《A Collection of Tales》


 The Twins go a Hunting

    In the world of The Misplaced Dungeon.


    {Timeline: September 2018 ¨C MD just after Ch. 21}


    Harrassan was disgusted, ¡°Water, Earth, Air and Life. And Azurea wanted us to kill her because of demons and undead. No way can this dungeon summon or control either.¡±


    Warminor added, ¡°yes but it¡¯s cunning, I¡¯d rank it Novice for the first level and Apprentice for the next two levels, I suspect a fourth level when it appears will be Journeyman ranked.


    ¡°A decent enough starter dungeon, though the rewards are kind of low on the third level. The guild will have to keep an eye on it as it shows signs of growing stronger.¡± Decided Harrassan.


    ¡°Um... is your business...¡± ¡°... with this mission done?¡± interjected Avor and Essa in their unique way of sharing sentences.


    ¡°Basically yes, we just have to deliver our report and escort Gressissa the seer back to the guild in Arsouk,¡± explained Warminor.


    ¡°Look, is someone really offering four royals...¡± ¡°... for a Were and would a Jackalwere serve?¡± asked the twins.


    Harrassan racked his brains, ¡°I don¡¯t know much about Jackalweres but I think so. Why?¡±


    ¡°Um... there are several lairing in these hills, and...¡± ¡°... they mark their territory so we learnt how to...¡± ¡°recognise the signs...¡± ¡°... when we were still goatherds.¡± Explained the two urchins.


    Gressissa snorted, ¡°you¡¯d be doing everyone a favour if you only eliminated even one of those evil things.¡±


    ¡°What can you tell us about Jackalweres?¡± asked Zashaan.


    ¡°Not much, they¡¯re evil man eaters and there is an entirely inadequate bounty of a guilder for every head that is turned in at the mayors office. It is very seldom claimed I think these two were the last to claim that bounty almost one year ago.¡±


    She puffed a couple of times on her pipe and continued, ¡°they are said to be able to assume the form ofa man, and they roam about seeking to waylay and murder people. It is also said that they can stun people with their gaze.¡±


    Zashaan cocked her head to one side and addressed the twins, ¡°anything to add?¡±


    ¡°They are usually solitary...¡± ¡°... never more than four in a pack.¡± The twins shared a long look then while Essa concentrated Avor continued, ¡°Never known one stun but if they catch someone by surprise they can put them to sleep. Their human form looks very... jackal like, not likely to fool anyone. You need iron to hurt them and their wounds heal fast. We were told enchanted weapons work but we can¡¯t say for sure.¡±


    Harrassan grinned, ¡°so you¡¯ve killed them before, are you planning to do the quest?¡±


    ¡°No... well maybe, we figure if we find the Jackalwere and explain how we killed the others...¡± ¡°... you would agree to even shares on the bounty. You see we can kill them, no way we could catch one alive.¡±


    Warminor shook his head in amazement, ¡°Why did you start hunting Jackalweres?¡±


    ¡°Um... well after our parents died we went to live with our uncle, but he drank a lot and after auntie died...¡± ¡°... one night after an argument about money, we were afraid he would sell us like he was selling everything else...¡± ¡°... so we left. We figured we needed to be registered as free citizens somewhere...¡± ¡°... to make sure uncle didn¡¯t sell us to slavers and then send them after us. If you...¡± ¡°... pay the annual poll tax of a guider Arsouk will register you...¡± ¡°... as a citizen and free citizens can not be enslaved,¡± they explained.


    Warminor clenched his hands into fists as a bolt of rage shot through him at this matter of fact tale.


    ¡°So how did you kill them?¡± asked Harrassan.


    ¡°We used a noose trap baited with a young goat just outside...¡± ¡°... their territory. Then we used our spears.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ll check at the guild when we get back if the quest is still available we¡¯ll take it,¡± Harrassan then he turned to Gressissa, ¡°do you wish to join us on this quest?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m an old lady, I¡¯m not that fond of the outdoor life any more so thank you for offering but no.¡±


    They were back in Arsouk by the middle of the next day, Harrassan and Gressissa made their separate reports to the guilmaster and then Gressissa left heading home.


    ¡°That quest for a were is it still available?¡± Harrassan asked of guildmaster Burritis.


    ¡°Possibly, let me check,¡± Burritis yelled for his clerk and sent him to check.


    Fredar poked his head in a few minutes later, ¡°Yes boss, apparently the lifestones of the last party to take it have all died.¡±


    Harrassan shook his head sorrowfully, ¡°We¡¯ll take that quest, that is Creevar¡¯s Killers plus two non-guild helpers, Avor and Essa.¡±


    ¡°We¡¯ll need to get them keyed to lifestones,¡± offered Fredar from the door before leaving with, ¡°and I¡¯ll get you registered to undertake the quest before someone else grabs it.¡±


    On his way out Harrassan stopped by the front desk and handed Fredar two guilders, "pass me two lifestones and I¡¯ll get them keyed, and return them by tomorrow at the latest, the youngsters are Avor and Essa, as yet classless but fully paid up citizens of this town. They have previously claimed the bounty on at least two Jackalweres.¡±The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.


    Fredar facepalmed, ¡°Jackalweres! Damn!¡±


    Harrassan left the guild chuckling, located everyone in the common room of The Songbird Inn and persuaded the twins to activate the lifestones after explaining that they had the quest. ¡°So Avor, Essa what will we need for the hunt?¡±


    ¡°A young goat, the younger the better, a couple of coils...¡± ¡°... of rope, provisions for a week and a bronze cage.¡±


    ¡°Why bronze, wouldn¡¯t iron be better?¡± asked Horaxanna.


    ¡°Not for Jackalweres, they get hurt by iron, they would...¡± ¡°...chew through wood and copper would be too weak,¡± Avor and Essa explained.


    Harrassan went back to the guild to hand over the lifestones. ¡°Oh, soul-linked twins,¡± stated Fredar as he filled two scanty forms, took a signature from Harrassan and passed over two provisional members badges.


    Harrassan was waiting at the inn nursing his second beer when the others returned from their errands, Sreecator shook his head at his brother, ¡°The cage will be ready tomorrow, just two guilders, provisions, rope and one young goat, a further guilder and six bits. We have been consistently ripped off in this town brother.¡±


    The next day they collected the cage and gathered every scrap of information they could from the twins, the twins offered to take them to the location they had found one of their victims so that Zashaan could study the territorial markers used by the Jackalweres and anything else a professional like her might find useful.


    Two days later Zashaan was grumbling at the faintness of the sign, Avor and Essa considered it a miracle that the scout could see anything as the sign was close to nine months old. The markers with their little piles of animal skulls were still quite clear however. The following day saw them heading south parallel with the foothills and near evening they found their target, or rather they found a recently ¡°watered¡± boundary marker.


    They withdrew to set up camp and kept a careful watch, a double watch given the creatures ability to induce sleep.


    The twins with the help of Zashaan soon had a noose trap set up and baited it with the goat artfully placed to look as if it had got itself trapped by some wireweed. They withdrew downwind and concealed themselves while the goat started bleating piteously.


    They waited patiently, it took several hours, but they finally heard the rock drop accompanied by a yip of pain and snarls of rage. Creevar¡¯s killers were easily able to subdue the creature and bundled it into the cage. The Jackalwere¡¯s broken leg had healed before the cage door was secured.


    Harrassan examined the valley one last time before they started back to Arsouk, once there they stabled the camels and persuaded the twins to accompany them to claim the reward. They made use of the group¡¯s links to the temple of Creevar to use the local shrine¡¯s internal gate to the main temple in Vaidon.


    They spent the night in Vaidon at their usual lodgings and they also visited the local bath house where Harrassan, Sreecator and Warminor grabbed Avor and Horaxanna and Zashaan seized Essa and dragged them, loudly protesting into the female and male baths respectively, the protests grew shriller when they were unceremoniously dumped in the baths and then covered in soap and scrubbed free of a lifetimes accumulation of grime.


    New clothes were provided for the sulky and somewhat red eyed pair. Avor and Essa still smarting from their scrubbing were not impressed by the, to them, rather bland fare accustomed as they were to Arsouk¡¯s fiery curries.


    The next day saw them in Drakoton; the priest supervising the gate welcomed them and advised them to be careful as the populace was restive because of the invisible assassin.


    ¡°We need to get to the Silver Dolphin Inn in Silverton on the Blue Lagoon to complete a quest,¡± said Harrassan jerking a thumb at the caged Jackalwere.


    The priest ambled towards the entrance of the temple of Creevar with the party, ¡°that¡¯s easy, there is a regular service linking Drakoton and the Blue Lagoon, I think the temple of Ocidon subsidises them, just ask on the docks, or ask the harbour master, but he¡¯s more expensive than the dockers.¡±


    They left the temple with appropriate salutations and made their way to the docks, considering that the occurrence causing a furore amongst the population was the assassination of the chief magistrate and a judge the reactions among the locals was unexpected, the shopkeepers and other solid law abiding citizens appeared delighted while the shiftier individuals seemed incensed and unhappy.


    The offer of a bit gained them an eager guide, it seemed they were lucky as one of the ships they had been told about was in port, the Alessandrina¡¯s Glory turned out to be an elegant fast looking brigantine that didn¡¯t look anything like a fat bellied merchantman.


    The crew consisted entirely of beastfolk, the captain was a catman, his mate a wolfwoman, the crew was overlarge for a peaceful trader.


    Apparently their passage had been paid by Thomas Felix, a nice touch. Avor, Essa and Horaxanna proved to be very poor sailors and terribly prone to seasickness, the crew for their part were sympathetic which surprised their passengers.


    Harrassan looked past the three figures bent over the lee rail of the Alessandrina¡¯s Glory at the low lying islands that had climbed over the horizon and were slowly growing larger, they seemed to be headed for the twin towered castle at the south end of the island they were approaching. They had been in the Blue Lagoon dungeon¡¯s domain before the islands became visible on the horizon.


    ¡°Well brother, while we were messing about with two dungeons that kept running away this one was making alliances and playing at politics,¡± observed Sreecator. ¡°Just let me go and heal those three again,¡± he added indicating Avor, Essa and Horaxanna bent over the ship¡¯s rail.


    ¡°What do mean playing politics brother?¡± asked Harrassan as Sreecator approached after easing the grateful sufferers¡¯ sea sickness.


    ¡°Creevar warned me last night. This dungeon is a formal ally of Ocidon and the Old Gods, not a follower or worshiper. An ally. She, and this dungeon is both intelligent and a female, was able to trick both Azurea and the System. She has been rated Elite+ because they couldn¡¯t legally classify her higher. Arranging a crusade to destroy her was flatly vetoed by Ocidon.¡±


    ¡°Does Creevar want us to classify her,¡± asked Harrassan.


    ¡°Creevar No! The team that was sent to evaluate this dungeon about a month after she established herself was the Stinging Hornets. She killed them all in the first encounter. No Creevar wants us to learn what we can and mend bridges in case the New Gods lose favour with the Higher Gods. We are forbidden from antagonising Mary Silvestre, the Blue Lagoon Dungeon.¡±


    ¡°Bah! The Stinging Hornets weren¡¯t as good as us,¡± asserted Harrassan as he watched their ship ease its way into the channel between the islands, and glid up to one of the harbour¡¯s two stone piers, where it docked smoothly.


    ¡°True but they were close.¡±


    They went ashore carrying their prize in a solid bronze cage. The Silver Dolphin was easy, it was the biggest building in the small settlement and the only one to straddle land and sea. The innkeeper seemed to be kind of excitable and disappeared into the underwater part of his establishment when they asked for Thomas Ferlix.


    A large cat beastfolk male emerged from the pool that served as a stairwell for the underwater part of the inn, shook himself partially dry and approached them. ¡°Morning, I¡¯m Tomcat, sorry I mean Thomas Felix, I see you have completed our quest. Will you sell me the cage, if so how much do you want for it?¡± said Tomcat wile placing a small purse in front of Harrassan.


    Harrassan checked the purse and inspected one of the coins and passed it to his brother. ¡°Interesting design, the cage? How about two guilders.¡±


    ¡°Fine, my principal suggested giving you seven imperials as a bonus for a job well done, I hope you¡¯ll accept,¡± said Tomcat slipping two guilders into a second purse and placing next to the first.


    At Harrassan¡¯s nod Tomcat signed the appropriate document signifying a satisfactory completion then gestured to a wolfman sitting nearby, they grabbed the cage and walked away.

 The Night of Fire

    In the world of The Misplaced Dungeon.


    {Timeline: September 2018 ¨C MD during and just after Ch. 21}


    Killer inspected the interior of the Blind Pig tavern, it was thankfully empty, so he scuttled in and keeping close to the walls made his way behind the bar. Another quick check and he climbed onto the bar, the feat greatly facilitated by his hand-like paws and retractable claws. He stretched and his form shimmered as he changed. The large headed rat was replaced by a very small humanoid that managed to look faintly ratlike.


    Killer looked down at himself and smiled, ¡®bless Ocidon and the Creator.¡¯ Thought Killer as he accessed his storage device and placed a letter in the centre of the bar and pinned it in place with a heavy purse.


    Killer looked round again then scrambled back down to the floor, before resuming his ratlike form and scurrying away, he still had several taverns to visit.


    * * *


    Daorn dropped in at the Blind Pig for lunch and a pint of Faruk¡¯s finest ale. As usual Faruk welcomed him personally, they had known each other for years after all.


    ¡°Well old friend, if you want some free ale come by after six, Vinculus has paid for another night of free booze,¡± Faruk stated. ¡°Please tell your friends, I¡¯d prefer to have my tavern full of you lot than Vinculus¡¯ lot.¡±


    Daorn just sat at his table looking across at his friend while his brain tried to process the information. Faruk just chuckled as he watched Daorn.


    The two men chatted amiably for a while then Faruk left to supervise his staff and look after his clients while Daorn finished his meal and left to return to his shop.


    Daorn cursed as he closed up his shop, secured the storm shutters and locked the door. He then called his wife and children. Lottie was out! Daorn explained about the pirates'' party and the free booze and sent his second son to find her and get her home before the boozing started.


    Then they all started to transfer the contents of the shop to the secure cellar. Thankfully Gresar arrived back with Lottie safely. After the shop was cleared they moved all their valuables into the cellar. By the time they had finished they could hear the local toughs celebrating.


    * * *


    Haaroof was in his second tavern. This one was serving rum! He joined in on the cheers in honour of Vinculus, grabbed a mug and settled in to serious drinking. When some idiots interrupted him with their fight he lashed out with his knife.


    The tavern¡¯s bouncers were quickly on the scene with their clubs. Haaroof dimly realized it was time to find another tavern so he staggered off before the bouncers got round to him.


    * * *


    Kajan and his mates quickly got tired of watching the party and reasoning they would have no problem finding other berths they abandoned the Harrower en mass and poured into the closest tavern they could find and starting downing Vinculus¡¯ liquid bounty.The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.


    Having drunk the tavern dry, killing the bartender and wrecking the bar and its contents in their displeasure, the drunken pirates and toughs reeled off to fresh pastures.


    * * *


    ¡°Papa, quick come look,¡± exclaimed Lottie from her post at the Dormer window overlooking the harbour.


    Daorn grumbled his way up to the loft thanking his stars that there were few taverns in their neighbourhood. He didn¡¯t see anything strange until his daughter explained the significance of the two longboats secured to the stern of the Red Terror.


    ¡°Papa, men leapt aboard the Red Terror from the longboats...¡± said Lottie.


    They both watched in silence as several forms were dumped into the harbour. Men swarmed up the masts and let down the sails even as the longboats tugged the Red Terror round to face the harbour mouth.


    ¡°It¡¯s a fu...bloody raid, how could they have... Oh damn, the raiders must have arranged for...¡± muttered Daorn.


    ¡°Papa, they¡¯re taking the prize too.¡±


    They watched in silence as the two ships caught the wind and with gathering speed sailed out of the harbour followed by the four longboats that headed towards a vague shadow waiting out at sea.


    ¡°Shouldn¡¯t we tell someone?¡± asked Lottie.


    ¡°I suppose so, but it just isn¡¯t safe out there with all those bastards all liquored up,¡± answered her father.


    * * *


    Killer and two other man-rats were spreading lamp oil around and on the goods stored in the warehouse, they used some of their copious supply to lay trails of oil to and onto the timber walls of the building. Once their storage devices were empty two left the warehouse via the rat hole in the wall they had left clear of oil. Killer used his fire starter to produce a flame and after setting the oil on fire he scurried out of the burning warehouse via the rat hole his friends had used earlier.


    ¡°Papa, look Vinculus¡¯ warehouse is burning!¡±


    Daorn looked and realized his daughter was right, the huge timber building down on the waterfront, and far too close to their home, was indeed burning. Even as he watched something truly inflammable caught, and flames swept through the collapsing roof.


    Daorn raced downstairs after asking Lottie to keep watching and yelled at his family to dig out the ship¡¯s pump from the cellar and all the hoses they could find.


    * * *


    Three warehouses were burning, two widely spaced at each end of the dock district and one on the outskirts of the commercial district further inland. For a long time nobody did anything, first the warehouses belonged to Vinculus the Red, Port Salvage¡¯s pirate chief and second the only people sober enough to be worried were too scared of the drunken mob on the streets to venture out of their houses.


    The burning warehouses spread burning cinders to their neighbouring buildings when their walls started to collapse. The fires spread rapidly. Those still sober banded together to get themselves their treasures and their families out of the areas affected by the spreading fires. Their worst problem was dissuading the drunks from molesting them.


    Down on the docks Daorn rallied some of his neighbours as he and his sons set up their pump and starting wetting his shop down. His wife and daughters dug out his other two pumps, a ships chandler had some odd items after all.


    Haaroof staggered along in search of another tavern when he tripped over something in the road, he savagely attacked it with his knife and was swept of his feet by a wave of cold none too clean water.


    Getting back on his feet he realized that a bunch of locals had doused him with a hose, they had attacked him! Haaroof raised his dagger high and charged the fools. The young teens working the pump fled and when their parents arrived to find out why their hose had stopped supplying water they found Haaroof attacking the pump. They charged him with cries of rage and didn¡¯t bother chasing the drunken pirate when he fled being to anxious to get the pump working again.


    The following morning the sun rose on a scene of devastation with numerous fires still smouldering. Here and there a few houses and shops remained relatively undamaged among a field of black char.

 Maria Jo?o has a Difficult Day

    In the world of Unexpected Consequences.


    David pulled his bedraggled daughter out of the Adventurer¡¯s Guild building, he opened the trunk of his car and hauled out a tarp that he draped over the passenger seat before allowing his sullen daughter to get in. The short drive was undertaken in silence.


    Once home David, pointed to the stairs, ¡°go and get cleaned up, then get back down here, your mother and I want a few words with you young lady.¡±


    Jo?o went upstairs feeling hard done by, nevertheless less half an hour later she was back in the lounge showered wearing a dressing gown over her pyjamas.


    David Botelho sat arm in arm with his wife S?o on the old comfortable couch in their living room watching their daughter Jo?o squirm on the chair opposite them.


    Barring the tick of the clock on the mantelpiece the room remained in silence until what could pass for a herd of elephants came thundering down the stairs. Two more children entered the room casting avid looks of curiosity and surprise at their sister.


    ¡°Jo?o what have you done to your hair!¡± exclaimed Luisa horrified at the sight of her younger sister¡¯s dark blue hair.


    ¡°Oh wow, cool ears! What ya done now Jo?o?¡± asked Betito with a grin.


    Jo?o just hunched her shoulders and looked back at her family sullenly.


    David drew in a deep breath, ¡°Well our little tomboy...¡±


    ¡°Am not!¡±


    ¡°... are ¨C and her friends have been indulging themselves with some adventuring much to their parents distress and this is the result, Maria Jo?o Botelho Portugal¡¯s latest sea elf. If the System handles the second stage of the Earth¡¯s evolution to the system as the first wave we may all find ourselves in the same boat.¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t want blue hair!¡± exclaimed Louisa.


    ¡°More important than blue hair is the development and lifespan of elves. As babies and tor the first two or three years apparently an elf¡¯s development is pretty much identical to that of a human then it drastically slows, your sister will need over thirty years before she attains the growth and development she would have at eighteen if she were still human.¡±


    Said daughter sulked and pouted at the thought, having to wait eight years was bad enough, thirty...


    ¡°On the plus side, an elf will normally have a lifespan of over a thousand years.¡±


    A generalized discussion ensued and as the other two children of the family realized the possible implications to themselves ad adulthood suddenly threatened to disappear over the horizon discussion was joined by recriminations and denial.


    * * *


    The next morning at breakfast Jo?o was formally informed of her punishment, she was grounded until she could restore her father¡¯s prized hunting knife to its former glory.This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.


    She was handed a bag containing several blunt, rusty knives some with notched blades and a couple of whetstones and cleaning supplies. ¡°Practice on these first, after you¡¯ve dealt with them we¡¯ll see about my knife. Then you¡¯re coming hunting with me and Silverfin on Saturday so you¡¯re in from some, well a lot of lessons on firearm safety and handlig.¡±


    ¡°But daddy I don¡¯t want to go hunting, and why do I...¡±


    ¡°You will be coming,¡± interrupted her father, ¡°and you will learn, I won¡¯t have a Ranger in the family incapable of maintaining blades and firearms. And that is that!¡±


    Pout. ¡°How do I use this stuff?¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s what the internet is for, you can use it for research and noting else.¡± Then David grinned, ¡°and I¡¯ll get your brother to check your usage.¡±


    Betito grinned.


    Thus started a tedious week, school then knife maintenance and repair interlaced with firearms safty drill, which progressed to stripping and maintenance of shotgun, pistol ant the H&K G3 that normally resided in her father¡¯s squad car.


    ting: Blades Maintenance skill level up.


    ting: Firearms Safety skill level up.


    ting: Firearms Maintenance skill level up.


    Finally it was Saturday and Jo?o was seen off by her mother and siblings, all three profoundly grateful not to be in her new hiking boots. They picked up Silverfin at his home and drove into the hills occasionally passing fellow weekend hunters.


    They parked their car in a layby and proceeded to David¡¯s favourite hunting patch.


    David snapped his shotgun shut and passed it to his daughter, she opened it in reflex, blinked and removed the cartridge that was sitting in the right barrel, a quick check showed her that it was a blank and she somewhat resentfully handed it back to her beaming father.


    ¡°Good,¡± said her father as he handed a mostly empty canvas bag.


    Silverfin realized that he had just watched a test the girl had passed, he watched as Jo?o explored the bag and inspected the twelve cartridges contained therein.


    ¡°You wanted to know more about our firearms Silverfin, so we¡¯ll start with the double barrelled shotgun I¡¯ve just lent my daughter, it can use several kinds of ammunition, today we are after rabbits so most of the rounds contain numerous small shot, I¡¯ve also included two rounds with solid slugs and two with buckshot for a demonstration after we¡¯ve picked up dinner.¡± David gestured for his daughter to take up the lead and when she set off the two adults followed one to either flank.


    As for Jo?o something seemed to click and she was soon receiving several messages from the System.


    ting: Observation skill level up.


    ting: Stealth skill level up.


    ting: Danger sense level up.


    Jo?o felt uneasy, something rustled in the bushes off to the right, she snapped open the shotgun ejecting the rounds she had loaded for rabbit and quickly slid in two new rounds while dropping to one knee and aiming at the bushes. She was just in time as a large ¨C St Bernard sized ¨C weird looking ¨C dog? ¨C with a quivering scorpion tail came charging out of the bushes at them. Two shots one after the other, buck to the face and as the thing threw its head back a slug to the chest. The dog thing stumbled and seemed to hesitate slightly then it resumed its charge. Jo?o had just enough time to reload her twelve gauge with a similar loadout and fired both barrels simultaneously at point blank range almost decapitating their attacker and tumbling away to the side aided by the shotgun¡¯s recoil.


    ting: Luck stat unlocked.


    She climbed to her feet rubbing her sore right shoulder and was vaguely surprised to find Silverfin standing over the monster sword in hand while her father was making his pistol safe as he came to hug her in relief.


    After murmuring some nonsense things into his daughter¡¯s hair David looked up, ¡°well Silverfin I had wanted to show you what a shotgun could do with different types of ammo but not like this. Any idea what that thing is?¡±


    ¡°A monster, either an evolution or something deemed suitable for this area. So what level are you now Jo?o.¡±


    ¡°Um, five?¡±


    ¡°So a very dangerous high level threat to boost your daughter by three levels, and I¡¯m afraid a sign that the next stage of your world¡¯s transformation is near.¡±


    Silverfin stored the scorpion dog in his storage and by mutual consent they decided to call it a day.


    The discovery of the scorpion dog led to several sweeps of the area and other similar areas by the army especially after several other of the things were found and killed.

 ANS 31 Remembers!

    In the world of The Misplaced Dungeon.


    {Timeline: October 2018 ¨C MD starts during Ch. 30}


    ANS 31 had sealed his entrance and was now busy forming the sixth floor of his dungeon, his wisp companion Dawnstar had said it was time to expand and had outlined what was needed. ANS 31 carefully and meticulously followed the plans laid out by his wisp.


    Then Chaos! Something broke, his soul, his very existence was draining down a link he had not previously noticed. It hurt! He was just starting to panic when it stopped, then it started again but in reverse. ANS 31 blacked out for a few seconds.


    At the same time back on Earth at HawaiiCon Dave Fitzwilliam and his wife were checking out the Young Creators¡¯ Share-a-thon. Dave noticed the two women that entered shortly after he and his wife; it was the contrast between the two that drew his eye. Then he met the tall girl¡¯s eyes and his head seemed to explode. Dave staggered and managed to reach one of the chairs that were lining the walls before collapsing. Maddy clung to him obviously worried.


    ANS 31, no he was Dave, David Andrew Fitzwilliam and was married, no he was a dungeon core thanks to that tittering hellion Azurea. Maybe not hellion, she didn¡¯t have to leave his human half ¨C alter ego? ¨C alive to keep Maddy company. He had to thank Azurea for that at least. Somehow he could remember that meeting in the white room, space, whatever? And he could remember his old life ¨C all too well ¨C and what he had been doing since as human and dungeon.


    He Dave the dungeon, checked himself out, his core was intact but his life force was low, he was currently at sixty percent. He felt down the previously unnoticed link, Dave the human was unconscious, his soul, life essence whatever you cared to call it was also at sixty percent.


    He remembered his other link and instinctively blocked it, thankfully Dawnstar was lazy as well as a know it all arrogant bastard. As usual he was lazing away in his private quarters. Well no time like the present, before the so and so woke to what was happening and went running to Azurea.


    ? System please terminate my bond to the wisp Dawnstar. ?


    ? ANS 31 are you sure you wish to sever the bond to your companion. You have cause but the penalty will be the loss of one level ¨C yes / no ?


    ? Yes! ?


    ? Conditions met ¨C bond severed ¨C dungeon ANS 31 now level six due to loss of level penalty for unilaterally severing the companion bond. ?


    ? System that name was imposed on me, I haven¡¯t yet chosen a name. My name is David Andrew Fitzwilliam commonly known as ... ? Dave thought for a moment as he considered the possibility of confusion in his mind and settled for the alternative name he had had as a boy in school. ? Andy. ?


    ? Conditions met ¨C Dungeon formerly known as ANS 31 now David Andrew Fitzwilliam to be known henceforth as ¡°Andy¡± name change has been logged. ?


    Andy could feel Dave wake at the other end of their shared link, he could feel his confusion so he initiated contact and found his other self all too aware of what had happened to them. They went through their memories together and sorted them out. Dave clutched Maddy¡¯s hand tightly as he came to terms with what had happened to him, the two of him!


    Dave recovered slowly then asked Maddy if she minded returning to their room for a bit. Once there he explained everything to the love of his life, finally he offered to bring her into a link with him and his other self. It took them several hours to work everything out with the occasional clarification from the System. They decided to opt for a non-traditional class, something that would help them in their everyday lives. They decided to become elves for the expanded lifespan, a thousand years was nothing to sneer at and opted for the minimum of cosmetic changes consistent with the change. When the System offered them a companion type link along the lines of what existed between a dungeon and its bound companion they rashly agreed without bothering to discover why they had that option available and what it would entail.


    * * *


    Back on Parthia the former dungeon companion Dawnstar was pleasantly surprised and decamped. He was more than tired of the role of dungeon companion, it had proved altogether far more work than he had envisioned in the beginning and Azurea was always carping and after him to do this or that. Dawnstar didn¡¯t even delay to make his farewells he just used the small escape tunnel he had had the foresight to get ANS 31 to make for him and returned home.


    Andy felt him go with relief, he was feeling somehow incomplete, but for now he had other things to worry about. His first five levels were populated, planted with herbs and seeded with minerals as treasure. But it was all so bland and predictable. It just made him feel... uncomfortable, inadequate.


    As for his monsters, why oh why had he acceded to Dawnstar¡¯s suggestions, probably because he¡¯d been acting like a computer and doing everything he was told regardless of whether it made sense or not. So now he was stuck, goblins were a pain, dumb, bloodthirsty but timid. The slimes were worse, bloody useless things, why had that lazy so and so insisted he pick them.


    ? System, given that thanks to Azurea, Dawnstar was the controlling force of this dungeon can I discard the monster types he picked and choose something else? ?Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.


    ? The Goblins are well known, so no. The slimes have not yet been revealed so for a further penalty of a level you may exchange that choice ?


    ? ... ?


    Andy contemplated his choices, he really didn¡¯t want to drop another level and if he managed to attain level ten he would gain another set of choices. He rummaged round in his memory and accessed the ¡®help desk¡¯ options that seemed to be lurking in the depths of his mind. ¡®Hey I can use creatures I kill or die in my dungeon! I can even evolve them! Why that little bastard of a whisp, why didn¡¯t he get me to use this ability!¡¯


    ? Thank you for explaining my options System. I will reluctantly stick with the slimes. ?


    Andy laboured all night using up his resources of mana and life force recklessly unwilling to remain so... so drab and uninteresting. He concentrated on his first level, he merged the two final caverns and created a small walled village for his floor boss and his goblins, he added some women and children as non-combatants but with goblins that proved inaccurate. I appeared all goblins were combatants.


    Then Andy instituted a pattern of patrols to cover the rest of the level which would logically permit him to reinforce an ongoing fight.


    He rearranged his second level and once again added a village with ongoing patrols, he refined the existing traps and tried to add a few dogs to the mix but they ended up in the goblin stewpots.


    Mana exhaustion forced him to leave the rest of his dungeon unchanged. Then he sealed his former companion¡¯s escape tunnel and unblocked his entrance.


    ¡®Huh, typical,¡¯ thought Andy, ¡®nobody even noticed my dungeon was closed, why did Azurea drop me here a mere two days walk of the Celestial Peaks Dungeon? Mind you...¡¯ he ruefully admitted to himself, ¡®my dungeon is so bland and boring I can¡¯t blame them for staying away.¡¯


    * * *


    Dave and Maddy relaxed in their hotel room while they discussed the day¡¯s happenings. They finally focused on that moment at the Young Creators¡¯ Share-a-thon when Dave had met the tall girl¡¯s eyes. It was what had triggered the ¨C whatever it was ¨C that had reunited the two versions of his being. Thankfully everything else was working, even the bizarre thing with the screens or they would have been seeking the services of a psychiatrist by now.


    So they decided to see if they could discover who the girl was and to see if they could contact her to see if she had noticed anything.


    By the end of the con they had identified the girl, many people were talking about her as she seemed to attract dolphins on the snorkel tours. She was a local, Mary Silvestre by name. Or as they found out later after they had booked into a cheaper hotel for the rest of their stay a local of one of the other islands so they¡¯d have to book an inter island flight if they wanted to talk to her face to face.


    * * *


    Andy contemplated the recent conversation with his alter ego and his wife, he was worried that Dave and Maddy seemed to share a companion bond and worried as to what that might mean. ¡®Mary Silvestre? I wonder...¡¯


    ? System is there a way of obtaining a list of dungeons, or confirming if Mary Silvestre is one? ?


    ? Dungeon exchange ?


    Andy contemplated that enigmatic reply for several minutes before seeking an appropriate option on his menus. He found it halfway down a tree of options and selected it. He was confronted with three options: Seeking ¨C Offering ¨C Chat.


    Almost reluctantly Andy selected ¡®Chat¡¯. He was presented with a list of dungeons listed by their ranking, at the head of the list were four Godlike ranked dungeons: ¡°Skylark Meadows ¨C Kai Lung¡± ¨C ¡°Hell Pit ¨C Steel Wolf¡± ¨C ¡°Ice Crags ¨C Queenie¡± ¨C ¡°Blue Lagoon ¨C Mary Silvestre¡±.


    Andy just contemplated the list stunned, Godlike, how the hell had she managed that? Almost reluctantly he selected ¡°Blue Lagoon¡± and composed his message:


    ¡°Dear Ms Silvestre, recently my alter ego or double on Earth met yours and that opened or more accurately blasted open our soul link and now we both remember everything we both know and did since that bitch Azurea separated our soul, and set me up here on Parthia without my memories as a dungeon. Would you be willing to communicate with me / us. Yours Andy (David Andrew Fitzwilliam).¡±


    And then after another long pause he sent it.


    * * *


    Back on Earth Dave and Maddy newly on the island of Maui settled in in their new hotel and contemplated the phone. Dave drew a deep breath picked up the receiver and dialled.


    The phone rang and rang, Dave had almost given up when finally the ringing stopped and he heard, ¡°Yes.¡±


    ¡°Hello, could we please speak with Mary Silvestre.¡±


    ¡°Speakin¡¯.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m Dave Fitzwilliam and I attended the recent HawaiiCon, could we, that is me and my wife come round to visit you sometime soon.¡±


    There was a pause at the other end of the line. ¡°Yeah? Guess you know where to come if you got our phone number. So wanna come ¡®round for the barbie?¡±


    ¡°We can be there in half an hour, our hotel¡¯s not far.¡±


    ¡°¡¯K then, just come ¡®round the back.¡±


    Dave put the phone down and looking at his wife said, ¡°Um, we¡¯ve been invited to a barbecue.¡±


    They ordered a taxi and when they arrived at the specified address Dave paid the taxi and somewhat hesitantly they walked up to the house past the elderly jeep on the driveway. As instructed they headed down the path leading around the house to the rear.


    When Dave set eyes on the tall girl filling the two large grills with charcoal he felt the hairs on the back of his neck bristle with apprehension. Maddy smiled not noticing her husband¡¯s sudden caution, ¡°Hi I¡¯m Maddy and this is my husband Dave. You must be Mary.¡±


    Mary looked at them with narrowed eyes. ¡°Yeah that¡¯s me, I kinda see why you wanted to speak with me but how did you spot me in the first place?¡±


    Dave tried out his new evaluate skill earning an irritated look from his hostess and noted to himself that some people were able to sense the use of evaluate. Not that he gained much by it ¨C ¡®Race: Human ¨C Class: ??? ¨C Level: ?¡¯


    ¡°Well it all started when Dave saw you at the Con, Dave collapsed and joined with his alternate self on Parthia. Um is this making any sense to you?¡± asked Maddy.


    Mary stared at them for a moment. ¡°So that¡¯s what that link is!¡± Mary exclaimed. ¡°But why...¡±


    The Fitzwilliams shared their story with Mary while Mary taught them how to interact and live with the system. They decided to stay for the barbecue despite the risk of meeting the FBI agents that had apparently been invited.


    * * *


    It was Trisha who noticed the message on the Dungeon Exchange channel, she had learnt from bitter experience that Mary routinely ignored all System messages so she usually dealt with them, she was happy to deal with them as they usually meant the two of them were getting stronger.


    This was a weird one however so she badgered her partner until she consented to look at it.


    Mary sought more information and the Dungeon exchange option supplied what she needed, there it was almost the last entry on the list of Apprentice ranked dungeons: ¡°Unnamed ¨C David Andrew Fitzwilliam¡±.


    ¡°Hi Andy, wouldn¡¯t know about the me back on Earth but I¡¯m willing to help any other victim of that blue haired cow. Cheers Mary.¡±

 A Demon Grows a Conscience

    In the world of The Misplaced Dungeon.


    {Timeline: September 2018 ¨C MD starts during Ch. 9}


    Zarnjdfjgmn the Incubus had just completed the task imposed on him by the dungeon of Hell¡¯s Mouth and its companion the wraith Arbogar. He stood at one point of a triangle that enclosed an elaborate set of dark magical runes that surrounded a brown tourmaline. The other points of the triangle were taken up by Hell¡¯s Mouth¡¯s Sapphire core and a hovering Arbogar.


    As Arbogar chanted his ritual Zarnjdfjgmn waited nervously. At the appropriate point in the ritual Zarnjdfjgmn released the soul of the young woman he had gathered slowly and carefully, absorbing some of her worst memories as he did so. Then Arbogar¡¯s magic caught hold of the soul and it was sucked into the gem and with a final twist Hell¡¯s Mouth and Arbogar sealed the now glowing tourmaline.


    ? You have done well Zarnjdfjgmn, leave now and enjoy your reward. ? Hell¡¯s Mouth voice echoed in Zarnjdfjgmn¡¯s head.


    He sneered and snarled a few times just for show then vanished. As hell strove to claim him once more he clung desperately to the soul seed he had planted in the boy and slowly dragged himself back into the world.


    Joyfully Zarnjdfjgmn poured his soul, his very being into the thoroughly corrupted youth he had selected during his previous visit to the village in the low hills just beyond the central desert and started to access the child¡¯s memories. The soul of his victim proved elusive and slipped his grasp, it was jerked out of his grasp, and snapped into his former body as this was dragged down to the hells.


    Something had gone wrong, Zarnjdfjgmn, no he was Abriman now. Abriman shook his head and scanned those few memories he had been able to read. Truly Abriman had been truly evil, his father¡¯s teachings and example had guaranteed that. Abriman had so far always appeared under his father¡¯s shadow. He could use that; he had to use that and with that witch hunter in the village he had to be careful. Wait what was that, in the back of his mind, oh right it was the soul of the old woman.


    Abriman took stock of his situation, the System allowed him to learn that he was now just five months short of the date he would become an adult, it would seem that his magical affinities and abilities had remained with him but the prissy System was censoring and suppressing them until he had passed his fourteenth birthday. So not much help there, he was left with three spells he could use, ironically they were the first ones he had learned before becoming an Incubus but thankfully they were the stronger version of those spells.


    So he snuck out of his, no Abriman¡¯s father¡¯s house and set about exploring the village, it was small with just over forty houses and shops many now abandoned and decaying mostly clustered around the open common but several followed the north south road that ran through the village. And all the while the old woman whispered in the back of his mind.


    The common was depressing, it was still decorated with the remains of a large fire around a fire stained chain bedecked iron post. He looked at the jail house or should that be the torture house. With his magical vision he could easily sense the miasma of evil and despair that surrounded it.


    Then he recollected one of the memories he had been able read before the former owner of his body had been relocated, they had dragged a girl into that hellhole yesterday. He felt the old woman¡¯s soul stir once again. Something had to be done, if Rovoc continued to find ¡°witches¡± to torture and kill soon there would be no women or girls left in the village and he NEEDED women and girls. They were delightful and... something the System was preventing him from remembering. And anyway it was an awful waste and as the old woman kept whispering in the back of his head just not right.


    Maybe he could get her out, this was the first night they probably wouldn¡¯t have started the torture yet. He hoped they hadn¡¯t started the torture yet or it could prove hard to move her.


    He remembered his last visit when as an incubus he had sought a soul for Hell¡¯s Mouth. There were two longish blank patches in his memories, things the System didn¡¯t consider it appropriate for the current him to remember, he could only hope it was nothing important. The old woman in the back of his mind snorted in amusement.


    So, front door leading to a small reception cum guard room with two doors, one leading to a mostly empty and disgusting kitchen at the front of the house and the other to the well equipped torture chamber that occupied the centre of the house, then a door opening in the centre of a short corridor that had three solid wooden doors with barred windows that secured the cells.


    Abriman debated returning to his current abode to get a weapon but decided against it, he waited until the lesser moon rose in the sky before cautiously approaching the only door to the prison. He almost snorted in derision when he realised it wasn¡¯t locked or secured in any way. He eased it open and stepped inside before closing it equally carefully. He could hear snoring coming from the kitchen.The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.


    The inner door was locked, Abriman looked round the room to see if he could find something to use to pick the lock. He shook his head in bemusement; the keys were lying in plain sight on the rickety table that served as a desk. He managed to pick them up without making a sound and the lock opened with a muted click. He eased it open and stepped inside the dark room. His eyes adjusted quickly and he found he could see almost as well in the dark as when he had been an Incubus.


    The girl was quite naked and strapped to the rack; she had several nasty looking burns on her torso and limbs. ¡®Carminia,¡¯ said the voice in the back of his mind shocked, ¡®but she¡¯s only a child!¡¯


    Abriman tiptoed across to Carminia and laid a hand over her mouth as he woke her. ¡°Please don¡¯t make a sound Carminia, I¡¯m here to free you,¡± he whispered.


    Carminia woke stiff with terror and she watched Abriman with widened eyes. She couldn¡¯t believe the evil little so and so was here in the middle of the night to help her, but... hope flared in her breast.


    Abriman cast his only healing spell twice then he got to work undoing the straps. When he succeeded he helped her up and passed her his coat. Carminia wasted no time shrugging it on, it revealed a good deal too much of her legs but it was way better than nothing.


    Abriman kept getting a nagging feeling that he was missing something here, reinforced by several occurrences of the System¡¯s active censorship of his memories.


    Once back in the reception area Abriman looked at the door to the kitchen and then at Carminia¡¯s bare feet. He drew in a long steady breath to calm his nerves then carefully opened the door. The old man from his last visit, the master torturer was lying oblivious on the table. He jerked as he felt a blast of hatred from the back of his mind. Calming himself he moved into the room quietly thanking his almost demon sight and when so close he couldn¡¯t possibly miss he released the most potent ice bolt he could cast directly into the master torturer¡¯s temple. The old man stopped snoring as his head collapsed into a frozen mess.


    He quickly located Carminia¡¯s things, most of her clothes had been ruined but there were other women¡¯s clothes stored here so he was able to pass the girl a bundle of things. His search also turned up a well filled purse containing bits and quarters.


    They left the torture house and he led the way out of town and to where just days ago he remembered overflying a deserted shack on the hill to the south of the village. It was filthy but it would do as somewhere to make plans, he had two women to talk to, one traumatised and one dead.


    Carminia was totally bemused, she couldn¡¯t believe that this was Abriman, not that she¡¯d had anything to do with him previously but he had seemed a perfect copy of his sadistic father. Not someone who could cast spells and handed her clothing without comment and... and saved her.


    Once in the filthy dilapidated shed that she had not known existed, Abriman turned and rubbing a ¨C tear-streaked? ¨C face dropped cross legged to a relatively clear patch of floor.


    Abriman decided to give the speech he had been working on ever since leaving the village with the help of the old woman in the back of his mind.


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry I¡¯ve been such a... I was so afraid of father... I couldn¡¯t just... not any longer, I had planned to just wait till I was fourteen and vanish but... Sorry!¡±


    Carminia was stunned, she could understand that Abriman was scared of his father, the man was a monster after all but she was still having difficulty wrapping her mind round this new Abriman.


    Abriman drew a visible deep breath and sighed as he tried to gauge Carminia¡¯s reaction carefully following the suggestions originating in the back of his mind totally unaware that his eyes were glowing with a dim golden light.


    Carminia sat herself carefully on the floor in front of her saviour and uneasily wondered about the golden light that danced in his eyes. ¡°So now what Abriman?¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t know, the easiest thing would be to run to the nearest settlement but... what about the other girls that are starting to become women... Rovoc is crazy and getting worse... I ¨C I can¡¯t just bring myself to abandon them... but... they¡¯d never trust me would they?¡±


    ¡®Old one, any advice you could give would be welcome, I truly do not want to loose any girls to this madness, even as an Incubus and my memories of that time are getting faint, I only preyed on adults, adults with sins on their souls. But that was my preference others of my kind were not so... choosy.¡¯


    Carminia licked her lips nervously and studied the boy opposite her, ¡°no they wouldn¡¯t, they¡¯d see you as a copy of your father.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s fair I guess, I was trying to seem like one to avoid his anger. I was afraid he¡¯d kill me.¡±


    Carminia blinked as she sought to rearrange her thoughts and feelings, ¡°There are only two other girls that have started their blood times, if I talk to them I think I can persuade them to leave, and I think Raaksana¡¯s father is planning to bolt with his family.¡±


    ¡°Can we do it tonight or...¡±


    Carminia gulped nervously as she rubbed the now flawless skin of her arm, ¡°Yes! But we, I¡¯ll contact Raaksana last.¡±


    The two returned to the village and approached the back of a small house on the North road. Abriman found a good location to keep watch while Carminia approached the house. Abriman was starting to worry at the delay when Carminia left the house and came towards him escorting two small figures.


    There was some frantic whispering when they recognised him and had to be reassured that yes Abriman had been the one to rescue her and no he was not the evil git he had always portrayed.


    Their second stop was deeper in the village and Abriman once again found a good spot to keep watch, the two girls hid near him and Carminia headed for the home of her best friend Raaksana. Some fifteen minutes later she frantically waved at them to join her, somewhat reluctantly Abriman did so with the two girls.


    Gortag regarded the boy thoughtfully, he found it very hard to credit that he had had a spine all this time and that he had broken free of his father. Gortag embraced Abriman as he uttered, ¡°thank you for saving her.¡±


    Abriman who had started the rescue for mostly selfish reasons started to cry as he felt something in his soul realign. Helping people who needed it felt... good!


    It was shortly after midnight that the small group of people slipped over the hill and headed south.

 Revenge for Sandrinna

    In the world of The Misplaced Dungeon.


    {Timeline: September 2018 ¨C MD starts shortly after Ch. 9 and ends with Ch. 40}


    A small group of people straggled into Copper Town. The man stared round bemused, unbelievingly at the women walking freely in the town. Two of the adolescents just walked quietly at the back of the group talking quietly. The remaining two adolescents joined the three young children in staring with wonder at all the people and houses.


    Gortag asked some of the passers by about somewhere to stay, and was offered a choice of inns, contemplating his finances, and realizing that he¡¯d need money to set up in a new town, he opted for the cheapest option. However on seeing it he rejected it and move back to one of the better parts of the town. He finally settled on the next option on his mental list. The Grey Goose was not the cleanest establishment, but it was relatively cheap, and he was able to hire one of the dormitory rooms for his group.


    Abriman noted Gortag¡¯s caution and immediately assumed the man was harder up than he had previously thought, so once they were in their room, he produced the torturer¡¯s purse, took two quarters and four bits for himself and the same for Carminia, before passing the still bulging purse to Gortag.


    ¡°Here Gortag you can make better use of this than me, and no it isn¡¯t mine, not really I stole it from the Torturer after I killed him, I think I would be happier if it was used for the good of all as I think that would hurt that selfish sadist more than anything.¡±


    Gortag blinked back tears, the purse was heavy and in Abriman¡¯s place he didn¡¯t think he would have given it up.


    Next morning he left his daughter looking after the children whilst he went looking for work. Shortly after he left Abriman told the others he was going to have a look around, Raaksana motioned to Carminia to follow him, Carminia did. Abriman smiled at her and once they were out of the room he passed her share of the money he had kept back.


    ¡°B-but why, this is ¨C should be yours,¡± she exclaimed looking at the pile of small copper coins in her hand.


    ¡°Keep them, you can share them with Raaksana if you wish. Anyway I have some too and Gortag seems like he won¡¯t let us go hungry.¡±


    ¡°I have a promise to keep, I think the best way to do so lies with the Adventurer¡¯s Guild and we passed it yesterday.¡±


    ¡°A promise, to whom?¡±


    Abriman drew a deep breath, ¡°Um, to Sandrinna, I told her she would be avenged, that she would have her revenge. Ah, there it is.¡± And he led the way into the local Adventurer¡¯s Guild. The place was quite busy; undoubtedly due to a dungeon having arisen in the local worked out copper mine.


    Abriman looked round and headed towards a table near the bar on the right that was occupied by a sextet of tough looking women with a bemused Carminia trailing behind.


    The women watched the children approach with a certain resigned amusement. They were used to being accosted by young would be adventurers.


    Abriman apologised for disturbing them, and told them he needed help to fulfil a vow. He then launched into the story of Abriman¡¯s former village sparing no details.


    The smiles on the women¡¯s faces faded and after Carminia nodded to confirm the story, grew very grim. The room slowly grew quiet as more and more of those present started listening to the boy¡¯s horrifying tale. When Abriman stopped Carminia, almost hiding behind Abriman, spoke and added the story of her rescue and subsequent events.


    Palca the Widowmaker stared of the two children, ¡°you promise that this tale is true? Is there anyone who can confirm it? And you boy, you have magic?¡±


    Abriman nodded, ¡°Yes it is the truth, possibly not the whole truth but it is the truth as I saw and experienced it. I only know three spells that I worked out after reading a truly stupid story about an ice mage.¡±


    Reeva¡¯s lips twitched, ¡°Goovar against the Sky Dragon by any chance, if I recall correctly his main spell was an Ice Bolt.¡±


    Abriman blushed and nodded.


    Carmnia still hiding behind her friend piped up, ¡°Abriman persuaded my friends Raaksana and Flitter and Raaksana¡¯s father Gortag to leave, oh and three children, we arrived late yesterday and we¡¯re staying at the Gray Goose, um, Gortag went looking for work, he¡¯s a smith.


    ¡°Right then, seat these two young heroes and get them something to eat, you two go and find Gortag and fetch him here, you and you go and make sure the other children are safe,¡± ordered Isbetta the guildmaster from the back of the crowd where she had been listening to the story.This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it


    The Roving Valkyries made room at their table and in no time Carminia and Abriman found themselves seated with a bowl of stew and a mug of weak beer.


    ¡°So tell me, I know you have an ice bolt and a healing spell what is your third,¡± asked Reeva.


    ¡°Erm, a water shield, Goovar¡¯s ice shield was always breaking so I figured water would work better, especially if I made it spin.¡±


    Reeva opened her mouth to ask another question and stopped seeing the blank look on the boy¡¯s face and the vague unfocused eyes. She grinned, ¡°Abriman has been hit by the System, conditions met I bet,¡± she announced and once again Abriman was the focus of all eyes.


    ? conditions met ¨C you have been offered the class Paladin ¨C accept yes / no ?


    Abriman stared at the incompressible message for a long minute before accepting.


    ? Class Paladin of Hel-Arlizzy lvl 1 weak aura of protection gained ?


    Abriman came back to himself to find himself the centre of attention, ¡°um, I ¨C I¡¯m a Paladin of Hel-Arlizzy, and, and my god wants Rovoc delivered alive to the Last Stand Dungeon near Arsouk if can be done without undue risk.¡±


    Isabetta nodded slowly, ¡°that¡¯s one way to confirm your story youngster, so rumours were correct and he of the scaly tail is back. So Abriman why were you selected for the honour of paladinhood?¡±


    ¡°I promised Sandrina that she would have revenge, and I was trying to arrange that, and Sandrinna has been reborn as the dungeon core of the Last Stand Dungeon and is titled Giantkiller.¡±


    Isabetta looked round seeing the almost universal grim looks. ¡°The boy went to you Palca, will you lead our response and see to the punishment of the guilty and free those at risk.¡±


    Palca¡¯s grin became sharklike, ¡°Oh yes!¡±


    It was at this point that Gortag arrived escorted by the two adventurers that had been sent to find him, when he saw Abriman and Carminia his heart jumped into his mouth and he started forward until he realised that they were reasonably relaxed. When asked about his former village he was at first hesitant then the dam burst.


    The punitive expedition left two days later at dawn, a very uneasy Abriman, this being his first time on a horse accompanied them. What had taken Abriman six days on foot was covered in two. Abriman found his healing spell invaluable as he had to heal the damage from several falls and more importantly the bruises and blisters on his ass and thighs from the unyielding saddle.


    As if that wasn¡¯t enough Reeva drilled him ceaselessly and taught him one her spells that she said was going to be invaluable in the assault. Unlike the boy he looked Abriman was able to appreciate the value of a zone of silence so he applied himself diligently.


    The actual assault on the city was something of an anticlimax, the adventurers were professionals and when they went in at night they looked like so many silent ghosts. The occupied houses were taken one by one. First Reeva or Abriman cast silence on the house to be assaulted then a party or two of adventurers went in while the other two parties kept watch on the rest of the village and more especially, on Rovoc¡¯s house.


    In the end the only casualties were Rovoc¡¯s two bodyguards who fought a hopeless struggle and Abriman¡¯s father who went berserk when he saw Abriman and was killed by the Valkyries who relished the excuse having learned too much about him.


    The next day brought a patrol led by a knight who had been sent by the local lord after he had been informed of what had been going on in this remote corner of his lands. Sir Hardman had been dubious but the abundant proof and unguarded utterances by the children, and the lack of women convinced and revolted him.


    He had the prisoners secured and after hearing of Hel-Arlizzy¡¯s request regarding Rovoc he agreed but insisted that one of his men would have to go to serve as witness.


    * * *


    Nine people on tired dusty horses rode into Arsouk two hours after noon. One was obviously a prisoner as he was bound and wearing a mage mask and gag. The six ladies looked like typical adventurers, some of the onlookers recognised them as the Roving Valkyries. The other man looked like some kind of very minor noble, probably a knight by his equipment, the boy looked totally nondescript.


    They pulled up outside the Adventurer¡¯s Guild and the woman who appeared to be their leader and the knight entered the building while the rest of the party waited with their horses.


    Guildmaster Burritis attended them in person, ¡°welcome to Arsouk, I had word you were coming from guildmaster Isbetta, I can offer you a guide that knows the Last Stand dungeon very well indeed.¡±


    ¡°That would be wonderful, when can we meet him and how far is the dungeon?¡± asked Palca the Widowmaker.


    ¡°It¡¯s a two day ride, slightly less with good horses, but you will need water as there is none on the trail,¡± replied Burritis.


    Palca glanced at Sir Cram¡¯ton and he nodded, ¡°agreed, no point wasting time.¡±


    They returned to their horses and headed out of town slowly until Guzz caught up with them at which point they resumed their fast pace.


    It was close to nightfall when they arrived at the dungeon¡¯s entrance, a sizeable cavern containing a well, and about two hundred meters away a rather desiccated hostel. Guzz entered the hostel to greet his friend who ran it and to arrange accommodations for the party.


    Abriman looked at his companions, squared his shoulders and entered the dungeon. He stopped in the second chamber and called out. ¡°Sandrinna, I have come in fulfilment of a vow, I''ve fetched Rovoc the so called witch hunter for your justice.¡±


    ? Abriman? ?


    ¡°Yes Sandrinna this body is that of Abriman, I was Zarnjdfjgmn but I have truly become Abriman and a Paladin of Hel-Arlizzy.¡±


    There was a startled silence. ? You can hear me? ?


    ¡°I am a Paladin of Hel-Arlizzy, naturally I can hear dungeons.¡±


    ? I don¡¯t want that creature in my dungeon, can you share what you saw and know with Erekos? my Boss monster and Ermizhad. If so I will leave my vengeance in their hands. ?


    Erekos? and Ermizhad were not amused, Rovoc lasted three days before dying. Sir Cram¡¯ton collected his head and declared that the Count¡¯s executioner couldn¡¯t have done a better job. The visitors set out for Copper Town and home while Guzz got raring drunk, spent a day recovering then headed for Arsouk wishing he had that kid who could magic water out of thin air along.

 Bluestone Makes Waves

    In the world of Unexpected Circumstances ¨C on Marcenium.


    The Deep Delvers moved carefully through the well known opening levels of Bluestone dungeon. They had just defeated the third level boss and were contemplating the stairs to the fourth level. The stairs had changed, the passage was wider the steps occupied half the width of the downward trending passage, the other half was occupied by a ramp. Change in a dungeon was always worthy of caution.


    Keeping a wary eye out for traps they headed down. The fourth floor had been changed, several rooms contained deep pools of salt water. They decided to stay far away from those as they had no experience of water features and their monsters. The fights were more difficult simply because they had to watch their footing. The Archer Fish that spat poison water to a surprising distance was a real pain.


    Then they found a shrine. It looked like a glorified ever-changing puzzle trap. Over the entrance there was an inscription, Tyche also know as Fortuna or Lady Luck Goddess of Fortune and Misfortune.


    That was enough change for them. They headed out and reported the changes to the guild.


    So guilmaster Eclavran sent out an evaluation team along with a couple of priest who were also adventurers, the verdict was clear, yes it was a shrine and one of a fairly powerful goddess that seemed to also be the patron of games of chance. She was otherwise unknown which considering her power was extremely surprising. And the changes were limited and didn¡¯t affect the dangers faced by the delvers. Also all the stairways leading up from the fourth level to the first were now of the new pattern.


    So Eclavran had the changes recorded and published and things continued as before.


    * * *


    The Blue Foxes trudged through the still dark day as crimson streaks on the horizon heralded the arrival of dawn. On arriving at the entrance of Bluestone Dungeon they stopped in consternation at the sight of a slab of granite blocking the entrance.


    They cursed and set off back to Verilanium to report to their guild.


    Guilmaster Eclavran cursed. If it wasn¡¯t one thing it was another, it seemed that his peaceful exile here on Marcenium was over, or at least the peaceful part of it was.


    ¡°Frazee take Trabino and get out there to see what¡¯s going on and to see if we need to get Bluestone checked out again.¡± Ordered the frustrated drow.


    Frazee and Trabino made their way out to the entrance of Bluestone dungeon and found The Blue Foxes already there along with several assorted adventurers.


    They just stood around waiting and chatting while four of the random adventurers settled down to a game of dice. The one who kept asking for lady luck to smile on him was winning big much to the irritation of his friends. Frazee noted that despite not having priests to represent her the new goddess was already gathering converts.


    Less than an hour after he arrived the granite slab seemed to melt into the ground to the sound of horse¡¯s hooves echoing from the dungeon¡¯s caverns. A column of high elves in strange yellowish green clothes rode out on some truly spectacular horses.


    Frazee the Reckless stepped forward and gestured politely while asking the high elves to stop, he was extremely gratified when the leader of the cavalry unit stopped his men, he was surprised that the leader was accompanied by a young human ¨C no not with those eyes and that aura, a young semi-divine girl.


    Trabino took a step back not wanting to be noticed and attempted to assess the most basic information on the intruders.


    The leader was a High Elf ¨C well that was obvious to anyone with eyes, still nice to get a confirmation, Godslayer, soldier sub-class ranger level ?? ¨C well that made him at least sixty-eight. The girl, semi-divine again obvious, high priestess of Loki level forty-nine. The second in command, Godslayer and again at least level sixty-eight.


    Trabino was soon extremely nervous; ninety high elves all over level fifty a dozen of whom were healers. And what the hell were the classes soldier sub-class ranger or soldier sub-class healer. And all the soldier¡¯s were godslayers. The remaining twenty several of which were humans were almost universally under level ten.Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings.


    Practising his best elvish Frazee asked, ¡°please noble sir, allow me to present myself, I am Frazee an official of the local adventurer¡¯s guild. Would you mind telling us why you are here and what your intentions are?¡±


    The big elf looked down without the habitual arrogance Frazee expected from his kind. ¡°We¡¯re from Midgard on a mission for our country, we have just traversed a portal from Antonio¡¯s dungeon to this dungeon and are on our way to Stratosina. All we wish is to cross peacefully and use the world gate to Stratosina.¡±


    Frazee swallowed nervously. Another dungeon on another world. ¡°You have an agreement with these dungeons?¡±


    ¡°Yes, or rather our country has one with Antonio¡¯s...¡±


    ¡°Luso, his dungeon is called Luso,¡± interjected Nadia helpfully.


    ¡°... dungeon, and as Antonio¡¯s pixie companion is the daughter of Bluestone¡¯s companion we have an agreement with him as well. Now if you don¡¯t mind we¡¯ll be on our way.¡± Concluded Major Manukov.


    ¡°Do you want a guide? We can supply someone,¡± asserted Frazee.


    The leader of the elves glanced at the high priestess who shrugged, ¡°if you want anyone¡¯s opinion you should ask Valentina.¡±


    The other woman with the leader, Valentina obviously added, ¡°they want to keep an eye on us Alexander. One guide won¡¯t hurt so long as he can keep up.¡±


    ¡°Very well you may send someone but we will not be slowing for his benefit,¡± decided Alexander.


    Frazee turned to one of the dice players, ¡°Ruuman do you have your horse, will you accompany them?¡±


    Ruuman leant back with a grin, ¡°not anymore, it belongs to that lucky sod Sabotin now.¡±


    ¡°Sabotin?¡±


    Sabotin recognizing an order when he heard one sighed and gathered his things before heading for his new horse.


    Frazee and Trabino watched the tail of the column disappear in the distance accompanied by Sabotin on his new horse with relief, then they returned their attention to the entrance of Bluestone as the Blue Foxes made their delayed way into the depths of the dungeon.


    ¡°So that is why the stairs changed, the portal to Midgard must be in the Shrine,¡± said Trabino.


    ¡°Yes, most likely. Guildmaster Eclavran is not going to like our news.¡±


    The two guild officials headed back to Verilanium and their guild house.


    * * *


    They were right, Eclavran was not happy when he was made aware of the happenings out by Bluestone.


    ¡°So you¡¯re telling me that Bluestone is allied with Luso on Midgard due to the fact that their companions are mother and daughter and the la di da high elf stated that his nation was allied with both.¡±


    ¡°Yes guildmaster, buy this one was not typical, none of them were. If I had to I¡¯d say that the High Priestess was closest to our high elves,¡± said Frazee.


    ¡°Huh, only time those arrogant lot are... Oh God! Godslayers... Midgard... The former Pantheon of Light!¡± uttered Eclavran.


    Frazee and Trabino were stunned and they gazed mutely at their equally stunned guildmaster.


    ¡°Right Frazee write up a report, mark it urgent and get it sent to the head of the guild. Trabino see what you can get out of the System and our records and get back to me. Frazee once you have dealt with that report join Trabino and recruit our bookworm of a librarian.¡±


    * * *


    ¡°The only changes for Bluestone are that he jumped ten levels recently, contains a shrine to the Goddess of Luck and is allied to Luso. As for Luso, an ocean dungeon, domain a flattened circle with a radius of twelve kilometers, specialties politics and commerce.¡± Reported Trabino.


    Eclavran went cross-eyed, ¡°Politics and commerce? How is that even possible?¡±


    ¡°We¡¯ve put in a request for information from the guild in Midgard, it¡¯ll take awhile, it¡¯s three worlds away, unless you think we should ask Bluestone?¡± added Frazee.


    ¡°Don¡¯t joke Frazee, or I might just send you.¡±


    * * *


    Two days later a breathless adventurer arrived at the guild with the news that a squad of the Emperor of the elves guard was at the entrance to Bluestone.


    Frazee was soon mounted on the horse he had been keeping to hand recently and was shortly thereafter galloping towards the dungeon.


    Frazee arrived just in time to witness a beastfolk woman, a catwoman walk calmly out of the dungeon and approach the elven captain of the Emperors Guard.


    ¡°I am here by Wolfgar¡¯s grace to escort you to Antonio¡¯s dungeon on Midgard. Antonio is willing to arrange for a portal to Moscow the capital city of Russia.¡±


    ¡°My name is Green¡¯Tor and I thank you.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m Helena, please follow me.¡±


    ¡°Excuse me but who are Wolfgar and Antonio, and just who are you that can speak for a dungeon. Oh I¡¯m Frazee an official of the Adventurer¡¯s Guild.¡±


    Helena looked sideways at Frazee, ¡°why I¡¯m a priestess of Bast and my lady has a high temple in Antonio¡¯s dungeon on Midgard and a shrine in Wolfgar¡¯s here on Marcenium.¡±


    She looked pityingly at Frazee and shrugged her shoulders expressively. ¡°Surely you must know that Wolfgar is the intelligence behind Bluestone just as Antonio is the intelligence behind our Luso dungeon on Midgard.¡± Then she turned and led the way into Bluestone.


    Once again Frazee felt flabbergasted. He remounted and returned to the guild.


    ¡°So now we have two shrines in Bluestone, or should we call him Wolfgar? Right see into building a watch post near the entrance to Bluestone and hire some watchers and couriers to keep us informed if, no when something else happens. Best make sure they have a horse available. Then send another report to HQ.¡± Ordered an exasperated guildmaster.

 Taskforce Blue - Part 1

    Earth ¨C the world of The Misplaced Dungeon.


    {Timeline: September / October 2018 ¨C MD from Ch. 26 through to 41}


    Ginny was manning the reception desk of the emergency department of the North Hawaii Community Hospital when Don Smith arrived. Ginny recognised the small man in the ill fitting clothes was close to a breakdown.


    It soon was clear that Mr Smith was suffering from delusions and obviously in need of help, she directed him to the waiting room with assurances that a doctor would soon be with him.


    Not long after Mr Smith had been moved into a room for observation and treatment Charles van Dorn arrived with a similar complaint, Ginny maintained her best professional attitude when the tall slender woman in too small male attire babbled of blue screens, voices in her head and as to how he was growing breasts.


    Dr Kajioka was astounded, two patients complaining of identical hallucinations would have been strange enough as they apparently didn¡¯t know each other but both were indubitably undergoing extensive morphological changes. The only thing in common between the two was the fact that both were attending HawaiiCon.


    Ginny had almost reached the end of her shift when an ambulance delivered another one, this one was strapped down to a stretcher as the paramedics had worried that he would hurt himself. She wondered how he managed that brown streaked hair.


    Ginny went off shift and went to freshen up, she was checking her makeup in the restroom mirror when her face was obscured by a blue screen.


    ? conditions met ¨C Virginia ¡°Ginny¡± Fitch ¨C Human ¨C classes available ¨C Healer, Entertainer or Scholar ¨C make your selection: ?


    Ginny gripped the sink tightly as she endeavoured to stiffen her shaking knees as she blushed as she recalled how she¡¯d paid for college, ¡°I¡¯m a nurse, a healer,not an entertainer!¡±


    ? Healer selected, lesser healing spell gained. ?


    Ginny gathered her courage and went to find Dr Kajioka.


    * * *


    Two days later in Atlanta at the HQ of the CDC.


    ¡°So what do we have, what do we know about these spontaneous morphological changes?¡±


    ¡°Well sir, the principal cluster is located on Hawaii¡¯s Big Island but there are several other cases on the other islands and in the continental US. The Japanese have quarantined the crew and passengers of one of their airliners because two passengers started undergoing morphological changes whilst in flight.¡±


    ¡°What kind of numbers are we talking about?¡±


    ¡°Currently we know of fifty four cases if we include the two Japanese.¡±


    ¡°Just how extensive are the changes?¡±


    ¡°It varies from what appears to be mainly cosmetic changes to extreme morphological change somehow involving an extreme gain or loss of mass and size. Two cases involve a valid and functional sex change complete with the growth of a uterine mass, fallopian tubes and apparently functional ovaries.¡±


    ¡°Anything else?¡±


    ¡°It seems to be infectious, one victim currently in a New Jersey hospital seems to have infected one of the nurses.¡±


    ¡°Not good, have the FBI got anything for us?¡± asked the director.


    ¡°Everyone affected so far attended HawaiiCon or came into contact with someone who did, also there are far more cases of people affected by hallucinations, they report seeing blue screens and in some cases voices in their heads. One nurse in Hawaii might have gained the ability to heal wounds, investigation is ongoing.¡±


    ¡°Numbers?¡±


    ¡°Two hundred and thirty five confirmed, but people tend to be reluctant to come forward with stories of hearing voices and hallucinating blue screens.¡±The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.


    * * *


    Dr Cy Jones walked briskly down a corridor of the CDC and rapped at a door.


    ¡°Come in Dr Jones.¡±


    ¡°Morning sir, you wanted to see me?¡±


    The grey haired man behind the desk gestured at a bulging folder on his desk as he asked his visitor to sit.


    ¡°Got a weird one for you Jones, there have been over fifty cases over the last few days of people undergoing extreme morphological changes, the worrying part is they all attended the recent HawaiiCon and in at least two cases infected friends who had not attended. All the information we have is in that, and copies of everything are in the external drive that is also in there. Get your team up and running and take charge of this case please.¡±


    Cy shuddered; his son had attended that con and was currently flying back to Atlanta with his mother.


    ¡°Yes sir, I¡¯ll get right on it, anything else of note?¡±


    ¡°Most of the attendees we have interviewed are having hallucinatory episodes, they complain of seeing blue screens.¡±


    Cy returned to his cubicle in the open plan office and started going through the mass of information he had available. The first thing to do he decided was to get in touch with his opposite number in Japan. It would be useful to have more information on the two victims that had manifested change while flying back to Tokyo from Hawaii. The quarantining of all the passengers and crew on arrival would not have gone unobserved.


    A few phone calls later helped he was sure by the exercising of his halting Japanese he had Dr Iso Namura on the phone, a very excitable Iso Namura who kept on about two sisters that had turned into twin tailed Kitsunes. At least he managed to establish a proper protocol for future contacts.


    He then booked a meeting room and gathered his staff. Those present were naturally sceptical of the data they had to work with but all agreed that there was a clear problem so they assigned duties and initiated all the standard protocols to investigate, contain and hopefully find a cure for the victims.


    They all agreed that it was too late for quarantine as people with the condition had and were flying home and had by now spread to the four corners of the world.


    * * *


    A worried Cy left the Centre and headed for the airport in time to meet his wife and son on their return from Hawaii. As they drove home his worst fears were confirmed, well not his worst, Darren was unchanged but he was seeing blue screens. His young son Darren was one of the affected and he was having hallucinations.


    It was remarkably easy to get Darren to open up, it would seem that the hallucinations had started on the second day of the con but according to Darren some of his acquaintances had started on the first day. Thankfully Darren had only heard of the way people could change on the third day and the whatever it was wouldn¡¯t allow its victims to change the choices they had already made.


    Cy was starting to believe that there was more to the blue screens than hallucinations and it was scaring him.


    * * *


    Dr Jones went through the papers on his desk once again, he wasn¡¯t sure about some of the theories that were hovering in the background of this mass of somewhat disorganised notes and to some degree outlined in the embryonic essays. One thing was certain, the girl was brilliant, and she was one of the people affected by this condition.


    He walked over to his colleague Dr Sebenschu, passed him the folder and asked him for his opinion of the contents. Then he waited patiently while the DNA specialist went through the papers. Josh looked stunned when he looked up.


    ¡°Can we recruit him?¡±


    ¡°Her, and no she¡¯s not quite seventeen, and she¡¯s one of the affected.¡±


    ¡°We should contact her.¡±


    Dr Jones put in a request to the FBI and was rewarded with a conference call starting at a quarter to six that evening. Jones invited his colleague Sebeschu and both waited impatiently. Mary Silvestre was accompanied by a lawyer and three presumed FBI agents were visible in the background.


    After about ten minutes things descended into blizzard of technical jargon that even Jones found it difficult to follow. Finally it became painfully obvious that unless the girl was a highly skilled liar she was not going to be able to help them. So at the end Jones slumped in despair and Sebenschu shook himself as he emerged from his thoughts.


    ¡°So we¡¯re agreed, none of this is possible with what we know, Ms Silvestre we are both very interested in that experiment you used as an example. I suspect money and resources will be found for your uplift experiment with octopi,¡± said Jones unhappily, then he continued, ¡°thank you all for your participation, please rest assured we will get to the bottom of this syndrome.¡±


    * * *


    The States Secretary of Health and Human Services was feeling tired, and now the CDC had come to him with this ridiculous story of happenings in Hawaii. When he contacted that idiot in charge of the FBI things didn¡¯t get any better. According to the FBI this condition, these hallucinations and the few truly frightening cases of adults suffering sometimes extreme morphological changes by now over a thousand confirmed cases.


    So he called a meeting of the heads of the FBI, CIA and Homeland Security to concoct a policy designed to confront this. Then he hurriedly added the CDC to the list.


    In a surprisingly short time amid universal agreement that this matter should remain secret for now an extremely top heavy edifice was created to tackle the potential crisis to the nation¡¯s health. They decided to call it Task Force Blue.


    Naturally it was all over the early morning news. Depending on which news service one favoured the public was being reliably informed that it was the fault of ¨C the President ¨C the GOP ¨C the Democrats ¨C the Russians ¨C the Chinese ¨C or any combination of the previously mentioned or in the case of certain fringe publications, Aliens or those satanic RPG gamers.

 Taskforce Blue – Part 2

    Earth ¨C the world of The Misplaced Dungeon.


    {Timeline: September / October 2018 ¨C MD from Ch. 26 through to 41}


    Dr Jones was feeling harassed, it had been hell getting into work the offices of the CDC had been surrounded by protestors including several in black with hoods and masks. Then he had been summoned to see his superior and been informed about Task Force Blue and how he would now have to report to that incompetent political hack Ms Garr-Sampson.


    That had led to him and Josh wasting the morning trying to brief the old dinosaur.


    A grossly distorted and frighteningly inaccurate version of their briefing was on the two o clock news and then on all social media. The only sites with accurate information were the hobby and gamer sites.


    Taskforce Blue limped on badly hampered by the political apparatchiks at the top who only wanted suitable sound bites to enhance their careers and increase their profiles with the public they despised.


    * * *


    Certain middle-eastern countries denounced the whole affair as a plot by the Great Satan.


    A suicide bomber in Tel Aviv failed to kill anyone but himself when a glowing blue shield formed around him as he committed suicide.


    A television evangelist denounced it all as the work of Satan and ordered his followers to shun the sinners.


    * * *


    Meanwhile at the North Hawaii Community Hospital Ginny was speaking with Jonathan Silverberg under her tree in the front garden of the hospital, Jonathan had changed into a rather striking looking Dryad with the tendency to shed heaves when nervous and she was often nervous around men as her mythic sex appeal made the former man very uneasy and unhappy.


    They were the first to hear and see the mob, it was headed by hooded men wielding baseball bats, crowbars and at least one had a pistol.


    Ginny fled into the Hospital to raise the alarm and was surprised when Charlie van Dorn, the other former man they were treating sashayed out of the front door to confront the mob. She was accompanied by most of the blue screen sufferers and a few doctors and nurses. She rang emergency services and after reporting the incident to a harassed sounding operator went out to support her friends.Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation.


    When she rejoined her friends and colleagues the mob was screaming with a mix of fear and rage, two were firing pistols without aiming properly and at over fifty meters were thankfully not hitting anything. The vegetation was very active grabbing and holding any of the mob that came into reach while Charlie and Kaycee were throwing fireballs, Charlie, or lightning, Kaycee, at the shooters and then at anyone who tried to pick up the guns, or came charging at the defenders.


    The majority fled when they realised that they were actually being hurt or horrors, Killed!


    The small hardcore members of the mob who managed to get close regretted it as it seemed that people who were infected by the blue screens and claimed to be warriors or martial artists were dangerous at close quarters. Especially when they were healed of their injuries while their opponents weren¡¯t.


    The riot squad arrived in time to call for crime scene specialists and leave to confront other conflagrations.


    * * *


    In Pakistan Hassan who had been resolutely ignoring the blue screens he had been seeing since his flight back from the States decided out of desperation to at long last acknowledge them. He was in his house with his terrified young sister as his brother and cousins tried to break down his door.


    ¡®What¡¯s the most powerful thing I can become to save our lives? Race, select, change to most powerful, pah! no, no, no, Rakshasa. Yes, yes, yes. Now can you do the same for my sister! Please I beg you, she needs strength to escape if I fall!¡±


    ¡°Please sister try to see blue screens! And don¡¯t be frightened when I change, I will always be your true brother."


    First Hassan grew and gained bulk, seconds later so did his sister and they changed gaining the appearance of humanoid tigers. Then the door broke and their indignant relatives entered intent on committing an honour killing for their sister¡¯s heinous crime of rejecting her cousin¡¯s hand in marriage. Seeing the two Rakshasa they screamed and turned to flee.


    They were unlucky, in the throes of change the Rakshasa¡¯s instincts were in control and slaughter ensued, only Jamil the first to flee survived though bleeding profusely from slashes to his back.


    * * *


    Despite everything Dr Jones and his team soldiered on gathering data that was often contradictory and impossible. People throwing lightning from their hands, please!


    Then from Germany came the story of a dying planet, a blue haired goddess and other gods, sentient gems that were the brains and souls of dungeons that fed on the death of others.


    Within a week of their having received Markus Wrangel''s story, similar stories came from Spain, South Korea and New Zealand. There even was a similar case in Honolulu where a researcher from the Smithsonian was investigating something that sounded remarkably like the dungeons described by Mr Wrangel.


    Unfortunately there seemed to be no rhyme nor reason as to how the blue screen syndrome was spreading. The Japanese had their cases completely isolated allowing contact only by video and still one of their victim¡¯s cousins had succumbed. Mr Hutchinson had isolated himself and he had contracted a particularly nasty version of the syndrome. Then many people came in touch with victims and absolutely nothing happened.


    All Jones and his team could say is that it wasn¡¯t transmitted by contact, germs or viruses. However, their superiors didn¡¯t want to know what wasn¡¯t causing it, they wanted to know what was and how to stop it.


    Meanwhile sertain agencies and militaries around the world had noted the Israelis¡¯ success in Tel Aviv and were eying the victims hungrily.

 Oops!

    In the world of Unexpected Circumstances ¨C Oceanis.


    The underwater gate was established at the agreed upon time and place. The first person ¨C being ¨C through was the representative of the Oceanis Adventurer¡¯s Guild. Hir ¨C hir for hir was a egg laying hermaphrodite ¨C looked something like a twenty meter long cross between a sea cucumber and a boneless eel with three multi-jointed limbs emerging from just behind hir¡¯s gills, each limb ending in three fingers.


    Silverfin blinked in surprise, ¡°welcome to Midgard.¡±


    Hir looked around with interest taking in Silverfin and his scanty entourage, not missing Jezebel and her two chief cohorts lurking in the background.


    The details of the contract between the Oceanis Adventurer¡¯s Guild and Antonio¡¯s dungeon were confirmed, access to the dungeon for the one and access to Oceanis for selected accredited individuals of the other. The representative of the dungeon was introduced and Isabella went through the gate behind Glow at Darkening.


    Isabella was so excited; she was on a new world and working for her mama and papa. The deep ocean felt different but nice, her flanks rippled with light. She used all her senses to examine her surroundings.


    ? Um, Glow where and when do you want me to set the portal. ?


    ¡°Follow me youngster, we are close,¡± hir replied.


    Glow at Darkening led their visitor to the local edifice selected to house the dungeon¡¯s portal, it was sited at the end of a row of four nearly identical fortified buildings, fortified as in designed to keep things in.


    Several representatives of the local guild and the world in general were also present. There seemed to be three races, Glow at Darkening represented the most numerous, then there were some very sharklike beings that seemed to be uncomfortable at this depth and the third were very squidlike but in Isabella¡¯s opinion severely deficient in tentacles, honestly only six, and oversupplied with eyes, three!


    Isabella flashed a welcome at the waiting dignitaries and jetted into the building.


    The leader of the deep-sea people observed the exuberant youngster, poor thing only two eyes and what would anyone want with ten tentacles. Rippling Orange Highlights flickered a brief ripple of color in answer to the youngster¡¯s rippling greeting before turning his attention to Glow at Darkening who was representing the mid-sea people.


    Isabella rejected the dome as too small, after some discussion the assembled dignitaries asked for the portal to be established at the end of the row in the open and so it was.


    * * *


    Fluorescent Purple Highlights had been sidelined. His superiors had exiled him from his office and post for the day while they made nice with visitors from Midgard so as to gain access to a new dungeon.


    Now he was back at his post of controller of dungeon access. He was horrified; those incompetent idiots had left a huge dungeon portal in the open, completely unprotected. Anything could come through. At any time!The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.


    Purple started firing off orders, then after a second look he sent a most urgent summons to his architect and defence experts to come up with an upgraded and much enlarged containment dome. Within the hour Purple had a small army on hand keeping an eye on the portal while his specialists laboured around the clock to design a suitable defence dome to contain the threat.


    During this time three parties of adventurers ventured into the new dungeon, one, the weakest group simply didn¡¯t return, the remaining two parties both lost members but came back laden with unusual treasures. The fact that two Veteran rated parties lost members sent his defence experts back to the drawing board and caused the small army present to grow by a third.


    There was another hiatus when an Elite party lost two members during their delve as the defences were once again upgraded.


    After two weeks of frantic efforts the dome was finally being constructed. Purple remained apprehensive until the dome was finally completed three weeks later. In that time the Adventurer¡¯s Guild had flatly banned parties that didn¡¯t contain at least two Veteran rated adventurers from attempting the Luso dungeon. Their best group had also failed to complete the dungeon losing the famous godlike adventurer and mage Silver Mantle the reckless.


    So finally after five weeks of frantic efforts Purple finally got back to his office and found a folder with nearly fifty pages of dense text of instructions regarding his latest headache he skimmed it checking that all the highlights matched the instructions regarding all the other gates and portals he was responsible for. It was not surprising that he missed the two little sentences that made this portal different from the others.


    So when two months later Baltazar, the correctly accredited ambassador and representative from Antonio and the Luso dungeon to the Oceanis¡¯ Adventurer¡¯s Guild the defences didn¡¯t see anything more than a dungeon monster that looked like a somewhat deformed deep dweller only four times larger than any deep dweller had any right to be. They reacted with violence.


    Baltazar had been very wary as both Antonio and Jezebel had warned him to keep his guard up and get back alive whatever it took. He had like all Antonio¡¯s magic capable monsters and dungeon born been studying Silver Mantle¡¯s spell books and Antonio had provided him with a couple of enchanted items copied and developed from recent loot.


    Baltazar transited the portal with shields active and was almost immediately attacked with spells and missiles. His shields fluoresced and he instinctively struck back with his ready spells and triggered his laser as he swung round and expelled ink and jetted back to the portal. He dumped two mines from his storage as he went loosing flesh, tentacles and blood as his defences collapsed under the relentless attack from the crumbling dome.


    Baltazer came through the portal in shreds but still alive. Antonio, though furious first saw to saving his employee and friend. Then he sealed the portal. Antonio then checked once again on Baltazar and called his lawyer. The result of that call was the complete removal of the portal from Oceanis.


    Fluorescent Purple Highlights was horrified, one monster, one! And the strongest defence dome he had ever known was reduced to rubble and the monster had nearly won. If the thing¡¯s defences had lasted just another thirty seconds it would have been free to go where it willed.


    His army was assembling when the portal, once again in the open ocean winked out and was no more. Purple was distinctly relieved and sent a report on the day¡¯s occurrences to Glow at Darkening.


    Glow at Darkening was annoyed, what had he done to deserve such incompetent subordinates but maybe it was just as well that something that powerful was prevented from entering Oceanis. And anyway it was only a dungeon monster. And anyway, they were made to be killed. It would only need a little pressure to be applied to the local Guild office to get the dungeon to open again. It was after all the most powerful and almost the most profitable dungeon he had on his books. No one would care about a contract with a dungeon anyway.


    Glow was to find that Antonio did not agree with him.

 The Continuing Adventures of a Paladin

    Parthia ¨C World of The Misplaced Dungeon.


    {Timeline: November 2018 ¨C MD just before Ch. 51}


    When the Roving Valkyries plus one arrived back in Copper Town they were met by the town constable and informed that Baron Erzgard wished to see them in order to bring the affair of the mad witch hunter¡¯s village to a conclusion.


    So after a brief stop to refresh themselves after their desert crossing the cavalcade was once again of its way, this time to the barony¡¯s capital, Erzgardpolis. Once the last witnesses arrived justice was swift and brutal. The local Baron felt ashamed of his failure to protect those under his protection and was correspondingly harsh in his judgements to discourage others from doing anything similar.


    Most but not all of the children escaped censure. All the adults received some form of punishment ranging from a harsh fine, as was the case of Gortag and a very very few like him for their passivity, indentured servitude or death, in a few cases with torture. The Barony¡¯s mines gained many new involuntary workers.


    Abriman gained a knighthood despite his protests while Carminia and Flitter eagerly accepted the offer to become ladies maids to the baroness.


    Abriman was glad to return to Copper Town, he was eager to accept the Valkyries offer of a visit to the nearby Copper Mine Dungeon. However circumstances dictated that that visit had to be put on hold.


    When the Roving Valkyries plus one once again arrived back in Copper Town they were summoned by guildmaster Isbetta. Leaving Abriman in the Guild¡¯s common room seated at one of the scattered small tables with a weak beer and half a grilled chicken the Valkyries joined the guildmaster in her office.


    ¡°So what¡¯s this about Isbetta?¡± asked Palca.


    ¡°I¡¯ve received a request for help regarding a new dungeon that seems to have taken the place of the one you have only recently visited. The guild has undertaken a new scry, the third this year and the Last Stand dungeon is still in existence as is this new one.¡±


    ¡°Why us? We are not really at the level that merits this kind of job.¡±


    ¡°The scry detected another five dungeons, two far closer to major population centres. Four of the six have appeared almost on top of previously established dungeons. And more worrying Creevar¡¯s Killers have informed the guild that Creevar has ordered them to avoid those four on pains of his displeasure.¡±


    ¡°Creevar? But why is he getting involved with dungeons?¡± asked Palca.


    Isbetta shrugged, ¡°Your guess is as good as mine, will you go and look into this, you are not tasked to complete the dungeon or to grade it but to learn what you can. Oh and if possible to discover where Last Stand has gotten to.¡±


    The Valkyries looked at each other and seemed to come to an agreement.


    ¡°We¡¯ll do it.¡±


    ¡°Let¡¯s try and get Abriman to join us on this, his water spell is invaluable in the desert and his got could be a big help,¡± suggested Itzy the party¡¯s ranger and tracker.


    Isbetta chuckled, ¡°don¡¯t you think the boy is getting a bit overwhelmed with six mothers or is it doting aunts?¡±


    Three of the Valkyries blushed hotly, ¡°um, but he seems to like our company...¡± explained Sirenna the cleric and healer.


    The ladies joined Abriman at his table and had no difficulty recruiting him.


    The following morning, resupplied and rested they left Copper Town and headed south. As they headed into the desert once again Abriman rode beside Palca and Reeva.


    ¡°I had a dream last night that I think was sent. We, you have to be very careful in regards to this new dungeon. I, I¡¯m almost certain Hel-Arlizzy implied that he had no influence over... Her but also that she wasn¡¯t malicious only... unknowing of her strength. Um, does that make any sense?¡±


    They rode on in silence while the two women thought and worried. Finally Palca called a rest break and gathered all her friends together to see what they could make of this revelation, and they encouraged Abriman to divulge any other scrap of his dream.


    ¡°Well, I don¡¯t think this dungeon is what it appears, somehow I got the impression that the dungeon part is a... a... bluff? I think Hel-Arlizzy is scared... no very cautious when it comes to her. Something about it not being wise to irritate the consort...¡±


    ¡°Abriman, I wish you had told us this before we left Copper Town,¡± said a worried Palca.If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it.


    ¡°Sorry, I couldn¡¯t, not allowed to.¡±


    ¡°So we continue, but we will be ultra cautious when we get there,¡± decided Palca.


    * * *


    A few days later they were once again installed in the desiccated looking hostel that stood guard at the entrance of the dungeon. The sizeable cavern containing a well was still two hundred meters away from the hostel and looked unchanged, but the domain felt very different. The only other difference was the statue standing in front of the entrance. A small diorama consisting of a girl, a griffin and a human sized turtle thing with a calves head, feet and tail.


    It was also far more humid and hot than previously.


    They decided to cast around for Sandrinna¡¯s Last Stand dungeon first and remembering a few things Guzz had mentioned previously, found it in a valley about a day¡¯s walk away. The surprise was the quite sizable village of beastfolk that had been built by the stream flowing from the new entrance to the dungeon.


    Meerkatton was a clean orderly place, and apart from the family of Lions that ran the local inn, the Badger couple who were operating a small alchemist shop, and the Cheetah who was operating as village constable and hunter, all the other inhabitants were dual natured Meerkat humanoid shifters.


    Albert¡¯s Pride, the inn was a solid stone built two storey edifice built around a surprisingly pleasant central courtyard with blank outside walls. Albert it would seem was the bouncer and defender and did all the heavy hauling while his five wives handled all the rest of the work. Elspeth, the senior wife looked after the inn¡¯s surprise, a shrine to Ocidon earthshaker.


    The ale was good and the wine spectacular. The brandy, sold as firewater however was vile if strong. The food was good even if short on vegetables.


    The Valkyries collaborated of a report regarding the Last Stand¡¯s dungeon new situation and on the return of Abriman from his visit to Sandrinna they were able to add the fact that the new dungeon had bound itself to maintain the well under the same conditions Sandrinna had previously agreed to.


    Sirenna attended the morning service and was surprised to find that the shrine encompassed the central courtyard when the doors were rolled back into the wall to either side. Elspeth proved to be a priestess and all the inhabitants of Meerkatton attended the week¡¯s end service. The Priestess¡¯ final blessing did leave Sirenna bemused, but as the god¡¯s presence did not falter she put it down to her ignorance of Ocidon¡¯s faith.


    * * *


    Once back in front of the dungeon they had come to investigate, they once again hesitated and decided to venture in in the morning when they were fresh.


    As they moved beyond the statue standing guard on the true entrance of the dungeon they entered a passage that had beads of water oozing down the walls and occasionally dripping from the ceiling. It was stifling hot. Then they came to a large cavern that was mostly filled by trees that seemed to standing on their roots in water. A few prods with the haft of a spear suggested that the water was about waist deep and inhabited by fish. Lots of big toothed fish.


    ¡°I don¡¯t see any treasure,¡± said Roccanne.


    Abriman looked at her with incredulity, ¡°what about that goldenleaf spicewort?¡± he said pointing at one of numerous small clumps of colourful yellowish leaved orchids decorating the trunks of the mangroves.


    A short venture into the salt water of the brightly lit cavern proved that they weren¡¯t equipped to challenge this dungeon. A second attempt proved that the trees were infested with big snakes. Constrictors for the most part. They withdrew.


    Over lunch in the tired hostel they discussed what to do next. They had completed their commission ¨C but only just and none of them wanted to leave it at that.


    ¡°I have this strange urge to ask Elspeth for help,¡± finally said Abriman.


    ¡°That seems to make sense to me too,¡± said Sirenna sounding surprised.


    Palca looked at her two gods touched and came to an instant decision and they were on their way to Meerkatton immediately after lunch.


    Albert¡¯s Pride was as welcoming as ever, when approached Elspeth retired to the shrine before agreeing to help. She introduced them to Sam the Cheetah ¡®folk and persuaded him to lead them safely through the Mock Turtle dungeon.


    ¡°Mock Turtle Dungeon?¡± queried Palca.


    ¡°Yes, well, if Mother will draw the thing everywhere, and put up statues, what do you expect,¡± asked one of the badger ¡®folk alchemists who was sitting at a nearby table.


    ¡°Well that¡¯s what we call it. It seems appropriate,¡± stated Elspeth while Sam nodded and directed a quelling glance at the alchemist.


    ¡°You¡¯ll need some water breathing potions, Freddy can supply them at a reasonable price,¡± added Sam.


    ¡°Water breathing in the desert?¡± exclaimed Itzy, ¡°but I can¡¯t even swim!¡±


    Sam shrugged, ¡°you¡¯ll need at least two each, if you can¡¯t swim we can pull you through as the dungeon won¡¯t be actively trying to kill you.¡±


    The following day the bedraggled adventurers were looking at a dungeon portal flanked by two elegant drawings of the mock turtle. They had traversed to mangrove caverns, one underwater one, a dry jungle and a savannah one covered with shoulder high grasses. The dungeon was a nightmare, restricted visibility, unfamiliar terrain requiring unusual skills and infested with unfamiliar creatures.


    Through the portal was worse, slippery floors, things Sam described offhandedly as giant crabs, more fish and water traps.


    And then another portal, this gave on a square room with an elaborate entrance that gave onto a well-watered lush green valley opposite another dungeon. Back into the dungeon, more strangeness and another portal. This time the room was underground and a spiral stair led into a strange zigzagging corridor illustrated with the story of a greedy king. The entrance was fortified and defended by guards working for the city state of Folding Deep.


    Then Sam said, ¡°Mother tells me you have seen enough, go and report your findings and make of them what you will.¡±


    ¡°There are more portals aren¡¯t there?¡± Asked Palca.


    ¡°Possibly, but I¡¯ve shown you all Mother wanted you to see. Maybe next time we can do more.¡±


    ¡°Mother? Is she the consort?¡± asked the cleric of Varina the Defender.


    ¡°Well Ocidon did seat her at his right hand.¡±


    * * *


    ¡°... and so we returned to report. From what we saw, the challenge offered by the Mock Turtle Dungeon is formidable. It is designed to maximise the dungeon¡¯s advantage with endless possibilities of ambushes and surprise attacks. The treasures are generous but many will not recognise them.¡±


    ¡°Thank you Palca, I suspect you will all be asked to report to one of the guild headquarters.¡± Concluded Isbetta.

 Rickie Catman – Part 1

    Parthia ¨C World of The Misplaced Dungeon.


    {Timeline: September / October 2018 ¨C MD between Ch. 18 to 29}


    Rickie was born to fulfil a function, but unlike just about any other dungeon''s creation he was not born with an overwhelming compulsion to obey his creator. Then his creator added a coherent set of suitably faded memories culled from the children and adolescents that lived in her domain which overwrote any lingering compulsions that he retained.


    Born a creature and granted, nay given full freedom and free will he was asked to serve his creator of his own will. Rickie agreed. He and his peers were rather disdainful of the tiny fraction that refused and were exiled by being taken to a nearby port and put ashore with a small purse of start up money.


    He was offered a few possibilities as to how he might serve his creator and he chose to be a sailor, as that would allow him to see something of the world. His first experience of the outside world was on the Alessandrina¡¯s Glory under Captain Tomcat. He watched with mixed feelings as Tanya, one of the unwilling was put ashore in Drakoton. The cat girl did not look back as she sauntered into the town.


    During that first trip, Rickie became rather well acquainted with the System as it integrated yet another cat ¡®folk into the world. His one act of rebellion was when he selected his class, he chose Enchanter. He still picked up a large raft of skills suitable for a sailor.


    ? Why congrats Rickie, my first Enchanter. Nice! Sorry I¡¯ve nothin¡¯ for you at the moment but I¡¯ll set up a skill crystal to help you out. Go have fun. I need you to go out at least once more. ?


    ¡°Thank you Mother. I¡¯ll do what I can to help you.¡±


    ? Humph... You¡¯ve been listnin¡¯ to Tomcat. ?


    Once back in Silverton Rickie indulged in his temporary freedom and visited the Temple and the children¡¯s dungeon to enjoy the stories. He wasn¡¯t the only adult to do so.


    Rickie enjoyed his second trip, he was able to take in the sparkling sea, wonder at the flying fish and leaping dolphins. The sun shone in a clear blue sky and Port Salvage was a shock. A fortified half city that seemed to be finally coming together.


    Rickie went ashore and explored the safe part of town, he followed his shipmates into one of the local taverns where he had an ale, or rather he had a gulp and sip before leaving the mug on the table. He watched Tomcat entertain one of the local beauties for a while before looking once more at his mug. He left the tavern and meandered around for a bit. He ducked into a few shops and finally found something that interested him in one of the local pawnshops.


    The place was cluttered and Rickie spotted an elderly lady watching him from behind the counter. He nodded in greeting and wandered round inspecting the contents of the shop before once again passing the simple pendant that had attracted his attention in the first place.


    Rickie wandered up to the counter and addressed the woman manning the shop. ¡°Excuse me, but could I see that pendant with the cloudy crystal that you have in the second cabinet.¡±


    The shopkeeper went and fetched the pendant. Rickie was somewhat bemused to note that she used a key to open the flimsy looking cabinet. Rickie blessed the memories he had been given to give him the experience of growing up as he was able to haggle with the woman and so buy the pendant for something close to its apparent value. From her smile as she accepted his coin he knew he could have done better and vowed that next time...


    Leaving the pawnbroker he wandered around for a bit longer before returning to his berth on the Alessandrina¡¯s Glory.


    * * *


    Rickie looked up from furling the foresail and watched as they glided smoothly into the almost circular harbour behind the break in the almost continuous cliffs that served Drakoton.


    Drakoton itself huddled behind its slightly dilapidated walls and the smell assaulted Rickie¡¯s sensitive nose unpleasantly. The Alessandrina¡¯s Glory glided smoothly up to an empty dock, a testament to Tomcat¡¯s skill as a ship handler.


    Rickie followed those of his shipmates who had liberty into the nearest tavern and once again left a full tankard of ale on behind as he left to explore the town. This time he was drawn to Jaitor¡¯s Emporium. It was just a small stretch of wooden wall with a fancy door under a fancy sign between two larger and ¨C gaudier ¨C larger shops.You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.


    Feeling compelled, Rickie opened the door and ghosted in to a small, luxuriously carpeted room containing a table and four chairs. The table tingled to his nascent magic senses so he stopped next to it and tried to see its secrets.


    ¡°Nice bit of work that, even if I say so myself.¡±


    Rickie jumped in surprise and looked up to see a middle-aged man with close cropped greying hair. ¡°Allow me to introduce myself. Jaitor the Magnificent, proprietor of this the best emporium of enchantments in the Archipelago of Frezantel.¡±


    ¡°Um, where are the things you sell?¡±


    ¡°Locked up. They¡¯re rare and valuable, and mostly I work to commissions. Excuse me if I seem unkind, but you don¡¯t look like you could afford my wares. I could tell you where to find the shops of two of my former apprentices if you need something basic.¡±


    ¡°Sorry, I was curious. I recently chose Enchanter and...¡±


    Jaitor smiled broadly, ¡°Welcome to the brotherhood of enchanters. Have you registered at the Guild yet? It¡¯s on the Central Plaza. Well actually it¡¯s close to the Plaza.¡±


    Rickie cocked his head to the side, ¡°um, is that required, I¡¯m a sailor on the Alessandrina¡¯s Glory and won¡¯t be here often.¡±


    ¡°Not required, no. However in my opinion it would be a good idea, we are not that big a guild but we are influential and are present everywhere. And if you should want to set up somewhere, well in some places it would be necessary.¡± Jaitor looked serious, then he snapped his fingers, ¡°I know, just wait here for a moment, I have something you might find useful.¡±


    Jaitor left through the rear door into what looked like a workshop and returned a few minutes later carrying a hefty looking book. ¡°Here youngster, Basic Principles of Enchanting by yours truly, you can have it at cost and I don¡¯t even ask you pay today, just when you can.¡±


    Rickie accepted the tome with surprise, ¡°and how much...¡±


    ¡°Two guilders,¡± interrupted Jaitor.


    Rickie opened the book and skimmed over the first few pages. Then he closed it and passed over the requested two guilders before slipping it into the storage device Mother had given him. Then after nodding politely to Jaitor he somewhat reluctantly left the plush establishment. A few enquiries among the local passersby gave him directions to the Central Plaza. After a moment¡¯s thought he shrugged one shoulder and headed in that direction.


    He darted down an alley when his keen ears detected the sounds of a child screaming in fear. His arrival chased off the two street brats that had cornered the terrified boy. Feeling a bit lost and very uncertain Rickie tried to calm the boy. It took a while, and Rickie wasn¡¯t sure he had succeeded or the boy had simply stopped crying through exhaustion. His clothes, now dirty, ragged and torn seemed to have originally been of good quality.


    ¡°Um, can I take you somewhere? Do you have anywhere to go? Family?¡±


    ¡°They killed my uncle, and auntie too. I ran away like Fraddik said. I think they killed him too. When I went back the house had been burnt down. I ran again and slept in the temple. The priests chased me out then Mar and Lask found me and they stole my coins and we struggled but they didn¡¯t fight fair.¡± The boy sobbed some more then he looked up at the kneeling cat ¡®folk man. ¡°Then you came. You¡¯re not like uncle said beastmen are... m¡¯scared and hungry.¡±


    Rickie sighed internally. The boy had obviously been part of a good family, or more specifically a rich family. If left on the street he probably wouldn¡¯t last long.


    ¡°So what¡¯s your name, or if you¡¯re scared to say, what do you want to be called.¡± Rickie paused and getting no reply continued, ¡°I¡¯m only a common deckhand so I can¡¯t really help you. If you¡¯re willing to work I think I could get you taken on as a cabin boy. We carry passengers quite often and the Captain has need of well spoken people.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m Noorbat, and I¡¯ll work if it¡¯ll get me away from Drakoton and Far¡¯diva and his murderers.¡±


    So Rickie cut his liberty short and was soon talking to Tomcat.


    ¡°So he didn¡¯t tell you who his family were, not that it matters there can¡¯t have been many fires recently responsible for the death of a well off family. I¡¯ll have a word with Steve and see what he says. Meanwhile tell him to keep out of sight and find something from the slops chest for him to wear. If he disobeys or chooses to go ashore... Well that absolves us of responsibility.¡±


    * * *


    On his next liberty Rickie made it to the Enchanter¡¯s Guild. For a supposedly important guild it did not impress. The building was pokey and small and somewhat run down. The weaver¡¯s Guild house on the same road was closer to the Plaza and dwarfed it.


    Rickie pushed the door open and walked in. The room he entered was a distinct contrast to the exterior of the building. Neat, clean with a few discrete artworks hanging on the walls. The marble floor shone.


    ¡°May I help you sir?¡± enquired the young lady behind the desk in front of the sweeping stairs.


    Rickie stopped looking round and approached the desk. ¡°Possibly, Jaitor the Magnificent¡ª¡±


    The young lady snorted with amusement.


    ¡°Jaitor suggested I should join the guild as my class is enchanter.¡±


    The receptionist placed a mid sized flat-bottomed crystal globe on her desk, ¡°please pick it up.¡±


    Rickie did so and it glowed softly, Raabinna examined the glow carefully. ¡°Well that tells me that you are at least level two, more probably level three. So yes, we would recommend that you join. The fee is a pittance at your level, either two or three guilders depending.¡±


    Rickie winced, that would leave him virtually penniless.


    ¡°So, who is your teacher? You wouldn¡¯t have passed level one without one.¡±


    ¡°Mother taught me a few things.¡±


    Two hours later, three guilders poorer and bemused at all the ritual and pomp that seemed to be involved in joining the guild Rickie headed back to his ship.

 Rickie Catman – Part 2

    Parthia ¨C World of The Misplaced Dungeon.


    {Timeline: October / November 2018 ¨C MD between Ch. 30 to 50}


    Rickie watched the channel between the kid¡¯s island and the mangrove island grow near, the temple castle shone white under the sun and two temple guards stood guard on the seaward tower. Noorbat stood nearby also watching as his ship¡¯s home port slowly came into view. Not that Silverton was in any way impressive, it was only a large village though all the buildings appeared to be stone built.


    ? Welcome home Rickie, give my condolences to the kid, up to you whether you tell him that Steve was already watching Far¡¯diva and he is on my to be ruined and killed list. ?


    Rickie smiled, ¡°so you¡¯re not going to chase the kid off.¡±


    ? No, but he¡¯ll have to work, cabin boy will do for now. Now as for you, will you serve a stint in the Marines or Special Forces. I¡¯d like you to be skilled at defending yourself, especially as you seem to possess a rescue complex. ?


    ¡°Yes Mother. I can¡¯t say I¡¯ll enjoy the life but you are right, I seem to find myself compelled to help.¡±


    ? Just two months. With skill crystals training goes fast. ?


    So Rickie passed on Mary¡¯s condolences, and found himself explaining to an incredulous cabin boy about the dungeon of Blue Lagoon and her unorthodox outlook on the world and life. He could almost swear that someone was chuckling in the depths of his mind.


    Then he showed the kid where everything was to be found and introduced him around before taking his leave and making his way to the training halls under the kid¡¯s island.


    He decided on the Special Forces as he suspected he would often find himself on his own in the future and came to regret that decision often during the next month and a half.


    Then came the day that he had to deploy, Mother apologised to the ones who were only in for the training but Ocidon had requested help in a worthy cause and so Rickie found himself swimming to the Temple with his squadmates.


    Then they were marching past Mother who was sitting at her ease at the God¡¯s right hand, as he marched past he and his squadmates received the blessings of Ocidon and Mother before marching through the gate.


    Rickie found himself along with his squad and two squads of marines in the temple of Ocidon in the city of Uvadelton that was situated at the southern limit of their ocean. They waited for the moment when they would march out with the priests and the temple guard to do Ocidon¡¯s will.


    Then finally they marched out of the temple one sunny mid-morning. Rickie and his half squad scouted ahead of the raiding party checking the cross streets as they went. The other half squad brought up the rear and ventured occasionally onto parallel roads. Their presence had the tendency to clear the roads they were traversing of the local townsfolk.


    The local guards took one look and withdrew wanting nothing to do with a temple war, though some of the braver among them did shadow the column.


    The shrine to Vortexius Blackbeard was partially hidden behind a dilapidated warehouse near the docks, the smell of rotting fish and other less salubrious rubbish was being carried inland by the light morning breezes. The special forces squad spread out to cover the assault troops from attacks in the flank or rear. Rickie found himself keeping a wary eye on two local guardsmen while wishing for something to numb his sense of smell.This book''s true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.


    With a roars of ¡®for Ocidon¡¯ and ¡®for Mother¡¯ the temple guard with the able assistance of the marines stormed into the shrine. The special forces squad withdrew a few paces towards the shrine as more local guards started trickling in.


    * * *


    Commander Tav¡¯artor was furious. How dare those damn priests cause trouble in his well run city. He gathered his closest cronies and headed out to stop those meddling priests from upsetting a very profitable apple cart. As he hurried he gathered any guards he came across on his way to the docks. Maybe he¡¯d be in time to save Vortexius¡¯ shrine, and if not then he would punish the perpetrators.


    He arrived to see a few of his men just watching as the shrine was being sacked and a mere eight beastmen, mostly cats but including two of dogs blocking the way to the shrine.


    ¡°WHAT¡¯S GOING on here? How dare you animals attack the citizens of Uvadelton. Put down your arms. YOU¡¯RE all under ARREST!¡±


    Commander Tav¡¯artor saw, with disbelief as the animals closed ranks, their mage and healer taking one step to the rear while the rest grinned and prepared their javelins.


    Then more of the uniformed animals left the ruins of the shrine and formed up to either side of the others. These had long oval shields instead of bucklers. All their shields were bluish emblazoned with a white dolphin.


    ¡°HOW DARE YOU! Drop your weapons! You¡¯re all under arrest.¡±


    ¡°Mother wouldn¡¯t like that. Go fuck yourself with a rusty spear,¡± said the wolf beastman with gilded helmet.


    Before a rapidly empurpling Tav¡¯artor could respond to that insult two priests of Ocidon emerged from the shrine with three men with shackle sores.


    ¡°Commander Tav¡¯artor, please let us pass, this is temple business, Ocidon will not appreciate it if you hinder us. This was a shrine of...¡± stated Carraloss speaking as the most senior priest present, and thus nominally in charge of the raid.


    ¡°YOU ARE ALL UNDER ARREST for murder and mayhem. Drop your weapons NOW!¡± interrupted Commander Tav¡¯artor.


    By now the temple guards had emerged from the burning shrine and formed up, ten to either flank and the final ten as a reserve.


    One of the former prisoners stepped forward and approached the guards, ¡°I¡¯m Gart¡¯valo, a mechant of this city, and my fellow prisoners are Erud¡¯dalito also a merchant of this town and Sir Trov-tanitor a ship owner and merchant of the Luvarian Empire.¡±


    Tav¡¯artor fumed, ¡°I don¡¯t believe you, you¡¯re one of their cronies. KILL THEM ALL!¡± And with that Tav¡¯artor lunged and drove his sword through Gart¡¯valo.


    ? Brace yourselves my Children. ?


    Then the ground groaned and shook. All around buildings shook and crumbled. The harbour rose and tilted. The waters receded taking all ships not belonging to the city with them leaving the former port city almost two kilometres from the shore. The ground shook violently again and to the south of the city the river was blocked and found a new bed that avoided the city.


    Caraloss brushed the dust from his robes, ¡°come children, let us return the temple. We have much to do before we leave this place cursed by Ocidon Earthshaker.¡±


    * * *


    Rickie found himself sharing guard duty at the temple as the faithful streamed in and were directed through the temple¡¯s inter temple gate. Then they withdrew leaving an empty shell of a deconsecrated building behind.


    He spent his leave exploring his home both above and below the waters, he was taught several new enchantments and rose rapidly in levels. Then it was time to go back to work.


    ? Rickie are you willin¡¯ to spend some time wanderin¡¯ the world as a journeyman enchanter and spy? And will you want a companion cum bodyguard? ?


    Rickie grinned to himself, this sounded like fun. Better than soldier or sailor. ¡°Yes Mother, I believe I would like that. I don¡¯t think I need a companion though. Are Journeymen rich enough to be able to afford one?¡±


    ? Not usually, but you are an enchanter and they tend to be richer than the average journeyman if they¡¯re any good. ?


    ¡°I¡¯ll pass, where do you want me?¡±


    ? I want you to visit Meerkatton first, have a chat with the badgers an¡¯ see what they recommend. Then head for Arsouk and if you think it¡¯s viable, make your way seawards from there. ?

 Werewolves and Vampires! Oh My.

    Earth ¨C World of The Misplaced Dungeon


    {Timeline: December 2018 ¨C MD around and shortly after Ch. 64}


    Agent Jeremiah Walker of the newly convened Paranormal Division of the FBI was checking the incoming category one, two and three messages.


    He read the category one messages first, and filed them all as urgent but not important. Today he had five category two messages. Those were actually likely to be both urgent and important so he checked them next.


    David Fitzwilliam and his wife had met with Markus Wrangel again and all three had obtained tickets for Australia. Possibly important but not urgent.


    Mary Silvestre¡¯s Jeep now possessed a force screen capable of bouncing .50 calibre bullets and stopping an RPG-7. Interesting, route to the Armed forces. Ms Silvestre seemed willing to sell these things.


    Kids choosing to become Werewolves and Vampires. How had this made it to category two he didn¡¯t know. Oh right Mary Silvestre. He sighed and called up his System interface. Walker felt the hair at the back of his neck stand up. Urgent and Important he decided and kicked it up the chain with a detailed description.


    Japan¡¯s new clan of two tailed Kitsunes had escaped their quarantine and vanished. Well not urgent and not important.


    Mary Silvestre again; Invisible well armed leopard girl bodyguard. Kick that one upstairs too.


    Finally he went through the category three messages and he found a disturbing confirmation to the fears raised by Mary Silvestre through her defence detail. He queried the agents winnowing the category four and five reports and found another two hits. He attached all the relevant reports and sent them after the report regarding Werewolves and Vampires.


    * * *


    The governing council of the newly formed Paranormal Division of the FBI was convened, Agent Jeremiah Walker somewhat reluctantly found himself attending it.


    ¡°So Mr Walker what do you have for us about all these killings.¡±


    ¡°Ms Perez, they all match the expected pattern. Where we have a wild animal getting into a family home and slaughtering the majority of the family the chances are good the survivor is a werewolf. Where family members are weakened and die of anaemia over the course of three to five days we have a Vampire.¡±If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.


    ¡°So what did the Girl suggest?¡± asked the man sitting to the right of the director of the Paranormal Division.


    ¡°Nothing sir. She brought it to our attention and told us where to find the verifying details on the System. Her bodyguard reported she didn¡¯t consider it a profitable use of her time to clean up after idiots.¡±


    ¡°How many agents do we have that can use that evaluate skill to check the survivors? And how are we going to check all the schools for romantic idiots?¡±


    ¡°Romantic?¡±


    ¡°Yes Denver, romantic. If most of these idiots aren¡¯t being influenced by the paranormal romances involving werewolves and vampires. Oh gods!¡± Said director Perez in exasperation.


    Jeremiah Walker kept quiet and waited for any further questions as his superiors bickered among themselves while reluctantly coming to realize that they would have to say something to the public at large in order to try to prevent further tragedies.


    Finally just when Walker was certain he had been forgotten, his boss Otis Denver turned to him and asked. ¡°Any suggestion as to how we can deal with these people Walker?¡±


    ¡°Sir! If any of the werewolves have killed then even if they might be able to plead insanity, lock them up until a better solution comes up. If we get to them on time then lock them up on the three days of the full moon. Again until a better solution comes up.


    ¡°As for the Vampires. They¡¯re dead and need to drain life force from their victims to exist. They use the victim¡¯s blood to carry the life force they steal. Unless they were clever when they chose their race they will not even be ¨C themselves. The basic vampire is an animated corpse that will become desiccated and is near mindless. I honestly don¡¯t see how we can keep them alive if we do capture them.¡±


    ¡°We can¡¯t just kill them Walker. They are citizens and from what you say not responsible for their actions,¡± objected Denver.


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry sir, but they need to feed from people and even one feeding can kill. How can we keep them alive?¡±


    Denver looked furious. ¡°We just have to. We can¡¯t allow citizens in custody to die. Maybe if we use volunteers.¡±


    * * *


    Eden Forrester felt faint after watching the program produced by the FBI¡¯s Paranormal Division. He and Kathy had nearly made a huge mistake. The program had reminded him of something he had seen on the gamer blogs. Maybe he could find it again.


    Later that evening when Kathy finally showed up after her stint in the local burger joint they went over all the things he had found.


    ¡°So Eden when are we going to do this?¡±


    ¡°Whenever you¡¯re ready Kathy.¡±


    They both drew a deep breath and called up their startup menus. ¡°So what are we going with Kathy.¡±


    ¡°Werebears are cool.¡±


    So both selected their race as werebear, then they refined their choice, skimming the information available. There was something close but not exact so they started complaining and demanding changes from the System.


    After a couple of hours they succeeded and they were the first to gain a manageable were. Unfortunately for them the monogamous lifelong breeding imperative they had insisted on would come to cause them and others plenty of grief in the future.

 A Pixie’s Odyssey

    The World of The Misplaced Dungeon.


    {Timeline: Dec 2018 / Feb 2019 ¨C MD sometime between Ch. 60 and Ch. 80}


    Duskbright fled his home of sixteen years under the glare of the noonday sun.


    He shot out of Crag Cave dungeon¡¯s main entrance flying as fast as he was able, and settled in the upper branches of a large oak under the curious and distinctly hostile eyes of a party of adventurers awaiting their turn to plunder his former home.


    Duskbright felt distinctly hard done by. His mother had ordered him to leave. He had been bored and his prank had not been that bad. Nobody had died or even been badly hurt. He didn¡¯t understand why Trapper had been so angry. Ma had always told him Trapper was volatile, whatever that meant. After today he suspected that meant easily angered and prone to murderous rages.


    Duskbright yipped in fright as an arrow missed him by scant centimetres after being slightly deflected by one of his tree¡¯s branches. He launched into renewed flight clawing for altitude even as he fled the adventurers. The next arrow also missed, the third fell short.


    He fled southwards, the sun burned his delicate skin and the bright afternoon sun hurt his eyes. He found a shallow cave and gratefully sought shelter from the hostile day in its gloomy embrace. Duskbright checked his status and came to the gloomy realization that he would have to seek shelter in a dungeon. His mana reserves were not regenerating confirming the fact that he was a dungeon pixie and not one of the throwbacks that could return to the forests. Not that he wanted to return to the forests, nasty vermin infested places crawling with things that wanted to eat pixies but it would have been nice to have options.


    He woke in the dark. The stars in the sky twinkled dusting the sable sky with faint light. Duskbright wasted nearly an hour admiring the sight before resuming his travels. A close encounter with a large hungry owl confirmed him in his belief that the surface world was not a kind place. It was too big and empty. Filled with things that wanted nothing more than a snack of dungeon pixie.


    A week later he was still seeking a new home. His mana reserves were noticeably down and the only dungeon he had found so far was partnered with a whisp and he had been refused shelter.


    He was luckier with his next dungeon. The Sprite that partnered it allowed him to recuperate his mana though it offered him no true home. She was generous and he was grateful. He knew his mother would have refused a dungeon sprite as a matter of course. He decided there and then that should he have the luck to partner a dungeon he would not forget her kindness.


    Reserves full, Duskbright prepared to leave his temporary refuge.


    ? If you are seeking, there is a call coming from the south west. It is far from everywhere. ?


    The dungeon¡¯s mind-voice had an odd timbre. Duskbright however fixated on the fact that there was a call. ¡°A call? Where, oh please tell me where.¡±


    ? If you wish to answer the call you should take a mana stone. You will need it to return if you are refused or decide that dungeon is not for you. ?


    Duskbright sensed a map form in his mind even as he watched a small mana stone form on a small ledge and fill with mana. ¡°Thank you, oh thank you.¡±


    ? Think nothing of it youngster, consider it an early Christmas gift. ?


    * * *


    Duskbright resumed his journey heading mostly westwards gaining a firm dislike of owls. Unfortunately for him his couple of attempts to travel by day were worse. Finally, when he had nearly given up the sensed the dungeon¡¯s call. It was faint and hesitant but it was unmistakeable. Somewhere ahead a dungeon was calling for a companion.Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there.


    He settled in a scrubby windswept tree and examined his surroundings. They were bleak and uninviting, scrubby grasses and mosses struggling under patches of icy snow with a few small struggling trees the only things to disrupt the monotony of the windswept plain. He shivered and burned a bit more mana to avoid freezing. With a sigh he once more took to the skies on tired wings.


    Duskbright could the slate grey sea to his front and he noted a large colony of peculiar birds nesting on piles of rocks as he passed. Then he was circling above the sea about fifty meters offshore. The entrance was below him. He knew that, but below was the sea, and the sea was full of those peculiar birds that seemed to almost fly through the water. He circled going lower. There, he could just see the entrance to the dungeon a few meters below the surface. The birds, they were dungeon monsters.


    Duskbright fluttered to the shore and settled on a high stone. He sat on his uncomfortable perch and gazed out to sea. It looked cold, so very cold! But he could sense the call. He could sense that the dungeon was close to becoming unstable. Watching the dungeon¡¯s peculiar monsters he could understand why the entrance was underwater.


    ¡®I should return to the sprite¡¯s dungeon. This dungeon is weak and far from everywhere. It will grow slowly if at all. But I can¡¯t abandon it to madness.¡¯


    Duskbright took to the air with great reluctance and headed for the dungeon¡¯s entrance. Once over it he drew a deep breath and dove into the freezing waters of the southern sea and using his inbuilt dungeon magic reconfigured himself and darted into the dungeon while broadcasting his answer to the call.


    * * *


    Rachel Daniels woke with a start. Something had entered her home, he felt like a teenager and he was responding to a call she had been putting out. She spun up her subjective time in order to give herself more time to think. Yes the call was issuing from the very centre of her self, and it was being answered.


    She watched the little ¨C what was he? She scanned her ROM for information. Right a dungeon pixie. Now what were dungeon pixies?


    Rachel watched as Duskbright arrowed through her entrance tunnel and crossed her submerged cave before emerging from the pool that filled almost the entirety of her second cave, all the while a second stream of her consciousness learned about dungeon pixies and their place in dungeon ecology.


    She couldn¡¯t help thinking that accepting a teenager was going to cause her several headaches in the future but she couldn¡¯t help admiring the courage he was showing as he ploughed through the penguin infested freezing waters of her home. Almost absently she marked him a friend. His mana was very low.


    * * *


    Duskbright was glad to be able to emerge from the freezing waters. The dungeon was very bare, a further three small caves gave onto the heart chamber. The heart chamber was much larger than the previous caves and the dungeon¡¯s core, a pale icy blue Aquamarine was resting on a small rocky shelf against the far wall. The only way to reach the core was to swim across a deep pool that occupied the majority of the chamber and was infested with those birds including one huge example. Or fly!


    He tentatively extended a thread of his consciousness.


    ¡°Will you accept me as your partner?¡±


    Rachel was surprised ¨C again. She examined her suitor; he was earnest and compassionate. She didn¡¯t like his opinion of her chances of survival and she gagged at his compassion. He had really wanted to leave but had been prevented from doing so due to his understanding of her situation. She really should reject him and gift him with mana so he would survive but she was selfish. She didn¡¯t want to go mad and die.


    ? Yes, if you truly want it Duskbright. I truly need help. ?


    Some instinctive dungeon magic flared and their tentative link solidified and linked the two very different beings together at their core.


    Duskbright noted that his partner was very low on life energy and mana so he offered her his mana stone.


    * * *


    If Trapper could have rolled his non-existent eyes he would have. He scanned the message on the Dungeon Exchange channel and linked to his partner.


    ? Duskwing dear, your brat has made good and sent you a message. Why don¡¯t you go and check the latest message on the Dungeon Exchange channel. ?


    Then Trapper did his best to track the brat¡¯s journey. He was after all kind of fond of the irritating flitterbug and wanted to know which dungeon he needed to slap down.


    Duskwing checked the latest dungeon message, now who was Penguintopia ¨C Rachel Daniels and... Duskbright!


    She eagerly devoured the lengthy message and when she finished she went through it again.


    ? Trapper, do you know who were the dungeons he met on his travels? I think I have to rethink my attitude to dungeon sprites. ?


    ? No dear, we have to rethink our attitudes to sea sprites. As for the other, I think it was Harrow Deep ¨C Moleblight. He has a Whisp and is in the right place. ?


    ? So who do I have to thank for my son¡¯s life? ?


    ? Trisha, Blue Lagoon¡¯s companion. Our rascal found one of Blue Lagoon¡¯s portal dungeons. ?

 Leaving Town

    In the world of Unexpected Circumstances.


    The palatial mansion was burning, charred and partially melted bodies littered the cracked partially vitrified marble floor of the receiving room. Aksanteri panted and wiped perspiration from his brow.


    His father eyed his plump balding youngest son warily as he sat on his throne. ¡°So Aksanteri, when were you going to tell me that my youngest son was a powerful mage?¡±


    Without waiting for an answer Kratarios nodded politely to his client Ervandaros who remained frozen with terror in front of his personal throne. ¡°I am sorry Evandaros, I am going to have to leave town with my family so I won¡¯t be able to help you with your problem.¡± Kratarios waved a hand at the scene of carnage and tried mostly successfully to avoid showing any emotion or wrinkling his nose at the stench of burnt flesh. ¡°It would seem that I have no influence with our new Tyrant so I would be unable to help you even if I wanted to.¡±


    Evandaros nodded jerkily, ¡°yes, yes, um, what would you suggest I do Kratarios?¡±


    ¡°Leave town and hide until our dear tyrant¡¯s lust for blood is sated and he feels secure in his position. Find yourself another patron, one Nalvius trusts. I won¡¯t blame you for saving your skin.¡±


    Evandaros nodded again and fled.


    Kratarios grabbed his walking stick and heaved himself to his feet. He regarded his son warily then turned to his two guards that were stoically watching the front entrance. ¡°Gather my guard, round up the household and pack light. I don¡¯t think we have long before another band of bounty hunters turn up. Aksanteri, get you mother and sisters moving, and don¡¯t forget the nursery. We must leave within the hour. Keep them safe son.¡±


    Aksanteri nodded briefly and hurried into the smouldering palace followed more slowly by his father.


    * * *


    The Kraterios household guard, somewhat reduced in numbers moved at a fast pace along the great south road. The majority moved at the front of the ragged column, swords in hand. The remainder formed a moving rearguard. In the middle several burly slaves carried three litters for the aged head of the household, his wife and for Lukanna who was heavily pregnant. Grooms were leading several horses.


    In his litter Kraterios looked grimly ahead ignoring the screams coming from the houses they were passing, several of which belonged to friends and acquaintances. His eyes flared in alarm when a couple of squads of veteran legionaries debouched from a side road.


    The sergeant in command sneered at the house guards as his men prepared their javelins and brought their shields into line. Kraterios could see that his guard was wavering. Aksanteri swung aboard his horse and moved up behind the unhappy household guards.


    The regular army NCO grinned nastily. ¡°Hey fat boy, coming to give up. We¡¯ll give you a painless death if you do ot...¡±


    Aksanteri grimaced and cast silently, with none of the usual gestures or display common to mages. A firestorm enveloped the core of the formation facing them and blasting outward. He slumped on his horse and panted visibly exhausted. The house guards trotted forward and quickly dispatched the survivors and the column of refugees inched past the debris of the encounter giving a wide berth to the few patches of molten stone at what had been the centre of the spell. One of the grooms warily took the reins of Aksanteri¡¯s skittish horse and led it near the front of the column.Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site.


    Kraterios watched his son with a degree of suspicion. Mages did not learn to cast silently without gestures or aids unless they felt the need to conceal their magic, and usually those that did were untrustworthy and prone to unpleasant practices. The question now was, how far could he trust his deceitful son?


    The Kraterios household managed to leave Foraville with only a few more skirmishes, and those were against local entrepreneurs who had decided to get into bounty hunting and pillaging. Aksanteri did not need to get involved again, though he did cast a few healing spells. The column picked up several refugees on its way through town.


    Once clear of town they rested for a moment while Kraterios consulted with his chief guard and his wife and children as to what to do.


    The captain of the Kraterios house guard spread his hands. ¡°Sorry boss, but nowhere in the Empire is safe. And even with magister Aksanteri we can¡¯t keep you safe until we get to one of the world gates. Most of my men will probably desert tonight.¡±


    Rebanna gave the guard captain a sour look as she stood by her husband¡¯s side. ¡°So why haven¡¯t they bailed yet? I think you are being too alarmist.¡±


    ¡°They¡¯re terrified of your son ma¡¯am. They think he¡¯s a dark mage. They¡¯ll run as soon as they think they can.¡±


    Aksanteri snorted. ¡°If I wanted to waste the energy I could ensure they¡¯d die if they moved more than a league from me or if I should die. Idiots!¡±


    Tol¡¯dros winced, ¡°please magister, that wouldn¡¯t help. They wouldn¡¯t believe it and it would make them desperate.¡±


    Lukanna looked up from where she was sitting rubbing her swollen belly, ¡°what about the new world gate to Midgard. Surely if they accepted us we would be safe there. We have gold. Don¡¯t we father?¡±


    Kraterios rubbed his chin. ¡°Yes dear, we have gold and I believe it is rather scarce on Midgard. Mmm, that might be our best chance. Well Tol¡¯dros, what if my son should leave? Will your men remain?¡±


    ¡°That would be worse sir. They know we are carrying many riches and your heads would represent more treasure and forgiveness.¡±


    Kraterios looked sour. ¡°Very well then, we will proceed to the Midgardian fortress. Lets get moving, we have no time to loose.¡±


    * * *


    Surprisingly the seemingly well organised column of refugees almost doubled in size by nightfall. They made a haphazardly fortified camp that Aksanteri warded.


    Shortly after midnight Aksanteri was woken by his ward, he rose and after checking his spell he moved surprisingly softly towards a clump of bushes at the edge of the camp.


    ¡°... yeah just before dawn. You two kill the mage while we kill or persuade any of the boys who are still around. The old geezer is loaded, and some of the snooty cows need a good man ...¡±


    Aksanteri¡¯s lips thinned, he concentrated and directed tendrils of death magic to hover over the five disloyal guards. Slowly the tendrils grew towards their target while Aksanteri produced an empty manna stone and tied the growing spell to it. He placed it on the ground in the centre of a hastily drawn pentagram and smiled.


    The tendrils reached their targets and fastened onto the men¡¯s throats, keeping them silent and frozen as their lives were slowly leached away. Aksanteri looked into the distance then picked up the partially filled manna stone. He returned part of the stolen energy to the bodies of his victims and sent them walking away from the encampment.


    Aksanteri pocketed the somewhat depleted manna stone and returned to his bedroll.


    * * *


    The camp rose with the dawn. Kraterios almost despaired when he realized that he only had four guards left out of the thirty that had accompanied them from Foraville. And he suspected he only had those because they had family along. The bitterest blow was the realization that his long time guard captain was also missing.


    ¡°Come on father, we have to leave before one of our ex guards decides to turn traitor and lead some of the tyrant¡¯s men after us. I don¡¯t trust Evac¡¯ront at all.¡± stated Aksanteri.


    It was getting on for dawn when some of Midgard¡¯s scouts spotted the refugee column and led a patrol to intercept them.

 Nate’s Dilemma

    Earth ¨C World of The Misplaced Dungeon


    {Timeline: February 2019 ¨C MD shortly before Ch. 79}


    Nate bit his lip and surreptitiously wiped his palms on his jeans while watching Katy with wide eyed apprehension. He was used to being ignored by the popular girls and he knew Katy¡¯s current boyfriend to have an uncertain temper and a jealous disposition.


    At the thought of Zeke his eyes darted round the locker room much to Katy¡¯s amusement.


    Katy giggled softly, ¡°relax Nate honey, my Zeke¡¯s having a maths tutorial. Course that means that he¡¯ll be mean as a snake in about half an hours time.¡±


    Nate tried to back up, but as he was already backed up against the lockers he failed. Katy giggled again.


    ¡°They say you¡¯re one of the brightest guys in our year. I¡¯ve got a bet for you. If you fail then I¡¯ll set Zeke on you. If you succeed well... Maybe I¡¯ll ask Lani to take you out on a date or two. What do you say?¡±


    ¡°Um... Err...¡±


    ¡°Good I knew you¡¯d agree. Well Nate yanno that this System thingie isn¡¯t playing nice or fair. Look at what it did to poor Harry. Bet you can¡¯t figure out how to make it allow us to become real vampires like in the books.¡±


    Nate was starting to panic, vision of Zeke and his friends weren¡¯t helping. ¡°Um, books ... you mean like Bram Stoker¡¯s Dracula?¡±


    ¡°Who? No like all the books with the sexy vampires who bond to their ladies and do anything for them.¡±


    Nate just stared. ¡°Wha?¡±


    ¡°Yeah that¡¯s right Nate. You have a week... Na, I¡¯ll be generous, I¡¯ll give you two.¡± Then she swooped in and gave Nate a kiss that left him weak kneed.


    Nate saw Katy sashay away and greet her usual coterie of friends who he now realized had been in earshot the whole time. He once again broke out into a nervous sweat.


    A visit to the local library enlightened him as to the impossibility he faced, and only the threat of Zeke enabled him to keep skimming books he found boring and repetitive. He finally left and headed home in a daze.


    ¡®Now what?¡¯ thought Nate, ¡®I can¡¯t see those blue screens, sometimes I think it¡¯s all an elaborate hoax. So who... Oh yeah I¡¯ll see if Denise can help me, I never hassled her, maybe she¡¯ll overlook that I never helped her. God I hope Katy forgets about Lani, she might be beautiful but she¡¯s a bitch... Why couldn¡¯t it be Zoe?¡¯


    * * *


    Nate arrived at school very early that day, then he waited for the other pupils to arrive. When the bright pink Chevrolet Bolt turned into the parking area he started walking towards it.


    ¡°Um, excuse me Denise, can I ask you something please?¡±


    Denise Sottomayor turned to watch the small Asian looking teen approaching her. ¡°Well Nate you¡¯ll have to make it quick or we¡¯ll be late.¡±


    ¡°Um, sorry. I want to learn about the system and how this integration thing works, and you are the person I know who has... um, changed most and not made a mess of the... Um, sorry that doesn¡¯t sound right.¡±


    ¡°Why Nate, do you want to become a girl too? I really recommend it. Except for periods, they¡¯re icky,¡± Denise teased.


    Nate blushed furiously while Denise¡¯s brother Julian laughed out loud.


    ¡°No, no, no! Katy bet that I could ... um, and I really do not want to loose that bet. The penalty ... um.¡±


    The Sottomayor siblings lost their smiles. ¡°Guess you don¡¯t trust the principal to keep you safe. You should tell him though,¡± Said Denise. ¡°He can be very supportive.¡±


    ¡°And Zeke can be a bastard, especially with Katy egging him on,¡± replied Nate.


    The Siblings shared a long look, and then Julian said, ¡°You should talk with Mary. Mary Silvestre. She¡¯s the one who helped us out. And if you still need help ... well you can count on us.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, but we have to run now or we¡¯ll be late,¡± confirmed Denise.


    * * *


    Nate had planned to accost Mary during the lunch break but he lost his nerve. When classes ended he hurried out and made his way to where he had seen the jeep parked. He arrived at much the same time as the tall girl.The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.


    ¡°Mary, please wait.¡±


    Mary slowed and turned to face Nate. ¡°What do you want? And sorry, but who are you?¡±


    ¡°Err... Nate. I¡¯m Nate Wilson. Please I need help with the System¡¯s integration system. I was bet ¨C um, threatened really. Katy wants me to figure out how she or one of her friends can become... One of those vampires that exist in her favourite romances.¡± Nate finished with a rush.


    Mary rolled her eyes and sighed. ¡°Keep sayin¡¯ got no affinity with undead. I¡¯m a water girl me.¡±


    Nate seemed to shrink into himself and he looked frightened.


    ¡°Look Nate, vampires, well the classic western ones anyway are animated corpses that need to steal life force to exist. What does Katy expect from a vampire anyway?¡±


    Feeling a sliver of hope, Nate answered. ¡°Um, tall, handsome, sexy, nocturnal but capable of braving the day if properly covered up and using sunscreen, existing on a small amount of blood and having a life bond of som...¡± he stopped talking at Mary¡¯s laughter.


    ¡°Doesn¡¯t want much does she? Well forget usin¡¯ a vampire as base. And why should an infertile vampire have a mate bond. Makes no sense.¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re saying it can¡¯t be done?¡±


    ¡°Keep sayin¡¯ got no affinity with undead. An¡¯ no don¡¯t think it can. Why don¡¯t you pick somethin¡¯ capable of avoidin¡¯ or dealin¡¯ with whatever this Katy threatened you with instead?¡±


    Nate¡¯s mouth dropped open. He shuddered, ¡°Err, what do you suggest? And what if we use something else as the base?¡±


    ¡°Depends what you want out of you life. No heartbeat¡¯s gonna louse up it¡¯s sex life.¡±


    Nate blushed. ¡°Um, err, if I could hide and maybe fight Zeke off long enough to run...¡±


    Mary grinned and chuckled. ¡°Take a look at leopard ¡®folk. That is beastfolk. If fightin¡¯ is what you want Tiger ¡®folk would serve. Don¡¯ forget to drill down in the options and check fitness and size.¡±


    ¡°What?¡± queried Nate.


    ¡°Just suggestin¡¯ you take your time.¡±


    ¡°Um, but I can¡¯t see the System¡¯s interface yet.¡±


    ¡°Can fix that. Just not here. Wanna follow me, or get in an¡¯ I¡¯ll take you. Got to get some fishin¡¯ in an¡¯ I can set you up at the beach.¡±


    * * *


    Having opted for tiger, a bemused and much larger furry Nate left Mary fishing on the beach alongside a few other enthusiasts and caught a bus for home. He spent the trip utilising his new knowledge to study the information he now had access to. He drew a blank on how Mary had conjured up his new clothes. And he couldn¡¯t see how to turn any of the innumerable types of vampires available into a relatively innocuous sexy human.


    Home was another adventure. He hadn¡¯t realized how loudly his mother could scream. She had nearly deafened him when he walked into the lounge. The explanations had been long drawn out and it had to be repeated when his father arrived home from work. Somehow he had ended up by telling them about Katy and Zeke.


    Much to Nate¡¯s frustration the next task was to get his racial change registered with the appropriate authorities and with his school. Then shopping for clothes.


    * * *


    Nate woke before his alarm on the following morning and lay looking at the ceiling of his room. ¡®What if I use a different base? Human with a difference? Um... Pheromones for the sexy bit, an extreme allergy to the sun. Stronger and faster seems possible, Mary is after all. No way a bit of blood is going to feed someone that size though. Blood as a supplement, but why... wouldn¡¯t make sense. Needing some life essence... but just a bit... maybe... Oh damn this doesn¡¯t make sense, and why am I worrying.¡¯


    Then Nate got up, got ready and went downstairs. ¡®Um, maybe because if I don¡¯t figure this monster out someone else will... And I can add exploitable weaknesses.¡¯


    Nate discovered that tigers didn¡¯t like cereals though the bacon was absolutely delicious as were the eggs.


    He banged his head getting into the school bus and everyone fell silent when he got on and took his seat. On arriving at school he was met and sent to see the principal to get his records and ID updated.


    After school found him in the local library once again. Luck was with him and one of the librarians on duty was his mother¡¯s friend. He explained his dilemma. She was sympathetic and drew him out and then she dragged one of her friends into the discussion.


    He left the library several hours later and he had a tentative solution in an endless series of vampire romances that used an improbable high tech solution for its vampires. Now he just had to sell it to Katy and get some more help from the Sottomayors and Mary.


    * * *


    Julian and Denise were happy to help, Denise had actually read some of the books in questions and had some suggestions. Mary wasn¡¯t as open or helpful. But together they worked out something. Immortality was nixed by Mary, she suggested an extended lifespan instead and as she had said, in a hundred years time it wouldn¡¯t matter if they were annoyed with him or not.


    That night he finalised the design of his faux vampire and wondered why Mary had snorted in amusement at his disgust that they were giving Katy or whomever a two hundred year lifespan. And what did she mean by read the fine print?


    The weekend was hectic as he had to phone and visit friends and family to explain his changed circumstances. On Saturday too, they had had to visit the local branch of the Paranormal Division of the FBI, so that they could run some tests. It would seem that he was the first tiger folk to manifest.


    Monday was actually a welcome relief for once. Katy had been suspicious and somewhat unhappy but at least she did promise to read the books he gave her and that had been by the librarian and her friend plus another Denise had recommended.


    On Wednesday Katy sought him out. She had Zeke in tow.


    ¡°They¡¯re not real vampires,¡± she huffed. ¡°But if that¡¯s the best you can do, fine. But I won¡¯t get you the date with Lani, ¡®cause you didn¡¯t really win the bet Nate.¡±


    Nate managed to keep his relief from showing.


    ¡°So Nate, talk us through the setup. And if you get it wrong I¡¯ll cream you.¡± Stated Zeke.


    Nate¡¯s eyes widened in surprise as he glanced out of the window at the bright sunny day, ¡°Now?¡±


    ¡°Yes now!¡± agreed Katy.


    ¡°If you¡¯re sure, um the full change might take a day to finish but it will start to take effect immediately. Are you sure you want to do this now?¡± Nate asked as he watched some dust motes dance in the sunlight.


    ¡°Yes. Get on with it cat breath,¡± ordered Zeke.


    ¡°Right, call up the integration blue screen and select race. Pick human and select variants. You should find an option called Human ¨C Vampiric. Select that. And that¡¯s all you have to do to be a nanotech vampire like the ones in the books. All the rest is standard, class etc.¡±


    Nate couldn¡¯t believe it. They did pick it just like that. They didn¡¯t check any of the available information. They just picked it.


    ¡®Thank god Mary knew how to create that template and place it in the System. Or rather she knew how to talk ¡°Bluey¡± into helping us, me.¡¯

 Hospital Visit

    Earth ¨C World of The Misplaced Dungeon


    {Timeline: February 2019 ¨C MD shortly before Ch. 79}


    Katy strutted down the hall with a big grin on her face, it had been easier than she had expected. Nate had been a pushover; even in his new self he was still Nate. Thou she had to admit the tiger man look was kind of cool.


    She spotted her coterie awaiting her in their usual spot. Lani was giggling at something Sammy was saying. ¡°Hey! It worked, you just have to select race and go for human, then variants. Then pick the vampire option. Human, vampire, no, vampiric. Yep that¡¯s it vampiric. C¡¯mon do it now.¡±


    ¡°Oh cool!¡± Sammy seemed to go cross eyed and started jabbing at the air. ¡°Cool, hey it¡¯s so easy! Done!¡± and she grinned broadly.¡±


    Lani watched Sammy wide eyed and licked her lips nervously as she slumped against the wall and looked vaguely into the distance. ¡°Erm, I still think werewolf would be better.¡±


    ¡°Oh come on Lani, what could be cooler than the three vampire babes?¡± insisted Katy.


    Lani examined the sunlight streaming in through the windows. ¡°Maybe. Look I¡¯ll think about it like and do the integration thing tonight.¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re being a sissy again Lani. C¡¯mon, choose, it is really easy,¡± insisted Sammy while Katy nodded vigorously.


    Then the bell rang and Lani jerked. ¡°I¡¯ll do it at home later, gotta get to class now.¡±


    Katy and Sammy shared a grin and sauntered of to their English class. ¡°She really is a wuss,¡± said Katy.


    * * *


    Denise went to sit next to her friend Betty and prepared herself for yet another English lesson, they were covering Romeo and Juliette again today. Ms Fielding was taking attendance when Katy stiffened and then screamed and collapsed to the floor in an apparent fit before curling into a foetal position with a long drawn out moan. In the few seconds before Katy was completely surrounded by her friends and the curious Denise noted that her skin was turning a bright red.


    Ms Fielding called for the school nurse and shooed the curious back.


    Denise tried her evaluate and gasped. ¡°Ms Fielding, I think you should get Katy out of the sunlight. I tried my evaluate skill, Katy¡¯s race is human ¨C vampire variant.¡±


    ¡°What! That¡¯s ridiculous Denise. It¡¯s the middle of the day and she¡¯s alive so can¡¯t be a vampire.¡±


    ¡°Hey, Denise is right Ms. Human, dash, vampire variant.¡± Confirmed the class elf.


    Mrs Kato arrived just in time to see Sammy convulse and collapse panting in agony.


    Teresa cleaned her glasses and leaned back in her chair, trying very hard not to feel joy at the suffering of the two girls that tended to make her life uncomfortable. They weren¡¯t bullies, just thoughtless and self centred. But still they and Lani were.... ¡°Ms Fielding, those two are always with Lani, maybe someone should check on her ... and Zeke?¡±


    * * *


    Mr Riviera felt like tearing his hair out, or at least what little remained of it. He sighed and downed his coffee before. He had four pupils in hospital, all comatose and suffering from anaemia. He cursed the day this System had turned up.


    There was a knock on his door. ¡°Come in.¡±


    Ms Franklin entered with his vice principal Kato.


    ¡°Come in, sit please. So Kato has your wife any more news?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m afraid so Carl, Ms Sottomayor was right. They all chose to become some kind of vampire in the middle of the day.¡±


    ¡°What about Ms Lapin? How did she escape and what did she have to say for herself.¡±The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.


    Ms Franklin rolled her eyes, ¡°Lani contrary to appearances actually has some brains. She made excuses and avoided opting to become a vampire in the middle of the day. She did however drop Nate Wilson in it, and Nate dragged in Mary Silvestre and the Sottomayors.¡±


    ¡°So? Are they all trembling in their boots waiting to see me?¡± joked Carl Riviera.


    Kato snorted, ¡°Nate and Lani are, the others not.¡±


    ¡°Well show them in.¡±


    The gaggle of teens entered the principal¡¯s office accompanied by the school nurse. After confirming all the facts, Lani was dismissed with the knowledge that the Riviera intended to keep an eye on her. The Sottomayors were the next to leave the office.


    ¡°Now, care to tell me just what you two inflicted on your fellows?¡±


    ¡°Nothin¡¯. They got what they asked for, and all information was and is available.¡±


    ¡°I had two girls screaming in agony in my class. Burning in the sun and you had a hand in it,¡± exclaimed Ms Franklin.


    ¡°Me? Was asked for help by Nate who they threatened to beat up. They wanted vampire, they got altered human. They¡¯re alive not dead or undead. Not my fault they are idiots.¡±


    Mrs Kato cut in preventing a livid Ms Franklin from continuing. ¡°Mary, what treatment do those kids need?¡±


    ¡°Transfusions, proteins and painkillers ¡®til the change is complete. The nanites are colonisin¡¯ ¡®em and boostin¡¯ their muscles an¡¯ senses, growin¡¯ hollow fangs for transfusions and makin¡¯ some changes to their brains. Will take between twenty-four to forty-eight hours.


    ¡°The fun part is that they can turn other humans, and only humans. The victim has to be willin¡¯ and confirm with Bluey. Then they have to find an¡¯ follow instructions. What will work for one person won¡¯t necessarily work for anyone else.¡±


    ¡°Anything else? And how do you know so much about it Mary?¡± asked Kato.


    ¡°Better get some physiotherapists involved. Boosted strength can wreck a basic skeletal framework.¡± Mary shrugged, ¡°ask Bluey, err, the System. He¡¯s really very reasonable and helpful. You just have to be careful of his sense of humour. I¡¯m still goin¡¯ beep ¡®cause of that.¡±


    ¡°Really Mary why didn¡¯t you come to me about this?¡±


    Mary looked at the principal blankly. ¡°Nate asked for help, if anyone should have gone to you it wasn¡¯t me. Interestin¡¯ challenge he fetched me. So now idiots who want to be vampires have a not overwhelmingly powerful option to chose an¡¯ most won¡¯t seek anythin¡¯ better. They really should have read the fine print. All info is available.¡±


    Ms Franklin was still fuming. ¡°Those girls might have died. How could you have been so reckless?¡±


    Nate winced and looked downhearted. ¡°Sorry.¡±


    Mary looked bored and shrugged one shoulder.


    * * *


    Mary absolutely refused to try to squeeze herself into the Kato¡¯s car. After a short argument she followed them in her jeep. After parking she followed Nate and the Katos into the hospital and then they all waited while Mrs Kato explained to the man at reception about who they were and why they were present.


    After a bit the Katos went through a door after asking Nate and Mary to wait. Mary found a seat and sat carefully in one of the too small chairs. It creaked alarmingly and after looking round she levered herself out of the chair and gave it a dirty look and went to lean against one of the walls. Nate for his part found that the chairs were barely tolerable.


    Nate looked round at Mary. ¡°Just how much do you weigh?¡±


    ¡°Now honestly, is that anythin¡¯ you should ask a dungeon Nate? ¡®Specially a girl dungeon. Tons, lots and lots of tons.¡±


    ¡°Wha?¡±


    Mary laughed at the look on his face.


    A few minutes later while Nate was still half scowling a young dwarf holding a clipboard and wearing scrubs wandered into the room and asked if they needed any help.


    Nate replied in the negative while Mary studied the newcomer carefully and grinned, ¡°Hey girl, wanna get rid of that beard for good?¡±


    ¡°YES!¡± then she scowled, ¡°It is not nice to tease.¡±


    ¡°Not teasin¡¯. I can do it, the genetic markers that control a female dwarf¡¯s beard are fairly distinct and not all female dwarves develop beards.¡±


    Mikaela glared at the big ¨C sea human, what in hell was a sea human anyway? ¡°What are you girl? What¡¯s a sea human? And how do you know that about dwarves?¡±


    ¡°Am human an¡¯ got gills. Need to breath water for several hours every week. An¡¯ why would I neglect dwarves when studyin¡¯?¡±


    ¡°Wha?¡± blurted Nate.


    It was at this point that the Katos re-emerged with a spry elderly looking man with nicotine stained fingers and moustache.


    ¡°Is there some problem Dr De Blasio?¡±


    ¡°No Dr Truman, this young lady seems to believe she can perform miracles.¡±


    ¡°Maybe she can if Sharon is to be believed. So young lady can you explain what we need to do to pull your reckless friends through their integration?¡±


    ¡°Not friends. Consult Bluey. She can do it,¡± said Mary jerking a thumb in Mickaela¡¯s direction. ¡°Call up the interface, select general info. Races. Human variants. Vampiric. Nanotech installation and system adaptation. All you need is there. Anything that seems iffy, select it and search for info. You might like to check the methods those twits can infect others.¡±


    Michaela started cursing and came close to demolishing one of the chairs when she punched it.


    ¡°What on Earth! Dr DeBlasio please calm down.¡±


    ¡°The girl¡¯s right Dr. Everything we need is there. How long have you known about this function girl?¡±


    ¡°Several months.¡±


    ¡°Why haven¡¯t you told anyone about it?¡±


    ¡°I keep tellin¡¯ people to read the fine print.¡±


    Dr Michaela DeBlasio stared at Mary and pointed. ¡°Diagnose,¡± she commanded. ¡°Blocked! How did you block me girl.¡±


    ¡°Easily. Just a matter of level difference.¡±


    ¡°But I¡¯m... maybe you can fix my beard at that.¡±


    ¡°Can. Visit me at home an¡¯ I¡¯ll sort you out in about an hour.¡±


    * * *


    Katy woke in a dimly lit room and saw that Sammy was in the other bed. A dwarf was watching her.


    ¡°You feeling better Katy? I¡¯m Dr DeBlasio but you may call me Michaela. Are you up to receiving visitors?¡±

 At Home With Lani

    Earth ¨C World of The Misplaced Dungeon


    {Timeline: February 2019 ¨C MD shortly before Ch. 79}


    Lani was in a foul mood when she got home. Additionally she was scared for her friends and for herself. She was relieved that her parents weren¡¯t back yet. She found her sister Alia lost in her ipad.


    Lani grabbed the little menace and dragged her protesting loudly all the way to her room.


    Alia blinked at the blurry sight that was her older sister and briefly cleaned her glasses before seating herself on Lani¡¯s bed and putting on her glasses. Lani endured her kid sister¡¯s ritual and waited until Alia could see again.


    ¡°Apikalia Lapin, you¡¯ve got to help me. I know you read all the books that Katy lends me. I¡¯ve heard you giggle when you do.¡±


    ¡°Well Keilani Lapin, you¡¯ve never complained before and they are funny.¡±


    ¡°They¡¯re romances Alia, not comedies.¡±


    ¡°Could have fooled me,¡± retorted Alia.


    Lani fumed quietly for a while her sister grew increasingly nervous as she awaited the coming explosion. ¡°Erm, what help do you want ¨C need from me,¡± she finally said hesitantly in the hopes of defusing the situation.


    ¡°Katy, Sammy and Zeke have chosen to become Vamires,¡± Alia¡¯s eyes grew huge behind her glasses. ¡°Not undead vampires, some kind of human variant. Vampiric or something.¡± Lani slumped dejectedly, ¡°and they expect me to join them.¡±


    Alia¡¯s eyes darted to her sister¡¯s prized surfboard, ¡°but what about surfer dude? And ¨C and¡ª¡±


    ¡°Look brainiac, can you find me something cool I can show Katy that won¡¯t keep me in out of the sun? Something from those romances?¡±


    Alia¡¯s eyes slitted in amusement and she broke out in uncontrollable giggles.This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.


    ¡°Apikalia Lapin! Stop giggling this instant or I¡¯ll tickle you.¡±


    Alia wiped her eyes and grinned. ¡°Katy is the boss right? And she¡¯s as dumb as a rock right? Those books have all sorts of shape shifters; demons, dragons, succubus and what have you. But they also have elves right. And the System has various types of elves. Why don¡¯t you go for one of those. They¡¯re safe. Just tweak the appearance so you look suitably exotic and lie.¡±


    Lani just looked at her sister while her thoughts raced. ¡°What about the mate bond thing that Katy¡¯s enamoured with?¡±


    ¡°Lie. It¡¯s that idiocy that turns most of those books into comedies. You really wouldn¡¯t like it especially if surfer guy wasn¡¯t selected.¡±


    ¡°And what about you sister mine, will you go elf too?¡±


    ¡°Me but... Um, Lani I can¡¯t see the blue screens yet.¡±


    ¡°But you¡¯re old enough Alia, according to the government website the system considers fourteen yesr olds to be adults and you¡¯re nearly fifteen. So you¡¯re gonna show me how it¡¯s done. And you¡¯re going to make the screens public so you don¡¯t screw me up.¡±


    Then Lani jumped on her sister pinning her to the bed and started tickling her. ¡°You better start seeing those screens ¡®cause I¡¯m not stopping till you do.¡± She told her shrieking sister.


    Later Alia gazed sullenly at her sister and under threat of more tickling she made her integration screens public. She selected her race and called up elves. ¡°Well Lani, what do you want, High Elf, Elf or Sea Elf.¡±


    ¡°Why does the Elf entry have a star after it?¡± asked Lani.


    Alia sighed and selected the star getting a list of other variants. ¡°User defined variations that are still basically an elf.¡±


    The sisters read all the information on the various elven options and Lani opted for sea elf so she forced Alia to select sea elf and confirm the race. Alia sighed then selected eyesight choosing to have twenty twenty vision then made sure her hearing was perfect.


    ¡°What about age Alia?¡±


    ¡°What about it, you remain the age you are.¡±


    ¡°Huh. Select age and lets see what it says.¡±


    ¡°You bitch Lani, the default was safe but now I¡¯m going to be fourteen in elf.¡± Alia started to check all the available options and almost fainted when she realized she might have forgotten half of her life.


    Lani laughed and confirmed her choices. Then she looked at her frantic sister and laughed again.


    ¡°You¡¯re going to get into so much trouble Lani.¡± Alia glowered at her laughing sister and dove back into the interface. ¡°Hair colour, um, black with blue highlights, now skin colour. Let¡¯s get rid of the blue tinge. Good.¡±


    ¡°The cosmetic modifications ¨C I forgot ¨C you made me forget Alia, lets chop a year or two off your age.¡±


    Alia jerked back. ¡°Integration complete! Accept current selection.¡± She shrieked in a panic. And then Alia was shrinking.


    * * *


    When the Lapins got home that evening they were confronted with one daughter with dark blue hair and a blue tinged skin and a furious six year old in place of their serious fourteen year old bookworm.


    Lani and Alia ended up in the same hospital as Katy and Sammy.

 Other Worlds

    Tarifax ¨C World of The Misplaced Dungeon


    {Timeline: Aug 2018 / Mar 2019 ¨C MD from the beginning to the end of Ch. 86}


    Frog threw himself behind the parked Lexus and winced at the sound of his hog scraping across the pavement and crashing into the wall behind him. What the fuck had he just ridden into, it sounded like a war zone. He crawled until he was sheltering behind the Lexus¡¯ engine block and cringed trying to make himself small as several bullets tore right through the luxury car¡¯s body.


    He cradled his head and broke into a cold sweat when he realised a chunk of his helmet was simply missing. ¡®Fuck that was close.¡¯


    Frog removed his destroyed helmet and produced his phone. He hit 911. He was busy trying not to die, which exasperated his stress levels as he tried to tell the nice lady on the end of the line what was going on and all but begging for help.


    Then he felt a wrenching, almost as if someone was ripping him in half. He gasped, half screamed and fainted.


    * * *


    Frog felt dizzy, what in hells name was going on? He was in a huge nebulous room, or was he? He didn¡¯t seem to have a body, was he just another of those airy glowing spheres that he was surrounded by? Did this mean those lunatics had killed him?


    He ignored the babble of incoherent voices that seemed to bypass his non existent ears. He focused and forced them out as he tried to examine his surroundings. Then he noticed a lectern had appeared in the space he and the others were inhabiting. Or maybe it and the tall slender big breasted blue haired woman had always been there and he simply hadn¡¯t noticed them. Frog found himself ogling those breasts with approval.


    ? teeheehee! My new helpers are all here, don¡¯t worry dears, you did not die! As you all are, or maybe were all atheists none of you had any attachments to your local gods whoever they were, and as your world has so many people you are all new souls and thus devoid even of lingering attachments. So I merely appropriated your souls for my use. Teeheehee. ?


    Frog got the distinct impression that woman floating behind the podium was smirking at him.


    ? Don¡¯t worry dears, I left a scrap of your soul behind, just enough to keep your bodies from dying, it should regenerate in time. Possibly. Maybe. Teeheehee. ?


    ? I¡¯m Azurea, Goddess of dungeons and you are all my new subjects. If you want to succeed you need to hurry up and worship me already. ?


    ? Forget your names, you are now ANS 1 through ANS 100 ¨C stands for Atheist New Soul. Teeheehee. ?


    Deep in his head Frog heard, or maybe he sensed ¡®ANS 96¡¯.


    ? I¡¯m sending the dungeon cores ANS 1 to ANS 25 to the planet Diavlo, you are needed there and will be a blessing to the locals. ?


    ? As for the cores ANS 26 through ANS 50 you are going to the Planet Parthia. ?


    ? ANS 51 to ANS 75, you are going to help Ambuila. ?


    ? ANS 76 to ANS 100, Teeheehee, you will be needed on Tarifax. Teeheehee. ?


    * * *


    Frog was in freefall, below him was a planet, a green and blue cloudy planet. Frog due to his acrophobia fainted.


    ANS 96 woke with a blank mind. He gazed incuriously around the dark cave he found himself in and apathetically accepted the demand of partnership from Deepsix the wisp.


    Deepsix cursed. This was worse than anything he had been told. The dungeon core was all but empty of anything, it certainly had no personality worth mentioning.


    ? Azurea my goddess, how am I supposed to fulfil your will with ANS 96. It¡¯s a blank, there is nothing here. Please Azurea I pray, advise me. ?


    ? Ok dear, Teeheehee, the poor thing fainted and the mindwipe had nothing to fight against so it was a little too successful. Teeheehee. Sorry dear, just do the best you can for now. ?


    * * *


    ? ANS 96 please choose your primary and secondary Monster Types. Be aware that you will be restricted by this choice until you accumulate sufficient manna and experience to gain further advances. ?


    ? choose your primary monster type ?


    ? Goblins¡ª ?


    ? Bullywugs¡ª ?


    ? Lizardfolk¡ª ?


    ? Slimes¡ª ?


    ? Shambling Mounds¡ª ?


    ? Lesser Undead¡ª ?


    Deepsix sighed in despair, then he wormed his way into the blankness that was his partner and pushed.


    ? Lizardfolk ?


    ? choose your secondary monster type ?


    ? Snakes¡ª ?


    ? Leeches¡ª ?


    ? Giant Insects¡ª ?


    ? Lesser Amphibians¡ª ?


    Deepsix despaired, his partner was useless, he was blank, so once again Deepsix pushed.


    ? Giant Insects ?


    ? lizardfolk and giant insects ¨C Done! ?


    * * *


    Magister Rufus Calitroglia received his visitor politely and offered him wine. Bartold Kennings smiled in pleasure and accepted.


    ¡°My friend, several new dungeons have appeared. I have um, mislaid the details of one of them. It lies just within the great swamp, about one hundred and fifty kilometres from our fair city.¡±


    Rufus felt a bolt of pure greed but carefully showed no sign of it. ¡°So Bartold my friend, how long do I have before you have to, find this mislaid dungeon?¡±


    ¡°I have a review coming, so I can give you two weeks but to be quite honest the sooner the better as far as I am concerned.¡±


    ¡°Excellent, personally I don¡¯t think I¡¯ll need more than a week for something that close.¡±


    * * *


    As soon as Bartold Kennings had left, Rufus stated spewing orders preparing to fulfil one of his long held ambitions. Then donning his breather mask he left his home noting with pleasure that the filter spell was still functioning perfectly. Latrox Caldane might be expensive but he did good work.


    He climbed in his firewaggon and gestured for to Driver to proceed. The firewaggon started with a subdued chuff and was soon edging its way through the thick yellow tinted fog that coated Conimbriga.Stolen story; please report.


    Rufus made his way into the Caradix Emporium and handed his breather and cape to one of the footmen. Then he made his way to the exotics section.


    Sales XV smiled politely and bowed deeply to the prosperous looking gentleman who walked into his department. He held the bow for the appropriate length of time and straightened. ¡°How may the Caradix Emporium serve you master?¡±


    Rufus nodded perfunctorily to the silver collared slave and replied. ¡°I have need of a female pixie or sprite for an experiment. Please understand I am not sure it will survive the experiment so I am not after your best stock.¡±


    Sales XV bowed again, grateful to be able to hide his expression. ¡°Certainly sir, please come this way.¡±


    Rufus examined the half dozen sprites and four pixies on offer. Three didn¡¯t look healthy or strong so he ignored those, he also ignored the dungeon sprite. ¡°How much do you want for the scar faced one?¡±


    Sales XV glanced at the disk hanging from its grok hide collar, ¡°Two guineas master.¡±


    Rufus narrowed his eyes in displeasure and checked the notation himself. After checking the price of the other options he had considered he grunted. ¡°Bloody expensive for a one eyed slave,¡± he grumbled. ¡°Don¡¯t you have anything cheaper?¡±


    ¡°The males of this species are cheaper master.¡±


    ¡°No! The females are easier to manage,¡± Rufus snapped as he glared at the unfortunates presented for his inspection.


    Sales XV merely bowed and remained silent his face blank.


    ¡°Very well, clean it up and replace that collar with a bronze one. My man¡¯s got a filter cage in my firewaggon. Use that, see to it while I go and pay.¡±


    ¡°Yes master, your will be done.¡±


    * * *


    Strelitzia was still feeling numb at the destruction of her colony. She was indifferent to her fate and frankly surprised to be alive. She just hoped that some of her friends and relatives had managed to escape in the brief, very brief delay she and a few of the more desperate of her friends had bought at the cost of their lives and freedom.


    And now she¡¯d been sold to some arrogant free born parasite. His words still echoed in her head, ¡®females are easier to manage¡¯ she¡¯d give him ¡®easier to manage¡¯ even if it killed her.


    Strelitzia endured being washed down by a surprisingly gentle older slave of the emporium and endured having her collar exchanged. She fingered the bronze band wondering why if the bastard who bought her wanted as a potential expendable experimental subject he had upgraded her status. Leather collars had virtually no rights, bronze collars had far more being guaranteed two meals a day and exempt from being killed at their master¡¯s whim.


    The filter cage was clean and surprisingly roomy. It even had a built in chair. She tried to avoid looking out at the yellowish fog outside her new owner¡¯s firewaggon. She knew she wouldn¡¯t last fifteen minutes out in that poisonous atmosphere.


    Then the journey ended and the firewaggon¡¯s stoker was carrying her cage in her owner¡¯s wake. They crossed what she thought might be the floor of an amphitheatre to the armed yacht resting on the sands with black smoke pouring out of its tall chimney.


    As soon as Rufus was on board his prized Grey Gull Stoker III passed the filter cage containing the pixie to Steward III before returning to the firewaggon. Strelitza¡¯s cage was fastened down in the Steward¡¯s office and she watched fascinated as the balancers went about their trade meticulously turning the liftwood planks that enabled the Grey Gull to take to the skies even as her engines started turning the large propellers at her stern.


    * * *


    Rufus Calitroglia stared down at the crude hole in the miserable excuse for an island in the mosquito infested isle near the Sothern border of the Great Swamp. The Grey Gull was easily able to maintain station above the entrance to the new dungeon.


    Rufus sipped from his glass of fine whisky as he watched a party of his gladiators descend the rope ladder to the isle where they primed their rifles before making their way into the dungeon.


    Less than an hour later they emerged helping two of their number. Rufus noted approvingly that they had suffered no fatalities, not that he had expected any but accidents could always happen. He ordered the crane rigged and stretchers lowered. Then he waited until the leader of his capture squad climbed the rope ladder and returned back on board.


    ¡°Everything went well I trust Leanna Fireseed?¡±


    ¡°Yes sir, we faced lizardfolk and giant bugs. Nothing very difficult. The hornets were the nastiest things down there. The companion was a wisp and I think it was the driving force in the defence of the dungeon. The core seems very lacklustre sir, I hope you can use it.¡±


    Rufus accepted the dull Tiger Eye that barely flickered. He narrowed his eyes and examined it carefully.


    ¡°Well it¡¯s still alive, and I don¡¯t need anything that can think for itself so it should do. Pray congratulate your team. You have all earned your rewards.¡±


    Leanna Fireseed watched her boss leave carrying the dormant dungeon core, then turned to look after her team.


    * * *


    Deepsix found himself hovering in the cosy throne room of his goddess. It was unsurprisingly decorated in various shades of blue with blue furs draped over the scattered chairs and couches.


    ¡°Oh dear, I¡¯m so sorry to see you here dear. Let me see what happened.¡± Azurea gazed over the unhappy wisp and her lips thinned. ¡°I see! Well you did your best in an impossible position Deepsix, the least I can do is ask what you would like to be in your next life.¡±


    Deepsix almost collapsed into himself. ¡°My goddess, can you send my spirit to another world, one that is not poisoned or in danger of dying.¡±


    Azurea drew herself up. Then she relaxed. ¡°Much as I hate to admit it, the best option I can offer you is Parthia. And I could use an agent on Parthia.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m just a wisp, I don¡¯t see how I could help you as an agent.¡±


    ¡°Teeheehee. Don¡¯t worry dear, I need a ¨C spokesman, someone able to ¨C intervene diplomatically on my behalf.¡±


    Azurea smiled and waved a carefully manicured hand and Deepsix vanished.


    ¡®And now little pixie I can use that roiling fury and despair to salvage something from this debacle. So some knowledge, if you are to bond to one of my dungeons you need knowledge. Let me give you vision and the claws you will need to ¨C interact with divine magics. Risky yes but then I can¡¯t see a way to save Tarifax. Pity there is only one Mary Silvestre.¡¯


    Azurea lounged in her comfortable couch and used her divine sight. Slowly a cold smile grew on her face. ¡®Risky, oh so risky but it might work especially as there are two of her. And both of her are dungeons... Oh so ambitious dungeons... rogues... And it is to save two worlds... well one... I really can¡¯t see how Tarifax can be saved.¡¯ Azurea shuddered at that thought. ¡®What can I do, if we loose another world... The Great Gods will...¡¯


    * * *


    Strelitzia froze in shock as information poured into her head, information about dungeon cores and the dungeons they controlled and became. Her destroyed right eye stung and burned causing her to cover her face with her hands.


    She raised her head when she heard footsteps on the wooden deck of the cabin. She watched as her hated owner opened a small hatch in her cage and shoved a large dull Tiger Ere gem into the cage with her.


    ¡°Well Scarface, if you want to live bond with this dungeon core. It¡¯s very young and very lacking in anything resembling intelligence and ego. So you are going to run it for me. Do well and I¡¯ll upgrade you to silver. Fail and I¡¯ll replace you. Understand?¡±


    A blue flame flickered at the bottom of the pixie¡¯s empty eyesocket and Strelitzia realized that the dungeon core¡¯s being was bound. ¡®It should be possible to free it ¨C him, how do I know this?¡¯


    ¡°Um, master, how do I do this bonding thing, I know dungeon pixies bond but, how?¡±


    ¡°You think at the core Scarface, then when you connect you offer to bond. If it accepts, then the bond is done. I suggest you be convincing as I have no use for a damaged pixie.¡±


    ¡°Yes master. I will try,¡± replied Strelitzia.


    Strelitzia used her new knowledge and abilities for the first time. She offered the bond to the empty core even as she slipped a thread through the barrier and did the same to Frog? Ah Fredrick Richards Olpe-Garrison.


    Frog stirred and linked to the thought that was, had, ever so slightly woken him. Knowledge flowed in both directions and the bond was formed with just enough spill into the vacant awake part of the core to allow Strelitzia to drive the core¡¯s abilities.


    Rufus relaxed his magical sight and smiled. ¡°Well done Scarface. Now we will return to town where you will claim my amphitheatre so that you can generate beasts for the games and clean the air for my clients.¡±


    * * *


    Some months later Strelitzia knew far more than she wanted to of Arena games and gladiatorial combat and beast and monster hunts. The coldblooded slaughter of the injured and unsuccessful that Rufus had ordered to feed his new spell chained dungeon had made Frog powerful. He had gained many levels in a remarkably short time. Now they, well she, had been using Frog¡¯s core to filter the air and create the monsters and beasts destined to die in Arena. More experience she wished she could forget.


    At least she had finally managed to find a few weak points in Azurea¡¯s barrier and she was making slow progress. Then there would be Rufus¡¯ spell chains to defeat. She just hoped that she would be able to persuade Frog to proceed cautiously when she finally managed to free him.


    At least they now had lots of monsters and creatures in their data banks.


    Strelitzia merged with Frog¡¯s core and examined the Arena. Up above the rising banks of seats around the round sand floored arena the yellow stained fog pressed against their domain seeking to poison all life. Strelitzia shuddered and swept her gaze around the arena and assured herself all was in order for the next day¡¯s spectacle. She sincerely hoped that Rufus wouldn¡¯t be hosting any of his so called light relief specials. His truly sadistic specials.


    Then it happened. The intruder was in their heart chamber. Strelitzia¡¯s eyes flew open in shock. The intruder was in the core, in Frog¡¯s core together with a strange echo of her Frog. It was another dungeon, a terrifyingly strong dungeon.


    ¡®Is this going to be the end of us? Gods it¡¯s SO unfair.¡¯ Strelitzia despaired.


    ? ¡®Lo little one. Do you need any help? This is a truly unpleasant world I¡¯m surprised it still has pixies. ?


    Strelitzia shuddered and dared to hope. ? There aren¡¯t many of us left. Many creatures only exist in the various arena monster reserves. Why are you offering help? ?


    ? I¡¯m becoming a goddess, the more world¡¯s I and my consort have a foothold in the better. So anything I can help you with? ?

 Boat Yard – Alternate POV

    Earth ¨C World of The Misplaced Dungeon


    {Timeline: February 2019 ¨C MD from Ch. 82}


    It was getting to the point that Bubba was dreading going into work in the mornings. This week had started especially badly. He meandered into the kitchen turning his CV over in his mind. He had started to update it and he still was not happy with it. It just didn¡¯t seem to sell itself, it seemed dull, if he received one like it, he would discard it out of hand.


    Rubbing his just shaved chin he decided to ignore the rough patch under the corner of his jaw. He smiled at his wife, ¡°Morning honey, the kids not up yet.¡±


    Ellen served his breakfast as he poured out a cup of coffee. Ellen chuckled, ¡°not yet, the bus won¡¯t be here for another half hour yet so they should be down soon.¡±


    * * *


    Bubba parked his Ford outside the yard. Drew a deep breath, and headed into the office. The place looked half dead. He slumped slightly as he opened the front door and stepped into the airless building. He signed in resignation. The AC was still down, not a good sign, that dickhead Forster liked his comforts.


    ¡°Bubba! Get yourself in here now!¡±


    ¡°Yes boss, Mr Forster.¡± Replied Bubba as he turned and made his way to the manager¡¯s office.


    Forster was packing his things, Bubba could almost swear that new laptop that was being placed in the cardboard box on the desk belonged to the company and not Forster. Bubba could feel his spirits sink, something he would have thought impossible just five minutes ago. Well, it certainly looked like the end had come.


    ¡°I¡¯m off, the Duvaliers have sold the yard and I¡¯m leaving to head up another of their concerns. You¡¯ll be in charge of the office until the new boss appoints someone.¡± Forster nodded to his out tray, ¡°everything you need to know is in those letters. Good luck Bubba, you¡¯ll need it.¡± And with that crack Forster picked up his cardboard box and left his office for the last time.


    Bubba watched him go and rounding the desk collapsed into the comfortable chair. After staring blankly at the open door for several moments Bubba stirred and reached for the handful of documents in what he supposed was now his out tray.


    Bubba skimmed the papers; then he went back and read them carefully. The Sunshine Boat Yard was no more. He now worked for the Silvestre Boat Yard and that belonged one hundred percent to Silvestre Enterprises. He had to set up the conference room for a remote conference with their new boss on Friday morning.


    Bubba picked up his new phone and dialled. ¡°Morning Harry, got some business for ya. You still got the details of all the signs from last time the yard changed name?¡±


    ¡°Sure do, figured you guys would be changing again soon.¡±


    ¡°Bit different this time. We¡¯re the Silvestre Boat Yard now, and we belong wholly to Silvestre Enterprises. The Duvaliers are out as is Forster. Can you do a rush job so I can at least show the new boss something pretty on Friday?¡±


    * * *


    Later Bubba passed the documents to Lacy to scan and file on their system, and he passed the word regarding the new owners and the Friday meeting among the handful of office staff that remained on the books.


    Then he went to find his friend Walt. He found him muttering darkly as he watched their reduced workforce working on one of the repair jobs. The other looked deserted.


    ¡°Hey Walt. I¡¯ve got news, the Duvaliers sold the yard, we have a new boss and the yard belongs to a small investment company.¡±


    Walt cast a jaundiced eye over the yard. ¡°Do they know how run down we are, or how many debts the Sunshine,¡± he spat into the gulf, ¡°Boat Yard has?¡±


    ¡°They know about the debts. In fact we¡¯ve got one less so on that front the Silvestre Boat Yard isn¡¯t that badly off.¡± Bubba looked round with despairing eyes, ¡°Doubt they know how run down we are though.¡±


    ¡°Huh,¡± grunted Walt.


    ¡°Tell your guys there¡¯s going to be a remote conference Friday morning to meet the new Boss and his team. And to learn about our future.¡±The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.


    * * *


    All the windows were wide open in the office building in the mostly vain hope of catching a cooling breeze. Bubba wiped his brow and entered. He found his staff all two of them clustered around the best PC in the office.


    Lacy looked up as he entered, ¡°Bubba, what¡¯s Magitech?¡±


    Walt looked at the motherly looking middle aged woman as his brain searched for answers. ¡°I don¡¯t know Lacy, why do you want to know? And where¡¯s Garcia?¡±


    ¡°Garcia? He went with Forster. He no longer works for us. You seen our the new website, according to that we specialise in Magitech, or we will staring on Monday.¡±


    The rest of the day went past fast as they all worked to get all the paperwork up to date. All three wanted to make a good impression, and they were all heartened by the removal of Forster and Garcia.


    Thursday saw the new signs go up. Unfortunately the nice shiny new signs just made the boat yard look more decrepit. Then Bubba had a long conversation with the representative of Feartech Security corp. Bubba was unable to reassure him and the best he was able to do was arrange a meeting on Monday.


    Walt had managed to make some progress on both jobs that they currently had on the books. And Bubba had had to field a couple of enquiries regarding Magitech. Once again he¡¯d had to punt them on to Monday after the official reopening.


    * * *


    Friday saw everyone including Jaycee the leader of the onsite security team crowd into their largest conference room while Bubba sweated and coaxed the cranky laptop that was the best he had available to connect to the web. He checked the projector and the screen and sat back with a sigh of relief.


    Then at precisely nine thirty the far wall seemed to vanish to reveal five people seated at a table. They seemed almost to be present in the room with them. An enlarged room as the far wall appeared to have vanished.


    Bubba looked down at the laptop he had managed to get to work with a mix of exasperation and relief that it would not be needed the conference call. He looked up at the five people that were currently examining them. In the centre a black haired teenager seemed to dominate the table. Her cold eyes seemed to be studying them carefully. She was flanked by a cat man and a leopard woman. At the ends of the table sat two formally dressed middle-aged men.


    Bubba herd Walt exclaim softly, ¡°Magic, oh wow that¡¯s one hell a spell.¡±


    The big solid looking girl¡¯s lips twitched and she said. ¡°First let me reassure you, I have no intention of closin¡¯ down. Gonna need to rebuild a lot but you¡¯ll be surprised how quickly that will happen. First we have to fulfil our current contracts, an¡¯ that means some investin¡¯ is gonna be needed. Walt Byers you¡¯ll be in charge of boat buildin¡¯ an¡¯ repair. Bubba Jensen will be in charge of the office. Jerome Sanchez, sorry but you¡¯re out, I¡¯ll give you two months salary in lieu of notice.¡±


    ¡°Why you little bitch, who do you think you are?¡± snarled Jerome.


    ¡°Was your boss. Still boss of everyone else in this room unless any of ¡®em wants to quit. Bubba, cut him a cheque and get him out of here.¡±


    Bubba rose and nodded to Jaycee, ¡°Escort Jerome to get his things please Jaycee, I will go write his check.¡±


    Bubba left the conference room followed by Jaycee and one of his men escorting a furious Jerome.


    Bubba quickly went through the motions that become usual over the past month as he prepared to terminate yet another employee. He watched with mixed feelings as Jerome stuffed his check into his pocket and stamped out of the office shadowed by the two security guys.


    When he got back to the conference room everyone was looking at a looping tape of a sleek sports cruiser.


    ¡°Good, you¡¯re back Bubba. Please see everyone gets one of these.¡± The cat man rose and tossed a bundled stack of envelopes through the window or whatever it was and grinned at the shocked silence in the room as the bundle landed with a thump on the table containing Bubba¡¯s laptop.


    Then the window vanished. Bubba carefully touched the envelopes. He grabbed them and stripped off the paper band holding them together and wordlessly started handing them round the room. He noted that several people treated the envelopes gingerly as if afraid they would vanish.


    ¡°Um, Walt why was that boat on the screen? Doesn¡¯t look like anything we could make.¡±


    Walt rubbed the envelope in his hand and used his penknife to open it, he looked at Bubba, ¡°Apparently that was the Storm Dolphin and it belongs to Ms Silvestre, our new boss. And Bubba I am feeling a bit more hopeful. The g¡ªyoung woman obviously has a thing for boats and she has access to magic. Hence magitech I guess.¡±


    Walt looked down and eased an expensive looking card out of the envelope and froze. ¡°Got to call the wife.¡± Walt produced his phone as he headed out of the room.


    Curious Bubba opened his envelope. The card said:


    You and your family are herby invited to the barbeque at the Silvestre Boat Yard, Florida on this coming Sunday at 5:00 pm. Fish and juice provided, anything else at our guests discretion.


    Mary Silvestre


    Bubba found himself on his phone. ¡°Morning honey, are we doing anything important this Sunday?¡±


    ¡°Just you ball game dear. Does this mean things went well and your computer didn¡¯t freeze up?¡±


    ¡°Didn¡¯t need Ms Silvestre is some kind of magic user and employs others. We¡¯ve been invited to a bbq by the boss, here let me read it.¡±


    * * *


    Not much got done for the rest of the day, as everyone was too interested in discussing the meeting and the BBQ.


    Bubba for his part hit the web but he didn¡¯t find much. Later he showed Walt the clip he had found of the Storm Dolphin entering Pearl with a naval escort.


    In the afternoon they received a delivery from Fed Ex addressed to their new boss. Bubba placed it on his desk in his new office before locking it and leaving for the day.


    * * *


    The persistent ringing of Bubba¡¯s phone woke his wife who resentfully answered it with a plaintive, ¡°do you know what time it is?¡± After listening for a bit she shook her husband awake and shoved the phone into his hand with, ¡°It¡¯s Jaycee, someone¡¯s been killed in the yard.¡±


    Bubba came awake faster than was his custom and scrambled out of bed with a kiss for his wife, who, rather callously in his opinion, rolled over and went right back to sleep.

 Travel and Learn

    Earth ¨C World of The Misplaced Dungeon


    {Timeline: November 2018 ¨C MD from Ch. 56}


    Dave arrived home from work to find his wife Maddy ripping a letter in half and adding the remains to a not inconsiderable pile of similarly treated correspondence. ¡°Hello dear, ready for our trip?¡±


    ¡°Gods yes. Ever since that stupid local program outed us as elves it has been insane.¡± She glared at the pile of wastepaper. ¡°I can¡¯t understand why everyone believes we would want to buy rural lots that lack planning permission and on which we wouldn¡¯t be allowed to build,¡± she huffed.


    Dave meandered into the kitchen and made himself and Maddy a cup of tea before settling in front of the telly. Maddy joined him.


    ¡°Well dear, how was your day? Any last minute problems?¡±


    Dave relaxed, ¡°No problems. We have two weeks to do with as we will though I had to promise to keep my phone handy. You¡¯ll love this Maddy, a new dungeon has popped up. The Mock Turtle dungeon under Lewis Carroll whose companion is called Alice Liddell; and he¡¯s a vassal of Mary¡¯s.¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re joking,¡± Maddy gazed into the distance, ¡°No you¡¯re not, and it is ranked Vetran.¡±


    ¡°Gator has all but admitted he¡¯ll back the girl as he clearly feels he owes her a favour. Linny is bat shit crazy and her companion is feral. And she¡¯s asking for help having made too many enemies. I certainly wouldn¡¯t want to deal with her. Macquarie seems sensible and has said we are welcome to visit.¡±


    Maddy narrowed her eyes, ¡°Pity he¡¯s located so close to the girl. But maybe we should swing round that way. I¡¯m not entering the New York sewers though. Loved that story of that supervisor chap killing an alligator and dragging it out for the world to admire.¡±


    Dave chuckled, ¡°Yeah, Gator was looking forward to visitors.¡± He shook his head, ¡°A functional dungeon in the sewers of New York. Who¡¯d have thunk it. Anyway that leaves Liz in Oz. We have an invite and we¡¯ll be there soon.¡±


    ¡°We¡¯ve met Harry, Markus, and Marcel. We should meet James in Singapore in a couple of days time. Then Liz. Then I think we should visit Macquarie.¡±


    ¡°Fine dear. We should get an early night, the flight¡¯s at quarter to nine and we will have to go through all the security checks besides signing in.¡±


    * * *


    Their drive from Hove to Heathrow had been uneventful but an officious security man who gave the impression of disliking non-humans had delayed them. They only just made their flight.


    Thirteen hours later and feeling distinctly groggy they got a taxi to their hotel. A meal and night¡¯s sleep left them feeling better. They spent the day sightseeing before meeting James Hu at their hotel in the evening.


    The meeting was uneasy. All parties had difficulty explaining the situation, it was made more awkward by James having no idea why he had been railroaded by the system into selecting proto-dungeon.


    Finally James admitted defeat. ¡°Fine, I¡¯ll accept that against all logic there are other worlds, and that a goddess¡ª and I¡¯m an atheist¡ª so this otherwordly being took most of my soul¡ª and I don¡¯t believe in souls either¡ª and turned me into a dungeon in this Parthia or Diavlo of yours.¡±


    James rose, ¡°It was very nice to meet you. You have explained much I have to think on. Thank you for the contact numbers you have shared with me, I wish you a pleasant journey to Australia.¡±


    James smiled politely and left.Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.


    Dave turned to Maddy, ¡°Well that could have gone better.¡±


    Maddy steepled her fingers, ¡°I suspect his other self isn¡¯t installed on Parthia or Diavlo. All the dungeons from Diavlo died there and their earth counterparts have a full set of memories. As for Parthia the girl seems to have linked them all to their Earth selves. That just leaves the remaining two worlds.¡±


    ¡°Huh. You might be right, no, I¡¯m certain you are right Maddy.¡±


    ¡°And where does that leave us Dave? Will we have to contact that girl again?¡±


    ¡°Possibly, let¡¯s see what we think after meeting Liz.¡±


    * * *


    Dave and Maddy arrived in Sidney and made their way in easy stages to Brisbane where they met another proto-dungeon. Tammy O¡¯Hare was a small sun tanned blue eyed blond. As for that matter was her sister Becky. They had more success convincing the sisters, or possibly it was the information that they were going to visit a real established dungeon next that convinced the sisters to take a few days off and accompany them.


    Two days later after having driven through some of the most spectacular mountain scenery Dave had ever seen they arrived at Barcaldine, a small town baking under the summer sun. The place did not impress Dave.


    After refreshing themselves at the Railway Hotel on Oak Street they proceeded north to Twin Springs Sheep Station the home of Elizabeth Dreyfus and the location of the Drop Bear dungeon.


    The whole place looked a bit run down, they were met and made welcome by Ralf, a burly red faced man that appeared to be in his late forties. He turned out to be Liz¡¯s son and the manager of the station.


    After a cup of tea and a slice of rather stodgy fruit cake Ralf led them round to the back of the main house and waved to a small grove of eucalyptus trees.


    ¡°The entrance to mom¡¯s lair is in the middle of the grove.¡± Ralf grinned ruefully, ¡°this is a bundy do, are you lot sure you want to meet mom? She has become rather tetchy in her old age ¡¯n¡¯ her cobber Riley is no help.¡±


    Dave smiled reassuringly, ¡°Yes indeed. She invited us after all.¡±


    ¡°Well, yes, she told me to welcome you ¡¯n¡¯ your old-lady but she didn¡¯t mention these young ladies.¡±


    ¡°We¡¯ll be all right. Thanks for your concern, Ralf,¡± and then with another smile Dave led Maddy and their new friends into the grove. In the centre of the grove they found a hole with a set of wooden spiral stairs going down.


    The stairs ended in a large cave. It was surprisingly well lit, the ground was covered by patchy seared looking grass and several eucalyptus trees were present. A small man wearing a dark suit over a bright green waistcoat was waiting for them. He had a green derby hat and stout reddish brown leather shoes.


    Maddy seemed fascinated by the overlarge shamrock that decorated his hat.


    ¡°Gud day ter yer. I¡¯m sure we can be friends just as long as you don¡¯t go hunting for my crock of gold. I¡¯m Riley by the way.¡±


    Tammy and Becky¡¯s eyes grew very big, ¡°Are you... Are you ¨C a leprechaun?¡± asked Becky.


    Riley hooked his thumbs in his waistcoat and threw his chest out, ¡°That I am, begorrah!¡±


    ? Enough of this posturing. What do you lot want anyway? Mmm, I see two would be dungeons, a companion and just another human. ? The mind voice sounded irritated.


    ¡°Ah Liz my priceless preciousness, I was only making our guests welcome,¡± explained Riley.


    Tammy¡¯s mouth formed an O of surprise and she started to feel an urgent desire to leave this strange place. Becky looked round frantically trying to find where the voice was coming from.


    Dave smiled, ¡°Good day, Liz, um, may I call you Liz?¡±


    ? Yes. Now just what do you want with me. Be quick about it before I loose my drop bears. ?


    ¡°Well, Maddy and me are trying to arrange for some kind of organization or club of dungeons and proto-dungeons considering how, how uncertain and potentially hostile Earth is or could be to dungeons.¡±


    ? Well Dave, that¡¯s a problem. Our best feasts come through combat after all, killing people tends to attract the attention of the law. So, have you any suggestions? ?


    Dave sighed, ¡°Not really. Earth is not like Parthia after all. Tactics and practices that are understood and accepted on Parthia would render us outlaws on Earth. Though Linny seems to have no qualms in that regard.¡±


    ? She has qualms. She asked for help. Only one of us offered her help though. Mary Silvestre sold her the templates for military grade weapons and blueprints to create Wolverine beastfolk. I was just in time to grab those and the M16s. ?


    ¡°For future favours? The me on Parthia owes her several of those. And Mary scares me. She is too cocksure of herself.¡±


    ? She can afford to be, she¡¯s a godlike, and if she¡¯s one of us she made it in less than a year, despite Azureia. ?


    Maddy choked off a laugh. ¡°Mary refers to Azureia as the blue haired cow.¡±


    ? Hmm, and so she is. But she is also the goddess of dungeons. ?


    ¡°Not of all dungeons any more. Several on Parthia have reverted to their original alliance and Mary has allied herself with the local Neptune.¡±


    ? An alliance. Very well, I am broadly in favour, now get out before I decide to feed on you. ?


    Dave glanced at Maddy and started to walk briskly towards the stairs, he was closely followed by the other three.


    Several days later after dropping the sisters off in Brisbane, Dave looked at Maddy. ¡°Hawaii next?¡±


    Maddy spread her hands helplessly. ¡°Yes. Let¡¯s go back to Maui.¡±

 Exploration

    Tarifax ¨C World of The Misplaced Dungeon


    {Timeline: March 2019 ¨C MD from Ch. 87 ¨C AoRB Prologue & Ch. 01}


    Mary was feeling bored. It had been a few hours since anything interesting had occurred to her. She really wanted to get her hands on some liftwood, it would just by its existence cause a furore and then she could use it to goad Cass.


    ¡®Right Tarifax, a right dump. Honestly are all those New Gods a bunch of morons? Why the beep were they encouraging the locals to burn all that sulphurous coal. Sulphuric acid, even greatly diluted sulphuric acid was no joke. Fixable, yes, but not nice.¡¯


    ¡®Right, I need an agent, and from what I can see it had best be a male human. Well, a sea human, I can¡¯t create humans after all. I suspect I will need to enhance him, too. ¡¯K so be it.¡¯


    Mary stirred and concentrated. Down in one of her caves a shape took form, a tall, strong looking, dark haired sea human male. His head filled with a full life story and many skills, a mix of Earth and Parthia, but mostly Parthia. Rich Burton remembered growing up in the Blue Lagoon and he knew the Manga decorated children¡¯s dungeon.


    Rich remembered visiting and spending time on Earth and even spending a stint in the marines. He woke and knew what Mother desired of him, he also knew with absolute certainty that she wished him well and if he wanted he would be allowed to ignore her and make his own way on Earth or on Parthia. He smiled and stretched. He tested his body and rejoiced.


    Rich dressed, he donned the light flexible chainmail shirt and leggings and strapped on his broadsword and stored the heater shield in his storage device. The twin colt dragoons he inspected closely before storing them too, along with their tools and cleaning kit.


    Then he examined the elaborate breather mask that had been lying next to his things. He tried it on a few times to ensure he could don it easily when needed. It reminded him, not surprisingly, of a gas mask. Then there was the heavy hooded oilcloth cloak. He somehow knew it would resist acid. This he stored.


    That left the other storage device. He found it contained a generous supply of trade goods and twenty breather masks. These were far more basic than his, lacking the specialised enchantments.


    ¡°I¡¯m ready Mother.¡±


    Mary materialised her avatar in the cave. ¡°Good. You know what I want and you¡¯re happy to do this. It will be risky an¡¯ my reach on Tarifax is tenuous an¡¯ will remain so until you get my marble into one of the local seas. An ocean would be ideal.¡±


    ¡°Yes Mother, I¡¯m ready. To be honest I can¡¯t wait to see another world, to explore, to be the first.¡±


    Mary laughed. ¡°Well, you will be the first, sort of. Good luck Rich. Don¡¯t forget you can always use the marble to contact me. If you can learn something about the local gods all the better, but that is optional. Lewis will see you to Tarifax.¡±


    Mary suddenly remembered something she had seen in the little scarfaced pixie¡¯s mind. ¡°Considerin¡¯ how screwed up Conimbriga is, if you want a local guide you¡¯ll have to buy one. I believe the Caradix Emporium is one of the best place to find slaves.¡±


    Rich made a face, ¡°Can¡¯t say I like the idea of a slave but if needs must. I will need a local guide. How can I tell if he or she is trustworthy and not a liar?¡±


    ¡°Rich, oh Rich, check your abilities. You can detect lies. As for trustworthy,¡± Mary spread her hands and shrugged. ¡°Promise them their freedom and a lucrative job if they do a good job. No guaranties but it might work. It¡¯s a twisted world, slavery is the only way the poor have of stayin¡¯ alive thanks to the poison in the atmosphere.¡±


    * * *


    Rich Burton stepped through the back door of the rather seedy eating-place. He drew the attention of the two patrons who were perched on tall stools in front of a long bar. The bronze collared rabbit ¡¯folk woman who was acting as cook and waitress acknowledged him with a nervous curtsey. His cold blue eyes swept the room and with a hand resting on the hilt of his sword Rich slipped his mask on with the other before striding out into the street.


    A roar of mixed joy and despair came from the arena as he left the narrow grubby eatery. At least it proved easy to obtain a cab this close to one of Conimbriga¡¯s arenas. It wasn¡¯t a firewaggon, just something that had more than a passing resemblance to one of the old hansom cabs. Only on Earth the horses weren¡¯t fitted with bulky breathers.


    Rich strolled into the Caradix Emporium trying to look as if he owned the place. One of the footmen came up and took his cloak and breather mask. Footman XI passed the gentleman a claims tag and hurried to alert the sales force that they had an extremely rich foreigner in the Emporium.


    Sales VII hurried to be in place to meet the new customer. Sales XIV nodded and withdrew glad to cede the place to his more experienced colleague.


    Sales VII bowed politely when the stranger entered. The customer was armed and armoured, that in itself was unusual but unless he was mistaken that chainmail was made from mithril. Sales VII held his bow for slightly longer than was strictly appropriate before straightening. ¡°How may the Caradix Emporium serve you master?¡±


    Rich nodded perfunctorily and smiled slightly at this gold collared slave. ¡°I have only recently arrived in your fair city and I have need of a valet and a guide. The guide should know some of the less salubrious areas and inhabitants as I have in mind a... Well, let us say a somewhat risky venture.¡±


    Sales VII bowed again and led the way deeper into the Emporium. He was thinking furiously. He suspected he knew the ideal guide but he doubted this arrogant foreigner would agree. As for a valet, there were several possibilities.


    Soon the display room held the six slaves the Emporium considered the best suited to act as valets. Sales VII shivered in apprehension as the customer looked at him with narrowed suspicious eyes.


    Rich invoked his ability and ascertained that these six slaves were the most suitable valets. He turned his attention to the slaves in question. ¡°Show me your hands please.¡± Rich moved down the line and then returned to the short stocky ¨C half dwarf? He looked to be a half dwarf and those calluses looked to be similar to the ones he gained as a result of wielding a sword.


    Sorenar looked up at the man standing in front of him. His chainmail was finer than any he had ever seen. Superb workmanship and it was mithril. As was the pommel and guard on his broadsword.


    Rich snorted, ¡°How did you get those boy?¡± he asked indicating the calluses on Sorenar¡¯s hands.


    Sales VII held his face expressionless with some effort.


    Sorenar answered as he had been coached, ¡°I used to cut wood for my father, master.¡±


    Rich snarled, ¡°Never lie to me again. Now, tell me the true tale.¡±


    Sorenar jerked back slightly. ¡°I¡ªI used to use a sword, m-master.¡±


    Rich stared for a few minutes before producing a large coin that he tossed to Sales VII. ¡°I¡¯ll take him and I want to see him in a silver collar. Not having a valet in leather or bronze.¡±


    Sales VII glanced at the coin in his hand and bowed so low his forehead almost touched the floor. ¡°It shall be as you desire, master.¡±


    The new selection of slaves was a far scruffier band. Rich looked long and hard at Sales VII before turning to question the assembled band, finally he decided.Love what you''re reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on.


    ¡°So, Sales VII, any more or is this it?¡±


    ¡°There are a few others, master, but they don¡¯t know the city as well.¡±


    ¡°Very well. I¡¯ll take him,¡± Rich pointed to a short slender man with a greenish tint to his skin and a mouthful of sharp teeth. ¡°And her,¡± this time he pointed to a wheezing, slightly hunched elf girl.


    Rich produced three gold Nobles. ¡°Will this cover it? And stick the girl in a pool of preferably salt water and let her use her gills before they dry up and take her lungs with them. I have no use of a dead sea elf. Bronze collars, I think.¡±


    ¡°Yes, master, your will be done,¡± agreed Sales VII.


    = = = O = = =


    Overseer IX watched bemused as the elf girl clung to the bottom of the pool, her skin fluttering at the sides of her chest as her gills worked to expel the water she was breathing in. He had assumed the idiot noble was killing the elf but¡ª


    Trainer XIX finished exchanging two of the newly purchased slaves collars and was waiting to fit the water breathing elf with the bronze collar her owner had purchased. ¡°I thought that one was going to die soon. What made you think of trying to drown her and why haven¡¯t you done it before if it works.¡±


    ¡°Her owner ordered it. He said something about her gills collapsing and taking her lungs with them.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s a new one on me. That carver that came in with this one is in much the same state. Maybe we should stick him in the pool too.¡±


    ¡°Let us see if it does this one any good first.¡±


    * * *


    Minnow endured. Her gills were hurting as the fresh water of the shallow pool tried to leach out the salt they needed. But already she could feel her body recovering, she was breathing, she was no longer exhausted.


    ¡®How did he know? How did my new master know? How much does he know?¡¯ the thoughts went round and round in her head.


    Finally, all too soon one of the overseers pulled her out of the pool by the rope that was tied round her waist. One of the trainers removed her collar and replaced it with a bronze one. Minnow stood straight and fingered her new collar in resignation.


    The overseer was examining her minutely, and then he said, ¡°Try to see if the carver will benefit from a ducking Trainer XIX.¡±


    * * *


    Artificer III carefully examined the breather masks the foreign noble had provided for his new slaves. They were of good workmanship and used chemical reactions to filter the air. The idea was ingenious and effective. The chemical reservoirs needed to be exchanged frequently but it looked to be easy to do. They wouldn¡¯t last as long as a properly enchanted breather but they would be far cheaper. He¡¯d have to find something to replace that flexible material but it would not be difficult to recreate these.


    After asking when the slaves would be ready to be turned over to their new owner he went in search of the supervisor. He demonstrated the masks and showed him the chemical reservoirs.


    ¡°Master, would it be possible to obtain at least one of these and a couple of recharge packs. They should be cheaper to produce than the current models, and any competent craftsman could do the job with the help of an alchemist or chemist.¡±


    Darintus Galeontar rubbed his chin thoughtfully. ¡°Return to your tasks Artificer III, and thank you for bringing this to my notice.¡±


    * * *


    Eldaan stood quietly beside the valet. He was feeling shocked, he had expected to end up as a sacrifice for one of the arenas. He had after all been taken up as a thief and his blood was another count against him. But expendables did not end up wearing metal collars. The collar meant he had some rights, not as many as the valet in his silver but he couldn¡¯t ¨C legally ¨C be disposed of out of hand.


    Eldaan waited quietly, motionlessly while the valet kept looking round and fidgeting. When the elf girl finally arrived Eldaan was surprised. She was walking straight and smoothly, no longer shuffling along. Her face did show signs of strain.


    The valet seemed to collect himself from wherever his mind had been wandering. ¡°Our new master is a truth-reader,¡± he warned sotto voiced just before one of the overseers led them out of the holding room. As they left, one of the artificers handed them each a breather mask. Eldaan promptly examined his carefully as if his life depended on it, as in fact it did.


    They found their new master frowning at a tray containing several elegant bottles while a ring on his right hand flickered redly. Eldaan suppressed a grin Hardin Brandy and Gulph Wine not to mention Tincture of Suulmar. Slow poisons all, very popular but they were addictive and would kill you in the end.


    Eldaan watched his new master carefully trying to take a measure of the man that held his life in his hands. His master looked them over and his lips thinned when they rested on the elf girl, then he produced two ¨C pads? From some kind of bag of holding, only his bag of holding didn¡¯t need a bag! The pads were handed to the elf.


    * * *


    Minnow was startled anew; her new master passed her a pair of gill guards. She hastily raised her tunic and used them. The enchantments were solid if slightly strange; they seemed to incorporate an automatic release if submerged.


    Half an hour later Minnow found herself entering a DUNGEON! Their owner strolled though the back door a nice eatery and they were in the dungeon! Many of the themes featured the sea or coastal areas such as mangrove swamps. Finally they slipped through a hidden door into a nice set of rooms that overlooked a large pool.


    Then their new master, Rich Burton, explained everything. He was the agent of a sea goddess who was fighting the New Gods. A year¡¯s faithful service and then they would be freed. Rich swore it in his goddess¡¯ name. And they could move to a better world if they wanted.


    = = = O = = =


    Captain Bordal Vitrius stared glumly at the half filled tankard of ale on the rickety table in front of him. Dercat Gutripper was snoring with his head resting on the table. Gunner Telman was contemplating the collection of empty tankards that he had collected throughout the afternoon.


    One of the scantily clad leather collared barmaids of the Flying Pig Tavern came round with a jug and filled one of Gunner¡¯s tankard and collected the empties while he was distracted.


    Gunner blinked blearily at the empty table, ¡°That was sn-sneaky of he-her c-cap.¡± *hic*


    Bordal eyed his chief gunner and despaired. They had had a bad couple of cruises and the Silver Sparrow needed urgent repairs. She was still worth a pretty penny and if he sold her he would be able to live for several years but he¡¯d have to go back to work for some conniving townsman.


    Gunner and Bordal ignored the sound of two shots coming from the street. They clashed their tankards and drank. Gunner sighed and joined Dercat on the table.


    Captain Bordal contemplated his loyal crew and signalled for a refill. He watched incuriously as Greenie came through the door of the tavern. Greenie seemed to have done well, he was dressed better than was his habit. ¡®Ah poor Greenie he¡¯s been collared, bronze though I wonder why anyone would waste the ready doing that.¡¯


    The next person through the door was a rich man in a hooded cloak. Bordal¡¯s eyes tracked to the girl that accompanied the rich man. ¡®So he¡¯s got his very own elven doxy, Bronze collar too.¡¯


    Then Bordal was jerked out of his contemplation by Greenie.


    ¡°Good afternoon, captain Bordal. My master is looking to charter a sky ship,¡± said Eldaan, ¡°Are you interested?¡±


    Captain Bordal blinked, ¡®damn it of all the times to be drunk,¡¯ he grumbled to himself.


    ¡°I could be interested, yes. But I¡¯ll need something up front greenie.¡±


    Eldaan smiled showing many teeth. ¡°I¡¯m sure my master won¡¯t be unreasonable, captain. And I feel I should warn you he¡¯s a truth-reader.¡±


    Bordal hissed in disgust, in his view truth-readers were only slightly less obnoxious than mages. Then the rich man was standing by his table with a faint odour of gunpowder about him. The doxy stood at his shoulder and was watching the tavern with wary eyes.


    Captain Bordal signed to one of waitresses. ¡°Sit, sit, do you fancy anything, sir?¡± then he turned to the waitress who was eying the elven doxy with distaste. ¡°Get me a coffee and a sobriety potion, and get the gentleman whatever he wants.¡±


    Rich looked round the dirty tavern and the ill washed tankards, ¡°I¡¯ll have an ale, please.¡±


    Once captain Bordal was feeling more himself they got down to serious bargaining. Once a preliminary agreement had been reached they withdrew to examine the Silver Sparrow.An untouched tankard of ale remained on the table.


    * * *


    Rich could see that the Silver Sparrow was ¨C well worn. It had obviously been in the wars at some point in the recent past and needed some loving care in the form of the attentions of a shipyard. Eldaan kept up an informative running commentary in a low slightly hissing voice.


    He smiled blandly at captain Bordal, impressed that the man had managed to get this near wreck safely to harbour. This could be just what he needed to fulfil Mother¡¯s wishes. He placed a hand a hand on Eldaan¡¯s shoulder and squeezed gently, approvingly.


    ¡°So, captain, I believe we can do business but, but I will require a formal contract. The base duration will be one year. You will go where I say though you will be allowed, nay, encouraged to tell me if something I wish is ¨C inadvisable. I will pay the crew¡¯s salaries at the standard rate and purchase the necessary supplies. You will arrange for suitable repairs and I will negotiate with the shipyard of your choice to have them carried out. I do not guarantee that I will not use a different shipyard should your chosen yard seem exorbitant. You will be paid a sum at the end of the first year.¡±


    Captain Bordal wasn¡¯t happy. This would mean they would be shackled to this stranger for one year. They would be in debt to him for one year, or as good as and that would give him rather more power over them than he liked. But he would keep the Silver Sparrow and they would be free at the end of the year, and they would have a sum of cash.


    The two men retired to shipyards office to discuss the terms of the contract and then they involved the representative of the shipyard to discuss the necessary repairs, timetables and costs. Some hours later everything was signed and agreed and both lawyers present were grumbling. Nobody liked truth-readers after all. They tended to act like grit in the smooth operation of business as usual.

 Recruiting

    Tarifax ¨C World of The Misplaced Dungeon


    {Timeline: March / April 2019 ¨C AoRB Ch. 02}


    Dinobar Voorman known to his friends as Dingbat frowned at the representative of the lawyer¡¯s guild who was currently seated in front of his imposing polished oaken desk. He blinked bemused and was having trouble paying attention to anything but the fact that the representative was a woman.


    Meerina Alagarina hid her smile of triumph. Uncle Doon had been right, this reactionary old fogey had been thrown completely off his balance and he seemed to have been rendered incapable of using his truth reader¡¯s abilities. The young bronze collared stenographer had been recording everything she had said, and as the old fossil hadn¡¯t objected to anything she had said so far, it had all been accepter as true.


    ¡®So, now to use our diversion to throw the old fossil and his guild off the scent, not that this matter is not unimportant. We don¡¯t want to come up against truth readers by surprise.


    ¡°So, master Voorman, what say you to this matter of unregistered truth readers?¡±


    ¡®What? What did she say? Unregistered? How dare those benighted lawyers send a woman!¡¯ thought the indignant guild master of the truth reader¡¯s guild.


    ¡°What unregistered truth reader? Even if you meet one he isn¡¯t allowed to use his abilities.¡±


    ¡°Well, master Voorman, two of our guild members were involved in negotiating contracts yesterday in which an unregistered truth reader participated. His presence impacted on both contracts.¡±


    Dinobar looked confused. ¡°Who is this renegade? And why did your members not refuse their service? I believe this is the standard procedure.¡±


    ¡°The man appears to be a foreign nobleman. He carries a knight¡¯s sword and wears armour in addition to carrying the more usual pistol. His name is Rich Burton. He is not a resident and has obtained a month¡¯s pass from the city guard.¡±


    Diobar looked at Meerina for a few seconds. ¡°So, he¡¯ll be gone shortly. I don¡¯t see the problem.¡±


    Meerina narrowed her eyes at the old fidget. ¡°The problem is that he is wealthy, arranging contracts and buying a substantial staff. He needs to be registered so as not to surprise any more of our members.¡±


    ¡®So, that¡¯s it, the damn lawyers are getting out of hand again. But they do have a weak argument here. If this nobleman is working for himself...¡¯ Voorman suppressed a smile, ¡®...then we just have to talk to the noble gentleman. As a truth reader, if he is one that is, he¡¯ll undoubtedly be sympathetic, and we, the guild could benefit greatly. I don¡¯t like that he is buying slaves...¡¯


    ¡°Very well, we will speak with the man. Now, is there anything else?¡±


    ¡°No, master Voorman. Please let us know the results of your discussion.¡± Meerina stood, curtseyed briefly and left the room.


    = = O = =


    Rich tapped the folded letter against his thumb and tried to think. He thought he was planning to do the right thing. Mother had been frustrating, but when it came down to it, he actually agreed with her. He could still hear the answer to his prayer. ¡®if you want me to I¡¯ll tell you what to do but, Rich, we¡¯ll both be better served if you did as you thought best¡ª¡¯.


    Rich rose from his chair and headed for the exit to the dungeon. Minnow was exploring the saltwater cavern lake, Sorenar was tending to his clothes and equipment. Rich shook his head bemused, he could understand Minnow¡¯s joy in the miniature fake sea, but not Sorenar¡¯s deep joy in looking after his clothes and equipment. Eldaan was sprawled out on a couch fast asleep, that too he could understand.


    Sorenar looked up from his self imposed task as his master headed for the door. ¡°Master, if you¡¯re heading for the emporium you should buy a bodyguard. There are always some former gladiators available. Also a messenger or two would be useful if you intend to persuade people that you are a nobleman. And you need a livery of your own.¡±


    Rich stopped as he was about to leave his quarters and turned to face Sorenar. ¡°Honestly Sorenar, how safe can I be with an armed slave at my back? And I, and you are entitled to use Mother¡¯s unif¡ªah livery.¡±


    ¡°Safe, here slavery is... it is slavery or death master.¡±


    Rich winced slightly at the ¡®master¡¯ but shrugged it off. ¡°I¡¯ll think about it. Now are you recommending anyone?¡±


    ¡°No¡ª¡± Sorenar remembering the faint wince hesitated slightly before concluding with, ¡°¡ªSir, but if there are any ¨C dwarves buying them with mithril will make us loyal.¡±


    Eldaan who had woken shortly before stirred, ¡°gladiators, especially those with orc or ogre blood are popular but I suspect that would be a bad choice. I would advise avoiding ex-gladiators. The really good ones will not be found for sale at somewhere like the emporium.¡±


    Rich nodded thoughtfully and headed out, he glanced back at Eldaan now trotting at his heels. ¡°I didn¡¯t ask you to accompany me.¡±


    Eldaan grinned showing a disturbing multitude of needle sharp teeth, ¡°But it is not good for your image not to be accompanied now you own slaves. And Sorenar is right. You need a bodyguard. While it might not be safe for most, I think you should visit the Adventurer¡¯s Guild. It¡¯s almost defunct but as you¡¯re a truth reader it should be safe.¡±


    = = O = =


    Darintus Galeontar climbed into his gilded and overly decorated litter. He really would have preferred a comfortably spacious firewaggon but as one of the owners of the Caradix Emporium he had to show off his stock. He felt the click as the liftwood slats were turned. Then his bearers were off at a trot pushing and pulling him along barely needing to lift the almost weightless litter.


    With four guards leading the way and four fetching up the rear Darintus Galeontar moved through the streets of Conimbriga. Streets that emptied themselves as he approached and filled again as he passed.


    His destination appeared to be a half buried featureless low granite cube. As the litter and its guards approached, part of the wall sank into the ground with a muted rumble. The little procession trotted into the gap and as soon as they passed inside the disguised stone door rumbled back into place.


    * * *


    Dingus Iornfounder examined the coin in his hands. He had already tested it for purity and he just couldn¡¯t resist running his fingers over it. Finally he looked up at his unwelcome visitor. Dingus despised the slaver, but his face and attitude showed nothing but polite interest. He well knew he and his race needed this snake¡¯s good will.


    ¡°I¡¯ve never come across these Royals before but the metal is extremely pure. I believe it is worth a bit less than twenty-seven Guineas. Will you accept twenty-seven for it?¡±


    Dingus was startled, he hadn¡¯t expected that much, and he gazed at the coin in the red haired big dwarf¡¯s hands with speculation. ¡°Certainly ambassador Iornfounder. That would be entirely acceptable. But, if you don¡¯t mind explaining, how do you know what it¡¯s called if you¡¯ve never seen one before.¡±


    Dingus counted out twenty-seven guineas and shoved them across the table with a pang of regret. ¡°We have a specialised translation spell.¡± He held up the coin showing the fish tailed bearded man holding a trident and weird looking trumpet. ¡°The script clearly states ¡®One Royal¡¯, damn cheek.¡± Dingus turned the coin showing one of the almost extinct dolphins. ¡°And on this side we just have ¡®Blue Lagoon¡¯. So whoever minted this calls it a Royal.¡±


    Dingus sat back and produced three gold coins, all of them bigger than a Guiney. He passed one across, ¡°And what about these? And before you ask, the same foreign knight who bought a half dwarf with the Royal bought two other slaves with those.¡±


    ¡°A half-dwarf you say. With Mithril. Umm.¡± Danilus picked up the coin. Same pictures.¡± He dropped the coin in the bronze ring set into his desk. ¡°Very pure, ¡®Blue Lagoon¡¯ again and ¡®One Imperial¡¯. Interesting.¡±Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.


    ¡°If you see this man again please let him know we would appreciate a word with him.¡±


    = = O = =


    Rich alighted from the hansom cab and looked at the ramshackle half ruined building that occupied the entire frontage of a small block. ¡°Really?Thisis the Adventurer¡¯s Guild?¡±


    ¡°Yes boss, I did say they are near bankrupt,¡± explained Eldaan.


    Rich turned to the cabbie, ¡°can you wait? I don¡¯t think I will be long.¡±


    The cabbie looked round apprehensively, ¡°Sorry boss, this place isn¡¯t safe, that¡¯ll be a tanner, boss.¡±


    Eldaan grinned and passed the cabby six grimy copper coins, hesitated and passed him a seventh. The cabbie touched his whip to the bill of his hat and started his cab.


    ¡°Tanner?¡± enquired Rich.


    ¡°Smallest silver coin boss,¡± replied Eldaan as he followed Rich into the near derelict building.


    Rich was not impressed. The large reception room was nearly deserted, not surprisingly as the air was strongly tainted with the pollution prevalent in the city. As he strode towards the reception desk at the end of the room a big brute of a man lurched to his feet and lunged for him sword in hand. Rich drew his revolver and when the man didn¡¯t stop, he shot him. Twice.


    * * *


    Cinders cursed. She rose from her seat behind the reception desk and making sure her hands were in plain sight pressed the alert button with her foot though she strongly doubted anyone would be there to respond. She was impressed, Woofie looked to be dead. It had taken the well-dressed stranger about a second to produce that strange pistol and drop Woofie.


    She approached the stranger warily making sure to keep her hands in sight. The big fellow obviously had a hair trigger and she had no desire to take a shot. And the way the big fellow had still not dropped his pistol she suspected it still had at least one shot available. That and the way greenie just stood there radiating confidence in his new master.


    ¡°With apologies for Woofie, he was getting more erratic by the day.¡± Cinders glanced down. Yep Woofie wouldn¡¯t be getting up again. One bullet had gone through his chest, punching through his armour, the other had hit him between the eyes and blown the back of his head off.


    She watched with wary eyes as the stranger turned a cylinder on his weapon and lowered the hammer before replacing in a holster that was tied to his leg. This action did not reassure her much, as she already knew he could produce that peculiar pistol and fire it in under a second, and the damn thing was enchanted against fire magics. Then too, his broadsword¡¯s hilt looked well used. ¡°So what can the adventurer¡¯s guild do for you sir?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m looking to hire a bodyguard or two for a year. For pay and a share of the loot. But they¡¯ll have to satisfy me. And I¡¯m a truth reader.¡±


    ¡°I might be interested. But it doesn¡¯t look like you need a bodyguard.¡±


    ¡°Cinders is a real mean fire mage boss. And the boss needs bodyguards for his image Cinders. Can¡¯t have a noble without bodyguards,¡± explained Eldaan.


    The big man looked to be concentrating, then he said; ¡°If I hire you, will you be loyal to me and my goddess? The pay will be a Royal per fortnight paid in advance.¡±


    Cinders felt slightly insulted, ¡°I am loyal to who hires me. And what¡¯s a Royal?¡±


    Her potential employer narrowed his eyes, ¡°Truth. But not good enough. The question was, will YOU be loyal to ME and MY GODDESS. Not to whomever hires you.¡± He then produced a large silvery coin from his pocket and held it up.


    Cinders felt her mouth drying, ¡®That is a Mithril coin! The dwarves will have hissy fits!¡¯ She licked her lips. ¡°If you hire me I will be loyal to you and... and your goddess. But I will need to know who your goddess is. Um, and what should I call you?¡±


    His smile looked somehow, malicious. ¡°My name¡¯s Rich Burton, a knight in the service of Mother, Mary Silvestre, the Mother of Monsters and Blackbeard¡¯s Bane. You may call me Rich.¡±


    Cinders licked her lips again. ¡°I¡¯ve never heard of that goddess. What does she rule over?¡±


    * * *


    Rich swayed as he was buffeted internally. He grabbed Eldaan¡¯s shoulder to steady himself. His consciousness was dragged into the godsrealm in the wake of Mary and the Spider Queen. Luckily for him the fight had already occurred on Parthia, but as Blackbeard was also present on this world The Spider Queen and Mary had work to do. For a few endless seconds he watched and was duly rewarded as the Spider Queen put her house in order and Mary chose her people.


    * * *


    Cinders cringed. Here was proof positive, Sir Rich Burton had been pulled into the Godsrealm in front of her eyes. That aura was unmistakable. Then less than a minute later he was back and hovering over him was a spectral blue eyed dolphin that she just knew was Rich¡¯s Mother of Monsters. And behind Mother of Monsters stood the Spider Queen in all her ghastly glory.


    ? Little Fish is the lesser Goddess of my children the Drow and Occidon¡¯s consort, Goddess of the octopi sapiens, the sea humans and she is gaining the beastfolk and shifters. Monsters for the Mother of Monsters. ? Hissed the dry voice of the Spider Queen throughout the adventurer¡¯s guild building and for a kilometre all around.


    ? Really dearheart, did you have to announce it to all and sundry like that??


    ? Yes sweetie, I did. ? then the Spider Queen¡¯s laughter filled the minds of all in range slowly fading away until it was gone as was the Spider Queen.


    Cinders felt like crying. She suspected that she had wet herself. She looked up at Rich. ¡°You want me to be loyal to the goddesses of the drow? And worse still, they have seen me. I am now KNOWN to them, and gods never forget something like that. And poor Greenie is, too.¡±


    ¡°No, just to me and Mother,¡± the exasperating man replied.


    ¡°Very well, I¡¯ll take your coin. Better be hung as a wolf than a lamb.¡±


    = = O = =


    Rich was thankful when they finally stepped down in front of the Caradix Emporium. It had been difficult locating a cab. Then the journey had been slow as wild rumours were flying around town.


    Rich noted a subtle improvement in the way he was greeted this time, whether it was because of his previous visit or the use of an attendant and bodyguard he didn¡¯t know. He suspected it was both. Then there was this itch in the back of his head and he just knew he had to be very careful how he asked for this. He knew Mother agreed.


    He recognised the salesman from his previous visit. Sales VII if he wasn¡¯t mistaken. He hated the way these people dehumanised their slaves not even granting them the dignity of a name. Mother¡¯s distaste was at heart intellectual and he knew she truly opposed the idea of slavery. His objections however were becoming visceral.


    ¡°I have a few more needs Sales VII. I also bought the two breather masks Mr Darintus Galeontar mentioned he wished to obtain. I find myself in need of a few messengers or runners, nothing specialised you understand. And one of my previous purchases mentioned a skilled carver. Finally, I would like to obtain an exotic. I have heard rumours you have a drow? And considering the wild rumours that are making the rounds at the moment...¡± Rich shrugged.


    Sales VII thought for a moment. He wondered who had been the blabbermouth but he understood the noble''s interest under the circumstances. It would be a coup for him to be able to parade a drow about.


    ¡°Runners are easy enough, master, we have three items that would suit. The carver I believe the girl mentioned isn¡¯t that skilled, we have better. The drow, well, it is very dangerous. It is not resigned to its fate yet. It was destined for one of the arenas.¡±


    Rich smiled. ¡°I¡¯m not worried, I just need to display it not take it round to show off. As for the carver, I¡¯ll look at him and maybe one or two of the better ones. Maybe a sample of their work.¡±


    Sales VII bowed low. ¡°Certainly sir. And the Drow?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ll take it or them sight unseen, put them in a wheeled cage and I¡¯ll hire it for the day.¡±


    Sales VII fought to hide a grin of satisfaction as he bowed again. The last statement allowed him to rid the Emporium of a long running problem. He¡¯d have to clear it but¡ª Sales VII bowed again and led the way to one of the display rooms.


    Rich had to fight to keep his emotions in check. They were offering him children! Intellectually he had known runners would be young but seeing how young was another thing.


    ¡°Fine, looks good I¡¯ll take the lot. I suppose their collars should be upgraded if they¡¯re going to be delivering messages. See to it, whatever¡¯s usual in this town. Now how about the carvers.¡±


    Rich was surprised at the quality of the carvings on show. He also could see why Sales VII disparaged the sea elf¡¯s skill. He fingered his Talisman, it was a new name for the marble but it fit it like a glove.


    ¡®Mother, please look through my eyes. Will you allow me to spend your money to free this degree of talent?¡¯


    He felt Mother settle in the back of his mind and sensed her use his senses.


    ? Yes, and get the male''s daughter too. I can see the link between them. It¡¯s the right thing to do. ?


    Rich picked up the carving of a small bird. ¡°This isn¡¯t his, but it holds promise.¡±


    ¡°That is the work of that one¡¯s child. We can throw it in for a small consideration.¡±


    ¡°Do so. I¡¯ll take them both. And now for the elf.¡± Rich moved in front of the sea elf, ¡°Not accustomed to these land creatures are you. Can you carve fish spears and fishing hooks suitable for enchanting. Floats for nets and could you carve a dolphin such as the one engraved on the hilt of my sword?¡±


    The Elf¡¯s eyes widened in surprise as he looked at the engraving, ¡°Yes naturally, master.¡±


    Sales VII closed his eyes briefly. ¡®Damn it, we missed it again. So, now we know this foreigner comes from one of the coastal or island states. One that hasn¡¯t taken wholly to the skies as yet. And we can¡¯t calibrate the price correctly because we don¡¯t truly how skilled this slave is.¡¯


    Sales VII drew in a calming breath. He suspected that the next thing he been ordered to offer might be dangerous but orders were orders.


    ¡°We have one last thing to offer. You asked about exotics and runners. Well, we have a few pixies that you could still use a few times before they die. They are very sick but should still last for a few weeks.¡±


    Rich felt Mother freeze his rage. ? Buy. Send them through to Maui. We may be in time. Don¡¯t get yourself killed or enslaved by these true children of Vortexius Blackbeard. We need information to take them, and him down. Hard. And I want those drow. Be ready to fork out two or three Royals. Even four would be cheap, as we will get them back.  ?


    ¡°What do I want with dying pixies? Surely I can¡¯t get much use out of them in less than a month?¡±


    ¡°You misunderstand the local merchants and nobles. It will enhance your reputation that you are willing to spend on slaves just to impress.¡±


    Rich did his best to look unconvinced and finally allowed himself to be convinced.


    Finally it came time to pay. Sales VII looked at him calculatingly. Rich produced two Royals, placed them on the table by the locked cashbox. Sales VII looked torn. Rich added five imperials. Sales VII nodded and bowed low.

 Surprises

    Tarifax ¨C World of The Misplaced Dungeon


    {Timeline: March / April 2019 ¨C AoRB Ch. 03}


    Sorenar looked up and stood alertly as Minnow, still dripping entered their new home. An obscenely tall woman with shoulders a hard working dwarf woman would be proud of followed in her wake. She was trailed by two very alert, strangely armed and armoured leopard girl bodyguards, and then by a small force of beastfolk. Wolf, Cat and Badger mostly.


    Sorenar was bemused to notice a certain similarity that this young woman shared with Minnow. They moved in similar ways. Swimmers both he realized.


    Minnow for her part was feeling overwhelmed. This¡ª this, sea human, just like her and the chief she had gills. She could somehow feel the ocean. She turned to face her, ¡°Why can I feel the deeps?¡±


    ¡°Call me Mary. Possibly because the only temple I have that is wholly mine is located in the deepest location available in my domain.¡±


    Minnow bowed her head and dropped to her knees. Sorenar froze and watched.


    Mary snorted, ¡°Oh get up, do. Minnow what can you tell me of the local sea gods?¡± Then she turned and gestured the motley band that had followed her towards the entrance. ¡°Go. Rich is going to need help with the cages.¡±


    ¡°The sea gods. Um, they seem to have withdrawn in despair. Most seem to have vanished entirely and their temples are... empty. Collapsing.¡±


    ¡°So there¡¯s room for me an¡¯ Ocidon.¡±


    ¡°But... but the air is killing the sea. Why would you?¡±


    ¡°¡¯Cause I believe I can fix that if only there¡¯s enough time.¡± Then seeing the look on Minnow and Sorenar¡¯s faces she shrugged. ¡°The sea not the air, at least not yet. I¡¯m a water girl after all.¡±


    = = O = =


    Rich felt like some kind of old time oriental potentate leading a gaggle of ragged followers and towing a couple of cages along. He found the liftwood slats in the big cage clever. Though he wasn¡¯t sure if the damn thing wasn¡¯t more dangerous now it was mostly weightless but retained all its momentum.


    ¡°Hiya Richie, need a hand?¡±


    He looked round and spotted Tessa at the door to the eatery. She wasn¡¯t wearing a mask but she was, all of her surrounded by clear, pure air.


    ¡°Show off. Yes please Tessa. How are you managing that?¡±


    Tessa grinned showing her fangs as she flicked her right ear causing her earring to flicker. ¡°Just one of Mother¡¯s toys. Do you want one?¡±


    Rich noted that the other beastfolk were using masks as they swarmed out and collected the cages and his recent purchases. ¡°Damn it Tessa, the carters and cabbies are going to spread the news of that enchanted earring of yours to the winds.¡±


    Tessa chuckled, ¡°Who¡¯s going to believe ¡¯em. Or rather, no self important high falutin¡¯ nob¡¯s gonna believe ¡¯em.¡±


    ¡°Too right,¡± grumbled one of the carters as he watched the two withdraw into the Eatery. He followed them then returned seconds later and took up the reins of his horse. ¡°They went through a big door at the end of the room,¡± he informed his friend and the cabbie.


    * * *


    Rich was not surprised to find Mother in his suite. She was frowning at the three children he had bought to act as runners. She looked up when he entered the room. ¡°You know these poor brats have lead poisoning. They also seem to be contaminated with mercury and a few trace amounts of other heavy metals.¡± She frowned at his ring, the one that detected poisons. ¡°Mmm, that should detect lead, it¡¯s a poison after all. I¡¯m afraid you¡¯ll have to use it on all your drinks if these idiots are usin¡¯ lead pipes for their water.¡±


    ¡°Can you cure them Mother? What about the rest of these people?¡±


    ¡°They¡¯re not as bad, but I¡¯ll have to set something up to strip out heavy metals,¡± she frowned and then looked blank. ¡°Yeah that could work.¡±


    * * *


    Mary looked up, still looking unhappy. ¡°Let¡¯s see the pixies.¡±


    There were five unhappy lethargic pixies in the cage. ¡°Get them out of there and take them to the flower cave on Maui. Now.¡± Three of the beastfolk picked up the sufferers and left.


    ¡°Now the Drow.¡±


    When they removed the covers from the cage they found they had two males and one female and one child. Mary straightened and started to glow. Minnow dropped to her knees, and then the carver also dropped to his knees with a look of surprise on his face. Eldaan seeing this did likewise. In the cage, the two males and the child did likewise. The female, wide eyed tried to stand then she curtseyed deeply. Rich bowed his head and dropped to one knee as did all the beastfolk. Two of the young would be messengers or runners looked round apprehensively and dropped to their knees.


    Sorenar locked his knees, ¡®I¡¯m a dwarf of the blood of Sulfurus Swordsmith, of the line of Swordsmiths. I¡¯m a dwarf, and dwarves don¡¯t kneel to anybody.¡¯


    The Drow grew wider eyed if that was possible when they perceived the Spider Queen¡¯s manifestation hovering over Mary. They all promptly prostrated themselves.


    Mary shook herself and looked round at the stunned company. She moved to Minnow and placed a hand on her head. ¡°You¡¯ll do. I hereby appoint you my priestess to this world. Sorry but this is goin¡¯ to hurt, but you¡¯re goin¡¯ to need the knowledge girl.¡±


    Minnow moaned and collapsed to the ground while clutching her head.If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.


    Then Mary stopped by Eldaan. ¡°I accept your allegiance, but I think I need to strengthen your human side or you will die of old age far too soon for my liking. So sleep...¡±


    Mary continued while behind her Eldaan dropped to the ground as his body writhed and blood began to pool around him. She came next to the two kneeling children. ¡°You two I claim and will change to my purpose. You will assist my priestess. Sleep and wake healthy and truly mine.¡±


    The children dropped and their bodies too writhed and far more blood pooled and flew along with scraps of flesh as they changed.


    To other slaves who were kneeling, and now terrified, she simply offered the chance of accepting her and Ocidon. About half did. When she came to Cinders, she found her trembling on one knee. ¡°Can¡¯t swim? That won¡¯t do, I absolutely refuse to have one of mine incapable of swimmin¡¯. So I¡¯ll gift you with the skill. And with this.¡± Mary touched her ear and left an earring matching the one in Tessa¡¯s ear. ¡°And yes I¡¯ll accept you as one of mine.¡±


    Finally she was in front of the cage containing the drow. She opened the door and held out a hand to the priestess. Her collar and chains dropped away. ¡°The thief no longer holds you. Be true to your Goddess.¡±


    The priestess of the Spider Queen rose to her feet and bowed low. ¡°My thanks Balancer.¡±


    Then Mary turned to the youngster. ¡°I think I will claim you boy. I see this moment is not that far away so I will move it forward as I see your experiences have aged you. So, conditions met ¨C you have been offered Shadow Mage ¨C accept yes / no. C¡¯mon Bluey you¡¯re up...¡±


    Something seemed to shift in the world.


    ? conditions met ¨C silver-tongue of the drow you have been offered the path of shadow mage ¨C accept yes / no ?


    Silver-tongue reached out with a wondering hand, his heart racing. He whispered, ¡°yes.¡±


    ¡°Shadow Mage?¡± wondered Silver-blade who was just climbing to his feet. He looked at his son speculatively and fingered his bare neck.


    Finally Mary looked at the wall next to the entrance to the sea cave and stone flowed and a smaller sea cave formed. The water writhed as assorted modified plankton and krill formed and settled into their new home.


    ¡°Rich, make sure the people suffering from heavy metal poisoning spend time in that. And unpleasant as it will be make sure they swallow a mouthful or two. It¡¯ll take time but some of the organisms in that mess will infiltrate any organism and latch onto heavy metals allowing them to be expelled.¡±


    Mary then grabbed the arm of a tall somewhat spindly wolf ¡¯folk man. ¡°This is Charlie Parsons, he¡¯s an expert on steam engines. Something tells me the ones that are makin¡¯ a mess of the planet aren¡¯t that good so Charlie is here to help you. I¡¯ve given him one of the earrings ¡¯cause he tends to forget things when he gets interested in something. Oh,¡± Mary handed Rich a small box, ¡°there are another five in there. Do with them as you will.¡±


    = = O = =


    Dercat Gutripper woke with a pounding headache and a truly foul mouth. He realised his head was lying in a pool of drool. His eyes squinted almost completely shut as the light drilled twin needles of agony into his brain. Once again he vowed to never again drink this much.


    ¡°You two awake? Good I have to close so you have to leave,¡± somebody said in a much too loud and cheerful voice.


    Dercat gingerly pushed himself upright. He noticed that his friend Gunner seemed to be even worse off than himself. He squinted warily at the elderly owner of the Flying Pig Tavern and croaked. ¡°Got a sobriety potion Fats?¡±


    Fats snorted and placed a small bottle on the table. The muted click of the bottle hitting the table reverberated loudly in Dercat¡¯s mind.


    Fats watched with a certain sadistic satisfaction as Dercat clutched his head and groaned as the potion took effect. Fats knew from long experience that it took about two minutes of hell before the potions took full effect.


    By the time Dercat was thinking straight and feeling as if life was worth living Gunner started groaning and reaching around blindly. Gunner somehow found a mug of ale, blinked at it and downed it with a shudder. Then, with extreme reluctance he uncapped the potion Fats placed in front of him and downed it.


    Dercat eyed the empty potion bottle in his hand in confusion. ¡°How come you handed these over without arguments Fats? Not like you.¡±


    ¡°Your captain paid for them earlier. He¡¯s made some kind of deal with a toff. Figure he needs you. Said to tell you to make tracks for the yard. Now get out before I get into trouble for being open after hours.¡±


    Gunnar and Dercat made their way cautiously through the early morning streets of Conimbriga, hands on weapons. ¡°You remember anything about a deal with a toff Gunner?¡±


    ¡°No. Last thing I remember is Luuribelle, ah Waitress III, stealing my collection of tankards.¡±


    When the pair returned to the ship yard they had left the Silver Sparrow in they found it surrounded by scaffolding. Captain Bordal was smoking his pipe in the enclosed veranda of the boarding house opposite the yard. They moved through the crude airlock into the Young Gentlebeings Boarding House and then went to find their captain and friend.


    ¡°What¡¯s going on Cap? The old girl seems to be the centre of attention. I thought we couldn¡¯t afford to fix her up properly?¡± asked Dercat.


    ¡°Welcome back to the world of the living. We have a charter. We will be at the beck and call of a foreign nobleman who just happens to be a truth reader for a year and a day after the Silver Sparrow is ready to fly. He¡¯s paying for the rebuild and he owns Greenie. Greenie seems happy enough, bronze collar, no bruises or whipmarks.¡±


    ¡°What are we going to do for a crew Cap?¡± asked Gunner. ¡°We will need to replace that incompetent ass of an engineer. Trimsmen, stokers and deckhands are two a copper but a competent engineer...¡±


    ¡°Worse come to the worse we get Sir Rich Burton to buy us one. A truth finder makes an excellent recruiter of talent. The way our employer¡¯s throwing money around I suspect we¡¯ll be ready to go in a week or less.¡±


    = = O = =


    Rich found his hands full after Mary¡¯s departure. The visibly amused drow didn¡¯t help, as nobody trusted them. The young shadow mage was enjoying himself practicing what the leopard girls had taught him in the short time before they left. Minnow, now collarless was drilling her two young acolytes, also collarless. Or maybe they were just playing as she had dragged them into the sea cave. Her uncle the sea elf carver had followed them.


    Then when everyone had more or less settled down he took his shell shocked bodyguard, the visibly taller and less green Eldaan who somehow managed to look younger and Charlie Parsons to inspect the Silver Sparrow.


    ¡°Honestly Rich old man, those engines are a pile of junk. They¡¯re primitive, heavy and inefficient. Also two props would allow this scow to handle better. Two small steam turbines would be far more efficient and even one of the bloody things could handle both props.¡±


    Captain Bordal who had just hurried across from the boarding house when he had spotted Rich head towards his baby was incensed. ¡°Look you hairy lanky dog man, how dare you call the Silver Sparrow a scow!¡±


    Charlie screwed a monocle into his right eye and elevated his snout. ¡°That¡¯s Wolf man my dear chap. Just who is this excitable chap my dear sir Rich?¡±


    ¡°This Charlie, is Captain Bordal Vitrius of the Silver Sparrow and he¡¯s the man who managed to fly this wreck back to town.


    Charlie inspected the slowly purpling Bordal with apparent curiosity. ¡°I suppose allowances must be made for these provincial sky sailor chappies. Pleased to meetcha captain.¡±


    Dercat and Gunnar watched their fuming captain with appreciation. They could see the glint of humour in the wolf man¡¯s eye and they grinned in appreciation.


    ¡°Captain Bordal, this is Charlie Parsons whom my goddess assures me is the most knowledgeable being on this world when it comes to steam engines.¡± The he dropped his grin. ¡°And he will be replacing the engines. You may have an engineer watching, and if you want I¡¯ll pay to replace them with the rubbish you are using when the charter is concluded. But I won¡¯t pay to store them.¡±


    Charlie removed his monocle, cleaned it thoughtfully as he examined the sky ship. ¡°Very well old boy, I will need to have a word with Lewis and possibly Mother.¡± Then he turned and strode towards the entrance of the yard.


    ¡°See you soon captain,¡± said Rich before following Charlie.

 Revolution

    Tarifax ¨C World of The Misplaced Dungeon


    {Timeline: March / April 2019 ¨C AoRB Ch. 04}


    Charlie was supervising the installation of his babies on captain Bordal¡¯s Silver Sparrow when he heard a gasp of surprise. He turned languidly ably suppressing his surprise to regard the young runner who was staring at him through the visor of a bulky respirator.


    ¡°May I be of assistance youngster? Why the big eyes?¡±


    The runner stared in astonishment but remembering his duty he said, ¡°Excuse me sir, are you Charlie Parsons?¡±


    ¡°But of course, my dear chap. Do you see any other erudite wolf ¡¯folk around here?¡± drawled Charlie.


    ¡°I have a message for sir Rich Burton from the master of the guild of truth readers. Can you tell me where to find him?¡±


    ¡°Not at this precise moment, no. But I am fairly sure he said he was planning to pass by the yard to personally assess my progress in an hour or so. So pray excuse me youngster while I get on with it.¡±


    * * *


    Captain Bordal for his part was haunting the scene. He could see the advantages of having two propellers in place of the singleton, and he approved in the abstract at the changes Charlie had supervised. The gearings were interesting but he was very dubious that the two small strange looking steam engines would provide enough power to turn the two big metal propellers. The lack of pistons and crankshafts also worried him.


    He was happy with everything else regarding his Silver Sparrow, the sky shipyard had done an excellent job and he had rounded up his crew and even signed on some new stokers and deckhands. He had been keeping his trimsmen on half pay in the hopes of keeping them and luckily this charter had come up in time to prevent them signing on with anyone else.


    Provisions were being packed and they would be ready to go by the end of the week. Always assuming those weedy looking engines would work as advertised. He had been unable to get the opinion of his former engineer because the drunken sot had got himself killed in a tavern brawl.


    = = O = =


    Rich Burton dropped down from the hansom cab and assisted Minnow to descend. His new bodyguard, visibly disgruntled descended from the hansom cab that had been trailing his. She was followed by Eldaan. All four of them were using the new enchanted earrings and thus surrounded by clear air, not needing breather masks.


    Eldaan paid the cabbies and trailed them into the rather poky looking soot stained building that housed the truth reader¡¯s guild.


    They were ushered into a comfortable meeting room and were soon joined by a tall, somewhat stooped man with short grey hair and a young neatly dressed bronze collared woman with a pad and pencil.


    ¡°Sit, sit, do you wish for some tea or maybe something stronger,¡± the elderly man said with a smile. ¡°I¡¯m Dinobar Voorman and my charming stenographer is Giina.¡±


    Rich took one of the offered chairs, Cinders took up position behind him. Minnow seated herself in one of the other chairs while Eldaan remained hovering by the door.


    Rich smiled, ¡°So, Mr Voorman, might I ask why you seem so anxious to see me?¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s not very important, but I had to be seen to do something once the guild of lawyers came to me with a formal complaint,¡± Dinobar grinned. ¡°You put their noses out of joint. They have no grounds for complaint as you acted on your own behalf but I have been forced to remind you that as a unregistered truth reader you are not allowed to charge for your services.¡±


    Rich got the distinct impression that the old man was very pleased with the lawyer¡¯s discomfort. ¡°Just that? Can¡¯t charge. I thought I wouldn¡¯t have been allowed to help anyone but myself.¡±The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.


    Dinobar chuckled. ¡°That¡¯s what most think. But the law merely states that unregistered truth readers may not charge to use their abilities. Oh, and please call me Dinobar.¡±


    ¡°Thank you Dinobar, please feel free to call me Rich.¡± Rich sat back in his chair, ¡°do you have any advice for me, not charging seems hard to prove.¡±


    ¡°True, but we are truth readers. It makes things easier.¡±


    A peal of bells rang through the town of Conimbriga bringing the conversation to a halt. It continued for several long minutes. Rich noted that Dinobar looked shocked. He glanced around, Cinders looked ashen and shocked. She seemed to be counting. Minnow was covering her ears, Eldaan was gazing at the ceiling, and he too, seemed to be counting. Giina had collapsed into a chair and she looked frightened.


    When the bells finally fell silent a full ten minutes had passed.


    ¡°What?!¡± asked Rich still stunned by the cessation of the incredible noise.


    ¡°The full count... that was a full count... one of the bound dungeons has broken free... and it is still free...¡± half whispered Cinders.


    ¡°Yes,¡± agreed Dinobar.


    Then the peal of bells resumed for another minute.


    ¡°Oh gods, it has started killing everybody within its domain, and the mages weren¡¯t able to reimpose the bindings,¡± stated Cinders.


    Rich bowed his head, ¡®Mother, is it Frog?¡¯ he prayed.


    ? Yes Rich, Frog and Strelitzia have broken their chains. You couldn¡¯t be in a better place if you had planned it. Go to the dwarven embassy next. ?


    Minnow jerked upright in her chair. A look of surprise flashed across her face.


    ¡°I think the most disturbing thing I found when I arrived in town was the... the bound dungeons. The great market, and the various arenas among others; it seems reckless to me to treat such beings as tame chattel.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m afraid it is inevitable given greed and gods like Feltax, Holistos the Tinkerer and Vortexius Blackbeard,¡± said Dinobar sadly. ¡°I suspect this puts paid to our meeting. We are going to be needed when all the recriminations start flying. I¡¯m glad to have met you, Rich. And you have been formally warned by the guild that you are not allowed to charge for your services.¡±


    = = O = =


    Frog separated his mind from his Earthbound half. He beamed his satisfaction at Strelitzia and merged with her briefly. He felt joy as she smiled in glee. His Earthbound half had claimed a patch of swampy ground in Louisiana. He/they had been careful and followed Mary¡¯s suggestions and accepted that this act might limit his/their freedom on Earth soon. Mary had warned him/them that she had found herself bound to her core a few months after first claiming a domain. But then she had gifted him/them with her secrets in regards to her avatars. And hopefully they would gain the ability to form a useful avatar soon. After their rebellion in fact, he/they now had full knowledge of the Allin-designed trapdoor breech-loading mechanism that allowed the conversion of the local muzzle loading rifles to breach loaders. In fact he/they had a simplified more rugged version than the original and they had suitably equipped Springfields for his troops too.


    Strelitzia and Frog watched as Magister Rufus Calitroglia entered their domain. They noted with amusement as he tested his magical chains. Several bodyguards, his friend Bartold Kennings and several other self-important dignitaries accompanied him.


    They were soon ensconced in the owner¡¯s box and watching the opening ceremonies. Strelitzia and Frog waited patiently until the benches and stands were full and the gates closed. The gladiatorial matches started and the bloodthirsty crowd became entranced with the betting and the spectacle.


    Frog summoned his monsters and waited, then he summoned some more. All standard fare for a day at the circus. But he was summoning more than usual and his current master and owner Magister Rufus Calitroglia hadn¡¯t noticed anything yet, occupied as he was with his most recent sex slave.


    Strelitzia was grinning savagely and Frog wished he could do likewise. It was time, he twisted his will and stretched his mental limbs and his master¡¯s magical chains shattered and evaporated in a swirl of foul magic.


    They were free! Time for revenge!


    Squads of crocodile ¡¯folk armed with his breach loaders and bayonets trotted to the entrances to the arena where they set up barricades and assumed guard. Further squads headed up the stairs to the highest point of the banked seating behind groups of feathered Deinonychus.


    A tide of lizardmen flooded onto the arena sands and killed any gladiator that resisted while two of their shamans targeted the owner¡¯s box with offensive spells. The confusion allowed some croc ¡¯folk snipers to infiltrate the arena and start taking pot shots at the inhabitants of the luxury boxes.


    The crowd cheered at first, very few of them liked the arrogant wealthy folk in their private boxes. But then realizing that the magic barriers that held the action in the arena had vanished they began to recoil and force their way up the stairs towards the exits at the top of the arena. Only to be met by the rampaging Deinonychus heading down. Those that got past the rampaging Deinonychus were met with crashing volleys and sporadic sniper fire.


    Strelitzia shrieked in glee when Magister Rufus Calitroglia who had been successfully defending himself and his guests from the lizardman shamans failed to spot the rifle armed snipers and was killed when two .58 calibre bullets struck him.


    In all the confusion few noticed the arena¡¯s entertainers sneaking out of the luxury boxes and encouraging many but not all of the slaves that had been brought along by their owners to leave and scurry down the rough cramped undecorated underways. Soon as they were clear more of the feathered Deinonychus flooded up the slave ways and into the boxes of the rich and powerful.

 How Blackrock Gains his Name

    Ambuila ¨C World of The Misplaced Dungeon


    {Timeline: August / September 2018 ¨C MD from the Prologue on}


    Fin contemplated his lunch glumly, the food court at the Gateway Mall featured a very limited choice. Subway was not usualy on his go to list for lunch but he really had no other choice. His interview had gone badly, frankly he was surprised they were hiring at all given the state of the mall.


    Then it was as if his head was exploding and he seemed to note in passing that his body collapsed onto the table, jerked and fell to the floor. He vaguly noted a shining strand linking him to his body as he was being dragged quickly away as everything faded away.


    * * *


    The next thing Fin noted was that he was apparently paralysed. He seemed to be floating in a vast nebulous space containing numerous floating orbs. Glowing orbs. Some of which seemed to be panicking, screaming, babbling making threats and pleading. Something shifted and he moved slightly, then it happened again and he touched one of the other orbs lightly.


    He concentrated on the big breasted blue haired woman standing, no, floating behind what looked like a floating pulpit.


    ? teeheehee! My new helpers are all here, don¡¯t worry dears, you did not die! As you all are, or maybe were all atheists none of you had any attachments to your local gods whoever they were, and as your world has so many people you are all new souls and thus devoid even of lingering attachments. So I merely appropriated your souls for my use. Teeheehee. ?


    ? Don¡¯t worry dears, I left a scrap of your soul behind, just enough to keep your bodies from dying, it should regenerate in time. Possibly. Maybe. Teeheehee. ?


    ? I¡¯m Azurea, Goddess of dungeons and you are all my new subjects. If you want to succeed you need to hurry up and worship me already. ?


    ? Forget your names, you are now ANS 1 through ANS 100 ¨C stands for Atheist New Soul. Teeheehee. ?


    Deep in his head Fin heard, or maybe he sensed ¡®ANS 66¡¯.


    ? I¡¯m sending the dungeon cores ANS 1 to ANS 25 to the planet Diavlo, you are needed there and will be a blessing to the locals. ?


    ? As for the cores ANS 26 through ANS 50 you are going to the Planet Parthia. ?


    ? ANS 51 to ANS 75, you are going to help Ambuila. ?


    * * *


    Fin was in freefall; below him was a planet, mostly brownish yellow but with several blue seas. His, no, their flight was uncertain. Their flight, because he was still linked to the other orb that he had been pushed up against. They were spinning and seemed to be heading for what looked like one of those films of tornados on the weather channel.


    ? Teeheehee ¨C ANS 66 you will be located at the edge of that splendid desert ¨C the one that bisects the continent of Lucapa. ?


    ¡®Can¡¯t see anything like that! That storm is raging over an ocean. No desert down there lady.¡¯


    ? Teeheehee ¨C Now that you are committed my brave volunteers you will be responsible for ¨C fine tuning ¨C these planets, for you lot that¡¯s Ambuila. You will all help make these planets more hospitable by filtering and generating mana and ... ?


    The linked cores plunged into the storm and found themselves being hurtled sideways by the circling winds.The author''s narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.


    ? ... producing the scarce resources your creatures will need to survive. ?


    ? Right, you are now being placed in your new homes, as soon as you¡¯re comfy I am sorry ¨C Teeheehee ¨C but I will be erasing the memories of you past lives ¨C Teeheehee ¨C leaving you with your skills, and personality intact ¨C Teeheehee ¨C it¡¯s for the best I assure you. ?


    ¡®New homes? What do you mean lady; we are in the grips of this fucking typhoon. What kind of home is this?¡¯


    Fin felt something eroding his memories and reacted by clutching his memories to himself. He felt his newest, freshest memories go first. His wife, his new baby, his work, jogging in the park. So he fought harder. Somehow he felt that Azurea¡¯s efforts were weakened somehow. He suspected it was because he wasn¡¯t where he was expected to be.


    ? Right my dears, Let me explain, ANS 51 to ANS 75, you are all new dungeon cores, your job is to create the best dungeons you can. Teeheehee, I will now dispatch your future helpers to you, please accept the bond they will offer you. They will be either Pixie or Sprite. I was unable to establish dungeon Wisps on Ambuila. Teeheehee. And it wasn¡¯t easy to establish the pixies and sprites either, let me tell you Teeheehee. ?


    * * *


    ? ANS 66 please choose your Monster Type. Be aware that you will be restricted by this choice until you accumulate sufficient mana and experience to gain further advances. ?


    ? Um, can I choose spiders? All sorts of spiders even fantasy ones? ?


    ? ... Arachnids ¨C Done! ?


    ANS 66 cotemplated the wealth of knowledge he had gained to add to what he remembered from Earth. ¡® Earth... Damn... That bitch tried to steal my memories... She did too... Got to remember... Yes... Um I know I was older, why is everything so hazy after the prom? Damn it I¡¯m... I¡¯m... FIN, yes I¡¯m Fin.¡¯


    And then they were spat out of the tornado as it crossed onto land. They were buffeted by the fringes of the storm and being dragged northwards by the remnants of Azurea¡¯s spell. Fin could see that the spell, or was it spells was actually tugging in two different directions. He noted with alarm that they were heading at speed towards a set of craggy dryish looking mountains.


    With a sharp crack the two cores separated and spun out of the remnants of the guiding spell, luckily for Fin and his unknown companion the spell designed to land them safely was seperate and lingered.


    Fin saw the other dungeon core plunge into a small turbulent lake or large pool at the foot of a tall waterfall while his came to a rest at the foot of a sandstone cliff not too far from the pool.


    Fin settled into the heart of his dark opal core and frantically worked to fix his cracked dungeon core. Once he was satisfied he contemplated his life, striving to fix every detail into his memory. His newfound instincts finally dragged him out of his daze. The sight of the blue tinted sun rising over the mountain galvanised him. He just knew he had to dig in and create a lair, a dungeon, somewhere he would be safe.


    * * *


    Fin skimmed the help function he had found. He was scared so he acted before he felt ready. He claimed some of the land around him until he managed to reach the cliff. Then he noted something moving. So he summoned some defenders. Some mobs? Why was he calling his spiders mobs? Must be from something he had been made to forget.


    He watched with pride as his six mobs hunched up and settled down to wait looking just like a bunch of black rocks. He felt let down when the moving thing proved to be a goat. Still waste not, want not. When the goat moved onto his domain he ordered his mobs to attack.


    Damn but his spiders were as cute as they were effective. They could jump close to ten meters and with their legs spread were easily sixty centimetres across. And their venom was deadly. That goat was dead almost as soon as they bit it. So now he could make goats. Hmm.


    When night fell Fin was ensconced at the back of the second cave he had hollowed into the cliff. He had created a pit trap in the passage that linked his entrance cave to his current home cave and he was waiting impatiently for his mana to regenerate.


    = = O = =


    Teboho was nervously shuffling his feet. He had been trying to explain to old Thabiso that the loss of his goat wasn¡¯t his fault.


    ¡°But, Thabiso, it was spiders, huge spiders that looked like black rocks before they jumped. It wasn¡¯t my fault. I¡¯ve never seen spiders like that before,¡± whined Teboho.


    Thabiso grabbed the young goatherd by an ear and dragged him complaining all the way to his father¡¯s hut.


    Malefetsane gave his son a clip round the ear but persuaded the owner of the deceased goat to check young Teboho¡¯s unlikely story out.


    ¡°Just you wait Teboho, if I find you¡¯ve been lying you¡¯ll regret it. Now lead us to the jumping rocks.¡±


    Teboho wiped his eye and sullenly led the way to where the goat had been killed.


    Fifteen minutes later Teboho pointed at the cave in the cliff. ¡°There, see, by that new cave. Those black rocks. Those are the big spiders that killed the goat.¡±


    ¡°A likely story,¡± said Thabisho as he strode towards the cave.


    ¡°Stop! They jump far and have poison,¡± warned Teboho.


    ¡°Oh nonsense. There is no sign of a dead goat here, and no sign...¡±


    Just then two of the spiders jumped and landed on a screaming Thabisho. A dead Thabisho.

 Heading Home or The Continuing Travels of Rickie Catman

    Parthia ¨C World of The Misplaced Dungeon.


    {Timeline: March 2019 ¨C Just after Mary became a minor goddess ¨C MD Ch. 90}


    Abriman, paladin of Hel-Arlizzy stumbled down the rickety stairs of the Dancing Bull Inn. He found a stunned looking Sirenna sitting alone at one of the tables near the bar. He headed towards her and dropped into one of the other stools surrounding the table.


    The two friends looked at each other in silence and just nodded thanks when the innkeeper¡¯s son deposited their breakfasts in front of them. They ate in silence.


    Slowly the rest of the Roving Valkyries trickled in and got their breakfasts. They all looked with curiosity at the two godtouched, hoping they would get an explanation for the stunned looks. Finally Palca ran out of patience, ¡°Right you two, what¡¯s the problem and why are you looking so ¨C stunned?¡±


    Sirenna ran a tongue tip over her lips as she looked at her friend and the acknowledged leader of the Valkyries.


    Abriman spoke, ¡°About two weeks ago the Spider Queen was woken by Ocidon¡¯s consort and they fought and defeated Vortexius Blackbeard. The drow are hers again and Blue Lagoon was selected as the balancer.¡±


    Sirenna sighed, ¡°And yesterday in Focaton the Mother of Monsters fought the mad god of the weres for the freedom of a clan of his ¨C victims.¡±


    ¡°And she killed him, and in so doing gained his divinity,¡± added Abriman.


    ¡°So, yesterday a minor god died and a minor goddess came into being,¡± explained Sirenna. ¡°And I have this need to go and inform Isbetta, though I can¡¯t understand why.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s a long journey, it¡¯ll take a long time, even if we luck out and find one of the Silver Dolphin ships in the harbour,¡± complained Palca.


    ¡°Maybe not, Hel-Arlizzy suggests we see a catman enchanter in the river market. I got the impression that he has finished whatever task brought him to Barcolton and he is ready to move on. According to Hel-Arlizzy the has a pass to use the hell dungeon.¡±


    ¡°We¡¯ll go and see him after breakfast. It¡¯s worth a try, he might be grateful of a competent escort,¡± decided Palca.


    * * *


    Rickie Catman watched his adopted daughter Nel pounce on the little red dot. He twitched the small black cylinder Mother had given him, Nel chased after the dot on the floor. He grinned. This ¡®laser pointer¡¯ was a truly fun toy. Even he had to suppress the urge to chase after the dot.


    Han watched his little sister fondly. He yawned and headed to the table to get his breakfast. As he passed Rickie he paused just long enough to hug him tightly and receive a scratch behind one ear. ¡°Love you pa,¡± he murmured before disengaging and heading for the cold roast chicken on the table.


    Once they had the shop open Han slipped out and went exploring, as was his custom. And besides, he had goodbyes to say to his friends.


    * * *


    Abriman followed Palca into the busy river market while surrounded by the other Valkyries. A few questions led them to one of the small shops forming a perimeter for the market. They entered through the open door and found a small room with a small table surrounded by four chairs in one corner, a curtained alcove at the rear and a sturdy scorched looking workbench. A young looking catman with a little curled up leopardgirl in his lap looked up as they entered.This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source.


    ¡°Good morning, how may I help?¡±


    ¡°We¡¯re looking for a master enchanter named Rickie,¡± offered Abriman.


    ¡°That would be me, but I¡¯m only a Journeyman. Forgive me for not rising but my daughter has only just fallen asleep.¡±


    ¡°Hel-Arlizzy let me know that you are planning to leave soon, and that you might be willing to help us to Copper Town.¡±


    ¡°Old scaly tail, eh? He¡¯s a rather decent sort as gods go. Copper Town? Which Copper Town, I know of at least two and I¡¯m sure there are more.¡±


    ¡°The one in the kingdom of Grey Reaches in Duregar,¡± clarified Palca.


    ¡°I¡¯ve been to Duregar but never to the Kingdom of Grey Reaches. I had been wondering where to go next. Very well, I¡¯ll get Lewis to let you through Mock Turtle with me. So will we want Trasliville, Arsouk or Port Sarr?¡±


    ¡°Arsouk,¡± stated Palca.


    Rickie looked round the shop and stroked his daughter between the ears. ¡°I¡¯ll be ready to leave shortly before noon. Or we can leave tomorrow morning.¡±


    ¡°Before noon,¡± said Sirenna. Then she looked confused and shot an apologetic glance at Palca.


    ¡°Like that, is it Sirenna? Very well we¡¯ll go pack and be back here before noon,¡± agreed Palca.


    * * *


    The guard captain at the north gate stopped Rickie with a smile. ¡°So, you¡¯re leaving already, that¡¯s bad news for me. Any chance I could convince you to give me a discount on one of your bug specials?¡±


    Rickie winked, ¡°Maybe? What are you offering?¡±


    ¡°Well, I¡¯ve got twenty-three guilders and fifteen bits. I was going to come ¡¯round next week after our pay day.¡±


    ¡°Since I¡¯m leaving, and you¡¯ve been a friend. Twenty-three guilders it is. Ring or brooch?¡±


    ¡°Ring they¡¯re harder to loose to sticky fingered individuals on the street.¡±


    * * *


    Ricky lifted Nel onto his shoulders and walked steadily along the well used northern road. About an hour later they took a branch road heading towards the mountains. They were passed by a couple of groups of adventurers as they went.


    ¡°This is the road to the dungeon of Rivak¡¯s Folly, isn¡¯t it?¡± asked Palca.


    Ricky nodded. ¡°Mock Turtle is just off the road before the swamp, Rivak¡¯s Folly is after the swamp. We¡¯ll be there shortly.¡±


    * * *


    They emerged from the Arsouk entrance in the early afternoon only to discover that the dilapidated hostel that had stood guard at the entrance of the dungeon was now in ruins. ¡°Wonder what Mother thinks of that,¡± mused Rickie. ¡°She and Lewis have kept up their side of the treaty and the Guild¡¯s failed to do so.¡±


    Palca looked worried for a moment, ¡°I¡¯ll have a word with Isbetta in Copper Town and see what can be done.¡±


    ¡°That should be fine. We¡¯d better head for Meerkatton. We¡¯ll need horses or camels to get across the damn desert. And no Han, the flying carpet is not ready and probably never will be.¡±


    ¡°Aww!¡± chorused Nel and Han before dissolving in giggles.


    ¡°Flying carpet?¡± asked Reeva.


    ¡°It¡¯s from a tale, a fable,¡± sighed Rickie.


    Meerkatton had grown since Abriman¡¯s last visit. It now boasted a store specialising in the purchase of dungeon loot, a small blacksmith shop attached to a livery stable and a tiny adventurer¡¯s guild office. And then too, the Inn had gained another floor.


    The smith, a huge and somewhat hirsute man named Berengar was able to get his hands on nine horses. A little haggling managed to drive their asking price from the cringeworthy to something quite reasonable.


    So they set off at dawn the next day, Nel riding with either Rickie or Hal.


    * * *


    They stood holding their horses while Abriman used his spell to conjure water to water their horses.


    Palca and Itzy, their ranger, were conferring on the other side of the dune next to the bodies of the two unfortunate travellers they had stumbled across. The brief glimpse Abriman had had of them suggested that they had dragged themselves away from a fight.


    Finally Palca returned to the group looking unhappy. ¡°We¡¯ve got problems. They only died recently and their attackers might well be on their trail. Itzy¡¯s gone to scout out where they came from. Also they are both members of Baron Erzgard¡¯s guard.¡±


    Rickie looked over at Palca. ¡°Please don¡¯t let me stop you from doing your duty Palca. I assure you I can look after myself and the children.¡±


    Palca looked at the Journeyman enchanter dubiously. ¡°Honestly there¡¯s not much we can do beyond reporting this incident. A force capable of taking out a patrol of the guard could well overwhelm us.¡±


    Palca posted two lookouts or sentries and then she and the rest of the valkyries saw to the burying of the victims. Itzy returned as they were finishing with disturbing news.

 The Guild Confounded

    Earth ¨C World of The Misplaced Dungeon.


    {Timeline: May 2019 ¨C MD Ch.97 to 98 ¨C ToRB Ch.9 to 10}


    * * * EARTH * * *


    Jake examined the envelope in his hand as he sipped his first cup of coffee for the day. To his bemusement it was addressed to: Guild Master the honourable Jacob Hennessy, C/O Adventurer¡¯s Guild followed by his address.


    Jake used his butter knife to open the envelope.


    ¡°Dear Jacob,


    Congratulations on having founded the Adventurer¡¯s Guild here on Earth. I¡¯m sure you will soon have access to lots of pertinent information thanks to The System.


    My friend, the intelligence behind Alligator Haven has enjoyed your forays into his dungeon and speaks well of you.


    Just to let you know that you are not yet up to venturing into Winter Wolf. The intelligence behind Winter Wolf is not forgiving.


    I suspect you would enjoy Dinosaur Caves but the authorities are currently monopolizing him, and forbidding anyone not cleared by them access.


    There are a further three named, functioning dungeons present on Earth besides myself. I do not feel free to divulge their names, as they have not, as yet, been located.


    Then there are eighteen beings currently transiting. These eighteen if they survive long enough will inevitably set down roots and become functioning dungeons.


    There will be more, after all one never knows when or if someone might just choose ¡°dungeon¡± as his or her race.


    I have taken the liberty of informing the heads of the Adventurer¡¯s Guild on the worlds of Parthia and Tarifax, and I have offered to forward any communication from them to yourselves.


    Wishing you a long life and success in your chosen career,


    Blue Lagoon, dungeon.¡±


    Jake set the letter aside with a snort, poured milk over his cereal and ate his breakfast, got ready and went to work. After the early rush he settled down behind the counter of the 7-Eleven he worked at and out of curiosity checked with the System. To his shock he had a message acknowledging him as guild master and what looked like endless options with reams of information regarding duties, powers and obligations.


    Jake got through the rest of his shift on autopilot.


    * * * PARTHIA * * *


    Saranas the Assistant Guild Master for the Garonmouth branch of the Adventurer¡¯s Guild was catching up with her correspondences. She picked up yet another letter, looked at the wax seal holding it closed and stiffened. ¡®Well it was inevitable that the drow would be contacting us in regards to their new goddess. Must be from the Balancer¡¯s church.¡¯


    She carefully eased a knife behind the seal that showed a coiled whip with a leaping dolphin superimposed. This was the first seal she had seen with this design so it would be going into the guild¡¯s collection in the vaults.


    She slid out the letter and scanned it. Really it was almost rude in the way it skipped all the usual flowery greetings and expressions of esteem. Then she read it and then she started again. Finally she finished reading the rather abrupt letter addressed to the guild master of the Adventurers Guild in Garonmouth.This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.


    She shoved her chair back abruptly and made her way to the office of Sofos Ironfist. She barely paused at the door, knocking and entering without waiting for a reply.


    Sofos looked up at her abrupt entrance and his shaggy eyebrows rose. ¡°Problems Saranas?¡±


    Saranas shrugged helplessly, ¡°You tell me Sofos,¡± she answered even as she placed the envelope and letter carefully on his desk.


    Sofos picked up the envelope first, he hummed in approval. On turning it over he looked up at his assistant to be met with an understanding nod.


    Sofos opened the letter, ¡°Mmm, they¡¯re very abrupt. Straight down to business, very dwarven, I approve.¡±


    ¡°To his Excellency the most honourable guild master Sofos Ironfist,


    Sir,


    I wish to solicit your assistance for a new foundation of the Adventurer¡¯s Guild.


    As I am sure you are aware several of the dungeons seeded by Azurea in this last year hail from a peculiar world. The world is called Earth or Terra by its inhabitants.


    I wish to inform you that several of us retain links to our former homeworld through our alter egos. I for instance am now the proud owner of powerful dungeons on three worlds and hope to expand onto at least one more world.¡±


    Sofos looked up at his assistant, his eyes wild. He licked his lips and returned his attention to the letter in his hands.


    ¡°Earth was, until Azurea¡¯s meddling, a world almost totally devoid of magic. Science and technology ruled, as in fact they still do. The System is now establishing itself on my former homeworld and it is changing rapidly.


    One of the first true adventurers on Earth; a Mr. Jacob Hennessy has established the first branch of the Adventurer¡¯s Guild on Earth. He and his Assistant Guild Master, a Mr. Carlos Mendez are in need of knowledgeable assistance. I have informed them of the information available through the System but as you are no doubt aware, it is badly organised and worse explained.


    If you wish to help this new and no doubt struggling guild master I will be happy to deliver to him anything you wish to send to Earth along with an appropriate language skill crystal.


    Wishing you a long life and success,


    Mary Silvestre and Trisha, Blue Lagoon.¡±


    Trembling Sofos placed the letter in his out tray. ¡°Three worlds, three Blue Lagoon dungeons. It¡¯s three times larger than we thought even in our worst nightmares.¡±


    ¡°What are we going to do about that?¡± Saranas asked pointing at the letter.


    ¡°We kick it upstairs to the world council. And we prepare a pack, you know, everything we would send to a new branch office. I¡¯ll dictate a letter. Then we can wait a couple of days before handing it all in to the temple of Ocidon.¡±


    ¡°To allow the council time to stop it, right.¡±


    ¡°Yes.¡±


    * * * TARIFAX * * *


    ¡°To the most excellent lady, guild master prime of the adventurer¡¯s guild Gardenia Stracanis,


    Dear Lady,


    I wish to solicit your assistance for a new foundation of the Adventurer¡¯s Guild.


    As I am sure you are aware several of the dungeons seeded by Azurea in this last year hail from a peculiar world. The world is called Earth or Terra by its inhabitants.


    I wish to inform you that several of those dungeons retain links to their former homeworld through their alter egos. I was able to game those links to expand my influence into your world, and am now the proud owner of powerful dungeons on three worlds. I have every intention of expanding onto at least one more world.


    Earth was, until Azurea¡¯s meddling, a world almost totally devoid of magic. Science and technology ruled, as in fact they still do. The System is now establishing itself on my former homeworld and it is causing Earth to change rapidly.


    Earth is far more advanced, in a technological way than Tarifax, and thanks to a differing format of technological advancement it is not hindered by the acid fogs that so beset your world. We learnt how to avoid that trap and how to fix the damage that had been caused.


    One of the first true adventurers on Earth; a Mr. Jacob Hennessy has established the first branch of the Adventurer¡¯s Guild on Earth. He and his Assistant Guild Master, a Mr. Carlos Mendez are in need of knowledgeable assistance. I have informed them of the information available through the System but as you are no doubt aware, it is badly organised and worse explained.


    If you wish to help this new and no doubt struggling guild master I will be happy to deliver to him anything you wish to send to Earth along with an appropriate language skill crystal.


    Please send any help you deem useful to Guild Master the honourable Jacob Hennessy, C/O Blue Lagoon at the Queen of Hearts Inn in Conimbriga.


    Wishing you a long and prosperous life,


    Blue Lagoon, dungeon.¡±


    Gardenia Stracanis laid this missive carefully on her desk, she examined the green flecked blue wax seal carefully. Her finger rubbed the design of a coiled whip ovelayed by a leaping dolphin and stared into the distance.


    Gardenia bellowed for her assistant and almost immediately Folssana Mirabilis poked her head round the door. ¡°Yes guild master?¡±


    ¡°Prepare a pack with everything a major guild office would need, see if you can get a reasonably senior and intelligent volunteer willing to venture into another world. Make them aware that this might be a trap but allow them to read a copy of this letter.¡±

 Immigrants

    Earth ¨C World of The Misplaced Dungeon.


    {Timeline: November 2018 ¨C Follows from Taskforce Blue Pt 2 ¨C MD Ch. 44 to 48}


    Badiha was shaking, she and her brother Hassan had just killed their father and his brother, also two cousins and Mohammed who had been their eldest brother. She should be feeling devastated but what she felt was invigorated.


    Hassan watched his sister and relaxed when a tremulous smile appeared on her face. Mind you he could only recognise her expression because he too was a Rakshasa.


    ¡°Come, sister, we must hurry. Can you take the seeming of your former human self? Then pack what you can in one bag. We have to leave before Jamil fetches a maddened crowd to kill us.¡±


    Hassan concentrated and his human guise returned. Badiha licked her lips nervously and likewise concentrated. It took her a little longer but she too resumed her human guise. ¡°But, but it was so easy brother.¡±


    Hassan quickly searched their victims and gathered a small sum of cash, car keys and two driving licenses. Badiha jerked then ran to wash and change out of her bloody clothing. She stuffed a few things in a bag, then added a folder with her papers and was ready to leave.


    Hassan likewise washed and changed quickly before they left the house. They took their uncle¡¯s car because it was newer and in better shape than their father¡¯s. Having become accustomed to driving in Dallas, Hassan was soon a nervous wreck, but he still managed to make it to the airport without incident. He kept the radio tuned to the local news hoping to get a heads up on any hue and cry.


    They abandoned the car leaving the keys in the ignition and did not bother locking the doors.


    * * *


    Badiha pulled on his arm just as they were about to cross the road to enter the terminal. She pointed at the big screen showing the local news. Hassan cursed to himself, there in plain view were their pictures, and then they were showing the house, the massacre. Telephone numbers were scrolling across the bottom of the screen. The only saving grace is that they were showing his car.


    That meant his return ticket was useless. They turned and returned to the car. Surely nobody would have spotted it yet. Hassan breathed a sigh of relief and headed for it. Badiha, where was she? He stopped and looked round spotting his sister crouched down by a car of the same make as theirs. He frowned then he realised she was stealing its plates. He nodded grimly and set to work removing the plates on their car.Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation.


    Hassan drove carefully, doing his best not to call attention to them. He fumed as he navigated the crowded streets of Quetta. Who had thought it a good idea to place an international airport near the centre of the city. They stopped briefly to buy supplies and fuel up before heading south out of the city. At least the orchards were soothing to drive through.


    It took them nearly five hours to cover the two hundred odd kilometres to Surab, and they were lucky to find a hotel for the night. Luckily his shapeshifting abilities allowed him to give himself a suitably bushy beard while the addition of a veil and dull coloured headscarf disguised Badiha.


    The newspapers dedicated two pages to their story, though the reporter was obviously rather tongue in cheek about the demon angle.


    They set off just after dawn with a freshly refuelled car. They passed through Kuzdar about an hour and a half later, a patch of green among arid mountains and headed south for Bela. Three hours later they arrived and stopped for lunch. Hassan had the oil topped up and refuelled. Reluctantly they got back in the car and resumed their journey.


    * * *


    Hours later while they were driving through a semi-deserted patch of country, they drove round a bend and saw an army patrol in front. One of the soldiers stepped into the road and gestured for them to stop. As the other soldiers were holding their rifles Hassan did so. He gripped the steering wheel nervously and reluctantly got out of the car when the sergeant gestured for him to do so. At a further command Badiha did likewise.


    The sergeant grinned nastily. ¡°So, care to tell me what you are doing driving a car with stolen plates?¡±


    Hassan prepared himself but first he attempted to bluff, ¡°Stolen plates? I don¡¯t know what you¡¯re talking about.¡±


    ¡°Really? So you aren¡¯t Hassan Minhas, and your companion isn¡¯t Badiha Minhas? Your betrothed is anxiously awaiting you Miss Minhas.¡±


    Badiha roared her rage, and with the sound of tearing clothes she changed and pounced on the sergeant.


    Hassan noting that the other soldiers were preparing their rifles, presumably to use them on his sister, likewise assumed his Rakshasa form and tore into the squad. Their bloodlust ensured that no soldiers escaped, though they were both slightly wounded.


    Hassan piled the dead soldiers in their truck. Then locating a gully nearby, with the help of his sister, he pushed it of the road and into the gully. After cleaning up and replacing their destroyed clothing from their baggage Hassan slapped mud on their car¡¯s plates.


    By evening they had abandoned the car and found lodging in a moderately prosperous hotel near the port in Karachi. The altercation with the military at the checkpoint about fifty kilometres before they hit the outskirts of Karachi had at least netted them some cash, and weapons. With any luck they would be able to take passage on some tramp steamer and get out of the country without notice.


    They soon realised that they would have to sneak out of the country. There was no way they were going to be able to leave legally. The authorities were looking for them, admittedly in a lacklustre fashion but passport control was impossible.


    * * *


    Two days later they watched the fishing boat they had bribed pull away from the coast of India. They turned and trudged towards the nearby port city of Mandvi. After exchanging what remained of their cash they caught a taxi to the local airport. They were lucky, and caught a local flight to Mumbai wher they were able to book passage to LA using Hassan¡¯s credit card and US bank account.

 Research

    Earth ¨C World of The Misplaced Dungeon.


    {Timeline: May 2019 ¨C MD ¨C Ch. 100 to 102 or thereabouts}


    Dr. Cassiopeia Merrow rolled her chair back from the workstation and looked resolutely over her computer monitor. She picked up her mug, ugh cold. She stood and headed for the coffee pot. She rinsed her mug out and refilled it. As she was heading back to her workstation her phone rang.


    She checked it and answered. ¡°Hello Michaela.¡±


    ¡°Hi Cass, got a moment?¡±


    Cass sat and sipped her coffee before placing the mug back on its coaster. ¡°Yes.¡±


    Michaela drew a deep breath, ¡°Cass what do you know of these little ponies of Mary¡¯s.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ve heard of them, you know on the local news. Why? And I didn¡¯t know they were Mary¡¯s.¡±


    ¡°We have a little girl, Tina, who has just been moved from the terminal ward. She was given a pair and now she¡¯s in remission and the ponies are more than half dead from exhaustion. They are healing her.¡±


    ¡°What!¡±


    ¡°I phoned Mary, and she knew what to do to save the damn ponies. She admitted creating them Cass. How can a sixteen year old create something that can cure terminal cancer?¡±


    ¡°She¡¯s seventeen now Michaela, you were at the party, remember.¡±


    ¡°Yeah. But still... I told her we would see her shortly. You game?¡±


    ¡°Maybe, but why are you so worried. It¡¯s good they can cure the children isn¡¯t it?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m worried about what else they can do. What is Mary up to with them? They talk. They reason and talk like young children. Something she said suggested that they may be empaths or have low grade telepathy. I¡¯m worried.¡±


    ¡°Fine, I¡¯ll find the time to go with you.¡±


    * * *


    The following day when she arrived at the university she received a polite invitation to see the head of the science department. She thanked the messenger and made her way to the office in question.


    ¡°Morning Jim, what can I do for you?¡±


    Jim smiled and gestured to the still gurgling coffee percolator, ¡°Please serve yourself Cass.¡± He waited until she had a cup of coffee and had sat down before proceeding. ¡°We have received a request for your services from Dallas. They are looking for marine biologists with a background in DNA research.¡±


    ¡°Oh? What¡¯s going on in Texas that requires marine biologists... Oh!¡±


    Jim grinned, ¡°Precisely Cass. The flying jellyfish. So are you interested. I have to admit it will do us no harm to be represented in such a study. A unique new species.¡±


    Cass narrowed her eyes as she thought about it. ¡°Anybody else going?¡±This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.


    Jim shook his head slowly. ¡°They wanted the co-author of two of your latest papers, but¡ª¡±


    Cass sighed. ¡°I see. Mary wouldn¡¯t be interested in visiting Dallas, besides she¡¯s too young. And she¡¯s a maverick.¡±


    ¡°A teenager not wanting to visit Dallas, are you sure?¡± grinned Jim mockingly.


    ¡°I¡¯m sure. It¡¯s too far from the sea. She might be interested in visiting Houston but not Dallas. Jim, she¡¯s a sea human. She needs spend several hours a week using her gills to avoid her lungs drying up and collapsing. She¡¯s not the only one the System¡¯s booby trapped that way either.¡±


    ¡°Hmm... Well it¡¯s irrelevant, officially she¡¯s not one of our students, and she¡¯s not an adult. Are HR aware of the issues with these gilled humans.¡±


    ¡°Yes¡ª That is, I think so.¡±


    ¡°So, are you going Cass? We can get you on the afternoon flight,¡± asked Jim. Then he dragged a notepad towards himself and made a couple of notes.


    ¡°Yes,¡± sighed Cass. ¡°I¡¯ll be on the flight.¡±


    ¡°Good. I¡¯ll forward you the emails with all the details.¡±


    ¡®Right! Mustn¡¯t forget to let Michaela know I won¡¯t be able to accompany her when she sees Mary.¡¯


    * * *


    Cass made use of the airport¡¯s wifi to check her emails while she was waiting for her connecting flight to Dallas. She had several, so she opened the one from Michaela first. She read it twice and stared out of the waiting room window, not seeing the runways or the aircraft passing in front of her eyes, her mind in a whirl.


    ¡®Titles ... Mother of Monsters ... oh those ... don¡¯t fly ... fill themselves with hydrogen ... mercy of the wind ... Hapalochlaena sapiens ... Ponies ... what else ... this and that.¡¯


    After several minutes Cass switched off her tablet and rather mechanically put it away. Then, after checking the time and after setting an alarm on her phone so she wouldn¡¯t miss her flight, she called up her System interface.


    ¡®So, let¡¯s see... Titles, what are they, how are they earned and what do they mean.¡¯ Some time later she sat back and thought. ¡®Octopi, jellyfish and ponies... nope not enough to be granted a title like that by the System. What else has the girl been doing?¡¯


    Then she jerked awake to the sound of her phone¡¯s alarm, rose and made her way to the boarding gate while clutching her pass.


    * * *


    The lab in Dallas was superbly equipped, large and airy. They had various specimens from the three recognised variants. Everyone knew this was early days, and researchers were following the ones still in the skies over Texas.


    Cass was issued a pass and all the other paraphernalia typical of a modern office and lab. She was introduced to the other researchers present and encouraged to get down to work.


    Then she ended up having to give an impromptu lecture and demonstration of the two of her trio of enchanted rings. The gathered researchers insisted after witnessing the use of the enchanted DNA scanner ring.


    The first thing that they confirmed was the ability and efficiency of the jellyfish when it came to cleaning up a spill. The second was the fact that the creatures were almost certainly descended from the east coast Chrysaora chesapeakei.


    The sheer complexity of the creature¡¯s life cycle, and the extreme changes from its progenitor strongly implied that they were an artificial creation.


    Slowly more information arrived together with more specimens. They determined that the creatures were extremely effective at absorbing and metabolizing oil spills. They transformed the oil into hydrogen and incredibly tough and lightweight carbon sheets. When the hydrogen finally escaped the creatures reacted in one of three ways. If they ended up in the sea they resumed their existence as jellyfish. In freshwater they divided into six smaller jellyfish and attempt to make their way back to the sea. If they succeeded then they slowly grew and became six new jellyfish. The ones that ended up on land split into six polyps that anchored themselves and awaited rain to shed their eggs.


    The new jellyfish had also gained a new name, Chrysaora volans.


    * * *


    Elsewhere in the research centre, members of the purchasing department had been likewise busy. Urged on by the demands of the director of the institute they had been hunting through all their contacts in search of the enchanted rings Cass had believed were on sale.


    They finally tracked them down. A new company, Magitech Inc. had them listed. The scanner or sequencer was going for five hundred thousand dollars, the manipulator for two million. And then there was a third in the set; something called a diffuser that was listed at ten million dollars.


    They wrote a report and sent it to the director of the institute.

 All About MagiTech inc.

    Earth ¨C World of The Misplaced Dungeon.


    {Timeline: MD ¨C Ch. 103 to 104 ¨C CT shortly after ¡®Research¡¯}


    Donnie made his way into the Tatton Arms and after a trip to the bar to acquire a pint he looked around the crowded room. He spotted his friend Aziz sitting at one of the corner tables with a bored looking Lottie.


    He joined them having managed to snag an unoccupied chair. ¡°Hi Lottie, wasn¡¯t expecting to see you today, what are you doing hanging around with the likes of Aziz?¡±


    Aziz looked up from his book indignantly, ¡°And what do you mean by that Donnie boy?¡±


    ¡°Just that when you have your beak in a book, well, you are not good company.¡±


    Lottie sighed in agreement. ¡°He¡¯s a lost cause Donnie, he just got that one at Abacus books not long ago.¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t listen to her Donnie. It¡¯s your fault. If you hadn¡¯t asked me about what your American online pal was all exited about I wouldn¡¯t have considered buying it.¡±


    Donnie widened his eyes in a show of overdone theatrics. ¡°What¡¯s that book got to do with overpriced enchanted items?¡±


    Lottie rolled her eyes, looked at her empty glass and made her way to the bar. Donnie grabbed Aziz¡¯s book off the table and making sure to not loose his place checked the cover. ¡°Basic Principles of Enchanting by Jaitor the Magnificent, I didn¡¯t realize you were into fantasy Aziz.¡±


    Aziz snatched his book back. ¡°It is not fantasy. It is a primer for beginning enchanters, and surprisingly readable. Some of the ingredients are weird but there is an index that gives alternatives.¡±


    Donnie just stared, then he shook his head briefly. ¡°I never thought... hey does that mean you¡¯ve seen the screens?¡±


    ¡°Na, not yet anyway. Oh thanks Lottie.¡±


    Lottie slid refills in front of her friends and resumed her place at the table.


    ¡°So Aziz, what has this to do with overpriced enchanted items, and are they overpriced?¡± reiterated Donnie.


    ¡°You tell me?¡± Aziz produced a sheet of paper from his pocket, opened it out and laid it on the table. ¡°That is a printout of their online catalogue, or rather I did some copy pasting from their website. The prices are all in US dollars.¡±


    ¡°Magitech inc.


    Queen¡¯s Court,


    Castle on the Moon.


    Crystal sphere:


    Magic (item) detector, range 5 meters ¨C $400,000


    Magic (electronic surveillance) detector, range 5 meters ¨C $400,000


    Ring or pendant:


    Storage Device, 4 slots, 20cm diameter opening ¨C $400.00


    Storage Device, 6 slots, 30cm diameter opening ¨C $900.00


    Storage Device, 8 slots, 30cm diameter opening ¨C $1,200.00Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.


    Storage Device, 16 slots, 45cm diameter opening ¨C $3,200.00


    Cleansing (personal) ¨C $500.00


    Ring: (affects living creatures only)


    Personal Deterrent (electroshock) ¨C $1,000.00


    Growth, times five, duration 4 hours, cool down 20 hours ¨C $2,000.00


    Shrink, by five, duration 4 hours, cool down 20 hours ¨C $2,000.00


    Water Breathing (simple), duration 6 hours, maximum depth 60 meters ¨C $1,000.00


    Water Breathing (advanced), duration 6 hours, maximum depth 60 meters ¨C $3,000.00


    DNA Sequencer ¨C $500,000.00


    DNA Manipulator ¨C $2,000,000.00


    DNA Diffuser ¨C $10,000,000.00


    Earring:


    Darkvision (basic) ¨C $1,000.00


    Temperature Adjustment ¨C $750.00


    Atmospheric Control ¨C $1,500.00


    Minor Illusion (personal) ¨C $500.00


    Notes: For a premium we can add the property ¡°soul binding¡± to our items. We recommend Basic Principles of Enchanting by Jaitor the Magnificent.¡±


    Donnie snorted, ¡°Ten million! Ha, no wonder Tamlyn20 was indignant.¡±


    ¡°Expensive is right, Uncle Joe¡¯s on Regent Road has storage devices for eighty quid,¡± agreed Lottie. ¡°How about we visit him and ask about some of these things? See how the prices compare.¡±


    The three friends remained in the pub until the landlord called time, then they staggered out and made their own ways home.


    * * * PARTHIA ¨C DRAKOTON * * *


    Daniel watched carefully from the entrance to the burrow. He examined the alleyway carefully and didn¡¯t forget to scan the roofs. Deciding everything was quiet he moved out into the alleyway and changed, then he grew. Hurriedly he produced a cloak from the storage device set into his ring. Then he got dressed under the cover of his cloak.


    Smiling he emerged onto one of the shop lined streets of the commercial district and strolled unhurriedly towards his target. Daniel kept looking around as he passed, noting signs of increasing prosperity. He felt a glow of pride for his part in the prosperity of this town that he was coming to consider home.


    And there it was, squeezed between to large gaudy shops, a fancy door under a fancier sign that simply read ¡°Jaitor¡¯s¡±.


    Daniel pushed the door open and stepped into a small, luxuriously carpeted room containing a table and four chairs. A middle-aged man with close cropped greying hair stepped through the back door and surveyed Daniel.


    ¡°Allow me to introduce myself. Jaitor the Magnificent, proprietor of this the best emporium of enchantments in the Archipelago of Frezantel.¡±


    Daniel grinned up at the man. ¡°I have news for you Jaitor. My mistress sends you her good wishes and offers you a contract for the sale of copies of your book, Basic Principals of Enchanting on the world called Earth.¡±


    Suspecting a joke Jaitor examined Daniel carefully. ¡°Another world you say. Why offer me anything as I would never have learned of this by myself.¡±


    Daniel smiled, ¡°Mother dislikes thieves almost as much as she despises pirates. So she offers fifteen per cent of the sale price on each copy sold to you. You may stipulate how you want the monies paid.¡±


    Daniel pulled out a bag from his storage device and placed it with a clink on the table. He followed this with two hardback volumes and a skill crystal. ¡°Two examples, a skill crystal with English, spoken and written so you may read the books to satisfy yourself that the translation is faithful to the original and sixteen imperials and thirty-two guilders to cover the first quarter¡¯s sales.¡±


    Daniel looked at the stupefied enchanter, bowed and left the shop.


    * * * EARTH ¨C ALTRINCHAM * * *


    Donnie slouched through the doors of the Jobcentre and grumbled to himself as he climbed the stairs on his way to sign on. The room dedicated to Universal Credit was, as usual, mostly empty and several of the advisors were just ignoring everyone. Donnie smiled winningly and sat down to wait his turn next to a stunning blond.


    ¡°Hello I¡¯m Donnie.¡±


    Lottie giggled, ¡°I know.¡±


    Donnie did a double take and just stared dumbfounded at his friend. Gone was the pale almost colourless girl he knew. ¡°Oh wow. Have you finally found makeup you¡¯re not allergic to? You look great.¡±


    ¡°I have you and Aziz to thank for my makeover. And I¡¯m now self employed.¡±


    ¡°What. Stop joking Lottie.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m not. I¡¯m selling these,¡± she fingered a small gold earring adorning a new hole in the top of her right ear, ¡°on commission. I get ten per cent and I am the only agent for the North West.¡±


    ¡°Those little rings. That doesn¡¯t seem like a good deal.¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t be silly Donnie. That¡¯s a Minor Illusion (personal) that I bought for five hundred dollars. Well actually I paid seven fifty for the version that can fool cameras. It hides blemishes, does makeup, allows you to change the colour of your hair and or eyes. It¡¯s gonna be a goldmine. The poor rabbit girl I spoke to hadn¡¯t a clue. They¡¯re going to sell like hotcakes.¡± Lottie grinned and bounced in her chair.


    Donnie watched as his friend almost danced her way to the advisor when her name was called. He heard her say, ¡°What do I need to register as self employed,¡± to her advisor as he made his way to see his usual job coach.

 Portends

    Feldheim ¨C World of The Misplaced Dungeon.


    {Timeline: 8 months after the events in MD ¨C Ch. 104}


    Garrilau Garrilass studied the images his team had obtained after they trained Skyeye on Neighbour. It made no sense. The brilliant point of light that had appeared over the white planet implied an artificial satellite. And yet all previous divinations had pointed to a primitive planet. A planet betrayed by its gods.


    It had taken his team almost two weeks to clear the urgent tasks that Skyeye was tasked with. And he had been lucky that several of Skyeye¡¯s users had been curious of the light that even the ground based telescopes had seen.


    Garrilau smiled grimly, he had been allowed to use the focusing magics of Halius the Far Sighted god of Messengers. The diviners were frantic to know what was upsetting their horoscopes.


    Garrilau and his team scanned the images they were gaining. And now they were able to make out two silver specks moving around the white planet and between the white planet and its red moon.


    When the second satellite started shining they were sure. Somehow someone was working in orbit. They had spaceflight over there.


    * * *


    The news took Feldheim by storm. The great powers took stock of their abilities and the military budgets were raised. The four great powers met to swear a shaky truce as they faced this new threat, a threat from somewhere out there. No one believed the threat came from the white planet; no they were sure it came from beyond.


    The priests of the Sky Gods were petitioned for information. And the gods replied that a new god was working to save the white planet. Further prayers yielded no further information, the priests having had to admit that the new god was not one of the sky gods so their gods had no further information.


    The gods of the sun and the moon added nothing new. The god of death didn¡¯t even know that much.


    * * *


    Then for a few weeks attention shifted to the drow. There were some changes amid rumours of an attempted coup. Several previous prominent drow vanished and the queens and priestesses of the Spider queen were rumoured to be rejoicing.


    The spy agencies of the four powers lost contact with their spies and started the familiar task of replacing them.


    * * *


    Garrilau Garrilass and Skyeye had by now counted a dozen or more huge mirrors circling the white planet, a planet that was darkening slowly as over the course of the year something covered the ice and then the ice itself stared retreating to the poles.Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there.


    Skyeye continued tracking Neighbour, despite having left a long string of other tasks on hold. The fact that there now were several more silver specks tracking through Neighbour¡¯s system and that they were shuttling large snowballs from the outer system to the inner one. Already some had been dropped on the large outer moon of the white planet and two mirrors had been erected in its orbit.


    Garrilau and his team speculated that the new god was trying to turn the huge moon into a new world.


    Once again tensions peaked on Feldheim.


    * * *


    Marillea Seabright came ashore next to the Blue Forrest. She looked back at her mother and reluctantly made her way towards the small group of garlanded rustic looking wood elves who awaited her. The big male who had her eyes and nose smiled and opened his arms. He stepped forward and hugged her warmly heedless of the harm the salt water that covered his daughter did to his clothes.


    Marillea slowly relaxed and hugged him back. After introductions, and some argument about the merits of shoes that Marillea only conceded after stepping on a thorn the extended family grouping made its way through the trees.


    Later, after the welcome feast and the dancing when they were finally relaxing at home and watching the nightly news on the viewer the usual speculation about Neighbour came up.


    Marillea looked at them wide eyed with astonishment. ¡°But... but... why has nobody asked Asdamom of the Deeps? Everyone knows she¡¯s a sea goddess.¡±


    Trancad Sure Eye looked at his daughter, ¡°What do you mean everyone, and what new goddess?¡±


    ¡°But,¡± Marillea waved at the viewer. ¡°You know the new goddess that is making herself at home on Fragatta... She¡¯s a sea goddess. Or so Asdamom of the Deeps says.¡±


    * * *


    Trancad made his way to the home of one of the Blue Forest¡¯s elected representatives. He waited his turn and then rather apologetically said, ¡°Honourable representative, my daughter came ashore recently as per the normal agreements regarding offspring between us and the sea dwellers. She has rather startling news. It would seem that the sea dwellers know rather more about the white planet affair than those of us on the surface.


    ¡°According to Marillea the goddess responsible for the sky mirrors...¡±


    ¡°Goddess? The sea dwellers know it¡¯s a goddess and not a god?¡± interrupted Swiftbolt of Blue Forest.


    ¡°Yes. Also that she is a sea goddess,¡± Trancad hesitated and resumed, ¡°and that the planet is called Fragatta.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s ridic¡ª¡± started Swiftbolt before stopping and narrowing his eyes in thought. ¡°I wonder...¡± he murmured in surprise. Then he looked up, smiled and said. ¡°Thank you for telling me. I will see to petitioning the priests of the sea gods. Now go and enjoy the presence of your daughter.¡±


    * * *


    ¡°Why ask me?¡± said Garrilau Garrilass, ¡°What do I know of gods? Yes the white planet used to be called the blue planet and we suspect it was mostly sea.


    ¡°Hum, and the large moon seems to be mostly ice. That¡¯s about all I can say. You must understand that even with Skyeye they are very far away.¡±


    ¡°Thank you Mr Garrilass. That is all I needed to know.¡±


    * * *


    ¡°Good evening everyone.   Welcome to News at Nine. I have with us the Representative of the South East quarter of the Blue Forest. Welcome Mr Swiftbolt. Can you explain to our watchers how you came to the realisation that the answer to the enigma in our skies lay with the sea gods?¡±


    ¡°Good evening Dolaan, viewers. I really can¡¯t claim much credit. One of my constituents¡¯ daughter was visiting him. She is one of the sea dwellers and she knew.


    ¡°I must admit I didn¡¯t expect the roars of mirth with which the sea gods greeted my petition but at least now we all know.


    ¡°The white planet¡¯s name is Fragatta and Fragatta¡¯s principal goddess is Mary, Mother of Monsters and she is a sea goddess.¡±


    ¡°So Mr Swiftbolt, does that mean we are safe from invasion?¡±


    ¡°I think so, Fragatta is almost one light year away after all. But quite honestly that is a question for the professionals and the priests.¡±

 Fox Girls (one)

    Earth ¨C World of The Misplaced Dungeon.


    {Timeline: Start: Just after HawaiiCon, shortly before Taskforce Blue ¨C MD Ch. 26}


    = September ¡¯18 =


    Three excited teens and two long suffering adults awaited their turn to board the JAL Boeing airliner for their return flight to Tokyo. The two sisters were chattering with each other while their cousin barely managed to insert the occasional comment.


    Yukio noted the look his older brother was exchanging with his wife. He smiled brilliantly, ¡°Thank you for putting up with us Gorou. The con was brilliant, how do you think they made the blue screens work?¡±


    Gorou chuckled, ¡°It was worth it to see you all so excited.¡±


    Akemi looked worried as she glanced at her husband, ¡°I¡¯m still seeing those screens. How is that possible love?¡±


    ¡°I honestly don¡¯t know. It shouldn¡¯t be possible. I chose the class samurai and I seem to know ... things. I admit I¡¯m worried. What about you?¡±


    ¡°I chose Miko, and, yes I¡¯m worried.¡±


    Then they were boarding and conversation ceased. Then they were settling in their seats and making themselves comfortable. The two sisters Nozomi and Nabiki resumed their high speed chatter, their eyes darting here and there, as if they were scanning the air in front of their noses.


    Gorou watched bemused, ¡°What about you brother? What did you chose?¡±


    Yukio looked faintly embarrassed, ¡°Um... I chose to be an elven Mecha pilot. I did get warned that Mecha weren¡¯t likely to appear any time soon.¡±


    ¡°And what about your cousins, do you know?¡±


    ¡°Um, I think they chose to be Kitsune, like their costumes. I wonder if that why they managed to win the prize for best costumed pair.¡± Yukio reached across and grabbed Nozomi¡¯s shoulder, giving it a slight shake. The eighteen-year-old paused in her chatter and looked at him enquiringly.


    ¡°Gorou is curious as to what you and Nabiki chose with the screens.¡±


    Nozomi smiled, ¡°It¡¯s cool isn¡¯t it? We chose twin tailed Kitsune. We are the spirit foxes of the family Hasegawa.¡± And both girls giggled.


    * * *


    Nabiki jerked awake at the sharp gasp of fear. She looked at her lap in confusion and stroked her sister¡¯s head. Despite her eyes she knew that the reddish furred fox sleeping with its head in her lap was her sister. The two bushy white tipped tails were tucked up against her body.


    Nabiki looked up at the wide eyed stewardess and her ears folded down warily. She licked her suddenly dry lips. ¡°It¡¯s alright, it¡¯s only Nozomi. She won¡¯t hurt anybody.¡±


    The stewardess backed away, then she turned and ran.


    Gorou woke at the flurry of footsteps as the woman fled. He looked across the aisle and froze at the sight of his fourteen-year-old niece. The fox ears on her head unfurled and stood perked up in interest even as her black clawed hands scratched the big fox snoozing on her lap behind the ear.


    = November ¡¯18 =


    Nozomi leafed through the manga album on her lap. She was bored. Very bored. Over against the far wall Nabiki was playing one of her endless MMORPGs. At least she didn¡¯t seem bored.


    Nozomi threw a dirty look at the camera in the corner. This isolation unit was quite spacious. Or rather it was quite spacious for the number of people it was designed for, now with everyone who had been on the flight isolated the isolation units were crowded. She was sharing a small one person room with Akemi and Nabiki. She couldn¡¯t understand why they didn¡¯t allow married couples to remain together.


    Their only contact with the outside world was via video. They didn¡¯t even have windows. Just those damn cameras.


    It had been nice to speak with mother and father, even if only through video.


    The hiss of the isolation lock caught her attention and she looked up just as the inner door slid into the wall. Nozomi came out of her seat in a rush and she darted across the room dodging the other inmates as she rushed to hug a tearful Shizu.The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.


    She looked down at her cousin and best friend. She noted with surprise the two fox tails waving agitatedly behind Shizu. ¡°You too? When did this happen Shizu?¡±


    ¡°Shortly after I talked with you and Nabiki the other day. Director Namura is scared. He couldn¡¯t find any contact with you or any other affected. They don¡¯t understand how this is spreading. People are hiding that they are affected.¡±


    = = O = =


    Marion Robert Freedman parted ways with his school bus in a foul mood. The hoity toity stuck up bitches had been picking on him recently. It didn¡¯t help that his movie mad parents had stuck him with the name Marion. Even John Wayne had changed his name so why did his parents give him a discarded name.


    He¡¯d get his own back, Ellorie would learn that it wasn¡¯t wise to piss off Shadowjack. He slipped into the kitchen, stroked Buddy managing to avoid a face washing by tongue.


    Feeling considerably calmer he opened a can of dog food, which distracted Buddy, and made himself a sandwich and disappeared into his secret lair, otherwise known as his bedroom where he tackled the onerous task of finishing his homework.


    Then he lost himself in the web, after half an hour he stared bemused at his Ellorie file. He just couldn¡¯t believe anyone could be that stupid. Deleting his file he made sure to thoroughly overwrite it. Pushing his glasses up on his nose with a finger he wondered, just for a moment, if he could do anything to help.


    Soon after he had completely forgotten everything else as he assumed his persona of Shadowjack_01011 and dived into his favourite game of the moment. And his buddy Orion458 was back online after weeks away. They did some farming then tackled the Nightblack pits dungeon.


    Orion458 and NinjaFox666 started telling them about their experiences at a recent con, being careful to hint and not mention names. Shadowjack was fascinated. Their delve slowed, but paradoxically it allowed them to recover and do far better than usual. Gloria4482 and A$$1n1ne were soon just as caught up as he was.


    * * *


    Shadowjack woke seeing blue screens. Remembering what NinjaFox had said he read the intro, looked at the accept button and thought accept. He grinned as it worked. He spent nearly an hour setting up his character. Elf naturally. Pity there was no option for decker, and the system message stating that that might prove viable in the future was not very reassuring. But there was the option for computer wizard. And that was so cool, so he chose that. Next he customised his body, he¡¯d always wanted to be taller. He wanted to be able to see properly. He lightened his hair. He was trailing through all the variations of elf that had been created when his alarm went off.


    Then he was scrambling to get dressed, eat breakfast, pack a lunch and get to the bus stop. Ellorie and her gang were still acting like bitches but he was able to ignore them. There was so much to explore in his head.


    The changes hit that night. He hadn¡¯t really believed, not truly, but he gained thirty centimetres overnight, his build changed, his ears grew points. Best of all he didn¡¯t need his glasses anymore. None of his clothing fitted. Luckily his father had heard of the phenomena and believed him, his mother just had hysterics, which didn¡¯t help. His little brother just made fun of him, which was par for the course.


    His father took the day off from work, bought him some clothes, that Shadowjack thought to be very uncool. Then they went to the local government offices in the state capital of Boise to register the change. And that was a two hour drive. Computer wizard raised flags and was considered more important than elf. The fact that he was fifteen saved him from some problems. His father ended up wit a ream of government paper because he¡¯d been incautious when filling in his new paperwork.


    * * *


    When the little group met again on Saturday Gloria4482 was spitting feathers. It appeared the Canadians were not enamoured of teenage computer wizards, and she was being asked to wear a tag. A$$1n1ne was more complacent, but then he¡¯d chosen to be a standard mage, and as he hadn¡¯t changed his appearance, he was coasting under the radar in his native Belgium.


    With two computer wizards things proceeded smoothly and Orion458 and NinjaFox666 were able to share their plight.


    Working together proved interesting and educational. Somehow the odd synergy of magics between a firmly committed kitsune, two computer wizards and a mage caused a certain limited degree of blending when it came to knowledge.


    = December ¡¯18 =


    Nozomi groaned and reluctantly opened her eyes. Nabiki was insistently shaking her shoulder. She looked up at her sister resentfully only to be silenced by a gesture. Nabiki pushed a piece of paper into her hand. Nozomi glanced at it and her eyes flew open when she understood what was written on it.


    ¡°Cameras disabled, mikes not. Hurry the lock will open from 01:30 to 01:40. Help me wake aunty Akemi and Shizu. Gorou and Yukio will be waiting outside.¡±


    Nozomi scrambled into her clothes and went to wake her aunt with the note in her hand. Ten minutes later the four women made their way quietly to the quarantine lock and it opened just as they were arriving. They scuttled through nervously and followed Nabiki down the corridor.


    As they rounded the corner at the end of their corridor they saw that it continued and spotted Yukio stepping through an open door, he was immediately followed by Gorou. Akemi rushed to him and hugged him in relief.


    Nozomi watched them with a gentle smile, Nabiki for her part seemed impatient and after a few moments glared at Yukio and tapped her wristwatch. Yukio jerked and looked worried then he nudged his brother and whispered ¡°time.¡±


    Gorou jerked and checked his watch and blanched. They moved off again, Nabiki in the lead. Nozomi spotted her sister place a leaf culled from one of the pot plants in their isolation ward on her head and then in her place was the elderly and rather testy Dr Hiraoka.


    The substitute Dr Hiraoka burst into the guard room at the end of the corridor complaining bitterly. He abruptly ordered the two orderlies in the room to fetch him several items. Almost screaming in irritation when they hesitated. The two orderlies obviously decided to comply to avoid problems.


    As soon as they were gone Nabiki in her new guise gestured them to move. Yukio led the way and smiled as the secure door opened as he approached. Soon they were gone and the door was once again closed.

 Good Intentions

    Earth ¨C World of The Misplaced Dungeon.


    {Timeline: Start: Some time after Werewolves and Vampires! Oh My ¨C MD Ch. 92}


    Early February 2019


    Otis Denver shook the figurative dust of the FBI¡¯s Paranormal Division from his heels. He had done his best to serve the people of the United States but he had been balked at every turn.


    That bitch the director had vetoed almost all his suggestions. It was revolting how people who had been betrayed by this so called System were being treated. They were still citizens, there was no call for this harsh form of imprisonment without trial.


    The worst thing was that director Perez agreed that most of the people whose rights were being so brutally infringed on were victims. They were not responsible for their actions.


    They had forced him to resign as deputy director, it was that or be shunted sideways into impotent obscurity. Well he¡¯d show them. He had already reached out to some of his allies in the Senate and Congress. Now he had to furnish proof. Proof of this administrations brutality, expose them via the cold glare of public opinion and the press.


    Otis descended the stairs leading to the front door of the building, unaware of the disdainful looks of the guard watching leave through the window of the lobby.


    Otis got into the chauffer driven limousine for the last time. Another spurt of rage rose in his throat at the upcoming loss of privileges he was being forced to endure due to Perez¡¯s intransigence.


    Early April 2019


    Otis checked his notes. He sighed, his informers had been quite clear. He truly hated what was being done to all those kids. At least they weren¡¯t just being killed out of hand like Walker had suggested. But this was torture pure and simple. Well the time had come for them to do something about it.


    He entered the room they were using for their meetings and noted with satisfaction that Tober had just finished checking the room for bugs and was setting up the little white noise generator against the window.


    Otis nodded a greeting to Tober and Lilly as he took his place at the table. They sat and chatted amiably while waiting for the other members of their little conspiracy to turn up.


    When, finally all were present Otis handed round the plans he had obtained.


    ¡°Let us admit that this will be dangerous, the poor people currently being held have been savagely mistreated. We need to document their suffering and hopefully wake one up and interview him.¡±


    ¡°Are you sure that¡¯s wise Otis. I know the utterings of the so called experts seem ludicrous but there might be something to their warnings,¡± suggested Tober.


    ¡°That¡¯s ridiculous, I can¡¯t believe you¡¯re taking anything those publicity hunters say,¡± stated Lilly.


    Otis sighed, ¡°Unfortunately there is some truth in their statements. But the victims are mostly young and I refuse to believe that things are as bad as portrayed. That is why I believe that we have to do something. What about you Gully? Do you have your sources lined up.¡±


    ¡°Yes, soon as we get something they¡¯ll go on air. They desperately want something to embarrass the administration.¡±


    The small group seated around the table shared a triumphant look.


    ¡°Do we have a team ready to infiltrate the Atlanta vampire detention centre yet? What about blood?¡± asked Otis.


    ¡°All sorted. We¡¯ve managed to, erm, persuade one of the victim¡¯s boyfriends to put together a team to go in. He¡¯s agreed to escort Joe Buckley so he can film the inhuman conditions the inmates are being held under. Especially since that religious bigot has been placed in charge of the detention centres.¡±


    ¡°Thank you Gully. When will this go down?¡±


    ¡°Soon Otis, the days of the full moon are starting the day after tomorrow. Two of them are werewolves so they will be ready after they are released from their three day detention.¡±


    Mid/Late April 2019


    Joe Buckley checked his equipment. He grinned at the thought of the scoop he was going to make. And it didn¡¯t hurt that it would hurt the current administration. He looked up as the car he was travelling stopped. He got out and looked round. It looked like any other road in downtown Atlanta. Nothing hinted that the small office block just down the road was one of the vampire detention centres.You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.


    He grinned, its anonymity was its greatest defence but Otis Denver had given them all the details they needed. He slung his camera onto his shoulder and started filming.


    Joe grinned again as the two jocks moved forward, their letter jackets were splitting at the seams as the werewolves in their beastman forms stalked forward growling softly. Joe shook his head to himself at the stupidity of wearing such visible and identifying garments on a mission like this.


    Behind the two monsters moved the girl in the black dress and pointed witch¡¯s hat. Her black cat moved seemingly unconcerned behind her keeping its mistress between it and the two monsters.


    Then the street lights flickered and went out. Joe grinned again. Otis¡¯ hacker had succeeded. This was the signal that the centre¡¯s electronic security had been disabled.


    Then Boris and Karloff, well those were his names for them, raced forward and threw themselves at the front door. It shattered and flew into the building as the two morons went chasing after it. Their witch ran after them a spell flickering around her hands. Joe followed hurriedly.


    The cat caught the scent of something that disturbed it. He arched his back and fluffed his tail before hissing at the open door and slinking off into the shadows to hide.


    The two guards who had been trying to contact their tech support and sound the alarm were completely surprised when the front door caved in and the two werewolves came charging in. They grabbed for their weapons and were caught by the witch¡¯s spell. They fell unconscious.


    Joe made sure to film them, as proof that they were alive and well. Boris or maybe it was Karloff charged through the inner door not even bothering to check if it was locked.


    They made their way to the morgue. Joe acting as tail end Charlie.


    = = O = =


    Saul was working on the monthly backups when the lights failed. His heart jumped into his mouth, he hated this place. Frankly he thought that the damned vampires should be cremated. The System didn¡¯t hold out any hope for their recovery. And the ancient ones did sort of gain intelligence but they weren¡¯t the same person.


    Then he heard the front door being smashed in. He hurried to the emergency room and fumbled until the generator started. Then he trotted to the emergency switches. He cursed and sweated with fright as he realized they were still cut off. At least he could switch on the anti-vampire sun lights.


    Safe! He was Safe. He bit his lip, then trembling he opened the door. The room was empty. He hurried to the emergency switches and switched on the rooms sun lights. Then taking a deep breath to gather his courage he opened the door to the hall. The two guards were sprawled on the floor.


    Gathering all the scraps of courage he possessed Saul hurried to the closest of the guards, grabbing hin by the armpits he struggled to pull the big man into the room he had just come from. Then he wiped his brow, took another breath and forced himself to go to the other guard.


    He had barely reached the man when the screaming started. Saul cast a deer in the headlights style look at the broken inner door before catching himself and forcing himself to grab the guard and start dragging him to safety.


    He had nearly reached safety when a flicker of unnatural movement caught his attention. Saul whimpered in terror but kept going as the glowing red-eyed desiccated corpse eyed him. He had almost finished getting the guard into the room when the thing rushed them and grabbed the guard¡¯s foot.


    Saul ignored the thing¡¯s hissing and sobbing kept pulling despite the Thing pulling both of them towards itself. Then the guard¡¯s shoe popped of and Saul found himself on his bottom in the well lit room. He scrambled backwards still pulling the unconscious man.


    The thing darted into the room where it seemed to boil. Screaming it turned and fled collapsing half in the room. The part in the room seemed to boil and disintegrate. Suddenly hopeful Saul dragged the hissing screaming thing into the room and slammed the door shut. He collapsed and sobbed with terror even as he watched the thing turn into foul smelling scraps and dust.


    = = O = =


    Joe Buckley scurried after the trio, Boris¡¯ words from a few days ago were suddenly running through his mind. ¡®My BettySue was careful; she chose to become a two hundred year old master vampire. She chose that despite knowing it would make it near impossible to level up. But at two hundred vamps become sentient. The system says so.¡¯


    Joe had a horrible feeling that he was missing something. It sounded good, a master vamp could control lesser vamps and if she was sentient then it would be BettySue, right?


    Then Boris and Karloff were barrelling through the door to the holding room. The guard in the room tasered Boris or possibly Karloff before the witch hit him with her sleep spell. Joe grinned as he looked round the room. And with perfect timing the building¡¯s generator came to life allowing him to film the bank of morgue style drawers that covered one of the walls.


    The tasered werewolf recovered rapidly, they started opening drawers. All the occupants looked long dead, and they were chained up. The chains were liberally festooned with crosses.


    The three members of the Alpha Pack started removing the crosses. Boris ripped the chains of BettySue. Then he opened a pack of blood and tried pouring it into her mouth. Nothing happened. BettySue didn¡¯t stir. Nor did the other vampires the pack tried to give blood.


    Joe was starting to become discouraged, it was starting to look like his scoop was going to fizzle out.


    Boris roared with frustration, he turned and grabbed the unconscious guard and held him over BettySue, still nothing. But when he nicked the guard with his claw, BettySue¡¯s eyes snapped open and she latched onto the guard. Sated she hurled the half dead man aside. Unfortunately for him he landed across two drawers waking their contents.


    The vampires started coming alive as the scent of blood and death hit them, then they were swarming mindlessly forwards.


    Joe made the connection when he saw the rage and greed shining in the eyes of BettySue but without a scrap of intelligence. It was his last despairing thought as he and his companions provided blood and life for several rampaging vampires.


    * * *


    BettySue led her pack out into the night, careful to avoid the room where her scout perished. With animal cunning she located a safe place several kilometres from their former prison.

 Nightlife

    Earth ¨C World of The Misplaced Dungeon.


    {Timeline: Late April 2019 following on from Good Intentions ¨C MD Ch. 94/95}


    They had been hiding in lower levels of the building¡¯s cellars. Now they were getting hungry and the thing that had been BettySue knew she couldn¡¯t keep her pack still much longer. So she sent the new ones, the ones she had had dragged here from their last feast to emerge first. She could feel their weakness even as directed them to spread out among the shadows of the city.


    It was hard, very hard. Her pack was stretching her limits. It was too big. But she wanted more. Her instincts forced her to strain and force her limits. Every cell added to what she was.


    She continued resting with half her pack, holding them still with her will even as she guided the scouts to spread out.


    The thing that had once been called Boris ventured out into the park. He found food. Betty Sue looked through his eyes and held him back even as she guided another three of her pack to him.


    Then the one who had gone by the name of Joe Buckley alerted her to the noise. BettySue somehow knew thet noise meant a feast. She clamped and iron grip on what passed for Joe¡¯s mind. She held him motionless even as she emerged from her celler with all her pack. She urged all her scouts to gravitate to Joe¡¯s location. All came except the ones in the park.


    BettySue gatered her pack and eyed Joe. She pushed and he moved forward. She used his eyes and her mouth started watering at the sight. There in front of a row of building stood a line of trendyly dressed people in front of a large man who was controlling the entry to the night club.


    BettySue spread her pack out using the shadows. Then at her prompt her pack rushed the food from both ends of the road. They were amongst the food before it was aware of them. There weren¡¯t enough of them so BettySue sent most of her pack into the club.


    The smell of blood coming from the club overwhelmed the pack and BettySue lost control especially as she was busy feeding from the bouncer that had been controling the entrance. Most of the pack forced their way into the crowded night club and lost control. The pack acted like sharks in a feeding frenzy.


    The patrons were slow to notice their danger and then there was a stampeed for the fire exits. It only got worse once one of the bartenders hit the fire alarm.


    BettySue fed well. The slaughter commited by her pack allowed her to grow even given the penalties she had accepted at her integration to the system. Her growth allowed her to realize that the sirens rapidly approaching were to be avoided. She grasped her pack and led them out into the city in search of another hideout.


    = = O = =


    Logan Brown made his way to the principal¡¯s office. He wondered what he was being accused of now, the tracker he wore on a cuff around his ankle was suddenly very much in his thoughts.


    Ms Devon, the school secretary, looked up when he entered her room. ¡°Hello Logan, please take a seat. Mr Merrimack will see you shortly.¡±


    Logan was left to worry and search his conscience for a good fifteen minutes before the buzzer sounded. Ms Devon looked up and smiled at him, ¡°You know the way Logan, please go through.¡±


    Logan knocked and entered Mr Merrimack¡¯s office. He blinked in surprise, he had not expected his father to be present, but it was the other visitor who captured his attention. He had not previously seen any beastmen in the flesh, and this one was unusual. Beastmen usually had far more human looking heads.


    ¡°Logan, this is ... ah ... Anubis. He is an agent of the Paranormal Division, and he has a proposal for you,¡± stated the principal.


    The black furred jackal headed man in the neat three piece suit looked Logan over. ¡°Good morning. I have a proposal for you. You are, as far as we are aware, the only person that has your speciality and is not behind bars.¡±


    Mr Brown stood abruptly, ¡°What do you want with him?¡± he asked somewhat antagonistically.


    Anubis seemed to grin, ¡°He will be well guarded. We want him to help us track down some vampires.¡±


    Logan felt cold chills run up and down his back. He knew he wanted nothing to do with one vampire let alone several of the things. ¡°Um, w-why do you need help, vampires are... are dumb.¡±


    ¡°You¡¯ll protect the boy? And what will he get out of this?¡±


    ¡°We¡¯ll wipe his record Mr Brown. And we¡¯ll arrange a partial scholarship at one of the new magic colleges.¡±


    ¡°If you guarantee his safety, I¡¯ll agree to let my son help you.¡±


    Logan looked from Anubis to his father in growing horror; he saw that his school¡¯s principal actually looked sorry for him.


    * * *


    Logan found himself dragging a suitcase and following Anubis as they approached the booking in desk at Sea-Tac Airport. Then they were boarding a flight for Atlanta. Logan was still in denial. He felt dazed and very unsure of himself.A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.


    It was only one hour after they were in the air that Logan managed to collect himself and start to think coherently. He looked at the prick eared jackal man and asked, ¡°Why did you come all the way out here to recruit me? Surely you could have offered one of the prisoners you mentioned a deal?¡±


    Anubis looked down at him, ¡°Not to put too fine a point on it, you¡¯re probably the sanest of our crop of necromancers. Most of the people who selected necromancer were not pleasant individuals to begin with. And most had an agenda. You actually have the smallest kill ratio, and in your case, well you were defending yourself and lost control of your minions.¡±


    Logan slumped dejectedly. ¡°That school I ended up in wasn¡¯t very nice. But the kids are nicer than my original one. I¡¯d rather have nothing to do with vampires. They¡¯re powerful and viscious.¡±


    ¡°You¡¯ll be protected kid. We need to round up those vamps. The attack on Roberta¡¯s caused twenty-five dead and fifty-two wounded. Then there was an attack in the local park on the same night, two more people died there.¡±


    Logan gulped nervously. ¡°But that was a week ago, nothing has happened since, right?¡±


    ¡°Four people have vanished, two have been killed and the rough sleeper population has all but vanished. Mind you we suspect most of them have just moved on.¡±


    ¡°How did you¡ª Why do you call¡ª Erm, you¡¯re not really him are you?¡± blurted Logan.


    Anubis burst out laughing. ¡°Na kid, I just changed my name. I was a cop and I figured a good sense of smell would help... So I played the System when I first saw the screens.¡±


    = = O = =


    Somewhere, elsewhere, something stirred, it felt something a weak call, ¡®soon, soon my wait will be over,¡¯ it mumbled in its dreams before stretching, rolling over and yawning. It blinked once, then it settled down to a short nap. ¡®Soon I will wake.¡¯


    = = O = =


    Logan followed Anubis through Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta airport dragging his suitcase behind him, he looked round with wide eyes drinking in the sight of the busy crowds. He had missed these sights, something he still felt surprised at. There had been a time he had wanted to retreat into his room and wall out the world.


    Anubis looked back over his shoulder and snorted, ¡°Come along Logan, we have places to be. You can wool-gather later.¡±


    Later that night in his temporary room Logan went back over the highlights of his day. Good points, well there really weren¡¯t many. He had lost the electronic tag, but that was at the cost of a magical tag. He had been promised a clean slate. That at least was a massive plus. He was far away from his father, a plus, but also from his mother, brother and sister. Overall a negative. And then the worst, he was going to be hunting, sort off, vampires. And somehaow he suspected he was going to end up at the beck and call of the para-dees.


    = = O = =


    BettySue was getting overconfident. She sent out those of her units that had proved most effective as scouts. This time instead of waiting for her scout-units to find them a target, she gathered her units and followed after.


    The Joe Buckley unit found a congregation of food, and the scouts started gathering. BettySue sent half her pack racing forward to prepare the banquet.


    BettySue felt it then, there was a swirl of something delicious in the night. But it screamed danger to her. Somewhere in the mass of faux-experience she had bought alarms shrilled. She withdrew her control tentacles from those of her units that were not next to her. She gathered her most immediate followers and fled into the night.


    The thing that had been Joe Buckley and the rest of the pack found themselves free of their queen. All restraint vanished and the pack swarmed forward bursting into the Dicky Mouse Bar. They fell upon the patrons like the mindless starved vampires they were.


    = = O = =


    Mickey O¡¯Donnell stopped to talk to the big sexy tigress after he served her. ¡°Not used to seeing big cats in my bar Ms. What brought you to Atlanta?¡±


    ¡°Looking round. Headhunting for talent. That kind of thing.¡±


    Mickey dropped the glass he was holding as his front door burst open and what looked like a tide of sharp-toothed corpses poured into his bar.


    ¡°Fuck! Vampires!¡± Roared the tigress even as she produced a blue shield emblazoned with a dolphin and a big shining sword out of thin air. ¡°Mother aid you faithful daughter!¡±


    Mickey¡¯s mouth dropped open even as he fumbled under the bar for his baseball bat. He watched in growing horror as the vampires fell on old Joe and his friend CJ. Then the tigress ¨C now glowing with a wavering pale blue-green aura ¨C was in the midst of the vampires, and limbs and heads were flying everywhere.


    Mickey forced himself to come out from behind his bar even as his patrons fled from the brawl at the front door.


    = = O = =


    Logan was sitting shotgun in the people carrier. Anubis was sitting behind him. They were driving round in the general area where several people had vanished recently. Then he felt the swirling mana tainted with undeath.


    ¡°Slow down, they¡¯re around here somewhere,¡± said Logan even as he strained is senses to pinpoint the source of the mana. He realised that something had noticed his presence when the widespread mana source collapsed into two sets.


    ¡°There are two groups. The smaller group is fleeing directly away from us and the bigger grouping is up in that direction,¡± he said pointing down a road they were just coming up to.


    ¡°Damn it, there¡¯s a popular bar in that direction,¡± stated the driver.


    ¡°Let¡¯s go,¡± barked Anubis. ¡°Let¡¯s take the bar first.¡±


    They arrived at the bar to see a crowd forcing their way through the entrance of the bar, and they piled out of the people carrier even as the prepared their weapons. Advancing in a loose skirmish line they were urged on their way by the screams coming from the bar.


    Then there was a savage roar in the bar and the screams faded out. They were almost at the door when the vampires came pouring out. The things didn¡¯t even hesitate they turned and charged the feds.


    It was worse than Logan had feared, he felt a warm wetness in his pants even as he reached out in desperation and grabbed at one of the monsters. He succeeded and ordered it to attack one of the other vampires.


    They were being forced back when a huge glowing tiger woman came through the opening where once the door to the bar had stood. She swung her sword and cut the rearmost vampire in half. The most terrifying thing for Logan was the way the severed halves of the vampire burned. He stumbled back away from the monstrous woman.


    The thing that had been Joe Buckley hissed as it tried to force its way past the feds even as the tiger woman took its head. The head of Joe Buckley arced over the feds and landed at Logan¡¯s feet, bounced once, hit his right leg and dropped to the ground. Logan looked down in horror even as the last embers of undeath faded in its eyes.


    ¡°You¡¯re not very well equipped for hunting vampires,¡± said the woman as she dropped her shield into a storage device before producing a rag and cleaning the blade of her sword. ¡°I hope you have a cleric, there are two wounded in the bar that need a remove curse and healing soon.¡±


    Anubis watched as the ¨C no longer glowing ¨C tiger beastwoman dropped her greatsword into her storage device. ¡°Who are you? And I¡¯m not sure you should be going round with a pigsticker and shield.¡±


    She grinned while maintaining a wary eye on Logan, ¡°Well, you shouldn¡¯t have vamps running around. You need enchanted weaponry for higher ranked undead.¡±

 Invertebrate Infestation

    Salvadar ¨C From ¡°And Dungeon Makes Three¡±


    {Timeline: Approximately one month after the end of Ch. 20}


    The individual in the loose robes of one of the desert dwellers staggered back to the cheap room he and his friend had rented for the week. He was enveloped in the fumes of the cheap alcohol sold in the Dancing Pig.


    He blinked around in some confusion as he swayed in the open doorway. Dannila the worn looking barmaid pushed him out of the way as she made her way out of the room. He was feeling distinctly unwell and thus let her go without attempting to cadge a kiss. He could see his friend curled up on the flimsy uncomfortable bed.


    He elbowed the door closed and wove his way to the bed. He sat down rather abruptly and hugged his stomach. He was starting to feel numb. It was almost a relief after the pain that had been growing slowly over the last week or two. The icy numbness seemed to spread out from his heart. After a moment of relief he collapsed back onto the bed his head landing on his friend¡¯s legs.


    Then all he knew was pain. And he was unable to move or cry out. And death came visiting and he knew no more.


    For the next two days nobody visited the room. The bodies of the two disguised satyrs squirmed as things, many things moved under their skin.


    On the third day scores of young dragonsnails emerged as they finished consuming their ¡°mothers¡± leaving only polished skeletons behind. The young dragonsnails grew rapidly and were consequently starving. At this point they all were between ten to twenty centimetres long. One of the biggest amongst them, the proud owner of two heads dominated the others. Unlike his siblings there seemed to be intelligence in his eyes.


    The two-headed leader of the horde reigned in his siblings until night fell. Then they moved out of the room using some of the numerous holes and gaps in the shoddy walls. The neighbouring room was empty but the next proved to be a dormitory, a bunkroom. The few individuals who had retired early didn¡¯t have a chance.


    By the time the huge dragon headed snails had cleaned the top floor of the decrepit inn they had more than doubled in size. They congregated at the top of the stairs. Hesitating to descend. The sounds coming from the bar implied that there were many patrons. But in the end hunger won and the dragonsnails descended en mass.


    The young snails were still weak, but there were almost forty of them and most had special attacks such as poisonous slime, the ability to spit acid or fire. And the patrons were poor and many were malnourished. None of them were trained fighters.


    * * *


    Raavon looked at his scratch team unhappily. He had just been elected the leader thanks to being an initiate of Armalor, he fingered the hilt of his broadsword and firmed his shoulders. He looked over his team and met their reluctant gaze. None of them was experienced, they had all avoided serving in Refuge, being uneasy at the quests that had been on offer there.The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.


    Raavon looked back at Sook¡¯a the adventurer¡¯s guild officer who had put them together and handed them this escort and extermination quest. Raavon dropped his eyes; Sook¡¯a was a very intimidating amazon. Then he looked to magistrate Garwolf. The stout elderly representative of the downwind district was leaning on his stout walking stick and scowling at Sook¡¯a.


    Garwolf snorted contemptuously. ¡°Are these greenhorns the best you can do? What¡¯s up with the guild, I thought your members were experienced adventurers.¡±


    Sook¡¯a shrugged, ¡°We lost most of our experienced members with Refuge. There¡¯s really not much to do here in Riverbend. Escorting a few caravans through the civilized lands and along the Trade Road, through the Khanate. Then too, the new dungeon town has skimmed of what was left.¡±


    Raavon exchanged a look with his team and was pleased to note that they seemed to be gaining in determination. Maybe this would work after all.


    * * *


    Raavon and his team formed a loose ring around the magistrate Garwolf. They made their way slowly towards the downwind district. The streets became meaner the closer they got to downwind. The streets became narrower and dirtier. The people worse dressed and increasingly impoverished.


    Downwind was a slum. Its inhabitants looked half starved and many were pale and sickly. The streets stank of unwashed humanity and open sewers. Raavon noted that Garwolf held a perfumed handkerchief to his nose, and that he looked uneasy. The locals seemed to regard their representative with hatred and Raavon could sense that only the presence of his team was restraining some of them from attacking Garwolf.


    Then, finally they arrived at the Drunken Pig. The inn was scorched and half ruined. They awaited as Garwolf inspected the scene with disgust, maintaining his handkerchief against his nose. Then Garwolf, reluctantly put his handkerchief away, and after gesturing to one of his escort to precede him, stepped into the inn.


    ¡°Shit!¡± exclaimed Haz, ¡°miniature dragonsnails!¡±


    This was followed by the sounds of combat and Garwolf left the inn in a hurry. Raavon drew his sword and entered the Drunken Pig behind his shield.


    The common room contained some fifteen or so dragonsnails, all averaging about sixty centimetres long. Raavon and his team made short work of them. It took some time as they were tough and took a lot of killing.


    When they finally emerged in reply to Garwolf¡¯s increasingly anxious demands they found him surrounded by hostile locals.


    Magistrate Garwolf quickly regained his arrogance once the adventurers once again surrounded him. ¡°Excellent work Raavon. I now know what happened and can write my report. Lets leave.¡±


    ¡°But we don¡¯t know how these things got here. And there are undoubtedly more of them,¡± argued Raavon.


    ¡°Nonsense. Some adventurers must have fetched them for some reason, and they got away from them. The quest is complete. Let¡¯s go.¡± Garwolf produced his perfumed handkerchief and started stumping his way towards a more salubrious section of the town of Riverbend.


    Reluctantly Raavon after a last room back at the half demolished inn followed him.


    * * *


    On the roof of the building across the street from the inn the two headed intelligent dragonsnail watched the group leave. He looked himself in the eye, and then he regarded the ten dragonsnails that were resting around him and determined to find somewhere to hide until he, they were stronger.


    * * *


    Back at the Adventurer¡¯s Guild Magistrate Garwolf signed of the quest and generously handed out a bonus for a job well done.


    Sook¡¯a watched Garwolf leave sardonically. She eyed the scratch adventurer team. ¡°So, are things sorted?¡±


    ¡°No!¡± exploded Raavon as his team nodded and murmured agreement.


    ¡°Well, lets have it. What really happened?¡±


    ¡°We found fifteen recently hatched dragonsnails. They ranged from level zero to two. Magistrate Garwolf declared the quest done before we could even explore the inn we found them in.¡±


    ¡°So there are more of them and we don¡¯t know how they got here?¡±


    ¡°Yes.¡±

 Relocation

    Earth ¨C World of The Misplaced Dungeon.


    {Timeline: Early to mid July 2019 ¨C MD just after Ch. 109}


    Serena Amoyensis made the long trek from her plane to reclaim her bag, and then to passport control. She smiled politely, careful to keep her mouth closed. She knew from previous experience that her fangs intimidated the small humans.


    Serena figured she was lucky that tiger beastfolk had proved a sufficiently popular choice in the UK that the locals weren¡¯t startled by her looks. Even so she noticed that it was the dangerous builds that were having their baggage meticulously searched. They even asked her to empty her cheap storage device. The advance version wasn¡¯t detected. Not surprising as they were using one of Mother¡¯s detectors.


    She flicked her jet-black hair over her shoulder, picked up her suitcase and headed out to catch a taxi.


    She paid her fare and passed the cabbie a decent tip, grateful that the man had kept his mouth shut and the music low, not that Classic FMs offerings were that bad. She hefted her suitcase and looked up at the impressive fa?ade of the Triplanetary Restaurant. She grinned unashamedly. The damn lions had no shame.


    She entered and made her way to the little desk where an attendant stood, she almost winced at the campy fifties scifi d¨¦cor. The menu with Earth, Parthian and Tarifax cuisine gave the game away. She licked her lips involuntarily.


    ¡°Good morning madam, table for one?¡±


    ¡°Yes please, and please tell me the Nordland Medley features genuine Pegasus fillets?¡±


    That earned her a hard look. ¡°Every dish is genuine madam. Please follow me.¡±


    The Triplanetary was surprisingly busy, and most of the diners were wearing city suits. She passed on her message and ordered her meal, and she was unable to resist a bottle of Blue Lagoon¡¯s Elven Wine from Tarifax. There was no way she was going to touch anything brewed by the Drow.


    After she had finished her main course and was waiting for her coffee a small man with prominent front teeth and a largish pointed nose made his way to her table.


    ¡°I didn¡¯t expect to see you in London Serena. May I join you for a moment?¡±


    Serena smiled and indicated the chair opposite hers, ¡°Nice to see you also Jimmy. You want a coffee?¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t mind if I do.¡±


    They sat in quiet companionship for a while until the coffee was served, then chatted about inconsequential things. Finally Jimmy stood, removed the rose from the little vase in the centre of the table and handed it to her and left.


    Serena looked at the artificial flower in her hand, shook her head and replaced it in its vase. She exchanged a look, equally understanding and exasperated with her waitress. ¡°Men!¡± she murmured even as she pocketed the disk Jimmy had slipped her into her purse.


    ¡°They¡¯re all alike,¡± agreed her waitress with a smile.


    * * *


    Serena left the restaurant and boarded the taxi the restaurants doorman had hailed. She got down at Victoria Station and headed in. She detoured via the Ladies.


    Once she was private she stored her suitcase in the storage ring the customs people had failed to detect and activated her minor illusion earring. The woman who left the ladies was human and much smaller. She got on the Brighton train and settled down to read several rather legal looking documents.Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.


    Once in Brighton she repeated the conveniences trick and changing the setting of her illusion emerged as a much taller elven woman. She went to pick up her hire car. She stared at the car the woman was offering with horror.


    ¡°Where¡¯s the car I ordered. How the hell do you expect me to get in that thing?¡± Serena glared at the woman, ¡°Get something I can fit in without breaking my neck, or refund my fucking money. Right now.¡±


    Serena stormed away from the desk in a foul temper having made herself the centre of attention and leaving the manager shaken and the rep in tears.


    A visit to a second hand car agency netted a two-year-old Range Rover. Serena was glad to confirm that money speaks loudly, wherever on Earth she happened to find herself.


    She parked in a quiet residential street in Hove and looked at the row of tall blocks of flats. She sighed and centred herself and selected the previous setting on her personal illusion. Serena got out of her vehicle, once again looking like a small human woman. She walked briskly down a side street and then along the parallel street to the one where she parked.


    She ignored the cctv police vehicle parked in front of the block of flats and secure in her disguise she used her key to enter. She took the lift to the third floor idly thinking that in the states it would be the fourth floor. Serena walked to stand in front of 3B, drew in a breath and cast a small cantrip. She pushed open the now open door and hit the two burly figures that were scrambling to their feet with a sleep spell. She smiled relieved when they dropped back into their armchairs.


    She found Maddy Fitzwilliam in the lounge staring at the big ruby that was resting on the coffee table. Serena smiled slightly. Maddy was the splitting image of her elven illusionary self who had caused all the commotion at the hire car agency.


    ¡°Come on, Maddy snap out of it! You¡¯re his companion. Move!¡±


    Maddy turned her head and regarded Serena with red eyes. ¡°Lucy, what are you doing here? Is something wrong, shouldn¡¯t you be at work?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m not Lucy. I¡¯m here because the other him is worried about the two of you. He asked Mother to help and here I am. Now get yourself together. Stuff what you don¡¯t want to lose in this storage device. And your core in a bag. Don¡¯t you dare put him in a storage device. C¡¯mon companion, shift your ass.¡±


    ¡°But, how am I supposed to get out past the cops?¡±


    ¡°I have a brooch with a minor illusion (personal) enchantment. When you put it on you¡¯ll look like Mrs Bright. All you have to do is walk out with me. But hurry, we have until the two sleeping beauties have to check in.¡±


    While Maddy was scurrying around packing, Serena visited the kitchen and found a reusable Sainsbury¡¯s shopping bag and placed next to Dave¡¯s core.


    Maddy appeared again and almost panting said, ¡°I¡¯m ready.¡±


    ¡°Good. Now put Dave in the bag. I¡¯m not touching him, he would find it at best uncomfortable.¡±


    Maddy blinked, then jerked into motion. She lifted Dave carefully, pushed a pillow into the bag and placed him on it. Serena pinned the brooch on Maddy¡¯s blouse.


    Two small human women, one middle-aged, walked out of the apartment and took the lift to the lobby. Chatting about nothing they left the block of flats and walked down the street, taking the cross street to reach their vehicle.


    * * *


    Sixteen minutes after they had driven away two police officers left the van and hurried into the block of flats.


    * * *


    Serena parked in a lay-by and pointed at a derelict looking timber and stucco inn standing a bit back from the crossroad. To one side was a big overgrown parking lot and then a small neat cottage.


    ¡°The two buildings are yours to do with as you will. Andy on Parthia provided the gold. He was also the one who suggested the inn. The cottage is a bonus given how desperate the owners were to offload a listed building that was falling into ruin.¡±


    Serena handed Maddy a folder. ¡°Here, this contains all the documentation you¡¯ll need. There are also papers if you want to vanish. An alternative identity. Whatever the two of you decide Mycroft can see to the documentation and records.


    ¡°Mother asked me to remind you owe her a favour that might or might not be called in.¡±


    Maddy looked at the tiger woman and worked her mouth but said nothing.


    ¡°I suggest we put Dave in the wine cellar of the inn. It is still safe to enter the ground floor and the cellar. The other two floors are not safe. Or you could take him into the cottage, but it has no cellars.¡±


    Maddy got out of the range rover, she clutched the bag containing Dave¡¯s core to her chest. A bit hesitantly she crossed the road and walked towards the derelict inn.


    ¡°Andy, Dave¡¯s alternate self suggested you contact your Gran for help with the inn.¡±


    Maddy stopped and looked back at Serena. ¡°That¡¯s a real good idea. She loved managing that B&B...¡± Then she turned and made her way to the inn.


    The two women made their careful way to the cellars, the only light coming from the torch Serena produced. Once placed in the middle of the wine cellar Dave¡¯s core started flickering as bands of luminous colour started crawling across the flawless ruby that was the core.


    Serena grinned when the feeling of a dungeon¡¯s domain enveloped her. Maddy relaxed and almost collapsed from the relief.

 Ulruk’s Priest

    Ambuila ¨C World of The Misplaced Dungeon.


    {Timeline: Early November 2019 ¨C MD the same time as Ch. 133}


    ? Some five years in the past ?


    Shar-Ulruk-Sharri was laboriously carving a wooden bowl in his father¡¯s workshop. His crutch was leaning against the wall nearby. In the back room he could hear his baby brother crying loudly. He knew both his parents would be attending to him, frantic with worry.


    Shar kept carving, he couldn¡¯t blame them, Ea-Nashir-Sharri was perfect. He was beautiful and had arrived after fifteen years of trying, and after many expensive magical failures. The curse the gods claimed to be a blessing was hard to beat.


    He paused in his labours, as he perceived a commotion on the street. It sounded like their neighbours were congregating for a good gossip. Despite wondering what was happening Shar didn¡¯t pause in his carving. He hated hobbling around with his crutch. And his clubfoot hurt when he used it.


    Timgiratee their neighbour made his way into their shop. ¡°Shar, where is your father? There is news.¡±


    ¡°He is looking after Ea. He and mom are in the back.¡±


    Timgiratee gazed at the curtain of beads that separated the workshop from the back room where Ea was screaming his lungs out. ¡°I think I¡¯ll leave them alone. Look Shar, will you tell them that the priest Kuri-Bashaa managed to break his neck earlier today. And they will be casting lots in the temple of Ulruk tomorrow to select the new priest.¡±


    ¡°But is... wasn¡¯t Kuri-Bashaa a priest of Sentssonwi¡¯tsna¡¯wa? Why is the casting of lots being held in the Temple of Ulruk?¡± asked Shar.


    ¡°Because Ulruk is the city¡¯s patron, that means they have the latest census,¡± explained Timgiratee.


    Shar looked blankly at Timgiratee as the man nodded politely and walked out of the front door. Shar was having the most awful premonition. He knew that by the god¡¯s holy word there had to be at least four priests. And he also knew that he was of the right age to be eligible. Nobody wanted to be a priest of the gods, and his clubfoot made him look useless to many of his fellow citizens of Ulruk the City.


    * * *


    The sun had barely risen over the horizon when the citizens of Ulruk the City started gathering glumly in the courtyard in front of the temple of Ulruk the God. Shar-Ulruk-Sharri, wearing a clean white linen kilt and his best sandals, hobbled his way to the front of the subdued crowd to join his age mates, the other potential new priests.


    The small gaggle of thirteen to sixteen year-olds huddled together near the front entrance of the temple as they waited apprehensively to hear their fate.


    The subdued buzz of the crowd dropped into absolute silence as the great doors slowly opened and the chief priest of Ulruk shuffled out between the two colleagues who were helping him walk. Atti-Kushu was an old man, and frail. Shar sighed, the old priest wouldn¡¯t last much longer, and this farce would occur again.


    Atti-Kushu held up a small clay tablet for all to see, and then he said something that no one was able to hear. The priest on his right drew in a breath and bellowed. ¡°Blessed be. The gods have chosen a new Priest, a citizen from this, our holy city. Come forth Shar-Ulruk-Sharri, son of Arshaka-Ulruk-Sharri.¡±


    Shar heard his mother wail through the sighs of relief from his fellow sufferers. He set his shoulders and swung his crutch. Even as he headed for the cluster of priests at the head of the short flight of steps, he heard one of the older girls pray, ¡°Just another six months, keep the old geezer alive for six more months...¡± and he found it impossible to blame her.


    ? Some two years in the past ?


    It had been a tedious three years since Shar had become a priest of Sentssonwi¡¯tsna¡¯wa. Most of the first year had been spent learning the rituals and how to read and write the ever-present cuneiform tablets. The temples seemed to require record keeping, endless lists of belongings and duties. Then he had spent the second year learning to channel the God¡¯s gift. So as to cast those spells deemed suitable by the God, and the high priest of the temple.


    Today he was indulging in one of his favourite duties. He was riding one of the temple¡¯s placid old mules, his feet dangling as he maintained a grip with his knees. He was heading south along Temple Way, the dusty avenue almost empty at this time in the morning.


    The big butchers market was silent and deserted. The wagon park across the street from it was full of idle carts. He waved to the guard manning the Dungeon Gate as he exited the city. He rode south along the southern trail for half a league before turning onto the dungeon road. He followed that for about a third of a league before arriving at the small fortress that surrounded the local dungeon.


    Kiipluu, the governor of the fort that enclosed and protected the dungeon of Ulruk¡¯s Gift waved a welcome as he rode his mule through the main gates of the fort. Shar dismounted next to his desk by the front gate of the tower that contained the dungeon¡¯s entrance. He settled on his comfortable chair with a sigh of relief and sipped at the refreshing cup of barley beer that had been waiting for him.The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.


    ¡°Welcome Shar. I had thought it was Mushezibti¡¯s turn this week,¡± offered Kiipluu.


    ¡°I swapped duties with her. She prefers to prowl around recording the abandonment of the riverfront district. I think she doesn¡¯t want to believe her family¡¯s former holdings are all falling into ruin.¡±


    Kiipluu stared into the distance, ¡°True. It¡¯s getting worse isn¡¯t it? About a quarter of the city has been abandoned.¡±


    Shar shook his head. ¡°Worse, about a third of the city is empty and the houses are starting to collapse.¡±


    The two men stayed chatting until the adventurers started arriving. They were for the most part muscular and well armed with bronze and copper daggers and short stabbing swords or axes. Their spears were mostly tipped with flint. They wore thick woollen body cloaks sown with bronze rings.


    After the adventurers started disappearing into the dungeon the first of the loot carts showed up. Most were being pulled by asses. The meat merchants set up their stalls by the fort gates. They were soon busy as the first adventurers exited the dungeon with their loot.


    Shar was soon busy, healing the wounded and taking notes on wet clay tablets that he put aside to bake in the sun once they were finished. The meat merchants bought the carcases of the slain dungeon monsters and the occasional goat. The goats as usual, fetched the premium prices whilst the goblins went for scant coppers.


    Shar watched bitterly, knowing that it was the Gods¡¯ so called blessing that forced him, and his fellow citizens to be glad that the dungeon produced enough meat to feed them.


    ? The Present ?


    In the early hours of the morning, well before dawn, Shar-Ulruk-Sharri¡¯s presence was, commandeered by his God. In a vivid dream, that he knew was being shared by his fellow priests, and by the true believers, he found himself hovering in the throne room of the gods.


    Sentssonwi¡¯tsna¡¯wa was presiding over his court, seated on his throne of skulls. Around him were his three disciples. On the floor of the throne room stood a phalanx of the other gods. They were all awaiting something as the faced the big twin doors blocking the entrance to the throne room.


    The doors were thrown aside and into the court strode a large goddess who was closely followed by five shadowy beings. The foreign gods seemed unimpressed by Sentssonwi¡¯tsna¡¯wa and his followers.


    ¡°Who are you? And how dare you slay members of my court?¡± stated Sentssonwi¡¯tsna¡¯wa in his terrible voice. ¡°Know you not that you are before one anointed by the Greater Gods.¡±


    The big goddess seemed unimpressed. ¡°I¡¯m Mary Silvestre, Mother of Monsters and Blackbeard¡¯s Bane. I¡¯m the chief god of Fragatta an¡¯ soon will be chief god of Ambuila. I suggest you remove your curse of infertility an¡¯ vacate or I¡¯ll kill you,¡± she said.


    Shar-Ulruk-Sharri heard the goddess¡¯ challenge with hope. It was only a sliver of hope but it was glorious to hear a Goddess demand the abatement of the curse. He felt his allegiance slip, and he suspected he was not alone.


    Then another voice spoke, ¡°Blasphemy. You blaspheme against Brinius of the Blue Host and Meera the Night of the New Sages.¡± Shar felt his nascent hope waver. The new arrivals were a messenger of the greater gods, a being in the uniform of an official of the greater gods and two minor guardians.


    ¡°Kill them!¡± Screamed Sentssonwi¡¯tsna¡¯wa.


    It was then that the dwarf god that had been standing behind the goddess cracked his knuckles and charged the phalanx of gods to his front. One of the first gods he slew was Ulruk.


    The goddess grinned, obviously amused, ¡°Shulmanu, keep those idiots from the Gardens off our backs. This shouldn¡¯t take long.¡± Then she summoned up a bright sword that changed until it was barely visible.


    She waited until her followers opened a gap in the phalanx before stepping through and killing the prime disciple. Then she engaged Sentssonwi¡¯tsna¡¯wa.


    One of her followers fought the lesser guardians while the other three took down the gods. Shar felt the shock when Sentssonwi¡¯tsna¡¯wa head was removed from his shoulders. Shar wasn¡¯t sure which he found more shocking, the death of his despised god or of the official and guardians of the Greater Gods.


    The throne room changed. It became a sand fringed spur with the ocean pounding on one side, whilst on the other, the bay side, the sea washed the beach with small ripples. In the shallow waters of the bay, two identical thrones emerged. His new Goddess took her place on one on the thrones and her twin materialized on the other.


    * * *


    Shar-Ulruk-Sharri woke on his bed in the Temple Square, in front of a new rectangular saltwater lake. The temple was gone, replaced by the lake. In the dead centre of the lake was a simple altar; with the statue of a leaping sea creature he now knew to be a dolphin. He blinked around confused. Ikuppi-Adad was staring at the new lake with a look of hopeful bemusement on his face. Mushezibti was looking at it with grief and fury. As for Ashlultum, she was just looking round wide eyed with tears in her blue eyes. ¡°I can see,¡± she was saying, again and again.


    ? ting: The blessing of Sentssonwi¡¯tsna¡¯wa has been repealed by the Mother of Monsters and her Court. ?


    Shar swung his legs out of his bed, grabbed his crutch and stood. He stared down at his feet amazed. They bore his weight without pain, and they looked much alike. ¡°I¡¯m cured,¡± he whispered to himself. He dropped his crutch and walked about tentatively. He looked at Ashlultum¡¯s eyes with wonder, and Ikuppi-Adad¡¯s shoulders were straight and his hands looked normal. Only Mushezibti looked unchanged.


    Ikuppi-Adad gathered his wits and looked around. ¡°What are we going to do with all this? Where are we going to stay now our temple is a lake? Mushezibti... Oh dear, I¡¯m so sorry for you Mushezibti.¡±


    Mushezibti glared at Ikuppi-Adad, ¡°You hated our god too. Didn¡¯t you. You¡¯re glad that bitch goddess killed him. Aren¡¯t you?¡±


    Ikuppi-Adad rubbed his knuckles thoughtfully, ¡°How could anyone not dislike the God that was dooming our race to extinction. You heard the message, didn¡¯t you? Our new lady has removed the curse. Just for that she is worth following.¡±


    Shar found himself nodding in agreement along with Ashlultum.


    ¡°What message old man?¡± asked Mushezibti.


    Ikuppi-Adad¡¯s eyes widened in surprise, ¡°Ashlultum, Shar, go out and spread the word. If the System¡¯s message was only for the priesthood, then we have to spread the word. I¡¯ll see to protecting our belongings and join you.¡±


    ¡°What word,¡± asked Mushezibti.


    ¡°Why, that the curse is no more. That Sentssonwi¡¯tsna¡¯wa has been overthrown and killed. And that the Mother of Monsters is the new leader of the gods.¡±


    Then he bowed his head in sorrow, ¡°and that we will have to arrange for the casting of a lot to replace you.¡±


    * * *


    A fortnight later, thanks to the magics of divination and health everyone knew that the curse had been broken. The yearly festival of Hope was celebrated for the first time in Ulruk the City.

 The Loner aka The Vengeful Dungeon (Part 1 of 5)

    Earth ¨C World of The Misplaced Dungeon.


    {Timeline: November 2019 ¨C MD starts about the time of Ch. 129}


    Oscar was sitting by the roaring fire in his living room as he looked out at the swirling snow. He was contemplating what he had read on the Dungeon Exchange. According to Blue Lagoon and her companion all proto-dungeons were getting close to having to become dungeons.


    That information seemed confirmed by the increasing fascination he was feeling to the old mine. Oscar¡¯s lips quirked as he contemplated the small row of bags sitting on the table. They all contained gold dust and nuggets. Somehow he had known the gold was there behind the rock.


    The phone rang, and after a moment of staring suspiciously at the ringing instrument, Oscar answered.


    ¡°Yes!¡±


    ¡°Hiya Oscar ole man. How are things going with you?¡±


    ¡°Slim, that you? What do you want?¡± asked Oscar suspiciously.


    ¡°Bad news I¡¯m afraid. Just caught the local news. Your Daisy fell down the stairs. I¡¯m afraid she¡¯s dead. And I saw that asshole she married with a young chick man.


    Oscar stared into nothing.


    ¡°Hey Oscar, you OK buddy?¡±


    ¡°Yes. Just thinking. What about the kids? Viv and Clay? Is my no good ex taking care of them?¡±


    ¡°Lacy? What you smoking bud?¡±


    Oscar sighed, ¡°Do me a favour Slim. Keep an eye out, I¡¯ll head on down and see what I can do.¡±


    ¡°Kay. See you soon bud.¡±


    * * *


    Oscar was feeling nervous. He had arrived in LA but the traffic had defeated him. He located a place to hide his old station wagon. He pulled out his old notebook and drew a ring of salt around the old Chevy. He cast the spell that he had found useful in the past. He examined the shimmering air and nodded. Then he turned and started trudging along the road.


    It took him a couple of hours using busses and taxis to arrive near his deceased daughter¡¯s home. He found it empty, and looking rundown. He checked the time then he found somewhere to sit and have a coffee.


    He was walking down the sidewalk when the school bus stopped to drop off the local kids. He smiled when he saw Clay and Viv. Then his eyes narrowed dangerously when he spotted Clay¡¯s black eye and the bruises on Viv¡¯s arms.


    ¡°Gramps!¡± squealed Clay on seeing Oscar. He raced to throw himself on the old man. Viv¡¯s eyes grew huge before she too cast herself on her grandfather.


    Oscar hugged his too thin grandchildren as he glared murderously over their heads. He calmed himself and allowed himself to be lead into their house. He noted absently that it was no longer empty.


    The kids wilted when they realized their father was home.


    ¡°You two scram. Go to you rooms and keep quiet if you know what¡¯s good for you,¡± ordered Tomas.


    Oscar could smell the alcohol on Tomas¡¯ breath. Oscar was sure Tomas wasn¡¯t drunk. ¡°I¡¯ve come to take my grandkids off your hands Tomas.¡±


    ¡°Not a chance old man. They¡¯re worth money,¡± sneered Tomas as he lead the way into the lounge.


    ¡°I¡¯ve seen some of the bruises. And they¡¯re skin and bones. I¡¯m taking them.¡±


    ¡°Thin is good. They¡¯re worth more skinny,¡± laughed Tomas. Then he really saw the look on Oscar¡¯s face and retreated until he came up against the wall.


    Oscar clenched his fists and stepped forward. Taking fright Tomas grabbed a knife and lunged at Oscar hoping to get by him.


    Oscar¡¯s instincts that had been honed in Iraq took over and threw Tomas across the room. Then he watched as Tomas rose. Oscar stepped in and grabbed Tomas¡¯ hand turning it and driving the knife it held into his stomach and up under his ribs.


    Oscar looked down at the dead man with a certain amount of satisfaction. He cleaned the blood from his hand and stuffed the bloodstained handkerchief in his coat pocket. After a quick search he pocked a set of car keys. He stepped out of the room and closed the door. Then he went upstairs. He found Viv and Clay looking nervously into the hall from the doorway of their room.


    ¡°Pack quickly. You¡¯re coming to live with me.¡±


    Oscar was horrified at how little they had. He hurried them out of the house and into their father¡¯s car. He started it and drove carefully out of town to where he had left his own. He noticed how nervous the kids were while he drove.


    He was very happy to exchange cars. He tossed the bloodstained rag into Tomas¡¯s car. He followed up by liberally splashing the interior with gas and setting it on fire.Love what you''re reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on.


    * * *


    Oscar was sweating nervously. They were well on their way up into the rockies. He checked the rear view mirror and angled it slightly. He smiled involuntarily at the sight of his grandkids asleep on the backseat.


    He scowled briefly at the bruises they were sporting; at least that worthless son in law of his wouldn¡¯t be bothering anyone ever again. He smiled bitterly and returned his attention to the road. LA was thankfully many miles away now; it had been far too crowded for him to feel comfortable.


    All those folk made him jumpy, and Oscar was well aware that he was dangerous when jumpy. The shrinks called it PTSD, but all that meant was that he was jumpy when there were lots of folk around.


    Several hours later he pulled off the road and followed the trail till he found a small clearing. He parked and after checking on the sleeping kids he set up a rough camp.


    Viv and Clay woke to the smell of frying trout. They stumbled out of the old Chevy station wagon and stared at the old man who claimed to be their grandfather.


    Oscar looked up from his frying pan and smiled. ¡°Hey come on kids, dinner¡¯s ready. Sorry for the rough accommodations. Grab a plate and there are cans of coke in the icebox.¡±


    * * *


    Jaylyne Foley of the CPS dragged herself out of the blood-splattered room, she heaved again and vomited up bile. She would never be able to get the sight of Tomas¡¯ body out of her mind. She couldn¡¯t conceive why anyone would do that to someone like Tomas.


    By the time Jaylyne had collected herself, gossiping neighbours had gathered around the open door to the house, drawn by her screams. And the police had shown up.


    * * *


    With the kids asleep in his old Chevy Oscar stared at the System provided interface. He had been lurking on the Dungeon Exchange Channel for several months. He had a fair idea of whom he could trust, and of who could or might help. He would have preferred to deal with Gator, but Gator was in New York, and he was on the west coast, and he had to get to Alaska. To his very own bit of land in Alaska, it seemed to be calling to him.


    He was worried about his grandkids, if he ended up as a dungeon, which seemed likely, he truly didn¡¯t know what would happen to them. They had been traumatised enough as it was. He didn¡¯t want them to feel abandoned.


    The following day they were following a series of minor roads and making their way north. Oscar made frequent stops and did his best to teach and entertain his new family. Oscar just wished it was summer, but he surprised himself. He had never expected to enjoy having company. He had come to picture himself as a solitary soul.


    As for Viv and Clay, they were having the time of their lives. Their gramps was kind of gruff, but he never raised a hand to them and he kept showing them the most incredible sights. It had taken them some time to come to terms to eating the creatures he caught in his traps. The fish had been easy but they had never considered squirrels to be edible before. And squirrels were the least of it.


    Clay loved the self-defence classes whilst Viv endured them stoically. Both children did their best considering their past experiences with their parents.


    * * *


    The investigation into the murder of Tomas Danton and the disappearance of Vivian and Clay Danton had expanded. The victim¡¯s car had been found. It had been comprehensively burnt leaving very little to work with. It had been found to southeast of LA, in an arroyo.


    The investigators had found disturbing evidence in the victim¡¯s computer and several other people were being sought. Jaylyne Foley was facing an investigation into her inability to recognise what now seemed so obvious.


    * * *


    A fortnight passed swiftly. Now over the border into Canada Oscar eased his old Chevy onto the main road and resumed his treck north. Crossing into Canada had been tedious but not difficult. His previous research had born fruit. Now he drove hard. He could feel the old mine calling him.


    But first he had to make a collection. The kids were suffering in the cold. They had never left LA before in their lives and now they were in Alberta. All he could see of them on the back seat was their eyes.


    That evening everyone was thawing out in his hotel room in Calvary. The connecting door was open and the kids were glued to the TV. Oscar opened up the Dungeon Exchange and entered a few queries. He was surprised at the response.


    It was with two sullen kids that he ventured out into the cold on the following day. He mollified his passengers with the promise of another hotel stay that day. Not that he would have thought of anything else under the circumstances. They needed shelter.


    Nobody enjoyed the trip that day. Oscar drove carefully cursing the snow, while Viv and Clay shivered in the car¡¯s inadequate heating. That, and indulged in the ¡®are we there yet?¡¯ chorus.


    * * *


    Oscar couldn¡¯t help chuckling that evening in the restaurant. The youngster¡¯s commentary on the food, and the reaction on the waitresses¡¯ face, especially when the kids debated the benefits of dry chicken, against squirrel and snake.


    The TV worked its magic again.


    He was relieved later that evening when his room¡¯s phone rang. It was the hotel¡¯s reception asking him if he was expecting a delivery.


    ¡°Yes I am. Can you send him up please.¡±


    When the knock came Oscar opened the door and accepted the package from MagiTech. The burly deliveryman grinned and said, ¡°Please follow the instructions. You have to be careful when the recipient hasn¡¯t accessed the System yet.¡±


    ¡°What about the other item, you know the bespoke one?¡± asked Oscar as he handed over a heavy pouch containing gold dust.


    ¡°Just be careful where you install it. Once you activate it, it will meld with your vehicle. Then only the vehicle¡¯s owner will be able to use it. It will need a considerable amount of mana. So be careful,¡± warned the man even as he looked past Oscar at his grandchildren. ¡°I¡¯ll let Mother know you have kids.¡±


    Oscar blinked at the latter mumbled part of the man¡¯s statement. He was just about to say something when the deliveryman turned with a cheerful wave and disappeared down the corridor heading for the lifts.


    Viv loved her new earrings. Clay and Oscar made do with pendants. It made quite a difference to not feel the cold. It almost consoled them to the endless snow. As for the other item, the silvery dragon statuette once placed on the dashboard, it dug in its claws and merged with the old Chevy. Its ruby eyes glittered as it stared out of the windscreen.


    Oscar was impressed when he drove through several minor roads. When he came to snow drifts he found it impossible to get over second gear. But the snow just vanished from in front of his old car. They left a clear one car wide trail behind themselves. And a couple of days later they crossed into Alaska in the midst of a snowstorm that slowed, but otherwise didn¡¯t affect them.


    Oscar got home on the Tuesday before Thanksgiving. Or he drove in to the collection of six homes and one general store cum restaurant that was the nearest village to his home. He surprised the locals who just stared at the clear road his Chevy left in its wake.


    Oscar and his family were welcomed as an excuse for a celebration.


    Just a week later Viv and Clay were feeling quite at home. They befriended Vinny, the son of the two werebears who ran the general store. All three explored the old mine, it had only taken Oscar telling them not to.


    Oscar for his part had been doing the rounds of the village and explaining his problem. He explained that he was one of the proto-dungeons and that his time was short.

 The Loner aka The Vengeful Dungeon (part 2 of 5)

    Tarifax and Earth ¨C World of The Misplaced Dungeon.


    {Timeline: November 2019 ¨C MD starts about the time of Ch. 130}


    * * * TARIFAX * * *


    Rupinius Baltor looked out of the window of his townhouse in Casar Vitara and shivered. The snow was swirling thickly, but at least it looked like the damned evil yellow fog was absent today. Rupinus noted in passing that the flag over the citadel indicated the wind was blowing from the sea.


    Not much later Rupinus left his home with his usual two bodyguards. He, well they, were well bundled up to combat the freezing wind. All three carried their breathers in their containers at their waists. They scurried aiming to get to the covered market and out of the cold.


    They passed the local Coliseum and found it already busy, people queuing to get in. Rupinius acknowledged the greetings of some acquaintances but didn¡¯t delay. Soon the grimy brick fa?ade of the market came into view. Rupinius noted in passing that several of his tenants were present receiving stock. He grimaced at the sight of the cage wagons, he really wished he could get rid of the slave traders, but the city government wouldn¡¯t let him.


    Rupinus headed for the principal entrance ignoring the two minotaur guards with their big halberds. The moment he stepped into his dungeon¡¯s domain the Great Central Market was open. He stopped for a moment to check the spells holding his dungeon core in subjugation. Satisfied he headed for his office making a mental note that he would have to contact the Mage¡¯s Guild soon to upgrade the spell. The problem with dungeon cores was that they tended to grow stronger the longer they existed, even when it came to one as dull and unresponsive as his ANS 83.


    He cast his eyes up in exasperation when the heard the sound of a lap harp being played. That meant Cyrdwynne the dungeon¡¯s P¨²ca was in his office. Rupinus wondered what the problem was now. Holding tightly to his patience he stepped into his office and eyed the tall spindly looking being who was seated in one of his chairs, plucking at the strings of his harp.


    The light glittered of Cyrdwynne¡¯s silver collar as he grinned showing a fine collection of sharklike teeth. ¡°Master needs to know that Azurea contacted me. She told me that the slavery bonds on her dungeon cores ¨C displease her.¡±


    ¡°So what?¡± asked Rupinus. ¡°She¡¯s rather unimportant compared to Vortexius Blackbeard, not to mention Holistos the Tinkerer.¡±


    Cyrdwynne giggled. ¡°But Holistos the Tinkerer is jealous of the technology controlled by the goddess that holds the title of Blackbeard¡¯s bane.¡±


    ¡°The affairs of the gods do not concern me, or you. Just keep control of my dungeon,¡± ordered Rupinus.


    ¡°Yes master,¡± hissed Cyrdwynne.


    * * * EARTH * * *


    Viv and Clay had made themselves at home. They had become inseparable from Vinny and were often to be found at his parent¡¯s home. They had fun riding on Vinny¡¯s father, he was huge especially when he turned into a grizzly bear.


    Only a few days had gone by and they had also met a small pack of werewolves. They had made another friend in Jane. She was a year older than Clay and knew all the hidden places in the locality. And then there was Bertie the bigfoot, he had warned them not to choose to become a bigfoot, like he had, as he now was unable to enter a house or cave.


    Then just over a week after he had got back home Oscar knew it was time. He had explained things to Viv and Clay, and he had assured them that the first thing he would do would be to nominate them allies, so that he would still be able to talk to them. Now he led them, the Oxendines and the Campbells into his mine. Once he reached the end he stopped and looked around glumly.


    Easton Oxendine found himself ducking his head as he watched his friend look round at the end of rough mine shaft they had come down. He noticed that the boy, Clay was trembling and placed one of his hands on his shoulder in comfort. Brody, the alpha of the wolves, was looking somewhat disappointed at how mundane the mine looked.This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.


    Oscar somehow looked defeated. He dropped down into the incongruous office chair he had dragged down at some time. He looked at his friends and grandchildren with a tired smile and then shimmered.


    Almost without fuss, Oscar¡¯s body was replaced by a greenish orb.


    Oscar had sat in his old comfortable office chair with a certain degree of trepidation. He had researched things on the exchange, but he found it so hard to believe. However the System was not leaving any wriggle room.


    So he took a last look round with his eyes and smiled reassuringly at the kids and his friends. Then Oscar accessed his System Menu. He looked at the blinking ¡°yes¡± at the end of the notice informing him of his inevitable fate. The countdown clock still had a few days, but surprisingly it had been Blackrock that told him of the potential lack of control if he had delayed much further.


    Oscar selected the ¡°Yes¡± and everything shifted. He was now able to observe everything in a three hundred and sixty degree sphere around himself.


    The System tinged at him.


    ? Your current Monster Type is Canids. If you wish to sever your link to yourself you may change this. Otherwise be aware that you will be restricted by this choice until you accumulate sufficient mana and experience to gain further advances. ?


    ? Other self? Where is this other self to be found? And I can work with dogs. ?


    ? Other self in Casar Vitara on Tarifax. ?


    ? I wish to appoint my grandchildren, Viv and Clay Allies. ?


    ? Are you sure. This will give them rights and immunities over your domain and from your dungeon ¨C yes / no ?


    ? Yes. And I wish to appoint Easton Oxendine the Werebear my Voice. ?


    ? Done and done! ?


    Oscar confirmed that he could communicate with his allies and Voice, then after a short, distinctly awkward time he observed them leave his domain as they made their way to have lunch.


    The next thing Oscar did was to almost exhaust his mana stocks by claiming a good third of the mine. He was glad to find that it contained two previously undiscovered veins of gold. He was also surprised to discover that his mine had an inhabitant. He looked like a little man some fifty-six centimetres tall. He had long muscular arms and a big head with a wrinkled face and white whiskers. He was dressed in a mid nineteenth century miner¡¯s getup.


    ¡®Good grief, I¡¯ve got a Tommyknocker in my mine. He¡¯s in my dungeon.¡¯ Thought a startled Oscar to himself.


    The Tommyknocker seemed to realize he was being observed, and he came stomping his way towards Oscar. Oscar cursed using almost all his mana in claiming his dungeon. He watched nervously as the Tommynocker got closer.


    * * *


    Branok Tregeran had been minding his own business when a mana rich aura swept over him and his mine. Then, as if this wasn¡¯t enough, something or someone was observing him. How was he supposed to play tricks on visitors to his mine if he was being observed.


    Branok cast around and deduced that this entity was near the end of the mine, so he headed there to give the intruder a piece of his mind.


    He found a sphere of green jade sitting on an office chair. It was sparkling and absolutely reeked of magic. It made him cautious.


    ¡°What are you? What are you doing in my mine?¡±


    ? Mine! ?


    ¡°It¡¯s mine. I¡¯ve been here for over a century,¡± objected Branok.


    ? Mine. ? Insisted Oscar as he feverishly tried to gather mana. He was surprised that he was able to make himself understood by the Tommyknocker. Maybe there was a solution he had not expected here.


    ? Be my companion. I need someone who knows mines and mine safety. ?


    Branok was staggered. He suddenly realized he was standing in front of a dungeon core, and at the very centre of its power. He doubted he would prevail if it came to a fight. Dungeons were said to collapse when the core was killed. Whichever way he looked at it he could loose his comfortable home. He was too old to go looking for a new home. And then the snow was lying deep outside.


    Branok scowled fiercely. ¡°What does ¡®companion¡¯ entail?¡±


    ? Not sure. Here let me call up the help function. I¡¯ll share it with you. ?


    Two very different beings went through the information provided by the System and supplemented by the Dungeon Companions League.


    After some pondering, and haggling a tentative agreement was reached and put to the System.


    ting ¨C ? Done ?


    As the link formed, it revealed the Oscar had with the other version of himself and the still forming partnership found themselves in a tight three way link. The other Oscar was greatly limited, he seemed to be sleeping and dreaming.


    The lesser part of the other Oscar, the waking part was sitting above a magical partition and was very ¨C biddable. He seemed to be dominated by his companion.


    ¡°Ach! It is a filthy P¨²ca or Pooka. One of the malicious ones. Ye canna trust the misbegotten cur Oscar,¡± stated Branok in disgust.


    ? Yeah, I can see that. It seems to have the me that thinks he is ANS 83 completely under its thumb. And we, I, damn it, him running some kind of market. ?


    ¡°Careful Oscar. We can do something about it, but we¡¯ll haveta be careful. Pookas are tricksy.¡±


    ? On the other hand I have been able to gain a lot of templates. For goods and monsters. Those Minotaurs are cool. ?


    ¡°So what do you want to do next?¡± asked Branok.


    ? Figure I¡¯ll get my Voice contact Arena of Blood. See what he advises. I know he¡¯s on Tarifax too. ?

 The Loner aka The Vengeful Dungeon (part 3 of 5)

    Tarifax and Earth ¨C World of The Misplaced Dungeon.


    {Timeline: November 2019 ¨C MD starts about the time of Ch. 130}


    * * * EARTH / TARIFAX * * *


    Oscar examined the link to his other self suspiciously. It was calling to him, just demanding he pour himself along it, heedless of consequences. His experiences in the forces had taught him to exercise caution at all times.


    So, Oscar eased a trickle of his consciousness into the link. He fought hard to keep from flooding through. All to soon he reached the dormant mind of his other self. He found it trapped under a straining barrier. He could see that the barrier was keeping most of his other self quiescent.


    Very carefully he eased a thread of perception through the barrier. The part of his mind that resided on the other side of the barrier was almost unrecognizable. It lacked, well it lacked anything that counted as analytic thought. It was almost totally suggestible. And it was linked to a companion. A companion that under the present circumstances, had an unduly strong influence.


    Oscar noted that his crippled self was linked to a Pooka named Cyrdwynne. Cyrdwynne seemed to be a rather bloody-minded sort of being. Oscar was able to pick up several clues, as Cyrdwynne was not guarding himself against his companion.


    Oscar slowly realized that Cyrdwynne was wearing a very nasty magical slave collar. He would be unable to count on his other companion, at least until that collar was removed or nullified. And then the problem would lie in restraining the pooka¡¯s blood lust, and tempering his desire for revenge.


    Further careful probing allowed Oscar to realize that his other self sat at the centre of a busy enclosed market. In fact, the only thing literally keeping the market building¡¯s roof up was his/their dungeon powers. Then, there was the market¡¯s security. He/they controlled a baker¡¯s dozen of minotaurs and a score of kobolds.


    Carefully he withdrew his attention from Tarifax and settled into his core. He considered everything he learned carefully. He examined the templates for the minotaurs and kobolds. Oscar decided that the former had promise. He chuckled to himself and spawned a big, fiercely protective female minotaur. He examined his latest guardian with interest. Yes Sally would do nicely. His grandkids needed a nurse and protector and Sally would serve nicely. Now he just had to equip her. A barret light fifty and a desert eagle would be just the thing.


    * * * EARTH / ALASKA * * *


    Mandy Fallbrook clutched her briefcase to her chest as she waited to board the big helicopter. Several military men were also waiting, as were a couple of law enforcement people. Her mind seemed determined to go around in circles.


    She was desperately worried, it was good that the two children had been found, but they were in the clutches of an inhuman monstrosity. A thinking jewel. True it had been their grandfather, and the children¡¯s father had proved to be a totally unsuitable guardian. The things that had been found in their former home proved that. They must be suffering from trauma. She felt that they should be taken into care in order to ensure they had access to counselling. But their grandmother had proved to be uncaring, and she was under investigation as being an accomplice to the abuse.


    Then too, the dungeon core had a lawyer. From what she had been able to find, Mr Mason was one of those shadowy corporate lawyers. He seemed to belong body and soul to MagiTech and the other companies controlled by the robber baron, by Ms Silvestre, who had made herself a ruler on another world.


    Mandy ducked and shuffled to the door of the helicopter. One of the soldiers helped her to board it. She sank into one of the chairs, and almost mechanically she fastened the security harness. She spent most of the journey to Finder¡¯s Vale plotting ways of separating the children from their grandfather. She was, after all, convinced it would be for their own good. Humans belonged with humans, and not with monsters.


    And Finder¡¯s Vale was an abomination. It was new, most of the inhabitants had settled there after choosing to become monsters of various kinds after the disaster that was the System. According to her records there were two or three other children suffering at the hands of those deluded monsters. Maybe she could do something about them too.


    * * *Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.


    Captain Benally watched the snow covered wilderness out of the chopper¡¯s windows. He mulled over his orders. He was to secure the dungeon, it was obviously another linked one so the government wanted good relations with it. It was another potential gateway to another world.


    He glanced at the stout middle-aged bottle blond desperately clutching a briefcase to her chest. He suspected the woman would cause him problems, as her record was ¨C troubling. But she had connections. He smiled thinly and looked out at the magnificent mountains. He had connections too, and he suspected her connections were more fragile than she realized.


    * * * ALASKA ¨C FINDER¡¯S VALE * * *


    Easton Oxendine looked up when his son Vinny came racing into his store, shouting excitedly. East blinked and smiled at the incongruous sight of his son clad in jeans and a t-shirt. The glint of the new enchanted earring being the reason Vinny no longer needed furs to combat the cold.


    ¡°Hey slow down son, what has you so excited?¡± he asked indulgently.


    ¡°It¡¯s a flying bus. A bus, and it¡¯s flying over the snow,¡± exclaimed Vinny.


    ¡°This I have to see,¡± said East emerging from behind the counter. He walked towards the door of his store seeing his son¡¯s back disappear through it. He stopped once he reached the porch of his store, he looked west to where the snow covered road came into the village, and sure enough a strange looking vehicle was making its way in their direction. It looked a bit like a touring bus. It was powered by two caged pusher props at the rear. Its roof was flat and looked like a set of solar power cells.


    By the time it stopped in front of the general store, most of the village¡¯s inhabitants had gathered to meet it.


    A distinguished looking man, incongruously dressed in a lightweight suit stepped down from the vehicle. He made his way towards the general store even as two more well dressed individuals emerged from their flying coach. The two wolf beast folk looked round in interest.


    ¡°Good afternoon, I¡¯m Perry. I¡¯m Mr Waverley¡¯s lawyer. Would one of you kindly tell me where I can find him?¡±


    ¡°And why does Oscar need a lawyer?¡± enquired East.


    Perry smiled apologetically, ¡°That is for my client to know, I can only say that Mother agreed he needed my help.¡±


    East blinked, ¡°Mother?¡± he asked bemused.


    Perry grinned but didn¡¯t reply.


    East grunted, irritated. ¡°Very well, follow me lawyer man,¡± he said as he stepped down from his porch and headed towards the mine.


    Perry and his two guards followed the big man. And many of the villagers followed them. It didn¡¯t take long for the crowd to reach the Oscar¡¯s mine.


    * * *


    Oscar felt the invader¡¯s enter his domain. He recognised that three of them belonged to another dungeon core. It was a feeling he recognised from the memories he absorbed from his other self. He, somewhat nervously, sent his attention to inspect his visitors.


    And there, large as life, were two high level beastmen. And the avatar of some other dungeon spawned creature. Something he had never come across before, here or on Tarifax. In fact, he had thought only dungeons and gods could produce avatars.


    He cursed to himself at his glib acceptance of gods. He an atheist, well, an ex-atheist now he guessed.


    His visitors stopped after entering his domain. The avatar smiled and sent him a thought.


    ? Greetings Mr Waverley. I have the documentation appointing you your grandchildren¡¯s legal guardian. Mother insists that the work is pro bono. She was not amused at what¡¯s come out about this case. ?


    ? What are you? And by Mother, do you mean Blue Lagoon? ?


    ? I¡¯m one of Mother¡¯s AIs. My name is Perry Mason, and I¡¯m a lawyer amongst other things. And yes Mother is Blue Lagoon. ?


    Oscar felt stunned, ? An AI? An honest to god AI? ?


    ? No. An honest to Goddess AI if you will, but ¡®to god¡¯ no. ?


    ? Mr Mason? I know I asked about things on the exchange, but why? ?


    ? Please call me Perry Mr Waverley. You brought your grandchildren to Mother¡¯s attention. Mother took the opportunity to kill two birds with one stone. First, she wants the children safe and happy. Second, she wants the precedent of a dungeon core being recognised as a guardian, and parent. ?


    ? Um, well please call me Oscar. But they are my grandkids, and my ex won¡¯t give a damn. Why do I need help? ?


    ? Your ex was an accomplice in the children¡¯s treatment. Mother is not happy with her, she will be lucky if she ends up in jail. And the rat ¡¯folk discovered who the authorities are sending here to see if the children are safe and well. Thus my presence, and the presence of a squad of Silver Dolphin Security¡¯s best people. ?


    ? Do you truly think that is necessary Perry? ?


    ? Probably not. You are a US citizen after all, and the courts recognise that after Bet Your Life and Arena of Blood. But the army is on its way to secure another potential link to another world. Mother wants you to have options. ?


    * * *


    East and the villagers had stopped when Perry had stopped. They looked at him bemused at the sight.


    ¡°Why have you stopped lawyer man?¡± asked East.


    The bigger of the two wolf ¡¯folk grinned, ¡°He¡¯s chattin¡¯ with your friend the dungeon. It¡¯s not polite to just waltz into a strange dungeon after all.¡±


    ¡°But how? I thought only allies and the Voice could,¡± asked East.


    ¡°An¡¯ other dungeon cores an¡¯ their monsters, and then there are the paladins an¡¯ clerics of dungeon gods. Mind you I don¡¯t think there are any of those on Earth ¨C yet.¡±


    ¡°What!¡± exclaimed East.


    ¡°Look, more to the point, there are a bunch of soldier boys and an inteferin¡¯ social services type on the way. The bitch has the rep of bein¡¯ a tad over enthusiastic when it comes to takin¡¯ kids into care. If I was you, I¡¯d make sure my kids didn¡¯t catch her eyes ¨C she doesn¡¯t like ¡®monsters¡¯,¡± explained the wolf man.


    The villagers grumbled amongst themselves, and a couple of them slunk off.

 The Loner aka The Vengeful Dungeon (part 4 of 5)

    Tarifax and Earth ¨C World of The Misplaced Dungeon


    {Timeline: Nov 2019 / Feb 2020 ¨C MD duration from Ch. 130 to Ch. 144}


    * * * ALASKA ¨C FINDER¡¯S VALE * * *


    Captain Benally looked down at Finder¡¯s Vale from the circling helicopter. It hardly merited a name, consisting as it did of seven buildings, most of which were rather small. The main road into the place looked pretty much impassable. Not surprising under the circumstances with all the snow.


    The locals were looking up at them, there were two concentrations, one outside what he assumed was Waverley¡¯s played out mine, the other bunch were standing in the main road outside what he believed was Easton¡¯s General Store.


    The surprise was what looked like a malformed coach with two pusher props and a solar cell covered flat roof.


    ¡°Thank you Hal, you can land now,¡± stated Benally.


    Hal landed the big helicopter in a mostly snow free field under the coal black eyes of a carrot nosed snowman. As soon as the rotor ceased rotating, Benally led the way out of their transport. He noted with just a tinge of unease that most of the locals were carrying hunting rifles.


    ¡°Captain, that thing that looks like a malformed coach,¡± said Hal as he stepped out of his helicopter, ¡°I recognise it. It uses liftwood to fly. I thought it was down in Florida being evaluated by the FAA.¡±


    ¡°So, chances are good Ms Silvestre got here before us,¡± said Benally as scanned the scene.


    ¡°We¡¯re too far inland sir, Her people on the other hand...¡± said sheriff Grover.


    ¡°What do you mean, too far inland?¡±


    ¡°I had our people look into that young woman. She has never been seen far from the coast. At least not since the System manifested,¡± explained Grover.


    ¡°We might as well go and see what¡¯s going on, follow me,¡± suggested Benally as he made his way towards the group of suspicious locals standing in the street.


    The group of locals waited almost sullenly, not moving.


    Captain Benally smiled, ¡°Afternoon, we are here to speak with Mr Waverley, and Ms Fallbrook is here to verify that Vivian and Clay Danton are well.¡±


    From the looks of hostility that were cast at Mandy, Benally presumed that the locals were au fait with the woman¡¯s record.


    The locals looked at one another, and finally, a rugged weather beaten black haired woman stepped up as the group¡¯s spokesperson. ¡°The kids, they are happy here, they¡¯re all having fun playing in the snow, being kids. As for Oscar... Mr Waverley, you¡¯ll have to talk to his Voice up at the mine.¡±


    ¡°Where are the children?¡± asked Mandy looking about in distress.


    ¡°They¡¯re around here someplace, Sally and Bertie are keeping an eye on them,¡± replied the woman.


    After an awkward pause the entire group turned and led the way to the mine. Leaving Hal and a couple of his men to look after their helicopter, Benally led the rest of their party after the locals. They found the rest of the villagers standing around near the entrance o the mine.


    Mandy gasped in outrage, ¡°How dare you allow children out dressed like that! It IS winter!¡± she exclaimed outraged at the sight of the foursome watching them from the trees.


    Benally looked at Mandy and followed her gaze. The four children were clad in jeans and t-shirts. Their only concession to the weather were the stout boots they had on their feet.


    Grover snorted, ¡°Three of them are wearing earrings, I recognise those. Better than furs at keeping you warm. Filter the air too in town. Not really expensive either, considering.¡±


    ¡°Humph! Don¡¯t trust those newfangled things. Not been tested for long enough,¡± insisted Mandy. ¡°And what about the other boy?¡±


    ¡°He probably has a pendant,¡± suggested the sheriff.If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.


    Benally ignored them and headed towards the dungeon. ¡®How easily we accept these changes,¡¯ he thought to himself. ¡°Afternoon, can I speak to Mr. Waverley?¡±


    ¡°Sure Cap, just step into the mine and talk. He¡¯ll hear you. I¡¯ll relay his replies, so there will be a bit of a pause between your statements and mine,¡± explained East.


    ¡°Very well,¡± agreed Benally as he stepped into Oscar¡¯s domain. ¡°Mr. Waverley can you hear me?¡±


    After a minimal pause, East relayed Oscar¡¯s reply. ¡°Yes I can Captain Benally. And please call me Oscar, everyone does.¡±


    ¡°Thank you Oscar, but this is official, so I¡¯d really use Mr. Waverley. First let me assure you that the US recognises you as a citizen. There will be some changes, as we recognise you are... How can I put this... Housebound?¡±


    ¡°Well captain, thank you for that. What can I do for the USA? And will the government recognise my claim to my grandchildren?¡±


    ¡°In principal, however that will to a certain extent depend on Ms. Fallbrook of the CPS,¡± explained captain Benally.


    ¡°Not good enough,¡± said a new voice. Benally saw a well dressed man step into sight. ¡°Allow me to introduce myself, I¡¯m Mr. Waverley¡¯s lawyer, Perry Mason. And I know about the lady, this situation will be triggering all her prejudices.¡±


    Benally sighed internally, ¡°Nonetheless, I believe you will succeed. Your country has need of you sir. I am told you should be able to establish a portal to one of the other worlds.¡±


    There was a long pause. Then East spoke on Oscar¡¯s behalf. ¡°I am told that that is within my capabilities. However, my other self is bound and enslaved. He is maintaining a market in Casar Vitara on Tarifax. He is not powerful enough to rebel successfully. If you help him... Then...¡±


    Benally paused in thought. ¡°You are a citizen of the US. I feel sure that the government will object to any of its citizens being enslaved. But where is Casar Vitara?¡±


    East chuckled. ¡°Especially if you get a portal to another world out of it Heh? And that was I, not Oscar. Oscar says; at the moment any portal would be opened into a covered market in a town. Most decidedly not secure and there is the complication that freeing the other me¡¯s mind will break his magical bonds. Alarms will sound.¡±


    ¡°I will have to confer with Washington. I¡¯ll get back to you tomorrow. Mr Mason, have you anything to add?¡± asked Benally.


    ¡°No captain. I will make sure that Ms. Fallbrook doesn¡¯t get her claws on any of this localities children, any agreement you reach with Oscar is fine, so long as coercion is not used,¡± explained Perry.


    * * * MANDY FALLBROOK * * *


    Mandy watched the military rockheads heading off; she grabbed the sheriff and headed towards the woods, where the poor children were watching. Her heart ached for them, only four youngsters out here in the wilderness surrounded by monsters. And obviously being neglected, how else could one explain how they were dressed. That claptrap about warming amulets couldn¡¯t possibly justify this.


    As she approached the line of snow covered pines, the children retreated deeper into the woods.


    Mandy recognised the signs of abuse. They were scared of adults, poor things. She entered the woods and called out, ¡°You don¡¯t need to be afraid. I just want to speak with you.¡±


    The bigger of the boys shouted, ¡°We¡¯re not afraid.¡±


    Mandy¡¯s heart leapt into her throat when a huge timber wolf ghosted up to the children. Sheriff Grover cursed softly on recognising the wolf. The boy who had answered them placed his hand on the wolf¡¯s shoulder. ¡°Auntie Elspeth will keep us safe, won¡¯t you auntie?¡±


    The werewolf nodded and gave a warning growl.


    Grover froze when he spotted a deliberate movement in the shadow of one of trees. He examined the big minotaur woman holding a barret light fifty rifle at the ready. Grover noted that the big rifle didn¡¯t look big in her hands.


    Mandy stared at the werewolf. She gathered her courage and stepped forward. ¡°Please, we have to talk. I have to see if you are all safe and well.¡±


    Viv looked back at the minotaur, Sally smiled reassuringly. Viv looked back at the hard looking woman. ¡°I ¨C I¡¯ve never been better. Gramps has never hit us. We aren¡¯t hungry all the time neither, like we usta be. Gramps and auntie Sally love us.¡±


    ¡°Yeah,¡± added Clay, then he looked and sounded disgusted. ¡°And they make us log onto school every day. And on Sundays we have homework.¡± The other three giggled.


    ¡°Who¡¯s your aunt? I was unaware you had an aunt,¡± said Mandy. ¡°And you need schooling if you want to succeed in life,¡± approved Mandy.


    Viv pointed at the big minotaur lass. ¡°She is our aunt.¡±


    Sally spoke in an incongruously clear soprano. ¡°I¡¯m Sally Waverley. Oscar says he¡¯s my father. So Viv and Clay are beloved family. And I¡¯ll protect them with my life. You aren¡¯t taking them anywhere.¡±


    Another werewolf joined the children and glared at the two people that were looking to interrogate the children.


    Mandy swallowed bile as she realized that she wouldn¡¯t be getting anywhere. She took careful mental notes and a few surreptitious photographs with her brooch camera. After a few more failed attempts at conversation, Mandy and Grover withdrew.


    * * * EAST OXENDINE * * *


    East watched as the frustrated CPS woman emerged from the wood. The sheriff following her looked vaguely amused. They picked their way over the snow covered field and rejoined the military group.


    Captain Benally shook his hand. ¡°I¡¯ll be back in a day or two with an answer for Mr Waverley. I sure hope we will be able to help you.¡±


    East walked towards his store, accompanied by the captain.


    ¡°Mr. Mayor, where would you recommend we set up our post? It¡¯s SOP that we keep some people on hand ready to defend dungeon cores. Their abilities make them targets.¡±


    East regarded the captain carefully. ¡°Guess we have no choice? Much of the land is federal land, so I guess somewhere near the mine. You won¡¯t restrict access to our neighbour, will you?¡±


    Benally shook his head, ¡°Only if your friend goes rogue on us, and, I don¡¯t think he is the type.¡±


    East watched as their unwanted guests got back in their helicopter and took to the skies.

 The Loner aka The Vengeful Dungeon (part 5 of 5)

    Tarifax and Earth ¨C World of The Misplaced Dungeon


    {Timeline: Nov 2019 / Feb 2020 ¨C MD duration from Ch. 130 to Ch. 144}


    * * * ALASKA ¨C FINDER¡¯S VALE * * *


    Perry and East walked up to the Mine. Once they entered Oscar¡¯s domain they stopped and sat round the table in the new room near the entrance.


    ¡°Oscar,¡± said Perry, ¡°Mother has consulted with Lewis and Frog. She has examined several slave collars from Tarifax. She even purchased one from the Conimbriga Mage¡¯s Guild. One specifically to control a Pooka companion.


    ¡°It has one big flaw. If the dungeon core should absorb it, admittedly only possible when no strangers are present in the domain, then the companion would be freed.¡±


    ¡° And as everyone who enters is tagged as a friend... So why hasn¡¯t Cyrdwynne made the other me do that?¡± asked Oscar.


    ¡°Because the one who wears the collar is strictly prohibited from removing it,¡± replied Perry.


    ¡°Nasty,¡± observed East.


    ¡°Mmm, so I take over other me, then I absorb the collar. That could work... But can we trust Cyrdwynne?¡±


    East drummed his fingers on the table, ¡°I suspect you can trust him to want revenge. And you could always ask him if he wishes to remain your companion.¡±


    ¡°Might work,¡± mused Oscar. ¡°How can I provide a portal? The option is not available to me yet.¡±


    ¡°Lewis can open one for you. Once both ends are in your domain you will be able to maintain it. We just have to get someone to Casar Vitara with the appropriate talisman. I have one on the bus, but Lewis will need one on Tarifax also.¡±


    East cocked his head to the right. ¡°Lewis and not ¨C Mother?¡±


    ¡°We are too far from the sea for Mother,¡± said Perry.


    * * * TARIFAX ¨C CASAR VITARA * * *


    Iluak paused; he floated in the grey wintery sea and looked at the bleak shore. He snorted in contentment, and surged once more into motion. He angled to arrive at the pebbly beach he had spotted. He paused again, this time to observe the beach. He was satisfied to note that the only thing on the beach was an injured racoon that was being harassed by two seagulls. He surged ashore, scaring the two seagulls into flight.


    The Racoon cowered anew at the sight of the huge walrus. It watched as the walrus changed, becoming a big burly black haired man. Iluak stroked his walrus moustache; then he produced clothing from a storage device and got dressed. He looked at the bleeding racoon and sighed in resignation. He produced a small vial from his storage device and strode towards the racoon. He squatted next to it and tentatively stroked it.


    Then he held it firmly, opened its mouth and poured about half the content of the flask down its throat.


    Iluak watched as the healing potion did its work. He stroked the racoon once again, scratching it behind the ear. He nodded in satisfaction, rose, and starting walking inland.


    The racoon, surprised by the fact that it was no longer in pain, and hearing the cries of the seagulls, fled after its benefactor.


    Iluak quickly reached the sea road, he turned and tramped towards Casar Vitara. He merged quite well amongst the other people, mostly peasant farmers, on the road. He noted that several children seemed to be interested in him, or rather, on something behind him. He turned and saw the racoon. He shrugged, and resumed his way.


    He soon came to the impressive walls of Casar Vitara. The gates were open and the bored guards were letting everyone in. It took Iluak some three hours to fully explore the town. He had lunch courtesy of a pie vendor in the covered market. The racoon proved to be fond of mystery meat pies, and ended up with a collar.


    Iluak took a room at the Drunken Selkie. The room was adequate, and they didn¡¯t object to pets. That night, in his room, Iluak used his sat phone to report in.


    The following day he meandered about getting used to the town. He browsed the market, he enjoyed a fish stew for lunch.


    It was while he passing the part of the market that handled slaves, that his nose grabbed his attention. He slowed and examined his surroundings carefully. His nose was telling him that somewhere close there was a distressed female that smelled, ever so faintly, of the sea.


    Iluak narrowed it down to a small, somewhat plain looking ginger haired northerner. One of the northern barbarians, one lacking in any desired skills. He looked down at his racoon and sighed. ¡°Mother won¡¯t object,¡± he murmured to his new friend.


    Iluak was able to buy the little selkie cheaply. As soon as he got her back to his room he ripped off her slave collar. ¡°Can¡¯t abide slavery girl. You¡¯re free, far as I¡¯m concerned. Hope you¡¯ve got your hide well hidden.¡±


    * * * TARIFAX ¨C CONIMBRIGA * * *


    Captain Walter Benedek felt uncomfortable. The clothes he was wearing were strange, and he felt stupid in the archaic chainmail shirt. The ten men he had chosen had all been integrated by the System. It irked having to leave Sergeant Raymond behind, but the man had yet to see the screens.The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.


    All their gear resided in their newly acquired storage devices, and they all were wearing rings to filter the foul atmosphere to be found on Tarifax.


    He was slightly worried about the gold that was also residing in his storage device. The mission was ¨C unusual. They were here on this backwards world to free a US citizen from slavery. A citizen who just happened to be a dungeon core. All so the brass could get their hands on a inter world portal. Benedek suspected that if it wasn¡¯t for the portal, the brass would have ignored Waverley¡¯s plight.


    They were met by two agents at the other end of the portal that linked the dungeon in Louisiana with Conimbriga on Tarifax. Claude Melancon and Susan Wilkins had welcomed them with a mixture of relief and frustration. The four local guides looked at them with approval. Benedek had been surprised by the presence of the telepathic winged cat.


    They had been hurried through the town and straight to the airport. They were currently on a large smoke belching passenger air ship. It reminded Benedek of the old Mississippi steamboats.


    After two days they changed to a less comfortable air ship for the last leg of their journey. This one was obviously specialised for cargo rather than passengers.


    * * * ALASKA ¨C ANCHORAGE * * *


    Mandy Fallbrook stared blankly at her laptop¡¯s screen. She was having difficulty understanding the information displayed there. Two judges she knew well, and liked, had been disbarred. She could not accept that... No he couldn¡¯t possibly be guilty of that...


    At least her report had resulted in a councillor being selected to interview the children of that appalling settlement. Guy van der Camp was not someone she trusted, but even she had to admit he was honest. He was just too trusting. Gullible even.


    Then her fingers blurred on the keyboard as Mandy called up her notes and elaborated a new, and detailed report. Hopefully van der Camp would pay attention to her points. Surely he would, he was a human after all, not one of the monsters.


    * * * ALASKA ¨C FINDER¡¯S VALE * * *


    Once again captain Benally watched the snow covered wilderness out of the chopper¡¯s windows. This time there were three big choppers. And they were being escorted. No doubt because of the team from the Department of State.


    Once again the locals congregated in the snowy street to watch them arrive. Once again the children weren¡¯t in evidence, and all the adults were armed. As he got out of hiss helicopter, Benally noted that the councillor, van der Camp did not generate the hostility Fallbrook had. The lawyer was still present, leaning up against the open door of his peculiar vehicle.


    Benally had studied everything the FAA had on the example they were evaluating. The ¡®Flying Coach¡¯ had an incredible range, but it was relatively slow and unmanoeuvrable. Though he cautioned himself that this example might be different.


    After introducing the negotiating team to East Oxendine and Oscar Waverley, Benally watched the contingent from the United States Army Corps of Engineers as they set about creating the future base to protect the dungeon and portal. Benally¡¯s orders stated he was to supervise the work, but he had decided that that meant, watch the professionals do the work.


    * * * TARIFAX ¨C CASAR VITARA * * *


    On their arrival at Casar Vitara Benedek was surprised to be met by an odd couple. Iluak was a massive man, heavily built and over two meters tall, Sandaara was waiflike and was less than one meter sixty tall. When they first saw them Sandaara was carrying a racoon and standing very close to Iluak, as if seeking his protection.


    Iluak presented Benedek with a crystal amulet. ¡°Someone needs to invoke this in the dungeon¡¯s domain so that the portal can be established.¡±


    Benedek looked round cautiously as he accepted the small crystal knick-knack. ¡°Anything else I should know?¡±


    ¡°Make sure the other amulet is in Oscar¡¯s domain on Earth,¡± said Iluak. ¡°The Oscar on this world is in charge of the Covered Market. It¡¯s the town¡¯s principal market. The owner rents space, stalls and shops. The town¡¯s main slave mart is located in the market¡¯s east quadrant. I believe it¡¯s presence is mandated by the town council. I have heard the market¡¯s owner is not happy at having to host the slave sellers.


    ¡°Not because Rupinius Baltor objects to slavery, but because of security concerns, and because his rent is regulated by the council. He could make more if he was free to rent the space to whomever he wished.¡±


    ¡°Do you believe this guy would sell us the market and Oscar? Or just Oscar?¡± asked Claude.


    ¡°Maybe, but it would be ruinously expensive. And the moment you freed Oscar the alarm would sound. You must understand that the locals are rightfully terrified of a free dungeon,¡± said Iluak.


    ¡°So what do you suggest we do,¡± asked a frustrated captain Benedek.


    ¡°Mother suggested capturing Oscar¡¯s core in conjunction with Earth¡¯s Oscar freeing his other self and liberating this companion. Then getting out of town and finding a cave somewhere along the shore to set up Oscar¡¯s new dungeon, and giving you lot a free hand to set up a fortified bridgehead.¡±


    * * *


    A fortnight later all was ready. Oscar had conferred ¨C via the Dungeon Exchange ¨C with various others who had freed their other selves from Azurea¡¯s chains. He was ready, he infiltrated his other¡¯s sleeping mind and carefully took control of what he could.


    He focused on Cyrdwynne¡¯s collar. Then he absorbed it. The act of outright rebellion broke his other self¡¯s chains. All the spells controlling him and Cyrdwynne broke.


    The Town¡¯s bells rang the alarm. ¡°Rogue Dungeon ¨C Free Dungeon¡± they rang. In the market chaos ensued as after a stunned moment, everyone who could, stampeded for the exits.


    Cyrdwynne froze in shock when his slave collar vanished, even as the alarm bells clamoured the alarm. Then his companion, his dungeon sounding very different from his bound self, spoke in his mind.


    ? Cyrdwynne, I have backing, I will be leaving Casar Vitara to create my own dungeon. Do you wish to remain my companion, or do you want to part ways with me now? ?


    Cyrdwynne watched, shocked as the two minotaurs who habitually guarded the heart room of the market moved without his orders. They opened the heavy doors and allowed several strangely armed humans in. The one with a winged cat on his shoulder carefully used a silken cloth to pick up his Oscar.


    ¡°I want my revenge on Rupinius Baltor. Then I want to go home. Release me from the bounds please,¡± explained Cyrdwynne with a low growl.


    ? So be it Cyrdwynne. I release you from our bond. ?


    ? Let it be so, ? confirmed Cyrdwynne before collapsing into his chair as the bond parted. Cyrdwynne watched bemused as the men left the room. They were hurrying.


    Cyrdwynne grinned savagely when he realized he still had access to the dungeon¡¯s monsters. His control was far cruder than it had been, but it was more than adequate to unleash them on all invaders. He rose and hurried towards Rupinius¡¯ office.


    Benedek and his men raced after the native guide Ax, even as Ax made good use of Silk¡¯s scouting. They blended right in as they joined the fleeing customers and workers. They were well on their way towards the north entrance when the Kobolds and minotaurs who had been standing about woke and started to attack everyone they could reach.


    As they left the entrance the market¡¯s dungeon domain collapsed and the majestic roof started to collapse. They kept hurrying, passing city guards on their way to suppress the rogue dungeon. They found the town gates open and unguarded. They left the city with several other panicked locals.


    They were lucky and had no trouble crossing the bridge over the river that separated the Northern Lands from the former Empire.


    From there it was a two hour walk to the cave they had selected as a potential dungeon and outpost.

 Old Snakey

    Earth ¨C World of The Misplaced Dungeon


    {Timeline: January / February 2020 ¨C MD ends with Ch. 143}


    Donald Serpiente directed his wheelchair out of Dr Bellwether¡¯s office. He bitterly contemplated the coming end of everything. He made his way to the lift; he took it to the garage.


    Half an hour later, he was gritting his teeth against the pain of his cancer, and even worse, of the death of all his dreams. In his mind he kept hearing Dr Bellwether¡¯s raspy tone saying, ¡®I¡¯m sorry Donald, the tests are in, you have less than two months left.¡¯


    Letting out a sigh of disgust, Donald set his adapted car into motion, and eased his way out of the garage. He squinted slightly at the bright sun and fumbled his sunglasses on. He drove, almost robotically, instinctively.


    With a start he realized that, out of habit, he had driven to Falstaff Middle School. He drove into the parking lot and parked his car. He looked at the school he had been principal of, for over twenty years. He had had been forced to retire when his cancer had spread. It had been nearly two years since he had been here last.


    The change was shocking. He looked at his former school with growing disgust. It was amazing what a difference two years could do. Galbraith, his successor in the post, had let things run down badly. He freely acknowledged that the school board were a bunch of misers, but¡ª There was no excuse for this. Yes the place had been a bit ¨C tired ¨C under his management. But it had been an OK school.


    Now the gym roof was missing a load of tiles, in fact it had a hole in it, and not a small one. Which probably meant it was unusable. Several windows in the main building were broken, and the whole place needed a coat of paint. And a damn good clean. The outdoor basketball court looked bad, the floor of the pitch needed fixing and the basket backboards were severely dilapidated.


    Donald gritted his teeth at a fresh wave of pain and fumbled out two pills. He dry swallowed them, and sat back in his seat with his eyes closed. He waited impatiently for them to kick in.


    The hallucinations were back, he could see his old friend William Kato. Donald grimaced as in his mind; his old friend resumed his monologue, about his experiences since he moved to Hawaii. Donald tried to cast off the visions but failed. He remembered his last phone call with Will. Was it only a few days ago? He had been going on about one of his pupils. Apparently the girl had dropped out recently, not needing to continue her education to make a living.


    Will had been frustrated about that. Donald had gained the impression that Will had been both relieved and upset. Will regretted having a pupil with a guaranteed scholarship drop out but ¨C the girl had known how to game the System ¨C in fact according to Will she tended to refer to it as Bluey, as if it was alive.


    And naturally, as he was thinking the System, of Bluey, his hallucinations ushered in the System¡¯s screens. What had old Kato said about the girl, about dungeons? Oh yes...


    ¡°Hey Bluey, can dungeons be something other? Could I take over that school? Become... I don¡¯t know... the ¨C heart ¨C of the school. Provide maintenance and protection, and above all ¨C learning,¡± panted Donald.


    Donald felt as if something ¨C spiritually massive ¨C examined him with surprise.


    ? A dungeon core can be many things. But it is always the heart and soul of a dungeon. ?


    ¡°Would I have to kill? Or could I protect and teach?¡±


    ? Your growth would be slower. Many on this world have avoided killing. ?


    ¡°Like the girl on Maui?¡±


    ? ... ?


    Donald sensed that ¡®Bluey¡¯ was amused by something. He gained the impression that ¡®the girl on Maui¡¯ was not as innocent as he and Will had assumed.


    ¡°Then how?¡± asked Donald.


    ? They hide their deeds, and there are others. They are however far weaker than the ones that kill. ?


    Donald tried to think things through. He looked at the wreck of the school he had dedicated his professional career on, and felt his anger mounting. He blinked tears away, his mind still feeling sluggish. He laboriously unloaded his wheelchair and dropped into it with relief. He was thankful for the fact that the pupils had all already gone home for the day.


    Donald set his wheelchair into motion and headed into the school grounds.


    He was surprised to meet Meyer. The school¡¯s netball coach smiled when she saw him. Then her face dropped as she really saw him. ¡°Hiya Donald, how ya doing Snakey?¡±


    Donald snorted at the old nickname his former pupils had inflicted on him. ¡°You¡¯re looking good coach. What in hell¡¯s name has happened here. The bastards on the committee are a bunch of tight fisted misers but...¡±This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.


    Meyer winced and bit back her habitual answer. It was obvious to her that old Snakey was hurting, and anything but well. Figuring he deserved an honest answer, Meyer explained, ¡°I don¡¯t think it¡¯s the committee¡¯s fault exactly. Gallbreath is always complaining, but he has taken two foreign holidays, and he has a brand new Porsche. And he¡¯s still a snappy dresser.¡±


    Donald looked at his old friend, his thoughts might be foggy, but he was not stupid. Coach was more than hinting that his successor, the man who had all but pushed him out of the school was a thief. And that he was stealing from children ¨C children, he, Snakey still considered his.


    They ended up in Meyer¡¯s ¡®office¡¯, the interior of the school was as depressing as the exterior. The more he saw, the more determined Donald became. He just had to do something. He decided to gamble. He had nothing to loose after all... Just two more weeks or so of increasing pain.


    It took Donald a lot of effort, but he managed to convince Meyer. Though Donald suspected that in the end she was only convinced by the knowledge that he was going to do it with or without her help.


    In the end Meyer used her personal tablet to find out everything that was available on dungeons and dungeon cores while Donald used the System.


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry Meyer, you know I would never hurt the kids. Give one or two of them a good scare... That yes... And only if the little monster in question deserves it, But not hurt.¡±


    Meyer looked at her friend and sighed. ¡°And how do you plan to communicate with us. If you find evidence of what we suspect... How will you communicate?¡±


    ¡°I could make you the dungeon¡¯s Voice Coach.¡±


    ¡°From what I found online, that is a two edged sword. And anyway, I haven¡¯t seen the screens yet.¡±


    ¡°You will Coach, you will... Everyone will, sooner or later. Bluey is persistent.¡±


    Donald called up the System¡¯s screens. ¡°OK Bluey, let¡¯s get on with this. I want my race to be Dungeon Core. I really do.¡±


    ? Done ?


    Meyer watched in disbelief as the air around her former boss and friend seemed to shimmer and was replaced by a small spherical diamond. She stared at the incongruous sight of the diamond resting on the seat of an advanced wheelchair.


    Mana swirled thickly as Donald established the core of his domain and Meyer started to see the much talked about blue screens.


    ? Congratulations on having chosen to become a dungeon core, you may choose one starting monster type. ?


    ? I choose Borribles. ?


    ? ? ... searching ... please confirm your choice ¨C Borribles yes/no ?


    ? Yes ?


    ? confirmed ¨C Borribles ?


    ? Bluey, I wish to offer my friend Coach Meyer the position of my Voice. ?


    Meyer meanwhile was dealing with her own integration. She had, like many others, studied the possibilities. She was working the screens frantically. Like many she was seduced by the reported lifespan of the elven race.


    Then she was jarred back to the world by a screen reading:


    ? Do you wish to become the Voice of the Dungeon Core known as Donald Serpiente or Snakey ¨C yes/no ?


    Meyer, regarded the message. Then slowly she reached out and stabbed the ¡®yes¡¯ with a finger.


    Snakey knew instantly when the link to his Voice snapped into being. He explored it cautiously. He knew instantly that Coach was now an elf. And that she would be growing a good thirty centimetres taller during the next few days, just as hair would change from its mousy brown to a vibrant green.


    ? Congratulations Coach. You¡¯d better put me in a drawer, then take my keys and drive my car somewhere. You can keep it if you want. I won¡¯t need it any more after all. Use the cash in my wallet towards your new wardrobe. See you tomorrow. ?


    * * *


    First thing Snakey did was to expend his initial allocation of mana to claim the small room he found himself in, followed by part of the gym it was attached to. He then explored the functions that were now open to him.


    The Dungeon Exchange Blog surprised him, when he found if was already fairly active. Curious he introduced himself and ventured a couple of questions.


    Falstaff Middle School: Hi. I¡¯m err, Snakey. I¡¯m newly established. I used to be the Principal of this school and I want to save it from my thieving successor.


    Alligator Haven: Welcome bro. Gator and Swampy here.


    Blackrock (cmp): A school! Are you for real?


    Weasel-hame: Hey, don¡¯t mind him... He¡¯s just a little uptight.


    Falstaff Middle School: Look, I know Galbraith is stealing from the school. Worse the place is so run down it¡¯s becoming dangerous for the pupils.


    Alligator Haven: Hey! Monster Mama you there? Youse needed girl...


    Blue Lagoon (cmp): I¡¯ll get her. Snakey, do you need a companion or have you already picked one up? What monsters have you got?


    Falstaff Middle School: Borribles, and no I don¡¯t have a companion yet. Any chance of getting one that can double as a magic teacher?


    Blue Lagoon: *Sigh* You guys who choose dungeon core on Earth are just too trustin¡¯ of the law. You should pick something that has the potential of evolving to stop adventurers dead. Try please to guard your cores and not trust in the good will of strangers.


    Blue Lagoon: Mycroft is checkin¡¯ Snakey. I can recommend a couple of possible teachers, but they would be mine. Their loyalty would be divided.


    Falstaff Middle School: How do I get an Avatar? I figure I could claim the cancer entered remission. Then I could resume the post of Principal.


    Blue Lagoon: Up to now I¡¯ve been doin¡¯ it for the kids. I could gift you with an Avatar but... You would owe me a big, and I mean BIG favour. Miracles cost Snakey, and it would bring you to the attention of your god.


    Weasel-hame: My other self has memories of the Guild inspecting his core. Surely that happened to you?


    Blue Lagoon: The only beings who have seen one of my cores are my companions Trisha and Jerica, and my guardians.


    Falstaff Middle School: Kato really hasn¡¯t a clue about you Ms Silvestre, has he? And I¡¯ll risk it. If you can grant me an Avatar that¡¯ll be able to pass as human.


    Blue Lagoon: You know Kato? How ¡¯bout sea-human. You can create a sea cavern to keep yourself healthy. Or Weresnake?


    Falstaff Middle School: Weresnake seems appropriate, somehow.


    * * *


    Snakey¡¯s attention was jerked back to his domain when a presence manifested itself. His dungeon senses told him that a god was present.


    ? Donald Serpiente, also known as Snakey, I hereby grant you the use of a weresnake as an extra Avatar. Bluey please note I do NOT claim this one¡¯s allegiance. That remains with his God. ?


    ? ting ¨C so noted ?


    ? Luck Snakey, You¡¯ll have¡¯ta scramble an¡¯ risk your neck outside your domain to accomplish all you wish. Mycroft will be letting loose the dogs of the law on Monday. Galbraith is toast, or will be Monday. ?


    And then a shaken Snakey knew he was alone again.


    * * *


    Father Emanuel Dombrowski woke knowing he had to visit Falstaff Middle School and meet someone named Donald Serpiente.

 Jaitor the Magnificent

    Parthia ¨C World of The Misplaced Dungeon


    {Timeline: June 2019 ¨C MD approximately Ch. 104}


    Jaitor stared at the closed door to his establishment. He fingered the beautifully finished books on his table. They were identical to each other, and their nonsense script was neat and crisp. The diagrams he recognised, they were the same as those in his book.


    Then there was the picture of him and his shop on the back page. It was extremely lifelike. He picked up the skill crystal the little man had left with the books. He studied it carefully. As far as he could make out it was as advertised, a skill crystal with a complete language and all that implied. Potentially, granting a completely new way of looking at the world.


    Jaitor then perused the contract the little man, Daniel, had left him and hummed thoughtfully.


    Rather absently he stored the bag of coins, the contract and the books in one of his many storage devices, before donning his fashionable cloak. He pocketed the skill crystal, and left his shop, making sure to lock the door and flick the sign on the door to read ¡®closed¡¯.


    He made his way to the Central Plaza. He smiled and nodded at those of his acquaintances and friends he met along the way, but he didn¡¯t stop to talk. Once he arrived at the Central Plaza he paused, looking around, then taking a deep breath he made his way to the Street of the Guilds.


    He walked past the huge elaborate building that housed the Weaver¡¯s Guild and shortly came to the small, humble looking brick edifice, that served as the home of the Enchanter¡¯s Guild. Jaitor entered, he ignored the marble floors and discrete artwork, even as he ignored the receptionist at the front desk.


    He climbed the sweeping stairs, not seeing the sour look the receptionist gave him. He barely hesitated after his brief knock, before barging into the office of his friend, the Guild¡¯s treasurer.


    Ruufous shot him an amused look, ¡°What¡¯s got into you Jaitor? I¡¯ve not seen you this agitated since our Journeyman exams.¡±


    Jaitor stopped abruptly, looking around in surprise and doing a good impression of a landed fish. ¡°Um, sorry old friend ¨C but...¡±


    ¡°But what?¡± grinned Ruufous.


    Jaitor drew in a deep breath, then produced the two books and placed them carefully on his friend¡¯s desk. Beside them he placed the skill crystal and the contract he had been offered, and finally, the bag of coins. Then he dropped into one of Ruufous¡¯ visitor¡¯s chairs.


    * * *


    After examining the items on his desk, reading through the contract carefully and counting the cash Ruufous looked up thoughtfully.


    ¡°Well, are you going to sign this? You do realise a legitimate contract with a dungeon is enforced by the System. Though I¡¯ve never heard of anything like this.¡±


    Jaitor stared at his friend, ¡°A dungeon?¡± he asked.


    Ruufous grinned ruefully. ¡°Jaitor, my friend, how is it you haven¡¯t heard that Mary Silvestre is Blue Lagoon¡¯s guiding intelligence?¡±


    Jaitor rubbed his chin. And, somehow he looked happier. ¡°So this nonsense about another world ¨C has to be true?¡± Then he reached for one of the pens lying on his friends desk, dipped it in the inkwell and scrawled his signature on the contract.Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there.


    ? ting: contract accepted ?


    The two men froze for a moment, staring at each other.


    ¡°Congratulations old friend,¡± said Ruufous. ¡°You realize we are going to have all the officers of the guild who happen to be in the building here soon. They are going to want to know what you just signed. It¡¯s not every day the System witnesses a contract so publicly.¡±


    Jaitor stared at the contract for a few seconds, then he reached for the skill crystal and activated it. He sat back in his chair and closed his eyes as he endured the familiar ache that always accompanied a major skill implantation via skill crystal.


    * * *


    Falabela the Orator was snoozing in her office, the Guild master of Drakoton¡¯s Enchanter¡¯s Guild was leaning back in her chair with her feet on her desk when she was rudely awakened.


    ¡°Breke-ke-kex Coax Coax,¡± blared the jadeite ornamental frog that had been sitting on the windowsill of her office for years.


    Dropping her feet to the ground, and grabbing the desk in a successful attempt to prevent her chair from going over backwards, Falabela breathed deeply hoping to steady her heartbeat.


    ¡°Breke-ke-kex Coax Coax,¡± blared the enchanted ornament once again.


    Cursing her luck, Falabela rose to her feet and went to shut the racket off. She noted the three letter code showing on the carved lily pad that formed the base of the ornament. She slid the small notepad from under the ornamental statuette, and checked the code.


    Falabela put the notebook back where it belonged and left her office. She collected her private secretary and headed for the stairs. As she passed the deputy guild master¡¯s office, that worthy emerged. ¡°Guild Master, was that the System message alarm? What...¡±


    ¡°Our dear Treasurer is involved somehow. I¡¯m on my way to see the old goat now,¡± stated Falabela as she started to descend the stairs. Beltix hurried to follow her.


    * * *


    Ruufous looked at his friend as he sagged in his chair. He rose and went to rummage in one of the cabinets that lined the walls of his office. He picked up a small anti-pain potion, shaking it vigorously, he moved towards Jaitor and handed it to him.


    Jaitor looked at the small potion bottle that he was now holding. He pulled the cork and downed the potion with a shudder. He placed the empty bottle on Ruutous¡¯ desk and accepted the glass of water his friend was now offering.


    ¡°Thanks old friend, those damn potions seem to taste worse every time I take one.¡±


    ¡°Careful with that skill crystal Jaitor. It hasn¡¯t crumbled or dimmed,¡± said Ruufous.


    Jaitor looked at the crystal he was still holding. ¡°Here Ruufous, you might as well have it, I make you a gift of it.¡±


    It was at that point that door to Ruufous¡¯ opened and Guild Master Falabela arrived at the head of a small party of Guild officials, and a few curious passers by.


    ¡°Ruufous, what is going on? Why are you making System regulated contracts with an intelligent dungeon core? And how is it possible outside the dungeon¡¯s domain?¡±


    Ruufous gazed at a visibly agitated Falabela. ¡°Not me Guild Master. The guilty party is Jaitor the so called Magnificent.¡±


    Jaitor shot his friend a fulminating glare. Then he stood and bowed to Falabela. ¡°Earlier today, I was approached by a small man who went by the name of Daniel. I presume he was a representative of the dungeon core. He handed me two books in a foreign language, a contract and a skill crystal. Oh, and some money.


    ¡°I came to discuss things with Ruufous. And, well, I signed the contract. That contract,¡± Jaitor pointed to the contract that was still sitting on the desk.


    ¡°May I?¡± asked Falabela, as she picked it up and started reading it. Once she finished it she passed it to Beltix. ¡°That will have to be filed, make two official copies, one for Jaitor and the other for the Adventurer¡¯s Guild. They are the ones who are in charge of dealing with dungeons.¡±


    Beltix, who had just finished reading the contract, nodded. ¡°It will be done as you command... I wonder if this Mary Silvestre, would be interested in some other of our works...?¡±


    Ruufous looked at Beltix with speculation, Jaitor did so with indignation.


    ¡°What should we do with this skill crystal Guild Master. I am fairly sure it still has three charges left,¡± asked Ruutous.


    ¡°It includes some interesting mathematical concepts. You should use it Ruufous,¡± insisted Jaitor.


    * * *


    That evening, back in his home, Jaitor finished leafing through the solitary copy of his translated book that remained his. The other copy now resided in the secure section of the Guild¡¯s library.


    ¡°Not badly done at all, I wonder if those substitutions would work here on Parthia...¡±


    Jaitor rose and collected his Principals of Enchanting for Journeymen. He tapped a nervous finger on the cover of his only other book. ¡°No Beltix, if anyone is going to get published on another world, it is going to be me,¡± murmured Jaitor to himself.

 School Tales

    Earth ¨C World of The Misplaced Dungeon


    {Timeline: February / March 2020 ¨C MD from Ch. 144}


    * * * FATHER EMANUEL DOMBROWSKI * * *


    Father Emanuel lay in his bed staring at the ceiling of his room as he pondered this new certainty. He had never heard of the Falstaff Middle School. He finally swung his feet out of his bed and headed for his bathroom. The first thing to do, he decided, was to do an Internet search for the school and for a Donald Serpiente.


    After his usual, and rather substantial breakfast, Father Emanuel spent a somewhat frustrating hour on his Internet search. He prayed for patience as his large fingers managed to hit several wrong keys. Still, he was happy enough when he was making his way to his church.


    As he entered the church of Saint Ivo of Kermartin, father Emanuel crossed himself, and went to pray at the foot of the altar. He relaxed in the familiar surroundings of his church, and basked in the calming regard of the Christ on his cross.


    After a brief prayer asking God to pardon his Bishop, and to help that troubled man to find God, Father Emanuel explained that he had taken a week¡¯s holiday, and that, a week on Monday he would make the one hour drive needed to get to LA and the Falstaff Middle School.


    He bowed his head and waited for any reply. Not receiving one, he explained that the Bishop, despite being a kindly man, had lost his belief. And thus had not allowed him to leave for LA any earlier.


    After another prayer for the soul of his Bishop, and one for the soul of Donald Serpiente, Father Emanuel went about his normal day-to-day business.


    * * * SNAKEY ¨C DONALD SERPIENTE * * *


    Donald Serpiente parked in the basement parking, he grinned at the change in himself since his last visit. He took the lift and walked into the waiting room of Dr Bellwether¡¯s practice. He smiled at the look of astonishment on Suzie¡¯s face. He gave her a brief hello, and took a chair when she acknowledged him. He picked up one of the dog-eared magazines on offer for the entertainment of the patients.


    Surprisingly it was only a few days old, Snakey flicked past the principal story, something about the sensational murder of some bigwig in one of the troubled Central American republics.


    ¡°Donald, Dr Bellwether will see you now. I¡¯m really glad to see you looking so well. Good luck,¡± said Suzie with a smile.


    Snakey grinned at her, ¡°Thanks Suzie. If you get a chance to be integrated, make sure to ensure your new self is healthy.¡±


    Snakey knocked briefly and entered Dr Bellwether¡¯s consulting room. ¡°Morning doctor, I lucked out, I got integrated by the System. I found a way of choosing healthy. It seems to have worked. I need you to see if it truly worked, and to give me the all clear.¡±


    Dr Bellwether stared at the man, his patient, who had been at death¡¯s door two days previous. He tried to make sense of what Donald had just said. He came to his feet and offered his hand. ¡°Donald, I sincerely hope you are correct. Please allow me to look you over.¡±


    * * *


    It had been an eventual fortnight. Donald Serpiente had endured a battery of medical tests and obtained the all clear. Officially his cancer was in complete remission. As for principal Galbraith, he had been arrested for fraud and misappropriation of funds, much to the joy of the majority of his pupils.


    Donald had written to the members of the board of governors, informing them of his recovery and asking if the post of principal was available. He cited his record, and the fact that he believed he could turn the school around for little more than he had been accustomed to requisitioning for maintenance.


    After a brief, almost pro-forma interview Snakey was once more the principal of Falstaff Middle School. He arrived for his first day back on the job better informed than either his staff or pupils expected.


    On the dungeon front, Snakey had finished claiming, and fixing, the gym and the best part of the main school building. He had also excavated two rooms under the gym to act as his home and castle. Two Borribles now made the outer chamber their home.


    * * * SHADOWMAGE DONA MARGARITA * * *


    A small informally dressed cat ¡¯folk woman strutted into the administration office of the Falstaff Middle School. She had sandy coloured fur and large alert ears. Her long silky black tipped tail had three dark rings.Love what you''re reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on.


    She was watched attentively by a nervous looking boy, and a large bulky man clutching a missal. They were seated on shiny new chairs, obviously waiting to see the principal.


    The young cat woman grinned at the woman sitting at the front desk. ¡°Hi, I¡¯m here to see Snakey. Mother sent me. I¡¯m Dona Margarita.¡±


    For just a moment Gretchen Thornburg gaped at this unexpected visitor. Then recovering herself, she glared quellingly at the sniggering boy, and said; ¡°Mr. Serpiente is busy Ms Margarita. Is this about one of our pupils?¡±


    Donna giggled, ¡°No. Snakey asked Mother to find him a magic teacher. I¡¯m whom she came up with. I even have one of those green card thingies.¡±


    Gret goldfished, ¡°Your English is very good Ms Margarita, but you look very young to be a mage.¡±


    ¡°Only a small minority of mages have long white beards,¡± grinned Dona. ¡°And I¡¯m a master mage. Certified as such by the Mage¡¯s Guild on Parthia,¡± she flicked an ear briefly. ¡°So are you going to announce me to Snakey, and put the poor thing out of his misery?¡±


    ¡°P-Parthia? You¡¯re an Alien?¡±


    Dona smiled sweetly, ¡°does it look like I¡¯ve got an exoskeleton?¡±


    ¡°Please take a seat Ms Margarita, I will inform Mr Serpiente that you are here to see him.¡±


    Dona turned, nodded at her attentive audience and selected a chair.


    * * * SNAKEY ¨C DONALD SERPIENTE * * *


    Gret waited until Dona had seated herself, then she went to have a word with Donald. She knocked briskly on his door and entered. ¡°Donald, there¡¯s a young cat girl waiting to see you. She¡¯s rather flippant and she claims you asked her mother for a magic teacher. Then the Priest is still waiting and Tommy has been sent to see you again.¡±


    Snakey felt as if a weight had been lifted off his shoulders. The powerful mage he had felt enter his domain was not hostile. The cleric was still a mystery. And Tommy was getting to be a pest.


    Then he realized Gret was still waiting for him to respond. Not wanting to worry her, he smiled and said, ¡°What¡¯s Tommy done this time? Will we need to inform his parents?¡±


    ¡°The usual Donald. Pestering the girls and disrupting class.¡±


    Snakey sighed. ¡°Contact his parents please Gret. No. Send in the mage girl, I¡¯ll see her first. Tell the priest I¡¯ll see him next. Let¡¯s let Tommy sweat for a bit longer.¡±


    Gret nodded and exited the office.


    Shortly after she left Dona waltzed in. ¡°G¡¯day Snakey, M¡¯ name¡¯s Dona. Mother tells me you need me. But you really need to finish claiming this place. And you also need to get yourself some decent guardians.¡±


    Snakey snorted, ¡°Confident, aren¡¯t you? Do you have a truth spell? Do you mind casting it on young Tommy? And I have two guardians in the room next to my core.¡±


    Dona grinned. ¡°Why, yes I am. You are too young to be much of a challenge. It¡¯s lucky you¡¯re allied to Mother, and that she approves of you. I take it I¡¯ve got the job?¡±


    Snakey spread his hands helplessly, ¡°Yes. I can sense your power. You scared me spitless when you rode your bike into my domain.¡±


    Dona smiled blindingly, ¡°It¡¯s beautiful, it is just like Frog¡¯s. A classic Harley Davidson. I¡¯ve got an anti-theft ward on it, just in case. I¡¯ll go and have a look ¡¯round while you see the priest. That is unless you want me to stay close. Not that a low level Priest like him should cause you problems.¡±


    * * *


    Snakey watched the cat girl sashay out of his office. Maybe this idea was a mistake, but it was too late now. Thankfully he was no longer human or Dona¡¯s presence would conspire to drop his IQ by several points. He pitied his male teachers, well with the exception of Frederick.


    He noted that Dona stepped into some shadows in the outer office and faded from sight. Even he had difficulty tracking her in his domain. He alerted Jack and Jill and sent them to shadow his visitor. Then, of course he had to summon two more Borribles to take their place as guardians.


    ¡°Enter,¡± he said at the knock. He looked up to see the priest enter his office. The man was huge, and most of it was muscle. ¡°Please come in father, please sit. Do you want coffee?¡±


    ¡°I would love one, thank you principal Serpiente.¡±


    ¡°Please call me Donald father,¡± said Snakey as he rose to prepare two coffees. He returned to his desk and placed one in front of father Emanuel, along with a plate of cookies.


    Father Emanuel smiled and took one of the cookies with pleasure. ¡°Now then Donald, can you explain what is going on. I sense you mean well... But... A dungeon?¡±


    Snakey felt an instant of alarm, before realizing the man in front of him did not, by himself, constitute a threat. ¡°I was dying father. And when I saw my old school... And heard what Galbraith was doing... well I was desperate.¡±


    Father Emanuel smiled politely and sipped his coffee as he waited.


    Snakey licked suddenly dry lips. ¡°Then I remembered what a friend of mine, the vice-principal of a school on Maui had to say about Bluey... err, that is, the System, and one of his pupils. And, well, I just knew this was both possible and...¡± Snakey looked at the man sitting in his office, he sensed no threat from father Emanuel.


    ¡°So I talked with Bl¡ª the System and ¨C confirmed that dungeons didn¡¯t need to be predators, though the strongest ones all are ¨C predators that is. I used my contacts to uncover Galbraith. And well...¡±


    Father Emanuel nodded thoughtfully. ¡°I see, so you regained your position. And you are restoring the infrastructure. Using your powers. Passively feeding of the life force shed by your pupils and staff. So far I see no problem. But God is keeping an eye on you.¡±


    ¡°Through you Father?¡± asked Snakey.


    ¡°Not only. You will be seeing more of me,¡± then father Emanuel straightened and looked deadly serious. ¡°And I trust that young lady will not be seeking converts amongst your pupils.¡±


    Snakey felt like a snake staring at a mongoose, ¡°She¡¯s a mage, not a priest. Possibly you could recommend someone to take... um...¡±


    ¡°That should not be necessary my son. As I was saying, you will be seeing me often.¡±


    Snakey stared at the door to his office, the priest had left seconds ago. It was time to see Tommy. But first he settled down to grow his domain. It was relaxing.


    ¡°Oh Shit!¡± cursed Snakey as he examined the small cache of drugs hidden behind a loose brick. A bag of white powder and a much larger bag with marijuana. ¡°Someone is dealing. In my school.¡±

 Visitors are Coming

    Feldheim ¨C World of The Misplaced Dungeon


    {Timeline: One year after the end of Portends ¨C MD: 6 months to a year after Ch. 148}


    Garrilau Garrilas smiled at his assistant. The boy was so very earnest; he had promise, just so long as he learned to curb his enthusiasm.


    ¡°What do you have for me Reejal?¡±


    Reejal licked his lips apprehensively, ¡°I found something funny, I think, well I know it is absurd but, something is approaching us at about half the speed of light.¡±


    Garrilau just looked at his assistant. Then he asked, ¡°How did you discover this? What proof do you have?¡±


    ¡°Well sir. I was hunting comets using all the footage we have thanks to all fascination with Neighbour. I found two flashes, months apart. I think it is the same item, and that gave me the speed.¡± Reejal finished his explanation and stared at his course mentor with eager, begging eyes.


    ¡°Show me,¡± ordered Garrilas indicating the lab¡¯s computer.


    Reejal hurried over eagerly and started calling up footage of Skyeye¡¯s observation of Neighbour, the stellar system containing the planet Fragatta. Garrilau saw the two flashes his assistant mentioned and then ordered the computer to check the presumed course of the presumed object.


    They found another flash, this one far dimmer, but it served to solidify Reejal¡¯s theory.


    ¡°What do you think is causing the flashes sir?¡± asked Reejal.


    ¡°I suspect, but can¡¯t prove, that whatever that is, has a screen or force field. And that those flashes occurred when some spec of dust or micro meteor hit the ¨C that thing¡¯s meteor shield,¡± speculated Garrilau.


    ¡°The world builders from Neighbour sir? You think that is one of their space ship,¡± asked a wide-eyed Reejal.


    Garrilau winced, ¡°They haven¡¯t built any worlds, they are modifying conditions on the surface of Fragatta and its water moon. But, yes, one of the world engineer¡¯s space ships. Write it up Reejal, but avoid speculating about aliens. The flashes and the assumed speed will get us a direct look via Skyeye. Show me when you have it written up, make it something you can publish, and I¡¯ll sign it off.¡±


    * * *


    Once again Garrilau had been allowed to use the focusing magics of Halius the Far Sighted in conjunction with Skyeye. And he had been lucky; something had hit the craft¡¯s meteor shield. The tiny spec of light had been visible, even if the craft itself was too small to pick up.


    Garrilau and Reejal had also been able to detect gravity lensing around the object; after all, it was travelling at just over half the speed of light.


    Once again, Garrilau Garrilas found himself in the middle of a media storm. And once again he did his best to crawl back into obscurity. He found his overeager assistant extremely helpful. Reejal loved the media spotlight and was actually grateful to Garrilau for pushing him forward.Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation.


    * * *


    Halve Swiftbolt, the minister of interstellar affairs for the Second Sylvan Republic watched as the famous astronomer Garrilau Garrilas left his office. Swiftbolt drummed his fingers on his desk as he plotted how to turn the news to his advantage.


    It had only been four months ago that he had lost one of the endemic power struggles in the chamber of deputies. It was then that the department of interstellar affairs had been created. And he had found himself with a fancy title, a minimal staff and no duties, and far more importantly, no power. He had feared his career was over, and he wasn¡¯t even three hundred years old yet.


    Now the alien world engineers from Neighbour were on their way. And depending on just how powerful their drive was, how long it would take them to decelerate from the insane speed they were coming at. They had anything from six months to two years to greet them.


    After considering the staff of the department of interstellar affairs he decided to write the report himself. He really didn¡¯t trust one of the incompetents that had been shuffled sideways into his department by the senior civil servants responsible for the other departments. He grinned sadistically; the President was going to go spare at the news.


    * * *


    His Excellency Prince Holliston Redpine, president of the Second Sylvan Republic sipped his tea. He lounged back in his comfortable chair as he watched his advisors with hooded eyes. The small crystal topped table in the pretty nook by the big windows overlooking the Wild Wood held his prized tea service.


    The ministers of the Republic sat sipping tea. Most looked uneasy. Halve Swiftbolt hid his exultation well. He was well aware Prince Holliston had been, and was still, furious.


    The dance between the secular empires had just become far more difficult. Swiftbolt had given those present the news, and now, as his president and prince had instructed him, he held his tongue.


    Rutilius, the elderly elf who was in charge of the department of the exterior, cleared his throat. Prince Holliston looked at him and raised an eyebrow in enquiry. ¡°Ah hum, your Excellency, do you think this has any bearing on why the states of the Alliance of the Deeps are stirring. Showing more ¨C ah hum, confidence?¡±


    ¡°I doubt it, after all the Theocrat of the Dark has become very obnoxious recently. But then you are the Minister of Foreign Affairs Rutilius. Find out!¡±


    ¡°Yes Sire,¡± agreed Rutilius hastily.


    Prince Holliston looked round at his advisors, reducing them all to nervous silence. ¡°Go, work out how to calm our citizens. General, put our armed forces on alert. Make sure the anti riot forces are properly equipped and ready to deploy.¡±


    Then he nailed Swiftbolt with a fulminating look, ¡°As for you, replace the incompetents in your department. Use my name and authority. You have ten days.¡±


    Swiftbolt swallowed nervously and bowed low. ¡°Yes, your Excellency. I will see to it.¡±


    ¡°See to it. I will send my nephew to act as the senior civil servant for your department.


    ¡°What are you all waiting for? Go!¡± ordered the Prince and President.


    * * *


    Postilius the Grey glared at his public viewer. He had been watching the News at Nine when they interviewed some twit named Reejal. From what he managed to understand, he was some kind of graduate student doing something for Garrilau Garrilas so as to qualify for some degree or other.


    The problem was the Aliens. He had been making a mint of the gullible idiots he had conned with his tale of the end of the world and the faithful being collected by the alien spaceship. He had been sure the aliens wouldn¡¯t be able to bridge the interstellar gap. He had been in full agreement with those scientists that had been interviewed a year or so ago when first this business of the aliens had surfaced.


    And now he had to come up with a convincing story fast. He had about a year left to milk his followers. But he needed a good angle. And he had to figure out how to vanish, or if that proved impossible, how to dispose of them after. He didn¡¯t want them coming after him for their cash once they had their noses rubbed in the fact that he had been hoaxing them.


    Maybe he could use that fanatic Dikatan the Swift. The man manifestly wanted to be a martyr.

 Studying Carbon Lifeforms

    In the worlds of The Misplaced Dungeon


    {Timeline: May 2020 ¨C Planet Dobay ¨C MD shortly after Ch. 151}


    * * * DOBAY ¨C HERRINTAR UNIVERSITY * * *


    Tilmarinar cursed the room¡¯s shrill alarm, he curled himself as tightly as he could, hoping to obscure his ears and save his aching brain. Vaguely he cursed having forgotten to cancel the alarm on this freeday. Nobody should be asked to wake this early on a freeday.


    ¡°Shut that fracking thing off asshole, my head hurts,¡± complained a female voice.


    Tilmarinar jerked himself flat in surprise. Two of his eyestalks popped up from their folds as he blearily tried to focus on the source of the unexpected voice. He blinked blearily as he dragged himself out of bed, surely that couldn¡¯t be Rafenee? How could he have gone to bed with Rafenee, that stuck up know it all?


    When he reached the room¡¯s com port he realized it wasn¡¯t the alarm. He had an urgent message. Still struggling to get his brain to reengage Tilmarinar flicked the accept button with one of his fringe-tentacles.


    He started to read the message displayed on the com screen and all five of his eyes snapped up from their protective sockets in shock. ¡°DRAFTED!¡± he shrieked in shock,


    ¡°Ow! My head! Not so loud,¡± complained Rafenee as she curled into an aching ball. Then one of her eyes snapped up and focused ¨C rather blearily ¨C on Tilmarinar. ¡°What do you mean drafted?¡± she asked with a certain malicious curiosity.


    Three of Tilmarinar¡¯s eyes swivelled to look back at Rafenee, ¡°Some marshal from the Security Directorate has drafted me, and this says ¡®protective equipment will be issued¡¯.¡±


    With a convulsive jerk of a few of his fringe-tentacles he saved the message, then he keyed in his father¡¯s number. As soon as his father¡¯s countenance appeared on his screen he said, ¡°Pa, I¡¯ve been drafted by the Security Directorate, can you do something about it, like, find out what they want me for? I don¡¯t like the bit about protective equipment being issued.¡±


    Tormarinar of the Swirling Sands blinked rapidly under this barrage. ¡°Calm down son. There might have been a mistake. You are a student, and as such you should be exempt. Who signed the draft notice?¡±


    Tilmarinar drew in a deep breath trying to calm down. He then split the screen, and checked the draft notice. ¡°Um, a Marshal Hoslick of the Two Dawns...¡± On seeing the way his father drooped unhappily, he added, ¡°I ¨C Oh, is that bad Pa?¡±


    ¡°Yes son, it is. Hoslick is one of Supreme Marshal Deltin¡¯s cronies. He is quite above my touch. I should be able to find out what it¡¯s about. I suggest ¨C you pack, but don¡¯t hurry overmuch. I won¡¯t do any good to be late, but...¡±


    ¡°But nobody would be surprised if I was just in time, right Pa?¡± interrupted Tilmarinar.


    ¡°Just so son.¡±


    Then with a great deal of frustration, Tilmarinar said, ¡°Don¡¯t risk your position Pa, I won¡¯t do to reduce your ability to help my little brother succeed.¡±


    ¡°Look son, I¡¯ll try. People will understand a father¡¯s anxiety ¨C I¡¯ve been told Hoslick isn¡¯t a bad guy. Hang on son, I¡¯ll get back to you soon.¡±


    Tillmarinar closed the call and shuddered, then he keyed in his mother¡¯s number. The subsequent call wrung him out and left him feeling limp. He didn¡¯t even notice when Rafenee left the room.


    * * *


    After pulling himself together, Tilmarinar made his way to the canteen for breakfast. He got into line and went flying when Gullfrom purposely barged into him. Tilmarinar flipped himself upright and reared up ready for a fight.This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.


    ¡°What¡¯s gotten into you, Gullfrom?¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s all your fault Tilmarinar. You and your damn carbon based life crap. That¡¯s why we¡¯ve been drafted!¡± huffed Gullfrom.


    Tilmarinar just stared, completely bewildered. His still aching brain could make no sense of his fellow grad student¡¯s statement. He had decided to do his thesis on carbon life because the only carbon life that existed were the few peculiar mosses that grew around the polar lakes. That meant he could just write up some plausible sounding wild ass guesses, instead of having to work for his degree.


    ¡°CUT IT OUT you two,¡± bellowed the hall monitor. ¡°Play your silly games outside, the canteen is for those who want to eat in peace.¡±


    Tilmarinar, rather sullenly, allowed Gullfrom to move forward in the queue. After a few more students got in line he shuffled to the rear and presently picked up his breakfast tray. He made sure to pick a table well away from the muscular Gullfrom. He lingered over his breakfast, so as to allow Gullfrom to leave the room.


    When, finally he left he passed Rafenee heading in. She hissed in anger when she spotted him, ¡°What did you do? The Prof told me we all got drafted because of you.¡±


    Tilmarinar shrunk down apologetically, ¡°Me? Gullfrom said it was because of carbon life...¡±


    ¡°Do you mean we are going to be exiled to one of the poles? Just ¡¯cause you¡¯re lazy?¡± scolded Rafenee. ¡°Have fun when you see the Prof, he¡¯s not happy.¡±


    * * *


    Tilmarinar found Professor Daalanor of the Obscure Thoughts to be in a surprisingly cheerful mood. He had a range of nasty looking weapons set out on one of his shaggy rugs. He looked up when his student entered his study.


    ¡°Good day Tilmarinar. Great news eh? We¡¯re off to explore a new dungeon. One that seems to be creating carbon based life forms, and it is purifying the water of Tissin sea-lake. Just what your thesis needs,¡± chortled Daalanor.


    Tilmarinar gaped in shock. ¡°But ¨C but, how? And isn¡¯t Tissin the largest sea-lake on Dobay?¡±


    ¡°Yes, and the moss fields stretch for about a kilometre around its shores. And maybe we¡¯ll even be lucky enough to see ¨C rain.¡±


    Tilmarinar shuddered in absolute horror, ¡°Water falling from the skies, but that stuff is horribly corrosive...¡±


    Daalanor rippled with glee: ¡°Yes my boy, and the Security Directory are creating armoured aqua-suits for us. And we will get to test them when we accompany their fighters and mages in the delving of this dungeon.¡±


    ¡®He¡¯s mad, completely round the bend... System help me... we¡¯re doomed and he¡¯s jumping for joy,¡¯ thought Tilmarinar. ¡°Wh-what do the aqua-suits have to do with a dungeon sir?¡±


    Daalanor watched his graduate student with malicious glee. ¡°Why, it is at the bottom of Tissin sea-lake. Isn¡¯t that great? Get packed Tilmarinar, we are leaving just after dawn tomorrow.¡±


    As he slunk out his professor¡¯s study he heard Daalanor let out a loud guffaw. Tilmarinar shuddered at the unfairness of the world.


    * * *


    The sun had barely lifted over the horizon when Tilmarinar joined his professor and fellow graduate students in front of their universities reception hall. He noted glumly that the big slate-grey crawler with the SD flashes was being avoided by all sensible beings. A heavily armed guard was reared up by the crawler¡¯s open door.


    Three sullen graduate students followed their happy professor into the spacious interior of the crawler. The guard followed them in and sealed the door.


    Once they were settled, the crawler rose with a hiss of its hydraulics. The driver checked that the locks had latched securely before he started the wide tracks into motion.


    The individual occupying the location next to the driver reared himself up slightly, displaying that his carapace bore the makings of a major. ¡°We¡¯ll be at the airport shortly, we¡¯ll be taking a flying wing south. Don¡¯t worry, there are no storms forecast for today.¡±


    ¡°Can I get a place next to a window?¡± asked professor Daalanor. ¡°I love flying.¡±


    The major¡¯s fringe-tentacles froze in surprise. ¡°That can be arranged sir, anyone else want a window seat?¡±


    ¡°No!¡± squeaked Rafenee in horror. Tilmarinar gestured negation, as did Gullfrom. The guard, still resting by the entrance chuckled at the graduate student¡¯s reactions.


    To Tilmarinar¡¯s relief, the flight south proved uneventful and boring. Five powerful turboprop engines pushed the powerful flying wing south. The distance was nearly a quarter of the way around the world, but it passed smoothly.


    They disembarked to a scene of chaos. Several tunnelling machines were being employed in creating a settlement. Everywhere Tilmarinar looked he saw Dobayans with painted carapaces. He made sure to remain near one of their guards. The workers with their lurid red and yellow striped carapaces were clearly dangerous prisoners. A fact further emphasised by the fact that they all bore small shaped charges bolted to their carapaces over their braincases.


    Almost involuntarily his eyes were drawn to the lake-sea. ¡°Why is the water sort of blue? I thought the lakes were yellowish in colour.¡±


    Professor Daalanor grinned. ¡°They did say the dungeon was cleaning up the water, I¡¯ll bet that¡¯s why it¡¯s blue.¡±


    ¡°Correct,¡± snapped the major. ¡°Let¡¯s get you settled in. Tomorrow we¡¯ll fit you with your aqua-suits and start training you in them. Then we will go exploring.¡±


    ¡°I can¡¯t wait,¡± exclaimed Daalanor while Tilmarinar groaned in dismay.