Akserrak is very Great indeed

The portal leaves you in a small, plain hallway, and you follow the only path forward until you find yourself in your large boss room. The large raised platform in the centre of the room stands empty, the tapestries hanging from the walls and the statues of angels and daemons left unchanged from when you were ejected from the dungeon a few days ago. After a glance to either side, and a check that the necklace is still conspicuously hanging out of your pocket, you make your way through the room's opposite exit towards the throne room beyond.

"Adventurers," the young man rises to greet you as you approach, "congratulations on making it this far. I've constructed this dungeon to test your abilities, but I have no wish to fight you directly." You suppress a snarl at his implication that he built this dungeon: now isn't the time for quibbling. "In fact, I'd much rather we worked together." The scrying pool is still missing, the room empty except for the imposing throne. Your old chair has been replaced, a new seat of shimmering manasilver with plush burgundy upholstery in its place.

"Why shouldn't we take you down?" You step forward with a swagger, holding your bow confidently. "We've already defeated your minions and level bosses, and no doubt you'll drop some great loot."

"Well you see, my boisterous friend, no doubt you met another group of adventurers only moments ago? Ones with... strange powers?"

"Adventurers who were no match for our own might and skill!" Zalreanne pulls a small sphere of rock from the floor, a confident look on her face as she channels the low-level spell as if it's her trump card.

"Heh, indeed, indeed. What if I told you that I could grant you similar abilities, and all but for a few favours? You would be the envy of your fellow adventurers, and with your considerable skills you would no doubt be much stronger than those weaklings." He paces back and forth while gesturing impressively.

"Oh, and what would we have to do to earn this boon?" You cross your arms and tap your foot. "Because I've heard from the forums that this dungeon drops some pretty great loot."

"Well, all you have to do is... where did you get that?" He points at the necklace hanging from your pocket.

"Oh, this? We ran into some daemon in the forest who had it. He was trying to talk to me or something, but I don't talk to weaklings, so I killed him now it's mine." You take the gem out of your pocket and move it between your fingers. "Why, do you like it?"

"I'll tell you what, adventurer. In exchange for that necklace, all of you will gain my blessing: I need no other favours from you." A sinister expression crosses his face.

"I don't know, it looks quite valuable: I was thinking of selling it when I got back to town, or maybe using it to pick up some chicks."

"Do not test my patience!" The man points his staff at you and you flinch, but nothing happens.

"Sorry, sir. Alright, maybe we can deal." You step forwards and a beam of green light shoots from his staff. You feel your limbs freeze as the magic suffuses your body.

"Insolence! I did not say you can move, 'hero'." His lips are twisted into a cruel sneer. Well, that went well. The disguised lich paces back and forth, your eyes nervously following him as he seems to consider the situation. "My apologies, that was rude of me. My temper can be... short at times, especially when I'm not properly respected." He stares at Zalreanne's lavender face and ivory hair, the only things not concealed the long robe that covers her lewd maid outfit.

"Now, lovely elf, I will extend the same offer to you that I did to your rude companion. I'll even release your foolish friend and reward him despite his incivility." Zalreanne pauses for a moment as if considering his offer, then steps over to you and takes the necklace from your frozen hand. She kneels and holds out the necklace in front of her. "Excellent, I'm glad to see that some adventurers know how to show the proper respect."

"Say, gorgeous, I see that you have some hint of propriety unlike the harlots you surround yourself with." He motions to the adventurers behind her, and Lucia simply smirks and sticks out her chest in response. "How would you like a position at my side, serving me as my right-hand woman and personal attendant?" The witch pauses as if to consider the offer for a moment, then lowers herself to the floor.

"I would be honoured, great one."

"Fabulous. Now, gorgeous, if you would be so kind as to put the necklace back where it belongs? I do love the colour, and would like to see how it complements my clothes." She sensually steps up to the man, who tilts his neck to allow her access, and she lowers the necklace down around his head. His illusion flickers and vanishes, revealing a skeleton made entirely of manasilver, and you feel your joints loosen as the magic holding you dissipates.

"Excellent, my dear. If you could stand beside my throne while I deal with this lot." He waves his hand in your direction "You may move again, brat. Let none say I am not a merciful lord." You collapse in an exaggerated way. "On that note, let no one say that Akserrak the Great does not keep his promises." He waves his hand, but nothing happens. Your head maid summons another small ball of rock.

"Say, my lord, this doesn't look any different. I thought you were going to grant your servant new powers?"

"Yes, yes, one moment my sweet." He waves his hand again and scowls. "This is unusual..." he holds his hand up to his face and his eyes widen as the skeletal blue fingers meet his vision. "What is this!?"

"Ha, laddie, forgot yer skin at home?" Grungil leans his crossbow over his shoulder as he watches the scene. Amara starts picking her teeth.

"You... what have you done?" The lich stares down at the necklace resting against his rib cage. "What? Cursed? Fools! The imp has deceived you! I can give you great power, just get this necklace off of me!"

"Hey, that's not very nice." You shift back into your true form. "I was actually quite upfront with them. Now, if you don't mind, I'll be taking back my dungeon." The air above his head begins to roil with golden flames.

"Servant, stop him!" He spins around to Zalreanne, who's already channelling a ball of rock much larger than any he's seen previously. The sorceress gives him a wicked grin. "No, traitor! Traitors all of you!" The flame strike descends upon him, and without any magical protections the frail undead creature collapses into a heap of manasilver bones. You gingerly step over his body and take a seat in the new throne.

Dungeon: Akserrak's Abode: Conquest Report
Dungeon conquered!

You scan through the list of results, then wave them away: it doesn't seem as if the lich changed anything of note, and you can get to any lingering details later. First things first: you change the dungeon back to its original name. With that achieved, you pick up the silver skull in front of you and pry the blue gem off of the cursed chain it's attached to. You loop it around the simple string it originally came with and place it back around your neck.

"Daemon, you return! Have you found some mana? How fares your quest?" The feminine voice fills your very consciousness.

"Not bad, not bad. I have a pile of blue bones sitting in front of me just as I speak." Your silent concentration must look strange to the adventurers standing in front of you. "Give me a moment." You look up and start speaking out loud. "Thank you all for your help. We need to do one more thing before your quests are complete: just let me take a moment to tal—erm, ponder—and we'll get right to it." Darkness takes your vision as you close your eyes once again. "Okay, so the lich is defeated, but you mentioned we might have to do more? Let's get to it: I have no intention of losing my dungeon again."

"Yes. He was once an adventurer who turned himself into a monster in exchange for great power, tying his soul to the phylactery in exchange for the ability to draw upon and amplify my own mana." The voice speaks quickly, eagerly. "Unlike a normal monster, he will return to his form when he revives, and will do so much faster than normal." The bones below you already have begin to glow with a faint light: it isn't much—yet—but you can feel the seconds ticking by. "You need to remove his soul from this gem."

"And how would I do that?" You toy with the blue mana crystal as you speak.

"The only way I know of is to shatter it, destroying the souls contained within forever." The voice sounds hopeful. "Please, before he comes back."

"Would that not kill you as well?" You raise an eyebrow.

"It would, but I'm already long dead. I've been trapped in this prison since long before your time." She switches into a pleading tone. "I've long anticipated this day: just do it before I have the chance to doubt."

"No deal. I need the gem for improving my base, and getting another one will be an incredible pain in the ass. No, I think I'll keep it and use it there instead."

"Fool! Akserrak can't be allowed to revive!" The woman in the gem begs, horror creeping into her tone. "You will be ground under his boot and I will be trapped in an eternity of service!"

"It's fine, I have a way to deal with him." You try to convey clear confidence, but panic from the voice overwhelms it.

"Arrogant idiot! You've already fought against him once: you must realize what he's capable of!"

"Look, let's talk about this later, shall we?" With that, you mentally cut off the connection. The voice still seems to push against your consciousness, but you manage to ignore her for now. "Okay, sorry about that, all. It turns out that for reasons I don't really understand this gem contains the lich's soul, and he's about to wake up mightily unhappy if I don't do something about it. If you'll follow me just over here..." you step into the adjacent altar room and place the gem upon the altar.

Offering
Multiple potential offerings found. Which ones do you wish to sacrifice?
Select one or more
[ ] Soul, Akserrak
[ ] Soul, unknown
[ ] Mana crystal, moderate
Confirm?
Yes/No

Interesting... for now you just select the lich's soul and confirm, and feel a torrent of mana pour back into the dungeon. There's considerable overflow, but not so much that the pressure to spend it feels overwhelming: the lich must've completely drained the dungeon's energy stores. "Okay, excellent, he won't be a problem anymore. Turns out you shouldn't go binding your soul into a little stone if you don't want to be turned into a quest reward, no matter how much power the process grants you. Speaking of quest rewards, that should've fulfilled yours. Consider them complete." Popups appear in front of all of the adventurers save your maids. "Grungil, Amara, Selena, Tashila, Kiedan," you motion to the five of them and they step forward. Six sacks of gold coins appear in your hands, and each time you hand one of them to an adventurer you feel a rush of mana as some of your dungeon's power is turned into experience for the hero in question. "This should conclude our business. Here's Sam's sack as well: thank him for me when you see him. Now, don't be strangers: come say hi sometime, maybe kill a few imps along the way. Tina should be back in a moment and I'm sure she'd like to see you all again."

"Aye laddie, we'll be around. Ain't a soul who's gonna knock holes in yer thick head otherwise!" Grungil cheerfully claps you on the back and turns to go, the rest of his party following close behind. "Now nae forget, if ye find yourself around our parts some time ye owe us more drinks than when we started this whole venture."

"Say, imp, maybe I'll swing by some time and ask you some more questions about your powers." Selena turns just as her group exits the door. "They seem quite... interesting."

"Hey, Selena, stop fraternizing with the enemy! We've got time for another dungeon today if you get your cute ass moving." Amara calls from outside the room and she gives a little wave before spinning and leaving.

"Okay, next! Lucia, Becca, Sandra, thanks for your help. I know this quest was a bit above your usual pay grade." The three of them step up, their bodies still bearing some scrapes and bruises that they couldn't heal once they ran out of potions and the cleric used up all of her spells.

"Hey, don't mention it. It isn't every day that a quest like this one comes along." The quest rewards materialize in your hands, and as you hand each adventurer their sack of gold and magic item power rushes through the room, each adventurer going up several levels from the large experience reward. Lucia's eyes widen as you hand her the frost wyrm scales, and she stows him in her magical storage while her eyes zone out.

"Now, I believe that concludes our business. Look me up some time once I get this dungeon put back together and I'd be happy to offer you any other quests I have available. Or if you want to lose to a real dungeon boss, I suppose." You smirk and the three scantily-clad women roll their eyes.

"Hey, not so fast, buster. I can think of one hard thing you still owe us before we go. Besides, I'd be crazy not to see what's about to happen with these two daemon sluts." Lucia steps back and gives Annie and Cindy each an appreciative grope, the two adventurers scowling slightly before their faces melt at the pleasurable attention.

"Fine by me. Then if you'll accompany me to the summoning room..." you turn and are bowled over as someone crashes into you, pressing her chest into your own as you fall backwards to the ground.