I can't log out..?

A wave of panic overtakes me as I stare blankly at the error message. That's not possible. If I'm stuck in here what will happen to my body? What happens when I need to eat or drink? Humans can only last three days without water, could someone save me by then? What will happen to my apartment!?

Calm down Brian. There must be a reasonable explanation for this, something I've just forgotten. My mind reels, trying to find any possible thing I've overlooked. Maybe it's just a small bug? It is launch day after all. If that's the case it should be fixed pretty quickly. But what if it's just me? So far my experience in the game hasn't exactly felt like an ordinary player’s.

My knees begin to give out as I lean back against the ruined platform. There's gotta be some other reason. My eyes hopelessly scan the room, as if that would provide some sort of solution to my situation. I find no answer in the shattered glass, nor in the cracked stone, or even in the crawling vegetation. But the empty window where the lizard just exited catches my attention. That's it! My body relaxes as I let out all the built up tension in a long breath of relief.

Some games don’t let you log out when enemies are nearby, that way nobody can cheat death and log out in the middle of combat. That must be what’s happening here. The error message about it could have been clearer though...

All I have to do is defeat the lizard, then I should be able to log out. I slide down to the floor and tilt my head back against the side of the stage. After that roller coaster of emotions I need a moment to calm down.

I can’t just get a break, can I? First the demonic Sprite rooms, then whatever that place was before the game loaded, and now this. It feels like whatever evil deity controls this game’s world was really out to get me. Maybe I should have just picked a normal race, instead of Thorn Fiend.

I groan and rub my face. No. This was my decision and I'm sticking to it. I saw the warnings and choose to ignore them, so I'm entirely the one to blame. Anyways, I'm sure there's still something about this race I haven't figured out yet.

Still a bit shaky, I use my staff to pick myself up off the ground. I have a lizard to kill.

Making my way to the window, I take a quick glance at my status bars. My health is still full, and my stamina was only down a couple points from the max. It seems like that short rest helped quite a bit, and I've mostly recovered from my last encounter.

Focusing back on the window, I glance outside to see if there was any trace of the lizard. It couldn't have gone far if the game’s still preventing me from logging out. Searching the ground, I notice a couple of indentations in the ground that stand out to me for some reason. Squinting, it's hard to tell exactly why, but they feel very prominent and important. I just can't get them out of my head. Weird.

Wanting to take a closer look, I pull myself out through the empty window frame. My feet land with a soft thud on the other side. Immediately I am hit my a new barrage of sensations. The fragrant scent of pine drifts through the air with the sound of swaying branches, both carried by the wind. The dirt ground is soft and slightly bouncy beneath my feet, a stark contrast to the cold hard floors of the station. The air is cool against my face, and a blanket of humidity clings to my person.

And the trees. Oh man- the trees! They're unlike anything I've ever experienced before. Of course I've seen plenty of images of trees in the archives, and even when loading they didn't seem all that different. But now, standing in front of them left me awestruck. They gave off such a presence, a feeling that could never be conveyed by images alone.

I let my head roll back as my gaze follows their massive forms up to the sky. Letting my senses open to take in these wonderful new sights and sensations, committing them to memory. For a moment, I let myself forget about all the strange and weird stuff that's been happening, and just enjoy the moment.

But all good things must come to an end. The sharp snap of a twig and the rustling of branches tears my focus away from the sights. Glancing in the direction of the sound, it appears to be just another rodent scurrying away from me. But nonetheless, it reminds me that I have a more pressing matter to attend to.

Crouching down, I take a closer look at the indentations I saw earlier. They appear to be tracks of some kind- the lizard’s tracks presumably. Glancing up in the direction they lead, a small trail through the underbrush stands out to me in a similar way that the tracks do. Well, that's convenient.

Using my staff to push the dense branches and ferns out of the way, I slowly begin to follow the trail, being sure to keep an eye out around me as I walked. I don't want to be surprised by some other creature.

After a couple of minutes of walking, the forest parts into a small clearing. A small trickling brook cuts through the centre of the space, winding through pebble-laden riverbanks and collecting in a small pond off to the side. The lizard tracks lead right to the back of the clearing, where a tall rocky cliff covered in vegetation stretches up toward the sky. Looks like I have a climb ahead of me.

Following the claw prints up to the base of the cliff, I glance up to the top of the rocky wall. It rises a good four or five times my height, and stands at a nearly vertical incline. I don't see this ending well.

Tucking my staff into the crook of my arm, I grab two large handfuls of the thick vegetation that covers the cliff face and take a deep breath, resigning myself to my task.

Launching myself up, I reach as far up as I can and brace my foot against the wall. Or at least I tried to. Instead of meeting the solid cliff face I was expecting, my boot burst through the vines into an empty space beyond. Tangled in the plant matter, my leg twists painfully as I hit the ground with a hard thud.

I untangle my leg from the vines and carefully stand up. Wincing as I put weight on my injured leg, I take a quick glance at my health bar.

*groan*

I haven’t even found the lizard yet and I’ve already taken eleven points of damage. On top of that, my ankle looks like it’s starting to swell. Using my staff as a crutch, I search through the vines for where my foot broke through. I just have to defeat the thing. I’m so close, dammit.

Pushing aside a large clump of plant growth reveals the entrance to a narrow cave that splits the cliff face. Glancing down at the tracks, it looks like the lizard fled in here, not up the cliff.

Cautiously, I hobble forward into the cavern. Barely any light makes it through the curtain of vines at the entrance, but my fiendish vision pierces the darkness as if it was lit by a full moon. After the narrow entrance the cave opens up to a somewhat larger room. The ceiling is surprisingly high and many ledges and outcroppings jut out from the walls. I still my breath, listening carefully for my target.

Taking full advantage of this opportunity, the lizard, previously hidden on a ledge above the cave entrance, launches forwards with jaws agape toward the back of my neck. Following my instincts, I lean to the side, avoiding the fatal blow but taking the full weight of the lizard straight to my back.

The impact sends me flying to the ground, pinned under the massive gecko creature. Its sharp curled claws tear into my back as I frantically try and escape its grasp. Straining every muscle in my body, I manage to just push it off me, its talons leaving a trail of blue blood as I jump back to my feet.

As it rights itself and spins to face me, I take a hurried glance around the room. Some time during the struggle my staff had been knocked from my hands, and now lays abandoned in front of the cave entrance.

Dashing for my weapon, I nearly tumble back to the ground as my already injured ankle twists painfully under me, caught in a root that rose from the ground seemingly of its own volition. More roots and vines launch from the ground to wrap themselves around my legs. Seriously, is that all this lizard can do? My staff back in hand, I let out a small grin as I start whacking the roots away once again. I know how to deal with these.

Apparently not though, as a nudge in my gut tells me to quickly look up. Just in time too, as the lizards massive jaws once again launch themselves straight toward my head. Bringing my staff up defensively, I flinch as its gnarled teeth gnash around my weapon, slamming together mere inches from my face.

Shaking the creature off my staff, I take a quick glance down at the roots around my legs. They've been slowly creeping farther up my legs and have started encroaching around my waist. Keeping an eye on the lizard, I swipe at the roots trying to separate them from my legs. Futilely, the blunt staff bounces off the tough tangle of roots and vines. Dammit, if only I had a blade!

Following my combat sense, I quickly whack the lizard who was once again launching toward me, sending it spinning to the ground. I have to get these vines off. Trying to kick them off, I bring my staff down on them once again.

*slice*

The roots fall limp at my feet as they are suddenly severed by my strike. Wait, what? I stand stunned, staring at my staff. Did that just..?

The gecko creature tackles me again, snapping me out of my confusion. Its jagged teeth clenching down on my injured leg, sending fresh, more intense spikes of pain up through my spine.

Slashing my staff / spear thing down on the lizard, I pierce the newfound blade down into the creature's head, right where its skull meets its spine. The lizard instantly goes limp, collapsing into a dead pile of flesh and scales. Well that was anticlimactic.

Bringing the bladed end of the staff closer to my face, I watch in shock as the newly formed dark jagged blade warps and melds once again into a blunt, flattened end. Rubbing my temple, I sigh. I have had more than enough mysteries for today. I really don't want to deal with another.

Glancing back down at the lizard's corpse, I notice a fine green mist-like substance evaporating off of it. For a second I thought I saw a glimpse of an annoyed looking sprite, before all the vines and roots throughout the lizards body suddenly dissipate, fading to nothing.

Bending down to the creature's body, a new window pops up in front of me.

Would you like to loot the Creeping Vine Lizard? (Yes/No)

Tapping the yes, the gecko thing suddenly disperses into motes of light, leaving behind in its place a small pile of materials. I count four large lizard scales and three haunches of lizard meat, along with a couple of scattered gold coins. I quickly pocket the items, hopefully they'll be of some use later.

Standing back up, I wince as putting weight on my injured leg sends sharp white flashes of pain through my head. How much damage did I take anyways?

Glancing up at my status bars, it looks like I had just under a third of my health left and I was nearly out of stamina. Limping up to a wall, I take a seat and sip from my waterskin, watching idly as my bars slowly refill. I notice a couple of new windows hovering at the edges of my vision, but I ignore them. I'll check them out next time. For now, I just open my menu and log out.

Successfully this time.