Duty Session 569: To Serve and Protect

Requests for assistance to the Hunter's Guild are not usually on such
satisfyingly heavy paper, nor with such delicate calligraphy. In an
elegant, formal hand, the letter invites a small group of refined
adventurers to an evening of dinner, animated conversation, and
excellent wine. As guards and servants. After all, hiring an
adventurer can be a mark of status in some circles; and it never hurts
to have several on hand in dangerous times!

So it is that our heroes gather at a manor on the outskirts of town,
late in the afternoon, and are met by a solidly built Were Fang at the
rear door of the main buildings.

This request must involve refinement, Soujiro believes. Perhaps a princess needs an escort through a ballroom or a scholar needs to content with a rogue slime. Whatever the case, the scale samurai is on the case in his green kimono look. A content smile on his face and bright eyes that are immune to being world weary despite an endless supply of experience at every turn. He engages in the sort of conversation with the Were Fang at the back that would be to a fast new friend. Much to the interest of a nearby gaggle of cluck-clucks and the one mallard that has been following him around through town.

Ayame was always interested in commissions from the Hunter's Guild. So the secretarial sylph showed, smiling politely and shield on her back, to nod to the others present and glancing around the manor wiht interest.

"It's rare we get commissions directly" She murmurs to the others present with a thoughtful look "But still, good relationships between landers and adventurers is always a good thing, don't you think? So if they're making commissions and speaking to us, instead of just the in-between of the Guild - well, good steps!" A bright little smile to the others.

It is no doubt that, when something involves refinement, the Dandy Cat, Nyanta, is sure to be there. As a proper gentlemen, whenever something requires poise and rationality, the Were Cat is never too far away.

At this current point and time, he converses with a samurai friend of his with great familiarity, until Ayame speaks, "Ah, I do know that nobles tend to be rather of asteemed tastes, nya. I hope that I can assist, should there be any matters of etiquitte that need addressing."

Soujiro looks to Ayame after finishing with the Werefang. "I believe this to be a good thing," he agrees with her. Sparkles. "You have a thoughtful way of looking at it. Trust and respect are going to be an important way to work alongside our new friends." He gives Nyanta an affirming smile about nobles. Souji has never had trouble with the nobles, but the whole samurai thing appears to lend well to handling the upper class. Even if he is a member of SEA.

The back door leads to a large, well-equipped kitchen with a
well-designed stove, large oven, and heavy brass pans hanging on the
walls, but it becomes very clear that the money offered to hire the
adventurers was more or less the entire budget for the event. The
willowy chef has outright refused to work with them - screaming in a
heavily affected accent about 'ze amateurs' and that she 'cannot be
expected to work under zese conditions!' - and the rest of the
servants have been given the evening off. The menu is long and
complex, though at least the main dish is simple enough in the form of
sliced and seared grunty. Worse still, the supplies for the party are
only just arriving, in the form of a haggling merchant who intends to
take as much of the money you were paid as she can before she deigns
to deliver the comestibles.

"Looks like this was made for you, Nyanta!" Souji says as the raw chaos of an active kitchen washes over the young man like water off of a duck. "I'll help with the sous stuff. If there is a better way about it, do callouts!" He handles the kitchen the same way he does a raid. Its a culinary raid! There is only so much chopping that needs to be done before he is out work to do and 'helps' with the fire. More a Wave Arte thang as he doesnt manage the flames much.

Ayame chuckles as she removes her wand from her hair, plucking it from the bun, and carefully depresses the red gem at the top "Seared grunty?" She asks, raising an eyebrow behind her half-moon glasses "Fine. Not well done, though." She grins, as fire starts to burn from the end of the pen-wand, and she passes it slowly over the slices of meat; soon, calling Seta to toss them in the air as she passes fire over them.

You make your own fun.

"Honestly, this could have been worse!" She laughs a little "I could get used to this."

Nyanta is, as always, the picture of pure composure. He roles up his sleeves to mid-forearm while giving Soujiro a grin, "Indeed it is, Souji, myai friend, nya. While Brass is, indeed, inconvenient to work with, any chef knows that compurrcations occur in the kitchen, and it is the test of a chef's true myettle to overcome."

Within minutes, Nyanta has read the menu, improvised recipies for each, and begun the process for cooking each of them. One may notice that the start times of each dish is intentional so that the Cool Cat can cook many dishes simultaneously.

The samurai is like the closing scenes of Spy x Family with insta-dicing of ze meats. He has no innate Cooking skill, but his blade skills are 10/10. Make it a fun challenge in itself before getting them over to Ayame. "Asuna and Klein seem to enjoy cooking, and I can see why!" He can also find anything interesting. "Brass?" inquires Souji, switching to a brass knife, not taking the note about it being brass as a 'heating' method. Still, Souji could probably cut through things with a sharpened spork if he needed to.

A gong echoes through the house at seven PM sharp. Dinner is to be
served.

The dining hall is expansive and gloomy, with dark ceilings and rows
of candelabras along the central table. There, well-heeled Landers are
speaking in low tones and casting glances of amused surprise at the
sight of the adventurers. Your employer, at the head of the table,
casually waves a hand for you all to proceed.

Navigating the complex layers of Lander protocol will certainly be a
challenge here, if you wish to avoid giving offence. Likewise,
ensuring the wine and spirits are served with the appropriate courses
demands a certain knowledge of the subject. And if all else fails?
Look busy.

Souji has no problem looking busy. However the fact that he is a Brewer means that he is asked frequently about the alcohol. "What does this pair well with," he is asked. "Good company," the samurai says with a smile. Which, while not wrong, comes with a laugh and not a better drinking experience. The samurai brews tea, after all, not wine and spirits.

While he presents his masterfully as a chef, it becomes apparent that his true calling of life is to serve. He moves as any servant would, to the extent that one would assume he mist have had formal training at one point. He moves from guest to guest with swiftness, etiquette and poise. He is where he needs to be exactly when he should, and is otherwise unnoticed: for a servant is not to be seen unless needed.

"... I can probably help serving" Ayame says with a doubtful expression. She removes a small suitcase from her menu, and sighs, tapping it with the wand, opening it to produce ... a demure, fetching, maid's dress. She sighs, and taps it again with her wand, switching her outfit and giving the two a flat glare as she packs things away

"There are many things that I appreciate about all this" She says with a little sigh "But getting a relic that produces fitting clothing? That was not among them."

Still, she is all sweetness and light as she steps out into the main room, serving drinks and seared Grunty with dignified aplomb.

The dessert has only just been served, and glasses refilled, when
there is a shout from outside. A greased pig is thrown through an open
doorway, and it squeals and begins to charge about madly! The guests
stare in confusion before the windows shatter, and armed, masked
Wombat Were Fangs burst into the chamber, throwing down vials that
burst into a thick gas that makes the eyes stream and lungs burn. They
quickly begin to attempt to round up the Landers!

Adventurers can try to sneak the Landers out, helping them to escape,
or help them with the effects of the smoke inhalation. They might also
try to disperse the smoke before the effects get too bad.

Or you could chase the pig. It's ruining dessert!

Soujiro helps out by attempting to fan the gas out and away from the effected area with a large table cloth. Breathing is important.

The arrival of the Combat Wombats throws Maid-Ayame somewhat into shock. Without her shield - left behind in the kitchen - she's a swirl of skirts and summoned barriers as she busies herself helping the landers. A few applications of wine to napkins, and she helps them neutralise the worst of the poisons, before calling back "Do you KNOW these people?" As she drags down her hairpiece over her mouth, to keep it out of her own breath

Nyanta moves to assist his old partymate in the clearing out of the gas; Landers cannot be saved if they die of smoke inhilation. He quickly opens all the windows in the room and moves to assist Souji to begin fanning the smoke out with the tablecloth. Two hands are better than one!

With the Landers safely out of danger, the Combat Wombats are still a
clear and present threat; to your employer, their hysterical cook, as
well as all the other guests! As they realise they were dealing with
skilled Adventurers, they quickly fall back, forming groups and
drawing short swords before advancing again. With your employer
shrieking to mind the drapes - and that statue, it's been in the
family forever! - there is a running battle through the halls of the
mansion which spills out onto the grounds.

Combat time. Soujiro draws out Kogarasumaru and starts to go to town on these bats. Bat'er'up! Masterful slicing and dicing.

Ayame glances across at the silent samurai, blinking surprise as she draws her own wand and falls back to a supporting role; careful, precise blasts of magic to cover his flanks as she calls out targets.

She's not terribly careful of the drapes, and absolutely doesn't mind nearly setting fire to one. Whoops.

She nods her thanks to Nyanta, as well, giving a wan smile over "Just keep the pressure on" She suggests "They're ... clearly not used to fighting like this."

Nyanta proves as comfortable with his blades as he is with a serving platter, drawing the twin rapiers like a flash and joining the fight with speed and grace. He and Soujiro have also spent many dungeons sword by sword already, and it shows in their synchronized movements and their pack tactics. He turns to Soujiro, and then to Ayame, with a nod, "Ah, but we are, nya."

There he is. Looming out of the darkness, the clouds above gather as
one figure, as burly and heavy-set as any among the Wombats, starts
yelling and pointing, directing his gang back into the fight. If he
can be cut down or captured, this dreadful evening might come to a
satisfying conclusion!

Even as he turns back towards you, he and his guard begin a fusillade
of crossbow fire; bolts singing through the air. After everything, if
you can only somehow get through the arrowstorm or stop those whizzing
bolts pinning you back, you can turn this around and earn your pay!

Time for evasive maneuvers. Soujiro finds this Lord of the Wombats out in the chaos and does a samurai's challenge to focus attention on. It gives quite the arrowstorm for Soujiro to deal with, taking quite a bit of the damage along the way.

Ayame isn't much of a one for duels. She's far more into skulking in the shadows - though the white apron doesn't help there! Still, her conjured clouds at least keep the worst of the arrows away from the fight, letting the duel occur in as much peace as a yelling sylph swerving through wombat bolts can.

Formal fights? Not her thing.

Nyanta stands strong and deflects many arrows, but one or two of them make their mark, hitting him in the shoulder, then the leg. His HP bar is chiseled away to about 25 percent before the Arrowstorm stops, allowing for the cat and the samurai to finaly begin their assault in earnest. He moves in time with Soujiro, with power and grace.

The Wombat Lord is defeated... for now. Strong as an ox and fast as the still-squealing greased pig that's running around, he's nevertheless subdued quickly enough once the arrowstorm is braved and he's forced to fight up close. There, despite his bulk and speed, he's brought low. Only then, when all is safe, does your employer emerge. They are nothing but effusive. This party, they insist, will be talked about for years! They praise the entertainment the Hunter's Guild provided, rave about your menu and wine choices, and proclaim you the darling of their lives. They also press small boxes on each of you which, when opened safely away from the house, are revealed to be the leftovers of the meal.

"This will be the thing of legend to spice up people's evening conversations," Soujiro says to look on the bright side of things. You can't pay for this kind of action and entertainment! So long as no one got seriously hurt, including the adventurers. Which they didn't. No church trips, no graveyard trips for Landers.

"If it's the stuff of legends, I rather hope they leave me out of it" Ayame murmurs, though she brightens as she looks at the leftovers "They can save that for those that won the duel and the fight. And clearly came more prepared than -" A pluck of the skirt and a sigh "And now to hope I can change back before returning home. Still." A short, pained chuckle "If nothing else, it's a good advertisement for keeping adventurer's close by"

Nyanta nods twice in reaction to Soujiro's words. "As I said before: compurrcations occur in the kitchen... and in addition, the dining room,nya . It is up to the serving staff to ensure that the dinnyer goes well. I feel we accompurrlished this feat swimmingly, I would say, nya." He grins. "I would not myaind this kind of empurrloyment as an adventpurrer in the future, nya."

There is a big thumbs up to Nyanta that turns towards Ayame, "When I came here I thought 'This is a good chance for us to get to know these people better'. And they did! I learned what kind of food they like. Alcohol," Soujiro says with a look off to the side, "which makes me think Vertina would enjoy their company. Plus Nyanta in the kitchen is as amazing as Klein and Asuna in the kitchen making meals for little Yui." The sunshine samurai continues on, "And there is nothing that the three of us couldn't handle with the evening entertainment. As you said, a good reason for them to want to request Adventurers like us back. We make great dinner guests AND can keep people safe."

Ayame gives the purring Nyanta a long-suffering look over her half-moon spectacles, but she shakes her head after a moment "I suppose not. My normal role is as a secretary, so this isn't much of a change. That said, I absolutely need to burn this dress" She flashes a smile.

"And quite! You can add it to your resume. Dinner AND a show! What else do people want?"

Nyanta strokes his chin and gives a nod. "We nyeed the friends we made along the way, nya." He puts a hand on both Soujirom and Ayame's shoulder and gives them each a heartfelt smile.