Illusion/ prank for a king's coronation?

[Hiro Quester]

In my character's backstory, his parents (gnome illusionist father and his bard mother) are credited with helping convince the duke of Gradsul, who would become king Tavis I of Keoland, to reverse his nations prohibitions against the practice of magic nearly 300 years ago.

In addition to their arguments, I described them as having used a little magic to pull a hilarious prank during Tavis's coronation celebrations, that further reinforced the ways magic can be used for good.

Sooner or later I'm going to need to describe this now legendary prank.

I have written a check that my imagination can't yet cash. I need help imagining this.

What kind of good-humored coronation-appropriate prank/demonstration could a gnome illusionist and bard pull off, by about 5th level or so, to impress the new king?

[DeTess]

On the demonstration front? There are a large number of ways illusion cam be combined with thr bardic arts. The easy example would be that they performed a famous epic, with beautiful illusions drawing the audience into the story.

I don't just mean a magical movie theater. For this they'd go all out, transforming the appearance if the throne room itself into the slopes of Dawn's peak, or the grassy fields of mourning that ran red that day. Those attending could walk among the action, with the heroes of old almost seeming close enough to touch.

I don't have any inspiration for a coronation appropriate prank though.

[Jack_Simth]

On the demonstration front? There are a large number of ways illusion cam be combined with thr bardic arts. The easy example would be that they performed a famous epic, with beautiful illusions drawing the audience into the story.

I don't just mean a magical movie theater, for this they'd go all out, transforming the appearance if the throne room itself into the slopes of Dawn's peak, or the grassy fields of mourning that ran red that fay. Those attending could walk among the action, eith the heroes of old almost seeming close enough to touch.

I don't have any inspiration for a coronation appropriate prank though.Clearly, they made the king look like one of the players. But didn't tell him.

[JustIgnoreMe]

In my character's backstory, his parents (gnome illusionist father and his bard mother) are credited with helping convince the duke of Gradsul, who would become king Tavis I of Keoland, to reverse his nations prohibitions against the practice of magic nearly 300 years ago.

In addition to their arguments, I described them as having used a little magic to pull a hilarious prank during Tavis's coronation celebrations, that further reinforced the ways magic can be used for good.

Sooner or later I'm going to need to describe this now legendary prank.

I have written a check that my imagination can't yet cash. I need help imagining this.

What kind of good-humored coronation-appropriate prank/demonstration could a gnome illusionist and bard pull off, by about 5th level or so, to impress the new king?

Speaking as someone who lives in a monarchy, there is probably no such thing as a "hilarious prank" that you can pull at a coronation that won't get you in the monarch's bad books and punished to the full extent of the law. Look up Lèse-majesté (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L%C3%A8se-majest%C3%A9). Coronations are serious business: the UK coronation has only been televised once, and it was treated with the solemnity and dignity of a state funeral. The camera actually panned away at one point (the anointing) out of respect: the ceremony was too special to be shown to the masses.

After the coronation, that's another matter. At weddings, couples often leave the church to the sound of a silly song they both like: I've heard people exit to Yakkety Sax, the Muppet Show, The Proclaimers, all kinds of nonsense. Maybe the King exited the hall not to the choir hymns he was expecting, but to the perfectly-recreated sound of his own voice singing his favourite not-too-bawdy folk song. That's the kind of thing a King might laugh at in public.

[Telonius]

The Gnomes had detected a plot to assassinate the king during the coronation. It was extraordinarily well thought-out, and would have been virtually undetectable (thanks to the prohibitions on magic). Since they detected this magically, they couldn't go to the Guard with the evidence. Being the pranksters and illusionists they were, they were able to make a room-wide illusion at just the right moment so that everyone seemed to look like the servants; made the assassin believe that the harp he was holding was actually a bow, and amplified his voice so the whole room could hear him basically confess the act.

[Zaq]

It’s a copout, but I kind of feel like it would be best to give this the Noodle Incident treatment.

Allude to it, but don’t ever nail down what it actually was. The listener’s imagination will likely make it bigger/funnier than anything you can actually lay out. Also, this way you can’t accidentally introduce inconsistencies or plot holes into the story of the Great Prank.

[Hiro Quester]

I'm definitely thinking post-coronation party, not during the ceremony.

My default is to Noodle Incident the whole thing. But with a little detail, just enough to imply funny.

Such as saving the king from an assassination attempt, by hilariously embarrassing the assassin (something like the result Scooby and Shaggy regularly achieve), sound like a promising theme to "noodle" in.

Or the musical illusion that helped convince the masses of the new King's magnanimity and clarity of purpose, but in a slightly embarrassing way (perhaps embarrassing the courtiers who were trying to control the new king, so they stayed out of his way).

Thanks for helping me get started on this....

[Segev]

The crucial thing to make clear is why "a hilarious prank" would have been seen as "magic being used for good." Because if I were writing a seemingly-petty reason for magic to be outlawed, "a hilarious prank" at a king's coronation would be a good explanation. If I wanted to play it a little less petty, distrust of magic would already have been rampant, and the king was on the fence about it before this "hilarious" prank showed him that magic could get around all his defenses and humiliate him. What could it do if it had MEANT more harm? And the "good" mages of the realm are THIS irresponsible? Nay, saith the King, magic is too dangerous to be trusted in the hands of the men who apparently can wield it. It must be banned.

[Telonius]

The crucial thing to make clear is why "a hilarious prank" would have been seen as "magic being used for good." Because if I were writing a seemingly-petty reason for magic to be outlawed, "a hilarious prank" at a king's coronation would be a good explanation. If I wanted to play it a little less petty, distrust of magic would already have been rampant, and the king was on the fence about it before this "hilarious" prank showed him that magic could get around all his defenses and humiliate him. What could it do if it had MEANT more harm? And the "good" mages of the realm are THIS irresponsible? Nay, saith the King, magic is too dangerous to be trusted in the hands of the men who apparently can wield it. It must be banned.

Yeah, that's why I'd make it so that the "prank" is actually being used to defeat and humiliate the king's enemies rather than the king himself. It has to be something that solves an actual threat to the king or the kingdom, in a way that's so stylish and funny that he's got to allow it.

Going BBC-Merlin on it is another option; consistently solve problems for the king unbeknownst to him, and gradually work him up to revealing that you've been protecting him the whole time. But that's not nearly as dramatic (and not really conducive to a single ultimate prank either).

[Hiro Quester]

Honestly this whole thing is a result of my misunderstanding the history of Keoland.

Magic was banned for a while, then this king reversed that. But I originally misread and though this king was the one who banned it. So I decided that the illusionist and bard could have been there, and might have influenced the decision.

Then I reread and understood he had reversed the prohibition on magic. But i decided to stick to my story about the prank. Because it’s funnier. So I sent that to DM and he liked it.

So now I’m stuck with a story about a prank that helped the king in some way.