Maya found the shop just as Shary had described, a two-story building with a rusty twisted staff for a sign, reading simply ‘Harold’s’. She knocked hesitantly at the door, unsure of local etiquette.

Was it a ‘come right in’ kind of shop, a ‘by appointment only’ kind of shop, or something else?

Before she could worry for long, the door opened and Harold stuck his bearded face out. He looked as generically 'this guy is a wizard' as Shary had looked generically 'this woman is a market stall owner'. His robes were a shade somewhere between white and grubby tan, the polished wood staff in his hand designed similarly to the sign. She was surprised to see he had no pointed hat on his head.

"May I help you? Are you lost?" His voice was deep and somewhere between gruff and weary.

"Yes, I hope you can help me, and no, I don't believe I'm lost. I'm looking for Harold the mage? I take it that's you?"

"I, yes. That is I. But I don't think I can help you much with that paltry amount of magic. What is it, one dram? Two at most. I'll need more than that by a lot if I'm to teach you anything worth knowing."

Maya self-consciously brushed at the droplets of magic still clinging to her. A little too hard. One of them burst into mist, drifting away and vanishing. "Oh no, I know that. I don't need to learn spells right now, I just want to know what you have available and how much magic I would need to bring for each of them. I'll definitely be wanting a lot of spells in the future. I know I can't afford any right now, but I'd like to know what's available."

Harold shrugged and pushed the door open. "In that case, come on in. The list is on the far wall. I also have various items and objects which may be of help to a young mage," he looked over her skeptically, taking in the basic tunic and pants she wore. "You are a mage, I guess? Most I see come with at least a robe, or staff, something. You look like a peasant."

"There’s no need to be rude about it. But I would like to find something a little bit higher level than basic starting gear."

"Wardrobe is over there."

He gestured vaguely, but it wasn’t difficult for Maya to find. The wardrobe was a large two-doored affair, ornate but tasteful, with doors that opened easily and silently on well-maintained hinges.

Inside was a collection of wizard robes, mage tunics, dresses fit for a sorceress, and even an entire shelf full of pointed hats.

She doubted she'd find anything very interesting back there, but she wasn't the sort to go into a magic shop for the first time and not look at everything! She ignored the faint note of doubt and continued her search.

There were a few oddities in the mix as well. A tiara with a price tag of eight gold. A set of black leather armor, so dark she almost couldn't make it out from the shadows of the wardrobe.

At the very back, nestled between two black witch hats, she almost overlooked a small white orb with three blue dots on it, some ugly decoration of no import. She very nearly glanced past it, but the shoddy paint job reminded her startlingly of her Tricksters Orb. She picked it up to check the price, but it didn't have a tag.

"Excuse me, how much for this?"

"Oh, that old thing? Got it from a crazy fortuneteller who was closing up shop. Could never get it to do anything. I've just been using it for decoration. If you really want it, ten copper?"

"I only have five. I don't suppose you could part with it for any less?"

The wizard snorted in a very undignified manner. "If you want it that badly it must be worth much more. How about twenty copper, and I'll set it aside for you until you come up with the rest."

"I don't think anyone else is going to buy it," Maya started, but then she remembered that her luck was currently at -5. If it was enough to make ordinarily cowardly enemies attack her, it was probably enough to make some random townsperson decide that she just had to have a decorative orb which may or may not secretly be a conduit to a deity.

20 copper, with that potential, didn't sound so bad after all. Maya changed direction mid-sentence.

"But I'll take it. 20 copper, and I can pay five right now."

"The little ball is yours then," said the old man. "Just be sure to come back for it before this time next month. I have a 30-day hold policy."

"Sounds entirely reasonable to me," Maya said, handing him the glass ball and all her recently-earned copper.

He set it aside behind his counter, and she watched as he wrote her name on a small piece of paper. "Anything else I can help you with today?"

"I'm still looking around. I let you know if I have any questions."

Maya continued perusing the shop's contents, longingly examining the stat details of the wizard robes. The cheapest of them was 10 silver, but they all gave boosts to base attributes. The solid black armor increased agility to 100. If that wasn't something misplaced by an assassin or thief, she didn't know what it could be. But at 100 gold, it was so far outside her price range as to be inconceivable. She didn't even particularly want it, it was just the first [Unique] item that she'd seen.

There was some very impressive [Rare] equipment as well, clearly intended for higher-level (and significantly richer) mages. But most of the shop's contents were skewed heavily towards players of level 2-10. Which would be perfect for her, as soon as she got her hands on some money.

Once she finished admiring all the clothing she couldn't afford, she wandered over to the other side of the shop. There was a bookshelf full of arcane tomes, and on the wall beside it hung a framed parchment. The names of spells, the magical requirements, and the costs to learn them were all printed in neat artificial handwriting.

Wind Whisper - 10 drams magic - 25 silver

Frost Bolt - 16 drams magic - 50 silver

Stone Ward - 36 drams magic - 2 gold, 80 silver

Flame Hand - 36 drams magic - 4 gold, 50 silver

Magestrike - 70 drams magic - 35 gold

Heart of Magma - 100 drams magic - 50 gold

Chill of the Depths - 100 drams magic - 50 gold

Storm Grasp - 100 drams magic - 50 gold

Maya whistled softly. Mage was an expensive profession. She may be better off choosing something else, but instead of inciting discouragment the list only excited her. This was what was available in the entry zone! She couldn’t even guess what awesome spells she could get later on once she moved out of the starting city.

She returned to Harold's counter. "There's a lot here that I would like to buy, but I can't afford any of it at present. Do you happen to know where I can find paying work?"

"Aye, of course. There are job boards at the city gates. There’s one by each entrance, can't miss ‘em."

"Is there anything you need?"

"Aside from magic?" he asked wryly. "Neh. It would be a grand thing if this magic famine were to end, and I wouldn't be so bereft of customers, but something tells me it will be many months before anyone can do a thing about that. When the powerful come into conflict, the rest of us stay out of the way."

Maya nodded. After nearly dying in her unfortunate run-in with a handful of unarmed children, she certainly had no intention of directly going up against the top players anytime soon. She'd have to find subtler ways to wrest some magic away from their control, at least enough for her to learn a few more spells. No way she’d give up on learning magic now.

“Mind if I look through your books?”

Harold waved his hand in permission, so Maya returned to the shelf of arcane tomes. Most were well outside her price range, but she persevered. She finally found a beginners’ tome, An Introduction to the Arcane. She flipped through it, but the diagrams and equations were beyond her understanding. And even as the cheapest magic book there, it still cost 8 silver. She slid it back onto its shelf.

“Have anything about world history?”

“Not I, no. You should check the Library of the Lost. It’s the little shop on eighth street, blue door. Tell Enna I sent you, if she gives you any trouble.”

“Thank you. I’ll definitely check it out once I have some money to spend.”

With one last longing glance at the list of spells, Maya waved farewell to Harold and set out.

The map from Shary the produce seller had enough detail to guide her to the city's east gate, since that was the direction of Shary's orchard. As Harold had described, just inside the gate was a huge billboard, plastered against the wall where anyone walking by could read it.

There were two columns. One was a list of quests, most of which glowed white, some silver, a few gold, and several at the bottom were gray. Beside it was a list which confused her at first, until she realized it was a leaderboard. The only information listed were players' name, species, and level.

250 names, hers at the very bottom. At the top was Shardlord, Felinis, Level 52. Directly beneath him was Domitius, vampire, level 52. Below them were several level 49's, then fewer down through 48-40, a lot at 39, and so on down the list. The vast majority of players seem to be in the 20s, with a bare handful at 10 or lower.

Below Maya was a line separating active players from historical players. None of these were higher than level 41, but the list went on and on. The board shifted as she looked down or up it, scrolling through at her glance.

She didn't recognize any other names on the leaderboard. Apart from the two at the top, nothing really stood out to her. She returned her attention to the quest board. There were three quests in gold, to clear high-level dungeons she’d never heard of and absolutely wouldn’t be attempting any time soon.

Below the high-level dungeons were lower-level ones printed in silver, recommended for players leveled 15 to 20. Maya skipped over those well. Also in silver for mid-level players were a wide variety of quests which she imagined were similar to her recent overturned apple cart adventure.

Help Jeremy the librarian.

Assist the visiting Duchess.

Talk to Lord Kesselwent and offer your assistance.

As those were all listed for medium level players as well, she skipped on further down the list. Almost at the bottom, she started reading the quests in gray.

Join Dazzlemurg the Hunter in her search for unicorns.

Investigate the mysterious abandoned shed.

Collect five goblin spears.

Bring 2 drams of magic to Wizard Harold.

Construct a new dam by Windy Creek.

Help clear the wreckage of the old Windy Creek Dam.

Help construct a new bridge over Windy Creek.

Apparently Windy Creek had flooded or something, as it had a lot of quests right now. And they were all low level. None of the quests on the board had rewards listed, but Maya assumed since they were gray the rewards had to be pretty minimal. Hopefully, that would mean other players wouldn't be in a rush to claim them.

Someone almost knocked her over, rushing past. She didn't even have time to shout 'hey' before the offending player slammed open a nearby tower door and charged up the steps without a pause. A moment later, every quest on the board below the eighth position shifted up as one of the midtier quests disappeared from the list. She couldn't remember what it had been, but found herself suddenly thankful that she was so under leveled.

The player charged past again a moment later, running around her as though she were a static obstacle to be avoided. He rushed out through the open gate and within seconds had disappeared from sight into the surrounding countryside.

She didn't know his name, his level, couldn't have said anything about him except that he was wearing red and brown.

She sighed, watching him sprint off into the distance. Her advantage may also be her downfall. After all, while there was no one to compete with her, there was also no one to team up with her. For now, she had enough hit points to play tank, assuming she found a way to do enough damage.

Skill at throwing knives was all well and good, but she didn't actually have any knives. And as she'd learned in her apple fight, improvising didn't necessarily translate to victory. So for the moment, any quest requiring combat was out. Looked like she was going to Windy Creek to do some building.

The city guard was happy to help her out, a friendly watchman gladly sketched a few notes on her map to show general directions to Windy Creek. It was about an hour's walk from town, a bit to the east and a bit to the south. Not too far away from Shary's Apple Farm, so still within the area shown by her map. The creek itself wasn't marked, as it was a fairly minor body of water of little concern to anyone but locals, but apparently there was a decent sized village in its vicinity and, as she'd guessed, there had been substantial damage in a recent flood.

The guard wished her well and she set out. At first she walked, but walking quickly became boring as the minutes stretched on, and she found herself jogging, then running. She still wore out very quickly, but soon mastered the trick of half running half jogging, moving quickly enough to make progress but slowly enough that her stamina could keep up. She could run for about a minute, or jog for nearly six before having to slow to a walk until the stamina recovered.

She kept hoping she could earn skill in things by doing them, but her stamina never increased and she didn't earn any running, jogging, or similar skill.

Eventually she arrived at the village of Windy Creek, a scattered collection of houses and dirt paths. The town's namesake currently flowed right down what she imagined used to be main street until the flood, a meandering stream of water amid a sea of mud, not in any way a pleasant first impression.

A somewhat rotund sprite came waddling out to meet her, waving his arms to catch her attention. He was the first sprite Maya had seen in-game, and she hadn't expected them to be quite that short.

"Hello hello, good stranger! Might I trouble you to stop and help for a few hours? Alas, our town is in grave need of hasty action, and we here are insufficient to provide it in a timely fashion!" His voice was deep, while still seeming somehow light. "I can pay well for your services," he added hopefully.

Maya nodded. "I'd heard that you were hit pretty badly by the flood. I'm here to do whatever you need me to. I can use the work and you could use the help. Sounds perfect to me."

"Excellent, excellent. Right this way then. We're currently working on getting the bridge up, then we'll need to clear away the rubble of the old dam so we can put the new one in. We asked for help from Panaroth to the north, but they currently have their own problems and won't be able to come this week. Without the dam in place, there's no water getting to the mill run, and without the mill there will be no flour, and with no flour . . . well we're basically doomed!"

"I doubt it's as bad as that," Maya said, laughing. "Surely one little flood isn't really enough to really doom your whole village. Don't worry, I'm sure we can set this right in no time."

Character Maya Starborn Average Androgynous Harpy Level: 2 Affinities: Magical Physical Tier: 1 Class: Trickster Specialization: Path of Life Total Base Items Modifiers Sturdiness: 8 8 0 0 Momentum: 12 9 0 3 Agility: 9 8 0 1 Control: 8 8 0 0 Attunement: 10 9 0 1 Focus: 9 8 0 1 Intelligence: 11 9 0 2 Flexibility: 9 8 0 1 Luck: -5 0 - -5 Unassigned: 0 Health: 88 of 88 Will: 18 of 18 Stamina: 56 of 56 Energy: 56 of 60 Speed: 82% Switch penalty: -52%, 10.2 secs Stealth: 78% Chain bonus: +4% Awareness: 66% Cooldown: 95.5% Max abilities: 3 Abilities Abilities: [3 of 3] Wind Whisper

[5 energy] Blow into cupped hands, then push the air toward the target.

Creates a light breeze, a quick gust, or a damaging slash.

[Overcharge: +5 energy, +0.2 sec cast time, +50% force/duration/dmg] 2.2 sec

5 dmg

(wind) Throw Knife

[5 stamina] Throw a knife at a target with high accuracy. Requires a knife. 1.1 sec

n/a dmg

(physical) Sense Balance Discern if an area is lacking in or has an excess of any materials, creatures, etc. Equipment & Inventory Item Name Slot Stu Mom Agi Con Att Foc Int Flx Newcomer's Tunic Body Newcomer's Leggings Legs Trickster's Mask (Mage) Special Money: Quality Item name Details Soulbound Trickster's Dice Soulbound Trickster's Orb 4/5 uses remaining Flimsy Shary's Orchard Brochure Normal Apple x2 Consumable Missions Mission Description

Time Reward Damaged Dam Construct a new dam to redirect Windy Creek to the mill run. N/A Unknown Windy Creek Cleanup Clear the wreckage of the old Windy Creek Dam. N/A Unknown Building Bridges Complete construction of the new Windy Creek bridge. N/A Unknown Trickster Day 1 Side with a person who is losing an argument or disagreement. 13h 34m Trickster's Reward

??? Missing Delivery Find the overdue delivery boy. Ensure his safety and the successful delivery of apples to Shary's Produce Stand. DONE 5 copper

3 apples

+10 reputation with Shary and Elaph