* * * PARTHIA – BLUE LAGOON * * *

Trisha had finally managed to master the flow of information Mary had available from outside her dungeon, the sheer volume of information was staggering, if mostly useless. The only thing she found of even mild interest, was that the pirates of Port Salvage seemed to be up to something.

Following Mary’s intentions, she directed one of their border patrols to the aid of a group of worshipers, and escorted them safely to the lagoon. While she was doing this, she noted a group of adventurers. So she went to warn Mary that the adventurers they had been expecting had arrived.

She found Mary wrapped up in experimentation and research. ‘Not again, what is she doing with those octopi?’ wondered Trisha.

“Mary! Mary, come on. Pay attention, the adventurers have arrived.”

Mary reluctantly stopped her tinkering with Pete, and she placed him beside Shirley in a nice – for an octopus – cave.

« Sorry Trish just got carried away with Pete and Shirley. »

“Pete and Shirley?”

« Hey don’t knock it. At least I didn’t name ’em Adam and Eve. »

Trisha was starting to feel bewildered again, and was glad when Mary linked with her, and they watched the Adventurer’s excursion.

« Some promise there Trish, but they’re too hidebound! If they don’t learn to adapt to changing circumstances, they’ll remain fresh meat. Yeah, yeah I know, Trish, but I really see no reason to concentrate on the tin can. »

* * * PARTHIA – SHARK’S BANE PARTY * * *

Sildanus and his friends were floating a few hundred meters outside the dungeon’s domain. They were trying to pick up any clues as to what awaited them, so far all they had seen were a few mid sized squid, which seemed to be intent on studying them back. Something they found vaguely worrying.

They were keeping an eye on a group of pilgrims that were being led by a priest, and that seemed to be headed for the dungeon. Then they saw two tiger sharks circling the pilgrims preparing to attack. The pilgrims reacted in a way that showed they were well practised in confronting these dangers. The cloud of blood produced by the attack on one unlucky, or careless pilgrim was likely to cause further problems.

With a quick look around, Sildanus led his friends to their help. But he was astonished when several barracuda left the concealment of a mass of floating seaweed in the dungeon, and attacked the sharks. The sharks seemed to be affected by something before the barracuda even arrived. The sharks didn’t last long, seeing that they were virtually disabled, even before the fish tore into them. The Barracuda then dropped into a loose formation around the pilgrims, and escorted them into the dungeon.

“Well that was unique, I think we need more information. How were those sharks disabled?” asked Sildanus.

“I think it was lightning, some kind of area lightning effect,” replied Massina their mage.

“The dungeon acted outside its domain,” stated Froomar worriedly.

“But only to help the followers of Ocidon on their way to visit the temple it contains,” hopefully clarified Drixia his wife.

“I suspect we’d have a difficult job against that group,” stated Sildanus. “Should we proceed or should we visit the temple and see what we can learn?”

After the pilgrims had disappeared, the members of the Shark’s Bane formed up in their usual formation and advanced warily into the dungeon. Their first few encounters were not too problematic, but they were informative. Their chief opposition consisted of the barracuda operating in conjunction with squid. The squid inked the water, and the fish attacked from cover. The ink muted spells weakening them slightly, and the barracuda went for the more active party members, mostly ignoring the taunts of their tank.

They withdrew shaken and wounded after meeting the first combined group that contained one of the dark coloured barracuda, the ones that pulsed a lightning aura. That and one horror of a lamprey, that just tore through armour.

The spoils were good, fish, copper and silver coins, two nice pearls and the lamprey’s mithril teeth.

After healing their wounds back at their temporary encampment amongst the seagrass, they decided to see if the dungeon would allow them to visit the temple.

Next morning they approached the dungeon again, wearing their travelling gear, and with weapons sheathed. The smaller squid were present at the border, just like on the previous day. A few of these escorted them all the way into the lagoon, where they were met by Altor Seaswept, the merman priest in charge of the underwater half of the temple of Ocidon on Sea.

* * * PARTHIA – HELL’S MOUTH * * *

Hell’s Mouth and Arbogar settled down to regain their former glory. They were content to proceed slowly. They were happy to rest from the frantic efforts they had been put to in order to maximise their chances of survival, after that rather upsetting visit from Azurea. They even were considering expanding sideways, and migrating their dungeon to the opposite side of the mountain chain. They were reluctantly coming to the conclusion that maybe they should cut their losses and move.

But first they decided to see how their decoy would fare. They really hated the thought of having to start from scratch. And it was all Azurea’s fault anyway.

Hell’s Mouth spawned a few guardian monsters. Then they set out to slowly grind in all the ways past experience showed would work – even if they were not nearly as good as the more traditional methods.

Then too, if they were going to relocate, summoning some kind of flying demon to do some exploring might be a wise move. But they had time. Hopefully they had enough time.

* * *

Hell’s Mouth and Arbogar finally bit the bullet and summoned another demon. They employed all due caution, despite the fact, that this time they were only summoning an imp. They needed to summon one because it was going to spend a long time outside their domain.

Bjitgjifgnb the Imp of the fifth court found himself summoned by a Dungeon Core and a Wraith. He raged, as was customary, even as he inspected the summoning circle for flaws. He was unsurprised to find none.

The Wraith hissed in amusement as he watched the Imp's attempts. Bjitgjifgnb was annoyed, the cursed Wraith was mocking him. Then Arbogar ordered, “Bjitgjifgnb you will explore all around our dungeon, for a dissstance of half-a-daysss’ brisk flight. You will return and draw usss a map of what you find. Find usss sssomewhere with prey.”

Beejay as he liked to call himself found himself securely bound to obey their command, and he soon found himself flying under the cruel glare of the sun. For it was the middle of the day, and he was in the midst of what looked like a desolate waste.

* * * PARTHIA – SANDRINNA * * *

‘Hmm, now what do I know about Kobolds, how can I best use them?’ Sandrinna mused. Even as she wondered she received a rush of recently learned information.

« Kobolds are craven reptilian humanoids that worship dragons serving as their minions. Kobolds prefer to inhabit dragons’ lairs but more commonly infest dungeons. »

« Kobolds are egg-laying creatures. They mature rapidly and can live for over a century. Usually they live less than ten years. Physically weak, they are easy prey for predators. They work well together and with superior numbers they can be dangerous. »

Sandrinna contemplated what she had learned so far. ‘Craven, that seems harsh given their size and abilities. I would say, understandably cautious,’ she decided.

« Kobolds make up for their weakness with their cunning trap making and expert tunnelling. »

Sandrinna perked up at that and decided, ‘Now that is something I need, so how do I spawn these things, Oh! Like that! So, let's get to work!’

Sandrinna concentrated and spent most of her available resources to create five breeding pairs of Kobolds turning them loose on her second level.

She watched as her kobolds started exploring, she was amused when her kobolds started setting traps, and excavating a small tunnel, that would be very difficult for a full grown human to traverse. She couldn’t help worrying though. She had nothing capable of stopping a capable group of adventurers, also, she had no herbs or metals to serve as treasure.

* * *

Darkmoon hid until evening, then he did a quick scout of the area the dungeon was located in. He had rarely seen such arid desolation. The sorry excuse of a stream that flowed from the dungeon’s mouth had already attracted assorted wildlife.

Finally, nigh on midnight, he decided to approach his potential partner. He entered the wide cave mouth. He found the cave to be surprisingly welcoming, the floor was covered in lush cave grass, and there was a fair sized pool in the centre of the cave that contained crystal clear water.

Keeping close to the ceiling and using all due caution he worked his way deeper into the dungeon. He found the dungeon core at the end of the second level. Gripping his courage, he initiated contact. He found the dungeon core to be an anxious, and worried young woman, who had only recently been turned into a dungeon via a vile necromantic ritual. She let him know that Hell’s Mouth had created her as a decoy, a cold blooded sacrifice to appease Azurea.

Darkmoon found that he liked Sandrinna. She was nice, and he felt that she needed stiffening. He felt that she might allow her compassion to betray her. He offered his help, and to be her companion.

Sandrinna was feeling the lack of friends. Darkmoon was the first being to offer her friendship in some time. And she could feel his compassion. So she accepted.

The deal was struck and the bond was created. Darkmoon swore that his dungeon was not going to be sacrificed on his watch. And it wasn’t just because he had bound his fate to a likable sapient dungeon.

Sandrinna and Darkmoon spent several hours learning about each other. Almost reluctantly, the two turned their attention to their dungeon.

Sandrinna was feeling far more confident now. It helped immensely that she had Darkmoon to discuss things with. Just having an uncritical friend filled a deep-rooted – need – in her existence as a dungeon.

She also felt more confident in her creature’s abilities, especially after Darkmoon shared his memories of how a dungeon had defeated a superior group of adventurers, only using a group of monsters that individually should have had no chance. Mind you they still had to figure out a way of creating an unexpected and hostile environment.

Sandrinna examined her dungeon again. She focused her attention on the small tunnel her kobolds had dug. It now had an interesting trap. The idea of small trapped tunnels seemed interesting, especially when coupled with her Kobolds.

After consulting with Darkmoon, she created a small maze of Kobold sized tunnels. Then she moved herself to a room at the end of her new maze. Finally she turned her Kobolds loose on the maze and gave them carte blanche to create traps and hazards.

Then came the hard part, to override her kobolds programming. She worked hard to get her guardians to cooperate, and to ignore the tank. From what she had seen in Blackmoon’s memory, that other dungeon had hit the mage and the healer first.