• Solo • Preparations and Decorations

[Devin]

Zi’da 54, Arc 721

On the morning of the 54th of Zi’da, Devin Thorn, High Priest of Delroth and Baron von Smooglenuff was balancing on a low stone wall that was just wide enough for him to be able to stand on it and that separated two different sections of the garden and trying to decide if he should freak out or not. The stone wall was approximately knee-high, and he was of course balancing on it in a very fancy and fashionable snow-white outfit with a matching cape, in case someone decided to watch him. If he freaked out, then he wanted to do so in style!

He spread his arms wide in order to be able to maintain his balance better and set one foot that was encased in a luxurious soft white leather boot in front of the other one. When he had reached the end of the wall, he made a small jump, straight into the air, before he turned around and walked right back, because he still hadn’t made up his mind. If everything went according to plan, his party, the first proper party ever at Smooglenuff Manor would start the following evening, and there was still so much to do, and so little time!

The menu had been finalized, and he had decided on a theme for his party, but some of the public rooms of the manor, including the ballroom where the party would take place, were still a work in progress. For a moment, he considered praying to Ralaith so that he would agree to stop time until everything was done, but he wasn’t sure if he would listen to such a request.

(Unless he tried to seduce him? Unfortunately, he wasn’t sure if that would work either!)

For that reason, he jumped off of the wall again, rubbed his hands together a little bit – it was quite cold, even though the presence of the orange sand caused most of the snow that fell to melt again – and marched right back into the house. Ralaith probably wouldn’t listen to him, and he had decided that he wasn’t in the mood for freaking out either because it probably wouldn’t feel very good, and he wanted to always feel good. The only possible alternative that he could think of was to continue to help his employees as much as possible and try and motivate them while they finished the rest of the decorations.

That sounded exhausting, but it sure beat being miserable!

Besides, he wanted to give Scalvoris an amazing party!

And what more, he wanted to collect a whole lot of donations for the Spirit’s Rest Oasis and raise awareness for mental health issues. Mental health issues were really unpleasant. Nobody should ever have to deal with them any longer than was absolutely necessary in his opinion, so there needed to be a lot of affordable treatment options for them!

[Devin]

A few moments later, Devin stood in the entrance hall and looked at one of the maids, a short human woman that was standing on top of a table and trying to reach one of the big crystal chandeliers in order to clean it with a feather duster. “Let me help you”, he said as he walked over to the servant who looked at him in utter disbelief and appeared to be just about ready to faint. A moment later, when she handed the feather duster over to him, he climbed onto the table, stood on his tiptoes and started dusting away, meticulously and carefully.

“I just needed a few moments to clear my head”, he explained to Miranda, the head maid, a mouse cadouri once he had returned the feather duster to its owner and smiled quite radiantly. “How are things progressing? I see that you’ve finished almost half the staircase now”, he complimented them and cast a glance at a few more servants that were wrapping garlands around the rails and adding fake snow decorations made of cotton on top, because the theme of the party would be “Winter Wonderland” in order to match the season.

“We’ve made some progress”, Miranda began only in order to abruptly break off and exclaim, “That garland over there’s come loose!” The servant in question, a young human male, looked at her in surprise for a moment before he quickly fixed his mistake. Devin had a similar look on his face, but for a different reason. He had gotten to know Miranda as a soft-spoken woman. She had been incredibly loud and strict now though!

“I’m glad to hear that! Anyway, I’m here because I want to help out some more so that we’ll be able to finish everything in time. Just tell me where you want me to be, and I’ll be there!” he proclaimed and bowed deeply, a huge grin on his face. He didn’t like hard work particularly, but he liked (hopefully) being admired because of how helpful and approachable he was despite being a Baron and a celebrity a whole lot.

He wanted to be a good leader. In fact, he wanted to be the best (and most helpful and thus most admired) leader that Faldrass had ever seen!

“Perhaps, you could see what the musicians are up to – and check what’s going on with the students from Saoire’s School that are supposed to come? You mentioned that Saoire had offered to send a few students and their teachers so that they help us and get some real-life experience”, she reminded him, only in order to break off again and tell two servants that had just arrived, carrying a huge crate, where to go.

“Only if you don’t mind, of course, my lord”, she quickly added.

“Not at all. This is my party, and this is my home, so it would be kind of weird if I let you all do the work. I did my part when it came to planning the menu and such, and I plan on doing my part now”, Devin replied and flashed her an absolutely charming smile before he walked off, past Korim, the butler, who was young and handsome rather than old and dignified and who was just giving another group of servants a bit of advice on how to interact with the guests (and how not to).

As he did so, he suddenly had a great idea. He would not only help out and do all those other things that a good leader, a leader that people loved did in his opinion; he would also bring the employees something to eat, because all that work seemed to start to stress them out a bit.

And they were probably hungry, too!

First of all, he needed to find out what the musicians were doing though. Miranda had made him really curious. He had asked his roommate Talieson, the bard, to practice with them. Talieson was quite good, but maybe, he should have taken care of that job himself?

[Devin]

The heads of staff were more than capable of coordinating all the things that needed to be coordinated when one was planning such an event and deciding what needed to be done – that’s why they were the heads of staff – but someone needed to coordinate between the different groups that were preparing the manor for the big trial and tell them what the rest of the people in the manor were doing. Devin had come to the decision that he would be the perfect person for the job. He was not exactly an expert on logistics, but he could run very quickly, and what more, he was incredibly persuasive.

He loved running and being persuasive, even though the former could be a bit exhausting!

Before long, he reached the library. He had asked Talieson and the musicians to practice there so that they wouldn’t get in anybody’s way or distract them with their songs – except that there were no songs. Unless he had suddenly lost his hearing? Devin considered that possibility for a moment, but a moment later, he could notice voices somewhere behind the door. The musicians were not practicing, they were chatting!

Devin growled a little for a moment, much like a wolf – a very fashionable wolf that was dressed in white – before he opened the door, just as he heard Talieson, a dark-haired human man in his thirties laugh out loud.

He looked at him, looked at the musicians that were sitting in a half-circle around him, their instruments in their laps, and opened his mouth in order to explain that he was here to check on them, and maybe complain a bit on top of it.

Talieson was faster though.

“Devin! We were just taking a break! I was telling these nice people here a bit about our adventures in Desnind two arcs ago. Would you like to hear the song that we just practiced?” he wanted to know and smiled an absolutely radiant smile, much like the Mortalborn usually did.

Devin furrowed his brow a little bit as he wasn’t sure if Talieson had been telling the truth before he sat down on an empty chair and proceeded to listen as they played a dance melody. It was decent, and Talieson’s lute play was more than just decent, but there was one thing that had caught his attention. He had played that song himself in the past.

“Can you hand me your lute, please, Talieson?” he asked. When the older man did so, he started to play a group of chords before he handed it back to him. “I’d like you to try and play like that, a little faster, and put more of an emphasis on the note in the middle. You’ve been doing great, by the way! Keep up the good work”, he added because arguing with them because they had been chatting might be counterproductive so close to the party, after all. They needed to be motivated and encouraged now.

Which gave him an idea!

“I’d like you to practice this song again and revise the other songs as well. I’ll ask the kitchen to bring you cake and coffee when you are done so that you can take a proper break”, he remarked to the musicians in order to hopefully persuade them to work harder. A couple of enthusiastic nods and eager smiles told him that it had (probably) worked.

“I’ll have to take care of a couple of other things now”, he remarked as he rose to his feet again. “Don’t forget that I’ll join you when you play the song for the second dance”, he added to Talieson before he walked out of the door. He was a masterful lutist and he couldn’t not show off his skill. He wanted the whole island to know just how good he was!

[Devin]

After he had reported to Miranda that the musicians were practicing and made a detour into the kitchen in order to ask Ada, the head cook and her helpers if they had time to make coffee for the musicians and bring them cake and prepare snacks for the rest (They answered in the affirmative as the meal for the party would only be prepared the following trial.), the young Baron made his way to the stable.

The students from Saoire’s School as well as their teachers would arrive that trial. They weren’t really late yet, but he understood that Miranda was panicking a bit. He wanted them to arrive sooner rather than later as well, to be honest!

He had just saddled Keke, his amazing winged goat and was riding down the path that led to the recently constructed guardhouse when he suddenly saw a group of people walk through the gate. They weren’t just any group of people though. They had fur and fluffy tails and wore colorful clothes. They were Cadouri!

Devin grinned all over his face because he was so incredibly happy to see them. A few moments later he gave Keke the signal to move faster and rode up to them, only in order to bring his mount to an abrupt stop by pulling at the reins and giving him a verbal signal at the same time.

Keke did as he had been told, but not without bleating loudly and sticking his tongue out!

“Welcome to Smooglenuff Manor!” Devin greeted the new arrivals in an almost overwhelmingly enthusiastic tone of voice. “I’m Baron Devin von Smooglenuff. I’m so glad that you came! I really appreciate Lady Saoire’s offer, and I’m oh so grateful for it! I’ll take you inside, and if you want to, you can eat and drink something before you get started”, he told them quite happily, without pausing in to take a breath between the individual sentences only in order to break off abruptly and do a double take.

“Mister Humphington!” he exclaimed excitedly a moment later and dismounted in order to shake a young raccoon Cadouri’s hand. “It’s good to see you again!” he told him. Humphrey Humphington, a woodworker, had been the first student from Saoire’s School that he had ever treated. Humphrey had hurt his hand. “You have to tell me what you have been up to recently. But first, let’s go in. It’s cold here!” he remarked.

Instead of climbing into the saddle again and riding back to the manor, he led Keke by the reins, talked to the new arrivals and informed them about the work that needed to be done at the manor. The new arrivals for their part cast fascinated glances at the winged goat on a pretty regular basis.

They had never seen an animal like that before!



The story continues here.

[Pig Boy]

Player Name: Devin

Points awarded: 10
Magic xp: none

Knowledge:

Athletics: Balancing on a low wall
Athletics: Jumping while standing on a low wall
Leadership: Don’t argue with people, motivate them!
Leadership: A good leader does his share of the work
Logistics: Holding an event requires a lot of coordination
Mount (Land): Bringing your mount to an abrupt stop

Renown: 5
Loot: --
Injuries/Overstepping: --
Wealth Points: --

Skill Review: All Skills used appropriately to PC's level

Notes: More party planning for Devin! He does have an interesting way of focusing his concentration, although I’m not entirely sure that’s what he was doing at the very beginning of the thread. Was he just practicing his balance? Was he surveying the area to tell how it would look when the party happens? Maybe it’s just one of his eccentricities, like when he stands on his head?

Either way, it’s an amusing moment when Devin considers praying to Ralaith to stop time so that he could have more time to prepare.

I think the cause to raise funds for Spirit’s Rest Oasis in order to improve awareness of Mental Health issues is a good idea. I never saw that Devin would become a political animal, but in my opinion patronage suits him. He’s often giving people things and offering to give them things.

The poor maid tho, as the baron offers to help her! Hopefully, the master of servants or butler doesn’t catch word of that, or she might get in trouble for allowing the baron to help her out… Although I’m not entirely sure how the head of staff of the Barony would react to that.

He does seem to enjoy micromanagement, but here it doesn’t seem to the point of annoyance. Devin is just being helpful.

The arrival of the Cadouri was a fun moment. Devin really seems to enjoy those furry little folk and it shows. I do wonder how unused to winged goats the people on Faldrass are by now. Keke should go on tour to improve his public profile. Raising awareness of one-of-a-kind winged goats seems like a worthy cause.

Anyway, was an amusing description of Devin’s preparations for the party! Hope to see more in this vein soon.


If you have any questions, comments, or concerns regarding this review, feel free to PM. Enjoy your rewards!