The Thief in the Hay Loft

Story So Far

The companion sets two cooked fish heads beside Retta on the flat rock and fashions two rough sticks from bark. They eat in steady bites of filet, disc, broth, and greens while the companion's swollen finger throbs. Retta cracks open a fish head with her teeth. Retta states in a flat tone that the tree was hit twice as if testing something. The character eats the remaining flatbread and offers both fish heads to Retta. The character states they have no class, only a nonclass focused on martial arts with the System named System and eyes named Highlight. Retta has the low-tier Builder class that lets her read structures for load-bearing points. Retta asks what the Highlight eyes specifically do. The character crouches at the stream's edge and drinks five mouthfuls of cold clean water. The character explains aloud that a created name was absorbed by the System which began at age eight and is not a class. Retta states that the Builder came to her at twelve without being asked. The character notes that the shoot appears to be a sub-class not yet branched into a main class. The character states a plan to camp two more days to watch the shoot grow then head east regarding a royal outside the capital while gathering healing herbs in a basket to sell for money supplies a horse and better clothes. The character gathers wild grass and weaves a wide-mouthed basket for herb bundles followed by a narrower one for roots. The query for nearest civilization yields the System response Drevport at the eastern river crossing. The character counts four copper coins and tucks them into his pocket. The character whispers the command "Hïghlīght mēdíçīnãl hèrbs" and an amber overlay highlights three plants along the bank. The character cuts one bundle of fever-draw herb and three bundles of staunching herb. The character cuts the stems of the third plant to obtain a Coldwort bundle. The character commands the amber overlay to highlight and expand all apothecary herbs within a mile. Both baskets are heavy with four fever-draw, six staunching, and nine coldwort bundles. Two baskets receive extra coldwort bundles and are fitted with loose grass lids. A third wider basket is woven and filled with additional fever-draw, staunching herb, and three more coldwort bundles. The swollen middle finger shifts from sharp pain to constant dull pressure. The character shoulders all three baskets and releases the Highlight command. The character turns east from the stream, crosses packed earth, and steps onto the East Road. A figure with loose white hair walks barefoot from the waypost along the East Road carrying three heavy baskets. The figure enters Ashfen and must locate an apothecary before being found. The figure carries three stacked baskets through the busy market road and stops before a narrow open door marked by a cord-tied bundle of dried herbs. An older compact woman with ink-stained fingers examines the bundles and prices fever-draw at three copper per bundle, staunching at two, and coldwort at nine. She directs that the bulletin board is on the cooper's outer wall north face. The older woman tallies fourteen fever-draw, eleven staunching, and twenty-two coldwort bundles for forty-two copper. The coins are swept up and added to four already carried, bringing the total to forty-six. The character nods to the older woman and steps out of the apothecary. On Market Road the character stops before the cooper's north-facing notice board. The board displays a lost-and-found notice for a gray mule, a proclamation bearing Lord Edric's seal, and several job postings. Job postings list cellar digging for eight copper a day, a runner to Drevport for five copper, woodcutting for two copper a cord, laundry for two copper a day, and a guard for a southbound merchant cart in four days for twelve copper from Maret at the Broken Antler. The character turns away from the board after stating the job offers too little pay. The character enters the smithy and asks for an axe or sword. The smith places a short sword priced at eighteen copper and a cord-wrapped hatchet-sized axe priced at eleven copper on the counter. The customer counted out eleven coins for the axe and eighteen for the sword, leaving seventeen in his pocket. The customer drew and checked the ripple-folded short sword and cord-wrapped axe, then cut two slits in his trousers to thread and tie the sheath and axe cord in place. The broad man replied that the butcher was three stalls east under a red awning and that the Broken Antler was the place to seek such jobs by asking for whoever was loudest.