by Reed James
“Tentacle lover,” Marcus said, sounding amused. “They really won't hurt her?”
“They just want her pussy juices,” Iris said. “if we attack, it'll be a nightmare fighting them. They'll strangle us. Easier to just let them enjoy her. I mean, she sounds like she's enjoying it.”
“I... I...” Maria squeezed her eyes shut as the pleasure rippled through her body. She was all wrapped up in the woody tentacles. The roots gripped her in so many spots, supporting her. The thick knot of them fucked in and out of her pussy. “I don't mean to enjoy them.”
The other women wiggled free of the roots which were definitely more interested in Maria's body. They ducked low and rushed to Marcus. As she darted by, Éjyona smacked the Duelist's rump. Maria moaned, her cunt clenching around the root-dick fucking her.
Her toes curled in her boots. Her red hair swayed. She felt so good cradled in the roots' embrace. The tentacles caressed her skin. They twisted her nipples. She gasped as one thin tendril wrapped around her clit and massaged it.
The roots knew how to pleasure her body. She groaned and gasped, her passion echoing through the tunnel. Her body trembled, held in the grip of the tentacles. They delivered her such bliss. She squeezed her pussy around the ribbed and woody root-cock fucking her.
“Yes, yes, yes!” she moaned.
“Damn,” Marcus muttered. “She's gaining skill fast as a Tentacle Lover.”
“I know,” Iris cooed.
“It is stimulating to watch,” Kulri whispered. “She's all tied up.”
“Yessss,” Twist said.
“Go, Maria, go!” cheered Éjyona. “Satiate that plant!”
They all watched her, especially Marcus. That only heightened her pleasure. Her orgasm built so fast. Her gasps and moans echoed around her. The roots twisted her nipples. Her clit. The thick mass fucked faster and faster in and out of her pussy.
More roots found her asshole. She gasped as they grew into her naughty backdoor. A first it was one tendril wiggling past her sphincter. Then two. Three. They spread her anal ring open as they squirmed around in her bowels.
The stimulation rippled through her.
Maria came hard. Her pussy convulsed and her bowels writhed. A new pleasure rushed through her. A new delight that sent such bliss through her. It was the same thrill she received when sucking on Marcus's cock. Refreshing. Rejuvenating.
Maria du Marne loved being fucked by tentacles.
As her climax surged over her, she mastered the Tentacle Lovers advanced sexual trait. She thrashed in the dewdrop root's embrace, her pussy convulsing around the thick knot of tendrils. They drank in her cream, not a single drop gushing out of her.
Her bowels writhed around the other tendril in her asshole. She gasped and moaned, hitting such a wonderful peak of rapture. She quivered there, floating in their embrace, as she quivered at the pinnacle of her ecstasy.
Then her bliss died. She floated towards the ground.
No, the roots lowered her body with care and deposited her gasping and panting on the tunnel floor, a huge smile across her lips. She felt so invigorated. She was so ready to explore this cave and find the source of this corruption.
She bounced to her feet and adjusted her armor. Twist wolf-whistled at her and Éjyona clapped. Marcus had a huge grin on his face. Maria blushed but marched forward. She wouldn't feel ashamed for enjoying that thoroughly.
Part of her hoped to water those roots again once they had stopped the threat to the Airy Plateau and cured the blight.
Something tinked to the ground as if dropped by the roots. It bounced and rolled and ended up at Marcus's feet. He frowned and bent over, picking it up.
Chapter Twenty-Four: Respawns
I picked up the ring that had dropped from the roots that had molested Maria. The gold band was made from two wires twisted about each other and was set with a green gem. I studied it and almost saw the suggestion of an eye in the jewel.
Iris buzzed down, her wings humming away with happy delight. She hovered before me, studying the magic item. Her hair swept off her face. Then she shot her gaze up to me. A wicked grin spread across her face. Her wings hummed faster.
“What?” I asked, giving her a suspicious look.
“You're the only member of the party that can use this,” she said.
“It's a Paladin ring?” I asked, frowning at it. Nothing about it screamed “warrior of faith.”
“No, no, it's a man's ring.” She grinned. “One I think Maria will enjoy given what just happened to her.”
I glanced over at the flushed-faced Duelist patting her equipment to make sure she was all put together after her wild orgasm. Being molested by the roots had allowed her to master the advance sexual technique Tentacle Lover.
“How?” I asked suspiciously.
“Well, passively, you'll pick up the Shibari trait and have all the skills to tie up the pretty women in your party.”
Kulri's ears twitched and Maria's cheeks blushed.
“Oh, my,” Dëshoma said. “Is that desirable to some women?”
“Some,” I said, knowing about shibari. It was Japanese rope bondage. “And the activated ability?”
“Oh, well, you grow a pair of tentacles for twenty minutes. I'm sure Maria will be glad of their attention.”
Dëshoma's eyes widened. She clasped her bible to her breasts. Twist let out a hissing whistle while Maria's blush deepened. She glanced at me, and I could see the aching need in her eyes. She wanted to be molested by my tentacles. Well, it would restore some of her Hit Points when she was fucked by them now. She got the same effect from blowing a man thanks to her Fellatist trait.
I slipped the ring onto one of my fingers. I could feel this new knowledge slip through my mind. Knots. Different ways to work ropes. Braid them. Wrap them around a woman to turn her into a piece of living art.
And then to play with her.
“Very interesting,” I said, flexing my fingers. “We'll have to play with this after we find the source of this corruption and stop it.”
“Of course,” Kulri said, her ears twitching more. She had those big, soft breasts. They were the perfect tits to bind up.
Maria cleared her throat. “Yes, yes, we have dangers to brave.”
“You certainly braved them,” Éjyona said and giggled.
The tunnel twisted and turned, leading us, according to Maria, towards the heart of the plateau. The stones gleamed wet. The puddles of black rot made some parts slow going as none of us wanted to step in the substance and find out what would happen to us. After about ten minutes, it widened into a cave.
“Be on guard,” I muttered. This was where video game designers liked to put encounters. Give the player some room to maneuver. And since this world worked on that same logic, I wanted to be ready. I advanced forward with my shield raised, eyes scanning the dark.
Iris's light couldn't illuminate much of the room. The edges fell off to shadows. Stalactites dangled from the ceiling, stone fangs we had to duck our heads under or skirt around. None of them came alive like the ones in the ruins of Shuwëmeri's temple.
“They're vents,” Kulri said, pointing to small mounds on the floor. They were crusted with sulfur.
“Volcanic?” I asked, frowning. “I haven't seen any signs of volcanism here. No hot springs or anything like that.”
“Curious,” she said. “I would advise staying away from them.”
I nodded and pressed on, leading us across the gallery, waiting for the attack to come.
* * / *
Twist
Another one of the vents approached on the left side of the party where Twist stepped in her leather boots. Her breasts jiggled in her bandoleer's straps. She clutched her sacrificial dagger in a loose grip, ready to Vanish with a thought.
A growing hiss swelled in volume. The air rippled and distorted about the vent. Something issued out of it. A yellowish vapor. The reek of rotting eggs swelled from it. Twist's nose wrinkled. The taste spread over her
tongue.
“This one is active,” she said, more of the gas rising. It seemed to form a dense cloud that didn't disperse.
“They all are,” Kulri announced.
“Fuck,” Marcus muttered.
Twist found that curse word he used to be versatile. Appropriate for so many different things than just talking about sex. She tensed, waiting for the gas to start choking her. To explode in a conflagration of fire. Maybe to dissolve her scales.
The gas swirled into a tendril and then shot at her. Twist hissed in surprise and swiped her dagger through it. The vapor parted. A small arc of lightning crackled into it along with a flow of dark, unholy damage.
“Enemy!” Twist shouted, realizing she'd injured it. Not with the physical blade, but the unholy and lightning damage her weapon unleashed.
The tendril whipped at her and struck her arm. Caustic pain seared across her scales. She leaped back as it whipped at her again. It streaked through the air before her. She cloaked herself in shadows, Vanishing.
Tendrils swam through the air like sea snakes through the ocean. They lunged at the party members from all sides. Marcus swung his ax, his blade passing through one without doing a lick of damage. Maria Yelled and then thrust with her rapier. A puff of white mist from the frost damage her panties gave her sword did nothing more than irritate the tendril.
It surged for her.
“Fuck!” growled Marcus, raising his shield to block. “No damage at all.”
The tendril spilled over his shield and lunged for his exposed face. He jerked his head back, but his heavy armor didn't let him dodge well. It spilled over his features, leaving blistering burns. He snarled and swung his impotent ax.
Not good, thought Twist as she broke her Vanish with an Ambush.
The attack dealt far more damage coming out of stealth. Her sacrificial dagger slashed, the sinuous blade slicing through the tendril that had burned her. Unholy and lightning damage struck it. Even quadrupled by her skill, it did hardly more than make the tendril waver.
Dëshoma rushed up to Marcus and started chanting, “With thy divine energy, empower the weapons of mine companion.”
A burst of arcane purple detonated to Twist's right as her tendrils slashed at her. She dodged back, hissing in frustration. Dëshoma finished casting her spell and Marcus's weapon flared with divine white, glowing bright.
He slashed forward and struck the tendril. He cut through it. The yellow smoke writhed and thrashed in pain. He shouted his triumph and hacked again, cutting into the enemy. He let out a roar of Zealous triumph.
Tendrils rushed for him as Dëshoma darted to Twist. The Thief dodged another slash with the tendril as Dëshoma began casting that spell behind Twist, the prayer spilling off the angelborn's tongue. She finished.
The divine glow suffused Twist's weapon.
“Thanks,” she hissed and unleashed the new skill she'd learned at Level 17: Arterial Slash.
It dealt even more damage when coming out of stealth, but it still would tear through the vapor. She swiped a vicious slice that cleaved through the tendril twisting around for her. The sinuous blade lashed through the monster, tearing at the vapor in a burst of divine energy. It writhed and twisted.
It didn't bleed, seemed to be immune to that, but it did feel pain. Twist hissed in delight at that.
It lashed out at her, but she dodged and swiped, ripping through it. As Twist fought, Dëshoma rushed to Maria to bless her weapon. The Duelist held back, letting Marcus take the brunt of the vapor snakes. A dozen or more of them had swarmed him and more slithered through the air.
Arcane explosions burst around Marcus, ripping into the tendrils. His Hit Points plummeted as he fought, his ax slashing at the air before him. He cleaved through them even as they burned his flesh through gaps in his armor.
Twist's next attack dispatched her enemy. She rushed to his aid.
* * / *
Dëshoma
The miracle rushed through the angelborn Cleric into Maria. Her rapier glowed with a brilliant white.
“Thank you!” she called and rushed into the fight, her weapon both shadowy and shining all at the same time.
She thrust a precise and powerful attack. It struck the tendril, ripping out chunks of vapor. It reeled, moving sluggish. It lashed at her, but the strike seemed slower then it should be. Clumsier. Dëshoma realized Maria must have employed her new ability learned at the level up.
Then Dëshoma turned to Marcus. He swung his ax, embattled. Over a dozen tendrils were on him. Twist and Maria aided him. His Hit Points reached towards critical levels, his flesh burned in places. Such pain ravaged him.
“My weapon next!” Éjyona called, the halfling hanging out by Kulrigiizhai.
“I will come for thee in but a moment!” Dëshoma called, using up her MP to enchant her party members' weapons. It drained her resources, but there were so many of them.
Arcane energy detonated around Marcus. Dëshoma darted into the purple blast, knowing the elf's magic would not hurt her. She reached Marcus and pressed her bible against him. Healing Touch surged through her, delivering restorative energy to him. His hit points rose, his armor healing him slightly more than her miracle would others.
That will have to do, for now, Dëshoma thought.
“Thanks!” Marcus snarled and swung at the vapors that rippled around him.
His HP was still dangerously low, but she had to risk getting Éjyona into the fight. Her Scattershot attack would be effective against the enemy, hitting all of them like Kulrigiizhai's spell-casting.
The elf chanted her next attack as Dëshoma's Swift Stiletto Heels shoes carried her quickly across the battlefield. She reached Éjyona and began her prayer. The words to Blessed Weapon flowed from the angelborn. The faith that Éjyona so mocked would soon empower her weapon and aid her in the fight.
Kulrigiizhai finished her spell and Éjyona's weapon burst to life.
Already, Marcus's Hit Points reached low. “I have thee, Lord Marcus!” She cried. “Let mine understanding of the positive energy of this world...”
Éjyona rushed forward, leveled her blunderbuss, and fired. A burst of shot sprayed into the tendrils, each one bursting with divine damage that tore through them. Dëshoma's bible quivered in her hand, the book of faith resonating with her prayer to Ëshuxeri.
“...flow out and heal my companion!”
Dëshoma's ranged healing spell engulfed Marcus and drove up his Hit Points. More purple energy burst around him. Éjyona's blunderbuss erupted again, slamming into the tendrils that swirled around him, drawn to him by his zealous duty. Twist and Maria slashed and stabbed, killing off more of them while Dëshoma switched to chanting Theological Litany. While it healed over time, it ultimately would restore more Hit Points to Marcus because of his armor.
Every time he healed, his breastplate added a tiny amount.
“Where do they keep coming from?” Marcus asked as he slashed, his ax cutting through another. Her prayer landed on him. He glowed as the HoT slowly restored his HP.
“What?” Dëshoma gasped.
“They keep rising from the vents,” Kulrigiizhai said.
“That's bad,” Marcus growled. “How long does Blessed Weapon last?”
“Two minutes,” Dëshoma said.
“We're about a minute into mine,” Marcus growled. “Is there a way out?”
“I'm on it,” Iris shouted. The pixie launched into the dark.
Dëshoma began another Arcane Healing. Marcus took damage too fast. The tendrils were thick on him. There were dozens now. More and more were rushing out of the dark. She was blazing through her MP now to keep Marcus alive.
Éjyona's Scattershot tore through all the tendrils. Another Arcane Burst from Kulrigiizhai decimated the enemy. Tendrils boiled off into vapor, but more and more were rushing in to replace them. Fear rippled through Dëshoma as she finished her spell, healing Marcus.
“We can't keep this up forever,” Marcus snarled. “Hurry, Iris!”
>
He was right. Soon, Dëshoma would have to down a potion to restore her dwindling MP. Marcus had maybe thirty seconds on his weapon before she'd have to expend more time enchanting his ax. More time healing him.
“We've walked into a trap,” Twist hissed.
“Yep!” growled Marcus.
Pink light danced in the dark. Iris appeared. “This way! There's a cave!”
“Go!” Marcus snarled. “I'll hold them.”
Kulrigiizhai moved before anyone else, rushing to the pixie. Éjyona and Twist followed after. Maria hesitated. She stabbed a tendril then raced around the fight to chase after the others. Dëshoma's stomach twisted as she finished casting Theological Litany. The miracle engulfed Marcus.
“Go!” he shouted. “I'll be fine.”
“But—”
“Move, Dëshoma!”
She gasped and then ran, her swift shoes carrying her after the others. She raced past the vents, tendrils rising. It slashed at her and burned her arm. She winced at the pain but didn't stop, clutching her bible to her chest.
* * / *
Pain blazed around me. My women had cleared the tendrils, leaving them to swarm me from all directions. The HoT on me wasn't enough to keep up with the damage I was taking, but it kept me from succumbing. I waited until they were clear.
I dropped Shield of Faith on myself. It sprang around me. I turned and rushed after my women. The tendrils struck the divine barrier, hitting it and rippling over the bubble of protection. I burst through them, stretching out to a full run.
They chased after me.
I heard them hissing behind me. Those coming in from the vents swam at me from the side. The light glowing from my ax lit the ground before me. I could see my women at the entrance, waiting for me.
“Move!” I shouted as I barreled to them, my Shield of Faith flickering out. Then the ax went dark, too.
The women moved back down the tunnel. I leaped over a broken rock and hurtled at the cave. I could hear the damned whispers right behind me. In the tunnel, they could only come at me one way. I whirled around, shield raised in a futile effort to block them.
