Getting started
Your first hour, with no spoilers. Ancient Warden runs in your browser and saves to your account. There are no classes: you become what you practise.
Where you begin
Every new adventurer wakes in Brightmeadow, the castle town at the heart of the map. Click or tap the ground to walk. Click a creature to fight it, a person to talk, a tree or rock to gather. The town square has everything you need within a few steps.
Your first quests
The main story starts small and close to home:
- The Lamplighter's Round Novice · starts with Lamplighter Hollis in Brightmeadow
- Wood for the Watchfire Novice · starts with Parish Warden Lyle in Brightmeadow
Follow the quest marker. It points you to each objective. The full list is under Quests.
Making your first coins
- Fight the easy things. Chickens, cows and Goblins around town drop food, feathers and coins. Green-named creatures are weaker than you.
- Fish and cook. A Fishing net takes crayfish from lakes and shrimp from the sea. Cook the catch on a fire.
- Chop and mine. Any axe fells trees, any pickaxe works copper and tin. Both sell, and both feed Smithing later.
- Forage as you walk. Berry bushes, herb patches and other forage need no tool and no level. See Foraging.
- Sell to the right shop. A shop pays more for what it deals in. See Shops.
Staying alive
- Eat to heal. Cooked food heals in a fight. A bed in any inn fully restores you for free.
- Death is forgiving. You keep your items and wake by the chapel in Brightmeadow. It is worth trying a fight you might lose.
- Run. Toggle Run to move quicker. Later, teleports and a skiff open the far corners. See Travel.
- Bank it. Every city has a bank chest. What you store is safe and shared across all banks.
Food at a glance
| Food | Heals | Cooking level |
|---|---|---|
 Field mushrooms | +2 | Bought or baked |
 Shrimp | +3 | 1 |
 Crayfish | +3 | 1 |
 Wild berries | +3 | Bought or baked |
 Clams | +3 | Bought or baked |
 Apples | +4 | Bought or baked |
 Honeycomb | +4 | Bought or baked |
 Cooked chicken | +4 | 1 |
 Cooked meat | +4 | 1 |
 Herring | +5 | 10 |
 Bread | +5 | Bought or baked |
 Prickly pears | +5 | Bought or baked |
 Kelp crisps | +5 | 8 |
 Cooked venison | +6 | 12 |
 Trout | +7 | 20 |
 Meat pie | +8 | Bought or baked |
 Pike | +9 | 30 |
 Roast oysters | +9 | 25 |
 King's truffle | +10 | Bought or baked |
 Stew | +11 | Bought or baked |
 Lobster | +12 | 40 |
 Cake | +13 | Bought or baked |
 Swordfish | +14 | 50 |
 Monkfish | +16 | 62 |
 Shark | +20 | 76 |
 Frostfin | +22 | 90 |
 Moonfish | +26 | 92 |