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Message: <blockquote data-quote="ElectricDragon" data-source="post: 7226988" data-attributes="member: 10778">JasperSeveral things have come into focus once I arrived at Port Royal (or so our esteemed Duke calls it). The duke has spent a fortune building this port alone, staffing it with a complement of troops, multiple venders, a fully stocked smithy and stables, and even a decent-sized keep. The port was crowded, even more so than the merchant district on market day in the capitol; with humans, elves, dwarves, halflings, and gnomes in seeming abundance as well as various barbarian types from jungle warriors to gnolls, bugbears, and lizardfolk filling every lane and alley. A veritable city of tents, teepees, lean-to’s, straw huts, and even dugout hills surrounds the port on every side except the sea. Fully a dozen ships were tied at the enormous docks and three more were maneuvering in or out of the bay. All ships were merchants of various types but for one man-o-war flying the duke’s flag.I overheard enough just passing through the crowd to the dead merchant’s shop to realize that the duke has more than several of these ports here in the islands: Westport, Mariner’s Reef, Bay of Sharks, South Isle, and Bearclaw Island to name a few. The number of soldiers wearing the duke’s liveries was astounding; they far outnumbered the rest of the colorful crowd.Once at the shop, a line of the duke’s guards blocked the way but quickly allowed us to pass. Finally free of the press of bodies around the port, we entered the shop. A curiously rapid search led to a bundle of letters tied with a string. The letters seemed to be from the chef himself, threatening the merchant with bodily harm if he did not lower his prices. I verified signatures, sigils, and seals; but something about one of the investigators chosen by the duke bothered me; he seemed oily and though he never actually found anything, he always seemed to point out things about the letters from across the room. The style of the writing is not the chef’s, but it is surely his handwriting. I am at a loss for what to do.In other news, I was able to locate a merchant on our list (not affiliated with the duke, as far as I can tell, more of a small independent trader with only a boat or two) and he handed over these pages, asking only to recoup his payment for them. The price was negligible so I paid it out of my pocket, the chef will reimburse me when I return to the capitol. The chef needs to prepare for the fallout from these revelations when we arrive back in the capitol in a fortnight or two.EricHippogriff StockIngredients:8 sprigs fresh flat-leaf parsley; 6 sprigs fresh thyme; 4 sprigs fresh rosemary; 2 bay leaves; 4 drams whole black peppercorns; 1 pound hippogriff-stew meat, cubed; 5 pounds hippogriff bones, sawn into smaller pieces; 1 large onion, peel on, quartered; 2 large carrots, cut into thirds; 2 stalks celery, cut into thirds; 2 cups dry red wineDirections:Build a mesquite wood fire. Make a bouquet garni by wrapping parsley, thyme, rosemary, bay leaves, and peppercorns in a piece of cheesecloth. Tie with kitchen twine, and set aside. Arrange meat, bones, onion, carrots, and celery in an even layer in a large cauldron. Roast on mesquite fire, stirring and turning every 20 minutes, until the vegetables and the bones are deep brown, about 1 1/2 hours. Transfer the meat, bones, and vegetables to a stockpot, and set aside. Pour off the fat from the large cauldron, and discard. Place the large cauldron over mesquite wood fire. Add wine, and use a wooden spoon to scrape up the brown bits; boil until the wine has reduced by half, about 5 minutes. Pour all of the liquid into the stockpot. Add 6 quarts of cold water to the stockpot, or more if needed to cover bones. Do not add less water. Place on mesquite wood fire and bring to a boil, then move to a lignite coal fire to reduce to a very gentle simmer. Add the reserved bouquet garni. Liquid should just bubble up to surface. Skim the foam from the surface, and discard. Simmer for 3 hours; a skin will form on the surface of the liquid; skim off with a slotted spoon, and discard. Repeat as needed. Add water if at any time the level drops below the bones. Fill a cauldron with icy water (chill metal works wonders on a metal bowl, just transfer the contents before they freeze solid). Strain the stock through a fine sieve into a large (metal) bowl. Discard the solids. Transfer the bowl to the ice bath cauldron, and let cool to room temperature floating on cold water, about 10 minutes. Cast fly on the bowl.Effects: None (but see below); Caster Level: 5, fly; Craft (cooking) DC 10.Cost: 25 gp plus cost of hippogriff bones, and hippogriff stew meat (thanks to his majesty: only a 15 gp carters guild fee) and cost of wine (apothecary).Cook's Note: I have found an excellent vintage of apothecary wine that works well in this stock. The hippogriff meat and bones are from wounded mounts of the king's aerial battalion; we usually have to put down several each year. I petitioned the king to gain their carcasses upon such a tragedy.Espagnole SauceAbjuration and TransmutationIngredients:1 small carrot, coarsely chopped; 1 medium onion, coarsely chopped; 2 ounces of cow butter; 2 ounces of manna, finely ground; 4 cups hot hippogriff stock; 2 ounces of tomato sauce; 2 large garlic cloves, coarsely chopped; 1 celery rib, coarsely chopped; 10 whole black peppercorns; 1 bay leaf.Effects: Fly, resistance 5 to electricity for 3 hours; Caster Level: 5, fly; Craft (cooking) DC 12.Directions:Cook carrot and onion in butter in a large kettle over a stonewood fire stirring occasionally, until golden, 7 to 8 minutes. Add flour and cook roux over a peat fire, stirring constantly, until medium brown, 6 to 10 minutes. Add hot stock in a fast stream, whisking constantly to prevent lumps, then add tomato sauce, garlic, celery, peppercorns, and bay leaf and move to a mesquite fire and bring to a boil, stirring. Move back to peat fire and cook at a bare simmer, uncovered, stirring occasionally, until reduced to about 3 cups, about 45 minutes. Pour sauce through a fine-mesh sieve into a bowl, discarding solids. Cast fly on contents of bowl.Cost: 16 gp plus cost of manna and hippogriff stock.Gorgon Steak with Shrieker Mushrooms and ShallotsAbjuration, Divination, and TransmutationIngredients:16 shallots, whole; 1/2 lb. shrieker mushrooms, thinly sliced and coarsely chopped; 2 magic mushrooms, sliced; 52 oz gorgon blade steak, de-boned, with fat trimmed, and cut into eighths, 3 cups espagnole sauceDirections:In a large pan arrange steaks and shallots in a single level. Cover with both types of mushrooms. Stream on espagnole sauce and cook thoroughly on a very hot elemental fire; about 10 minutes. Cast true seeing on meal and serve.Serves: 8Time to Eat: 1 hour (counts as a full day’s meals)Effects: true seeing for 3 hours, plus espagnole sauce effect (fly and resistance 5 electricity for 3 hours); plus magic mushroom effect (+4 to caster level for divination spells for 3 hours). Caster Level: 15, true seeing, fly Craft (cooking) DC 17.Cost: 12 gp plus bribe(s) for precise elemental fire (~15,000 gp worth of red gems), cost of shrieker mushrooms (~50 gp/pound), cost of gorgon steak (only 1 gp/pound, but had to buy the whole beast at 5,000lb.), cost of magic mushrooms (50 gp each), and cost of espagnole sauce.Cook's Note: Gorgon must be cooked by elemental fire of some kind, I suggest that it is worth it to get a more intelligent species like azer or efreet and bribe them with handfuls of jewels. Gorgon cooked by non-elemental fire shrivels and blackens immediately as if overdone, even with magical or fiendish fire; and the taste is ruined. Gorgon cooked on a fire elemental's flames can be nearly as bad. The magic mushrooms still give their bonus to divination spells, but no longer include the nausea: properly cooked gorgon meat neutralizes the mildly poisonous effect of the mushrooms.The cost of the gorgon does not include the cost of criers and bills to entice adventurous types to track, kill, and retrieve the beast.I can’t believe what that atrocious minor noble did! After getting his way and securing an extra spot for his food taster, Baron Erlitz, long may his name be despised,  destroyed my otherwise perfectly planned banquet for the dwarven ambassadors. The trade talks will now assuredly fail as well and it will be on my head.The taster died in the panic that set in, before we could get the proper spell to the poor slave. That is bad enough; but the baron took it upon himself to look the hero and save everyone at his table by casting putrefy food and drink on all the food at the table he shared with seven other nobles. He then jumped to his feet and shouted that the food was poisoned to the rest of the hall, causing a great commotion and hindering help, until the king was forced to have his guards remove the baron just to restore order. Later investigation revealed that only the baron’s food was poisoned; there was no danger to anyone else. Nevertheless, the dinner went to the trash heap without so much as a taste from anyone. We later caught the murderous culprit and beheaded her on the spot; but the dinner was already ruined and everyone was afraid to eat any of my prized main dish.I had to prepare and serve the dessert without delay. I added ground mana wafers to ensure no one went away from one of my banquets hungry. I know the dwarves blame me for the disaster, so my hopes of cheaper dwarven foodstuffs are dashed before the trade talks begin. I must find a way to make amends; Duke Pierson’s prices are driving me to the poor house. I wish he were not in charge of the Royal Cellars, or of all goods coming out of the island nations, or of most goods arriving in the capitol by caravan.</blockquote>

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