The Stew of Tiamat

[Ridai]

In response to Santokumaru's inquiry, King Consommé strokes his bushy beard. "There were stories of sleeping Haxenspargilis even my grandfather has heard, but no one knows where his lair lies. The Heroes of Light even tried to look for it, but their journey could not be delayed. As far as dragonkind in general is concerned, being very long-lived creatures of magic, they have a much more... long-term perspective, and this allegedly also applies to their appetite, even if there are also ravenous exceptions. With luck, this should give us time. The Granaregent and her subordinates will be able to tell you more about this stew. Now then, godsspeed," the king (looking a little more kingly again after having been expertly brushed clean) tells the party before turning to organizing the retreat/evacuation to the Town of Entrée.

Heading out of the castle gate, ahead of the stream of evacuees, it is only a short way downhill to the picturesque (and normally peaceful) town of Entrée, where they walk past the colorful quaint houses, many with thatched roofs, some tiled (it really is mostly up to preference given the material grown and sometimes enhanced locally), many of them also sporting their own planters and gardens of varying sizes. There is still the scent of meals being cooked here or there, this being the early afternoon, but the mood is decidedly less comfy than you are used to.

Several people are out on the street, looking up to the castle from where the dragon's thundering voice came from beneath a dark, still swirling sky. The local guard is urging people to stay calm and go back into their houses. There is also middle-aged woman leaning out of her kitchen window, shaking her fist at the top of the castle. "-making such a ruckus in the middle of the day and-" She sees and recognizes the party, who decidedly are not the target of her ire, switching back to maternal and smiling sweetly on a dime, with a "Hello, dearies!" to boot, before looking back up and- "Damned dragon thinks it owns the place, that inflated scaly tinderbox-"

Soon, they reach the large, sturdy building that houses the Entréean Grand Granary. The guard detail assigned to it is naturally on high alert, but when they see your insignia, they quickly usher you in through the smaller double door installed into the grand pumpkin-shaped gate. Inside, there is much activity in the staging area by the gate, granary workers bustling about while the leader of guard detail, Mace, is commanding his squad. The leader is a wiry man with quite the impressive chin and short brown hair, though as leaders go, he seems fairly relaxed in such a situation.

It is not difficult to find Anise, the current Granaregent, meaning she is in charge of all granary business and overseeing the farming efforts of the region. Built like a walking fortress, dressed in the green coat and gloves of the Grand Granary (which, on her, makes her look more like a commander than the head of an administration) and sporting a sandy-colored mane of hair, she is coordinating her subordinates quickly and efficiently.

"Hey, you folks," Anise calls over to you, waving you closer to the counter (laden with folders and the odd box or two) she is standing behind. "Here for the Stew of Tiamat? Hard not to hear the lizard. Know you got invited to the castle, and if you're here now, figure you got sent. Sent Tom to gather the ingredients, we keep enough on hand of anything local." Before either one of you or Anise can get another word in, one of the granary workers comes running over, a lean young man with freckles and a shock of red hair, looking quiet very alarmed and out of breath.

"Boss- *pant* Boss! We got-" He sees the group, and one part of it especially. "Hi, Vesper~" Troubles forgotten for a moment, he has a dreamy expression and blush on his face, before remembering the situation and Anise's furrowing brow. "We got problems! Ingredients for the recipe are missing-" "WHAT!" Everyone briefly stops as Anise shouts, before remembering they still have something to do, although Mace comes over.

"Tom, we just did our last inventory a week ago! How are we missing ingredients?!" Anise's fist hammers onto the counter, making all folders and boxes jump and land back where they started.

"I don't know! I thought- I know we had them last we checked. Documented and everything!" Tom holds up a clipboard for further emphasis, even shaking it a little. He hands a note to Anise, who scans it furiously.

"No reports of trespassing. All's been quiet, far as I know. Morale's been high 'cause of the Heroes of Light. I'll send some of my boys and girls to go check the points of entry," Mace lets Anise know, who simply nods, pinching the bridge of her nose, scrunching up her face. She turns back to the party.

"Okay, listen up. You were candidates for the prophecy, so I think you got what it takes, and I could use an extra set of eyes here, so I'm skipping the whole quest board thing. I want you to help look for why were are missing inventory all of a sudden. Based on that, we'll know if we can get 'em back and who to pound into the dirt for it, or if we need to go get new produce." Anise takes a large, venerable-looking book, finds a specific spread of pages, and lays it on the counter for you to see. It looks like a recipe, but with special mention of five specific ingredients, each represented by a color, yet without names.

"The Stew of Tiamat is an ancient magic recipe, holiday favorite of dragons apparently. We got the basic ingredients, but there's the Big Five. Since it's allegedly handed down from Tiamat, Mother of Dragons, the recipe requires five ingredients of specific affinity, one for each of Tiamat's heads. Only some mana-infused produce and meats even have affinities worth talking about for this recipe, and figuring out what the ones that do have is a huge pain in the neck. Luckily, we have all five in the Entrée region. Bad news is that four of the five are missing for some damn reason." Anise raises a fist, raising fingers as she iterates.

"First, Nix Chevalitas, Onions of Champions. That's the white affinity. Only one we can grow on purpose here, still got plenty of those. The rest, we don't have anymore." Eleanora knows Nix Chevalitas are one of the basic ingredients used in many, many Entréean recipes, its properties helping people grow up healthy and strong. Eleanora has also heard Anise fell into a cauldron of Nix Chevalitas soup as an infant, which allegedly is why she became so tall and musclebound. It is also hypothesized that the local diet including so much Nix Chevalitas is the reason why heroes originate here every now and then, but that has yet to be proven (not that this stops various forms of local pride and/or boasting).

"Second, Emeraldia, Apples of (Former) Blight. You'll be shocked those're the green one."

"Third, Rougelike, Meat of Malice. Red, and not just for the color of the meat."

"Fourth, Cobalt Heirlooms, Tomatoes of the Siegemaster. Blue because color of themselves and how they burn, since they are always on fire."

"And fifth, Schwarzkreuz, Peppers of the Void. I trust you can figure that one out." Anise lowers her hand.

"Tom, you go with them and show 'em where we stored what's missing. Make sure they can interview any of the workers they need to. And no letting Tourna touch the produce, or Eleanora 'preserve' anything." Tom immediately is standing very upright, with a crisp salute (and quick look over to Vesper, getting that dreamy expression again).

Mace waves a guard over, a timid and a little nervous-looking dark-haired girl. "Cherry, you know what's up, you're these guys' guard liaison. Any of the boys and girls wanna brush you or them off, tell 'em the cap's gonna cut their mead privilege." Cherry jolts up. "U-understood, captain!" Mace slaps her on the leather of her upper arm. "Atta girl. Chin up, gonna get this done."

Cherry looks to the party, fidgets, and bows deeply. "N-nice to meet you!"

OOC

As usual, you are free to interject stuff at any point in the above scene, just wanted to move things to a point where actionables don't amount to "I go there." or basically advancing the text. This is just for this intro section.

You have basically free reign when it comes investigating the missing ingredients. Tom and Cherry can answer questions about the Grand Granary in relation to their fields of work and enable you to interview whoever. You can also ask Anise and Mace, if you want.

If you'd like, you can start investigating by physically checking the locations, interviewing workers or guards, using magic, or whatever else you can think of. Each of you can do their own investigation type or you can do things together.

Feel free to discuss things with the others if you are looking for ideas on how to approach this.

Edited March 17 by Ridai (see edit history)

[Llyarden]

Tourna waved back happily to the woman looking out of the window, its upper body swivelling so it could look up at her while it kept walking - and then paused as a kind of ratcheting of unhappy gears sort of sound issued from somewhere in its body. It tilted on one side, scratching at its side like a dog scratching at its ear, and found a lingering root that had apparently not listened to Eleonora's comment about wrapping up nice golems. (Or maybe it had just misunderstood. Trees were not known for their command of grammar.)

Once they arrived at the Great Granary to meet Anise, it scuttled up onto the counter and settled down, only briefly deterred by getting shooed off of the clipboard it had tried to sit on. It was safe to say that Tourna liked it here. There were so many exciting ingredients, and even if it knew it wouldn't be allowed to experiment with them...well, a golem could dream.

The sudden shout snapped it back to reality with a surprised whistle and a disgruntled look at Tom, but as the Granary staff continued to speak, it got more and more excited, almost dancing on its three legs by the time they were given their orders.

"...no letting Tourna touch the produce..."

The little golem drooped sadly, letting out a low warble that sounded very much like a sigh, slowly dragging itself off the counter to rejoin the party.

[Zashuan]

Santokumaru bows to the king and thanks him profusely for his assistance, even though the king seems largely preoccupied with the bustle of the current emergency.

As Anise recounts the missing ingredients, Santokumaru listens and nods attentively. He appears neither concerned nor alarmed; perhaps it is his unwavering sense of calm, or perhaps he simply views the ever-complicating list of tasks like a bony fish, that need only be cut in the proper method and order to yield the desired filet. Knowing Santokumaru, it's probably the second one.

After brief introductions are made with the named attendants of the Granary, Santokumaru turns to his newfound friend, Vesper, and bows.

"Forgive me if I speak too boldly, Sir Vesper, but I could not help but notice on the roof that you have an eye for detail, which cuts away all unnecessary information. If it is not too much to ask, I would implore you to turn that unerring eye to the places where these precious ingredients once sat. You may see clues where I would see only emptiness."

"While my own ability to see such truths is but an echo of yours, I will aid as you direct me. Together, may we slice away this mystery, and leave naught but the truth."

[Dodgeson]

Vesper smiled and gave a small half bow in Tom's direction, he was rather busy at this exact moment but it would be the height of rudeness to not at the very least acknowledge him. That done he could focus his attention back to the matter at hand, waving away Santokumaru's bow as he tucked the white cloth back in to his pocket.

"While I appreciate the compliment there's no need for such formality. Vesper will suffice, I am but a humble servant, it would be my pleasure to aid you in getting to the bottom of this mystery. The sooner we resolve this little problem the sooner we can bring the Princess home safely. Lady Eleanora, Sir Tourna will you be joining us?"

There was maybe just a hint of excitement creeping out at the edges of Vesper's professional facade as he waited for the others to answer, paying special attention to the golem's reaction, any connection to the dogeared detective novels in his quarters at Lord Reuben's manor were purely speculative. Once arrangements were confirmed he would let Tom lead the way to the scene of the crime, whoever the thief was they may have thought that they were clever but Vesper was sure that they weren't as sharp or fastidious as an Elysium butler.

INS+INS

[Llyarden]

Tourna perked up at Vesper's words - maybe it was getting called 'Sir Tourna,' which was definitely a novel experience for the little golem - and whistled happily, its previous sour mood shaken off in the blink of an eye, and it scampered after the butler as he went to investigate - although once they arrived at the ingredient storage, it became uncharacteristically slow and careful as Vesper started his inspections, following the butler around like a shadow, contorting and extending its legs to peer closer at everything he examined a few moments after he moved on.

It was just barely possible that Tourna was considering that since Vesper appeared to have become the leader of the group, he might be the one with the authority to give it some produce to play with as a treat if it impressed him.

[Zelphas]

"I'm telling ya, Ani, it'd save ya a fortune on storage and such," Eleanora quips good-naturedly when Anise mentions that she shouldn't 'preserve' anything, always happy to reopen the conversation if it's available. "I'm happy to join, o'course, though I can't imagine who here'd be stealing food; all the Granary people are right nice folks, if a bit too nervous and unaware of good, sound country practices from time to time."

Letting Vesper get a head start on the investigation, Eleanora turns instead towards their two tour guides. "Tom, ya gotta tell me what's your favorite bit o'produce here--aside from the one that just walked in, o'course!" She winks at the boy, her eyes flicking once towards Vesper mischievously before she looks back at Cherry. "Aw, now, we don't bite, I promise! Santo's a big softie under the knives, Vesper's the very soul a'courtesy, you know Tourna, and I'm just like any reg'lar priestess of Beneficent Life m'self!" She happily chatters with the two, quickly working to relax them as Vesper gets on with the other work.

[Ridai]

To Eleanora, Anise sighs, once again having this conversation. "And I keep telling you we need produce without life-aspected mana deposits. Messes with all its properties over time and goes right into people."

As Tom turns as red as his hair (any possible words are instead ambushed on the way and replaced with unintelligible noises and coughing), Cherry responds with a shaky smile and matching "R-right, of course!"

Vesper taking the lead, however formally or informally, Anise upnods to him and adds "Bring the results straight to me, sooner the better."

Tom guides the party deeper into the Grand Granary. The sound of many booted feet walking on the old smooth stone floor fills the air alongside work chatter and the occasional calls over to someone else. Everyone is busy gathering produce on carts, re-checking the inventory and managing the flow of wares into and out of the granary (and those also getting checked again).

There are multiple sections to the place, from shelves upon shelves of spice drawers, the tall grain silos, cold storage for meat and other highly perishable foods, darker and temperature-controlled sections for various vegetables and fruits, long-term storage for pickled/fermented/preserved goods, liquid tanks and barrels and jugs and bottles, as well as a smaller staging area for goods that need to be rotated out (whether to be used in compost, to feed animals, or simply offered to people who don't mind aged-but-still-good produce). Tom points each out as they go, even if he does not have the time to go into much detail. You all can also see the guard detail being busy looking at any doors and windows into the place, as well as generally looking about (or occasionally helping the workers because boy are things busy right now and boy those towers of stacking crates getting rapidly carted about sure are teetering a whole lot).

However, apart from all these there is one more section which is of much greater importance right now. In the back of the Grand Granary, they see a separate area labeled via a plaque reading Nix Chevalitas, filled with bins upon bins of Onions of Champions. "They aren't bothered by light, they only sprout if actually put into soil or water. We think it is because of their affinity," Tom says, gesturing to the core ingredient of Entréean daily cuisine as they go to the two double doors bordering the Place of Many Onions. One is simply labeled Affinity Storage A, the other Affinity Storage B. Both are clearly locked tight.

"This is where we keep all other produce with significant affinities, be it just in case, for special occasions, or the occasional Delicamancy. I guess in this case, it's all three at the same time. These are the only ways inside, and every kind of produce is kept and preserved in whatever ways necessary. Because of the care needed to keep these, we only admit fully trained workers, or trainees under strict supervision of their trainer. Anise put the policy in place after the Beancident." Tom shudders audibly at speaking that term, Cherry shudders at hearing it, and so do two workers who are only very, very slightly in earshot as they push their carts along.

Inside the Affinity Storages, there is only magical light, and you see more clearly divided and labeled storage units, each looking a bit different from the others. Some are seemingly simply open bins, where it is more important to keep the content secure than specially cared for, while others are tightly bound sacks or satchels from specific textiles, leather, or even leaves. There are glass domes with rainbow-color cheeses or polyhedral berries, colored vials and flasks (one being upside down because the orange liquid inside also remains at the top of the container), casks made of very specific wood, a column or two of vines and shrubs, nets and curly pink sausages hanging from the ceiling, and even what appears to be very dry and long-lasting loafs of bread (and you are informed that these, too, are actually containers, and yes, this turned out to be the ideal containining method, and you actually squeeze them to retrieve the contents).

The investigation begins promptly as you are shown the spaces of the missing produce. Detective-Butler Douceur directs his team of Inquisitive Gentlepeople with a sure hand, truly displaying the excellence of the famed Elysium butling (Tom is standing with his cheeks in his hands watching and quietly gushing to the still a little nervous Cherry between answering questions. Cherry listens with the patience of a jittery saint, if a little at a loss at what to answer Tom outside of "Mhm"s).

First is the Cobalt Heirlooms (Affinity Storage A), which are kept in a stone bin with a heavy lid, only to be lifted with thick fire-resistant arm gloves, apron, and face mask (last one optional, depending on your attachment to hair). The container is completely empty at first glance, the flaming tomatoes just gone. But nearby and under the container, there are slightly charred spots, and also in the seams of the floor and especially the worktable next to it meant for packing/unpacking the tomatoes. Some of these are from doused burns and some turn out to be leftovers of the Cobalt Heirlooms. Someone removed the tomatoes, and it appears they got too close to some surfaces or perhaps were dropped, possibly stomped out and extinguished. It reads like either willful destruction (if the sloppy kind) or accident. Tom also informs them that no transport containers were missing or have been checked out.

Second, the Emeraldia (Afinity Storage A). The bin is askew, pretty much nothing left, except for one apple squashed on the floor and the remains of a mostly eaten one discarded without care. It was a lot of apples and geting those out without anyone noticing would be... challenging. Until Vesper's elven eyes spot dirty skid marks next to a large barrel made of twelve different kinds of wood. The party moves the barrels aside and beneath they find... a tunnel. Dug through the very solid stone foundation of the Great Granary. Santokumaru looks at the tunnel and can see it was dug with... big spoons? Or something with about that shape? There are also footprints of reptiles. And it doesn't take long: kobolds, the squat little bipedal miniature dragon-adjacent creatures, who apparently like apples very, very much. You are also fairly certain they were not responsible for the loss of the Cobalt Heirlooms, as they probably would have made a far bigger ruckus.

Third, the Rougelike (Affinity Storage B). Kept in a cooling box covered in what appears to be lightning-repelling runes and the insides only to be handled with tongs, only one lonely little brilliant-red cut remains, far too little for the Stew of Tiamat. The lid was not properly closed again, as the meat is supposed to be occasionally crackling with latent red lightning. Any worker would have known how to do this. A transport satchel is also missing, and the amount of meat that was there could be removed without raising much attention. This was clearly taken out of this place on purpose. Tourna also finds a dark-colored strand of hair or two.

And lastly, and initially the most confusing, the Schwarzkreuz (Affinity Storage B). Kept in a completely light-proof sealed bag, because it really can't take prolonged exposure to light (especially sunlight). The bag is open and seemingly empty, making one wonder if it simply evaporated. There is a small hole of the kobold tunnel in this storage as well, but it doesn't seem like the kobolds did much in here. The Schwarzkreuz is right next to the (more haphazardly covered) hole. Eleanora, with her affinity for necromancy life magic can still sense faint traces of the Schwarzkreuz in the bag and finds what looks like green-black sludge. Upon further examination, the party can reconstruct a likely series of events: the kobolds tunneled in here. Didn't see apples anywhere. Realized they were in the wrong room. Went back into the tunnel and kept tunneling. As for the sludge... likely a curious kobold opened the bag, got a nose-full of Schwarzkreuz peppers, and sneezed mightily. Most of the pepper spread through the room and evaporated, the rest was turned into a Schwarzkreuz-kobold snot emulsion.

Tom and Cherry give a dim look at the remains in the bag for a long time.

Favor earned by Vesper's Crit

Though they are not currently all present, Vesper gains the respect of the Entréean Grand Granary guard detail (or EGG Squad for short) for his incredible detective skill and diligence. They will also pursue some more butlery virtues in their training to improve themselves. Cherry is included in all of this.

Investigation Status

With Vesper's critical success, additional help from Santokumaru, and Tourna and Eleanora also pitching in, you made tremendous investigative progress. Two of the four mysteries are solved, Rougelike got a very strong lead, and Cobalt Heirlooms will most likely also not take too long. Let me know if you would like to continue to interviews, do something else, or feel like "nah, let's skip the rest".

Edited March 25 by Ridai (see edit history)

[Zelphas]

Eleanora flinches slightly with an unfamiliar emotion--guilt--when the Beancident is mentioned. It was never traced back to her, at least, but still. Even she knows that was a terrible idea, in hindsight.

She lets Vesper do his thing, inspecting the enchanted foodstuffs with interest and getting as close as she can manage. Once the investigation seems to be winding down, Eleanora steps forward. "Well, I think you've pretty well hunted down the cause of the apples 'n' peppers vanishin', and the Rougelike's got stole by someone with dark hair. Did y'know, some people've told me they thought I should have dark hair? "Midnight" or "like death" they say. Silly, I know. But anyways! right now, I'd say the only one without any straightfor'ard leads's the Cobalt Heirlooms. We've got some scraps left, though, so I'm thinkin': why don't we ask them? I'll get right on it, won't take me but two shakes of a manticore's stinger!"

If no one strenuously stops her, Eleanora moves back to the scorch marks near where the Cobalt Heirlooms were stored. Pulling out a stick of chalk (pink, strangely, because she found someone selling the color when she was low and enjoyed the novelty), she sketches out a precise but complicated arcane sigil around the largest of the chalk marks, muttering the entire time in a language that seems to crawl around in the ear rather than pass through it to the brain. Finishing her sketch, she sits back, claps her hands together, and waits for the result.

INS + WLP vs. DC 10 (roll

[Zashuan]

Santokumaru listens along with Vesper's appraisal of the situation, moving things as directed and using his knives as impromptu forensic markers, indicating where a kobold may have entered from or where Cobalt Heirlooms may have sizzled away. The more he spends time with his newfound teammates, the more he is in awe of their intellect and abilities. Eleanora's powerful magic, Vesper's unshakable will, and how Tourna appeared to be some kind of robot from an ancient civilization? He was surprised that more people didn't seem amazed by Tourna's existence, but this is what all big cities are like, he thinks to himself.

As the rest of the team talks with Tom, Cherry, Mace, and other assorted Granary attendants, Santokumaru sits by the sidelines and watches, trying to read emotions and gauge reactions. Like a cutter of fruit parting the rind from the fruit itself, so too would Santokumaru have to separate the peel from the truth.

...but since he doesn't have any prior experience with any of these people, it's hard to distinguish strangeness in their demeanor from their normal, everyday selves. Is Cherry that nervous all the time? Was Tom's hair always that red? How trustworthy were the guards working under Mace? Santokumaru quickly finds himself awash in a sea of details, unsure which are important and which are chaff to be trimmed away.

Edited March 23 by Zashuan (see edit history)

[Llyarden]

Given that Tourna was being surprisingly quiet (by its standards), it might not have been noticeable at first that it had stopped following Vesper around, instead 'crouching' by stretching out its legs and lowering its body down, and disappearing briefly under the shelf where the satchels were stored.

It definitely was noticeable, however, when an excited whistle issued from underneath the shelf and a slightly dusty Tourna popped back out, scuttling delightedly around the floor and waving a few strands of hair that it had clutched proudly in one of its claws, darting between...well, basically everyone in the room and showing off its discovery.

[Dodgeson]

Vesper followed their guide to the Affinity Storages before turning his keen elven senses towards the problem at hand with a lot of hmms and ahas (and perhaps the notion that Tom should be a few steps behind him so he had somebody to monologue to but that was copper novel nonsense and quickly ignored) until he finally made a pronouncement.

"It would seem kobolds are to blame for at least some of our woes, the rest I'm afraid I'm less clear on." Of course this lead to one obvious question and hopefully Tom and/or Cherry were the ones to answer it "I don't suppose either of you would know where any of those reptilian rascals might dwell?"

Luckily for the missing ingredients he wasn't able to pin a culprit on the rest of his team came through once again and being the humble servant that he was it behooved him to offer his help "Is there anything I may do to assist you Lady Eleanora?"

If the answer was no he'd simply step back and join Santokumaru in observing the proceedings.

 

[Ridai]

Vesper's announcement is met with "Ohhh!"s and fervent applause by Tom. "Such splendid work by the master detective! And kobolds live in caves and forests, right, Cherry?" he says, nudging Cherry who has sweat droplets rapidly stream down her face while maintaining a slightly uncomfortable smile.

"R-right! Th-they might be somewhere in Burokori Foreeauhauahau-" comes out of Cherry as Tourna proudly runs around, waving the strands of hair as the guard recoils in shock (amidst more unintelligible noises). "Oh, ah, hahahaha, didn't see Tourna there, is all! S-s-so the 'bolds are p-probably in Burokori Fo- Fo-fofofofofo" Her voice climbs ever higher as Eleanora announces that the Rougelike thief has dark hair, Cherry practically turning into a fountain in the background.

Tom quirks an eyebrow, looking a little concerned, asking "Hey Cherry, are you-" "Oh, th-th-the Rougelike thief? Th-that would be so unlikely, r-right? Would need a satchel and tongs and everything, haha, hahahaha... haha... ha..." Cherry's very quite extremely nervous laugh peters out when she realizes everyone is looking at her now (well, everyone but Eleanora, who is busy using the moment of distraction to try out her fancy chalk!), until she freezes in a laughing pose.

---

Several days ago, the day before the Heroes of Light began their journey

Cherry had her sleeves rolled up in her home kitchen, eyes burning with energy, smiling fiercely, wearing her favorite apron, and her chef's hat on to keep her hair out of her face! Pile of Rougelike at the ready, as was her arsenal of additional ingredients! Looking good, feeling good!

"Right! Time to power up the heroes and make the best... hmm..." Quick paging through her ideas. "Oh, this is to see them off, so it should be feel-good-party-food! Burgers it is!" She put a hand on her upper arm and flexed with the other. The Rougelike crackled in the huge bowl. "I'll bring the leftover meat back tomorrow!" But for now, it was cooking time, hoooooooo!

A few hours later

"Wow, Cherry, you really didn't have to do this for us," Kale said, eyebrows raised as high as they could go in astonishment.

"I really got to put this on the menu at home," Lord Reuben mused in a quite pleased voice, rubbing his be-goatee-d chin. Elsewhere, Vesper lightly sneezed quite gentlemanly into a handkerchief. Brie experienced a dire cold shiver running down her spine.

"These're the biggest darn patties I've ever seen!" Saffron exclaimed, fingers already wiggling as she was leaning in.

"You've really outdone yourself, Cherry," Clove said, putting a hand on Cherry's shoulder.

"Aw, it was nothing~" Cherry answered, feeling all warm and fuzzy, standing next to the table laden with massive, freshly-made, fragrant, Borgir-class burgers.

The party ended up completely and utterly stuffed, but instead of feeling sick, they were practically crackling with energy, to the point of their hair rising up and glowing for a brief moment as they all leveled up at once in an instant.

The next day

Her Gift of Borgir was a complete success! Time to quietly return the Rougelike-

Cherry stood over the temporary cooling box where she put the remaining meat.

Cherry stared down at a single cut of meat.

Cherry realized she was so pumped up with motivation that she fried up almost all of the rare meat.

The tongs slipped out of her hand and hit her on the foot.

---

Back at the present time

"I'msosorryI'msosorryI'msosorryI'msosor-" Cherry is bowing and apologizing at a feverish tempo after telling how the Rougelike "disappeared", Tom trying to get her to stop, as Eleanora finishes her ritual with a clap of the hands, the chalk and tomato remains lighting up in a blue hue.

"It's okay, Cherry, we can explain it to Anise- Wait Eleanora, why are you casting spells in the-" "YEEEEEAAAAAAH!" the spectral image of a Cobalt Heirloom tomato with little stick figure arms and legs announces its presence as it leaps up from the charred remains. "IT'S TOMATO TIIIIIME, WOOP WOOP!" The ghostmato pumps its arms enthusiastically. Tom stares down at the apparition. Cherry is still busy apologizing.

"WANNA KNOW WHERE MY HOMIES AT?! HELL YEAH, I'LL SHOW YA! VAMOS!" One arm gestures for the assembled party to follow, while the other points ahead. The next moment, the tomato waddle-runs off and out of the Affinity Storage. The workers and guards of the Grand Granary watch as the party and their guides run after a ghostly burning tomato, out a currently unbarred side exit, to a few compost containers in a small enclosure towards the back of the granary. The tomato slaps the side of one of the containers.

"THIS OUR NEW CRIB! GOT MAD STOMPED, BUT YOU KNOW WHAT, AIN'T EVEN MAD, GIVES YA AN ALL-NEW PERSPECTIVE ON THINGS!" it hollers (there's a muffled "YEAH!" from within). Behind the party, two Granary workers come over to them. From the looks of it a veteran worker in his 20s, alongside his younger woman trainee, wearing heavier work gloves and boots.

"Can we help you-" they try and ask as the tomato suddenly leaps over with a double backflip, landing on the trainee's left boot.

"THERE'S SOME OF US STUCK UNDER THERE! BUT HEY, NO HARD FEELINGS! REALLY BROADENED THE HORIZON! NEVER WERE IN MANY PLACES AT ONCE BEFORE! BIT'S STUCK TO KOBOLD FEET, TOO! NO IDEA WHERE THAT'S NOW THO, SORRY BRO!" Stick figure arms point under the soles of the trainee's and veteran's boots. While the tomato sounds pumped as hell, the veteran worker looks like a mixture of confused and concerned, while the trainee seems mortified and close to fainting.

"ALRIGHT, GOTTA GET BACK, BOOK CLUB'S STARTING! PEACE!" The ghost Cobalt Heirloom throws gang signs and disappears.

Today, the party learned the highly exothermic nature of the tomatoes was not the only high energy part of them.

Meanwhile, Santokumaru has been examining, calculating, putting together the many clues and pieces of evidence. The way things looked in the Affinity Storage, you could assume it was some sort of accident. Some tomatoes were dropped by mistake during the training of the trainee, their fire was threatening the rest of the storage and had to be doused and suffocated as fast as possible, leading to some also getting crushed underfoot, but the whole stock getting ruined. Remains were quietly discarded, and a request for a new shipment submitted to keep the poor trainee out of trouble.

But hold it! That's what a crafty kobold would want you to think! But Santokumaru's mind is as sharp as the sharpest of kitchen katanas, cutting through these covering falsehoods! Clearly, the kobolds stole their prized apples, got curious about that stone container, started throwing some tomatoes around, and stomped them out in the workers' work boots they had stashed in Affinity Storage A at the time! Pinning the blame on poor granary workers innocent of any wrongdoing! That's it!

Detective Santokumaru strikes again!

Case closed!

OOC

To be entirely transparent about this, the second part of Santokumaru's reasoning is the result of the Fumble. Normally Fumbles are not because of the character messing up, and the opposition gets the Opportunity. However, given the party would have learned pretty quick what happened with the Cobalt Heirlooms and there not really being any "opposition" in this case, Santokumaru is wrong about how it went down, but also immediately constructed a story that would avoid the poor trainee getting into trouble for an honest mistake and her trainer who had been working to get replacements.

 

[Zashuan]

After some befuddling reads on the employees of the Granary, Santokumaru listens to the spectral tomato's story with a quiet attention. He finds the tomato's manner of speaking elliptical, at times -- what is the meaning of the 'crib' metaphor? -- but he can't deny that the tomato has a tangible passion for life. Or, unlife. Whatever one might call the state that Eleanora's magic induces.

The tomato's less-than-subtle attempts to call attention to the trainee's boots spells out their culprit, but Santokumaru realizes that with his faulty logic from before, there's a half-convincing story about the kobolds doctoring the crime scene to make it look like an attendant was involved.

"While certain details have been, er, made clear by Eleanora's powerful magics, we must not forget that kobolds are master infiltrators and renowned for their cunning. There may be truths... yet to be revealed," he says, with perhaps less than the utmost conviction.

"A question remains: with these ingredients missing, how do you replenish your stores? Is there a supplier? How might we remedy these mishaps, and mishappenings?"

[Ridai]

"We should go back to Anise for that one," Tom answers. "She'll want to hear our findings, too."

Just a short walk later, a succinct report is given. Cherry is still bowind and apologizing furiously until Anise tells her it's fine, she only had good intentions in mind, but she should have just told her directly (which seems to relieve Cherry a bit, before she turns to Mace and about the same process happens again). As for the story of the Cobalt Heirlooms, there is a pause and some brow furrowing, before "You know what, fair enough." The workers look like they just dodged a bullet.

Granaregent Anise actually looks impressed, not having expected results this quickly, especially hearing Tom gush about how Vesper immediately identified the kobold infiltration and led to the discovery of what happened to the remaining ingredients. The news appear to be positive enough that she is even willing to let Eleanora using necromancy within the Grand Granary slide. Once.

A piece of folded parchment is retrieved, Anise spreading it on the counter to reveal a map of the Entrée region with various notes and pictures related to various produce. At the center of the map is, of course, Entrée itself, alongside the silhouette of an onion.

"So save for the Nix Chevalitas, we are actually out of everything. The Emeraldia we need to get back, the rest will need replacements. And I'm sending you, because the critters on the plains have been getting rowdy, I'm willing to blame the dragon for that one, and I doubt things got any better now. So, here's where you will need to start looking." She points to the forest that also acts as part of a natural border of the kingdom to the north. Within its confines, roughly to the north-west of Entrée, there is a picture of a grand, twisted, rather evil-looking tree, and the silhouette of an apple.

"We don't know where the kobolds have their lair other than it probably being somewhere in Burokori Forest. Also there is the Suesz tree, where the Emeraldia grow. It used to be cursed and made a good chunk of the forest dangerous to traverse, but the Heroes recently cleansed it. The apples are now excessively healthy. We haven't had time to find a new title for them, tradition and all that. They probably picked the tree clean first, but maybe you can find some clues there. Or trace back the tunnel. You are better at the detective work than I am. Just look out for traps or trap-adjacent nonsense the chubby little lizards are usually up to."

Next, Anise points to a cliff on the western edge of the Entrée region, where the large inland and at times weirdly bubbly Schorle Lake acts as the natural border. The image of a ruin is seen, next to the outline of a... steak? "The Ruins of Ramse Lasaign, overlooking the lake. It has become the habitat of Terror Mazelles, whose cuts of meat we historically call Rougelike. The ruins are filled with aging magitech and the builders apparently were fond of gravitational magic. It's confusing to navigate the place, and I hope you don't have a weak stomach. The Terror Mazelles, meanwhile, are perhaps the most infuriating species of animal known to us. They are fast, have no trouble navigating the ruins, and they will do absolutely everything they can to at best annoy you or at worst kick you down a flight of upside-down stairs. The meat of one of them is enough for our purposes. Show no mercy." It sounds Anise has had run-ins with the creatures, and has exactly no love for them. There is a lot of surrounding fist-shaking by workers and guards as the Terror Mazelles are mentioned.

Anise points out a tower on the map, to the south and a little to the east. Next to it is the outline of an heirloom tomato. With a burning aura. You are reminded of your brief ghostmato friend. "Sage Knorkus long ago moved his tower onto the hill where the Cobalt Heirlooms are able to grow. He has been cultivating them along other produce. We have a trade relationship with him, sending news of the arcane community and the occasional interesting material his way, and him sending rare produce back. Last I heard he used the tomatoes in lieu of firewood for his cauldrons and general heating. Getting the tomatoes from him should be no trouble, Knorkus is a trusted ally of the kingdom."

And finally, Anise's gloved finger moves to the east. Eleanora recognizes the snowy tops of the Kipferl Mountains only all too well, their crescent shape acting as the eastern and southern natural borders of the Entrée region. Where Anise is pointing to is also quite close to that dreaded monastery up in the mountains (well, relatively speaking. At least that point is closer to the monastery than the to Entrée Castle!). The image of a black chasm (somehow looking foreboding), alongside the silhouette of peppercorns surrounded by what looks like a nimbus of darkness. "The Evernight Cavity, basically a deep and very dark chasm. Schwarzkreuz, despite by some being described as a cursed or demonic plant, is the fussy primadonna of the big five affinity ingredients for the stew. Any extended exposure to light, the peppercorns literally poof into little clouds of blackness. Too much humidity, they rot away. Too little, they crumble away. Too much wind and the plants don't grow right. There are some markings in the chasm to lead the way. Once you find them, bag them as soon as possible, shallow breaths, absolutely no sneezing, no holding torches or light sources right next to them, never open the containers afterwards unless you absolutely have to."

Tom brings four satchels, one green, one red (with a loop securely holding tongs), one blue (with a set of what looks like oven mitts going up to the elbow), one black (with the most soft and pristine as humanly possible looking black gloves). "Put the ingredients in these, using the tools where applicable. They are bigger on the inside, they'll fit whatever matches their affinity. No putting something else in there. That should keep them safe from whatever dangers you might run into and preserve them for transport. Once we have all the ingredients, we'll need to cook the stew in the castle kitchens. We'll try and buy you some time with whatever more exotic recipes we can whip up." Anise folds the map back up and hands it to you, alongside the satchels. She puts her hands on the counter and looks at all of you. "We're counting on you. The Princess believes in you, and if she does, hell, I do, too."

OOC

Alright, you have your destinations and objectives! Going from Entrée to each location is roughly 1-2 days of travel (distance between the ingredient locations of course depends, but is somewhere in the ballpark of 1-4 days).

You have access to stores, as well as the inn to rest. Notably, for pacing reasons, Resting at the inn does not necessarily mean a full night's sleep. What is recovering your HP/MP in said inn is the food. The Magic Tent item you need to Rest on the road similarly takes a much smaller time as the party whips up a meal together.

 

[Zashuan]

After the briefing, Santokumaru graciously thanks everyone for their help and information. Based on the available intelligence, the party decides that Burokori Forest makes for a sensible first stop, but before they go off to gather supplies, Santokumaru talks with the staff a little bit about the subtleties of cutting bread. He notices that they hold the bread in such a way while slicing it, that they neither wrinkle nor crush the bread as they move. He feels the stirrings of a new technique there, but it'll require some more pondering and practice before it coalesces into anything tangible.

While they walk to the nearest inn, Santokumaru addresses the group as a whole.

"Before we journey together, there is something you all must know," he says, grimly. "I would do none of you wrong, but I am a dishonored man, for spilling blood in a duel that was meant to be an exhibition. This, and my desire to master my father's style, are the truths behind my wanderings. If this gives you reason to doubt my integrity, I shall not blame you."

"As I have unsheathed my past, might I ask the rest of you: why is it you answered the call for heroes?" He bows, as if asking this question is a terrible weight.

"Also, forgive my ignorance." Santokumaru turns to Tourna, and bows. "Everyone in this city seems to already know our mechanical friend. Is it... a marionette, of some sort? Honyaki lacks such wonders."