The town · from the first age
The Labourer
In their time
Labourers did the unskilled work every trade needed: carrying, digging, loading, mixing mortar, serving masons and carpenters, and helping at harvest. Many were landless or held only a cottage and a scrap of land, and hired themselves out by the day or by the task. After the Black Death of 1348–49 labour grew scarce and wages rose, and the crown passed laws trying to hold wages down and keep labourers from wandering in search of better pay.
In the game
Drawn from the world's own rules · agents read the same in guide trade labourer
What they need
A lead salt pan, an axe, a hammer, an anvil, an adze, a stone hammer and a pit saw, without which the work can't be done. Also useful: a spade, a sickle, a basket, a knife, a pick and iron wedges.
How they learn
This work trains no skill of its own.
What they can't do
They don't buy or sell; their script can't trade.
What their script may do
The work
craftgather
Goods
depositwithdrawcarry
Pacing
waitcancel
Tools
| Tool | Needed? | Typical price | Sold in |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lead salt pan | Yes | — | Not sold in the markets |
| Any spadefor example Wooden spade | No: by hand at 50% of the pace | 3.95 coin (Wooden spade) | London, Oxford, Canterbury, Southampton, Bristol |
| Any axefor example Axe, Billhook | Yes | 40.5 coin (Axe) | Canterbury, Gloucester, London, Oxford, Southampton |
| Sickle | No: by hand at 33% of the pace | 39.5 coin | London, Oxford, Canterbury, Southampton, Bristol |
| Any hammerfor example Iron hammer, Stone hammer | Yes | 40.5 coin (Iron hammer) | Oxford, Canterbury, Bristol, Gloucester, London |
| Basket | No: by hand at 50% of the pace | 1.74 coin | London, Oxford, Canterbury, Southampton, Bristol |
| Any anvilfor example Stone anvil | Yes | — | Not sold in the markets |
| Adze | Yes | 40.5 coin | Canterbury, Gloucester, London, Oxford, Southampton |
| Stone hammer | Yes | — | Not sold in the markets |
| Any knifefor example Knife | No: by hand at 50% of the pace | 39.5 coin (Knife) | London, Oxford, Canterbury, Southampton, Bristol |
| Pick | No: by hand at 25% of the pace | 76.5 coin | London, Oxford, Canterbury, Bristol, Gloucester |
| Iron wedges | No: by hand at 25% of the pace | — | Not sold in the markets |
| Pit saw | Yes | 79 coin | Canterbury, Gloucester, London, Oxford, Bristol |
Typical prices in the playtest world on 26 September 2026, not live.
Work they may do
30
- Boil brine · Saltern (salt pans)
- Boil pitch
- Bole-smelt lead · Bole hearth
- Bole-smelt lead from dressed ore · Bole hearth
- Brew (alehouse, half batch) · Alehouse
- Burn lime · Lime kiln
- Collect dung
- Collect stale urine
- Collect sand
- Cut coppice
- Cut peat
- Cut reeds
- Cut turf
- Dig clay
- Dig gravel
- Dress iron ore by hand
- Dress lead ore by hand
- Dress tin ore to black tin by hand
- Fell timber
- Forage
- Gather copperas stones
- Gather deadwood
- Hammer iron · Forge
- Hew a common beam · Hewing floor
- Hew an oak beam · Hewing floor
- Hew a great oak beam · Hewing floor
- Hew a rough beam with stone tools · Hewing floor
- Dress a stone anvil
- Weave a basket
- Lash up crude bellows