(1806) Summer Solstice

[Lucifer]

"You--" Lucifer sputtered, her eyes growing wide, "you-you think that this, this walking fucking shrubbery deserves the keys more than I do? How dare you!"

Her eyes practically bulged with rage, to have what she desired so close, literally within inches of her fingertips, and to have it plucked away so suddenly, and for so little reason! She would not let this stand, she would not let someone else toy with her like this, not again!

  

Date		Action		Roll		Result
2018-07-18 19:55:05		Lucifer rolls 1 die for initiative		8

Lucifer is declaring SOCIAL COMBAT! Ingrid Rhodes See house rules here: http://nwod.org/wiki/index.php/Talk:Social_Combat
Lucifer's Dominance = 15 (8+7)
Guile = 3
Nerve = 5

[Rhodes]

Rhodes face is indecipherable, but he slowly reaches out and takes the offered keys. "Why Queen Ingrid, this is most gracious... I take it this will involve no small responsibility on my part...." He begins with a voice like honeyed silk, only to be overrulled by Lucifer's spluttering.

The Flowering's vivid eyes grow cold even through his well-held emotions and he observes the spark of flickering candlelight in the other Fairest's dark eyes. So. It must be the Mantle that swayed Queen Ingrid's mind. Not for the first time, Rhodes feels pride in his chilling aura as he pockets the keys. "Come now, Lucifer. None of us can help what our durance made us. Surely we can rise above petty, small-minded insults?"

Date		Action		Roll		Result
2018-07-19 03:59:28		Rhodes rolls 1 die for initiative		8

SOCIAL COMBAT!?! Neat. Let's do the thing.

Rhodes' Dominance = 14 (8 + 6)
Guile = 3
Nerve = 6

Fairly evenly matched, it would seem....

[Ingrid]

Lucifer's outburst washed over her like a crashing wave. It served to focus her attention and the Darkling turned, mouth still open. Her hand jerked back, involuntarily.

The Fairest looked terrible indeed with her enhanced beauty and her discordant voice. It might have been enough, at one time, but Ingrid owed it to Mhairi to anoint the best possible candidate for the Ashen Court.

Once the initial shock had passed, her eyes narrowed dangerously and she stepped up to the table.

"You talk the talk. Show me some Mantle, Courtier. You have none."

  

Date		Action		Roll		Result
2018-07-20 04:00:26		Ingrid for Dominance rolls 1 to Presence + Manipulation (5) (10 Again)		9		1 success

SOCIAL COMBAAAAT!

Ingrid's Dominance = 14 (5 + 9)
Guile = 3
Nerve = 6

[Lucifer]

Lucifer, the Morning Star, the Aspiring Queen and Shadowed Beauty drew herself to her full height, her arms rising as the shadows of her gown began to billow out, seething like a raging sea.

"You wish to taste of Fear, Queen of Spring?" she demanded, her capricorn eyes wide, lips peeled back from cruelly sharpened teeth. "You wish to know terror? I know secrets and terrors from beyond the Thorns that will eat your mind before you can comprehend them! Do not make me show you the meaning of nightmare!"

Her discordant voice rang out, as haunting as a wail echoing across the moors, as harsh as a steel blade scraping across stone.

  4 successes

Date		Action		Roll		Result
2018-07-20 16:57:27		Lucifer rolls 14 to Fear me and despair! (Pres4+intimidation4+spec1+WP3+Glamour2) (9 Again, WillPower)		5, 1, 5, 2, 10, 3, 10, 6, 7, 9, 10, 7, 7, 3, 5, 4, 6, 1		4 successes

Intent: Terrify them into giving her the key! A rule by fear!
Lucifer's Dominance = 15 (8+7)
Guile = 3
Nerve = 5

Ingrid

[Ingrid]

"Terror? You know secrets of the Thorns! Big fucking wow! So do I! So do all of us here! Where do you think you are you little bitch? Mundyville! Bring it sister! I was made from a city of nightmares!"

Ingrid glared across the table, a stare so powerful and theatric that it contorted the lines of her entire face.

"I am the Director of this Freehold, girl! I am Vernal Sovereign. I was given control of these keys by the last Ashen Sovereign! My friend and motley mate! I don't need a pissant with no mantle telling me what to do!"

But her voice was quivering and as it grew, it took on a the shrill aspect of an old washerwoman. The sound drowned out the importance of her words.

Date		Action		Roll		Result
2018-07-21 17:21:26		Ingrid to bite back! rolls 11 to Manipulation + Intimidation + Spec + SL + Status + Equipment (10 Again)		3, 2, 7, 4, 1, 5, 9, 7, 7, 4, 4		1 success

Intent: Demonstrate her authority to give the keys to whomever she pleases.
NOTE: +1 dice for Striking Looks
NOTE: +2 dice for Status (1 from Freehold, 1 from Position)
NOTE: =2 dice for Equipment (the keys)

I chose the +2 for the keys because they are of symbolic value to the entire conversation

Ingrid's Dominance = 14 (5 + 9)
Guile = 3
Nerve = 6

[Rhodes]

Rhodes watches as the Autumn lady draws herself up, screeching her accusations in an unnerving wail. The keeper of the keys retorts, but the quiver in her voice shows she is faltering. Around, he spots the eyes of others on the growing verbal joust. The Flowering Courtier takes a step towards Lucifer, passively, his mantle spreading a faint scent of pollen around the table.

"Lucifer, stop - please." His words ring out just as clear as hers, though lacking her supernatural edge. I need anyone listening to hear this, and after that performance we are hard to miss. "We do not know the nature of the gift, or the pledge. Holding the keys to an Ashen holding would warrant a pledge to ensure the Ashen Court embodies all it's qualities. If the former Autumn Queen held this to be by Mantle, then Queen Ingrid would break her pledge by handing you those keys. The consequences for a Courtly hold are unlikely to be trivial." The Courtier looks back and forth between the women.

"With the embodiment of Autumn comes the responsibility of its duties. If that is the choice of the holder of the pledge, would you demand a Courtly Queen to break that word, the words our own Court watches so keenly for flaws and errors?" His voice is far more questioning than accusatory, as if swaying all nearby to follow the logic.

2 successes

Date		Action		Roll		Result
2018-07-22 05:49:27		Rhodes rolls 12 to Rational argument! Manipulation + Persuade + Spec + Mantle (9 Again, WillPower)		9, 1, 1, 2, 6, 3, 5, 5, 5, 7, 6, 4, 10, 2		2 successes

Intent: To demonstrate importance of superior Mantle to win the keys! A true Lord of Autumn.

NOTE: +1 for Specialization from Hedgespun coat
NOTE: +2 dice for Autumn Mantle
NOTE: 9-again from Flowering

Rhodes' Dominance = 14 (6 + 8)
Guile = 3
Nerve = 6

I had to reroll after I added my WP twice (didn't realise the tickbox added the 3 dice as well), and of course the real roll came up much worse! Only 1 success after Guile - I guess reason has no use any more...

[Saber Sloth]

Round 1 goes to Lucifer
Ingrid and Rhodes will loose 4 Nerve

[Lucifer]

"You will not have a Dread Lord, but a Queen," Lucifer declared, her gown billowing as though caught in a hurricane wind, her voice as piercing as silver wrought thorns, as inexorable as the crash of the tide against the shore. The candlelight danced fiercely across her alien, capricorn eyes, as though her form could barely contain her fury.

"You cannot fathom what secrets I know, what mysteries I hide that are as beautiful and terrible as the ends of this earth! Give me the keys lest you wish for this Freehold to drown within your own spite and weakness!"

  8 successes before Guile

Date		Action		Roll		Result
2018-07-22 22:25:40		Lucifer rolls 13 to Tremble and Despair! (pres4+intim4+spec1+mantle1+hedgespun1+glam2) (9 Again)		5, 6, 7, 3, 8, 4, 9, 4, 9, 10, 9, 1, 9, 3, 9, 10, 5, 6, 2, 1		8 successes

Intent: Terrify them into giving her the key! A rule by fear!
Lucifer's Dominance = 15 (8+7)
Guile = 3
Nerve = 5 Ingrid

Notes: +1 intim from Hedgespun gown, +1 from autumn mantle, 9 again from Shadowsoul, glamour + from Fairest

[Ingrid]

There was no denying the Ashen Courtier's theatrics. They worked. Ingrid shook as the tidal wave washed over her. Her nerve almost broke there and then.

But still, the Darkling clung tenaciously on.

Her face, showing surprise, slowly shifted into a mocking smirk as silence paused around the table. It was not a nice smile. It was condescending. It was bitter. It was knowing. As if the Darkling took stock before she opened her mouth again.

And open it she did, muscling forward, leaning on the table. Plates, cutlery, and sweet meats clattered to the floor as she swept an arm derisively in front of her.

"See here the Autumn Queen. All thunder and fury. I think yelling will work on trolls but it won't work on me. You claim you know secrets! Well where is your Mantle, then? I call bull shit when I see it! I call a fake when I see one! And you are a fake. Fake! Fake! Fake! You're a phoney! A pale echo of terror! All wind! All bluff! You act all regal but your just a shit scared baby with the Thorns still stuck to your clothes! You think that because you're one of the Gentry's favourites you get a free pass? Just because! You don't! And you never will! Not while I'm around! Not while I am Director of this Freehold! Don't think I'm not wise to your tricks!"

Fire and thunder; cold words delivered calmly. Words that built to a crescendo. And writ on her face, pure scorn.

  

Date		Action		Roll		Result
2018-07-25 03:42:19		Ingrid to be nasty! And burn bridges! rolls 19 to Manipulation + Empathy + SL + Status + Equipment + Salt the Earth (10 Again, WillPower)		3, 10, 5, 6, 6, 2, 2, 10, 4, 5, 8, 4, 1, 9, 1, 3, 3, 7, 7, 8, 3		5 successes

Intent: Loudly seed doubt in Lucifer's ability and insinuate she may be of Loyalist sympathies
NOTE: +1 dice for Striking Looks
NOTE: +2 dice for Status (1 from Freehold, 1 from Position)
NOTE: =2 dice for Equipment (the keys)

I chose the +2 for the keys because they are of symbolic value to the entire conversation
Ingrid's Dominance = 14 (5 + 9)
Guile = 3
Nerve = 1/6
NOTE: Ingrid has used the Social Combat Maneuver: Salt the Earth by insinuating Loyalist sympathies in front of the entire Freehold.