As they turned away from the mirror they noticed a wide hardwood cabinet, the color of mahogany, with two doors on the front.
“I guess it only makes sense at this point,” Madra said aloud. “Time to get dressed.”
They approached the wardrobe already knowing what they were looking for. As they suspected, their mind already being made up, the outfit presented itself as they opened the door. It was a set of leather armor, suited perfectly to the size and shape of their new body. It included a leather helmet and neck brace, with slits down the back for their wings. It was completed by a bearskin cloak, to protect their wings when they were not using them. The hood was also conveniently formed to pull down over their helmet if they wished, for added warmth or intimidation factor.
With that done, they turned and saw a simple wooden door with a large chest to ones side of it, and a ruck sack to the other. The ruck sack brought back memories of their old life, memories that left them with confused feelings. Under normal circumstances they would know how to utilize the bag as if it were an old friend, but their wings would make things more complicated.
Madra rummaged through the contents of the pack. It was filled with basic survival gear, several days worth of rations, a canvas tarp, technologically appropriate first aid equipment, a hunting knife, a small shovel, and a pickaxe. “Maybe this won’t be so bad with the cloak protecting my wings,” they said to the air around them.
Next they knelt in front of the wooden chest, opening it and looking inside. There was a large amber crystal inside. When they laid their hand on the crystal they felt a sense of emptiness and heard a whisper in the back of their mind. “Inventory Crystal.”
Madra took the crystal in their hands and examined it, turning it over a few times in the process. They focused on it, seeking to open a menu for it as they had with their own status. They weren’t entirely sure it would work, but a display appeared overlaying reality and showing the contents of the crystal. Madra wasn’t entirely certain if they were surprised or not, but it had worked. The overlay looked exactly like one would expect it to look, if they had any familiarity with role playing games of any sort. There was a mostly empty grid, with individual items in the grid squares, and one of the items, that looked like a massive pearl, was taking up a two by two square of space.
Stored inside the inventory crystal was a pouch, a blue crystal that looked much like a double ended chunk of quartz, the white orb, and a shimmering brown crystal.
They focused a bit more, starting to get the hang of how this world seemed to work, or at least the basics of using magic items, and labels appeared below each of the items. The pouch was a money pouch, containing a hundred gold in various denominations of coinage and gems. The blue crystal was labeled as a “Spire seed.”
“Oh!” Madra said in surprise. “I remember now. It’s not a system quest or anything like that, but I am supposed to find a place to plant the spire.” The administrators had given the Founders, or at least some of them, tasks that they wanted completed. There wasn’t a time table, but there were rewards built into the tasks. Especially if they took them seriously.
The white orb was labeled “Heart Stone,” and a bit of focus clarified that it was a “Village Heart.” That was clearly important as well. Finally, the brown crystal was labeled as “Player Guide Book, Level 1.”
Focusing slightly on the display before them, they willed the brown crystal to come from the inventory and into their hands. It took a moment of practice, but it worked. The brown crystal appeared in their hand and whispered to them much like the inventory crystal had.
Madra focused momentarily on the brown crystal, as if asking it what it might contain. After all, there are conceptual connections between books and containers. It opened up to them much the same way as the status screen, the translucent pages overlaying the world around them. The first page presented a simple message.
“There are many useful magic items in the world. Some are single use, or charged, while others are permanent.”
It seemed odd that a player’s guide would start out with a discussion of magic items. Was it customized to the type of character the player seemed to be using? Perhaps it was going somewhere with this, like a tutorial. Madra kept reading to find out.
“There are many ways to use single use items, but for most you simply concentrate on using the item and it will be used. Some permanent items work in this way as well in addition to their normal ways of being used. Some will be expended when you do this, and others will be preserved. As an experiment, you could attempt to use this manual in that way.”
“So, that is what’s up. This is part of the in game tutorial.” Madra thought as they held the crystal in the palm of their hand and concentrated on activating it. They willed the crystal to expend its energy in a way similar to how one might will a scroll to activate. Light emanated from the crystal and Madra was enveloped in a soft brown glow. They felt the warmth of the energy that enveloped them and seeped into their body and their consciousness. When the glow subsided, the brown crystal was gone.
“What was that?” Madra thought, uncertainty tinging their thoughts. At first they were uncertain as to what had happened. Suddenly the green indicator was there once more, flashing in the upper left corner of their vision, letting them know that something had changed. Concentrating on the indicator their Status screen opened in front of them. They saw a new entry there, a tab labeled “Player’s Guide.” They opened the tab and saw there were sections on combat, first aid, basic needs, and other things one would expect in such a guide.
There was also a section dedicated to items they had already collected. Madra followed the link to the entry for the spire seed, the blue crystal they had found in the the inventory crystal. The entry said simply, “Spire Seed: Plant on a ley line or node to create a spire of great power.”
Madra picked up the blue crystal as they looked at the entry, rolling it over in their hand in contemplation. It had been educational even if they hadn’t learned anything new about the gem. Now they knew they could interact with the menu system and the world at the same time as long as they had the focus to do so. As their focus shifted between the brilliant blue crystal and the text, the menu screen faded in and out allowing them to prioritize what they were seeing.
“I wonder what other uses this crystal might have,” they idly wondered. To their surprise the text of the entry began to change. The new text read “Spire Seed: Plant on a ley line or node to create a spire of great power. Other uses may be possible until the seed is planted.” Green text had filled in the new portion of the entry to differentiate what was already known.
A gasp escaped Madra’s throat and they blinked. They had not expected the entry to change without warning. Curiosity shown on their face as they switched back to the main status screen while attempting to affix the blue gem to the setting at the head of their staff. It clicked into place firmly and became one with the staff. They felt the energy of the gem flow through the staff, and the Spell List header began flashing green. They looked to that section of the screen and saw that two new skills had appeared.
Detect Magic (Spire Seed): 0 (0%).
See Magic (Spire Seed): 0 (0%).
“So, it gave me a few more skills. This screen is starting to get a bit busy,” Madra thought.
“Wait a minute,” they said aloud as they looked over the status screen. “I wonder if I can reorganize this.” Even as they were thinking that, the text on the page began to move. A “Skills” sub-menu appeared, and various skills that had begun to litter the screen disappeared under it with a “Spell List” sub-menu right below so it was easily accessible.
“Wow,” they exclaimed. “I guess I can customize this quite a bit.”
They turned to the “Racial Abilities” menu. There they found the usual expected information about strength and speed, but also Faery Site and True Shifter. Shape Shifting was listed as a skill associated with the True Shifter attribute. It was listed as “Shape Shifting: 1 (0%),” indicating that it was not dependent on any item for its use, and that they had no experience towards the next rank.
Madra spent the next several minutes thinking about the implications. They brought their hands up in front of their face, palms facing the wall, and concentrated. Their finger nails began to lengthen, growing to hard points, and then to reenforced claws. They ran a claw across the table containing the weapons, leaving a jagged gash in its wake. A sly smirk rested on their face as they focused and their fingers returned to normal.
“This is going to be useful,” they thought. “I wonder if there is a shapeshifting entry in the player’s guide.”
There was, of course. The entry read as follows: “Shape Shifting: A being with this ability may will their body to change in various ways. This ability is synergistic with the True Shifter trait, and is empowered by the being’s Constitution, Ego, and Fae attributes.” Madra stopped and stared at the entry for a moment before returning to the status screen. listed among the other abilities scores that populated the status screen as they became familiar with the game was the Fae attribute score. Alongside the columns for Mind, Body, and Spirit, was another column labeled simply “Special.” The single attribute in that column was the Fae ability score, with 3 ranks. This was when they realized that other attributes had changed as well to reflect their racial and class choices. For instance, they had the trait Mage Gift, which seemed to synergize with Mana and their magic skills.
They turned to the other items a hand. Impulsively, Madra took the amber crystal in their hand, willing it to consume itself and become one with them. At first the gem pushed back, or perhaps it was their own body resisting. Suddenly, they felt drained. Their breathing became labored and concentration became difficult. They had trouble maintaining consciousness, the only thing keeping them awake was the migraine that was setting in. Against all expectation, though, the amber gem began to glow brightly. The glow enveloped Madra with it’s warm light, and then faded as the gem vanished from sight. Madra felt panic well up in their chest, realizing they had valuable items in the inventory crystal, as everything went bright, and then dark as unconsciousness claimed them.
Madra woke with a start. “Where did it go,” they said to the empty room as they neared full panic. Reaching around, searching the floor around them they found nothing. They noticed that their energy and stamina were depleted, and their hit points were at fifty percent as well.
When they brought their status screen up to investigate, they saw that their mana stat had taken a point of damage as well. Mana was an attribute related to the character’s ability to work magic, but also a measure of the raw power of their soul. It could be thought of as their base quintessential energy. In fact, it’s default value seemed to match their ranks in the Quintessence attribute. They also saw that they had gained experience towards a new rank in the Fae attribute. Fay: 3(3%). They saw that their base Mana was also influenced by their Fae score and magic related attributes.
They were also relieved to find that they now had an Inventory menu, and that the heart stone and their money pouch was still there.
Closing out of the status screen, they concentrated on opening the Inventory screen directly. It worked. The Inventory menu appeared just as it had when they accessed the inventory crystal, but now it was a part of them. Relieved that the heart stone and the money pouch were still present, they focused on the money pouch and saw details begin to hover over the pouch showing its contents.
They imagined a gold coin appearing in their hands, and it did. They immediately crumpled over as a wave of nausea and fatigue hit them. Taking the item had attempted to consume magical energy that just wasn’t there. The amount was minute, seemingly less than a whole point. However, their energy and stamina both were resting flat at zero and they were barely standing as it was, so the power had been taken directly from their body. They looked to the Player’s Guide for confirmation. “Storage Crystal: A rare magical item that allows beings to store items in a small extra-dimensional space for easy carry and retrieval.” The entry continued, the rest of its text flashing green momentarily to indicate that it was new information. “Beings with sufficient magical ability, through skills or supernatural nature, may merge with the crystal allowing them to access the extra-dimensional space without using the crystal as a focus. This is normally a ritual spell using much energy. Magical conduits may provide assistance. Aided by the Mana and Fae attributes.”
Uncertain what to do next, and already fatigued from pushing themselves too hard, Madra looked around the room. They weren’t ready to go through the door yet, not without a bit of rest. They were certain of that. “To be honest, even once I get some sleep, I’m not sure I’m ready. Who knows how far I will be from civilization once I leave this room. Pretty sure I won’t be coming back here any time soon.”
Looking around, Madra’s eyes came to rest on the large coyote brown ruck sack by the door. It had a bedroll tied dutifully to the bottom. Even with the fog that still hung over their past, and the fatigue of the day’s activities, the pack brought back memories. Madra was undecided as to whether the memories were good or bad. They knew what to do with this though. They laid the bedroll out on the ground, and rummaged through the pouches on the pack for something similar to hardtack and a canteen. The hard chunk of bread was lousy but somehow comforting.
Madra looked at the pack while they ate. “I don’t want to carry that on my back if I can avoid it. I don’t think it would be very pleasant with my wings, and those things are heavy as hell.”
After a bit of thought, Madra realized their storage space was likely large enough to hold it. That would also allow easy access to the contents of the pack, like it did with the coin pouch. That would have to wait until after they were rested though. The mana drain might have been fatal at that point.
Now, they looked seriously at the bedroll. It consisted of a sleeping bag, a few blankets, and a wicker mat to go under it all. The whole thing was just slightly oversized for their frame, wich meant it was perfectly sized for them. Madra settled in to get some sleep. There was no telling what the future would bring, but they had what they needed to survive for a while in the wild. At least until they were able to find shelter, and learned the lay of the land. Quite frankly though, that was a problem for future Madra.
When Madra awoke they found themselves rolling up their bedroll and preparing to move out almost by instinct. It was a task they had carried out a thousand times in a past life. It wasn’t until they got to the wicker matt that things were sufficiently different to break them from their trance. More awake, Madra finished packing their gear and took a look at their status. Their energy and stamina had recovered. Picking up the pack, they willed it to vanish into their inventory. Their energy bar twitched a bit as the pack vanished. Looking at their inventory, they saw that the pack took up quite a bit of space, but there was still a bit of room and the pack itself was still accessible.
Madra took a few minutes to look over the remaining weapons on the table, and decided to store the quarterstaff and the axe in their inventory. “These might be useful later,” they thought to themselves as they finished preparations to leave.
“I wonder what time it is,” Madra thought as they looked at the door in front of them. On a hunch, they focused a bit on the time. They knew that game design philosophy was split on the subject. A time display appeared in the lower right corner of their screen, but it had question marks instead of numbers. A small gliff over the top looked like a tiny sunshine. “That is interesting. I wonder if there is an associated skill.”
Madra brought up the skills screen. There was a section for Knowledge Skills, and listed among them was “Time Sense: 0 (2%).”
“Well, that worked,” they said aloud as they looked theirself over and opened the door in front of them. The sun was bright, and the air was clean. They stepped out into the world, looking over their shoulder to confirm that there was no door or building behind them. Sleeping in armor probably hadn’t been a great idea, but it wasn’t the first time, and probably wouldn’t be the last. Concentrating for a moment, they brought their staff from their inventory to their hand. It was better to be prepared. They had no idea what to expect in this world.
Bringing a hand up to shield their eyes, Madra looked around in a broad arch. In the distance, the direction that they perceived to be north, was a mountain range. In all other directions, the plains were flat as far as the eyes could see.
Madra concentrated on the concept of a map, and a new screen appeared in their vision with a compass rose in the corner. It was otherwise blank, except for a roughly circular area towards the center with an icon of their face and a label that said “open plains.”
Deciding to head north, Madra attempted to orient the map properly. That was when they realized there was a Direction Sense skill, and it took a few tries to get it right. When they did, the compass rose on the map oriented itself and marked one direction as North. As they suspected, it was the direction of the mountains. just to see if it would work, they concentrated for a moment on marking the map at their location, and it worked. They placed a marker labeled “Madra’s Landing,” to remind them later where they entered the world.