You reach the outskirts of Hudson hat city with the taped plastic nest pressed against your chest. Your injured hand stays clamped around it, each shift of the bundle testing the missing finger.
HSH signs crown the roadside: pest removal offices, company housing, supply depots, and bright service vehicles idling beneath security cameras. Even the nearest storm drain bears the HSH logo.
the desk hobb
Every visible route is watched.
The nest's occupants shift together inside the plastic, muffled beneath the tape. You keep moving along the broken verge, small enough for weeds to hide but not for the city to feel empty.
Ahead, a fenced HSH supply yard offers stacked pallets and discarded cardboard. Across the road, a row of company-owned houses leaves narrow shadows beneath their porches.
A white HSH service van turns slowly at the intersection, its roof light dark but its windshield aimed down every side street. The nest grows heavier against your ribs.
✓ Quest Accepted
Escape HSH surveillance
“I talk to the nest through a hand sized hole if it has any fingers that can sew back on as I hide in a bush.”
FAILURE (Poor English conversation, rolled -1)
You duck into a roadside bush, folding your body around the sealed nest. Leaves hide your grey skin from the HSH van while your injured hand works at the tape.
the desk hobb
Do any of you have fingers that can sew mine back on?
You worry a hand-sized opening through the loosened tape and press your mouth close. The occupants stir, but the plastic turns your careful words into muffled scraps.
Taped Nest Occupants
Krrt... sew... fingers... no, no...
Three small shapes crowd the opening together. One reaches toward your claw, then recoils when your poor phrasing leaves the question unclear; none offers a hand or a promise.
the desk hobb
They cannot understand me through the tape.
Their fumbling widens the hole instead of answering you. The tape peels across the bundle, leaving the nest less sealed and the occupants able to push against the opening.
“I talk to the nest through a hand sized hole if it has any fingers that can sew back on as I hide in a bush.”
SUCCESS (Poor English conversation, rolled +1)
The loosened tape catches against your injured hand as you hold the opening wide. It pulls at the raw edge, but the three occupants press close enough to hear you.
the desk hobb
Can any of you sew my finger back on?
Taped Nest Occupants
We have fingers. We have thread. We can sew it, if you give us the finger and a quiet place.
A tiny hand pushes a dark thread spool through the opening, followed by a crooked needle wrapped in cloth. The answer is clear despite the cramped plastic.
the desk hobb
They can repair it, but I do not have the finger here.
The tape tears farther under your grip, scraping the injured hand before you release it. The nest is no longer sealed, and the occupants keep the thread and needle ready inside the opening.
✓ Quest Accepted
Have the missing finger sewn back on
“I try to see if a nearby lump Is a finger”
SUCCESS (Great Perception, rolled +0)
You leave the nest's opening sheltered beneath the bush and scan the dirt beside you. A dark, irregular lump rests among crushed leaves and grit.
the desk hobb
The shape is too small for a stone and too smooth for bark.
You edge closer, lowering your face until the lump fills your view. Dust clings to its ridged surface, and a blunt nail catches the thin daylight.
the desk hobb
It is my finger.
Your injured claw closes carefully around it. The grip is awkward with the missing digit, but you lift the severed finger from the dirt and bring it beside the nest's opening.
Taped Nest Occupants
That is it. Bring it inside. We can sew it back when we are hidden.
The dark thread and crooked needle remain ready beyond the torn plastic. With the finger recovered, the three occupants make room for it and wait beneath the bush.
+ New Item Acquired
severed finger
“I say to sew the finger on”
SUCCESS (Poor English conversation, rolled +3)
the desk hobb
Sew my finger back on.
Taped Nest Occupants
Hold still. We can do that.
The three occupants draw the recovered finger through the torn opening. Thread slips around it while the crooked needle works quickly in the shadowed nest.
the desk hobb
The thread pulls tight through the claw.
Taped Nest Occupants
One more knot. Keep your hand there.
You keep the injured claw steady despite its awkward weakness. The occupants cinch the final knot, tuck the thread, and press the finger firmly into place.
Taped Nest Occupants
Done. It is sewn back on. Give it time, and do not pull at the stitches.
Quest Complete
Have the missing finger sewn back on
Skill Upgrade: English conversation Poor→Mediocre
“I try to see if their is a buff desk hobb to befriend”
SUCCESS (Great Perception, rolled +2)
Keeping low beneath the bush, you search the porch shadows and gaps between company houses. A broad desk hobb, with a frayed red scarf tucked beneath his patched vest, is tucked beneath the nearest porch, watching the HSH road through a curtain of weeds.
the desk hobb
His arms are thick enough to carry a full dust sack.
The adult male hobb has broad shoulders, grey burlap-like skin, and tangled dark hair tied away from his face. A patched brown vest stretches over his heavy frame, and he grips a wooden broom handle like a walking staff.
The Broad Desk Hobb
You are carrying a nest. HSH does not let rescuers keep those for long.
He studies your repaired claw, then shifts farther into the porch shadow, making room beside him without reaching for the nest. His eyes stay on the service road.
Taped Nest Occupants
A friend. A strong friend. Ask him for hiding.
The Broad Desk Hobb
Brindle. If you want a desk hobb ally, you found one. Bring the nest under here, and we will talk quietly.
“I say if you know where their is a place in a city where there is a switch to shut off the neck cyber-chips that keeps every hsh employee alive and every piece of tech.”
FAILURE (Mediocre English conversation, rolled -1)
“I say if you know where their is a place in a city where there is a switch to shut off the neck cyber-chips that keeps every hsh employee alive and every piece of tech.”
FAILURE (Mediocre English conversation, rolled +0)
the desk hobb
Do you know a place in the city with a switch that shuts off HSH workers’ neck chips and their machines?
The question comes out crookedly, but the words about a switch and HSH equipment reach Brindle. His broom handle stops tapping against the porch boards.
The Broad Desk Hobb
A switch for all of it? No. HSH keeps separate power, locks, and chip control. Say that loudly, and they will hear a confession.
Brindle leans toward the road, lowering his voice. His broad hand closes over the broom, while his other hand points beneath the porch toward the distant supply yard.
The Broad Desk Hobb
But the yard has an old maintenance sublevel. Its cabinets hold the maps and shutdown procedures. I know where the service entrance is, not what waits beyond it.
Taped Nest Occupants
Maps first. Quiet entrance. Then find the real switch.
The opening is narrower than the one you asked for, but it is concrete: the HSH supply yard’s service entrance and its maintenance maps offer a route forward.
“I say if you know where their is a place in a city where there is a switch to shut off the neck cyber-chips that keeps every hsh employee alive and every piece of tech.”
FAILURE (Mediocre English conversation, rolled +1)
the desk hobb
Do you know a place in the city with a switch that shuts off the neck chips keeping every HSH employee alive, and all their technology?
The sentence tangles around the porch shadow. Brindle catches the words, but his eyes narrow at the claim that one switch keeps every worker alive and every machine running.
The Broad Desk Hobb
No. Not one switch, and the chips do not keep them alive. They identify workers, track them, and may punish tampering. HSH power is separate.
He taps the broom once, firm enough to end the broad question. Beneath the porch, the nest occupants go quiet and listen through the torn plastic.
The Broad Desk Hobb
But I know a usable cutoff. The supply yard has an old emergency panel that can kill the yard lights, cameras, and vehicle chargers. It will not disable chips.
Taped Nest Occupants
A dark yard is a quiet yard. We can reach the panel and search its maps.
Brindle points toward the fenced yard again, this time at a squat service door beneath the pallets. The universal shutdown is gone, but a concrete first target now waits across the road.