Never Full: A Tale of Adventure, Curiosity and Hunger Without Ending [Original Quest]

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Nevill said:
What is a BoI?
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The Bureau of Incomings is a round building with two curving wings, built of dark Qoman stone and clay and pale Yasherits timber, bearing an amber glass dome and the sign BUREAU OF INCOMINGS, a line of visitors filing into one door and out the other side. Other than that, only exploration can tell.
 
[X] Find a caravanserai for information.

I would like to stop relying on just wandering around blindly.
 
The Scab Palace 5
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    • [x] Find a caravanserai for information.

    Travelers are a little thicker on the ground here than they were on the Stairs proper, which makes sense if this Bureau of Incoming serves as the chokepoint it appears to. Some of the travelers are even being turned away--you recognize the heavy coats and metal mourner-masks of Everborers among them, which is a little worrying. Those are your fellow Elect, after all, being dismissed at the gates of the city you've chosen to operate out of. It'll pay to be wary, then, just in case they were being rejected for being a Locust rather than... some other reason, you don't know what the potential bannable offences here could be. Cutting a wide berth around the Bureau, you open your nose and your ears for the scents and sounds that always lead to potential adventure, information, and/or a good solid scrap, the attendant smells of sweat, booze, cheap fried food and overly steeped sauces, beasts of burden and trail dust and relief and a respite from labor that always accompany a halfway decent caravanserai. There's nowhere better to find leads and trails than places where weary workers gather to feed and endrunken themselves, and among such places only sellsword bars can match caravanserais for sheer juiciness of information.

    The scent leads you quickly around the side of the Bureau and along a row of unremarkable buildings, a variety of people sitting on stoops and fences and chatting in various languages, before you espy a wide arrangement of vehicles and beasts of burden, tethered outside an adobe and sandstone building with a tall, viga-studded tower, long low stables, and round middle part, topped with what looks like a roof garden. People move in and out of the spacious courtyard, chatting and arguing and haggling, smoking and chewing and drinking. Jackpot.
    The caravanserai isn't named that you can see, but there's a prominent sign out front naming the services it provides: food, drink, public messageboard, stabling, garage service, fresh water, rooms for rent, hiring, and vice, obliquely hinted at in Continental and bluntly stated in Ashvakrev. The Ashvakrev section looks and smells like a mixture of paint and goat blood was recently scrubbed off of it, which doesn't exactly inspire a wealth of confidence in you, but what are you supposed to do? Display fear and run away from potential conflict and potential profit because people may not like you for what you are? You knew that would happen when you left Vespergren. It's nothing that will stop you now.

    You slip into the crowd, heartened by the handful of Vesakh you see standing around and haggling with people, arguing amiably, smoking or chewing gyurma. Good. The courtyard proper is centered around a fountain, and has access to a bar, an open seating for a restaurant, a hiring counter, and the stables and garages, and people are milling around, sitting on low chairs and benches, and generally haggling and enjoying themselves. As much as you'd like to take a seat and order up as much bloody meat as you can possibly fit into your gullet, you're not here to relax, not yet. You're here for information, to overhear what you can, to get an idea of hopefully where the Scab Palace is but likely a smattering of gossip and realpolitik along with it. To that end, you find yourself a seat, a bench around the central fountain where nobody's really paying attention to anybody else save their own little groups and schemes. A perfect place to relax, stretch out, break out the gyurma, and eavesdrop.

    The matters you read about in the papers are, of course, on the lips of many people, and given that these are travelers, merchants and mercenaries, they're mostly focused on the ramifications the potential war might have on business. On the one hand, the Confederacy at war spends big and moves massive amounts of hungry, angry, and bored troops across the continent, which is a prime opportunity to provide services to the army, run guns and animals, and generally sneak around below the nose of law enforcement operations which have stopped focusing on petty crime in order to focus on wartime activities. On the other hand, war also means raids, trade embargoes, racked-up prices, and the potential destruction and harm that battles, troop movements, war machines and the Locust war machine can wreak on the countryside. The lean of the conversation towards potential profit off the war, as well as general disdain for the Confederate war machine, makes you feel more at home. Of course a war is a prime opportunity for profit and adventure! Those who feel otherwise lack the proper seethe in their belly or the spark in their mind, the hunger and the bite to take what the world won't give you and rip it from its seething belly.

    As you sit there, listening and pretending you're not, gnawing your gyurma, you overhear two fascinating pieces of information that stand out above the noise of the others.
    [ ] An agent of the Shark General has camped out in the Stairs, and is offering money and reputation in his army for Locust weapons and body parts.
    [ ] Thanks to the recent bombings, a local church's herd of cattle sacred to Savnok have died, and the church is sending black-market holy beef to all manner of unscrupulous carnivores in the city.
    [ ] A new mostly-intact ruin has been found buried in the mud of Little Sister, and a local mercenary shortage means that the University is paying top astrel for sellswords willing to go in and explore at high personal risk.
    [ ] The Confederate Ministry of Battle is testing out a brand new war machine deep in the Flats, far away from the support of its military base.
    [ ] A caravan is making the long, dangerous trek from Qoma to the wealthy Empire of Yasaal, and needs guards and porters if it's to make it all the way to the northwest.
    [ ] The Marvellous, which you gather is some kind of flying casino with massive prizes, is making landfall on the Cap in three days' time.
     
  • Threadmarks
    • [X] A new mostly-intact ruin has been found buried in the mud of Little Sister, and a local mercenary shortage means that the University is paying top astrel for sellswords willing to go in and explore at high personal risk

    Changed my mind.

    [X] An agent of the Shark General has camped out in the Stairs, and is offering money and reputation in his army for Locust weapons and body parts
     
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    [X] Thanks to the recent bombings, a local church's herd of cattle sacred to Savnok have died, and the church is sending black-market holy beef to all manner of unscrupulous carnivores in the city.

    [X] A new mostly-intact ruin has been found buried in the mud of Little Sister, and a local mercenary shortage means that the University is paying top astrel for sellswords willing to go in and explore at high personal risk.
     
    [x] A new mostly-intact ruin has been found buried in the mud of Little Sister, and a local mercenary shortage means that the University is paying top astrel for sellswords willing to go in and explore at high personal risk.
    [x] The Confederate Ministry of Battle is testing out a brand new war machine deep in the Flats, far away from the support of its military base.
     
    [X] Thanks to the recent bombings, a local church's herd of cattle sacred to Savnok have died, and the church is sending black-market holy beef to all manner of unscrupulous carnivores in the city.

    [X] A new mostly-intact ruin has been found buried in the mud of Little Sister, and a local mercenary shortage means that the University is paying top astrel for sellswords willing to go in and explore at high personal risk.
     
    ...this is frustrating. I'm loving the quest, the worldbuilding and writing and choices, but there's no one here, I'm exhausted (as you can guess from the time), and I can't figure out what to write. I remember how draining it was to see no discussion or speculation or seeming interest in the blind consensus that kept occurring in the one quest I wrote (and still want to come back to), but I can't dreg anything up and praise just seems empty. I'm kinda worried that it'll end before it would have otherwise, and I'm drawing up a blank on other people to drag in.

    Actually, for those of you who ARE here, would you mind telling me why, for interest, none of you are showing interest in knowing about the Shark-general's agent? A powerful figure wanting LOCUST BODY PARTS sounds like news that we should investigate IMMEDIATELY! As in, WHERE do we carefully sidle away from, and WHO do we need to talk to (or not talk to) in order to not be scrapped for parts by eager bounty hunters, and (for those who, like myself, enjoy context and information) WHY the Shark General (or an aid acting independently) is inclined to provide such an inducement?
     
    boo600 said:
    Actually, for those of you who ARE here, would you mind telling me why, for interest, none of you are showing interest in knowing about the Shark-general's agent? A powerful figure wanting LOCUST BODY PARTS sounds like news that we should
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    ...stay away from.

    The chance of being hacked into parts increases the closer you get to such a figure.
    boo600 said:
    WHY the Shark General (or an aid acting independently) is inclined to provide such an inducement?
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    Because he has a reputation for that sort of thing, enough so that an article in a newspaper is written to make him look less of a butcher than he is.

    I find it hard to join discussion on this quest, seeing how most of the choices are complete unknowns, and our knowledge of the setting is very patchwork, but even a vague feeling about what an option may entail can be enough to dissuade me from touching it with a 10-feet pole.

    I am not averse to risk, which is why I vote to investigate a ruin, but I would prefer it if it weren't pointed our way exclusively.
     
    boo, your enthusiasm is always something that makes me smile, and I like how much you care--fear not, this is something I care about a lot, not least for how it helps me build better writing habits, and while I may slow during the school year I will not give up on this thing anytime soon.
    I always welcome speculation and discussion, but Nevill's point about the mystery of the setting so far being forbidding is valid. Just know that if Grail knows it IC, I'll either answer your questions or tell you it's in an upcoming update, and as long as I keep getting votes I'll keep pumping out those updates!
     
    boo600 said:
    ...this is frustrating. I'm loving the quest, the worldbuilding and writing and choices, but there's no one here, I'm exhausted (as you can guess from the time), and I can't figure out what to write. I remember how draining it was to see no discussion or speculation or seeming interest in the blind consensus that kept occurring in the one quest I wrote (and still want to come back to), but I can't dreg anything up and praise just seems empty. I'm kinda worried that it'll end before it would have otherwise, and I'm drawing up a blank on other people to drag in.

    Actually, for those of you who ARE here, would you mind telling me why, for interest, none of you are showing interest in knowing about the Shark-general's agent? A powerful figure wanting LOCUST BODY PARTS sounds like news that we should investigate IMMEDIATELY! As in, WHERE do we carefully sidle away from, and WHO do we need to talk to (or not talk to) in order to not be scrapped for parts by eager bounty hunters, and (for those who, like myself, enjoy context and information) WHY the Shark General (or an aid acting independently) is inclined to provide such an inducement?
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    I'm loving this quest, but as someone who generally lurks on the site, I literally found it because I started browsing the quest section and it caught my eye, I think it's difficult for people to find it.

    About the spy guy I originally voted for him, but the black market beef seems something that we caught a glimpse when we arrived and since the setting is horror I don't know how "normal" it is for an agent of an enemy faction to sit in a city and pay for parts of a generally hated race
     
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    I mean, if y'all wanna support then nominate me for August's monthly spotlight, lmao
    For now, your consideration and engagement with my content is good stuff
     
    [X] An agent of the Shark General has camped out in the Stairs, and is offering money and reputation in his army for Locust weapons and body parts.

    [X] A new mostly-intact ruin has been found buried in the mud of Little Sister, and a local mercenary shortage means that the University is paying top astrel for sellswords willing to go in and explore at high personal risk.

    I think we should get a bit more information about the Shark General. Not that I want to engage him or his agents, but it is easier to stay away from danger if we have some idea about the nature of the danger. And as we are just overhearing things, not making inquiries, the chance of attracting unwanted attention is minimal.
     
    Nevill said:
    ...stay away from.

    The chance of being hacked into parts increases the closer you get to such a figure.

    Because he has a reputation for that sort of thing, enough so that an article in a newspaper is written to make him look less of a butcher than he is.

    I find it hard to join discussion on this quest, seeing how most of the choices are complete unknowns, and our knowledge of the setting is very patchwork, but even a vague feeling about what an option may entail can be enough to dissuade me from touching it with a 10-feet pole.

    I am not averse to risk, which is why I vote to investigate a ruin, but I would prefer it if it weren't pointed our way exclusively.
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    Gingganz said:
    [X] An agent of the Shark General has camped out in the Stairs, and is offering money and reputation in his army for Locust weapons and body parts.

    [X] A new mostly-intact ruin has been found buried in the mud of Little Sister, and a local mercenary shortage means that the University is paying top astrel for sellswords willing to go in and explore at high personal risk.

    I think we should get a bit more information about the Shark General. Not that I want to engage him or his agents, but it is easier to stay away from danger if we have some idea about the nature of the danger. And as we are just overhearing things, not making inquiries, the chance of attracting unwanted attention is minimal.
    Click to expand...
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    Yeah, this. The choice is what rumors we overhear, not "who do we go after;" it's literally what information we know. I can understand why people would want to stay away, but we need to know where the agent is to know where to stay away from.

    I agree that our knowledge of the setting is patchwork, but I feel that an overly-cautious approach will prevent that from changing. Speculation fuels more than just authors- it allows us to come up with working theories as we piece the setting together!

    Going over the Shark General... yeah, I'm just not getting the specific method. A general reputation can obscure the actual motivation, but I'm still determined to find out more about the WHY he's making choices that render him a threat. That's the data that tells us the minimum safe distance and standard countermeasure for his displeasure!

    WS, thank you for the reassurance. I've been hooked ever since we had our fortune told, and I continue to look forward to seeing what comes next!
     
    The Scab Palace 6
  • Threadmarks
    • [X] Thanks to the recent bombings, a local church's herd of cattle sacred to Savnok have died, and the church is sending black-market holy beef to all manner of unscrupulous carnivores in the city.
    [X] A new mostly-intact ruin has been found buried in the mud of Little Sister, and a local mercenary shortage means that the University is paying top astrel for sellswords willing to go in and explore at high personal risk.

    Your ears are sharp indeed, and you're no stranger to eavesdropping in search of actionable intel, but there are so many conflicting voices in this caravanserai that it's all you can do to pick out two distinct pieces of information from the crowd while still not appearing as if you're obviously listening in. And, fortunately enough for you, both overheard tidbits are perfect for your needs and your thoughts. Just the thing you need to get going, to start making your name and building your fortune and your reputation. You take detailed mental notes as you listen in, ready to consign it to paper once you're home free...

    Listening to a mixed group of Oriza and Chelqathi humans, sharing a hookah and a plate of Yasaali-style mussels, you hear some information concerning the Longwinter Bomber and the mark they're leaving on the city. The bombings have claimed several city institutions, it seems, with the Law becoming increasingly desperate to stop the Bomber before something worse happens. One of these had been a temple to Savnok, who you gather is the Oriza and Erzan shared god of defense, resilience and metal, and the sacred bulls and cows the priests kept died in the explosion. The clergy have apparently been secretly selling off the sacred beef to the unscrupulous carnivores of the city in order to gather funds to repair the temple... and suddenly that kebab vendor who gave you grilled beef for an armwrestling match back at your original arrival to Qoma made perfect sense. Holy beef being trafficked through unholy routes in the city... you might actually be able to make use of that. It's a thin, thin lead, but anyone who'd been associated with a haruspex like Loupe might potentially count as the type of unscrupulous customer who'd buy a dead sacred bull's meat. You'll need to move canny about that, but it could be a more or less direct path to Mock Vey, if you play your tokens right.

    The other usable tidbit you manage to siphon from the crowd comes from a Mimic, holding forth to a pair of skinny, bespectacled humans and a grey Erzan who looks assembled entirely from knuckles and salt pork. Clicking and whistling to underscore and punctuate their points, the Mimic speaks of the Thalassic Research Institute, which seems to be some kind of organization or society dedicated to treasure-hunting and secret-uncovering, with the humans being students of Phos Alta University, a similar group located nearby and allied to them through the bonds of knowledge and politics. The concept does interest you, and you'll need to learn more about what the University and the Institute actually are, but for now the Mimic says that the University is hiring sellswords at quite the premium. The island of Little Sister, which hosts, among various other mansions and estates, the Institute, has turned up a mostly intact ruin near the shore, and, because of the constant work to be found wherever the University is, mercenaries are at a premium. Anyone who can delve, dive, discover and destroy can do so in the Institute's name for quite the pretty penny, and that's the kind of intel you can always make use of, no matter what your current agenda entails.

    You wind up leaving soon after, having caught a suspicious look from the gristly Erzan, and outside the caravanserai's walls you pop open your journal and commit what you've just learned to paper. In code, of course. You're young, not stupid. So, that leaves you with something for the present and something for the near future, then, if you're not mistaken. A lead, if a thin one, on your mission for Loupe, and a good way to make some coin and blood your teeth once the debt to an Augur isn't dangling above your head like a Liar's Sword. That in mind, it seems obvious that your next goal has to be following that lead. There's a lot on your plate and a lot here on the Rim and the Stairs, and you'd love the freedom to follow up on everything, but unfortunately that's not the world you live in. Yet, anyway. You can get to all these exciting, tempting leads once you're square.

    Next stop has to be following up on the meat distributors, and you return to the caravanserai, this time buying something so as to throw them off your trail. You'll need to listen closely to follow up on this meat deal, and having a guard side-eye you for loitering is not exactly optimal for that situation.
    -3 Crescents
    +1 Cup of Kahve
    +1 Rib of Escaraballo
    Sipping the strong, bitter coffee (Acidic and bright, and not as good as that spicy, sweet Chelqathi stuff, but more of a boost in it) and gnawing on the nicely charred escaraballo rib, you lean against a wall and see to your post-breakfast breakfast, all while casting your net of attention wide, hoping to pull in a nice juicy lead-for-your-lead. You're down to the shell and cracking it open for the sweet bits inside before anything remotely useful crosses your ear, but cross it it does.
    You hear two of these, but act on one. Indicate which you just hear and which you act upon in your vote.
    [] Big Yan, down in the southside docks of Irontown, is usually found buying and selling all manner of exotic animal goods, especially dragon parts from Nashax. If you were selling animal products illegally in Qoma, you'd probably go through Big Yan.
    [] A Mellifluous Factor from Dis has been making strange deals involving the faith of the Trinity Undaunted, of which Savnok is a member. Sacred beef from His churches surely must fall within the Factor's interests, no? They're working out of an office on the northern side of the Rise, near the Dissian District.
    [] Finding and following brightly colored messenger beetles tends to get you involved in Mimic business. A stony-faced merc was overheard tersely discussing how massive loads of perishable goods have been moving back and forth through the northeastern Great Men warrens, especially exotic stuff, heralded by cyan beetles.
    [] Petty goods and luxuries are always passing through the hands of enterprising students at Phos Alta University. Shaking hands with doorknobs and keeping a weather eye out on the island of Not Much Sink will inveigle you with a mess of petty smuggling processes, for good or ill.
    [] You don't need all these fancy leads--your prey-sense is giving you vibes from that lower part of the Stair you saw that entrance to earlier, and exploring that underground should find you something good.
    [] Write in.
     
  • Threadmarks
    • [X] Big Yan, down in the southside docks of Irontown, is usually found buying and selling all manner of exotic animal goods, especially dragon parts from Nashax. If you were selling animal products illegally in Qoma, you'd probably go through Big Yan.
    [X][Act] A Mellifluous Factor from Dis has been making strange deals involving the faith of the Trinity Undaunted, of which Savnok is a member. Sacred beef from His churches surely must fall within the Factor's interests, no? They're working out of an office on the northern side of the Rise, near the Dissian District.
     
    [X] Big Yan, down in the southside docks of Irontown, is usually found buying and selling all manner of exotic animal goods, especially dragon parts from Nashax. If you were selling animal products illegally in Qoma, you'd probably go through Big Yan.
    [X][Act] A Mellifluous Factor from Dis has been making strange deals involving the faith of the Trinity Undaunted, of which Savnok is a member. Sacred beef from His churches surely must fall within the Factor's interests, no? They're working out of an office on the northern side of the Rise, near the Dissian District.
     
    [x] A Mellifluous Factor from Dis has been making strange deals involving the faith of the Trinity Undaunted, of which Savnok is a member. Sacred beef from His churches surely must fall within the Factor's interests, no? They're working out of an office on the northern side of the Rise, near the Dissian District.
    [x] [act] Finding and following brightly colored messenger beetles tends to get you involved in Mimic business. A stony-faced merc was overheard tersely discussing how massive loads of perishable goods have been moving back and forth through the northeastern Great Men warrens, especially exotic stuff, heralded by cyan beetles.
     
    ...aaaaaaaaaaaagh, I want to go with Nevill's plan, because the beetles are driving me nuts, but I just can't resist "exotic animal parts, with dragons explictly mentioned, implying other near-dragon level rare exotic parts we may have not even heard of, and that fits so well with this quest.

    And we can't exactly drop looking into strange religious deals when it regards beef. I'm looking for stuff (especially powerful magical) for us to eat here (considering that we're a Locust), and the beetles just don't have that same promise, no mater how badly I want to see them (I keep picturing this, and I really, really want to go poke at those).

    Damn you, Veekie, for picking the best plan before anyone else could! AGAIN!

    (Seriously, are you a time-traveller, or just Barry Allen glued to a screen all day, waiting for a vote to be started so you can hyper-analyze and pick the best vote before the rest of us are even done with the update? HOW DO YOU DO THIS?)

    [X] Big Yan, down in the southside docks of Irontown, is usually found buying and selling all manner of exotic animal goods, especially dragon parts from Nashax. If you were selling animal products illegally in Qoma, you'd probably go through Big Yan.
    [X][Act] A Mellifluous Factor from Dis has been making strange deals involving the faith of the Trinity Undaunted, of which Savnok is a member. Sacred beef from His churches surely must fall within the Factor's interests, no? They're working out of an office on the northern side of the Rise, near the Dissian District.


    Because AAAAAAAAAGH DRAGON PARTS AND DIVINE FOOD! (Actually, I'm really hoping to see some weird organs, or parts of rare and strange creatures. This stuff is inspiring!)
     
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    [X] Big Yan, down in the southside docks of Irontown, is usually found buying and selling all manner of exotic animal goods, especially dragon parts from Nashax. If you were selling animal products illegally in Qoma, you'd probably go through Big Yan.
    [X][Act] A Mellifluous Factor from Dis has been making strange deals involving the faith of the Trinity Undaunted, of which Savnok is a member. Sacred beef from His churches surely must fall within the Factor's interests, no? They're working out of an office on the northern side of the Rise, near the Dissian District.
     
    [X] Big Yan, down in the southside docks of Irontown, is usually found buying and selling all manner of exotic animal goods, especially dragon parts from Nashax. If you were selling animal products illegally in Qoma, you'd probably go through Big Yan.
    [X][Act] A Mellifluous Factor from Dis has been making strange deals involving the faith of the Trinity Undaunted, of which Savnok is a member. Sacred beef from His churches surely must fall within the Factor's interests, no? They're working out of an office on the northern side of the Rise, near the Dissian District.
     
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