Interlude

GM: Erik Hanson

Players:

Joshua Kronengold: Ipolitto Sforza, a 12 year old noble

Lisa Padol: Roggerio, a musician with a dark past and a reputation for intrigue, in Ipolitto's service

Lee Painton: Vincent di Giovanni, Venitian nobleman, spying for the Sforza while trying to take over the Florentine criminal underworld

David Siegel: Jebril, displaced Moorish architect with a talent for geomancy.

Matt Stevens: Rafael Marancini, Jewish Cabalist and advisor to Ipolitto.

Rachael Tang: Bella Ziani, midwife and visionary

Prominent NPCs:

Domenico Sforza: One of Ipolitto's brothers, planning to take priestly vows.

Horatio Sforza: Ipolitto's oldest brother.

Sebastiano Sforza: Ipolitto's uncle, head of the family

Simon di Peruzzi: son of the head of the di Peruzzi family, proprietor of the Inn of the Four Winds. The di Peruzzis control the criminal underworld of Florence and hate the Sforzas. The Inn of the Four Winds is renowned for its refined atmosphere, its selection of fine wines, its foreign guests, and the fact that nothing bad ever happens at the Inn of the Four Winds.

Brother Cedric: English monk, Roggerio's confessor, a Renaissance Sherlock Holmes.

Renier: A diabolist, charming, glad to help the Sforzas. Roggerio used to be one of his followers. Recently revealed to be a noble.

Antonio: Diabolist, follower of Renier. A pleasant, down-to-earth man, friend of Roggerio.

Lucius: Diabolist, follower of Renier. An unpleasant sociopath who can turn as much of his body into mist as he likes.

Dolce: Diabolist, follower of Renier. She decided that she wanted to stay a child forever, and no one knows how old she really is.

Belci: A family that be rayed the Peruzzis

Nobby: Shapeshifting faerie who married a mortal woman

We had two sort of half sessions before the next full group session. In the first, Matt, Josh, and I wanted to resolve some loose ends while Dave created his PC.

There was a lot of philosophical arguing about why a pious bishop was struck down by an angel when he unknowingly used faerie water in place of holy water. Domenico, who had deliberately made the substitution at Bella's suggestion, felt especially guilty, and Roggerio suggested he use Brother Cedric as a confessor.

The PCs, accompanied by Horatio, went to the Inn of the Four Winds, where Simon di Peruzzi fed them unpoisoned wine. He even had kosher wine for Rafael.

Matt: They got some Jewish guys to stomp on the grapes.

As Roggerio went to speak with Lucius, the other warned Simon against continuing to use Lucius to hunt down and slowly murder the Belcis who betrayed the Peruzzis. While not normally inclined to take orders from the Sforzas about how to run family business, Simon seemed openly indifferent and privately relieved. He hadn't sought out Lucius; the other man had all but insisted on doing something to help. Lucius probably gave even Simon the creeps.

He certainly gave Roggerio the creeps, explaining he was going after traitors, and, where he deemed it necessary, those closest to the traitors. Roggerio wondered if Lucius considered him a traitor to Renier. He didn't, Erik said, and would have been surprised to learn that Roggerio heard veiled threats in his words.

Roggerio tried to suggest Lucius was falling into a rut with knife work. Lucius promised to work in a new medium and dedicate his next work to Roggerio.

Roggerio then spoke to Antonio, venting some of his fury at Renier. Josh was amused, comparing Roggerio to a mayor angry with a local supervillain not beeause she's taken hostages and threatened to blow up the stadium, but because she stood him up on their dinner date to do so. So, Roggerio was not furious about the satanism or as angry kidnapping the faerie man as about Renier's secret past.

Roggerio: He is a noble!

Antonio: And?

Roggerio: He did not tell me!

Antonio: And this angers you?

Roggerio: Yes!

Antonio: You see, you speak by implication, saying that he is a noble when what you mean is that you a angry that he did not tell you that he is a noble. This is not plain speaking. This is why you have a reputation as a master of intrigue.

Antonio told Roggerio to talk to Renier. When he refused, Antonio lifted him up and dunked him headfirst into a barrel of cold water, then put him down and repeated the request. Roggerio refused. Antonio dunked him again.

Antonio: Will you talk to Renier?

Roggerio: If I say no, you're going to dunk me again, aren't you?

Antonio: Yes.

Roggerio: Fine! I'll talk to Renier!

Antonio: There. Now, was that so difficult?

Roggerio glared at him, then went to bang on Renier's door.

Renier (surprised): Roggerio.

Roggerio (still dripping): I'm wet!

Renier got him a towel. When Roggerio explained that he was angry about Renier not explaining that he was a noble, Renier said that he didn't think everyone had been ready to learn this, and then, Roggerio had left. And he wished he weren't noble. Hadn't he always led his group of Satanists by common consent? Who would Roggerio have lead them instead?

Roggerio: Would you allow Lucius to lead?

Renier: No.

Still, Roggerio had to admit that Renier was the most qualified to lead. And he had to admit that he had left, with neither warning nor explanation, something for which Renier had never chided him, nor had Renier asked for an explanation. And Roggerio wanted to stay friends with his former mentor, even if they were destined to fight on opposite sides. Renier shared the sentiment.

Nevertheless, I think Roggerio still buys into the myth of nobility, despite Renier's best efforts. True, Renier leads because of merit, but I think Roggerio believes Renier has that merit because of his noble birth.

Roggerio asked why Renier had kidnapped a faerie and put him at ground zero of what was intended as an exorcism. Renier said that he was confident that Roggerio and his circle would rescue the faerie. Renier had acted as he had because he wanted to see the angel, Mutuol, and that was all he would say of his plans. Roggerio relayed this to Sebastiano and Cedric, saying that he thought Renier wanted to make the angel fall.

Dave created a Moorish architect, Jebril, who was also a geomancer. At the beginning of the next session, said architect arrived in time for a gruesome scene.

Roggerio awoke to hear an angry male voice calling his name.

Roggerio (to the woman lying beside him): My dear, you said you weren't married.

Woman: I'm not.

Sebastiano: Roggerio!

Roggerio (recognizing voice): Milord! (hastily starts dressing)

Sebastiano: Bella!

Roggerio: Why would he be calling both of us? Unless-- The baby!

Despite not being either married or lovers or otherwise romantically involved, Roggerio and Bella almost function as a couple. They share responsibility for the newborn babe of one of the serving maids, and Roggerio assumed that this was why they'd been summoned.

He was wrong. Lucius had, as he had promised, worked in a new medium. He had knocked out one of Sebastiano's guards and hung another, having first carved the word "Belci" in his chest by. Interestingly, the word had been carved lightly enough that it did no major damage, and despite the hanging, guard was still alive. This was an anomaly we failed to notice. The guard was cut down, and Erik decreed by fiat that Bella would give him artificial respiration.

Jebril arrived, having been displaced from Spain. Quickly ushured to a less gruesome place, he was hired by Sebastiano. Next, Vincent's brothers arrived. These are:

-- Mirko, who looks old enough to be a father or grandfather, not a brother, of the other Giovannis, creepy and ghoulish

-- Benedetto, darkly handsome and quite intelligent, modelled on Dirk Blackpool from Wizards & Warriors and Feyd Rautha from Dune

-- Carmine, Victor's younger brother, less charming and far less intelligent than Benedetto, modelled on Geoffrey Blackpool from Wizards & Warriors and "The Beat" Rabban from Dune

Mirko said that if Vincent had been making trouble, he'd be happy to chastise the youngster, being used to disciplining young Giovannis. He was assured that Vincent was not a problem.

Next, the ancient Conte di Ceprano sought an audience. His family had been banished from Florence by the Sforzas when he was but a child, and it was doubtful whether any now living knew what the original reason for the banishment had been. The Conte humbly requested to be allowed to spend his remaining years in Florence. Sebastiano said he would consider which estate to bestow upon to Conte. To Erik's chagrin, I correctly pegged the Conte as the vampire he'd intended to introduce.

Finally, the gaoler Pasquale came in to report that all his Belci prisoners had died in their cells, and no one had seen anything. It was most baffling to him. Further investigation revealed Lucius was responsible. He had carved one word into each victim's chest, far more deeply than into the Sforza guard who was a Belci spy. When the words were assembled in the correct order, the sentence formed was "All Traitors Must Die". Ipolitto told Roggerio that Lucius was sending the musician a message. While Lucius was not, in fact, threatining or accusing Roggerio, the latest murders represented the new medium of his work, as promised. Ipolitto, Rafael, and Jebril discussed methods of disposing of Lucius, while Roggerio went to talk to both Lucius and Renier.

Lucius had previously considered the Sforza's problem with his chosen mission:

Lucius: The Sforzas don't approve of killing people in proper circles.

Dolce (with a child's logic): Then kill them in straight lines.

He liked this idea. And he killed enemies of the Sforza, including one who had infiltrated. Wherein lay the problem?

Roggerio said that Lucius was frightening the good citizens of Florence. Bad for business, don't you know?

Lucius understood and proposed to commit one final murder of interest to Sebastiano. He would attempt to be discreet. If Sebastiano were not satisfied with the results, why, he would stop.

Renier, no more pleased than Roggerio, indicated that this was likely the best that could be hoped for. After all, Lucius had free will to act as he saw fit. However, Renier reminded Lucius, Renier led his group, and if Lucius continued to act out and call unwanted attention, Renier would kick him out. This stunned both Lucius and Roggerio, for Renier had never made such a threat before. Roggerio was disturbed enough to use the first person plural, temporarily forgetting he was no longer a diabolist, when describing the meeting. Sebastiano again felt the need for a drink. So did Roggerio, despite Brother Cedric's assurances that he was not responsible for Lucius' actions. Sebastiano poured Roggerio's drink himself.

Sebastiano: On this day, we two are as equals.

Roggerio: What have I done?

Sebastiano: Brought me some useful information.

At this point, Erik had a problem. Lee and Rachael were supposed to have shown up, but calling them confirmed they wouldn't make it. This meant that the Lucius plot couldn't advance, for reasons I learned later. It also made the card tournament somewhat problematic, as Lee's character was hosting it, and Matt had no interest in that plot. Erik gave him a legitimate reason for Rafael to be present: He was helping his father, who had set up a stall just outside Vincent's manor to loan money.

Erik went into infodump mode, explaining who advanced to the second round. Meanwhile, Roggerio and Ipolitto spoke to Nobby. While not a participant, he was watching. Roggerio asked if the Good Folk might lend some aid against Lucius, who, after all, was part of the same circle of diabolists who'd chained up one of the faeries at ground zero.

Nobby said that the Good Folk would help if Our Heroes would look after Mook, a human they liked. He pointed to a young man in beggars' rags, who absentmindedly stuck his hand in Jebril's purse.

Nobby (gesturing): Mook.

And there, Erik rang the curtain down, and vowed to switch to plots that didn't require a particular player to be present.