1-3: Barflies of Sho-Battai
Most of the people you can talk to in Kenshi, and people whose conversations you can overhear, hang out in bars. But it might be more correct to say "dining establishments" because sometimes you can find people on the roofs of bakeries, too. Looking down the street, Jam espies just such a scene.
There's a human and a skeleton sitting at a table with plenty of room for a third, and the human seems like she might want to chat. Jam decides to sit down with them and say hi.
Izumi: Hey, you there! I need employment. I can fix you up, but really I need someone to sponsor my research.
Jam: Sponsor? But you're just a kid.
Izumi: And you're an adult, a stupid one at that. What could you know about deciphering generator core writing, salt distilation, wound purifiers, even building designs? I figured that stuff out at ten, what did you do when you were ten? Don't answer that, just promise to keep me safe and you'll get all the benefits of my work. And my stellar interpersonal skills.
Jam: Okay... and how much 'sponsorship' am I gonna have to pay you?
Izumi: Well, see, I kinda broke some stuff in a shop here...2500 cats covers it.
Jam: Can't help you out kid. Sorry.
Jam doesn't have 2500 Cats, and anyway, they're not in a hurry to team up with someone who talks to them like that. What was Jam doing at ten? They don't even know how old they are. Life in the hive isn't like that! All that stuff Izumi was talking about is for the princes and workers! Jam wouldn't have had the opportunity to do any of that even if they wanted to!
As an aside, I don't really mind rude characters but I've always found Izumi kind of off-putting for another reason. She's supposed to be a “kid” but Kenshi doesn't have child models so she looks just like an adult—a gaunt one at that. It's a strange choice to include a kid genius character given that limitation.
But I digress. I wanna talk about skeletons! Izumi's friend here is a skeleton, as is Harlo over at the bar. They're robots and they're another playable “race”. No one out there these days is making skeletons; the ones alive now have been alive a long, long time. Jam doesn't know much more about skeletons than that, and we can't speak with Izumi's friend, so there isn't anything more we can learn at the moment. Keep skeletons in the back of your mind, though. They'll be coming up.
For now, Jam excuses themself. There's another table here with some folks chatting away, and while there's no room there for Jam to sit, they look like they might be a bit friendlier.
Yuzuki: So I was trading in the hives the other week...
Yuzuki: An' I noticed... that brown stuff them lot build huts out of...
Yuzuki: It ain't stone and it ain't wood neither...
Riddly: Nah, I guess it ain't... Never really thought about it before...
Yuzuki: I mean, why don't we have buildings made of that stuff outside of the hives, eh?
Riddly: Could be the red sand. Maybe if you dig deep enough around Vain...
Yuzuki: I dunno. It don't look like it came out of the ground to me...
Riddly: ... What are you saying?
Yuzuki: Twomoon drank too much rum last week, threw his guts up all over the bar...
Yuzuki: What I'm sayin' is...
Yuzuki: That stuff inside Twomoon, it looked real similar...
Riddly: ... I don't under-... Wait... No...
Yuzuki: Just sayin'.
Riddly: Noooooo...!?
Is that not normal? That is normal to Jam. They had not considered humans would find it upsetting. As they're making a mental note to remember that, the three humans strike up another conversation.
Twigs: Look, I got a souvenir from my trip to the hives last week...
Riddly: You got a Lantern of Radiance? How exotic? What's it do? Let me see!
Twigs: Okay, okay, take a look. But don't touch! Don't want you ruining its juju with your filthy mitts...
Riddly: Ooh, it's so shiny!
Yuzuki: Pah, idiots! That piece o' junk will fall apart within the day...
Yuzuki: The stickmen are nawt but lying scammers.
Twigs: Tch, such a downer...
Riddly: Open your mind, for once in your life. Such a lack of culture in some people...
Twigs: Just... just go sit in the corner, Yuzuki.
Riddly: ...
Riddly: ... Wow, it's so shiny.
Jam can neither confirm nor deny the properties of Lanterns of Radiance. They kinda dig Riddly's vibe, though, so they decide to strike up a conversation with her.
Riddly: A new face. Fancy a drink?
Jam: Don't mind if I do. Who are you?
Riddly: I'm an adventurer. I've been trekking the southwestern outlands for the past six months. Had some bad luck with those damn raiders for the past few weeks though, thought I'd take a break in town. You?
Jam: Same here actually. These lands are a harsh struggle for loners like us.
Riddly: Right. Travelling the outlands alone is pretty much suicide, but it beats hangin' around these crusty old townships. When are you next heading out, maybe we can team up for a while?
Jam: That's a great idea, let's team up!
Riddly: Okay, let me just finish my drink, then we can start planning... Whew, it'll be good to have some company for a change...
Jam: Great! Let's do this!
A friend! It's much less dangerous to travel with a friend. A friend can patch you up when you're bleeding out, carry you to safety when you fall unconscious somewhere dangerous... and of course there's strength in numbers. This is gonna be the start of a beautiful relationship.
Riddly has some fighting skill too, much more than Jam does. She's not about to be taking on groups of enemies by herself or anything but she's got good fundamentals.
I should also note Riddly is a greenlander human (as opposed to scorchlander). Greenlanders look like regular humans, with the spectrum of real world human skin tones. They don't get any skill penalties to anything at all and get bonuses to cooking, farming, and science. Truly the default guy. The character creator blurb for greenlanders is as follows:
Primarily from farmer cultures, they still tend to be an aggressive race and are easily led astray. The worst of them live in ignorance, knowing only greed and fear, reacting to anything different with hatred and violence, but the best of them are some of the greatest civilised scientists, engineers and warriors in the land.
Filled with renewed vigor for adventure after that chat with Riddly, Jam decides to buy a backpack. They head back down to the travel shop.