Christmas in Mystic Florence
GM: Erik Hanson
Players:
Elizabeth Bartley: Liliana Scarpelli: 15 year old Genoese noble seeking to marry into the Sforza family of Florence.
Joshua Kronengold: Ipolitto Sforza, a 12 year old noble
Lisa Padol: Roggerio, a musician and ex-diabolist with an unwanted, but not entirely undeserved, reputation for intrigue, in Ipolitto's service
Lee Painton: Vincent di Giovanni, Venitian nobleman and Necromancer, spying for the Sforza while trying to take over the Florentine criminal underworld. Hosting a major card tournament in Florence, with Sforza sponsorship.
David Siegel: Jebril, displaced Moorish architect with a talent for geomancy, in the service of the Sforza family.
Matt Stevens: Rafael Marancini, Jewish Cabalist and advisor to Ipolitto.
Rachael Tang: Bella Ziani, midwife and visionary. She is Mystic Florence's Leonardo Da Vinci, using that name in artistic endeavors to conceal her gender.
Prominent NPCs:
Horatio Sforza: Ipolitto's oldest brother.
Sebastiano Sforza: Ipolitto's uncle, head of the family
Brother Cedric Longfellow: English monk lending occasional aid to the Sforzas, a Renaissance Sherlock Holmes.
Renier: A diabolist, charming, glad to help the Sforzas. Roggerio used to be one of his followers.
Nobby: Shapeshifting faerie who married a mortal woman
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.
Young Ipolitto had left Vincent's card tournament, accompanied by Liliana and by Sforza men. The group tried to prevent Roggerio's diabolist friends from harming the angel Mutuol. They failed, but were able to save the angel's life after it had been stabbed and had its wings cut off, thanks to a magical skull supplied by the Giovannis. The unconscious angel was brought to the Sforza home to recover.
Serious matters as settled as they could be at the moment, the card tournament resumed. Ipolitto was playing against the Spanish Duke Ferdinand Coranzon VIII. Josh rolled well for Ipolitto. I don't know what Erik rolled for the duke, but I pointed out that if Ipolitto won, this would start interesting rumors.
Roggerio had been eliminated from the tournament, fairly. His opponent, the lovely Maria Gambioni, was the most talented gambler in the room. After she defeated Roggerio, she agreed to visit one of Vincent's private rooms for a pleasant, intimate, ah, conversation.
Consider how this looks: Roggerio, a more talented gambler than his master Ipolitto, and known to be a master of intrigue, inexplicably loses his match, while Ipolitto wins his own match. People would certainly wonder if Roggerio deliberately threw the game. Such speculations would only be fueled by his post-game liason with Maria. Perhaps this was the payoff for throwing the round?
Erik found this line of thought sufficiently amusing to agree that Ipolitto should make the final round, and I think we all agreed that it was more interesting if one of the PCs made it that far. The other two finalists were Maria Gambioni and the young nobleman Vitale Dorvinian.
Vitale and Ipolitto tried to team up against Maria, but Josh's flubbed die roll meant she won every trick. Angrily, she demanded a rematch, pointing out that she was not so poor a gambler as to need her opponents to throw the match. Also, as she did not point out, but Erik did, winning every trick looked suspicious.
Play started again. While annoyed with each other, Ipolitto and Vittle both privately assumed the other had learned his lesson. Maria still won, but she did not take every trick this time.
Roggerio silently asked if Maria would be interested in a private celebration. She silently let him know that, charming though he was, she wasn't that easy.
Ipolitto was taken by a richly embroidered jerkin that was part of the prize and using bribery and mild bullying, got Maria to give it to him as a gift. In return, he gave her a set of cards hand painted by "Leonardo Da Vinci", aka Bella Ziani. The cards were in a richly jewelled box so that Maria could sell the box for money while keeping the unique cards.
Roggerio, meanwhile, had approached his musician companions, Bartolomeo, Enrico, and Tommaso, discreetly asking if he might join his music to theirs, as he was not playing cards this evening. He wanted his friends to be able to refuse. Beth and Erik agreed that the musicians' logical diplomatic option was to say that Roggerio might join them for one tune.
This he did, striving to show off their skill, rather than his own. Alas, Erik explained that the effect was like adding a harmony to a piece that enhances it clearly enough to show where the real talent lies.
Duke Coranzon announced that he had enjoyed the tournament and would hold a far larger one of his own, with a truly remarkable prize, as Erik used the player-inspired tournament as a nice foreshadowing of a scenario he'd intended to run all along. Roggerio approached Maria saying that he wished to make a strictly business arrangement where he paid her for gambling lessons. All business, she agreed.
Roggerio went to his fellow musicians.
Roggerio: Some master of intrigue I am! Now, I cannot speak of romance, for I have promised this will be strictly business.
Musicians: No, this is good! She will respect you now!
Some time after the tournament, the angel Mutuol awoke to find itself wingless and alive, a combination which caused it great dismay and anger. Rafael took the initial brunt of the angel's displeasure, which he did not deserve, having urged the Sforzas to let the angel die rather than use the Giovanni's talisman to save its life.
Nevertheless, Rafael at no time mentioned this. Essentially, he played Dr. McCoy to Mutuol's Khan Noonian Singh from the ST episode "Space Seed". Remaining polite even when Mutuol grabbed him by the throat, he explained that it was indeed God's will that Mutuol should live. Mutuol accused him of lying, unable to face any other possibility.
By now, Ipolitto, Liliana, and Roggerio arrived. Ipolitto made the mistake of assuming that an angel acting like a spoiled child could be treated as a mere mortal. He told Mutuol to leave his servant Rafael alone, and pointed out that Mutuol was his guest. Mutuol struck him, leaving a nasty bruise.
Roggerio asked if Mutuol had already fallen so low that he was striking helpless mortals. Mutuol pointed out that Roggerio was presuming he had the faintest idea of what Mutuol was feeling. Roggerio, while brave enough for everyday dangers, was not as foolish as Ipolitto when it came to facing an angry angel. Also, he has the trait Beta male +3. He backed down -- and backed up -- fast, admitting that he was a sinful man, certainly not privy to God's plan. The angel let the matter drop.
Rafael tried to grab Ipolitto to carry him out of the room to prevent further angering the angel. Ipolitto shouted at Rafael not to touch him, but left the room, as did the other PCs.
They were met by Sebastiano and Horatio, who debriefed them and went to talk to Mutuol. They were not tossed through a wall. Returning, they discussed the situation with Cedric and the PCs. Sebastiano said that the angel was to be left alone unless it instructed otherwise and treated as an honored guest regardless.
The PCs spoke to Nobby, who stressed that angels were dangerous and that he avoided them on principle. He especially avoided wingless, ticked off angels who were now functionally mortal. The PCs thanked him, and Liliana spoke to him privately about creating a new set of magical strings for Roggerio's lute. She'd hoped to make 2 sets, but Erik ruled that only 1 set of strings could be in existence at any given time.
Back at the Sforza home, Roggerio noted that he needed to pray for humility and wondered how one prayed for an angel. Was it presumptuous to do so? Cedric suggested Roggerio pray for guidance and aid, as Roggerio had twice been blessed with a divine visitation. Roggerio followed his confessor's advice.
A few days later, the Sforza home received a visit from the angel Raguel. Raguel assured everyone that it had indeed been correct to save Mutuol's life. Mutuol would come with Raguel, who would ease Mutuol into accepting the idea of life as a mortal. When Mutuol returned to the Sforzas, the angel would be patient with its hosts and they with him. Raguel explained all of this to Mutuol who, while not happy, has begun to accept his situation. Raguel ranks Mutuol, and Raphael in particular was very impressed that this angel paid a visit. The 2 angels departed. Sebastiano confirmed that the Church should not know about either angelic visitor.
I think Vincent was the only one unmoved, visibly, at least, and I'm not sure what would get a reaction of awe from him. Does anyone have ideas about getting specific emotional reactions from PCs? The principles I've learned are:
1. One can never count on specific emotional reactions.
2. Do not penalize players or PCs for calling to provide the reaction you want. Note that this doesn't mean you can't hit them with the consequences of their actions. However, striking the PCs blind for being insufficiently horrified, as one L5R author advocated, is absurdly inappropriate!
3. As Paul Mason said, do not make the plot resolution depend on getting a given emotional reaction. This is like mystery scenarios that dead end if no one spots the secret door. Note that I'm not saying one shouldn't take the emotional dimension into account. Just don't use it to railroad the session to a dead halt because the players' interpretation of their PCs' emotional inner life is different than yours.
4. Often, the less-is-more principle gives better odds of getting the reaction you want. Don't count on it, of course, but minimalism works better than overly elaborate descriptions.
Meanwhile, folks exchanged gifts with each other, and oddly, with the diabolists, who managed to get their gifts in secretly, bypassing Sebastiano's magical and mundane guardians. Rafael was exempt from having to give gifts. Those given to him and Jebril were given on a day other than Christmas. Various lists follow, not intended to be exhaustive.
Diabolists' Gifts
Sebastiano (chosen by Renier, as a gift from the leader of one faction to the leader of another) -- Dorvinian wine
Horatio (chosen by Cain the werewolf, who felt guilty about wounding Horatio and killing his men) -- Healing ointment
Ipolitto (chosen by Gianetta, diabolist femme fatale) -- Renaissance porn, probably a book of erotic miniatures. Sure, he may not appreciate it now, but wait a few years...
Bella (chosen by Renier, who is drawn to her) -- Opium poppy flowers
Roggerio (chosen by Antonio, to make up for breaking the strings on Roggerio's lute) -- ingredients for strings. This would have been a full set, but Liliana created her set first. One of the ingredients is a hair from Antonio's newborn son. Roggerio immediately burned the note explaining this, and has no more intention of mentioning this part to Sebastiano than Antonio does of mentioning it to Renier.
Rafael (chosen by Renier) -- either an illuminated manuscript of the Talmud or one of the first bibles to roll off the printing press, depending on when that would have been
Jebril (chosen by Abdullah, his brother) -- Excellent stonecutting tools
Vincent (chosen by Dolce, eternally a child) -- either the skull or the full skeleton of a pre-necromantic Giovanni ancestor, her reasoning being that he likes dead people, so let's give him one of his very own.
Sebastiano's gifts:
Ipolitto -- letting him learn some spell he'd been begging to try
Rafael -- probably a book of rare commentary on the scripture, perhaps one he knew Rafael wanted, but couldn't afford
Liliana -- a finely crafted spinning wheel
Roggerio -- crystal wind chimes, both as accompaniment for himself, and for the faeries to play with -- they have free run of Roggerio's room at the moment
Bella -- good painting supplies
Jebril -- excellent Dorvinian wine, for medicinal purposes
Vincent -- an exquisite Tarot deck with Sforza imagery, both because Vincent likes gambling and to remind him that the Sforzas are his patrons and the bosses of Florence
Horatio's Gifts
NB: To make Erik's life simpler, it's okay for Horatio to skip Vincent.
Ipolitto: We aren't sure yet. I could see Horatio trying to get something Fancy and getting it wrong, or getting a serving lady of the Sforzas to help him.
Rafael: Good candlesticks.
Liliana: A dagger. Good emergency defense weapon. Anything of cloth would be an insult, really.
Roggerio: A good, durable lute case. Would have liked to get him backbone, but that's harder.
Jebril: A good, solid block of marble.
Roggerio's Gifts
Sebastiano: A song to give him one good night's sleep (Horatio's idea)
Horatio: A song about how everything is simple and pure when one marches into battle. (Horatio said to please cut the overblown praise and just write something he could sing while marching into battle.)
Vincent: A song to commemorate the card tournament, so that when the Duke holds his, it won't upstage Vincent, who gave him the idea.
Maria Gambioni: He offered to write her a song. She asked for a song about two idiots who thought they had to help her win.
(Ipolitto: You wrote what?!
Roggerio: It is a very funny song.
Ipolitto: Yes, but it would be much funnier if it were about someone else!)
Ipolitto: A song responding to the above song, as Ipolitto was one of the idiots, and requested Roggerio to write something praising Maria's talents, which, IIRC, would also warn potential marks -- the idea was that Ipolitto felt she shouldn't make a name at his expense. (Maria acknowledged that the situation came about through her taking advantage of Roggerio's generosity, and let him off the hook. Sebastiano steered clear of the matter, as did Vitale, glad to let Ipolitto take the blame for the dig at Maria.)
Liliana: A song praising her beauty.
Bella: A song which he sang softly outside her window, when he knew she was alone.
Jebril: A song about the Moor who animated an army of stone gargoyles to get back at someone who tried to cheat him, or simply who had the gargoyles follow him around devotedly. The idea here is that it not be a song about the events in the church, more a funny song inspired by them. He sang it privately to Jebril, leaving it up to Jebril whether or not to let it actually spread.
Liliana's Gifts (this section written by Elizabeth Bartley)
Roggerio: new strings
Horatio: plain, honest, well-made suit with attachable embroidery
Ipolitto: suitable embroidered accessories
Sebastiano: a set of small embroidered handkerchiefs or similar with a variety of minor magical effects
Rafael: a coat made of Jewish-legal wool that doesn't itch
Bella: small cloths in different weights, made absolutely regular, for herb preparations
Ipolitto's Gifts
I vaguely remember that he got Horatio either a plain, honest sword, or a plain, honest horse. I think the latter. IIRC, Josh said Ipolitto would be more likely to want to keep fancy horses for himself, but could bring himself to give his brother a mostly ungaudy honest horse for a soldier.
Vincent's Gifts (this section written by Lee Painton)
Sebatiano: An untranslated handmade copy of Sun Tzu's "The Art of War," the original text sans footnotes. He doesn't know if Sebastiano can read Chinese but Vincent is sure the cunning autocrat will figure it out.
Ipolitto: A new handmade book with leather binding about two feet by one foot. The cover is edged with gold and inlaid with rubies and jade fashioned to look like a jagged rose. The pages are fine paper with gold trim. The first fifty are blank and the last fifty are stuck together and cut out in the middle to form a small container about 22 inches by 10 inches. In this space is a small flask of Dorvinian wine (not poisoned).
Horatio: A Chinese longsword, four feet of crude steel with an ivory crosspiece and a nice red and gold silk tassle on the end. Comes in an iron sheath with silver inlays in the form of a dragon.
Roggerio: A handmade copy of the collected works of Guillaume de Machaut.
Rafael: A handmade copy of the Qur-an from Spain.
Jebril: A steel chisel imported from China and a potentially lucrative work order.
Bella: A simple necklace of fine gold with a large multi-facetted emerald pendant on the end and an invitation to dinner at his estate on the turn of the year.
Liliana: A bolt of silk for each color of the rainbow.
Ivan: A bottle of Vodka, imported from St. Petersburg. (not poisoned)
Morenco (dead man raised by Vincent): The purchase of an indulgence from the church in hopes of decreasing his sentence in Purgatory.
Bruno (another dead man): Christmas eve with his family. Dinner for the family.
Vincent's Angry Younger Brother, Carmine: A new bow and leather quiver with silver trim. (The rest of Vincent's family doesn't believe in Christmas).
Mook (absentminded kleptomaniac): An absolution of debt and a set of polished Chinese coins.
Renier: An hourglass constructed of oak and pure white sand with very specific instructions.
Antonio: A tartar bow from China. This bow was the earliest example of a compound bow and would make a colander of most of the lighter military grade shields.
[Lisa: Yipe! The PCs will have serious cause to regret this.
Lee: I figure it doesn't matter anyway since he hits whatever he wants :)]
Cain: A finely crafted jade comb.
Dolce: A red silk string.
Simon di Perruzi: A new silver dagger with ivory handle.
Head of the Perruzi family: A Chinese puzzle box (pretty standard really).
Bella's gifts (this section written by Rachael Tang):
Sebastiano and Horatio: A poem. It would be a strong beat, very easily put to music if they decide to. It would talk about the Sforza household as an honorable, devout, unified place... everything they want to appear to be, to the common folk (and maybe the church).
Ipolitto: A cross to wear around his neck (we have to try to keep up appearances, right?). With his possibly disappointed look, she would promptly show him why she had given it to him. It is a large cross as these things go, but light... and hollow. She filled it full of candy, but the implication is that she knows the candy won't stay there for long, and it's a place for him to keep secrets.
Roggerio: A picture of one single perfect rose, captured just as it hit the optimum bloom. The rest of the bush is the background. (Which rosebush it was is unspecified, but I think it's one that's under her bedroom windows). If anyone looks closely at it (they probably won't, but he probably would), they can see that the branches of the bush make pictures in themselves in a weird sort of optical rorshasch(sp?). Most of them are people, and whether they're naked or clothed is up to the person looking, it's too hard to tell. It's a complicated picture.
Renier: (btw, were those opium _flowers_ or opium _buds_? I think it's made from the buds or hips, no? Is it meant to be a simple gift, or a drug?) [Erik indicated it's meant to be flower and drug both, so maybe some of each --LP] A painting. Bella is somewhat discomfited by having painted it, but she gives it to Renier, figuring he's the most likely person to understand - and like, for whatever reason - what's in it. There are angels, demons, faeries, humans, and a few other things that came whimsically out of her mind (whether they exist or not is up to the gm and to what they are). Some of the angels and demons are difficult to discern... they could be from either side of the conflict. In fact, this is true of some of the faeries as well. Some of the angels are obviously angels, and so with the demons and faeries, but some... it's hard to tell. Some are even half human. One of them, who resembles Renier, is not only half demon but also naked (and ... flattering). If he points this out, she will blush deeply and be a bit flustered, as it was (consciously at least) unintentional. She asks that he keep this gift private, as she is a bit confused by it and doesn't want it on display to outsiders.
Vincent: A sleeping poison, in the hopes that not all of his pests require deadly traps.
Rafael: A cat. She's convinced that he needs the companionship (this might make his nosebleed crush on her worse, but she's hoping it will help him to have an animal who needs him).
Jebril: A block of pure white jade (roughly 60 pounds, about 10 by 10 by 10 inches square). Also a smaller block of pink jade. Both are hard to find, but I'm thinking she goes through both/either Vincent and Renier to get it from the quarries, probably through the Silk Road.
Dolce (hey, she's a kid, right? Can't leave a kid on Christmas without presents): A tumbling clown in a box. I don't know if you've seen them... it's a bunch of pegs and string, really, but as you move the box the 'clown' jumps around and does flips and things. What he does depends on how you move the box. She figures it has strings, and it's cute... maybe it'll keep Dolce out of trouble, for a few minutes at least.
Liliana: A painted, lacquered thimble. That is, painted carefully by Bella, to resemble a small flower, but lacquered so that the paint won't come off with use. Pretty, but utilitarian.
Simon di Peruzzi: A locked belt sheath for his dagger. A little security never hurt.
Nobby: A gilded acorn. She can't explain this one at all, really. "It just... (shrugs) seemed appropriate?"
Mook: A vase full of marbles. All of them have shiny bits, some gold twists, some silver drops, etc. (what the hell, he's lost his, right? <wicked grin>)
Cain: A soft brush. She's hoping he doesn't take it wrong, as she means well in giving it, but she's never known anyone with fur who didn't _love_ to have a soft brush put to it.
Antonio: An embroidered quiver (if Liliana was around in time she'd have given L the business, but if not, she'd have commissioned it elsewhere) and a couple of new bowstrings (always useful). The quiver is brown, with green aspen leaves embroidered in a border, and a single arrow (with black fletching, I think - the one that Satan chooses) in the center.
Cedric: A painting of the card tournament, while he was at the table. All the details are as accurate as she can make them, though some things aren't _quite_ right ... for example, Renier (as the lord wossname) has subliminal horns. Ippolitto is slipping a bug down Maria's dress, and Maria is in turn putting a worm into Ippolitto's drink. All of these are very subtly woven into the picture, however, not noticed by most.
Ivan: A new set of armor. It will be pretty, though not so ornamental as to be useless in a fight. No hero should be dressed in street clothes, after all, right?
Jebril's Gifts (this section written by David Siegel):
A few weeks after the holidays (Not long after three kings, but noticably after it), a small marble statuette of an enthroned man, clearly carven from a small portion of the larger block of marble that was gifted to him, is presented from Jebril to "The House Sforza" (as an entity, embodied in Sebastiano).
The following items are similarly carved from the marble, but substantially smaller and can, if one knows how, be used to form a sort of pedestal for the larger throne. (The recipients should be obvious).
A harp, actually strung with bits of wire. Although entirely without pitch, a careful person could pluck the wires for sound, if not music.
A small, seven branched menorah.
A small plant that looks as if the maker looked to a mint plant for design, but deliberately deviated into something not discernable as any certain plant.
A pair of knitting needles, threaded through a ring. (One piece)
An open book.
A skeletal hand, not part of the larger set, but about the size of the smaller pieces, is presented to Vincent shortly afterwards.
Rachael's comment on Roggerio's gift for Bella:
Bella would probably come to the window to listen. If it's a sweet song (which I suspect - Roggerio isn't usually lewd unless it's about bathroom humor, and that has its place), she is probably extremely flattered, and considers it very sweet. She would thank him warmly... and then go back into her room, closing the window.
I looked up Guillaume de Machaut and asked if there were anything I should know other than that he's a musician. Lee emailed:
He wrote a lot of love songs which were instrumental (heh heh) in defining the style of courtly love in medieval times. He was also the first major musician to record his music on paper for future generations.
We wanted Sebastiano to give Roggerio a copy of The Prince, but Machiavelli won't write it for another 12, 13 years. Lee pointed out that Machiavelli is alive and living in Florence. This led to an idea for an amusing scene, where Vincent presented to Sebastiano Sforza a master of intrigue, young Niccolo. This would cause Roggerio to start, as Niccolo is his own true first name, as well as Machiavelli's.
