After moving in at the mansion, the only Guild member I recall seeing was Lui, and only because the duke was so infuriatingly difficult to seduce.”
Olivia: “How did you manage it?”
Mattea: “When I came to return his jacket, he was very curious to hear about my life as an acrobat, so I told him about Fregor’s Fabulous Performers; that was the name of the troupe. Eventually, Duke Leonard told me about his desire to sponsor my career. The next day, we had a meeting with his business manager, to see how we should go about it. I convinced the duke to let me have one of the guest rooms at the mansion, and got his permission to set up training things in his garden. To maintain an illusion of propriety, I stayed at the House of the Rose as much as at the mansion. He paid, of course.”
Olivia: “I remember watching you practice. At first, I was awestruck by your skill and beauty, the exotic acrobat from a far-away land. After having spent some time with you, I saw the sad, fragile girl behind the dazzling mask, who never even knew where she was born.”
Mattea: “For all I know, I may have been born in that very duchy. I think, perhaps, that it was your ability to see my true self that made me fall for you, and that your acceptance of all my flaws was what was necessary to form the strong bond we share.”
Olivia: “You’re getting ahead of the story.”
Mattea: “All right. Are you sure you want to hear what came next?”
Olivia: “Yes.”
Mattea: “He came knocking on my door one evening. This was several weeks after the festival, and I had nearly given up on getting him hooked. I was beginning to think I should leave. You know I usually can tell which way someone is leaning, and everything I had seen, everything I had felt, had told me he was attracted to me. I thought my senses had failed me. When I heard the knock and heard his voice asking if I was decent, I decided I would try one last time, and if I failed, I would go. I lowered the neckline of my nightgown before opening the door. He let the door remain open when he entered and took a chair with a serious expression on his face. I sat down on the edge of the bed and started taking deep breaths, drawing his eyes away from mine. He told me he had tried to look at me as the daughter he never had, but the way I acted around him, made it difficult. Due to the training I had received from Sofie, I had managed to make my flirting look so natural that he didn’t think I was coming on to him; he didn’t even think I was attracted to him. Sofie had told me that the proper way to seduce a nobleman would be to make sure he found me attractive, but to let him make the first move. Duke Leonard claimed I deserved to be with someone my own age, not with a man who was more than old enough to be my father. He said I was too beautiful, too alluring, and that he didn’t know how long he could manage to stay away, so he wished me to leave in the morning. He even brought a couple of servants as chaperones. I went over to the door and looked outside. Before the two men in the hall could react, I had shut the door and turned the key. I turned around, slipped the nightgown off my shoulders and let it fall to the floor. Then I …”
Olivia: “Let’s skip this part. I want to hear how you fell in love with me.”
Mattea: “The next morning, the duke sent someone to the House of the Rose to settle my bill and bring all my stuff to the mansion.”
Olivia: “Where you still had the guest room.”
Mattea: “Yes, but everyone knew that I didn’t spend much time there after I moved out of the House of the Rose; I just used it for storage.”
Olivia: “By this time, I had fallen completely for you, you know.”
Mattea: “I had been so focused on the duke that I didn’t notice at first. You’re so shy, it took me another few weeks to catch on.”
Olivia: “I had occasionally been tasked to help you while you were training in the garden, to bring you food and drinks and such. I also managed to be around sometimes when you were learning to ride on Lightfoot. I volunteered, quite uncharacteristically, when the servants started talking about you getting your own maid. The concubine of a duke, you were practically a noble yourself! The housekeeper had seen us get along well, so she didn’t see any reason not to give me the job.”
Mattea: “We used to go down to the city together, you and I, in the duke’s carriage. Once a week, I’d put on a show, and we’d take meals at the House of the Rose. I wasn’t used to having a servant, so I tried to treat you like a friend. I was a bit uncertain how to act when you insisted to help me dress. As time went by, you became bolder, your hands lingering slightly longer than necessary when you adjusted my clothes.”
Olivia: “Those were good times. You were kind to me, and as I was struggling with my shyness, those caresses, going beyond my duty, was the only way I dared acting on my feelings. I had always felt apart from my friends when they talked about boys and such. I thought it was wrong, unnatural even, to have the kind of feeling I had towards another girl. I was so scared that you should see through me and be repulsed.”
Mattea: “There were several things that made me uneasy back then, but you weren’t one of them: I had used subterfuge to get where I was; living like a noble was new to me; I had just had a series of unhealthy liaisons; I was unsure about how the relationship with the duke would work out. Having you in my life was a comfort. You were someone I could talk to, laugh with; I could be myself around you. I didn’t think of your touches as caresses back then. They were a reminder that no matter what happened, you’d be there for me. I don’t know exactly when I started having romantic feelings for you. It kind of snuck up on me gradually over several days. I caught myself thinking of you when you weren’t around.”
Olivia: “I thought about you a lot as well. One time, the housekeeper caught me daydreaming and gave me a lecture about not thinking about boys when I was supposed to be working. I didn’t dare telling her I was actually dreaming about a girl.”
Mattea: “Butterflies fluttered in my stomach when I saw you, and I started fantasizing about caressing you, but not as foreplay to something else. Just to show you that I cared for you. And then I realized. I finally knew what love was. And I knew you felt the same.”
Olivia: “The next time we went to the House of the Rose, you told me everything about yourself. It was a shock.”
Mattea: “I was giving you a way out. I confessed my feelings for you, and said I thought you felt the same way. I asked you if hearing my story made you change your mind.”
Olivia: “And I said it didn’t. I expected it to, but it didn’t. Not then, and not now.”
Mattea: “You asked if I felt lust for you, which I admitted. I barely heard you whisper that you lusted for me too, but that was enough.”
Olivia: “Will you do now what you did then?”
Mattea: “It will be my pleasure!”
__________________
You don't need to spend 100 CP on Status 5 [25] and Multimillionaire [75] to feel like a princess, when Delusion [-10] will do.

Character sheet: Google Drive link (See this thread for details.)

Campaign logs: Chaotic Pioneering / Confessions of a Forked Tongue
coronatiger is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply

Tags
campaign log

Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Fnords are Off
[IMG] code is Off
HTML code is Off

Forum Jump


All times are GMT -6. The time now is 03:09 AM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.9
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.