A Letter, a Key, a Cottage
Your uncle's letter arrived three weeks late — and with it, a brass key wrapped in oilcloth. The trade-road has carried you to his timber-frame cottage at the edge of Greyfen Village.
Late autumn. The harvest will not wait for you.
The Land Behind the Cottage
A few rows of soil to hoe. An orchard the frost has not yet touched. A cellar with empty crates and a market-stall waiting on the cobbled square.
What you raise from this field, the miller will weigh into coin by morning.
Five Neighbours on Your Lane
Greyfen is small. You will know them all by name within a week.
- Tobias the Trader — buys your harvest at the market
- Maude the Fisher — works the lake-nets from dawn
- Gunther the Miner — chisels the eastern quarry
- Eldric the Forester — fells timber in the deep wood
- Old Hilda — keeps the hearth and the village bell
Beyond the Village Pale
The road past Old Hilda's cottage leads further than you can see. Earn the deeds, one by one — the lake, the orchard, the quarry, the deep wood, the ruins on the ridge, the great market beyond.
Each new holding turns a new trade.
The Hearth is Lit
Late-autumn evenings are short. The hearth is lit, the ledger is open on the table, and the bell of the guild-hall has rung for supper.
Welcome home, neighbour.