I must have blacked out somewhere in the transition, because I found myself waking up with my cheek pressed into soft damp moss. Rolling over onto my back holding back the urge to vomit as my stomach did a flip and the room seemed to spin. Slowly breathing through my nose I managed to bring it under control as I finally noticed my surroundings. I was lying in a large mossy patch amongst towering stone pillars; it must have been night because it was dark though I could see well enough. The sky seemed to glow faintly, and try as I might I couldn’t find any moon or stars, the only solid lights seemed to be from small flickering bugs that passed over head from time to time. Pressing my hands into the moss I pushed myself up into a sitting position as I realized just why there were no stars in the sky. I was in a cave, a massive bioluminescent cave. Pulling my feet under me, I stood up and looked over myself as a stat screen popped up over my vision.

Unnamed / Ulcragg

Level 1(0/500) / Status: Healthy

Strength: 14

Health 180/180

Agility: 6

Mana 100/100

Endurance: 18

Stamina: 100%

Willpower: 15

Lowlight Vision: lvl 50 - 100%

Intelligence: 10

N/A

Charisma: 8

N/A

Looking at the unnamed tag on my sheet I thought about it for a moment as the sheet overwrote itself now showing Gideon instead, leaving the last name blank for now in case there was something more theme appropriate in this world. I’d picked up a stamina counter and some sort of what I assumed was a high level low light vision which would explain why I could see so well in this dimly lit cave. Dismissing the sheet from my vision I got the first real look of myself. Just like in the mirror my skin was the color of slate though now I was dressed in a pair of homespun trousers and a shirt instead of my skin tight pod shorts. My belt was a thick piece of twine and hanging from it was a plane iron dragger in a worn leather sheath, with a large harvest sack tied over my shoulder resting below at my thigh topping the whole thing off.

I tried in vain to pull up an inventory screen and I was rewarded with slowly rotating picture of my avatar along with slots for various gear grayed out on the side. I found myself with only my four pieces of gear and no actual way to look in my bag from here. Reviewing my starting gear for a moment I couldn’t say I wasn’t disappointed, it’s not like I expected a great sword and plate mail to start but this just seemed a bit sparse.

Homespun Shirt Durability: 15/15

Home Spun Breeches Durability: 15/15

Large Harvest Sack

Poor Quality Iron Dagger DMG: 6-8 Durability: 24/24

Seeing as I couldn’t pull up my inventory I twisted the sack till it rested on my stomach, taking a look inside. Nestled in the rough burlap I had two loafs of bread, a small leather bota bag, and what looked to be a flint and steel. Not even a little walking around gold, looks like I’d be subsisting off this worlds version of ramen noodles for a while, which was a bit too realistic for me. Twisting the sack back to my side I took a good look at the cavern, the center where I stood seemed to be a lush moss covered circle ringed by six large stone pillars cut into octagons. Outside the circle it seemed to be all bare stone illuminated by the pale blueish glow from whatever was on the ceiling. Three tunnels lead from my cavern, though one sat at the top of what looked to be about a twelve foot cliff. A moment later I noticed that the room seemed to have a slight slope to it, with the cliff tunnel being at the high point and the other two being split at the low side.

Having had enough of enjoying the scenery I decided it was time to head out, but which way should I go? First off the list was the cliff ledge that seems like it was most likely to be a way out as it was uphill; the other two were nearly identical. I was already in the cave so I might as well explore first, which left the lower two tunnels and following the tried and true method of dungeon crawling I went right, you always go right.

The tunnel ceiling was barely a foot over my head as I traveled down it, from here I could see the glowing substance seemed to be a plant almost like a willow trees leafs. With the glow emanating from the center stem outward like fiber optic cables. The tunnel went on for about a hundred yards before I turned a bend and was confronted with a large metal door laid into the stone on either side. Jackpot! Always go right and it never fails, walking up to the door I gave it a shove, without much luck as it didn’t budge. Grabbing the ring hanging from the handle I tried pulling instead. Feeling the muscles bunch up along my arms and back as I strained to no avail, I finally let go kicking the door with my bare foot.

[Metal Door] Durability 250/250

Damage Taken – 1 HP

[Metal Door] Durability 250/250

I could feel my toe bend under the kick, as I was left hopping in pain for a moment the damage number rolling over my vision to add insult to injury. Rubbing my jammed toe against the top of my other foot as I chased away the pain as I pulled up my character sheet, finding myself already back to full health. It sure as shit felt like I really stubbed my toe, and I had another hundred and fifty-nine health on top of that which meant death and damage was going to be something well avoided, I don’t envy tanks. Willing off the rolling damage numbers I was left wondering it worked, with no better way to test it out I stupidly kicked the door again. Yup, hurts just as much the second time around as I did another short hopping dance, but this time no rolling taunting numbers. Progress!

Well clearly I’d be returning to this door at a later date, maybe with the magical equivalent of a blow torch or some dynamite. Running my hand over the surface I found it covered in raised rune like lettering. I wish they’d at least included some charcoal and paper or something so I could do a rubbing, but short of that I picked three of the runes and tried my best to memorize them in case it’s something easily recognizable. An x marking with short hooks on it, something that looked like a sideways lower case h and a circle with a dash in the center. Committing them to memory I headed back up the tunnel, reaching main cavern in no time. Walking across I headed to the left downward slopping tunnel, waiting at the entrance I listened for any noise down the way. All seemed quiet on the western front so I went in. This tunnel veered heavily downward, so much so that I was often forced to lean back on my heels and brace against the walls on my way down. I felt like I’d been trekking forever as I staredt to notice smaller tunnels branching off from the main. Each one seemed to sit suspended at waist height and only be big enough for me if I crawled on my belly. Which in my mind screamed scary subterranean creature, and me left with no quick turnaround, so I wrote them off immediately. Slowly the slope started to even out, as the hanging light leafs overhead started to thin, plunging the tunnel into deeper darkness with each step. Finding myself at the edge of the light I stopped, the prospect of blindly venturing down an unknown tunnel not high on my list of stupid things to do. Looking back over my shoulder I wondered if the moss or light leafs would light up enough to make some sort of torch. That’s when I heard it; stopping still as an involuntary shiver ran down my spine. From the darkness of the tunnel a faint chittering, like a pack of startled rodents but what got my butthole puckering is what could be heard over top of it. An alien sound, somewhere between the chuffing noises of a big cat with the warbling of flesh flaying raptor right off the silver screen. It was enough to make my skin crawl as I slowly backed away from the gaping abyss in front of me, till there was a large chunk of lit tunnel between me and the darkness. Turning I started to head back up, doing my best not to panic and run, but I couldn’t shake the feeling that something was coming up right behind me. Like when you’re kid who has to turn the lights off before going up a flight of stairs, trying not to run from the scary unknown darkness and usually failing. Breaking into a long legged lope I bound up the tunnel until I reached the main cavern again, turning at the entrance to look back down as I slid the knife from its sheath. Nothing, the chittering was still there but not the deep scary warble and I couldn’t see anything coming after me.

Leaving the scary chittering tunnel behind me I figured it was time to beat hasty retreat topside before whatever lurked down here decided that it wanted a Gideon sized snack. Making my way to the ledge leading to the upslope tunnel I found myself confronted with a short climb. Reaching overhead my fingers searched for purchase, before I pulled myself up and repeated the process with my toes, it was only a short few moves before I pulled myself over the edge but a notice popped up in my vision as I did.

Climbing has been discovered! Scale daunting mountains or enemy ramparts…maybe start with a few garden walls first. [Climbing]: lvl 1 - 28%

Huh, guess I’d got my first skill. That was pretty easy, I suspected that once I got into a hairy situation I’d be discovering lots, checking first that I could pull up the notice log after the fact I turned off the updates. Brushing the rock dust off my rough shirt I started my venture to freedom. As the tunnel winded up towards what I hoped was the surface, I found my venture to freedom a short one, punctuated by what seemed to be a cave in.