We arrive at our parcel of land just as the sun starts to set. We’d made good time at first, but soon enough the dodgy wheel popped off once again, forcing us to repair it. At least Tiene was in a better state so she could do the fixes. Good thing too, as the road to the Greenlily plot was barely more than a trail of dirt.

Located on a slightly lower level than the surrounding area, I could see most of the plot from the top of the path. An old shack stands a few hundred meters from the border, with a heap of stones nearby. Dead or dying bushes cover most of what I guess is the field. All of the plants I can see are a sickly brownish gray. Even with my limited farming knowledge I can tell it’s not a healthy state. In the southeast part of the plot is the edge of a forest that stretches far across my border, giving me access to wood. The only thing we’re missing is water.

By the time we reach the border the sun is down, and Paraton shines his light down on us. The moment I cross the invisible boundary, my interface lights up. My farming interface has become active, and a new icon is visible in the corner.

You have arrived at a parcel of land where you have the right of control. Do you wish to claim the Greenlily plot?

I let Tiene take over steering the wagon while I accept the prompt, checking out my new interfaces.

Greenlily plot.Buildings: ???Resources: ???Production: ???Population: 1

Hm. Not a lot of information available for the plot. What about my farming interface?

Farmer level: 1Criteria for next level:- Plant common crop (not met).- Harvest planted crop (not met).- Primary skill level 3: (met).

No available fields for planting.

I guess we’ll have to explore more in the morning. Tiene stops the cart by the old shack, a dilapidated wooden construction barely standing. Tiene starts setting up the tent as I groom and feed Reynard.

Skill increased: Animal handling./tds]

Lying in our bedrolls, we share a small meal to stave off the worst of our hunger, in an attempt to ration our food a bit. We lie in silence listening to the sounds of the night, insects and smaller mammals, an owl and something larger snuffling through the woods. I drift off to sleep wondering what Rishi and Mika are up to.

***

I wake up with a start as the sun is starting to come up. I’d had a dream about the day we lost Rachel. I’d kept failing my heals and getting out of position making it impossible for Mika to keep the aggro contained. At the end, Rachel had been hit, screaming as she died.

Tiene stirs in her bedroll, turning in her bedroll before grunting and falling back asleep. I carefully get out of the tent to start breakfast. Outside I find Reynard trying to chomp on one of the containers of his feed, so I take care of him first. I put him on a long leash so he can roam a little on his own. When Tiene finally gets out of the tent, there’s a simple porridge and a dark, bitter coffee to wake us up properly.

“I did not sleep well last night, Tee. It was somehow worse than sleeping in the cart. I think our first priority should be to fix up the shed so we can have a proper place to sleep.”

It’s hard to take her seriously when she hasn’t wrangled her hair. Long, blond hair in strange angles showing no sign of ever giving up.

“Do we have the resources for that though? I mean, we have the forest over there, but I don’t think we brought a saw, just the axe.”

She suppresses a yawn as she points to the forest.

“I can see what needs doing. In the best case it just needs a clean and a few nails. Worst case, we’ll have to make a new cabin out of logs. Not hard, but time consuming with just the two of us. In any case I can go back to town and resupply when we know what we need.”

I point at the pile of stones nearby.

“What do you think that used to be?”

She looks over with a thoughtful expression.

“I’d guess that used to be a well. Maybe we’ll find fresh water if we restore it.”

Clearing up the leftovers to store them for later, I move closer to the pile.

“I used to have a dowsing rod. That bastard captain Tubbins stole it from me the first night I was in this world.”

She snorts at me.

“Yeah, I heard about that. It would be a useful item to have right now. No matter, let’s get to work.”

I have a look at the broken down shed with Tiene, to see what needs doing.

[tds]Building discovered: Shed.Structural integrity: 40%

Checking the interface, the building count has increased. Selecting it, I get a new list containing the buildings available. Neat.

“This isn’t as bad as I thought. I have to reset the door and patch some of the walls. The spiders will have to go, but the frame is solid. I just need to patch the roof. I can do that with material from the tent, until we get what we need from town.”

I look at the tent. It would be nice to sleep indoors, even if it is a mangled shed.

“Go ahead with that, and I’ll have a walk around the property to see if there’s anything else interesting.”

She grunts something from inside the shed as I walk away. I have a look at the plot interface, focusing on the population tab.

Population: 1- Tiene Candrid (working)

Selecting her entry, I get a small status screen.

Tiene CandridRelationship: Admiration./tds][tds]Current activity: Cleaning shed.

Not exactly groundbreaking information, but I guess it’ll be good for when I have more people working the land. I head to the pile of stones to check a hunch.

Building discovered: ???

I call for Tiene to come over and look at the pile of rocks. She’s not happy about the interruption, but she hurries toward me. She looks at the pile, moving a few rocks around, and looks at me like I’m an idiot.

“It’s a destroyed well. It’d take a massive effort to restore it. Try not to fall in.”

In a huff she goes back to the shed as I check the plot interface.

Buildings: 2- Shed.- Well (destroyed).

Well (destroyed)- Structural integrity: 0.

So since her skill is higher than mine when it comes to repair and buildings, she gets more knowledge from inspecting them. What she learns updates the plot interface. Or maybe it’s a profession thing. I never did check what profession she has.

I look towards the shed in time to see her throwing some broken planks out the window. Maybe I’ll ask her later instead. If I’m right, though, the field should give me some confirmation.

The field itself is approximately 500 by 500 meters, with an island in the middle. My skill tells me the island is there to make sure that nature has a place in the field. Birds, insects and mice all have a role to play on a farm. I have to fight my way through the bushes to get to the edge, finding a distinct line separating the field from the rest of the farm. I kneel to look closer at the dirt, and get an update.

Field discovered: medium sized (390x580).Current crop: Fallow.Soil quality: poison (???).

I stand up, dropping the dirt. Poison? I look at the plants surrounding me. It’s all dead or dying vegetation. It doesn’t seem to be affecting me though, or the forest nearby. I head to the highest spot nearby, the island in the field. The vegetation here is still alive, but dying. There are trees, bushes and a dead beehive. From the vantage point, I can see the edges of my land, the forest and the shed. I notice a trend in the colouring, like an aura of death rippling out from a point near one of the boundaries, between the field and the forest. I head towards it. I either figure this out, or I’m dead in the water before I’ve even started.

Skill increased: Perception./tds][tds]Skill discovered: Field Perception.

Huh, another Perception subskill.

As I get closer to the centre of the blight, there’s a clear change in the soil colour, and the stench of decay starts to fill the area. In the very middle, next to the boundary, is a hole in the ground. It looks old and abandoned, with trails of dark matter growing from the edges. As I get closer, I recognise it as a form of fungus.

Miners Sludge- Common.- Known effects: ???.- Base chance of cultivation: 0.5%

Resource discovered: Old Mine.

I look down the hole, careful not to fall in. It looks to be a ten metre drop to a pile of dirt and broken planks. I gather a sample of the fungus and head back to the camp. Interrupting Tiene again, I call her over.

“I think we’ve been had. The ground is poisoned, there seems to be an old mine over there. This stuff was growing out of it.”

She gives me the stinkeye before checking out the sample, gasping in surprise.

“Tee, that’s bad. Whatever they used to dig out of the ground over there has fed this stuff. With every rain, the slag from the mines has drained poison into the groundwater, killing all the plants. It’s probably what killed the people who used to farm here too.”

I groan, putting my fists on my temples. After a moment I look at her with hope.

“Do you know how to deal with this kind of thing?”

She looks thoughtful for a moment.

“Yes and no. If the groundwater has been poisoned, we’d need to cleanse it somehow. We’d need a power druid or water mage to do that. But first we’d have to stop the cause of the poisoning, which means finding the slag pit and removing it. And even after that, we’d have to get rid of the fungus somehow.”

New Farm tasks available:- Cleanse the groundwater.- Remove the slag.- Kill the fungus.

I lie down on the ground, staring up at the sky.

“So we’re boned. The Baron will send someone soon to get his tithe, and we’ll be sitting here with our hands down our trousers living off the forest and…”

I sit up.

“Why is the forest still vibrant?”

She looks towards it.

“I don’t know. It should use the same groundwater as this farm.”

I get up, a vague sense of hope blossoming in my heart.

“I’m going to check it out. There has to be something in there we can use.”

I mean, the developers wouldn’t let the game fuck us this thoroughly without giving us a chance, right?

Tiene follows me to the forest, clearly worried about my mental state. The trees here are healthy, with no sign of the blight affecting all the other vegetation. Even the underbrush seems strong and vital.

Resource discovered: Forest.You have trespassed into the domain of a Dryad female.

I look at Tiene with a confused expression.

“You know I’m half dryad, right?”

She nods.

“Apparently this forest is the domain of a full blooded one, a female.”

Her eyes go wide and she turns to run. She almost gets to the edge of the forest before roots shoot out of the ground, entangling her feet and arresting her movement. A throat clearing behind me makes me turn around to see the true ruler of the area. Standing at five foot two, her short stature does nothing to hide the vicious power emanating from her green eyes. Dressed in leaves and bark matching the forest around her, her long hair intertwined with fresh leaves. With a flick of her hand, the roots slam Tiene to the ground, slowly covering her up, her whimpers growing softer under the cover of nature. The dryad comes closer to me, showing me her sharp teeth as she speaks.

“As an offering, she’s not terrible, but it would take much more for me to take a halfblood like you for a mate.”