Getting started

Every frog in KEKRUNE begins the same way: climbing up out of the Arrival Ring in the Kindling Grove, blinking at the wayfire, with an old frog by the fire already watching you. This guide gets you from that first blink to your first honest fight.

Making your frog

The Frog Tailor dresses you before you wake. It takes four steps:

Class. Knight, Mage, Shaman or Rogue. Your class sets your body and your starting weapon, so there is no height or build to fiddle with. See Classes and levelling if you can't decide.
Frog. Skin, belly, markings, eyes, lips, and a Face row for whiskers, chin tufts and barbels.
Outfit. The pieces you wear and their colours.
Name. Checked and claimed on the server, so it is yours alone.

Everyone else sees your frog exactly as you made it. Choose with care, or at least with style.

You wake with a backpack holding health and mana potions (the mix depends on your class), 3 loaves of bread, a torch and 50 copper coins. You also wear a robe, trousers, boots and a felt hat.

The keys

Most of these can be changed in the Options menu, under Controls. The ones marked fixed can't.

Key	What it does
`[W]` `[A]` `[S]` `[D]` or the arrows	Walk
Click the ground	Walk there (fixed)
Click a creature, or `[Tab]`	Pick a target (`[Tab]` again picks the next one)
`[1]` to `[6]`	The hotbar: 1 is your weapon, 2 your torch, 3 to 6 your spells and potions
`[E]`	Use, or talk: the nearest person, body or thing within reach
`[F]`	Loot: open the nearest body; press again to take everything
`[Space]`	Open a body right beside you, or swing
`[T]`	Light or put out your torch
`[I]`	Inventory
The backquote key, left of `[1]`	Satchel (the first bag in your backpack)
`[J]`	Spellbook
`[C]`	Character panel: level, skills, equipment, powers, your path and the journal (fixed)
`[L]`	Questbook: your quests under way and done, the story so far, and Track (the arrow + the map's gold diamond follow it)
`[M]`	World map (only what you have explored, plus your own markers)
`[P]`	Party (fixed)
`[Y]`	Highscores
`[K]`	Fold / show the right column (minimap, health, gear, skills, battle list)
`[V]`	Friends list (fixed)
`[B]`	Iset's bank, depot, market and mail, when you stand by her desk (fixed)
`[X]`	Secure mode on or off (see Death and PvP)
`[Enter]`	Chat (fixed)
`[Esc]`	Close windows, drop your target, or open the menu (fixed)
`[F10]`	Opens the menu too, for browsers that keep `[Esc]` for full screen
`[Alt]` + `[Enter]`	Full screen (fixed)
`[U]` or `[Ctrl]` + `[M]`	Mute (`[Shift]` + `[U]`, fixed, opens the sound mixer)
`[Shift]` + click	Look at something (fixed)
`[Shift]` + `[H]`	Hide the screen furniture for a clean view (fixed)

Nobody runs here. Every frog walks at the same pace, and you get a little quicker with each level and with gear that adds speed.

Reading the screen

Bottom centre: the hotbar, with your health and mana bars above it and a thin experience strip. A spell that is cooling down shows a dark sweep and the seconds left. A slot dims when you're short of mana.
Top right: the minimap. Beside it is the clock, with the hour, the sun or moon and the day count (hover it to read it in words). Next come a menu button and a bag button, if you'd rather click than press keys.
Under the minimap: status icons (bleeding, poisoned, in battle, standing in a safe zone and so on). In a fight the battle list shows up there too.
Over heads: every player and every person shows a name. Players show their level too, and your own health and mana sit under yours.
Creatures show their name, level and health bar only in a fight or when you have them targeted. The colour of the name tells you how dangerous it is to you, from its level against yours and how tough its kind really is (the battle list rows use the same colours):

Colour	Means
Grey	Far weaker than you. Easy work, little to learn.
White	An even fight.
Yellow	A little stronger than you.
Orange	Tough. Bring potions or a friend. Night bosses like the Ploughbound are never less than orange.
Red, with a small skull	Likely to kill you. Walk away.

Enemy cues in the world: an enemy hidden behind a tree, tent or rock shows a red outline through it. The creature under your mouse gets a thin pale outline, so you know what a click will pick. A creature that is hunting you stands on a faint red ring on the ground. Calm ones have none.

Talking to folk

The grove's folk are not signposts. They have their own work, their own moods and their own day, and they remember you.

Walk up to someone and click them, or press [E] when you're close. You can do the same with a body on the ground or an item lying about. Their words appear over their heads and in a dialogue window. Some words are picked out in red. Those are keywords: click one to ask about it. Most folk will answer name and job, and many know things about each other, so asking after a neighbour can turn up surprises. Press Bye when you're done, or simply walk away.

Three faces to look for first:

Bardo the Fire-Keeper, by the wayfire. He speaks to every new frog. Listen to him.
Mabry Fenn the carter, at her broken cart. Say trade to buy and sell.
Iset Coalby the outpost tender, at the Hearth outpost to the east. She keeps the stores, the bank, the depot, the market board and the mailbox.

The journal ([L]) keeps every task you've been given, written in the words of whoever gave it. We won't tell you what happens next. That is rather the point.

Your first fight

Pick a target. Click a creature, or press [Tab] for the nearest. Your frog walks into reach and starts swinging (or throwing, or casting) on its own.
Watch the wind-up. Every creature shows its big moves coming: a crouch, a glow, a mark on the ground. Step away when you see one.
Use the hotbar. Spells go on keys 3 to 6 as you learn them. Health potions heal you: drag one from your bag onto a key, or right-click it in the bag.
Loot the body. Press [Space] or [F] to open it and again to take everything. Creatures drop parts, not coins. Mabry buys most of them.

Start small. A Dandelion Hare is the first thing most frogs chase. A Wickmaw dozing by day is easy work. Leave the Ditchmaws in the Gap alone until you have a level or two, and never go to them at night on your own. One firm rule: anything you hit will hit back. A torch won't save you from something you started.

When you're hurt, step out of the fight. Your health comes back slowly once you're calm, and much faster if you've eaten (see Food and potions). If it all goes wrong, you wake again at the Arrival Ring. Until level 8, death costs you nothing. After that, read Death and PvP.

Welcome to the grove. Mind the dark.