As he passed through the shimmering image, a bright flash took his sight away entirely. As the white afterimage faded, Zahn saw he was staring up at the clouds. Turning around, it became clear he was on the top of a hill, or mountain. Sparse green shrubs between rocks and crag, an old cobbled path led down from his vantage point, towards what must have once been that city from the picture. An old man stood staring at him from the path’s start, patiently waiting in patched clothing and furs.
White marble towers lay strewn among the ruins of what had been a city of massive size in its days. Stretching across two valleys, encircling the hill which he appeared and rolling down towards a plain miles away. Near the far edge of the ruins he saw smoke, rising as if from campfires on a plain. People always live somewhere, I guess. He turned back towards the ancient castle, studying its crumbled walls. Before falling, this kingdom had grown far beyond the portal’s portrayal. The old marketplace was still visible, though expanded and beside a massive stone warehouse and what appeared to be a street made entirely of shops, from the signs hanging over them all. From this circle rose a winding path up a hill towards the castle, with seven colored plazas at even intervals.
“About time you woke up,” quipped the old man. “You must have been in that Character room for hours. Most just zip right on through it, but I was starting to think you’d catch a fly there!” he ended with a chuckle, resting both hands on a walking stick. “Most call me Guide, I’m here to show you around. Consider this your ‘Tutorial’, hey?”
Zahn blinked at the blue blur in front of him, blocking most of his vision wherever he turned. Waving his hand through it brought into focus a large screen.
Welcome to the Tutorial! This guide will aid you in unlocking your hidden potential. Learn well the lessons contained here, for when you leave you shall never return!
Please wave your hand before you in the desired pattern to open your Player Menu. You may change this later.
He blinked at the small block of text, before dipping his hand forward like a duck and splaying his fingers as if against a window. The blue screen faded and a large, multi-block menu screen appeared before him. The squares spread around his vision, clinging to the edges and bottom of his sight. At the top left sat three colored bars stacked like logs, center top showed a blank compass bar, and top right displayed an empty map and system time showing 00:00.
Player
Quests
Inventory
Currency
Reputation
Achievements
Map
Social
System
Pressing System, a submenu popped out with [Settings, Help, Log Out] he immediately pressed Log Out, and an error flashed in front of him.
Player not in server. Welcome home.
Frowning, he pressed it again only for the blue button to turn gray. Pressing Help flashed a similar error, before turning gray as well. Settings brought up a menu system covered in terms he didn’t understand yet, and he waved it away before he broke something. Looking up, the guide was still patiently smiling at him.
“Hey, why can’t I log out?”
“You know, that’s the first thing most people ask me. Many call it ‘way too meta’, and some even ‘predictable. So very predictable’. I couldn’t tell you why, from what I understand you Players are from another world, and are now effectively trapped in this one.”
Zahn paled. “Trapped? What do you mean, trapped?”
“Well, nobody has ever found a way to leave and told the tale. There are rumors of course, something like ‘beat the game’ or ‘own an empire’ and you get to leave. But really, I’ve never heard of a Player who can log out.”
Zahn pointed an accusatory finger. “Why are you using Player terms, then? Why is an NPC able to understand me?”
Guide sighed, his smile dropping. “I’m not an idiot, you know. I’ve been exposed to that dreadful ‘Leet Speek” of yours for literally hundreds of years. I’m used to it. I can understand it. Nobody will lose their minds to hear it.”
Suddenly, a translucent gray screen appeared in front of him, filling most of the open space left by the heads-up display he was now stuck with.
Attention Player! You have discovered the World Quest: Ascend, Return, Fall!
See your Class Trainer for [Custom Class] for more details.
Quest: Ascend, Return, Fall! obtained.
The box faded as soon as he had read its message, apparently only existing to update him.
“Huh,” Zahn turned back to the menu, selecting Player with a mental finger. “Nothing is like I expected.” Player popped open a menu spreading from left to right beneath his mana bar displaying [Stats, Skills, Abilities, Faith, Magic, Active Effects, Personal Notepad, Combat Log]. He waved away the menu entirely and it retracted into a short list under the three colored bars top left. So sorted, he turned back to the waiting man. The heads-up display around his vision wasn’t quite distracting, so much as he was aware of it being there. While not directly focusing on it or opening his interface, the display seemed to fade.
“What happened to this place?” Zahn walked towards Guide, gesturing to the ruins in every direction. “It’s like the fall of Rome was unrolled all over this huge-ass city.”
“Well,” Guide began, waving towards the path and starting down it. “That’s a long story. I’ve never been to this ‘Rome’ of yours, but I can only imagine it would compare to Tutoralina here. This city is old, son. It was old when the clock said zero, and it was old when it died. Your kind - that is, Players - certainly brought new innovations to the great City, but you brought your own form of doom, as well.” They reached the marketplace, a dried fountain centerpiece on a raised stone dias, rotted wooden stands surrounding. The plaza was circled by shops, iron signs rusted over and windows broken in. To the left stood a massive stone warehouse, its doors long taken by time. At the far end of the marketplace stood a great wall, the original city wall by the Guide’s narration. “And over there, we once had the best scones you’d ever tasted. Shit you not! And there, this guy we just called Puppetmaster, well every Wandsday he’d set up his stage and keep all the lil’uns busy for hours. Parents loved it, so much so that the restaurants all along this side had half off lunches, and wouldn’t you know it the people just loved being here.” Guide trailed off, staring wistfully at rotting wood and overgrown cobblestone.
“Well?” Zahn spoke for the first time in an hour. “What happened? Where did everybody go?” He gestured to the fountain, the line of tables out front the restaurants. “It doesn’t look like there was a fire, or a war?”
Guide sighed, staring down at his ward. “Men. That’s what happened. Come on, we need to get you those starter skills. I just hope the Trainers are still going strong.” He shook himself as he spoke, walking again through the ancient gates, and into the old City proper. Here, the stone was cracked, darker, and every building had some coating of dust. “Not many come through here, now. I haven’t had to play Guide for a new Player in a good fifty or so years now. Even the looters know to avoid Old City,” Guide gestured up the slight rise, towards a plaza that appeared to be paved green. “Up here, we would have the Gathering Skill Set. Let’s see if we can find ol’ Gregor.”
The old ground was interspersed with growing and dead grass, weeds, and a scraggly bush or two. A series of short stone buildings, reminding Zahn of houses or sheds surrounded the main plaza, and stretched off into the distance to hug the old outer wall. Trees stood as lone sentinels or small groves in private gardens, long absent of living tenders. Interspersed with the homes and gardens sat broken crystal structures with white woven metal frames, greenhouses long destroyed. In the center of the overgrown plaza the cobblestones were arrayed in a massive circle covered in a painting of several leaves and flowers, all in varying shades of green. From a dilapidated building between a garden and small grove came a wild shout.
“Oooh-hah! Knew yer’d be back, yeh fraggin’ mather grabber!” A tall, thin, and green man bounded from the sagging door, landing right before Zahn, before straightening to look down on him with an evil eye. “Well don’t think yer ken net fer meh fern!” Waggling a wrinkled finger in the Player’s face, the old man spun on his heel before winding back and punching him square in the face.
-10 Health. Trainer Gregory used ‘Grabber Whacker’.
Zahn fell backward onto the painted mural, holding his face as blood streamed from his nose. A third of my health in one freaking hit? What the fuck! Zahn again opened his menu and pressed Log Out from his back, only for the grey button to remain unrelenting. If his finger didn’t stop at the image, he’d swear the button wasn’t even there. Trying with his new mental finger gave similarly useless results. Turning back to his assailant, Zahn rose unsteadily to his feet, hands before him. “Hey man, I didn’t come here to pick a fight,” he got no further before the wild old man lunged at his middle. “Watch it - wugh!” He was knocked to the ground again, this time with the crazy Trainer atop him.
-12 Health. Trainer Gregory used ‘Double Grabber Tackle’.
He pushed the old man off, down to his last third of health. Where the hell is that Guide?! I’m gonna die here! Just as he was being criticized, Guide barreled into Gregor as he was rising, before waving a hand at Zahn with green light streaming from it.
Heal! You have been healed for +50(22) Health by Guide’s Heal.
Coughing and sitting up, Zahn had a great view of two old men beating one another to death in a ruin. He lay back down a moment, just to contemplate his situation. His Heads Up Display was now visible, slightly out of focus until he concentrated. Health, Stamina, Mana, displayed as bars in a row at the top left of his vision, and as he tried to glean more information from them numbers appeared. 33, 32, 93, huh. Wonder if a Class like Warrior would have been fine against a frail, insane old man. He nearly killed me. The top right held a large translucent gray square, with the word ‘MAP’ visible in the middle. He clicked it with his mental finger and an error popped up.
Error. No map presently owned.
Wonder if that would have been the same error if I’d tried the Menu one. He examined the bottom bar visible, a grayed out bag icon preceding sixteen empty squares, capped by a gray icon depicting a suit of armor on the right and left sides. Sixteen quick use slots? For what, items, skills, spells? The scuffling sounds died down, and Zahn sat back up to survey the damage.
Guide had Gregor pinned, gasping with the effort as both old men knelt in the square. “We’ve come for Tutorial Instruction, oh Gregor,” groaned Guide, even as he twisted the other man’s arm to keep him still. “Care to assist with the matter?”
“I’ll never greb gab gibber greb gub!” Babbled Gregor, cheek against the dirt, eyes rolling wildly. “Go grib grab grub yer ern gret!” Zahn stood and turned from the spectacle, walking the direction the insane mentor was looking. The small grove to the right of the sagging shack had a rusted out axe lodged in a stump in front of it. Not a chance there. He then turned to the garden on the left, where plants that looked something like veggies grew. Kneeling, he grabbed hold of something that reminded him of a carrot with blue-green leaves and pulled.
Alert! You have gained a Skill!
As the Custom Class, you may gain any Skill you have the requisite Stats levels for. If you lack the sufficient Stats levels, the Skill may be stored in your Grimoire for later use.
The Skill you have learned is: Foraging!
As the Skill Foraging is a SubSkill of Gathering, you have learned Gathering!
Your Skill identifies this for you.
You have obtained: Azure Sativus.
Plant, tuber, minor mana regeneration. A skilled herbalist or alchemist may be able to tell you more.
The messages appeared in order, as soon as he read one another popped up over it. He stood and waved away the messages with his odd, purple carrot. I guess I need one of those Grimoires then. Wouldn’t this one be called Gardening, anyways? He walked back towards Guide and his pinned companion. “Here, I got a skill. Can we go? I need to get onto a server and leave.”
Guide looked up, seemingly surprised. “Already? Well, okay then. Behave yourself, Gregor.” He released the struggling beanpole who jumped up, glaring at the both of them, before running off back into his shack. “Okay, now let’s go before he gets something nasty to hit us with.” The two hiked up the road to the next plaza, painted brown. “This was the Plaza of Refinement. Supposed to teach you how to work with the wood you gathered back there, but that’s not happening. Let’s try and get you Woodcraft.”
The brown plaza had no painted center, but instead a broad stage littered with rotten tables and broken displays. The buildings surrounding the circular square leaned against one another in groups, with rising towers and sloping rooftops covered in chimneys and gutters, long broken and fallen.
“Hey, is that old guy gonna be okay? You were twisting him pretty hard.” Zahn followed his guide across the brown square, to a rotted out workshop. They entered the stooped doorway, Guide crouching under the sagging wood and dust. The workbenches were old, rotten, with only the metal tools still intact. Bronze rasps without handles and rusty iron saws without teeth lay scattered about, completing the impression of an era gone by.
“Yeah, us Essential NPCs get a break from death. It’s how we just stop dying at critical age. Welp, looks like the shaping’s out. Want to try and get something outta here, or keep goin’?” Guide jerked his thumb over his shoulder up the road again.
Zahn nodded, tossing his carrot aside. “Let’s keep moving, I need to get home like, now.” Boss will never believe this. More than just finder’s fee, they’re fucking kidnapping players! They walked up the road again, switching back across the rise to the next plaza. The brown cobblestone turned darker, all the way to black, before seeming to stain the buildings as they climbed the switchback. When they reached the plaza, every building was black, every fountain dried and crusted over. The buildings rose taller, of stronger stones and looming alleyways. The windows sat narrow and broken, lone shutters slowly flapping in the air. Sharply angled rooftops pierced the sky at second and third stories, with gaping holes wide enough to fit a tank through.
“Now, here we’re gonna wanna be real quiet,” Guide spoke softly, gesturing Zahn to halt. “This is supposed to be the Sneak course, but the Trainer is, well,” Guide glanced uneasily at his ward, “let’s just say he died. So, if you want to learn Sneak, you have to crouch, move slowly, and watch your steps.” Guide demonstrated as he spoke, crouching nearly in half. Zahn followed suit, his back and knees complaining immediately, following Guide along the plaza edge.
“Do we have to crouch this low?” Zahn hissed at his mentor. “Is there some specific amount of crouch we really need here? My back is killing -”
“Hush!” whispered Guide, cutting off the newb’s whining with a wave of his hand. “Don’t go so loud, boy, you’ll disturb the well. Yes, crouch, and quietly now.” Guide gestured towards the next road up. “You ought to get a skill by the time we escape.”
Zahn nodded and grimaced, staring at the ground while he stepped carefully. Until the last of his words registered, “Wait, what? Escape?”
His stupefied remark was not whispered, and even echoed across the black plaza. A rising wail answered his call, shrieking as a green light began to shine from the central crusted fountain - no, well, with the winch caved in! Wooooooaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrr!
“Now you’ve done it!” Guide exclaimed, grabbing him by the arm. “Run!”
The two men sprinted across black stone, the wailing growing louder as the seconds passed, blocking out the sounds of their feet slapping against the ground but not Zahn’s heart pounding in his ears. It’s only a game, it’s only a game, it’s only a game. His mantra repeated in his head with every pace as he struggled to keep up with his guide, his breath coming in desperate gasps. His body may look the same size as before, but his abysmal stats reflected quickly. A glance at his top left showed his Stamina down to 14. 18 Stam in 3 seconds?! Come on!
The sound of ancient wood shattering apart heralded the entrance of something. Zahn dared a glance back, and saw a tall dark robe with green light shining from where its hood, hands, and feet should be occupied, and an aura of black smog beginning to swirl around its form. “What the fuck is that?!” Zahn demanded, as Guide pulled on his arm.
“I said he died, not that he left! Run on!” Guide’s free hand pushed towards Zahn, palm flat nearly striking his face. A much softer green glow enveloped his hand briefly, swirling lights twisting from his palm into Zahn’s face and chest.
Restore! +50(28) Stamina from Guide’s Run On.
Wooooooaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrr!
Zahn’s fleeting breath came back with a gasp, giving him sudden vigor. His Stamina bar didn’t reach past 32, but the refill was a welcome respite. Finally on the road out, the undead’s shrieking fell behind them as the black cobbles brightened into red. Looks a bit like dry blood at this middle bit, Zahn thought to himself sourly.
Alert! The bright pinging noise almost made Zahn fall. You have gained a Skill!
The Skill you have learned is: Sprinting!
As Sprinting is a SubSkill of Athletics, you have learned Athletics!
As Guide slowed to a walk, panting, Zahn followed suit and touched the floating gray panel before him.
Sprinting. Requirements: Character runs at maximum speed for 5 seconds.
Effect: 20% less Stamina cost per second, 20% faster Stamina recovery after sprint.
1% less Stamina cost per 5 levels of Skill, 1 second less requirement to Sprint per 20 levels of Skill.
Costs: Stamina (4.8St/sec)
The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
“Hey, Guide,” he panted at the old man. “I got a Skill. Sprinting.” Zahn rested his hands on his knees, panting at the ground. “Would have been useful, there.”
Guide chuckled, looking back at the black plaza returning to quiet. “You were supposed to be sneaking around, you know. Well it’s something. Come along, newblette.” He waved at Zahn, gesturing towards the red plaza up the top of this switchback “Usually, we’d have Athletics next, but you’ve done that. We can get an animal ahead.”
Zahn straightened and followed. “Pretty sure newblette is for girls. Newbie for boys.”
“I’m not picky,” Guide offhandedly replied. “It’s my understanding such things can be fluid, anyways.”
We must talk to different people. Zahn decided not to press the issue of nerd dialect as they entered the most red he’d ever seen in one place. Every shop had broad windows, displaying rusted and rotted traps and hunting tools of all types and sizes. This plaza seemed to be organized, with entrance and exit roads each taking a third while the last third opened to red grasslands, ending at what was once a fence bordering a steep hill down. The strange red grasses stood tall, taller than even Guide who looked over Zahn’s head. Not a single building rose over two stories, giving him a clear view back down the mountainside. The black, brown, and green layers clearly showed technology and development advances, until here at the red where the city was too wide for a single band, and red shared some of its height with the next color, orange.
“Welcome to the Athletics Skills plaza. As you can see, these shops once supplied young newbs like yourself with the gear necessary to obtain a few basic skills. Now, well, perhaps we can scrounge something.” Guide pointed his ward towards the shops on the right, while he wandered towards the left. “Call out if you find anything intact, or not complete crap!”
Zahn picked his way along broken out windows, the few shards of glass he could find bearing decorative red filigree along the edge of the frame. This place was once fancy as fuck, huh. The old goods, what looked like a short spear and bow set, were long rotted away. The top half of the javelin was rusted, but intact metal with a sharp barb on one end. Zahn snagged it, waving the rusty spike like a wand. The second shop window yielded similarly dismal results, only a coiled string on the floor that may have been to a bow once. The third shop had a whole shelf intact, stripped of all goods. He found a few planks torn up from the floor, and carried the stack out to Guide in the middle.
Guide brought out a staff, sling, and pouch of ammo. He cocked an eyebrow at Zahn’s pile, “That’s a rather, ah, interesting set of things you have there.”
Embarrassed at the relative results, he scowled. “Not like I had much to pick from. Were yours completely untouched?” He picked up a plank and the string, holding the metal spike. “We can make something from this, right?”
“Yes, but only once we get to the Crafting plaza. If you’d had these at the Woodcraft plaza, we could make you a bow or the like, but not here. I can’t give you what I found, but I’ll use them to save you. Now, go with your - ahem - tools, and kill something in the grasses.”
Zahn looked dubiously at his collection, and back to Guide. “Seriously?”
“Hey,” Guide warded off complaints with an upraised hand. “I told you this was the Athletics plaza, not Crafting. Did you listen? Now go hunt something.”
Zahn scowled and marched off to the grass. He gripped the spike and slammed it through a board thin enough to hold in one hand, and wrapped the cord around the new joint until he could tie it off.
Alert! You have created an item!
You have created: Crude Improvised Weapon.
You lack any Crafting Skills.
Or, apparently, ability.
Crude Improvised Weapon, two-handed. Deals an additional 2 points of damage.
He frowned at the snarky message. Least I know this counts as a weapon. He hefted his spiky stick and parted the red rustles with his free hand, stepping into a very loud, red, rustling world. What exactly am I supposed to hunt in a dead city’s old training ground? The thought occurred to him perhaps a bit late, as he shuffled through the grasses, entangling his feet. Lifting his legs into mock giant steps seemed to fix the issue, until his foot came down unto something that moved.
“Rah!” Zahn swung his stick at the moving thing, missing wildly and smashing into his own shin.
-2 Health. Zahn used ‘Rah’ on Zahn.
Now even the alerts are mocking me, he thought sourly as he rubbed his sore leg. His stick had cracked from the impact, and would break soon. He looked for the motion that had cost him his pride, and heard rustling not from him off to the left. He pushed tall reeds aside as he brushed past grasses and his foot splashed into some sort of puddle. As soon as his ankle became submerged, something attacked.
-16 Health. ??? used Bite on Zahn.
“Augh!” He swung his stick down towards the blistering pain on his right leg, and made solid contact. *Thwonk* Rrrreeeeee! 6 damage dealt! Improvised Weapon destroyed! His stick snapped off, leaving the rusty barbed spike in his target. Using the handle to push the last of the reeds aside, he saw a shallow stagnant pond lined with red reeds like he was standing in, and his weapon snapped off into some sort of turtle. The tied wood had tangled in reeds, trapping the beast from swimming away.
It had released his leg, which he withdrew from the waters with a sucking noise. He then stomped his freshly freed foot on the spike stuck in the strange turtle’s shell. A stab of pain ripped up his leg, but he didn’t take any more damage from his attack. Its tail rose from the water, spiny like a hedgehog and shot tiny spikes into his foot as it descended, screeching its combat cry.
Rrrrreeeeeee!
-8 Health. ??? used Spike Toss on Zahn.
68 damage dealt! Critical hit! ??? has been slain! Experience gained!(C/E)
Light suddenly shone before Zahn, blinding him from the dead mystery turtle. What started as bright white with a dash of yellow became warped as it sped towards him in tiny flecks, shifted to red and grey, nearly ash and embers as they poured into his skin.
The energy filled him, causing him to stumble and drive the spikes deeper into his foot. He felt a shift in his chest, and anger rose at his circumstances. How dare they make him go through these kinds of absurd tests? Don’t they know who he is? They will. He grimaced as he sat and pulled the spines from his foot, waving away the pop-ups.
40 Experience gained (Chaotic Evil) 60 Experience remaining.
-6 Health. Spike Toss removal by Zahn.
You have no medical Skills!
He glared at the offending foot, testing his weight. He hefted the strange beast, and got a closer look at it. Large as a sewer cap, the beast had 6 legs tipped with fins, and horns above its eyes. A sharp beak is what got a taste of him earlier, and the spiked tail reached nearly a foot in length. Dark red, he never knew it was there before it ambushed him. He gripped the spike piercing its shell near the head and limped back towards Guide, holding his trophy before him.
Soggy, limping, 2 Health, but victorious. Hey, wait. How much Health? His out-of-combat regeneration had been keeping him alive, barely, as his excursions had left him at a meager 1 point until he gained that experience.
He forced his way back out of the grasses, and Guide shuffled forwards to examine his prey. “Grapplehorn Turtonga hey? Not bad. But you should have just smashed its head.” He took the turtle, and looked closer at Zahn’s face. “Seems you’ve had a change of heart, son. Here. Spirit’s Cleansing!” He pushed his free hand at Zahn’s face again, this time glowing a bright gold. Before he could dodge, it enveloped his head, and his chest suddenly felt lighter.
Alignment adjusted. True Neutral reached.
“What was that?” Asked a shaky Player, holding his chest as he blinked away the notification.
“Experience has cost, too, you know,” the old man sagely replied. “The words you speak, the actions you take, they shape you more than you realize. Fresh born as you are, you have limitless potential to take any form, any shape. But as you make strides, you change to adapt to your new self. You must have acted suddenly, violently, selfishly. Something a child shouldn’t see. Am I right?” he raised a brow at the suddenly abashed young man, looking anywhere but back at him.
“So, I lashed out. It bit me,” Zahn’s defense sounded weak to his ears. “You said hunt, so I hunted. Can we move on yet?”
“Very well,” the tutor nodded. He gestured with his free hand towards the road up again, “Onto the Cooking plaza. Come along. Bring that with you.”
Zahn followed him up the road as red turned to orange. Thankfully, the buildings instead turned a soft brown or faded yellow, and the plaza they arrived in looked more like a string of bakeries than anything else. In the center stood remains of a series of tables, only the sturdiest stone ones intact. Guide picked one with what looked like a rotted umbrella pole in its center, and turned back to the player. “Here, we would normally consult the Cooking Trainer. But, like most others, he’s long gone.”
“How many trainers are even left?” an impatient Zahn interrupted. “And are they all freaking nuts?”
Guide frowned. “No, but there are three if you count me. Morty is doing fine, you’ll meet him after this. Now,” he turned towards the center of the tables, which was revealed to be a fire pit. “Normally, we’d have you start the fire, teach something. I didn’t learn this lesson, so we’ll cheat.” He picked up the parts to a giant spit roast, assembled it, and piled the remains of a wooden table beneath while Zahn kept the turtonga company. Once assembled, Guide pulled a short stone stick out from his robe, and pointing it at the assembled pit muttered “Ingerno,” causing flames to leap from the pile as it it’d been burning for hours.
“Woah,” came Zahn’s appreciative feedback. “Can I get one of those?”
Guide chuckled as he approached and drew a knife. “Nah boy, Ignition Sticks were a thing of the past. Powered by crystalized magic, you can’t just get them anymore. Not since the Fall. Gimme that.” He deftly disassembled the turtonga, sliding his blade along the shell between the legs before levering it apart. The insides were surprisingly bright pink, of which Guide cut off a chunk of meat and skewered it onto the metal rods, before returning to the pit and hanging the skewer.
Zahn followed suit, and hung his own meat skewer on the rack. The flames reached greedily for the meat as the fat bubbled and spat. Turning it as Guide did, Zahn soon had something like food.
Alert! You have gained a Skill!
The Skill you have learned is: Cooking!
You have cooked: Raw Turtonga Meat into (sloppy) (charred) cooked meat.
“Score, got cooking,” he celebrated as he bit into the mock barbeque.
20 Health gained from eating Sloppy Charred Turtonga Meat.
Guide gestured to the window appearing before his charge. “As you can see, food heals you. Good food even restores Health and Stamina.”
Something he hadn’t even thought of before raced through Zahn’s mind. “Hey Guide, can you read my screens?” he mumbled around a mouthful of crispy seafood.
“Not unless you try to show them to me, and then they’ll fly around so I can read them easily. It’s very intuitive, this ‘menu’ system. Everything but the settings, they always leave me scratching…” Guide rambled off into mumbling as he stared into space and chewed his own Succulent Roast Turtonga. Once they were done eating, Guide stomped out the fire and they continued on. Zahn’s health was almost recovered by now, and he kept pace with Guide easily as they approached the next plaza - blue, if the cobblestones were any indication. Here the buildings were cut from large smooth stones reminding him of marble or granite, a grey and blue blend that brought back memories of ports in Maine. The path had taken them back over the Hunting plaza of red stones, walled off by the rising balconies and walkways.
As they crested the rise, the plaza came into view and for once seemed straightforward. The center stood a lowered dirt ring, with a number of wooden training dummies around the edge. The center of the training area held a weapons rack, and from a distance it even looked full. To the right, a third of the edge was a stone fence overlooking a cliff. “Alright, you stay here and I’ll look for Morty. Just don’t touch anything,” Guide cautioned as he waved Zahn towards the ring, setting off on his own.
The mock weapons appeared wood and stone. The rack held all sorts of things, but the wood was sadly rotting into oblivion. Zahn selected the pole to what once might have been an axe, and hefted the stone rod. Instead of being smooth, it seemed to be formed of dozens of large stone beads stuck together in perfect uniform, leaving him a knobby stone stick longer than his arm. He hefted a few practice swings as he wanted towards the fence, leaning an arm against it while he waited for Guide to return.
The scene unfolding below him was one of wonder and destruction. To the right lay a curve of ocean he hadn’t seen from his starting hill, lined with wharves and docks in similar blue stone. Edging these lay the broad curve of the original wall to Tutoralina, ringing his cliff like a collar around the select few buildings between the cliff’s bottom and the dark stain of a wall. Reaching outwards as far as his eye could see, lay an ocean of stone city and ruins. What started as organized streets and squares and living areas and theaters became a mess of crumbled ruin and scattered stones. It was as if a city planning game had been left on auto-pilot, until everything died. Patches of utter destruction told of war, swathes of blacked stones spoke of fire. Great stretches stood intact, quiet, hollow as gravestones. Far in the distance, streaks of smoke rose in the air from either survivors or settlers, if there was even a difference. Stretching over the fence to look left he glimpsed Tutorial Hill, a bald patch of earth rising in a sea of ruined stone. He glanced down the sheer side before hauling himself back with a shiver. Everything’s dead here…
Turning, he saw Guide was waiting with what looked like a Victorian era gentleman, dressed in varying shades of blue. “What part of ‘don’t touch anything’ was so hard?” Guide asked sarcastically, giving Zahn a flat stare. “Such a good listener, this one. No wonder he couldn’t Sneak.” He turned to the man in blue, “Morty, meet Zahn. He wants to get to a ‘server’ as soon as possible - so it’s time to teach, old boy!” Guide accented his quotations with his fingers, and ended with a mocking grin.
Morty nodded and stepped forward, producing his cane. “As you’ve already selected a weapon of choice, shall we begin?” He held his cane upwards like a sword and took a deep stance, presenting his weapon. Zahn mimicked him, feeling foolish but unwilling to simply take another beating. Morty grinned, “Excellent! En guarde!” he lunged with his shout, impaling Zahn’s left shoulder before he could even think to move.
-15 Health. Trainer Morty used ‘En guarde’ on Zahn.
Zahn choked and crumpled to his left knee, gasping for breath at the pain. He just reached right across me! No fucking way! He looked up at the blue monster, who seemed slightly concerned as it turned its head to face Guide. “How much health does this boy have, exactly?” Zahn took advantage of the opportunity to gasp a breath and lunge upwards at his attacker’s exposed ribs with his stone stick, rising back to both feet as he struck back.
42 damage dealt! Backstab bonus! Zahn used ‘woahrgh’ on Trainer Morty! Critical Hit!
Alert! You have gained a Skill!
The Skill you have learned is Backstab!
You have been granted the Weapons Skill: Improvised Weapons!
Improvised Weapons: For each level, increase damage dealt and reduce accuracy penalty by 1%.
For each rank, increase weapon accuracy and decrease weapon penalties by 20%.
“Argh!” Morty protested as his health dropped a sliver, stumbling as the heavy player tackled him with his stick. Pushing the strange lunk aside, Morty sidestepped the weak moron who fell as he continued to gasp for breath on a knee.
“I dunno,” Guide answered, as if Zahn’s surprise attack never happened. “Let’s find out. Heal!” he gestured towards his ward, watching carefully as the green sparkles fled his outstretched hand into the player’s body.
Heal! You have been healed for 50(24) health by Guide’s Heal.
“He was at a third from your little shove there, from twenty-four, hmm, yeah you can’t hit him again. If you hit him for real at all, he’ll die.” Zahn glowered at the both of them as he regained his feet, at full health once more. He looked at his new Backstab Skill, and the window containing it expanded to fit its new contents.
Backstab. Requirements: Target cannot see attacker in melee range.
Effect: Increase damage dealt to Critical level. Attack may still Critically Hit.
Increase chance to Critically Hit by 1% every 5 levels. Increases with Luck Stat.
Not bad, if I can get Sneak so they don’t see me I might even be able to use this, Zahn mused to himself. Then again, I don’t exactly want to be a rogue or the like. I can’t do subtle. He turned back to the pitying old men. “I got Backstab, does that count?”
“Hey, look at that. He can learn,” Guide mockingly praised him while Monty frowned.
“What Class did you say you are, boy?” the old swordsman asked.
“I didn’t, but I’m Custom,” Zahn warily replied. “And will you stop calling me boy? I’m almost forty.” He handed his stone stick to a wary Morty, and approached Guide. “You have a beautiful City. I’m sorry it's a fucked up ruin now. Can we please move on so I can get home?” He looked up to the sky, worried about finding his way back through the city after dark.
Guide gave him a hard stare before sighing. “Yes, we can. Thank you Morty, we shall be taking our leave now.” Guide turned and waved Zahn towards the uphill path on the right, switching back over the hill towards its peak. Morty waved the pair farewell, musing to himself. “Haven’t seen a Custom since before the Fall…”
Zahn and his guide neared the final plaza, apparently yellow. The line between blue and yellow was sudden, with no green to be seen. “You guys have a messed up rainbow,” he commented to the old man. The yellow buildings rose over the orange plaza, larger and grander but only slightly more eye-devastating. Here the far edge buildings rose as small manors and estates, with dramatic cliffs overlooking harbors and oceanic views from this side. The dead, ruined homes and shops stood as a testament to the destruction of the city. The rich and powerful were just as vulnerable as the weak and helpless, as if letting one fall would allow the fall of them all.
“You know,” Guide thoughtfully replied, “we get that a lot. It isn’t a rainbow, but instead set in a specific order laid down by the Gods themselves. We used to get rainbows all the time over the harbor, but the Plazas were never meant to be one. Come,” he gestured to their final destination, a broad yellow plaza that edged onto the massive gatehouse for the castle. “We’re nearly there.”
Zahn followed into the Crafting Plaza, where every building lining the edges was clearly used in some form of craftsmanship. Blacksmiths, armor stands, tinker’s shops, engraving, jewelry, weaving, the various crafting areas seemed able to suit any need, if quiet at the rest of the City. Instead of being split easily into 3 sections, the walls to the final crafting plaza were split into seven, with the final and largest being the entrance to the castle’s gates. Their path into the plaza came from between the blacksmiths and the weavers, Zahn could see fletchers, woodcraft, signs boasting shields and platemail, placards demonstrating the variety of wares to be had.
Guide watched him spin around, admiring the assortment of craft. “Pick one boy, and we’ll start.”
“What are the options, really?” They hadn’t brought anything with them for materials, and everything here had been undisturbed for decades, if not longer.
Guide gave a chuckle. “The magic still works here boy, it will be fine. When I say ‘Crafting’, what comes to mind?” Zahn immediately pictured a weapon being forged, some kind of sword. Guide seemed to see his answer, “Aha, blacksmith. Doable. Come along!” Guide gestured and led him over to a quiet and empty smithy. “We’ll start with firing the forge.”
“This place is cold as anything,” Zahn retorted, “what could we possibly fire it with?” His old mentor simply chuckled, before slapping his palm onto a rune scratched into the edge of the forge. With a whoosh the cold coals burst into light and life, the heat rising noticeably in the first few seconds. The sudden heat made Zahn balk, shying away and shielding his face with his hands. The sudden bright light drove away the shadows of the fading day, bringing stark definition to the surrounding stones. The sudden fires made a primal part of is mind scream, recoil. He hated fire, but how he loved it. It took everything from him; it saved him.
“Don’t be afraid boy, you chose this!” Guide’s deep voice danced with merriment at his ward’s plight. “Come along, you must learn to forge. Stand here,” he positioned the lad in front of the anvil, directly between the rope for the bellows and the anvil itself. “Now, pull that there rope and reach for the metal bars.” Zahn obeyed, and the heat rose with every pull as fresh air was forced into the flames.
“How do I grab the metal?” Zahn had to nearly shout to be heard over the roar of the fire. Guide pointed to the metal tongs’ handles sticking over the edge of the furnace. He grabbed one, and a window appeared before him. Forging - Weaponry. Would you like to make: simple dagger? (1/1 metal bars) Yes/No. He selected Yes with his free hand, and then his body began to move. He watched as his hands pulled a bar from the heat with one hand wielding hot tongs and pounded it again and again on the anvil, with a hammer from apparently nowhere. The complex rune at the forge’s edge burned a bright blue, and after a half dozen hammer blows the metal warped and formed into a crude dagger. Guide darted forwards and slapped the rune again, bringing the magical forge to darkness once more. The sudden cold left Zahn shivering, nearly dropping his prize.
You have gained a skill!
The Skill you have gained is Blacksmithing (Weaponry)!
As Blacksmithing is a SubSkill of Crafting, you have learned Crafting!
You have found an item!
Items exist all throughout the world, and vary in both quality and rarity!
You have obtained: Crude Copper Dagger (Basic)
Everyone’s a critic, Zahn mused as he tried to sheath his new weapon in his belt, only to find his pants didn’t even have one. He settled for tucking it into his waistband, and turned back to Guide. “All done?”
The old man grinned in response. “Eager to get going now, are we boy?” He turned and led the way out of the forges, towards the castle proper. The yellow brick walls and path shifted along the road towards the gatehouse, sitting forlorn and small with a bent metal frame above the gate itself. The yellow seemed to dim to a tarnished brown, gritty and shining in uneven patches. “This was once gold, and was called Crown Gate. I kid you not,” Guide narrated the walk, gesturing to the squat building as they passed under it. “They had this massive gilded crown on top, as if to remind everyone this is where the King lived.” He chuckled, remembering fondly. Past the gatehouse, the castle courtyard was a crescent moon wrapping around the building proper. Dirty white cobblestones were once laid in the ground here, now covered in weeds and scattered about. Pocked holes dotted the courtyard, ringed with soot and burn marks.
“What happened here? Compared to the rest of ‘Tutoralina’, it looks like there was a battle yesterday,” Zahn protested, turning about to take in the yard. Inside the gatehouse and walls, every few feet of the walls were scorched in various patterns. Outlines of men and beasts were burned near the ground, blooms from explosions and soot from fires staining above.
“A ‘battle’ would be the wrong way to describe it,” Guide answered grimly. “Players returned, after gaining power. The King of the lands was unwilling to give up his throne, and they quickly learned Quest Essential NPCs cannot be replaced or killed easily.” His tone turned soft and mournful as he looked up, to the soaring heights the grand castle once reached. Soft orange sunset played across the clouds above, giving rise to the impression of a world going to sleep. “They destroyed his City, and turned it into a Ruin. Only then could he finally die for the last time.”
Zahn watched in silence, trying to imagine being reborn over and over as a raid group destroyed your home around you. He’d been a fighter before, and just the thought of unending helplessness like that clenched in his chest. “How long was he like that?” His question went unanswered for a long moment, before Guide stirred from his memories.
“They fought for three days. For three days, he was murdered and his memories of the last day lost, again and again, every hour as he returned to life on his throne. Three days after the First Player War began, the City of Tutoralina became the Ruins you see here,” Guide gestured towards the castle, then the city behind them. Turning around, the view from the peak of the road was spectacular. Beyond the quick drop through the colored plazas and past the walls of Old City, the waves and rows of buildings, road, and parks spread off into the distance. Ruins of once-glorious marble and shining glass lay scattered over hills and fields, climbing mountain foothills and lining riverbanks. As far as the eye could see, lay tumbled bricks as big as a man and churned earth settled hundreds of years past. Few buildings stood, even those reaching high enough to make their mark on the skyline were pocked with holes and missing walls entirely.
“It's quite the view,” Zahn commented. The setting sun hid behind a cloud, leaving the reds bleeding into yellows across the air. As the colors deepened, the dead city seemed to bleed from its wounds, the broken stones reaching upwards in defiance seeming to become withered monstrous fingers grasping at the last stretch of day.
Guide shook himself, ”It was. Come along, last stop ahead.” Saying so, he turned on his heel and led the way back through the courtyard, to a well which sat recessed into the wall on the far side from the entrance. As daylight faded, Zahn could make out a faint blue glow coming from the clear pool of water, some ten or more feet down. “In you go!” Supplied Guide with false cheer, a grin splitting his face.
Zahn balked. “What do you mean, ‘in’?” He leaned over the edge to try and find a rope or ladder. “There isn’t even a-”
“Thanks for taking the Tutorial!” Came a chipper shout just before Guide knocked him over and pushed the bewildered Player down the hole. “And don’t come back!”
Without even the breath he’d taken to speak, Zahn plunged downwards headfirst into shining magical water with his hands braced before him. As he touched down with a splash, he felt a pull near his shoulder blades and the light changed again.