《Travelers [DROPPED]》


 Gallery Stuff

    Just putting up a few images that I have been using as a reference.


    With the maps, I''m putting up the initial sketch first with the digital enhancements I''ve been working on.


    Malta: note, I got a shape, but I don''t have the places as fully fleshed out as I''d like.


    If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.


    The western edge of the Free Cities region


    Yes, I used Sims3 to come up with the character portraits for the gamer group:


    Candy:


    Lena:


    Brad:


    Rob:


    Jason:


    Aaron

 Prologue

    Lena


    "You want to put what in my garage?" Lena rubbed her ears, positive that she hadn''t heard correctly.


    Candy rolled her eyes. "The telepathy machine Brad and I are working on!"


    Yep, that''s what she thought she heard. "I get that the university is doing a lot of remodeling, but ¡ª."


    Candy shook her head and then flicked away the hairs that got stuck in her lip balm. "We haven''t been working on this on campus. Brad''s roommate just got handed a baby boy he didn''t know he had, and he''s freaking out, trying to baby proof everything. Not to mention, the kid has some lungs on him. It would be a lot easier for us to relocate the project here than trying to work when little Scotty''s napping. We just are not going to get any lab space on campus. Too many complications."


    "¡ª But my garage is not part of your lease agreement. If I was even interested, I''d have to check the homeowners policy to see if I''m insured against weird science accidents taking out the house," Lena finished.


    "We can sign a new lease, just for the garage. I''m sure lab insurance isn''t that expensive. I''ll get Mamaw to cover it." Candy played her ace, and Lena sighed, defeated. True, it was her house, but Candy was her cousin and their grandmother''s darling. Mamaw Ruthy was sadly lacking in ruth when it came to her dynasty.


    "Fine," Lena said, rubbing her forehead. "But! You just lost the right to complain about me taking over the living room for game nights."


    <center><hr>


    *~*~*


    </center>


    Jason


    "Hey, Jace! Remember that game my cousin got me into?"


    Jason gave Rob a distracted glance through the vid chat app while he finished parking. "That''s the first thing you say to me? No ''hello, how ya doing?'' Really?"


    "Hey, Jace, how you doin''? You free on Thursdays? My game has a couple of openings." Rob frowned. "Wait, are you driving and talking on your phone?"


    "Parking, and Momma called me just before you to hit me up for cash again so I wasn''t actually paying attention to her."


    Rob said, "Damn, no wonder I got that pissy greeting. So, you good for gaming?"


    "Sure, I can get the specs for my character from you tonight, right?" Jason put his truck in Park and turned it off. He turned to face the phone camera more directly.


    "Yep. In fact, Lena said she just needs a couple hours notice if we want to go over to her place for character creation."


    Jason recognized their shared living room behind Rob, along with Aaron bent over familiar looking books. "You said a couple openings. Who else you asking?"


    "My little bro, of course. You know he''s got the hots for Lena''s roommate. It''s a brotherly obligation to help him out a bit."


    Aaron glanced up from the books and grabbed a nearby stress ball. Jason watched Aaron conk his older brother in the back of the head. "Oh, shut up already, Bert!" Aaron said.


    Rob and Aaron shared the same mother, but had different fathers. While they had similar builds and narrow facial features, Rob took after his Mexican father almost as much as Aaron took after his Nordic father. They called themselves the Morgan brothers because their mother, in an attempt to preserve her maiden surname, had given them both the middle name of Morgan.


    "This isn''t your way to wiggle into hosting games in our apartment, is it?" Jason asked.


    Rob shrugged. "It''s nice that that''s an option, but Lena twisted Candy''s arm hard enough to stop poking at us."


    Jason raised his eyebrows in surprise. "Really? Then why the openings?"


    "I told you Greg and Sandra got engaged, right? Their families pulled them into serious wedding planning stuff. I think Greg''s there more to help Sandra stay sane. She was already stress crying when they told us the news last night."


    "I''ll get more details tonight. I need to get to class," Jason said.


    "I''ll let Lena know we''re covered," Rob said. "Smell ya later!"


    Jason laughed, turned off the call, and got his stuff together. The walk from his parking spot to his Macroeconomics class took twenty minutes, not bad considering the size of the Cal Poly Campus and the densely packed parking lots.


    Even though this was his second year in college, it still felt weird to look around and see so many fresh faced kids in his classes. There were some older students, but not many. From all reports, next year would be a bit better as transfer students had to come in ready to apply to their program colleges.


    California was also a change, but one he found easier to take to. For one thing, his momma and mooching brother were back in Alabama. They were still too close, but anywhere with cell reception was too close.


    It took a strong effort of will to put her last call out of his mind and focus on what mattered: his education.


    <center><hr>


    *~*~*


    </center>


    Rob


    "You are such an ass, Bertie!" Aaron said as Rob hung up the call with Jason.


    "What? You like the girl and you like gaming. What''s the problem?" Rob asked, holding back a grin.


    Aaron shook his head and went back to reviewing his character options.


    Rob chuckled and rang up Lena.


    "Hi, Rob. What''s up?" Lena asked.


    "Aaron and Jason agreed to try out our game. Jason should be back in an hour. When should we come over for character creation?"


    Lena said, "Anytime after 4 should be fine, but Candy and her lab partner are moving their project into the garage this weekend, so there may be some traffic and distractions."


    "Great," Rob said. "I''ll ring you when we''re on our way."


    Rob turned around again to pester his baby brother, but Aaron had retreated to his room. Rob shrugged and got to work on his English homework.


    His assignment was to write a persuasive paper, and the topics his professor had given them to choose from were, let''s see, Voting Rights, The Balance Between Majority and Minority Representation, and The Most Important Skill. He sighed. It wasn''t that he disagreed with Professor Martin''s political views; Rob didn''t know what the professor''s views were. He also taught Political Science classes, and he had a bad habit of inflicting his passion for debate on his students.


    Rob wasn''t sure how The Most Important Skill topic fit in, but it looked like the least emotionally charged subject. The instructions for the topic said he could narrow down the context and suggested pulling from prior experiences. As he brainstormed ideas, his thoughts took him back to his last duty station, where he met Jason.


    The two of them had gotten along like a house on fire from the start, irritated by the same lazy bastards they had to work with and sharing a similar sense of humor. Unfortunately, neither of them had much patience for idiots, and their supervising officer was too wet behind the ears to listen to his sergeants when they told him things he did not want to hear. Jason hadn''t made it past Specialist because he wouldn''t kiss ass enough to get a recommendation from the man. Rob got demoted to Specialist after a particularly inept call by the brass-brained idiot because someone had to be responsible for breaking the treads of the Abrams that had come into their bay for a routine engine check.


    After that, they decided that they didn''t need to keep busting their knuckles in the Army''s maintenance bays. Jason had gone so far as to swear off mechanical work, period. Rob liked to tinker, but it was more his hobby than anything else. Their duty tours ended within months of each other. Rob''s mom lived in San Luis Obispo and they had G.I. Bill benefits to turn into an education. They made the cut for Freshman Admissions at Cal Poly, and, well, here they were.


    Rob was currently shooting for a Marketing degree, but that had more to do with Papi''s plans for his future than his own.Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.


    Aaron was six years younger than Rob. He managed to get in with a local scholarship, the brainiac kid. Despite Aaron''s fixation with becoming a park ranger or a game warden or something like that, both Aaron and Jason (who despised camping) had more in common than Rob and Aaron. They possessed a patience that Rob knew he didn''t have. When the shit-talking started, they could go for hours, laughing, never a nerve struck.


    Rob could smile through his butt hurt, but he still got butt hurt over the stupidest things. Jason steered away from the things he knew that Rob couldn''t joke about, and did a much better job corralling Aaron''s impulsive stupids than Rob ever could.


    So, with all that in mind, Rob brought his thoughts back to his paper. What was The Most Important Skill and in what context?


    The more he thought about it, the more Rob came back to the thing he admired most about both his brother and his best friend. They had a knack for appreciating what they had to work with. They still took time to wish for more, but they were able to make the most of what they had by knowing what they had, strengths and weaknesses.


    <center><hr>


    *~*~*


    </center>


    Brad


    Wailing fit to shame the damned in hell woke Brad. He groaned and pulled a pillow over his head, trying to tune out little Scotty''s summons. There was something important he needed to capture about his dream, but what was it? As he was able to order the bits and pieces in his mind, Brad sat up and reached for the notebook he kept by the side of his bed.


    The wailing continued while Brad took care of his morning routine, varying in pitch and with small hiccuping sobs in between. Brad, nerves stretched by the constant auditory barrage, tracked down his roommate.


    Geoffrey was another ex-pat Brit, only unlike Brad, he had been much smoother with the ladies. Brad took a certain petty satisfaction in seeing his roommate''s successes come back to bite him, and he didn''t actually mind the little ankle bitter. However, Brad was also the oldest sibling of five and had had his share of watching over infants.


    The bags under Geoff''s eyes matched the shambling steps he took while he paced with his son, trying to find something to comfort the baby. Brad walked up, put the back of his shower warmed hand against little Scotty''s forehead and sighed. "Go down to the urgent care clinic. Your boy''s got a fever."


    Geoff almost cried. "Been. He''s colicky and teething and has a cold. As bad as the crying is when we''re walking it gets worse when I put him down. How does anyone ever get any sleep with an infant in the house?"


    Brad rubbed his face. "Try taking off your shirt and letting him lay on your stomach. We''ve got a recliner. You can try falling asleep there. Some babies need more skin to skin touch than others."


    The lamentations of the damned rose to new heights as Brad helped Geoff settle in, but trailed off quickly once little Scotty snuggled up on his father''s chest.


    "Candy and I will be moving the equipment out of the garage, but I''ll make sure I''m the only one tracking through the house." Brad gave out the reminder while setting a lap blanket in easy reach.


    Geoff thanked him with a silent smile and nod before closing his eyes.


    <center><hr>


    *~*~*


    </center>


    Candy stretched and Brad could hear soft popping sounds as her shoulders and wrists released tension. "I''m done for the day. How about you?"


    Brad looked over the boxes they had transported and nodded. "Knackered. We can put everything together over the weekend."


    "Great. Lena said something about home made pizza for dinner. Want a beer to go with it?" Candy made the offer as she headed into the house via the doorway between kitchen and garage.


    Brad followed. "Sounds good to me."


    Lena, rolling out dough at the counter, asked, "Are you volunteering my cooking again?"


    "You like cooking," Candy said.


    "You''re lucky I invited the guys over for character creation or you''d be offering to share your portion." Lena smiled at Brad. "Don''t mind me. I just like to remind the beast in the room to ask before assuming everything''s grand."


    Brad shrugged. "Don''t put yourself out on my account."


    Lena laughed. "No worries. I''m not. But my cousin''s got a problem with understanding boundaries. My sniping is for her benefit."


    "*I* have a problem with boundaries?" Candy asked, incredulously.


    "Yes," Lena said, moving the dough to circular pizza pans and cleaning up the counter.


    "What do you call what you''re doing right now?" Candy asked.


    "Being rude without malice."


    Brad could see the cheerful play between the two and relaxed. They continued to bicker while Candy fished out two beers from the refrigerator and handed one to Brad, keeping the other for herself.


    During a break in the back and forth, Brad said, "Thank you, Lena, for letting us take over the garage."


    Lena finished putting the first pizza in the oven and straightened. She made good eye contact with Brad and gave him a gentle smile. There was a deliberation to her movements that seemed rehearsed, or at least a touch forced. "You''re welcome."


    After a beat, Candy set her beer down and clapped. "Bravo! You did it!"


    Lena dropped her face into her hands, her cheeks bright red.


    Brad looked between the two women, confused. Candy, grinning, said, "She sucks at taking compliments. Usually by now, she''d be telling you how it wasn''t anything at all, and probably bring up that I traded away my bitching rights over her game nights here."


    "Game nights?" Brad asked, deciding to move the topic away from what obviously embarrassed Lena.


    "Yeah," Candy said. "She likes to do this role playing Dungeons and Dragons stuff, but they use maps and models and stuff."


    Brad perked up. "Really? What edition?" he asked Lena.


    "Pathfinder, mostly. When I want to play a video game, I play a video game, so DnD 4th just isn''t for me." Lena moved around, cleaning up her workspace and putting away unused ingredients.


    "Have you tried 5th yet?" Brad asked.


    "Nope," Lena said. "I''m getting tired of buying new rules books just because there''s a new way to play, and the SRD leaves out too much of the game flavor to make it interesting enough to try out."


    Candy leaned back, picking up her beer again and watched as they started talking the finer points of various systems.


    When the doorbell rang and three men between Lena and Candy''s ages were invited in, Brad trailed after. The new gamers quickly joined in and by the end of dinner, Brad and Candy were invited into the next game session and rolling up characters.


    <center><hr>


    *~*~*


    </center>


    Jason


    Two months later ¡­


    "Come on! It''ll be fun! And if it isn''t, you can hold it over my head! You''re the only hold out, Jace!" Candy flashed a gamine grin, her sherry brown eyes sparkling with mischief.


    Jason looked around the gaming group and threw up his hands. "Fine! Fine! But I swear if this is a prank, you guys are in for it!" Throwing a stern look at the mischievous woman, Jason added, "And, Candy, I''ve got the tree-costume footage!"


    Candy laughed and put her right hand on the nearest rules book, raising her left hand. "I swear that this is not a prank. It is part of the graduate project that Brad and I have been working on for forever! Are you satisfied?"


    "No, but let''s do this anyhow," Jason said, standing up.


    Candy squealed and jumped up. "Alright! We''ve got everything set up in the garage!" She bouncy-pranced around the table and, planting her hands on Jason''s back, shoved him down the hall.


    Jason sighed, but let himself be pushed along. Aaron followed nearly on Candy''s heels with Lena and Rob trailing behind. Brad, the sixth and final member of their group, awaited them in the garage.


    In the garage, Jason focused first on getting Candy off his back. The others had all trailed in when he turned back around to look at whatever the two engineers had put together.


    Brad, already in possession of a Bachelors of Science in Mechanical Engineering with a minor in Physiology, was starting graduate studies in bio-mechanical systems. Candy was helping him as part of her graduation project for her Electrical Engineering degree. Jason (and most of their group) usually just nodded along when the two started enthusing about their fields of study.


    He recognized that there was a kind of order to what, at first glance, looked like nothing more than an explosion of wires and boxes. Amidst the sea of multi-colored wires, Jason made out what looked like six upside down metal colanders.


    "Really?" he said, mildly offended by what looked like B-grade movie props.


    "It''s perfectly safe, I swear! You can even strap me in first if you don''t believe it!" Candy managed to add in a bit of shoulder action as she maneuvered around a desktop computer tower at the heart of the collection of wires.


    Jason found himself with grave suspicions. "It doesn''t look safe," he said.


    "It only looks messy because this is a prototype," Brad said, far calmer than his partner-in-tinkering. Lifting the nearest colander thing and showing off the wires coming out of the punctured dome, he said "These are standard commercially available medical grade electronic sensors. They can''t shock anyone. They are pretty sensitive, though, so please don''t play with your phone while you''re hooked in to the Dream Catcher."


    "The Dream Catcher?" Rob said.


    Candy rolled her eyes. "It''s just a project name!"


    "So what are all these sensors for?" Jason asked.


    Brad gently set the wired half ball down so he could use both hands to fan out the bouquet of wires. "Basic biometrics, like heart rate, and some data gathering on your E.M. fields."


    "Hey, talk in real words, please!" Lena said.


    Brad looked at her without understanding. "Huh?"


    Candy, looking slightly serious, said, "E.M. means electromagnetic. Remember me telling you about how your touch screens work?"


    "Oh," Lena said. Then she shrugged. "Okay. Well, let''s get on with it."


    It took a solid half hour for Brad and Candy to get everyone hooked up, themselves included.


    "This is going to be so fun!" Candy said, unable to sit still when Brad reached for a switch on the only box not wired to a person.


    "Welcome to the future of connectivity," Brad said, grinning as he pushed the switch to the left.


    The fan in the tower computer whirled to life.


    ?Testing. Testing.? Brad''s voice echoed in Jason''s mind.


    *What the hell?*


    Candy laughed. Jason felt it like the bubbles in a hot tub.


    ?Oh, good Lord! It *works*!? Lena''s voice sounded the way cinnamon smelled.


    Rob and Aaron looked at the four of them with confused expressions.


    ?BradfordAjput Singh? Are you ready?? This voice was both deeper than most men''s voices and tinny, as if distorted by distance. An odd herbal scent accompanied it.


    Jason didn''t hear if Brad answered. The blood in Jason''s head pounded through his skull with an intensity that left him sick to his stomach. Which ever sense Brad and Candy''s wires screwed with left him raw, his body hearing textures and tasting frequencies, his vision completely overwhelmed and his sense of scent warning him of the physical proximity of a hard, rough surface under his body. Unable to deal with the sensory shock, Jason''s mind shut down, granting him a period of blessed unconsciousness.

 Integration - 1

    System


    *** *** ***


    Multiple anomalies detected. Designating anomalies ¦Á, ¦Â, ¦Ã, ¦Ä, ¦Å, ¦Æ.


    Anomaly ¦Ä located.


    Assessing Anomaly ¦Ä.


    ¡­


    Assessment completed. Anomaly ¦Ä compatible with Tapestry. Integrating Anomaly ¦Ä.


    *** *** ***


    Jason


    Jason wasn''t sure whether he was conscious or not. He did know that his mind was sore in some manner that was both physical and ¡­ something else. Some part was mental exhaustion. Maybe the rest was spiritual? He wasn''t a religious person and hadn''t really given much thought to the possibilities of a soul before this, nor did he spend much time on that thought now. He found just existing to be taxing enough at the moment.


    As he gradually grew aware of the passage of time, he sensed something hovering on the edges of his mind.


    *** *** ***


    Greetings, Traveler ¦Ä!


    You have been accepted into the Grand Tapestry of Rhofhir.


    The following announcements will inform you of your ability to affect the Grand Tapestry. Introduce new patterns that the Grand Tapestry may absorb or strengthen existing patterns to increase your ability to affect the Grand Tapestry.


    Your acknowledgment is required to proceed.


    *** *** ***


    What the hell? What was Rhofhir and this Grand Tapestry thing? Was he going insane? Had the damn wires fried his brain? Was he in a coma, or dying, and having weird hallucinations? Jason had never had a dream like this before.


    *** *** ***


    Rhofhir is the designation assumed by the inhabitants of the area protected by the Grand Tapestry.


    The Grand Tapestry shields Rhofhir from Primal Chaos, imposing sufficient Order to maintain continuity of Life through the strength of the patterns within the Grand Tapestry.


    Acknowledgment of comprehension received.


    To review your current capabilities within the Grand Tapestry, project the command [Status].


    *** *** ***


    [Status]? Jason found himself repeating the thought before he had a chance to think better of it.


    *** *** ***


    Designation: Jason Jefferson Kline


    Species: Human (Traveler)


    Titles: Specialist


    - - -


    ACU: 14


    BRW: 13


    DEX: 11


    INT: 13


    WIS: 9


    CHA: 10


    HTH: 13


    LCK: 10


    - - -


    Health Pool: 10/26 (2.1/hour)


    Mana Pool: 0/9 (2.6/hour)


    Will Pool: 3/9 (2.6/hour)


    - - -


    Aspects: ¡ª


    Skills: ¡ª


    Designs: Traveler (91%)


    *** *** ***


    Jason blinked. The [Status] command gave him information that looked a lot like a character sheet, but he wasn''t sure what the acronyms stood for. Was ACU accuracy?


    *** *** ***


    ACU - Acuity: Primary. The measure of an individual''s ability to recognize patterns. Higher acuity allows for quicker recognition and deeper comprehension of pattern effects.


    BRW - Brawn: Primary. The measure of an individual''s physical capacity. Higher brawn allows for greater effects when interacting with physical patterns.


    DEX - Dexterity: Primary. The measure of an individual''s physical control. Higher dexterity allows for more precise manipulations of physical patterns.


    INT - Intelligence: Primary. The measure of an individual''s capacity to create and refine model patterns. Higher intelligence allows for quicker adoption of new Skills and Designs.


    - - -


    WIS - Wisdom: Secondary. An individual''s ability to apply appropriate patterns in any given situation. Higher wisdom reflects both the number of patterns an individual has learned and the effectiveness of applied patterns.


    CHA - Charisma: Secondary. An individual''s ability to induce other individuals into participating in a given pattern.


    HTH - Health: Secondary. An individual''s physical durability.


    LCK - Luck: Secondary. An individual''s innate ability to position themselves within a Grand Pattern.


    *** *** ***


    Apparently just thinking hard enough about a question could get him an answer. Without knowing the scales used for the measurements, Jason wasn''t sure what it all meant. He generally agreed with the shape of the ratings, however. He was best at finding patterns. That was what drew him to the study of Economics. But what was this thing with aspects? And what about not having any skills?


    *** *** ***


    Aspects are modes of perception that help or hinder the acquisition of new Skills, and influence the nuances of an individual''s Designs.


    Skills are minor patterns obtained by performing related actions. Additional actions spent refining skill patterns increase skill proficiency.


    *** *** ***


    Ah. While still unsure of how these Aspects would affect him, Jason realized that the lack of listed skills made a kind of sense. He had yet to demonstrate anything this Grand Tapestry, this game system, recognized as a skill. That left Designs to be explained.


    *** *** ***


    Designs are complex patterns initiated by an individual and, usually, requiring minimal participation from other individuals.


    *** *** ***


    Oooh-kay. And the Traveler design meant ¡­?


    *** *** ***


    Traveler: a design fulfilled by individuals that instantiated outside of the Grand Tapestry and have been deemed compatible with the underlying patterns of the Grand Tapestry. Completion of this design provides the ability to communicate and interact with other individuals contributing to the Grand Tapestry.


    *** *** ***


    Yeah. Jason was going to just accept this as part of some strange hallucination.


    *** *** ***


    Traveler Design Completed. Aspect of the Gamer created. You have acquired the Aspect of the Gamer.


    *** *** ***


    <center><hr>


    *~*~*


    </center>


    System


    *** *** ***


    ¡­


    Anomaly ¦Ã located. Assessing Anomaly ¦Ã.


    ¡­


    Assessment completed. Anomaly ¦Ã highly compatible with mana regulation patterns of Tapestry. Integrating Anomaly ¦Ã. ¡­


    *** *** ***


    Lena


    *** *** ***


    Greetings,Traveler ¦Ã! You have been accepted into the Grand Tapestry of Rhofhir. The following announcements will inform you of your ability to affect the Grand Tapestry. Introduce new patterns that the Grand Tapestry may absorb or strengthen existing patterns to increase your ability to affect the Grand Tapestry. Your acknowledgment is required to proceed.


    *** *** ***


    It felt as though one moment Lena had been sitting in her garage, ghostly words whispering against her skin where Candy had placed the telepathy patches, wonder just breaking through her shock at experiencing Brad and Candy''s success. The next moment, Lena found herself physically senseless and emotionally neutered. After a timeless moment of disorientation, Lena found herself alone in her mind with an odd, shiny-feeling voice that felt ¡­ foreign. Lena decided to proceed under the tentative hypothesis that this was an intended part of the experiment.


    As she considered the message, knowledge replaced Lena''s questions about the details of the shiny-voiced message.


    *** *** ***


    Acknowledgment of comprehension received.


    To review your current capabilities within the Grand Tapestry, project the command [Status].


    *** *** ***


    *** *** ***


    Traveler Design Completed.


    You have acquired the Aspect of the Gamer.


    *** *** ***


    *** *** ***


    Design of the Analyst unlocked.


    *** *** ***


    *** *** ***


    Congratulations, Traveler Lena Marie Weston!


    During your integration into the Grand Tapestry of Rhofhir, you have expanded the reach of the Grand Tapestry. In honor of this feat, you are recognized as the Arbiter of the newly created Zone [¦Ã]*.


    To access control features for the zone, project the command [Zone Management].


    As the Arbiter of Zone [¦Ã]*, you have acquired one point each in the skills: [Mana Manipulation], [Tapestry Reading]Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.


    *** *** ***


    Interesting. [Status].


    *** *** ***


    Designation: Lena Marie Weston


    Species: Human (Traveler)


    Titles: Arbiter of Zone [¦Ã]*, Traveler


    - - -


    ACU: 15


    BRW: 8


    DEX: 12


    INT: 15


    WIS: 8


    CHA: 9


    HTH: 9


    LCK: 14


    - - -


    Health Pool: 10/17 (1.6/hour)


    Mana Pool: 10/15 (.8/hour)


    Will Pool: 4/8 (2.4/hour)


    - - -


    Aspects: Gamer


    Skills: Mana Manipulation: 1; Tapestry Reading: 1


    Designs: Traveler, Champion of Order, Analyst (10%)


    *** *** ***


    Lena found the same process of simply forming her query provided her with the essential concepts represented in this [Status] state. She found the vagueness of the Champion of Order design mildly ¡­ inefficient.


    *** *** ***


    Champion of Order: this design is completed by greatly expanding the efficacy of the Grand Tapestry, either by the taming of Primal Chaos or contributions that improve the patterns of the Grand Tapestry. Completion of this design grants the designer a permanent boon relating to the manner of its completion.


    *** *** ***


    Lena didn''t know what words to use to frame her confusion around the title "Arbiter of Zone [¦Ã]*", but the focused curiosity provoked an answer of sorts.


    *** *** ***


    Zones small enough to be controlled by an arbiter have been designated as "dungeons" by the inhabitants of Rhofhir. Arbiters of such dungeons may designate their own titles within the [Zone Management] control patterns.


    *** *** ***


    So, she was now a dungeon master according to this Tapestry? Cool. She projected the thought [Zone Management].


    *** *** ***


    Zone Designation: Zone [¦Ã]*


    Zone Arbiter Title: Arbiter


    Zone Nature: Simple


    Mana Pool: 1289/1000 (0.84/second)


    Mana Consumption: 0/hour


    [Structure] ? [Guardians] ? [Resources]


    *** *** ***


    Lena focused on the prompt for the [Structure] command.


    *** *** ***


    No structure currently exists. Please implement a structure.


    *** *** ***


    The options that then made themselves apparent to Lena left her feeling as if she was suddenly immersed in a thick fog bank, the fog something she could shape like clay. The first needed thing, she decided, was some space without the fog pressing in on her.


    *** *** ***


    Establishing ground costs 1 mana per cubic meter and requires an expenditure of 1 mana per 5 cubic meters per hour to maintain. Do you wish to proceed with clearing 8 cubic meters?


    *** *** ***


    How much space do I have to establish? Lena wondered.


    *** *** ***


    Space within a zone is dependent on the mana used to maintain it.


    *** *** ***


    What can I build here? Lena asked herself, her emotions returning to her with a burgeoning creative buzz.


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    *~*~*


    </center>


    Lena felt both challenged and disappointed to find that she was limited to building her zone''s structure with only "discovered patterns", of which she began with Dirt, Stone, Water, Air, Light, and Portal. The Portal turned out to be the means by which Zone [¦Ã] connected to the rest of Rhofhir. At the point where the maintenance cost for what she had built was about a third of what the zone regenerated, she paused in playing with the basic elements and returned to check out the other options on her menu.


    [Resources] looked like it would require less time to understand, so she went there next. It led to another sub-menu of choices:


    *** *** ***


    [Material Patterns] ? [Organic Patterns] ? [Mana Patterns] ? [Exportables] ? [Research]


    *** *** ***


    The Materials Patterns listed the same structural patterns Lena had already played with. The next three menu items led to empty lists, but the last, [Research], looked promising.


    *** *** ***


    No pattern research in progress. Provide a sample of a pattern to replicate and allocate hourly mana points to research the integration of that pattern into your zone.


    *** *** ***


    She returned to check out the [Guardians] menu.


    *** *** ***


    You have no contracted zone guardians. Establish contracts before providing guardians with zone boons.


    *** *** ***


    Disappointed again, Lena returned to the structure menu. She confirmed that she could selectively disable the maintenance costs for anything she built in her dungeon. Then she wondered what would happen if she didn''t use up her zone''s mana regeneration. What was the danger in exceeding the zone''s mana pool?


    *** *** ***


    Excess mana in dungeon zones leads to spontaneous creation of mana-filled patterns, such as monsters and monstrous foliage, until mana levels are within the operational capacity of the dungeon zone. During that time, any individual present in the dungeon is exposed to the excess mana, and has an increasing likelihood of suffering mana poisoning. Mana poisoning destabilizes individual patterns, which often leads to incompatibility with the Grand Tapestry.


    *** *** ***


    What happens then?


    *** *** ***


    Elements incompatible with the Grand Tapestry are deconstructed so that their mana may be recycled into the Grand Tapestry.


    *** *** ***


    That sounded like it could easily spiral out of control, and Lena was pretty sure she didn''t want to discover the tipping point where that downward spiral never righted itself. Deciding not to find out the hard way, Lena continued building out her dungeon, finding that she enjoyed making the lifeless environment at least as beautiful as she could.


    *** *** ***


    Design of the Artist unlocked.


    *** *** ***


    <center><hr>


    *~*~*


    </center>


    System


    ****** ***


    ¡­


    Anomaly ¦Æ located. Assessing Anomaly ¦Æ. ¡­


    Assessment completed.


    Anomaly ¦Æ compatible with Tapestry. Integrating Anomaly ¦Æ. ¡­


    *** *** ***


    *** *** ***


    ¡­


    Anomaly ¦Å located. Assessing Anomaly ¦Å. ¡­


    Assessment completed.


    Anomaly ¦Å compatible with Tapestry. Integrating Anomaly ¦Å. ¡­


    *** *** ***


    Aaron


    "Aaron!Aaron! Wake up, dude! Don''t make me-! So, help me, you little bastard, you *will* fucking wake up!"


    Those last words were accompanied by rough hands picking Aaron up by his shoulders and vigorously shaking him. For the first few seconds, all Aaron could do was flop. Then, all at once, his body was moving, instinct taking over. He swung his fists, kicked his legs, and screamed with wordless rage.


    The hands let go of him. Aaron scrambled back a meter and somehow found his feet. His chest heaved. He looked around, saw Rob, and started yelling. "Don''t you fucking do that, you asshole! Why the fuck did you-?"


    Then Aaron saw the dunes and lavender tinted fog around them both. And nothing else.


    Rob tackled him, hugging him and shaking. "Motherfucker, don''t you fucking scare me like that again! You weren''t breathing!"


    Aaron''s first instinct was to punch his brother, but he realized Rob was actually, honestly, crying, shaking with relief. It felt weird to hug Rob back, to be the calm one for a change. Except, Aaron wasn''t calm. He just hadn''t caught up with his brother yet.


    That weird dream. That feeling of being lifted out of his body, his mind and soul splintered and ¡­ remade. The abrupt waking. This limbo-like landscape. Roberto Morgan Garcias, of all people, his brother, breaking down. That was the most surreal aspect to this of all.


    "You weren''t breathing!" Rob whispered into his shoulder.


    "I''m here," Aaron told him, the same words their mother crooned to them after they had gotten lost at Giant''s Stadium the summer Rob turned fourteen. He kept repeating that until Rob stopped shaking.


    When Rob leaned back, Aaron asked, "Where the hell are we?"


    Rob''s eyes were wider than normal, giving him a spooked look. "I don''t fucking know."


    <center><hr>


    *~*~*


    </center>


    System


    ****** ***


    ¡­


    Anomaly ¦Á located.


    Assessing Anomaly ¦Á. ¡­


    Assessment completed. Anomaly ¦Á compatible with Tapestry.


    Integrating Anomaly ¦Á. ¡­


    *** *** ***


    "Move your tails!" The deep, masculine voice that shouted that order competed with the whistling roar of the wind. Six bipedal forms strained to comply, following a seventh toward the hope of safety, a darker shape in the prismatic haze of the mana storm. Two of the six carried an eighth form between them, a limp thing flopping with each jarring step they took.


    The dark shape resolved itself into a cave mouth set in the side of a cliff wall. The rocks forming the cliff were all sharp angles and smooth planes, but the color was impossible to gauge through the mana soaked air. The leader stopped at the mouth of the cave and swept his arm in a vertical circle, herding the others into the cave.


    "Vi! Shield over the opening!" the leader ordered as soon as the last of them passed into the deeper shade of the cave. "Cord and Nilis, burn whatever mana has made it into the cave! Perth, Krar, set up camp! Stylard, see to our guest!"


    "Yes, sergeant!" the others said, already in motion.


    The sergeant removed a dull translucent crystal from one of several belt pouches. "Soak Light!" The sergeant commanded the crystal, moving to set it beside the limp biped. A dim glow kindled in the heart of the crystal, brightening slowly as it began soaking in the ambient mana.


    The air pressure in the cave shifted, increased enough for most of them to shake their heads to help adjust to the change. The volume of the wind decreased drastically.


    "Shield''s up, sergeant, and I''ve got it soaking from our side to start with. I''ll need to switch it if we''re stuck here for more than a day," the one named Vi stated.


    Balls of light took form, ranging in diameter from 4 to 12 cm, and spread out toward the walls and ceiling of the cave. They all began by shedding a pure white light, but the light balls transitioned to shades of yellow and pink by the time they settled into a sedentary position about 30cm from the cave walls.


    Stylard hissed, speaking before he could be asked what caused his reaction. "I don''t think we rescued a gnelf or a beast kin, Sarge. Not unless this ¡­ body absorbed a lethal amount of mana."


    The sergeant returned his attention to Stylard and the biped. Stylard had torn open the strange cloth garments covering the biped, revealing hair-less, fur-less, scale-less skin. The skin was not white, black, or brown, but something more pinkish. At least it was pinkish where it wasn''t mottled with yellow or purple. The sergeant squatted down on the other side of the biped and, taking care not to drag his claws too roughly over the unarmored flesh, pushed the creature''s mane off its face.


    Lateral symmetry, two eyes currently closed, protruding nostrils but no muzzle, flexible lips, rounded ears. A gentle lifting pressure on the lips revealed incisors and grinder teeth, but no fangs. The sergeant leaned back on his heels. "Human. Blood and bone, what is a human doing on the Rim?"


    "Human?" Stylard''s scales paled. "What do I do? I''ve never treated a Human!"


    The sergeant shook his head. His eyes focused on Stylard and his voice came out calm, confident. "They''re one of the ancestral races. Whatever will work across the races should work on a human."


    Stylard opened his mouth, closed it, and nodded. "Right. Right. Ancestors." Stylard sucked in a deep breath, held it a moment, and then began again. He pressed a small, flat gem to the human''s torso, between engorged mammary glands. The gem lost its luster. Both Stylard and the sergeant blinked at that.


    The sergeant cleared his throat. "Is your mana stone broken?"


    Stylard lifted it off the human and just the contact with his own skin returned a faint luminosity to the gem. "Vi! Check the mana stone for me!" Stylard ordered, holding the gem up.


    When Vi took the stone, it brightened even more. "It''s working. What''s the problem?" Vi asked.


    Stylard took the gem back and put it, once more, on the human''s torso. The light within the gem dimmed again.


    Vi hissed appreciatively. "Mana starved, huh? Nilis, over here!" Vi knelt down next to Stylard.


    "Need me to pull the ambient in for you?" Nilis guessed.


    "Yep," Vi said, already cupping the human''s head in his clawed hands.


    Nilis curled his tail in concentration and held his claws apart as if imagining a ball roughly 40cm in diameter between them. As soon as a faint green glow took shape in the center of his imaginary ball, Nilis said, "I''ve got the thread started."


    Vi laid his tail against Nilis'' leg. "Here we go."


    Half an hour passed before the glow between Nilis'' claws brightened. By that time, both he and Vi were expelling a faint mist from under their raised scales. Vi released the human, opened his mouth in a jaw-cracking yawn, and sat down hard.


    Nilis closed his hands, dissipating the glow, and sat down next to Vi. "I got two skill ups in [Mana Manipulation]. How about you, Vi?"


    "One in [Mana Manipulation], and unlocked something called [Tapestry Integration]," Vi answered.


    The sergeant asked, "What the Wastes is that?"


    Vi''s eyes had the unfocused look common to those focused on the Grand Tapestry. "Says something about assisting something called a Traveler in adding their patterns to the Grand Tapestry. I''m not getting any more information. Must be something, though. I got a boost to my mana pool and mana regeneration for the unlock."


    The sergeant leaned back. "You said Traveler?"


    "Yes, sergeant," Vi said.


    Cord asked, "What is a Traveler?"


    The sergeant did not answer. He was too busy inspecting the human.


    <center><hr>


    *~*~*


    </center>


    System


    *** *** ***


    ¡­


    Anomaly ¦Â located.


    Assessing Anomaly ¦Â. ¡­


    Assessment completed.


    Anomaly ¦Â added to pattern "Contained for Observation", Overseer: Dibbons.


    *** *** ***


    Brad


    ?Bradford Ajput Singh? Are you ready??


    The question confused and startled Brad. There was a familiarity to the voice, as if he had heard it before, but he couldn''t place where. And what should he be ready for?


    Sparks, followed almost immediately by the sickening scent of burnt metal and plastics, popped from the computer tower. Candy''s laugh cut off and she bolted to her feet. Jason''s arms and legs flailed, catching Candy in the ribs. Aaron and Rob reached for the sensors.


    Brad hit the floor, not even aware that he had reached toward the sparking computer until his head bounced off the tower frame. As he lost consciousness, his last thought was, "I''ve killed my friends."


    <center><hr>


    *~*~*


    </center>


    Dibbs


    "Did it work?" Archmage Feltz burst into the summoning chamber the moment Dibbons released the wards.


    Casper Dibbons suppressed the urge to snap at the senior mage. He was beyond tired from the depth of information he had to put into the mana recording of the session, never mind the extra-planar summoning just to speak with the demon who answered to Bradford Ajput Singh. Instead, he handed over a spherical sapphire the size of his fist. "See for yourself. I hope I didn''t cause the demon a terrible amount of trouble, but that was the clearest I''ve ever been able to speak with it."


    Feltz held the sapphire up to eye level and made a thorough examination. His expression underwent a subtle change from fiercely worried to fiercely excited to fiercely intent, ending with a respectful look that was a strange combination of fierce and grim. "I think you may have exceeded your bargain, Dibbs. I believe you have captured the demon in this."


    Dibbons sputtered. "What in the odd balls of Chaos are you talking about? That''s impossible! The Tapestry destroys demons! I couldn''t have brought it through the Weave intact, let alone stuffed it in a memory stone!"


    "Look for yourself." Feltz handed the stone back to Dibbs. Feltz waited until Dibbs took back the sapphire, then added, "Rhofhir''s Tapestry destroys what it cannot wrap within a stable pattern. While you and I, and every mage worth his mana here knows, that demons are simply varying forms of intelligence existing beyond the Weave of the Tapestry, that''s not what comes to the mind of the layfolk. Do not confuse the academic definition of demons with the superstitions of the uninformed."


    Dibbons barely paid attention to the old fart''s lecture. The burst of focus quickly faded, exhaustion sucking away at Dibbons'' mental clarity. The memory patterns in the stone did not feel sapient, not the way the demon had during their exchange, but there was something ¡­ odd about the patterns. They were no where near so clear as they had been when Dibbons had acted the conduit for their inscription within the memory stone.


    Feltz''s heavy hand settled on Dibbons'' shoulder. "Go get you some sleep. What''s done is done, the pattern closed. If you''ve no objection, I''ll study this a bit longer. Perhaps you simply caught an Advantage within the Grand Pattern and this is now an Artifact of Memory."


    "I-. You know, sleep is probably the best course of action. Please do hold on to it. I think if it is not left in your care that Vorbolinsh will attempt to appropriate it." On that note, Dibbons rose, allowing Feltz to take the sapphire once more. "I mean, it''s only the fate of our world. Why should that get in the way of the hallowed traditions of petty politics?"


    Feltz snorted. "You are tired to say that outside of a privacy ward!"


    Dibbons nodded. "And frustrated, my old teacher. I never did have your patience with long-eared arrogance."

 Integration - 2

    Jason


    Something flicked over Jason''s face. It felt like solid rain drops, only smaller, softer. Just ¡­ not liquid. Sand, maybe?


    Why would anyone be sprinkling sand on Jason? It was a weekday; he didn''t have time between classes to hop over to the coast. Jason brushed his hand across his face, shaking his noggin to help clear the area around his eyes before he opened them. His skin felt dry and the kind of warm that hinted at a sunburn yet to bloom.


    When he looked around, Jason saw a craggy rock wall to his right, the sun to his left and slightly behind him at an angle that could be somewhere between the 10 and 11 hour marks on a 12 hour clock. There was a coolness to the air that led him to think morning, but considering the rest of the landscape could be described as opal dust and teal haze he wouldn''t be surprised if it were in fact midnight. This place was just surreal.


    While he looked around, Jason realized his mouth was dry, his tongue beginning to swell from dehydration. That pierced the dream-like numbness he had been caught up in, and memory rushed in.


    The experiment. The voices in his head. All of his senses crossing. The weird voice.


    "One way to test that, I guess," he muttered to himself. "[Status]."


    *** *** ***


    Designation: Jason Jefferson Kline


    Species: Human (Traveler)


    Titles: Traveler, Specialist


    - - -


    ACU: 14


    BRW: 13


    DEX: 11


    INT: 13


    WIS: 9


    CHA: 10


    HTH: 13


    LCK: 10


    - - -


    Health Pool: 26/26 (2.1/hour)


    Mana Pool: 9/9 (2.6/hour)


    Will Pool: 9/9 (2.6/hour)


    - - -


    Aspects: Gamer (Primary)


    Skills: ¡ª


    Designs: Traveler


    *** *** ***


    This wasn''t a hallucination.


    Jason didn''t allow himself to more than tense up at that idea. Priority one: water. Priority two: where the sam hell am I?


    Looking around, Jason guessed if there was going to be water, it would be nearer the rocks than out in the dust-fine sand. A sense of sureness, of going where he needed to go, quickened his step.


    *** *** ***


    You have unlocked the Survival skill. +1 WIS, +1 LCK


    *** *** ***


    And that sounded like a confirmation.


    The closer Jason got to the rocks, the stronger a breeze blew over him. As he faced the rocky outcropping, the wind came from his right. It held an odd scent that stirred his thirst, and so Jason headed into the breeze, hoping his body recognized the scent of water on a subconscious level because his conscious mind couldn''t make heads nor tails of that thirst-provoking scent.


    *** *** ***


    Survival Skill +1


    *** *** ***


    On the bright side, he could probably guess when he was on the wrong track by a stagnation of skill up notices.


    *** *** ***


    You have unlocked the Logic skill. +1 INT


    *** *** ***


    Jason had a feeling that was going to get annoying pretty damn fast.


    Five minutes later, Jason discovered the source of the scent he was trailing. During the walk, he had unlocked the skills [Physical Training], [Mental Focus], and [Perception], gaining the last when he spotted the narrow passage way half hidden by the fractured nature of the rock. The passage was far from ADA compliant. Jason was going to have to turn his shoulders to fit through it, at least at first. From what he could see, it opened up fairly quickly. The question was, was he really going to duck into a strange cave?


    Taking another look at his environment, Jason decided that, why, yes, he was.


    *** *** ***


    You have entered Dungeon Zone [¦Ã].


    *** *** ***


    Hot on the heels of that announcement, Lena''s voice called out. "Jason? Is that you? Have you seen the others?"


    "Lena? Where are you? How are you?" He looked around, but could not pinpoint where her voice came from. It felt almost like the very floors themselves were speakers in some kind of intercom system.


    "I''m standing right in front of you. Why-? Oh!"


    Jason froze in place for a moment before sweeping his gaze over his new surroundings. Light without an obvious source illuminated a rectangular stone platform about 4 m wide and 6 m long, with water stretching out into a darkness that began maybe 10m from the last visible solid ground. Stone walls so smooth they appeared glass-like rose up in a dome overhead. Jason could make out faint lines in the stone flooring that reminded him of some of the sketches he had seen Lena doodling during game sessions. A walkway extended from the far end of the platform, connecting at right angles with another walkway that joined two other platforms. Or maybe it was another platform and an island? The one to his right looked to be made of stone like the platform he stood upon while the landmass to his left looked more like loamy dirt.


    "What the ever-? No, focus. You can hear me, I can hear you, but I can''t see you. Do you know where we are? Is the water safe to drink?" Jason continued to search the zone with his gaze. He ignored the notices that his [Perception] skill had gone up 2 points.


    Lena''s voice trembled. "My hand went right through you. Am I ghost? Wait, we''re still hooked up to the telepathy gizmo, right? Maybe this is a glitch."


    That got a sardonic snort from Jason. "I knew we shouldn''t have all strapped in, but, yeah, the idea of playing through a session like that sounded pretty awesome. But, Lena, this is pretty freaking ¡­ weird ¡­." He trailed off as light began to coalesce in front of him, morphing as he watched to match Lena''s outline. The light shifted from white to a muted blue glow during the process, and then shades of green and purple lent themselves to the figure of light like highlights and shadows. Jason watched with slack-jawed wonder as the contours of Lena''s face took shape.


    Lena flexed and twisted to make a thorough inspection of her new body of light. "Huh, that''s cool! So, have you seen the others?"


    "No," Jason said.


    "Well, maybe if I think of them and put in another portal it''ll open to where ever they are. I mean, I was wondering what was going on with you when I put up that portal and, bam!, you''re here." Lena looked up from her inspection and disappeared. A faint blossom of light that eased up considerably appeared on the other stone platform. Her voice continued to emanate from the floor. "Hm. I can trade some of the water out for the mana to put up an archway here. I think I''ll try carving on it to get my focus on the guys. Who do you think I should try for first?"


    Jason shook his head, using the physical motion to help him shake off the mental fog.


    The skill up notice for Mental Focus annoyed him, helping him to get over the wonder enough to focus on the necessities. "Logically, we should try for Brad first. It''s his theories behind the machine."


    Lena tipped her head and looked at him. "I''m hearing a ''but'' in that."


    Jason shrugged. "Rob''s my buddy and Candy''s your cousin, and whatever the hell happened to us, it hurt like a sonuva. I''m not happy with Brad at the moment."


    "It hurt? What do you mean?"The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.


    Jason shuddered. "I mean it felt like my brain got ripped apart and put back together again."


    "Oh. That sucks. I''m guessing that, in terms of taking care of themselves in the telepathy scene, Brad and Candy are probably better prepared than Rob and Aaron. And Rob''s got major big bro complex going on with Aaron. Objections to me trying to reach Aaron first?"


    Jason shook his head. "Nope, you''re right. Go for it."


    The light show that was Lena''s present form faded as water poured up from the surrounding body to form an arch 2 m wide and 3 m tall. The color and texture changed to resemble the stone of the platforms and the dome, but it continued to move with fluid grace.


    Jason approached with caution despite how captivating he found the sight. He even forgot about the thirst that had driven him to move. He stopped about 4 m back from the stone taking shape, watching as the archway grew to resemble a pair of sapling fruit trees, branches intertwining to form the arch. After a while, he sat down. His sense of time fell away. The fruit on the sculpted trees took on the texture of oranges, and Jason thought they might slowly be taking on the color, too.


    Perhaps a minute or ten after he could no longer discern changes occurring to the archway, Lena''s body of light faded into focus. She sat next to him, looking both tired and happy. "I need a few minutes to get enough mana back to turn on the portal, then we''ll see if this, ahem, bears fruit."


    Jason chuckled. "That was Dad-joke bad."


    "Yeah. So, how you doin''?"


    At the question, Jason remembered his thirst. "Dry. You didn''t say before, but is the water here safe to drink?"


    Lena shrugged. "I think so. The build menu just lists it as ''water'', so I don''t know for sure."


    "Eh, better to find out sooner rather than later, I guess," Jason said, moving to the edge of the platform. "But what''s this about a build menu?"


    Lena filled him in on her awakening to this place while he drank. The water had a stale taste to it, but it satisfied his thirst.


    "What about you?" Lena asked.


    "I got a lot less to talk about than you. Woke up in some pearly dunes with a blue haze in the air, rocks to one side of me, and started walking. Five minutes or so, here I am with you."


    Lena frowned and tried to poke him. He felt nothing but disturbed at witnessing her finger disappear into his bicep. "You said-. Okay, that''s just creepy. But, anyhow, you said that it felt like you got taken apart and put back together, right? Do you remember anything else?"


    Jason shook his head.


    "Okay. Oh! That''s ¡­ convenient?"


    "What?" Jason asked.


    "I just got an announcement that my dungeon''s mana pool increased by 100 and the regen rate went from around point eight a second to one point oh one. I wish I knew why, though." Lena scrunched up her nose.


    "You don''t look too happy about that," Jason said.


    She shrugged. "Everything I make in here has a maintenance cost, and I have to manage the maintenance cost to meet the mana regeneration rate, or else random monsters will start spawning. I don''t want to deal with random monsters." She got to her feet and walked over to the archway. "Bright side, the portal here has one of the higher maintenance costs, so turning it on should help sommat." She waved her hand at the empty space within the archway. "So, tada!"


    Jason didn''t see any changes at first, but then he realized that an effect like heat waves rising off asphalt was taking shape. It started out as only noticeable by the way it made the water appear to dance. Then the rippling currents began reflecting light, the glow brightening until they could see ¡­ more of the shimmering dunes, only this time with a thicker, fog-like lavender haze rather than blue.


    Lena stepped forward, then just stood in the archway. "Well, sugar-sticks!"


    "What''s the problem?" Jason asked.


    Lena stepped aside. "I can''t leave my dungeon." The words sounded calm, but the set of her shoulders warned Jason that Lena was fighting mad at the realization.


    "Why?" he asked.


    She turned to face him. "It says there are insufficient patterns in zone management to make my body."


    Jason opened his mouth, closed it, and stared at Lena, stumped about how to fix this.


    Lena pursed her lips and glared at Jason. "Well?"


    "I ¡­ I don''t know what to do," he confessed.


    She rolled her eyes. "Go look for Aaron! I can''t do it!"


    He laughed, more from nerves than self deprecation. "You''re right. Okay. I''ll be back as soon as-."


    Rob''s head peeked around the edge of the portal, quickly followed by his whole body bounding through. "Holy fucking hell!" he said, grabbing Jason in a bear hug. "What the fuck, man!? What the fuck!?"


    <center><hr>


    *~*~*


    </center>


    Aaron


    After taking a few moments to assess their situation, Aaron realized he would have to be the one prodding his brother along. Rob was too pale, too shocky, and too close to a complete, huddle-in-a-corner-for-a-few-hours breakdown. Taking a page from their mother, Aaron started by reasoning out loud. "Alright. So. We''re in the middle of nowhere, dunes type desert, no supplies. I don''t smell green things or water. We have wind coming from the direction of the sun. With the wind smelling that dusty, I''m betting we won''t find water that way in time to do us any good. Let''s walk with the sun at our backs and see what we can find."


    Rob nodded and took the lead. That was fine. Aaron had always been better with his words than his fists. If they did run into anything needing an aggressive approach, Rob would not only handle it better, but likely also calm down some after getting a few swings in. He took after his dad like that.


    *** *** ***


    You have unlocked the [Survival] skill. +1 WIS, +1 LCK


    *** *** ***


    Aaron hadn''t gotten more than two steps in when that stopped him in his tracks. "Did you hear that?"


    Rob looked at him, his eyes more rounded. "Hear what?"


    "The girl- I guess lady, that just said something about unlocking skills?" Aaron''s tone turned more uncertain as he watched his brother start shaking again.


    "You''re hearing voices in your head?" Rob asked.


    Aaron shrugged. "I don''t know. I dreamed about being in a video game. Maybe it''s just the dream sticking around. Let''s forget about it for now."


    Rob nodded and they started moving again.


    Aaron paid attention to the type of sand they walked upon, picking up a handful to make a better study of it. The particles were fine, giving the sand a fluid texture. While at first the sand appeared to be a mostly uniform white with odd colored glints, Aaron realized that those glints were, in fact, different colored sands. The white came from scratches across the surfaces of the individual particles, while the innate colors of the sand ran through the whole light spectrum.


    He looked up, caught Rob eyeing him, and let the sand fall back to the ground.


    Aaron brushed his hand down the side of his jeans - only to discover that his jeans felt wrong. They felt like old-school jeans. The fabric was heavy and thick. As he considered that, he noticed the slide of the fabric against his legs. They felt like work pants, like something to wear at a construction site.


    Weird. His Spider-Man shirt felt the way he expected, soft from years of washings.


    *** *** ***


    You have unlocked the [Perception] skill. +1 ACU, +1 WIS


    *** *** ***


    Aaron twitched at hearing that announcement. It wasn''t much, but Rob must have been tuned into him or something.


    "You need to sit or something?" he asked. Aaron said, "No. This place is just weirding me out. The faster we leave, the better I''ll be."


    Rob nodded. They kept walking.


    The utter lack of vegetation disturbed Aaron more than the oddness of his jeans. The entirety of Southern California was an irrigated desert. Sand as fine as this stuff may not be common, but the beaches got pretty close on a regular enough basis. Plants grew everywhere. Cacti and other succulents mixed with hardy brush forming habitats for rodents and lizards, snakes, bugs, and the larger creatures that fed on them.


    But here? The only tracks Aaron could find where their''s and the ones left by the wind, the ripples in the sand.


    Aaron got better at ignoring the notices echoing in his mind while they searched for some place safe. He grew thirsty, and blessed whatever confusing fortune they could claim that at least the temperature was pleasant. He tucked his arms in his shirt when thoughts of temperature reminded him of the lack of shade.


    Rob had a natural tan thanks to his father''s Mexican heritage. Aaron''s dad, on the other hand, had bequeathed his nearly albino pale skin tone to Aaron. Their mother and Rob could dance naked at noon while drenched in tanning oil and they just got brown. Aaron and his dad had to watch out for the full moon, lest they turn as bright a red as a cooked lobster.


    They approached the apex of the largest dune they could see, in the hopes of finding some landmark to head toward. With a good 6 or 7 meters to go, the sand began running down the dune. Then Aaron heard the unmistakable sound of rock grinding on rock under the hissing of the falling sand. The shifting ground sent both Aaron and Rob sprawling, sliding down the dune in a cloud of disturbed sand.


    Rob was already halfway back up the dune by the time Aaron got his arms out of his shirt and his balance back enough to stand.


    At the top of the now foreshortened dune, what looked like a covered subway entrance done small and in slate stood revealed.


    Aaron watched Rob sidle up to the opening in the structure, peer around into the entrance. Then Rob charged through.


    Aaron scrambled to catch up with his brother. He ended up partly crawling and partly climbing the dune. At the entrance, he barely paused, worry for his brother overriding his natural caution.


    *** *** ***


    You have entered Dungeon Zone [¦Ã].


    *** *** ***


    Well, they found Jason at least.


    <center><hr>


    *~*~*


    </center>


    Lena


    Whatever Rob had been through had very obviously disturbed him. Lena wasn''t that great with people, so she felt a tad guilty at being grateful Rob had latched on to Jason and seemed to not notice her at all.


    She was just starting to look for Aaron when he bolted through the portal, his features twisted in some fierce expression, his hands curled into fists, and his T-shirt on backward. He dodged to the side, narrowly avoiding running over Rob and Jason, but at the cost of his balance. Aaron sprawled to the side, passing through Lena''s body of light, and skidded into the water.


    That broke up the hug as both of the older boys - guys? - turned to track the movement and instantly - instinctively? - moved to catch Aaron.


    Aaron surfaced, thrashing and sputtering before calming down. He swam back to the platform. Whether he intended it or not, Rob and Jason hoisted him up, back to the solid surface of the stone platform.


    Jason had a gleam to his eyes, a laughing joy.


    Rob, already freaked out to start with, turned into a helicopter brother. "Where are you hurt? Can you breathe? What the fuck was that?"


    Aaron flipped him off. "I''m good. Get out of my face! Water''s refreshing. I recommend a dip."


    Lena leaned against the archway, watching her friends reunite while trying to figure out what it meant that she had a dungeon she could shape with her thoughts, but no physical body.


    Despite being seven months her junior and about six years younger than his brother and Jason, Aaron was the first of the Morgan brothers to calm down and look around. His eyes rounded comically when he spotted Lena. "What happened to you?"


    Lena shrugged. "I think my body got traded in for a dungeon. It was pretty cool until I realized I''m a flipping ghost chained to this place. How are you guys faring in this ¡­ whatever it is the telepathy machine''s put us in?"


    Rob followed Aaron''s gaze to Lena, paled, and sat down hard. A fine tremor radiated out from his chest.


    Mentally cursing herself for screwing up the social stuff yet again, Lena looked in her menus, found the option Jason''s presence had opened up, and dumped cotton bolls over Rob as the closest thing she had to a blanket. The fluff part of the bolls - sans seeds - popped into existence and floated down around Rob.


    "Sugar Berries!" Lena pseudo-cussed, realizing that wasn''t going to help.


    Jason asked, "What the hell?"


    "He''s going into shock and that''s the best I can do!" Lena yelled.


    Aaron, again, the odd choice for the calm one among them, said, "Jason, try to smush this stuff together, like felt. Lena, good thought and better than nothing. Rob, look at me. Focus on me. We''re safe. We are safe. I''m here." He repeated the reassurances, hugging Rob, sharing his warmth despite being soaked to the skin.


    Jason piled the raw cotton around them.


    Lena retreated, needing to give Rob and Jason and Aaron more space, even if her form was more illusion than substance at the moment. Not only was she hoping that Rob would calm down more without her new freakishness in his face, but Rob''s distress changed everything about this telepathy machine weirdness. It wasn''t safe, and they didn''t know how to get out of this mind-scape.


    She moved back to the portal through which Jason had arrived, keeping a touch of her awareness on the guys. She tore down the portal and began building a new one, focused on Candy. Maybe they''d get lucky and she and Brad would be together and they could all escape this weirdness.

 Integration - 3

    Candy


    *** *** ***


    Greetings, Traveler ¦Á! You have been accepted into the Grand Tapestry of Rhofhir. The following announcements will inform you of your ability to affect the Grand Tapestry. Introduce new patterns that the Grand Tapestry may absorb or strengthen existing patterns to increase your ability to affect the Grand Tapestry. Your acknowledgment is required to proceed.


    *** *** ***


    Candy blinked open her eyes. She was used to ignoring randomly weird thoughts. There were days she swore she had to have some kind of multiple personality disorder to go with her hyperactive brain. There was her inner snark, her inner bitch, her inner deviant, her inner puzzler, her inner optimist, and her more socially acceptable engineer and flirty sides that got to step out of her inner mind. This could have been straight from her inner weirdo were it not for the strangely foreign feel to it.


    Her eyes did not want to open.


    *** *** ***


    Your acknowledgment is required to proceed.


    *** *** ***


    If I acknowledge that I''m hearing things, will I be able to open my eyes? Candy asked herself.


    *** *** ***


    Acknowledgment of comprehension received. To review your current capabilities within the Grand Tapestry, project the command [Status].


    *** *** ***


    Okay, her inner weirdo was working overtime.


    She tried again to open her eyes and, this time, it worked.


    She screamed.


    <center><hr>


    *~*~*


    </center>


    When Candy calmed down enough to have thoughts again, she found herself wedged into a shallow indentation in a cave wall with seven mostly black-scaled, big-assed raptors holding their heads and looking at her with a small measure of the What-The-Fuckery filling her brain.


    The largest of them had a silvery sheen on its shoulders, and as she looked at it, she realized it was way too anthropomorphic to be an actual raptor. It lowered its hands (three digits and a thumb) and cautiously stepped farther away from Candy. When nothing else happened, it took another step back, then a third. It said, its voice - his voice - masculine, "Fall back, troops. Let''s give the human more room to calm down."


    "Holy shit on a stick! You talk!" The words tumbled out of Candy''s mouth before she realized she thought them.


    The silver-sheen raptor guy stopped moving, then he nodded. "We''re arassi. You ¡­ look human. You''re a Traveler?"


    Even as she focused on the speaker, Candy caught the frowny faces and narrowed eyes most of the rest of the raptor guys gave her. Damnit, they talked and she''d be pissed if someone dismissed her as a freaky animal or whatever, but these were raptor men!


    "I don''t know what you''re talking about, but where the hell am I? What- who are you? And, wait, you said troops. Are you some kind of secret super soldier initiative? Why do you look like raptors?" The questions came out of her mouth in rapid fire succession, and the more questions she asked, the calmer Candy felt. Well, not calm. Just not panicked.


    The rest of the raptor men, arassi, straightened up. A couple of them, both with more of a green iridescence over the black of their scales, kept their focus on her, but the rest turned to the silver-sheen guy.


    He, too, straightened, but slowly, and Candy thought he was doing a good job of trying to be calm and non-threatening considering he had sharp pointy teeth that flashed in the light of the cave-room as he spoke. "I am Kargerran, sergeant of the Third Squad of the First Patrol Talon of Lotrot. We are hardly secret or super, and I don''t know what a raptor is, so I don''t know why you think we look like them. We found you while on a routine patrol of the Mana Waste borders as we were seeking shelter from the Mana Storm raging outside the cave. We thought you might be a citizen of Lotrot, took you with us, and began rendering [First Aid] as soon as it was safe for us to stop."


    Candy''s feet slipped and she slid down to land on the ground on her butt, just then realizing that her shallow hole in the wall had been about a meter up it.


    The raptor-guys tensed, and it suddenly struck Candy that they were scared of her. Her inner weirdo slipped a comment in, not directed at anyone in particular. "I think maybe I''m a long way from Kansas, Toto."


    "My name is Kargerran, and I have never heard of a place called Kansas."


    Candy shook her head. "Sorry, that wasn''t -. It''s too much to explain, sorry. But. My name is Candice Sterling, and since you don''t seem ready to eat me, and I have no flipping clue what''s going on or where I am, how about we have a nice, careful sit down and figure out what''s going on from here."


    Kargerran sat. "Why don''t you tell us the last thing you remember?"


    Candy nodded, caught a glimpse of her clothes, tried to simultaneously fold up in to a ball shape while pulling her shirt closed, and blushed a furious bright red.


    *** *** ***


    Traveler Design Completed. You have acquired Aspect of the Gamer.


    *** *** ***


    <center><hr>


    *~*~*


    </center>


    "I get that you''re telling me this is not Earth. I''m having a hard time believing you," Candy said, several hours later.


    One of the three arassi with a copper tone to his scales snorted. Even with a couple of hours to study them - politely, of course - she still could not identify which of them was whom without relying on where they sat. Kargerran the sergeant had the silver sheen. Vilbraltian, or Vi as he preferred, and Nilis had the green sheen, and Nilis was almost as tall as Kargerran. In the wrong shade of light, the red sheen of Stylard''s scales looked an awful lot like the copper of Perth, Cord, and Krar. All four of them seemed about the same height, and were close enough in build that the only hope Candy had of separating them came down to a line up style comparison. She wanted to say the one who snorted was Krar. He avoided speaking when he could.


    Kargerran shrugged. "As long as you don''t do something stupid because of that, I don''t particularly care."


    Vi added, "Besides, all you have to do is think [Status] and you''ll get proof of the Tapestry."


    "I''m just saying that the physics of travel between dimensional universes, even if some version of String Theory style multi-verses exist, is insanely not feasible given that we were working on biofeedback. Nothing quantum at all!" Candy said.


    "And I''m just saying nothing you just said made a lick of sense to me. What in the Wastes is quantum anything?" Perth poked the fire while providing his bit of commentary.


    Vi and Nilis jumped up, their scales lifting like the ruff of a dog catching an intruder''s scent.


    Kargerran stood, facing the wall opposite of the cave opening, and drawing his sword. His voice deepened. "Get behind us, human."


    The rest also rose, drawing their weapons and taking a defensive position.


    Candy got to her feet and stepped where Kargerran indicated. "What''s going on?"


    "Mana''s coalescing in the back wall," Vi said. "Feels directed, patterned."


    One of the copper scaled guys said, "Hey, at least it isn''t likely to be a random monster spawn."


    "Unless the storm''s made a new dungeon," Nilis said, "we just have to worry about someone stupid enough to try working with raw mana. Thanks all the same, but I''d rather have a newly spawned monster."


    A sound like rock grinding over rock barely preceded the cave shaking worse than a 5.0 earthquake. Candy got right up next to the force shield covering the cave entrance and tucked herself into a ball, covering her head and neck just like she had learned in the drills in grade school.


    "Dungeon! Take cover!" Kargerran ordered.


    "Rot!"


    "Blighted Wastes!"


    The shaking ended abruptly.


    Candy counted to ten before she uncurled to look around. Just in case. She wasn''t sure what that was in case of, and her inner puzzler was sure she didn''t want to find out.


    A crack had opened up in the far wall, and it seemed to lead into a dark cavern. From that cavern, Candy caught a voice, faint. " ¡­ better ¡­ safe ¡­ home ¡­" and a tone to the unfamiliar words that sounded like her cousin on cleaning days.Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.


    "Cord, point scout. Perth, Nilis, back him up. Krar and Vi, you''re on tail sweep. Human, you stay behind me and you do what Stylard tells you to do when he tells you to do it." The non-threatening Kargerran disappeared as the sergeant took up active command of his squad.


    <center><hr>


    *~*~*


    </center>


    Lena


    The re-made portal started up like the last two and, like she discovered with the one that brought Aaron and Rob to them, Lena couldn''t pass through it.


    "Candice better damn-well be safe on the other side of that thing or I am making the homey sock from hell to beat someone with," Lena muttered to herself, glaring at the portal.


    Jason glanced up, looked around, found her toon - Lena decided that this light show she''d made was like a video game character, a toon she piloted - and he frowned in her general direction, but said nothing. He returned his focus to his friend.


    While Lena had been busy making a portal to find her cousin, Rob had gone from pale and shaking to freaked out and bawling over his brother. Seeing the guy with the best social skills of their group broken like this was far from relaxing. On one hand, Lena wanted to wait until Rob had himself better in hand. On the other, what the hell was happening to her cousin?


    Almost before Jason finished refocusing on Rob, a pointy metal tip pierced the new portal, sliding right into Lena''s toon''s chest. She jumped back and squawked, looked down at where the pointy tip pierced her light, dismissed her toon, then looked back up at the pointy thing. The more it pushed through the portal, the more it looked like a sword. A sword held by a black, reptilian looking hand.


    *** *** ***


    Portal cannot be closed while in use.


    *** *** ***


    The announcement came before Lena realized she had gotten beyond thinking, "What the what?"


    On the heels of that, Lena decided that she probably wasn''t in danger, being all non-corporeal and all, but the guys? They were vulnerable to swords and claws. A vision of Jason sliced to the bone flashed through Lena''s mind. Oh, no! Not on her watch!


    She cut off all the lights away from this platform and stopped maintaining a couple dozen cubic meters of water plus the walkways connecting the platforms, then watched her zone''s mana pool creep up to the point where she could start walling in this platform.


    The reptilian hand was soon enough followed by a raptor-man looking creature, then another. The third was pushing through when Lena had enough juice to bring up some walls.


    The first had made it to the edge of the platform, slinking low, making himself as small of a target as he could. He was focused on the guys on the far platform. The stone of the wall made contact with his chin as it flowed up to block off any possible aggression on his part. The walls on the other sides of the platform started to go up just slightly behind the one cutting off their line of sight.


    The front lizardman cupped his jaw with his free hand, rocking back on his heels to get farther away from the wall. "Waste Walkers!" he snarled.


    "Is the dungeon still taking shape?" The second lizardman asked, slowing his step away from the portal.


    The third moved to clear the entrance and pulled a stone from his belt pouch. He glanced at it, watched the walls rising, then gave his stone a second glance. "Ambient mana''s pretty low. It''s possible. Do you know what triggered this shift?"


    A fourth lizardman came through, also making sure not to block the portal. How many of these things were there?


    The first growled and the second of the lizardmen said, "The walls went up as Cord got to the edge."


    The first, Cord, said, "There''s an odd shape on the water. I was trying to get in range for my Dark Vision skill to trigger when the dungeon clipped my chin."


    The fifth person through was Candy, her clothes looking the worst for wear, but without any obvious damage to her person.


    Lena brought back her toon. "Candy! Are you okay? Do I need to drop homey socks on these guys?"


    Candy screeched and jumped onto the back of the lizardman in front of her. He swung around, his sword sweeping through Lena''s toon and smacking into the portal, where it lodged.


    Which was a good thing for the fifth lizardman. "Sand! What in the Wastes, sergeant!?"


    "Light Wraith! Don''t let it touch you!" the lizardman with the stone called out.


    "Suck a sugar stick, scales!" Lena snapped at him before stepping back so she could meet Candy''s gaze. "Candice Ruth Sterling, so help me God, I will bring down the wrath of Mamaw if you don''t shut up and tell me what''s going on! Do you hear me?"


    Candy''s shriek cut off. "Lena?"


    "Are. You. Okay?" Lena scowled at her cousin.


    "Ye-yeah." Candy slid off the big lizardman''s back. "These guys have been on the up and up so far. What happened to you?"


    Lena flopped to the ground, relieved. She absently noted that the lizardman nearly sliced by Candy''s defender got shoved through her as another lizardman came through the doorway. "Oh, thank God! How the hell do we get out of this mind-scape thing?"


    "Ah-. What?" Candy asked. She went to move around the side of her lizardman defender, but he caught her and pulled her back.


    "Stay behind me. Light Wraiths are tricky bastards."


    Lena shuddered. "Seriously, girlfriend. How do we get back to the real world? And have you seen Brad? Rob really isn''t handling this funky sugar-ball of a nut cluster, and I''m more than ready to be back in my flesh and blood body."


    The sixth lizardman snagged the fifth and pulled him behind the one blocking Candy. Lena realized that the first two lizardmen through the portal had a copper cast to their scales, the third and sixth a green shine. Candy''s defender had a matte silver sheen. The fifth''s scale had a red hue to them, and, oh, hey, a seventh lizard dude walked in, this one with a copper cast, too. The two greenies talked quietly over the red guy''s head.


    Candy flicked a glance at Mr. Silver Scales before looking back at Lena''s toon. "That''s my cousin. I don''t know why she''s all holographic and stuff, but that''s my cousin!"


    The interaction reassured Lena more than Candy''s words. Her cousin had a hard time looking away from something she mistrusted. The impotent fear Lena felt eased up considerably, and she made a few snap judgments. Lena didn''t know enough about the scaley dudes, but they were acting more like cops than robbers. Lena dropped the maintenance of the portal, just in case they tried dragging Candy away.


    The second of the greenies hissed, a snake-like sound.


    Lena looked up from her seated position, meeting Mr. Silver Scales'' gaze. "You''re defending Candy, so I''m not going to open my can of dungeon whoop ass on you. Give me a sec and I''ll pull up some benches or something so y''all can have a seat while we all calm down and figure out what''s going on."


    She turned her attention back to Candy. The signs that her cousin had gotten into one of her questioning head spaces, the intensity of her gaze, the set of her hips and the faint angling of her head, they were all present. The fastest way to get her talking was to get her from questioning to comparing mode. "After the ''are you ready'' prompt or whatever it was, this weird voice was calling me a Traveler and saying something about becoming the arbiter of zone gamma. I went along with it being part of the demo you and Brad were putting on for us, because you were joking about how I like setting up the game stuff and this place -." Lena chuckled. "You''re not usually this good at people reading, but between you and Brad, I could so see you two recognizing that this is my ideal studio. I don''t ¡­ feel like normal me, not here. I feel like I can see things more clearly, and at the same time, it''s so much easier to get lost in my art here. I got to the point where I had a place to put the portal thing, and as I built the arch, I was wondering what Jason would think of all this. And while I''m getting my breath back from that opening up, in he walks."


    The zone''s mana had recovered some more, so Lena made the benches she had promised. There wasn''t much more to tell, especially since Rob''s crisis needed to be handled first before she found out what their experience had been. By the time she had finished, she figured it was Candy''s turn to dish details. "How does that stack up with how you got here?"


    Candy shrugged. "Woke up in a cave with these guys around. They said they found me in something they call the Mana Wastes and have been trying to convince me that we''re in a different dimension and this ain''t Earth. It''s flipping impossible, but unless you''re a figment of my fried brain, it''s an interesting hypothesis. And you''re saying that Brad''s still missing?"


    "Yeah."


    One of the greenies asked, "You''re claiming to be in control of this dungeon?"


    Lena pointed her finger above her head and made an illusion of the word "Yes" appear over her head. Then she pointed to the walls around them and pulled out the same word on each wall surrounding them.


    "Sergeant, she isn''t a Light Wraith. Stylard took no damage from contact with her light," the same greenie said.


    The other green guy added, "I''ve never heard of dungeons having any sort of governor or arbiter or whatever, but this dungeon isn''t acting like a normal dungeon."


    "How does a normal dungeon act?" Candy asked. Lena thought she might have an idea or two on that, but she kept her mouth shut and looked at the two green-shiny lizardmen.


    Mr. Silver Scales inclined his head. He hadn''t taken his gaze from Lena, nor had he relaxed.


    "They spawn all sorts of stuff, mostly monsters and mana crystals."


    Lena asked, "Why do you call them dungeons, then?"


    The two greenies exchanged curious looks and shrugged. The first of the lizardmen through the door - Cord? - said, "In the Way Back, we put criminals in them and only let them out after so many months. Lot of people willing to risk their life in a dungeon for a few months when the choices were that or years, maybe a lifetime, of being a slave."


    The cousins turned to look at Cord with nearly identical looks of shocked repulsion. "Y''all keep slaves?" Lena asked.


    "Not on Malta, not for a few hundred years or so," Cord said.


    <center><hr>


    *~*~*


    </center>


    Feltz


    Reibsamak Feltz took the memory stone off to his private quarters. He barely paid attention to his wards rising as he took a seat at his workbench.


    Dibbs was a good boy, a little hot headed, and too intuitive by half for someone with such a block on [Tapestry Synchronization]. Of course, a man old enough to be a father himself rarely appreciated being called a boy, but Feltz had a hard time forgetting the youth who had pestered him for mentoring, even as he saw the wizard that youth had become. It was harder still when the boy so far outshone his ambitions.


    "[Analyze]."


    *** *** ***


    Memory Stone


    Composition: Sapphire


    Mana Capacity: 453/500 ** Non-writable


    Mana Channel: 10S


    *** *** ***


    The stone was near capacity, but there was sufficient capacity left to record the equivalent of two hours of speech. However, being non-writable meant that capacity was being held in reserve, which meant that at least one of the memories contained in the stone was capable of growth. That much growth indicated sapience.


    "[Inspect]."


    *** *** ***


    Designation: Anomaly ¦Â


    Species: Unknown (Contained)


    Titles: Unknown


    - - -


    ACU: Unknown


    BRW: Unknown


    DEX: Unknown


    INT: Unknown


    WIS: Unknown


    CHA: Unknown


    HTH: Unknown


    LCK: Unknown


    - - -


    Health Pool: Unknown


    Mana Pool: Unknown


    Will Pool: Unknown


    - - -


    Aspects: Unknown


    Skills: Unknown


    Designs: Unknown


    - - -


    Overseer: Casper Dibbons


    *** *** ***


    Feltz gently set the stone in a cradle meant for such objects. He leaned back and sucked on his lips while he thought. After some deliberation, Feltz rose and began gathering sand from the Wastes.


    It would be cruel to force the poor demon out of the protection of the stone before ascertaining if it could survive integration with the Grand Tapestry. It would be equally irresponsible to release it without taking precautions. In the mean time, they would need a way to wake the demon and communicate with it. Feltz could begin building a few forms, perhaps even a golem, to contain the enstoned demon. Dibbs would have to provide the nuances of the translation spells he had grown to make the original contact for those forms to be of any sort of worth.

 Integration - 4

    Lena


    Lena kept a part of her awareness focused on Jason, Rob, and Aaron while she pumped Candy and her arassi acquaintances for more more information. She had to delay, anyway, and this at least distracted her from feeling useless. She didn''t need light to see the guys, and Rob''s sobs had calmed down. She thought he might have fallen asleep, passed out under his brother''s watchful presence. Jason was going to chew her up one side and down the other. She could feel the reaming out building around him, and Lena knew she deserved it.


    With the surprise of these arassi''s presence, Lena realized that she needed to be ready for hostile creatures on the other side of her portals. She might be non-corporeal, but her friends, her cousin, they were very corporeal to her dungeon senses.


    Lena needed to have mana reserves available, not just to seal off the next - and hopefully last - portal from her vulnerable friends. She needed it in case she had to drop some boulders or something on top of whomsoever might be holding on to Brad. To that end, she released the maintenance of the bottom two meters of her pond. Without knowing what would happen were she to stop maintaining the air, she wasn''t willing to risk letting that go. Her zone''s mana recovery increased. After roughly twenty minutes, she had about a quarter of her total mana capacity to play with.


    She had opened three portals now, which gave her a better understanding of the process. The creative part of her wanted to puzzle out how to make a rotating portal. Could she make one with carvings that shifted based on the destination, maybe with a keying sequence to select from the choices?


    The more mana built up in her zone''s mana pool, the more the need to create, to immerse herself in the physical act of drawing forth art, buzzed through Lena.


    "Hey!" Candy''s voice interrupted Lena''s growing fixation on building the next portal.


    "Oh! Sorry! What were you saying?" Lena asked.


    Candy peered intently at Lena''s toon. "What''s going on in that head of yours?"


    "Art." Just saying the word sent a shiver of excitement through Lena. "I wasn''t kidding when I said that this is nearly my ideal studio. I need more patterns." Tapping the floor, she added, "The menu just calls this stone, but it reminds me more of concrete than stone. And the ceilings? The layering inside is more organic, more like shale or slate. So, what determines the types of stone I can make? And -!" She broke off as the memory of making the cotton filled her with hopeful curiosity. "[Zone Management]. [Research]."


    *** *** ***


    Sufficient research options have been introduced to make use of organization features. Please select your priorities for grouping and ordering research topics:


    ? Status


    ? Category


    ? Chain


    ? Designation


    Continue to introduce new research options to gain search features.


    *** *** ***


    Lena quickly made her selections and checked on her options.


    *** *** ***


    [Environment] ? [Techniques] ? [Materials] ? [Plants] ? [Creatures]


    *** *** ***


    Her basic building blocks for the zone were listed under [Environment] as Unlocked, along with an option to research Crystal. Oh. Hell. Yeah!


    Selecting [Techniques], Lena saw that Twist now had a status of Unlocked, and with MPR (Mana Pool Recovery) still allocated. She dropped that down to 1 MPR just to see what would happen, and then allocated 20 MPR each to Weave and Felt. Under [Materials], she now had Cotton: Raw and Cotton: Thread unlocked, with options for Batting and Felt ready to research. And she had metals she could research. Iron, silver, copper, tin, and bronze, to be exact. [Plants] had the lone entry of Cotton, while [Creature] had a single entry: "???".


    "Lena!" Candy''s voice held a snap to it.


    "What?!" Lena snapped back.


    "Focus! Here and now! I''m talking to you!" The petulance in Candy''s demand aggravated Lena.


    "Art!" Lena growled, rising from her sitting position.


    Jason spoke. "Lena, let me in before you lose yourself."


    She nodded and pulled down the walls around this portal, letting the stone flow like water to recreate the walkways joining her landmass and platforms. Some of the urgency to create eased with that action, but not enough. She spread out lights, this time setting them in the walkways, sculpting them to look like phosphorescent chips embedded in the concrete. The focus that took eased some more of the creative drive.


    Jason left Aaron guarding Rob and, cautiously, hands in plain sight, moved to meet the arassi.


    For their part, the arassi''s scales lifted and shivered at the environmental changes. However, they, too, were being careful not to stir up hostilities.


    "Candy, would you please make the introductions?" Jason asked when he reached the edge of the platform.


    "But, Lena -!"


    "Candy. Introductions. Now." The authority in Jason''s tone gave Lena something to focus on, other than the push to create.


    Candy opened her mouth, the look on her face promising arguments, but before she spoke, she flicked her gaze to Jason and very obviously thought better of it. "Tall guy here is Kargerran. He''s in charge of the rest of them. Kargerran, Jason."


    Lena face palmed. "Oh, thank God Mamaw isn''t here!"


    "I''m a fucking engineer, not a diplomat!" Candy planted her fists on her hips.


    "Enough," Jason said.


    "I need to art," Lena said, tipping her head up to the ceiling and hugging herself. "It''s as physical a need as I''ve ever had."


    "Okay," Jason said. "Why don''t you make a third platform and start on an archway to get Brad? Don''t open that portal without us!"


    Lena nodded and walked off the platform, moving as if the water were a solid surface. Jason could handle the social things. He was much better at it than she was, and it felt like every drop of mana filling up her zone''s mana pool was a weight that needed to become something worthy, or even just something.


    <center><hr>


    *~*~*


    </center>


    Jason


    Jason kept up a stream of cussing in his mind while doing his best to keep his shit together on the outside. Rob was no where near ready for any kind of confrontation, even if turning out the lights seemed to have done him a bit of good. Aaron''s breath had audibly sped up when Lena first plunged them into darkness, though it had calmed a bit with the wall cutting them off. Jason wasn''t sure if the kid had seen just what had been coming out of the second portal Lena opened up.


    It hadn''t taken him long to realize that he didn''t have any better weapons than his fists if it came to a fight with those things. That was why he was mentally cussing out the cosmos, even as he listened to Lena''s voice whisper up from the stone. It bothered him that that voice grew more and more distracted. When she turned waspish, Jason decided that he had to be part of whatever was going on, if only to ride herd on the girls. It had been a long time since he had dealt with anyone as A.D.D. as those two.


    Now that he was face to face with the arassi, Jason wasn''t sure what to do. He eyed the one that Candy had introduced, and decided polite was far better than confrontational. "My apologies for the rudeness of the ladies. We''ve all been through a bit of a shock and it seems to have brought out the worst sides of our natures. My name is Jason Kline."


    Candy''s "tall guy" chuckled. "This is not your average day, but I suspect it''s been harder on you than us. Sergeant Kargerran of the Third Squad of the First Patrol Talon of Lotrot. Looks like there are two others besides yourself. Do they need healing?"


    Jason said, "Rob''s dealing with some serious shock and Aaron''s watching out for him."


    "If that changes, it is our duty to render aid." Kargerran paused, obviously gauging his next words. "Would you tell us how you came to be here?"


    "Honestly, I don''t even know where here is," Jason said.


    "We like to call this corner of the Primal Chaotic Soup Rhofhir. Dungeons are weird when it comes to location. The entrance we came through leads back to a cave on the edge of the Mana Wastes, about two days march from the Free City of Lotrot. That''s near the southern tip of the continent of Malta. There may be entrances that return people to other continents." Kargerran tapped his chin before he asked, "Do you think the Arbiter will mind if my guys scout the dungeon while we talk?"


    Lena''s voice rose up from the stone. "Don''t approach Rob or Aaron without Jason or Candy. And stay out of the water. I don''t know how much I''ll be adding or removing, and I don''t know what would happen if I dropped the maintenance cost while one of your fellas was in it."


    "That''s freaky," Candy said.


    Kargerran, on the other hand, said, "Vi, Stylard, you''re with me. The rest of you, scout together." Four of the arassi rose and took off toward the big pile of dirt that served as the landmass.Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.


    Turning back to Jason, Kargerran said, "I''ve heard Candice Sterling''s account. Would you please tell me, in your own words, the events that brought you to Rhofhir?"


    Jason shrugged. "Not much to tell." He summed up his experiences, finishing with, "So, think you might be able to help us get home?"


    Kargerran shook his head. "I''m not that personally powerful. However, my superiors could probably get a message to the Arcane Asylum. The magi that study there understand more about the Grand Tapestry than just about anyone else."


    Candy asked, "An asylum? You want us to get help from people in a mental ward?"


    This was one of the times that girl really managed to get on Jason''s nerves. "Candice. You need to go read a dictionary."


    "Excuse you?" she said, stiffening.


    Jason ignored her puff up. "Is contacting these magi a simple thing? Will we be responsible for some kind of debt for that?"


    Kargerran said, "I don''t know. I do know that magi are interested in Travelers, and they may consider interviews with you to be worth any investments on their part."


    "Mm-hmm." Jason thought a moment, glad that he had offended Candy into retreating into some inner dialog, judging by the expressions passing over her face. Hopefully, she would stay distracted with that long enough for the adults to have their conversation.


    Lena, her light show of a body quivering, popped up next to them. "I''m ready to try reaching for Brad."


    Jason looked in the direction she had walked off and saw a large stone cube, at least three meters in each dimension. "That''s ¡­ different."


    She nodded. "The archway for the portal is in its own sealed room. That way if there are hostiles on the other side, they have to get through half a meter of compacted concrete."


    *When did she start using the metric system?* Jason gave his head a small shake to dislodge that thought. It wasn''t relevant now.


    "What happens if someone needs to go through to get him?" Jason asked.


    Lena shrugged. "We wait until I have the iron material unlocked and try to make sure you''ve got at least a knife, or a nice, solid length of pipe. I might be able to make a B.B. gun, but I''m not sure how consistent I can be in hollowing out the bore."


    One of the Arassi that stayed with Kargerran asked, "You''re going to make another entrance? How?"


    Lena blinked at him. "It''s in my menu," she said.


    "What menu?" he asked.


    "The interface for the Tapestry thingie?" she said, her tone unsure. At their blank looks, she added, "Like when you think [Status]? When you have options to dive deeper into the interface, that''s when you have a menu."


    The trio of arassi exchanged glances and the one who had spoken said, "Ah."


    Turning back to Jason, Lena said, "I have to do something soon. So, I''m turning on the portal now."


    Her expression slackened and her quivering stopped.


    "What? No, you need to wait!"


    "Sugar sticks!" whispered up from the water this time.


    "Lena, what happened?" Jason asked.


    "I can''t-. I can''t open the portal."


    Jason closed his eyes and tried to shut off the string of cuss words running through the back of his mind. "Walk me through it," he ordered.


    "Oh-. Sugar!" she said. "Okay. I try to activate the portal and I''m getting error messages. The first one reads, ''Location information is insufficient to establish portal. Portal will open to random location matching location information.'' Then the next line is, ''Zone has insufficient stability to support additional independent portals. Portal fails to activate.'' I''m not as concerned by the last one. I can tear down the portal to where we found Aaron and reuse that like I did with the one I put up that found you. But the first? I''m doing the exact same thing I did when I got you and Candy!"


    Jason opened his eyes and saw Lena huddling into herself. "We don''t want to strand the patrol with us if this doesn''t work, so, yeah, taking down the portal you used to find Aaron and Rob is the better choice. Not right now, though. No need to bash our heads against a problem without taking a moment to think it through. Right?"


    Lena nodded. "Sugar, but I could use a hug right now," she said.


    "Excuse me," Kargerran said.


    Candy moved to wrap an arm around her cousin''s shoulders, only for her arm to pass through. "Whoa. That''s -."


    "Don''t say it!" Lena snapped. "I''m a freak! I get it!"


    "Focus, ladies." Jason let some of his frustration bark in his voice. "Running in six different directions without a hint of coordination isn''t going to get us anything but chaos. Personal break downs can happen one at a time and Rob''s stolen that ticket for the moment."


    "Oh, and what do you suggest we do, Mr. Smarty Pants?" Candy asked.


    Jason folded his arms and raised one eyebrow at Candy.


    Lena said, "She never stuck out her tongue as a kid, if that''s what you''re waiting for."


    "Let''s assess what we''ve got to work with," Jason said.


    "Excuse me," Kargerran said again, louder this time. When he had Lena''s attention, he asked, "What happened to the entrance we just came through?"


    Lena looked at the archway, touched it, and in short order the view of a cave with a small fire and dearth of occupants filled the portal. "I stopped maintaining it when I thought you might try to take my cousin away."


    One of the arassi that Jason still hadn''t gotten a name for stepped next to the portal and began making a tactile examination of it, pulling out a few odd faceted, translucent gems. "I so need to scavenge your memories," the guy said with a side-ways look at Lena.


    "If that''s a two way street, we can work something out." Lena seemed calmer as she replied, but Jason wasn''t sure how fragile that calm might be.


    "Alright, what do we have to work with?" Jason asked again, taking care to include Kargerran this time.


    Candy said, "I''m going with insanity or brain trauma, which really sucks because I handled the wiring. There is no way that the biofeedback could actually catapult us across dimensions or universes or whatever. Physics don''t work that way."


    "You are so not helpful," Lena said.


    <center><hr>


    *~*~*


    </center>


    Lena


    Lena left her toon on the platform with Jason and Candy and the arassi leader. She didn''t need to be in the cross fire as Jason and Candy growled at each other. Reactivating the other portal had given Lena enough relief from the need to build to realize that the first error message, about not being able to locate Brad, might very well mean he hadn''t been caught up in whatever brought them to Rhofhir.


    Sure, maybe this was a freaky psychic mind trip, but what if it wasn''t? Would it do her any harm to treat things like they were real while hoping to wake back up in her garage? And if it were real, but she didn''t treat it that way, how much worse off would she be?


    And the mana needed to get used! She started by maxing out all of the research options and trying to see if she could get something like an auto-allocation going. No luck.


    *** *** ***


    Design of Management Strategist unlocked.


    *** *** ***


    Or, maybe that was a longer term working? Regardless, that wasn''t burning mana now.


    She restored one meter of depth to her pond. That took a lot of the stress off, and Lena felt like she could think again.


    Going back through her menus for Zone Management, the Guardians caught her attention.


    ?Howdo I contract a zone guardian?? She projected the thought to her menu.


    *** *** ***


    Zone Guardians may be designated by using the [Offer Contract] command on the selected individual. Monsters and Creatures created from Zone resources automatically accept standard Zone Guardian Contracts. Once a contract is accepted by both parties, it may only be canceled or voided by the terms of the contract.


    *** *** ***


    ?What is the standard Zone Guardian Contract??


    The information that flooded Lena''s consciousness stunned her for a moment before she began sorting through it. Essentially, contracted creatures received nourishment from the ambient mana of the Zone. In return, they performed whatever tasks the Zone Arbiter assigned them. The cancellation clause came down to "mutual consent to dissolve the contract". It was slavery.


    She shuddered.


    *** *** ***


    Do you wish to edit your Zone''s standard contract?


    *** *** ***


    Absolutely! Just, not right at the moment.


    "So, Lena, that brings us to you and this dungeon-zone-thing," Jason said.


    "Um. How so?" she asked.


    "How does it work?" Jason asked.


    "Oh. Do you want the overview or the nitty-gritty?"


    "Details, please!" one of the greenies said. The four who had gone walkabout in her dungeon had returned, and the second of the green-sheen scaled guys nodded in eager agreement. Aaron, also, had joined the discussion during Lena''s distraction, but he seemed more interested in studying the arassi than speaking.


    "This is where I need Power Word: Blah," she commented before launching into a menu by menu description. She took some extra time with the Structure menu, demonstrating the various environmental materials she could create, when she found that Crystal was already unlocked as a material. Her zone was down to a net regen of 130 mana per hour by the time she moved on.


    The arassi perked up with a great deal of interest when she started going through her Resources menus.


    "You can selectively produce whatever you have a pattern for?" the larger of the greenies asked. It was a slight difference, maybe only a few centimeters in height and breadth of his shoulders.


    *** *** ***


    You have unlocked the [Perception] skill. +1 ACU, +1 WIS


    *** *** ***


    Lena shrugged and popped out a cotton boll. "These are exportables, and it seems like the difference is that there''s no maintenance cost. I have the feeling-. Well, let me try something quick like."


    She didn''t wait for the, "By all means" reply before she tried applying the twist technique to the cotton boll while drawing the twist away from the fluffy bits. It vaguely worked, enough to prove the concept by producing a weak, nubby cotton yarn. "Cool! So, the techniques I unlock I can apply to the things I can export!"


    With that thought in mind, Lena tried producing cotton thread. She got a length of loose thread as thick as three-ply embroidery floss and about two meters in length for the same cost as the cotton boll.


    "Awesome! How do I make it purple?" As she thought about it, she decided to change the cotton''s pigmentation. While adjusting the HSL values for her light had gotten her an avatar of sorts, cotton would be reflecting light, not emitting it. With a little concentration and the application of an oddly named skill, the cotton changed to match the shade of purple she envisioned, a mixture of prussian blue and alizarin crimson slightly favoring the crimson.


    *** *** ***


    Applied Color Theory +1.


    Design of the Artist advanced 16%.


    *** *** ***


    "May I?" the smaller greenie asked, extending a claw tipped hand toward the thread on the ground.


    "Sure," Lena said.


    "[Purify]," he said. Lena couldn''t see anything happen, but she thought she recognized the same kind of intent behind the word as when she said [Zone Management].


    "This isn''t dyed. You''ve somehow altered the raw fibers to be purple."


    "Mm-hmm," Lena agreed.


    "And you can pick where you have an entrance," the larger greenie said.


    "And control when it''s open and closed," Lena said.


    "You wouldn''t happen to be able to make an entrance at Lotrot, would you?" one of the guys with a copper hue over his black scales asked.


    Lena shrugged. "The ones I opened before, I did by thinking hard about the people I wanted to meet up with. I''m willing to try from some kind of description, but I don''t know if that''ll give the system enough information to get the point right. And, to be honest, I''m not sure if I was one of the people in charge of a city if I''d be all that keen on someone just dropping a magic doorway somewhere in my town."


    Candy asked, "What about Brad?"


    Lena said, "If he''s here with us, I can''t reach him. I don''t know if I just don''t know him as well as I thought I did, or if he never made it, or if he landed in more trouble than he could survive. If you can wave your hand and magically learn what happened to him, that would be great, but I think that finding him is going to take allies. And none of us have any idea how to get back to my garage, so allies again."


    Aaron gave Candy a sympathetic look and said, "We''re not going to give up on finding your boyfriend."


    Candy returned the sympathetic look with one of annoyance, but held back her habitual denial of inter-laboratory dating.

 Integration - 5

    Lena


    Vi turned out to be the smaller of the two green-shine arassi, Nilis larger.


    "We have our mana manipulation up to at least 20, and we have a couple of skill levels in the basic survival spells: [Purify], [Shield], and the like. So we get ranked as Rangers and wear the green over our uniform black," Vi had said when Lena asked about arassi coloring.


    The one with the red shine turned out to be their medic, named Stylard. He, Jason, Candy, and Aaron were over with Rob.


    Mr. Silver Scales, Kargerran, had gathered with the rest of his troops, getting briefed on their observations of her dungeon. Lena felt painfully bare. Three platforms and a space set aside for when she got plants, surrounded by a pond and a stone ceiling curved like the inside of an egg shell. The art she had begun engraving on her walkways had dissolved with the stone when she had initially quarantined the arassi patrol. The crystals, with lights glowing out of them, at least added some sparkle.


    Focus, she thought to herself.


    Dissolving the portal that brought Rob and Aaron to her while keeping the orange tree archway sculpture took a bit of concentration. She did not plan to re-use the archway for this, mainly because she did not want Rob disturbed.


    She and the arassi patrollers both thought it prudent to leave the portal to their campsite alone. Two of the copper-shiny Infantry had gone back and collected the rest of their gear, which had added [Wood] as an environmental research option.


    Thus, Vi, Nilis, and she now stood on the third platform, a new walkway of lighted crystal connecting it to the first platform. The two Ranger ranked arassi worked together to create an illusion of a small hillock outside the city walls of Lotrot. Feeling the portal of the orange trees give up its last tenuous link, Lena began working on establishing the new portal.


    *** *** ***


    Synergy of intent detected.


    Location information from synergy sufficient.


    Establishing portal.


    Portal location within a well patterned zone. Creation cost cubed. Maintenance cost halved.


    Portal established.


    Zone mana pool tripled.


    Zone MPR increased by 40.


    *** *** ***


    "Well, that''s useful," Lena said. "[Zone Management]."


    *** *** ***


    Zone Designation: Zone [¦Ã]*


    Zone Arbiter Title: Arbiter


    Zone Nature: Simple


    Mana Pool: 52/3300 (1.57/min.)


    Mana Consumption: 3906/hour.


    *** *** ***


    What is the MPR at? Lena wondered, and the zone screen rearranged.


    *** *** ***


    Zone Designation: Zone [¦Ã]*


    Zone Arbiter Title: Arbiter


    Zone Nature: Simple


    MPP 52/3300


    MPR 4000


    MPC: 3906


    *** *** ***


    "You know, I think I need to get rid of that Zone [¦Ã] name," Lena muttered to herself.


    "Oh?" Vi asked. Both he and Nilis were watching the portal activate.


    *** *** ***


    Provide zone designation.


    *** *** ***


    ?The Studio of Capricious Dreams.?


    *** *** ***


    Do you want to alter Zone Arbiter Title?


    *** *** ***


    ?Yes.?


    *** *** ***


    Provide Zone Arbiter Title.


    *** *** ***


    ?Design Lead.?


    *** *** ***


    Updating zone profile ¡­


    Zone profile updated.


    *** *** ***


    Vi and Nilis jerked upright, followed quickly by everyone else in Lena''s dungeon.


    "What?" Lena asked.


    "Why did you name this dungeon the Studio of Capricious Dreams?" Vi asked.


    "Oh, you got a system announcement? Cool. The name is kind of personal. Mamaw Ruthy is pretty ¡­ ruthless when it comes to ruling our family. My mom''s still taking flak for joining Papa in his house flipping business. When I decided to pursue a career as an artist, Mamaw threw a fit. She thinks artists are all capricious dreamers. Mom just about disowned her over the whole thing."


    "Is your society matriarchal?" Nilis asked.


    Lena chuckled. "Nope. Mamaw is just that kind of person."


    "Is her leadership of your family won by some kind of contest?" Vi asked.


    "I''ve given you the wrong impression. My apologies. Mamaw Ruthy is the type of person who believes that she is in charge because she always knows best. She does not care whether her authority has legal or social standing. She can be so obnoxious to deal with that it''s easier by far to just let her have her way. I think part of the reason my parents helped me become a homeowner in my own right was as much about proving Papa''s business is a good one as it was in helping me start off strong."


    "Ah," Nilis said.


    Vi smirked. "No one we know is like that, right, Nilis?"


    "Choke on sand, egg-licker." Nilis smiled despite himself as he insulted his fellow Ranger.


    The camaraderie lightened Lena''s mood a touch.


    Shadows began to resolve into shapes inside the portal, the shapes refining into the inside of the cave, roughly 2 m in height, 3 m wide, and 2 m deep. On the far side of the cave, an opening about 1 and 1/2 m, square, let in the daylight. Between the new portal and that cave entrance stood an irate feline, its fur puffed out and its tail lashing.


    "That''s the biggest dang cougar I have ever seen," Lena said, shocked still at the sight.


    Vi and Nilis on the other hand, simultaneously shouted, "[Shield]!" and scrambled back.


    The cougar leapt through the portal, bounced off of Vi''s force shield - through Lena''s toon - before it landed while still twisting to get its feet underneath it.


    "[Offer Contract]!" That was the first thought Lena had to stop the cougar. It moved faster than she could put up a wall, and, anyhow, she did not want to chance locking the Rangers in close confines with an angry predator.


    The cougar regained its feet, but paused, eyeing Lena''s toon with laid-back ears.


    *** *** ***


    Offering standard contract to dire cat ¡­This narrative has been purloined without the author''s approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.


    Dire cat accepts standard contract.


    *** *** ***


    "No one attack nobody!" Lena said. "Dire cat, try to relax. Vi, Nilis, are you guys all right?"


    The five other arassi were charging to their comrade''s aid, weapons drawn.


    The dire cat found a corner. Without knowing how she knew it, Lena realized the feline wanted a hole to hide in. Reflexively, she made a kitty cubby, dire cat sized, around her new Zone Guardian.


    Vi cast a [Shield] over the opening.


    <center><hr>


    *~*~*


    </center>


    Jason


    Jason volunteered to go to Lotrot with Kargerran and his squad.


    Stylard had identified the signs of mana starvation in Rob. After reaching a compromise of sorts with Lena over her new pet, Stylard tapped Vi and Nilis to assist in field treatment, and Rob was still sleeping hard.


    Jason had pointed out that Rob would need to see Aaron safe and sound when he woke, nixing the boy''s offer to go. Neither Jason nor Lena trusted Candy, in her current state of denial, to represent their interests too well.


    The patrol squad made good time. Jason (unlike Rob) kept up on his PT, and he could maintain a 5-minute mile over 3 miles (a 3 minute km over 5 km) if he pushed himself. He felt pressed to keep up with the arassi as they headed toward a 10 m tall wall.


    They moved through a grassy plain, dotted with short trees and bramble patches. When they got close enough, Jason saw the bark of the trees was a mottled white and smooth, peeling off in stripes that exposed a faintly green wood underneath. The leaves, a yellow-green color, reminded Jason of miniature fern blades growing out of woody vines. The brambles had deep green leaves with serrated edges and pale green, cherry-like berries growing out of teeny flowers, ranging in color from baby blue to pastel lavender.


    "What are those called?" he asked, pointing to the berries.


    "Pucker berries. They are edible now, but very bitter. When they turn red, they start getting sweet, but there''s always a sour aftertaste. Also, eating more than a handful a day leads to constipation." Stylard grimaced. "You do not want the field cure for that!"


    "I will take your word on that," Jason assured him.


    There was a slight pause in the conversation before Stylard asked, "Are all human women like Candice Sterling and Lena West Ton?"


    Jason chuckled. "Thank God, no. Candy is pretty immature and from the sound of things, she''s been pampered by most of her family. She''s a good kid, don''t get me wrong. She just hasn''t been pushed to take responsibility for herself. Lena is younger by a few years, but she''s got her head on straight. Today, well, it has not been the best day for any of us."


    "If they are so young, why are their mammaries so swollen?" Stylard asked.


    Jason blinked. "You mean their breasts?"


    "Their mammary glands, their teats," Stylard clarified.


    "Yeah. Their breasts, where babies suckle. The girls are probably about averagely endowed. I''m taking it that arassi ladies don''t have ¡­?" Jason held his hands cupped over his chest.


    "Oh, arassi babies are milk fed. It''s just weird to see a female with engorged milk glands without an infant."


    It was Jason''s turn to say, "Oh." Feeling awkward, he changed the subject. "You guys know about humans. Are there other sapient races around?"


    The question earned him curious looks from the Infantry ranked patrollers. Kargerran, however, seemed to take it in stride. "Lotrot is home to several types of beast kin: lupines, bears, and fox kin primarily. The elves have an embassy, and gnomes are mostly represented in the merchant sector. Other of the Aware races are rare, but we''ve gotten taurgonaut adventurers. The majority of inter-city couriers are centaurs, and minotaurs are popular choices for caravan guards. Gidataurs are everywhere, but no one really trusts them. They get into everything, almost as bad as fauns. Oh, and there''s a clan of parandrians that roam between the cities. They''re easy to offend, but no one else in the area can get their hands on a consistent supply of Drakkon''s Breath so we put up with their attitudes."


    "I have a picture in my head of beast kin, elves, and gnomes. No idea if it''s at all close to accurate. But what are taurgonauts, gidataurs, and parandrians?"


    Kargerran said, "Teach a bear to stand upright and hold a sword. Then replace his feet with cloven hooves and give him antlers. Make him the most pissed off herbivore you''ve ever met. That''s a parandrian stag. Never call them bucks. The does can pass for heavily muscled deer kin, except for the claws on their fingertip. They are even more ¡­ aggressive than the stags."


    Jason paused to look Kargerran over, wondering if he was being toyed with. If so, Kargerran had an amazing poker face, because he seemed genuine.


    *** *** ***


    You have unlocked the Sense Intent skill. +1 ACU, +1 CHA


    *** *** ***


    The patrol kept moving, and Jason had to jog to catch up.


    "Taurgonaut is a broad word. It''s a general way to talk about the beings like centaurs that have four legs and two arms. They''re almost all Third Era chimeras. Minotaurs are still technically taurgonauts even though they''re almost all bipedal. Gidataurs are a type of taurgonaut with the base of a goat and the torso of a gnome."


    By this point, the patrol came in sight of a well maintained brick road. Following the road toward the wall, and the city beyond that, got them in range of the gate guards'' hail within a couple of minutes.


    "Sergeant Kargerran, what''s this you''re bringing back? He why you''re returned early?" The arassi guard who gave that greeting had dull gray scales marked by black stripes along his shoulders and down his arms. He and the bear anthropomorph beside him both wore sleeveless leather chest plates, leather bracers and greaves, and heavy cloth pants. The bear beast kin wore a bronze, open faced helm with a nose guard.


    "Guardsman Tomst, nosy as ever. I''m sure you''ll find out over a pint tonight. Please log the human Jason Kline as my guest."


    "Human? Not an gnelf?" Tomst straightened up.


    The bear kin guardsman leaned forward and sniffed at Jason. "Not a gnelf. So that''s what human smells like."


    Tomst smacked the bear kin on the shoulder. "Hey, how many times do you need to hear the captain''s lecture about personal space, Wayne?"


    Wayne ignored Tomst, but he did straighten back up.


    Jason asked, "What''s a gnelf?"


    "Half gnome, half elf," Kargerran told him, then looked back to Tomst. "I''m giving you the time it takes me to scratch my tail to get back out here with the gate log. If you aren''t, well, I''m not the one Captain Prospin will be discussing procedure with."


    Tomst frowned, but stepped into a doorway on the inside of the gateway, returning shortly with an odd device that looked like two tubes stacked on top of each other, with knobs protruding from each tube on the right-hand side. He also carried a stick that looked like a homemade version of the graphite pencils Lena sketched with.


    Jason was asked to make his mark next to his name, and then Kargerran made his mark - a glyph that reminded Jason of Chinese characters - beside Jason''s signature.


    They arrived by way of the eastern gate and spent the next half hour following twisting roads until they arrived at a walled compound somewhere near the south-western wall. Despite being populated by all sorts of anthropomorphic people, Lotrot could have been modeled on a city from the nineteenth century. The buildings were mostly sheathed in uniformly sized brick, the streets cobbled, and posts topped with orangey-yellow stone sculptures were spaced evenly along the side of the roads. Grated curbs defined a pedestrians-only stroll-zone in front of the stores, separate from the main traffic of the street, and provided evidence of some sort of sewer system.


    Jason felt reassured that he occasioned only passing curiosity from most of the residents of Lotrot.


    Inside the compound, Jason saw training grounds to either side of a three-level edifice (judging by the position of the windows along the front of the building). Behind each training field stood a long structure that reminded Jason of barracks.


    "Nilis, stick with me. The rest of you yahoos, resupply. Jason Kline, this way please." Kargerran led the way into the central building.


    A few arassi, their scales all dyed black like Kargerran and his troops, paused as they moved through the corridors. The ones with an over-sheen of silver or gold called out greetings to Kargerran and Nilis. Kargerran nodded to the ones with silver shines and tapped his shoulder with the automatic precision of a salute to the arassi with gold over-sheens, but he did not stop. Nilis usually responded with the shoulder salute and a chin tip toward his sergeant.


    They went up two sets of stairs before arriving at Kargerran''s destination. He knocked twice on the door, then opened it and ushered Jason and Nilis inside. The room revealed behind the door had the familiar look of a higher-up''s waiting room. Another door graced the far wall, a desk with all sorts of built in cubby holes set to the side of the path between doorways. Three stool-like chairs facing the desk provided seating for any guests waiting to speak with the person behind that far door. Jason guessed the individual sitting behind the fancy desk was one of the lupines by their generally wolfish appearance, but he couldn''t guess at gender.


    Addressing the lupine, Kargerran said, "Sergeant Kargerran and Ranger Nilis escorting a Traveler to meet with Commander Faulkin. No appointment."


    The lupine cocked its head to the side, tufted triangular ears pricked forward, and gave Jason a thorough once over. "A Traveler? One moment while I check in with the commander." The voice sounded feminine. The lupine rose, tapped shiny claws lightly on the door behind her(?) before slipping inside. The door closed with a barely audible click.


    Seconds later, the door opened wide, held by an arassas with silver scales. This specimen had narrower shoulders, its neck was slimmer, facial features more curved, and its claws were significantly longer than the other arassi Jason had so far seen. It spoke with a deeper voice, but Jason still wanted to think of this arassas as female. "Come in, sit down, and report, sergeant." Though addressing only Kargerran, the person Jason assumed to be Commander Faulkin included Nilis and Jason in the order with her(?) gaze.


    The lupine waited for them to enter before slipping out and closing the door just as softly as before.


    Commander Faulkin waited for the three of them to be seated before waving at Kargerran to begin. Throughout the sergeant''s recitation of events, the commander never once took her gaze off Jason. At the end of the report, Commander Faulkin let the silence draw out for a few minutes.


    Jason''s habits of military service had taken over. The last officer he and Rob had served under (the one who convinced them that two tours of duty would be one too many) had frequently left them standing at attention while he tried to intimidate them with his silence.


    "Do you speak?" the commander asked. There was genuine curiosity behind the question.


    "Yes, ma''am," Jason said.


    The commander blinked a couple times. "Why do you call me ''ma''am''?"


    "I''ve been taught it''s a respectful form of address to a female commissioned officer, ma''am," Jason said.


    "Why do you think I''m female?" Again, the question felt driven by curiosity alone.


    Jason blushed. "My apologies. Your build is more graceful than Sergeant Kargerran and his troops''."


    "Oh, you''re correct that I am female. Most of the other Aware find it difficult to distinguish genders among the arassi. May I inspect your Status?"


    Jason said, "Before we get to that, may I ask your intentions for my friends and myself?"


    "I haven''t exactly had time to form intentions, nor is Lotrot''s stance toward your party a purely military matter," Commander Faulkin said. A slight narrowing of her eyes and downturn to her lips seemed to indicate displeasure with the second part of that thought.


    Jason nodded. "I understand. I''m sure I speak for all of my party when I say that, while we maintain amicable relations, we will be happy to accommodate any reasonable requests you may have of us."


    *** *** ***


    You have unlocked the Diplomacy skill. +2 CHA


    *** *** ***


    Commander Faulkin smiled. "You''re much easier to work with than either of Rhofhir''s ancestral races. How about this: you return to your party at this new dungeon with Sergeant Kargerran''s troops and one of our dungeon delver teams while I apprise the political branch of your situation? I''ll ensure that we send along some goodwill supplies. However, I will need to inspect your Status to confirm that you are, indeed, a Traveler."


    Jason took a moment before saying, "That sounds generous. How do I show you my Status screen?"


    "Focus on me and the projection is [Share Status]. That should allow me to inspect your Status," Commander Faulkin said.


    "[Share Status]," Jason said, maintaining eye contact with the commander.


    Her eyes widened. "You have several second and third tier skills already. How have you managed that?"


    Jason shrugged. "I don''t understand what you mean by skill tiers."


    "[Sense Intent] is an advancement of [Share Social Cues], which is itself an advancement of [Group Behavior], and [Diplomacy] is the advancement of [Negotiation], which is an advancement of [Bargaining]. That makes those both third tier skills."


    "Okay," Jason said.


    "You''re not understanding this, are you?" Commander Faulkin asked.


    Jason shrugged. "I get the general gist of what you''re saying, but I have no real experience with it so I''m not going to pretend to know why I have skills that you find questionable."


    "Fair enough. Sergeant, how soon can you head out?"


    "I sent my team to resupply while we reported to you, Commander. My team won''t hold up the delvers."


    Jason caught the undercurrent of some kind of rivalry there.


    The commander grinned, showing a lot of teeth. "I''ll be sure to let Corporal Baline know that."


    Kargerran returned the smile with his own display of pointy mouthware and saluted.


    "Dismissed," the commander said. She watched them file out and caught the door. "Urga, please send for Corporal Baline and send out a meeting summons for the City Council, as soon as reasonable and I am happy to authorize expenses for hosting here."


    "Yes, Commander!" the lupine secretary said. She pulled an opaque stone from one of the cubby holes in her desk. Jason didn''t see what else she did with it as Nilis and Kargerran hurried him out the door, down the corridors and stairs, and out to one of the training fields.

 Integration - 6

    Rob


    Rob''s stomach twisting with hunger woke him from a terrible nightmare. He and Aaron had been wandering, lost in a Prisma-Color sand dune desert without water or food. One of the sand dunes collapsed, revealing a cave, and Jason was there, with water. But, Lena was there, too - as a ghost.


    Horror had overwhelmed Rob as he realized that he would never again get to tease the artsy geek girl for her obsessive detailing of every encounter map. He would never again taste the Battle Cookies she baked for boss fights. Worst, he would never get to poke Jason over his crush on her.


    "I think he''s waking up." Lena''s voice reassured him, but Rob couldn''t get a direction from the sound. Had he fallen asleep during a game session? Jason and Aaron would give him so much hell for that!


    Aaron''s voice next. "Maybe. His color''s improved, at least."


    "This is all just an hallucination," Candy said, but she didn''t sound so sure of herself.


    Rob''s belly growled. Loudly.


    Aaron said, "I hope Jason comes back with food sooner. Bertie isn''t the only one getting hungry."


    "If he''s Bert, does that make you Ernie?" Lena asked, dry humor laced through her voice.


    "Nah, that''s Jason. I''m more like Elmo: everyone loves me, and I prefer looking at the happier side of things."


    "Do you have to compare yourselves to Sesame Street characters?" Candy asked, an agitated whine in her tone.


    "Why, Oscar! When did you crawl out of your garbage can?" Lena asked, her voice as sweet as sharpened candy canes.


    Rob had to laugh as the cousins devolved into their habitual bickering.


    "Hey, you are awake!" Aaron said, sounding ¡­ odd. Both happy and wary.


    Rob rubbed at the gunk that always accumulated around his eyes while he slept. "Yeah. Had the most messed up dream, too. We were -." He broke off as he opened his eyes and got his first good look around.


    *** *** ***


    Tapestry integration assistance has increased mental stability.


    You have unlocked Mental Fortitude. +1 WPP


    *** *** ***


    He lay upon some mass of fluff with yet more fluff covering his body. There was a stone ceiling a good 4 m over head. Quartz-looking crystal formations grew in all sizes, each one glowing with an inner light that provided a comfortable visual ambiance. Rob sat up. Candy and Aaron sat on a stone floor to either side of Rob, and water glinted around them, surrounding what he could see of their position. Directly in front of Rob, at the end of the floor, stood a gorgeously detailed sculpture of a pair of orange trees intertwining to form an arch.


    He turned on his knees to look behind him. A stone walkway led to another section of flooring above water level. Far, far too close to them was an island of bare soil on which paced a big-assed mountain lion.


    All Rob could think to say was, "Fuck me."


    <center><hr>


    *~*~*


    </center>


    Lena


    If Lena had a breath to hold, she would have. For a long moment after that brief cussing, Rob just stared at her dire cat. The scrutiny combined with Lena''s directions to stay on the dirt were upsetting her Zone Guardian.


    *** *** ***


    You have unlocked Animal Empathy. Practice more to increase your Acuity.


    *** *** ***


    "Aaron," Rob said, his voice soft, trying very hard to not come across aggressive. "What the fuck is *that* doing so close to us?"


    "It''s Lena''s new pet," Aaron said. "She''s confined it to the dirt for now. You can relax."


    "Lena''s alive?" Rob asked, snapping his gaze to Aaron. "What the fuck happened to us?"


    Aaron said, "Yes, Lena''s alive. We think we''re in some kind of shared mind-scape, and our actual bodies are still sitting in Lena''s garage, hooked up to the telepathy machine still."


    Candy broke in. "No, ''we'' don''t! That''s not possible! The most Brad and I were getting during the test runs were shared impulses and the ability to share some remembered sensations, like scent and texture."


    Rob said, "Not helping, Candy. What matters is that we''re here, where ever the hell ''here'' is, and it''s not Lena''s garage. Where is Lena? And Jason and Brad?"


    "As I was saying," Aaron said, shooting a stern look Candy''s way. "We''re not sure if Brad''s here with us. Jason, you, Candy, and me, we all have our regular bodies. Lena ¡­. You know how she gets with dioramas and minis? Well, we''re sort of in one of her dioramas, only on a larger scale. She''s an actual Dungeon Master and this is her dungeon."


    "And that has what to do with us having regular bodies?" Rob asked.


    Aaron sucked in his lips, eyeing Rob a moment before he said, "She''s kind of merged with it."


    "What does that mean?" Rob asked, his words very precise.


    Lena said, "I don''t have a corporeal form, and I can''t leave the dungeon until it''s capable of creating materials I could use for a physical toon. If you promise not to freak, I''ll show you my current toon."


    "Okay," Rob said. "Are you-? Fuck, you''re not okay, but are you in pain?"


    "Nope," Lena said. She let her toon take shape next to the archway of the orange trees. "In fact, this is kind of my fantasy. Not sure how getting to try it out will affect that, but, honestly, I didn''t even realize I didn''t have my own body until Jason couldn''t see me." She took a few steps closer, then sat down. "You''re handling things better, but say something if things get too weird again, okay?"


    Rob nodded. "Sure. What am I sitting in?"


    "Cotton," Lena said.


    "Why?" He pulled up a handful of the slightly scratchy bolls. "I mean, this is raw stuff, right?"


    "How about we go through things chronologically?" Lena suggested. "As far as I know, no one''s in immediate danger, and we don''t have anything pressing to do while we''re waiting for Jason to get back."


    "Fine."


    Seeing how much more Rob was acting like himself, like the gamer she knew, took a weight off Lena''s shoulders. After bringing him up to speed, she got him distracted with going through her dungeon menus.


    "How does that standard contract thing work? You said you can edit it, but can you save a couple different standard contracts?" Rob asked.


    Lena tapped her nose. "I''m going to ask the system that."


    *** *** ***


    A simple dungeon zone may have two standard contracts. One must be for monstrous entities, while the other may be distinguished either by an ability threshold, or design template complexity level.


    *** *** ***


    She poked at the last phrase.


    *** *** ***


    Design template complexity levels for designs capable of self determination are Low, Moderate, High, Monstrous, Monstrous Sapient, and Aware. Templates below Monstrous Sapient are incapable of self-directed deviations from templated decision trees.


    *** *** ***


    *** *** ***Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.


    Tapestry Reading +1


    *** *** ***


    "I can have two. There''s the implication that if my dungeon''s nature was a bit more complex that the number would change."


    Rob said, "Alright. How about we try coming up with a less ownership type of contract?"


    Candy asked, "Why would you want to work on that, of all things?"


    Rob flashed Candy a mischievous smile. "Hey, Aaron, you''re good with critters. That dire cat beast, is it acting hungry to you?"


    Aaron took care to study the cat from the corner of his eye. "Nope. More like it''d rather be back in the kitten-hole Lena made for it over by the Lotrot door."


    Lena said, "She."


    "The cat''s a girl?" Aaron asked. "I haven''t gotten close enough to tell one way or the other."


    "Yeah."


    Rob''s smile softened. "The contract it- she took said that the dungeon sustains her. If we can get a better idea of what that means, it could be a fall back for us if your, ah, arassi friends aren''t so friendly."


    Lena brightened, both figuratively and literally. The glow from her toon reached a half meter farther. "Thank God you''re back with us!"


    Rob cocked an eyebrow at Lena. "What prompted that?"


    "You''re strategizing. You only do that when you are fully present in the moment. So, let''s see what we can cobble together for that fall back option."


    Three more skill ups in [Tapestry Reading] and an hour later, they had a decent employment-type contract hammered out and had even discovered they could have contract addenda, like a code of conduct, that could be maintained separate from the contracts.


    The next thing Rob was interested in was, unsurprisingly, the boosts Lena could assign her guardians. More questioning, leading to 2 more skill ups in [Tapestry Reading], got them a list of her options with the dire cat.


    *** *** ***


    ? Sustenance: the Guardian''s nutritional needs are met through mana - 10 MPR


    ? Regeneration: the Guardian''s physical form will auto magically heal from all injuries, including those which inflict negative designs, by maintaining an individual design template. This template may be altered by the [Design Lead]. - 15 MPR


    ? Territory Link: the Guardian may be recalled to a specific area of the Zone when either the Guardian or the territory is threatened - 5 MPR


    ? Zone Link: the Guardian may be recalled to the Zone while outside of the Zone. Auto magically engages if the guardian''s current HPP falls below 20% of maximum - 20 MPR while outside of zone


    ? Guardian Connection: the Guardian may communicate with other Zone Guardians at a distance (requires multiple Zone Guardians) - 2 MPR per Guardian connected.


    *** *** ***


    When Aaron heard about the Guardian Connection ability, he asked, "Is that, like, talking-communication? As in, I could ask the cat questions and get answers in words back?"


    Lena shrugged. "I''m not sure if it''s a verbal communication, but what I got from poking at that was more like ''share information'' and ''coordinate actions'' communication."


    "Would you please offer me that new employment contract and set it up with the guardian connection, so we can try it out?" Aaron''s entire body twanged with excitement.


    "[Offer Contract]: [Standard Employment]," Lena said.


    *** *** ***


    Offering standard employment contract to Aaron Morgan Felding ¡­


    Aaron Morgan Felding accepts standard employment contract.


    *** *** ***


    *** *** ***


    Congratulations! By acquiring an Aware Zone Guardian, [The Studio of Capricious Dreams] has advanced from a "Simple" dungeon to a "Level" dungeon!


    Zone MPP +50%, Zone MPR +10%.


    You have unlocked Zone Guardian abilities for Aware entities.


    *** *** ***


    Rob said, "Hey, whoa there, you two! Don''t jump into all this stuff!"


    Lena, for her part, dove back into her zone guardian options. With Aaron, she activated sustenance, regeneration, zone link, and guardian connection. She briefly flipped over to her dire cat and did the same, before returning to check out the boosts she could give to Aaron.


    *** *** ***


    ? Assign Guardian Rank (requires Ranks Structure)


    ? Promote to [Sub Arbiter]*


    ? Allocate a percentage of MPP and MPR for Guardian to manage (requires Territory Link)


    ? Specify commands Guardian may access


    ? Promote to [Design Lead] (requires Promote to [Sub Arbiter]*)


    *** *** ***


    A delighted, enthusiastic grin took over Aaron''s face. "This is awesome!"


    Lena decided this was the perfect time for a villainous cackle.


    <center><hr>


    *~*~*


    </center>


    Jason


    Corporal Baline reminded Jason of the worst of the hyper macho Special Forces types he had had to deal with during his tour of duty. Yeah, Baline was the kind of arrogant asshole that made it hard to respect whatever extremes he had had to go through to achieve his place within an elite squad. His first words on spotting Jason had been to Kargerran. "Steel shoulders, what''s the gnelf doing here?"


    The way Kargerran''s eyes narrowed told Jason that "steel shoulders" was on a par with calling a lieutenant "butter bars". The corporal''s attitude did not improve. Therefore it amused Jason to no end to make sure he took his time gathering as many specimens of the local flora as he could differentiate on the way back to Lena''s dungeon.


    Nilis and Vi were genuinely excited to see what Lena could do with them, and they got Baline''s Rangers intrigued with the idea of a benign dungeon. They focused on catching some of the local wildlife, focusing on birds they shot out of the sky and critters they said made for good meals. Baline had grumbled about the gathering, but with all of the Rangers in agreement that this was worth experimenting with, he at least had the sense to let it be. Besides, from what Jason understood, Kargerran was technically in charge of this expedition.


    It was only around 2 km from the East Gate to Lena''s dungeon. Even with the foraging slowing them down, both arassi and beast kin moved damn fast. Baline''s group had eleven members, plus himself. Along with four arassi, there were two bear kin wearing copper colored scale mail and carrying battle axes that looked to Jason to be formidably spartan. A cat kin and a fox kin moved among the rangers, while the last three members were spear wielding wolf kin (which was somehow different from lupines). The wolf kins'' armors were a matte gray leather that blended well with their fur. Among Baline''s arassi, two more had the green sheen of Rangers and the last two bore the red of the Medics.


    The Medics walked together, just behind the Infantry. The wolf kin in gray acted as a rear guard, while the Rangers ranged around the party. Kargerran chose to walk with the medics for most of the way, though he also spent time with the Infantry.


    Nilis and the fox kin Ranger, Tilly, casually leaned against the entrance to the cave that held the portal to Lena''s dungeon. They had a hard time holding in their smirks as they watched Baline''s group react to something about the entrance.


    Jason watched them with a puzzled interest.


    Baline ordered the wolf kin forward. They advanced with their spears lowered. Nilis shook his head, but didn''t say anything. Kargerran cleared his throat. "Oh, did I forget to mention that the new dungeon already claimed the dire cat that was using this cave for its den?"


    The wolf kin paused for a moment, then proceeded, but with a lot less tension.


    "It did what?" Baline asked.


    Jason, his own lips twisting down in displeasure, said, "Lena offered it a contract as a Zone Guardian. It has to do what she tells it, and she has to keep it fed on mana or something. I don''t know how far that can be pushed, but it seemed to be working pretty well when we left." He found himself the focus of every eye.


    "Who is this Lena?" Baline asked, his scales starting to lift.


    Kargerran''s scales flared then flattened. "Let''s step over to the side, Corporal."


    The two moved a few meters away from the troops. A hazy bubble popped up over the two of them.


    Tilly held out her hand toward Nilis. "Pay up, Scales."


    Nilis groaned and glared at Jason. He reached into a pouch on his belt and passed over a coin to the fox kin. "Why''d you have to ruin the surprise, human?"


    The shortest of the wolf-kin asked, "What surprise, Tilly?"


    "The cat''s in the dungeon," Tilly answered, but she looked too innocent.


    Jason asked, "Hold on a moment. I''m missing something pretty important here. What was your briefing for this mission?"


    The wolf kin appraised Jason. "That''s not your business, human. I realize you found this new dungeon, and that it seems to be a duplicator, but you''ll be -."


    "Stop." Vi said that with a surprising aura of command. "This is not a duplicator dungeon. This is a managed dungeon, and he''s our designated liaison with the dungeon''s master. He will determine who is first in, especially if that damn cat is still boxed up next to the entrance."


    The wolf kin shook his head. "There is no such thing as a managed dungeon, and this entrance is clearly within Lotrot''s territorial claim. If there''s a group trying to claim ownership of the dungeon, well, isn''t that why you''re tagging along with us?"


    Vi shook his head. "I don''t know what Commander Faulkin ordered, but I do know that there is a Traveler merged with the dungeon, and she''s been friendly so far. Absolutely terrifying in her control over the dungeon environment, but friendly. Establishing benign relations with the dungeon has the possibility of giving us invaluable insight into the templating of dungeons."


    "No one said anything about Travelers," the wolf kin said, and he took a firmer grip on his spear, as did the wolf kin behind him.


    Tilly stepped up to the wolf kin speaker and poked her finger into his chest. "Yank, don''t be an ignorant ass. Not all Travelers are monstrous."


    "Prove it," Yank growled back.


    Baline''s arassi Rangers moved up to stand with Tilly. The cat kin stepped over to nudge the two bear kin forward. They considered him a moment, then flanked the Rangers. Kargerran''s troops casually grouped themselves between Jason and Baline''s troops.


    The bigger of the two bears said, "We are proof, you idiot. Unless you''re saying that your pack are all monsters?"


    "I''m not buying that scat. We''re Aware chimeras, not Traveler spawn."


    One of the medics asked, "What does that matter? Our ancestors all started out somewhere in the Primal Chaos. Hey, at least you can claim fresh blood. We''re stuck with kobolds and elves. And, also, the elves haven''t tried to stake a claim to beast kin ancestry."


    All of the beast kin stilled, then relaxed a touch. Yank even went so far as to say, "Yeah, good point. Better Traveler spawn than having the elves trying to herd us into their coalition. But, Travelers? If it has tentacles, I am killing it on general principles."


    Vi said, "I can promise you that, one, you can''t kill Lena because, two, she''s disembodied. So, no tentacles."


    "What do you mean, disembodied? How the Wastes did that happen?" Yank asked.


    "I mean she''s unable to leave the dungeon because the dungeon is as close to a physical body as she''s got," Vi said.


    The bubble around the troop leaders came down. Neither of them looked pleased at the way their troops had arranged themselves during their parlay. Baline''s voice came out of him like a whip. "What do you think you''re doing? Get into formation! Now!"


    Kargerran made a hand gesture, and Jason found himself right next to the cave opening, Kargerran''s troops falling into formation behind him.


    Baline walked his troops'' formation before taking a place in front of them. "It seems that we left with only a partial briefing, Delvers. We are to assess this dungeon. However, we are to do so in the most non-confrontational manner possible, because this dungeon is Aware. If Sergeant Kargerran gives you an order, you will obey it as if it came from me. Rangers, the sergeant''s Rangers are to be treated with field seniority."


    Baline swiveled around to face Kargerran. "Sergeant."


    Kargerran nodded. "Thank you, Corporal. Jason Kline, please lead the way."


    Jason walked into the cave, to the crack in the back wall that led into Lena''s dungeon. Yank''s reaction made him leery of admitting that he and his friends were all Travelers, and curious why the wolf kin thought Travelers were all monsters.

 Integration - 7

    Jason


    "Hey, Jason! I leveled!" Lena''s bright voice welcomed him back.


    The portal was still located in a boxed-in room, though the dimensions had changed, and there were some roughed-in stone benches with pillow-top padding. It felt a lot more like an office waiting room, only bigger. And less rectangular. In fact, the walls were curved like the inside of an oblong cylinder. The longest part ran from the portal to a matching, though currently filled-in, archway, and was probably close to 7 m long. The next widest part looked closer to 4.5, maybe 5 m wide. The walls and ceiling had a glass smooth surface and were a bright, creamy yellow.


    "You''ve been redecorating," Jason said, heading toward the closed archway. He set the sack filled with his foraging on one of the benches along the way.


    Lena giggled. "Yep! And Rob is doing really well! He helped me set up a couple levels of contracts and put together a jobs roster! He''s grumbling because Aaron took the first reasonable contract we worked out so he could play with the dire cat. Aaron''s named her Buttercup, and we''ve been confusing Candy with Princess Bride references! And -! Hi, Kargerran! Vi, Nilis, Perth, Krar, Stylard, and Cord, right?"


    Lena''s avatar popped into existence beside Jason. She was more naturally colored, but her hair remained purple, swept up into the chignon that she preferred. She appeared to be wearing an ankle length dress modeled on a Roman toga. She waved at the arassi, but her smile lost some of its luster as Baline''s troops came in. "Hey, Kargerran? Mind introducing your friends, please?"


    "Lena Weston, Master of the Studio of Capricious Dreams, Corporal Baline''s troops are experienced dungeon delvers. Our commander has requested that he and his squad provide their expert evaluation of your dungeon while she meets with the Lotrot City Council to decide what the city''s policy will be toward your party. We have brought some supplies for the benefit of your ¡­ corporeal party members." By the time Kargerran finished that sort-of introduction, the last of Baline''s troops had entered the room, making it feel pretty cramped.


    Lena looked to Jason. "Humperdinck?"


    "Vizzini is a possibility, but so is Fezzik or Montoya," Jason said.


    "Okay." Turning her attention back to the new guys, she said, "One moment, please," then she said, "[Offer Contract]: [Liaison]."


    The details of the contract ensuring a kind of immortality flooded Jason''s mind. The closest to a downside Jason could see was that he would be contractually bound to represent Lena''s interests.


    *** *** ***


    Do you wish to accept this contract?


    *** *** ***


    ?Yes,? he agreed.


    Lena smiled. "Let''s not put any of those regeneration clauses to the test." The smile wilted as she looked back at Baline. "I''m not sure I''m comfortable with so many armed strangers among my friends. Even without weapons, there are too many of you. At the same time, I would like to have peaceful relations with the people of Lotrot. How many of your troops would you want, at a minimum, to face a dire cat?"


    Baline''s scales flared. "Is that a threat?"


    Kargerran stiffened, glaring at Baline. "Ma''am," Kargerran said, "two Harriers, one Infantry and one Ranger can expect to survive an encounter with a wild dire cat the size of the one that you have claimed."


    Lena gave that a moment of consideration. "I will permit you, Sergeant, and you, Corporal, to bring one Infantry, one Medic, and two Rangers a piece. The rest of your troops may relax here during your tour. No spears and no staves."


    Jason asked, "Why those, specifically?"


    She gave him a tight smile. "Have you been hit by a club before? Trust me, it''s a lot more painful than getting sliced up."


    "How the hell do you know that?" Jason asked, fury sparking in him at the thought of someone hurting Lena.


    She rolled her eyes. "There are two-by-fours and razor knives around construction sites. I learned to pay attention after the third trip to the hospital. Oh, do not allow annoying relatives around you when handling a nail gun. We had to cut the beam around Papa''s hand when Mamaw distracted him as he was lining up the next nail."


    Jason felt a sympathetic shudder run down his spine. "Okay."


    Looking back to the military men, Lena asked, "Does that work for you guys?"


    Baline''s scowl had lightened with confusion as he watched the by-play between Lena and Jason. He exchanged a glance with Kargerran, who nodded.


    Kargerran said, "That sounds generous, ma''am."


    Lena smiled, her expression softening. "I''ll just open the door while you make your selections."


    Vi spoke up. "Would it be reasonable to ask for some kind of window so we can keep an eye on each other?"


    Lena tapped a finger to her lips. Her gaze grew distracted. "Not right at the moment, but I can work on that during the tour. Allocating MPR to researching patterns after I''ve unlocked them for use seems to somewhat improve the quality of the materials, but my crystals are still pretty cloudy. Oh, and it turns out that the crystals improve mana regeneration, so it''s harder to get rid of the extras. I haven''t yet unlocked glass as a research topic, but I think I might be able to do something with [Applied Color Theory] to make the stone transparent."


    One of Baline''s arassi Rangers asked, "Would you object to us experimenting with spell casting in here?"


    "Yes," Lena said.


    The sole cat kin glared at the arassas that had asked.


    "Mithor, Samiah, Tilly, and Kippo, you are with me," Baline said, cutting off any further questions from his squad.


    Kargerran said, "Perth, Krar, keep the corporal''s squad company, please."


    "Yes, sergeant!" the two said.


    The stone filling the archway ran down the far side like liquid mercury. As it reached the halfway point, Jason could see that fluid stone flowing across the water toward the nearest platform, the one upon which Rob had been recovering.


    Baline''s troops, to a one, puffed up, scales lifting on the arassi while fur bristled among the beast kin.


    Nilis held out his hand to Tilly. "I believe you owe me on this one."


    The fox kin absently handed over a clinking pouch to the smug Ranger.


    <center><hr>


    *~*~*


    </center>


    Kargerran


    Kargerran sympathized with the delvers'' reaction. Seeing Lena Weston''s casual manipulation of solid patterns was a "freakishly" disturbing experience on its own. Having been through a few morphing dungeons himself, he could understand how Lena Weston''s display could go from disturbing to dread-inducing. He scratched at his tail, glad he was only missing the last claws-width where crystal, flowing as smoothly as the stone becoming their walkway, had snipped it off several years ago.


    Jason Kline spoke, breaking the spooked silence of the Lotrot squads. "That is both wicked cool and kind of ¡­ wrong. What''s holding up the bridge you''re making?"If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.


    Lena Weston humphed. "Get your physics out of my DnD! Sorry, that snap wasn''t about you. Candy''s been driving me crazy ever since I gave her her own part of the dungeon to manage. Honestly, my best answer is mana. It''ll be as stable as the floor you''re already standing on."


    Kargerran''s belly tightened. "Does that mean there are no posts or pillars underneath us? Just water?"


    Lena Weston shared a reassuring smile with him. "Candy harangued me until I made a solid ''shell'' around this level. There''s stone between the water and what I''m calling the firmament. I''ve braced all the walkways and platforms on that bottom layer."


    If anything, her reference to the Clouds of Chaos that surround all dungeons only raised Kargerran''s scales. Catching sight of Baline''s own flaring scales, Kargerran steeled his resolve and stepped forward. "Would you, gracefully, share the information of your dungeon status?"


    Jason Kline spoke. "That would probably be better discussed after Corporal Baline''s tour." He started across the still forming walkway, and Lena Weston''s projection floated over the water next to him.


    Kargerran''s duty left him no choice but to follow. He derived a small amount of satisfaction from the hesitation Baline displayed in following him, content with the pettiness he otherwise shunned both in himself and in his command.


    The stone under his talons was, as Lena Weston had stated, stable, despite having acted as liquid as the water over which it provided passage.


    "I just got a research technique for ''circulate''. Hopefully, I can use it on the water to help freshen it. So far, Aaron''s claimed the dirt pile and Buttercup. Guardian Communication has opened up [Animal Empathy] for all of us, except Aaron. He got [Animal Handling]. And I have another type of portal available. The entrances can only be strung together in some pretty confusing ways. Rob''s badgered Aaron and Candy to help him with figuring out how that works. Oh! I''m running scatter brained! Level portals. I was able to put up a level portal in the orange tree archway, and it was as much of a blank slate as this place was. I had to put in a floor and air, then I was able to make that Aaron''s territory, and then when I put up a little more environment, I made that Rob''s territory. I had to push the dirt into their level, and Buttercup already decided she likes Aaron best of us - she adores the way he scratches her and he''s always been so good with creatures ¡ª."


    Jason Kline interrupted Lena Weston. "Breathe. What was the point you started with?"


    On one claw, Kargerran was having trouble following Lena Weston''s speech. On the other, he had a feeling that her rambling held some invaluable nuggets of information. He maintained a polite, listening silence and, with a small shake of his head, cut off the question Nilis had opened his mouth to ask.


    Lena Weston''s projection turned to face the squads. "The Studio''s floor plan is still being figured out. Dimensions, environmental composition, they''re in flux. So, what you see today is more like looking at an artist''s gesture drawings as the scene they want to paint takes shape in their imagination. I like the water feature, but there''s no guarantee it''ll be here when you visit again."


    Kargerran said, "How long have you been the, I believe you said the Grand Tapestry called you the arbiter of this dungeon?"


    "I have no real time sense on the best of days. I don''t have any idea how long I spent arting with the environment before establishing the first portal and finding Jason. Jason, what''s your time count?"


    "Since you found me?" Jason Kline paused to think before saying. "I got a good hunger built up by the time we left for Lotrot. With there and back, I''m guessing I''ve been up for fourteen, fifteen hours."


    Baline asked, "How did you take control of this dungeon?"


    Kargerran was still reeling from the revelation that Lena Weston had *established* this dungeon. He had to stop and check that his ear holes weren''t obstructed when she said, "Random perk from this Champion of Order design thing. Something about when the system absorbed me, it expanded the system''s territory. I wasn''t thinking very clearly. I think I had already been linked to the Zone, and I just knew I had to art. It was better and worse than when I had to step away and leave Kargerran to Jason''s hospitality. Better because I wasn''t fighting the creative compulsion, worse because the zone was 200-odd MPP over its max. The portal was more of the tail end of the creative imperative."


    Baline asked, "This dungeon has a mana pool?"


    "Don''t they all?" Lena Weston asked in reply.


    Jason Kline moved toward the carved stone archway that looked like two fanciful trees embracing. "We can discuss that more after the tour."


    Kargerran stifled his impatience. Saddling them with an active delver squad seemed to have made Jason Kline wary of them. He really hoped that was an unnecessary caution on the human''s part.


    <center><hr>


    *~*~*


    </center>


    Vi


    Vi drank in the changes to the Studio of Capricious Dreams while his sergeant played nanny to the sword-brained corporal. The Entrance Hall had been exotic, and yet elegantly welcoming. The cavern took that elegance to a level that awed Vi. The simplicity of the reduced room drew his attention to the details Lena Weston had added during their absence.


    The water had taken on an iridescent quality, and he couldn''t see a bottom to the pool. The landmass was gone. Three spears of crystal, each as wide as an elf, jutted from the pool about where the mid-line of the landmass had been.


    The platform holding the portal to their campsite in the Mana Wastes seemed both farther away and smaller. At the same time, he noticed the sides of the platforms and walkways joining them had been decorated with carved reliefs of fish and foreign plants. Mana crystal shards blended seamlessly among the carvings, giving an extra depth to the fish scales and some of the edges of the carved plants.


    What had started as random crystal fragments adding a soft glow to the walkways had become artful designs that invited him to walk onward, to see what greater pattern could be discovered with each step. When they arrived on the platform that had contained the distraught, dark toned Traveler, Vi saw darker and lighter striations in the stone accenting the crystal designs. He hadn''t had a chance to really examine the sculpted archway, and, while he could appreciate how the revelations about how the dungeon zone could be managed, he was more interested in seeing what made a level portal different from an entrance portal. Oh, and getting up close with the sculpture so he could figure out just what an orange tree was supposed to be, that was a bonus. He hoped its name wasn''t just a reference to the color of its bark.


    Jason Kline led the way to the portal, stepping through with barely any hint of hesitation. Lena Weston''s projection gestured for them to follow.


    The sergeant''s tail stiffened, a sign of deliberate control. He followed the newly appointed dungeon liaison. Corporal Baline''s tail quivered, very slightly, but Vi caught the betrayal of his fear, as did Tilly and Kippo. If Mithor and the bear kin saw, they did not react.


    Vi hadn''t ever served as a delver, not like the sergeant had, but that didn''t mean he hadn''t poked around dungeons before. They were a private fascination for him, and if he had less of a preference for sunshine and tracking, Vi would have applied for a position with the delvers. The idea that a dungeon had a mana pool was not new to him. In his research, he had come across some speculative writings from a few less known members of the Arcane Asylum. The theory of environmental mana pools had only been one of several interesting ideas in those texts. Now, this having portals to areas within the dungeon, that was new.


    Vi stepped up to examine the archway while the rest of their party gathered their nerve to discover what lay on the other side.


    Lena Weston''s projection smiled, a wide, closed lipped smile. "What draws your curiosity the most?" she asked him.


    "Hard to rank," Vi said. "The tree is odd, fantastical, really, but the infusion of mana crystals to highlight different parts, I don''t think that anyone outside of the Asylum could hope to replicate that. Does it serve a practical purpose?"


    "The environmental crystals increase mana regen. I''m hoping that I can add my environmental options to my exportables. So far, the only stuff I make that persists outside of my Studio are the cotton bolls. Everything else crumbles into this super fine dust almost as soon as it goes through the portal. I hate to hurry you along, but the corporal dude is having some puff up problems. I think having his team with him may help him stay calm. Ish."


    Vi nodded. "Good call." He snagged Tilly''s arm and dragged the reluctant fox kin with him.


    Another projection of Lena Weston met them on the other side of the level portal. This one was eerily still, as if it were as much a statue as the orange trees, only made from light instead of stone.


    Jason Kline was speaking. "¡­ as any of us, Corporal. Lena doesn''t like seeing anyone in distress."


    "I don''t care what¡ª." Corporal Baline cut himself off when he spotted them. "Ranger Tilly! What held you up?"


    Vi cleared his throat. "My apologies, corporal. I was examining the structure of the portal. I must have been blocking safe access to the portal. Lena Weston had to prompt me to get out of the way."


    The projection transformed from an inanimate piece of art to lively avatar in the blink of an eye. Vi and Tilly jumped, startled. He didn''t see anyone else''s reaction.


    "Vi, why are you using my full name?" Lena Weston asked.


    "Is that not a polite form of address?" Vi asked.


    The projection shrugged. "It''s not impolite, at least as far as my culture goes. It''s just striking my ears as a weird formal, and I thought I had conveyed my invitation to be casual with me, to just use my given name."


    "Ah, I did not comprehend this invitation. How would you prefer to be addressed?" Privately, Vi was glad that he was the one receiving this clarification. The lower-born of his squad mates might have gotten tangled up in the possible permutations of insults and scuffed honor such a situation posed.


    "Lena is my given name. Weston is my family name. I''m more comfortable being called Lena, but if you''re more comfortable with formal, ''Ms. Weston'' sounds more natural to me."


    "You honor me, Lena," Vi said. "Arassi rarely have more than one name, and beast kin follow the gnomish tradition of providing only a use-name to those outside of their extended families."


    The rest of their group had edged through the level portal while Lena and Vi''s conversation took place. Vi let their movement attract his gaze, but the setting soon took over his attention. This "level" could have been an open air dirt field. He couldn''t figure out where the walls began, let alone where they met the ceiling, both of which had the gradient of blues natural to the true sky. Clouds, real, actual clouds, floated near the ceiling, hiding and diffusing a central light source. The dirt was mounded in gentle waves.


    Three humans stood off a distance from them. The one as pale as a newborn arassas was Aaron Felding. Next to him was a much recovered dark toned male whom Vi had only heard called Rob. Candice Sterling stood a little bit separate from the male humans, her arms folded over her chest. The sight of the humans reminded Vi that there was a dire cat as yet unaccounted for.


    While he scanned the terrain for the cat, Vi wondered if the number of syllables in a Traveler''s name held the same significance for them as it did for the inhabitants of Lotrot.

 Integration - 8

    Aaron


    Aaron watched the strangers approach, escorted by Lena''s toon and Jason. He ignored Candy''s blah-blah-blahing. She had problems embracing the gamer headspace, a little too firmly grounded in the structure of their prior reality. He didn''t know if Lena (or anyone in Candy''s family, really) had realized how much she depended on order, on structure, but until she learned the principles upholding the structure of Rhofhir, she was going to continue to deny the reality asserted by their senses.


    It wasn''t that Aaron actively believed they had been sucked through some kind of inter-dimensional rift. Objectively, he had yet to form any firm beliefs about what had happened to them. Subjectively, that was a different story; Aaron trusted in his senses, and they screamed that this was all too very, very real. Candy''s insistence that this level of immersion was beyond the capabilities of the telepathy machine only weighed against her denials.


    Buttercup''s unease prickled Aaron''s skin through the G.C. link. He returned an empathic wave of reassurance, and emphasized that the dire cat should stay in her new den. As far as Aaron was concerned, keeping her away from people who were trained to react violently to threats was just common sense.


    "Damn, A, you''re right," Rob said. "No matter how ¡­ different these guys are, they''re unmistakably human ¡­ -oid."


    Aaron shrugged in answer, too busy watching the wary looks the mix of arassi and were-looking people were throwing around.


    Candy abruptly shut up. The suddenness of her silence stole Aaron''s gaze from the strangers. Her expression had blanked out, leaving her with resting bitch face: down-turned lips, flared nostrils and narrowed eyes, a tiny crease between her eyebrows. Aaron passed a hand in front of her unfocused stare. She didn''t blink, not even when he tapped his palm to her nose.


    Aaron exchanged a wry glance with his brother.


    Rob sighed. "Roshambo?"


    "Nah, I''ll settle her," Aaron said. He concentrated for a moment, picturing a rock with the perfect indentation for a bowl cushion. When he liked the image, he directed the mana available to him through Territory Management into his picture. The rock seat took shape a meter behind Candy. Without his direction, a plush felted cushion formed slightly above the seat before falling, gently, to rest on the rock.


    ?I''ll put a blanket over her after you''ve gotten her to sit.? Lena''s voice was a soft murmur through the G.C.


    True to her word, as soon as Aaron stepped back from arranging Candy in the impromptu chair, a pale green felt blanket floated down to settle over Candy.


    Stylard''s voice sounded behind Aaron, making him jump. "Is Candice Sterling in need of more aid?"


    Aaron turned around. A second red-tinted black scaled arassas, a touch heavier through the waist and shoulders, accompanied the medic. Aaron smiled ruefully at Stylard. "I won''t object if you want to look her over again, but I think this is a good thing. She''s done this a couple of times on us before when she gets too involved in a mental quandary."


    While he stepped around Aaron, Stylard asked, "Is this a common occurrence with humans?"


    "Not really," Rob said.


    Aaron made introductions between Stylard and his brother, with Stylard introducing his companion as Medic Kippo.


    "My concern is that I have seen the same symptoms of mental withdrawal with both Candice Sterling and you, Roberto Garcias," Stylard said. "Humans are rare around here, but mana starvation has been known to place significant mental strain on all of the Aware races. In the majority, this manifests as increased aggression, but there are a few races that seek a hibernation state. There are differences in the follow up care for those who hibernate."


    "Ah, Stylard?" Aaron said. "Please remember this is our first day here in Rhofhir. We don''t know jack when it comes to mana problems."


    "Your first day?" Kippo echoed, his eyes wide. "You are all Travelers?"


    Stylard joined Aaron in nodding an affirmative.


    Rob asked, "What''s that?"


    "Have you checked your status screen yet?" Aaron asked.


    "My what?"


    <center><hr>


    *~*~*


    </center>


    Rob


    *** *** ***


    Designation: Roberto Morgan Garcias


    Species: Human (Traveler)


    Titles: Specialist, Traveler


    - - -


    ACU 14


    WIS 18


    BRW 14


    CHA 20


    DEX 15


    HTH 12


    INT 12


    LCK 9


    - - -


    Health Pool: 26/26 (4 /hr)


    Mana Pool: 25/25 (13.33 /hr)


    Will Pool: 15/15 (4.73 /hr)


    - - -


    Aspects: Gamer


    Designs: Traveler, Gamer


    Skills: Animal Empathy 6, Mental Fortitude 4, Direct Mana 13, Negotiation 4, First Aid 1, Physical Training 5, Leadership 6, Tapestry Integration 2, Mental Focus 8, Tapestry Reading 1


    *** *** ***


    Rob finished reviewing his status, finding that dismissing the screen from his consciousness was as simple as willing it away. "And here I thought the aliens were the strangest things around," he thought to himself.


    He had been ignoring the distractions itching at the back of his mind, but now that he knew they were this Tapestry system informing him of the things it found pertinent, he allowed them to come forward. And felt swallowed up for a moment by the long series of skill acquisition and skill up notices he received.


    "Hey, this skills stuff?" Rob said. "How does it work? I mean, what do they and the stats mean in practice, not just what the Tapestry says they mean?"


    Stylard looked up from the crystal he was running over Candy. That was some kind of StarTrek-looking procedure, but wasn''t there some famous quote about advanced technology being indistinguishable from magic? It seemed things also went the other way around. "Abilities are more like a score card. Skills are the important things. The more adept you get with a skill, the more likely it is to advance. Higher tier skills have a shorter boon cycle for their related attributes, and they usually relate to two or more attributes. Most skills advance near between 30 and 50 skill ups, with the boons already earned coming over at whatever their equivalent skill ups in the advanced skill would be. It''s easier to skill up a lower level skill, especially as an adult. Youths tend to unlock a fair number of skills, but they do a lot of collapsing. That''s where you have a couple of skills combine into a more detailed skill. Skills that collapse together tend to set the new skill level to the lowest of the old skill levels. And without an Aspect, no one gets past a skill level of 25."


    "Okay," Rob said, drawing out the word. "Aside from unlocking skill growth, what do aspects do? And designs?"


    Kippo took over the edjumacating. "Aspects are paths of understanding. For instance, I hold the Aspect of the Healer. If I can think of something in terms of how it affects the body, I have an easier time learning the skills. If I can''t, it gets harder, and more often than not, I''m stuck behind that level 25 lock Stylard mentioned. The more Aspects you pick up, the more avenues you have to leveling your skills. Designs are more like complicated skills, but as you work at them, they develop the various Aspects you can call upon. They can also reflect professions, which will usually carry Titles with them. Stylard and I both had to complete our Design of the Field Medic before we earned the right to wear the red."


    "As far as I can tell, her body is balanced," Stylard said. "Physically, I can find no aliments causing Candice Sterling''s mental retreat."


    Aaron smiled, a mix of indulgent affection and exasperation there for a moment as he gazed at the other blondie. Candy was a month older than Rob, but in terms of life experience even his baby brother Aaron had her beat. Despite the age difference, Rob generally approved of his brother''s choice of crushes.


    <center><hr>


    *~*~*


    </center>


    Jason


    The dungeon tour ended soon after walking through Aaron and Rob''s level. It turned out that Candy hadn''t even begun improving her territory within the zone before taking her turn on the mental breakdown wagon. Kargerran had hastily declined to view the unfinished level, much to Vi''s disappointment and the rest of the Rhofhirians'' relief.


    Through the new Guardian Communication set up, Jason nixed having Rob and Aaron join them in person for the return to the rest of their visitors. He really did not want the kid around the wolf kin, and someone needed to keep an eye on Candice. Aaron was a good kid, but still someone needed to keep an eye on him, too. After all, he had already taken on a dire cougar for a pet.


    By the time they returned to the Entrance Hall, Lena had managed to clarify the quartz-clear crystal she had used to replace the door she had made into the walkway leading to and from the Hall.


    Lena''s voice murmured over the Guardian Communication link. ?I''m turning it into a pocket door. When you see a depression in the crystal, that''ll be the inset handle. Don''t strain yourself if it doesn''t move easy. I don''t have grease, but I can try to get a more satin polish on the bearings.?


    Jason nodded slightly. The handle was in place by the time they reached the door, which moved easily into the wall. The delver squad reacted with the same hair-standing-on-end controlled freak out they had shown when Lena melted the stone door.


    "I didn''t feel any magic," Nilis stated.


    Lena shrugged. "Why would you?"


    "You didn''t move the door?" Nilis asked.


    Jason said, "Pocket doors are designed to slide in and out of walls. You can try it if you like, just don''t pull too hard. See, here''s the handle."


    "Oh, good! I was afraid the weight would bind the rollers!" Lena said.


    After a pause to allow the Arassi to play with the pocket door and reassure themselves that the dungeon wasn''t morphing on them, they went into the Entrance Hall.


    "Before I forget, there''s ¡­ a basket of rocks. What the hell?" Jason frowned down at the basket of plants and critters he and the Rangers had collected on their way back to Lena''s dungeon. In the place of the gather lay several clear gem-quality stones in hues of yellows, greens, blues and browns. They ranged in size from sandy pebbles to coarse gravel.


    The cat kin Ranger, who had stayed behind, said, "Yeah, that happened to all of the things we picked up to seed the dungeon. That''s one of the reasons duplicator dungeons are so valued, despite their propensity for spawning monster hordes. Anything you bring in with the intention of leaving for the dungeon to absorb leaves behind raw mana stones."


    "Oh. Lena? Did you know about that?" Jason asked.


    She shook her head, her gaze growing unfocused and her body stilling unnaturally. It was made of light, though, so he wasn''t sure how much more unnatural it was for it to go still like that.


    She said, "No, but the Tapestry system says that it''s an auto magical process common to all dungeons. With my research options maxed out, it just happens significantly faster in here than in the unmanaged zones."This narrative has been purloined without the author''s approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.


    And that started the discussion about the nitty-gritty details of Lena''s control over the Studio of Capricious Dreams.


    <center><hr>


    *~*~*


    </center>


    Kargerran


    An hour into the discussion of dungeon management options, the communications stone hanging from its chain around Kargerran''s neck sent him a mental pulse. "With your pardon, ma''am, Commander Faulkin is requesting communications, and so Corporal Baline and I need to step out. May I leave you Rangers Nilis and Vi to continue this discussion?"


    Lena Weston''s projection smiled with gracious courtesy. "Naturally."


    Kargerran led Baline back to the spot they had used during their prior call back to the city, set up the wards against spying again, and took the call. "Sergeant Kargerran and Corporal Baline answering."


    Commander Faulkin stated, "That took you longer than normal. How close are you to the city gates?"


    "We are still at the dungeon site. We were conversing with the Travelers. In fact, I left Rangers Nilis and Vi to continue gathering as much information as possible," Kargerran said.


    A nasal voice came over the stone. "How many Travelers, and how intelligent are they? What kind of threat do they represent?"


    Commander Faulkin said, "Please answer Crafts Master Gilvillian."


    Kargerran repressed a smile at the hint of ire in her tone. "They are all human and claim the Traveler sub species. The one controlling the dungeon is merged with it. All appear to be at least of average Aware level intelligence. From what we''ve seen, they won''t attack unless cornered, and they have the ability to close the entrance to Lotrot. If we do provoke them, they have the full resources of a dungeon at their disposal and knowledge from their origin that they''ve brought with them. Two of the Travelers are veteran soldiers, though I''m not sure how their rank of Specialist compares with any of the ranks I know. The blood in the sausage is that the Traveler controlling the dungeon is a Champion of Order, and has asked how to gain our assistance in contacting the Arcane Asylum."


    "How can the Traveler be both a human and a dungeon?" a cool, feminine elven voice asked.


    "I''m not sure of the meta magics, Dame, however she permitted us to perform a fulsome inspection of her dungeon, and the Rangers all agree that their Tapestry Readings show the dungeon to be named the Studio of Capricious Dreams, with Design Lead Lena Weston, Human (Traveler) as the supreme authority over the dungeon."


    Baline tapped the end of his muzzle, a silent request to speak. Kargerran nodded.


    "Corporal Baline, first squad of the Delvers Talon, speaking. Even the little information exchange we''ve seen in the last few hours has been a tremendous boon to our delvers. We''ll be returning with what Design Lead Lena Weston has called a sampler pack of the exportables she''s so far unlocked, as well as something she''s calling a ''spectrum'' of colors she''s able to apply to these exportables."


    "Is this a tribute?" the Crafts Master asked.


    "No," Kargerran said. "It''s intended as the opening of peaceful and profitable negotiations."


    The stone turned from an opaque light green to dimly glowing orange, indicating that they were being blocked from hearing the other side. A moment later and the glow faded away. Commander Faulkin said, "If you can keep any of our Rangers near that dungeon, do so. As for the rest of your squads, report back as soon as you can politely extract yourselves."


    "Yes, Commander," Kargerran and Baline said.


    <center><hr>


    *~*~*


    </center>


    Lena


    Lena dismissed her toon shortly after fixing up the Entrance Hall as a guest room for the six Rangers. That question about how long they had been here already was bothering Lena. Time sense had never been her strong point, but she had at least had her body tiring on her or demanding food to let her know when she had been caught up in a creative fugue.


    Candy had slipped into a deep sleep from her pondering fugue (Lena considered fugues to be a Sterling heritage), and Jason, Rob, and Aaron were ready to crawl into their own beds - after the meal they were sharing with the Rangers. Lena felt neither hunger nor the need for sleep. Aside from whether it was light or dark out, she had no way to judge the passage of time outside of her dungeon, and only the MPR trickling into the zone''s mana pool to judge the passage of time within.


    At least her friends had mattresses and blankets. And pillows.


    Lena considered what it might take to get some kind of sand or water clock working. Maybe Lena could get Candy involved in that when she woke up. Or maybe the Rangers? She filed the thought for later, and moved on to check her research options.


    *** *** ***


    Through the special action of weaving multiple environmental materials together, you have increased your research into the patterning of clay. Clay is now available as an environmental material.


    Continued research into the patterns of stone has unlocked stone as a research topic for exportables.


    Continued research into the patterns of dirt has unlocked soil as a research topic for exportables.


    Continued research into the patterns of water has unlocked water as a research topic for exportables.


    Continued research into the patterns of air has unlocked air as a research topic for exportables.


    Continued research into the patterns of portals has added options to create and set keys for portals.


    Continued research into the patterns of light has added temperature as an environmental material.


    *** *** ***


    That was a pleasant surprise. And fast. Lena tried to find a way to ask the Tapestry just why these unlocked so quickly, but received only stubborn silence in return.


    Moving on to her research options, she discovered that the ores she had the last time she looked were barely over 1% researched. Along with the environmental materials just unlocked, she had gold, lead, and something called halite as new options. For Plants, the cotton she had at 2%, with new options that showed up as "Local Grasses", "Local Bushes", "Local Trees", "Local Fungi", and "Mosses". Under Creatures, her ??? was up to 7%, and options for "Avian", "Reptile", "Mammal", and "Insect" were available. She had no new Techniques to research, though Circulate was now unlocked, so she settled for maxing her MPR allocation for all of her new choices.


    After adding circulation to both the water and the air in her original level, Lena settled in to some focused arting. Waterfalls should add a nice ambiance, and perhaps they could be worked into some kind of water clock design?


    <center><hr>


    *~*~*


    </center>


    Brad


    Warm. Heavy. Dull. Drifting. Dark. Quiet.


    How long since he had the luxury of quiet? As far as he could tell, Scotty only slept when he was in class or at Candy''s, working on the Dream Catcher. Why everyone insisted on calling it a telepathy machine -. Well, he could, somewhat, understand. That wasn''t the actual point of it, but - with a lot more research - it might be a step on the road to cracking that beastly code. No, his Dream Catcher was inspired by the dream he held for full immersion Virtual Reality.


    And this was not his normal way of thinking about his project. What was the last test they had run with the Dream Catcher? Candy had gotten the values nailed down for the resistors, right? They needed to start gathering a wider range of biometrics, right? It was still early days, but he hadn''t seen anything they were testing for that hadn''t already been approved for human trials. It would mean a lot of paperwork and several months of waiting, maybe longer, but there were other parts to the project that they could work on in the mean time.


    It would be cool to try it out now, though¡­.


    What the hell?


    *** *** ***


    ¦Ê¦Á¦Ó¦Á¦Ë¦Á¦Â¦Á?¦Í¦Å¦Ó¦Å ¦Á¦Ô¦Ó?;


    ?????????????


    ????????? ?????????


    thi?t l?p li¨ºn l?c


    ileti?im kurmak


    kuwasiliana


    komunikowa? si?


    ?????? ???


    samskipti


    communikation


    E?st?abl?is???hin??g Co?ntac?t


    ¡­


    Greetings, Anomaly ¦Â!


    ¡­


    *** *** ***


    The darkness that he had been drifting through - what he had thought was a languorous waking - turned to searing brilliance. Pain smothered his awareness, destroyed his reason, deadened him to all other sensations.


    The pain receded an eternity later, leaving him with a raw, amorphous prickling throughout his mind.


    *** *** ***


    Greetings, Traveler ¦Â!


    You have been accepted into the Grand Tapestry of Rhofhir.


    The following announcements will inform you of your ability to affect the Grand Tapestry. Introduce new patterns that the Grand Tapestry may absorb or strengthen existing patterns to increase your ability to affect the Grand Tapestry.


    Your acknowledgment is required to proceed.


    *** *** ***


    Am I just a letter?


    *** *** ***


    Acknowledgment of comprehension received. Your integration with the Grand Tapestry of Rhofhir is being assisted. Please await further instructions.


    *** *** ***


    Arcs of strange energy sizzled from one side of him to another. The closest thing he could think of to describe the sensation was like being in the center of a Tesla ball. He tingled for a moment after each arc. They came faster and faster together until the arc and the tingle became a single sensation.


    "[Awaken]."


    The strange energy settled into a steady sinusoidal rhythm.


    *** *** ***


    Initial stages of integration completed successfully. To review your current capabilities within the Grand Tapestry, project the command [Status].


    *** *** ***


    "Hmm. The demon should have moved by now." The voice saying that had the gruff quality of an elderly man.


    Another male voice, this one smoother, but still with the depth of an adult, responded. "I got a skill up in [Tapestry Integration] for this so I''m pretty sure we succeeded, Feltz. I''m fairly certain the original demon would qualify as one of the Aware, so the golem should at least be sapient. If a monstrous demon takes longer to acclimate than an animalistic one, why wouldn''t a sapient one take longer than a monstrous demon?"


    A sniff. "Good point. And a skill up, you say? Well, at least the effort isn''t wasted, even if I do turn out to be wrong about the sapience within your memory stone."


    Demon? Like a rakshasa? Or did they mean something more like a European or Oriental kind of demon? Or maybe they had said "daemon" and he had misheard them? Talking about skill ups made them sound like gamers, so "daemon" would fit better if they were some of the Comp Sci students.


    *** *** ***


    You have introduced a new Design!


    Design of the Scientist completed.


    You have acquired the Aspect of the Scientist.


    *** *** ***


    *** *** ***


    Design of the Scientist introduced to the Grand Tapestry.


    Design of the Champion of Order unlocked. 12% progress recorded.


    *** *** ***


    *** *** ***


    Traveler Design completed.


    You have acquired the Aspect of the Gamer.


    *** *** ***


    *** *** ***


    You have been trapped in a Design of Ensorcelled Slavery. Increase your maximum Will Pool and Will Regeneration to remove yourself from this design. Will Pool cannot regenerate normally while trapped.


    *** *** ***


    Icy fury chilled him to his core. He would never submit to another''s attempt to subjugate him. Never.


    A noise like rocks grinding against each other filled the room.


    "Ah. Sounds like it''s coming around," the elder voice stated.


    "I hope his intellect wasn''t damaged during the recording," the younger male said.


    "You''re the designated Overseer. Ask."


    "Can you understand me?" This time, the voice felt directed at himself.


    "Yes," he answered, realizing only after he spoke that he had acted in response to a compulsion. A touch of heat added itself to his fury.


    "Oh, excellent! The translation spell is working!" The elder cleared his throat, then asked, "What senses do you possess in your natural state?"


    There was no compulsion to answer this time. "What the bloody hells do you mean, ''in my natural state''? What have you done to me? Why can''t I see? Or move?"


    The younger voice answered. "Bradford Ajput Singh, please be calm. We will grant you vision when we''ve rebuilt our mana pools. As for the rest, well, that''s going to take a bit to explain."


    The fury snuffed out of Brad''s soul. Resolve to defeat this violation replaced it, wrote itself into his very nature. He listened as the younger man, who named himself Casper Dibbons, related an outrageously implausible story about inter-dimensional communication resulting in Brad being kidnapped across dimensions to be enslaved as a demonic golem.


    "The ensorcellment is a precautionary measure. Until we have a better idea of your nature and capabilities, this is the most humane option we have for ensuring everyone''s safety. Now, concentrate on me and project the command [Share Status], please. ¡­ Intriguing! Feltz, have you ever heard of a Scientist aspect? Champion of Order already begun?"


    The elder, Feltz, said, "No, I''ve never heard of a scientist. That may be something from the demon''s original dimension, which would explain how the Champion design is already begun."


    "We''ll need to manage how much he affects the Tapestry then. How ironic would it be if in trying to delay the Unraveling I accidentally accelerate it?" Casper''s tone held faint bitterness.


    "Very, which is why I involved myself already. Now stop being so dour!"


    "Yes, Archmage," Casper said.


    "So," Brad said, "to sum it all up, you invaded my mind while I slept, stole my memories, and then stole my mind entirely, and have dumped me into a golem so you can treat me like an artificial intelligence to mine my own memories for you to help you figure out how to avoid your dimension from resetting. Why the bloody fuck do you think I have any ideas worth going to all that much trouble?" No matter how much he wanted to rage at the bastards, the command to be calm still held him, stealing inflection from his words.


    "You''re not an Artifact of Intelligence. The body we''ve put together for you is an artifice, but your intelligence is a duplication of your original mind. We can only move patterns across the dimensions, not physical substance. The original you should still be going about your life as normal. As for why I was communicating with you, your dimension has been stable for longer than Rhofhir''s Tapestry has existed. You weren''t the first, or the only, demon I contacted, but your''s was the clearest communication and you know how your dimension''s framework is shaped."


    "How many others have you stolen like me?" Brad asked.


    "Well, as I said, you are an accident. I was just gathering information. I never intended to fully duplicate your mind in the Memory Stone that is now your golem core. The last communication was just so ¡­ clear, so detailed. Archmage Feltz is the one who first discovered your sapience, and leaving you locked up in a Memory Stone, well, that would have been cruel beyond measure."


    "Dibbs, boy, you''re rambling. Sit down, drink some tea, and stop that Wasteful pacing." Feltz''s voice held the snap of irritation.


    "Consideration for the mind of a fellow Aware is not rambling, Feltz. Don''t start spouting that Long Ear hogswallow." The words came out more tired than biting.


    "It is a golem, Dibbs. It cannot be Aware. It can have monstrous sapience, yes, but it cannot be Aware."


    Brad scoffed. "That sounds a bloody lot like you''re rationalizing your own foul breach of basic morality. I don''t care what you''ve shoved me into, I am a bloody damn human being."


    Heavy silence fell after that. Then Casper''s voice said, "[Inspect Golem]: [Mental Pattern Match] ¡­ [Share Inspection]."


    "Chaotic Wastes!" Feltz breathed out.

 Neighbors 1

    Commander Faulkin


    The Free City of Lotrot had begun as a fortified encampment of the Merchants Guild, and the merchants still held a significant place in the city''s running. The merchants, however much they might have been foundational to Lotrot''s origins, had soon been outnumbered by the artisans and adventurers drawn to the Rim by the abundance of raw mana crystals and monsters. The twin Talons of the Lotrot military had their origins among a particularly well organized group of adventurers and various guards hired by the merchants, the artisans, and, later, the magi who came with their own interests in the Rim and the Mana Wastes beyond.


    The arassi had migrated south to distance themselves from the monstrous side of their parentage, but they none the less shared in the deep communal inclinations of their kobold ancestors. Being the majority demographic among the populace of Lotrot, they had strong, some might even say severe, reactions to the few individuals that had attempted to seize sole power over the city. Every last one of them had been immortalized, their bronze dipped heads adorning the Arch of the Southern Promenade. As most of the castings had taken place before (or rather, during) the deaths of the Failed Usurpers, the expressions expressed agony and horror.


    Commander Faulkin had grown very fond of imagining Dame Chasraheil''s head adorning the Arch. The representative of the Rimward Mages Association in Lotrot just had a way of stating her opinions that raised Faulkin''s scales. "Obviously, we cannot allow such a resource to remain in the possession of Travelers, no matter how affable they may seem. The are demons, after all."


    "Do you know how to wrest control of that dungeon from the Grand-Tapestry-appointed Champion of Order, Dame?" Crafts Master Gilvillian asked that with less offense and more curiosity than his words implied.


    "Sufficient study should provide us the answer," the elf replied, looking down her nose at the gnome.


    "That would be a ''no'', then, wouldn''t it?" Tover of the Lupines, head of the Adventurers Guild of Lotrot, said. "The only way we are going to get that opportunity for such a study is if we establish friendly relations. Let''s not get ahead of ourselves."


    "As much as it pains me to agree, Guild Master Tover appears to be correct. Even more painful for me to state this, but alas, bitter sweet politics: the dungeon, with its ''Design Lead'' as an ally stands to profit us more than enraging the parandrians by taking overt action against a Champion of Order. They do so idolize those the Grand Tapestry singles out." The deep voiced arassas who said that made a study of examining her claws. Master Merchant Zarabelkami did not quite smile at the elf as bare her teeth in the Dame''s general direction. "They can be so touchy about honoring the Will of the Grand Tapestry. How many of your mages, ah, ''disappeared'' after your last run in with Ba''Ahrat''s band?"


    The elf narrowed her eyes and returned the polite show of teeth. "How would they even know?"


    Faulkin said, "Moot point. Neither Patrollers nor Delvers will participate in any attempt to subdue the Studio of Capricious Dreams. It''s too dangerous, especially when we already have the start of friendly relations. Why risk lives needlessly?" She looked at her fellow City Councilors, meeting each gaze in turn. "I move that we open negotiations with the Travelers in control of the new dungeon."


    "Seconded," Tover and Zarabelkami chorused. They eyed each other with a mutually amused disgust.


    The Crafts Master said, "I agree."


    The last member of the City Council, Speaker Drelan Noc Scalla, added his opinion to the discussion. He held the finely woven rainbow spectrum cloth. "The reports of our first Delvers have all mentioned the art of this new Studio. How great a tragedy would it be to rob our future selves of the beauty that may yet come from this Studio of Capricious Dreams for the sake of short term greed? I will not condone provoking conflict with these Travelers. Further, Dame Chasraheil, calling them demons when they have every indication of being Aware strikes me as a deliberate provocation of that conflict."


    The silver haired elf sniffed. "I reserve the right for the Rimward Mages Association to charge triple rates when you fools finally come crawling to us to save you from those demons. And that, Drelan, is what they are, regardless of their Awareness."


    "Your show of anti-diplomacy is not going to get Haur invited to these meetings." The Master Merchant allowed her scales to ripple from her muzzle down to her claw tips, their gilded edgings creating a light show of disdain.


    Faulkin briefly pictured Zarabelkami''s head on the Arch next to the Dame''s. "That is a four to one vote to negotiate. Whom do we want to send?"


    The Lotrot City Council spent the rest of the session arguing the elf into picking a reasonable representative.


    <center><hr>


    *~*~*


    </center>


    Kargerran


    Sergeant Kargerran saluted Delver Talon Commander Muglibaum.


    Master Merchant Zarabelkami, her gilded scales aggressively announcing her presence, chuckled at the formality from the comfort of her enchanted landau as it hovered beside the Talon Commander, the top folded down to better enjoy the pleasant day.


    Seir Wejerlan, a relatively young elf representing the Rimward Mages Association, maintained a pleasant expression that somehow failed to hide his irritation. While the Master Merchant delighted in poking the mages, Kargerran expected that the irritation had more to do with the fact that Crafts Master Gilvillian''s senior apprentice, Elorikin, had managed to secure a position in the delegation. The charming gnelf was well known for calling all of elven kind her siblings. When asked, she would happily explain that she was just being democratic. After all, Elorikin''s gnomish mother refused to say with whom she had conceived her eldest daughter, so as far as she knew, any elf could be her half sibling.


    The Crafts Master, not to be thoroughly over shadowed by the Master Merchant, had generously offered to share his enchanted carriage with Elder Harusk, a white furred fox kin representing the beast kin among the city of Lotrot.


    The last representative Kargerran had the honor of shepherding out to the new dungeon was a slender parandrous stag. Officially, Va''Melnroe came on behalf of the Adventurers Guild. Kargerran wasn''t sure exactly how that played out, but with "adventurer" being a polite way of saying "mercenary" and the parandrians habit of involving themselves in conflicts in other countries on the side of the highest bidder, well, there was a connection. Tenuous, but a connection all the same.


    The Talon Commander returned Kargerran''s salute. "Eager to see what your Rangers have been up to, sergeant?"


    "Yes, Talon Commander!" Kargerran answered.


    "Me, too. Looks like the last stragglers are ready. Let''s move out!" Muglibaum addressed the last to the entire company.


    <center><hr>


    *~*~*


    </center>


    Lena


    Lena poked her toon''s head in on the Rangers. They were all awake, though the arassi seemed to be slower to get moving than the two beast kin.


    "Good morning! At least, I think it''s morning. There''s light coming from the other side of the entrance portals. I think I''ve worked out an oven and refrigerator set up. Turns out temperature displacements are much cheaper to maintain than temperature changes. And I''ve been working out some fun with clay shaping. I just need to come up with a decent clock, or time piece or something so I can figure out when I need to check the kiln. Oh, apologies! I''m rambling! Anyhow, you''re welcome to try out the new kitchen level. The guys are still sleeping. Also¡ª I''m probably starting to get to overwhelming. Sorry again! I''m a little on the hyper side right now because I''ve let my mana pool get a good reserve built up, so we can try some of those spell casting experiments you talked about last night."


    Vi chuckled, probably more at the raised fur and scales of his comrades than at Lena. "Please do lead on, ma''am."


    Lena narrowed her eyes at Vi. "You picked that up from Jason, didn''t you?"


    "Yes. Am I using the title wrongly?" Vi assumed a contrite expression.


    Lena shook her head. "Not really. It''s just an adjustment for me. Where we come from, we''re all West Coast chill, very informal. Jason''s a Southerner, born and raised in back woods Alabama. He may have lost the drawl during his time in the service, but he''s got a lot more of the formal manners drilled into him than I ever learned. I have to remind myself to let him open doors for me because the few times I''ve done for him, the awkward got very awkward for him. It was so adorable!"


    "What do doors have to do with manners?" the fox kin Ranger, Tilly, asked.


    "I never really got that, either. Wait, sorry, that was a force-of-habit response. There''s a pretty huge social change going on in America that really got started almost a century ago - maybe two? Anyhow, you go from having a couple few millennium of gender based oppression and the odd crap that comes out of that transitioning to a more egalitarian society, and everybody over thinking things so much because most of us want that egalitarian, people-are-just-people-and-not-stereotypes society, and traditions are all being questioned and ¡ª. Doors. Manners. Side tracking again. The rationale behind a lot of the older traditions of gender-based manners was that essentially, ''men can, so men should; women are too delicate to be allowed to try''. So that meant things like guys opening doors for women and staying on the down side of whichever way they were using stairs."


    Lena put her hands over her mouth and gave Tilly a helpless look of apology. "I''m going to be like this until the mana pressure eases up, so I''m going to try not talking and just showing you the new level."This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source.


    So saying, Lena nudged the crystal door she had swapped in for the solid-stone-turning-into-the-walkway closure. The door slid into the wall, rolling on glass-slick wheel-like bearings, making a soft susurration. She then dropped a stone bar along the side of the doorway to keep the door in its pocket before leading the way out to the Orange Tree platform. Two new archways graced the platform.


    One was sculpted into angular geometric shapes, accented with dimly glowing green-blue crystal inset in lines with right angle bends running up and around and down, joining or outlining embossed rectangles. As they approached, the crystal shifted to a more green, then yellowing, glow.


    The second archway looked to be all polished crystal, carved into some familiar and quite a few odd vegetables. Perhaps more because of the opaque quality of the crystal, their colors had a near-realistic brilliance.


    "Whoah!" the cat kin Ranger breathed out, fascinated with the new shiny arches.


    Lena shrugged. "They''re still rough. I''ll work on the details later, but the techie gate is closed until Candy finishes setting up her space. A lot of the spare mana in my pool is there because she hasn''t allocated it yet. The fruits gate leads to the kitchen."


    All of the Rangers had to make tactile inspections of the two archways before she could herd them into the new level. Then, once in the kitchen, the Rangers had to poke and prod at every nook and cranny. Lena enjoyed their commentary, using the Rangers as a distraction from her need to use up the mana her dungeon held in reserve.


    The kitchen was a circular room, four meters in diameter. Counters began directly on the left as they entered. The tops were smooth marbled stone, white with veins of lavender. A quarter of the way around from the portal, the counters stopped in favor of an ever flowing fountain. On the other side of the fountain, three ovens were arranged in a column together with their approximate temperatures inscribed on the stone doors. The bottom oven, marked 200¡ãC, was more of a broiler than an oven. The middle and top ovens had a slow circulation placed on the air inside and were marked as 175¡ãC and 100¡ãC, respectively. Warm water cascaded down a series of small pools arranged against the ovens to fall into the fountain. Counters resumed on the other side of the oven, stopping directly across from the portal in.


    A doorway, closed by another stone door (this one with an inset handle), was the reason for this second break. Lena really wanted to unlock some kind of metal soon, because the stone bearing balls, no matter how polished, just took up too much space when forced to support the weight of insulated doors.


    Lena had opted to fore-go closed cabinetry. She didn''t want to deal with stone or crystal hinges, and so she had used the crystal material to make near white shelving under the counter tops and at regular intervals over them. She had already stocked some of the shelves with hand towels, dish cloths, and clay pieces that were still air drying, preparing for their first firings.


    "I didn''t realize you had spells!" one of the delver Rangers said, Mathor(?).


    "I don''t, but what makes you think that?" Lena asked.


    "The fountain," Mithor (that was his name!) said. "How else do you have it working in here?"


    Lena wrinkled her nose. "Valves. Do you hear the clinking? I''m not sure if the ram head pump is behind enough stone to mute that for you guys or not, but I''m so eager to get copper unlocked! Getting iron should lead to steel, and then I can really get some awesome cookware produced, but with copper I can set up a good plumbing system, something more than the rudimentary stuff I''ve cobbled together so far."


    Nilis asked, "You consider this rudimentary?"


    "Well, yeah. Water, work space, heat source; those are the bare minimums for cooking, right?"


    "Where''s the cook surface?" the cat kin Ranger asked.


    Lena glided over and tapped at the ovens. "Here for now. When I have iron unlocked, I''ll put in a proper stove."


    The cat kin (what was his name?) raised a hand toward the ovens, pausing (pawsing? Nope, don''t start punning) when he felt the heat radiating from them.


    "Smart," Lena said. "I couldn''t get the doors to stay cool without doing weird levels of temperature tinkering, so I made a hook to grab the door handles with, there on the shelf at eye level. The doors are set on tracks, but I don''t know how well the tracks will take just letting the doors drop down, so please be careful. The broiler door just pops out and slides right, but that''s also the hottest of the ovens. The top oven is more for warming or dehydrating foods, with the middle set to pretty close to a standard baking temperature. At some point, I''m going to get the guys involved to tinker around with creating some kind of on-off switch for fan on, fan off settings, something to make them into a standard or convection oven, depending on what you''re cooking." This time Lena caught herself before apologizing for the rambling and instead just shut up.


    Vi carefully lifted one of the plates up to study.


    "Oh, be careful, please! That still needs to be fired. It''s quite fragile right now. I need to build a kiln, but I also need to conserve mana regen at the moment seeing as I''ll need to bring the temperature up around 1320¡ã Celsius to get the kaolin clay to properly vitrify. I''d love to talk with some of the local potters to find out what they use for glaze materials. So many of the metallic colorants leech toxins over time, and that''s no where near the same kind of problem for decorative pieces as it is for ones that are supposed to be food safe."


    "But you have the skill to change the innate color of what you create. Why would you need colorants?" Vi asked.


    Lena said, "Until I know more about how that color change takes place, I''m not risking the possibility of accidentally poisoning people. Cloth and things that we brush up against are relatively safe to color with metals and poisonous compounds because most of that is only poisonous when ingested, and the feel of the material doesn''t change, it doesn''t burn like sunshine or the like, so I''m confident that my [Applied Color Theory] isn''t making things radioactive."


    "Colors are not poisonous," Vi said, his confusion clear in the tilt of his head and pursing of his lips.


    Lena opened her mouth, thought better of it, and changed what she was about to say to a question. "What do you know about molecules?" At the blank looks she got from all the Rangers, Lena added, "Atoms? Chemistry?" More blank looks and tilted heads. "Alchemy?" she hazarded.


    All their expressions lit up with comprehension. Vi said, "Oh, we know how to mix some basic potions. That''s part of the Ranger Design, but most of us are too busy with field work to really delve into a full exploration of the alchemical arts."


    "Okay," Lena said. "I guess I''ll save the explanation for later. It''s not the colors that are poisonous, but what the color change might mean about the changes to the physical make up of what I color. I don''t know enough, so I''m being cautious."


    Vi made a study of Lena''s toon, which led the other Rangers to examine her closely as well. Vi said, "You''re shaking."


    "Mana build up," Lena said, shrugging.


    "How about we start the spell casting experiments, see how much of the dungeon''s mana pool we can use up to help with that?" Vi suggested.


    "Okay." Sometimes that was the best answer.


    <center><hr>


    *~*~*


    </center>


    Candy


    Candy felt much steadier after her deep thinking and nap. She did not appreciate having all the rules changed on her. It made the world unpredictable, and that instability meant that she could no longer trust the routines and little rituals she had developed to move through life without the constant need to question and examine every single detail. However, she now had a plan to deal with that unpredictability, and a lab to begin discovering the new rules she would have to live by.


    So far, socially, at least, the rules she had learned for interacting with other humans held when interacting with the arassi and beast kin. She had those rules mentally marked down as tentatively stable for the sapient beings of Rhofhir.


    Standing in the barely formed part of Lena''s Studio, the part Lena had specifically ceded to Candy''s control, she took a deep breath and, feeling silly, she pushed out the thought-command, ?[Zone Management].?


    *** *** ***


    Zone Designation: The Studio of Capricious Dreams


    Territory Designation: Human Habitat C*


    Access: Territory Manager


    MPP: 1000/1000


    MPR: 500


    MPC: 20


    *** *** ***


    *** *** ***


    The Design Lead has given you access to change the designation of the Territory you are to manage. Do you wish to proceed with designation change?


    *** *** ***


    ?Yes.?


    *** *** ***


    What designation do you want to bestow upon this Territory?


    *** *** ***


    ?Physics Lab.?


    *** *** ***


    Territory Designation updated.


    *** *** ***


    Okay, this mental interface was like a voice-command computer, only with thoughts. Candy could work with that.


    ?[Zone Management].?


    *** *** ***


    Zone Designation: The Studio of Capricious Dreams


    Territory Designation: Physics Lab


    Access: Territory Manager


    MPP: 1000/1000


    MPR: 500


    MPC: 20


    [Structure] ? [Resources]


    *** *** ***


    ?[Structure].? Information flooded her mind, but unlike the disorganized buffeting of her senses, this information was orderly, precise. There was a soothing quality to the simplicity of comprehending the rules of building out her territory''s structure that acted like a balm to her mind.


    Language, words, they were so ¡­ inexact, so abstract. Despite the words used to convey the information, the Tapestry system managed to provide all the precision and nuance that Candy usually had to spend hours dragging out of textbooks and people. It was only with the other engineering students and their professors that Candy had felt able to truly communicate, but even that had been limited by the abstractions of language. With the Tapestry, she found that she merely had to frame her ignorance for that ignorance to be answered.


    During this time, she discovered that her precious Physics did still work as she expected. Everything she had learned about mass, velocity, the forces of gravity, electromagnetism, the atomic-scale strong and weak forces; they were all still relevant. A fifth force, however, also interacted with the world of Rhofhir, and that force, the Aetherial force, was tied up in mana.


    Querying the system directly on how they came to be on Rhofhir also yielded a surprisingly reassuring answer. Brad''s invention had created ideal conditions for the echo of their electromagnetic signatures to reach one of the mana-based probes created by the Arcane Asylum. No mage had attempted to control their contact and so the system had verified that their echoes matched a racial template already held by the Tapestry.


    The primary purpose of the Tapestry was to condition mana, much like the ozone layer of Earth''s atmosphere conditioned solar radiation. Unlike the ozone layer, though, the Tapestry was an artificial construct comprised of a variety of mana-filtering components, all controlled by a highly complex operating system written in a programming language known to the inhabitants of Rhofhir as magic.


    Candy considered herself a scientist. Magic was simply unexplained natural phenomena. She didn''t need to give ignorance a fancy name, not when she had a lab to explore that ignorance, to whittle it down with empirical trials.


    *** *** ***


    Design of the Scientist unlocked.


    *** *** ***


    But there were also individuals who had learned something of how this mana force worked. Even if they sent her down intellectual paths formed from superstition, they had observational data to mine. Now if she could just get her hands on a mage.

 Neighbors 2

    Vi


    "Borrowing mana is a technique, an outgrowth of the [Mana Awareness] skill chain. If no one controls the mana, it''s simple. Otherwise, whoever''s mana you''re borrowing has to consciously choose to share their mana." Vi fell into instructor-mode almost by instinct as he prepared Lena for the spell castings to come.


    "Okay," she said.


    "What does that word ''okay'' mean?" Kentrell, the cat kin delver, asked.


    The face of Lena''s projection puckered up around her nose, relaxing only as she got to the end of her explanation. "It''s ¡­ actually hard to put into other words. Okay can be a mild agreement, a mild good ¡­ thing, I guess, but it''s also a short way of saying, ''I hear you and understand your meaning'' but without necessarily agreeing with the person talking. I said okay there to let Vi know I''m following along with what he''s telling me."


    Vi cleared his throat. "Okay," he said, trying out the word. "We are going to begin by attempting to borrow the ambient mana in the Studio to cast [Analyze] spells. Please keep the Zone''s mana count up and let us know what you observe afterward."


    Lena nodded. "Okay, can do."


    He smiled, then nodded to his fellow Rangers. They each had one of the larger new mana stones in hand, and they cast [Analyze] upon his nod. In fairly short order, they all looked up from the stones, their postures subtly changed, seeming more thoughtful.


    Vi asked, "How''s the zone''s mana pool?"


    "Nothing changed," Lena said.


    Vi had expected as much from his earlier experiences. "Let''s cast from our mana, just to compare," he said. Nilis in particular gave Vi a wry look, but they repeated the casting. It took a slightly longer moment before they finished with their spells.


    "Now, Lena, would you please project toward the Grand Tapestry your desire to share the dungeon''s mana with us?" Vi asked.


    "Done," Lena said, nearly on the heels of his request.


    They tried the casting again from the dungeon''s mana and this time, the power flowed easily through them.


    *** *** ***


    Mana Stone (Raw)


    Composition: Apatite (73%), Chalcedony (27%)


    Mana Capacity: 13/31


    Mana Channel: 3D


    *** *** ***


    Not a bad little stone, Vi thought. Rough and raw, but the capacity was good for the size, and the colors looked to shift between greens and blues, a nice complement to his mother''s House colors. With a channel rated 3D, or 3 mana per day, it would take about six days to fully recharge, which would make it more useful as a dedicated stone than a storage stone.


    That was beside the point. They had definite confirmation that Lena held dominion over this dungeon, as if watching her casually reshaping the environment weren''t confirmation enough. Now to see what affinities the dungeon held.


    Vi said, "For the next set of trials, we''re going to cast separation, combination, divination, and elemental spells. Most of the spells are fairly safe to practice, but some of the elemental spells are safer to throw than to allow to fizzle. Do you have any place you''re comfortable with lightning striking?"


    Lena gave him a flat look. "First, you''re going to explain what you mean by those different types of spells, then we''re going to discuss the specifics of any destructive or potential destructive spells you''re thinking to cast."


    Vi grinned. "Fair enough. Separation spells separate things. The [Purify] spell we used to check the cotton you made pushes the smaller weight of one substance away from the larger weight. It has a relatively light push so it won''t separate something that''s sewn together, but it will remove most stains and draw sediment out of water. Combination spells do the opposite. They draw different substances together. Lower tier spells mostly make mixtures: the substances aren''t changed in any fundamental way. Smithy Mages use higher tier Combination spells to create mithril and adamant alloys."


    Lena held up a hand and Vi paused. She asked, "Y''all have mithril here? Like, silvery metal harder and lighter than steel?"


    "Yes," Vi said.


    Lena''s projection listed sideways a moment before straightening. "Okay, that''s on the list of trade-fors. You were saying?"


    Vi smothered a smile, amused by the idea of a dungeon trading for mithril. "Alchemists and Mages don''t quite think of the elements the same way. For Alchemists, the elements are Fire, Water, Earth and Wind. To Mages, Fire is ether. It is movement and the heat that comes from moving. Water is liquid, one of many liquids, in fact. Earth is mineral, and Wind is air. All spells are some mixture of the elements. Ether and air make for a [Fire Bolt], while ether and mineral combine when casting a [Lava Bolt]. A [Water Bolt] can be turned into an [Ice Bolt] by manipulating the ether in the water."


    Vi paused, and Lena said, "Okay," again.


    He finished by saying, "Divination is more of a catch-all for distance magics, like [Far Sight] and [Message], [Locate], and the like. There''s an element of [Tapestry Reading] to the spells. This being a dungeon, conjuration affinity is assured. There are a few more different kinds of spells, but none that Rangers typically learn."


    "What do you consider conjuration?" Lena asked.


    Vi pointed one claw at the marble counters. "Turning mana into substance."


    "Oh, that makes sense," she said. Her eyes narrowed and her gaze unfocused. "You mentioned a lot of bolt type spells there. Would a shooting range perhaps be a better place for those types of spells?"


    "Do you speak of an archery range?" Vi asked.


    Lena nodded. "Something similar, I think, only with solid targets instead of straw bales or leather targets, something for the spells to splash against."


    "That would be a good location for the elemental assays. Do you have such a range available?" Vi asked.


    Lena''s projection shrugged. "It wouldn''t be that hard to set up. Maybe a touch longer than before Candy started experimenting with her level, but I''ve got a lot of mana in reserve at the moment."


    <center><hr>


    *~*~*


    </center>


    TalonCommander Muglibaum


    Delver Talon Commander Muglibaum spent the measured march from the city gates to the cave housing the new dungeon''s entrance in drawing out the perspectives of the sergeant and the corporal who had made first contact on this oddity of a managed dungeon. The other council representatives mostly listened in. When they did interject themselves, their questions focused on the personalities of the Travelers.


    Once at their destination, Muglibaum sent Sergeant Kargerran into the dungeon to announce their presence. The sergeant returned in short order. He saluted before reporting. "Talon Commander. Design Lead Lena Weston of the Studio of Capricious Dreams advises that, this being the second day since the Travelers awoke on Rhofhir, she is the only member of their party presently able to converse at this time. She requests our patience as she rouses her appointed Liaison Jason Kline, and offers us the hospitality of her Entrance Hall during our wait. Though, she made clear that she won''t be offended if we find it prudent to remain outside of her domain until the completion of our negotiations."


    "What did your Rangers have to say about that last bit?" Muglibaum asked, familiar with the types of personalities drawn to the Ranger class.


    "They were not within the Entrance Hall, Talon Commander. The Design Lead advised that they are conducting affinity tests in a specially created level." While the sergeant remained a picture of calm, Corporal Baline''s tail quivered at the news, his scales lifting just slightly.Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author''s preferred platform and support their work!


    Muglibaum nodded and stepped over to the other council representatives. "I recommend waiting out here, just to be safe. Are we agreed?"


    Zarabelkami''s nostril''s pinched together, then relaxed. "Agreed."


    Seir Wejerlan, wearing a thoughtfully flat expression, nodded.


    Crafts Master Gilvillian and Elder Harusk exchanged a glance before agreeing.


    Which left everyone looking at the parandrous stag. Va''Melnroe gazed into the cave that the sergeant had just come from. "For now," he said, with a slight inclination of his head that might have been mistaken for a nod.


    Great. Wonderful. Sandy parandrians, Muglibaum thought, recognizing the head dip for the aborted display of aggression that it was. Parandrian stags did not casually nod or shake their heads, and that went double for senior stags with more than ten points amongst their antlers.


    Fortunately, a pair of male humans emerged shortly after that. Sergeant Kargerran stepped forward to introduce all parties.


    The darker male, Roberto Garcias, seemed content to let the lighter male, Jason Kline, act as their speaker while he studied them.


    "I hope you''ll forgive us any faux pas we may make while we learn about your cultures," Jason Kline started by stating. "We didn''t exactly have much choice about just showing up in your backyard."


    "That''s not quite what Sergeant Kargerran stated," Master Merchant Zarabelkami said, her voice lush with sweetness.


    Jason Kline faced her and said, "We did not chose to be plucked from our home and dropped on Rhofhir, nor to wake up in the Wastes. The sergeant''s decision to aid one of our party when he found her in distress led us to this point. If you would prefer for us to shut this entrance and find somewhere else to establish neighborly relationships and trade agreements, by all means just say so and we''ll go. We see no reason that our displacement should result in any long term inconvenience on your part."


    Va''Melnroe''s head tipped back fractionally, and he eyed Zarabelkami, but did not speak.


    The Master Merchant inclined her chin in acceptance, a smile curving the corners of her mouth. "No need for haste."


    Seir Wejerlan stepped in. How he managed to make his question sound like a polite query was beyond Muglibaum''s [Negotiation] skill to comprehend. "How many demons are there amongst you?"


    Jason Kline frowned. "I don''t understand your question. We have seen nothing so far that we can tell has anything to do with demons."


    "Are you a Traveler?" Seir Wejerlan asked.


    "My [Status] lists my species as Human (Traveler)," Jason Kline answered.


    Seir Wejerlan adopted an almost indulgently patient expression. "Then you are a demon, a being that at the least traveled through the Primal Chaos, from which Rhofhir''s Grand Tapestry protects us. How many other demons are amongst you?"


    Roberto Garcias tapped his forehead, his sternum, his left shoulder and then his right shoulder. "Demon means something much different to us than it does to you, so please don''t call us that again. As for how many Travelers," he took care to stress the enunciation of that word, "are in our party, we found five and have reason to search for a sixth."


    "What was that thing you just did?" Muglibaum asked.


    Jason Kline said, "Think of it as the somatic component of a faith based ward against evil. Where we come from, demons tend to be the antagonists of whatever stories they end up in, especially mythologies."


    Roberto Garcias shot an annoyed look at Jason Kline, but said nothing more.


    Seir Wejerlan said, "Ah. Well, ''demon'' is the correct¡ª."


    Va''Melnroe cut in, a growl in his voice. "Not the name used by the Grand Tapestry, and therefore likely to lead to ¡­ misunderstandings that we would all prefer not to repeat, long ear."


    Seir Wejerlan''s jaw shut with an audible click. In a mild tone, he said, "I do hope you weren''t just threatening me, Va''Melnroe."


    The parandrian simply grinned back, showing a bear''s mouthful of pointy teeth.


    <center><hr>


    *~*~*


    </center>


    Lena


    "Given the obviousness of the political disunity among the negotiators, I''d guess this first day has gone decent," Jason said as he flopped down onto a bench in the Entrance Hall. "How''s your cousin doing?"


    Lena allowed the deflection ¡ª for the moment. "Candy''s named her territory ''Physics Lab'' and has been running through an odd series of tests with the environmental materials. She''s humming, though, so I''m pretty sure she isn''t broken at the moment. Her occasional shouts of ''Science, bitches!'' and ''Suck it, Iggy!'' are kind of comforting, actually. Annoying that I can''t just crank the stereo up to stop hearing her, but comforting that she''s in a good mood."


    Jason looked at her toon with a puzzled frown. "Who''s Iggy?"


    "Ignorance, I think. The only person named Iggy that I know that Candy knows of, at least, is Iggy Azalea, and she doesn''t care that much about pop music." Done with the delaying, Lena asked, "So, what''s the result?"


    Rob ran a hand down his face and Jason sighed. "The elf among the party is pretty much universally disdained. He represents their local mage guild. I''m not sure if the hating is for being an elf, a mage, or more personal. It may even be about that guild in particular, because their Talon Commander, another arassas named Muglibaum, was pretty chill with the idea of the Arcane Asylum''s mages.


    "We got a look at one of those parandrous stags,¡ª."


    "A what stag?" Lena interrupted to ask.


    Jason looked at her, briefly startled, then said, "Oh, I didn''t get to that yesterday. Um, parandrians are the local nomadic wanderer types. They''re like a bipedal bear crossed with a deer. Deer legs, bear claws, stags have antlers and don''t call them bucks, ever. The face is beautiful, but they have bear teeth in their mouths. On the way in yesterday, Kargerran said there are also taurgonauts around, which are like centaurs and minotaurs. I got the impression most of them are Aware, whatever that means."


    Lena said, "From what I''ve gotten from the Tapestry system, the Aware are the races that get to choose their alignment by choosing their actions. Monstrous sapients may be as smart as many of the Aware races, but something in their design constrains their actions, like their instincts are stronger than their reason or something like that. That''s one of the big reasons for the slave-contract: the system doesn''t recognize them as being accountable for their decisions. Anyhow, you were saying about the parandrians stag?"


    Jason took a moment to pick up the thread of his thoughts. "Ah ¡­ oh! He seemed a lot more interested in getting to meet you than trade. His name''s Va''Melnroe. The hostility between him and the elf, Wejerlan, was damn near explosive.


    "There was a gnome, a fox kin, and a gnelf, too. The gnelf was a young woman-girl named Elorikin. She''s apprenticed to the gnome, who is the local Crafting Guild''s leader. She looked like a Vulcan, very fem Spock with relatively small pointed ears compared to the elf and exaggerated eyebrows, but otherwise stock human. The elf looked more like how Blizzard shows Blood Elves, very emaciated with ears as long as his forearm tapering off to a point just a few inches over and behind his head.


    "I didn''t get a look at the gnome''s ears; they were hidden under his hat. Otherwise, he was a little more than hip high to me. I couldn''t stop thinking child-like when I looked at the guy (Crafts Master Gilvillian and don''t leave off the title), even though he''s a gray beard old man, and slender, too, but more like a muscular skinny than a starving skinny.


    "The fox kin was old, too, his fur all gone to white. He seemed the most mellow of everyone there, and also the most polite. His name is Harusk, and he''s an Elder among the beast kin alliances within Lotrot.


    "The one I''m most concerned about, however, is the Master Merchant. She''s an arassas and her scales are painted with gold. Turns out arassi women have very bass voices. Zarabelkami, the Master Merchant, she''s got a lot of clout with the arassi. It''s in the way they all defer to her somewhat, even the Talon Commander. She''s smarter than she lets on, I think, and I haven''t got a clue what she ultimately wants from us.


    "Va''Melnroe came representing the Adventurer''s Guild, and he seems mostly interested in you being a Champion of Order and how you gained control of the dungeon. Gilvillian and Muglibaum are pretty strongly enamored with the idea of having safe access to dungeon grown materials. Harusk seemed taken with the idea of seeing your art. I got the impression art is very important to the beast kin. Wejerlan focused a lot on your ability to control the dungeon and how that control can be passed along.


    "If Zarabelkami and Wejerlan want to take control of the dungeon, that could get ugly for us."


    Lena showed off by materializing a glass goblet beside Jason, filled with water. "That''s a lot to take in. Have something to drink."


    "You have glass now?" Jason asked, taking the offered drink.


    Lena grinned. "I got it as a ''special action unlock'' when the Rangers helped me figure out how to bake my pottery into porcelain. I also picked up some of my first magic techniques thanks to studying their spell casting tests. The water in the kitchen is now being [Purify]ed before it comes out of the spigots and after it goes down the drain. I can''t wait to unlock copper! The plumbing in here will get such an upgrade! I also got an [Inspect] technique and some fields called ''Shock'', ''Flame'', ''Haste'', and ''Force'' along with a [Trigger] technique. Aaron''s experimenting with the techniques in his territory at the moment."


    Rob rubbed at his face again. "Okay. So, can you separate our territories into their own levels?"


    "Sure. I can make two more level portals. Oh, speaking of levels, we have a shooting range and a bath house level."


    Jason and Rob looked at her toon with identical expressions of confusion.


    Jason asked, "Why do we have a shooting range?"


    "The Rangers needed a place to throw their spells, and I figure that we can convert the shooting range into whatever we need later, if needs be. I''m thinking of relocating most of the level portals to the bath house floor, moving the kitchen to that level, and fortifying this level. I''ve already worked out how to do that portal key thing so your territories can be uniquely tied to yourselves, giving you bolt holes. I''m working on how to hand you control over your portal keying, so that''s in the works."


    Rob asked, "Why fortify this floor? I mean, why where you thinking of it before we got back?"


    "Seriously? You, of all people, Mr. I-Trap-My-Sleeping-Roll, are asking me why I''m thinking that we might need to make this into a real dungeon?" Lena folded her arms over her chest. "Really?"


    Rob blushed. "That was my rogue, and I was role playing!"


    "Well, I''m not," Lena said, her tone firm and final. "And keeping you all safe, that''s my priority. We''re in unknown territory with multiple alien species of sapient beings surrounding us. Even if they were just different types of human, I studied my history books. I''m not going to assume they''re out to kill us and take everything we have, but I''m not going to rule out that possibility without a lot more evidence. Like the boyscout motto says, ''always be prepared''."


    "Somehow, I don''t see you as the boyscout type," Rob teased.


    Jason snorted. "Thank God, no! Now, Lena, what kind of fortifications did you have in mind?"

 Neighbors 3

    Lena


    *** *** ***


    Congratulations, Design Lead! Your first creature is ready to be created!


    Research into creature ??? has unlocked the Computer Golem.


    This creature is a Monstrous level Construct that will only function while under contract to the Studio of Capricious Dreams.


    Updating Zone Core with Creature Pattern ¡­


    Error: No Zone Core located.


    Creating first Computer Golem to act as Zone Core (Research) ¡­


    Zone Core (Research) has been created and assigned to Standard Monstrous Zone Guardian Contract.


    Updating Zone Core with all Research Progress¡­


    ¡­


    Research Progress updated.


    *** *** ***


    *** *** ***


    Congratulations, Design Lead! You have unlocked Computer Golem restricted variant Zone Core!


    Zone Cores may be assigned to manage specific Zone Management functions, resulting in increased efficiency of assigned functions. A Zone Core (Research) is required to store complex pattern information.


    *** *** ***


    *** *** ***


    40% progress made on Design of Management Strategist.


    *** *** ***


    *** *** ***


    Congratulations, Design Lead!


    Due to increased efficiency by the use of a Zone Core to manage Research:


    ? all unlocked Environmental Materials are now available as Exportables


    ? all Research projects have accelerated completion status estimates


    ? active experimentation will have a greater ability to unlock new Research paths and to advance existing paths


    *** *** ***


    Lena blinked at the influx of information. She stared dumbly as something that looked like a crystal appeared on the ground in front of her toon. On closer inspection, she realized that it wasn''t *a* crystal so much as a composite of gem quality minerals streaked with thin traces of metals. Slowly, the implications of all those alerts sank in. Diving into her menus, Lena extracted all the information she could about Zone Cores and Computer Golems, growing more and more excited at the possibilities.


    Jason was bunking in Rob''s territory at the moment, too much of his attention focused on the negotiations with Lotrot to spare for managing a territory. After their discussions, during which Lena called in Aaron as soon as she was sure it was safe to distract him, the guys had familiarized themselves with the bath house and kitchen levels then headed to bed. Candy was still in some kind of weird trance with her [Physics Lab] experiments. Lena knew better than to poke at her before she left her lab.


    Alone for the night again, Lena had been working on the renovations when that notification interrupted her. The level portals for the individual territories all led to the bath house level, and the kitchen had been added to that level. In Lena''s mind, it was already more of the common living space.


    Where the kitchen had been, Lena had created a staging area for Jason''s territory, for when he had the time to set it up. Now, she moved the Zone Core (Research) to that level and created a long display pedestal. She placed the Zone Core in the center, and created two more Zone Cores, one for (Guardians) and one for (Structures), which she placed to either side of the (Research) core.


    *** *** ***


    Congratulations, Design Lead! By assigning a Zone Core for Guardian Management, MPR costs associated with Zone Guardians are reduced and the number of Zone Guardian Contracts that can be maintained has increased! Check [Zone Management] for specific effects.


    *** *** ***


    *** *** ***


    Congratulations, Design Lead! By assigning a Zone Core for Structure Management, MPR costs associated with maintaining Structure are significantly reduced! Check [Zone Management] for specific effects.


    For further efficiency improvements, one Zone Core per level may be enslaved to the Zone Core (Structure).


    *** *** ***


    Excitement tingled through her. Lena did not like the "enslaved" phrasing, but as she understood things, these Computer Golems were a different type of computer from her laptop or cell phone, but essentially the same: inanimate and nonsapient. She quickly created one more Zone Core and assigned it to the Zone Core (Structure) to manage the Entrance Hall level.


    She brushed aside the confirmation notices and shifted her attention to her first level. She projected the shape she wanted the first trap to take to the level''s (Structure) core and then watched as her concept became reality. Next, she directed the core to duplicate one of the traps Aaron had worked out. When that, too, began to take shape, she quickly worked her way through projecting all the renovations that had been discussed with the guys.


    According to the system, the cores would continue to grow in capacity as time passed. The (Research) core would grow considerably more mineral formations as room to hold more patterns while the cores focused on managing the flows of mana would focus on growing more metal formations to improve their processing power. They would still increase their mineral components, but only to hold the patterns applicable to their sphere of influence.


    The best part of handing the implementation over to the Zone Cores was that they auto magically balanced the outflow of MPR to the inflow, which meant Lena no longer had to wait and watch her Mana Pool trickle fill when she ran out of MPP. The slow and constant approach also meant that it cost less, almost down to the original maintenance costs.


    Satisfied that her desired changes were well underway, Lena went back to her Research options.


    She had a new "???" entry under Creatures, as well as in the Plants and Techniques categories. The Environmental category had divided into subcategories.


    *** *** ***


    Mineral


    Stone ?


    Crystal ?


    Clay ?


    Metal


    Iron (90%)


    Silver (92%)


    Copper (99%)


    Tin (83%)


    Gold (68%)


    Lead (35%)


    Organic


    Soil ?


    Wood (99%)


    Char (43%)


    Fluid


    Water ?


    Air ?


    Mana


    Light ?


    Temperature ?


    Portal ?


    *** *** ***


    While looking over the new structure, Lena saw Wood and Copper go from 99% complete to unlocked, a small check mark replacing the completion percentage.


    Now that created some interesting possibilities. Plumbing, yes, but wooden floors, beams, fireplaces! And char was a new option. She would have to see if that was simply charred wood or something that could result in charcoal or coke for a forge.


    Before Lena got a chance to really fall into her plotting, Candy stumbled out of her [Physics Lab]. She looked exhausted, and her clothes were in need of a change.


    "Wow, look what the cat dragged in," Lena said.


    "Fuck off," Candy said, smiling. "What did you do here? And where is everyone?"


    Deciding to answer backward, Lena said, "Sleeping, and I''m making this the central living space. I figure it''s safer to move private doors to a restricted area rather than have them where anyone just getting through the front door can find them. And, girl, you need a bath. Let me show you to the private stalls."


    She walked her toon toward the bath house portion of the level. Candy followed on autopilot. Yawning, she asked, "Why the change up?"If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.


    Lena froze her toon mid step, then swiveled around to face Candy. "Did you not just hear me?" Lena asked.


    Candy set her hands on her hips and gave Lena''s toon a flat look. "I heard you, but why are you worrying now?"


    Lena let her toon slump, hunching over a little with a fierce expression on her face, imitating Mamaw at her most obnoxious. "Are you that stupid!? We had a *dire cat* come through the last entrance I made, and we''ve got strangers with completely unknown motives and culture for neighbors now! If we didn''t need to know what happened to Brad, I''m not sure I''d be this fruiting nice with them!"


    "Hey, Kargerran''s a nice guy!" Candy said, her jaw jutting forward.


    "So far, sure. We haven''t seen enough to know if he''s just polite, and, news flash! He is *not* the guy in charge! Being socially adept does not mean inherently nice or good!" Lena made her toon straighten up and threw her hands into the air. "Wait, I''m talking with Ms. ''I''m an engineer not a diplomat''!"


    "Fuck off!" Candy said, but with more of a grumble than a roar.


    Lena sighed, then said, "I''m sorry. That''s was a low blow. I''m scared, Candy. I am freaking terrified and feeling spectacularly guilty for enjoying this place at the same time. I shouldn''t be taking my stress out on you."


    Candy locked gazes with Lena. The silence held for several minutes while she considered. "Apology accepted. You mentioned a bath?"


    "Yeah, this way," Lena said, leading the way again.


    <center><hr>


    *~*~*


    </center>


    Lena had modeled her bath house on American public pools and her vague impressions of Japanese hot springs, with some consideration for the modesty of her friends. More remodeling was in order now that she could produce proper plumbing, but that mostly involved upgrading the existing features.


    With the kitchen moved to this level, Lena had created a circular main room for the levels to exit into. Counter-clockwise from the level portals, she placed an archway leading into the baths (the kitchen was entered via an arch just clockwise from the level portals).


    Through the bath house archway (still to be adorned), hallways diverged for male and female changing zones, to the left and right of the arch respectively.


    "Why?" Candy asked, pointing to the male and female signs marking the hallways.


    Lena said, "Jason."


    Candy frowned at her. "You did make private changing stalls, right?"


    "More like the open areas you''d see at a gym."


    "Why?" Candy asked again.


    Lena shrugged her shoulders. "It made sense at the time."


    In the ladies changing room, the texture of the floor roughened, adding enough bump to give good traction without being uncomfortable to stand upon. Three shower stalls lined the left side wall, glass doors with a frosted finish set on rollers (to be upgraded) serving to provide privacy.


    The left side wall was left as an open corridor leading to the ladies springs and the communal spring beyond.


    The near wall held toilet stalls, and the far wall open faced long lockers, with the column nearest the springs converted to a series of shelves to hold terry cloth cotton bath sheets.


    "While you''re in the shower, hang up your clothes in one of the lockers," Lena said. "I got a technique that cleans clothes, and I''ve put it in the lockers. Oh, and I''ll get you a robe."


    Candy sniffed, stripped and hung up her clothes. "Got soap?"


    Lena shook her head. "Just water and wash cloths for now. I''m hoping we can trade for things like that with the folks of Lotrot, maybe see if we can get some of their alchemists to share some herb lore in return for some herb trades."


    "I thought you don''t like the guys from Lotrot?" Candy asked as she headed into a shower stall. "Hey, where''s the off switch?"


    "I just got copper unlocked. I''ll add the upgrade soon, but the Entrance Floor has priority until all the traps and triggers are set up. Don''t worry about the water; we''re not in California anymore, and the same [Purify] technique works to make the water sanitary as it does for clothes."


    Candy paused, then finished walking into the shower, drawing the stall door closed behind her. "Start at the beginning and bring me up to date."


    By the time Lena felt she''d shared enough, Candy had finished her rinse and moved to the ladies hot spring bath. The stone and crystal imitated a natural environment for the bath, and the water temperature varied by position in the bath, with the hotter sections closer to the wall dividing the male and female baths.


    While Candy mulled over what Lena had told her, Lena started work on designing the various valves and pipes she would need for all of her plumbing upgrades. Being able to store the designs in her new Zone Core (Structure) meant that all she really had to do now was create the plans for what she wanted and let the cores do the work of implementing her designs.


    Candy interrupted Lena''s thoughts a few minutes later. "Okay, I can see where your paranoia is coming from. I''m not sure I agree with it, but I can admit that I''m a dunce when it comes to political stuff. But, traps? How are you going to make sure no one gets hurt?"


    "Even before getting the Zone Cores to help manage them, the traps that we all came up with had safeties built in by using the [Force] fields to prevent the mechanical triggers from engaging. Now that I have the Zone Cores, I was able to simplify things by designating all of y''all as ''safety first'' peeps, and everyone else as ''*our* safety first''. Aaron''s done a lot for trap design, and once I hand him a core to play with, I think he''ll make a lot more progress with the [Trigger] technique."


    Lena paused, pursing her lips and feeling disgruntled. Candy gave her an expectant look and remained silent. After a moment or two, Lena said, "I really don''t want to hurt anyone, but most of all, I will not tolerate jeopardizing your safety ¡ª you and Jason and Rob and Aaron ¡ª all of you. You mean a lot more to me than strangers, so if I have to kill to keep you safe, I will."


    Candy rubbed a hand over her face. "Shit on a stick. Alright. Maybe I can help you come up with some non-lethal stuff. If people keep coming after they''ve been warned, well, that''s on them. Tell me more about these techniques you''ve picked up." Candy held up her hand. "No, wait. Better yet, give me access to these techniques. The system''s much easier to understand than any human I''ve ever talked with."


    "Really?" Lena asked. She saw no reason to hold anything back so even as she continued to talk with her cousin, she granted Candy as full access to her unlocked resources as she could. She also had the core handling Guardians make that automatic for all of her Territory Managers, so that she wouldn''t have to provide that access at a later time.


    *** *** ***


    Zone Cores may only be spawned by Arbiters.


    *** *** ***


    That was fine with Lena.


    Candy''s gaze unfocused even as she nodded and said, "Language is imprecise."


    In the time that Lena watched Candy delving into her newly available options, Lena created Zone Cores for every level still lacking one, and then established a level for Jason, using her last level portal so that he had as much privacy as the others.


    Unlike for the others, Lena considered that Jason might prefer to not put a lot of thought into his Territory. He was a far more social being than the rest of them, despite Rob''s ease with social situations. Jason had a habit of staying as much in the background as he could, but he always chose to be around people over being alone.


    In consideration of this as much as his focus on the negotiations, Lena decided to put together a simple room that he could build out from, if he didn''t completely tear it down to create what he wanted. She added a Zone Core for this level, too, and considered what she knew of Jason''s likes and dislikes as she designed the room.


    Color-wise, Jason liked darker woods, blues and grays, with greens and purples making for pleasing accents. He liked a neat and orderly environment, but was far from a minimalist. As much as Jason appreciated the aesthetics of Chinese and Japanese art, he preferred bar seating to floor cushions. He enjoyed heights and taller furniture, and loved the humidity by the ocean. Lena recalled Jason sharing a story about his sinuses drying out on a training mission, something that came up when he and Rob were arguing about the worst climates to work in. Apparently, growing up around Mobile Bay had made dry climates particularly painful for him.


    Lena ran through a few experiments with the wood environmental material, discovering that what she had access to was more like particle board than planks. Deciding that sucked, Lena set aside working with the wood material for now.


    She decided on a space 3 m wide by 4 m long, and 4 m high, lined by her glow rocks, as she thought of the crystal embedded granite like stone. The light would be akin to what would be found out in the country on a new moon: the sky ablaze with stars being more defined than the ground hidden in shadows under one''s feet. Lena thought Jason would appreciate a privacy wall in front of the portal and settled on a floor to ceiling, pale blue, cloudy crystal sheet 1.5 m wide with an average thickness of 8 cm. A platform in the far corner to support a king sized bed finished off the design. She would put in the bedding once the level''s Zone Core notified her that it was done with the shaping.


    Candy was still giving every sign of being mentally absent, so Lena went back to working on the designs of her pipe fixtures and various types of building materials. She had moved back to playing with the structure of her environmental wood when Candy stretched and said, "Okay, I''ve uploaded patterns for a couple non-lethal shock traps to the (Structures) Zone Core, as well as some force and cage traps. I need to get my hands on a mage or experiment a lot to see if I can come up with any decent mana-suppression fields, but I''d prefer the mage."


    "You seem like you''re more willing to believe that this isn''t a brain damage hallucination. What gives?" Lena asked.


    Candy grinned. "I got answers. More questions, naturally, but I was right, too. We were not transported between dimensions, bodies and all. We''re copies of our original selves, recreated from the echos of our energy signatures." Her grin died and a more sorrowful look took its place. "At least our family isn''t stuck wondering what happened to us, because the original ''us'' is still back home, living our lives."


    "What. The. Fruit?" Lena asked, her mind stuttering to a halt.


    "We''re clones, Lena. There is no way back to Earth or the lives we remember because these bodies never lived there." Candy held eye contact with Lena''s toon for as long as it took her to suck in a breath. Then she looked away, raising her hands to wipe tears away that just kept streaming.


    Clones. The word reverberated through Lena. "What makes you say that?"


    "The system showed me," Candy said, her voice even despite the tears.


    "What?"


    Candy''s head fell back as she looked up at the ceiling. She swallowed. "Fuck, but language is so imprecise! ¡­ The Tapestry system exists to put patterns to unstable mana, making it safer to be around. It gets those patterns by stealing them from other places, other universes. Mana, it''s part of a fifth force, something that is nearly non-existent in our universe. Or too dispersed, maybe. That force makes it a lot easier for matter and energy to exchange states without nuclear explosions and shit. And the only thing that can pass between universes is energy. It has to be a balanced exchange. The spy cameras that mages here have put out to other universes have been hijacked by the Tapestry to find these new patterns. The biometrics that we were gathering with the Dream Catcher, they''re exactly the kind of thing the Tapestry is seeking."


    "So, how many of us are going to get put here?" Lena asked.


    Candy shrugged. "I think we''re it. The Tapestry system is programmed to seek a contained diversity, and it already has us. Other people, yeah, they''re likely, and I''ve already tried to prioritize them ¡­ instantiating near us. It''s a complicated process, and I have a feeling that well take a lot more time to get right.


    "But, holy hell, Lena! I could finally talk with another being on multiple levels, have five different conversations with the same being at the same time and it all felt ¡­ natural for the first time! I didn''t have to slow down at all! I kind of feel sorry for the me that was left behind."


    Lena latched on to the distraction of her cousin''s unprecedented bliss, shelving the implications of Candy''s revelations about their states for a later consideration. She ran through the trap designs that Candy had come up while her cousin continued to babble in her delight, then updated the development plans for the Entrance level. A part of her wanted to see how the Rangers would react to the new obstacle course of the first floor.


    <center><hr>


    *~*~*


    </center>


    Dibbs


    "Please speak your name for the recording stone."


    "Casper Dibbons, Mage Graduate of the School of Arcana." Nerves wanted to make his voice shake, but Dibbs was made of sterner stuff. He hoped.


    He sat in the Petitioners Office of the Arcane Asylum''s Council of Magi, an opulent room of gold-toned wood, richly colored spider silk tapestries and magically hovering furniture.


    The Examiner, an archmage Dibbs had never met before, nor been introduced to, glanced down at a scroll box and made a note, using an everlasting quill. A spherical carnelian Memory Stone occupied a space on the goldwood desk between them. "Explain the details of your Astral Summoning of the demon Bradford Ajput Singh."


    Placing his focus on the minutia, Dibbs'' response took nearly an hour. The Examiner made notes, but did not interrupt. He waited a moment to confirm that Dibbs had finished speaking before asking, "What signs did you have that this was not a normal summoning?"


    Dibbs said, "My apologies for not understanding the question, but I''ve just explained to you what I noted and witnessed during the summoning. The only oddity was the particular clarity, and hence why I used my best Memory Stone to capture the details of the summoning for later review."


    The Examiner made another note, glanced up at Dibbons again, and then wrote more down on his scroll box. When he looked up again, he sighed. "Why did you bring this to the attention of the Council of the Magi?"


    Dibbs held out his hands. "I don''t know what to do. Discovering a demon with a human mind, I didn''t know it was possible! And to have placed that into a golem, that may be the accepted procedure for other types of demons, but one with an Aware mind? This is a huge ethical quandary! I''m hoping that by seeking the assistance of my elders I can learn enough to limit the damage that I''ve already done. If that is beyond my capabilities, then I must seek the aide of those greater than myself. I understand that this places me in debt to the Council, should they choose to accept my petition."


    The Examiner snorted out a breath. "Do you now? What do you expect, Mage Dibbons, from the Council?"


    "At the least, ethical guidance. The most effort I can see being required would be if they decide that the most ethical path is to trans-substantiate the golem body to a human body, at which point I fully expect to be indebted to the Council for the rest of my life."


    That gave the Examiner pause. "Well, at least you do understand the stakes. The next meeting of the Council will not be held for several days, however I will forward your petition to the Council members that they can best determine whether to advance their meeting date to debate this matter. Your sponsor shall be advised of the Council''s decision, assuming you are not summoned directly. Good day."


    A part of Dibbs wanted to howl. That was it? But it was better than an outright refusal. He bowed his head, rose, and left.

 Neighbors 4

    Aaron


    *** *** ***


    The Design Lead has granted you limited use of the Zone Core (Structure):[Aaron''s Room] to assist in Territory Management.


    The Design Lead has granted you access to spawn all plants and most creatures available to the Studio of Capricious Dreams. This ability applies only within your Territory.


    The Design Lead has granted you access to all Structure and Exportable materials. This ability applies only within your Territory.


    *** *** ***


    That message greeted Aaron when he awoke on the third day since landing on Rhofhir. He wanted to see what lay on the other side of the Lotrot portal, to discover what the plants and animals were like, but Rob and Jason had teamed up with Lena to argue against him going out ¡ª for now. Aaron wasn''t much of one for politics, but at this point even acting as a bus boy for the negotiations going on outside was starting to look attractive.


    It wasn''t that Buttercup wasn''t fascinating, but he didn''t know enough about her species to know what she needed, and there was only so much he could stand of watching the dire cat sleep.


    Rob''s territory had splintered off from his last night, so now Aaron had no one looking over his shoulder. He had had fun experimenting with trap building, and the exercise had helped him get much more comfortable with the Territory Management stuff.


    Before anything else, Aaron investigated what his spawning options were, and the lists were wonderfully long. The Local Grasses listed over 30 varieties, with Local Bushes and Local Fungi having a similar breadth. The Local Trees option contained only three entries: Water Tree, Star Queen Apple Tree, and Fig Nut Tree, but there were additional "Misc." trees including another type of apple tree, two more nut trees, and a Star Banana tree. He found focusing in on the names of the different options gave him additional information.


    *** *** ***


    Breath Bane (Grass): This potent variety of Garlic prefers to grow in the shade of Water Trees. Most cooks prefer to use an oil pressed from the garlic cloves as opposed to the cloves themselves as the act of cutting or crushing these garlic bulbs has a tendency to set the stench of the Breath Bane in the nearest porous surface.


    *** *** ***


    That sounded like a garlic Aaron had to try.


    But, responsibility tugged at the young man.


    ?Good morning?? He asked across the G.C.


    Lena responded. ?Good Pre-Dawn Morning, I think. No one else is awake yet, seeing as Candy just went to sleep. Even Buttercup''s curled up in the cave-i-tat you made her. I''m upgrading the plumbing in the bath house, but I''m leaving one of the showers alone until the others are working. The replacement process is fascinating! Oh, and I''ve made some stuff for the talks, just to make things easier. I have never been able to split my attention this well before! I love it! And, sorry, talking your ear off!?


    ?Okay, I''ll go take my shower and get started on hauling stuff out,? he said, eager at getting his first look at their new place.


    By the time Aaron started hauling platforms out of the Studio, true dawn had broken. The rim of the sky was warm with rich golds divided by a barely noticeable green band before giving way to pale blues. The sun itself was nowhere to be seen, though. The cave didn''t give them a terrible amount of side to side room, but it was at least tall enough for Aaron to stand up straight.


    He leaned the first platform against the rock face near the cave entrance and took a good look around. Enormous outcroppings of a gray-brown granite-like rock and lone willow-looking trees dotted steppe land as far as Aaron could make out. The temperature was mild, the grass more winter bleached than golden with hints of new-growth green peeking through and dew ¡ª not frost ¡ª glinting here and there as dew droplets caught the light just right.


    "Well, not tundra, at least," Aaron said to himself. "Too warm with the grass that new. It looks like Spring, or a California Winter. I wonder which season we''re in?"


    He sucked in a lungful of air and held it, savoring the taste of it on the back of his throat. The scents of healthy earth and growing plants mingled with a touch of the more pungent scents creatures used to mark their territorial boundaries.


    Jason and Rob woke up not long after that, cleaned themselves up, and gave Aaron a hand with setting up the meeting space. Rob started to grumble at Aaron for stepping outside without them, so Aaron flipped him off and kept working, saying, "I am a grown man, Rob. I''ve been wiping my own ass for a while now, and I think after all the hunting trips with Uncle Keith that I understand the concept of ''stay safe in the wilderness'' maybe as much if not more than you!"


    "Oh, really? What makes you think deer hunting is any more preparation than Basic Training?" Rob snapped back.


    "For one, I''ve done it more and more recently than you''ve been to Basic. Poachers like to sneak around during the hunting season almost more than off season so we do have to watch out for people ranging from stupid yahoos to outright hostile muthas while avoiding rattlers, cougars, badgers, feral dogs and skunks. Tell me, Rob, while you were in the tank bay, when was the last time you had to worry about waking up with snakes snuggled up to you? I''m not talking about the barracks bunny type of snake, but the scaled, fanged, and often enough venomous types?"


    Jason chuckled. "He''s got you there, Rob."


    "Hey, whose side are you on?" Rob said to Jason


    "Picking sides here is a whole bowl of Nope. I get where you''re coming from, Rob. We''ve been cleaning up for wet behind the ears, fresh out of the house idiots for a few years, but that''s no reason to assume your brother is as stupid as Kegger. He maybe hasn''t hit the Age of Caution yet, but he''s got a good head on his shoulders. Instead of riding herd on him, how about tonight we work together on establishing procedures for trips out of the dungeon? The girls - Candy, I guess, needs that more than Aaron."


    Rob kept his grumbling to himself after that.


    <center><hr>


    *~*~*


    </center>


    Kargerran


    Kargerran nodded to the sentries for the camp of parandrian nomads that had formed overnight near to the entrance of the Studio of Capricious Dreams. On the way home the day before, Va''Melnroe had quietly informed the Talon Commander that there appeared to be some of his more nomadic kinsmen in the area at about the same time Vi informed Kargerran of their unofficial escort.


    The sergeant determined to be amused by the unsubtle tactics of the Adventurers Guild representative. Much like the Delvers Talons of Lotrot, possession of a single dungeon meant a lot less to them than information that could be applied to making all dungeon delves safer.


    Upon arriving at the cave mouth they discovered a large open-sided pavilion had been set up on a slightly raised platform 5 m square. The platform was all brilliant purples and vivid blues, while the pavilion canopy resembled the twilight side of sunset. The supports for the pavilion gleamed with coppery brightness.


    A circular table big enough to host twice as many dignitaries as were present took up the center of the platform. Seats ringed the edges of the pavilion, again far more than were needed, but they came in an assortment of strange styles. Many had a stool-like appearance, but a number had more than enough room to accommodate even an arassas'' thick tail while providing a backing to lean against. In a corner of the pavilion closer to the cave mouth, a large copper brazier with an abstract mosaic of crystals the color of flames on its outside, warmed a large sized copper kettle. Goblets of glass were arranged around the table, and elegantly fluted pitchers of iced water placed on cotton pads of marbled rose and copper were intermixed. Fine porcelain dishes with copper edgings sat stacked near the middle of the table.


    A 40 cm tall statue of a tree made of copper and dainty, multi-colored mana crystals stood on a stand to the right of the copper brazier.


    Jason Kline and Roberto Garcias were bringing out another pair of interesting chairs as they approached. The two humans positioned these full backed chairs at the table in front of the cave entrance before coming over to politely greet the Lotrot Council delegates.If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it.


    "Lena made a fair amount of progress in discovering how to make her environmental materials into exportable objects, and so we''re able to host you in a little more comfort than yesterday," Jason Kline explained, waiving at the pavilion. "We don''t have much experience with other sapient races, so please let us know how we may improve the seating arrangements. Unfortunately, we don''t have food or beverages other than water to share at this point, though I hope, Merchant Master Zarabelkami, that the fire pit and kettle will provide you a sufficient source of hot water for your tea."


    "Your hospitality is appreciated," the Master Merchant said as she dismounted from her landau. "May we inspect these marks of progress?"


    Jason stepped aside. "By all means, do. And, Vi, it''s good to see you again. Lena was feeling particularly artistic and inspired by your curiosity. She asked that I draw your attention to the statuette of the Orange Tree."


    Elder Harusk claimed Vi''s arm for support and the two made their way directly to the statuette and brazier. Crafts Master Gilvillian and his apprentice Elorikin joined Zarabelkami in examining the chairs. Seir Wejerlan approached the table, picking up the nearest of the porcelain plates for a closer examination while Va''Melnroe followed him to examine the goblets. Talon Commander Muglibaum had already relayed his orders for this part. He nodded to Kargerran and Baline and then joined the Masters Craftsman and Merchant at the chairs.


    Nilis, Tilly, and Kentrell slipped off into the bushes while the Infantry, Medics, and Harriers formed a perimeter several meters out from the pavilion. Kargerran and Baline and the remaining Rangers took positions facing toward the center of the pavilion, though remaining outside of it.


    Roberto Garcias stepped into the Studio of Capricious Dreams, returning with a stack of ten identical flat, white boxes, each about 7 cm tall. He set them beside one of the seats already at the table and then began distributing them around the table. When Va''Melnroe reached for one of the boxes, Roberto Garcias made no move to stop him.


    This drew the others to the table and they gathered around to see what the box contained. Kargerran didn''t have a good line of sight.


    "What an interesting scribe box," Va''Melnroe said. He lifted something. "Do you not use scrolls?"


    Jason said, "No. We find them terribly inefficient for a fully literate society. In your hand is a piece of paper made from bleached and pulped wood. Lena was working on book binding when we came out, so I''m hoping we will have some samples of those to provide you before the end of the day. Each scribe''s box should contain three hundred sheets of the paper in addition to ballpoint pens in a rainbow of colors. The ink is made from rendered char and has been treated with Lena''s [Applied Color Theory] skill. She lacks any gumming agents, so the ink flow may be a bit inconsistent."


    "Are these ''ballpoint pens'' something like quills, then?" Seir Wejerlan asked, looking mildly interested.


    "Something, yes," Jason Kline said.


    Elorikin asked, "Where is the ink?"


    Jason Kline''s head bent out of sight. "Inside the pens. The barrels are colored to match the ink they contain. Like this."


    "I say, that is a useful gadget!" Crafts Master Gilvillian said.


    "Lena has asked that I share that she will be happy to hear your thoughts, especially any suggestions for improving the comfort and usefulness of the pens. There should be a box for each delegate. Lena presents these as tokens to entice future trade deals."


    Zarabelkami said, "What is to keep us from copying the devices ourselves?"


    "Oh, please do," Jason Kline said. "And when you figure out how long and how much it will cost you to do so, remember that Lena made these just this morning. Without a materials cost. I think that brings us back to the point we left off at yesterday?"


    The Master Merchant''s scales rippled, a less dramatic effect under the pavilion''s cover. The delegates found chairs to their liking and seated themselves at the table.


    Kargerran enjoyed being a bird at the window of these talks. The two Travelers handled themselves well, displaying a bottomless well of patience as they refused to be baited by the Seir. Jason Kline''s understanding of the mayhem that could be dealt to their economy with dungeon-made products, and the short-sighted temptation presented to do just that, seemed to both antagonize and soothe the Master Merchant.


    If Kargerran read Crafts Master Gilvillian correctly, he was seeing the advantage of allying with the dungeon Travelers, letting their trade-neutral stance be on their heads rather than he being stuck holding the hot end of a "commercial weapon of mass destruction".


    It helped, Kargerran acknowledged, that the Travelers seemed most interested in turning their dungeon into a place where the mages, craftsmen, and dungeon delvers were free to experiment.


    <center><hr>


    *~*~*


    </center>


    Aaron


    Back in his territory, Aaron decided to see what he could do with the options now available to him.


    The hilly terrain bothered him as he looked things over today, so he changed that by leveling most of the dirt, pushing out the borders of his level slowly while he worked. He left Buttercup''s cave alone, not wanting to disturb the sleeping cat. Next up, Aaron summoned one of each of the Local Trees.


    The Water Tree looked to be one of the willow-like trees that Aaron had seen on the steppe, though the branches and leaves resembled more woody-fern than tree. The tree itself was around 6 or 7 m tall with a mostly white, smooth bark. The leaves were a green-tinted yellow, and stopped a meter and a half from the ground.


    Lena used the G.C. to ask, ?May I swing by??


    ?Sure,? Aaron said, suspecting she had a notice or the like inform her of the making of the tree.


    Lena''s glow body apparited off to the side of the Water Tree. "Nice! How did it show up?"


    "As you see it," Aaron said, now convinced.


    After a moment''s study, she turned to face Aaron and asked, "Have you tried working with your level''s Zone Core yet?"


    "Nooo." Aaron said, letting the word trail off.


    "You can plan the whole floor at once, then project the completed thought to the core and it will take over implementing the design you came up with. It''s slower and more cost effective to do it that way, and you can send it the plan in stages and it takes over meshing the changes together. That''s how I put together all the stuff for the pavilion. Nothing we have is sapient, at least according to the menu categories, but I''d still like to get us all together before any of us try to summon critters." Lena delivered that last bit with a pensive expression, her gaze seeking out Buttercup''s cave.


    "And what do you want us to discuss about that?" Aaron liked to think he kept the irritation out of his voice. He wasn''t a kid and he was getting a bit raw over the treatment.


    Lena''s gaze flicked back to him, and she hugged herself. "I don''t know what the ethics are of spontaneously creating creatures. Plants are different enough that I don''t empathize with them, but especially the bunnies, those Horned Jackrabbits, well, bunnies are cute, but they''re also poor man''s chicken. There''s been a crap ton of things happening, and I don''t know how I''d take something breathing suddenly, well, not. I know I''ll kill to keep you guys safe, but I don''t know how well I''d handle it if that actually¡ª. If I actually took a life."


    Aaron felt like an ass for thinking Lena had been talking about him. "Hey, you know, there''s a lot of stuff that we need to all get on the same page with. How about we let Rob and Jace know to meet us in the kitchen when they get done, and we can round up Candy and get started setting out boundaries?"


    Lena smiled at him. "Sure," she said, then looked around the territory. "Where do you sleep? It looks like just dirt and Buttercup''s den."


    "The ground''s soft enough, but I smoothed everything out when I expanded a bit."


    "And the bedding? Is it in with Buttercup?"


    "Nah, I left the blankets in the lockers for now."


    Lena tilted her head to the side, giving him an mildly incredulous look before straightening up. "Okay. Weirdo. You could at least make a hammock, you know? Ooh! That would be so cool! I really wish I had a regular body now!"


    "What idea has weaseled into your brain now?" Aaron asked, laughing.


    "I''m thinking a forest floor would be awesome, with an actual tree house, like the inside of the tree is the house, with a hammock style platform for a nest bed, all pillows and fuzzy blankets."


    Aaron rubbed his forehead. "So, you want a Keebler house?"


    "What?"


    "Like those Keebler elves in the commercials for Nestle''s cookies?" he prodded.


    The excitement filling Lena''s face drained away, like air from a sliced open tire. "Gee. Thanks. Rain on my parade, why don''t''cha?"


    Aaron laughed again. "It''s what came to mind! I was thinking more of making something like a hobbit house, though, turning my house into a hill."


    Lena shrugged. "Maybe I''m too human, wanting to turn nature into my house instead of turning my house into nature like you, Mr. Baggins."


    "What, not Frodo?"


    "How about Sam?"


    "Tch! Fine." Dropping the topic, Aaron studied his territory once more. "So, how do I use this Zone Core thing?"


    With Lena''s assistance, he started the random seeding of his territory in motion, as he began by recreating the outside terrain. After all, he wanted Buttercup to be comfortable, in this part of his level at least.


    More to keep Rob from picking at him than because it actually mattered to Aaron, he made a room near the portal, complete with a round, barn-red door. In the room, he placed a bed of pillows. Sleeping arrangements settled, Aaron went back to exploring at least the available flora.


    Being fond of fruits, Aaron put in a copse of four apple trees on the other side of the level portal (to the left upon entering). He mixed both of the available varieties, and then added a Pucker Berry bush to live in the shadow of the Water Tree, as its description indicated that was a natural companion planting.


    Buttercup stuck her head out when the plants sprouted. She batted at a stray stalk of grass growing near the entrance of her cave, but quickly pulled her paw back, shaking it as if she just got shocked.


    "Hey, beautiful! Glad to see you''re awake!" Aaron said, his tone soothing and pitched to carry.


    She glanced at them, rose, and began rubbing her cheeks against the edges of her cave opening, purring loud enough for Aaron to hear despite being over 10 m from her cave.


    Aaron started to walk toward her, but as his foot came down toward the newly growing grass, he found out just what Buttercup had experienced as the nerves in the sole of his foot spasmed, the sensation tightening every muscle up to his thigh at the same time, which made him stagger. It wasn''t painful so much as strange, weird even.


    A dry, mechanical voice came over the G.C. ?Introduction of new non-component matter during the restructuring process is not advised as it may lead to anomalous reactions ranging from failure to complete restructuring to complete destabilization of the zone.?


    Lena let a low whistle, then said, "Well, let''s not do that again!"

 Neighbors 5

    Lena


    Jason entered the Studio with a sheaf of papers in hand. "Lena, we need your input," he called out on his way to one of the restored benches. With the Rangers no longer camping in the Studio''s Entrance Hall, Lena had restored it to the oval waiting room look, only now the crystal pocket door leading into the rest of the dungeon had a decorative frame made of copper laced through marble.


    Lena plopped her toon down beside him. "What''s up?"


    "We''ve got them to agree to a non-aggression pact that includes recognition of your sovereignty over the Studio and letting us actually leave here to trade with them. They want to post guards on us to enforce that, and we''re trying to get them to agree that those guards would also protect us. Would you be willing to provide those guards a fall back position within the Studio and offer one of the members of the Lotrot military an employment contract?"


    Lena took a moment to think that over. "Kargerran or Vi, yes. I think Vi would be the better choice, but I like the morals that Kargerran''s displayed. Regardless, they''re on the limited employment contract, and that is not negotiable. Also, if it''s Kargerran or Vi, you can throw in the shooting range level as their territory and an allocation of 500 MPP with an MPR allowance of 100 points. They can add crystals to the level to improve that, but their MPR will not exceed 1000 and their pool won''t change. If you need the wiggle room, you can start them up to that 1000 mark, but any higher and I''m concerned about what they could mass produce."


    "How about starting with a lower mana pool?" Jason asked.


    Lena made a squished up face, then relaxed to a frown as she said, "Don''t go under 300 or it''ll take them months to make any substantial changes without tapping the level''s Zone Core, and I''m not sure I want them to know about that just yet. You can sweeten things with my assistance with any major structure changes, but while they''re in the Studio, they are subject to our laws."


    Jason shuffled through the papers, making notes off to the side every now and again. "Alright. Next up, the crafting studio: Gilvillian''s pushing for the crafts to include forges for smithing, gold smithing, and glass blowing, with room for a few different types of apothecaries, carpentry, and stone working."


    That was much easier to agree to. "I''ll need someone to walk me through each of the different crafting needs, but I also intend to have furnaces for metallurgical experimentation and kilns for potters and glass annealing. Any common materials have to be provided by the crafters, and sufficient samples of any special materials need to be provided to the Studio for us to recreate what they need."


    Jason scratched the side of his nose. "We do not want to fuck up their economy so dungeon provided materials should be limited."


    "Okay," Lena said. "In return for providing the research materials for the special mats, they get to have unlimited access to those materials for experimentation purposes only, meaning the end products of their experiments cannot leave the dungeon. Is this Zarabelkami chica pretty sharp?"


    "Do you mean her wit or her merchant skills?" Jason answered with a small smile. "Because both, yeah. Why?"


    "Maybe make it part of the agreement that the merchants and anyone who normally supplies their ingredients get some input on what materials we can provide the crafters and at what prices or value equivalences."


    "Price fixing?" Jason asked.


    "My folks got into the community supported agriculture movement because they felt that farmers need to be fairly compensated for their labor. As far as I''m concerned, that also goes for wild gatherers, hunters, ranchers, all of the people who produce the goods that people depend on for basic survival. Just because we *can* run them out of business doesn''t mean we *should*."


    "I wasn''t judging," Jason said, his tone mild.


    "You like economics and stuff, what do you think about my stance?"


    "I think we don''t have enough information about the current market conditions, so erring on the side of not rocking the boat till we know more is to our benefit."


    Lena''s expression underwent a complicated series of changes before evening out. "Okay. Anything else?"


    "I think that works. Where would you place the crafters if the military gets the shooting range level?"


    "I''d build them space here on the Entrance floor, just like I''d move the military level portal to this hall."


    Jason rose. "I think that takes care of everything up to now. Hopefully we''ll bring you a contract to accept before the light starts fading again."


    <center><hr>


    *~*~*


    </center>


    Jason


    At the end of the day, Jason had a formal contract agreed to by the representatives of Lotrot that promised they wouldn''t have to worry about being attacked by the city. He would have called it a treaty, but this Tapestry system treated it the same as it had the contract that made him Lena''s Liaison. That left them to come to terms on a military liaison and supplying materials for experimental crafting.


    That last one seemed a point of conflict among the Lotrot representatives, so Jason had laid out what Lena had told him she was comfortable with and asked them to shelve that topic until they had a unified goal.


    The problem with the military liaison came down to Talon Commander Muglibaum''s insistence on Corporal Baline for the position and Lena''s flat refusal.


    The five of them sat at the table in the kitchen that evening. "I get it that Baline''s an ass, but why is he a sticking point?" Jason asked.


    Lena leaned back, her toon partially phasing through the chair back. "I don''t care as much about his attitude as you seem to. I care that he''s fruiting terrified of me and this dungeon. If he''s got anything more than muscle in his head, I haven''t seen it, and I''m not willing to trust someone who''s been trained to respond to fear with aggression as their eyes in the dungeon when he can''t keep his fear to himself."


    Jason sighed. "I guess that''s fair, but what about giving up on pushing for Vi or Kargerran?"


    Lena''s toon straightened back up. "How about they put forward five candidates, we give them a week in the dungeon, and at the end, we eliminate two then they pick from the remaining?"


    "I''ll try to swing it, but no promises." Jason rubbed his face. He watched Candy sketching away at something for a moment before asking, "What are you working on?"


    Candy didn''t bother to look up. "I''m trying to come up with different ways I can experiment with mana to discover how it interacts with matter and energy. Aaron''s discovery earlier today is making me really want to spend time with a mage to figure out what safety precautions they take with spell chucking."Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings.


    Rob tensed up. "What happened in this ''discovery''?" he asked, looking at Aaron.


    "Calm your tits, Mother Goose, no one got hurt," Aaron said, shooting Candy an exasperated glare. "Lena mentioned the Zone Cores this morning, right?" At Rob''s nod, Aaron continued. "I started putting together an ecosystem in my territory, using the Zone Core for my level ¡ª it''s just plants at the moment ¡ª and the Zone Cores move slower, about at the rate of MP recovery, I guess? Anyhow, I started to move through a part of the territory that the core was seeding with plants and got a warning about introducing foreign materials to the process."


    Before Rob had a chance to speak, Jason asked, "Did the warning say anything about why that''s a problem?"


    Aaron sighed and rolled his head from shoulder to shoulder. "The core said that it could cause anything from making the process fail to destabilizing the zone."


    Lena spoke up. "I poked the Tapestry more about that, and so did Candy. With what we got back, the core was talking about Aaron''s level only. We figure we''re being overly cautious, but until we know more when you guys do make updates to your levels, we''d like to make sure the levels under construction are cleared of all people and critters."


    Jason, Aaron, and Lena looked toward Rob. While obviously not a happy camper, Aaron''s brother stayed silent.


    Candy, still without looking up, said, "Speaking of critters, we can summon a bunch of strange things. Aaron''s probably the best one to work on categorizing them, but he''ll need some help with the critter wrangling."


    "Hey! Before we get to that point, what are the ethics, here?" Lena asked.


    Candy glanced up for that. "What do you mean?"


    Aaron said, "We''re talking about living creatures. Rodents, rabbits and snakes for the most part, yeah, but we need to figure out a few things before just summoning them. You know, things like: why to summon them in the first place, what do we do with them once they''re summoned, and what steps do we take if we decide they aren''t good for the dungeon. What''s available right now mostly falls under the Local categories, and ''dire cat'' is the only monster at this point, but that''s not going to hold true for the future unlocks."


    "So we don''t summon anything," Rob said.


    Candy shook her head. "That''s part of the whole point of these dungeons. When I was heads deep in the interface, what I got is that these things are the testing grounds for evolutions and adaptations. If we don''t spawn new life, fail safes in the zone will, and it will be random. Most likely, it''ll be stuff we''ve already unlocked, but it could be anything, including making chimeras out of any living thing in the dungeon."


    Lena frowned, her gaze unfocused.


    Aaron said, "You didn''t say anything about that before."


    Candy set her pen down and leaned back, not quite glaring at Aaron. "Am I the only one that can query the Tapestry? Hells bells, the more we all try, the more we''ll understand from it!"


    Jason turned to Lena, but her toon was as good as a statue made of light at this point. "Looks like we lost Lena there. Candy, Rob and I have been handling foreign relations so why don''t you catch us up to speed on this querying the Tapestry thing?"


    <center><hr>


    *~*~*


    </center>


    Lena


    Lena verified Candy''s assertion through her own prodding. By the time she was ready to return to the conversation, she realized Candy was in lecture mode. Not being particularly patient with her cousin''s inability to distinguish relevant information from unnecessarily accuracy, Lena let one part of her attention essentially make a transcription of the lecture to skim later.


    The rest of her attention she divided between analyzing her Zone Cores and organizing what she now knew about zone management. The books she had abandoned making earlier seemed like a good place to put her notes, writing with her [Applied Color Theory] skill.


    Being able to make the words appear as fast as she could think them meant that Lena''s tongue in cheek titled Dungeon Master''s Primer was filled up before Candy got half way through her lecture on [Tapestry Synchronization], apparently the next skill tier of [Tapestry Reading].


    In reviewing her notes, Lena came up with more questions, making sure to record the ideas she got as answers to her queries. During the midst of that study/query cycle, someone entered from the Lotrot entrance.


    Lena had already closed and barred the door from the Hall into the rest of the dungeon. She would much rather frustrate intruders than send them through the trap field that was the rest of the floor, so she didn''t feel the need to raise an instant alert with her friends.


    The first person through was very different. Cloven hoof, thick leg, shaggy brown and tan fur coat. The shape of the upper part of the creature''s leg seemed more disc-like than cylindrical, more like a quadruped''s rear thigh, and the joint in the middle of the leg was hinged more like an elbow than a knee. The fur remained long as it went further up the creature''s body, but took on a more silky, hair like appearance. Their torso, arms, and hands were human-like with the exception of the hair-fur. The creature''s head reminded Lena of Bambi, only larger and with a more pronounced lower jaw. The dainty antlers growing just over half-round fuzzy ears led Lena to the conclusion that this was one of the parandrians, and a stag. Or was that buck?


    The parandrian took a quick look around, stepped back through the portal, and then returned, walking backward and dragging another humanoid body along. He was followed by two more parandrians, one without antlers and the last with longer, but still dainty, antlers. They were each dragging a corpse.


    The first corpse was slender with long, long pointed ears: elf? The second and third corpses looked like earless versions of the elf in miniature, at least for their top halves. Their bottoms were goats from the neck down.


    The parandrian without antlers stepped farthest in, made an X with her arms over her chest and bowed. In a sonorous voice, she said, "May these rogues feed the dungeon, and be remade into more honorable creations."


    Lena popped her toon into the room. "What the what?"


    The two parandrians with antlers took a step back, hands moving to the hilts of sheathed long daggers while the female parandrian''s hands came off her shoulders, still cupped, and took on a glow that changed from pale cream to fiery red.


    Lena shook her head. "That won''t do anything. But why are you dumping bodies in my hallway?" She was glad at the moment to lack a physical body. She was sure the shock of seeing her first dead people would have left her trembling, but using her toon meant she could pretend to be less shaken.


    The female parandrian closed her fists, snuffing out the glow, then, carefully, bowed again. "Are you the Champion of Order given the care of this dungeon?"


    "There is a precedence to answering questions, and you being the intruders means you answer first," Lena said.


    The two stags in the back mimicked the doe''s(?) posture. The doe straightened up, the stags still following suit. "These three came through our camp sentries speaking of how they intended to force the Champion of Order to turn over the care of this dungeon by capturing the Champion''s companions and holding the threat of death over them. Such hubris toward the Grand Tapestry cannot be permitted, thus we have punished them. Dungeons are sacred places where the wrong can be made right and the deplorable revealed for expulsion from the Tapestry''s protection. Thus we present their bodies that they may be purified."


    Lena pulled the bodies into the stone floor, along with the blood pooling under them. With her toon still facing the location of the fallen creatures, she let her voice echo from the walls. "I am the Traveler the Tapestry made into the consciousness of this dungeon, and, yes, I do have the Design of the Champion of Order. I appreciate that your actions have protected my friends."


    Lena wasn''t sure she believed them, but she figured appearing to take the parandrians at their word was more likely to get them to leave peacefully than asking for proofs.


    The doe''s expression softened. "My apologies if this is your first introduction to violence, Design Lead Lena Marie Weston. It was not our intention to paint you with first blood without warning. We will consult with our Wise Ones for the proper path from here."


    The trio departed at that point. Lena tripled checked that the Entrance Hall was closed off and shifted her attention back to the kitchen.


    "Guys? This is officially not Kansas anymore." With that lead in, Lena interrupted Candy''s lecture and then went on to explain what just happened.


    *** *** ***


    Congratulations! Absorption of new creatures has allowed your Zone Core (Research) to unlock the following new creatures:


    Elf (Planes), Taurgonaut (Gidataur)


    Sapient creatures created through Zone Management may now be granted access to Class Patterns for:


    Mage, Thief, Scout, Merchant, Farmer, Runner, Con Artist, Poacher


    *** *** ***


    From the stunned expressions on her friends faces, Lena guessed they just got a similar message.

 Neighbors 6

    Brad


    "What a bloody cock up! This is one of the most tangled, disorganized, anti-organized, fucking throw it in a pot information structures I''ve ever seen! These are worse than Candy''s notes! At least she has some internal consistency and categorization! This, it''s a bloody damned dump! No wonder your Tapestry system needs to reset! No one''s fucking sorting this crud to begin with!" The rant came from the mouth of a gnome-sized crystal golem.


    It was a beautiful, though androgynous, sculpt. The crystal had been fused from sorted, refined Mana sands, colors for all known affinities blending together to create an opalescent casing with the luster of pearls. The golem, though sized to match a gnome, had been formed in the image of a Quetzalcoatl Naga, the base a finely detailed serpentine tail supporting a winged, humanoid torso with arms and a snake-like head. The scale pattern covered all but the wings, where it gave way to rainbow hued feathers, the only distinct color bands on the golem.


    Archmage Reibsamak Feltz sighed. "If you find it so ''bloody'' cumbersome, come up with something better, Bradford Ajput Singh! Else wise your complaints do nothing but anger me!"


    Brad laid a hand on his breast and adopted an exaggerated look of remorse. "Oh, I''m sorry! Am I pissing in your Cheerios, mate?" The arm dropped as well as the feigned remorse. "Your anger is your own bloody damn problem. After all, I wouldn''t be in this mess were it not for you and your apprentice!"


    "SILENCE!" Feltz roared, invoking the command pattern of Brad''s magical enslavement.


    *** *** ***


    Mental Focus +1


    Congratulations! Your Mental Focus skill has advanced to the next tier!


    Mental Resistance is now at level 10. +3 WPP, +1 WPR


    *** *** ***


    Brad ceased speaking, but started tapping his tail tip against the countertop. He would have loved to have used Morse Code or some such to continue berating the irritating old bastard, but he hadn''t ever learned much of ciphers.


    Feltz glared at the tapping tail for a moment before inhaling a deep breath and resuming his tinkering further down the work bench.


    Counting that a win, Brad moved to the edge of the work bench counter, took hold of the side and swung his body off the edge, his tail wrapping around a support leg with a grace that he had to admit he hadn''t possessed with his own body. He slithered down to the floor and headed over to what would have been called a book shelf on Earth set in the opposite corner. It took him a few minutes of searching the stacks to find a scroll box discussing the finer points of the [Tapestry Fusion] skill set, which he then took to the human-sized arm chair beside the book shelf.


    There were some benefits to being trapped in this golem body, Brad was willing to concede if only in his own mind. Maintaining good posture didn''t hurt, and at even a third of his human height, he had probably about double his human strength. He was still getting used to moving like a snake, but the ability to coil his lower portion into a ball made him far more stable when stationary than he had been on two legs.


    Brad wasn''t sure that he trusted these mages, especially Feltz, but the Casper Dibbons fellow at least seemed to have a clue about basic human decency.


    Using the chair to prop up the expanded scroll box, Brad sank into researching this new world he had apparently been copied into. It was fascinating and, if not for the enslavement, he would have been quite happy here, poking into this Aethereal Force. However, Brad had never even liked to wear a tie, feeling it constricted his movements too much; the metaphysical slave collar was an intolerable yoke, leaving him with a rather sour disposition.


    And the way this Grand Tapestry of Rhofhir went about things was so poorly scaled up! Aspects and Designs, assigned attribute values, and skills measures, it was as if the most asinine idiot tried throwing together a game system with the discards of Indie game designer rejects!


    Brad forced himself to focus on the words in front of him, receiving a skill up notice for [Mental Resistance] in the process. The damn notices had become so common place that he didn''t pay it any attention.


    Dibbs returned from wherever he had gone off to, coming directly over to Brad. He perched on the arm of the chair and said, "My apologies for disturbing your reading. The Council of Magi have denied my petition for assistance with your predicament, and they have barred me from unbinding the control formations sunk into your body. If you are able to overcome the ensorcellments, then they will tentatively accept that you are Aware and worth their time. Otherwise, they are taking the stance that you''re not much different from any other monstrous sapient, and therefore the control formations are necessary to ensure everyone''s safety."


    Brad hadn''t really expected much of this magi council business by the way Feltz had treated Dibbs'' abhorrence of enslaving another Aware individual. It still irritated him, but at least he hadn''t been disappointed.


    "What? Nothing to say?" Dibbs asked, his brow furrowing with worry.


    Brad folded his arms over his chest and stabbed the tip of his tail in Feltz''s direction, then drew a finger over the odd reptilian lips of this golem''s body.


    Dibbs'' frown turned from concerned to one of concentration, then his body sagged. Brad felt a shiver of disgust roll through him as the control formation relaxed.


    "Bloody fucking hell! I truly despise that amoral ass hat you call a mentor!" Brad grumped.


    Feltz snickered from his seat at the work bench.


    "Sod off," Brad said before turning back to the scroll box before him with a disdainful sniff.


    "You''re taking this a lot better than I expected," Dibbs commented.


    Brad did not look up. "You bloody savages still permit slavery on your world. I didn''t expect your supposed Wise Guys would see much difference between buying a slave and making one from stolen memories. At the least, it''s only me and not my friends with me."


    <center><hr>


    *~*~*


    </center>


    Jason


    As the time of the negotiations neared the next morning, Jason still didn''t know whether he would say anything about their parandrian visitors. However, the decision was taken from him before he could register an opinion. A parandrous doe and a stag with a pair of three point antlers had joined the approaching City Counsel representatives.


    "Greetings, Liaison for the Studio of Capricious Dreams," the doe said as soon as they were in easy conversation range. "I am Taz''Maylan of the Gharanguru tribe. I have informed the officials of the Free City of Lotrot of my tribe''s response to the trespassers of the prior night. As I have said to the city officials so I say to you: Should more such trespasses occur, our response will remain the same. After taking counsel from our elders, my tribe has decided that, however regrettable, the sacred cycles of the dungeon are a necessary lesson for your Design Lead. In the interests of goodwill, though, we offer patterns that we believe the Design Lead Lena Marie Weston shall find useful."


    At this point, the doe stepped forward and set down an overflowing basket.


    Seir Wejerlan spoke up. "If possible, may we inspect the bodies of the so-called trespassers?"


    Jason at least had an answer for that. He shook his head and assumed a regretful expression. "Lena and Candy are trying to find a way to control the absorption of ¡­ objects by the dungeon, but so far they have no counter to what they are interpreting from the Tapestry as the gifting intent. The bodies were broken down within half an hour."


    "Then their crystals would be appreciated," Seir Wejerlan said.


    Jason put on his poker face. "Is that a claim of responsibility for the intruders?"


    Talon Commander Muglibaum and Va''Melnroe took a step to the side to better face Seir Wejerlan. "Oh, please do answer that," the Talon Commander said.


    The elf drew himself up, projecting offended dignity. "Of course not! The Rimward Mages Association might be able to use the crystals from their corpses to trace the criminals, and discover if there are any individuals behind them who would tarnish the word of the Lotrot City Council."


    Zarabelkami snorted. "Sure, and they have no use for the kind of mana crystal that an Aware would leave behind."Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit.


    "That has nothing to do with tracing their origins," Wejerlan insisted.


    "I am not sure if they left behind crystals," Jason said. He deliberately did not mention the dungeon''s new ability to create elves and gidataurs or the class designs.


    The parandrous doe said, "Our purpose for this morning has been fulfilled and we take our leave." She and her companion turned and walked off, disappearing behind a rolling hill in short order.


    Jason asked Rob to take the basket back to the Entrance Hall and invited the delegates to sit while they went back to working out just what kind of use they would allow the folks of Lotrot to make of the Studio of Capricious Dreams.


    <center><hr>


    *~*~*


    </center>


    Five more bodies were brought into the Studio for recycling over the next three nights, unlocking gnomes, gnelves, and arassi, along with forest elves. In addition to a variety of mage related class designs such as Thaumaturge, Sorcerer, and Witch, they also gained class designs for Ranger, Baker, Tailor, Scholar, Tinker, and Warrior.


    As far as Lena and Candy could determine, they had no way to prevent the absorption of gifted patterns, whether or not the dungeon had the pattern already, even if they stopped allocating MPR to research.


    The parandrians left a daily basket of gathered goods in the Entrance Hall for the benefit of the dungeon, often at the same time they left the intruders'' bodies. The gift baskets contained all sorts of plants, insects, corpses of small creatures and mineral samples. One of the baskets had smoked fish, freshwater oysters, and water plants.


    Just as "Dirt" led to unlocking "Vital Soil", with the addition of the water focused basket, "Vital Water" unlocked. Upgrading the water in the Entrance level took a minuscule amount of mana, and the first creatures summoned into the dungeon were fish and water bugs.


    Lena had unlocked steel by experimenting with blending char and iron. Her experiments, even after steel as a spawnable material was unlocked, kept yielding pig iron until Rob explained that steel was between a little less than 1 and 2% carbon, with wrought iron being under 0.8% carbon while her 10/90 mix of carbon and iron exceeded the solubility of carbon in iron. Cast iron, apparently was between 2 and 3.5% carbon in iron, with higher carbon concentrations making for pig iron. That conversation quickly derailed into the making of stainless steels and other types of steel alloys along with carbon fiber reinforced matrices, with the end result being that Rob took over making weapons for their party (Carbon fiber as a material stalled in Research at 49% and had not moved).


    Jason asked for spears and knives. Aaron thought that while swords were cool, he would be better off with a club and a bow. After the trees had been grown, planked wood became an environmental option, and Aaron was able to use his experience making a long bow to hunt with his uncle to get a workable hunting weapon. He had to collaborate with Rob to get steel tipped arrows figured out, during which they discovered that parts of animals could be summoned, such as feathers and bones. That unlocked bone as an environmental material, too.


    On the morning following the forth night of body dumps, Muglibaum relented, agreeing to send five candidates to stay in the dungeon for seven days. The matter of the crafting halls had yet to be picked up again.


    Neither Kargerran nor Vi were among the candidates that arrived the next morning. Corporal Baline and four unknowns showed up with full packs.


    Jason and Rob were waiting just outside the cave. Both of them had taken to using spears that were as tall as they were with a leaf shaped blade at the end and a perpendicular bar under the blade, something they called a boar guard. Their knives rested in belt scabbards that Lena had fashioned for them from copper reinforced cotton cording. Lena had also used her free time to make them all several different outfits. Over their shirts and pants, the guys wore breast plates, gauntlets and grieves, not yet having figured out how to make armor for their thighs that didn''t muck up their maneuverability.


    Baline twisted to the side a little to eye them up and down. "Do you even know what you''re doing with those weapons?"


    Jason shrugged. "We were trained with guns, so no, not really. Even at that, Rob and I worked in Support, not Combat. That''s why we figured spears were better than swords, give ourselves a little more distance if needs be."


    "What are guns?" one of the unknown individuals, a lupine, asked.


    "Are you familiar with artillery?" Rob asked.


    "Ballista and trebuchet? Yeah," the lupine said.


    Jason and Rob shook their heads. Jason said, "If you''re not familiar with artillery that uses explosives, I''m not sure we can explain guns without a lot of background. Let''s introduce ourselves before side tracking. I''m Jason Kline and this is Roberto Garcias. Corporal Baline has been here before."


    "Corporal Tremshur," the lupine said.


    "Corporal Ignemrot," an arassas to the lupine''s left said.


    "Corporal Fallan," the next arassas introduced himself.


    "Corporal Custer," the last arassas said.


    Baline said, "We are here for the orientation exercise. Do you want us to set up camp out here?"


    Jason said, "No need for that. Lena''s providing you with an entire floor. Right this way." He led the way into the Studio, trusting Rob to take up the rear.


    Only Tremshur and Custer looked more interested than wary as they followed Jason into the dungeon.


    Lena had moved the level portal to the shooting range into the Entrance Hall. She had sculpted the new portal to resemble the profile of two marines facing each other, ceremonial swords raised to create an archway, much as she had seen at the wedding of one of her parent''s favorite home designers. She had scaled up the sculpture so that even Va''Melnroe could pass through without needing to duck his head.


    In preparation for their guests, Lena had also created five separate suites near the entrance to the level. Jason and Rob used the first suite to show the amenities of them all, from beds to en suite bathing rooms, complete with private showers and toilets made to accommodate individuals with tails. Wall length silver backed mirrors made a grand impression on the corporals. The plumbing interested the corporals, but not as much as the writing desks stocked with paper and pens. The wardrobes and armor stands also received some appreciative comments.


    Jason and Rob gave the corporals time to pick out rooms and get settled in before returning to the tour of the dungeon.


    "Lena and Candy spent some time coming up with a way for you to simulate territory management," Jason said as he led the corporals to another room opposite the sleeping rooms. This room was 6 m square, with a large sand table taking up the center. The walls and floors were paneled in a pale wood and glowing crystal lined the walls where they met the ceiling, provide a natural toned light to the room.


    Jason and Rob had set their spears to the side in a weapons rack by the level portal, which freed their hands to gesture at the sand table in the middle of the room. "This is their brain child."


    "Is the table alive then?" Ignemrot asked.


    Jason shook his head. "No, my apologies, that''s an idiom of our home world. This is the solution they came up with. With this table you can plan out the changes you would like to see on this floor. They won''t begin without all five of you being here in this room, and while they''re ongoing you ¡ª or anyone, really ¡ª won''t be able to move about the floor until after the changes have finished taking place. That''s a safety precaution. We don''t want to risk anyone being stuck in a situation like a morphing dungeon."


    Jason moved over to a side table with a bunch of miniature pieces spread out. He returned to the sand table with three miniature wall pieces and two miniature stone targets which he handed over to the corporals to inspect. "These will represent standard changes you can make to the set up. If you want different pieces, let Lena know. These are scaled so that 1 cm on the design table represents 1 m in the actual floor."


    Tremshur asked, "Are these made of the materials they represent?"


    Jason paused to ask that over the G.C. and Lena decided to pop in on them. She started talking, blithely ignoring the raised scales and fur of the corporals.


    "They can be, or you can designate some slight changes. The stone won''t turn to metal, but you can switch it from concrete to granite to shale with a stated intent. We''re a little more limited on the wood at this time as we only have access to press board and some fruit and nut tree varieties. Metals take longer to spawn and don''t change out as easily as minerals, so if there are metal pieces you''d like, their mini will be a literal representation."


    She went on to detail the intricacies of using the sand table, her enthusiasm drawing in the corporals.


    Jason moved over to Rob and they watched the corporals enjoying the opportunity to play with the miniatures. For his part, Jason watched the way the corporals interacted with each other, using their distraction with the table to see how they conducted themselves.


    Baline was an ass, attempting to take over the table from the start. Tremshur and Ignemrot asserted themselves with a comfortable ease. Baline took their limit setting in stride, which made Jason wonder if Baline was just socially clueless. Custer kept his mouth shut and watched, acting like the junior among his seniors. Fallan didn''t make an issue of his irritation with Baline, but he didn''t hide it either.


    After a few minutes, the corporals seemed satisfied with their set up.


    "Would you like to see it on the floor?" Lena asked.


    Tremshur said, "It would a pleasure."


    "Jason, Rob, would you do the honors, please?" Lena asked, gesturing to one of the walls.


    Jason moved to one side of the wall and Rob to the other. They each lifted a panel of the wood that was slightly darker than its neighbors, which raised a section of the paneling to reveal a thick glass window beginning at waist height and extending to the ceiling. The guys used a brace built into the window frame to hold the panel up, and then they pulled down another pair of braces a third of the way in from their sides.


    On the other side of the window, a massive room lined with stone stood revealed. The corporals came over to the window, watching as the simple formation they had planned on the sand table took shape in the room beyond. Baline, Custer, and Fallan actually shook, just a shiver really, as they watched, giving off the sense of creeped-out fascination. Tremshur and Ignemrot, on the other hand, seemed more spell bound with wonder.


    Tremshur was the first out the door (a pocket door hidden in the paneling) to check out the changes on the military floor. Baline, sweating from under his scales, was the second, with Ignemrot, Fallan and Custer following. They spent nearly half an hour inspecting the floor, then went back to see what more elaborate set ups they could create with the sand table.


    <center><hr>


    *~*~*


    </center>


    The Studio crew left the corporals to their play for a few hours. Jason and Rob returned to the living floor and got out of their armor, then Jason headed into the kitchen and started cooking up lunch while Rob settled in to working on making new armor.


    Despite no longer needing to eat, none of the Studio crew wanted to give up that enjoyment. With the discovery that they could summon up feathers and bones, Aaron had quickly moved on to summoning up the meat of never-living rabbits to share with Buttercup, much to the dire cat''s delight. Her adoration for Aaron had her following him around all over the place. So far, Candy was the only one of the Studio crew that Buttercup still actively avoided, placing Aaron between herself and the young woman.


    A plant called farmer''s vine produced a potato-like vegetable, and more vining plants provided peas and beans. The breath''s bane garlic had quickly become a favorite flavor, and after reading the descriptions in the Resources menu, they were experimenting with a number of local herb grasses and bushes. The pucker berry bush''s leaves turned out to be analogous to rosemary in flavor if not texture.


    Jason set up the meal to cook in individual cruets in the baking oven, making enough for each of the corporals to have two servings, then he took a shower and sat down near Rob.


    He barely settled into his seat, a copy of Lena''s Dungeon Masters'' Primer in hand when an alert came over the G.C.


    ?Hostileinvaders entering from portal number 1?

 Neighbors 7

    Lena


    ?Hostileinvaders entering from portal number 1?


    On receiving that notice, Lena shifted her attention to the Lotrot entrance, only to find the Entrance Hall bare. The Entrance level zone core quickly redirected her attention toward the Mana Waste entrance.


    Ten individuals entered, gathering on the island that led out to the Wastes. Three looked like some kind of dire wolf, and one looked like a gnome-sized elf with wings tacked on to its back. Three were elves, blond and taller by a head''s height than the ones that the parandrians had dumped in the Studio. The remaining three were some kind of avian beast kin as far as Lena could guess. The winged invaders carried bronze tipped spears and wore what looked like hardened leather armor. Two of the elves had bronze short swords, wooden shields, and what looked like bronze scale mail tunics, grieves and helmets. The last elf held a staff inset with many large mana crystals, most with a reddish hue, and wore thickly padded robes.


    ?The mages invading again?? Rob asked over the G.C.


    ?Not sure,? Lena responded. ?A party from the other entrance. Let me get the screen up in the common room. Looks like we get to test the traps.?


    No one from outside the Studio had yet seen the changes they had made to the Entrance level beyond the Entrance Hall to Lotrot. They hadn''t worried so much about the entrance to the Mana Wastes, left from seeking out Candy, so Lena hadn''t made an Entrance Hall for that portal. She had thought the most they would get would be someone wandering in the desert-like Wastes seeking water, so when she adjusted the elevations, she had put that portal near the top of the Entrance level, just above the new waterline.


    Underwater tunnels, most made from force fields, led to various trap rooms from the Lotrot Entrance hall, the portal door to the living floor about center in the trap fields they had designed. While it was keyed to only permit the Studio crew through, Lena hadn''t wanted to chance the mages having some way to force their way through, thus its hidden placement. There were several ways to get from the Lotrot entrance to the Mana Wastes entrance, but only one to get to the living floor, and more ways led to dead ends.


    "Well?" one of the blond elves said, poking the gnome-sized winged elf with the tip of his short sword.


    "Well, what? It''s a water dungeon. These are wings." Even though Lena understood what the invaders said, it seemed different from the way Kargerran and the others from the Lotrot region spoke. She just couldn''t quite place what the difference was.


    "You are here to scout. How you do it is your business, noct," the elf with the staff said.


    "I have a name, you know!" the winged elf creature said. Lena guessed that noct was its species. The noct looked over at the largest of the dire wolves. "Come on, Wisp. [Water Walk]."


    The noct mounted the dire wolf and they trotted off over the water, exploring the portion of the level that existed above the waterline. The pair moved closer to the walls, slowing to a near stop to examine sections of the mural mosaic Lena had formed into the walls.


    Lena split the screens so that one stayed on the main body of the invaders and another followed the scout.


    <center><hr>


    *~*~*


    </center>


    Ouliel


    "Bullshit Shasha bastards," Ouliel muttered to himself as he rode off to scout the dungeon. "No respect and not a care for sending valuable property off to be eaten by water monsters. Wisp understands Ouliel. Wisp understands respect. Those Shasha bastards think they''re so much better just because they''re Aware. Let''s just make sure we outlive those nasty bastards. Maybe we can find some nasty areas to lead them through, see if we can get the dungeon to cut them ¡­ down ¡­. These are pretty!"


    The crystals in this dungeon grew in patterns that made images of Ancestors and beast kin, dragons, equines, muscular kobolds and winged cat chimeras. They all seemed to dance together on the walls, the illusion of movement enhanced by the dim lights reflecting off the water.


    "This is not like any dungeon I''ve ever seen before," the noct said, running an affectionate hand down the neck of his mount.


    Wisp let out a low pitched yodeling a-roo that sounded like agreement to Ouliel. They moved closer to the walls, close enough for Wisp to sniff the crystals and for Ouliel to reach out and verify the reality of these subtle pictures with his own fingers.


    Ouliel sucked in a breath at the strongly patterned feel of these crystals. The purity of each attunement would have been painful if not arranged so that the crystals complimented each other, harmonizing their songs. "We cannot let the Shasha destroy this harmony, Wisp. We can''t!"


    Wisp whined.


    "I know, I know. We''re bound to them, but maybe we can lead them away from the beautiful."


    Wisp shook his head and pawed at the water.


    "We can try!" Ouliel insisted. "Come on, if we linger too long, the Shasha will question us about it."


    Wisp whined, ending with a choppy sounding rou-roo-roo, but he started moving again.


    It took them four castings of [Water Walk] to circumnavigate the room, and another three to check out the other two islands. They found nothing around the walls that they were required to report to the elves, but both islands had at least one tunnel leading downward.


    Sha''lanadi, the wizard elf, tapped his staff to the ground when Ouliel and Wisp returned, a wordless demand for their report.


    "No passages along the walls, but tunnels down from the islands that look dry," Ouliel said.


    Sha''vord, the elven knight that had poked Ouliel with a sword earlier, pointed the sword tip at him now. "And which one is the better one to go down?"


    Ouliel shrugged. "No [Divination] magics. They look very much similar to me."


    "Noct, that''s twice now," Sha''lanadi said, his voice frosty.


    "I do not know what a ''core stone'' is, so how am I supposed to track what I have no knowledge of?" Ouliel said, quick to pretend contriteness.


    "Pick the path before I pluck your feathers," Sha''lanadi said.


    <center><hr>


    *~*~*


    </center>


    Lena


    ?Did I get the sound on to you all?? Lena asked.


    ?Just enough to catch that last part,? Jason said.


    ?Votes for looping in the corporals?? she asked.


    ?If you can give us a screen on them, sure,? Rob said.


    ?Yeah, same here,? came Aaron''s response.


    ?Yes, and the screen''s a bonus,? Jason said.


    Candy''s response came as a more empathic agreement. Buttercup''s answer felt more like a demand to go hunt the intruders.


    Aaron started soothing the dire cat.


    Lena popped her toon back into the military level. "Hi, sorry to interrupt, but I''m hoping to get your opinion on some folks that just walked in from the Mana Wastes. Is that something you''re willing to weigh in on?"


    The lupine perked up. "Yes, ma''am."


    Lena brought up the split screens, one focused on the scout the other on the main party. "Do you know what these guys are? Species and such," Lena clarified.


    "I think that might be a winged noct."


    "Those wolves are too passive for dire beasts."


    "Probably hemats."


    "Are the harpies collared?"


    "Looks like."


    "That leaves the elves. Desert or High born?"


    "Maybe Sun elves. There''s a lot of red and bronze on their gear."


    "Sun elves. See the curlicues etched on the shields? That''s common for East Karth."


    Lena didn''t follow who said what. "Are they local?"


    "No," the corporals chorused.


    Baline asked, "Where are they?"


    "Top of the Entrance Level. As I said, they came in through the Mana Wastes portal. We didn''t think it would see anything more than a water seeker or such. I''m using my [Applied Color Theory] on the light here to share their progress."


    "That is not what the Entrance level looked like when we walked through it," Baline said.


    "I warned you that it''s a work in progress," Lena said.


    On the screens, the scout cast another [Water Walk] spell on their wolf and led the way to the nearer island.


    Baline asked, "Do you expect us to fight these people?"


    Lena shrugged. "Not really. If you want to inform anyone back in Lotrot in case these guys are hostile to y''all, that''s your business. We''ve set up several layers of defenses. We don''t really have a good way of estimating the strength of the people who have been attempting to sneak in here, so I''m hoping your reactions to the first line will help us fine tune the following ones. I don''t want to kill if I don''t have to, but I will not risk the safety of my friends or our guests."Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.


    The lupine pursed his lips but kept his gaze focused on the screen.


    Baline frowned at Lena, his confusion plain in his posture.


    The other arassi exchanged glances and then returned their attention to the screen.


    <center><hr>


    *~*~*


    </center>


    Ouliel


    Ouliel dismounted at the first island and slipped off his pack. He pulled out a bronze piton, small bronze claw hammer, and rope. "[Harden]" he muttered at the piton and then hammered it into the rocky ground of the island about a meter''s distance from the edge of the tunnel. With practiced motions, he knotted one end of the rope around the piton and then dropped the other end down the tunnel.


    "The hemat pack will need to stay on the island. There''s no footing for them down these tunnels," Ouliel said, hoping to at least spare his friend from the long slog through the dungeon these tunnels promised.


    "You, stay and watch over the hemats," Sha''lanadi ordered, pointing out the youngest one of the harpies.


    She nodded and stepped away from her sisters.


    Ouliel didn''t wait for Sha''lanadi to turn back to him. He started down the tunnel, firmly holding on to the rope.


    The footing turned out much better than he had expected, but the stone walls moved in and out, requiring a lateral flexibility that the hemat wolves lacked, and that proved difficult for the harpies. The Shasha bastards, even the ones in armor, had little trouble.


    A little less than ten meters into the tunnel [Danger Sense] whispered down Ouliel''s spine and he froze, trying to pinpoint just what the warning was about. Unable to see anything that would set off his Scout design''s perk, he took out a trick ball from his belt pouch and set the enchanted orb down at his feet, letting the slope of the tunnel draw it further along the path.


    Three meters ahead, lightning arced from the walls, incinerating the trick ball. The crystal at the ball''s center continued to tumble down the tunnel.


    The harpies panicked. Lightning was their bane and even with the space between the lightning field and them, the activation had singed their feathers.


    Sha''vord rammed his fist into the nearest harpy''s (Hessa''s) temple, sending her into unconsciousness. Her body fell back into her sister Bessa, knocking them both off their feet and skidding down the tunnel, much like the trick ball. Ouliel tried to brace against their weight, but lost his grip on the rope and got shoved downward.


    His [Danger Sense] abruptly shut off. They slid to a stop several meters below the lightning field, the conscious harpy still flailing around in panic. Beyond scrapes and scratches, Ouliel had some bruises from where Bessa thrashed beside him, but that was the only damage he had taken.


    "Bessa, Bessa, we''re safe! It''s gone, I promise, it''s gone!" Ouliel said, holding his arms crossed over his face in case the panicking harpy got her talons turned toward him.


    The Shashas, glowing with lightning dampening magic, sauntered down the tunnel. Sha''vord grabbed Bessa by her wing arm, hauling her to her feet. "[Still]," he ordered and the harpy''s body locked up into a shivering statue of flesh. "Noct, check on the other one."


    Ouliel did not argue. He didn''t even mutter to himself as he moved to Hessa''s side and began using his [First Aid] skill to help the middle harpy sister. When he had done all he could, Ouliel very carefully did not look at the Shashas as he said, "I think her head''s cracked."


    Sha''lanadi stepped up next to the prone Hessa and turned her head with the butt of his staff. After a moment''s silent evaluation, he said, "Wasteful," then raised up his staff and smashed it into Hessa''s head. Ouliel barely closed his eyes in time to protect them from the blood spatter.


    There was a slimy feeling as some thicker part of Hessa''s flesh slid down Ouliel''s face. He fought down the waves of nausea that sensation provoked and decided that even if it cost him his life, these Shasha bastards would die in this dungeon.


    *** *** ***


    Body Control +1


    *** *** ***


    "[Cleanse]." Sha''lanadi cast the spell on his staff, then poked Ouliel. "Keep at it, noct."


    <center><hr>


    *~*~*


    </center>


    Lena


    Tremshur growled, a snarling, hair raising sound of aggression. Baline and the other arassi corporals curled their lips in a way that bared their teeth and hissed.


    "Sun elves," Fallan said. "I''m going to call up the line, see if we can get clearance to go hunt those Waste eating turds. Anything to add?"


    "Make sure the commander knows one of them''s a twig and the other two are thorns," Tremshur said. Pointing to a third screen Lena had conjured up when the intruders left the wolf pack behind, he asked, "Ma''am, would you be kind enough to block off that tunnel so the remaining harpy and the hemat wolves can''t go down it? Even better if you have a way to isolate them."


    "I can, but why should I?" Lena asked. She did not mention that she had already enclosed them in a transparent force bubble.


    "Harpies and hemat wolves are monstrous sapients. If they''re traveling with Sun elves, then the elves are using some kind of magical binding on them. Isolating the mon-saps will prevent the elves from being able to call on them. If we do get to go pound on the Sun elves, some of them will die. If any of those mon-saps are bound to the elf that dies, being in the case should hopefully give them a chance to calm down after the bond is broken. From what I''ve seen, it can be painful and disorienting all at once."


    Lena said, "Ah! Okay," and then she gave the change in orders to the Entrance level zone core to isolate each of the wolves and the harpy in their own force bubble as soon and as quickly as possible; this was not a time for the slow and steady approach.


    While they watched the elves get the noct to its feet and do something that got the remaining harpy to follow the noct, Lena rearmed the shock field trap. She said, "I''m less inclined to let the Sun elves leave here alive, but I also know I''m reacting from my emotional rejection of their callousness toward the harpy. What are the likely repercussions of killing those beasts?"


    *** *** ***


    Design of the Analyst advanced 7%


    *** *** ***


    Corporal Ignemrot said, "That''s hard to say. We''re not politicians. On one hand, the entrance they are using is within Lotrot''s sphere of influence and the City Counsel has already posted a ban on anyone attempting to enter the dungeon without an authorized military escort. Inside the dungeon has been recognized as a territory outside of Lotrot''s control, so your laws matter only so much as you enforce them."


    ?Jason, have we given anyone a list of our dungeon laws?? Lena asked over the G.C.


    ?No,? he said. ?I was putting that off until we had the chance to go over what we wanted our laws to be. From what I gathered with Lotrot, most of their legal system is based on precedent, so there''s no formal posting of the laws. They haven''t pushed us for a document yet, either.?


    ?Are we all in agreement that the unprovoked murder of a sapient being is a crime?? Lena asked.


    ?Yes,? came the resounding answer.


    ?How do we want to punish that murderer?? Lena asked.


    <center><hr>


    *~*~*


    </center>


    Ouliel


    The tunnel led to a room three meters wide and five meters long. The walls were deliberately patterned, having diagonal lines crossing perpendicularly to each other etched into the stone. The floor alternated between square tiles of a light and dark gray color. Odd plant shapes were etched into the light gray tiles while the silhouettes of almost familiar animals had been carved into the dark gray tiles.


    Ouliel''s [Danger Sense] hummed, not quite at the warning level, but enough to instill extra caution in the noct. He made a careful study of the room, looking for weak points or traps, before stepping in. Ouliel had the odd thought that there was more give in the floor than should be had with stone, which made him even slower crossing the tiles.


    Sha''vord''s armor jangled impatiently behind Ouliel, but neither words nor the poke of the Shasha''s sword followed.


    Ouliel reached the halfway point of the room when his foot landed less than a centimeter farther down than he had expected. A click followed by a rattling sound underneath him galvanized the noct to leap into the air, wings spread wide as he jumped toward the far end of the room.


    The tiles, starting from that center one Ouliel had stepped upon, fell into a five meter deep pit.


    Sha''dakai, who had stayed quiet until this point, said, "I did not think dungeons had such elaborate traps as this."


    "If someone got here before us, I may just have to stab that diviner for wasting our time," Sha''vord said.


    Sha''lanadi cast [Path of Air] and made Bessa walk in front of the Shashas. "''That diviner'' happens to be my uncle and he did not promise that we would be successful, merely that this was the only dungeon currently capable of creating ancillary core stones. This dungeon is, therefore, unique."


    Ouliel stopped in his tracks, seeing yet another way in which this dungeon was unique.


    "Noct, why have you stopped again?" Sha''vord asked.


    "Force walls. The tunnel leading further on is made from force walls." If there was one thing Ouliel knew, it was that he did not want to be in that tunnel if the walls blinked out of existence. Looking up through the top of the tunnel, he guesstimated that they were roughly 30 meters under water. Worse, a goliath snakehead had draped its 2 meter body over the tunnel and was currently eyeing them with interest.


    The Shashas came up behind him, looked at the force tunnel and then retreated toward the room with the pit trap. He heard them conferring, but found all his attention held by the serpentine fish that just kept staring at him. The sight of a school of tigerfish darting through frost-back salmon only warranted a quick, darting glance away and back, and Ouliel was positive the goliath snakehead had swum closer during that fleeting peek.


    The tip of Sha''vord''s sword poked Ouliel in the back of his shoulder. "Start walking," the Shasha bastard ordered.


    Ouliel looked at the Shasha, then at the snakehead on the other side of a force field, trying to decide which was the bigger threat. Another poke from Sha''vord''s sword, this time drawing blood, tipped the scales in favor of the Shasha bastards being a more certain death if he didn''t start moving.


    The snakehead reared back as Ouliel approached. Panic took over the noct''s mind and he bolted, running down the tunnel as fast as his legs could carry him. He reached another room and was across it before he could stop, curling up into a ball and shaking.


    Nocts were creatures of the sky. That much water over head was terrifying on its own, but Ouliel could have handled it at least as well as the pit trap room. The noct as a whole disliked snakes, mainly because most of the nonsapient naga and monstrous snakes of their native East Karthen jungles enjoyed munching on nocts and other winged species. Combining the two instinctual terrors was more than Ouliel could deal with, and he was still balled up, shivering and senseless when Bessa tripped over him.


    <center><hr>


    *~*~*


    </center>


    Lena


    The terror on the little noct''s face as it looked between the Sun elf and the force tunnel nearly broke Lena''s heart. When the brute stabbed the noct to get it moving, she decided that enough was enough. The noct fled from Stabby McStabberson, earning curses from all three of the Sun elves.


    Next, the harpy was pushed into the tunnel, made to walk two meters ahead of the Sun elves. Feathers fell from her like sweat, her own terror at the sight of all that water looming over her making the harpy shake more than Nicki Minaj''s ass in a twerking contest.


    Lena waited until the elves were near the halfway point of the tunnel. Then she sprang a force wall between the elves and the harpy, only to collapse the portion of the force wall that the elves were walking along.


    The harpy fled down the tunnel. The elves had taken precautions for themselves, if not for their feathered slaves, and individual air bubbles wrapped around the Sun elves. The caster pointed at the eel-looking fish Lena''s menu called a goliath snakehead and shot out a burst of concentrated light.


    "Fruiting sugar berry''s got lasers!" she muttered.


    The snakehead retreated, and the elves started moving toward the end of the tunnel. Lena sealed the room that the tunnel led to with crystal infused concrete around half a meter thick. The elves were trying to force their way into the force wall tunnel by the time the sealing was complete, so Lena triggered the spherical shock shield she had set up around the end of the force tunnel.


    The air bubbles around the Sun elves dissipated. The caster began to float toward the surface, limp, his staff falling to the bottom of the level. The two armored elves appeared momentarily stunned. McStabby lost his sword, then began choking. The silent one quickly shook off their shock, looked around, saw McStabby drowning, and went about the business of saving McStabby''s life. He even collected the caster as he dragged McStabby up to the surface.


    "Pardon me," Lena said to the corporals before moving her toon to the island nearest the three Sun elves.


    Sun Elf Number 3, the silent one, didn''t seem to notice her, probably too busy keeping the caster''s head above water while trying to get away from McStabby as he kept pushing Number 3 under in a bid to climb as high out of the water as he could get while hacking up all the water that had gone down into his lungs.


    Once beached, the elves looked much the worse for wear. Lena waited only long enough for Number 3 to roll away from the caster before locking them up in their own force field prisons. McStabby recovered the soonest, followed shortly by Sun Elf Number 3. The caster lay sprawled on his face, apparently still unconscious.


    On spotting Lena, McStabby reached for the sword that wasn''t there, scrambling back until he crashed into the force field barrier. Number 3 barely rolled his head, too exhausted to move right away.


    "I''m still deciding if I want the excuse to kill you right now, you sugar humping fruit suckers. You''re very fortunate that I am a civilized being or I would have crushed your skulls the same way your finger wiggler smashed that poor girl''s head in. As it is, you are all under arrest for murder. Your trial begins tomorrow. If you are found guilty without mitigating factors, you will be executed."

 Neighbors 8

    Lena


    On the advice of the corporals, Lena continued to keep the sapient monsters in isolated cages. She made an extra room above the ceiling of the Entrance level''s main floor and another one under the floor, then divided these rooms into individual cells. Candy suggested using the force fields to create vacuums around their cells to keep the prisoners from talking to each other, so Lena let her take over shaping the under water prison floor.


    In the upper prison, Lena made the rooms more comfortable, though still bare. Aaron had pointed out that, without knowing what the harpies and hemat wolves had been through, they had no reassurance that they would not turn suicidal when unbound from the Sun elves. It sat wrong with Lena, but Aaron had shared some of his uncle-the-prison-guard''s jail house stories before and made a convincing argument for caution over comfort.


    Lena used the force fields to bring each occupant to their temporary quarters, using a structure construct that Candy came up with for force wall elevators. Unlike the Sun elves, the two remaining harpies, the noct, and the hemat wolves, while individually caged, were able to see and verbalize at each other.


    Under the waters, Lena provided a day/night cycle and a chamber pot moulded up from the stone floor.


    Fallan had still been waiting to be put through to Talon Commander Muglibaum, so Jason, Rob, and Aaron had removed anything that could possibly be used for weapons while Candy watched over them from a distance, holding a menacing looking pipe on a stick. The end was copper infused with yellow crystal shards. There was a bit of bronze tooling between the copper and the dowel that looked too fancy for Candy''s usual style.


    The caster remained unconscious for several hours. Silent Sun elf, a.k.a. Number 3, had cooperated, stripping down to his skivvies and seeming thankful to be permitted to keep that bit of dignity. Stabby, on the other hand, grew belligerent. He proclaimed himself to be Sha''vord of the Diving Falcon clan as if that should matter to the Studio crew. Instead of risking her friends, Lena evacuated the air in Stabby''s bubble, waiting for a slow count of twenty after he appeared to pass out before letting the guys near enough to strip him.


    Caging the noct and the harpy with it had been as simple as wrapping them in force fields. Lena had used her skills to make the force bubbles opaque so that the two creatures of the sky didn''t have to see themselves being dragged up through the water. Upon being ordered to divest themselves of gear, the harpy had stripped off even the long tunic preserving her modesty. Just in case there were magical enchantments in the garb, Lena provided her a duplicate made of cotton. The noct had at least kept on its tunic, but obediently handed over its medieval utility belt. Only the Sun elves had had weapons.


    The invaders belongings were put in separate tubs made from bronze. Lena included the weapons that Stabby and the caster had dropped. Deciding not to emulate a DnD villain, Lena had the elves gear stored in a sealed room on the Entrance level, as in she opened a hole in the wall and then closed it with stone wrapping around the bronze tubs. No need to make escaping with their gear a simple prospect.


    With prisoners tucked away, Lena threw herself into building and sculpting, anything that would distract her from the sick horror of the caster crushing the harpy''s head. That sight played out in her mind on auto loop.


    Never before had Lena thought she would miss the ability to cry.


    When the Research core finished reverse engineering the harpy''s body the results announcement listed new class designs available of Caretaker, Cook, and Dancer, along with the first status design Lena had seen: Enslaved Mind. That did not give Lena any peace.


    Art did not distract Lena from the conversations occurring within the Studio.


    <center><hr>


    *~*~*


    </center>


    Jason


    Jason had to resist the urge to go beat on the Sun elves when he realized just how hard Lena was taking the death of the harpy. Worse, he couldn''t even touch her, hold her, give her the chance to punch him if that was what she needed.


    Rob suggested going down to talk with the corporals, milk them for the locals'' take on the Sun elves'' actions. It beat sitting around feeling impotent so Jason agreed.


    They brought down the lunch pots Jason had set to baking earlier in the day, along with steel soup spoons, forks, and chop sticks.


    The corporals were in the sand table room, gathered around a glowing stone. Rob knocked on the archway frame leading back toward the living quarters. "Hello again, gentlemen. We bring rabbit stew to share."


    The corporals straightened up and Fallan took hold of the glowing stone. Muglibaum''s voice came from the stone. "What''s that?"


    Fallan said, "Our hosts just brought a meal."


    Jason asked, "We''re interrupting your call, aren''t we? My apologies. We''ll just leave the stew."


    Muglibaum said, "Actually, I was hoping to ask you a few questions, if you don''t mind."


    Jason said, "I may not have answers, but you''re free to ask your questions."


    Muglibaum chuckled, then asked, "What are your plans concerning your prisoners?"


    "Before I get into that answer, was Lena able to share sound with you, corporals?" Jason asked.


    Tremshur and Fallan shook their heads.


    "No," said Baline.


    "The harpy that the staff user killed was a thinking being. The fellow calling himself Sha''vord knocked her unconscious when he could as easily have allowed her to pass and flee up the tunnel. Her death was completely unnecessary. Where we''re from, that is murder. Our emotions are running high right at the moment, so we''re going to wait for a day or two so that we''re not acting from outrage. We will give them an opportunity to convince us that they saw no better option. If they can talk us around to their point of view, we''ll see from there. If not, due to the callous disregard for life we witnessed, we will execute the two directly involved in the harpy''s murder. Regardless of which goes what way, we do not tolerate slavery, and they forfeited any claim of ownership to the others as soon as they brought them into the dungeon."


    "Would you execute someone for hunting?" Tremshur asked.


    Jason said, "Assuming their prey was of animal intelligence, no. If their prey was smarter than that, capable of being reasoned with, then it''s not hunting, it''s premeditated murder."


    "Even if you''re at war with what you''re hunting?" Tremshur asked.


    Jason shook his head. "Execution is state sanctioned murder, and war is a broad scale state of mass execution edicts. If we had the resources to create a rehabilitation facility, we''d do that in a heart beat. We don''t, so we''re left with the options we do have, and letting that kind of evil walk free in the world is not an option we''re willing to choose."


    "Roberto Garcias, do you agree with Jason Kline''s statement?" Tremshur asked.


    Rob finished setting down the bowls he had carried in. "I''m not as much of a bleeding heart as Lena or Jason. Those pricks set up the situation so even if they had a legit reason for their actions in the moment, they''re responsible for an unwarranted death. It''s man slaughter at least. Civilized beings have a responsibility to try for peace before they engage in war."


    Baline shook his head. "But, how could the Sun elves have sought peace when the harpy started rampaging?"


    Rob, hands now free that he had set down the platter on which he had carried the bowls, said, "That wasn''t a rampage. That was pure panic. They could have easily let her past them, given her the space to retreat."If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.


    "And when do you think the harpy would have stopped running?" Baline asked. "She was bound to one of them, at least. If she got too far away, when the bond snapped she would have been even more dangerous."


    Rob, a glint of anger sharpening his gaze, opened his mouth. Jason cut him off. "You''re dangerous. If you panic here in the Studio, should we kill you?"


    Baline''s scales lifted, but Muglibaum spoke up from the stone. "I hope that wasn''t a threat," the Talon Commander said.


    Jason shook his head. "No, it wasn''t, because we don''t subscribe to the theory of kill it before it can hurt us. We are not that weak. We are ignorant; I''ll certainly concede that. The harpies may not be capable of vocal discourse with us, but they are quite obviously capable of complex communication with each other, and they recognize the value of tools and clothes. What makes their lives less valuable than the Sun elves''?"


    Muglibaum, settling into a lecturing tone, said, "Mon-saps are still monsters. They are not responsible for their actions the way an Aware being is. They are not on our level. You can only reason with them so far, and with pretty much the same kind of tactics used to train a war dog or a horse. Even if your horse could speak with you, that wouldn''t make it Aware. There are skills and spells that will interpret animal speech; that doesn''t mean that animals are capable of being responsible for their actions. When instinct is the overriding directive of a creature''s life, their ability to shape the world is as good as nonexistent."


    "So you use the ability of an individual to effect changes in their environment as the meter stick by which you value their lives?" Jason asked.


    "That''s one way to put it, yes," Muglibaum said. "This is Rhofhir, after all. If we let the patterns get too stale with repetition, we invite an Unraveling, and that kind of catastrophe has so far ended up with the deaths of most of the creatures living at the time."


    Jason looked at Rob, both of them surprised out of their anger. "What''s an unraveling?" Jason asked.


    <center><hr>


    *~*~*


    </center>


    Brad


    Dibbs rubbed his face and leaned forward in his chair. "We''re in the Eleventh Age, which means there''s been ten Unravelings so far. The signs of an eleventh Unraveling have been getting more and more prevalent. Stagnant weather patterns seem to be especially worrisome predictors. There has been a sharp increase in the numbers of monstrous sapients at the same time as the declining birth rates of Aware races, and the Aware races are becoming more susceptible to demagoguery. We need to break out of the pattern stagnation that''s going on in the Grand Tapestry, or safety measures in the Grand Tapestry will kick in and start jettisoning the most stagnant of the patterns, which are usually the ones most people rely on to go about their daily lives."


    Brad, coiled up on the workbench across from where Dibbs was seated in the reading chair, glanced up from scroll box he was using to record his notes. "How does that even work?"


    "Say, for instance, that corns are the staple diet of a species. During an Unraveling, the corns will mutate. A lot, if not most, will revert to simple grasses without seed heads. Some will become monstrous plants. Some will turn into new types of corn, and many of those new types will have undesirable consequences for the people eating them. Regardless, that staple food supply is now gone and the people who relied on it are starving while they look for new food sources."


    Brad nodded and wrote a few more notes on the exposed portion of the scroll in the scroll box. "So, widespread regressions and mutations. Now, why are you ''summoning'' demons to deal with this?"


    "Ideas, mostly," Dibbs said. "A bit of hope for some lucky answer falling into our laps. I know I''ve said it before, but the universal plane you''re from has progressed much farther without the kind of resetting that occurs during an Unraveling. You were one of the clearest voices I could find that actually understood enough of the structure of your universe to be worth listening to. We''ve already begun an analysis of material objects to see whether there are the ''atoms'' and ''molecules'' of your universe present in our own, though discovering ways to see that small are presenting their own challenges. You wanted more insight into translation spells, especially those focused more in physiological translations. I never realized that you weren''t conscious during our communications. I certainly did not intend to receive a complete pattern for you, sapient mind and all."


    "Then why put me into this ¡­ golem body?" Brad asked. He was highly miffed over the whole thing, but Dibbs at least wasn''t acting the sodding ass. Feltz, though, that imperialist cunt was a bloody ass hat. Highly intelligent, Brad had to give him that, but his morals were beyond skewed.


    Dibbs refilled his mug from the pitcher sitting on top of the bookshelves. He swirled the contents a bit as he stared into them, then took a sip. Then he answered Brad.


    "It is beyond rare to get the full pattern of a demon. Attempting to integrate demons with incomplete patterns usually leads to their violent, painful deaths and the destruction of the incomplete pattern. Using a golem for the structure to graft an incomplete pattern on to has had the most successes in recovering the information contained in the demonic patterns.


    "I used my highest quality memory stone to record our last communication. I did not expect to get enough of your pattern to even attempt a golemization, but the clarity of our communication was so strong I hoped to be able to use the memory stone to replay it to get as much nuance as I could. The rituals are exhausting and expensive. The memory stone is cheap in comparison.


    "Feltz recognized the patterning caught in the stone. While I was sleeping off the exhaustion from the ritual, he created your golem body. Your pattern was too strong in the stone for me to replay the conversation, so the only ways to get at the information in the stone was to proceed with golemization or to attempt to integrate you as a full pattern. Golemization is usually the safer choice, but with a golem''s scaffold under the grafted pattern, so far as I know the only results have been at best monstrous sapience."


    Brad reflexively rubbed at his temples. It was a weird reminder that his form was more lizard than human. "I have to admit, I don''t understand this distinction between Aware and monstrous."


    Dibbs took another swallow of his drink. He sighed, set down the mug, and got up to pace. After a few circuits between the door and the wall, Dibbs stopped and looked Brad in the eye. "Sapience is a combination of intelligence, acuity and wisdom. Awareness requires the ability to apply one''s acuity and intelligence to oneself in a way that allows one to recognize their own patterns and to influence them.


    "Monstrous sapients are often capable of seeing and recognizing patterns, but their intelligence is limited to the refinement of existing patterns. They are unable to create anything new to the Tapestry. In many ways, they are like the artifacts of intelligence that you spoke of. They can be taught patterns outside of their instinctual ones, but they cannot diverge from what they are born knowing or taught."


    Brad made a few more notes. While he was formulating his next question, Feltz entered the workroom.


    He took down a small chest, about half a meter long and maybe a third of a meter wide and deep. "I have been assigned to investigate a group of Traveler demons on Malta. Pack your bags, Dibbs, and bring your demon along. From the sound of things, it may be worthwhile to bring your lab, too."


    Brad watched in growing disbelief as Feltz packed more items into the chest than it could conceivably hold.


    "And why are you asking for my companionship?" Dibbs asked, looking only slightly put out by Feltz''s actions.


    "One, you don''t want Vorbolinsh to use your petition as grounds to seize your demon, and your golem would definitely find that a disagreeable situation. And, two, I repeat: a *group* of Travelers. Third, I hadn''t gotten to yet. There hasn''t been a legitimate sighting of even a lone Traveler lately, let alone a confirmed-by-status Traveler in an Aware integration. This is just up your line of research." Feltz had finished packing up the workbench and begun on the books.


    Dibbs nodded. "Good points. Brad, would you accompany me while I pack?"


    Brad set his pen in the pen holder on the scroll box and nodded. He gathered the scroll box containing his notes, and had a brief moment of panic when Dibbs, using a telekinetic spell, gathered him and headed out the door.


    <center><hr>


    *~*~*


    </center>


    Lena


    After seeing Rob and Jason head down to talk with the corporals, Candy invited Aaron into her Physics Lab. Presently, she was acting like an interpreter between Aaron and the Tapestry. Most of the answers were separated from the questions by slight pauses, no more than a count of twenty.


    Aaron: "What are the capabilities of a harpy in a panic?"


    Candy: "Clawed wing-hands, taloned feet, beak made for piercing, sonic attack, innate wind magic. The Adventurers Guild maintains some kind of ranking system for threats, and uses some kind of a short cut through the Tapestry system to share that information. I''m getting the understanding like DnD style challenge ratings - that has to do with the Aspect of the Gamer. Individual harpies are considered something like CR 5 or 6."


    Aaron: "What would the Sun elves sit at?"


    Candy: "Their stats are higher than mine and Aware races aren''t part of the CR system the Adventurers Guild maintains."


    Aaron: "So, harpies aren''t Aware? Where do they stand on the Tapestry''s scale?"


    Candy: "Monstrous and monstrous sapient. Looks like as they age they break through a stat level threshold, barely getting into the sapient range as adults."


    Aaron: "What''s this about a sapience range?"


    (longer pause)


    Candy: "There are two thresholds. One is about base stats and the other is about enhanced stats. Base-stats sapience seems to be the big determiner for Aware versus monstrous sapience. There''s something more, but I think I need to complete another Aspect to get the nuance. ¡­ Yeah, something like a Scholar''s Aspect. Anyhow, the base-stats benchmark requires a minimum of 7 points for Acuity, Intelligence, and Wisdom, with a combined total of 25 or greater. The enhanced-stats threshold requires a minimum of 100 stat points, with no less than 30% of those points divided between Acuity and Intelligence."


    Aaron: "Would dragons be considered Aware?"


    Candy: "Why would you think there are dragons?"


    Aaron: "I don''t know. It''d be cool. Are there dragons?"


    Candy: "Huh. Yeah, there are. I''m not a biologist, so maybe when you get up to speed on this Tapestry Sync stuff you''ll understand it more, but there are dragons like there are primates and felines, but there are also more hybrid mixed family things. Species here seems to be more about breeding true than only breeding like to like."


    Aaron: "That''s cool, I guess. But, back to the harpies: can you determine if the one that died made it past that sapience threshold?"


    (longer pause)


    Candy: "No, I can''t tell."

 Neighbors 9

    Lena


    Lena gave up on arting. She turned her focus to the monstrous sapients.


    The two living harpies perched in their cells. They had legs the length of a comparable sized human, but instead of the plantigrade foot of a human, they possessed the digitigrade talon-feet of falcons. Their perching resembled a human''s flat-footed squatting, their thighs and shins vertically aligned with more of their weight balancing in their knees and hips. It seemed both more stable and more muscularly involved than squatting on the balls of the feet, heels lifted off the ground, thighs and shins horizontally aligned, and the weight balanced over ankles.


    The harpies'' wings grew out of their shoulders and had two major bendy points along their length. The first joint bent forward, like an elbow, and the second back like a knee. Three fingers, each about 10 cm long, grew from the point of the second major joint. When relaxed as the harpies currently were, their fingers folded over the side of the joint. One of the more odd things, at least to Lena, was that despite one of the fingers being opposable (they formed more of a triangular grip), all the fingers folded down in the same direction.


    At present, the harpies were perched on the floor facing the front of their cells. Their wings were folded in against their sides, their heads slumped into their shoulders. Their tunics covered human-like breasts, and even with the pointed beak in place of a mouth and nose, their faces were quite human. Despite that, Lena couldn''t figure out what they were feeling. Their beaks did not give them leeway to smile or frown, and they lacked obvious ears. They had stopped shivering, at least.


    The big assed wolves had, for the most part, decided to curl up next to the front of their cells. They appeared to be sleeping. These wolves were more the size of the iconic planes lions of Africa and had more muscular legs than a similarly proportioned wolf would have had. Their furs were mostly dark gray with browns and some reds patterned in.


    The noct, on the other hand, was pacing in his cell, leaping up occasionally and extending his wings until they touched opposite walls. He muttered to himself, a string of curses against the "Shasha bastards" and confined spaces.


    He had beautiful wings patterned in shades of brown with white and black accents. Most of the lighter colors were on the inside (underside?) of his wings with the darker colors on the outside. She guessed they served the same kind of camouflaging purpose as a normal bird. His ears swiveled constantly, moving more independently of his head than the elves ears appeared to.


    Lena made her toon appear in the aisle, capturing the attention of the cell occupants. "Which of you are capable of speech?" she asked, looking around.


    The noct closed his mouth and tried to look innocent, while the harpies and wolves cocked their heads or simply looked on with curiosity.


    Lena sat her toon on the floor and glanced toward the noct. "I guess you get to be the spokesman for your group. And please don''t try to pretend you don''t speak when I already heard you cursing the Shasha, whom I guess are those berry-popping Sun elves."


    The noct froze, then relaxed a touch. "I have the speaking words, yes."


    "What is your name?" Lena asked.


    The noct tensed up again. "The masters do not give names."


    Lena snorted. She wanted to promise that there wouldn''t be any masters soon enough, but the conversation happening between Jason, Rob and the corporals, as well as the information Aaron and Candy were picking up from the Tapestry system had already proved that things were more complicated than they first seemed. "You have a name, regardless of who gave it to you. You said as much earlier. What would you like me to call you?"


    The noct scrutinized Lena''s toon. "Ouliel. You may call me Ouliel."


    Lena nodded. "Ouliel, how sapient are your companions here in these cells?"


    Ouliel studied Lena for several moments before he said, "Do you use [Inspect] you will see for yourself that the harpies are monsters and the hemats and I, we are monstrous sapients."


    "If they are monsters, why are the harpies clothed?" Lena asked.


    Ouliel''s answer was given at a cautious pace. "The Shasha are offended by a naked harpy, so they use the long tunics to cover what they find offensive and to mark who the harpy belongs to."


    "Why do you think they killed the other harpy?" Lena asked.


    Fury twisted Ouliel''s features and flooded his cheeks with red while white outlined his clenched jaw and pursed lips. After a moment, his expression relaxed, though the anger did not fade. "Hessa. Her name was Hessa. The Shasha killed her because they are bastards. Mother Diadra turns her back on them for the breaking of the World Tree and they no longer hear the Songs. Guardians they were before Shasha. Tyrants they are, now they are Shasha."


    Lena''s curiosity was pricked. However, she did know how to stay on topic, even if she usually wandered. "But why, in this time, in this place, did they kill Hessa?"


    Ouliel closed his eyes and drew in a deep breath. A fine tremor shaking his shoulders with emotions, he said, "Shasha do not ''waste'' healing spells. Hessa, Bessa and Nessa cost them 34 silver wings combined. A healing potion costs 20 silver wings. Only Bessa is close to being worth that cost, and that because she is soon to mature. Hessa -. Hessa was child-cursed; she would never have matured. Killing her was their kind of mercy."


    Lena felt herself pause. She allowed herself a moment of pure mental silence while she absorbed the implications. Then she asked, "What makes the difference between a mature harpy and the state Bessa and Nessa are currently in?"


    "Mature harpies can sing decent imitations of the Songs. It is as close as the Shasha will ever get to hearing the Songs. Not all harpies mature. Most don''t. Their minds stay simple and the songs they sing confuse the harmonies of the Songs."


    Lena relaxed. That was a much less despicable distinction than she had assumed.


    "Okay," she said. "To the Shasha, then, Hessa wasn''t a thinking being and so they treated her like a beast. Is that so?"


    "Yes. She wasn''t, though. She had kindness in her. She shared food and was as happy to preen others as to be preened."


    "You love her quite a bit, don''t you?" Lena asked, her voice gentle.


    "She''s dead now. What does it matter?" Ouliel asked, turning his face away from Lena''s toon.


    "Love does not die so easily," Lena said.


    The hemat wolves lifted their muzzles skyward and howled an agreement.


    <center><hr>


    *~*~*


    </center>


    Jason


    After breakfast the next day, Lena, her portal making ability expanded with the help of the Zone Cores, provided intra-level portals between the Lotrot Entrance Hall and the two cell blocks.


    "Are you sure you want to be in the room?" Lena asked again.


    Jason nodded. "We have to be. We have to use our own senses to come to our decisions or it''ll be too easy to twist blame around later on. I''ve seen it too many times."


    Rob and Aaron backed him up, and Candy said, "I don''t have to understand their point to know it''s important to them."


    "Fine," Lena said. Her avatar led the way to the underwater cell block. She made a wooden table with a polished surface and four chairs. She let her toon float in a seated lotus position to the right of the table as it faced the cells. Jason took the seat next to her with Rob taking the center seat, Candy between him and Aaron. They each set the note pads Lena had made for them in front of them. Candy fiddled with her pen.


    "Are you ready?" Lena asked. When they all gave their affirmatives, the front of the cells changed from an opaque gray to a clear glass. Holes lined the bottom of the cell fronts.


    The three Sun elves faced the cell fronts. The magic caster, looking pale and haggard, sat on the floor. The two melee fighters stood. The one that had been a belligerent ass the day before looked haughty while the one who had surrendered seemed composed.


    "Why did you come to this dungeon?" Rob asked.


    The melee fighters remained silent. The magic caster said, "We need to capture auxiliary cores stones to stabilize the dungeons in East Karth. What are you doing in this dungeon?"


    Jason saw Aaron place a hand on top of Candy''s arm. They had agreed to let Rob handle the questioning phase, and that included responding to their prisoners'' questions. He gave a silent thanks that Aaron was on Candy corralling duty.


    "Who are you?" Rob asked.


    "Who are you?" the mage asked.


    Rob made a note, then looked back up and gave the magic caster a bored look. "Name?"


    The caster took a deep breath, then started coughing.


    The composed melee fighter said, "He is Sha''lanadi. I am Sha''dakai, and our leader is Sha''vord. To whom are we speaking?"


    The Studio crew all wrote down the names. Rob glanced toward Sha''dakai. "We are citizen employees of the Studio of Capricious Dreams. You invaded our home and brought slaves with you, one of whom you then killed. You have broken our laws."


    Sha''vord tried to interrupt, shouting, "This is absurd!", but Rob just kept talking over him.If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.


    "At this time, you are being given the opportunity to speak on your behalves to convince us that you had sound reasons for your actions, which we may or may not deem to be mitigating factors in your sentencing." Rob continued to use his bored government worker monotone.


    Jason knew this was one of Rob''s more common tactics in dealing with people he did not like. He still felt it was the wrong tone to take, but Rob had a gift for getting people to say more than they thought they were sharing. That''s why he was taking the lead.


    Sha''vord banged on the cell front. "I demand you release us and our chattel immediately!"


    Rob wrote down another note and, without looking up, said, "Your demands have been noted. Now, please justify your actions."


    Sha''vord threw himself at the wall, pounding at it with his fists, knees, and elbows. He might have used his feet if he thought to step back enough to kick at it, but he quickly began leaving blood spots on the clear wall.


    "If you would, please?" Rob asked, looking to Lena''s avatar.


    She nodded and the holes closed up, cutting off Sha''vord''s ranting.


    Sha''dakai glanced over at the now silent show of his companion''s rage and noticeably swallowed.


    Sha''lanadi got his breathing back under control, also watching the raging Sun elf bloodying the wall. "He may not act the part, but Sha''vord is a well respected noble of the Sun Court. Your actions invite doom upon your heads."


    "Uh-huh," Rob said. "That''s nice. Now, please justify your actions since entering the Studio of Capricious Dreams."


    Sha''dakai cleared his throat and took control of the Sun elves'' side of the dialogue. "We were unaware that this dungeon had inhabitants. We came here because the dungeons of East Karth are ¡­ going rabid. Someone has stolen their core stones, and all of our diviners tell us that the dungeons will deteriorate and do irreplaceable harm to the continent if we are unable to locate replacement cores. The Sun Court has taken the extreme stance that those who are able to restore the dungeons to their normal function will be awarded undisputed control of the dungeon they restore. Our diviners have pointed to this dungeon being capable of creating auxiliary core stones. It is our hope that by acquiring one of these auxiliaries, we can introduce it to one of the failing dungeons and restore it.


    "To that end, we secured quick travel and brought our bound companions with us. The harpies may be brought to their maturity as sirens though experience within a dungeon, and as they did not burden our transport, we brought them in the hopes of encouraging their maturation. They are monsters, though as sirens they gain a limited sapience. The hemats, though sapient, imprint on a companion during their infancy and rely upon the mana bond to maintain their peaceful nature. The noct that came with us belongs to Sha''lanadi''s uncle and is bonded with the hemat Wisp. None of our companions are Aware, and thus cannot be slaves."


    "You speak as though a harpy is distinct from a siren. Please clarify the rationale for that distinction," Candy asked, not looking up from the page in front of her. Her question came out dispassionate and analytical.


    Sha''dakai looked to Sha''lanadi, who said, "Their subspecies as listed with [Inspect] changes upon maturation from feral to siren."


    Candy set her pen down and looked up. "You are a mage, correct?"


    "I am," Sha''lanadi said.


    "You crushed the harpy Hessa''s head, killing her. Why?" Candy asked.


    "Better a quick death than a lingering one. Nocts have racial healing abilities. If our scout was unable to stabilize her, we could not transport her without killing her." The mage managed to look more haggard as he said this.


    Sha''vord finally stopped throwing himself at the clear cell front. He leaned forward with his hands braced against the wall.


    "Why did you not permit the harpies to flee?" Rob asked.


    The mage said, "The choice was not mine to make."


    Sha''dakai glanced between the mage and the angry elf noble. He looked down, lifting one foot and making a distracted visual inspection of it as he rotated his ankle through all sorts of positions.


    The noble''s lips moved.


    Lena said, "Any objections to opening Sha''vord''s speaking holes?"


    Jason leaned back and exchanged looks with the others. Rob, keeping that going-through-the-motions monotone, said, "We have no objections."


    "All of this is over a 5 silver harpy?" Sha''vord asked, incredulous with anger. "What are you, some foul breed of Inheritors? Siren harpies are useful pets that can learn a few tricks, but that''s it!"


    Jason saw the stiff way Rob wrote on his notepad, and the words, "fucking fuck off of a fucked up fucker". The bored tone got more bored. "Are you personally bound to any of the hemat wolves?"


    "Do I look like a furry nursemaid? No!"


    Sha''dakai stiffened. "Zair and Jzun are my companions. I can sense they are calm and well fed at this time, though I would appreciate confirming this in person."


    Lena''s avatar went still as a statue.


    Rob said, "Request noted. Now, Sha''vord was it? Why did you prevent the harpy from fleeing?"


    The noble gritted his teeth. "None of you know a Wasteful thing about harpies, do you?" Without waiting for an answer, he continued. "Harpies are able to cast confusion spells with their singing. The more afraid or angry they are, the stronger the confusion effect, and the more aggressive those lost to harpy song become in their confusion. Sha''dakai is my vassal, and it is my duty to protect him and his furry toys as much as it is his duty to serve me."


    Lena''s avatar regained a sense of life. Over the G.C. she said, ?Have we heard enough to make up our minds??


    Aaron and Candy nodded, then Jason said, ?There''s still the issue of enslavement.?


    Candy said, ?I think we need to step back for a moment, pool what we''ve picked up. We can come back to ask more questions later.?


    Rob sighed, collected his papers, and said aloud, "Thank you for your cooperation with our investigation. If we have further questions, we will return."


    He stood, pushed the chair under the table, and headed for the portal out. Candy and Aaron, followed by Jason, followed him. Lena''s avatar turned to the prisoners. He heard her ask something about their diet, but he was through the portal before he caught more than that.


    <center><hr>


    *~*~*


    </center>


    Lena


    Lena split her attention between securing the prisoners, ensuring they had food, and checking on the corporals.


    The Sun elves seemed to have the same kind of nutritional needs as a human so she conjured some apples for them to tide them over until one of the people with hands could come up with a more filling meal.


    The corporals were back to playing with the sand table. They had come up with some standard formations, so to be less conspicuous about her eavesdropping, Lena popped in and put together the construct plans for the floor''s structure core and the miniatures that would represent it in the sand box.


    That seen to, she caught herself up on the discussion her friends were having about the Sun elves. It hadn''t taken long for Jason to lay out what the corporals had told Rob and him. Candy was still going through what she and Aaron had pulled from the Tapestry.


    When they were done, Lena said, "I spoke with Ouliel, the noct, last night. He confirmed that the harpies are, at present, sub-sapient. The hemats are sapient, and they imprint, something like Anne McCaffrey''s dragons.


    "The hemats were able to answer yes and no questions. From what I gathered, they think of the person they''re bonded with as their friend, not their master, and view the relationship as more of a family affair. They were emphatically opposed to severing those bonds. None of them like the caster or Sha''vord McStabbypants.


    "Ouliel interpreted for the harpies, and he really hates the Sun elves. I don''t know how much we can trust him. According to him, the harpies hate the Sun elves as much as he does. They are under a magical leash. Ouliel''s leash has been passed on to the caster, and the harpies are leashed to McStabbypants.


    "I think -. I know I made a mistake in calling the harpy Hessa''s death murder. I still think it was a callous disregard for life. At the same time, this isn''t California, or the U.S., or any kind of civil society that we''re used to. I don''t mean to say let''s treat this like a game, but I think we do have to pull on our experience as role players to put things into perspective."


    Rob responded first. "McStabbypants is a first class asshole."


    Aaron asked, "Is that a reason to kill him?"


    Rob grimaced and said, "No, but I think we should make the confiscation of his weapons and gear part of his punishment for torturing Ouliel."


    "Does anyone object to letting the hemats bonded with Sha''dakai stay in his cell with him?" Lena asked.


    The answer came back as a unanimous "nope", so as the discussion over just what to do with the prisoners got going, Lena made a temporary portal between the hemats'' cells and Sha''dakai''s.


    The relief that struck the Sun elf was evident in every line of his body and the joyful expression on his face. The two hemats swarmed him, wiggling like ecstatic puppies and nearly burying him in affection as they reassured themselves of his safety and well being.


    Lena shared the visual with her friends, her crew, and suppressed the need for physical touch that the sight stirred in her.


    It took their crew about an hour to decide how to punish the prisoners, and another half hour to retrieve the prisoners'' gear and divvy it up into what they would get back now and what they would get back after they left the Studio.


    Rob, Jason and Aaron carried in the boxes of items to be restored to the prisoners inside the Studio, while Candy carried her fancy pipe on a sling holster. It looked like an intimidating gun-like contraption, but Lena wasn''t sure what it was supposed to actually do, aside from look intimidating.


    Lena had left the cell fronts clear and the speaking holes as they were. Sha''vord was a sour sugar-sucker, but he had calmed down a little more when he saw Sha''dakai''s reunion with his hemat companions. As they entered, Sha''vord''s expression went back to full grump. He and the other two Sun elves came to stand before their cell fronts. The hemats flanked Sha''dakai.


    The guys deposited the boxes on the table and Candy took up a guard position near the portal.


    Jason took the lead in speaking this time. "We have deliberated, and come to agreement over your disposition. Sha''vord, you are correct that we were lacking in information regarding harpies. The information we have received from the Tapestry and other sources corroborates your claim that they are nonsapient beings, and therefore the charges of murder are dismissed as groundless."


    Sha''vord looked unamused and impatient.


    Jason continued. "The hemat wolves have corroborated your claims regarding the nature of their bonds, and thus we recognize that they are not slaves. The harpies, being sub-sapient, are recognized as property in the same manner as any beast, and we find their treatment within our Studio to be sufficient justification for their removal from your care. The noct Ouliel is sapient, though we have been advised that as a monstrous sapient, he is mentally unfit to assume responsibility for his actions. As with the harpies, we find the treatment you have subjected him to while in the Studio to be sufficient grounds to remove him from your custodianship."


    Sha''vord''s expression filled with rage again, but he managed to hold himself in check. "You''re telling us that you''re stealing our chattel?"


    Jason''s Southern drawl peeked out as he said, "Slavery is not permitted within the Studio of Capricious Dreams. We do not recognize claims of ownership over sapient beings, monstrous or Aware. We do accept the custodianship of sapients who are, for various reasons, incapable of being held responsible for their actions. This custodianship is based on the authority and responsibilities of a parent for their child. You deliberately endangered his life on more than one occasion, and subjected him to mental and physical abuse. No, we do not permit you to continue such vile acts within our home. Your actions, especially yours, Sha''vord, have demonstrated that you lack the emotional and moral maturity to be entrusted with responsibility for another life. Your options are to accept our decision or to remain in that cell."


    Jason sucked in a deep breath, calming himself, while Sha''vord visibly restrained himself from throwing another tantrum. Turning his attention away from the Sun elf noble, Jason focused on the caster. "You indicated that you are here for a particular purpose. As soon as you accept our decision and cooperate with us on transferring custodianship of Ouliel, we will be happy to open negotiations."


    Jason pulled out an inert Zone Core from his pocket and held it up. "Is this sufficient proof that we are capable of producing the core stones you are looking for?"


    The caster said, "Yes! That''s a core stone! Who do you want me to pass Ouliel''s lease to?"


    "Me," Lena said.


    The caster made a fist and slowly opened it. In the confines of his hand, the light distorted and twisted around itself. Lena reached for the distorted space with her dungeon senses.


    *** *** ***


    You have acquired the ownership contract for the noct Ouliel.


    This contract does not have the contractee''s agreement and may be dispelled if the contractee exerts Will that exceeds your current Will Pool.


    You may voluntarily fail to exercise your Will, as may the contractee.


    *** *** ***

 Dungeon Calling 1

    Brad


    "Watch where you''re stepping, you gnelfy bumblefoot!" a gruff voiced goat bodied centaur-thing snarled at Dibbs. The goat-centaur appeared to be male. His head barely came up to Dibbs'' elbow, and he wore a puffy undyed gray shirt with a brown canvas type cloth vest full of pockets over it.


    "[Bane]," was Dibbs reply.


    The goatish centaur squawked and threw something out of his vest. Then he clattered off, bounding almost deer like into the crowd.


    Dibbs caught the something, which turned out to be a pouch with the drawstrings cut.


    "What was that?" Brad asked, flexing a wing to point at the fleeing creature''s wake.


    Dibbs didn''t even look as he responded, continuing down the cobbled street while he tucked the pouch into his vest. "Gidataur. They have curious fingers. The ones that can turn that curiosity into more intellectual pursuits have a gift for illusion magic."


    Dibbs wore trousers, walking boots, a more fitted puffy shirt with a vest that looked to be made from silk under a knee length, full skirted great coat. Brad rode on a perch made from a pair of crossed 3 cm diameter dowels attached to a leather pad behind the mage''s left shoulder.


    "So he did just pick your pocket?" Brad asked. "You seem pretty nonchalant about the whole affair."


    "Yes, and if you''re the sort to get upset about a creature following its instincts, well, it''s your loss if you mind it. That''s why I made sure our equipment has been enchanted against theft. Precautions over petulance, as my mother used to say." Dibbs cupped his left hand and a glow appeared, which quickly formed into an arrowhead pointing about 15¡ã to the right of their current path.


    "Why do you even carry a purse?" Brad asked.


    Dibbs sounded amused as he answered. "You mean because of my storage? It takes mana to open that, which is flashy, and not everyone loves mages. Besides, I''d rather lose a purse than announce to every cut throat around what a juicy mark I might be."


    "That''s fair," Brad conceded. "So, where are we? The city looks and smells better than I expect from a medieval town, but I''m not seeing any modern conveniences, either."


    "We''re in the port city of Dernahan on the north eastern coast of Felor. That''s the closest portal the Asylum has to our destination, which is on the south western side of Malta. A quick trip north across the Green Sea should see us to Port Sala, and from there we''ll take the Rimward Trading Road to the city of Lotrot."


    Recalling the world map Brad had seen during his rummaging through the wizards'' notes, he thought that put them in the southwest corner of the map, and the world if the Mana Wastes were real. "From the way Feltz goes on, I would have thought the Arcane Asylum was located in the center of the known world."


    Dibbs side stepped a pair of arguing gnomes and took the second street branching to the right of the one they were on. "It''s a ''do and don''t''. The Asylum is located in an extra-dimensional space and has portals to every continent and most major centers on the continents. Dernahan is a major stop on the Rimward trading routes and has been since the eighth age. Southern Malta isn''t politically unified enough to warrant a portal when Dernahan''s here. Our other choices would have been about center in the Othielian Alliance in Malta''s Shining Sea or in the Dwarven Cragheights of Northern Malta. As neither Feltz nor I are teleportation specialists, Dernahan''s our fastest option."


    "And speed is of the essence, is it?" Brad asked. He had an uneasy feeling about this trip. On one hand, he wanted to be there now just to confirm that this group of Aware Travelers had nothing to do with his friends. On the the other hand, given his experiences with the mages of the Arcane Asylum he wasn''t sure he wanted to inflict them on these poor blokes, *especially* if they turned out to be his friends.


    "Yes, it is," Dibbs said with a grim solemnity. "Lay people are highly superstitious and prone to panic. The approaching Unraveling just adds to that readiness to fear the unknown and seek to blame it for any bad things happening in the area. We want to make sure we get there well before any mobs start forming."


    Brad shut it while he digested that. During the silence, Dibbs checked their direction two more times. They were approaching a specific pier along the merchants'' wharf when Brad asked, "What do you plan to do with these Travelers when you find them?"


    Dibbs said, "Ask questions. If they are benign, then we will trade our assistance in acclimating for their knowledge. If they are hostile, we will contain them. While we have a number of strategies to fall back upon should they be needed, we don''t have sufficient information to formulate any solid plans. You lot are prone to presenting unique circumstances."


    While not satisfying, it was a far more peaceful answer than Brad had dreaded. "Well, as you''re bringing me along, how likely am I to get a say in how you treat with this group?"


    "The better your arguments, the more likely we are to heed them." Dibbs turned onto the pier he had been aiming for and waved to Feltz, who stood beside the docking bridge of a wooden, round bellied, three masted sailing ship. Brad had no real experience with seafaring matters. The only thing he could think to call it was a galleon.


    As soon as they were within a few meters of the older mage, Feltz hollered out, "It took you long enough!"


    "I packed everything," Dibbs said with a studied nonchalance in his tone.


    Feltz blew out a laugh. "Planning on relocating, are you?"


    Dibbs shrugged. "I''m not political enough for the Asylum."


    Feltz stopped smirking. "You''re serious?"


    "Yes. Don''t worry. I''m not cutting ties or anything drastic like that. I just think it''s time for me to stretch my legs again. Besides, this alleviates most of the worries of Vorbolinsh getting greedy enough to attempt to seize Brad."


    "You really are serious," Feltz said, a fierce scowl covering his features. He sniffed, turned, and led the way on to the ship.


    <center><hr>


    *~*~*


    </center>


    They departed with the evening tide. The ship, named the Merry Rover, turned out to be a carrack, 40 meters long and 8 or 9 meters at the beam. From what Brad overheard from the sailors, they had enough crew members for three watches, 47 sailors in addition to the officers, which was a luxury on most merchant ships. The captain had agreed to help his first mate train the core of a crew to take with him when he picked up the ship their merchant House had promised him in Port Sala.


    The trip from Dernahan to Port Sala took two weeks. Brad got a lot more reading in, finding that picking up the various languages of Rhofhir, both modern and ancient, came suspiciously easily to him. His memory also seemed much clearer, more precise, than he had been used to, which led him to wonder if Terry Pratchett had been on to something with all of his jokes about the glandular issues of the embodied.If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.


    His very existence confounded Brad. He had emotions. If anything, he felt those emotions with greater clarity than he could recall. At the same time, they were never as overwhelming. Perhaps it was a product of having a crystalline memory matrix as opposed to the more squishy construct of a brain? Brad knew the provocation of each emotion he felt whereas before being implanted in a golem he had felt deeply but without understanding why he felt as he did. Perhaps, just maybe, emotions were more than chemical reactions, more than hormonal responses to stimuli?


    To avoid lingering on such unproductive thinking, Brad dove into the treaties on the workings of the Grand Tapestry and the nature of Skills, Aspects, and Designs. Dibbs encouraged his reading, going so far as to provide Brad with a storage amulet. To use it, Brad just had to tap a short melody on the runes and then he had access to an extra-dimensional pocket with enough room for ten scroll boxes. One of those boxes contained Brad''s current notes.


    Brad couldn''t stand being closed in with Feltz. The man''s refusal to respect Brad''s sapience irritated him to no end. He even discovered that his golem form had retractable fangs thanks to how they flexed when Feltz was at his most orneriest. During the day, Brad took advantage of the climbing capability of his serpentine form and went up into the rigging of one of the masts, finding that to be one of the better ways of staying out of everyone''s way and far enough from the sea spray not to worry about damaging the scroll boxes.


    His gaze kept being drawn to the water and the faint green cast to the waves. The sight soothed him, and he found that his [Meditation] skill leveled quickly, soon transitioning to [Mindfulness] as he watched the play of light and shadow into the ever changing sea. The first time he caught sight of the coppery furred seals following the ship, he nearly dropped the scroll box he had been reading.


    The sailors didn''t seem to mind. In fact, they took the sight as a good omen and regularly tossed dried meats and fruits to the seals. Brad was sure these seals were not like Earth''s seals because they seemed to prefer the dried fruits to the meats.


    Two days out of Port Sala the seals were nowhere to be seen. The sailors were uneasy until the fellow in the crow''s nest spotted land near noon, and then turned cheerful. They followed the coast west and north until they reached their destination.


    Brad was again up in the masts during the docking. A group of seven anthropomorphic lizard men wearing a green tabard over leather armor waited on the pier. Their scales were a matte gray akin to the color of storm clouds. The one in the front had a sword belted to his side, as did three more of his companions. The remaining three had bronze tipped spears carried in their left hands.


    The captain and first mate greeted the waiting lizard men and, after verifying their badges, invited the customs officer and his squad on board.


    They waited for the customs officials to inspect the cargo before receiving permission to disembark, at which point Brad came down from the main mast. Dibbs had once again donned the shoulder perch, and he turned his back to the mast to make it easier for Brad to climb on.


    The customs officer blinked and frowned as he watched Brad settle onto the perch. "What in the Wastes kind of creature is that?"


    "Golem," Feltz said. "My friend''s personal property and not for sale. It has monstrous sapience and is bound, so it''s not your concern."


    The customs officer sent a narrowed eyed glare in Feltz''s direction. "I''ll thank you not to pretend you know my concerns." Then he turned to Dibbs. "Can you prove it?"


    Brad asked Dibbs, not bothering to lower his voice, "What''s with the talking dinosaur?"


    Dibbs said, "Please don''t try to help, Brad."


    "Why would I want to help?" Even as he said it, Brad let the humor in his voice show he meant his words to be taken in jest.


    The customs officer nodded. "I happen to be an arassas, not whatever a dinosaur might be. The gray dye on our scales is reserved for guardsmen. We have more experience with ignorant visitors, so we''re not as easy to provoke as many of the citizens."


    The calm dignity with which the customs officer spoke shamed Brad. He bowed on his perch and said, "I apologize for the rudeness on my part. My frustrations are not your doing and it was poorly done of me to include you in my spite."


    "Apology accepted. You three are free to be about your business." The customs officer turned to the captain and resumed the conversation Brad''s arrival had interrupted.


    <center><hr>


    *~*~*


    </center>


    Lena


    If Lena had a body, she would be pounding her head against a wall at this point.


    Sha''lanadi and Sha''dakai had quickly accepted the decision handed down during the first trial held in the Studio of Capricious Dreams, but weeks later Sha''vord still refused to release his ownership of the harpies. As a consequence, he and the harpies remained in their cells.


    Candy and Lena, in the mean time, had been poking the Tapestry system for ways to activate a Zone Core in a different dungeon. They hadn''t gotten very far. It did not help that Candy and Sha''lanadi kept going off on tangents about mana flows and controls and the like. Lena would likely have been more upset about the distractions if she hadn''t gotten several more techniques, including one called [Storage] that acted like an expandable bag of holding.


    After discussing it, they had unanimously agreed to share the trial with the corporals, using that as an opportunity to get further insights into their psyches. Poor Baline had looked confused, not just at their trial methodologies but also the fact that they were willing to provide the corporals with a seat in gallery, so to speak.


    Lena had some troubles with the replay of the trial. The Zone Cores had no recording capabilities and Lena''s perspective as a non-corporeal entity merged with the dungeon meant that she didn''t have the same kind of fixed point of view that she had possessed as a corporeal being. On the bright side, her memory had improved to near perfect recall. The words came through right, even if the image she projected constantly shifted focus, flickered, and danced between angles.


    Tremshur and Ignemrot had quickly closed their eyes, focusing on the audio replay. Custer had handled the visual perspective shifts pretty well, but Baline and Fallan had gotten queasy, their scales rippling for several minutes after they were forced to look away.


    Tremshur took the lead in asking them about their decision making process, with Custer and Ignemrot participating. When Baline and Fallan were composed enough to join in, they both remained silent and observed.


    At the end of the seven day trial period, the Studio crew knew that Baline was out, Tremshur was in, and they were divided about everyone else. Candy was the only one to vote out Custer, so she was asked to tie break between Ignemrot and Fallan. She made a coin and flipped it, and Fallan was their second elimination.


    Muglibaum selected Ignemrot to be their liaison with the Lotrot military. The first thing he was tasked with was arranging for a squad from each of the three talons to train in the military floor.


    Reviewing the level''s core, Lena discovered that the soldiers were soaking up mana. She brought that to Ignemrot''s attention.


    He smiled and nodded. "Dungeon training produces amazing growth in the short term. That''s why we''re cycling the squads through. They''ll spend time training out of the dungeon to get the most out of their gains and really take ownership of the growth. It would be even better if we had monsters to train them against. Goblinoids would be our preference seeing as they''re the most likely of the mon-saps to cause trouble."


    Lena frowned. "That''s an ethical quandary I''m glad I don''t have to face at the moment. I don''t have the patterns to create them."


    Ignemrot said, "That won''t be a problem for long. Having the patterns, I mean. Our patrols have picked up signs of a war band in the area, and it is much safer to bring the bodies to a dungeon for disposal than to leave them be. Fire''s a low second choice. Their bodies release toxic fumes when they''re burned, but left where they fall or, worse, buried, and goblin trees spring up."


    "Quah?" Lena asked, tilting her head to the side.


    "They''re plant monsters," Ignemrot explained. "War bands find a place they like, slaughter indiscriminately to fill the soil with blood, and when there''s nothing left to slaughter, turn on each other to release their parent tree''s seeds."


    "Oh. Okay," Lena said, nodding and letting her toon fade out.


    Ouliel, at least, had been an uncomplicated win as far as Lena was concerned.


    When she came to the noct after receiving his contract, there had been a cold fury shaking his body, but he had not spoken. Lena, with some coaching from Rob and Jason, negotiated a new contract as a part of their crew for both him and Wisp. She even raised [Bargain] to [Negotiate] during the back and forth. As the two helped come up with protections in the contract, Ouliel''s fury died, replaced with hope and enthusiasm.


    He and Wisp took the negotiated contract and found a place on Aaron''s level to call their home. The Tapestry would not allow Lena to make either of them Territory Managers, and Aaron was the only one with a level that looked moderately natural and hospitable to the pair.


    Buttercup had taken to Wisp almost as well as she had taken to Aaron, though she watched Ouliel with a fixated fascination. The noct, for his part, delighted in teasing the dire cat, secure in the non-aggression clause in his contract with the Studio.


    He and Aaron worked on making a part of the level into a temperate rain forest as much as they could with the patterns at hand. It was as much for Ouliel''s comfort as for the harpies, whenever they figured out how to get them away from Sha''vord.

 Dungeon Calling 2

    Brad


    "[Flight]," Brad intoned, triggering the enchantment on his golem body that turned his rainbow wings from ornaments to useful appendages. Snake strikes might well be lightning fast, but they relied on the back end of the snake remaining mostly stationary. Instead of trying to launch himself into the air, Brad had learned he had to unfurl his wings and let the enchantment give him a bit of lift before he could start directing his flight with his wings.


    "Scouting again?" Dibbs asked, a wry smile on his lips.


    "Yeah, sure," Brad said. More like getting space from Feltz. The Archmage did not appreciate riding on a wagon. Too bad he also had too much dignity to follow Dibbs'' example and walk when he had sat too long.


    "This time bring back a rabbit or something!" Feltz said.


    "No," Brad said, flapping his wings hard to gain altitude and distance from the crotchety old bigot.


    "Ease off him, Feltz! If the ride and the food are bothering you that much, you''ve got ways to change that, now don''t you?" Dibbs asked.


    Brad left the pair wrangling with each other like that and focused on the pure joy of soaring through the skies. After getting a taste of this, he had no further interest in returning to a ground-bound human body. Dancing with the wind was the most freeing experience he had ever experienced.


    They were a little over half way to the last spot of civilization on the way to their destination, and Brad was still getting skill up notices for [Mana Manipulation] every time he took to the air, not to mention the actual [Flight] skill. He was getting into the high twenties in [Mana Manipulation] from trying to trickle fill the enchantment''s mana reservoir while in use, but he had yet to maintain the enchantment effects for longer than a half hour so far.


    Below him stretched a sea of grass, dotted here and there with the trees one of the caravan guards had identified as a Water Tree. According to the yellow scaled arassas, if they got lost on the steppes of the Free Cities they need only navigate from Water Tree to Water Tree to find civilization. The fern like fronds of the trees might leave behind a pucker worthy bitter taste, but chewing the leaves provided a wealth of water. Omnivorous and herbivorous creatures rarely took ill from eating the leaves, but even for the carnivorous critters the masticated mass made a good basis for a lot of the local herbal healing craft.


    Under Feltz''s prodding, the guard had gone on and on about the local ecology and wild life. Brad, thinking of Aaron, had taken notes, and now they kept replaying in his mind as he tried to identify what he saw.


    Small herds of diminutive wild asses mingled with some kind of plains deer, and massive gray lizard-skinned cows the guard had called rhomkips. A family group of woolly boars had settled near one of the Water Trees not far from the caravan. Brad tried to memorize their location. Some of the guards might go hunting for one of the porcine beasts.


    A flash of movement attracted Brad''s gaze and he watched a sand colored fox dash after ¡­ something that hopped, but was smaller than a rabbit. Brad swooped down closer for a look, which was fortunate for the kitteagle that would have otherwise broken a paw on Brad''s rock hard and magically resilient body.


    *** *** ***


    Special Action: LCK +1


    *** *** ***


    The first time Brad had seen a kitteagle, he had thought, "baby griffon?" The rear part of the bird looked like a feather covered domestic cat while the front part looked like a bird of prey. The head was a mix of avian and feline with rounded ears that could fold flat to its head. So far, the kitteagles were a woody brown in color and had a knack for attacking from the sun.


    Brad''s dip had taken him out of the kitteagle''s dive path at the last moment and he watched it right itself just before the ground. It was a beautiful sight, and he took the time to appreciate the kitteagle''s grace in flight.


    Then he withdrew a crossbow with a bolt (both sized to his reduced stature) from the spatial storage ring Dibbs had given him. He took advantage of the [Flight] enchantment''s maneuverability to hover in place while he loaded the crossbow and took aim. Brad did not actually want to strike the kitteagle, but the aerial predator was already turning to make a second attack pass.


    *** *** ***


    Crossbow +1


    *** *** ***


    The bolt skimmed over the top of the kitteagle''s right wing where it joined the body, drawing a shrieking cry from it. The kitteagle banked a hard right with its partially successful dodge and continued on its way.


    *** *** ***


    You have killed a Horned Rabbit.


    *** *** ***


    Dammit. It looked like he was bringing back a rabbit for the stew pot after all.


    <center><hr>


    *~*~*


    </center>


    Jason


    Jason stabbed his spear at the training dummy, getting used to the feel of his spear tip piercing and slicing across the somewhat realistic torso targets. Lena had discovered a way to give the dummies the texture of flesh and muscle without using actual flesh or muscle. She had also added this martial training room as an offshoot of the common level.


    Even as he practiced the motions of the Lotrot soldiers, Jason''s mind wasn''t fully on his immediate surroundings. That was why he was poking the dummy. Distracted as he was by the puzzle of the harpies'' contract to Sha''vord, Rob would have bruised him but good at least a dozen times over. As it was, Rob and Aaron sparred with each other behind him, the clack of the spear shafts meeting an irregular background noise.


    Candy had also been roped into learning how to handle a spear and was stabbing the training dummy opposite him to the beat of a metronome. That was the start of her physical conditioning. Once she could keep it up for a set of two hundred strokes they had some stepping patterns to add to the stationary drill.


    Three weeks, as the Studio crew counted the time, had passed and still the Sun elf noble refused to surrender his ownership contract over the harpies. On the bright side, he had to be physically present to give them any orders so keeping them separated at least allowed the harpies to enjoy their semi-freedom with Ouliel.


    Jason stabbed into the training dummy''s shoulder and a piercing wail erupted from the site of the wound, startling Jason into jumping back, stumbling, and losing his footing. "What the fu-!"


    Rob and Aaron laughed.


    Candy yelled, "You freaking bastards! Don''t you ever do that again!" She stood with her feet braced, knees slightly bent, and body poised to lunge. Her knuckles shone white as she gripped her spear, her eyes wide with fright and fury.


    The brothers just grinned back at them.


    "It''s called realism," Rob said.


    Lena''s avatar, today shaped like a green and gold cartoon genie, popped into existence between the two pairs. "What the fruiting lima beans did you do!?"The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.


    Aaron straightened up and puffed his chest out. "I figured out how to make a random function for the computer golems, and combined that with the new [Illusionary Sound] technique Candy unlocked. They can already detect movement, so the golem triggers the scream a random number of times after the dummies get stabbed."


    "Why?" Candy asked, the metaphorical light of murder in her eyes.


    Rob''s grin eased to a wide smile, fading to a pleased expression as he said, "The hardest part about fighting is the fact that you''re fighting another living being. Your opponents are going to make noise, yell, scream, do whatever they can to spook you. Remember, it''s better for your friends to screw with your head first than to leave that to your enemies."


    Jason stood up, dusting off his pants. He straightened up, stretched his body, rolled his head to let the tension out of his neck. "And why did you think it was a good idea to set that up without telling us first?"


    "Oh, that''s easy. I wanted to see you jumping like a spooked toddler. That''s why we didn''t put one of the screamers in Candy''s buddy."


    Jason absently noted that Lena''s avatar stilled, a sign that her attention had been pulled from them. His gaze on the pantalooned parody Lena had made, he said, "Well, don''t worry, old buddy, old pal o''mine. I am more than happy to return the favor."


    <center><hr>


    *~*~*


    </center>


    Lena


    Computer golems. Lena had completely forgotten about them, but Candy had been familiarizing herself with them ever since learning about them in relation to the Zone Cores. Aaron had taken to golem programing almost like it was instinctive. Together, he and Candy had discovered that the computer golems responded best to a ternary logic system: positive, negative, and neutral. Beyond that, Lena hadn''t paid attention.


    She had been more interested in the techniques that the two together, with occasional brain picking sessions involving Sha''lanadi and the Lotrot Rangers, had unlocked for the Studio. Extra dimensional storage seemed a lot cooler than getting a golem to say "Hello, world." At least until Aaron smacked her in the metaphorical face with the combination of computer golems and Studio techniques.


    Possibilities played through her mind. The habit of reaching for the Tapestry system had become so reflexive during the past month, much like surfing the internet had been in her prior life, that Lena didn''t notice how much many of the ideas she was exploring were resonating with the Grand Tapestry.


    Certainty filled her. Plans took shape and only the tug of her liaison contract with Jason stopped her from initiating them right away.


    The Morgan brothers had returned to sparring and Jason to stabbing the training dummy, but Candy had left the room.


    "Jason, I know how to take over all the dungeons and make it so that their cores can''t be stolen ever again. We can''t keep them all, though, so we need to create a governing system and recruit Dungeon Managers."


    <center><hr>


    *~*~*


    </center>


    Lena sent a pleasant bell tone ahead of her toon to announce her appearance in the guest rooms she had made for the two cooperative Sun elves. She used her regular appearance so as not to confuse her not so welcome guests.


    Sha''lanadi and Sha''dakai were seated across from each other in the living room of their shared suite. Zair and Jzun, Sha''dakai''s two hemat wolf companions, were in the room they shared with him, napping.


    "To what do we owe this visit?" Sha''lanadi asked after he and Sha''dakai rose to their feet.


    "We''ve got a strong lead on how to get the Zone Cores active in the core-less dungeons, but I need to open a portal very close to one of those dungeons to test the lead. Are either of you able to provide a detailed description the Tapestry can use to pinpoint where to place the portal?" Three weeks had not dulled Lena''s dislike of the mage, but it had given her time to put on a professional facade.


    "Which dungeon do you intend to attempt this with?" Sha''dakai asked.


    Lena shrugged. "It doesn''t matter to us. Whichever one you can get us closest to will do."


    The Sun elves looked to each other. Without speaking, small facial movement conveyed a conversation taking place. Sha''dakai nodded encouragingly and Sha''lanadi said, "Will milord Sha''vord be released after this portal is established?"


    Lena repressed the urge to make a disapproving face at the mage for the vagueness of his wording. "We have no intention of keeping him here for life. If he complies with our decision before hand then he will be released before then. Otherwise, after. And, probably more to what you were asking, if the area is safe enough to boot him out of my dungeon, yes, he''s getting booted regardless of his compliance."


    Directing his question to Sha''dakai, he asked, "The Otel Caverns or Priesley''s Folly?"


    "The Folly." Sha''dakai''s answer came without hesitation. At Lena''s inquiring look, he said, "Zair''s birth pack is bonded into the dungeon town. That gives us a slight advantage when working with the townsmen."


    "Okay," Lena said. "Describe the dungeon entrance if you would, please. Visual aids are appreciated."


    A fond smile softened Sha''dakai''s face as his gaze grew distant with memory. "The town of Priesley''s Folly is one of the foundational stops on the Northern Silk Road. The dungeon was discovered by cat kin, and one of the more fanciful of the ranking cat kin by the name of Priesley funded a lot of the early construction of the town. He decided that the dungeon needed a grand entrance and also that building the Adventurers Chapter House right on top of the dungeon was a great idea, so he combined the two. The structure is whimsical, and as the Chapter House has expanded over the years, it has only grown more so."


    Lena listened intently as he went on to describe the town that had grown up literally right in front of the dungeon entrance. She had already established a portal room off of the underwater cell block, complete with plain stone archway, to use for the Karth dungeons project, so as she listened she also began to activate the portal.


    *** *** ***


    Synergy of intent detected.


    Location information from synergy sufficient.


    Establishing portal.


    Portal location within a highly patterned zone. Creation cost cubed. Maintenance cost quartered.


    Portal established.


    Zone mana pool quadrupled.


    Zone MPR increased by 200.


    *** *** ***


    The air that blew in from the new portal was humid and hot in a way Lena had never personally experienced before.


    "I think that may be sufficient, thank you," she said upon feeling the portal open. "Would you please come with me to verify that I''ve connected to the correct destination?"


    "So soon?" Sha''lanadi asked, startled.


    Lena gestured for the Sun elves to proceed out the door of their suite, a silent "see for yourself." She divided her attention as soon as they started moving. The smaller part of her concentration walked her toon with the Sun elves to guide them as they made their way to new portal. The larger part of her consciousness watched the new portal, on guard against any sudden hostile invasion.


    The rest of the Studio crew were already gathered in the cell room. Aaron had his bow at hand while Rob and Jason had their spears at the ready. Candy had that ornate tube thingie of hers, with a few more refinements to the decorations, on a shoulder sling. Ouliel, armed with a dainty crossbow, stood shoulder to shoulder with Wisp. Two more spears had been laid upon the table they had sat at to hand down their decision to the Sun elves.


    Sha''vord watched them from his cell with a disdainful interest. On spotting his fellow Sun elves, he asked, "What news?"


    Sha''lanadi spread his hands, palms up. "The Design Lead says she has opened a portal to Priesley''s Folly. We are here to verify that."


    Sha''vord''s attention shifted to Lena''s toon, his eyes narrowing. "Explain your intentions," he commanded, no less arrogant after three weeks of imprisonment.


    The Studio crew ignored him.


    Lena walked her toon through the hidden door dividing the new portal room from the cell block. She was able to walk right up to the edge of the new portal, but no farther. Outside, she saw a small clearing before the start of a lush jungle environment, but the air was quiet.


    Probably a reaction to the portal opening, Lena thought. From what she had gathered, there was a certain amount of seismic activity that accompanied the opening of a dungeon portal.


    Lena signaled the structure core to complete the last part of the door''s construction. As soon as that was done, she opened the door. "Ouliel, would you be safe scouting around the new entrance?" Lena asked as the Studio crew, followed by the two Sun elf guests, entered the portal room.


    The noct and the wolf advanced. They moved with caution as they approached the portal, taking their time to peer out of it. Sha''lanadi''s face cramped from holding back his impatience, but no one said anything. The Studio crew appreciated the noct''s caution, while Sha''dakai''s attention belonged to the room they had just left. Lena thought he was eyeing the spears still on the table.


    Ouliel eased back, leaving Wisp to continue watching the jungle. "It''s too quiet, but the bugs are starting to drone again and a few of the birds and smaller hunters are chasing them. Whatever danger they sensed is probably past us, but I''d rather wait for the full cacophony before leaving, if Mistress minds not."


    "Time is something we have an abundance of for now and you''re the jungle expert among us," Lena said.


    Tension left Ouliel''s shoulders.


    ?Told you,? Wisp said across the G.C. ?Earth''s disturbed, smells like clay and rock have been brought up from under loam.?


    Lena nodded. ?That''s so far been the case with making a new portal.?


    Wisp''s head cocked, his ears pricking with a more focused alertness. ?Sounds like bipeds heading this way.? Obviously sniffing the air, he added, ?Cat folk smells, and more Wolves.?


    "Looks like it''s time to meet the natives," Jason said.


    Ouliel nodded. "I''ll take to the skies now, I think," he said, suiting actions to words by darting toward the nearest mature tree and running up it like a squirrel.


    Several moments later, the noct''s voice came over the G.C. ?We''re really close to a city. I think it''s Priesley''s Folly. Closer than to Lotrot. The cat folk headed this way are all puffed up. Wisp, maybe a welcome song??


    Wisp looked to Lena. She nodded and he sat down and raised his voice in a musical howl that sounded oddly like the wailing of a smooth jazz saxophone.


    A moment after he finished singing, an answering howl, this one deeper but no less musical, sang out over the jungle.


    ?Three will come to verify I''m not leading them to a trap. They are of the Stone Box pack, and they bring their bond companions.?

 Dungeon Calling 3

    3.3


    Jason


    Three hemat wolves and three cat kin stepped into the clearing in front the new dungeon portal. The middle (and shortest) cat kin had fur patterned with gray and brown similar to the hemat wolf beside him. The cat kin to his right could easily have disappeared in a shadow, the quality of their black fur more plush than sleek, despite the sheen that could be seen under direct sun light.


    The third cat kin had short, pale orange and white fur. She also possessed a far more humanoid appearance, including breasts covered by a breast band and facial contours that could - barely - fall within human standards. She still had a dainty pink kitty nose.


    "Looks like you''re up," Lena said with a glance at Jason.


    He nodded and, using his spear more like a walking stick, also moved into the clearing. "Hello."


    The cat kin eyed him, ears pricked forward in a curious expression. The gray and brown guy said, "What''s a human doing on East Karth?"


    "Would you believe me if I said we''re lost?" Jason asked.


    The orange cat kin said, "That''s a dungeon behind you, and not ours, so maybe. We heard a hemat howling. You wouldn''t happen to know where he is, would you?"


    Wisp walked out and sat with a bit of space between himself and Jason. He voiced a relaxed arou, which two of the hemats answered.


    Jason managed to project watchful calm with a hint of aw-shucks. "Ah, well, we''re only lost if we''re not near a place called Priesley''s Folly. And behind me is the Studio of Capricious Dreams. My name is Jason Kline, and my friend here is Wisp. I am a liaison for the Studio." He paused at that point, but when the silence just drew out, he asked, "To whom am I speaking?"


    The plushy black cat kin puffed up while the gray guy narrowed his gaze. The cat lady looked at her companions, shook her head, and turned her attention back to Jason. "Names are important; asking is rude. I work with merchants from many strange places so I''m willing to assign you the benefit of ignorance for now. What is your business with Priesley''s Folly?"


    Wisp made some talking arous and laid down. Over the G.C. he said, ?The hemats ask where my companion is and why I am here. I tell them Ouliel is near, and that we are here to heal the dungeon.?


    "We were informed that the dungeon of Priesley''s Folly was damaged, that someone stole its core. We''re here to help with the restorations."


    <center><hr>


    *~*~*


    </center>


    While Jason and Wisp worked on first contact with the citizens, Lena had given Sha''vord back all his belongings. That did include his weapons, but those weapons, as well as those belonging to Sha''lanadi and Sha''dakai, were in sealed bronze containers. The lids for those containers closed like paint cans and required a thin sturdy tool to pry them open. The crew had agreed to let the Sun elves figure out how to open their weapon lockers after kicking them out.


    She had also roused Sha''dakai''s companions and sent them down to join the quiet Sun elf. By the time Jason had talked his way into an escort back to the town, the Sun elves and Sha''dakai''s hemat companions were as ready to depart with them as the crew could force.


    The cat kin hadn''t shown much reaction to the first two Sun elves, though the hemats with them greeted Sha''dakai''s companions with happy tail wags, playful head butts, and a swirl of all-body stropping against each other.


    Sha''vord, on the other hand, got shoved out of the dungeon by a force field.


    Jason shook his head in disgust.


    "Return my property!" Sha''vord bellowed, hitting his fist against the force field blocking off the dungeon entrance.


    "Everything you have a legitimate claim of ownership over has been returned to you," Lena said.


    "Return my harpies, you thieving demons!" Sha''vord kicked the force field to emphasize his demand.


    "The harpies were removed from your custody because you''re a fruiting dingleberry of an abusive sour apple! Now GTFO and be glad that we didn''t decide to give you a taste of your own medicine!"


    Jason choked as he tried to hold back a laugh. It wasn''t really a funny situation, but he had to wonder if Lena knew what a dingleberry actually was.


    Sha''vord swung around, his face twisted with his fury. "What was that? Did you just laugh at me?"


    Jason shook his head, still coughing.


    That gave Rob the opportunity to speak first. "Act like a fool, expect to be treated like one."


    "What did you just say?" Sha''vord asked, his voice going soft.


    Jason knew Rob had been pissed off at the Sun elf lord, but he only realized just how deeply that anger had settled when Rob said, his voice frosty, "Did you or did you not invade our home? Did you or did you not terrorize sentient creatures in our home? Did you really think there would be no consequences for that shit? If so, you''re a fool."


    Sha''vord crossed the distance, about four meters, between them faster than Jason could follow. His gauntleted fist struck Rob just below the sternum with an upper cut and the sickening crunch of bones accompanied Rob flying back two meters. His body did not touch the ground. Light flared around him and he disappeared.Love what you''re reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on.


    Jason was moving before he fully processed what he was seeing. His spear plunged into Sha''vord''s neck at an upward angle and came out the side of the elf''s cheek. Jason''s mind fixated on the way the blood sprayed out from the wounds while his body completed the thrust and pulled the spear back to a ready position.


    Sha''vord turned to strike at Jason, but Jason was already moving around behind the elf, the tip of his spear sweeping toward the back of the elf''s knees. He struck Sha''vord''s calf, cutting a strap holding on the elf''s leather greaves and making him take a stumbling step forward, but the elf remained standing. Sha''vord pivoted with that forward step to face Jason, lunging forward with another drawn back fist.


    The elf had donned his armor, but the leather chest piece did not include sleeves. Instead, his arms were protected by open fingered gauntlets made of leather and reinforced over the hands with bronze scales. The gauntlets did not reach to his elbows. Jason crouched low and brought the spear up along the forward leading side of Sha''vord''s body. The elf failed to deflect the blade of the spear tip and it sank into his shoulder through his arm pit, jolting him to a stop an arms length away from Jason.


    Sha''vord hung on the end of Jason''s spear for a moment before falling to his knees, then collapsing into a sprawl on the ground.


    *** *** ***


    You have begun the Design of the Defender. Progress 87%.


    *** *** ***


    <center><hr>


    *~*~*


    </center>


    Lena


    *** *** ***


    Your Zone Guardian Roberto Morgan Garcias has been transported to his territory due to severe injury incurred outside the Zone.


    *** *** ***


    *** *** ***


    Your Zone Guardian Roberto Morgan Garcias has died. Do you wish to attempt reincarnating your Zone Guardian''s soul? Y/N


    *** *** ***


    The two notifications brought Lena out of her shock-frozen state from seeing Sha''vord attack Rob, though the shock only increased with the import of the last message. She reacted emotionally, instantly choosing, "YES!"


    *** *** ***


    Searching for compatible patterns ¡­


    Compatible patterns found.


    Elf (plains) 93%


    Elf (forests) 84%


    Gnelf 81%


    Gnome 65%


    Taurgonaut (Gidataur) 33%


    Select pattern for reincarnation


    *** *** ***


    *Wait, Rob is Human. What''s going on?* Then realization crashed into Lena that these were the only Aware patterns recorded in her research core. What are the risks to waiting for the research core to assimilate a human pattern?


    *** *** ***


    The soul must be gone from the body before the body of sapient creatures may be absorbed and recorded. Insufficient patterns available to temporarily house an Aware soul.


    Select pattern for reincarnation.


    *** *** ***


    Lacking any better options under the time constraint, Lena chose Elf (plains).


    *** *** ***


    Reincarnation initiating ¡­


    *** *** ***


    Continuing movement outside drew Lena''s attention. She saw Jason, on one knee, his spear buried in Sha''vord''s arm pit, the elf falling.


    Aaron screamed. "What did you do to my brother!?"


    ?Rob got teleported to his territory,? Lena said, using the Guardian Communication channel. She didn''t mention him reincarnating just yet. The reality of it hadn''t sunk in for her.


    Aaron turned back to the portal and bolted back in. He bounced off the force shield still in place from shoving Sha''vord out. Lena felt slow witted, not understanding what had happened at first. Then comprehension dawned and she dismissed the force field. Aaron picked himself up off the ground, scrambling to his brother''s side.


    Candy stepped into the doorway, her fancy tube / wand thing pointed toward the other two Sun elves. Her face and knuckles were drained of color, but her hands were steady. "Jason, step this way and don''t cross my fire line," she ordered.


    Jason just remained kneeling, staring at the Sun elf impaled upon his spear as if he hadn''t heard her.


    "Jason," Candy called again, louder, commanding but still a poor imitation of Imperial Mamaw.


    No response.


    *** *** ***


    Recalling Teleport initiated.


    *** *** ***


    The same light engulfed Jason and his spear that had snatched Rob from the air and then he, too, was gone.


    *** *** ***


    All Zone Guardians outside of the Zone have been teleported to their respective territories.


    *** *** ***


    ?Recall worked. Get back in, Candy. I''m sealing this door way for now.?


    <center><hr>


    *~*~*


    </center>


    Outside her dungeon, Sha''dakai moved to Sha''vord''s side. He held his hand a few centimeters over the downed elf lord''s chest for a moment, then said, "Sha''vord, Lord of Westhill, has fallen. I witness that he struck the first blow."


    Sha''lanadi bowed his head. "I witness that Sha''vord struck the first blow."


    The gray tabby cat kin, his fur (like his companions) fully bristling, asked, "Was he not provoked?"


    Sha''lanadi shook his head, sorrow mixed with the remnants of his startled state from the swift fight. "Milord Sha''vord also began the provocations. The humans were not wrong in accusing us of invading their domain, though in our defense we did not know that they had claimed it, and even less realized that they had caused the newly made dungeon to become. They are led by a Champion of Order. Despite milord''s belligerence, upon learning of the danger of the destabilized dungeons they began work at once to help us discover a means to restore the dungeons to order."


    The black cat kin''s mouth opened, but the gray one leaned to the side, his shoulder bumping into the other cat kin. "Then as the Sun elves choose not to pursue action, we have no reason to interfere. Do you truly believe they have this capability?"


    Sha''lanadi nodded. "Oh, yes. Sha''Ra''ayel has been performing divinations to discover the best way to address the theft of the core stones since the first one was reported to the Emperor of the Sun. It was by his word we sought out the newly formed dungeon."


    "The Emperor''s Diviner sent you?" the gray tabby cat kin asked.


    Sha''lanadi nodded. "Yes."

 Dungeon Calling 4

    3.4


    Lena


    *** *** ***


    Reincarnation of Zone Guardian Roberto Morgan Garcias completed successfully. Racial adjustments are being applied to base statistics and skill affinities.


    *** *** ***


    "Dammit, Lena! Let me through! That''s my brother!" Aaron screamed, slamming himself at the archway into Rob''s territory yet again.


    "As soon as the healing finishes!" Lena said for the hundredth time. Or was it the millionth? She didn''t care; she wasn''t risking either of the brothers Morgan to the freakish chances of a mana instability. Lena didn''t trust that just because the notification of Rob''s reincarnation had dinged in her mind that all the mana fluctuations or whatever the hell they were called were done and over with.


    Aaron''s anger also gave Lena a reason to pay him little mind. He was engaged with their present reality. Jason wasn''t.


    He had been teleported to the room she set up for him. He hadn''t made any changes to it, choosing to spend most of his time with the corporals or their new crew members when not with Rob or Aaron. Now, Jason sat on the floor of his room and stared, jaw held tight and eyes gazing at some distant horizon. Whatever was going through his head, she couldn''t fathom, so she gave a larger portion of her awareness over to watching over him.


    Candy had retreated into her lab and thrown herself into a creative frenzy. With Sha''lanadi''s help, she had been experimenting with making mana circuits and now the energy flowed through Candy''s mad science creations.


    Ouliel and Wisp were taking things best, but they were also the least emotionally involved. Teleported to their parts of Aaron''s floor, they had checked the Tapestry and been satisfied with whatever reply they got. The harpies had come swooping in and the noct was currently playing an odd adaptation of aerial tag that allowed Wisp to participate.


    *** *** ***


    Congratulations! Absorption of new patterns has allowed your Zone Core (Research) to unlock the following new patterns:


    Human


    Sapient creatures created through Zone Management may now be granted access to Class Patterns for:


    Specialist, Sergeant, Scholar, Mechanic (general), Mechanic (artillery), Laborer, Gamer.


    *** *** ***


    *** *** ***


    Due to the effects of reincarnation, Zone Guardian Roberto Morgan Garcias'' status has been updated to recognize previously unidentified skills, designs and aspects.


    *** *** ***


    The first part of that notification apparently hit everyone as Aaron froze then staggered backward, falling on his ass and turning whiter than bleach.


    Jason flinched and started crying, the tears leaking from his unblinking eyes.


    Candy threw whatever the thing on her workbench was across her lab, then she picked up her pretty tube thing and slammed into another part of her lab. She fired burst after burst of intensely overheated *stuff* from the business end of it until the barrel melted and then she started banging the broken rifle(?) into whatever surface happened to be closest.


    ?Rob? You awake yet?? Lena asked over the G.C., taking care to broadcast her calm question so that everyone heard her.


    An eternal moment of silence passed before Rob said, ?Lena? What the hell happened??


    ?You got your stuffing compacted pretty badly,? she answered. ?Are you up for company? Aaron''s been freaking out so badly I don''t know if he understood me when I told him you were undergoing extreme healing.?


    Reincarnation was pretty extreme as far as healing went, right? She might have to deal with that screwball word choice, but she wasn''t about to inflict it on the rest of her crew.


    ?I ¡­ don''t feel the same. What kind of healing?? Rob asked.


    ?Rob? Rob, is that you? Are you okay?? Aaron''s mental voice boomed through the G.C.


    Rob''s answer came with a forced chuckle. ?Hey, little man, indoor voices, please! I think I''m okay. I just feel different.?


    Lena said, ?We didn''t have human patterns to work with to put you to rights so you ended up looking like an elf. That was the closest match the Zone system had until it finished cleaning you up. I also got a notice that the Tapestry system updated your status page based on the second deep search. Ready to see your brother??


    ?Sure,? Rob said.


    Lena unlocked the portal standing between Aaron and his brother.


    <center><hr>


    *~*~*


    </center>


    Aaron


    Aaron had pestered Rob into making a decent level, meaning that there was dirt, grass, and a sky as well as the place Rob slept. Rob''s house looked a lot like their apartment on the inside, but from the outside it had a bunker feeling to it, with the walls made of concrete cinder blocks coated in layers of light gray paint. His house wasn''t far from the level portal and Aaron covered the distance fast enough that he gained a skill up in [Running].


    He opened the main door so fast it rebounded in his face, deflecting him into the wall. "Rob! Where are you?" Aaron yelled, barely even noticing as he just shoved off the wall to propel himself deeper into the house.


    "I''m here," Rob said, his voice carrying from the back hallway. He had barely opened the door to his room. Aaron tackled him, sending them both sprawling.


    "You''re alive! You''re alive! You fucking asshole! What the hell were you *doing*?!" Aaron''s voice hadn''t broken for a couple of years, but it turned high pitched on the last word.


    Rob opened his mouth, but Aaron didn''t really care. He tore his brother''s shirt off and examined Rob''s chest for any sign of bruising or left over damage from Sha''vord''s hit.This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.


    "Jeez! I''m not into that shit, Casper!" Rob was laughing, but Aaron could see the fear he tried to hide.


    "You fucking asshole! I thought you were dead! I thought I watched you die! Don''t you fucking ever do that to me again or so help me, God, I will bury you ass-up as a daisy planter! I will fucking resurrect your ass just to kill it all over again! Don''t you fucking die on me!" Aaron threw himself onto his butt a slight distance from his brother during his tirade.


    Rob''s expression sobered and he pushed himself into a sitting position. "I don''t even know what hit me, Aaron."


    "That fucking shasha lord bastard son of a bitch! I heard the crack when his fist hit your chest and then you just evaporated! Lena wouldn''t let me in, she said the contract kicked in and you were being healed, but she wouldn''t let me near you! What the fuck, man? What the fuck?!" Too disturbed to stay still, Aaron got up and started pacing, his hands flexing.


    "That''s because I wasn''t going to risk you being this out of control around him when he was wrapped in super delicate mana forms," Lena said, her avatar appearing in the room with her arms crossed. "And you have no clue how close you came to getting zapped for barreling into him just now! I need both of you to get over to Jason! I don''t think he''s sane right now."


    Rob stood up. "What do you mean?" he asked, pushing his way past Aaron and heading for his portal.


    Lena floated along right next to him. "He killed Sha''vord, didn''t take it well, and the damn notice pushed him over to catatonic. He''s not responding to anything I say to him and I don''t have hands to smack him back to his senses. Candy''s just too fruiting furious to hear anyone. When she finishes breaking her fire spitter and her shooting range, I''ll try talking some sense into her."


    Aaron wanted to scream that none of that mattered. His brother, the guy who had taught him to wrestle and how to catch crawdads in the creek, Rob! Rob had almost died!


    However, seeing his brother alive, moving, a-fricken-alive! (even if he was a couple inches taller and as slender as Aaron and had funky big ears and his body moved in some subtle way that was just wrong) And did Aaron need to repeat that Rob was alive? Just seeing that helped him take another metaphorical step back from the berserk fury that had sent him pummeling himself into the locked portal time and time again.


    They were in Jason''s room before Aaron caught up to Rob and Lena. Rob knelt in front of Jason, gripping him by the upper arms. "Hey, you hear me?"


    Jason''s gaze drew back from an unseen horizon, but they didn''t quite focus on Rob, sliding off him to stare dumbly at Aaron then back again. "Rob?"


    "Yeah, I''m here," Rob said.


    "You got elf ears," Jason said, the South in his words.


    "Side effect of being healed," Rob said. "You okay, man? What happened after I blacked out?"


    Jason pulled Rob into a hug and clung to his friend. "You don''t evah get ta die on me, you fuckin'' beaner!"


    "Don''t go all Cracka Joe on me, Bama Jama. I will put your ass in check," Rob said, laughing even as he returned the hug. "Now, why are you sitting here like some pansy ass pussy? You trying to impress Lena with how dark and brooding you can get?"


    Jason chuckled and held on tighter. "Fuck you." Then he took a deep breath and let go, leaning back. "That''s two I owe you now. Why the fuck do you look like an elf?"


    Rob shrugged. "I''m just blessed like that. Looks like it''s your turn to be the oppressed race now. I wonder what kind of privilege I can pull off being an elf now?"


    Jason shook his head, amused despite himself. "No, really, whiskey tango foxtrot?"


    Rob shrugged again. "Lena said something about healing and the zone not having the human pattern when it started."


    All eyes swung toward Lena''s avatar.


    "First, everyone sit. Deep breath. Good," Lena said, leading them through what she wanted.


    Aaron was pretty sure no one appreciated her introduction, but they all knew it was easier to go along with her than to try pushing her.


    Lena locked gazes with Rob. "Sha''vord''s fist broke your ribs and your sternum. Your ribs pierced both of your lungs and your heart. Your heart took the most damage. There''s enough of a difference between the human cardiopulmonary system and the patterns our Research core had that I had to pick the closest pattern match and let the system rebuild you from the wounds out."


    Aaron felt the pit of his stomach drop away. With most of his rage spent, the fear that he very nearly lost his brother stole his balance. He was peripherally thankful that he was already sitting.


    "On the bright side, the core now has a human pattern and the Tapestry, I guess, doesn''t have to wait for you to show what you know." Lena tried to give them a reassuring smile, but her own stress was writ large on her face.


    Her avatar''s face.


    Aaron didn''t know why that thought struck him.


    "[Status]," Rob said, drawing Aaron''s attention back to his brother. The glassy eyed look of someone peering at screens in their head took over his face for several long moments. Then he blinked and shook his head. "That''s nasty. I mean, that is the nastiest way of tracking character growth I have ever come across. I wonder if we can do something to fix this crap."


    "Oh?" Jason asked, beating Aaron to the punch.


    "So far as we''ve seen, all attributes are based on skills, right?" Rob said. Aaron and Jason nodded, and Rob continued. "I gave up on reading all of my skills because there are just too damn many of them, and most are just ''so what?'' skills, the things that have to do with walking and breathing level of basic stuff. I have triple digit stats for Brawn, Dexterity, and Wisdom, and the rest are close to it, but we all know that you are stronger than me. It''s not just about build; you work out and I do what I need to so I can get by. That''s just a stupid way of assessing stats."


    Aaron nodded. Jason rubbed his chin. "Having a point buy system where you can''t really choose what you''re buying except by what you''re trying to skill up is screw ball."


    Lena asked, "Has Candy shared her opinion on Designs and Aspects with you guys?"


    Aaron nodded, but Jason shook his head and Rob just looked quizzical.


    <center><hr>


    *~*~*


    </center>


    Lena


    A part of Lena relaxed as the guys took the bait and focused on game mechanics over serious emotional drama. She was having a hard enough time of her own, even with the lack of adrenalin to screw with her thought process.


    Candy finally threw the scraps of her weapon away and sat down to bawl her eyes out.


    Lena conjured up a ball of light to act as her avatar with Candy and said, "Hey, cous. You ready to hear me?"


    Candy shook her head. "Why? What the hell?"


    "Rob''s alive." Lena led with the big news. Candy stilled, her gaze focusing in on Lena''s light ball, demanding more, so Lena continued. "The healing he went through had to use the closest match we had for human, so he''s got elf ears now, but he''s alive. It was really deep healing. That''s why we got the human pattern."


    Candy nodded, waiting. Lena went over the same healing report she had given to the guys. Candy''s gaze unfocused as her attention shifted to her own thoughts. When she spoke, she asked, "Why? Why did that guy hurt Rob? What was his derangement?"


    Lena didn''t have any good answers, so she just listened as Candy let loose a torrent of unanswerable questions, doing what she could to make sure her cousin knew she wasn''t alone.


    <center><hr>


    *~*~*


    </center>


    System


    Outside the East Karth entrance to the Studio of Capricious Dreams, two Sun elves, three cat kin, and five hemat wolves departed, carrying the body of a third Sun elf. It was a point of honor for Sha''dakai to hand carry his deceased lord. Sha''lanadi had no need for such dramatics when it came to carting their weapon boxes and relied on a [Telekinesis] spell.


    Inside, soldiers of Lotrot trained, completely oblivious to the new portal and the grieving relief of their hosts.


    In the city of Lotrot, Crafts Master Gilvillian argued furiously with a trio of gold scaled merchant arassi. Both sides recognized that their continued impasse brought them ever closer toward a trade war.


    Along the road from Port Sala to Lotrot, an archmage, a mage, and a golem did what they could to hasten the trip of the caravan of merchants with whom they traveled, eager to meet the new Travelers.


    And far, far distant, across the Infinite Void, a being of mana and energy heard a faint "Ding!". The entity that had chosen the name Rhofhir allowed the message attached to that sound to spin through his consciousness.


    *** *** ***


    Your project [The Grand Tapestry] is in need of maintenance.


    *** *** ***


    Had the entity a body, he would have stretched, enjoying the release of muscular tension. Had he a mouth, he would have smiled.


    This won''t take much longer to finish up. I''ll go see how things are progressing in my little terrarium right after I tie up that one little loose end there ¡­

 Dungeon Calling 5

    3.5


    Lena


    The sun had set and risen again in East Karth while the Studio crew recovered from Sha''vord''s actions. A part of Lena''s mind that was always assessing and analyzing things noted that there was a noticeable delay between the sun''s path over East Karth versus over Malta.


    The people of Lotrot marked the day and the night into quarters, also called sky marks. As best as the Studio crew could determine, the sky marks, based on the position of the sun and the moon overhead, were close to the same length of time. They estimated each sky mark lasted three and a third hours. (Another interesting tidbit: the Lotrot citizens marked the change of calendar days by the setting of the sun.)


    With that in mind, Lena had used a metronome set to match Jason''s resting heart beat (as the most physically fit of the corporeal crew members) to divide up the smaller time portions. On Earth, Jason remembered his resting heart rate was around 60 beats per minute. That coincided well enough with the method of estimating seconds by counting "one thousand one, one thousand two, ¡­" that she was able to create a moderately accurate clock.


    One of the projects that Aaron and Candy had worked on with the computer golems got them a self calibrating time system based on the light coming through the Lotrot entrance. The sun peeked into the East Karth entrance roughly one sky mark before it graced the Lotrot entrance, and another sky mark after that, a group of Sun elves, cat kin, hemat wolves, and nagas gathered around the East Karth entrance. Among them were Sha''lanadi and the gray tabby cat kin.


    Lena sent her toon to that entrance, choosing to appear in a mandarin tunic and flowing trousers, her hair pulled into a loose braid. She did not speak, merely let her toon''s gaze sweep over the crowd.


    Sha''lanadi stepped forward and bowed. He appeared to be unarmed, and Lena thought that was probably diplomatic of him. She really hated the sight of the staff that had ended Hessa''s life. The mage bowed from the waist toward Lena and said, "Design Lead of the Studio of Capricious Dreams, the Lord of Westhill did a great harm to you by attacking your servant. His life was rightly claimed by another of your servants. What further reparations are necessary to appease your wrath that we may proceed with the calming of the core-less dungeons?"


    A few of the Sun elves tensed at that blunt question, and two of the cat kin actually face palmed.


    Lena let the silence draw out for a moment, more to see how the other people behind Sha''lanadi would react than anything else.


    The naga curled up their snake bottoms and crouched, just a touch, just enough that with the tension in their humanoid shoulders and jaws that Lena was sure they were preparing to leap out of the way of something nasty.


    The cat kin didn''t take any steps, yet still somehow moved back, distancing themselves from Sha''lanadi and the Sun elves.


    The Sun elves glared at Sha''lanadi while hooking their thumbs together, left hand covering the right, with both palms facing their hearts.


    Using the chamber behind her to amplify her words, Lena said, "Under the laws of the Studio of Capricious Dreams, a being may only be held responsible for their own actions or inactions. Under our laws, you had neither the duty nor the opportunity to endanger your lives in defense of Roberto Garcias, nor did the actions occur within our jurisdiction. If your own laws require differently, that is upon your shoulders to uphold or ignore."


    She swept her toon''s gaze over the assembled individuals. The naga and cat kin relaxed a touch, not much, but enough that they did not seem ready to run at a moment''s notice. The Sun elves maintained a stoic expression.


    Looking back at Sha''lanadi, Lena used her force shield to extend a tiny computer golem shaped like a coin, 40 mm in diameter and 7 mm thick. "As for dealing with the dungeons whose cores have been stolen, I am no longer willing to risk anyone under my protection. Take this token into the dungeon of Priesley''s Folly, and I will use it as a beacon with which to deliver the new core."


    Sha''lanadi bowed once more before taking hold of the coin. He started to speak, but Lena turned the back of her toon toward him and made the barrier covering the dungeon entrance into an opaque, light-drowning darkness.


    Jason probably would have handled that nicer, but Lena did not want nice. At this point, whether they wanted her intervention with the dungeons or not, she was going to step in. Just because the nobles were sour sugar sticks did not mean that everyone around them needed to be purged with monster waves.


    If they helped, so be it. If they didn''t, well, it wasn''t like she planned to hand control over the dungeons to them anyway.


    <center><hr>


    *~*~*


    </center>


    Rob


    An elf''s body felt distinctly different from a human body. As an elf, Rob felt more balanced and flexible. His hearing wasn''t better, but broader might be a good way to describe it. He could hear more of the insect song of the entrance level, but it was no louder than before. He had lost some of his ability to see blues, but the reds were more vivid and more nuanced. Another difference he discovered was that his peripheral vision extended farther back than he could laterally pivot his shoulder joint behind himself. While he lost some acuity up close, his distance vision had gotten much better.


    He could still read. In fact, his minor astigmatism was gone, which made it easier to decipher the letters. He just found it more comfortable to read with the full extension of his arms between himself and the text rather than at elbow''s length.


    When he concentrated, the change in his height and the length of his limbs felt wrong, but when he stopped thinking about where he was putting his body, things flowed more naturally. He felt like he was going through puberty all over again, only without the hormone surges.


    He also could not sleep. He did get very mellow and his body felt heavy the way it had when, in his human body, he woke to a wonderful weekend of lazing around the house. He just didn''t nod off. And he was full of energy after only a few hours.


    The weirdest thing of all was how much he wanted to move. Rob hadn''t been a sedentary person before, but he also wasn''t a fitness junky the way Jason was. Boredom drove Rob into the training room, where he ran a warm up lap around the 400 meter running track, stretched, and then ran ten more laps.


    At the end of the run, Rob had worked up a delicate layer of sweat and his breath steamed. By the time he finished walking a cool down lap, his breathing was back to normal and the worst of his restlessness had eased up. However, moving still felt better than stillness so he picked up one of the practice spears and got to work on relearning the little bit of spear work he had picked up in the last month.


    Lena''s avatar popped in only moments after he got into the groove of training.


    "Looks like you got the whole package of elven changes," she said, pulling a pedestal and a plate of cheeses, flat-bread crackers, and fruits from her [Storage], along with a bottle of watered down fruit juice. "These''ll be ready when the hunger hits you."


    "What do you mean?" Rob asked, planting the butt of the spear and leaning on it.


    "They were all restless at night. As soon as there was daylight, they calmed down, but none of them slept. In fact, the closest to sleep they came to was some kind of deep meditation, and after that they were bouncing off the walls. Sha''lanadi wasn''t as bad as Sha''dakai and Sha''vord, but that might have been because his restlessness translated into these fancy exercises with his mana. I copied a few of the simpler things he did and my [Mana Manipulation] skill advanced to [Mana Formations] and unlocked a [Design of Cultivation]."


    "Wait, really?" Rob asked, his eyes brightening. "Can you show me?"


    "I''m not sure, but I can try." So saying, she let her avatar fade away as she focused on creating a holographic projection of the exercises.


    Rob studied the movements until he was sure he had them right, and when he sat down to try them, Lena superimposed the projection over him.


    Several hours later, his breath steaming like a wet sauna and sweat finally doing more than misting on his skin, Rob''s [Direct Mana] skill had advanced to [Mana Manipulation] level 24, but the [Design of Cultivation] had yet to unlock.


    Jason, yawning, walked into the training room and started on a warm up lap. After the warm up, he stretched, then ran two more laps. From there he went to the free weights.


    Aaron pushed Candy into the training room about the time Jason began doing crunches.


    "I need to fix the plasma rifle," she complained.


    "After you take care of your body. Peak body, peak mind, right? Besides, you haven''t lapped me yet and that was our bet. Hey, guys!"


    Jason sat up. "What''s this about a plasma rifle?"


    Candy blushed. "I got a lot pissed yesterday and ended up stress testing it to the breaking point."


    "Let me rephrase that: what plasma rifle?" Jason asked.


    Rob''s concentration broke and the air sparked around him. A lance of pain pierced the middle of his forehead and made him nauseous. "Fuck!" he said.Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.


    Aaron crossed the distance between them in the time between Rob curling up in reaction and then straightening up, only a few breaths later. "You okay? What happened? What do you need?"


    "Ease up, little man, I''m fine," Rob said, brushing his brother''s hands off his shoulders. "I was trying to get the Cultivation design and my concentration slipped, that''s all."


    Jason and Candy had followed Aaron. Jason asked, "You sure you''re good?"


    "Yep. So what''s this about a plasma rifle?" Rob asked as much to satisfy his own curiosity as to turn the conversation away from his health.


    Candy gave Rob an intense visual inspection before the frown eased up on her face. "You''ve all seen it. It''s- It was the rifle I brought with me to back you guys up with the Sun elves."


    Rob blinked. "That was a rifle? And it shot plasma?"


    She scowled at him. "Well, duh! What about that did not scream ''plasma rifle''?"


    Jason grinned. "The pretty stones, fancy engraving, and the complete lack of any resemblance to any kind of modern rifle. I mean, it could have been a very straight arquebus, but honestly I thought it was a fancy pipe."


    Lena asked, "What made it a plasma rifle? You were shooting out fiery laser things."


    Candy rubbed her forehead, looking defeated. "That''s plasma."


    "Oh-kay," Lena said.


    Jason and Aaron joined Rob in nodding agreement, with Jason adding, "The kind we''re talking about is star stuff, last discovered state of matter, and not the same as blood plasma or platelets or whatever."


    "Okay," she said again, this time with more belief.


    A few moments later, Aaron and Candy were on the track and Jason called Rob over to act as his spotter for bench presses.


    <center><hr>


    *~*~*


    </center>


    Lena


    ?DING!?


    Lena grinned. ?Report MPP current versus MPP total,? she ordered.


    The computer golem acting as her beacon reported, ?48,759 current. 35,850 total.?


    That was, according to their "Tapestry divinations" as Sha''lanadi had called it, about right for the age and expanse of the dungeon of Priesley''s Folly. Lena preferred the skill name that Candy possessed, [Tapestry Synchronization], to the general category of divinations.


    Lena shifted her attention to the Karth dungeon portal room and pulled up the shape of a new archway right next to the entrance portal. She focused on connecting her portal to the oldest part of the zone that the golem occupied.


    *** *** ***


    Requesting authorization from Zone Arbiter ¡­


    No arbiter identified. Redirecting to controlling Zone Core ¡­


    No Zone Core identified.


    Establishing portal.


    Portal location links similar Zone types. Creation cost and maintenance as listed.


    Portal established.


    Warning! High mana concentrations venting into the [Studio of Capricious Dreams] from new portal!


    *** *** ***


    The Zone Core broadcast over the G.C., ?ALERT! Severe influx of mana occurring! Emergency building protocols engaged! Currently affecting [Physics Lab]! Next level to be affected: [Aaron''s Room]. Remove guests from [Aaron''s Room] level as soon as possible!?


    ?Evacuating the harpies!? Ouliel responded in a broadcast.


    ?Mana influx upgraded to Extreme!? the Zone Core warned. ?New levels and level cores being created. Portals for the new levels are linking to the Entrance Hall level.?


    The mana rushing into her dungeon nearly overwhelmed Lena into a frenzy of creation. She held the image of Jason''s grief-worn face firmly before her mind''s eye, a shield against the soul searing pain of inaction in the face of that tsunami of mana, waiting for the last notice she needed.


    *** *** ***


    Zone [Dungeon of Priesley''s Folly] is without guidance. Will you assume control of this zone? Y/N


    *** *** ***


    ?Yes.?


    *** *** ***


    The Zone [Dungeon of Priesley''s Folly] is a simple zone. It will be added to the [Studio of Capricious Dreams] as a new level.


    *** *** ***


    *** *** ***


    Congratulations! By assimilating an existing zone, the [Studio of Capricious Dreams] has advanced from a "Level" dungeon to a "Master" dungeon!


    Zone MPP +150%, Zone MPR +50%.


    You have unlocked spawn points within your dungeons.


    *** *** ***


    *Now* Lena could give into the creative fury.


    <center><hr>


    *~*~*


    </center>


    *** *** ***


    Zone Designation: Studio of Capricious Dreams


    Zone Arbiter Title: Design Lead


    Zone Nature: Master


    MPP: 89,158 / 105,412


    MPR: 16,530


    MPC: 16,549


    *** *** ***


    With a sense of gratitude and accomplishment, Lena reviewed the updated [Zone Management] screen.


    In the way of levels, they now had the [Hall of Portals] (formerly the Entrance Hall), which led to the [Lotrot Training Floor], [Hall of Crafting], [Forest of Plenty], [Sea of Grains], [Aviary], [Prison], [Priesley''s Folly] and the [Commons]. The [Commons] led to the private floors for each of the crew members (including a new one for Ouliel and Wisp, who did not want to be separated). The new and expanded levels translated to a change in total area within the Studio from 2 square km to 27 square km.


    Lena had been forced to spawn research cores by topic and sub topic several levels down to handle the influx of new patterns from the acquisition of [Priesley''s Folly]. As they formed, the random spawning of monsters within [Priesley''s Folly] decreased. She wasn''t sure, but Lena thought that without being controlled by a research core the patterns were fighting to become. It was almost as if they had a tangible will to exist.


    With all the creatures roaming [Priesley''s Folly], Lena had to repeat the trick of creating contract cores by species to handle the sheer numbers. Left unbound, they were hostile to everyone. She hadn''t had to face the ethical question of forcing a contract on an Aware sapient, but she now held the contracts for two tribes of goblins, a herd of unicorns, nine sirens together leading a flock of harpies, a school of naiads and their riverbank turtle companions, as well as a pack of hemat wolves. The monsters ranged from pixie dragons (a mere 4 cm in length) to rock trolls that resembled nothing so much as a stony hill.


    Checking her time golem, Lena discovered that the process of assimilating [Priesley''s Folly] had taken eight days.


    ?Jason?? she asked, reaching through the G.C. when she didn''t find him in the Studio. ?What''s happened with Lotrot and the town of the Folly??


    She got the sense of his acknowledgment, but no answer. Candy and Aaron had been helping her as much as their flesh and blood bodies would allow and were currently sleeping. Rob, too, had left the Studio, and Ouliel was helping the new mon-saps get settled.


    ?Jason? Rob?? she asked again.


    Rob responded. ?You''re aware again! Great! Lotrot''s on the brink of civil war and Jason''s doing his best to talk us out of taking sides.?


    ?What!??


    <center><hr>


    *~*~*


    </center>


    Kargerran


    "Ever wish we could just go back in time and do things differently?" Stylard asked, his claws tapping against his thighs.


    "No," Kargerran said. Feeling that might be a bit harsh, he added, "If times past were alterable, you can bet your tail we wouldn''t be here, and a lot of Rhofhir with us. Ruing the past doesn''t help us through the present. Besides, if it wasn''t the Dreamers, it''d be the next Shift or the next toll increase or freight tax. The grief between the Artisans and the Merchants has been brewing since Zarabelkami beat Torhammer for Guild Master."


    The sound of a gavel repeatedly meeting its base came muffled through the thick, closed doors of the Lotrot General Assembly, followed by a lull in the roaring of the Assemblymen.


    Stylard glanced at the doors and Kargerran followed his gaze. They were plain wood, solid and thick. Grey scaled Guardsmen flanked either side and stared forward with seemingly impassive facades.


    "Why are we here again?" Stylard asked.


    "To share our insight into the capabilities of the Dreamers," Kargerran answered, nearly quoting Commander Faulkin word for word.


    "Okay, and why am *I* here again?"


    Kargerran shook his head. "Medic, breathe."


    The reminder of his military rank calmed the younger soldier, or at least made him stop fussing in public.


    The doors opened, revealing one of the pages serving in the council room. "The General Assembly is ready to hear your report," he said.


    Kargerran gave a polite salute and led the way into the manticore''s den. He really hated politics.


    This wasn''t the first time Kargerran had been in the council room, nor his first time reporting in front of the General Assembly. The City Council, representing the major factions within Lotrot, may have the final say on the way the city ran, but the General Assembly, representing the populations and less prominent factions, was not to be dismissed.


    Even if they were about as effective in enacting changes in the city as an over cooked noodle used to restrain a dire cat.


    Part of the reason for the grid lock came from the number of Assemblymen present. Lotrot had a total population of roughly sixty thousand, of which half were arassi, a quarter were beast kin, another six thousand gnomes, perhaps as much as a thousand elves, and the rest a melange of races. Even the gidataurs had a representative on the Assembly. Stepping into the room after the Assembly had been in session for an hour already was like stepping into a heat wave.


    They followed the page to the witness podium in the center of the semi circular amphitheater. The City Council sat at the focal point behind a stately table while the Assembly occupied row upon row of dainty, individual desks, each row slightly more elevated than the one before it. As it were, there were some Assemblymen standing in the aisles.


    After the formalities of introductions, Commander Faulkin moved quickly to establish her reasons for selecting Kargerran and Stylard for this particular session of information gleaning. "Sergeant, you and your Medic have been on escort duty for Corporal Ignemrot, the military liaison to the Studio of Capricious Dreams, is that correct?"


    "Yes, Commander." Kargerran knew to keep his answers concise.


    "You are also the leader of the patrol that first discovered the new dungeon." Though the Commander stated that, she gave Kargerran a pointed look.


    "Yes, Commander," he said.


    "You served in the Delver Talons at the start of your career. How many dungeon delves have you participated in?"


    "Without records before me, I estimate near thirty delves."


    "I checked the records and the number is thirty-four delves. Of those thirty-four, you led the last sixteen delves you participated in. Further, you held the top ranking for delver claws during that time, as you have done as a Patroller since transferring between Talons. In fact, you earned the Kar portion of your name for the distinction of your service." Another pointed glance.


    Kargerran simply said, "Yes, Commander."


    "Describe for the Assembly the events you and Medic Stylard witnessed eight days prior."

 Dungeon Calling 6

    3.6


    Kargerran


    A mist of clouds danced around the head of the Sages, the mountain range where gnomes first appeared. "Looks like rain in a few days," Ignemrot said.


    "Yep," Kargerran agreed. He wasn''t feeling particularly inclined to speaking this morning thanks to the particularly strong batch of dart wine served at Soft Paws the night before.


    Ignemrot, the bastard, grinned. "But what a bright, beautiful day it is right now!"


    Kargerran swiped his pinky claw in Ignemrot''s direction and grunted.


    "No need to be rude, Ger. I did warn you that Zaulks has been serving the parandrians a lot lately. Not my fault you didn''t take the warning seriously." While the corporal feigned a look of affront, the sparkle in his eye and the gleam of his teeth through his barely suppressed smile belied the fun he was having at Kargerran''s expense.


    "And who was it that dragged me off to the tavern in the first place? Who kept buying and pouring the wine?" Kargerran fixed the corporal with a beady eyed stare.


    Kargerran''s Rangers scouted the path ahead while his Infantry guarded their tails, leaving his Medic the only member of his squad walking with them. Stylard, at least, understood discretion and didn''t need to believe in the infallibility of his sergeant to maintain morale or discipline.


    Ignemrot gave up his pretense and grinned. "Not many times a man born with only two syllables gets a proposal from one of the high clans."


    "It wasn''t a proposal," Kargerran protested again. "It was an interrogation."


    Ignemrot openly scoffed at that and said, "Please! I could believe you if it was the Belkamis or the Nashtors, but the Pelamedes? If they wanted a report, they''d get it through our Commander."


    Kargerran waved his hand, dismissing the topic. "Whatever, as the Dreamers say. When nothing comes of it, I''ll be proved right. What do you have planned for the day?"


    It took a bit of prodding, but in the end Kargerran was able to get the conversation turned toward Ignemrot''s work.


    Roberto Garcias had suggested the name Dreamers to the corporals when they ran into a difficulty deciding how to refer to the Travelers tied to the Studio of Capricious Dreams. Jason Kline had shrugged his shoulders and agreed. By the looks passed between the two men, the name was some kind of cultural reference.


    As much as Kargerran liked Ignemrot, Tremshur would have been a better fit for the Dreamers'' Liaison, but he kept that opinion to himself. His opinion had everything to do with his prior service with the two men, and there had been a decade or so since his delvers days had passed. Still, Tremshur had come up through the Rangers, while Ignemrot had risen from an Infantry background. The lupine''s high Acuity and rare [Xenoempathy] skill meant that he was more likely to catch subtleties that Ignemrot, with a more combat focused outlook, would either fail to see or fail to understand their significance. The Dreamers endorsement of Tremshur, however, raised scales with some of the more paranoid old farts. Ignemrot wasn''t a bad second choice, and was, on all claws, a better choice than Baline.


    Discussion of Ignemrot''s plans for the day brought them to the entrance to the Studio of Capricious Dreams, where Jason Kline awaited them outside.


    Vi had already hailed the Traveler. As they came within hearing distance, Jason Kline was saying, "We have emergency plans in place, and the mana influx is being handled without allowing any changes to the level we''re letting you use. Especially mana level fluctuations. Candy made the Sunny twig help her get something like a Faraday cage targeted for mana in place around each level before anything else."


    "What''s happening?" Ignemrot demanded, his good cheer wiped from his features.


    Jason Kline said, "We opened a portal to East Karth yesterday to kick the Shashas out. Their problem with the dungeons that have had their core stones stolen got more complicated when Sha''vord attacked Rob. Lena''s adamantly opposed to any of us carrying one of the auxiliary stones to the damaged dungeons now, so she''s going to be opening a portal between them and us. Candy and Aaron have been assisting Lena in setting up protections for the expected mana pressure differential between the zones. Think of it like putting up dams, levies, and digging out extra reservoirs. As part of the preparations, this doorway has been moved to lead directly into the level we put aside for your use. The door between that and the rest of the Studio has been cinched down to further reduce the potential impact."


    Ignemrot''s scales lifted, and Kargerran felt his own concerns rise. "Why weren''t we informed of this sooner?" Ignemrot asked.


    Jason Kline''s furry eye ridges rose in surprise. "Our actions in East Karth are not your concern. That was made quite clear to us when Lotrot declined to take custody of the Sun elves. I believe the exact words were, ''Thanks all the same, but the Sun elves are the kind of political tarball to which no one wants to lose a claw.'' As for the changes that do affect Lotrot''s military, I''m informing you at the first available opportunity. The situation with the Karth dungeons is time critical, and worsening with every hour delayed."


    "You''re sure putting yourselves out for the Sun elves," Ignemrot stated, suspicion in his tone.


    Jason Kline shook his head. "Fuck the Shashas. We''re more concerned about the damage that those dungeons turning into monster spawning nests could do to Ouliel''s people and everyone, Sun elf or not, that gets in their way. There''s a saying where we come from: the only thing evil needs to prosper is for good men to do nothing. Also, we would rather the problem stay a continent away."


    Kargerran heard Stylard shifting behind him and glanced back at the Medic. Worry wore his face in the familiar pattern of a Healer with a troublesome patient. Looking back to Jason Kline, Kargerran cut Ignemrot off to ask, "What happened to Roberto Garcias?"


    Jason Kline''s face took on a grim cast. "He got to be the trial run for us for the healing tied to the Studio. The damage was bad enough that his body had to be rebuilt entirely, and the Studio didn''t have a pattern for humans until after it was done deconstructing the damage and remaking him as an elf. I would, personally, appreciate an experienced Healer looking him over, but so far he seems to be adjusting."


    A bit of finessing got Ignemrot over his indignation enough to go into the Studio and verify the changes.


    <center><hr>


    *~*~*


    </center>


    Stylard


    The higher ups took way too much time growling at each other for Stylard''s nerves. He had been drawn to the Healer''s path from the earliest of ages, tugged that way as much by his personality as by the spark of Healing magic with which he had been born. Military service was meant to season him, and this was his first year. He knew he was young for his rank, and he had heard over and over the cautions against caring too much about his patients. It was a problem all Healers worthy of the Red dealt with. The unrest surrounding the discovery of a Traveler-controlled dungeon only made it harder for Stylard to detach.


    What helped him deal with the delay was Jason Kline''s own apparent calm. The camaraderie between the two discharged Specialists was strong, and Stylard knew that if Roberto Garcias'' condition were time critical his friend would not be responding to Corporal Ignemrot''s gruff demands for appeasement with such patience.


    When the corporal (finally!) went to see to the troops training in the dungeon, his sergeant accompanied Stylard and Jason Kline as they checked on Roberto Garcias. The rest of their unit waited in the staging area.


    Stylard hadn''t seen much of the area within the Studio of Capricious Dreams that had been set aside for the Lotrot military''s use. What he saw now was impressive.If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.


    The entrance led into a significant staging area about 8,000 square meters in size (2 acres) and with a ceiling arcing 100 meters overhead that mimicked a cloudy day. Utilitarian buildings surrounded the staging area, and on the far side of the area stood a pair of immense doors, currently spread wide open. Stylard could see a training field beyond in use by several of the Delver Talon squads.


    Jason Kline guided them toward a building to the right of the entrance. Responding to something Sergeant Kargerran had said, the Studio''s Liaison gestured to the entrance they had come through. "If I understood Lena right, the biggest constraint on the entrance size is the space available on Lotrot''s side. If you want to be able to drive wagons through, the cave needs to be excavated. If we do it, it''ll happen with a lot of tectonic activity, which may damage the city. Lena''s not keen on that, so I believe Corporal Ignemrot has already punted that up the chain of command."


    "I don''t understand the word you used, this tectonic? What does that mean?" Sergeant Kargerran asked.


    Jason Kline tapped his nose with his index finger. "You know, I''m not sure if tectonic plates even exist in Rhofhir. Have you ever been through an earthquake?" he asked.


    The sergeant''s scales fluttered and he shuddered. "Only in a dungeon."


    "There''ll be enough shaking going on over here to rattle the windows in Lotrot. I''m not sure how strong the quake will be, but we''d rather not risk cracking any of your foundations if we don''t have to."


    Stylard frowned. "How could shaking over here cause foundations to crack in Lotrot?"


    "Depends how bad the shaking here gets. If it gets into the threes, you will feel it for several hundred kilometers." Jason Kline held a door for them. "We''re going to the left."


    The sergeant entered and stepped to the side, so Stylard followed his example. Jason Kline resumed the lead.


    "You have a lot of strange ways of talking. What do numbers have to do with these earthquakes?" Stylard asked.


    "Apologies. California, where we lived, has a long fault line running along the coast, so earthquakes are pretty common. Fault lines are where tectonic plates meet. With earthquakes being common, people come up with ways to compare them. I think the seismologists use a logarithmic scale, one where you go up each rank by factors instead of straight addition. Something like a two on the scale is ten times stronger than a one, and a three is ten times stronger than the two and a hundred times stronger than that same one.


    "The seismographs are pretty sensitive. Most people don''t notice any shaking under a three on the measurement scale. We build with the idea of our buildings getting shaken, so we don''t really need to sweat anything under a four, but in places where just anyone gets to slap together a shack and call it good, high twos can fracture poorly prepared foundations and threes bring down mortared brick. It also depends on the composition of the earth underneath. Solid bedrock, like granite, makes for a sharper and shorter shaking, like jittery hands, while looser soil lets huge swells form in the earth so the shaking takes longer, has time to get some height before the drop, and does more structural damage."


    "That sounds more like the effects of an [Earth Like Water] spell," the sergeant said.


    "Does that reach several hundred kilometers from its point of origin?" Jason Kline asked.


    "It can, depending on who casts the spell," the sergeant said.


    "Good to know," Jason Kline said. He led them through a few hallways, stopping at a door placed at the end of the last hall. He set his hand in the center of the door, after which a yellow light rippled over the door before it disappeared, replaced by an open archway into the Entrance Hall as Stylard had last seen it.


    Jason Kline led them out of that Hall and into a minor maze of corridors and kill rooms. "The traps are all disabled right now, and the door to the private section rotates on Lena''s whim."


    Stylard ran through his mental checklist for patient assessment yet again while the sergeant asked about the traps and maze design. Jason Kline professed ignorance about a lot of it. "I''m not as involved in the building side of things, being focused on the preventative side."


    "How so?" the sergeant asked.


    "Talking out problems has a lower fatality rate than fighting them out. All life is precious to us, even our enemies. That doesn''t mean we won''t defend ourselves with more than words, but we have to perceive a grave and immanent threat to start any violence."


    Stylard found he agreed with that idea, but he was a Medic; he had to put the flesh and blood pieces back together that managed not to die during such confrontations. He wasn''t sure about the sergeant, though. Most monsters and monstrous sapients simply could not be reasoned with, nor could the xenophobia, greed, and/or ambition of many other sapient species.


    The portal to what Jason Kline called the private section was indistinguishable to Stylard''s gaze from any other walled section of the maze. As before, the liaison placed his hand upon it, a glow rippled outward, leaving behind the sight of a room foreign to their current location. This time, Jason Kline placed his arm through the portal, and rested his other hand on their shoulder as they passed through, one at a time.


    "There are restrictions on this portal, so the contact is necessary," Jason Kline stated. He followed them through, and the portal closed behind him, leaving a decorated patch of wall in its place.


    The room they entered was circular, with a variety of lounging pillows and seats made for the tail-less species. Portals lined the walls, and arch ways led to several connected rooms. One of them appeared to be the kitchen he had heard about from the Rangers left to watch over the newly discovered Travelers, while another led to the middle of a hallway. The third, where Jason Kline led them, gave access to a decadent training field.


    The room looked more like an outdoor area than a room, and spanned an area larger by at least half again the staging area. A dedicated racing tract occupied some of that extra space, but so did a pair of oddly marked fields and a squared off rectangular pool. Nearer the door were some contraptions recognizable as training dummies and a weapons rack which held blunted spears, wooden swords and shields.


    A dark haired elf ran around the racing tract, springing over simple barriers set in the path. He wore only an oddly shortened pair of loose leggings.


    The contradiction of an elf dressed in so ¡­ little stymied Stylard''s thoughts. Despite being warned, he was surprised to hear Jason Kline yell out to the elf, "Rob! Come over here!"


    The elf lifted a hand, finished the set of jumps he was running through, and then cut across the center of the race tract (which had a lush growth of spring grasses) as he made his way toward them.


    As the grinning elf (another oddity to Stylard) approached, his features came into focus, and the idea that this was one of the human Travelers they had first met didn''t seem so impossible.


    "Kargerran! Stylard! It''s good to see you guys again! How are you?" Roberto Garcias said as soon as he was in easy speaking range.


    <center><hr>


    *~*~*


    </center>


    Kargerran


    The Dreamers permitted Stylard to perform a deep examination of their newly changed member, and answered all of the Medic''s questions with an open demeanor.


    Stylard had pronounced Roberto Garcias as fit as any elf, and they were discussing something called a Design of Cultivation when both Jason Kline and Roberto Garcias jerked upright, their gazes unfocused.


    Their state didn''t last long before both were rising to their feet. Jason Kline said, "Let''s get you back to the Lotrot level. Lena''s opened the portal to Priesley''s Folly''s dungeon and that''s the only level currently being kept out of the emergency building procedures."


    Kargerran leapt to his feet, glad to see Stylard following his example. Even as they followed their hosts, Kargerran asked, "What''s the situation?"


    "The influx is being rated as Severe - no, it just got upgraded to Extreme. New levels are being built according to prior plans, in addition to expansions for our personal levels to start with. Candy and Aaron have been given a temporary sub arbiter status so they can help with the creation process." Jason Kline grabbed several spears, passing them to Kargerran, Stylard, and Roberto Garcias as they moved. He and Roberto Garcias put a hand on Kargerran and Stylard''s shoulder and rushed them through the portal to the Entrance Hall level.


    As they jogged, Kargerran noted the odd sense of moving over something solid, but several centimeters above the ground.


    "What''s the danger to the troops?" Kargerran asked.


    Jason Kline, his voice full of confidence, said, "Low. The level''s completely encased in a mana barrier to ensure that none of the soldiers will end up with mana poisoning no matter what happens in the rest of the Studio. Candy''s tested it out in her Lab under as extreme circumstances as we can reproduce and it held nicely. Turns out it''s about what the Tapestry does with dungeons in general so they don''t flood the rest of the world with dangerous levels of mana. Our bigger concern is that the levels left for expansion start spawning random monsters. We''ll need to get them contracted as soon as possible. That''s also why the portal to the Lotrot level is going to get locked to anyone not under contract to the Studio as soon as we get you two through it."


    They were in sight of the tunnel leading to the Entrance Hall when the air shimmered ahead of them and an odd wolf like creature spun into existence. Kargerran couldn''t identify it. The exoskeletal armor plates along its neck and flanks glowed with a dull red light while the matte black plates on its face made that part of its body harder to focus on. Thick, dark gray fur escaped from around the plates, and a ridge of spikes grew in along its spine as they watched. The armored wolf opened its mouth, revealing ivory fangs floating against the dark gray pigmentation of its lips, gums and tongue.


    "[Offer Contract]!" Jason Kline said as soon as its gaze turned to their group.


    The wolf nodded at them, stretched like a cat kin upon waking, and moved as far to the side of their path as it could.


    Jason Kline led the way passed it with Roberto Garcias taking the rearguard position.


    "What is that?" Stylard asked.


    "The Tapestry calls it an Advanced Armored Shadow Wolf," Jason Kline answered.


    They made it through to the Lotrot military level with no further incidents.

 Dungeon Calling 7

    3.7


    Kargerran


    Commander Faulkin held up a claw, stopping Kargerran''s testimony. "Assemblyman Chodar, what is so important that you have to wave both of your arms over your head?"


    The gidataur cleared his throat. He addressed Kargerran in lieu of directly answering the commander. "You say that the dungeon created an Advanced Armored Shadow Wolf? Did we hear that correctly?"


    "That is correct," Kargerran stated.


    "How certain are you of that identification?" The gidataur looked quite grim.


    "Quite certain," Kargerran replied.


    Assemblyman Chodar opened his mouth, but Commander Faulkin, using her parade ground voice, spoke first. "*If* the Assembly will permit the good sergeant''s testimony to continue, the reason for such certainty will be forthcoming."


    She added a needled glare at the gidataur just to emphasize her point.


    The Assemblyman shrank down and crossed his arms across his belly, hands gripping his forearms, while his ears tried to flatten themselves against his face. The fur all over his body stood out, but he, wisely, did not speak again.


    Satisfied, Commander Faulkin asked Kargerran, "Sergeant, please describe the events that occurred upon your return to the Training Level."


    "After confirming the Mana Alert Wardstones remained in a neutral state, I sent my Medic to meet up with the rest of my squad while I went to inform Corporal Ignemrot of the events. The corporal was just leaving the sandbox room. He had me accompany him while he informed the highest ranked officer present, Delver Talon Captain Quillen, of the events occurring within the rest of the dungeon."


    "You informed a corporal before a captain?" Commander Faulkin asked.


    "Yes, Commander. Corporal Ignemrot, as the assigned liaison, was in a better position to elevate the matter efficiently, and, with the MAWS remaining neutral, there was no immediate danger."


    Speaker Drelan Noc Scalla rapped his knuckles on the table before him, a courtesy when interrupting like this in the Assembly, and asked, "Pardon, please, but you say there was no danger, but yet also that there were monsters of a Challenge Tier 12 spontaneously spawning within the Studio of Capricious Dreams. I do not understand how this is possible. Please explain."


    Kargerran liked the white furred bear kin, and found himself making a formal head bow in the Speaker''s direction as he answered. "I did not state that there was no danger, honored Speaker of the Kin, but that while the wardstones showed a neutral status, the danger was not immediate. Mana surges are part of entering dungeons, and the Delver Talons have many ways to reduce the dangers of being caught in such a surge. I found it an urgent matter, yes, but not one that called for a panicked reaction."


    "I see. Thank you for the clarification." With that, Speaker Drelan Noc Scalla leaned back in his chair, returning control of the testimony to Commander Faulkin.


    "Sergeant, please continue describing the events," the commander ordered.


    "Yes, Commander. Captain Quillen ordered the evacuation of my squad along with a significant number of support personnel, and requested that my squad assist in defending the evacuated personnel until relieved. The parandrian tribesmen have moved their permanent encampment closer to the Studio of Capricious Dreams, and no one wants a misunderstanding with the tribesmen." Kargerran noticed that Dame Chasraheil narrowed her eyes for a moment at that, but otherwise kept her expression serene. Master Merchant Zarabelkami was too steeped in [Diplomacy] to display a reaction, but Crafts Master Gilvillian''s lips turned down in a brief show of regret. Guildmaster Tover was openly sympathetic to the tribesmen and probably already knew more about the recent "misunderstandings" than the military did.


    The commander''s gaze skipped over the Assembly with a seemingly mild interest. He suspected that she was watching to see who among them might react as well.


    The number of bodies the parandrians dumped in the dungeon over the last eight days had shocked Ignemrot. As he had told Kargerran, one or two would have been sad, but night after night, they had brought the freshly slain in groups as large as eight and done so in waves. Ignemrot''s death count as of this morning stood at seventy-six. They had claimed before truth stones that the dead had invaded their camp''s territory, and under the treaty Lotrot had with the tribes, the military was forced to accept this. It had not endeared the parandrians to the city raised soldiers.


    The majority of the dead, before becoming nothing more than mana stones, had been identified as local freelance mercenaries, but a significant minority had been unregistered, meaning either that they were too young to be placed on the city''s residency rolls, had hidden from the rolls and so were criminals, or that they had come from parts unknown. Some of the unidentified had the brand of the the Merchant Guild scarred over, marking them as freed debtsmen. All but four of them had work roughened hands, while the four without were elves of one sort or another and probably mages.


    Kargerran must have paused too long with that thought because Commander Faulkin asked, "What further events transpired?"


    "Our guard duty was thankfully uneventful and we were relieved near twilight. Captain Quillen asked us to escort two of his subordinates back to headquarters, and we returned to the city."


    "And on the following days?" the commander asked.


    "My squad and I provided escort duty for several researchers to and from the Studio of Capricious Dreams. During one such occasion, the researcher we escorted annoyed the Studio''s liaison Jason Kline to such an extent that he at first denied the researcher access to the dungeon."


    <center><hr>


    *~*~*


    </center>


    Vi


    The worst thing about military service was being stuck on escort duty, at least as far as Vi was concerned. He was especially frustrated by this escort duty. The dungeon that he and his team had discovered was undergoing a rare linking and instead of getting to be part of exploring just what that meant, he had to help ferry an obnoxious brat of an entitled apprenticed mage to and from the very place he most wanted to explore!


    This was one of the rare times that Vi regretted giving up his family affiliation, if only to be able to make the brat shut up. While Vi, being a newly recognized adult, hadn''t had much of his own grandeur when he left the Ilbraltian house and joined the military, it was a four syllable house, one of the more prestigious across the Free Cities.


    The brat was trying so hard to act the all knowing mage that he failed to appreciate the unique wonder that was Lotrot''s military training level within the Studio. "Seems a little sparse, and I''m not seeing any of the so called artistry that this ''Design Lead'' has gotten such praises for."


    "It matches the specifications we asked for, and includes quite a number of structural improvements that the [Engineer]s are trying to replicate," the sergeant said, keeping his tone neutral.


    The brat sniffed dismissively. "Plebeian tastes."


    Vi cleared his throat and spoke. "Did I understand correctly that you are a member of House Nefeit?"Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.


    The brat turned at the waist to eye Vi with disdain. "That is correct."


    With a near perfect imitation of his etiquette instructor''s disappointed tone, Vi said, "Perhaps one should consider how close one is to the sand before one disparages the contributions of those of unknown dignity. Military service is, after all, an honored trial for the younger members of the trisyllabic Houses. Those who give up their House names to ascend the ranks do not suddenly cease to be daughters and sons, sisters and brothers, of those who remain among their Houses."


    The sergeant gave Vi a sly sideways glance and, adopting his own prissy voice, said, "Ranger Vi, the youth shares every pearl of wisdom gained while the elder knows better than to cast their pearls at lupaliks."


    Vi appreciated his sergeant''s double entendre. Lupaliks were a monstrous form of oysters. While they did create their own pearls, they also gathered more pearls by attacking other lupaliks, and so the saying could be taken to mean one of two things. The first was that it was worthless to offer wisdom to one who already possesses it, while the second meaning was more of a caution to stop teasing a monster.


    The brat''s scales lifted, but he shut up. That is, until he saw Rob and Jason waiting for them. "Are those the demons?"


    Rob turned to Jason and asked, "What kind of trash is Kargerran dragging in with him?"


    Jason looked between Rob and the brat. "I''ve got this. How about you check on Iggy?"


    A sour look wrinkled Rob''s face, but he nodded and walked off. Then Jason turned the full weight of his stare at the brat. Before any introductions were made, he said, "We tend to be a laid back lot, but that word ''demon'' means something pretty offensive to us. It might even count as ''fighting words''. Please refrain from applying that term to us."


    "How can you possibly be offended by a word from our language?" the brat asked.


    Jason''s eyes narrowed. "You are quite welcome to leave at any time you want."


    The brat pursed his lips, and the sergeant stepped in again. "Jason Kline, Liaison for the Studio of Capricious Dreams, this is Apprentice Lenefeit of the Rimward Mages Association, apprenticed to Mage Tojnefeit. He is one of the research assistants applying for access to study the dungeon linking phenomena."


    "Application denied," Jason said.


    "Wh-what? Why?" the brat demanded.


    Jason said, "I find your powers of observation lacking. We''re doing the best we can to limit the dangers, but everything beyond this level is quite mutable. An oblivious ass is very likely to be a dead ass."


    Vi saw an opportunity. He leaned forward to quietly ask Sergeant Kargerran, "Do our orders cover escorting the apprentice through the dungeon?"


    The sergeant subtly rocked his shoulders, which Vi took to mean that they could be interpreted that way. "You feeling kindly toward him?" he asked.


    Vi said, "More curious about the linking."


    The sergeant dipped his chin, then interrupted the sputtering brat. "Liaison Jason Kline, would you be willing to reconsider if we continued to escort Apprentice Lenefeit?"


    Jason''s features relaxed as he turned his attention to the sergeant. He opened his mouth, but closed it before speaking, his gaze growing distant. Then he nodded and said, "You and your Rangers would be enough, Sergeant Kargerran. We would prefer to limit the number of people in the active areas. It is dangerous, no matter the measures that we''ve put in place to limit that danger.


    "Those who are permitted in are required to carry a computer golem bound to the Studio that records what is said and seen around them, as well as acts as a speaker for any area wide announcements. If you hear an evacuation announcement, it is mandatory, and delays could end up with not just you dead, but anyone else delaying in the affected area. From what Candy''s uncovered, the mana used to build up a dungeon has more impurities than the mana that dungeons leak out into Rhofhir. The auxiliary cores are designed to compensate for that difference, but they have a difficult time adjusting for any type of mana brought in by visitors. The effects of miscalculations can be highly explosive."


    <center><hr>


    *~*~*


    </center>


    The computer golem was the size of a human or an elf''s palm and had a clear crystal face with a broach backing, allowing it to be clipped onto their clothing with little problem. They were also able to ask it simple questions like, "Where are we?" or "How do I find the exit?". The responses came back as either a verbal answer, such as "Level: Entrance Hall, Sector L", or an illusion projection. Requests for directions got arrows while questions about the various types of creatures they encountered provoked a [Status] like menu projection. Vi was sure he wasn''t the only one wondering what it would take to get the Dreamers to part with some of these constructs.


    There were a lot of new creatures, new plants, and new structures taking shape in the various levels, too. They ran into a full pack of Advanced Armored Shadow Wolves almost immediately upon stepping out of the Waiting Room.


    Unlike the last time Vi had been here, the Waiting Room exited half way down a hill that overlooked a clearing covered in familiar grasses. The lake was not familiar, nor the forest to their right, but there was a majestic looking Water Tree with pucker berry brambles to their left.


    One of the wolves trotted up to within four meters of them before sitting on his haunches and obviously sniffing the air. He watched them with the kind of curiosity Vi expected from a domesticated hound hoping for table scraps.


    The golem that the apprentice brat wore said, "Contracted creatures are not permitted to come closer than two meters without specific orders, but they are not required to move away if you approach. Contracted creatures may attack if they think you are threatening them. Please remember that contracted creatures retain the instincts of their wild kin."


    "That''s good to know," Nilis said under his breath.


    Vi nodded.


    A prairie hawk screamed overhead and dove toward the grass near the Water Tree. It rose with a young horned rabbit caught in its talons.


    "If it weren''t for the roof, I''d swear we were outside," Vi said.


    "Vi, does your [Inspect] match this?" Sergeant Kargerran asked, gesturing at the [Status] projection for the Advanced Armored Shadow Wolf.


    "[Inspect]," Vi said and compared the two sets of information. "It''s more detailed than I get, but what I get matches what it''s showing, Sergeant."


    "Good. I want both you and Nilis double checking the information that you can get with these golems. Let me know if you need a break to recover mana."


    "Yes, sergeant!" both Rangers said. They were already on either side of the brat and their sergeant, and Vi knew that Nilis would be at least as eager as he was for the exploration to come.


    They moved forward while the brat directed them around the level based on some mana crystal fueled contraption. Vi guessed it was some kind of mana flux locater, but it was set on top of a narrow scroll box from which the occasional scratching sound could be heard. It wasn''t hard to work out that the brat stopped when the scratching grew more active, but soon enough the scratching sound would fade.


    The tenth time or so that this repeated, the brat knelt down, setting the contraption aside, and pulled out a pair of enchanted goggles. He, very carefully, brought them to his eyes and gave himself a moment to adjust to whatever new vision spectrum they granted him access to before fastening the strap that held them on his face. When he stood up, gathering his contraption with an air of habit more than interest, he took a moment to look around with the goggles before detaching the scroll box and storing the contraption in a spatial bag. He adjust straps on the scroll box so that it hung around his neck and then took two braided cables hanging from the box and attached them to the sides of his goggles.


    The scratching sound picked up in frequency.


    Vi wanted to ask what it was recording, but that wasn''t their job. Their job was to make sure the brat didn''t get himself or anyone else killed in here.


    They reached the lake shore twenty-three [Inspect]s, seventeen [Analyze]s, and several bags of harvested samples later. That was Vi''s count. He hadn''t paid attention to Nilis'' work, though the other Ranger also had several full sample bags hanging on his belt. The shore line was mostly a sandy-dirt with patches of clay slick mud closer to the trees. It felt ¡­ right under Vi''s claws. A part of him wanted to run, to dig in and see how fast he could go.


    The brat asked his golem, "How do we get to the island over there?"


    "Please specify which of the three visible islands you are referring to," the golem responded.


    Vi looked across the lake and saw that two of the islands were near each other and barely to right of their point on the shore while the third was smaller and set off to the left. He wondered if that was a peninsular island because of how close it seemed to be to the shore.


    The brat pointed toward the nearer of the two right-side islands. "That one."


    The golem took a few heartbeats of time before responding. "There is no walking path to that island. Do you wish to request a row boat?"


    "Yes," the brat said.


    The golem on the sergeant''s shoulder said, "Do you authorize user Lenefeit''s request for special transport?"


    The brat glared at the golem. Sergeant Kargerran maintained a blase attitude as he provided the authorization.


    All of their golems said, "Please remain stationary until further notice. Mana construction will take an estimate of 1 minute 20 seconds. Interference with mana construction may result in severe injury."


    A large row boat, big enough to seat six arassi, took shape several meters distant from them. Two pairs of oars formed next to the boat. The brat''s scroll box scratched away at a frantic pace.


    The chorus of their golems spoke again. "Mana construction complete. You may move from your locations now."


    Sergeant Kargerran looked to the brat. "Do you know how to row a boat?"


    The brat looked with confusion toward the sergeant. "Why do you ask?"


    "Someone will need to row while the Rangers are keeping an eye out for creatures and hazards in the water."

 Dungeon Calling 8

    3.8


    Kargerran


    Lenefeit, Apprentice Mage and damn near as white in experience as a newly birthed babe, at least had the good sense not to argue with Kargerran about rowing duty. The soldiers saw him safely in the row boat before the Rangers pushed them out from shore and hopped in, taking up watch positions at the stern and aft of the craft. Lenefeit may not have known how to row before this, but he was a smart boy, if not very athletic. They took it slow as he got into the flow of rowing. Kargerran found himself enjoying the stretch and pull of the strokes, the quiet susurrations of the water as their oars slipped between air and liquid.


    Kargerran estimated that they were near a third of the way across the lake when the young apprentice asked, "Are we still pointed at the island?"


    Kargerran watched Vi''s tail twitch with annoyance, but Nilis was at the stern and answered. "Yes. Veering slightly left of our initial direction, but not by much. Why do you ask?"


    "We''re slipping out of the mana stream," Lenefeit said, a lot of the pomposity of youth forgotten in the calmer, more focused tone he had been easing into since entering the dungeon. Like many a high strung colt, the boy settled down when he had something to do and no time to build up the doing into some grand thing.


    "Is that what those goggles do, then?" Vi asked, glancing toward their guest. The younger Ranger quickly returned his gaze to the waters when he caught Kargerran''s unamused glare. Even if Kargerran had a soft spot for the lad, that moment of distraction could easily be the difference between life and death in any normal dungeon. Jason Kline''s warning before they entered had not been mere diplomatic decoration.


    If Lenefeit caught that, he gave no indication. "Mana trackers, yeah. Which side do we pull harder on to get back on course?"


    Nilis knocked his tail against the side of the boat that matched the left he meant and Kargerran said, "Easy on the adjustment. Watch me, then match me until we''re back on course. Since you''re navigating, you tap the side you''re seeing us veering too far toward."


    "I will do so, Kar Sergeant," Lenefeit said.


    Vi''s scales puffed up, just a bit, but Kargerran took no insult from the misapplied honorific. His lad knew quite a lot, but had yet to learn to judge people by their own merits.


    Nilis, his tone relaxed though a touch distracted, said, "I haven''t much knowing when it comes to the higher families. Are the Nefeits just branching into Lotrot?"


    Lenefeit''s stroke faltered. "How did I mess up?" he asked.


    Nilis, still not focused on the conversation, said, "Along the Rimward Trade Road, we attach the accolades to the individual, not their rank. I understand it''s the other way around in New Botam and closer to the Sages."


    "My apologies," Lenefeit said. "I mean no disrespect, Sergeant Kar."


    Kargerran chuckled. "Relax, and it''s just sergeant or Sergeant Kargerran. There is no ''Sergeant Kar''."


    "Yes, sergeant," Lenefeit said, nearly choking on his embarrassment.


    Kargerran was happy the boy couldn''t see him. The amusement he derived from watching the growing pains of younglings had as much to do with his continued service as the satisfaction he found in knowing that he helped to protect his people.


    Maybe Iggy was on to something with wanting to see him paired off.


    Kargerran dismissed the idle thought, sinking back into the relaxed routine of awareness he had developed during his former life as a dungeon delver.


    There was no such thing as constant vigilance. The strain of attempting to focus on everything - every noise, every scent, every movement, every shift of the air against your skin - quickly became overwhelming, exhausting soldiers before they fought. Unfocused awareness, on the other claw, could be maintained indefinitely, even while sleeping.


    Nilis was farther along in learning how to maintain relaxed awareness. Vi would learn soon enough. He just needed to stop letting his mind run ahead of his [Perception].


    They arrived at the island with only a few course corrections and a curious snake-like fish poking its head out of the water several meters distant from them, snapping a gem fly out of the air.


    The island was an irregular oval about 300 meters wide and 500 meters long. The terrain was more reminiscent of a hill top than a boulder, though the land was not level. Several fruiting trees that Kargerran was not familiar with dotted the island.


    Lenefeit helped Kargerran secure the boat without being asked, letting Nilis and Vi take the lead in scouting the island. He did start toward the center of the island as soon as they were done, but he stopped when Kargerran held up a restraining hand in front of his chest. The boy''s tail twitched, his scales lifted, but these were the involuntary signs of a youth restraining his eagerness. While such reactions were deliberately trained out of soldiers, civilians tended to be far more demonstrative.


    "Let the Rangers scout for danger first. After all, if we let you walk into a snapper''s den, well, we wouldn''t be doing our jobs, now would we?" Kargerran explained, pleased that the boy obeyed almost as well as any of his soldiers.


    The boy''s scales riffled like someone had just goosed him. It was an interesting reaction, one which Kargerran couldn''t place. However, the boy only nodded at his words and braced his feet, flexing his knees in turn.


    It did not take the Rangers very long to return with the all clear.


    "There''s a hole in the ground, looks like the start of a downward sloping tunnel system," Nilis reported. "Other than that, we saw nothing of note."


    Kargerran nodded. Lenefeit headed toward the center of the island once more.


    "That''s the way to the hole," Vi said, voice low.


    Kargerran nodded again, already having guessed as much. Nilis was already adding to his sampling bag as he followed Lenefeit, and Kargerran took off to keep pace with their guest, Vi taking the rear guard position.


    The hole sat in a shallow basin and was wide enough for all four of the arassi to enter at once. As Lenefeit got within range to step into the hole, his guide golem spoke up. "This passage is heavily trapped to prevent unauthorized individuals from accessing the linking nexus. Your group leader must request and receive authorization to proceed."


    Lenefeit took a deep breath, letting his scales flare and settle. Then he turned toward Kargerran. "Sergeant, would you please?"


    Kargerran asked his guide golem, "How do I request authorization to go to the linking nexus?"


    "Contact one of the Zone Guardians with Territory Management access. Would you like for me to initiate this contact?" This golem''s voice was a soothing bass, a distinctly feminine sound.


    "Yes, please," Kargerran answered, finding himself responding with an instinctive respect.The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.


    *** *** ***


    Acuity has increased +1 due to a special action.


    *** *** ***


    Kargerran set the odd notice aside to ponder later. A high pitched sound like bells being chimed came from his golem guide, the tone flowing in a not-unpleasant rhythm. After a moment, the bells ceased and the voice of a human woman issued forth.


    "Kargerran, good to hear from you! Candy here. I didn''t think you''d end up with one of the research teams. There''s another group using the linking zone safe space right now. How long do you think your teams'' tests will take?"


    Kargerran blinked, then looked toward Lenefeit.


    The boy said, "I''ll take whatever time I can get, in that case."


    Candice Sterling''s chuckles came through Kargerran''s guide golem. "Dude, realistically, how long will it take you to get through whatever tests you''ve brought with you?"


    Lenefeit did not need prompting twice. "That depends on how strong the mana flow is at the link site, but I think the longest I''m likely to need is a sky mark."


    Kargerran said, "If Nilis and Vi are permitted to run the evaluation procedures we have materials on hand for, we would be done three times over in the same time."


    Sounding cheerful, Candice Sterling said, "Okay. I can squeeze you guys in for three-quarters of a sky mark today. We had to boot a research party out for being stupid, and they had the middle of the day booked. While you''re waiting, your golems can guide you to the [Aviary]; that level was one of the first to complete. The [Hall of Crafting] is where the other research teams have gathered, if you would rather head there. Stay away from the [Sea of Grains] - Lena''s feeling artistic there, and it would really suck if you guys discovered first hand what happens when an active mana field rolls over disharmonious E.M. fields."


    "Thank you," Kargerran said.


    "What''s an ee-em field?" Lenefeit asked.


    Candice Sterling hummed for a moment before she answered. "I don''t have the time to explain it accurately, but the basics are that every living being produces one, as do a lot of not living things. Each field ¡­ vibrates, and some times those vibrations complement each other, and sometimes they cancel each other out, but mostly they react at different levels of vibration. Mana, so far as I''ve had a chance to study it, interacts with E.M. fields that vibrate around the level of what living critters generate. I''m sorry, I''d love to talk longer, but I need to keep up with my portion of the incoming mana that [Priesley''s Folly] is generating."


    "Thank you again, Candice Sterling. Will the golems inform us when we may head toward the linking zone?" Kargerran asked.


    "Yep. As soon as things slow down, I''d love a chance to talk more. Over and out." Candice Sterling ended the communication with a short, trilling chime.


    Turning to Lenefeit, Kargerran asked, "Where would you like to go now?"


    <center><hr>


    *~*~*


    </center>


    They explored the [Aviary] level. The plants here were more tropical, and the birds, which were the primary type of life, were mostly unfamiliar to the arassi. Despite their guide golems'' silence when the matter came up, they decided not to try collecting any of the critters, sticking to taking samples of the plant life.


    Near to half a sky mark later Kargerran''s guide golem announced, "The current nexus group is preparing to leave. Please advise when your party is ready to be transported to the shielded areas near the linking nexus."


    "What do you mean, ''transported''?" Kargerran asked. Upon hearing the answer, he grinned and called the Rangers back to him.


    Lenefeit had been close enough to hear the golem''s response. He still looked a little fear sick when force bubbles formed around them. Vi jumped, bumping his head into the top of the bubble surrounding him, while Nilis just let his scales lift, glaring at Kargerran''s wide smiling face, the promise of retribution reflecting in his eyes.


    Truth be told, Kargerran found the experience of traveling inside an invisible bubble of force at speeds he couldn''t even match while running full tilt to be unsettling. However, he had to set a good example, so he focused on noting down every detail he could regarding their flight.


    And it was a flight. They lifted over the canopy before heading toward the portal gate that would return them to the [Entrance Hall] level, and from there sped over the water to the tunnel their golems had warned them was trapped. The force bubbles carried them effortlessly down and through tunnels carved through the very water itself to an oddly barren room. They didn''t linger there very long, just enough time for Kargerran to spot a long bench table with four seats to one side of them and a trio of glass fronted rooms on the other.


    Lenefeit yelped as they exited that room, tearing the mana trackers off and rubbing at his eyes. The boy knew some interesting cusses. Considering they flew through a mana stream strong enough that Kargerran could see colors shifting with his naked eyes, he had a strong suspicion just why the boy was so upset.


    The bubbles deposited them on the near side of the mana stream, in a triangular corner area. They passed through a visible barrier separating the corner from the mana stream and were set down gracefully before the bubbles dissipated.


    During the ride, their guide golems had relayed the safety rules around the linking nexus:


    1. Do not exit the shielded areas around the nexus. So far, none of the researchers had brought anything that provided protection the Dreamers deemed sufficient from the mana levels.


    2. Do not attempt to interfere with the shields protecting the safe zones. The force bubbles transporting them were keyed to pass through the shields, as were the golems, but everything else would be "repelled with extreme prejudice".


    3. The golems near the shielded areas were there to move sampling equipment around the unshielded areas of the nexus. Their guide golems would act as the "remote controllers" for the golems used for taking samples.


    4. If in doubt, ask the guide golem.


    They were simple rules, though Kargerran resolved to ask Jason Kline what "extreme prejudice" meant. Regardless, he got the general idea that it was not a fun experience.


    While Lenefeit ran through his experiments, Kargerran had Nilis and Vi take out the set of mana stones used to check ambient mana levels.


    In the shielded area, all three of their stones were dim and pale, reflecting a very low level of ambient mana. Vi was the first to summon over one of the sampling golems, carefully setting his mana stone in the curved part of the golem''s primary limb.


    These golems were very oddly shaped. Most mages made their golems in the shapes of living creatures, but these were more like inelegant boxes on small, hard wheels. Their limbs came in a wide range of strangeness, resembling nothing so much as odd tubes joined with pins and hinges, or flat metal bars with depressions and grooves in inexplicable places.


    The golem cradling Vi''s mana stone slowly removed itself from the shielded area. As soon as the mana stone was outside of the barrier''s protection, it lit up with a violent orange glow. The orange turned to red once the golem was fully outside of the barrier. By the time it was ten centimeters into the mana stream, it ignited.


    Kargerran noted that he was not the only one with scales fully raised and vibrating with alarm. "Bring that back in," he ordered.


    The golem brought the mana stone back to them. Nilis and Vi put up a containment shield around it without needing to be prodded, but the light dimmed back to dullness as it passed through the barrier. Then the three of them ran through their various inspection skills with the stone.


    "I think I''d feel better if a Quartermaster confirmed the enchantments are in working order," Vi said. His nostrils were flared, but Kargerran was pretty sure the lad wasn''t even aware of that betrayal of his shock.


    They repeated the experiment with Nilis'' and Kargerran''s stones before deciding that their equipment was not capable of taking any other useful measurements.


    Lenefeit, in the mean time, had finished preparing his sampling tools. "[Time Track]," he said as he sent the two golems he was using out. A mana stone held in his off hand began to pulse.


    One of the golems stopped near the barrier while the other moved near to where Kargerran guessed the center of the mana stream poured forth. The mage apprentice''s tools did not glow or provide other easily detected signals. That made it difficult to understand how Lenefeit decided that the experiment was done with, but they packed up afterward.


    The bubbles transported them back to the [Entrance Hall], setting them down gently by the door out.


    "I think," Lenefeit said, shivers running across his shoulders, "that I would like to exit the dungeon now."


    Kargerran heartily agreed.


    <center><hr>


    *~*~*


    </center>


    They did not get their wish quite as fast as they would have liked. A pair of blue painted members of the Mage Corps awaited them on the other side of the portal, along with an indigo and yellow striped arassas that looked suspiciously like Lenefeit.


    "Sergeant! Senior Mage Berrim and I have a few questions we''d like to run through with you about your escort duty!" The nearer of the Mage Corps members said. His grin didn''t hide his annoyance, but at least he wasn''t directing it at them. Kargerran guessed he had been denied access to the active parts of the dungeon.


    The civilian with them gave their guest a hard stare and said, "Lee, we''ve been given permission to use one of the rooms here to discuss your research trip."


    Lenefeit swallowed hard and followed the man Kargerran suspected was his mage master. A few steps in, he stopped, turned and bowed to Kargerran. "I thank you for your escort, Sergeant Kargerran," he said, then straightened and hurried after his master.


    Kargerran nodded to the boy, then looked at the two mages. Resigned to their debriefing, he asked, "Where would you like talk?"

 Trouble in Lotrot 1

    4.1


    Kargerran


    Commander Faulkin stated, "Your squad escorted several researchers back to the city. Please describe for the Assembly what you witnessed on the way back."


    <center><hr>


    *~*~*


    </center>


    "Hi, Kargerran. Mind if I step outside with you guys for a moment?" Roberto Garcias asked.


    His squad was formed up near the dungeon exit, the handful of mages heading back to the city tonight gathering nearby.


    "I have no objection, but we won''t be able to escort you or take responsibility for your safety," Kargerran said.


    "No worries on that; I''m not planning on going far," the Dreamer said. He dropped his voice to a more confidential level and added, "You talked with Candy earlier, right? That reminded her that she hasn''t done much more than say ''thank you'' to you guys for hauling her out of the Mana Wastes. She asked me to find out what would be the ''culturally appropriate'' way to make sure you know that she appreciates that. We nixed her idea to give you plasma rifles since her design''s still more of a prototype right now, and Jason brought up the idea that gifts might actually be insulting. You''ve been pretty chill with us, pretty upright, so I''m hoping that asking you outright like this is okay?"


    "Vi, come here, please," Kargerran said, waving Vi up to them. Looking back to Roberto Garcias, he said, "Vi''s got actual skill ranks in [Etiquette]."


    Vi joined them, and Kargerran shared Roberto Garcias'' request. Vi nodded, his gaze unfocusing for a moment. "Okay. Lotrot''s got a lot of what you''re calling cultures mixing, so we''re more flexible than other Free Cities here. You''re also in the weird position of being absolutely foreign, so how you choose to proceed will set up the expected [Etiquette] for future scenarios."


    Roberto Garcias gave them a wry smile, the genuine humor on an elf''s face an odd sight. "Well, how would you expect a native of Lotrot to behave?"


    Vi said, "That could take a while to go through."


    Kargerran nodded. "Alright, we''ll head out, then. Vi, would you please stay at the back with Roberto Garcias?"


    "Yes, sergeant!" the Ranger said.


    They waited to continue until out of the Studio. It was about a quarter sky mark till dusk and the moon shone full above them. Kargerran had Nilis lead the way, and he hung back to keep an eye on the Dreamer.


    Vi said, "If you were arassi and did more than share food or a nice bottle of wine, it would be like saying we did something above and beyond. We didn''t, and I''m the only one with ties to a high enough house to worry about gifts being a subtle insult. Gnomes and beast kin are pretty touchy about equaling out debts and would expect that whomever of you is acting as the head of your house would enter negotiations with the head of their house - in our case, that''s Captain Karobreen, because we acted under the aegis of the Patrollers Talon."


    Vi tapped a claw to his chin. "Taurgonauts don''t hold non-taurs to the same standard, but if they felt that their lives had been saved by someone outside of their extended families, they would be honor bound to act as their savior''s bodyguard for three years. The sergeant would be the one to decide to whom that debt was owed. Gidataurs have a reputation for being ruffians more because they''re highly fatalistic and don''t recognize life debts as often as the other taurgonauts. Add in their curiosity, wanderlust, and generally flippant outlook and you get their reputation for being lazy grifters."


    "What about elves?" Roberto Garcias asked.


    Vi and Kargerran laughed. Vi said, "They wouldn''t acknowledge that they were ever in any danger, and would probably pretend that we had made a mess of some experiment of theirs. They might deign to throw a trinket our way to encourage good intentions, but it would be a fairly condescending affair."


    "They sound like assholes," the newly transformed elf said with a grimace.


    Vi shrugged. "It''s a bit more complicated. Elves in general have a penchant for stoicism. Add to that, most of the elves on Malta are Dynasty Seekers, and arassi are descended from them and kobolds. The Dynasty Seekers have the bad habit of extending their ''parental role'' to any of the races with elven blood in them, and their families are very controlling. There''s some controversy over whether elves or humans are the original sapient race. Either way, they both have the distinction of being the Ancestral Races. Humans are just a lot more rare these days."


    The young Ranger shook his head. "Sorry, side tracking there. The Observer faction of elves is more widespread across Rhofhir, but they tend to be very aloof. They run the Society of Chroniclers and Scribes, which means that they interact more with the wealthier merchants and more prominent Houses than the majority of the people. That makes a lot of people think of them as snooty."


    Roberto Garcias got a thinking gleam to his gaze. "Hm. What faction do the Sun Elves belong to?"


    "Isolationists," Vi said. "They mostly refuse to acknowledge the sapience of any race that came into existence after the Fifth Age and treat us like monsters. Not even mon-saps. That''s a lot of why dealing with them is so painful."


    "Ah. I see. Well, I appreciate the etiquette lesson, and I will make sure Candy-."


    "Egg licker!" the shout cut off Roberto Garcias. It came from ahead of the procession, and Nilis was giving the sign to stop and form a defensive ring around their guests.


    Roberto Garcias moved a few steps away from their formation, an odd weapon appearing in his hands. It looked like a pair of brass tubes (both as long as the elven Dreamer''s arm) embedded in a wooden hilt, with an oddly fancy guard. Kargerran would have dismissed it as a decorative club if the Dreamer weren''t supporting the double tubes with one hand, the other wrapped around the hilt with his fingers up against the guard. More surprising, force armor deployed around him, blurring his features without encompassing his weapon.


    "What the ¡­?" Perth said, distracted by the Dreamer.


    "Eyes forward!" Kargerran snapped. They could talk after they dealt with what ever was coming toward them.


    The shouting voice did not come closer, but sounded again. "You have no business keeping us from the dungeon! I don''t care about your false claims, you''re just thugs serving the merchants!"


    The tirade continued, but Kargerran didn''t need to hear more to know what was going on. "Nilis, Cord, Perth, you''re with me," he ordered.


    "What''s happening?" one of the guests asked.


    Another snorted and said, "Idiots are antagonizing the parandrians, I''d wager."


    While Kargerran led half of his squad toward the shouting, the half-squad left behind moved to fill the gaps, the Dreamer stepping seamlessly into Perth''s position.


    The one thing about steppes that so many foreigners never stopped to wonder at was the height of the grasses. In some swaths, the grasses could reach three meters in height, though it was more common for the grasses to be between a meter to a meter and a half tall. Sure, in some patches shorter grasses held sway. Those were usually around bushes or brambles, or on some of the rockier slopes. Relatively flat land was just that - *relatively* flat, as in compared to the foothills and mountains. They still had hills, hidden by the monotonous blend of silver, green, and yellow grasses, and some of those hills had cliff-like sides.


    Not wanting to be accused of sneaking up on the parandrians, if they were there, Kargerran made no effort to engage his [Stealth] skill. If it wasn''t the parandrians blocking the shouter, then it was a problem for the Lotrot Patrollers to deal with, and stealth wasn''t going to keep the violence down, though a show of confidence might.


    They came around the hill blocking their view of the confrontation, and Kargerran wanted to cradle his forehead in his palm at the headache he beheld.


    A handful of parandrian stags, led by two does, stood with spears casually on display while across from them a group of unarmed craftsmen - probably apprentices based on their youth - stood defensively around two full, covered hand carts. Most of the craftsmen were gnomes. Perhaps because of exposure, Kargerran found the gnome spokesman more intimidating than the lone gangly looking minotaur at the back, but he was pretty sure the only reason this group hadn''t been executed out of hand came down to the lack of worthy fighters.This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.


    After giving the order to sheath weapons, Kargerran took a deep breath and stepped forward.


    "Pardon me," he said, leading his half-squad up to the side of the two groups. "What seems to be the problem?"


    One of the does turned to look at them, her posture stiff with irritation. Some of that eased as she met Kargerran''s gaze. "You are Patrollers?" she asked.


    Kargerran nodded. "We are."


    "These children do not wish to respect our territorial boundaries," the doe said.


    The gnomish spokesman turned to him and demanded, "We have a right to go to the dungeon and-"


    Kargerran stepped forward and picked the gnome up by his suspenders. "No!" he said. If the parandrians were going to give him the out of treating these youths as children, he would take it. They may not appreciate the humiliation they were about to receive, but he was sure their families would prefer them humiliated rather than dead.


    The gnome''s mouth gaped open, and when he took a breath to recover, Kargerran gave him a quick, calculated shake. "No," Kargerran repeated. "First, the City Council charged the Talons with controlling access to the new dungeon, as is standard practice. There are too many unknowns. As token bearing citizens of Lotrot, you are bound by the Council''s decision. You are not members of the Talons and you have no escort, ergo you have no permission to go to the new dungeon.


    "Second, the parandrians have abided by the terms of our treaties with them in establishing their camp at this location, so you are, in fact, trespassing on their territory. I have had to stand aside while they killed people for less cause than you''ve given them. They are very kindly permitting me the opportunity to spare your lives, so you and your friends are going to join us on our return to the city, where we will hand you over to the City Watch. Failure to comply is a crime, which can result in the revocation of your citizenship, in which case I have no obligation to protect you from your own gross stupidity. Are we clear?"


    The gnome''s face grew red during Kargerran''s forceful speech. Anger was still his dominant emotion, and Kargerran was really not looking forward to the next step if the gnome failed to submit. As the gnome opened his mouth, the minotaur spoke up, her timid nature clearly reflected in her quavering voice.


    "Please, I just want to go home. I never wanted to go to the dungeon, and I''m sure we can talk everything out if -."


    "It''s a duplicator dungeon!" the gnome in Kargerran''s grip wailed as if that had any bearing.


    "I don''t care! It''s a dungeon! They eat people!" the minotaur wailed back. "Besides, why isn''t Master Thormtock with us? You said he gave the orders, but he wouldn''t risk our citizenship! I think you lied to us!"


    The gnome slipped over some edge of heated anger to a chilling rage. "Fine," he said, voice soft. "We''ll go back, sort this out, and *you* can answer to the master."


    The other members of their group all got sick expressions. Kargerran felt his headache bloom.


    The parandrians silently withdrew into the grass, leaving almost no sign of their passage. How the stags, with their towering antlers, managed that Kargerran assigned to some kind of illusion magic.


    The craftsmen docilely followed the Patrollers back to the rest of their guests, none of them inclined to speak. It was selfish of Kargerran, but he hoped they continued like that. The less he overheard, the less he had to write down in the day''s report, and he already had more scroll work waiting for him than he cared to think about.


    Roberto Garcias stayed around long enough to ensure that there was no immediate threat, then returned to the dungeon.


    The gnome spokesman glared at the Dreamer''s withdrawal. "So Long Ears get a pass to go to the new dungeon, but not regular citizens?" he sneered.


    Kargerran''s squad knew better than to engage that topic, but their guests didn''t. "He lives there."


    The gnome''s jaw jutted forward, a pugnacious look twisting his face.


    The guest, a drake around Vi''s age, his scales dyed to match the Adventurers Guild''s red and copper, snorted. "You really can''t read the mana flows, can you? That was one of the Dreamers, not just any long ear."


    "Who the sands are the dreamers?" the gnome asked, not ready to give up his grump.


    "The dungeon is named the Studio of Capricious Dreams. Figure it out," the drake said.


    One of the gnome''s companions asked, "Who named it that?"


    Kargerran felt his headache swell.


    <center><hr>


    *~*~*


    </center>


    Kargerran''s headache did not ease when he handed the craftsmen off to the City Watch. The Watch Captain requested that he and his squad return after completing their escort mission, and, despite being delayed by a trip *through the changing dungeon*, the lieutenant to whom he reported in sent them back to the Watch, barely giving his Rangers time to properly stow their samples.


    That all meant that Kargerran was present when Crafts Master Thormtock, one of the more prominent alchemists in the city, came to collect his journeymen and apprentices.


    Kargerran, Stylard, and Nilis had been asked to remain while the rest of their squad got to go back to the military ward. The three arassi were seated at different desks, facing City Watch scribes who insisted on being called Statement Clerks. Literacy was all well and good, and a part of Kargerran even admired the scribes for it. He had a passing familiarity with the written word, nothing like Vi, but enough to receive simple orders and verify the scribing quills took down his words about right in his reports. The Clerk taking his statement was one of the more affable ones, but not the gnelf with Nilis.


    Kargerran held up one claw, turned to face his subordinate, and said, "Ranger Nilis, need I remind you that the Watch is a sister claw of the Patrollers Talons, whose members are subject to the same regulations as any Patroller?"


    Nilis'' scales started to rise, a look of indignation cramping his eyes, then the meaning behind Kargerran''s words struck him and he straightened, his scales settling.


    "Yes, sergeant," Nilis said. He took out a thumb sized mana stone and set it on the desk between himself and the surly gnelf taking his statement. He tapped a claw to the stone and said, "Please be informed, Statement Clerk Jillorny, that our conversation is being recorded from this point forward."


    The gnelf got a sour look on his face, but said, "Acknowledged. Now, may we return to recording your statement?"


    Kargerran turned back to the lupine scribe taking his statement, but before they had a chance to resume, the door leading to the reception room slammed open.


    "Where are my apprentices!?" The bear kin filling up the doorway bellowed out his ire with his question.


    The scribes ducked under their desks while Watchmen and Patrollers sprang to their feet, unsheathing weapons. The Watchmen held batons. Kargerran and Stylard had their daggers in hand, and shortswords softly wuffling out of their wooden scabbards. Nilis had his shortsword and a baton in hand.


    The Watch Captain''s door opened so fast it bounced back from the wall. The Captain shoved his shoulder into the ricocheting door, a baton in his off hand while a [Mana Bolt] glowed around his right hand.


    Several minutes of angry shouting between the Watch Captain and the intruder established him as Master Alchemist Thormtock and that the master alchemist found the detention of his apprentices to be an unjust infringement upon their rights as citizens. Said apprentices were not in the room, which delayed the roaring bear kin long enough for the Watch Captain to step the tension down and get the bear kin into his office.


    It took a few moments after Thormtock let himself be led into the Watch Captain''s office for the Clerks to get back to taking their statements. Kargerran was finished first, with Nilis a close second. The Clerk working with Stylard had extra questions to go through due to his being a Medic. Most of the answers may have been "Not Applicable", but the scrollwork was what it was.


    Kargerran wanted to be gone sooner. He had an itch about that bear kin and, frankly, he wanted as little to do with this mess as possible. The crafter''s response held genuine fury, but something about it was too ¡­ theatrical, almost staged.


    Thanks to the delay for the Medic questions, Kargerran and Nilis were seated in the receiving room, waiting for Stylard, when the Watch Captain led Thormtock toward the receptionist''s counter.


    "Elyar, please have Keint begin outprocessing the party the Patrollers brought in earlier." There was a tired frustration in the Watch Captain''s expression as he said that which just made Kargerran''s itch worse.


    "It''s a disgrace!" Thormtock said, clearly still ranting. "There was no call for those Patrollers to apprehend my apprentices! There has been ample time for the Adventurers Guild to explore and categorize the new dungeon! The merchants are just trying to keep us from it so they can continue charging their exorbitant fees for materials we could obtain far easier from the dungeon!"


    The Watch Captain nodded. "Nevertheless, the City Council has placed the dungeon under military supervision until the next convocation of the General Assembly. Whether its fair or not is their concern. We don''t get to chose which of the laws of the City we enforce. Did you consider requesting access through the Talons?"


    "We should not have to do so!" the bear kin growled.


    Nilis opened his mouth and Kargerran quickly stomped on his foot. The Ranger turned what ever he had intended to say into a cough, which was bad enough. It drew the bear kin''s gaze. As he recognized the Patroller uniforms they wore he turned his ire in their direction. "Were you the ones who accosted my apprentices?" he demanded.


    Kargerran said, "We were very grateful that the parandrians gave us the opportunity to remove a group of apprentices from their territory while they were still living. I hate having to deliver the news when any of our citizens, especially the younger ones, manage to get into fatal disputes with the tribesmen."


    The bear kin sucked in a deep, quick breath.


    Kargerran, letting his expression assume a regretful air, continued before the bear kin could speak. "They''re quite taken with the Champion of Order the Grand Tapestry assigned to oversee the new dungeon, and I understand that there''s been some delicate questions asked about how long they intend to camp so close to the dungeon. We take the safety of our citizens quite seriously, you know, and the tribesmen can be so very ¡­ prideful."


    The Watch Captain blinked at Kargerran, looking surprised by the mention of the parandrians. The frustration tugging on his expression dissipated, replaced with a stoic horror that Kargerran shared.


    *Sometimes you''re the arrow and sometimes you''re the bird''s wing the arrow pierces.*

 Trouble in Lotrot 2

    4.2


    Kargerran


    Stylard shivered like a youngling as soon as they were alone in one of the hallways leading out of the City Forum.


    Kargerran laid a hand upon the Medic''s shoulder. "Don''t care for public speaking?"


    "Not particularly, sergeant, no."


    That bluntly spoken sentiment brought a sympathetic snort from Kargerran. Stylard found a topic to shift focus to before Kargerran did, asking, "Are things really that tense with the artisans?"


    Kargerran shrugged. "They come to the Rim to be near the sands of the Mana Wastes and to establish their Houses or guilds near the newly waking dungeons. It takes a long time for uprooting to profit them, and most of the crafters in Lotrot have already been pushed out of the Rimward cities with their own nearby dungeons. You''ve heard the reputation of the Prosing guilds, right?"


    Stylard said, "I haven''t paid much attention, to be honest, but I''ve heard some complaints that they''re harder to join than the Old Guilds."


    Kargerran nodded. "I buy the caravan guards a drink every so often mostly to keep up on the road gossip. It helps to have some general awareness of what''s going on with the traders, be they merchants or tinkers, when we run into them on patrol. Prosing is half a day by wagon from their closest dungeon, and it''s a shard dungeon. They have a few slower ones that are still taking on characteristics, and (if the dungeon lore is right) as the Wastes push outward, the weakest of them will fade away. That sharder, though? It is already strong enough to support monthly runs. The craftsmen that rely on dungeon materials, like mana shards and mana enriched flora and fauna, they are already feeling the sparsity of resources by being out here on the Rim. It will probably take a generation or two for Prosing''s guilds to relax, for their members to feel like they have enough surplus to welcome new blood into their guilds.


    "Now, think about Lotrot''s situation. How many dungeons do we hold?"


    Stylard scratched the back of his neck. "Not counting the Studio? Six, right?"


    "Ten, actually," Kargerran corrected. "Howling Caves can support a quarterly clearing, and it''s the strongest we have access to. It''s already merged three times, too. None of our dungeons have specialized, so when the Delvers go into clear them, they''re returning primarily with low grade mana crystals and random monster corpses. The merchants supply the difference in raw materials. Items that just need sand are as cheap here as resistant arms and armor are in New Karth, and as expensive there as those same arms are here."


    "So, the crafters are feeling that tense." Stylard let his head tip to the side a bit, a gesture conveying his lack of assurance, but he still said it like a statement.


    Kargerran nodded, pausing to shield his gaze as they stepped out of the Forum and onto the walkways of the city. "The arassi among them probably aren''t feeling the pressure to claim their piece of the dungeon as badly as the beast kin, taurgonauts and the gnomes. Our families encourage diversity in occupations. But the ones who aren''t arassi? Many of their Houses are specialists. We''ve used the guilds here more to help balance, I guess you could call it the access to opportunity. In other cities, the guilds focus more on securing their members against competitors."


    Stylard frowned.


    "Straighten up, soldier," Kargerran said, putting confidence into his tone. "Change isn''t supposed to be sunshine and water trees all the time."


    "I wonder if that''s what they said in Old Botam?" Stylard asked, but he straightened his posture, his stride firming and his sour expression relaxing.


    <center><hr>


    *~*~*


    </center>


    Brad


    "I see walls ahead," Brad said as he back winged into a landing on top of the wagon in which Dibbs rode. Feltz shifted on the bench, pointedly ignoring Brad, much to Dibbs and Brad''s amusement.


    Dibbs said, "Ah, the last civilized stop before we get to trudge into the Wastes!"


    "How''s this?" Brad asked, content to remain on top of the heavy canvas holding down the sealed crates and barrels being transported on this particular wagon.


    "Dungeons don''t form next to towns or villages," Dibbs said. "Older ones can be coaxed into opening entrances near such places, but even that''s rare enough no one really knows how it actually comes about. There''s a fear that it has to do with where the majority of people who harvest the dungeons reside, and that''s as good a guess as any we''ve got. With this being a new dungeon, the most likely place for it to open its first entrance is somewhere in the Mana Wastes. It won''t be too far in or no one would have discovered it."


    Brad let the implications sink in for a moment. "We''ll be doing real camping, then, won''t we?"


    "Yep," Dibbs said.


    Feltz''s face scrunched up with grump.


    Brad laughed. "Oh, that''s why the Sour Puss has been so much more grumpy! And here I thought winning his hammock would only inconvenience him for a night or two! This is much better!"


    Feltz flicked something pebble sized toward Brad while shooting him a dirty glare.


    Brad used some of the wind manipulation spells he had started learning to block the thing, which turned out to be the shell of some acorn-look alike nut.


    "Now, children," Dibbs said, not bothering to hide his mockery.


    Feltz turned his glare on Dibbs.


    One of the caravan guards, a black haired and bay centaur, trotted up to them. "Please refrain from any more magic casting. We may be close to Lotrot, but there''s still an ambush spot between us and the city walls."


    "Bandits operate so close to the cities?" Brad asked.


    The guard shook his head. "Not usually, but we aren''t paid to take risks with our clients'' safety."


    Dibbs frowned. "What is the general composition of bandits in this area?"


    "Gnelves, arassi, gidas. Occasionally an exiled tribesman, but they rarely stick around the Whispering Steppes long enough to join up with anyone." His warning delivered, the centaur turned his attention toward the steppes.


    "Are the tribesmen some kind of bear kin?" Dibbs asked.


    "Parandrians can be mistaken for bear kin, but they''re more often guessed to be burly deer kin, especially with their antlers. Why?" the centaur asked.


    "Hm. Not seeing antlers and I''ve never seen a deer kin with fangs. There are two using an aversion cloak while they pace us." Dibbs dropped that tidbit with a musing, distracted tone.


    The guard stopped for a quick moment before quickly shifting his hooves and moving up to the front of the caravan.


    Brad leaned forward. "Are you serious?"


    Dibbs flashed a grin up at him and said, "Absolutely. Deer kin are notorious herbivores. I was on good terms with one before Feltz took me on. He paid me to buy him several bouquets of flowers because the florists in our little town charged twice as much if he suspected his flowers were going to be eaten instead of displayed."


    Looking forward again, the mage added, "If I thought they were doing more than just keeping up with us, I would have spoken up when I first saw them. They aren''t giving off any killing intent, so they''re probably with a group passing through the area."The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.


    While Brad didn''t doubt that Dibbs had seen what he claimed, he had issues with the conclusion he drew. "Yeah, I''m not sure how much I trust this ''killing intent'' sense you''re so proud of. It sounds like the bullshit behind people saying they can tell when strangers are lying to them based solely on body language."


    Dibbs took the doubt in stride, turning it into a teaching opportunity. "The [Sense Truth] skill and the related spells don''t rely on body language. That''s more of a liability with [Sense Motive]. There are very few creatures who can kill casually, and they tend to trip the [Danger Sense] skills if they aren''t actively thinking of protecting you."


    Brad blinked, then face palmed. "Of course you have skills for that. This bloody cock up of a system only seems to have skills and designs. At least G.U.R.P.S. has a reason for its endless skills list."


    "What''s this gurps?" Dibbs asked. Feltz, despite his grump, seemed to perk up a bit for the answer, too.


    While answering, Brad turned his lean forward into flattening himself out over the top of the canvas. That allowed him to spread his wings without making a major target out of himself, which would make taking off that much quicker and safer should the need arise.


    "Generic Universal Role Playing System. A creative lady I once knew called the idea collaborative storytelling, and thanks to the draw for creatively inclined people, there are a lot of different rule sets. Some were geared toward science fiction, others toward medieval fantasy, and others toward horror and gothic settings, but G.U.R.P.S. tries to be exactly what it says, a rules set that can be applied to any setting."


    Despite the concern the scouts pacing them raised, the caravan reached the city gates without incident. All during that time, Brad rambled on about table top gaming, using the words as a distraction from his fear even while he held himself ready to launch skyward, his crossbow at hand and loaded.


    They were settled at an inn, Brad watching Dibbs and Feltz eating a hearty yellow curry-like soup, when he realized that he hadn''t even questioned that he would fight if it came down to one. He didn''t think of himself as a particularly brave person, nor a violent one. Was this a change in his personality? Was it perhaps a result of residing in a golem''s body, armored against pain in a way his mortal flesh had never been? Or, worst, was this a subtle geas of the mental enslavement?


    <center><hr>


    *~*~*


    </center>


    Jason


    "No," Jason said, holding his hands palm out like a mime demonstrating a wall. "This is a problem internal to Lotrot, and we are doing our best to stay out of it. When you have the approval of your City Council to come discuss imports and exports with us, then we''ll talk, but not before then."


    He stood just outside the cave in Lotrot''s territory leading into the Studio of Capricious Dreams. Rob, the newly acquired pack of Hemat wolves, along with a pair of draft-horse-sized Armored Shadow Wolves, stood with him. Watching the Shadow Wolves squeeze through the portal like cats crawling through some amazingly dinky hole in a fence had been a sight that raised the scales and the fur on the soldiers witnessing it.


    Before them stood a group composed of five gnomes, three gnelves, eight various beast kin, a gidataur, two minotaurs, two brightly colored arassi, and a gorgon. To the side, a small delegation from the Gharanguru, the parandrian tribe that took up residence not too far from the dungeon''s entrance, watched with polite interest. The gorgon, one of the minotaurs, a gnelf, and an arassas held themselves back from the rest. They openly wore weapons and had the look of professional toughs. By the expressions on their faces, Jason guessed they were reevaluating their fees.


    The remainder were craftsmen, probably crafts masters. They had elected a particularly surly bear kin by the name of Thormtock as their speaker.


    That was without mentioning the squad of gray scaled guardsmen assigned to stand guard over the dungeon entrance. They had taken over the duty from the Lotrot Patrollers just the day before.


    "Nonsense!" The bear man bellowed. "How much are the merchants paying you?"


    "We have no contracts with the Merchants Guild or any individual merchants. We are not receiving any compensation. We are just waiting for your City Council to determine what will be in the best interests of the City of Lotrot before those negotiations open up." As he spoke, Jason felt the buzz of the Guardian Communication channel, but he ignored it. He had gotten in a lot of practice at ignoring the G.C. over the past week.


    The bear opened his mouth, but the gidataur cut in quickly. "What are the immigration requirements for moving into your domain?"


    That got the rest of the craftsmen turning to look at her with shocked expressions.


    "We have not discussed immigration policy yet, and the Design Lead has her hands full at the moment with managing the linking with Priesley''s Folly." Why was *he* the acting spokesman for their group? Wasn''t Rob the smoother speaker?


    "Do you have a list of -"


    "What''s this linking?"


    "You''ve taken over another dungeon?!"


    Among the visitors, the only people not shouting questions at Jason after that were the parandrian stags. The doe leading them was the first to stop talking.


    In the middle of all this, he heard Rob''s ecstatic shout over the G.C., saying, ?You''re aware again! Great! Lotrot''s on the brink of civil war and Jason''s doing his best to talk us out of taking sides.?


    Lena responded to him with an expectable, ?What!??


    Oh, yeah. *That* was why Rob, no matter how smooth his speech, was a bad choice for spokesman. He liked dramatic statements too much.


    ?It''s civil unrest, not war, and we''ve got this,? Jason added quickly. Out loud, he pulled on his parade ground voice and bellowed, "CALM DOWN!"


    Silence came down on the entrance several seconds later.


    The bear kin, Thormtock, was practically drooling. "What''s this linking? Have you established a portal to the city or the dungeon? What are the costs for taking our wares through?"


    The parandrous doe stepped forward. "Please do explain."


    Turning to face the doe, Jason said, "Some unknown someones on East Karth have been stealing dungeon cores, which has led to them losing their balance and turning into monster spawning hell holes. Thanks to the way the Grand Tapestry put Lena in charge of the Studio, she is able to produce some replacement cores, and we''re trying to figure out the best way to get them installed in the dungeons that are now missing theirs."


    The doe stepped back, spoke quietly to one of the stags, and then he took off, melting into the surroundings with a near magical ease. Jason ignored Thormtock for the moment it took him to settle his nerves at that sight.


    When Jason turned back to the craftsmen, he gave a visible shake to clear his body of the creeps and settled his shoulders. He held his hands out again, getting quiet from those surrounding him much sooner. "Please return to Lotrot. At this time, we don''t know enough about Rhofhir to be comfortable making any deals with people we don''t already know."


    And with that, Jason led the way back into the dungeon. The Shadow wolves came quick on the heels of Rob, with the hemats covering their rear in case the frustrated craftsmen turned violent.


    Their group headed for the portal located in the Lotrot military''s on-site administration building. Corporal Ignemrot nodded to them as their paths crossed, but continued on his own way through the administration building.


    Over the last day, the Entrance Hall had been replaced with a chamber similar in shape and size to the [Commons] level without the kitchen, baths, or training field. A large circular room with inscribed portals greeted them along with the notice that they were now in the [Hall of Portals]. Jason looked around again as he paused to make sure they were all present.


    The door they came through was centered within an embossed fresco of a pair of larger than life arassi in military uniforms with swords crossed over the door. To the right of that, the orange tree archway had been remade into an embossed fresco leading to the [Forest of Plenty] level. The Shadow wolves let their tongues loll out with happy expressions as they returned to the level that most suited them.


    To the right of the Forest level, the portal to the [Sea of Grains] (Jason was pretty sure that had been the former [Entrance Hall] level) was decorated with a fresco of bundled wheats, corn cobs still in their husks in baskets, and the faces of various types of large herbivores. Many made Jason think of bovines, but there were some equine shapes, too.


    Continuing to the right, next came the door to [Priesley''s Folly], the dungeon level. Fresco reliefs of hemat wolves, goblins, and water fey that the Tapestry called naiads decorated this door. Beside that was the portal to the jungle just outside of the town of Priesley''s Folly, decorated with cat kin and noct reliefs, the Sun Elf emblem sitting on the floor and deliberately given little significance.


    The [Aviary] came next and was decorated by a scene of harpies around a large tree, with nests and perches and a variety of other flying creatures dancing in the air with them, or frolicking on the tree branches. Beside it was a portal to the new [Hall of Crafting]. Jason hadn''t been to that level yet, but the various Aware races working at forges, work benches, alchemy labs, and other varied crafts made him curious. Rob was a machinist more than a mechanic, and Jason wondered what his friend would make as soon as they had the downtime to explore the tools. For his part, Jason enjoyed carving and wanted to try lathe work.


    The [Prison] level portal stood between the [Lotrot Training Floor] and the [Hall of Crafting]. It had no pretty relief, just a thick metal door with a wheel lock blocking up the doorway.


    The last of the hemat wolves entered the [Hall of Portals].


    Jason inclined his head toward them and said, "Thank you for accompanying us."


    A large, near white hemat at the head of the pack tipped her head to the side. ?You and yours have restored peace to our home and enriched our pack. There is no need for gratitude among pack mates.?


    Jason smiled and shrugged. "Need? Maybe not, but that doesn''t keep me from feeling it. And speaking of needs, is there anything more we can do to better accommodate the Lusiano pack?"


    ?Aaron has provided much comfort to us already. We could not, in good conscience, ask for more,? the pack leader Starry Night demurred and led her pack through to the [Priesley''s Folly] dungeon level.


    Rob had already re-attuned the orange tree portal to take them to the [Commons]. They stepped through, the portal''s attunement returning to the [Forest of Plenty] as soon as Jason disappeared from the [Hall of Portals].


    Lena''s avatar, her toon, was waiting for them. She hugged them both despite the lack of physical contact. "Now, fill me in!" she demanded.

 Trouble in Lotrot 3

    4.3


    Lena


    *** *** ***


    No patterns match search criteria.


    *** *** ***


    If Lena had a head to bash into walls, she would be carving tunnels right now. "What do I fruiting need to get a blossoming body?!" she screamed. Concern for her friends had her screaming in her private level and not throughout the entire Studio.


    *** *** ***


    The pattern for a Zone Arbiter''s physical state must be capable of manipulating all states of mana, and be independently mobile.


    *** *** ***


    Lena took a few moments to calm herself. She had hoped that with the patterns acquired from Priesley''s Folly she would finally be able to create a physical body for herself. Obviously, that hadn''t worked out.


    Well, she could still see what might have changed and what insights she could glean from that.


    ?List all patterns capable of manipulating all states of mana.?


    *** *** ***


    Computer Golem: Zone Core


    *** *** ***


    No change, then.


    Candy and Aaron were still sleeping, exhausted from helping her gain and stay in control of all the spawning creatures. The diversity of patterns available to her now meant that she no longer looked at her full lists; they were too overwhelmingly long. No, she was getting very familiar with her search menu.


    She had a feeling that Aaron was going to cry if she took away his ability to examine and categorize the patterns for living things. Candy had taken to the materials side of things, especially interested in their conductive and insulating properties. Maybe she could get Rob and Jason to help with categorizing the mechanical properties? Tensile strength and, what was it? Springiness or something?


    <center><hr>


    *~*~*


    </center>


    Brad


    Sitting on Casper Dibbons'' shoulder seemed to give the inhabitants of Rhofhir the impression that Brad was Dibbs'' pet. Brad preferred to think of it as Dibbs'' being his steed.


    "Is that creature part of your business with the Commander?" A gray arassas with a ground shaking bass voice, incongruous with his slender figure, asked while pointing his chin at Brad.


    "Peace!" Dibbs said, addressing Brad.


    The day began for them with a three hour walk from their inn to the Adventurer''s Guild. Feltz had decided to dotter along like a senile idiot, else it would have likely only been an hour walk. Along the way, Dibbs had to dismiss nine offers to buy Brad, with Brad''s interjections to these idiots getting more colorful.


    At the Adventure''s Guild office, they were left cooling their heels in the main lobby, waiting for one of the senior members of the guild. No less than half the adventurers walking through the lobby stopped to ask what Brad was trained to do and how much for his control stone. Some of them doubled their offering price when Brad cussed them out.


    Finding out that they needed to speak with a Commander Faulkin instead of the Adventurers Guildmaster (as would have been the case in just about every other place) had frustrated Dibbs and himself, though Feltz seemed to be enjoying Brad''s reaction to the people who kept treating him like nothing more than a trained dog.


    And now, after another hour of hiking across the city, and another four offers to buy Brad, they had reached a stone walled fortress within the city and were currently being interrogated by this gray scaled adolescent.


    Brad drew himself up. The sarcasm came through in his mock-astonishment. "Why, Dibbs, I''ve been upgraded from ''thing'' to ''creature''. Why should I take offense at that?"


    "Huh. I''ve never seen a sapient naga sprite before. It isn''t something from the Studio, is it?" the arassas asked.


    Brad rolled his head, missing the crack of released muscular tension.


    "Can''t be," a burly cat kin in gray leather armors, the arassas'' partner, said.


    "Oh?" the arassas asked.


    "New dungeons don''t spawn constructs. That''s an exceptionally well crafted golem body in the shape of a naga sprite," the cat kin said.


    Feltz and Dibbs both looked at him with interest. "Worked with golems before?" Feltz asked.


    The cat kin nodded. "Yep. Where''s its control stone? You can take it in so long as you pass the stone to the Guard Captain, but otherwise, it has to stay in a ward cell."


    "There is no control stone. He''s bound to me," Dibbs said.


    "Well, if you want to enter, it stays in a ward cell," the arassas stated.


    "Pass him over, Dibbs," Feltz ordered, looking smug. Dibbs opened his mouth, but Feltz cut him off. "My expedition, my rules. He waits, you come with me."


    Dibbs jaw worked back and forth a few times before he said, through gritted teeth, "Yes, archmage."


    To Brad, Dibbs said, "My apologies for this affront to your dignity, Bradford. Would you please accompany the soldiers here to a waiting area? We will return as soon as possible."


    Brad flared his wings and let the flight spell take effect. "How about I return to -"


    "That''s not safe," Dibbs said, cutting off Brad''s suggestion. "Please."


    It didn''t take much for Brad to hear the threat behind that request. If he did not do as he was asked, he would have to do as he was commanded. Brad glided down to the ground, closing his wings and canceling the flight spell. He gave the two mages a cold glare and said, in his best imitation of a thwarted Tywin Lannister, "I will remember this."


    <center><hr>


    *~*~*


    </center>


    Brad used his time waiting for Feltz and Dibbs to read more. The scroll boxes were an interesting convention, but he missed the simplicity of books. They were *much* easier to cross reference. The prevalence of long winded scroll boxes in Rhofhir did seem excessive when considering that every one was scribed and most of the blue collar workers were illiterate. However, having watched even the city guards here using ensorcelled pens, Brad guessed that most of the scroll boxes were magically copied rather than copied by hand.


    "Isn''t that just a strange sight?" someone said from the doorway of his waiting cell. Brad ignored the voice.


    "What''s that?" another voice called down the hall, sounding a touch nasally.


    "There''s a naga sprite in here going through scroll boxes. Looks like she''s taking notes. By hand!" the voice in the doorway said.


    Brad sighed. He didn''t need to, but the action just so perfectly conveyed his frustrations that he had no desire to give up the movement. He flicked a glance toward the doorway, spotting a thick chested arassas with black dyed scales that glittered with a red iridescence.


    "First off, I am male, not female. Second, I am not a naga sprite. And, third, I do not appreciate being gawked over." After delivering those corrections, Brad returned to his studies.


    The Grand Tapestry really was a strange construct. That it was a designed system was something held as a truism by every inhabitant of Rhofhir Brad had thus far spoken with on the matter. The way it interfaced with the inhabitants was just such an obvious tell. That it was a construct was one of the oddities, but the largest oddity for Brad was the lack of common curiosity about the Tapestry. It was so much a constant of daily life that very few people - even among the mages - truly considered what it meant that they lived under the Tapestry''s protection. The scroll Brad was currently reading was one of the few that Dibbs had been able to acquire which even questioned the possible mechanisms of the Primal Chaos.


    "You speak!" the thick chested arassas said, drawing Brad''s gaze again. The arassas'' scales had lifted, reminding Brad of a ripening pine cone.


    Well, fecking brill. He should have ignored the gawker. Engaging had been rather dim of him. Oh, well. Maybe if he ignored the tosser?


    A second black scaled arassas, also with a red hue laying over his scales, joined the thick chested one in the doorway. "Huh. It does look like a naga sprite, but the coloring is all off. Too silver, too much sparkle."The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.


    Okay, maybe if he ignored both of the tossers. It would be so awesome if he could shoot out projectiles to scare them off, like regenerating stone feathers or something. That was so anime it would be awesome!


    Feltz managed to do some conjuring, but he said it was aether intensive, and aether was something that had to be channeled. Listening to the mages arguing about the nature of aether and how it interacted with mana reminded Brad of how he had felt as a freshman listening to the math tutors arguing about the differential equations underlying the trigonometry he was struggling to wrap his head around.


    That was theory, however, so perhaps he could phrase his desire as a practical challenge. Brad had the feeling that Feltz was sharper than he seemed, even if he was an amoral arse, but-


    A claw tapped the top of his head, jolting Brad out of his musings. Brad jumped and flared his wings, banging them into meaty legs. An "oof!" of escaping breath accompanied the whooshing sense of a body leaping away.


    Brad spun around and discovered the thick chested arassas holding in a snarky chuckle while the one who had joined him came to a landing against the wall containing the door. "What the wastes! Sand it, Mortgren!"


    "You sodding son of a sodded sot! What the bloody hell do you think you''re doing sneaking up on a mate like that!?" Brad roared.


    The arassas who had touched him grew even more wide eyed, his body going uncannily still. A second or two later, he carefully put his hands up, palms towards Brad. "Peace?"


    Brad raised a hand to pinch the bridge of his nose, only to remember he didn''t have a human face anymore. He settled for pressing two fingers against the part of his face he thought of as his brow ridges. He was tempted to make it a two finger salute, but kept the fingers together. Geoff, his roommate on earth, had taken some joy from sneaking in the gesture, amused because most Americans hadn''t recognized it. Brad, though, felt if someone didn''t know you were insulting them, why bother?


    Taking a moment to settle himself, Brad then asked, "What do you need of me?"


    "How are you talking? Naga sprites-"


    "I am not a naga sprite! I am a human being trapped in a golem!" Brad roared, frustration moving him to act before he could think.


    The nasally voiced arassas flattened his claw tipped fingers even more, his scales flaring even as he took a more balanced defensive posture. "Peace. Peace," he chanted.


    Brad snarled and punched the floor. His gaze fixed on his fist, he said through gritted teeth, "You are not the cause of my anger, just the newest straw landing on the camel''s back. My anger is not toward you, but toward the barbaric mages that inflicted this existence upon me. If you have no intention of helping me gain my freedom, then leave me the bloody fuck alone."


    The two arassi backed away from him, and left him in the cell.


    Brad really hated not having lungs with which to breathe properly. He still went through the motions, but they were far less effective. When he was calm enough to return to his distractions, he resumed reading the scroll box, searching for the power to free himself.


    <center><hr>


    *~*~*


    </center>


    Feltz looked all too pleased when he and Dibbs collected Brad some while later.


    "What''s got Gloom Dark over there smiling?" Brad asked Dibbs.


    Dibbs, too, had a lift to his steps. He helped Brad get back onto his shoulder perch as he said, "We found out that we get to do our camping with the luxury of provided beds. The dungeon entrance is a relatively short hike from the city, and it''s a secondary entrance. There''s a military encampment in the dungeon that we have been invited to make use of in return for including the mage soldiers in our investigations. We''re leaving now, traveling with the next guard rotation."


    Brad adjusted his balance. "That''s rather quick."


    Dibbs nodded.


    "I''m still keeping the hammock," Brad said, more in an effort to irritate Feltz than from any actual desire for the thing itself.


    Feltz grinned. "You did win it."


    Brad decided to ignore the urge to needle the archmage directly. Pointedly ignoring Feltz, Brad spoke to Dibbs. "I had an idea about adding something like projectile feathers to my arsenal. I''m not sure how feasible that would be, though. Have you any scrolls that I might look through to get a better idea of what all is involved?"


    Dibbs asked, "Projectile feathers, hm? Do they have to be solid? We could get you working on fire shaping. With enough practice you should be able to make feather shaped fire bolts. You''re thinking of your ''cool factor'', right?"


    Brad said, "If you''re going to do something, learning to do so with style isn''t a bad idea, in and of itself."


    Dibbs grinned. "No. No, it is not."


    <center><hr>


    *~*~*


    </center>


    He wanted to fly, not just to get away from Feltz, but also to enjoy the sense of freedom it gave him. However, Brad decided not to poke the big gray scalies and their walking beast kin friends by swooping around them. He was also feeling just enough spiteful to take satisfaction in Dibbs having to carry him on through the rough terrain.


    Easing Brad''s need to move, their escorts also set a much faster walking pace than the merchants. Brad was used to either leisurely walking or racing pell mell for class, so he wasn''t sure, but it seemed on the fast side for humans in general. Seeing Feltz huffing and puffing even at the guardsmen''s slowed pace brought a smile to Brad''s heart. He knew it was a petty joy, but sometimes he could be a petty bastard.


    It wasn''t that much of a hike, though. From the city walls to the dungeon entrance probably took only three quarters of an hour, and that because of Feltz''s doddering.


    The guards on duty waved at their escort. One hollered out, "You''re late!"


    The guard sergeant leading their group said, "One must respect one''s guests."


    "Guests, right. Are they on the list or did you pick them up on the way here?" Brad guessed that the one talking was something like the watch sergeant.


    "Handed over by the Commander herself. I need to introduce them to Corporal Ignemrot before I can hear the day''s log," their escort''s guard sergeant said.


    Dibbs asked, "Do you often pick up guests on the walk over?"


    The guard sergeant rolled his eyes. "Oh, yeah. Wasted idiots seem to think that they''re entitled to wander outside the city how so ever they want, especially in the direction of this dungeon. That wouldn''t normally be a problem, but the parandrians hold dungeons as sacred spaces and the tribesmen have treaty rights to set up camp near any we find. The sandy crafters are too city blind to keep from wandering into the tribesmen''s camping grounds, which is just another way of saying dying. I''m hoping the tales I''ve heard about getting an official road built out this way aren''t just waste fog and water trees."


    The guard sergeants exchanged a few more pleasantries before their escort led them into a cave in a rocky outcropping. Two mage lights lit the interior, but they weren''t in the cave long enough for Brad to do much more than note them before they passed through a crack in the back of the cave.


    Between one step and the next, they went from being in a cave to being in an underground industrial space the like of which Brad had only seen in movies. The ambient light was brilliant, but still the dark stone making up the ceiling, walls and floor gave the cavernous edifice a shadowed feeling. Upon closer inspection, Brad realized there were buildings within this space.


    *** *** ***


    You have entered the Dungeon Zone [Studio of Capricious Dreams]: [Lotrot Training Floor].


    *** *** ***


    Their escort approached a wolf kin in black leather armor and holding a spear. "Got some guests from the Commander for the Liaison to introduce to the Dreamers."


    "Got a writ?" the wolf kin asked, looking passed their escort to Dibbs.


    Feltz stepped forward and held up something that Brad thought at first was a card, about A5 size.


    The wolf kin nodded and turned his head to let out a low, relaxed howl. He kept his gaze on them, though, and did not seem inclined to making small talk while they waited for another of the Lotrot soldiers to trot up to them.


    The guard sergeant took his leave. Dibbs, Feltz and Brad followed their new escort (an arassas with a green hue over his blackened scales) into one of the far buildings and through a maze of hallways. Feltz''s breathing was labored again by the time they arrived at a doorway Brad thought was somewhere on the third level of the building. It might be the forth; there had been some interesting inclines along their route.


    The arassas leading them knocked on the door. A tired sounding, "Enter," answered the knock.


    The arassas that greeted them on the other side of the door had a bronze cast to his mostly black scales that reminded Brad of when a chrome plated shiny bit began to flake, the plating rubbing off. He gave them an intense scrutiny before rising from behind his desk. "How may I help you?"


    "Are you Corporal Ignemrot?" Dibbs asked, eyeing the flushed Feltz with concern.


    "I am. To whom am I speaking?" the arassas answered.


    "My senior is Archmage Reibsamak Feltz. His proper title is Archmage Feltz. I am Casper Dibbons, Mage of the Arcane Asylum, and the golem upon my shoulder houses the soul of one Bradford Singh, a Traveler."


    The corporal''s gaze snapped to Brad. "Is that your full name?"


    Brad found himself taken aback. "First and last. I''m not sure why you ask, though."


    "The Dreamers asked that we contact the Arcane Asylum in the hopes that they might assist in determining whether a sixth Traveler of their acquaintance had been brought to Rhofhir. The Travelers among the Dreamers have three names. It''s a cultural oddity to us."


    Dibbs'' eyebrows climbed his forehead. He looked his question to Feltz, who waved a hand, still working on finding his breath.


    Corporal Ignemrot held an open back guest chair for Feltz. "Please, Archmage Feltz, let us not stand on ceremony so soon."


    Feltz huffed out a, "Much appreciated," and sat in the proffered seat.


    The corporal returned to the business side of the desk and withdrew a metal infused gem. "Please inform Liaison Jason Kline that the mages from the Arcane Asylum have arrived and are in my office."


    Sound came from the stone. "Communication-"


    A translucent holograph that looked like some of Lena''s self portraits in manga style popped into the room, sending Feltz and Dibbs sprawling back in shock.


    "- completed."


    "Oh, my apologies!" the holograph said. "I didn''t intend-"


    "Bloody fuck." He didn''t realize he had spoken until the holograph turned to him, its eyes widening in disbelief.


    "Brad?" Lena''s voice asked, echoing from the walls.


    "Yep. Who else is with you? I heard Jason''s name come up. Are you okay?" Brad asked. A part of him was selfishly ecstatic that he wasn''t alone anymore while another felt horror, dismay, and wrenching guilt that his friends had gotten caught up in this, too.


    Lena''s holograph lost its shape and turned into an amorphous ball of light. "Why do you look like a naga sprite?" Lena asked.


    "Golem body. Long story, short: blame the old tosser and the Astral Mage acting as my mount."


    "[Offer Contract]."


    Something that felt like a much more consent-focused contact, but still like the compulsion of his enslavement reached toward Brad, but was blocked. Brad wasn''t certain, but it felt like the Design of Ensorcelled Slavery had actively rebuffed whatever Lena had tried with her [Offer Contract] skill.


    An oppressive weight filled the room. Lena''s voice came through the stone with a chilling severity that acted on Brad''s nonexistent bowels, filling him with the visceral memory of muscles clenched in fear. "Who is Casper Dibbons?"


    Brad fluttered his wings nervously. "That would be the Astral Mage here. Why do you ask?"


    "Casper Dibbons, you will release your hold upon my friend. Now."


    Feltz, having finally got his breath under control, said, "He can''t. The Traveler has to break the bond on his own. It''s a safety measure to prevent yolk-hearted fools like my former apprentice from unleashing havoc with good intent."


    A moment of silence followed that statement, then Lena spoke again. "I''m going to offer you a contract, Casper Dibbons, and you will accept it or you will never leave this dungeon again. Am I clear?"


    Dibbs cleared his throat. "That''s hardly-"


    "Am. I. Clear?" Lena reiterated, her voice booming throughout the room.


    Dibbs drew in a deep breath, then immediately lost it as the mana evacuated a space half a meter around his skin. "Yes," he said, looking suddenly terrified.


    "[Offer Contract]."


    A moment later the mana rushed back in.


    "Welcome to the Studio crew, Casper Dibbons. Jason is on his way to show you to your new quarters. Your companion will accompany you for the present." Lena''s holograph gave the impression of now facing the arassas in the room. "Corporal Ignemrot, my apologies if my actions have inconvenienced you. Please consider what kindness I may share with you to demonstrate my appreciation of your role in reuniting us with our lost friend."


    That sounded way too much like Lena as their Game Master in the character of a Powerful NPC. Hearing it from her now, without the context of their game sessions, made Brad wonder with concern at what had happened to his friends.

 Trouble in Lotrot 4

    4.4


    Commander Faulkin


    The City Council rarely had to meet more than once a week before the Dreamers, and that had been too much for Faulkin''s tastes. Now it seemed that at least a quorum of the Council met every other day, and Faulkin was right in the middle of all of them. The smaller meeting chamber in the City Forum was getting a lot of use.


    Guildmaster Tover and Speaker Drelan Noc Scalla had been chatting amicably, already in their preferred seats when Faulkin entered the room. She barely got her tail settled when the door opened again. Master Merchant Zarabelkami and Crafts Master Gilvillian arrived almost on each other''s heels, the gnome scooting in just in front of the head of the Belkami clan.


    "Well?" the master merchant demanded even as she arranged herself at the table.


    Faulkin very carefully thought of the master merchant as Zara''belkami, emphasizing the clan part of her name to avoid accidentally disrespecting the golden scaled arassas. If Faulkin was going to call her by her familiar name (as one would a child), she wanted it to be quite intentional. "As soon as Dame Chasraheil arrives, I will present the latest reports from the Studio of Capricious Dreams."


    "And if she drags her tail?" Zarabelkami said, pointedly not looking at Crafts Master Gilvillian.


    "There are other matters to discuss," Faulkin said.


    "More crafters provoking the tribesmen?" Zarabelkami asked, her eyes narrowing.


    "No," Faulkin said, speaking before the gnome. "I was thinking more about who to send as a trade delegate to Priesley''s Folly. I think we can all agree that someone with an obvious elven parentage will be more likely to secure favorable terms."


    "Must we move so quickly?" Speaker Drelan asked. "Are not such dungeon linking events often temporary?"


    Faulkin wiggled her hand side to side. "In general, yes. This one, it''s permanent. Our scouts confirmed that there is a new dungeon level called [Priesley''s Folly] in the Studio, and that their divinations all point back to the Studio subsuming the dungeon linked to East Karth that went by the same name."


    Tover grimaced and leaned back. "I''ve already been contacted by the East Karth Adventurer''s Association demanding compensation for their inability to access the dungeon. I suspect we''ll see a griffon flight of Karthians seeking residence permits in the next few weeks."


    The Speaker let his lips curl back, but only said, "I see."


    <center><hr>


    *~*~*


    </center>


    Dame Chasraheil swept into the chamber in an obvious fury, her shouted, "Who invited the Asylum chids into our dungeon?!" interrupting the bickering over representative numbers of crafters and merchants that was currently deadlocking the negotiations over delegates to the East Karth town of Priesley''s Folly.


    "If you mean the representatives from the Arcane Asylum, I sent the message," Tover said.


    "Why!? We''re right here!" Dame Chasraheil stared down at the Adventurers Guildmaster, a cloud of barely restrained killing intent sharpening her features in Faulkin''s gaze.


    "I sent my own message because the Dreamers asked," Faulkin said, deliberately calm, choosing to show solidarity with the Adventurers Guild.


    "And they just happened to know about the Asylum? Sand and Fog!" The silver haired elf gave the rest of the City Council a look of disgusted disbelief.


    "I do not know how they learned about the Asylum. Perhaps the fact that the Asylum representatives brought along the very Traveler they were searching for had something to do with it." Faulkin resisted lashing her tail and threw out the reason she had waited for the RMA delegate. "What matters is that the Design Lead was able to neutralize mana within the Studio."


    That didn''t dim the Dame''s fury, but it did redirect her focus. "That''s impossible!"


    "I trust my people, and that''s what they reported to me. The Dreamers are from a vastly different world. Who knows what they know that we don''t? And at the present, they are sharing that information for the cost of kindness." Faulkin gestured with her chin toward the empty chair. "Have a seat. I''ve heard enough bickering between our economic pillars for the moment to welcome sharing the most recent reports from the [Studio of Capricious Dreams]."


    The elf sat, composing herself once more. Her entrance might have been staged, but the emotions burning within her gaze were all too real. Despite that, Dame Chasraheil had the self discipline to suck it up in pursuit of more important matters. As much of a personal pain in the posterior Faulkin found the elven mage, she had to respect that. Even if she didn''t want to.


    Faulkin passed out sheets of the "loose leaf paper" she was quickly becoming more and more fond of since Muglibaum brought it back from what was quickly getting called the Initial Negotiations. Borrowing from the Dreamer''s example, she had applied eye catching colors around the phrases that were central to the concepts she felt her fellow Council members needed to be most aware of.


    As soon as they had a sufficient and cheap supply of this paper Faulkin fully intended to replace the scroll boxes for daily records keeping. It just took a while for the scroll makers to figure out the best way to go from making long reels to sheets.


    Presenting the reports barely took as long as a good tail scratch. Dame Chasraheil demanded to speak with the military mages who analyzed the portion of their military liaison''s office that experienced mana negation.


    Speaker Drelan knocked on the table at that point. "I must admit my ignorance, Dame Magus. Why is this mana negation so serious a matter?"


    Dame Chasraheil turned to face the Speaker. "We depend upon mana and aether for every beat of our hearts, for every interaction with the Grand Tapestry, for every skill and spell we use. Mages who push themselves can temporarily deplete their mana pools, and we may call that [Mana Starvation], but there is still mana in our blood and breath. No mage born of Rhofhir has ever negated mana, has made it as if it simply did not exist. It''s like - negating air. We can create and learn spells that lengthen the time we can survive between breaths, or to keep air at a consistent thickness, or even transmute air into water, but the reality of air is not simply denied. Every spell must compensate for the air around its casting or the lack thereof."


    Faulkin added, "If this is an effect the Dreamers can manifest outside of the Studio, its military implications are beyond revolutionary. Even if it is exorbitantly expensive, difficult to use, and only able to affect an area for a short duration, it could change the course of wars. The impact of those kinds of short bursts on scrying alone could destabilize every treaty in effect today."


    "Bury it in sand! We could explore the Primal Chaos!" Dame Chasraheil said.


    The other Council members gave her looks ranging from incredulity at her priorities to the kind given to demented elders, filled with concern for her wellbeing, patience for her delusions, and sorrow for her descent into insanity.


    Tover cleared his throat. "We need to understand this and its potential. Crafts Master Gilvillian, Master Merchant Zarabelkami, in my role as the Guildmaster of the Lotrot branch of the Maltese Adventurers Guild, I am formally challenging you to compromise so that we may begin negotiations with the Dreamers for access to and use of the [Hall of Crafting] level of the [Studio of Capricious Dreams]. If you fail to do so in the next two days, I will send for a senior member of the Guild to open negotiations on the Guild''s behalf."


    Faulkin felt as if the floor had opened up and sent her into free fall. "That would open Lotrot to the possibility of a direct conflict with the Adventurers Guild. Every adventurer in the city would be expelled if that happened." Just the thought of forcefully rounding up adventurers, many of whom were prior members of the Lotrot military, raised Faulkin''s scales. Their families hailed from all strata of society, and the number of arassi clans that would likely leave Lotrot over the expulsion of their adventuring members - it was a nightmare enough to flare her scales.Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings.


    Zarabelkami stared into Tover''s gaze. With frost practically fogging her words, she asked, "Are you threatening to usurp this Council?"


    Tover shook his head. "I am part of this Council, but I am also a city Guildmaster of a continent spanning Guild. As are you. The implications of the Studio are breaking and reforming new patterns. As long as the members of this Council can provide a united face, there is no opening for our Guilds to get involved, but this dungeon has the avaricious attention of more than just the Free Cities, and you need to remember that, Master Merchant. Change is inevitable. Profit is not. You''ve had as much time as any of the rest of us to see the tracks these Travelers are leaving. I''m giving you another two days to come to terms with the changes and start putting your guild before your pride."


    Zarabelkami rose, her scales as rigidly clamped to her skin as her tail was held straight. "I will not be intimidated," she declared just before pivoting and exiting the meeting chamber.


    Crafts Master Gilvillian said, "You know, we have a quorum right now. In the interests of supporting a common goal, I am willing to set aside the issue of requesting specific materials from the Studio for the moment for permission from the Council to establish a branch office of the Crafters Guild in the Studio. We would, of course, desire that the majority of our members staffing that branch office also be members of the Adventurers Guild. No one wants to deal with mana poisoning while setting up a new office."


    "Include at least two mage crafters as well and you''ll have my support," Dame Chasraheil stated.


    "Of course!" Crafts Master Gilvillian said, affecting puzzlement that she would even have to state such an obvious point.


    Speaker Drelan Noc Scalla hummed in thought for a moment. "I think ¡­ I think the beast kin would prefer the Studio to the merchants should we require anything we cannot produce for ourselves. Yes, I shall support this."


    Faulkin was busy weighing options, and when the other Council members turned to her, she said, "I have two conditions for my support. The first is that Guildmaster Tover find this to be an acceptable compromise to rescind his challenge, and *not* request his guild''s intervention. The second is that part of the arrangements include pushing for the Dreamers to accept that Lotrot''s laws preeminently apply to our citizens within the Studio. I''m not saying they have to agree to that, but I want to get as close to that concession as possible."


    Tover leaned back, mulling the conditions over himself now. All the other Council members'' gazes were fixed on him. After several heartbeats, he nodded. "I will support this, and agree to Commander Faulkin''s condition, but I have to point out that the Merchants Guild and the Maltese Adventurers Guild have some tangled contracts. I can do my best to keep matters in Lotrot''s hands, but I cannot honorably promise that my Guild will not involve itself without my call to action or consent."


    Faulkin nodded. "Understood and accepted. Are we agreed that Crafts Master Gilvillian may negotiate with the Council''s permission for the establishment of a branch of the Lotrot Crafters Guild within the [Studio of Capricious Dreams] with the conditions put forth?"


    "Agreed," the other Council members chorused and the notification of the agreement popped into each of their consciousnesses.


    Faulkin wondered how Zarabelkami took the notice.


    <center><hr>


    *~*~*


    </center>


    Zarabelkami


    The Master Merchant was in her landau, nearly back to the Merchant Guild offices, when the details of the agreement reached in the Council chamber found her. It took a great deal of self control for Zarabelkami to remain looking like a waiting storm while on the way to her private office, but once there, the door firmly shut, she sagged in relief and delight, then gave into the urge to dance in victory.


    As much as she and Tover disliked each other personally, their guilds'' contracts meant they were forced to work together more than the rest of their fellow Council members bothered to be aware of. Now that Gilvillian had agreed to put off the issue of getting exactly what they wanted directly from the dungeon, she could present the idea to her superiors in the Merchants Guild as an opportunity and not a reaction to a serious threat to the power of the Guild.


    Her victory dance done, Zarabelkami nearly floated with joyful satisfaction over to the waiting bottle of wine and poured herself a full goblet, taking the goblet with her to her desk. She pulled out her enchanted quill and made the necessary changes to her proposal before sending for the swiftest Guild courier they had.


    In the time it took her to dictate the proposal, she had regained control of her body language. Her [Sense Motive] skill informed her that her [Acting] skill had conveyed just the right amount of control to leave the courier wondering what had crawled under her scales.


    <center><hr>


    *~*~*


    </center>


    Candy


    She thought she handled the changes in her reality pretty well since waking up in a cave full of Raptor Men, but as Candy stared at her friend and project partner in his new, utterly inhuman shape, she had to admit that she was beyond lost.


    Hysteria. She felt it, a pressing hopeless fatalism. Unlike the times past, this hysteria had an edge of liberation.


    Axiomatic. That was the word that best described her, one introduced to her through the role playing games her cousin and friend had enjoyed.


    Role playing was weird, but kind of fun. When she turned it into a mental exercise of exploring other social rules paradigms, it had gone from incomprehensible to frustratingly difficult.


    She was axiomatic; rules were her comfort, order and structure her stalwarts.


    It bothered her that the word meant something different in the RPG context, at least as her friends used it, than it did in the dictionary. Imprecise language again.


    Rob changing from human to elf hadn''t been easy for her to wrap her head around, but she guessed the genetic differences were quite minor, considering there were all kinds of half elves around.


    Candy hadn''t ever been religious. Religions all stated a requirement of faith, and Candy was an innately honest person. "God said so" was as unacceptable an answer to her as "Because I''m your mother" had been. One did not steal because it destabilized the social compact at the basis of human society. With this answer, the reason people did still steal became less about "they''re just stupid" (another unsatisfactory excuse) to a myriad of reasons why thieves existed, all centered around their exclusion (real or perceived) from the various social compacts. Each of those answers presented their own myriad paths to address the existence of thieves.


    Souls had never been something she could accept, at least not some immortal soul comprising a person''s core personality. Yet, this golem of living crystal was such a perfect copy of the Brad she had known that she had to reconsider. He had no common physiology with his Earth self, yet the intonations of emotions, wit, the very cadence of his movements matched up.


    "And we''ve lost her," Aaron said. He guided her to sit on the couch in the central room of the Commons, tucking her into his side and keeping an arm around her waist.


    Candy had the idle thought that Aaron liked her in a flirty sense, and if she didn''t want to confuse him with her own bafflement over dating and relationships, she should straighten up and turn on what Lena had called her "android" persona. But the contact felt more comforting than she could deny herself so she shoved it aside to deal with "later".


    Brad - the golem with Brad''s soul in it - shook his serpentine head and gave every impression of sighing. "I wonder how long it will take her to adjust to Rhofhir."


    Aaron laughed, not a happy sound. "Probably as long as all the rest of us! I fucking hate that I''ll never see Mom or Dad again, and Rob''s already damn near died on us. Candy''s been amazing, only went out on us once, shortly after we got here. Then she dragged us into her focus on understanding what''s going on, and that helped all of us deal with the here and now without getting sucked into a bunch of ''woe is me'' crying and sitting on our asses sucked into the grief over what we''ve lost. So what if she deals by taking a time out?"


    "Easy, mate!" Brad raised his hands in a palms out gesture. "She''s my friend, too! Just, she is on the autism spectrum, and Rhofhir is a designed system. There are parts that are just so completely fucking stupid that they confound the fuck out of logic and reason. Failures in the internal logic of the system are more problematic for her to accept than they are for us."


    Brad wasn''t wrong. Candy didn''t think she was autistic. She hadn''t ever been diagnosed as such, and while she did have problems understanding social cues and people, that wasn''t the defining nature of autism. But, he had gotten to see first hand how she needed to comprehend the system of the Dream Catcher. The fact he had quickly gone from offended to intrigued by her piece by piece analysis of his initial concept for the device had been the point when she decided he was worth befriending.


    Candy was aware there were inefficiencies in the design of the Grand Tapestry of Rhofhir, however, those inefficiencies also provided the system with some flexibilities. Once she had a better grasp of how aetherial force interacted with the four forces she already understood, then she would be in a position to judge the strengths and weaknesses of the Tapestry''s design. Until then, the Grand Tapestry of Rhofhir was a grand guide to tease out those interactions.


    Gravity required mass to act, and electro-magnetism depended upon electrons. Perhaps aetherial force required mana to act upon, but was mana a particle or a wave or a quark?


    Could souls be a product of these mana bits? What were the implications for Earth and the universe of her birth? Was mana the so called "dark matter" the astrophysicists were trying to understand? Was mana, and therefore aetherial force, present at such a dispersed manner on Earth that its affects were so slight none of their measuring tools could detect it, but still significant enough for souls of mana to have entered into their mythologies?


    She and Sha''lanadi had come up with a way to use the concept of a Faraday cage to evacuate a localized area of mana, which Lena used to control the flow of mana from Priesley''s Folly into the Studio. Could there be a naturally occurring analog preventing mana from affecting Earth as it did Rhofhir?


    Unconsciously, Candy snuggled closer to Aaron while her mind dove into all the questions that had been building up, brought to a crisis of complexity by the question of what defined a distinct individual. Was this golem her friend Brad, or a new entity, and what did that mean about all of them, the Travelers from Earth?

 Trouble in Lotrot 5

    4.5


    Rob


    Jason and Lena were being worryingly quiet, and Rob could tell his little brother was trying to handle his jealousy flaring up at Brad''s sudden appearance. Candy retreating into her head wasn''t helping.


    Rob caught Jason''s gaze and tried to ask with his eyes, Do you want me to get this started?


    Jason gave a slight nod.


    "So, Brad. What the ever loving fuck happened to you?" Rob asked, coming to sit on the arm of the couch where Aaron had Candy tucked up into his side. The sunken conversation pit Lena had made in the center of the [Commons] portal way only worked for him because it was big enough for each of them to sprawl out at the same time.


    Brad currently ¡­ sat? Stood? On the arm of another couch, those crazy-assed wings of his shuffling like a broody chicken trying to settle over her eggs. The two mages - and were they like this world''s super asshats or what? - were seated on the third couch. Jason wasn''t sitting, though Lena''s toon had parked on the couch with Brad and was ostensibly examining him. Nope, Jason was near the door to the training field and the handy rack of spears there.


    Those twitchy wings of his clamped tight to Brad''s back. His expression seemed frozen to Rob, but it was a damn snake face. Arassi, as weird as their scales and muzzles were, still had a lot of expression in their lips and brows. That left Rob to judge Brad''s moods by his body language and gestures, and right now the stiffness of Brad''s posture and the way he avoided meeting their gazes screamed guilty conscious to Rob.


    "I am so sorry you lot got dragged into this," he started.


    Aaron opened his mouth a few times to interrupt, but Rob clamped a hand on his brother''s shoulder. The story that they got from Brad fit with what Candy had picked up from her [Tapestry Synchronization] skill. The Dream Catcher managed to project enough of their "pattern" along the comm channel the wizardly dude Dibbons had opened to pick at Brad''s brain that they were copies of their real selves assembled here on Rhofhir. There was no way back, but no one at home was going to miss them.


    That sucked balls, but at the same time, they weren''t leaving their families wondering what happened to them. The loss was on their side only. That reassurance was nice. Rob didn''t have to imagine his mother weeping beside his and Aaron''s empty graves anymore.


    The rest of it? Well, it was pretty fantastic and fucked up all at once.


    "There''s an actual Hogwarts here and you got stuck there as a teacher''s pet?" Rob had to ask once Brad finished talking.


    That got a glare out of the brit boy, which was a lot better so far as Rob was concerned than this mopey-dopey guilt he wore.


    "Were you not listening to a word I just said?" Brad put some hiss on the sibilant parts of that, his wings fluffing up.


    "Yeah, the idiot smart boys over there fucked up and managed to steal the IP of our souls. If it hadn''t happened to us, would you have even believed it was possible?" Rob knew the answer, but Brad needed to say it.


    "No! It''s fucking insane!"


    "Could you have imagined a way to protect yourself from that kind of brain hacking before you even knew it was possible?" Rob asked.


    Brad opened his mouth, then closed it, narrowing his eyes as he glared at Rob. "You''re trying to make me feel better, aren''t you?"


    Rob shrugged. "Shit happens. You learn that pretty fast in Basic, and you learn about ''reasonable precautions'' in the maintenance bays. Bitching and moaning about who fucked your shit up doesn''t get it fixed. If you want to soak in your piss and wailing, I''m not your damn nanny, but if we''re going to get you free, that isn''t going to help."


    Turning to face the two mages, Rob said, "As for you two, what the ever loving fuck is your dysfunction? You fuck up our lives and then compound it by putting a fucking slave collar on our friend? What the fuck were you thinking!?"


    The older guy, something something Feltz the Archmage, puffed up. "''Reasonable precautions'' I believe you called it. Our responsibility-"


    "Fuck that shit!" Rob yelled.


    Rob had fixated so much on the mages that he didn''t see Jason move until he stepped in front of Rob and held up his hands. "Shit''s fucked up, you''re right. Screaming ain''t gonna make nothing better."


    "It''ll make me feel better!" Rob snarled, not taking his gaze off the Feltz asshat.


    "Until you realize dude''s old enough to be your abuelo ten times over, then you''ll feel like a bullying bastard. You know yourself better." Jason had to be the goddamned voice of reason.


    "Yeah, but I''ll feel great while I''m kicking his ass!" Rob said, letting Jason defuse his rage.


    Then he looked over Jason''s shoulder and saw Feltz''s mouth working, but no sound escaping. Lena had projected a pair of bunny ears behind the old mage''s head and the absurdity of it all made Rob throw his hands up and turn away to keep the mages from seeing his laughter.


    <center><hr>


    *~*~*


    </center>


    Lena


    While Jason took over to interrogate the mages - actually just the younger one as the older one was working himself up to a rage in the bubble of silence Lena kept wrapped around him - about their part in the current situation, Lena studied her newest contractee. Casper Dibbons, Mage of the Arcane Asylum, had the haunted look of someone reliving their worst nightmare. He spoke in a subdued, hollow voice since accepting the contract she had forced upon him, and that had been the original, utter enslavement contract. The one she thought was evil and had had qualms about inflicting on a dire cat, let alone a fully sapient human being.


    She was still beyond furious at finding her friend enslaved like the berry humping elves had done to her harpies, but doubts about her own morality were starting to nip at her. The mage''s reaction, the brutalized look about his gaze, was not helping.


    "Lena?" Jason asked, the hint of his drawl as he said her name a sign of his own high emotional state.


    "Brad, may I have Dibbons direct you to answer truthfully, regardless of any compulsions he or any others may have imposed on you before this, about how you view your current captivity?" She knew how she felt about it, but she also knew there was shock fogging her reactions. Brad had lived with this enslavement business for a month now. The newness was at a farther remove from him.


    Brad rubbed his face, shuddered, then said, "Yes, you may."


    An exchange of words, a sequenced pulse of mana traveling from Lena through Dibbons and out to Brad, and then her friends said, "It''s a bloody royal fucking mess. As much as I''ve come to loathe Feltz for being an amoral, arrogant bastard of a bloody prick, I have to acknowledge that he has a valid point about their responsibility as researchers to contain potentially dangerous beings they bring into their world. After all, each of our governments have their Ethics divisions to address the implications of new research. It''s not exactly a new concept.This book''s true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.


    "Which doesn''t really stop me remembering your Frederick Douglass'' pithy retort about no man under Heaven who does not know that slavery is wrong for him. If I must be subject to someone else''s tyranny, at least Dibbs has the moral fortitude to limit the imposition of his will over mine, and I can empathize with him. He tried to get the more senior mages of the Asylum to help get me from golem to flesh, which is when they told him not only no, but threatened to kill me and cut him off if he tried to set me free. As far as they''re concerned, I''m only worth helping if I''m strong enough to set myself free."


    Brad uncoiled and let himself down from the couch arm to start pacing back and forth, gesticulating with his arms as he continued. "I miss being flesh and blood, but I love being able to fly. Actual, real, self directed flight! It''s beautiful! But being treated like a thing, denied my basic humanity, it''s beyond infuriating! I can''t even cuss, it''s that bad! The physical and mental benefits of this golem body are amazing, but the social curse of it? That''s reason enough alone to prefer being stuck in even an enfeebled shell of flesh like Feltz over there!


    "Hells bells but I wish this were some Disney set up, a clear and known evil, but when has real life ever been like that? And there''s still the reason Dibbs and the other mages are casting through the Primal Chaos to find answers. They''re like our climate scientists, who warned about the chaos we''ve been brewing up within our ecologies thanks to industrialization and fucking ignorance, except they aren''t trying to police their own people, but rather to mitigate the bloody fucking anarchy that happens when the Tapestry needs to reset itself! They aren''t at the point of trying to get everyone to hold hands and work toward a solution. They''re still trying to find some hope of avoiding mass starvation and war breaking out all over the world!"


    Lena nodded her toon''s head. "Would you prefer for me to release Dibbs from his contract?"


    "No! And yes!" Brad slumped, his shoulders and wings sagging. "I trust you, Lena, to never allow him to use that control formation, and, God! I want that! I want the sanctity of my self determination back! But." Brad sighed, hugging himself and looking at the floor as he continued. "But, I also know that even if you never use your control formation over him, the fact that it exists will just inflict what I''m going through on a man who has done his best to act morally, and the only person on this world so far who has ever treated me like a human being."


    That was what Lena needed to know. She focused on the younger of the two mages. "Alright. Dibbs, it''s time to negotiate. [Offer Contract Amendment]."


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    *~*~*


    </center>


    Dibbs


    Details of an assurance of some self sovereignty came to Dibbs with the Arbiter''s contract amendment. Whether or not that was the whole of the negotiations she offered, he leapt at the step closer to freedom.


    ?This is a private channel on the Guardian Communication network. What you say over this link is between you and myself, and whomever we choose to tell. Do you understand me?? The Arbiter''s voice echoed in his mind with an all too familiar reverberance.


    ?Yes, Arbiter,? he responded as he had been born to do.


    There was cold steel clearly held behind the Arbiter''s words as she said, ?I will be clear. The protection of my friends and family is my top priority. I do not regret forcing you to accept a contract with me, but I do regret the severity of the initial contract.


    ?You are not linked into the rest of the Guardian Communications network. Think of the level of this contract as a parole. None of the creatures of my dungeon will attack you, but they will defend themselves. Some may provoke you if it is in their nature to do so, but you are in no physical danger from them. I have taken steps to ensure you and my friends are separated if one of them does turn violent toward you.


    ?Brad is convinced you''re a decent man, but you have yet to prove that to me, and the shit your companion is spewing isn''t helping. If I thought Rob wouldn''t straight up shove a spear through his eye, I might even let him be heard, but death is one of those things it''s hard to take back, and sometimes it is too much of a mercy. What you choose to do with that warning is your business.?


    Blighted bone! Politics. The test was obvious, but what the Arbiter was testing for wasn''t. If he failed to warn Feltz, would he seem disloyal? And if he did, would he appear to harbor Feltz''s own Phimaen prejudices?


    Neither changed the fact that this Arbiter had managed what even his own creator had not: she had taken his bond. Regardless of when or even how he might manage it, he could no longer act against her best interests without forfeiting his own. It was the nature of the dungeon born. Once contracted, a dungeon born creature, no matter how sapient or even sentient it was, drew the mana that fueled their very existence from their dungeon. That bond continued even after the contract of service was severed.


    Dibbs could not permit Feltz to learn he had been spawned by a dungeon rather than born. Reibsamak Feltz was the closest thing to a father he had ever known, but as a Phimaen born human, Feltz carried the prejudices of the Pure Bloods too deeply in his pattern to overlook Dibbs'' lack of parentage. It would break the old bastard''s heart.


    Dibbs bowed his head in acknowledgment of the Arbiter''s words and rose. Then he sat back down as he realized there was no privacy to seek within a dungeon, not from the Arbiter. "Dame Arbiter, is there a place I may take my mentor to speak in private?"


    The light projection the Arbiter used looked upon Feltz with a regal distaste. "Sure." She waved her hand, a needless theatric, and the luxurious backed bench the two of them were sitting upon rose up in the air, a mana bubble wrapping around them.


    "- blighted chid of a wasted wreck! I''ll - Sands waste it!" Feltz abruptly became audible to Dibbs, his rant cut off by the moving of the bench.


    "Feltz, that''s hardly the way to conduct yourself as a senior member of the Arcane Asylum," Dibbs said, trying to act as nonchalant as he could while the bench took them through the portal they had entered via, returning them to the room of portals. The bench then rotated, lining them up with the only covered portal. The wheel on the steel door began to spin and the sound of heavy objects shifting behind the wheel did little to make Dibbs feel better about this.


    "The arbiter has quite a grasp on mana manipulation, better than your little demon ever showed," Feltz commented, sounding cheerful.


    Dibbs dropped his head into his waiting palm. "You''ve decided to be as much of a provocateur as you can be, haven''t you?"


    Feltz smiled. Dibbs could feel it strongly enough that he looked up just to confirm he wasn''t making assumptions based on his knowledge of the Archmage. The smile held smug cunning.


    Dibbs dropped his hands and said, "You wasted chid of a sandy stocker! You''re going to get yourself killed if you try that here!"


    A final clang sounded out from behind the steel and the door swung open. The portal behind it appeared much like the others, but they didn''t have a lot of time to study it before they were whisked through it, arriving in a barren stone hallway.


    "Nonsense!" Feltz said. "Trust me, they''ll reveal more in their anger than they will with soft words and pretty statements. Demons always do. You can be the friendly one-."


    "You idiot! I''m contracted! I''m already enslaved to the dungeon''s Arbiter! At least Brad has the chance to break free as he never once accepted the control formations set into his body!"


    "The Tapestry does not uphold contracts made under duress," Feltz said.


    "Of all the people to believe such pretty myths," Dibbs said, shaking his head in disgust.


    The bench had carried them through the hallway, and now settled to the ground once more, the mana bubble around them dissipating. They were in an empty room some twenty meters long by ten meters wide. Two corridors led away from opposite sides of the room in addition to the one they had come from.


    "It''s a well established fact-"


    "That you''re as blind as any Phimaen." Dibbs interrupted Feltz for one of the few times in the decades since their first meeting. "I love you. You''re the only father I can remember, and because I love you I''m telling you: do not provoke the Arbiter of this Dungeon. You cannot use the Asylum as a reference for what an Arbiter can accomplish within their domain."


    Feltz drew himself up, ready to bluster, but stopped as he looked into Dibbs'' steadfast gaze. "How long have you known?" he asked instead.


    "When I discovered the ''enchantment'' for the dorm''s unseen servants only worked in the Asylum."


    "Who have you told?" Feltz asked.


    "You. Only you."


    <center><hr>


    *~*~*


    </center>


    Jason


    Jason hadn''t finished interrogating the mages, but he could tell as much by the feel of the G.C. as the expression on Lena''s toon that she couldn''t take much more.


    "I''ve got a recording bug on the couch," she said before anyone could say anything about her abrupt dismissal of the mages. "You can all review it from the file server Candy and Aaron put together during the linking."


    Then she turned to Brad. "What do you need to break free of the mental enslavement design?"


    "It''s [Ensorcelled Enslavement], not mental," Brad began, then paused. "How did you know about that?"


    Rob said, "Man, do we have a lot to fill you in on! First things first, how do we get you free?"


    "I need more willpower points than Dibbs, only I have no willpower regeneration thanks to the design." Brad said.


    "That''s it?" Jason asked.


    "Well, at least I''m not losing willpower to fighting off cravings or instinctual responses. I have been losing it to the constant barrage of idiots treating me like a bloody damn toy."


    Rob nodded, then asked, "So, what''s your [Meditation] skill up to?"


    Brad''s head tipped to the side. "It advanced to [Mindfulness], but what does that have to do with the price of tea in China?"


    "Active Will Pool regeneration," Lena said.


    Brad blinked, then face palmed.

 Trouble in Lotrot 6

    4.6


    Brad


    *Holy disco balls but [Mindfulness] is a useful skill*, Brad thought. Within moments of deliberately using the skill, the impotence and rage that had begun to cloud his every waking breath noticeably faded from its primacy in his thoughts. The rage did not exactly decrease; it would be more accurate to say that it got out of his face, allowing him to once more set his mind to finding useful questions.


    Those questions included things like: How much did the statistics on their [Status] screens reflect their present reality? How much did those pretty numbers instead influence their present reality? Why did skills raise stats? Why was this system so ¡­ cludgy? Candy loved to quote Einstein''s Simplicity Principle: "Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler." Should he even attempt to apply that here? What benefit could there be to this set of Aspects, Designs, Skills, and Statistics?


    He had started out with some variant of these questions, but frustration had built upon frustration until he lost touch with the resolution to learn as much as he could about this new world and this mana force.


    He gained another skill point and he felt - not balanced, but less frazzled, less harried by his circumstances.


    While Lena led him through a guided meditation (he had needed the help to begin), Candy emerged from her thoughts, seeming her perky self once more.


    His meditation session ended with her first words. "I''m picking up that you have a boy-girl liking for me, and I have no clue how to respond. I respect you and I enjoy the person you are, but I have no clue what to do with serious boy-girl liking stuff. I don''t want you seeing my confusion as playing mind games with you, or blowing hot and cold, or any of the other ways guys bitch about women they want to have sex with. Now that I''ve told you where I stand - which is pretty much confused as all get out - what you do is on you."


    She had turned to Aaron, straightening out of his semi embrace and placed her hand on top of his. Her eye contact was this side of aggressively direct, and Brad wanted to face palm so badly he felt the loss of one of newly regained Will Points spent on suppressing that urge.


    Aaron turned redder than a ripe cherry, sucked in a breath, held it a moment, then nodded. "Okay. Fine. You don''t know what you want? Let''s explore the options. I do find you attractive, I like the person you are, even when you bring up something that should be a more private thing between the two of us in front of everyone like this."


    Candy winced, shooting Lena, whose holograph was face palming, a worried glance. She only cringed further into herself on seeing her cousin''s reaction. She opened her mouth, and Aaron waited a few moments to see if she would say anything.


    She didn''t, so he did. "Yeah, it''s kind of embarrassing to have deeper emotions pointed out in front of a bunch of people who aren''t really involved in those things. Worse when it sounds like a ''not you, but me'' kiss off speech. Fortunately, I do know you, Candice, and I know that you meant exactly what you said - you don''t know what to do. So, if you''ll be kind about my screw ups, I''m not going to hold yours against you. Unless you stop telling me what''s going on in your mind."


    Brad got a notice about skilling up his [Sense Motive] as he practically felt Candy''s fear of social situations dragging her off to Stupids-ville. "Good God, Girl! Say yes!" he ordered, getting the pair''s attention. Ignoring the hostility in Aaron''s stare, he locked gazes with Candy. "Bravo boyscout here is offering to be a safe person to explore with, not saying you have to jump into everything feet first and full bore to mayhem! He *knows* you, Candy! Not every concept and detail, but he knows enough that he''s not turning into a sodding prick from emasculated ego, like the last three arseholes whom you did flat out turn down!"


    Candy opened her mouth, her face squeezing into an expression best described as not-fully-comprehending-but-what-the-fuck. "Who are you talking about?" she asked.


    "Jerome Porter, Caleb Kiss-My-Muscles, and let us never forget Tyler Harris With the Neck Beard."


    Rob asked, "Did you have to point out his facial hair?"


    "Yes, because there were two Tyler Harrises in our class, Neck Beard and Full Beard." Brad answered without looking away from Candy.


    "Ah," Rob said, lost for words after that.


    Candy''s head tipped to the side, her gaze losing focus for just a moment. "Oh," she said. "So that''s why they went from jerks to butt faces." Then she turned to face Aaron again. "Is Brad right, that you''re not saying let''s jump into the whole boyfriend-girlfriend thing and see where it goes from there, but more let''s not rule out that possibility while I figure out if I even want to try dating?"


    Aaron rolled his shoulders back, his blush faded and the tension in his face easing. "Yeah. No assuming things on either side. We establish the parameters of whatever we''re trying out and stick with them, the first constant being that both of us always have a no-arguing-with right to stop anything we''re trying for any reason or no reason at all."


    Candy, too, relaxed. "Okay. I can do that." She turned back to sit properly on the couch and said, "So, Brad, what''s your [Tapestry Synchronization] up to?"


    "My what now?" Brad asked.


    "Oh. Well. Would you please use the Tapestry command [Share Status] with me?" she asked.


    Brad took the opportunity to review that information while he complied.


    *** *** ***


    INSERT_STATUS_SCREEN_HERE


    *** *** ***


    The barest tip of Candy''s tongue poked out of her lips, one of her habits when closely reading something.


    "Alright. Let me get you set up with access to my Lab level, then we''ll roshambo over who gets to pick whose brain first. Does your type of golem need sleep, or downtime or the like?"


    "The body, no, but I think I''ll start [Meditating] while everyone else is asleep." The benefits of just the little he had done so far were like night and day for his mental state, and Brad was not a man who had to be shown simple things twice.


    <center><hr>


    *~*~*


    </center>


    Jason


    Two days had passed since Brad''s arrival, and the [Prison] level was still locked up tighter than a rust-welded nut that had been screwed to its bolt so tightly the corners had been stripped.


    ?Lena, am I not your Liaison? Shouldn''t I be part of these contract negotiations?? he asked, again. He had yet to find a better opening salvo, and it was pissing him off. He did not like this impotent feeling he felt at the knowledge that she was actively blocking him from doing his job.


    Again, she said, ?No.? Unlike the last few thousand times he had pestered her, she did not tell him how she empathized with his frustration, how she felt she had screwed up with forcing the initial contract on Dibbs, and that she was pretty sure Dibbs wouldn''t be able to trust any of them if they were part and party to whatever contract they did finalize.


    They were all decent points, but Jason didn''t care. Not only was this their lives, too, being affected, but Jason had the intuition that something more than her own self recrimination was driving Lena and *that* was making his every nerve and instinct scream to *do* something.Find this and other great novels on the author''s preferred platform. Support original creators!


    He drew in a deep breath, pivoted on his heel, and headed for the [Physics Lab]. Maybe Candy had tuned her plasma rifle to the point where she would lend it to him and he could just go force his way into the [Prison].


    Jason ignored the ping-like request for attention that flowed over the G.C. to him. It was Corporal Ignemrot, and the man could wait. This was more important.


    That was, until Lena sighed over the G.C. and responded herself. ?Corporal, I hear you.?


    The oddity of Lena''s greeting stopped him. The corporal''s response had him cussing under his breath and turning to go deal with the neighbors.


    ?Design Lead Lena Marie Weston, I am honored. The Council has granted their permission for Crafts Master Gilvillian to open limited negotiations with you regarding the use of the [Hall of Crafting] level you have built.?


    Damned inconvenient timing on their part. Worse when Lena said, ?Oh, wonderful! Would you mind if we held the negotiations in the level Lotrot''s military is leasing??


    Keeping a tight focus on his use of the G.C., Jason said to Lena, ?They aren''t *leasing* that level, we''re being neighborly and letting them use it as a good will gesture!?


    ?Uh huh. Close enough,? Lena said back, a trace of amusement in her G.C. voice. ?You want to come do your job here, or leave me to give away the farm for the magic beans of their crafting secrets??


    <center><hr>


    *~*~*


    </center>


    Several hours later, Jason led Crafts Master Gilvillian into the [Hall of Crafting]. The negotiations had been fairly simple: the issue of the Studio providing consumable materials for use in finished pieces was set aside for the time being, and Lena''s help in making the work areas and tools was contingent on the Guild''s help in teaching her how they used their tools.


    This tour was also Jason''s first chance to do more than glance around the area, so he found himself pleasantly surprised by a lot of the items Lena had pre-installed.


    The portal deposited them in a lobby area, much like the lowest floors of a fancy hotel on Earth. There were seven conversation areas, couches grouped with armchairs and a low table comfortable for laying down plans the size of a large wall poster. Scattered among the conversation areas were a handful of bistro style tables. A counter near the portal entrance currently served as the lounging place of a fluff ball that was slightly larger than a house-cat. A quick [Inspect] revealed that the creature was a Fox (Domestic Companion). Three large archways led further into the level at the back of the lobby.


    The gnome smiled at the room. "What purpose this?" he asked.


    The phrasing struck Jason''s ear strangely, but he let it go as a linguistic oddity and said, "The most amazing things built in our world were never made by a lone individual. We''ve had individuals with great ideas, but those ideas go nowhere without help, and the best ideas have a pattern of being discovered and refined by groups of people working together. Getting help when no one knows you need it, that''s stupid levels of difficult, so here''s a place for people to just talk about their crafting ideas, recruit that help, or find that bit of advice you can''t learn from a book."


    Gilvillian looked at Jason with a curious expression. "What''s a book?"


    Lena''s avatar, looking close to her Earthly appearance, barefoot and dressed in jeans with a loose peasant shirt, glided in from the center of the back archways. Her voice echoed from the stone around them. "Something like a scroll box that''s easier to jump between parts." She pointed toward the counter with the lounging fox. "There''s a guest registry in book format under the counter, and some improved ink pots and pens, both with nibs and brush tips."


    Gilvillian eyed the fox. "Will your fox guard permit the disturbance?"


    "Kato''s here because he''s a bit too tame for the other foxes that have taken to Aaron''s level. If you''ll permit him to sniff your hand, to get your scent, he''ll likely want to be rubbed behind his ears."


    Jason led the way, demonstrating what Lena meant by offering his fist to the fox, who sniffed it before licking his knuckles.


    With an offhand manner, Lena said, "Oh, the button there releases a pop out ledge to make it easier for individuals of shorter stature to staff the counter. It''s a work in progress, so if there are improvements you think would make it more useful, please do let me know."


    The Crafts Master came around the counter and pushed the button, wisely standing to the side of the counter and not directly behind it. A click and the ledge popped out about 4 cm.


    ?Pull it out, please,? Lena asked Jason over the G.C.


    He leaned around, reached down and drew the ledge out to its full extension, some 40 cm. As he pulled it out, legs slid down at an angle, dropping foot first from the edge and slotting into place only when the ledge was all the way out.


    "How did you do that?" Jason asked.


    "Channels in the underside, yo-yo pullies and elastic cording for drawing the legs forward in the channels. I''m still working out a mechanical way to reset them, but it''s a start, you know?" Lena''s voice came from her avatar, now most of the way across the room.


    Crafts Master Gilvillian had given Jason a mildly condescending amused glance at his question, but surprise wiped the look from his face at Lena''s answer. "This is a mechanical ledge?" he asked, not bothering to hide his surprise.


    Lena nodded. "Mostly. I cheated by using a [Reset] technique triggered by pushing and holding the release button to make it retract, but the initial push releases the catch holding the ledge in place. There was a step stool to make getting onto the ledge easier, but the dryad who claimed the garden I put in for Kato keeps stealing them and turning them into flower pots."


    Gilvillian blinked and listed a little to the side. "There''s a dryad on this level?" he asked.


    Lena nodded. "She''s obsessed with weaving, especially twigs and vines, and said she would be happy to help wood shapers who respect her space. We had a very long discussion about what it would mean for her to reside on this level and what she is and is not allowed to do. She''s about as smart as the younger harpies, which is why it was a long discussion."


    Jason held in a frown. Why hadn''t he been told about there being inhabitants on this level already? Ignoring the sense of being shut out, he quickly found the registry book that first brought them around the corner and displayed it to the Crafts Master.


    The book was in between an European A4 and a US Letter size, with seven signatures, each consisting of seven solid sheets. Jason didn''t notice that for himself. The information came as a sub-thought message along the G.C., along with Lena''s artsy satisfaction with the numbers. He did notice that the pages had a woven texture and had faint horizontal lines drawn about 0.7 cm apart.


    Gilvillian examined the book and nodded, a lively smile suppressed around his mouth but showing near his eyes.


    "I originally thought of separating the work areas by the types of dangers they present. We can easily change that up. The far arch leads to the fire-danger area, so forges, furnaces, and the like. The middle area is for crafts that require good ventilation. I can improve the venting if I connect the system to the one for the forges, but I don''t know how flammable some of the gases released in tanning can be, and I wasn''t sure what other crafts might involve toxic fumes. The nearer arch is for crafts that are more dangerous because of the sharpness of the tools needed for them, or the weight of those tools. Which would you like to look at first?" Lena asked.


    They went from far to near. Gilvillian eyed the open forge room with a considering gaze, but his attention quickly riveted to the forges. Jason''s [Diplomacy] skill provided him with a small insight. In English, the difference between a forge and a furnace was more linguistic than anything else, with the slight distinction that a forge might also encompass the whole of the building given over to smelting or smithing. For gnomes, the words they were using for forges referred only to the furnaces used for the detailed fancy work, after the smelting had been finished. What Jason thought of as furnaces were strictly about smelting metals, and the foundry was the building that housed the smelting furnaces. Smithy was how he should refer to a smith''s workshop.


    "Are the small doors in the wall keeping heat in the forges?" Gilvillian asked.


    Lena rocked her hand back and forth. "The three different height forges at each workspace share a temperature control. I noticed that many of the sapient chimeras ¡ª that is how the people of Rhofhir refer to the taurgonauts and beast kin, right? ¡ª anyhow, they range in height from a little under a meter to about two and half meters. I wanted each workspace to be able to accommodate as many species of crafter as possible. Long made short, roll aside the door to the best height forge for the smith currently at work, and don''t worry about burning your body hair off by standing too close to an opened lower forge."


    "Ah. May I?" the gnome asked.


    "Be my guest," Lena answered.


    Gilvillian wore a frown on his face after looking over the forges. "How does one control the temperature? And what about the air blasts?"


    Lena shrugged. "I don''t know as much about forging as I know about sculpting and painting, so I can upgrade these after I get some more input on what the folks using them will need."


    The furnaces for firing clay and annealing glass were more impressive to the gnomish crafter, and he had little to say about the vented areas. However, Lena understood power tools, and she and Candy, with Sha''lanadi''s help, had figured out how to make and use mana batteries. The wood shop had planers, sanders, circular saws, routers, drills, drill presses, lathes of varying sizes, rotary tools, and all the bits and bobbles Jason could hope to use with them. It also had several sets of hand tools ranging from rasps and hand saws to chisels to screw drivers.


    After Gilvillian had poked and prodded all the pretty moving pieces, Lena walked with them back to the lobby area. Her final offer, at least, was something she had discussed with Jason before. "As far as I know, Rhofhir doesn''t have a precision standard as yet. As happy as I would be to supply you with standardized screws and nails, those count as material components. However, any blacksmith working in the Studio is more than welcome to use the measurement tools here, which I can assure you are accurate to the width of a strand of human hair. Should you be kind enough to share how you prefer to measure weight and volume, I can produce the means of measuring those, too."


    Gilvillian nodded. "I will keep that in mind," he said.


    Lena smiled, glancing mischievously at Jason, and said, "Well, I''ll take my leave then and leave Jason to helping you with the details of moving in."


    "Oh, one last thing, Design Lead, please. Where is the garden?" Gilvillian asked.


    Lena grinned and pointed to a hole a gnome would have to crawl through, located behind the counter. "Through there. The dryad wants a chance to get to know her new neighbors before inviting you into her home.

 Trouble in Lotrot 7

    4.7


    Lena


    Feeling petty and selfish all the while, Lena had put off opening the Priesley''s Folly entrance for a few days. She had wanted the time for her friends to recover from helping her clean up the mana allocations, and to get to know just who and what she had added to her domain.


    The ethical implications of being an actual Dungeon Master had been hitting her hard, and she could only build so much to distract herself before their new reality came into play. Even before linking to the older dungeon, she had been talking with Candy and Aaron, and to a lesser extent Rob as well, about the morality of creating creatures for the defense of their dungeon.


    When she tried to bring it up with Jason, his answer was, "It bothers you, so don''t do it. We''ll figure something else out." He wouldn''t even let her get to the point of discussing it. As far as he was concerned, she was some damned delicate flower that shouldn''t be stressed with the demands of survival.


    Rob''s response had been more along the lines of, "Why wouldn''t we use every tool at hand?"


    Candy and Aaron had understood a lot better what Lena was trying to figure out. Rhofhir was not Earth, not by any stretch of the imagination, and they now lived in a world without their familiar civilized insulation against violence. The dungeon gave them power and made them a target all at once. Just how much could they sacrifice of their civilized selves to survive before it wasn''t *them* surviving anymore? What was their line in the sand?


    Aaron had advanced his [Tapestry Reading] to [Tapestry Synchronization] with helping Lena figure out what the system they now lived under considered the necessary functions of a dungeon. Candy helped some, too, but she had been busy working with Sha''lanadi on how to get the zone cores to work outside of the Studio.


    After the linking, well, Lotrot had their problems and desires for the dungeon, and out of the blue, they got Brad back, but not like they had ever expected.


    The town of Priesley''s Folly needed to be addressed. Jason wanted to focus on Brad and Dibbs, but she needed him handling the negotiations she could not get to. By this point, she was done with the gentle approach. She would yank him into fulfilling his contract if she couldn''t just point him where she needed him. It sucked having to put on her boss hat, and worse with Jason, but she needed partners and employees, not knights in shining armor. If he wasn''t going to trust her to handle her side of the business, he wasn''t her partner, and she didn''t really have a choice about being the boss ¡ª it was her dungeon, after all.


    Perhaps if her dungeon was not also her new body, Lena could have stepped back and taken on the subordinate role. Both Jason and Rob were older and had life experience that she didn''t. That wasn''t the case, though. They could all walk away, go explore this new world, and make their places on their own merits. Lena couldn''t walk away, nor had she been raised to pretend she wasn''t responsible for her choices.


    Every order to every contracted creature went through her. She couldn''t pretend that every life was just as valuable to her, no matter the civilized part of her that demanded she acknowledge her responsibility to all the creatures dependent upon her, or the irreplaceable value of even her enemies'' lives. Lena knew that she would sacrifice every other creature in her dungeon for the lives of her cousin and her friends.


    Lena already knew what she had to do.


    As soon as Jason said his goodbyes to Crafts Master Gilvillian, before he had a chance to leave the [Lotrot Training Floor], Lena said, ?It''s time to open up the entrance to Priesley''s Folly. Do you want to be present immediately, or give them a chance to react first??


    Jason''s head fell back and he glared up at the ceiling. ?They can wait!? he snapped.


    ?No, they can''t. The block before that portal needs to come down, and I don''t have a way to make it an exit only.? Lena wanted to snap back at him, but she had to be the reasonable one.


    ?Brad matters¡ª?


    ?¡ªA hell of a lot,? Lena cut in. ?*But* his situation is not as urgent as the Folly. I have been trying to drive that point home to you. We have him back, and Candy''s got his back. The mages are contained. The Folly is not.?


    She watched the corners of his jaw bulge as he bit back whatever his first response had been. ?Lena, you''re acting erratically¡ª?


    Oh, he did not just go there! Lena wasn''t ready for the conversation that would need to follow, but it looked like her liaison needed to have his own shortcomings held up. ?Jason, I am not your mother, and I will not accept you treating me the way she trained into you. Now, do your damned job!?


    <center><hr>


    *~*~*


    </center>


    Inthe Adventurers Association Guild House at Priesley''s Folly ¡­


    "The way has been blocked off for over a quarter moon! We have orders backlogging! It was better for us when the dungeon was a monster pit because at least we had access to it! Do you have any idea of the cost everyone in the Folly is paying thanks to you shutting off all access to the dungeon?" The speaker, a half elf cat kin dressed in well cared for leather armor, slammed his fist on the reception counter to emphasize his point.


    The guild receptionist, a young naga, was leaning back, hands up in a warding off gesture toward the irate adventurer. Atolandr took in the scene with a glance and his Defender design kicked in. He was suddenly between the cat kin half breed and his employee, using his bulk to send the adventurer stumbling back several steps.


    "First, you are now on probation for threatening a guild employee. Piss in my guild again if you really want to be guild-less. Next, *we* are not responsible for the containment ward that is blocking the dungeon portal! Shasha wasted politics got us that, and we''re still tracking down the idiots who thought the Sun Emperor could really give them control of *our* dungeon. Last, but by no means least: do *you* know anything about who would be stealing control cores from the dungeons? Because those wasted knobbers are the root of our current problems and making mana stones from their corpses would be a lot more profitable use of your time than screaming at a registered Soccer!" Atolandr''s voice rose as he berated the adventurer, until he was leaning into the adventurer''s face and bellowing out his own rage.


    The adventurer''s ears flattened, but he took the reprimand without bowing his back. "What''s the bounty on the core thieves?"


    Atolandr straightened up and forced himself to calm down. "The Association just raised it to 10,000 carats over 20 gems."


    There was a respectful hush in the lobby as the sum was named. Carats weren''t quite on a par with ingots, but they were close, and for the adventurous types, more useful. The carat standard used for currency was a measure of weight used with gem quality mana stones. The smallest of the currency gems weighed in at 10 carats and was equivalent to two gold branches. A standard ingot, for comparison, was the equivalent of 10 gold branches. Their significantly lighter weight and smaller volume would have been enough for adventurers to like them over gold, but in a pinch, the gems could be used to empower their skills and spells. They would lose the radiance that made them currency, but what good was money you didn''t live to spend?


    "I''ll keep an eye out. What''s happening to get access to the dungeon back?" the half elf cat kin asked.


    Atolandr stretched his neck and worked his jaw to ease some of the anger inspired tension before he spoke. "We''ve sent for mages from the nearest unaligned academy to inspect the barrier for weaknesses. They''re due here in couple days."This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.


    One of the adventurers crowding the lobby asked, "Why do we have to send for mages?"


    "Because of wasted Shasha politics," Atolandr growled. "The ones in the Folly that aren''t affiliated with the Sun elves are merchant specialists, and they''ve already told us that it''s a wasted knobby barrier, so sad, but there''s nothing they can do about it. The Sun elves say that the Folly is worth losing if the dungeon can''t be fixed, and they''re ''giving it time'' for the fix to take effect."


    That led to a general grumble, and Atolandr, as the Guild Master for Priesley''s Folly, gave his members a chance to turn their frustrated fury toward the Empire of the Sun. The time was nearly ripe for him to speak again when a runner burst into the lobby and caught sight of him.


    "The barrier''s down!" the runner gasped out, then was nearly trampled by the exodus of adventurers heading to see for themselves.


    Atolandr had to push his way through the gathering crowd to get to the guards stationed by the portal, guards who had already had to lower spears and deploy shields to keep from being swarmed.


    Activating his [Echoing Voice] skill, Atolandr faced the crowd and roared for silence. Getting it, he said, "We have no idea what''s happened in the dungeon during the time it''s been closed up, so I want a raid crew gathered and ready for anything! We''ll start with twenty in, twenty on reserve. I want parties at tier 8 and up for the initial delve, tier 6 for the reserve! The sooner you move your asses, the sooner we can get back to clearing our dungeon!"


    Most of the people at the back turned around and went to spread the word, but most of the ones up front started bug eyed behind Atolandr, hands reaching for weapons. His [Danger Sense] was quiet, however, so the guild master pivoted with controlled precision to see what was scaring his adventurers.


    The first thing he saw was a pack of Advanced Armored Shadow Wolves. They rather dominated the view. Then he saw the humanoid male wearing odd clothing, and then he recognized Starry Night, the matriarch of the hemat wolf pack that lived in the dungeon, sitting calmly by his side. They were just on the other side of the portal.


    Starry Night arou''d a greeting, her tone relaxed and confident, amused even.


    Two of the hemats bonded to members of his guild pushed and wiggled their way forward, bounding into the dungeon to the matriarch''s side. They went through the ritual exchange of scents, and then raised their noses toward the Shadow Wolves. Starry Night introduced them, and the alpha of the Shadow Wolves went into a play bow to take the scents of the adventurous hemats.


    "Quill says the Matriarch holds dominance over the Shadow Wolves," a voice breathed behind him, sounding as shocked as a copper golem in a lightning storm.


    "Hello there," the humanoid said. "No need for weapons. May I speak with whomever is in charge over there? We have some Terms of Service to work out."


    Atolandr sucked in a deep breath. "I''m the Guild Master of this branch of the Adventurers Association. Who the wasted knob knockers are you?"


    "Sha''lanadi and Sha''dakai didn''t tell you about bringing the dungeon of Priesley''s Folly back to equilibrium? Why don''t you call over your city mayor or council, or whoever actually runs things?"


    A light wraith appeared beside the man. It took the form of a young woman with round ears and an annoyed expression. The figure first looked at the man, whom Atolandr just noticed also had round ears, then let the annoyed look fade into something that was more neutral as she turned to him. "Guild Master, please pardon my liaison. It seems he critically failed his Diplomacy check."


    A chair materialized just inside the dungeon, an interesting design with a backrest and space for even a lizard kin''s tail to wag. It scooted out of the dungeon as the light wraith gestured. "Please, let''s be seated and discuss just why we''re both here, on each side of that portal."


    "It looks to me like you intend to invade my guild hall, and from there my city," Atolandr said, more to gauge their reaction than because he believed it.


    "We believe it is the duty of civilized beings to seek peace before resorting to war. At this time, we have no reason strike at you." As the wraith spoke, the Shadow Wolves slid back into the dungeon, away from the entrance, leaving Starry Night and her pack standing with the humans.


    Atolandr watched Starry Night stretch out at the wraith''s feet, the picture of peace. He [Analyze]d the chair, found it to be harmless, and took the proffered seat. Another one grew out of the ground for the man. The light wraith simply folded her legs under her skirt and floated at a sitting height.


    "My name is Lena Weston, and I am the Design Lead of the Studio of Capricious Dreams. Time is difficult to track in a dungeon so I believe it was about 25 days ago that a trio of Sun elves invaded my domain looking for an auxiliary zone control core¡­."


    <center><hr>


    *~*~*


    </center>


    Jason


    "I am not your mother." Lena''s words wouldn''t stop echoing in his head. Damn straight Lena wasn''t anything like Diane Pershing-Kline. His momma was a spoiled, manipulative bitch. Lena didn''t play games, she didn''t take anyone on a guilt trip, and she certainly never volunteered someone else to do her dirty work. If anything, Lena tried to take on too much.


    The sting of her apology over his blunder might be something he had to own ¡ª no, no might. He had to own that screw up or he wouldn''t be able to look himself in the mirror. He had to own his blunder, and he did not like the sting he felt at both the rebuke hidden in her apology and the disappointment he could feel from her over the G.C.


    Just, Jason had been talking so God damned non-stop that he didn''t know what was going on with the dungeon management side of things. He wasn''t sure what he wouldn''t give to just get a moment to decompress, get his bearings. He needed Rob to figure out how to step up with all this endless talking and talking and talking. Aaron had taken on Candy wrangling duty, and more power to him for that, but Lena was stuck in the nexus of all their diplomatic dysentery. She wasn''t Wonder Woman. Worrying over her was probably the most stressful part of all of this whole thing with being teleported to another world.


    Hell, if it weren''t for the need to protect the girls, Jason thought he might actually really enjoy this. A whole new world to explore? One with cat girls and griffins, gnomes and elves? And magic, real honest to God magic!


    Jason''s eyes were still sweeping over the other side of the portal to the Folly even as his mind ran in tired circles. He noticed the arrival of a delegation of Sun elves and another group mostly made up of cat kin.


    Lena paused her recounting to greet each group and provide them with chairs. Sha''dakai and his companions Jzun and Zair came with the Sun elves. The way the silent Sun elf avoided meeting his gaze raised the hairs on the back of Jason''s neck.


    *** *** ***


    You have unlocked [Danger Sense]. +1 ACU


    *** *** ***


    That was far from a comforting notice.


    When the last cat kin took his seat, he looked around and said, "I think we have more than enough people here. Atolandr, would you mind clearing out your adventurers?"


    "Yes, I do mind. They have more right to be here than the Sun elves. Unless you want to ask the long ears to leave?" Atolandr cocked a brow ridge at the cat kin.


    The cat kin pursed his lips, sighed, but said no more.


    An older Sun elf, judging by the creases on his skin, crossed his legs at the knee and leaned back. He ignored the guild master and the cat kin. "Let us dispense with frivolities. Our diviners have ascertained that you have, in deed, tamed the dungeon of [Priesley''s Folly]. What is the price for your assistance in taming the other dungeons with missing core stones?"


    Jason stepped in. "What is your position with the Sun Court, Seir elf?"


    "I''m not asking on behalf of the Sun Court," the elf countered.


    Lena sighed. "Did you know that dungeons bring in new mana, filtered and refined from what you call the Primal Chaos, to replace the mana that gets vented by just about every living being on Rhofhir? Their stability is key to staving off Unravelings. My friends and I, we''re still working on discovering what the ''Summoning Protocol'' entails, but it seems to be the first step in an Unraveling. If the autonomous intake of mana is disturbed, it kicks off this ''Summoning Protocol'', the same if mana fails to properly vent out of the Tapestry and back into Primal Chaos. At this time, the Grand Tapestry tells me I am the only sapient Zone Arbiter. What do you bring to the table?"


    Jason tried very had not to react to that bombshell. ?Is that true?? he demanded.


    ?Every word,? Lena promised him. ?Brad had some scroll books that got Candy asking the right questions. If you weren''t so focused on Dibbs, getting a word in edgewise about it would have been a lot easier.?


    ?What are you asking for?? he asked, the accusation forming in his hind brain changed at the last minute.


    ?We need help, and we need some kind of world spanning agreement on the management of dungeons. I think the Adventurer Guilds may be our best bet, but we also need other interested parties to help govern how dungeons are managed.?


    Relief washed through him, then upset at himself that Jason had even thought Lena might have been willing to hold a world captive for profiteering.


    "That''s the theory," one of the cat kin delegates said.


    "What do you want?" the Sun elf said.


    "Candidates to take over management of the other dungeons, preferably ones that already know how to communicate without a body. I could just link to each dungeon individual and absorb it, but then I''m stuck managing it, and the requirements for me to regain a physical form are already insane." Lena delivered that statement with such an innocent perfunctoriness that he felt both proud to call her friend and worried at her naivete.

 NaC: Direction Needed

    I have too many threads running through my head and it''s stalling me on writing more (too many choices is no choice!). So, I figured I''d put it up to a poll. You can pick up to three of the story lines, and *even if* i get inspired and write more stuff, I''ll make sure to get the top 2 out before the end of the month.


    Also, if you have other parts of the story you''d like explored, put that in the comments please!This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.


    ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?


    Edit: midnight ish May 10th


    At this point the poll results areclearly in favor of SCIENCE! andWORLD COUNCIL on DUNGEONS! Thanks to the feed back, I''ve got the rough draft / preview for the opening of the next arc up on my patreon, and after another editing pass, I''ll put it up here.


    If you haven''t voted, please do, and I''m appreciating the ideas in the comments.

 Dungeoning Talks 1

    Brad


    "How did you replicate the SI standards?" Brad asked.


    He and Candy were taking another break from pooling their findings about Rhofhir and the Grand Tapestry for Candy to give a tour of her [Physics Lab] level. The idea that Lena had the ability to create things from essentially nothing boggled his brain, and even more baffling that she could share that gift through her contracts.


    "I''ve been going over the info from Earth that the System acquired from the mages doing their version of astrophysics, and I''ve been flagging anything that the mages have obviously misidentified, confirming what I can, and leaving unconfirmed what I don''t know jack smack about. The Tapestry System already had the concepts of a meter and a gram, temperature gradients, and all that before, but at the human scale, not as universal constants.


    "When it came to the metrics, the biggest problem was finding a way to communicate what I wanted with the System, but once I was able to demonstrate the kind of measurements I wanted to use, that unlocked a skill advancement of [Precise Measurement] called [Universal Measurement]. Programming it into the computer golems I''m using to collect and analyze data was pretty simple after that, and I got a 2% advance on my Champion of Order design. Having active mana in this universe has changed some of the constants we''re used to ¡ª and discovering just how is going to be fun! But, I didn''t want to change too much of the human scale concepts of the metrics, so I''m still 164 cm tall and 60 kg.


    "What kind of sucks is that I have to rely on the golems to get the small scale stuff just right, like the bolts for the plasma rifle. The calipers and weight scales and all that are easy enough to make on the human scale. I love the mental interface with the Tapestry, but the golems aren''t anywhere near as ¡­ coherent? I guess that''s the word I want. They''re a different kind of fiddly than the circuitry I''m used to working with.


    "And then there''s all the ways that mana makes things complicated. I mean, I built the original plasma hand cannon on a whim, just to see what I could do with the exportables Lena''s got unlocked. Having the blast do actual damage on its own instead of just leaving a hot spot against the wall was a shocker. I''m working on getting some kind of slow-motion recording set up so I can examine the reaction, see where the results deviated from when I built the plasma cannon for my high school science fair."


    Brad nodded, then asked, "What kind of plasma cannon were you building on Earth?"


    Candy shrugged. "The basic kind. They''re flashy, look really cool at night or in the dark, but without a projectile, essentially useless. Even with lightning, the fatalities come about with the disruption of the heart''s electromagnetic pulse. The burns suck, yeah, but on their own they aren''t enough to guarantee taking someone out of a fight, and it''s pretty damn easy to come up with anti-shock armor."


    Brad opened his mouth to say something, realized he had nothing to say, and changed gears. "You said the results are different here. How so?"


    "Let me show you," Candy said, jumping up from behind her desk and taking off down the hall. They passed by several rooms with dedicated instrument set ups, easily seen through the glass walls. Brad had to ask as they passed one room in particular, "Is that a perpetual motion machine?"


    "Nope," Candy flashed a grin back over her shoulder. "It''s a generator fueled by Lena''s circulate technique. I''m gathering data in most of these rooms to see if I can find the similarity that leads to a universal constant for aetherial force."


    "You said you got some help from an elven mage. Not enough, I take it?" Brad slowed down to look at more of the experiments, not sure what about them felt so odd.


    Candy slowed her steps, too. "Sha''lanadi." She wrinkled her nose in distaste as she said the name. "Callous bastard, and he understood enough of the ''how'' side of magic that we were able to come up with a mana analog for the Faraday cage. I''ve got a room where I''m testing out the runescript he was partial to, but that''s been, um, explosive so it''s pretty isolated from the rest of the lab."


    Brad perked up. "Runescript? Dibbs wanted me to finish mastering the texts I''ve got now before starting on that topic."


    Candy paused, her thinking face on. "Do you like Dibbs?"


    That was a tough question. "I think so, but I don''t know how much I''m influenced by being in this golem and the constraints, the bonds that are intertwined with my being. On the rational side of things, I do understand the safety measures their Arcane Asylum requires when dealing with alien species, demons as they call us. Travelers. We are not invested in their societies so we''re complete wild cards. They have to observe the hell out of us to get an idea of what to expect from us. Just letting us loose on the world would be highly irresponsible, especially when they''re the ones summoning us."


    "Our clones," Candy interjected.


    Brad nodded. They had gone over this before. "Our clones. ''Wild'' Travelers like you guys, I''m guessing most have hidden in plain sight, or been monsters or nonsapient animals or plants that couldn''t hide. So most people in Rhofhir think of demons as something between rabbits in Australia to the monsters in our horror films."


    "I do not understand this reference to rabbits in Australia," Candy said.


    "That''s a classic example of an invasive species wrecking local ecologies! How as a college educated adult do you *not* know about rabbits in Australia?" Brad felt aghast.


    Candy shrugged. She started to turn around to resume leading the way, he presumed, but she stilled. Her head tipped to the side and then she turned her analytic gaze his way.


    Brad hadn''t been the focus of Candy''s blatant assessment before, and he found it a rather uncomfortable position to be in now. Without really thinking about it, he fluffed his wings and sank back onto his coiled tail, sinking into stillness to deal with his awkwardness.


    "Brad," Candy began. "Do you have to remain in that golem body?"


    "I''m quite nervous to find out the answer the hard way," he responded.


    She nodded, then looked up. A moment of silence crept by, then Lena''s holograph faded into view.


    "Why?" she asked Candy.


    "Because they made his body. I want to know what they know about golems."


    Brad looked between the cousins. "What now?" he asked.


    Lena''s lips thinned. "Dibbs hasn''t convinced Feltz yet that being an asshole is more hindrance than help in figuring us out, and Feltz is the golemancer."


    "So?" Candy asked.


    Lena shook her head and sighed. "If he so much as lifts a finger in your direction, he''s dead. You still want to talk with him?"


    The strangest look came over Candy''s face at Lena''s words. It was almost as if she believed that her cousin would follow through on that threat. "Faraday cage rooms?" Candy asked.


    Lena sighed. "I''ll set it up in the [Prison]. You''ll get a temporary portal to your side, and he''ll have to choose to walk into his side. I''m not forcing him to talk with you."


    Candy nodded. "That works."


    <center><hr>


    </center>


    Brad meditated while he waited for Candy to return from her consultation with Feltz. She had created a flat for him that was luxurious in its spaciousness, and Lena had stopped by to help him set up his furniture. His favorite part of the whole was the garden installation that acted as the centerpiece of his foyer. He had two trees growing in the center of his flat like some hippy millionaire. It was brill! The best part, though, was the water feature.


    It mimicked a small waterfall along a stream falling into a pond. Mosses served as the ground cover and fragrant flowers brought color and warmth to the scene. In the center of the pond sat a flat stone just the right size for Brad to ball up his tail and contemplate the world around him, the trickling of the water a pleasant distraction for his ears.


    Lena and Candy had given him a computer golem, which he wore like a medallion around his neck, that provided him some of the features of their Guardian Communication channel, as well as let him get used to working with the computer golems. He found using his little C.G. made his note taking go much, much easier, and he found himself naming it Larry in honor of one of his mechanics professors.


    Larry had taken to being named with the calm indifference one might expect from an unthinking being. However, Brad could almost swear that his little helper golem was developing a personality of its own.


    Probably wishful thinking on Brad''s part.


    In fact, Brad was using the meditative trance to consider what differentiated Larry from himself. Both were golems, but why did Brad have personality to an extent Larry did not? Why did Brad possess self determination ¡ª even if it was being thwarted by the ensorcellment ¡ª and Larry seemed not to?If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.


    An idea wafted by the edges of his consciousness. Brad knew better by now than to rush after it. The concept needed more pondering to form.


    Larry was a single whole. There was no part of Larry that could be sliced off without slicing away a piece of what made Larry himself. Itself.


    Brad, on the other hand, was pretty sure that so long as he protected the sapphire at the center of his golem body, his golem core so to speak, losing a wing, an arm, even his head wouldn''t be the death of him or even a detriment to his mental faculties. Yet, Brad felt no separation, no sense of piloting his body. The lack of pain was strange, but he still had a tactile sense, still had hearing and vision and scent. Taste was an odd one, a combination of tactile and scent with a bit of a different slant, but he wasn''t eating anything, not like a human did at least. His nutrients came from mana crystals infused into his body which leeched ambient mana.


    The sum entirety of Larry came down to his¡ª its pattern storage and computation faculties, its *mental* faculties. Brad had been human; his mind was more than pattern storage and computation. Sensory input, recognition, differentiation, and determination. Larry was a proto-sapient golem; he just needed some help bridging the sensory handling gap.


    *** *** ***


    Theory of Magic +1


    *** *** ***


    *What if he made a golem body for himself and transferred his golem core?* The idea wasn''t new to him, but Brad had shied away from the idea because he hadn''t really stopped to consider what part of the golem was him. Now, though, he had Candy and Lena to help him make prototype golem bodies that would use the computer golems as their cores. If they could socket and switch the computer golems, what would keep them from doing the same for Brad?


    Brad slipped out of his meditation and headed into the lab proper, to his work bench to start drafting ideas.


    <center><hr>


    </center>


    Candy


    Feltz was incredibly intelligent, but he was also a certifiable grade AAA bastard of an asshat. Even Candy understood that, and with Lena''s warning, Candy had gone in with her social expectations turned off and her inner observer fully roused. Being able to leave her note pad behind and use her link to her computer golems to record her in-the-moment observations, as well as store her perceptions of the meeting, had freed her inner analyst to focus on getting him to reveal what he knew about golems.


    Her inner observer warned Candy that she was starting to have rather negative emotions due to this contact, and her inner analyst took a moment to decide that it was time to stop poking the bear and go calm her emotions before she had to deal with crappy feelings, so she got up and walked out in the middle of Feltz''s belligerent explanation that Candy was a runty little girl lacking the discipline to successfully weld pathways for the mana to flow through a golem''s body.


    As she stepped back into her [Physics Lab], a familiar feeling of disturbed space poked her, and she had to exercise a lot of self control not to snap and growl over that disturbance. Then she saw Brad, leaning over the desk she had installed for him, pieces of mana shards arranged on the work bench next to his desk. He looked up and grinned at her.


    "I think there might be a safe way to try getting me out of Feltz''s trap!"


    Candy took a step back and held up a hand. Brad''s grin gentled to a sympathetic smile. "Sorry. I got so caught up I lost track of the fact you were dealing with *him*."


    She nodded, went over to her desk and plopped down into the seat. She bent until her head was between her knees and then just focused on breathing, letting her energy calm down. That was all emotions were, right? Just energy in motion; e-motion. Feelings were when you recognized and gave a name to a particular type of emotion. Candy did better when she didn''t have to name her emotions, because that level of awareness tended to pull her into an analytic examination that did little for her happiness.


    Being near Feltz, even with the doubled up Faraday cages enclosing the both of them and a wall built of layers of strengthened glass between them, his voice coming through the speaker golem had twisted at her energy with a viciousness that felt very deliberate. Worse, he had struck at the part of her energy she could not fully calm, the part that had been sensitized by teachers, classmates, family members, and friends all pointing out that she was some kind of "other".


    At least for her friends, it was a reason to shrug and say, "Why should we want that to change? It''s part of you." Lena had that touch of "otherness", too, but not to the same degree as Candy. It was why her cousin could say things, talk about things, that no one else could without disturbing that reactive part of Candy''s energy. Lena felt it, too.


    Whatever. That was Lena''s line when she wanted to ignore something. Candy would try it now. Whatever.


    She straightened up, and found herself looking at something she hadn''t ever seen in Brad''s gaze before. Empathy.


    "Feltz has a way of provoking the worst parts of us. I don''t like the person I am around him."


    Candy nodded. That was all that needed saying, right?


    "So, you have some ideas on getting yourself free of them?" she asked.


    He nodded, his smile slowly returning. "I think studying the difference between Larry and myself will help us figure out why I can move and Larry can''t."


    "Okay. I''ve already scanned what I can from the patterns of computer golems." She pulled up the hologram display of the internal workings of a computer golem, and they went through each part together. Then they started running the same scans on Brad.


    <center><hr>


    </center>


    Lena


    *** *** ***


    Congratulations! Research Special Action has unlocked the following creatures:


    Golem Core, Enstoned Golem, Crystal Golem


    The same Research Special Action has unlocked the following Exportables:


    Memory Stones, Soul Gems, Golem Constructs (Stone) and (Crystal)


    New Research into Exportables unlocked for:


    Golem Constructs (Metal), (Wood), (Ice), (Flesh) and (Plant)


    New Research into Class Designs unlocked for:


    Golemancer, Scientist


    *** *** ***


    The notice took Lena by surprise. Sure, she was aware of everything in the dungeon, but it was much like being aware of her body: she could selectively ignore a headache by focusing on the flex and contraction of her muscles. It wasn''t always perfect, but it was a skill honed with practise. And determination. Lena did not want to intrude too hard on her friend''s privacy. The follow up notice was pleasant.


    *** *** ***


    Due to unlocking Soul Gems, you may now provide your Guardians with Soul Gems that will be linked to their contract pattern. This will allow retrieval of all the Guardian''s memories even if their physical form is destroyed outside of your zone at any distance within the Grand Tapestry of Rhofhir.


    *** *** ***


    Doing a quick scan of her dungeon self (Lena was starting to think of her life on Earth as "when she was human"), she found Candy and Brad playing with Candy''s data collectors while Aaron was getting brotherly advice from Rob and Jason on how to make his move with Candy. Dibbs was actually tearing at his hair while shouting at Feltz, his fear for the old bastard about the only testimony keeping Lena from shoving him in an airless room stuck in his own special mana-tuned Faraday cage. She might even go so far as to fill it with carbon monoxide, but she wasn''t sure if the archmage would be able to transmute that to breathable air.


    The man really knew how to be obnoxious.


    The boys had just glanced up at the notice and gone right back to passing along pearls of masculine wisdom like, "be confident" (and what did that even mean?), "take the lead", and "be funny". Neither of the mages guesting in her [Prison] got the notice, but Candy and Brad were high-fiving each other and grinning with accomplishment. My oh my, who could have possibly been responsible?


    Out of consideration for Brad, Lena made her toon fade in before speaking.


    "What the what-what, guys?" she asked.


    Brad waved at Candy, encouraging her to take the lead. Candy did a victory shuffle-dance as she said, "We got Larry to advance into a golem core!"


    Lena blinked. It was more of a mental reaction, but she valued that link to her humanity. "Who the what?"


    Candy reached over to the work bench and lifted a spherical chunk of beryl finely veined with electrum, bronze, and an alloy that showed on her [Inspect] as "hiduminium(?)". "The computer golem that we gave Brad to keep him looped in until he can formally join the crew, Brad named it Larry. And we just got Larry to include his own sensory input ports, which advanced him from a computer golem to a golem core. We used one of the research cores to run a thorough [Analyze] and [Inspect] of Brad, identified the mana channels that Feltz was being a blowhard about, and we''ve duplicated Brad''s golem body as precisely as the structure cores can. We were just about to put Larry into the new golem construct, I guess the Tapestry calls them."


    Lena nodded. "Okay. Where''s the body double?"


    Candy and Brad looked from her to the empty bench. Their grins turned into panicked searching.


    "Ohmygod! Where did it go!?" Brad asked.


    Lena let the sound of comedic snerky snorting laughter sound in the lab. Then she dropped the illusion she had put up over the duplicate Brad-body.


    Brad, unfamiliar with Lena''s light bending powers, gaped while Candy cradled her face in one hand, letting the facepalm movement turn into covering her nose and mouth in thought. "Lena, make it yellow, please."


    "What''s that?" Lena asked.


    "Make the second golem yellow with your Coloring skill. That''ll make differentiating Larry and Brad a lot easier."


    Lena shrugged and complied, choosing a yellow-oxide color, a mustard color that was both earthy and vibrant at the same time without the artificial brightness of the cheaper mustards. She studied the inert golem construct, feeling something off after changing the pigmentation, and followed an instinct to draw more of the crystalline and metallic threading up to the surface of the construct''s stoney form. She traced the feathers with gold, then used pale greens and faint oranges to add depth to the colors. It was still off, and Lena realized that the yellow was a good start, but the golem stood out too much.


    Brad''s body had been made to draw the eye, to grab attention and show case the artistry of the sculptor. His body was made to make it impossible for him to hide. If they could hook up Larry to this construct, Lena didn''t want to make him as much of a target as Feltz had made Brad. She thought of the steppes outside her Lotrot entrance and the jungle that surrounded Priesley''s Folly, and enhanced the greens, muting the vibrancy of the golem construct with brown and tans, removing the gold, and tarnishing the metal back to an ore-like dullness. It would not blend perfectly in either environment, but it wasn''t the worst coloration for either of them, either.


    "Okay," she said when she was done.


    Brad carefully removed a back panel on the construct. Candy gave Larry to Brad, and he carefully socketted the golem core into the compartment.


    Nothing happened. Lena reached through her contract core, found Larry''s contract, updated his name, and pushed a little poke of extra mana through the link. An error message popped into her mind and she said, "Close the hatch, please."


    Brad did, giving her toon a contemplative look.


    "Okay, the contract core says he''s working. Candy, I updated his name in the core, so you can do your linking easier."

 Dungeoning Talks 2

    Rhofhir


    Across the vast reaches of a mana saturated space, a tinker took a moment to admire his handiwork before (metaphorically) stepping back and stretching.


    The perseverance of life fascinated Rhofhir, and studying it offered a distraction from the isolation that came from being a Universal Divinity. He liked to keep an eye on the assorted divine cultivators, hoping he might one day get to shepherd into being a Galactic Divinity. It would be the closest he would come to companionship on his own level. So far, though, the depth of mana saturation in his part of the multi-verses was just too much for any of his cultivators to step beyond a Planetary Divinity.


    Could it be something Rhofhir was doing that prevented this adaptation from occurring? Perhaps he should follow Morningstar''s sarcastic advice and just drop all the elements together on a crusty magma rock, give the barest of radiation shielding, and see what crawls out of the muck. The Cosmic Divinity had slipped him a few samples of beings begun this way and so far Rhofhir had taken quite a liking to the human patterns. They got the farthest along the cultivation path, but were also having to overcome the most radiation sensitivity.


    The goop colonies, though, had no problem with radiation, but rarely attained sentience beyond the level of the individual members of each goop. The colonies were just too efficient at the primeval stages to be forced to grow more complex patterns, or learn restraint. It saddened him that the few goop cultivators that did raise themselves up into the Divine sphere still hadn''t learned that lesson, though they did serve as cautionary examples to the other cultivators.


    Allowing the greater part of his attention to focus on the problem of his cultivators, Rhofhir checked the [Status] of each of his project worlds. None of them needed his immediate attention, so he turned back to the maintenance request from his Grand Tapestry.


    It was about that time again when he should check on what new strands had been caught up in the weave and which he should pull to their own project world.


    <center><hr>


    *~*~*


    </center>


    Lena


    Lena sent a gentle bell sound into the main room of the [Prison] level ahead of her toon. It was a kindness, a courtesy that she had decided to use for anyone not looped into the G.C., even asshats like Feltz. She thought of it as Dungeon etiquette.


    Dibbs stopped pacing and faced the origin point of her bell sound. Feltz stopped pretending to ignore his former apprentice.


    "So the Grand Lady of the Dungeon decides to grace us with her presence?" Feltz asked, his tone mocking.


    Lena ignored him. "Dibbs, are you ready to continue contract negotiations?"


    "Getting awfully familiar, aren''t you?" the archmage sneered.


    Lena felt a push from her Aspect of the Analyst and chose to follow the instinct. She turned her toon to face the archmage and made an obvious study of him, keeping her expression neutral. "No one said you have to stay with Dibbs. You are free to exit the Studio, either on Malta or East Karth. Returning might be problematic for you, but you are welcome to depart."


    "Ha! Like you could keep an archmage out if you wanted!" Feltz scoffed.


    Lena kept that inhumanely neutral expression on her toon''s face as she evacuated the mana in the room. She protected Dibbs from a repeat of the assault, but allowed Feltz to feel the full brunt of her ability to render an area within her zone as barren of mana as the world on which she grew up.


    Feltz managed to keep hold of a significant portion of his personal mana reserves, but every construct and formation residing outside of his body collapsed. The older man''s eyes widened, the skin across his cheeks drawing tight with shock, though he managed to give no further signs of his distress.


    Into that mana deprived environment, Lena shoved a 20 cm thick plate of bronze up from the floor. In the ceiling, she made one of Candy''s LASER cutter designs. She also grew a glass tube up to the ceiling that encompassed the metal plate and the exposed end of the LASER.


    "Were it not for Dibbs'' presence, I would not bother with the safety precautions. I would let the light, with which I am about to cleave this plate of metal, peel the flesh from your eyes, but I won''t risk the damage it might cause Dibbs at this point. From what I''ve seen so far, you have no idea how to survive in a mana-starved environment, but I grew up without mana. I''m inclined to believe the Tapestry has altered the essence of who I was just to keep me from accidental destruction."


    So saying, Lena triggered the firing sequence for the LASER. She rotated the focus just enough to carve a line from corner to corner of the plate. Feltz''s hold on his internal mana slipped, only to be quickly regained, but he began to take on a sickly pallor.


    Lena retracted the glass and the LASER. "Without mana, the fastest speed possible is the speed of light. You might want to consider how you might dodge that."


    Then she took pity on Dibbs, on the terror she saw for his mentor writ large upon his face, and allowed the mana to return to the room. "Dibbs, please bring your notes and let us begin our negotiations. I''m sure that an archmage is more than capable of handling a short period of mana deprivation."


    <center><hr>


    *~*~*


    </center>


    Dibbs


    Dibbs bowed his head and, with one last worried glance at Feltz, followed the dungeon''s master into a room she had set aside for their negotiations, as she called it.


    The projection of light seated herself in a comfortable looking padded chair. A low table, set with carved fruits and meat cuts thin enough to see through, occupied the space between her chair and the only other chair in the room. Dibbs chair had started out as an exact duplicate of the Design Lead''s, but the second day of these negotiations it had changed height and the cushions had firmed, making it more to Dibbs'' preference. Neither he nor she had said anything about it. The chair for Dibbs was the same as yesterday and he eased into it, controlling the need to tremble at the memory of having his very soul gripped by the void the dungeon''s master so casually conjured.


    Without seeming to pay him any great attention, she said, "That really bothered you. I''m sorry. Please, feel free to take the time you need to compose yourself. He''s a very stubborn creature, isn''t he?"


    Dibbs found himself grimacing in agreement. "That''s a kind way to put it."


    The Design Lead leaned back. "He really is fortunate that my grandmother''s nearly as bad as he is. Otherwise, I might not have the perspective to be patient with him. Candy wouldn''t agree, but Mamaw had already decided that Candy needed her protection by the time I was born. Family dynamics are always convoluted, to some degree. Maybe that''s just relationships in general. Like yours with your mentor."


    There was a shrewdness in the way she said that last bit that raised the hairs on the back of Dibbs'' neck. "What do you mean by that?"


    Her voice came across as musing, philosophical. "Diversity can be a wonderful thing, but it also incites fear. The world my friends and I come from, there are only humans at a level this Tapestry System would consider Aware, but that just means that we have more time to see the differences between our types of human. The continent of ancestral origin, and the customs inherited along with our ancestry, tend to be the major lines of distinction, but it can often be worse the more alike two factions are. Well, at least until they can identify a common enemy to wage war upon. I haven''t truly seen enough to be sure, but I get the impression that the dungeons of Rhofhir act as a unifying force for all the Aware races."


    Dibbs wrapped his hands around the arms of his seat to keep them from shaking. He glanced toward the doorway, not at all reassured to see that wards against eavesdropping were already in place. Swallowing against the dread clamping around his throat, he asked, "How so?"


    "Dungeons exist to breathe mana into Rhofhir, and the easiest way to do that is to send out monster hordes. However, a dungeon that remains well harvested manages the same purpose. It acts as a reason for the Aware races to prioritize cooperation over conflict.


    "How that affects your mentor and you, well, the same things that made Mamaw decide to protect Candy have made it easier for her to interface with the Grand Tapestry than talk to another sapient being, and we''re getting the information needed to operate dungeons. Candy believes it may be less restricted than the information available to the general populace of Rhofhir. Or perhaps it is just differently restricted. When we linked up with the dungeon of [Priesley''s Folly], Candy discovered that we have access to a far more detailed view of the statuses of our contracted creatures than an Aware individual is capable of sharing with another being. An Aware contractee can see all of the details of any monstrous sapient contractee or below, but only the Zone Arbiter ¡ª that would be me ¡ª can see all the details of Aware contractees'' statuses. You have the hidden title [Dungeon Born]. Your mentor doesn''t know that, does he?"


    Dibbs had to swallow the vomit that burbled up his throat with his fear. He did not speak.


    The Design Lead''s expression softened. "I feel sorrow that you''re getting the raw end of things, but not enough to give up my friend. I''ve come to accept that you and Brad are both sincere in your belief that if you release him, the Arcane Asylum will react with extreme violence first, both to him and to you. I''m dropping that requirement for your new contract. In addition, I''m willing to add three guarantees.


    "First, I have not, nor will I, disclose your nature as a dungeon born human without your honest consent. That''s a freebie, my apology for forcing you into this position to start with.Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel.


    "Second, I will provide you with as fully stocked of a wizard''s laboratory or study or whatever you wish to call your workspace here in the dungeon with the understanding that what you experiment with and discover will likely be added to the Studio''s repertoire of techniques.


    "Third, after Brad frees himself ¡ª with or without our aid ¡ª from your control, you will have the opportunity to renegotiate a contract that will prevent you from being bound to another dungeon without your consent. That you''re getting because Brad respects you. He doesn''t trust that the control formation isn''t screwing with his emotions, and I think it will be in his best interest to realize that it has nothing to do with his sympathy for your situation.


    "In no way will I cede to you the right to constrain Brad''s mind, his emotional heart, or his soul with that damned control formation.


    "That''s my starting point. We''ve danced around enough. Now it''s time for you to tell me what you want and what you''re willing to concede to get it."


    Dibbs didn''t even have to think. "A similar autonomy, under the constraint that I not act against Brad''s best interests."


    "Or the Studio''s?" the Design Lead tacked on with an arched brow.


    "I''ll concede that for Feltz''s safety," Dibbs said, his stomach churning at the risk he was taking.


    The Design Lead was quiet for several long heartbeats while her light projection made a show of studying him. Then she said, "On the condition that Archmage Reibsamak Feltz takes no hostile action against myself, my Territory Managers, Brad, or the creatures or structures of the Studio, neither I nor any contractee of the Studio will take a hostile action against him. Now, we both know that he''s going to be verbally hostile, so I''ll even limit the amount of hostility with which my contractees respond to him to the most hostile he''s been in the prior seven days."


    That was far more generous than Dibbs could have hoped for. "Three days." The words slipped out without his volition.


    The Design Lead, in a firm tone, said, "Seven."


    "Four?" Dibbs pushed.


    "Did you want that to be fourteen?"


    Dibbs decided to quit while he was ahead. "Seven. Thank you."


    "[Offer Contract]:[Casper Dibbons]."


    <center><hr>


    *~*~*


    </center>


    Atolandr


    "I''m not sure I heard what you just said," the guild master of the Priesley''s Folly branch of the Adventurers Association said.


    The trio of high tier adventurers sitting across from him grinned. They called themselves Bergma''s Hounds, being that they were two wolf kin following the lupine Bergma. Their closed jaws made their smiles more of a baring of teeth than a friendly gesture.


    Bergma leaned forward, nonchalantly scratching behind his low seated ears. "It''s simple, Atolandr. Just because these people say they''re in control of the dungeon doesn''t mean that they are. We''re not even asking for your formal permission. Just an inattentive guard. We''ll see what''s really going on, collect from our client, and share the information with you."


    The big bear kin refrained from rubbing his forehead. He already had all the confirmation he needed, but Bergma and his Hounds had always been a very reliable team. They had to be, considering that most of Priesley''s Folly were cat kin and elves. Neither race particularly trusted lupines and their ability to dominate wolf kin packs. "You sure you''re not being set up?" Atolandr asked.


    The lupine shrugged. "Once born, death is the only certainty, my friend. I''m taking precautions, but I have to admit that''s more from habit than genuine concern."


    "Fine. When do you want to walk in?"


    "We can be ready to go in the time it takes you to guzzle down some honey," Bergma said, his jaw dropping into a more relaxed smile.


    Atolandr chose to ignore the playful jab and just grunted while rising. "You''ll go in under a stealth cloak. I''ll go let the guards know you''ll be down shortly. I want to be on hand if those Travelers catch you playing in their puddle."


    <center><hr>


    *~*~*


    </center>


    Candy


    Due to her ability as a Territory Manager to communicate directly with the golem core, Candy handled most of the fine tinkering required to get Larry operational in his new construct body. She happily lost herself in examining the way the connections between the core and the construct lined up, how those connections firmed up with a combination of magnetic and mana-driven stabilizers that held the core suspended in the center of the core cavity. The stabilizers allowed for highly directed pulses of mana to travel through what turned out to be an artificial nervous system.


    "This is just amazing," she said to Brad, narrating her observations to him. "I mean, seriously, this could be the key to fully responsive prosthetic limbs!"


    Brad nodded along, but seemed less amazed than his lab partner. "The mages of Rhofhir have a pretty good grasp on the applications of mana, but they have barely scratched the surface of metallurgy, for example. They rely too much on mining dungeons for their resources, and the Grand Tapestry for research."


    "You sound pissed off by that," Candy said, dropping into her neutral face.


    Brad shrugged. "A little bit. I got the impression that there are mages that start off wanting to do actual, honest research, but that curiosity gets trained out of them with the emphasis the mage schools place on refining [Skills] instead of developing their own."


    Larry''s tail twitched, drawing their attention back to the golem they were experimenting with and off the mages that made that possible.


    "Speech test ready," Larry said. The voice was of a higher pitch than Candy had expected.


    They went through the various operational tests, many based on Brad''s own experience getting used to his new body. At the end of it, Brad said, "Looks like Larry''s doing pretty well for just waking up. It took me about a week to get used to movement. I''m not sure how that will translate, seeing as he isn''t having to unlearn walking to pick up slithering." Looking at the other golem, Brad asked, "How are you feeling, mate?"


    "Please clarify the question," Larry answered.


    "Right," Brad said, more to himself than anyone else. "He''s not sapient."


    "And not getting visual data," Candy said, frowning. A red hued hologram sprang up, a notation toward the bottom attributing it to Larry''s structure. As Brad watched, Candy updated the hologram to match what was currently going on with their new golem core. Then she overlaid the scans they had taken of Brad, using blue for his schematics because it was closer to the green he liked and would render the matching parts of the schematics purple, a color she preferred.


    The hologram shifted to mostly purples with a fine web of red lines laying over the top. Candy checked in with Larry and discovered that he was receiving very fine tactile information. "Brad, how sensitive is your skin?" she asked.


    Brad shrugged. "I feel pressure, no pain. We would have to run tests to determine the actual range, but I haven''t had problems with strength control for fine work."


    "Just pressure? Not temperature?" Candy asked.


    "No. Temperature is a non issue for golem-me."


    Candy sucked in her cheeks and nibbled on the inside of her bottom lip as she considered. After a moment, she said, "I''m not seeing any difference between the schema for you and Larry except for what Lena did, and that seems to be giving Larry a wide range of wave form sensitivity. I''m tempted to say it''s like his skin has become some odd mix of heat pits, eyes, ears, and barometer all at once. I have to poke at Lena about this."


    ?Hey, cous?? Candy poked over the G.C.


    ?Emergency?? came the distracted question.


    ?No,? Candy said, guessing what was coming next.


    Lena surprised her by asking, ?How much attention??


    That was new. ?What did you do to Larry''s sensory inputs??


    Lena''s wisp toon popped into the lab. "The colors of mana stones match various types of affinities, right? I change the mana affinities when I use [Applied Color Theory]. That changed the balance of the mana channels, so I reset the balance. The channels are quite fine, very delicate on their own, but weaving the channels into something more durable also helped restore the balance." Lena''s wisp hovered over Larry then Brad. "As far as I can tell, you just didn''t put any restrictions on the things that Larry can identify, but Brad''s channels have been throttled down to something a human psyche can handle."


    "How can you tell all this?" Brad asked.


    "Dungeon senses," Lena said. "Every sensor Candy builds, every tool my cores get to study, they all expand what I can feel, detect, and understand. I have to route most of the raw information through my cores, though, and all I''m personally getting is more of a weird sensation I don''t even have words to describe. Aaron and I both got skills for guiding monster creation during the link up with [Priesley''s Folly]. That might be factoring in, too."


    Brad slumped back. "That is so broken!"


    Lena''s wisp bobbed up and down. "You lose some, you win some. I need to use my full focus now. I''ll check in later and you can tell me if you need anything else."


    Lena didn''t wait for them to respond. Her wisp just blinked out


    <center><hr>


    *~*~*


    </center>


    Bergma


    "Boss, we can still back out of this, you know." Halradien spoke with his head downcast and his voice soft, even as he filled his vest with sneak balls and smoke bombs.


    "You got the coin for a trip home?" Bergma asked, already knowing the answer.


    Kizmel grunted. "Not your problem if we don''t," she said, settling the straps of her leather cuirass into a more comfortable position before tightening the buckles.


    "Yes, it is, dame. You chose to be my Hounds; I chose to accept your fealty. Your minds and hearts are mine to guard as my body is yours to shield. You''ve never half-way shielded me. Why would you think I would ever half-way guard you?" It was a familiar back and forth. Halradien and Kizmel both loved the thrill of delving, but hated the idea of Bergma being in a dungeon. Bergma wasn''t about to leave them without magical support in such a magically volatile place.


    "Don''t you ''dame'' me, pup! I work for a living!" Kizmel snapped back, her jaw dropping with a canine grin.


    "Work? Bah! You''re having too much fun for this to be work!" Bergma shot back.


    The difference between a wolf kin and a lupine in appearance had more to do with where their ears sat on their heads, the length of their muzzles, the density of their fur, and a subtle difference in their posture. A wolf kin''s ears sat more toward the top of their head, usually with a touch more point to their tips. Their muzzles were twice the length of a lupine''s, their fur more coarse and thick, a small kind of natural armor. Lupine chests were flatter, their hips more horizontally aligned, which made it easier for them to stand as broad as the elves did. Wolf kin had a natural posture ready to leap forward, or duck and dodge. The wolf kin made for excellent melee fighters, and the lupines had always had more of a propensity for mana manipulation.


    It hadn''t taken the trio long to gear up, mostly because they had long ago taken to carrying their possessions with them at all times in spatial rings. The rings had been pricey, but it beat worrying that whosoever happened to be their current landlord would look the other way as local boys picked through their belongings. That only had to happen twice before Bergma was able to convince his Hounds that the spatial storage wasn''t just a fancy toy he''d taken a liking to.


    Atolandr may have done his best to perpetuate the stereotype of grumpy bear kin, but as long as one didn''t threaten one of his people, his grump was mostly for show. Threaten one of his and one didn''t have to worry about his grump anywhere near so much as his claws. The Hounds respected that, and so they got along quite well with the East Karth Adventurers Association''s guild master here in the Folly. When one of Atolandr''s clerks handed them each a skill band that replicated [Stealth Cloak], it was a pleasant affirmation of the guild master''s respect for them, not a complete shock.


    They did not need to invoke the [Group Awareness] spell imbued within each member of the Adventurers Association upon their acceptance. The Hounds had worked together for long enough that it had become a permanent enchantment amongst them. When they activated the skill bands they may have lost sight of their companions, but the instinctive awareness of where each Hound stood and a general sense of their intended actions came through their [Group Awareness] enchant.


    Halradien led the way, Bergma in the center, and Kizmel guarded their rear. They gave an unseen bow of respect to Atolandr as they slipped into the dungeon.

 Dungeoning Talks 3

    5.3


    Lena


    A ping came from the core watching the East Karth entrance, announcing the displacement of air into the dungeon about equivalent to a large creature entering. However, no intruder alert followed, so Lena focused her attention on the portal.


    The displacement sensor was one of Candy''s ideas, provoked by the stealthy way the parandrians had of slipping in, dumping bodies for the dungeon to cleanse, and then slipping out, begun once the Lotrot entrance link moved to the [Lotrot Training Floor]. It was far from fool proof, and gave a number of false positives, depending on how the wind was blowing. The fact the warning pinged at all with the East Karth entrance, which was located inside a building, raised Lena''s suspicions.


    She wrapped up her conversation with Brad and Candy, then diverted the whole of her attention to the [Priesley''s Folly] level. It was strange to realize that she could tune in to the level to such a degree that she felt the six separate paw pads tapping along the surface of her dungeon''s floor.


    She debated for a moment whether to just observe the intruders or if she wanted to make an example of these trespassers. While she debated, a ghost of sound whispered from about two meters up from one of those paw pairs. "Well, it''s certainly not the same dungeon we knew."


    "Yeah," another voice whispered back. "The static in the air''s more like a high mana zone outside than a dungeon."


    "[Inspect]." This third voice did not whisper, but did speak quietly. "There''s a Zone Arbiter. On to part two."


    "Already noting the changes, Berg," the second voice said, foregoing whispering for a quiet murmur.


    "[Activate]:[Locate First Sample]," the voice belonging to this Berg said. Nothing happened, though, and he growled and tried again. This time, Lena felt a stream of mana originate from about where Berg stood and attempt to interact with her mana. She could nearly hear the question in the mana of where to find dungeon crystals, like a void seeking to be filled.


    Lena poked Dibbs over the G.C., looping him into what she was witnessing.


    ?Mana scrying,? Dibbs identified, and the sense of what that meant came with his words. Most divination magics were ways of tricking the Tapestry into disclosing information that people had no business knowing, relying heavily on advancing an individual''s [Tapestry Synchronization]. Mana scrying, on the other hand, was more like echolocation and spectrum analysis all in one.


    Too bad for the delvers that they were scrying *inside* her body, where the ambient mana all belonged to her. Her automatic reaction was to reject their attempt to hijack her mana.


    ?May I cast my own scry to see what they are looking for?? Dibbs asked.


    Lena gave that a moment''s thought before saying, ?Sure.? It was a worthwhile way to determine just how much Dibbs could meet her dungeon enhanced senses, as well as a test of his honesty.


    Within a minute, a glowing stick went sailing into the air. Sparks trailed after it, and Lena could feel three bodies drop to her floor and huddle just before the stick exploded with a very loud BOOM.


    ?Wow,? Dibbs said. ?That was a very slip-slap scrying wand. And they were using it for items stronger than it was supposed to ever handle. If you catch the samples that were slotted into the handle, one of them should be mana crystal. I think there may have been some mythril as well.?


    "What the blighted wastes was that!?" a wolf kin howled, sitting up and no longer invisible.


    Another wolf kin shook off the last of his invisibility and rose off a third figure that appeared quite similar to them, but not the same. Lupine, her creature patterns core identified.


    The lupine''s eyes were rolled back in his head and his body shook like he was being tazzered.


    "Kizmel! What the blight!?" Panic had raised every hair on the body of the wolf kin kneeling over the lupine, and he froze.


    The first wolf kin scrambled over to the pair and wrapped her hands around the lupine''s head. "Feedback. I will tear every second of this out of that chid-slurping Shasha as soon as we get back through the gate! Verification run, my tail! That blight spotted chid-slurper!"


    ?Yeah, feedback from the explosion sounds right,? Dibbs said. ?Poor guy probably doesn''t even have a master to apprentice to if he''s using scry wands. Looks like he might have had some promise, too, with how long the feedback is lasting.?


    ?He''ll die from this?? Lena asked, not sure how she felt about it.


    Something complicated rolled over the G.C. from Dibbs before he said, ?If he doesn''t get help, he''ll lose his mana senses and there aren''t many mages who handle being crippled like that well.?


    ?Could you help him?? Lena asked.


    ?Do not ask what you won''t offer,? Dibbs responded, and there was a stark pain filled fury behind his words.


    ?Could you help him?? Lena asked again.


    ?Yes.?


    Lena decided that was a good time to manifest her toon. She also manifested a stretcher that they could buckle their friend onto. "You have two choices right now. Technically three, but you don''t look suicidal. You can take your friend and go seek help outside of my dungeon or you can accompany your friend while I send him to the mages within my dungeon to render aid. Decide fast."


    The wolf kin jumped in fright at her appearance, then seemed to hear what she said. They exchanged a glance, the larger one nodding to the one kneeling over the lupine. He moved and the larger wolf kin said, "We''ll come with him."


    <center><hr>


    *~*~*


    </center>


    Feltz


    Feltz watched as the dungeon master deposited more captives into their prison. These were wolf kin and a lupine. Dibbs poked Feltz as he hurried past his mentor to reach the lupine, who had been brought in upon a stretcher. "Come on, old man, I could use your help."


    "What with?" Feltz snorted, even as he took in the shivery spasms racking the lupine''s body.


    "Kid without proper training got handed a shoddy mana scry wand with over powered samples, and had to fuel it with his own mana." While Dibbs spoke he intercepted the stretcher and positioned it at a comfortable working height. Crystals popped into existence and floated where he could easily grasp them.


    Feltz was by the stretcher when that happened, and the wonder of what he was seeing, of *his apprentice* performing the kind of casual feats of creation that only the High Archmages of the Arcane Asylum pulled off, sucked out the last bitterness of his trouncing by the dungeon''s master.


    He did not dawdle, working in sync with Dibbs to stabilize the mana tearing itself apart in the lupine''s body. "That from your contract?" he asked, his tone respectful for once.


    "Yes. Two or three S? 400 cap?"


    "The more the better. Feedback isn''t so bad that we can''t act the throttle. Tricky point is when we need to switch the draw off. Boy''s got a lot of potential. Sand for shields."


    Even as Feltz spoke, three of the crystals merged, refined, and glided into Feltz''s reach. Veins of mythril broke the surface of the mana crystal. "[Analyze]."


    *** *** ***


    Mana Storage Gem


    Composition: Diamond (94%) / Mythril (6%)


    Mana Capacity: 40/1200


    Mana Channel: 20S


    *** *** ***


    Feltz very nearly whistled, catching himself just in time. He quickly took hold of the gem and the lupine''s near shoulder, using his own body as a siphon for the chaotic mana, trusting his shields to protect him from the fate of the mage he aided.


    Dibbs took hold of a similar gem and worked from the lupine''s far ankle.


    The Design Lead sent in her light projection and got the wolf kin to back up enough to give Dibbs and him room to work. Feltz divided his attention enough to at least recall what was being said.


    "You''re lucky that Dibbs was willing to render aid. It looks like your friend will live, and may even keep his mana senses," the Design Lead stated. "Now, mind explaining what the ''blight spotted chid-slurping Shasha'' who hired you wanted from your verification run?"


    The two wolf kin had one of those quiet conversations made up of body language and familiarity. The larger of the two, a female, said, "His name is Sha''mekial. He''s the Sun Emperor''s merchant ambassador to Priesley''s Folly. He wanted verification that the dungeon had a Tapestry recognized owner and our report of what materials were still being produced. He gave Bergma a scrying wand with samples he was most interested in embedded in it, and promised to take it out of our pay if any of the samples went missing."Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.


    "I see. Well, I''m not inclined to let you provide him any of that information, which puts us in a bit of an impasse. I''ll give you some time to think of ways around that and send my liaison to discuss your ideas."


    <center><hr>


    *~*~*


    </center>


    Jason


    He wasn''t proud of the string of cuss words coming out of his mouth. No, Jason was too angry to do anything but find some vent for the rage. The way Lena''s toon looked on, her expression so *mild* as he cussed and held himself back from slamming his fists into something, *anything*, only made it worse.


    "God dammit, Lena! Why didn''t you tell us what was going on!" he yelled when he started to lose steam.


    Rob looked on, but stayed silent. Aaron had a deer-in-headlights look on his face as he tried to blend in with the walls of Rob''s house.


    Lena spoke with the kind of calm that made him feel like he was on the verge of berserking. "I am telling you. There was no need to involve you in capturing the adventurers. Do not treat me like an incompetent moron."


    "I know you''re not a moron! We live here, too! Why the hell did you go to the mages ¡ª the people who enslaved our friend!! ¡ª when we''re right here!?" Jason yelled.


    Lena''s toon got a mulish look to her face, narrowed eyes and stubborn jaw stuck out. "You seem to be under the impression that you''re in charge of what goes on inside my body. I am not your property. You don''t like that? You don''t have to stay."


    Rob sucked in an audible breath. "Damn, girl! This ain''t a feminist fight! No need to be kicking people out!"


    Lena''s toon looked to Rob. "You can stuff your labels up a fruit tree. I will not be dismissed because you don''t want to listen to what I''m saying. You are the sovereign of your body. I am the sovereign of mine. It''s that simple."


    "And if we pulled the same kind of shit, you''d have every right to be pissed off with us!" Jason yelled, cutting into Lena''s last sentence.


    "Would I?" Lena asked that question in a dangerous tone while folding the arms of her toon across her chest. "I don''t think so. I think you''d hide behind the lie that you''re better able to handle my business than I am. I gave you the liaison contract because I trusted you to be the best among us to handle the *diplomacy* side of things. I did not ¡ª"


    "Then why aren''t you giving me a chance¡ª"


    Lena''s voice boomed, cutting him off. "DO NOT INTERRUPT ME!" The sheer volume stunned Jason for a moment. "I did not give you that job to be a primary decision maker over *my body*. You don''t seem to be getting that. The Studio is. My. Body. If you cannot handle that truth, I have a walk-about contract ready for you to convert over to so you can go explore this world without it killing you."


    The rejection hit Jason center mass, crumpling the last of his rage. She wanted him gone. He wasn''t good enough. She didn''t want him. He wasn''t good enough.


    Jason turned on his heel and left. What was the point of arguing anymore?


    He didn''t pay attention to the flood of information that accompanied her new contract offer, simply accepting it to be done with it as fast as possible. The pressure in his chest surged for a moment, but he managed to choke the tears down for now. He wasn''t going to cry where anyone could see him. He had more pride than that.


    <center><hr>


    *~*~*


    </center>


    Rob


    "That was cruel, girl. That was straight up cruel." Rob''s gaze followed Jason''s stiff back. He was torn between going after his friend and staying to look after his brother.


    Lena''s toon morphed into a wisp, and she said, "[Offer Contract]:[Walk-About]."


    The details of the contract she had just given Jason filled Rob''s mind, and three things stood out. First, he could return at anytime just by activating the [Recall] guardian ability. It was not an exile. Second, he remained in the G.C. pretty much the way he already was. Third, by carrying a soul gem, he had access to dungeon healing outside the dungeon. He would lose his role as a Territory Manager, but if he wasn''t going to be here anyway that meant little to nothing.


    Rob accepted and two packs that looked a lot like good old Army issue dropped in front of him. A weird not-quite pain pressure in his chest signaled where the soul gem had stashed itself.


    "One is for you, the other is the one Jason ignored," Lena said. "Make Jason wait long enough for the rest of your backup to catch up, please."


    "How''s that?" Rob asked even as got to work putting on one of the packs.


    Lena''s voice came through subdued, tired. "I''m sending you off with a pair of kitteagle scouts, one of the more adventurous Shadow Wolves, and a pair of horses. You''ll have to come up with tack for the horses since I haven''t had a chance to work on that, but they''re all subordinate to you and Jason. The Shadow Wolf will respect you as a higher ranked guardian, but he takes most of his orders from Jason. There''s a spatial bag in each of the packs with Candy''s latest stable toys. You may think I''m being cruel. Maybe I am. I think it''s also what he needs, and I''m glad you''re going with him. Keep in touch, okay? Even if it''s just with Aaron."


    His pack settled, Rob and Aaron said hurried goodbyes, and Rob picked up the other bag, sparing a nod to Lena''s wisp. He caught up to Jason in the [Hall of Portals]. One of the (relatively) smaller Shadow Wolves was sitting on Jason while he yelled at the creature.


    Rob dropped the pack next to Jason''s head and looked at the wolf. "You coming with us?" he asked.


    The wolf nodded. It lacked words, but the wagging tail and canine grin were more than enough to convey its eagerness.


    "What the fuck!" Jason growled at Rob.


    Rob said, "We''re going with you. Along with some more backup. They''re on their way. This is your pack."


    The pair of kitteagles glided in from the [Aviary], soon followed by a pair of horses from [Priesley''s Folly]. The horses wore simple head harnesses, blankets over their backs, and a rudimentary type of stirrups attached to a belly band holding the blankets in place. A pair of baskets held together with leather straps sat nearer the back end of the horses. Rob glanced into one of the baskets and realized they held grains, probably for the horses.


    "Okay, I think we''re good to go," Rob said, at which point the Shadow Wolf stood up and began sniffing the horses. For their part, the horses sniffed back, calm even when the kitteagles decided to roost on their backs, wings stretched out and claws kneading into the blankets.


    "Do you even know how to ride?" Jason asked.


    Rob laughed. "Dude, we were in the Army! Did you not even look at the stables?"


    "What the hell you talkin'' about?" Jason asked, his Alabama accent getting thick.


    Rob shook his head. "Man, how do you not know that every Army base has a stable? They offset the cost of maintaining the Cavalry tradition by hiring out riding lessons. I took a few, mostly to see what it was like."


    "So you know how to ride?" Jason asked.


    Rob shrugged. "It''s not that hard. I wouldn''t try fighting on horseback, though. And I hope Lena put in some helmets for us."


    "We need helmets to ride horses?"


    Rob grinned, figuring he had successfully distracted Jason, and kept up the conversation as they walked through to the [Lotrot Training Floor].


    Corporal Ignemrot greeted them before they left the administration building. "What''s going on?" he asked, looking at the horses with more fear than he displayed around the Shadow wolves.


    "We''re going for a ride, Corporal," Rob answered, continuing on in a way that made Ignemrot fall into step beside them. He kept a healthy distance from the horses, even as that put him closer to the wolf.


    "On nightmares?" the corporal asked.


    "Horses," Rob answered.


    "What''s a horse?" the corporal asked.


    Rob pointed with his thumb at the bay mare following him. "That''s a horse."


    "[Analyze]?" the corporal invoked his skill. He stopped while he went through the results, but then hurried to get out of their way. "Well, hide my scales! May I see its teeth?"


    At this point, they were just entering the open space in front of the buildings. Rob glanced to Jason, who shrugged. Rob stopped and took hold of the horse''s nose whispering a few soothing words before sticking his thumb into the corner of the horse''s mouth, in the small gap between its front, clipping teeth and back molars. That forced the horse''s jaw open, which showed off the herbivore''s dental set.


    "That''s ¡­ definitely not a nightmare, then," Ignemrot said, as though that were a profound truth.


    "Nope," Rob said, leading the way to the exit.


    "Are you requesting an escort?" the corporal asked, seeming more settled.


    Rob was ready to say, "Nope," but Jason sighed and spoke first.


    "Corporal Ignemrot, Lena''s decided we would better serve the Studio as fact checkers about the outside world. We''re going to be, I guess you could call it exploring, Rhofhir."


    The corporal frowned and shook his head. "Just the two of you?"


    "Seven of us," Rob corrected, including the non sapients in his count.


    "Wait a moment. I''ll get you an escort into Lotrot and you can hire on guards there. At least a guide. You do not want to be wandering the steppes without someone familiar with them."


    Jason said, "Thank you, Corporal."


    <center><hr>


    *~*~*


    </center>


    Candy


    "I sent Jason and Rob away," Lena said. "They''re going to be exploring Rhofhir, but ¡­"


    Candy searched for Lena on the G.C., ignoring the wisp-ball her cousin projected. She assessed the complicated emotions that Lena couldn''t hide from her, not from her [Tapestry Synchronization] skill, and then spoke. "You''re not God."


    Lena''s wisp shivered through several colors. "What?" she asked.


    "You are not God," Candy restated. "You are not omniscient. You are not omnipotent. You cannot fix everyone''s problems for them, especially when you have your own issues to deal with. You sent them off on a mission we dearly need fulfilled and with support, and of the lot of us, Aaron''s probably the only one of us remaining that would have done as good of a job as they can do."


    "How did you become Miss Insightful all of a sudden?" Lena asked.


    Candy shrugged. "I know you." She glanced at Brad, then said, "And, knowing you, you need a hug about now, right?"


    A bitter, choked sound imitated laughter.


    "Well, try to move your senses into the empty core inside this golem," Candy said.


    Utter silence. Candy began counting the seconds.


    At eleven, she felt Lena''s presence in the G.C. shift.


    At thirty-four, the Tapestry notified her that she had lost control of the empty core.


    At sixty-eight, the golem moved.


    Candy had worked with Brad to give the golem as human-like an appearance and mannerisms as they could. It was still made of stone, but Lena had eyelids to blink, a mouth that could open and close, articulated arms, torso, legs, fingers and toes. And a dress, because Candy was not ready to consider her cousin having naughty-bits, so even the sex-less doll version of Lena''s golem needed clothes.


    "How are your perceptions?" Candy asked.


    "It''s ¡­ weird. I''m still aware of the dungeon like I''ve been since we got here, but now I also have this one spot that''s¡ª. It''s in me and foreign to me, and still me, you know?" Lena''s voice came from the golem''s mouth, slurred by the lack of articulation in the tongue and lips of the stone golem.


    "Okay, that''s a good sign. Now, I''m going to hug you. Do not hug me back, just tell me if it feels like what you''re missing, okay?" Candy said.


    Lena nodded the golem''s head. Candy wrapped her arms around the golem and Lena curled up in that golem body, hugging herself to keep from hugging Candy. "Yes! Yes! Oh, gods above and below, yes! This is exactly what I''ve needed!" Lena said.


    Candy could feel through the G.C. that that wasn''t true, but it was true enough for now.


    "We''ll work on getting you a better avatar, one that you can cry with, and give hugs with without worrying about cracking the person you''re hugging," Candy told her cousin, noting the damage Lena''s self-hug was doing to the prototype body.

 Dungeoning Talks 4

    5.4


    Rhofhir


    Arriving at his Grand Tapestry, the first thing Rhofhir beheld were the bulges of his Weave pushed out of place, tangled and twisted to mimic the passive pattern collectors. Furious at first at the breach in the integrity of his first (working) world, Rhofhir''s temper cooled down to seriously unhappy as he examined just where these weakened Weaves bulged toward. The sapients of his Grand Tapestry were building active pattern collectors. They had also (probably by luck) stumbled upon the means of reading passive mana signatures based on their effect on other types of radiant energy.


    He decided that he would need to study the current state of his Tapestry before starting in on the routine maintenance. At the worst, he was sure he could just re-seed a new Tapestry from the mana regulators. They were also the pattern repositories, and therefore the most hardened against the various types of radiant energy interference.


    <center><hr>


    *~*~*


    </center>


    Dibbs


    "You want to do what again?" Dibbs asked, positive he hadn''t heard right.


    The Design Lead, this time time projecting the images of Brad and two humans along with herself, leaned back in her projected chair. "We need to fix the dungeons that have lost their cores. That''s got political repercussions, so we want to give the people of Rhofhir a chance to nominate the people who will be in charge of protecting the dungeons against further acts of sabotage."


    Dibbs rubbed his forehead and glanced toward Feltz. For his part, the Archmage was finally taking the power of the Design Lead seriously and showing her a similar respect that he gave to any other political leader. Seeing no help there, Dibbs sighed and shook his head. "That''s going to kick start the Unraveling like nothing else will. Any attempt to control the dungeons has ended with catastrophic consequences."


    "How have others attempted to control dungeons?" the woman introduced as Candice Sterling asked.


    With a gesture to his mentor, Dibbs said, "That''s more Feltz''s speciality than mine, but slaving the dungeon cores just leads to the dungeons imploding. That was how Karth became East and New Karth."


    Feltz cleared his throat. "Variations on that theme, mostly. Dungeon cores aren''t sapient, and there seems to be a significant amount of unknowns they regulate on their own. However, once someone leashes them, they do only what they are instructed. That makes the cores of the smaller dungeons quite valuable for the creation of magical artifacts, but not one of the people with the power to wrest a dungeon core from even a mid-tier dungeon is insane enough to try that. The Adventurer Guilds have had the most success with simply seeding and careful management of the harvesting of the dungeons."


    Brad fluffed his feathers and looked to Lena. "How are you managing your cores?"


    The Design Lead shrugged. "I designate their purpose when I spawn them, assign them the permissions they need to fulfill their purpose, and keep an eye out for things going funky."


    "You assign them permissions? What does that mean?" Feltz asked.


    Sterling snapped her fingers. "Arbiter! How many of the people taking control of the cores have been Zone Arbiters?"


    Dibbs just blinked at the woman in confusion.


    Feltz, however, shrugged. "If anyone knows how to be become this Zone Arbiter, they''re not talking. I''ve found a record of maybe three ever existing."


    The man with the Design Lead''s group raised his hand and said something that was not projected into the meeting room on the [Prison] level. Their images immediately blurred and stayed that way for maybe a minute. When the projections came back into focus, the Design Lead said, "Okay, we''ve got another research topic for the pile. Next point: what do you guys know about something related to Unravelings called the ''Summoning Protocol''?"


    Dibbs drew in a sharp, worried breath. He saw Feltz sucking in his lower lip while he searched his memories. "I don''t know what it does, but it was mentioned in a few tomes from the Sixth Age. There was a suggestion that it has something to do with a point of no return in the Unravelings, where the concern should shift from prevention to survival. Why do you ask?"


    "Well, sugar on a stick," the Design Lead said. "Candy found a reference to it being triggered if things get wonky with the in- and out- take of mana through the Tapestry. The intake side is handled by dungeons, and the mess in Karth may have already triggered the protocol depending how much of the mana intake is overseen by the dungeons that have had their cores stolen."


    Dibbs and Feltz looked to each other. Feltz sighed, looking old all of a sudden. "Your pardon, Design Lead, but at this point I must inform the Arcane Asylum of the potential danger."


    "Great. Tell them to send representatives along. I''m hosting, of course."


    <center><hr>


    *~*~*


    </center>


    *** *** ***


    The Zone Arbiter of the Dungeon Zone [Studio of Capricious Dreams], Design Lead Lena Marie Weston, invites all who desire to attend a World Council on the future of Dungeon Management. Temporary portals to the [Studio of Capricious Dreams] will open five days from now, several kilometers distant from each Tapestry-recognized Aware population center. Entrance through the temporary portals will require agreement to a limited contract of non hostility.


    *** *** ***


    <center><hr>


    *~*~*


    </center>


    Lena


    ?Sugar berries, honey, ice and tea! I can''t do this!? Panic like Lena hadn''t ever experienced made her feel like she was choking despite her lack of lungs or throat.


    ?Yes, you can!? Candy said, even if her voice shook a little.


    Something else slipped in through the G.C., calm pushed like a bow wave before Dibbs'' words. ?If this helps, then that''s probably just something like the dragons'' [Fear Aura]. You did a beautiful job of providing them an aerie, by the way. They''ll settle down once they see the dwarves have to abide by their non hostility contracts as much as they do.?


    Brad and Larry returned from their last stage check. "We''re ready, milady," Brad said.


    Lena''s toon bit her lip. "You''re still pissed with me," she said.


    "Damn skippy, but now is not the time to focus on that. We''ve got bigger fish to fry. It''s time to start this World Council and decide what we''re going to do from here on out."


    Lena forced herself to separate more from her toon. She did not want her toon to give away her feelings. She wanted Jason here, too, but not the Jason of the last month, the one who had an increasing inability to accept Lena being responsible for herself, the one who wouldn''t listen to what she was asking for his help on. The Jason who thought he knew what she needed and damn what she knew had become more of a strain on her patience than a friend.


    That wasn''t helping. That thought loop needed to stop.


    Mentally bracing herself, Lena presented the opening statement.


    She knew this was a seat-of-the-pants affair, and probably a political snub to nearly every nation on Rhofhir, but the urgency she felt to fix the directionless dungeons was driving her to *decide* and to *act*. She could feel that hounding pressure like the first nips of insanity. The choices she could see were craptacular, she wasn''t the only one affected by what she did, and maybe someone here had a better idea. That and the constant making needed to get this meeting going had been all that kept her from integrating every dungeon on Rhofhir into her own.


    She was working very hard on not thinking about the bloodshed that had occurred outside so many of her temporary portals as various factions fought to control who could and could not participate in this meeting. All she could do was prevent anyone from committing intentional acts of harm within her dungeon.This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source.


    To further limit the possibility for her dungeon turning into a war zone, each temporary portal was linked to a contained area on the reworked and vastly expanded [Prison] level, now known as the [Dungeon] level. The creation of the temporary space to house what turned out to be a quarter million Aware sapients had required expanding the mana crystal density of her dungeon by two thirds, and leaving it to the people coming to see to their own comforts. It just wasn''t safe to try creating individualized creature comforts for her guests, seeing as she had no idea what some of them even considered comfortable. She did have her sub-cores analyze without absorbing the things her guests brought, and made sure there were polite places for them to see to their toilet.


    In each of those contained areas, they had set up two stages. The larger produced a holographic display of the current speaker while the smaller was for each contingent''s speaker to stand and await their chance to weigh in on the council. The smaller stages also had a dashboard with two large buttons. One button was embossed with a circle, the other with an X. Brad and Larry had just finished the remote checks for the stages. Dibbs had already confirmed that his translation spells were properly rune-etched into the stages, ensuring that everyone would be able to understand what was being said.


    Currently projected on to each of the display stages, the recording of Lena''s avatar welcomed the participants to this first ever world wide meeting and explained how things would run. Her name and title as recorded within the Grand Tapestry displayed over her avatar, along with a symbol that apparently was related to her [Champion of Order] design.


    Lena''s avatar was saying, "Those who wish to speak should stand upon the Speaking Stages. Initially, the order of those who wish to speak will be determined by the weighted average of their accolades as recognized by the Grand Tapestry. Every Speaking Stage has two buttons. The X," (here an image of the X button showed in front of Lena''s avatar), "is a symbol of disagreement. The circle," (and now the X button became the circle button), "is a symbol of agreement." The image of the button faded out, and Lena''s avatar gestured above her head. "The bar underneath the name of the current speaker will fill from the left as more of the X buttons are pressed, and will fill from the right as more of the circle buttons are pressed. Each button press will register on the bar for a count of ten. A speaker will have three minutes," (an image of a sand timer flashed beside Lena''s avatar), "to state their opinions. Speakers who received this much agreement," (a line about a tenth of the way in from right flashed then faded into the background), "will gain more time. Every speaker will have at least three minutes. Speakers may end their statements early by stepping off the Speaking Stages."


    Lena''s avatar paused, her gaze sweeping out as if attempting to meet each participant''s gaze. "I reserve the right to cut off any speaker who appears to be wasting the time of this gathering. I have invited you here solely to hear your opinions and your counter proposals for ways to prevent dungeons whose cores have been stolen or damaged from becoming threats to the general peace. At this time the Grand Tapestry informs me I am the only living sapient Zone Arbiter, and thus the only individual in a position to take over the regulation of the dungeons.


    "I have already added the dungeon of [Priesley''s Folly] to my [Studio of Capricious Dreams]. Unless a better proposal is put forth at this council, I will do so with any dungeon whose core is removed or damaged to the point that the dungeon is effectively unmanaged. I am willing to assign overseers for particular areas, but how those overseers are assigned will either be at my whim, or by a method that meets with the agreement of 55% of this council. Each portal gets one vote, and a refusal to vote is a vote of disagreement."


    The bar over Lena''s avatar shot from the left to nearly touching the other side. Yeah, not too many people had liked that idea.


    Lena added to her avatar''s script. "I suggest you come to an agreement then."


    The fear redoubled, and Lena really wished she had some way to be anywhere but here.


    Candy hadn''t left off her [Tapestry Synchronization] for a while now, and she had flat out told Lena that she was using that to keep an eye on Lena''s mental health. "Hey, worst to worst, we''re stuck running a DnD dungeon across the entire world. You know we can do that."


    "With real lives on the line?" Lena asked.


    Candy shrugged. "It''s what they were doing before we got here. We can at least find ways to mitigate the dangers. You can''t step down as a Zone Arbiter, can you?"


    Lena''s toon shook her head. "No. I would have to pass it on, and then whatever the next guy does is on my shoulders, without any way for me to make it right."


    Brad shook his head, clearly disagreeing with her. "And you thought Jason was a codependent arse."


    Lena held back a growl. "Jason''s entire sense of worth is wrapped up with how useful he is. I don''t have to be useful; I just won''t shirk the responsibilities that land on my shoulders. It''s a big fruiting difference! Besides, Jason isn''t an ass; don''t put those words in my mouth!"


    <center><hr>


    *~*~*


    </center>


    Aaron


    Aaron quickly found himself ignoring what the speakers were saying in favor of studying the speakers themselves. The Aware races were not just limited to humanoids, though humanoid was a predominant theme. The draconic variants held a breadth of diversity he hadn''t expected, ranging from hive-mind based colonies of dainty 10 cm long burrowing dragons called memmeirs to the massive Ancestral Dragons that would have fit into a DnD campaign.


    He wasn''t sure if he should group all the avian Aware into a super group, like dragons and humanoids, nor was he happy with his tentatively named insectoids. They had the exoskeletal structure that resembled chitin, but they had to have more advanced internal organs just based on their sizes.


    Then there were the water dwelling Aware. Aaron had always been more interested in the biology that would help him as a Game Warden, so he was fuzzy on how to type some of the Aware creatures of the deeps. Piscine, cephalopods, crustaceans, and corals, in addition to the human and draconic chimeras, those he could identify, but he didn''t know what to call the one that looked like some cthulhian nightmare of tentacles, razor teeth, and thorns. Perhaps it was a chimera of the deeps?


    Despite not paying attention to what the speakers said, Aaron picked up that their proposals fell along the same lines:


    ? Place unrestricted control of dungeons in the hands of the cities closest to them.


    ? Place unrestricted control in the hands of the nations claiming territory around them.


    ? Place unrestricted control in the hands of NGOs like the Adventurers / Mages / Merchants guilds and associations.


    ? Close them all down and save the world from the evils of chimeras / monsters / magic / (insert personal bane).


    A taurgonaut lion and lizard man mix was putting forth an idea to have a new Dungeon Masters guild formed when he was forcefully ejected from the Studio.


    The toon Lena was using to address the gathering faded onto the display stage. "For those groups who have not witnessed such ejections, please review the non-hostility portions of the contracts you agreed to upon entering these meeting grounds. Note the section regarding conspiracies to take harmful actions against another attendee, and carefully consider your intentions when acting. I have no desire to police your thoughts, your feelings, your emotions, or what have you, but your actions will not be allowed to disrupt this gathering."


    Then her toon faded out and another speaker, a purple-grey elf, appeared on the display stage.


    Aaron turned to Candy. "I thought the contract barred them from taking deliberately harmful actions against others."


    Candy shrugged. "Penalty clause. They get ejected from the Studio and the [Contract Breaker] design gets applied to them. They have to keep their contracts for the next three years to get that removed."


    According to their calculations, it would take something like six days for every group to have one person among them have their say. This was the third day.


    "So, how many have been kicked out for that?" Aaron asked.


    Candy stuck her tongue out at him. "Look for yourself. I''m not a librarian. You have the same access I have and I''m busy."


    Aaron frowned. "Well, sorry I''ve offended you," he said.


    Candy''s face scrunched up with obvious frustration, but she said nothing for several moments.


    Aaron had already sent out his query to the master contract core, and the numbers made him blink. Eleven percent of participants had been expelled on the first day for intended harms, and another three percent the day before. Six entire groups of delegates had been expelled, only one of which had been replaced. That was over 30,000 people kicked out over the desire to fight.


    "Do you like it when Rob treats you like a child?"


    The non sequitur threw Aaron off. "Excuse me?" he asked.


    Candy repeated her question.


    "Of course not!" Aaron said, not liking where this was going.


    Candy said, "Even I can see that''s your hot button. Mine is being treated like a junior assistant. I will not pussy foot around your ego, and I don''t expect you to pussy foot around mine. I do not understand how to pussy foot around egos, and, frankly, there are a lot more interesting things in this world to discover than diplomacy. Take me as I am, or don''t."


    "Are you trying to shake me?" Aaron asked.


    "Mamaw Ruthy taught us that getting to a fast ''no'' is better than drawing out a long ''maybe''. This is who I am. If you do not want to be around me as I am, it''s better for you to figure that out now instead of a year or three down the road. This isn''t about me trying to make you walk away or whatever. This is me making sure you''re seeing *me*, without any filters, as I am with the people who are close to me."


    "Is that what Lena was doing with Jason, then?" Aaron used the distraction to give himself some time to consider what Candy was saying.


    She shook her head. "Nope. I don''t think so, at least. Lena''s got a hyper responsibility problem, and she''s head butted a lot with the sub contractors her family pulled in during their remodels. Especially the last couple of years, where her parents were handing over more decisions to her, to justify her earning the money to pick up her own house. Partners either trust each other, or they aren''t partners. I don''t know if Lena gets that her hyper responsibility sometimes comes off as not trusting us to be capable of handling ourselves. I don''t know enough about Jason to know what''s went on with his side of things."


    "So, what, she has to be the boss?" Aaron asked, disturbed by that thought.


    Candy pursed her lips. "I don''t know that it''s that bad, but she is right that there are some decisions that have to be made right then and there, and cannot wait for a discussion in committee."


    "Oh, so, not letting us near Feltz was a then-and-there decision?" Aaron asked, not bothering to hide his sarcasm.


    Candy sighed and leaned into Aaron''s shoulder. "That whole thing is a cluster fuck. Feltz scares her, and I mean, deep down terrifies her because of what he could do to us. Hyper responsible, remember? And Jason wasn''t giving her enough time to calm down and think about anything but protecting us from him."


    Aaron frowned. "For someone who doesn''t know how to pussy foot around egos, you seem to understand them a lot better lately."


    "I''m using [Tapestry Fusion] to emulate the [Empathy] skills. It''s not something I can do in the moment. Not yet, at least. But it''s great for post debacle analysis."

 Dungeoning Talks 5

    5.5


    Lena


    In the end, it still took six days before everyone who wanted to speak got the chance. Several of the communities present declined the opportunity, but a number of orators won sufficient endorsement for extended speeches.


    Lena poked the mental play button for her avatar as the last speaker stepped down. The image of who she had been took the display stage ¡ª the Lena born on Earth with brown hair and blue eyes, human. She had draped her avatar in a toga-like dress, imitating many of the fashions of their guests.


    "All communities have had the opportunity to speak. Of the proposals put forth, I have heard what comes to an essential of four options.


    "The first option is to seek dungeon managers from the cities nearest the affected dungeons. The second is that those managers be sought from the nations claiming the territories wherein the dungeons lie. Third is to appoint dungeon managers from some sort of world-spanning guild, whether that be an existing one or one newly formed for the purpose. The fourth option advanced will only lead to a swift Unraveling, but I shall include that in the voting choices: to close down all access to every dungeon everywhere.


    "At the end of one skymark, I will begin the voting. Each proposal will be weighed on its own merit ¡ª each delegation may vote their approval for all four. Should more than one proposal achieve the 55% approval threshold, the next round of voting will require that each delegation provide no more than one approval vote.


    "Take this time to discuss your votes amongst yourselves. When it is time to vote, the display stage will light up. Each proposal will receive three minutes of voting time, during which the last recorded press of the buttons on the speaker stage will be counted as that delegation''s vote."


    Very deliberately, Lena avoided addressing any of the questions cast upon her character over the last six days, choosing to simply turn off the display stages at that point.


    None of the delegates present had much, if any, reason to trust her. Not even the people from Lotrot, whose delegation apparently included most of their Assembly. No, she knew that she was a giant ball of crystallized honey in their cake batter, and perhaps if she cared about them beyond her instinct to preserve life she might care what they thought.


    As it was, the only opinions she held sacrosanct were those of her cousin and, to a lesser extent, their friends. They held her loyalty.


    Not for the first time, Lena reached along the contract binding Jason and Rob to her, a light touch, just a quick check that they were alive and in good spirits. She didn''t think Jason had ever noticed her doing it, and she had improved quite a lot since Candy called her out on her so-called spying.


    It wasn''t spying, though! She wasn''t any more or any less aware of what her friends did in her dungeon ¡ª in her body ¡ª by looking through their contract bonds than when she used her own senses.


    ?Hey, gloomy, you gonna keep moping or get your butt over to the [Commons] for our conference?? Candy''s acerbic tone broke through Lena''s murky introspection.


    Lena popped her toon into the [Commons], alighting on the couch arm next to her cousin. Aaron claimed the seat with Candy while Brad and Dibbs took separate seats. "I''m here. What''cha need?"


    "What do you think the vote''s going to look like?" Candy asked.


    Lena shrugged. "I think the local control is going to be popular, but the various guilds seem to have a lot of power. With the choices boiled down, we might have a run off vote between the two, and then some back and forth over the actual implementation making the difference."


    Dibbs narrowed his gaze at Lena''s toon. "You don''t seem to care that much, despite the effort you''re putting forth."


    "I''m ¡­ dealing," Lena said, not trying to look any way but how worn down she felt. "When we first got the details worked out, I was ready to just hand over the cores with their primary purposes and some limiters locked in, all ready to go be activated in the broken dungeons, but we''re too ignorant of all the local politics to just hand over power willy-nilly. At this time, the requirement for me to become flesh and blood again can''t be reached, and the more I have to act for the other dungeons, the more stringent those requirements get. If we had a way to make a zone control core self mobile, then I could attempt that. They''re the only physical patterns I have that are capable of handling all the mana states. Thing is, they aren''t self mobile, nor can I just dump one in a golem body and call it good."


    Brad frowned. "You''re really fused with the dungeon?"


    Candy and Lena nodded.


    Candy said, "She''s somehow been actually grafted into the Grand Tapestry. I think she ended up as a dungeon because it''s a way the Tapestry can isolate her from the core system. And now, well, she can''t *not* be a living mana transformer anymore. Right now, the only thing we have close enough to match that are the zone control cores, but they aren''t any better able to leave a dungeon than Lena currently is."


    "Side issue," Lena said, wishing she had a face to rub. "The thing is, while I am capable of simply handing out the cores, after the fudge nut cluster of the Sun elves tricking us into taking over [Priesley''s Folly] ¡ª which isn''t actually in their damn empire and I was too berry popping naive to confirm whose feet I''d be stepping on first ¡ª I''m not going down that path. Regardless of the level of governance selecting the candidates for the dungeon masters, I will be the one confirming them, and they will be under contract to me."


    "Then why this whole council?" Brad asked, his wings shifting with his confusion.


    Dibbs tipped his head to the side. "You''re looking for legitimacy?" he guessed.


    "In essence," Lena agreed. "It may not matter in the long run, but people already fight over control of the dungeons anyhow. This way, we might get a reprieve on that front, at least long enough for the dungeon masters to figure out how to do their jobs."


    Aaron grimaced, but didn''t repeat his belief that Lena was being too optimistic and naive again. She didn''t need the reminder.


    Dibbs frowned, leaning forward and propping his elbows on his knees while he rested his chin on his fists. "What about your belief that the dungeons must be dangerous?"


    Candy and Aaron turned to look at Lena''s toon with puzzled expressions.


    "What''s this?" Aaron asked.


    Lena slumped her shoulders, then made her toon straighten up. "Unifying threat. As long as monster pits are possible, the races have a vested interest in working together against the monsters. When that''s yanked away, all sides will find it a lot easier to justify hating on the neighbors."


    "What the hell happened to not making waves?" Aaron asked, frowning.This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.


    "That was Jason''s stance," Lena said. "I don''t really have much choice. As it is, I''ve been fighting the compulsion to attach to every single unmanaged dungeon on Rhofhir and bring it under my control. I can''t even plan the expansions properly because the urge is that bad, and the last thing I want to do is be forced to repeat a direct linking like with the Folly."


    Candy nodded the way she did when she forgot that her body reflected her thoughts, more of an up and down bob of her chin than anything else.


    Brad shook his head. "I thought I got caught up on what you lot have been up to, but what the bloody fuck are you planning then?"


    "Candidates, contracts, cores." Lena ticked the points off on her fingers. "We get that taken care of while we give the people who were born on Rhofhir a way to oversee the dungeon masters. Those dungeon masters still have to answer to me so I can ensure that they do the damned job the way it needs doing."


    <center><hr>


    *~*~*


    </center>


    Aaron


    "At least you''re sticking with some version of our plan," Aaron found himself saying.


    Lena''s toon looked at him with a surprised expression. "Sugar on a stick, is everyone pissed off with me?"


    "I''m not," Candy quickly said.


    Aaron closed his eyes and sighed. "You''re trying too hard to be the Lone Ranger, making the rest of us into Silver or Tonto. As our game master, you understood how to give up control enough for each of us to actually be part of the story, but as an actual Dungeon Master? You''re not giving us a chance to be partners, and, frankly, at this point, I''m regretting taking the employment contract with you."


    Lena''s toon froze, becoming a statue of light.


    Brad fluffed his wings and looked away.


    Candy turned to face Aaron, her body stiff and her eyes wide. "Are you ¡ª? Are you leaving?"


    Aaron shook his head, then thought about it. "You know, maybe I''ll take one of those D.M. contracts ¡ª if you haven''t changed it from what you and Rob nailed down, Lena?"


    "I haven''t," Lena''s voice whispered from the walls, her toon remaining still. "Would you be ¡ª?"


    "No," Aaron said, cutting off Lena''s question before she could finish it. "I told you when you roped me into speaking with Ignemrot that I wasn''t going to be your new Liaison until you apologize to Jason and mean it. Well, I meant that."


    "Okay." The tone held despondency, but Aaron steeled his heart. He didn''t like being the lance to other people''s emotional boils. No one really liked the pus that came out, but better to lance early than deal with a deeper infection. Right?


    "Okay," Lena said again, her voice firming and her toon animating once more. Nuances of shifting expressions breathed a facsimile of life into the form Lena chose to interact with them. "Well. I won''t hold you where you don''t want to be. Are there any other bombshells to drop? I mean, this is such a great time, right?"


    Dibbs said, "As interesting as the drama is, I suggest we stay on the topic of this conference. I''m far from a political man and I can still tell you that you had a solid twenty of the most politicly powerful sapients on Rhofhir among the speakers. Given that they all had different ideas on how to run things, whatever decision you come to will anger at least one faction. Do you have any contingency plans for the interference they''re going to push at you?"


    Lena''s toon shrugged. "Dungeons have to work a certain way. As long as that''s met, and no one''s trying to kill off my friends or me, I would prefer the most peaceful means of making things work, but if that''s not an option, well, dungeons are already in a semi-antagonistic relationship with the sapients. I''ll make my own dungeon masters if I can''t get a good set of volunteers from the people born here. Dungeon masters will always have the same innate right of self defence that any being has. Beyond that, a dungeon''s purpose is to put a regulated flow of conditioned mana out into the world. How that happens is all about how well people get along with the dungeon masters."


    "That was a long winded no," Brad said.


    "Hey!" Candy said, her voice loud and her angry face on. "The snipping is not helping!"


    Brad opened his mouth, but didn''t speak. Instead, his gaze grew distant and he stuck his tongue out, tapping the top of his nose. "My will is down. Apologies for the distraction."


    "Lena?" Candy made her cousin''s name sound like a warning.


    Lena''s toon made eye contact with Candy''s gaze and they, rather obviously, had a quick and private conversation over the G.C. Lena''s toon nodded. "Apology accepted, and I''m sorry you''re feeling provoked."


    Aaron set his hand on Candy''s shoulder. "Let it go," he suggested, anticipating that that wasn''t quite what Candy wanted from her cousin.


    Candy closed her eyes and drew in a deep breath. "Okay."


    "So," Aaron said, "Dibbs, long-short is that no, we don''t know enough to come up with an actual plan. We have our principles defined, and we have safeguards in place in case people come storming our castle, but that''s all we can do."


    Dibbs clicked his tongue and unfocused his gaze. "That''s better than nothing."


    <center><hr>


    *~*~*


    </center>


    Lena


    The display stages flashed to life, Lena''s avatar ¡ª that fake copy of her toon meant to play the role of a composed being ¡ª took shape. She watched on as her avatar repeated the instructions for voting, and sighed at the number of people ejected from her dungeon for breaking the anti-hostility portions of their entrance contracts.


    "We will start the voting with local communities putting forth candidates for dungeon masters," her avatar announced, and the opinion bar took on a preeminent position within the view of the delegates. The 55% approval mark glowed, just to make the goal explicitly clear.


    In the first thirty seconds, 23% of the bar had filled in from the disapproval side, while 42% approval showed. Over the three minute voting time, the numbers shifted slightly, with the final tally standing at 49% approval for local selection and 24% rejection. That left 27% rejecting by omission.


    During the voting for regional candidate selection, the vote bar shifted wildly as most of the elven communities ended up with two members playing some version of button smashing to get their views counted. Several hundreds more people ended up being ejected at this point.


    The final vote tally returned 38% approval, 41% rejection, and 21% omission.


    Voting for the guild option was much more sedate, and the numbers held quite steady from start to end, with 47% approval and 43% rejection.


    The vote to close all dungeons didn''t even get up to 1% approval, with only 3% omitting to vote in rejection of the idea.


    Lena''s avatar took center stage again, the opinion bar fading to near non-existence. "None of the proposals put forth reached the consensus mark, which leaves the assignment to my whim. However, I find it very interesting that both the local and the world spanning guild options got such a large chunk of approval.


    "Dungeons must produce conditioned mana. Maintaining oversight prevents that conditioning coming as monster swarms, and allows for harvesting more material resources from dungeons. Each Adventurer guild, each merchant guild, each crafts guild, and each independent polity are invited to select representatives to remain for a discussion of how to form a Dungeon Masters guild. No current member of those guilds will be eligible for admission to the Dungeon Masters guild. This conference closes when the sun sets for the second time from now along the Maltese Rimward Trade Road."


    That would give the participants a full day to pack up and leave while the various organizations invited to the second conference selected their representatives.


    <center><hr>


    *~*~*


    </center>


    Rhofhir


    The stretched and tattered threads of Rhofhir''s pattern collectors led him in several directions. Most traced along toward other of his project worlds, and those were easily darned. However, the few that snaked to the edge of his domain (out of the currents of his manasphere) held interesting promises woven among their threads. Rhofhir picked at those promises, the patterns of the thread weaving that revealed the work of a cultivator with the potential to ascend. Keeping hold of those patterns while he repaired the pattern collectors to their more passive state provided Rhofhir with an interesting diversion. He found his curiosity wakening and delighted in the sensation. What kind of sapient had woven these translation formations?


    That delight offset the regret he felt at having to sacrifice some of his active mana to repair the tear to his manasphere. The waste bothered the universal divinity less than the potential of his shed mana to interfere with another divinity''s projects.


    Well, a simple mention to Morningstar when the cosmic divinity next checked in was the best Rhofhir could do. Thrusting himself into another universal divinity''s manasphere was no less than an act of war. The occasional puffs of the other divinities'' mana were annoying, but they were only dangerous if the divinity receiving them had slipped into a somnolent state.

 Dungeoning Talks 6

    5.6


    Aaron


    The stone in Aaron''s hands pulsed a dim green glow along the left edge. He turned himself until the pulsing glow happened along the edge perpendicular to himself, checked that his cloak and sand mask sat as they should, and walked away from the ridge where Lena had opened a temporary portal into the mana wastes.


    Buttercup stopped fighting her barding and the mask covering her face when the winds stirring this part of the wastes reached her.


    ?Easy, girl. It shouldn''t be too long,? Aaron told her over their private G.C.


    She did not deign to reply.


    Aaron had three spatial storage devices on his person, a bag filled with food and odd devices Candy had made, another bag holding material samples, and the last a ring filled with depleted dungeon crystal, shaped into a variety of mana stones, the better to soak up any ambient mana that might harm either Aaron or Buttercup before they finished the first stage of their task.


    He hoped they did not need to use any of the mana stones before reaching the back door into the raging dungeon.


    The stone acting as his guide grew brighter over the course of an hour''s walk. Lena had warned that she made her temporary portal for him as close to the unmanaged dungeon''s as possible, but that wasn''t a guarantee that he would find it "close".


    During that time, the winds grew in intensity, fog rising with disorienting lights flashing through the low clouds. Buttercup walked pressed against Aaron''s right side, a low growl rumbling through her chest.


    What felt like another hour passed as they walked into the winds and the fog, the stone guiding their way lighting up ever brighter. Odd tingles made the muscles in Aaron''s hands shake. He heeded the warning that the Lotrot corporals gave their newer soldiers, and pulled one of the mana stones out of his spatial ring, using it to cast a mobile version of the shield spell the delvers often practiced.


    A few more steps, Buttercup slinking through the sands between his legs, and their guide stone abruptly stopped shining. Instead, it strained against his grasp, pulling Aaron forward.


    *** *** ***


    You have entered Dungeon Zone [Whispering Trees].


    *** *** ***


    Buttercup surged from her slinking spot, her roar ear-splitting at this proximity, and smacked a pygmy naga into the ground. Aaron watched its spear go flying, and hoped that he would be quick enough as he altered his spell into the more defensive [Shield] the delver Rangers used.


    One spear got caught in his shield, the tip centimeters from his shoulder, but the rest clattered to the floor.


    Well, crap. Aaron didn''t think he would get any deeper into the dungeon than this. He twisted the guide stone until it came apart along a nearly unnoticeable seam. Inside, an inert Zone Control Core lay, looking like a quartz sculpture of a pentagonal star wrapped in silver, copper, and gold.


    "This better work," Aaron said, even as he pushed through his private G.C. to the core. ?[Activate]!? he commanded.


    Light flared in the core.


    A small, snakelike body struck Aaron''s shield.


    *** *** ***


    You hold the contract of the only Zone Control Core within this zone. No arbiter is present. Do you wish to become the Zone Arbiter of the Dungeon Zone [Whispering Trees]? Y/N


    *** *** ***


    ?Yes,? Aaron said.


    Light filled his every sense, the taste of green harmonizing with the melody of yellows and oranges, while soothing blues washed over his skin. Colors he had no names for rolled over him, lifting his soul out of his flesh.


    And then there was peace.


    Left behind, the new structure core for [Whispering Trees] began by contracting every creature born of the dungeon. As it went about its work, Buttercup stood guard over the prone form of her human.


    <center><hr>


    *~*~*


    </center>


    Candy


    "We should have heard from him by now," Brad said.


    "Mm-hmm," Candy agreed, pushing her own worries to the side.


    Lena''s voice echoed from the walls. "He''s rather busy at the moment. The storm that dungeon''s kicking up in the mana wastes may be easing up a lot, but it is still going."


    "But what if he''s got mana poisoning?" Brad asked.


    Candy watched as Feltz, strangely on his best behavior, shaped a golem on the work bench she had made for guests. He was too focused on the golem to not be paying them attention.


    Lena said, "If he had mana poisoning, or had come to any harm, he would have already been recalled here for healing. Its part of his contract. His soul gem is healthy and active, and so is Buttercup''s."


    "But¡ª" Brad began again.


    Candy laid her hand on his near wing. "Easy. You weren''t here when we helped Lena with linking up [Priesley''s Folly]. That had three of us working every waking moment, with multiple floors and structural support cores ready to soak the extra mana, and it still took about a week to wrap up. Aaron''s got one core and himself. Have a little faith."


    Brad rubbed his head and sighed. "I''m worried."


    "Me, too, but Aaron knows how to holler if he needs help." If she said that often enough, maybe Candy would believe it, too.


    <center><hr>


    *~*~*


    </center>


    Aaron


    Orderly. He liked that word. He liked that feeling better, he decided, absently adjusting soil here and strengthening a burrow there. Life filled him, with one life in particular standing out.


    That life was the first one bound to him, and it was not pleased. This distressed him, so he focused his attention on the rope of mana linking them together.


    Buttercup. That was her name. Feline. Dire cat. Elegant predator, playful, warm.


    He ¡­ what was he, again? Aaron? Aaron, human. Traveler. He was Aaron, and he had a brother, Rob. And a dire cat friend. A friend who was not happy.


    Aaron followed the mana rope to Buttercup and discovered her pacing back and forth beside a body. His body. Seeing the pale skin and the face reflected back at him in the mirror for the past twenty years cleared his mind.


    ?Buttercup?? he said first, testing if she could still hear him.


    Her head whipped around, and she nosed the body on the ground beside her.


    ??? She still had no language, but the emotions of her happiness and confusion at hearing from him came through their G.C. very easily.


    He felt nothing, no sensation, when her poking at that body caused it to rock on the floor. He forced himself to get past the hair raising wrongness of it, and examined his human body.


    It was still breathing.


    *** *** ***


    The body you are attempting to possess is incapable of handling all of the mana states a Zone Arbiter must handle. Your attempt at possession fails.


    *** *** ***


    ?Well, how do I fix that?? Aaron snapped back at the Tapestry announcement.


    *** *** ***


    Zone Arbiters may form physical avatars so long as the avatar is both mobile and able to handle all states of mana.


    *** *** ***


    ?Well, what do I have that can do that?? Aaron asked.


    *** *** ***The author''s narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.


    No patterns meet search parameters.


    *** *** ***


    Oh, crap.


    <center><hr>


    *~*~*


    </center>


    The diminutive nagas that had ambushed Aaron and Buttercup proved to be monstrous sapients, and the only creatures in the whole of the [Whispering Trees] dungeon with opposable thumbs. Aaron directed them to turn out the spatial bags he had brought along.


    The food and many of the trinkets Candy had included fascinated the nagas, but their presence had no effect on the dungeon''s ability to break down the patterns. He found that he already had most of the food patterns, but the trinkets gave him techniques. Unfortunately, none of them were telekinesis.


    ?Alrighty, guys, I want you to carry that body with you deeper into the dungeon, and the rock beside it, too,? he instructed the pygmies.


    The largest of the naga grunted at the others, and they began laying their spears on the ground beside Aaron''s human body. With effort, they leveraged the him-that-used-to-be onto the spears, then set the zone control core on top of Aaron''s barely stirring chest, and used the spears as an impromptu stretcher.


    When they reached an area that felt about right to Aaron, he stopped the procession and had the nagas back away. Buttercup took more convincing, but even she heeded him. Aaron got a firm image in his mind of what he wanted to happen, and the stone pillar he thought of surged out of the ground, only to suddenly stop growing as his surprise knocked the image out of his grasp.


    That was trippy. And the feeling! How did Lena hand over the actual shaping of her dungeon to all of her auxiliary cores if the use of that power felt this right?


    Wait. Wasn''t he supposed to call Lena when he got to a certain point? What was that point again?


    First, he was going to finish securing his body and zone core. This time prepared for the environment to react to his will, Aaron began by forming a crystal sphere around the top of his pillar. He made sure to leave room for air and mana to circulate through the crystal. For now, he wanted the crystal walls to resemble a rough sphere, lots of jagged pieces. When he was satisfied, he finished raising the pillar up into the pseudo sky of his dungeon.


    Next, he called up the zone management screens.


    *** *** ***


    Zone Designation: Whispering Trees


    Zone Arbiter Title: Arbiter


    Zone Nature: Simple


    MPP: 54788 / 62350


    MPR: 9860


    MPC: 9891


    *** *** ***


    The structural statistics for the dungeon didn''t come in a nice menu format, but more like an innate understanding, the way Aaron in his body had known where his toes were, or been able to grasp his hands behind his head. [Whispering Trees] sprawled over 31 square kilometers, with hills and valleys and a stone sky embedded with light emitting crystals. Over 16,000 insect species, 3,000 animal species, and 4,000 plant species resided in his domain. Even as he took stock, the number of monster species declined below 1,000 as the new types of chimeras and mutations created in the high mana density of the out of control dungeon died off, too biologically unstable to survive without intervention.


    Aaron spawned several more auxiliary zone control cores, slaving them to the master structure core Lena had given him. Distributed computing sounded like a good thing as the numbers snuck up on him, full of the names of each type of creature and plant he could summon with a whim.


    Despite being out of his body, Aaron realized he had a headache when it eased with each of the new cores that came online. The pressure of the species names, and the hordes of individuals within each species, shifted from him to the new cores, and so he spawned more cores to better handle that pressure.


    With that seen to, Aaron decided to get in touch with Lena. He reached for the link that had become second nature to him over the past months. ?Hey, Lena??


    ?Welcome, new Dungeon Master,? the dry voice of a computer golem greeted him. ?Assessing development of your dungeon ¡­ Congratulations! Your dungeon is stable! Warning! Your mana pool is nearly full! Spend mana to reduce your pool! Recommended safe operating levels are between 25 and 60%.?


    ?Whatever. Put me through to Lena, please,? Aaron said, the "please" an automatic politeness driven into him by his father.


    ?Request not recognized.?


    What the hell? Aaron''s patience grew thin. Why wasn''t Lena answering? Wasn''t he still contracted ¡ª oh.


    That was why. His contract had shifted from the Employee contract to the one they put together for the Dungeon Masters yet to come, and that changed the way he connected to Lena''s Guardian Communication channels.


    ?Requesting access to communicate with Design Lead Lena Weston and Employee Candice Sterling.? Hopefully he remembered the format correctly.


    ?Identify dungeon and dungeon master,? the golem responded.


    ?[Whispering Trees], Aaron Felding.?


    ?Prior authorization recorded. Channel updating.?


    Following that, Aaron had just enough time to register a pleasant sense of musical humming over the channel before Lena said, ?Aaron! How are you doing? Are you okay? Do you need anything??


    ?I''m ¡­ here. As for needing something, well, have you figured out how to get into a body yet?? he asked.


    ?¡­ What happened??


    Aaron filled her in on what he knew. She kept silent for several moments afterward, the kind of silence that held deep concentration.


    ?Your body, your human body, is still breathing? And the Tapestry called your instinctive move to be in your body an attempt at possession?? she eventually asked, her words coming slow, deliberate.


    ?Yeah,? Aaron told her.


    ?That''s a piece of the puzzle I hadn''t gotten,? she admitted. ?I think that might give me a new angle to try out. Otherwise, how are you doing??


    ?Otherwise?? he asked, incredulous.


    Lena''s voice held a hard edge. ?Otherwise. If I can suck it up cold then you can deal with becoming incorporeal with all the warning you got from living with me.? Her tone softened. ?It sucks, Aaron. It sucks big, fat sour apples, but we can dwell on what we can''t do anything about or we can focus on what we can do. Action is the only way I''ve been able to deal. So. How are you doing with the things I can help you with??


    Aaron realized he wanted to argue. He wanted someone to blame, and as convenient as it would be to blame Lena, it would not change the fact that she was right. He had been there, actively helping her look for a way to incorporate, and hearing from Lena the same restriction about using mana states that he had just gotten smacked with by the system.


    He set his resentments aside to deal with later, and went through the state of his dungeon. Lena''s questions helped him get a better idea of the state of his dungeon, like a doctor asking about seemingly unrelated things that none the less link up for a picture of overall health.


    ?Okay. You seem to be in a good position once you put up your safeguards for your core and your body. I think I''m going to have to go post World War II Japan here soon and kick out the guild reps who are trying to sneak controls into the DMs guild yet to be. On the bright side, we''ve gotten several more candidates that I''m comfortable with. I''ll update them with your experiences, see if they''re still interested. Candy''s working on putting together a pattern exchange. Until then, patterns will have to be sent by courier in memory stones. Let''s see ¡­ I think that''s it on our side. Oh, and Candy''s been very stoic for the past two weeks. You should probably talk with your girlfriend here soon.?


    ?Wait. Two weeks?? Aaron asked, his burst of resentment over being the guinea pig for installing hand picked dungeon masters smothered by the surprise at how long he had been out of things. The resentment had everything to do with his shock at how that had turned out, and a part of him knew that, and knew he had volunteered for it. Maybe Rob had been right about smart people don''t volunteer?


    ?Yeah. Fifteen sunsets, to be more precise, and fifteen sunrises, too.?


    ?Crap! How''s Rob taken it??


    ?Better than Candy,? Lena opined. ?But he''s also been more vocal in his worry, too. The mana storm around your dungeon''s back door entrance did start calming down within a day of your departure. The way it''s been deescalating since is the only reason we''ve waited to send anyone to check on you. Oh, and you need to give your consent for Rob and Jason to contact you, too, same as you just did for me and Candy.?


    ?Right. On that. Talk later?? Aaron said, even as he reached for that computer golem.


    ?Sure,? Lena said, amusement in her voice as she let the connection fade.


    As soon as the golem noted his request to speak with Rob and Jason, Rob''s voice rang in his mind. ?Dude! What''s your state??


    ?Chagrined. Was I really out of things for two weeks?? Aaron asked.


    Rob''s voice conveyed caution. ?You don''t know??


    ?Nope. I lost my sense of self with all the work needed to get my dungeon in order.? Aaron decided against sharing his new disembodied state for the moment. ?It took Buttercup''s poking for me to even remember my name. I think ¡­ naw, I know Lena and me are going to need help staying grounded in the here and now. All of my senses are different, and, much as I disagree with how she handled things, I can get how Lena feels like the Studio is her body now. The walls, water, dirt, the plants and every contracted creature in [Whispering Trees] feels like an extension of me. With the creatures, it''s a little weird, like my heart beat or my breathing, stuff that I can influence a lot, but not really stop. The structure feels more like my muscles and bones, only different. I don''t know how to say it. How are you and Jace doing??


    Rob accepted the change of topic. For the moment. ?Our guide says we''re within a day of Port Sala, which is another of the Free Cities. Gorgons seem to have an interesting reputation, even if their gaze doesn''t turn people to stone. We''ve gotten some strange looks for sparring with her.?


    They spoke for a while longer, and all that time Aaron found himself getting distracted by the needs of his dungeon and the worry of how Candy would take, well, everything.


    Rob finally released the G.C. Aaron gave himself a moment to psych himself up, and reached out for Candy.


    ?Hey,? she said, her voice determinedly neutral.


    Oh, crap! Aaron thought. ?You okay? This a bad time? I ¡­ got caught up in the same kind of building funk we went through, only ¡­ I''m sorry.?


    ?What do you have to be sorry for?? Candy asked, her voice even more dispassionate.


    ?Whatever has you sounding like that,? Aaron answered.


    ?But you are not at fault,? Candy answered, a touch of ¡­ irritation(?) coloring her words.


    ?Lena told me I''ve been out of it for two weeks. That''s way too long to not even say hello. I mean, I didn''t even realize it was more than a few minutes, but you still have every right to be upset at not hearing from me for that long.?


    The impression of Candy blowing out a tightly held breath came over the G.C. ?Again, you aren''t at fault. Shit happens.?


    ?But you''re upset and I want to do something to take that away. I don''t want to cause you worry or grief, baby.?


    Candy spoke before he could frame the words for his next thought. ?Aaron, the only way that''s going to happen is if I don''t care about you. You want us to have a thing that''s more than just friends then you have to get used to that. Hell, I''d still be upset if we were just friends! But I''m not upset at you! Unless you want me to be. I can go there if you keep trying to apologize for shit that isn''t your fault.?


    Aaron, wisely, took the clue-by-four and dropped that. ?Yes, dear,? he said, pretending to be outrageously meek.


    The feeling of Candy''s laughter welcomed his reply before it turned into something more hesitant. Not neutral, though. ?What happened? With taking over the dungeon??


    Aaron tried to give her the short version, but she stopped him.


    ?No, give me as many details as you can. Tell me the story of it,? she requested. Aaron could feel that she needed to engage her analytical side, so he set about giving her as expanded a long version as he could without embellishing anything. Candy could enjoy a good yarn only when she knew to expect braggadocio, distortions, and outright lies.


    At the end of it, Candy asked, ?Possession, huh? Are you able to pull up your body''s [Status] separate from your dungeon self''s??


    He tried it, but found that his status remained the same, down to listing his species as Human (Traveler). He had no [Status] screen for his human body.


    ?Can you make a human body and put a soul gem in it?? Candy asked when he shared his results.


    ?Nope, no pattern for humans or for soul gems,? he said. ?I do have Aware racial patterns for Elves (Jungle) and Xyline (Feline), as well as Gorgons and Drakes.?


    ?Drakes? Why does that ring a bell? Are they dragon-like?? Candy asked.


    Aaron shared his amusement. ?Nope. They''re duck people, much the same as cat-folk and bear-kin.?


    ?Okay, well, I''ll pinch Lena to try this out, then. What''s your dungeon look like??


    With that, Candy''s voice brightened, and the worst of Aaron''s worries lifted from his shoulders.


    They talked until Candy grew tired, covering the things Aaron wanted to make with his dungeon and the projects Candy and Brad were working on. He felt more hopeful after saying good night.


    *** *** ***


    Zone Designation: Whispering Trees


    Zone Arbiter Title: Arbiter


    Zone Nature: Simple


    MPP: 49887 / 62350


    MPR: 9860


    MPC: 9925


    *** *** ***

 Dungeoning Talks 7

    5.7


    Candy


    Refreshed by her first untroubled sleep in two weeks, Candy dove into the problem of the dungeon masters losing their physical bodies.


    Over the last few weeks, they had found limited successes with golem cores and constructed bodies, but nothing that could leave the Studio without Lena losing her direct control over the golems. Also, the golem constructs lacked the familiarity of human senses. Regardless of how much Feltz and Dibbs tinkered with the sensory translation spells, Lena''s presence always unlocked everything to such a degree that as soon as Lena stopped piloting the golem, the core burnt out from the sensory overload.


    Brad''s existence differed not just on the scale of the sensory information his core had to handle, but also because his core wasn''t actually a golem core. Those were essentially programmable mana stones.


    No, Brad''s mind and soul lived on within a memory stone, and the spare room for his soul to grow within the stone turned it into a soul gem.


    Feltz had yet to give up his adamant resistance to using a soul gem as a golem core. "Sands take it, that''s a way to grow monsters!" he warned whenever the subject came up. He displayed less aversion to the idea of flesh golems, but Dibbs had gotten a queasy look and spoken to Lena. She, in turn, required that they get a working golem prototyped before experimenting.


    "Why?" Candy had asked.


    Lena''s reservation came through clear in her reply. ?Flesh golems are either preserved corpses, or brain dead bodies made to heed a golem core''s will. As a dungeon, we don''t have to kill anyone to get the flesh golem construct, but if the core keep frying the way they do, we''ll be going through a lot of fleshy bodies. I''d really rather not.?


    The idea of trying to use a soul gem instead of a golem core kept nagging at Candy, but they were being methodical. That was before discovering that what the dungeon masters were trying to do amounted to possession. Now that she had that piece, she felt the need to act.


    ?Lena?? Candy called out.


    Her cousin''s toon slipped into her bedroom on the physics lab level. "Yeah?"


    "We need to see if you can possess a soul gem."


    <hr>


    Dibbs sat across the kitchen table, a cup of some herbal tisane steaming in front of him, and kept his mouth shut while Candy explained what she wanted Lena to attempt.


    Feltz paced as he listened, his frown growing deeper and fiercer by the moment, but Dibbs? Candy couldn''t read anything from his tired expression. Both of the mages seemed quite content with her "long versions", wherein she over-explained every nuance of detail to her idea, though Brad''s fidgeting betrayed his impatience.


    His opinion, however, was not the one Lena wanted.


    When Candy fell silent, Dibbs raised his tisane and sipped. Feltz continued to pace for a few turns before pouring himself a cup and sitting down between Dibbs and Candy. "The greatest problem with this idea of yours is that the soul gem will need to have a soul within it to be possessed."


    Dibbs, speaking slowly, said, "Maybe not, Archmage. A proto soul might actually be better for what they want, and if the Design Lead is able to graft a small segment of her own soul to the gem --"


    "-- that would make it a phylactery," Feltz said, his entire body stiffening.


    Candy leaned back and left one part of her mind following their back and forth while she plumbed the Tapestry for more context.


    Both seemed in agreement that phylacteries were a kind of necrotic magic, but Feltz seemed to find necromancy a far more taboo subject than Dibbs did. The Tapestry, however, placed necromancy as a sub-set of soul magic that relied on physical repositories for the soul-mana flavored aether. The fact that most soul mana used by mages came from living and once living beings meant that once living repositories had the most compatibility for the way they used their mana.


    The mages'' discussion dragged on for most of the morning. Brad jumped in every now and again, asking for clarification, and Candy listened to those clarifications as intently as her lab partner. However, language was so damn _imprecise_ and her understanding of the Tapestry, thanks to her [Tapestry Fusion] skill so much _better_, well, she wasn''t listening to learn from them so much as to mine their conversation for search terms.


    Candy stopped paying significant attention when the mages began to circle back to the same ethical differences. Feltz held any and all soul magic taboo; Dibbs drew the line at that which had to do with undeath and forcefully stopping a soul''s natural progression through the reincarnation cycles.


    ?Lena, let''s make you a phylactery,? Candy used the G.C. She was the last of their group sticking with her cousin, so it didn''t matter if she tried to use a discreet channel or broadcast, but Candy liked neatened details. She used a discreet channel and then began sharing details.


    <hr>


    Lena


    A phylactery. A repository for a small piece of her soul. Rob would lay ostrich eggs of raging N O P E at the thought.


    Lena, on the other hand, suddenly found herself wondering just what constituted a soul. She hardly shared Rob''s Catholic faith, but she also wasn''t as atheistic as her cousin. As she saw it, the defining difference between the Judaic big three boiled down to which mouthpiece for God they followed, not which big-G God. There were Buddhists and Hindis, and all sorts of related off shoots, as well as the neo-pagans. To the best of her knowledge, they all claimed something about the human soul, as if its existence were a given.


    A surge of mana among her guests jerked Lena''s attention back to the floor containing the guild delegations.


    The mana pushed toward the floor''s structure core, not so much a single blast as a mass of minute seeking snakes. She didn''t bother defending the core; either it absorbed and refined the mana headed its way or it would go offline, subject to the same restoration clauses as any other contracted entity in the Studio. No, she followed the mana back to its source.


    "Mages, I did warn you that another attempt to usurp my dungeon would get you kicked out. Good-bye," she said. She wasn''t even particularly angry at this point, just ¡­ tired.


    Most of the various mage guilds looked around with surprise and bewilderment.


    Lena created dunce caps and dropped then on the heads of the group of mages responsible for the ban (who were from the Arcane Asylum no less), and then everyone with the [Design of the Mana Shaper] found themselves yanked out of the Studio of Capricious Dreams, along with their personal belongings.


    Addressing the remaining participants, Lena''s voice issued from the very stone of her dungeon. "I have said it before, I will say it again, and probably many more times yet to come: In so far as the Grand Tapestry of Rhofhir is concerned, dungeons filter in mana to replace that which leaks out. That filtered-in mana mainly consists of the physical beings and objects a dungeon creates. That purpose will be served above all others.


    "If you want training grounds, if you want specific resources, if you want an outlet for aggressive idiots that doesn''t end up with your polities at war with each other, you are placing the burden of balancing the risks and rewards on the dungeon masters. If you don''t like how they do it, the dungeons can always move their entrances. That is not a small thing, not something trivially done, but it can be done.


    "I believe I have heard all of your concerns at this point, and the debates between the various guilds and localities have provided me with a clearer understanding of the balance that managed dungeons might disrupt. The entrances to your local dungeons will seal when the new dungeon masters arrive to take control of them, and will unseal once the process completes, which may be as long as a month.


    "Thank you for sharing your perspectives. Your guest passes run out in three days. The non-hostility clauses remain in effect. As a further token of appreciation for your level headed candor, I have prepared gifts for you to take back to your various peoples."


    So saying, she delivered the spatial bags she had prepared for each group to their leaders. For the mages that had been ejected, she sent out golems carrying the bags. She debated with herself for all of a moment, but she even sent a golem out to the Arcane Asylum''s mages.


    The golem held no bag, just a single book. "My mistress is too kind," the golem announced. "Despite your rude poking, you did manage to stay until the end of the meeting, even if your actions were the reason for the abrupt ending. Thus, she presents you with a glimpse into the nature of dungeons and their management, as this seems that in which you hold the most interest."


    The golem extended the book, and the senior Archmage present took it, after a careful examination for traps and magical snares.


    Soft, sensuous, lavender colored suede wrapped the spine and covers. The book''s title was engraved on the front, then filled in with crystals that changed colors in the light from pink to green: "The Dungeon Master''s Guide (abridged)".


    The Archmage opened the cover, revealing the inscription from Lena. "I have redacted information in this edition for each breach of manners I experienced during this convocation as I hold the Arcane Asylum accountable for several subtle and not-so-subtle provocations. However, on the whole, your presence -- despite your instigations -- proved more beneficial than not.Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.


    "This book contains information provided to me by the Grand Tapestry regarding the purpose and responsibilities of dungeons, with more detail than conversations may convey. It appears that the information available to Zone Arbiters is different from that granted to ordinary Aware inhabitants of Rhofhir, but perhaps you shall have individuals with advanced enough [Tapestry Fusion] to fill in the gaps."


    One of the Archmages crowding around the fellow holding the book asked, "Should we be offended?"


    Not bothering to answer, the senior Archmage turned the page, revealing the title page, and then beyond that, the table of contents. Skimming through the entries, frowning at the numbers offset from topics, the senior Archmage opened the book to a random page and began reading. His eyebrows rose with surprise and a grin broke out on his face.


    "Only if you want to come off like an idiot. I''m sure there will be griping enough at us for the parts of this book that are no longer legible."


    The mages got even more animated, and the golem stepped back into the dungeon. Lena closed that temporary portal immediately.


    She swept her presence through her dungeon once more, noting which delegates stayed to talk with each other and which left immediately, or at least prepared to leave soonest and sooner.


    That distraction mostly done for, Lena got back to her most important topic. ?Candy, when y''all are talking souls, what are you talking about??


    <hr>


    The soul, as it concerned soul gems (and as much as Lena understood Candy''s explanation), was in fact the mana pattern needed to reproduce an individual being, their magical DNA. In a universe where Aetherial force had a noticeable presence, souls had more to do with the way individuals formed, grew, and lingered after death than the DNA in their cells.


    A soul gem was a particular type of memory stone, which was itself a particular type of mana stone. Mana stones, in general, needed to be between the density of pure quartz and silver. Quartzes of all kinds made great mana repositories.


    Refining a mana stone into a memory stone involved threading a complex pattern of conductive metals in and around the crystalline structures. For a memory stone to become a soul gem required that parts of the crystalline structure became amorphous, at which point they could be reshaped and with new metallic structures grown through the new areas. Those areas provided room for the pattern of the soul within the gem to grow.


    Phylacteries took that idea and replaced the "room to grow" with linking nodes. Essentially, so long as the phylactery remained connected to a living soul, the portion of the soul within the phylactery had to be overwritten to reflect any growth of the living soul.


    Feltz''s essential abhorrence of phylacteries and necromancy came down to the what happened when an individual died. The soul piece stuck in the phylactery was on its own. At that point, either the phylactery broke, releasing the soul fragment, or it didn''t. If it didn''t, well, the soul stuck in that gem had no room to grow. While the rate of spiritual deterioration could be throttled down, without room for growth, there wasn''t room for the change needed to restore the deterioration.


    "How does that affect Brad?" Lena asked as soon as she understood that point.


    Feltz shrugged. "He''s got room to grow. If he can demonstrate that he is Aware, then we''ll work on a way to move his soul back into a body that can grow with his soul, but for now he''s got more than enough room."


    "Well, what if a phylactery had both the room to grow and the link? Wouldn''t that change things?" Lena asked.


    Candy bit her lip and let Feltz answer. "No, just delay the crisis point."


    "Oh. Well, can we make a phylactery that''s supposed to break as soon as the connection''s lost?" she asked.


    Dibbs nodded, but Feltz growled, "Souls are tricksy!" He took in a deep breath before continuing. "A soul cannot survive without a proper supporting foundation, and not all souls are equal. Most of the phylacteries break because the soul pieces are simply unable to properly bind with the phylactery, but there has to be some foundation for the soul or it won''t bind to the phylactery at all, in which case, the person making that phylactery knows it because it just fails to link."


    "Explain me, please," Lena asked.


    Feltz paused to scowl before he asked, "What do you mean?"


    "I have been trying to acquire a physical embodiment since pretty much the first moment I realized that this wasn''t a weird science thing. The Tapestry continues to tell me that I do not have access to any physical patterns that are both mobile and capable of handling all the states of mana, and thus no body."


    "Obviously you''re anchored to some physical foundation," Feltz began.


    "Does the dungeon count as a physical foundation?" Lena asked.


    Feltz made several funny faces while he chewed on that thought. Dibbs, however, nodded. Then he, too, made a strange thinking-face.


    "Design Lead, have you ever heard of the [Design of Cultivation]?"


    Feltz rolled his eyes and opened his mouth to respond, but Lena beat him to it.


    "I have. The meditations for it are pretty therapeutic, and the exercise itself helps me keep from going on manic building sprees."


    "Which cultivation designs have you completed?" Dibbs asked. Feltz just looked startled.


    "Only the initiate one. I''m working my way into novice, but it''s slow going."


    "Slow going?" Feltz asked, looking utterly flabbergasted. "How long have you been on Rhofhir now? Maybe four months? And you''ve already completed the [Design of the Cultivation Initiate]? That''s not slow!"


    "Chill, dude!" Lena said, making her toon hold up her hands. "Initiate level just took understanding the concepts, which aren''t that different from the mental state you''re supposed to seek while doing yoga. Novice level is getting some mental dexterity with the application of those concepts, and, well, I sucked at yoga back home."


    Candy interrupted, holding up a finger as she asked, "What makes cultivating like yoga?"


    "Cycling your personal energy through your chakra points. As a dungeon, it''s more my feng shui than chakra, though, seeing as I don''t have a tailbone, pelvis, stomach, heart, throat, mouth or forehead anymore." Lena tried, she really tried to keep the sourness out of her voice, but she felt it there.


    Candy, bless her heart, just went along with it, asking, "Those are the chakra points?"


    Lena made her toon shrug. "I don''t remember for sure, but it sounds about right. Rob had a few things to say about dantian, which is like the Buddhist version I think? That''s just belly, heart, and mind, but, hey, the vedic culture is much more open about sexuality than Western or East Asian cultures are."


    Brad was currently covering his eyes and shaking his head. "Really?" he asked, perturbed.


    Lena made her toon shrug again. "Just calling it like I see it. Besides, modern India''s been infected with the false prudery of Western civilization."


    "Just-- Lena, just shut it. Sometime, probably far in the future when I have naturally regenerating Will points, we can have this conversation, but not now." Brad said that with an edge that told Lena she really had put her foot in her mouth.


    "Okay," she said. "I''ll admit my ignorance, and I''m sorry to have offended you."


    An awkward silence drew out for a moment before Candy asked, "Okay, so how do we go about testing Lena''s ability to control a soul gem?"


    <hr>


    Making a body for herself stood out to Lena as the most surreal experience in her life to date.


    Months had passed since she last looked into a mirror, and over that time the light projection she had used had changed. An adjust here, a nip in for convenience sake there, and the not-so-occasional flights of fancy into more illustrative renditions of her former self along the way meant that Lena wasn''t sure what she had looked like. Before Rhofhir, that was.


    She had had brown hair, yes, and blue eyes, and the foundation she had used was beige ivory. Depending on the day, she stood between 165 cm and 168 cm in her bare feet, most of the difference having to do with how much tension knotted up her shoulders and compressed her neck.


    Did she want to remake her body as exactly as she could recall it? Including the faint scar lines on her hands from that one time she forgot to put her gloves on before stretching the fine wire mesh they were using as armature, only to have it break and curl into her hands? Did she want to keep the accidental tattoo she gave herself with a pencil on a hayride? The blue spot where the pencil tip just broke her skin without hitting any blood vessels was interesting, but also kind of ¡­ weird.


    No, this was an experiment. Lena didn''t need to craft the most awesome body ever, nor did she need to recreate who she had been. The past had passed, and time, at least, appeared to be as consistently forward moving on Rhofhir as on Earth.


    With that thought in mind, Lena''s nerves unwound. She gave her main creature core instructions to form a human woman with the appearance of her toon, and with an empty soul gem in place of whatever animating force it usually provided her newly spawned creatures.


    Following the instructions Candy and Dibbs had agreed upon, Lena drew out a bare sliver of her core energy, adding to the separated bits slowly, testing constantly for the point where there existed enough of her energy, her soul, in that sliver for her to flex it.


    Inserting that sliver into the soul gem was relatively easy. She just directed the sliver to lay over the gem and sink into it, and the gem did the rest.


    ?Step one, two, and three, done,? she whispered over the G.C. bond. Now came the crucial test.


    <hr>


    Rhofhir


    Returning his focus to his Grand Tapestry project, Rhofhir began his search for the translation-gifted cultivator.


    It came as no surprise for Rhofhir when he traced the disturbances in his pattern collectors to the converted mana collector given over to budding new cultivators. Sifting through those tangled threads found the traces of that particular cultivator, but only the traces.


    The logs for his Grand Tapestry, on the other hand, proved far more useful. Searching through the recent anomalies, Rhofhir discovered a group of six that came in all at once.


    <div>


    *** *** ***


    Anomaly Group 11.15477.154.12.


    ¦Á - Pattern: Human; Designation: Candice Ruth Sterling ; Location: [Studio of Capricious Dreams]; Status: embodied.


    ¦Â - Pattern: Human -> Golem; Designation: Bradford Ajput Singh; Location: [Studio of Capricious Dreams]; Status: embodying; Overseer: Casper Dibbons;


    ¦Ã - Pattern: Human; Designation: Lena Marie Weston; Location: [Studio of Capricious Dreams]; Status: integrated.


    ¦Ä - Pattern: Human; Designation: Jason Jefferson Kline; Location: [Malta], South Sage River; Status: embodied.


    ¦Å - Pattern: Human -> Elf (Plains); Designation: Roberto Morgan Garcias; Location: [Malta], South Sage River; Status: embodied.


    ¦Æ - Pattern: Human; Designation: Aaron Morgan Felding; Location: [Whispering Trees]; Status: integrated.


    *** *** ***


    Morningstar held quite a fondness for the human pattern, so it showed up ¡­ a few times every several thousand cycles. That six humans came in all at once was less astonishing than that they came in at all.


    More surprising to Rhofhir were the statuses. Two were integrated, which meant their mental patterns had been woven into the Grand Tapestry itself. Going by the naming pattern of their locations, they were now arbiters for the zones that dealt with the final filtration stage of new, raw mana.


    The overseer for the ¦Â pattern looked like a good suspect for his translational cultivator.


    Rhofhir began examining the communications systems he had placed inside his Grand Tapestry, hoping without much expectation that they would not need much in the way of fixing before he could use them to more directly investigate these interesting developments.


    Difficulties in communication between the different tiers of cultivators increased proportionally to the power they could direct. Rhofhir liked other beings, even if their insights and ideas were incomplete, infantile compared to his comprehension of the multi-verses. For that reason, he constantly worked at improving the means by which he could communicate with his cultivators.


    The Grand Tapestry was based on one of his earliest communication models. While it worked, it required a lot of finessing on Rhofhir''s side to do so in a non-destructive manner.

 Update (xpost on Patreon)

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 Update: Dreaded Announcement

    Hi, guys,


    We''re going on a hiatus while I get some perscription stuff sorted out.


    Details: Also known as the stuff that fills up the post<input class="spoilerButton" type="button" value="Show">


    The long and the short of it is that I take a migraine suppressant. The majority of those are anti-seizure meds being used off label (they''ve been around long enough that some of the side effects have got the empiracal data to back using them for things that they weren''t specifically FDA approved, but no one''s willing to spend the money to jump through the hoops to get the new uses approved).


    Migraines, I''m told, are a diagnosis of last resort - which sounds dire, but really means that "brains are too complicated, we don''t know why this stuff is happening". Anytime you start messing with brain chemistry, weird things happen, and then there''s our body''s adaptation to the things we do to fix that stuff. So, occasionally Rx''s that have been working no longer work the way they were.Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.


    While my doc and I are figuring out my new happy place with the Rx stuff, my focus has shot to the crapper. Instead of keeping this story limping along with sub-par writing, I''m going to just pause the posting and come back when my brain isn''t so damn skippy.


    Update July 2020


    (1) Rx stuff is ongoing


    (2) My capacity to focus has been fading in and out


    (3) I''ve lost my notes about where I wanted to take this particular story arc


    (3a) I''m hoping they''re still somewhere on my computer, but I just can''t remember which of the sea of the files they might be in


    So, yeah. You, my readers, are not forgotten, but this story won''t be back anytime soon.

 Polling for Thoughts

    So, Midori8751 poked me about how things are going and the reality is not so great. However, after responding on the prior page, I got to thinking. I don''t want to stay stuck *not writing*, especially on a story that I want to get out there.


    But (there''s always one of those) my spark with Travellers has had a long time to dim. Bright side, though, Nano''s coming up, and I never did get into what Jason and Rob are doing since the split.


    So, what I''m thinking:Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.


    For the rest of October, if you want it, I''ll post some of my world building stuff here while I get ready to make a run at NaNoWriMo by focusing on the shenanigans Jason and Rob are getting up to. At the end of November, if I haven''t figured out my way past my block with Lena and Aaron and Candy''s side of the story, I''ll at least be writing around with Jason and Rob.


    I''m not sure if I''ll put Jason and Rob''s story up here in the meantime, or if it will work out easier with how RR tracks the November Writathon stuff to set that up in it''s own page. Either way, I''ll let you know here what''s going on.


    By the by, my tentative title for Jason and Rob''s story is "Travelling Rhofhir" -- I think it sucks, and I''d love suggestions!

 Dungeoning Talks 8

    Lena


    To be, or not to be: that is the question:


    Whether ''tis nobler in the mind to suffer


    The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,


    Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,


    And by opposing end them? To die: to sleep;


    The introduction to Hamlet''s famous monologue on suicide played a non stop refrain in the back of Lena''s mind as she worked up the nerve to bind the soul gem back to herself.


    Candy had prepared an experiment-observation room in the [Physics Lab] for this. She had sensors running and recording as much data as the mages and scientists could conceive of recording, and they remained outside of the room, just in case the body went the way of the golems that hadn''t been able to handle a portion of the new Lena.


    The sliver of energy that saturated the gem hadn''t seemed that much when she had siphoned it off from her cultivation routine, but working to create an open link between herself and that gem made it loom large in her perception.


    Had they properly considered all the risks? What if someone were able to screw with her by getting their hands on her soul gem? So many questions she _should_ have asked first, and yet the need to experience the world with the senses with which she had been born still pushed her onward.


    ???????????


    Congratulations! You have unlocked the restricted skill-spell [Physical Projection]!


    The endurance of each physical projection you cast is based on the amount of aura invested in the projection.


    Increasing ranks in this skill-spell will not award attribute growth, but will result in greater coordination between projections.


    ???????????


    ???????????


    Due to a research special action, you have gained the ability to spawn monstrous constructs.


    Monster Cores unlocked as a research topic.


    ???????????


    The messages popped up right as Lena connected with the soul gem seeded with that sliver of her soul. The body within which that soul gem lay nestled gasped in a breath, its heart starting, and then it just ¡­ lay there.


    "Is it working?" Candy asked.


    Lena felt weird echoes as she answered. "I don''t know?" The echoes came from the walls of her dungeon and seemed to vibrate from the skin of the body she was attempting to make her physical avatar.If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it.


    She experienced a feeling similar, but not the same, as when she piloted one of the golems. She was no less her dungeon self, yet she was also this odd autonomous unit within herself.


    Lena tried to make the body sit upright. She felt a crack in the body''s chest and the soul sliver that the Tapestry was calling aura rushed back into the walls of Lena''s dungeon.


    The body plopped back, and she felt her connection to it crumple.


    "So ¡­ maybe not a success straight off the bat, but I got some unlocks. There are things called skill-spells, and one of them is [Physical Projection]. Candy, you got the notice about now being able to make monstrous constructs, right?" Lena asked, using the walls to project her voice.


    Candy nodded. "I got that. We can look it up later. Give me the blow by blow."


    There wasn''t much to tell, but somehow between Candy, Brad, Dibbs, and Feltz, Lena found the retelling stretching on for over an hour. As important as this was, Lena''s analytical side had already concluded that she needed to, first, observe what this cycling of aura or soul slivering meant, and then, second, try again with more aura infused into the soul gem.


    Impatience urged her to press onward, but Lena had learned how to control those urges with distractions. She started poking into just what a monster construct could be.


    In the observation room, Lena manifested one of these constructs, using the shape of a kitteagle. Unlike the standard monsters, it remained where it had come into existence. The construct demonstrated no intelligence, nor drive to fill its belly or any sense of personality at all.


    ???????????


    Constructs are already part of the Zone and cannot be contracted.


    ???????????


    "Alrighty then," Lena mused from her wisp toon, using it as a focal point for examining the kitteagle construct.


    The mages and scientists stopped interrogating her about her attempt to make an avatar and began in on her about her construct.


    "What does it do?"


    "How does it differ from a regular kitteagle?"


    "May I examine it?"


    "Is that a flesh golem?"


    Lena felt a flair of irritation at the interruption in her own examination, then checked herself. She had just dropped a new thing in front of people who made it their life''s work to ask questions. She suppressed the irritation by focusing on the absurdity of thinking her friends and the mages were too focused on their questions to notice her working right next to them.


    Soon enough, the four of them were grouped up around the monster construct and poking and prodding at it.


    "It has physical reactions, so there''s a nervous system at work," Brad observed after tapping at the construct''s joints and avoiding the twitching limbs that provoked.


    Dibbs and Feltz unfolded a wing each, examining the construct''s (lack of) response. Dibbs plucked one of the body feathers and the construct flinched, then turned its eyes to look at Dibbs.


    Lena *felt* the pain of that plucked feather. To her, it was mild, but after having experienced no similar feeling for months, the pain still came as a shock.


    Dibbs reached for another feather and the construct grabbed his hand in its beak mouth.


    "Please don''t do that!" Lena said.


    Candy asked, "Did it move because you wanted it to move?"


    Dibbs held still for a tense moment, then his shoulders relaxed. "It seems our contract holds. My apologies, Design Lead."


    "No worries, Dibbs. Neither of us knew," Lena said, the oddity of feeling human-scale sensation once more fascinating her.


    The kitteagle construct flicked away Feltz''s and Dibbs'' holds of its wings and stretched. If Lena had eyes they would have rolled back in their sockets from the pleasure of directed movement. She felt it akin to being able to twitch her pinky toe; faint, nowhere near enough, and holding the promise of a return to full mobility.


    The kitteagle construct gave out a crowing screech that reflected Lena''s joy.

 Sad to Say, But, its done.

    Dear Readers,


    I sit down to write, I want to finish this story, but the words that flow from my fingers are not this story. I''ve been at it on and off again for over a year, and I got started with the part covering Jason and Rob, but .... Regardless of any excuses I make, to myself or to you, my readers, the fact remains that I''m not finishing any of the stories spinning through my mind.


    I know that from the reader''s side of things, having a story you''re interested in just stop is pretty fruiting frustrating. I can say it''s frustrating from the author side, too. Worse, there comes a point where the frustration becomes its own block, so instead of letting this farce of an attempt to keep writing continue on, I''m calling it, and changing the status to Dropped.


    I very much appreciate all the kind thoughts and encoragement you''ve shown me. It means a lot to me, and I hope to cross paths with you in the comments sections of other stories here on RoyalRoad.


    Stay Excellent, Gentle Readers!


    P.S. Below is the proof that I at least know how I wanted this to end. If someone wants to come along and take over the writing, just send me a PM.


    Last chance to stop reading.


    The major point, for me at least, to writing Travelers was coming up with a reason for a lot of the dungeon core story tropes, so there are some comments to that effect in my plot notes.


    <ul>


    <li>The crew determines that the constructs can be handed over to the cores to control, and given simple instructions. [checking off "dungon monster" genesis goal]</li>


    <ul>


    <li>constructs dissipate into mana when removed from dungeons unless!</li>


    <li>those that carry a soul gem embedded inside them are able to leave and over time can become "real" monsters [beast core genesis]</li>


    </ul>


    <li>More dungeon masters are recruited, contracted into an alliance under Lena''s authority</li>


    <ul>


    <li>Most new DMs settle into the contract pretty happily and help Candy develop a dungeon communication protocol to trade patterns for defenders and loot [dungeon store genesis goal checked]</li>


    <li>A few attempt to exceed the limits of their contracts and get booted out of their dungeons. However, they''ve been changed enough that they don''t go back to being regular versions of who they were and instead become empowered versions with a grudge.</li>


    <li>Adventuring Guilds and some smaller nations attempt to exert pressure on the new DM guild, setting off small scale hostilities. They align with a few of the empowered and manage to take down a few of the DM guild managed dungeons.</li>


    <li>^ this was not completely unexpected and the fallen dungeons self destruct, destroying the raiders [dungeons crumbling when their core is destroyed genesis]</li>


    </ul>


    <li>Rhofhir tracks down Dibbs and sends off very diminished avatar to make contact.</li>


    <ul>


    <li>Avatar Rhofhir mentors Dibbs in the path to achieving immortality and the stages of Powers [general universe building]</li>


    <ul>


    <li>Tier 1: Mortal;</li>


    <li>Tier 2: fey (deliberately confusing, esentially tied to a material body, but a very, very durable one);</li>


    <li>Tier 3: Immortal (no longer requires physical being to maintain existence);</li>


    <li>Tier 4: Purpose Driven Immortal (Angels and Demons, oh my! Not necessarily able to moderate the drive to fulfill their Purpose);</li>


    <li>Tier 5: Divinity on a Planetary Scale (No longer able to sustain themselves by passively accumulating mana, they require some kind of active mana accumulator. Some choose to break down parts of themselves into a semblance of mortal life -- World Spirits -- while others barter miracles for prayers.</li>


    <li>everything after is basically just sizing up</li>


    </ul>


    <li>Avatar Rhofhir reports what the studio crew is doing with the dungeons, and Rhofhir decides to make it permanent, with a few stipulations:</li>


    <ul>


    <li>dungeons shouldn''t just give away resources</li>


    <li>the challenges in a dungeon have to beatable, but the defenses of the core can be insane difficulty</li>


    </ul>


    </ul>


    <li>Time Skip Future Forward: Post Unraveling / Dawning of the 12th Age</li>


    <ul>


    <li>Most people have forgotten the origins modern dungeons</li>


    <li>Older dungeons have already secured companions for themselves, and newer dungeons have been given a means to attract companions that will support them [dungeon pixie genesis]</li>


    </ul>


    </ul>


    This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.