Work and earning
The ten trades
Take up a trade at a town hall (talk to the town clerk) and rise in it. You can hold up to two trades at once and work them both (the work window switches between them) - and a character holds three professions at most, trades and <a href='#/crafts'>crafts</a> together, never more than two of either: two trades and a craft, or one trade and two crafts. The <b>courier</b>, the <b>coachman</b>, the <b>night watchman</b>, the <a href='#/surgeon'>barber-surgeon</a>, the <a href='#/thieves'>thief</a> and the <a href='#/merchant'>merchant</a> are services, not trades of goods: they never count, so you can work them beside your two trades and your crafts. Crafts are taken at the same clerk - up to four of them, but only two can go past level 3 (each a profession); the others stop at level 3. Leaving a trade (/quitjob) costs half the levels made in it, rounded against you (level 10 drops to 5, level 7 to 4, level 3 to 2, level 2 to 1); your way to the next level is kept in proportion, and if you sign on again later you start from there. The levels are shown before you confirm: the town hall and the work window ask for a second click, and /quitjob says what it costs and waits for /quitjob <trade> confirm. A character found over these limits (from before this rule) leaves their lowest trade at login, on the same terms, and is told which.
| Trade | What | How it works |
|---|---|---|
| Woodcutter | Fell timber in the woods and sell logs at the market | Walk to a woodland - its forester stands there, and F2 shows the way. Draw the woodcutter's axe the clerk gives you, face a tree and swing: each blow that bites fills the ring, and a full ring is a load of timber. Fill your sack, then sell to a market trader. |
| Miner | Dig ore in the Kuttenberg pits - and pray for silver | Ride to a mine - its overseer stands at the pit. Draw the miner's pick the clerk gives you, face the rock and swing: each blow that bites fills the ring, and a full ring is a load. Silver is rare and dear. Sell to a market trader. |
| Herbalist | Pick herbs for the apothecaries | Walk to a herb meadow - the herb-woman is there. Talk to her or pick F2 > Work here: you pick a bundle. Mandrake pays best. Sell to a market trader. |
| Fisher | Fish the ponds and rivers - follow the hotspot | Walk to a fishing spot - an old fisherman keeps it. Talk to him or pick F2 > Work here: you land a catch. Each hour one spot bites twice as well (F2 > Where do the fish bite). Sell to a market trader. |
| Hunter | Track deer and boar in the king's forests - with a licence | Ride to a hunting ground - its huntsman keeps the lodge, and sells the week's licence. Bring down a deer, a boar or a hare with a bow or a blade, then butcher it where it lies (F2 at the lodge, or /butcher). Sell the meat, hides and trophies to a market trader. Wolves pay a bounty. |
| Courier | Carry parcels across the land - the faster your horse, the better | Ask the town clerk for a parcel (talk to him). Ride to the door its sign shows - arriving delivers it. The farther, the better the pay, and a quick ride earns a tip. |
| Coachman | Drive travellers from town to town - a horse or a cart of your own | Go on duty (F2 > Work > The coach service, or /coachduty). A traveller waits at an inn, a stable or a market - on your compass: ride up to them and they climb up; drive them to their town and you are paid by the road, half again in a cart, more for a quick ride. Players may call a coach too: take their call, drive them, then ask the fare (/fare <player> <price>). |
| Night watchman | Walk the town's rounds after dusk with a lantern | After dusk (20:00) ask the town clerk for a lantern (talk to him). Walk to each post of the round as its sign shows. Each post pays as it is walked, the end of the round a bonus; the round is walked at night only. |
| Farmer | Till, sow and harvest the village fields - and sell at the market | Walk to a village field - F2 shows the way. The use key on a free strip tills it (it is yours), on your tilled strip sows the seed from your sack (bought at a market trader), on your crop pulls the weeds or waters it with a bucket from the well, on a ripe one harvests. A crop takes real hours: sow, go about your business, come back. Sell to a market trader. |
| Thief | Work the guild's contracts: lift purses, crack strongboxes - never a player's | Join the thieves' guild at any innkeeper (A word about the guild). Take a contract in the guild's window: a mark to rob from behind with the game's own Rob, or a strongbox to pick with a lockpick (the smiths make them). Bring the prize back to any innkeeper to be paid. Caught, the townsfolk post your notice. |
Beehives
A farmer may keep up to 3 beehives in a yard, 30 groschen each from My yards, placed with the yard's handles like the coop and the sty. Smoke them once a day with a load of hay for all the yard's hives; each tended hive then fills a comb about every 12 hours, 2 at most. Stand by a hive and use it (or its card): each comb gives a beeswax, and every second comb a honey, with the farmer's experience. Beeswax is a new sack good: the carpenter's bench makes the game's candles of it, and the placeable candle and group of candles.
At the town hall
Talk to the town clerk (or open F2 > My town): the Trades & crafts tab of My town shows the trades as cards. Each card opens the trade's own page:
| On a trade's page | |
|---|---|
| How the work goes | The work step by step: where to go, what to do and how it pays. |
| Your level | Your level and rank, and your experience towards the next level (or a note that you have mastered the trade). |
| Its perks | What the trade unlocks, level by level (see Perks of the trades). |
| Its gear | The trade's garment and tool, and what they give (see Profession equipment). |
| Sign on | Free: the clerk writes your name in the town's register. If you worked the trade before, you pick up where you left off. Three professions at most: the trades you work and the crafts you have taken together. |
| Quit | Needs a second click to confirm, and the page shows exactly what you lose: half the levels you made in the trade (the level you have, and the level you drop to), the perks above that level until you climb back, any task under way (a load, a parcel, a round, a fare) unpaid, the trade's gear bonus and its work orders. Any town hall can sign you on again, from the level you kept. |
Ranks and levels
| Level | Rank |
|---|---|
| 1 | Novice |
| 2 - 3 | Apprentice |
| 4 - 5 | Journeyman |
| 6 - 7 | Craftsman |
| 8 - 9 | Master |
| 10 | Grandmaster |
Every task gives experience. Trades paid in coin for each task (courier, coachman, watchman) pay 8% more for every level above the first, on top of their perks. Your progress bar, your rank and your next perk are in F2 > Work > My trade and skills.
A long road
Mastering a trade takes a long time, not an evening: each level needs much more experience than the one before.
| Level | Experience | About |
|---|---|---|
| 2 | 100 | a quarter of an hour |
| 3 | 800 | 2 hours |
| 4 | 2 700 | 7 hours |
| 5 | 6 400 | 15 hours |
| 6 | 12 500 | 30 hours |
| 7 | 21 600 | 55 hours |
| 8 | 34 300 | 85 hours - the masterpiece |
| 9 | 51 200 | 130 hours |
| 10 | 72 900 | some 180 hours at the trade |
The hours assume one trade worked steadily (about 400 experience an hour, whatever the trade). Experience in a trade is kept when you switch, but mastering several trades is the work of a lifetime.