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Aphonion Tales: The Archducal Council -- Unedited notes; later posts are edited transcripts (posts MWF, update 3/1/23)
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<blockquote data-quote="CPaladin" data-source="post: 8888680" data-attributes="member: 7030144"><p>Session 144 (May 10, 2022)</p><p></p><p>6 O-Tar (Evening)</p><p>They prepare to head to the party at the Zorplona-Moriquendarim embassy. Dame Brionna decides to set up in the sewers outside, to cover an escape route if necessary.</p><p></p><p>Alistair and the Empress are both dressed formally, in deliberately somewhat ostentatious clothes and wearing any appropriate Noldar items. Kit and the Baroness, for their parts, are dressed scandalously and fabulously. Lord Davion is in formal dress armor, with his guild colors, and the sigils of House Aufaulgautharim.</p><p></p><p>They are met by a short, slight Twilight Elf lady, with no guild signs, who is hosting the party: Lady Moritur. She is, functionally, the foreign minister for Zorplona-Moriquendarim.</p><p></p><p>There is a fabulous chocolate centerpiece, with chocolate fountains. One of the servants (all of whom are Drow in cadet house colors) explains that it was made by Lord Moriquendarim’s personal chocolatier, a master chocolatier hobbit. Kit expresses her unreserved admiration, while telling Dame Brionna and Alistair over the mindlink that they simply must find a master chocolatier of their own.</p><p></p><p>The Twilight Elf engages in smalltalk with the Emperor and Empress for precisely fifteen minutes, and then immediately launches into serious discussions. During the preliminaries, Lord Davion observes mentally that she appears to be entirely non-psionic--almost unheard of among Twilight Elves--and possibly obdurate, unable to be affected by psionics.</p><p></p><p>"My lord wished to reassure you that the House of Moriquendarim in Region 6 have eschewed the practice of slavery and have moved entirely to a non-slave-based economic model."</p><p></p><p>"We are most grateful to have learned that. We have been aware of that, and watched with a great deal of pleasure your progress. We are glad that this can facilitate a positive relationship between our peoples and our kingdoms."</p><p></p><p>"We have the greatest of hope for both a political and trade relationship with the Empire. But we also feel it obligatory to inform you that four of the five apprentices formerly serving Alvinus, who fell into shadow following, or perhaps preceding, his master Quinliart, have slipped the noose. We are not entirely certain where they are."</p><p></p><p>"We would appreciate if you would be willing to share a dossier on each of them."</p><p></p><p>"I've had those prepared. To whom should I have them delivered, Your Majesty?"</p><p></p><p>"To my chief of security, Dame Brionna, the captain of the Imperial Guard."</p><p></p><p>"Very well, Your Majesty, I will have them delivered to her at the palace on the morrow."</p><p></p><p>"That would be perfect unless you feel that they must be delivered into the hands of someone who is present currently. I suppose you could deliver them to the Imperial Champion."</p><p></p><p>She pauses slightly at that prospect, clearly not wishing to have any interaction with Lord Davion that she can avoid. "We do not think they are dangers here yet, but we are moderately certain that three of them have departed the City of Enclaves. The fourth is still there. He has made repeated strikes, and he is very good at evading the responses. But we believe three of the four have escaped. One of them we managed to kill, but they recovered the body and were able to resurrect it. The fifth we did kill, and it remains dead."</p><p></p><p>"Are you certain? We have discovered that the enemy is capable of bringing back members of its forces that are known to have been slain. We believe that they maintain clones of various of them in a state of readiness."</p><p></p><p>She stops in consternation. "Clones?"</p><p></p><p>Alistair holds up a hand. "We don't know for certain. But what we do know is that, for example, the sister of... shall we say the former head of your Enclave?--was without doubt slain by the Princess Curinirim, and yet she without doubt lives on in Hanal City."</p><p></p><p>"That is disturbing."</p><p></p><p>"Likewise, there is an ancient Twilight Elf who betrayed your people to the greatest enemies ages ago, for which he was put to death by the Aufaulgautharim, and his remains interred. And he, too, has been seen, and Lord Davion was able to vouch that it was precisely the same person with precisely the same signature, having fought him more than once."</p><p></p><p>She glances at Lord Davion, who gives a curt nod without deigning to meet her eye.</p><p></p><p>"I would respect his judgment. The one we think we slew is the one we have been calling the hand, my lord. We believe it is possible that there is a small cult among the Shadow Elves. We've not determined exactly how to investigate that since they are in the City of the Screaming Dead, and we are here. My Lord Proconsul's father is occupied with the great council that meets even now due to the disappearance of Anatar. Your words and your information are welcome, and with that, we cannot be sure that either of them are truly dead. More precisely, we are sure that the fourth came back. We have seen no sign of the fifth, but that may not mean anything."</p><p></p><p>"If they are clones, then we believe that it would take them something on the order of a century to grow a new clone to maturity. But of course, that presumes that they only have one clone at a time which we cannot verify."</p><p></p><p>"I will certainly pass this on to the Lord Seneschal to be given to the Lord Proconsul when I return, if I may."</p><p></p><p>"I have brought a letter with various forms of intelligence against these enemies that we have been able to gather. It does not speak to our intentions, for reasons of operational security, but it shares things of which we are aware. If you would see that it reaches the Lord Proconsul, and deliver with it this message:" Alistair shifts into Noldor language, and says an appropriate greeting of respect as between quasi-equals, but from far off places.</p><p></p><p>She bows deeply.</p><p></p><p>The rest of the evening is spent with excellent music and snacks, though nothing made with any form of meat, and the chocolate fountain. They only do one of the formal Noldor dances, which is just as well because the Noldor are the only ones who can dance those--Lord Davion stands alone on the floor. But it's kind of a required opening to any dancing, and once they've completed that the dancing will get much more modern and appropriate to humans.</p><p></p><p>At some appropriate point, Alistair asks his host if it would be appropriate for him to play and sing a brief piece.</p><p></p><p>That actually stuns some of the drow, though they hide it very well.</p><p></p><p>After they supply him with an appropriate lap harp, Alistair plays his song for Kit, because in a psionically aware society the musical effects will be impressive.</p><p></p><p>Many of the elves present are clearly impressed, though of course not Lady Moritur herself. Kit, however, notes finger signals in the battle speech of the House of Moriquendarim flash over with them, informing her of the psionics. Kit realizes that she has aides who fill the role of translating psionic information for her when necessary.</p><p></p><p>Eventually, the night winds down after an actually very pleasant evening--though notably less pleasant for Dame Brionna, who spends the whole time waiting in the sewers just in case. At least she feels like she's doing her duty, and her staff agree but think a shower upon returning would also be part of her duty. They're used to this sort of thing by now.</p><p></p><p>Lady Moritur closes the evening. "It is a great honor that you have done us by attending the fete, and I am pleased to have been able to make your acquaintances, Your Majesties. I hope you have enjoyed our poor attempt at hospitality. Thank you for the beautiful music that you played, and the light heartedness that you have brought to this gathering."</p><p></p><p>"Thank you for hosting us. It was quite diverting to be able to turn aside from matters of state, and to engage in an evening of enjoyment."</p><p></p><p>"It was indeed. I wish I had been able to stop worrying about the ancient enemy and actually enjoy an evening far from my station."</p><p></p><p>Lady Moritur also quietly conveys that the ambassador, who they met briefly during the evening and engaged in smalltalk with, replaced the one who was killed here because his wife was killed at the same time by a similar assassin. She moved him here because he didn't want to be where he had been anymore.</p><p></p><p>Kit makes a point of getting the name of the halfling chocolatier from a servant, so she can hire one of their friends for the court.</p><p></p><p>At the end of the evening, they return to the palace.</p><p>[cont'd]</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="CPaladin, post: 8888680, member: 7030144"] Session 144 (May 10, 2022) 6 O-Tar (Evening) They prepare to head to the party at the Zorplona-Moriquendarim embassy. Dame Brionna decides to set up in the sewers outside, to cover an escape route if necessary. Alistair and the Empress are both dressed formally, in deliberately somewhat ostentatious clothes and wearing any appropriate Noldar items. Kit and the Baroness, for their parts, are dressed scandalously and fabulously. Lord Davion is in formal dress armor, with his guild colors, and the sigils of House Aufaulgautharim. They are met by a short, slight Twilight Elf lady, with no guild signs, who is hosting the party: Lady Moritur. She is, functionally, the foreign minister for Zorplona-Moriquendarim. There is a fabulous chocolate centerpiece, with chocolate fountains. One of the servants (all of whom are Drow in cadet house colors) explains that it was made by Lord Moriquendarim’s personal chocolatier, a master chocolatier hobbit. Kit expresses her unreserved admiration, while telling Dame Brionna and Alistair over the mindlink that they simply must find a master chocolatier of their own. The Twilight Elf engages in smalltalk with the Emperor and Empress for precisely fifteen minutes, and then immediately launches into serious discussions. During the preliminaries, Lord Davion observes mentally that she appears to be entirely non-psionic--almost unheard of among Twilight Elves--and possibly obdurate, unable to be affected by psionics. "My lord wished to reassure you that the House of Moriquendarim in Region 6 have eschewed the practice of slavery and have moved entirely to a non-slave-based economic model." "We are most grateful to have learned that. We have been aware of that, and watched with a great deal of pleasure your progress. We are glad that this can facilitate a positive relationship between our peoples and our kingdoms." "We have the greatest of hope for both a political and trade relationship with the Empire. But we also feel it obligatory to inform you that four of the five apprentices formerly serving Alvinus, who fell into shadow following, or perhaps preceding, his master Quinliart, have slipped the noose. We are not entirely certain where they are." "We would appreciate if you would be willing to share a dossier on each of them." "I've had those prepared. To whom should I have them delivered, Your Majesty?" "To my chief of security, Dame Brionna, the captain of the Imperial Guard." "Very well, Your Majesty, I will have them delivered to her at the palace on the morrow." "That would be perfect unless you feel that they must be delivered into the hands of someone who is present currently. I suppose you could deliver them to the Imperial Champion." She pauses slightly at that prospect, clearly not wishing to have any interaction with Lord Davion that she can avoid. "We do not think they are dangers here yet, but we are moderately certain that three of them have departed the City of Enclaves. The fourth is still there. He has made repeated strikes, and he is very good at evading the responses. But we believe three of the four have escaped. One of them we managed to kill, but they recovered the body and were able to resurrect it. The fifth we did kill, and it remains dead." "Are you certain? We have discovered that the enemy is capable of bringing back members of its forces that are known to have been slain. We believe that they maintain clones of various of them in a state of readiness." She stops in consternation. "Clones?" Alistair holds up a hand. "We don't know for certain. But what we do know is that, for example, the sister of... shall we say the former head of your Enclave?--was without doubt slain by the Princess Curinirim, and yet she without doubt lives on in Hanal City." "That is disturbing." "Likewise, there is an ancient Twilight Elf who betrayed your people to the greatest enemies ages ago, for which he was put to death by the Aufaulgautharim, and his remains interred. And he, too, has been seen, and Lord Davion was able to vouch that it was precisely the same person with precisely the same signature, having fought him more than once." She glances at Lord Davion, who gives a curt nod without deigning to meet her eye. "I would respect his judgment. The one we think we slew is the one we have been calling the hand, my lord. We believe it is possible that there is a small cult among the Shadow Elves. We've not determined exactly how to investigate that since they are in the City of the Screaming Dead, and we are here. My Lord Proconsul's father is occupied with the great council that meets even now due to the disappearance of Anatar. Your words and your information are welcome, and with that, we cannot be sure that either of them are truly dead. More precisely, we are sure that the fourth came back. We have seen no sign of the fifth, but that may not mean anything." "If they are clones, then we believe that it would take them something on the order of a century to grow a new clone to maturity. But of course, that presumes that they only have one clone at a time which we cannot verify." "I will certainly pass this on to the Lord Seneschal to be given to the Lord Proconsul when I return, if I may." "I have brought a letter with various forms of intelligence against these enemies that we have been able to gather. It does not speak to our intentions, for reasons of operational security, but it shares things of which we are aware. If you would see that it reaches the Lord Proconsul, and deliver with it this message:" Alistair shifts into Noldor language, and says an appropriate greeting of respect as between quasi-equals, but from far off places. She bows deeply. The rest of the evening is spent with excellent music and snacks, though nothing made with any form of meat, and the chocolate fountain. They only do one of the formal Noldor dances, which is just as well because the Noldor are the only ones who can dance those--Lord Davion stands alone on the floor. But it's kind of a required opening to any dancing, and once they've completed that the dancing will get much more modern and appropriate to humans. At some appropriate point, Alistair asks his host if it would be appropriate for him to play and sing a brief piece. That actually stuns some of the drow, though they hide it very well. After they supply him with an appropriate lap harp, Alistair plays his song for Kit, because in a psionically aware society the musical effects will be impressive. Many of the elves present are clearly impressed, though of course not Lady Moritur herself. Kit, however, notes finger signals in the battle speech of the House of Moriquendarim flash over with them, informing her of the psionics. Kit realizes that she has aides who fill the role of translating psionic information for her when necessary. Eventually, the night winds down after an actually very pleasant evening--though notably less pleasant for Dame Brionna, who spends the whole time waiting in the sewers just in case. At least she feels like she's doing her duty, and her staff agree but think a shower upon returning would also be part of her duty. They're used to this sort of thing by now. Lady Moritur closes the evening. "It is a great honor that you have done us by attending the fete, and I am pleased to have been able to make your acquaintances, Your Majesties. I hope you have enjoyed our poor attempt at hospitality. Thank you for the beautiful music that you played, and the light heartedness that you have brought to this gathering." "Thank you for hosting us. It was quite diverting to be able to turn aside from matters of state, and to engage in an evening of enjoyment." "It was indeed. I wish I had been able to stop worrying about the ancient enemy and actually enjoy an evening far from my station." Lady Moritur also quietly conveys that the ambassador, who they met briefly during the evening and engaged in smalltalk with, replaced the one who was killed here because his wife was killed at the same time by a similar assassin. She moved him here because he didn't want to be where he had been anymore. Kit makes a point of getting the name of the halfling chocolatier from a servant, so she can hire one of their friends for the court. At the end of the evening, they return to the palace. [cont'd] [/QUOTE]
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Aphonion Tales: The Archducal Council -- Unedited notes; later posts are edited transcripts (posts MWF, update 3/1/23)
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