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[agogenpc]

Sup guys! Here's where we're going to be going over ~secret info~ for the Royal Pain mission.

I was thinking the way we'd run this would be similar to a D&D sort of thing. I give you guys some scenarios. You tell me what your characters would do. If I think it's particularly difficult or risky, we'll do a skill check, but that'll probably be rare (unless you want to TRY for something particularly unlikely and REQUEST a skill check). I'll tell you what information your characters find, and they can relate it to the rest of the game as you wish. Sound good?

FIRST OFF all your guys' names will be absolutely impossible to pronounce for French people... except for you, John Neige. For Daenerys, it might be a good idea to just go as Dany, since the name Danielle exists, though it's very rare at this time in France. Ashitaka... well, people will probably assume Ashitaka is at least partially Chinese, so you can really do whatever. Basically: if you want to come up with names for your personas, lmk! Or if you wanna handwave it, that's cool too!

ALSO for the benefit of transparency, once this mission is over, we'll be making the post public so players can see everything that went down behind the scenes!

Comments

[lonelywar]

This is mostly a +1 to everything since Ashitaka functions very similarly to Jon in this scenario. When it comes to some things more unique to him, Ashitaka doesn't do too much expounding on wherever he is from, instead leaning on the novelty of his not-being-European to avoid too many intricate details. As for what they will call him... he knows just as much about French naming conventions as they know about Japanese ones, so he will just accept whatever name they give him. Ashitaka feels that being as genuine as possible and seeking to gain information from Lafayette (and other guards, if possible) by proving dependability is the best route, though if it ends up running dry, he will agree to some sneaking and subterfuge (though a little begrudgingly). He would work together with Jon to increase their chances of success, having one or the other cause distractions if necessary.

Ashitaka will handle his duty as guard with seriousness (to a point of severity...), but (if this comes up at all) he will speak to anyone with his usual openness and understanding, though tempered by degrees of respect for those hierarchically above himself. I can specify any reactions or responses if necessary.

The only other thing I'd tack on is that he would just claim any conversations with Jon or Dany to be for the safety of the estate and the royalty. He's... not a very good liar.

[agogemod]

Ashitaka will probably end up with the nickname Monseuir Machin, which more or less means 'Mister Thingie', since nobody can pronounce his actual name. But he's reliable, dependable, and he does his work well; people like him and accept his oddities, for the most part. Though they keep assuming he's Chinese.

His outright honesty and lack of any sort of pokerface do mean he gets teased a little, but it's largely in good fun.

For the most part, people trust Ashitaka, and it means they let him in on various secrets, thoughts and random feelings, because they find him easy to talk to (they also comment that his French is very good for a Chinaman...) They talk about the queen (who most of the guard think very little off), the king (who is often called 'the clockmaker' as a mocking nickname), the children ('the little brats'), and that strange man who keeps coming in and out of the castle. A few posted soldiers have noted François Gamain's irregular patterns, being requested by the royal family to come, and then leaving very abruptly. It annoys many of the soldiers, because they have to break formation to let him in and out. "If he were to fall and crack his head open on his hurry out of the tower," one soldier confides, "I wouldn't be too broken up about it."

[lonelywar]

Ashitaka quietly accepts this nickname, thinking it could probably be worse. He's not going to split hairs about the assumption of his nationality either.

He's gotten used to that sort of teasing, and he picks up that it's not done in a malicious way. It actually reminds him of the banter and bickering of the men and women living in Irontown, so in a way he actually seems to bizarrely enjoy it.

Anyways. Having commonly conversed with Jon and Dany and learning about what they have been finding out, Ashitaka decides to use his rapport with the soldiers to begin to lay some groundwork for figuring some stuff out. Setting the royal locksmith aside for the moment, he recalls Dany mentioning one of the staff remarking others among them were acting "oddly," just like them. He doesn't ask any outward questions, but he tries to keep mental tabs on as many members of the guard as he can. Who seem the most integrated into the main host, complete with friends and habits and stories, who seem very at home in this environment and role? More importantly he keeps an eye out for those who don't fit this mold, who might've been new "odd" additions, just like himself. As of right now he's not asking any direct questions about it, he's just trying to get a rough idea to move forward with.

As for the locksmith, Ashitaka agrees strongly with the soldiers, saying that his patterns and mannerisms were very inconvenient to the point of rude. He asks them if they have any idea what he's being called here so often to accomplish, feigning lack of understanding of what his overall purpose is (which isn't really feigning, because he really isn't very sure what all a locksmith might do). He recalls from Jon's information that the locksmith ends up at the king's private study when he visits, and he keeps this information to himself, though he's very interested in figuring out what he's doing there.

(Also, not super involved with the plot, but when the conversation turns to the king, the queen, and the royal children, Ashitaka is interested in the men's emotional responses and asks them a few gently leading questions, trying to get them to explain their reasoning for how they feel. He genuinely seems interested, as he is—he's always interested in trying to understand conflicts, and the tension in the palace is palpable. He won't pry too much, just trying to get a feel for it all.)

[agogemod]

If Ashitaka is careful and clever, and pays a fair amount of attention to detail, he may notice some of the guards have similarly... odd backgrounds. At least two are new, and while they aren't from China, they certainly aren't from around here. There's nothing to confirm it outright, but clearly someone's been poking in at the royals in the same way COST has. At least one soldier, Antoine Colin, seems especially strange. Whenever Ashitaka enters the room, he stops talking and immediately leaves. Most of the other soldiers assume this is because Antoine is afraid of foreigners, but there doesn't seem to be fear or hate in Antoine's eyes.

The soldiers tell stories of how the locksmith leaves in the middle of the night, and sometimes can be seen pacing from the windows. His behavior has changed-- he used to almsot never come by, to the point that, at first, many didn't know they even had a royal locksmith. Now he's here almost daily. And he is so rude.

The men are happy to boast of their political opinions-- their fathers,they say, weren't even allowed to have any. But many have read various books (pamphlets, magazines, newspapers) on politics now, and love discussing them. Several attend Jacobin meetings whenever they can. They say that France was historically a free country-- that's what the ancient word for 'French' means!-- and they wish to return to that time of democracy and freedom. The royals have contributed nothing to France for too long, but expect everything! They talk about the bread shortages, the famine, the loss and the hunger, and how the royals did nothing and didn't care. One man pulls out a very dog-eared copy of a pamphlet he's clearly very fond of, and says Ashitaka can read it. Another fellow just reads one of his favorite magazine issues aloud one night, and everyone crowds around to listen, laughing and cheering him on. It's clearly something they do often, reading magazine issues aloud, arguing, commenting, pretending to be various characters described. It's something very important to all of them.

Except Antoine, who is just never around when Ashitaka is.

[lonelywar]

Ashitaka pays careful attention to those that he discovers are new to the guard, similar to himself and Jon; this is particularly true for Antoine Colin. He doesn't make any efforts to follow him. On the contrary, he tries to act as oblivious to his obvious avoidance as possible. In the most casual way possible, however, he asks the other soldiers if there is anything else strange that they have noticed about Antoine's behavior. If asked why he's interested, he will do his best not to act suspicious of the man, instead couching his curiosity in confusion to his severe aversion to himself.

If possible, Ashitaka wants to learn more about Antoine's schedule for guard duty and patrol. Just because. If it's not something he can observe from afar, without arousing suspicion, however, he will hang back.

From discussions with Jon, Ashitaka has learned that the locksmith's final destination is always the king's private study. With his knowledge of general guard detail and patrols, he will try to sneak into the study when it is in use by neither the king (nor in danger of being visited by the locksmith). If I need to roll anything, please let me know! He's going to be looking around for anything of interest and anything that looks like it's seen regular use.

Ashitaka's interest in the men's views is a personal one that he indulges on in his free time. Such concepts are so completely different from social constructs he's familiar with, so it takes a lot of discussion to start to wrap his mind around them. When it's talking about abstracts, Ashitaka is calm and interested, but the different forms of literature and the energy about them are slightly different. The pamphlet is a little difficult for him to digest, so his thoughts are not as defined on it, but he worries about the inflexibility it suggests between the different classes and resolving their issues. Ashitaka is also in attendance when the magazine issue is read aloud, though his reaction is a bit different. His face remains still, tense, and his left hand moves to clasp his right forearm as the demon mark reacts to the wild word so brazenly suggesting revolt and warfare. (Multiple times he thinks that the royal family very poorly chose their guards.) Regardless, he certainly seems a little more withdrawn and unconvinced when such violent methods are brought up, though he is cautious of questioning it, not wanting to rock the boat too much, particularly since he sees how much it means to these men (and probably knows how difficult their lives, and lives of others they know in the city) have been.

After some time, he does ask as gently as he can if they felt society could only be changed through the shedding of blood, or if they would accept a more peaceful solution. Just because he's interested... and worried.

[agogemod]

It turns out that Colin is also new, and also pretty oblivious to a lot of the political concerns of Paris. This is because, of course, he's from the countryside away from Paris. They don't know much about Colin or his opinions; he's always carefully neutral. He has an odd habit of disappearing when it's not his turn to be on guard duty, however. No one really knows where he goes. But when it's time for him to do his job, he does it, and what more can they ask?

Let's say they successfully make their way into the king's rooms. None of it seems particularly out of the ordinary, beyond an assortment of various locks, all with adjoining keys. The king is famously a hobbyest for technical equipment and puzzles of that sort, from clockmaking to locksmithing. Each key has a lock to match it somewhere on the king's workdesk... except one.

How odd.

The soldiers indulge Ashitaka-- he's a strange man, but they like him for his strangeness and his honesty and his obvious strength. They don't think a bloodless conclusion can be reached. The nobility refuses to give an inch. The time for change is now, and if the nobility keep ignoring it, well... that's their fault.