Rob

Rob's stomach twisting with hunger woke him from a terrible nightmare. He and Aaron had been wandering, lost in a Prisma-Color sand dune desert without water or food. One of the sand dunes collapsed, revealing a cave, and Jason was there, with water. But, Lena was there, too - as a ghost.

Horror had overwhelmed Rob as he realized that he would never again get to tease the artsy geek girl for her obsessive detailing of every encounter map. He would never again taste the Battle Cookies she baked for boss fights. Worst, he would never get to poke Jason over his crush on her.

"I think he's waking up." Lena's voice reassured him, but Rob couldn't get a direction from the sound. Had he fallen asleep during a game session? Jason and Aaron would give him so much hell for that!

Aaron's voice next. "Maybe. His color's improved, at least."

"This is all just an hallucination," Candy said, but she didn't sound so sure of herself.

Rob's belly growled. Loudly.

Aaron said, "I hope Jason comes back with food sooner. Bertie isn't the only one getting hungry."

"If he's Bert, does that make you Ernie?" Lena asked, dry humor laced through her voice.

"Nah, that's Jason. I'm more like Elmo: everyone loves me, and I prefer looking at the happier side of things."

"Do you have to compare yourselves to Sesame Street characters?" Candy asked, an agitated whine in her tone.

"Why, Oscar! When did you crawl out of your garbage can?" Lena asked, her voice as sweet as sharpened candy canes.

Rob had to laugh as the cousins devolved into their habitual bickering.

"Hey, you are awake!" Aaron said, sounding … odd. Both happy and wary.

Rob rubbed at the gunk that always accumulated around his eyes while he slept. "Yeah. Had the most messed up dream, too. We were -." He broke off as he opened his eyes and got his first good look around.

*** *** ***

Tapestry integration assistance has increased mental stability.

You have unlocked Mental Fortitude. +1 WPP

*** *** ***

He lay upon some mass of fluff with yet more fluff covering his body. There was a stone ceiling a good 4 m over head. Quartz-looking crystal formations grew in all sizes, each one glowing with an inner light that provided a comfortable visual ambiance. Rob sat up. Candy and Aaron sat on a stone floor to either side of Rob, and water glinted around them, surrounding what he could see of their position. Directly in front of Rob, at the end of the floor, stood a gorgeously detailed sculpture of a pair of orange trees intertwining to form an arch.

He turned on his knees to look behind him. A stone walkway led to another section of flooring above water level. Far, far too close to them was an island of bare soil on which paced a big-assed mountain lion.

All Rob could think to say was, "Fuck me."

*~*~*

Lena

If Lena had a breath to hold, she would have. For a long moment after that brief cussing, Rob just stared at her dire cat. The scrutiny combined with Lena's directions to stay on the dirt were upsetting her Zone Guardian.

*** *** ***

You have unlocked Animal Empathy. Practice more to increase your Acuity.

*** *** ***

"Aaron," Rob said, his voice soft, trying very hard to not come across aggressive. "What the fuck is *that* doing so close to us?"

"It's Lena's new pet," Aaron said. "She's confined it to the dirt for now. You can relax."

"Lena's alive?" Rob asked, snapping his gaze to Aaron. "What the fuck happened to us?"

Aaron said, "Yes, Lena's alive. We think we're in some kind of shared mind-scape, and our actual bodies are still sitting in Lena's garage, hooked up to the telepathy machine still."

Candy broke in. "No, 'we' don't! That's not possible! The most Brad and I were getting during the test runs were shared impulses and the ability to share some remembered sensations, like scent and texture."

Rob said, "Not helping, Candy. What matters is that we're here, where ever the hell 'here' is, and it's not Lena's garage. Where is Lena? And Jason and Brad?"

"As I was saying," Aaron said, shooting a stern look Candy's way. "We're not sure if Brad's here with us. Jason, you, Candy, and me, we all have our regular bodies. Lena …. You know how she gets with dioramas and minis? Well, we're sort of in one of her dioramas, only on a larger scale. She's an actual Dungeon Master and this is her dungeon."

"And that has what to do with us having regular bodies?" Rob asked.

Aaron sucked in his lips, eyeing Rob a moment before he said, "She's kind of merged with it."

"What does that mean?" Rob asked, his words very precise.

Lena said, "I don't have a corporeal form, and I can't leave the dungeon until it's capable of creating materials I could use for a physical toon. If you promise not to freak, I'll show you my current toon."

"Okay," Rob said. "Are you-? Fuck, you're not okay, but are you in pain?"

"Nope," Lena said. She let her toon take shape next to the archway of the orange trees. "In fact, this is kind of my fantasy. Not sure how getting to try it out will affect that, but, honestly, I didn't even realize I didn't have my own body until Jason couldn't see me." She took a few steps closer, then sat down. "You're handling things better, but say something if things get too weird again, okay?"

Rob nodded. "Sure. What am I sitting in?"

"Cotton," Lena said.

"Why?" He pulled up a handful of the slightly scratchy bolls. "I mean, this is raw stuff, right?"

"How about we go through things chronologically?" Lena suggested. "As far as I know, no one's in immediate danger, and we don't have anything pressing to do while we're waiting for Jason to get back."

"Fine."

Seeing how much more Rob was acting like himself, like the gamer she knew, took a weight off Lena's shoulders. After bringing him up to speed, she got him distracted with going through her dungeon menus.

"How does that standard contract thing work? You said you can edit it, but can you save a couple different standard contracts?" Rob asked.

Lena tapped her nose. "I'm going to ask the system that."

*** *** ***

A simple dungeon zone may have two standard contracts. One must be for monstrous entities, while the other may be distinguished either by an ability threshold, or design template complexity level.

*** *** ***

She poked at the last phrase.

*** *** ***

Design template complexity levels for designs capable of self determination are Low, Moderate, High, Monstrous, Monstrous Sapient, and Aware. Templates below Monstrous Sapient are incapable of self-directed deviations from templated decision trees.

*** *** ***

*** *** ***

Tapestry Reading +1

*** *** ***

"I can have two. There's the implication that if my dungeon's nature was a bit more complex that the number would change."

Rob said, "Alright. How about we try coming up with a less ownership type of contract?"

Candy asked, "Why would you want to work on that, of all things?"

Rob flashed Candy a mischievous smile. "Hey, Aaron, you're good with critters. That dire cat beast, is it acting hungry to you?"

Aaron took care to study the cat from the corner of his eye. "Nope. More like it'd rather be back in the kitten-hole Lena made for it over by the Lotrot door."

Lena said, "She."

"The cat's a girl?" Aaron asked. "I haven't gotten close enough to tell one way or the other."

"Yeah."

Rob's smile softened. "The contract it- she took said that the dungeon sustains her. If we can get a better idea of what that means, it could be a fall back for us if your, ah, arassi friends aren't so friendly."

Lena brightened, both figuratively and literally. The glow from her toon reached a half meter farther. "Thank God you're back with us!"

Rob cocked an eyebrow at Lena. "What prompted that?"

"You're strategizing. You only do that when you are fully present in the moment. So, let's see what we can cobble together for that fall back option."

Three more skill ups in [Tapestry Reading] and an hour later, they had a decent employment-type contract hammered out and had even discovered they could have contract addenda, like a code of conduct, that could be maintained separate from the contracts.

The next thing Rob was interested in was, unsurprisingly, the boosts Lena could assign her guardians. More questioning, leading to 2 more skill ups in [Tapestry Reading], got them a list of her options with the dire cat.

*** *** ***

• Sustenance: the Guardian's nutritional needs are met through mana - 10 MPR

• Regeneration: the Guardian's physical form will auto magically heal from all injuries, including those which inflict negative designs, by maintaining an individual design template. This template may be altered by the [Design Lead]. - 15 MPR

• Territory Link: the Guardian may be recalled to a specific area of the Zone when either the Guardian or the territory is threatened - 5 MPR

• Zone Link: the Guardian may be recalled to the Zone while outside of the Zone. Auto magically engages if the guardian's current HPP falls below 20% of maximum - 20 MPR while outside of zone

• Guardian Connection: the Guardian may communicate with other Zone Guardians at a distance (requires multiple Zone Guardians) - 2 MPR per Guardian connected.

*** *** ***

When Aaron heard about the Guardian Connection ability, he asked, "Is that, like, talking-communication? As in, I could ask the cat questions and get answers in words back?"

Lena shrugged. "I'm not sure if it's a verbal communication, but what I got from poking at that was more like 'share information' and 'coordinate actions' communication."

"Would you please offer me that new employment contract and set it up with the guardian connection, so we can try it out?" Aaron's entire body twanged with excitement.

"[Offer Contract]: [Standard Employment]," Lena said.

*** *** ***

Offering standard employment contract to Aaron Morgan Felding …

Aaron Morgan Felding accepts standard employment contract.

*** *** ***

*** *** ***

Congratulations! By acquiring an Aware Zone Guardian, [The Studio of Capricious Dreams] has advanced from a "Simple" dungeon to a "Level" dungeon!

Zone MPP +50%, Zone MPR +10%.

You have unlocked Zone Guardian abilities for Aware entities.

*** *** ***

Rob said, "Hey, whoa there, you two! Don't jump into all this stuff!"

Lena, for her part, dove back into her zone guardian options. With Aaron, she activated sustenance, regeneration, zone link, and guardian connection. She briefly flipped over to her dire cat and did the same, before returning to check out the boosts she could give to Aaron.

*** *** ***

• Assign Guardian Rank (requires Ranks Structure)

• Promote to [Sub Arbiter]*

• Allocate a percentage of MPP and MPR for Guardian to manage (requires Territory Link)

• Specify commands Guardian may access

• Promote to [Design Lead] (requires Promote to [Sub Arbiter]*)

*** *** ***

A delighted, enthusiastic grin took over Aaron's face. "This is awesome!"

Lena decided this was the perfect time for a villainous cackle.

*~*~*

Jason

Corporal Baline reminded Jason of the worst of the hyper macho Special Forces types he had had to deal with during his tour of duty. Yeah, Baline was the kind of arrogant asshole that made it hard to respect whatever extremes he had had to go through to achieve his place within an elite squad. His first words on spotting Jason had been to Kargerran. "Steel shoulders, what's the gnelf doing here?"

The way Kargerran's eyes narrowed told Jason that "steel shoulders" was on a par with calling a lieutenant "butter bars". The corporal's attitude did not improve. Therefore it amused Jason to no end to make sure he took his time gathering as many specimens of the local flora as he could differentiate on the way back to Lena's dungeon.

Nilis and Vi were genuinely excited to see what Lena could do with them, and they got Baline's Rangers intrigued with the idea of a benign dungeon. They focused on catching some of the local wildlife, focusing on birds they shot out of the sky and critters they said made for good meals. Baline had grumbled about the gathering, but with all of the Rangers in agreement that this was worth experimenting with, he at least had the sense to let it be. Besides, from what Jason understood, Kargerran was technically in charge of this expedition.

It was only around 2 km from the East Gate to Lena's dungeon. Even with the foraging slowing them down, both arassi and beast kin moved damn fast. Baline's group had eleven members, plus himself. Along with four arassi, there were two bear kin wearing copper colored scale mail and carrying battle axes that looked to Jason to be formidably spartan. A cat kin and a fox kin moved among the rangers, while the last three members were spear wielding wolf kin (which was somehow different from lupines). The wolf kins' armors were a matte gray leather that blended well with their fur. Among Baline's arassi, two more had the green sheen of Rangers and the last two bore the red of the Medics.

The Medics walked together, just behind the Infantry. The wolf kin in gray acted as a rear guard, while the Rangers ranged around the party. Kargerran chose to walk with the medics for most of the way, though he also spent time with the Infantry.

Nilis and the fox kin Ranger, Tilly, casually leaned against the entrance to the cave that held the portal to Lena's dungeon. They had a hard time holding in their smirks as they watched Baline's group react to something about the entrance.

Jason watched them with a puzzled interest.

Baline ordered the wolf kin forward. They advanced with their spears lowered. Nilis shook his head, but didn't say anything. Kargerran cleared his throat. "Oh, did I forget to mention that the new dungeon already claimed the dire cat that was using this cave for its den?"

The wolf kin paused for a moment, then proceeded, but with a lot less tension.

"It did what?" Baline asked.

Jason, his own lips twisting down in displeasure, said, "Lena offered it a contract as a Zone Guardian. It has to do what she tells it, and she has to keep it fed on mana or something. I don't know how far that can be pushed, but it seemed to be working pretty well when we left." He found himself the focus of every eye.

"Who is this Lena?" Baline asked, his scales starting to lift.

Kargerran's scales flared then flattened. "Let's step over to the side, Corporal."

The two moved a few meters away from the troops. A hazy bubble popped up over the two of them.

Tilly held out her hand toward Nilis. "Pay up, Scales."

Nilis groaned and glared at Jason. He reached into a pouch on his belt and passed over a coin to the fox kin. "Why'd you have to ruin the surprise, human?"

The shortest of the wolf-kin asked, "What surprise, Tilly?"

"The cat's in the dungeon," Tilly answered, but she looked too innocent.

Jason asked, "Hold on a moment. I'm missing something pretty important here. What was your briefing for this mission?"

The wolf kin appraised Jason. "That's not your business, human. I realize you found this new dungeon, and that it seems to be a duplicator, but you'll be -."

"Stop." Vi said that with a surprising aura of command. "This is not a duplicator dungeon. This is a managed dungeon, and he's our designated liaison with the dungeon's master. He will determine who is first in, especially if that damn cat is still boxed up next to the entrance."

The wolf kin shook his head. "There is no such thing as a managed dungeon, and this entrance is clearly within Lotrot's territorial claim. If there's a group trying to claim ownership of the dungeon, well, isn't that why you're tagging along with us?"

Vi shook his head. "I don't know what Commander Faulkin ordered, but I do know that there is a Traveler merged with the dungeon, and she's been friendly so far. Absolutely terrifying in her control over the dungeon environment, but friendly. Establishing benign relations with the dungeon has the possibility of giving us invaluable insight into the templating of dungeons."

"No one said anything about Travelers," the wolf kin said, and he took a firmer grip on his spear, as did the wolf kin behind him.

Tilly stepped up to the wolf kin speaker and poked her finger into his chest. "Yank, don't be an ignorant ass. Not all Travelers are monstrous."

"Prove it," Yank growled back.

Baline's arassi Rangers moved up to stand with Tilly. The cat kin stepped over to nudge the two bear kin forward. They considered him a moment, then flanked the Rangers. Kargerran's troops casually grouped themselves between Jason and Baline's troops.

The bigger of the two bears said, "We are proof, you idiot. Unless you're saying that your pack are all monsters?"

"I'm not buying that scat. We're Aware chimeras, not Traveler spawn."

One of the medics asked, "What does that matter? Our ancestors all started out somewhere in the Primal Chaos. Hey, at least you can claim fresh blood. We're stuck with kobolds and elves. And, also, the elves haven't tried to stake a claim to beast kin ancestry."

All of the beast kin stilled, then relaxed a touch. Yank even went so far as to say, "Yeah, good point. Better Traveler spawn than having the elves trying to herd us into their coalition. But, Travelers? If it has tentacles, I am killing it on general principles."

Vi said, "I can promise you that, one, you can't kill Lena because, two, she's disembodied. So, no tentacles."

"What do you mean, disembodied? How the Wastes did that happen?" Yank asked.

"I mean she's unable to leave the dungeon because the dungeon is as close to a physical body as she's got," Vi said.

The bubble around the troop leaders came down. Neither of them looked pleased at the way their troops had arranged themselves during their parlay. Baline's voice came out of him like a whip. "What do you think you're doing? Get into formation! Now!"

Kargerran made a hand gesture, and Jason found himself right next to the cave opening, Kargerran's troops falling into formation behind him.

Baline walked his troops' formation before taking a place in front of them. "It seems that we left with only a partial briefing, Delvers. We are to assess this dungeon. However, we are to do so in the most non-confrontational manner possible, because this dungeon is Aware. If Sergeant Kargerran gives you an order, you will obey it as if it came from me. Rangers, the sergeant's Rangers are to be treated with field seniority."

Baline swiveled around to face Kargerran. "Sergeant."

Kargerran nodded. "Thank you, Corporal. Jason Kline, please lead the way."

Jason walked into the cave, to the crack in the back wall that led into Lena's dungeon. Yank's reaction made him leery of admitting that he and his friends were all Travelers, and curious why the wolf kin thought Travelers were all monsters.