Taking stock

Well, that was close, you think and grin. Turns out it's easy to forget to recast your cantrip when you're busy face fucking an elf. Speaking of which, you did it! You defeated two adventurers on your own (well, almost), and you had your way with a beautiful priestess. Of a goddess of purity no less! It was worth the risk. Even if it hadn't worked out, even if you had died and lost all of your progress, you would do it again in a heartbeat.

You glance at the barrage of popups in front of you. One thing at a time. What did the elf drop?

Loot Bag
Adventurer's Survival Tent
Hammer
Claimant Crystal
12 sp, 10 cp
Take Some/Take All

Meh. A bunch more useless adventurer crap. Might as well...

Wait, what? Did you read that right? A claimant crystal? Isn't that the thing that you saw mentioned in the error message back in the forest? You smirk and rub your hands together, materializing the crystal pinched between your long, clawed fingers. It was time for this tower to have a new master.

Use Claimant Crystal to Claim Land?
Imporne_Abandoned_Tower_3.11_Location_2
Yes/No

Yes. Obviously.

DEE-OOO. Damn it! Damn it! Just when things were going your way! Wait, what's that popup?

Error: Unnamed creatures cannot claim land. Please name your character before proceeding.

You think. A name? You've never had much use for a name. You were just some imp (greater) which adventurers would use as a loot pinata whenever they got bored. But now all of that was behind you. Now you were someone. Now you were on the road to becoming that mighty daemon you'd pretended to be to trick the priestess. Now you were... Azazel.

Claimant Crystal Results
Land Claimed by Azazel
Type: Monster Lair
Resources: 15 stone, 3 ore, 12 wood
Natural Features

• Water Spring
• Summoning Circle
• Daemonic Altar (Broken)
• Wizard's Tower (Ruined)

Yes! You've done it! You are now... huh, what are you now? You check your character sheet, focusing just on what's changed.

Azazel, Level 3 Greater Imp
Monster, Microboss, Daemon, Explicit
Experience to level up - 280
Attributes
STR 16 (+1), DEX 27 (+2), END 11 (+1), CHA 27 (+2), MAN 41 (+1), APP 16 (+1), PER 27 (+2), INT 33 (+3), WIT 31 (+1)
Skills
Occult 31 (+1), Performance 25 (+5)
Feats
(Micro)Boss – You are a leader of other monsters and owner of a lair. Unlocks the fame mechanic. You retain your current level after respawning, but lose all progress towards the next one.
Spells
Produce Flame – Light a target object on fire.
Hold Person – Attack a target's WIT. If you succeed, they are frozen in place. Slowly wears off, and has a chance to wear off whenever you damage the target.

The fame mechanic, eh?

Fame: 160
Recent Activity

• Defeated a hero (x2): +10
• Defeated a higher level hero: +1
• Shamed a hero: +5
• Adventurer-created quest issued: +10
• Quest accepted (x7): +7
• People are talking about you: +27
• Claimed a lair: +100

You smirk and reminisce as you glance over the top few. But wait, quest issued? That can't be good. No doubt the priestess' idea of ****. Well, you'll worry about that problem when it smashes down your door. For now you have fame to spend.

Fame: 160
Daemonic Liegelord: 0/10 (10 fame)
Summon Minion: 0/(5 * level of Daemonic Liegelord) (50 fame)
Empower Self: (100 fame, temporary)
Empower Minion: (100 fame, eligible minion required, temporary)
Check back later to see if you've unlocked more options!

It's time you get building. Now that you think about it, you've always fancied yourself more of a manager type. You'd get your hands dirty if you had to, but why not let some minions do the heavy lifting? First things first, time to become a lord.

Daemonic Liegelord 1/10 (Racial Ability) (40 fame to advance)
Your innate majesty has started to sway the local populace to your banner. Each day there is a small chance that you will have the opportunity to summon a loyal outsider. You may also receive gifts from outsiders seeking to aid you or curry favour.

Well, that's a lot of words to say very little. How small of a chance? What sort of gifts? Whatever, that isn't really why you'd bought it anyways.

Summon Minion (50 fame, 0/5 used)
Summons a minion which cannot leave your claimed land. Summoned minions will respawn some time after being destroyed, or can be brought back instantly for a minor fee.
Select Minion Type
Builder: Helps construct structures you order to be built.
Guard: Defends your lair against invaders.
[Additional options unlock at higher liegelord level]

You frown. So much for the three minions plan. You sink another level into Daemonic Liegelord. The description doesn't change and the cost increases to 90 fame, but now you can purchase Harvesters as well, which can apparently mine resources that spawn in or around your lair based on the tool you give them. You purchase a Builder and a Harvester, leaving you with 10 fame remaining.

With a chorus of shrieks, the centre of the summoning circle folds to the sides, revealing a tunnel with a glowing red light. With a scrape like nails on a chalkboard, two claws emerge and slide down to the stone at the side of the pit before finding purchase. Soon after, a small, squat red creature like a cross between an imp, dragon, and gargoyle pulls itself out and stands at attention before you.

Red Abishai
Worker daemon. Abishai cannot leave the vicinity of your claimed dungeon and serve in various tasks to keep the dungeon running. Abishai can inefficiently do any task. Red Abishai are specialized builders.

It sounds like your workers will be different colours of abishai? Sure enough, a similar-looking green abishai, which is apparently the colour of harvesters, follows moments later. You hand the green abishai the pickaxe and hatchet you found earlier, letting it decide what to prioritize. After receiving them it walks upstairs with clear purpose.

You clap your hands together with glee. This might actually be the most exciting part of your very exciting day. You're actually somewhat fond of the ruined tower upstairs: it has a suitably ominous feel and you don't have much use for a wizard's tower at the moment anyways. However, this dingy basement reminds you too much of the time before your rise to greatness. The days where you woke up not expecting to last the full day. The days where you were level 2 forever, with no hope of advancement. If you're going to do something to turn over a new page of your once-dreary existence, you might as well live in style in the process!

You open up the dungeon customization menu and your jaw hangs open. You've never seen so many menu options in your life. You scroll, and scroll... and scroll. Does this thing ever end? It seems like you'll be better off searching for things you picture than looking at the list of options. However, scrolling back up, a few things pinned at the top catch your eye.

Natural Feature: Water Spring
Generates water. Can be placed as a natural spring or as an artificial fountain with a variety of designs.
Upgrade: Slay five adventurers (1/5) or generate sufficient mana in your dungeon.

You're a bit intrigued as to what those upgrade options are. Especially the adventurers.

Unique Structure: Wizard's Tower (Level 0)
A tower built to collect magical energy. Helps your dungeon gather and store mana, which lets you and your minions enhance your magic and craft magical items. Gathered mana is also necessary for summoning and empowering powerful outsiders.
Level 0: Unusable
Upgrade to Level 1: 200 stone, 100 wood, 20 ore, 1 mana crystal (tiny)
Yes/No

What even is a mana crystal? It sounds like maybe the wizard's tower is worth restoring after all, but it'll have to wait.

Unique Structure: Summoning Circle (Level 1)
A magic circle inscribed in the ground which can summon outsiders into the world. Higher levels can summon more powerful outsiders and outsiders that are less related to the summoner's liege types. Requires large amounts of stored mana to summon more powerful outsiders.
You and your slain minions will respawn here eventually. Respawn delay reduced at higher levels.
Level 1: Can summon weak daemons.
Upgrade to Level 2: Treat with a willing enemy. (completed)
Yes/No

Neat! That was easy.

Unique Structure: Summoning Circle (Level 2)
Level 2: Can summon minor daemons.
Upgrade to Level 3: Receive tribute from an enemy or convert an enemy to your cause.
Yes/No

Huh. That one will be a bit harder. Finally:

Unique Structure: Daemonic Altar (Level 0)
Generates bursts of mana by being given appropriate offerings. Level determines maximum amount of mana generated. Mana can be harvested by other dungeon mechanics or to empower willing outsiders.
Level 0: Unusable
Upgrade to Level 1: 5 stone, 4 ornate wax candles
Yes/No

Well, it seems like this patch, or at least this dungeon, really likes fetch quests. Somehow you doubt that there's going to be an ornate wax candle resource node spawning near your base any time soon. Oh well: it's not like you have any offerings to make at the moment anyways. You're not even sure what an "appropriate offering" is. Animal sacrifices don't really seem like your style. Not even adventurers: you may hate them, but you don't really see stabbing them with a creepy ritual dagger on a spooky altar as a life goal. Well, except maybe with a one-time (five-time?) exception for the water spring.

With those out of the way, it's time for some interior decorating. You decide that this will be the core of your dungeon, both because it was your spawn point and because it's just plain convenient. And, let's be honest, because you can't afford a sprawling dungeon complex right now so you need to focus on getting the important stuff up first. You draw a simple, brick room and place reddish torches around it, locating the summoning circle at the exact centre and placing a spiral staircase descending from the tower's trapdoor. Immediately the red abishai snaps to attention and looks expectantly at you. "What do you want?" It simply stares back and holds out its hand. Oh, right. You hand it the hammer and, looking satisfied, it turns and starts hammering away. The blueprint slowly starts taking shape, but it seems like it'll be a while.

In the mean time, you place three archways in the other three walls of the summoning room. Opposite of the stairs you draw a short hallway away from the cliff outside, and add a bedroom to one side of it. The second arch connects to a room with a raised dais containing the broken altar. You make a mental note to make it a bit more regal at a later date. You leave the final archway empty for now, hoping to find some suitably important room to place there down the line. Finally, you move the water spring to one of the corners of the room and place it in the form of a statue: a winged, angelic woman weeping into a large, shallow bowl of water.

With more than enough work set out for your minion it's finally time for some hard-earned rest at the end of a long day. Hopefully this is the last day you have to sleep in the dirt and not the bed of your soon-to-be bedroom. Well, nothing for it: you lay down on the hard ground and replay the day's events in your mind. As you doze off, the circle opens and an imp climbs through: apparently your old housemates are now returning as minions. Now if only they were good for something more than short-lived distractions... but that can wait for another day.

As a testament to your gruelling day, the steady hammering of the abishai doesn't prevent you from passing out a few minutes later. The next day, you groggily open your eyes to see a completed summoning room, an partially excavated hallway, and a flashing popup.