Do bones have an expiration date?

[Miretar]

Gunther wants bones. The only problem is that the bones from the Jurassic period that I gathered last week are somehow past their sell by date. The same thing for the hard wood I offered Robin.

This concerns me. My current game got off to a slow start friendship wise, but I always save the first bass I catch for Jodi and Kent. This time I held on to that fish for 3 years. Jodi even complimented me on the freshness when the dinner party started. Granted that Jodi is sweet and polite, but I’m certain that if Sam had been asked to clean a fish that had been rotting for 3 years, the dust would not have had time to settle. On the other hand, Kent keeps mailing me bombs, saying that he is thinking of me. Is this a comment about the fish?

I have also been snacking on the same pile of mushrooms for several years, and George has never once complained when I gave him last year’s leeks.

Given that we are dealing with a community of people who can’t be bothered to trim their own weeds and needed the services of a magical bear to clean up the trash, this seems a little unreasonable.

This drop everything and gather it this week is a little unreasonable, especially for bones and prismatic jelly. Why not make these quests open? These are theoretically community quests but we all know who these chores are aimed at. They are literally asking the busiest person in the community to leave all of his or her regular chores standing to indulge a community member’s whim.

 

[PoppyForPenny]

All the special requests that require you to collect, gather, slay, or catch a certain number of items describe the terms on the board and in your quest journal. These tasks are seemingly designed to give players an activity and challenge. You do not have to accept the requests if you are busy with other tasks, and there is no penalty if you don't complete them. The items do not expire, as you know from the 3 year old fish, but for these special requests, the task isn't only to provide the item.

 

[Lew Zealand]

People in the Valley take it easy on you when you're the new Farmer in town. Lewis wants you to be the town networker now so he can spend more time with Marnie, but take your time OK?

You should go rescue Willy's conscience by reusing his old beat up bamboo Fishing Pole so he doesn't have to toss Ol' Bessie out. It's OK, he'll wait. He knows he's got you on the line and can reel you in whenever. Later on he's happy to sell you a nice Fiberglass Rod to replace it but you gotta store that old one somewhere. Your Problem, not his.

Marlon's got this Rusty Sword that even the scrap lot won't take for the tetanus risk. But here, new Farmer, you use this and point the formerly sharp end at those slimy things but I'm gonna charge you when you pass out and someone else in these Mines steals your stuff. But take your time, these Mines and that sword aren't going anywhere. Also I got this giant list of vermin I need you to clear out. No hurry but do it.

That's all a soft sell but really not. You want the spoils of the sea or the earth? Well then, you need these things. Or you just gonna Forage the rest of your life, Farmer? No, the real open-ended motivator is Lewis' palace of indentured servitude. Years ago a younger but still only young-ish Lewis promised a wandering, inept practitioner of the arcane arts (but mostly really parlor tricks) permanent residence "in" Pelican Town if he could bind the local forest spirits to the forgotten, dilapidated old Community Center in an effort to fix it up. The building's mostly made of wood and the spirits like trees which are a whole lot like wood, so it would be a super good home to them. A home that needed renovations which they're now motivated to do. They'll figure it out with their forest magic or whatever.

As usual Lewis' deals were too good to be true as the 'residence' was an old grain silo some farmer years ago hauled out to the edge of the woods to collapse in peace over countless ages into its component molecules, absorbed back into the welcoming arms of the forest soil, recycled to power new life. But no, Lewis had already convinced the local carpenter to hew a crude door and presented it as an opportunity to remake it as his own fixer-upper ...and he could live there tax-free. Mostly because Lewis couldn't figure what this shifty shaman could add to the local economy and he didn't see the point of walking much past the cute new rancher's place.

Razzie the Prestidigitator initially thought the Community Center was going to be his home: good location, good bones, lotsa room, no property taxes. But after Lewis the Duplicitous laid out the whole thing, Raz decided to use his superpowers of relative incompetence (that's what you get from hiring roadside enchanters) and bind the Junimos to the Community Center to let them live there however they want, but give them an out. They could finish a restoration if someone actually cared enough to put the effort into restoring its purpose. Fat chance that happens in Lazy Town.

Heh but that's where the ignorant Farmer comes in. Prove to the Junimos you're interested in the purpose and they'll fix up the rest. But take your time, no hurry. Oh you finished a little thing, here's a li'l reward. Nice reward, eh? Well if you do a bigger thing maybe youze gets a bigger reward, capisce?

Sucker, got you hooked.

These all look like open ended requests but they're always there to poke at your brain and make sure you never feel like you're done. The Help and Message Board requests are merely a formalization of that process with an added due date but they also serve to inform about human caprice.

This week: I want those bones/ore/fish/wood etc. for this display/function/dinner/muskrat lodge.
Next week: I'm onto something else, I barely even remember what I wanted that junk for.

 

[chemster]

Lew, I note that you didn't even get started on the mysterious jerk who I'm trying to forget about, or how Grandpa hid all his <em>useful</em> tools where you'll get them once you no longer need them...

(Edited to add: Just kidding, just kidding, I love you, Grandpa! Never change. And you too, whats-er name)