Gathering Resources

First step was to look professional enough, if possible. As you were, most people would justifiably think you were planning to lure them into a trap and kill them, expressly if you asked them alone.

You only had a little while before they arrived.

Your cave was in the side of the cliff the town of Highbreeze was built on, without a path to it. In fact, the cliff was mostly downwards, making you wonder just how the heck all those Players found you! The idea that some Player tracked you there and telling others because they were bored was not unthinkable.

Creeping out of your cave, you went to the one spot you had never gone to during the day after you found it long ago; a small hole hidden behind a small bush that somehow managed to cling on.

Going there you used your dagger to make sure there was nothing waiting to bite you and reached in to the ledge just a bit higher than the opening . . . . and found it empty!

Damn deities! That was your emergency cache! Not even the adventurers ever found it, no matter how often they killed you and trashed your place for loot.

Climbing up to the town proper you slipped in via a cave like tunnel that led to a warehouse by the edge of town. It had once been a smuggler’s route, but they were no more.

Hmm, your stash of basic goods there were gone as well.

Going to the town you kept to the back alleys and streets. A poor looking person around merchants always gets blamed for anything they even imagine happening, or if they want to embezzle the take from their boss.

Going around you locate a few things you could use that were being tossed out. A sack torn near the top, which you fixed with a broken boot strap. A worn out mop with its handle broken halfway up. Useful in its own way as both sides of the break were sharp. It was with a bucket that had a leak in it, but that could be used as a basket. The top half of a broken bottle and a rag made a bar-room dagger. A broken crate would be useful not just for the wood, but the nails. A 2ft length of steel pipe was best. Worth money for the metal, but a very good weapon.

Looking through another spot behind a butcher’s shop and some rats came out to attack you. You sweep them to the side with the pipe and killed them. Sadly these were not the large or even giant ones, just your normal rats and thus level 0, granting no XP. They did provide meat, fangs and pelts.

The rubbish provided animal bones.

A poor haul at a glance, but more useful than most would expect. You had basic weapons now, a carry bag, a basket, and animal parts that had different uses, even as food.

In a large puddle of clear water you washed your shirt, making it look a slightly bit cleaner.

You tried to use the rat pelts to repair your shirt but instead got

System Error!
Unable to Craft on unclaimed Territory
Do you wish to claim Highbreeze as your territory?
Yes/No

Oooh, the tradesmen will just love that. A patch would be happening soon.

Just out of curiosity he pressed Yes

System Error!
Claimant Crystal Required.

Best keep that a secret from the Players.

However, it was time to meet the new Players.