Help Text: Dungeons are places of stagnant energy that have become corrupted. The energy attracts creatures with magical abilities that make the dungeon their home. Dungeons that appear near cities and villages are frequently explored so that the stagnant energy can be dissipated, however those deep in the wilderness tend to become large labyrinthine structures that take entire armies to clear.

I took some time to pick up sticks and branches, but quickly realized that I didn't have any real way of carrying them. I looked in the pause menu, and found the inventory section. Once I did, a notification symbol popped up beside the "Help" section. It explained that I could place items within the inventory by placing them above the jewel in the rod. Once I went back to the inventory I noticed that I had a few new items. The first was a worn cloak which granted me a small buff to my Armor Class. I looked over it, and a drop down appeared, listing "Drop", "Equip", and "Modify."

I wanted to try modifying it, but the option seemed to be grayed out, so I equipped it instead. Once I did my Armor Class was at 19. If this worked the same way as the tabletop RPG, then this was very high for a level 1 character. The base was 10, my Ability Score gave me an additional +3, the Rod gave me a +5, and the cloak a +1. Once I was done looking over that, I proceeded to drop the water skin in the inventory since there didn't seem to be a "Use" option. Finally I equipped the spell book that was in it as well.

As I exited the pause menu, the cloak covered my body, and the spell-book entered my left hand. I took a short moment to place all the sticks I had gathered into my inventory. After that I walked around the edge of the forest gathering more of the fruit that I had encountered, and trying to find a source of water to fill the water skin, but the immediate area didn't seem to have one. I was careful not to wander too far into the woods, I may have only seen small animals on the edge, but more dangerous ones could reside deeper in. Eventually I returned to the stone platform and picked up a few rocks in case I needed something to throw.

After scavenging for some other things that would be useful, I approached the doors in the massive tree. The doors appeared to have been made entirely out of wood. Carvings of leaves and vines sprawled out across them. I approached them and pushed them inward since I couldn't seem to find a handle. As I did they continued to open inward on their own, revealing a large room carved out of the center of the tree.

The room was well lit, despite the fact that I couldn't find a single light source inside. I looked around cautiously, expecting some sort of enemy to appear. In the center there was a large pit with a column of water falling down it. I looked up to see if I could find the source, however it was too far up. On the eastern side of the room, I saw the start of a large staircase, but I decided to check this floor first. I approached the pit, and looked down into it, it seemed to go on forever. I took out a stick that I had grabbed earlier, and thought "Spark" to ignite it. Dropping it down into the pit I watched as the light faded, and there was no noise to indicate it had hit the bottom.

I took my time walking around the outer wall of the room, checking for hidden passages. The walls were sparsely covered in vines, the source of which seemed to be higher up. Eventually I had made my way to the steps of the spiral staircase, which seemed to stretch up forever. Though, I couldn't help but notice that there were several platforms dotted along the way, which at least told me I could sit and rest at them. As I proceeded upward, I noticed that the vines on the wall grew thicker and thicker. I could understand the mist from the water column kept them hydrated, but I wondered how the tree seemed so healthy on the outside despite its entire interior being hollowed out like this.

Eventually I reached the first platform, and decided to rest there. In the center was a small stone fire-pit, and some wooden benches lined the edge. I sat down at one of the benches, and opened up my tab navigating to the inventory section. I dropped a branch and tied off the strap of the water skin around it, then held it under the water column to fill it up. The water was quite refreshing, but it really made me miss my morning orange juice. Once I had rested enough, I continued my way up the staircase again.

I made my way up the staircase, stopping to rest on the platforms as I went. Eventually I noticed that the light had started to dim, I figured this meant night was falling. I stopped at the next platform, and placed a few sticks in the fire pit this time. Once it was starting to get dark, I lit them using "Spark." I sat down eating and drinking, and trying to figure out a way to get to sleep. But before I could even lay down, I noticed that some of the vines were thrusting toward me.

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I quickly used "Pause" and noticed that the vines had been gradually creeping towards me and the fire. I made my way to the controls screen, and assigned the word "Frost" to the "Ray of Frost" spell. I thanked my luck for how convenient this all was, and quickly thought "Frost", pointing my finger at the vines approaching me. I noticed that a cool-down timer had appeared below my map. Unfortunately it didn't destroy the vines outright, it did freeze them long enough for the cool-down timer to run out. Another casting destroyed the vines completely, and the remaining vines on the wall seemed to be normal, or at least dormant. Then a small pop-up appeared saying "+50xp."

Despite my best efforts, I couldn't find anything to show me my experience points, or how long until I reached the next level. I laid down and tried to rest for the night, albeit poorly. The platform was rather uncomfortable to sleep on, but the fire provided enough background noise that I eventually fell asleep. The next morning I awoke to find nothing had really changed. Thankfully I hadn't been attacked in the middle of the night. I continued my way upward, and once I reached the next platform I noticed a small chest where the fire pits had been previously.

I approached it cautiously, and looked around it carefully for signs of traps. I took out one of the longer sticks that I had gathered and poked it in case it was a mimic, or some other disguised monster. There was no response, so I approached and undid the latch on the front of it. The latch looked like a crudely made tool box latch with a loop for a lock to be placed on it. Before I could fully open it though, another group of vines quickly whipped towards me. This time I didn't have the time to react, and they made contact, but were strangely repelled back. I looked at the three bars at the bottom right to see if any of them had changed, but none had lowered even slightly. Relieved, I used "Frost" to take care of the vines, and once again it popped up "+50XP".

Without the vines to distract me, I returned to the chest, and opened it. Inside were several books and papers, but they were all in a language that I had never seen before. As I picked the last of them up, a new objective appeared on my map. It was located at the center of where the pit was, but it was several thousand feet above it in the air. As I rested, I took my time placing the books into my inventory. Since I had managed to sleep through the night, it finally set in that this definitely wasn't a dream.

Since I hadn't done my morning routine earlier, I decided to take out a small stick and a rock from my inventory. I remembered from watching a survival show from a while back that you could make a makeshift toothbrush from a stick by loosening the fibers on a rock. It took me several tries, and several small sticks, but eventually I managed to make something that worked. I wondered if there would be some way for me to make toothpaste, but for now it would have to do. Once that was done, I rinsed my mouth out with some water and spit it down into the pit. Since I was still relaxing I decided to take out one of the less filled pieces of paper. Then I used "spark" to char the end of a stick, and jotted down "100XP" so that I could keep track. I also took note of how many platforms I had gone up to that point, so far it had been 14.

I was fairly concerned about my ability to keep track of time, there was nothing telling me what time it was in the pause menu. I knew it was day 2 of me being here at least, but beyond that I couldn't tell much. I continued to make my way up, one platform at a time. Each time I'd reach a new one, the vines would attack me the moment I let my guard down. Once I had reached the 24th floor my stomach started to growl, and I noticed the green bar had dropped slightly. I decided to call this my "Stamina." After defeating the vines this time, My total XP had reached 600, but otherwise I saw no changes to anything. I took a short break to drink some water, and eat some more of the berries. Once I was finished my "Stamina" returned to normal.

I looked up to see if I had made any progress towards the objective. The marker read "200+ Yards" at this point. With some rough math, that meant each platform brought me around 90 feet closer to the objective. This meant that I had another six or seven platforms to go if it stayed consistent.

I continued onward until I reached the 30th platform, and took a longer rest than usual. At this point I had a total of 900XP, and had learned that the vines were not really a threat to me either way. Above me the objective marker read "90+ Feet", and a large ceiling was above me. The stairs seemed to taper off, and go into the ceiling, while in the center of it was a hole around the same size as the pit was in the center. After I ate, and drank some water, I prepared myself to continue onward. If this was anything like some of the old games I used to play, a boss monster would be waiting for me once I entered the area.