A New Party

Konra

This was not the first time Konra had woken up in chains. There was that pair of witches in Telanos that had talked her into some 'light' bondage. She'd already been tied good and tight when the shackles came out, and could do nothing to prevent them being applied. She'd been their prisoner for three days and was used in some kind of sex magic ritual. If she'd known then what she knew now... she thought she might just play stupid and let them take her anyway. Whatever they'd been trying to accomplish, it had felt amazing.

This time, did not appear to be going as well. Konra had awakened in an enclosed wagon of some sort. There was a metallic collar around her neck, fastened to one of the walls with a short attachment of some kind. Her wrists were shackled and hung in the middle of her back from a chain on her collar. Her legs were free, but the wall attachment did not have enough slack to allow her to rise from a sitting position. She struggled briefly but everything felt solid, and her time with her witch friends left her with a respect for metal restraints. She was going nowhere fast.

Konra was tall, strong, with visible muscle covering her athletic body. Her skin was light in color, with closely cropped light brown hair. On a standard day, she'd be wearing some light armor, a buckler and carrying a heavy sword. Her gear, however was nowhere to be seen. She was dressed instead, in a ragged shift. It felt as though there was nothing underneath it, a fact seemingly confirmed by one of her large breasts, the left one, protruding from the side of the garment, fully exposed. She spent a few moments failing to reclaim her modesty before huffing and turning her attention to the rest of her environment.

There was dim light. Through several small and barred windows, it appeared to be night, but a small lantern hung in the corner of the small, box-like container. The walls appear to be constructed of heavy wood, with a reinforced door on one end. And she was not alone. There were three other women in the prison with her, all restrained in some manner, and either asleep or unconscious. Closest to Konra, slumped against the same wall she herself was bound to, was a lithe blonde woman she took for a half-elf. She wore similar rags to Konra, though she was fully decent, and was also held in chains. Her position was different, however. The half-elf's arms crossed her chest with her wrists attached to a metal collar. There was a chain looped through her elbows, and crossing behind her back, presumably to further lock her arms in place. There was a short chain from the girls collar that was padlocked to the wall, when it struck Konra that it was the only locking device she could see on the on the restraints. The chains and shackles appeared to be riveted closed.

Konra was unsure of her own collar and shackles, but she could feel a large padlock between her wrists, so her arms could be freed. This half-elf however, was goin to have to be cut or broken out of her predicament. Not a good sign.

Just past the half-elf, and tightly hog tied was... some sort of creature. Definitely female as her shift had ridden up past her hips leaving her exposed below the waist and displaying a long tail that narrowed to a whip like point. Her otherwise shapely legs ended in black hooves, her skin was deep red color, and a pair of horns erupted from her hairline and twisted around to the back of her head. Konra had seen tieflings before but this girl's appearance was perhaps the most extreme she'd encountered. Her arms were pulled behind her and tied awkwardly to her digitigrade ankles, and though the girl's face was partially obscured by a mass of silky black hair, Konra could see some rags tied over her mouth. Konra was briefly grateful that, for whatever reason, she had not been gagged as well.

The final prisoner was a halfling judging by her size. That and her body was too voluptuous to be a child. She had dark skin with a mane of black hair and was dressed in a similar fashion, though from her angle, Konra could see up the shift. She was starting to think her one exposed breast wasn't so bad. The halfling was leaned against the wall furthest from the door with her wrists tied above her head leaving her in a Y-shape when she was sitting as she was currently. She could likely work her way to her feet if she tried. This girl, too, was gagged with cloth tied around her face. That these two were silenced while she and the half-elf were not? It occurred to Konra that they might be spell casters. Or maybe just obnoxious. She still didn't have a clue where she was, who these people were, or why they were imprisoned. But perhaps answers were forthcoming. As Konra looked on, the halfling began to stir.

Lyrae

Before she even opened her eyes, Lyrae had an inkling there was a serious problem. Few at the temple would be so irresponsible as to leave an unconscious acolyte gagged. Beyond that, the last she remembered, she was not at the temple. She was traveling the lands. And while she wouldn't put it past herself to seduce some company, she did not remember doing so. Her wrists were bound, hanging above her head. Good rope work too. Secure, but not cutting off her circulation. Also not helpful.

The first thing Lyrae saw upon opening her eyes was a demon. Or something that very much looked like one. She let out a muffled gasp and jerked in her bonds before noticing the rather strict bindings on the creature. It was not a threat currently. Correction, *she was not a threat currently. Her clothing was in disarray with her hips and thighs uncovered. And speaking of which... The halfling glanced down at herself to see she wasn't quite decent either.

"Hiya."

"Mmmupt!" Lyrae jumped in her restraints again, clapping her legs together. She glanced around, quickly spotting the other two prisoners; particularly the muscular woman looking back at her.

"Yeah, sorry. I looked." The woman said. nodding to Lyrae's lower half. "Lucky you though, I can't seem to get this put away." She bounced a little, jiggling one breast that had slipped out of her meager rags. "So look all you want. Name's Konra by the way."

"Mmmhmm." Lyrae returned the greeting as best she was able. Introductions were so difficult without speech. She met her new companions's eyes, before gesturing with her head around the room and raising her eyebrows, hoping her new friend caught the implied question.

"Sorry, I don't know much." Konra replied. "Last I remember, I was in Underhill, near the Wightwood. Then I woke up chained to this wall." She twisted, demonstrating her predicament.

"Mmm." Lyrae nodded. That seemed to go along with her last recollection as well.

"I don't remember being attacked so I'm thinking poison or magic." Konra sighed. "Thing is... Underhill is awful close to the Badlands, so... Slavers you think?"

Lyrae sagged a little in her bonds before tilting her head and nodding. There was a good chance.

"Thought so. Shit." Konra pulled at her wrists. "We might be in real trouble."

"Mmm." Lyrae nodded, before looking pointedly at the other two in the room; the demon and the... half-elf maybe? Before raising her eyebrows to Konra again.

"Nobody I know." The larger woman replied. "Not your friends either, huh?"

Lyrae shook her head. Slavers made sense. The prisoners in here would be an easy sell. Even the demon was attractive, with smooth skin and sleek black hair. Konra was a catch and a priestess/consort of Sulundra such as herself, well, she'd likely sell high. She pulled at her bonds, which didn't give at all.

"Yeah, I'm stuck too." Konra agreed. "And I suspect neither of these two are going to be much help when they wake up. I can feel a padlock between my wrists. Which is better than this one." She nodded to the half elf. "Her chains all look hammered on. Might need a blacksmith to get them off."

"Mmph." Lyrae sighed. She might have had more to add, could she speak. Of course, were that the case, some well worded prayers to her Goddess might assist them in leaving this place. She relaxed in her bonds, accepting the invitation, and allowing her eyes to drift over Konra's bare breast. It was not lost on the priestess how much her training at the temple also prepared her for life as a bed slave. She closed her eyes and silently prayed to Sulundra. Not to rescue her, but merely to provide the opportunity to rescue herself. Then, with timing so comical, it almost seemed an answer, the half-elf awoke with a curse.

Tirni

"Hells! Didn't I tell you..." Tirni complained, but cut herself off. She meant to tell off Myra from chaining her up while she was sleeping again. It was such a pain to have to work her way free first thing in the morning. But Myra was dead. Had been for months. So then... why was she wrapped in chains? Shit! Tirni's eyes snapped open, first finding a strung up halfling calmly gazing back. The half-elf blinked at the smaller woman, before testing her own predicament. While struggling with her crossed arms, she also noticed her leathers were gone. Make that everything was gone. Her money and tools included. That was going to make things a touch more difficult.

"Yeah, we're not having a good day either."

Tirni swiveled her head at the words to find a brawny woman leaning against the wall beside her. Her position and dress suggested she was bound as well. The other thing she noticed was the breast protruding from her mostly inadequate clothes. Tirni forgot herself and maybe stared a little longer than was polite.

"I've been told they're my best feature." The big girl said. "But I don't just let anyone tell me that with out a beating. You could probably get away with it at the moment though. You know, chained up and all."

"Well, I mean, that one's nice." Tirni replied. "Haven't seen enough of you to say they're your *best feature. " She went to her usual default: shameless flirting. "So is this some kind of sex game gone horribly awry? Tell me we got a safety person on the way."

"Not that I know of." The brawny girl replied. "Woke up like this, same as you. No idea how I got here. My guess is slavers, and the halfling seems to agree. Name's Konra. The halfling hasn't told me her name yet."

"Mnrrr." The halfling growled with an eye roll.

"She's just being polite, right?" Tirni grinned at the halfling. "Shouldn't talk with your mouth full. And what's the deal here." She gestured toward the unconscious creature with red skin.

"She hasn't woken up yet." Replied Konra. "I'm guessing she's a tiefling."

"And why are they gagged and we're not?" Tirni asked.

Konra shrugged. "I'm guessing they're magickers?" She glanced at the halfling who nodded.

"That's a lot of guessing." Tirni pointed out.

"I can't really do much else." returned Konra

"Okay, well, you guys just might be in luck." Tirni said. My name is Tirni and I am a world class picker of locks. Find me a wire, a splinter, anything like that, and I'll be out of these chains in no time flat." She began looking around for an appropriate tool to get started.

"Oh, well that makes sense all of a sudden." Konra sighed, and looked at the halfling. "Hate to tell you, but your chains look riveted on."

"What!?" Tirni began exploring her bonds wherever her fingers could reach. "This might be a problem... I guess my reputation precedes me." The half-elf did feel a twinge of panic. This was bad. Not impossible, but bad. Her mind was already racing with escape plans and there weren't many. With the right tool, 'big girl' could almost certainly pop the rivets, or break a link. But they'd need a tool, and to free 'big girl'. Maybe one of the magickers had a spell... but they were gagged. Maybe she could use her toes to ungag one of them. The red one was closest. Sure she was still out, but she might as well be awake to hear about her new situation. Besides, waiting and nothing were two things Tirni was terrible at. She stretched out her leg and began using it to rock the half naked, red demon girl.

Gehenna

It was a sad comment on Gehenna's life that, whatever was going on, this was not the worst situation she had woken up in. Whoever was kicking her was being relatively gentle about it. The ropes were tight, but not chains,. That was somewhat disconcerting however. Official authorities used chains. Mobs used ropes. Her appearance did not endear her to the superstitious. And the superstitious tended toward fear and violence. She wa going to have to wake up and deal with this. She allowed her eyes to flutter open.

"And there she is!" She heard before getting any bearings what so ever. "Morning Sunshine!"

Gehenna looked immediately to see who had spoken and found two someones, a slim blond half-elf wrapped in chains, and a larger, muscular woman whose posture suggested she was also restrained. Movement to her other side drew her attention, and she turned to find a halfling tied to the wall. As Gehenna's gaze fell on her, the girl flinched back, curling her legs away from the bound tiefling. Gehenna sighed. Afraid or not, at least this halfling wasn't an immediate threat.

"Well Red," the half-elf went on, "as you can see, we're all in a bit of a pickle here and we'd really like to get out of it. Slide you're head over here and I'll see if I can get your gag off."

The larger woman sighed when Gehenna flinched away from the flexing toes of the half-elf. "Yeah, I can't blame you. I'm pretty... we'll say anxious about all this too. My name's Konra and at the moment, neither one of us are any danger to you." She twisted, waving one shackled hand. "But we would really like to get out of here. Any way you could help with that?"

Gehenna blinked. Very rarely did people introduce themselves to her. she stayed well out of reach of the grasping toes, but locked eyes with Konra and nodded slowly. Snake-like, her tail rose up and began following the rope that joined her hands and feet. Unfortunately, this wasn't the first time she'd found herself hogtied. When she located a knot, the tip of her tail pierced it and wormed it's way inside. In short order, the bind popped and she was able to straighten herself out.

"That was... pretty impressive Red." The half-elf gave a low whistle. "What else can that tail do?"

Gehenna ignored her, continuing work on her bonds. Her wrists came loose, followed quickly by her hoofed feet. Finally she stood, pulled the gag from her face and straightened her malfunctioning rags.

"Brilliant!" Tirni exclaimed. "Now maybe if you could... Hey! Hey Red! You listening to me?"

Gehenna was not. She had to get out of here. She didn't know what was was going on, but situations like this only ended well for her after she got out of them and went far away. She began to move around the small space. She knew enough to be quiet, though creeping with hooves. on wood was no small feat. She went, first to the door, (barely noticing the halfling attempt to draw further away as sh did so) but is was locked, likely barred from the outside. Then she went to one of the small windows. Looking out, she could she a camp around her, some horses, and a short distance away, the men that rode them. Many were asleep, but several were awake, sitting around a fire. Not great, but she could outrun them and lose them in the dark. If she could get out of this box Gehenna grabbed the bars and pulled with all her might, sure it would be useless, but not having another idea at the moment.

"Hey."

Gehenna paused. the word had cut through the quiet babble of the half-elf. She turned to face Konra.

"You're freaked out. I understand." The woman said. "I'm freaked out too, but panic will do you no good right now. Keep you wits about you."

Gehenna let go of the bars, trying to control her breathing. "I have to get out of here." She whimpered.

"Agreed." Konra replied. "But it's going to be hard. We're going to have to work together if any of us are going to have a shot."

"I..." Gehenna wrapped her arms around herself. "I don't..."

"You don't have to trust me." Konra said evenly. "Just trust that all of us want out of this thing at least as much as you do."

Gehenna looked back at her cellmate. Finally she nodded. "O-okay. What should I do?"

"First, untie the halfling. Then we'll talk about our options."

Gehenna turned to face the girl. She had apparently been listening as well, because she barely cringed when their eyes met and she nodded slowly. "Very well." Said Gehenna, and her tail slipped over and speared one of the knots binding what, at the very least, she hoped wasn't an enemy.