Elden Ring players are getting temporarily banned from multiplayer due to receiving a removed piece of armor known as the Deathbed Smalls.

Some Elden Ring players are getting temporarily banned from the game’s online multiplayer servers for accepting an unusual and forbidden gift. While FromSoftware’s hit open-world action RPG is primarily meant to be a single-player experience, Elden Ring allows players to take to the online arena to challenge each other in PVP battles and summon other Elden Ring players to assist each other against the Lands Between’s most menacing bosses. However, the world of Elden Ring contains many dangerous secrets that could cut a Tarnished’s journey to become the next Elden Lord short, be that in-universe or even in the real world.          

One such secret is the Deathbed Smalls, a skimpy but otherwise unassuming pair of black underwear that belongs to deathbed companion Fia. In Elden Ring, Fia provides players with a significant status increase by embracing them in a comforting hug, and players can uncover more of her mysterious backstory by completing a certain questline. Players can also collect Fia’s dark Deathbed garb as an outfit for their Tarnished - except for her underwear, which was originally planned to be included as a piece of leg armor before being removed for apparently being too risqué. However, certain Elden Ring players have managed to obtain the Deathbed Smalls by hacking Elden Ring’s game files - and triggering the game’s anti-cheat systems in the process.

According to Kotaku, Elden Ring players who are unlucky enough to have stumbled upon Fia's Deathbed Smalls are getting soft-banned from the game’s multiplayer servers - meaning that they are only allowed to play Elden Ring either offline or on a designated server with other violators for a hefty 180 days. Reddit users like Ok-Communication7125 have shared their stories of finding a mysterious pair of underwear laying on the ground, only to receive a message telling them they have been banned from Elden Ring's multiplayer servers for accepting a contraband item. Upon further investigation, it has been discovered that this forbidden gift is the work of a single Elden Ring player: “Pantsu Dealer,” who has been invading other players’ worlds and dropping the Deathbed Smalls for unsuspecting Tarnished to find. To undo the ban, Bandai Namco advises affected players to delete all Elden Ring data from their computers and reinstall the game from scratch.

This is far from the first time that FromSoftware has banned players for violating protocols in Elden Ring, as hackers have been blocked for rune farming and reverse-pickpocketing their fellow players. Additionally, Japanese Twitch streamers have been banned from receiving donations during Elden Ring streams, and even Gotham Knights developer Mitch Dyer had his account banned due to continuingly disconnecting from the game because of poor PC optimization.

Not every player who has chanced across Fia's DeathBed Smalls has been banned from their Elden Ring accounts, but enough have suffered from Panstu Dealer’s antics to warrant spreading the world of this ongoing issue. 180 days is a long time to be blocked from Elden Ring’s multiplayer servers, so any players who uncover a mysterious pair of underwear littering the Lands Between would be advised to avoid picking them up - lest they be the next one to be banned from the game and forced to reinstall everything all over again.    

Next: Streaming Elden Ring Now Banned in China Due to Crackdown

Source: Ok-Communication7125/Reddit (via Kotaku)