In the world of The Misplaced Dungeon.
{Timeline: October 2018 – MD starts during Ch. 30}
ANS 31 had sealed his entrance and was now busy forming the sixth floor of his dungeon, his wisp companion Dawnstar had said it was time to expand and had outlined what was needed. ANS 31 carefully and meticulously followed the plans laid out by his wisp.
Then Chaos! Something broke, his soul, his very existence was draining down a link he had not previously noticed. It hurt! He was just starting to panic when it stopped, then it started again but in reverse. ANS 31 blacked out for a few seconds.
At the same time back on Earth at HawaiiCon Dave Fitzwilliam and his wife were checking out the Young Creators’ Share-a-thon. Dave noticed the two women that entered shortly after he and his wife; it was the contrast between the two that drew his eye. Then he met the tall girl’s eyes and his head seemed to explode. Dave staggered and managed to reach one of the chairs that were lining the walls before collapsing. Maddy clung to him obviously worried.
ANS 31, no he was Dave, David Andrew Fitzwilliam and was married, no he was a dungeon core thanks to that tittering hellion Azurea. Maybe not hellion, she didn’t have to leave his human half – alter ego? – alive to keep Maddy company. He had to thank Azurea for that at least. Somehow he could remember that meeting in the white room, space, whatever? And he could remember his old life – all too well – and what he had been doing since as human and dungeon.
He Dave the dungeon, checked himself out, his core was intact but his life force was low, he was currently at sixty percent. He felt down the previously unnoticed link, Dave the human was unconscious, his soul, life essence whatever you cared to call it was also at sixty percent.
He remembered his other link and instinctively blocked it, thankfully Dawnstar was lazy as well as a know it all arrogant bastard. As usual he was lazing away in his private quarters. Well no time like the present, before the so and so woke to what was happening and went running to Azurea.
« System please terminate my bond to the wisp Dawnstar. »
« ANS 31 are you sure you wish to sever the bond to your companion. You have cause but the penalty will be the loss of one level – yes / no »
« Yes! »
« Conditions met – bond severed – dungeon ANS 31 now level six due to loss of level penalty for unilaterally severing the companion bond. »
« System that name was imposed on me, I haven’t yet chosen a name. My name is David Andrew Fitzwilliam commonly known as ... » Dave thought for a moment as he considered the possibility of confusion in his mind and settled for the alternative name he had had as a boy in school. « Andy. »
« Conditions met – Dungeon formerly known as ANS 31 now David Andrew Fitzwilliam to be known henceforth as “Andy” name change has been logged. »
Andy could feel Dave wake at the other end of their shared link, he could feel his confusion so he initiated contact and found his other self all too aware of what had happened to them. They went through their memories together and sorted them out. Dave clutched Maddy’s hand tightly as he came to terms with what had happened to him, the two of him!
Dave recovered slowly then asked Maddy if she minded returning to their room for a bit. Once there he explained everything to the love of his life, finally he offered to bring her into a link with him and his other self. It took them several hours to work everything out with the occasional clarification from the System. They decided to opt for a non-traditional class, something that would help them in their everyday lives. They decided to become elves for the expanded lifespan, a thousand years was nothing to sneer at and opted for the minimum of cosmetic changes consistent with the change. When the System offered them a companion type link along the lines of what existed between a dungeon and its bound companion they rashly agreed without bothering to discover why they had that option available and what it would entail.
* * *
Back on Parthia the former dungeon companion Dawnstar was pleasantly surprised and decamped. He was more than tired of the role of dungeon companion, it had proved altogether far more work than he had envisioned in the beginning and Azurea was always carping and after him to do this or that. Dawnstar didn’t even delay to make his farewells he just used the small escape tunnel he had had the foresight to get ANS 31 to make for him and returned home.
Andy felt him go with relief, he was feeling somehow incomplete, but for now he had other things to worry about. His first five levels were populated, planted with herbs and seeded with minerals as treasure. But it was all so bland and predictable. It just made him feel... uncomfortable, inadequate.
As for his monsters, why oh why had he acceded to Dawnstar’s suggestions, probably because he’d been acting like a computer and doing everything he was told regardless of whether it made sense or not. So now he was stuck, goblins were a pain, dumb, bloodthirsty but timid. The slimes were worse, bloody useless things, why had that lazy so and so insisted he pick them.
« System, given that thanks to Azurea, Dawnstar was the controlling force of this dungeon can I discard the monster types he picked and choose something else? »
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« The Goblins are well known, so no. The slimes have not yet been revealed so for a further penalty of a level you may exchange that choice »
« ... »
Andy contemplated his choices, he really didn’t want to drop another level and if he managed to attain level ten he would gain another set of choices. He rummaged round in his memory and accessed the ‘help desk’ options that seemed to be lurking in the depths of his mind. ‘Hey I can use creatures I kill or die in my dungeon! I can even evolve them! Why that little bastard of a whisp, why didn’t he get me to use this ability!’
« Thank you for explaining my options System. I will reluctantly stick with the slimes. »
Andy laboured all night using up his resources of mana and life force recklessly unwilling to remain so... so drab and uninteresting. He concentrated on his first level, he merged the two final caverns and created a small walled village for his floor boss and his goblins, he added some women and children as non-combatants but with goblins that proved inaccurate. I appeared all goblins were combatants.
Then Andy instituted a pattern of patrols to cover the rest of the level which would logically permit him to reinforce an ongoing fight.
He rearranged his second level and once again added a village with ongoing patrols, he refined the existing traps and tried to add a few dogs to the mix but they ended up in the goblin stewpots.
Mana exhaustion forced him to leave the rest of his dungeon unchanged. Then he sealed his former companion’s escape tunnel and unblocked his entrance.
‘Huh, typical,’ thought Andy, ‘nobody even noticed my dungeon was closed, why did Azurea drop me here a mere two days walk of the Celestial Peaks Dungeon? Mind you...’ he ruefully admitted to himself, ‘my dungeon is so bland and boring I can’t blame them for staying away.’
* * *
Dave and Maddy relaxed in their hotel room while they discussed the day’s happenings. They finally focused on that moment at the Young Creators’ Share-a-thon when Dave had met the tall girl’s eyes. It was what had triggered the – whatever it was – that had reunited the two versions of his being. Thankfully everything else was working, even the bizarre thing with the screens or they would have been seeking the services of a psychiatrist by now.
So they decided to see if they could discover who the girl was and to see if they could contact her to see if she had noticed anything.
By the end of the con they had identified the girl, many people were talking about her as she seemed to attract dolphins on the snorkel tours. She was a local, Mary Silvestre by name. Or as they found out later after they had booked into a cheaper hotel for the rest of their stay a local of one of the other islands so they’d have to book an inter island flight if they wanted to talk to her face to face.
* * *
Andy contemplated the recent conversation with his alter ego and his wife, he was worried that Dave and Maddy seemed to share a companion bond and worried as to what that might mean. ‘Mary Silvestre? I wonder...’
« System is there a way of obtaining a list of dungeons, or confirming if Mary Silvestre is one? »
« Dungeon exchange »
Andy contemplated that enigmatic reply for several minutes before seeking an appropriate option on his menus. He found it halfway down a tree of options and selected it. He was confronted with three options: Seeking – Offering – Chat.
Almost reluctantly Andy selected ‘Chat’. He was presented with a list of dungeons listed by their ranking, at the head of the list were four Godlike ranked dungeons: “Skylark Meadows – Kai Lung” – “Hell Pit – Steel Wolf” – “Ice Crags – Queenie” – “Blue Lagoon – Mary Silvestre”.
Andy just contemplated the list stunned, Godlike, how the hell had she managed that? Almost reluctantly he selected “Blue Lagoon” and composed his message:
“Dear Ms Silvestre, recently my alter ego or double on Earth met yours and that opened or more accurately blasted open our soul link and now we both remember everything we both know and did since that bitch Azurea separated our soul, and set me up here on Parthia without my memories as a dungeon. Would you be willing to communicate with me / us. Yours Andy (David Andrew Fitzwilliam).”
And then after another long pause he sent it.
* * *
Back on Earth Dave and Maddy newly on the island of Maui settled in in their new hotel and contemplated the phone. Dave drew a deep breath picked up the receiver and dialled.
The phone rang and rang, Dave had almost given up when finally the ringing stopped and he heard, “Yes.”
“Hello, could we please speak with Mary Silvestre.”
“Speakin’.”
“I’m Dave Fitzwilliam and I attended the recent HawaiiCon, could we, that is me and my wife come round to visit you sometime soon.”
There was a pause at the other end of the line. “Yeah? Guess you know where to come if you got our phone number. So wanna come ‘round for the barbie?”
“We can be there in half an hour, our hotel’s not far.”
“’K then, just come ‘round the back.”
Dave put the phone down and looking at his wife said, “Um, we’ve been invited to a barbecue.”
They ordered a taxi and when they arrived at the specified address Dave paid the taxi and somewhat hesitantly they walked up to the house past the elderly jeep on the driveway. As instructed they headed down the path leading around the house to the rear.
When Dave set eyes on the tall girl filling the two large grills with charcoal he felt the hairs on the back of his neck bristle with apprehension. Maddy smiled not noticing her husband’s sudden caution, “Hi I’m Maddy and this is my husband Dave. You must be Mary.”
Mary looked at them with narrowed eyes. “Yeah that’s me, I kinda see why you wanted to speak with me but how did you spot me in the first place?”
Dave tried out his new evaluate skill earning an irritated look from his hostess and noted to himself that some people were able to sense the use of evaluate. Not that he gained much by it – ‘Race: Human – Class: ??? – Level: ?’
“Well it all started when Dave saw you at the Con, Dave collapsed and joined with his alternate self on Parthia. Um is this making any sense to you?” asked Maddy.
Mary stared at them for a moment. “So that’s what that link is!” Mary exclaimed. “But why...”
The Fitzwilliams shared their story with Mary while Mary taught them how to interact and live with the system. They decided to stay for the barbecue despite the risk of meeting the FBI agents that had apparently been invited.
* * *
It was Trisha who noticed the message on the Dungeon Exchange channel, she had learnt from bitter experience that Mary routinely ignored all System messages so she usually dealt with them, she was happy to deal with them as they usually meant the two of them were getting stronger.
This was a weird one however so she badgered her partner until she consented to look at it.
Mary sought more information and the Dungeon exchange option supplied what she needed, there it was almost the last entry on the list of Apprentice ranked dungeons: “Unnamed – David Andrew Fitzwilliam”.
“Hi Andy, wouldn’t know about the me back on Earth but I’m willing to help any other victim of that blue haired cow. Cheers Mary.”