We followed the river and found a modest village. Wooden huts, mostly women working as I assumed men were at work elsewhere.
Our miserable troupe just walked in, I suppose we felt as if things couldn't get much worse.
Earthy smells tickled my nose, I heard the sound of clothes being scraped against a board in a basin, and another woman was mending something with a needle and thread. It might have been charming if no one had died on the hike here.
But none of us knew how to proceed with the locals, so Alex decided to risk it.
"Excuse me. May we ask you some questions?" The nearest villager turned and said.
"Aye, though your garb may be foreign. We are simple folk, I'll give what answers I can." She gave us a wary look but didn't reject us.
"We woke up in a glade in these clothes, some hour or so that way. We have no idea how we got there. Lost in the woods we came across a monsterous bear which killed one of us."
"Sounds like Foriegn Worlder affairs, with your being lost, and strange garb. Old Barum may be able to assist you. By the water there is where you can find ‘im”
"Thank you." Alex nodded slighty.
I wanted to ask about that Foreigner Worlder comment but it would soon be answered.
We walked to a larger house with a modest herb garden. After a knock a man shouted "Ah! One moment, alright come in!"
The door swung open revealing a home with shelves of books, shelves of herbs, and potions while dull in color made a drab rainbow.
The owner of all this was an old man with a fluffy beard and glasses resting on his face.
"A villager pointed us to you. We woke up in a glade in the forest in these clothes."
With a smile he lights an fire and begins to brew something. "Well if you're Foreign Worlders welcome to Argval. Argval being the world you happen to be in. I'll set some tea to boil and do my best to help you ex-otherworldly inhabitants or not. Before I get started explaining things, any burning questions you can't sit on?"
"Can you explain what a Foreign Worlder is?" Ji-Eun asks before me.
While Barum begins Alex grabs the spare chair, Kenzo kneels square in the middle of the room, and Ji-Eun sits against the wall while I sit in front of him.
"Foreign Worlders come from foreign worlds. You all have passed from your world, presumably through death, to ours. You might be imagining out of all the worlds why this one? Why here and not one like your own? This world is… 'cosmically active' otherworldly beings are more common here. There was a bit of luck at arriving here, but some part of most otherworldly visitors is desire. Conscious or not you wanted something a world like this can offer." Barim pours the piping hot liquid into brown clay cups and hands them to us.
"It's a subtle act of will. You are like that tea, you wanted a new cup, so even if the material and shape is different. It's recognizable as a cup."
He paused his oration to take a blow on his tea to cool it.
"Argval is not a homogeneous world of only humans. World history is a topic I can teach you, if you stick around Venla, this humble village you've stumbled onto."
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He paused again for a short sip, the tea cooled to be more to my taste, too bitter but I tried to drain my cup quickly mostly due to having worked up a sweat after having a sip from the river.
"Foreign Worlders unlike those of us born here by some Skills to help you survive. We converse through one. I am not speaking any common language. This Skill Translate applies to written language as well, you can even write languages you don't know. You all are very useful to the right people by that virtue alone but that's not all."
Barum takes another sip, I place my cup on the floor.
"Identify is an Active Skill unlike the Passive Translate you need to focus on one object and try and activate it using your will."
I turn my head to a potion and think Identify. A star materializes then breaks as darkness pushes the star's points into the screen's corners.
> Potion of Mental Protection.
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> After imbibing the whole bottle it grants 10 minute immunity to mental effects.
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There was a hush that fell over the room. I saw my screen but couldn't see anyone else's.
I try to activate it on Alex. But it fails, I guess intel gathering on humans should be harder.
"It doesn't work on people?"
Barum chuckled "No it takes a stronger Skill, Hunter's Senses can tell you things about Fauna enemies. What you need for Humans, Elves, and Dwarves is Kindred Insight. Rather than using humanity, or humanoid to describe all of us we use the term Kindred to describe all of us."
Barum paused to let us digest that. Dungeons and Dragons calling most player races humanoid did imply human was the norm of that world. Or maybe everyone in that world acknowledged most things looked a bit like humans.
"Something everyone can do in Argval is look at their Status. Foreign Worlders have a benefit that us born here don't. Open the status window and you can select Subclass, and when you level up Class."
Status.
The star broke into a computer-like screen with my info
> Name: Erik
>
> Class: Adventurer
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> Health 20/20
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> Experience 0
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> Might 4
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> Agility 5
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> Endurance 5
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> Mind 6
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> Will 5
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> Skills: Status, Translate, and Identify.
The name of my class Adventurer was glowing but couldn't activate mentally it like Identify.
Barum chuckled before I could try. "You can press your finger against your class for more options. Pressing a finger on stats or skills will reveal more information. So there's no need to ask me. Let's take a break so you can digest all that read up and think carefully about picking a subclass.
He drained his cup as I first tapped all my stats.
> Heath 20/20 Health is defined by Endurance. Health equals 4×Endurance as base. With levels you add your Endurance to the total equal to total class level.
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> Experience 0 Experience measures the total effort to improve.
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> Might 4 Might governs your ability to carry and how much damage you deal upon a successful hit, a grazing blow, or blocked attack.
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> Agility 5 Agility governs your ability to dodge and to land attacks.
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> Endurance 5 governs health and your ability to resist physical ailments from attacks to poison and disease.
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> Mind governs mental acuity and the efficacy of skills with the magic type and crafting type.
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> Will governs your ability to resist mental ailments such as fear or charm.
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Ok. It seems like I'm a little pigeon holed to magic or crafting. There might be exceptions.
Kenzo asked as we all were reading. "Should we discuss what we are? I'm picking Apprentice."
Alex piped up "Well I'm most suited to Squire."
"Lookout seems to be what's left." Ji-Eun said.
"We don't need to pick around each other. Pick what you will be okay with your life being outside of this group." I wasn't sure if they all naturally picked different specializations but I wasn't going to compromise myself for the people I don't owe any allegiance to.
Thinking I might be the spare I tapped my class causing the panel to blank and grow. White text filled the screen Adventurer was labeled at the top with Squire, Lookout, and Apprentice label the bottom of 3 subclass tree panels.
Just like cracking open a handbook I read over some options.
> Squire the novice Warrior. The first skill, Training- you will gain a daily quest to train until your body is worthy of the title Warrior. Upon completion you gain +1 to Might.
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> Lookout the novice Scout. The first skill, Street Smart- you will gain a daily quest to harness your skill and senses until your dexterity and perception is worthy of the title Scout. Upon completion you gain +1 to Agility.
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> Apprentice the novice Mage. The first skill, Bookish Scholar- you will gain a daily quest to sharpen your mind until your intellect is worthy of the title Mage. Upon completion you gain +1 Mind.
The second skill of each tree was more exciting.
> Squires get Martial Techniques- you have harness the potential within your body and can now select 2 novice Martial type Skills.
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> Lookouts get Surprise Attack- when attacking unprepared enemies through stealth or disorientation you deal damage with Agility and Might.
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> Apprentices get Literacy- you have developed the ability to draw power from tomes. You gain one Spell type skill and the ability to learn more from magic tomes.
Wizards seem weaker, but I am getting quadratic wizard vibes. There wasn't a listed limit to what a mage can learn. From this one skill I can grow a vast spell list.
I pressed on Apprentice and chose to trod a path to power through magic.