The Lobby

The ground finally stopped shaking and the doors opened after what felt like an eternity.
The rest of the elevator ride had been nothing but an awkward silence, occasionally broken by me answering questions written on note paper by this surprisingly level headed child.
She had only asked a few questions.
“Why Paladin?”
“I didn't have a choice.”
“Choice?”
“Yeah, apparently everyone else got to pick their hero.”
“Will you protect me?”
“Of course.” I answered her question without even thinking about it. I don’t know if it’s because of the fact that I’m borrowing the body of Paladin, but the truth is I have never let a Retainer die in any of my Paladin playthroughs, and I don’t plan to start now.

As I stepped out of the elevator into the large room on the other side, I heard the soft steps of Retainer following me out.
The room in front of us is one I’ve seen many times before. The starting room for every playthrough, The Lobby, as the community lovingly nicknamed it.
Behind us are the four elevators used to bring everyone to this floor, the other three are already open and empty, meaning that I’m the last to arrive.
On the far side of the room, a staircase, leading to an ornate red door, behind which will be our first boss fight.

On every other floor of the tower, you normally have to explore, fight some trash mobs, maybe find some new gear or helpful items, then once your timer is nearly out, you find and go through the boss door. Only The Lobby is set up leading straight to it. It was a design choice many people questioned, but I always thought of it as a way to quickly throw you into the action.
And right in the middle of the room, which looks astounding out of place, is four backless couches, the kind you’d find in a waiting room, or, as the nickname states, a Lobby.
The couches aren’t empty, with the other elevators being open, it’s only natural for the rest of our starting party to already be here.
Four people are spread out over three couches. Two guys sit close together, talking to a girl resting on her elbows, leaning over the edge of her couch. Meanwhile the last guy sits on his own, still nodding along.
As we start walking towards them, the girl rolls onto her side and ends up staring right at us.
She scrabbles to sit up and points towards us.
The guy by himself jolts up, grabbing a bow that was on the floor next to him.
“Woah, woah, let’s calm down shall we? We’re in the Lobby, and I’ve never heard of any enemy that can get in here. So that means we have another hero.” The smaller of the other two men speak up, his voice smooth, and very calming.
“Of course Brother.” The man next to him, who was tensing up, states as he relaxes, as does the bowman.
The girl meanwhile remains silent, only giving me some fingerguns as I approach them.
“Hope I’m not interrupting anything important?” I chuckled, while placing myself so as to keep Retainer behind me.
“Of course not, we’ve just been waiting for you.” He stands, walking over to us. His eyes lit up for just a moment. “Guess you got the long ride huh?”
“You can say that again, longest elevator ride of my life.” I reach out to shake his hand. “I’m Paladin, can’t say my actual name for some reason, so I guess this will do.”
“Yeah, we also discovered that, as well as the fact that these bodies match our originals very closely.” The man shakes my hand. “I’m Lancer. And since you’re Paladin, then that must be your Retainer.”
“Ranger.” I barely hear the man still sitting by himself, he’s so quiet.
Looking over to the girl sitting on the couch next to me, I see Retainer has already taken a seat next to her, sharing her notepad.
“Priestess, I assume?” The girl once again fingerguns me.
The last guy stands and offers his hand for a shake as well. “I’m Ka’el.”
I shake his hand then sit down, putting myself between Retainer and the rest, letting her and Priestess share notes.
I smile as I look around the room at my starting party.

Ranger. An Agility focused character. Mostly uses a bow, but can also hold his own with a dagger. Fast and agile, hit and run playstyle. The guy himself is very skinny and short, his messy brown hair nearly covers his eyes. Looks about mid-teens.
Priestess. One of the few characters that know healing magic from the start, she has incredibly strong buffs, and holy magic. But, like Retainer, is also afflicted with the Vow of Silence at the start. She’s slightly taller than Ranger, her silver hair has been tied into a ponytail. From the way she carries herself, seems around twenty.
Lancer. One of the all in characters. Has very low defense, but makes up for it with ridiculously high attack and penetration. Is a favourite pick for speed runners and glass cannon builders. But, he also comes with a huge bonus.
Ka’el. A named NPC, and Lancer’s brother. Unlike Retainer, named NPC’s are actually on par with player characters, sometimes they can even exceed them. Ka’el is one of those. A beast of a character, with high attack, speed, and defense. Which you can even further amplify through a triggerable event after the first boss if certain conditions are met.
Lancer, while taller than the others, is the shorter of the two. His black hair is neatly slicked back, tied into a bun, with a smile that never leaves his face.
Ka’el on the other hand is, like his stats, a beast of a man. He’s a good head above Lancer, his head shaved clean, and his body is covered in noticeable muscle.
All up, this is one of the strongest starts you could ever hope for. Frontline, multiple DPS, and a healer. But the real question is, how will combat work with us as the characters we are used to playing?

A loud buzz interrupts my train of thought, and in the corner of my vision, five little icons and bars appear. Judging from everyone else suddenly looking around, I can assume they all got it as well.
The location makes it easy to figure out what they are.
Party member icons and health bars. Even in the game they were placed there.
There’s a bar for each of them.
Ranger is a bow, Priestess is a book, Lancer is a spear, Ka’el is two crossed spears, and Retainer is a dagger.

“Well then, I guess that makes us officially a party then. Which means we should head on up.” Lancer happily claps his hands and looks around the room. “I think we all know what happens if we spend too much time here.”

He doesn’t need to elaborate, the looks the others give him tell me that we all know.
Each floor has a hidden timer. The Lobby timer would have activated as soon as our party was registered as a group, which would give us ten minutes.
Ten minutes until we are forced to progress.
Ten minutes until a guardian is summoned.

“But, isn’t there a boss through there?” Ranger finally speaks up, pointing towards the ornate door. “Won’t it be trying to kill us?”
His words make the rest of us pause. We all had the same talk from the Goddess, so we all know the risks, but it was something no one wanted to bring up.
“It’s the first floor boss,” I say as I stand. “It won’t be any issue at all for us. We have the game knowledge, and these bodies we are borrowing should help us as well.”
“Plus, we’ve got Ka’el here.” Lancer adds.
“And I’d rather fight a first floor boss than a Guardian.” Even Priestess nods at my statement.
“Can I get a little bit more time?” Ranger quietly asks.
“Okay, how about five minutes, then we head in?” Lancer offers, Ka’el grunts in agreement next to him.
I look back to Retainer.
“Five minutes it is.”