“Your sword slides down his shield. You miss.”
“That’s just-. Whatever. I’ll try to get behind that barrel to get some cover then.”
“Alright. As you move away, the goblin gets an attack of opportunity. His attack hits you. You take 7 points of damage as he pierces you with his scimitar.”
“What?! That’s enough to knock me out”
“Crap, I’m sorry dude, but them are the rules.”
“That’s bull; he shouldn’t be able to hit me on my own turn. You should be rewarding me for even showing up, unlike the rest; not kill my character off`!”
“It’s your actions that lead to this outcome. I merely narrate what happens. Blame the dice, not me.”
“…yeah. I guess you’re right. Sorry for acting up.”
“Don’t worry about it.”
“Well I think I’ll head out. I’ll think of a new character while I’m at it. This one was pretty shitty anyway. I’m thinking of picking a martial class.”
“Sounds good, let me know if you need anything.”
Upon stepping out, his face was greeted by the chilly touch of late autumn air. The sky was beautiful. A full moon shone down upon the streets, guarded by millions of stars, more than Jack had ever seen before. It was quiet. He couldn’t hear any cars nor see anyone for that matter.
“Must be pretty late…,” Jack muttered to himself. Walking down the road, Jack’s thoughts began wandering. They wandered towards a world not of our own, but to one filled with adventures, heroes, epic battles, monsters and romance; a world of magic. “A battleaxe or a longsword? Hmm… nah, those are basic. Maybe I’ll make him a jack of all trades. Although maxing out strength and dexterity at the same time is pretty difficult; I don’t want to get killed in a single strike again. Being stealthy might compensate for that…”. As the shape of his new character started to form in his mind, Jack couldn’t help but notice his cloak getting in the way of his vision so he pulled it back slightly. “A brainless barbarian won’t do the trick; I need brains as much as I need brawns. A normal fighter might get boring quickly though…”. Stepping onto the rough cobblestone, Jack adjusted his belt as the weight of his sheathed sword pulled it down. “I could dabble with some magic too. Question is what kind would be most useful for my character…hmm…” . The weight of his shield was slowing him down so Jack tightened the straps which held his shield tied to his back. But then for just a moment Jack’s thoughts returned as he realised. “Wait, what? I’m not wearing a cloak nor am I carrying a sword or shield!” He was right, but his eyes proved him wrong. He was indeed carrying these items. Upon realising his whole attire was changed to that of what looked like a medieval commoner Jack slapped himself assuming he was still daydreaming. “That’s right, daydreaming! Why is the sun shining if it was night just a moment ago?” A surge of questions flooded Jack’s mind as he glanced around. Nothing around him seemed as it was but a moment ago. Instead of the depressing interbellic apartment houses, merry dwellings standing at no more than two metres, made of mostly old oaken beams greeted his vision. In front of them, a couple wooden planks held together by hempen rope formed about a dozen market stalls, displaying a variety of fresh vegetables and baked goods. No cloud was to be seen, only the sun stood high up in the sky looking down at Jack’s shocked expression.
“What in the world is going on here?! Hey you, where the hell am I?!”, he shouted at the nearest pedestrian.
“Did the sun bake ye a tad bit too much, traveler? Ye’re in Lindenvale.”, answered a scrawny, elderly man with a well kept white beard.
Upon only receiving a confused face in response to his answer, the old man went on with his way, muttering something to himself, clearly being annoyed by outsiders. The sun was indeed shining brightly but not enough to make Jack delirious. A light wind came through from time to time making the canvas blankets covering the market stalls flutter.
Jack stuck his hand in his pocket in the hopes of reaching his phone so he could locate where he was. But he did that in vain as he realised once again that neither were his leather pants the trousers he wore the whole day, but they also didn’t even have any pockets.
“Just what the hell is going on…” His breaths became hasty. “Why?! Why for the love of God am I not waking up from this wicked dream?!” His heart rate increased and Jack started panicking. He felt scared as he couldn’t understand what was happening; so much so that he fell to his knees with his palms covering his face. In that moment however his eyes spotted a medallion dangling down from his neck. Not a fancy one, but one which appeared to resemble “A fang… a silvery fang!” Jack’s face lit up as he finally saw something he recognised. “But why am I wearing a necklace which indicates I’m part of a faction from my friends role-playing game? Wait, I’ve heard the word Lindenvale before. It was a small town south of where my former character used to live, I just never bothered to go there as no story hooks led to it.” In that instant a certain thought pierced Jack’s mind. He suddenly realised what had happened but could not understand how or why it did. He was transported to his fantasy table-top role-playing games’s world.
“Ok, this is a lot to take in. If I learned anything in my many wasted hours watching anime is that every protagonist overreacts and acts poorly when presented with the situation I’m facing. I don’t wanna be like those guys.” Jack knew what getting transported to another world ment. He read lots and lots of stories about it and oftentimes fantasized about being in one. This really looked like a dream come true.
“By the looks of it, I appear to be your average lone adventurer who carries around a sword and stabs things and people for money… That’s pretty disappointing. Nonetheless, if this is truly our fantasy world there should be magic and supernatural powers around. Question is, where shall my epic adventures begin?’
And so Jack glanced around for a bit and then swiftly made his way to the local tavern.