Game Log

An Engagment with Danger!

Game Date: 02/03/06
Another engagement, this one much less well-received.

Before Father Donati could get away from the confessional, Salvador showed up to ask his brother about saying the eulogy for the murdered Barozzi servant. After some back-and-forth, Angelo finally agreed to assist Salvador fulfil his open-ended promise to the countess - but on the condition that his little brother tell him before he made any other moves against Don Tigran. Salvador agreed. The good priest then instructed his valet to start spreading some rumors implicating one of the Masacci at the Barozzi court in the death, while he went off to pen an appropriate sermon.

Getting ready for dinner, Francesca tried to impart some of her knowledge of the art of feminine persuasion to Gianina. Both ladies were curious about Renato Vasari and his "clubhouse," but Gianina didn't know how to bring the topic up with Antonio without being dismissed for being nosy. Francesca set up the cordial glasses and coached her sister on some of their husband's favorite attentions - pausing for a musical interruption that drew Gianina away to a window, and resulted in Francesca's hankerchief being tossed out to the violinist who'd played at the Santa Sophia feast - and the pair joined the rest of the household for dinner.

Before everyone was seated, Don Tigran made another appearance. He couldn't stay long - politics and manners required him to dine with the Masacci tonight - but wanted to offer his congratualtions to Angelo and Ellen, and brought the lady a book of local history as a present. He'd also surprisingly and swiftly made up his mind to accept Don Antonio's offer of marriage to Anna, thanks to the persuasive arguments made by Don Salvador. Teodora went absolutely rigid at the news, an old, worn Swords strand to Tigran suddenly springing to new life. Antonio was of course pleased, and had Anna brought over at her new fiance's request so he could have a better look at her. All charm, he seemed to make quite an impression on her - even if his rather pleased reaction to her attitude toward Fate Lashes was, to everyone else, sinister. Apologizing again, he left.

Dinner was... eventful.

• Teodora stormed out of the room. Francesca followed her to offer her condolences and her support in changing Antonio's mind on the matter.
• Bernardo, at least, believed Salvador when he protested that he most certainly did not encourage this match. Knowing Sal's attachment to Anna, the other brothers eventually accepted this as well.
• Anna, on the other hand, thanked Salvador for helping make such a nice match for her! He tried to tell her that her new mate wasn't such a good fellow, but Father Donati interrupted and pulled Salvador away - he thought it was better that she continue in her present ignorance.
• Ellen paged through her new book, starting with the passage that was bookmarked. The bookmark was inscribed with a verse of Montgomery Peerson's famous dialogue: "A rose by any other name would smell as sweet." The passage was about the rise and fall of the Serrano family in eastern Mantua.
• Ellen dragged Angelo out into the garden to tell him this, further explaining that the Vodacce word serrare, which can be conjugated into serrano, has the same meaning as the Avalonian "to lock" - a rose by another name, as it were. As her paternal grandfather was Vodacce, it did seem unlikely that Locke was his original name... They agreed that she should contact her father for an artificial genealogy, whether this was just an unhappy coincidence or not.
• Salvador left a bit early, bidding everyone a pleasant evening except Don Antonio, to whom he was pointedly not speaking.
• Cristoforo was also not pleased with the engagement; Angelo tried to come to some understanding with him. Steps would be taken, and Cris should not interpret those steps as necessarily including Antonio's overthrow. The guard captain seemed to understand, although he was fairly agitated and insisted on speaking to Teodora about things.
• Francesca caught up with Ellen, asking about her new book; the Avalon distractedly repeated the title and said she'd be happy to read bits of it aloud for the ladies. When Francesca asked about the bookmark, Ellen lied - poorly - about having not noticed what page it had been at.

After dinner, Gianina had her husband's company. She congratulated him on the fine match he'd made, but mentioned that it seemed that the rest of the family was not so pleased. He spun out several justifications, dwelling repeatedly on Tigran's fondness for travel (so that, in all probability, Anna would see him rarely and live well in the palace in Agitatizone the rest of the time). He was much more pleased when Gianina brought the conversation around to Renato - he wanted to brag about that, and since he needed her to watch the strands carefully, it made sense to inform her more fully about goings-on. Renato was a Knight of the Rose and Cross, and he would be forming a chapterhouse in Monfalcone. The Knights had a keen interest in certain goings-on in Vodacce, especially in Villanova lands, and Antonio hoped that by providing them with a base, his son Marco could join their number and learn their secrets. He had, he said, people who would dearly love to know those secrets... But he needed to clear the air with Teodora, didn't he? He collected Francesca as well, and the trio repaired to the strega's room.

The encounter did not go well. Teodora insisted, to Antonio's bafflement, that Tigran had given Angela the fever from which she'd died. Since Tigran had been at the house while Angela had been in the country, that didn't seem likely - but Teodora repeated her assertion like a mantra. She finally shut the door on Antonio and his attempts at conciliation, which did not at all go over well with Lord Donati. He wrenched the door back open, and the enraged older witch whirled on him, lifting her veil. Gianina interrupted: "Donna Teodora, please, no." That intervention allowed both the would-be combatants to gracefully withdraw from the situtation in which they'd found themselves. Husband and wives departed, with Antonio resolving to send Teodora to the countryside until she'd cooled off. He left, probably to see Zola; Gianina excitedly told Francesca about the Rose and Cross. Caught up in the romance of the daring knights, she apparently only remembered the parts about them foiling the Villanova, not Antonio's eagerness to learn their secrets.

Don Salvador betook himself to his room at the Palazzo Barozzi to write a story about what would befall evil old men who married innocent young women.

Tomasso arrived at Santa Sophia with three Eisen guards; having been betrayed by one brother, he wasn't inclined to be overly trusting with the others, especially at night and at a meeting on Angelo's terms. But they were not needed. The introduction was wonderfully staged in the darkened church, with Pietra entering on cue and veiled like her mother. The impact on her, though, seemed much greater than on Tomasso. He was merely stunned when she approached. As she viewed her uncle, her eyes widened and she screamed, stepping backward until she tripped and fell. Angelo tried to explain that away as a result of Tomasso's reputation; his older brother didn't question it, whether because he believed it or just because everything else was so incredible this evening, belief just didn't enter into it. Angelo explained how he'd found Pietra, and how he could use Tomasso's help in following up on the slender leads he had on her origin. Tomasso agreed; he also hinted that his wife Gabrielle might have a way to spread Angelo's Unbound advantage to others in the family. He'd send her by to see the priest.

After Tomasso left, Pietra explained what when she got close enough to really see him, the church had suddenly erupted in a blaze of red - Swords strands crossing through and through it, more strands than she'd ever seen at once in her life. Angelo consoled her, although he was privately baffled. He'd ask Gianina about it later.

The next day
Francesca had sent Marco a note the night before, asking to be escorted to church for confession. En route, she boldly stated that she thought Antonio'd been quite foolish. Marco leapt to his father's defense, sufficiently agitated that he locked eyes with Francesca for several seconds before catching himself and looking away. They debated the engagement for a few moments before Francesca changed the subject, asking if he'd like to know about one of his father's plans that concerned him. Of course he did, so she told him about his impending offer to join the Rose and Cross. The idea appealed to Marco, who instantly recognized the Order as a way to win reputation despite his status. The fact that Francesca seemed to approve of the idea didn't hurt at all, either...

In confession, Francesca asked Father Donati about his sister, this fever, and Don Tigran. Father Donati carefully stuck to the official family history, averring that it was in the past, but Francesca thought from his tone and the way his voice caught when he spoke about his sister that this was far from over for him.

Angelo sequestered himself after that, to ponder this news that his mother blamed Tigran for Angela's "fever" and death. When Salvador showed up with his story in hand, Pietra took a copy from him and correctly deduced that this should be shown to the priest immediately. Angelo raced after Salvador to discuss exactly when and how this pamphlet would be released; he also said that it was time to get the brothers together for lunch. There were things to discuss.

Finally, back at Palazzo Donati, Gianina sought out Teodora. She apologized for being curt with her at the Feast of Santa Sophia (she'd called her "Teodora" without any honorific), sympathized with her over Anna's engagement, and acknowledged that she'd been insufficiently curious about the family into which she'd married. She needed to know more about the relationships within the house to be a good witch and wife... what could Teodora tell her?

Continue to next game.