A new character plays two quests back to back. Humble Beginnings is a short prologue at your estate. One Short Lesson starts when you wake up dead, and ends with a weapon you made yourself in the bank at 
Kal Crossing.
Character names are 3 to 12 characters, letters and numbers only.
The estate
You wake in bed to a knock at the door. It is Iris, and there is dinner to make.
- Meet Iris downstairs, then go out the front door and find her by the chicken coop.
- Pick up the
Copper Axe by the trees and chop five 
Poplar Logs. - Bring the logs back to Iris and offer to handle the chicken.
- Kill five chickens for
Raw Chicken, take it inside to Iris in the kitchen, cook five 
Chicken at the range and show her.
After dinner the night goes wrong. You hold the line outside against three waves of undead: one, then three, then five. Win or fall, the prologue ends the same way, in front of a stranger.
Do not get attached to that axe. When Humble Beginnings completes it empties your inventory and your equipment, and it marks you with the curse. What you keep is the experience: 1 quest point, 100 
Woodcutting and 100 
Cooking.
The character creator has a Skip the Tutorial toggle. With it on, you arrive in Kal Crossing with the prologue already complete (rewards, curse mark and empty pockets included) and One Short Lesson already past the stranger, so your first stop is the Town Crier.
Adon
The stranger introduces himself properly partway through:
My name is Adon of Bythos... Though you may just refer to me as Adon. At your service.
Say what you like to him. Accept or refuse, he brings you back. Before he sends you off he explains the catch, and it is worth listening to:
You'll need to sate your urges... consume ichor from the living, or find totems from the world to fend off the power welling up inside you.
Oh, and I wouldn't stand in water if I were you. A small side effect of your gift.
The game then shows you the curse meter: "Your Curse meter is on your HUD. It fills as you fight, gather and craft. Hold Left Alt and hover over it to see your current curse effects." The occultism and the curse page explains what it does.
You wake in Kal Crossing. Cassius Boone points you at the Town Crier.
The Town Crier and Captain Badon
The Town Crier is busy, and says so. His one useful line:
Ugh, any information relating to undead sightings should be brought to Captain Badon by the North Gate.
Captain Badon wants to hear about the estate, and then he asks how you like to fight. This is the only real choice in the quest.
- Up close: he sends you to Agneiss at the mine, south east across the bridge. You learn
Mining and 
Forging and make a sword. - From a distance: he sends you to Elmer at the poplar grove, south west beyond the west gate. You learn Woodcutting and make a bow or a wand.
Either way, nobody hands you gear. You pick up a tool, gather, and make your own weapon.
Up close: Agneiss and Silvia
Agneiss Bellows stands outside the mines. She puts it simply:
You can grab that pickaxe right beside me and head into the mine over there.
- Take the
Copper Pickaxe from the box next to her. - Go into the Kal Mine and mine three
Copper Ore. Agneiss: "It shouldn't be dangerous so long as you don't head too deep into the mines." - Walk south to Silvia Bellows. Smelt a
Copper Bar at the furnace. - Forge a
Copper Sword at the anvil beside her and show it to her.
Recipes with a crafting minigame have to be made by hand the first time. The grade you get matters later; see crafting grades.
From a distance: Elmer, Sedna and friends
Elmer Albero runs the lumber yard. Take the Copper Axe out of the stump next to him, chop three Poplar Logs and bring them back. He sends you to Sedna Trappe, "just down the road back towards Kal Crossing".
Sedna teaches one craft. Ask for both and she refuses: "I'm not that generous, pick one."
The bow
- Make an
Unstrung Poplar Shortbow at Sedna's bench. She gives you a 
Bundle of Feathers and 
Copper Arrow Tips. - Make a
Copper Arrow at the same bench and show her. - Find Abel Wethers in Kal Crossing, south and to the right of the large tower. Pick
Flax from the field nearby and spin a 
Bowstring on his spinning wheel. - String the bow to finish your
Poplar Shortbow. Abel's advice: "You can attach it to your bow by right clicking your bow in your inventory and selecting the string option, so I've heard."
The wand
- Make an
Unenchanted Poplar Wand at Sedna's bench and bring it back to her. - Take it to Connor Jurin in the large tower south of Kal Crossing. He will not enchant it until you prove yourself, and hands you a
Bucket and an 
Empty Vial (keep two inventory slots free). - Fill the bucket at a cow for a
Bucket of Milk, fill the vial at any water for a 
Vial of Water, and pick 
Coneleaf in the park on the east side of Kal Crossing. - Brew an
Antipoison at the alchemy table and give it to Connor. He enchants your 
Poplar Wand.
The bank
Everyone ends up at the bank with Lendie Tender. The bank keeps your items and coin for free. She asks for one thing:
How about you try dropping off that weapon you just crafted with us temporarily?
Deposit the sword, bow or wand you made. Adon interrupts to mention that he will hold some of your things if you die, which is the death container. Worth knowing before your first fight: dying drops most of what you carry, but nothing that is in the bank.
One last stop
Go back to Captain Badon at the North Gate. He does not hand out another quest. He names people who will teach you more:
If you're looking for more skills, I'd talk to Barnus out in his field, Cassius in the temple in town, Tartiana up in the castle, or the trio who run the Combat Hall, they'll all have things to teach you.
He also suggests company. You can invite another player to a party by holding Left Alt, clicking them and choosing Invite Player to Party. Parties hold up to four, and everyone in one earns a little more experience (party play).
One Short Lesson pays 1 quest point and 100 experience each in Forging, Mining, Woodcutting, 
Survival, 
Arcana and 
Artisan. No coin.
When you want to look for your friend, Badon's directions are to "just follow the road East along the North side of the Wesfil Loid" until a break in the cliffs on your left.
Next: your first hours.