Perilous Journey - The Story So Far

Thread 1

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You’re a blip -- a consciousness detached from a body, which you abandoned a long time ago for the promise of immortal existence as a collection of data on the galactic NodeNet. But you -- just as a trillion blips before you -- quickly succumbed to the ennui and the sheer underlying wrongness of an existence without corporeal form.

You, like every other blip, would jump at the chance to gain a body -- even a synthetic one. Thus, when you were selected for the Perilous Journey -- a competition that promises just that to the winner -- rejecting the invite did not even cross your mind.

Which means that you are now Cassandra, a human-wolf hybrid and an escaped slave who, despite having any will to fight or resist beaten out of her a long time ago, learned to protect herself by “reading” those who claim ownership over her and manipulating their lusts for her own gain.

Granted, you haven’t had the opportunity to do much manipulation yet. Your first day of the contest has mostly involved lots of running. On your way to a safehouse in the city of Dansk, you have so far fled a smuggler who was intending to rape you, met Caleb, a virtuous knight who treated you kindly despite lusting after your body (you, in turn, decided not to pressure him into sex when given the opportunity), discovered the safehouse was compromised, were chased and captured by thugs, rescued -- or, more appropriately, kidnapped -- by a somewhat unhinged cat hybrid named Keera.

Keera, acting on orders from an individual she only called “master,” took you to a temple buried somewhere deep underground -- which turned out to be under attack by an unknown intruder, who turned the temple defenses against its guardians.

After being thrown into a jail cell to keep you “safe,” you were raped by a lizardman, escaped, freed a few other hybrids, were immediately separated from them when sneaking past a tentacle monster, and found a trashed alchemy lab, in which you were chased by a lust-addled alchemist wearing a large strap-on. You chose to flee her by jumping down a chute in her lab -- though where that leads you remains to be seen.

Thread 2

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From the pan and into the fire as they used to say -- the chute which you use to escape the alchemist drops you into a subterranean lake, which serves as the home of Olgiderthanus -- a gargantuan creature who, in his own words, has been forced to hide in this underground temple ever since his kind lost the conflict against the Temple of Auster.

You find this out -- and more -- after Olgiderthanus quite literally forces his way into your mind, establishing a telepathic link. The most pertinent piece of knowledge you learn is your identity -- he calls you the “Maiden of Bedlam” and explains that you and your alleged powers will be instrumental in an approaching, worldwide conflict.

He makes you the offer of serving him in exchange for guidance in developing your powers and you accept him as your new master. Just then, an intruder breaches the chamber’s defenses -- a catgirl who identifies herself as Persephone, and who you recognize as another contestant.

Keera also reappears, only to be quickly defeated by Persephone and bound to an altar, to serve as a “backup” in the latter’s negotiations with Olgiderthanus. Through some quick thinking and the surprise discovery that your frame is at least nominally familiar with magic rituals, you manage to reverse the spell placed on Keera, just in time to save Olgiderthanus from the embarrassment of defeat.

Olgiderthanus’s gratitude toward you is equalled only by his anger with Keera, whom he blames for nearly being bested by the now-restrained mage. Sensing an opportunity, you intercede on Keera’s behalf, asking that her life be spared. While unhappy about having his judgement question, Olgiderthanus relents, declaring Keera to now be your slave.

Your new master then bequeaths your first mission on you. You are to bring the Baron of Dansk under Olgiderthanus’s sway. To aid you in doing so, your master causes your breasts to lactate corrupting milk, which the Baron is supposed to taste. You are then sent off on your way -- but not before your master goads you into using his “gift” -- a magical bracelet that is supposed to let you control Keera through inflicting pleasure or pain on her.

Experiencing the bracelet’s effects turns Keera fearful and distrustful of you. Belatedly realizing your mistake, you immediately resolve to fix it. Thus, just before departing on your mission, in the quarters assigned to you, you manipulate Keera in the course of an emotion-laden conversation into shifting your relationship from mistress and slave to that of friends.

Your mission requires you to let yourself be captured and taken, bereft of all your belongings and without hope of outside helped, into the keep of the Baron -- a man said to regularly whip and beat hybrids to death as a means of getting his jollies. Yet, as you head out, an immediate benefit of your work on Keera manifests itself -- the catgirl tells you of a means to flee the Baron’s keep and return to the temple’s tunnels through the castle’s moat.

Keera, acting as your captor, delivers you to the same thugs that ambushed you earlier. Their newest leader -- a Canis hybrid named Walt -- uses you for his pleasure, humiliating and abusing you as punishment for your earlier escape. Your “rescue” arrives in the form of Sir Conri -- a knight in the Baron’s service, whose face seems familiar to you -- you eventually recognize him as a relative of Sir Caleb, whom you met when first entering Dansk.

Sir Conri has you wear an opulent dress, in which he delivers you to the castle, where you are locked in a fancily furnished -- but highly secure -- cell beneath one of the castle’s towers. There, you finally meet the Baron:  An old man, who is content to sit and watch as you are assaulted and raped by a naked man wearing a wolf’s mask -- you quickly recognize the latter as Sir Conri, due to the distinct perfume he wears.

Your passive acceptance of your abuse visibly unnerves the two men, but ultimately do not stop them. Matters finally escalate -- and end -- in you being tied to a post and whipped to the point of near-collapse. Your first day of Perilous Journey ends with you falling unconscious on a dog bed, barely coherent enough to decide that the Baron is your new master -- and thus the subject of your nascent powers of Bedlam.