I know you asked for food, but...
Hello again and thanks for taking this thread!
To save you some time (hopefully :-p), please see the follow summary of things that have gone into what I'm posting today.
I have completed these threads in order to prep for my success here:
I currently have the following supporting knowledges to boost my Cooking (Master) skill for this thread:
- Cooking: Nutrition
- Cooking: Energy Bars
- Cooking: Writing Recipes
- Alchemy: Alchemical Food
- Cooking: Dehydration
All of that supports the food recipe, but as detailed below, he's tried to make Teq a gift, which is additionally
supported by the following knowledges/threads:
Also, when you come to review this, in Winston's timeline he has already met Teq by this point in
during this thread and of course our own previous thread
here. So you don't need to read that thread, the most relevant development is really just that Teq took Winston for a ride in his hot-air balloon.
Finally, I really want this item to seem like something that is well made, even though Teq is only an NPC, Winston would not give a gift that was half-assed. As such, to support his making of the lunch box, outside the general skill levels, see the following knowledges he already has that illustrate he's practiced at what he attempts. Also note that the box he makes himself is of average quality to reflect the fact it's the prototype. I hope Teq's to come out better of course
:
- Engineering: Interlocking plates - For how the lid will interlock
- Smithing: Hinges
- Smithing: Writing with metalwork
- Smithing: Symmetrical shaping
- Smithing: Buffing to a good finish
- Smithing: Simple Clasp
Thanks so much for running this/these thread(s) for me/us!
As an Expert Smith, he has access to Silver under his current Wealth Tier.
Please see my Wealth Ledger here for a record of me spending WP on the rare copper sand:
Ledger
Winston giggled as he placed the fist-sized ingots of metal into the small selection-box. Much like one might present chocolates in a decorative box, he had been to a local confectionery and purchased a box of chocolates and, having eaten all of the chocolates, replaced each one with a different Glass/Metal Alloy.
In the time he had know Teq, the man had given him things that had changed his life. He had introduced him to new friends (Smoky), given him unique tools, plans for ovens he could not even have imagined and all this often paled when compared to the wonder he had shared from within his flying balloon. All of this left Winston feeling very much indebted to the man and as such we wanted to give his a gift to show his gratitude. As such, he decided to share what he had discovered about the sands around Scalvoris and how to combine them into a metal. It was not quite alchemy, more like Chemistry, but produced some very helpful affects.
From the box of chocolates, he had also replaced the labels with his own, crudely hand-written, but legible versions. Each label simply listed the nature of the alloy. Each alloy adopted the properties of the Sand they were made with and included:
- Silver / Blue Sand Glass ~ Resinates with sound.
- Silver / Rainbow Sand Glass ~ Shines with a complete rainbow.
- Steal / Faldras Sand Glass ~ Always remains warm.
- Steal / Green Sand Glass ~ Always remains cool.
He was sure that Teq might find them to be quaint and probably something he was already entirely capable of, however he hoped the thought would be appreciated nonetheless.
To top it off, the true gift, was the process required to make the alloys himself and a design for a lunchbox that will make anything he eats from it more favourable.
The formula for the alloy described using
Crystalline to bond the Glass to the Metal during smelting. The instructions included temperatures and mixing proportions for several metals Winston had so far worked with.
The lunchbox however was a different beast.
He tucked the instructions into the box and placed the decorative lid back on top to close it all off. He re-tied the bow and then turned to the pile of
copper sand he had purchased from a local vendor. It had not been cheap and something he had found while endlessly sifting the blue-sand he used to make the Blue-glass Alloy. Getting enough of it himself though to make a box the size that Teq would need had proven too difficult and so he had
opted to simply buy some
. He had gotten enough for the lunchbox for Teq, a full-grown biggun, in addition to just enough for himself, as a much smaller individual.
Due to the cost, rarity and the strings on the
culinary community he had to pull he had settled on using alchemy to embue the affect into an ingot of embersteal rather then using the far less efficient method of mixing the alloy.
The alloy would have worked, but would require much more sand and thus far, it had taken him cycles of sifting Blue Sand and tipping people in the markets to get hold of what he had.
He set-up his alchemical forge. The metal he would use is a simple Embersteal ingot, as it would be more resilient once hammered out into a thin casing. Weight was not really a concern as it was not going to be a large or bulky item.
Taking his
glyph plates, he placed one for the molten steal to flow into the ingot mould and then another for the Sand. He then placed the final glyph to hold the binding agent. For this, he settled again on coals as it would bridge the head of the molten metal with the tastes enhancing properties of the sand.
As taught by his friend Kasiak, he began to sing as the
metal reached temperature. Pouring the metal and being carful not to disrupt the sand, he took his time and let the alchemical process take place.
He really wanted this particular attempt to go well and so he gave his neckless a rub as he did it,
incase the favour of the fates did anything to help.
Letting the mixture cool, he moved the ingot from the forge and began to work,
making the thin sheet of metal needed before he started shaping.
He started by making his own, smaller lunch-box. It would be the first time he'd made something quite like this and
so he wanted his own to be the one that received the failed attempts.
Having finished his own box, he worked out some literal kinks in the design and set about making Teq's.
The whole process took him several trials of preparation, execution and final touches, but once done, the lunch-box
was a well-polished, hing-lidded box, with a simple clasp to hold its content's inside.
He had added a handle to one side and shaped the letters "T. E. Q." in the lid.
He tried it, using it to store some food for a while before eating from it with anticipation.
"WELL?!" Demanded Joe as Winston chewed on the snack from a box big enough for him to sit in.
Winston made Joe wait a little bit before chuckling with a reply of...
"Lets call Teq. We are ready to go!" And so saying, he took the marble Teq had given him, placed it upon the floor and stamped on it firmly.
"Now we wait."
When Teq eventually arrived, Winston would wave enthusiastically and have the very conspicuous looking box covered by a sheet beside him.
"Teq! Et's so gud tuh see yuh! Me 'ave de fud yuh wanted." He ran over to the lunch-box and patted it.
"De recipe far de fud es inside, along wid a gud sample af dem. Dey will last as lang as yuh want an' will taste as gud now as it will in a cycles time." He gestured for Teq to pick up the box.
"Me wanted tu say tank yuh far everytin' yuh done far me recently dough, so me 'ave added a little bonus." He said with a grin.
"Et's a lunch bux. Bot nat jost a narmal lunch bux. Dis lunch bux will make anything yuh taste from within et more favourable." He beamed at Teq and waited for him to inspect the box and its contents.
