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[Harry Baldman]

At Brenwicke's Books...

Sigmund leans in toward his fellows.

"Do you see any guards? Because the shopkeeper would be easy to take down if we need to."

However, he receives no intelligible response from them. Instead, Mark just shoos him inside the building, which Sigmund rather resents.

"What are you doing? Just act normally, please. By the way, maybe I can introduce you as a surgeon, and may ask you to practice medicine to a guard or to the bookkeeper in case we need to kill someone discreetly. Well, I hope that you can be discreet, at least," he says. He then realizes that he was going inside the store anyway and does so, followed by Kevin while Mark guards the door menacingly.

The store seems to be full of people today. Some seem to be taking advantage of some stupendous deals on romance novels, some seem to be marveling at the six-armed guard standing guard over the door. The shopkeeper is barely visible in the throng of people frequenting the store.


On the shrieking ship of Shriekpot...

Niklas keeps on explaining things to Torkel.

"They were drawn by an assortment of walrus, foxes, rabbits, moose, wolves, bear, and seals, so they were relatively fast. And in fact I did have some trophies: one for cooking for an entire village in less than an hour, one for cooking an entire village in less than an hour, and one for interbreeding moose and sheep over a period of a year and cooking the resulting shmeep."

"So what about you? Have you done much in your village since you were born?"

Torkel seems to blush a little.

"Well, I've been... um... working with herbs. Gathering them, mostly, though I sometimes give some to animals and such."

"Torkel!"

"I gave the jarl's dog explosive diarrhea once. Lasted for two days, in fact!"

Torkel seems rather proud of this accomplishment, little herbalist that he is.

In the meantime, back in the cargo hold, Scott tries to piece together where his moneybox might be.

Hm. There's probably a secret compartment of some kind where he keeps it! After all, it is a lot of money. It's probably in the crew quarters!

However, a quick search of those reveals nothing immediately apparent. Hm. Perhaps he hid it in the captain's quarters? The Captain doesn't seem to go there much anymore.


In Karina's home...

Darren insists that he's alright, completely fine, in fact.

"No worries, I'm fine. It's just been a busy few hours," he says in a quiet manner, coughing a little at the end. It appears that he's lost his voice a little bit, though it's nothing to be worried about, should clear up soon.

"Still, I'm sorry. I didn't know it was so difficult for you," she says, then hugs Darren apologetically. Darren finds the sensation pleasing, if almost alien to him by now. "You sure you're fine?"


In a toymaker's kitchen...

Morton, realizing he's done it again, celebrates his magic touch for a moment. Then he looks for someplace to pour the tea into. Unfortunately, he can't seem to find a glass, only a rather exquisite wooden pitcher. No coasters either. There are a couple of wooden bowls around, though.

Hm. What now?

[Xantalos]

Very interesting! Have you tried combining two or more plants into one mixture to increase the effect? This sounds promising; when I'm not a chair anymore maybe we can combine our talents. That would be fun, I think.

At first Niklas had been rather apprehensive - at least privately - about this sudden revelation that he'd fathered a child, but the kid was actually kinda neat! Maybe this father thing wasn't so bad after all.
And Helsvar ... mmm mmm MMM. He definetwly remembered how and why little Torkel had come about, though he'd forgotten with his death.

So Helsvar ... *ahem* ... how have you been faring after my ... departure? he asked, remembering the rather sudden circumstances that had led to his departure.

It was the deepest night of winter when they appeared smack dab in the middle of the Jarl's hall. Ninjas, a full clan of them. Despite their habitual hibernation, the Vikings were easily roused and leapt to their feet with a roar, ready to forcefully examine the intruders' colons. But before any hostile reaction could be taken, one of their number, a ninja with a ludicrously long, skinny mustache protruding from his mask, undoubtedly the leader, stepped forward - with a wok in hand.
It was clear what they were here for.

A cooking challenge.

Over the next day, the Vikings erected the traditional cooking stage, laughing to each other about the easy way in which they would best the ninja. The challengers were participating in none of the usual prebattle banter, brawls, or strength contests that were traditional - instead they conferred silently in their impractical tent made entirely out of bamboo. But the tension could not last forever, and the battle was begun. The two teams would choose a person to represent them in the challenge and the combatants would then have 1 hour to cook a truly divine dish to be presented to the judge of all such competitions - the Chairman.
The battle was begun, and immediately the Vikings knew something was amiss. The chef chosen for their side, Svenstrūbærnomkrìtômbuúrvaßßtigerrånkrom, Niklas' father, was not acting as he usually did. He seemed pale, weak - unable to concentrate on the cooking. But interference in the competition world not be brooked by the Chairman, so all they could do was watch. When the hour was up, the two chefs presented their dishes before the Chairman - the ninja's a something rice something fried pig hoof something vegetable, and Sven's a headless dolphin carcass stuffed with rotten cabbage heads.
Ultimately, the ninja had prevailed, though the Vikings had found evidence that they had drugged Sven to further their own chances of winning.
Their cuisine reigned supreme.
They were the champions of Kitchen Stadium.
Their leader, a ninja by the name of (unpronounceable ninja name), was bestowed the title of 'Ferrous Chef'.
Sven was heartbroken. To be defeated by such a pitiful foe, even drugged? Even the consolatory slaughter of most of the ninjas did nothing to assuage his broken pride; so he wandered off into the wilderness, never to be seen again.* Niklas, meanwhile, vowed revenge, and immediately left the village to do the same to the ninjas as the ninjas had done to him - he would travel around the world, challenge them to a duel of cookery, and win! And then he was killed by (unpronounceable). He could remember the bite of the fork in his vertebrae like it was still happening.
Now that he was dead, what could he do? Why was he not in Valhalla? Had he not proved himself worthy?
What would he do now?

He snapped back to the present. No need to dwell on things that had already happened; he had no time travel yet. Had his 5 1/2 time fling responded to his inquiry?

BACKSTORY DUMP.

*just pointing that out. Wink wink.

[miauw62]

((Niklas named the cat after his father?))
"I don't think a simple peformance will distract them enough to nick an entire shelf. What the fuck do you wanna do?", Kevin whispered to Sigmund.

[Tomcost]

Sigmund thought for a moment, this was definitely something he didn't expect, then told Kevin:

-I have a bag full of presumably dangerous mushrooms. If I let them fall, and someone gets poisoned, it will cause enough rattle to let us grab as much as we want. We can also use Mark's abilities as a doctor to distract the guard and the shopkeeper. Do you like the idea?

[miauw62]

"Alright then. I'll do a peformance and you drop that bag. I don't want to inhale the spores tough, so I'm out after the peformance"
Kevin starts a hilarious performance like only he can, and exits the store afterwards.

[killerhellhound]

Mark keeps his bag and Halberd close.

[Tomcost]

Sigmund, before Kevin starts his perfomance, tells him:

-Don't worry, these mushrooms have already launched them. And the spores won't affect you, anyway.

Sigmund feigns being shoved by Kevin's perfomance and drops his mushroom bag, spilling all of them in the floor, preferably near the guard.

[Innsmothe]

Scott shall bravely turn over the captains quarters!

[Xantalos]

((Niklas named the cat after his father?))

((Nope. Sven was merely Sven. His father was Sven(blurblurblur).))

[Harry Baldman]

On the shrieking ship of Shriekpot...

Niklas expresses support for his son's admirable hobby.

"Very interesting! Have you tried combining two or more plants into one mixture to increase the effect? This sounds promising; when I'm not a chair anymore maybe we can combine our talents. That would be fun, I think."

Torkel beams at Niklas.

"No, not yet, but I will now. I hope you can help me soon, dad."

Aw. With that, Niklas turns his attention to Helsvar once again.

"So, Helsvar... *ahem*... how have you been faring after my... departure?"

The question brings up a lot more memories than one would be strictly comfortable with in one go, and almost the entire currently relevant part of Niklas' rather sordid past flashes before his eyes. Snapping out moments later, he catches Helsvar in the middle of her tale.

"-so, aside from Torkel keeping me company, I have been mostly alone these years. My son has kept the attentions of other men away, as very few want to intrude upon our family life. Not that I mind, really. You were always the only one for me. But life is life, essentially. I am given plenty by it, and I live as I can," she says, sitting down on Niklas and running her hand softly and affectionately over his upholstery.

Niklas senses Kruub approach from the distance, and the old man is next to him in a scarce few moments.

"Niklas. Are you ready?" he asks, sounding incredibly serious for a moment.

Elsewhere, though not too far away, Scott busies himself with a search of the captain's quarters, freshly renovated and optimized for ghostly habitation. Though he messes with the furniture and such, he can't find a thing relating to his money! Maybe it's in the walls, he thinks. The Artiste would never think that Scott might look there, certainly!


At Brenwicke's Books...

Kevin and Sigmund figure that they should have a plan of some kind.

"I don't think a simple performance will distract them enough to nick an entire shelf. What the fuck do you wanna do?"

Clearly, a true brain trust of legend has gathered here.

"I have a bag full of presumably dangerous mushrooms. If I let them fall, and someone gets poisoned, it will cause enough rattle to let us grab as much as we want. We can also use Mark's abilities as a doctor to distract the guard and the shopkeeper. Do you like the idea?"

"Alright then. I'll do a performance and you drop that bag. I don't want to inhale the spores tough, so I'm out after the performance."

"Don't worry, these mushrooms have already launched them. And the spores won't affect you, anyway."

With that, Kevin begins his show, the greatest show on the planet!

[Kevin goofing off roll: 5+1]

Stricken with amazing inspiration, Kevin stands in the middle of the store, raising his arms and clapping to attract attention. Once that is successfully done, he quickly unfurls the screen on his back, then goes into an in-depth deconstruction of surreal humor as he spouts nonsensical streams of words relating to rather impossible situations. As he does so, the screen flashes with misleading images, surprising the crowd quite a bit. His humor veers into blue territory occasionally, but it gets laughs out of the sheer awkwardness of it in any case. He gesticulates wildly, his speech growing more and more feverish even as Sigmund tries to feign carelessness by bumping into the guy.

[Sigmund sneaky maneuver roll: 1]

Sigmund stands next to the jester, then, when the fellow accidentally taps him on the shoulder, lets go of the bag. It gently falls about twenty centimeters toward the floor, causing absolutely no volcano of mushrooms. He does, however, get buried ankle-deep in the things. He feels a very pronounced sensation of pain and weakness in said ankles.

[Sigmund balance roll: 1]

This catches him completely off-guard, and he falls face-forward into the sea of deadly fungi. The feeling is not pleasant, and Sigmund can't help but yelp as he feels the front of his body start to go numb. Fortunately for him, he is not unaided in his plight, as soon several pairs of arms lift him up. The next thing Sigmund sees is the six-armed guard, who examines the fellow, then puts him down on his feet.

[Sigmund balance roll: 5]

This time, Sigmund manages to stand rather nicely, prepared for the weakness in his ankle area.

Outside the store, Mark, possibly sensing something amiss, clutches his halberd and surgeon's bag uncertainly.

[Xantalos]

I am prepared.

[This is it. Do or die.]

[Spinal_Taper]

"I'm fine, don't worry, I've had much worse."
He wheezes out in a strained voice, before smiling wryly.
"Unless coughing some more would get me another hug."

[Innsmothe]

Scott will notice that the walls are wooden, and likely not to have secreted passages.
He will go out on deck to try and see if his master is near the ship

[Xanmyral]

Hm... It is a touch odd that the man doesn't have proper glassware, but the man is a woodworker so he can't say it doesn't make sense. Oh well, as they say, always come prepared. Morton fills the wooden pitcher with the tea then brings out one of his own flasks and fills it with tea for the toymaker, then ponders. Something to set them on, something to set them on... The desk wonders if he can just set it down anyway, clean it off later, but all of his training demands otherwise yet the situation remains the same. Morton makes a mental note to find and carry some around with him from now on, this is quite the situation to be in that could of easily been prevented on his part.

The desk finally decides, after a bit of deliberation, to finally just set the pitcher and flask on himself without anything to protect his surface from it. Oh the travesty of the act, but it is for a good cause, he's sure he can forgive himself for such a transgression some day.

[Tomcost]

((And the RNG just hates me. Shit))

Sigmund thanked the guard and standed against a wall and examined his ankle

((Sorry for not posting anything else, but I have to know how bad is this before continuing with the plan))