The sky turned a deep shade of sunset, my watch read nineteen thirteen, almost a quarter after seven. Noodles, I hate converting military time. I pulled up my picture of the map and it showed us still a ways out from the town. I didn’t want to use too much of my magic so I pulled a torch out from my fanny pack to have ready to light in case night ambushed us on our walk.

Borrowing Iagan’s socketed fire gemstone set into the pommel of his [Adventurer’s Standard Long Sword] I easily lit the torch. The light it gave off cast an orange glow on the rapidly darkening trees around us. We made basic small talk and pleasantries, I learned he was from Austin, Texas and that he had 2 older brothers. Now that he mentioned it I could finally place the slight accent that took the G’s out of some of his words.

“Yeah, Roqor Studios paid to fly me up to come Beta.” Iagan grinned. “Business class and everything I felt like a movie star! My first time flying in a plane too so now I feel spoiled.”

“Ah well, I live close to the developer studios so I drove myself there.” I said trying not to feel too jealous of Iagan’s big wig treatment, even if it was just business class. It was a nice studio in Northern California and literally the next town over from where I lived.

The forest path widened ever so slightly as we rounded a bend when I spotted it: a deer grazing on the trampled grasses beside the pathway. I threw my hand out to stop Iagan and handed him the torch.

“Hold this.” I whispered as I prepped the camera and quickly snapped the photo of the deer.

Ker-chunk.

A piercing flash lit up the forest in a blast of high beam. My compendium updated and the deer ran off braying into the woods as it flailed and kicked. Iagan watched after it in surprise as I ignored it in favor of the camera shot.

[Floor 1 Animals 4/25]

“That’s pretty nifty.” He managed as I took the torch back. I laughed.

“That’s nothing compared to my first spell. Light.” I held my hand out and a tiny sun erupted a bright light around us, bringing the darkened forest back into daylight. I cupped it, turning it into a high powered flashlight as my blue magic bar slowly ticked down.

“You got a spell from the Tower?” Iagan whistled. “Lucky, there was nothing left when I got there.”

“What?” I dropped the spell in surprise, the shadows racing to fill the absence. What about everything that I’d found? Did the room not respawn or fill itself between players starting? “It didn’t reset?”

He shook his head, “Nah, not that I could tell. Woke up on a couch, place was absolutely tossed. I thought Roqor spawned me in some mad wizard’s den or somethin’.”

“That’s so weird.” I commented, recalling that I awoke in the room with nothing else but the sink. Why were the spawn points different? More questions. I went back to my wrist HUD and found the Notes tab that I’d neglected to look at and typed out what I’d learned.

Notes:

-Iagan spawned in Wizard Tower not Sink Room

-Tower didn’t reset

The little note vanished into an icon sitting underneath the military time numbers letting me know I’d made one. Iagan continued on.

“After I woke up I picked up the orb/watch combo, chose my class and left down the only other hallway I could find. That’s where I found the sink and the dead Rat King. You musta blinded the shit out of it in that tunnel.”

“Yeah, that was the first time the flash activated.”

Now that he mentioned that I had noticed that it always seemed to hit the chance on the very first picture I’d take of Monsters or Animals. No flash for the picture of the Yellow Curry Leaf. I tabbed into my compendium to the entry for Camera.

[Camera] -For the Photo Compendium! |Floor 1 Memory card| |Flash ?/NA|

Properties-Flash has a chance to stun target on first picture taken. Chance to activate raises after multiple attempts versus same target.]

I saw new information had been added to clarify that this was a Floor 1 Memory Card. I’d probably have to buy a new memory card for the next floor. Delightful. The flash properties updated too to include the specifics. First picture. So long as I saw it first I could have the upper hand. The chance for it to activate would get harder and harder if I didn’t plan things accordingly. Apparently in choosing [Tourist] I was signing up to be the woman with the plan, but what is a plan but three contingencies stacked in a trench coat?

“I’m going to have to be careful in getting my shots it looks like. Seems like only the first one is a for sure hit.”

“A guaranteed blind slash stun is an amazing early game find, though. Damn, [Tourist] has some hidden mechanics you could exploit it would seem.” Iagan trailed off theory crafting how to wombo-combo the flash stun into something bigger. He continued talking too much meta for me to handle as we approached the outskirts of the town of Green’s Peak.

Two small fire braziers stood watch on either side of the large gate. Three figures stood in the center, silhouetted but they noticed our torch and one bounded towards us. Fyera approached, she’d changed back into the original dress I’d first met her in although her hair still remained down. She collided with me in a big bear hug.

“Oh Mica there you are!” She fussed holding me back out at an arm’s length. “Plyne said you hadn’t come back yet and I got worried. I even almost got Waelen to get a search party so we could come after you. Ain’t that right Waelen?”

Waelen had also approached, albeit at a much more slow saunter rubbing the side of his head. “Almost tore my ear off leading me over to convince Plyne.”

“Well I’m fine. Got tangled up with catching a boar for dinner tonight. Mr.BigwIggy, another one of the Beta Testers here helped me dispatch it and I thought I’d try and cook my first recipe tonight to thank him.” I pulled up the picture of the boar on my viewfinder to show Fyera. Waelen and Fyera looked over to him, Fyera having just now registered that there was someone else with me.

“I won’t say no to a free meal.” Iagan said with a light wave of acknowledgement. “You can call me Iagan if that’s easier.”

A pastel pink window fluttered on the left side of my screen. A private chat for players to use with one another.

Mr.BigwIggy whispered to [The Group]:

MykaReviews whispered to [The Group]:

“An [Adventurer] hmm?” Plyne said studying Iagan as he approached. “Maybe you’re the group for the job…” He trailed off and Iagan’s brows raised.

“Do you have a quest for me?” He asked an eager excitement carried in his words. Plyne nodded.

“Perhaps.” Plyne nodded slowly, glancing over to me with a nod of approval. “This could be something your group might be able to handle. But before that what’s this I hear about boar for dinner?”

->|

Plyne lead us back to The Dapper Crate where I explained what happened, Iagan carefully reminding me of the bits I’d purposefully tried to leave out to save my pride. Iagan took over the rest of the story telling as I focused on cooking. Waelen listened with interest at Iagan’s side of things and Fyera stared at me from across the room.

“You lasso’d a wild boar?” She squeaked as I wrangled the stove upstairs in the main section of Plyne’s second story. He’d had been gracious enough to let me borrow his kitchen while I tried my hand at following the curry recipe I’d learned from the cook book: Curried Flavors. Plyne stood off to the side out of my way and was giving me enough space to do my thing, but I couldn’t help but notice him hovering near the edge of the stove keeping a watchful eye on my progress.

The cooking skill was as it turned out just regular cooking, there was no instant cheat or rapid cooking feature available in this world it would seem. Bummer. The recipe wasn’t hard to do thankfully, just needed some boar meat, some yellow curry leaves and some rice. One part rice, one part boar meat and one part curry leaves, plated and served. I left the extra in the pan and snapped a picture of the golden simmering sauce as I slowly poured it over the rice. Ker-chunk.

[Skill Increase: Cooking level 2]

Drat. It was not enough to level my photography skill. Even though it was rather high at [Photography level 3] I wanted it higher still. I’d definitely need something more dynamic than sauce drizzling. Still everyone seemed happy with their portion and I’d made enough for everyone to have seconds and I STILL had extra boar meat left over. Content with my compendium update I tucked into my still steaming plate.

The pork was seared, juicy and deliciously paired with the heat from the yellow curry leaf. It was delicious and filling, even I was taken by surprise: I wasn’t a chef in the real world but dang I could follow a recipe apparently! My health bar ticked back up to full as I ate. Food replenished your health naturally, I’d have to test if food or health potions were faster. I made a note on my watch. Iagan’s eyes were watering by the end of it but he had a big grin across his face.

“Thanks for dinner.” He nearly purred as he leaned back in his chair folding his hands over his stomach in content relaxation. Plyne nodded in agreement as he finished the last of his.

“Curried Flavors is a good series. Just make sure to pay extra attention to any sweets and confection based recipes. Those are hard to make for a reason.” Plyne hinted freely. Iagan didn’t notice or didn’t care, but I listened all the same giving a nod as I started a new note in my notepad for his advice. During my wait for the bird I’d tried my best to write down all the pertinent information that Plyne had given to me throughout the course of my stay in Green’s Peak.

“So what’s this quest you think we can handle?” I asked taking another bite after I finished my note. I had quite the collection of them under my watch interface now: personal notes, quotes, tips and questions. I guess I’d have to get started on ghost writing the guide book soon if only to have a way to compile all these things in a semi readable state.

Plyne gave a slow nod, glancing back over to Iagan. “One of the many benefits of being in a group is the ability to share quests, including those you wouldn’t normally get for other classes. Do you know why we send [Adventurer]s off on quests Mica?”

There was something slightly unsettling hearing him say my actual name once again. I shook my head blankly.

“It’s because [Adventurer]s come equipped to handle threats.” Plyne pointed to the sword Iagan had taken off when he sat down in the chair. “This is not a quest I would have ever given you because you lack the proper equipment to handle it.”

I materialized my letter opener dagger in my hand from my fanny pack. “I can protect myself, just fine thanks.”

“Your class has a penalty associated with using weapons to where you only get it removed if your target is incapacitated.” Plyne warned, cementing what I’d stumbled upon earlier when using the flash of my camera: I’d have to be VERY careful in my approaches. “[Adventurer]s don’t have that problem—”

“Ain’t that right.” Iagan smirked as Plyne continued.

“Because they can use their strength to compensate for their shortcomings. You don’t have that same class granted strength so you’ll need to find new ways to defeat your enemies. So, with that precaution out of the way are you sure you’re up for this quest?”

“Of course I’m sure.” Iagan said sitting up as Plyne continued to address me. “I accept.”

“That’s great that you accepted,” Plyne said serenely. “But I need the approval of the Party Leader.”

Iagan whirled his head over to me in an instant, watching me expectantly.

“Y-yeah.” I hesitated. No matter what Plyne sent my way I had to be ready for it: I’d need it for the compendium.

“Alright.” Plyne got up and pulled the map of the first floor back off his wall and laid it down on the table after Waelen cleared it. Together he and Fyera tag teamed the dishes while Iagan and I got debriefed. Plyne pointed a finger on the town of Green’s Peak and trailed his finger down the map the opposite way I’d gone earlier today, stopping at a crossing.

“Here. If you follow the main river body back up to the mountains you’ll find a cave. In that cave is a very persistent bear who hunts in these woods and is well past being a nuisance to our town. Kill the bear and bring back it’s pelt and I’ll see that you two are handsomely rewarded.”

“The -BEAR- Plyne?” Fyera said stopping from her chore with a look of shocked surprise. “You’d be better killing them yourself!”

“It’s fine.” Iagan interrupted, the excitement building in his face as he grinned. “Tell me more about this quest.”

As though he’d said magic words, Plyne complied. “It’s been terrorizing our town for the last four years. We didn’t have a fence before it came along so it would just walk in when it felt like. I’ve helped drive it back but every year we don’t kill it makes it grow that much more bold once it’s done hibernating. Which is why you’ll need to strike soon, winter just ended last month and it hasn’t been spotted yet so I suspect it’s still holed up in it’s cave.”

[New Quest Available: ::DON’T POKE THE BEAR::]

[Stop the bear from bothering Green’s Peak]

[Reward: 100 gold]

[::DON’T POKE THE BEAR::

TRACK NEW QUEST?

Y/N?]

Killing a bear? That was nothing to shake a stick at. My uncle was a trophy hunter and had a taxidermied bear in his rustic cabin sitting room, along with his moose head, his multiple deer’s head, boxes of stuffed ducks and an Ibex ram. It didn’t bring home the blue ribbon but I knew just how large to expect that bear to be.

And that was fucking huge.

Click.

Oh noodles what am I getting myself into?