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You awaken to the sound of rumbling.
It is raining. Hard. Little rivers are running black down the narrow alleys and streets of the Nightside ghetto down below you, and cold rain pours off the tiled roofs. The afternoon sky is grey and dark.
There’s the rumbling again. And a dull pain... It’s not thunder then.
It’s your stomach.
You haven’t had anything to eat since you stole that bowl of swamp rice yesterday morning while Rat distracted the street vendor...just thinking about it makes your stomach ache with longing. Sometimes sleeping helps, but not today. You’re too hungry to sleep, and you were dreaming about hot soup anyway.
You are currently safe and dry, in your nest atop the warm brick roof of the Blackhand Company’s great foundry. You’re under an eave that pours all the water out past the pile of stolen laundry where you sleep, and you’re close enough to one of the foundry’s chimneys that its heat warms your bones and dries your tattered clothes. It’s a little narrow, and you have to be careful not to actually touch the wall north of the corner for very long because it will burn your hands, and you have to be careful not to roll out onto the sloped roof and fall off in your sleep, and when the pouring rain isn’t pounding the Nexus Snow down into the gutters the smoke means you have to hold a rag in your mouth to breathe through…but this spot is yours. None of the other kids know about it, except Rat, who showed you the spot, and he’s too big now to use it himself.
…the climb down is usually easy, but in the rain the bricks are probably going to be slippery. It might be dangerous. But you really, really need to eat.
Do You:
Stay here and try to get back to sleep: You're starving, sure, but you're not stupid. You’re not going to be able to get much food with a broken leg. You’ll wait until the rain stops and climb down when it’s safe. Sure, hunger hurts, but it’s a dull pain. You can wait out the storm.
Go Find Rat: He’s big enough now that he’s been able to join the Sluice gang. He might have some food, or have some job you can do to get some. Of course, the Canal Sluice is going to be even more dangerous in a big rainstorm like this than climbing down the roof…and Rat's been weird since he started hanging with the Sluice gang. He keeps trying to act all tough. He might be super mean to you just to impress his new friends.
Visit Aunt Dwi: She’ll sometimes give you real food-a pork bun or a bowl of noodles. But if she’s got a customer you’ll have to wait, because if you interrupt her while she’s with a client she’ll thrash you…and the last couple of times you went to her for food, she looked at you weird and said you were getting taller, weren't you, and insisted on giving you poppy juice…which was fantastic! But you’ve seen what happens to other kids who spent too much time drinking poppy juice with Aunt Dwi. They end up drinking poppy juice all the time, and working for her brothel, and because they're new they always end up getting the rough customers…
Go to the Nightside Street Market: Traffic will be low because of the rain, which will make it harder to steal anything from any of the stalls…but if nobody’s buying, odds are good some of the food will start to spoil and get thrown away, so there might be some good scavenging.
Head over to the Imperium: It’s a long way to the Nexus District, and the Imperium is patrolled so you’ll have to keep to alleys and rooftops to avoid getting picked up by their mercenaries...but fancy merchants and occasionally even visiting Dragonblooded trade there, and there are a couple of fancy restaurants that serve them, and the bins behind those restaurants often have good pickings. If you’re gonna be going out in the rain to eat garbage, it might as well be really expensive garbage.
Go Fishing: You have string and a couple of fishhooks. It’s raining, and the streets are muddy. You should be able to get a few earthworms, and if you bait your hook right you might be able to catch some pigeons or maybe a raiton…and if you don’t catch anything, well, you can always eat the worms.
Go Begging: It’s raining, and foot traffic is low…but if you beg close to one of the markets, you might be able to get enough coin for a hot meal. The downside is you’ll have to deal with older beggars, some of whom are very territorial. Blind Jin sometimes gives you his spot in exchange for most of your take: he knows you’re younger and cuter than he is. And it’s easier to do puppy dog eyes at people when you still have your eyes.
Visit the Immaculate Temple: It's a really really long way, almost all the way to the Cinnabar district. On a normal day you can get there by afternoon if you leave in the morning...but it's pouring rain and you'd have to pass along some really slick rooftops or go at street level through a couple of rough neighborhoods. The Immaculate monks give out rice to the poor, but they stop at sundown...you'd have to hurry, and even if you did you're not sure you'd make it in time to get any food...and then you'd have to find your way back in the dark.
Something Else: Do you have any other ideas?
Inventory:
It is raining. Hard. Little rivers are running black down the narrow alleys and streets of the Nightside ghetto down below you, and cold rain pours off the tiled roofs. The afternoon sky is grey and dark.
There’s the rumbling again. And a dull pain... It’s not thunder then.
It’s your stomach.
You haven’t had anything to eat since you stole that bowl of swamp rice yesterday morning while Rat distracted the street vendor...just thinking about it makes your stomach ache with longing. Sometimes sleeping helps, but not today. You’re too hungry to sleep, and you were dreaming about hot soup anyway.
You are currently safe and dry, in your nest atop the warm brick roof of the Blackhand Company’s great foundry. You’re under an eave that pours all the water out past the pile of stolen laundry where you sleep, and you’re close enough to one of the foundry’s chimneys that its heat warms your bones and dries your tattered clothes. It’s a little narrow, and you have to be careful not to actually touch the wall north of the corner for very long because it will burn your hands, and you have to be careful not to roll out onto the sloped roof and fall off in your sleep, and when the pouring rain isn’t pounding the Nexus Snow down into the gutters the smoke means you have to hold a rag in your mouth to breathe through…but this spot is yours. None of the other kids know about it, except Rat, who showed you the spot, and he’s too big now to use it himself.
…the climb down is usually easy, but in the rain the bricks are probably going to be slippery. It might be dangerous. But you really, really need to eat.
Do You:
Stay here and try to get back to sleep: You're starving, sure, but you're not stupid. You’re not going to be able to get much food with a broken leg. You’ll wait until the rain stops and climb down when it’s safe. Sure, hunger hurts, but it’s a dull pain. You can wait out the storm.
Go Find Rat: He’s big enough now that he’s been able to join the Sluice gang. He might have some food, or have some job you can do to get some. Of course, the Canal Sluice is going to be even more dangerous in a big rainstorm like this than climbing down the roof…and Rat's been weird since he started hanging with the Sluice gang. He keeps trying to act all tough. He might be super mean to you just to impress his new friends.
Visit Aunt Dwi: She’ll sometimes give you real food-a pork bun or a bowl of noodles. But if she’s got a customer you’ll have to wait, because if you interrupt her while she’s with a client she’ll thrash you…and the last couple of times you went to her for food, she looked at you weird and said you were getting taller, weren't you, and insisted on giving you poppy juice…which was fantastic! But you’ve seen what happens to other kids who spent too much time drinking poppy juice with Aunt Dwi. They end up drinking poppy juice all the time, and working for her brothel, and because they're new they always end up getting the rough customers…
Go to the Nightside Street Market: Traffic will be low because of the rain, which will make it harder to steal anything from any of the stalls…but if nobody’s buying, odds are good some of the food will start to spoil and get thrown away, so there might be some good scavenging.
Head over to the Imperium: It’s a long way to the Nexus District, and the Imperium is patrolled so you’ll have to keep to alleys and rooftops to avoid getting picked up by their mercenaries...but fancy merchants and occasionally even visiting Dragonblooded trade there, and there are a couple of fancy restaurants that serve them, and the bins behind those restaurants often have good pickings. If you’re gonna be going out in the rain to eat garbage, it might as well be really expensive garbage.
Go Fishing: You have string and a couple of fishhooks. It’s raining, and the streets are muddy. You should be able to get a few earthworms, and if you bait your hook right you might be able to catch some pigeons or maybe a raiton…and if you don’t catch anything, well, you can always eat the worms.
Go Begging: It’s raining, and foot traffic is low…but if you beg close to one of the markets, you might be able to get enough coin for a hot meal. The downside is you’ll have to deal with older beggars, some of whom are very territorial. Blind Jin sometimes gives you his spot in exchange for most of your take: he knows you’re younger and cuter than he is. And it’s easier to do puppy dog eyes at people when you still have your eyes.
Visit the Immaculate Temple: It's a really really long way, almost all the way to the Cinnabar district. On a normal day you can get there by afternoon if you leave in the morning...but it's pouring rain and you'd have to pass along some really slick rooftops or go at street level through a couple of rough neighborhoods. The Immaculate monks give out rice to the poor, but they stop at sundown...you'd have to hurry, and even if you did you're not sure you'd make it in time to get any food...and then you'd have to find your way back in the dark.
Something Else: Do you have any other ideas?
Inventory:
- Tattered Rags
- Fishhooks (3)
- Rough twine (1 roll)
- Your Lucky Pebble
- Pile of Stolen Clothes (mostly rags)
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