"This is not how I imagined my holidays to turn out when I decided to take them," a woman mutters while sitting in the shade of a tree.
Her eyes, a mesmerizing blend of fiery orange and deep scarlet, scan across the horizon from beneath the raven strands framing her pale face and the long bangs that hang low enough to brush her rosy lips.
Most of the wild black hair cascading down her shoulders is kept back by the long pointy ears, which seem slightly droopy because of how they are angled almost downwards.
With a sigh, the woman turns her attention away from the untamed lands and instead focuses back on the floating screen hovering before her.
'Who would have thought that I'd end up like this,' she thinks helplessly.
[Name: Noel Averent]
[Race: Wood Elf (Vampire)]
[Background: Outlander]
[Class & Level: Ranger 1]
[Experience Points: 0/300]
[Hit Points: 11]
[Armour Class: 15]
[Carry Capacity: 109.6/210 pounds]
[Strength: 14 (13+1)]
[Dexterity: 19 (15+4)]
[Constitution: 12 (11+1)]
[Intelligence: 10]
[Wisdom: 14 (13+1)]
[Charisma: 10 (9+1)]
[Abilities: Darkvision (90ft), Fey Ancestry, Trance, Keen Senses, Fleet Foot, Mask of the Wilds, Vampiric Bite, Claws, Charm Resistance, Sunlight Sensitivity, Blood Thirst, Favoured Enemy (Orcs, Wargs), Natural Explorer (Forests), Fighting Style (Druidic Warrior), Wanderer.]
[Spells: Mending (Cantrip), Produce Flame (Cantrip).]
[Proficient Armour: Light, Medium, Shield.]
[Proficient Weapons: Longswords, Shortswords, Longbows, Shortbows, All Simple Weapons.]
[Proficient Tools: Flute.]
[Proficient Skills: Stealth (Class), Investigation (Class), Nature (Class), Athletics (Background), Survival (Background), Perception (Keen Senses).]
[Proficient Languages: Common, Elvish, Black Tongue (Orcish), Dwarfish.]
[Equipped: Traveler's Clothes, Leather Armour, Shortsword x2, Longbow, Quiver (Arrows x20), Explorer's Pack.]
[Items: Bedroll, Mess kit, Tinderbox, Torches x10, Rations x10, Waterskin, Hemp rope (50ft), Staff, Hunting Trap, Wolf Fang, Pouch (10 Gold), Flute.]
Scanning through the content of the holographic screen once more, the supposedly named Noel snorts, both in amusement and exaggeration.
"Yeah, who would have thought that filling out that stupid pop-up would actually transport me into an entirely different world in the body of someone else?" she asks out loud while focusing on different parts of the displayed status, which prompts smaller ones to pop up and explain in a bit more detail.
Not that she really needed them—after all, it was she who had designed this body—but a refresher would be prudent to say the least, especially because there seem to have been some adjustments to adapt the stuff for reality.
The pop-up had asked her to create a D&D character with a few twists.
Those twists came in the form of two fortune wheels.
One would grant a boon to her character and the other determined where it would end up.
For the boon she landed on [Vampirism], which granted some solid improvements to her character and would continue to do so with each following level.
Currently it provided the following:
[Vampirism]
Level 1:
Ability score increase: +1 to Str, Con, Cha and +2 to Dex.
Vampiric Bite: Melee Weapon Attack, 1d4 piercing + 1d4 necrotic. Upon a successful attack you heal for the same amount of Health points as necrotic damage dealt.
Claws: Melee Weapon Attack, 1d6 slashing. You may use Dexterity or Strength for the attack and damage rolls.
Charm Resistance: You have advantage on saving throws against being charmed.
Darkvision: 60 ft (or +30 ft if you already have it).
Sunlight Sensitivity: Disadvantage on attack rolls and Perception checks that rely on sight while in sunlight.
Blood Thirst: You need to consume blood at least once a day or become exhausted.
Good stuff, that's for sure, though she isn't sure how exactly the dice damage would translate. As for the flaws that came with it, they are quite mild and shouldn't pose much of a problem as long as one acts carefully.
That leaves the location.
When Noel had seen what the fortune wheel had landed on, she found it quite appropriate at the time, as it would match quite well with a D&D-style character.
After all, Arda, the world of Middle-earth, brimmed with possibilities for adventure.
But well… now that she is here, glaring out into the wide-open world while her eyes sting from the bright sunlight, dressed in rough traveling clothes and leather armour, with two swords on her hips, a quiver on her lower back holding arrows for the bow attached to the pack on her back, and a phenomenal mood only attained when you feel very hungry but know that only disgusting stuff is left in the fridge—she is anything but happy.
"But what can I do? It's not like I can just log out or lie down and die." Closing her eyes, Noel takes a deep breath before rising to her feet.
'It could have been so much worse though,' she thinks as she pushes her laments aside for now and instead begins to test out her new body.
Stretching her limbs, she gets to experience what a Dex score of 19 really means, as even clad in armour and fully equipped, she effortlessly bends herself in ways that would have snapped multiple tendons in her old body.
Hopping in place for a bit, she suddenly accelerates forward, planting a foot on the vertical trunk of the tree under which she evaded the direct light of the sun, and pushes herself up almost two meters before reaching for a high branch and swinging herself on top of it.
'Damn. High Dex combined with solid Strength and proficiency in Athletics really is something else,' Noel thinks while reaching for a rather thick branch and trying to break it off.
It takes some effort, but the wood ultimately gives way under her newly acquired strength.
Waving the stick around a bit, she hesitates for a moment before shaking her head with a wry smile.
"Not gonna test if Con is going to make me any hardier. Let's just hope I won't have to find out the hard way later." She chuckles to herself and refrains from hitting herself with the broken-off branch.
Instead, she throws the thing as hard as she can from atop her perch in the tree, sending it flying.
It sails a fair distance before landing on the grass-covered ground.
Watching it intently and keeping her gaze locked even after it lands, Noel reaches to her back and easily detaches the longbow from her backpack, while pulling an arrow from the quiver.
Notching the arrow onto the bow, she pulls the string back in a trained and fluid fashion.
Her breath grows slow and her arms steady.
A silent second passes before she releases the string and the arrow shoots out with a *Twang*.
"This is fucking sick," she mutters while shielding her eyes with a hand.
The arrow she shot is now stuck in the branch.
Not an impossible shot, but certainly not something she could have done before, especially not because this was not something done on a shooting range or anything.
She is currently sitting on a branch inside a tree and shot a branch lying on the ground a decent distance away while wearing armour and a backpack.
Giggling excitedly, Noel lowers her hand that she used to shield her eyes and grabs the branch on which she sits before swinging down one-handed, still holding her bow in the other.
It feels so easy and natural as she drops down from a good three meters, and when she lands in a crouch, her knees don't even hurt from the strain.
With her mood much improved, she jogs over to the branch impaled by the arrow while attaching the bow back to her pack.
Stepping into direct sunlight is uncomfortable as the world seems to gain a few shitty filters that make things a bit more difficult to discern and sting her eyes, but in the end nothing she can't deal with.
Arriving next to her target, she crouches down and pulls the arrow from the wood.
Looking it over, she finds it still intact, so she places it back in her quiver before focusing on the damaged branch instead.
Grabbing it with one hand, she bites down on her other hands gloved finger tips and pulls it off.
Then she looks at her pale hand with slender digits and shiny black nails.
"I really hope these aren't painted. I don't think nail polish is a thing in this world yet, so it would be rather difficult to fix them if they scratch off," Noel mutters past the glove held between her teeth as she flexes her fingers and inspects the nails before getting back to business.
Furrowing her brows, she focuses hard on her nails and wills them to grow longer and sharper.
And so they do.
"Wow, and I didn't even have to stick on extensions." Noel chuckles and presses one of the now three-centimeter-long claws against the wood of the branch she's holding.
Pulling it across leaves a decently deep groove in the material and proves that these nails have become quite feasible weapons.
With another exertion of her will, the nails shrink back and lose their sharpness, returning to their previous state.
'Neat for sure, but a bit redundant in most cases when I'm armed with cold steel or bow and arrow. Also a bit inconvenient with me wearing gloves and all.' Dropping the branch and putting on her glove again, she moves onto the next test.
Holding her open palm over the damaged branch, she closes one of her eyes while the other narrows in concentration.
She focuses solely on her intention until something seems to trickle out of the depths of her mind.
For a moment she remains silent, then she begins to mutter under her breath.
The words seem to matter less than the act of uttering them and the intention with which they are spoken.
Along with the muttering, a soft greenish glow begins to emit from her hovering palm before she reaches down and touches the branch.
Over the span of a minute, the hole and cut in the wood close up, mending back together.
Once done, Noel lifts the piece of wood up and inspects it again.
"Okay, that is fucking awesome," she says out loud with a sharp-toothed grin.
"Real magic, heh, even if it is only a cantrip. This shit is awesome." Full of energy, she stands up and stretches out her free hand.
Again she concentrates, searching for that strand of knowledge inside her own mind, and then when she finds it, she pulls on it.
Her lips move as if by themselves, chanting the incantation until a flash of light erupts from her hand and eager orange flames lick across the leather of her glove.
Grinning widely, she watches the fire dance without burning her or the equipment.
Waving her arm around a bit, she confirms that the flames stay and don't just get blown out.
Then she takes on a throwing pose and with a grunt hurls the flame.
It doesn't reach too far, but when it lands there is a sizzling sound and a scorch mark remains once it dissipates.
Nodding to herself, Noel turns to look towards the horizon where the sun is slowly descending.
''Kay, that's about all the obvious stuff tested. Now the only real thing left is to get going. After all, I still need to get myself some fucking blood.' She thinks, and the good mood from casting magic sours.
"I really hope that shit tastes good or I'll be pissed." With that she drops the branch and begins walking towards the closest forest to hunt for some food.