Avilien: Tutorial islands

Arrival

Lunthoria, a pleasant small town on the island of Cero. The first island, and port of call for those visiting Tutorial Islands. Due to the vast amount of players Cero island was the only island to have thousands of duplicates. As the first island, it served as a stepping stone for new players along with offering valuable lessons regarding how Avilien worked. Dubbed Tutorial Islands by game designers and developers, the seventy-two islands were part of Avilien and fifty miles away from the mainland, except for Cero as that existed in its dimension.

Luke's jaw dropped as he gasped at the sight before him, as did Nebs and Quinn. On the outskirts of the town sat the terminal/gateway players used to arrive. Identical to the one in New Road there were thousands of others like it. Steps made of stone led off the terminal and onto a wide stone path leading through a street of shops with bright blue tiled roofs.

A bright blue sky without a cloud and beating hot sun shone down on Lunthoria as the town was packed with people from Avilien and other players. The town had a rustic, yet Tudor look about it as the houses and shops were made from darkened wood and what looked like white plaster.

For the first town Luke had seen in the digital world it looked nothing short of impressive. He walked forward with gleaming eyes, Quinn by his left side and Nebs on his right shoulder. Players had different stats above their heads so they were easier to distinguish amongst the crowds. That and some of them had game guides by their sides or perched on their shoulders.

Players' names appeared above their heads unlike civilians of Lunthoria. Luke spotted a young blonde girl dressed in brown leather armour scanning a wooden stall for wares. She was called 'MoodyAliceTwentyTwo' and she was level two. From a quick scan of the area, the average player level was around one to two. It was hard to believe since Avilien had been out for two years.

Feet firmly on the stone pathway of Lunthoria, no one paid Luke any attention apart from a woman in a blue flowing dress. She had long brown locks and a panicked expression on her young face as she hurtled towards Luke like a speeding car. Above her head was also a bright yellow exclamation mark. It hovered above her level and health.

"Excuse me young man!" she cried with panted breaths. She came to a stop beside Luke and double over trying to catch her breath. Again no one paid this scene any attention.

"You came from the town's terminal and have companions with you so you must be one of those adventures that will do anything for a coin. Am I correct?" asked the woman.

"Oh, how strange," said Nebs with a paw to his chin. "Quest givers and ordinary folk of Avilien are not meant to see or hear us. I'll have to read the patch notes after," mumbled Nebs.

"My name is Erina and I am in desperate need of getting a package to the bakers in the centre of town," said Erina.

Luke's watch vibrated and the woman seemed to pause as Luke tapped it. Responding to his touch, the holo watch sprung to life and quest details appeared. To deliver a small packet of money, two copper to the baker called Nathanial. A simple fetch and carry quest. The reward for completing the quest would be one copper and 0.1 good karma. Or you could not turn in the packet of money and earn two copper and 0.1 bad karma.

"What lazy scriptwriting and coding. I mean the baker is like one block away. If she ran towards that with as much haste as she ran to us she wouldn't need to be a quest giver," spat Nebs.

"A quest is a quest sir Nebs, and it further adds coins to the coffers," said Quinn.

"I will gladly take the packet of coin to the baker for you, miss Erina," said Luke as he held out his hand to a relieved Erina. She, in turn, handed Luke a small brown paper packet and then hurtled off.