Differences in The Wandering Inn 1.02
The inn is dark.
That’s because the world is dark at the moment.
- The inn was dark.
- That was because the world was dark,
- at least for the moment.
- Two moons hung in the sky,
- one light blue,
- the other pale yellow.
- But their soft light was obscured by a shifting layer of clouds overhead.
- Thus,
- light was scarce.
- Which made sense.
It’s nighttime.
- It was nighttime.
- However,
one figure still moves restlessly around the inn.
Her progress leaves a trail in the dust as she walks around tables and chairs.
Occasionally she trips over a chair.
—-
- despite the late hour one figure moved restlessly around the room.
- A young woman.
- Her progress left a trail in the dust as she walked around the room.
- She paced from wall to wall,
- muttering to herself.
- Then she tripped over a chair.
Erin brushed dust off of herself in disgust.
- Erin brushed dust off her pants and t-shirt in disgust.
- Well,
- her clothes were officially dirty now.
Not that they’d been pristine in the first place.
Parts of her t-shirt were burned black and her jeans had been cut by the Goblin’s knives.
- Parts of her t-shirt were burned black,
- and her jeans had been cut by the Goblin’s knives.
- But that wasn’t important at the moment.
—-
- After screaming in pain and hopping around a bit,
- Without thinking,
Erin’s hands went up to her hair and came back full of dirt and dust.
- Erin’s hands went up to her head and came back full of dirt and dust.
- Oh,
—-
- Groaning,
- the young woman eventually stood up.
- She stood,
- feeling her body protest the natural law of gravity,
- and sat down.
- That felt better,
- but then her stomach objected.
- Hunger and exhaustion warred and hunger won out.
- Erin got up,
- knowing she had to look for food.
- There wasn’t any in the inn;
- she hadn’t bothered checking the cupboards because why should she?
- Any food that had been around since the inn had been deserted was probably sentient and had legs by now.
The young woman eventually stood up and walked over to the door.
There was no food in the inn.
Therefore,
she had to go outside to find some.
Somewhere.
Her train of logic was flawless,
but she still hesitated as she put her hand on the door handle.
- So that only left the outside.
- But Erin hesitated as she put her hand on the door to the inn.
Erin shivered.
The inn felt cold suddenly.
Her hands began to shake uncontrollably as the cuts on her legs stung horribly.
Her burned arm flared in pain.
- She shivered.
- The memory of yesterday returned,
- fresh and vivid,
- and her hands began to shake.
- Her burned arm flared in pain as the cuts on her legs itched and stung.
- Erin closed her eyes and took a breath.
- Yes,
- monsters.
- But—
So Erin took a deep breath and opened the door.
It wasn’t courage that made her do it.
Just the need to survive.
- So she opened the door.
- It wasn’t courage that made her do it;
- just the will to survive.
The young woman stepped outside,
- The day was so bright that Erin was blinded for a moment.
- She walked outside,
- shading her eyes.
And she stopped.
- And then she stopped.
- Because a thought had struck her suddenly.
Something she hadn’t fully realized before in her panicked flight.
- Something she had realized but not taken to heart before.
This—is no ordinary world.
- “This—really is another world,
- isn’t it?”
The sky overhead was far too vast to be from her world.
The sky was too big.
And that was a thought Erin could never imagine having.
But though she could look up in her own world and see hundreds,
thousands of miles of empty space and the clouds floating inconceivably high overhead—
This horizon was far greater than even that.
The sight of a single cloud took her breath away as she gazed upwards.
It was just a cloud,
casting a large shadow on the grasslands beneath it.
Yet Erin was transfixed.
She stared upwards,
her mouth gaping.
How large are clouds?
Erin never had to wonder about that before.
But she remembered staring up at clouds from her world.
They were as tall as…
skyscrapers?
Hills?
Were hills bigger than skyscrapers?
She knew clouds could get big,
but this cloud was different.
- It was a simple revelation that came as Erin looked up.
- Up,
- into a sky far vaster than her own.
- It was hard for Erin to put into words;
- she only knew that as she stared up into the vivid blue infinity above her head that this sky was different from the one she had seen all her life.
- The clouds were too big.
- Erin could never imagine something like that,
- but there it was.
- The clouds were…
- enormous.
- Back home,
- Erin could lie on her back and stare up hundreds,
- thousands of miles into empty space and see clouds floating inconceivably high overhead.
- But here—
- “Further than that.
- So big.”
- Erin looked up and saw a cloud floating over a mountain that cast a shadow that nearly reached her inn.
- It looked huge,
- and yet she could see the grasslands of rolling hills and valleys stretching for countless miles to its base.
- The peak of the mountain was so high up that Erin couldn’t see it when she craned her head back.
- And the cloud was higher still.
- How large were clouds?
- Erin had never had to ponder that question before.
- But she could remember seeing clouds that were large as…
- small skyscrapers,
- maybe?
- Or hills?
- Were hills larger than skyscrapers?
- It didn’t matter.
- this single cloud among many,
was the size of a mountain.
Erin’s eyes strained as they made out small ridges and layers of the cloud,
impossibly small from where she was standing but probably plateaus and massive cliffs up close.
The scale of the cloud was making her head spin and her eyes hurt.
Erin had to look away.
The mountain-cloud was huge,
but as far overhead as it was,
it was still only a tiny fraction of the sky.
When Erin turned her gaze from the single cloud to the rest of the world around her,
her amazement continued.
Mountains seemed to reach upwards forever,
looming over a wide grassland untouched by civilization.
Erin could stare in any direction without finding an end to the rolling landscape.
And how far had she run before coming here?
At first glance it seemed like the plains were just that — plain,
flat land — but closer inspection showed Erin that the land was in fact full of deep inclines and raised ground.
If she were to walk carelessly,
Erin would lose sight of your destination and find herself in a valley thousands of feet deep.
She was standing on a relatively high hill,
affording her a good vantage point.
Yet no matter how hard she looked in every direction,
the plains still stretched on,
on and on without pause—
- was the size of the mountain below it.
- She could see it.
- Erin’s eyes strained as she made out small ridges and layers of cloud,
- impossibly small from where she was standing but probably plateaus and massive cliffs in reality.
- The depth of the cloud took her breath away.
- And that was only a fraction of the sky.
- When Erin looked around she realized this world really was vast.
- Mountains that seemed to reach upwards forever,
- wide rolling grasslands untouched by civilization…
- and how far had she run before reaching this point?
- At first glance,
- it seemed like the grass stretched out as a single,
- flat surface in every direction forever,
- but closer inspection told Erin a different story.
- “They’re hills!
- Hills and valleys.
- No wonder I kept tripping last night!”
- If you walked carelessly,
- you could lose track of your surroundings and find yourself in a valley thousands of feet wide.
- And it was all mostly uniform,
- only a few flowers and rocks breaking up the tyranny of green.
- The plains stretched on and on without pause—
- Or did they?
Erin stopped as she starts to pick out small details on the horizon.
Far in the distance between the mountain range and the rising sun she saw what looked vaguely like buildings.
- Erin stopped as she started to pick out small details on the horizon.
- Far,
- far in the distance between the mountain range and the rising sun she saw what looked vaguely like buildings.
- Was there a town out there?
It is impossible to tell from where she was standing,
half-blinded as Erin was by the light.
But the sight of what might be man-made structures gave her hope that she wasn’t alone in this world.
- It was impossible to tell from where she was standing,
- but the sight of that gave Erin hope that she wasn’t alone in this world.
- However,
Erin frowned as she spotted something.
She shaded her eyes with one hand and squinted hard,
confused.
- “Are those…
—-
- Erin squinted.
- There was a small collection of trees in the distance,
- nestled in one of the valleys.
- They were trees,
- weren’t they?
- Erin felt they looked off—until she realized she was looking down at them from her vantage point.
- her legs and stomach overriding her cautious brain.
She needed food.
- She needed food.
- It wasn’t hard to walk down the gently sloping hills,
- and although it was less fun to walk back up the hills,
- at least Erin could do all of it at a meandering walk.
- The grass was soft under her shoes and she had good footing.
- It was…
- peaceful.
- Deceptively peaceful.
But in the back of her mind,
- In the back of her mind,
- Erin remembered the Goblins.
- Okay,
maybe they weren’t Goblins but strange,
- maybe they weren’t Goblins but what else could they be?
- They were strange,
- deformed children that looked like twisted versions of humans with sharp noses,
Goblins.
And she remembered that they’d found her as she was running singed and bewildered from the Dragon.
- They were Goblins.
- And Erin remembered that they’d found her as she was running singed and bewildered from the Dragon.
- except that it was more like a boulder,
a gigantic mound of stone rounded at the top like a small hill.
- a gigantic mound of stone rounded at the top and like a small hill.
- It was twice as tall as a normal person and just as long across.
- In short,
it was a really big rock.
- it was a big rock.
- Two large,
long pincers made out of a dark brownish orange chitin were poking out from beneath the rock as the crab-monster scuttled towards her.
- long pincers made out of a dark brown chitin were poking out from beneath the rock as the crab-monster scuttled towards her.
- It had lifted the gigantic,
- That was the voice in Erin’s head.
She couldn’t waste her breath because all the air in her body as devoted to keeping her running as fast as she could.
- She couldn’t waste her breath because all the air in her body was devoted to keeping her running as fast as she could.
- The tree in front of her was thin and squat.
Erin felt trees shouldn’t look fat.
- Well,
- squat for a tree.
- It was still about ten feet tall,
but its trunk seemed far too narrow to support its weight.
- but its trunk looked far too narrow to support its weight.
- And not only that,
So decided Erin after she’d tested the tree to see if she could push it over.
- So decided Erin after she’d tested the tree,
- to see if she could push it over.
- The wood was remarkably hard –
- Erin jumped and managed to pull herself halfway up the first branch through sheer desperation.
But her arms gave out and she fall on her back with a whumph that knocked the air out of her.
- But her arms gave out,
- and she fall on her back with a whumph that knocked the air out of her.
- or shock from the rock-crab maybe.
She’d nailed it pretty good on the antennae and she was sure that had to hurt.
- She’d nailed it pretty good on the antennae and she was sure that hard to hurt.
- But still,
- right?
Even so,
though.
- Even so.
The young woman for her part stared in horror for two more seconds,
and then pointed one finger.
- The young woman for her part stared in horror for two more seconds and then pointed one finger.
- She opened her mouth and screamed.
- But they followed her doggedly despite the insane speed at which she sprinted.
Humans panic and grow tired.
They’ll catch her as soon as she slows down.
- These Goblins had learned to hunt other species,
- and knew that Humans panicked easily and grew tired.
- They’d catch her as soon as she slowed down.
- …
Assuming she ever slows down.
- Assuming she ever slowed down.
It is evening.
The sun is casting long shadows across the plains.
All is silent.
Aside from the screaming rock-crab smashing itself and the screaming human,
there is no sound in the world.
All is calm.
A single figure sprints across the grasslands.
She is running as fast as she can.
Behind her a group of squat creatures follow.
It is nearly dinnertime.
- It was evening.
- The sun cast long shadows across the plains.
- All was silent.
- Aside from the screaming rock-crab smashing itself in the head and the screaming human,
- there was no sound in the world.
- All was calm.
- A single figure sprinted across the grasslands.
- She was running as fast as she could.
- Behind her a group of squat creatures followed.
- It was nearly dinnertime.
- A young girl—woman from Michigan with a casual interest in video games and a deep obsession with strategy games.
Hobbies include snowboarding,
- Her hobbies include snowboarding,
- watching Youtube videos,
- etc.
Dreams of one day becoming a professional strategy game commentator.
- She dreams of one day becoming a professional strategy game commentator.