The day had finally come for me leave the Dungeon. I stood in front of the exit with my bags. Two were draped over my shoulder and two more lay on the ground at my side. It had been three months, or more accurately one hundred and six days. I had virtually maxed out my Stats and XP. If I killed any thing else, I might hit Level 2 and release all the creatures. The tiger had been reason enough not to risk it, but some the things at the end of Bestal's tunnels, like the giant spider, were serious motivation to get out of here. I put my hand on the hand print, and a prompt appeared.
“Neral City in the Altrin Mountains,” I replied.
“Yes,” I said confidently.
The bronze circle with the hand print glowed momentarily and the two brass doors began sliding apart. I winced at the brightness of what lay on the other side of the gate. Mid-morning sun was beating down on large field paved in granite flagstones. A hundred strides from the gate forty foot walls were providing shade for a line of people and vehicles. I could see the tops of two giant magi-mekas beyond the the walls. The bright blue sky was painful to my eyes as they adjusted from the fire-lit gloom of the Dungeon. I picked up my bags and stepped into the world of Elfandrael.
As soon as I walked through the gate, a grinding sound caused me stop. I turned around to see the double set of bronze doors sliding closed. To my left were three other gates with people and wagons coming out of them. I turned back to my right and saw five more gates disgorging travelers and goods.
A an armored soldier starting shouting something in Low Common that I couldn't quite understand, but in my head I heard, “Move along, clear the arrival zone!” He was wearing normal armor, but he had a magi-tech helm. I could only make out the green glow of circuit lines on his helmet when they were shaded from the sun behind the man. He was pointing at thick black line in front of me. I darted forward to comply. Once I was clear he gave a atta-boy smile and a nod, before he turned away from me to keep watch over the gate operations.
Almost immediately the bronze doors I had come through parted. I could see a small village on the other side. A horse drawn cart carrying straw started to come through. I looked around as I backed up, to make sure I wasn't going to bump into anyone. The nine gates in center of the courtyard kept opening and bringing new travelers. Almost everyone was forming a line along the eastern wall. After the straw cart started heading that way I followed it. The west wall had a few shops and stalls. The delicious smells of cooked meats were coming from that direction, but I had to be thrifty with my meager coin.
As I approached the end the line, I could see through the open gate in the walls to the south. A large green lawn surrounded the paved road for about three hundred strides. Beyond that I could see a makeshift camp of tents. The view disappeared once I got in line near the wall. Being in the shade by the wall was cooler than being on the flagstones, but after spending all that time in the dungeon I kind of wanted to be in the sun.
A heard a whirring noise coming up behind me. I turned to see a hovering vehicle. Not a hovercraft, but car with no wheels hovering! I was in line between a horse-drawn cart and a Aether-tech car! I waved exuberantly at the driver of magi-tech vehicle. He looked a little bewildered at with me. He chuckled and shook his head before picking up something to read. He was sealed away from the elements, behind a windshield. He looked comfortable even though morning was starting to heat up. Probably had air-conditioning. I turned back around to take a few steps as the cart in front of moved a little. I wish I had air-conditioning.
I peered around the cart to see where the line was headed. The opening in the walls to the north was wider than the southern gate. There was a whole crew of soldiers directing traffic. They were separating the vehicles and the pedestrians into two lines. Some soldiers were inspecting the vehicles, while others were questioning the pedestrians before taking the gate toll. I saw people walking past the carts in front of me and heading over to where the soldiers. I looked down to my right and saw another thick black line, just like the one identifying the arrival zone in front of the travel gate. I lowered my head and shook it. No wonder the car guy looked at me funny. I got into the pedestrian lane and made my way forward.
When it was my turn the soldier grinned and asked me the same thing he asked everyone in front of me, “What is your reason for entering Neral City?”
Even though I heard the translation in my head, months of practicing low common at the Divine Helpdesk in the Dungeon meant I could understand him. “I'm going to the temple of Celestium.”
The guard looked raised an eyebrow and asked, “I don't recognize your accent. Where're ya from?”
“A long way away,” I said cryptically.
He didn't like my answer, but he didn't stop smiling. He put his hand on sword and shifted his weight forward, “I asked, 'Where're ya from,' kid.”
Celestium had told me there was no reason to hide where I was from. Elfandrael was so big no one had a map of the whole thing. Plus Celestium had told me I might even meet other people from Earth. Apparently Truck-kun wasn't the only way to get here. “I was born in Virginia,” I said.
“Is that on the Darkstone continent,” the guard asked.
“No. The North American continent,” I replied.
“Huh. Never heard of it.” He tapped his magi-tech helmet and said, “This thing says you're tellin' the truf. Are you planning on committin' a crime in Neral City?”
“No,” I answered.
“What's your Alignment,” he asked.
“Lawful Good,” I said.
His smile got even bigger and he put his hand out and said, “One copper.”
I put the toll in his hand and asked, “How to do I get to the temple of Celestium?”
He jerked thumb over his shoulder and said, “Follow the Broadway all the way up, an' take a right on the big white road that runs round the castle. It'll be on ya right.”
I nodded and thanked him. I knew the way, but I wanted to be sure. The help terminal in the dungeon was very specific, but I wanted confirmation. As I walked away I was glad I hadn't tried to lie to the guard. Being [Lawful Good] really makes life easy.
I stepped past the guard into another courtyard, like the one with gateways I had just come from. It was about 100 strides per side. There was a large fountain with statues spewing water in the center of the space. It was reminiscent of those fountains you see in Rome. The fountain was solid white marble and the courtyard was paved in the same granite flagstones I had already seen. At the edge of the wide space, shops and other buildings lined the east and west walls. A few roads passed between those storefronts. To my left and right the southern wall I had just come through was bare, rising up to defensive walkway at the top of the city walls. Directly ahead of me iron gates led to the wide Broadway beyond.
The northern wall of this inner courtyard was dressed in granite, matching the pavers. The wall was covered in dark green ivy. The gate in the ironwork that led to The Broadway was mainly for decoration. It was wrought iron, painted black, with lots of scrolly ornamentation. The opening made by the gate was 20 strides wide. Beyond the gate and off to the left I could see the tops of two more giant magi-mekas standing guard. They would easily be able to walk through the openings in the iron gate in front of me.
The center of the gate framed a castle at the end of The Broadway. Behind the castle was a mountain range, and behind the mountain range was the reason I choose to come to Neral City, the Spire. The Spire was a perfectly white stone column a thousand strides wide. Normally I would call a measure of 1000 strides a kilostride, but here on Elfandrel, they had another name for their long distance unit of measure. That name wasn't a combination of words meaning '1000' and 'strides' so I though of it as a league. Am Earth league was longer than a mile on Earth. This Elfandrael league wsa closer to a Earth kilometerr. By calling it a league, could I switch back and forth between Earth miles and Elfandrael leagues. That way I could keep the comparisons straight in my head.
The Spire was a league wide and 101 leagues high. On Earth that would put the top almost in outer space. If I wanted to leave Elfandrael, Celestium said I could do it by going up a Spire. You couldn't get into them from the surface. You had go down 99 levels of Dungeon, then fight back up 99 levels of the lower levels of the Spire to reach the levels above the surface, and then beat the 101 levels above surface to reach the top. It took 299 Levels but then you could access the gateway in the upper chamber. From there you could go to other worlds, and even higher planes of existence.
The Spire made Neral City a good spot to start my adventures on Elfandrael. Occasionally, [Evil] creatures would try and escape the Dungeon by climbing the Spire. The Spire could pull high level adventurers into the Spire to help with the defense. This meant high-level, [Good] adventurers could retire to Neral. It was a good way for them to earn lots of XP, Boons, and special gear. They couldn't use the XP to level past Level 99, but they could use the it to power Spells to keep themselves young and immortal. Lots of rich, [Good] adventurers meant no powerful [Evil] adventurers, and lots of free flowing cash. The [Good] adventurers tended to sponsor [Good] aligned Quests and activities. There was no Dungeon entrance near Neral City, so no chance of having to fight powerful monsters right away. Lots of upsides, almost no downsides to get started with.
I walked toward the distant castle. I didn't try to avoid people, but I didn't want to crowd them either. When I walked past a group of people I tried to listen in little. I only had the voice of the Helpdesk, so I didn't have a good comparison for pronunciation. No one I walked by had [Polyglot], so I couldn't understand most of what was being said anyway. There were a few elves mixed into the crowd, but they kept mainly to themselves. As I got near people they would turn and smile at me a I passed by them. Everyone in this city sure was friendly.
As I passed through the wrought iron gate, I realized I had been wrong about the magi-mekas. They weren't standing guard. It was a magi-tech dealership. I could see prices and sale banners everywhere. Nicely dressed people looked at magi-tech carts and appliances under the watchful presence of the two giant robots on display. A handsome, tall muscular man with bronze skin and black hair smiled at me. His smile *sparkled*. I don't mean his teeth were shiny, I mean they sparkled, like a bad special effect from a cheap television show. Note to self, 'Buy mind control defenses before shopping there.'
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It felt like a cross between a mall and and amusement park as I made my way down the Broadway. Restaurants and shops were everywhere. There people dressed like they were at a Renaissance fair. There were giant Magical creatures. A did see one dwarf. They're not like dwarves on Earth. He was stocky and thick, about four feet across, and reminded me of a walking boulder. His face was craggy with lots of flat planes, or what little I could of his face for his thick black beard. The magi-tech had the look of 50's retrotech. There were floating illusions, the magical equivalent of neon signs. Very old oak trees lines the Broadway. Their shade made the main roadway very dim compared to the sunlight falling on the shop windows. Wrought iron benches with wooden seats were spaced along the way. Twice I saw someone sitting on a bench and eating. Everyone smiled at me. I was temped to stop but I had a mission. I hefted my bags and kept going.
At the end of The Broadway was the castle. A white road ringed the castle. It looked like a concrete sidewalk, if that concrete sidewalk was made of sparkling white quartz. The roadway was blindingly white in the morning sun. It resembled marble, but it wasn't smooth. I tried to see if it was slippery. It was definitely non-skid. To my right was Celestium's temple. I had put this off as long as I thought I could. I pulled up my [Status] and chose
