A sound like a babbling brook woke me up and I sleepily reached a hand out to turn off the stupid alarm. The thing only made authentic sounds of nature and my ex-girlfriend made me get it, claiming it was better for my health or something. When my hand slapped down to the sting of solid wood on the bedside table I woke up fully and remembered where I was. Novarra. A brand new world. So real, so authentic, that at times I couldn’t even tell the difference, awake or asleep.

It made me excited to get up and see what else it had to offer. A quick thought was all it took to re-equip all my armor and I noticed that the sound I’d woken up to was actually the noise of people outside. Not in the hall, but somewhere outside the window hung with heavy drapes just over my desk. I carefully pushed them aside, mindful of the fact that I was now in a Thieves Guild stronghold and should probably keep a low profile.

At the street level was a crowd of people passing back and forth along a cobblestone street. The occasional pack animal, cart, or rider passed but most of the traffic was pedestrian. I noticed, even from the third floor, the sheer variety of people around. A group of dwarves were jostling each other in a good-natured manner as they exited the Inn across the street. A dusky-skinned elf with almost white hair was having an animated conversation with a lighter-skinned elf with flaming red hair, both of them not paying any attention to where they were going but nevertheless navigating the crowd adroitly. I even spotted a very short person on an enormous white horse with enough lace at his collar and cuffs to make me sure he was a nobleman of some kind.

I was eager to get out into the world myself, but I found that I had a much more basic need to sate that I wasn’t expecting and I turned to the bathroom. Inside was a simple polished copper tub and a toilet made of the same material. Curious, I looked at the tub and around it. It didn’t seem to be connected to anything but there were two handles, clearly for hot and cold water with a red and blue stripe on them. I turned on the hot water and it poured out in a steaming stream immediately. It was a magical bathtub. When I turned off the water it went down the drain to…nowhere I could track.

As cool as the bathtub was I still had to take care of my business so that’s what I did. There was no handle or anything on the copper toilet, which gave me pause, but in the end it seemed it all disappeared without even the need for water. Magic even seemed to take care of cleanup too which was a weird feeling, to say the least, but made things easier.

Slightly disturbed but nevertheless impressed, I left my spartan room. Though I was mindful of the top floor being residential spaces and off limits, I figured I could start my exploration on the second floor and work my way down. The building was surprisingly large but much longer than it was wide. There were a variety of training rooms on the second floor.

The first I stepped into had targets spread out over the area, surprisingly accurate replicas of people of different races and sizes. Each was outfitted differently, some had plate armor, some leather armor, and some even just had jewelry which I assumed was magical. In each case there were clear markings and indicators of weak spots.

When I passed the doorway and went further into the room I felt my steps lighten as if I was standing on something. I looked down but didn’t see anything besides the same polished wooden floor of the rest of the building. Except my improved eyes noticed that I was actually standing an inch above it. A jump up and down confirmed my theory. Magical padding, awesome.

Other training rooms were similar but had targets that must have resembled monsters in the world. A few rooms had obstacle courses which looked challenging but not particularly dangerous. There was even a small library filled with tomes of various sizes.

Almost none of the places I saw were empty. People of all sorts walked the halls and practiced throughout the building. None spoke to me for any length of time but I did get some friendly nods and even a smile or two. Most were wearing leather armor of some kind but all had the same black cloak that I had first seen Marcus wearing.

When I got to the first floor it seemed a lot smaller than the two above it and it took me a little while to figure out why. The whole side of the building facing the street seemed to be walled off entirely. There were still quite a few rooms on the floor though, including some laboratories that seemed to be for potion or poison making. The pungent smells coming from them kept me from checking them out too closely.

There was only one exit, near the staircase at the center of the building. More stairs led into a basement of some kind but I suspected the Hall of Traps was down there and I wanted to see the outside world for once. When I left the small foyer I found myself on an empty street surrounded by small one story houses. Confused, I looked around but saw no signs of life, just the tiny cobblestone street heading straight away from the Guild and through the densely packed houses, curving off to the left.

I headed down the street and quickly came to a tight intersection with the street forking off in two directions. On neither side did I see anyone living. I went over to one of the houses and was about to knock before I changed my mind and checked the handle instead. It was unlocked.

Spooked in spite of myself, I cautiously entered the house after checking to see that nobody was around yet again. The interior was what you might expect out of a tiny hovel in a medieval environment. There were some basic pieces of furniture. Nothing as nice as what I had in my new room, though. It seemed empty, and there were no signs of recent habitation, as if it had been abandoned long ago.

A chest on a small shelf was the only thing of interest in the small house. Checking my surroundings yet again and coming up empty, I shrugged and reached for the chest. It was locked. With a grin, I pulled out a lockpick and my tension wrench and got to work.

I quickly learned two things: locks are much better made on Novarra and picks are much more brittle. The one in my hand snapped almost immediately which shocked the hell out of me. It seemed that I wouldn’t be lifting all the pins in the lock by jamming around the pick blindly like you could often do with laser-etched steel. It took me a while to get the hang of the delicate picks though I did manage to finally open the chest with a faint click using my last pick. Eagerly, I opened the chest to see what I’d scored.

The only contents of the small chest was a pile of lockpicks. My mind froze for a second until it all clicked at once. I was still on Shadow Fangs grounds. This whole street must just be for training. I grabbed a handful of picks but left the rest alone and put them in my pouch. Turning to leave, I stopped and looked at the chest. Surely, there must be a way to re-lock the thing, so I searched for a key.

It ended up being underneath the chest, which of course I found out after looking through the entirety of the room several times over. With a sigh I locked the lid, replaced the key, and left the house. I was curious how far the Shadow Fangs training ground went on for but I couldn’t see much on the narrow street. I’d need a higher vantage point to get a good look.

Climbing the side of a building is not as easy as it sounds. I tried to jump up to the flat rooftop of the house I’d just left at first but my grip slipped and I fell on my tailbone rather painfully. Thankful for once that the street was deserted, I spotted a window in the side of a building just a couple houses down. Using that as leverage, I was finally able to get to the rooftops and check out my surroundings.

It turned out the building that had the room I was assigned to was only one of four and they all surrounded and penned in an artificial warren of city streets. It looked to be the size of an entire city block. I was amazed at the sheer scale of the Guild Hall for the Shadow Fangs. My thoughts were interrupted by a sound coming from behind me and I spun to see what it was. A figure in black leaped up onto the roof nearby.