Up To His Neck

Quest · Chapter 1 · New Camp

Route

  • The Rice Lord asks you to find his missing foreman Bran. Start with Jeremiah, then question Malon and Rayk; Bran drank at the tavern and Malon saw him near the pond cave outside camp.
  • The trail leads to Silas and the basement. Expect trouble from Jacko's group if you walk in unprepared.
  • Report Bran's fate to the Rice Lord after you find him.

Quest Parts

  • Up To His Neck:
  • I should look for Bran.:
  • I should confront Silas.:
  • I can report back to the Rice Lord.:

Outcome

Solving the disappearance advances the Rice Lord and bandit reputation work.

A foreman missing from the rice fields

Bran is not an anonymous laborer. He is the Rice Lord's foreman, one of the people who keeps the fields and the workers organized. When he disappears for several days, the absence threatens more than Hakon's peace of mind: the rice operation depends on someone who knows where the work is failing and who is supposed to answer for it.

The first clues are ordinary and imperfect. Jeremiah remembers Bran as a regular at the tavern and sends the hero to Malon and Rayk. Malon places him near the pond cave, while Rayk's familiarity with drink and the camp's night traffic makes him another reluctant witness. The investigation grows from fragments gathered from people who have no reason to volunteer anything.

A trail through debt and danger

The search leads to Silas and a basement connected to Jacko's group. Walking in carelessly turns the investigation into an ambush, because the men there see a stranger as an easy source of ore before they see a person asking questions. Silas initially denies knowing anything, but the pressure of the truth eventually points toward the lake.

Bran appears to have tried to get through the water while attempting to enter the hidden place and became trapped. The discovery is less a mystery of grand betrayal than a warning about desperation: a man with debts and nowhere safe to ask for help took a route that killed him.

A loss felt across the camp

When the Rice Lord learns what happened, his anger is joined by regret. He believes Bran should have come to him, because Hakon could have dealt with the debt. The foreman's death therefore exposes a weakness in the camp's social order: even someone close to its leader may choose a dangerous secret over asking for mercy.

Reporting Bran's fate advances the hero's standing with the Rice Lord and Lares, but the more lasting consequence is knowledge of how easily the New Camp loses people. The rice fields may look like a source of independence, yet the workers remain vulnerable to debt, violence, and the hidden economies around the pond.

Related entries