Talking About the Weather (OOC)

We can assume Emma sends Benji the needed location for the dress shop and that 10 o'clock works or you arrange a suitable time. We can deal with that meeting when we get to it the scene. We can make a final decision about separate threads when we get there.


@Delirium: You can take us to your scene with David. If you have rough ideas you can let us know how much time you want to spend on that, if you want it to be an aside, a vignette, or a whole big thing.

Show us a little about your home and your husband. In as much or as little detail you you want for now, we can fill in more as we play and things become relevant.

Hey guys, I'm back, let me catch up with what you did this week and I'll post as soon as possible!

Jacob definitely wants to attend.
Aha, you have read my mind! Jacob will forge himself an invitation. My idea is that he had heard through the grapevine that this ball was happening, so he decided to invite himself.
After reading the progress you've made while I was away, I think this is the easiest way to be reincorporated to the story. Let's say I was going to leave to mind my own business, but perhaps Lizabeth asked me to stay until Benji was back. I could even have ordered that fish&chips for her. :)

Makes sense. Keep her safe. We can easily insert you into that scene. No need to rewrite it, we can assume you came back into the room and rescued her from Benji's incompetence. :)
Alright. Then you shall.

We can have Benji be the grapevine and you can snag his invite to copy from. No need to roll... until there is doubt or suspicion, and then we may see if the forgery holds up, but we don't want to exclude you from the party.

Is Jacob surprised that he did not get an invitation? Does he think this is unusual? (There are reasons which will make your being there 'fun'.:)

I think that, even if Jacob is quite known in the VIP circles, the Status-3 NPCs and such high level people just think of him as a minor henchman, the sort of weird guy that you sometimes need for providing you with an item or information. So nobody would think his presence should matter in a ball like this, they think he's not important enough. And Jacob is more than happy to be underestimated like that, he prefers to keep a low profile.

@Delirium: Have Emma and David had a fight about this before? Is this going to be their 'first fight'?

Is it going to be a fight at all? It does not have to be if you would rather leave it as simmering tension or some other complication.

Do you try to Persuade David of the importance of this party? I don't see how the mechanics of that Move would come into play here, but am open to it. It may require you to reveal more then you want to, though.

Else you might need to Keep Your Cool to avoid a marital spat? That seems like the most appropriate Move, and the stakes are pretty clear?

What do you think?

Do we want to try to get in a quick visit to Byron and the Horse? Else we can wait for tomorrow, after shopping and concoct a reason for Emma to come along for that. :)

We can't really exchange the Move made after a roll, often it would result in a change from one type of result to another which complicates the decision too much. So let's try to make your Persuade work even though promising to spend time with them the following day does not really seem like much of a price, especially since you were, presumably, doing that anyway since they were sticking around in London? :)
What sort of complications do you think could be fun to have? The first two to come to my mind are:

• David says desperately: "They are going to want to know what you think is so important about your work. I have not told them, I did not know how to without making you sound crazy."
• Or, events at the party will make your promise hard to keep and you will have to compromise.
• Or, I can make things happen at the museum (the others can be there to research Lizabeth's artifact?) and you will need to deal with juggling the in-laws (maybe David has to deal with work emergencies related to his promises that got him out of work for the dinner, so you are alone with them?) and supernatural happenings at the same time?

'putting her investigations on hold for a bit' is not really a price, it makes no difference to the game and merely frustrates the character a little over perceived delays. I don't think we want to turn this into resentment of David, and we don't want to exclude you from getting to play. The relationships are not there to make go spent time at home while the others are out having fun, they are there to make your character's life complicated while they are out there having fun.

True. It was an offer to have the parents push harder than he does ...
OK. So we avoid that, no worries.
Emma might need to put work into getting him to a place where he can accept these facts, but that is a thing we can deal with in play. If it ever comes to a forced reveal we will deal with it in a way you, the player, are happy with.
'The second one' being the first of the other two?
How many of those can one girl get‽ :)

Since it is a 'consequence', Emma probably would not feel like it is a reward...

...unless you want her to think it is and it turns out not to be a good thing? I am not sure about going this route, it feels a little risky.

If you go with option two, then you will either need to weasel out of spending time with the in-laws, or turn Elliot down, both will have significant consequences.

If you go with option three then you will risk them finding out stuff you don't want (in a way you are happy with), but also have the chance at no consequences if you do it right.

Let me know before the end of the ball 'tomorrow night'.
That ends the character, so no.
As players we make sure you don't miss out, but that does mean we need to introduce things into the story that Emma —the character— has to miss out on. This struggle is an essential part of the Playbook. We will do our best to make sure you are not twiddling your thumbs while the others play.

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With this conversation in mind: Are you happy with the Relationships you picked? You are welcome to change the two we have not seen yet if you want to.

I was thinking about bringing Henry Godfrey (An overbearing ex-partner who constantly worries about you) into play after your meeting with Elliot, but that got derailed by Bev feeling more relevant. I now 'plan' to bring Henry to your shopping spree. Being 'in finance' Henry has had dealings with Elliot (mortal (not Mortalis)) and does not trust him.
Agreed. Though most nights out should have the tension of needing to get back to hubby.

@Delirium, I think the David scene [ref] is drawing to a close? But am also completely happy to keep it going if you want more.

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With regard to your Intimacy Move: If it ever comes to it that you need to roll Figure Someone Out against David, he would definitely be on your list, but he might also not be the sort of NPC that we have such adversarial Moves with.

We need a place to track the list, I figure a fillable bulleted list (•) over there in the Intimacy section of the sheet would be the best place? Shall I add that?

If you ever need to roll the Move, Mislead, Distract, and Trick the Playbook Moves apply, but we usually don't worry too much with Moves against NPCs who are 'not important enough'.

'Mortals' are different to 'Mortalis', Mortalis is a Circle that might contain people who are not actually 'mortal' anymore, and definitely does not contain all (or even most) mortals. Most people are not part of the system, they have no Status —which is different to being Status-0— and can not participate in any of those mechanics.

David is a strange case, he is not Mortalis, but is connected to Mortalis through you.

OK. It seems like Jacob is sorted for an invite. We can handwave the details where he probably takes Benji's and makes a duplicate (using samples)? Or does Benji not let him take it away?

I would like to get Emma back on the scene. How do we want to do that? Do Benji and Jacob want to continue talking with Lizabeth or can we assume they got any obvious extra details as they become relevant? We can assume things like Jacob asking to look at the photos and finding the one where the item is slightly visible (and sends it and any others to your phones), and suchlike.

It might be possible to get someone to recover the deleted photos, but you might need an investigator or tech-wizard (whoops, maybe the wrong word in this sort of world?:) to help? Emma might know someone if you want to include her?

For convenience, maybe you have 'stuff to do' and agree to get together for the Horse and Byron tomorrow after the shopping spree? Then we can see if we can engineer Emma into that scene and widen her horizons. :)

If we go with Byron-after-shopping, what does Jacob do while the shopping is happening? (Or do we split that into its own thread now that we have a time-clash?) Mark has done a bunk, so you need to find someone else to help you track the missing item, but Mark may have left you a message including someone else who can help you? Or you may need to find someone at the party? Or you can Hit the Street to find another wizard (or demon) to do the deed, or we can let that storyline slide without a wizard of our own?

I think we can safely handwave the rest of the scene with Lizabeth. I guess forging a good quality invitation can take some time, so we can assume that's what Jacob is doing while the rest go shopping. And then we meet for "the Horse and Byron" (which sounds like a proper name for an English pub)

What will the player be doing, though? The shopping could take a while.
It does! You now have a recollection that there is such a pub ... but it does not appear to be there ... most strange.

I'm happy reading and proposing complications/interesting turns if you'd allow me to. ;-)

If we see it takes too long, we can always decide Jacob is done with the forgery and start any other activity.