Under the cover of night I manage to groom and feed Reynard before I sneak into the tent, falling asleep as soon as my head hits the ground. In my dreams I see Rishi again. She’s standing in a group with Rachel, Tiene, Betha, Yadra and Leona. They seem to be engaged in an animated discussion, hands waving and pointing, until Leona sees me. With a smirk, she gestures towards me, making the others turn facing me. Their eyes wild with rage, they move towards me. I evade their grasping hands, dodging for my life as I run down a long corridor. Alcoves along the walls every five meters hold mirrors, and in each of them one of the women stare back at me. The hallway seems to go on forever as I hear a raven caw. When I turn around to look, there’s a door in my way. I open it carefully, only to find Selene’s hooded figure. She hooks two fingers in her cowl, slowly pulling it back, revealing a shining light.

“It’s time to wake up Tee. You need to see to the fields. The bird was back, but I chased it off for you.”

I blink at the sun behind her. How long did I sleep? And no rested state either. Grumbling under my breath I climb out of the tent. Tiene has already unpacked the wagon and the skeleton of a scarecrow is leaning against the card.

Quest completed: Nightmare Fuel.

“I’ll go check the field.”

A deep rumbling from my stomach makes Tiene stop her work and stare at it.

“Actually, I think I’ll just have a bite to eat first.”

Burnt bread with butter. I guess she was trying for toast. I force it down, deciding to either give her a cooking course or hire someone with the right skills. Afterward I head to the field to check the damage.

Field 1: small (100x100)Current crop: Emgrass (707)Soil quality: Normal (high mineral content)Growing cycle: Mixed (Sprouting (1) 40%/Growing(1) 60%Average health: 75%Estimated Yield: 8.6.Needs: Weeding. Watering.

So slightly more than half the plants from yesterday survived, and most of the ones from the first day. I guess the crows prefer seed to sprout. The yield number is interesting. I guess it means that if I harvested the field right now I’d get 8.6 bushels? No, that doesn’t seem reasonable. Seeds? Maybe. I guess I’ll find out tomorrow.

I spend a few hours evening out the colours, planting the rest of the seeds I have. The average health grows to 85%, making me hopeful for a strong harvest soon. By the time I finish, Tiene comes over with the scarecrow. A flannel shirt, straw hat and linen trousers, all stuffed with dry bushes and debris. This thing is better dressed than I am. As she installs it, I check the field status again, finding a new entry there.

Features: Scarecrow (simple)

I hug Tiene as I thank her. She blushes from the unexpected attention.

“I thought I’d go and explore the area today, see if I can meet some of the neighbours. Maybe they can trade with us for some water so I don’t have to go all the way into the keep every three days.”

She looks thoughtful as she nods.

“What’s up?”

A deep breath.

“I was just hoping you could help me out with the shed today. There’s some heavy lifting and I just don’t have the muscle mass for that kind of job.”

Even if I ignore the hopeful look in her eyes, it is an important job to do.

“That’s a good call. Let’s do it.”

She disengages from the hug, walking away briskly. I grab the tools and follow her.

The shed is much cleaner now. She’s removed all the damaged sections of wall, and most of the roof is gone. I start carrying materials from the cart as she lays it out in the order she needs in. As I work, I check out the shed details.

ShedStructural integrity: 35%Repair progress:- Roof: 0%- Walls(E/S/N/W) 0%/0%/0%/0%

After a few hours working we’d gotten into a good groove. She’d call out what materials she needed, and I’d hand her whatever looked the most like it. As I watched the percentages climb upwards she taught me many new swearwords. By the time the sun started setting we had a reasonable looking shed at 75% integrity and fully repaired walls. There was still some work to do on the roof, but with the darkness it was getting too unsafe to climb around up there. Instead we lit the campfire and started cooking. I’d even gained some skills.

Skill increase: Repair.Skill discovered: Carpentry.Ability discovered: Agility.

“What do you think we should do tomorrow?”

Tiene, lost in thought, looks at me.

“Huh? Oh, I guess I can finish the shed on my own. I’ll try to build some shelving or a chest so we can store some of our stuff, maybe a door to keep the animals out. Maybe I can start on the well.”

I look at the pile of stones.

“I’m not sure if that’s the best use of your time. I mean, I’m sure you can fix it, but then what? The water is toxic.”

She thinks about it for a moment.

“What about the mine? I can make a simple ladder, and we can explore it. Maybe there’s something down there we can use.”

I like that idea better, but it sounds dangerous.

“Do we have any protective gear? I guess we have to search it to determine what’s gone wrong. Let’s put a pin in that idea. I still think we need to go talk to our neighbours and see what’s available in the area.”

She nods slowly as I get the pot of food from the fire. I’d made boiled grains with peas for the evening, seasoned with salt. Not exactly gourmet eating, but it’ll do until we get our feet under us.

After dinner she takes care of Reynard while I clean up campsite. Soon we’re both asleep.

***

I wake up the next morning with a start. There was another dream, with a snake and a… a courgette? Before I could take stock, the dream vanished. The sun is barely up now, but Tiene is already outside humming a tune to herself. I leave the tent to join her.

“I think the scarecrow worked. I can hear the bird, but it’s not in the field for once.”

She smiles wide as we eat the leftovers from last night. I grin back at her. If I’m right, I should have about 800 plants growing, with a decent percentage getting close to harvest time. Before I go check, I update our portal. I add another montage video, this time of me and Tiene fixing the shed. I notice that I’m close to breaking a thousand viewers. Combined with what the other two must be pulling, we’re nearly halfway to what we need for advertising pay the rent. The thought puts a spring in my step as I head to the field.

Field 1: small (100x100)Current crop: Emgrass (783)Soil quality: Normal (high mineral content)Growing cycle: Mixed (Sprouting (1) 10%/Growing(1) 30%/Growing(2) 60%Average health: 86%Estimated Yield: 7736.Needs: Weeding. Watering.

I freeze. Can that be correct? I’ve spent three thousand seed with about 50% success rate. In return I get nearly eight thousand grain back, and that’s before the field is even matured. Makes me wish I’d check how much I need to mill to gain a kilo of flour. As I mind the crops, tenderly nursing the smallest sprouts, I can’t keep the smile off my face. Everything’s coming up Tee.

I finish as the sun crests the sky, letting me know it’s noon already. Walking slowly back to the shed, I can see Tiene standing on the roof, scouting towards the road.

“Tee, somethings coming. Something big!”

I jog to get back to the cart as a massive figure comes walking towards me. Seems like my two days were up. Raising my hand in greeting, I meet him halfway.

“Grimguard. It’s an honour to have you here.”

He nods mechanically.

“TeeCee. Nice farm.”

I gesture towards the shed and pile of rocks.

“My home and castle. You came here just in time, I just checked my plants, and they are coming along beautifully.”

He tilts his head as a servo whirrs.

“Really? How? Ground poison.”

There’s clear surprise in his cavernous voice as he looks past me to the field. I guess he knew what he was sending me to when he volunteered the place.

“Ancient dryad secret. We’re good with soil you see.”

Best not to reveal my secrets too soon. After a moment, he grabs a scroll attached to his chest and hands it to me.

“Orders from Baron.”

Before I have a chance to break the seal, he takes a sack from his shoulder, dropping it on the ground.

“Supplies.”

He turns, apparently about to leave.

“Hey, Grimguard, before you go.”

He stops mid stride, rotating his upper body to face me.

“Uhh, yeah, I just wanted to ask if you could shift that pile of rocks for us. There’s a well underneath, probably, but it would save us a lot of time if…”

He turns the rest of his body towards me, his eyes glowering at me.

“I am not here to serve you.”

He turns again, taking off at a slow jog. Step by step he picks up speed and power. By the time he leaves our line of sight, he’s flying down the road at breakneck speed. On one hand, it’s pretty awesome to watch. He’ll be back at the keep in an hour at that rate. On the other hand, that’s gonna destroy the road. Oh well, it was worth trying. I open the scroll to check what the Baron wants.

Quest Received: The Barons Order.Serf TeeCeeYou have been granted the honour of serving the Baron by supplying a feast. Your contribution will be ten kilos of flour for bread, one crate of vegetables, one kilo of butter and a keg of fine ale. The feast will be held in two weeks.Your lord the Baron Brouswin.Failure: loss of the Greenlily farm.Success: Variable, based on degree of success. Less than 80% is considered a failure.

I’m speechless. This is much more than I’d expected. There’s no way I can get this done with the small plot of land I have. Just the flour will take four days per ten thousand, if I’m lucky. And the rest of the order… I sit down against the cart heavily. Reynard stalks across the field to muzzle me and I lean into his furry face for comfort. After a few minutes, Tiene approaches as well.

“That was quick. Are those the Barons wishes?”

I nod quietly, handing her the scroll. She reads it, wrinkling her brow.

“I think we can do most of this. I mean, you’re doing well on the farming front, right?”

Sighing deeply, I look up at her.

“The field is doing pretty well. The problem is that I don’t know how much grain I need to mill to get enough flour. Not to mention the ale and the vegetables. I’m sure Reynard wouldn’t mind being milked, but I don’t think you can make butter out of what you’d get from him.”

She makes a face at that.

“Don’t be disgusting. Besides, he’s already following me around too much as it is. Look, you pulled farmable soil from toxic wasteland. You’re a hard worker and good at what you do. You just have to buckle down and stop whining.”

I blink at her.

“As far as pep talks go, I’d give that one a five out of ten.”

I stand up.

“But you have a point. Feeling sorry for myself isn’t going to get shit done. When you’re done with the roof, can you start on the ladder you talked about?”

I pick up a piece of coal, then head to the shed. I start drawing rectangles in a line. Crossing out the first three, I turn to her.

“This is where we’re at now.”

I fill in a square six days forward.

“This is when the shopkeeper wants his seventeen gold.”

Her eyes go wide as I fill in a square fourteen days in the future.

“This is D day.”

I straighten my back as I look out across my tiny domain.

“I’m going to go meet our neighbours now. When I get back, we’ll see about exploring the mine. If that doesn’t yield anything useful, we’ll go talk to Leona and see if we can wrangle some extra support from her.”

Holding out my arm, hand flat towards the ground, I look her in the eyes.

“Greenlily, on three.”

She looks confused, so I take her hand and put it on top of mine. I count down slowly, showing her the motion, and finally, she gets it.

“Greenlily!”

She beams at me as she runs off to continue working, and I feel like an ass for getting her hopes up like this.

Skill increased: Leadership.