diff --git a/LICENSE b/LICENSE new file mode 100644 index 0000000..32607e7 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE @@ -0,0 +1,7 @@ +Copyright 2022 dozens + +Nazis and terfs can fuck off. + +CC BY NC ND +https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ +Contact the author for exceptions diff --git a/README.md b/README.md index 999e3b3..dbe440a 100644 --- a/README.md +++ b/README.md @@ -1,18 +1,30 @@ +note: this readme is spoiler-free. but the contents of this repo are not. if you are one of my current players, proceed at your own peril. + # BASEMENT QUEST -the kids in the basement are gonna play some rpg in on the listserv +the kids in the basement are gonna play some rpg on the listserv ## about -this is an iteration on my usual pandoc static site generator +this is an iteration on my usual pandoc static site generator, with---as usual---just a sprinkling of m4 -## order +## getting started + +you will need: + +- pandoc v2.19.2: markdown to html and rss +- m4 v1.4.6: macros. currently used for generating statistics in `about.md` +- (optional) just v1.4.0: a command runner. optional, because you can just manually run all the commands in the justfile. + +read the justfile or run `just` to see what commands are available. + +## page order instead of relying on literally naming files `0001-me-first.md` and `0002-me-second.md` so they are concatenated in the correct order[^order], this repo introduces `basement.order` -in the file, you can `ls ./**/**` to list all files, and then order them in the way that is most pleasing to you +in the file, you can `ls src/**/**` to list all files, and then order them in the way that is most pleasing to you -NOTE: you will of course need to update `basement.order` each time you add a document to the source. +NOTE: you will of course need to update `basement.order` with the new docoument path every time you add a document to the source. [^order]: this is the strategy i employed in *forest*. it worked okay, but left something to be desired. namely, the flexibility to insert new files at random locations, or to rearrange existing files, without having to rename a bunch of files. i'm not sure this current solution is the best one. but it is an improvement i think. @@ -20,9 +32,9 @@ NOTE: you will of course need to update `basement.order` each time you add a doc documents are markdown with yaml frontmatter. they are compiled into: -- html with spoilers for game ref -- 'public' html sans spoilers for players -- rss feed for syndicated documents +- `www/spoilers.html`: html with spoilers for game ref +- `www/index.html`: 'public' html sans spoilers for players +- `www/rss.xml`: rss feed for syndicated documents ## metadata @@ -32,8 +44,8 @@ fields: - title (string): title of the document. mostly for rss item id - created (date): date of creation. probably needs to be in `date -R` format. -- updated (date): date of most recent update. mostly of rss. probably needs to be in `date -R` format. -- public[^bool] (bool) (optional): spoiler-free content +- updated (date): date of most recent update. mostly for rss. probably needs to be in `date -R` format. +- public[^bool] (bool) (optional): is this spoiler-free content appropriate for public consumption? - syndicated[^bool] (bool) (optional): should this document be included in the rss feed? example: @@ -54,6 +66,14 @@ syndicated: yes you can define macros in `/macros` and then include them in your documents to be expanded while building. -i arbitrarily adopted a "zxMACRONAME" naming convention because an all-caps macro name is *probably* safe, but is even safer with a random `zx` in front of it. +i arbitrarily adopted a "zxMACRONAME" naming convention with a 'zx' namespace because while an all-caps macro name is *probably* safe, it is even safer with a random `zx` in front of it. also it gives you good autocompletion if all your macros have the same prefix / namespace. + +i just recently learned about m4 frozen state files, and have started using loading state from `macros.m4f` + + + +there are only marginal improvements to build times because of this; the slowness comes from expensive system calls, not from a massive amount of macros. + +but so, if you add macros or make changes to the existing ones, you will need to run `just freeze` prior to rebuilding. diff --git a/justfile b/justfile index 8504140..c642ce3 100644 --- a/justfile +++ b/justfile @@ -57,7 +57,7 @@ up: assets: rsync -vup assets/* www/ -# build public, spoilers, and rss +# build public, spoilers, assets, and rss build: spoilers public rss assets # watch for changes @@ -68,7 +68,7 @@ watch: open: open www/index.html -# do some writing +# watch and open dev: open watch # build and upload diff --git a/www/rss.xml b/www/rss.xml index 4d2d0d3..c251983 100644 --- a/www/rss.xml +++ b/www/rss.xml @@ -5,123 +5,6 @@ BASEMENT QWEST https://tilde.town/~dozens/quest/rss.xml Friends having ADVENTURES! Huzzah! - - 28 - dozens@tilde.team (dozens) - 28 - Sat, 29 Oct 2022 08:36:51 --0600 - Sat, 29 Oct 2022 08:36:51 -0600 - - 00028 -
-

a new player enters the chat

-

Gabs had a good life. Her little devil children were all - grown adults now, and she no longer wanted to toil away - running a business. When she initially shuttered her little - tavern, she thought she might just retire. She made it two - whole years of working in a garden, occasionally seeing - grandkids, and reading romance novels. She eventually decided - she needed a vacation from her retirement and traveled to a - nearby port town. She was sure to find something fun to do - there.

-

Gabs eventually sees Inquire Within, and the smell of - debauchery wafting from within made her miss her days - gossiping at her tavern. She enters and orders a terrible - drink and listens and watches.

-

Hearing the tales being spun by Mister Three-Fingered, she - decides, “I’ve never been on a ship, that’s something that - sounds exciting!”

-

Half-drunk and eager for something exciting, she will join - on the journey!

-

Gabs is a lanky older half-devil lady who is here to - schmooze and have fun!

-
-

~

-
-

Meta: a warm welcome to the latest member of our tea party! - This is a short post to help smooth the temporal jumps between - the recent narratives so far. As Inky reaches the deck, they - see Gabs approaching from the other side of the ship as well, - and flashes them a grin in greeting. After listening to the - captain petering on about the glorious days of the now sunken - ship below, while tinkering with the bell’s tentacles — being - rewarded with a mild zap and marginally better fit for the - effort — Inky turns to the party. “When you’re ready.”

-
-

You reach into the tank and discover that grabbing a - breathing bell takes some finesse. They are very slippery! But - you get the hang of it and make a ladle out of your hands and - scoop one up.

-

“Okay now!” laughs Three-Fingered Gerald. He gives you a - wink, but it’s easy to miss because of the eyepatch. “Don’t - put it on until right before you jump. It won’t be able to - breathe for you until you’re in the water. And this!” he - continues, fitting a heavy, padded vest around your shoulders, - “will carry you down.” It is a vest of many pockets, each one - holding a small dense sandbag the size of your hand. “When - you’re ready to come back up, just start dropping ballast, - right?”

-

You hop up on the ship railing and pull the breathing bell - on over your head. It immediately contracts and squeezes and - hugs your head like a second skin, and its stubby little - tentacles grab hold around your jawline, and it feels like you - have a wet plastic bag clinging to your face, and you think - you might have made a grave mistake. Resisting the urge to - panic, you push off the railing and jump overboard. You are - briefly air born and then profoundly waterbound, crashing - through the surface of the sea into the briny soup below.

-

The oxygen starts to flow as the breathing bell begins to - do its job. As you sink, you feel as though you are floating - through space, entering another world.

-

After a while you start to hear voices arguing in the - distance. As you get closer, two large shapes start to come - into focus. The first is a hulking, hairless merbear. Top half - (hairless) bear, bottom half fish. The second figure is a - tardigrade the size of a large merbear. It has eight jointless - legs, each tipped with four sharp claws. It wriggles and - wobbles like jelly as it gesticulates.

-

“No, I am the true Bear of the Sea! I am called a Water - Bear, after all!”

-

“Hornswoggle and poppycock! It is I who am the Bear of the - Sea! I am half bear after all! You’re just some kind of - segmented nematode or something.”

-

The tardigrade quivers with indignation. “I’ll have you - know I’m a panarthropod, thank you very much. And this is the - ideal physical body! You may not like it, but this is what - peak performance looks like. I’ve lived under the polar ice - cap, and in a sulfurous mountaintop hot spring. I’ve traveled - through the vacuum of space to the moon! Have you ever been to - the moon?”

-

“Why don’t you go be the Bear of the Moon then if you like - it so much!”

-

“You’re just as much fish as you are bear, are you sure - you’re not the Fish of the Sea?”

-

“Are you sure you’re not the Blob of the Sea, you too many - armed bowl of jelly?”

-

“Hey! Hey, you there!” The arguing quasi-bears have spotted - your slow descent. “Come, yes, float slowly this way! You must - settle an argument for us! Tell this slightly mammalian fish - that I am the true Bear of the Sea!”

-

“The Bear of the Sea must be at least ‘slightly mammalian’ - you egg-laying scientific curiosity! You, tell this cousin of - a barnacle that I—the mighty merbear—am the true Bear of the - Sea! Say this and I will guide and protect you on your - journey.”

-

“No! Would you like to visit the moon? Say that I, - tardigrade, am Bear of the Sea and I will introduce you to my - moon friends!”

-

“He had to make friends on the moon because nobody on Urth - can stand him!”

-

“You’re just mean, you know that?”

-

You are still quite some way from the sea bed, and there is - no sight of the SS RSS.

-

WHAT DO YOU DO

-

www

- ]]> - - 26 dozens@tilde.team (dozens) @@ -771,170 +654,6 @@ ]]> - - 23 - dozens@tilde.team (dozens) - 23 - Sat, 22 Oct 2022 09:36:52 --0600 - Sat, 22 Oct 2022 09:36:52 -0600 - - 00023 -
-

Why no, we don’t mind much about competition, certainly - nothing wrong. Can’t imagine someone to put all of their eggs - in one basket, especially when whatever it is they desire is - so valuable.

-

That said, our benefactor must be pretty eager to get these - crystals if he’s willing to send out team after team. I mean, - we’re team 43, that’s a lot of people to pay and a lot of - eagerness to find these crystals. Why is that? What benefit - are these shiny rocks to them? What even is their purpose in - retrieving them?

-
-

“Oh, no no no, child,” Blavin titters as he takes a sip of - his ever-present martini. “You must understand, the Benefactor - is a singularly dedicated collector, and has been for ages! - There are—and have been!—many other retrieval teams, yes. But - not all of them have been for the crystals. And some of them - were formed, active, and disbanded long before you or I - arrived on the scene.” He winks at you conspiratorially.

-
-

I would postulate, based upon the magical wards we had to - bypass, the cadre of gaurds that needed to be dispatched, and - the gigantic moth monster that rested beneath it, that these - crystals aren’t meant to go anywhere.

-

Now I’m not trying to point fingers here, morality is many - shades of gray, and it isn’t really my job to suss out what - you’re doing. But I’m a curious sysorceor, and when I see a - chance to learn I seize upon the moment. There’s something - here you’re not telling us, and I for one and keen to know - it.

-
-

“I wouldn’t worry your wizened old brow about it,” Blavin - chuckles, sloshing his drink. “The Benefactor’s concern is - precisely the same as yours! These items are of enormous - cultural and historical significance, to say nothing of their - well of concentrated arcane energies. They’re dangerous just - sitting out there in the world. Who knows who might come - across one and use it for nefarious purposes.”

-

Yam’L’s eye widens and it seems to shudder at the mere - suggestion of evil.

-

“Did you say this one was in the hands of a giant moth?” - Blavin shudders with revulsion. “My word, man! Do you really - think such an overgrown insect is an appropriate guardian for - a beloved and dangerous cultural icon such as the Ginnarak - Crystal? Surely not!”

-

“No,” he sits back with a satisfied smile, “I think we must - all agree that they are safer in the public collection of a - competent and benevolent curator. Then everybody can enjoy - them safely!”

-
-

META: I’m gonna preface the sword speech with this to make - it quicker to write

-

Y’aml
- I like what you’re putting down here, this guy is DEFINITELY - evil. Nobody asks loads of people to steal things for them - without being evil. I say we stab him, nice and good, right in - the gut. Maybe 6 or 7 times. I’m positive nobody will mind. - Evil people steal things, we saw that inky creature stealing - things from that vault, definitely evil. (singsong) Evil evil - evil, stab stab stab, make the evil go away with every little - stab~

-

Corraidhin to Y’aml
- Dear sysadmins, once again, inky is not evil. They were - borrowing something that had been cast on the ground, - abandoned. Giving a tea set a good home is far from evil. But - you might be onto something about this Blavin fellow, but we - can’t just stab someone in a busy pub! Besides you’re a sword, - and stabbing someone in a pub is the job of a dagger. So - unless you can transform into the Dagger of Y’aml I think - we’re out of luck here.

-
-

Yam’L gets a curious look in its eye at the suggestion. - “CHALLENGE ACCEPTED!” it cries directly into your mind. It - squeezes its eye shut and trembles with intense concentration. - With great effort, the sword shrinks itself down to the size - of a dagger, shunting its extra mass off into yamlspace.

-

“There!” it says breathlessly, opening its eye wearily. - “Now, Hardy Bear. You promised..” it continues, its eye - glinting with growing ferocity. “Let’s. STAB. THE HOBBIT!”

-
-

While the wizard pressed Blavin about the crystal’s - secrets, Inky let their attention wander slightly around the - table.

-

They had agreed that Master Corraidhín and Jarrod, being - most wise and well-spoken, would question Blavin about the - crystal before they set off on their next mission. The party - had also befriended the duck unofficially dubbed their - marketing manager after the fluffy little creature had trailed - Inky all the way back to the Milk Market. Said creature now - occupied a small office to one side of the building complete - with a fountain, feathered up pillow and all the rummy worms - it can eat. Inky had tried getting the duck to communicate - with words by making them little croutons etched with letters, - but the only ones they would gobble up were Q-U-A-C-K.

-
-

Your marketing manager moves into its office at the Milk - Market and seems to really be enjoying itself. It joins you at - Blavin’s table at Lucy’s Basement, cleaning its feathers and - chortling merrily to itself.

-

You and your tablemates take turns feeding it croutons and - bits of soft pretzel, and it seems very happy and content with - that.

-
-

A familiar prickle, but passed quickly — Inky had gotten - used to the glares directed at them by the sysorceor’s - gleaming sword and resisted returning the stare with an - eyeroll. Watching Stabby eyeing up their case manager over - Master Corraidhín’s shoulder reminded Inky of a conversation - they had overheard a few evenings ago between two pale coffin - sleepers about a new product from the hemogoblins that was - said to quench the thirst for longer than the leading brand. - They might be able to find some at the town of Plasma, which - sits by the Hartlands on the way to the shipwreck. It seems - the milky blood pudding could do with some improvement.

-
-

You note on Blavin’s map that the Hemogoblin region is - indeed on the way to the shipwreck. At least, it’s not that - far out of the way. You reckon their synthetic blood product - would indeed be a much better substitute for the real thing - than the milk you’ve been feeding the thirsty sword thus - far.

-

Or, at the very least, you’ll get a new variant of the - blood pudding recipe you’ve been working on!

-
-

Maybe someone else’s mood will be improved in the meantime? - Before setting out for their meeting with Blavin, Inky slipped - into the kitchens downstairs and left the empanada chef a - trick-and-treat. A plate of honeyed breadfruit and ghost - pepper tapas sat on an icebox atop a new pair of Blueberry - oven mittens with a pattern of tiny smiling green turtles. - Tucked inside one mitten was a slip of paper (regrettably - inedible) that simply read “BACK SOON :)”. A tapa recipe, - which included a note on adapting the toppings for pan frying, - was printed on the reverse in neat blocky letters and - sandalwood ink.

-
-

Enrique wakes in the middle of the night to start baking - the next day’s breads and empanadas. He frowns thoughtfully - when he sees yet another mysterious gift from across the room. - Again? What little elf must have taken up residence in his - shop? But his face cracks into a smile when he sees the - presentation and the oven mitts. And the smile becomes a - bonafide grin when he tastes the fare and finds the - recipe.

-

He taps his chin thoughtfully with one green claw as he - skims the note and looks through his pantry. He chops some - veggies and starts pan frying them.

-

Later, when the oven dings, he smiles to himself as he - pulls on the new turtle pattern oven mitts and opens it.

-

> A) MORE QUESTIONING, OR B) TIME FOR SHIPWRECK?

-

www

- ]]> - - 22 dozens@tilde.team (dozens) @@ -1268,5 +987,286 @@ scp sysorceor.guild:/home/corraidhin/chest milkbase.alpha:/home/corraidhin/chest ]]> + + 28 + dozens@tilde.team (dozens) + 28 - Sat, 29 Oct 2022 08:36:51 +-0600 + Sat, 29 Oct 2022 08:36:51 -0600 + + 00028 +
+

a new player enters the chat

+

Gabs had a good life. Her little devil children were all + grown adults now, and she no longer wanted to toil away + running a business. When she initially shuttered her little + tavern, she thought she might just retire. She made it two + whole years of working in a garden, occasionally seeing + grandkids, and reading romance novels. She eventually decided + she needed a vacation from her retirement and traveled to a + nearby port town. She was sure to find something fun to do + there.

+

Gabs eventually sees Inquire Within, and the smell of + debauchery wafting from within made her miss her days + gossiping at her tavern. She enters and orders a terrible + drink and listens and watches.

+

Hearing the tales being spun by Mister Three-Fingered, she + decides, “I’ve never been on a ship, that’s something that + sounds exciting!”

+

Half-drunk and eager for something exciting, she will join + on the journey!

+

Gabs is a lanky older half-devil lady who is here to + schmooze and have fun!

+
+

~

+
+

Meta: a warm welcome to the latest member of our tea party! + This is a short post to help smooth the temporal jumps between + the recent narratives so far. As Inky reaches the deck, they + see Gabs approaching from the other side of the ship as well, + and flashes them a grin in greeting. After listening to the + captain petering on about the glorious days of the now sunken + ship below, while tinkering with the bell’s tentacles — being + rewarded with a mild zap and marginally better fit for the + effort — Inky turns to the party. “When you’re ready.”

+
+

You reach into the tank and discover that grabbing a + breathing bell takes some finesse. They are very slippery! But + you get the hang of it and make a ladle out of your hands and + scoop one up.

+

“Okay now!” laughs Three-Fingered Gerald. He gives you a + wink, but it’s easy to miss because of the eyepatch. “Don’t + put it on until right before you jump. It won’t be able to + breathe for you until you’re in the water. And this!” he + continues, fitting a heavy, padded vest around your shoulders, + “will carry you down.” It is a vest of many pockets, each one + holding a small dense sandbag the size of your hand. “When + you’re ready to come back up, just start dropping ballast, + right?”

+

You hop up on the ship railing and pull the breathing bell + on over your head. It immediately contracts and squeezes and + hugs your head like a second skin, and its stubby little + tentacles grab hold around your jawline, and it feels like you + have a wet plastic bag clinging to your face, and you think + you might have made a grave mistake. Resisting the urge to + panic, you push off the railing and jump overboard. You are + briefly air born and then profoundly waterbound, crashing + through the surface of the sea into the briny soup below.

+

The oxygen starts to flow as the breathing bell begins to + do its job. As you sink, you feel as though you are floating + through space, entering another world.

+

After a while you start to hear voices arguing in the + distance. As you get closer, two large shapes start to come + into focus. The first is a hulking, hairless merbear. Top half + (hairless) bear, bottom half fish. The second figure is a + tardigrade the size of a large merbear. It has eight jointless + legs, each tipped with four sharp claws. It wriggles and + wobbles like jelly as it gesticulates.

+

“No, I am the true Bear of the Sea! I am called a Water + Bear, after all!”

+

“Hornswoggle and poppycock! It is I who am the Bear of the + Sea! I am half bear after all! You’re just some kind of + segmented nematode or something.”

+

The tardigrade quivers with indignation. “I’ll have you + know I’m a panarthropod, thank you very much. And this is the + ideal physical body! You may not like it, but this is what + peak performance looks like. I’ve lived under the polar ice + cap, and in a sulfurous mountaintop hot spring. I’ve traveled + through the vacuum of space to the moon! Have you ever been to + the moon?”

+

“Why don’t you go be the Bear of the Moon then if you like + it so much!”

+

“You’re just as much fish as you are bear, are you sure + you’re not the Fish of the Sea?”

+

“Are you sure you’re not the Blob of the Sea, you too many + armed bowl of jelly?”

+

“Hey! Hey, you there!” The arguing quasi-bears have spotted + your slow descent. “Come, yes, float slowly this way! You must + settle an argument for us! Tell this slightly mammalian fish + that I am the true Bear of the Sea!”

+

“The Bear of the Sea must be at least ‘slightly mammalian’ + you egg-laying scientific curiosity! You, tell this cousin of + a barnacle that I—the mighty merbear—am the true Bear of the + Sea! Say this and I will guide and protect you on your + journey.”

+

“No! Would you like to visit the moon? Say that I, + tardigrade, am Bear of the Sea and I will introduce you to my + moon friends!”

+

“He had to make friends on the moon because nobody on Urth + can stand him!”

+

“You’re just mean, you know that?”

+

You are still quite some way from the sea bed, and there is + no sight of the SS RSS.

+

WHAT DO YOU DO

+

www

+ ]]> + + + + 23 + dozens@tilde.team (dozens) + 23 - Sat, 22 Oct 2022 09:36:52 +-0600 + Sat, 22 Oct 2022 09:36:52 -0600 + + 00023 +
+

Why no, we don’t mind much about competition, certainly + nothing wrong. Can’t imagine someone to put all of their eggs + in one basket, especially when whatever it is they desire is + so valuable.

+

That said, our benefactor must be pretty eager to get these + crystals if he’s willing to send out team after team. I mean, + we’re team 43, that’s a lot of people to pay and a lot of + eagerness to find these crystals. Why is that? What benefit + are these shiny rocks to them? What even is their purpose in + retrieving them?

+
+

“Oh, no no no, child,” Blavin titters as he takes a sip of + his ever-present martini. “You must understand, the Benefactor + is a singularly dedicated collector, and has been for ages! + There are—and have been!—many other retrieval teams, yes. But + not all of them have been for the crystals. And some of them + were formed, active, and disbanded long before you or I + arrived on the scene.” He winks at you conspiratorially.

+
+

I would postulate, based upon the magical wards we had to + bypass, the cadre of gaurds that needed to be dispatched, and + the gigantic moth monster that rested beneath it, that these + crystals aren’t meant to go anywhere.

+

Now I’m not trying to point fingers here, morality is many + shades of gray, and it isn’t really my job to suss out what + you’re doing. But I’m a curious sysorceor, and when I see a + chance to learn I seize upon the moment. There’s something + here you’re not telling us, and I for one and keen to know + it.

+
+

“I wouldn’t worry your wizened old brow about it,” Blavin + chuckles, sloshing his drink. “The Benefactor’s concern is + precisely the same as yours! These items are of enormous + cultural and historical significance, to say nothing of their + well of concentrated arcane energies. They’re dangerous just + sitting out there in the world. Who knows who might come + across one and use it for nefarious purposes.”

+

Yam’L’s eye widens and it seems to shudder at the mere + suggestion of evil.

+

“Did you say this one was in the hands of a giant moth?” + Blavin shudders with revulsion. “My word, man! Do you really + think such an overgrown insect is an appropriate guardian for + a beloved and dangerous cultural icon such as the Ginnarak + Crystal? Surely not!”

+

“No,” he sits back with a satisfied smile, “I think we must + all agree that they are safer in the public collection of a + competent and benevolent curator. Then everybody can enjoy + them safely!”

+
+

META: I’m gonna preface the sword speech with this to make + it quicker to write

+

Y’aml
+ I like what you’re putting down here, this guy is DEFINITELY + evil. Nobody asks loads of people to steal things for them + without being evil. I say we stab him, nice and good, right in + the gut. Maybe 6 or 7 times. I’m positive nobody will mind. + Evil people steal things, we saw that inky creature stealing + things from that vault, definitely evil. (singsong) Evil evil + evil, stab stab stab, make the evil go away with every little + stab~

+

Corraidhin to Y’aml
+ Dear sysadmins, once again, inky is not evil. They were + borrowing something that had been cast on the ground, + abandoned. Giving a tea set a good home is far from evil. But + you might be onto something about this Blavin fellow, but we + can’t just stab someone in a busy pub! Besides you’re a sword, + and stabbing someone in a pub is the job of a dagger. So + unless you can transform into the Dagger of Y’aml I think + we’re out of luck here.

+
+

Yam’L gets a curious look in its eye at the suggestion. + “CHALLENGE ACCEPTED!” it cries directly into your mind. It + squeezes its eye shut and trembles with intense concentration. + With great effort, the sword shrinks itself down to the size + of a dagger, shunting its extra mass off into yamlspace.

+

“There!” it says breathlessly, opening its eye wearily. + “Now, Hardy Bear. You promised..” it continues, its eye + glinting with growing ferocity. “Let’s. STAB. THE HOBBIT!”

+
+

While the wizard pressed Blavin about the crystal’s + secrets, Inky let their attention wander slightly around the + table.

+

They had agreed that Master Corraidhín and Jarrod, being + most wise and well-spoken, would question Blavin about the + crystal before they set off on their next mission. The party + had also befriended the duck unofficially dubbed their + marketing manager after the fluffy little creature had trailed + Inky all the way back to the Milk Market. Said creature now + occupied a small office to one side of the building complete + with a fountain, feathered up pillow and all the rummy worms + it can eat. Inky had tried getting the duck to communicate + with words by making them little croutons etched with letters, + but the only ones they would gobble up were Q-U-A-C-K.

+
+

Your marketing manager moves into its office at the Milk + Market and seems to really be enjoying itself. It joins you at + Blavin’s table at Lucy’s Basement, cleaning its feathers and + chortling merrily to itself.

+

You and your tablemates take turns feeding it croutons and + bits of soft pretzel, and it seems very happy and content with + that.

+
+

A familiar prickle, but passed quickly — Inky had gotten + used to the glares directed at them by the sysorceor’s + gleaming sword and resisted returning the stare with an + eyeroll. Watching Stabby eyeing up their case manager over + Master Corraidhín’s shoulder reminded Inky of a conversation + they had overheard a few evenings ago between two pale coffin + sleepers about a new product from the hemogoblins that was + said to quench the thirst for longer than the leading brand. + They might be able to find some at the town of Plasma, which + sits by the Hartlands on the way to the shipwreck. It seems + the milky blood pudding could do with some improvement.

+
+

You note on Blavin’s map that the Hemogoblin region is + indeed on the way to the shipwreck. At least, it’s not that + far out of the way. You reckon their synthetic blood product + would indeed be a much better substitute for the real thing + than the milk you’ve been feeding the thirsty sword thus + far.

+

Or, at the very least, you’ll get a new variant of the + blood pudding recipe you’ve been working on!

+
+

Maybe someone else’s mood will be improved in the meantime? + Before setting out for their meeting with Blavin, Inky slipped + into the kitchens downstairs and left the empanada chef a + trick-and-treat. A plate of honeyed breadfruit and ghost + pepper tapas sat on an icebox atop a new pair of Blueberry + oven mittens with a pattern of tiny smiling green turtles. + Tucked inside one mitten was a slip of paper (regrettably + inedible) that simply read “BACK SOON :)”. A tapa recipe, + which included a note on adapting the toppings for pan frying, + was printed on the reverse in neat blocky letters and + sandalwood ink.

+
+

Enrique wakes in the middle of the night to start baking + the next day’s breads and empanadas. He frowns thoughtfully + when he sees yet another mysterious gift from across the room. + Again? What little elf must have taken up residence in his + shop? But his face cracks into a smile when he sees the + presentation and the oven mitts. And the smile becomes a + bonafide grin when he tastes the fare and finds the + recipe.

+

He taps his chin thoughtfully with one green claw as he + skims the note and looks through his pantry. He chops some + veggies and starts pan frying them.

+

Later, when the oven dings, he smiles to himself as he + pulls on the new turtle pattern oven mitts and opens it.

+

> A) MORE QUESTIONING, OR B) TIME FOR SHIPWRECK?

+

www

+ ]]> + +