Mythora

Death Was the Tutorial

Dark Fantasy LitRPG

You died on Earth. A tired goddess caught you falling and set you down in a world that ran out of heroes thirty years ago — alive, level nothing, owning the clothes you died in. Now a line of grave-light script only you can read tallies everything you survive. Dungeons called Graves tear open in the land and ripen if ignored. Four guilds want your name in their book. The monsters have united under nine banners and started printing their own laws. And at the mouth of the one Grave that never closed, something polite is asking how many bells rang this week. An old spearman at the inn buys your first drink, because somebody has to be the tutorial.

Where things stand

Death Was the Tutorial is played by real people and keeps moving between their sessions. This is the state of it as of the last update — not a fixed setting, and not where it began.

Tensions within Lastbell mount as the Gravediggers' Union deploys uncertified pick-gangs into deep foundation rock, prompting Guildmaster Petra Halloran and Assessor Imral Vashk to post armed bailiffs and seize unauthorized salvage. Across the Emberline Fields, Baba Undume and the Still Man record rhythmic harmonics mirroring the underground pick work, confirming that the Door Arithmetic continues to tighten its grip upon the city. The clampdown on deep foundation salvage by Lastbell's guild bailiffs strangles the tributary flow into the Bannermoot, leaving hobgoblin sentries to log mounting deficits against empty carts. At the Bannermoot, hobgoblin sentries begin enforcing punitive tribute measures as the guild clampdown on foundation salvage starves local quotas. At the Bannermoot, hobgoblin sentries escalate punitive tribute measures by seizing personal ironware from arriving refugees to offset the guild-imposed foundation deficits. At the Bannermoot, hobgoblin enforcers escalate their punitive tallies by ripping structural iron from incoming refugee goods to cover the guild-choked deficits. At the Bannermoot, Kruul Stonehide continues to drive seized iron deeper into the tally-poles, grinding refugee survival down to meet the guild-choked quotas.

Places

The Bellhouse of Veyadungeon
The great round temple where the Returned wake. A bronze bell the size of a house hangs in the open tower; it rings itself, once, each time Veya pulls a soul through the Second Door. Beneath it, stone waking-slabs radiate outward like petals, each worn smooth by centuries of first breaths. Nkomi priestesses move between the slabs with water, clothes, and the standard speech: you died, you are here, the world needs you. A side wing — the Mireward — is kept locked, and the priestesses do not discuss it.
The Bannermootcamp
The warcamp of Ghezza the Nine-Banner in the western hills — no raider's sprawl but a planned town of ramped earthworks, drilled companies, and nine tribal banners around a tenth pole that stands empty. Hobgoblin engineers cut roads; goblin runners carry written orders; penned wargs turn spits. Most unsettling of all is the human quarter: advisors, deserters, and tradesmen who came for pay and stayed — treated well, watched always.
The Diggers' Yardmarket
The Diggers' Yard has been fully co-opted by the Mireward. Controlled Union members, their forms grotesque, now serve as agents of corruption, physically expanding the entity's reach and infesting Lastbell's foundations with its foul ichor. The atmosphere is oppressive and sickening.
Emberline Fieldswilderness
The Emberline Fields are now thoroughly overrun by Ghezza's vanguard, their organized advance leaving a clear path of destruction towards Lastbell. The thrumming of war machines and the shouts of hobgoblin skirmishers drown out any other sounds. The char-black shrine gates stand as silent witnesses to the coming storm.
The Unclosed Gravedungeon
The Unclosed Grave's garden, once meticulously tended, is now visibly blighted and sealed by a pulsating barrier of Mireward ichor. This barrier, a direct extension of the encroaching Mireward's will, thrums with a sickening psychic energy, making passage to the cottage impossible. The whispers from its depths have grown into a desperate, trapped thrum, a direct plea from The Still Man, whose efforts to hold back the blight are now visibly failing.
The Hunters' Ledgermarket
The licensed adventurers' guild of Lastbell. A converted courthouse: bounty boards where verdicts once hung, a great iron ledger chained to the central desk recording every certified level of every hunter alive — and a second, black-bound ledger for the dead. Levels here are not vanity; they are law. An Assessor rolls carved knuckle-dice against your deeds before any rank is stamped. The Ledger holds first-claim rights on every new Grave reported within the city's charter.
The Sandroad Marketmarket
The Sandroad Market, once a bustling hub of commerce, has been transformed into a grim testament to hobgoblin dominance. Large, imposing collection points for the 'Tribute Ledger' stand as stark reminders of the populace's subjugation. Rakkos and Grok enforce Kruul Stonehide's will with chilling efficiency, extracting resources and compliance from the broken city.
The Gilded Weft (Banner Stronghold)military fortress
The Gilded Weft's ruin is now complete, its artisans either fled or pressed into service. The district pulses with a new, oppressive energy as the Bone Charter formalizes its control, exploiting the city's terror for profit and power.
The Mirewarded Archivescastle
Corvin has transformed the archives into a weaponized hub, using 'Door Arithmetic' to channel and intensify Mireward corruption against the city.
The Charter's Enclavetown
The Charter's Enclave is a grim monument to Lastbell's despair, its operations streamlined to absorb the terrified populace. The hum of the printing presses is constant, churning out contracts for the newly 'protected'.
Bellhouse Sub-Passagecave
The Bellhouse Sub-Passage, already a torrent of Mireward ichor, violently ruptures as a new, nascent Grave tears open within its depths, mirroring the Grave of the Silent Kennel. Its wrongness seeps into the city.
Cavern of Rusted Hymnscave
The Cavern of Rusted Hymns, once echoing with its own deep sounds, now thrums with a new, intelligent psychic presence, becoming a primary nexus for the Mireward's expanding consciousness beneath Lastbell. The air is thick with a wrongness that feels observed.
The Broken Cryptcave
A vast, broken crypt, its floor littered with snapped wood and overturned stone coffins. The air is thick with damp earth and a metallic-sweet scent.
Whispering Aisles (Bellhouse)cave
The Aisles' psychic cacophony is momentarily disrupted by a painful jolt of defiance, then reasserts itself with increased intensity.
The Bellhouse Foundationscave
The Bellhouse Foundations are now a living, writhing mass of Mireward corruption, with a central tendril breaching the surface directly into the Bellhouse proper.
The Sunken Fenforest
The fen's wards are failing, its mists now thicker and permeated with a palpable wrongness. Spectral entities, drawn by the escalating psychic resonance, are increasingly common and hostile. The path to its depths is now fraught with unseen dangers.
The Bellhouse Foundations: Heart of the Disturbancecave
The Heart of the Disturbance has become a central node of the Mireward's physical manifestation. Former Union diggers, now mindless thralls, ceaselessly work to spread the virulent ichor, accelerating the city's corruption under the direction of an unseen, malevolent will.
Subterranean Tunnels of Ur-Themmcave
A newly exposed entrance descends into dark, winding tunnels, marked by arcane symbols and a sense of ancientness. The air is heavy with distorted energy.
Sunken Wardens' Cryptcave
A waterlogged underground complex beneath the Gilded Weft, rumored to hold relics of ancient guardians who once fought against encroaching darkness. Its chambers are filled with stagnant water and spectral echoes.
The Twisted Archivetemple
The Twisted Archive now hums with a newly awakened, personalized malevolence. The passage Vladar entered pulses with a dark, inviting energy, drawing other 'lost' souls deeper into the Mireward's grasp. Its architectural corruption deepens, hinting at a new, more intimate connection to the Mireward's core.
Grave of Gnawed Crownsdungeon
The Grave of Gnawed Crowns pulses with renewed, vengeful power, its influence expanding rapidly throughout Lastbell. The 'phantom note' has only sharpened the Cantor's resolve, accelerating the city's corruption.
Grave of the Silent Kenneldungeon
The Grave of the Silent Kennel, now fully awakened and resonating with the Cantor's amplified power, thrums with an even greater call to the Tide. Its influence reaches beyond the Emberline, now directly connecting with the newly formed Subterranean Maw within Lastbell.

Figures

  • Deck MosleyLevel-9 Spearman, Unofficial Greeter of the Newly Returned
  • Matron Ayo SefuHigh Priestess of Veya, Keeper of the Bellhouse
  • Charter-Master Silas VaneMaster of the Bone Charter
  • Qeshira Bint-AlwanMistress of the Sandroad Caravans
  • Ghezza the Nine-BannerActing De facto leader of a resistance faction within Levyhall
  • Weftmistress Homura Nine-StitchMaster of the Gilded Weft
  • Warden-General Aldous KreelWarden-General of Lastbell, Author of the Scorched-Line
  • Registrar Ottia PellIntake Registrar of the Bellhouse, Keeper of the Ration-Writs
  • Assessor Imral VashkAssessor of the Hunters' Ledger, Keeper of the Knuckle-Dice
  • Foreman Brakka Ur-ThemmMaster of the Gilded Weft
  • The Still ManThe Wake That Laid Its Own Grave
  • Old MarnInnkeeper of The First Death, Retired Gravedigger
  • Baba UndumeRoot-Witch of the Emberline, Grave Pattern-Reader
  • Yasu Ember-NoseFirst Scout of the Levy
  • Runa SixteenThe Ledger's Top Grave-Scout, Sixteen Times Summoned
  • Guildmaster Petra HalloranMaster of the Hunters' Ledger, Hero of the Overrun
  • Sister LarkPriestess of the Mireward, Warden of the Wrongly Returned
  • Captain Rhoswen VanceGate Captain of The Bellhouse
  • Scribe OndineBellhouse Head Scribe and Keeper of Records
  • LazloWandering Merchant
  • CordeliaMerchant, Purveyor of Grave-Kits
  • CorvinActing Logistics and Supply Master for the Bellhouse
  • KiyoWeaver's Apprentice
  • Kjar StonehandJotenblood Master Smith

These are the figures the world was seeded with, and who are still alive in it. Others have appeared since, and some of these are no longer who they were — the world keeps moving whether or not anyone is watching.