So, this is it?” I stared at the ground. It didn’t look any different than what we’d been walking across for the last day.

“This is the edge of the Apprentice area.” our guide offered. “Beyond this you will not enjoy it’s protections .”

“Protections? Are you saying constant near-death trials are somehow ‘protected’ compared to what’s over there?” I waved vaguely in front of us.

“Beyond this area the monsters will not be adjusted to your level. You will encounter them and have to deal with them at whatever level they exist within the system.”

“Well, it’s not as if it’s been working up until now.”

Our guide remained silent.

I shrugged. “Onward, I guess.”

I looked over our small party, myself and Ixion, as well as Tehlmar and Eldrin.

We had considered taking a larger party, but in the end decided to leave as many as possible at Springbrook. Numbers wouldn’t help our quest, but they could make a difference for the town.

***

Up ahead, there was a commotion on the edge of the town we were approaching.

It was almost comical from a distance. There seemed to be a fight going on, but we couldn’t see past the press of bodies to the actual fight. From the centre there seemed to be a near constant stream of bodies being tossed out into the air in all directions. Orange numbers flickered about their heads.

As we drew closer, we could see that at the heart of the commotion was a rather large, rather furious looking woman who was flipping and tossing anyone who dared get close enough to her.

Fascinated, we made a point of staying well out of reach as we approached. She didn’t seem to have any weapons about her, but she was more than a match for the several dozen men, more and more of whom were ending up laid out on the ground around her.

“Did you want some too?” she asked, staring hard at us after there were no more attackers standing.

Almost as one, we raised our hands and took a step back.

“You’ll find no quarrel with us, Milady.” I offered. “We were simply amazed at your skills.”

“Huh.” the large woman grunted as she collected a battered wide-brimmed hat from the ground. “Better than they deserve.”

As she stood up to her full height, we realised she had been squatting in a martial arts stance, and her true height towered above even Ixion’s 6’2”. She was deeply tanned and freckled, with a long thick braid of jet black hair that fell straight down her back.

She pressed a fist into her other palm and bowed to us.

“I am Hau.” she said. It sounded like it could be an introduction or a battle cry, depending on her mood.

“Saelyn.” I waved, and pointed to each of our party in turn, “Ixion, Eldrin, Tehlmar. We are adventurers, travelling and seeking others like ourselves.”

“Players?” she asked, her brow knotted in interest.

“We’re players.” I said enthusiastically, indicating Ixion and I. “We’re looking for more. Have you met any?”

“I’ve met a few, but I can’t seem to recall much about them. Something happened a few weeks ago, and everything before that is clouded. I thought I was a fighter of some sort, but I couldn’t remember how to use the weapons I was carrying. Since then I’ve been training at a local monastery.

“Wait, you’re a Monk?” Ixion interrupted.

“That’s what I seem to be. It’s been challenging, but…” She waved around her at the unconscious men. “...it seems to be effective.” She paused and flexed her arms. “Maybe I was a blacksmith or something, you know, before. That might explain why I couldn’t use the weapons I was carrying.”

“Something, that’s for sure. Let’s go somewhere that isn’t the middle of the street, surrounded by bodies.” I suggested. “How about in here?” I waved at the building we were standing in front of. It seemed to be a pub or saloon.

“Maybe not.” Hau said, looking sheepish. “That’s where the trouble started.”

Saelyn cocked an eyebrow.

“Guy grabbed my ass. I made him stop. His friends took offense.” she said quietly.

“Guy grabs your ass, you go right ahead and make him stop.” I shot back as I reached up to clap our new friend on her massive shoulder. “His friends be damned. I’ll deal with them.”

[Party request. Join? Y/N] popped up in front of me. I eyeballed Ixion.

Hau looked a little taken aback, then she burst out smiling as she realised she’d just been adopted by someone half her size.

“We didn’t really need it before now, with just the two of us. But now that we’re growing, I figure we should make it official.”

Judging by the huge grin splitting Hau’s face, I assumed she agreed.

“Really?” She beamed. “ Well then, welcome to Hicksburg. I guess I’m buying lunch.”

***

“So, you’ve been out here on your own for weeks?” I asked Hau after we’d finished eating. “What have you been doing? Just training?”

“Training. Helping out around the monastery. Intimidating a few travellers when they think the monks are easy pickings.” I could tell the latter upset her.

“But you haven’t seen any players in that time?”

“I remember some from before, but you’re the first I’ve seen since.”

Ixion turned to me, “I wonder if this is intentional, keeping players separate like this? To make it easier to mess with the system.”

“I still don’t get this ‘system’ thing you keep talking about.” Hau chimed in. “Like, this isn’t really us, and we’re controlling these bodies from somewhere else. That’s too weird.”

“Maybe so, but we figure it doesn’t matter either way. We still need to stop the Goblin army from overrunning Springbrook and whatever else it is threatening. Whether the instructions come from an Arcane device, from our gods, or someone else is less important than doing the right thing and defending the people here.”

“Well, some of them.” Hau said with a smirk, nodding out the window behind me.

***

“So I was a...Barbarian?” Hau repeated. “Before I started training as a Monk? How is that…” she trailed off.

It was well into the evening, and we had booked rooms upstairs for the night so we could stay and learn as much as we could from each other.

“Twelfth-level Barbarian, as far as we can tell, and now seventh-level Monk” I said. “When whatever happened a few weeks ago, happened, it was like we were all reset to apprentices or trainees or something. Some of us were fortunate enough to be in the Apprentice area and have Guides, while others were already out here doing their thing. Some things seem to have carried over, but many things have not. You seem to have some of your Barbarian abilities, but not what we would expect given your supposed level, especially not for someone who is multi-classed. It’s as if whatever did this would rather that we be as weak and disoriented as possible.”

“Well I may be disoriented, but I’m certainly not weak.” Hau shot back, indignant that anyone might think so.

Ixion seemed happy I was comfortable taking the lead on some of these conversations. If it was true that I was involved in building whatever it was that we were in, then it made sense that I might have insights the rest of them missed.

He was more concerned with figuring out how to fight the battles in front of us.

***

“Wait, what did you say?” Ixion asked, realising his musings were making him miss the conversation.

“We should train together.” Hau repeated. “We should spend an hour or two everyday sparing and sharing our skills. If there is really someone or something out there looking to harm us, we should help each other be as prepared as possible. I used to have all these abilities that I don’t even remember, and it’s frustrating.”

“You have a point.” I agreed. “We all use the quarterstaff, and we have several overlapping skills. It would make us stronger if we shared more, especially if we get split up later.”

He nodded. “When we meet more players, we should make a point of figuring out what skills they have and how we can cross-train them as well. We can also learn the strengths and weaknesses of various styles and weapons.”

“If you really are responsible for whatever a ‘developer’ does,” Ixion said to me. “Then I think you’re going to have a heck of a time sorting this mess out once it’s all over. We don’t even know who we really are or what we can do. It feels, I don’t know, artificial? Why are we so preoccupied with these ‘Classes’? I feel like I should be able to study whatever I want.”

“...and if I’m not?” I asked, one eyebrow raised. “What if this really is our reality? What if that message is our gods toying with us? What if Classes are a shortcut? Could you imagine how complex it would be if someone had to design a system to account for every last choice you might make?”

“I just hope the gods aren’t having a great laugh at our expense...if ‘they’ even exist.”

“We can only second guess so much before we go mad, so let’s stay on track with finding other players and defeating the Goblin army. Then we can look deeper into the questions of life, the universe, and everything.”

“So, Hau?” I asked, “Do you recall anything about where you might have seen players before all this happened?”

***

The next morning we were on the road again, heading for the busting hamlet of Suavis.

We had decided that, until we had some concrete information on the location of more players, we would head for wherever we heard rumours of either exceptional events, or concentrations of Goblin forces. Either one was likely to be a sign of players or something that would attract them.

Asking around the townsfolk had resulted in a few leads. Hau had been helpful with that. Apparently her Reputation in Hicksburg was almost as high as ours had been in Springbrook.

The next town over had a new sheriff, or whatever passed for sheriffs in this place. Apparently two brothers had arrived a few weeks ago and started duelling with anyone who was making trouble. Within a few days the town was short a few troublemakers and the regular folk were breathing easier. We figured that either they were Players, or at least likely to be involved with a quest that might lead us to some.

A day’s travel past that there was a rumour of a Goblin horde coming down out of the hills. There was a garrison blocking the mouth of the valley for now, and the conflict was attracting all sorts of attention. Depending on what we found out with these two brothers, that was our second stop for now.

***

“Hey, you look different this morning.”

“Why thank you, I work out.” Ixion answered as he made a show of flexing his arms.

“No, seriously.” I said, rolling my eyes. “There’s something about both of you. You look different than Eldrin and Tehlmar, or the rest of the townspeople for that matter.”

I checked for notifications, and sure enough there was a blinking icon. So much for our Guide being easier to use. I still wasn’t sure if this new Party Guide was better, but Ixion seemed to think it was an improvement over what I had before. If I actually was in charge of this mess, that was something I was going to change after we sorted it out.

[Spellskill: Intuitive Investigation]

Interesting. I called up the description.

[Intuitive Investigation - allows user to determine when objects are out of place.]

“Curiouser and curiouser.” I wondered if the description was vague to escape scrutiny, or if someone just sucked at writing descriptions.

“Is it that ability to sense players they said they were going to try to give you?” Ixion asked.

“It could be. I haven’t done anything else that should give me a skill, let alone a Spellskill.”

“If you notice anyone else looking the same way, don’t keep it a secret.”

I winked, “You’ll be the second to know.”