Rough Draft Writing Area

This will be where I work on story sections over time, there will be notification on the home page to state when those pieces are posted to their own permanent home.

His whole body hurt, the limps the pain radiated though felt alien to him. Like new flesh. He groaned and didn't recognize his voice, his eyes opened to show him blue sky through the dense leaves of the tree looming over him. A semi translucent screen popped up in front of him.

[Welcome the Luaithre. System loading. Please standby.] The words glowed slightly.

“You're asking a lot,” He pointed out and he groaned as he tried to at least sit up to look himself over as a bar slowly filled on the screen. He was wearing canvas pants that felt lined along with steel-toed boots and a long-sleeved, black, turtleneck shirt. If he had to guess he'd say most of his clothes being made of hemp fiber. A small head dropped into view just after he leaned back on the base of the tree and warmth cascaded through his body. A stoat with deep, red fur looked him over, the name 'Jewel' hovering by its head. “Well, hi there.” He let the stoat crawl over him and check him out, it’s eyes studied him and his clothing.

[Load complete. Please open Inventory. This requires focusing on this thought.]

He closed his eyes and focused on the idea of opening an Inventory screen in a video game, when his eyes opened he saw that he had a Starter Bag. Opening it he received some tools, basic crafting supplies, some water, and something called an Energy Transmutation System Console. He pulled out one of the bottle of water and took several small drinks so he didn't choke on the water while he was in this debilitated state.

[Please open your Character Sheet.] The 'System' prompted him.

Opening it up he saw himself for the first time, a five foot tall Gnomish man with Celestial Heritage that gave him exceptional night vision and other things not specified on the sheet yet, hopefully. His class set was called <Calm Wraith>, with the primary class being Exorcist, secondary Shadow Blade, and Tertiary was Sorcerer. Fascinating. He had short, dark brown hair, large, silver-gray irises in a round face framed with big ears on either side of it.

[Please choose a name.]

He had to think about that. How did he end up here? Searching his memories he saw his death, then a gap, and now he was here. There was no going back so he made a choice.

“Waden Lucian Mycraaf” He said with more confidence than he had expected. The pain in his body subsided and everything was pin and needles as the flesh began to wake up. Waden looked out over the terrain, he was at the top of a hill beneath a tree. A lazy river snaked it's way through the plains before him.

[Please collect your things from the Bonus Chest and begin your search for an area to call your home to Create a Safe Zone.]

“Let's try to stand first.” Waden took his time and used the tree to stabilize himself. He saw the Bonus Chest sitting around the the side of the tree with four Torches that weren't lit. It was roughly midday so that made sense. Didn't look like any torches he'd ever seen though. He made his way over to it and realized he could open it in two ways, physically and Access Storage. Going for the latter he found that it held some more crafting materials, Bread(Load-Oatmeal), a full Water-skin(Clean), and a Ultra Captur-Card. He took everything, including the chest and the four Standing {Seal: Light} Torches. Smokeless light was handy. Down the hill and across the river he saw a strange creature that looked like a mix of praying mantis and scorpion.

[You've located a rare Critter, use an available Captur-Card to catch it.]

Waden made his way down the hill slowly, watching the Critter as he made his way to the water. Using the Quick Equip system in the Inventory he stripped down and waded across the shallow river and then instantly put his clothing back on. The Critter, labeled a ScorpiMantis, wandered around. Jewel, who was riding on his shoulder this whole time jumped down and seemed to be ready to fight. The ScorpiMantis took note of this and squared up, it was at least a foot tall.

“I'd prefer we do this without beating them into submission, Jewel. Let's try diplomacy first.” Waden sat down, holding the Ultra Captur-Card in his hand casually. Letting the Critter get used to his presence and hoping it came closer. It did approached Jewel to investigate the strange stoat, poking and prodding her with it's claws. Waden slowly extended his arm, holding the Card out for them to look at too. “Want to come with me, watch my back? I'm going to have a garden so there will be plenty of bugs for you to eat.” He offered. It appeared to consider the offer which was fascinating, but then again Jewel did seem highly intelligent. The big insect put the points of it’s claws onto the card, the Captur-Card glowed and a symbol bloomed into existence in the center of the card. He was prompted to give the Critter a nickname. He chose Reeds after some thought.

[Congratulations, you’ve earned a Tier 1 Reward Chest containing: 5 Regular Captur-Cards. Please continue your search for a suitable place to call Home]

Waden stood up and stretched, focusing on the idea of a map to bring up a mini-map. He immediately took note of a small mountain to the west and decided to head that way with his Critters in tow. He was hoping to be able to use the pickaxe to get into the mountain before night fell. This would give him a secure place to rest and access to stone for crafting. There were plenty of trees around the mountain so he could build a wooden structure if that failed. He collected some boysenberries and hit the grass to get some random seeds as he made his way toward the mountain. The sun was dipping down as he got there, using the pickaxe he removed whole cubes, each one about four feet cubed, of stone every few swings. It didn’t take him long to carve a long hallway with a small room to the left as you entered the mountain. He placed the ETS Console in an alcove across the hall from the room, hopefully he’d be able to make a false wall to hide the alcove eventually. Opening his crafting menu he make a Crafting Workbench and placed it beside the ETS Console. His ‘System seemed to revolve around video game mechanics, which was rather interesting to see it interface with a very real world.

[Enter items into the Energy Transmutation System Console to add them to its Catalog and gain Energy Points, using EP you can pull items out of the Catalog]

“Oh, that’ll be handy, especially with all the stone I’m going be accumulating.” Waden added everything he had to the ETS Catalog before pulling out the essentials before putting the doors in place, two at the main entrance and one for his first room. He put one of the Standing Seal: Light Torches inside the main doors, one in the room, and one at the far end of the hallway. He used some stone to make a rudimentary furnace, there was the option for a variant to make use of Jewel’s ability to create heat with a bed underneath the furnace itself.

[Safe Zone activated]

“Praise be to Valhalla, I guess.” Waden sighed, it was good to know he had a safe place to retreat from the world. Eating some bread he sat leaned back against the wall in the hallway watching Jewel and Reeds mill around and play with each other, he noticed that if they sparred with each other they gained experience, he was interested to see how far that part of the System went.

The next few days he spent foraging outside and accumulating supplies to set up a fenced area and a garden with the seeds he found, thankfully he had a decent variety of those so his diet would be fine in combination with the bread and pork he had. Most of those nights he working inside the mountain to expand his new home while letting himself grieve the life that was no longer his, that person felt so other despite all of their memories being crystal clear in his mind when he focused on them. He sat in the absolute darkness of the cavern he had carved out and cried with Jewel sitting on his lap and Reeds taking up a guard like stance. He’d never been ashamed of his emotions and even if he thought of himself as an ugly crier- who was here to judge him for it?

Working on basic survival needs during the day and basic expansion while processing everything at night seemed to serve him well, helped that he didn’t need to sleep much due to the Celestial blood in his veins. After about a few weeks of solid word he had access to steel and was able to start building a forge to make himself some weapons and higher tier equipment, he was working with iron at best before getting the process figured out.

His first blades were really rough but he learned from every mistake and it felt good to have something productive to hyper fixate on for a while. He fenced off a large area outside of the mountain, then he added another fenced area beside that with troughs and a small building for travelers to use as a rest stop. It was crude right now but he had many upgrades planned in the future, the same could be said for his own home. His quality of life had greatly improved.

Over the next month he made great strides in getting his living arrangements set up in a way he felt good about. A kitchen had begun to form as well as a home gym with some equipment he’d made by hand. It worked well enough and he had explored the valley and the woods and found some fruit trees and more seeds so his garden slash orchard was growing so his diet was getting better all the time. A traveling merchant, a Satyr who said their name was Toge, stopped by and used the shelter. Toge showed him a map which updated what Waden had after they’d traded a little bit.

“Thank you for your time and patience with a hermit.” Waden said as Toge departed.

“It was a pleasure, thank you for hospitality. I’ll spread word about your gift to travelers here, thank you for the strawberries too.” Toge waved and set off down the trail northward. Waden set about cleaning and resetting the shelter before heading back inside with his new items to enter them into the ETS Console before pulling them back out to make use of. He’d bought some decent kitchen knives so he needed a cutting board so he went downstairs to his workshop and got working on a large one and a small one. By the end of the day he had two nice cutting boards and a usable knife block to store his new blades. He’d love to find magnets so he could mount them on the wall but that was for later.

With this new and growing trade network Waden was able to trade for more essentials and crafting supplies. He even got a some stuff delivered, like a high quality mattress and associated linens. The ETC Console helped him create a large stockpile of product to trade with so he was making some decent money, which he kept in a hidden chest. The Forge area had to be expanded for carpentry and crafting component storage. Using the Systems built in crafting gave him an edge for the very basic versions of most things but he like working with his hands so he only used it to mock up ideas quickly.
Over the next few months more and more travelers began showing up to use the shelter he’d built for them, even some nobles and their guards. He used their presence to train himself in stealth, he’d always been naturally quiet but now he could level that skill up past the normal limits of a human so he was investing the time needed to do so.
After he had expanded two floors down and three floors up, writing on the floors and walls with white chalk what he wanted to do where he set about getting started with these plans. First he made the steps for both stair cases and a third set in the main room, he’d left an area in the upper half of the main cavern to carve out three bedrooms with a connecting balcony. Making the railing and bracing underneath this had him experimenting with stone and wood until he found a look and material he liked, the System crafting sped this along quite nicely. He could always come back and install nicer things later. This cave needed to feel like a home. He’d picked up a few rugs and made copies with the ETS to cover larger patches of floor so it wasn’t all cold stone.

He moved into his new bedroom and sighed as he laid down on his new mattress, it was so much nicer than the woven grass mat he had been using.

[Congratulations on creating a true Home! Received: 5000 EP(Enjoyment Points). Instruction for crafting a Collectible Memorabilia Machine(CMM) now added to notes with specifications for Memorabilia Room. Create at your leisure.}

“Alighty.” He opened his notes and read the requirements: Two Steel Cubes(hollow or solid), Four Glass Plates, Six Buttons(any material). The Memorabilia Room had to be a minimum of thirty-two feet by twenty-four feet with a eight foot ceiling with a concealed door. Memorabilia for his old world only exists within this room. He had the supplies so he figured why not. The real question was where did it go? He decided to made the room behind his ETS Console which was already hidden by a stone wall he could slide to the side that fit almost seamlessly with the wall around it.

He set about carving out that space later that night, having a Steel Pick Axe helped a lot. Soon he had a second sliding stone door beside the ETS that lead to a well lit, empty room. He set the CMM in the north west corner of the Memorabilia Room and set a table beside it, three more were set in the center of the room around a chair so he could open said memorabilia in an efficient manner. He'd always wanted a room like this. He looked at the CMM, it offered two types of accounts, a Savings account that had a one and a half percent return monthly and a Debit account which was used for purchases apparently. He put three thousand EP into Savings, that would be... he had to think a moment, forty-five EP a month. He'd probably put have of all points earned into savings so he could eventually just use the returns to buy stuff. Speaking of it was time for him to look at what was offered. There was a Shop with rotating stock, ten items at a time. Currently there was two different TCG card packs, two TCG Special Boxes, a TCG Booster Box, a sword from an anime, a dice set, an old bolt-action rifle, a set of four TTRPG models, an old video game cartridge from the Nintendo 64, an anime sticker set, a movie poster, a firearm accessory, and a replica weapon from a TV show.

Nothing was cheap, the individual packs were one hundred each for a start. Looking at the Returns menu he saw that cards returned for a minimum of one EP which made sense, why have a decimal if you didn't absolutely need one. It also accepted the trash that came with opening memorabilia for small amounts of EP. There was a section for Mystery bundles, some specified what type of memorabilia could be found in them while there were other, very expensive, bundles with a little bit of everything in them. The Accessories Store had stands, displays, card sleeves, frames, mats, gun safes and crates, and general storage.

The next day he explored up the river to the east of his mountain home, he caught some crawdad and couple fish with his spear-walking staff combo. His diet further improved, he only grabbed a few crawdad. One nice thing about his ETS is that it let him eat fish without him having to depopulate the river.

On his way back home he looked at the side of the river bank that was up against his mountain. He could put a secret door in that led directly to his forge and crafting area, that was something he'd need to think about for a while. If he fenced off an area around the door it would be secure but not secret. Lots to think about. He added the new food he'd found to the ETS before heading to the room that was slowly but surely becoming a kitchen. He had some decent counters and a flat top that Jewel helped him cook on which was handy. Tonight's dinner was a quesadilla with ground, spiced chicken sausage and diced green pepper with a brown ale to drink with it.

“What do you think I should do next?” He asked Jewel, she was nibbling on some fresh fruit he'd diced up for her, Reeds had been eating bugs all day so she was fine. Jewel just looked up at him with no reply. “Yeah, I should go south on the road at least once a week to secure about half a days journey from here so bandits don't get comfy, have to go north into the valley too then. Waden had been training with the heavy versions of the weapons he could make to build skill and endurance so he was fairly confident in his ability to keep himself safe. He was level four and had some pretty handy abilities now too. That night he did what he could to decorate the other two rooms before going to bed. It was mostly just deep meditation but he wanted to be rested for his scouting mission the next day.

He started out just before down, using stealth and the bush along side the rode to keep himself hidden, he was armed with an Arming Sword and two daggers. About three hours south of his home he heard talking from behind some bushes at the side of the road. There were four bandits, A Halfling, A Nagan, a Satyr, and a Goblinoid, with an undead Centaur magically tethered to and controlled by the Halfling of the group. He seemed to be in charge of the group. Waden studied the area surrounding them to find the best way to take them on while they talked idly about waiting for another traveler to come along. These bandits would be long dead by then.

From up in a tree he threw out a spell to create Hallowed Ground underneath the centaur to destroy the magics that kept it moving, as the Centaur collapsed two of the four turned to investigate, the nearest one to look in Waden's directed caught a Stone Spear to the upper chest and was thrown to the ground. Using a Shadow Tether Waden swung to land silently in a different area to try and lose line of sight. The Satyr took four Shadow Shurikens to the back and fell due to one of them lodging itself in his spine.

“There!” The Halfling point out where Waden was in the brush, he and the Nagan began rapid firing arrows, each was met with a Shield Rune as Waden quickly advance with his sword drawn. The Nagan drew a saber and dropped her bow, with a burst of speed Waden intercepted her before she was ready. He slapped her sword away and slashed at her throat. He locked eyes with the Halfling as she fell to the side, dead before she hit the ground. The Halfling started casting a Necromancy spell so Waden countered by centering a Hallowed Ground spell on him to neutralize it.

Waden kept moving forward, closing the distance and striking down the bandit. He got fifteen orbs that were items he hadn't identified yet during this combat.

“Interesting.” He grabbed some useful items off their bodies before burying them deep, he only marked the Centaurs grave, carving the initials he found woven into the poor souls coat into the stone he used for a marker. To be safe he cast a cleansing Seal on each of the bodies first so the inherit magic of the world couldn't raise them up again. Especially that Halfling. Sighing he headed home. “I need a bath and a hard drink.” He cleaning his with a rag and checking for damage as he made his way down the road. He had been hoping to find nothing. He never did have good luck.

He added 'make an archery range' to his to do list, he even knew where and how he was going to do it. That was a new skill for him to practice. It was getting dark when he got home, stepping inside he used his Psionic abilities to open the first hidden stone door so he could toss a bunch of stuff into the ETS before closing it up and heading to take a bath and clean his gear. While he sat in the tub he opened his orbs, which were some decent items and a small pouch of gold.

Sleep wasn't going to happen so he got the range and targets set up. He had sever distances so he could practice thoroughly, the close wooden target was for throwing weapon practice. He had some knives he was almost done working on.

He was working in his garden, enjoying the sun when he heard panicked galloping coming from the north. Moving quickly he use his Psionics to close the south gate as he ran to the northern one to open it for the horse. Closing it behind the scared creature he studied it, it had no saddle on and was wounded on it's haunch. Once it had worn itself out he slowly approached it, one step at a time. Until it trusted him enough to let him close so he could heal its wounds. Waden felt something clinging to the animal, a fear not based in nature. Whatever had attacked this mare had a magical effect in its claws.

“I'll take care of you, you're safe now. I'll go out in the morning and look for your friend, okay?” He gently pet its side to try and settle it down. He put food in one side of the trough and fresh water in the other so it could take care of its basic needs when it was able to before heading back to tend to his garden. He tossed some fresh greens over the fence, perhaps a treat would help ease the fear. He ate a late lunch watching the woods in the valley, there was usually movement- birds and small animals darting to and fro. There was silence and stillness now. Something was scaring everything. The next day he scouted halfway into the valley but didn't seen any sign of a camp but did see what could have been the trail the horse had made through the woods leading farther north.

Getting too far from home while something was actively hunting people didn't feel like a good idea so he was hesitant to go any further out. He continued to care for the horse and look around the near woods to see if he could find anything thing but there was no sign of what had brought silence and fear to the valley. Two days after the horse had charged out of the woods three rides approached from the south, he let them into the secondary area with the shelter.

“Hail, I am Waden, what brings you this way?” He asked them. There was a female Rodiana, Ratfolk with a large axe, a Dwarven man with a broad shield and a very well made Shepherd's Axe. Leading them was a statuesque Desert Orok man with a long sword on his hip.

“Hail. We are Throne Guard traveling to meet with a member of our order. Have you seen another wearing our insignia?” The Orok man asked.

“I have not, had a horse charge out of the woods to the north though. If he was coming from that direction it might be his.” Waden pointed out. Their insignia was a three swirly symbols woven together into something that resembled an abstract coat of arms. He knew from a book he had read that the throne guard protected the people from corrupt authority and hostile beasts. They were well thought of.

“Erot, look. That's Warron's horse, Shimmer. Looks like the scars of claw wounds. Do you have healing magics, Gnome.” The Rodiana pointed to the horse, Waden nodded.

“Damn. I have my doubts about your friends well being. Something has taken up residence in the valley. Haven't heard a bird in three days, I've scouted the southern half but I found no sign of a camp anywhere.” He gave them what information he had.

“Thoughts, Sray.” Erot asked the woman.

“Leave our horses here and head to the north end of the valley. We know where he'd camp so that shouldn't be to hard to find, hopefully he's alive. Either way it sounds like we have something to kill.” She said, no sign of emotion on her face.

“Would you be alright with our horses staying here?” Erot asked Waden.

“That's totally fine, and your welcome to bring your friend back here for recovery. As long as you need.” He offered.

“Thank you. We should introduce ourselves,” Erot dismounted. “I am Knight Erot, this is Knight Sray and Squire Noth. We need to make haste, please see to it that our horses are fed and have water.” The Orok kin pulled the strap of a satchel over his shoulder.

“Will do, I will await your return.” Waden gave them a bow and followed them to the gate so he could close it behind them. He took care of their horses while he waited for them to return. If they weren't back at sun rise he'd go after them.

It was near three in the morning, according to the clock in his menu, when he heard something moving in the brush before Sray stumbled forth, wounded but still carrying the front of a crudely made litter with Noth holding up the back, Erot lay on the stretcher. Waden activated the Light Seals as he opened the gate.

“This way, we'll take him into the the mountain. I have a room just inside we can lay him down in.” Waden took charge. They made it through the gate before he used some healing magic to bolster Sray so she could keep moving.

“You have my thanks.” she said in acknowledgment while he quickly closed the gate and led them to a smaller one leading to his garden. When they were inside he set to healer Sray enough that he didn't feel he needed to worry about her before focusing on Erot.

“Is it dead?” He asked.

“Yes, killed Warron some days ago though. It must have been waiting, like it knew someone would come looking for him.” Noth said through a clenched jaw.

“So it was a targeted attack.” Waden attended to the worst of Erot's wounds, He pulled a healing potion out of a pouch on his belt, which earned him an odd look from Sray, “Soak a rag in this and drip feed it to him, it'll help his body replenish the blood he lost. That'll help stabilize him.” He handed it to here. There were rags on the table. He'd gotten this room ready just in case. While she did as she was told he poured his energy into Erot. There was a lot of internal damage. He was definitely hit by the surprise attack. He could feel the sun rise as he used the last of his magic.

“Come on, lets get you cleaned up.” Sray helped him to his feet.

“Do I look that bad?” Waden chuckled weakly. “Noth, there is a cupboard directly ahead of this hallway. Top half is cups, bottom is the booze. There is food out on the table already. There is a bed up the small stairs with your name on it when you want to rest.”

“Got any whiskey?” Noth asked.

“I've got a bottle of a hundred and fifty year our Dwarven whiskey. It's all yours.” Waden smiled, Noth gave him one in return.

“How did you get that way out here?” Sray asked him as she got him moving, his arm around her back as she was a little too tall for him to reach his shoulder.

“Lucky trade and a grateful merchant.” He answer. He gave her direction to the second floor where he had set up a shower and a hot tub. “I can bath myself.”

“The least I can do is make sure you don't fall and break your neck in the shower. You save Erot's life.” She sat him down on a stool and helped him get undressed, she wasn't wasting time and he couldn't resist. He didn't have the energy to protest.

“Hate to admit it but you have a point.” He sighed.

“How does this work?” Sray gestured to his shower.

“You push some magic into the Seals, the one on the right is heat, the left is cold, there are four other seals that move and cleanse the water so it lasts as long as you want.” He explained.

“That's amazing... I'll give it a try.” She activated the seals while she unbuckled her leather armor and tossed it aside, “I'm going to have to repair my armor later.” She sighed, dealing with her shirt while using a hand to test the temperature of the water, making a small adjustment.

“I've got a workshop in the basement you can use... Are you feeling a strange, unnatural fear?” He asked, the question had been on his mind since their return.

“Yes, how did you know?” She asked.

“Took the horse almost two days to calm down, and your hands are shaking.” He explained. “I think it's something imbued by the creatures attacks.”

“I think you're right. I can't shake it.” She admitted.

“My home is your home until it goes away.” He said, he was looking down at his hands, Erot's blood was smeared on his palms. When he looked up she was naked.

“Come on let's get you cleaned up.” She easily lifted him onto his feet and into the shower. The hot water felt great, he finally relaxed and could feel some of his energy returning. He used it to preheat the hot tub.

“After you finish with me I'll soak in the tub while you clean your fur. There are soaps and a couple brushes over there. I picked up some fur oriented shampoos just in the off chance they were needed too.” He pointed out the small cupboard near the shower.

“You like to be prepared.” She chuckled while she washed his face, he'd gotten blood onto it without realizing, she was surprisingly gentle.

“It's more that I am always anxious so I try to limit what can go wrong as much as possible. It's a fools errand but I can't help it.” He admitted.

“That is a wonderful and sad trait to have, Waden.” She said as she continued to scrub him down with the rag he kept at the edge of the shower. “You are covered in sweat.”

“That is significant, I don't sweat properly.” He chuckled.

“You really pushed yourself for us, I will put in a good word with the order for you. Everyone will know this is a safe place to stop for the night, and to keep you safe.” She promised him. “When Erot has recovered enough he can send a magical message to report in about what happened.”

“Makes sense. God damn I am tired.” He felt a brittle second wind coming on but he wasn't going to rely on it.

“Go sit in the tub, we'll help each other down the stairs.” Sray shuffled her way to the cupboard to grab some shampoo to help get the blood out of her fur while he crawled to the hot tub and slowly lowered himself into the water. It felt amazing. Watching her he was pretty sure her second wind had come and gone a long time ago. Duty was the only thing fueling her now and that flame was struggling. She lathered herself up and let the hot water flow over her to wash the previous day away. “This smells nice. Lavender.” she said.

“Oh, you picked the soap I made. I realized I had the supplies so I gave it a shot.” He was glad someone else liked it.

“You do a little bit of everything don't you?” She opened one eye to look at him.

“Living way out here on my own kind of necessitates it.” He pointed out.

“How did you come to live here?” She asked him.

“Woke up on a hill to the east some months ago. Needed a place to live and I have a pick axe.” He shrugged.

“You remember nothing before then?” She turned bodily toward him.

“Pretty sure I didn't exist in this world before then.” He admitted. I remember dying elsewhere and then I was here.” Might as well be honest with someone about this.

“That's... quite a story.” Sray studied him.

“It's the only one I've got.” He shrugged. “The memories of that other life are crystal clear but feel... distant. Thankfully they were a curious sort and researched all sorts of things so I have a lot of knowledge to draw from.”

“How fortunate of you.” Sray was still deciding whether or not she believed him.

“Yeah, lucky me.” He often thought about that other person, they were him but they felt so far away.