Tuuli, very concerned, rushes over to Harrow, checking him and helping him stand. "Not today, smelly, briny death shrimp," she says, rattled, but regaining her sense of humor.

Harrow blinks up at Tuuli as she helps him up before remembering the last few moments of the game. His face becomes a storm of different emotions for a split second, but as he finishes standing and Tuuli makes a joke, he finds himself completely elated. Wobbling for a moment on his way down the stairs, his face splits into a huge grin and he lets out a single whoop, both fists shooting straight up in his victory cheer. Turning to Tuuli with fever-bright eyes, he says, "I've never cast that spell on a living thing before 'cause it could kill a man, but then that shrimp could have killed me! Hahaha! Battle magic!" He pumps an arm, prestidigitating showers of sparks in celebration. "I'm going to sleep so well when I get home!"

Walt picks up his quarterstaff, runs over to Rycroft and congratulates him for his fine performance. ”Good show! Good show, friend” says Walt before running over to check on Harrow.

Walt concerned for his friend, runs over to render further aid if necessary. But all is well!

“Haha we did it! Woooo hooooo!” Shouts Walt as he breaks out into his signature jig under a shower of sparks from Harrow’s wizardry. 

Walt experiences a bit of an adrenaline dump and he uses his staff to steady himself beside Tuuli. He looks up at his friend and asks “so, what drink pairing would you suggest for some fresh shrimp cakes?” Walt smiles a sly little smirk and says “you are quite impressive. Good work today!”

Tuuli preens a little under the praise. “Oh, I don’t know, I mean, I didn’t manage to do anything but rile the food up, in the end. But yes, my knife work is impeccable. Now, a rustic crab cake deserves a good coastal ale, something simple, but if you’re dressing up shellfish then something bubbly is not amiss. Truth is, if you pair by price you’re within spitting distance of knowing what you’re doing.”

The crowd continues to roar with approval, as the news passes through the crowd that two of the contestants have won all three challenges tonight, making them "reah," which means “coals of the same fire.” (Harrow and Walt now have a Renown score of 3. Everyone else in the party has a score of 2.)

With a little arcane cookery on the part of the assistants, the crabcakes are cooked and served in just a few minutes. Sid gives the four of you the first taste, but there's enough here for the whole audience to partake. (They are, for those of you who try it, quite tasty!)

"Well done! Well done!" compliments Sid privately to the four of you as the audience begins to break up. "I've heard you've done well at all three games tonight! And you've been hired to solve the Xungoon and Tyenmo squabbles, too, I hear?" He leans in conspiratorially, clearly hungry for gossip.

Tuuli leans in, too. "I don't know, I have my eye set on a third party to the troubles, someone trying to set them up." She has very little in the way of natural insight, but she's looking for some sort of reaction... Insight: 10 

Rycroft stows his bow and slips the second kitchen knife in his bag, hoping no one will miss it. He tears into the food, squawking joyously.

Tuuli's insight doesn't need to be all that keen to see Sid's eyes light up at the opportunity to trade gossip. 

"A few vendors like to see the Xungoon and Tyenmo families fight," he confides. "If the two get along, it could strain other vendors who have ongoing deals with both families."

"Then there's the Spicy Brothers. I overheard Kasem the other day talking about buying a family business to run, which is against market tradition." He shakes his head and clicks his tongue. "Can I get you more shrimp cakes? These came out exceptionally well!"

He turns to Harrow. "And how are you feeling, my friend? I was worried about you there for a moment! Those prawn can really charge when they want to!"

Harrow accepts a second shrimp cake, beaming. "I feel absolutely fantastic now, but for a moment there it was looking rough. And thank you to Walt, for your generous healing! I thought for a moment there..." He trails off for a second, a slight rigidity suddenly sharpening his expression. He shakes his head and gives Walt a grateful grin before looking again to Sid. "Regardless, these things are very good, and worth the effort and, ahem, pain. I should ask, though, since we're exchanging information: have you seen anyone acting oddly in the last few weeks? Aside from the feuding families, of course. Oh! And also, have you seen anyone selling persimmons?"

"Well, no, but..." confides Sid, conspiratorially, to Harrow, "one of my assistants swears she saw Kasem stash something orange under the Xungoon family’s stall not long before that persimmon rain thing happened." He shrugs.

Harrow nods to Sid, his expression thoughtful. "Very interesting -- thank you. Wish us luck in this endeavor; I hope we can bring a little more peace to the Market."

Turning to the others, Harrow says, "I think Walt was right to be suspicious of Kasem; we've heard his name many times tonight, and I don't think that's a coincidence. He's been talking publicly about buying another business, and he was seen tampering with the Xungoon family stall before it began raining fruit there. He may be trying to destabilize their business in an effort to trick them into selling, but we've no proof to support this allegation. Perhaps we should investigate?"  

Walt enjoys his shrimp cake while listening to the discussions.

”Oh my, I’m stuffed,” says Walt as he pats his bloated belly before continuing further ,”the shrimp cakes were quite delightful! Best I’ve had since I left home. Might I have one for the road?  My friend gave me some fine recommendations for drink pairings with the cakes and would like to take her up on he recommendations at my favorite pub.”

Walt moves in a bit closer to Sid, checking to see if anyone outside his party is within earshot of them

“As for the market place drama,” Walt says in hushed, secretive tones ,”you mentioned that there are other families who might benefit from continued quarreling amongst the Xungoon and Tyenmo families. What stalls might those be? And why would they benefit from such a thing?”

"Oh lots of folks, I reckon. Although we're new to the market and don't know all the players yet," admits Sid to Walt. "Some of them real backstabbing folks, I wouldn't be surprised one bit. I think Madam Kulp enjoys watching the families go at it, to be honest. Don't tell anyone I said that! But she watches them closely - you talk to her yet?"

“No worries, friend. I won’t mention anything you shared with us. We did speak with a Madam Kulp earlier this evening. She didn’t have much to say, about the Xungoon and Tyenmo stalls other than that her tut-krogh caterpillars don’t seem to like those stalls.”

Walt pauses and ponders what to do next. He feels like they’re on the verge of a break through, but he can’t seem to connect all the dots. Just then he sees one loose thread and begins to follow it spills out his thoughts in one long stream of consciousness rant.

“Come close friends. Hear me out. Earlier Sid one of your assistants saw Kasem stash something under the Xungoon family stall. And we just heard that a small fire broke out their during the market games. Connection, perhaps? Hmmm ?”

And and and then….and then there was some sort of mysterious persimmon rain shower over there even earlier. Where I’m from, persimmons don’t just drop from the sky! This might be a stretch, but I know tut-krogh caterpillar’s transform into tea moths…is…is Madam Kulp stirring the pot and using her tea moth to drop persimmons on the Xungoon stall? Sounds a bit absurd to me, but it is possible. And what of that orange….chemically powdery substance in Kulp’s basement? I was curious about that stuff when I first saw it. Hmmmmm”

”All signs seem to point to Xungoon’s stall. Perhaps the interested parties are fueling the flames of past tensions between those two families to further their cause. I think the Tyenmo’s have absolutely nothing to do with all this mess! They’re being used!”

Walt pauses to catch his breath and compose himself before continuing on.

”Sid, my friend, is the assistant that you spoke of earlier still here? If so, can we speak with them?”

"Uh, sure, sure." He looks around for a minute. He gestures to one of the sous-chefs who has been at the woks earlier. She is a young woman dressed in one of Sid's yellow chef’s outfits like the others.

The woman confirms the story: she indeed saw Kasem stash something small and orange-colored under the Xungoon family’s stall shortly before the persimmons rained down upon their shop. It could have been an orange or persimmon. It seemed a little odd to her at the time.

She also feels pretty strongly that Lamai and Kusa would never intentionally harm one another, due to the damage their families’ feud caused their parents. 

Harrow nods along to Walt as he speaks, and says quietly in response as Sid is distracted, "I hadn't considered the tea moths, nor had I seen that powder in the basement! I was assuming magic was at play: a conjuration spell, I was thinking, though not one that I've heard of. I think it may be good if I inspect the Xungoon's stall for magical auras. It may be useful to have someone keeping an eye on the stall anyway, in case another strange event takes place. I also know a ritual that might be helpful: an alarm spell, which might be useful if the Xungoons can identify an appropriate place for it."

Then he asks the young woman: "Have you seen anyone else acting strangely around the Xungoon stall, aside from Kasem?"

Tuuli listens to everyone and then says into a moment of silence. "Kasem, but maybe not his brother, is trying to buy up some stalls and businesses, and is making trouble between vendors in order to get a better deal, somehow. I think we should just confront him, maybe if we do, he'll make a mistake. Or just back off." She seems pretty certain about her conclusion.

"No," replies Sid's assistant. "But I haven't been hanging around that stall very much."

The crowd begins to thin, as the assistants start to clean up. The woman you've been speaking to excuses herself to help clean out the woks.

Sid, too, begins to bid his goodbyes. "Congratulations again on your suburb win. And to you," he addresses Harrow and Walt, "our reah, your names will be remembered long here. And remember," he addresses everyone again, "For the best shrimp cake in all the lands, Sid Squid’s Trusty Leek is the place."

Welcome to Level 2! You may update your character sheets. (But you're not done! You still have a mystery to finish solving, a job to complete!)

Harrow gives Sid a bright smile. "I couldn't forget this experience, even if I wanted to. Thank you again."

Turning back to the others, he says, "I agree with your assessment, Tuuli; Kasem does seem to be an obvious suspect. A confrontation may cause him to admit his involvement, or make a mistake in hiding it. And just for prudence's sake..." He singsongs several words under his breath before closing his eyes and running his thumbs over the lids. When he opens them, his irises shimmer slightly, like muddy opals. "I'll see if he has any magical auras active on his person, and I'll check the Xungoon's stall while I'm at it."

(OOC: Just to be clear, I'm casting Detect Magic.)

Harrow strolls back over to the Xungoon stall, which is back to business as usual. Kusa (still looking a little rattled) and Gammon are busy serving food - fresh wailing slug, diamond-throated carp, and shimmering vampire fish, among other fine-smelling dishes. They've cleaned up from the fire, although their main counter is still crooked where the leg collapsed. And there are still stains from the persimmon rain incident, although it's mostly all cleaned up. They're fairly busy, with a line of customers waiting to order and pick up.

Detect Magic reveals nothing of an arcane nature here at the moment.

But looking around, Harrow does find a whole persimmon wedged under a spare table, where it must have rolled during the persimmon rain.