Of Kings and Commoners - Kingmaker AP

Game Master RPGGGM

Presumably I could alter one thing per standard action, but actually "cooking" something to a decent temperature would probably take multiple actions. The spell will last 4 hours.

Craft (INT check) Aid Another: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (1) + 3 = 4

Numalar tries to figure out how to help but he has never worked in a kitchen before, and is unnerved by Svetlana's distress.

"I'm sorry, I don't know how to help. You'll need to tell me what to do."

@Prestidigitation: I think it lasts 1 hour fixed per casting...but as it's a cantrip that is usually a non-issue. That said, NOT trying to make it a discussion, but I'm not sure if cooking is possible. It can warm or chill something, but the amount of 'heat energy' you would need to actually cook something might be beyond the spells power, as the heat would probably dissipate again even as you try to heat it up(which is why you usually use a fire or other persistent heat source) - (it does lack the power to 'duplicate' other spell effects, and that kind of heat would probably be a 1/round spark or produce flame). What I'm trying to say: Maybe focus on the flavoring aspect and let the super-heated base do the cooking ;) That should be plenty enough to help out...

"That was quite something. I wonder if everything went well for the others. And really looking forward to a good Dinner with proper ingredients...", Alia comments as she, Scarlet, Celyne and Luna make their way back towards Olegs.

Wisdom check: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (15) + 2 = 17

Zokon procures whatever help and helpful food addins from Naleksa and gets back to cooking

Zokon hears from guardsman Pauns that Naleksa is in the bunkhouse. Zokon finds the door to the bunkhouse guarded by a few other guardmen. "Sorry but you will have to wait your turn." says the man.

Just then, Kesten Garess arrives on the scene and asks if you could go somewhere and talk for a minute.

"Oh I'm going to see if the Kobold or the Fairy can help out a bit too. Maybe a little exotic touch yeah? And I bet they're bored out of their mind by now!" she noted to her friends and slipped out of the kitchen just as Zokon started to sample their dinner. With a bit of luck she might even both find and communicate with them!

"Ill-thear! Tye enjoime your póre?"

Zokon will go with Kesten

He will also keep his spring loaded wrist sheath dagger hidden but ready to use Never trust those who may be engaged in the game of politics, one of the few useful things father taught me.

He will also uses his study target on Kesten while they are going somewhere to talk.

"Oh hi Erevenywg!" Illthir grinned at the fairy and nodded slightly at her words. Damn. Still hadn't learned Sylvan merely by just sleeping on it. Oh well. She wouldn't let such a minor thing as language stop her! "Mmm I still have no idea what you are saying. And I'm not sure if you understand me. But! Svetlana needs help in the kitchen so ... Let's see!"

Then she did her best to convey that message trough a series of gestures...

Perform (Mime): 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (4) + 4 = 8

... but that mostly seemed to sow confusion. It looked so easy when those performers did it! But she couldn't quite manage. Hmm. She needed another plan. Illthir stopped miming and considered her options for a brief moment. Maybe she should be less abstract? The fairy seemed to have a pretty good grasp of their names (somehow) soooooo - maybe she knew who Svetlana was?

"All right! I'm going to try and act it out instead. Ready? Then juust a moment!" she said to the fairy and smiled. Out of her backpack she took her Traveller's Any-Tool and transformed it into a small pot. Then she stepped back and took a deep breath.

"Svetlana." She announced and pointed to herself. Then she turned her attention to the empty pot and pretended to fill it and care for it and hummed a bit. But then suddenly an small ghost-sound powered explosion rang out and Illthir's imaginary pot exploded and oh and ah - all powered by her vivid hand gestures of course. Svetlana-Illthir looked a bit sad and then looked around in an exaggerated fashion. Then she pointed to an empty spot next to her.

Illthir stepped into the new spot and pointed to herself. "Illthir." Once again she pretended to fill and care for the pot, this time humming a lot more. But once again the pot seemed to explode and Illthir-Illthir looked sad. So Illthir-Illthir looked around and then straight at Erevenywg.

Again Illthir took a step in that direction and pretended to be someone else. "Erevenywg." She started tending for her imaginary stew in her little pot. But this time there was no explosion. Instead she stepped back to to the Svetlana-Illthir spot and looked happy. Then the Illthir-Illthir spot and grinned at Erevenywg. With a quizzical tilt on her head she asked the fairy and held out both her hand and the Any-Tool pot. "So! Can you cook Erevenywg?"

Perform (Act): 1d20 + 4 + 2d4 ⇒ (9) + 4 + (4, 2) = 19

Erevenywg smiles down at Illthir. She looks at the any-tool, takes it, and somehow manages to--in less than six seconds--align all of its colored sides into a perfect cube--one color to a side. She hands it back to Illthir looking happy and expectant.

"I wanted to ask since you are out in the wilds looking for bandits and all if you might keep your eyes out for someone." Kesten begins. "I'm looking for a Varisian named Falgrim Sneeg. I was working a job a few months back in Restov with Sneeg and some others when he up and left us cleaning us out in the process. Word is he fled into the Greenbelt and might be involved with the bandits there. I would go looking for the bastard myself, but I'm stuck here. If you could bring him back--alive--I could make it worth your while."

New Quest! Retrieve Falgrim Sneeg!

"He's a tall rangy guy with hair the color of iron. He's thin but wiry. Don't let his calm appearance fool you, the man is dangerous."

"Zokon, I hear you're next." Naleksa says draping herself over him.

"Um, I'll let you get back to whatever it was you were doing." Kesten says moving off. "Remember, if you find him be careful."

Alright, I've kept people away long enough. Alia, Celyne, and Scarlet arrive back to the trading post. Sorry about the delay. I'm still a bit under the weather.

And this happens.

Zokon procures whatever help and helpful food addins from Naleksa and gets back to cooking

Naleksa provides some guidance and herbs for spice.

craft (herbal remedies, aid): 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (14) + 4 = 18

Making Zokon's total 20 - the meal seems passable at this point though parts of the stew still seem tough and under-cooked.

Scarlet stretches and yawns. "Alright, let's see what everyone else is doin'."

"Well that's certainly impressive." Illthir mumbles to herself wide-eyed. It really wasn't what she wanted - but still - really impressive. But it didn't look like she would get any help with the cooking. Maybe it was for the best - who knew what dimension the fairy would cook it into. She held up the any-tool so she could examine it closer. Really. How *did* this happen? She'd have to figure that out later. With a small giggle she smiled at the fairy and waved. "All-right, I should probably go and see if Svetlana has burned down the trading post yet. Hopefully not. See ya around!"

The skald started to walk back towards the kitchen. Hmmm... She glanced back to see what Er were doing. Juuust since there were a small chance the fey would be intrigued enough by the cube to follow along - and thus be lured into the kitchen where she could be conscripted for work!

---

When back in the kitchen Illthir looks around to see how things were progressing. Sorta good-ish she hoped. Since there were already several people crowding around the food sampling it Illthir saw no reason that she too shouldn't join in. "All-right!" she started and tried to will her any-tool into the vague shape of something spoon-like. "Let's see how it tastes!"

Profession (chef?): 1d20 + 1 + 2 ⇒ (12) + 1 + 2 = 15

Unless she has already spent too much time playing fairy games. I thought it was worth a shot :P

AS he is being draped and Kesten is leaving
"No worries Kesten I shall do."

"Thankyou Naleksa for your valuable assistance." Zokon will then pay her fee for the assistance and ingredients.

Trying not to give away too much panic in his voice He's a good boy, raised by his mother well.

"Hey, Illthir. What's up? How's the party going?" Scarlet looks around the outpost.

Somewhere between Erevenywg and the kitchen, Illthir notices that she has been spotted (and that the other half of the party has returned. Presumably).

"Oh hi there!" She waves at Scarlet and smiles, looking somewhat bemused. Or perhaps vexed? "It's going so-so. I was curious to see if Erevenywg could cook, but I don't think I got my message trough. She just folded my trinket into this!"

The skald digs around in her pockets a little before producing the cube. It's ... well a cube. With a different colour on every side. And stuff.

"I mean I don't think it had all these colours before. Hmhmrhm." she says and hands it over if Scarlet wants to have a go. Then, as her expression shifts even more towards confusion, she sniffs the air a few times. "Hey do you smell charred beef too? I really thought Svetlana was making a stew ... Oh this afternoon have been weird."

Alia takes note of the offense to her olfactory senses even as their small party makes their way into Olegs trading post.
"I...that...certainly smells interesting."
She was not a great cook herself, so had neither a right to complain nor an intention to try and help ruin a bunch of ingredients.

Instead, she headed to Kesten to report about the murder scene they had encountered, and what took place there.

"Huh, you want to see if she can cook? I can just ask her. Where is she, anyway?" Scarlet isn't sure what to think about the weird folding thing.

Eventually, Scarlet finds Erevenywg. "Hey, Erevenywg! Have you been...wait, gimme a sec."

Scarlet fiddles with the weird colored box Illthir handed her.
Int Check: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (9) + 2 = 11
"Hey, I got the red side. One of six is good enough for me."

Oh I do think Svetlana undercooked her food. It's just that some other people have been having this quick extra bbq party out in the woods :P

But what do I know? Illthir has been out of the kitchen for several minutes - it is quite possible that Svetlana is multitasking ^^

"Oh that's pretty good." Illthir admits when Scarlet completes one side.

And before Scarlet and Alia gets too far away Illthir calls out. "Oh and see if you can't find the ambassadors. It's their first official dinner right so they might want some briefing. Oh and if they know how to cook ..."

Instead, she headed to Kesten to report about the murder scene they had encountered, and what took place there.

Kesten takes Alia's report.

"That's bad for Oleg. The South Road is the only real road into the area. If traffic dries up...." Kesten notes. "Any idea who the victims were?"

"Scar-lets-karab! Ni sorrime!"

Erevenywg rushes up and hugs the much shorter woman.

"Mime ingóle na- vamme polda fárea ana 'strawberrime', mal ni cen- -yes as berries ar lai yenya, so ni am tanca -yes na- possible. Tye quet- Noom-maul-are? Mót-? Yare ni titta ni faila esta- an i nórë ar te mót-."

1d20 + 10 ⇒ (7) + 10 = 17

Illthir finds Mikmek and Nakpik up on the walls inspecting the catapults.

AS he is being draped and Kesten is leaving

"No worries Kesten I shall do."

"Thankyou Naleksa for your valuable assistance." Zokon will then pay her fee for the assistance and ingredients.

Trying not to give away too much panic in his voice He's a good boy, raised by his mother well.

The service costs 5 cp. Naleksa moves off after first doing something to Zokon that would either get you ejected from the US Congress or made into the country's president.

"Later." Naleksa says with a wink and a smile.

More hugging. Scarlet has no trouble hugging back.

"Illthir, Erevenywg's no good at cooking. She suggested we ask Numalar." Scarlet, of course, starts looking for her favorite fire-breathing Gnome.

"Ahh worth a shot. Thanks for checking!" Illthir nods at Scarlets report. "I think I should head back to the kitchen anyhow and see what sort of mess they made; would someone check on the kobolds? They are up on the wall - and just asking them in a language they understand seems most efficient."

And then Illthir will attempt to go to the second part of her earlier post :P

Zokon goes back to the cooking and general assistance of Svetlana in getting the meal prepped.

"Hm...a middle-aged human noble couple, I think, as well as 2 Guards and 3 of their servants. No idea which of these local humans could have interests in that part of these wild lands.", Alia shrugs. They could have tried to look for clues regarding their identity, but would that have changed anything? These human noble houses rotated positions of power so quickly it was hardly worth the effort to remember all their names. Every decade, or two decades, half of them seemed to have vanished, with others having taken their place.
"Seems weird, though. If leaving undead and his sign there would make the traffic dry up, wouldn't that be the opposite of the Stag Lords interest? No traffic means nobody to rob...his underlings would probably turn on each other before long if no other targets become available. Any idea if there's some way he could benefit from shutting down that road? I don't quite see it being meaningful..."

More hugging. Scarlet has no trouble hugging back.

** spoiler omitted **

"Illthir, Erevenywg's no good at cooking. She suggested we ask Numalar." Scarlet, of course, starts looking for her favorite fire-breathing Gnome.

"I'm afraid I don't know much about cooking... when I was little Mother would always chase me out of the kitchen for making a mess."

Already got a natural one on my aid roll for craft (cooking).

"But I can add flavours to things with magic if someone tells me what they want me to do."

If there are no further additional chef-based enhancements to the meal we will continue on later this evening.

I can't aid as I have no ranks in profession(cook) or craft(cook)...

Nope. Alia might get the idea that cooking is a creative process similar to smithing and actually start investing a few ranks...once Evangelist gives her more ranks :)
For now, happily abstaining from ruining food.

While it is true you have to be trained to be a pro cook (and make money at it), you can just cook using wisdom.

And! Craft isn't a "trained" skill. ;)

And! Craft isn't a "trained" skill. ;)

Yeah, I rolled Craft rather than Profession before because normally when you actually try to produce a finished product it is craft skill. But my profession result would have been -1 of that, still an abysmal failure.

I figure Numalar can still do things with prestidigitation if people give him instructions like "this one needs more salt" and such.

I understand we can do it untrained. Alia is simply very much convinced that she would make matters worse if she tried to meddle with the food. Her 0 Survival and Knowledge Nature made her depend on the others in the wilderness journey - when it was her turn to prepare food, it was probably the most basic stuff. So, with the scale of what is being done here, she avoids the kitchen :)

@Numalar: Don't forget that it will only persist for an hour...you'll want to do the flavoring shortly before it's being served :) If we do it too early, it will be gone by the time the meals are served....although that WOULD nicely complement the natural 1 on the check...

Celyne is in the same boat with Alia... sure she will ruin anything she tries to help with in the kitchen... content to let others worry about the cookinug.

Illthir has made her attempts to help, both by trying to cook and fetch more competent help. Not so much else she can do except distract the guests with some song and booze :P

I can attempt a craft check?
"Yeah, I can help!" Scarlet leaps right in to do something, anything to help.
Craft(Cooking): 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (10) + 2 = 12

And she manages not to screw it up!

Too many cooks do not in fact spoil the broth and resulting dinner (though late) is a nominal success. Shepherd Kavken starts the meal with a prayer, Svetlana shows off her recently reacquired ring, and makes a fuss over Oleg who seems a bit flush with embarrassment. The guardsmen eat in shifts. laugh and share inappropriate stories. Naleksa and Anya the Jay (the haggard middle-aged local tracker who was sent out to look for poor Planchet) sit across from Zokon--one of them he thinks is playing footsie with him. Chick and Wilbur recount their tale of how they first met the party. Kesten talks a bit about some mercenary work he did down in the River Kingdoms with Bloody Angus Makdoon. The kobolds sit quietly at the end of the table taking it all in, as does an animated Erevenywg. Another large man the party hasn't met yet also sits at the table at ease with most of the other regulars.

The nobles and their entourage have left to tour the farmland and will probably end up staying with Samuel Renault.

Scarlet kicks back a bit. This is always the fun part of civilization. People joining up, having fun, telling stupid stories and preparing for the next day. Scarlet has no trouble sitting near the kobolds and Erevenywg, but her duty is to protect Alia, so she sits near the suspicious elf and sips her damn soup.

It's nice to see Svetlana and Oleg much happier together. Not that they were distraught before, but seeing the smile on their face was worth getting torn apart by the giant caterpillar. (Now if the soreness from those fleas would wear off already...)

Yeah! The feasting part of the feast. The best part! Best of it all, once the spirits rose and the dinner progressed, she got a chance to burst out her dirty songs. And add some more to them, going by the guardsmens stories!

Perform(Song): 1d20 + 14 ⇒ (15) + 14 = 29

Zokon will relax a bit, allowing the good food and company to lul him into a bit of a sense of security. He even doesn't realise about the footsie business.

He even tries to sing along to some of Illthirs songs

"Mmmm a good night."

The nobles and their entourage have left to tour the farmland and will probably end up staying with Samuel Renault.

I bet Renault will love that! :)

When it comes around to him, Nuamalar recounts some anecdotes about his younger days in Greyhaven.

"...so after racing around town in his uncle's carriage all night, Antonesko decides that the carriage is a pirate ship, and that we will be the 'Scourge of Greyhaven.' That carriage was as big as a sloop to begin with, so why not? We pull up to another carriage and Piotr decides that we must make a 'boarding action,' so he throws the door open and reaches over to open the door of the other carriage."

"Turns out it was Madam Nemetski inside, and while they say she was once a beauty by this time she was middle aged and quite chubby. Nevertheless Piotr launches into his speech about 'Fair damsel, you are now a prisoner of the dreaded pirates of Greyhaven!' but before he can finish our carriage hits a bump and one of the wheels comes off, and Piotr ends up going head-first into a snowbank. Hah!"

"Needless to say, Antonesko's uncle was not pleased. But I understand Piotr got to be friends with Madam Nemetski for a while after that. Perhaps she liked pirates. Heh."

Perform (oratory): 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (16) + 10 = 26

Yeah! The feasting part of the feast. The best part! Best of it all, once the spirits rose and the dinner progressed, she got a chance to burst out her dirty songs. And add some more to them, going by the guardsmens stories!

He even tries to sing along to some of Illthirs songs

"...." {The sort of disapproving look that only your dad or the priest of a relatively conservative religion can level.}

"Needless to say, Antonesko's uncle was not pleased. But I understand Piotr got to be friends with Madam Nemetski for a while after that. Perhaps she liked pirates. Heh."

"Young folks certainly have to blow off steam, but you've got grow up sometime." he says to the middle-aged gnome.

"Sae lassie, when ur we headin' it?" Angus abruptly asks Scarlet.

Illthir Winlowe wrote:

Yeah! The feasting part of the feast. The best part! Best of it all, once the spirits rose and the dinner progressed, she got a chance to burst out her dirty songs. And add some more to them, going by the guardsmens stories!

Zokon Santyev wrote:

He even tries to sing along to some of Illthirs songs

"...." {The sort of disapproving look that only your dad or the priest of a relatively conservative religion can level.}

"So Illthir you haven't really told us how you found yourself in need of rescue. I'm sure that story is worth a song." Svetlana says.

Sidling over to Jhod

"You make a grumpy old man look positively happy tonight. Let your angst out for a moment and see that these people may grow to respect you more if you aren't so judgy."

He then wanders off looking for more drink and a parapet to stand on.