Rowaini Musketeers: One For All and All For One

[Rystil Arden]

*They continue onward through the corridor, following the growing sound of conversation and revelry until they reach the Great Hall.*

*This large room is decorated festively by someone with a clear eye for colour and contrast. The centre of the room has been cleared of tables and furnishings, leaving a wide open area for people to form groups to chat, and perhaps eventually to be used as a dance floor, if the musicians playing soft background music are ever told to bring up a lively tune for dancing. Not counting the musicians and the servants who scurry about to make sure everyone is satisfied and happy, there are perhaps slightly less than one hundred people in this room, the guests, noblemen and noblewomen of all sorts.*

[SBLOCK=Tristan's Knowledge Nobility and Royalty]These people aren't wearing big symbols of their houses, so it's basically impossible to immediately identify their houses without getting a close look at the signet ring and then hoping to remember.

However, there is one relatively useful and generally accurate trick to place the relative rankings of the ladies, at least. Noblewomen of higher rank tend to be closer to the Rowaini ideal of perfect beauty, so it is sufficient to rate them on a scale of 0 to 10 as they approach that ideal and then guess the approximate rank. Of course, it is quite possible for a lady who ranks lower on this scale to be more attractive to Tristan, or any other man, based on preferences (for instance, preference for hair or eye colour, etc). Actually, 2 or 3 is about natural average for noblewomen in general, and 0 is just the point beneath which almost all families will disown, kill, etc (plus only those of average or above beauty generally get to go to these kinds of parties, so they will likely all be 2 or above here--Rowaini culture is quite sexist and can be cruel). Ordinary peasant girls average below 0, of course. The girls at Lanvariel's Blessing, selected for being particularly attractive, would be peasants who manage a 2 or more. No peasant without some hint of hidden noble blood is physically capable of being higher than about a 6, and those are incredibly rare. A 10 is a beauty so exquisite and nigh-divine that it is said it can drive a man to madness or devotion.

In general (though there are certainly exceptions, these are just the most common), you can generally determine rank as such--(0-3: Baronet (-1 not at all uncommon, but usually killed), 2-5: Baron (1 not terribly uncommon), 4-6: Viscount (3 not too uncommon), 5-7: Count (8 uncommon, but not too rare), 6-8: Marquis (5 uncommon, but not too rare), 7-9: Duke (10 happens, but not as much as for royals), 8-10: Royal (Queens will almost always be 9 or 10 because they are selected among the best to be married to kings, but princesses range from 8-10. Anything lower is quite rare) )
[/SBLOCK]

*Some groups stand out amongst the rest of the young nobles:

*There seems to be a small crowd around someone, though the person is obscured by that crowd.*

*Elsewhere, there is a smaller group. There's a young man who bears a resemblance to Richard wearing a fine blade at his hip, talking with another man with an amazing-looking sword, and also a very pretty young noblewoman with an animated expression as she listens to them.*

[SBLOCK=Tristan]She's about a 3[/SBLOCK]

*There's also an extremely beautiful young lady with long red-gold tresses who seems to be the centre of another group, that includes another young lady, looking quite beautiful as she laughs at something the other is saying, and a third, a slim brunette who nods and smiles. There's also a charming young man with a winning smile.*

[SBLOCK=Tristan]The ladies are a 6, a 5, and a 3, respectively[/SBLOCK]

*Just nearby, two pretty girls who might be sisters seem to be trying to engage in conversation with a young man who's just a bit shy.*

[SBLOCK=Tristan]The older is a 2, the younger a 3[/SBLOCK]

*Over a bit, there is a slickly-dressed and suave-looking young man talking to two ladies, a pretty sophisticated-looking girl, and a remarkably beautiful young woman with clear and lovely green eyes.*

[SBLOCK=Tristan]The first is a 2, the second a 6[/SBLOCK]

*Over even more and off to the side is a pretty young lady who seems to be keeping to herself.*

[SBLOCK=Tristan]A 3, perhaps[/SBLOCK]

*Over all the way and to the right, there's a larger group, centred around a very beautiful young lady who has the same blue eyes as Richard, perhaps his sister. Listening quietly is a delicate young lady, and a slightly antsy girl glances around even as she listens, making her the first to notice the Musketeer newcomers, which she points out to the others, as another young lady, seductively dressed, turns and winks in their direction. A young man who was talking with them turns too, momentarily, and rolls his eyes as he turns back.*

[SBLOCK=Tristan]Richard's sister? is a 5. The others, in order, a 4, a 2, and another 4[/SBLOCK]

*Another group moves slightly as a beautiful girl flits into it, traversing the sea of people like quicksilver. She enters into a conversation between a beautiful dreamy-eyed young lady and another in a lavish dress, plus two young noblemen, one of whom is wearing heraldry.*

[SBLOCK=Tristan]Flitting girl is a 5, as is dreamy-eyed girl. The other is 2.

Also, the heraldry is that of the Marquis Elmdor. That man must be one of his retainers.[/SBLOCK]

*Just past that, a pretty smiling girl and a beautiful young lady in a daring low-cut dress that shows off her ample cleavage laugh and flirt with a loud young dandy and a polite and smiling fellow.*

[SBLOCK=Tristan] Smiling girl is a 3, low-cut-dress girl maybe a 5[/SBLOCK]

*Finally, an assertive young man dominates a conversation with two gentle and naive-looking girls, one with chestnut curls just past neck-length and the other with straight dark hair. Meanwhile, a stammering and shy young man can't get a word in edgewise, and so he glances around looking for someone else with whom to talk.*

[SBLOCK=Tristan]Chestnut curls girl is a 3, the other is a 2[/SBLOCK]

(OOC: Whew, that took forever. Let me know what each of you guys do and with whom, if anyone, you'd like to talk. That's a lot of people!)

 

[Fenris]

OOC: No kidding. Bravo.

Continuing on towards the great hall, he says to Tristan with a chuckle, “Your know, you forgot to mention you’d also be taking the measure of the cellars here, though I’m sure that was just an oversight on your part.”

"My dear fellow, the cellar is part of the kitchen!" replies Tristan with a laugh.
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Tristan surveys the room with a practiced eye, noting the crowd, mentally doing the weighing of appearances and importance that all nobles do effortlessly.

As he surveys the crowd, he points out a group to Gabriel

[sblock=OOC: ] This one:*Over all the way and to the right, there's a larger group, centred around a very beautiful young lady who has the same blue eyes as Richard, perhaps his sister. Listening quietly is a delicate young lady, and a slightly antsy girl glances around even as she listens, making her the first to notice the Musketeer newcomers, which she points out to the others, as another young lady, seductively dressed, turns and winks in their direction. A young man who was talking with them turns too, momentarily, and rolls his eyes as he turns back.*[/sblock]

"Good place to start Gabriel, Richard's sister and some lovely young lasses. I'll be taking young Jacen here to go rescue some other young lasses from a boring conversation."

[sblock=OOC: ] Headed to this group: *Just past that, a pretty smiling girl and a beautiful young lady in a daring low-cut dress that shows off her ample cleavage laugh and flirt with a loud young dandy and a polite and smiling fellow.* [/sblock]

And Tristan places a massive arm around Jacen's shoulder and effortlessly steers him towards the small group. "A good group to start with my lad. A braggart to put in his place and gentleman to speak with, but won't get in the way. And of course two beautiful ladies to enjoy the company of. I'll not have you hiding by the door tonight lad." advises Tristan as they approach the group.

OOC: I was going to post an introduction, but I'll wait for poor Shayuri to post Jacen's reaction first.

 

[Rystil Arden]

OOC: No kidding. Bravo.

(OOC: I also have all of their names, and the names and ranks of all their fathers, plus personalities and motivations. That's why I have been kind of slow for a while)

 

[Shayuri]

Jacen, who was wasting precious getaway time ogling the grand room and the finery of its occupants, jumps a bit when Tristan comes up behind him, but is far too late. The Arm of Tristan is as inexorable as the tides as it pushes Jacen out across the floor and towards the four person knot. On arriving, he doffs his hat and manages a reasonably good bow with a flourish, just like Gabriel and Tristan showed him.

"Good evening," he greets them, with eyes slightly wide as he struggles to remember what to say, "I'm Jacen. Jacen d'Ulat. I'm a Musketeer in service of the King and country."

He manages an actual smile, gaining a little confidence and poise. "It's quite a party isn't it? Are all of his events so grand, and well attended?"

With some effort he crushes the sudden urge to look back and assess how well he'd done by gauging Tristan's expression.

 

[Rystil Arden]

*The daringly-clad woman puts a hand up as if to quell the stream of words from the loud man so she can listen to Jacen.*

"Jacen is it? You're quite the cutie. My name is Anne Debreuil, and that's Belinda over there," she gestures.

"Belinda Fermor. Nice to meet you!"

*The other fellow, quite a handsome young man, flashes a dashing smile.*

"My greetings, young Musketeer. I am Valmont Merteuil."

*The talkative young dandy bursts in finally.*

"Ah, yes indeed, and I am the renowned Aric Dandilo. I am sure you have heard of me? I hear that my mighty exploits have traveled as far as the capital and beyond, and so an obvious man of culture such as yourself, Jacen, would have heard of me for sure. Why, the time I outwitted the riddling cave trolls of the Tarnian Hills is sure to become legendary, what say you?"

 

[Fenris]

*The daringly-clad woman puts a hand up as if to quell the stream of words from the loud man so she can listen to Jacen.*

"Jacen is it? You're quite the cutie. My name is Anne Debreuil, and that's Belinda over there," she gestures.

"Belinda Fermor. Nice to meet you!"

*The other fellow, quite a handsome young man, flashes a dashing smile.*

"My greetings, young Musketeer. I am Valmont Merteuil."

*The talkative young dandy bursts in finally.*

"Ah, yes indeed, and I am the renowned Aric Dandilo. I am sure you have heard of me? I hear that my mighty exploits have traveled as far as the capital and beyond, and so an obvious man of culture such as yourself, Jacen, would have heard of me for sure. Why, the time I outwitted the riddling cave trolls of the Tarnian Hills is sure to become legendary, what say you?"

Tristan watches the exchange and steps forward as Aric introduces to himself. "Well I know that I have never heard of you Monsieur Dandilo though I live in the capital and travel a great deal, but I can only assume that you deafened and bored those poor trolls until they let you pass." Tristan turns to Anne and Belinda takes each by a hand, bends over, kissing a hand of each "Mademoiselle Debreuil, Mademoiselle Fermor, I leave my comrade in your gracious presence that he may bask in your beauty." Finally shaking the hand of the last young man "Monsieur Merteuil, a pleasure"

With that Tristan leaves Jacen to his own devices, knowing the lad would be more comfortable without Tristan looking over his shoulder. Besides once the ice was broken Jacen was usually fine, and Anne would handle him thought Tristan with a chuckle. Tristan heads over the young lady keeping to herself.

OOC: Thanks Shayuri for being a sport

 

[Rystil Arden]

"If by that you mean deafened by thunderstones and then bored through their hearts with a spear, well, you'd be partly right, but it involved a flaming viola rather than a thunderstone. You see, I knew that the troll's weakness is fire, but I did not have a torch, but, of course, as a renowned Bard myself, though it pained me to part with my viola, well, you know what they say about the difference between violins and violas? The viola burns longer, you see. And so it was that I had to dual-wield my rapier and a flaming viola, like a regular twin blade style, only if one of the blades was a viola instead of a blade..."

(OOC: Tristan actually didn't introduce himself to any of the people in that last group, only Jacen did, but I can assume he does.

The girl aside from the others won't address him first, but assuming he introduces himself--)

"Oh, I see. That's nice. I'm Lynette Lenoir," the dark-haired girl replies, her voice not at all as enthusiastic as the others, as if she doesn't really care too much.

"Well, you look like you want to be here. One of those muscle-bound sorts...We get that a lot--I'm surprised you aren't over there trying to get in with the crowd around this 'Mademoiselle X'. She's probably more your type."

 

[unleashed]

OOC: Damn, spent all morning and the early afternoon watching the boards, and everyone posts when I go away for a while.

"My dear fellow, the cellar is part of the kitchen!" replies Tristan with a laugh.

“If you say so...” Gabriel replies with a chuckle and a shake of his head.

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As he surveys the crowd, he points out a group to Gabriel

[sblock=OOC: ] This one:*Over all the way and to the right, there's a larger group, centred around a very beautiful young lady who has the same blue eyes as Richard, perhaps his sister. Listening quietly is a delicate young lady, and a slightly antsy girl glances around even as she listens, making her the first to notice the Musketeer newcomers, which she points out to the others, as another young lady, seductively dressed, turns and winks in their direction. A young man who was talking with them turns too, momentarily, and rolls his eyes as he turns back.*[/sblock]
"Good place to start Gabriel, Richard's sister and some lovely young lasses. I'll be taking young Jacen here to go rescue some other young lasses from a boring conversation."

*Taking his time to survey the room for a group of ladies to acquaint himself with, Gabriel turns to look when Tristan points out a group which might be centred around Richard’s sister.*

“Well, I was hoping to encounter Richard’s sister, and there are enough young ladies in that group for my liking. I can’t help but agree with you, Tristan, that it would be a good place to start, though I wonder at your altruism my friend. Are you perhaps saving certain ladies for yourself, such as the remarkably beautiful young woman with clear and lovely green eyes or maybe the extremely beautiful young lady with long red-gold tresses,” he chides playfully, laughing as he slaps Tristan on the shoulder.

*Leaving Jacen to Tristan, Gabriel makes his way to the group centred around the beautiful young lady with blue eyes, which may be Richard’s sister.*

Making an elegant courtly bow to the ladies when he reaches them, he says, “Good evening ladies, I am Gabriel Marteau, King’s Musketeer, and it would be a distinct pleasure to make the acquaintance of lovely young ladies such as yourselves.” Almost as an afterthought, but before the young man can say anything he adds, “My pardon sir, I didn’t mean to leave you out, but such lovely ladies deserve a special greeting and my full attention, don’t you agree.”

 

[Rystil Arden]

OOC: Damn, spent all morning and the early afternoon watching the boards, and everyone posts when I go away for a while.

(OOC: According to my 'Who's Online' function, you were online and viewing "Is 4e more D&D than 3e" thread after this stuff was posted I checked on all three of you so I could know whether or not to just go to sleep)

. Are you perhaps saving a certain remarkably beautiful young woman with clear and lovely green eyes for yourself,”

(OOC: It is indeed worth noting that said green-eyed girl and the girl with red-gold hair are the only two in the room who are clearly more beautiful than the maybe-Richard's-sister girl. Well, at least assuming that big crowd of people isn't hiding some bombshell)

“Good evening ladies, I am Gabriel Marteau, King’s Musketeer, and it would be a distinct pleasure to make the acquaintance of lovely young ladies such as yourselves.” Almost as an afterthought, but before the young man can say anything he adds, “My pardon sir, I didn’t mean to leave you out, but such lovely ladies deserve a special greeting and my full attention, don’t you agree.”

"Well, I suppose that really depends, doesn't it. A man who wanted to politely enter a conversation would treat all those he meets with courtesy. If his goal is instead to disrupt and perhaps remake the conversation to his own advantage, well then, now we all know how to do that too."

"Oh come now, Army," the seductively-dressed woman replies, shaking her head with a coy smile, "I know it wasn't polite, but it's a...what do you call it Adrienne?"

"Idiom?"

"Yes, yes, idiom sounds good. I mean, obviously he doesn't want to sleep with you Army," she runs her finger gently in circles around the edge of her wine glass.

"Excuse me?"

"Okay, Armand, Felicity, let's be nice, please," the blue-eyed woman requests of them, "I am Sabine Dulirand. Welcome Gabriel, my brother told me that we would have three musketeers for the evening's gala, but I couldn't tell it was you for certain when Adrienne spotted you--I didn't expect you all to blend in so well here. The King's Musketeers are indeed polite and well-cultured, certainly not at all like the soldiers we have out here..."

*Armand glances and looks like he's about to say something.*

"...Except the officers, of course. In any case, since Richard isn't around right now, let me welcome you to my home."

"You've already met Felicity and Armand. This is Cecile Dyprans," she turns to the shy and delicate young lady who hasn't spoken yet.

"Charmed, Monsieur."

Then Sabine gestures to the young noblewomen who had spotted the group in the first place, "And this is Adrienne Tyngere."

"Welcome Gabriel. Glad to have you with us."

 

[Shayuri]

"If by that you mean deafened by thunderstones and then bored through their hearts with a spear, well, you'd be partly right, but it involved a flaming viola rather than a thunderstone. You see, I knew that the troll's weakness is fire, but I did not have a torch, but, of course, as a renowned Bard myself, though it pained me to part with my viola, well, you know what they say about the difference between violins and violas? The viola burns longer, you see. And so it was that I had to dual-wield my rapier and a flaming viola, like a regular twin blade style, only if one of the blades was a viola instead of a blade..."

Jacen's mouth moves a few times as he tries to get an opening to talk...and finally gives up and just cuts in, raising a finger to point at the man.

"That's quite a story! So...you were out hunting cave trolls with a viola, but no torch..."

When he sees Aric inhaling to respond, he quickly adds, "What did you light the viola with? I mean, no torch...there in a cave facing a troll...you must tell us how you managed to make a fire hot enough to light an entire viola fast enough not to be eaten by the troll."

He grins. "Because I admit, that wasn't covered in the Musketeers training regimen. I'm afraid, were I to face a cave troll with nothing but a viola...well, that would be my end. Your next few words, friend...might save my life, and the lives of these ladies here."