Worthy adventurers, friend and foe alike

A pair of hands shakes you awake, and you open your mouth to chide the dark elf before you remember the situation. Mariel stands above you, shaking the gorgon wrapped around you, and you feel her squeeze around you tighter in response.

"Five more minutesss..." She rests her head on your chest and then stops moving again.

"Tlax, Sera and I need some sleep. Get up." Mariel yawns as she fails to pull the gorgon off of you.

"No, go away..." the snake woman gives her a sleepy hiss, more adorable than scary. You move your hand down her body to her breasts. "Mmm, good master, yesss—EEK!" She jumps awake as you pinch her tits with your sharp fingernails, and suddenly she's out of the bed, hissing at you with fangs bared and snakes writing in her hair.

"Sorry babe," you give her a genuinely apologetic look, "but Mary is right. We need to head down and relieve them." She bares her fangs at you for another moment before retracting them, her hissing hair shifting back into braids.

"Sssorry, I'm not a morning sssnake," she lowers her head a little bit and you hug her to your chest.

"Don't worry about it, I know. Now come on, let's head down to the scrying pool and let Sera get some rest. You can wrap yourself as tight as you want around me as long as you stay alert." She nods and rubs against you and then releases you and follows you down to the core of your dungeon.

The first two hours of the watch are, well, dull. A single rogue sneaks in, only level 5, and dispatches a few fallen ones who he catches asleep. You're considering intervening when he decides to try his luck against a hellhound, and the daemonic canine's fiery breath sends him on an express trip out of your dungeon. No more adventurers brave the slopes of Imporne at night, and as the clock strikes midnight a new popup appears.

World Bounty: The Arrogant Little Imp
The snivelling lesser daemon still lives, gloating over the loot he's taken from the weaklings who failed to slay him. His arrogance cannot be allowed to continue, and any champion who shows their worth will be handsomely rewarded.
Day 2 of 3
Killing daemons will accumulate a streak bonus which is lost upon ****. Higher streaks will yield better items at the end of the day. All rewards are half as expensive as they were on day 1.
Killing non-daemon monsters or other adventurers will be penalized by resetting the current streak to zero.
Killing elite daemons counts as 10 kills for the purposes of this streak. Killing a level boss or champion of Azazel counts as 100.
Killing Azazel himself will be rewarded with a Limited Wish
(Rewards will change each day)

Well that's harsh. You also don't remember the world bounty text changing between days last time. More concerning are the rewards: the bounties are a minor annoyance, given they're mostly attractive to adventurers too weak to be direct threats to you, but the one that applies to you on the other hand...

"Hey, Tlax, have you ever heard of a Limited Wish before?" You turn to the snake woman curled up with you.

"Yesss, it isss powerful magic only available to ssskilled wizards. I have never ssseen it, nor hasss anyone that I know of, but it is sssaid to work miracles."

Great: adventurers are being offered minor miracles to kill you now? Perhaps a few adventurers will still wait to see what comes next, but you expect a lot of adventurers to decide that this isn't worth risking missing out on. Hopefully the adventurers you sent back with warnings had some effect because otherwise this is going to take everything you can spare. You aren't looking forward to learning what the final day has in store for you, but that can wait.

Another group of adventurers breaks into the dungeon, the traditional level 23 fighter/rogue/cleric/wizard party easily cutting a swathe of destruction through your dungeon. The four of them make alarming progress through the weakened night defences: you almost get up to wake up your champions despite their exhaustion, but when an ambush by a Brute kills the rogue you decide to let the dungeon take care of them. To their credit, the remaining three continue on and an incredibly tense battle against Rishukan ensues. The three just barely down the boss, but out of consumables and down a party member they cut their losses and retreat with what they've earned. You relax a bit as they leave: if they had proceeded through the portal you might've intervened personally, not wanting to wait and discover whether they had any trump cards up their sleeve. No more adventurers invade during your shift, and another two hours later you prod Tlax.

"Mmm?" She hisses and licks your cheek a bit.

"Tlax, can you go and wake Ari and Tina? It's our turn to get some more sleep."

"Okay," she gives a sleepy yawn and slithers up the steps to the tower. You feel your own eyelids droop a bit: the four hours of rest you've gotten so far isn't nearly enough to prepare you for another day of fighting. A few minutes later the two tieflings step down the stairs and you give them a sleepy wave as you head up to join Tlax in bed. Four hours later, you're shaken awake by Celestina and the six of you regroup in the throne room.

"Since when are adventurers already at the Halls of Desire?" Sera looks at the situation in alarm. "They're going to be here in an hour or two at this rate if they've already made so much progress."

"Don't worry, that happened during the night." To be honest, you're worried yourself, but you want to put on a strong face for your group. "It was a skilled group, but not strong enough to get all the way here. I decided we needed the rest more than we needed to stop them. I was hoping they wouldn't finish off Rishu, but what's done is done." Sera paces back and forth with a scowl on her face.

"We've got company," Mariel's voice draws everyone's attention back to the scrying pool. You look through the perspective of a horned daemon, one of the new elite monsters living in the second level of your dungeon, and a familiar group of six adventurers charges towards your viewing window. The barbarian lets out an enthusiastic war cry and a huge, clawed hand covers the daemon's face to shield it from a crackling bolt shot by a cheery dwarf. You get a bit of vertigo as your vision crosses the room at an incredible speed, but then the vision shakes as the daemon you're watching bounces off a silver shield channelled by a pale woman with a large bosom and curly black hair which tumbles down over her robe.

"Okay, no sense in waiting around: let's get down there. We know Amara and Grungil have the ability to make it all the way to us: no reason to let them clear out all of our defences for anyone else who cares to take a shot after them." Everyone nods and you march through the portal and into the fight.

"Amara! Grungil! Selena! I'm glad you could join us, but this isn't the time." Your magically amplified voice booms as you walk down the corridor in a blaze. The adventurers dispatch the last seductrix in the vicinity and turn to you, watching you carefully step over the rivulets of blood that run towards the partially-filled boss door.

"Oy, imp! Good ta see ya. I'm afraid some lad must want'cha dead summin fierce, and I'm 'fraid ol Grungil is happy ta oblige!" He flashes you a cocky grin and leans against his crossbow. "Anything ye want ta say before we finish ye off?"

"Adventurers: this isn't the time. You know I don't shy away from a good fight without reason, but things are in motion that are beyond any of you. Do the rewards for this Quest not seem too good to you?"

"If you're asking if they seem far too high for the difficulty, then of course they do." The invoker's cold voice chimes in. "But as far as I know, all rewards are guaranteed by the gods, so if someone wants to pay us far too much to do what we do best then we aren't about to say no." She gives a confident smirk and toys with a green gemstone.

"What's wrong, daemon? Lost your appetite for a good scrap?" Amara yells in agreement, apparently not understanding the concept of an inside voice.

"Hold on a minute, is that Tina?" Tashila the paladin speaks up from near the back, wiping off her blade on a fallen cultist's robe. "Girl, what happened to you? First we hear you're missing, presumed **** and murdered by some guy, and now we see you here, and apparently you're a monster?"

"Sorry Tash, it's complicated. I'd be happy to explain another time, but my lord is right that this really isn't the time for that. Please, if you care about me, just walk away from this World Bounty." Celestina steps beside you and puts her hand on your shoulder.

"Imp, what did you do to her? Don't think you can hide behind daemons twisted to look like our friend." The paladin crouches into a fighting stance but maintains her position.

"What are you idiots waiting for? Kill the bitch already." Everyone spins around to see Shadowdagger step through the portal, accompanied by Zigrag and all of the rogue's party save Jared the warrior.

"Say, lass, I'm gettin' tha feelin' tha' the imp is tellin' it how it is. Mayhaps this isn't summin we wan' ta be involved in." Grungil backs up to the wall and after a moment of consideration the rest of his group follows.

"Imp!" Amara yells after you as she retreats, "remember this favour. You owe us an explanation when we meet next." You nod and the fire surrounding you flares up as you turn your attention to the newcomers: you have no illusions about how this next confrontation is going to play out.

"Git, ya talk all high and mighty, but look what ya done ta old Ziggy. Ya talk a big game about da boss bein' wrong ta take yer place, but 'e sez my pad is good 'n gone by yer stinkin' clawz. Ziggy is gonna enjoy teachin' ya how it feelz."

"It didn't have to be like this, goblin. You've stood against me at every turn. Do you think it's a coincidence that you're the first and only dungeon boss I've fought with to date?" A ball of fire begins to grow in your hands as you speak, concealed behind your back for now.

"And about ta be the last," Zigrag grunts and leaps into action. Sera and Tlax draw their swords, Tlax heading for the more dangerous of the two rogues while Sera's whip licks out towards the speedy goblin. A cold chill, a green glow, and a barking hellhound emerge from behind you and you contribute a golden fireball to the chaos. The glowing ball of flame deflects off-course, and you roar and charge at the mage responsible. She launches back a sphere of ice, and the two of you circle around one another, trading spells back and forth as you rely on your ranged companions to take care of the waves of undead she pulls out of the ground. You call down a flame strike, and a shield of bone materializes over her head. Sharp grey shards shoot your way, but you vaporize them with a torrent of cleansing fire. You light a ring of fire around you, but she creates a bridge of bone that crosses it. At this point, the piles of bones and thick smoke obscure your vision, and you can tell little of what's going on around you.

"Elena! Why does your group insist on siding with a monster?" Tiny, chattering teeth swarm around you, biting you before they're immolated in a point-blank fireball.

"We need not explain ourselves to you, daemon." She grimaces as tongues of flame lick around the bone shield she holds in front of her, bits of her robe charring and dissolving into ash."

"Lana! Surely you can see that something isn't right here? I won't pretend we've ever gotten along, but I've met your group a number of times, and this isn't you." You punctuate your words by another flame strike, then pant as you feel your mana reserves almost depleted.

"How do you know that name?" She kneels under a dome of bone which absorbs the fire, then leans on her staff and uncorks a blue bottle. You take the opportunity to do the same.

"I spoke to Jared. He misses you and thinks that something is wrong. He said he cares for you, and that you used to care for him as well. What changed?" Her concentration momentarily breaks and you use the opportunity to immolate her in another strike. Her eyes widen in surprise as she's engulfed in the flames, and she collapses to the floor.

"Imp! What low trickery is this?"

"Sorry, Lana, defending my home takes priority. If it's any consolation, nothing I said was a lie." You use your tail to dispatch the spent mage, then step through the roaring ring of flame that formed your arena.

"Azazel, watch out!" Celestina's voice cuts through the din and you duck instinctively as a blade swipes where your head was a second ago, then spin your tail to cut a gash in the goblin rogue's side. Zigrag wasn't your match the last time you met, but his movements feel sluggish even compared to then. He dodges away and you launch a fireball after him, then wince as the more dangerous rogue's blade cuts your arm.

"Ssstay ssstill!" Tlax hisses and swings both of her scimitars towards one another, Shadowdagger disappearing into smoke just before they cross. He appears behind the snake and with incredible agility lodges both of his daggers in her back, causing her to let out a long wail. He leans against her to push them in, then yelps as her snake hair latches on to him. He teleports away, but the daggers stay in the gorgon's shoulders, and although she cringes at the sensation the rogue is now disarmed and ****. You run up behind her and pull them out; she tosses her last red potion down her throat and the wounds begin to seal themselves.

The enemy archer goes down nearby with a cry as two arrows lodge in their torso, long suckered tentacles from a hellish portal wrapping around Alex's legs and preventing any movement. A beam of green light finishes off the corrupted adventurer, the whiplash between the blast's **** and the rooting tentacles causing the loyal servant's back to snap, their body vanishing shortly thereafter into a small pouch of loot. The ex-druid is nowhere to be seen, presumably already dispatched, and you walk up to a downed goblin cringing as he shields his face with his hand.

"Wait, ya git! Mayhaps I changed me mind! Bein' a level boss sounds great, dinno why I turned ya down before!"

"Oh, and what makes you say that all of a sudden, Zigrag?" You continue menacingly advancing on him, the sole remaining adventurer now occupied with constant teleports in an attempt to evade your five companions' strikes.

"This is me last chance! If I dies here it's back ta gobbo with ol' Ziggy." He switches into a bow.

"You know, goblins aren't so bad." Your tail hovers over your shoulder as you walk.

"What ya mean? I know as well as you do that they're smelly an' stoopid an' weak! Erry gobbo knows that daemons be tha real monst—" he lets out a gasp as your tail pierces his chest.

"Sorry, Zigrag, but you had your chance. Enjoy your tour as a goblin: hopefully you can rip off some other low-level monster and crawl your way back up. If so, maybe—just maybe—I'll reconsider your application." The barbed tail cruelly twists inside his flesh.

"Ya... bast—" the goblin vanishes, and moments later Shadowdagger falls with one last shout of fury.

"Okay, that was a rough start... let's head back to the throne room to regroup," you stumble a bit from exhaustion as you go. When you get to the scrying pool, you're surprised to see that no other adventurers have invaded the second level yet despite the excellent rewards. You switch to the first level, and hear the rough drawl of a dwarf.

"Look, laddies, I know tha reward looks great, but trust us, it innae wort' it." A beefy barbarian nods in agreement while leaning against her gigantic two-handed mace.

You smile. Grungil has really earned that beer: you'll have to look them up next time you're in Broadbridge. Maybe you'll even take a dive next time they invade your dungeon... well, okay, maybe you won't go that far. Your rivals, friends, or whatever they are shy away adventurers and smash any invading monsters for a few hours, and by the time they leave in the afternoon the visitors have largely been reduced to low-level adventurers who you can safely allow to try their hands at a kill streak against Rishukan's respawning minions. By the time night falls, it's rare for even a single group to be in your dungeon at a time anymore.

"Okay, same plan tonight, but Tina and I will take first watch. See you all tomorrow." You sit on the chair with the tiefling in your lap and toy with her hair and ears while she hums happily. Although it's tempting to ramp things up, you need to stay at least somewhat focused just in case anyone decides that a last-minute sneak attack is a good idea: you can restrain yourself until the victory party. Nobody ends up coming, and slightly regretting your restraint you wake Tlax and Sera before taking the daemonologist to bed and letting darkness claim you.