Booker
First appearance: Happy, chapter 4
Last appearance: Crucible, chapter 51
Appears in: Happy, Armageddon, Timeless, CrucibleLatest status
eliminated
Booker is a guild leader who first rules a mountain city through coercive control, running a rival organization with hard-nosed pragmatism before a costly defeat forces him to reassess his methods. Recruited by his former enemy under the alias Smokes, he brings a smoke- and shadow-based skill set and a laid-back, sardonic professionalism to his new guild’s operations. A former soldier whose disability shapes his relationship to the game, he settles into life as a respected, dependable operative and tactical support fighter.
Book 5.5: Happy
Booker leads The Jackals, the guild that controls Aislen through a protection racket: new arrivals are pressured into indentured training contracts, with resistance treated as a phase that ends in submission. He personally tries to recruit Dom on arrival and later warns him honestly about the jungle’s dangers, but Dom refuses the guild’s terms and leaves to train alone. As Dom’s unconventional strength becomes apparent, Booker shifts from dismissing him to treating him as a real threat, and when Dom and his partner Adrian start undercutting the guild’s monopoly on crafting materials, Booker considers having them killed rather than recruited.
The rivalry escalates into open war after Dom destroys the Jackals’ guildhall. Booker conceals his retaliation plans even from his own officers, then leads a large chemical-warfare assault using toxic smoke against Dom’s goblin-allied encampment, revealing an unexplained personal immunity to the toxin and abilities his own subordinates don’t fully understand. He confronts Dom directly in single combat inside cover of smoke and shadow clones, using the fight as a distraction while the rest of his forces attack the goblins’ water supply; cornered, he argues with Dom that sacrificing the goblins for the guild’s people is no more justified than what he stands accused of. The tactic fails, and days later, during a prolonged siege in which Dom’s forces camp his guild’s respawn point for over forty hours, Booker’s defenses collapse; he accepts the loss with grim professional respect for Dom’s strategy.
Defeated and separated from what remains of the Jackals, Booker reveals to Dom that he is a chemically injured special-forces veteran for whom the VR game is his only means of moving and breathing freely, and that losing access to it was his deepest fear throughout the conflict. He had been secretly power-leveling through the guild’s road-building projects to keep pace despite this. Dom accepts him as a peer rather than a beaten enemy, and Booker is recruited into Death and Taxes under the name Smokes. He initially struggles to adjust to the guild’s chaotic, unconventional culture, questioning his decision to join, but settles into the role of a trusted operative, using his shadow-creature summoning and smoke abilities in the guild’s coordinated heist operations.
Status: Alive — leader of The Jackals, in command of Aislen → Alive — defeated and recruited into Death and Taxes as Smokes
Dom: Shifts from dismissive guild rival plotting his assassination to a defeated opponent who earns Dom’s respect and is recruited as a trusted member of Death and Taxes.
Sean: Their guild hierarchy relationship grows strained as Booker publicly disciplines him, and it ends when the Jackals are destroyed and Booker is recruited away.
Key quote: “i can not afford to lose this or i might well lose my damn mind”
Book 6: Armageddon
Smokes supports Death and Taxes’ operations with a laid-back, sardonic professionalism, voicing reservations about risky decisions but deferring to the group once a choice is made. He assists Dom’s team during the underground heist at Sandscrit, exhausting himself channeling smoke to conceal the operation and help transport the stolen gate piece, and later provides battlefield control and reconnaissance support during the guild’s broader campaign against the avatars.
At the Mile-High Club, Smokes is assigned to face Jason and Alexion in a smoke-filled air hockey tournament. A former military competitor left unable to enjoy ordinary recreation because of an implied disability, he fights with real tactical skill but grows visibly conflicted once conversation with Jason surfaces his own nostalgia for the activity he is now fighting to destroy. Jason breaks through his defenses and defeats him; grievously wounded, Smokes concedes with dignity, telling Jason it “was… a pleasure” and to keep playing through a bad hand, appearing to have been quietly rooting for him. He continues serving with Death and Taxes afterward, giving battlefield support alongside Blaze and Pewpew against Jason’s group, reconnaissance for Gambler’s team, and atmospheric smoke effects for Bard’s staged confrontations, maintaining his characteristic calm through the book’s closing chapters.
Status: Alive — controlled, relaxed professional → Alive — relaxed, contributing to guild operations
Jason: Starts as a mission target/professional adversary during the Mile-High Club hockey match, but shared conversation and Jason’s defeat of him produce an unexpected rapport and grudging mutual respect.
Blaze: Settles into a cooperative battlefield partnership, providing smoke-based control while Blaze handles direct combat.
Tombs: Maintains a running friendly antagonism, trading insults as banter while relying on Tombs for battlefield positioning.
Key quote: “Sometimes the universe just gives you a shit hand. You still have to play through. It was… a pleasure.”
Book 7: Timeless
When a massive traveler force ambushes Jason’s group in Gloria’s valley, Smokes is roused from rest and briefly disoriented before shifting into effective use of shadow wraiths and mist to support the group’s defense, coordinating well with Jason’s undead summons.
Status: resting, unaware of the threat → engaged in combat, coordinating with the group’s defense
Jason: Develops a tactical appreciation for Jason’s coordinated undead support during the fight.
Key quote: “Oh… oh, shit.”
Book 8: Crucible
Smokes leans against the arena wall smoking a cigarette lit by Blaze, using an intelligent smoke-control ability to mask his team’s positions and disrupt enemy detection during the match. He is killed during Eliza’s blackout.
Status: supporting Death and Taxes teammate providing concealment → eliminated
Appears in
- Happy — 17 chapters
- Armageddon — 12 chapters
- Timeless — 1 chapters
- Crucible — 1 chapters