The City: PuzzleLocked Book 1

“Why did you immediately take that job?” Alastair asked her as they left. “Have you figured out an angle to get us into a new tavern for the night?”

“No, it’s a slightly less mature idea than that,” she said while looking at the board. “Generally, I’m thinking that if there is something we can do quickly each morning right after we get off the boat, then we can accomplish that task and have money for the day so that we aren’t required to backtrack to the tavern.”

“That’s a good point. Let’s see what we can find.”

Together they reviewed the various postings. They were more numerous than their last check. Alastair found the one for the monument machinist but didn’t clip it. Most positions seemed to be for longer-term work that wouldn’t be feasible in their repetitive lifestyle.

“Temporary gardener might be reasonable, although I don’t think we have the prerequisites. I know I don’t have a green thumb.”

“Here’s one for assistance clearing out a shed. We might be able to do that quickly, but it’s not like we have a wagon or a place to stash the stuff we take out.”

“These are all bogus. There should be at least one ‘find this item and deliver it to me’, or ‘deliver this item to that person’, or ‘go kill ten swamp slugs for their pelts’ type quest.”

“Yeah, this is a bit frustrating. But what’s our other option? Wander the city and ask people if they have work. I haven’t seen a single exclamation point over a person’s head.”

“It’s probably an advanced setting we haven’t figured out yet… we could just leave town and head to the farm?”

“It’s not a terrible idea, but something tells me that we wouldn’t be unceremoniously dumped in this city if we didn’t need to solve these problems, first. It’s just that the devs didn’t do a great job of providing us a MacGuffin,” said Flor. {Merriam-Webster: MacGuffin (noun): an object, event, or character in a film or story that serves to set and keep the plot in motion despite usually lacking intrinsic importance.}

“Yeah, if this game was just wake up, do chores, repeat ad-infinitude, I’m sure I’d go crazy. I’m already going crazy and it is only game day two. For me. Surely you’re further on the frustration path.”

“I’m not there yet. It’s got my curiosity. Other than that fight with the thugs yesterday, this has been generally low-stress and non-combative, which is kinda cottage-core and peaceful, even if the lack of direction is frustrating.”

“So, what do we do? We have a map. Pick a point and walk?”

“Well, even though it’s probably not going to work out, let’s grab some of these notes and aim at those. Maybe we’ll go someplace new and maybe one of them will work out.”

“Shed clean up first? Can you match the address on the map?”

“North-ish, looking. We can head to the main road, past the temple then along the manor wall. Should be just before the river.”

“And of course, keep a lookout for cats,” he said.

“Much more elusive than I expected.”

“What, you just expect cats everywhere? It’s raining constantly, so most are probably lazy in alleyways. And I don’t think we want to be attacked by thugs again.”

“I wonder how the game selects who is the primary in combat?”

“Let’s avoid finding out. Is that the temple?”

“Looks the most temple-ish of the things around here. What do you think the Goddess does?”

“Probably resurrections and curse removals. Fairly practical stuff,” he said.

“Want to stop in?”

“You know I don’t unless we can avoid it.”

“We’ll save it for another day, then.”

They continued walking, avoiding some larger puddles as they went. “This city needs better drainage. Oh, does that look like a university up that way?”

“Curious how they manage to make it look both prestigious and run down simultaneously.”

“Chances are we’ll end up there eventually, also. The developers have certainly crammed a bunch of stuff into a small space. It might take weeks to walk all these streets if we include the back alleys. Add on talking to NPCs. Hey, devs, if you hear me, we could use a beacon to tell us where to go! Or some crazy cousin to text us to come to a location on our cell phones. This random wandering is untenable.”

“Well, yelling at the sky might get us in trouble. I don’t think the sky will provide us with a beacon.”

“At least I understand why my rage meter is increasing, even if I don’t know what it does.”

“Stow your angst, Alastair. Or at least let me do the talking here.” They had arrived at the address from the advert. Flor knocked. After a minute, she knocked again. Another moment passed and then an elderly woman answered the door. Home-Owner 1. “Good morning. We’re here to clean the shed, per the note left at the guild house.”

“The what? Oh, my. It seems my daughter must have posted that even though I asked her not to. Well, if you’re here, it’s gotta be done. The pay will be 10 coins, offered on completion.”

“Please show us the way.”

“Oh, just go around back. You’ll see what needs to be done. Just move the boxes out of the way and let me know when you’re done.”

The two walked back and saw the shed. “This has a puzzle written all over it,” said Flor.

“Makes me wonder. Can we do this in duplicate and both get the reward?”

“No harm in trying.”

They entered the shed together. Alastair’s interface flashed and his perspective of the shed shifted to an overlay from a top-down perspective of a four-by-four grid. It appeared that two similar-looking piles existed in the space. He considered that he didn’t know what to do…so he started to move toward one of the piles. Suddenly, the entire pile slid across the grid to the other pile and combined into a smaller pile. A third larger pile had appeared in the top corner. Alastair pushed the pile again and all the piles flowed to the top of the grid.

I guess I group items and they combine. If I combine enough items, maybe they’ll disappear like Tetris lines. Or it might be 2048 where I must combine to a certain size. I wonder if every move uses energy. Nope. Each move doesn’t use energy.

Alastair pushed and pulled piles, which became smaller and more organized as they combined. These games are so bizarre. After several more pushes and pulls, he pushed two well-organized piles together. The interface flashed and replaced the grid with a well-organized shed.

Puzzle complete. +1 to General 1 Puzzles

Attempt puzzle again? Yes/No?

Add this to my new least favorite type of game. “No!”

Flor was waiting for him when he came out of the interface. “Let’s go get our reward.” A minute later they were each ten coins richer. It had cost them an hour and one energy each. Yet, it was more than the amount they’d earn as muckers.

“I guess it sucks less for that sort of payout.”

“Yeah, want to press our luck and try the garden one?”

“Might as well.”

After fifteen minutes of walking, they met a second Home-Owner 1. “My garden is in disarray since my normal gardener became sick. Can you help me organize it? The pay is ten coins.”

“Point the way!”

After another in-game hour and one energy expenditure, Alastair and Flor had slid seeds into fully grown cucumbers, hand shovels into spades, and “dirt” into “soil.”

With an additional +1 to general 1 puzzles and twenty more coins between them, perhaps this was the beacon they needed - chores for money. As they collected the coins, Flor perked up.

“Before we leave, do you mind if I pet that cat?”