Towns and townsfolk

Towns everywhere

Past the village, many regions have a town at their heart. Each one is safe ground: no creature spawns or attacks there, and nobody digs or builds inside it. Walking in for the first time counts as a discovery, and the town becomes a travel point on your map.

Every town is built for its land:

• Riverlands: river towns with timber houses and flower boxes. Towns on a slope get stone walls and a lookout.
• Autumn Woods: forest villages with cabins, orchards and a cider barn.
• Frostlands: snowy lodge towns with firewood racks, dog sleds and ice-fishing shacks.
• Sunscorch Desert: oases with adobe houses, caravan tents and water jars.
• Ember Wastes: forge towns of stone houses around a hot-spring bathhouse.
• Glowcap Hollow: mushroom villages with cap cottages and lantern market huts.
• Zombie Land: lantern-lit refuges for travellers in the mist.

A town close to the water also gets a harbour with a pier, boats, fishing nets and a fish stall.

No two towns are laid out the same, but you'll always find your way.

Finding your way around

Four main streets cross at the plaza and run out to the town's four gates, where the roads begin. The plaza has the town's fountain or well, benches and the notice board. Around it you'll find:

• The market: the keeper's trading post, fruit, fish and cloth stalls, the general store and the bakery.
• The crafts corner: a workbench, an anvil and a furnace anyone can use, the blacksmith's forge and the pottery kiln.
• The tea garden: the tea house, picnic tables, and a campfire and cooking pot for everyone.
• The fun corner: the music stage, the puppet theatre and the swings.
• Homes along the streets, with a library, a town hall or a Fossil Museum among them (about half the towns have a museum), and farms, gardens, chicken coops, windmills or stables at the edges.

Press E on the plaza's notice board to read the stories of the land: the storylines told at its named places, which way each one starts from town, how far along you are, and a pin on your map for the nearest one you haven't finished (see Things to discover).

The townsfolk

Every town has its own people: bakers, fruit sellers, smiths, potters, tea-keepers, musicians, puppeteers, gardeners, farmers, fishers, sweepers, lamplighters, museum curators and more, plus children who love the swings and the puppet show. Each one has a name and something special about them. One baker hums to the bread, and one fisher always throws the little fish back.

Every town has its animals too. Hens peck about the coop, a friendly dog trots round the plaza and a ginger cat naps by a doorstep. At night the hens are tucked up in the coop.

They keep a loose day:

• Morning: they leave home after sunrise and go to work. The baker opens the bakery, stall-holders stand by their stalls and the smith hammers at the anvil.
• Afternoon: they do what they love. Some fish off the pier, some sip tea, and some gather at the music stage or the puppet theatre.
• Evening: they walk home along the streets at dusk. At night the town sleeps, and the lamps stay lit.

Everyone in a town sees the same people in the same places, so you can meet friends at the bakery in the morning.

Fair days

Every few days a town holds a fair. In the afternoon, nearly everyone gathers in front of the music stage: the musician plays, the puppeteer puts on a show and the children play nearby. When you walk into a town on its fair day, you'll hear about it.

Talking to townsfolk

Walk up to someone and they'll often wave hello. Their names show when you're close: the person you aim at first, then the nearest few, so a crowd stays readable. To chat, aim at them and press E ("Talk"). They'll tell you about themselves and their work, or share a little lesson about kindness, honesty or caring for the world.

• A museum curator puts every fossil you've found on the museum's shelves.
• Now and then someone has lost a pet this week and will ask you to look for it. When you find it, come back and tell them.

Shopping at the stalls

The smell of fresh bread drifts across the plaza, and the baker waves you over. The townsfolk who keep a trade sell their own goods. Talk to one and their stall opens right there:

• Baker: bread, loaves and pies, and a jar of honey for the rolls.
• Fruit seller: the land's own fruit. Mangoes and pineapples in the Riverlands, dates and melons in the desert, frost berries in the snow.
• Fishmonger: the day's catch and a little bait.
• Smith: starter tools and plain, sturdy gear.
• Cook: warm stews and soups.
• Farmer: seeds and farm tools. Gardener: saplings, flower seeds and plant pots.
• Beekeeper: honey and flower seeds. Potter: pots, clay and bricks. Tea-keeper: blossom tea.
• Storekeeper: rope, planks, torches, simple potions and ammo.

Stalls take only orange coins. Prices are the same as the keepers' shops: about twice what a thing is worth. Each stall also buys back goods of its own kind, at about half their worth, up to a daily amount. Everything restocks every morning at 6:00. Rare finds are never sold at a stall. Take those to the market board (see The market and trading).

Tip: heading out on a long walk? Stop by the cook and the baker first. A full satchel of food keeps you going between towns.

The town's keeper still runs the trading post in the market (see Villagers and town keepers) and opens your locker (see Storage: satchel, chests, the locker and the vault).

Next, see Getting around, and animal friends for the roads between towns, and Things to discover for what waits along the way.