Game Log

She Lies Unquiet

Game Date: 03/10/06
Old family secrets finally boil over into violence.

"Her shame," Angelo figured, must be Pietra. All of the people that the ghost had attacked had been those who he'd told about her and who had met her. This suggested a plan to him... Salvador, once he got a bandage on his arm, excused himself from further evening adventures. He had an appointment to keep with the lovely Maria. Ilara wanted out, and out now; Sero would walk her to an inn on the far side of town before returning to the Palazzo Donati. Angelo was still lining up details on his plan when he got a summons: Antonio wanted to see him after dinner.

Back at the house, Antonio was in an excellent mood (despite the new set of scratches he was sporting on his face). That didn't quite jibe with his sudden interest in discussing his will and other "end of life" issues: where his wives might go were he to die, how his son would be provided for, and so on. Gianina and Francesca were startled and stunned when he asked them if they'd rather stay in Monfalcone or return to their father; he told them to think about it. He pulled Marco into his study and Francesca eavesdropped. He told his son about different arrangements that he was making on his behalf and playfully inquired after "Isabella," who he clearly thought was Marco's paramour. More mysteriously, he gave his son advice on dealing with some powerful person who might be in touch if anything were to happen to him.

Dinner was strained. Gabrielle brought her daughter, Carlotta, to the table, an unsubtle reminder of their protected status in the Great Game. It didn't bother Antonio a bit; happy and relaxed, he suggested that Tomasso and his family should go to Montaigne for a little while. After Tigran's visit, some bad news had to be broken to lord Francois Blanchard; plus, with an angry ghost attacking foreign fiancees on the loose, Gabrielle might not be safe. Tomasso resisted; preparing for a trip to Montaigne would take time. Antonio waved it off, indicating that things would be taken care of. As dinner ended, he indicated that he wanted to speak with his brothers the judge and the priest about wills and other suchlike things, which earned Bernardo and Angelo dark looks from Tomasso.

Antonio did indeed put his will past Bernardo, who judged it sound. He also recommended Marco to them as an overseer for some distant, modestly profitable farmland. But that was mainly a pretext. Family tensions were high since the engagement with Tigran; plus, Antonio insisted on being personally involved in whatever would be happening with the ghost in the future. All things considered, he might be dying soon. And that meant certain information about the family needed to be passed on.

Back in 1088, Queen Marietta Lorenzo managed to make Lorenzo Island disappear. That killed off her most of her sons and many of her and her husband's siblings. The rest died when the Caligara stormed the northernmost island and took it. The ranking member of the royal family on the mainland was a nephew, a son of one of King Vincenzo's brothers. It was his idea to seek protection under the Mondavis. But how could he make clear to the Mondavi prince that this was no maneuver, no plot, but a genuine plea for help?

He sent his own brother to the Mondavi court with a letter. The brother presented it, humbly begging the prince for aid for their once-great and now broken family. They would abjure, he said, the Lorenzo name and titles. "My brother gives to you, Prince Mondavi, our name, our lands, and our skills, for you to do with as you please, because you are a wise prince who protects those things that are his."

Mondavi accepted that and took the Lorenzo name from them, giving them back a new one: "Donati," from the Vodacce "dona ti," "he gives to you," to remind the family always that they came to him as a gift freely given. If they regretted this in the future, they had only themselves to blame, not the Mondavi.

The Donati family, simply, have a claim to a Princedom and, if they could take it, to the kingship of Vodacce.

That would have been enough of a bombshell, but Antonio continued on. They weren't the only Lorenzo survivors. In fact, back in the time of the Imperator Carleman, a Lorenzo princess was married off to petty king who gave his name to the duchy of Rachetisse in modern Montaigne. Her youngest and favorite brother went with her, to see if he could win fame and glory out from under the thumb of his older brothers. Indeed he did, gaining for himself a noble title that persists in Montaigne to this day. That family is the one Antonio looks to for leadership. A Montaigne countess - indeed, Gabrielle's aunt - has the power there, and her ambitions outrun his own. Because the Lorenzo family always claimed descent from the oldest child of Imperator Tigranus of Numa, a daughter, and she has similar imperial ambitions for the family. And on top of all that, there is a vendetta against the bloodlines descended from those Senators who first Bargained for sorcery - overthrowing the Imperator's power.

Oh, and? Sero the Cymbr was, Antonio felt, here to kill Gabrielle. He wasn't sure if Sero knew that yet, but Antonio was pretty sure of it. He'd have the man watched to protect her.

That, gentlemen, would be all.

Bernardo left in a daze; Angelo stayed after to tell Antonio about the exorcism he and Father Sergio would be performing at midnight. Antonio said that he'd be there.

Angelo then went straight to Tomasso to tell him to be at the church at an hour past midnight. He'd get one or more of the thugs that Bernardo had spared from the rope to be there to help. Antonio would be wounded by Angela's ghost and easy prey. Unbeknownst to Tomasso, the thug would have orders to hang back and let the half-brothers fight it out, and then finish Tomasso off once the fight was done!

Gianina had been waiting for her husband's business to be done; she came to ask him why the sudden morbid interest in his own death. He explained that he would be going after the ghost that night, and that he didn't know how things would go. Gianina insisted that she go with him; he tried to put her off, but she insisted and he relented. Gianina also blessed her husband. She asked why this was so important to him; he replied that this was a Theus-given second chance... to kill Angela Donati.

(OK... I don't remember if the talk with Anna was before or after dinner, but for the flow of the writeup, I'm just sayin' it's after.)
The sisters went upstairs. An argument over what the hell Gianina thought she was doing was interrupted by Anna's presence. The other Clotho unexpectedly asked them what they knew about Tigran. Last night, while most of the family had been at the funeral and she'd been home with Teodora, she'd overheard some servants talking about the girl who'd been killed, the awful way in which she'd been killed, and how everyone thought Tigran had done it. But this - and her mother's sudden absense - all was secondary to a larger concern in her mind. Why was everything about Angela again? She'd just been engaged, to a prince's cousin who might also be some kind of axe murderer, and the most important thing on Antonio's mind was Angela. Conversation at dinner tonight? About sending Tomasso away, because of Angela. Teodora sent away, probably because of Angela. Everything that happened, happened because of Angela, and she was dead, dammit!. The sisters tried to console the upset young woman, but eventually they just had to leave well enough alone. (Anna was, in fact, so terribly worked up about how unfair this all was that when Tomasso came knocking for his own blessing, she only pretended to give him one.)

Shortly thereafter, Gianina got a summons - to speak to Marco. He, too, wanted to know why his father was acting so strangely. Gianina shared what she knew, and that Tomasso's Swords strand to Antonio was as strong as she'd ever seen it. Marco nodded, saying that he thought it would be best to keep an eye on Tomasso tonight.

Not very long after that, of course, Marco sought out Francesca. He told her that he'd be watching his uncle for treachery; it was risky business and he just wanted to tell her... to tell her... ah, what was going on. And that he should have some inheritance from his father, and if the sisters needed any help - say, getting back to Vestini - he would be happy to assist. (If he understood that it was fairly ridiculous for him to be offering financial assistance to them, he gave no sign of it.) Not that he was expecting or hoping that his father would die. Oh, no, no, Francesca agreed. But if he did... but if he did... then what? Where would she... would they, the sisters, go? Because it might be better to have some plan... just in case. In case the worst happened. "I don't know, but... I would want to be where you are," Francesca told him.

There was a strained silence before each wished well, urging that they be careful.

The Exorcism

Leaving just before midnight was the main party: Antonio, Gianina, six guards for her, and a handful to watch the outside of the church. Angelo was already back, having needed to leave early to arrange for his mercenary to be there. Father Sergio was all set to go, and for thirty minutes, incense was burned, Old Thean chanted, and the ghost abjured in the name of Theus and his Prophets.

Nothing visibly happened, even to Gianina's witch-sight.

Father Sergio wondered aloud if it had worked; Father Donati chastized him for a lack of faith, assured him that all would be well, and sent the young priest off to bed. Then he told Antonio that it probably hadn't worked, but that he didn't want to embarrass Sergio. There was something relevant that Antonio needed to know and to see, this way, out toward the rectory.

Pietra was waiting outside the church. Antonio was stunned, off-balance and stammering. Angelo noted one of the Donati guards in the shadows not far off and suggested that they go into the rectory, and Antonio agreed.

Angelo shared what he knew of events; Antonio undertook to correct him. Before he started in earnest - but after saying that he understood that Angela had tried to kill her baby - he suggested that Pietra leave, but the acolyte would not. Discomfitted, Antonio went on.

He had just gotten out of Teodora that afternoon her version of events. Angela had tried to hurt the baby, and Teodora had intervened, tying a great Fate Knot to prevent her daughter from hurting the baby directly. The baby could be sent away or kept; the father could be killed or banished or betrothed to her, whatever she wanted. Angela would have none of it. She tied her own Knot, binding Teodora to kill the girl, before ending her own life in shame and despair.

It had been a plan, Antonio explained. She wanted to marry the 10 year-old Mondavi prince, the better to influence him. But how to get the Caligari out of the picture? Sending Tigran as an ambassador said certain things about what Mondavi would and wouldn't accept in a bride; the Caligari pride wouldn't stand for less than the ideal. But a baby hadn't been a part of the plan.

Angelo asked Pietra if this satisfied her; it did not. She'd ended up sent away anyway; her father was still unknown; where was the great failure of the plan? What was so especially, awfully shameful that her mother didn't think it could be erased except through death?

Antonio said only that Teodora hadn't known - but it seemed to Angelo that Antonio did, and he pressed his older brother for it. Already upset by the night's events, Antonio couldn't resist long. He lashed out at Angelo, knocking the priest down (and earning him a coldly dangerous glare from Pietra). He berated him as a "goddamn Unbound sonofabitch" who couldn't possibly understand what it was like to be pulled apart like that, what it felt like, what it could make you do...

Angelo pressed, lightly, asking what Antonio meant. Angelo had earlier mentioned that they suspected Tigran as Pietra's parent; "Tigran's not her father," was all that Antonio could get out.

"Who is?" Angelo asked blandly.

Antonio couldn't bring himself to say it directly, and especially not to Pietra. He stormed out of the rectory, back into the church, and began a ferocious assault on Angela's tomb. Within moments, the ghost rose up in response, and the fight was on.

An Outline of the Fight

Tomasso had left and met up with the mercenary.

Marco shadowed Tomasso successfully.

Francesca shadowed Marco, less successfully. He spotted her, intercepted her, and begged her to go home. Of course, she kept following him - more discreetly, this time.

Angelo and Pietra were inside the church sanctuary for the entire fight but didn't participate.

Antonio, strengthened with Gianina's blessing, tore into Angela's ghost. The ghost, now an Atropos (Angela actually mastered her art shortly before she died), tried to attach a Rods strand to Antonio to compel obedience for him, but the strand wouldn't take.

Tomasso and his mercenary came running into the church; Gianina went running out to scream bloody murder and summon the guards. Marco and Francesca were hot on Tomasso's heels.

The mercenary engaged the six Donati guards who were supposed to be guarding Gianina. Tomasso thrust at Antonio, troubled very little by Marco's efforts to skewer him. He was much more troubled by the knives which suddenly started piercing his body, thrown by Francesca. Antonio continued to focus on the ghost, who gave up on Sorte and resorted to her Fate Lashes. She struck Antonio once before being dispatched to her final reward.

Now Antonio was free to fight Tomasso. The mercenary was still occupied with the guards until too late in the fight, which left Tomasso badly outnumbered. He represented himself well, wounding Antonio badly, only to take a thrust from Marco and another knife from Francesca.

Then Tomasso teleported across the room, leaving a cloud of bloody vapor behind him.

Before he could run, Francesca pegged him with another knife; he stumbled, and his older brother moved to administer the coup de grace. The mercenary shot a look at Father Donati, who glanced meaningfully at the door. The thug was out it in a minute.

We faded to black on Angelo convincing Antonio to let him tend to his wounds, and Antonio at once cross and pleased with his son and younger wife...

Continue to next game.