‘Why did you insist I take you here?’ Cam shouted over the roar of the club.
‘How could I not?’ Ted shouted back. ‘It’s a club! A magic club!’
‘Yes, it’s awful. Can we go now?’
‘No!’
Ted looked around, marvelling at the similarities and the major, major differences between a club on his world and here. The room was packed with people of a range of species, jostling and jumping and dancing to the heavy, heavy beat that was coming from a raised platform in the middle of the room. On the platform were two huge Baraye, playing a range of instruments that varied from drum-like cylinders to odd woodwind style pieces that issued out loud, deep thrums.
There were Arachnids in the crowd, the first that Ted had seen, about waist height spider like creatures that sent something primal in Ted into spasms of fear. He tried to keep it under control. They were both in their own groups and interspersed with other species, and it looked like they were dancing using intricate flips and jumps that sent them metres into the air.
They weren’t the only ones though; half of the club were dancing similarly to what Ted had seen on earth. The other half were clearly using their Skills and Techniques to make a show, and in some special cases circles had cleared to allow these people to display their abilities. A few metres away a Sassar and a human were engaged in some combat dance that merged with the beat of the music, with the Sassar sending curving trails of fire at the human, who would artfully move away, in a style that made Ted think of capoeira. If capoeira allowed for three metre high jumps and air-time hangs.
Acrobatic Skills seemed to be relatively prevalent amongst the more skillful dancers, and there were plenty of sweeping aerial moves around the room, many combined with colourful magics and near impossible breakdancing.
‘This is amazing!’ Ted said. ‘This is what I was talking about! Everyone using their abilities! How couldn’t you love this?’
‘What?’ Cam said, just audible between the Thump thump thump of the music.
‘IT’S AMAZING.’ Ted shouted.
‘I’M GOING BACK!’ Cam yelled back. ‘OKAY?’
‘OKAY. I’M GOING TO STAY.’ Ted replied. Cam turned, and headed out through the door they’d just entered through, shouldering his way through the people making their way in; they’d not made it more than 2 metres into the room before Cam had decided to call it a day.
Ted made his way deeper into the crowd.
Brookfields had been both more and less than he’d been expecting, try as he might to suppress all his expectations. It had been much bigger than Blackmoor, but didn’t quite reach the definition of a city that would be needed on Earth; Cam had told him that there were about twenty thousand people living here. Still, when he’d arrived he was pleased to see it was somewhere between a normal western Earth town, a mediaeval fantasy village, and something entirely alien. Cam had pointed out the Arachnid towers, wide, one hundred metre tall structures built of metal frames but interconnected with silks and natural materials. Ropes connected the structures to a range of buildings around it, in something that could only be described as a web. Even as Cam showed Ted, they saw an Arachnid gliding gracefully down one of them, hopping off onto the roof of a building at the end of the rope.
‘Not ropes - it’s some natural silk substance they make. They have a fancy name for it, but silk works. Incredibly strong. They’re phenomenal at building rapid, complex structures when you’re on the move.’ Cam said, admiringly. ‘You’ll probably meet some today.’
They’d found an inn and rented some rooms, Cam finding that his Centrals were running dangerously low, as the room cost him another twenty; many times more than the one at the roadside caravanserai. He mentioned it to Cam, who told him that he’d sell on the materials and goods they’d got from the Burner Stag and pass the money on to Ted. It had been many years since Ted had trusted someone on their word to handle his money and possessions like that, but in this new world he had no idea how much anything was worth anyway.
Plus he’d mostly forgotten that they had a load of harvested gear from his kill with him.
Cam also suggested that they do some hunting on their way to the next city, as a way to hone his skills and gain more goods to sell. Ted had happily agreed.
He left Cam to trade and network whilst he wandered around the town, exploring the markets and neatly laid out streets of the city. With some of his remaining Centrals he bought a range of exciting, different foods, still entertained by the Second World’s own form of contactless payment. After chatting to one of the market vendors, and eating what could only be described as a life-changingly good sweet pastry, he found to his surprise that there was actually a Cookery Skill in this world.
‘How does that work then?’ he asked the vendor, a short, pale man that he suspected was from the caverns of Alma. ‘You get a Choux Pastry Technique and can suddenly make magically good eclairs?’
The Great British Bake Off had served him well.
The Alman chuckled gruffly. ‘Kind of. It’s a surprisingly hard Technique to get; people still spend years getting even the first levels of Cooking and its Techniques. The Techniques are limited, but more just give you better insight and specific senses for making things. Very nuanced.’
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‘Sounds like a tough career path.’ Ted said. ‘I’ll take another one please.’
He wandered off, munching, another Central down, considering his past few purchases and wondering whether he should be resorting to old habits. In the old world, he wasn’t exactly a regular shoplifter, though lifting an item here or there just to test his skills when it could in no way be traced back wasn’t past him. But prior to being a Lollipop Man, he’d been a skilled thief, able to regularly part rich people with their goods without being noticed.
Even as a Lollipop Man he’d found it hard not to notice the wealthier people walk past, see some of the more ostentatious cars on gated driveways and not plan out the best way in and out.
But here it hadn’t even come into his head. Until now.
He also saw a variety of magical items being used, that he’d not even considered might exist before; with everything so simple and rudimentary at Basic Training, he’d just assumed that this was a luddite society, eschewing technology; instead, they’d replaced a lot of it with magical artifice. Shops had signs that would light up, and the street lights were definitely magical; he even tried extending his new Magic Sense to check. He was surprised by how prevalent it really was.
He continued walking down the street, seeing stalls for weapons and armour, crystals and gadgets, looking at the people walking around him; a huge variety of humans, several Baraye, a lot of Sassar, and one or two Arachnids wandering around. He couldn’t see if any of them were well off; most of them carried small bags, and wore armour or clothing, but there weren’t huge bits of jewellery showing, and everyone was on foot.
Perhaps even considering a return to that way of life was a stupid one then. It had been one he was comfortable with though, despite how it ended.
He walked over to one of the stalls that seemed to be displaying a range of magical gadgets, a Sassar stood behind it, wearing a white shirt that went down to its clawed feet, a hole cut out for its tail. There were several people perusing, and he had to get the shopkeeper’s attention by calling out.
‘Hey! What are all these?’ he asked. Both of them looked down at the range of devices in front of them. Most were metallic globes or eggs, inset with rocks or gems, some with buttons, but there was a range of intricately stitched bags and some items that looked like pens.
‘A range of fine enchanted goodsss, sssir.’ The Sassar said, helpfully. ‘Which are you interested in?’
Ted had no idea, none of them being obvious as to what they actually did. He suspected that his remaining 20 Centrals wouldn’t get him anything in any case. He was still carrying a wad of the Authority notes though. Maybe they were worth something here?
‘Um. That one?’ he pointed at a small golden locket style device, with a dark black stone in it.
‘Very good choiccce sssir.’ the Sassar said. ‘That one has a range of ten metress, and is good for both sspellsss and projectilesss. A ssssteal at one thousand Centralsss.’ the salesman watched him closely, his long, triple forked tongue flicking out and back several times.
He’s weighing me up, Ted thought. Little does he know, I have no idea what’s going on. And I have no money.
‘But what does it do?’ he asked.
‘Well it’s a shield amulet.’ the Sassar said, looking surprised. ‘Can’t you Identify it?’
‘Ah.’ said Ted, and this time he actually was embarrassed. He didn’t mind being stupid in a world that hadn’t had anything explained to him. But he knew about the Identify Technique, and had repeatedly promised that he’d try to use it more. And here he was, making a fool of himself again.
‘Yeah, sorry about that. I’m not from around here. Only died recently. Give me a moment.’
He quickly Identified all of the items in front of him, impressed and surprised by what he found.
Identified: Shield Charm
Identified: Heat Charm
Identified: Locking Charm
Identified: Bag - Storage
Identified: Wand - Marking
Identified: Wand - Runes
‘Ahh. Okay, that makes sense.’ he said, thinking of the Sassar’s description of range and use against projectiles. ‘Looks very cool.’ he told the Sassar, who nodded his head.
‘Interesssted?’ he asked, hopefully.
‘I’m afraid I’m a little short right now.’ Ted said, making as if to look in his pockets. ‘But I may be back later.’
He resisted the urge to pocket one of the smaller items as he turned and walked away. He suspected the penalty for that kind of thing was death by fireballs, or lizard claws, or something, and frankly, it wasn’t worth it. He made a note to ask Cam about those kinds of goods later.
He continued to wander, finding the Outpost of the city, but deciding not to enter in case he was suddenly forced into a Portal to the Front. There was a large military-esque building that seemed to be there to support guards and hunters, and a range of other, smaller yet still impressive mansions that seemed to be guilds and centres for different professions and Classes. Ted looked around hopefully for a GateKeeper building, but couldn’t find one.
The largest building by far, even peaking above the heights of the Arachnid’s homes, was a stone box, covered in stained glass, with a spire that rose fifty metres above the walls of the building itself; a church.
‘Same thing, no matter where you go.’ Ted muttered to himself. He thought to take a look in, but decided against it, instead choosing a route that would take him towards the Arachnid homes. Time, he thought, to meet another race.
-
The Arachnids had been uninterested in meeting him. As he wandered around the bases of the towers that they lived in, he could see hundreds of them among the silken levels above him, but few came to the ground. When they did, he was unsure how to approach without it coming off oddly; he started wondering how Cam would have felt if Ted had gone up to him and said ‘Hi, I was hoping to talk to an Asian person - you’ll do!’, and whether this was pretty analogous. Still, he’d been fascinated even by seeing them from far away, if a little intimidated as well; they moved fast on all those legs, even at height, and seemed capable of leaping dozens of metres on those legs. Their chittering was meaningless to him, and he wondered how they communicated with humans. He’d watched for a little while longer, before deciding to move on, hoping not to gain a reputation as a bit of a weirdo. It was on the walk back to the inn that he’d seen the club.
THE AFTER PARTY! The sign said, in flashing lights, bright even in the afternoon sunshine. Underneath a sign promised cheap drinks and great music. Ted hadn’t been to a club since he’d started his old new life as a Lollipop Man, and there was something about those awful places that he deeply missed. He made a note as to where it was, so he could find his way back. Then he went to tell Cam. They had evening plans.