A/N: Hello, dear readers! Just some quick notes! The updates will hopefully be everyday or every other day. As for future dialect I hope I capture everything appropriately. The bit in this chapter about the town Jack's in I'd suggest Google Imaging 'old French villages'. And as for the music I'd recommend listening to:

Loin des Villes - Yann Tiersen

Which brings me to my next note. I may be giving some song recommendations every chapter just to help you guys picture how the setting is being played out and junk like that.

Anywho! That's all I got for ya this time. Enjoy the story and PLEASE RxR it would make my day!

Amalgamating Flesh & Pixels

Chapter 2:

Dungeons and Dragons

There was this rule, you see, that every player abided by.

No Fighting in the Towns.

At one point in time this was a serious dilemma. There were constantly players starting random fights in the middle of towns and there were just constant problems. It was just a hodge-podge of complaints and threats and just a bunch of douchebaggery all around. When the next update for the game came out there was this new rule that the Administrators sent out to everyone. You know how there is always that one person who never listens? Yeah well there was one of those guys.

There was this one player who went to go and sucker punch some random civilian and it completely backfired on him. Some force just sent him flying out of the town. It was so funny because all you heard was his scream until he was out of earshot.

Kinda like in those one cartoons where the Coyote always seems to fall off high cliffs and as he's falling there's that whistle that slowly fades out in the distance for comedic effect. It was sort of like that. And you never realize just how funny it is until you witness it in person.

I remember this because I just happened to be there. The poor player ended up getting a real good talking to from the Admins and since it was a newly established rule at the time, they gave him a slap on the wrist, fined him 1000 gold, and sent him on his merry way.

After that no one ever fought in the towns again. But like I said, that was a long time ago and things have changed. Due to everyone's good behavior they allowed good ol' fashioned brawls. Hand-to-hand combat was permitted in towns. Of course you have to be cautious of other players around you and to keep all environment damage to a minimum. People were happy with that and now brawls happen every now and then, not as often and random as they were though. They are now usually over an accused theft or just for fun. The fights are scarce now because Tournaments started up soon after the No Fighting rule and people found it better to beat other players in front of large audiences and plus you get prizes for doing so. Bonus.

And over time the penalties have become more severe as well. You start a fight in a town you lose all your items and gold. There was also this rumor that you get restarted back to Level 1. That was just a rumor though. I think.

I walked down the streets of some random town looking at all the shops and players running to different shops or getting ready to head out of some sort of adventure. Adventuring is fun, but it's even better when you have an actual party to adventure with.

The town itself reminded me something of an old French village. There was music playing in the background, heck the music sounded very French-esque. It was nice, very fitting.

I tapped the top end of my staff on the ground and watched the as frost traveled across the cobblestone and set as a layer of ice. A few seconds later a group of players ran over the newly formed ice and slid as they ran across the surface. They yelled out in surprise as they fell and piled on top of one another. I laughed and capered off as they began to yell at my retreating back.

I wasn't sure if they were pursuing me, but I slipped through a door just as someone left the building. I chuckled quietly to myself and looked around. The room was dimly lit with candles and it smelt like wood and alcohol and another scent that smelled oddly like sweat socks. A bar.

I didn't usually drink since it was risky thing to do, getting drunk and whatnot. I mean sure it can up your Attack Power by a good amount, but it lowers your Accuracy by a shit-ton.

There were players sitting at scattered wooden tables around the room talking and laughing among themselves. The floor was made of wooden planks, like everything else in the room, and behind the bar was a large wine rack that lined that whole wall. The bartender was cleaning glasses. Why is it that they are always cleaning glasses?

I turned to leave when I heard a familiar voice in the room. I glanced around to find the source. There was a small group of people sitting around a table in the corner and they were all currently laughing. The player with their back turned to me looked familiar.

I walked up behind him, "Jamie?" I asked as I tapped his shoulder with my staff, frost patterns formed where it touched. A new technique I learned.

The person turned around as everyone at the table just went silent and kinda ignored at me and continued talking to each other.

"Jack! What are you doing here?" He smiled brightly at me as he turned completely around in his seat to face me. His character had a younger look to him, somewhat similar to me, but the voice gave his actual age away. He had brown hair and eyes. His class was a Knight which was obvious considering the large sword resting at his side. He didn't the typical knight look, the armor and everything. He looked like a normal warrior, light on the armor. His friends were a mixture of things, but from what I could see they were all Warriors and Thieves. Oh, and one Cleric too.

"What am I doing here? What do you think you're doing here? This is a bar. And you are 11." I lightly poked his forehead which he tried to slap away.

"It's not a real bar, Jack. Jeez." He said back as he rolled his eyes. He would've looked annoyed if it weren't for the smile still on his face.

"Doesn't mean it can't influence you." I shrugged my shoulders and grinned.

"Ha, whatever. I'm never gonna drink." I quirked an eyebrow at him. "Hey! The guys and I were gonna go dragon hunting! You wanna come with?" He said excitedly.

I glanced back at his friends who seemed like they wanted to strangle Jamie. Poor kids. "Sure! I'd love to." They groaned in unison.

"Great! Come on guys we should head out now." He got up from the chair and was already heading towards the door. His friends moved a bit slower and I followed after them. Maybe I should have never sent those Trolls after them a while back.

They used a Transportation Orb to get us to the forest where the dungeon was at. It felt weird. I only ever traveled by wind so the orb kind through me for a loop. Different, but oddly fun. I should get a few.

We set off to start looking for the dungeon. Yeah, they didn't know where the darn place even was. So we walked. And walked. And we're still walking. I followed behind the pack and relished in amusement as I watched the kids argue as to where they were going. One of them said they were lost, another said they should just go back to town, and Jamie and some other kid with glasses were arguing over the map as Jamie tried to defend that he knew where they were going.

"Whoa!" I was about to say something until some blur flew past which stopped me mid step. I quickly looked around, clutching my staff tightly in both hands ready to fight. I glanced at the group and they didn't seem to notice and were already meters away from me. I won't be gone too long. I flew off the path and followed the direction (or at least what I think was the direction) the blur went.

I landed in a small clearing, the grass underneath my bare feet frosting over. I looked around; the tree tops slowly stop swaying from the breeze that I brought with me. There wasn't anything around and it was way too quite too. Damn, I lost it. I would have continued my search if it weren't for Jamie and his friends. They must have noticed I was gone by now. I had the wind take off with me back to the group.

I caught up and continued trailing after them.

"Jack! Where'd you go? I thought you got bored and just left." I looked up to see an upset Jamie.

"No, I didn't. I thought I saw something over- You know what I think I found the dungeon over here." I started bounding off in a random direction. I really didn't want to bother the kids into thinking there may or may not be something out here. Besides, I really did see something like a dungeon when I flew off. It just so happened to be in the completely opposite direction the Jamie and his friends were heading into.

I wondered as to what it was I think I saw, but I didn't dwell on it too much because I was here adventuring with Jamie and his friends, not looking for things that might have been.

The dungeon turned out to just be a fluke that someone posted on the Board. The dragon was really just a cat that belonged to one of the Admins. The reward was a free meal and 50 gold a piece.

You couldn't even buy a Health Potion for 50 gold.