NOVEL WEB Book I: Tutorial 1.1
Tutorial 1.1
Sunday December 20th, 2009
Another prompt asks me if I wanted to see all my status effects, and that I could say "Status Effects" to view them. This might be annoying since "Status" by itself is already a command. I do want to see them, but later. Right now I want to find a way to turn off some of the more annoying notifications.
I try "Options" and find what I'm looking for under the 'Notifications' tab. The Notifications page shows a long list of entries with On/Off checkboxes. The top of the scrolling box says 'Send a notification when:' It has entries like, 'On level up', 'On skill increase', 'On attribute gain', 'On status effect received', 'On status effect removed', 'On relationship change', 'On title acquisition', 'On faction change', 'On class change', 'On HP change', 'On MP change', 'On Stamina change', 'On interface feature unlock'… on so on.
Every single one of them is checked. Considering just what clues I could get from what kind of notifications could be sent, just what kind of game am I playing?
An RPG or a Rogue-like of some kind seems the most probable as I guessed before. It's something with classes, skills, attributes, abilities, perks and such. Maybe it's a life simulation? A dating sim? Why track 'relationships'? Was it all of the above? Considering the possibilities makes my head hurt.
I turn off everything related to the tertiary stats. My body still lets me know just fine when I'm hungry, thirsty and tired, I don't need the extra annoying reminders. Especially the stupid comfort one, I do sit down and get back up again to make sure the damn thing is off. It is. I'll fine tune which ones are on and off later but this is good for now.
Your Gamer's Interface skill has increased by 1
I dismiss the newest notification, "Status Effects."
There are a lot. Most are related to injuries. A lot have countdown timers. Is this telling me exactly how long it is going to take for them to heal? Shit. 'Teenage Acne' really? Expires in 2.5 years, -0.5 Allure? Nearly all the status effects have some kind of debuff applied against stats or skills. Most, such as the bruises and lacerations, are only small fractional de-buffs, ignorable individually. However their total effect is cumulative. The broken arm is bad, with debuffs to all my physical stats, hitting AGI the worst. 'Near Your Breaking Point' is also very bad, dropping debuffs on most of my mental stats as well as CHA. 'Soiled' also drops my Allure, another 'duh' moment.
'Severe Pain', 'Shock', and even 'Confused' are all still present and making me feel like shit. Well, this explains a whole lot.
The status effect 'Confused' has been removed
Um, okay great, now only several dozen more negative status effects to go. But out of all of them, I think I should be most worried about the 'Infected' one. Its description is 'You've been swimming in filth with open wounds, who knows what got in there. Your Medicine skill is not high enough to provide more details about this status effect.' It doesn't currently list any de-buffs, but it doesn't have a timer on it either. If poison and disease work like in some RPGs I've played then they start off unknown or undetected and get worse over time. Yeah, I definitely need to take care of that, but for now I just want some water. I close the window to resume my search.
I wander through the tent for a couple minutes before another window pops right up again.
The Basic Necessities (Tutorial Quest)
You're in bad shape, with nothing to your name, barely even the ragged clothes on your back.
Obtain each of the following: Food, Water, Clothing, Shelter, Medicine, and Information.
Time Limit: 24 hours
Success: +50 XP, quenched thirst, a full belly, and better health.
Bonus condition: Share some of the essentials with any companions you encounter as well.
Bonus Success: Increased relationship with companion(s).
Failure: Continued hunger, thirst, and miserableness.
Can try again: Yes
Do you accept: Y/N? or say "Accept"
Um okay… Well that answers how I can get some XP. I tap the 'Y'. Of course an RPG game has quests, how typical. Don't see any reason why I wouldn't want to accept, I want to get all of those things anyway. Companions though? I barely even know who I am, why would any strangers matter? I guess running into someone that knows me could fill in some gaps. Maybe I have friends out there somewhere that I don't remember?
Tutorial Mode: You have received your first quest. To see a list of current and past quests say "Quests"
"Quests," yep, there it is, and it looks like there is a place for a quest log too. I close the window so I can get on with finding some damn water.
****
After much wandering and asking around, someone directs me to a crate containing water bottles. There aren't many left, I grab a few of them.
The Basic Necessities: 1 of 6 objectives completed
Oh, joy. I dismiss the notification and chug down nearly half a bottle.
The Status Effect 'Parched' has been removed
Meh, I guess I need to tweak the settings more. At least I wasn't notified about the Thirst bar changing. Let me check my status to verify that it's gone back up to full. Yep.
It's either very late or very early. I don't know what time it is, but it's still dark out. It's also cold, despite being south Texas, it's December, and I have bare feet. I don't want to leave the tent. It seems to have been erected in a parking lot, given the painted asphalt, oil, and other unidentified stained parking spots on the ground, all covered in cots.
I stand in the entrance and look out. Where on the island am I? Maybe they flew us to Houston while I was unconscious? Nope, still on the island, there's some of Houston's skyline. Fuck, even in the moonlit night, a lot of Galveston's skyline is just …gone. Not that there was a whole lot of it in comparison. There are very few lights on the island, even parts of Houston in the distance look darker than usual. There's several other tents, already erected or in the process of being erected. Aid workers are running about erecting lighting, there is a dull hum of generators, and the sound of helicopters flying overhead.
I don't know what to do with myself. I turn back inside to walk to my cot. Damn it! Someone else is lying on it now. Some kid is getting his leg splinted up by nurses. Damn, guess he needs it more than me right now.
I try talking to a few doctors and nurses again; everyone's running around busy though. My problems must seem minor in comparison. I ask for antibiotics multiple times to just get told none are handy right now. Just basic information is hard to come by. I don't know what qualifies for the 'information' part of the objective, but so far all I got was that, Eidolon, and other capes had chased or beat off Leviathan, Houston had been attacked as well but not as badly. Most of its damage was from the waves. Parts of Galveston Island were no-go zones, and the I-45 bridge and causeway supposedly collapsed.
I'm jolted out of my self-reflection from a feminine scream from a nearby cot. I turned to look, to see the red-haired girl that had been on the medi-sled with me before I got drugged. She bolts upright from the cot she is laying on, and looks around breathing rapidly, eyes darting in fear. Flashes of images came before me, the Arcade, the balcony, her hanging by a rope over the sinkhole, the two of us lying on a raft of debris in the water…Leviathan…
Your Gamer's Mind skill has increased by 1
You are suffering from the status effect 'Post Traumatic Stress Disorder'
The status effect 'Post Traumatic Stress Disorder' has been partially negated by Gamer's Mind.
The status effect 'Near Your Breaking Point' has been partially negated by Gamer's Mind.
I shudder, nearly fainting. The water bottles I'm holding clatter to the floor. I barely manage an attempt to catch myself with my good arm, I hit the ground like a sack of bricks.
-3 HP
"Ow fuck! God damn 3 HP just from falling on my ass?"
I stop the water bottles from rolling away with my good arm and a foot, and gather them back up. The red-head is staring at me.
"Hey" I said, but she doesn't respond, just keeps looking at me instead. She looks just as bad as I do, minus a broken arm, but one leg from below the knee to her foot was all wrapped up. She had plenty of bandages elsewhere, no shoes, and dirty ripped up jeans. The pant-leg on her injured leg is cut-off from the knee down. She's wearing a filthy, bloody, dark purple spaghetti strap top, missing a strap, which no longer fits properly, revealing an ample black bra underneath. Hair and makeup is a complete mess yet has one large clean spot on her cheek, in the middle of which was a taped square of bandage gauze, and in the middle of that, a thin dark red line, giving away the cut that must have been underneath. She shifted her weight and adjusted her ragged top, attempting to better cover herself. I realize I'm probably staring too long.
"Hey, sorry. It's okay, I mean, I'm okay, are you okay?" I ask while still sitting on the floor fidgeting with the water bottles.
Some tense seconds pass before the girl responds. "No, I'm not okay" she says quietly as she looks down at her cot, hugging herself tightly.
"Yeah you're right. You're not okay, I'm not okay either, nobody is okay. It was stupid of me to ask." I sigh and take a deep breath. "You were… I remember you. You were in the water with me, weren't you?" She visibly flinches as I say the words, and starts breathing rapidly again. "I'm sorry. I just don't remember what happened after I saw… after I blacked out, until I woke up on the platform, you were on that with me too."
"I…" she shudders as she tries to speak. "I blacked out too. A wave or something must have hit us when… he, it…moved. The raft or whatever smashed into the wall, I woke up underwater. There were bod…" She stops talking, turns green, quickly leans over the edge of her cot and vomits all over the floor.
"I'm sorry; you don't need to say anymore. That was stupid of me again. I must have hit my head really hard, because I don't just not remember what happened after… but just about everything else too. You're like the only person in the world I have a vague memory of at all right now. That's why I almost fainted there when I saw you; memories of yesterday sort of hit my mind like a train. Do we know each other at all?" She was staring at one of my unopened water bottles so I held it out, offering it to her.
I feel a weird sensation as her hand brushes against mine as she quickly takes the bottle. She cracks open the top, takes a swig to rinse and after several indecisive seconds of looking around, spit the water out on the floor on top of where she threw up. "I'm sorry…I"
Shard connection hack resumed
Shard connection hack interrupted
What the fuck does that mean? I dismiss the pop-ups again. "Hey I don't care; they set this tent up on top of a parking lot. There is worse stuff on the ground. Not exactly high on the list of problems everyone is facing right now." I say as she drinks half the bottle, before she stops and looks at me again. "Keep it. I've got one and a half more."
She sighs and calms herself. "I recognize you, but I don't know you. I recognize you from… yesterday, and maybe elsewhere."
"I think it was yesterday, it isn't morning yet, not sure what time it is."
"I think I recognize you from school too. Did you go to Ball High School?"
"I... can't remember if I did or not. My name is… Status."
"Your name is Status?"
"Sorry no, my name is Simon, Simon Anderson. Memory is messed up." I offer her my hand in a friendly handshake.
"Julia Mendez"
+10 relationship with Julia Mendez
Julia Mendez has gone from stranger to acquaintance.
She takes hold of my hand and firmly returns the handshake. "Erm.. you don't look Hispanic, like at all."
Shard connection hack resumed
-5 relationship with Julia Mendez
Julia Mendez has gone from acquaintance to stranger.
Julia furrows her brow at me and withdraws her hand. "Well despite your name, you don't look entirely white."
Due to shard connection hack, you may gain the 'Observe' skill.
Goddamn it, I moved the window aside. "I, you know, I don't know what I am actually."
"What the fuck kind of amnesia is that? You know what Hispanics are supposedly supposed to look like but not where you came from?"
"The very fucked up kind I think. I know I had family and friends. I think they're dead now, but I can't remember their names, their faces, their personalities, my interactions with them…"
A good minute passes and we both just stare distantly without really looking at each other. "Maybe you're lucky. You can start over." Julia says quietly.
"I wouldn't call that lucky. The void and loss is there all the same, and I can't even remember the good memories I know I am supposed to have to try and offset that."
+5 relationship with Julia Mendez
Julia Mendez has gone from stranger to acquaintance.
Tears are streaming down Julia's face. "Sorry. I just kinda feel jealous. I saw… I saw my sister die. I think my mother is gone. We had an argument on the phone before the sirens went off. She was driving to go get us. I don't know where my dad is. If I didn't remember, the pain wouldn't be there." She lays back down on the cot, and turns away from me.
Don't be alone in this world.
Become Julia Mendez's friend. You both need someone to talk to, and have shared a harrowing experience together already.
Time Limit: None
Success: 500 XP, increased relationship with Julia Mendez, ???
Failure: Continue being alone.
Huh, the quest is unexpected. I was just hoping to get some more direct information about what happened after I blacked out. How did we survive being that close to Leviathan anyway? It seems very improbable, but so does everything related to capes. The quest seems to have been auto-accepted? What the hell is up with that? XP reward looks nice, then again I have no idea how much XP is needed to level. That could be enough to get me multiple levels or barely even register.
Clearly Julia doesn't want to talk anymore right now. I can't blame her. Fucking amnesia. I'm pretty sure that's not how amnesia is supposed to work either. At least I do remember a little bit about yesterday, but it's not pleasant.
Once again, I'm left not knowing what to do with myself. What the hell was that skill thing earlier? I whisper 'Skills'. I'm glad that works since it means I don't have to use the voice commands at full volume. Hmm, how the hell did I even learn meditation? Or Psychology for that matter? Did the 'Strategy' skill come from the Video Game skill cheat feature? Hmm, yes it did. It makes sense as there are an awful lot of Turn based and RTS games I remember playing. Why do I remember video games, but not something useful like my damn address?
Since I'm already sitting on the ground, I close my eyes and try to meditate, not sure why, but I know how, and am bored. It'd be useful if I find how to actually use some of these mana points for something. I can still see my HUD with my eyes closed. Erm… half my MP is gone, when the hell did that happen?
Meditation Failure.
You are too uncomfortable to meditate.
This environment is not peaceful enough to meditate in at your current skill level
Well fuck. Trying again several times got me the same annoying notifications. Failures don't seem to give me any skill gain either. Hmm, Psychology is now at non-zero progress. Oh, and Empathy is almost leveled, how? The conversation with Julia?
I can't help but stare at Julia's backside through the semi-transparent interface window, because she was facing away from me still. It was a nice looking backside, despite the conditions of our current predicament. Oh hey, now I know something new about myself, I'm attracted to women.
You have recovered 1 Stress point.
Erm, what really? Staring at her ass let me recover a stress point? I moved the window out of the way and stared some more to see if there would be any more gains…and nada.
What was that new skill from earlier?
Observe (PER, INT, WIS) (Active): Level: 1 (0.00%)
Observe allows you to gain insightful and otherwise unavailable information about any target. The greater your skill level, the more information that can be gleaned. To activate observe say 'observe' when looking at a target. MP Cost: 3 per use.
Features unlocked:
Mental Effects (displays mental status effects of target if known, Psychology bonus feature)
Current Feelings (displays what a target is currently feeling if observable, Empathy bonus feature)
Would you like to accept this skill? Y/N
Accepting a skill takes up a skill slot, this cannot be undone.
Something that finally uses MP? Hell yes.
You have unlocked the overhead tags interface feature.
Tutorial Mode: Overhead Tags are currently turned off. Would you like to turn them on? Y/N
I hit the 'Y'. There is indeed a tag now floating over Julia.
"Observe?" I whisper.
Name: Julia Mendez
Level: ??
Alias: ??
Gender: Female
Age: 14-18
Ethnicity: Hispanic, ???, ???
Class: Former High School Student / Refugee
Faction: None
Summary Description:
A fellow survivor from an Endbringer attack, she has lost her sister, and possibly her parents and home as well. She is currently uninterested in socializing due to severe depression and trauma.
That's… I know all of that from the conversation we just had, and could have easily guessed the rest. Lame! This better improve with levels.
I 'observe' my shirt.
A ripped up medium sized cotton T-shirt with a faded 'Pwned' printed on it because someone thought they were clever, and wanted to make money off of memefied gamer culture. Owned by you, because you're gullible and bought it thinking it would be unique and cool, despite it being mass produced, and the original term being coined before you were even born.
This item is filthy, smelly, irrevocably destroyed and no longer even fit for use as rags. Why are you still wearing it?
What the hell, is my power trolling me? I observe my pants.
A ripped up pair of 29"x32" blue denim jeans made by Wrangler. It is stained with urine because you're a wuss. Owned by you, and originally bought at Wal-Mart by your mom.
This item is filthy, smelly, irrevocably destroyed and non-functional as a protective garment. However, please keep your pants on.
Yes, my power is definitely trolling me. I observed my water bottles, Julie's cot, her pants, shirt, even her bra. Even though they were just as dirty and ripped up, it effectively told me her measurements. Heh. Though women's clothing sizes are weird, what the hell is a Size 6 supposed to mean anyway?
I should probably stop though. If she sees me staring at her like this it might be counter-productive to the quest of obtaining her friendship, so I look away, and stand up.
For careful thought and consideration of the consequences of your decisions you have gained 1 WIS.
You have recovered 10 Stress points
The Status Effect 'Near Your Breaking Point' has been downgraded to 'Extremely Stressed'
The Status Effect 'Extremely Stressed' has been partially negated by Gamer's Mind.
Uhh.. my weird ass power agrees with me?
****
I wander back over toward my cot, but it's still occupied by the now sleeping kid. I observed him and actually got a level number visible. Kid was level 2, whatever that means. Wait, why the fuck am I only level 1? Still don't know his name, observing people let me know their gender and if they were refugees or nurses or doctors, which is already glaringly obvious from what they're doing. It doesn't reveal anyone's names unless I ask it and not a lot of people are being very talkative. I can get a non-question mark level value for anyone that was 'level 1' or 'level 2', and those are all young kids, early to middle elementary age. Hell, even an infant said 'level 0'. Again, why the fuck am I only level 1? If it is age or experience then that doesn't make any sense. Threat level? I have no idea. There's a few other double question marks besides Julia, but not many.
I'm almost out of mana now, having blown it all using Observe. People look at the crazy kid whispering 'observe' over and over, and avoid me.
Your Observe skill has increased by 1
Ah, aha. Now I can see people who are level 3! It's still only kids that appear to be younger than me though. They are upper elementary age, maybe middle school. I've burned through all my MP now though, and its regen is a slow trickle, and a boring wait. I should probably time it or something, but I don't have a watch. I'd sleep to pass the rest of the morning but I still don't have a cot and am not tired.
Fuck it; if I am a game character shouldn't I just be able to rest whenever I want? Have I got a 'Wait until dawn' or 'wait for X hours' ability? I found some crate to lean up against and sat on the floor, and tried to will myself to sleep, which didn't work so I tried saying "Sleep" out loud.
Rest menu feature not yet unlocked
You are not tired enough to sleep yet
Damn it.
Simon's Character Sheet:
Name: Simon Anderson
Gender: Male
Age: 15
Race: Parahuman
Class: Refugee
Faction: None
Money: $0.00
Title: Endbringer Survivor
Level: 1 (0.0%)
XP: 0
Primary Attributes:
STR: 5 (-0.73) 4.27
AGI: 4 (-1.20) 2.80
CON: 5 (-0.30) 4.70
INT: 14 (-1.50) 12.50
PER: 9 (-1.00) 8.00
WIS: 17 (-1.50) 15.50
CHA: 10 (-1.50) 8.50
LUC: 8 (0.00) 8.00
Unspent Points: 0
Secondary Attributes
Health Pool: 17/100
Stamina Pool: 90/90
Mana Pool: 0/140
Stress Pool: 30/310
Attack: 5.29
Speed: 2.63
Dodge: 6.70
Armor: 0.00
Carry: 42.70
Allure: 2.50
Skills:
Max Slots: 25
Free Skill Slots: 11
Artistry: 3 (32.75%)
Basic Academics: 8 (10.22%)
Computers: 5 (11.09%)
Empathy: 1 (0.00%)
Gamer's Body: 1 (0.00%)
Gamer's Interface: 3 (43.74%)
Gamer's Mind: 2 (25.51%)
Language-English: MAX (0.00%)
Meditation: 1 (0.00%)
Observe: 2 (11.16%)
Programming: 2 (67.45%)
Psychology: 1 (0.00%)
Strategy: 1 (0.00%)
Video Games: 25 (63.73%)
Unspent Skill Points: 10