As Emily had guessed, the Dungeon Master (perhaps arrogantly) was under the impression that she posed no threat to him. After all, what could possibly rival his power? In the Infernal Realms he had countless slaves and had bested nearly as many rival demons. In this world of the living, he had amassed an army the likes of which had never been seen before, and soon enough he would conquer the entire kingdom of Ardebit. She could not surprise him or best him. ...or so he thought, until she went on and surprised him indeed by proposing to summon a Kitsune with some sort of ritual that would involve razing an entire village. He was agitated at the mere implication that she had thought to create some sort of flame zombies, bringing the creatures into the dungeon, and only later stating that the spirits would incinerate their hosts and wreak havoc looking for new ones. He was doubly provoked by the thought that to fix this problem thy would now need to sacrifice an entire village's worth of loot and potential slaves. Still, the last village had yielded little of worth and so he saw no real need to strip another of all its resources. There were a few nearby hamlets that would need to disappear soon, so Emily's request had been timed well. At any other point he would have flatly denied such an absurd request, but he would humor her this once. [b][i]"Very well. You may try to burn down a village and perform your ritual, though I would advise you not to fail. If let survivors escape, you will know my wrath."[/i][/b] After letting that sink in, he continued, [b][i]"Take the one known as Torrens Igneus along with you. He will no doubt appreciate the chance to burn a village, and his help may prove useful. Take all of the fiery creatures of your as well; you will find them locked in one of the empty storage rooms. I will give you half a day to prepare, and then you will go. There is another village only slightly northwest of the last one that we raided. That will be your target."[/i][/b] His spiel complete, the Master began to leave. His infernal gaze continued to stare at Emily as it had throughout this entire encounter, though the fiery red began to grow ever more dull. Within a few moments, Emily would find that the warlock before her was transparent. Then he melted into a mere shadow, and then he was gone, having teleported back into his Dungeon Heart. He ordered one of his imp servants to enter the dungeon cells and bring back one of the human slaves that he had claimed from the last raid. Several had no doubt noticed the Master's rather meager claim when the spoils were presented. None of the paltry material items had interested him, only the flesh. He took only ten because he did not require personal slaves; he had imps for that. No, he only needed humans for the occasional blood sacrifice or soul. After several minutes, a team of imps carried a limp woman in. While she was still alive, her eyes were glazed as they simply stared into nothingness. He kept all of his blood slaves both drugged and under magical enchantments, to avoid any escapes or resistance. They did not need their minds or their bodies, anyways. After a rather gruesome sacrifice upon his altar, the warlock was empowered. With this temporary strength he was able t perform all manner of feats and dark rites. He used his magic to scry lands far away, spying on nearby lords, eying defenses of towns, searching for any threats or opportunities. Then he scourged the sacrifice's soul, sifting through the woman's various memories in search of anything useful. When all of this was done, he used his newly acquired information to begin plotting. He would soon have more work for his other minions...