You catch people up and gain a recruit

"Someone's been keeping a low profile!" The tall dragoness awaits you in your throne room when you return, her hands on her hips and an amused expression on her face. "One or two days in a city and now you have the law out to get you?"

"Believe it or not, that was actually the plan this time."

Kay raises her eyebrow and smiles skeptically. "Let me guess, something about bringing the adventurers to you since you couldn't find them while stumbling aimlessly around the largest city in the region?" You nod and she shakes her head. "Well, avoiding any of them seeing me during the event is going to be fun. Wouldn't want mom's 'master plan' to get spoiled or anything." She waves her fingers to complement her comment. "Whatever." She waves her hand in an exaggerated way. "Things on the home front have gone much better. ATHY!" Your companions wince as the shout assaults your eardrums. The dragoness just smirks. "Sorry, always wanted to try that."

Footsteps echo from above and a moment later Aethane steps down the stairs, her snowy robe dragging behind her. "Hey Kara, what's up?" Her eyes scan the room and fall on your recently-arrived group. "Oh. Welcome back, daemon."

"How are you enjoying the new forge?"

"It's... nice. Thank you." The wolf woman looks down at the floor for a moment before continuing. "I don't think I said this before, but I apologize for my outburst when we spoke a month ago. I appreciate you finding a way to kill the lich and spare me."

"So does that mean I can expect you to sign up as a champion? I could always use skilled women like you."

"I assume you mean skilled people?" Aethane looks around at the champions arrayed around her.

"I know what I said." She gives you a disapproving glare and you simply you lean back, grin, and cross your arms.

"So I have to sleep with you to be a champion?" The wolf woman rolls her eyes in an exaggerated way. "Smooth."

"Hm? No. I'd love to have you regardless of that: we could use someone with your skills, and I'm sure you'd agree that you could use us." Despite her spunk, you still enjoy teasing the fae. "I certainly wouldn't complain though, and I doubt you would either."

"Then I'd love to." She smiles for a moment and then pauses. "Be a champion, that is." With that, she waves her hands to interact with a window that only she can see.

Offer of Allegiance
Aethane has offered to join your lair as an underling. Accept?
Warning: your level of Fae Liegelord is not high enough, so you will not be able to control Aethane.
Proceed?
Yes/No

"Well then, welcome to the dungeon!" The moment she accepts you send over the champion offer, filling your last available spot.

New Champion
You have designated Aethane (Level 29 Priestess of Borea) as a champion of your dungeon!

"A priestess, eh? I didn't know that monsters served adventurer goddesses." Banter is fun and all, but it's time to actually get to know your new champion. "How did that happen?"

Done glaring for the moment, Aethane's usual demeanour returns. Her posture gives a regal air and her words are carefully pronounced and confidently spoken. "As if! I serve Borea, the primaeval fae goddess of winter. The fae gods are long gone from the world, but I can still call upon her. I'm not sure if there are even any like me anymore: even in my time they were rare, and adventurers then were not so prolific as they are today." The wolf woman is suddenly engulfed in a burst of light. "What was that? I feel... lighter."

"Oh, don't worry about that, that's just you being levelled up to the same place as everyone else. Speaking of which, let's have a look." You casually flick your hand to pull up her character sheet.

Aethane, Level 34 Priestess of Borea
Monster, Champion, Fae, Explicit
Attributes
STR 77, DEX 115, END 106, CHA 48, MAN 15, APP 92, PER 115, INT 61, WIT 176
Feats
Champion, Monstrous Appearance (Subtle), Natural Weapons, Soulbound
Borea's Blessing – Your allies under the effects of cold spells from friendly casters are protected rather than harmed by the effects. The effects of enemy cold spells are significantly reduced.
Borea's Touch – Your cold spells can be used to heal, protect, or enhance your allies.
Specializations
Defender (Level 25) – Your spells and feats are focused on defending yourself and your teammates.
Spells
Channel Divinity – You channel the powers of your god, calling forth snow, ice, and cold air.

"So you're some sort of healer or support character?" You wave away the window after you're done reading it.

"Just because I'm not focused on killing people doesn't mean I'm not useful!" The wolf woman lets out a growl and glares at you with her claws extended.

"Whoa, easy." You hold both hands in front of you. "Sore spot? I'm not complaining: in fact, that's something our group has been really missing so far. Daemons don't really tend to be specialized in that stuff." A puff of flame appears above your hand, then disappears into smoke. "Most of us are better at destroying things."

"I wonder whose fault that is?" Ari joins in and Aethane gives her a confused look. "Oh, I used to be a priestess myself back in the day, before he got his hands on me." She gives the wolf woman a wink.

"How did that happen? Did he **** you to reject your false god?" The priestess gives a triumphant grin to her former counterpart.

"Well, not exactly, it's just that my ex-goddess had a big thing for virginity. Theirs too." She motions at the two angels: Mariel gives a smile and a wave while Sera just leans back with her arms crossed. "So yeah, not really compatible with Aze here."

"I don't recall much complaining on the subject from any of you."

"So, now that I'm part of this outfit, what's the plan?" Aethane cuts off the conversation, gives you a stern look, and crosses her arms. "I assume you do have a plan? During Akserrak's invasion I was torn between thinking you were a genius and thinking you were just making it up as you went along."

"Why thank you," you smirk. "In all seriousness, though, it was a little bit of both. We do have a plan for now, though, and it's my favourite sort: sit at home and wait for a bunch of adventurers to attack the dungeon."

"Because you've always totally loved world bounties," Ari chuckles from across the room. "I seem to recall that when we got the daily spotlight a month or two ago we all had to cheer you up from your moping, and that was only for a day!"

"Hey, maybe I've changed?" A wall of skeptical faces greet you. "Okay, maybe I'm just glad that we actually chose to be attacked for a change."

"Since when is getting invaded a plan? Do you desperately need this new 'Fame' resource or something?" Her fingers make little air quotes as she speaks, sarcasm dominating her voice.

"Actually, we're trying to meet up with one particular adventurer. We don't know where she is, but we know she loves raiding this place. Putting a giant target on our back felt like the easiest way to find her on short notice." Seeing as it seems like you'll be here for a little while, you go over to take a seat. Most of the others do the same: only Aethane remains standing. "I certainly won't complain about a bit of extra fame though."

"And what happens if one of those adventurers decides to take over your dungeon like Akserrak did to mine ages ago? Acquiring this 'Fame' resource seems rather reckless." The air quotes strike again.

"Well, it's actually not that simple anymore. Those adventurer gods you hate so much? They've added a lot of structure to the world. At this point only adventurers above level 50 can take over the dungeon."

Aethane leans back in shock as if a sudden impact struck her. "Since when are there adventurers over level 50?"

"That's part of what we need Selena here to talk about." The wolf woman gives you a questioning glance. "Sorry, that's the adventurer we're looking for. The short version is that certain powerful monsters can intervene to allow adventurers to get past level 50, although there are a lot of caveats."

"So you want to create someone who can destroy you despite such adventurers otherwise being incredibly rare?" With her new 'are you an idiot' look added to her repertoire, a raised eyebrow mixed with a bemused grin, the wolf woman is rapidly convincing you that she's as much a smartass as a healer.

"Not really, but it sounds as if one's about to pop up no matter what. The idea is to find someone who's as trustworthy as possible. Besides, if I negotiate well enough, the contract shouldn't leave much room for that." More confusion. "My 'main' power. I can form contracts with adventurers and monsters which have all sorts of terms and conditions, with powerful magical enforcement."

"That's how Ari and I have monster classes and, well, are monsters." Celestina speaks up from her pile of cushions, her eyes still closed as she relaxes after the long journey. "I actually used to be an adventurer, although apparently I'm not eligible for this new thing given I'm a monster now."

"You have the power to **** people to stay loyal to you... and you didn't use it on me?" The priestess furrows her brow and raises an eyebrow simultaneously, a frown playing across her face.

"It only works on adventurers. Besides, we had a bet about what you would do when you were summoned, so trying something like that would be cheating." The dragoness idly looks up from the soft seat she's splayed across.

"Riiight..." Another 'are you an idiot' look. "Okay, somehow I'm getting the impression I don't want to know anything else about this."

Her comments elicit a laugh you don't bother to try holding back. "Eh, you'll get used to it. Alright, well, be ready for the adventurers to start showing up tomorrow: we might go into the dungeon a bit this time, maybe give you a chance to fight with us." Aethane nods: a determined expression finally replaces the vast array of disdainful and sarcastic ones she's explored over the past few minutes. "Well, feel free to have a seat or wander off or whatever, but I plan to waste the rest of this day doing as little as possible. Let's save the work for tomorrow." You glance around the room. "Say, anyone seen Zal or the others?"

"They've been spending most of their time in the dungeon recently, keeping morale up and such." Kay perks up at the topic. "Speaking of which, when am I getting my own cute little pet?"

"If everything goes well maybe we can recruit some new adventurers to our little family soon. I'd especially like to pick up that paladin we met recently—Alastra, or whatever it was her name was. Speaking of which... Mary, could I get you to do something?"

"Hm?" The angel looks up from the book she's been quietly reading. "What's up?"

"You know that book I got from Zoxxzzixxaith recently? The one on summoning rituals?" The angel thinks for a moment and then her face lights up and she nods. "I was thinking we could get some copies made with a few modifications. The 'proper' greetings that daemons expect and all that. Might as well have a bit of fun with the adventurers if I need to let them yank me around."

"Ooh, what sort of fun?" A naughty grin passes over her face.

"Surprise me. I trust that you'll come up with something suitable. Just remember that we still want them to go through with it."

"Sounds good. Sera, want to help me think of some ideas?" The other angel shrugs and nods. "Great, let's get to it then!"

You drum your fingers as the two angels leave the room. "I really need to find some sort of better communication system for Zal and the others. Whatever, it's getting late anyways. I'm going to turn in early, maybe get some extra sleep for a change." With that, you leave the room and throw yourself into the soft bed for the first time in around a week, enjoying the sensation of slowly dozing off in your own dungeon.