Graded [Redcliffe Village] The First Step

[AbenSur]

Tyrmar
​

“Hahaha now now, there’s no need to bow to one such as I. I was glad for the company and the help, the citizens certainly seemed happy to your presence as well from what I could see so if anything you have my thanks Lady Superbia. You do your Lord and Lady credit with your service, allow me to clean up and we can see if we can’t find them alongside Count Light.” From what he could sense of the crowd while their attitudes stayed simmering to say the least they seemed sated and full. As he packed away the tools and trays brought with the staff and threw aside his apron he made his way with Superbia to find their nobles, all the whole inquiring about her and her thoughts on the lands so far.

LadyOfStars

 

[Pumpkin Spice Cyanide]

Claudia Nachtnebel

​

Not being one for standing idley by, Claudia began what preparations she could.
The mutton.
Collecting the largest of the ewes, she called the girls over to her.
"Gather 'round girls." she said, projecting her voice out without shouting out.
As the maids loosely circled around her, Claudia secured the ewe with a quick release knot, as little slack as possible to keep the animal's head still.

"It is important to understand..." The head maid started, reaching for and taking hold of her rifle. "these creatures are not foes, their death is one of sacrifice. Sacrifice for our own sake; and as such need to be afforded mercy and a humane end.." she loaded the weapon and sent the bolt home.
Claudia took aim and fired, sending a small and very underpowered metallic bolt through the goat's cervical spine, just at the base of the skull. It impacted with the earth beneath, signalling a clean through and through.

Quickly, she released the ewe from it's hitch and pulled it's head back around her left shin and between her legs. She drew the field knife and brought it to the animal's throat.
"Follow the jaw..." she instructed, doing as she spoke. "and bring it up to the ear" Claudia continued with a hint of exertion in her voice.
In one swift movement she had the goat nearly decapitated and draining. The blood spatter quickly died down to a trickle and she looked for a place to secure the carcass for butchering.

Nearby to the caravans there was a broken bell post. As good a place as any, the thing looked as old as it was ugly.
She retrieved enough cordage to string the ewe up by its hocks.
Deftly, she cut and broke the hind trotters off, partially skinning the legs to make the rest of the job easier.
After making a few cuts on and around the legs she was able to pull the hide off like a rabbit, along with the head.
Claudia set them off to the side and continued the process, instructing the others as she did.

She made an incision down the stern of the animal and across the abdomen, making sure to keep from bursting the organs and fouling the meat. Severing the utters, she set them aside. With a handsaw procured from the village carpenter, she sawed through the front of the hip and sternum, opening the animal up.
She cut through the thin layer beneath the muscle of the barrel and let the organs hang. She cut the kidney fat off and through backside of the diaphragm, before moving round it to the rear.
Claudia made sure to stress precision here, removing the reproductive organs and rectal structures without knicking any of their piping was important.
Once cut lose she pushed everythimg though the hip as best she could and pulled it through the otherside. From there she cut downwards, severing the connective tissue, arteries and fat holding the organs in pace, making sure to not cut into the loins or other important pieces of meat. She sliced through the rest of the diaphragm and cut away the windpipe and isopahgus from the neck. The innards sat neatly in a pile beneath the ewe and Claudia wrapped up by cutting off all lingering gristle and silverskin, backing away and facing the maids.

Cleaned her knife against her apron, she closed. "Nothing too it.", placing the blade back into it's leather sheath, securely fastened to her waist.
"Bisera and Aria you will do the other two. After I demostrate the calf. The process is mostly the same, except the creature must be skinned by knife, and hoisted as we go along. We all don't the luxury of being half-giants"

After butchering and hanging the calf in hind and fore portions from the staffolding of a nearby repair, Claudia reissued roles and sent the maids on their way.

"Cassandra, you are on firewood." she said nothing else, the girl wood need to figure out the specifics on her own.

"I'm not sure why Bisera and Aria are still standing here, they have been told their task." the head maid said more aloud than to either of them, running the two off.

"Samantha, we need water, quite a bit of it. This town must have a well, see to that our caldrons are filled adequetly. Remember we're making a stew and need enough smaller pots filled to make tea. After that you will be cutting vegetables and in charge of the tea itself...." Claudia paused briefly, considering something before starting again. "And bring the samovar over from the main tent. We can't expect our lord to share drink with the hoi polloi."

Finally, she cast her attention on Solana. "Your job will be the most tedious, but the most vital. You will clean and bleach the innards, Solana.
After I have all the livers, kidneys, hearts, pancreas and speens cut and covered, I will take the throat and lungs to separate the sweetbreads and prepare the lungs for boiling. While I do, you will cut open and clean 4 pairs of intestines, all 7 stomachs and 4 ovaries. You will so expeditiously, use liberal amounts of salt water and lime to clean and bleach where needed. This is especially important with the stomachs and lower intestines.
The tripe stew will be carrying the bulk of the first serving."

"I will take care of the heads as well. There will nothing more than absolutely necessary waste. It would be an offront to be profligate with the resources of these people."

Prepartions were fast but time consuming, there wasn't a moment of rest or respite among the maids. Eventually, the rendering phase ended and the cooking phase began. Bisera were sent off to find skewers and Aria was added to Solana's endeavors.

Claudia set off first, separating the beef brain and tongue with it's portion of salt, pepper, an onion, parsley and garlic. It would be boiled or fried near the end. She cut the beef tail into pieces lengthwise and seasoned them along with onions and potatoes. While Claudia would have preferred arrowroot, a quick trip back to the caravans netted her a bit of flour. With it she could make her fond and ensure a creamy stew sauce.
After cooking the flour into a crust, she added a bit of red wine to deglaze it into the cream of the sauce along with onions and safron. Then, seared the tail and added it to the sauce, along with water, leaving it to simmer and reduce.

On a small, isolated fire Claudia smoked the beef cheeks she had taken from the calf skull after seasoning them with a pasted onion and garlic, salt, pepper and cayenne.

Washing and wiping her knife between stations, she started on cutting the hearts, liver, kidneys, and spleens into small pieces and lightly salted them before leaving them set aside in bowls. She hoped to find a way to skewer them when it came time.
Knowing there would be a need for it, she isolated the sweet breads, a set them to soak in a salt brine.


In the meantime that Cassandra got the rest of the fires going and the cheeks were smoking, Claudia prepared the start of an enormous pot of mopping sauce. She boiled scraps for broth and in a separate pot added bit of mead, a bit of the vinegar, pasted onions, garlic, ground salt and peppercorn to add the broth later.
As that worked, the maid started the lungs. She boiled fresh milk and cleared the lungs of gristle and scraps.
She split the bit of windpipe still attached to them and used a partially broken bottle as a funnel.

As the broth and milk finished up, she added the broth to the sauce mixture and set that to boil. Then, after filtering it through one of her spare aprons, she seasoned the milk with ground salt and pepper. After pouring it into the lungs she tied the opening shut and set it to boil.

Onto the goat lungs. She contemplated changing blades as she did so compulsively at the manor. But much like her ingredients, her utensils were also slim pickingz.
On this dish she took a different approach, steaming them first and then cutting them into pieces that would be tossed and then fried in a cayenne, honey, garlic, salt and lime sauce. Those sat prepped among the others and she moved on.

Having soaked for a while, it was time to prepare the sweetbreads, Claudia removed them from the saltwater bath and set them to boil in the stead of the finished mopping sauce. As they did, she checked on her subordinates.

Aria and Solana were nearly done cleaning and bleaching the honeycomb, bible, intestine and uterus and ovaries tripe with one cleaning the last few while the other cut and inverted the finished ones for cooking.
Samantha having returned from refreshing herself at the well, the number of onions cut having taken their toll, stood at Claudia's side as she looked around.

"We're nearly ready to start serving the antipasto." she commented to the junior maid. "See to creating a queue of some sort for the peasantry. Cassandra will have the refectory table unloaded and erected.
After you do so take care to clean yourself up. The two of you will run the first service." Claudia finished, returning to the work of the day. She mopped the beef cheeks thoroughly before moving on to the tail stew. Having reduced well and concentrated the flavors, she added the potatoes and left it to finish.

In a bit of juggling, Claudia pulled the pots of sweet breads and beef lung off the fire, set the brains and tongue to boil separately and moved on to preparing the former.

The sweet breads were simple enough, she removed the membrane and excess fat, pressed them in between cloth and set them in the shade with the other ingredients waiting to fry.
The lung was all but finished, all that was needed was to be cut. She opted to leave it whole and allow people to cut pieces off themselves, it would stay warm longer that way.

The time saved meant she could focus on the readying tongue and brains.
The brains finished first and putting a piece of leaf fat to turn to lard on a pan, Claudia cubed them along with an onion. Both went into the pan along with their spices and out into a bowl for service.

The tongue peeled and cooked similarly, save for being spared the onions, and instead sliced and fried almost as patties.
The sweet breads where thrown in the pan immediately after and benefited from the lard seasoning used for the tongue.

At this point Bisera finally arrived, having whittled dozens of sticks into skewers instead of finding some, she set to work pinning the hearts, livers and other organs, using part of the fire Claudia made for the beef cheeks to build another to set them over.
The initiative was well received by Claudia who was glad to be able to check on the large cauldron of tripe stew. It was a ever so slightly too watery still. Which was good. It meant by the time the appetizers were finished the skewered meat and tripe stew would be ready.

In that time Claudia, Bisera and Aria would be able to put the beef and mutton to roast, having the beef cheeks as an hors d'oeuvres for the 3-4 hours it will take the mutton too cook, allowing the 6 hours it will take the beef to do the same.
If all goes well, they would be able to extend the meal well into the night.

She taste tested the tripe stew. Salt, pepper, cloves, parsley, garlic and saunder. She was impressed, she might have sweetened it a bit more or held off on the saunder in the end. But all in all, Claudia was satisfied with their work.

Cassandra approached after having finished starting fires and setting up the frames the meat would be roasted on with the local carpenter.
Her hands were dirty and her uniform easily signalling her work with wood and ash.
Claudia offered her a spoonful of stew which the girl happily accepted, her face lighting up at the taste.
"The stew tastes magnificent!" Cassandra exclaimed, now feeling her hunger much more accutely.
"Yes, it does." her senior agreed.
"Now go freshen up. You will be first round service. Change your uniform and clean up at the well."
With a nod and a curtsy, Cass happily acquiesed. Claudia appreciated her ardor, reminded her of something she couldn't place.

"Aria, we need to start the roasts." Claudia stated, defaulting to her usual mien after that brief moment of warmth.
The two made short work of the task, lifting and binding the meat to the frames above the fires. Afterwards, Claudia added fennel to the mopping sauce and coated all the meat, including the beef cheeks again.

The final stretch at last.
Aria sighed in relief as they finally finished, Claudia standing as stoically as ever at her side.
"I hope that was the hard part, we don't have to clean everything up by ourselves too, do we?" she commented, patting her dirty uniform down.
"We will do as we're bid by our Lord, Baron Dashi." Claudia responded matter-of-factly, looking off at the townfolk.

"R-right. Of course." Aria responded, made slightly uneasy by her tone.
"Though..." Claudia began. "It is a shame that we were unable to find stale bread for trenchers. Isn't it, Aria?"

"I-It'- Yes! A truly unfortunate circumstance...." she responded, realizing she had forgotten to do so but hoping she could play it off.

"We'll just have to hope the plebian population can produce their own." Claudia knew this very well, though she wasn't very worried about.
The girls had done a great job otherwise and she was also enjoying the bit of downtime they were having. It wasn't much of a difficult choice to let it slide. Besides, giving Aria an anxiety attack was amusing and punishment enough.

Over the next hour or so the maids would rotate cleaning up, standing guard and acting as porter to the refectory table where the nobility would be seated. As well as enforcing cleanliness and civility among the diners, often reciting portions of the "Urbanitatis" poem on proper ettiquette when seeing a transgression.

The lamb and beef cheeks would be served exclusively to the lords and ladies, who would also be drinking from a private samovar. The rest would be free for the townsfolk to enjoy, a maid standing by cauldron of tea and several buckets of water for refreshments.

D. Rex Garbage Pail Kid LadyOfStars @every1else

 

[LadyOfStars]

​

Elvario

The energy of the little village girl was very pleasant and while the woman was not particularly fond of children, she could not deny that the girl was a boon in disguise. "I did not put this outfit together with that in mind. Metal is just more durable than fabric." She explained briefly before she ran her hand over the necklace that hung at the base of her throat. When she requested to put her strength to the test, the woman stepped aside and let Zarah try her hand at lifting the axe. She stood back, arms folded across her torso as she watched with a small smirk on her face. The sight of Zarah giving it her all reminded her of the days of her youth when she too tried to hold another's weapon. And just as when she was a child, Zarah would fail to lift the axe. "I am from a small village called Aiden. and it is on a mountain side. If you ever find the time, you should all visit some day and partake in our festival of strength. Some people are born strong, but we work for our might." Talking to the young girl had made her miss her home just a little, but the greater world was her home now .

D. Rex conman2163 Garbage Pail Kid

Retili was quick and his penmanship was better than most lords who had written to Linneus in the past. The scribe also seemed fairly comfortable in the company of strangers of a higher status than his own. It left Linneus to wonder what the social structure of retili's homeland was like. "You read my mind Retili." The Count confessed with a pleased grin. Linneus was a novice at law, but it seemed that what he knew of it was common knowledge as even Retili who was from a different land seemed to know the basics.

Seeing that Katriel accepted the conditions on which she would be given the property brought Linneus a sense of accomplishment and some joy. So far the Pendragons had been the only real interaction with the nobility that he did not instantly wish to forget. While Katriel's flattery left him wondering of her true intentions, Linneus was more concerned about whether she would meet the requirements that she was agreeing to. She was a business woman and often times greed corrupted an entrepreneur and he could see the gold coins glinting in her eyes.

But he would save his suspicions for another time and allow the baroness to prove herself trustworthy. "Ah, Baron Shimeji, you're just in time." He beckoned the fox closer with a wave of his hand and pointed to the contract. "Lady Pendragon has just signed a contract, one of good will, and we need a witness to sign it as well. There will be a more official document drawn up once I return to Osun and I would like for you to be the witness to that one as well if you'd please. And when you do visit, there is something I would like to discuss with you."

AbenSur

To be commended for her service was all Superbia could hope for and while Tyrmar wasn't the baroness whom she served, his opinion went a long way in boosting her ego since the man seemed a capable cook and server. She worked alongside him to tidy up their station and when they were done she set off with him to find their masters. The young ratkin was happy to share with Tyrmar and to hear what he had to say. She hadn't become close with the other maids and in fact felt as though she was in competition with some of them so she was relived to have found comfort and a friend in Tyrmar.

"I think they are all at the Count's gazebo." She said as the group came into view. She could see her mater's well cared for fur and her mistress' beautiful blonde hair. She spotted the unfamiliar, but well dressed man who must have been the Count and saw him wave in their direction. Her eyes went to Tyrmar with a hint of disbelief growing behind them. "You must be the Count's favorite chef for him to be so informal with you." The maid whispered as they neared the group.

"Mistress. Lord Dashi. Count Light." Superbia bowed to her superiors, head low and body bent at the hips.

D. Rex

Torrin was shocked and completely caught off guard by Dashi's bold command. "I am no babysitter." The advisor declared, but the fox was already up the hill. "Damn these people." He was about to throw down the fishing pole when a child grabbed hold of his sleeve and started to pull him towards the river. "Come on we need to catch some fish!" The kid demanded. Before he knew it, Torrin was surrounded by the little menaces, all of which were pushing or pulling him to the water.

Pumpkin Spice Cyanide D. Rex Dante Verren

At the request of the other maids, the carpenter had put together the equipment that the women needed to make this grand meal that they were promising everyone. and while the food cooked, and the aroma permeated the air, the villagers were drawn from the homes and their work. The smell of burnt flesh and buildings had finally been replaced by the familiar scent of a homecooked meal, of a quality that none of them had ever been lucky enough to have. It was dinner Time.

---

AFTERMATH​

The sun set on a grateful village who put aside their mixed feelings for their lord and let gratitude fill their hearts as a good meal filled their bellies. Home furniture, new and old, were brought out to the village square and set up along the perimeter of the space to provide seating for the villagers and their many guests. It didn't take much for the fun to begin as business and work were pushed off the table to make space for good times and memories. The villagers even went as far as to put on a performance for the nobility; a tale of comedy and adventure. The greatest sense of ease had washed over all and no one could deny that Redcliffe was, even if for the night, a village whole. With resources stowed away to continue to the repairs, the village was on the path to being livable once more. And so the nobility could bid the people farewell with the knowledge that they had done their parts on trying to restore their lives to normal.

But as the nobility would ride away in their opulent carriages a bright, eerie, green light would illuminate the night sky. Then came the flocks of birds and wild animals that fled what could only be described as a shockwave that rolled over the land, seemingly emanating from the distant mountains where the light also originated.

(Thank you everyone for joining and sticking around! I am super grateful that you all chose to participate and I really enjoyed the many different interactions. Thank you all again.)

Possible Rewards:

Retili Loxinofican - Optional Title [Court Scribe]

 

[Skyhunter]

Isekai Hell RP Grade​

Now this was a great RP to read through, especially with the hardships Sol County has already gone through, its great stuff, with the interactions all around and the colorful personalities, it's what I love to see in RPs like this. Luna is still the best narrator in my opinion. (Also, Kesh's sister being in here was fucking awesome to see y'all!) Enjoy your rewards!

Lineuss (GM) - 48 Points - Optional Title Acquired [Redcliffe Figurehead] - With your reputation and witnesses around, you were seen at the village of Redcliffe, contributing and orchestrating its resemblance. You are seen in a better light since then your contributions, you will be remembered for this act of kindness.

Zahrah - 64 Points ( bonus from Attentive Student) - Optional Title Acquired [Redcliffe Contributor] - Your contributions to the reorganization of Redcliffe have affected the County of Sol, this is a chance to start anew for the people. You will be remembered in Sol County for your help.

Dashi - 32 Points - Optional Title Acquired [Redcliffe Contributor] - Your contributions to the reorganization of Redcliffe have affected the County of Sol, this is a chance to start anew for the people. You will be remembered in Sol County for your help.

Retili - 32 Points - Optional Title Acquired [Court Scribe] - Due to your help with the rebuilding of Redcliffe, you have been recognized by Lineuss Light, Baron of Sol County, and have been added to his court of scribes. You will be more renowned from now on.

Peng - 32 Points - Optional Title Acquired [Redcliffe Contributor] - Your contributions to the reorganization of Redcliffe have affected the County of Sol, this is a chance to start anew for the people. You will be remembered in Sol County for your help.

Jebadiah - 32 Points - Optional Title Acquired [Redcliffe Contributor] - Your contributions to the reorganization of Redcliffe have affected the County of Sol, this is a chance to start anew for the people. You will be remembered in Sol County for your help.

Tyrmar - 32 Points - Optional Title Acquired [Redcliffe Contributor] - Your contributions to the reorganization of Redcliffe have affected the County of Sol, this is a chance to start anew for the people. You will be remembered in Sol County for your help.

Claudia - 32 Points - Optional Title Acquired [Redcliffe Contributor] - Your contributions to the reorganization of Redcliffe have affected the County of Sol, this is a chance to start anew for the people. You will be remembered in Sol County for your help.

Katriel - 32 Points - Optional Title Acquired [Redcliffe Contributor] - Your contributions to the reorganization of Redcliffe have affected the County of Sol, this is a chance to start anew for the people. You will be remembered in Sol County for your help.