Mary felt frustrated, she now knew everything Rachel knew about Ice Heart but it was almost nothing. There was still a chance with the other dungeon Rachel believed Ice Heart had placed on some ice covered island.

Now how was she going... Victoria, Victoria might be able to find the spell or ritual the adventurer’s guild used to locate dungeons. And maybe...

« Hey Trish, any idea how Marigold finds new dungeons? »

« Why? Oh I see. No but she might do us a favour if we can do something for that poor out of the way place. And for that other one if it still exists. »

« Rachel thanks for your help. Now I don’t have much that can survive arctic conditions. I’ve got walruses, the creatures not shifters like Tyler an’ the girls. Then there are numerous possibilities that would be restricted to your dungeon and would require warmth. Additionally there is my version of a Mind Flayer. It’s currently a dungeon only monster but I am working on that. »

« Working on it? I thought we used the dungeon interface of the System to summon creatures and to upgrade them? »

« That’s the easy way but the results can be irritatin’ an’ need to draw on a dungeon’s domain to function properly. Me, I like to tailor ‘em myself. Some may not be as powerful but they don’t need help to survive. »

« Aren’t you afraid of causing an ecological catastrophe? »

« No. Not floodin’ the place with creatures. Creatin’ intelligent beings to help me an’ mine out. Anyway your other problem is location. Can get Tyler an’ the girls to escort you north or can teach you how to create dungeon portals and help you claim somewhere to the north. Possibly a long way north. »

« Yeah, an’ Tyler, have you Madison an’ Ava decided where you want the Mock Turtle dungeon entrance I promised you? »

“There was that rocky island we passed early yesterday,” Suggested Ava.

“Maybe, but it was kind of close to shore. How about if we check a bit further out to sea from it.” Mused Tyler.

“That island would do, but if there is one further out to sea that might be better,” agreed Madison.

« So that’s maybe yes but still not sure? » laughed Mary.

Duskbright listened bemused; in his world dungeon monsters did their dungeon’s bidding and didn’t merit rewards beyond existence, they were part of the dungeon, not independant. Seeing these intelligent dungeon monsters... Then it hit him, these three weren’t dungeon monsters, they were not even strictly speaking created by a dungeon. They were natural creatures, beings that had been given life and existence at the hands of a dungeon by means that weren’t fully derived from the System. That title Mother of Monsters had more truth to it than... than most would ever realize.

« Oh wow Duskbright, you’re right. And she probably has some true monsters as well, » agreed a shaken Rachel. « Can we make use of something like this? »

« Yesss... I think so Rachel. »

Rachel and Duskbright merged again and thought fast and considered various options, then on coming to a conclusion the entity that was Rachel and Duskbright decided.

« My penguins are happy here so an alternate location linked by a portal would be nice. »

= = O = =

Victoria grinned triumphantly, “Oh excellent Fred, Mother will be pleased. When do we have to get it back?”

“Sooner the better I guess, but they are doing the ritual twice a year and they have only just done one.”

“Come along Fred, I’ll just place this on the altar and Mother will have it duplicated in a moment. No point delaying and letting those smug so and sos at the Guild suspect anything.”

Victoria entered her temple and bowed to the carving of the dolphin behind the altar. She moved forward and placed the basket with the books and enchanted and ritual items on the altar.

“Mother please hear our prayers, and allow me to introduce Fred who obtained those items you asked us for.”

« Why thank you Victoria. Thank you Fred, well done and my blessings to you and yours. »

A blue glow enveloped the items on the altar. The glow lasted slightly over ten minutes.

« Thank you, I have what I needed. Thanks for all for your excellent work. Oh and Victoria if those priestesses become too irritatin’ please feel free to chuck them out. I already have developed somethin’ to take the place of the cave wheat. Not as tasty but I am still workin’ on it. »

Victoria grinned and gestured to the basket. “Better get it back where you found it Fred. Thanks again.”

Fred grabbed the basket and grinned. “I’ll get these back now. Oh,” he waved a bare hand and wriggled his fingers. “Thanks to Mother I think I don’t need the sizing enchantment any more.”

* * * INTERLUDE 1 * * *

Mike strolled into the office and grabbed a desk. He logged on to the local terminal and started out by checking his company emails. Grumbling he used the link supplied by his boss and started trying debug the code he found. ‘God what an unholy mess, who the fing hell produced this unholy abortion?’

“Morning Mike, want a coffee?”

“Hi Oscar, please. You seen this obscenity management wants us to fix?”

Oscar placed a cup on Mike’s desk, “Nah, but I heard that the wunderkind and his pets are overrunning and ol’ Garfield’s getting in a tizzy.”

Mike looked up at his friend as he all but inhaled half the mug of the black liquid that passed for coffee at their office. “If this is a sample of the WK’s work then we’re doomed.”

Cindy wandered up and peered over Mike’s shoulder at his terminal’s screen. “Well maybe we can hit you up for a job at your new enterprise Mike.”

“What new enterprise? What are you on about Cindy?” asked Mike.

“She means the Silvestre Boat Yard. I passed it this morning on my way into work. Nice big shiny new sign, same decrepit looking yard.”

“Leave off joking please, I’m not the only Silvestre around.”

“But I googled it,” said Cindy. “You are on the board of Silvestre Enterprises. And Silvestre Enterprises owns the Silvestre Boat Yard. It says so on their website. And that’s one slick website.”

Mike’s mouth dropped open as he looked at his colleague. “Cindy, are you telling me Mary’s bought a run down boat yard here in Florida?”

* * *

One longish phone call later Mike eyed his two friends and fellow coders. “Um, maybe I will be able to find us a new job in one of my daughter’s companies. She says James assured her that she should have the wherewithal to back a new company in a couple of months time, but that we’d have to come up with what would be needed, as computers and software aren’t her thing. She did add she’d come up with a manager because...”

Oscar snorted, “because we’re software geeks, right?”

“Well yeah. Damn it! When one’s own daughter... And she’s even worse than me! Or her brother! When she dives into a project that grabs her interest.... Argh!”

* * *

Susie waltzed into the room to find her mother watching TV. “Mom, I was just checking the guest room, we’re gonna have to replace the bed for Mary’s visit.”

Jenny looked up at her daughter and smiled, “we’ve still got a couple of months, there’s no hurry. I take it you have no problems with her visiting?”

“No, she’s kinda cool if weird. Hey, think we can convince her to hold a BBQ?”

Jenny laughed, “so it’s your stomach that wants to see your sister.”

“Mooom,” complained the indignant teenager.

* * * INTERLUDE 2 * * *

Mary relaxed in her room, « James, have we bought that overpriced boat yard Mycroft found in the Florida panhandle? »

« Yes, it was truly a waste of money, a month or two more and they would have been bankrupt. We could have picked it up for less. »

« Seafront property? Not sure of that. Anyway am in a hurry and the parcel is on its way. The owners and their manager are gone. Right? »

« Oh yes. That was fun, and cost us even more due to having to buy out the idiot’s contract. »

« Is the remote conference set? Can we start? »

In Florida in a hot airless conference room the current employees Mary’s new business nervously awaited news of their future. Most had quietly celebrated the removal of the old management team but all were aware of the moribund nature of their company and the urgent need for investment.

Then it was as if the far wall had vanished and been replaced by a window. Bubba the new office manager looked at the laptop he had expected would be used for the conference call.

“Magic, oh wow that’s one hell a spell,” murmured Walt.

The remaining staff of the boat yard looked at the five people seated at a table that were looking back at them. In the centre was a black haired teenager who seemed to be studying them carefully. Two formally dressed middle-aged men, a catman and a leopard woman flanked her.

“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.”

Walt watched Bubba and a couple of the security guys escort Jerome out and grinned, he’d been trying to get rid of that troublemaker for months, but still he was wary of the girl. No, 'young woman', she was his boss after all. He rubbed his arms.

“Oh sorry,” said the leopard woman. “I’ll let it get a bit warmer.”

Walt started, only just noticing that the room was cool, almost cold and the air was fresh. “You’re good ma’am. You must be the best mage I’ve ever heard tell of,” said Walt.

“Why thank you Walt. I think you’ll like working for Miss Silvestre. Let me show you one of her projects. This is the Storm Dolphin.”

Walt and the others were studying the images that appeared in the bottom right of the magical screen when Bubba returned. Blueprints, and what he, all of them thought were photos and video with a voiceover giving stats and performance details.

* * *

Not much got done that day as everyone was too interested in discussing the meeting and wondering if their newly renamed business had any future. Walt eyed the available facilities and concluded they would need considerable investment before they could produce anything like the Storm Dolphin.

Bubba was frustrated. His web searches didn’t find much at first. He did find a couple of clips of the Storm Dolphin and only the fact that there was a clip of it entering Pearl with a naval escort gave him anything new.

Before leaving for the day Bubba accepted a delivery from Fed Ex addressed to their new boss so he placed in the manager’s office before locking it and leaving for the day.