"-uuuck" Though the end of the word was silent.
The excruciating pain of being trampled vanished. I was now floating in— in nothing. There was no sensation at all. I tried to move my arms, but I didn't have arms to move.
Before me were the words.
CLICK YES TO CONTINUE
YES/
I tried blinking my eyes. I had no eyelids. I tried looking away, but I didn't have a neck. Or eyeballs, possibly neither.
Click how?
And why was the only option yes?
I
floated there a while. Just thinking about all that had happened. I got the impression that even time did not exist here. I was starting to get bored. I tried to say yes, but of course I had no lips, tongue or larynx.
So I just focused really hard on the "YES" floating there with me. I began to dissolve.
I woke up with grit between my cheek and a smooth, warm surface. Blinking in the blinding light, I got to my feet and looked around. What I saw made my stomach drop. There was a circle of stones and brittle dry and yellowed grass of the surrounding plains.
Taking a step, I stumbled, my heel catching in the crack between the stones. Looking down with mounting dread, I saw I was back in my t-shirt and short skirt. The same ones I had been wearing when I awakened with on these very stones only a few days before.
My club. I frantically looked around. Where was my club? The sun beat down mercilessly on me, and it dawned on me that my club was back in Wendel's cottage, at least a day's walk from here.
This was a fucking roguelike game.
I jumped up and down. I screamed at the sky. Fucking fuck, fuckity fucker fucking FUUUUUUUUCK.
I tossed my impractical heels at the grass, swearing again at the unfairness of it all.
I looked suspiciously up to the sky. What was the point of all this? Was I being watched? Truman style? An experiment like a rat in a maze? I gave the sky a big middle finger, then I began to stomp towards the forest on the horizon.
I picked up some fist-sized rocks as I approached the first set of little rock hills. The lanperanas didn't ambush me here like they did last time. They were waiting in a larger mob around the third one.
I tossed the rocks at the little beasts to distract them and then scrambled up the hill. Unfortunately, this one wasn't connected to any of the others. I looked down at the frantic little murder rodents. Goddamn roguelike.
I grabbed the biggest rock I could find and flung it down at them.
7XP!
And another
2XP!
I grabbed slightly smaller ones that I could pitch like baseballs.
1XP!
1XP!
I missed a lot, but I kept going. I scraped rocks out of the packed dirt and flung them at the lanperanas till my fingernails bled.
2XP!
1XP!
1XP!
1XP!
1XP!
1XP!
1XP!
1XP!
YOU HAVE LEVELLED UP. CONGRATULATIONS +3 to strength, +2 to constitution. You have one skill point to allocate. You have no skill tree to allocate points. Please choose a class to activate the skill tree.
I was in the process of throwing another rock when this message blinded me.
0XP!
No XP?
My breath was ragged, my fingers were raw. But I chucked some more rocks till I killed another.
0XP!
Great. Now the little vermin didn't help at all.
I threw a few more rocks to scatter the swarm and then sprinted to the next hill then walked along out of the range of the lanperanas.
I found the path easily and jogged along it. Back in my body, my real body, I wouldn't have been able to jog this long. I was fit, but I had never been quite this fit. One of the big wolf-like Ruath loped up beside me. It darted at the path, trying to scare me. I flinched but ignored it. Its tongue lolled at me, and I got the feeling it was laughing at me. Did it remember me?
I knocked on the cottage door, hot and tired. I was looking forward to a nap in the guest room.
"Hi, Wendel," I said as the door swung open.
His normally sleepy eyes opened wide. "My lady is very well informed. That is indeed my name. But I have not yet had the pleasure of meeting her."
Huh. So he didn't remember me post-resurrection. That could be good and bad. Every death was a Groundhog Day scenario.
I smiled up at him. "Hi, I am Elizabeth. I would like sustenance and respite."
Wendel looked utterly flummoxed. Having to walk back here sucked, but maybe if I messed up and failed quest with good loot, I could try it again and succeed.
Oh, but then I would also lose that good loot when I died.
Nope, roguelikes sucked ass.
But what if this wasn't a roguelike? Maybe I hadn't gotten far enough to hit a save point. That cheered me up immensely. I likely just died too early.
I drank the tea, had a glorious sleep and got up and put on the new clothes. This, time though, I think I would pick a different weapon. The club was easy enough to wield, but it was very gross.
I looked over the staff and bow. My eyes widened and I inspected them more closely. This time they where different; the bow was shorter and more compact and the staff had a slight curve at the top. If I could unlock skills, the bow would be the way to go. But the staff could poke and whap things from a bit of a distance, and likely needed less skill.
Walking over, I grasped the staff firmly in my hand and awaited to be blinded by text.
Nothing happened.
I picked up the staff and swooshed it around a bit.
Nothing.
I set it back on the rack.
"Please, traveller, take but one of these to help you on your journey," Wendel repeated and motioned to the weapons with the exact same sweep of his arm.
I
was trying to 'take but one'. Out of desperation, I tried the bow. Nothing, nada, zip. I put it down.
"Please, traveller, take-"
I grabbed the club, and it was the exact same club as before.
YOU HAVE CHOSEN THE CLASS **FIGHTER**! You are now a level one fighter. You have skill points to allocate. Would you like to allocate your skill points now? Y/N
I looked down at the rough wooden weapon in my hand. I hated it more than I had ever hated an inanimate object before.
I couldn't have a real do-over? I had to start from nothing, but I couldn't change my mind. That—that was so fucking unfair!! I kicked the weapon rack over, sending the bow, quiver and staff clattering to the floor.
"My lady!" Wendel started to reprimand me. "You shouldn't- "
"Shut it, Wendel," I snapped. "I don't want to fucking hear it," I said and strode out of the cottage. Then I came back, grabbed the basket and left again. This time slamming the door.
I felt a bit bad about snapping at him like that. But he wasn't a real person. And if, well, as much as I hated to think about it, when I saw him next, he wouldn't remember this encounter.
This time, I managed to kill the murder bunny in one strike. I screamed to put it off balance. And since I had already levelled up, I had added strength. I got less XP for it this time.
I still got brains on me and it smelled just as bad.
I went around the field on my way to the village. I never even saw the six-eyed buffalo beast. Were all animals here going to have six eyes?
When I got to the edge of town, there was a young man, possibly a teen, by the way he only had patchy facial fuzz and a sad, sparse moustache, standing guard with a spear.
"State your business," he said, his voice only cracking a little.
Um, what was my business? I don't think I could say I wanted to find out who put me in this computer game. "I have a basket of vegetables from Wendel for his mum," I swung the basket forward to show the guard as proof.
"Oh, that is good. Old Mother Bywait will be so pleased to get news of her son. Go on in."
"How do I find her?"
"Go down the main street. When you get to the well, head west, and her cottage is at the very end of the lane. You can't miss it."
The town was bustling with life. Children ran around, either playing games or doing errands. Many of the children were carrying items. Everyone seemed cheerful and well-fed. I could smell dirt from the road, fire from hearths and food cooking in the air. For a computer simulation, it was really authentic. It would be easy to forget this wasn't a real town, and that those weren't real people.
The well was the centre of the village. Women and men were standing around gossiping. A water cooler joke being made? Or perhaps this was historically accurate, and a defining feature of humanity is that we have always been drawn to chatting around a water source. I wasn't into ancient history or human behaviour so what did I know?
"Ho, traveller." A hearty voice called out to me as I approached. "If you are thirsty, come have some of our water. Our village has the sweetest water around."
Three women and two men stood by the well. Two women were in dresses, but one, like me, was in trousers and a tunic. I was a bit disappointed the men weren't in skirts. This world could deviate from the two eyes model of animals, but not gender norms?
There was a tin cup on a long chain attached to the wooden roof of the well. The man who spoke picked it up by the chain and handed it to me.
That didn't seem sanitary. I stared at it a moment, but it wasn't as if the germs were real. I took the chain and lowered the cup into the well. It wasn't very far down to the surface.
The water was really good. Cold and delicious. Better than any water I had drunk before. I had a second cup, which seemed to please the townsfolk. I decided to lean in and try some flattery.
"This is indeed the sweetest water. You guys are lucky to have such a well in your town."
They all swelled with civic pride.
YOU HAVE GAINED +1 REPUTATION WITH THE TOWN OF SCOTT'S HILL
I really wished I could turn that off. Or, turn down the opacity; it was very startling, and I just knew it would happen mid-fight sometime. I now knew the town's name.
"What brings you to our fair town?" One of the women asked.
I lifted the basket and explained.
"If you wish to spend the night before you continue on your journey, I run an inn," the older man gestured to a building that had a sign with a mug of beer painted hanging by the door.
I thanked them and turned what I hoped was west. The sun was of no navigational help whatsoever being high in the sky, and getting lost had been a skill in my previous life.
No one corrected me though, so either they were getting set to laugh at the outsider or I was going the right way. The plus one reputation made me think it was likely latter.
The cottage at the end of the lane was small and quaint. As I approached, I could see it needed paint, and the garden was overgrown. Which made sense if she was doing poorly.
A frail voice told me to come in when I knocked. Wendel's mum was a tiny woman. She was dwarfed by the pillows and blankets that surrounded her. Her cottage was neat and tidy, but more homey than Wendel's had been. There were more decorative touches around, such as a hand-painted border of ivy that went around one wall by the table. The whole cottage was one big room with a wall as a bit of a divider for the bed area.
I presented her with the basket, and this time, I was ready for it and tried closing my eyes.
QUEST COMPLETE! You have successfully delivered the basket of food to Ol Wendel's mum.
10XP!
+1 to reputation with Scott's Hill
You have received a pack of provisions
You have received a waxed canvas shelter
You have received a bedroll
You have received two silver coins
With my eyes closed, it was less jarring.
"So tell me how my Wendel is doing. Sit, sit and keep an old lady company," She was motioning to a chair by her bed.
I sat with her a bit. I couldn't tell her much about her son as I didn't really know him. But I could reassure her that he looked healthy and strong. I took my leave as it approached dinnertime. I had asked her if I could do anything further for her, in hopes of maybe an easy quest. But she smiled and said that bringing her word of her son was enough.