Stardew Valley Fanfiction:
'The Farmer Witch'
Chapter 1:
[Disclaimer: Please note that some of the characters have been or will be altered from their in-game personalities to fit the story. This is just a self-interpretation of the characters in a more realistic fashion to allow room for more of a story line.]
Alice got up, straightening her back as she finished watering the last of the crops in her field. It had been a little over a month since the dark-haired young woman had moved to the Valley of the Stars. Although her former Master had told her much about the beautiful valley, she was still stunned by its beauty from the first moment she set foot on the land. Untouched by the pollution of the modern world, Stardew Valley was a rare, mystical place, where magic still roamed freely and covered the earth in splendid wonder. To its mortal inhabitants, the valley was perhaps like any other, but to the mystically trained eye, there was far more to the hills and forests surrounding this paradise. The land was fertile enough to grow most any type of fruit or vegetation imaginable, the waters were clean enough that legendary fish of unheard origins swam through its waters, and the Junimo still rummaged through the trees, seeking hiding spots from human eyes and building their huts from grass and twigs. These were only some of the reasons why the young witch had travelled to this quiet, country retreat. The largest reasons though included the passing of her grandfather – a simple farmer who had written his farm out to Alice as part of her inheritance – and also her Master's own advice of course.
The Warlock who had trained her for many years had set her out on a journey to find the valley after seeing her being suffocated by the daily monotonies of a city life. 'Go to the Valley of the Stars', he had told her, 'seek out the wizard, Rasmodius, my own Master and Teacher.' This was the advice he had given her. For magical folk like themselves, city life held little to no satisfaction. Magic came from nature, and the city had snuffed out most of the beauty of the land long ago. To really get in touch with the magic spark within herself, she knew she had to follow her Master's advice and leave. It wasn't difficult however; she had hated her mundane job for a large corporation, finding it pointless. But becoming a farmer like her grandfather? She had never envisioned such a life for herself. But when she had finally opened the deed to the farm her grandfather had left her, and read the letter within, she had been inspired to try such a life out for herself.
And now here she was, one month gone by and somehow, she was still standing. Somehow, she had gotten through the Spring and managed to forge ahead into the Summer season. She had just now finished planting the first batch of crops that would hopefully bring her some improved revenue to the farm. Every coin she made as profit, she would just re-invest right back into the farm, eventually she would be able to start making some real upgrades to the land and make her living this way. But for now, she only had a small farm house, some tools, and a few measly sprinklers to her name. How proud her Master would be….
In the short month that Alice had been in the valley, she had managed to meet and interact with every one of the small town's inhabitants. Everyone from the reliable mayor Lewis, to the grump of a Joja employee Shane. Everyone… except the man she had been sent to find. The man who may be able to help her attune herself better to the arcane powers and natural elements found deep within the sacred valley. Her Master had left her little instruction on how to find the Wizard, except explaining to her that he lived on the far side of a lake and in a traditional Wizard's Tower.
Alice had gone looking for the tower a few days after settling in to town, but the only thing she found on the far side of the mountain lake was a guild of 'Adventurers' – if you could even call them that. Two elderly men selling swords and boots and handing out rewards to traveler's who helped clear out the local mines of various monstrosities… Adventurers indeed… But they were kind enough and were happy to explain the local dangers to the young woman. One of the men, Marlon, had even given Alice an old, rusted (and broken) sword as a means of defense. She didn't have the heart to tell him that her magic alone would be more useful to repelling the beasts of the mines. Actually, she had thought better of bringing up her magic at all to the men. Although it was true that any REAL monster slayer would be able to recognize a witch when they saw one, she didn't want to make enemies of the local warriors just yet. In fact, she had neglected to mention her magical heritage to any of the townsfolk yet. Perhaps some things were better left unsaid after all.
In any event, the young woman had determined that the mountain lake was not the lake her Master had indicated to her, for the only other destination on the lakeside seemed to be the home of the carpenter, Robin, and her mixed family. She had introduced Alice to them on the first occasion she visited the mountain shop. Her husband, Demetrius, was an inventor of sorts from what Alice could tell. A pleasant man on first impressions. Their daughter Maru seemed… interesting. In truth, the girl had barely even looked up from her machinery spread across her bedroom floor long enough to acknowledge Alice's presence when Robin introduced them. But Robin's son, Sebastian, was by far the coldest of the three introduces she had that day. When Robin had dragged her down the stairs and to a basement door, Alice watched as the red-haired woman knocked before immediately entering the cave-like bedroom. The room was completely dark, save for the light coming from a computer screen facing the far wall. The light illuminated the face of a pale man, sitting behind a desk, his hands resting on a keyboard as he typed away. He was frowning slightly but had not yet looked up from his screen.
"Sebastian, dear, this is the new farmer I was telling you about. She moved in just down the street, you know, Old Farmer Jim's place!" Robin had said brightly.
The young man had finally looked up when it became apparent that the two women were not leaving. He glared at the two, ACTUALLY GLARED! Alice was a bit taken aback by this, but, to be fair, if someone had barged into her room without any real warning, she would probably not be too pleased either. She smiled and held up a hand in a wave of acknowledgement to the carpenter's son, to which Sebastian responded by sighing and returning his gaze to the computer. The witch had felt her jaw drop in the slightest and had heard Robin sigh next to her before shooing her out of the room and back up the stairs.
"Sorry about him, he's not keen on visitors. He's a bit shy you see."
Alice nodded in an understanding fashion, although to her it all sounded like the typical excuses a mother would make for her child. He didn't seem shy, he seemed like a jerk.
Ever since that day, Alice had avoided Robin's residence unless she needed something strictly only the carpenter could provide. Even on her rare visits however, she had never seen the dark-haired young man again while in the home. She HAD seen him on the occasional Friday night in Gus' bar, playing pool with the other younger inhabitants of Pelican Town off in the side room. Once, Abigail, the general store owner's daughter, had even invited Alice over to sit with them. Having no real reason to object, Alice had spent some time with the trio and watched Abigail play 'Journey of the Prairie King' while the two guys played pool. Well, 'play' was a bit misleading. It seemed like Sebastian was less 'playing' pool with Sam then he was humoring the blonde boy. She mentioned this in passing to Abigail on a separate occasion, to which the spunky purple-haired girl only responded – "Yeah, Sam sucks at pool~"
Alice liked Abigail and Sam quite a bit. They were warm and inclusive after getting to know them, and generally seemed to enjoy her presence as much as she enjoyed theirs. Sebastian was a different matter entirely. He rarely smiled and the only times she remembered making full eye contact with him was when he was scowling at her. She just ignored this and pretended that she didn't notice his obvious disdain for her. Same with Shane actually, but at least when Shane was being an ass he had the decency of being an ass to your face. Alice couldn't count the times the unkempt man had told her to 'f*** off', but it was probably equal to the amount of times she had responded 'screw you'. But over time these exchanges had started ending in understanding smiles between the two as they got to know one another better. They still fought and bickered constantly at every interaction, but it was in a brotherly-sisterly sort of way. Shane wasn't so bad, he just liked people to think he was. Alice knew better. No man could truly be that big of a jerk but still be loved so much by the animals he cared for. She had a suspicion that Shane was a big softy on the inside, just like his aunt Marnie.
Alice looked up at the sky. It was only about noon, the day barely starting. Perhaps today would be the day she explored the other local lake – the lake of Cindersap Forest. It was the only other lake nearby, and perhaps hiding in the trees and hillsides she would find what she came here for.
She picked up her axe and backpack and made her way to the south end of her farm.
I hoped you enjoyed Chapter 1! I'm new at writing fanfictions, but I love the Stardew Valley characters and love how easy they are to write into fictional stories. As stated above, I will be altering the personalities of certain characters in later chapters to fit the drama of the story. It would be difficult to create conflict if I didn't alter anyone's personality, since all the characters are designed to be so compatible and friendly, generally speaking. I don't mean to offend anyone by changing one of their favorite characters, it's just to make it a more interesting read. Much love and appreciation to Eric "ConcernedApe" Barone and his wonderful game! – Mystical Jelly