~‌‌ ‌‌2.01 ‌‌-‌‌ Jailhouse Rock ‌~‌‌

Nexus Cafe, Chicago IL

Monday, June 23rd

“I’m telling you, Shaun. It was the biggest disaster I’ve ever been a part of in a game. Not only did we fail to take down ‘The Master’, we lost the town’s Crystal as well. I know they were just a bunch of NPCs, but I liked them. I hope to see and talk to them again someday.” Kyle said.

“Sounds like you had an amazing experience, Kyle. I haven’t felt that way towards any of the NPCs I’ve met so far while playing. The Federation of Kings area just seems like a normal game to me. Julia and I have gone on quite a few quests together, but she’s blowing past me. She can play all day without worry, while I have to monitor the pods eight hours a day. She’s telling me about how she’s going to win the contest the kingdoms are putting out,” Shaun responded.

“What’s the reward for winning?”

“Something about extra spots for our race and a huge bonus for the winner’s character. They didn’t really spell it out for us.”

“Interesting; I wish we were allowed to record our gameplay. The Tower battle was insane and felt real, and that fucker Frustrated, blowing himself up with the town’s Crystal. I bet I’d had gotten a million hits on the first day.”

“It’s odd. Fantasy is the only game I’ve ever heard of not trying to promote itself through streamers and tubers. Their current methods are working regardless, word of mouth is pushing sales of pods, and interest in the Delve Neurolinks is sky-high. I just read yesterday that Neurolink is going to triple production by the end of the month, with the goal of fifty million units a month. Mom and dad bought the space next door and are expanding the cafe with another hundred and twenty capsules.”

“Wow, business will be good for you guys.”

“It will, but I’ve told them I’d like to be able to play more. My parents are going to need to hire some outside help with the new pods. No way a single person can monitor two hundred pods solo.”

“Has your mom or dad tried the game yet?”

“Mom has; she loves it but doesn’t have enough time in the day to play it. Dad said he’s waiting for that Outbreak zombie game to come out before he tries.”

“What’d your mom make for the special today?”

“Stuffed peppers and mashed potatoes, the real kind, not that flaky shit.”

“Oh, I’ll be right back then.”

Flea came back a few minutes later after grabbing a to-go box for his stuffed peppers and mash. He found Shaun talking with a cute short girl with brown hair and a button nose. Taking a seat next to Shaun, Kyle laid his head on Shaun’s shoulders.

“Why are you talking to my man?” Kyle said.

“What the hell, man?” Shaun stuttered out.

The girl grabbed her stomach as she laughed.

“Oh, Shaun, the look on your face was priceless. Who’s your friend?” she asked.

“Both of you are so not cool. Julia, this is Kyle, Kyle, Julia.”

Laughing, Kyle shook her hand.

“So, how do you like Fantasy so far?”

“I wish I could play it more, even while I’m sleeping. I would love to find a way to pay for a Delve Neurolink, but I’m going to be stuck using a pod for quite a long time. What part of the Federation of Kings are you playing in?”

“Oh, I’m not in the Federation of Kings. Actually, I have no idea where I’ll be playing once I log back in later today.”

“Oh, you have your chip already?”

“Yep, first batch.”

“Damn, I envy you. What’s your gameplay like?”

Kyle proceeded to tell his tale about Noto Island and how he and the players failed miserably at protecting the town from the necromancer of The Tower. Kyle explained to the two how the Crystals worked in each of the cities and villages, and when he’s able to respawn in an hour. He could be sent to any town or city on Mea.

They continued telling one another stories of their gameplay so far. Kyle found out Julia was aiming to be a druid. She told him about one of the temples within her kingdom with skill cores for sale, allowing players to shapeshift into different animals, but she hadn't made it to level 10 yet.

Kyle warned both of them to make sure they were naked and inside a bath when they hit level 10. He continued to explain the issues with gaining that first Mana Gate. Shaun and Julia immediately exploded with inquiries.

“Guess the cats out of the bag. Please don’t tell anyone about me. I’m afraid of what people will do to try and bring me down a peg,” Kyle said.

“I won’t tell anyone. I wish you could fast travel to us and help us out with power leveling,” Julia said.

“Never know. I might spawn in your Federation of Kings when I log back into the game.”

“When can you respawn and find out?”

“Bob, how much longer on my lockout?”

[Little over thirty-six minutes, Kyle.]

“I have thirty-six minutes.”

“You named your AI, Bob?” Both Shaun and Julia asked at the same time.

“Yea, I just used his serial number to name him. What did you expect me to name him, Jarvis or Alfred?”

[Oh, I like Jarvis, why did you not name me Jarvis?]

“I’m sorry, Bob. Do you want me to change your name?”

[Negative, I was trying out another joke.]

The trio continued speaking about Fantasy for a little longer. Checking the time, Kyle excused himself, threw away his take away container, and headed for home.

After making sure to shower and use the facilities, he went to his bed and logged into his MicroWorld. Standing at the door to Fantasy, he stared at the timer as it counted down, waiting for the final minute to slowly tick away.

Waiting three minutes here for one minute to pass in Fantasy blows.

“Bob, when I’m waiting on a lockout, could you speed up time within the Microworld so it’s in sync with Fantasy? I hate waiting longer for the lockouts.”

[Sure thing, Kyle.]

As the timer reached zero, Flea opened the door, ready to walk through. Before he could take a step, a notification popped up at the bottom right of his vision. Stopping himself from walking through the door, Flea opened it, revealing an email from Elenmel.

Mail: To Flea - From Elenmel

Flea!

I am happy to hear you’re playing Fantasy. Ken and I are playing as well. We took part in a new medical capsule trial and are currently living permanently on our joint MicroWorld. The trial we’ve joined is a year long. In three months, we will be taken out for the first round of testing.

We’re currently staying in a small village on the west coast of Ranotite called Fomin. If you can figure out where that is, we would love for you to find us and play together. I have limited access to the mail system as I’m never on our MicroWorld. I only send out this email and some others to the guild while waiting for my death lockout. I’d invite you to our MicroWorld, but we are rarely here unless one of us dies.

Hope to see you soon,

Elenmel.

Flea was beyond happy. He now knew where Iron and Elen were and had a chance to see them again, possibly. Flea asked Bob to make a note of their location so he could find it and visit them. Flea replied to the email, sending his love and letting her know he would follow up with them again once he figured out where he and they were in the world.

With his day now looking brighter than it had, Flea walked through the door to wherever fate would lead him. Opening his eyes and looking around, he found himself at the center of a town right out of medieval Europe. The buildings were all constructed out of timber, wattle, and daub. Each floor being slightly larger and hanging over the floor below it.

Reaching to touch the Crystal, he received its miniature respawn version. Looking into his bag, he found the town’s name to be Dustgrove. Flea turned around, ready to start walking around and learning about this new town, but was stopped by the tip of a spear at his throat. The guard at the other end of the spear started blowing into a whistle, causing long, loud-shrilling bursts of sound.

Spitting out the whistle, the guard started yelling at Flea to lay on the ground. When the other guards came running over, the spear-wielding guard yelled at them to get more backup and chain Flea up.

“What the hell is going on? What did I do?” Flea yelled.

“Shut up, necromancer. Coming into our town while carrying necromantic items is a breach of the Undead Accords. You’ll be sentenced to the mines for this.”

“What are you talking about? I just died on Noto Island, where a necromancer’s sons destroyed the town. Are you sure it’s not from being near them? I’m not a necromancer, I swear! I just started playing the game two weeks ago.”

The guard gave Flea a puzzled look, then removed an amulet from around his neck. He brought it close, holding it over Flea, then slowly moved down towards his magic bag. When the charm got closer to Flea’s bag, it started glowing a bright white. Returning the amulet to his neck, the guard told the others there was something in Flea’s magic bag. He ordered them to take Flea to the cells, and they would sort things out there.

Flea found himself tossed into a very dank smelling cell, with straw spread on its floor. Getting to his feet, Flea tried to plead with the guard to tell him what was going on. The Gnome got nothing but the guard’s back as he walked away.

Flea was forced to wait an hour within the cell before an older Eleven guard came to stand in front of his cell. Flea felt his gaze on him for a while before the Elf spoke.

“You don’t look like much of a necromancer, Gnome,” the Elf said with palpable disdain.

“That’s because I’m not a necromancer. I just got killed trying to destroy one at the last town I was staying in.”

“Then why is it you hold an item of necromantic magic?”

“I have no such...” Flea stopped himself as he realized what he had.

“Figure something out, did you?”

“Yea, I did. I swiped a damn book while the brothers had their backs turned. I believe that is what your guard detected. I had no idea what it was at the time.”

“Regardless, you brought it into our town, and by The Accords, you will be punished.”

“Can’t I just give it to you?” Flea said as he took it out to hand to the guard.

The guard took a step back as he cursed and yelled for assistance. Three guards were within his cell in an instant, holding him to the ground with their spears. Dropping the book to the ground, Flea tried to scream as something clamped around his neck, but not a sound came out.

The older guard took a white cloth from his pocket and used it to pick up the book’s corner, and then placed it into a chest a guard was holding open.

“Take him to the mine. The town will never know what this Gnome could have brought down on us. I will inform the baron and have this book destroyed.”

Flea was dragged by the shoulders outside and then thrown into the back of a wooden carriage with metal bars across the windows and a metal door. The Gnome had been in the back of the carriage for what seemed like hours before it finally stopped. The guards opened the door and dragged him out. Every time Flea tried to speak to the guards, nothing but gurgles escaped his throat.

Entering a large gate attached to a stone and wooden palisade, Flea found himself in what he could only describe as a makeshift concentration camp. There were four identical large cabins, all in various stages of disrepair, near the entrance of the cave’s mouth. A larger and cleaner looking barracks was to the right of the gate they had just entered. There was a Crystal, like the one back at the town, in front of the barracks. Unlike the one in town, this Crystal was bright red. As the guards dragged him towards the red Crystal, a massive Orc came from the barracks’ door.

“New blood today, boys?”

“Yes, sir. This dumbshit brought a Book of the Dead into the town with him. The captain wants him maxed on the sentence.”

“Oh, what a terrible mistake for you to make, but a great mistake for my purse string,” the Orc chuckled.

The guards dragged him closer to the Crystal, while the Orc pulled a very ornate looking dagger from his bag. Taking Flea’s hand, the Orc cut the Gnome’s palm and forced it upon the red Crystal. When his hand made contact, a notification popped up.

You have committed a crime within Dustgrove and sentenced to a one-year labor contract for bringing a banned artifact within Dustgrove. Due to ‘New Player’ status, and being your first offence, sentence reduced to three-cycles.

You have committed a crime within Dustgrove and sentenced to a one-year labor contract for bringing a banned artifact within Dustgrove. Due to ‘New Player’ status, and being your first offense, the sentence was reduced to three-cycles.

Failure of the completion of the three-cycle contract will eject and ban you from The Games.

The warden has placed the maximum price of 50 gold as the buyout for your sentence.

The guards then removed the collar from around Flea’s neck, allowing him to hear his voice once more.

“An entire year for bringing a book into town? That’s insane. Why would the game punish someone like this?”

“Be glad you didn’t bring it into one of the capitals. They have the power to remove you from The Games right away for such a crime.”

“How hard is it to make the 50 gold to buy out my sentence?”

“Well, you can sell us any ore, after you’ve turned in your 20 iron ore each day, at 3 copper apiece. How fast can you mine around 167,000 ore? You could get lucky and find a gem or two. We’ll give you some gold pieces for those. But I’d plan on being here for those three cycles,” the Orc said cheerfully.

The warden told the guards to take Flea to cabin four and let him sleep the night away before starting his sentence tomorrow. Getting to the cabin, the guards removed Flea’s shackles and allowed him to enter. They informed him not to try to escape, or he’d be killed as soon as he passed the Crystal boundary. Racking up deaths on his lockout wouldn’t do him any favors for meeting his daily quota. They also let him know someone would soon be by to explain the rules of his sentence.

It didn’t take long after the guards left him for a Canine Beastkin to come into the cabin. The Beastkin had the look of a short German shepherd, but still two heads taller than Flea.

“Welcome to Warden Or’loc’s paradise, as the Orc says. I’m Uglar, mine's foreman. I’m here to explain to you how things work around here. That red Crystal outside they had you place your bloody hand onto is called a Retribution Crystal. It allows those in leadership roles of towns and cities to enforce punishment on The Game’s players.”

“You’ll find smaller versions of them around the mountain and the palisade surrounding the camp. If you cross this boundary, you’ll find yourself instantly snuffed. For thirty minutes after every morning’s day’s start bells, you can find food at the main campfire. Once those thirty minutes are up, they remove the food. Make sure you eat every day, or it gets harder to meet your quota. That said, you are required to bring twenty chunks of iron back with you to turn in at the afternoon’s day end bells. If you fail this requirement, they will double your next day’s quota and deny you food. If you do this too many times, you’ll start to fall far behind and eventually fail the terms of the Retribution Contract. You never want that to happen, trust me.” Uglar explained.

Well, fuck me. Prison themed gameplay. I never understood why people loved to play these types of games. I hope Khorwin, Martina, and Niseph got sent to someplace better than this.