Hearsay arrives from the handler, from street talk in bazaars and bars, from a faction's own contact or recruiter, from radio traffic and from a contact the player has made. Choose the source that fits the scene. A market stall sells local colour, a faction contact sells a job, and a contact sells something the player could not otherwise learn.
Customs Shed Nine (Kolkhida Port). Hearsay: two crews are shooting at each other over a shipment in Customs Shed Nine, and nobody will say whose cargo it is. Truth: the cargo is a lot of unlocked, unregistered rifles. The Board's customs office, a Desperado crew and a Vanta-linked shipper each claim it, and the Dzmoba wants a cut. The player can seize it, escort it, sell the manifest or see who buys. The customs ledger in the Registration Hall lists the original buyer. Partly true. Levels 1 to 3. If ignored, the cargo reaches the black market in Old Town within a day.
The Standing Offer (Palace Row). Hearsay: Vanta is paying capable soldiers to take part in a treatment, and the ones who finish it do not talk much afterward. Truth: recruitment for the upload runs through the Registry House. Candidates are vetted for skill, and the staff do not know what the treatment does. The player can pose as a candidate, follow recruits or speak to a rejected soldier who remembers too much. True. Levels 2 to 4. If ignored, more good soldiers disappear from the city's barracks and bars.
The Soldier Who Forgot His Name (Pskhu Heights). Hearsay: a woman in the tower blocks says her husband came back from a Vanta contract with his own face and none of the man. Truth: he took the treatment and now remembers neither her nor himself. He stands at the window at night and walks out. Following him leads to a Vanta pickup point. True. Levels 2 to 4. If ignored, Vanta collects him and the trail ends.
The Summit (Orbeliani District). Hearsay: World Marshal is hosting a summit at its liaison office on stabilisation, local infrastructure security and modernised law enforcement, and it wants extra guns on the doors. Truth: the summit is a stage for the corporation's charismatic public figure. A Desperado team plans a staged attack that will make World Marshal look indispensable. Varga is in the building meeting three different buyers. Partly true. Levels 3 to 5. If ignored, the attack succeeds and World Marshal's standing rises.
The Georgian Delegation (Orbeliani District). Hearsay: officials from Georgia are meeting the Licensing Board and need an escort between the border and the district. Truth: they are discussing a legal return of the Zone to Georgia, and Maverick is stretched too thin to cover every move. Every faction would like to know what they decide. True. Levels 2 to 4. If ignored, the delegation uses a poorer escort and is ambushed.
The Covered Passage (Old Town). Hearsay: an arms dealer in the covered passage, with a monkey on his shoulder, says he will pay for the right kind of trouble. Truth: Drebin 893 sells to everyone and wants a consignment moved or retrieved. His stall is neutral ground and a source of unusual equipment. True. Levels 1 to 4. If ignored, a rival buys the consignment.
The Quiet Inspectors (Orbeliani District). Hearsay: someone is asking about forged licences, paying cash and leaving no names. Truth: it is Meryl Silverburgh's semi-secret unit, hiring outside help because the Chairwoman's office cannot be trusted. A paper trail leads from forged licences to a World Marshal subsidiary and a Vanta supplier. True. Levels 3 to 5. If ignored, the evidence vanishes from the registry.
The Exchange (Leselidze Street). Hearsay: World Marshal and Desperado are swapping prisoners and cargo on Leselidze Street, and they want a neutral party to witness it. Truth: the exchanges are staged. The prisoners and cargo come from the same depot, and the trucks on both kerbs share a maintenance crew. A careful witness notices. Partly true. Levels 3 to 5. If ignored, the exchanges continue and nobody notices.
Freight Without Papers (South Embankment). Hearsay: cargo that avoids Kolkhida Port moves from ship to rail on the embankment, and a crew needs guards. Truth: Dzmoba crews run the transfer between Vanta's western end and the Pskhu Heights militias. The freight is cybernetic parts bound for the Works, and Novaya Khvatka keeps a small office there that forwards armour from the Works into the city. The player can guard, hijack or sell the schedule. True. Levels 2 to 4. If ignored, the shipment leaves under a rival's guard.
Below the Spire (the Harbor Spire). Hearsay: the tower is empty, but trucks drive into its base at night and do not come out. Truth: the base hides the entrance to Vanta's underground complex. The player can watch it, bribe a driver or infiltrate it. Most of what lies below is guarded by the SPARTOI Unit. True. Levels 5 and up. If ignored, the trucks keep running.
The Short Way Across (Dioskuria Central). Hearsay: a courier needs someone to take a parcel across Dioskuria Central, because the long way around costs two days. Truth: the front line runs through it, fire teams cross daily, snipers cover the junctions, and a few residents who refused to leave live on the lower floors. A parcel is the least of what can be found there. True. Levels 2 to 4. If ignored, the courier hires someone worse.
Naus Argeia. Hearsay: the grounded warship at the river mouth is still full of working equipment, and people have stopped coming back from it. Truth: salvage crews and a private research team work its decks, and the Outer Heaven Movement holds the wreck and tolerates them. Otacon's first request sends a party there for a hard drive of Patriot information. True. Levels 1 to 3. If ignored, the research team strips the hull and the drive is lost.
Introductions (the Margins and the Stilts). Hearsay: the people of the delta guide strangers through the channels for a fee, but only with an introduction. Truth: the Dzmoba knows every route that avoids the checkpoints, and its floating markets trade arms, fuel and fish. It distrusts outsiders but takes money from the right ones. True. Levels 1 to 3. If ignored, no change.
The Scouts Who Did Not Return (the Reed Sea). Hearsay: a PMC sent a scouting team into the reed channels and none of them came out. Truth: the team entered without a guide and became lost. The company wants them found without admitting it. A Dzmoba guide can find them. Partly true. Levels 2 to 4. If ignored, the company sends a larger force and the Dzmoba responds.
The Peacekeepers (the Phasis Delta). Hearsay: soldiers in mismatched uniforms patrol the marsh roads, feed refugees and say they are keeping the peace. Truth: they are the Outer Heaven Movement. They recruit contractors for work they describe only as important, and they believe Vanta holds the mind of Big Boss. Partly true. Levels 2 to 4. If ignored, they find other help.
Walkers After Dark (the Gekko Graveyard). Hearsay: somebody is towing the old walkers out of the graveyard at night. Truth: Novaya Khvatka's recovery section tows selected hulls to its encampment at Obyekt Kolkhida to be stripped, rebuilt and returned to service, and Dzmoba crews watch from the rim and cannot stop it. The player can sabotage the tows, steal a hull, sell the crews out or follow a hull to the gate. True. Levels 3 to 5. If ignored, the rebuilt units join the battalion.
The Gate (Obyekt Kolkhida). Hearsay: a Russian company has fenced off the old machine plant in the north-west of the Works, and the liaison at its gate pays freelancers on time and asks few questions. Truth: Novaya Khvatka hires outsiders for tasks its own people cannot be seen doing, such as scouting a rival's perimeter, moving cargo or salvage. It is after information about AENEAS and does not say so. Partly true. Levels 3 to 5. If ignored, it hires someone else and learns what it wanted anyway.
The Dock Schedule (the NanoSys Complex). Hearsay: the old nanomachine plant releases crates from its loading dock at fixed times, and every group nearby watches the schedule. Truth: the complex is still producing, held by no one, with automated defences that engage anyone inside the fences. The crates are valuable and every crew wants them. True. Levels 4 and up. If ignored, a faction organises a raid and secures the crates.
Tsitel-Samosiani (the Rioni Valley Works). Hearsay: soldiers who went into the mines and mills say they met something called Tsitel-Samosiani and that it cannot be killed. Truth: Chico moves through that country and wants to be left alone. The hearsay is accurate in the particulars and unhelpful in everything else. Levels 5 and up. If ignored, the stories spread among the companies.
Armed Trains (the Rail Yards). Hearsay: armed trains still run from the yards to the port and need escorts. Truth: the Dzmoba holds the yards, and its labour crews cut wagons in walled compounds, and the trains carry ore and parts. Ambushes on the line are common. True. Levels 2 to 4. If ignored, a train is lost.
The Brotherhood's Volunteers (the Rail Yards). Hearsay: the Brotherhood is signing up locals who want to take the city back, and it pays outside hands for particular jobs. Truth: the bosses of several mafias run the movement and use the volunteers' anger and goodwill to protect their own rackets. The player can run errands, escort cargo or look into who actually gives the orders. Partly true. Levels 1 to 3. If ignored, the volunteers keep being used and the bosses grow bolder.