Anthony wakes up, with his face on the sand. Suddenly he hears a voice in his head.

“You wake up on a desert island. You have no idea how you got here. The last thing you remember is a sharp pain in your head.”

The next thing he might notice is the sound of waves crashing nearby.

…

He opens his eyes.

"Your clothes are wet and tattered. Next to you there is a pirate trunk. On the other side of the pirate trunk there is the skeleton of a pirate. There is nothing else on the island."

Calling this place an island is rather generous, it's about a patch of sand just wide enough that Anthony can lay down without getting an extremity wet. The place has exactly three coconut trees.

He moves to sit up, squinting a little at the light, and looks down at his clothes.

"… Hah."

His clothes are neither wet nor tattered, just covered with sand from laying down in a beach.

"You look in the distance. There is a distant island that should provide a much better shelter than this one. But the journey through these shark-infested waters should prove dangerous and risky."

The "distant island" is actually at an easy swimming distance and the water doesn't even look that deep. There is however a shark fin poking out of the waves and when Anthony looks at it he hear something similar to the Jaws' theme in his head.

"… Hah?"

The Jaws theme offers no answers.

He gets up and looks around.

Looks around a bit more, slightly panicky.

There is no other island in sight. After some time looking around, the voice-in-his-head speaks again. "Maybe you should look inside the pirate's chest."

He pokes the chest, quickly.

The pirate chest glows briefly and opens... it looks awfully big on the inside, it's actually a bit disorienting. There are several things floating in there.

"What a wonderful treasure!" chirps the head-voice.

The 'treasure' is composed of: a dozen silver coins; a silver circlet with a pair of lighting bolts above where the eyes would be if someone were to wear then; a folded tent that really shouldn't fit in this chest; a mason jar containing something hard to identify; an iron lantern; and a bottle with a rolled up piece of paper inside.

The bottle is glowing with golden light.

Anthony steps back, and when nothing explodes… walks around the chest to get a better look at the stuff inside.

"… Could somebody tell me this is a prank."

The voice in his head declines to give him a reply.

"– Please?"

"Maybe you should look inside the pirate's chest." The head-voice repeats in the exact intonation as before.

"That is really creepy and can you not."

Once again his reply is silence.

He sighs and moves closer to the pirate's chest.

Seeing the bottle, he decides to pick it up.

"Inside the bottle there is a message, that describes the deceased pirate's tale."

And the voice changes. Before it was oddly devoid of character, but now it's gruffy and accented.

"Curse Jones! He left me stranded on this island, no way to escape without my treasure! He wouldn't even help me carry it through the water! He just used the shark bait to distracted the dangerous tuneshark and bailed on me! Curse Jones a thousand times! Now I am too weak to swim even without my treasure and I am going to die on this cursed island."

Anthony didn't even open the bottle, just picked it up. Also, the chest just shrank to a tenth, of its original size.

"If somebody drugged me I will in fact be calling the police."

Inside the chest (which is still open) the glass jar glows much in the same way the bottle was.

He picks up the glass jar.

Once he removes the shrunken jar from the shrunk chest, it returns to normal size.

"Old Gradma Traditional Shark Bait: The best shark bait in the seven seas! Feed this to a shark and he won't be able to chew on anything else, not even your legs! Guarantee or your money back! Just add water! (Or rather, add it to the water.)"

 "For the record if I am still drugged and someone is pranking me I will punch them too." Pause. "And I refuse to feel embarrassed for now acting as though this is real."

Are there more glowing things. He is going to put down the bottle and jar and poke one of them if there are.

No more glowing bits.

Weird audible note in a bottle and shark bait.

Okay.

He takes the silver coins. Then looks up into the sky to assess where the sun is.

If he is trying to figure out the time, then it's either mid-morning or mid-afternoon given the angle, hard to tell without knowing where the North is.

… Ugh.

"I don't suppose anyone left a compass around for me."

The shark bait starts glowing again.

Anthony pokes it.

It stops glowing when poked.

He looks at the water again.

Is the shark fin moving. Does it look made of plastic.

The shark fin is moving, circling exactly the area he needs to swim if he were to reach the bigger island. It does not look plastic, if Anthony has any experience identifying shark fins, it will look real.

Anthony does not have any experience identifying shark fins! However, looks vaguely flexible and/or doesn't shine glossily in the sun andor – is moving, actually – is probably sufficient for him to deem it not plastic.

He pokes the silver circlet.

"The Legendary Circlet of The Mind! It grants you the power of telepathy!"

The circlet glows while the head-voice says this.

He sighs at it but puts it on.

!

He feels his mind expand beyond the confines of his tiny-tiny skull in a way that makes him think of the voice that has been speaking in his head. Far away (very far away) he can feel the presence of other minds, some in his reach and he can at least recognize that one, that is Evan.

– He reaches out, gently.

It feels less like creating a connection and more like if someone opened a tunnel to let his mind reach through. There are no obstacles and now he can just speak with his mind and be heard.

There is also a sense that Evan can do the same, and in fact, by opening the connection, Anthony alerted Evan that it exists.

Test.

– Anthony?

Do you have any idea why the fuck I'd be on a desert island and why there is a bloody headset thingy that gives me telepathy

No? You disappeared after getting hit in the head – creeping darkness.

I, he explains, am on some small island in the middle of nowhere with a seemingly-magic treasure chest and also a shark in the water and was wondering if you would punch the person who drugged me, if applicable.

If they drugged you they also got me, points out Evan.

I don't know how this thing works so if I drop off it might not return.

It's been about two hours. Since you disappeared. If you were wondering.

Feels like less than ten minutes, here, since I woke up.

Apparently this thing can't do nodding.

– Can it do pictures? As in, can you see what I'm showing –?

Nope.

Okay, well.

I love you, hope to see you shortly.

You too.

Anthony sighs and looks back in the chest.

The chest is just how he left it! Except the shark bait is glowing again.

Does it do anything if he pokes it this time.

Same as before.

He sighs at the description, removes it from the chest, and leaves the message-in-a-bottle in its place.

I'm gonna go for a swim. Be sad you're not here.

(He strips off his shirt and jeans.)

… I assume you have not just forgotten the shark.

Nope! he responds, quite cheerily.

Then he pulls the lid off the jar and throws some of the contents into the water. Far away from the shore as he can get it.

The shark advances on it!

...instead of Jaws, it's now producing a tune that sounds like a knock-off version of "under the sea" from The Little Mermaid.

The water is perfectly nice for swimming. Despite all the weirdness, he manages to reach the other shore without trouble.

Please tell me you didn't get bit by a shark.

Not even slightly.

So what's on this island. He has the rest of the shark bait with him – put the lid back on before he came – but may need to swim back and grab the other stuff from the chest if he plans on staying here.

Getting back to the chest? You mean the chest that is in the shore right next to him?

He pauses and makes sure he didn't just accidentally swim in a circle.

That would be a hard mistake to make. He can see the other, much tinier island from here, there is no pirate chest in there, but the skeleton looks undisturbed.

… He decides to walk around the island a bit and see what's on it, then.

The island contains: sand, dirt, trees, rocks, some sort of stone altar by the beach over there with a second skeleton and a second pirate chest, bushes...

He goes to inspect the second skeleton and pirate chest.

"Another tragic scene. But wait, what are those things that the departed is holding?"

There is a book in the skeleton's left hand and... something else in the right one. The right arm is stretched altar-wards.

"You have got to be kidding me."

Anthony pulls the book away from the skeleton and looks more closely at the other hand.

When he touches the book, the head-voice announces. "Jones' journal. It must have valuable survival information."

The other hand contains a small stone figurine, round but obviously in the semblance of a person. "It's cute because it's so smol!"

He rolls his eyes.

Does the book open?

"You read the last page."

The voice in his head changes again.

"This will be my last message. I am sure. Unless I manage to escape this island. Which I am not sure. I hope that whoever finds this journal sends my regards to my beloved Maribelita or at least has better luck than I did while uncovering the mysteries of this place."

Anthony is actually looking at the first page, but it does contain the entry he just read. A bookmark suddenly appears and glows.

He pokes the bookmark.

The book turns to another page, by itself. The intervening pages are blank.

"Following the instructions of this journal should prove key to survival."

The voice changes into what must be Jones' voice.

"I figured out how the totems work. You place one at the altar and giving them an elemental offering. I discovered this when I placed one of the totems in the slot and sneezed. My breath counted as an offering of air."

Again the words are repeated in the actual book. Except there are also the words:

Goal: create an air totem. 0/1.

Any chance you can look into air totems?

Sure. Know I am extremely disturbed and that you've not explained anything. What for?

Apparently I need to make one. For a thing. Because I'm in a video game.

He pauses. Shouldn't you still be at school? – And I don't have a watch, how long's it been since I last asked?

… Something like twenty minutes. It's more like three hours, now, since your disappearance.

It was quite dramatic and I was a little upset. So. I am now home.

Ah.

Sorry about that.

Nnnot your fault.

Anthony looks around for an air totem.

Did you check if you had signal, by any chance? – I am hoping you did not go swimming with your phone.

I did not! responds Anthony. To both questions. And my clothes are back on the other island. I am, however, on a random island in the middle of apparently nowhere, so I really doubt I have signal.

I suppose.

Got any information on totems?

World of Warcraft. Some sort of horoscope thing. Symbolism.

Did you consider I might want the symbolism thing? Since. Like. Desert island, magical disappearance, plus it's a totem and apparently placed at an altar with an offering.

Ah.

Higher knowledge, ethereal, related to animals, strength and 'sovereignty' and related to new transitions.

I mean horoscopes are always vague enough to be right anyway.

Plus you are, like, literally in a game world with it that you were abducted to. So they could easily have checked for that and just put it in.

… Point.

I'll talk to you in a bit.

Here, totem totem…

The stone figurine starts glowing.

He looks at it. (So far he's been poking the glowing things, okay, what does he do if he's already holding it?)

Apparently keeps glowing with the same yellow-white glow.

Well that's annoying.

He puts it down and pokes it.

It stops glowing.

… Another poke?

Nothing.

He blows on it. In case the ground counts as an altar.

It does not.

He picks it back up – he was moving to do that anyway, might as well have blown on it – and goes back to the skeleton/altar area, and puts it on the altar.

Assuming nothing happens to prevent him from doing so, he blows on it.

It lights up and changes color into a white-and-blue scheme. It glows faintly with a blueish glow.

Blink.

Does the book tell him what this means?

There is a new bookmark in his book, it's golden (the first one was red)! Glowing too.

It leads to a page titled "Know Your Totems" in elaborate cursive.

The page after that there is a picture of the small totem, under the name "smol air totem" and with the following description:

The weakest air totem, but it can produce a gust of wind that no human could with their lungs. Basic air manipulation. Single use.

… Any information for how he might make another of these?

None apparently, but the red bookmark is glowing again.

Poke.

"Goal complete!" says the voice and then there is a shower of sparkles around him and some of the bigger ones coalesce into a fraction of a sphere.

The line: "Goal: create an air totem. 0/1." flashes briefly and the zero turns into an one.

"Once I figured out how to make more of them," says Jones-voice, "I could experiment with them more freely. Still the totems took some practice getting used to. It might sound simple to just hold one in your hand and think 'I want a strong gust of wind' but you have to be careful where you aim them."

And again those words are transcribed in the page, followed by:

Goals:

• use an air totem to create wind. 0/1.
• use an air totem to create more air. 0/1.
• use an air totem to create a bigger air totem. 0/1. (Requires bigger empty-totem.)

Hint: search the island for more totem statues. Their mischievous spirits move them around when you are not looking, so always keep an eye out for them and don't forget to store them in your chest or in your tent.

Such a video game.

Does anything object if Anthony decides to lie on the sand in just his wet underwear and place the book and the other totem near himself on the sand? And then shut his eyes?

The voices in his head offer no comment. The sand is oddly soft now that he has time to appreciate it.

Hopefully he'll get a water totem sometime and won't need to try swimming his clothes over.

He gets up, washes off quickly in some shallow water near the edge of the island, and then looks around for more totem statues. If he can build up a stash, that'll be nice.

He finds another totem statue nearby, glowing beneath a bush, but the others don't make themselves as obvious as that. Some are in plain sight, but others are hidden under leaves and one was on the lower branches of a tree, none of them glow.

He finds a second type of totem, slightly bigger. Picking it up causes him to hear. "This looks very average, for a magical statue on a weird island."

"… No. No it really does not."

Can he put the not-average totem on the altar and blow on it?

It vibrates! ...and doesn't change or anything.

… Book? Any hints to do it without using an air totem? (Sigh.)

The book doesn't offer any obvious clues.

What if he waves the statue around. There's a lot of air there.

Nothing.

Sigh.

He transforms the other boring ones, then. Or whatever they were. Smol air totem.

(So weird.)

They are transformed normally. The sun is getting high.

Oh, good, it was morning. He has some time left before he has to deal with whatever temperature this place gets to at night.

Is there shelter of any kind on this island…?

Well, for certain definitions of shelter. There are plenty of shelters he has seen.

Also the pirate chest just materialized nearby while he wasn't looking.

… Of course it did.

He checks around a bit more and then decided he actually will in fact use a smol air totem to try to activate the larger one.

So he places the 'average' one on the altar and then tries to use the smol air totem to create wind in that direction. Hopefully it's two parts of the quest in one.

He is correct! Counts as creating more air and creating a bigger air totem. Same color scheme as the smol version.

The golden bookmark is glowing again. There is a new entry in the section tittled "Know Your Totems".

The utterly most average air totem, it can produce continuous strong wind or enough air to allow someone to stay underwater for a short time. Air manipulation at average range, average speed and average power. Continuous use, but spent if used to create more air.

He puts it down into the mysteriously following treasure chest and then tries using one of the smol air totems to produce more air.

Air starts blowing out of the smol totem's mouth at a rate which he can control mentally. It isn't a lot, but possible more than a lungful of air.

The smol totem changes back into it's original gray color.

Gosh, gray, oh no, whatever will he do.

So he's done the quest thing. Does he get a reward?

Yup, more sparkles and the orb of energy gets full and grows, releasing even more sparkles! He also gets to see the following text in the air in front of him.

Level up!

+1 strength

+1 stamina

+1 magic

+10 health

Extra Health boost from leveling up, doubled health until damaged.

Doubled health feels weird, but not bad.

You know how I mentioned I was in a video game.

Yes. And that I have no way to get to you or help you and people don't know what to do about you mysteriously disappearing.

I just leveled up!

Have you called your mom? With this?

… No.

Can he?

Yup, she is right over there, for values of "there" that aren't really spatially related.

… Can you do it, he asks. Of Ev.

I will let her know you're on a desert island and you're gonna contact her, how about that.

Yeah.

Done.

So a couple of minutes later, after Ev tells him she's read the message, he calls her.

Have you considered you might never want to do this again.

It wasn't my fault? he tries.

Darling, she responds. You somehow got telepathy. Would you like to reconsider?

… Honestly I just picked up a headset thing. It looks quite ridiculous.

Just – be safe, okay? I don't know what happened, not more than 'disappeared at school, it was spectacularly horrifying', so – just be safe.

I'll try.

Pause. Did you have to wait for your boyfriend to remind you? Honestly.

… Sorry.

Yes, well. Just don't screw him over, okay? Don't screw either of us over.

Yes mother.

This thing doesn't even do facial expressions and I bet you know what I'm doing.

… Is it the—

Eyebrow thing? Yeah.

… Sorry.

Make sure you get a food supply. And shelter.

Yeah. I'll work on that soon.

Yeah. – And, you know who to call if you have wilderness woes.

Yeah. Thanks.

I'll talk to you later, darling.

Bye.

And then a minute later he relays this conversation to Ev.

… So, up next is looking for supplies, how about?

Yeah.

See you soon.

You too, hopefully.

He gets up and looks around a bit more. Any obvious fruit on the various plants?

Yup... now that he is paying attention he can find several fruits: apples, oranges, lemons, grapes, bananas, cocoa, berries of various kinds... all very recognizable.

He is slightly confused that he did not notice these before.

He takes an apple and tries eating it.

It tastes like a normal apple.

Well, at least he has fruit, how nice.

He picks a few other things and then checks the treasure chest to see how clean it is. And if he might want anything else out of it.

The chest still contains the things he left, like the folded tent, lantern, shark bait, message in a bottle and the coins that apparently have the power to self-stack.

Annoying coins.

He decides to swim back over to the other island – using some more of the shark bait because that seems like an important precaution – so he can put his clothes in the chest and have them follow him over.

The tuneshark hasn't moved from its position and doesn't move to eat the second shark bait.

...also, the shark bait jar doesn't appear to be any emptier than before.

However, everything else goes according to plan.

Then he gets back in the water without using any more shark bait, tentatively in case it did somehow do something the last time…

Nothing happens. The tuneshark happily ignores him to the tune of "under the sea".

Weird island.

Okay so what's next in the quest book? Anything?

Not at first, but then a new one shows up.

"Surviving alone is hard task and more so without shelter! All I did the first night in the island was think about that tent that I left behind in my chest. And then there is food! Water! And warmth!"

Goals:

• Set up the tent. 0/1
• Collect provisions and store them in your tent. Ten food items should be enough. 0/10
• Collect freshwater in a container and store it in your tent. 0/1
• Ignite a fire near your tent that last for most of a night. 0 hours /6 hours

Hint: the fire doesn't need to stay on continuously, but it only counts from dusk to dawn.

He goes to the chest and grabs out the tent.

Hopefully he'll dry off setting it up. Fortunate that it's rather warm.

Sadly, the tent sets itself up. When he picks it up it starts unfolding itself. At first it falls on its side, but it wiggles itself upright and then he has a tent.

Once it's done, there is not even a single crease in the fabric. The tent is large enough that at least four people could sleep inside, comfortably.

The interior contains a bed, a stool and a table. All foldable and made of wood, but there is absolutely no way they could've fit inside the folded tent and the folded tent should've been way heavier.

"Wonderful."

He goes and fetches a few pieces of fruit and puts them into the tent. After two runs, he has ten items.

The page in the book changes accordingly.

Can he pull the message out of the bottle from the chest and use the bottle as a container…?

Of course he can! What bizarre video gamey logic would prevent him from doing that?

Not this one, apparently!

Is there freshwater around?

It takes a while, but he comes across a stream soon enough.

And he fills the container with water and then returns to place it in the tent.

… He doesn't suppose there's any clear firestarter material, is there?

Nothing. In theory most of the tent looks flammable.

He doesn't think he's going to try to set fire to the tent but he's not sure he has the ability to start a fire.

However, seeing as how he is in a video game he will try rubbing two sticks together away from the tent.

Are there any convenient sticks around?

There are sticks around. Their convenience is a subjective trait, but he can certainly rub a couple of them together.

There is no immediate fire.

What if he rubs one in the sand.

It gets properly sand-covered.

How dry are the sticks?

Not very? They are typically dry for sticks in a tropical island.

He puts them down on the sand in direct sunlight and sighs.

I don't suppose you know how to start a fire? he asks Evan.

First of all, why are you asking me?

Second of all, please hold while I google.

I'm asking you because I don't want to scare someone else with telepathy.

Uh-huh.

… And because my mom is scary and it's easier to get you to google it than to ask her?

That's better.

Anthony rolls his eyes.

So anyway, apparently you should gather together some tinder and then have some dry larger firewood available, making a nest of tinder and then – god this is complicated. I don't suppose you have a knife on you?

Not as far as I know.

There's not one in the chest, is there?

No additional items or materials in the chest besides the ones he was already aware of.

Tragic.

No.

Nor do you, I suppose, have the materials to fabricate a saw.

I don't think so?

I will keep looking, in that case, but – have you tried stereotypical video game methods of lighting a fire?

Like what. Rubbing two sticks together does nothing.

Are they dry? Did you try – I dunno, twisting it around in the sand or something?

They are not totally dry and I tried that for sparks and it did nothing.

Did you find some food, in the end?

Yep! he responds. I ate–

Frown. I ate what seemed to be an apple.

Did you get your phone and check for signal?

I – got my phone but did not check for signal – and, uh, no the thing is that I didn't check if the apple was poisoned, which in retrospect was daft.

Let's hope you don't die then.

And – the wind totem, turned out to give me some wind elemental control, sort of. It was part of a quest and now I'm doing one for shelter. Hence fire.

This is really cool and really terrifying and can you consider being more careful? Like. Your mom told you to call her, if you need help in the wilderness? Can you do that.

– Yeah, I was going to.

So he does, and finds out that apparently he needs a bendy stick and a shoelace and like a (not literal) ton of tinder. And firewood of various kinds. And his mother realizes that this sounds like a lot of effort but could he. In case it turns out to go below freezing at night.

Also what position is the sun in – she's going to try to work out what timezone he's in.

It's probably somewhere past four. At least a few hours of timezone difference.

If he follows all those steps he eventually will have fire.

It takes a long while. Really quite a long while. But he does finally get a fire.

The fire: is hot! And also it produces light.

It's not night yet. In less than a couple hours it's going to be.

Well that's a shame.

He makes sure the fire has appropriate levels of firewood and keeps materials nearby in case he needs to start it up again. Since he went to all this effort.

… How's the shark doing?

Still in the same spot he left it.

Actually it's possible it's the exact same spot, and the apparent movement is just from the waves. The plagiarized "under the sea" tune remains.

Can he telepathy it?

Apparently not.

That's a shame.

"What's with the theme music?"

The environment fails to reply.

He goes and grabs some food, then. And starts testing it for poison.

Rubbing it on various patches of skin and seeing if you get a horrible reaction! He decides the what-look-like-apples are probably safe, or else he's going to feel sick shortly anyway.

No adverse reaction. The fruits actually don't appear any different from the variety he knows about.

He is not quite sure why the island should have fruit he recognizes, and is accordingly mistrustful of it, but if there are no adverse reactions then that's good.

Phone signal? He's guessing not, but!

No phone signal.

There is no phone signal.

Predictable, really. You might want to keep it switched off for the time being.

Good idea. And so he turns it off and leaves it in the chest.

He expects he's going to have a very boring evening.

Yup, if he cares to pay attention his book will tell how long until the quest is complete.

Even when he isn't paying attention then, the sparkles should announce that for him.

And even if he fails to notice that, the mental voice is going to announce:

"The fire was so warm and so comforting."

Suspenseful music.

"Wish I knew it would attract their attention. I would've preferred the cold darkness."

There is a new quest in his book.

He looks at it quickly because um fuck?

"Disturbing the spirits meant they stop their peaceful rest. At night, animals got aggressive and I would see frightful visages. The moment it got dark I would go back to my shelter and lock myself inside." says the Jones-voice.

"Hostile mode unlocked."

Goal: survive the night. 5h55min until dawn.

Hint: If you fail at this quest you won't be able to try it again.

He looks out of the tent.

At first it appears that everything is normal... then he sees a shadow in the sky and as it comes closer... it looks like a bat with a wingspan about as large as his own arms it lands and looks at him, giving a shriek.

At distance he can see pale lights in shapes that are hard to understand.

All he can think at this moment is that it's fortunate he changed back into his clothes earlier.

Fuck.

Wind totem? He would like to use a smol wind totem to blow some wind at the bat shadow.

That works. The bat is blown away and shrieks.

Fucking oh no isn't that dreadful.

How near's the altar – he wants to recharge this totem and the one he used earlier, in case the situation gets more dire.

It would probably take him a minute or two if he ran there? Also the giant bat is back and pissed. It's going to try to swoop at the tent.

Anthony grabs a couple more totems out of the treasure chest – the oh so convenient, always-there treasure chest – and blows it away again.

The bat is swooped again.

Another collides against his tent... The cloth doesn't budge as much as it should've but it definitely budges.

Well it's fortunate about that – he gets out of the tent and runs towards the altar.

And another bat swoops down and tries to knock him down.

He blows it away with the other smol totem – goddammit is there no easier way to do this – and continues towards the altar.

That other is blown away too. They don't appear smart enough to change tactics.

There is something that looks vaguely like a translucent ball of white fire on the way to the altar. It moves slowly, but Anthony will need to detour to get past it.

He moves to the side and tries to run around it, hoping it's not fast enough to catch his en route.

The ghostly fire does move in his direction, but too slowly.

Anthony reaches the altar again, almost tripping on Jones' skeleton.

Fortunately he has good balance and he catches himself before he falls over.

Then he places one of the smol totems on the altar and blows on it.

He gets a smol air totem! Would he like to use it? Maybe against that other giant bat swooping down at him?

He would, and then he'd like to recharge it.

He will then be able to recharge it just in time to use against the other bat that joined the first one.

He does so and then – recalls that the average totem only gets consumed if used to produce air and making a breeze does not count.

Treasure chest – nearby?

It materializes as soon as he thinks about it.

He runs over to it and grabs the average wind totem out of it.

Clear targets?

Do a couple of giant bats counts as targets?

Yes. He tries to fling them away with a strong breeze.

They are blown away out of sight. Anthony even hears a yelp that might be one of the bats colliding with something in a painful manner. However any reprieve is short-lived as a bat (impossible to tell if it's a new one) charges down at Anthony with surprising speed.

He rolls out of the way while also trying to knock it off-course.

That bat is diverted and hits the altar. Anthony can hear the horrible sound of bone cracking. Even so, it tries to get up and crawl towards Anthony, bleeding everywhere from its broken wing.

He feels really awful and thinks he's going to try running from it rather than continuing to harm it.

The bat is really not in condition to follow him.

Well, at least not that bat. There are other bats, currently much better equipped to keep pace with Anthony.

He tries to knock them away with wind, preferably sideways instead of anywhere directed at the ground.

That does mean less injured bats. Occasionally he sends a bat flying towards a tree or another bat. When he gets close enough, the weird balls of not-fire try to lurch in his direction. Then a bat manages to knock him down.

Oof.

He tries to scramble to his feet again, holding onto the totem, and swipes away at anything nearby again.

Bats are swiped away again. The ball of fire are not affected by the wind at all. One of the bats collides with the ball of fire and gives a terrible painful shriek and slumps to the ground inert... then there is a shower of sparkles that converge in Anthony's direction.

Can he swipe them away with the wind? Or – wait, are those the level up sparkles?

These are level up sparkles and they are completely immaterial to the wind. He doesn't actually level up, but the bubble-thing gets almost full.

… He gets experience points for knocking attacking bat things unconscious.

Fuck this game, ugh.

He tries even harder not to knock the things to the ground. Or trees. They can go up and away.

Up and away they go. It eventually stabilizes to have about five or six bats attacking him constantly.

Can he use the wind to push them away quickly enough or is he basically guaranteed to die this way?

Well, there is presumably the issue of doing this all night. But he can at least keep them all away for now.

So he's basically guaranteed to die.

Fuck.

How much damage do they do, if he lets one get close?

Well, mercifully they don't bite. But they probably weight as much as a small child. He feels less hurt than he should've but that is likely the effect of the extra health he got from leveling up earlier.

He knocks that one off himself again.

… Can he tell what his health is while he picks himself up off the ground and continues to keep them away?

If he is looking for a health bar, he will be disappointed, he does get a sense of being "more than 100%" health, just because there is more of it to go around.

How much more than 100%?

Probably above 185% if he had to put in numbers? Definitely above 175%.

No clear shelter for him to keep away from the bats?

Besides his tent there is nothing obviously in the category of shelter. There are some nooks and crannies where he could defend and blow away bats that can only come from a single direction. Also, it started raining. How joyful.

Nooks and crannies sound like a better idea than running around all night, so he finds a nicely defensible one of those to hide in.

The rain can go screw itself.

Well, there is this one between these threes and that rock, which should allow him to see bats coming from a mile away.

He also can see the weird fire things coming from a mile away, as they slowy converge in his direction.

They aren't any more affected the next time he tries swiping at them, he supposes?

Not even one bit.

"Have you considered not doing this?"

The bats and fire-ball things are so rude that they don't even respond.

At least most of the fire-ball things have stopped approaching. But one soldiers on, slowly.

Is there any clear pattern to the ones that have stopped? Can he try running this one into a tree, does it only move in straight lines, could he trap it –?

The ones that have stopped are... not coming to close from each other? They fire balls appear to keep a minimum distance and stop moving if that means breaking away from that minimum radius. There is no clear pattern to how it moves, but it can avoid obstacles by lack of any considerable momentum.

He was hoping it had buggy pathfinding and he could shut it in a box.

What if he goes in some water?

The water gets agitated and he sees a pirana-like fish jump at him, it's jaws almost biting his leg with a very cartoony "chomp" sound.

He jumps back from it rather quickly and looks around for high ground.

There are several hills around, also a small mountain towards the center of the island.

Towards one of the hills.

Mercifully there is a respite of the rain when he gets there (after dodging a couple of bats).

The fire-balls things follow him slowly, but appear to give up once he is far enough away.

Oh what a terrible shame.

Can he keep the bats away from him on the hill?

Yup, there are trees, rocks and other places to put his back against to to have a better defensible position.

Of course, the bats are still attacking through out the night.

Can he drive them off?

– How far is he from his tent, is the fire still going? Getting a torch could have been a good idea…

He can see the tent from up here with the fire still going (but diminished because of the light rain), it isn't that far off.

He runs back towards it, looking for a stick under some sort of canopy that might be dry (hopefully).

It's hard at first but he eventually manages to find one close to the campsite.

He grabs it and hopes it doesn't get too wet before he gets back to the fire – he put logs up over it, it should stay for a bit –

The bats swoop down at him, gosh, really creative enemies these bats.

The weird-fire-things... aren't coming closer. They are giving a wide birth from the campsite.

Good fire things.

He tries to multitask, still swiping at the bats while he gets the stick lit.

The stick gets lit pretty quickly!

...actually, that might be a bit too quickly. It won't last long that way.

Fucksake.

Does it at least drive the creatures away?

Yup! Even the fire-things appear scared of it.

Convenient.

He moves back towards the trees, hoping he can find another stick or two before this one goes out…

He can find another stick before that one goes out! He also can find this bat going straight to his head.

He tries to duck out of the way while knocking it with some wind.

That one wing brushes against Anthony's shoulder, but without hurting.

Could his luck be turning? (He hopes but doubts so.)

Stick, catch light please? More sticks, any to be found?

Well, if he is willing to take his time and fight more bats! Sure, here is another one!

The second stick is half the way burned when he gets back to he camp.

And gosh, isn't this entire fighting bats thing tiresome?

Yes, it is tiresome, can they just stop already?

He lights the third stick.

Well, the bats aren't showing any signs of slowing down.

… How's the tent doing?

The is doing well, thanks for asking. The bats have mostly ignored it.

How sturdy does it look? Not conveniently now made out of metal, he supposes?

It looks like a tent made of thick cloth the type he would expect seeing in a movie with explorers before the invention of plastic.

And the treasure chest? … He doesn't suppose it looked big enough to hide in, did it? It's magic, it could save him, he doesn't know –

It looks too cramped even if he removes everything. Also: Bat swoop.

Freaking giant bat.

He swipes it away and then gets into the tent.

Now he is in a tent!

Every so often he can feel a bat tackle the side of the tent, but this only causes the relevant surface to bulge a little.

But the tent doesn't feel at danger of being destroyed and tipped over and something horrifying?

Nope, there is not sign of anything like that. The bats don't even leave marks that you would expect from clothing being violently stretched.

"… Are you fucking kidding me."

There is no response, only the noise of bats useless tackling the tent. Funny how they don't get tired or do something else.

"I honestly, really did not expect this, but I think I might in fact derive some pleasure from harming whoever put me here, you utter fucker."

Breathe.

He breathes and tries to calm himself down because this godawful freaking place – was any of that necessary, did it achieve anything at all, can he think of any way to get around the stupid, fucking, magical whatever the fuck put him here?

No. He cannot and should just – quit with the rage.

Breathe.

I don't suppose you're awake yet, he communicates, to Evan.

… Something wrong?

Isn't it like 4am.

And I'm awake enough to respond, yes.

You should probably, like, not that.

Also I hate this place.

What did it do?

Impenetrable fucking forcefield tent, I hope – it set some freaking bats on me with wingspans the side of my arms and why the hell it felt the need to do as such I have zero-point-five percent of an idea.

… But the tent protected you?

No, see, first I thought it was going to collapse, so I went running around. Because that seemed like a smart thing to do. To grab a wind totem and shove them away from me. And I only just got back to my tent. And did you know this is part of a stupid combat or dark time – whatever, it's a quest adventure mode thing.

… I don't think that makes much sense.

No, he says. It does not.

I hope you're okay in the tent.

Me too.

I really am not a fan of whoever put me here.

Make that two… probably three… of us.

You should get some sleep.

So should you, from the sound of it.

Yep.

Night.

Sleep tight.

Did you just sass me.

I was just wishing you goodnight.

And anyway, it's like 4am. You'll cope.

… Love you.

Uh-huh. You too. Now sleep.

Is there a convenient bed in this tent?

The same bed it was there when he first took a look at the tent is still there now. Gaze upon it's bedly glory.

It comes with blankets and pillows.

Excuse him while he wearily checks there are no spikes or knives pointing at him in it.

Once he has ensured it is not evil, he flops into it and tries to sleep.

(Stupid freaking island.)

The bed is devoid of spikes and knives. It's moral character is not evident. There is the occasional bat hitting the side of the tent, but it doesn't interfere with his sleep much. It rains at random intervals during the night.

The next morning at dawn he wakes up feeling... extremely well rested and completely uninjured. Like he just had the paragonic ideal of a good night sleep. Also there is a shower of sparkles from quest completion and there are new bookmarks in Jones' journal.

Sigh.

What do the bookmarks point to?

There is a map showing the parts of the island that he already explored. There is a "X" connected by a doted a line to a place he recognizes is where he currently is.

There is a new "Achievements and Trophies" section and a "Know Your Enemies" section. There is a new quest.

Is it just the bats and the flames under "Know Your Enemies"?

Those two and piranas! Apparently they only become active during the night.

The flames are called Will-o'-wisp and it says it fears light and fire so it can't come too close to others of it's own kind. It is slow but with a harmful touch.

What's under achievements?

A list of things, which include:

• I am a survivor! - you survived your first night.
• Friendly fire! - you used a will-o'-wisp against another enemy.
• First blood - you killed your first monster.

Each item has a matching icon, "First blood" has a bloody fist, for example. The rest of the list is blurred and gray.

He doesn't suppose he gets any particular benefit from each achievement…?

Hard to tell. There is a hint section at the end of the list saying:

Hint: Some achievements are mutually exclusive and determined by the unique ways you choose your story progression. Much in the same way your choices will lead to benefits and drawbacks, they will lead to different achievements.

Followed by a list of blocked off achievements, which contains only four items:

• Must. Loot. Everything! - you didn't take the corpse and coconuts from the island, before crossing the tuneshark's waters.
• Deadly tune - the tuneshark killed you.
• Peaceful Night - you didn't kill any enemies during your first night.
• RIP and try again - you died during your first night.

… Well it'd be nice if he could actually try again, but if he recalls correctly the quest book said something about him not being able to retry it. Unless that was just because he could only have one first night.

New quests?

Two actually:

"The many kinds of totems are created differently," says the likely Jones-voice, "but all share the same theme of a big enough offering. Enough water to submerge the totem, or enough sand to bury it. Stone offerings always get heavier, which is a pain in the back!"

 Goals:

•  create a water totem. 0/1
• create a sand totem. 0/1
• create a stone totem. 0/1
• create an air totem. 1/1

 Hint: search the island for more totem statues. Their mischievous spirits move them around when you are not looking, so always keep an eye out for them and don't forget to store them in your chest or in your tent.

"This island hides a lot of buried treasures, including some I put there myself!"

Goals:

• create a dirt totem. 0/1
• use a dirt totem to dig a hole. 0/1
• follow the map until you reach the area with buried treasure. 0/1 - there is a thermometer and the word "COLD" next to this line.
• find the buried treasure. 0/1

Hint: you might need an average dirt totem or several smol dirt totem to dig up a treasure, but you can just will it to "dig up nearby treasure" and it will work as long it is in range.

… Well it's slightly annoying that he made all the totems into wind totems, buuuut, he might just be able to use up a couple of the smol ones?

He gets up, rubs at his eyes a little, gets out of his tent and gets a totem out of the chest to use up and submerge into some water.

(Then places it on the altar, still dripping.)

That gets him a smol water totem with the following description:

The weakest water totem, but it can create a strong splash of water or enough water for someone to drink during a day. Basic water manipulation. Single use.

And if he buries one in sand! On the altar! (What he actually means is grab some sand and pour it over the totem, on the altar.)

Smol sand totem!

The weakest sand totem, but it can create a gust of sand capable of blinding an enemy, "dust off" a person or small area, or create a small quantity of sand. Basic sand manipulation. Single use.

And then – uh. Are there rocks or something he can put on the altar with the totem? Small pebbles maybe.

Once he piles up enough pebbles he gets a smol stone totem!

The weakest stone totem,but it can move a single rock with the same strenght and dexterity of a grown man, or create enough rock that a grown man can't lift without help. Basic stone manipulation. Single use.

He places all three into his handy little chest and looks at the book!

He gets the quest completion sparkles and the levels up

Level up!

+1 speed

+1 stamina

+1 magic

+10 health

Extra Health boost from leveling up, doubled health until damaged.

There is nothing new in the book.