With Leah and Daniel out of sight, Ethan focused on what his next steps were.

I need to get into town, get the intro quest line done and then get to Startesgarde. Hopefully I’ll get there around the same time David does. I should really go talk to Arianna once I get to town.

After walking 15 minutes the wooden barricade that served as the walls for the small village of Grassmere came into his view.

Grassmere served as the game’s tutorial and was a completely unique experience in the game. The quest lines were extremely linear, every step was meant to give an introductory lesson into the systems of The Tower. The first time Ethan had done it, he had been glad of the help. By now it was just rehashed information that he could do without. He could skip it, but it was quicker leveling to just finish it. If he did skip the town he’d have to grind his way to level 10. And it got boring killing the same mobs over and over again just for meager experience.

Ethan walked up to one of the gates. It didn’t really matter which he picked, he would get the same quest from any of them. He just picked the closest one.

“Greetings Adventurer!” The guard’s voice was friendly but coarse, he was just a low level NPC. Not too much personality was built into him. “What can I do for you today?” He stood at full attention as he talked to Ethan. Guards in this area wore the same uniform as guards in Startsgarde. Silver plate mail with a blue tabard, and armed with a spear and a buckler. Blue floating text above his head informed Ethan that this guard was named Mihal, he had the standard male guard close shaven haircut but he did have an amazing brown bushy mustache. Ethan scrambled through menu options to disable the NPC nameplates, along with his own. He hated seeing them. When he was in a crowded area it could seriously clog up his vision.

“I’m just trying to enter the village. I’m on my way to Startsgarde, but I’m desperately in need of equipment.” He knew what was coming, this was the same entry quest that everyone got, Ethan could pretty much say anything at all to this guy and he’d give him the quest.

“Ah, yes, I see. You do look rather... humble... Well we have a fine assortment of merchants here that could help you out. Maybe get a new axe. One that isn’t so...covered in blood. Or perhaps a shirt that covers your nipples?.” The judgement of this NPC was not disconcerting. Sometimes they just had bad days and could be assholes. Ethan comforted himself with knowing he’d eventually get better gear, but Mihal would never leave this post.

“Great.” Ethan smiled at him, hoping his face was showing the proper level of sarcasm to what he was feeling. He didn’t make a move though, the guard’s speech wasn’t yet over.

“Unfortunately, I cannot just let anyone into our fine village. You must prove yourself, we’re having some problems with the local wolf population, and we’d much appreciate it if you could help us thin out their numbers.

The default tan window opened to show he’d been given a quest:

Quest: Proving Yourself!

To enter the village of Grassmere, you must provide an offering. Guard Mihal has asked that you slay 10 wolves and bring back their teeth as proof of your deeds.

Progress:

0/10 Planes Wolf Canine Teeth

Reward:

50 Experience

10 Copper

Entrance to Grassmere

This was the same first quest that everyone got. Sometimes it was wolves, sometimes giant moles, sometimes badgers. But it was always the same “bring back a number of random animal parts to enter the town.” Nearly every game ever had almost the exact same quest, for The Tower to start this one was almost a joke.

Ethan casually hit “Accept”. A notification popped into his view, just a simple line of text tracking his quest progress.

“Wolf teeth collected: 0/10”

“Thanks, I’ll get right on this.” Usually NPC’s comments didn’t bother him, but today Mihal had been especially insulting and Ethan just wanted to get the teeth and get back.

The Tower didn’t hold player’s hands on quests, not even on intro ones. The location of the wolves wasn’t marked on his map, but having done this one before, Ethan knew approximately where he needed to go.

As he left he drew his battle axe from his harness. His goal was to finish the quest quickly, so he wanted to be ready as soon as he saw the first wolf.

It didn’t take him long, to find a small pack of four wolves grouped together. In this zone, mobs wouldn’t attack him until he had made an attack on them. So he could attack whichever wolf he wanted and the other three would leave him alone.

He decided the easiest path would be to start with one of the wolves on the edge of the group. Then he could work his way through rather than just going straight into them.

Ethan hefted his axe and began running towards his chosen opponent. The game’s mechanics kicked in and he found himself sprinting at the wolf. His Charge stunned the wolf for two seconds, which gave him enough time to get an attack off. His axe caught the wolf in its rib cage. The animal howled in pain as he jerked the metal axe head free. He spared half a second to glance at the wolf’s HP.

Planes Wolf:

13/24 HP

Good, half its health gone in the first attack.

The wolf lunged at him, he managed to block its jaws with the handle of his axe. Using all his strength he pushed the animal back. Rearing back he slammed his axe into the animal again. His attack connected as the wolf launched itself forward, catching the animal in the throat. The axe severed the wolf’s jaw.

Ethan picked up the bloody jaw and ripped out one of its canine teeth. Gum and nerve ending were still attached to the fang.

Casually he picked his next target. The rest of the small pack was just walking around. The game’s AI was programmed not to attack him unless he made the first move in this zone so he was safe. After he left this area, or got to level 10, he wouldn’t be this safe again.

Let’s try something different. Ethan removed one of his throwing axes from his belt, shifting his larger axe to his left hand. He cocked his arm back and launched the small hatchet at another wolf, dashing forward as the axe flew.

His canine target yelped in surprise as his projectile lodged itself into its shoulder. Ethan was already charging forward, his great axe ready to attack.

Ethan began to swing down on the animal but was caught off guard as the wolf leapt at him, it’s claws raking his chest while it clamped it’s jaws onto his shoulder.

“FUCK!” Ethan swung his fist wildly, trying to dislodge the wolf from biting him. He connected with its side and the animal broke free. A series of alerts flashed into his view as red messages in his left peripheral.

“You are bleeding: 1 damage every 2 seconds.”

“You have suffered muscle damage: -2 to strength.”

He didn’t have the thought process to consider why the wolf hadn’t been stunned. What should have been an easy fight had just gotten serious.

The wolf had recovered and was lunging at him again. This time Ethan sidestepped the attack and swung his axe down onto the wolf’s back. His left arm felt noticeably weaker but he still felt the crunch of bone as his axe severed the animal’s spinal cord.

The mob's entire back quarter of its body crumpled to the ground, while it desperately tried to hold itself up using only its front paws. A look of panic appeared on its digital face as it scrambled to stay upright against the deadweight of its tail end.

Ethan hefted his axe again, ignoring the pain in his shoulder and cleaved through the predator’s skull. The wolf stopped twitching.

Ethan slumped to his knees, his adrenaline wearing off and the pain catching up to him. Quickly, he glanced up at his health to see how much damage the wolf had done.

Ethan:

HP: 10/25

The damage from the wolf hadn’t been as bad as it could have been, but Ethan still didn’t feel great. He pulled a Tack Ration from his inventory and sat down to eat. The dry, crunchy food would restore all his missing health while the remaining two wolves paced around him, oblivious to him and the carnage he’d created.

Game mechanics are weird. His skin knit back together forming a pink scar matching the outline of the wolf’s jaws, leaving a crust of dried blood and a single wolf canine tooth. That’s two.

His debuffs gone, Ethan stood up. He was slightly confused as to why the wolf hadn’t been stunned by his charge that time so he pulled up the combat log:

You hit Planes Wolf with a throwing axe: 3 damage

Planes Wolf bites you: 6 damage

Planes Wolf claws you: 2 damage

You are Bleeding.

You suffer from Severed Muscle: -2 Strength

You hit Planes Wolf: 8 damage

You hit Planes Wolf: 15 damage (critical)

Planes Wolf dies.

You gain 5 experience.

Weird, no mention of the stun. With one other place to look, Ethan pulled up the ability information for Charge.

Charge (rank 0)

- Charge at target opponent, deals 2 damage, target is stunned for 2 seconds, generates 5 rage. Cannot be used in combat.

That’s why! I hit the wolf with my throwing axe and it aggro’d onto me. So my charge didn’t activate. That’s good to know, I wish I’d paid attention to that before I got bit.

He took a second to review his character sheet in full again. Nothing had really changed, he was 15/100 to level 2 from having killed three wolves but everything else was the same.

When he reviewed his other two abilities, a plan started to form on how to kill the next wolves.

He got close enough to one to charge and concentrated on his anger. He thought of how mad he’d been at Daniel after the wipe, on how angry he felt when he realized he was trapped in this game, all the anger he’d been suppressing for years. And like a dam breaking, he felt his rage surge through him. An icon appeared in his view.

You are Enraged. (Weapon damage increased by 50%, Strength increased by 2, draining 5 stamina per second)

Ethan grinned as he charged at the first wolf. When he connected with his first target he spun and hurled a throwing axe at the last remaining pack member. The wolf ran towards him as the stun wore off on the first wolf. It reared back to attack him with its claws and Ethan blocked it with his axe. The second wolf lunged at his legs trying to bite him, he nimbly dodged out its way positioning himself with both mobs directly in front of him.

Focusing on using his last remaining ability, Ethan activated Cleave, swinging low to hit both animals. He knew Cleave reduced his overall damage, but with his Enrage bonus he managed to sever one of the legs of the wolf to his right while catching the other one in the shoulder with a crunch, his axe head lodged into bone.

He ripped his weapon free and swung again from the other direction. This time he missed his first target, but caught the second in the neck. Hot arterial blood spewed forth like a geyser and the wolf collapsed on the ground.

The wolf he’d started combat with now charged at him, limping from the wound he’d delivered earlier. Ethan sidestepped to avoid the attack and slammed his axe down again, completely decapitating the animal.

Immediately after the mob died, Ethan collapsed to the ground with another debuff icon flashing in his face.

Stamina depleted. You are Exhausted (Rank 1. -50% movement speed for 2 minutes.)

That entire fight had taken 20 seconds, just enough to deplete him of all his Stamina due to his Enrage.

Guess I’m sitting down for a minute. He pulled himself into a sitting position, the Exhaustion debuff made even that little movement feel like he was pulling 100 pound lead weights. I’m going to have to put points into my Constitution or I won’t be able to use that in combat very often.

While he waited for the debuff to fall off and his Stamina to regen, Ethan pulled up his Archetype information. He needed to get an idea of what his classes were to plan for how to build his character. When players respawned, their Archetype was chosen randomly but at level 15 they had to complete a quest to choose one of the three available classes assigned to each Archetype.

Fighter:

Anyone can pick up a sword or an axe and fight with it. Fighters take that skill and hone it. They use raw strength and skill to devastate their opponents. Fighters can devote themselves to one of three disciplines. Weapon Masters perfect the art of fighting with a preferred weapon. On the field of battle they flow like a rushing river destroying anything in their path in a flurry of metal. Guardians stand steadfast to protect their allies. Their shields become impenetrable walls providing cover to their companions. Battle Shamans lack the finesse of Weapon Masters, but the sheer strength behind their attacks will rend bone and armor like tissue paper. Truly, a skilled Fighter of any kind can turn the tide of battle to victory.

Weapon Master:

Through dedication, a Weapon Master hones their skills with a preferred weapon. Their attacks rely on speed and precision to be deadly. Battles became a beautiful, but deadly dance of death as a Weapon Master cuts through their enemies. Weapon Master bonuses: Chosen weapon: A Weapon Master chooses one type of weapon as their preferred fighting tool. Weapon Masters gain a 2% increase to Block, Parry and attack speed with their preferred weapon. Weak Points: through training, Weapon Masters can discover weaknesses in their enemies. Every 100 enemies killed of a subgroup increases armor penetration to that subgroup by 1%. Quicksilver: Weapon Masters gain additional 5% dexterity. Weapons Training: When using two one handed weapons of their chosen weapon type, Weapon Masters suffer only 50% of the base damage and speed reduction. When using a two handed weapon of their chosen weapon type, Weapon Masters gain an additional 10% haste.

Guardian

“The best defense is a strong shield.” This is the creed of the Guardian. The front line isn’t just their place on the battlefield, it’s their home. Guardians protect their group with their lives. Physically placing themselves in the most dangerous places to keep their companions safe, Guardian have high health and armor with plenty of defense against any attacks. Guardian bonuses: Shield Master: Guardians gain 10% to block and their shields have an additional 10% durability against attacks. Iron Will: Guardians gain an additional 10% Constitution. Front Line of Defense: For every 5 members in the group, Guardians gain an additional 10 health. Strength of Steel: Any source of armor is boosted by 10%.

Battle Shaman:

A battle field is a messy place to be. It’s even messier when a Battle Shaman is present. In channeling their chosen totem, their attacks cleave through defenses in sprays of blood and sparks. Through controlled, or sometimes uncontrolled, berserking a Battle Shaman rips through their foes leaving destruction in their wake. Their anger and rage become stronger, enhancing already impressive abilities until everything in front of them is dead. They need little direction other than “kill it” for their bloody work to be done. Battle Shaman bonuses: Elemental Affinity: Battle Shaman use Rage instead of Mana to use abilities. All Mana is converted to Rage and any source of Elemental damage is increased by 5%. Totemic Rage: Spells are able to be cast while Enraged. Spells with a 2 second cast time become instant cast while Enraged, but suffer from 25% reduction in damage. Bloody Blur: While Enraged, movement speed and attack speed are increased by 15% if wearing majority medium armor or 10% in majority heavy armor. Empowered Rage: Rage damage bonus increased to 100%, strength and constitution bonuses increased to 4 (scales with level) Stamina drain decreased to 2 stamina per second (scales with level). Totemic Empowered: Battle Shamans choose a totem at the same time as their class that provides additional bonuses.

After reading through all the available classes, Ethan was still unsure what path he wanted to take. He knew he wasn’t going to be a Guardian. David had expressed interest in tanking, and Ethan would gladly be the off tank. Either of the damage specs would let him do it if needed somewhat effectively. And while he’d been losing control of his anger recently he wasn’t sure that’s what he wanted to do all the time. Being a Weapon Master sounded like it could be fun, darting in and out of combat while destroying everything in front of him? That was like a more armored Rogue. Of course he knew that the descriptions were mostly flowery text meant to make him feel good about his class, there was some hint of what the actual play style would be. Battle Shaman gave mostly bonuses to his Enrage ability, but using it for the first time had left him physically drained. But one of the spec bonuses decreased that. He had a lot to think about as he leveled. There wasn’t any hurry to pick now.

Ethan got to his feet and went about collecting the teeth from the wolves he’d killed. Would have been nice if I could get all four teeth each wolf had, stupid game mechanics. He mentally groaned at a reoccurring mechanic. It didn’t seem to matter how realistic a game was, for some reason you couldn’t just get all your quest items from one kill.

Looking around Ethan spotted another pack of three wolves. He killed them as quickly as he could one at a time, managing not to take any damage from them and went looking for more as his count went to seven teeth.

Fifteen minutes later Ethan had all ten wolf teeth and had gained enough experience to put him at 55/100. When he turned in the quest he’d ding to level 2. He’d had to eat two more times to refill his HP so he was looking forward to getting some copper to buy a few things in town.

I wish I’d asked Daniel for the hunting knife he started with before he took the Dive. Then I could have skinned the wolves for a little more money. He’d tried to skin with one of his throwing axes but hadn’t gotten anything better than leather scraps. He’d also taken as much wolf meat as he could back off the carcasses. He could sell the bloody loot he’d acquired for a pittance, but as he currently had nothing it would be a start. I can’t wait to get to Startesgarde and get some gold from our vault.

Ethan made his way back to Mihal, the guard who’d given him the quest.

“Ah, Adventurer. I see you’ve returned. Have you the wolf’s teeth I asked for?” His magnificent mustache wriggled like a fuzzy brown worm as Mihal greeted Ethan.

“Yeah I’ve got them right here.” Ethan pulled up his inventory and grabbed the teeth. He dropped the pile into Mihal’s outstretched hand.

The NPC inspected each one carefully, as it to verify that Ethan wasn’t cheating him on wolf teeth of all things.

“Looks like you had a spot of fun. You’ve, um, you’ve got a bit of wolf blood on your nipple there.” Mihal gestuered at his bare chest

Ethan looked down and saw he was indeed covered in dried wolf blood.

“I mean, I killed a bunch of wolves with an axe. I was bound to get a little bloody.” He was sarcastic in his response to the guard. “Also, you keep bringing up my nipples. It’s getting a little weird.”

Mihal paused in his inspection of the bloody teeth and looked him square in the eyes.

“Well maybe you should put on a shirt! You come up here with your nipples stained red, looking like they could cut through glass! It’s not even cold outside!” Mihal was getting very flustered, his mustache shaking uncontrollably. “Put on a shirt is all I’m saying! You..you’re the weird one!”

Ethan couldn’t help but laugh at the NPC in front of him. Whoever had programmed him clearly had added “weirded out by nipples” to his personality. Little quirks like that did occasionally give him some joy to find, even if he was trapped in a game.

“Okay man, as soon as I get to town I’ll go buy a shirt. You got my reward?”

Mihal composed himself and the quest dialog reappeared.

Quest: Proving Yourself! - Complete!

To enter the village of Grassmere, you must provide an offering. Guard Mihal has asked that you slay 10 wolves and bring back their teeth as proof of your deeds.

Progress:

10/10 Planes Wolf Canine Teeth

Reward:

50 Experience

10 Copper

Entrance to Grassmere

Notifications flooded his view as golden light burst from him with a WHOOOSH of air.

You receive 50 Experience!

You receive 10 copper!

You are now granted entry into the town of Grassmere!

Congratulations! You’ve reached level 2! You have 2 stat points to allocate!

“Welcome to the town of Grassmere. If you’re looking for work, there’s a message board in the middle of town that has some quests you might find interesting!” Mihal saluted him and stepped out of the way, finally allowing Ethan access to the town.

Before he walked through the gate, a thought occurred to him.

“Mihal, what are you going to do with all those teeth?” Ethan had done this quest multiple times, but he realized he’d never thought about what happened to the quest items. This game was so expansive, surely they had to have some purpose other than as a macguffin to get him into the town.

“Oh, well I’ll throw most of them away. They kind of stink. But this one is quite nice.” He held up one of the teeth that was cleaner and larger than the rest. “If you wait a second I’ll show you.”

Ethan had made good time on the wolf killing quest so what the heck, he decided to see what was about to happen.

Mihal went back to the shack that served as the guard house, for a couple of minutes he didn’t come out. When he finally reappeared he had his hands together, clearly he was holding something precious.

“Here it is!” The guard held up a necklace that looked to be made of random teeth. Ethan wasn’t an animal tooth expert, but it looked like there were several bear, wolf and maybe pig teeth attached. In the middle was a small blue gem with the large wolf tooth Ethan had brought him hanging from it. “What do you think?”

“Umm… it’s nice. I like what you did with the..erm...teeth.” The necklace was hideous. It was like a third grader had been given access to a veterinarian's dentistry kit. In the dark. “What...what’s it for?”

Ethan was having a hard time keeping his composure in the face of such hideous jewelry.

“It’s a gift! For my love!” Mihal’s face was beaming. He was so very, very proud of the necklace and Ethan didn’t have to heart to destroy the man’s feelings.

“Oh that’s..that’s so sweet. I’m sure they’ll love it.” If they’re blind, maybe?

“Actually, could you do me a favor?” Mihal’s face had taken a desperate turn. “Could you deliver it to the love of my life? I’ll pay you for it!”

A quest window appeared in Ethan’s view.

Bonus Quest: A Labor of Love

Mihal, guard of Grassmere has asked you to deliver his hand made… necklace to his love.

Reward:

10 Experience

10 Silver

Unknown

Ethan rolled his eyes as he hit accept. Not all Bonus Quests were necessarily special. Sometimes they were just a bonus for talking to an NPC or finding an odd rock. Occasionally they ended up having an amazing reward, but this was looked like it was just going to be an additional introduction to someone in town

“Sure, why not? Where am I taking it.”

“To the Dog and Pony Inn. The innkeeper has stolen my heart!” Mihal’s excitement wasn’t almost too much for Ethan. “Just go straight down the road and take the second left. You can’t miss it.”

Ethan nodded at the love struck guard and went through the gate. He knew the inn, there weren’t many shops in this town and most had quests associated with them. Usually it took a day of playing to finish the zone, so Ethan had spent the night there several times.