When Winston logged into the game Sunday morning he found himself in a small courtyard outside a long squat building. It was nothing like the keeps courtyard. This one was completely covered in well-maintained cobblestone. A large carriage house with multiple stalls set against one side with the other leading to an open gate that lead out onto a busy street. Winston saw Trollogistics’s rickshaw sitting in one of the stalls with other wagons and carriages lined up in a neat row.

Winston took a moment to listen to the bustle of the city. It was very different from the silence of the keep. Here he could hear the movement of people. The clop of hooves on cobblestone, the cries of hawkers and merchants. He’d love to just spend the day exploring the city but he was on the clock. He had just walked out onto the street when he noticed a message blinking at him from his interface. He had mail.

Winston picked up his feet and headed onward, taking in the scenes around him as he walked. The city seemed to be in the classic european style but it had a bit of extra flair. The architecture held a hint of some other influence but Winston couldn’t really pin down what. He knew jack about architecture, and it might have been something the AI’s that ran the game had just made up. Regardless, the buildings and colors cheered him as he moved through the street. The place where he’d logged in seemed to be in a industrial quarter. The buildings looked mostly utilitarian and he could smell the manure and animal smell from what he imagined was a stockyard a few buildings over.

He finally spotted a mailbox as he made it to the corner. He reached out a paw and touched it. His interface beeped and a massage appeared in front of him.

Hey,

I dumped all of your grain in the auction house under your name so you can get rid of it. Sell it however you want, but you still owe me 300 gold and 5% of the sale. I probably won’t be on until tonight so just put my gold in the bank and under my name. Make sure to log out in my rickshaw if you aren't going to be around so I can take you back.

Trollogistics

Well that was fine but Winston had no idea where the auction house was. So he picked a direction towards the middle of the city and started walking. The buildings of the city become larger and more ornate as he walked West towards to middle of town. Stalls selling vegetables or cooked meat started to appear and soon the air was filled with the smell of coal-smoke, cooking meat, mud, and horse manure. It was strong but not completely unpleasant. He finally found a single town guard and was pointed to a large wooden building with a wide overhang and a sign board with golden scales on it. Winston walked inside. An attractive middle aged woman sat behind a desk near the door. The rest of the building was taken up by curtained alcoves. He nodded to the woman at the desk and headed towards the first one. The alcove was small and held only a chest and a comfortable bench. He sat down on the bench and a screen popped up before him.

Verith Auction House

Region: Brethren Plains

Player: Win Mills

Available Items:

Wheat

Common, Standard

Amount: 20 bu

Winston quickly flipped the auction screens to wheat. There were a few buy orders already open. The most expensive was for 80 gold but was only for 8 bu. He quickly filled it smiling as 544 gold was deposited into his account. The fifteen percent cut was not making him happy but it was something every player had to deal with.The next highest price was 60 gold and 100 bu. That made him scowl. In the capital cities wheat was easily worth three times that. 60 gold was basically robbery. His options were limited at the moment so he had to make due. He sold off another 5 bu, pocketing another 255 gold.

The last 7 bu he put up for 90 gold with a 120 gold buyout and set the auction duration for 1 week. That cost him 20 gold, taking his total down to 779 gold. Now he just needed to find some gear. It was a basic part of the MMO experience and he had nothing.

He brought up the search filters and looked for any item that gave any farming bonuses. There weren't any. Not that it surprised him. Farmers were rare and since there were no gear drops in otherworld that meant that a player would have to make gear with a farming bonus. It could happen accidently but it wasn’t likely he’d find something like that in the auction house way out here in no-man’s land.

Faith was his next best skill. So he switched to bonuses to the faith stat or faith based skills. He got some hits this time. There were a few rings with simple plus to faith, a few symbols of faith for a couple of the more popular gods and goddesses.

“Robes, No. Hats…. Actually have an idea for that, so no. Staff.” Winston muttered as he finally some decent options.

[White Staff]

[Magical, High-Quality, Staff]

[A staff created from white birch and topped with an orb of blessed white marble this staff is used the channel the essence of purity.]

[+10 Faith]

[+15 Wis]

[Effect of faith based healing increased by 20%]

[Cost of faith based healing decreased by 15%]

[Made by: StaffMaster43]

The stat bonuses were pretty good but the skill bonuses were completely useless to him. It was also seven-hundred gold, which was a decent price for a magical rarity item but more than he could afford. Especially for a staff that would help him so little. The raw Faith bonus would give him more faith points but he didn’t really have anything to use them on. A great-sword with bonuses to endurance and strength would be more useful than the staff. He kept searching.

[Gnarled Cherry Staff]

[Rare, Low-Quality, Staff]

[Created from a single branch of a cherry tree and subjected to an experimental shaping process this staff was the result. Although poorly made it still contained powerful magic..]

[+3 Faith]

[+3 End]

[+3 Cord]

[Duration of Blessings Increased by 10%]

[Made by: StaffMaster43]

Well, that was more what he was looking for but it was obviously a failed product. The low quality and bizarre stats must have been because of somed failed process while crafting. At only 100 gold though it was a steal even for a low-quality rare staff. Winston happily purchased it. Then picked up a couple of basic plus endurance and strength rings for another 70 gold. He didn’t see much else here that interested him so he completed the transactions. Then reached into the box in the small alcove and took out his new rings, staff, and gold.Smiling he put them on then opened up his character sheet.

[ Name: Win Mills Level 5]

[ Race: Yawnshu Class: Grove Tender]

[ Attributes Status]

[Str: 20 End: 23(+4)27 Hp: 37/37 Mana: 32/32]

[Con: 19 Agi: 14 Stam:39/39 Panic: 1/10]

[Cord: 22(+3)25 Int: 19 Hunger: 35/100 Thirst: 34/100]

[Wis 23(+2)25 Faith: 23(+5)28 FP:48/48]

[Res: 17 ]

[Guild: Seeds Titles: 1]

[Fame: 5 Friend List: 0/0]

He glanced over it and nodded. Things looked much better now. The only problem was his hunger and thirst values. Now that he thought about it he was hungry. He strolled out into the street and followed his nose to a stand selling meat pies. He was so glad he’d be able to eat something other than stew and bread. The stand was run by an older man with a face gone leathery from sun and wind. He had a scattering of wispy white hair but his hands moved deftly as he made pie-crusts and sat them in the small stone oven he was using.

“Morning sir.” Winston said as he walked up to the stand. “I’ll take a pie if you don’t mind.” The man nodded and pulled a rough wood covering off his stand, uncovering three pies. The smell hit Winston and his stomach grumbled loudly. The man chuckled.

“Heh, sounds like you be needin’ this lad.” He said as he pulled out one of the pies and handed it to Winston. Winston in turn handed him over a gold piece. The older man paused. It was way more than the pie was worth. Winston waved him off when he tried to find change. The man seemed flustered for a moment before he nodded to himself and took out a wooden mug and tapped a small keg he had setting on a table to the side. He filled the mug and handed it over. It was cider and still cool. As soon as Winston tasted it he was in heaven. It was sweet and spiced lightly with something like cinnamon but with a slightly smokier flavor.

[Stamina Regeneration Increased by 2/min]

“This is amazing.” Winston said as he bit off another chunk of the pie and washed it down with the cider.

“Yep, my own recipe. It’s hard to get the apples for it though. Secret is to add in some Ghost-willow bark. Gives it that smoky flavor.” He said happily as he folded the crust on another meat pie.

“I’m trying to grow some apples back at my place. I’ll have to try out your recipe if they come out alright.” Winston said as he stuffed another bite of pie into his face.

“You got an orchard?”

“No, just one tree. We’ll have to see how it does. I’ve never tried fruit before. Mostly grow grain.” Winston explained, making small talk with the old man.

“If it works you should bring the cider to the Harvest festival in a month. It’s a big deal here in the city. People from all the villages come to town to drink and dance. It’s a good time, but they’ve got a bunch of different competitions for the farmers to compete in. Pumpkin growing, cider brewing, ale brewing, pie making, all sorts of stuff.” The old man kept talking as he filled more dough. A line had started to form for his little stall and his hands were moving with the deft surety of experience as he traded meat pie and cider for coins.

“Hey, you know anywhere around here I could get a straw hat made?” Winston asked polished off the last of his pie. The man looked at him oddly.

“You could get that done almost anywhere. I spose thou if your looking for something special you could go see lala. She likes to pretend she’s a milliner, making fancy ladies hats but it aint like there’s any fancy noble’s or merchants around here to sell to. Verith’s a loggin’ and minin’ town. Getting her to make a simple straw hat aint gonna be easy.” The cook grumbled as he finished his latest pie and looked around for another sale.

Winston handed back his mug then brushed off his hands before nodding to the man and heading back off down the street. With his belly full and the cider buff now on him he felt great. He started to whistle as he headed off into town. He had to find himself a hat.

He had to ask for directions twice before he found the hat-shop tucked into an alley next to a magic shop. A signboard hung above the door with Lala’s hats written on the board in a script with so many extra curls and embellishes it was nearly illegible. Winston walked in the door and immediately felt dirty and out of place. Racks of silk and fancy cloth covered display tables while the corners of the room held high quality hats of seemingly endless variety.

The proprietress was behind a large wooden counter and Winston paused when he saw her. She was wearing a lovely red dress but it seemed odd on her rather bulbous frame. It was the first time in his life that he’d ever seen a fat elf. She was obviously a full elf and even had their ethereal beauty. Her face had the haughty disdain of other elves but her rounded belly and large fleshy chest clashed with his mental picture of an elven woman. Elves always seemed a bit too beautiful to Winston as they were portrayed in games and media. They were always too lithe, too beautiful, their perfection was intimidating. This one’s imperfections seemed to make her more real. She wasn’t beautiful by any means but she was something. It was a rather bizarre overall effect and Winston had the feeling this was a rather bizarre NPC.

Winston walked up to the counter and the elf paused when she noticed him. She raised a perfectly plucked eyebrow. “It’s been many generations since even the elves have seen one of the Yaunithal Shuneanifel.”

Winston just blinked at her. She rolled her forest green eyes. “It’s elvish for ‘they who wander’. The true name of your race has been lost to time but the other races shortened the elvish to Yawn Shu, or they just call you the wandering folk. Still, that does not explain what one such is doing in my humble shop.” She said.

“Well, I need someone to make me a hat.” Winston said simply. “I’ve heard your the best in town although I also heard you may not be interested in the commision. See, I need someone to make me a straw hat.”

Her round face reddened in anger. “STRAW! You wish Latherinal Landedin, the greatest milliner in the world to make you a hat of STRAW!?” her already large body seemed to inflate and Winston took a step back away from the enraged she-elf.

“Well, its divine infused straw.” Winston said holding up his hands in a half-placating half defensive manner. “My Goddess blessed this straw and I wish to honor her by having it made into a hat.” Winston lied. “I understand that such things would normally be beneath you but I wanted the best so I came here.” It was obviously flattery and the elf saw through it but it diffused the situation anyway.

The elf frowned at the moleman but didn’t continue yelling so Winston pulled out some of the straw he’d harvested from the divine grain.

[Divine Staw]

[Uncommon, Standard- Quality, Crafting Reagent]

A By Product Harvested from Divine Infused Grain this Straw is infused with the essence of the Goddess Runa.]

The elf leaned forward and examined the straw grimacing slightly. “Well, it’s not a horrible component but if you really want me make a hat for you it’ll cost you.” Winston smiled and pulled out his giant sack of gold.

“Five-hundred.” she said proudly.

“Five Hundred! I could buy a house for that much.” Winston shouted.

“Then go buy a house. You asked for a hat and that’s how much it’ll cost you.” She said. “I’ll create a hat to make kings weep.” Winston was pretty sure he didn’t need a hat to make kings weep. It was basically just starter gear. Even if she make something masterwork it would still only be uncommon rarity.

“Three hundred or I’ll pay a farm wife to do it.” Winston countered.

“Four hundred or you can take your mole behind out of my store.” She said, raising her nose in the air.

Winston shook his head and swiped his wheat off the counter before heading for the door. 400 might be a decent price for a rare item but just uncommon? That was a damn ripoff. He didn’t need his hat that badly.

He’d only made it a few steps when the elf growled. “Three-Fifty or keep walking.” Winston paused then sighed. It was still a rip-off but he wanted his divine straw hat. A straw hat was a perfect farmer item.

He scowled at the elf but handed over the coin and the straw before heading out again. He still had things he needed to do.

“Come back this evening for your hat.” The elf yelled after him.

[Barter Sub-Skill Increased!]

**************************************************

FlameMagnet walked the streets of Verith happily testing his new staff. Although he’d kicked an iron plate when he ran into the silver sword. His guild had been quite happy with the raid other wise. They’d even replaced his staff with a better one than he had before. All his other gear he’d had to re-buy and it wasn’t nearly as good as what he used to have. He would replace it all eventually. That was the good part about Otherworld, Hard word was always rewarded. Even if you just spent years mining. Eventually you’d be able to topple the whole mountain with a single swing.

He stopped at a stall where an old man was selling meat but and happy traded what little coin he had left for a meal. He heard footsteps behind him and his assassin friend handed the old man a few more coins and they soon they were both enjoying the food.They ate in silence for a while before the assassin spoke.

“So what’s the plan boss.” He asked around a mouthful of crunchy pastry crust.

“There isn't one for now. The brass was pretty happy with out little raid but they want us to keep our heads down for a week or so. Our spies in the Swords say they’ll be porting out their goods in two weeks. We’re gonna hit the caravan and they don’t want us to spook them before that.”

“That works. The quests out here are solid and we don’t have to deal with all the bullshit politics around the guildhall.” The assassin said as he crunched into the meat pie. He was a scrawny looking youth who FlameMagnet didn’t think was out of high-school yet, not that it mattered to the mage. He was a good ally and a reliable fighter.

FlameMagnet was just about to answer when he saw a mole-man holding a staff walking down the street a few feet away. FlameMagnet blinked, that was… that was one of the noobs who worked for the swords. That bastard had cost him nearly two hundred dollars worth of gear.

He wasn’t so immature that he didn’t realize the entire situation had been his fault. The game had pretty lax pvp rules if you fought people around your own level but things quickly went bad for you if you were a lot stronger than someone you picked a fight with. Your name would turn red, you couldn’t go into town,you’d have a higher chance of dropping your own gear for a day or so. That however, was only with people around your own level. Attacking a low level player would earn you nothing and the penalties were much harsher.

Even if it had been his fault he wasn’t above a little petty revenge. It was just a game and it wasn’t like the kid would lose a level. If you couldn’t kill some random idiot because he made you mad then it might as well be the real world.

FlameMagnet watched until the mole-man rounded a corner then finished off his meat-pie and headed to the gate. This would be fun.

*******************************************************

The ground whizzed by as Winston sat in the back of Trollogistics’s rickshaw. He’d had spent all day wandering around town and had returned to the elf around sun-set for his new hat. He didn’t find much of what he was looking for but he did find a feed store willing to sell him 30 pounds of bone-meal for his beets. That cost him another 10 gold.

He had so many problems he had to figure out how to solve. Most of those revolved around the fact this location was crap. He was sure his yields would be at least 15-20% higher if he was in a more fertile zone. That was only the simplest of his problems though. He’d already knocked off the top buy-order in the zone and had dropped the price of wheat 25% with a single weekly sale. That was already at a price point nearly 50% lower than the most populous cities. There was no way the markets here could support him.

That left with with 3 basic options. He either needed to find a merchant willing to come here to buy it. Find a way to move the goods to a better market himself, or work something out with the guild. The guild was going to rip him off. That was the whole reason they’d ‘hired’ him. They needed to get grain at a price way below market value. They might pay him 25% of what the capital was charging, which would be about 40 gold a bushel. That was still lower than the auction house here but it wouldn’t be for more than few weeks if he kept dumping all his grain on the market.

That was just the basic grain. Once his vegetables were ready he’d have an ever harder time getting rid of those. They wouldn’t store as well as grains and he was even less likely to find a buyer for any real quantity out here. If he managed to get some really high-grade or rare stuff he’d never be able to sell those.

It might be a better idea just to drop the vegetables for now. Instead he could stockpile as much grain as he could until he had enough to complete the weekly quests every week for three months. Then he could just leave for greener pastures, in both the literal and figurative sense.

He’d only need 275 bushel. He could likely knock that out in a month if he just stayed in the keep and farmed. It was the most pessimistic and logical choice. He was also fairly sure it was the wrong choice. The only reason he’d leveled his farming so quickly was because he hadn’t just ground the skill. There were alot of farming quests here and he was sure he’d reap some rewards if he stuck it out. The orc quest chain he had the most hopes for but the xp from the smaller single quests was still nice.

His eyes flicked over the the halfling next to him. Maybe Troll knew someone? “Hey, you don’t have any connections for portal convoy’s do you?” Winston asked. Trollogistics turned his head and looked at him incredulously.

“Me? I’m just a small time wagoner. Portal merchants are the big shots. Those guys make thousands of IRL dollars every trip. You’ve gotta have a lot of capital or a lot of rich friends to wiggle into those circles.” Trollogistics said.

“That doesn’t make sense. Sure it’s expensive to pop a portal but it’s not THAT expensive. Sure, 10,000 gold is alot but you can spread that over the whole group. Spending 500 or 1000 gold for a slot shouldn’t be out of the question.” Winston said.

“That’s just the material cost and it’s closer to 15,000 now with everyone is a tizzy over the expansion. That’s just the baseline. You’ve still gotta pay the wizard and the portal runes are pretty obscure, so their build is basically crap for anything BUT making portals. They get their pound of flesh as well.” the halfling explained.

“Shouldn’t that make it easier to get in at the low level? You’d think they’d be trying to defer costs. Getting a bunch of lowbie merchants to fork over 1000 gold for a place would be a good way to makeup the overhead of the trip.” Winston argued.

“Well, if you can find them I’ll be more than happy to go along.” Trollogistics muttered darkly.

“I was hoping you’d find them for me. I’ve still for quota’s to fill and school work to finish.” Winston said. He honestly didn’t have time to look after the markets, keep his crops rotating, open up new plots, and try to think of new ways to improve his farming skill. Even if he wanted to forgo sleep he wasn’t eighteen and could only play so many hours a day.

“Even if you can find someone willing to rent you some space then what? You’d be better off just selling to them and making them deal with the logistics problems. Otherwise your going to spend a ton of money. If you could whistle up ten times what you had to sell today it might be cost effective but without that it’ll still likely be better just to let your guild shaft you and not bother with all of it.” Troll explained.

Winston couldn’t really argue. Well, he was still starting out. He’d work hard but until he really screwed up the markets here there was no reason to obsess. Getting his farming skill leveled up was still the most important. An Apprentice level farmer could more than make his way after his masters took the leash off. For now he just needed to keep his head down.

It must have been the universes idea of a joke, because he’d no sooner had the thought when a fire-ball came flying from the side of the road and exploded right next to their cart. The troll panicked and the entire cart slalomed back and forth along the narrow dirt path that passed for a road in Brethen Plains.

Winston spun around to see the two Crimsuns from last weeks fluster cluck standing on the side of the road. One raised a wizard staff and Winston panicked as a ball of fire formed in the air. Winston had little doubt that this one would find its mark. He didn’t have many options but he wasn’t level two anymore either.

His hands seemed to move in slow motion as he reached into his pack and grabbed his new staff. Faith and magic worked on completely different principles in Otherworld. Magic was about imagination, about creating the incredible from the mundane, harnessing the forces of nature to do one's bidding. Faith on the other hand was about will. It was much less flexible than magic but it was more absolute.

What was true for both magic and faith was that new abilities could be created. The game gave you abilities for leveling your class, as well as increasing skill levels but you could just make them. It was hard but desperate times called for desperate measures. With Runa as his goddess healing would likely be out of her power but protection? That might be doable. No, it was doable, he scolded himself. Faith was about belief. He could just think it would work. He had to KNOW it would work.

“Oh Runa! Protect your humble servant!” Winston cried as he raised his staff. Silver light blazed from his eyes and his staff as the fireball flew towards them from the wizard. “Shield Of Faith!” Winston cried and his faith was made manifest. A large silver translucent shield appeared in the air before him.

It was shaped like a kite shield ten feet across with a watchtower of blazing silver light in the center. Winston didn’t try to block the fireball completely. Faith was all well and good but common sense dictated that 30 or 35 levels of power was too much to overcome with a single skill. The shield was at an angle at it shattered the moment the fireball hit it, but it did its job.

The fireball deflected slightly and instead of smashing into the rickshaw it hit the road three feet away. The cart nearly toppled over as the blast-wave hit them and fire raced over one wheel and up-one side of the cart but they were still moving. Trollogistics screamed in terror but then they were past and barreling away from the two players as fast as a juiced up troll could sprint.

[You Have learned a new Skill!]

[Shield of Faith]

[Creates a Shield of pure faith to protect the caster]

[Rank: Novice II]

[Duration: 30 Seconds]

[Cooldown: 5 mins]

[Cost: 30 FP]

[Effect: Creates a Shield of Faith in Front of the user]

[Runa Skill has Ranked up!]

[Rank: Novice V]