The City: PuzzleLocked Book 1

The two exited the tavern to a steady drizzle. Alastair looked at Flor, dressed as he had seen her initially in a knee-length shirt dress with a thin rope around her waist. Despite the rain, and the different appearance than in reality, her mannerisms were identical to at home. He appreciated the view and the company.

“Do you think it’s fair?” he asked.

“Getting thrown out of the tavern for having an electronic, disappearing pet? No. Not at all.”

“Not that. That we’re here, stuck in a game without an identified objective. We’ve missed out on days of real-life time and can’t escape. That we didn’t get a chance to select our character profile.”

Flor considered. “No. No, if true. Meh.”

“Well, let’s go find some cats. Where do we go? Just wander down alleys until we find one to chase up a roof?”

“It’s kinda what happened with the last cat I found.”

“Can we get some coffee or something first?”

“Sure. I think I remember seeing a shop that sells something like coffee. I don’t know how we’ll pay for it, though.”

“Oh, yeah. How do we get money?”

“I haven’t figured that out yet. Maybe kill monsters and sell the hides.”

Alastair laughed. “Maybe. Let’s go.”

They started walking down the main street, looking at the signs on the buildings around them. Most of the one or two-story buildings didn’t have signs outside them but were made of sturdy-ish-looking stone with a tile roof. Every few buildings had a hint of half-timber on the second story. Like you might see in a children’s story set in the German Alps. In general, everything in the city seems slightly out of place.

“Do you really not remember your first day here, or how you died that time? Taking on some overpowered sewer rat?”

“Nothing specific from it, at least. It could have been a rat. Does this look like a rat bite to you? Or a chipmunk nibble?”

“I think I gave that to you. But you do remember enough to know I was out of it?”

“Oddly, yes. It was the first thing after the cut scene and manacles puzzle. All the other prisoners wandered off, probably to figure out how to make money here, except one scribe staring into the void. I poked at you, but nothing. The prison warden came out of his shack and yelled at me ‘Every once in a while one of you prisoners does that’ before ducking back into his shack. So, I gave you a gentle kiss and then went off somewhere. Chances are I followed this very street.”

Together they stopped atop a bridge crossing a small river. Despite the rain, a few ducks lazed doing duck things.

“This place seems pretty small, overall. From what I see, I’d bet we could walk the parameter in about an hour.”

“Minus crossing this river back and forth and skirting around the services, maybe. Oh, wait! Do you hear that?”

“Hear what?”

Flor strained to hear. Then her face lit up. “Mewing.”

Alastair listened hard and then considered turning up the sound setting in the interface. He pulled up his interface and changed the setting from ten to 25. Nothing initially. But when he closed the interface, sure enough. A faint mewing sound. Flor was already scrambling over to the side of the bridge. She started down the side and under the bridge. He followed, realizing he was unused to wearing what amounted to a dress, and wondered how he would maneuver down there wearing one. After a moment, he decided he’d wait and let her pet them and see if he received the benefits from it also. She moved along before kneeling. She began to stroke a cat and then, after a moment, another.

Congratulations! You have unlocked Displays 1!

So, apparently, he had gained the benefits of her work. He looked around to see if advanced displays appeared in his vision the same way as subtitles and other persons' identifying information. It did not. So he pulled open his display again. There, overlaying the general interface, were four new accouterments that seemed to overlay each of the interfaces: Clock, Health, Energy, and Coins. The clock marked just before six {Which seemed early to him, or late since he couldn’t see an indication of am/pm.}, the energy marked 32, the health showed 3, and the money showed a big, round zero. {More details of these traits are available in the Lore Interface, but that doesn’t unlock until Interface 2. }

Alastair tried to mentally poke at the new interfaces to see if they did something. When he clicked the clock, it switched from analog to digital; he switched it back. The energy display switched between a number set on a square or within a lightning icon. The health turned from the number to red circles; these he left as three red circles. The money started as a closed coin purse, then a number; since he had no money, he left it as a closed purse.

As he returned to the world about him, Flor climbed back over the small brick wall. “I met a cat. Two, actually. A cute but flea-bitten Devon Rex named Ivonette Lillias and her daughter, who isn’t yet named {Cat number 004 and 005}. So, I’m not sure if it counts as two, even though I did get two notifications for meeting a cat, so maybe that counts as two. There was only one other new interface, though. Displays one?”

“Yeah, it superimposes a clock, energy, and health on the interface menu.”

“Maybe that’s useful. Let’s keep track of it.”

“Already on it, Jackson Galaxy.”

Flor sighed. “Don’t call me that.”

“What, you’re a cat whisperer! {Technically not according to the game. The Cat Whisperer achievement is earned for petting a certain number of cats that I’m not going to tell you yet. Flor isn’t even close!} Let’s see if they are serving lunch at the prison tavern.”

“They won’t be. Not yet. Horace said eight hours, which can’t have been eight hours ago. More like two or three.”

“But. You’re right. Wait. Give me a moment.” Alastair pulled back up his interface. Sure enough, the clock was not split into twelve-hour increments. Instead, it showed a circle of eight. “So, the clock only goes to eight before it repeats. So…”

“…maybe the day is split into three periods of eight rather than two periods of twelve,” he continued.

“Yeah, maybe.”

“So, if it is close to the second four now, and we have about four hours until lunch, we have some time.”

“What’s our next objective? Figure out money, how the energy gets used, something else entirely, or wander like the first time we played Myst? Or go find more cats?”

“Let me think about it for a moment.” Alastair climbed up to sit on the small brick wall that lined the river bank, which was decidedly challenging in his long shirt. Money might be useful especially if we figure out how to extend beyond a single day and need to feed or lodge ourselves…or even today if we want to sleep out of the rain tonight. Maybe earning money uses energy? And sometimes health. We already know what the cats do, even if we have further questions. “I think we figure out how to make money. Let’s ask an NPC or two, and maybe we’ll find cats and how resources get gained and lost along the way.”

Flor nodded, then said, “Let’s go ask the warden at the pier. He seems knowledgeable enough, even if he does come across as grumpy.”