“Everyone ready?” Ethan surveyed the group in front of him. They were gathered in the entrance to the Tower. A large round room made of ancient stone with torches burning in sconces. The room was very plain for where it led. The entryway was large enough to fit fifty or more players comfortably, but Arianna had told him that it could expand to fit an entire raid group. The entire Tower was more than it looked from the outside.

Everyone was decked out in better gear than they had been three days ago when they’d had their meeting in the guild hall. It wasn’t outlandish or as fancy as raid level gear but everyone one of them was stronger than they had been.

“God, for the last time yes.” Miguel rolled his eyes as he flourished his new staff. “We were ready when we walked through the gate and, let me check, yep, still ready now.”

Tae-Won chuckled at Miguel’s answer. A pair of long daggers were sheathed at his new belt. His new leather armor creaked as it moved.

Ethan looked down at himself. His new helm was in his hands, he wasn’t quite ready to put in on yet. All of his gear looked similar to what he’d been wearing, just a little more polished. The only big difference was he’d swapped for leather leg armor instead of a kilt. Using the plate helm had pushed him into mostly heavy armor and he wanted to keep the bonus to attack speed. Of course, since he hadn’t picked a class yet he didn’t have the perk yet.

When he’d been sitting on the bench two days ago he’d finally decided on his class, Battle Shaman. He was going to use the anger he’d felt building up to channel into something useful. All he had to do was get to level 15 and do the quest. Which would hopefully happen sooner since they were about to enter the Tower.

In front of him was a chest high stone pedestal with a glowing green orb hovering above it. Instantly one hundred small squares of light spiraled out of it, coming to rest in a helix around the circle. The first twenty six were colored red and the twenty seventh white. The rest were grey. These small icons represented the progression on the Tower. Ethan could select any floor that had been cleared or the one that the raid team was progressing on.

Ethan touched the very first one and the wall behind the pedestal began to rattle. Bricks shifted position and reformed into a large archway. Sunlight shone through the portal to the first floor and Ethan could see grasslands and trees in the distance. “Alright. Everyone in.” Ethan walked towards the portal. Determination fueled his steps. They were going into the Tower.

His hair stood on end and his skin tingled as he passed the magic entryway. The quiet of the entrance was replaced by the chip of birds and wind rustling the trees. Outside the Tower had been a dour rainy day, inside the first floor was bright and sunny.

A system notification flared before Ethan:

***You have received one Escape Rune. At any point on this floor the rune can be activated to immediately teleport you to the Tower Entrance. The Escape Rune will disappear upon leaving the current floor. If all party members exit via Escape Rune the floor and all its denizens will reset***

The rune now in his inventory was their getaway in case of disaster. They’d had them in the dragon boss room, but everyone had died so quickly no one had even had a chance to use theirs.

“Everyone get their runes?” Ethan looked around for confirmation before continuing.

“Good. I don’t plan on us needing them but better safe than sorry.”

“Where we heading first?” Sam asked.

“The castle.”

Around him, everyone groaned. The castle was the most annoying part of this floor, worse in some ways than the floor boss’ dungeon. It was a large fortress that had been taken over by bandits and raiders. Duke Farnham of Elmwood’s army was in a never ending battle to retake it. The mobs were grouped tightly and the corridors were narrow. Positioning would be hard even with just six of them. In addition, there was also a timed quest to rescue the Duke’s daughter.

Most groups didn’t even try to rescue her. After two hours the Duke Farnham’s forces started launching siege attacks that would destroy walls and had to be avoided. On top of that most of the fortress was constructed from wood, a misplaced fire spell could destroy the entire building. They’d all heard stories of errant Fireballs causing a near wipe from the building catching on fire.

“WHHHHHHYYYY…?” Miguel whined overdramatically.

“Because it’s hard.” Ethan said, making sure everyone’s eyes were on him. “We’re all in new classes and roles, we need the practice. This will be a good indicator of where we are lacking at the moment.”

Half hearted and annoyed murmurs of understanding came from his guildmates.

“And we’re going to rescue the princess.” Sam’s jaw dropped when Ethan made that proclamation.

“You’re joking.” Sam was in shock. “We haven’t successfully done that before and you’re wanting to try when we’re down a man?”

“We’re not going to try, we’re going to do it.” Ethan crossed his arms over his chest, daring someone else to speak up. “And we’re not moving on from the castle until we do. If we fail we reset and do it again.”

“Dude, don’t you think you’re being a little hard? We’re all only level 10.” Leah spoke up, hoping Ethan would see reason.

“No. I don’t.” Inside his anxiety was beginning to build, but he steeled himself. “We are in a bad place. We’re behind Kevin and his guild, we’re low on gear and levels, and, frankly, skill. We have to get serious about everything we do. And if that means we drill harder than ever before that’s what we’re going to do.”

He paused taking a short breath, starting to feel like maybe he was going too far.

“But that was the last time I die before I have the support of an entire Raid Clan power leveling me back.” He looked around, his friends' faces didn’t seem to overtly disagree with him. “So, are you with me on this?”

David stepped forward, drawing his sword. Ethan wasn’t sure what he was doing. Was his best friend about to attack him?

“Do you really even need to ask?” He stabbed his blade in the ground at Ethan’s feet and turned back to the guild.

“He’s right and we all know it.” Bewildered faces met David’s as he continued. “We’ve played around and gotten some renown from scouting, but now we need to get serious. Starting right here on this floor.”

No one said anything for a few seconds and Ethan felt despair. Maybe he really had gone too far. If all his friends revolted he wasn’t sure what he’d do. David was going to stick with him but the two of them would take forever to get high enough to join the Raid Clan.

Finally Sam stepped forward.

“I have something to say.” His body language was defiant and Ethan was unsure of what he would announce. Their conversation about Kevin was still weighing heavily on him.

“Kevin asked me to join him after we wiped.” Leah was the only one not shocked by Sam’s statement and Ethan realized he must have told her already. Ethan was surprised only that he’d told everyone at that moment.

“I turned him down.” Sam looked over at his guild leader. “Because Ethan is right. We can do this with just us. And we are better than them. So, yes Ethan. I’m with you.”

“Man, you know I’m here.” Miguel smiled at Ethan.

“Tae-Won can’t leave if I don’t, and I’m not going anywhere. I love you guys.” Leah said as she looked at her friends.

“I mean, I could.” Tae-Won smiled back at his wife. “But I’m not.”

Ethan finally felt at ease. Knowing his friends were with them made him feel like he could do anything. The six of them could clear any raid boss, and would be at the top in the raid clan in no time.

“Good. Buff up and let’s get going.” Ethan beamed at his guild.

David bent over and retrieved his sword from in front of Ethan.

“Hey. Thank you.” Ethan reached his hand out to his best friend. It hadn’t surprised him that David had agreed to it but still meant everything to him.

“It’s like you said, it’s you and me. Til the end.” David grasped his forearm in return. “And we get home.”