And in the Darkness, Hearts Aglow - Session 20 - I think I smell a RAT
A few sessions ago I was testing just how little I needed to run, and I got decently far with a chase scene, but it felt too prescribed. This time I decided to go for a meatier scenario and see how far I could carry it. My whole prep was this:
Kitchen Shenanigans - Right before Midterms the faculty will convene for a dinner at the monastery. Not only will the professors of the knights be there, but also members of the ecclesiastical faculty too, and the dean. This year the third years are meant to help with serving the food and such, as squires. They will get: Cora, Fiorello, Giovanna, but also Bellina, Claudia, and Rina (who is meant to be “looking after” them). The rest will help with the preparation of the hall.
They will be under the “guidance” of the cook, Brother Honorius, an absent minded Carthunian, but in practice the CO is meant to be Rina. The knights are to STAY CLEAR of the kitchen itself and only take stuff from it to the hall, and vice versa.
Some ideas:
Belina and Cora are asked to go down to the cellar to keep an eye on things or whatever. Belina starts making out and sorta going far, and it starts to become apparent this might become their first time. Can they make it through without making it awkward?
Claudia is getting very competitive with Giovanna about general waiting, and it’s getting risky.
Benedoro Petrani takes Fiorello by the corner and says “listen we have a situation.” He has a pet Giant Almyrian Rat which he brought in a little cage to show it to one of the monks, who’s very interested in such animals. The damn thing is sharp as a spear, though, and opened the cage. It is now on Fiorello to find the damn rat and have no one be any the wiser, otherwise it’s BOTH of their asses.
I managed to keep it up and interesting for about an hour and a half, which is in line with what I was expecting. After that we fell back into the standard week by week structure.
I think my sense of timing has been sharpened into a deadly weapon by now, I know almost exactly how long anything is going to take, where to rush and where to drag, at least for Hearts Aglow and with 3 hour sessions. The structure helps a LOT with just throwing scenarios in and seeing what happens.
Giovanna grows closer to her rival Claudia and shared a few tender moments; Fiorello thought himself safe but failed his exam; and Cora had her first time with her girlfriend Belina, which is the first time sex has come up directly in the game. I think we all handled it like adults, though the rat chase was very funny so we were a bit gigglier than I was expecting, but that's fine too.
We're going to break for 2 weeks as I won't be able to make it to the game for the next 2 Saturdays, and then we'll come back for a TOURNAMENT.
