* * * PARTHIA & FRAGATTA – MARY & MARY * * *

The Magellan maintained position over the west coast of the eastern continent. Its sensors were busy probing and recording. Down below everything indicated that the large number of active volcanoes had disrupted a large state.

There were signs of war and raiding. The large fields that surrounded the large stone built cities were burnt. The cities looked the worse for wear, some seemed to have endured severe earthquakes, others were half buried by volcanic ash.

The locals seemed enamoured of five sided stepped pyramids, and all the pyrmids had petagrams carved and gilded on their flat tops.

The green skinned locals seemed fond of feathers when it came to personal adornment.

Satisfied with this first pass, the Magellan proceeded west over the turbulent narrow ocean separating the two continents. The East coast of the western continent was just as filled with active volcanoes. The stone cities were also present, but these were deserted and showed signs of conflict. Numerous skeletons were visible patrolling the streets.

Away from the coast there were vast grasslands that supported innumerable herds of large six limbed herbivores. The plains were surrounded by forests, and just by the number of tree stumps on the fringes of the forests it was obvious that someone wanted the grasslands to flourish and grow.

Beyond the plains a visibly young range of hills lined the shore of the ocean. Mary ordered the Magellan to stop and maintain position over the ocean. Slowly the Magellan started descending towards a group of islands that were located about one hundred and fifty kilometres from the shore.

Then Lewis Carroll broke in with: « Mary, um, I have a problem in Portland. Looks like one of the riots is going to impact on one of the portal shops I’m responsible for. »

* * * EARTH – LEWIS CARROLL & MARY * * *

Lewis Carroll had watched as a sneering, black clad Fred left the Portland shop. Lewis noted that Fred did at least lock the shop as he left. ‘Stupid idiot,’ he thought, ‘that stupid mask won’t keep anyone from recognising him considering that tattoo on his hand.’

Frustrated, Lewis called up the satellite feed again, he zoomed the view keeping the shop in the centre of the field of view. Smoke from a couple of fires was interfering with his view in one sector. ‘They seem worked up today, this is worse than usual,’ he thought to himself as he watched. Then, he noted two faintly glowing cyan coloured spots. ‘Huh? What... Hey, one of those mana sources is the statue in front of my Portals shop...’

« Mary, um, I have a problem in Portland. Looks like one of the riots is going to impact on one of the portal shops I’m responsible for. »

On Fragatta, Mary tore her attention away from the big screens. She sighed and slipped back into her core off Maui. « What’s the problem, Lewis? I thought you had planned to seal our shops when the Darwinists came callin’? »

« The problem lies in the statue of John C. Frémont that stands in the small square in front of our shop. »

« What of it? »

« You know, Mary. Conquest of California, US Senator, and first Republican nominee for President of the USA – And ... um ... one of Bubba Harrison’s ... ah ... masterpieces of enchanting. »

Mary managed to avoid laughing, not wishing to upset Lewis. « You didn’t supply any mana, did you? In that case what’s the problem? »

« People could get killed... »

« Not our problem, Lewis. I didn’t use that statue to create a golem, nor did you. Our mana signature isn’t on it. Ol’ Bubba did, an’ he’s not one of mine. An’ how sure are you the mob is on its way? »

« I had Mycroft reroute that satellite we – ah – inserted – to replace the dud the Euros lofted a couple of months ago. It is currently maintaining position over Portland. There are two mobs on the way. The cops seem uninterested. »

This time Mary did laugh. « Have any of the space agencies figured it out yet? K’ sounds like we’ll see some fun, pity you won’t be able to harvest the results. What about our clerk? »

« Fred has gone to join the rioters. When I offered to give him a safe way out, he was quite contemptuous. And no, the various agencies are still at loggerheads. The French are still trying to figure out how ‘their’ satellite can scoot around changing orbits like it does. »

« Sack ’im Lewis, we don’t want that kind of hassle. »

« Surely giving a warning, and possibly a fine should be enough of a penalty? »

« Get rid of ’im. He is workin’ for a dungeon core, ’an he has gone to join a mob bent on riotin’ ’an lootin’ outside the dungeon. More to the point he defied you... ’an me. »

Lewis sighed, « Fine... I’ll terminate him, but what about the shop and the statue? »

Mary grinned to herself, « Tell you what, seal the shop as you planned, but open up one of the empty shops next door, and establish a portal to your friend... You know, the Mountains of Madness dungeon... the poor chap deserves a treat. »

Lewis fell silent for a while as he considered the possibilities. As a dungeon he really couldn’t bring himself to disagree with making use of freely offered newby adventurers. Slowly he focused on the small strip mall, he selected one of the empty shops. He was happy to note that two other shops stood between it and the Portals shop. The creation of the bait didn’t take him long.

Once finished, Lewis watched the satellite feed. ‘Hum, there are a lot of them, I’m sure I can use some of them too... Now which of my dungeon entrances should I use?’

* * *

Mary and Lewis had a long wait before the mob arrived, but once they did things deteriorated rapidly. Lewis’s trap garnered instant attention, as it was the only shop that wasn’t boarded up and sealed. The late arrivals concentrated their attention on the statue.

They watched with curiosity as the vandals climbed the plinth and started spray painting the statue. Mary chuckled at the curses when the paint just wouldn’t stick. Then someome threw a rope around it and pulled.

The bronze statue staggered slightly, then before the stupefied eyes of its attackers it grabbed the rope and pulled it out of their surprised grasp. It shoved the individual who was clinging to it, as he tried to paint its face red.

The bronze golem leapt down from its plinth landing on one unfortunate individual, then it swung its blunt bronze sword with its right hand whilst punching with its left.

Mary watched as John C. Frémont the golem left the square in pursuit of the terrified, and indignant mob.

« Well Lewis, that’s that I guess. Give it a week or two then you might as well plan on relocatin’ the shop Lewis. Or just givin’ up on Portland. How were the pickin’s? »

« I am entertaining a rather large, if ill equipped raid on Parthia. The Mountains of Madness is playing host to some twenty-eight bewildered wanabe looters. Not much of a challenge really. »

« Well fix up the shop you used to show the usual devastation an’ close down the portals. »