You Wake Up In A Bar

Put a scoop of undying liver in the perfume soup to try and filter out any human unfriendly components.

Trying to mimic myeth's art style for this one:

SpoilerShow

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this character is so blessed i love them

A lizard who will literally die when they get separated with the book they're born with.
A snake who sleeps and disappears on people's heads, eating their dreams.
An eternally melacholic hound with blood that's naturally saturated with depressants.

You begin to cut up the mango, extracting parts that aren't too burnt. The molasses component is no longer particularly noticeable, but you've wasted some molasses anyhow-- no matter. It's time to start plating your dish.

However, first things first. Gotta make yourself clear to Nadezhda.















She lets out a huff, glares at you, and starts trying to drink as quickly as possible. It's not the taste in particular she's desperate for, but that fuel of sweet, sweet caffeine.


















You set the plate down, grinning, along with a fork for her to work with.
















Morning has passed. The time is now afternoon, which will tend to be longer and slightly more difficult than the morning. You are given a several-turn break between segments of time to recover.

You have gained a bartending level. You may now pick up to two skills. Any that you do not pick will be available again next time you level up, as well as new skills.

Intrusive: Introduction cards will show a bio for a given character.

Intuitive: Introduction cards will show somebody's ingredient preferences.

Copier: You can now use the Unshaken to replicate a drink you've previously made, once per day.

Cannoneer: You can now pop the top off the Unshaken at will, releasing whatever reaction is inside.

Scribe: You gain information about any ingredient at will, thrice per day.

Scavenger: You gain a cup and plate every day, when you choose.

Drunken Faster: You can wash 1 dish per turn instantly while drunk.

Drunken Master: Your attacks deal incredible damage while drunk.

Cup status: 4 occupied, 1 dirty (Stax's Fruit Battery)
Plate status: 1 occupied (Laren's TQoaBT), 2 free

You have gained some more information in The Cabinet by making Laren breakfast.

Place your 2 votes on which skills to give Drinkmaster Greene. First and second place will be the skills gained.

Author's NoteShow

Thanks for all the fantastic suggestions, y'all! Already making plans to use the lot of 'em soon, but for now: enjoy a break to recover and chat with patrons.

scavenger for sure. intuitive sounds useful, but creatively constraining — intrusive sounds much more fun

also tell terry and stax that they can settle it like adults over a game of pool or karaoke or they can get the hell out

Intuitive and scavenger. just because we know what they might prefer doesn't mean we need to make them something using Just That. Or that at ALL. and just because they like certain ingredients doesn't mean said ingredients are necessarily part of any given cocktail they want. Or that we'll nessesarily HAVE any of the ingredients that they'll like. OR that the ingredients they like will necessarily go well together.

Clean Stax's Dirty Glass, Make an effort to clean the stove.

Also, we do have to give Stax Credit; He did do a magnificent job with the eggs.
Also ask if Stax and Terry really must argue, they not do it here. The Starwood Bough is a place for Peace, tranquility and Bar-Fare of Dubious but hopefully improving quality.

(and as for not knowing our friend's name, well. I, Lordlyhour, have Shared Houses with people for multiple consecutive months before learning their name. I suggest we tell our customers that our friend is just really cagey (which is true) and doesn't like to tell people their name (also true) and in any case, if someone gave ME a buisness out of the blue, I'd definitely consider them a friend. The Artifact of Power (don't mention this) and Bringing me into exitstance (don't mention this either) are just cherries on top)

Intrusive, if not that scavenger.

I believe one can glean the patrons preferences through a quick foray into their past, but if not that, there should be more cups and plates at this establishment.

Speaking of cups and plates. I believe washing some may be a beneficial course of action.

Intrusive. Making shit up on the fly is too much fun to get Intuitive. Also Scavenger would probably be good too

Intrusive, Copier.

(Copier is broken OP, so we definitely need to have it.)

I think it's worth knowing peoples' ingredient preferences, so we should get Intuitive soon. Don't think it's actually at odds with making stuff up. Kind of the opposite, actually.

Intuitive and Scavenger
Knowing the customers likes/dislikes should lead to better drinks.
And we need more cups. Badly.
(Or worse if we want to do that. I don't know why we would, but its an option.)

Would like to get copier, but that can wait until we get a repeat customer.

Copier is nice since we can use it to get extras of rare ingredients like the unicorn tears.
Intrusive might be nice too.

Also Cannoneer and Drunken Master are foreboding by their existence.

Oh and unless too many people at the same time want a plate, we can compensate for our lack of plates and glasses by having someone wash them for us. We could even send someone to buy more plates and glasses with our earned money as a favor. So I don't think we should get scavenger.


If Laren doesn't want the soup we can eat it ourselves. It's gonna be a long day and green's gonna need energy.

>Intrusive n' scavenger!!

They seem alot cooler sounding imo

You have picked the skills Scavenger and Intrusive. You may now find a plate and cup at any point today, and any future introduction cards will include a bio.

Terry glares at Stax. Stax looks back in amusement.

The rest of the bar seems uncomfortable. This is your chance to intervene! While you're washing Stax's dirty cup, of course.

















Terry has sped out of the bar without paying, leaving track marks on the wooden floor.




















The cup's finished washing, after some intense work with a sponge. You've still got some time before afternoon begins.

Cup status: 3 occupied, 1 dirty (Terry's Water from the Past), 1 free
Plate status: 1 occupied (Laren's TQoaBT), 2 free

don't bother washing water from the past

Yeah, all he basically did was look at it, right?

Charge them their undying loyalty. That's the price for drinking here.

> Ask how much coffee and tea usually cost then charge them that.

> How about they get us those cups they said they could get us and call it a deal.

Laren is eyeing Stax with some low contempt-- or at least the strongest she can manage. The way things went earlier clearly aren't sitting well with her.

You just empty out Terry's cup and call it a day. The ice cubes rattle loudly against your sink before drifting towards the drain, destined to meet a melted grave. There's still a few flakes of chowm in the glass, but you decide it's menial, and set things back under the counter, ready to be used for drinks.

Gotta get payment from the bug pair. They sit anxiously-- Voronezh trying to hide his urgency, and Nadezhda making no effort.






























Grumbling to herself, Nad fumbles through various forms of currency in one of her pockets, before finally extracting a smaller pouch full of what sounds like glass coins. She counts out four, and points out that each one is actually worth five tokens.



You are fucking rolling in it.








Nadezhda and Voronezh have left the bar moderately satisfied with their service after paying you.

Stax has not cleared out from behind the bar. He seems to be sticking around, at least for now.

Laren doesn't seem to be moving.

You hear a pair of vehicles pull up to the side of the bar. By next turn, afternoon will begin, and with it, a range of new patrons.

You've got a little time left before then.

Cup status: 1 occupied (Laren's Sweet Tooth), 2 dirty (Chocolate Bug Yuenyeungs), 2 free
Plate status: 1 occupied (Laren's TQoaBT), 2 free
Scavenger ability: Not yet activated (1 use)

Author's NotesShow

Auuuugh.

I'm sorry for not updating. I'm sorry for being sorry about not updating. I really meant to update yesterday ASAP especially considering it wasn't a particularly compelling prompt and I should really be getting a move on with the story. It just becomes an anxiety loop about not doing it and then feeling terrible and unable to do it. I know it's no excuse, but hopefully it makes enough sense to y'all.

dishes. let stax stay if he likes.

>Activate Scavenger AND clean another cup. Just to be safe.

>Ask Laren and Stax what's the latest news around... where are you, some kind of small town? What's the town called? Do we already know? How big even is F-Rock?

re: Author's note:

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It totally makes sense. I've abandoned so many adventures after the first or second update for that reason. You're already doing so much better than I've ever done, in quantity and quality.

If it makes you feel any better, most people probably haven't even noticed your "delays" or "hiatuses"; you're still updating at a pretty rapid pace compared to some, and missing a few days is nothing to be ashamed of.

Turn on the radio, see if you can find some jazz or something. Some Bill Evans would do wonders for the atmosphere.

>Activate Scavenger AND clean another cup. Just to be safe.

>Ask Laren and Stax what's the latest news around... where are you, some kind of small town? What's the town called? Do we already know? How big even is F-Rock?

Bam, secondin'

SpoilerShow

yoo, take your time kilozombie, its aight!! I havent updated my adventure in like a month, so youre doing wonderfully compared to my lazy ass :P

You search under the counter for some sort of radio station. To your amazement, you find a music-playing apparatus-- which seems to favor just... human music? Of all things? You were hoping for some more varied tunes, but some human jazz starts to appeal to you, once you hear it for the first time.

While it'll take the rest of your turn to finish, you decide to start washing one of the bugs' dirty cups. Though Vor had a little bit of residue, Nad nearly licked hers clean-- and so you start there, attempting to get it done before the new arrivals get inside.
























Cup washed. Well done. You're hearing footsteps outside, so this timing seems perfect.

As you're stepping across the counter to place the cup somewhere it can be accessed, however, your foot bumps up against something on the floor-- a cup and a plate, just... sitting there. The whole time.

You have used your Scavenger skill.

A couple of patrons finally enter. What appears in front of you is something akin to a large walrus with a tall-as-hell hat-- and a very fuzzy, furry squid, with deeply emotional eyes.







The music seems to be going over well. Laren's enjoying it noticeably, while Stax hasn't quite made any indication as to his opinion.

Cup status: 1 occupied (Laren's Sweet Tooth), 1 dirty (Chocolate Bug Yuenyeung), 4 free
Plate status: 1 occupied (Laren's TQoaBT), 3 free
Scavenger ability: Activated (0 uses)

>Give the walrus some chowm, gin and chloral hydrate.
>Since the squid is having the opposite, and the walrus's cup is full, give the squid an empty cup. Turn it upside down, too. (Or... inside out?)

>But greet them and ask their names, too.

>Tell the walrus she's allowed to propose a toast, Callahan's style. But don't let her smash the glass.

Maybe by opposite, the squid wants none alcoholic drinks. Probably hangin with walrus so she dont drunkenly roll into a ravine once she leaves the bar

>Give the walrus a round o' XTREME MARINE, a popular drink for most rowdy marine life based species which is pretty much nearly 97% alcohol. Fun for the whole family

>Squiddy gets the less exciting sister brand, the AQUATIC CLASSIC, not a drop of alcohol in sight, but it does have a mean sprinkle of chowm.

oh and what seawyrm said, say wussup and ask for their names!!