Earth – World of The Misplaced Dungeon.

{Timeline: November 2019 – 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.

* * *

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.