The Giovanni Saga (V20); Radovan's Thread

[BenjCano]

The thought went through my mind that he was telling the truth and maybe had gone good all of a sudden, but I at once put it aside; lies and intrigue were a habit with him.
– Italo Calvino, The Cloven Viscount

Radovan takes Wenceslas' hand firmly. "My lord. I'm a bit surprised. I expected the huntress to be my pairing for the evening as we seem to have the most in common of the thirteen of you. Still, I'm sure we shall find pleasant conversation all the same," he says with a smile. "Have you been getting to know the other hosts while you waited for our arrival?" Assuming the answer is yes, he continues more quietly. "I'm quite curious how Gabrin felt seeing the hanged travelers on the road to the castle." There is a slight edge to his voice betraying his own feelings on the matter.

As the initial small talk fades, Radovan looks around the room at the pairings, some natural some quite forced. "Tell me Lord Wenceslas... why have you called an unremarkable woodsman to this decadent feast?"

With an unashamed giggle, Wenceslas turns to drape a proprietary arm around around Radovan's shoulder, holding him as closely as if they were brothers too long separated from one another. "So many questions, my hunter. And so many assumptions. But I shall try to give you what you want, so let's see. As for the other hosts, you are mistaken in one thing. This is not the first time we have met. Oh, for a certainty, we have never before, all thirteen, gathered under one roof, but we know each other of old, and are drawn together for a common purpose. It is the other thirteen, of which you are one, that are the strangers and true guests, you see?

"And why should I share you with that quim Dimitra? I saw you first. And what does Gabrin have to do with anything, and why should he care that men have died. That's what men are for.

"And last...why I should want you above all others for the night...it's because I think you will understand."

[miinstrel]

His word's were cryptic. Men are for dying? What kind of talk was that? Radovan found his overly perfumed scent annoying but not intolerable. "Understand what? My lord." He adds the address as an afterthought, vaguely remembering his manners but obviously unpracticed. He was still very skeptical of the situation, and Wenceslas' possessiveness was unnerving.

[BenjCano]

Sire Wenceslas sweeps an arm from corner of the room to the other, like a scythe blade cutting down the harvest in its appointed time. "All of these lovely people, with their gentle perfume and oh-so-fine manners. A man such as you sees beneath it, don't you? Their prettiness hides an ugly soul. None of them are as they appear to be. Even the gentle Jew," the old man's face sneered, "is a liar and a deceiver. No man will be so truthful as the one who cannot hide his hideousness, don't you think?"

[miinstrel]

A wave of mixed emotions rushed over Radovan. Stunned by truth, feeling camaraderie against the others, ashamed of his face, and angry at Wenceslas for being so direct about it but simultaneously relieved at the candor... it was very overwhelming. After a moment of silence he stammered, eventually collecting his thoughts enough for a sentence. "I... well, yes... I see things as they really are. No pretense. No facade. What, am I to wear a mask to please these people? This is who I am and a reminder of my insignificance without the Lord's grace."

[BenjCano]

"Come with me, my lad," says Wenceslas, and leads Radovan through the servant's corridor. This part of the manor is much less aesthetically pleasing than the hallways and gallery that the guests have already visited. It leads to a hallway where the kitchen and pantry are located, and down an uneven stone staircase into the wine cellar. In one cold, dark corner of the room, a woman is chained to the wall, with steel bands around her wrists. Aside from the fact that she is naked, she is beautiful beyond compare, with skin as smooth and unblemished as fresh cream, hair that cascades over her slender shoulders and ample bosom in a blonde spill, and large, fearful blue eyes.

"This is Elana Dragomir, the daughter of a noble in the court of the King of Hungary. She is, aside from the gifts which are obviously on display, a talentless and useless creature. She has her beauty and her courtly manner, but nothing else. What do you feel when you look at her, my boy?"

[miinstrel]

Radovan was happy to be out of that dining room. The leering from the high and mighty was uncomfortable, though being alone with this man wasn't much better. The cellar? Why? Okay, now this felt like a trap... he began to feel claustrophobic until he saw the trap wasn't for him but for the beauty at the far end of the room. "Disgust," he says bluntly as he walks over to her. He looks her up and down for bruises or other obvious injuries before turning on his heel to face Wenceslas. "That she would be kept here like this. What is her crime?" he demands.

As promised to his priestly friend back at the inn, he would do what he could to save himself and the other guests from the ravages of this Giovanni lord... Here stood one such soul in need of saving. He was alone with Wenceslas... it would be a simple manner. He was fairly certain he could best him in a fight. But no, taking a life to save another wasn't the way to go. He would return tonight after everyone had gone to bed.

[BenjCano]

Radovan rolls Perception+Medicine vs. difficulty 6

6d10.hits(6) → [8,7,5,10,9,7] = (5) (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/4582671/)

She's not hurt or injured, but there is a dullness in her eyes and lack of focus on her face that suggests heavily that she's been drugged. Possibly the after effects of a powerful sedative that they gave her in order to render her unconscious for a kidnapping? Or maybe just something to keep her quiet for transport. Anyway, even if she was unchained, it's unlikely she could fight back or run away.

"Her crime? Is it not enough that she is no different from the prancing, beautiful idiots in the castle above us? Is is not enough that she has walked through life until this moment convinced of her own superiority because of the quality of her skin, the cast of her face, the color of her hair? She is here tonight for one reason and one reason only." The wretched old man reaches beneath his tunic, and retrieves a gleaming steel blade. At the sight, Elena begins to whimper and cower in the chains, trying to retreat back into the wall.

[miinstrel]

"And you brought me here to what, kill her? I've no love of nobles," he says pointedly at Wenceslas, "but what makes you think I would take an innocent life? That is not for me to decide, but Our Father above."

[BenjCano]

"I didn't say anything about killing her, boy, did I? What's the point of that? How will she ever learn the error of her ways if she merely dies? No, this is about creating art, my son. I'd like you to help me. You have an appreciation for the destruction of beauty, based on what's happened to you, don't you? Don't disappoint me by being soft now." Sire Wenceslas turns the knife over in his hand, and offers the hilt to Radovan. As he does so, he looks towards the scarred Gypsy, and some trick of the light seems to frame the old man in an almost heavenly glow. Every wrinkle on his face is unbearably kind and understanding, and the pride in his eyes as he looks at Radovan reminds him of a father, his father, on the day Radovan brought home the first meet for the company's pot. It would be nothing short of a sin to let him down now.

Wenceslas uses Presence 3 to compel feelings of enchantment in Radovan, and will spend a Willpower to do so: 1 success. (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/4588075/) Damn, that 10 WP of yours is a tough hill to climb.

For one hour, Radovan wants nothing more than to please Wenceslas. Now, he can spend a Willpower and roll Willpower (difficulty 8) to resist the urge, but you'll have to keep spending points and rolling until you're no longer in Wenceslas' presence (ha-ha) if you want to sustain resistance.

[miinstrel]

I hate low willpower characters haha. Every single one I make has 7-8+. Those points are just too dang useful to not have very many of them! Though I'm not going to spend one on this first roll... I'm confident in his ability to resist temptation.

[roll0] (2 successes, so I'm immune for this scene, correct?)

Radovan considered his words. Did he understand destruction? His experience certainly opened his eyes to what was truly important in the world. Family. Faith. Do unto others... he thought. He shook Wenceslas' words from his mind. "My appreciation is for God's mercy. I should have died that day and yet he saw fit to let me live. So that I could shame myself by ruining an innocent life? I may be hideous to look at, but I see into you. Your soul is as ugly as my face, and to hell with you for thinking you can turn me into some..thing like you!"

Radovan was fuming, but there was a touch of doubt in his wards... was he mad at Wenceslas for trying to corrupt him or because he was... right? Wouldn't everyone be better off if they could see the way he could? NO! Gah, how had he gotten inside his head so easily?!

[BenjCano]

Little housekeeping: you have to spend a Willpower in order to get that Willpower roll, so you're one die down. When a player adds more dice than they're entitled to, I cut off from the end, so we're ignoring the terminal 5 on that roll.

[miinstrel]

Oh my bad. I thought the willpower was optional. Just read over the Presence description... so it is! Well we'll see how long he can hold out :P

I get one back from protecting someone though right? right?? :smallbiggrin: haha. This is going to be a loooong night.

[BenjCano]

Mmmm....just refraining from mutilating someone doesn't quite count as protecting them, sorry. :smalltongue:

[BenjCano]

For a moment, behind the kindly facade of the old man, Radovan saw a glimpse of an enraged demon. There was a murderous light that burned in his eye, and the Gypsy began to question the wisdom of making so grand an insult while the old man still had the knife in his hand that he had offered to Radovan. He was old, yes, but his hands did not shake in the least little bit, and took hold of the hilt as if he knew exactly what to do when stabbing a man to death in a small, confined space.

"So...you are a sheep after all. I thought you had the makings of an excellent young wolf, my Gypsy. But I was wrong. So very, very wrong." With a flourish, the knife turns over in his hand, and he presses it against the face of the young woman in chains. He does not draw blood, but the steel makes an indentation in her cheek, and she whimpers even in her dulled stupor. "This little quim means so much to you, I will give you a chance to save her life and her face from my attention. But you will pay the price for it, my boy."

[miinstrel]

He didn't move like an older man. At first Radovan wasn't concerned about the knife, but after that brief flash of anger perhaps he'd misjudged him. "Wait," he pleaded as Wenceslas angled the blade ever so slowly toward her skin. "What price?" A martyred look showed through his eyes. If it were a pound of flesh he wanted, better it be his than hers. She was innocent in all this. And as much as he may hate her for it, she was beautiful. It would be a shame to destroy one of God's masterpieces.

[BenjCano]

By some cunning gesture that Radovan did not see, Wenceslas suddenly has a second knife in his hand, which he turns over and offers to the Gypsy. "And if thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body."

[miinstrel]

He gingerly accepts the knife, holding it loosely in his open hand and looking at it. "You... want me to put out my eye?" The blade was at least sharp and free of rust. He'd done him that one kindness.

If he answers in the affirmative, "But... why? What do you gain from my loss of sight?" This man was horrendously twisted. Only a sick man would take delight in the suffering of others. His vision was nearly everything to him. It was his trade and his redemption, that he could see people as they truly were. I suppose both could be accomplished with a single eye but...

After his answer he adds. "And if I refuse? The girl's life is forfeit or merely her beauty?"

[BenjCano]

By way of an answer, Wenceslas presses the knife further into the girl's cheek. A split opens the skin, and a bright red line appears before the knife bade, making it appear that she is crying bloody tears. She cries out, softly, as she feels the hot, red fluid spill across her face. "Oh no. No no. You're lost the right to dictate the extent of the harm that befalls my pretty young playmate. No, I'll have your eye or I'll have my fun with her." And then he beams, his infinitely beautiful and wise face making Radovan feel the utter fool for having denied him such a simple thing as to cut up a pretty and useless noblewoman.

I think another Willpower expenditure is necessary at this point, given Wenceslas' ongoing use of Presence. Does Radovan wish to continue trying to defy him?

[miinstrel]

True, keep forgetting I'm still mortal haha. I don't think he would resist anymore. It's pointless. Wenceslas is clearly insane and it'd be pretty impossible to bring him down before he points that blade through her eye.

I'm working off the initial Presence use to have Radovan be the one carving her up. If Wenceslas would rather do it himself now I'll revise this to him just choosing his own eye over her beauty.

"I..." his voice is weak and wavering. "I yield." He looks utterly defeated and disgusted with himself to boot, but he moves sluggishly forward taking the second knife from Wenceslas. His hand shakes as he brings it up, looking at the blade. At least it's sharp. Looking into the girl's soft, vacant eyes his mind twists wondering why he'd resisted so. She'd have her life after all. And she'd see things clearly like he did. This was a gift. Besides, she already had that scar on her cheek. She would never be seen the same way again.

He turns to face Wenceslas again, looking into those eyes that went far deeper than any human eye should. This man had seen things. He knew. Radovan's nerves steadied as he placed the knife against her skin, reinforced by his ancient wisdom. His finger grazed her cheek. So soft. He turned his face to Wenceslas again, smiling, as the blood began to trickle down his fingers.

After a minute or two he didn't even hear the cries of pain anymore. "I'm sorry for the pain, but you'll thank me when this is all over," he whispered to her as he worked. By the time he was finished there wasn't a speck of porcelain flesh left on that face. Every inch was covered in either scars or blood. One of her eyelids was removed. A hole was pierced in each cheek through to her mouth. Her tongue was split down the middle. The blood matted her hair into thick tails. He stepped back to view his work, watching Wenceslas closely for approval. The whole time there was a churning deep inside him. A visceral, gnawing feeling that he had just violated everything he held dear. But that could wait. Wenceslas was still watching.

[BenjCano]

OK, here's what I'm going to do. I'd like Radovan to make a degeneration check, please. I'm going to knock the difficulty down to 7 since he tried to spare the girl.

[miinstrel]

Yikes! But totally fair. Here goes nothing...

Conscience: [roll0]

EDIT: and dooooowwwnnnn we go. Modified sheet to Humanity 5, Conscience 2, and awaiting your word as to the derangement.

[BenjCano]

*headtilt* You didn't botch the roll. You just failed. Loss of Humanity, but not Conscience and no derangement.

[miinstrel]

... touche haha. Misread that section. Phew! (though sadism or masochism seemed like shoe ins for the role)

Gotta get to the point where I'm super familiar with v20. I want that to be the system for my next campaign for my RL group.

[BenjCano]

I'm not super-interested in vividly describing the act of torture and mutilation, so we're going to let the gory details be up to the imagination, shall we?

An unknown time later, Wenceslas bade Radovan put down the knife. The young Dragomir woman had shrieked herself to a ruined throat some time ago, and there was no sound in the dark and cold cellar but the Gypsy-man's panting breath, the thunderous drumbeat of his heart, and the drip, drip, drip as blood pattered on the stone floor.

The old man looks at what Radovan has done, stroking his long and silver beard with a contemplative expression. A pair of mad blue eyes, the only part of her still recognizable. "A spirited first effort," comments Wenceslas. "Showing true artistic temperament and the promise of good things in the future. Solid marks, my young friend. Solid marks."

Having burned through a point of Humanity, I'm inclined to say that Radovan can finish this scene without being pushed any further. So we'll wrap up for now...but I have to say, what's this going to do to our friend?

[miinstrel]

Skipping torture is fine by me. A bit of detail to set the scene is usually as far as I'll go, the rest is just unnecessary. That was actually a little more detail than I would normally throw at it.

And... I have no idea what this is going to do to Radovan. I'm sure I'll come up with some twisted perversion for his post-embrace life. In the meantime, I have a feeling he's going to be extraordinarily silent as he tries to justify this to himself.

It was all so surreal. He knew, he knew, in his heart he couldn't be the one to have done that... and yet there was the bloody tool in his hand, wet and dry streaks running down the length of his arm. He was a protector. He defended his family. The only reason he hunted was to put food on the table. And that bear... that was survival. And so was this, wasn't it? Though not his own, to be sure. He could have survived with one eye. But if he'd let Wenceslas do the deed who knows what sort of horrors he would have inflicted on this poor, gharish creature. He had spared her even more torment by doing it himself. That sick **** might have carved the devil's symbol onto her retinas so she had to forever see the world through Satan's lens. He helped her. Yes.

Still, it was so numb. Was it cold down here? He couldn't tell. All he truly felt was the need to vomit, and he gave himself wholly over to the urge. To feel something else after what had just happened. He leaned over near the wall and released what little was still in it from breakfast, the bile singing his tongue. At least he had a tongue. He heard Wenceslas speak, but the words meant nothing. As he wiped his mouth all he could do was look up at the woman. Into her lifeless, blue eyes, the one feature he hadn't stripped from her. Who knows, perhaps she'll thank him one day. For showing her the truth of the world. He hated vomiting. Chunks always got stuck in his ragged split lip, and he ran his fingers along it, wiping the small pieces of partially dissolved food on his pants.

That priest was right. This castle belongs to hell. What a fool I am to think myself stronger than the devil himself.

He's pretty much switched everything off. If Wenceslas tries to touch him in any way he'll jerk violently away. If asked or allowed to leave he will walk back up the stairs blankly and meander toward the dining room, a defeated look on his face. He's happy to go elsewhere if directed.

[BenjCano]

OK then, we'll draw to a close here. Wenceslas will take Radovan back upstairs and chat pleasantly with him about meaningless things, pushing wine into his hands and just chattering away.

I'm giving you 4 points for the scene, 1 for excellent playing, and 1 as small compensation for being the first to lose a point of precious Humanity.

[miinstrel]

Had to happen to someone eventually :P