Blood Ties, Part 2

You pull the hood of your cloak low over your face, but refrain from shapeshifting just yet, conserving your strength. Instead, you approach the city as a "tiefling" much like you did back in Hikeliar, paying the appropriate toll to the guards for entry.

And with that, you enter the packed, winding streets of Kesartha, capitol city of Vekmar.

It doesn't have quite the same bustle as the trade city did. There is still commerce, of course, but a relatively larger part of the city is centered around its political function than its markets. Nobles, diplomats, soldiers, bureaucrats of all stripes... and all the people required to feed and support them. The military presence in particular is more noticeable than in Hikeliar, and with a more professional air to them.

You meander the cobbled streets, careful not to draw attention, winding your way toward the more affluent areas of the city, all the while continuing to remain unobtrusive. You listen and mingle, keeping an eye out for people with the air of local gossips. To quickly break into the backbiting game of noble society you'll need an entry point. Some contact among the nobility who is curious enough—or desperate enough—to be interested in bringing in a foreigner.

With your inhuman charm, it's no difficulty to extract all manner of stories from the people you interact with, and while not all of the tales are reliable, a general picture does start to emerge of the movers and the shakers, the alliances and the enmities. The winners and the losers.

And, by the end of the day, you've found three potential noble families who might be particularly susceptible to you ingratiating yourself to.

First are Lord and Lady Valmiri. They are younger than most of the nobility, in their early twenties. The two of them are brother and sister—twins, in fact—whose house has fallen on hard times with the death of their only surviving parent nearly a decade before, leaving them alone together against the world.

According to the gossip there have been a few marriage proposals floated that might have had the chance to improve their fortunes, at least a bit. But those have all been soundly rejected.

You observe their manor from a distance, noting that there are only a couple servants left, along with the general poor repair of the place. You catch sight of the pair themselves, leaving the dilapidated estate for their carriage. Strikingly similar, for all that they are fraternal twins: pale and slender, with hair that skirts the line between brown and blonde. There is a faded look to them as they walk toward the carriage, hands clasped. A look of weary decline that matches the state of their fortunes more than their relatively young age.

They certainly might be desperate enough to welcome a strange foreign noble who throws around conspicuous amounts of coin, without asking too many questions. A strong possibility for your entry point into the world of the upper crust.

Lady Kagan, on the other hand, is has much more wealth and power to her station, and making her acquaintance might be even easier. Despite those advantages, though, she unquestionably comes with her own... issues. From what you've learned, the woman is infamous for keeping the company of a long series of men... a feat she can accomplish since she retained control of the purse-strings as part of her marriage to her husband who was of a much poorer noble house.

You observe her as well, in the course your investigations. A tall, buxom woman in her late thirties, with short, curled black hair, she moves with absolute, unquestioned self-assurance, barely even taking notice of her shorter, balding husband as he trails behind her, his expression uncomfortable and unhappy.

From what you gather, she's on the prowl at this very moment, and it would be child's play to ingratiate yourself, with an effortless source of food there at your immediate disposal. You would take on the reputation of being associated with someone as infamous as her, however. And depending on how things go, you might also have to deal with complications with her husband... though you can imagine resolving that in any number of different ways.

Finally, you could approach Lady Janessa. She might be the trickiest of the three to win over; she's known to be reclusive, with little patience for the noble games... which might explain why her star is no longer on the ascendant, as younger, hungrier players outmaneuver her in games of politics. She's from an old military family, and from what you hear she served as an officer in the last war against Kovora. Though she never speaks of it, and has refused any associated honors.

She was never married, though she had an engagement before the war that was eventually broken off as her fortunes declined. You catch a glimpse of her as she's headed into a bar frequented by the noble class. She looks to be in her mid-forties, with small shocks of gray starting to run through her simple black ponytail. She has clearly kept herself in very fit condition, however, and she carries a saber at her hip that her hand rests on comfortably. The rest of her style of dress is similarly plain and severe, a notable contrast to the more elaborate clothing of her peers.

Any one of them could serve as your "in", though aligning with each might have their own effect on what you're able to accomplish. Who do you want to go after?