* * * PARTHIA – THE SPRITES & MARY * * *

The sea sprite delegation, headed by the elders Abalone the White and Purple Murex, and guided by Lacenia the wild rover, arrived at the low-lying atoll shortly after Trisha. They were a bit disappointed they hadn’t caught her before she arrived. The elders just hoped she hadn’t made a bodge of it and upset the oddly named dungeon core. As they were reaching the atoll’s surrounding barrier reef they received a message from the system:

« You have found Blue Lagoon Dungeon, home of the Temple of Ocidon on Sea »

“You’ve been here before Lacenia, any suggestion as to how we can announce ourselves safely?” enquired Abalone.

Lacenia managed to keep her mouth from dropping open in surprise, and managed to reply politely, “We have already entered the dungeon’s domain elder, she should already be aware of us.”

“What she said!” blurted Blacksand the voyager.

“You know what I meant, how can we enter safely?” insisted Abalone.

“We can’t! It’s a dungeon by Ocidon’s crooked nose!” almost shouted Varina the golden.

“Easy enough to be safe Elder,” said Lacenia whist shooting a glare at Varina. “We just need to back off a bit and select a messenger if Trisha doesn’t contact us shortly,” she concluded.

Abalone and Varina hurriedly removed themselves from Mary’s domain whilst Purple Murex and Blacksand moved slowly forward into the dungeon’s domain.

As they entered the small gap in the barrier reef they saw the temple that almost seemed to be floating in the centre of the lagoon. Purple Murex stopped in wonder at the sight whilst Blacksand stopped at the sight of Trisha riding a dolphin heading straight for them.

“Hey Purple, when do you think our shy little Trish befriended that dolphin.”

Purple Murex snapped out of his trance, blinked in surprise and declined to answer as the dolphin coasted to a stop in front of them.

« Welcome to my home, why have you come? Beep guess I’ll leave Trisha to deal with you so we don’t beep each other off! »

Mary quickly grew bored and left the sprites to their discussions. The sprites soon retired to the Temple where they resumed their debate after a short interlude for exploration and prayer.

* * *

Mary for her part stopped to observe the man who had tried to harpoon her hollowing out a large tree trunk. ‘Mmm... So you’re making a canoe. ’K, guess the rays won’t cut it. Mmm... Lets see what can I do ’bout things above the waves.’

Mary cut her connection with her avatar, dismissing it, and returned to her core.

‘So what do I know, lots of fish, how to glide, much ’bout flying fish and swordfish back on earth, bees an’ other bugs with stings ... DNA ... Mmm ... Maybe, lessee...’

So once again Mary sank into a creative trance that lasted several days, much to the exasperated annoyance of her sprite, admixed with an amused ‘told you so’ from Lacenia.

And it was at this point that Mary became exasperated with the system’s dungeon creatures advancement system and started really tinkering. Helped, though she didn’t realize it. by Ocidon’s blessing.

The sea sprite delegation finally left. Purple Murex and Blacksand remained behind to represent their tribe whilst the others returned home with all the news they had gained.

* * *

Once she was partially satisfied with her creations, Mary expanded her domain and began experimenting with her weaponised flying fish in the ocean beyond the Mangrove Isle, hoping to prevent the islanders from noticing anything.

The sprites for their part wondered what she wanted with fish that could fly.

When she was finally satisfied with her Mk.2 Fliers, Mary seeded two schools in her lagoon and one in her Oceanside domain. Then she endured Trisha’s complaints and demands with remarkable – for her – patience. They started to hash out methods by which her sprite could break her out from her trances in case of emergencies.

* * * PARTHIA – OCIDON * * *

Ocidon hovered over his Temple in the town of Garonmouth. a solid, almost overbuilt edifice with multiple spires. He sank down entering his temple and appeared unto his high priest. Said individual felt nervous and uncertain, as was his usual habit when confronted by his God.

« Sanderson, I need a priest and staff for a new temple. You will release Danilus Oakborn to be the high priest of my new Temple of Ocidon on Sea. Appoint three acolytes to assist him. Be aware they will be spending some considerable time underwater »

A small memory stone shimmered into existence on Sanderson’s desk.

« Give him that, it contains all the details Danilus Oakborn will need to get to his new posting. He will need funds. »

« Gather your people, my faithful, to hear My Word before My Altar. I will give them my commandments in two hours. At noon. If any should be untrue – I will smite them. »

High Priest Sanderson the Wise rose from his desk and startled his capable assistant by coming to him rather than summoning him as was his custom. The high priest’s orders galvanised him, and as soon as Sanderson returned to his office, runners were being dispatched in all directions to summon the faithful. And further, a messenger has been sent to summon Danilus Oakborn for an urgent conference with Sanderson the Wise.

Danilus sighed with resignation when the messenger informed him of his urgent and immediate appointment with his high priest. He was tired and needed a rest. The news that Their God was going to address the faithful at noon, along with the advance notice that Ocidon would smite any he deemed treacherous elated him. Very few had ever actually heard Ocidon speak.

After his meeting with the high priest Danilus was in equal parts excited and worried. A quiet, very remote posting meant a quiet peaceful time – he was all in favour of that – the temple had been consecrated by Ocidon himself – good – it had been built by a dungeon that had rejected Azurea and allied with Ocidon – he could foresee trouble to come, and that was far less pleasing.

Sanderson had not been impressed on learning how remote the new temple was, but orders were orders. At least diverting one of the temple’s ships wouldn’t cost too much.

Noon found the main hall of the temple full – the statue of Ocidon shimmered and was replaced by the manifestation of the God – It looked remarkably similar to Mary’s statues. Ocidon looked down on his faithful and filled them with hope, and healed those that needed healing. The two men present that he knew were not his, he killed.

« My children, I am pleased with you. Know that I will be growing my seas, not soon, possibly not in your lifetimes, but it is now inevitable. Know too that I am ordering you to be wary of the followers of Azurea and to grant them no information about me and mine. »

With a final blessing Ocidon left, leaving a greatly modified statue presiding over the Altar.

* * * PARTHIA – HELL’S MOUTH & HEL-ARLIZZY * * *

The as yet unnamed dungeon core was busy reclaiming and repairing his former dungeon with the help of his wraith. His heart room was the first location to be repaired. A squad of armed and armoured skeletons supported by spellcasting imps were set to guard his core.

The core was unhappy. He regarded his guardians and he knew they were weak. They were the best he could do, but he somehow knew he used to be able to do better. Much better.

Arbogar knew they were doing things in reverse but as long as there was a clear passage to the outside world they should be alright.

At Arbogar’s urging, his core had already spawned a couple of wisps. The fortuitous slaying of the would be companion had provided them with a useful template. And now those two wisps had been sent out of the dungeon to lure in fresh victims.

« What are you DOING ANS 48! Why did you kill that wisp I sent you? What’s with all these Demons and Undead? You little BITCH! Why are you treating me like this after all I’ve done for you? »

The dungeon core of Hell’s Mouth was astounded. He instinctively knew that this angry being was Azurea, goddess of dungeons. But he had no idea why was she so angry, nor did he know why she was calling him a female dog. He was sure he was male, and he didn’t think his name was, or ever had been ANS 48.

Arbogar and the dungeon core contemplated one another in the silence after the blue haired goddess had left.

« What is going on Arbogar? Why did Azurea call me ANS 48. That isn’t my name is it? »

“I don’t know Massster,” offered the wraith. “You had no name. Everyone called you Hell’sss Mouth.”

« So my name is Hell’s Mouth. I like that. But what are we going to do? »

After much thought and discussion Arbogar and Hell’s Mouth had decided to approach Hel-Arlizzy, who Arbogar remembered was the God of Dungeons back in the day before the New Gods arrived on the scene, bursting with impractical ideas and disdain for the old ways. They enacted the all but forgotten ritual that had been used in times of yore and waited hopefully for a response.

* * *

Hel-Arlizzy stirred and woke from his slumbers, he scratched his head with the tip of his tail and looked down on the world, surprised someone had called on him. He decided that whatever it was it didn’t look urgent, so he sought out old friends and sounded out his colleagues amongst the Old Gods – those that were awake at least.

Surprisingly it turned out that old Ocidon had the answers he needed. After acceding to his modest demands – he was no longer god of dungeons after all – he learned all Ocidon knew and met Mary Silvestre, a truly foul mouthed young dungeon judging by all the beeps, and learned all she knew. He dutifully admired his brother’s new temple, rather too ostentatious for his taste, which ran more to majestic caverns, and left to answer the summons with the desire to cause that thieving bitch Azurea grief.

* * * PARTHIA – THE GODS REALM * * *

Azurea materialized in the “workroom” of the new gods. It certainly didn’t look like any other workroom in existence. It had gilded walls covered with erotic art, deep plush carpets, and scattered leather covered couches, recliners and chairs among numerous carved and gilded end tables.

As soon as she arrived a scantily clad servant hurried to offer her a tray loaded with drinks and delicacies. Azurea graciously selected a strong drink and some heavily sugared snacks. The servant recognizing the signs that Azurea’s temper was uncertain scurried away gratefully.

“Welcome dear,” said Mirabelarque as xe chewed on the squirming locust xe held in one hand.

Azurea acknowledged the other deities present before asking, “Well Mirabelarque, did you discover anything?”

“Nothing any of us wants to hear. Apparently your fugitive has settled down, managed to recruit one of those interfering old fudy dudies as a sponsor and they were able to game the system into severing ties with you.”

“Ooo, lost something important dear?” interjected Delminia maliciously.

“Sounds like someone swiped one her dungeons,” gleefully added Feltax.

“I still have one hundred new dungeons!” snapped Azurea fuming.

“Just that one of those is a resurrected local, and not one of the imports,” clarified Mirabelarque.

Feltax snorted, “You really should have selected our recruits dear, rather than just snatching the first hundred that caught your eye.”

“Fine! You can go and get the next lot then. That world felt horrible, I bet you won’t want to wait to get home either,” whined Azurea.

“Not happening! You wanted dungeons, you got dungeons. You can recruit and abuse them to your shrivelled little heart’s desire,” responded Feltax.

“ENOUGH!” bellowed Mirabelarque. “So Azurea how does that affect our plans for Parthia?”

“Well Duregar won’t be getting any new rivers until the next stage of our plan. We will have to get the locals to destroy the Hell’s Mouth dungeon soon, so that when we seed his caves with a new core in twenty years time, the locals won’t overreact. Shouldn’t be difficult he’s spawning demons and undead.”

“What are you doing about ANS 48?” asked Creevar.

Azurea narrowed her eyes at him, ‘how did he find out which one of my dungeons has gone AWOL?’ “Nothing, its memories were wiped, and it is nowhere important.”