[h3]To bake an apple pie from scratch (in the Darkwoods)[/h3] As Stag the [ranger] watched a young elf lad cautiously edge towards the towering redwood deer among a herd of its fellows. Rather than a spear on hand as might have been expected in days only recently gone by however, the boy’s only ‘weapon’ was a juicy green apple. The forest-kin snorted and turned its gaze on the elf when it sensed his approach. In response the boy froze in alarm, only to sigh in relief as the deer’s eyes left him and instead looked at the apple he was holding. He moved closer and then offered it up to the majestic creature who gave it a sniff and then, after a final tense moment, took a chomp out of it. The elf lad beamed, and then ever so carefully reached out and gave the deer a pet on the head and a scratch behind the ear, which it seemed to appreciate just as much as the apple. Then he looked even more delighted as a little notification spoke in his mind: [hider=level up] Class gained: level 1 [herder] Skill gained: [herd creature empathy] [/hider] And he suddenly connected to the deer with his skill, and marveled as he found its simple mind quite content with this offering. “I did it” the elf whispered to himself, and then he looked ever so proud as he got a little smattering of applause from the other [herders] who had been standing around supervising/watching the initiation of another member into their class. Stag joined in, reminiscing about the time he essentially created the ceremony and gained the class himself. He’d promptly lost it a level later when his [ranger] class devoured his new [herder] class (there was no escape from the life Fern had dragged him into apparently, not that he’d really been trying to get away from it anyway) and ‘upgraded’ [herd creature empathy] into [companion: deepened bond]. He was half sure that his [animal companion] Doe (he had been amazed to learn she’d somehow gained a class thanks to that same [companion: deepened bond] skill) being jealous of the other deer he’d tamed had been what had caused that particular change. Or maybe he was being paranoid. Still, though the initiation had been nice to watch, that wasn’t why he was here, and so once the [herders] finished congratulating their new comrade the [ranger] strolled over to speak with their leader, Doe trotting along at his side. “Ah hello there Stag, so good to see you again!” the elf in question said, stepping forward to clasping arms with the [ranger], who smiled as he took part in the gesture and said “and you Spear” “So, what brings a famous [adventurer] like you out here to my little herd?” he teased, knowing full well how to push his old friend’s buttons. “Just a delivery” a slightly flushing Stag said, before he turned and opened a few leaf based packs hung over Doe’s side and pulled out a set of acorn bread loaves that had been made by the tribe. He handed them over to the [herder] before adding “and another request for the usual” “Ahhh, Pebble still hard at it eh?” the [herder] guessed, as he handed over the bread and then moved over to one of their herd animals to get Stag what he had requested “you know how I love this new bread stuff, but I feel bad for you lot, putting up with her whole pie making thing. How long has it been?” “Eh, not too long. I mean we only have this bread because it's a step on the journey to that” Stag replied, defending his friend, though his stomach protested at the thought of taste testing another failed attempt. Still, as a friend he had to do whatever he could to help her out, and in this case it was personally heading out here to get more ingredients after Pebble had exhausted her existing supplies. This he got after a bit of complaining from a few of Redwood deer, the [herder] doing his thing with the the help of his [induce lactation] skill and getting the [ranger] several leafy containers worth of fresh forest-kin milk, which, if he had any point of comparison, he’d have was akin to a mix of soymilk and almond milk in taste and consistency. As it was, it was the only kind of milk he had known, and it had been one of the trickier things to figure out how to get on the ingredient list. No one had had to invent a whole new class and way of iterating with the wildlife to get acorns or eggs for example. Either way, now that he had (more of) it, the [ranger] bid farewell to the [herders] and headed back home. And yes, it was home, rather than just back to the tribe, because in the time since retrieving the book, they’d settled down. Stag still found himself wishing they’d chosen anywhere else to do so though, because the place they had still gave him the odd set of nightmarish flashbacks. A short trip later he exited the treeline and entered the shade of the canopy of a single massive tree. Once there him and Doe headed over to the trunk and the [ranger] gave a whistle up into the branches. An elven head popped out of the foliage, in response to his summons, and it did not look pleased to see him. Or, rather, his companion. “Uurgh, didn’t we just let you down Stag” the elf complained, “can't you just leave it down there?” “You know how she gets” Stag replied, Doe had a tendency to complain, loudly, about being left behind, before adding “Besides, I need her to carry all this milk” “Uuurgh, fine. I’ll go get help” the elf replied, before adding a last spiteful “again!” before vanishing back into the trees. A few moments later and a whole lot of pulling later and Stag and Doe had been hauled up into the tree via vine ropes, and they were back in the place he and his party had claimed the cookbook: the tree house dungeon, once home of Jim, now renamed simply to Sanctuary. After they’d finished their quest, the [adventurers] had left this place behind, but after telling tales of it to others, some of the other people had come to check it out to see if there was anything else to be found. There wasn’t any other treasure to be found (something Jeon hand made notes to himself about to the tune of ‘add secondary loot’), they had found that, once the last of the dead were cleared out, it was actually quite a nice place. Stag and his [animal companion] trotted along the roads of the now lightly occupied tree house town, trotting past the dwellings that were far more secure against shark attacks than any leafy nest, and past elves gathering from branches that had been somehow made to bear all of the tree’s seeds in one place, the mighty oak bearing plethora of acorns in a scattering of concentrated gardens, ripe for the easy pickings. Still even this might not have been enough to keep them here, but they had stuck around for two other additional reasons. The first was that Pebble’s research had resulted in them being able to make stone ovens, which you obviously didn’t want to leave behind or tray and carry with you, and the other was Jeon’s debatablely helpful addition to the situation he’d made once he’d found out they were thinking about setting up shop: fermenting. The smell of baking, alcohol and cheese greeted Stag as he arrived in the area they’d set aside for all their baking and brewing needs, and then he headed for its heart, pushing open the door and meeting back up with his fellows. Fern was sitting at the table on a (fortunately unanimated) chair, next to a member of the underground exploration adventure that hadn’t made it to the treehouse adventure: Bark, the once (primitive) shield and armor bearing elf who had been injured during one of their interim adventurers. His leg had never healed right and he had had to retire from that life. Now he’d ended being the unfortunate test subject of Pebble’s many baking attempts “Hi all. I brought more milk. I’m sure you're quite happy about that Bark right?” Stag said as he and his [animal companion] entered, not above making that joke himself “Oh lay off. That joke is so overdone at this point” Fern chided him, but Bark just laughed it off “Actually, that last one wasn't so bad. Though maybe the cider is helping” the wounded adventurer joked, before sipping from the stone bowl that held his drink. “Did I hear something about milk?” came a voice from the kitchen, before a soot faced Pebble popped her head out, saw who had arrived and brightened up a bit “oh, good, you're here. You know I think I’m on the edge of a break through, so thanks for being so fast” “Yeah. No problem” Stag replied, before guiding the stooping Doe over so Pebble could retrieve the milk. Then he went and found a seat at the table next to the other two, with Doe joining them a few moments later once she was unloaded, the redwood deer settling herself down and stealing a drink from Bark’s bowl, much to his annoyance. The three elves + animal relaxed together for a time after, leaving Pebble to her experiments. She had in the back room a load of bowls, eggs from varicose waterbird species, some apples, assorted nuts and seeds to be ground into flour, the newly acquired milk, and, in the middle of all this, Grannysmith’s cookbook, popped open on the apple pie. Despite having everything she needed, there was one major thing holding her back: Not a single elf in the world could read. This meant getting the exact measurements of the various ingredients out of the book absolutely impossible, not to mention the cooking times. Still, through trial, error and practicing with simpler recipes, she was sure that this time, this time, it would be the one. She swiftly set to work, pulling together all the ingredients in a stone bowl. Pastry was made, filling created, and then more pastry on top. Then once that was set up she took her latest attempt and pushed it into her stone oven that was little more than a stack of rocks holding up an upper and lower shelf made of stone slabs. Then all there was to do was wait. Pebble joined the others, counting the time in her head as they drank and small talked. Then once the self made moments of time were over, she stepped away and used a bit of hide as oven mitts to grab the encouragingly tasty smelling pie and pulled it out. And then her eyes went wide [hider=level up] Level 3 [baker] => level 4 [baker] [/hider] There was no skill this level, but as omens went it was ever so good. “Oh. my. Gosh oh my gosh oh my gosh. I think I’ve done it!” she cheered, hurrying into the other room and almost tripping with excitement, Fern managing to catch her friend before fate ruined her moment. Instead of a disaster, the pie was slapped down on the table, a knife was acquired and the dish divided up for the eating. There was a bit of well earned apprehension before the elves tucked in, paused, and then just utterly devoured the pie slices. “Well. How was it?” Pebble asked, ever so redundantly, and got a chorus of approval from her friends that made her tear up a little. She’d done it. She’d baked the pie! Now all she needed to do was pull it off consistently, and also make a pie worthy of a goddess. No pressure right? [hider=prestige] Darkwood [Adventurers] Guild: Start: 11 -3 to invent the technology: domestication -3 to invent the technology: stone working -3 to invent the technology: baking and other more complex cooking methods +1 prestige: playing a significant role in the post +1 prestige: +10000 characters End: 4 [/hider] [hider=mp] Jeon start: 1mp/3ap 1 mp to teach the technology: fermenting (to make the wine and cheese necessary for a good time) Jeon end: 0mp/3ap [/hider]