The King's Players RPG

[Pitchwife]

"Stop it now, you fools! What do you think you're doing?"

Coldan started up and froze, transfixed by Asta's voice. His mouth fell open when he saw her rushing towards them, brandishing a crooked blade like a scimitar, her long hair waving in her wake, her eyes glaring with fury. Never had she looked more like a shieldmaiden than in this moment, and a glorious sight it was, even though she had broken his heart today and was now storming at him as if she meant to slay him.

Only when she had reached their table did he recognize the blade in her hand as one of the tools she used for the maintenance and repair of her automata; he had often enough run and fetched things for her when she was working to know most of them from sight. And what he had first taken for the red blaze of rage in her eyes looked more like - no, that couldn't be, could it?

Next to him, Aldarion had sprung up from his chair and stood poised like a wolf facing a pack of hounds, his eyes darting to and fro between Coldan and Asta, his hand at the hilt of his sword. Was the man mad now? Obviously Asta's warrior-like entry had not failed to impress him, either - but surely he wouldn't draw that thing now and risk wounding Asta?

"Let zat sword go, man!" Coldan hissed. "Can't you see it's just a tool?"

Only after that did he think of answering Asta's question, if indeed it had been meant as one.

"If you hev to know", he said, turning to her, "I vas just asking Aldarion vether he loves you."

[Galadriel55]

Thiliel was relieved when the actor assured her that the play will go on, and even more so when the sandy-haired woman rushed into the common room and over to the fighters' table. "Stop it now, you fools! What do you think you're doing?" her short command seemed to accomplish what other more elaborate arguments failed to do. Thiliel noticed that the woman was holding some piece of metal as though she would poke out the eyes of any who disobeyed her. One of the men rose and his hand jerked to his sword, but he stopped the movement.

The other man, who Thiliel met at the carts, scowled at the one with the weapon. Looking straight at the woman, he said in a hollow voice, "If you hev to know, I vas just asking Aldarion vether he loves you." So the one with the blade must be called Aldarion!

"Please forgive me for interrupting, good sirs, but I have a message for you," Thiliel said, stepping forward. She didn't want to get into the thick of it, but at the man's reply the woman's look turned from angry to dangerous, "Mistress Celebrindal asked me to tell you to please go see her at the wagons. She wants to have a private conversation with you, one on one. If you could please- "

Turing to the lady, Thiliel asked, "May I help you somehow?" her feelings toward the woman weren't exactly warm, but peace at the inn was more important.

[the phantom]

Aldarion took his hand off the hilt. Asta was upset, but it did not look like violent rage, and Coldan was quite right about her blade- it was actually a tool (though still dangerous). Then Aldarion's eyes widened in disbelief as Coldan turned and informed Asta that he had just asked Aldarion about his love for her. "What is wrong with this man?!" thought Aldarion. "This is not how things such as this are handled!"

And then Thiliel, a young girl that he had seen about at the inn, stepped in to relay a message from Brinn- a summons to a one on one meeting for each of them. "Well," thought Aldarion, "This may not be too bad. Seeing as Coldan slandering me behind my back was the start of all this nonsense, and now he's going on about love and such when we ought to be putting our full efforts into the show rather than introducing discomfort and awkwardness. Brinn should be able to clamp down on this nonsense."

"Fine!" said Aldarion aloud. "I'll go pay Mistress Celebrindal a visit immediately." As he passed by Asta, he stopped and inclined his head briefly, and spoke so that it was difficult for anyone other than Asta to hear. "Sorry if we upset you. My only concern this day is preparing for our production, but Coldan insists on unfairly insulting my writing and demanding that I declare you my 'true love' or 'some strumpet from ze city'. I will make sure Brinn knows you shoulder no blame in this matter."

Aldarion backed away, inclining his head yet again, and stepped through the common room door.

[Mnemosyne]

Brinn sighed heavily. This was exactly why she disliked being injured.

"Your pardon, Branor," she said, pinching the bridge of her nose. "I had merely assumed--Thiliel did not give me much information to go on. Still, we had better get this settled now and not let it rankle.

"First of all, there was the part where you ran into Samwise, and, from my understanding, blurted out he was supposed to be dead?... A little tact would be helpful, you know! But more importantly, showing up back to the rehearsal drunk, passing out? All of this behaviour is highly unprofessional, especially when we have less than week to completely change our script! And on top of that, word got out to this Lord Burlach, who as a result has formed a very low opinion of our group, and--"

She sighed again. "It is just very stressful. And yes, Therian may have caused trouble--in fact, thank you for letting me know, for I shall have to speak to him about that--but there are ways to withdraw, politely, when you're in over your head, and not make things worse. You, quite frankly, may not know how to do that, and we can ill afford to make any more enemies right now."

Brinn paused. "I'm sorry. That came out poorly. At any rate, given that all I knew up to this point was that there was shouting going on within the common room, I assumed you were at the root of it, and if what you're telling me is correct, that was a wrong assumption to make.

"Since, however, you weren't in the thick of this particular scuffle, perhaps you can tell me, to the best of your ability, what happened?"

[Boromir88]

"I will certainly do the best of my abilities. Where to begin?" Wonderful. This meant Branor was going to start re-enacting the whole scene, complete with dramatic gestures, different voices, and probably props.

"The drama of the day, capped off by Therian being cross with me, which I still can not figure out, was too much for me, so I went into the common room for relaxing Branor time." Brinn could not stop her eyes from rolling, because even if Branor was trying to cover up, she knew this meant he was planning to get drunk again. It did not matter though, as Branor was now really getting into the re-enactment and started jumping to different spots, signalling he was playing different people.

'Aldarion asks "Something troubling you, Branor?"'
What was truly bothering me was Therian running off, but I tell him "Coldan and Asta, because Coldan is unhappy with your script, especially Asta's role as Mary the Elf."
Aldarion objects with great indignation, his honor has been questioned. Why of all people would that idiot-boy Coldan lay it at my feet? Can he be that thick!!!!?"'

'Coldan overhears and is furious. He demands an explanation. Enter the young man Sador. He makes a desperate plea for the two actors to let their cooler heads prevail. "Think of your art, think of your characters. Think of the Fellowship!"
But Coldan is furious, he doesn't give a mumak's waste about the play right now. Asta and Aldarion have wounded him. "You mind your own business!"
This is when I feel it is my duty to intervene. The brave Sador can make passionate appeals to your emotions, but he did not know the two actors like I did. He did not know they needed to hear the hard truths.'

Now was the time for Branor's monologue of his performance for Brinn. It was time to look granduer and kingly! "You are making all of this trouble because you, Coldan, fancy the Lady Asta? And you, Aldarion, have had your pride wounded? Coldan, fighting Aldarion is not going to make Asta fancy you. Aldarion, knocking out Coldan is not going to fix the script and prove your undoubted writing talents. If both of you insist your honors have been questioned, than take it outside my City's walls. For if you come back this matter better be resolved, or I will see to it you are both gone. Mistress Celebrindal started this troupe without either of you, we can get by without either of you."
'And thus, knowing my swift judgement settled the dispute, I exit.'

Branor could not tell if his dramatic rendition amused Brinn, but sifting out Branor's obvious showmanship she at least got the facts, whether she knew it yet or not. "Ok. Thanks Branor."

"No, it is I whom bows to you." he knealt on one knee.

"It is not necessary to be in character anymore. Really."

"Right." he cleared his throat, hardly believing he could be this embarassing in front of a lady, especially. Why must she have a pretty face? "That was to the best of my ability. My advice is I liked it better when there weren't so many egos in our small, but lovely, band of performers. The performance is a joke to everyone, they only care about their power, their position, and how to acquire more of it. Sometimes, I think it is a joke, even to you. Do you want this to be the best performance you have ever put on?'

It was rhetorical, and Brinn was not going to bother to respond, but Branor briefly paused to make sure Brinn knew he was being sincere. "Then you have to start making the best use of the talent available. Therian's is going to waste, because you are sticking him in a role he hates. All for what, your amusement? Teaching the boy a lesson? You are wasting talent and not teaching him anything, other than to be miserable and bitter towards you. I am trying to say, you may not agree with my tact and methods, but we have a long history together, one you can always rely on. And I hope it is still enough for you to trust me. I have probably said to much now. I will retire."

[Mnemosyne]

Brinn thanked her old friend for his advice, but did not say anything more. Now was the time to weigh things over, and think before doing. But she'd make sure, whenever she did come to a decision, to let Branor know. First, though, she'd have to hear from Aldarion and Coldan--and Asta, too, by the sounds of it. Ugh, how she hated spats, especially at a time like this.

"It's not a joke, Branor," she said finally. Seemed wrong not to respond to him after he truly had performed to the best of his ability--though, really, he was hardly one to talk about egos! "But it is an entertainment, and was never meant to be anything more. I don't do this because it's art, or because the King wants it, or because we need to advance ourselves. I do it because it makes people happy--not the lords and ladies, but the people like us, like the ones from back--" well, home wasn't quite the right word anymore "--in Dale. And if it stops making people happy..." because nobody here is happy "...well, I guess charity begins at home, doesn't it? Thank you for your words, Branor. It sounds as if there are some disputes in need of resolving, and not just on the short term, if we can manage it. You've already alerted me to one, so thank you for that. But I'll deal with tonight's problems first. If you see any of those involved, please--politely--ask them to speak to me, and make sure they know I'll be kind about it. Good night."

Branor left, and Brinn was left to muse on his advice about Therian.

[Anguirel]

Sador had used the opportunity of the struggle to crawl several tables away, planning to get up again only when he was sure no spying eyes would impair the dignity of his position. As he went about this way of escape, he happened to be directly below the retreating Aldarion's irritable whisper to Asta...

"My only concern this day is preparing for our production, but Coldan insists on unfairly insulting my writing and demanding that I declare you my 'true love' or 'some strumpet from ze city'. I will make sure Brinn knows you shoulder no blame in this matter."

Sador's view on this snippet was twofold. It was, evidently, the case that this justly well regarded player was an artist first and a lover a long way second. At the same time, he couldn't help noticing, being no novice in sweetened remarks to the ladies himself, that Aldarion had carefully avoided committing himself - and not only to Sador, a relative stranger, but to Coldan and Asta, the love object, and the rival, themselves. Sador now suspected this supposedly dedicated actor was acting a little too neatly here, and trying to have things both ways, retaining credit with his prettiest colleague while at heart still hoping to win the Lady Gloredhel's affection.

By now Sador had wormed away to another corner, some yards behind where Coldan and Asta stood framed by the threshold (and rather a pleasing tableau they made too, in their way, he thought). While they lingered, thus distracted, he got back up, brushed the dust off his tunic, hobbled a couple of paces forward and coughed lightly, until both had turned round.

He now nodded politely, and turned to the Wainriding character in particular.

"Master Coldan, I believe? I have already met Asta, but I fear you and I have not been properly introduced. I am Sador of Burlach - for do let us dispense with that cumbersome 'my lord' you were courteous enough to employ earlier. In my view the honour of a player stands as high as many a prince."

Sador bowed his fair head lightly and continued.

"I have the good of this play on my conscience, all the more so because of some of my father's unnecessarily harsh speeches and measures. I would entreat you to set your mind at more ease, for the sake of your peace as well as the play's success, about Aldarion. The truth is, I know him a little by repute - why, we are almost relatives by marriage, after a fashion - and the name of Aldarion is already often spoken of in connection with a lady of Dol Amroth."

Now he turned quickly to Asta.

"I am sure, taking that fact into account, Mistress Asta, none of his actions towards you have been impertinent or remiss? The fellow is a man of honour..."

Unlike me, Sador thought, keeping his ironical smile tucked behind his concerned frown. You may think to have them both, Aldarion, but I shall leave you yet with neither...