The Soup Was Not to His Liking - A Tale of Espionage

[Gary The Procrastinator]

Hello again, I wanted to write a short suspenseful and action-packed bit with some espionage, and the build to go with it. The MOC is based on a real medieval kitchen at Hever Castle, England (click on the picture for the FLICKR link). This is also a global storyline update for Lands of Roawia. Hope you like it...

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Something wasn’t right, besides what the Duke of Ainesford was blabbing on about; no that cook…he was taking far too long to clean up the ale he himself had spilled on the stairs. And Captain Tavish was certain he was pausing to listen to what was being said on the Speaker's Floor, strictly against the rules for “the help” here at this Great Congress of Lenfald. The grizzled archer nudged Sir Caelan Munro sitting next to him, but the Baron barely noticed as he listened to Ainesford's speech and replied, “Can you believe what this pompous jester here is advocating? Full compliance with the new king, improper marriage and all! I just lost all respect for the Duke...”

Tavish shook his head in mild frustration at Sir Caelan and got up to check on the cook, but he had barely made it halfway there when the cook suddenly collected his rags and left. Now that was entirely too coincidental…

The Captain headed down the hallway to find him but was immediately accosted by the two ever-present and intellectually-challenged guards waiting there. Security at the Great Congress was incredibly tight due to the volatile nature of what was being discussed; no one except the castle guards themselves were allowed any weapons whatsoever, and all the delegates and staff were sequestered inside the castle for the duration of this critical assembly. Upon seeing the archer they held out their halberds to stop him, but Tavish was way ahead of them. “Ah, there you are my good lads, I am here to report an illegal weapon, one of the delegates has a knife, I clearly saw it. Here, let me point him out.”

Excited that they finally had something real to do, the two looked like dogs waiting to go fetch a thrown stick. The Captain deliberately motioned at the middle of the delegates on the far side of the largest hall in all of Lenfald, and pointed indiscriminately, “there, that one wearing dark green.” The two were halfway across when they realized nearly every delegate there was wearing the official color of Lenfald.

The archer entered the Great Kitchen impatiently as he searched for the man, to no avail; he wasn’t there. It was incredibly busy in the hot room, but there was one cook removing the entrails from a goose who he grabbed by the arm after the man objected to his presence. “Did a cook just rush through here?”

“Oh no, I haven’t seen a cook all day!" he spit out sarcastically. "Look about you mate, you’re in a kit…” he didn’t get any farther as he was suddenly and violently shaken.

“Tall, thin, muscular, with a goatee and a deep tan like he has been in the…” a sinking feeling hit Captain Tavish as he finished his own sentence, “…desert.”

“Oh, the new bloke,” the cook muttered resentfully. “Yeah, he’s in the side kitchen over there.”

“New bloke? But the staff has been sequestered!”

“Aye but we ran short o’ help and contracted from outside…”

Now Tavish’s stomach was turning, and not from the sight of the goose’s entrails. He shot down the side hall and found the door to the secondary kitchen locked from the inside. He was not a slight man however and he burst through it after four body slams, only to face an arrow shot at him. Quickly turning to present a smaller target the shot barely missed, and Tavish then plunged into the small kitchen. It had two ovens, one to his left and another to his right with a window facing the outer ward of the castle. A massive pot of some concoction was bubbling away in that fireplace, and two cooks were to his left, down and bleeding in front of the other oven. To his right across a table full of foodstuffs and dishes stood the dubious cook, now smoothly knocking another arrow. As Tavish reached for a large pot to try and deflect the shot, the cook instead leveled the shot at the window and fired the arrow out of it.

Instantly Tavish knew he had just lost, for two things came to his eye; the arrow had a note tied to it — the spy had just successfully gotten the word out as to whatever he had heard. And the other thing was personally alarming; the cook had a tattoo of a crow on the inside of his arm--the same kind of decoration that the fearsome Areani have to show their allegiance to Lenfald's enemies the Loreesi— that this was going to be one bloody fight, perhaps the Captain's last.

So he didn’t wait, and threw the pot at him as hard as he could, catching the spy in the ribs. That should have doubled him over, but the desert-dweller barely noticed it. He produced a curved Loreesi dagger from inside his shirt and a second knife and attacked with both, while Tavish grabbed a kitchen knife and jar of seeds, and the two went at each other with full force. The jar wound up shattered as it absorbed a crushing blow from the dagger, and Tavish gave him a brutal slash across the shoulder, which again the Areani barely seemed to notice. In the flurry, the archer had sustained four bloody cuts from the spy and knew he wouldn’t last long against this seemingly inhuman opponent.

Then the Areani reacted to something over Tavish’s shoulder and a jar came flying out of nowhere and hit the spy in the head, shooting flour everywhere, clouding up the air. Sir Caelan Munro suddenly appeared and dashed by the Captain, attacking the cook with a meat cleaver. The sight would have been hilarious if it weren't for the circumstances of their opponent being a deadly Loreesi agent.

Even dazed the Areani fought like a lion until Tavish grabbed a small iron pot and slammed it into the side of his head. Still the spy stood, but wavered. The temporary lull in the action allowed the sound of the bubbling pot to come through, and both Sir Caelan and Tavish simultaneously had the same idea, grabbing the spy by the arms and shoving him toward the fire. They forcefully pushed the Areani's head down into what turned out to be a lovely pea soup, now at full boil. The spy struggled mightily as he burned, but both his opponents held on until he went limp.

“We need to question him, I think,” Caelan barely managed and finally Tavish relented, letting the man fall to the floor with horrendous second-degree burns now all over his head and face, also covered in a slimy green.

The two friends stood huffing from their exertion until Baron Munro finally blurted, “You left just when the Duke was getting interesting…”

"I doubt that very much." Tavish stumbled to the window and cursed. “The blighter must have shot right over the outer wall. Jig’s up now; whatever was on that note is long gone.”

Just then the same two guards who had stopped the Captain earlier now slammed into the kitchen. They took in the Areani, the mess, and the two hurt cooks to their left and looked furiously at them. Sir Caelan only waved at the spy on the floor and by way of explanation stated indignantly, “He ruined the soup.”

Two days later, a man dressed in fine red clothing stood on a tower of the King’s Castle, and held out his arm expectantly. A bird came down swiftly and alighted on his arm, and he gently caressed the falcon. He then unfastened the message tied to its leg and began reading carefully. His brow furrowed slightly after reading a few lines; then a calmness came over him. He looked towards the vast horizon and paused to consider everything that had taken place in the last few weeks. Then Loreesi Prince Jarius tucked the message into his pocket and, carrying the bird with him, walked purposely towards the stairs of the tower.

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Hope you like the build and story; comments are welcome!

Edited March 27, 2015 by Gary The Procrastinator

[Balbo]

Very nice story and MOC . The interior looks great and I like the way you made the wall

[Graham Gidman]

Amazing build, Gary!

[Capt Wolf]

Great build and story. You've done a good job capturing the action. I particularly like the broken table, with foodstuffs appropriately scattered.

[Captain Braunsfeld]

Good story and a very fine build!

[Gary The Procrastinator]

Very nice story and MOC . The interior looks great and I like the way you made the wall

Thanks Balbo, I tried to stay close to the original Hever Castle.

Amazing build, Gary!

Thank you Graham.

Great build and story. You've done a good job capturing the action. I particularly like the broken table, with foodstuffs appropriately scattered.

Thank you Capt Wolf, glad you liked both the story and build.

Good story and a very fine build!

Thanks Capt Braunsfield, it was a fun and fast build and the story was enjoyable to write as well.

[LittleJohn]

Fantastic work, Gary! I like how much depth change you added to the walls. The broken table and scattered food are excellent as well

[Gary The Procrastinator]

Fantastic work, Gary! I like how much depth change you added to the walls. The broken table and scattered food are excellent as well

Thank you LittleJohn, I appreciate it.

[Kaleb705]

Love it! Good job Gary :) excellent story as well

[Ardelon]

Wow, the MOC is Great, but the story really sells it, and breathes a lot of life to the build!

[Garmadon]

Excellent build Gary, great job portraying all the action that is going on! Fantastic work with the wall texturing and story as well, and I really like the flags at the top!

[Captain Dee]

First of all, this is beautifully written, and the build matches perfectly. The walls are nicely done and the details of the kitchen are very good. As already stated, the broken table and scattered foods look great. The color of the floor provides a nice contrast. With the suspense of the story I must ask - is there more? If not, it's a good stand-alone piece. Well done!