All around the land there are eager youngsters known as foragers - early escapees from their families keen to seek a future on a bigger canvas; typically in one of the four cities. These foragers look to you, the heroic citizens, with something like reverence, as fountains of knowledge and a route out of the future into which they were born: to be farmers or craftsmen, etc. If you see a young forager around, GREET him and doubtless he will be pleased to tell you his current ambitions.

The usefulness of these foragers to you, in a purely material sense, stems from their intimate, long-established knowledge of the land and its secret highways and byways, and (in some cases) their abilities around the coastal waters of the continent. The foragers can be taken into one's service, to perform specific tasks that might otherwise be time consuming or prohibitively difficult. All they ask is to be given a wage of lessons, so they may learn and eventually seek a future apprenticeship in one of the guilds. The adult forager is an enlistable-in-waiting (see HELP YOUNGSTERS). Catching them during their relatively short window, during their adolescence before they mature into an enlistable: this is the key to using their services.

PART ONE: MEETING YOUNG FORAGERS AND BECOMING HIS MENTOR

Syntax: GREET <forager>.

The main interaction with foragers is via the TASK command but greeting them will establish an initial connection. It will inform you whether the forager is in the employ of somebody else or, if in your employ, give you some info about his current state-of-play.

Syntax: MENTOR <forager>.

If you have decided to take a young forager into your service you use this command to offer your mentorship. If the forager has no current mentor and no special reason to refuse, in all likelihood he will leap at the opportunity to gain from such a heroic and noble scion as yourself. Use your mentor status wisely for it is a position of trust; the youngsters are very loyal and you could easily damage his future if you take one into your service and subsequently leave him charged with no tasks and given nothing in return for his fidelity.

PART TWO: GENERAL INTERACTION WITH THE YOUNG FORAGER

Syntax: TASK <forager> WAIT.

This demands a forager waits on your further instructions. These youngsters are frenetic souls, ever in search of a mentor or about some task bestowed by a mentor so telling a forager to wait calls a halt to his movements for a little.

Syntax: TASK <forager> GO.

When you are finished with a forager - either you have charged him with a task (see below) or received things he has recently found for you - you tell the youngster to GO and he will set about his business with fleecefooted immediacy.

Syntax: TASK <forager> INVENTORY (or just TASK <forager> on its own).

If you are the mentor of a young forager or, indeed, if the youngster has no mentor but is seeking one - then you may task him to reveal his inventory. This informs you what produce he has retrieved during his travels about the land, whether bidden by you specifically or the result of past tasks, etc. Foragers are loyal and will not give up their wares to you or, indeed, any information about inventory if they have been sworn into the service of somebody else.

Syntax: TASK <forager> RECEIVE <taskname>/<box number>.

Here you can use the RECEIVE direction to task the young forager to give up products he has retrieved from about the land, handing them over to you. The young forager collects items or information notes for each task in an individual box and it is this box he will be handing over when you ask to RECEIVE the end-results.

Syntax: TASK <forager> RELEASE.

If you are finished with a young forager and wish for no further tasks you would be doing the youngster a kindness by releasing him from your service. He will automatically discard his inventory, including any gold you handed over for use in task completion. The 'release' informs the young'un to expect no more lesson secrets from you for the time being so he can go seek another mentor elsewhere. The foragers are extremely loyal otherwise and will remain tied to a mentor for a long while if not released - a little unfair to the poor neophyte if you have nothing for him to do.

Syntax: TASK <forager> SUMMON or TASK <forager> SUMMON CEASE to abort.

Sends out the call for one of your young foragers to drop whatever he is doing, wheresoever he is in the land, and make his way to you as quickly as possible. Generally it will take a minute or so for your acolyte to make his way to your location though there are occasions when he may take longer - the young foragers sometimes go far, far afield to carry out their tasks. Send the SUMMON CEASE command to abort a previously requested summons.

Syntax: TASK <forager> GOLD <gold to give>/-<gold to take>.

Some tasks are smoothed along by clever use of gold coins to grease palms and secure information. The young foragers are adept at thrifty but smart use of any gold they are given for their tasks. Use this command to give over gold. If you specify a positive number of gold coins you will hand over coins from your inventory; if you specify a negative number you will (if the forager has enough) be given the specified amount of gold back.

PART THREE: NEGOTIATING A SUCCESSFUL TASK DEMAND

Syntax: TASK <forager> <task>.

This is the centrepiece command for interacting with the young foragers. Let us assume you have taken on a forager as mentor, he will be keen to perform tasks for you in order to prove himself worth of lesson secrets. This command is the means by which you give the young forager his purpose, informing him what to do. See HELP TASKS for detailed information on all the different tasks you are able to demand of an acolyte. The young forager will consider the task, once it has been given out, and make a counter-request - what he wants before he risks life and limb - which you will then have the following choice responses:

     Syntax: TASK <forager> ACCEPT

This command declares your acceptance of the young forager's request pending successful completion of the task.

     Syntax: TASK <forager> COUNTER <counter offer>

If you believe the young forager has overstated his demands in return for completing your task you can make a counter offer. He will consider and reply accordingly.

     Syntax: TASK <forager> REJECT

Should you decide the young forager has overpitched his request completely and you are not prepared to entertain negotiations, use this command to retract the task request completely and end all negotiations. This may not endear you to your acolyte and future potentially dangerous requests.

See HELP TASKS for a list of tasks you can give over to a young forager and HELP ORDER for a summary of 'orders' you can give over as additional interplay with a young forager you have taken into service. Do remember, however, these youngster are not strong fighters and will flee rather than enter into melee.