The Unusual Bake-off of Kraka Drak
You are Valka Kemmasdottir, of Clan Strongarm, a plaitling from one of the biggest baker clans in Kraka Drak. At the moment though, you are watching your Da, Orrek Orrekson the Club-hand, staring intensely at a sheet of metal. By your memory though, it has been an hour or so Da glares at it. At this rate, you worry that he will age prematurely.
"Da, what's wrong?" You carefully and softly ask your father
Your father realizes that you are sitting on his lap before softly patting your head and answering your question, "It's nothing too big, just about the next baking competition. Now go play with your Ma, Da needs some time alone."
You quietly jump off from Da's lap and go find your mother to ask about it. What could make the normally cheerful Da to turn serious like this? Fortunately for you, Ma has just finished cleaning our home before she notices you
"Ah, Valka, what brings you here?" Your Ma cheerily asks about your circumstances.
You take a bit to collect your thoughts before telling your Ma, "Uh, it's about Da, he's staring at a sheet of metal related to the next baking competition. Is there anything I can do to cheer him up?"
Ma softly pats you before she explains the circumstances, "Oh, there's nothing we can do to help Da. He's thinking about one unusual rule of bringing an assistant capable of cooking a wide variety of meat dishes. Ma thinks this is because one of the judges is Gift Giver himself."
You are confused, why would Gift Giver cause your Da this headache? You know the Gift Giver as a Legendary dwarf who spent his time arming Kraka Drak three times without batting an eyelid and also has a penchant of creating toys for all children in the hold, including yourself.
Seeing your expression, your Ma continues, "I know that look Valka, the Gift Giver is generous but at the same time he's also odd. Ma's pretty sure that this baking competition will be very exciting with the unusual task he's going to put the contestants through."
Your Ma's explanations give some insights, but also raises more questions like what kind of task the Gift Giver is going to put your dad through for one. Then how odd is the Gift Giver himself, surely one with his reputation can't be that weird, right? You can only wait until the baking competition itself starts and see it for yourself.
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Three months later, Grand Final of Kraka Drak Baker's Guild Competition
You are Orrek Orrekson, the head of Clan Stoneflour and you are nervous! Even though you have prepared so much for this, only the Ancestors know the secret ingredient the Gift Giver has prepared for him and his competitors! You have managed to secure a reliable assistant in the name of Vanyra Farstrider, a Longbeard Ranger with a wide repertoire for troll-based recipes. Then you have practiced with her for hundreds of recipes until you have arrived with a winning dish that is modular enough if the main ingredient itself isn't troll meat.
As much as you want to brood in your thoughts about the Rhunrikki himself, you still need to be presentable before you actually bake in front of the Kraka Drak's populace! You don't like dressing up, but you understand that looking good is essential to promote your business! Especially with those two clans, Summerbaker and Meadcrafter, have been doing so for decades! You won't lose to them just because you refuse to look good! Bah, this year you swear you will win the competition!
After some help from your sweetheart and your wife, you are now garbed in a set of clothing that also doubles as your cooking clothes, much to your amazement this is not stuffy at all. Just how much your wife owes the weaver's guild though, you don't want to know, but this just reinforces your desire to win the finals and recoup some of the cost! And maybe get her some of the finest booze from Clan Byggeroot after this if you don't win.
With your determination burning as hot as Gromril forge itself, you walk with your suddenly appearing partner for the finals. As both of you are walking through the streets of Kraka Drak, you can't help but be grateful when you gave her some free stonebread for her fellow rangers while wishing for good luck. That was a random act of kindness of you trying to imitate Gift Giver, but you never expected that act of kindness will net you a capable assistant in processing the troll meat. It seems the longbeard ranger herself heard your troubles and decided to repay your kindness back then by offering herself to be your assistant.
You have to admit that you were initially skeptical about her skill in cooking, after all rangers rarely light a fire during their patrols, but you later learned that some sort of stove design that reduces smoke signature has been designed. You were not interested in the details, but knowing that they can cook without attracting attention has reduced your skepticism slightly. Although you can't be too sure about it and challenge her in cooking troll meat. To your surprise, your daughter and your wife chose the ranger's dish above yours and that solidified your decision to add the quiet ranger to your team.
The first week was fraught with miscommunications and misunderstandings, until both of you agreed to focus on your specialties before discussing the hypothetical results. After many weeks wasted, it's not until the fourth week that you and Vanyra agree about the final shape of the dish. It's not perfect, but hopefully it's good enough to carry you to the championship!
As you are struck reminiscing about your memory with the ranger, she elbows you in the rib as both of you have arrived in the competition area. Hastily you compose your mind and inside the hall, you can see at least hundreds of dwarfs have crowded the venue itself. On the opposing entrances, you see your rivals wave a 'friendly' greeting toward you. Oh, this is a high-stake competition, but it's no excuse to be an ingrate! After all your Da and Ma raised you properly, and you won't shame them!
When your team and your rivals step into the middle of the hall, a skald appears from nowhere and starts his speech.
"Good morning all Dawis and Garazis! I am Brokk Kraggisson from Clan Bardisson and will be your humble servant today! Before we start the main event, I would like to introduce our contestants first! We have Orrek Orreksson from Clan Strongarm, Borr Grimsson from Clan Summerbaker and Snorri Ragnisson from Clan Meadcrafter as our contestants for today! For our honored judges, Alric Orreksson from Clan Strongarm, Joll Grimsson from Clan Summerbaker and Jorri Ragnisson from Clan Meadcrafter as the judges from Baker's guild! For our guest judges, we have Elder Moira Magnasdottir, the head of Clergy of Valaya in Kraka Drak. Elder Algrim Sigurdsson, the Head of Butcher's Guild of Kraka Drak!" The skald pauses to give some dramatic effect before he announces the rest, "Lord Snorri Klausson the Gift Giver!"
The crowd realizes that the Gift-Giver isn't the seventh name mentioned by the skald and falls into a guessing game, who can be more important than the Gift-Giver in Kraka Drak? Fortunately, they don't have to wait long as Brokk announces the final guest, and the name is met by a thunderous applause from the crowd.
"And finally we have Prince Gloin Otreksson, the heir of Kraka Drak! These seven honorable dwarfs are our esteemed guests for today's judging! Contestants, please go to your assigned spot and wait for the starting signal. All of the contestants will have three hours. Your highness, please come with me to announce the mystery ingredient."
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You are Gloin Otreksson, the prince of Kraka Drak, and you are now standing near a tarp-covered cart with a skald as you are waiting for the signal to pull it. If you have to be honest, the honor should go to the rhunrikki as the secret ingredient is his idea. At least you have been briefed on the ingredient itself from the elders of the baking guild and you have prepared a speech about it.
"Your Highness, please come with me to announce the mystery ingredient." The skald invites you to come to the stage
You see the skald politely waiting for you. Without further ado, you pull the tarp, revealing a lot of troll meat in various states of preparation. You don't know how to cleanly carve a troll, but even to your untrained eye you can tell this is some high-quality troll meat and with equally high-quality preparation from the butcher's guild. Not only that, you can also see some prepared products too, like jerky and sausages. Hastily, you return to reality and start reciting the lines you have painstakingly remembered from months of practice.
"Orrek Orreksson, Borr Grimsson and Snorri Ragnisson. Behold, the troll meat that will be used for today's competition." You say, ignoring various comments about the quality of the meat itself, "This particular specimen was acquired yesterday from Kraka Drak's most skilled team of rangers and as you can see, this has been butchered perfectly thanks to the effort of the Elder of Butcher's Guild. I hope you can combine the troll meat and your expertise in bakery to create a dish that will satisfy our palate! Now begin cooking!" You then pick up a specially made hammer and smack it to a pan as a signal to begin cooking.
"Contestants, you only have three hours!" The skald helpfully informs the time limit once again while you return to your seat.
As you take your seat though, you can see the three contestants start mixing their dough, you are not experienced in baking but you can tell that they are putting all they have on their product. It will not do to not understand the steps behind their craft. Carefully, you whisper to your elders to ask for a play-by-play commentary.
Elder Moira and Elder Algrim refuse promptly, citing their lack of fine experience with baking while they keep other elders of the baking guild from explaining it to you because it can skew your judgment. That leaves the rhunrikki as your only choice and you are tempering yourself to be disappointed before the runelord only grumbles approvingly.
"Alright beardling, I won't repeat myself during my commentary, so you best concentrate fully on listening and watching what they are doing."
You hastily nod and immerse yourself in his commentary while watching the contestants.
"From team Orreksson, I can sniff that they are planning to make a harder variant of stonebread with a little more gravel and stronger flour as their main ingredients. As for the troll meat itself, they're taking a troll's spine and start taking apart for the meat in the region. My guess is that his team is trying to make a crunchy troll patty with proper breading. Interesting idea that they're combining hardy stonebread with crunchy patty, I can't wait to taste that.
"As for team Grimsson, they go with a completely different paradigm than team Orreksson, as they are making a very soft stonebread alongside taking the troll stomach meat for the most tender meat. Even then they are not satisfied with the tenderness of the stomach meat itself as they are pounding it even further. Hmm, the clash between tender and crunchy alone makes it worthy to actually sit here as a judge instead of being a guest of honor.
"Finally for team Ragnisson, I expect them to do something very unusual to win, especially with their stonebread hardness is in the middle of the scale. Also they have taken plenty of troll sausages too, I expect they will pick one with medium chewiness and maybe on the milder flavors . It's a good approach if you are pressed for time, but you don't have any foundations for your troll-sauce. Although they seem to do the worst in my eyes, I do not think they willingly restrict themselves like this without some kind of backup plan. Did you catch all that beardling?"
"Yes rhunrikki!" You reflexively say as you are entranced by the show each contestant put on this competition. Hearing Elder Gift Giver's words also give you a little more understanding of the complexity involved in this competition. While you do not fully understand, at least you are not going in blind like mining without prospecting first.
Time flows like a dwarf chugging beer in happiness or depression, and three hours are up. The three contestants then present their finished dish to you and the other judges. The appearances on each dish can't be more different than each other.
For team Orreksson, it is circular in shape with the troll patty in the middle of the bread with some winter vegetables. As for team Grimsson, it has a similar concept with team Orreksson, but in your curiosity you poked it with your finger and to your surprise, it is much softer than normal stonebread just like what Elder Snorri said. Finally for team Ragnisson, it is a normal loaf of stonebread, but there is an incision in the middle of the bread where a troll sausage alongside winter vegetables are stuffed in. During this time you realize all three teams have a similar concept, but the execution is wildly different.
Considering that these three dishes are based on stonebread, you think it is alright to eat it by hand. As you take your first bite on team Orreksson's dish, you can't help but feel really manly after biting through the hardy stonebread and the extremely crunchy patty, they have pushed the limits of hardiness without making it unpalatable. An impressive start.
Next you try team Grimsson's dish, how will the completely opposite concept stand against the first one. With heightened anticipation, you take a deep bite. As expected there is practically no resistance when your teeth tear through this dish. At first you are disappointed, but you realize that this dish is easy on your mouth and the taste of the sauce on this dish also comes out stronger than team Orreksson's. A little disappointing at the start, but it has some comeback against the first.
For team Ragnisson's dish, you can't help but slightly quiver in anticipation as the first two dishes have given you some pretty novel experiences already. As you bite though, you expect it to be a bit bland as there is no visible sauce, but when it is separated in your mouth, you can taste a strong meaty taste despite the lack of visible sauce! Quickly you examine this dish and to your surprise, you can see the inside of the sausage has been filled with sauce! What an interesting twist!
As you think, you can't help but realize that these three are practically neck-to-neck. It is hard to decide who will be the winner for today's competition. Everyone has done their best in accomplishing the unusual task with practically acceptable standards for elders twice their age in your opinion. Still, you have to withhold your own judgment until you see other elder's deliberations first.
As expected, each of the representatives of the baker's guild throws their clan member as the winner. Elder Algrim nominates Orrek Orreksson, Elder Moira chooses Borr Grimsson. Seeing that Rhunrikki is still deliberating, you hastily give your vote to Elder Snorri Ragnisson, leaving you from making the vital vote. Although you need to make a private and written apology once this is over.
The rhunrikki realizes what you just did only sniffs, "It seems I have to make the deciding judgment, fair enough as I wouldn't trust a beardling to cast the deciding vote. I nominate...."
A/N: So yeah, Hamburger vs Sandwich vs Hot Dog is the central theme here. If I'm on Snorri's position, I can't make a decision as I like all three. Also I made this because my plot bunnies won't shut up since it was two AM local time. I did this not because I want to game the system, just to satisfy my plot bunnies so I can get some proper sleep tonight.
