Wanderers of Weyard

It's a changing world. What is landlocked today could be an island next year. Nonetheless, wealthy craftsman Sunny Stone of Yokelam has funded a mission to survey and map as much of the world as possible. A cartographers' guild has formed, and hired a team of adventurers from around the world; the trip there was rough, and the trip ahead promises to be rougher. Fortunately, the assembled team ought to be prepared for anything: An adept of each element, a mechanist, and one brave stallion determined to prove that normal can be just as mighty.

Veteran traveler Icy Gaze, neophyte conjurer Dancing Flames, passionate chef Gusty Gale, fearless fencer Straight Silver, wily mechanist Keen Craft, and powerful doctor Pumpkin Poultice set out on this journey... eventually. For now, our heroes shall be taking care of some final business in town.

Spoiler:

"I'm here! Finally!" Gusty exclaimed
Travel rations had begun to wear on her after the first... well, first. Bland,dry, stupid, tasteless things.
Gusty had cooked them, boiled them, steamed them, eaten them with honey acquired at great and painful personal risk, but they still tasted... bland.
Two weeks. Never again.
"Fooooooooooood........... Soooo hungryyyy......"
Empty wallet as well. Damn traveling merchant. Suuuuure he had nonperishable foods. Suuuuure they were tasty. Suuure they were more. Damn. Tasteless. RATIONS! Just a different color!

Streetsmarts to find the nearest soup kitchen or restaurant:

kajisora wrote:

Streetsmarts to find the nearest soup kitchen or restaurant:

You find your way to the most... excited restaurant in town. Sunny Stone has a reservation for the evening, and his condemnation of the 'uninteresting' is well known. The kitchens don't have much besides (admittedly great quality) fish, seaweed, and a sparse stock of spices... the same 'deadly uninteresting' things all of Yokelam has. As might be expected, the chefs are wrought.

Gusty rushes in and grabs the first pony she sees.
"pleeeeaaaase!" she gasps. "lemme use kitchen. No more rations. I'll cook! I'lldodishes! I'll clean your greasetraps! Jus'no more rations! Pleaaaaaase!"
Then collapses to the floor.
"Hungryyyyyyyy....."

persuasion if needed:

The Maitre d' is stunned by the entrance of a smelly blue hobo... He calls security over, only to discover that the bouncer is trying to assist a bleeding cook by cracking pepper bare hoofed...

"Eeeurgh, you know what? You can't make it any worse. Get in there and cook something 'interesting' and I'll send you off with some shark. I was going to throw it out anyway."

The maitre d' unceremoniously shoves you into a messy, but intuitively arranged, kitchen.

((ponies eat meat/fish here? Kk.))

"FOOD!"
Gusty grabs a cutting board, knife and other essentials and sets to work.
Today's menu: fried fish, a side of rice. Basic, but nourishing
Other ingredients applied if available

Cooking!:

You recall a somewhat obscure recipe which you prepare swiftly and methodically. Your certain movements and grace of work compel the other cooks to follow your lead, together you complete a vast bowl of a traditional fish fried rice... The body of the work takes such time that Sunny has had chance to arrive.

The staff carries the platter out to the center of the table, and you yourself serve it in the native way... hoping to grab yourself some. Fortunately, your oblivious food chasing goes unnoticed and you can taste it together with Sunny. He responds:

"This... is not interesting. This is so much more. The most basic of forms come together to provide merit... and practicality... in the very essence of the ingredients. This food is not an interesting dish cooked. It is a dedicated dish FORGED so the purity shines through... Where was it crafted?"

Sunny runs into the kitchens, he finds the pan used for the dish.

"This pan... I see the use of it. The grease sits on it so delicately, the path of the oils past swirl so visible... When I see this material, I know I have to work!"

The blacksmith takes the frying pan, but not his meal, and runs all the way back to his home...
...
Back at the restaurant, a shout goes up from the maitre d':

"****ED SENILE BILLIONAIRES!"

You are quietly sneaked out the back while the head chef thanks you, and informs you that their restaurant will still profit from this. As thanks, he hands you a large jar of pickled seaweed, a box of smoked fish pieces, and a container of the dish you cooked.

"...And you're sure I have to leave to help these ponies?"
Silver put extra emphasis on the "leave", subtly implying to the cartographer she was talking to that everything would go wrong without her there to give it a nudge every once in a while.

Spoiler:

Canned assists:

At least the cook was a good sport about his oven mitts.

Keen Craft took a train for part of her journey in the hopes that it would save time. For her troubles the engine caught fire and no water adepts were on that particular trip. Thankfully, you can work wonders with chewing gum, a well placed oven mitt, some lemonade, and a hammer. Not something you'd want to go cross country on but it's enough to get everyone to the closest stop. Probably wouldn't have happened if they kept better maintenance but that's neither here nor there since she was finally here.

Town seemed decent enough. Keen had seen some real disaster zones in her travels. Well, no use gawking. She needed a new hammer so she started looking for the nearest store or blacksmith.

PERCEPTION:

"Yes... I'm sure you'll be an invaluable help to us all..." Icy Glare comments to the normal pony in a way that made it hard to tell if Icy was insulting Silver or complementing him?

"Alright, I think that's everything.... Apology for not cleaning the dorm, a request for some of my stuff, though no doubt Flash will try to keep some of it. Attached a letter of resignation for him to give to my boss." Dancing says, finishing a letter to his room-mate. "Now I just need to find a post office."

Spoiler:

@Craft
You see wisps of telltale smoke and a distant flicker coming from an aged clay house on top of the towns highest hill. (Assuming you go there) Inside is a fervent old man lovingly stoking the forge, and an exasperated looking old woman sitting in the corner.

@Dancing
THERE ARE NO POST OFFICES AND YOU DON'T KNOW WHY.

This place has a cartographers' guild but no post office? That seriously needs to get fixed. Dancing thinks, having searched the town. Maybe I can leave the letter with a member of the guild. And he goes to the guild house to do just that.

As you attempt to hand off the letter to a secretary, she says, "Huh, an adept asking ME to mail something, that's a change..." She looks at the address and says, "Aren't you educated? Shouldn't you KNOW this kind of junk?"

Perhaps you should think harder about WHY there's no post office... (History check at +5)

Confused and insulted, Dancing tries to think why there isn't a post office. Having always been on the move most of his life, he never really wondered why.

Spoiler:

Something of a 'brain fart' prevents you from figuring it out, until you hear a shout from another room: "It's the magnetic fields!"

That is enough to jog your memory about the fact. The changing world -that nopony has mapped- has a very unstable field. The carrier pigeons that used to take most letters can no longer find their way, and pony travelers can be rare. Some towns do still have a post office: many kinds of adepts have spells to send messages across theoretically INFINITE distances, but Yokelam has very few adept citizens. Mail that does have to go is often sent out on ships, handled by the port authority... miles north of town.

@ Silver & Icy
The guildmaster SOMEHOW sneaks up behind you. He looks at icy and says bluntly, not acknowledging the tone, "Yes. Yes he will." He then returns to Silver and states, "Most of what the guild is supposed to do is what you are about to do. If you fear for yourself, worry not, adepts are strong in battle and stronger as a team. If you fear for us, worry not. Laurel is a VERY competent administrator even if she is a jerk."
After hearing your outburst he says, "Besides, it seems like you already want to help them."

"Oh, err, right. Sorry." Dancing tells the secretary, his cheeks matching his hair. "I'll, uh... I'll just be going then." Taking the letter back and sticking it in his mane, so thick that the letter's hidden completely, he walks to the room he heard the shout from. "Thanks, um, whoever shouted out."

Having just finished inhaling the contents of her newly acquired food container, Gusty finally remembers the actual reason she subjected herself to weeks of That Which Shall Not Be Consumed Again.
"Maps! Habitat maps, cultural maps, fish migration charts!"
Surely that little problem they had with mapping the changes in the world had been solved by now? How difficult could it be?
Gusty stretches her wings and sets off towards the guild.

Finding the blacksmith's forge was simple enough. Whoever layed out the town's original foundations deserved a compliment. Seeing the crafter and who Keen Craft presumed was his wife, she quickly introduced herself and described her intentions.

PERSUASION:

"Hello there sir, and ma'am. A well ordered and maintained shop you run here. My name is Keen Craft and I'm in need of a new hammer to replace my old. Something weighty is preferred but I trust you to your craft. Pending on the price, I may also be interested in a newer wrench and screwdriver to aid me in my work."

Spoiler:

"You want a hammer? Current fervor notwithstanding, my husband gets lazier every year! I've got a ton of unused hammers! CATCH!"

The woman chucks a hammer towards your head...THINK FAST! (athletics or acrobatics check [athletics would help you more])

"I...Just make sure they remember to eat."
Silver storms off to get her stuff together.

ATHLETICS:

Keen was surprised by the gesture. She hadn't done anything to warrant a hammer towards her head. At least, not that she knew of...

*CLONNNNNNNNNGGGG*

A direct forehead hit from the hammer knocks Keen backwards... and unconscious. As she fades, the pony hears:

"OH. MY. NO. I'M SORRY... I'LL MAKE THIS UP TO YOU..."

The bell is loud enough to be heard by Gusty, as she is in the air above.

Gusty looks down upon hearing the noise, noticing the smithy below
"A forge... Must be that nutty blacksmith from the restaurant. I wonder if he's actually making something out of that pan...."
She hovers for a moment, debating whether or not to go down and take a look.
"ehh, why not. It's not as if I'm in a hurry."
Now curious, Gusty turns and glides towards the front door, lands and sticks her head inside.
"Hello?"