Quests and Tasks

I've been giving a little thought to Tasks, which are simplified versions of Quests.

I view a quest as something epic in proportion (FMOCR), while tasks are something much smaller in scale.  For example an NPC could say "I'm looking to collect 5 pinches of catsbane" or "I am collecting different types of fish."  These types of goal do not require an army of exiles to achieve and, depending on the task, could be performed by an individual in a short amount of time.  I envision tasks as repeatable and open-ended, so when one chains a butterfly corpse to the butterfly collector, then one will be able to repeat this task as often as one wishes.

When I come out of the library, I'm looking for is something to do.  I hope that tasks will be a fun activity to perform while waiting for a real hunt to begin.