Quote from Murfle_the_Mighty >>

"Ah! Wow, Liber, you're sneakier than I remember! Sorry, Madam Kulp, that's the friend. I'd like to head down together, personally- how do you feel, Liber?"

 "psyching myself up. what are looking for, revered elder?"

"Alright, let's win this thing" Mixtli says with a grin to the others.

"You're to bring back four of my caterpillars that are hiding down there in less than a minute. WITHOUT HARMING ANY OF THEM. Sorry, I must be insistent on that, you've no idea what people will try if I don't make that clear."

The ladder descends into a dimly lit room smelling of dust and sweet spices. Musty furniture and crates are strewn about the space. A door with few inch gap under it leads north, but the gap looks dark.

As Liber's second foot steps off the rung, Madam Kulp up above shouts "Ready? GO!"

Excited onlookers crowd the bleachers within this vast, open tent. One half of the space is crowded with cooking tools: a pair of oversized woks and two long cutting stations containing bundles of foot-long green beans. The other side holds a pool-sized glass tank filled with water. The water churns as large, shadowy shapes move within.

As the three of you plus Prasong are led in, Sid is hyping up the crowd. "We have a rugged crew ready to help us prepare giant shrimpcakes, hopefully in record time! The featured ingredients tonight! Delicious green tree beans!"

He gestures to the prep tables with the bundles of beans.

"AND! GIANT, JAGGED KOI PRAWNS!"

One of his assistants tosses a handful of something into the waters of the ten foot tall tank, and a mass of purple and blue, jointed appendages writhe outward as the head of a huge prawn breaks the surface.

One of Sid's assistants huddles you up and explains further what you need to do. Prepare a bundle of green tree beans and slay a jagged koi prawn, once that's done, the assistants will add it to the wok and cook up the shrimp cakes, they competitors just have to beat 40 seconds on prepping beans and taking down a prawn. They offer to answer any other questions, but note that once they're ready, they each need to stand with a hand on the prep table until Sid gives the signal to start.

"Ummm... I just remembered I'm really good at beans.", Prasong shares.

Trencher smiles a HUGE smile, "This isn't cookin', this is hunting!  We got this!" he raises his arms, holding his hand axe as he rushes over to the tank (How high is the tank?  Can he hack down into it and hit the giant prawn, or does he have to climb up what looks like steps to get to it?   How deep is the water?)

A piercing whistle splits the air and Sid Squid's voice booms out, much to the amusement of the crowd.

"Hold on there, my dwarven friend! You've got to give me a chance to start the timer! Back to the prep tables until I give the signal! You see how eager he is! Surely they'll be able to finish it in under forty seconds, if the dwarf had his way, we'd be eating shrimpcakes right now!"

The tank is ten feet deep, with stairs going up to a platform on either end of the tank. If the prawn is by the platform, he'd be able to hit it from the platform.

"Oh, uh...ok." he says a bit red-faced.  "The rules for this were not very good, or I would've had my battle axe with me still and not in the other room!" he says simply and walks back to the table.

One of the assistants offers to go get it for you, a bit surprised you signed up without knowing or asking what was in store.

Tandor laughs, "I think we're ready to start when you are...as soon as our friend gets his axe!"

"We'll be just a moment, my friends! One of our competitors wants to scale up to a bigger axe! And here it comes... he makes a right fearsome sight with that axe, doesn't he? Alright folks, let 'em hear it! We're starting in... Threee.... TWOOO... ONE!"

Sid blows on his signal whistle, and the Battle Prawns Challenge is underway!

Round 1, 6 seconds elapse: ((Roll for Initiative!))

Prawns: 3
Prasong: 17

((What are each of you doing?))

((Forgot to ask Mialee and Liber to roll Initiative for their thing too. ))

Caterpillar A: 12
Caterpillar B: 19
Caterpillar C: 6
Caterpillar D: 5

Initiative: 22

Trencher stows his smaller hand axe and gladly takes his battle axe.  "Thanks for gettin' that for me."

This time he waits for Sid to properly start the challenge and then he dashes to and up the northern steps.

Tandor initiative: 21

And he would have stood on the other side of the prep table from the start, not where he is on the map.  Unless they say that, too, is against the rules.  But he keeps that thought to himself.

If there is a prawn that can be attacked, Tandor runs up the platform and bashes it with his mace.  If not, he stays at the table and cuts beans.

Mace Attack: 22 Damage: 5

or

Cooking Utensils 12

Before Sid starts, Trencher moves around to the front of the table, keeping one hand in contact with it. Sid chuckles and gives him a wink.

Mix Init: 4

Tanador, seeing Trencher eager to get after the prawns, that for now are still swimming about their tank, turns his attentions to the beans, slicing into a pile of them. 

Trencher dashes and gets to the top of the platform (20 feet of movement remaining, should he care to use it).

Prasong grabs a cleaver from the table, and starts in on a pile of beans.

Bean Chopping: 21 Damage: 1

Tanador
Trencher
Prasong
Mixtli <---<<
Prawns

Prasong pushes his pile of cut beans over to join Tanador's in the middle of the board. His are not as evenly diced, but he contributed a bit more than Tanador so far.

((5 HP of Beans prepared.))

((Tanador, for your cook's utensils, roll that as an attack, DEX plus proficiency, and I'll say you have advantage, I used the d6 you rolled, you can continue to roll d6 + DEX to reflect you using better knives with more skill than the cleavers provided (d4).))

 Sid Squid is giving the play by play, his voice amplified somehow to reach the audience.

"Our eager dwarven friend wastes no time in heading for the prawns, but what's his plan now that he's up there? The other table is cracking on with the green tree beans, and they're making progress, but we'll need more than that for a giant shrimpcake!"

Round 1 (6 seconds elapsed)
Tanador
Trencher
Prasong
Mixtli <---<<
Prawns

((Mixtli to go, Trencher has 20 ft of movement and a potential bonus action, Tanador has a potential bonus action.))

5 initiative

((Damn you guys have been busy:P))

Mixtli looks at the others and sees the beans are going fine. So he readies the spices he wants to use and mixes them (BA?) and in the man time he uses control flames to heat up the wok. If possible he'll take a couple of steps towards the basin to hopefully catch a shrimp from Trencher.

24 (Cook's utensils int based for the spices, thought that was most appropriate, if no advantage just take first die roll)