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"Hey Cass, this looks like a MMO I'd play. Wanna give it a try?"

That's how we got into Elder Tale.

-

"I got him Jer," Cass said as her character fired a single shot. The shot raced though the air, heading straight for...

Everything went black.

Jer opened his eyes, and frowned in confusion. Around him was ruins. Something was familiar about them and the shapes they formed. A spire in the distance stood tall and proud, it's shadow falling across the buildings to the right him. Around him were other people, looking just as confused as he felt. Scanning the crown, boxes with information started appearing above peoples heads. Reaching towards one, Jer somehow brought it closer and it expanded. Laren, Samurai, level 67, blacksmith level 35. It was someone he knew of vaguely, a newish player who he'd helped out a few months back.

Pushing the info away, Jer noticed a menu pop up in front of him. Selecting friend list, he scrolled through, stopping on a name. Camelli. It was highlighted as online. Touching it, options appeared and he instantly touched 'call.'

The ringing tone barely lasted three seconds before a slightly panicked voice echoed in his head, as if he were wearing a headset.

"Baby! What happened?" Cassie's voice said. Jer could hear tears in her voice.

"I'm too sure, but the Nova Pioneers expansion was set to release at 2am, yeah? I think something happened. I think we're in Nambri, the city that is in the location of Canberra. Can you see the spire?"

Sniff. "Yeah."

"Can you see it's shadow?"

"Yeah."

"When you're looking at the spire, where is the shadow? Left or right?"

"Right. Where are you?"

"Right hand side too. I seem to be in an area that looks like offices and shops, possibly equivalent to Civic, maybe Woden. I'm close enough to the spire that I could walk there in about twenty minutes, I think."

"I'm close, I think I can see you. Turn around."

Jer turned, stumbling a little as he did. In the distance, he saw a dark colored cat folk, bow and quiver over her shoulder, hand to her ear like he was. The moment she saw him turn, she ran forward, faster than anyone he'd ever seen run, except maybe in the Olympics. Within seconds, she was in his arms, clinging on for dear life.

"Oh sweet," he whispered, kissing her head and stroking her hair.

"What happened?" She asked, tears running down her cheeks. "Where are we?"

Moving her so they could both see the spire, he nodded towards it. "That's the Nambri spire. I suspect that we are now inside Elder Tale."

"What do we do?" Cassie asked.

Opening the menu, Jer moved his hand to the logout button and selected it. A red 'x' appeared for a second. "I suggest that we hook up with the rest of midknight sun and try to work out what's happening." Scrolling through his friend list, he made note of a few names. "Call Caitlin, she should be with James. I'll call Tom, he's probably with Liz. Then we call Pete and Ant. Ok?" As he finished, a buzzing started in his ear and a notification saying Cai-Ann was calling popped up. "Call Tom or Liz instead, Cai's calling me." She nodded and swiped open her menu.

He accepted the call and was barraged by Caitlin's words, to which he chuckled at a little.

"Chill girly. It seems we're all in Elder Tale now, as our characters. I've got Cassie with me, are you anywhere near James?" Pause. "Ok, find him, he's probably nearby, if Cassie being near me was any indication. I think we're south of the spire. If you can see it, head towards it. If you can't see it, get up high and try and find some land marks, then report back to me. Cassie's calling Liz?" He looked questioningly at Cassie, who nodded. "Yeah, she's called Liz. Once we've hooked up, we'll try and get Midknight Sun all together and go from there. Start getting your friends and contacts in the area to the spire and find out where they all are, if they can figure it out." He waited for a moment. "No worries, see you soon."

He disconnected the call and looked at Cassie. "Ok Liz, I'll tell Jeremy. Let him know when you get here." She poked the air in front of her. "She found Tom, they're in Wulgruba. They're going to get the gate transport here and meet up with us."

"Good. We need to head to the Spire, Caitlin will meet us there, probably with James. You wanna call Ant, I'll call Pete?" She nodded, stepping away from him and moving her hand into his as they started towards the spire in the near distance.

Cassie nodded and they both contacted their people. Pete answered him nearly instantly. "I was just about to try that," he said through the link. "How are you?"

Jer chuckled a little. "I'm fine. I'm with Cass. Caitlin and James are on their way to the Spire, so I suggest we all meet there."

"Good idea. I'll start calling people to that spot."

"That was going to be my next sentence. See you there."

"Ciao." Pete disconnected the connection and Jer started calling various people he knew would be in his guild and nearby. During the calls, he received word from Cassie that Caitlin, James and Ant were on the way.

It took them a little longer than he thought to get to the Spire, but when he did, he saw people that he thought he knew. As their player tags appeared, he waved to certain people, all members of his guild, The Midknight Sun. Seeing a well dressed assassin and the most heavily armored guardian standing together, he waved, keeping his hand in Cassie's, as he had since they'd joined up.

"Hey guys," he said, hugging Caitlin with one arm. "Pete and Ant should be here soon, Tom and Liz shouldn't be too long either." Glancing around he saw a large rock he could stand on. "Gather people around and we'll have a talk."

Walking over to the rock, he climbed it, with Cassie's help. She let go of his hand, but hovered nearby, within an arms reach. He smiled at her, resting a hand on her shoulder. Behind her he noticed Pete's player tag and waved him over. "What's the plan?" Pete asked as he approached.

"Try and gather everyone and keep them calm. If we stick in large groups, no one gets lost. Buddy system."

Pete nodded and took a position on the rock with him. Jer appreciated the support as he turned to the gathering crowd.

"I won't sugar coat this," he said, raising his voice to wash over the crowd. "We are now in Elder Tale, in the Aussie server city of Nambri. We can't log out, and apparently I we've lost background music too." This brought a couple of chuckles from nearby. "In the Aussie spirit of getting along together in times of crisis, I offer the open friendship of The Midknight Sun guild, either as a place to join for support or as an ally to other guilds. I want to do this together and figure out what's best for everyone, not just me and my guild. If you have any questions, I'm working on answers, but me and the others," he waved at Caitlin, James, Ant, Pete and finally Cassie, "will do our best to help everyone. Thank you all. Let's make this work."

A few small cheers and a smattering of applause reached him as he dropped off the stone. A call started buzzing him. Tom. "Yo."

"The gate is down."

"Are you kidding?"

"Uh, no. I'm standing in it with Liz and various other people. We are stuck in Wulgruba."

"Okay, we will work on getting to you. Hold tight, I'll pass on whatever info I get to you guys. Got any other Midknight members there?"

"Couple of young ones."

"Keep them safe and offer everyone else there guild membership or support. Take what you need out of the guild account, but don't go nuts."

Tom chuckled. "Aye captain," he said, disconnecting. Jer turned and saw some inquisitive faces looking at him.

"The intercity gates are down. Tom and Liz are stuck in Wulgruba currently. For now, we need to find the guild building. I suspect that it's in the civic area of Nambri, which should be in that group of buildings over there." He pointed to a group of ruins nearby. "Tell everyone that is in Midknight to gather here or at the guild building if they can find it. I suspect it will be easy to find."

This received a few nods. "Pete, can you wait here as a representative for The Midknight Sun please? Accept any and all requests to join and if any other guild leaders or seconds offer verbal alliance, get them to call me."

"Done."

"Right, come on guys, let's go property hunting," he said, pointing towards the ruins and taking Cassie's hand again before heading off to the buildings.

After many calls back and forth between guild members and other contacts, Jer was starting to get an idea of what was happening. The gates were down, faerie rings were unreliable and no one could log out. He agreed that the group needed to go rescue the others and that the three of them would be able to deal with anything nearby.

Heading still walking toward the guild building, he received a call from Cai. He listened and nodded to himself. "Okay. Good to know she's ok." Pause. "Good, head to the guild building." Disconnecting the call, he relayed the info to the others.

Within minutes, the group arrive at the guild hall, meeting more guild members at the entrance. Leading the way, arm wrapped around Cassie, Jer walked up the stairs and into the massive guild building. Pushing the doors open, he found other people in there, including the leader of a rival guild. The player tag popped up. Caelemendron, Monk, level 90. A sneer plastered itself across his face.

"Ah, Kyran," he said, flexing muscles. "And the posse. I see the leaderless guild made it."

Jer dipped his head while Cassie glared. "Cael, how is Katinka?"

Cael's sneer froze, an edge of despair flickering across his eyes. "She wasn't logged in."

The bard grimaced. "I am glad that Camelli was with me, I cannot imagine what you are going through, and I wish to extend my hand in friendship."

The sneer reasserted itself. "I don't need your pity Kyran. Just keep out of my way." The monk and a few of his guild members walked further into the building, pushing open the door to their guild hall.

"Well, that could have gone better," Jer said to himself, looking at Cassie, who was glaring at the door Cael had gone through. "Hey, take pity, his wife is outside the game. How would you feel if you were here and I wasn't?" His wife's gaze shifted to him and she looked devastated. "Exactly. That's what they're going through." Shaking his head, he lead on. Guild names and tags appeared next to each door and Jer stopped in front of a fairly ornate door. Pushing it open, he stepped through into an opulent, multi storey lobby. "I'm glad I sunk money into this now," he said, heading for the stairs.

Spreading out, the guild members explored the huge guild, designed to take the many hundreds of members that the guild had. Being a combat guild, the Midknight Sun was dedicated to leveling up new players while being the first to defeat the new high level quests that were released with each expansion.

The guild rarely had the same leader for long, real life affecting who could lead for long. Jeremy, Caitlin and Pete were usually in charge, with times when Cassie, James or Tom took over. There were other level 90's in the guild, but most of them were more casual players, coming in to play to relax or join in a huge quest.

Each of the most active players had a room for themselves, with few exceptions, like Jer and Cass, who shared a room. There were common rooms and a kitchen, a forge, a lab and a few other specialist rooms that were regularly used by guild members. There was also a store room and a group sleeping quarters room. Each person could only access what they put in their private chests or whatever was in the guild shared storage, up to their level. If they needed something above their level, only someone who could access it could give it to them.

"Hey, Cai-ann," Jer called out through the guild from the upper landing of the massive stair case. "How's that migraine? Mines gone."

Jer nodded to himself. His new body was migraine and sickness free, for now. The stomach ache that Cassie had been experiencing had gone too. Leading the way into the senior members retreat, a room well appointed with furniture and spoils from high end quests, he waited for everyone that needed to be there arrive, scrolling through his friend list while he waited. A few notable people popped up, including the leaders of various small guilds that were allied to him. Most were small crafting or merchant guilds whose leader he had helped train through Midknight Sun. White Noise, the largest of his allied guilds was one of the largest crafting guilds in the Australia server and he noted that not only was their leader, Lordling online, a few others high up in the ranks were too.

Listening to the idle chatter from his spot leaning against the wall next to the door, his fox ears peaked up when Cai asked him something and the room went quiet. Seemed to Jer he was in charge at the moment.

"You didn't miss much. Cael from Pixilated Madness is on, but not his wife Katinka. I'm ordering everyone to play nice with them. They may be one of our primary rivals, but no one deserves that." He scanned the room and got nods from everyone. "I believe the best thing to do right now is gather our allied guilds and talk to everyone about forming something of an alliance for Nambri. With either Pixel or Ergo on our side, we would have the majority of the Nambri guilds under our wing."

Pausing to take a breath. "I also want to work on bringing all of our scattered guild members back to Nambri, or another server city. We know Tom is in Wulgruba, and I know some of Pete's people are in Western Aus area, so this will take a long time. In the mean time, we need to explore and work out what's different with the Nova Pioneers expansion." While he was talking, he scrolled through his inventory and took out a sandwich, biting into it. A look of confusion crossed his face as he bit again, this time more inquisitively. "Someone else check to see if this is as bland as I think it is please."

Jer pulled out salt from his inventory and sprinkled it on the sandwich before biting it again. "Well, at least salt tastes like salt." Putting the salt away, he took another grimacing bite. "You said Ergo Proxy was up for an alliance? I think I have their guild leader on my list." Scrolling through his list, he shook his head. "Guess not. Cai, can you please contact Zarth and let her know that we want to talk and set up a meeting with them, wherever they can meet us. We need to contact all our little guilds and let them know that we're still looking out for them. I'll contact our crafting and merchant friends and we'll go from there."

Chewing on his boring food, he wracked his mind as to what to do. It was apparent to him that even some of the senior members, people who had been guild leader too, were looking to him to lead. While not something he was unfamiliar with, he probably had about as little idea what to do as the rest of them.

Grabbing a few ingredients from the list, he made a basic recipe, something anyone could make, a carrot and lettuce sandwich. Hopefully he bit into it, getting the same bland taste as before. Giving up a little, he waved the sandwich in thought. "Anyone got blacksmithing? Or Alchemist, Tailor, Woodcrafter? Try and make something. Lets see what can be done."

"Thank you," Kyran said, bowing his head. "While I appreciate peoples trust in me, taking on all the important roles may do my head in quickly." Opening his inventory yet again, he pulled out his Fortune Teller tarot cards. "I wonder what I can do with my subclass as it is. I know it was mostly a role playing subclass and anything it did was fairly predictable. You'll face battle, craft something, etcetera. I'm wondering if it's still the same, or if the expansion changed anything."

Sitting next to Cassie, a small table between them, he laid out the cards in a standard pattern. "Touch two cards sweet."

Touching two of the cards, Jer flipped them over. "The Sun and the Tower. A bastion of light in dark times, a fortification against the dark." Flipping over a card between them, he revealed the strength card. "Well, that seems to confirm it, but weather it means anything is another matter. Break out those skills and practice combat folks. We need to adapt quickly."

A couple of not-quite senior members of the guild, people that played with the core members regularly raised their hands. One of them, a guardian everyone called 'Tank' stepped forward.

"I was caught on the edge of town, the first agro area. Thankfully it was just bush dogs. Basically, I found it easier to just try and hit them with my sword. Trying to bring up the menu while in combat gave me a headache. Thankfully Match was there. I tanked for her." He waved a hand at the other who raised a hand, a young female mage who specialised in fire magic. She was one of the well loved members of the guild and was regularly asked to go on raids with other guilds.

"I was able to cast spells from the menu, but I had to aim them myself. Almost blew off my feet the first time I cast a fireball." She smiled sheepishly and rubber her head. "I reckon it won't take me too long to adapt and be able to select attacks in the menu."

Kyran nodded. "Okay, Cai, you wanna take James and form up people into buddy groups after contacting Zarth for me? I'll deal with diplomacy. We may also need to gather our production players and see what they can do." Scanning the room, he made eye contact with everyone. "If we all work together and support each other and those around us, we'll do fine. Lets look out for everyone like we always do, and do what we can to survive until we figure out what's happened to us and our way back."