Chương 117: 4.7 Into the Mystic - Van Morrison (3:25)

Z3ke (Original Poster) Oh my God, I regret everything. I was never much of an athlete back in New York. Pretty much all my exercise came from walking. I'd walk up to the second floor of my building to get to my apartment, I'd walk to the subway, I'd walk around the bar during my shift, and then I'd walk back to the subway. That was the extent of my working out, and none of it did anything to prepare me for a city like Cliffhaven. Yesterday completely destroyed me.

My calves hurt, my legs hurt, and somehow my back hurts. I don't even know how I managed to work out my back muscles by climbing stairs, but apparently I did. Now, whenever I stand up, I've got these little bites of pain that shoot through my body and I hate everything. I woke up in the tiny room in the inn that Patch suggested, and it's kinda grown on me. The place is small enough that I could probably touch both walls if I really tried, but it's not all that bad.

I woke up to the sound of gulls outside my window and the constant murmur of people out in the harbor. It's kinda relaxing actually. I'm used to the noise of the city and the whole thing reminded me of that scene from My Cousin Vinny. There's the running joke that Joe Pesci can't get a good night's sleep because every place he stays in has horrible noise. First it's the train rattling past his motel, and then it's the owl hooting outside the cabin.

Finally he gets tossed in prison and there's a riot breaking out and he's sleeping like a baby because it reminds him of Brooklyn. That's what's happened to me. The sounds outside my window woke me up and I realized that I wasn't listening to monsters or explosions and I wasn't stuck in the middle of the desert getting chased by psychos. I was just listening to ordinary city noises. I eventually dragged myself out of bed and hobbled over to the tiny window overlooking the harbor.

I was expecting to see the sun beaming down on me, but instead everything was still that blue-gray of light before dawn. All those stairs got me passing out fairly early last night, so now my sleep schedule is completely wrecked and I woke up before the sun. All in all, I feel like a grandpa, hobbling around and complaining about my bones and kids these days while I gently walk around a city. Since I was already awake, I figured there wasn't much point in trying to get back to sleep.

I got dressed and made my way downstairs and headed out to the harbor to see what all the noise was about. By the time I reached the docks, I found the place absolutely packed. There had to have been hundreds of people working at the docks. Ships were easing into their berths and dockworkers were shouting directions and cargo haulers were moving crates and the gulls were divebombing anything that looked even remotely edible.

The whole harbor was this great big machine that had been running for hours while I was sleeping. There was something that caught my attention and stopped me in my tracks. I might not be able to really explain it, but I'll try. What shocked me was that people don't all sound the same here. I know that sounds like a weird thing to focus on, but hear me out. Back in The MIZ, everyone I spoke with talked more or less the same. They all had the same cadence and nothing really stood out to me about how they talked.

But Cliffhaven is different. I stood in the harbor listening to dockworkers, merchants, captains, and sailors, and it hit me that they all sounded slightly different. Some of them were clipping their words short while others were dragging out certain vowels. I heard a merchant barking out orders and it sounded like he had come from the South. Another was rolling his R's and I swear I thought he was from Spain or Portugal or somewhere.

There were two sailors who started yelling at me because, I think, I was standing where they were unloading crates. They said something but they were speaking so fast and so garbled that I couldn't really make out what they were complaining about. Maybe you all don't know where I'm going with this. That's understandable because it took me a little while to figure out why it bothered me so much. I've been thinking about this world as if The MIZ and the Deadlands was all there was to it.

Intellectually I know they aren't alone. You all have talked about different cities and different regions and you've suggested I head to the different games in the world. I've always believed that you all know what you're saying and advising, but at the same time there was a small voice in the back of my head warning me. I've been reading comments that you've all been leaving on the forum, and there is a question that a few of you have brought up.

You're all wondering how exactly I'm gonna be able to make it to another game. If I get on a boat and leave Frontiers… what's gonna happen to me? Maybe those concerns had leaked through to me and I was wondering the same thing. I was wondering about it until I heard all those accents. I know the Deadlands is real because I've nearly died there more times than I can count. I know The MIZ is real because I lived there and worked there and made friends there and now I left there.

But everything beyond that was feeling a little theoretical. But hearing those accents… people don't develop different accents by accident. They come from different towns, different cities, different regions. Every ship tied up in Cliffhaven came from somewhere else. And every sailor unloading cargo has a home that's probably hundreds or thousands of miles away from where I was standing. If they can make it here, then they can leave her too.

That means that Frontiers isn't the edge of the world and that, if I find the right ship, I can leave here too. I don't know. Maybe none of you were really worried about that. Maybe you all know that I'm not just stuck in The Deadlands and I was worrying this whole time for nothing. But hearing the accents actually calmed me down a bit. Anyway, I kinda went off on a tangent there and I'm guessing that most of you aren't nearly as interested in accents as I am.

I kept wandering along the waterfront and eventually found a fish market. Long wooden tables had been set up along the dock and they were overflowing with the morning's catch. A crowd had gathered and I could tell they were buyers from the inns and restaurants of the city. There was a bunch of haggling and I think they were auctioning off large groups of fish. Some of what was being sold looked completely normal.

There were fish that would look right at home back on Earth, and they were sitting next to shrimp and oysters and eels. But mixed in with all the normal fish were things like fish with translucent fins and fish that gave off a weird neon grow and these freakishly massive crabs that were about the size of dogs. A restaurant bought several of the crabs while I was standing there watching.

The owner had these three porters with him, and after the deal was done each of the porters slung two enormous crabs over their shoulders and marched off into the city. Now, I'm not a fish person. I've never liked seafood. It just tastes nasty, no matter how it's cooked, so I wasn't tempted to buy anything. Even if I liked fish I would have had to find a kitchen somewhere so I could cook it. So instead I just wandered through the market and watched everyone work. There was this energy to the place.

It was, as far as I could tell, a normal business day for everyone. No one was worried about monsters and no one was resting a hand on a weapon while they shopped. It was just a bunch of people trying to buy ingredients for their restaurants. Everything seemed so… normal. Eventually I found this little food stall that was piled high with fruits that had come off of one of the ships. Some of the fruit looked vaguely familiar, but most of it didn't.

There were these small orange fruits that were covered in a soft blue fuzz, little green pods that cracked open to show bright red flesh, and something that looked like a cross between a pear and an avocado. I pointed at a few things that looked reasonably safe to eat, handed over a little of what remained from my MIZ credits, and carried my breakfast over to a low stone wall overlooking the harbor. Let me ask you all this: have you ever eaten a spicy fruit? It is confusing as hell.

The thing was like a mango and I bit into it and was like "okay, this is understandable. I've had something like this before." There was a sweetness to it that I liked, but then the sweetness became unnaturally intense, and then two seconds later my tongue was on fire. The whole thing broke my brain. My first bite had me thinking that I liked it. Then a few seconds later I was like "do I like this?" Then I'd have to take another bite to try and figure it out but I'd only end up even more confused.

I couldn't decide whether I was eating something delicious or something completely revolting. I don't know man, it was just weird. It was weird and confusing and I got angry about being so confused, and even after I finished the whole thing I couldn't make my mind up about it. While I was sitting there trying to figure out what that fruit had just done to me, another thought crossed my mind. As far as I know, nobody else from Earth has ever tasted that fruit.

Nobody back home has grown it or imported it or even given them names in English. I was sitting on a little stone wall overlooking a harbor in another world, eating fruit that literally doesn't exist where I came from, and that was one of those moments where I absolutely love Cliffhaven for giving me that experience, while simultaneously loathing it because my legs were throbbing.

It's been a couple months since I was first dropped in this world, and you'd think that I'd be used to stumbling across unique experiences… but I'm not. After breakfast I kept wandering until I found a small quiet place where I could just sit down and watch the harbor. Nobody paid any attention to me because they all had jobs to do. Sailors were securing the ships, dockworkers were hauling the cargo, merchants were checking the manifests, and supervisors were… supervising, I guess.

The engineering behind the harbor is incredible, and I'm not just talking about the machines there. The cliffs are part of the harbor itself. Massive cranes are scattered about the dock and their huge arms stretch out into the sky and there are these warehouses that have been carved straight into the rocks. Crates and barrels and bundles of cargo drift through the air as workers on different levels shout back and forth at each other.

The whole place is like a city within a city and it's all devoted to moving objects from point A to point B. I tried to pay attention to what was unloaded, but it was all new to me. There was a ship that was carrying these stacks of blue coral looking stuff, but the coral was pulsing with this soft light and I couldn't figure out what it was used for. Another ship had these enormous spiral shells that were almost as big as me.

I asked a nearby worker what they were for and he said that stonemasons buy them and carve them into decorative bricks that are used as building material. Further down the docks were these small merchant stalls that had been set up. They were selling the goods right off the ships. I found rolls of this waterproof paper that had been woven from sea reeds, spices that smelled like nothing I'd ever come across before, and one merchant carrying these bins filled with colorful sea glass.

I don't know if I could have found any of this stuff back in The MIZ. I assume that I could, but I never really spent time exploring the markets. Most of my life in The MIZ was devoted to not dying, and when I wasn't doing that I was running errands or chasing the next problem. Cliffhaven is the first time that I've actually had the chance to slow down, sit still, and notice an actual city in this world. LilWubWub | You're all wondering how exactly I'm gonna be able to make it to another game.

If I get on a boat and leave Frontiers… what's gonna happen to me? | I've been dying to know how Zeke gets to a different game! I always assumed he'd have to get on the train somehow, but wasn't he only allowed on it because he didn't have a class? I really don't remember. Also, any shot there are bards or other music wielders that he can learn from? He still has no idea what song does what lol. I'm only thinking about it because sirens were mentioned as a boat random encounter.

LuckyKP Any chance Zeke can take the Veilstrider again? It'd be fun to see him on it again and contrasting the Fracture-verse hardened version of him vs the n00b, lost bartender. MapHackJunkie I'll admit that I'm one of the people who's really curious about what happens when Zeke finally leaves Frontiers. We all know how Syndicate's Wake handled traveling between major regions. You'd get on a ship, watch the loading screen, get some artwork and lore text, and then you'd arrive in the next zone.

If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it's taken without the author's consent. Report it. None of that exists for Zeke. So what actually happens? Does he spend a week or two crossing the ocean? Is the whole map physically connected now instead of being broken into gameplay regions? Does time keep going or is it going to fade to black while Zeke is out on the ocean? Or - and this is the part I'm really interested in - is Zeke about to prove either the synthesis or parallel worlds theory true?

OhHaiMark Meh. I'm interested and I'll read what Zeke updates with, but I'm also keeping my expectations in check. Most of the lore that Zeke uncovered is stuff we can all independently verify. We know the House of Seasons is real because we can visit it and get dimensional storage from the Blooming Witch. We know the Pathfinder Chair and Rank 11 is real because we can solve the puzzle and sit in it. We know Corva is a body-hopper because of what Foppery found in Shards of Time.

But crossing between regions is different. We can't boot up Syndicate's Wake anymore and test out what Zeke is talking about because all the servers are gone. So if Zeke tells us something completely new, I'm willing to go along with it for the story, but I'm not going to immediately declare it canon. MushroomCleric Bold strategy to bet against Zeke. How many times has this forum collectively shit on his discoveries only to be proven wrong later?

NullSigil | How many times has this forum collectively shit on his discoveries | Lorem. Care to comment? Lorem-Ipsum Not really. Iunnrais | I'll admit to being one of the people curious about what happens once Zeke tries to leave Frontiers. | Yeah, I never got to play the MMO before it got shut down.

The connections between the games is really ephemeral to me, and besides, I was reading up on the multiple worlds idea and it not only makes a lot of sense, but we've already seen Zeke hint that it's right what with his own travel by portal. GravellyVoice1 Meh. I don't really care about Cliffhaven. Pick a boat and get yourself to Emberveil. Bookwyrm86 Hells no he shouldn't. Zeke, don't just skip over Cliffhaven.

You've spent your entire time in this world getting chased by monsters, cultists, gangs, mercenaries, and more. You've finally reached a city where no one is actively trying to murder you. You should enjoy that for a few days. Emberveil will be there when you're ready. HecateTeaCozy This does feel like the healthiest that Zeke has been since the story started. He's eating weird fruit, people-watching at the docks, complaining about stairs, and talking about visiting tourist spots in the city.

I kind of like vacation Zeke. He can spend a few updates acting like a tourist before we all throw him back into whatever nightmare is waiting around for him in Emberveil. SongbirdSooMi You know what I want him to do? Find a restaurant or bar that is looking for live music. He's literally a Rockstar. He should be playing music. All the times he's played music in the story it's because he's getting chased or he's in combat and it's his only way out.

We've never actually seen him use his skill when he's not trying to run away from monsters. Zeke, find a restaurant and offer to play for the dinner rush. See what happens. DeadMienWalking ^Songbird. It's kinda crazy that we still don't know what his skills are capable of outside combat. Can he hold an audience? Can he earn a bunch of cash with his skills? We know his performance and instrument mastery were able to help Jackie drive better out in the Deadlands, but what does that mean in a non-combat situation?

Can he inspire people without monsters being involved? Caboodle (Proctor) Hey Zeke. Gravemind finally finished putting together the Proctor list, so that's going to be a lot more organized now. I think Gnomeland was so far the only proctor for your story. As much as I would love to send you into more interesting adventures, I will take this job seriously and not turn into a Binary. As your Proctor, my job is to be the dood most looking out for your safety. With that in mind… I agree with Dead and Songbird.

You should spend some time playing music in the local bars and restaurants. Worst case scenario is you make some tips that you can spend on more weird fruit. The best case scenario is that you learn a ton more about your strongest skill while everyone is clapping for you instead of trying to stab you. Plus, think about the networking you can do. Restaurants and bars are where everyone ends up.

Sailors, merchants, caravan guards, captains, adventurers, mercenaries, and all the other people are going to be in those bars at the end of the day. If you want information on which ships are headed where, which captains you should trust, which regions have interesting jobs, then the easiest thing would be to play a few nights in the bar and meet some people. Also, I think you've earned yourself a break. Spend some time in the bars where your biggest problem is a drunk guy in the back yelling "Free Bird!"

whenever you ask if there are any requests. We can get back to all the horrors and monsters later. WhoShotIcarus You know what he really needs? A hands-free instrument that also leaves his voice free for singing. There's only one instrument I can think of that fits the bill: Zeke needs to get tap shoes. It gives him a sort of percussion, and maybe by having instruments on his feet Zeke can use Instrument Mastery on the shoes to cheese himself some footwork buffs and literally dance away from danger. Is it silly?

Yes. Could it work? I don't see why not. Tap shoes are instruments, after all. Jaesten I wouldn't call tapdancing something a normal rockstar would do. The Lord of Dance? Sure. The King of Pop? Sure. But I don't think Riverdance would help when something's trying to eat his face off. Funny idea though. Hadyoudone Get the man some tap shoes and have him dance on the enemy heads. Jaesten I've been thinking and I think Zeke should also try to get himself a Bass to slap around.

It would open up some more music genres to him. You never know when a weird Primus song needs to be played and all. And the man really needs to work on his singing. Randombullhitgo Give Zeke banjo, harmonium and a bagpiper. Gotta catch 'em all. CrushDaddyXx OH SWEET MOTHER OF GOD. Zeke, you gotta get bagpipes. Get 'em and learn how to play. Then whenever you go into battle you can play The Green Hills of Tyrol. YOU WOULD BE EXACTLY LIKE ROWDY RODDY PIPER!!! Please Zeke. I ask for so little.

I just want you to boost up your melee skill enough that you can suplex a dood while playing the bagpipes. SwaffleWaffle Or maybe guitar Jesus could charm a kraken or leviathan into being narratively convenient taking him where he wants to go, whether on its back or in its mouth or something. There's a bible story about a guy who gets swallowed by a big aquatic creature who turns out fine, yeah? Zeke could probably do better. Z3ke (Original Poster) I can probably give the music thing a shot. Hmm…

what's weird is that as soon as I typed that up I got a little nervous. Walking into a bar and asking the owner or bartender if they need a musician shouldn't make me more nervous than heading out into the Deadlands to fight monsters. So why is it? We didn't really have live music at El Pedros, so I don't even know how that conversation would start. Do I just head up to the owner and be like "yo, I've got a guitar, do you mind if I play here?" That feels weird. I don't know why it feels weird, but it does.

Getting chased by the Black Teeth was terrifying, but at least I knew what success looked like there. Either I escaped or I didn't. Walking into a business and asking them to hire me right off the street? That's putting myself out there. If they don't like my playing or if they've already got someone, they would just laugh me out the door. I don't know, the whole thing kinda feels more personal than getting bit by a monster. Is that weird? It sounds weird. Eh. Whatever.

I did end up talking with a few dockworkers who noticed me just sitting off to the side. One of them was talking about this public bathhouse that was near the waterfront. It's a day spa or a massage place or something. I figured I'd see what the fuss was all about. There are this big buildings that are built around natural hotsprings, and apparently they're a pretty big deal among the dock workers and the sailors.

All of them stop there before shipping out again, and the place is packed with caravan guards and merchants and half the rest of the city. Calling them bathhouses feels weird. Spas? Soak houses? I don't know. I've heard about Japanese onsen, and I guess these are like that. The whole place is built out of this dark gray slate that has been smoothed down. When you walk in the building there is steam everywhere, drifting between these open pools of water.

There are little channels that carry hot water from one pool to another, and there are a bunch of attendants who wander around with clean towels and trays of drinks. Oh man, even the alcohol here is different. I've been drinking this reddish orange thing that tastes sweet but also has gotta be 50% alcohol by volume. Mixing it with boiling hot water pools is probably dangerous but… fuck it. All in all, it was one of the most peaceful days I've had in this world.

There were these groups of people who were all sitting around and talking while they soaked. I'm guessing they're all from the same ships and they go there together. Older people were falling asleep in the pools and sailors who'd probably spent weeks sleeping in cramped bunks looked like they were melting into the water. It's weird because the whole place almost felt like a hippie commune. Nobody was in a hurry and nobody seemed particularly concerned with the time.

People just soaked, talked, drank alcohol, and generally looked happier than I'd seen anyone look in The MIZ. Now… I've never really understood the whole point of massages and spas. I generally don't need people I don't know touching me, and sitting and "relaxing" in a spa is an odd concept. I kinda always need to be doing something. I remember when I was a kid and my dad and I were out and we found a bench and he just went and sat in it, and I asked him what we were doing.

We weren't moving and we weren't walking or anything. He told me we were relaxing and, for some reason, I couldn't wrap my mind around that. I don't know, maybe I sound incredibly weird but just sitting there and doing nothing isn't my idea of relaxation. It's just… boring. But sitting there and soaking in the water, after a day where I'd climbed about eight million stairs, maybe I'm starting to understand the whole relaxation thing. My legs don't hurt as much anymore. My back has mostly forgiven me.

For the first time since getting to Cliffhaven I'm not feeling like such an old man whenever I stand up. In fact, I ended up staying in the spa/soak house/onsen for a lot longer than I meant to. By the time I left there was only a little bit of daylight left and I realized I didn't have anywhere I needed to be. It was nice. I will say this though. The spa kinda reset me and I've been thinking. As much as I like Cliffhaven, I probably shouldn't stay here forever.

Sure, I could do what you all suggest which is to go and play the bars and restaurants in the area - and I probably will do that tomorrow - but none of that gets me any closer to actually getting out of this world. Malv0lio suggested I head to Emberveil and I'm not against the idea. It's the whole reason that I'm even in this city in the first place, and it's sounding like Emberveil has the best chance of getting me back to New York. Everything I've heard makes it sound like the next logical step.

BUT, I don't want to just make the decision to leave blindly. So I need all y'all's help. I want you to look through the wiki or the forum or check your own notes or play the games again and tell me which of the captains in this city has the best reputation? And not just captains. Tell me about the merchant houses and the shipping companies and anyone who was in Syndicate's Wake who was competent and gives me the best shot at making it to Emberveil.

I'm perfectly willing to pay more for passage if it means avoiding a captain who's an idiot or a merchant company that is fine with losing ships to pirates because they make their money off volume and a single ship lost in the ocean is no big deal. If I'm gonna spend weeks trapped on a ship with people, I'd rather not gamble on whoever happens to be the cheapest option. So, uh, do that. Please and thank you. NullSigil Jeezus.

I think this is the first time that Zeke is giving us homework centered around a specific question instead of just saying "what should I do?" You know what that means? Our boy is growing up! RedCarpetManiac You're right. Normally it's us just throwing ideas at him and hoping one or two stick. It does make it feel like he's project managing us.

"Dive through fifteen years of game lore and present your findings by Monday." Such a slave driver. DeadMienWalking Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't EveryDay post a video about ocean trade in Syndicate's Wake? I think he was talking about shipping companies and merchant houses and how the economy of ocean travel would work in the Fracture-verse. Malv0lio (Primary) Ooo. It was EveryDay. He had like, five videos about why Severance should make an ocean game. DM with what you find and I'll organize it all.

If anyone else wants to join in, focus on the shipping companies in Emberveil. We don't know exactly who is in Cliffhaven, but if there are merchants in Emberveil with a bit of money, chances are they could have a ship trading in Cliffhaven. Zeke, this is going to take some time. While we do all that, you should do what Dead and Songbird were saying and practice your music. Specifically, you should test out different songs and see what they do. But be careful.

You don't want to start a riot in the middle of the city like you did in Chapel Pit. So, I guess, no Free Bird.