04 - Mulled Cider and Wine; Eel and Root Vegetable Hand Pies; Creamy Cod Chowder

[tisfinished]

1: The Milk Run, docked at Flotsam

Senshi seems unusually focused and far less chatty than usual as he serves up hearty winter fare; in addition to the headline items from this post's title, he has hot tea, coffee and cocoa available as well as pork pies and (as a vegetarian option) mushroom pies and an array of pickled vegetables.

He tries to be friendly as ever, but it's clear something weighs heavily on his mind.

2: The Vault's Practice Halls

Senshi is in need of a sparring partner. He's practicing with axe and shield - curiously, practicing with a cage strapped to his chest - and the poor wooden practice dummies he's been whaling on have been taking a serious beating.

"Think maybe I need an actual opponent," he says, his voice unusually clipped.

3: Solstice Gift-Giving

Beware: if you've done any kindnesses to the weird dwarf that loves to cook with monster meat (even more so than most Flotsam pirates, at any rate) then you're liable to find a box outside your home or apartment door wrapped in a ribbon.

While there is no name identifying who could have left them, the fact that they are exquisite, frosted gingerbread monsters narrows down the possible culprits significantly.

Comments

[upupatomway]

"Dragons burps are flammable?" Atom laughs. "It makes sense, but it's kind of funny to think of dragons breath that way!" He grins, imagining a burping noise playing over the scene of a movie about dragons.

"It sounds like you know a lot about monsters. Does that have to do with the time you were learning to cook from scratch in the wild and "dungeons" as you once told me?" The only reason Atom hadn't thought these were prison dungeons was because of the conversation context, Senshi's character as he knew him so far, and some conversations at home with friends who played fantasy games.

[tisfinished]

"There were plenty of critters like that in the ether mines, but yes, most of these are in dungeons warped by magic. You know, they got called that because the early ones we found were wizards doing it on purpose with the actual dungeons of their towers, but the name stuck."

He bites off a gingerbread mimic claw. "Learned respect for them, out in the wilderness. Which isn't to say they weren't good eating, or useful for a whole bunch of other things."

[upupatomway]

Atom nods his head at the little history lesson. "I guess if you're a friendly wizard and you don't take prisoners, the basement is a good place to use magic, huh? A dungeon or the ether mines sound like the kind of place my sister would like to visit so she can meet the wildlife and try talking to them. If she was here, she'd have all kinds of questions for you too." If it weren't for the Empire, he'd wish she was there with him so she could see the world with magic.

"What kind of things have you used monsters for besides food? I know fur, fat, and bones from animals have all been used in a lot of things by humans back home."