Ancient Labyrinth, Ephemeral Flame

Game Master Iadel

(An experiment: playtesting a method for playtesting)


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Once they’re standing before the Duke, Rodairos lets go of Ivaia’s hand and bows. “Your Grace, may I have the honour of presenting Ivaia Haldizi?”


Kineticist

Ivaia drops into a deep curtsey earlier than necessary - she has noticed that she is slightly taller than the Duke and would prefer that this fact not be emphasised.


“The honour is mine,” replies the Duke in the same expressionless tone he used for the speech about his brother. “Ivaia Haldizi, I am most pleased to meet you and to welcome you into my home. I hope that you and perhaps others from your family will be able to join us as guests on future occasions.”


Kineticist

“Thank you, your Grace. It was an honour to receive your invitation and it is an honour to be able to accept.”

Were those the right words? She practised them in front of her aunt dozens of times, but now she can’t tell if she recited them perfectly or mangled them totally.

She straightens, but not completely, and looks at the Duke’s face, trying to work out what sort of impression she’s made on him.

Sense Motive to make a wild guess at the Duke’s views: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (14) + 1 = 15


A roll:
Bluff check for the Duke to reveal none of his views whatsoever: 1d20 + 14 ⇒ (6) + 14 = 20


As the Duke meets Ivaia’s gaze, his eyebrows rise very slightly. Then he nods at Ivaia and Rodairos.

Rodairos offers his hand to Ivaia again and leads her back to her seat at the central table. The Duke and his brother follow them.


Kineticist

It seems my aunt was right, Ivaia thinks as she sits down. The invitation was a signal that the Duke wants to bring the feud to an end. Presumably he chooses his words carefully - Ivaia guesses he said “hope” to suggest that there will be further invitations only if certain conditions are met. Hardly surprising. And surely he wouldn’t expect Ivaia to take part in any of the negotiations.

But those raised eyebrows… What did that look on the Duke’s face mean? Surprise at her direct gaze? Astonishment at the colour of her dress? Offence at some subtle but calamitous lapse in etiquette?

…Sympathy?

She closes her eyes briefly and tries to clear her mind of all this fruitless worrying. Would she be analysing every hint so obsessively if the stakes weren’t so high? Probably.


The Duke stands behind his chair at the middle of the central table. “You may be pleased to learn that the speeches and introductions are now done for the evening,” he announces, and gestures towards waiting servants, who bring in wine bottles and the first dishes of the feast. Soon afterwards, a group of actors gather in front of the wooden tree to begin their play.


Kineticist

Ivaia’s too nervous - and too squashed by her dress - to eat or drink much, but everything she does try is delicious.

Over the years, she’s heard a few disparaging comments from her family about the Duke’s taste. But although this banquet is an obvious display of wealth and influence, Ivaia has to admit to herself that whoever planned the meal has done an excellent job.

The play is also more entertaining than she was expecting. Ivaia guesses that it’s meant to be a light-hearted parody of some earlier type she’s never seen, and she thinks she’s missing a lot of the jokes. But the lead male actor - portraying a lovesick shepherd who accidentally gets carried off to a fairy realm - is pleasing to watch and listen to. And there’s a fun mix of silver-tongued wordplay and silly comedy from the fairy characters. Eventually, Ivaia finds herself actually enjoying this part of the evening.


Mesmerist

Farenthar generally tries to avoid looking at individual audience members while he’s acting, but during a scene when his character is off stage, he stands in one of the doorways to the banquet hall and looks towards the middle of the central table. The grey-haired man in the dark red-brown jacket is presumably the Duke. Wineglass in hand, he’s smiling and leaning back in his chair. Perhaps his Grace isn’t quite such a fearsome personage as the city-folk like to suggest.


Psychic

Karalisel stands in the corridor outside the banquet hall, holding a large tray that contains some of her pastries on individual plates. She’s been forbidden to enter the hall itself, since she hasn’t been trained to wait on nobility at table, but she can help the palace servants by having the next dish ready here.

One of the palace guards accompanied her from the kitchen. She assumed he was just showing her the way, but he’s been watching her ever since. Do they really think she’s likely to try to steal something?

Actually… it’s probably not theft they’re worried about, but poison, she realises, and briefly feels stupid for not working that out earlier. Thinking back, she remembers that there were people in the kitchen directing the preparations but also observing all the hired staff.

She avoids meeting the guard’s gaze and stands very still.


When the first act of the play is complete, pastries are served to the guests and a pale-haired woman in a long green gown walks into the hall, carrying a lute. She accompanies herself as she sings several melodies in styles from centuries past.

Two rolls:

Perform (sing): 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (14) + 6 = 20
Perform (string instruments): 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (11) + 6 = 17


The woman’s voice is pure and lovely, and she sings flawlessly. Her lute-playing is almost as skilled. Twice she plays a chord that isn’t wrong but does sound strange, as though it belongs to a musical tradition from a far distant land.

Almost continuously during the performance, the woman is looking directly at one of the people seated in the middle of the central table - probably the Duke, his brother or the lady to the Duke’s left. This is obvious from where Ivaia is sitting, but it’s also fairly clear from the doorways.

Two more rolls:

Bluff for the Caller to pretend that she’s only trying to be impressive in the hopes of securing further employment: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (18) + 6 = 24
Will save for Alledain: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (18) + 2 = 20


Kineticist

Sense Motive: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (14) + 1 = 15


Mesmerist

Sense Motive: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (13) + 6 = 19


Psychic

Sense Motive: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (13) + 8 = 21


Rolls:

Bluff check for Alledain: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (13) + 4 = 17
Sense Motive for the Duke vs the Caller: 1d20 + 15 ⇒ (1) + 15 = 16
Sense Motive for the Duke vs Alledain: 1d20 + 15 ⇒ (12) + 15 = 27
Sense Motive for Alledain vs the Caller: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (4) + 2 = 6


Kineticist

If the Duke’s invitation had said that the best pastries anyone’s ever baked would be served, perhaps I wouldn’t have argued so much with my aunt about attending. Ivaia is too distracted by the task of eating the remaining morsels on her plate as slowly as possible to notice much about the musician.


Mesmerist

The singer is ambitious, he thinks, and she has every right to be, with such a beautiful voice. All the same, in her place I would not be quite so bold in front of powerful nobles.

Then Farenthar notices one of the guests flinch for no obvious reason. The young man looks both confused and alarmed, and glances around. Then he seems to be trying to pretend that his reaction never happened, but his expression is still troubled.

Farenthar turns towards the servant standing nearby. The light in the corridor is dim, which is his excuse for being so slow to recognise the hired kitchen hand he spoke to earlier in the evening.

“Greetings, again,” he says. “I was just wondering… is that man the Duke’s half-brother? The one with…” He decides not to mention the young man’s most salient feature to a native of the city. “With the blue jacket?”


Psychic

“Yes, I believe so,” Karalisel whispers. The tray she’s holding is now empty, and she could have returned to the kitchen, but she wanted to listen to the woman sing. “Did you see…?”


Mesmerist

“I saw his reaction, but not the cause. Did you?”


Psychic

“Perhaps something out of our view…” But none of the other guests seemed to have noticed anything.


Mesmerist

“Or perhaps something triggered a bad memory.”

The Duke’s brother certainly has reason enough for one particularly bad memory, Farenthar thinks, looking at the scar on the young man’s face.


Psychic

“I should go back… but I’d prefer to stay and watch for as long as I can. I want to make sure he’s all right.” She looks up at the actor. “That sounds silly, doesn’t it? Me being worried about him? As if there’s anything I could do to help. Still… There’s something that seems strange about this evening. I’m probably just imagining it, but I’d like to be sure.”


Mesmerist

Is she reading my mind? The baker’s words closely reflect Farenthar’s own thoughts. Particularly about the strangeness of the evening. Farenthar can’t shake off the feeling that the reaction of the Duke’s brother is the first visible sign of something hidden, something Farenthar has been missing. As the baker said, this is probably just imaginary. After all, this isn’t a normal evening - it’s the grandest event Farenthar has ever been involved with. And the dream that seemed to predict it is no doubt encouraging his odd mood. Find each other before others find you…

He looks at the baker. Her calm style of speech is striking.

He turns his attention back to the banquet hall.


Once the singer has finished her performance, other musicians take her place to provide accompaniment for dancing. Rodairos asks Ivaia if she will be his partner for the first dance.


Kineticist

Ivaia takes Rodairos’s hand and concentrates very hard indeed on not colliding with other dancers or standing on anyone’s toes.

Taking 10 for Perform (dance) for a grand total of 11.

When the first dance is over, she returns to her seat and hopes that no one else will want to ask her.


During the second dance, Ivaia can see the Duke and his brother standing together near one wall. They’re too far away for any of their words to be audible over the music, but their conversation looks familiar to Ivaia: the head of a house asking pointed questions and then lecturing to a younger relative. Finally, the Duke walks over to the table, picks up Alledain’s half-full wineglass and carries it back to his brother, handing it over while giving what looks like a direct order.

Alledain takes two sips of the wine, then returns the glass to its place on the table and approaches Ivaia. “My lady, would you do me the honour of joining me for the next dance?” he asks in what sounds like a carefully neutral tone.


Kineticist

“I would be most pleased to accept, my Lord,” Ivaia replies, trying to match Alledain’s tone. She stands up. The Duke probably thinks he’s being a dutiful host by sending his brother to dance with me and showing the other guests that they don’t need to avoid me. Thank you for your consideration, your Grace, but you really needn’t have bothered.

Now too nervous to take 10 for: Perform (dance): 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (3) + 1 = 4


Kineticist

In the midst of the crowd of dancers, Ivaia accidentally takes two steps back when she should only have taken one, and she nearly collides with someone in the row behind her. Now out of time with the music, she overcompensates by stepping forward too fast and too far. She ends up awkwardly close to her partner and she stands on something… something which is almost certainly one of Alledain’s feet.

She grimaces and mouths the word “Sorry” at Alledain.

It’s not a disaster, it’s not a disaster, she tells herself. The Duke surely isn’t so petty that he would change his mind about something important because of a single literal misstep.

But she can imagine reporting back to her aunt on how the evening went. Alledain? The guest of honour? Whom our family is accused of plotting to murder? I trod on his toes.


Alledain responds with a smile - again, it’s very brief, but it looks as though he’s trying to be reassuring.

Then Ivaia turns right when she should have turned left, and she notices a swirl of green near the edge of her vision. When she turns back, she sees that a pale-haired woman in an old-fashioned gown has taken Ivaia’s place in the dance with Alledain, who looks startled. The woman is speaking to him.


Kineticist

Ivaia is also startled. Surely customs in the Duke’s house aren’t that different from what I’ve been taught. Who is this musician?

Perception to overhear what the singer is saying: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (3) + 5 = 8


The singer is keeping her voice low, and Ivaia can only understand a few words over the dance music: “…moments…brother…listen to…”

Rolls:

Bluff check for the Caller: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (7) + 6 = 13
Sense Motive check for Alledain: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (19) + 2 = 21


Alledain frowns and steps back from the singer. He looks annoyed.

The singer moves close to him, takes hold of his wrists and starts guiding him among the dancers towards one of the doors. Alledain looks even more annoyed, but goes along with her. It doesn’t look as though she’s grasping him tightly or is unusually strong - instead, she seems to be relying on Alledain being unwilling to resist her physically in the middle of a crowd.


Kineticist

Well, his brother did praise Alledain for courtesy, Ivaia thinks as she starts to dodge dancing guests to follow Alledain and the singer, but I doubt he’ll be impressed by this…

With the hall filled by people standing up to dance, Alledain’s absence won’t be immediately obvious. But if he’s still missing when the music ends and everyone sits down again, the Duke will notice. And if the Duke ordered Alledain to dance with Ivaia, then Alledain may need to find a very persuasive explanation for why he left the room halfway through the dance, in the company of another woman.

For the sake of the smile Alledain gave when Ivaia stepped on his foot, she is determined to help him. Ivaia can’t work out what the singer is trying to do, but she surely intends trouble of some sort.


Psychic

As soon as she sees the singer and the young lord walk through the doorway into the corridor, Karalisel steps back into a shadowed corner. Getting out of the way of nobility is an immediate reaction, requiring no thought. But Karalisel then starts thinking quickly. Mostly, she thinks of questions. What is happening to the Duke’s brother, and how is the singer involved?


Mesmerist

Farenthar also steps back and tries to be inconspicuous.


When they are out in the corridor, Alledain pulls his wrists free from the singer’s grasp with little apparent effort. “If your story about my brother being in danger is just a ploy to get my attention,” he says, speaking quietly but with clear anger in his voice, “then go now. Leave the Palace and don’t try to come back. We don’t take such matters lightly. If not… Explain, and do so quickly.”

The palace guard who has been standing near the doorway now steps towards Alledain. “My Lord?” he asks. His tone is neutral, just indicating a readiness to receive orders.

The singer looks past Alledain towards the guard and smiles. “A hint to you, sir, if you ever want to be promoted: do your guarding just around that corner for a minute or two. There’s no need to be indiscreet while our lord passes the time with a pretty servant.”

A roll:
Will save for the guard: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (3) + 1 = 4


Mesmerist

What?! She can’t possibly hope to get away with that - the guard would have heard everything the lord just said to her. There’s definitely someone going on here that I’m missing…

Farenthar concentrates, frowns and tries to see through appearances to some underlying truth.

Farenthar is instinctively casting detect magic.


Psychic

What is she trying to do? Who is she? Karalisel stares at the singer, searching for any clue to her identity or motives.

Karalisel is instinctively casting psychic reading.

Sense Motive check: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (17) + 8 = 25


Farenthar somehow senses the singer directing a persuasive force far stronger and more insidious than words or an alluring smile can ever be. It’s reaching into the guard’s mind, altering his thoughts and beliefs. Farenthar has never witnessed anything like this before, and yet the singer’s power doesn’t seem wholly unfamiliar.

Karalisel feels that she is on the brink of deducing something about where the singer comes from and what her true talents are. But Karalisel’s insight seems to glance off the singer, as if blocked by an invisible barrier. Karalisel is left only with an uncanny impression that the singer is not at all what she appears to be.

The singer is not a valid target for psychic reading.

The guard’s face turns red and his expression changes - it looks as if he’s just realised he’s made a horrible blunder. He backs off, turns around and strides away along the corridor.

“Guard?” Alledain says, his voice rising. “Guard, get back here now and restrain this woman!” Something about his awkward tone suggests he is unused to giving orders of this sort.

The guard keeps walking.

“There’s nothing to be concerned about, my Lord,” says the singer. “It’s all just a misunderstanding. Let me explain.”

A roll:
Will save for Alledain: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (19) + 2 = 21


Psychic

Karalisel is startled enough to gasp audibly.


Mesmerist

Farenthar glances towards the baker and senses an echo of a different sort of power around her - one that allows her to see deeply and know more than others. Then, still concentrating, he looks back towards the singer and the Duke’s brother.


Alledain flinches again and raises one hand as if to ward off the singer. “Get away from me, whoever you are,” he says. He takes two steps back and collides with the wall behind him. By now, he looks panicked.

Farenthar can sense that the singer has turned her persuasive power against Alledain, but he has resisted her influence so far.


Kineticist

Ivaia has managed to leave the banquet hall without causing total chaos among the dancers - and perhaps without even being noticed by many. She sees the guard about to disappear around the corner while Alledain is standing against one wall, facing the singer. Ivaia hesitates, trying to work out what’s going on.


Mesmerist

“She’s trying to control his thoughts,” Farenthar whispers to the baker. “That guard can’t help, so someone should obey his Lordship’s order.”

He steps out of the shadows, planning to restrain the singer. Will that do any good? Well, it may give the Duke’s brother a chance to get away.


Initiative rolls:
Farenthar: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (10) + 1 = 11
Karalisel: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (12) + 1 = 13
Ivaia: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (3) + 2 = 5
Alledain: 1d20 + 0 ⇒ (14) + 0 = 14
The singer: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (18) + 5 = 23


At the sound of Farenthar’s footsteps, the singer turns. She meets his gaze directly and smiles. “All any of you need to do is just stop and listen to me for a few moments,” she says calmly.


Mesmerist

Will save for Farenthar: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (15) + 4 = 19


Alledain takes a few steps sideways and then freezes in place, his back against the wall still. He stares, wide-eyed, at the singer.

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