I'm back from my first time in RWO. That was intense. Looking around I'm a little confused. This looks like my room at the inn, but different. Oh, it's the room arrangement. On the bed next to me is a things-to-do list. It says:

Wait for further instruction.

I don't remember writing myself a list. Why are there ration wrappers on the floor?

[System: Player has logged out. Restoring Hashi, H. Grindswell (away)]

And now I'm back in my normal room at the inn. H. Grindswell (away)? Doktor Urmind didn’t say anything about me having an away character. Is that some sort of mistake? Checking my bag I find that I have a normal looking to-do list. A little vague this time.

Go grind some skills I'll send some more instructions later.

Based on what Kithera said, I think my player was in a rush to get logged out. I know how to grind skills, so I can work with this.

Downstairs I asked the innkeeper if H. Grindswell had a room here. He directed me to room number 3. Time for me to rescue my away character.

Grindswell (away) was sitting right where I’d been just a little while ago. He looked rather distressed. When I entered the room he was staring at his list and starting to pull another ration out of his bag.

“H. Grindswell?”

“Uh, yes?”

“I’m your player, Hashi. I am sorry I left you without instructions. Might I borrow your to-do list?”

He handed me his list, I made some changes to it and handed it back.

Do whatever you like until I give you different instructions.

“Sorry about that. Have fun.” I told H. Grindswell (away).

Then I headed back downstairs and out to town for some quality grinding time. I hope my away character doesn’t get too crazy.

From Zach Russell’s development notes

[Zach] Erica: start recording.

[Erica] Recording.

[Zach] This is my third trial of my auditory VR interface. Erica: disable video feed.

[Erica] Video feed disabled.

[Zach] I’m walking around. Actually, I’m sitting down and using my game controller for movement. Using the VR headset I can hear sounds for the objects in the area and they do seem to move around when I move my head. Hopefully, later in development, I’ll be able to tell more about the objects around me from the sounds. I’m moving but the sounds aren’t changing. Erica: Enable video feed.

[Erica] Video feed enabled.

[Zach] Note to self. Implement a bonk sound for when I run into objects. I’ve been trying to move through a tree for a little while now. End of the third trial. Erica: end recording.

[Erica] Recording stopped.

Player: Zachery Russell

Character Name: Hashi

Class Name: Explorer

Level: 15

Stats:

· Strength 15

· Perception 15

· Endurance 20

· Intelligence 30

· Agility 25

· Luck 35

Skills:

· Crafting 23

· Alchemy 18

· Running 45

· Survival 9

· Herbalism 19

· Languages 30

· Scribe 12

· Enchanting 20

· Longsword 25

· Blindfighting 10

· Acting 5

Special:

· Spatial Perception - allows the user to know where nearby objects are within 15’. Functionally similar to sonar. Does not pass through walls but will show objects behind other objects.

Ah, the grind, peaceful with time to think. I wonder what this blind fighting skill is. I bet they know at the fighter’s hall. I need to have a talk with the training master. I arrive and hunt him down.

I say to him, “Hey Tony! I’d like to try something different for sparring practice.”

Tony replies, “Oh and what is that? Two swords? Sword and shield? Sword and dagger? Is the long sword getting boring?”

I think he’s making fun of me a little. “No, I’d like to spar blindfolded.” There, I said it.

Tony’s jaw dropped briefly. Okay, really he stared at me with his mouth open. “Are you nuts? That’s like a master level fighting skill. You are what, like level 15?”

I give him temporary permissions to view my stats. I make up a story about fighting at night. I don’t Tony believed me. He takes me to one of the large training circles after I grab my gear. I step into the circle and put on a blindfold. Everything is dark but I hear just fine. I still have some after images of things I saw before the blindfold. Maybe they aren’t after images after all as a ghostly blob where Tony was on the other side of the ring is getting larger. I get out my practice sword and move towards the Tony-blob. I “see” Tony and the ground and what I think is Tony’s sword which is moving into a guard position. I put my practice sword in the same position.

Tony isn’t saying anything. I think we are standing at about the right distance for sparring now. I can hear the murmur of conversation outside the ring. I can hear Tony breathing. I also hear some odd sounds at the very limits of my hearing.

Tony says, “Begin. Let’s go through some basic back and forth slowly and see how this goes.” Tony swings his sword slower than usual using the same sequence as beginner sword training. He counts the moves, “one, two, three, four…”

I match him on the beginning forms and after a little while Tony picks up the pace. The longer we go the less blurry Tony’s ghostly shape is. I can also see his sword moving but it leaves streaks behind it. All I see is Tony, his sword, my sword and arm and the ground. This is cool. Tony leaves the beginner forms and starts moving around. I match him and we begin sparring for real.

Tony kicks my ass. He is the trainer after all. He calls a halt after he’s gotten 10 hits to my one on him. I take off the blindfold and see Tony grinning at me. I look around the circle and I see people clapping. I bow to Tony and he bows to me. As we walk out of the circle, he claps me on the shoulder and says, ‘Hashi, that was awesome. How long have you been hiding that?”

I don’t know what to tell him so I just say “A while.” I follow up with “I still need a lot of sword work, though.”

Tony’s reply is “You’ve got that right. You should come down and train more. We’ll make a decent fighter out of you yet.”

I picked up several points of blind fighting while sparring with Tony. I did my best to ignore the dings and messages as I was pretty busy at the time. I am a bit curious why my player has blind fighting and spatial perception.