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

[stabsbooks]

Cassandra goes pale, staring in shock. Whether Morrigan means it or not, Cassandra knows that she is right. The Inquisition does need legitimacy - is that not the reason behind this whole awful charade? And she knows all too well the influence of the name Pentaghast; Josephine had tried to persuade her to make use of that influence more than once, all to no effect.

But a marriage...

She presses her lips together, setting her jaw firmly. No. It cannot be true. Vivienne would not...she would not. Even Anders is a better topic of conversation than this, and Cassandra grasps onto it, pushing all thought of marriage far from her mind.

"That is up to the Wardens now," she says, though the grim, angry set of her expression should tell Morrigan all she needs to know of Cassandra's thoughts on that. "And yes. I would. Is it any surprise? Darkspawn do not wear masks. They try to kill you, and you kill them in return. It is simple. It does not require...this." She casts a dark look at her dress, and at the room in general.

[arcaneadvisor]

Stranger things have happened; there are more Wardens within the walls of the Inquisition than there have been in Ferelden for a generation, and yet with no clearly defined purpose (despite her anger with Alistair, despite her hurt, she will not betray the confidence about what he hears and why her son sleeps fitfully; there is so little that she can know for certain when it comes to Kieran, and right now she does need him, much as she might loathe that), with seemingly a contingent of Dalish elves, with Tal-Vashoth, Vashoth, and one Qunari, with enough mages from each and every corner of Thedas but Par Vollen to have the Chantry wailing were it not sobbing for a women more shrewd than Celene vying to keep her grip on her throne.

Jonas sealed an alliance with a marriage after all, and well, Alistair still has his Theirin blood should they have a need of it. What interests her is this open face of the Seeker, of the Right Hand of the Divine.

"The Nightingale did not recommend a mask to you? Truly what troubled waters we are in." A jest that perhaps says she knows - if there is a side she will take, it will be Leliana's be default, perhaps the only time she will ever choose sides.

As for the matter at hand, she laughs before her eyes narrow. "I have been in the Deep Roads. I have slain Darkspawn and there is nothing simple about them, about their corruption, about the misery and fetid stench of them. I have seen a broodmother with my own eyes and heard the tales of the madness such a place can inspire in those lost or trapped within them. Perhaps next time you might dissuade Vivienne and remind her that funds are far better spent elsewhere, there are many hungry mouths to feed, soldiers to outfit, buildings in need of repair. Or you could allow the lot of them to become lost on the road to Skyhold and have done with them, I would shed no tears if that were the case although then we would have to send someone to the funeral and as Right Hand I am sure you would be the most appropriate choice."

[stabsbooks]

Her expression tightens at the mention of Leliana, but she says nothing. Will say nothing. The mention of the Left Hand stirs sharp pain and hot anger in equal measure, but she is not about to share that with anyone, least of all Morrigan. Least of all here.

She stares wordlessly as Morrigan describes the Darkspawn, the Deep Roads. She has heard - and read - tales of both before, of course, but never, perhaps, in quite so much graphic and personal detail. It's obvious that the experience had affected Morrigan deeply, and she shakes her head.

"I...I am sorry. I did not think...I suppose it is different, once you have seen them. Once you have been there." She takes a breath. "I hope we will both be lucky enough not to encounter either, in the future."

Not that it makes the ball any more bearable. She glances around the room, frowning. "You should know that I have little influence, when it comes to Vivienne and Josephine's schemes. I am sure they know what is best, in this case."

[arcaneadvisor]

Not even Morrigan's tales would do it justice, not for all her way with words or her bluntness, and neither would Leliana for all that she knows how to spin a tale. You can't bottle misery so easily, nor is there a way to speak of that sort of betrayal, that rising dread, how the growths about them roiling, fit to burst; the first sight of the Archdemon as it took wing above the great army of horrors.

Quite something, to truly know what they were facing, to know that Ostagar had barely been a skirmish compared to what was to come. The apology is waved away, it is over, it is done with but she wouldn't subject someone to that place anymore than she would be dragged back now that she knows what truly goes on down there. There are few things to give her nightmares but when she cannot find rest, she often finds herself lost in labyrinths that begin to twist and turn as those caverns had.

"Corypheus is on the surface, for which we should all be grateful, and his army is made of corrupted Templars and lyrium, and whatever vestiges of Tevinter he has assembled. Strange mercies but given the state of things, we should take them and not even appear to look them in the mouth." They should be snatched, even if that means leaving some piece of them behind, but then that's how she got away in the end, that's the only sort of life she knows.

"I am sure they know what is best?" She repeats as if she cannot believe what she has heard and indeed, a part of her cannot, and her eyebrows climb higher, skirts rustling as she turns to give the room her back so they won't see her face, so they won't see quite so much of Cassandra's either because well-- well she can give her some showing of kindness. If it can be called that. "You are the Right Hand of the Divine and you would let them peck at you like a pair of brooding hens? I had thought you would have a little more steel in your spine, a daughter of Nevarra, a slayer of dragons, a Lady Seeker standing here with her heretical order against the rest of the faithful and the world, throwing elven rifters in the cells without a word. You do not need to play the Game, I never have and if there are any here who think I do then I will gladly remind them that I do not. You were her Right Hand, not some diplomat from Antiva and certainly not some woman only here to keep her name relevant as she clings to whatever power she can scrabble for in a world that might very soon have no place at all for her unless she claws it out using whatever, or rather, whomever she can. She is the one who cares about the Game above all other things in this world no matter what she might claim, it has given her too much for her to ever stop caring now."

[stabsbooks]

Cassandra listens, but her eyes narrow as she does, her expression shifting to something dark and forbidding. She is willing to admit when she is wrong, even to Morrigan, but she refuses to let her apology, or her obvious discomfort here, be taken as weakness.

"I know what I am. I do not need you to remind me," she says, her voice sharp. "I know my own strength, and attending one ball will not diminish it." She steps closer, threatening, and not caring who sees it. She had agreed to attend this stupid ball; she had never agreed to allow herself or anyone else to be insulted while smiling blandly for the sake of the Game. "Vivienne is one of the Inquisition's strongest allies. We would not have accomplished half of what we have without her, and if you truly think she cares only for herself, it is obvious you do not know her at all. As for Josephine, I would remind her that it was she who was recruited as an advisor for the Inquisition, and not you." She leans close, her expression dark with barely held-back fury now. "Are there any others among the Inquisition's leadership you would care to pass judgement on? Perhaps you might volunteer to take over training our troops. I am sure you have no shortage of ideas about how to improve on Cullen's work."