Allons enfants de la Patrie, Le jour de gloire est arrivé!

– Claude Joseph Rouget de Lisle

It is July of 1792.  The enemies of the people are on the march.  Treacherous “emigres” have joined their arms to those of the Holy Roman Empire, Britain, Spain and others, in an effort to crush the Revolution and restore the Bourbons as masters of the French people.

However, word has come to Paris that the Prussian army was driven back at Valmy.  Despite all expectations, the Grand Army fended off the forces of despotism, and a Republic is to be proclaimed!

Battle of Valmy

The crowd is thick in the Eastern rues of Paris, as you await the triumphant soldiers.  Voices begin to sing the song of the Revolution, which all are familiar with:

(Catchy, huh?) However, the band is drowned out by the roar of the crowd as soldiers, led by the division from Marseilles, enter view.  Some walk with crutches, others have arms in slings, and wagons carry the more grievous cases. But the men hold their heads high, and above them flies the new banner of the revolution, the Tricolor.

So loud are the cheers, that the disappearance of a number on the margins of the crowd go unnoticed.

Monsieur Mars Five had had quite a droll time watching the festivities, but he retired early.  He had ever so much correspondence to write.  He entered the nearest fashionable cafe and wrote letters to dear friends, lovers, families, and the occasional debt man.  Finally, as the candles burned low, he held up his final letter to the light to better check his legibility.

… and so I am sure that you must understand the necessity of my using the several thousand sous which you say I… owe (such a crass word, my dear) you, to pay for the hospice of my dear mother.  Pray know that I am ever at your service,

&c, &c,

The rest of the paper was quite illegible, as it had a hole blown through it.  This was quite irritating to the Parisian fop, or it would have been, had his head not been similarly treated.

Mars Five (Parisian Fop) has died.  He was a citoyen (Vanilla Town).

At the next table over, Marie Calvet leapt to her feet at the gunshot, and sat right back down at the unsteadiness of her feet.  If people sometimes looked at her askance for enjoying a bottle or three, it was no concern of hers.  She tended to look sideways at people who could stand times like these sober.  Nevertheless, even she had to admit that sobriety had certain advantages, not least of which was the decreased chance one had of having a cloth stuffed in one’s moth and one’s head bagged.

She came to, some time later, to find herself either exceptionally hungover, at sea, or both.  Finding herself in a small cabin, she turned to the small table in the corner to find a chilled bottle of good wine, a small red flower, and a card wishing her a safe voyage to England.

Miss Rim (Marie Calvet) has been removed from the game.  She was a citoyenne (Vanilla Town)

As the roars subside, the sound of a single voice rises, singing not the Ça Ira, but the song of the troops who marched to defend the homeland and freedom.

The word passes through the crowd that this new song goes by the unwieldy title of the “Chant de guerre pour l’Armée du Rhin.”  The singer and the soldiers are from Marseille, though, so maybe they can think of a catchier title.

Upon listening to this song, altogether new, Citizen da Money (de Monet!) was at peace.  Despite his past life of occasionally walking on carpets over the peasantry, or watching the king use the same as shooting pigeons, he had done his part for the Revolution.  He knew his time was short though, and he was not overly surprised to find a figure waiting for him.  The face was covered, so he could not see the identity of his killer, but he endured his fate stoically.  The figure soon slipped out of the carriage and walked away as it exploded like in a Michael Bay movie.

MSD (Count de Monet) is dead.  He was Maximillien Robespierre (Town Investigator).

The gallant soldiers have done their duty to save France this day.  Will you?

The War of the First Coalition

Twilight shall be on Saturday, 11 January, at 3PM EST . With 9 players left, 5 votes for a single player (or “no kill”) will trigger Early Twilight)