Truth or Dare: The Imperial Court

[madame_de_fer]

WHO: Select Orlesian and Fereldan Nobility and the Inquisition
WHAT: Josephine and Vivienne have orchestrated a good-will soiree in response to this dastardly rumor.
WHEN: Drakonis 15, Evening
WHERE: Skyhold Great Hall
NOTES:
- A list of nobles in attendance can be found here. The list was provided by the mods but there will be no npc support for them. Play away.
- A secondary outside party is being held in the valley in the tent town for anyone who couldn't/wouldn't attend and/or behave in the fancy pansty party.
- The goal of the evening is to clear up a spurious rumor about Cassandra and Leliana, with secondary goals of establishing the Inquisition as a respectable presence in Thedas (and fish for more money). Any major disruptions that would Game Over the court approval should probably be brought to the advisors and/or mods.



To say that Josphine has far outdone herself with this little soiree would be the understatement of the year. The Lady Ambassador has pulled out all the stops in providing a festive and yet elegant stage for this political intervention. Because sometimes gossip can be more deadly than a sword.

The Great Hall of Skyhold has been converted into a grand receiving hall, glittering with hundreds of lights around the room, in addition to the repairs accomplished to the original chandeliers. Of course, there has been artful placement arranged so there are a few shadowy corners for rendezvous of the more suggestive nature. Just in case. The majority of the floor has been cleared for dancing, and a fine troupe of musicians have been installed for the bulk of the evening's entertainments. Some members of the Inquisition have plans to entice attendees with their own artistic performances in addition to the group of mages performing illusory tricks to oohs and aahs.

For those who feel their energy flagging, there are chairs set against the walls, with a few tables interspersed between. Servers hired for the evening circulate the crowds with wine, fine Orlesian and Nevarran reds as well as crisp whites from Antiva. Refreshments are set out on buffet tables, tasteful and extravagant nibbles, including imported cheeses, spicy saucisson, dried fruits and nuts, and the highly sought after deep mushroom and anise petits fours that are all the rage in Orlais.

Comments

[ombranera]

Zevran took a long moment and chose to set the matter of the calling aside. He was not sober enough to appreciate whatever nuance Fiona might offer, even if he was tipsy enough to enjoy the sound of her voice and the curve of her chest.

"He found you challenging, did he? Are you often so great a challenge for those that might wish your company?" Little things, here. Little details. Something about Goldanna clicked in the back of his mind, her vague to nonexistant resemblance to Alistair, the cut of Cailan's jaw, what few portraits of Merri he'd seen. Something in this woman. All too muzzy, all to impossible to consider. Alistair's mother was human, was dead. He would have known otherwise.

[rebelenchanter]

"I was young...I generalized him based on his status, then I realized that he wasn't a bad man. He was a good man who carried a lot of pain around. Someone who kept his promises...he was...surprising," though she understood that there were conflicted opinions on the matter of Maric. Fiona had finished with her first drink and settled into drinking Orlesian wine, not her drink of choice, but it would suffice for the occasion. Win had a tendency to hit hard and quite suddenly, the reason she avoided it...but it was available and it was an event, so why not, "to answer your question though, no...not as a matter of principle. If someone seeks my company I am glad to give it in return."

[ombranera]

"And-" This is where Zevran knew he was somewhat tipsy, or feeling particularly impish, for him to put on the face of all due interest, lowered lids, curled smirk, a faint lean into Fiona's space. "Were I to seek your company?"

Because this could not at all end poorly.

[rebelenchanter]

Ah, wine, it's not ale, not even as good as ale in her opinion, but one could drink it down quickly.

Though not quickly enough it seems, as Zevran leaned into her space with an expression she was not at all unfamiliar with. Granted it was one she had not seen in a while...and from such a young man with a mischievious air about him, she couldn'y take it seriously.

Unfortunately, as comical as it was to her, it could not have been comical a the worse time. Between drunking and laughing, or trying not to laugh as it were, how could this not end with Zevran getting sprayed with Orlesian wine?

"Oh!" instead of being flustered or indignant about showering Zevran, she was using her sleeve to dab at his face like s child who'd come in from the rain mud-splattered. Class act this Grand Enchanter, but she did not stand on the same grounds of propriety as most, "I am...so sorry, but that was quite the thing to say."

[ombranera]

At least it was in the face. At least he was able to close his eyes and lean back somewhat to avoid the worst of the fine mist of wine that would otherwise dot his shirt with stains. And at least he knew, for certain, that he could wash out the stains later. If he could take out blood and bile from silk? He could take out wine.

With time.

And work.

And a little begging of a mage's indulgence.

Zevran tilted his face into her sleeve with a sigh, unfamiliar enough with the gesture to not think anything of it. "Well- this is a first, I will admit."

[rebelenchanter]

Fortunately Fiona did not have the same connection to clothing as many of the fashion forward individuals floating about. She was from Orlais, certainly, but had none of the mannerisms one might expect...she was an elf after all. Dabbing his face satisfactorily dry she withdrew her sleeve, still looking apologetic, but smiling nonetheless, in a nostalgic kind of way.

"Well, I am glad that I could do that for you...ah...but that was a surprise. For a moment you...reminded me of someone," someone else who was quite roguish in his time and had a peculiar way with the ladies, not as openly flattering, but still. Fiona thought it was adorable, but aside from that her heart was elsewhere.

[ombranera]

"Oh? And who might that be?" He remained in her space, remained leaning and smirking for she was in her own way lovely. Nothing would come of it of course but the teasing, the flirting? Was something he could not quite prevent when he had this much wine in him and there was someone he found attractive and pleasantly dangerous nearby.

[rebelenchanter]

"He was a fellow Grey Warden and a friend of mine, Duncan...he...ah...had a lot of charm in him," Fiona still couldn't believe how fast he moved with that mage, but then again they'd been in the circle. That their Warden Commander had happened upon the scene? It had been priceless, at least from the perspective off someone who heard the story second hand and not witnessed the actual events. Fiona would not have wanted to.

[ombranera]

"Did you know him well?" Most of the flirtatious drop away at the name- lost in favor of learning more of the man that had been so important to Alistair. "I have only heard a handful of tales but- knowing more of him? Would be enjoyable."

[rebelenchanter]

"Well enough to think of him as a younger brother...we were the youngest recruits so becoming fast friends was easy," she'd witnessed his joining and they had shared many secrets in their time together and still maintained contact up until Duncan's unfortunate death, "hm...well I know he became more serious as he grew into his role as a Grey Warden, but it wasn't always so. I know his mother was Rivain and his father was from Ferelden...he was born in Highever and after his parents died he became a thief in Orlais. He once told me that he and a group he was running with were going to loot a nobleman's house, but Duncan was spooked and ran away, not paying attention where he was running he fell into a well and was stuck for a few days until someone finally pulled him out. He learned that his fellow thieves were killed not long after that. I always thought it was funny that Duncan could be clumsy...I've always known him as being light footed, a man who could go unnoticed if he wanted to, but I suppose everyone must start somewhere. It was his thieving that led him to become a Grey Warden, actually."

[ombranera]

"...He fell into a well." This- this was a man he probably would understand fairly well. A man that, perhaps, Alistair could grow to be in time. "What is it about Grey wardens that inspire clumsiness? I have a friend, a Warden, that seems to find every trap no matter where we are or they are, and stumble right into them. Every. Single. Time. It is remarkable he has not fallen off a cliff just yet."

[rebelenchanter]

"I think clumsiness is something that Grey Wardens grow out of, he certainly proved that he could disappear when he had to, and be light on his feet when he wanted to be. He was capable of entering First Enchanter Remille's chambers and stealing a magical ebony-black dagger and the sow never even shared it...so while we were all hearing The Calling, he was not," she was slightly irritated by that at the time, but she didn't expect Duncan to know about the magical properties of the dagger either.

"...And I will have you know, I was never clumsy," Fiona held up her finger in a matter-of-fact sort of way, mock indignation, "I feel like part of Duncan's clumsiness came from his youth and part of it was intentional, because he had no wish to be a Grey Warden. Not at first."

[ombranera]

"A magical dagger that kept him from hearing the song? Does it still exist?" Could he find it? He would have to hunt about for such a thing but- if that could help Alistair at all, could be shared among the wardens...

[rebelenchanter]

"He never destroyed it to the best of my knowledge, but I think he might have mentioned hiding it away in a letter. Something like that would have gotten in the way of him being a warden you see, so he had to part with it," Fiona couldn't rightly remember herself what happened to it, she would have to read through all of those old letters, "is it of particular interest to you...or to your warden friend?"

[ombranera]

"To me." For the warden friend. "Was it a particular enchantment or- I have never heard of such a thing before. One would think wardens would keep track of the dagger."

To not hear the calling, to sleep properly, to rest-

Alistair would not look quite so haggard.

[rebelenchanter]

Fiona eyed Zevran with something of a knowing look, but said nothing more on the subject of who the dagger was for. "I'd never heard of such a thing either, it's not an enchantment that a mage could do without being taught by a powerful magi Darkspawn Emissary...like the Architect who taught the First Enchanter. The Architect taught Remille to make these brooches that he claimed would prevent the Darkspawn from detecting us in the Deep Roads, those amulets did no such thing, they speed up The Calling...Duncan's dagger nullified it."

To replicate such a thing would require the aid of a creature like the Architect...and Fiona was unwilling to go there.

"I suspect the reason Duncan hid it away was because it would be too tempting a thing. A blight was coming and the wardens needed all of their facilities in order...though I suppose at the moment it is a moot point. I suspect the nature of it's production might have also played a role as well," Fiona bowed her head a bit, she too was thinking about Alistair and maybe it wasn't the best of choices, but it should at least be an option, "if you want to come to my quarters when you are next available, I can look through my old letters and maybe we'll find something, yes?"

[ombranera]

"...I feel like my priorities have shifted abruptly when a lovely woman asks me to her chambers and my first thought is not 'how quickly can I disrobe once I am there'." Zevran crackled a low laugh, shaking his head at himself. Apparently he was getting older- less lusty perhaps. or his care for Alistair overtook what personal desires he might sate in Fiona's company.

"A talking darkspawn said it wold help and lied? However did you not see that coming?" Seriously. Grey Wardens killed darkspawn. Why would one help the other?

[rebelenchanter]

"Such a noble shift in your priorities," Fiona's smile did not waver, but appearently she agreed with Zevran's assessment of the situation and what really seemed to matter. Not the invitation, but the significance of the help she would offer if she could.

I did not trust it, my position is that a darkspawn is a darkspawn and by it's own nature inherently evil," and that position did not change regardless of the Architect's peculiar mannerisms, "however I could see how he might have enticed some of the other wardens to him, enticed them into becoming as he was and helping to fulfil the Architet's noble quest. It was tempting on the face of it...the Architect wanted to free the other darkspawn of their impulse to seek out and corrupt the old gods by hunting them down and killing them first and using Grey Warden knowledge to do it. No more Blights, is that not the ultimate goal of a Grey Warden, stop the Blights...ending them forever, no more archdemons? However that would do nothing to stop darkspawn from attacking the surface and those on it. His middle ground was to infect all of Thedas with the taint...those who survive, those with the disposition that Grey Warden's possess would become darkspawn-hybrids...that is the true end result of The Calling. The loss of life would be tremendous...but some thought the peace that would result would be worth it..."

[ombranera]

"It has been known to happen now and again." Not often- but now and then. Especially if it would benefit him in some way. Keeping Alistair alive? Was terribly beneficial to him. He was not so noble as to claim to be entirely altruistic. "There is a reason the Grey Wardens are called 'Grey'. They do what they must to end the blight. But such a life as that- such an act? Would destroy everything the Grey Wardens seek to protect. They cannot truly have thought it would be worth it in the end."

[rebelenchanter]

"If you think that then...you are not entirely wrong. Warden Commander Genevieve...her brother Bregan and a fellow warden Utha, former Silent Sister, they joined the Architect. They became hybrids, ghouls...Genevieve had not been made fully aware of the Architect's plans, only that he was going to bring peace. She trusted it because her brother trusted it...and she owed Bregan everything. Bregan who became a Grey Warden so that she could become one too. When she found out she turned on the Architect...when the Architect killed her, Bregan also turned on the Architect. Utha, however, did not, she ran away with the Architect...I do not know what happened to her," she bowed her head and was silent for a moment, thinking about all of the Warden's that were lost in that venture, "I lost a few friends then...the lovers Julien and Nicolas, Kell ap Morgan...and his beautiful war hound, Hafter. Most Wardens would agree that this would be unthinkable...but Bregan came close and Utha...well, the promise of everlasting peace is tempting."

[ombranera]

"It is bullshit." Sorry, Fiona, Zevran has had enough wine to narrow his eyes and then roll them at the sentiment. "There is no such thing. Even if the Blights end forever there will be war or famine or plague or demons ripping holes in the sky. There will always be something. Any plan to fix all of it in one fell swoop is madness; I cannot say they ought to have known better; but surely you, yourself, know better now."

[rebelenchanter]

"Ah, but do darkspawn experience famine or plague, do they care about demons and holes in the sky in the same way that we might? Naturally I do not buy into it, I never have, I just know why they might have been tempted.

[ombranera]

"It could be worse, I suppose. We could have darkspawn coming from the ground and demons from holes in the sky." As well as a blighted dragon and an ancient magister. What delightful conversation this is, truly.

[rebelenchanter]

"There's always a silver lining, but some good things come out of these situations," Fiona had probably had as much to drink as Zevran and she was draining another glass of wine, "it might not have been the best time, but I was a mother, it was brief and the one bright spot in a very dark period of my life. Hmm...long time ago, however."

[ombranera]

"Oh?" Now that seemed odd. What he knew of mages and wardens and children was that often they did not keep them. Either due to Chantry meddling or the taint and the work it simply did not come to pass. "Did you raise the child? I had a companion during the blight, Wynne, that had a son while in the Circle. She had to give him up to the templars."