Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh

     “I don't think I quite understand this,” Cook admits slowly as he studies the pages, his brow furrowed. The longer he looks, the less certain he seems.

     “It talks about the smugglers. About enticing them into slaving, I think. And there's something in here about weapons and armor changing hands.”

     “I think one of the councilors is mentioned as well...” He says, squinting at a particular section. 

     “Or perhaps that's someone's shopping list. The handwriting's fighting me.” Cook continues staring at the document for another moment before finally conceding defeat.

     “This kind of nonsense just doesn’t sit well in my head,” He admits with a frown and angles the pages toward Seri. “You understand this?”

     Then he motions Brynn over as well. “What do you make of this?” He asks her, his finger tapping the section that mentions Freedonia.  “You're generally better at making sense of complicated things than I am.”

     Cook waits while they look it over.

     “Is this shady?” he eventually asks. “Or is it just business?”

     He scratches at his beard. “If it's shady business, and connected to what we’re doing, that is one thing….”

     Cook then shrugs and adds: “But then again half the merchants in Saltmarsh would look suspicious if someone wrote down every deal they ever made.”

     Later, in the mushroom room, Cook crouches beside the scarlet growths and examines them with considerably more confidence than he displayed toward the scroll.

     Now this… This he understands.

     Carefully, he harvests only what he thinks he can spare. Enough for perhaps two good uses. No more.

     He tries to leave the colony itself intact. Healthy. Growing.

     “A cook that eats all his seed grain is a fool,” he mutters to himself. With any luck, the mushrooms will continue to spread. And if they don't... Well. That sounds like a tomorrow problem.

     When he notices Seri marking rooms and noting dangers as they go, Cook nods approvingly.

     “Smart, that,” he says. “Nothing worse than forgetting where the giant spiders were after you've already found the giant spiders.”