Deacon took Tantus on a minor tour of the now packed guild. He pointed out the area the modular dungeon training used to take place in once they got to the second landing. It’s now filled with ex-slaves being sorted by the priests of Ryan. Once they reached the fourth floor and turned the corner to Deacon’s room, Tantus spoke up.

“You know they only funneled the slaves here who were interested in who freed them. There were at least a hundred that scattered into the woods fleeing the fighting. Some wanted to join the knights stating they had operational information on the empire they could now speak about. I don’t think your courtyard could have held all of the slaves.” Tantus lectured.

“Great, here we are.” Deacon said as he opened the door. Tantus looked inside and frowned.

“Are you sure there will be enough room for both of us?” Tantus asked.

“No but I have a…device I’ve been meaning to try. You make magic items, right?” he asked.

“Yes, yes but I don’t see how that will help with the limited room in here.” Tantus said as he closed the door behind him and set his large backpack on the ground.

“Have you ever heard of Philo the mage?” Deacon asked.

“Yes, yes of course. Rumor has it you defeated him in the recent attack. I of course don’t believe that since he had to be long dead by now.” Tantus replied.

“Well you’re partially correct. He was undead before I shoved his soul back into his body and a skeletal hand from The Black came to claim him. I guess I can only take half credit for that one. Anyway, I claimed this dungeon cube I found in his lab. I didn’t know what I was going to do with it, but I figured while I had you here, you could look at it and give me your assessment.” Deacon said revealing the cube from his bag and putting it on the small table. It still looked like that cube with the cyborgs in it from that sci-fi show back home. As he stared at it, he received a prompt.

Bind with Cube Yes/No

“It’s asking if I want to bind with the cube.” Deacon said to Tantus who was staring at the object with his finger pointed at it mouth opened wide enough for a carriage to fit through. The weird thing is he wasn’t moving. No lifting of his shoulders as he breathed in and out. No blinking which for his race was very obvious. Deacon wondered if he was frozen in time. He was able to move around like normal even going as far as to wave his hand in front of Tantus’s face. Deacon took stock and thought back to when he originally found the cube. It was floating over a metal plate on Philo’s work bench. It wasn’t floating now. It was solidly touching the table. Was that the difference? Well this is a fine mess. Was the cube waiting for him to answer?

“Yes.” Deacon said.

Immediately the cube spread itself around boundaries of the room. It avoided both people and any object that wasn’t nailed down. Everything else became the substance of the cube. Tantus shrieked like a cat that got sprayed with water. The window in the room started to widen and looked out onto a sea of green. The walls began to take on the look of solid stone blocks like one would find in a remote fort. Suddenly the floor lurched and became tiled where there wasn’t thick carpet. Deacon’s cot turned into a grand four post bed and the railing of a balcony could be seen through the window now turned French doors. The walls were bare until Deacon started thinking of paintings. Ornate frames grew from the walls and the images seemed oddly familiar to Deacon. One had the train station he commuted from most of his adult life. Another showed his first meeting with Zageracks. The room began to widen out easily quadruple the size it was originally. Deacon stepped through the French doors out onto the balcony to get a better look at the outside. This was the master suite of castle perched atop a large hill. Looking down the hill he could all that green was largest hedge maze he’d ever seen. This was clearly Philo’s design. Deacon wondered if he could change the layout like he changed the wall decorations. Deacon turned to see Philo standing in the same spot. He had that glowing blue shield up and channeling his magic into a wand in his left hand.

“Woah buddy, relax. It doesn’t seem like its going hurt us. I bound it to me, ok.” Deacon said.

“Impossible. You can’t just start a dungeon in your rented room at a guild. People could die. Aren’t you worried about this being some kind of trap set by Philo?!” Tantus asked.

“Thought never crossed my mind honestly. I can see your point though.” Deacon said.

“Can you turn it off? Does this door even lead back to your guild?” Tantus asked clearly losing his calm as the blue barrier spell started to flicker.

“Yes, it does.” Came a voice from all around them.

“What the hell is that!” Tantus cried as he fired a lighting bolt from his wand through the doors and out into the maze below.

“I am the cube. Master Deacon, do you wish the Maze to burn?” asked the cube.

“Cool! I mean no, can you do something about that? What’s your name?” Deacon asked into the air above him. The smoke they could see from the lightning strike cut off.

“This cube has no designation.” Responded the cube.

“I’m going to call you Alfred. How does that sound?” Deacon asked.

“According to your memories this is the form you are referring too?” Alfred said stepping out of nothing into the room with them. He had silver grey short, cropped hair, a full butlers tuxedo, and a small mustache. He even had white gloves.

“Wow, it’s like you stepped right out of the comic book. Nice to meet you.” Deacon said extending his hand.

“Deacon it is reading your thoughts.” Tantus said as he shuffled himself behind Deacon.

“The master and I our bound. His thoughts are open to me as long as he allows it.” Alfred said.

“Nope, lets start right there. We may be bound but I’m not about that master life. Take a look at my memories as it pertains to slavery.” Deacon ordered surprising even himself. Alfred stared blankly at something before coming back with a scowl on his newly formed face.

“I understand Master Deacon. Would you like me to maintain the ruse in front of guests? Shall I prepare a cave and several cape options?” Alfred asked.

“Ok I see context is necessary. Wait, you can make me a Batcave? Stay on topic Deacon, you are not my slave. You can do as you please as long as it doesn’t hurt anyone. Even change your avatar to something else you like.” Deacon said.

“Deacon, you are playing with fire. I suggest a tight rein on your bound dungeon cube. Especially one made by Philo. He is the horror story people tell dungeoneers before they choose that specialization.” Tantus said.

“I actually prefer this form, thank you for asking. Now Master Tantus. Is there anything I can get you to help you calm down?” Alfred asked.

“No, no thank you.” Tantus said clearly not understanding he wasn’t in danger.

“Master…Deacon will this be our permanent space? Or shall I remain modular?” Alfred asked.

“I have to travel quite a bit in the next few weeks. I wouldn’t want to leave you alone. Would you be able to shrink back down so I could take you with me?” Deacon asked.

“You intend to wander the continent with a dungeon cube you stole from Philo? Don’t you see the inherent irony in that?” Tantus asked.

“Yes, we can do that, sir. It will take an invest of soul energy every time you activate me. Should I start making a soul collector? It is a device I have in my memories that Philo used to power all his dungeons. It passively collects magic energy and converts it into soul energy for the dungeons consumption.” Alfred asked.

“You can probably begin on that project. We need to meet some people for dinner. When we leave in the morning, I’d like to take you with us.” Deacon said.

“This design is fascinating.” Tantus said clearly over his initial concerns as the conversation went on.

“I can share the knowledge left in me by my creator with you if you’d like Master Tantus.” Alfred said.

“Really? Yes, yes, I would love that.” Tantus said excitedly.

“Deacon would need to agree and retrieve the conduits from Philo’s workshop. I’m supposed to give you this key and map sir.” Alfred said raising a chest from the floor in front of Deacon.

“Oh yes, I was supposed to get this from your predecessor. Not sure what happened to it.” Deacon replied.

“Deacon please, if you are going to Philo’s original workshop you have to take me with you. Hundreds of years of magical knowledge at our fingertips.” Tantus pleaded.

“Relax. Stay on my good side and I have no reason to deny this to you. Besides, we’re buddies now, right? And buddies keep each other’s secrets.” Deacon said to Tantus with a serious look on his face.

“Yes, yes, I understand.” Tantus said shrinking back a little.

Deacon lay down on his new bed. Happy to not have a basic cot anymore. Knowing he would need to double time it downstairs, he figured now was the best time to check his new prompts.

You have bound yourself to a Dungeon Cube, Masterwork quality. Dungeon Cubes are sentient magical artifacts of significant power. It is rare they would bind to a mortal but this one was created to do just that. Most dungeons feed on the souls of their victims to sustain themselves and grow. This masterwork cube can create its own collector to harvest the energy necessary to sustain itself. Beware, binding this artifact to yourself has offered it stability but if something happens to your mind, it happens to both of you.

New Quest- Philo’s Workshop- to access all of the ancient magical knowledge within Alfred the Dungeon Cube you must find the conduits hidden away in Philo’s Workshop. Use the provided map and key. Rewards: Access to ancient and forgotten magics, unknown.

New Title- Dungeon Bound- While in a dungeon and equipping this title you can sense traps before they go off, find better loot, and can’t get lost.

Deacon didn’t believe that quest was going to help him all that much. He couldn’t use magic. There must be some other purpose for it. Maybe that unknown reward has something to do with it. Now that title was worth something. Secretly, Deacon hoped he’d never have to use it.