Before we go shopping, let's see why we're doing all this...
Stepping through the village gate,
◊ we see a wide, open field,
◊ and several branching roads. The first turn to the right is where we want to go.
At the end, we see (As told directly from the game by right-clicking) the smoldering remains of a building, a trampled garden, and plotline.
◊
You gaze once more at the charred ruins of the farm where you were raised. You buried the blackened skeletons of your godparents in the remains of the garden they loved; but you can't bury the anger which still seethes at the thought of how they died. Grimly, you vow that nothing will prevent you from avenging their deaths.
The marauders pillaged the farm quite thoroughly. Nowhere in the ruins can you find the amulet left for you by your true father, whose dying words, whispered to your godfather, were supposedly of its importance to you: of how it could lead you to your fortune and great glory, but only if you proved your worth. Your godparents had promised it to you for your 18th birthday; now you have neither godparents nor birthright, and your birthday has just passed.
A search for clues in the rubble finds only a confused trail of footprints, leading north, towards the mountains. Many of the footprints seem much too large to have come from the boots of bandits or soldiers.
You look north, wondering: Where might the amulet be by now? To whom must you prove yourself, and how?
So, as we have probably pieced together, around our 18th birthday, we were out, probably getting drunk, and our home was burned, our godparents killed, and that amulet meant as a present stolen.
But before we do, time to explore the town and go shopping.
here's an example of the right-click examine
◊ feature in use. It'll tell us the detail of the square we click. I like the little nods to detail that it'll tell you "road" or "grass" if you click on such things. The signs can be read, or you can just right-click to determine what the buildings are: Shops, shrines, or just farms, as the two buildings to the north of town are.
There's five shops in town. First is Bjorn the Blacksmith.
◊ As you can see, he sells weapons and armour.
Oh, and here's the shop window. Similar to standard inventory window, though with the shop's inventory as "ground." right-clicking
◊ on an item gives you weight, bulk, and cost. Doing so for magic items also gives you details on the enchantment. Most are self-explanitory, but some aren't quite as obvious.
Along the top of the shop menu, the window's blue bar, you'll see along with the shop name (Always prefaced with Castle. I find this amusing, but I'm not sure why) the amount of money you have (Always broken down into copper pieces) and your total load, in both weight and bulk. I've never worried too much about load, beyond when I can't actively carry any more.
Directly to the right of the blacksmith's shop is Gunnhild's General Store.
◊ Here you buy clothing, storage items, and basic magical items. I'm lucky in that he/she (What gender is that name?) has a medium pack to start out with. Carrying more loot seems more restricted by one's pack than by one's strength, so bigger packs are always welcome. Ther's also a three slot belt available, which is handy. As mentioned, items in a belt pouch can be quickly and efficiently reached by a menu, and thus used in combat without having to root around in one's pack and get attacked.
Like inventory management, shopping is a breeze. You just pick an item up from the window and move it to you, either your pack or your body. Then you're asked if you want to buy it.
◊ Similarly, selling items simply involves picking it up and putting it in their window.
◊
Shops don't buy everything. Well, not most shops. Weapons and armour I sell at the blacksmith, while clothes and magic items are sold to the general store. In later towns there'll be more specialty stores with more exacting demands on what they'll buy.
Armour and Weapons are sorted by effectiveness. So the more valuable, the better the weapon is. There's no fancy advantages/drawbacks, nor skills to consider, (Aside from the aforementioned two-handed sword, but that's a long way away.) so just get the best weapon you can. But in my case, I want to get all the cool carrying items, and some of the other bits of armour. So after going shopping with 1500 copper, here's my starting setup.
◊ No armour, you say? I know when we go to the dungeon, we'll find... Uhh, I mean... The oracle told me on my birthday that 'protection will be found' when we begin our quest.
Speaking of oracle, the bottom building is the Temple to Odin.
◊ Spells are available to buy, though since we're uninjured, most of the health and stat-regaining spells are grayed out. Strange Remove Curse isn't, since we don't have any cursed items.
Rune of Return is a handy spell that really reduces the difficulty once we get it, though it's far too expensive to waste money on right now. It's the quick in/out spell, taking you out of the dungeon back to town, or into the lowest level of the dungeon we've explored. But it's still too early a level to need it. And I prefer to cast it myself rather than spend money on it anyways.
The last two shops in town are Snorri the Sage, who identifies items (Drag an item into his 'inventory window,' and he'll identify it, though it's put back wherever you grabbed it from your inventory) and Olaf's Junk Store. The Junk Store will buy anything from you, but he'll only give you a maximum of 25 copper for it. Still, he's the only place to sell destroyed or cursed items, so it's handy for inventory clearance. He doesn't actually have anything for sale, he only buys crap. Also, any items sold to him are gone for good; you can't buy them back.
Speaking of, while items you sell to stores will be available, at first, stores randomize their inventory when you leave for a while, usually to go pillaging a dungeon level, then come back. I'm not sure if it's event based or time based, or if they randomize more (So there's more new inventory) the longer you're gone for.
Back of cursed items, you can sell unidentified items to stores, but they'll only give you a flat rate, which could be much less than the item is worth. Or more, if it's a normal item. As well, if you sell them too many cursed items, they'll stop buying unidentified junk from you and tell you to go get it identified first. And stores won't buy decursed items, either. Gotta go to Olaf for that.
Oh, and you can't enter
◊ the two farmhouses in town. Real friendly neighbours around here.
In case you're wondering, the fields around the hamlet are farmland, and we can't walk on it.
Anyways, we're (mostly) equipped and burning for vengeance! Onward, Gunmarie! Destiny awaits!
