PLAYER PLOT ★ STORM THE CASTLE

[futurologists]

THE CASTLE ( NOV 7 ) Our resident warrior princess, Kidagakash Nedakh, has formulated a plan to investigate the castle and speak with the royals. (The OOC plotting post can be found here.) Now, it's time to put it into action. The castle itself is huge. From the outside, you can see a beautiful garden, a pond, and a statue commemorating Odette. You can also see several guards, some more invested in their job than others. A few are stony-faced, menacing men with looks that could kill. A couple just look like they'd appreciate a pretty girl or interesting guy to liven up their boring day. On the inside, all the halls look different, yet the same — different pieces of art, different wall fixtures, but everything else is identical. There's many portraits of the king and his late wife on the walls, sparkling chandeliers, and servants scurrying around. Odette's pale, smiling face and cascading blonde locks look somewhat familiar, but that might just be because of all the statues of her likeness around the city. The castle has pretty much every room you'd expect a castle to have. A library, a wine cellar, a dining hall, etc. Within them, characters can expect to find various things of interest — there are many books, fancy stationery, even some valuable coins if you look hard enough. There's also many letters to be found detailing the situation in Chantes; of course, there's also plenty of letters on far less official business. Some of them have quite steamy imagery. There are plenty of servants milling about inside the castle and out in the gardens. In the dining hall and their chambers are several of Chantes' most important nobles. And then, of course, there's you.

Comments

[strictdiscipline]

[Ah yes. Her eyes narrow a fraction in recognition of those companions. A shame manpower had been in such short supply; surely they could have afforded to raise the bar more otherwise.

Accord's nonchalance has Riza pausing, head tilted an inch to the right.]

I wouldn't imagine most terrible conspiracies would be laid out in the open for anyone to see.

[At least, not from what she's experienced.]

[of_her_own_accord]

That would assume anybody could see me.

[She winks.]

Either way, there's certainly no FEELING of anything sinister going on. Not for most of the castle, anyway.

[strictdiscipline]

[Save for Loki, all the other recruits she'd met thus far had taken their roles quite seriously, manners and behaviors all befitting their somber attitudes. This young woman is different, almost too carefree about things. What sort of motive does she have for all of this?

The thought stays tucked away in Riza's head while she moves ahead a few more steps, one hand resting on the hand of her gun, though she keeps a fraction of her attention on Accord.]

Do you consider yourself an expert on gauging feeling and atmosphere?

[of_her_own_accord]

[It's hard to remain somber and serious when your entire existence is devoted to recording the events of a world gone mad. Eventually, you just have to roll with it. And frankly, this isn't even a fraction of the level of serious situations she -- or her compatriots -- has had to deal with.]

To an extent. You have to have some sense of it in order to make an accurate recording of events.

[strictdiscipline]

[Recording catches her interest, her head swiveling back to reaffix attention back on Accord. There's nothing happening in the hallways up ahead in any case.]

Recording? Do you have some sort of device on you to capture what you see and hear?

[of_her_own_accord]

Something like that, yes.

[Hint: It's in her head. Although she still records things to paper, because you can never have too many backups.]

[strictdiscipline]

[How convenient. If only they all had that power, or something along those lines to carry on their persons at all time. Alas, Riza's got nothing but her own memory to go on, and while it's pretty reliable it's far from perfect.

Her brows scrunch down at the vague answer but she declines to comment, shifting the conversation elsewhere.]

You wouldn't happen to have observed a path towards the king's chambers, would you? Or heard someone talking about it?

For convenience's sake, I'm going to assume yes.

[of_her_own_accord]

As a matter of fact...

[Accord rattles off a list of directions. It's ridiculously precise.]

Does that assist you?

works for me! o/

[strictdiscipline]

[The easy lilt of Accord's voice as she rattles off oddly specific instructions has Riza's eyes widening, a clear mark of surprise considering how well she usually manages to mask her emotions.

The directions come welcome, but she can't resist asking:]

How did you discover all that?

[of_her_own_accord]

Observation. Watching people go about their business. Listening to what they say and where they point when they talk about it. I told you, I am VERY good at not being noticed.

[strictdiscipline]

[No reason to disbelieve her words, not when she'd so soundly proven her point just seconds earlier. Still:]

You don't ever find it boring?

[In her line of work, necessity isn't the same as interest.]

[of_her_own_accord]

Should I find it boring?

[Humanity in general is interesting to her. If anything, she's more likely to go out of line due to FRUSTRATION rather than boredom.]

[strictdiscipline]

I suppose it depends on what you find interesting.

[Riza's never really looked at it that way, but then again she's never done much strict observation. The concept itself of standing about in the shadows watching and waiting doesn't appeal much to her but perhaps if she were to constantly see interesting sights things might be different.]

[of_her_own_accord]

[To be fair, you don't get much more in the way of interesting sights than the Drakengard universe.]

If you don't find things interesting, it becomes really easy to miss details. Better to just enjoy things as you watch them.

[strictdiscipline]

[It's a nice enough sentiment, even if it's not one Riza can adopt at this particular moment in her life. Her lips curve up all the same, though it's faint, almost unnoticeable. There's too much tension in the air for her to completely lower her guard, especially when she has a set task in front of her to complete. She's one step closer now to that goal; best to stop dallying.]

I won't keep you from your enjoyment then. [The palace is large and looming. There must be a treasure trove of events and people to watch over silently.] Thank you for the instructions.

[of_her_own_accord]

Good luck. We could use some actual progress for a change.