You get an excellent feel for the cook right away, as he is a friendly old salt at heart who likes to talk almost as much as he likes to drink. (OOC: When interacting with the cook while cooking with him, you gain a bonus to your Diplomacy roll equal to the number of hours the task takes).
[sblock=Gather Information (Ambrose "Fishguts" Kroop)]Ambrose Kroop is a large, some would say fat, man, weighing well over 200 pounds and standing only 5 feet tall. He exudes an air of neglect, perhaps even despair, from the bushy tufts of black hair behind his ears, to his rotting teeth, to the stains on his filthy apron. He walks with a wallowing waddle, particularly when drunk, but is capable of surprising acts of strength. Kroop talks with a thick Shackles accent, which some people find hard to follow. He’s had so many lashes that his back is like tanned leather, and he claims to not even feel the bite of the lash anymore. After 44 years in the school of hard knocks, Kroop is a man who clearly cares little for himself or what people think of him. Nevertheless, he is at heart a kind man, and does his best to protect his cook’s mate from punishments brought on by mistakes made by either of them.
Kroop is the ship’s cook, nicknamed “Fishguts”by the crew, though whether this refers to the contents of his soups or the stains on his apron is unclear. His job is to bring the ship’s biscuits and leftovers on deck at dawn and noon for the crew, and prepare and serve the evening meal. Kroop is a drunkard, but not constantly inebriated, and is a potential ally for those who take time to talk with him. His unpredictability makes him a frustrating but ultimately useful friend. Like his friend Cut-Throat Grok, Kroop is from the school of hard knocks, but where Grok has become tough, Kroop has capitulated in the face of endless discipline and violence. In general, Kroop likes to cook and drink rum. He is usually insensibly drunk in his quarters during the evening, rarely venturing onto deck after serving the evening meal. Friends of Kroop have an easier time of influencing the quartermaster Cut-Throat Grok, and he'll lend any friends any equipment from the galley, though stealing it without his permission is easy enough.
For now, you also glean the following information:
DC 5: “Fishguts” might once have been a famous chef at that fancy place in Port Peril, but now all he cooks is fishgut stew. He’s so pickled in rum now, bilgewater is all he can make.
DC 10: Remember the last cook’s mate? Nobody does—only when he disappeared. Just up and vanished, that one, like he was spirited away, or maybe dropped in a pot...
DC 15: Kroop was so drunk once that he bet his life in a game with the captain, and now he’s little more than Harrigan’s slave.
A couple more days with the cook will probably garner more information and an even more accurate picture of Fishguts Kroop.[/sblock][sblock=Ding!]Kroop has moved up two attitude steps, from indifferent to helpful![/sblock][sblock=Reward]+150 XP[/sblock]
At some point during this initial discussion, Kroop makes the following point, “It’s poison, this ship, but don’t let anyone hear you say it aloud. The hull listens, see, and the cap’n hears it all. Poison the Wormwood is, though, rotten to the core. You’ll not meet a more nasty, sour piece of work than Cap’n Harrigan in all your days at sea, and his crew’s the same, ’specially the first mate, Mr. Plugg. Vicious little sod, he is. He’d take his own mother’s liver to the butcher to make pies with, he would. But they leave me alone, mostly. They know I can’t ’arm ’em.”
The meal is finished well before Bloody Hour, and you still have about 4 hours left until you have to report to the mainmast for your punishment.