The City: PuzzleLocked Book 1

Flor “It’s not pronounced ‘flower’” Basurto woke up sitting on a bench in a boat making its way toward an island. She knew her hands were chained behind her back. She felt the choppy waves underneath her but saw little through the rain falling around her. She knew it would let up a bit soon, even as the rain fell enough in front of her face. She also knew she was wearing some sort of white linen shirt with long sleeves and a touch of lace at the cuffs.

Here we go again…! She thought to herself. She still couldn’t understand the other passengers around her, so she engaged her interface. Let’s see…Language: English. BGM 5%. Sound 15%. Subtitles: On. Titles: On. Graphics: Medium. Night Mode: On. Vibration: 50%.

She looked at the men talking. Sure enough, subtitle text appeared in her vision underneath them. She didn’t bother paying attention to what they said. Instead, she pulled up the cut scene interface. Skip cut scene.

Skip cut scene? Yes/No?

Mentally, she selected Yes.

Flor woke up on the familiar pier in the city. Sure enough, the rain still fell, but less so. She looked around her, saw the boat tied up to the pier, and found the small man dressed in a long flowing white linen shirt with giant sleeves. With his long red hair plastered to his face, she honestly thought he was cute, despite his bulbous nose.

A small bubble of text floated over his head with the name Alastair, Scribe 0. Flor breathed a sigh of relief. It was him! Or the representation of him here.

She walked over to the scribe and poked him. He didn’t respond but rather just looked blankly at the world in front of him. She waited what seemed like several minutes, hopeful he was just processing the cut scene and would come out of his stupor today. The past day had been informative. She just wanted him to wake up so that they could figure out how to get out of here - this game - together.

While she waited to see if he woke, she reflected on what she had learned yesterday. Overall, she was a prisoner released to a prison island, as described in the cut scene. Her objective was, seemingly, to survive. Who knows for how long, but she had lasted what seemed about a subjective fifteen hours yesterday. When she woke, at least this time, she had started at the same place she had yesterday. Maybe I need to find a checkpoint to save my progress? However, she still had access to the augmented interfaces she had unlocked yesterday.

The character she thought was Alastair had not moved yesterday or the day before, as he did not move currently, at all the instances she checked back on him. He had not influenced the world around him. Rather, NPCs just walked around him as if he wasn’t there. Which, in a way, he isn’t, she thought.

Similar to Holst’s Solar Explorer, challenges in this world interacted via puzzles. Her first puzzle had been to remove her manacles after exiting the boat, which seemed to occur automatically. Although it hadn’t given her experience, she had received an Achievement: Locked! (Unlocks puzzles). It’s one of those silly, stupid achievements accomplished for playing through the tutorial. But so far, she hadn’t figured out how to view her achievements, so couldn’t plan a good progression on where to go from here.

Flor glanced again at scribe Alastair. He still hadn’t moved in her subjective five minutes, and even if he had viewed the tutorial, he should have been awake by now. Maybe he’s something I can unlock with my actions or achievements. How did I get that enhanced interface, anyway? Oh, yeah, I was petting a cat! Maybe if I pet more cats, I’ll expand what I can do. If not, I still get to pet cats, which isn’t such a terrible way to pass the day.

She would give Alastair five more minutes, then go out in search of cats to pet. And see what else she could do.

Flor pulled herself onto a poorly repaired roof, stalking. The mangy, but beautiful, cat was perched at the edge, looking for his next escape path and out of the persistent rain.

As Flor stepped onto the roof, her interface flashed and a five-by-five grid appeared before her, laid out on the roof. She saw that several of the spaces matched up to holes in the roof. There was a well-defined path almost diagonal across from her that would get her to the cat in five moves, assuming she could move diagonally, or ten moves if she had to move cardinally. Maybe that would be acceptable, but she wouldn’t know until she tried. She took a first hesitant step onto the roof, holding her breath as she committed her weight. It held, and she exhaled. As she did, she recognized that the BGM changed to a different soothing pattern. Puzzle music! She took a step toward the bottom left of the grid, but the system prevented her from moving in that direction.

Cardinally, it is, then.

Her next step took her south, then east, south again, east, south again. Halfway there.

Just as she thought she’d be able to continue forward in five more steps, a voice yelled at her. “Get off my roof!” A broom appeared through one of the holes and swept at her legs. Despite her attempts, she lost balance and fell into the hole next to her. Her vision and sound went dark, then words floated in front of her interface.

Minus one health.

Attempt puzzle again? Yes/No?

Mentally, she selected Yes and her vision faded into her placement at the North Western most roof tile.

Did I lose health yesterday? She asked herself. She couldn’t remember exactly what she was doing just before she woke back on the boat. Certainly not chasing cats across rooftops. How much health do I have? I’m going to guess three, because this seems like a game that I’d start with three.

So I can’t go that way or the broom gets me. What if I go on the perimeter? It’s the same number of moves as edging through the middle.

Flor started to move east, then east again, then again. After her fourth move, she had another thought. Do I have unlimited turns? Assuming I have two health left, I could sacrifice one of them if it gives me a better understanding of the limitations of the puzzle. Not for the first time, she wished she had more information in her interface.

Let’s commit. Flor moved south, then north again, then south, east, south. Two more moves until I get you, my kitty! Ah ha ha! On the next move south, the cat jumped scurried away to the west and down into the house below. Flor heard a voice yell “Get out of my house, cat!” Then Flor’s vision and sound went dark.

Minus one health.

Attempt puzzle again? Yes/No?

Yep. Let’s do this. The puzzle reset.

Maybe the cat jumps away when I get close. Or on a timer based on the number of moves? One way to find out. Flor moved as efficiently as she could across the roof. As she got to the South Easternmost square, the cat looked at her, mewed softly, and then began to lick his paw and clear the dirt from his face. As Flor knelt to pet it, the puzzle grid around her flashed and words appeared in her interface.

Puzzle complete. +1 to General 2 Puzzles.

Attempt puzzle again? Yes/No?

No! I do not want to attempt the puzzle again.

The interface disappeared and the grid on the roof faded out of existence. Flor reached over toward the cat. An interface popped up:

Pet cat? Yes/No?

Flor ignored the prompt and started to scratch the cat on his ears. “Hi, kitty. Good sweet kitty.”

He mewed for a second, then used his paw to swat her hand away. Then, to Flor’s surprise, the cat looked insulted that she had stopped petting him. Oh, fine. Yes, pet cat she selected mentally from the interface.

She reached back for him while saying, “Oh, yeah, the skritches aren’t so bad?” Flor gave him a few nice, gentle long strokes along his back, which he arched into.

Congratulations! You have pet a cat!

You have met Narcisse Madalitso

She sat on the edge of the roof and continued to pet Narcisse Madalitso. Her interface flashed again. Oh, what now?!

Congratulations! You have unlocked the daemon!

As Flor pondered this message, Narcisse hissed and jumped away, then fled down some hidden path off the roof. Suddenly, she heard a small chattering sound, like some small forest creature had snuck up behind her. Flor turned and saw a bit of a flash toward her. A small creature ran at her and started to scramble up her arm. She began to wave it away, lost her balance, and tumbled off the roof.

Minus one health. You have died.