Goran tore another hunk of meat right off the bone. He gave it three consecutive chews before swallowing. The orc battle leader looked around the now dilapidated home of his former victims and sighed. There were more tears in this village than actual warriors. His personal goblin vanguard swept into the human settlement so fast no warning bells were heard. Pathetic. Goran spent years slaying his way through the underdark for his clan. Now that the old one has its sights set on the overworld, he has found no real warriors that can match his might. Just farmers and children. He does agree that the little one’s skulls do make for fine talismans. Goran peered out of the now busted window that looked onto the main road. He internally seethed when he saw Pumus, this clans goblin witch doctor, stirring in the building across the road. Pumus resembled a goblin stretched to over five feet tall with extended earlobes adorned with all the shinys. Goran hated him ever since he was convinced to get in the vat. It had stinky waters that Goran could still smell. The only good thing is it got rid of his damn sensitivity to the sun. That was fine with Goran. The overworld had good meats.

“Bring more farmer! I’m still hungry,” Goran yelled to the goblins around the fire out back. At the same time he pulled some hair off his remaining tusk. He’d lost the other in a brawl some years ago. As he was drinking from one of the barrels they found, several goblins raced passed the window he was using to keep an eye on that cursed witch doctor. Then another group ran past followed by even more. Was Goran going to have to smack a bitch?

Goran got up and smashed the door further open with his now meatier arm. After several days in the vat his right arm bulged with more muscle than his left. Goran was fine with it though, the meaty arm let him smash his competition to paste to become this clans battle leader. Out on the road he could see the goblins racing toward the edge of the village. He picked up the pace to see what the commotion was about. Standing at his full six-foot-five inch height, he strode into the packed goblins sweeping away those he didn’t just step on outright. He doesn’t understand the magic of the vats, but it took away the goblins light sensitivity too. Unfortunately, it gave them even more curiosity and insatiable hunger for stories. Goran often found them huddle in groups babbling at each other for hours on end and the next day they would all be chanting something they talked about the day before. It was infuriating. He usually loses ten to twenty of them just trying to shut them up.

“Who makes all this noise? Huh? What the problem?” Goran asked as he finally reached the center of the group.

“Goran, sorry. We found another town but it has walls and guards,” said a little goblin hopping from one foot to the other.

“Where is the rest of the flyers?” Goran asked. He especially hated the flyers. They always had to be moving. They never sit still. That’s what made them good scouts. It kept them on the move. Just looking at them made Goran itch.

“All dead. The town has a bad magic man. He eats all their souls, and the bodies just drop to the ground. No go back there. Stay away, stay away,” said the fidgety goblin.

“No. I think not. That is precisely where we need to go. So says the old one,” Pumus said as he walked up to the group. His belt was adorned with the freshly cleaned and dried skulls of this villages young. As he said the last part all the other goblins repeated it.

“So says the old one.”

“That’s cheating,” Typhus whined as dodged another charge from the Gilgerith.

Deacon didn’t have time to retort as Ralph harassed him with quick sword slashes. Deacon already had defensive scars on his forearms from trying to block only to remember that Ralph’s sword is enchanted. The last ten minutes has been spent on defense as he tried to figure out Ralph’s attack pattern. Every time he thought he saw an opening, Ralph would either sweep at his legs or just dance back out of Deacon’s reach. He didn’t think it was fair to use Aura powers in a basic spar but Ralph had reach on him. Finally, Deacon jumped back and may a T symbol with his hands. Ralph immediately thought this was some kind of attack and dodged left.

“No, it means time out. I need a break and your are sweating like crazy. What’s this supposed to teach me again?” Deacon asked.

“You’re supposed to counter my attacks while conserving your energy. For most warriors it’s about not running out of stamina in drawn out conflicts,” Ralph replied between gasps for air.

“A little help?” Typhus asked while sliding under the Gilgerith slashing at its belly then using the monsters shadow to appear ten yards away.

“Oh right. You can stop,” Deacon commanded. The Gilgerith just stopped and stood there like a mannequin.

“Since when could you summon a Gilgerith?” Typhus asked looking pissed off.

“I picked it up in the coliseum. One of the last souls I grabbed before I died. I can see how this new ability will come in quite handy. It’s not a magical creature or anything, but it should be able to smash large groups of enemies. I’ve been thinking about that while we were on the road. Along with this training ground. I also have a great new title that lets me use my trade skills without using my hands. We are kind of low on potions, I should make more while we train. Really maximize my down time,” Deacon’s thoughts began to pour out of his mouth. Suddenly, Ralph was in front of him waiving his hand back and forth.

“You’ve been doing this a lot lately. Spacing out is not a good thing. Let’s go check on the ladies. I think we’ve been down here long enough,” said Ralph while sheathing his blade.

Deacon dispelled the Gilgerith and turned toward the staircase leading back to the mansion. Before entering the double doors, he looked back at the Ferris wheel one more time. He made a mental note to ride that damn thing at least once before the next disaster.

No sooner did they open the doors, Tantus came barreling out of the conference room Deacon asked Alfred to create. He had a smile on his face from ear to ear. The amount of excitement coming off of him was almost blinding.

“You have to come see. This is some of my best work,” Tantus said gesturing for everyone to enter. Sophie and Amanda were seated on one of the couches. They looked at each other, then got up to join everyone else.

Inside the conference room was a long table that could easily seat ten people. The table itself was rectangular but bowed out a bit in the middle. The center of the table was five foot long and four foot wide indent filled with sand. The walls in here were wood paneled with the exception of one wall which was made of the same magic screen Alfred uses to show the exterior of the entrance.

“Holy shit! It’s like a hundred twenty inch flat screen tv,” Deacon exclaimed as he ran over to inspect the wall. That’s when chairs for everyone rose from the ground. They reminded Deacon of standard office chairs complete with the adjustable lumbar support.

“Nice chairs Alfred,” said Typhus before he started rocking back and forth. That was when Alfred poured himself out of one of the walls to stand in the room with them.

“Thank master Deacon, his memories provided much of the décor,” commented Alfred before pulling chairs out for Sophie and then Amanda.

“So polite for a dungeon spirit,” Sophie said as Alfred provided her a handkerchief to dry her tears. Sophie was still a bit apprehensive about all this but the others seemed to accept the situation so she would too, for now.

“Is this it? A fancy new room in Deacon’s masterwork dungeon palace? What was all the enthusiasm for?” Amanda asked.

“How do you make a simple question sound like an attack on me? Every time,” Deacon commented.

“Enough you two. It’s like your siblings or something. Always sniping at each other. Now this is what I was so excited about. Alfred if you would be so kind?” Tantus asked with barely restrained glee.

As they waited the sand in the center of the table began to swirl into a perfect replica of the town they were in, complete with moving people. The longer they looked at it the more they noticed. People were opening doors and if they asked, Alfred could show you what was going on inside the house. The detail was astounding. They asked Alfred to pull back to the common room of the Inn. The sand began to swirl and then they could see all the people from the caravan. There were several Deep Dwellers at the bar and Hani was seated at a table with Earl Tirebrook. Several of the locals were also in the common room. Some sitting around the fire and drinking from flagons. Deacon looked back at the table with the Jester and the master mason. Suddenly Hani’s eyes squinted, and he looked back up at Deacon. That shocked him enough to look at another section of the room.

“This is remarkable. How are able to do this?” Typhus asked.

“The external interaction upgrade. It allows me to sync up with master Deacon’s slate map. That is how I know the locations of buildings in the town. We combined that with master Tantus’s talents with air magic to capture the disruptions in local air currents. That in turn vibrates the sand—Magic,” Alfred finished as he saw Typhus’s eyes glaze over.

“That is incredible for around a half hours’ worth of work. Unbelievable actually. Tantus did you have this air spell in mind prior to this?” Deacon asked.

“Yes, yes. I’ve been thinking of a solution incase we get separated for some reason. I can quickly scan our area by mapping airflow. I just didn’t have the opportunity to really test it yet. But the extremely magically receptive sand that Alfred can create gave me medium that I could use to display it others. This could revolutionize search parties or mining or any number of trades,” explained Tantus as he stood up and paced back and forth.

“And much like any other magic item, it could be used to do bad things as well,” Ralph said starring at the table with Earl Tirebrook.

“Be that as it may, Alfred deserves some credit as well. It was his idea to place the well of sand within the table,” Tantus said pointing to Alfred.

“I’m just happy to help,” commented Alfred.

“This is really great. Take your bow, Alfred,” Deacon replied nodding to him.

“Is it just me or does it look like the jester can see us?” Ralph asked. All eyes looked toward the little table made of sand in the common room with a little jester standing up and gesturing at what could only be the ceiling from his perspective.