Terry squatted, then sat arms on his knees looking at his pet turtle. She was no different than before, except the voice. It was light and bubbly, full of sweetness and strangely was very close to the idea he had of her voice in his head.
Terry started questioning, “So you can talk now hmm”
“Yes, the Joker told me I could, he said you asked for me” Rosa beamed.
“You couldn't talk before right?” Terry questioned, only sort of halfway joking.
She responded patiently like talking to a child, “No I just thought a lot, now I know many things and I can say them”
“You do? wait, what do you know?” Terry had so many questions.
“Well, the Joker gave me the gift of knowledge. He said ‘ you are going to be Terry’s guide and teacher for this world. You can answer anything he asks about this world.’ so now I know everything” Rosa replied.
Terry wrinkled his brow asking, “How does that work?”
“It just does, now that your tutorial is done you get to use the magic of the Deck.” Rosa avoided the question excitedly.
Terry just had to accept that, and a part of him was just happy he got his pet back. Even if she was talking now. He continued, “alright, so what sorta magic do I get?”
“Let's go find out, pick me up and take me over there.” She moved her body and head to point at a waist high podium in the center of the clearing. It was not wide and reminded Terry of a stool or half pillar.
Terry grabbed the turtle, with a squeal of delight from the small creature. He put her on his shoulder. As he approached the column, swirls of silver came from the top and in a matter of quick moments created a bowl. The bowl filled with clear water reflecting the light and, as Terry peered over the bowl, the water began to ripple. As the ripples disappeared an image appeared. The Clownlike face of the Joker, Terry’s could feel the pit in his stomach form.
“Oh good you got through, great to see” the Joker let out. “And you got the girl too, happy to see it” His smile was not one of delight, more like a cat cornering a mouse.
“Well before I drop you on the Deck and let you loose I have some parting gifts for you. Some last tokens of your world to help you acclimate to mine.”
“Firstly you get 8 gifts! What you are getting is called an Attribute upgrade. It can be anything, but you only get 4 of them. They will give you Stats that will grow and define your abilities and skills. The Attributes can be anything from Capable to Deadly. The title you receive will also change you and form you into a warrior or worker in this world. Anyone who is anyone will have these skills and most never actually do get these upgrades. So be grateful that you are coming from another world, you get a free pass.” The joker winked and Terry did not feel luckier for seeing the predatory grin.
With this proclamation two vials rose from the liquid, strangely dry rather than wet from the pool. Each was filled with a red liquid and stoppered with a cork. “Drink up, Kiddo. I'll explain the rest after you do that.” Terry was not sure he really had a choice and the unstopped one, drank it down quickly and then did the same to the other. It was like a strange party trick from the parties Terry tried to avoid, but was often dragged to by Clair and her louder friends.
It tasted like his favorite flavor of smoothie from a shop he had frequented in the college town, strawberry and melon. It tingled going down his throat more like a soda, the taste of smoothie with the feel of soda was completely off putting. He became aware of a growing hunger as he had never gotten breakfast and he had no clue what time it was here.
“Bottoms up!” the Joker exclaimed “gotta love that enthusiasm.” Suddenly Terry doubled over in pain as his inside frothed and roiled. “There may be some discomfort, but it is like they say, ‘no pain no gain.’ And you're gaining 2 upgrades.”
A voice like a system message rang out suddenly in Terry’s head, sounding as if from everywhere:
You have 2 new Attributes:
Your Initiative Attribute has been upgraded to Determined
This title has been earned by your determination to not succumb to the darkness, and take an easy way out of your situation.
Your Indominace Attribute has been upgraded to Wind
Your ability to push yourself and move swiftly through the obstacles has granted you this elemental upgrade.
Continue to complete levels to gain upgrades for your remaining Attribute Slots
You have been granted experience. You have 0 experience. You now have 27 points of experience. you have unlocked one utility skill.
The Basic HUD can be used to interact with the world around you and to monitor yourself.
His eyes had been closed tight with the pain, but as the voice finished he opened them and the way he saw the world had changed. It was like a heads up display had been added to his vision. He saw readouts for himself displaying information he blinked and turned his head but the display stayed in place. It read:
Health: 72/100%
Stamina: 68/100%
Mana: unavailable
Menu
The items were in his vision but not intruding. “I take it you can see the HUD. It is always a bit jarring seeing the information like that, but this is a skill upgrade. It interacts with your own self to allow you to see how your body reacts to different stimuli. You can look through it a bit later, it is a part of you now and you’ll have all the time in the world to explore. There is so much to learn.” the clown continued.
The number next to his stamina slowly ticked up as his breathing settled. It was very responsive and would probably come in handy. The number next to his life did not move and he could feel his body bruising from the beating he had taken from the swinging poles. Terry figured it was like a video game where all of this was upgradable, but before he was able to figure it out he was drawn to the Joker’s instructions.
“Your other gift is your familiar pet, Rosa. I gave her a lot of information, but as a turtle she is wise, slow and patient. So she did not question anything and just accepted it and If I can give you a bit of advice kid, just do the same. Just ‘go with the flow’ as they say on your old planet and it will be smooth as it needs to be. I hopefully won’t be seeing you for sometime, but welcome to the Deck, enjoy yourself, get strong and don’t die.” The clown waved with the closing statement, and a feeling of relief came over Terry as the face faded from the bowl.
As the message ended, the world around Terry faded away and void returned. He had an immediate sense of falling like air rushing past him. A moment later he felt sun and then hard ground. He came out of a portal and landed on stone.
Looking around Terry saw he was in a field and it was an absolutely beautiful day with 2 suns. One was small and red, the other was large and yellow much more like the sun on earth. The area around him was a stone platform with three gateways sitting on it. Each gateway was an arch different from the others in design. One seemed to be made with balanced large circular stones, another was natural looking rocks bricks, and the last was a single piece of white speckled stone. The arches were placed like a wardrobe mirror and Terry had fallen from the circular rock arch on the left.
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The area around the stone stage was a flat expansive field complete with low rolling hills and knee high waving grass. It was serene and picturesque as any place he had seen. Rosa had moved to his hand and was also looking around. Terry was not sure how she had stayed on him during the fall.
“Well, we are about 3 miles outside a coastal town called the Iron Bay. We should go there first, towns here can cater a bit to new arrivals like yourself. It is to the west since we are at the Heart side of the continent, go that way.” Rosa indicated with her head. Terry put her back on his shoulder so that they could walk and talk.
“So you know all that because the Joker gave you a gift?” He wanted to know more about her, but was impressed by her directional and geographical knowledge.
She replied happily, “Yep, he bestowed me with great knowledge and I just sorta know where we came out of. I know the location of all the level portals, towns, cities, rivers, lakes and monuments. Really anything that might help you interface with the world around you.”
“Are you okay being my guide like that, it can be a lot of responsibility. I am pretty lost here and will probably ask a lot of questions.” Terry put in. He never liked being waited on as he preferred to find things out for himself.
Rosa replied, “Oh I do not mind it beats being a desk ornament?” There was almost a joking tone to her voice and Terry remembered a time his roommate had called the pet just that.
“I never thought of you as that, just to be clear” Terry felt the need to say this not wanting to offend his guide.
“Oh I am aware, you’re a fine owner. I am just happy to have jokes and a way to show personality.” She spoke so matter-of-factly and had a distinct and adorable smile.
“Can you tell me anything about the area we are in? I am also going to try out some of the options on my HUD. Just see what I can do with it as you talk, okay?” Terry explained
Rosa replied, “good idea you will be interested to know…” and she was off on a diatribe about the land they were walking through, which was still rolling hills for as far as Terry could see.
He began with focusing on the Menu option at the bottom of his screen. The menu consisted of several options. Setting, Display, Personalize, Add-ons. It was like a computer start up menu, he scrolled through each selecting them by focusing on the options like a mental mouse click.
After about 20 or so min he had a different set up for his HUD. It included a directional compass near the top, it showed he moving west and slightly south. It also showed his Health as not a percentage but a fiscal number with 250 units. He was not sure on the measurements, but the option had described that this was a HP like unit for precision and it would grow as his tolerance grew and would adjust for any health items. He kept the Stamina as a percentage. it only seemed to go back to 100% when he was idle and at full rest. As he walked it slowly ticked down and up occasionally. He simply removed the Mana read out as it was blank. The Hud was now simply:
HP: 150/150 HP
Stamina: 290/300 SP
He was also able, in the add-on menu, to paste quick select buttons to his HUD for immediate selection. He did this with an Identify and a Translate button. Both these were suggested by Rosa when he brought it up, interrupting her dialogue on the types of horticulture and farming trends of the town they were going towards. Apparently they had an interesting and new vegetable that the turtle was looking forward to trying, something known as stone-carrot and stone-cabbage.
After 30 more minutes of facts and walking, Terry could see the town and he was happy to see his compass showed a symbol that marked the area. It must have still been considered early in the morning as there was very little to no traffic coming in or out of the gated wall that stretched to encompass the town.
The wall was about 15 feet up and appeared to be made of a heavy mixed gray stone. Terry couldn't even see a mortar or other gluing material between the construction, this did not extend to the gate. It was easily 30 feet tall and the top was crenelated on either end like some medieval castle. The doors were open and on some sort of track, they were a dark wood planking with massive bronze knockers in the center of each in the shape of a giant cat holding a loop within its mouth.
There were two sets of 4 guards on each side. They at first looked human, but as Terry got closer he noted that they were not and in fact just humanoid. Each was different; some had animal-like faces complete with snots, whiskers and fur. One had the head of a Prey Mantis and one looked straight out of Planet of the Apes, the original .They were dressed in a coat of dark gray like an officer's jacket over a simple tunic-like shirt. Getting closer he saw each had a different style of pants, some capris, some full length, depending on the type of legs they had.
The Apelike guard and a guard with a sorta slim cow-like face stepped out to meet Terry as he approached. They each had different gates to their walks like being upright was not the way they preferred to move.
“Good morns there Sir'' the Apelike Guard said, “welcome to the Iron Bay, do you mind if I ask where yer comin’ from and what yer business is ‘ere?” He had a clipped and obviously male voice. Sorta common and sailors-ish.
Terry was taken aback at the English, being ready to use his translate button on his HUD. He noticed that it had lit up as the guard talked, so it translated in real time. Terry slowly replied, not sure if his words would translate. ”I was brought here, to a tutorial. I was wanting to get some food and maybe find out more about this world and the levels?” The last part was a question, not really sure what would be an appropriate answer to the guard’s questions.
“Oh, one of that lot aye! Well welcome to the world” The apeman laughed and Terry felt that his translation had worked and he was not the first person they had met from another world or being new to this place. “Yer be wanting to head on to the Taverns then. That be where all you players-likes be meeting and getting together. Just ‘ead down from ‘ere, 4 or 6 steps. It has a big sign called Player house or summtin’ ‘ike dat.” He pointed through the gate and smiled happily. “Stir clear of the east ‘ide of ‘ere, that be where the nobles and fancy folks be settlin’ and you can probably get lodgin’ at the inn’s district near the docks for a bit of work in a kitchen or the like.”
“MMMiinddd ttthhee ssiggnns fforrr tthhhee rruuless” the cow guard put in speaking slow and dragging out each letter, so the short sentence took a while to come out.
“Sounds great, I will keep all that in mind” Terry remarked now slightly nervous for his first time going into an alien civilization. But as he made his way through the gate the nerves were replaced with awe.
The reason he could not see buildings over the wall was the town was built downward into a bay. The foundations for the rows of buildings were large stone steps. Making the town itself look like it was built on the bleachers of a coliseum. The field for the bleachers was a dock district on a cyan sea.
It was hard to count the number of steps and each had many different types and styles of building. Large cylindrical towers were focused near the bottom, other wide rectangular warehouse-like buildings were scattered here and there. Every building had a flat roof and there were people and creatures moving on the rooftops, easily viewed from above. From the gate it was a great staircase that connected each of the tiers, although Terry could see other staircases between each layer.
“‘Elcome to da’ Iron Bay, or the Stairs to the Heart.'' ,said the ape guard as he fell back in step with his fellows. Terry nodded his head stepping down into the town.
“Well at least they were nice.” Said Rosa as they made their way down, “There are a number of outsiders that come to the Diamondlands each year. So you are not too out of the norm.” Rosa put in as they started down the steps. Terry felt strange and awkward. He thought he might be a rarity in this new world, but both Rosa and the guards told him that was not the case.
Terry responded not letting the disappointment show, “Well I am happy to make a new home here and not go back to earth if I can help it.”
Rosa just nodded along as they made their way down the stairs. Each level of the town seemed to be filled with shops and different sorts of inns or boarding houses. The levels were not overly filled with pedestrians, but some people moved from shop to shop. Most buildings were at least two stories, suggesting that the people of the town could live above the shops and stores. Overall it seemed a neat and tidy community.
The area got noticeably more crowded by the ships and docks. Colorful stalls were set up along the bottom level and Terry could see from above the bustling shapes of sailors and shoppers going from place to place. The ships were interesting as well. Some were like the large cargo vessels of earth, long and flat holding many containers, these were located on the outside docks being unloaded by cranes. The inner docks were filled with what must be the idea of a pleasure craft in this world. Tall sailed boats, long and tall yacht like vessels, and medium motorized fishing craft were scattered here and there and truly of all shapes and sizes. Terry could even see some paddle boats like the ones couples could take on a lake.
Following the direction from the guard, he soon saw a sign that read ‘Player Tavern’ on his right. The sign was not in english, but it appeared his translation button changed reading as well.
“I hope the tavern has something to eat. I am in the mood for a real breakfast” Terry said jovially as they turned down the lane.
Rosa confirmed, “The taverns are really like a big food court and I am hungry too. I never got to fully finish that lettuce leaf before you were sucked into the Joker’s void.” Terry approached the tavern, a three story red brick building with the sign reading ‘Where The Players go’ hanging above the double doors. He took a breath and went in.