The Market of Shibuya

    A bright, shiny day with a nice breeze finds the Market populated by folks out to see what's what. In particular, a Farmer Player named Hyuga has set up his own stall, where he sells produce of a higher grade than most of the Lander locations. Currently, he wears his casual clothing and is seated on a stool behind said stall. He seems happy to converse with passers-by, and is often proud to demonstrate the quality of his wares, as he has an Inventory with lesser quality versions of all items on display: fruits, veggies, and more!

Yeowang is once again in Shibuya, but rather than checking up on things, she is shopping with an intense concentration and possibly a bottomless purse. Well, the point of having a ton of cash is for it to be there when you need it for things. She steps up to Hyuga's stall, offers a greeting, "Hello there. How's the farm today?"

    Hyuga offers a wave once he sees Yeowang, and waits for her to approach before addressing... or rather, answering! "Hello! Good to see you! The Farm is doing great, freshly tilled and ready for new planting. I'm here to see what seems to sell the most, find out what folks would rather have, that sort of thing!" A genuine smile from the man who is likely just as known for his produce as he is for the massive slab of metal sitting against the wall behind him. Hyuga reaches below the counter, accessing an Inventory, and produces a small container. He begins to load this up with fruit and veg from his personal stash. "How are you today? Everything well?"

Yeowang nods, pleased to hear that the farm is doing well. "Excellent," she says. As to what sells, she considers, and says, "Let me know what you find out?" Not that she's interested in the success of one crop or another, but it will tell her about the demand levels of various crops. Next year, she can request more of those be planted, to balace out supply and demand. Or to keep the prices a bit higher on the high-demand items to take in more cash. It's a complicated business.

As to how she is, she says, "Another busy day, of course. Have you heard about the Palace Lands project being put together?"

    Hyuga thinks while making the container up. "Hmm... I have heard OF the project, but I do not know anything about it, really. I would like to contribute to it once I know more about it." The container, now visibly 'full', is offered to Yeowang in a Trade window. Hyuga has already accepted the Trade, seemingly expecting no payment for the two apples, two melons, two ears of corn, and two tomatoes inside it, which are all of a Farmer 1 quality. "Are you able to tell me about it?"

Yeowang puts a payment in her trade window whether any is expected or not. It's a decent trade, and she accepts it. As to the project, she says, "I've probably heard what you heard, but I'm putting together as much as I can to send over there. If it works against the Palace Landers, I'll support it. They're ... well, not even people, at the end of it. The ones doing the harm are all Landers, computer characters with no real people behind them, programmed by the game designers to do ... what they do. They've done terrible things to their own server's players, and even if some of it was justified, most of it wasn't, and they've gone way too far. They're bad and I mean to see them stopped."

    Hyuga accepts the trade with the modified changes with reluctance, though he tries his best not to show it. He accesses his Inventory to move the payment into a different area, marked Donations, for future use. "Well, I can understand programmed characters doing what they were programmed to do. I suspect no one thought that this all would happen, and so we must do what we can to uphold the greater good." Maybe he plays 40k in his real life, and loves the Tau? "But seriously, what is the project? As in, what is it doing? I have a few tradeskills that might help, and if those wouldn't, I can clearly feed the workers." As he speaks, he accesses another Inventory, and produces a small Pharmacy kit. "Would you like some herbal tea? I recently had a fatigue-crippling Curse, and I needed to find something refreshing to keep me going until I made it back to town."

Yeowang nods about chartacters being characters. "And they were .. provoked, in a way," she explains. "In the very early days of being trapped in the game, we were told, their players were told that they had to capture one of their root towns and take control away from the Landers in order to log out." At least that's how she remembers what they were told. It's been a while, and she's no gamer to understand any nuances.

"It failed, as you might expect, and the Landers took revenge by placing mind-control crowns on the players to make them obey the Landers' orders. Which, ironically, did not include much of the development, expansion, and growth that we take for granted here in Yamato. This is why a lot of Palace Lands players are lower level compared to a lot of Yamato's senior players, and why a lot of their land is undeveloped." She will decline the tea, "I'm good, thank you."

    Hyuga listens intently, his hands moving of their own accord. "I... am still ashamed to admit this, but I hid when this all started. Kept to my farm. Tried to just live, hoping things would get better. Clearly... well, in some ways it has, but not in others." Those steady hands eventually create a tumbler filled with herbal tea, which he starts to sip on. "So, this project is to... what, take out the Palace Landers? If that is the case, I can aid in defense. If the project is to then cultivate the land and bring it on par with what we have elsewhere... well, I can definitively help with that, in a few areas."

Yeowang shrugs off-handedly at not hitting the ground running. "Many of us did not," she admits freely. "I found the interface confusing and the fighting was very awkward compared to what I was used to. So, it took me some months to put it all together enough to join what amount to the players of consequence in the game. I am still lagging behind, though not by a significant amount, I suppose. Catching up, or mostly up, is not onerous."

As to the project, she explains, "What I have heard is that the project will allow the free players in the Palace Lands to capture and wrest control of one of their cities from ... I'm not clear on who from. Bad people, of some type or other. If they're Landers, they're the Landers that Crown players who've done no wrong."

    Hyuga listens, nodding. They had discussed their mutual feelings on the combat system before, a discussion that rang even more keenly to him now that he had faced the gnolls. "Well then, I would be a sorry sort indeed if I did not help. The Crowning sounds... positively disgusting, truth be told. I will need to see what resources I can dedicate to the project. It may not be much, but every little bit helps." A sip of tea. "I appreciate the heads up on it. I'm still making the connections and learning where to put my ear and whatnot with regards to such things."

Yeowang nods gravely. "Only provide what you can afford. This project has gone out to all the Yamato alliances, and everyone is chipping in, I've heard, so I expect it will be a mess to organize. I should probably sail over there, they will need someone who actually knows how to organize capital projects there. This isn't like organizing a class trip or a kiosk at a fair, this is quite a bit bigger."

    Hyuga takes a few moments to think and process, then shakes his head. "Yep, that's definitely not in my league. I can provide some resources safely, however. I was really glad that I took the skills that I did. Self sufficiency has really helped my coinpurse. So, no worries, I will certainly not go overboard in my contribution." A smile. "I might actually look at what resources I currently have in order to see what I can move around. I mean, I'm no expert, but I've got a basic grasp of such things. Maybe I can help more than I currently suspect."

Yeowang agrres, "Do what you feel you can. I will be getting our contribution on a boat at the end of the week so it will get there in time." Which explains what all she's been buying up. "I don't think they have credit over there, or I would have even more buying power. Well, we didn't have credit here, until I founded the Ninetails Bank. But everything in steps."

    Hyuga nods in agreement. "Everything in steps." He thinks for a moment, and then indicates the stall at large. "If you'd like, I can rotate my crops for maximum food yield, and make sure that gets sent. I have no idea how much that will help, but again, every little bit can help." Already, his mind races with farming calculations. Thankfully, in video games, one didn't need to wait months to cultivate a proper crop. He could likely have things set up by the end of the day, and begin harvesting food sooner rather than later.

Yeowang shakes her head abou the crop shift. "The one item not on the list I was given was food. Apparently they have enough of that. But metalworking and armor forging efforts are needed," she explains. "I'm not even sure where the need list stands right now, though they seem short of cash, so I will send gold along with everything else."

    Hyuga pats the hammer on his hip. "I can certainly help with metalworking and armor forging. I'll get more info and get my tools together." He thinks. "Heck, that might be worth a deeper dive, especially if combat is joined." Shaking his head, Hyuga sips his tea. No sense in getting worked up over it. There might be little else he can do. "Still, every little bit helps, et cetera. Sorry to sound like a broken record."