The Empire Club/Session 5

Daytime activities
*Cassie brunches with Maggie, who is conspicuously late, and they discuss professions—horror of horrors, not only does Maggie's husband work for money, but she is also involved.
**Cassie *strongly* hints that she is a bastard child who is paid hush money to stay out of family politics
*Mme. Gauthier forgoes political stuff to prepare for the party. It involves making seating arrangements and ensuring that the Cultural Coalition's Whip is placed in an extremely unpleasant seat 
**Mme. Gautier asks Farandole for advice on where to take people on a tour of the club and to give a special guest, Baroness Salvek, of Mme. Gautier a personal tour. 
**Mme. Gautier also invites Margaret's son
* Dawes goes to seal the deal for the glass for the window
**It won't be installed tonight (or this week), but we are getting some nice new windows
**The party discusses what to do with the old glass, "Souvenir shot glasses anyone?"
*Farandole, now with an LLM, tries to study the history of the bugs and the drugs
** The bugs are the best kind of bugs you could possibly obtain
**The drugs are all kinds of uppers and downers. Plenty of opioids (as the most popular drug on Aeldrum). Drugs that run the whole gamut of hardness. 
*Amani does secret things
Salon (i.e., "Bugs and Drugs") Night 
*Layout 
**The room is very dim (in an ominous, but relaxing way), the staff lead people to their seat by face alone, the Baroness is put in a place of honor. Everyone is offered mild downers to get them chill.
** Mme. Gautier gives a speech, welcoming everyone to the Empire Club and makes an impassioned speech about hitting their beetles with a mallet to fully enjoy it.
***Kingsley fails a will save, he is completely distraught that his efforts to polish the good bug silverware were a waste. Kingsley awkwardly eats his bugs with the proper silverware. He is accosted by Lucien for his troubles and Lucien goes off on a nationalist rant. Kingsley strongly implies that he is Lucien's father
***Mme. Gautier reveals a beautiful gown and the lights come on revealing a beautiful shimmering sight. Now the real food comes out.
***The staff ask everyone their weight, but disguised as tips. 
*** The Baroness is very impressed by Mme. Gautier's event and her speech and calls it a memorable success
**Heidegger Dawes offers a man his magnifying glass to better see things
**Farandole talks to some playwrights and historians. Farandole espouses a theory of Aeldrum culture and it is panned by the historian who is not having it.
**Amani tries to take a light sample of Aeldman hallucinogens, which interact poorly with her unusual chemistry; she stares deep into the blank face and empty eyes of the Count's portrait, contemplating how it is a shell, as all of us are.
***Farandole, trip-sitting in the portrait gallery, steps in to remind her that we are all part of history — she recalls the kaleidoscopic fabric she wore, and realizes we are all part of a great tapestry. She thinks of home and walks through the portrait gallery as if it were her gardens
Category:Session Summaries