Alexander sighed and rubbed his tired eyes as he finally closed the builder menu. He had started with some thirty five grand worth of merits and now he had only around a thousand left. Looking at his 'cart' Alexander reviewed what he planned.
=================
Builder Shop Check out
Structural
- 10,000 merits for Labrynth layout Floor 1
- 10,000 merits for Secure Guardian Chamber (Demon motiff)
- 10,000 merits for Dungeon Lord Suite (Royalty motiff)
- 1,000 merits for Tier 1 Minion (Goblin) x10
- 1,000 merits for Tier 1 Minion (Kobold) x10
- 500 merits for Tier 1 Minion (Dark Dwarf) x5
- 500 merits for Tier 1 Minion (Skeletal Porter) x5
- 500 merits for Tier 1 Minion (Dryad) x5
- 500 merits for Tier 1 Minion (Fairy) x5
- 1,000 merits for Tier 2 Minion (Orc) x5
==================
Sighing at his depleted merits he looked to Jansea before accepting, "Are you sure we need all these? I thought dryads and fairy folk were good aligned nature things..."
Shaking her head slowly Jansea looked over her Masters shoulder reviewing the list herself, "While it is true they are nature aligned, death is a part of nature. The dryads and fairies are more support minions for your dungeon Master. The former manage in dungeon farms, the fruit and vegetables will be of aid to both yourself and any slaves you take in future. The fae are natural go betweens for your minions, they understand most languages and will aid in communicating your will to the tribes that evolve in your dungeon. Take the goblins and kobolds, goblins can breed with anything with a reproductive system. Kobolds are sneaky but reproduce like rabbits. Both can repopulate a dungeon very quickly, but both are quite fragile. Seasoned warrior paths have little trouble facing scores of either."
Looking down the list she pointed to the dark dwarves and skeletal porters. "These minions help expand your dungeon merit free. The dwarves will dig new tunnels and rooms, while the undead are tireless haulers. As last resorts they can help defend but both are more infrastructure than combat power. As for the orcs, think bigger goblins. They have the reproductive indifference of the goblins and the brood size of the kobolds. They make a good hurdle before any comes to the secure chamber, think big burly door guards Master. They're your strong arms in case any start getting ideas of taking over, as for who keeps them in line, well through their door is your servant, me." Giving a toothy smile she gestured to the big purchases, "Master, the labrynth is a basic defense and layout for the entry way, between the goblins and kobolds they should be able to defend it quite well. The secure chamber will reinforce this room Master, put proper doors on any entrances and ensure this room better suits your servant. The bed chamber is the only splurge, but Master, as the dungeons lord it is expected that you be treated as this realms king so a little opulence is not unbefitting my Masters station."
Alexander nodded and accepted the changes, the very room twisted under his gaze. The original plain but smoothed walls warped as fiery vents began spitting fire and ash into the air, a moat of lava divided the room in half separating the entry door from the crystal core. A bridge of shaped obsidian crossed this river of fiery death. The very heat made a thick sweat appear on Alexander's flesh, it was if the entire room had plunged into a desert at high noon. Right before the crystal, a large raised throne of onyx appeared, he had to rub his eyes as he stared at the arm rests, the orb on the end of either now bore the anguished faces of Ingrid and his families former head butler, he almost swore that as he watched those faces were sobbing in torment. Glancing to Jansea she nodded, "The souls of your former servants are bound to your throne Master, they can now serve Master eternally as his seat of power."
Alexander swallowed his eyes widening slowly as a thought crossed his mind, "Didnt they both die? When did their souls get torn from Deaths waiting room?"
Smiling Jansea walked to the throne and teased her hand over Ingrids onyx face, the visage recoiled trying to not be touched by the demoness but had no body to resist it, "They never made it there, all souls lost in a dungeon are under your control to be bound into the dungeon itself or to be released if Master is feeling generous. For fools who seek the destruction of my Master, death is not an escape. Even should they die under their own hands their souls shall be yours my Master."
Glancing to the side he crossed from his throne to where a large double door had come into existence, passing through was as if rising from hell into heaven. No heat escaped from the guardian chamber into this his bedchamber, instead the circular room was like a bedroom torn from some noble kings castle. Marble pillars and statues encircled a wide bed that looked like it was shrouded in silks, but the size was strange to Alexander, if he gauged right the thing could hold a dozen adult bodies comfortably. The click of Janseas heels announced her own arrival, glancing around the room with some displeasure but quickly changed her disquieted looks when Alexander glanced back, "Sorry my Master, I do not mean to doubt you but I would have thought you might have chosen a more imposing bed chamber. But if Master prefers finery it is a good choice."
Alexander looked around preferring this to Jansea's chamber, "So what's next, wait to see who blunders in?"
The demoness shook her head, "Too random, the best choice would be to buy some throw away minions and raid a few towns, kidnap the populace, pillage treasure and generally ensure they send out people to stop it. I say throw away Master as a wrong raid can lose you these minions so better to not use your main force."
Alexander frowned, the more he heard the more he realized why dungeon lords rarely bothered redeeming themselves. The majority of their work forced them along a path where redeeming was spitting in an ocean. He shook his head glancing to Jansea, "Do dungeon lords have any personal abilities?"
The demoness swept past Alexander to one of the marble pillars towards the rear of the room, passing a hand across its surface the marble slowly turned to sand revealing a miniature glowing crystal like the one in the guardian chamber. "Here you are Master, you can access the dungeon core from this room as well, like the rest of your dungeon, your own personal ability is viewed the same way. Sadly Master, I cant say if you have any personal power. At my level you have nothing discernable, not to say Master is weak but you are only starting out." Jansea did her best to point out that she was vastly stronger without trampling on her Masters pride too much but he could well understand her meaning. Stepping up beside her he placed his hand on the crystal and focused on himself.
=====================
Name: Alexander ; Alex Maybell
Title: Dungeon Lord Alexander, The Demon Corwen
Path: Death
Physical: 5 Charm: 4
Mental: 8 Luck: 6
Mystical: 2 Talent: 5
Path Abilities: Deaths Gaze (Basic), Reaper Tenacity (Basic)
Dungeon Abilities: Rallying Call (Basic), Leadership (Basic), Dungeon Recall (Basic)
Equipment: The clothes on your back
Allies: Jansea (Intermeadiate Succubus) - 10
Thersea (Beginner Hero) - 2
===================
Jansea whistled softly glancing over her Masters shoulder, "Not bad at all my Master. A little weak in mysticism but most humans are at the start of their path. The big gains are the gaze and tenacity, the former let's you spot weakness in your foes that you can exploit and the latter generally allows you to work at something longer than normal. The dungeon abilities are standard fare. Call summons any local minions to your location, at higher level you could summon a minion from anywhere in the dungeon to your side. Leadership is pretty much straight forward, you can only control so many minions at once, the rest will either wander off or just mimic their own allies attitudes. Recall allows you to return to any dungeon core you've touched."
Reaching the bottom of the list Janseas eyes narrowed, "My Master, who is this Thersea? And how did an aspiring dungeon lord become friends with an upstart hero?"
Alexander blushed hotly. It was true that he and Thersea was always at odds with each other but under it all both knew they had feelings for the other, they just lacked the ability to shuck personal pride to admit it to the other. Seeing her low score compared to Janseas he still felt an odd hope in the depths of his mind. " An old rival I hope to impress in future."
Jansea glanced to Alexander and frowned, "Master must be aware that the Path of Heroes is the Path of Deaths nemesis. Whatever friendship you had will become hostility, it is a heroes very nature to depose and slay dungeon lords."
Alexander sighed and nodded, crossing from his chamber to the throne he settled down on the imposing yet uncomfortable seat. Jansea took up a spot by his side waiting for his order. Glancing back he spoke lightly, "As you suggested, orcs at the chamber doors. Let the goblins and kobolds make the dungeon tunnels their home for now. Set the support staff to work, I want the dark dwarves digging out some living quarters for the monsters, while the dungeon proper should promote mixed groups I want specialized individual living conditions. For now no raiding till the excitement of the two special paths has passed, there is too much imperial presence for us to start such."