Freelance Traveller

The Travelling Gourmet

by Joel Callahan

The Personal Assistant for a locally famous (one of the top chefs on a particular world) contacts the PC's ship, seeking to hire the entire ship for a month-long expedition. There is a rare animal on a world 2 parsecs from the world the PCs are currently berthed, and it makes a wonderful main dish.

Depending upon the size of the PC's ship, the P.A. may want to bring some famous local celebrities onboard as well, and prepare food for them (and the crew) on the way to and from the planet.

When preparing the food, the Chef will become outraged and violent, throwing food, plates and cooking gear around. "You call that food? That is dog food!" <slam!>, but will be very calm and polite when not cooking.

The Chef has a pair of anti-grav CamBots that will be documenting this for the Chef's cooking show.

Complications:

1. Everything is on the up and up. The Chef is good, but temperamental. The food he cooks for the crew, while he proclaims it to be 'not fit for a Poni', is just about the best food they've ever tasted.
2. The animal that the Chef needs (the entire purpose of his patronage) is a very rare, elusive animal. The Chef needs a few dozen of them, as he intends to mate them to he can have a continuous supply.
3. The animal is so rare that it's protected and not allowed to be exported without a license (if at all!).
4. The animal is (unknown to everyone) psionic and whomever tries to capture it always ends up with 'missing time'. The other players find them asleep, or otherwise incapacitated just as they are closing in on it.
5. The animal is local to this planet and will not survive if taken off-world. It needs a particular enzyme in its diet, or it dies. One dies shortly after lift-off (he hadn't eaten in a while) and someone can make a "savings throw" to see if they make the diet connection. If so, they have to go back and figure out which plant is the needed one.
6. The Chef is down on his luck. His show is about to be cancelled and this is his last chance. Pick/Roll for another option besides "6" and his desperate situation will make him even more hostile and unbalanced. On the way back from the planet, an assistant Chef is killed with a cooking knife to the heart. The Chef denies any involvement and blames the Captain and crew of PCs.