My acolytes are going to be investigating the Masqued on Malfi in a session this Wednesday. Their investigation will lead them to a masked ball at one of the Masqued members' homes, and I'm not entirely sure what would be at a noble ball on Malfi. Does anyone have any input on what types of food, entertainment, and patrons such a ball would have?

Thanks

Might be a bit late by now, but I can offer up some basics from my own experience of attending social Balls.

- Ceilidh or more generally: dancing (i.e. folk dancing, if you've ever been to a vaguely Scottish wedding, there might've been a ceilidh [pronounced as kayleigh], but any sort of actual 'organised dancing', from the formal 'Victorian Balls' you might imagine from period dramas through to some sort of mad line-dancing thing, to Greek dancing, tribal dances, whirling dervishes; any type of dancing from any part of the world could probably feature)

- Drinks. Fancier than your straight beers, but folks' will drink those too. Cocktails, wines, port, exquisite drinks, brandies, well-prepared absinthe. Sorting by rooms can be quite effective too, such that folks can retire from one spot into another

- Folk/specialised music. From string quarters to pipers and accordians through anything else you can imagine. Feel free to play about, of course, but picking things out from cultures somewhat different from your own is a good way to give a sense of 'alien formality' to your players; focusing on something more from your own might make it a bit more familiar.

- Disco/club/DJ stuff. Pick a theme or two and run it through later on.

-Segregate the evening. Start with a meal/snacks, advance to a more formal dance setup, then to a more freeform dance, let folks drift between 'the main room' and lots of smaller, novelty/gimmick/speciality rooms. Quite 'rest'/'have a break' rooms.

- If you want to 'extreme' things up a bit, introduce illicit narcotics, dodgy dealings, suspicious activities and such. Bizarre customs can work as a good red herring, if you use 'em.

- Photos. Remembrancers, photographers, artists, sculptors, lots of stuff which appeals to people's vanity and sense of posterity. Good way to remember nights in spite of the quantity of alcohol consumed...

- Chocolate fountain, ice-creams, burgers. Novelty foods. Specialised bars. Outside places to go and get some air, exquisite surroundings...

I'm not sure how helpful that is, but there's plenty of stuff like that. Introduce alot of unfamiliar stuff from social activiites of different cultures here in the real world, draw out some oddness and introduce some peculiarly restrictive/inexplicable customs. Good luck, we're all counting on you!