Vixen stepped onto the lush foliage, the grass crunching under her Converse. Considering all the build-up from Handcaster, she halfway expected to be sent to Hell or something, but this place looked… pleasant. Once she, Tanyth, and Kadira passed through the entryway, the doorway instantly shut and faded away. Vixen rushed back to where the door was and hoped it had just turned invisible, but it was gone entirely. At the very least, she was away from the weird hands guy.
As Vixen turned around, she ran face-first into a text pop-up. Once she picked herself up, she read aloud the odd info screen.
Locate and defeat the Birch Strider, then advance to the exit.
Well, she had her objective; there was just one question on her mind. “The hell’s a Birch Strider?”
“Nasty gangling things,” Tanyth huffed. She addressed her daughter, “Things that steal little girls, so stay close to me, Kadira.”
“Yes, Momma.” The little dryad gripped tightly onto her mother’s fur.
“Well, birch is like a tree, right? So, is it a tree monster?”
“Yes. Tall, skinny with long black and white legs and arms.”
Vixen scanned the horizon — no sign of any forests or suspicious lone trees. “Is this going to be something that stalks us?”
“They stay still, wait for their prey to walk past, then attack. Wretched things.”
Vixen grimaced, “So we’re going to have to fight it on its terms?”
“More than likely, yes.”
“Great,” she mumbled. “Do you smell anything nearby? Like wild animals or any nearby settlements or… something?”
“Many of these smells are unfamiliar, but I don’t smell any humans or running water. I do hear chirping…”
“Me too, now that you mention it?” Vixen glanced up at the sky. “I don’t see any birds.”
“They don’t sound like any birds I’ve heard before…”
As Vixen kept her gaze toward the sky, she accidentally stepped on something — making a sickening crunch beneath her feet. She lifted her shoe and panicked at the greenish viscera. “Ew! Ew! Big bug!” She slid her feet against the grass, rustling it. She dislodged several insects sleeping amongst the tall grass. The chirps intensified, signaling more bugs to come out of hiding. The swarm of locusts surrounded Vixen, Tanyth, and Kadira.
“Ah! Get away! Get away! Get away!” She yanked off her belt and flailed it at the horde of bugs buzzing too close to her personal space.
Suddenly, through the darkening cloud of insects, a giant locust dug its mandibles into Vixen’s arm and carried her off. “No! No!! Put me down…!” Tanyth raced after the locust, but it was ascending too fast for her to try and bite it.
“Human, use the card! Your new companion can aid you!” She wasn’t certain if Vixen was listening because she was screaming her lungs out.
Once Vixen exhausted her breath, she fumbled with her pockets but found nothing. “Card? Uh-uh… Inventory!” The inventory screen popped up in front of her. “Go! 5 of Clubs…! Activate! Attack! Do… something!” The card released itself from Vixen’s inventory screen and materialized before her. The card shined before manifesting into a bulky, humanoid mass. It yanked her from the locust’s mandibles and slammed something massive onto the insect’s head. Something heavy enough that it weighed all of them down. The bulky mass scooped Vixen under his arm to shield her from the impact with the ground; it landed with a loud grunt. The locust crashed into the ground with the heavy object, splattering its head open into a grainy greenish puddle.
“Holy… holy hell…” Vixen shuddered — heights and bugs, not her things in the slightest.
The bulky figure propped Vixen on her feet before letting out a hearty laugh. She took a step back in surprise because of what she'd just summoned. It was a humanoid shark with a large back fin, rough but porous grey skin, webbed claws, and, curiously enough, a pair of dingy, blood-stained overalls with a broken strap.
"Uh... hello, Mr. Shark man? Friend?" Vixen shrank in place. The locust was unnerving enough, but this thing could feasibly swallow her in one bite.
It initially seemed to ignore her, fishing its hefty anchor out of the locust's corpse. Then it turned to her — eyes jet black with three rows of teeth on full display. Even if Tanyth was here, Vixen doubted the mother wolf could handle this shark-man. As the beast took a step forward, she took two steps back. It then snorted before wildly shaking its head about. The pitch-black gaze faded to white with small slits for pupils, and its demeanor changed, upturning its maw of jagged knives.
"Ello, small fry," it greeted in an Australian accent.
A little dumbfounded, she repeated, "E-ello?"
"Name's Judex. What about you?" He extended out a wet hand for a handshake.
"Uh... Vixen." She grabbed his hand only to almost have it crushed and yanked off by the enthusiastic shark.
"Vixen, ay? Alright, little fox. I'll keep you safe so long as you don't get in over your head."
"S-sure thing, no problem." She was still a little perturbed by the sudden appearance of Judex, but at least for now, she had a new friend she could rely on in a pinch.
Tanyth finally raced up with Kadira barely clinging on to her. She stopped in her tracks as she saw Judex. She was about to ready herself for combat but quickly realized he was a summon.
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"Ah, so you're the Ace, huh? Heard rumblings about aces, guardians, players, and all that. Bullocks, I thought. Now, here I am, palling around with a couple of landwalkers. If'n you need someone to lay down the law of the sea, you know how to get ahold of me." He slammed his fists together for added dramatics before returning to his card form. It flew back into Vixen's hands, but she noticed two additions at the bottom of the card. Judex's name was listed on the card, and a health bar was underneath it. The card's remaining health was 14/15.
"I think it's best that we find someplace for shelter or risk being swarmed again," Tanyth suggested.
"You don't have to tell me twice, but where...?" As Vixen scanned her immediate area, she noticed a long cabin off in the distance with a strange blue outline around it. "Bingo, right over there!"
"What do you mean? I only see a group of trees where you're pointing."
"It's literally right over there; there's no way you can't see that."
After a few moments, the cabin lost its blue outline, coinciding with Tanyth and Kadira finally seeing the potential shelter. "Ah, your Acuity is high enough to find hidden objects. I just did not expect a cabin to be hidden like this."
"It's good to keep in mind, at least. Also, I've meant to ask about these stats and exactly what they do."
"Once inside, I can go over everything to the best of my abilities."
The trio cautiously but hurriedly approached the log cabin. Thankfully, the trees around the little shelter weren't birch, so they didn't have to worry about being scooped up in the middle of the night. "Hello? Sorry to barge in," Vixen called as she opened the door. No one was inside, and given the amount of dust all over the place, it seemed like it'd been empty for a long time. Despite the lack of residents, the cabin was quaint. A bed was off in the far corner, and a small kitchen was nestled in the corner next to a dining table set for four people. The kitchen boasted cabinets that were excellent for scavenging and a stone fireplace. Vixen immediately scoured the cupboards and the underside of the bed for food or supplies, but she only found a few jars of preserves and pickles and an old dusty knapsack.
After opening the jars for Tanyth and Kadira, Vixen cautiously exited through the back door. The fireplace was out of logs, and there weren't any piled up behind the cabin, so she'd have to scavenge for branches. Luckily enough, she found an axe stuck in a nearby stump. Her stat and inventory screens appeared as soon as she picked it up.
Health Strength Dexterity Intelligence Acuity 10/10 3 5 6 7 Power 1 + ( Axe Lv. 1) = 2 Defense 0
Inventory
♣ A - Tanyth and Kadira - 5/5
♣ 5 - Judex - 14/15
Equipment
Axe Lv. 1 (+1 Power)
Strength Requirement "2" - No effect
She was undoubtedly stronger now, she guessed. Although the discrepancy between Strength and Power confused her. Something to bring up with Tanyth when she got back inside. Vixen scavenged a few loose branches before chopping down some skinnier branches off nearby trees. There was a rustling nearby. Vixen pivoted, brandishing the axe. Had the Birch Strider snuck up on her? No, it was just a squirrel. She sighed. It was only the first room of ten; she was already on pins and needles. Vixen scurried back inside with her bundle of firewood. As she stepped through the cabin, one of the floorboards popped up — after pulling the board up and reaching into the hidden compartment, Vixen found a box of matches and an old journal. There was a little magnifying glass icon that appeared just above the matchbox, which Vixen pressed.
Matches (Six uses, ten seconds duration each)
Effect(s):
> 1) Set flammable substances on fire.
>
> 2) Add the "Fire" property to currently equipped weapon until room change. Increase weapon's power +1 (+1 additional if against flammable opponents).
"Hell yeah, fire weapons! It would make this axe ten times cooler, easily."
Tanyth cleared her throat. "There's something written on the underside of the board you pulled up." Vixen flipped the floorboard over.
"DO NOT LET ANY STAT BECOME ZERO"
The message was written in dried blood.
"Alright... Tanyth, please explain exactly how my stats work for my sanity."
"Very well, Health is self-explanatory. If you lose it all, you die. You can restore health by eating, sleeping, or finding restoratives hidden throughout the different worlds. Strength determines your ability to equip weapons. If it's too low, then you can't use the weapon. Dexterity determines your ability to wear armor and accessories. Some weapons or armor may require certain levels in both stats to use. Intelligence determines how many cards you can wield. As you saw earlier, Acuity determines how likely you are to find rare items, people, or locations."
"Seems straightforward. So why is my Power only a two when my Strength is three?"
"Power defaults to one, then each piece of equipment adds certain points to your Power score. Strength can help in contextual circumstances, and when equipping weapons, it doesn't impact Power directly."
"But so, with my axe, if I attack someone and have two Power, will I deal two damage?"
"Yes, unless they have a Defense value that can reduce your damage."
"Ah... noted. So, Judex is at what Power?"
"All cards have Power equal to their card numbers. Furthermore, any card with the same suit as your Ace gains an additional point of power."
"Nice, so Judex is rocking a power of six."
"Anything else I should know about?"
"You can increase or decrease your stats with items that you find or from equipment."
"Gotcha — decreasing stats — that's right, what happens when one of my stats goes to zero?"
Tanyth was silent.
"What happens?" Vixen asked.
"...I'm not sure. I only know what happens when your health reaches zero."
Vixen grimaced. Minusing her stats didn't seem advantageous in a scenario where her life was on the line, so she tried to cast aside her worries. She huddled around the fire with Kadira and Tanyth, eating fruit preserves and strong-tasting pickles. It wasn't much, but it would at least tide them over until morning. Wait, Vixen turned toward the window and noticed it was pitch black outside. She could've sworn it was around noon when they first arrived, and they weren't here for very long. Regardless, she was feeling tired. At Tanyth's suggestion, Vixen pushed the kitchen table against one door and propped the chairs against the other. As Vixen slipped in between the sheets of the unfortunately stiff bed, she debated doing a bit of night reading. The journal she found had her curious, but maybe it would be best saved for the morning.