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

[arcaneadvisor]

"Tis hardly my fault that your guests will trip over themselves to find evidence that I have ensorcelled key members of the Inquisition, I am sure at least one will say that I began my corruption of Sister Nightingale back during the Blight." Life has been trying lately, and tonight there's the reminder of the eluvian she had sent for, that she doesn't know exactly where it is as well as having to deal with Alistair for the first time since Anders.

That's still too raw, too likely to sour her temper, so she pushes the thoughts away, rolling her eyes.

"And there is nothing better the Inquisition can spend so much on," for this will not be cheap, not at all, "than indulging Vivienne's whims and idle gossip? Many things can be dressed up but I did not hear of dancing lessons being made compulsary, and such an unwieldy creature this Inquisition is at present."

[theproperglove]

"We stand to recoup the costs and more should the evening go well," Josephine answers, her gaze suddenly steeled as though she will allow no other outcome. The woman before her is a mystery, a puzzle Josephine has not yet figured out, although she finds herself filled with a new-found determination to do just that. "Did your time at the Imperial court not teach you how important this 'idle gossip' is for the stability of nations?"

"If they think us enscrolled by you, let them. It is nothing that cannot be made to work in our favour."

[arcaneadvisor]

Many others, including Empress Celene herself, have tried and failed though Leliana might be the one who comes closest to succeeding but then she's the only one who actually knew Morrigan before she first appeared as anything more than a figure at the Hero's side. "My time in the Imperial Court taught the world will still burn around them as they argue over who should seat themselves upon a throne that means less and less for all their petty squabbling, that they will let their nation bleed itself dry and sing itself hoarse as they wring their hands about rose over teal, about my not wearing a mask. That if an empress wishes to get her way, she will burn an alienage to a ground, and her loyal subjects whose history she fawned over with it."

The words almost choke her, and the wine she has sipped at sparingly she swallows quickly, as if to rinse the taste of them from her mouth, as if it were so easy. Her time if the Imperial Court taught her simply what the wilds had taught her only motherhood had softened her, and Ferelden was at least honest, it didn't take some strange twisted joy in doing what it did. The seat of the Chantry sits in Orlais, where the Game took shape, small wonder she hates them both yet must be so very aware of how they work, how they would seek to confine her and measure out her life, how best to constrict her.

"I am sure Leliana will tell some pretty tell of how she will have me falling to my knees before her, weeping and repenting, renouncing my wicked ways and that at her side I have seen the Maker's light, whatever sort of nonsense must be peddled so the Inquisition is not left destitute as hermits."