Kingston – R2 - Royal District of Prince Gilbert
Today is the day of the confirmation, Bale will be either confirmed by the King or he will not be part of the lineage. If he is not, then he will be a noble, but not in the line of kings.
Maud tells us that Katla got the papers from the Familiar Sabine. Katla used the Sending Stone she has to contact Maud.
We prepare ourselves for the summons. It arrives mid-morning, a gilt scroll from a courier by carriage. After Bale confers with his parents, we get into the carriage and off we go.
The procession is cheered by the common folk. We see carriages of other nobles moving down the large central street. We arrive in the Royal palace.
We are met with Stephen Wrightson and Father Clarence. They take us to a preparation chamber for nobility, and a choice. There is one door leading into the main cathedral, and another leading out of the complex. This is our last chance to reconsider.
We go through the door into the cathedral. We see the rest of the royal family assembled, all but the Queen and King. The Queen arrives, regally sits. Then there’s an awkward pause, and the King does not arrive.
Father Clarence begins recitations, and then the King arrives. It seems he deliberately interrupted, timing it because … well, he’s an Elynbrigge.
The king stares down Bale. Bale doesn’t bow. The king asks Bale. “You didn’t Bow. Why?” Bale’s response. “Royalty doesn’t bow.”
Finally the questions is asked of the King. Does he acknowledge? There’s a short answer “Yes”. Then he walks straight out.
The crowd cheers!
Bale approaches the Queen, who gives him a nod. She wants to speak to him later. He speaks to the Crown Prince Edmund and Crown Princess Sygmund. They look drawn, tired, and defeated. They exchange pleasantries, and apologize for their children not being here, they didn’t have enough time to get them back.
Then Prince Morys and Princess Cecily greet them warmly. He then meets Niclas and he greets him. He mentions his companion, the elf Thalanil Carsatra, who is not with Niclas, but in the crowd. Bale turns to Thalanil in the crowd and gives him an acknowledgement, which the elf regards with surprise. Codex notes the way the elf moves is regal, the elf is nobility. They mention that they have a Ball prepared for Bale.
Gilbert and Emma and Rin congratulate him. And then people leave the cathedral, leaving us alone.
After a bit, the King and Queen come back in for a private word. They ignore everyone but Bale. The King regards him and tells him that he did some investigation on Bale, and he knows that Bale doesn’t know who he was. He tells Bale he thought his brother was his family’s last hope, and that he will fill their shoes.
Then he leaves again. The Queen stays, and welcomes Bale to the family, tells him that she will speak to him more in the future.
They leave, and we see Sabre Khaludz speaking to them angrily. Codex finally sees him in the flesh, but is convinced that going after him would be suicide. Not yet.
We leave, and on the steps Bale feels one of his enchantments fade (we find out later it is the Death ward). He is then shot at by a hand crossbow (poisoned quarrel), but it tangles up in his clothing. Two assassination attempts! No one else notices.
We return to Gilbert’s Estate. We discuss which balls to attend over the next three days.
Finally we cast a sending to Katla, Bale telling her through Codex. It is awkward.
We prepare ourselves for the evening. It will be a breakneck pace, we have six balls to attend. And with that, we are off to the first Ball. This is being held by Crown Prince Edmond and Crown Princess Sygmond.
Hierarchy of noble titles are as follows:
Royal - King/Queen > Prince/Princess > Duke/Duchess > Marquis/Marquessa
Major Noble - Earl/Countess > Vicount/Vicountess > Baron/Baroness
We get into the coach. The coachman, Curtis, helps us in. Two attendants named Ryan and Amanda are there to help out with clothing changes. The coach takes us to the first Ball.
The royal castle of the Crown Prince is in front of us. We enter into a waiting room and get prepped, and then enter into the ballroom.
We are met by the Crown Prince and Princess, who are cold to Able. They introduce him first to Zane and Frowena Cornwallis – Frowena is youngest sister to the Queen. We refused the Cornwallis ball so they are both quite unfriendly. Then the Crown Prince and Princess introduce us to William and Rosa Lytton – Younger Brother and sister in law to the Queen. William is non-verbal, but Rosa is quite friendly. Rosa offers a dance to Able and he accepts. This is a surprise, and it circumvents the Crown Prince and Princess’s attempts to embarrass Able.
Codex enters into William’s mind and sees very little. There’s moments where he has thoughts like “I’m thirsty” and “I like this song”, but much of his mind is gone.
Rin, Gilbert and Emma are at the party, and they speak to us when the Cornwallis and Crown Prince and Princess leave us. It seems that the rest of the Ball is angry that they have been robbed of a chance to dance with Able.
After Able finishes the dance, we decide to leave with Prince Gilbert and Emma and Rin.
Lion (3rd Lord of the Southern Kingdoms) and Dagmara Kyngstowne are the hosts of the next Ball. They are Cecily’s family, and Prince of the Southern Kingdom. The Southern Kingdom Embassy is about the same size as the Kingdom of the Tiger, but it is a single building with stylized false minarets.
The interior is intricately carved, and of a Marble type stone that Berdyn doesn’t recognize. Lion and Dagmara are friendly, offering Able to visit their Kingdom in the South. They note that he left the Crown Prince and Princess quite early. The main hall is a plaza, and open up the center to the night sky. It is magnificent.
Lion and Dagmara introduce us to Cecily and Morys, and Able asks Cecily to dance. As they dance, Dagmara asks Simon to dance, and after they are both done their dance, Dagmara excuses herself. She is dressed in modest clothing, and she seems not interested in the Ball. She got her obligatory dance, and then was able to excuse herself.
Lion takes us to a seating area and explains that his wife Dagmara is a studious sort, and knows a lot about the Southern Kingdom. Able says he wants to visit the Southern Kingdoms and alleviate the tension between the two Kingdoms. Morys and Cecily are pleased, but Lion is quietly skeptical. It seems he’s heard this before. Lion offers to introduce Able to Southern Kingdom women, but Cecily interrupts and the two have an animated argument. It seems Cecily doesn’t want a woman to marry into the Northern Kingdoms as long as women are not permitted to inherit.
It turns out that Lion is the Elder brother of Cecily, Lion abdicated from the throne and is no longer in succession.
Meanwhile Berdyn speaks to a Southern Mountains dwarf, Thorva Dustshaker about the intricate carving in the walls.
We excuse ourselves, and make our way to Duke Niclas’ Ball. Many more places to go!
When we arrive, we see that Duke Niclas and his lover Thalanil Carsatra meet us outside. There is an outdoor tent with carousing partygoers.
Codex notices Niclas is very nervous, but Thalanil Carsatra is calm. It seems Niclas is not good at social niceties. Able greets him and cuts the tension by dispensing with titles, to which Niclas replies with relief.
Niclas mutters something to Thalanil in elven “I’m ruining this, aren’t I?” and Thalanil assures him he’s doing fine. He’s really nervous and wants to give a good impression.
Codex mentions this to Able in the cloak room, and Able takes Niclas aside and tells him that he’s doing great, and thanks him for holding the Ball. Niclas is assured by this. Able asks to introduce him to one of his friends, and he introduces her to Crystal Witherau – Her family operates an Inn in the merchant quarters. She is a widow. Able dances with her.
She is the first eligible woman that Able is dancing with, and it will spread through quickly. Able also tells her that Simon is a Warchief of an Orc horde, which will also spread around quickly.
We say our goodbyes and then make our way to the Kingdom of the Tiger. On the way, we discuss giving the elven kingdom a gift, the painting we found in Everlife of elven make. It is at Bale’s Summit. We agree to send the carriage to the temple of Boccob ahead of us when they drop us off at the Kingdom of the Tiger Embassy.
We reach the Kingdom of the Tiger Embassy and are greeted by Karesi. She is formal to all of us – this is the first official time that we have met in an official capacity. She dismisses the guards and the servants, which causes some concern, but this is Kingdom of the Tiger land and they have sovereignty. We head into the grounds and she is less formal. We are taking into the Pagoda in the center of the grounds and meet with Xiaon Que, Ban Chao is nearby, lurking and dangerous.
Xiaon is happy to see us. She speaks to us fondly. Ban Chao glares at us, but he’s always glaring. After we give our greetings, we talk about Everlife and Xiaon fondly wishes to return, we assure her that someday that will happen.
We ask for some of us to teleportation circle out, which Xiaon is eager to watch us do. Meanwhile, Able and Berdyn watch the performance, which are a series of dancers and acrobats performing feats of dexterity.
We retrieve the painting, but it is miserable at the summit, and a heavy snow is falling. We return to the Temple of Boccob in the Market area, and the Orc and his henchmen make a comment on our odd dress (we were dressed appropriate to Kingdom of the Tiger, less ostentatious). We pay them and hop into the carriage, which is waiting outside. We return to the Kingdom of the Tiger embassy, and are ushered in through the kitchen, which is a hive of activity. The Sugar sculptured cakes are getting made and Able is eagerly enjoying them at the performance. We are given some of these cakes as a parting gift.
We make our way to the Elven ball, with the painting in hand.
In the Elven enclave, the noise of the city doesn’t get past the wall. The elves are dancing and music is different in tenor. There are also gnomes here as well. We are met by the two hosts. Veryl Keldithos, King of the elves in Kingston, and Elenaril Qistina, the Queen and wife to Veryl.
We present the painting and the King and Queen, who are pleased with the gift. They take us through the party and we are seated at a table of honor. They ply us with food and refreshments.
The dancing is far less formal, this is more of a party and less of a ball. Berdyn sees a group of Green Dragonborn. Veryl explains that there are two major enclaves of Dragonborn, Red and Green. There is also a group of White Dragonborn that are visiting Kingston, they are travelers.
Two of the Green Dragonborn is in their 40’s, one is a woman in their mid-20’s and one is a boy at 13-14 years old. The older man is Erikol and the older woman is Jasira. The younger woman is Yaqira, and the child is Iour. They are the only greens that live here, the rest are in the South. They are on a mission of discovery regarding the Northern Kingdom and the humans that reside within it. They live within the Elven enclave and encourage Codex to visit them again. Codex then regales them with the tale of Bale turning to Able, and our adventures. The elves listen in and start translating. Codex tells the more exciting adventures, such as the Dragon slaying and fighting demons.
We run late, and have to excuse ourselves. The Island Nation Ball awaits. We meet with Karoan Tiem, Prince of the Island Nation, and Cathra Tiem, Princess of the Island Nation. At this ball is the Emissaries Blackwell “The Wall” Dawson, Bliss “The Fierce” Reese, they earned their positions in the Island Nation through deed. The positions are from Work, from Blood, and from Deed.
The island nation party is filled with torches and large bonfires. There are haunches of meat and tables filled with food, dancers and singers, and people dancing all over the place. It is joyous chaos.
The island nation Emissaries and the Prince and Princess talk of the Island Nation -there’s a few islands populated by orc, and a large rift to the astral plane out in the ocean. They offer access to their teleportation circle sitting on one of their larger islands.
The party goes on, and we stay for a few hours. We excuse ourselves and head back to Gilbert and Emma’s compound. The Midsummer parties are still ongoing.
We sleep.