World Bounty: The Arrogant Little Imp
The pathetic worm still lives due to the fumbling of useless so-called heroes. If you want something done right...
Day 3 of 3
Those who aid in the imp's destruction will be rewarded.
Those who get in my way will be utterly ruined.

Mariel shakes you and Celestina awake, and the popup that greets you causes you to furrow your brow in concern. If there was any doubt who's controlling this so-called world bounty it's now been dispelled.

"Okay, I don't like relying on him since I don't really know what his game is, but I think it's time to summon our trump card. Wait for me in the throne room and get me if anything important happens." The two champions give you a concerned nod and go to inform the others. You fish out a well-hidden red gem from a shelf in the library and enter the summoning room.

"Who calls the duke of magma, the first pyromancer, lord of the lake of fire, Zoxxzzixxaith the Everburning?

A huge bull's head pushes out of the hellish bone gate that's formed above your summong portal, then makes eye contact with you.

"Azazel, is that you? You've come a long way since your time as a little imp. Look, can this wait? I have these two delicious mariliths here, and they need to return to their mistress' realm before long." His head begins retreating through the portal.

"Sorry, great one. I would not have called you if it wasn't important. Some sort of unknown being who can grant adventurers the power to control the dead is assaulting my lair, and it sounds as if he'll be here himself today. I'm not really sure if I'm ready to face him." You banish your pride and bow as you greet your fiendish superior.

"Oh, is it that time already? My condolences. Well, to answer your question: you aren't. If that will be all, I'll be going, thank you. Yes, my dears, I'll be right there." A chorus of giggles comes through the gate.

"Wait, that's it? I'm going to lose? Is there anything you can do? Is there anything I can do?"

"Yes, you are going to lose. Yes, there is something I can do. No, I will not. As for you, if you swallow your pride, maybe you can win a strategic victory from your defeat. Think upon that. Now, I'm sorry, but we can chat some other time—should you still exist, that is. Summon me again some time when things have stabilized and we can chat. If not, well, you were an amusing distraction while you lasted." He snorts and retreats through the gate, the bones crumbling behind him.

"Wait!" You groan, wishing you had never bothered to summon the duke at all. Well, maybe it's for the best that you're on your own: you of all people ought to know the dangers of relying on deals with daemons. You step down the stairs to the command centre, and your five champions look up at you. "Anything I miss?"

Ari shakes her head. "How did the summoning go? Did he have any useful advice? That was awfully short."

"Yeah, he said he was entertaining a few mariliths and had to go. Pervert," you shake your head, and Ari lets out a cute little cough. "Okay, yeah, fair enough: I'm not one to talk. Anyways, he basically said it's going to be really hard so we'd better give it our all. Unfortunately that's about it." Well, that isn't technically a lie, and you aren't about to just lie down and accept defeat even if some stuffy duke thinks it's inevitable. Your five concubines nod and grip their weapons, grim determination on their faces. Suddenly everyone's attention is drawn to the scrying pool as the vision of the fallen one standing guard at the dungeon entrance suddenly goes dark with no warning whatsoever.

The scrying pool refuses to tab to any adventurers, so you switch to another fallen only for your screen to go dark a moment later. The next fallen walks around a corner and goes dark. Soon enough you work out a rough path for the anomaly, making the most direct beeline for the fallen village with no regard for traps, terrain, enemies or anything else. At this rate it will be less than a minute until the village goes dark. You set the scrying pool to Rishukan's perspective, currently still clear, and turn to your champions.

"Okay, something's coming our way and it's coming fast. Let's set up here: this is going to be the deciding fight, so let's do it on familiar ground. I doubt there's much we can do to help the levels, so let's see if we can at least get some intel on what we're dealing with." Everyone nods and checks over their gear. "Worst case, if we all die and respawn outside of the dungeon somewhere, remember that the rendezvous is the old abandoned goblin camp in the woods."

"Let's not die, though. I feel like we finally just decided on the colour of the sheets." Everyone politely chuckles a bit at Ari's **** quip, but the tension in the room still noticeably drains. A yell suddenly comes out of the pool, and you look over to see a group of adventurers charge across the bridge. Shadowdagger's group is there, as are several adventurers you don't recognize led by the paladin from the first day. She now carries an ornate-looking purplish greatsword which she didn't have before: she must've snuck back and gotten a reward from the world bounty. The adventurers cleave their way through the fallen ones, then settle into a battle against several ringleaders and hellhounds. Rishukan directs a Fallen Brute into the fray, but a lance of evil green light shoots across the room and punches a hole clean through it, and the huge beast falls over and collapses, its body vanishing out of existence. Rishukan, and thus your view from the scrying pool, turns to see a robed figure in the distance with a tall staff and a glowing blue neclace. Another green lance shoots, this time directly towards your view, and the pool goes dark.

"Did that mage just kill a level boss in one hit?"

"Rissshu..."

"How are we going to fight a monster like that?"

Murmurs of uncertainty echo through the room as your companions process what they just saw. The pool shows colour again as you switch it to the viewpoint of a horned daemon in the halls of desire, but after the briefest flash of blue and green the pool goes dark. This reminds you of the day during the very first world bounty, almost ages in the past, when the reward for killing you was a cosmetic and adventurers far beyond your capabilities came down upon your dungeon. Is there even any purpose in resisting? Another horned daemon is blasted away, but not before you get another brief glimpse at the mage: he looks familiar, somehow. Where have you seen him before? The 'black zone' reaches Lilia, and soon enough the first sentries in the Shattered Elysium, your third and final dungeon level, go dark. Sentries at the key platforms vanish one after another, then Baelzann goes down without even getting a good look at his foe. You brace yourself. The moment of truth is here. As a final act of defiance, you order the scrying pool dismantled then walk into your boss combat room, your champions following in a silent procession.

A familiar rogue materializes through the far door in a puff of smoke. "Hello again, imp. For the last time." Skeletons begin to claw their way out of the ground as Elena concentrates and raises her staff, and you jump to the side to dodge an arrow dripping with poison, then again as rotting hands grasp from the floor. No more forms are visible in the doorway. Excellent: if there's any hope you have of taking the enemy down it's in them underestimating you. A pillar of fire shoots down towards the necromancer, and this time she doesn't even bother to raise her shield: it simply is absorbed into a golden-red bubble that flashes into existence around her, and a deep red gem worn around her neck pales slightly.

"Trickster! Did you think I wouldn't come prepared? You were completely unsportsmanlike yesterday. I want a rematch!" Despite that, she winces slightly.

"Since when am I supposed to be sportsmanlike to adventurers invading my home to further my enemies' goals? I decline."

"I wasn't asking." A ring of bone surrounds you, isolating the two of you from the outside world, and her robes cover themselves in ossified armour as she circles around you, keeping her distance. You launch a fireball and she raises a bone shield to defend. Surprise crosses her face as the few licks of flame that get past still scorch her despite her shield activating: she must not know about the existence of your specialization, or at least that you have access to it.

A huge spear of bone shoots towards you and you launch a firebolt at it, the spiked projectile straying off to the side and exploding against the wall of bone. You release a jet of flame back at the necromancer, which she manages to avoid by raising a solid wall of bone in front of her. She sits behind the barrier muttering something, so you bring a flame strike down overtop of her, her bone shield raised too late to block most of it, and then drink a blue potion as you feel your energy reserves already dwindling dangerously low. Suddenly, a calm, clear male voice reaches your ears, the weight of many years upon it. "Enough."

The bones shatter and you launch another fireball at Elena, but a huge blue barrier springs into existence in front of it and absorbs the blast before vanishing. Across the room, a young man wearing a brilliant blue gem and carrying a long, ornate staff walks into the room. The blue gem looks similar to a mana crystal, but with some sort of shape swirling and twisting within it. He wears long robes and his head is shaven. You finally remember where you've seen him: he's the man from the carvings on the golden sarcophagus: with Shadowdagger's group having changed in that same dungeon, the exact sequence of events becomes a lot more clear. But what is he? He doesn't strike you as the human he presents himself as.

The paladin and her new group of adventurers walk by the ancient mage's side. He looks to his side, and you follow his eyes to see Tlax with her scimitars lodged in Shadowdagger's chest, both of them completely still. The man launches a bright blue bolt of light at the gorgon, who's instantly winked out of existence, and then looms above the rogue while shaking his head. "David, David, David. Have you ever not failed me? Consider this your last warning: I expect success from my... allies." You try to move, but find yourself unable to. "Now, if you will all follow me into the imp's throne room." He snaps his fingers and your muscles loosen as the magic that gripped you is dispelled. The Duke of Magma was right. I took his comments as flippancy, disrespect, or impatience, but I'm never going to win this fight conventionally. You swallow your pride and meekly stand to follow the spellcaster, the entire group filing down the hallway into your throne room. The paladin suddenly shouts "sir!" and dives in front of the mage, Mariel's and Celestina's arrow and magic bolts respectively striking the paladin in her neck, while Ari's greenish arrow hits its intended target, leaving a hole in the mage's robe which reveals a rib of glowing manasilver beneath. From Deepcrag Mine, the thing that the goblins were transporting. What is he?

"Well now," you regret your arrogance at not telling your champions the full truth earlier: this could be disastrous. "That was quite rude of you. If you don't mind, your master and I are going to have a chat while you think upon your actions." Four lightning bolts arc from his staff and vaporize your other champions. "Now, dear, thank you for protecting me, although it was wholly unnecessary. Let it be known nonetheless that I reward good service. What is it you wish for?"

"Cough As many level as you can give me! hack."

"Very well, one Limited Wish for experience." He fishes a diamond out of his robe and holds it in front of him, and it dissolves into fine dust in the air. Magic rushes through the air, suffusing the paladin with power. "Now, you are no longer needed. You may go." He waves his staff and she disappears along with her whole party. Is this the sort of power you can hope to attain one day, should this not be the end of your journey? The mage carefully sits down in your throne and you give him an angry glare.

"Well now, imp, you can be as mad at me as you want, but you'll find I'm a quite generous victor. You see, unfortunately in a moment I'm going to have to kill you to take control of this dungeon. You will respawn somewhere in this region of Arkus. When you do, seek me out and I will make you into a level boss, much like you offered the late Zigrag only a few days past. However, unlike you, I intend to move on to much greater things and when I do you will be restored to control of your dungeon, provided you pay me the expected tribute of course. I expect you can see how that will prove beneficial for your health, yes?"

It's all you can do to not chuck a fireball at the mage. You settle for stubborn defiance instead, glaring into his eyes while standing your ground.

"I am a generous man, but I am not a patient man. Should you accept, kiss the seal of my ring. Should you not, I'm afraid that sooner or later you'll discover exactly what happened to your late goblin acquaintance." Your mind races, and suddenly you stumble upon an idea. It's a faint hope, but Zoxxzzixxaith was right: you need to turn a defeat now into a victory later. One of your feet moves forward, the other slowly following. You do your best to make the process seem incredibly conflicted and ****, and the ancient wizard starts laughing softly. "See? I knew you were a reasonable daemon. You'll find I am also quite reasonable. I trust we can turn this little feud into a productive partnership." You kneel in front of the throne, your unusual height meaning you're still almost at his eye level, and bend your head down. At the last second, you shoot your hands forward, one stabbing into him and the other grabbing his necklace, dropping it over your own head.

"Stop, fiend!" The necromancer cries out from behind you, launching a huge bone spear at you.

"No!" A look of panic crosses the mage's face and he reaches out to you, but a moment later Elena's spell pierces your chest and you slump over as your vision fades to black.

Respawning in 1:00:00... Respawning in 0:59:59...

Lair Lost
Another monster has claimed your lair!

• You will respawn in the wilderness in the region.
• All of your underlings and minions will automatically become servants of the new dungeon boss.
• All of your champions and lieutenants will not respawn so long as the new boss controls the dungeon unless they choose to change allegiance to the new boss.
• If you die again, you will respawn in the wilderness once again. However, each **** will reduce your boss rank and you will lose all associated benefits of your old rank.
• All dungeon building and fame management mechanics are unavailable until you have a new lair.