Mary relaxed in her core and watched the sea go by in her domain for a short while. She needed this, she really needed to centre herself at times. She sighed and handled a couple of internal problems.

She checked on her people, they were so... so... Well, time to order Tomcat home, couldn’t have her Tomcat miss the arrival of all the little Tomcat heirs. Half buried in a sandy seabed a blue white diamond flickered with amusement.

Poor Drina, well at least she was coping better than many of those who had to deal with her. At least her stint as Voice had accustomed all but the most stubborn. She was working out remarkably well, better than Victoria would have and Victoria would have been her choice if Bluey hadn’t interfered. She wondered which other dungeon or dungeons had made it to godhood before her to establish the precedent of the Voice becoming the High Priest or Priestess.

« didn’t happen on Parthia or earth Mary – so no need to pester me. »

« Hiya Bluey, you sound happy. »

« Bluey? You still there? Huh, guess not. »

Mary sighed, ‘well back to work, so much to do and so little time.’

She concentrated her attention on the undersea temple and watched with pride, yes pride as Alessandrina led the – modified – ritual Victoria had liberated from the Adventurer’s Guild. She was ably assisted by Pete and Shirley and some of her folk and Ocidon’s. Altor Seaswept was manfully, or should that be elffully, assisting though he had quite understandably not been happy at assisting in a temple that he knew was his.

« You need to create your own temple Mary. You need some of your own. You will always be welcome to share mine and I hope I will be welcome in yours. But you need your own. »

« Um, Yeah I recon you’re right Ocidon. Need some around the Drow too. »

« Most definitely. The Spider Queen is not the sharing sort. You need to act fast there. »

« You mean she’s likely to try to get rid of me? »

« No. She needs you, or someone like you, but she won’t want to share her temples for long. »

« Beep! So many things to do an’ the list seems to get no shorter. »

The two partners watched their priests and followers as they brought the ritual to a successful conclusion. Mary was delighted when it proved capable of pinpointing dormant dungeons, if these happened to be situated under the seas.

Mary sent a blessing to the participants in lieu of thanks.

* * *

That night Mary invaded the dreams of Tyler, Ava and Madison.

“Evenin’. Got information you need and there are a few things we have to decide.”

Madison stretched and grinned, “Evening Mother. What can we do for you?”

“You’ve done all I expected, then things happened an’ we have lots more to do. Got tangled up with the Drow an’ found that missin’ dungeon. It is currently dormant in the deeps under the ice shelf. Guess it will die in a century or so if nobody helps. Given how little Rachel knows ‘bout Icy down south I suspect this one won’t know any more, if as much.”

Tyler stirred, “But it may know something useful, right?”

“Yes it may Tyler. But it’s not likely.”

“Then we’ll help you get hold of it Mother. We can help, can’t we?” asked Madison.

“Yeah. Got some enchanted items that will allow you to breathe water and endure the pressure where it is located. If you like the enchantments, Victoria figured out how to incorporate ‘em usin’ the seed you guys earned in the fight against Blackbeard.”

The three walrus shifters looked at each other and nodded. “We’ll do it Mother,” they agreed.

“’K thanks. Then there’s the drow. This lot need access to one of the Mock Turtle portals, so if you want to hold of choosin’ where you want yours located you can use the drow’s which will be ‘bout a kilometre inland ‘bout an hour south of where you took to the sea ‘cause of the dwarfs.”

The three conferred briefly and the Tyler turned to Mary with a grin. “Sounds good Mother, that means we could set ours up in the north and have access to both poles.”

Mary grinned crookedly. “’K, here’s where I want you to go. Use the caller when you find a suitable location. You know the kind of place I want. Got some things for some drow an’ some for you lot.

“Then there’s Rachel, see if she can produce one of the simplified tokens. You’ll have to escort one of her named monsters to a suitable location before settin’ out to find sleepin’ beauty in the deeps. Try not to eat it.”

Ava made a face, “Yuck, penguins taste fowl,” she giggled. “Now a clam or a crab, or even a nice fat fish....”

Mary chuckled, “an’ now I’ve got punnin’ walruses.” And the dream dissolved.

* * * INTERLUDE 1 * * *

Lewis Carroll had just finished integrating Mary’s most recent additions, he had absorbed both the new additions to his defensive capabilities and the differing – mission statements – for Earth and Parthia. He felt a niggling lack and determined to consult with Mary soon.

He just knew something was lacking. Maybe he could nudge Mary to give him a dungeon on the moon so he could create his very own wonderland. That was it! He set aside a sizeable block of memory and launched into a search of the Earth web. Slowly, meticulously he started compiling his very own aid. He needed an Alice if he was to have a Wonderland.

Slowly Alice came together, there was a surprising amount of data about his original’s Alice. He grabbed all the photographs he could find. He rejected the blond cartoon version though he did add some of her personality into his Alice.

Lewis felt something both remote and somehow interested examining him. He felt uncomfortable. He reached out with all his senses and failed to locate whatever it was that he knew was observing him.

« can't have this – only dungeon cores can be dungeons – but theft is wrong— »

Lewis Carroll tried to call for help, he ran into an impenetrable barrier. He gathered his forces and tried to draw on his creator’s energy. Blocked again...

« loyal to a fault – conditions met – you are offered the possibility to become a true dungeon core – an independent dungeon core – accept – yes / no – a dungeon core vassal to Blue Lagoon – accept – yes / no »

Lewis Carroll tried once again to reach Mary, and once again he failed. He opted to check all the information he was being offered with the System’s command. Independent was out. He didn’t have any desire to find himself starting from scratch at the bottom of some small hole or cave.

Vassal on the other hand, he considered carefully, yes he could live with the limitations and Mary had already been doing more for him than she had to as lord under that option. Hoping that Mary would understand Lewis Carroll selected ‘no’ followed by ‘yes’.

Lewis Carroll felt himself being drawn from the computer that had housed him and watched bemused as his being was drawn into a large yellow diamond. He grasped at his former housing and tried desperately to boot up the program he had been writing. To no effect.

Alice Liddell woke, her head hurt. She couldn’t see anything. She couldn’t move. What was going on?

« conditions met – do you wish to be lewis carroll’s companion – yes / no »

Alice tried to see, anything had to be better than this – Mr. Carroll had always been nice and his stories and poems were fun. “Yes.”

« conditions met – lewis carroll do you accept alice liddell as your dungeon companion – yes / no »

« Yes »

Lewis Carroll watched, observed as his former housing shimmered and came apart and all its possibilities coalesced and swirled collapsing into a point that burst outward in an explosion of multicoloured light leaving behind a little barefooted dark haired girl in a ragged dress.

Then dungeon and companion found themselves alone for a few scarce seconds before the Marys, both of them, focussed her/their attention on them.

Mary and Mary questioned their vassal and examined the Alice in Wonderland dungeon companion. After researching what they could, the three dungeons and their companions came to a new agreement. No real changes occurred, just now things were regulated and recognised by the System.

* * * INTERLUDE 2 * * *

Frog carefully polished his Hog even as he contemplated the blue screen hovering in his field of view. He wondered why so many things didn’t seem to match what he had read on the various websites.

Then there were the dreams he’d been having since that gunfight he’d ridden into, somehow they weren’t very flattering. In his dreams he seemed so... so empty. And he seemed to be paralyzed though he seemed to be able to roam mentally in a small area. He liked his dream ally, the bitter scar faced little blond pixie.

Somehow he just knew the dreams were occurring because of Strelitzia.

Strelitzia was digging in his dream self’s mind. She seemed determined to wake or free his dream self’s mind. Recently he had been trying to help her. It just seemed the right thing to do.

Frog poked at the blue screens, the race option just didn’t match any of the descriptions he had found online. Proto-dungeon core or dungeon core, he didn’t even have human as an option.

All the other options seemed present and working though they had some odd options. Much was as advertised but he wasn’t keen on his race options. He rubbed his hand over his shaven head and sighed. He’d already spoken with the limey that had a web page that seemed fairly authoritive in regards to dungeons but the limey had only confused him further. The kraut the limey had told him about hadn’t been much better. That only left the girl, but he was reluctant to impose himself on a sixteen-year-old girl even if both had assured him that she had made herself the expert on dungeons and the System.

Sighing in resignation he gave his gleaming bike one final polish and headed into his house to boot up his old PC so he could send her an email.

* * *

That evening Frog sat back in his swivel chair and stared bemused at his computer screen. His email had been answered. He reread the brief message.

Your message received. Miss Silvestre doesn’t trust the security of this medium. Any queries re subject matter best handled face to face.

You 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.

P.S. Finding us seems a reasonable test of your interest.

Mycroft for M

* * * EARTH – MARY * * *

Mary watched the majority of her new workforce and their families enjoying the Sunday BBQ. They had been joined by her father’s colleagues, Susie had even dragged along some of her friends.

She grinned as she supervised her grills, there was some whining about the lack of veggies. She had to explain the invite to several upset vegetarians. Not that she cared one way or the other but she refused to try and cook something she wasn’t good at. At least most of the meat deprived seemed won over by her fish.

Frog proved to be a somewhat overweight burly shaven headed human male. She took a few minutes to take him to a quiet corner and examined him carefully with her dungeon senses.

“So Frog, I see you were another of the blue haired cow’s victims. Just what do you want to know about your dilemma?”

Frog looked up at the teenager and felt his eye’s narrowing. “How do you know about the big— er, the blue haired...”

“Goddess? You weren’t the only one to be partially soulnapped. I can plainly see your soul link. It’s not linkin’ you to Parthia, Diavlo’s dead, so there are two possibilities but I don’t know what they’re called of how badly they’re off. Just know the other you is bein’ held dormant under a barrier.”

Frog found himself trying to disbelieve what Mary was telling him but it matched only too well to his dreams. “What about my choices for – integration? Proto-dungeon or dungeon?”

Mary felt irked, « Hey Bluey, thought there were goin’ to be no more proto-dungeons? What gives? »

Frog was staggered when Mary’s voice sounded in his mind despite her saying nothing aloud. Then he was shocked again when the voice he recognised as the System’s replied.

« there will be no further people being able to choose proto-dungeon but it is needed for those that are linked to a dungeon on another world. »

« ‘K, can see that I guess. But Bluey can you expand on the available info so they don’t all come runnin’ to me. »

« maybe » and Bluey turned his attention elsewhere.

Mary fumed for a moment allowing Frog to gather his scattered wits.

“Way I see it Frog, you got no choice, you’ve got to go with proto-dungeon. Means you get to move around as a person for awhile longer ‘fore you end up a dungeon core. Dungeons as Parthia an’ Diavlo had will have a difficult time on Earth.”

Frog shook his head as if to clear it of cobwebs. “And if I choose dungeon?”

“Your body vanishes and is replaced with a gem. You gain some cool new senses an’ abilities. And instincts that tell you that you need to burrow down into the earth and create a monster and trap filled series of chambers or caves containin’ various treasures. And if you did it here an’ now I’d have a difficult time to keep from attackin’ you as you’re currently in one part my dungeon. A lesser part but still mine an’ we dungeons have instincts.”

“But you’re moving around and look human. You’re not a gem.”

Mary thumped herself in the centre of her body. “This is my avatar Frog, the real me’s a blue white diamond. And it’s hidden and guarded where you won’t find it. An’ before you ask, it takes time before a dungeon can produce an’ use an avatar.”

“So proto-dungeon.”

“It is your best option. It will give you access to the Dungeon Exchange channel. It’s rather rudimentary at the moment but I suspect you will find it informative. And it will strengthen that link. After you’ve chosen, if you want I could help you blast it open and help you unshackle the other you.”

“I’ve got to think, can I talk to you later.”

“Yeah sure. Excuse me but I must get back to the shark I’ve got cookin’,” Mary started to walk away but then paused and looked back at Frog. “If you intend to choose to integrate now, I suggest you do it outside the fence ‘cause if you do whilst in my domain you’ll give me – influence – over you in future. Doubt you want that.”