The tutorial is done, the server rules are read, and Basket wakes up in an infirmary with a quest compass. This episode is all about getting set up: meet the people in charge, collect some free gear, and choose a class. The class part goes fine. The skill point takes a few tries.
Waking up in Sierhaven
A nurse explains that some Rangers found Basket wounded and unconscious near the ruined dungeons and brought them here. This is the military infirmary in Sierhaven, capital of the Narsen Empire. Clicking options in chat now starts real conversations with NPCs, and right-clicking the quest compass shows the current mission.
Outside, a speed boost makes everything fast, so the main worry is falling off ledges. Someone says Captain Murano wants to talk, on the third floor of the castle, "the building with the two crossed swords." Basket points out an ender chest and the stables on the way, and mentions that the currency here is experience bottles. "My character doesn't know that yet, but I know that."
The captain, not the king
Finding the third floor takes some wandering. Basket passes rooms for guilds and plots, checks for secrets, and walks up to a hall where a voice announces "you are approaching the king." Wrong person. "I would have to talk to the captain, not the king. Okay, well, I don't want to bug you. Sorry." Somewhere in there, chat gets turned off the screen for a while.
Captain Murano has heard Basket is one of the best adventurers around. Basket picks the "you heard right" answer and gets combat gear from the armory: a sword with Unbreaking II, Looting I and Sweeping Edge, and a Protection I chestplate. Next stop is the Academy, the building with the giant book on it.
Free stuff from the City Guide
On the way, a City Guide calls out about maps. "Oh, I like maps." Basket takes a city map, an info book and supplies ("let's get free stuff"), then tries for seconds. No luck. The map doesn't seem to do anything and gets put away. The useful find is that the guide hands out one set of basic gear each respawn. "It's like a death chest."
Hunger doesn't seem to be a thing here either, which is good, since there's no food in the inventory.
Six classes and zero money
Sybil sends Basket down a blue path of info boxes, then into a room of pressure plates, one per class: mage, warrior, cleric, rogue, alchemist and scout, plus a mystery class that is a placeholder for later. Cleric is tempting, but more for playing with a partner. Warrior has brute force. Changing class later costs 20 levels, and Basket has zero. Mage wins anyway. "Mage sounds cool. I'm a mage now."
Basket also guesses Scoti would go scout: "very fast with a bow and dies a lot." Sybil hands over a skill point and the prologue is complete.
British floors and a stubborn button
The mage skills are on the "first floor," which turns out to be one up from the ground floor. "That's not how floors work." Apparently the Academy uses the British flooring system.
The choices include Arcane Strike, Frost Nova, Prismatic Shield, Magma Shield and Elemental Arrows, and the two Basket likes best, Arcane Strike and Frost Nova, only work with a wand. Basket doesn't have one. Frost Nova wins for the crowd control. Pressing the button does nothing, over and over, until the trick turns up: you have to stand on the yellow pressure plate while you press it. "This is the part I skipped over when I didn't read all the rest of the signs."
Frost Nova is unlocked. Now Basket needs a wand.
