Mage for Hire
- Thread starter DreamerGhost
- Start date
- Original
-
- Tags
- original
- Location
- Europe
Inserted tally
- Location
- Europe
It has been a day, and the tie has been broken, so I'm calling the vote. Lifeshaper Riley Wizz wins, Cuddlebugs for everyone.
1.1 Entering Zatos
- Location
- Europe
Yeah. It has been a while. Honestly, I don't much feel like talking about the why, but hopefully, it shouldn't happen again.
When you pass through the Planegate from the strange non-place that connects the worlds, your first impression is that you've emerged in an active city square. Merchants are peddling their wares, kiosks are selling snacks and several people are trying to outshout each other, either delivering news or seeking to attract those leaving for other worlds. You had not known this when you left, but the non-place is infested with bandits, the strange geometry of the place serving well various brigands and thieves, hiding their presence and delivering them straight to their targets. Those traveling formed convoys and hired mercenaries for security, and it was when one such convoy emerged in Nevenal to recover from Fading that you joined them to leave for worlds unseen. A gloved hand grabbed you by the shoulder and pulled you out of your mussing and away from the Planegate, few others swearing and walking past where you recently stood. Lothar, a mercenary you befriended on the journey pulling you out of the way of a busy stream of people moving towards a massive wall in the distance.
"Don't zone out like that Riley. In a big city like Zatos there's always something to make you better off alert." Lothar was an endless font of good advice and you owed him a lot. Too bad you neither had parts for improvements nor knew how to Reinforce, so you could only offer verbal thanks.
"So we're in Zatos? That's a lot of tents." There must have been hundreds of them, some barely large enough to fit a person, some that seemed to have multiple storeys, some decorated with colourful flags and dangling windchimes. It kinda made sense, people who camped as close to the Planegate as this had to like traveling and meeting new people, so portable shelter was only practical. Lothar just snorted at this.
"No, we are just in the camp before the inner wall. The city was built with the fear that someone from the portal could attack, so there are defences in place. Cannons, spells, mangonels, archers, you name it." He waved towards a tall wall in the distance. It seemed to surround the portal in a massive circle, perhaps half a mile in length. It was far enough away to miss it over the tent town. "Anyway, the important bit for you now is the gates."
"First, there are the main gates, of which there are four, which allow anyone and anything through, and which you will use. Then there are the Iron Gates, for soldiers and mercenaries in good standing, Silver gates, which handle merchants and their goods, and Glory gates, which only open to those working on official kingdom business. The last ones are the Twilight gates, and…" Lothar looked towards the gates, pausing to think. "They're closed. Don't go there. Ever."
A pebble bounced off Lothar's helmet, causing him to turn and notice the other mercenaries that were waving for him. He waved back and turned back to you. "Allright kid, I gotta go. If you feel like it, we could use a healer, even with your… peculiarities. Ask for Tarnished Doves in the iron quarter, someone will show you the way. See ya later."
"See ya, Lothar", you respond, trying to mimic his accent. He smiled at your attempt and began shoving his way through the crowd towards other mercenaries. It did not take long for you alone to encounter some problems.
"Name?"
"Riley Wizz. That's two z's"
When you set out for adventure, you did not expect a lot of need for documents. Neither did you expected a lot of standing in line, waiting for a bored-looking fat man to write down the details of the visitors. Perhaps to spite you, fate dictated that when you finished standing in line for the gates, the fat man there took one look at you and directed you to another line, terminating at a fortified post filled with armoured people.
"Purpose of visit?"
"Adventuring!"
You could not contain yourself, jumping and exclaiming loudly. The armoured man seemed unimpressed, but he did not need to wait a whole hour doing nothing. You could see smoke and birds even over the high walls surrounding the Planegate, there was an entire city, right there, just a few dozen steps away for you to explore. It was hard to wait.
"Occupation?"
"Lifeshaper."
This managed to elicit an entire frown from the man, but that was all. He wrote down the details, looked at you through a purple lens extracted from a padded box, and then drew a star in the records.
"Origin of blood on your coat?"
"Oh, um. I fixed a poorly healed bone fracture for Yinah, he's a merchant, best figs this way of Jailstone. Has a huge beard, best I've seen." You looked around for him, but he had already passed through the Silver Gates. "Turns out he also had high blood pressure but refused to let me take a look at his heart. Lothar said I should keep the blood, said it would ward away bad luck." You shrugged as the guard glared at you. Yeah, you didn't think that lucky talismans worked that way either, but Lothar was very insistent, and he was also a native of Zatos, so you didn't push the point. Maybe it was some mercenary only superstition?
The man, it seemed, had exhausted his expression quota for the day, so he just waved you through and shouted for the next in line to approach. You went through a damp and cool tunnel and emerged within the city proper. Houses of wood and stone seemed to stretch all the way to the horizon, smells of smoke and cooking wafted through the air and an entire herd of cats chased fat light gray birds across the rooftops. A veritable parade of colours could be seen on people, as well as a great degree of individualism in skin fashions. There was a group of people with crooked noses, quite a few with unevenly balded heads or warts. Many had scars, and most seemed genuine. Oh, how fun it would be to find out how they managed it all without manipulating flesh directly.
You were brought back to the present by a rough elbow shoving you out of the way. Right, don't stand in front of entrances. It was rude to do that when there were so many people around. Your stomach took that time to remind you that you hadn't eaten since this morning, which you quickly fixed with a vegetable stuffed bun from a nearby stall. That brought to you another problem. You had not, exactly, set out with a lot of funds. Nevenal does not use gold or silver for currency, so you only have what you got paid from helping out Yinah. Which amounts to just about enough to eat for a week. You don't strictly need a place to sleep, as you prepared for the adventure with a few body fortification techniques, but still. You would need some income.
[] Explore the city
-[] By Wandering
You are not pressed for time yet. Perhaps you will happen upon something interesting. Perhaps something interesting will happen upon you.
-[] By following
Presumably, all the people are going somewhere. Large crowds should be going somewhere important. Follow them
-[] By having lunch
Taverns are a veritable source of gossip, and between local pride and a free mug of ale, someone might be willing to tell you things. It worked with the caravaneers, should work here.
[] Seek employment
-[] In butchery
Your talents lend themselves well to dismantling carcasses. In addition, this will give you a chance to make some useful connections for when you need raw materials.
-[] In cosmetology
Discipline of Skin is not exactly easy, but the worst results are not too terrible. Fixable at least. A good place to start for a relative novice such as yourself.
-[] In healing
It's fairly easy to get damaged when everyone is in a rush and in a crush at the same time, and people here heal much slower than in Nevenal. Perhaps some would pay to hasten the process?
-[] In Mugging
It seems that the entire city is governed by the same rules as the Daggers quarters back in Nevenal. You could try your hand at separating people from their coin by force.
Last edited:
Character sheet and Dice information
- Location
- Europe
Riley Wizz
Age: 29
Shape: Human
Skilled Separator: Riley is capable of recognizing organs, glands and muscle groups, as well as transforming a carcass into usable materials.
Apprentice of Skin: Stretching, moving, curling, removing, you can do it all, given some time and some backup skin for repairs. As long as it is a small enough area.
Apprentice of Bone: You can break and fix, but not mold, bones, as well as transfer marrow. Repairing tendons is within your abilities if the wound isn't too old, or even reattaching them for still bleeding fresh injuries. You can put teeth back in where they belong.
Novice of Flesh: You have a solid base of basics to build upon, but not much more. You can heal recent wounds, especially those made by yourself while working, but even transplanting organs would be risky.
Ageless of Nevenal: Even outside the rejuvenating air of Nevenal you will not die from old age alone. Wounds will recover faster, but age you as smoke of life leaves your body. You were warned to not speak of this.
Tough skin: Your skin has been made supernaturally durable, just enough to keep the elements to a dull background. (Always counts as wearing protective clothing for weather effects)
Age: 29
Shape: Human
Skilled Separator: Riley is capable of recognizing organs, glands and muscle groups, as well as transforming a carcass into usable materials.
Apprentice of Skin: Stretching, moving, curling, removing, you can do it all, given some time and some backup skin for repairs. As long as it is a small enough area.
Apprentice of Bone: You can break and fix, but not mold, bones, as well as transfer marrow. Repairing tendons is within your abilities if the wound isn't too old, or even reattaching them for still bleeding fresh injuries. You can put teeth back in where they belong.
Novice of Flesh: You have a solid base of basics to build upon, but not much more. You can heal recent wounds, especially those made by yourself while working, but even transplanting organs would be risky.
Ageless of Nevenal: Even outside the rejuvenating air of Nevenal you will not die from old age alone. Wounds will recover faster, but age you as smoke of life leaves your body. You were warned to not speak of this.
Tough skin: Your skin has been made supernaturally durable, just enough to keep the elements to a dull background. (Always counts as wearing protective clothing for weather effects)
Rolls for actions are 1d100, with a result over 100 meaning a success.
Trivial: +100
You'd need to be actively getting stabbed in the face to fail this.
Easy: +80
An average person would be able to do this with no trouble, messing this up is either remarkably unlucky or intentional.
Average: +50
An unskilled person has a good chance to manage, but a relevant skill or talent will near ensure success.
Difficult: +30
A task for a journeyman of their craft, trained soldiers, experienced mages and cunning merchants.
Complicated: 0
Success here deserves celebration no matter your capabilities. A challenge for a journeyman, or an uncommon task for a master, these do not come often.
Hard: -20
A task for masters of the art, flat out impossible without great knowledge and skill specialized for the task.
Unique: -50
As far as you know, this has never been done before, and for a good reason. You are not even certain it can be done, let alone how.
Skills prefaced with any of these words can be ranked up, and represent your ability in a wide area. More specific abilities or skills represent distinct advantages or knowledge that possess, and can't be directly ranked up.
(0) Unskilled
(1)Novice
(2)Apprentice
(3)Skilled
(4)Expert
(5)Master
(6)Grandmaster
+10 per rank, reroll on failed tasks of lesser level than your skill level, novice rerolls easy, apprentice rerolls average and so on. Unique task fails don't get rerolled.
Trivial: +100
You'd need to be actively getting stabbed in the face to fail this.
Easy: +80
An average person would be able to do this with no trouble, messing this up is either remarkably unlucky or intentional.
Average: +50
An unskilled person has a good chance to manage, but a relevant skill or talent will near ensure success.
Difficult: +30
A task for a journeyman of their craft, trained soldiers, experienced mages and cunning merchants.
Complicated: 0
Success here deserves celebration no matter your capabilities. A challenge for a journeyman, or an uncommon task for a master, these do not come often.
Hard: -20
A task for masters of the art, flat out impossible without great knowledge and skill specialized for the task.
Unique: -50
As far as you know, this has never been done before, and for a good reason. You are not even certain it can be done, let alone how.
Skills prefaced with any of these words can be ranked up, and represent your ability in a wide area. More specific abilities or skills represent distinct advantages or knowledge that possess, and can't be directly ranked up.
(0) Unskilled
(1)Novice
(2)Apprentice
(3)Skilled
(4)Expert
(5)Master
(6)Grandmaster
+10 per rank, reroll on failed tasks of lesser level than your skill level, novice rerolls easy, apprentice rerolls average and so on. Unique task fails don't get rerolled.
NeonLights
Formerly Reliable_2IC
- Location
- In shambles
[X] Explore the city
-[X] By Wandering
You are not pressed for time yet. Perhaps you will happen upon something interesting. Perhaps something interesting will happen upon you.
[X] Seek employment
-[X] In butchery
Your talents lend themselves well to dismantling carcasses. In addition, this will give you a chance to make some useful connections for when you need raw materials.
-[X] By Wandering
You are not pressed for time yet. Perhaps you will happen upon something interesting. Perhaps something interesting will happen upon you.
[X] Seek employment
-[X] In butchery
Your talents lend themselves well to dismantling carcasses. In addition, this will give you a chance to make some useful connections for when you need raw materials.
- Location
- Milky Way, Orion Arm, 3rd rock from the sun
- Pronouns
- He/Him
[X] Explore the city
-[X] By following
Presumably, all the people are going somewhere. Large crowds should be going somewhere important. Follow them
[X] Seek employment
-[X] In butchery
Your talents lend themselves well to dismantling carcasses. In addition, this will give you a chance to make some useful connections for when you need raw materials.
-[X] By following
Presumably, all the people are going somewhere. Large crowds should be going somewhere important. Follow them
[X] Seek employment
-[X] In butchery
Your talents lend themselves well to dismantling carcasses. In addition, this will give you a chance to make some useful connections for when you need raw materials.
KnightDisciple
Love God. Do Right. Fear No Man.
- Location
- Midwest, USA
[X] Explore the city
-[X] By Wandering
You are not pressed for time yet. Perhaps you will happen upon something interesting. Perhaps something interesting will happen upon you.
[X] Seek employment
-[X] In butchery
Your talents lend themselves well to dismantling carcasses. In addition, this will give you a chance to make some useful connections for when you need raw materials.
-[X] By Wandering
You are not pressed for time yet. Perhaps you will happen upon something interesting. Perhaps something interesting will happen upon you.
[X] Seek employment
-[X] In butchery
Your talents lend themselves well to dismantling carcasses. In addition, this will give you a chance to make some useful connections for when you need raw materials.
[X] Explore the city
-[X] By having lunch
Taverns are a veritable source of gossip, and between local pride and a free mug of ale, someone might be willing to tell you things. It worked with the caravaneers, should work here.
[X] Seek employment
-[X] In healing
It's fairly easy to get damaged when everyone is in a rush and in a crush at the same time, and people here heal much slower than in Nevenal. Perhaps some would pay to hasten the process?
-[X] By having lunch
Taverns are a veritable source of gossip, and between local pride and a free mug of ale, someone might be willing to tell you things. It worked with the caravaneers, should work here.
[X] Seek employment
-[X] In healing
It's fairly easy to get damaged when everyone is in a rush and in a crush at the same time, and people here heal much slower than in Nevenal. Perhaps some would pay to hasten the process?
- Location
- Singapore
[X] Explore the city
-[X] By having lunch
Taverns are a veritable source of gossip, and between local pride and a free mug of ale, someone might be willing to tell you things. It worked with the caravaneers, should work here.
[X] Seek employment
-[X] In butchery
Your talents lend themselves well to dismantling carcasses. In addition, this will give you a chance to make some useful connections for when you need raw materials.
-[X] By having lunch
Taverns are a veritable source of gossip, and between local pride and a free mug of ale, someone might be willing to tell you things. It worked with the caravaneers, should work here.
[X] Seek employment
-[X] In butchery
Your talents lend themselves well to dismantling carcasses. In addition, this will give you a chance to make some useful connections for when you need raw materials.
[X] Explore the city
-[X] By having lunch
Taverns are a veritable source of gossip, and between local pride and a free mug of ale, someone might be willing to tell you things. It worked with the caravaneers, should work here.
Sure, it's the cliche option - but would it have become cliche if it didn't work?
(Also, welcome back! Glad to see this continue.)
-[X] By having lunch
Taverns are a veritable source of gossip, and between local pride and a free mug of ale, someone might be willing to tell you things. It worked with the caravaneers, should work here.
Sure, it's the cliche option - but would it have become cliche if it didn't work?
(Also, welcome back! Glad to see this continue.)
Solarstream
It's all in the cards
- Location
- Zombie World
- Pronouns
- He/Him
[X] Explore the city
-[X] By Wandering
You are not pressed for time yet. Perhaps you will happen upon something interesting. Perhaps something interesting will happen upon you.
[X] Seek employment
-[X] In butchery
Your talents lend themselves well to dismantling carcasses. In addition, this will give you a chance to make some useful connections for when you need raw materials.
-[X] By Wandering
You are not pressed for time yet. Perhaps you will happen upon something interesting. Perhaps something interesting will happen upon you.
[X] Seek employment
-[X] In butchery
Your talents lend themselves well to dismantling carcasses. In addition, this will give you a chance to make some useful connections for when you need raw materials.
- Location
- St. Petersburg
An accidental slip into 1st person instead of 2nd.
[x] Explore the city
-[x] By following
...is this a "choose one" vote, or "choose one per category"?
[X] Reach out tentatively to the small groups like the one in the dinner line. If you can establish personal connections, you can try to create a structure of small-tiny groups that help each other, even if they do not know who all the other groups are.
[X] Seek employment
-[X] In butchery
[X] Seek employment
-[X] In butchery
- Location
- Europe
I had thought I had fixed all of those, thanks for the catch.
I was originally thinking chose one, but chose one per category makes so much more sense after I slept, so one per category it is.
- Location
- Sydney
[X] Seek employment
-[X] In healing
-[X] In healing
Ah, I'd been assuming it was choose one (on the basis that if it was one per category, the categories themselves wouldn't have checkboxes). Let me update my vote if that's being changed, then...
X] Explore the city
-[X] By having lunch
[X] Seek employment
-[X] In healing
Employment in butchery would also make a lot of sense, but I think offering healing fits better with the tavern narrative.
X] Explore the city
-[X] By having lunch
[X] Seek employment
-[X] In healing
Employment in butchery would also make a lot of sense, but I think offering healing fits better with the tavern narrative.
- Location
- Europe
So Riley will be seeking work as a butcher, but with counting Wyvern's broken vote, we're tied between walking about looking for the smell of blood or visiting the destination of the finished product.
I'll give it an hour-ish for a tiebreaker, and then roll a die.
I'll give it an hour-ish for a tiebreaker, and then roll a die.
- Location
- Europe
1 - Wandering
2 - Tavern
2 - Tavern
[X] Explore the city
-[X] By Wandering
You are not pressed for time yet. Perhaps you will happen upon something interesting. Perhaps something interesting will happen upon you.
[X] Seek employment
-[X] In butchery
Your talents lend themselves well to dismantling carcasses. In addition, this will give you a chance to make some useful connections for when you need raw materials.
-[X] By Wandering
You are not pressed for time yet. Perhaps you will happen upon something interesting. Perhaps something interesting will happen upon you.
[X] Seek employment
-[X] In butchery
Your talents lend themselves well to dismantling carcasses. In addition, this will give you a chance to make some useful connections for when you need raw materials.
1.2 Butchery and Wandering
- Location
- Europe
Eight days. About five times faster than the previous update, but I have hopes for going under a week.
[X] Explore the city
-[X] By Wandering
You are not pressed for time yet. Perhaps you will happen upon something interesting. Perhaps something interesting will happen upon you.
[X] Seek employment
-[X] In butchery
Your talents lend themselves well to dismantling carcasses. In addition, this will give you a chance to make some useful connections for when you need raw materials.
[X] Explore the city
-[X] By Wandering
You are not pressed for time yet. Perhaps you will happen upon something interesting. Perhaps something interesting will happen upon you.
[X] Seek employment
-[X] In butchery
Your talents lend themselves well to dismantling carcasses. In addition, this will give you a chance to make some useful connections for when you need raw materials.
The thing about new places, you decide, as the sun reached the top of it's arc, is that they are very, very distracting. Though there were people wherever you looked, what was really interesting was the animals. Who were also everywhere, just wandering about, completely unowned by anyone. There were no animals in Nevenal, Life Engines had removed all creatures that couldn't consider their own mortality, and all Lifeshaping parts had to either be imported or, as was most common, grown. Small creatures were near impossibly rare, and here there was an entire pile of them between a couple of pavement stones, dragging crumbs of something under the earth. They were too light to feel while walking over your finger and too tiny for your eyes to see what they were made of even if you had cut one open. So you dropped the curious creatures off and left some crumbs from your vegetable bun for them before moving on.
Minuscule creatures were all nice and polite and fun, but larger fur-covered creatures were too wary to approach, same for anything feathered. You could only catch them with the edge of your eyes as they swiftly darted from shade to shade or from roof to roof. Even larger furred creatures, which you knew were cats from a person shouting at one, watched the smaller creatures with hungry intent. You managed to find a cat that was feeling calm enough to allow being touched, and therefore examined with a spell. Your fingers sunk into soft fur as your magic flowed down beneath the skin, down through flesh and into bones and organs. It seemed quite well for something not purpose-built, well packaged and with only a few minor flaws that might have just been damage. It purred beneath your hands. Hmm.
"Excuse me, does this cat belong to anyone?"
A pair of men looked up from their lunch of bread and bacon and at a strange kid carrying an orange cat. They noted the strange clothes and the lack of any weapon. A moment of calculation passed as the possibility of gullibility was weighed against the chance of being cursed.
"Don't think so." Said one of the men. "Falko's cat is orange like that, but he has a black spot over his ears."
"And Jackson's cat has only one ear. Don't know any other orange cat." Added the other. "Anyways, why do you want to know? Did it steal something off your plate?"
"I think he likes me. See?" You poked the cat on the ear and it started purring in your arms.
"More likely feels cold with that short fuzz." The first man smiled. "Or hopes that you'll feed him something." He tried to pet the cat, but his bacon smelling fingers were too appetizing looking for the cat. He hissed as he pulled away, and his friend found this hilarious. The first man frowned, before turning back to you. "Anything else?"
"Oh, do you know where I could find someone dealing with flesh and bone?"
"A butcher? There's a few in the warehouse district, down the street until the fountain and then turn left. From there, follow the smell."
"Thanks."
You waved a goodbye and walked off towards the fountain. The two men looked as you went until you were too far away to hear them.
"What do you think. Elf?"
"Maybe. Do you think that blood on her is related to looking for a butcher?"
"Her? Think that was a boy. Though you never know with elves."
"Elves have sharp ears though. Ah well, none of our problem anymore."
They returned to their lunch. Mages, Zatos was full of them lately. Be polite, send them away and focus on your job rather than gawking. It earned them extra coin for working in danger and nobody got cursed to sneeze fireballs for a week.
The fountain was surrounded by people, but this time some of the people were doing things you could recognize. There was a gaggle of poets trying to charm people with their lyrics for coin, or each other for praise. Open-air stalls were selling various produce, from mushrooms to vegetables to cheese. No meat though. It made some sense, it'd probably spoil in the warmth or get stolen by cats. Some colorfully dressed people with spears were chatting with some plain dressed people with spears and pointing towards you. You waved at them. Now, you were told to take a left…
Suspicion: Light
As a mage, some suspicion is nearly unavoidable. People are wary of your skills, and although a good reputation can mitigate most of it, it will never entirely go away. Light suspicion means that both self and government-appointed peacekeepers will gossip about you and try to keep an eye on you but do little else. They are busy people who don't have time to be turned inside out over a hunch.
The wind brought you many smells, of water, of sweat and of blood. The streets were wide and straight here, the buildings tall, with large doors and tiny windows. Carts were ferrying goods, people were carrying crates and pushing wheelbarrows, and a few people were leading fat looking animals towards somewhere. You followed after them, and soon the smell of blood became sharper. The animals were sold at a large barn that was entirely clear of blood, but this close it was easy to find a smaller building with a water channel leading inside. The door was wide and unlocked.
Inside, the smell of blood washed over you, erasing all outside smells just as thick walls smothered away outside sounds. The floor was covered with blood, dried and fresh, and several carcasses were hanging on hooks, dripping away their last pints. Another carcass of a creature at least twice the size of even the largest of people you had seen was splayed open, revealing myriad of organs inside. You could easily see the guts, which seemed to connect to an entire complex of stomachs, a pair of lungs, spleen, liver, bladder. All fat coated, same as the muscles which were much harder to make out, but this was all a really good start, nothing of importance was as much as scratched.
"Thanks for the praise, but if you are here to purchase, you should talk to William on the other side of the building."
Oh. You said all that out loud. Also, oh, there are people here. You looked away from the carcass and saw that there were four people in the building, three of them looking towards you and one stacking cut up flesh in a box.
"Oh, I was mostly just looking around," you respond.
See a professional at work 83 + 50(Easy) + 30(Skilled) + 10(Mage) = 173
"But I got a bit excited, I have never seen anything like this. Just look at this..." It is so much easier to work your magic when you can just reach out and grab your target without needing to be careful and precise. Connective tissue melts as your magic cuts around the stomach, allowing you to pull it out easily, at least a few inches of it. The weight is too much for you.
"This is not just a stomach, it contains multiple chambers and..." you pause as the spell spreads from your hands, bringing you knowledge. "It can go backwards? Why would it even do that, that is so unusual!"
Perhaps some further investigation can bring answers. You reach in to pull out other organs for a closer look before the one who talked to you stopped you by grabbing your shoulder. Oh right, people.
"Can I work with you here?"
The person in front of you hesitated, and you took this time to focus yourself and take a look at the people here. The one that talked to you was most likely a woman, she had dark green skin and teeth big enough to stretch her lips to the point that her fangs poked out into the air. She stood a full head taller than two men(?), yeah, probably men, holding the carcass in place. They were wrapped in cloth, which made it a bit hard to make out any details. All three were quite muscular, and also a bit fat. The last person here, the one that mostly ignored you, was quite different from the rest, being slim and covered in bright green scales. It would had cost you quite a lot of smoke to get your entire body coated in scales, so you couldn't help but feel a bit impressed. Their head was far smoother, so perhaps they had to trade in some other features for all the scales. These 'human' parts were surprisingly expensive.
"Look uh… Okay, first thing, what is your name?" The woman asked. I just had to stop getting distracted.
"Riley. Riley Wizz."
"Look Riley, you kinda showed up here entirely out of nowhere, I'm not sure if..."
One of the people hissed to attract attention. "Bula. He's a mage. This could be our chance to be rich."
"Not technically a 'he'," you murmured.
Bula rolled her eyes. "Don't mind Jack, he was confused about me as well at first. Rube thought I was a guy at first as well, never seen an orc in his life. Riley, I'll be straight with you. We buy animals and process them into meat for profit. We work fast and simple. I don't know what you see here, but while I could use anyone not too squeamish to deal with blood, I need people who can work fast without too many distractions."
You paused to think, which she seemingly thought was indicative of something. "Yeah. Also, you do not look local, do you even have a place to stay?"
"Uh" you responded eloquently.
"Thought so. I can get you a place to stay for a while, but only if you come work with us, and I won't hesitate to kick you out if you slack off." She folded up her hands over her chest, still holding a sharp knife, and gave you about an eyeblink to consider her offer. "Think fast, this pause is worth silver for us."
This is near the best you could had wanted. "Yes," you answer.
Adventurers 1d100=35
Civilians 1d100=46
Gangs 1d100=56
Civilians 1d100=46
Gangs 1d100=56
You have managed to become gainfully employed. Yet there are some immediate decisions to be made.
[x][Work] Work carefully.
Take some time to learn how all these creatures work. Look over all the unique organs and skeletal layouts. Bula won't pay you much while you do this, but you will get at least passingly familiar with all these 'animals'.
[x][Work] Work swiftly
Connective tissue is connective tissue. You don't need saws to get through bones, you can identify any parasites with a touch and your methods open some unique business opportunities. Bula will pay you enough to get some spending money, enough to get some tools and supplies of your very own.
Although you are quite used to replacing the need for Food or Water with the smoke of Life, need to sleep is not as foreign to you. Where will you rest tonight?
[x][Housing] Go with Bula.
Socializing. Free bed, or at least a vertical surface. Potentially someone to ask questions. Potentially a chance to anger people.
[x][Housing] Rent a room.
Privacy. An acceptable place to have visitors in and a borderline suitable place to make experiments in. More permanent than loaning a corner to rest in.
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