Ethan pushed gently on the wood door to the modest guild hall. It had taken him most of an hour to work his way through the throngs of people crowding the streets. This early in the day most players were restocking or repairing their gear before heading out for raiding that afternoon. It was one of the few holdovers from the real world, to everyone but the raid clan and some of the more dedicated scout groups, raids were done at night. Disorder had quickly discovered that the earlier they started, the less people they’d had to deal with. That little advantage had helped them get their first discovery of a boss back on floor 18. Since then they’d been starting their days early and resting while most players were hunting.

Ethan entered the house and, as always, took a second to appreciate what they’d done together. The gold they’d earned from that first accomplishment had gone towards the purchase of the hall. The two story house wasn’t anywhere near as fancy as other bigger guilds had, but it was big enough that everyone in Disorder could live there together.

When they’d first made the purchase, the building was brand new. One of the more recent construction projects that had sprung up when Startesgarde had been taken over by the player base. They had made adjustments to give everyone more privacy at the expense of a large living area, but all seven players had their own rooms. Leah and Tae-Won shared the bigger room downstairs, Sam’s room was also on the first floor. Ethan, Daniel, Miguel, and David all had rooms on the second floor.

As he walked through the small living space, he saw that a fire was already crackling in the hearth, above which an impossible video screen was replaying their encounter with the red dragon that Daniel had pulled. David was sitting on one of the couches rewatching the fight.

Guild halls were one of the few places that could completely break immersion in the game. Only players of the owning guild could enter, so projected videos could be displayed without any NPCs being able to see them.

He watched the replay as he walked over behind his friend.

“What did Arianna say?” He asked standing over David’s shoulder, his arms crossed over his chest, still watching the fight.

“Not much since you already told her what to expect.” David didn’t look up from the paper he was taking notes on. “She was very appreciative of the location and the vid though. Kevin wasn’t even close with anything he’d given her.”

“She pay you?”

“Of course.” He waved a hand behind himself. “Already deposited in the vault.”

Habitually, Ethan turned and looked at the large wooden chest on the back wall. One of the many perks of having a guild hall was that anything left in it was permanent through character death. Their vault was the shared depository for anything they got that couldn’t be used for their current characters but may be valuable in the future. They also used it to store gold that they could pull from for repairs or upgrading their hall.

“Good.” Ethan looked back at the screen for a quick glance, his previous incarnation was now standing with Sam and David discussing the dead dragon, before walking to the stairs and his bedroom.

“You hear from anyone else yet?” David paused the replay and turned to face him, still seated on the couch.

“Not yet, you?”

“Miguel checked in, he just got into town so he’s about an hour out. Tae-Won is with Leah and Daniel, they’re three hours away and I haven’t heard from Sam at all. You think we need to worry about him?” Ethan could tell the concern in his voice wasn’t for their friend’s safety, just that they’d be slowed down.

“No. You know how he is. So focused on progression that he forgets about everyone else.” Ethan was happy to hear that having to babysit Daniel hadn’t slowed the other two down. “He’ll show up probably a level higher than anyone else and be pissed we aren’t gearing as quickly as he is. I’ll send him a message.”

Before he could continue, David stopped him again.

“What about a replacement for Daniel? We’re a man short now.”

Ethan sighed, recruiting wasn’t ever fun. People were either intimidated by the established group cohesion or just bad fits for their play style.

“I don’t know. We’ll talk about it when everyone gets here. You know anyone?” David tended to make friends easily in groups, occasionally bringing someone new to their party if they wanted an extra body. Usually the players he brought were skilled, but none so far had been offered an invitation to join Disorder.

“I might, I’ll send out some feelers.” David looked thoughtful for a few seconds, as if he was considering everyone he knew. “The problem is that most of them haven’t died recently and will be higher levels than us or already members of a guild. But I’ll ask around.”

“Cool. I’m going to grab a quick shower and something to eat. I’ll be back by the time Tae-Won and Leah get here.” He headed for the stairs again.

“Don’t forget to message Sam!” David called back to him, having already resumed the video replay.

“Yeah yeah.” Ethan muttered to himself as he ascended the stairs.

The sun shone through his window as he opened his door. During the day, his bedroom could be scorching hot from being in sunlight, but Ethan had chosen the room in spite of that. Through his window The Tower rose in the distance. Every morning when he woke it reminded him of his goal. It was the first thing he saw and the last before going to sleep.

He tossed his axe and his other weapons on his bed and grabbed his towel, fully intending to wash the travel dust off himself before leaving again.

Before he could leave for the bathroom though his message indicator lit up.

“Hey little brother. Thanks for letting me know about the Blood Dragons. I’ll take care of it. We don’t tolerate that kind of shit at all. Donovan is going to reprimand those guys, I made sure to tell him not to let anyone know you told me and not him. He may want to speak with you at some point.

How’s leveling going? You back in town yet? David met with me already, hope you guys put that gold to good use and get caught up quickly. I don’t think you’ll get high enough to help clear this floor, but PLEASE try to be with us by 29, 30 at the latest. Clearing for a boon is always a big party and you don’t want to miss it. If you need anything let me know.

Love you.”

Ethan responded quickly letting her know he was in Startesgarde and would be cracking the whip on his guild. He could have private messaged her since he was in town but he didn’t want to get drawn into a conversation and delay his bath and eating.

He did try sending a private message to Sam, hoping that he was already in a town to receive it.

To Sam: Hey you there?

Immediately he got a reply:

The player you’re trying to contact is not in a town to receive private chat. They can only be contacted through in game message services.

Well that answers that question. Trying again, he sent a basic message just asking Sam to check in soon and reminded him of their targeted time to meet that day.

While not all real life skills were applicable in game, when Ethan stepped into the steaming shower, he was glad that plumbing was. He’d enjoyed the baths in Grassmere, but taking a bath always seemed like a luxurious experience to Ethan. Showers could be done in much less time, and after only a few minutes he was clean and back in his room.

He decided on dressing comfortably for the rest of the day, storing his armor in his inventory and selecting simple brown cotton pants and a loose, baggy linen shirt from his closet. His body wasn’t too different from his previous build and his clothes still fit. If he’d rolled a dexterity or intelligence based class, chances were higher his clothes would have been even looser.

Holding his axe in his hand he had a dilemma. With no battle harness he didn’t have any way of carrying his axe on his body. So either he would have to leave it in his room or store it in his inventory with his armor. He wasn’t leaving town at all and peace was strictly kept by PvP tagged players so he was safe, but at the same time he didn’t want to be naked with no weapon whatsoever.

In the end his paranoia lost and his axe went into his inventory. The last item he grabbed before walking out was a leather satchel that hung across his chest. The simple bag served as a physical manifestation of his inventory. In such an NPC heavy area Ethan felt the need to have a bag he could place objects in instead of just swiping them into his inventory.

David was in the kitchen area making something to eat when Ethan descended the stairs.

“You already pick up some groceries?” He asked David as he walked by him.

“Yarr.” David was busy making himself some sort of sandwich. Food in the area was often shared, particularly since when everyone was at the guild hall Ethan usually got roped into cooking.

“Cool cool. I’m out, you need anything while I’m gone?” From having lived together before, they’d quickly fallen back into their old habits. David hadn’t had a car at the time and Ethan constantly had to drive him anyway, by the time they’d graduated Ethan would just call him and pick anything up he needed so he wasn’t making extra trips out.

“I’m good.” David replied, taking a large bite of his sandwich. “You going to Tara’s?” He asked, covering his full mouth with his hand which didn’t stop a small piece of meat falling out.

“Gross and yes.” Ethan shook his head as David picked up the fallen meat and ate it.

“Does that mean you’re cooking tonight?” Hope was obvious in his question. The guild took advantage of Ethan’s real world profession when they were all together. His low cooking skill meant that there was a higher chance of him burning something, but didn’t usually affect flavors of a dish.

“We’ll see. Depends on what time everyone gets here.” Ethan waved as he continued to the door. “Laters.”