As head chef to the Averland Mountainguard, Tuppy Huppernitzle faced his share of deadly incursions from the Dark Lands. But like most other halfling folk, Tuppy placed a higher precedence on satisfying his appetite than his safety. One Pie Week, it seemed that Tuppy's ovens did not burn hot enough to properly scorch a new chocolate custard tart he was working on. When a bergsjaeger laughingly suggested that he find one of the thermal vents that dotted the Worlds Edge Mountains, Tuppy was off.[1a]
Unfortunately, Tuppy hadn't considered that the tantalising smell of cooking chocolate might lure unwanted guests to his open-air kitchen. When a group of brigands came across the mouth-watering scent of Tuppy's cooking, it would have been the end of the poor halfling were it not for the interference of massive ogre called Bargash. Although Bargash had lost an eye in a recent encounter, he made quick work of the brigands and set about to eating Tuppy's wares. Since Tuppy had always believed halflings had a long history with ogrekind, Tuppy felt that he should take a chance and thank Bargash with some freshly made tarts. As the ogre happily gobbled tart after tart, he admitted that he had been starving before he came across the delectable scent of Tuppy's cooking. The grateful halfling vowed that Bargash would never starve again and the pair has been inseparable ever since.[1a]
Of course Tuppy's new association meant that it was time for him to move on from the Mountainguard, and the pair set off down the Zhufbar road. Before long, Tuppy and Bargash found themselves in bustling Averheim, where Tuppy's cousin Dill owned a half-stake in a dockside warehouse. Cousin Dill's business was faring badly since his ill-tempered dwarf foreman was drunk all the time and the workers were loafing. Dill would have fired the dwarf long ago if he wasn’t so afraid of him.[1a]
Needless to say, Dill's predicament was an easy situation for Tuppy and Bargash to rectify, and the grog-soaked dwarf was shown the door. When the slack-jawed labourers saw the massive ogre eject the wobbling dwarf at Tuppy's orders, they quickly fell in line. Dill had found a pair of new foremen to replace the old—although truth be told, Bargash does the "motivating" of the workers, while Tuppy motivates Bargash with his cooking.[1a]
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