19 March 2022
d20 Odd events at a nobles ball
1. 'Our people' - you are recognised by someone from your home location and invited to dance when a traditional song is played. Check to see how well you dance, gain a contact
2. Two guest are conversing loudly in an obscure foreign tongue. One of you knows that language and realises they are speaking gibberish, just words strung together without sense. Both of the strangers appear to be pretending to understand the other.
3. While snaffling a bottle of fine spirits, you notice a pair of other guests scurrying out to the gardens. You recall neither of them arriving with each other and turning you see their original partners searching the dance floor.
4. "What does this fellow have to say about it?" A group you pass opens and you find a half dozen of local political power-players in heated discussion. They demand your opinion on a relavent local issue. Bonus to the diplomacy roll if you have a real opinion. Low, they should have expected no better from commoners, mid, you get some grudging agreement from 2, dismissal from 2 and polite nods from the last 2. On a high success, the speakers think you a skilled partisan of the position you took - half now think you a solid fellow, half a dangerous element.
5. One of the hosts grabs you and presents their latest pride - homemade schnapps - a very limited batch. They insist you drink with them, it is terrible.
6. You come upon a game of chance being played where a young lady or man is playing with someone elses money. A fortune is on the table.
7. Introduced to a minor noble by one of the hosts you recognise the person from behind the counter at a stall you shopped at earlier. Who are they really and what are they up to?
8. Someone gives a stirring speech about an issue and it becomes the new cause celebre - unfortunately it is also the focus of the parties current plans and now all these people are going to be treading on their toes.
9. A marriage proposal is made on the balcony. Roll on a reaction table to see how the hosts take it.
10. The guest of honour is missing - they have gotten lost in the venue and someone needs to go find them
11. The entertainment is missing - the crowd has blocked them into their dressing rooms and they are struggling to make their way to the performance space
12. A guest dropped a glass off the balcony onto the dance floor. Only you saw it, someone needs to act fast or all the dancers in their slippers are going to slice up their feet and the night will be ruined.
13. An old politician is in his cups and being very indiscrete to impress a pretty young thing. Do you eavesdrop for information or shut him up for the honour of the hosts
14. The venue is warmer than expected and the liveried servants are fainting.
15. The daughter of a high ranking officer is using her fathers presence to strong-arm the junior officers into dancing and fetching and carrying for her. She has fixed on you are her next play-thing.
16. A group of provincials have decided they want to dance one of their local dances and are pushing the band into playing their music. The hosts are not impressed and the enthusiasm of the dancers is becoming hazardous to the fixtures and furnishings
17. The hosts have decided to put on a number of highly traditional dances. The out-lander guest are becoming increasingly frustrated that at the lack of someone to teach them the steps.
18. The elaborate clock at the centre of the back of the ball room strikes the hour - it is apparently much later than you thought and the person you were talking with suddenly pales and dashes away out of sight. A moment later you come on two guests laughing that they interfered with the clock as a trick and you are still have hours.
19. As you pass a group of guests you hear someone insisting that one of the group is a famed local notable, one you know on sight. You see that they are dressed plainly, as a down-on-their-luck artist might be, and are insistent that they are no more than a humble artist. Could it be their double or the person you know in disguise?
20. The clock strikes an impossible hour. Suddenly you realise you have lost track of time entirely. It is much later than you had intended. The crowds around you are strange, the air crackles with a wierd energy. Are the teeth in that smile a little to pointed? Are the crowds in the mirror somewhat less than what you can see about you in this grand hall?
The incidents portrayed in this random table are fictitious. No identification with actual persons (living or deceased), places and events is intended or should be inferred.
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