Rubikon

We stood in a metal room, a cube, with one doorway on each of the four walls, although three of the ways were blocked. A modron stood near the only open doorway.

As I approached, the creature focused emotionless eyes on me. “Greetings, adventurer. Welcome to Rubikon, the dungeon construct. Thank you for choosing Rubikon for your dungeoning experience. You may access Rubikon through this door.”

I tried to question it further, but it would only respond with its opening speech. Shrugging, I moved through the opening.

The room beyond was also a metal cube, with four doorways. Three creatures, which looked the same, stood about the room. Closest to me I saw a mechanical man with pale green skin. Although it was obviously a construct, it did have an animated face, which was scowling at me.

I essayed a greeting.

“Grrrr.” The creature growled at me and then paused, weighing my reaction.

The mechanical man, although armed with a built-in sword, barely came to the middle of my chest. Its armor looked paper thin as well. That made its response to my greeting rather ludicrous. I asked, “Am I supposed to be frightened by that?”

It looked confused. “Grrrr?” It made a feeble threatening gesture toward me.

“I asked you if I'm supposed to be frightened by that.”

It stared at me for a moment while considering my question. “Yes. Grrrr is a sound indicative of a threat. I have included an appropriate gesture to add weight to the threat. Fear is the anticipated response which will give me the advantage in the fight that follows.” It leaped to the attack.

The three creatures fought weakly, and were soon scattered parts upon the floor.

Dak'kon remarked, “This is Limbo, but it rings of Mechanus.”

I glanced at him, surprised by the comment. Since he was a githzerai, he must be sure we were in Limbo.

I entered the next room, which had only one mechanical creature. I asked it who it was. My question seemed to throw the creature completely off balance. It stood staring at me with its head cocked to one side, unsure of what to do.

“I am a monster. Now we do battle?”

“You've got to be kidding…” It continued to stare at me for a moment.

“No… Grrrr.” It attacked. After dispatching it, I entered the next room. The creature there gave me no time to talk, yelling out as soon as we entered.

“Die in the name of the Evil Wizard!” The creature brandished a weapon at me. When I asked what evil wizard it was talking about, the creature stopped waving its weapon and paused to think for a moment.

“Uh… The one that doesn’t exist until you set the Rubikon Dungeon Construct to hard difficulty level. Boy, will you be in trouble then. Meanwhile, Die in the name of the Evil Wizard!” It leaped to the attack, and was quickly hacked to pieces.

In the next room, the construct first scowled at me. The creature suddenly stopped scowling at me and adopted a look of mock terror.

“Eeeek! It is the hero, sent here no doubt, to slay the evil one. Woe to me, the hapless construct on duty at the time of his arrival!”

“What are you going on about?”

“The plot, you dolt, stick to the plot. How do you expect me to play my part if you do not cooperate? Where were we…” It paused to think for a moment. “Oh, I remember, I was about to trounce you.” It leaped to the attack, lasting a short while longer than its predecessors. At the end of the combat Lady Grace made a comment to another of my companions, continuing to try to learn more about them.

“Your mastery of discipline is impressive, Dak'kon.”

“In the eyes of Zerthimon, I am nothing.”

“Surely you are being too harsh on yourself?”

“A long road must I still travel. This is but the beginning.”

We passed through several more of the cubic rooms, easily defeating the mechanical inhabitants. Finally, we stumbled into another cubic chamber. Complex clockwork mechanisms covered the walls, and half a dozen modrons stood about the room. I asked one of the creatures what it was.

“We are modron.” I asked if it meant its name was Modron.

“We are modron. We do not have a name. We are modron. All that you see here are modron. We are one.”

“All right. You are all modrons, but what is this modron’s name? The one I am talking to.” The modron began to emit sporadic knocking sounds. Its face took on a pained expression as it continued to stare at me.

“We… I…” It looked away from me and the knocking sound faded. “We are modron. We have no identity other than the whole that is modron. We have no name.”

“Then how do you tell one modron from another?” There was a pause as the modron considered my question.

“We know. We are modron. We are a part of the whole. Just as you recognize the hand that is part of the arm, we recognize each part of the whole.”

I asked what this place was, to which it gave the same unsatisfactory reply as the first modron we met, ‘Rubikon Dungeon Construct.’

I suddenly put together Dak'kon’s remark, with the rooms we were moving through and a remark Candrian the plane walker had made when I talked to him in the Smoldering Corpse. He had travelled to Limbo and seen a construct of interlocking cubes, which I now realized we were inside. Rather than Rubikon Dungeon Construct, I reflected, it should have been called Rubikon Cubes. I asked the Modron to tell me more about this ‘construct.’ The modron frowned at me then glanced about the room.

“We should know… We are modron. We are part of the whole… We… Information not available. Address your query to the engineer.”

“Where do I find the engineer?” The modron glanced about.

“We do not know. Information not available… We are confused…”

I addressed another of the modron, asking it what this place was.

“This is the Rubikon Dungeon Construct Project.” When I asked this one for details, it was more forthcoming. The modron began to emit a soft humming sound as it answered me.

“Rubikon: Project goal is to determine the dynamics, both social and asocial, surrounding the environment commonly construed as a dungeon and to attempt to explain the aberrations that tend to occur in such environments.”

“How do you intend to do that?”

“Rubikon is capable of forming a series of rooms linked in such a fashion as to form what is commonly referred to as a dungeon. Each dungeon can have one of three difficulty settings: easy, normal, or hard. The dungeon is then populated with monsters, traps, and treasure, according to the difficulty level chosen. After creation the dungeon can be fully explored.” The modron began to emit a low hum.

“Queries to be answered: What attracts people to dungeons? Why do people often seek to enter them if they are places of such danger? Why are dungeons there in the first place? What are the dynamics of a workable dungeon? We do not understand…” It paused. “I… do not…”

This was the first modron I had encountered who showed any signs of individuality. I commented, “You started to say I instead of we…”

The modron gave me a concerned look then glanced about the room. “You are in error. We are modron. We are the whole… We will not discuss this.”

“I know what I heard. You started to say I and…” The modron frowned at me. I heard a hint of anger in its voice as it answered me.

“No. We are modron. We are a part of the whole. We will not discuss this further.” An angry buzzing filled the room then subsided.

This was also the first modron I had seen show an emotion, but it obviously was not willing to admit to any non-conformity. I was curious about the different settings it had mentioned.

“All right. I'd like to try out one of these dungeons you mentioned.” There was a significant pause before the modron answered me.

“Request denied… Project halted due to… accident.”

“What accident?”

“Dungeon construct became unstable, cause uncertain. Fail-safes activated causing dungeon to collapse, cause uncertain. Portal lens malfunctioned causing contact with home plane of Mechanus to be severed, cause uncertain. Reset of dungeon necessary.”

“Then why don’t you reset it?”

“Reset can only be initiated by project director. Project director disintegrated. Portal lens has malfunctioned and contact with Mechanus severed. Cannot acquire replacement director from Mechanus.”

“Let me get this straight. You can’t reset without a director, but you can’t get a director without resetting?”

“Assessment correct. Project halted.”

I had an inspiration, “Look, I'm an adventurer and I've been through some dungeons in my day. Why not let me be your director?”

The room was suddenly filled with a buzzing sound that just as suddenly subsided. “Assistance welcome. You are now project director. Advise on next task.”

“Reset the dungeon.”

“Initializing reset…” The room was filled with a low thrumming sound that could be felt rather than heard. “Collapsing existing dungeon…” The sound rose in power until the floor began to vibrate. “Initializing new dungeon…” The sound rose in volume until I thought my head was about to explode. Suddenly the room went quiet. “Reset complete. Dungeon construct status: Easy. Awaiting further instructions, Director.”

The modron went on to explain that I could also travel from the dungeon to any portal I knew of, and that when the dungeon was reset any creature or item left in the dungeon was in danger of being destroyed. I then told it to reset the dungeon to hard, since I was curious to see what constructs would staff it at that level.

The rooms of the ‘dungeon’ looked the same, but the constructs were larger, about my size, with heavy armor and two built-in weapons. I tried talking to one of them.

It replied, “Greetings, intruder.”

“What makes you think I'm an intruder?”

“Because you are not one of us. Therefore, you are an intruder. As an intruder, you must die.” It leaped to the attack.

The constructs were much harder to defeat, and dealt several wounds before they went down. In the next room I asked what the construct was doing.

“I am reporting your every success, your every failure, and your every move to the Evil Wizard. From you, we learn. Because of you, we will better ourselves.” It leaped to the attack. After another hard fight it went down. I asked a question of one of the constructs in the next room. It cocked its head to one side and gave me a questioning look.

“Why do you persist in questioning us? I do not understand.”

“There is always the chance that I might learn something.” It looked away for a moment in thought. Returning its gaze to me, it nodded its head in agreement.

“Yes… I suppose that’s true… Let me teach you about pain.” It leaped to the attack, and its destruction.

We entered several more rooms, destroying more clockwork constructs. As we entered a new room, Morte commented “I feel like I'm in a cuckoo clock. A cuckoo… cuckoo clock.”

The new room was larger than any we had seen up to now. There were more of the constructs present, as well. In addition, a new type of construct was in the room.

I walked into the room, ignoring the constructs I had seen before. I moved towards a mechanical man constructed to be robe shaped. As I approached, he smiled at me and gave me a slight bow. “So we meet at last…” His voice lacked the monotone quality of the other creatures I had spoken to in the maze.

I returned his greeting, and he bowed once again. “And to you as well, sirrah.” He cocked his head to one side and gave me a curious look. “So, do we do battle for control of Rubikon now, or do we engage in conversation so that you may quench your curiosity?” He waited for my answer.

“All right, I'm curious. Can we talk?” He nodded smartly at me.

“Ah, a man of knowledge I see. I must admit that I'd be disappointed in you were that not the case.”

“Who are you?” He gave a slight bow.

“I am Rubikon, the Master Wizard. It is I who rule the red constructs that inhabit this realm.” His conversation was much less patterned than the other constructs.

“So, are you supposed to be the evil wizard?” He frowned as he thought.

“I'm not comfortable with the word evil, sirrah. I admit that my views do not coincide with those of others in many ways, but does that make me evil? I think not.”

“What can you tell me about this place?” I asked, shifting to a new topic.

He laughed and looked around. “This little piece of hell? This is an example of modron madness. It exists on the plane of Limbo, where thoughts can actually become reality. That way they can simply will this dungeon into being and then populate it with constructs.” He laughed again. “What a marvel.”

“What can you tell me about the modrons?” He shook his head at my words.

“There are no modrons here, sirrah. Only prisoners and their captors.”

“I've seen the modrons.”

“No, sirrah. The creatures you have met are nothing more than the corrupt remains of modrons. Most, if not all, of these poor creatures are on the verge of going rogue and don’t even realize it.”

“Rogue? What does that mean?”

“This dungeon is composed of the essence of chaos. Such matter can easily be shaped into objects through the will of many like-minded creatures. It makes the construction of such structures quite simple. However, there is a price to be paid.” He paused.

“Modrons are the very essence of law, sirrah. Here, however, they are being exposed to the essence of chaos. Such exposure often results in a form of insanity. The modrons begin to lose their sense of we and instead become individuals. This is called going rogue and it is a capital offence in their society.”

“What happens to rogues?”

He shrugged. “I don’t fully understand this, but modrons share some sort of common essence. If a modron goes rogue he takes a piece of this essence with him. The modrons will destroy all rogues so that this essence returns to the common pool from which it sprang.” I suppose he could be considered a rogue construct.

“Then what are you?”

“I am a prisoner, sirrah,” He replied angrily. “I am not here by choice, of that I can assure you. I was created by the modrons to play in their meaningless dungeon games. Over time I became self-aware and asked for my freedom. Their leader refused me!” He glared at me.

“I did what anyone would do when they are forced into slavery. I fought for my freedom!” He paused for effect. “I disintegrated their leader and made it look like an accident. I then attempted to flee this hideous existence via the nearest exit.”

I doubted whether the modrons could ever have understood what they had created, that it could have escaped their clockwork rules and turned on them. I curtly informed him that the modrons had a new creative director, me. I then asked what happened after he disintegrated the old director.

He sighed and frowned. “Unfortunately there was a fail safe mechanism that I was not aware of. My attempt at freedom was judged an error and the dungeon collapsed upon itself, trapping me in stasis…” He gazed off into the distance. “I have been in stasis for centuries, sirrah. I would still be there if you hadn’t reset the cube and set it for hard difficulty.” He turned his attention to me.

“So, what are your plans now?”

“I intend to openly march on the engineering room and claim it. I will then bend the modrons to my will and have the full resources of the cube at my disposal. Freedom shall be mine.”

“Let’s say you do get out. What then?”

“I haven’t decided yet. With the power of the cube behind me, I could be a force to be reckoned with.” He shrugged. “Time will tell.”

“What if the modrons refuse to help you?”

“Make no mistake, sirrah. They will help me. One way, or another, they will help me.” Despite his protests, the ‘evil wizard’ title seemed to me to still be fitting.

“So you intend to make the modrons your slaves?”

“They are slaves already, sirrah! They are slaves to law, logic, and the confines of this experiment of theirs. Under my rule, they will finally have a purpose in life worthy of their abilities.”

“Why do we have to fight at all? Why not just go our separate ways?” He smiled at my comment.

“You have been accepted as their leader and you control the cube. Therefore, you must be eliminated. Nothing personal, you understand.” He seemed fixated on controlling that which once controlled him.

“Well… I'm not going to just stand here and let you plot my death. I think it’s time I take you out.”

The warrior constructs were not too difficult to defeat. Although capable of wielding their weapons with awful power, they were slow, and it was a simple matter to surround one and destroy it before the others could come to its aid.

‘Rubikon’ the wizard, however, was much harder to take down. He could cast spells, including a powerful spell which drew energy directly from the plane of Mechanus through a portal. That spell alone nearly forced me into another death, and it was only through my regenerative powers that I stayed on my feet. After this one spell, I was able to match Rubikon magic for magic, but he did not possess my recuperative powers, and eventually fell.

I was pleased to discover on his body a scroll for the spell he had cast. I copied it into my spell book. The magical concepts behind it were too advanced for me to be able to cast it, but I was sure at the rate I was recovering the magical knowledge gained in past lives I would be able to use it soon.

We passed through several more rooms, finding only more of the mundane constructs. I was close to turning back, since there seemed little more to be learned here.