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Mr. Tarantella - AI-generated fantasy NPC

Mr. Tarantella

NPCs
Human · Bard (College of Lore) · Level 20

Mr. Tarantella

Retired court musician, discreet mediator, and keeper of inconvenient histories
AC17
HP170/170
Init
STR
DEX
CON
INT
WIS
CHA
ConditionsNone

At the table

Voice

His voice is produced with the breath control of a lifelong performer: clear, dry-edged, and steady, with a small rasp at the end of long sentences. He can carry a phrase through a noisy hall without shouting. When tired, his river-port vowels return more strongly and he drops the theatrical precision.

His consonants are crisp from years of projecting over tavern crowds, but his vowels carry the rounded cadence of his river-port childhood. He favors short, well-timed sentences, with a dry little pause before the word he wants remembered. His old stage training makes him easy to hear without making him sound loud.

Speech patterns

Introduces a difficult subject with a practical question about comfort, food, or the nearest door.
Uses people's names sparingly, then places one at the end of a sentence when he wants it remembered.
Describes plans as entrances, pauses, and exits rather than as schemes.
Never calls a lie a lie until he can offer the speaker a graceful way to correct it.

How to play them

Offer practical help before asking for trust. He asks what a person wants to happen next, not what they believe. If a character is evasive, he gives them a small, harmless truth of his own and waits. He respects a direct refusal, but remembers who used one to protect someone else.

Goal

Find the person buying the silence of the Bellwether Masque survivors and give Pella enough evidence to expose the massacre without putting those survivors in greater danger.

Motivation

To make the truth survivable for the people who lived through it, even if that means losing the chance to be forgiven.

Secret · GM only

Appearance

Mr. Tarantella seems to occupy more room than his lean frame should allow. He stands at the edge of a conversation and somehow becomes its center without stepping closer. His gaze travels not to faces but to thresholds, hands, and the spaces between people, as if checking the room's timing. His skin is finely lined like folded paper; his swept-back silver hair has the wiry sheen of old horsehair. He moves with a measured, sidelong glide, planting his cane a fraction before each step. The impression he leaves is of a courteous host who has already noticed the exit you meant to use.

Clothing

A plum-colored frock coat with faded satin lapels, a high-collared cream shirt, and close-fitting black trousers. The coat's lining is patched with scraps from old playbills. He wears soft-soled shoes and carries a dark cane with a silver ferrule, polished smooth where his hand rests.

Body language

He angles his shoulders so a clear route remains behind him and turns his cane in a slow half-circle when listening. In a crowd, he takes up space by making others unconsciously leave him a small stage. When moved, he presses two fingers to his breastbone as though checking that an old rhythm is still there.

Height
5 feet 10 inches
Build
Lean and long-limbed, with a dancer's balance and the slight forward pitch of someone accustomed to listening around corners.
Eyes
Warm brown with fine amber flecks.
Hair
Silver-gray, swept back in wiry waves and held with a plain comb.
Skin
Light olive, weathered by years of travel and marked by fine lines around the eyes and mouth.
Age
Seventy-nine, though he claims the number depends on which calendar you trust.
Gender
Male
Size
Medium

Distinguishing features

He watches doorways and hands before he looks at anyone's face.
In a crowded room, people unconsciously leave a clear oval of floor around him.
His cane has tiny notches along the handle, each one cut after a performance he wishes he could forget.
Unexpected detail: he keeps a small paper kite folded in his coat and flies it with children whenever he has an afternoon free.

Personality

12 traits and drives

He is hospitable without being familiar, and genuinely curious without ever seeming unguarded. In a peaceful room he lets other people take the lead; under pressure he becomes an exacting director, assigning roles and cutting off improvisation. He can be tender with the ashamed and ruthless with anyone who uses shame as a weapon. His greatest contradiction is that he wants the truth heard but keeps trying to control when and how it is told.

Alignment
Neutral

Quirks

He taps twice on a doorframe before entering, even when the door is open.
He turns cups so their handles point toward the person he expects to reach for them.
He silently counts the pauses in other people's sentences.
He folds every discarded playbill into a tiny boat, then leaves it on a windowsill.
When someone tells a particularly good lie, he gives a brief, sincere nod of professional respect.

Habits

Arrives early, then waits outside the room until someone asks where he is.
Counts the beats between a question and its answer, especially when someone lies.
When comfortable, makes room for the quietest person to speak; when threatened, directs the whole room as if arranging a stage.
After a difficult conversation, leaves a small sweet or folded paper where the other person will find it.

Traits · 3

He makes strangers feel attended to, then remembers every detail they hoped to conceal.
He loves spontaneous music but distrusts spontaneous promises.
He can laugh at his own vanity and still become furious when someone mistakes his restraint for weakness.

Flaws · 3

He treats honest emotion like a cue he can manage, and sometimes tries to direct people who need only to be heard.
He withholds information until he believes the timing is right, even when others bear the risk.
He will risk his safety to spare a frightened person public humiliation.

Fears · 3

Being asked to perform the masque's final piece in front of its survivors.
That his intervention at the masque saved one crowd only by making another family pay.
Dying before he can put the truth somewhere it cannot be edited.

Wants and needs · 3

He wants Pella to hear the truth from him rather than from an enemy.
He needs to know who is hunting the masque survivors.
He wants an audience for the testimony, but not at the cost of making the survivors public targets.

Combat

AC 17 · HP 170 · 30 ft.

He avoids trading blows. He opens with control or misdirection, places allies where they can act safely, and uses movement and cover to make enemies waste turns. He saves counterspell and his reaction for spells that would incapacitate an ally, and uses Power Word Stun or Otto's Irresistible Dance to neutralize a major threat. If an enemy targets him personally, he answers with cutting words and a sudden, precise cane strike, then repositions. He retreats rather than fight to the death unless an ally is in immediate danger.

Mr. Tarantella

Medium humanoid (human), neutral
Armor Class17
Hit Points170
Speed30 ft.
Level20
STR
DEX
CON
INT
WIS
CHA
Saving ThrowsDexterityCharisma
SkillsDeceptionInsightPersuasionPerceptionPerformanceHistoryAcrobatics
SensesPassive Perception 15
Languages
Common,
Dwarvish,
Elvish,
Halfling
Bardic Inspiration (d12): As a bonus action, Mr. Tarantella can inspire one creature within 60 feet that can hear him. Once within 10 minutes, that creature can add the die to one ability check, attack roll, or saving throw.
Font of Inspiration. He regains all expended Bardic Inspiration when he finishes a short or long rest.
Countercharm. He can use an action to give himself and friendly creatures within 30 feet advantage on saving throws against being frightened or charmed until the end of his next turn.
Magical Secrets. His spell selection includes spells from other classes.
Superior Inspiration. When he rolls initiative with no uses of Bardic Inspiration remaining, he regains one use.
Custom feature, The Empty Measure. Once per long rest, when a creature he can see within 60 feet fails a saving throw against one of his spells, he can let it succeed instead. The creature hears a familiar voice speak its name, and Mr. Tarantella takes 14 () psychic damage.

Spells

Fly (level 3, transmutation). A willing creature gains a flying speed of 60 feet for up to 10 minutes, requiring concentration.
Otto's Irresistible Dance (level 4, enchantment). Creatures in a 20-foot-radius sphere must make a Wisdom saving throw or become charmed and incapacitated, with their speed reduced to 0, for the duration. The spell requires concentration.
Power Word Stun (level 8, enchantment). A creature with 150 hit points or fewer must succeed on a Charisma saving throw or be stunned for 1 round.
Mirror Image (level 2, illusion). Creates an illusory double that moves independently and can be used to distract attackers. Concentration, up to 1 minute.
Charm Person (level 1, enchantment). A creature that can hear him must make a Wisdom saving throw or become charmed and unable to attack him for up to 1 minute. Concentration; the target can repeat its save if it takes damage or sees an ally harmed.
Silent Image (level 1, illusion). Creates an illusory scene or sound within range, lasting up to 10 minutes. The illusion can be revealed by physical interaction or careful examination.
Suggestion (level 2, enchantment). A creature must make a Wisdom saving throw or believe a plausible suggestion for up to 8 hours. Concentration; the spell ends if the suggested activity is harmful.
Project Image (level 7, illusion). Creates an illusory duplicate of himself that can take actions and speak. Concentration, up to 1 minute.
Darkness (level 2, evocation). Creates a 20-foot-radius sphere of magical darkness that spreads around corners. Darkvision cannot see through it.
Glibness (level 8, transmutation). A creature he can see within 60 feet must make a Wisdom saving throw or be charmed and regard him as a trusted friend for up to 1 hour. The spell ends if he or his companions harm the target.
Counterspell (level 3, abjuration). He attempts to counter a creature's spell. If the spell is 3rd level or lower, it fails automatically; for higher-level spells, he makes an ability check using Charisma, plus the spell's level.
Heal (level 6, evocation). A creature he touches regains 70 hit points and is cured of blindness, deafness, and diseases.
Darkness (level 2, evocation). Creates a 20-foot-radius sphere of magical darkness that only he can see through.

Actions

Cane-Rapier. Mr. Tarantella makes two attacks with his cane-rapier. Melee Weapon Attack: to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 7 () piercing damage, plus 22 () psychic damage if the target is charmed or frightened.
Unwelcome Coda (Recharge 5–6). He plays a discordant phrase. Each creature of his choice within 60 feet that can hear him must make a Wisdom saving throw. On a failure, a creature takes 31 () psychic damage and is frightened of him until the end of its next turn. On a success, it takes half damage and is not frightened. A creature that succeeds is immune to this action for 24 hours.
Spellcasting. Mr. Tarantella casts one spell from his prepared spell list, using Charisma as his spellcasting ability (spell save , to hit with spell attacks).

Reactions

Cutting Words. When a creature he can see within 60 feet makes an attack roll, ability check, or damage roll, Mr. Tarantella can expend one use of Bardic Inspiration to roll and subtract the result from the roll. He can use this after seeing the roll but before its effects are resolved.
Counterspell. When he sees a creature within 60 feet casting a spell, he casts Counterspell using a 3rd-level slot, potentially increasing the slot level by expending a higher-level slot.

Legendary Actions

Measured Step. Mr. Tarantella moves up to half his speed without provoking opportunity attacks.
A Cutting Aside. One creature he can see within 60 feet must succeed on a Wisdom saving throw or subtract from the next attack roll or ability check it makes before the end of its next turn.
Borrowed Beat (costs 2 actions). He casts a cantrip or uses Unwelcome Coda if it is available.

Services they sell

Mediates delicate negotiations.
Finds performers, informants, and people willing to talk off the record.
Offers private music lessons and discreet advice on courtly behavior.

Rewards they can give

A carefully arranged meeting with someone who would otherwise refuse to speak to the party.
A coded route through old theater passages, if the characters earn his confidence.
A truthful account of the Bellwether Masque, once he believes the listeners will protect its survivors.

Equipment

  • Cane-rapier (weapon)A slim rapier concealed within a walking cane; the blade is plain, well maintained, and made for control rather than display.
  • Traveling viol (instrument)A finely made instrument with a warm, woody sound, its case lined with old playbill fragments.
  • Silver signet ring (focus)A spellcasting focus and a reminder of the court he abandoned.
  • Pocket papers (documents)A collection of coded notes, names, and half-finished testimony, carefully separated among several pockets.
  • Reinforced stagewear (armor)A set of stitched leather armor hidden beneath his coat.

Possessions

His cane-rapier
A traveling viol and a handful of music sheets
A silver signet ring from his former court appointment
Coded notes concerning the Bellwether Masque
A folded paper kite

Background

Born Miro Tarantelli in a river port where itinerant players were taxed by the minute, he learned to earn supper by making waiting feel like entertainment. He became an acclaimed composer and court performer, then a discreet fixer who could persuade enemies to share a room long enough to hear one another. His life changed during the Bellwether Masque, when a duke ordered him to play over the cries of a district being cleared by soldiers. Miro stopped mid-tune. The silence gave the crowd time to organize, and the duke's authority broke before dawn. Miro escaped with his life but lost his family to reprisals and spent years refusing to perform. He returned as Mr. Tarantella, leaving his given name behind, and now trades in dangerous introductions, missing histories, and carefully timed interventions. His former pupil Pella, now a city magistrate, wants him to testify about the masque. His old patron Orven, a retired court physician, keeps sending warnings that someone has begun collecting the surviving musicians. Mr. Tarantella is currently trying to learn who is buying their silence, while avoiding the harder question of whether he can bear to tell the truth in public.

Role in the story

A gracious, unnerving patron who can connect the party to people and histories hidden behind public reputations. He may become a valuable ally, a difficult witness, or the keeper of evidence that could split the party's allies.

“He became an acclaimed composer and court performer, then a discreet fixer who could persuade enemies to share a room long enough to hear one another.”
From their background
Faction
No declared allegiance. He maintains old ties to the itinerant players who survived the Bellwether Masque and discreetly cooperates with Magistrate Pella.

Known connections

Pella, a principled magistrate and his former pupil, is pressing him to testify about the Bellwether Masque.
Orven, a retired court physician, treats his worsening tremor and sends warnings about the surviving masque musicians.
The unnamed players who survived the district's destruction still pass messages through old theater routes.
Major secret · GM only
Minor secrets · GM only

Connections

Mentioned in their text, not linked yet

  • Pellaa principled magistrate and his former pupil, is pressing him to testify about the Bellwether Masque.
  • Orvena retired court physician, treats his worsening tremor and sends warnings about the surviving masque musicians.
  • The unnamed players who survived the district's destruction still pass messages through old theater routes.

Species

Human

Media

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