In the peaceful kingdom of Dealthorr, within the capital of Ramsped, a ball is alight in the royal palace. The royal family, though mostly the queen, has invited ambassadors, rulers, diplomats, and representatives from lands all around the world of Veribark. People from all walks of life mix and mingle inside of a grand ballroom, where the world's best have convened to throw a grand party and show off what their kingdom has to offer in a world of relative peace. Some guests brought their families, some brought the key members of their kingdoms. Some brought only themselves and some brought every important person in their lives with them, and all were welcome. Throughout the ballroom, however, lie people of much lower status than the esteemed guests.
Alright, so I am going to need: character name, character pronouns, classes, races, as well as a d4 roll.
Get d100 rolls from all of the children, and basically jump cut from person to person. We see a fighter..... also to be seen is a barbarian axe thrower....... etc etc etc
BARBARIAN
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1 travelling entertainment troupe - axe throwing |
2 travelling entertainment troupe - arm wrestler |
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3 travelling entertainment troupe - able to lift any person |
4 travelling entertainment troupe - bend a solid iron rod in half |
BARD
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1 Part of a band! Playing with the quartet in the corner! |
2 Wandering through the crowds singing, taking requests, and subtly asking for tips. |
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3 Serenading the ball from atop a box seat/balcony above |
4 By the punch bowl, taking a vocal break, humming to themselves |
CLERIC
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1 Watching from wings as an emergency medic |
2 Temporarily hired by castle to bless people and to say nice things from their deity to the guests. |
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3 Part of the guard watching over the ball |
4 One of a few religious people blessing guests as they enter. |
DRUID
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1 travelling entertainment troupe - dancing with wild shape & another druid |
2 travelling entertainment troupe - doing tricks with a scurry of squirrels |
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3 travelling entertainment troupe - climbing up a vine that has been magically cast down from the ceiling and doing aerial tricks |
4 travelling entertainment troupe - taking a break and handing out flowers to guests |
FIGHTER
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1 Standing guard on the outskirts of the party. So much security is needed that it is all hands on deck, which includes using lower ranked guards with little experience. |
2 Walking with a small group of guards around the edges of the party, doing one of many regular patrol sweeps around the perimeter. |
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3 Standing by the punch table, making sure no one slips anything into any of the drinks. |
4 Standing at the foot of the dais where the royal family sit and chat with friends. |
MONK
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1 travelling entertainment troupe - doing tai chi with a group of older guests |
2 travelling entertainment troupe - doing an entertaining (but choreographed) spar with another monk in the troupe |
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3 travelling entertainment troupe - doing yoga with some of the younger guests |
4 travelling entertainment troupe - doing the stereotypical "BREAKING A BOARD WOOOOOAH" karate show |
PALADIN
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1 Standing by the door, blessing people as they walk through, giving them strength, etc. |
2 Standing by a shrine to Irix, standing as a holy guard and symbol for the Ashborn religion. |
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3 Standing watch by the table of covered food, to make sure no one tries to sneak any before the queen tastes it. |
4 Standing guard next to the equipment of the travelling entertainment troupe to make sure nothing walks off. |
RANGER
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1 Standing atop a balcony, watching for threats. |
2 Standing on a balcony on the edge of the ball, making sure nothing climbs up and over into the party. |
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3 Nodding off at their post atop a catwalk. |
4 Standing at the entrance to the ballroom, making sure nothing no beuno gets in. |
ROGUE
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1 Handing out drinks to the guests. |
2 Replacing an empty punch bowl with a full one. |
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3 Handing out finger food to the guests as appetizers before the main meal. |
4 Taking empty glasses and dirty napkins from guests and rushing them to the bus boys in the back. |
SORCERER, WARLOCK, WIZARD
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1 travelling entertainment troupe - putting on a lights show |
2 travelling entertainment troupe - doing a magic show for younger guests, except there isn't any actual magic - just slight of hand tricks. |
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3 travelling entertainment troupe - effectively playing a movie on the wall with illusion magic for younger guests |
4 travelling entertainment troupe - entertaining older guests by changing their drinks and clothes to be different colours |
We also see a couple of drow people, sitting next to the shrine of Irix. However, instead of standing guard, they themselves kneel in front of the symbol of Irix as a symbol of Drow's place in the kingdom of Dealthorr. While they are not completely shunned or banned from society, they are placed in a much lower rank. One of forced submission, perhaps servitude or slavery, repenting for their kind's sins and their crimes against The Creator. They are not allowed to move, speak, or eat, and instead they are treated as statues.
When the clock strikes 10, the queen, Luciana Holloway-Verill, taps her fork against her glass and gets everyone's attention. The room quickly quiets and she rises from her throne on the dais at the end of the room and clears her throat before saying: (LADY HEMLOCK)
I would like to first thank you all for being here. I know that some of you traveled great distances to be here, and I would personally like to show you all my gratitude towards your willingness to travel all the way to our fair city simply for a peaceful get together. Now, I know that you all are very hungry, however I think all of us have some past trauma from meals left best unserved.
The crowd chuckles at what you believe to be a bit of an inside joke among the world leaders. Perhaps there was some foul food at a party before, perhaps they are all just joking about individual bad food they've had on their own, you're not really sure. Queen Luciana continues, (LADY HEMLOCK)
So, this time I would like for you all to know that I will personally be tasting all the food beforehand, as to not sicken any of you. How poor a hostess I would be if one of you were to get food poisoning. Haha!
The queen descends the dais and steps behind the buffet table as the party-goers turn in their chairs to watch the food be uncovered. She nods to some servants and they all pull off the cloches at once, causing the entire ballroom to erupt in oohs and aahs. Foods of all varieties sit upon silver platters, catering to the tastes and resources of all sorts of regions. Entire animals are unveiled next to ambrosia and freshly plucked vegetable dishes. Sauces and dips sit in silver jars and glisten under the lights of the chandeliers. She then goes down the line and starts to taste the food. While she's doing this, she hums to herself, and makes elegant reactions to the cuisine, as the guests nearly drool on their fancy attire with how good the food looks. However, I would like for everyone to make a perception check for me, please.
DC15 PERCEPTION REVEALS A DROW MAN IN A CHEF'S OUTFIT, AVBIN LENOKE, HURRIEDLY WALKING THROUGH THE HALLWAY NEXT TO THE BALLROOM
As the queen takes a spoonful of the fruit salad and puts it in her mouth, she nearly spits it out immediately. She waves her hand that isn't still holding the spoon frantically, and one of the servants hands her a napkin and she spits out the fruit into it. After which she begins coughing in a rather disgusting manner, before swallowing hard and regaining her composure. She says,
I do beg your pardon, but this dish most definitely needs to be sent back. There is something vile in that dressing, I believe.
A servant hands her a glass of water before whisking away the fruit salad, and she drinks it before tasting the rest of the dishes without any further problems. She invites the guests to grab dishes and eat their fill, which they do with great speed.
The guests eat and mingle for a bit, but everyone can see that the queen is not doing well. Over the course of the next hour and a half or so, the queen has steadily slowed down her eating and looked worse and worse. Not just her mood has decreasing, but also her physical appearance. She looks clammy and her skin looks a sickly shade of pale grey-ish white. None the less, she has brushed aside anyone questioning whether or not she should return to her chambers, and has called the room to a dance. They ready themselves on the dance floor in the middle of the circle of tables, however the queen sways and she and King Indulf Holloway take their places in the centre. Even though she was leaning on the arm of the King as she walked down the dais once more, as soon as she hit the ballroom floor, she collapses. A great hubub ensues as the guests both want to crowd around the queen and see what's going on, but also don't want to be rude, the royal children are being forced out of the room as to not further upset their mother, guards rush in to control the crowds, and medics hurry over to the queen. The first one to reach her, a dwarven man, he checks her pulse, but then stops the other medics. You all are able to see through the crowd that something is moving on the queen, something beneath her dress. Her head rolls over to the side, and her tongue becomes visible, and evidently inky and black. You manage to weave around the crowd and the guards pushing them back to the front of the mob of people, and you see that the medics are slowly backing away from the queen, her body now twitching and writhing.
And then it stops. Just for a moment, all is still and no one is able to breathe.
But then you all smell something. Something vile. Something sinister, wafting out of the now completely still queen. And almost in slow motion, you all see something reaching out, trying to reach through the queen. What you previously thought was under her dress now appears to be under her skin, as the flesh above the neckline of her dress has something pushing up against it. It pushes, once, twice, and no one is able to move. On the third push, the flesh rips. And out from her chest, springs a disgusting creature. The creature is purple, and with a bug-like face. His claws tear at the queen, tearing off pieces and shoving them into its mouth. As it rips apart the queen, the party is paralyzed, and they can't stop staring long enough to move, or seemingly even breathe. However, the king is not phased in the same ways, and he steps forward. At the sound of his footsteps, the monster stops eating, and stands to its full height, sizing up King Indulf Holloway. And as the king looks into the buggy eyes of this monster who has just consumed his wife, The King says, (gruff, in Adam's apple)
Guards, your primary goal is to escort our guests to safety. This ettercap will be no match for your strength, I am sure, however this is not a normal ettercap. You will escort our guests first and if need be then you attack this monster, but only if it goes after our guests. Am I understood?
The guards around him give a hearty and united "YES SIR" and the king bellows "AWAY." As the guards help to rush the guests out of the exits of the ballroom, I would like for everyone to roll initiative.
TIME TO BATTLE AN ETTERCAP, MY CHUNKY BOY
https://www.dndbeyond.com/monsters/ettercap
~~~
As you (INSERT KILLING BLOW HERE) this troglodyte screams out and falls to the ground, dead. And you all look around this now empty ballroom, you feel the eerie quiet seep in. Even those of you who haven't been in a castle very long know that it should in no way be this quiet. What do you do?
PC's should find the safe rooms and tell the people in there that the troglodytes are dead. The King will thank them and order the guards to escort everyone to their chambers for the evening, as the ball has concluded. He promises later compensation, and two weeks off, as thanks for saving his guests. The PC's retire for the evening and the night concludes.
If they linger, rp, talk, etc, a scout will eventually come to see if it's safe to leave, and will ask who they are, how they killed it, is it safe, etc. The scout will say that if the ettercap has been killed, to give them this scroll. They receive a scroll that is a royal decree for them to take the next two weeks off, as well as a promise for future compensation in thanks for saving his guests.