by Prax Venter
“The stilts make a lot of sense,” Lex said as she trotted to a stop beside him. “This Town has a fascinating natural barrier.”
“Yeah, I bet these respawning lizards have gone a long way in helping to defend this Town. But we’re too far from the coast for this place to have a Dock, so I-”
“Jack,” she interrupted, “where are the Guards? The Townsfolk?”
His eyes danced back up to the elevated Town and clay-shingled roofs peeking over the stout log wall, but there was not a single soul anywhere. She’d just nailed the unsettling feeling he’d been trying to ignore. The utter silence around them suddenly passed unsettling as Jack shifted his focus up to the endless bejeweled Tower.
“Only one way to find out,” he said, offering his queen an elbow. Yesterday morning he’d done this exact same motion before they sailed for Ivyset, yet that seemed like another life now.
Lex collected herself, trying to look as regal as she could while wearing a chain and shackle, looping her arm through his.
“With you, I’m ready for anything.”
Together they walked up the ramp, then a handful of clean wooden steps, into this Mangrove Town and the first thing they noticed was a huge brick building with its back to the Tower. The whole place existed as suspended walkways between the individual buildings, and if he looked right or left, he found a ten-foot drop down into a shadow bog infested with Ivory Baezliks.
The walkway split in front of what Jack believed was the Town’s Inn and connected to the other parts of this empty, circular Town.
“How can it just be abandoned?” Lex said, her golden eyes on the sparkling Tower head. Jack didn’t know the answer but led his wife along the wooden bridge straight to the three-story structure that reminded him of a haunted English pub. It had gray shutters, a slate-gray angled roof and its face was a random splattering of black and white bricks. More red pumpkins sat in dirt-filled planters along the edges and once again, Jack looked down over the solid railing to see several sets of lizard eyes staring back up from the darkness.
He closed his gloved hand around the iron knob, twisted it, and pushed open the door to an unsurprising common room.
“It’s the inn, for sure,” Lex said. “Smells delicious.”
“Hello?” Jack called out, but no one came spinning out from behind the kitchen curtain. This one was a white mangrove tree with feathered wings behind it on a baby blue background.
“Let’s keep looking around,” Lex said, back up into the intersection. “It’s possible everyone here is a Hero and inside the Tower during the day.”
Jack’s brows came down as he followed his wife currently choosing the walkway that went east.
“You think that’s possible?”
She cast her golden eyes back at him with a ‘you can’t be serious’ look that he knew she picked up from him.
“Yeah, never mind I asked,” he sighed and opened his Tower Clock interface.
[00:42:22] (to Close)
No matter what they found here, his plan was to go in the Tower and try to equip the first sword type he found to try and wake up Alt. And he’d take a long nap.
“A farm,” Lex said and Jack pulled his eyes from the bakery with a pie-shaped placard hanging off the door to a large open area with benches around a pumpkin patch.
“We didn’t find the Guards, but least we know where these gourds are coming from.”
“Oh, that one was bad, my love,” Lex said, wrinkling her nose as she rubbed her fingers over one of their wrinkled round surfaces. Jack kept moving along the path back toward the north side of the cramped Town on stilts and found a gated ramp down into the muck below. He moved to the railing and looked down to see that about a quarter of the interior space within the Wall was dedicated to a Baezlik pen- complete with eel-filled troughs. He noticed narrow openings at the base giving the bone-white predators a way in and out of the otherwise sealed enclosure.
“So, they’re also livestock…” he mused as Lex walked up next him.
“People,” she said, pointing across his vision to the west side. He looked across the lower level to see a larger building tucked behind what he’d assumed were Townsfolk homes. If he squinted, there was no mistaking the silhouettes of humanoids through the smoky sanguine stain-glass windows.
“Maybe it’s a party?” Jack said as they strolled toward the front of the Tower. Its Fountain and Input Chest were here, and if he had to guess from the geyser’s height, this place was probably at an equal level as Blackmoor Cove. Nearby on the suspended walkways was a standard Town Hall building and then a grid of black and white brick Townsfolk houses.
Passing it all, they came to their destination and it was a building Jack couldn’t identify from the outside. A lot of the buildings in this place were built with a density that should have been too great to be held by the wood supports below. Whatever this sturdy structure was used for, it was bigger than the inn, indicating that it had probably been around since this strange Town’s earliest days.
With a silent prayer to Mother Sana that the person he heard speaking inside wasn’t a lunatic, Jack pushed open one of the double doors to find about two dozen people all sitting in chairs turn to face them. Most of them were closer to Harrak’s age than his, but a large man at the back drew their attention.
“Hello?” the black-tabarded man standing behind a podium said. He had a short, pointed beard, and a kindly old smile. “New faces so soon? How unusual. Please come in and join the rite of remembrance for our dear passed Jamya, then Angelshade can offer her full hospitality.”
Jack’s brows were already coming down before he noticed that the walls of this hollow building were covered with shelves and shelves of little dolls carved from bone.
- 9 -
The weary King and Queen of Blackmoor Cove braced for a headlong sprint back outside for only a few minutes before it became clear these people were not psychopaths. The Town was in the process of sending off a loved one who’d died during the storm last night. It was the Mayor’s wife, and he and Lex had come just in time to hear the widower cap their ceremony with his farewell speech.
“When I saw her berating a bazzy with that flame red hair of hers flowing this way and that, I knew I’d never forgive myself I weren’t the one to tame that wild fire- but we all know she was untamable, and now that her red-tufted proxy sits still, ready to rest among the uncountable others… despawned…”
The ancient, withered Mayor paused to regain emotional control, and Jack felt Lex squeeze his hand. He again wanted to ask his wife if she’d seen anything like this before but was certain this ritual was one neither of them had experienced in either universe.
“Soon enough, I’ll join my Sweet Jam on these shelves, soon enough. Time never stops. Take it from a Townsfolk who’s watched the Tower Clock count down each second his love and family were gone 7 hours each day; Trust me, never a hitch. That dry ticking closes in on us like yet another span of constricting Corruption and soon enough we will all be standing on these shelves. All light in this dying world snuffs out eventually, so fill that span with as much fire as you are able.”
The balding man behind the podium seemed to shrivel even further as he finished and shuffled back to his seat where two other older men that had to be his siblings each rubbed a shoulder as he plopped down between them.
The heavyset man in the black tabard took the podium again, and Jack noticed a white mangrove tree stylized on his chest. The roots and branches were equal length, giving it the look of an hourglass.
“Jamya the Fire Mage Hero, the Baezlik Warden, the Mother, the Wife, and the flame that kept Angelshade warm when the winds came. You will be remembered.”
Everyone began rising from the simple benches, murmuring to each other and shaking hands, and Jack cast a glance at Lex.
“I know what you are going to ask,” she whispered. “And like the marriage ceremony you shared with me, I’ve never heard of death proxies or anything like this.”
/> “Welcome there,” said the man who’d led the service as he approached them almost undetected. They both stood to greet him. “I am Mohden, practitioner of this contemplative place of remembrance. Now, what can the people of Angelshade do for-”
The other man’s kind brown eyes went wide. “Irrelevant King? A-and aha- Bastion Queen?”
“Greetings,” Jack said, trying to match the relaxed quiet the place projected. “I am Jack, King of Blackmoor, and this is my wife Lex, its Queen. We didn’t know what was happening in here and don’t want to interrupt anything.”
About a dozen people filed past at the point, and Jack lifted his gaze to meet those he recognized as Heroes. He returned a few casual Inspections but wasn’t surprised to find most of them were over Level 50. Only a few younger faces stood out amongst the others all exuding the poise and confidence earned from decades of daily combat.
Lex addressed the soft-spoken man standing in front of them. “We are weary and are glad to have found your beautiful Town at the edge of the world. Our story is a long one, and Blackmoor Cove wishes nothing more than to be friends with Angelshade, but we too need to enter the Tower today. Before we go, I want to know everything there is to know about the purpose of this building.”
Jack inspected the man in the mangrove tabard.
Mohden - Townsfolk: Grave Proxy Practitioner | 91% Proficiency
[Health: 5/5]
Relationship -
[Disposition: Baffled]
“W-well, of course, your grace. When one of our own fades from this world, I preserve their likeness with carved Baezlik bones and other adornments. A small ceremony of tales and remembrance is focused on the proxy so that our energies may convince those past to continue protecting their loved ones remaining within Subroutine Sana.”
As Practitioner Mohden finished, he swept his arm out over the hundreds of mini deceased NPCs covering the walls. Jack scanned them again and really wished he had Alt in his head right now.
Movement pulled his eye from the unique figurines, and he saw the old mayor strolling up with two other identical men at his flanks. Each of them had a push broom mustache and ponderously fluffy brows under intense sky-blue eyes. The pair behind looked to be much older than the widower- probably in their 80’s- but all three of them still projected the sharp focus of intelligence.
“Find a good place,” the Mayor of Angelshade said, holding out a six-inch figure with red cotton attached to its head. A red swath of cloth wrapped around it like a cloak, and the figure held a small white twig with a tiny ruby gem of some sort affixed to the top.
Jack tried to Inspect what he assumed was an object built outside the system by hand, but his mouth hung open when an information panel appeared.
Jamya’s Grave Proxy - [Idol: Hero (Bygone)]
| Level: 62 |
| Class: Fire Mage |
| Wildlife Warden - 99% Proficient |
His mind spun with implications and combined with the no sleep, almost slipping into madness, running through the night… he just stalled out, his mouth opening and closing.
“I’ll put her to ease,” Mohden said as he carefully took the proxy and moved away from the group.
“Are you well, boy?” the one of the Mayor’s supposed bothers asked.
“Jack is more than well,” Lex said. “It’s only that he came close to losing me last night too and we’ve both been through a lot. And now this beautiful ritual. We are humbled by your culture.”
His Bastion put her shackled hand on Jack’s back, and he felt a surge of cleansing energy rush though his spine through her touch alone. He addressed the Mayor when he spoke.
“When we left our stormy cove on the other side of the world in search of other Towns, we learned that we were not prepared to face what we found. I would like to sit down with you in your cozy inn and speak with you at length, but that will have to wait as both of us are not in the right place to do so- so, I will instead only say I am sorry for your loss, Mayor. Truly. And then wish you well until next we meet again.”
The grieving man’s sharp blue eyes held Jack’s before all three brothers nodded almost in unison.
“I wish you well, King Jack. And when next we meet; I would sit and talk.”
At that, the old men walked out behind the stream of Townsfolk. Jack and Lex took another few moments to sit in the shadowed stillness surrounded by the watchful dead before they too left the strange building for the cool, crisp air of Angelshade.
Now that the whole Town wasn’t bunched up into one building, a few guards walked the Wall, Farmers tended the red pumpkin patch, and some others stood talking within the cluster of Townsfolk homes. Many of the unfamiliar people shot curious glances at Jack and Lex, but most exuded only the numbness of mourning.
The walk to the Tower was short, and he led them straight for it. With a glance to make sure he and his Bastion were still in a Party, Jack held out his hand for her to start their brief climb.
“See you soon, my Lord,” she whispered before she pecked him on the cheek then grabbed the iron handle of a foreign Tower.
“You better be in there, buddy,” Jack whispered to his invisible sword belt and then entered Floor 1 behind Lex.
After the sensory flash, he found himself standing behind a primitive fence at night. His Bastion was to his right, and a small log cabin with an Exit Orb pulsing softly in front of the door behind them. Hundreds of Floors had trained him to internalize the crispy dead grass under his boots despite Floor 1’s relative safety, and it was then that true weariness settled into his bones. The idea of a whole day of grueling battle was an iron weight around his shoulders.
A soft burbling groan pulled his attention out into the darkness beyond the four-foot barrier that wasn’t much more than sticks bound together with rotting twine. Basic wax candles sat leaning half-melted at regular intervals along the top of the fence that illuminated a small stretch of empty yard in an otherwise black void.
Lex drew her sword as an undead humanoid with a deer’s head came lurching into the dim candlelight.
Jack stood watching as she kicked through the fence and began slaughtering the first-Floor monsters as they stumbled toward the cabin in some sort of defensive-wave type of scenario. He saw a pair of cloth boots drop from the initial attacker onto the crunchy grass, then nothing from the next two foes. After six undead doe and buck people were hacked to nothingness, a ten-foot creature with twenty-point rack of antlers came dashing out of the night. Jack got a good look at his wild red eyes and fire-infused hooves before Lex casually stabbed the mythical animal of undeath in the face. The Floor 1 Boss exploded before spawning the golden Reward Chest and the door to Floor 2.
“No swords,” Lex said after she checked the Boss chest.
Jack nodded then started searching the small structure they’d been assigned to guard for this layout. There were no windows, and the rickety wooden front door was blocked by the Exit Orb- whose throbbing surface Jack was careful not to touch.
Looking left and right, he saw that the fence created a small box with two points ending at the side walls of the cabin. Thinking he’d like to see what was behind this little house, Jack grabbed one of the candles from the fence after he hopped it, dripping wax as he moved.
“Ah ha!” he said as the flickering light illuminated a wooden box tucked in close to the back wall.
Lex came around the other side just as he opened it, and he started laughing at its contents.
“What?” she said, half smiling.
“Three coins.” Jack snatched them up and increased his virtual pile to 34,218.
His Bastion dragged her feet through the straw-like grass as she moved to wrap her arms under his. Again, the pair simply held each other for a while.
The only thing they could do was trudge forward so eventually Lex passed Jack the low-level gear she’d picked up, and they both moved to Floor 2.
Blue skies replaced night, and Jack shielded his eyes as they adjusted to this new
and sunny pocket dimension. Immediately in front of them hung a yellow sheet attached to a clothesline, swaying in the breeze. Grass remained below his boots, but it was now a fluffy lush green. A forward slant told him they were on the side of a round hill, and he traced the clotheslines up and down the rolling landscape infinitely in every direction and with every color of sheet.
“Movement,” Lex called out, nodding toward what looked like someone wearing a homemade ghost costume running along a row down the slope from them.
“I’ll watch your back,” Jack said with a sigh.
“I bet you will,” his wife said as she drew aside that first yellow sheet and Jack allowed his eyes to wander.
Lex felt like herself despite their stolen firsts and he let that truth soothe his constant anxiety over their situation. A part of him knew hanging the fate of all universes on his obsession over this one pointed-eared blonde was irresponsible, and childish, and more- but Jack didn’t really care. He’d deal with any horrible thing that came to pass, but in the moment, he knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that she made him a better person. There were no tangible system buffs from her proximity, but Jack could take on the entire universe with her fighting by his side and even if they didn’t find a single sword today, they would just try again tomorrow.
It didn’t come to that as the familiar length of metal unceremoniously fell to the grass after Lex obliterated the sheet-covered monster. Jack squatted down to inspect it.
Corroded Practice Blade - [Sword | Value 4 | Floor: 2]
| Dmg: 3 |
With a glance into her golden eyes for luck, Jack intentionally tried to move the low-level item into his Main-Hand slot and a starburst of color expanded in his skull, knocking him off his heels.