Game 4Game 4 Outline| Game 4 |
Game 4 Outline |
You don't have a lot of confidence in your knowledge of formal court etiquette, but you think you know better than to approach a royal personnage unbidden and unattended. As the Chamberlain makes no movement to bring you forward, you remain standing where you are, some distance away from where Prince Shane is seated. But even at a distance, you form a definite impression that you are beholding one of the saddest facest you've ever seen. You freeze for a moment as the impression forms in your mind. Then you wonder why on earth these people think you're here, and what this prince expects you to do.
Luckily, Prince Shane is not about to put you to any immediate test. "Very well," he says in a regal but depressed voice. "This may not be the best time after all. Perhaps we shall interview him later."
"Thank you, Your Highness," says the Chamberlain, bowing. You copy the movement. Then you notice that (s)he's walking backwards out of the room, and you hastily follow, just managing not to trip. The door closes.
The Chamberlain studies you with a disapproving eye. "I suppose we'd better see to your accommodations," (s)he says. "This way, if you please." (S)he leads you down corridors and passages, stopping to confer with bustling servants along the way and hardly noticing your presence.
Eventually you arrive at a wing of the palace designed neither for guests nor for staff but for consultants. Apparently therefore you (or at least whoever the real wizard was supposed to be) are here to solve a specific problem and not to take up a regular post. You introduce yourselves, which you hope might resolve the question of gender, but the Chancellor's name is Pat.
But at least (s)he is, if not exactly friendly, willing to provide information once the two of you are in private. You venture to ask why Prince Shane seemed so sad. "I saw you notice the prince's mood. You appear to pick up these things quite well. Yes, he's been that way for quite some time. If you ask me, it was all the doings of the last wizard we had here. I didn't like dealing with him, I can assure you. He cured Princess Georgina's insomnia, and then meddled unpardonably in an area that was no concern of his at all, telling us that she had to break her engagement to the prince she loved and marry a most unsuitable suitor instead. And when the regency council quite rightly refused such a mad request, the wizard actually retaliated by casting a spell of melancholia on poor Prince Shane, and just when he's about to be crowned king, too. We can't possibly be governed by a king in a permanent state of depression, but of course you know that. That's why you're here. I'll leave you now to settle in. Someone will be along to see to you. Make sure to read the rules in that little book, particularly the dress code," (s)he finishes with a disapproving glance downward as (s)he leaves.
You find yourself in quite a pleasant bedchamber, and hardly have time to look around when a servant arrives with your new wardrobe. You'd have hoped for a gown with stars and moons, a steeple hat, and pointy shoes, but your costume here looks more like something from French history of the 1600's or so. Well, you could do worse! You put on the new clothes, marveling at how anyone can bear their stiffness and formality and the tightness of the shoes, and study the little book of court etiquette the Chamberlain had indicated.
After some time, you hear a knock on the door...
Written by stephan
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