Towns and Towers: A New Land Read online

  The idea of abandoning his efforts and looking elsewhere for food crossed his mind, but he figured since he had already climbed up, it would be a waste to simply climb back down with nothing to show for it. Taking a step out, he found that the branch beneath his feet seemed fairly secure, and when he took the second step out, he was reassured by its steadiness. It was on the third step, however, that the branch suddenly gave way, as if it had never been there, and he was forced to flail about, snatching at the air in order to keep from falling.

  It just so happened his hands found a branch within reach in the last instant before Sam was to plummet to the ground below, and as would be the case in most of these sorts of events, the branch Sam happened to grab hold of was the one which bore the single piece of fruit he had come up for. The choice at this point was clear. Either Sam could try to shimmy his way out to the apple, risking his neck in the process, or he could try to return to the safety of the ground the way he had come up. Being from a reality where gravity was all too certain, Sam chose to forget about the apple in favor of turning around and heading for safety. It was at that point when the gravity of his new world decided to show him it worked out pretty much the same here, too.

  At roughly the midpoint between where Sam was holding on and the trunk of the tree, the branch suddenly snapped, and Sam dropped to the ground like a stone, hitting several of the other tree branches along the way. The pain he felt each time he hit something on his way down was just as real as any pain he would have felt at home, and he knew, even before they had a chance to show themselves, that if he lifted his shirt up fifteen minutes from now, he would most likely find a series of dark bruises running along his hip, back, and across his left side.

  He took a moment to remain lying on the ground and assess his situation before he groaned and sat up. As he did so, it crossed his mind that he must have lost quite a few of his hit points in that fall, and the scary part was, he had no idea how many were left, not to mention what would happen if they ran out. The only thing he did know was that in almost every game he had ever played, when a character was injured, and you didn’t have any healing spells or special healing herbs, the one thing you could do was eat and rest, and Sam now had an apple lying next to him.

  Picking up what looked to be a Red Delicious, Sam inspected it and found that unlike the ones he would have gotten in the grocery stores back home, this one not only didn’t have a sticky tag on it saying where it came from, but it also didn’t appear to have that disgusting film of cloudy looking pesticide on it. For that matter, the apple itself looked to be picture perfect, even after the fall.

  Shrugging, Sam took a bite of the apple and felt the fruit’s juices run down his chin. Wiping them away with his sleeve, he took two more bites and found that despite its original size being rather large, he had already finished it, and all that remained was the apple core. Snorting at the oddness of this, Sam moved to throw the apple core away and realized that his side and back no longer hurt as much as they had a moment ago. Surprised by this, he lifted his shirt and saw that, as he swallowed the last bite, the scratches which were on his skin from hitting one of the numerous branches on the way down were slowly disappearing.

  Speaking to himself, Sam said, “Well, that pretty much proves it. Either I’m in a game, or I have completely lost my mind.”

  Getting to his feet, Sam took a minute to stretch and see if anything else remained sore or bruised, but as he now expected, the apple must have replenished all of his hit points because he didn’t have a mark on him. This both excited him and worried him, because from his experience, he figured having just started a game, he must be a weak level one character, and this was only confirmed by the fact that a measly apple had just healed him completely.

  Shaking his head, Sam looked up towards the tower in the distance, remembered the town that surrounded it in the opening video and said, “Well, crap. I guess that means if I want any answers or if I expect to find a way out, I’m going to have to follow typical game logic and start there first.” Then, trying to calculate the distance between him and the distant tower, he added, “Which means I’m going to have to get across this field first.”

  Figuring that most JRPG games had what was called a World Map for the characters to cross, he knew that there was probably going to be at least one random encounter along the way, if not more. Random encounters at this stage were typically things like giant rats or small wolves, and they were always roughly equal to the character’s level but with fewer hit points. The idea behind them was that they were usually just excuses for the game to give a character a few experience points while also teaching the player how to fight. The problem was with Sam being inside the game and not relaxing on his couch able to read the screen, he had no idea how to fight and doubted that there would be a tutorial for him. On top of that, as he had already noticed, he didn’t have any weapons and really knew next to nothing about fighting. As for magic, if he had access to any, he had no idea how to use it, and so he had no real way to defend himself. About the only thing he did have was the apple core, and he doubted that a hungry wolf would find that very appealing or dangerous.

  Glancing past the apple core in his hand to the ground, Sam realized that he did have one other thing available to him, the branch the apple was hanging from. Picking it up, he found that the branch was about the thickness of a broom handle, but when he tested it, it didn’t bend or break. Critically looking over the stick, Sam saw finely etched letters and numbers in the bark, and while he had to concentrate to read them, he found that he could do it.

  Apple branch, 1-2 handed slashing weapon Lv: 1, adds +3 to attack. Remembering how the branches in the tree seemed fine until they suddenly snapped, he nodded and said to himself, “Okay, so the question is, is this one of those games where things have a durability rating which determines how long things last when used? I don’t know if that’s going to apply to everything. In some games they have it, in others they don’t, and in the ones that do consider the durability of objects, they usually only do it to weapons, armor, and oddly placed barrels with loot inside them. Either way, one of these should work fine until it breaks, or I find something better.”

  Then considering how quickly the branches broke while he was in the tree, Sam made sure to walk over and grab a second branch, the one he had been standing on, before he headed away from the tree in the direction of the giant white tower in the distance.

  Chapter 4

  About a mile across the grassy field, Sam came across a small dirt path which, despite its unnecessary turns and curves, seemed to be going towards the tower and its surrounding town. He considered staying his previous course and just continuing to walk straight on across the open field, but ultimately decided to follow the path instead, hoping that in doing so, he would have fewer random encounters.

  Along the way he kept his eyes peeled for any signs of a surprise attack and was rewarded for his efforts by finding a collection of wild mushrooms. There were no descriptions on the mushrooms as far as he could see, but he realized this might be one of those games where a character didn’t know what it was he had until it was appraised by someone in town, or he had eaten it. Then again, the stick had a label, so maybe only weapons had them and consumables didn’t. Taking a second to look around and ensure that nothing was going to spring out at him, Sam picked as many of the mushrooms as he could and filled his pockets with them. He thought about eating one just to see what it tasted like, but figured that the apple he had earlier had already restored his hit points and doing so now would just be wasting the food which he might need later to save his life.

  Turning back onto the path, Sam immediately spotted a three foot long black snake lying on the path in front of him. Startled, he didn’t bother to consider the fact that it might have just been sunning itself like most other reptiles do on sunny days. Instead he immediately attacked it without mercy.

  Lifting one of the sticks he had been carrying high above his head, he
charged forward yelling, “Die, Slytherin!” and brought the stick down on the snake’s back. In response, the snake squirmed and writhed backwards trying to avoid any further assaults, but Sam continued to press on, swinging the stick like a caveman, clubbing the snake repeatedly.

  The encounter only lasted a minute before the snake no longer moved, but Sam was left standing alone in the middle of the path by the end of it, panting for breath as he leaned against his makeshift weapon. After another thirty seconds when he finally had regained some control of his breathing, he gasped out, “America,” before he stepped over and kicked the snake’s body aside.

  Contrary to the way most fights in JRPGs worked, the snake hadn’t dropped any useful items or gold when it died, and Sam felt slightly disappointed by this. While he didn’t expect it to drop a broadsword or a bow and arrow, he had thought a dagger or something like a healing herb would have been nice. It was this hope that something would appear, as much as his own curiosity, which kept him waiting around for the next five minutes to see what happened. While he waited, he tried looking the snake’s body over, concentrating on it as he had the stick, and he found written in the scales:

  Lv: 1 Garden snake. By the end of the five minutes, however, the snake’s body had neither dissolved nor disappeared, and he saw no signs of it reanimating or respawning.

  Figuring that nothing was going to happen, Sam lifted his stick and began to walk on, continuing the way he had been going. After twenty feet or so, he took one last glance back and stopped when he noticed that the snake was no longer there. He wasn’t too surprised by this, seeing that most games got rid of the creatures players killed in a game, just for the simple fact that it would require too much of the system to keep track of all of the bodies which would quickly lead to the fields and dungeons becoming overcrowded with the littered remains of the fallen. In this case, whatever had happened to it either took longer than the five minutes he had been waiting, or it was one of those things which only happen after the character moved on. Either way, it was further confirmation that using game logic instead of common sense might suit him best here.

  Despite not having a watch on, Sam reasoned that the path to town lasted at least another hour, which was somewhere between three and four miles walking. Along the way he came across a half dozen more snakes, each almost in an identical position as the first, sunning itself on the path. For the first three of these encounters, he attacked them much like he had before, acting like a crazy man, swinging at the snake as hard and fast as he could. It was on the fourth that he decided he might be able to save himself some effort and approach it more strategically.

  Holding the stick out in front of him, he approached the snake slowly and carefully until he was finally within just a few feet of it. Once in position, he waited half a second to take a breath and then lunged forward to step on the snake, placing his foot just behind its head where it wouldn’t be able to turn around and bite him. With the snake securely held down, he used his stick to stab at it until it was eventually beheaded. Again, nothing appeared from any of these encounters, but he did find that his technique was nearly perfected by the time he came within sight of the town entrance.

  Unlike most starter villages one tends to find in JRPG games, this was not just a collection of six or seven buildings solely dedicated to helping the protagonist along with his quest. Instead, Sam found himself looking at the gates to a huge city filed with hundreds of one and two story buildings, some made of wood while others were made of stone, with each looking individually different from the next as far as he could tell. The white tower which he had been using as his point of reference, stood somewhere near the middle of the city, and as far as he could tell, it stood well over fifty stories tall. Hoping he might be able to find himself an exit point or a kindly wizard who might be able to teleport him back to real life, Sam picked up the pace and headed for the open gate.

  As he approached, he spotted a teenage boy who looked to be about fifteen, who was watching him from just beyond the gate’s entrance. The kid didn’t seem to be doing anything, just standing there watching him, which seemed both creepy and weird.

  Hoping to at least get some information, Sam tried to concentrate on the kid to see if he could find any text hidden on his clothes or face which would indicate his level, class, or other stats, but found nothing. Finally, he decided to approach the kid and casually asked, “Excuse me, could you tell me where I might find…”

  “Welcome to Marvinville!” yelled the teenager, interrupting Sam before he could finish the question.

  Nodding, Sam accepted this abrupt greeting and said, “Yes, thank you. Um, could you tell me where I could find an inn with a room?”

  Rather than answer him, the kid kept his eyes fixed on Sam’s feet and repeated, “Welcome to Marvinville!” just as loudly as he had the first time.

  Having gone through similar scenarios before in other games, Sam shook his head in disgust. Then speaking to himself, Sam commented, “Great, this is going to be one of those games where the programmers were too lazy to give the NPCs anything more than their one line to say. That probably means I’m going to have to run around this whole stupid town in order to find out what I need to know.”

  “Welcome to Marvinville!” yelled the kid again, and Sam figured he was simply responding to his comment with his one prescribed line until a female voice behind spoke up.

  “Hi, you must be new here.”

  Spinning around, Sam met a young woman with brunette hair who looked to be about his age dressed in dirty brown pants and a blouse which let more skin show than it actually covered. Doing his best to not let his eyes linger, Sam reflexively said, “Uh, hi,” without considering the fact that, like the boy, she would probably just repeat the same line again.

  Surprising him, she said, “Welcome to Anozira. I see you’ve met Marvin.”

  Looking back at the kid and then at her, Sam asked, “I thought he said this was…”

  “Marvinville, yeah, he says that to everyone. A few years back when he was an apprentice to the blacksmith, he got kicked in the head while re-shoeing a horse. He’s never really been himself since. If you step over this way a bit, he’ll stop yelling it at you.”

  “Oh, gotcha,” said Sam as he quickly stepped off to the side to talk to the woman. Taking a second to look at her clothes in search of finding a level indicator, class, or other information, he found, like young Marvin, she seemed to have none. Accepting that this game only had game stats for inanimate objects, he finally said, “So, this is Anozira, then?”

  “Yes, are you here to find someone, looking for a change in scenery, or are you looking to become one of the Tower Tempters?”

  “Tower Tempters?” asked Sam.

  “Yeah, it’s what we locals affectionately call the knights and mages who show up trying to conquer the Tower.”

  “Honestly, it wasn’t my plan. I’m really just looking for a way home.”

  “Interesting. Well, you can probably talk to Cole over at the docks and tell him Anna sent you.”

  Knowing that characters with first names were generally more important than those who only went by their job title like ‘Shop Owner’ or ‘Merchant’, Sam made the conscious effort to remember the woman’s name as he introduced himself. “Oh, so you’re Anna, then. My name is Sam.”

  “Good to meet you, Sam. Well, as I was saying, Cole might be able to put you on one of his boats next time they ship out.”

  Sucking in air through his teeth, Sam regretfully said, “Yeah, I just don’t know if a boat is going to be able to get me to where I’m going.”

  “Sounds mysterious,” said Anna. “Where exactly are you from?”

  Holding onto just the smallest amount of hope that the woman might have heard of it, which meant that she might know a way for him to return, Sam timidly answered, “It’s a small town near Detroit.”

  “Day-troy -it,” repeated Anna slowly, as if she were trying to sound out the unfamiliar name,
before she inadvertently crushed what little hope Sam had. “Can’t say I’ve ever heard of it.”

  Dejected, Sam off-handedly suggested the name of the state, Michigan, followed by the name of the country, the United States, and upon receiving negative responses to both, he exasperatedly suggested, “Well, how about Earth? Have you ever heard of someone saying they were from Earth?”

  Placing a contemplative finger to her lips, Anna thought about it for a second before she answered, “Yes. I think there was a guy, I want to say his name was Jimmy or something. He was a strange little guy, rather puny for my tastes, but yeah, I think he mentioned being from a place called Urth.”

  Elated, Sam inquired, “Really? Where can I find him?”

  With a matter of fact tone in her voice, she answered, “He died in the Tower.”

  “What?”

  “Sorry, he got rather inebriated one night at the bar and claimed that he was a great warrior from a distant land. When we all laughed, he went on to vow before everyone there that he was going to conquer the Tower and earn his way home. None of us knew he meant to do it that night, or else we would have tried to stop him. After he finished his speech, however, he immediately ran out the door and didn’t give any of us a chance to talk any sense into him. I swear we all thought he might be planning an early raid on the Tower in the morning. We only found out later that he went there directly.” Looking down towards the ground, she added, “It wasn’t until the next day when his body was found by a group of Tower Tempters that we ascertained how intoxicated he really was. From what they could tell us, it looked like he had entered the Tower with only the dagger he had on him in the bar and didn’t make it very far.”