In my line of work, I find a lot of interesting items. My bag can only hold so much so I have to periodically dispose of the goods. That makes room in my bag for other interesting things and gives me money to spend on the necessities of life in the MUD. So shops are my economic lifeline. They provide a way to buy and sell stuff. I might need to buy food, or a healing potion. I may need to sell off unwanted armor, weapons, or loot.

All the shops are essentially the same. If you learn to deal with one, you can deal with all of them. The General Store in the Outpost is a good example. You walk in and see something like:

General Store
You are standing in the General Store. All sorts of things may be bought
and sold here. There is a sign on the wall. The only exits leads west back
to Main Street.

A grocer stands at the counter, with a slightly impatient look on his face.

Notice the “sign on the wall” part of the description. Use the command look sign or read sign to see:

You can use these commands for trading:

value	To get the price of an item in your possession.
sell	To sell something.
buy	To buy something (provided it is on the list).
consider	To consider something from the inventory.
list	Gives you a listing of the shop’s inventory.

IN SET WE TRUST, ALL OTHERS PAY CASH!

There will be a sign in practially all shops — even with the specialty shops like Al’s Grill and the Stables.

Typing the command list gives you the overview of the shop’s inventory:

Num	Category	Inventory
—-	————————-	———-
[ 1]	All Items	4 in stock
[ 2]	Lanterns and Torches	2 in stock
[ 3]	Bags and Backpacks	1 in stock
[ 4]	Fine Cuisine	1 in stock

and typing list 1 will show all the items:

Item	Description	Price
—-	—————————————-	——-
[ 1]	an iron rations	30
[ 2]	a bag	30
[ 3]	a lantern	75
[ 4]	a torch	15

In order to buy iron rations, I’d use the command buy 1:

the Grocer tells you ‘That’ll be 30 coins, please.’
You now have an iron rations.

I can also sell to the shop, assuming I have the right kind of merchandise. Checking my inventory (type inv) I see:

You are carrying:
a mutton chop
a pair of hard leather sandals
a fauchard
a soft leather jacket [ 2]
a battle axe
a bag

I can sell the mutton chop by typing sell mutton or sell chop.

the Grocer tells you ‘You’ll get 2 coins for it!’
The shopkeeper now has a mutton chop.

The shopkeeper takes the item and the money goes into my pocket.

This underscores some of the economics of the Outpost. I could have eaten the chop or sold it. A ration costs 30 coins, which seems a lot, but you eat one and you’re full for awhile. If I’m out slaying herds in the grasslands, I don’t need to come in for food because I can eat what I slaughter. But I also don’t need to carry around a bunch of meat! It weighs me down, makes it harder to move, and harder to cast. When I’m on a run, I want to pick up only the most valuable of items and, unless I’m starving, looting stuff out of the herdbeasts isn’t cost effective.

Notice in my inventory that I also picked up some leather goods and weaponry. That’ll fetch a better price in the Armory, so I’ll just go sell off that gear by moving over to the armory and selling leather goods.

the Armourer tells you ‘You’ll get 60 coins for it!’
The shopkeeper now has a pair of hard leather sandals.

the Armourer tells you ‘You’ll get 60 coins for it!’
The shopkeeper now has a soft leather jacket.

the Armourer tells you ‘You’ll get 59 coins for it!’
The shopkeeper now has a soft leather jacket.

There was a difference in the price across the two jackets. The second one was damaged and so it got a lower price.

After that, the whole deal with shops is in knowing what to buy — and sell — where.