Ballroom Donors Cover 330 Million gp for Ivory Keep Dance Hall

The Waterdeep Post-Crier published the donor list for the Ivory Keep's new ballroom this week, and the gentleman from the Golden Towers is, once again, not on it. About 330 million gp has been raised for the hall. Fifty-seven guilds gave 100,000 gp or more, which is the sort of number a ballroom donors list is supposed to have.

The largest gifts were 25 million gp each from Envydia and Discord Apple, two firms that between them sell most of the realm's enchanted slates and rune-chips. MicroScroll and Palanteer Seeing-Stones each gave 10 million. So did Lockhammer Martial Forge, which builds siege engines and has, one assumes, always wanted somewhere to put them. Cometcast gave 7.5 million. Under the rules of the Chamber of Commons, a gift of that size is a courtesy. Under the rules of everyone else, it is a gift.

Gargoogle gave 22 million gp. It arrived labeled as the settlement of a suit Donwald had brought against its video-scrying hall, which means the money was a payment to end a dispute, and the dispute was the High Lord's. I looked for the procedural term for this. There isn't one. The motion carried. Nobody read it.

Donwald pledged to pay for part of the hall himself. The Post-Crier found no coin from him. I checked the Promises Made and Promises Kept ledger and entered it under both columns, which is a first. The tally stands at fourteen made and the one about adjourning early kept.

The lady from the Blue Donkeys called the list "a menu." The gentleman from the Red Oliphants called it "a patriotic donation drive," and then, when pressed, "a very large menu." Neither of them had read the list. A courtier who asked not to be named because they were not authorized to be awake told me the donors were "just supporting dancing." Several of the guilds have business before the Keep this season. The Keep, you may recall, has lately been fond of banning the scribes who ask about this sort of thing, and of asking the High Courts to revive old grudges. A room that large will need a great deal of chandelier.

Under the Keep's own rules, a donor may not be named in a record of favors received. The donors were named in a record of donations instead, which is a different record. The distinction is doing most of the work.

Debate on the matter lasted nine minutes. The ballroom's floor plan runs sixty pages. Nobody has yet explained who the first dance is for.

— O.V., from the gallery