Chapter 11
Swapping Stories
As Tyroth and Ragnir reached the bar and entered it, the dwarf was in for quite the shock when he saw the spider that was running the place.
"What in the Nine Hells is that?!" the dwarf exclaimed upon seeing Hacker. "One of Lolth's creations?!"
"Who? Me?" Hacker asked, looking around confused. "And who, or what, is Lolth?"
"That's nothing you need to worry about, Hacker." Tyroth said, then turned to Ragnir. "We got no relation or connection to any gods or similar here. I'll explain it all shortly."
"Looking forward to that explanation, 'cause I'm only getting more and more questions. And a stronger need for that drink."
"If it's a drink you're after, have a seat somewhere, and I'll give you the strongest I got." said Hacker. "Once I find a clean cup."
It took a few minutes of rummaging around in the mess that was the bar-to-be, but eventually, Hacker found a pair of clean mugs, and disappeared out the back for a while longer before returning with the mugs filled with a clear liquid.
"There we go. Sorry for the wait, but um… we're not really open yet. Still working on the place actually."
"Then I guess we're getting a preview of what's to come. Cheers!" Ragnir said and took a mouthful of the drink, only to spit and cough it out again. "What the?! I've been to many bars and pubs where they water down their drinks, but this is just plain water!"
"It's all I got." hacker explained. "Besides, it's free, so it's not like I'm cheating you."
"Fair point, I suppose. And water is healthier than booze anyway, but I sure didn't expect it."
"You'll find that we're full of surprises, Ragnir." Tyroth said, taking a sip of his own water. "I guess I'll have to start from the beginning."
Over the better part of an hour, Tyroth explained how he and his people had come to both the village and the world, how they had been forced to leave their old home, and what they were. Certain details, such as the magical water they brought with them, were left out, but other than that, it was a full disclosure of their past.
For the most part, Ragnir just listened, asking a question or two at some points, taking everything in stride. However, when Tyroth started explaining about the Dungeons and Dragons game, the dwarf just couldn't believe his ears. The very thought of his own reality being a game in another reality was too much to swallow. Tyroth even had to fetch the books to prove it, after which, Ragnir sat quiet for several minutes.
"I told you our story was a special one." Tyroth said.
"And I didn't doubt your word, but this…" Ragnir gestured to the open books in front of him. "This is something that I could never imagine. I don't even know how to react to it."
"I don't blame you. And the fact that you recognised so much from the books further proves that this world and the books are connected in some way."
"But how? How is that even possible?"
"That, I don't know. Maybe the people that wrote the books have visited this world, or maybe they saw it in their dreams. It could also just be a pure coincident, much like how we're speaking the same language."
"The gods sure work in very strange ways…" Ragnir said, scratching his bearded chin.
"Indeed. And as I'm sure you understand, we could really use all the help we can get to get our bearings on this world."
"That I do. Go ahead and ask your questions, and I'll try to answer them."
"Then it's only a question of where to start." Tyroth said and took a moment to think.
More time passed, and Tyroth asked all the questions that he could think of, and Ragnir answered them to the best of his ability.
The world that they had arrived on didn't really have a name, at least not one everyone agreed on. Dwarves just referred to it as the Surface up top, and the Depths down under, while the elves had own name, as did many other races, but Ragnir wasn't sure what those names were. Humans however, called it Ewaros, and they were widespread enough that most other races knew that.
On a more local note, they were currently in the nation of Torgalia, a land filled with all kinds of races, but humans were the most numerous of them. Ragnir presented a few maps where he began pointing out certain spots as he explained them.
Torgalia bordered to several other nations, to the west, the Elven Kingdom of Yalisa, to the north, the States of the Great Khan, a mostly barbaric region, though because of a lot of infighting, rulers and names changed every few years.
To the south east, lay the Empire of Kiosho, which Torgalia didn't have the best relation with, and from Ragnir's description it sounded similar to old Japan or China, as opposed to Torgalia's more medieval European style. To the south west, there were several tribes that coexists in the deep jungles, rather than a single nation, and they were simply called the Jungle Tribes, and the area for the Southern Jungles.
Across the sea to the east, there were several nations and kingdoms, but it would take at least a month to reach any of them, except for one.
In the far north east, in the Frozen Wastes, there was a people that called themselves Nordlings. They had made a name for themselves raiding coastal settlements for many, many years. It was they whom attacked the village the year before, after which the people had had enough and left.
Going even more local, Ragnir pointed out the closest settlements, all about a week away by horse. To the north west lay the town of Trugulf, a mining town at the base of the Halgomers Mountains, which actually reached all the way to the coast, just north of Mutopia.
In the south west was Landows, a decent sized city surrounded mostly by farmlands and forests, and a great trading hub for many towns and cites past it. And far to the west was Berstolia, the capital of Torgalia and largest city in the kingdom.
After receiving that information, they moved on to other topics.
Tyroth was happy to learn that they used mostly the same measurement systems with inches, feet, pounds, gallons and so on, even time was the same, with a few exceptions. Every month was exactly four weeks long, or twenty eight days, and a year was thirteen months, which made one Ewaros year one day shorter than a standard Earth year.
They also had seasons in the region of the world that they were in, summer, fall, winter and spring, of which summer lasted for four months, while the others only lasted three. Luckily, the winters didn't seem to be very severe or harsh, though it did happen sometimes. On the other hand, it wasn't unheard of dinosaurs wandering up from the jungles in the summers.
As for how the people of Ewaros counted dates, that was quite different from what Tyroth and the others were used to. The current date was the fourth day, third week, second summer, year four hundred and fifty two of the ninth era, though they would only refer to it by day, week and month unless it was another year. No names for days or months, and it varied greatly when a new era would start, often after some form of great event, good or bad.
One thing that was the same as Tyroth was familiar with was the money, with copper, silver and gold coins making up the currency. Ten coppers on one silver, and ten silvers on one gold, just like in the game, though how much a certain item might cost was up to the seller, just like prizes back on Earth. And with the help of some scales, Ragnir was able to determine that the gold coins from Skyrim was worth seven silvers a piece, being slightly smaller than the coins of Ewaros.
It also turned out that travel between different planes and dimensions was common enough that most people had heard of it at least once, and even if the majority of Ewaros' people didn't have the means to it, it didn't mean that the inhabitants of the other planes were as restricted.
Ragnir downed another mug of water, feeling quite dry in his throat after all the talking.
"That hit the spot. Haven't talked that much in a long while. Especially not about things that I don't think that much about. Hope that it helped."
"More than you think. Thank you."
"Don't mention it. But there's still a lot that you need to know about your new surroundings, more than I can tell you over a few drinks."
"I can imagine."
"However, I got a solution to that. I got some books back in my cart, books on the local fauna and flora, on simple crafting techniques, things that I think you could have great use of. So tell you what, give me food and lodging until tomorrow, and I'll give you the books."
"That's a very generous offer, but hardly fair, we can pay you in gold instead."
"No need for that, my friend. You only have so much coin between all of you, and even if you didn't need money back where you're from, you'll need it here sooner or later. Besides, I've been on the road for a long time now, so it'd be nice to have a proper bed to sleep in for a while."
"Not sure if we can manage a 'proper' bed, but I'll see what we can do. As for food… how do you feel about cockroaches?"
"Ugh! Horrible bugs! Can't stand them! I'd rather face down a Chimera!"
"Then you might want to consider take-out instead." Tyroth said, trying to suppress a smile.
Man, that was a lot of work, and it didn't help that I had to rewrite the entire darn thing, first version didn't feel right.
Now, this chapter was pretty much only a lot of world building, so that we're all on the same page. You are allowed to take notes of the various places, I for one will sure need them in the future.
But with this and that out of the way, I'll wrap things up here, and see you all next time. :)