The next day started out like any regular day. Dice woke up, dressed in his favorite snazzy purple tuxedo, and after having his cup of coffee with French-toast, he went to work at the Inkwell Hell Casino. The first thing he often did was to remind Mr. Wheezy to keep an eye out for any suspicious behavior or activity. That poisoned cocktail has put Dice on his guard and he wanted to avoid any other traps set out for him. Today was pretty uneventful so far. Dice was called over to table three to settle a disagreement among poker players which was pretty common here in the casino. Someone was being accused of cheating.

"I'm tellin' ya! I ain't cheating! I've won fair and square. These sore losers just can't stand how naturally talented I am at cards!" This led to more arguing which only added to Dice's agitation.

"Sir, are you sure you're not cheating?" Dice asked the patron.

"What? How dare you! I don't need to cheat! I'm perfectly skilled, thank you very much!" the patron said angrily offended.

Dice rolled his eyes and decided to finally put an end to their silly bickering. "Very well then… There's only one way to know for sure. Why don't we ask the cards?" There was a sudden gasp as an Ace of Clubs wiggled out from the pile of cards and hopped onto Dice's waiting open palm. "Well Clubs, how about it?" Dice asked it. "Any funny business with this guy…?"

The Ace of Clubs shook its paper-thin head no and that was all Dice needed to know. "It would seem that you're in the clear," Dice told them. "There's been no cheating involved. However…I would like to remind you all not to break any of the casino rules. Consequences will be very dire indeed." Dice walked away, wearing a smug smirk.

He was starting to feel pretty good when Dice spotted the Devil making his way towards him in the crowd. "G' morning, boss," Dice greeted the black demon cheerfully. The first thing Dice noticed was the Devil's serious expression. "Are you feeling alright?"

The Devil looked around as if making sure no one was paying them any attention to them. However the Devil gestured with his head for Dice to follow him and together they decided to go somewhere more private. Stepping out into the casino courtyards with its ruby-red-cushioned benches, its exotic palm-trees and grand water-fountain, Dice turned to Devil and waited for him to start talking. The Devil didn't waste any time as he placed a hand on Dice's shoulder, brought him closer and spoke in a low voice.

"I'm going out," the Devil told Dice mysteriously. "I have something I need to do. I'll try not to be gone for too long. In the meantime, you stay here and keep business ongoing. Do you understand?"

"Yes," Dice said slowly. But Dice couldn't stop studying his boss worriedly and already felt that there was something the Devil wasn't telling him. "Where are you going? And what is it that you have to do?" he asked.

"I have a few errands to run," the Devil said shortly. Dice noticed the Devil was rolling up a scroll of paper and tucking it away. "I have some unfinished business to attend to. It shouldn't take me long. But don't worry; I'll be back soon enough."

When Dice continued to look worried, the Devil reached out to stroke his claws reassuringly along Dice's soft face. Like always, Dice reached up and held the Devil's hand there. "Will ya quit looking so worried? It's only business as usual. I just have to go take care of something. I'll be back before you know it. I trust you'll keep things in order here?"

"Sure thing, boss," Dice said, trying to put on a handsome smile for his boss. "You can count on me. Off to do a little villainy, eh? Maybe you and I can have a good laugh about it over dinner later?"

The Devil affectionately nuzzled foreheads with Dice before promising to come back soon. With that, the Devil teleported away into the flames of hell and was gone. Dice didn't know what his boss was up to but decided to put it out of his mind for now. Besides, the Devil was the all mighty and powerful ruler of hell. What could happen? After that, Dice returned to the casino and continued with his day like normally.

Later Dice paid Hopus a visit to see what remained of Biggie Cheese. Hopus has successful performed the guillotine trick, but it's left Biggie traumatized as the poor guy was sitting crouched in the corner while rocking backwards and forward. "I think you broke him," Dice told Hopus. "The guy is forgone. Might as well dump him somewhere…"

"Awww, too bad," Hopus said, although a sharp-toothed grin spread across his crazed face. "I was looking forward to having him help me with the Cabinet Escape, or the Apple-Shot trick, and the Wheel of Death."

Dice looked pitilessly down at Biggie Cheese. "Whatever. Have the imps toss him out. I think he's learned his lesson anyway." Dice had gotten his revenge. He was satisfied.

Later Mr. Chimes' new claw-machine arrived today. The little toy-monkey had used the money he won at the Wheel of Fortune to buy himself a newer model. Now Dice had the burly imps help wheel it inside where Dice had it replaced the old-one. As soon as it was set in place, Dice turned to Chimes. "Well? What do you think? Will this do?"

Chimes eagerly entered the claw-machine through the hidden side-door and was already cheeping happily with his personal items and objects already neatly stacked inside. Dice smiled as Chimes got hooked by the claw and went inactive once again. "Glad to see you like your new home, buddy. Try to con as many suckers into emptying their quarters into this thing. I'll check up on ya later!"

Dice couldn't resist showing off his skills at the Craps table and invited other gamblers into challenging him. He chatted with some of the regular customers while joining them for some drinks. It was in the afternoon and the Devil hadn't returned yet. One of the imps approached Dice and handed him a bag. With a sigh, Dice knew who was inside it. He went over to a nearby vacant Blackjack's table, dumped out the poker-chips, and then helped stacked them up. Chips Bettigan's mouth appeared; soon his eyes and he placed his familiar Stetson hat on top.

"Yeesh! Thanks for that, King Dice," Chips thanked him. "Ya'll know how greedy folks get around here. They think it's funny to snag me up and try to cash me in for extra cash!"

Dice was walking his rounds around the gaming floors while acutely aware that people were staring at him with funny looks and a few giggles. Perched on top of his die-head was Mangosteen who was on his break and it was his idea of fun. "Isn't this nice?" Mangosteen said down to Dice. "Let's switch! I'll sit on your shoulders and you can be on top!"

Sitting together around the smoking section was Mr. Wheezy and Pirouletta who were enjoying each other's company during break-time. Seeing those two love-birds sharing a romantic moment made Dice start missing his boss already. He'd hope the Devil would get back in time for them to spend some quality time together. Pirouletta leaned over to place a kiss upon Wheezy's lips, causing the expressive cigar to blow heart-rings back at her. And further on, Dice even spied Pip and Dot sharing chocolate hearts while exchanging loving looks at each other.

But hours went by and no sign of the Devil yet. Dice went on with his day doing his usual duties around the casino or getting caught up with the silly shenanigans of his friends and fellow employees. Unfortunately dinner-time came around and the Devil hasn't come back. Pirouletta, Ginette and even Dot watched sympathetically as Dice sat alone at the dining table, eating a small meal and looking very glum. They've suspected for some time that their manager had deep feelings for the Devil. Dice put up a professional front, but even he couldn't mask the hurt he felt inside.

For the rest of the day, Dice managed to keep himself busy with work. But now night-time has arrived and still no Devil. Dice was really feeling down so he excused himself and decided to head to bed early. Dice was feeling pretty tired and decided to worry about his boss tomorrow. In fact, he remained hopeful that the Devil would return to the casino sometime tomorrow. Dice had a hard time falling asleep but eventually he drifted off. He must have been asleep for a couple of hours until something suddenly woke him up.

"DICE!"

Dice's eyes shot open that before he knew it, he was sitting up from bed wide awake. He appeared to be alone in his bedroom but there was no mistaking that voice. It was the Devil's voice…. Had he dreamt it? Dice checked the clock, 9:06am, morning. Now that he was awake, Dice got up and decided to get dressed. His poker-cards kept eying him with worried eyes but Dice put on a brave face for them. He was just fixing his bow-tie when there came frantic knocking at his door. When Dice went to open it, he saw Pip and Dot standing there.

"King Dice! We've got a problem! You need to come see this!" Pip said at once while his wife Dot was looking just as worried as his poker-cards.

"What's going on?" Dice said, finally concerned. "Has the Devil returned?"

"No, the Devil hasn't come back," Dot said anxiously. "But it's his imps! They said something terrible has happened to the Devil! They've requested to see you. Please come with us!"

Dice's worse fears were becoming reality as he hurried after Pip and Dot with his poker-cards hurrying to keep up. He was still thinking about the Devil's voice that he could have sworn he heard back in his background. It really made him wonder. Was the Devil trying to reach out to him somehow? Dice was already starting to have a bad feeling about all this. Pip and Dot took him straight to the Devil's office where his purple imps were waiting for him.

"King Dice," one of the imps approached Dice and bowed his head respectfully as they did for their evil lord. "We were told to seek you for help should anything befell our master."

"Why? What's happened?" Dice demanded at once. "Where is the Devil? What happened to him?" But the imps were looking just as helpless as he did.

"We're sorry. We don't know. We've tried communicating with our master but something is blocking our attempts to reach him. We fear a strong power is keeping us away. Our master remains lost to us." The imps exchanged nervous glances while some of them were shaking their heads sadly.

Dot looked to Dice. "What do we do now?"

At first Dice was at a total loss on what to do in a situation like this. After doing some quick thinking, Dice turned back to the imps. "Can you tell me what the Devil was up to?" he asked them. "The Devil was vague on the details but he told me he'd gone out to take care of business. Where did he go?"

One of the imps used its dark-magic to conjure a contract out of thin air and handed it to for Dice to read. "Our master has gone out to collect what is owed to him. He has gone out to collect souls."

When Dice rolled up the scroll to read, with Pip and Dot looking over his shoulder, written on the scroll were names. Some of the names on here were familiar to Dice. "Maximus Moola, Chauncey Cashman, Penny Pinch, Buck Addington, Miss Ava Rice, Perry Perfecta, Felice Fortuna, Rich Prosper…"

"Hey those are all the names of the candidates who wanted to become casino manager," Pip remarked. "You don't suppose the boss was trying to…?" He and Dot shared uneasy looks at each other. "The Devil has gone after them," Dot finished for him. "They all must have been threatening the Devil and his business."

"I did hear a rumor once that Deedee Pockets was trying to sue our master," one of the imps piped up.

Dice had been going over the list; he noticed that all the names written here were crossed off. However one name stood out to him. One name that hadn't been crossed out. "Monty Bank…," Dice read out-loud. He would never forget that pompous windbag. One of all the candidates, Monty Bank was the one who took the Devil's dismissal personally…

In his heart, Dice knew something must have happened to the Devil. And it had something to do with Monty Bank. "You two…," Dice pointed at Pip and Dot. "Find Wheezy and tell him to double security around the casino. I'm heading out too. I'm going to see if I can find out where the Devil had gone."

But unfortunately Dice would never get the chance. Because suddenly Mangosteen appeared in the office doorway and he was looking absolutely frantic about something. "Boss! You gotta come quick! We've got trouble!"

Just when Dice thought things couldn't get any worse. Now Dice along with the imps and Pip and Dot hurried after Mangosteen. By the time they've arrived in the casino, he saw that Phear Lap, Wheezy, Hopus, Pirouletta, Chimes, Chips Bettigan and the Tipsy Troop were already gathered together. When Dice showed up, that's when he saw what the problem was. Standing there in the entrance doorway, Monty Bank had entered the casino and he was wearing the most evil triumphant smirk. As they all stared back at him, Monty had a shocking announcement to make.

"Ladies and gentlemen… I'd like for you all to meet… the new owner of Inkwell Hell Casino!"

Gonna leave things here on a cliffhanger. What will happen now? Find out in the next episode chapter! See you soon.