Andrew briefly considered lying to S'am but she needed that money. For some reason she trusted that he would give her her money back if she told him what she was doing here. "This will sound crazy" she said.
"Maybe it will and maybe it won't" S'am said. "Only one way to find out."
"Alright" Andrew said. "My name is Andrew. I found this game called Treasure Hunters and decided to play it. There was an Out Of Order sign over the coin slot and the latch was worn so I forced it open so I could play. I went through the character selection process choosing to be a harpy with martial arts and female. Due to armor restrictions the only thing that I bought for starting gear was this light amulet. After everything was set up and I was ready to play the cabinet exploded in a shower of sparks and acrid smoke. It knocked me out and when I woke up I was in a nest up in the mountain. I decided to go to a town to see if I could get my body back. The rest you basically know."
S'am looked at you and said "It's not as crazy as it sounds. I knew when I first saw you that you were from T'errana and new to F'anisia. I guess I should explain a few things to you. The game you decided to play is a portal between T'errana and F'anisia. T'errana is Earth in case you hadn't already figured it out. That portal has more than likely been destroyed as it isn't suppose to do what you described."
"You mean I'm stuck here!?!" Andrew asked interrupting S'am.
"Not at all" S'am said. "You'll just need to use a different portal. Now, how many credits did you put in?"
"Seven" Andrew said.
"That means that you'll get seven lives then it's game over" S'am said. "That means that you're dead. Not only here but in T'errana too. I know this because I had a friend playing with me once. We were only able to afford four credits that time. Of course two of those credits were used to start the game. During the course of the game my friend lost two lives. We were just about to complete the game when the dragon we were fighting killed him. He didn't come back to life so I was left alone to fight the dragon. I was able to slay the dragon and retrieve it's treasure. That was the end of the game and I was transported back to T'errana but my friend wasn't. No one remembered him but me. That was when I realized just how dangerous this game is. I originally wasn't going to play again but I decided to play again to help newbies like you."
"How long have you been here?" Andrew asked.
"I've been here for ten years" S'am said.
"Ten years!" Andrew exclaimed with a very surprised look on her face.
"It's not that bad here" S'am said. "If I ever do decide to return to T'errana I'll be the same age as I was before. It will just be ten years later and I'll have a new family."
"And you're ok with that?" Andrew asked.
"Yes I am" S'am said. "When you return to T'errana you will have a new family just by the fact that the portal you used is now gone."
"So what portal will I be using now?" Andrew asked.
"Well you need to use one that someone else is using" S'am said. "I'll tell you what. I'll let you use the one I'm using. How about it? Do you accept?"
"Yes" Andrew said.
"Good" S'am said. "Your credits have transferred over. We now have 27 lives for our use. We can die 25 times and be ok. I hope that it doesn't come down to that. If we finish the game then the remaining credits are refunded. Now on to the coins. The currency in F'anisia is called F'ornics. The value is stamped on each coin. The copper coins are worth two F'ornics, the silver eleven, and the gold are nineteen. I see that you have thirty-eight F'ornics here. The light amulet is pretty expensive just starting the game."
"It was the only thing that I could afford and wear" Andrew said.
"I know" S'am said. "The armor restrictions for a harpy necessitate the use of amulets and they are expensive. I will tell you this. You will not be able to wear any clothes being a harpy."
"What!?!" Andrew asked. "But I thought that I would be able to wear at least some type of clothes."
"Use your brain" S'am said. "You don't have any hands to put clothes on with. You also need to keep your wings free in order to fly and clothes would just restrict them."
S'am's argument was sound and Andrew couldn't argue with it. With a heavy sigh she said "I suppose you're right."
"Each character can only wear two amulets at a time" S'am said. "That means we should get you one that does double duty. I'm thinking one to both shield you and increase your speed. Since we are playing together now I'll go ahead and hold on to your pouch for you. That will be one less thing that you have to worry about weighing you down. Now, we need to give you a name."
"What's wrong with my name?" Andrew asked.
"Andrew is a boy's name" S'am said. "You are a girl now, even when you go back to T'errana. So you need a girl's name."
"So I'm stuck as a girl!?!" Andrew asked.
"As long as you don't play the game again you will stay a girl" S'am said. "If you do play the game again you can switch back by picking male. Though I think that you may come to like your new gender. I did."
"So you were a girl before?" Andrew asked.
"Oh yes" S'am said. "Though I will admit that I'm starting to miss my female body. I had picked male just to see what it was like. I want to experience sex as a boy before I decide whether or not to go back to being a girl."
"I guess I could try sex as a girl before I go back to being a boy" Andrew said.
"That's the spirit" S'am said. "We could rent a room in a village and have sex. There's no chance of you getting pregnant as we're not compatible."
"I just met you!" Andrew said.
"It's just a thought" S'am said. "We'll need to find an inn in any case. Right now you should not be out at night."
"Why is that?" Andrew asked.
"Night is when the really aggressive monsters come out" S'am said. "Monsters like vampires and zombies. Even the monsters you meet during the day hide at night."
Andrew gulped and said "I guess we had better find an inn then."
"We will need to be at an inn every night until you can afford a shield amulet" S'am said. "Then we may do some limited nighttime hunting. You don't have enough to get a room by yourself so we'll share one. Now for your name. I think it should be D'ru. It's close to Andrew."
"Well I suppose" Andrew said.
"D'ru it is then" S'am said. "I'm sure that you're hungry by now. There's a village close by that has a nice little pub. We can get food there then it's on to the next village."
"Why is that?" D'ru asked.
"That village doesn't have an inn" S'am said.
"Oh" D'ru said.
"We should get going" S'am said.
They continued on their way and soon came to the village S'am had said had the pub. They entered the pub and ordered food and drink. S'am had warned D'ru about some of the beverages that the pub served. Some of them were pretty potent. D'ru wondered how she was going to eat with no hands. S'am explained that she could use her talons like hands. When her food and drink arrived D'ru found that she could indeed use her talons like hands. She was surprised that she was flexible enough for her to sit up straight and still get the food to her mouth.
Drinking was a little bit trickier but after a few tries she was able to maneuver the cup so she could drink. D'ru was a bit surprised when she was expected to pay for her meal. S'am apologized profusely for forgetting to mention that. At least she could afford her meal. It cost her twenty-three F'ornics. S'am handed over two copper coins and the only gold coin she had from her pouch. S'am's meal was a little more expensive costing him twenty-five F'ornics. After they paid they left the village and started on their way to the next village where the hoped to get a room at the inn.