Woke up in a room today. I mean not that you don’t usually wake up in rooms to begin with anyways, but this one was one I was sure I wasn’t familiar with. Didn’t know what the fuck had happened just that, there I was. Just me in an empty room. All there was in front of me was a door. So I did what any reasonable person left in a room with no windows or other discernable exits would do: I went to the door and I tried it. Thankfully it was unlocked. So I opened it, wondering who the hell had time to just drag me through a long hallway and leave me in a room at the end of it without even bothering to lock it after themselves.

Someone who clearly didn’t mind if I wasn’t there when they got back. I looked around the room again. Empty, except for a sink which had been behind me the whole time. Well, now that changed things as my throat was suddenly Sahara dry. I squeaked the faucet handles, the pipes gurgled for a few moments sputtering brown tepid water. I splashed it impatiently waiting for it to clear up and taking great deep gulps full when it was. The water cooled a bit further and I splashed some on my face.

Too bad there wasn’t a mirror here so as to gaze upon my own features so I could describe them out. I would see two eyes one brown, one blue; heterochromia happens more than you think okay? Bear with me. Long brown hair-- okay look this is just as painful to write as it is to imagine, okay? BEAR WITH ME.

I’ll get to the part about the wizard trying to destroy the world soon, but every story has to start at the beginning and this one’s mine.

So back to the door, outside of it was a hallway, plain with nothing along the walls or floor, just stone, like a tunnel. A few actual flame lit torches lined the otherwise bare walls and I walked out, seeing where it would lead me. It occurred to me to think to pat myself down and look to see what I was wearing-- nothing too tedious, just a simple nightgown. Something cheap from my mom’s bargain hunts at the stores. I am pretty sure I had been sleeping before I came here. Like I know I remember getting into bed because I was excited that I got to watch the next episode of My Guilty Pleasure Reality TV. At least I’d put on clothes tonight. The end of the hallway led to another simple door made of wood, not like door wood but rough wood-you-find-on-well-worn-fences- wood. I felt compelled to touch it and it too was unlocked for my benefit, the grain gritty under my palm.

I pushed into another room. This one though looked like it belonged to a wizard. Bookcases lined the walls filled with just as many curios as tomes. The ceiling painted in deep blue tones with golden celestial prints of a star map. A telescope sat near the lone window which showed it to be night outside, furthering my theory that I was robbed of a peaceful night in once again. In the center of the room was a round dais where a floating orb sat in the center pulsing with blue light.

I promise you you won’t believe what happens next: I touched it! Wait you guessed that, didn’t you? Ah, well I am nothing if not predictable. But yeah so, I touched it and when I did it was like I could hear it speaking directly into my mind.

[Greetings and Salutations,] the orb spoke with a robotic voice which wasn’t what I was expecting at all, [Welcome to Trick Tower, your number one premium virtual reality experience.]

Virtual Reality? Oh snap, that’s right. I have a job in the real world where I review games and I was invited to review the latest game in development from Reqor Studios run by the reclusive Jasper Reqor. ‘Games like this sometimes give you a bit of mild amnesia upon arrival’ that was what the crash course representative and lawyer team made very clear to me upon my wavers. The usual legalese we’re not responsible for harm blah blah blah. It’s laying down in a pod I don’t think it’s going to be that intense.

The blue orb continued, [My Master the great [Wizard] Reqor the Immortal, welcomes you to his chamber for your agreed upon consultation time before entering the world of Trick Tower. I will act as your guide during your stay in Trick Tower. Go ahead and put me into your inventory by double tapping me.]

I patted the orb and it crystalized, zooming to my wrist and transforming itself into a thin pulse reader style watch band. It chirped a robotic tune at me flashing a pale white button which of course I pushed. The audio file clicked and chirped as it projected a small screen across my forearm.

[Great work. Double tapping items will add them to your inventory.]

The text abruptly changed to red:

[BEWARE: ITEMS MARKED IN RED HAVE A HIGHER DIFFICULTY RATING AND WILL BE CONSIDERED STOLEN IF YOU TAKE THEM. IF CAUGHT STEALING A RED MARKED ITEM YOU WILL BE THROWN IN JAIL.

DO YOU UNDERSTAND?

Y/N?]

The text echoed in my mind as it typed out across the screen, ending in another flashing button. This was easy enough to understand, if something was red marked it wasn’t yours. It did mention a difficulty rating which meant that there was a skill that could be raised though.

I clicked Y. The screen blanked, moving on.

[To view an item simply look at it with your eyes.] The screen wrote out the words Ha. Ha. Ha. [No really though, to view an item and it’s stats all you have to do is look at it.] The little orb— bracelet voice explained it better okay I don’t remember all of it word for word. But when I looked at an item a small interface appeared in the edges of my vision like a HUD, a small segment to the lower left ran through a scrolling text describing the items I’d discovered.

[Discovery: Water!]

[Discovery: Fire!]

[Discovery: Books!]

[Discovery: Furniture!]

[Discovery: Scrolls!]

[Discovery: Buildings!]

And on and on. I swear to the noodle place on 8th street that these stupid notifications kept going for every little thing. Each of these new discoveries popped up a small new tab and soon I had looked at enough things around the room to go from individual name tags to alphabetized categories.

I have to give it good marks for being easy to understand, although not all players would stand around and look at everything in the room to fill it out. That would have to be addressed when I was topside again. The theft warning was a nice reminder for all players that there will be consequences enforced on players who get caught breaking the rules.

[This is your Journal off to the side! Anything you see or focus on long enough will go in and get catalogued. Any discoveries you make will be added into the information section on the specific page.] The blue voice continued.

[Yellow lined categories means there are sub categories that you can access.] The tab marked ‘S’ flashed with a pale white. I clicked it, following along with the simple tutorial mode.

The S tab opened and highlighted off to the side was a sub category ringed in yellow labeled ‘Spells.’ I clicked it open and found a single spell highlighted.

[Spell Discovery: Light!]

I clicked the notification and a small diamond at the bottom of my visual HUD lit up with a small golden sun runic emblem. Another white outline surrounded it.

[Say the spell to cast it!] The blue voice encouraged.

“Light.”

All I can say is it was the most magical thing I’ve ever seen. Small as a bouncy ball hovering above my palm was a tiny ball of light. It illuminated the immediate area around me with it’s clear golden rays. I held the light of the sun itself in my palm. I stared at it, capturing it for my journal. Okay staring at the sun like bead of light for long periods probably wasn’t the smartest idea. I waved my hand, and the light dismissed.

[Spell Level Gained: Light level 1!]

[Adding your spell to your drop bar menu will show you it’s recast timer.]

The little sun icon no longer shone, a small bar slowly filled up underneath it but I didn't care how long it took: I had just performed magic. The blue screen pulsed with a white button again, urging me through the tutorial. I tapped it.

[::FIND THE BOOK::

TRACK NEW QUEST?

Y/N?]

That was it. The only instructions. I frowned, turning around to look at the veritable library around me. I sighed, putting my hands on my hips when a soft ping came from the wristband reminding me I had to answer. An impatient tutorial? I clicked Y on the screen. The words vanished into a blue light that scooted to the top left of the screen blinking slowly. I raised my wrist up following the dowsing dot until it moved into the center of my wrist.

In that direction a very obvious book sat on a pedestal that screamed ‘READ ME.’ I approached and looked studying the title: Choose your Own Adventure.

[Discovery: Quest Object- Choose your Own Adventure by J. Reqor!]

[Discovery: Quest Location- Trick Tower!]

Those quickly filed away under Q in my journal. I opened the book to find a logbook, like one you’d find at wedding to prove you showed up. Over half a dozen names already signed into the pages, I recognized a few fellow reviewers and a couple competitors who’d made it first. I committed their choices to memory and my journal. Having an automatic information sorter is a fantastic design addition to this complex game.

[Choose your Class from the list provided:]

Small swirls of class information typed in on my screen while I took my time hovering over each one.

[Adventurer] -Sword and Magic based class, the best of both worlds!

[Barbarian] -Frenzy attacker

[Caveperson] -Muscle good, magic bad. Extra endurance.

[Detective] -Extra intelligence, free swanky hat and magnifying glass

[Healer] -Extra Magic (+2 points /level)

[Knight] -Proficient in horses, Martial class only

[Monk] - Magic and Martial arts. Enough said.

[Priest/ess] -Extra Magic (Divine Magic quest path)

[Ranger] -Animal Handling + 1 starter companion

[Rogue] - Extra Dexterity, Extra Constitution

[Swordsmaster] -Weapons Only

[Tourist] -Extra Charisma, Weaponless bonus

[Wizard] -Magic only. What more do you want you’re a wizard.

So there was some tech talk in the class descriptions but that stuff is boring. I didn’t want to deal with stats I wanted to see the game world overall. Let the others get bogged down in their min maxing classes, I wanted to look around. So, naturally I picked the [Tourist] class. This led me to a further menu.

[Select class:

[TOURIST]

Is that correct?

Y/N?]

Click.

Nothing happened. At least nothing that I felt happened. The thin watch beeped at me drawing my attention back down.

[Quest Complete: ::FIND THE BOOK:: ]

[Class updated: Tourist]

[Journal has been updated!]

[ID has been updated]

[New Quest Available: ::SIGN THE BOOK::]

[::SIGN THE BOOK::

TRACK NEW QUEST?

Y/N?]

I signed the damn book. Immediately after my name came the word: TOURIST. Apparently I was the only one of those among the names signed in the book. Good, more class features for me to discover on my own without competition. My wrist beeped again.

[Quest Complete: ::SIGN THE BOOK::]

The display now displayed a present icon flashing the same pale white as before. Click. The box opened with some pixelated fan fare confetti and a victory noise.

[You have received: Tourist starter pack! All items have been sorted into your inventory.]

I checked it, finding I now had several flags in my HUD off to the side. I clicked Inventory which was also alphabetized to my delight, based on item type. The tiny star sparkle on the clothing tab caught my eye first. There was fashion in game or lack of it, and I was LACKING. I opened my inventory to find small icons of the items I held on my person. Two shirts and a pair of Bermuda shorts. One was a garish Hawaiian pattern, the other was a tacky ‘beach bum body’ where the illusion was your body was the cartoonish caricature on the front and back. Yellow Polka-dotted and buxom as all hell.

I looked back down at my flimsy gown. Anything was better than that. The caricature shirt was hilarious, the fabric long enough to cover the tips of my new shorts completely. Truth be told I’d always secretly wanted one. I played around in my tabs discovering my newfound class also came with:

[A camera] -For the Photo Compendium! |Memory card| |Flash ?/NA|

[A towel] -'Never leave home without one!'

[Sunglasses] -Stylish and identity concealing.

[Fanny pack of Holding] -They were never out of style.

[Trick Tower Tour Pamphlet] -’Make the most of your trip through the Tower.’

[Walking Shoes] -Makes Rough Terrain a walk in the park.

[Sunscreen] -Always protect your skin.

[Replenishing Travel Toiletries Set] -No explanation needed.

[Food Ration x1] -Label reads ‘Eat Me’

[Water Canteen] -Label reads ‘Drink Me’

The white light pulsed at the edge of my wrist screen. Click. I followed the interface into a different tab labeled ‘Perks.’

-Breakfast included with all tavern and inn stays.

-Always one room left in even the fullest of taverns or inns.

-Starting Money of 500 Gold Pieces

Huh! Those are some amazing perks! At least one meal and a bed guaranteed no matter what, so long as I could afford to stay in an inn. With the advance of the I should be good upon leaving the tutorial level provided the world not have outrageous prices for every little thing.

My wrist beeped again, another white flashing light pulsed. It should really go without saying now honestly okay, I clicked it. A voice clip played from my wrist as it projected the face of Jasper Reqor as though he were about seventy years older than he actually was, taking the visage of a wizened wizard.

“Congratulations on choosing your class, adventurer.” The head and mouth moved eerily similar to how a human head would. The simulations in here are amazing, their AI made everything look so life-like. I nearly felt overcome by the need to boop him on the nose, but I promise I refrained. The head of Jasper Reqor continued: “By choosing your class you have started yourself down a path that will either lead to your eminent victory or your utter defeat. So, now I must ask you humble [Tourist], to perform one task for me in return for granting you this class boon.”

The face vanished, leaving behind a text box that read,

[Class Quest unlocked: ::Guidebook Ghostwriter::

TRACK NEW QUEST?

Y/N?]

[Class Side Quest unlocked ::Complete the Compendium::

TRACK NEW QUEST?

Y/N?]

Ah, my inner child had watched enough cartoons and played enough video games to know exactly where this was going to go. A small yellow mouse monster made sure I learned that lesson a long time ago. The completionist route. I could barely contain my excitement. Reqor Studios boasted several hundred different ways to beat the game and it was as though this route in particular was tailored to me. Click. Click.

On my semi popular review channel online my highest rated videos are the ones where I grade the different books and stories in various video games. I’m just glad I’m not the only one who loved stuff like this, my viewer base is definitely on the smaller side compared to some of the other great names in the guest book. I love losing myself in the details and the world building; the little hidden gems and Easter eggs developers leave behind. Finding those are usually the work of coders and game breakers but I intended to take my time with Trick Tower. No secret would be safe from me, I would learn them all. As best as I could anyways.

Jasper Reqor knew this. He told me he picked me because he was a fan of my channel— MINE! So now I would rise to meet his challenge. I eyed the trove of books around me.

I would start here.