Recruits & Quests
Who runs what, and what they'll ask of you.
How they arrive — the player is the founder, and recruitment is loot. A new game opens on the home road: two bandits are marching Marla off; free her and she is your first recruit, with the town's first quest, Find the Others. Ansel keeps a wayside stone in the woods and comes down if you ask. The four camps each hold a keeper captive — Orrin at the bandit camp, Bram at Wolfhead, Tamsin at Thornback, Hollis at Greywater — and breaking a camp brings that keeper home to run their shop. The two ruins in the far valley are squatted keeps that hold two more: Nell the herbalist at the Old Watchtower, Hesk the drillmaster at the Broken Keep, with the old builders' hoard (tome fragments, cut stone) under the squatters. Ironhold's prison holds the next keeper your city can use (Wren, then Gerd, Ysolde, Vesna, Tovik, Wyn, Aldous). The Inn brings only the keepers found nowhere else — Brida, Osk and Tarn — one every three minutes once it stands, era-gated; talk to them to recruit them. Camp and ruin keepers are found at their camp (with one softener: once that camp has been broken at least once, the Inn may bring them), and Ironhold's prisoners only in Ironhold. A building cannot go up until its keeper lives here. Later captives are plain villagers.
Every recruit runs a building and offers quests in character. Better-quality recruits give better quests: rewards scale Apprentice ×1, Journeyman ×1.5, Master ×2. Quests are how the city learns: modules give a building the capability, a quest gives it the recipe.
The recruits
Ysolde the Alchemist
“Fire, glass, and something green. Bring me the first and I'll manage the rest.”
| Quest | Ask | Reward |
|---|---|---|
| Glass and Fire “A still wants a hot, even fire. Two sacks of Hollis's charcoal.” | Bring 2 × charcoal | 2 Healing Potion, 10 gold |
| Bitter Work “Three sunroot and I'll teach you the ironbark tonic — you'll bruise less.” | Bring 3 × sunroot | 14 gold, teaches Ironbark Tonic |
Ida the Captive
“They took me on the road. I can't run while they're still about — break the camp and I'll follow you home.”
A captive tied up behind the bandit camp. Break the camp and she follows you home as a villager — assign her at the Storehouse and she hauls the yards.
Rook the Trapper
“They want me to show them the snare lines. I've shown them nothing. Clear them out and I'll walk anywhere you say.”
A captive tied up behind the bandit camp. Break the camp and she follows you home as a villager — assign her at the Storehouse and she hauls the yards.
Wen the Forager
“I was after sunroot and walked into their fire. Break them and I'll gather for your town instead.”
A captive tied up behind the bandit camp. Break the camp and she follows you home as a villager — assign her at the Storehouse and she hauls the yards.
Halla the Netmender
“They took the boat and me with it. Sink them and I'll mend every net your dock ever tears.”
A captive tied up behind the bandit camp. Break the camp and she follows you home as a villager — assign her at the Storehouse and she hauls the yards.
Hesk the Drillmaster
“Tomes teach tricks. I teach habits. Give me a yard and I'll make them stick.”
| Quest | Ask | Reward |
|---|---|---|
| Straw and Rope “Two boar hides for the dummies' skins and I'll show you how to breathe when you're spent — first lesson free.” | Bring 2 × hide | 1 Meat, 8 gold |
| Prove It “Four bandits, and don't come back bleeding. Then we talk about footwork.” | Kill 4 × bandit | 16 gold |
Wyn the Enchanter
“Raiders carry it and don't know it. Bring me what's left of them.”
| Quest | Ask | Reward |
|---|---|---|
| First Light “Two raw essences and I'll bind the first ward for you — and teach you the rune.” | Bring 2 × raw essence | 1 Essence, 12 gold, teaches Warding |
| Bones of a Raid “Five more bandits. What they carry, I refine; what you learn, you keep.” | Kill 5 × bandit | 1 Essence, 20 gold |
Tovik the Engineer
“A wall is only as good as what's on top of it. Let me put something on top of it.”
| Quest | Ask | Reward |
|---|---|---|
| Brass Tacks “Four chunks of copper for pins and brackets, and I'll hand you the first fittings myself.” | Bring 4 × copper ore | 2 Fittings, 10 gold |
| Eyes on the Road “Three bandits off the east road and I'll show you the smoke trick — the one for getting in, not out.” | Kill 3 × bandit | 14 gold, teaches Smoke Bomb |
Tamsin the Farmer
“Soil's good. Boars think so too. Help me wall a field?”
| Quest | Ask | Reward |
|---|---|---|
| Wall the Field “Three good stones and the boars stay out of my rows.” | Bring 3 × stone | 3 Cabbage, 6 gold |
| A Hen House “Four lengths of timber for a hen house — and I'll tell Marla how my mother cooked a farm supper.” | Bring 4 × timber | 1 Fowl, 10 gold, teaches Farm Supper |
Tarn the Fisher
“That pond's deeper than it looks. Give me a dock and I'll prove it.”
| Quest | Ask | Reward |
|---|---|---|
| The First Catch “Three fish off my own lines and I'll teach Marla the stew that got me through winters.” | Bring 3 × fish | 1 Smoked Fish, 8 gold, teaches Fish Stew |
| Twine for the Nets “Two bolts of Brida's cloth, unpicked for twine, and my nets stop leaking fish.” | Bring 2 × cloth | 2 Fish, 10 gold |
Nell the Herbalist
“Bitterleaf grows wild here. Imagine what grows on purpose.”
| Quest | Ask | Reward |
|---|---|---|
| Herb Lore “Three bitterleaf from the wild patches and I'll show Ysolde the draught my mother made.” | Bring 3 × bitterleaf | 2 Sunroot, 8 gold, teaches Stamina Draught |
| Garden Walls “Boars again. Three stones for a low wall around the beds.” | Bring 3 × stone | 1 Sunroot, 6 gold |
Marla the Innkeeper
“Kitchen's bare, hero. Care to help a cook?”
| Quest | Ask | Reward |
|---|---|---|
| Find the Others “Bandits took the rest of my caravan to their camps, and the hermit by the wayside stone won't come down on his own. Bring four people to the town site and we're a town.” | Bring 4 × | 1 Healing Potion, 20 gold |
| A Proper Stew “Two cuts of boar meat and I'll make a stew worth the walk — and show you how it's done.” | Bring 2 × meat | 3 Wildberries, 5 gold, teaches Boar Stew |
| Boar Trouble “Something's rooting up my herb beds at night. Thin the boars.” | Kill 1 × boar | 1 Meat, 5 gold |
| Firewood “The hearth's cold. Break some deadfall into timber for me.” | Bring 3 × timber | 2 Wildberries, 5 gold |
Vesna the Jeweler
“Bram's been throwing quartz on the spoil heap. Show me one that isn't quartz.”
| Quest | Ask | Reward |
|---|---|---|
| Rough Stones “Two rough gems from the seam and I'll teach you the amulet my guild wards itself with.” | Bring 2 × rough gem | 12 gold, teaches Amulet of Ward |
| A Setting “Copper for settings — four chunks — and the first ring is yours.” | Bring 4 × copper ore | 1 Copper Ring, 10 gold |
Gerd the Mason
“Good stone in that face. Give me a yard and I'll give you walls.”
| Quest | Ask | Reward |
|---|---|---|
| Quarry Rights “Six fieldstone so I can judge the seam. I'll pay in dressed blocks.” | Bring 6 × stone | 2 Cut Stone, 10 gold |
| Timber for the Gate “A palisade is timber first, stone second. Eight lengths and I'll frame the gate.” | Bring 8 × timber | 2 Cut Stone, 12 gold |
Osk the Miller
“Grain's no good in the sheaf. Give me stones to turn.”
| Quest | Ask | Reward |
|---|---|---|
| The First Grind “Four sheaves from Tamsin and I'll test the stones — and teach Marla my mother's pie.” | Bring 4 × grain | 1 Flour, 10 gold, teaches Shepherd's Pie |
| Millstones “Gerd's cut stone dresses a better millstone. Two blocks.” | Bring 2 × cut stone | 2 Flour, 12 gold |
Bram the Miner
“There's copper in that hill. I just need a shaft I can stand up in.”
| Quest | Ask | Reward |
|---|---|---|
| Pit Props “A shaft with no props is a grave. Four lengths of timber and I'll go in.” | Bring 4 × timber | 2 Stone, 8 gold |
| The First Haul “Show me the vein's worth working — three chunks from anywhere and I'll know the color.” | Bring 3 × copper ore | 1 Healing Potion, 12 gold |
Ansel the Priest
“The bell still rings, hero. Help me give it a shrine.”
| Quest | Ask | Reward |
|---|---|---|
| Bitterleaf for the Altar “Bitterleaf burns clean. Two sprigs and the altar can be consecrated.” | Bring 2 × bitterleaf | 1 Healing Potion, 5 gold |
| Rest the Fallen “The bandits east leave their dead unburied. Send three more to me and I will see to all of them.” | Kill 3 × bandit | 1 Healing Potion, 10 gold |
Aldous the Scribe
“Every tome out there is half rot. Bring me the halves.”
| Quest | Ask | Reward |
|---|---|---|
| Torn Pages “Three bolts of clean cloth for bindings, and a fragment from my own shelf for your trouble.” | Bring 3 × cloth | 1 Tome Fragment, 10 gold |
| The Lost Shelf “Two loose fragments and I'll show you what the Athenaeum can make of them.” | Bring 2 × tome fragment | 1 Essence, 16 gold |
Wren the Trader
“Coin's no good without a counter to slide it across. Help me open one?”
| Quest | Ask | Reward |
|---|---|---|
| Stock the Shelves “Shelves before stock. Four lengths of timber and the post has a counter.” | Bring 4 × timber | 2 Wildberries, 8 gold |
| A Tusk for the Road “Caravan folk pay silly money for tusks. Bring two and I'll cut you in.” | Bring 2 × boar tusk | 14 gold |
Orrin the Smith
“A forge needs feeding. You look capable.”
| Quest | Ask | Reward |
|---|---|---|
| Tusks for Handles “Boar tusk makes the finest grip. Bring me one.” | Bring 1 × boar tusk | 1 Healing Potion, 10 gold |
| Copper for the Forge “There's a vein past the bandits' fire. Two chunks of ore and I can start on bars.” | Bring 2 × copper ore | 1 Healing Potion, 15 gold |
| Break the Camp “Those bandits by the fire stole my last shipment. Put two of them down and I'll show you how I rivet mail.” | Kill 2 × camp | 2 Healing Potion, 20 gold, teaches Copper Mail |
Brida the Weaver
“Scraps and mail — is that all this town wears? Give me a loom.”
| Quest | Ask | Reward |
|---|---|---|
| The First Bolt “Two bolts off my own loom, folded properly, and I'll know it runs true.” | Bring 2 × cloth | 1 Boar Hide, 8 gold |
| Hides for the Vat “Three boar hides and I'll show you the jerkin my father wore to war.” | Bring 3 × hide | 12 gold, teaches Leather Jerkin |
Hollis the Woodcutter
“Trees don't fell themselves. Well — some do, in a storm. The rest need me.”
| Quest | Ask | Reward |
|---|---|---|
| An Axe Worth Swinging “My axe head's more notch than edge. Two chunks of copper and Orrin can cast me a new one.” | Bring 2 × copper ore | 3 Timber, 8 gold |
| Boar in the Cut “Boar have rooted up my whole cut. Thin them out and I'll pay in coin and dinner.” | Kill 2 × boar | 2 Meat, 12 gold |
The Notice Board
Bounties posted at the Town Hall — work with no face attached, paid in gold.
| Bounty | Ask | Reward |
|---|---|---|
| Bounty: Boar “Two boar, for the fields' sake.” | Kill 2 × boar | 10 gold |
| Bounty: Bandits “Four bandits off the east road.” | Kill 4 × bandit | 15 gold |
| Bounty: Tusks “Three tusks for the caravan folk.” | Bring 3 × boar tusk | 12 gold |