This seems reasonable.
[X] Start milking them for information. That's the true reason for all of this nonsense.
-[X] "Politely" move the conversation on, mentioning that you had heard of Cornelia's unfortunate defeat by the 'savages' in the Middle East to imply just where your supposed relatives died, and query about her activities in Area Eleven. Move the conversation along to ferret out the men's opinions regarding the various recent events occurring in Area Eleven and seeing if you can manage to get any interesting tidbits that you were unaware of, or possibly get something that might point you towards what you came here for tonight.
[X] Start milking them for information. That's the true reason for all of this nonsense.
-[X] "Politely" move the conversation on, mentioning that you had heard of Cornelia's unfortunate defeat by the 'savages' in the Middle East to imply just where your supposed relatives died, and query about her activities in Area Eleven. Move the conversation along to ferret out the men's opinions regarding the various recent events occurring in Area Eleven and seeing if you can manage to get any interesting tidbits that you were unaware of, or possibly get something that might point you towards what you came here for tonight.
Adhoc vote count started by Alexander89 on Feb 15, 2018 at 3:08 PM, finished with 28 posts and 14 votes.
[X] Start milking them for information. That's the true reason for all of this nonsense.
-[X] "Politely" move the conversation on, mentioning that you had heard of Cornelia's unfortunate defeat by the 'savages' in the Middle East to imply just where your supposed relatives died, and query about her activities in Area Eleven. Move the conversation along to ferret out the men's opinions regarding the various recent events occurring in Area Eleven and seeing if you can manage to get any interesting tidbits that you were unaware of, or possibly get something that might point you towards what you came here for tonight.
[X] Start milking them for information. That's the true reason for all of this nonsense.
-[X] "Politely" move the conversation on, mentioning that you had heard of Cornelia's unfortunate defeat by the 'savages' in the Middle East to imply just where your supposed relatives died, and query about her activities in Area Eleven. Move the conversation along to ferret out the men's opinions regarding the various recent events occurring in Area Eleven and seeing if you can manage to get any interesting tidbits that you were unaware of, or possibly get something that might point you towards what you came here for tonight.
"Thank you My Lord. I miss them so much." You nod, looking as if you're trying to endure your pain for the sake of appearance. In a way it's true, because dealing with this moron is such a pain. "I hate imposing on you, but would you be willing to indulge a small curiosity of mine?"
"Anything my dear."
"Viscount Frimout mentioned Her Highness the Second Princess, who I admire greatly. While I was still in Area 1 I had heard of her unfortunate defeat by the Middle East savages-" Thinking about your mother allows you to say the word with the right amount of grief and hate. "But nothing about her activities in Area Eleven."
"Truly unfortunate, yes." The Viscount nods. "I have no doubt she would have gained victory with a little more time, but alas the Emperor..." He pauses, choosing a way to express his thoughts that doesn't result in a claim of treason. "Wasn't willing to wait."
"What our Emperor decides is his prerogative alone." The Earl agrees. "Truth be told I expected her to replace His Highness Clovis as the Viceroy, since she's higher in line to the throne."
"I have not had the pleasure of personally meet her yet, but her personal troops don't seem very happy to be here." Frimout waves a hand, as if to imply he understands their feelings. "She is currently busy crushing the rebels that still plague this Area with a fervor that is difficult to emulate."
"Don't tell me: to meet her request for new equipment I had to push back the orders of many of my usual clients." Arundell's tone indicates it wasn't an order he accepted happily. He probably values the connections his usual clients grant him more than the money.
You tilt your head slightly, confused. "Surely a few ragtag rebels are easy to put down for the Goddess of Victory. Yet by your words, Earl Arundell, it seems like she is mobilizing a lot of manpower?"
"Well my dear, while you're right there are a few circumstances to consider." Frimout strokes his beard. "The first, is that the sand and climate of the Middle East do terrible things to the standard equipment issued to our brave soldiers. And while the Knightmare Frames adapted...I am sorry to say not much effort was put into the rest of the army. Knightmare Frames are the pride and spearhead of Britannia, but not many people understand an army is not made of only them."
"That was made abundantly clear." The Earl picks up a new glass of wine. "They are fascinating weapons, those Gauss cannons. I tried to obtain a few of them to study, but those savages have the irritating habit to leave only scorched earth behind them."
"Careful my friend, there are people who would be displeased at those words." The Viscount advises the other noble while quickly looking around. "The second circumstance, is that the rebels are not the only problems around Area 11. And Her Highness is determined to take care of them all."
'Finally!' Realizing the possible chance you give off a small but still growing feeling of interest. "What kind of problems, My Lord? Is this related to the recent events? I had heard tales... of treason."
"You must be referring to the Pureblood Incident, My Lady." Arundell grimaces. "Radicals always complicate things I say. Why change what works?" You detect mostly indifference in his words, rather than being concerned with the Numbers. Some part of the Pureblood's agenda must have inconvenienced him somehow, or maybe he had a previous bad experience. "Luckily for us His Highness Clovis skillfully fixed that problem. I believe what my friend means is that, like weed, problems flourish in an unsightly manner on this island nation, and are just as hard to eradicate. Take, for example, the chronic disease that infected a city in the Akita prefecture, where I have one of my best factories: all of my workers are on sick leave! All of them!"
"Are you sure it's not one of the usual tricks of the Numbers to slack off?" Frimout smirks.
"Sadly it's not: I had my personal doctor checks it, and he confirmed its authenticity. It's a nasty thing, causing incredible pain even with painkillers."
"That's unfortunate." The Viscount strokes his bread and frowns. "To tell the truth, I was thinking more-"
"Earl Arundell. Viscount Frimout." Two noblewomen approach your group. You don't miss the animosity in their eyes as they glance at you. "I hope we aren't interrupting anything important."
"Lucinda! Marion! What a pleasure to see you again!" The Earl greets them with a smile. He probably slept with either of them once or twice, maybe both. "May I introduce you to Baroness Valyria Dyeport? Baroness, allow me the honor to introduce Countess Lucinda D'Este and Countess Marion Pitt to you. I was just talking to the Baroness about some personal problem of mine."
"We've heard about the Dyeport. What a tragedy." Marion replies. It isn't the lie that makes you internally narrow your eyes, but the mocking edge in her words. More that is appropriate...unless you plan to escalate. "But if I can be honest with you, Baroness, I am perplexed. You should be in mourning, yet you're here, taking the Earl's time while discussing topics that I don't believe you would be concerned with?"
"With all due respect, Countess, Area 11 will be my home for the foreseeable future." You reply demurely. "I merely seek to spend my time here as pleasantly as possible, and to do that I need to know what I will have to deal with."
"A likely excuse." Lucinda's lips twist into a sneer of disbelief. What is this bitch's aim? "But I also heard you are interested in the Middle East."
"My father and brother died there." Your tone hardens noticeably. "It is knowledge I would have gladly made without. And you misheard Countess D'Este: we were talking about Her Highness Cornelia."
"Are they not related? I was made to believe your father and brother died under her command. Shouldn't you already know everything?"
You stare straight into the eyes of the two noblewomen, and see nothing but contempt. Frimout and Arundell, recognizing the forming atmosphere, have subtly taken a step back.
You don't know why they are trying to discredit you, but one thing is certain:
If it's a fight they want, it's a fight they'll get.
Countess Lucinda D'Este and Countess Marion Pitt. Both married, they took their husbands' surnames. Their families are rich by economic deals made after the war by the husbands' parents, present generation enjoy the benefits without doing anything. Noteworthy names of the social scene, not the top but middle-ranked. You know where they live.
Indeed. Nemesis Self Imagined Anew could potentially do some interesting things here... Words That Twist Like Daggers could also cause some interesting things to happen, using a social attack to cause a delusion in public.
@Alexander89 - which of these two spoke up first? Seems like that one would be the best one to target, since she'd be the one who took the initiative.
Indeed. Nemesis Self Imagined Anew could potentially do some interesting things here... Words That Twist Like Daggers could also cause some interesting things to happen, using a social attack to cause a delusion in public.
Maybe... But unless they are E3 or higher NSIA would just be a distraction from our mission. And it could easily be that their motivations are not something we can attack here.
And with regards to other social charms... We want to be very careful. We are surrounded by Dragonbloods who will know about non-obvious social charms. If we use any charm that has an noticeable effect we will be assumed to be the cause. And that could easily be more attention than we want.
And we seem to have the option to simply degenerate this into a normal social fight. Something that may be better for our cover and resources (motes and WP).
a normal social fight sounds good...and if lucky we can just have the dragon-bloods think were pathetically powered, with lies and tricks.
So we should be careful...these ladies seem to have a dangerous edge to them, perhaps they might be able to see through our disguise? or maybe just pure jealously...it depends really.
So, what's their angle? This level of bitchiness seems too overblown for their antagonism to be just for their personal amusement. Perhaps both, or just one of them likes either of the men Lelouch was talking to, and they took exception to a barely noble trollop breaching their territory?
Indeed. Nemesis Self Imagined Anew could potentially do some interesting things here... Words That Twist Like Daggers could also cause some interesting things to happen, using a social attack to cause a delusion in public.
@Alexander89 - which of these two spoke up first? Seems like that one would be the best one to target, since she'd be the one who took the initiative.
@Alexander89 Either of them show up under our sight? Are they glowing from being E4+ or using any charms or artifacts?
Maybe... But unless they are E3 or higher NSIA would just be a distraction from our mission. And it could easily be that their motivations are not something we can attack here.
And with regards to other social charms... We want to be very careful. We are surrounded by Dragonbloods who will know about non-obvious social charms. If we use any charm that has an noticeable effect we will be assumed to be the cause. And that could easily be more attention than we want.
And we seem to have the option to simply degenerate this into a normal social fight. Something that may be better for our cover and resources (motes and WP).
I expect the reason we are getting this hostility is because we decided the thing to do here was to go right to the top and approach the person organizing the party. We are new here and not established in the local pecking order and we aren't exactly high ranking nobility either. As such going straight for the top like we did is basically saying "I'm better than all of you and I'm top bitch now" to some degree, especially to the females here. Getting into a fight over that is hardly unexpected. Approaching the Earl straight away was good for getting attention and information but bad for not getting into conflict.
Though appearance 5 is probably getting us a fair bit of jealousy too.
hmmm lets not go over-kill here, were gathering information, not dropping logic nukes on people...
so lets use subtle daggers on them, don't use much if any powers on them but pure intellect to make Sherlock Holmes proud, but if we do have to use powers use the barest limit of it. and excuse ourselves from a small headache.
might be believable that were not useful if dragon-blooded get the idea we have powers (a small use of power=small headache, anything more might end up with head-bang!) at least that's the idea I have for this little plan.
otherwise do what we usually do and subtly twist daggers, after all we were approached first.
So, what's their angle? This level of bitchiness seems too overblown for their antagonism to be just for their personal amusement. Perhaps both, or just one of them likes either of the men Lelouch was talking to, and they took exception to a barely noble trollop breaching their territory?
These sort of events tend to be heavily segregated upon gender lines and Valyria has not only slighted them, assuming them to be the top ranked ladies in attendance, by not introducing herself to them, in the round about way nobles do, "she"'s also slighted them by associating directly with the men rather then talking to their wives/girlfriends/mistresses.
Lelouch probably didn't realize this since he's not exactly familiar with the female protocols for this sort of thing.
@Alexander89 Do their names tell us anything? Do we know anything about them or their families? I think that would be lore?
I'm considering firing back with an insult along the lines of that they are so lucky their families don't make them have to worry about such things... Heavily implying they and their families are weak and cowardly. It would also give the impression that they touched on a sore subject with their bringing up our dead relatives.
While I'm sure they are concerned about Valyria trying to get her hooks into the Earl I suspect the real reason is here:
These sort of events tend to be heavily segregated upon gender lines and Valyria has not only slighted them, assuming them to be the top ranked ladies in attendance, by not introducing herself to them, in the round about way nobles do, "she"'s also slighted them by associating directly with the men rather then talking to their wives/girlfriends/mistresses.
Lelouch probably didn't realize this since he's not exactly familiar with the female protocols for this sort of thing.
Of course, it probably doesn't help that Lelouch appears to be the most beautiful woman in the room, and everyone is fascinated due to the affects of Beautiful In My Way. Jealousy is no doubt a big factor here.
@Alexander89 Do their names tell us anything? Do we know anything about them or their families? I think that would be lore?
I'm considering firing back with an insult along the lines of that they are so lucky their families don't make them have to worry about such things... Heavily implying they and their families are weak and cowardly. It would also give the impression that they touched on a sore subject with their bringing up our dead relatives.
Countess Lucinda D'Este and Countess Marion Pitt. Both married, they took their husbands' surnames. Their families are rich by economic deals made after the war by the husbands' parents, present generation enjoy the benefits without doing anything. Noteworthy names of the social scene, not the top but middle-ranked. You know where they live.
We should arrange something suitably macabre to happen to them either tonight or tomorrow. It would definitely draw the attention of the cultists to Valyria if something like that happened immediately after they challenged her and possibly even raise her standing with the local nobility, assuming we take on this persona again.
We should arrange something suitably macabre to happen to them either tonight or tomorrow. It would definitely draw the attention of the cultists to Valyria if something like that happened immediately after they challenged her and possibly even raise her standing with the local nobility, assuming we take on this persona again.
A good idea, but for the moment, I say we jab at the fact that they're from money, rather than having made any. That's a straight shot to the pride right there.
Countess Lucinda D'Este and Countess Marion Pitt. Both married, they took their husbands' surnames. Their families are rich by economic deals made after the war by the husbands' parents, present generation enjoy the benefits without doing anything. Noteworthy names of the social scene, not the top but middle-ranked. You know where they live.
Sounds like throwing out an insult about their families lack of military service could be feasible.
Now I'm considering if we want to try and use insignificant embers intuition... Confirming if we are picking a fight with an exalt before doing it would be nice. But the charm can be noticed and that could complicate things. And if they are DB's then they might react to the insult with charms which would give them away anyways.
We should arrange something suitably macabre to happen to them either tonight or tomorrow. It would definitely draw the attention of the cultists to Valyria if something like that happened immediately after they challenged her and possibly even raise her standing with the local nobility, assuming we take on this persona again.
Probably a little excessive... Murdering higher ranked nobles left and right is not a good way to establish a reputation, it is a way to get in serious trouble. And as of yet they haven't exactly done anything worse than being bitches. There are a lot of nobles that deserve being murdered more.
And our identity isn't exactly viable in the long term. Once we make waves someone will check back in Area 1 and notice the family we claim to be from doesn't exist. Dramatic actions to establish the reputation of this identity are very much counterproductive.
A good idea, but for the moment, I say we jab at the fact that they're from money, rather than having made any. That's a straight shot to the pride right there.
Nobles still jockey for status, and seek to climb the hierarchies they establish amongst themselves. Nobles that simply enjoy their family fortune, without working to improve and expand, or at least maintain it, quickly find themselves ever lower on the proverbial totem poles. Frankly, I think it might be more effective in this case to imply they are little more than parasites, living off wealth their parents amassed from the sacrifices of others.
Frankly, I think it might be more effective in this case to imply they are little more than parasites, living off wealth their parents amassed from the sacrifices of others.
Nobles still jockey for status, and seek to climb the hierarchies they establish amongst themselves. Nobles that simply enjoy their family fortune, without working to improve and expand, or at least maintain it, quickly find themselves ever lower on the proverbial totem poles. Frankly, I think it might be more effective in this case to imply they are little more than parasites, living off wealth their parents amassed from the sacrifices of others.
Given Britannian culture I think an insult implying cowardice and weakness is going to be more effective than one implying parasitism. Parasitism is kinda what Britannia does...
Though to bring up another topic for a moment... Assuming for the moment that what the Earl told us is true (since we have some good bonuses to spotting lies) it seems he is the target of the Abyssals. After all unleashing a plague on your own factory workers is rather counterproductive. If we learn more about who his enemies are we might find what we are looking for behind them.
