I don’t know for sure what I was expecting as we approached the village, but it wasn’t what we found. Seeing the village was like seeing a weird blend of medieval times, the wild west, and Star Trek all crammed together. There was some crude huts with thatched roofs, but they also must have a functional sawmill because a lot of the larger buildings were clapboard. Instead of streetlights there were glowing purple orbs just floating in midair and I couldn’t help but stop and stare. There were people out and about but everyone was bustling around like they were busy as hell even though it was almost dark. We kept going and right as we made it to the edge of the village itself I noticed a single strand of wire that was strung about knee height around the perimeter of the village.

It seemed out of place to me, almost like one of those electronic fences people put up for their dogs. I walked over and crouched down to check it out, and I had just reached out a tentative hand when a voice interrupted.

“Don’t touch that. Are you retarded?”

I drew my hand back and looked up at the woman. She was short and kind of blocky with a severe hair bob I tend to think of as a butch cut and carrying a stack of firewood in what I couldn’t help but classify as her man hands. I had a reply all ready to go, sure to inure me in her heart forever when Allison interrupted.

“Sheryl, take it easy. That’s Jack. We’ve been out of the village since like forever. He was just trying to figure out what the deal with the wire was.”

“Allison, you’re back from slumming I see. The deal with the wire is it’s charged with enough mana to deep fry one of the wolves. I don’t know what it would do to anyone dumb enough to touch it without turning it off first, but I doubt it would be pleasant.”

I moved back from the wire and made a florid bow in her direction. “Thanks so much for your kind warning. This has been just peachy, but I’ve got shit to do in the village.”

I stepped over the wire and walked inside, but Allison begged off to stay and talk with her friend. John and Steve stayed with her. I doubt Steve cared but I was betting John didn’t want any of the group left without backup until we had a better feel for how things worked in the village. The rest of the group followed me as I made a path for where we’d put up that rustic tenament way back in the beginning of the game. I had to look around and spot the door to the XP store to make sure I was in the right place when we got there. What had been a crude leanto with a nifty floor and a makeshift fireplace had turned into a two-story clapboard building with a square front like you’d see in a spaghetti western. I stepped up onto a real live boardwalk before I moved forward and knocked on the door. Nobody answered at first and I looked around, trying to get a read on the temperament of our group. Debbie looked hesitant while Jeri looked curious, and honestly, I think Hunter just looked kind of bored.

I heard Tim’s voice call out, “just a minute” and I couldn’t help but grin. Tim came to the door wearing a pair of khakis and a light jacket over a polo shirt, very business casual. As the door swung open I gave him a solemn nod. “Good evening, sir. I’ve come to ask if you’ve found Jesus?”.

His face lit up with a giant smile. “I didn’t realize you’d lost him. Welcome back guys. I’ve got so many questions for you. Come in, come in. Where are the others?”

We followed him inside to more of that strange mix of rustic and modern. There were some hand made wooden benches, like the adirondack chairs that had been popular a few years ago, but there was also a sleek leather office chair on roller wheels with a built in cup holder in front of what looked like an old fashioned roll top desk. The fireplace was rough hewn stone with a cast iron grate, but the light in the room came from more of those purple orbs. We obviously had a lot to discuss. Angie came into the room from a door off to the side wearing some kind of peasant blouse yoga pants combo and sat in a modest looking cloth recliner while Tim took a seat in the office chair after he spun it around to face the rest of us. We all sat in the wooden benches and started to trade stories.

Debbie told our side of things, keeping the mood light. She made the fight with the cave bear sound more like a comedy of errors, and even though she hadn’t been present seemed to take a great deal of joy in relaying an exact description of the look on my face when the hell moose tossed me across the clearing. She said we had pottery and skins to trade but didn’t go into much detail. Tim seemed to understand her reticence, just smiling calmly and taking over his side of the exchange.

“After you guys left we figured out a few things about the game. Probably the first one you noticed is the mana orbs. Everyone can buy mana regen in the XP store, but the crystals drain out your mana and automatically do things with it so you don’t have to bother with spells. There’s one for the house that generates these purple lights, and everyone whose managed to level up uses them.”

“But not everybody has managed to level up?” I was smelling totalitarian slave state and I was wondering how far down that road they’d gotten. Tim waved the question away like it wasn’t serious.

“Ken and Li are still in charge, I’m a distant third. We’ve gone further than anyone else, but no, only about half the village. There’s just so much else to buy.”

Debbie interjected then, shifting the subject, I think to keep me from getting worked up. “What are folks buying if it’s not levels?”

Tim grinned and made a self-deprecating gesture. “That’s my job actually. You see, no matter how long you stay in the XP store, you come out about 45 seconds after you went in. At this point I’ve spent weeks in there checking out the different options. It helps that I’ve got a photographic memory, but still there are an almost infinite amount of options, and at this point I’m pretty sure the options are still expanding because I keep running across stuff I haven’t seen before. I’ve seen enough I’ve been able to help shape the direction we’ve been going and you would not believe some of what we’ve got.”

“Try me, Tim. I’m gullible as hell.”

“Okay, well the mana crystals for the lights are cool, but we built a sawmill that runs on combustion. We actually burn the sawdust and a little bit of brush to run an industrial sized table saw blade. I was a science teacher for crying out loud, the physics shouldn’t work out. There is no way there is enough energy in that amount of heat but it works. The village has a sculpting tool that cuts through solid rock like it's made out of butter but won’t even nick your skin. I mean have you seen some of the buildings the village has put up in a week? We can spend XP in the store to upgrade buildings you already own. You can buy literally anything from the store if you’ve got the XP.”

“Okay, I gotta admit. That sounds pretty impressive.”

“You think that’s cool, let me give you the tour.” He caught Jeri yawning from the corner of his eye and shifted what he was about to say. “You guys can bunk here with Angie and I. We saved a couple rooms for you since you did originally help build the place. Ang, hon, will you show them the rooms while I give Jack the nickel tour? We’ll be back in just a little bit.”

Angie agreed even if she didn’t look too thrilled about it and Debbie volunteered herself to come with me. Tim looked frustrated for just a flash and then nodded graciously. When Angie led Hunter and Jeri deeper into the house, we followed Tim out the front door. He set a pretty good pace until we got past the window at the front of his house and then turned and stopped dead once we got into a blind spot. He held up a hand before I had a chance to say anything.

“Look, I’ve only got a minute so let me get this out. I love Angie but I don’t always exactly trust her judgement. Not everything here is sunshine and roses like I made out, but it’s not exactly a dictatorship either. A couple other groups have walked out, one of which respawned here a couple hours later. You’re the first group to come back under their own power. As long as nobody tries to stop you from using the XP store I’m asking you to let it ride. The last thing we want is a civil war, and people have the option to leave if they want to. Bitch if you want, recruit people if you can, but don’t start anything with Ken and Li. They’ve leveled up and can do magic shit that you would not believe.”

I hesitated and made eye contact with Debbie before I nodded in acceptance. “As long as the border stays open and people can bail if they want we’ll stay out of it. I think I can speak for our group that far. Debbie definitely can.”

Debbie nodded as well. “People can vote with their feet if they need to. If we get equal access to the XP store then we won’t start anything. We reserve the right to defend ourselves of course.”

“Thanks. I thought you’d be reasonable but I wasn’t sure. The other thing I wanted to tell you was what else I’ve been buying in the store. The most valuable commodity they have in the XP store is information. You’ve got to be careful though. It looks like some moron spent like a hundred thousand XP for access to wikipedia like it would have anything about this world.”

Debbie stifled a giggle but I kept a serious look on my face. “What an idiot.”

Tim nodded, oblivious to the byplay. “I know right? I’m not willing to abandon the village, I think I can do more good here than away, but, well, I want some insurance.” He pulled a leatherbound journal out of his jacket pocket. “Here’s everything I’ve learned so far. A ton of information on game mechanics, maps of this world, everything. This took hours in the store and a ton of points to get. I want someplace safe to come to if things here in the village get ugly at any point. A place for Angie too. Do we have a deal?” He held the book out towards me but I looked to Debbie.

She more than anyone had been the driving force that sat up our company and it didn’t feel like I had the right to make this kind of decision. She hesitated but in the end made the same decision I would have. She reached forward and took the book but smiled at Tim. “We would have taken you in for free, Tim. If it comes down to it, everybody is in this thing together.”

He looked relieved and nodded to us. “All right, lets head back in. If it comes up I showed you the hot tub design I’ve been working on. Nobody is willing to spend the XP for one, but I’ve been experimenting with wooden planks kind of like a swedish sauna suspended over a wood fire. As long as the tub is full the wood won’t burn, but I haven’t been able to come up with a way to get the water to circulate without spending XP.”

Debbie grinned at him. “If your girlfriend asked where you took me I tell her you tried to get me in a hot tub with you, got it.”

Tim grimaced and I couldn’t help but laugh that someone else was on the sharp end of her humor until she followed up with, “And I might have if I weren’t so uncomfortable that Jack was so eager to hop in there with you.”

My laugh caught up and it was Tim’s turn to enjoy my discomfort and we followed him back into the house. There was an awkward moment when we realized Jeri and Hunter had taken a room together sticking Debbie and I in the same room. Tim seemed just as uncomfortable as we were and ducked down the hallway while I opened the door for her. She went in first and stood there looking around as I followed her in.

There was a single bed in the room, sort of. It was really a mattress on the floor and when I nudged it with my foot I could tell it wasn’t much of one. Cloth over straw if I was guessing. There was a basin of water sitting on top of a carved wooden night table and a chamber pot, but nothing else in the room. I quirked an eyebrow at Debbie.

“Rock, paper, scissors for who gets the bed?”

“Don’t be ridiculous, Jack. It’s huge. Keep your jammies on and your hands to yourself and we can share it.”

A thousand possible replies ran through my head but in the end I just nodded and said sure. I left my jeans and shirt on, just taking off my socks and boots, and Debbie left her dress on, just washing her face in the basin and brushing her hair out before settling in. I turned to present my back to her as I shifted around trying to get comfortable. She told me she was going to read some of the notes Tim had made and it seemed like hours before I drifted off to sleep with the sounds of pages rustling behind me.