A line of sailing ships proceeded in line ahead swinging slightly to sail parallel to a motley collection of brigs, luggers and galleys. Some spells were launched from the pirate fleet and to no one’s surprise accomplished nothing. Then brilliant bars of light lashed out from the fleet and where they hit they left smoking holes and fires. The ones that missed left clouds of steam behind.

On the pirate fleet the mages desperately strengthened their spell shields but achieved nothing as yet more ultra focused light beams lashed their fleet.

On the merchantman Rach Princess the master and crew sent their prayers to Ocidon and watched the scourge of this part of the ocean start to sink and burn. Magister Eventor watched bemused. The only magics he could detect were the defensive spells on all the ships, mostly protection against fire. Each of those hellish fire beams seemed to be proceeded by a powerful light spell on the Blue Lagoon ships.

The Master of the Rach Princess shortened sail in relief, he had been afraid his masts would be uprooted. The Blue Lagoon fleet showed no mercy and didn’t collect any of the survivors from the pirate fleet. In fact something big with tentacles seemed to be snacking on the survivors. Something he had not encountered before. He and his crew would be able to dine out on this story for months.

“Shouldn’t they be picking up the survivors captain?” asked Magister Eventor.

“An Empire fleet would, then they’d hang most of them. It would seem Blue Lagoon has a different policy regarding pirates.” The captain spat over the rail, “good riddance to bad rubbish. Ocidon! But they’re fast.”

* * *

Haas-Jucar the Imperial factor in Port Gull watched from the tower of the so called Embassies building he and his staff shared with a motley collection of factors and representatives of other states that felt it necessary to have someone at this fortress city to ransom their citizens.

The cities galleys had left some hours earlier and now there was smoke on the horizon behind the fast approaching fleet. The ships manoeuvred crisply and soon incredible bolts of light or fire were lashing the castle on the peak. It didn’t take long to turn the formidable castle into a pile of rubble. Then the ships switched their attention to the walls.

The Blue Lagoon forces arrived riding huge serpents that spat jets of poison for hundreds of meters as they came ashore and proceeded through the broken fortifications and simply smashed their way through the timber buildings of the town.

Their riders used lesser forms of the beam weapons and a few had some weapon that made an awful racket as they killed defenders and citizens at a distance.

As if this wasn’t enough rocks, magic and lightning started raining from the skies whenever the defenders made a stand.

Haas-Jucar watched as Port Gull burned. The invaders ignored the Embassies building as they rounded up the citizens, freed all the slaves and laden with loot and captives left taking their casualties with them. After they were gone a series of explosions reduced what was left of the fortifications to rubble.

Port Gull the jewel of the Pirate Shore hadn’t lasted a day.

* * * INTERLUDE 1 * * *

Linny Thomas was feeling increasingly angry; the damn authorities wouldn’t leave her alone. Now they were adding threats. They really wanted Adelio Rosas and had been driving her nuts with their questioning. It would seem they hadn’t been careful enough with Tiny and Rosas had eliminated the snitch. Then the feds had been all over her cover story and they had been threatening to cut all her palliatives.

Now they were dragging her back trough the gates and dumping her back in her cell. Worryingly she was getting the cold shoulder from the other inmates. It wasn’t fair it hadn’t been her that had dumped the drugs in the schoolyard. It had been that scumbag Tiny.

It happened at dinner. Linny was waiting to collect her meal when a heavily tattooed woman bumped into her and rammed a sharpened file into her chest rupturing her heart while whispering, “Adelio says sorry but you know too much.”

Linny screamed in rage and used her departing life force to avenge herself on the world. She grasped the room filling it with a snow storm, a veritable blizzard. The doors slammed shut and sealed themselves and her wolves howled their joy.

Linny collapsed to the floor as two wolves tore her killer apart. Magic swirled as the life force of over a hundred prisoners, guards and kitchen staff came flooding to feed the new dungeon core. Linny’s body sparkled like a thousand fireflies and spiralled inward and formed a large glowing blood red Tourmaline.

Linny felt fulfilled, she stretched her domain claiming room and corridor after room and filling them with her blizzard and wolves. When she reached the outer fence she reached upwards and acknowledged the System. With glee she accepted the upgrades due her as she levelled up and she twisted some of the remaining guards and the prisoners in solitary into werewolves. The prison armoury allowed her to add a wide assortment of firearms to her template collection and she used it to arm her werewolves.

Feeling exposed Linny burrowed down growing her dungeon even as she plotted her revenge on all the people she blamed for her current predicament.

* * *

MacLeod the Redcap grinned, he stirred and followed the delightfully bloodthirsty thoughts and call as he skipped through various wakening faerie realms to reach this delightful girl dungeon that was seeking a companion.

“Guid forenicht lass, ye called?”

If Linny could have jumped she would have. A short, thickset old man with long prominent teeth, skinny fingers capped with long sharp talons, large fiery red eyes and grisly bloodstained hair streaming over his shoulders was suddenly sharing her current cavern. He was wearing iron boots and holding a long staff in his hand. The giveaway was the red cap on his head that had obviously been recently dipped in blood.

« Who are you? »

“Wa lass, Ah am MacLeod th’ Redcap an’ I’m haur tae answer yer caa fur a suitable companion. Havin’ witnessed ye wark I’m sure we’ll suit.”

Linny struggled to translate her visitor’s speech but one thing was clear, the old geezer who reeked of murder and mayhem was offering to be her dungeon companion and considering how she was feeling at the moment she accepted.

* * * INTERLUDE 2 * * *

Joanne finally made it ‘home’ and thankfully the bathroom was in working order. She needed a long bath. When she wandered down looking for a snack she found Top in the lounge among ladders and tools watching the local news.

“Hi Jo, I see you had an eventual afternoon. How’s the girl.”

Joanne leant against the entrance, “fine, she took off like a bat out of hell. Her damn jeep’s got a force field of some kind that bounced two bullets and stopped an RPG-7.”

“Who were the attackers?”

“Mercs.”

“Any idea who was behind them?”

“Not a clue, I guess we’ll get told if the higher ups think we need to know. Looked like a grab or deny operation.”

“So Jo you up to introducing me to the girl? The house should be ready on Tuesday at the latest and then our ‘parents’ will move in as will our ‘older brother’.

“Got her number, can call her and arrange a place and time. Any preference on location?”

“How about the park? She’s been seen on the bench by the duck pond on several occasions.”

* * * INTERLUDE 3 * * *

Mary was feeling frustrated, she had just conjured up clothes for her new companion and for her new bodyguard. Why had she not realized earlier, she hated those trips to the mall.

At least Tessa the Leopard ‘folk was all that she had hoped for, smart, funny, sneaky and deadly. Sunday had been fun as Jerica and her had created a wide variety of her more deadly fish to guard her core at the bottom of the sea. The crystal now hanging around her neck would allow her to dismiss her avatar outside her domain and reanimate her core at will and would do it automatically if she was badly injured or rendered unconscious.

It had been touchy but jeep had reluctantly accepted Tessa as a sort of designated driver if she was not present for some reason or other.

Now it was time for the meeting Joanne had asked for, the sun was low in the sky as she arrived at the now familiar bench, Jerica was standing by in her dungeon while Tessa was lurking nearby hidden by her magic.

She spotted Joanne approach along the path with a teenager. Mary’s eyes narrowed. That was supposed to guard her? He was so weak, sea human how the beep had he worked that one out. Just the first stage of enhancements. Dungeon core? No gem yet so he was ridiculously vulnerable. Did the idiot realize that any high level dungeon could kill or claim him with ease.

Joanne smiled as she approached, “Hi Mary, may I introduce Top.”

Mary blinked, by no stretch of the imagination could see this teenager as a marine corps master sergeant. “No way can I call him Top in school, and I figure I should avoid that elsewhere to avoid mistakes.”

Joanne blushed while Top facepalmed.

Top cursed himself for an idiot and racked his brain to see if he’d introduced himself to any of the neighbours as Top. Yes he had, to Greg and the cat lady. “You’re right Mary, I think you’d better call me Tod. I’ll get my papers changed as soon as. I introduced myself to Greg and the cat lady as Top, Tod is close enough that they should accept it.”

Mary chuckled, “If you arrive bearin’ frogs Greg’ll call you whatever you want, Liz however...”

« So little dungeon, just how much does Joanne know? And how much are you plannin’ to tell, and to whom Tod? »

Top drew a breath, “Nothing. Mary do you know anything about that?” Top indicated the compound guarding the entrance to the dungeon under the park.

Mary widened her eyes, “why nothing,” she said with a smirk.

« It’s a sapient dungeon with monsters and treasure. »

“You do know something, I’ve seen that smirk before,” interjected Joanne. “You need bodyguards and I am sure you’ll be asked about that force field soon too.”

“Got bodyguard,” Mary looked at them for a second then feeling a hand rest on her shoulder, “up to you Tessa.”

Top an Joanne froze when what looked like a leopard woman in a bulky jacket appeared behind Mary pointing a M27 rifle at them before fading from sight again.

“Tessa’s a shadow mage an’ my friend. I agree I need bodyguards. Could use a set of papers for her, maybe you can help.”

“Where did she come from and how did you get your hands on an M27 automatic rifle?” asked Top.

Mary grinned.

« For shame Tod, how can you call yourself a dungeon. Your lot gave me a mini tour of Pearl. You gave a dungeon a tour of a military base and you ask me about a piddly M27. »

Joanne fumed. The girl was infuriating at times. She kept showing them things that the armed forces needed. “So, tomorrow, how will Top – Tod, Tod, damn that’s gonna be hard, how is Tod gonna introduce himself to you?”

Mary shrugged one shoulder, “well he’s your brother right? And ‘cordin’ to you he likes fishin’. Should be easy. No one’ll be surprised if he talks anglin’ an’ such an’ he ends up in my company on occasion.”

Mary rose, nodded to her two government supplied bodyguards and headed home.

“Mother this place is too open, I need help, maybe you could provide me with a twin sister.”

“That’s a good idea Tessa. Why ‘mother’ I thought that was other me?”

“You are Mother both here and there. We are all your children and we all know you only care for your children and family.”