Chapter I: Black World
You and your team prepare yourselves for your first trip to the Black World. You gather around the circle in the dark room, sitting in predesignated areas set by the Black Wizard. The Wizard and his acolytes light the candles and begin chanting old words aloud from a large tome, so large it requires two acolytes to hold in front of the Wizard. The circle begins to glow eerily, and you feel raw power materializing through your veins; not the feeling of magic, but something even older. Your eyes close against your will, but you are still blinded by a searing white light.
The second your eyes open you gasp for air. You become disoriented after the RPG system is switched on; millions of bits of information directly rushing into your mind at once. You shiver, but after a while you calm down and begin checking on your systems. All the vital systems are fine, and soon the mission briefing pops up on the HUD. You and your team are to report to Hullbeck HQ and find Lance Corporal Michaelis. You get up and dust the dirt off your rags. You look around the landscape and find yourself in a strange land, where the sky is absolutely black, and only thanks to the RPG's flashlight are you able to see around you. The weather is bitingly cold, but the vitality systems report the temperature to be 26 degrees Celsius. The Wizard warned you about this; it cannot be avoided, as the cold is not physical nor magical in nature.
Your minimap indicates that you are in 5 kilometers from the main HQ, and you can see some tents and a fire up north, a round 200 m away. Next to you is a pile of weapons and armor, all according to your classes, as well as some elixirs and scrolls. Also there are 5 pouches, which your Menu tells is filled with gold. You hear snarls and growls nearby, but not close enough to be shown directly on your minimap. You all go and collect the gear from the pile:
Pile:-x2 Leather Armor: 10 Armor Rating/ Mild Encumbrance
-x2 Cloth Robes: 4 Armor Rating/ No Encumbrance
-x1 Black Steelplate Armor: 15 Armor Rating/ Heavy Encumbrance
-x2 Dagger: 2d3 Damage
-x1 Unwieldy Sniper: 2d6 Damage/ Long Range
-x1 Zweihander: 3d6 Damage/ 50% Chance to Miss/ 50% Chance Crit
-x1 Ace of Spades: Sorcerer Focal Item
-x1 Converter: Convert HP and MP
-x5 Health Elixirs (S)
-x3 Mana Elixirs (S)
-x5 Gold Pouches: 50 GP each
-x1 Map Datapack
You check the Map Datapack. Apparently, there are two ways to get to the HQ. One is through a forest, dubbed New-Death Woods. It'll take longer, but it's been relatively cleared out. You estimate that it'll take you two to three hours to reach HQ from that route. Another route is through the Moaning Swamp. It is faster, taking you only an hour at most, but it hasn't been scouted out yet, so it hasn't been mapped out yet. Either way, nothing here will be incredibly lethal unless you act stupidly.
You also look at your teammates. You were not allowed to meet each other until this morning, and before that you all trained alone with trainers. You can see their names and classes, but an actual introduction never hurt anyone.
Name: Jenna
Age: 33
Gender: F
Class: Black Knight, Heavy Weapon
Stats:
HP: 120
MP: 60
Inventory:
Rags
Name: Confessor Zu
Age: 22
Gender: M
Class: Converter, HP Regen
HP: 50 HP
MP: 50 MP
Inventory:
Rags
Name: Kathryn Wellard
Age: 24
Gender: F
Class: Sorcerer/Flame
Focal Item: Playing Card, Ace of Hearts ((could be hand or deck if it needs to be larger))
HP: 40
MP: 160
Inventory:
Rags
Name: Arron Hansen
Age: 19
Gender: M
Class: Sniper-Ranged
HP: 80
MP: 80
Inventory:
Rags
Name: Larissa Kaydash
Age: 21
Gender: F
Class: Warrior, Barehanded Combat
HP: 150
MP: 0
Inventory:
Rags