Taking stock of your fame

The next morning is the first day you've woken in weeks without any clear plan in mind. Selena is hunting for information about the Soul, Lucia's group is doing the same under Darran, and one of Alastra's recently fallen friends has left to undermine your most dangerous foe. You opt to simply lie in bed, enjoying being surrounded by your champions and head maid. By noon only Tina remains cuddled against you, the others since having left to pursue their various jobs or interests around the dungeon. She gives an annoyed groan when you try to unhook her arms from around you, squeezing tighter to keep you there, then falls off when you simply sit up.

"Whine all you want, but if we stay here any longer it'll be tomorrow before we know it. I'm going to go work on the dungeon. Want to tag along?"

"Urgh, fine." The daemonologist yawns and rubs her eyes as she extracts herself from the sheets, stumbling a bit as she slides into her robe. The garment's sleek black fabric clings to her upper body, her curves emphasized by fine red trim. Its top ends in a tight collar at her neck and below it falls into a loose skirt which ends just above her heels. Overall, the garment looks like a cross between a formal gown and a sorceress' robe.

"So I don't know if I've ever asked you, but how's being in Arkus full time?" Celestina looks up from sheathing her sacrificial dagger as you speak. "It's been, what? Two, three months now?"

"Mmm, it's nice. It can be a lot of work sometimes, like when we're travelling for days on end to get to somewhere or when we're the target of a world bounty." Celestina bites her knuckle between sentences. "There's part of me which starts to get bored with that stuff sometimes and thinks 'you've been playing too long, time to go do something else' until I remember I can't." Finished her dressing, the daemonologist takes your arm and starts to tug you in the direction of the portal. "It's... freeing, though. Exciting too! I wouldn't trade it for anything. So, what's on the agenda?"

"I've got that planar gate upgrade ready, then just check out the fame situation and maybe buy some things. It feels like it's been ages." You wave to Ikaria and Aethane as you pass them in a lounge. The two barely notice you, engrossed as they are in some sort of stone-placing game you've never sat in on. "As for getting bored, didn't you have to deal with that as an adventurer too? And what about in your other world?"

"Nah, the towns have a series of teleportation circles you can use to travel around quickly once you've been somewhere before. It costs a bit of gold but it's always better than walking. Then there are ships and carriages and such to travel long distances to new places, or for people who really like the journey." Celestina fiddles with a crease in her collar as the two of you approach the portal. "Plus if you have to walk long distance, you usually just time it to be when you don't want to play and then log out while your character heads over. You know, now that I think about it, it must be really weird for the character—spending most of their time doing busywork like that."

"I mean, what else would they do?" You pause as you approach the swirling purple vortex that serves as the exit to this floor of your tower, connecting your private living quarters to the rest of your dungeon. "Fighting all the time would be incredibly tiring, and it seems like most of the other stuff is taken care of by those other mortals—the 'NPCs.'"

"Yeah, I guess so. Back when I was still playing, the combat was so exciting! Some people show up to hang out with their friends, or to see some of the emergent stories this game is great for." She laughs. "I guess now I know why it's so cutting-edge at that. Anyways, it's hard to explain, but it's different when you're an adventurer. I'm starting to see things from your perspective, but there's still a certain part of me that thinks I'm wasting my time if I'm not off questing all the time, despite the fact that it really is tiring when we're on the road all day."

"Sorry, just a sec." You wave open a menu in front of the portal and confirm the planar gate upgrade. "Okay, and now we wait for the abishai to do their thing. So anyways, what about in your other world? Do you not do this stuff there too? I've only been there once—and granted, I was only in a dungeon—but it didn't look too different."

Celestina chuckles for a moment. "I guess it'd look that way when your only experience being there is in a summoning ritual to summon a daemon from Arkus written up by other daemons from Arkus and edited by fallen angels who have never been to Earth. No, it's pretty much nothing like here."

"How so? You're all the 'NPCs' there or something?"

"Well yeah, I guess. I mean, not really: most of us don't do logging or farming or guarding or whatever, but that's just because our technology is so much better than it is here in Arkus. Better enough that it really is believable that Arkus is just a game, albeit an advanced one." Four red abishai file through the portal as she speaks. Two carve yet more intricate runes in the floor, while the other two start to erect a series of towering hoops that ring the circle's perimeter.

"We also don't really have to spend any time getting anywhere. You might spent half an hour going to visit someone or going to work. Three hours is a super long way that most people only do once in a while."

"Well, what if you want to travel to a different continent? I imagine you don't have teleportation circles, since magic seems novel to you and boats aren't that fast."

"Boats here aren't that fast," she chuckles. "Besides, we can fly. It takes less than a day to go to the other side of the planet. Not to mention Earth is huge. I don't know how big Arkus is, but it'd take maybe an hour or two to travel across the entire area we've been to if we travelled the normal way. If we travelled the way people use to go long distances, it'd be measured in minutes."

"Sounds like we need to get our hands on some of these horses, or dragons, or whatever other 'technology' you're using over there then. Figure we can summon some in?"

She just laughs. "Don't count on it. It wasn't my thing, so I don't know specifics, but it isn't that simple. Anyways, what did we end up getting?" You look up and see the last red tail vanish back through the exit, the planar gate now complete and dominating the floor.

Planar Gate
Can summon very powerful outsiders as well as groups of minor outsiders with lieutenants. Can summon willing souls. Allows easy return from other planes, and can facilitate planar contact or travel given adequate preparation.
Upgrade to Planar Conduit: 1 each of Elemental Crystal (Fire), Elemental Crystal (Water), Elemental Crystal (Earth), Elemental Crystal (Air), Planar Crystal (Heaven), Planar Crystal (Hell), Planar Crystal (Fae)

"Hmm, planar contact and travel looks neat! Maybe we should ask Mary to see if she can figure it out, then we could visit your daemon lord friend or something?" Celestina's eyes scan the new text. "Say, what do you figure Planar Crystals are? I'm guessing we have the elemental ones sorted with that new mine you set up."

"No idea. Maybe that's something we should ask Zoxxzzixxaith next time he's about. Or Aura, if we bump into her in a place she isn't likely to kill us: not that I'm counting on that." You walk up to the planar gate and run your hand along the base of one of the new hoops. The completed structures are formed from two bars twisted together like thread, one forged from manasilver and the other carved from obsidian. The surface is almost entirely covered in hellish runes, red light glowing from the small bits of brimstone that burn in their depths.

"I wonder what it'll look like when it gets to the next level!" Celestina joins you, tracing her finger in wonder along a flowing rune shaped similar to a 'g,' then pulls her hand back with a yelp as it flares bright red. "Ooh, remind me not to do that unless I get your heat resistance." She sucks her fingertip, the flesh an angry red. "It's nice to see this place coming along. Some of my most important memories are here, and the place was... kinda boring." She laughs. "Although I guess it's harder to notice when you're in the middle of selling your soul to a daemon in what you thought was a video game. Anyways, what's next?"

"Hmm, depends on how much fame we have." You wave open the menu for the first time since the world bounty.

Fame: 756,166
Recent Activity

• Encountered a rival adventurer (x4, based on level): +2,000
• Defeated a rival adventurer (based on level): +5,000
• Subjugated a rival adventurer (based on level): +250,000
• Recruited an adventurer (x3, based on level): +150,000
• Recruited an adventurer (based on level): +20,000
• Recruited an adventurer (x3, based on level): +15,000
• Defeated another dungeon boss (based on rank): +27,000
• Provided by adventurers in your dungeon: +4,315
• People are talking about you (Arkus): +10,145
• People are talking about you (Earth, x100): +1,000
• First summoned to another plane: +250,000

"Wow, someone has been talking about us to anyone who'll listen. I wonder if that was Selena, Circe, or both." Your eyes widen as you look at the long list of bonuses. "Not that I'm complaining: that's an absolute ton of fame. Still nowhere near enough to hit our next goals, and focused mostly on things that are hard to do consistently, but hey: I'll take three quarters of a million fame if it's just sitting there."

"Well, other than the raid boss rank up it seems like you could get pretty much whatever you want. What's first?" Celestina perks up at the opportunity.

You sigh and rub your forehead. "Ugh, this is actually harder than I expected it to be. If it were just a liegelord level or two, I'd just buy them and be done with it. As it is, I'm guessing I should probably clear the rest of the raid boss requirements, which means a ton of liegelord levels, which means decisions, which means getting everyone together... which means work." You sigh. "I know it hasn't even been an hour, but I need a break. Want to head to the pool?"

"Mmm, looking to get me out of this dress already?" Celestina presses into your side and gives your chin a teasing stroke with her finger. "Well, I suppose I could be convinced."

"And some people think I'm the insatiable one," you laugh and head towards the portal, her hand in yours. "Here I was just planning to doze off a bit..."

"Riiight," Tina gives you a grin and dashes a bit to keep up with your fast strides.

"Anyways, I suppose we'll have to rally the banners afterwards. No doubt everyone will want to pitch in on whatever we get from all these liegelord ranks." Your mind shifts back to the work looming ahead. "Not to mention I probably won't be long for this plane if Ari doesn't get her consort rank now that it's an option."

"Does that ever bother you? Oh, hey Sera!" Tina gives a wave, although the angel doesn't respond: she's lying on one of the couches in the throne room with her eyes closed, giving no indication she's awake. "It seems like she can get awfully pushy sometimes."

"That's a part of her that you could do with a little more of. If we're going to be stuck together for who knows how long, people need to feel fulfilled. Besides, this place is already getting to be more than I want to manage all the time, and who knows how much bigger it's going to get before things end. Ari's been with me since the start: she's earned a few pushy moments."

"Would you want to be one? A consort, helping run someone's place? If you weren't a boss, I mean."

"I've never been in that position, can't say I've ever given it much thought. Hopefully I won't have to, given that would mean defeat. Would you?" Celestina looks like she doesn't know how to respond to the question, and stops suddenly in the corridor, lost deep in thought.

"I don't know, maybe. It might be nice to be called a 'consort' some time, though."

"Well, I can't promise it'll be tomorrow, but remind me if we don't get back to it at some point." You step into the bath. "You know, with how different you two are, it's hard to believe Ari and you were once sort of the same person."

"How different we are in what way?" You look up to see the woman in question already in the large pool as you arrive. "Hey Aze, hey Tina! So anyways, what are we talking about?"

"We were just—" you wrap your hand around Celestina's mouth before we can finish.

"Don't worry about it." After deflecting Ari's question, you give the ex-adventurer a wink and then dive into the pool while the daemonologist removes her robe. "We'll get to it later, but for now it's time for some rest!" You slide up beside the warlock and your right hand starts to wander across her body.

"'Rest', eh?" She laughs but still slides into your lap. "How long have you been up, anyways? Two hours? You were still out cold when I got going, and I wasn't in a rush."

"Try one hour." There's a splash and Tina emerges on your other end. "The life of a dungeon boss is hard indeed. Speaking of which, open up." She runs a hand across your armoured pelvis.

"Work, work," you sigh.