Day 12 Prompt: Loss
Week 3 Prompt: Associates
Weekday Prompt: Full of Woe
Because I liked the more humorous post of T.A.C.T. that I presented on Day 11, I’m going to keep going with the humorous entries. For Day 12 of the RPGaDAY 2026 Challenge the prompt is Loss. Well, loss and lost are close enough in my book and I was able to get some creative juices flowing with the later. (evil grin)
Basio Quill’s daily routine observed on 14th Day of the King Year 5279:
6:00 Unlocks door to Lost Property Office in the Secondary Southwest Government Annex for the City of Xarta. While the door is only hanging by one hinge, as per regulations, the door must be unlocked during business hours.
6:05 Checks for any incoming messages. Sends another message to the maintenance department that the door has not been repaired in 1,706 years and forty-five days since the initial request was submitted.
6:10 Waters the office plant. Checks growth rate. Notes that plant has not grown since it died after the city fell into ruin and everyone fled.
6:20 Review Overnight Claims. One explorer lost his hat. A cursed dagger was lost by a cultist. Three adventurers report “something important” is missing.
6:45 Dust Reference Shelves. Since office is currently buried in a partially collapsed building, dust returns immediately.
7:30 Morning Tea (Oil). Tea is terrible. Tea has always been terrible since the supplier has become unreliable since the fall of the empire.
8:00 Process Forms 12-B through 447-V. No one has requested these forms for centuries, but still one must be prepared.
9:00 Files Complaints. Recent examples include: Traps insufficiently marked. Mummies hostile. Map misleadingly accurate. Snakes are larger than expected.
10:00 Answers Questions from Adventurers. Standard responses already prepared for common questions like ‘Why is the city cursed?’, ‘Where is the treasure?’, ‘Why is the floor shaking?’.
11:00 Lunch Break. Since Basio doesn’t eat, he just sits there for an hour in silence. It’s tradition.
12:00 Update Missing Person’s Register. Several entries updated from ‘Missing’ to ‘Regrettably Found’.
13:00 Catalog Artifacts. Categories Include: Valuable, Dangerous, Extremely Dangerous, Should Not Have Been Touched and Returned to Professor Wainwright.
14:00 Checks on City’s Lost Prophecies Shelf. The shelf is nearly full. Prophecies are far more common than their authors would have us believe.
15:00 Processes Retirement Paperwork. Application Status: Pending. Reason: Supervisor unavailable.
16:00 Polishes Nameplate and Tidies Desk. Nameplate reads ‘Basilio Quill: Senior Assistant Deputy Registrar of Lost Property, Third Class’. He was hoping to make Second Class, but the city collapsed before his promotion interview.
17:00 Closes Office. Locks door. Places key in designated drawer. The designated drawer was lost during an earthquake. Basilio records this fact in the appropriate ledger.
When the city fell nearly 2,000 years ago, everyone fled, the city was buried, the kingdom collapsed, the government ceased to exist, and the gods abandoned the region. Basilio Quill remained because of Municipal Regulation 14-B “No keeper of records may abandon his post while property remains unclaimed. According to his ledger, seven unresolved claims were still present. While civilization was gone, the paper remained valid, so Basilo stayed at his post. Because of the spell of employment (or programming) Basil is now an undead skeleton/broken autonomation in spectacles and tattered attire as he dutifully staffs the Lost and Found Office.
If any adventurers find him, he will be disturbed if any questions are asked as the inappropriate time. If they state that they are there to find a lost item, he will ask them to take a number and eventually asking for proof of ownership or a claim ticket. Basilo’s responses should be laced with boredom from bureaucracy and the sarcasm needed to survive a mundane office job. He is completely polite, completely helpful and completely defeated by bureaucracy. He would react to any horrifying adventurer behavior the way a stuffy librarian reacts to someone disturbing the quiet of the library.
Common Answers:
“Welcome to the Lost Property Office. Please take a number.”
“We’re the only people here.”
“Then I recommend Number One.”
“How long have you been dead?”
“That information is available upon submission of Form 38-C.”
“Do you have Form 38-C?”
“No. It was lost.”
“You’re alive!”
“That matter remains legally ambiguous.”
“Who are you?”
“Basilio Quill, Senior Assistant Deputy Registrar of Lost Property, Third Class.”
“And what do you do?”
“Mostly wait.”
“We’ve come for the Ruby Eye of Karak-Zul.”
“Excellent. Do you have your claim ticket?”
“It’s a legendary artifact.”
“So is a hat, if enough time passes.”
“Someone stole our map.”
“Then your complaint would belong with the law enforcement division-theft.”
“Where is Theft?”
“Stolen.”
“You get a lot of explorers down here?”
“Unfortunately.”
“What usually happens to adventurers?”
“Would you prefer the statistical summary or the pie chart?”
“Has anyone ever escaped the city?”
“Many.”
“Successfully?”
“Ah.”
“This city is cursed.”
“Everything is cursed.”
“Everything?”
“The stapler is particularly dangerous.”
“You keep records of everything?”
“Everything.”
“Everything?”
“On page 847, an explorer reported losing confidence in 431 A.E.”
“Did he ever find it?”
“No.”
“We’re missing our guide.”
“Description?”
“Short. Nervous. Kept warning us to go home.”
“I have eighty-seven entries matching that description.”
“One of my associates disappeared.”
“Voluntarily or adventurously?”
“What’s the difference?”
“The paperwork.”
“How did the city die?”
“Budget cuts.”
“This prophecy says we are the chosen ones.”
“Congratulations.”
“You don’t seem impressed.”
“That is the fifteenth chosen party this month.”
“Why don’t you leave?”
“Retirement requires authorization.”
“From whom?”
“My supervisor.”
“Where is he?”
“Missing.”
“What’s the strangest thing anyone ever lost?”
Basilio adjusts his spectacles and consults a ledger.
“According to the records, an adventurer named Percival Smythe misplaced an entire civilization.”
“How does that happen?”
“The notes simply state, ‘It was here yesterday.'”
This system agnostic RPG post could work in a variety of genres. For something like Star Trek Adventures or Frontier Space, the party could find a run-down robot/android still following his programming. For pulp adventures like Everyday Heroes and Amazing Adventures or a fantasy setting like Castles and Crusades or Basic Fantasy, Basilio would be some form of minor undead/litch cursed to keep working after he has passed away. Probably by a spell put on all employees to keep them working during turbulent times. Perhaps breaking the spell will allow Basilio to find the peace that he has lost.
Did I make you smile? Perhaps even giggle? This article is open for discussion on the TardisCaptain dot Com Discord server. You can also email me at Carl (at) TardisCaptain.com or click on my social media links with any comments.