Paul Beakley​​​, oh, that’s interesting, the idea of 7+ introducing complications. So not only have you impressed the Elven King, and he’s given you permission to do what you’re asking, but his daughter has fallen in love with you.

NPC rolls would deviate for me so much from RAW that I’d end up writing a new social system…

One place I might be going wrong is skipping the introduction phase. That could be pinch point where only certain skills (and perhaps certain characters) come into play, and makes life more difficult. I didn’t quite understand, and it struck me as some fiddliness which I ignored, but I ought to take a look again at the original rules.