Scene 1 'Celebrations'
“Excuse me, ladies and gentlemen, but your attention please just for a moment.”
After several seconds, the noise begins to die down as the speaker taps the crystal a few more times. “Please,” he continues with a smile, “this will take only a moment.”
The ballroom grows quite as all eyes turn towards him on the second floor balcony. He’s a tall man, with perfectly combed black hair, blue eyes, and a strong jaw. Everyone immediately recognizes him as Howard Forthington, the owner of the Pinnacle.
“Ladies and Gentlemen, on behalf of myself, Captain Romero, and his crew . . . I welcome you to the maiden voyage of the Pinnacle!” As he raises his glass, cheers fill the room. “While the hundreds of men and women that serve aboard this vessel have but one goal: to make your dreams come true, I’ve ever had but a single dream. A dream to create the most state-of-the-art pleasure ship, open to passengers of all financial backgrounds, that would provide happiness and entertainment like that found on no other! And thanks to you, that dream has come true!” He once again raises his glass. “To the Pinnacle! And more importantly, to all of you!”
And so the first day of the maiden voyage of the cruise ship Pinnacle begins to end in a sumptuous first night party to which you had been lucky enough to be invited. Invited by no less a personage than Howard Forthington, multi millionaire, entrepreneur and owner of this ship, himself
So far the opening hours of the cruise had been like any other. Cabins had been settled into, bags had been unpacked, safety drills had been carried out so that every passenger knew how to act in the event of an unlikely disaster.
The ensuing hours had been filled with exploration of the many delights of the ship from the restaurants to the gaming floors. It seemed that every detail had been taken care of from entertainments for the adult gambling enthusiast, to the passenger who wanted little more than to pass their time in sheer indolence waited on hand and foot, to the energetic younger passenger who wasted little time in checking out the climbing wall, the surf pool, or the zip wire ride that hung ominously above the main deck area.
But now it was time for good food, drinks and tuxedos at the special ‘First Night’ party to which a small selection of passengers had been invited via a ticket lottery. A chance for those with young children to relax in the knowledge that their offspring are being well cared for by the ‘sitting’ service the ship provides.
Amongst those passengers you now find yourselves being wined and dined in first-class splendour amongst the glamour and glitz of surroundings that would not be out of place amongst the best of Vegas. In settings of ten per table you estimate that their must be close to five hundred guests in attendance. Amongst these a large number of smartly dressed young men and women carrying trays laden with glasses move about in a constant stream of activity while the ships band play a version of the classic hit, ‘Luck be a lady tonight’…
As you take stock of your fellow table mates, a red faced gentleman in a tailored, western style dinner jacket, a boot lace tie with a silver rattlesnake clasp, and medium length grey hair carefully swept back in a well kept style reminiscent of the late 1950s, leans across the table to offer his hand in a firm handshake to the person opposite.
“First time cruising?” he asks in a low Texas drawl, “Me and the little lady”, he indicates a voluptuous, bejewelled and expensively dressed female to his left, “Like to cruise at least twice a year”. In a seemingly unending barrage of unsolicited information, he proceeds to give chapter and verse of his history. From his lowly birth on a Texas farm that was little more than a weed infested dirt patch to his eventual position of owner of one of the largest ranches in the Austin area, several highly productive oil wells, and head of one, if not the biggest, suppliers of Military Tech in the whole United States. Interspaced throughout with Texan homilies, which you are assured came direct from the mouth of his ‘grandpappy’, all of which tells you that he is Billy J Haynes of Austin, Texas on this cruise with his wife Jodie May who seems to hang adoringly on his every word.
OOC: Remember you do not know each other (unless specified in you background) and have been assigned to this table randomly by the ticket lottery. Now is your chance to introduce yourselves, describe your appearance and note any possessions currently on your person as opposed to what may be within your cabin. Remember you are at a dinner party, so be circumspect in what you have on you.