Adam grants a quest, for real this time

"Oy, laddie, look wot we found," Grungil pats a certain warrior's back with a little too much **** as your group walks in, the man lurching forward slightly at the sudden impact. Jared gives you a nervous glance, clearly feeling out of place when surrounded by Grungil's full group and the three adventurers from Deepcrag. "This bastard said summin about looking fer you."

"Daemon," Jared nods at you once you're close. "Did you find Elena? I haven't spotted her since we met in Deepcrag."

"Yeah, we've crossed paths a few times. She even seemed to miss you a little bit. She's still with the lich though, probably in my dungeon."

"Lich!?" Jared's eyes open in surprise, so you fill him in on what he was dealing with. "I guess it makes sense, but I'm still surprised that we stumbled into something like that. I guess that might be the risk of treading off the beaten path when it comes to dungeons." He gives a dark look: evidently getting corrupted and possibly mind-controlled by long-forgotten monsters is not something that adventurers expect when they go smashing peoples' homes for treasure and glory.

"So anyways, that's where we are. You're welcome to tag along if you want to try to find your beau, just don't get in our way. I'm not offering any rewards in your case though." He nods his head, not seeing the need to argue the point given your history. "But yes, she's actually the one who killed me most recently, so you can thank her for us meeting up. Did me a bit of a favour: I can't imagine the lich was too happy about that." You turn to the other adventurers arrayed around the table. "Now, I assume you've found a circle we can use?" Selena grins and nods. "Excellent, then let's head over. Jared, we'll meet you back here when we're done." With that, the rest of you walk out of the bar.

The city streets pass by as you walk in silence surrounded by your three most trusted adventurers, the beauties shielding you from being bumped into by the adventurers and NPCs walking all over the place. The more time you spend in Broadbridge the less you expect to be randomly stabbed on the street, but it still isn't your home and likely never will be: it's nice to be somewhat shielded from all of the potential enemies around you. The streets thin out and the shadows lengthen as you enter a slightly gloomy part of town, and finally you stand in front of a large house with tall windows, doors, and pillars. The roof of the porch looms over you, making you feel small and ****, and a raven caws from its perch on the roof. Selena walks up to the door and pulls out an ornate silver key.

"I've reserved the place for today, so we won't be disturbed." You look somewhat surprised at the invoker. "My treat. Now let's see what a daemon like you can do with a proper magic circle. I'm sure it'll be... educational." She motions into the room and you step inside, followed one by one by the adventurers. The door swings shut behind you, then your form starts to stretch as you discard your glamour and return to your true form, your body looming over the adventurers. The bard, paladin and cleric gulp, Lucia's group shudders, your maids lick their lips, and Amara, Grungil, and Selena simply watch with amused expressions.

"Now, I normally need a great deal of mana to do this which I have unfortunately lost access to, so let's see what we have to work with for now." The quest menu opens before you and you scroll through the options. Most of the conditions are disabled for lack of mana, although it looks as if the amount of available mana sharply increases for conditions such as "help Azazel reclaim his dungeon." Evidently the system recognizes the extra mana you'll have access to upon completing the quest in that case.

Okay, Lucia, Becca, Sandra, if you could step forward? The three adventurers step forward, and blue light pours from the circle as it thrums with power. A popup appears in front of each of their faces.

New Quest: I want to go home
Escort Azazel to his lost dungeon.
Fight your way to the throne room.
Help Azazel reclaim control of his dungeon.
Rewards: 5000xp, Frost Wyrm Scales, 3 moderate magic items, 10000gp

The three sultry adventurers' eyes widen: even knowing you said you could offer them a quest, seeing is believing and the rewards are much better than they're used to. Each one hits accept and you feel a faint connection to them as the world recognizes the quest.

"Oy, the laddie wasn't lyin'! A real quest, that is. Although tha' nae be the bes' name I e'r heard!" Grungil slaps his knee with an excited chuckle.

"What else did you expect, Grungil? Remember, he already gave us a quest back in that ice dungeon." Tashila, Celestina's old paladin companion, speaks up.

"Hah, ye didn't think tha' was him, did ya lass? I'm not sure how tha imp got someone to give us a quest for tha', but he was as surprised as we were." Amara and Selena nod in agreement, apparently also having recognized your bluff. Kiedan the bard and Sam the cleric look somewhat surprised as well, having heard the story from the others second-hand.

"Anyways, laddie, if ye wouldn't mind, ol' Grungil could use a few more levels under his belt." The dwarf pats his stomach.

"I'd never say no to a pile of gold as well, imp, and I know you aren't poor." Amara steps up alongside the dwarf, the rest of their party following.

"Done, I'd be happy to pay you out of the cash I've looted from your pockets in the past." You smirk and earn a laugh. "You'll have to suffer through my bad naming though: as you guessed, I'm new to this."

New Quest: I want to go home
Escort Azazel to his lost dungeon.
Fight your way to the throne room.
Help Azazel reclaim control of his dungeon.
Rewards: 5000xp, 10000gp

The six adventurers accept one after another. "Remember, laddie, ya owe us for thissun." You nod, sincerely planning to throw them a bone later if they can help you out. "Now, as part o' that, lesse what ye're planning on doin' with these lasses here. Ye said it'd explain something about Celestina?" You nod and the party steps back.

"Now, Annie, if you would step forward?" The shadows stretch and the blue light recedes, then the tone shifts to an ominous red colour. The red-headed adventurer gulps and steps forward. A plume of fire erupts in your right hand and shifts into smoke, vanishing to form a curled piece of burnt parchment. A similar burst of flame recedes to reveal a black feathered quill.

"Now, I'm afraid we don't have enough power at the moment to form a proper contract, so this one will serve as a guarantee of that once we have the opportunity to do so." She nods. "Now, dear, what is your full name?"

"Anne Goblinsbane," her voice is a little stiff as she speaks in a precise, official tone.

"Sorry, dear, I mean your real name." Several of the onlookers widen their eyes slightly at the question, clearly not expecting their other lives to be relevant to their time as adventurers.

"Anne Mary Er-Eriksson," she stutters a bit as she speaks, clearly nervous.

"Don't worry, Anne, we'll take excellent care of you." You give her a reassuring look, and she loosens slightly. "Now, do these terms sound reasonable to you?" You read off the contract you've been writing as the two of you speak.

• Anne Marie Eriksson pledges to aid Azazel to the best of her ability in liberating his dungeon from Akserrak the Lich.
• The undersigned, Azazel, pledges to allow Anne Marie Eriksson the opportunity to sign a contract granting her immortal soul to Azazel, which he will bind to the body of Anne Goblinslayer as a new underling in Azazel's dungeon.
• Should Anne Marie Eriksson not aid Azazel to the best of her ability, or should she wish to refuse the contract at her first opportunity, this contract will be considered null and void.
• ________ (Signature, Anne Goblinsbane/Anne Marie Eriksson)
• Azazel (Signature, Azazel)

"There you go... if you'll just sign here." You gesture to the underlined spot at the bottom. "As you can see, this contract is merely binding for me, not you, although should you choose to void it you won't get another opportunity." Her brunette curls shift as she nods and nervously scrawls her name on the contract, which then vanishes into a puff of flame.

"Excellent. Cindy, if you could go next." Annie walks away and her friend steps forward.

"Cynthia Shadowmantle, also known as Cynthia Jane Rogers." She speaks authoritatively with steel in her eyes, and scrawls her name upon a similar contract when you produce it for her, then steps back to the group.

"Oh my, now that was interesting," Selena stands and ponders the scene she just witnessed, idly juggling a ruby in one hand as she thinks.

"A deal with a daemon." Tashila ponders and leans against the walls. "What we just watched, it felt... real. You sold your souls, or at least are planning to, just like in the old stories. I've heard weird rumours about Shards before, and I for one can't help but wonder if there's something to them. Are you sure you know what you're doing?"

"To be honest, no. But we've been offered eternal life, of a sort, and Cindy and I aren't getting any younger. What would you give in that case?" Everyone is silent at Annie's question, Zalreanne looking on enviously as the others ponder what they might be willing to sacrifice.

"Oy, laddie, you've got a few tricks up your sleeve, aye?" Grungil looks surprised but impressed. "Mayhap ol' Grungil will have a chat with you one o' these days, although I've got a few years ahead o' me yet."

"Come on, Gil. You telling me you'd not just abandon me but help the imp stop me from smashing a few holes in the place?" Amara slaps him on the back and gives him a mock scowl.

"Nae, we'll just have to knock our share o' walls down in tha place so we have nae regret when we go." He slaps her back in turn and she laughs.

"Here's to that. Well, maybe in fifty years we'll have a chat, assuming we're all still playing at that point. And assuming some other lich doesn't show up all annoyed about his long-lost cousin and finish old impy off for good one of these days."

"I'm flattered, but I'm afraid I'm not planning on claiming any more souls today," you step out of the circle and the light dims, shifting back to its natural white hue. "Perhaps we can discuss things at another time and place if anyone else wants to join my operation, but that's a discussion for after I'm back in my home and a certain lich is not."

"So what's the plan, Azazel? When do we attack?" Lucia steps up beside you as you walk out of the house, eagerness clear in her face.

"I'm planning on striking first thing tomorrow. I don't want to let him consolidate any more power, nor **** my champions to remain in limbo while the dungeon is occupied." All of the adventurers you've recruited nod. "Now, I'm going to meet Jared and then have a few more errands to run. Let's meet tomorrow at the city gates." Everyone heads off their separate ways, and you head back to the bar with the same three adventurers in tow that you entered the city with. He looks up at you as you enter.

"Well, imp? What are you planning?" He looks somewhat hopeful as he speaks.

"We still need to do some more planning and preparation. Meet us near the city gates first thing tomorrow, and make sure you have plenty of time available." He nods and you turn to leave. It's probably not too much of a secret what's really happening tomorrow, but you prefer not to totally spell things out just in case he tries something. Once you're out of the bar you turn to your three companions. "Okay, last stop for the day is a jeweller. Annie, Cindy, could you find us a place to stay for the night? Feel free to blow a bit of money: we have plenty thanks to Zal's incredible work earlier today and it isn't like we'll have much use for it outside of Broadbridge." You walk to the shop quarter with your head maid, allowing her to hold your arm and squeeze into your side. "You know pet, I was really proud of you today."

"Master, will I have to serve other adventurers again?" The lavender elf rubs her head against your side as she speaks, her voice soft and deferential.

"Well, dear, I suppose it depends on the situation. I'd love for you to be my personal maid one day, just serving me and maybe my lovers. Would you like that?" She nods into your side. "Then why don't you do an excellent job training up your helpers and maybe I can think about it? Maybe you can even go recruiting outside the dungeon from time to time. I could always use some maids willing to help out, but maybe you can eventually delegate all of that work in the future. For example, if you had trained up Annie and Cindy nice and well, maybe they could've helped out or even taken over your role. Would you have liked to be the one under my desk while they were out there taking two, three, even four or more adventurers each?" The obedient sorceress slides her hand down to your crotch and starts rubbing you over the fabric in response.

"Mmm, pet, we can get to that when we get to the hotel tonight. In fact, since you were such a good girl, you can have two of my dicks all to yourself tonight: the others will have to share the third. How does that sound?" Her hand accelerates on your bulge before pulling away.

"That sounds nice, master, thank you!" Genuine happiness and excitement radiates from her voice when she says that and you stiffen as you walk into the jeweller's shop. A stout dwarven woman whose eyes are hidden behind complex glasses with multiple different lenses on dials stands behind the counter.

"Allo, what can a do fo you? Someting fo ze lady?"

"Yes, so I have this beautiful necklace," you take out the cursed pearl necklace which was recently around your pet's neck, "and also this lovely gem," you take out the phylactery wound around a simple cord. "I was hoping you could affix the gem to the base of the necklace?"

"Oh, oui, a simple request. A can do it fo 750 coins." You slide over a part of the profits from your business venture earlier today and the dwarf pulls out a contraption of gears, wood, and needles that you don't really understand. She places the two necklaces on top and after twisting a few knobs and fiddling with a few bits you now have a cursed phylactery necklace.

"Excellent, thank you." You take hold of Zalreanne's hand as if she were your partner. "Now dear, let's go see how this looks on you." With that, the two of you leave the shop to regroup with your other maids for a night of fun and relaxation before the battle tomorrow.