Ivana's wrath over her own

[Joël of the FoS]

IMC, last game, there was a meeting with Ivana and top Falkovnians. They came to Marsav Hall to assess the possibility of a Falkovnia enclave in Levkarest but they were not well received by Ivana. The PCs were present as personal guards. It was fun to describe, you'll see in my next campaign journals. I used this encounter to plant seeds for future things IMC.

At the end of the meeting, they go with Ivana for a tavern as Ivana needs a drink after this infuriating meeting. But Clothilda Taroyan (Ivana's accountant, erm, Wiz 8 ) stays back half an hour "to finish important work at Marsav Hall". She goes to the tavern half an hour later.

Next day, Ivana asks the now loyal PCs to spy/investigate on this - why did she stay behind? Was it really for work?

The PCs will ask around at Marsav Hall and find that Clothilda had a secret meeting with Marcos Vedarrak (BoSacr), that lasted 5 minutes, but where envelopes were passed from one to the other...

Depending on what the PCs tell her, Ivana will be furious as she learns this and will suspect Clothilda of treason!

The truth : Vedarrak is member of the Fraternity of Shadows and plans to seduce Clothilda into believing she could be a member too, so she could develop her dark arcane arts (won’t work, can’t work, but Clothilda doesn’t know yet). They traded spells (they are both Wiz).

If Clothilda confess the truth about her FoS membership dreams, how will Ivana take it?

Exposing Clothilda to Ivana will make her angry about the PCs actions. She can't do anything openly, to infuriate Ivana more, but in secret, she could be a PCs ennemy.

What other twist could be added to this? Is it the end of Clothilda?

[DeepShadow of FoS]

Wouldn't be that hard to reskin Feasting With Falcons to take place in Borca.

--Someone sent by Ivan to assassinate Clothilda
--Clothilda and Marcos are conspiring, she's going to provide intel on Falkovnian rebels
--Gondegal (or his representative) working to infiltrate the meeting and swap the list of rebels
--Other Falkovnian officers are working against Marcos
--The meeting takes place among a group of artists, all of whom have their own complications and red herrings.

The adventure is a great one for creating a smokescreen of possible motives for everything.

[DustBunny]

Wouldn't be that hard to reskin Feasting With Falcons to take place in Borca.

I could be. It would also be a good time for G to try and grab Ivana again while the PCs are running around the party. However, a lot would depend on how badly the negotiations before had gone. The underlying tone of the party would be tense to say the least if negotiantions were fiery.
We'll have to wait until journal entry 87 to see.

Now with Clothilda things can get interesting...

Clothilda will bend the truth (a Borcan pastime) when called out and claim that _she_ was seducing _him_ for information on the Falkovians and that she hoped to infiltrate this 'Fraternity' to expand Ivana's reach. Now Ivana might accept this, but the fact Clothilda went behind her back is not something she can forgive as Ivana has short tolerance for those who would try to end run her. Once she has calmed down somewhat after finding about Colthilda's 'activities', Ivana would try and find a way to turn this to her advantage, whilst letting Clothilda know that she is on probation and must work to regain her former 'rank'.

Prehaps have Clothilda assigned to the PC's as their 'personal assistant' (a major step down from being Ivana's assistant) and she is to go with the PC's and assist during their activities and investigations.

An image of the haughty Clothilda being forced to crawl through the slums, ruining that green dress she loved, the grime and stench of the stapans clinging to her, and pained false smile as she deferred to those of loyal yet lesser station brought a malicious smile to Ivana's face. "Oh my dear Taroyan, let us see how you fare when my favor is taken away"

Both the PC's and Clothilda will be given secret instructions to spy on the others, and by comparing the notes Ivana can find out who is loyal, who is a traitor, and who needs to be ... 'let go'. The PC's will be jumpy at their new companion who they just turned in, and Clothilda will be seething at having to serve those who brought her down to this sorry state and trying to find a way to get back into Ivana's good graces. It will also be a test of the PC's as how to they act when a potential traitor (who may try and seduce them to their side or sabotages their missions) is in their midst and they are 'on their own'. Will they stay loyal or will they be swayed? Or maybe they will even team up in a mutually benefical endeavour?

And both will know that they are being watched and assessed. And if they recieve a poor performance report, things are going to get rather dangerous.

"Oh yes, my little Clothilda, I am going to enjoy this immensely". Ivana twirled the crimson rose in her hand, "You have set the stage, my new friends are playing the music...". A single petal detached and drifted lazily to the floor, Ivana's eyes following its wayward descent and the girlish mirth which had formed at the corners of her mouth faded to a tight smile. Returning her eyes to the bloom, she tapped it lightly with her finger, "Now let us see how well you can dance....."

[The Lesser Evil]

If Clothilda confess the truth about her FoS membership dreams, how will Ivana take it?

What is Ivana's relationship with the FoS? How much does she know about it, and what use is she likely to get out of having a potential double agent inside it?

Exposing Clothilda to Ivana will make her angry about the PCs actions. She can't do anything openly, to infuriate Ivana more, but in secret, she could be a PCs ennemy.

What other twist could be added to this? Is it the end of Clothilda?

Does Vedarrak know about Clothilda being an ermordenung? If not, she might be able to claim that she was luring into a trap, considering how to love an ermordenung is to sign one's death warrant or at least suffer horribly.

Considering Ivana's trust in the PCs, it sounds like Clothilda would have to be pretty sneaky to go after them, her primary task would first have to be to alienate them from Ivana... by either discovering they have a reason for being disloyal and using her or fabricating one. Otherwise, I'd think the only other way she could oppose is to join with Ivan Dilisnya and/or stumble upon a lucky wild card like Thissallra Torr or the gargoyle.