How I became the Empress of Hell

“OK, before we do some castle redecorating to set up your guys’ various rooms, does anyone have anything else that they’d like to bring up for clan discussion.”

Ghost raised his hand and looked at me. I nodded and he spoke loud enough for everyone to hear.

“Last night when I was going over skill stuff, I accidentally discovered the crafting menu. That took me down a rabbit hole I never planned on going down, but I’m glad I did. I am a bit of a gearhead in my free time so I’m known to tinker with things here and there… and the crafting mechanics look just as in-depth as the regular combat skills. It looks like depending on your skill selection you can even adapt crafting skills for combat. I think the tabletop game equivalent would be something like an artificer. While I’m not suggesting anyone do a major skill overhaul or make a new character, I feel like not having someone in our clan exploring that route leaves us with a bit of a vulnerability to it cause it would present a huge unknown. What do you guys think?”

I hadn’t even considered the possibility that one could combine skills like that, but given the staggering amount of freedom we had to customize our character and the infinite skill generator,  I shouldn’t have been surprised. I looked around the table and pursed my lips as I realized that everyone had their own niche role that they already filled and changing skills or characters would mean losing what they already brought to the table. As loathe as I was to admit it, maybe it was time to do some recruiting. I wasn’t against new people joining us, it just came with the challenge of having to sort through hundreds of potential candidates. Not to mention the fact that we would likely have to find a way to turn them to a full demon at some point down the road. I glanced around the room as I considered our options when I realized that everyone was staring at me.

“Sorry… just thinking about the best way to go about solving that. At this point we can’t afford to have anyone change skills or characters without us losing the benefits that their current character brings to the table. Which leads me to thinking that maybe we need to do some recruiting. There are a lot of skill combinations we have never even thought of, so it couldn’t hurt to get a few people with skills like those as well. My only concern with that is that I have zero interest in being part of some massive 100 person clan. I like keeping things close-knit, and the more people we add, the less it feels like that.”

I sighed through my nose and then turned to Aeryn as he spoke.

“That’s even more reason we need to do this clan challenge thing. We can use it to scout other players and eventually offer those we think fit our needs and get along with us a spot in our clan. I think we should also recruit some players who have only specialized in crafting skills. Judas, as much as we all appreciate your master level crafting, we enjoy having you alongside us in battle even more. If we had players who focused solely on crafting, Judas could help them hone their skills while he’s in the castle and they could make gear and weapons for Allie’s demon army and maybe even extra stuff we could sell to make some gold. We could recruit an enchanter, an armor and weaponsmith, and whatever various crafting skills that we think might be valuable to have. I estimate adding no more than two or three people. One person will specialize in enchantments while we can find someone who has mastered multiple crafting skills. The third person could be a sort of dual-role, helping craft gear but also combining their crafting skills with combat skills like Ghost was mentioning."

"Two or three more isn't too many I guess. Any suggestions on how to find these crafters? I highly doubt any will end up doing our clan challenge thing."

"What about holding a crafting contest? Judas can craft some Master-Tier gear of various types and we can see if we can find players who can craft at that tier or higher. Your demon Enchanter could do the same. As far as the artificer type… That I'm not sure. Maybe just… Put up an ad on the bounty board in town?"

"Allie, before we make any decisions on what to do next, unless you need us for anything, Tifa and I are going to log off for the night."

I turned to Jade and gave her a knowing smile as I shook my head.

"I think we're all good. Have a good night ladies."

They both said their goodbyes and excused themselves from the room. As Emelia gave me a smirk I received a message from Jade.

New Message from Jade!

Would you and Em mind playing for a few hours more? We can't go back to Tiffany's room cause she has a roommate who lives in the same dorm room… So we're going to use mine. And you know how thin the walls are. Tiff feels better knowing that you and Em can't hear us if we make any noise. Thanks! <3

I replied in the affirmative and forwarded Jade's message to Emelia who gave me a thumbs-up after she read it.

"Well, unless anyone has anything else they'd like to add, let's get to work finishing those rooms of ours. Judas and Emelia, would you guys mind joining me in the forge room?" 

They both nodded and everyone stood up from the table and left the clan hall. I followed behind the others and as we turned a corner Emelia turned back towards me and allowed me to catch up with her before she continued to walk.

"So, I get why you wanted Judas to join you, but why me, babe?" 

I gave her a half-grin and kissed her lightly on the cheek.

"In case you hadn't noticed, I've come to rely on you quite a bit… And I don't mean as my fiancée. You're the most badass mage I've ever seen. Your tactical mind astounds me, and this is coming from someone you call the clan's tactician. Your knowledge of the games Arcane mechanics is only second to our walking encyclopedia. But more than anything, you focus on making sure everyone is taken care of. You are sort of like the mother bear of the group. Finally… You're the only one who can turn Allexus back into Allie… Which seems to be more and more important as I keep leveling up."

 We made the last turn towards the forge room and I stopped and opened my character menu and switched over to the clan settings screen. I swiped my hand and showed her the screen.

"When I was messaging Raize earlier I discovered that each guild can have one officer for every ten people. They're allowed to recruit people and make changes to the castle without needing the leader's approval. I want you to be our first officer, Emelia. Not because you're my future wife… That has nothing to with it I promise. It's because you are the player who is most deserving of it because of everything you bring to the table."

She looked like she wanted to object but instead studied me for a moment and then nodded slowly.

"You make a convincing argument, babe. Fine. I'll be your 'Number One.'"

I rolled my eyes at the Star Trek reference and promoted her to officer. She kissed me on the tip of the nose and then turned and walked into the room without another word. As we entered I saw that Judas had already prepared several items for what Aeryn had suggested and he presented them to us. While each item was a simple piece in its complexity, they were crafted in a way that made them look exquisite.

"As usual, Judas, you've outdone yourself. These will work perfectly."

"Thank you m'lady. Your words do me great kindness despite the relative ease with which I crafted those. Hopefully they will serve as fine examples in this endeavor to locate crafters for our clan."

I nodded and turned towards Emelia.

"I think they're perfect. Which is why you, Emelia, and Tesrif are going to town to put them to good use. I've already taken the liberty of promoting our resident ice mage here to our clan's officer, so she will be the one doing the recruiting. Judas, you're going to judge each piece and offer your input on the best candidates. Tesrif is going to keep you both safe and keep the masses of players likely to be crowding you in check."

"I accept this task with great honor, Lady Allexus. The three of us will find those worthy of bearing the name Lost and the Damned."

"Make it so."

Emily snorted in laughter while Judas gave her a confused look. She shook her head in a motion that said to forget it and I gave them both a grin and turned to walk out. 

I walked back through the halls until I came to the room that Aeryn had reserved for my “boss room.” I opened the door and looked in wonder at the vast blank space. The room around me looked like a simple room with steel gray walls and high ceiling, but the distance from one end of the room to the other was vast. The message that Aeryn had sent to all of the clan members informed me that this was sort of a blank template that could be filled in as I wanted. It could be almost as big or small as I wanted it to. There was some sort of AI that would expedite the whole process and I opened the message again to reread the instructions on getting everything started. I sorted through my character menus until I located the new one that showed the menu for building this room. I selected it and scrolled through the various options until I located the AI. A black orb the size of a bowling ball materialized in front of me and started hovering up and down slowly.

“Greetings, Demon Overlord Allexus. My name is Vehemence. I am here to assist you in setting up this space as you desire. Before we get started, do you have any questions for me?”

I shook my head and we got started. I had a general idea of what I wanted, and I'm ashamed to admit that I drew a lot of inspiration from my former master. He may have been a rapist and a conniving asshole, but he did know how to make a room that displayed his authority rather well. I opted to go for a long narrow hall that opened up into a massive open room with tiers of steps that led up to a giant raised platform with an enormous ostentatious throne atop it. All the floor was slate gray stone with our clan symbol on each section. A blood red carpet ran from the entrance of the hallway up to the top of the stairs in front of my throne. I made the walls look like gothic style stone walls reminiscent of those found in a cathedral. The vaulted ceiling was ornately carved stone as well, with lamps hanging from long black chains all around the room. The massive wall behind the throne was a huge stained glass window displaying my Avatar of Corruption form wearing the gorgeous dress Judas had made for me. The expression on her face was intimidating as hell but was also undeniably alluring. While it may have been incredibly narcissistic, I loved how the entire room became practically a shrine to my character. My favorite part would definitely have to be the huge murals on the walls of the hallway that depicted different battles we had fought.

As I finished admiring one of the enormous statues of Allexus that flanked either side of the raised platform, I heard footsteps walking down the hallway towards me. I turned and grinned at Scythe, Bray, and Nialla as they walked towards me. I quickly moved across the platform and draped my body in my new throne as the trio made it to the bottom of the stairs.

“Welcome, loyal subjects. Have you come to pay your respects to your Overlord?”

Scythe smirked and shook his head while Bray rolled his eyes and began to study the 20 foot tall statues on either side of me.

“A bit self aggrandizing, isn’t it?”

“Hey, you all decided to make me ‘the big bad boss,’ and I think this room embodies that concept pretty well, don’t you?”

“I will admit it is very intimidating with all of these images of you looking down on us… to say nothing about having the real you sitting on your throne like that. I think you did an awesome job, Allie.”

“Thank you, Nialla. At least someone appreciates my hard work. Well, as fun as it is to have you three see my new room, I’m sure you came in for a reason. Get to it… I’m a busy Overlord.”

I stuck my tongue out at them to show that I was kidding and motioned for them to come closer. As they drew closer I opted to remain seated and gave them a look of feigned annoyance. Bray rolled his eyes again and scoffed before turning to me.

“Ghost, Aeryn, Ikelos, and Areandra all logged off for the night after they finished designing their room. We figured we’d see if you wanted to check out those coordinates Gehenna gave you to locate that magic for the special enchantment.”

“Yeah, I’m down. That sounds fun! I’m sure you’re also eager to try out that new body, Bray.”

“Hell yeah I am. ‘Specially since Spence won't let me try it out in other ways.”

I blinked rapidly several times as I did my best to not visualize exactly what he had said. Scenes that could only have been pulled out of the most depraved hentai flashed through my brain and I shook my head as if to clear them away.

“Braylon, my love. Out of all the ways my character can die in this game, death by giant red cock didn't even make the list. Although… Considering our Clan Leader is a literal sex demon I guess I should've at least considered it to be a possibility.”

“Hey now, I'm not the one with a dick that could be classified as a Two-Handed Weapon!”

“Considering I'm staring at a 20 foot tall likeness of you, I would actually disagree with you on that point.”

I blushed briefly and pulled out the scrap of paper Gehenna had given me before quickly standing up.

“Anyways…Coordinates! I'm definitely down to go check them out!”

Scythe laughed softly and we descended the steps and walked down the long hall. As we exited the room and started making our way towards the castle exit we chatted about each of their rooms they had set up. Nialla was the most excited to tell me all about what she and Bray had set up.

“Me and Bray’s room is so freaking AWESOME!! We both came up with a cool idea to use water cause… ya know… Electricity and water equals I win? Plus I figured out that when I’m in my tiger form I can run on water! It feels like I’m on a jet ski going hundreds of miles an hour only I’m the jet ski! Plus with the new amulet that Judas crafted for Bray-”

“New amulet?”

“Nialla… don’t tell her everything… I think it’d be fun if she were to challenge all of our different rooms before we officially kick things off.”

She looked temporarily deflated but I could still see how excited she was. Her split ended tail thrashed wildly back and forth and I could tell she was having trouble not saying anything else. I gave her a playful wink and said in a not so quiet voice.

“You can tell me later when we’re having another lesbian orgy!”

She blushed profusely and her ears went flat against her head and she looked at her feet. I laughed softly as we exited the castle and started heading towards our destination.