Ivana's Dinner Party--Borca
General Summary
When Bianca first saw you, she started, as though she were surprised to see you there. You chatted with her, and she was quite taken with Rose's snake, talking to it like the kind of dog person who completely ignores the owner to talk with the dog as though it understands them. Vanya used Fascinate with his lute, and Bianca seemed to recognize that this was a magical effect and tried to get Vanya to admit he was a magic user (although she pretended it was just because it was ever so amusing). She convinced Vincente to swap dates and sat with you at the high table.
Throughout dinner, Bianca tried to draw you out with conversations about whether you knew anything about magic (including whether or not you'd been to the Blue Quill, the seedy shop where Rose bought the book about scrying), whether you'd ever encountered a vampire or a werewolf, and whether you'd ever been to Falkovnia. Vanya congratulated her on her family's purchase of the De Carlo Trading Company, and she said that while the business side of things was over her head, she was delighted by the shining new era that was tiptoeing near-a for the Scarlatti family. Vanya also made a few pointed remarks about how grateful they must be that Maria Scarlatti had come home safely, and you both got a glimpse of cold fury on Bianca's face before she managed to smother it down. At some point during Rose and Bianca's mutual fangirling over venomous animals, you managed to secure an invitation to the menagerie the next day.
Rose managed to get out of eating an ortolan by giving hers to Vanya, but did end up eating a dose of passionflesh, a delicious and mildly toxic fruit with aphrodisiac properties. Vanya was stuck eating two ortolans, but managed to palm his passionflesh without anyone noticing.
After dinner, Rose left to dance with Vincente, while Bianca, giggling and acting thoroughly intoxicated, pulled Vanya into a secret room behind a tapestry. Once they were there, she immediately dropped the bubbleheaded socialite act and asked him if Rose and "de Carlo's little whore" served the same master as he did, or if Rose was really as innocent as she appeared. When Vanya asked what master she meant, Bianca said that it was someone who who "shared her interest in dangerous pets," and that "as long as he treats them like the animals they are, he need not quarrel with the Scarlatti." Vanya put two and two together and realized that she was talking about Vigo Drakov. He played along--if he worked for Drakov, he was too valuable to kill outright--and said that Drakov had arrested him but agreed to give him his freedom in exchange for services (not entirely untrue). He told Bianca that he'd been sent to investigate the sale of the De Carlo Trading Company--it was a major source of income for Falkovnia, and Drakov wanted to make sure that it wouldn't impact his interests. He also told Bianca that Rose and Vincente didn't know anything. Bianca seemed satisfied and said they'd talk more at her estate tomorrow, then led him out of the secret passage, giggling and looking like they'd just had a marvelous passionflesh-inspired time.
Speaking of marvelous passionflesh-inspired times, Rose was dancing with Vincente and he was making her look graceful for possibly the first time. As they danced--Vincente maneuvering in a way that involved pressing closer and closer together--he told her that he was so grateful to her for helping him forget about his grief for a while, and that he had never met anyone quite like her before; she was innocent without being foolish, and that was a rare thing in Borca. When the dance was over, he kissed her. Rose kissed him back, but gently told him that was all that was going to happen. Vincente nodded, then got a sly look in his eye and directed her attention to the corner of the ballroom; when Rose looked, she saw Vincente standing there. The man who she'd been dancing with called her "my lovely Rose," the endearment the Dark Man always used for her. She slapped him and ran to the real Vincente, but when she looked back, the Dark Man was gone.
A little later, Vincente excused himself to take care of a bodily function, and an attractive servant sidled up to Rose, thanked her for protecting "our son" from the Blade Brothers, and said he had much to discuss with her later. Rose, in full "spite the devil" mode, offered to dance with him if he quit the games and talked to her now. They danced, and the Dark Man told her that his plans for Julien didn't have to involve any harm coming to him, as long as Julien helped him willingly; if Julien resisted, the Dark Man would have to kill him to get what he wanted, and it would be an agonizing death. According to him, it was up to Rose to "stop poisoning our son against me" so that he would go with the Dark Man when the time came. Rose told him in no uncertain terms what she thought of his parenting skills, said he was a poison himself, and refused to give him another kiss. He made a few digs about how at least she could yell herself she'd kept her hands clean, got in a parting shot about how ravishing she looked in her sexy snake dress and vanished into the crowd.
Character(s) interacted with
Related Reports
Next session: A wild Ivan Dilisnya appears!--Borca
Report Date
19 Oct 2021
Primary Location
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