Eight Last Embers (Inspired by Rain World and Caves of Qud)

-[X] Give Nothr the card
It is well known that humans have what is referred to as a 'gut instinct' that aids in the decision making process. It is still somewhat known that the gut instinct is not an innate ability, but is instead derived from symbiotic microorganisms that collectively make up the human microbiome. However, it is sadly quite rarely understood that the microbes aren't just cellular automata mucking around mindlessly and only being useful by accident. They may not be as smart as a person, but they're smart enough to know what they're doing, and that they want to help.

If you had to say, you'd probably place the line of reasoning of microbes not really alive as coming from the impact of the Pathogen Wars around a hundred years ago. Doctors at the time put a lot of effort into propaganda depicting their enemies as an all consuming tide of mindless evil so that they would have an excuse for using chemical weapons like broad-spectrum antibiotics. Regardless of how justified that decision may have been at the time (you're not a plague apologist dammit), the effects it had on the public perception of microorganisms as lacking moral autonomy were devastating to the symbiosis between humanity and helpful microbes. Which, to be clear, are the vast majority of them.

Around this point in your well rehearsed argument about why microorganisms have innate rights, you finally feel ready to think about the actual issue of the current moment, that being Nothr's request. Bolstered by both the positive vibes about the situation that your gut microbes are sending up and the calming effect of having correct opinions, you make your decision.

You give Nothr the card.

It's a bit hard to stomach (pun absolutely intended) giving up your hard earned artifact, and while xyr being a bit worrying what with xem trying to get you to join xyr secret organization and having an unhealthily gray tinge to xyr leaves (sleep deprivation?), you trust Nothr. Xe never automatically disregards your thoughts just because you're 'young' or 'inexperienced'; although to be fair, you don't think it's physically possible for xem to not engage in a debate if given the opportunity.

Xe're your friend, and if nothing else, you can trust your friends. Handing the palm-sized slip of metal over to Nothr, you are treated with the sight of a level of care that seems better suited to a child than something made of indestructible Tenju super-metal.

"You won't regret this, I promise."

Ignoring the weird tone of voice, you give Nothr one last reassuring thumbs up (It's a very versatile gesture.) and let xem go … do something academic with the card. It's out of your hands now.

Nothr will not be available as a representative for an unknown number of cycles.

---

-[X] [Market] Trade Goods (3 available)
--[X] 2

With the major emotional decision for this cycle out of the way, it's time for the major financial decision of the cycle.

"Just the two?" The merchant that you're talking to cocks an eye at your purchase, but you've got a plan to avoid any possibility of a negative social interaction – lying.

"Yep. I don't want to weigh myself down too much for my pilgrimage." Actually, that does sound like a good reason. Excellent work excuse, you've been promoted to the truth now. (It's definitely not that you're too poor to afford anything else.)

"Ah, you're a pilgrim, are you? That explains it. Quite a few try and get a little extra water by doing some trading on the side, but usually they're leaving dust clouds cycles ago. You've stuck around for a while, little miss."

First of all, not little, and second, … honestly pretty fair. You had stayed at home for an unusually long time. Still, it was all a part of your plan, you weren't just sitting around doing nothing.

Absent any witty remarks, you just nod in agreement and watch the merchant pull out the pair of carved trinkets from under his stall with his hooves, which always seem a bit weird to you. Yeah, there's a scientific explanation, and obviously it does work, but hands just seem a lot more physically able to grab things. Anatomy never really was your thing though, and you're leaving town, so the mystery will live on for another day.

"A word of advice before you leave, though." As you pour the indicated four aums of water into the merchant's proffered flask, he gestures vaguely to the west. "If you're looking to sell for a decent price, don't bother with trying with any other Azentu settlements. The big money's in foreign markets, they love stuff from the 'exotic south."

The eye roll indicates what he thinks of that particular reputation, but you appreciate the help regardless. With one last nod and a quick farewell, you stuff the hopefully good investment into your satchel and get moving.

---

-[x] Travel somewhere else
--[x] Wire Dunes (8-7, 2 days)

At last, you manage to get on the road. Here it is. The first step out onto the path of your pilgrimage. No, exploring that Tenju tower didn't count, it was barely a day away from your hometown. But the Wire Dunes? Two days away from your hometown. It's practically a whole new world.

Still, you need to get there first. And, thanks to your efforts from mapping the roads earlier in the cycle, you were able to take a few quick shortcuts around the more difficult to traverse sections. Unfortunately though, that only lasted until you reach the halfway point where you stopped mapping, and you need to start actually using those navigational skills they made you learn before you left. (Not that you're lost again.)

A quick check of the compass reveals that either the direction north is spinning rapidly or your compass is broken. Great. This is exactly what you needed right now. But, after you walk over at a normal gait to a nearby boulder and sit down without any exceptional outburst of breath, you notice that it stopped spinning.

Thank the stars for small miracles; you don't have a busted compass, you just have the strangest possible luck to keep constantly running into these weird unsolvable mysteries. A little experimentation reveals that there is an approximately fifteen square meter patch of ground where your compass starts doing its best impression of a wheel spoke. It also slightly bends it away from its normal position in a much further radius out; you'd definitely be able to make your way back here if you wanted now that you know what to look for.

There is also not anything at all of note anywhere nearby. If you hadn't happened to pick this exact spot to stop and orient yourself, you probably never would have found this.

Unfortunately, you don't have the time to fully investigate it. You've got just a few days before the rain is supposed to start, and it's probably just a weird magnetic rock or something equally mundane. (Although, a magnetic rock big enough to cause this effect would be interesting.)

After the brief mystery of the spinny compass, arrival in the settlement proper comes without much fanfare. The end of the cycle is nearing, and the usual stream of traveling merchants looking to trade for scavenged relics has slowed to barely a trickle, meaning that you don't meet anyone on the road. Still, getting to see a new architectural style alone is more than enough to make up for it; in the absence of old Tenju buildings to retrofit, the residents have buried bunkers beneath mounds of rubble as protection from the rain. Very cool.

You have learned the following secret:
Compass Thorn
Nestled in the wilderness between Monument Valley and the Wire Dunes, there's a small patch of ground where your compass needle spins wildly. You didn't find anything there, but perhaps that's a consequence of insufficient searching rather than a lack of anything interesting to find.

---

The meteorologists currently predict that the next rain cycle will come in 4 days and that it will last for 15 days before stopping. You are currently in region 7: Wire Dunes.

-[ ] Explore the settlement
While you've technically visited the Wire Dunes now, just seeing the main road into town doesn't really count in your opinion. You should go look around a little.
Encounter something useful. (3 days, DC 6)

-[ ] Search for an expedition site
You would put a metaphor about the sands of time being ever changing here but those are overused. Something something ancient secrets go find them.
Find an expedition site in a current or adjacent region. Can be performed once per rain cycle. (3 days, DC 5)

-[ ] Look through the markets
The markets here are dominated by scavengers pawning their finds to visitors from other settlements, but you could probably find something useful if you tried.
See what's for sale this cycle. (1 day, DC 1)

-[ ] Sell some of your possessions (Write in number of item if multiple available)
You have too much stuff and not enough water. A problem you know how to resolve.
--[ ] Empty water flask (2)
--[ ] Monument Valley trade goods (2)
--[ ] Tenju mechanical thermometer
--[ ] Tenju kinetic sculpture
(Cannot sell non-empty water flasks or your last water flask. 1 day per item sold, DC 0)

-[ ] Stash something in the wilderness (Write in number of item if multiple available)
It'll probably be fine.
--[ ] Empty water flask (2)
--[ ] Monument Valley trade goods (2)
--[ ] Tenju mechanical thermometer
--[ ] Tenju kinetic sculpture
--[ ] Black ring
(Items stored in the wilderness have a chance to be lost each rain cycle. Cannot store your last water flask. 2 days per item stored, DC 0)

-[ ] Engage in diplomacy No known representatives present.
Dialogue is the foundation of society, and you're proud to take part in it.

-[ ] Establish diplomatic relations
New settlement, new you. Time to get out there and diplomatize some people. (Definitely a real word.)
--[ ] Donei
A former human tribe that survives today as a tightly knit community of scavengers and pawnbrokers that work to turn the mountains of random junk in the dunes into a moderately well-functioning economy. (2 days, DC 6)

-[ ] Consolidate water No water
Something about the weight distribution is a bit off. (Write in the new organization of your water between your flasks. You currently have 0 aums of water and 2 flasks.)
--[ ] Write in
(Free action)

-[ ] Survey the region (Write in number of days to devote to this expedition)
The rains always change the roadways, and people will always need updated maps. It's a very reliable source of funds, if not particularly lucrative.
--[ ] Write in
(Length 10, difficulty 2. Reward: 2 aums of water. Can be performed once per rain cycle, but progress does not carry over between cycles.)

-[ ] Scavenge the dunes (Write in number of days to devote to this expedition)
The titular Wire Dunes have been excavated for centuries and still show no signs of being depleted. You could poke around and try to find something useful, but the locals are very protective of their livelihood.
--[ ] Write in
(Length 15, difficulty 3. Reward: variable. Can be performed once per rain cycle, but progress does not carry over between cycles.)

-[ ] Travel somewhere else (Write which route to travel and the route taken.)
It's time to move on.
--[ ] Write in
(Ends the current turn, but not the current cycle.)

---

Delays? In my quest? It's more likely than you think. Call today for a free PC check.

When I first started this quest, I thought that it wouldn't be too hard to keep a consistent schedule. Unfortunately, 'whenever I have time' is apparently very easy to turn into 'never', so I'm working on being more proactive in making time to write instead of just waiting for it to show up. Not sure how much progress has been made so far, given our current update timeline, but hopefully there will be some improvement, and I can stop apologizing for delays at the end of every post.

Additionally, I'm still trying to refine the voting options. If you feel like there's something you want to do that doesn't fit into one of the existing options, just ask and I'll see if it would fit narratively. As usual, I hope you're all doing well, and enjoy the update.

-[X] Sell some of your possessions
--[X] Tenju mechanical thermometer


You remember hearing an old joke about the economy; that people who are good at math all tend to go through a similar thought process. 1: The economy is made of numbers. 2: I am good at numbers. 3: Wow, where did all my water just go.

You, however, unlike people who are good at math - in addition to not being good at math (you still maintain that society would have been better off if numbers had never been invented) - are also much more efficient, having skipped directly to step three by wiping out the entirety of your savings buying a pair of minor tourist bait trinkets. It was a financial investment, probably.

However, you do still know a little bit of economics; namely that you can get water in exchange for goods and services. You don't have enough marketable skills yet to provide any services, but you do have some very nice goods that you'd be willing to part with, such as that Tenju contraption that you have conveniently already had appraised before Nothr went all cult recruiter on you and vanished. It's about knowing your limits and working around them.

All in all, you'd call it a very good plan. Now all that's left is to actually do the plan. Right. Easy. Just ignore the fact that commerce is ontologically evil and focus on the good sides.

Such as that from how excited the scrapbroker you showed it to was, you'd apparently found something quite valuable. "This is whatever metal! Something something industrial usage something something."

If they say so. You really wouldn't know, your name is more a metaphor about accepting the world than actual physical minerals. After all, it's inevitable that you (in the general sense, not just you personally) will become part of the world, because you can't participate in a system without being complicit in it. But without any of the weird guilt about bad things happening and not doing everything possible to stop them. Just embrace the complicity and move on to acceptance. Bam, philosophical conundrum solved. Simply don't have problems.

Also you probably should get back to the ongoing sale. You had zoned out as some sort of mental defense mechanism, but you're pretty sure you heard a number in there that matched what Nothr said earlier, so you just make a vaguely approving sound and accept the nearly-refilled flask. Mission successful.

(Gained 8 aums. You now have 8 aums.)

---

-[X] Explore the settlement


After the 'fun' adventure of participating in market exchange, you decided to relax by having an actual adventure of exploring the Wire Dunes. There are two answers to how that exploration went. The short answer is that you failed to find anything interesting in the settlement, aside from a pretty neat public art display. The long answer, as all good answers do, starts about three hundred and fifty years ago with the unification of the human tribes.

Originally, the term 'human' had only referred to people like yourself of the five-fingered variety, and humans of other bodily structures had a lot different names like wolves and horses and whatnot. However, this caused quite a few issues with the post-unification legal system, as most law documents specifically named old-humans rather than the more generally applicable people, which in turn led to a bunch of complicated political history that you won't really go into with this internal monologue, you're a busy woman. Suffice to say, instead of making a whole lot of people very mad in the process of rewriting the entire legal code, the decision was made to just classify everyone as humans, sidestepping the entire issue in what the general public saw as a reasonable - and most importantly, quick - solution and that bureaucrats were too surprised by to complain about before it became official.

The relevance that fact has today - aside from its influence in foreign policy with Sky-Deed, which makes a lot more distinctions between its different types of citizens - is that the Wire Dunes are primarily inhabited by what had previously been known as rats, which, in addition to being about a fifth the size of your type of humans on average, rely much more on their sense of smell to navigate. To put it simply, you can't read the signs. (Metaphorically of course, the issue is local insularity. They actually do have signs and you can read them, what kind of settlement wouldn't have any signs?)

Also, before anyone asks, you are already aware of your habit of using centuries-old policy decisions to justify your behavior; it's called having a historical mindset. Still, for all your awareness of why the world is the way it is, that doesn't always directly translate into actually being able to do anything about it, so, as previously mentioned, you didn't find anything actionable while exploring.

---

Other than the successful sale and the unsuccessful exploration, you really didn't do much before the cycle ended. An unfortunate consequence of how time works. They really should get someone on that.

Additionally, instead of having your own room, you got to stay in the traveler's bunker with the other non-locals. Most of them weren't very interested in conversation, but there's only so much to do while you're all stuck in the same building for two weeks and merchants and explorers aren't really the type to sit around carving all day, so you were eventually able to hear a bit about the wider world from primary sources.

The highlights were, in no particular order, that there was going to be a new Palatine in Enbegi soon, that the Azentu are considering building a port to get in on oceanic trade, and that there was some big Illuminate religious council planned down in Triangle Port. Yeah, they're neutral, but it still seems a bit stupid to hold a meeting where none of the attendees can comfortably live for more than a few days. Your pet theory is that it's so they're forced to come to a conclusion within a single cycle instead of going in circles forever.

In addition to the big ticket items, there was also quite a lot of more local gossip, about how so-and-so had done something or other, but it was honestly very forgettable compared to the big geopolitical stuff.

The rain seemed worryingly loud compared to back home, but nobody else seemed particularly concerned, and in the end, the priests got it under control just like usual. Time to get back to it.

---

The meteorologists predict that the next rain cycle will come in 16 days and that it will last for 10 days before stopping. You are currently in region 7: Wire Dunes

-[ ] Explore the settlement
You didn't succeed last time, but according to every motivational pamphlet you've ever read, that means you need to try again.
Encounter something useful. (3 days, DC 9)

-[ ] Search for an expedition site
You would put a metaphor about the sands of time being ever changing here but those are overused. Something something ancient secrets go find them.
Find an expedition site in a current or adjacent region. Can be performed once per rain cycle. (3 days, DC 5)

-[ ] Look through the markets
The markets here are dominated by scavengers pawning their finds to merchants from other settlements, but you could probably find something useful if you tried.
See what's for sale this cycle. (1 day, DC 1)

-[ ] Sell some of your possessions (Write in number of item if multiple available)
You got a good (?) price for that thermometer, but you could always use more water.
--[ ] Water flask with eight aums
--[ ] Empty water flask
--[ ] Monument Valley trade goods (2)
--[ ] Tenju kinetic sculpture
(Cannot sell non-empty water flasks or your last water flask. 1 day per item sold, DC 0)

-[ ] Stash something in the wilderness (Write in number of item if multiple available)
It'll probably be fine.
--[ ] Water flask with eight aums
--[ ] Empty water flask
--[ ] Monument Valley trade goods (2)
--[ ] Tenju kinetic sculpture
--[ ] Black ring
(Items stored in the wilderness have a chance to be lost each rain cycle. Cannot store your last water flask. 2 days per item stored, DC 0)

-[ ] Engage in diplomacy No known representatives present.
Dialogue is the foundation of society, and you're proud to take part in it.

-[ ] Establish diplomatic relations
New settlement, new you. Time to get out there and diplomatize some people. (Definitely a real word.)
--[ ] Donei
A former human tribe that survives today as a tightly knit community of scavengers and pawnbrokers that work to turn the mountains of random junk in the dunes into a moderately well-functioning economy. (2 days, DC 6)

-[ ] Consolidate water
Something about the weight distribution is a bit off. (Write in the new organization of your water between your flasks. You currently have 8 aums of water and 2 flasks.)
--[ ] Write in
(Free action)

-[ ] Survey the region (Write in number of days to devote to this expedition)
The rains always change the roadways, and people will always need updated maps. It's a very reliable source of funds, if not particularly lucrative.
--[ ] Write in
(Length 10, difficulty 2. Reward: 2 aums of water. Can be performed once per rain cycle, but progress does not carry over between cycles.)

-[ ] Scavenge the dunes (Write in number of days to devote to this expedition)
The titular dunes have been excavated for centuries and still show no signs of being depleted. You could poke around and try to find something useful, but the locals are very protective of their livelihood.
--[ ] Write in
(Length 15, difficulty 3. Reward: variable. Can be performed once per rain cycle, but progress does not carry over between cycles.)

-[ ] Travel somewhere else (Write which route to travel and the route taken.)
It's time to move on.
--[ ] Write in
(Ends the current turn, but not the current cycle.)

---

in the googled doc. straight up 'buidling it'. and by 'it', haha, well. let's justr say. my wolrd.

Usually I would keep results in a separate post, but in this case it was pretty short and there were no decisions to make, so I decided to just roll it into the voting for the next turn. Also, instead of apologizing for how long it took to get this out, let's focus on what did get done. I got an official beta reader (@Fated-Plan), migrated all my projects over to Obsidian, fleshed out a ton of background stuff that won't come up for a long while yet, and finally beat Factorio. Overall, a very productive month.

As usual, I hope you're all doing well and that you enjoy the update.

Beta read by @Fated-Plan

---

-[X] Explore the settlement

Armed with the knowledge that the people that live here are just really insular, you feel prepared to go out again and try to discover something to poke your nose into. It takes all of two minutes for you to be shown new heights of hating outsiders. Out on the street, a large crowd is gathered around a speaker that seems to be already well into a performance.

"All humans are one family! Those who are not our family are not human! Azen, azen, I say to you: Let them test not our forbearance." Fucking racists. You'll admit that it's quite the spectacle, what with all the shouting and the waving about, but it feels a bit contradictory to simultaneously be angry about being integrated into a cultural identity and claim to be the sole owners of that identity, but hey, nobody ever decided to become a bigot for rational and well-thought-out reasons.

While you leave quickly, it somewhat sours your mood on the whole exploration thing. Are the people here going to take your (well-intentioned) meddling well? Are you going to be socially ostracized? That's kind of scary to think about, so you won't. Instead, you set your mind to remembering tangentially related trivia; that always cheers you up.

Hmm. In there you heard the word 'azen', a loanword from the defunct Gebiri (precursor to Enbegi, among other things) meaning 'truth' and used adverbially as an expression of agreement. Nowadays, it's really only used in formal religious contexts because of the whole culture collapse. What else… Oh, when Resonance Signal and her followers broke away from Gebiri and went on to merge with the independent human tribes, they called themselves the 'Azentu' (Directly translating to 'True People') both to indicate that they'd found the correct religion and to give themselves political legitimacy. Yeah, that's a good one.

You've really been thinking about human unification a lot lately. Maybe, despite your best efforts, you're actually learning about current events and letting them have an effect on your behavior. You normally try to limit that to things that happened at least fifty years ago to minimize the risks of being forced to talk about politics. Well, innocence cannot last forever. Adults talk about politics a lot, so maybe it's time to get some practice.

---

-[X] Establish diplomatic relations
--[X] Donei

If the whole xenophobic preacher thing hadn't clued you in, the door slammed in your face after asking for a meeting definitely would have indicated that the people here aren't particularly welcoming. Really, you knew that not everyone was happy about losing their political independence but this feels excessive. Like it or not, the world is moving on and trying to return to the 'good old days' is just an appeal to nostalgia over actually having a well-functioning nation.

Yes, all of your opinions on how society should work are one hundred percent correct, thank you for asking. If they were wrong, then why would they have been just in a book for you to find?

Still, this is getting really demoralizing. Since getting here, the only thing you've actually accomplished besides getting disappointed in people's better nature is selling a single artifact, and that could have been done anywhere. You might even have been given an unfairly low price by selling here where, as previously established, people are racist. (Then again, maybe you just didn't do a very good job at haggling. Perhaps you'll never know for sure.)

In addition to being not very fun, the stonewalling also somehow felt vaguely illegal. You're somewhat sure that government representatives are supposed to talk to people for at least five minutes before kicking them out, but not sure enough to go and complain about it to anyone. Also, you're not sure who you would even complain to.

---

-[X] Look through the markets

Rather unfortunately, a trip to the markets goes quite well. If you were bad at commerce, you'd at least have an excuse to not like it.

You'd always felt like you'd do something with your scholasticism, but maybe you're meant to be a diplomat or merchant? You really hope not, talking to people still sucks and you're only doing it because it's sort of your job right now as a pilgrim.

Most of the stalls are the same old fruit vendors and apprentice potters as back home, but the larger shops are primarily dedicated to metalwork. It makes sense, given all the otherwise useless bits and pieces pulled out of the Dunes that are melted down for raw material.

-[ ] [Market] Water Flask (3 available)
--[ ] Write in number to purchase
A simple and durable container for water, of the type used all over the world. You can never have too many of these. Can hold 10 aums. (Costs 1 aum.)

-[ ] [Market] Trade Goods (4 available)
--[ ] Write in number to purchase
An eclectic collection of local trinkets and tchotchkes. You could probably sell these somewhere else for a small profit. (Sale price depends on distance from location purchased. (Costs 2 aums.)

-[ ] [Market] Tenju Metal (12 available)
--[ ] Write in number to purchase
A small bar of metal reclaimed from excavated Tenju scrap, stamped with an official-looking seal of quality. It's by and large much better than anything that can be produced today, but Sky-Deed smiths are apparently hard at work narrowing the gap. (Costs 10 aums.)

All of the actually skilled craftsmen refused to sell to you directly, but you found a side-alley merchant with just the right ratio of seediness to quality of goods. You could tell it wasn't a scam because nothing was worth enough to seriously bother scamming you out the price of.

-[ ] [Market] Shovel
One of the most groundbreaking devices ever invented, capable of transforming dirt into dirt that's somewhere else. It also doubles pretty well as a spade. (Reduces difficulty of expeditions by 1 while held. Costs 8 aums.)

-[ ] [Market] Tiny Spring
To be honest, it's not actually useful to you in any way, given that you don't dabble in engineering. But just look at how it goes sproingioing when you press it. It's so fun. You want it. (Does not take up inventory space. Costs 1 aum.)

---

-[X] Search for an expedition site

Alright, if you're not finding success inside the city, just look outside it. There are literal tons of history lying around waiting for someone (you) to go and find them. Asking around seems like a bad play given everything that's been going on, but there are alternate paths, like your secret technique of aimlessly wandering around.

That is why you are currently clambering through the Dunes proper and keeping an eye out for anything that might be interesting, but not so interesting that you would get in trouble for messing with it. Scavenging is a tightly regulated job and you definitely do not qualify for a license. The main work operations seem to be near the edges where heavier machinery can be safely used without risking a collapse, but you have no such weaknesses! With the power of not weighing several tonnes within your grasp, you are unstoppab–

Whoops, nearly tripped there. Maybe you should leave the dramatic speech about your infallibility until you're on stable ground. Resuming your exploration, you nearly fall flat on your face as your foot remains caught on something, likely the original tripping hazard refusing to give up.

Making sure to not place your hands on anything sharp, you carefully wiggle your foot out of the small crevice that it slipped into, the pile of scrap you're on top of shifting slightly. A quick visual check verifies that all of your toes are still there, but also reveals a very suspicious gleam. The top layer of the dunes is a dull metallic gray, not shiny.

Moving some debris around, you manage to partially uncover a big mechanical looking machine. (Good job on that one, brain.) According to some vaguely remembered trivia you read somewhere, smiths and engineers are always looking for functional examples of Tenju machines so they can copy them.

Is it really not possible for you to do anything without finding some sort of mysterious secret or valuable artifact? Honestly, it's starting to feel a little unrealistic. Also, getting this thing out of the excavation sites and back into the city without being asked why you have a giant piece of very controlled material would be a pain, and for all that it would be very profitable, you really rather wouldn't. Maybe you can just get a finders' fee or something if you tell someone where it is.

You have found the expedition site Ancient Machinery (length 30, difficulty 5). Excavating the Wire Dunes is the core of an entire industry, but that same sense of scale means that many things can slip through the cracks. You've discovered a potentially very promising piece of salvage, but getting it out without arousing suspicion would be an ordeal.

You have learned the secret Ancient Machinery. You've discovered a potentially very promising piece of salvage, but getting it out without arousing suspicion would be an ordeal. Instead, why not just carry the much lighter and more easily concealed information on where you found it?

---

-[X] Survey the region
--[X] 7 days

Then, with a good bit of time left over after coming to terms with your own impending adulthood and finding another probably really valuable Tenju artifact, you go on a walk.

Yes, the sort of walk where you're getting paid to write down the path, but the sentiment remains. You need to take some time to process everything. That's why you give yourself a full seven days instead of the two or three it would probably take to complete at a normal pace. You've had enough stress for this cycle without worrying about mapping too slowly.

It's nice, probably. The dunes aren't very similar to the enormous statues and crumbling buildings you would see back home, but they have their own beauty all the same, and as much as they represent a rapidly-becoming-scary future, you're excited to see what's next.

Also, nothing strange and exceptional happens, which is incredible in its own right.

---

Hey folks. I blame the usual suspects, those being plot bunnies and my brain overthinking things. Not to worry though; they're sure to be brought to justice soon. In addition to the update, I also wanted to spend a bit of time on the traditional author's note rambling about my thought process in making it. If you're not interested, feel free to skim; I'll underline the important bits. As usual, I hope that you're all doing well and that you enjoyed the update.

As you probably know, this is my first ever quest, aside from an old play-by-post on a now-defunct forum. The end result of that inexperience is that in terms of mechanics, I'm sometimes just doing things at random and hoping that they help produce the kind of story I want to write. I won't go through the whole chain of events that led me to the conclusion, but I feel like the background information threadmark is not pulling its weight. It's cool, but everything in it can be sorted into two categories: important to the story, in which case I should have put it directly into the story instead of some other random place; and not important to the story, in which case it doesn't really need to be anywhere at all.

To try and fix this problem, I am removing the background information section from the informational threadmarks, as well as going back through the previous updates and editing them slightly to give the important information more naturally. The overall story itself won't change, so don't feel required to go back and reread.

The editing isn't as much of a high priority as continuing on with the story, so that will most likely be done piecemeal when I find time. However, from now on, I'll do my best to be more thorough in explaining things that are important and give decisions based on what you know instead of expecting you all to do the work of knowing everything and making good choices from that.

Of course, this could all turn out to be a big mistake. I'm still learning how exactly I want to run this to get the kind of story I want to write out of it, and if it doesn't work, I can always just paste it back in and try something else.

Finally, I wanted to thank you all for sticking with me as I learn how to run a quest. I'm really glad to be able to share the story with you, and I hope that you all enjoy it as much as I do.

Beta-read by @Fated-Plan

That's right, we're back. We're so back that it wraps all the way around to being front again.

---

-[X] [Market] Tiny Spring

After a long and careful period of deliberation, you decide to go ahead and purchase the tiny spring. At first glance, it has absolutely no material benefit, but if you think about it, having the spring will make you happier and more fulfilled with your life, thus making you better at accomplishing your goals. It's all part of the master plan to eventually … complete your pilgrimage? That doesn't really feel like something you need a master plan for, but then again, you don't really have any other goals at the moment.

Yeah, the spring will help you in your pilgrimage until you find a bigger goal that you need more moral support for, where it will then switch to helping you accomplish that. Perfect. Time to stop thinking about buying it and actually buy it.

Clearly oblivious to your rich internal experience, the shopkeeper is giving you one of those weird looks that the person giving always intends to transmit some sort of unspoken message that the person receiving usually doesn't receive. However, they're in luck this time; you can decipher this one with ease thanks to the help of the tiny spring; 'are you going to buy something or just stand there?'

Pulling out your water flask, you trade away one of your hard-earned aums for your new traveling companion. A worthy exchange.

(Spent 1 aum. You now have 7 aums. Gained Tiny Spring.)

---

Another cycle comes and goes, and you're once again stuck in the traveler's bunker with the usual assortment of drifters. You already squeezed all of the ones you could convince to talk to you for news, so you can't even fall back on that. Bereft of anything non-introspective to do, you eventually land on prayer. It's been a while, and you'd like to avoid getting cursed with anything beyond the inherited ones.

You're not a priest, so you don't really need to interact with the Pentad, but you decide to make the standard benediction anyway, just in case. Wisdom from Fire, health from Earth, the usual. If nothing else, it's good to acknowledge them.

Then, it's onto the stars. Some people call them the minor stars, but you feel like that devalues them too much. Just because they tend to be overshadowed by the Pentad for not really being in charge of anything doesn't mean that they aren't important. Besides, they're almost certainly the ones responsible for your unnaturally good luck at finding mysteries, and if you lose that … well, uh, you'll come up with a poetic metaphor about it later.

With your spiritual duties adequately fulfilled, you feel much more at peace with the remaining week and a half of sitting around and sketching out the plot of your autobiography. (You're still working on the title, but you definitely want to somehow tie some sort of rock pun into it as a play on your name.)

When you finally get back outside, the sun looks just the tiniest bit different, like it shifted ever so slightly in the sky. It's probably just your imagination though; the sun doesn't move.

---

The meteorologists currently predict that the next rain cycle will come in 18 days and that it will last for 2 days before stopping. You are currently in the Wire Dunes.

-[ ] Explore the settlement
For all your apparent luck at finding mysteries out in the wilderness, it seems that the addition of other people makes it completely impossible to get anything done.
Encounter something useful. (3 days, DC 12)

-[ ] Search for an expedition site
There was already that big machine you found out in the dunes, but maybe there's something else that's a little more easily accessible.
Find an expedition site in a current or adjacent region. Can be performed once per rain cycle. (3 days, DC 5)

-[ ] Look through the markets
You already have everything you need in the tiny spring, but maybe someone's selling another one?
See what's for sale this cycle. (1 day, DC 1)

-[ ] Sell some of your possessions (Write in number of item if multiple available)
You don't really have anything that you want to sell right now, but you could do it anyway, if you felt like it. (You don't.)
--[ ] Water flask with seven aums
--[ ] Empty water flask
--[ ] Monument Valley trade goods (2)
--[ ] Tenju kinetic sculpture
--[ ] Tiny spring
(Cannot sell non-empty water flasks or your last water flask. 1 day per item sold, DC 0)

-[ ] Stash something in the wilderness (Write in number of item if multiple available)
It'll probably be fine.
--[ ] Water flask with seven aums
--[ ] Empty water flask
--[ ] Monument Valley trade goods (2)
--[ ] Tenju kinetic sculpture
--[ ] Black ring
--[ ] Tiny spring
(Items stored in the wilderness have a chance to be lost each rain cycle. Cannot store your last water flask. 2 days per item stored, DC 0)

-[ ] Engage in diplomacy No known representatives present.
Dialogue is the foundation of society, and you're proud to take part in it.

-[ ] Establish diplomatic relations
Yes, you literally got the door slammed in your face last time, but maybe it was just one especially rude person and it'll all work out if you try again.
--[ ] Donei
A former human tribe that survives today as a tightly knit community of scavengers and pawnbrokers that work to turn the mountains of random junk in the dunes into a moderately well-functioning economy. (2 days, DC 6)

-[ ] Consolidate water
Something about the weight distribution is a bit off. (Write in the new organization of your water between your flasks. You currently have 7 aums of water and 2 flasks.)
--[ ] Write in
(0 days, DC 0)

-[ ] Survey the region (Write in number of days to devote to this expedition)
The rains always change the roadways, and people will always need updated maps. It's a very reliable source of funds, if not particularly lucrative.
--[ ] Write in
(Length 10, difficulty 2. Reward: 2 aums of water. Can be performed once per rain cycle, but progress does not carry over between cycles.)

-[ ] Scavenge the dunes (Write in number of days to devote to this expedition)
The titular dunes have been excavated for centuries and still show no signs of being depleted. You could poke around and try to find something useful, but the locals are very protective of their livelihood.
--[ ] Write in
(Length 15, difficulty 3. Reward: variable. Can be performed once per rain cycle, but progress does not carry over between cycles.)

-[ ] Travel somewhere else (Write which route to travel and the route taken.)
It's time to move on.
--[ ] Write in
(Ends the current turn, but not the current cycle.)

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As usual, I hope you're all doing well and that you enjoy the update. It's on the smaller side this time, but at least it's finally out. Let's see how long this momentum lasts.