Mo tower, mo problems

The forest around you is eerily quiet as you begin the long trek back to your tower. This is the first time you've travelled alone in as long as you can remember: you're nearly always accompanied by Ari, and usually Tlax as well. But after having to kill her to escape security and after Celestina ran off embarrassed you've found yourself with a rare and welcome moment of peace and quiet.

These last few days have been bizarre. As a daemon, you've spent most of your life living on Mt. Imporne. Even when you started to stray down in recent months you were always firmly acting as a monster, burning outposts and killing adventurers in an attempt to find resources to upgrade your dungeon. These past few days have been something different entirely: your new form allowing you to live the life of an adventurer and see things from their perspective.

Quite frankly, you don't much like what you see. You had your fun, and accidentally seducing Celestina certainly isn't something you're going to complain about, but you've missed your dungeon. You miss your playful naga, your cute soon-to-be-fallen angels, your rambunctious minions. You even miss the sorceress in a twisted way: the longer you spend near her, the more opportunities to finally turn the tables and show her her rightful place at your feet. Maybe the adventurers just don't know how good they could have it, or maybe they're just wired differently than you are. Whatever the reason, you walk in silence, visions of the subservient dark elf playing in your head until a yell brings you back to your senses. An explosion rocks the mountainside, and the roar of a drake announces a jet of fire that flashes in the mouth of a nearby cave. Glad that the adventurers are picking on someone else for a change, you shoo away a few minor goblins and kobolds in your path, dodge a horde of tiny red-capped gnomes, and finally find yourself home. An excited "booooooooooss!" announces the gate swinging open in front of you, and the next thing you know your legs are bound together as Tlax coils around you and Ari runs up with a skip in her step. "So, did your plan work?" You grin and pull the gem out from under your armour.

Dodging past the witch's door, you walk into the tower and up to the library. The gorgeous brown-skinned angel is right where you left her, nose buried in another book as she idly scribbles on one of the many sheets of loose parchment that litter the table on her right. Feeling mischievous, you snap your fingers, instantly extinguishing all of the candles in the room: the daylight peeking through the windows still provides some light, but not enough to read them. "Goddamn it, don't make me come down there, you little..." she turns, her annoyed expression shifting to a squeal of delight as she sees you. The next thing you know, you're on the ground with an overly friendly angel on top of you. "Master! I did it! I've figured out the inscription!"

"Easy there, there'll be plenty of time for that later." You laugh at her blush, seizing the opportunity to lift her off of you, dust yourself off, and stand back up. Now then, let's get right to it then, shall we? She nods excitedly and grabs two armfuls of parchment, loose leaves fluttering down as she walks downstairs with the mess still in her arms. A few spiral staircases later, the two of you stand in the poorly-lit altar room, and Mariel holds up her notes and begins to chant.

"O Arachne, lady of the swarm, your supplicant seeks your attention." Your dungeon rumbles as every insect in the room begins to conglomerate into a writhing mass. Several terrified voices yelp in the distance. Mariel steadies herself and raises her hands into the air, the notes fluttering down.

"O Kalphenex, prince of excess, this unworthy one requests your presence." The lights in the room pierce your eyes, the irresistible curves of the angel in front of you pull your gaze, and the sounds of frantic chewing come from the mess hall behind you. Your angelic concubine's wings extend outwards, seeming to stretch from wall to wall.

"O Zoxxzzixxaith, duke of magma, your faithful calls your burning gaze." A haze fills the room as your skin burns, bits of the wall liquefying and dripping into hissing puddles on the floor. The floating parchments are suddenly consumed in a flash of flame as the chanting beauty in front of you seems to glow with yellowish light.

"O Persephone, mistress of stone, this insignificant one begs you calm your dark brethren." The rumbling stops, the heat dissipates, and the woman in front of you lowers her head. Who could've known when you started that you would get to see an angel, not even yet fallen, willingly call out to daemon lords? The thought awakens something primal in you and you pull her into your arms, roughly kneading her breast and crotch as you rub your stiff rod against her backside.

She moans and grinds against you before squirming out of your grasp. "We'll have lots of time for that later, but don't you want to know if it worked?" She's right, and you open your dungeon menu and confirm the upgrade to your altar. An abishai rushes by and gets to work, and soon afterwards the room is filled with an imposing sight. The new altar is much larger than its predecessor. A full three metres long and two metres wide, it rises half a metre above the tiered dais. Its sleek black surface is mostly concealed by a sumptuous red velvet cloth. The four candles in its corners have grown. One of them drips with yellow-red liquid fire, one crackles and pops with a brownish green energy, one writhes in a purplish-black ball of flame, and the last one holds a perfect white sphere so bright that you have to avert your eyes.

Unique Structure: Daemonic Altar (Level 3)
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 3: Accepts larger offerings and generates more mana. Can empower moderate outsiders.
Upgrade to Level 4: Offer the claimant crystal of another dungeon boss.

The new altar is everything you could've asked for, suitably imposing for your new status and ready to accept your angelic brides-to-be. However, the next upgrade has you suitably worried. Getting the claimant crystal of another boss feels hard enough, but the truly worrying part is the implication: up until now you'd been more or less carefree, knowing that even on the worst day you'd respawn and eventually anyone killing you would get bored and leave. Now you knew that someone suitably determined could end everything you've worked to build. Could an adventurer do it, or just another monster? What would happen? Would you be thrown out in the wild to start over? Would you be reduced to your prior existence, a tiny imp doomed to be killed by new characters looking for some easy gear? Hopefully you'll never need to find out the answers to those questions, although it sounds as if you'll need to make sure not every dungeon boss is as lucky as you hope to be.

Banishing away the gloomy thoughts, you hike upstairs to oversee the main fruit of your labour. Pulling out the swirling blue gem—if this is a "small" mana gem, what will a big one look like?—you open your construction menu and confirm the tower upgrade. Like last time, it looks as if it'll be several days before your abishai make much progress, but you give them the order to start it right away. You've scarcely closed your command interface when the deafening sound of trumpets announces a gilded window which materializes in front of you.

World Bounty: Lady Eleanore's ****
A foul daemon has stolen the Lady Eleanore Highcastle's most precious family heirloom and sacrificed it in a profane ritual to his foul gods. The Lady demands retribution for this blasphemy. Slay Azazel and his minions!
Notable living monsters: 5/5
Day 1 of 3
Monsters killed will drop additional coins and crafting materials.
Azazel will drop items suitable for paladins and clerics.
Azazel's champions will grant additional experience when banished.
(Rewards will change each day)

5/5? By the sounds of it, Ari now counts as a monster in addition to you, Tlax, Rishukan and Baelzann. Zalreanne, Mariel, and Seramiel are presumably not, or at least not yet. You lick your lips before shaking yourself. Focus. This isn't the time for that. You groan. Are you going to have to deal with this every time you upgrade your tower? If only you could just build your dungeon in peace, uninterrupted by pesky adventurers. And what does "banished" mean? You summon Tlax and order her to assemble all of your commanders to come up with a plan.

"As the boss of this dungeon, I am incredibly proud of the dedication all of you have shown in preparing since, well, whenever it was you joined me," you address the haphazard crowd of fallen ones, seductrixes, imps, shappazus and even a few of the tiny ssac'rul. "Those of you who were here last time may remember our eventual defeat. I have no intention of letting that happen this time. Many of you will die, but that is a sacrifice I am willing to make. After all, your highest calling as minions is to throw yourself at adventurers, to remind them that they still need to fear us, and to defend your master and mistress." It isn't the finest speech anyone's ever heard, as acting like a real leader is still alien to you, but it'll have to do. In any case, your minions roar their approval and head to their assigned posts.

"Baelzann, you're on messenger duty. Let me know when I'm needed somewhere. And let everyone know that Ari and I are to be treated as enemies when we're pretending to be adventurers." The imp gives you a mock salute. "You got it boss!" His voice trails behind him as he zips off.

"Rishukan, you're in charge of our main ****. Stay wherever the fighting is fiercest. Retreat if you have to: you're more useful to me alive than dead. Remember, the minions respawn a lot faster than you do." She attempts to imitate the imp's salute, but it looks more like she's waving at you. "Yes oh reddest guy, Rishukan smash nasty heroes for greatest cave!" With that, she saunters downstairs.

"Ari, you're with me. Tlax, you as well, unless Ari and I go undercover." A hiss from Tlax, and a giggle from Ari. "'Many of you will die, but that's a sacrifice I'm willing to make?' Really? Next time we have some time, we're working on your speeches." You swat her ass and she sticks out her tongue in response.

"Now, Mariel and Seramiel. Are you ready? The adventurers will be here in a few hours, and having you on my side would be a great boon." Seramiel looks uncertain, but at her sister's warm smile and determined nod she gulps and tilts her head almost imperceptibly.

"Then the two of you, come with me. Ari and Tlax, fetch the sisters' equipment and be ready for us in the throne room. I just hope we'll have enough time before all heaven breaks loose."