Post by Kang Ren on Aug 2, 2010 6:10:05 GMT
Pirate Stew
Original Quest Name: Local Stew
Quest Difficulty: Medium
Quest Description:Making a local stew isn't as easy as it sounds; after all you have to catch the produce first... even the carrots! The food is scarce, prove your resourcefulness and feed an army with a minimum.
Quest Difficulty: Medium
Quest Description:Making a local stew isn't as easy as it sounds; after all you have to catch the produce first... even the carrots! The food is scarce, prove your resourcefulness and feed an army with a minimum.
Gan Ning stood at the brow of his ship. They were headed to a small harbor outside of Chai Sang. Gan Ning smelled the air and smiled. However… “Captain!” a young pirate said running over to Gan Ning.
“Yes Ren Lu?” Gan Ning asked. The bells of every man on the ship jingled as they ran about trying to pull them into the harbor.
“Captain, we are extremely low on food. We need more!” Ren Lu said with complete urgency.
Gan Ning shook his head, “What!? Show me the stores!” Ren Lu took him down into the deck of the ship Chi Lang (Red Wolf) and to the food store room. It was almost empty. Gan Ning yelled, “Where did all of our food go!?”
Ren Lu recoiled, “Rats Captain. They got into a store and ate most of our food.”
Gan Ning shook his head, Come on man, why does this crap always happen to me he thought. He shook his head and asked, “How much money do we have?”
Ren Lu braced himself, “Barely any sir. We spent it on wine and women remember?”
Gan Ning nodded slightly. Then he screamed, “WHY DOES THIS ALWAYS HAPPEN TO ME!” Gan Ning’s face turning blood red and Ren Lu ducked behind a crate. A few moments later a regular color returned to his face. He turned to Ren Lu and said, “You, come with me.”
Ren Lu recoiled and seemed to shrink. He stood up and followed Gan Ning out of the ship’s hull. He called all the pirates to attention. As they did, he picked out fourteen of them saying, “You are going to help me get some food. Alright lets go.”
At that moment the ship docked and they jumped over the side. At first the villagers thought they were raiding and pulled out their weapons. Before they could attack the pirates were already long past them and one of the villagers asked, “What was that?”
A pirate leaned off the ship laughed and said, “Well they going hunting. We low on food, have no money. And Gan Ning told us not to raid small villages. Big towns are a different story.”
In the forest…
Gan Ning broke his men off into three groups of five, each tasked with something else. One in charge of finding fruits and vegetables, one finding fresh water, and one finding meat. Gan Ning and his four men, including Ren Lu, where hunting. All had their bows out and aimed at some deer and let the arrows fly. However…
The arrow missed and Gan Ning yelled, “Damnit!” The rest of the wildlife scattered and Gan Ning unsheathed his sword and ran after a deer, “Get back here! I want my meat!” He said chasing it around. However the deer was much faster than him and he eventually gave up with his men panting behind him from following him.
Ren Lu gasped for air and said, “Captain… You can’t just… go… after them… with… a sword…” He doubled over trying to catch his breath.
“Whatever.” Gan Ning said uncaring just shrugging. His stomach growled and he yelled, “SHUT UP STUPID STOMACH!” Once again all the wildlife ran away. “Oh man I gotta stop doing that.” He said to himself.
An hour later…
Gan Ning and his men sat perched in the trees of the forest. They looked down upon the river, waiting for anything, anything to show itself. Then, out of the woods a deer trotted out. Gan Ning smiled and nodded, and two arrows where let loose and struck its target. The deer fell and Gan Ning wooped, “Oh yea guys! We got some meat tonight!” He knew it wasn’t going to feed his crew. But it was a start.
Eventually they got around ten deer by the end of the day. And they dragged them back to a clearing and Gan Ning said, “We need to keep a lookout, so lets make camp here.” Together they set up a makeshift camp in a about ten minutes, eating what little provisions they brought.
Ren Lu shook his head, “Look at us. We are pirates! We should be living off the sea!”
Gan Ning laughed, “And only eat fish and seaweed?” Ren Lu shook his head no and Gan Ning laughed again, “Well then that is why we are doing this…” Gan Ning thought for a second and then smiled telling one of the pirates, “Go back to the ship and tell our men to fish and search for crabs. That should ease their appetite for a while.” And the pirate ran off.
The sun started to set and Gan Ning was pleased. They had ten deer and that was good. While it would take them a while to get back to the ship, it would be better than eating nothing but stale bread.
Gan Ning stood up and said, “Ren Lu, I’m going to go check on the other groups, you stay here and watch the camp. If I come back and you guys are asleep, oh there isn’t going to be much pirating for you anymore.”
Gan Ning stood up and walked off. He traveled further into the forest and took it all in. The sounds and the sight of the forest was nice, but the rivers and seas were soothing. He needed to get back on the boat soon. He didn’t like staying away too long. However, while thinking so much Gan Ning he was startled by an oink. He looked down and he was staring in the face a boar half the size of him. He jumped back with his eyes wide, “What the…” and it charged.
Gan Ning turned and ran the opposite way and was eventually nailed in the back of the legs sending him twirling up into the air. He yelled for Ren Lu but they never heard him. They were sleeping.
Gan Ning jumped up and turned to the boar, its tusks big and sharp. Gan Ning smiled and said, “Alright piggy, lets go.” And braced himself for the impact. The boar charged and he grabbed its tusks picking it up and flinging it over his head slamming it on the ground saying “That’s right, I’m Gan Ning, Menace of the Sea! And not even an over sized pig and defeat me!”
The boar got up and charged again. This time however, it jumped up and nailed Gan Ning in the stomach. The air was knocked out of him and he was disoriented, but he stood up looking around for the boar. But the boar was behind him. And then it nailed him in the butt, sending him a few feet into the air. He yelped and landed on the ground. He jumped and said, “Oh you gonna die now piggie.” And took out his sword. The pig stamped the ground angrily and charged. This time, Gan Ning jumped to the side, slicing at the boar’s legs, rendering it immobile.
He whined as he walked up to it. He looked down on it and said, “You fought well, but my pride cannot allow me to be beaten by… a pig. I will give you a swift death.” And he stabbed it in the heart.
The next day…
When Ren Lu and the rest of the pirates awoke they saw Gan Ning standing over them with an oversized boar on his back. His face was red, “What did I tell you idiots about sleeping.” They scrambled up and took the heavy boar from him.
Then, the force who went to find water appeared and said, “Captain, our task is completed.” They turned and looked around at all of the meat and their eyes popped out. So much meat!
Gan Ning smiled, “I want you all to take all of that back to the ship. We will have a nice stew tonight. We have to make that last until we get a big haul.” And with that the pirates dragged the eleven carcasses back to the ship.
Gan Ning however, was not finished. He walked to the last groups camp, the veggies and fruits camp. When he entered they jumped up from laying down and bowed their heads. Gan Ning yelled, “How much have you gotten so far.” Then one pirate place down a basket in front of him. There was barely anything in it. Gan Ning shook his head, “You idiots! Come on, we heading to Chai Sang.”
With that Gan Ning lead his men to the forest’s edge looking at the city of Chai Sang. Gan Ning smiled as the sun was setting and he looked out at the farms around the city, “We gonna steal this food.” Gan Ning said and his mean smiled widely. This is what they did best. Steal.
The sun fell and they went to work. They rushed out into the nearest farm, grabbing anything that looked edible up and into the baskets that each had on their backs. All seemed going well until…
“BARK! BARK BARK BARK BARK!” A dog barked and the door to the farm house opened up. Out charged two dogs and a man wielding a torch and a crossbow, “You thieves! Get back here!” and the pirates bolted. Gan Ning was behind them all, with the dogs closing in and the man firing his crossbow.
Both dogs jumped up and bit him. One biting him in the leg and the other on the butt. Gan Ning yelled, “Ow ow ow ow ow" and shook them off by hitting them in the nose. He ran again. They ran through the forest and they still chased him. Gan Ning yelled, how are they fining me!” Then he heard the answer. His bells. That is probably what alerted the dogs to begin with.
He took off the bells and chucked them into the forest. It was the only way he could get away. He ran. All the way back to the ship and he doubled over as soon as he arrived. He fell over and said, “Ren… Lu! Come… Get this…” and the young pirate jumped down and helped Gan Ning by getting the basket on his back. More pirates jumped down and helped their captain into the ship.
“Bring me some wine!” And wine was brought to him. He took a long drink and said, “Now… we got some food. No complaining.” Then Gan Ning looked around and saw the men already eating the food and drinking water and he said, “This will have to last a while. We need to find keep the food intake to a minimum. Anyone who tries to eat more will be punished.” Gan Ning said standing up looking around at all the men eating deer stew with carrots and potatoes. He smiled and the men nodded. They did good for themselves.
Gan Ning yelled to his crew, “Alright! Hurry up and lets get back into the water! We have been docked too long!” and Gan Ning’s pirates aboard the ship Chi Lang set sail once more.
END
