As they walked down the path, they came to a wooden fence. It was a long fence and they couldn't see what it was there for, but the path followed it, so they stayed along it. Eventually, as they came down a rise, a man in archaic dress leading a donkey with a cart attached passed them the other way. He gave them funny looks as he passed.

"What was that about?" Alex asked when they were out of earshot.

"I don't know," Justin said. "Maybe this is a rural area still used to the old ways. Or maybe that's just how it is here. I mean, we are in another land, apparently. Maybe it's the past?"

"I suppose it could be," Alex said. "I guess we really have no idea of knowing."

"But we would know if we had asked dad about it instead of just casting it willy-nilly," Justin said, somewhat severely.

"Yeah yeah, but then we wouldn't be on an adventure!" Alex said, smiling and teasing Justin slightly.

"Anyway, if this is any indication," Justin continued, more or less ignoring Alex. "Then the village we encounter will be likewise old-fashioned. We should probably try not to mention any technology or use any slang," he admonished.

"Yeah yeah, whatevs," Alex said.

"Alex! That is completely the opposite of what I said."

"Pfft, it's just you and me right now," Alex said. Justin sighed.

"Well all right, just as long as you act natural when we meet other people. And we may have to change our clothes," Justin said.

"Where are we going to get new clothes?" Alex asked, raising an eyebrow.

"I don't know, maybe this hamlet will have some."

"I doubt there would be a retail line in a small village," Alex grumbled. "I mean it's hard enough to find stuff in our borough and we live in New York."

"It is probable that there will be someone who has old clothes they don't need anymore that might fit us," Justin explained after mumbling to himself for a bit first to get the wording right. "But I don't think we have anything to trade with them."

"Yeah, and it's not like they'll take our money here," Alex said.

"Plus a lot of villages operate on the barter system," Justin continued to explain.

"I got that from when you said we wouldn't have anything to trade with," Alex said, nodding.

"Right, yeah, sorry," Justin said. They were silent for a while. Eventually they came across the hamlet. They could tell because there were a few small builds on either side of the path and a number of people going about their business in the streets. The townsfolk stopped and peered queerly at Justin and Alex.

"Looks like you were right about our clothes," Alex whispered to Justin.

"Also, they might not be used to outsiders," Justin added, also whispering. "Um, hello!" he said out loud to the nearest man who was looking at the two.

"Ah, I see you speak the common tongue," said the nearby man, beginning to smile warmly. "Though your accent is foreign," (of course, to Alex and Justin this man had a strange accent too. Neither of them could place where it was from, however) "It is our custom to welcome visitors. Forgive us for staring," he added. "We haven't had visitors in quite some time. This is a very small town. And your dress looks so fine," he continued. "I'm certain that drew some eyes too."

"Actually, we were hoping we could find some old clothes here, but I'm afraid our money is likewise foreign," Justin said, surprised that they were speaking English. He held out some quarters.

"By Freyjinn, those are indeed some strange-looking silver you have there."

"Actually, they're not quite-" Justin began, only to have his foot stamped on by Alex.

"They're not quite foreign," Alex continued, beginning to lie. "They're just new."

"New, eh? We've heard that one before," he said, beginning to laugh. "I'm afraid we can't accept them. But if you'd like, we might be able to come to an arrangement. Please allow my wife and I to feed you, it is the least our culture likes to do for visitors."

"Thank you," Alex said, blushing slightly because he'd seen through her embellishment.

Justin and Alex followed him to his home. It was small and squat, and turned out to have but two rooms – a main room that served as a kitchen and living area, and a small bedroom. A stout woman was cooking something in a pot over a fire. Nowhere did Justin or Alex see any signs of modernity.

"Guests for supper Martha," the man said to the woman over the pot. "Stew, is it?"

"Aye," she said, pulling the spoon out and smacking away his hand that was reaching for the pot. "And none until supper."

The man rubbed his hand. "Oh my, I have forgotten to introduce meself," he said. "I am John the Smith. Some people call me John Smith. It's a funny title, if I do say so myself. And this is my wife, Martha."

"Pleased to meet you," Martha said, smiling at Justin and Alex. Alex smiled back.

"Please sir," Justin said, turning to John. "We're lost. Could you tell us where we are?"

"Well this village doesn't have a name, so I imagine you are more lost than that. You do know you're in the kingdom of Arma, don't you?"

"Actually, no, we seemed to have been teleported here randomly," Justin said, something beginning to dawn on him.

"Er, what he means is," Alex said, confused by Justin's admission that magic existed and wondering why he was exposing it to mortals.

"What I mean is, some mages were doing an experiment that went awry," Justin continued, calmly.

To Alex's surprise, John merely nodded sagely. Her eyes were wide as John said "Aye, those mages can be zealous in their studies! Well, I hope you get back to where you need to be soon," he said.

"Can I speak with you a moment?" Martha said to John, pulling him into the back room.

Meanwhile, Alex turned angrily, or perhaps she was more confused than angry, to Justin. "Justin, what's going on? Why did you just tell him that? I mean it's not exactly untrue but, how does he know about magic? And how did you know he knew?"

"Alex, we're in the middle of the kingdom of Arma and they swear by the god Freyjinn. I know exactly where we are now."

He paused for dramatic effect. "We're in the Dark Forgotten Land of Nurb-Rom," he said, finishing with a dense finality, fully expecting Alex to realize exactly what that meant.

"Huh?" she replied. Justin's face sunk.

"It's a Dungeons and Gargoyles setting."

"Wait, you mean, we're in a roleplaying game?" Alex asked, eyebrows cocked with incredulity.

"That's about the size of it," Justin said. "Now you know where you are, let's go back. I'm sure you don't actually want to be here." He pulled out his wand and tried to teleport them back. Nothing happened. He tried a few other simple spells, but none of them worked either. He frowned.

"Wait, we're in another world, right? So we must have to obey that world's rules, right? What did you say Dungeons and Gargoyles characters all had? Some sort of profession that said what they could do?" Alex asked.

"A class, yes. Wait, you think that we have character classes? Of course, that makes sense!"

"What class do you think we are?" Alex wondered.

"I'd say Wizard," Justin said. He tried casting a spell that he knew all Wizards had in D&G: Light. The tip of his wand lit up.

"Look, I'm a Wizard! You try it with your wand," he suggested. Alex did as she was told, but nothing happened.

"I think I'm not a Wizard in this world. What was I that one time I played?" she asked. To see what all the fuss was about, she'd once joined her brother's game. She didn't admit to having fun or anything, but it was more amusing than she would have thought. "It was like a thief thing but it also had magic?"

"A Shadowstriker?" Justin said. "Try casting Darkness."

Alex imagined a magical darkness swirling about her, and soon enough the light in the area was dimming. She continued to concentrate and eventually neither of them could see anything at all. Then she let it go, and the light levels returned to normal.

"Hmm, this is a problem," Justin said. "If we're our characters from the last game we played, then I am indeed a Wizard" (Justin often played Wizard) "But, we're also only level two."

"I thought level two was way powerful compared to normal people."

"Yes, it is." Justin admitted. "But there are heroes who are way more powerful. And more pertinently, I won't be able to cast the spell that gets us out of here until I'm level 15."

"So we'll have to get some levels," Alex said, shrugging. "It can't be that hard."

"Alex, it could be extremely dangerous!" Justin said.

"Nothing we haven't faced before," Alex said, smirking.

* * *

Meanwhile, Martha and John were talking.

"Don't you see," Martha said to John. "Funny way of talking, funny money, subjects of funny experiments? These two are adventurers."

"I think you're right," John said. "By Freyjinn, they may be the ones..."