Part 4
Chapter 17: Out of the Frying Pan
Everything looked different when Ellie emerged from the alley clutching the torn and soiled remains of the peasant dress to her body. The view was the same albeit that the sun was higher and the shadows shorter; there was the market, the square, down the street ahead she could see the tavern where she’d spent the night but the details were different, sharper as if a filter had been applied to her vision so the details she’d noticed before became clearer and new ones caught her attention.
Sucking off the warrior had been, she thought, not the most glorious way to level up but at least she’d achieved Level 1. She didn’t look much like a 1st Level Seductress; she was filthy and there was semen around her mouth and on her chin. She’d covered herself as best she could after eventually managing to free her wrists where the warrior had bound her.
There was a trough in one corner of the square and she made her way towards it trying to avoid any contact with those she passed who mostly gave her a wide berth. As she passed the pillory, she noticed that while she’d been in the alley, another woman had been confined there, forced upright with her hands locked beside her head. Ellie wasn’t surprised to see the woman had been stripped. She wondered briefly what sort of character the woman was or, perhaps, Ellie thought, she was another NPC playing a role. Unlike the previous day, there didn’t seem to be an appetite to taunt the woman although a Cleric was haranguing her as a sinner and an unbeliever. The woman stared into the middle distance trying to ignore him.
Reaching the trough, Ellie pulled off the remains of her dress and bent over it, splashing cold water over her face. Then she rinsed the dress and used it to wash herself, wiping away the filth of the alley.
Suddenly a blow to her bottom made her pitch forward. It wasn’t enough to cause Damage but it toppled her onto her hands and knees and she rolled over in the dirt to face her attacker. The Cleric stood above her.
‘Harlot!’ he shouted, raising his staff.
Ellie scrambled to her feet.
‘Vile creature!’ The man intoned, ‘parading your naked flesh as a temptation to all men.’
‘I was washing!’ Ellie protested indignantly, ‘I’ve just been…’
‘Speak not ye handmaiden of Drax the AntiGod lest ye condemn yourself to be struck down for your sins.’
‘Look…’ Ellie held out her hand. ‘I just needed a wash…my dress was torn off.’ She waved it around realising that a small crowd was gathering around her and the Cleric.
‘You disrobe to tempt us,’ the Cleric shouted, advancing and swiping at her with his staff. Ellie stepped back and lifted her hand, still holding her dress to protect herself.
‘Ow!’ The staff struck her hand and she dropped the dress as she staggered to the side feeling a shock though her entire body, a wave of nausea, and realised she had taken a point of Damage. In her mind’s eye she saw a green 6 change to a flashing yellow 5.
Her dagger was still strapped to her thigh and she reached for it.
This she realised in retrospect was a bad idea.
‘They’re going to fight,’ someone shouted, ‘call the watch.’
Another joined in. ‘Attacking a Cleric.’
‘Look.’ Ellie hurriedly stuffed the dagger back in the silk tied around her thigh and backed away her injured hand held to cover her breasts.
‘That’s the thief that stole my purse,’ a voice said and she looked up to see the Merchant.
‘I bet she stole those boots too, the filthy slut.’
Ellie looked around seeing the mob closing in.
There was, she noticed, a gap in the crowd to the right of the trough, beyond that was a straight run to the section of wall she’d noticed before where she could see handholds. If she ran now she might just make it.
‘Oops.’ Luci held a torch illuminating the cave into which Amanda had fallen.
There were webs here too, silver grey and ephemeral in appearance but with strands as thick as ropes.
‘I thought you’d have noticed that one.’ Luci approached her. ‘BB said you were good at spotting traps.’
Amanda had landed in one of the webs and hung suspended, arms and legs spread looking around herself anxiously for the web’s creator. Something moved in the darkness beyond the flicker of the torch.
Amanda struggled futilely.
‘Keep still,’ Luci hissed glancing from side to side, ‘they’re drawn to movements; vibrations in the web.’
Amanda froze, eyes wide.
‘I’m stuck,’ she said quietly. The strands of web were covered in a sticky substance which clung tenaciously to her body.
‘Completely helpless, I’d say,’ Luci added. ‘I’d cut you down if I had my sword.’
‘You said to leave our swords on the other side of the lake.’ Amanda hissed urgently.
‘That might have been a mistake,’ Luci acknowledged furtively, glancing round.
‘What are you going to do?’ Amanda whispered as loudly as she dared.
‘Do?’ Luci asked, surprise. ‘There’s not much I can do and even less that you can do. Besides, Adventuresses are supposed to be self-sufficient. You’re completely helpless and any movement will bring the spiders down on you.’ She grimaced. ‘It’s said to be quite a slow painful death; being paralysed and then eaten alive by a cave spider.’
‘But…’ Amanda gasped suddenly terrified.
‘You’re wondering if there’s a get out clause?’ Luci asked. ‘You are only here for a week I assume and you’ve taken out some sort of insurance?’
‘It’s two weeks.’ Amanda’s eyes widened. ‘And I don’t think I took any insurance out.’
‘Then this might be the end.’ Luci waved the torch aggressively as if to frighten something behind Amanda.
‘But it can’t be.’ Amanda squeaked looking at her, pleading. ‘Can’t you do something?’
‘I’m a 9th level Adventuress. I can do a lot.’ Luci leant in close to Amanda. ‘What would you like me to do?’
‘I don’t know.’ Amanda looked round frantically. ‘Couldn’t you burn the ropes with the torch?
‘Oh! Burn the rope with the torch.’ Luci slapped her forehead and grinned. ‘Why didn’t I think of that. You’re a genius.’ She leaned in and kissed Amanda full on the lips.
The kiss was fleeting, way too short even in the current circumstances.
Amanda’s jaw hung open as Luci stepped away.
‘Time to go.’ Luci waved the torch, circling Amanda’s body, the flames easily burning away the confining web.
‘But…’ Amanda wanted to ask to be kissed again but then she felt herself falling, felt Luci grabbing her, holding her close as the torch flickered and went out.
Then she felt their lips touch again…
Ellie had been quite surprised how easy it had been to escape; how fast she’d been able to run even in the boots and despite the bounce of her breasts which was a something of new sensation to her; she’d climbed the wall agilely to in spite the blow she’d taken to her hand. Then she’d run along the top of the wall, leaping across a gap that at another time she might have found an impossible obstacle. Finally, she’d descended into a walled garden, peaceful and green, the cries of the mob distant.
Squatting down she leant against the rough wall, cradling her injured hand as she fought to regain her breath.
Now it was over, the whole episode had been, she thought, quite exhilarating and the tingle of XP only added to the feeling of excitement. A few moments later, she stood smiling and ready to explore her new environment. She was, she knew, still a hit point down, the flashing yellow ‘5’ had become solid but the pain in her hand seemed to have subsided to a mild ache.
The garden around her appeared mediterranean; palm trees and bougainvillaeas, vines, fig trees; she could hear the tumbling of a fountain off to one side and cautiously crept towards it. Then she heard another sound; footsteps; almost silent footsteps and slightly noisier breathing, the whistle of something moving fast in the air. Ellie crouched and peered through the foliage. There was a woman, naked, her body small and neat, her skin with a silver sheen like moonlight. The woman was, Ellie guessed, some sort of Warrior; she was armed with a sword and was practicing a training form, twisting and leaping, the blade swinging and thrusting, parrying, cutting.
Carefully, Ellie backed away. The woman was obviously very high level and if she found Ellie in her garden she would probably be unhappy. Ellie thought of frying pans and fires. She turned and began to creep back to the wall. Then, she spotted it; a washing line, a washing line hung with clothes, rather fine clothes, women’s clothes; although they looked too large for the woman with the sword.
Ellie glanced around.
There didn’t seem to be anyone else around and she was supposed to be practicing her Thief skills.
The lacy and nearly translucent bra looked as if it might be almost big enough for her and the brief knickers would fit if she knotted them at one side. They’d probably be useful for seduction. The dress was very pretty; blue silk, the colour of the Merchant, with gold trim; a tapering bodice with a corset and a flaring split skirt designed to go with the stockings that hung beside it.
Ellie crept forward and reached for the knickers.
‘What are you doing with my Mistress’ clothes?’
Ellie spun round to see the Warrior she’d just seen now standing before her; the woman was still naked though she carried what looked like some sort of black leather harness. Her sword was levelled at Ellie’s neck.
‘I er…I’m naked.’ Ellie stammered. ‘I was hoping to er…borrow some clothes from…from er, your…er Mistress.’
‘And you have her permission?’ The woman raised a dark eyebrow skeptically. She had a thin, angular face that reminded Ellie of a diamond, cheekbones sharp and defined, a small mouth, green-grey eyes that were almost as sharply defined as her face; her ears were, Ellie noted, pointed.
She recalled elves were not easy to convince with a Persuasion.
‘Perhaps you could take me to her and I could ask her?’ Ellie said hopefully. The suggestion was probably better than the alternative future in which she tried to run and the Elf thrust a sword into her back.
‘Perhaps I could.’ The elf waved her sword and Ellie turned and walked towards the house.
Chapter 18: Full Disclosure
They plunged into water so icy that it made Amanda gasp, losing her breath in a stream of rising bubbles and she scrabbled to follow them, clawing, her fingers finding no purchase in her sudden panic but then a strong hand encircled her wrist and pulled her to the surface. Amanda coughed and spluttered as her head burst into the air above.
They were in an underground cavern with no obvious natural light except that what looked like gemstones glinting in the roof giving everything a luminous blue tinge. Luci was treading water in front of her, eyes shining like the stones above.
‘Beautiful isn’t it?’ Luci said with a genuine sound of awe. ‘One of the joys of Adventure. You never know what you will find.’
Amanda blinked and looked round, feeling the chill invading her body but already enjoying the thrill of the adventure which was suddenly augmented by the tingle of mounting Experience.
‘I just got experience for that.’ She was surprised.
‘Escaping from impossible situations is all in a day’s work for an Adventuress.’
‘You wouldn’t have really let the spiders eat me?’
‘My last trainee didn’t think about the torch.’
‘You mean…?’
‘I saved her.’ Luci said with a grin. ‘I’m not that heartless, but she didn’t get a kiss.’
The elf’s mistress, the owner of the dress and the lingerie was a redhead, a little taller than Ellie. She looked like a woman in her early forties, good looking in a way that was more than kindly and just less than beautiful. She was dressed in a white silk robe that had a translucent quality reminiscent of the lingerie Ellie had just tried to steal.
‘And who is this, Gygax,’ the woman asked, uncurling her legs and rising from a large colourful silk cushion as the elf guided Ellie into a plush sitting room. Ellie could see other cushions, large and small in various colours scattered around the wooden floor of the room.
‘I caught her trying to steal your clothes, Mistress,’ the Elf said.
‘And I can see you are thus hanging tightly onto yours.’ The woman looked at the harness in the elf’s hand.
‘I was attacked,’ Ellie said quickly looking up at the woman, ‘I had to climb into your garden to escape.’
‘And while you were here, you thought you'd take more than just my hospitality?’ The red-haired woman’s voice was not unkind but she leaned forward, folding her arms beneath her breasts to study Ellie’s face more closely.
‘I’m naked.’
‘So I see,’ the woman said, ‘except for those rather delicious boots.’ She licked her lips.
‘You can have them if you’ll just let me go,’ Ellie blurted.
The woman looked pained. ‘What about the dagger?’
‘You can take that too.’
‘Well,’ the woman said with an amused look on her face, ‘you’re clearly not a Merchant if you make deals like that. What are you?’
‘I’m…’ Ellie hesitated, ‘a Seductress.’
‘I’d heard there was a new one in town.’ The woman seemed delighted with the answer, her eyes shining with something that could have been mischief or perhaps triumph. ‘And are you going to try a Seduction on me? Perhaps Persuade me to take your last remaining possessions and let you go unharmed?’
‘I’ve…’ Ellie looked down. ‘I’ve used my Seduction today and it didn’t work.’
‘Such a shame,’ she woman shook her head. ‘So, what should I do with you? Call the watch and denounce you as a thief or perhaps I should let Gygax here complete her weapons drill with a live target.’
‘Please…’ Ellie looked around. ‘It’s my first day and…I was supposed to be practising in the square and it all went a bit wrong. I’m sure my party leader will be wondering where I’ve got to.’ She paused, desperate. ‘I’ll do anything.
‘Oh dear.’ The woman clicked her tongue. ‘So you offer a Bargain?’ Her smile was somewhere between mischievous and predatory. ‘Anything in exchange for your freedom and clothing?’
‘Yes.’
‘You’ll have to do better than that.’ The woman sat on the cushion. ‘Persuade me.’
‘I really need some clothes and you look like you might…’
‘I said ‘Persuade me’,’ The woman said, rising again, a steeliness to her voice.
Ellie looked at her, elegant and comfortable on her cushion, refined, confident, clothed.
‘Mistress Merchant.’ Ellie said, surprising herself. ‘I offer you a Bargain; the singular services of a Seductress in exchange for clothing from your rich and sumptuous wealth.’
The woman nodded and smiled. ’Then I accept.’
Ellie tried to hide her surprise even as she felt the tingle of XPs.
‘Gygax,’ the woman said, addressing the elf. ‘Would you mind feeding our little pet?’
‘Mistress.’ The elf nodded and walked to the other side of the room where lifted the cover off a box that was about four feet square and three feet deep.
The box was wooden and had clear glass doors. It might have been better described as a case, a display case. Ellie tried not to show her fear as she saw what was inside; a young woman, clearly a slave or prisoner; kneeling branded and naked and chained by a plethora of tight steel cuffs that encircled her wrists and arms, thighs and ankles, around her waist and a collar around her neck; there were cuffs at the bases of her breasts too making them appear swollen, her pierced nipples ripe and stretched with chains; she wore something that looked like Maiko’s chastity belt too, chained to the bottom of the box just as the steel gag and cage that were locked around her head were chained to the top of the box. She was a brunette but she wasn’t a Jewell or, as far as Ellie could remember, any of the other standard models suggesting she was a captured character, stripped and enslaved.
Ellie watched as the elf opened the front of the case and picked up a bottle that looked as if it would be used to feed milk to an infant but contained a green liquid. The helpless brunette looked up at the elf, large dark eyes wide; her gag was a steel ring that held her mouth open and the elf pushed the teat through the ring. The slave responded immediately, moving the tiny amount her bondage allowed with the faint click of chains, her breasts rising, the nipples stretching and her tongue began suckling the teat; Ellie saw her swallow the steel collar rising and falling though unable to close her mouth she could not prevent a drop of the green liquid dripping onto one of her large breasts. Still holding the bottle, the elf bent and wiped the drops with her finger, the brunette’s eyes following the movement. As she did, her gaze took in Ellie and her eyes widened as she jerked in her bonds.
The brunette was utterly helpless and there was no way she could be sure but Ellie thought the gesture contained a warning.
‘So is there a Gabrielle?’ Luci reached for a handhold in the crumbling stonework on the walls of the castle they were scaling, a ruin overgrown with creepers, the crevices between the stone providing hand holds where there was no vegetation.
Amanda looked over, those blue eyes were watching her and, she thought, mocking her. ‘Who?’
‘You clearly see yourself as Xena,’ Luci said, ‘I was asking if you had a Gabrielle.’
‘Oh!’ Amanda felt herself reddening. ‘Yes…well, sort of.’
‘Sort of?’ Luci pulled up, her body moving lithely. ‘That doesn’t sound like a real ‘yes’.’
Her skin was running with sweat and grimy from their run through the jungle, a complete contrast to the smooth skinned water nymph that had emerged from the underground river ahead of Amanda.
‘I’m…’ Amanda was hot too, excited by her unexpected abilities but aware of her apparent inept clumsiness compared to Luci. She felt her face redden more and she was glad of the breeze cooling her cheeks as well as her body. ‘She’s not really a Gabrielle.’
‘You prefer guys?’
‘No!’ Amanda said it a little hastily. ‘It’s just…just that I’m quite, er…submissive and I…’
She cringed inwardly.
‘So, she’s a she and you like it when she ties you to stuff?’
‘Yes.’ Amanda tried her best to hold Luci’s gaze although that gaze was so intense and it was difficult not to be distracted by that luscious body or those soft pink lips that had kissed hers a while before. Her eyes drifted again to the amulet.
‘You’ll have to win your own.’ Luci said, taking a hand from the wall and wrapping her fist around it. ‘If you pass your Trial, Artemis will give you one.’
‘Oh?’ Amanda’s eyes dropped lower and then abruptly came up, her face reddening.
‘Is she here?’ Luci’s gaze raked over her, a smile playing across those so-kissable lips. ‘In Fantasia?’
‘Yes.’ Amanda looked away. ‘She’s the Viking.’
‘The blonde one in the chainmail bikini? You and her?’ Luci sounded surprised and probably, Amanda thought, annoyed and then looked away and began to climb more quickly.
‘What about you?’ Amanda swung a leg up and squeezed her toe into an old post hole.
Luci looked back at her and glancing up Amanda saw the woman was right above her; her pink sex almost within reach; a shiny gold stud to match the rings in her nipples glinted in her clitoris.
‘Oh, you know… Spend a lot of my time adventuring… Tend to take what I find.’
Amanda watched as Luci scrambled over the battlements remembering the sign of the Saucy Adventuress.
Chapter 19: Latent Character Traits
The Merchant led Ellie into a plush bedchamber in the centre of which was a huge bed hung with purple drapes; there were cushions scattered on the floor. The walls were painted with murals of what looked like Bacchanalian revels with satyrs and centaurs cavorting with nymph-like creatures, many of whom appeared to be in some form of bondage. In one corner was a stand from which hung an assortment of whips.
Ellie tried to reassure herself that this sort of thing should all be in a day’s work for a Seductress. She just needed to pick up one of the whips and take on the dominant role. How difficult could it be?
‘There,’ the woman said, pointing to a spot on the floor beside a heavy looking wooden chest.
Ellie opened her mouth to speak but then dropped to her knees in a way that wasn’t entirely in her control. For a moment she thought she’d been subject to a Persuasion or Command but then she realised this was Honey, the Seductress, leading her, showing her how to behave, to perform; reading the woman’s desires and responding accordingly. She watched the woman take a long flexible crop from a bucket beside a padded chair.
‘Knees wider.’ The woman said, gesturing with the crop.
Ellie looked up at her and spread her knees glancing at the elf who leant against the doorway watching her with an amused expression.
‘She likes to watch,’ the woman said. ‘Now, kneel up straight.’
Ellie obeyed.
‘Hands behind your head.’
Ellie complied, glancing at the elf again.
‘Eyes front.’ The crop struck her on the breasts. ‘I’ll make a slave girl of you yet.’ The woman ran the tip of the crop down Ellie’s breasts, still smarting from the blow, and then teased her right nipple which responded instantly giving her a welcome frisson of pleasure that, combined with the thrill of Experience, kindled the warmth of sexual arousal in her loins.
The woman sat in the chair crossing her legs showing a flash of pussy.
‘Open the chest.’
Ellie could ‘feel’ the woman’s pleasure, hear it in her voice and once again felt the thrill of Experience accumulate. Cautiously she lowered her arms and lifted the lid of the chest.
‘Oh!’ Ellie looked up at the woman. ‘Look! I’m not sure…’
The chest was full of leather straps and she was sure she could see what appeared to be other restraints underneath them.
‘We have a Bargain,’ the woman said somewhat tersely. ‘I could call the watch.’ She leaned forward expectantly. ‘Why don’t we start with the gag. It will stop you making any rash comments.’
There was a metal ring about two and a half inches in diameter on the top of the pile and when she lifted it, Ellie found it attached to a heavy head harness. She tried not to think that the last time she’d seen something like this, her mother was wearing it.
‘I’m sure you can work out how it goes.’ The woman settled back.
Ellie shook out the straps, orientating it then opened her mouth, taking the large ring between her teeth, the scent and taste of the leather flowing across her senses then, holding it in her mouth, she swept her blonde hair back and began to pull the straps up across her face and over her head. There was an inverted V across her cheeks that met on the top of her nose and then a single strap that ran over the top of her head crossing another that went across her forehead. She was very aware of the woman watching her closely as she reached round behind her head to fasten the strap that held the gag in place, then she tightened the strap around her forehead and the one that went under her chin, pulling her mouth closed around the ring in her mouth.
A vision of the girl on the cabinet came to her, her restraints had been metal but they were not dissimilar but then what had Ellie expected, the redhead had to be a Slaver. Had the girl in the cabinet tried to make a Bargain too?
‘I do like a nice harness gag.’ The woman smiled knowingly. ‘Form and function.’
The tingle of XPs brought on by the woman’s mounting pleasure confirmed this.
With her mouth open and the leather and metal against her teeth and tongue, Ellie suddenly felt that she was about to drool and wiped her hand across her mouth.
‘Oh no,’ the woman said, ‘we don’t do that. I want to see you drooling over those magnificent tits.’
Ellie looked up, aware of the harness impeding her vision slightly. There was the window, half open, she might make it. What was the drop? Ten or eleven feet? She could probably do it but then there would be Gygax the elf and she would be trying to escape with the harness round her head and still be naked.
The woman’s eyes were on her intently and she could see the flush of arousal in her face even, she realised, smell it in her body.
‘Hands behind your back this time.’
Ellie obeyed, pushing her chest out and felt the immediate thrill of Experience.
She knelt with her head slightly lowered, the woman watched her. It didn’t take long until she felt saliva spill out of her mouth and onto her breasts.
‘Beautiful,’ the woman said, ‘The next item is a harness.’
Ellie brought her hands round in front of her and lifted the heavy black leather straps out of the chest. The harness had a typical bra-like arrangement with over-the-shoulder straps and metal rings for her breasts that looked too small and a strap that ran down from the ring that joined them and was clearly designed to go between her legs. There were three horizontal straps to go around her body, one above and two below her breasts. She lifted it over her head and settled it on her shoulders.
‘Those breast rings are going to be a bit tight.’ The woman’s voice carried an increasing excitement.
Ellie began to ease her right breast through the ring, finding it even more of a squeeze than she’d expected. The flesh of her breast was already wet and her fingers slipped as she worked to ease the ring into place by which time her breast had already acquired a bluish tinge and was beginning to throb.
She repeated the process with her left breast then turned her attention to horizontal straps.
‘Put the top one around your arms.’
Ellie did as she was told.
‘Leave the others a little looser.’
Again Ellie complied, pulling them gently around her body.
‘Now I want you to put straps round your legs,’ the woman said, ‘Do you know what a frog-tie is?’
Ellie might not have known but Honey did and she nodded, spilling more saliva onto her breasts.
There were four straps, thick heavy leather, two for each leg to go over her thighs and then under her shin, pinning her on her knees.
‘Now use these.’ The woman tossed some heavy metal clips linked by a chain onto the floor between them.
‘Ung?’
‘Nipple clamps,’ the woman said with a smirk. ‘Don’t pretend you don’t know you little tease.’
The woman’s expectation was enough to make Ellie’s body tingle and she leant forward picking up the clamps and lifting her now throbbing right breast. Glancing up at the woman she played with the nipple, teasing it with her fingers so it swelled then, looking more intently at the woman, used the clamp to tease it noting the faint smile on the redhead’s face. Finally, opening the tines of the clamp she pushed them around her nipple before pushing up the slider to hold them in place.
‘Oh!’ Ellie felt an odd sensation, not just Experience but pleasure too, a tingling in her nipple that she found strangely eager to experience again and she repeated the process with her left nipple.
‘Does that feel nice?’
Ellie nodded slowly. ‘Esh, Mishdresh,’ she said through the gag. It was what Gygax had called the woman and what her mother called Val. Their mutual pleasure at her submission sent a shudder through her body. Part of her knew it was humiliating, wrong even to be made to do this, to pleasure herself for the enjoyment of another but it actually felt strangely good. It must be the way the AI works, she reasoned a Seductress seduces and there has to be some sort of way to tell her that she’s doing a good job.
She knew she couldn’t really be enjoying the submissive role; not like her mother did.
‘At the side of the box is something I bought from an Artificer,’ the woman said, ‘I’m sure you can work out where that goes.’
The device was long and phallic and surprisingly large and Ellie held it, hesitating for a moment, but then looked up to find the woman staring at her intently. The thought of pushing it inside herself produced a mix of dread and excitement but, lowering it to her sex she slid it across her labia and felt it slide easily. This wasn’t exactly familiar territory but not being a virgin had certain advantages when it came to masturbation and she’d done this to her real body a couple of times. Despite this, she was surprised how easily it slid inside and even more surprised by the way is made her feel.
‘The smaller one goes in the other hole,’ the woman said, ‘the one behind.’
Ellie felt herself begin to blush as looked up at it, felt the heat rising in her face and somehow realised she could control it.
‘Delightful,’ the woman said, ‘an anal virgin.’
Ellie’s body tingled and she tried not to remember the night she’d come home to find her mother strapped to the bed having sex with Val, a string of anal beads emerging from her body. This was something Ellie von Trapp had never tried, but she was aware it could be difficult. She looked up at the redhead who was still watching her intently, meeting her gaze as she lifted the plug to her lips and licked it. The smile broadened across the woman’s face and she leaned forward, her robe falling open and exposing the flush across her chest. Ellie smiled back around the ring gag and lifted her tongue to her teeth then pushed the thin plug inside her mouth.
The woman’s reaction made Ellie wonder if, in the real, this character was a man; it wasn’t unusual, she knew but it might help her know how to please the mind behind the avatar. Whoever it was, Ellie was clearly doing the right thing from the way the XPs were amassing inside her.
Still meeting the woman’s gaze, Ellie leant forward to allow herself to insert the plug reaching with one hand between her legs and the other around her bottom. There was resistance at first but then she felt her body yield, a curious mix of Experience once again mixed with the odd and surprisingly enjoyable sensation. It was, she told herself again, just a latent part of her character trait.
‘This really is your first time isn’t it?’ The woman positively purred her satisfaction. ‘Anally.’
‘Ung.’ Ellie nodded, her eyes down, willing the blush to increase on her cheeks.
‘You seemed to rather enjoy it.’
‘Esh.’ Ellie nodded and felt another bead of saliva spill over her lip. Almost instinctively, she began to lift a hand to wipe it away but then stopped herself, letting it run down her chin, willing it to drip onto her breasts. She looked up to see the woman’s eyes following it.
‘Now, before you do that crotch strap you’re going to take these cuffs and ensure they are inside it.’
‘Nnngg.’ Ellie nodded again, this time deliberately letting herself drool down her chin. She found herself oddly looking forward to experiencing bondage again, and reached for the cuffs; steel manacles linked by a chain, placing them inside the crotch strap.
‘Go on.’
Ellie needed no encouragement to insert the crotch strap through the buckle and tighten it, looking up at the woman and allowing herself to blush as the two phalluses were pushed more deeply inside her body. The sensations of arousal increased and she found herself on the brink of orgasm. Quickly, she reached round to lock her wrists in the cuffs that were now pinned against her back.
‘Just one more thing.’
‘Uhhh?’ Ellie trembled, wanting suddenly veeerrry much to cum and, oddly aware that she’d like to do it when her hands were cuffed. Her mother, she thought, had a lot to answer for.
‘The blindfold.’
‘Mmm.’ Ellie leaned over carefully, aware of her need and the phalluses inside her, then reached into the chest, rummaging for a blindfold, feeling an unexpected desire to explore the contents further. She might not have tried bondage before this adventure but she knew what it looked like and remembered moments of curiosity; until her mother had ruined it, of course. This was different though, she, Ellie definitely wasn’t into bondage, her avatar Honey was clearly programmed to enjoy it and though both Ellie and Honey were excited about the orgasm, the very big orgasm that was about to engulf them, she knew that she’d tied and gagged herself and pushed sex toys into her body as part of the adventure, the very adult adventure she’d booked when she’d swapped Fantasia 18 to Fantasia X and found her character stats enabled her to become a Seductress.
It had given her a few sleepless nights since and she’d nearly called the company a couple of times to change the booking back and ask if she could actually be a Mage.
But, Amanda had told her to be more adventurous…
Ellie lifted the blindfold, took one more look at the redhead and covered her eyes then reached behind her back to tighten the strap behind her head. Moving her arms like this she found made the nipple clamps move in a very interesting way.
‘Good girl.’ The woman’s voice trembled with desire and Ellie felt it too. ‘Now, finish the job.’
Ellie did, sliding her hands behind her back and squirming to get them inside the confines of the harness; her shoulders were already inside the straps and soon her forearms and wrists were too and she found herself groping for the cuffs eager to be restrained. Cuffing her right wrist was easy but her left seemed to take ages as she fumbled with the steel bonds. Finally she managed it and shuddered as the cuff ratcheted shut.
‘Don’t be a naughty girl now,’ the woman said as if sensing Ellie’s imminent climax. ‘Now, come here.’
‘Ung.’ Saliva spilled out onto her breasts as she gasped and panted and tried to steady herself.
Chapter 20: More Perils
Looking down had been a mistake. The castle wall seemed to fall away forever.
Amanda looked up. The wall swelled above her, the overhang that Luci had just scrambled over. She reached out for a root and pulled herself up but suddenly it came away in her hand in showers of rock and earth and leaves. Amanda felt herself falling, swinging in space, dangling by one hand, panic sweeping through her.
‘You ok down there?’
‘I think I’m stuck,’ Amanda said, aware that her voice was high with panic.
‘Never a good thought for an Adventuress.’
‘No, really.’ Amanda tried to control her fear. ‘I don’t think I can make it.’
‘Sure you can,’ Luci called back. ‘Remember, an Adventuress never gives up. You can sacrifice constitution for strength; the ‘Feat of Strength’.’
‘What?’ Amanda called back puzzled.
’Are you really sure you want to be an Adventuress?’ Luci called down, ‘because you don’t seem as clued up as some of my novices. You did read the manual?’
“Adventuresses embody the spirit of Artemis,” the Players’ Manual had said. ‘I got as far as the bit about an Adventuress being a free spirit…a lust for life…no regrets…’ Actually, she’d gone a little further, making her decision after the sentence “as an Adventuress you can expect to find yourself captured and tied up on a regular basis and even enslaved from time to time…”
‘Free spirit?’ Luci said, ’is that what you really are?’
‘I was wild once.’ Amanda shouted back, stung by the comment, aware that she was holding this argument while dangling by one hand above a drop that looked at least three times what she thought she had climbed.
‘What happened?’
‘I grew up, married, had a child.’ She looked at the second handhold above her which seemed impossibly far away.
‘Just think that you want to do it and it will happen.’
Amanda thought and it did happen; a strength she couldn’t have imagined pulsing through her body, a strength that could be used to bend iron bars, to lift boulders. She swung, reached up and grabbed the handhold. The overhang was too large for her to use her feet but it didn’t matter, she could do it all with her arms, swinging her body ape-like as she negotiated the overhang, reaching the edge of the battlements where she hung, her feet dangling over the drop below as she fought to control her breathing. All she had to do was haul herself up and she’d be there.
Then suddenly the strength was gone and she was left with a profound sense of exhaustion.
‘It doesn’t last long,’ Luci called.
‘So I gathered.’ Amanda wasn’t sure if she could make it. ‘Can you pull me up?’
‘I’m sure you can manage.’
Amanda thought and… Nothing happened.
‘Special Ability,’ Luci said, ’Only once per day. It’s all in the manual.’
Then a fireball struck the wall of the castle and the forest caught fire.
‘Whoa!’ Amanda screamed, the heat of the flames leaping up to scorch her.
‘Come here.’ The woman repeated and Ellie began to crawl forward blind and helpless.
‘Mmmng.’ The phalluses inside her moved as she did; off balance, on her knees, she couldn’t help the way her hands jerked on the harness which pulled on the crotch strap. She had a sudden vision of herself suspended by chains being fucked by the half-orc guard and a memory of her desire, her overwhelming need to climax and to have him cum inside her.
The shock of it made the muscles of her pussy spasm around the dildo and her nipples throb with lust.
‘Nnngh.’ Her breasts throbbed, the tight rings of the harness squeezing them and making them ache as they swung with her movement, the clamps on her nipples tugging on them. It hurt but it didn’t; she’d read the comment somewhere but then realised that these were probably magic nipple clamps. The woman had said she’d bought the twin dildos from an Artificer, maybe the nipple clamps had come as a free gift.
‘My, my!’ the woman said, ‘I’d forgotten how much fun Seductresses were.’
The comment made Ellie lift her head even though she couldn’t see anything.
‘What?’ the woman said, ‘You don’t think I’d miss the chance to get my hands on one.’
Something, not the whip brushed against Ellie’s right breast, then something touched her left one.
‘Especially one with a designer body like this.’
Hands squeezed Ellie's breasts, hefted them.
‘These really are marvellous.’ The woman let them fall so they bounced. ‘Quite mesmerising.’
‘Nmmmggh.’
‘I can see you’re really getting into character.’ A finger stroked the inside of Ellie’s thigh sliding over the wetness that had oozed from her drooling pussy. ‘Judging by this you. Must have racked up quite a few XPs.’
‘Mmm.’ Ellie nodded, unable to hide her lust, her need; the Seductress, seduced.
‘And you were wrong about not being able to seduce me.’ The woman’s voice was close to her ear. ‘You’ve levelled up since your last attempt.’
‘Uhhh?’ Ellie partly turned her head.
‘It might not have worked, of course, I am one of the Sublimed, but you could have tried.’
‘Oh!’
‘Don’t worry, we have our Bargain.’ The woman stroked a finger over Ellie’s left breast as slick with saliva as her thighs were with her secretions. ‘You give me pleasure and I give you freedom and clothing.’
‘Uhhh!’ Ellie nodded.
‘Though, I probably should have told you,’ the woman said, ‘I’m a bit of a sadist.’
‘Did you see…’ Amanda slid down beside Luci panting from the exertion. Despite the lack of special ability she’d managed to haul herself through the crenelations onto the ramparts. ‘The forest caught fire.’ She pointed.
Luci looked over. ‘Really?’ There was a note of disbelief in her voice.
‘Yes!’ Amanda stood quickly and looked out seeing the flames leaping, hearing them crackle. 'There was a fireball and flames were leaping up from the bottom of the castle wall.’ She pressed her thighs against the cool stone.
‘Wonder how that happened,’ Luci said. ‘I can see flames but nothing seems to be burning.’
Amanda leant forward still breathing hard, she could taste the heat of the air but as she looked she saw that although the flames roared and crackled round trees and shrubs it didn’t consume them. Nothing blackened, nothing shrivelled.
‘Did you do that?’ Amanda looked at Luci. ‘Can you do magic?’
‘Bracelet of illusion.’ Luci tapped the gold band on her right wrist. ‘Gets ‘em every time.’
‘I should have noticed that,’ Amanda said, ‘Shouldn’t I?’
‘An Adventuress is supposed to be able to Spot Illusions…and traps.’
‘Like the one in the cave?’
‘Obvious place. You’re just going in, you’re on your guard but the light changes and…snap!’ Luci clicked her fingers. ‘Caught like a rat in a trap or in your case a fly in a web. You did spot that one on the dungeon crawl with BB though. That was good.’
Amanda looked at her.
‘We talk,’ Luci said, ‘she likes you.’
‘Me?’ Amanda was genuinely surprised.
‘You take it seriously, you think about stuff. Not one of these hack and slay adventurers. That thing with the kobold was a nice touch by the way. He was a pup. You were right to let him go.’
‘I have a child myself,’ she said.
‘Shhh.’ Luci put her finger to her lip. ‘Stay in character.’ She turned away.
‘Right.’ Amanda looked at her. ‘So beautiful.’ She whispered, the words coming out louder than expected as her body suddenly tingled with the accumulation of Experience.
‘What was that?’ Luci turned back.
‘I was just wondering if I got another kiss…’ Amanda said, emboldened, ‘for making it to the top of the wall.’
Luci grinned. ‘Not until you get over this.’ She gestured to a series of what looked like telegraph poles set into the castle courtyard. The tops of the poles were at the level of the defensive platform on which they stood. The first one was about a meter and a half away.
‘See you on the other side.’ Amanda stepped forward ready to leap to the top of the first pole but Luci held her back.
‘What?’ Amanda felt deflated. ‘Are they some sort of illusion or trap too?’
‘No.’ Luci smiled at her and produced a piece of rope. ‘It’s just that I think you’re ready for the next level of difficulty.’
‘What?’
‘Turn around.’
Amanda complied and Luci pulled her hands behind her and began to tie them.
‘I’m guessing you’ll enjoy this,’ Luci said, securing the knot, ‘Right up your street.’
Amanda felt a tingle of pleasure realising that she was naked beside Luci Luscious and that Luci was tying her up.
‘I think I deserve two kisses for this,’ she said, ‘or a longer one.’
And with that she leapt for the top of the first post.
Ellie quivered; a mix of anticipation and fear and, when the first blow of the crop struck her left breast, she jerked in her bonds the expectation of the pain far outweighing its physical sensation.
‘Ung!.’
‘You want another one?’
Ellie nodded. She wasn’t entirely sure but she knew it was the response expected of her. The response a Seductress would give along the lines of ‘Take me big boy, I’m all yours’ or, in this case, ‘Whip me big girl, I’m your whore.’
The whip fell again on her breasts. It was an odd sensation, not Damage, but painful and, confusingly, mixed with the constant tingle of XPs. She was tied up and gagged and blindfolded, being whipped; every girl’s nightmare, surely, and yet her body throbbed with pleasure.
‘I have a child too,’ Luci said as they leapt across the tops of the poles some nine or ten meters above the courtyard.
‘I thought we weren’t supposed to talk about the real world.’ Amanda jumped again, confident in her ability to maintain her balance despite her bound wrists. ‘Are you the real Luciana Luscious?’
‘You’re obviously a fan,’ Luci said, ‘What do you think?’
Amanda balanced on the top of the pole and looked at her trainer, enjoying the opportunity to study the naked brunette. She was beautifully toned, slim waisted; deliciously buxom, her large breasts rising and falling with her exertions; her brown nipples were, Amanda saw stiffly erect.
‘No,’ she said after a moment, ‘but I think you’d like to be her.’
‘Perhaps.’ Luci flashed a smile and leapt again. ‘Don’t get left behind.’
Chapter 21: Home Truths
With her breasts throbbing, Ellie felt herself pulled forward by her clamped nipples.
‘Your turn, Gygax.’
The clamps on Ellie’s nipples drew her down, pinning her bent forward on her knees and she had a feeling she knew what was coming.
‘The Bargain was with you, Mistress,’ the elf said.
‘Oh, very well,’ the redhead snapped, ‘Come here and make yourself useful.’
Ellie felt the pressure on her nipples increase and assumed it was now the elf’s foot that pinned her down. It made little difference.
Then the whip began to fall on her bottom. There was nothing she could do to prevent it and hardly required her Seductress skills but the effect was the same, the steady accumulation of Experience that took the edge off the pain and almost made her look forward to the next blow.
When the whipping stopped her buttocks felt as hot as her breasts.
‘Let her up, the woman said.
The pressure on Ellie’s nipples was released and she knelt up gratefully.
At least the Bargain had been mentioned again and, humiliating as all this was, it seemed possible she might not end up in slavery like the brunette chained in the other room. Even if she was sold into slavery, she thought, she would have a tale to tell and, if nothing else, her mother would be jealous. She had no experience of eating pussy but, oddly, found herself surprisingly eager to try. It was probably another character trait; she had, after all, lain in bed beside Maiko all night fighting down the urge to run her hands over the girl’s nubile body and find out if her skills were enough to make the little oriental cum despite the chastity belt; she’d also had those unexpected feelings about Goldie.
However, the Merchant wasn’t finished with her yet.
Ellie felt the woman’s leg against her side and she was pushed over rolling onto her side.
‘On your back.’
Ellie rolled over and felt the whip strike her on the inside of her right thigh.
‘Keep those legs apart.’
Ellie forced herself to spread her legs as another blow struck her and another. Whipping her like this was clearly exciting the woman even more and even as the whip struck again the pleasure of the XPs this provided made Ellie’s pussy tingle.
She knew she shouldn’t climax and really didn’t want to, not like this. Being made to cum by being whipped would make the woman think she was into this sort of stuff. She might not keep their end of the bargain and then she’d have to spend even longer being humiliated like this. She pictured her mother walking in on them and seeing her like this, on her back with her legs spread, her pussy drooling.
It was all Honey, of course, all her character.
She felt the strap between her legs loosen.
‘Nnngg.’ Ellie shook her head and then squealed loudly as the whip struck her bare sex. There were three more blows leaving her pussy on fire.
‘Enough,’ the Merchant said, ‘Now that I’m in the mood, let's see if this Bargain has been worth it.’
The woman’s pussy was salty and spicy, the hairs of her sex tickled Ellie’s chin as she lowered herself over Ellie’s open mouth. Even as she pushed out her tongue, Ellie wondered how she might be expected to please another girl blindfolded with a ring gag in her mouth. Yet, even as she thought this, something seemed to guide her tongue and the tingling in her sex told her she was on the right track. It wasn’t long before she heard a moan above her, confirming that she was doing a good job.
She wondered, oddly, whether Gygax, the elf, was still watching them and somehow thought she probably was. Were some of the XPs she was accruing from the elf’s lust? Were these two women items, this Merchant who seemed to know about her and her elf companion or was that bodyguard or perhaps a slave?
‘Slow down.’ The woman’s whip struck Ellie’s pussy and she gasped knowing she was perilously close to orgasm herself. She wasn’t that experienced in sexual encounters but she still wondered how she’d not cum, this rain of experience seemed to be designed to arouse her and there were the twin phalluses penetrating her; then there were the nipple clamps. They had to be magical, how else could this abuse of her nipples be so exciting her?
‘Don’t be a naughty girl now.’ The woman had said. Honey had understood that phrase and knew how to behave for her client.
Client!
Was she a Seductress or just a whore?
They were fighting again. Amanda and Luci. Hand to hand this time or rather, Luci was attempting to grapple Amanda and Amanda was dodging, ducking, trying to slide out of her grip aided by the layer of slippery mud that coated their skins.
They had crossed the castle courtyard on the tall poles and descended via a staircase before following a dark tunnel out from the far side of the castle in which Amanda had somehow discovered a trap despite her hands still being bound behind her back. It hadn’t all been plain sailing, of course, they’d had to virtually swim through the thick mud that now coated them.
Finally, Luci caught her, kneeling over her and pinning her down. With her hands still bound, there was nothing Amanda could do.
‘So is this my test?’ Amanda asked.
‘Test? Oh, you mean your trial of Artemis?’ Luci said. ‘No, the summons doesn’t come until Level 3. This is purely pleasure.’ She pinched Amanda’s nipple.
‘Are you a guy?’ Amanda said suddenly.
‘Does it matter?’
‘It might.’
‘I told you. It’s important to stay in character.’ Luci continued to play with Amanda’s nipples.
‘If you say so.’ Amanda bucked violently, almost unseating Luci.
‘But I can’t go out like this…’
‘It is clothing.’
‘Yes, but…’
‘You need to learn to Bargain properly,’ the woman said, ‘and I have let you keep your boots.’
It was, Ellie recalled, Gygax who had insisted on the boots mentioning something about fair exchanges and taking things without a Bargain being struck.
Ellie could still see the flush on the woman’s cheeks from the orgasm she had given her or, more accurately, she reminded herself, that Honey’s tongue had given her. Whatever, the cause, it reflected the excitement in her own body, in her case an unfulfilled arousal. After the woman’s orgasm, the elf had removed the plugs from Ellie’s body and then she’d been untied. The Merchant had then fulfilled her side of the Bargain handing Ellie a tiny silk thong, white and semi translucent like the woman’s robe and the lingerie Ellie had seen on the line. The thong was held in place with straps over her shoulders. It was even more revealing than the Butterfly Kisses she’d worn and used in her seduction the previous day. Aside from this and her boots, she was naked.
‘That’s finest Eleven silk,’ the woman said with a smile. ‘It makes you look like a princess.’
‘It makes me look like a tart,’ Ellie said.
‘I really should just sell you into slavery and have you shipped off to Thoth.’
For a moment, Ellie considered the option. A few days in a slave wagon and then the marketplace of Thoth. By the time she was sold, it would probably be the second week of their trip. It might be a lot easier than going back to BB dressed like this and still without a copper piece to her name.
‘No.’ Ellie sighed. ‘I need to go. My…party will be wondering where I’ve got to.’
The woman had enjoyed a very serious orgasm as testified by the number of XPs Ellie had accrued. Between them and the stimulation of being plugged and played with, Ellie was still very much in need of an orgasm herself. There had been moments when she’d thought the might climax despite her intention not to but somehow the expected orgasm had not arrived.
At least outside she might find somewhere to relieve that need.
Amanda ran after Luci. Her hands were still bound behind her back and she was naked but she didn’t care. The day had thrilled her, igniting memories that had lain dormant for years; Amanda the free spirit, who’d gone off into the wilderness trekking with a man she barely knew wearing next to nothing and come back in even less; Amanda the adventuress who’d challenged him to tame her and revelled in the delight of him binding her.
The girl who packed nothing when they’d travelled except a toothbrush and a skimpy gold bikini.
The Elf, Gygax, closed the gate to the garden and Ellie found herself on the street beyond. Her breasts still ached from the repeated abuse they had endured, her bottom too was hot, and her sex. Her nipples throbbed; but most urgently, a need pulsed within her and she wondered if it was something to do with the AI that had stopped her cumming. The night before she’d felt the need to masturbate and had climaxed easily. Today, despite climaxes seeming no more than touch away, she had been denied. Was Honey curbing her ability to orgasm; making her wait because the Bargain was for the pleasure of the redheaded Merchant and not her own? She was still a little unsure why the woman had made Ellie put the phalluses inside her. Was it some sort of sexual torment? Did she get off knowing that her victim was forced to control her needs?
Whatever the reason, Elliie decided she’d been denied long enough. She glanced around; the street was deserted although a short distance away she could see people walking in another, larger street that she thought must be the main street of HomeTown.
She leant back against the wall of the garden, cool on her back and delightful on her sore bottom. The taste of the woman was still on her tongue and in her mouth and she could feel the redhead’s juices drying on her face; smell them and smell her own juices where they coated her thighs. Her pussy was ripe with the scent of lust. Her fingers were moving aside the tiny thong of elf-silk and inside before her she could stop them; she really needed this one. Aphrodite’s Tits, she needed this. It didn’t take long either; her avatar or perhaps her character was obviously designed to be easily aroused because her fingers just seemed to find her sweet spot.
‘Of fuck!’
Ellie’s knees buckled beneath her and she slid down the wall, the fingers of one hand deep inside her pussy, the others playing with her clit.
‘Fuck me!’ She screamed as the orgasm engulfed her, doubling up with an intense pleasure she couldn’t have imagined, her whole body convulsing as she rolled around in the dirt, spasming in ecstasy.