Mark woke to the light noises of animals in the background. He swore he heard a rooster crow, but he could have been wrong. But with the animals growing at a crazy speed, it was possible. He climbed out of his tent, missing the comfort of his new bed, and packed up the tent and headed to Southgate.
Mark laughed as he always did when he heard that name. In this zone it was the northernmost outpost, but from the perspective of all the people heading south, it was the southern gate into the wheat plains.
When he got to Southgate, he checked in with the person in charge to see how things were doing. Southgate was busy; there was a lot of traffic going north and south, including people, a few animals, and lots of goods being transported.
The outpost leader let him know that there were a ton of outpost tasks for all kinds of things and asked Mark to let people know there was a lot of work for anyone wanting to help. Migration of people and construction was in full swing. Many farmers had homesteads, and crafters of all types were selling their goods; some had even been traveling south to Southgate and listing their goods there to save the freight cost for someone to send them through the normal traffic.
Just as he was about to head north to Forest’s Rest, a runner came in reporting issues at Fisher’s Point. He stopped to listen to find out what he needed to do to get them whatever resources they were short of. Then the words came.
Too many fish. There were no shortages or danger, but they had more than they could eat and needed help figuring out the issue. They were requesting transportation and runners to take it all away so they could get back to fishing. Mark laughed and was about to head north when he got a system message.
[Regional Development Opportunity]
Unrecognized Settlement Activity Detected
Location: Fisher’s Point
Current Development Exceeds Existing Infrastructure.
Further Evaluation Recommended.
◈ ◈ ◈
Mark turned to the outpost leader and let him know that he was heading that way and he would take care of the issue. He then headed south toward Fisher’s Point. It was a pleasant walk; he had passed by yesterday down this same trail. He was still amazed at how much wheat there was and noted that some fields were already plowed and other new crops were planted at some of the homesteads along the way.
Mark was surprised when he got there. He expected three or four fishermen and a few helpers. Instead, he found a smokehouse operating and a dock with multiple boats tied up, with others out on the lake. A low fence surrounded most of the camp, protecting fish stores from scavengers. He could see nets hanging up, someone repairing a broken net, fish drying racks, and people everywhere. He was not sure of the exact count as they were constantly moving, but there had to be more than fifteen.
He was impressed by how much people took to heart the recommendation to move south and set up industry. They did not have a fishing outpost; they had a fishing village in the works. Or rather, a boating, catching, and smoking industry in the works.
He flagged someone down, and they directed him to their leader, or rather, head fisherman. He was introduced to a woman named Martha.
Martha said, “What brings you down here, Mark? We are doing what was requested. I gathered up all the fishermen who could not find any more fish in the stream and marsh and dragged them down here. But we have a problem.”
A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.
Mark said, “I was passing through Southgate when I heard you needed some help with figuring out how to get the trade moving down here to get your fish out and other supplies you needed in.”
Martha said, “When we need something, we just send a runner up to Southgate with an order to pick up at the outpost.”
Mark said, “Why not do those transactions through the outpost here?”
Martha said, “What outpost? It’s just me and a bunch of people fishing and others drying and smoking. The closest outpost is Southgate.”
Mark said, “Okay, I am here to solve your problems. You guys need an outpost created here.”
Martha said, “So you’re going to create us an outpost here?”
Mark said, “No, you are going to create an outpost here.”
She then gave Mark a puzzled look. Mark then went on to explain that to create an outpost, they just needed three people, shelters for those three, a reliable water source, a safe resting area, and a territory marker or central structure. She, of course, told Mark that they had those in abundance.
They decided to use her office, which was a tiny shack in the middle of the area, as their central structure, and she grabbed two other fishermen and, following Mark’s instructions, created the Level 1 outpost. Mark watched as the three of them read their system message for the new outpost.
Mark explained the outpost menu, its requirements and benefits, and the upgrade interface. Martha also granted him management rights so he could assist when needed.
Martha was excited when she found out that she could already upgrade to Outpost Level 2 and did so. That started more conversations with the two other fishermen about the new benefits, the bonuses, route markers, and settlement task tracking.
Martha said, “Okay, it says we can’t upgrade to Outpost Level 3. The only item we’re missing is trade activity. How do we do that?”
Mark said, “This is where I help you solve your problems.” Mark spent the next half hour setting up trade agreements for all the outposts that he controlled. They would trade fish in three types: fresh fish, dried fish, and smoked fish. And in return they got a variety of things they needed. They were going to get salt, meat, spices, bread, packaged meals, and a long list of other items Mark saw were available in excess in the north for trade agreements.
Once the trade agreements were active, Martha checked the interface again and upgraded Fisher’s Point to a Level 3 Outpost. Mark showed her how to create her own agreements, jobs, and work requests. He suggested she get a group together and plan out their outpost and keep in mind that it may be a village they are really creating and look at the requirements for that.
The last thing he suggested was to send a runner to go meet with Garrick and see what it would take to get a few construction workers assigned to help build out and improve the items they had so they could eventually fill all the village requirements.
Martha said, “Thanks so much, Mark. You saved us. I can now put all our excess goods into the system here and start creating tasks and work orders. Now the only thing we still need is more water. This lake is big but won’t support all of the fishermen we have.”
Mark said, “Oh, that is not a problem; just northwest of here is a large lake. I have not seen it, but I was told it was huge, maybe a few times the size of this one.”
All the sounds of working fishermen stopped behind him. Then they started to murmur about the lake, more fishing, more room, and how far away they could build a road from here, and what kind of fish they might have. Immediate excitement from the camp.
Mark said, “There was a system warning associated with the area. So you need to be cautious.”
That lasted for about three seconds, and then the clamor started again. Do we build new boats there or haul them from here? Do you think they have bigger fish? Mark almost regretted mentioning it. He realized he had made the same mistake again. Every time he mentioned a new opportunity, someone immediately decided it needed to be explored. He hoped that only a few went to check it out, as he was thinking about the usefulness of this outpost for supplying fish for the forest zone.
After he was assured by Martha that she and the others in charge of this outpost would figure it all out, he headed back north for the second time that day. Just before he left, Martha ran over and pulled out three large stacks of fish and thanked him for solving the issue and told him to take these as their thanks.
Three weeks ago there had been nothing here but shoreline and fish. Now there was an outpost, docks, smokehouses, trade agreements, and enough people to rival Forest’s Rest. Somehow every place he visited seemed determined to grow faster than he could keep up with.