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ROYAL 🍞 SECRET PAGE.
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!
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!
no subject
If his sympathies are anything Lafayette would notice, he'd appreciate sympathies toward the royalty, who he believes deserve to rule France wholeheartedly, just in a diminished, non-authoritarian capacity. Lafayette believes in democracy, he'll say, but the common people cannot rule themselves, they're a mob, uneducated and impossible to control.
The royal children, Louis-Charles and Marie Thérèse, are precocious if spoiled children, who largely seem to have no idea of the danger they're in. They occasionally escape their minders, and it's not impossible that they run across the guards attempting to protect them. They have many questions, like how many peasants have you killed, and what's your name, and where are you from, and have you ever ridden a horse, and what's your favorite animal. Overall, they seem much more interested in Jon's private thoughts and motivations than Lafayette. They are somewhat bored children. Louis-Charles, Dauphin of France, will ask for a piggyback ride.
Due to the covert nature of the BCE, Jon can contact the commander, or his fellow operatives, at any time, even recording conversations with Lafayette if he so chooses. The use of the BCE cannot be seen by non-time travelers, and it is possible to text through rapid eye movement over the keyboard, though it may look as though you're having a bit of an eye spasm if someone catches you. Still, they won't see the holographic interface or anything like that.
Conversations with the Commander, or anyone else, via the BCE are highly encouraged at any time.
Anyway, you hit the nail right on the head, it was the flight to Varennes, organized by Lafayette and the Queen. The most relevant information Jon, Dany and Ashitaka would be given: They disguised the royal family as peasants and attempted to shepherd them out of the country. They were caught when someone recognized King Louis' face from a bank note, and have been imprisoned in Paris ever since. This caused a massive amount of unpopularity for the royal family, as the people of France felt the royals were 'abandoning' them. This is probably a major factor in.... everything that's going to shit right now.
Anywho.
The flirtation between Dany and Jon would be noticed, and not really discouraged, though Lafayette would have a stern comment about marrying her before any 'mistakes' were made, and some fellow soldiers might ask for lewd stories. One jokes about how someone with such a 'plain' face like Neige could get someone so pretty to notice him, does Jon have any tips? Another asks if Dany has a sister with similarly bad taste.
no subject
Jon more or less agrees with those sympathies. What with being a king who has a thing for a queen, he's kind of a royalist; but having also been a democratically elected commander (and, honestly, someone who became king by acclamation rather than hereditary right), and having a lot of opinions about what makes a good king/lord or a bad king/lord (which he would not express here except maybe as "a king should be for his people"), he's also pretty much fine with limiting the power of bad monarchs, bad monarchs abdicating, etc. Basically, the system Lafayette is advocating doesn't sound too bad to him under the circumstances. He wouldn't say this stuff where guards other than Ashitaka might overhear him in conversation with Lafayette, though.
As for babysitting: His name is Jean Neige, he's ridden a horse but not lately, he's from [obscure village], his favorite animal is LE LOUP (duh), why do such charming children want to talk about killing when they could talk about the names of the stars in the sky or why they think their favorite animals are better than wolves, and yes, gods help him, that piggy-back ride is go. (This is so much easier than climbing the Wall.)
He does what he can to develop a rapport with other guards, asking them about their stories, families, sweethearts, etc. If the piggyback ride gets him side-eyed, he explains that he has a brother around that age. He bears the teasing about "Danielle" somewhat bashfully -- was he a monk or something before he became a soldier? To Lafayette's comment, he says "if she'll have me."
At least they're not mocking his height.
He tells the Commander that they believe the royal family is trying to plan another escape.
When Dany tells him and Ashitaka about the change in the locksmith's demeanor, he finds it weird, along with the gossip about secret boxes and hidden keys. He keeps as close an eye on the locksmith as possible when the locksmith is there, but he tries to do it subtly; I think probably it might be a matter of joint coverage between him and Ashitaka at the very least, though I haven't double-checked that with Alex yet, and I'm not sure even that would be effective! Jon would be trying to notice if the locksmith is moving around systematically or going to a specific area all the time or what.
no subject
The children want to know why his favorite animal is a wolf, before Marie Therese supposes it's because of the Roman wolves, and then both of them are fighting each other to tell a very disjointed version of a story they were told by one of their tutors-- the one about Romulus and Remus being suckled by a she-wolf.
Marie Therese will demand a piggyback ride if her brother gets one, and then he'll have the children's loyalty forever.
The locksmith acts in a very paranoid manner; he definitely is hard to follow, and takes alternate routes through the palace whenever he arrives. He's rude and surly and suspicious to anyone he encounters. His end location is always the same, though: the King's private study.
no subject
He'd be careful to select his time and place for any remotely suspicious questions... a drink, or deep in a conversation. He is, in fact, suspicious of that locksmith. Is Lafayette sure the locksmith isn't some kind of spy? What is he doing there? What possible need could there be for a locksmith to be about the place so much when the place is already so well-guarded? Should the guards be keeping a better eye on the locksmith... or anyone else?
[TWM you, the player, know exactly what's going on, but aren't 100% sure of a reasonable way for your character to get there.]
no subject
The idea that the locksmith might be a spy has clearly never occurred to Lafayette, but he's incredibly wary about this possibility. He assigns Jon a special mission: tail the locksmith, don't be noticed.
[#historyspoilers]
man I thought I replied to this!
What do, Lafayette? Did you want him tailed outside of the building?
Jon finds the very official dowry meeting kind of baffling but goes along with it.
no subject
And the wedding is set for next month, please invite surviving family and decide who your best man is, Jean.
no subject
Of the three of them, Jon is best suited to tail Colin: he's a strong guy who's also been hunting successfully his entire life (like, actual animals, in the woods, with his "father" and "brother"), and Colin is already explicitly avoiding Ashitaka. But Jon is also recognizable as a Tuileries guard, so he'd go with the Commander's decision as to whether he should be the tail or someone who hasn't been working in the palace should.
He's also sent video of the mystery key to the Commander. His best idea if a copy is needed is to make a wax or clay impression to bring to whoever she'd choose as a middleman, but that may not be necessary... the real key is right there, after all.
[Had to think briefly about whether or not it would occur to Jon to take an impression of a key, but 1. He watches smiths work in canon, and they are shown to be using molds and similar techniques, and 2. The doors in the show's version of Winterfell lock with keys.]
no subject
Colin acts like a normal soldier at almost all times, blending in, let's be honest, much better than Jon or Ashitaka or Dany do. He raises little suspicion, and always has good excuses and convenient explanations when things do get weird. However, sometimes he'll sneak away to just... stand there. Doing nothing. Careful, careful observation will find that he's blinking his eyes rapidly while he does this. In general, watching his eyes might reveal some interesting tidbits; sometimes he'll start blinking rapidly, or turning his head to survey entire scenes during his work, even if it seems like nothing should be drawing his gaze. It's easy to miss, but once you know it's there, it's hard not to see.
The Commander says a wax copy is a good idea if they can't find a matching lock nearby. What's the point of having a key if you don't know where the lock is? And judging from the king's study, he likes to keep all his toys in the same place. That said, the pictures are appreciated, and filed away carefully. Good work, team.
no subject
They make the wax copy and get it out ASAP, and look around the King's study when they can for a place to use the key.
For the rest of it, waiting on coordination with anyone who needs coordinating with, I suppose.