The Warped Forest

by Thomas Carpenter

  She did the only thing she could think of, and dropped to her stomach, right as the spikes went over her head. Before the badgerpine could close the distance, Alex rolled onto her knees and cracked the final critter with her Vicious Thorny Whip.

  Critical hit! You deal the badgerpine 35 damage! You have killed the badgerpine!

  You have gained experience: 50 XP

  You have reached level 2!

  "Oh, thank Merlin," said Alex from her knees.

  If she'd lost the fight, she would have taken a 500 XP penalty, erasing two days of preparation. Not only that, but she'd hunted everything she thought she could comfortably kill. Anything else would have taken next-level thinking to conquer.

  Since this was the first time she got to put points into her character, she was so giddy she was light-headed. But she didn't want to die to a wandering monster while she was lost in her character sheet, so she surveyed the area first, looting the carcasses as she went.

  Alex received two badgerpine meats for her troubles, and one of the bodies didn't disappear after looting it, which meant she could cook it down for either a chimeric stone or a worthless bauble.

  With the area cleaned up, Alex hiked back to her camp, slipping through the gate before settling onto her favorite thinking rock and bringing up her character sheet. Right away she saw new information that had her brimming with excitement.

  Character: Alexandria Duke

  Level: 2

  Strength: 1

  Intelligence: 1

  Cunning: 1

  Agility: 1

  Endurance: 1

  Charisma: 1

  Class: Undecided

  Subclass: Undecided

  Health: 18/18

  Faez: 25/25

  Fatigue: 67%

  XP: 20,013 / 50,000

  Skills:

  Analyze: 2

  One-handed Slashing: 1

  Fire Spells: 2

  Devious Device: 2

  Sense Direction: 2

  One-handed Whip: 2

  Water Spells: 2

  Cooking: 2

  Spells:

  Dewdrop Orb: 2

  The list of attributes was a nice change, and she'd been given three points to put into increases, but without knowing what her eventual class or subclass might be, it was hard to pick.

  The increase in hit points was a huge boon, and so was the increase in mana. She hoped that since she'd leveled it'd be easier to increase her skills. She hadn't been able to get any above two, and even getting One-handed Whip, her most frequently used skill, had been devilishly difficult.

  The thing she didn't like was the increase in experience. She'd hoped that the next level would be another 20,000 experience over the last, but it was fifty percent more than that. While it was true that higher level monsters gave more experience, the ratio wasn't as high as she'd hoped.

  As she stared at her stats, she thought about saving them for later when she got to pick her class, but the battles had been tough enough. She needed every advantage, especially because she knew she had to venture into the middle of the forest now that she had leveled up.

  "Ha, level two," said Alex. "It's like I think I'm suddenly epic class or something."

  Of the six attributes, she quickly eliminated strength. That was a stat usually reserved for frontline tanks carrying heavy armor or wielding cartoonish massive weapons. While she wasn't opposed to the role, the realistic pain made standing up to blow after blow unappealing. Her legs were still smarting from the badgerpine quills.

  Charisma was the next stat she ruled out because of her remote location. She was aware that some games utilized it for sorcerers or bards to power up their magic or song, but she was interested in neither class.

  Endurance was a consideration, but not because of the implications for her eventual class, whatever that would be. Having more hit points increased survivability, which was always helpful, and with the high XP penalty, she didn't want to play a glass cannon that died after every other fight. Alex put one point into Endurance. The other two would go into whatever stat she thought best for her long-term plans.

  Her first inclination was Intelligence, only because she felt like it described her in real life. Agility was good, because it would help her hit foes and increase her dodginess. The last one, Cunning, had a particular sublime draw. Normally that slot had a stat called wisdom, or spirit, depending on the game. But those were both high-minded descriptions that had always led her to choose other paths.

  While she thought of herself as an intelligent young woman, it wasn't her raw smarts that had made her a top gamer or earned her a place in Gamemakers Hall. While some people thought of cunning as a negative, as if the results were always achieved through underhanded and duplicitous means, she thought that the attribute required a rigorous attention to detail and a thorough understanding of the problem. No one just lucked into cunning results, and while it was a way that Bond villains and thieves were described, it belittled their preparation and efforts.

  "It's not like taking over the world is a task easily begun," said Alex to no one but herself.

  The more she thought about it, the more she liked the idea of Cunning as her main stat. She had a feeling that it would help her with the devious device skill, which had been her main survival tool in the Warped Forest.

  It also described the extent of the challenge before her. She was going to have to be cunning to beat the hardest game in the world. Straight-up raw ability wasn't going to do it. Cunningness would help her leverage the options she'd been given, which were few and far between.

  "What are we going to do today?" she asked aloud as she hovered her finger over the floating character screen. Alex selected the Cunning stat twice. "We're going to take over the world."

  Chapter Twelve

  For the next few days, Alex spent the time scouting the center of the Warped Forest while she formulated a plan. There'd been one brewing in the back of her head since her first days in the game, but she'd been so focused on surviving and advancing to level 2 that she hadn't thought much about it. But it was one of the reasons why she'd never returned to the cliff cave with the bloats, despite desperately needing the experience.

  Moving through the deeper trees while avoiding the higher-level creatures required patience. It also took a bit of stealth, which she earned a point in during her scouting mission.

  When she was younger, her parents had taken her to a lumberjack competition outside of Lexington. While the log chopping and log rolling brought the most cheers from the crowd, it was the speed climbing that had amazed her. With only a rope and toe spars, they ascended the ninety-foot poles in less than ten seconds, and descended quicker.

  Alex wasn't looking to break any records, but she thought the technique would help her stay out of trouble and get the bird's-eye view she wanted on the creatures she aimed to kill.

  After weaving a grass rope, Alex found a suitable tree to practice her ascent. She wrapped the rope around the two-foot-diameter trunk and placed the toes of her sandals against the trunk. With a little jump to get herself started, Alex squeezed the rope around the trunk while using the leverage to pull herself higher.

  But she stood too tall, and her feet lost grip and her sandals slid down, launching her face into the tree.

  You have taken 1 damage from a tree!

  How did you even manage that?

  Alex rubbed her nose, coming away with a little blood. She blew out a breath, thankful that no one had been around to see it.

  Quest Offered: Climb to the top of the Warped Forest (+1,000 XP) [Y/N]

  Without dying, of course.

  As she hit accept, a familiar voice startled her.

  "Trees are nasty foes, you never know when one is going to reach out and smack you in the nose," said Ethel, who'd taken a perch on a nearby limb.

  The snide barb was easily forgiven, not just because it'd been delivered with a humorous lilt, but because it was the first friendly face—or beak in th
is case—that she'd seen in weeks.

  "Since I lack wings for flight I have to resort to more primitive means," said Alex, holding up her grass rope. "Unless you'd like to volunteer as transport. I'm sure I could make a nice saddle."

  Ethel cackled, ruffling her wings with pleasure.

  +10 reputation with Great Ravens

  The Great Raven tilted her head in that awkward manner that birds could do without snapping their own necks.

  "What in the Tailfeather of the World are you doing?" asked Ethel.

  "Climbing, but my technique needs some work," she said, wiping the remaining blood from her upper lip. "Hey! I have something for you. A great many somethings."

  Ethel glided to her, landed a few feet away, and then walk-hopped next to Alex with an eager glint to her shiny black pebble eyes.

  "You had me at Hey!" said Ethel, copying her greeting's inflection perfectly.

  Alex handed over the stack of fifty-eight worthless baubles from her Handysack.

  Quest Completed: Find 50 Worthless Baubles for Ethel

  You have gained experience: 500 XP

  +100 reputation with Great Ravens

  You are now friendly with Great Ravens

  Ethel dropped them into her belt pouch with her beak, following it up with a trilling caw.

  "Your junk is my treasure," said Ethel. "It was a pleasure doing business with you."

  "Anything else I can do for you?" asked Alex.

  "I will take more worthless baubles as you find them," said Ethel. "And you might find other items that you have no use for that I will take in trade."

  Quest Offered: Find 50 Worthless Baubles for Ethel (+500 XP / +100 reputation with Great Ravens) [Y/N]

  She happily accepted the repeating quest, especially since the baubles were a byproduct of her XP farming.

  "Now that we're friends, dearie, may I offer you a tip?" asked Ethel, and once again, Alex imagined her as an old woman with a cigarette hanging from her dangling hand.

  "Of course," said Alex.

  "Those sandals are slicker than gargantuan snot. You should rough 'em up a little. Add a little grit so you can get traction," said Ethel.

  "I've thought of that, but I'm a little lacking on the glue to stick it," said Alex.

  "And what are old Great Ravens for, except to be there in your time of need," said Ethel.

  "Don't forget the snark," said Alex with a smile. "I'm rather fond of it."

  "Back at ya, kid," said Ethel.

  The black bird shoved her beak into her pouch and rooted around in it, suggesting that it was a similar container to her Handysack. Ethel produced a jar and tossed it to Alex.

  You have received: Ethel's Adhesive Ointment

  There was no label on the jar, but thankfully the details appeared as she stared at it.

  Item: Ethel's Adhesive Ointment

  Uses: 20 ׀ Effect: You are familiar with glue, right?

  Smells like menthol and butterscotch candies.

  It wasn't hard to find sharp rocks. Beneath the rich soil was a layer of volcanic rock that had been broken down over time. Alex wasn't sure if that detail was important or it was just a level of verisimilitude that gave the world a lived-in feel, but she appreciated it either way.

  After collecting two handfuls of sharp rocks, Alex readied her sandals. Applying the adhesive only took one use, after which she pressed on the rocks, being careful not to stick herself to the glue. She didn't know how permanent it was, and it'd look really bad if she had to fight with her sandals stuck to her hands.

  In a moment of inspiration, before the ointment was dry, Alex channeled her faez into the sandals. As she focused on the footwear, her faez bar drained. She had the same sensation of using magic that she did in the real world—as if frozen string was being pulled from her mind—before an audible pop sounded and the sandals shimmered, changing from a look that said homeless marathon runner to weekend mountain climber.

  Item: Boots of Ascending

  +5 Climbing

  AC: 2 ׀ Durability 30/30

  Not liable for slips, trips, and falls.

  You have gained a skill point: +1 Devious Device

  Before they'd been open-toed and grimy with dirt from weeks of use, but the spell had transformed them into stylish boots with toe clamps on the front. She hugged them to her chest as if she were Cinderella receiving her glass slippers.

  "Oh, thank you, Ethel. They're perfect!"

  "Well try 'em on, dearie. Or would you prefer another bloody nose?"

  Grinning from ear to ear, Alex slipped the boots onto her feet. The spell transformation had added a soft cushion to the inside, making them more comfortable than the previous version.

  With the grass rope wrapped around the trunk, Alex placed her boots against the bark, enjoying the way the tips bit into the soft wood. Shifting the rope upward, Alex stepped up, leaning back for leverage.

  "You look like a confused meerkat," said Ethel, hopping from foot to foot. "Come on, keep climbing."

  Using the rope to hold herself in place, and taking upward steps in a wide stance that made her feel like she was crab walking, Alex made it twenty feet up the trunk before she came to a branch. It took some maneuvering to get the rope above it, but once she did, the rest was easy.

  She found a high branch that gave her a good view of the surrounding forest, but hadn't received the quest completion message yet. As she eyed the higher limbs, she worried that one might snap under her weight. The fall would easily kill her, but the potential experience boost was worth the risk.

  She heard a flutter of wings as Ethel settled down nearby.

  "Here for the show?" asked Alex.

  "Falling or falling?" asked Ethel, clapping her beak twice.

  "Ha, very funny," said Alex, reaching for a thin branch above her. It took another five minutes to move through the slender limbs that made up the upper canopy but eventually she was rewarded.

  Quest Completed: Climb to the top of the Warped Forest

  You have gained experience: 1,000 XP

  "These boots are almost as good as wings," said Alex.

  "I wouldn't go that far," said Ethel, adding a raspy caw for good measure.

  From her vantage at the top of the tree, which was on a rise, she had a good view of the whole area. The Warped Forest wasn't a large region, maybe twenty square miles set against a mountain range on the west side and the Plains of Warsong on the east. It was shaped like a diamond with the river-bottomed chasm running north to south.

  Near the western side of the Warped Forest, nestled against the mountains, Alex spied a region that seemed to ripple as if it were a blacktop road in a desert. The trees looked less structured, more fractal, and the aqua blue that haunted the edges of the leaves took on other hues, giving the forest a shimmering soap bubble feel. It didn't take a stretch of the imagination to figure that was the place she needed to go to solve the quest with the chimeric stones.

  "We're not in Kansas anymore, Toto," said Alex.

  "I think someone took too much acid in their developmental years when they made this place," said Ethel.

  Holding onto a branch for balance, Alex asked, "Excuse me if this is rude for asking, but do you understand the nature of this world?"

  "Yes," said Ethel. "That you think you're playing a game?"

  Alex wasn't sure if the Great Raven was messing with her.

  "Are...are you an NPC? Like an AI or something?" she asked.

  The Great Raven hopped to the edge of her branch and tilted her glossy black head. "Do you really think a bunch of 1s and 0s could ever be the cat's pajamas?"

  Alex bit the side of her lip, squinting.

  "Yeah, you're right," she said, even though she didn't really believe it. Clearly whatever intelligence was behind Ethel Stormfeathers the Third—computer, enchantment, daemon—it wasn't meant to know that it was. Alex was just glad to have some companionship, however brief, in the game.

  To the east, past the Plains of Warsong, Alex c
aught a flash in the sky. She climbed a little higher, to where the trunk felt more like a branch and swayed with her weight, to get a better view. Even with her hand cupped over her eyes to guard against the glare, she couldn't see what had caused the flash. It was almost like the sky in that region absorbed the light.

  "Do you know what's over there?" asked Alex.

  Before Ethel's comments had been breezy, as if they were a couple of old friends sharing a whiskey at an upscale bar. But as soon as the Great Raven looked in the direction Alex had been staring, she responded in a low and raspy voice.

  "No one goes there, so don't worry about it," said Ethel.

  "No one goes there? What does that mean?" asked Alex.

  "No one goes there and comes back out," said Ethel. "Not your kind, or my kind. It's a place that was not meant to be."

  "Like an error in the game?" asked Alex.

  A quiet heaviness suggested she would get no more information from Ethel, and the wind was picking up, which made her position precarious.

  As Alex started climbing down, Ethel spread her wings to ruffle out her feathers.

  "It's been real, kid, but I gotta fly," said Ethel.

  With her hands busy with the rope, Alex looked up and said, "Thanks for the ointment. Don't be a stranger."

  The Great Raven lifted into the sky on her black wings, disappearing over the canopy in two thrusts.

  Alex's mind briefly touched on the strange darkness beyond the Plains of Warsong. She assumed Ethel saying that it wasn't meant to be explored was ominous foreshadowing for a later zone, maybe something when she was in her fourth or fifth year. But it also had the weight of something real, that gave her shivers when she thought too much about it.

  "One thing at a time," said Alex as she shifted the rope down and stuck her toe grip onto a lower section of the trunk. "First I need to make a visit to my little fat-bodied friends."