Where do we find these things? I thought an expedition in the Forgotten Quarter, so I’m about to do one of those. Other sources that can be reached without a railroad?
You will need a Laboratory of your own in the University, but not the railroad. You will need to have advanced your Laboratory far enough to get access to the Bone Market, which is not very far.
At the Bone Market, lower your Dreaded to 0 so you can talk to the Pedagogical Grandmother. She will give you Unidentified Thighbones if you ask very nicely. You can research those in your Laboratory. Finding a Jurassic bone requires a Monstrous Anatomy check, but it’s possible to pass it with a skill level of 0.
If like me you are too lazy to leave your lab, the dean will give you an unidentified thigh bone for the price of a bottle of absinth and a Persuasive check (providing you don’t already have one, and don’t have any ambiguous eoliths).
I tend to get my unidentified thigh bones from a little shop in Ealing Gardens, though. They are practically giving them away. But that’s not an option if you haven’t built a railway line to anywhere.
IIRC, the dean actually gives you an unidentified thigh bone before you unlock the bone market. Identifying it is what prompts the dean to direct you to a place where you might find folks interested in those things.
Yes, I think that’s right. Initially he tasks you with identifying a bone. It is once you have completed that task that you have the option to ply him with absinthe and smooth-talking for more.