Chapter 1 - The Tutorial (Part One).

While he was hidden behind the tilted platform, Søren studied the Tutorial Hordeling Spawn that had just crawled through the doorway in front of him. The dog-sized insect looked like a tailless scorpion with two talons for arms instead of pincers and a half dozen smaller legs tucked under the sides of a smooth but segmented chitin exoskeleton. The mottled brown colors of the chitin made Søren believe it would be very difficult to spot this creature out in the wilderness. Curiously, he couldn't spot any visible sensory organs on the creature. The hordeling swept one of the talons in a wide arc in front of it as it chattered with a low growl.

Søren looked around the featureless, empty room again and was unable to find anything that he could use to distract or defeat the creature. I suppose I could just punch or kick it until it stops moving. He shifted his stance to ready himself to charge the creature. As he did so, his bare foot squeaked on the floor which caused the hordeling to unexpectedly orient itself towards Søren with a disheartening accuracy. His eyes went wide and he ducked further behind the tilted platform, putting it between him and the hordeling. The hordeling loudly screeched and launched itself into the tiny room towards Søren. Before it could reach Søren, it crashed into the top of the platform. Its smaller legs wrapped tightly around the edges and held its heavy body in place while it slashed into the cushions on top with its talons. The sharp points and serrated edges made quick work of the material, but failed to penetrate the ceramic of the platform itself.

Søren, not wasting a moment, charged past the nightmarish creature and into the dark room beyond instead of sticking to his original plan. To his left, two tables had been knocked over, one of which had a collapsed beam of steel from the ceiling holding it in place. The other end was connected to a support beam running the length of the room. To his right, there were several work benches covered in rubble and broken bits of equipment and machinery. He thought he could make out shards of broken glass as well amongst the debris. The walls were made of the same smooth white ceramic substance as the room behind him, but tinted dark brown from years of dirt and grime going unwashed.

Søren grimaced in pain as he stepped on an unseen shard of metal that had twisted, sharp edges. The shout of pain in his throat died as he recalled how the hordeling had homed in on him after making noise. He forced his mouth to stay shut, stifling the shout to a small whimper. He then jerked his head up in surprise as a previously invisible element of a holographic heads up display appeared, sliding into view at the top left corner of his vision. He briefly concentrated on that area and it brought it into focus. A pale green bar with white text in the middle showed he had lost three points of health from stepping on the jagged metal shard, leaving him a few hit points shy of a hundred. Beneath the bar was a full purple bar and below that bar, an empty dark steel colored bar. The bars were attached to a circular element on the left that held a copper colored symbol in the center.

Fuck that hurt! Why's the pain threshold set to realistic? Søren made a quick gesture to bring up the menu with his left hand. It was a universal gesture, legally required to be recognized by all full immersion VR pods and software. Nothing happened. He swiped his hand through the air several more times, but the configuration menu for the pod refused to appear. Søren felt his heart skip a beat. A second gesture to log out, also legally required, had no effect as well.

Well fuck, Søren thought to himself, dreading the pins and needles feeling of a physically forced disconnection. He reached up with both hands and tried to find and remove the helmet or visor worn common in VR pods, but his hands only felt the stubble of a freshly shorn head. His stunned disbelief cost him however, as the hordeling behind him had given up on shredding the cushion and had returned to the doorway. The chattering sound and clicking of talons on the floor was the only warning Søren had before one of those talons struck him in the back of his left leg and knocked him down. Unseen by Søren, a bright red -27 floated overhead before fading away. The blinding pain left him insensate for a precious few seconds. Long enough for the hordeling to pull Søren closer, dragging his body across shards of broken glass and metal.

The spawn chattered loudly, keeping Søren pinned to the floor. Søren flailed at the creature with his other leg, finally managing to kick it off him, freeing his now heavily bleeding leg. His hand found the shard of metal he had cut his foot on previously and with a mad look in his eyes, he scrambled onto his good left and feebly launched himself at the Hordeling Spawn, stabbing downward where he thought the brain might reside within the chitin shell of the creature. The point of the metal shard skittered across the chitin armor of the Hordeling Spawn, leaving a faint scratch across the surface.

A small, bright red -1 outlined by a faint black outline behind it floated above the hordeling. The green bar lost a tiny sliver from the right side. Oh you gotta be fucking kidding me, Søren complained mentally with a grunt of exasperation. The wound on his leg throbbed as blood spilled from the torn flesh and muscle and splattered onto the floor.

The creature chittered questioningly for a moment, as if startled that its prey would strike back. The surprise didn't last long however, as the instinct for feeding quickly overrode any sense of curiosity it had briefly felt inside the tiny cluster of nerve cells and ganglion that served as a brain for the hordeling.

Søren scrabbled backwards and slammed into one of the tipped over tables as the hordeling lunged forward. A nearby pop of arcing electricity and a shower of sparks made him flinch. Without thinking about it too much, he grabbed the insulated cable just above the shorn off end of the copper wire and thrust it towards the charging monstrosity that seemed intent on making a feast out of his body. The end of the crackling cable struck the hordeling on the chitin shell, causing it to spasm and writhe across the floor. A bright flash of electricity scorched the creature and momentarily blinded Søren.

The spawn's momentum was not halted however and it slammed into Søren, knocking him and the table backwards a few paces. The pain from being sandwiched between the spawn and the metal table left Søren bruised and winded. He blinked away the afterimage left in his vision by the electrical display and risked a glance upwards at the hordeling's health bar. He grimaced in dismay that it was still alive somehow after being electrocuted by the power line. It had been knocked over onto its back and appeared to be stunned however. The underbelly of the creature had segmented chitin plating across the bottom of its body similar to the top, but the gaps between the joints where the legs vanished beneath the edge of the top part of its armored form looked soft and weak.

Søren brought his knee up to his chest and braced his foot against the creature's shell. He grunted as he shoved the hordeling away and then sprung up onto his feet to move closer. His arm swung down swiftly at the hordeling, the shard of metal still gripped in his left hand. The shard pierced through thinner chitin plates sandwiched between two of the smaller legs on its side. Søren was rewarded with a floating -10 (Critical Hit) above the hordeling. It took two additional wild and angry stabs at the weak points to finish off the stunned creature. It's thick, cobalt blue blood pooled in the wounds and dripped onto the floor like maple syrup.

Søren staggered backwards and slumped down against the table again. The cool metal chilled his back, raising goosebumps across his arms. Four short messages appeared in a chat window in the lower left corner of Søren's vision.

You have defeated a Tutorial Hordeling Spawn (Copper I). (1/3)

You have earned 10 TEK. (10/1000)

You have lost 10 reputation with Umber Horde.

You have lost 5 reputation with The Collective.

For a moment, he was simply glad for the reprieve and didn't catch the implication of the (1/3) displayed in the chat window after the kill message. A few seconds later, sounds of clicking and low chattering growls to his left and right caused him to close his eyes and groan. Two more of the hordeling spawns appeared from around the sides of the table and turned towards Søren. Spittle and globs of saliva dripped from the chattering maws of the two monstrosities, spattering onto the floor.

"Well, come and get it I suppose," Søren said with a resigned sigh. The two hordeling spawns leapt forward and eviscerated Søren as he lunged away from the table in a desperate attempt to dodge despite his injuries. As his health bar plummeted to zero, but right before blacking out from the pain, he noticed the dark steel bar at the bottom had ticked upwards a tiny bit.

You have been slain by a Tutorial Hordeling Spawn (Copper I).

Would you like to revive? Y/N