Timothy awoke from probably the best night’s sleep he has had since he was a child, even though he had to get out of bed every few hours to put more wood in the fire. The bed was comfortable and the warmth from the fire combined with the crackling sound it made lulled him back into his torpor. He wasn’t sure of the time, but when he opened his eyes there were little beams of sunlight piercing through the shudders, the miniscule dust particles giving them depth.
“I wonder if they have coffee in this world,” he said quietly to the empty room.
He threw on some clothes and added some fresh wood to the fire then made his way downstairs to the bar. To his surprise the person behind the bar was not Roric, it was and older human woman that looked to be in her mid to late sixties. One of her eyes looked like it didn’t open all the way, a lingering effect of some age-old wound that had healed over long ago.
She looked up at him, “Good morning sweety. Is there something I can get for you?”
“I was wondering if you had any coffee?” Timothy asked.
“Just brewed a fresh pot. Let me get it for you,” and she turned around and put on some thick cloth gloves before grabbing a black kettle hanging over the small fireplace behind the bar.
“Thank you,” Timothy said as he took the cup of coffee from the bar, “I am sorry, but I did not catch your name.”
“Silvia,” she said with a smile, “That will be two iron.”
“Nice to meet you Silvia, I am Timothy in room seventeen,” he said as he pushed three iron coins towards Silvia.
She smiled at the tip and waved to Timothy as he made his way to the stairs.
Timothy arrived back in his room, which was already warming back up from the wood he placed into the fire before going downstairs. He moved over to the small desk by the window and placed his coffee down then took a seat to rummage through his backpack for the tablet. He sat back in the chair and began looking through the various tabs.
The borders of three of the tabs were growing thicker and thinner making them appear to be flashing, the same as the last time he looked at it. The first one he clicked on was the Character Sheet tab, the only change he saw here was to his experience, which was now at eight.
Experience:
Current: 8
Next Level: 10
Two more, he thought to himself, Not bad.
He backed out of that tab and clicked on the next one, the contacts tab maximized on the tablet. There were two changes to existing contacts signified by the same type of flashing that was happening to the tabs. Both Nava and Roric’s “Con” status changed from neutral to acquaintance, then there were eight new entries.
Doloras Dafro – Female – Human - 5'11" - Acquaintance
Hugh Dafro – Male – Human - 6'8" - Acquaintance
Larry Dafro – Male – Human - 6'6" - Friendly
Mary Dafro – Female – Human - 5'9" - Acquaintance
James Dafro – Male – Human - 4'9" - Acquaintance
Francine Dafro – Female – Human - 3'0" - Friendly
Jonathan Tims – Male – Human - 5'6" - Acquaintance
Silvia (Unknown) – Female – Human - 5'8" – Neutral
I guess this tab fills in the information based off of what I know or observe. That would explain why I know some of the last names and not others, Timothy’s mind connecting some of the dots from the last time he looked at this tab to this time.
He closed the contacts tab, hesitated for a second before clicking on the log file tab.
“Let’s see what you have to say this time,” Timothy said to the tablet.
Action 14
Day 2
Month: Bianca
Year: 1
You met a creepy guy in the bath house and had a conversation with him. I know we are in a new world but that was weird.
Action 15
Day 2
Month: Bianca
Year: 1
You heard that howler while in a deep sleep. At least you have some kind of basic survival instinct, maybe we won't die in the first week.
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Action 16
Day 2
Month: Bianca
Year: 1
You asked some good questions as you and Nava made your way to the howler, and you even thought to cast some spells before wading into the fight. Bravo!
Action 17
Day 2
Month: Bianca
Year: 1
On what planet do you think a first level wizard should ever wade into melee range!? You almost got us killed! This is not a video game you idiot, we don't respawn.
Luckily you and Nava killed it, I guess you have to get experience for the fight. FINE! Four total experience, two for you and two for Nava.
Action 18
Day 2
Month: Bianca
Year: 1
One experience for healing Nava.
Action 19
Day 2
Month: Bianca
Year: 1
You met the Dafro's and seemed to impress them. I can't believe I am saying this, but good job. In addition, you were able to talk Nava into training with you, with more than a nudge from Doloras, don't screw this up!
Action 20
Day 2
Month: Bianca
Year: 1
You begin to believe there may be a connection between the cold, the howlers and the dwarves. I think we need to keep digging into this and since I am the smart one, you must do it.
Action 21
Day 2
Month: Bianca
Year: 1
You and Nava begin training together in the afternoon. I have to admit, that training ritual is impressive, we must learn how to make that ritual circle.
One experience for replaying the brawl with the dwarves and learning from your mistakes."
Action 22
Day 2
Month: Bianca
Year: 1
You and Nava make your way back to the tavern after returning Francine to the house. When you made up that story about your name I thought I was going to have to rip you a new one, then she threw you into that snow drift and I was sure of it. To my surprise you cracked her hard shell, and she actually smiled.
Action 23
Day 2
Month: Bianca
Year: 1
You taught yourself how to create some simple spells. That is worth getting experience for. One experience for each new spell.
Action 24
Day 2
Month: Bianca
Year: 1
The mayor of the town sought you out…hmm…
Okay, I guess that was a good thing and he even bought your dinner. Making powerful contacts is not always a good thing though, be mindful of that."
Action 25
Day 2
Month: Bianca
Year: 1
YOU WERE TOO TIRED! Too tired to look at me at the end of the day. You pansy ass little ass wipe! I am not to be ignored! I am removing two experience for this…
Sigh…I guess not…BUT I will find a way!"
Action 26
Day 3
Month: Bianca
Year: 1
You got a cup of coffee. I hope you spill it on yourself.
Timothy was startled out of his reading by a knock at the door.
“I guess I pissed my log file off,” he said quietly as he placed his tablet on the desk.
A second round of knocking began, “Ya, ya! Hold your horses, I’m coming,” he said as he stood up and walked towards the door.
When he opened the door Nava was standing there, “When do you want to go back out to train again? We didn’t talk about it last night.”
Timothy thought for a second, “You know, I have no idea what time it is. How do you even tell time in this world?”
“There is a simple ritual for that, I can show you later. It is 7:30,” she said. Her attitude towards him was much friendlier today then yesterday.
“That sounds good, I would like that,” he said, “how many hours are in a day here? There are twenty-four in my home world.”
“A little over twenty-one hours, but we keep an twenty-one-hour clock and then have an extra day every three months.”
“We have something similar in our world but the extra is so small that we only need an extra day once every four years,” he scratched his chin, “But then every four hundred years we don’t have a leap year because that extra day every four years is a bit too much. We need to give it back to keep the clocks right.”
“Ours is not that difficult, thankfully, we just need the extra day every three months,” she said as she looked over Timothy’s head, which was not difficult considering she was at least six inches taller than him, “What is that on your desk?”
Timothy looked over his shoulder, “You better come in first.”
She stepped into his room, and he closed the door behind her then made his way to the desk.
“This is something to help me understand this world. Somehow, I made it just before I made the final journey and ended up here,” he picked it up off the desk, “I can see certain information about myself, this world and, to a limited degree, others.”
“Can I see it?”
“Sure,” and he handed it over to her and as he let go a wave of fear hit him. Rift couldn’t pick it up, if he couldn’t, was it going to smash her hands into the floor as it pulled her down. To his astonishment, nothing happened.
“Is something wrong?” Nava asked.
“Hmm…I guess not. How heavy is it for you?”
She gave him a side long look, “Your kidding, right? If you can pick it up what makes you think that I couldn’t?”
“I honestly have no idea,” he said bewildered.
“Can I look through it?”
“Go for it.”
Nava took a few minutes to click on the various tabs and read through everything before handing it back to Timothy.
“That is very interesting. It looks like you are almost second level in only a few short days.”
“I couldn’t have gotten this far without you.”
“True, but still, that is fast. On the other hand, you will need to pay attention to that log file. It seems like it can be a bit of a prick,” Nava said.
Timothy went to set the tablet back on the desk when he noticed a new tab and a flashing button. The tab said permissions and the button said inspect, he clicked the inspect button.
A few things happened in rapid succession once he clicked that button. The first was that the tablet had another tab on the main screen that said “Nava”, so he clicked that. It was a character sheet for her, and he started looking it over:
Character Name: Nava Whiteplain
Race: Orc
Level: 1 (Locked)
Gem Slotting: Wielder/Forger/Caster
Then there was an immense pain between his eye and his vision went starry, the world seemed to shift as it felt like he was falling. Then his world went black.
Nava watched Timothy just about set that stone tablet back on his desk when he noticed something and pulled it back to his lap. He looked at it briefly before tapping something on the front of it, a button that was not there a moment ago. There was an anxiety that started to build in her as soon as he clicked that button, but she didn’t know the reason why. She struggled with herself wondering why this feeling was suddenly upon her, but it kept building, she wanted to scream!
Then he tapped the screen again and this is where it went from anxiety to fear and anger. She felt like someone was violating her in a way that she initially didn’t know how to describe, but then something in her clicked and she knew it was her soul. The violation of the soul was coming from this room…it was coming from Timothy! She recoiled and then punched him square between the eyes. His nose exploded, covering his face in blood and he fell backwards in his chair, smashing the back of his head on the floor. His body went limp.
The moment that Timothy crashed into the floor that feeling of being violated ceased. She stood over him with clinched fists and crossed emotions, should she help him or should she beat him to death.
