I stepped through the doorway and encountered a glittering dark shimmer that ran through the air. I couldn’t see anything beyond the shimmer. Touching it I felt a slight give, and a ripple of…something…against my skin. It was unlike anything I had ever felt before. Other portals simply moved you from one place to another, this one wanted you to know that you were passing through.

I let the portal have its way and stepped through. The pressure passed over my body. My vision went dark for a brief moment as my face passed through the portal, then the world snapped into focus again.

I wasn’t in Soul Deck anymore. This was deep in the heart of a rich, verdant forest.

The loamy earth exuded the smell of old fallen leaves, damp earth, and rich growth. The forest wasn’t as dense as the forests of Yevelia had been. The first floor of Vertigo had wide lanes between the trees where I could walk, or fight, beneath the spreading branches. The canopy of tightly woven limbs allowed just enough light to filter down to cut through the gloom. It was a picturesque setting.

I pulled out my deck of cards and held up the first one. The mongoose.

Summon mongoose?

Cost: 3 HP

I forgot to ask about summoning costs while talking to Vallet, and now I was getting a crash course. It seemed like it cost hit points, not mana, to summon the mongoose. Taking a look at my UI and character description I didn’t have a mana bar in this world, or gems, or anything else that other games used to summon creatures. I had hit points, and basic armor, that was it.

In fact everything about me was bare bones for the game, which made sense since this was about the cards, not my fighting skill.

Currently I had one hundred hit points at level one which would allow me to summon a number of creatures, and no armor to speak of. The limited health pool meant summoning large creatures, or a hoard of small creatures, would have to be tempered by my hit points. I had no idea what happened if I fell to zero HP, but I assumed I lost the battle and would be sent back to the Soul Deck. That didn’t necessarily mean my deck, or the creatures I had summoned, went with me. If I could find new cards to increase my HP that might mitigate the damage from summoning, but it appeared a good part of the strategy for Vertigo revolved around the health bar.

All of that would be answered in time, but this first summons wouldn’t hurt me much. I mentally checked the yes button, accepting the hit to my points, and the card glowed in my hand. The light pooled into a ball, then shot to the forest floor in front of me. As it dissipated a cute mongoose blinked up at me.

I always thought of mongooses as small creatures about the size of a house cat. This creature wouldn’t be curling up in my lap any time soon. The rather large creature stood up on its hind legs looking up at me with bright blue eyes. He came up to my waist, and had a long tail to help balance on his hind legs. His golden fur lined a sleek body, and his sharp teeth and claws looked formidable.

“Well, hi there,” I said, reaching out to hold my hand up for smelling. That’s what you did with animals, wasn’t it? There were so few pets around outside of game worlds that I wasn’t quite sure, but I remembered my mother saying something like that once when I was little.

The mongoose seemed to approve, sniffing my hand, then reached up to nuzzle my finger tips for a moment. His fur was soft and warm, and I couldn’t help myself. I pulled him closer, scooping the mongoose up in a hug and nuzzling my nose in the warm pelt.

“You’re so adorable!” I practically squealed. “You’re bigger than I thought you’d be.”

In response the mongoose licked the tip of my nose. I giggled again.

“Okay, you need a name. I can’t just keep calling you mongoose. How about Gill?”

He licked my nose again, then nuzzled my cheek in response.

“I hope that’s a yes. I’m so happy to meet you, Gill. Now let’s go see if we can get you some friends.”

Gill turned in my arms, and hopped on the ground, ready to go.

We moved deeper into the forest, staying near the larger trail. Gill slunk about on all fours, weaving in and out of the tree line. For such a large creature he was surprisingly dexterous.

Most games added paths that allowed for safe travel from one area to another. The farther away from the entrance to the zone, and the path, you got the more dangerous it became. I didn’t know if it held true inside Vertigo or not, but it made sense to keep on the trails so that I had an easy way back to the portal as well as the added safety. I didn’t know how battles worked entirely, and I wanted a quick exit if necessary.

We walked for about five minutes before we heard something just off the beaten path in a thick growth of bushes. Something was skittering on tiny feet along the loamy earth. Peaking around the tree, I had to stifle a gasp. The creature only stood two feet tall, but I never would have expected to see a beetle large enough to walk on a leash.

I stifled a laugh, knowing how ridiculous I was being. It wasn’t my first game, and giant insects and spiders were a common trope. I shouldn’t have been surprised.

The insect had a hard carapace in shiny green that blended into the foliage around us. If I hadn’t heard it I never would have seen it. It had two sharp mandibles that it used to cut down a small tree, then slowly started chewing up the trunk.

“What do you think, Gill? Do you think you can take it?”

Gill blinked at me, but did not seem worried. Maybe I was expecting too much of the mongoose, I didn’t know how intelligent the creatures were in Vertigo, but I wanted to believe that he was on my side.

“Let’s give you a little extra help,” I said, pulling out the other two cards.

I selected the armor card and held it up, pointing it at Gill.

Chain Armor (ac 10)

Cost 2 hp

Confirm?

It seemed spells and equipment also had a cost. I needed to look into that a bit more before I added too many items to my deck. At least it appeared the cost of the armor was low.

I mentally selected yes and the light blazed again. This time it settled around Gill, and when it dissipated my mongoose wore a set of simple chain mail that protected his long slinky body. He spun around, letting me see how it looked, and gave me another little hop.

“Okay, Gill, let’s go!”

I stepped around the tree and activated my last card. The card flared with a sickly green glow, then shot out toward the beetle. From beneath the beetle green vines sprang from the earth and wrapped around its legs. Gill jumped forward smashing into the beetle with quick swipes of his tiny claws.

The beetle tried to disengage, spreading its wings to fly. Caught in the ensnaring vines it had no chance, flapping about and snapping a few of the vines, but in no danger of breaking free. It cried out in a loud chitter before lashing out at Gill with his giant mandibles. The thick chitin slammed down on Gill’s front paw. I watched the mongoose’s hit points drop by half as he swung around, biting the beetles front leg and yanking. With a pop the leg came off dropping the beetles health to a thin sliver of red.

“One more good hit, Gill!” I cried.

Gill jumped back before another bite could land, then dodged in and smacked the beetle on the carapace with a resounding crack, his claws digging in deeper. The shell splintered, taking off another sliver of health, but didn’t quite kill it. The beetle returned with another swipe of its massive pincher's, but Gill managed to wiggle out of the way just in time.

The spell was starting to fade, the tangle of leaves and vines turning brown and wilting.

“Hurry, Gill! The beetles about to be free!”

The mongoose seemed to understand because he rushed in, headless of any damage to himself, and bit the beetle behind its head, then shook. The beetle struggled for a brief moment, but it was over. It blazed with light as its hit points dropped to zero, then disappeared.

Gill grabbed something off the ground then returned to me, holding a thin piece of paper between his teeth. I took the paper and held it up.

Jeweled Beetle

Level 1

HP 15

AC 5

Bite 2

“We did it Gill!” I cried, grabbing the mongoose up in a hug.

Gill trilled in my ear, snuggling up against my jaw. I didn’t even care that the chain mail dug into my arms, I was that happy.

“Okay, Gill, we need to get you healed up and on our way again. And you probably don’t want to wear that armor around all the time. Besides, you’re quieter without it.”

I held up the card with the armor on it, now in shades of grey as though the life were sucked out of it. As soon as I did a prompt appear.

Dismiss armor?

I selected yes. There was no need to have Gill running around in armor while out in the forest. He might get snagged on something. I also didn’t know if the armor had a durability. Better to use it only when we needed it.

A light surrounded Gill, then condensed into a little ball at his chest, taking the armor with it. The ball of light zoomed back to my hand and the grey card where it sunk into the slot. Once the light dissipated I saw the picture lit up again. No mention of durability or damage, but Gill also look like he was moving about faster and more agile so I left the armor off.

“Well, Gill, why don’t we see what else is out there?”