Turbo Pudding
Amabel is a turtle as big as a hill, and she has slept for a hundred years. On her shell sits a little town. Pim the pangolin carpenter finds this out the hard way: he wakes up in a warm, dark cave, the cave sneezes, and a huge eye opens. “HELLO, SMALL ONE.”
Pim takes it well. Introducing himself to the neighbors a little later, he puts it simply: “Pim. Carpenter. I live in a nose, apparently.”
Every town needs order, and this one has a mayor. Mayor Barty is, in the words of the closing credits, “a snail of some importance.” He wears a top hat, and he has rules. Here they are, with a few notes from the rest of the town.
Rule one: a mayor never hurries
When Pim puts up the legs of the lookout, Barty calls out a cheerful good morning and announces that he is on his way over to greet the newcomer. Pim mentions that he is very far away. Barty is not worried: “Patience. A mayor never hurries.”
By the time the lookout has its top, Barty has arrived. Pim points out that he set off yesterday. The mayor’s reply: “And I came at a dignified pace.”
Rule two: a proper town stands still
Right after his grand arrival, Barty sets out the town’s first principle: a proper town stands still. It’s a fine rule for most towns. It’s a tricky one for a town that lives on a turtle.
Rule three: towns do not wriggle
When Pim lays the last plank of the bridge, the ground wobbles, and a voice the size of a hill says, “THAT TICKLES.” Barty is firm about it: “Madam, please. Towns do not wriggle.”
Rule four: no walking without a walking permit
Once Barty has a corner of his own, he gets to work. “From here I shall make rules. Many rules.” The first of them: no walking without a walking permit.
Who hands out the permits? Barty, of course. How he does it depends on what you build on his corner. Choose the Town Bell, and he issues them from under the bell. Choose the Notice Kiosk, and he pins them to it. Choose the Snail-Mail Post, and they arrive by snail mail, which, he notes, is never rushed.
Soon the first permit is ready. “I have drafted your walking permit. It says no.”
The neighbors don’t mind
Every finished building gets someone to live in it, and the town takes them all in. A pair of wrens moves into Pim’s rafters, and the rent is one song a day. A hedgehog lives under the bridge, prickly but polite. A beetle family settles on the ridge, with seven children. Seven!
Barty’s corner gets a resident too. Choose the bell, and a bell-ringer mouse rings it on the hour, every hour. Choose the kiosk, and a shrew reads every notice, which makes her the mayor’s first reader. Choose the post, and a young snail courier joins the team. Fast, for a snail.
How the rules hold up
Not well, and for a good reason. A cold gray crust called the Stillness is creeping over the shell. Delva, the mole mechanic who lives in the tunnels under the plates, explains that it grows while Amabel sleeps. If she sleeps too long, she turns to stone, town and all.
So the town builds the Wake-up Chime, and Pim starts the count. Barty does his best: “Madam, I must ask you to stay put.” Amabel is very polite about it. “SORRY, LITTLE MAYOR.” Then she stands up, and the mayor has to admit that the whole thing is highly irregular. And rather thrilling.
The first chapter of Amblestead, Mist Valley, is free to play in your browser at amblestead.com. The full game, all six chapters, is $4.99, paid once. More about the game is on its Amblestead page.
