Chapter 12: Masking Murder Report

General Summary

Session 12 world anvil recap: The party starts this session continuing the masquerade ball. The following happen simultaneously:   Oliver Sterling and Prince Philip stare at each other over Yil-koon’s dead body. Oliver asks Philip, “Do you want this to go away?” to which Philip numbly nods. Thinking fast, Oliver magically disguises himself as Yil-koon and steps out of the carriage, acting drunk and intentionally drawing attention to himself so that there will be witnesses to Yil-koon being apparently still alive. Oliver/Yil-koon drives the carriage away, but not before a blonde dwarf notices and hears Prince Philip say from inside the carriage, “Hurry, Oliver.” The carriage is rushed out of the Ashton manor, and then out of the city entirely. Nicholas, inside, has just finished his enthralling piano performance for Gale Stormont, with seemingly all of society watching. Riding on the high of his first public performance, he has some drinks with the usually-somber but now-smiling Lord Stormont, and the two share an impeccably perfect dance. However, Prince Solomon makes his jealousy known. Soon after, he danced with the Prince, who is a little less sure on his feet, but Nicholas steadies him. Solomon asks Nicholas what he pictures in his future, and Nicholas responds with his desire for a supportive, committed relationship/marriage and eventual family. Solomon grows in intensity throughout his questioning of Nicholas, eventually saying, “There are those who have called me a monster in the past. Are you afraid of monsters, Lord Nicholas?” Nicholas responds in the negative, then says, “Every villain needs a redeeming love story.” They part after Nicholas promises, somewhat tenuously, to play a private concert for the Prince whenever he is interested. (Let it be known that Nicholas continues to be an absolute rizz lord. The flirting is IMPECCABLE.) Elinor sees her mother wallflowering awkwardly and approaches her. Lady Maeve tries to provide some tips for socializing at the ball, Elinor steers the conversation away, asking her mother if she and her father were a love match. Maeve assures her that, while they hadn’t the luxury of seeking out a marriage of love over a marriage of societal gain, they did deeply love each other by the end. She confides in Elinor of the hole her husband’s death left behind, and Elinor expresses her fear of having that same terrible impact on someone’s else’s life. Elinor tries to persuade Maeve to make connections of her own, whether romantic or simply friendly in nature. She bids her mother goodbye and goes to speak with Sang Brewwick. Sang shared her love of her pet skunk, Paddy, but it is not long before Annalee Ashton rudely interrupts and steals Elinor away. Dominic, having publicly made an uncouth comment to Nicholas after his performance (“Use protection!”), is all but dragged out of the building by the ear by Aunt Alice. She makes a show of reprimanding him in front of the ton, then chides him a bit more privately outside with Dove nearby. Dominic explains that he doesn’t seem to fit in with the “proper” society, but does apologize to Alice, promising she won’t have to worry about him. Dove swears to keep an eye on him. Alice storms off, leaving Dove and Dominic to snicker a bit about the ordeal. Dove admits to Dominic that she’s grateful someone is there to do poorly in this society/manners thing with her. She admits she was hurt by his comments the other night, but that it doesn’t seem necessary to hash it out now that they’re at a masquerade ball. She apologized for her attitude, but Dominic stops her and tells her she’s perfect. The two are interrupted with some loud gunshot, followed by a noisy noble in the distance driving his carriage drunkenly away. Dove sees her friend Bear mount a horse to chase after the carriage. He explains that he heard someone say Oliver’s name and intended to make sure he was okay. Dove hops aboard the horse and tells Dominic to go check and see if Oliver is in the ball still while she and Bear check on this carriage. He begrudgingly obliges, and Dove and Bear ride away.     At this point, the party is split in two: Nicholas, Dominic, and Elinor at the ball; and Dove and Oliver racing through the streets of the city.   Dove and Oliver: Oliver notices a horse and rider following him out of the city. Expecting the worst, he drives the carriage a ways off the road and into a big field of farmland. He pulls Philip out and, with the body of Yil-koon still within, lights the carriage on fire with his magical green flames. The horse and rider approach, and Oliver takes Philip into the grasses and trees, sneaking away. Upon the horse is not one but two individuals, none other than Dove Broadhall and her friend Berig, of course. Suspecting Oliver is trapped inside the carriage, Dove runs up to inspect it but is pulled into the tall grasses by Oliver. He is exasperated with this turn of events, as he believed he had everything handled without Dove’s interference, let alone having an extra witness that he does not know. Berig, at this point, has approached to untie the horses that are still attached to the now blazing carriage. Dove, having ascertained that Oliver is not in immediate physical danger, tries to convince Berig to do whatever Oliver asks. Oliver, considering the magical abilities of their friends, believes the horses may be coerced into giving up information about the evening, and so commands the horses be burned along with the carriage. Berig refuses, hating the idea of harming the innocent horses for a nobleman’s gain. Tensions rise quickly, and soon Oliver and Philip threaten Berig’s life if he does not step away from the horses. Dove pleads with Berig, and he eventually steps away for her sake. Sensing some small hesitation from Dove about Berig’s trustworthiness, he informs her that she had better handle the dwarf, or else he will have to take matters into his own hands. Dove sees the ghostly form of Yil-koon standing ominously atop the burning carriage and is shaken, but brings her focus back to Oliver and reluctantly agrees.   After ultimately deciding to untie the horses and bring them back with them, the group separates so that each pair can discuss things. Oliver and Philip take a moment and talk ABOUT SOMETHING Dove tries an emotional appeal with Berig, explaining where she has been all these years away from him. She tells him she’d followed a ghost into Lord Frost’s bedchambers when she worked there as a kid and it resulted in getting her sent away to work for a cruel family. She always believed she’d deserved what happened to her, but it wasn’t until recently when she found the Sterlings that she started to believe differently. She told Berig that she wasn’t asking him to suddenly be on the side of all of the wealthy class, but just to understand why she is so willing to help these good people who were the first to teach her what a safe, loving home felt like. Berig listens, interrupting with threats of harm towards Lord Frost, but ultimately agrees that he’ll do whatever he needs to keep Dove safe, as long as it is truly Dove that is asking and not the nobility taking advantage of her. Oliver approaches and SOMETHING SOMETHING SOMETHING   Elinor is being led all too swiftly towards Annalee Ashton’s bedchambers, much to her mortification. Just outside the door to her room, the Lady Annalee all but forces herself onto Elinor, who immediately turns on her heel and runs away, dispelling a wall of flame that Annalee tossed in her way. On the way back down the stairs, Elinor bumps into none other than Lady Dahlia. Dahlia admits to a romantic interest in Elinor, but grew more concerned that that wasn’t in the cards after seeing Elinor ditch Lady Sang Brewwick for Annalee. Elinor confides in Dahlia that, having not grown up navigating this world, she is prone to making mistakes and could use some help. Dahlia gives her a tender kiss on the cheek, and they go off to spend their dancing time on a walk in the gardens.   Dominic goes to meet with the carriage drivers near where Dove left him. He brings up Oliver’s potential peril to Charles (Oliver’s valet), who seems wholly convinced that Oliver can handle anything life throws at him. Dominic is invited to drink with them, and he happily obliges, complaining about the pressures on him and informing them of his idea of a paid vacation for his valet.
 
(Quick Report) Last session, the Sterling family plus one halfling finished up their night at the masquerade ball (or, for some, not at the masquerade ball). Nicholas: finished his incredible piano concerto and had two whole hotties pining for him: Lord Gale Stormont and Prince Solomon Shadowby. With Gale, the two dance perfectly and have some drinks. With Solomon, Nicholas helps guide his dark prince’s unsure footing in their dance, and Solomon interviews Nicholas about his ideal life, then reveals that he feels he’s a monster of some sort. Nicholas responds with his usual amount of rizz, which is to say, a lot. He ends the night giving up his dance with Princess Emily in order to help poor Dominic look a little better in the public eye. Speaking of Dominic: he got reprimanded by Aunt Alice for some uncouth comments, got ditched by Dove for Berig once again, picked a fight with an old man servant, got pantsed and restrained by Dahlia’s magical vines, had a heart to heart with Nicholas, and somehow despite it all, ended it on a high with the aforementioned dance with Princess Emily. Did I miss anything? Speaking of Dahlia: Elinor’s evening continued with a sweet conversation with her mother about her parents’ relationship. Elinor got a small amount of comfort in seeking for relationship advice from her mother, just before catching a glimpse of her dead father’s horrified visage, his hand holding out a piece of coral. Ever the stoic, she buried that situation deep deep within her and re-entered the societal fray. Annallee Ashton stole Elinor away to her bedchambers, which of course made Elinor turn tail and run – straight into Dahlia Blumett. The two discussed their feelings, walked along the gardens, and shared secrets with each other. Their evening ended in a dance, where Elinor dipped Dahlia and the two shared a fireworks-inducing kiss. Speaking of kissing – Oliver kissed his sense of peace and well-being goodbye after agreeing to help Prince Phillip hide Yil-koon’s super dead body! Disguised as the Brewwick lord, Oliver hi-yah’d the carriage straight out of the city. Unbeknownst to him, Dove and Berig rode on horseback after him, which resulted in a chaotic standoff around a blazing carriage in a field far outside of Donlon. Dove was able to convince a very begrudging Berig to keep his mouth shut about the ordeal. Oliver and Bear struck a tense bargain to help each other out in the future, and Berig showed them a discreet way back into the city (as long as the Prince remained blindfolded). Berig and Dove bid each other goodbye, promising to have dinner together soon. Oliver and Phillip discussed their past relationship and current feelings. As they parted at the castle, Phillip tried to initiate a kiss, but Oliver held him back, because he is a stronger man than any of us. And that was the end.