I think we're just going to do this as an intrigue of Lara (and Seff if he joins in) vs. the Priest directly, with the crowd hanging in the balance. So speech/actions can be directed at the crowd, but will contend with the Priest's defenses, and his vice versa.
The Priest rolled an 11 for initiative.
ooc: initiative 10
ReplyDelete"Arise. What is dead can never die, but rises again. Now you are a son of the waves, a child of the Drowned God. Only he can protect us from the Storm God's wrath. His harbinger is here already. It wrecks ships in the stormy nights, dashing them against the rock and chewing on the bones of men. Who among you still thinks that the Seven can protect you," the priest intones.
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ooc: we'll use the priest's original speech as his first roll.
Disposition: Indifferent
Technique: Convince (Persuasion)
First Influence roll: 22
Assuming your disposition is Indifferent I think that's 8 influence points on your composure.
"Um, I have a question," Lara waved at the priest attempting to catch his attention. The priest must have been used to hecklers, as he didn't flinch at Lara's interruption.
ReplyDelete"So you've convinced me," Lara tries again. That briefly caught the old priest's attention, "now which of the seven do I replace? Or does he make 8? Can I replace the stranger?"
"Do I need to add the storm God, too? He sounds like a nasty bloke,"
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ooc: Can't go back in time now.
Technique: Taunt (seems like the closest match...)
roll: 5
ooc: with +1D (4) for good roleplaying, Lara's speech is enough to get the attention of the crowd and garner a few chuckles, but mostly blank stares--tough crowd. She clearly has the priest's attention now.
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As the crowd turns and faces her, she notices the man who has just been anointed and several of the smallfolk closest to the priest have some sort of black pigment smeared on their faces.
"Sweet girl, you are frightened and therefore jest about what is to come. To answer your question, the Storm God will slay all of the Seven when he comes, except for the Mother and the Maid..." He trails off ominously. Though he continues to stare at Lara, he begins talking to the crowd. "The frightened girl must be cleansed! She must be reborn so that she can face the Storm God. Only if she is blessed by the sea water of the Drowned God will she learn!"
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Priest changes techniques to Incite, which resets your composure. He rolls 22, putting 8 influence against your composure, you have 1 left.
The crowd shouts its approval and is starting to become riled. Lara fears that they may try to grab her with a bit more provocation.
Lara's performance anxiety suddenly morphs into the more pressing loss-of-extremity anxiety. "Tough crowd" indeed.
ReplyDelete"Wait. Wait! WAIT!" She yells over the clammering crowd. She edges up the beach closer to town - and higher ground. She digs desperately into her backpack. She can see the black faced men tense as she pulls out something in her closed fist. She holds out her fist in front of her as if brandishing a weapon as she edges further back, causing the closest crowd members to jump back nervously. The blackfaced acolytes spread out warily. Finally Lara opens her hand to reveal a coin. An onlooker, one who had jumped back at Lara's closed fist, lets loose a nervous barking laugh.
She holds it up high so that the coin catches the light. With her free hand she waves over the coin, and then suddenly brings her hands together with a loud clap.
"TA-DAH!" She reveals her now empty hands (14) to a nonplussed crowd.
"And if you think that was impressive, you should see the trick that Lord Castriati does. He makes the head of anyone foolish enough to make trouble in sight of Tidehall," she gestures dramatically to the imposing castle visible behind her "Poof! - disappear." Lara is shouting with the loudest voice she can muster, to be heard over the crowd, but also she hopes, to be heard in town.
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ooc:
Technique: Convince?
Action: Influence?
roll: 20, spending one destiny point to add +1B
ooc: Seff isn't going to get involved in the intrigue because he'd rather not draw attention to himself. Instead, he is just going to watch and gather as much information as he can. I'm going to assume that he can clearly see what's going on. Does he need to make an awareness check?
ReplyDeleteAlso, are their guards nearby or close by in the town?
Lara had read the crowd well this time, a little bit of dark and morbid humor to go with coin trick seems to have won over the crowd and they began laughing, even some of those with the black paint. The remaining faithful looked to the priest for guidance and he held his hand up in a stopping motion, to hold them back. He was clearly not pleased but unwilling to pursue the matter here. He whispered something to one of the faithful, who nodded in response, then began his sermon over again, trying to get the crowd's attention again, less successfully this time, as some of them were already dispersing.
ReplyDeleteAs the crowd begins to disperse Lara finds that her knees refuse to work properly, and she flops down on the grassy hill overlooking the beach. She finds herself sitting watching the old priest reconvene his service, albeit from a greater distance.
ReplyDeleteLara puts a hand on her chest over her thudding heart. She tries to do some of the breathing exercise Niccolo taught her, but her thundering heartbeat seem to show no sign of slowing down.
Finally, Lara trusts her legs not to fail, and she stands up. She walks up the beach until the priest and his acolytes are distant dark shapes silhouetted against the shimmering sand.
She pulls off her shoes, puts down her backpack and rolls up her pants. She wades out into the ocean until she feels the slimy touch of seaweed against her legs. She gathers two large handfuls, and walks back up the beach.
She walks up the beach back toward Tannyr's Quay, her hands busily twisting the wet seaweed into a wide curly green mat.
The squire and his buried treasure would just have to wait. I'll teach that bastard to try and drown me. She holds up the tangled mass of seaweed. It would have to do. Now all I need is an audience...She tries to remember the name of the inn, the one with the sign depicting a mermaid holding an axe. Dink's? No. Dank's? Maybe...---
ooc: Let me know when I arrive.
Now that the sermon was repeating, Seff decided to head back to the castle to find Ser Malcolm. He needed to report to Ser Malcolm about what he had seen here. He also needed to let Ser Malcolm know about the troupe boy's eavesdropping and the troupe girl's conflict with the priest.
ReplyDelete