Right, off to collect that bounty, then.

The Apathetic Secretary raises an eyebrow when he sees a blood-soaked teenager entering the office carrying a Doberman-sized rat. "I see you've done some hunting," he comments, reaching into his desk and pulling out a fat and clinking purse.

"Sure have!"

Does he hand in the rat or what? He is new to this business, and also to all other businesses.

The Secretary raises a hand when the rat comes closer than five feet. "There's a chute in the wall, just drop it in and somebody'll be along to clean the skeleton shortly. Did you find a brood at its lair?"

"Not that I saw but I wasn't looking too closely."

He dumps the rat down the chute and goes to get the purse.

"Well, somebody'll be along to clear it out anyroad. We don't want a returning rat. -you might want to spend some of that rostygold on getting some attention for that wound, it's not like to kill you but it could fester."

He glances down at his shoulder and shrugs agreeably. It doesn't look worth worrying about to him, but then, how would he know? He can go find someone to look at it, sure.

He leaves 200 rostygold richer.

If he'd like to see a doctor, there's something of a medical district just to the west of the Department. If he'd rather do something else, that's certainly also an option.

If doctors are the first thing he sees he'll try doctors.

The first doctor he goes to, a Suspicious-Looking Physician, will fix the wound for five rostygold. He doesn't look particularly reputable, but he does swear he's the quickest and the cheapest in the district.

"No anaesthetic, though," he grunts. "Nobody trusts me to etherize them, and after a while I stopped keeping it around."

Well that's a heartening endorsement of this fellow's skill, isn't it. Whatever.

He's quick, and his stitches are neat, and he douses the area with some form of alcohol afterwards, which burns like a motherfucker but which the doctor promises will help keep disease at bay.

The stitches aren't so bad, but for just a moment when the pain of the alcohol first hits there's a surge of anger in the back of his mind and things almost go very badly for the doctor.

But he did ask for this - pay for it, even - and it would be stupid to stab someone who just helped him, so he just shakes his head slightly and thanks the man and goes home to the Widow's place. Finding his way around is getting easier pretty fast.

The Widow isn't home at the moment, but that's why he's got the spare key.

All in all, a pretty successful second day of his life!

What will tomorrow bring?

That's all up to him!

Well, mostly up to him. The Widow is in her sitting room when he wakes up, and upon seeing his bloodstained clothing she gasps. "Oh, dearie, that's no good at all! You could give someone an awful fright, walking down the street covered in blood. Why don't you take one of the old suits from the closet and I'll launder what you're wearing?"

He glances down at himself, then smiles at her. "Sure, all right. Thank you."

"Oh, it's no trouble. Just leave it on the bed and I'll have it cleaned up shortly."

He can do that!

And then, in a very good mood because the Softhearted Widow is a nice person and he likes her, he stops by the Singing Mandrake for a meat pie; and, reminded by the establishment's name, wanders back to the Scarred Naturalist's place to ask after mandrake-related protective gear.

"I'll need twenty-five Primordial Shrieks and a hat," the Scarred Naturalist says. "Shrieks aren't as loud as the name would imply, but they've got the right tone to dull mandrake screams and they permeate cloth well."

"Any suggestions on where to look for those?"

"The University has stockpiles of them - but, of course, you're not a student, and I'm no longer a professor, and to appropriate them anyway would be stealing. Ahem. You can buy them from Nikolas Pawnbrokers, in the Bazaar."

He laughs. "Thanks!"

So, about those stockpiles, then...

The University is slightly to the west of city center. Its gates are open, as they always are. There's a campus map behind glass set into the ground just past the gates, which indicate that the reception office is in such-and-such a location and the Department of Chiropteronomy is in thus-and-such location and the Department of Skouximology is right over here. Regrettably, it does not have "here is where you can steal Primordial Shrieks" clearly marked, as such.

The University is honestly also just kind of pretty, and he gets distracted from his quest and ends up wandering around admiring the architecture for an hour before he refocuses and heads over to Skouximology because it seems like a relevant field.