2038, California

Gail was playing video games at the office; it was seven at night. She had a cubicle like a little island in the center of Mountain King Ice Cream's corporate HQ. She whirled around in her chair to survey her dimly-lit domain and confirm that the delivery guy still hadn't arrived. She'd been elected to stick around for him. That was okay since she'd already gotten in a quick workout at the company gym and she had Thousand Tales to keep her company.

The game was on her big desktop screen, linked to her cool red Talisman gaming pad. On the screen stood a woman much like her, but in some light leather armor with a spear on her backpack. She pulled a flag out of her character's inventory (bigger than the pack itself) and jabbed it into the beach, saying, "Claimed!"

The orange flag unfurled to show a design based on the pendant she wore in real life: a winged staff with a drop of mercury swirling around in it. A text message told her: [You have discovered Island North-5 West-6!] Now she'd be able to save her game here.

Gail said, "Hey, Ludo, maybe you should actually show all the other people's flags. It's silly to make it look like I'm the first one here and this is undiscovered country."

Another text window popped up in shimmering blue. The game-master AI of Thousand Tales wrote, [It would be tough to move around if there were a flag visible for every time someone has claimed the place! Would you like to display a sense of how many there are, though?]

"Sure, why not? I'm nobody special."

Her flag was suddenly one of dozens jutting out from the same patch of the island's shore, in every player's unique design. The number 163 floated nearby. So this wasn't a super-popular part of the Endless Isles region, but she'd have to go farther out if she were going to count as a true explorer. She nodded, pulled out her spear, and walked inland.

Island North-5 West-6 was nameless and uninhabited, a seemingly desolate windswept patch of sand and rocks half a mile across and surrounded by the sea. Only seemingly, though, because Gail had the power of the Internet behind her. According to the game's fan-made wiki, there was something exciting everywhere you looked and the challenge was to find it and try not to let it kill you.

The exact content of the islands' ruins and dungeons varied within some limits set for each island, so that you knew to expect a plant theme on West-1, or an underwater theme here. Somewhere nearby, then, there should be an entrance. She trekked across bare ground until she found a bubbling spring.

"Ooh, papyrus." She crouched by a patch of reeds that rustled in the breeze. She cut them with a copper knife and stuffed them in her pack. Everything was valuable around here to somebody. Her spear was good bronze but she hadn't been able to afford an equal-quality utility knife, not while pursuing a set of crafting equipment. With this papyrus she could make another few scrolls and sell them to wizards, and then buy more stuff. Or learn more magic for herself. Or maybe make a basket. It didn't much matter which one she did, when something good would come from any option.

For now, she filled her canteen in the spring. A pair of eyes peeked out at her. Gail hopped back and readied her spear again, but it was just a frog. She was tempted to try that Charm skill again, but that could wait. She said, "I use my spear as a sounding pole, to see how deep the pond is and whether this is a ruin entrance." There wasn't a button for it.

Her character poked the spear into the water and found that it hit bottom a meter down. Not here, then. She shrugged and moved on toward a cluster of boulders. Sure enough, this place looked promising. The rocks hid a yawning cave entrance lit by the blue glow of a hovering crystal. Gail pinged it with her spear. [Save point set], said the game.

Beyond the crystal was a passage leading down. Instead of just walking down it she crouched and looked intently at the rounded floor. "Looks natural. Inspect."

[The stone is unusually smooth, without a distinct floor. It's damp farther down, too.]

Gail grinned. She didn't say anything, so as not to give Ludo any ideas, but could guess what was coming: slippery traps and flooding. She walked rather than running ahead, and tilted her view to watch the ceiling for suspicious dripping. Just dangling stalactites so far.

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The passage spiraled down under the island until there was a whisper of distant waterfalls, and then a roar. She'd come to a vast chamber of stone spikes, treacherous platforms, and softly pulsing blue lights that rippled as though seen through water. On some of the smooth, slippery ledges were turtles with horns or tiny ponds full of fish.

She crept close to the nearest ledge and looked down. There was a pure white glow somewhere in the depths. If Gail had that gliding wing power or a suitable spell she could get down there easily... but then this particular cave design wouldn't have been here for her. She wasn't particularly cut out for platform-jumping either. She stepped back and checked the main page of her character sheet, which said:

[Gail Schonluft

PRIVATE INFO

Account type: Standard

Mind: Tier-III

Body: Human

Main Skills: Papercraft, Swimming, Magic, Spear, Charm

Talents: Scroll Stash

Wizard Magic: No spells mastered yet.

Save Point: Island North-5 West-6

PUBLIC INFO

Note: Looking for groups in evenings, Pacific Time!

Class: None]

She hadn't gotten very far like some of the obsessive players, much less the really dedicated rich ones who'd found a way to do nothing but play Thousand Tales. Just far enough to have some fun.

From this upper ledge, there was a gentle slope leading down to another platform, but a thuggish fish-ape was knuckle-walking back and forth on the far side. She'd have to be ready to fight... or do this the fun way. She readied her spear, got down on the floor, and shoved herself forward while giving a war cry. She lanced the fish monster at just the right moment in its patrol to spear it for a major wound and break her own momentum.

The monster roared and pounded its chest, which had a big bloodless gash mark across it. Gail attacked again, but that made her stab while still sitting on the wet stone. By the time she could hit the jump button to stand up, the ape had smacked her with its scaly fist. A red [Major wound!] icon flashed and she got knocked dangerously far to one side of the platform they stood on. The real threat here was falling, not injury. She stabbed wildly while pushing forward to force the enemy back. It swiped at her but she pressed her attack and accepted a minor wound. Finally, she got what she wanted: the ape's footing faltered and it toppled backward into the vast pit that filled most of the cavern. Its outraged scream echoed as it fell... and yanked the spear out of Gail's hands on the way down.

"Shoot," said Gail. "Okay, well, this is a chance to try something different." She was disarmed but for her dinky knife, but she had her scroll collection. What did she buy last time, anyway? In her special stash she'd kept spells for a basic Heal, a dinky Water Dart, and a Light Orb. Beginner wizard stuff that she would have to stand there casting slowly instead of preparing it in advance, which made the dart attack useless for a solo adventurer.

She grinned. Nothing was completely useless. She said, "Can I master one of these scrolls right now? I've been putting that off."

Her minor wound icon faded out, but the major wound remained. Another text message appeared, saying, [This is not exactly a suitable magic lab!]

Scroll-based casting it was, then. She took out the healing spell and it filled the screen with a grid of runes. Before messing with that, Gail lowered the parchment (it scrolled out of view) and made sure nothing else was about to jump her.

The entire cave's convenient wall lights were slowly fading. "Sneaky!" she said. "How am I supposed to get through this whole cave with just a Light Orb spell?"

[Well-prepared adventurers typically pack torches or lanterns.]

She stuck out her tongue. "Well, logically, if the lights randomly dim, then they probably come back every so often, too." It was nice being able to outwit the GM once in a while, even though there was no human in the role. Ludo the AI, or whatever sub-program actually ran the Endless Isles zone of her game, was usually flexible about the rules.

There was no reply. Gail decided she needed the Light Orb spell more than healing. She switched scrolls and began tapping a pattern of runes on the screen. This one meant "jump forward three runes" and the rune in that spot meant "forward by two unless the previous rune is blank". She tapped carefully through the list and heard her character calling out dramatically, "Sowilo, Dagaz, Kenaz!" Some players did the vocals themselves. A few runes later, and a glowing orange-ish ball popped into view and hovered around her, throwing shadows. Unfortunately it ruined her night vision so that she now stood on a ledge overlooking almost nothing but darkness.

She at least had a better view of the immediate area. Beyond where she'd knocked the ape away there was a short drop, followed by a curved slope. There wasn't going to be any good fighting footing.

"I need to cast that healing spell before I continue." She took out the scroll for that and spent several minutes trying to figure out the runes for it. Casting this way was impractical without time, and it risked destroying the scroll, but at least it did something specific. There was a whole other magic system using vague "words of power" and mystical tattoos or something.

On the third try, a burst of pink light marked the Heal spell going off. Her major wound remained, but the minor one went away without the rest, ie. leaving the dungeon, that it usually took. "Good enough," she said, and looked down at the slope ahead. "I try to balance as I land." She jumped.

She hit the ramp. A mini-game interface popped up to make her struggle to stay upright. "Spear!" she said, and mashed an attack button. She held the weapon sideways for balance, while wiggling controls to keep from falling off of the ledge. Meanwhile she was sliding down into the cave's depths, chased by her magic light.

The wet ramp led her down to a circular platform where she grabbed a pillar to stop moving. It made the whole surface rotate under her feet. Some more waterslides were visible just out of jumping range in several directions. Gail grinned as she spotted some more runes around her, indicating a puzzle. She had to turn the floor beneath her while trying to line things up just right. Once she'd gotten it right a happy jingle played, and a stubby platform extended toward two of the slides. One path was steeper and had subtle movement in the shadows around it, and the other had occasional jets of flame blasting it.

"The devil you know," Gail said, and hopped onto the flame path where she could see better. She stayed upright with some trouble, constantly watching a balance meter while paying attention to how the slide twisted and turned through the cave. A pair of statues spat flame in front of her. She deliberately snagged her spear through a hook-shaped rock so she could whip around in a circle and delay her progress just long enough to avoid the fire. The second time it happened she had to jump over a gap, too. Down ahead, the ramp led to the cavern's edge, where there was a big open area.

A bird chirped nearby. Gail blinked and startled out of the game; it was her phone. "Hey, Ludo, I've gotta take this. Can I pause? Pause!"

Her character skidded to a stop at the bottom of a ramp, and a large icon of paws appeared onscreen. Gail set down her Talisman pad and picked up the phone.