Welcome to Xaranya

Book 2 – The Knight’s Tale

Chapter 2 – Starter Quests

After this, it gets monotonous for a second.

I mean anyone who has ever played a role-playing game knows that these introductory sections can be a) very monotonous, which is why many games let you skip them and just get the experience points or whatever. It’s a chance to introduce you to the world and the world system. For experienced gamers or people – like you, the reader – who are not actually in the world it can be pretty superfluous.

So … I’m going to skip to the end and give Susan the experience points (she gets to level 5 before leaving).

Susan does the intro quests, learns how to use her inventory, et cetera. Meets the Guild trainers. Kills some bunnies because she has no compunction about killing bunnies, and … basically learns the controls.

You’ll learn all of this later, in a more hands-on way. Don’t worry.

After ten quests, some fiddling with how she wants the in-world interface to work, and so on, she returns to the central plaza to find Kat – again – standing in front of a large, ornate fountain

“Congratulations on completing mandatory orientation,” Kat said, while holding out a single coin, “And you have my information, imprinted on this.” Susan took the bronze coin, with the words Contact Coin written in gold letters on both faces. “Once you throw that coin in the fountain, you’ll be in the mainland world, and the information on that coin will be in your permanent inventory. Look me up, if you want to. Believe it or not, being a world designer can be a lonely job, and I love meeting new people. I can’t tell you where you will start, because that depends on where the system decides to send you, but it will be in one of four starter towns. You’ll be able to contact me from there. Good luck.”

Susan paused for a second, looking at Kat’s face, and then taking in the scene in front of her, which looked like a European style city, with buildings and what was doubtless normally a busy street. In front of her was a large fountain with angel statues and several sprays of water jetting up from around it, a gentle spray that made almost no sound, but left wisps of warm-ish water in the air. She threw the coin into the fountain, where it landed with a sploosh.

And then, three messages appeared on her user interface.

Now leaving Xaranya – Starter Zone. This one appeared first, and then faded away, replaced by two others.

Now entering General Chat for Xaranya – Chellest, Tilton.

Now entering Novice Chat for Xaranya – Worldwide.

And then, her entire world changed – again. She was now in Tilton, the Underwater City, literally on the other side of the world from where Vikom would show up a few years later by time of Xaranya, a few decades earlier by time of earth and … none of this is strange for those who live there. Most closed systems tend to be like that, a bit … insular and in their own world. So to speak.

*If this chapter seems rushed, it totally is. I was debating including an intro section in anyone’s story, like at all with a Prologue like one gets in many role-playing games and … I’m still not sure actually. If I keep this and the previous chapter will probably rewrite them one day. In the magical land of when I have more time to do things. My first few drafts of other people’s stories all had these intro sections and I thought … no, this is boring. I think I did right to start Vikom’s story more en medias res. And also I’m having a long, particularly cramped week due to having only one day off due to a change in work schedule. Hope anyone who reads this is having a great day. I’m looking forward to finding out the next stage in Susan’s story even if no one else is. I like her character.

I like the idea of the Amazonian queen who actually defeats the patriarchy from within, even if it might not be true, even if I feel like she might be annoyed at me and my small-minded goals for her. (Yes, characters, sometimes argue with me like that – fun, fun.)