Aconite's Adventure Begins

Quick heads-up, this story has a slow start, but I promise I'll make it up to you as the adventure progresses~

At first glance, the Tomb of Heartbone was like any other dungeon: a dark, dangerous place full of traps and monsters, and untold fortunes for anyone who could get to the end and then make it out alive. However, the tomb had something of a reputation, and, as such, had earned the nickname, 'the Dungeon of Depravity.' The dungeon was home to a strange flowering plant, named Heartbone's Hook, whose pollen acted as an aphrodisiac, compelling all who breathed it into performing all manner of lewd acts, succumbing to a base desire for pleasure. Many an adventurer had wandered into the tomb, thinking it to be a regular dungeon, only to find themselves under the effects of the flower. Many parties simply devolved into orgies shortly after the entrance, but those who made it farther encountered the tomb's monsters, monsters who had long forgotten their desire to maim and kill, and instead felt only the urge to mate. Nobody had cleared the tomb before, and either joined the ranks of the sex-crazed minions, or wandered back into the light, forgetting that they had been on a quest, but thinking better of returning. Others still wandered out, but made frequent returns, coming whenever they were lonely and needed the attention.

Despite the tomb's reputation, some adventurers were still determined to see it through to the very end.

Aconite stood before the tomb's entrance. She wore leather armor, reinforced with a metal breastplate, gauntlets, and greaves. She had a scarf around her nose and mouth to keep herself from breathing the cursed plant's fumes. And, if all of that failed, she wore two enchanted pieces of jewelry: a ring to prevent disease, and an amulet to prevent conception. She hadn't heard any tales of an adventurer falling pregnant to any of the monsters in the dungeon - although, some who had come in large parties did walk away with one or two surprises nestled in their wombs - but she didn't want to be the one to find out if it was a possibility.

Once upon a time the tomb had been sealed with a boulder. In the present, the boulder had been pushed aside, leaving enough room for most adventurers to slip inside. The pale brown stone was speckled with moss and cleaved with thin green vines, some of which were dotted with tight pink buds.

This was the place, alright.

Aconite held her breath as she squeezed past the boulder. Even though these flowers were still sealed, and her scarf was still tightly wound around her face, she didn't want to breathe too close to them. Little was known about the flower, save for what previous visitors to the cave reported, and it was anyone's guess as to when the flowers could release their intoxicating perfume.

It took Aconite's eyes a moment to adjust to the dark. When they did, she found herself in a long, rectangular vestibule. Against one wall was what appeared to be an altar with coins, jewels, and other valuables scattered across. Above it were two torches, both extinguished. Empty torch sconces dotted the walls from one end to the other. Two large shapes stood on either side of the sealed doorway at the end of the hall, almost challenging her to come closer. Most notably of all, however, were the dozens of flowers growing along the walls, splashes of pink and green in an otherwise beige world.

A cluster of flowers grew on the floor in the sliver of sunlight that slinked through the partially open doorway. They were a vivid shade of pink, their wide petals curved and round along the edges and pointed at the ends, their girthy stigmas endowed with large pistils. Aconite considered shutting her eyes until she was out of the room, as if the vulgar flowers could care about human constructs like privacy or dignity.

She knelt, her body in the shadow of the boulder, hands in the hook of light, and retrieved her own torch and flint from her bag. She worked effectively, lighting the torch and getting away from the flowers as quickly as she could. So far, she didn't feel any shred of safety, much less a sense of arousal. According to some tales, the front vestibule was where the vast majority of adventuring parties devolved into orgies. Some, from what she had gathered, made it to the second or third room before the effects of the flower became too much to bear. Even so, she felt she must have been doing well.

As she made her way to the end of the room, the two shapes on either side of the door became clear. They were statues, as she suspected, grotesque depictions of heavy-set demons with round, piggy faces and stubby claws on their feet and hands, standing atop wide, round plinths. Their horns were short and curly, and their pointed teeth resembled incense cones. They also had erections, both as long and as thick around as Aconite's calves, standing prominently between their squat legs, stone testicles the size of her two fists hanging beneath. She grimaced and turned her attention back to the door. She set a hand on it. It was cool to the touch, probably made of iron, though the layers of red rust and tan dust made it appear as if it was made of stone. She traced the door with her torch, looking for signs of traps. She could see none. She looked at the door handle next. There was no visible lock. She grabbed the handle and gave it a twist.

It was locked.

"Damn." She returned to the altar at the front of the room. There were no keys to be found. She looked high and low, and still found nothing. She examined the statues. She looked at their teeth, horns and claws, trying to find anything hidden in their grasp. There was nothing there either. With a grimace, she looked back at their erections. She got much closer than she would have liked. And there, nestled right where their shafts met their groins, were grooves in the rock.

They were switches, vulgar as everything else in the dungeon.

She set her torch in the nearest sconce and approached the statue on the left. A bit uneasily, she grabbed the lever and tried to pull. The lever resisted. She grabbed it with both hands and pulled again. The lever twitched, but didn't move beyond that. She moved her hands up and down the stone, trying to get better leverage, but still, the switch refused to flip. She grunted with frustration, but something caught her ear. It sounded like something or someone else was grunting with her. She looked around. As far as she could tell, it was just her and the statues. Maybe it was an echo. Yes, that was it.

She resumed pulling on the lever, sliding her hands up and down the disgusting thing. She grunted, and heard the sound again.

No, that definitely wasn't her.

She let go of the handle and took another look around. Again, she saw nobody in the vestibule with her. She brushed the dust off in her lap and then started for the other statue.

"Oh, come on!"

Aconite whirled around, her hand flying to the sword on her hip.

"Don't stop now!"

It was the statue. By the gods, the statue was talking!

"You can talk!"

"That's right, hero, and I can feel, too! And what you were doing felt pretty damn good!"

She squirmed and wiped her hands in her lap again. "How do I get through this door?"

"You finish what you started," the second statue said. "Then it's my turn! Once we're both good and spent, the door will open!"

She grimaced. "But why?"

"That's just how the tomb is!" the first statue said. "And that's how the tomb will be until ol' Heartbone is dealt with!"

"Isn't there another way?"

"Nope!" the second statue said. "Not unless you've got a canon!"

Of course, she didn't.

"We'll make it as quick as we can," the first statue said greedily. "Although, you gotta put some elbow grease in it too! Nothing's gonna happen if you don't try!"

"Very well then..." With great apprehension, she put her hands back on the lever and started to stroke.

The statue moaned appreciatively. "You're a lot better at this when you put effort into it..."

"Why would you not just tell me from the start?"

"It's more fun to startle people," the first statue laughed.

"Especially when they figure it out for themselves!" the second statue said.

Aconite said a silent prayer to all the adventurers who found out the room's secret that way.

"Some like the virgins best, you know," it continued. It shrugged. "I prefer folks who know what they're doing."

"And how does she fare?" the second statue asked.

"Might be a while before this door opens..." The statue looked down at her. "Maybe you should take a break to smell the flowers. It might put you in a better mood..."

"It won't," Aconite said. She added, "I'm terribly allergic." It was a lie, but from her experience, few people enjoyed the sight of a sniffly, sneezy, runny-eyed mess.

The statue grunted. "Shame..."

Aconite ran her palm in circles around the statue's tip. She wondered if anyone really had tried... other means of getting the door open. The statues were well endowed, and it must have been awfully uncomfortable for someone to use their mouth or... other parts. She concealed a shiver. She continued to massage the tip with one hand while the other gave the shaft long, deliberate strokes.

The statue hummed in response. "That's good," it said. "See? You're getting it!"

"Finish already so I can get a turn!" the second statue told the first.

"I'm working on it!" the first said.

Aconite grimaced. Her arms were getting tired. Something needed to happen before she was just too tired to continue. And wouldn't that be embarrassing, needing to give up before she even made it past the vestibule?

But finally, the statue groaned, "Here it comes hero! Might wanna steer clear!"

Aconite wasn't sure what it meant, but she moved her hand from the tip and stood to the side anyway. A moment later, a stream of fire erupted from the tip of the statue's cock. Aconite yelped, while the statue moaned, "Oh yeah!"

"What was that!" Aconite gasped.

"Just another security measure," the statue said. As it spoke, the lever dropped into the lower position, and a soft click came from within the wall.

"But why!"

"It dispatches intruders we don't like," the second statue said. "And on the topic of intruders..."

Aconite sighed and went to the statue on the right. It grinned at her - but then again it had been grinning since before she got there - and said, "We haven't had visitors in such a long time."

She grabbed the lever and started to stroke with all she had left. She pushed both hands down and up its shaft. At first, she moved her hands symmetrically, fingers forming a giant O as she stroked the statue's shaft, but after a while she switched it up; she ran her hands in opposite directions, one stroking up towards herself while the other one pushed down towards the base.

"Ooh, I like it!" the statue moaned.

Aconite ran one hand over the tip in big circles. "And how's this?" she asked as cheerfully as she could. If she was going to play their game, she wanted to play to win.

"V-Very good, hero," the statue said. It hummed. It was close. She could feel it.

She crawled up onto the statue's pedestal, ducking her head under the shaft but taking care not to rub against it. She kept stroking as she investigated, despite the soreness in her arms turning into a full-fledged burning. She looked at the statue's testicles. With one hand still stroking the underside of the lever, she reached out and cradled them in her hand.

The statue yelped. A stream of fire shot from the lever and dissipated into nothing. The lever then drooped as Aconite crawled out from under it.

"Ch-Cheap trick," the statue said, failing to hide the satisfaction in its voice.

Aconite retrieved her torch. "Should I ever return, I'll try to remember to bring a lubricant to make it more enjoyable."

One statue hummed with intrigue while the other said, "Others will be here soon enough. We'll tell them about you, though. Some of them like having a competitor to beat."

For a fleeting moment, Aconite was flattered by the offer to use her as an example. Then she remembered she was talking to sentient statues. Still, she thanked them - and they thanked her - and she slipped through the unlocked door.

The door led to a small landing. A pale light shone somewhere just beyond the bottom of the stone stairs. She quickly extinguished her torch. Light in a dungeon was never a good sign. She waited in the darkness, watching and listening for someone or something to investigate the disturbance. She waited until her torch had gone almost completely cool. She stuffed it back into her bag and crawled to the edge of the landing. The stairs led into a chamber with... were those crops? Something green and leafy - something not much like the flowers at all - grew in that room, but the ceiling was too low for her to get a good look. She heard voices speaking in calm tones, too quietly for her to hear. She hadn't anticipated it at all. There had been rumors about former adventurers remaining in the dungeon, but had they truly gone so far as to establish a settlement? With her body low to the ground, she placed her foot on the first step. There was a soft stony groan, much like the ones from the statues out front.

And then she fell.

"WHOA!"

The staircase had collapsed into a slide. Aconite tumbled into the chamber below. If she didn't hit her head and die before she hit the bottom, then whoever or whatever was in the chamber would surely get to her before she recovered.

She landed hard on her back. She hadn't hit her head, but she was sure her entire body was bruised. She groaned and waited either for the room to stop spinning, or for the monsters to come kill her.

Whatever came first.

"Ooh, a new toy~" someone cooed.

"So long as she's not too broken to play with~" another voice said.

Aconite did her best to look around. The chamber was shaped like an amphitheater, with ascending rows - most of them supporting narrow lines of crops - overlooking the ground where she lay. A deep but narrow trough cut the stage at about the three quarter mark, and on the other side was a glowing ball of light, apparently fed by the sun's rays as it peered through cracks in the cavern ceiling. Footsteps approached her, but she struggled to turn to face them. Her body simply hurt too badly to move.

"Hey there, darling, are you still alive?" A woman with wheat-blonde hair and deeply tan skin appeared over Aconite, clad in nothing but a pale necklace that hung just above her small breasts.

Aconite flushed. "Uh!"

"She lives!" a man said, his voice heavy with humor. He appeared over Aconite next. His complexion was fairer, and his body was covered in thick brown hair. He, too, wore nothing, his hefty cock and bollocks swaying slightly as he stopped above her. "You think you can stand, stranger?" he asked, offering his large hand.

Aconite staggered to her feet. She wobbled a bit, and everything hurt, but she hadn't broken anything. "I'm alright."

The man put his fists on his hips. "Throw the switch next time!" He turned to the stairs - Aconite fought hard to not stare at his bare ass - and reached for a lever next to the threshold. He brushed aside the cobwebs and, with a slight grunt, pushed the lever into an upright position. As he did so, the stairs slid back into place. He sighed, dusted his hands, and turned to the others. "So, what brings you to our little slice of paradise?"

Our? Aconite cast another glance around the room. There had to have been at least two dozen people watching her, not one shred of clothing on any of them. Her face became unbearably hot beneath the scarf, but she dared not pull it down. She turned her attention back to the man and said, "I'm here to see this tomb to the end."

Laughter filled the room. She wasn't sure if the embarrassment or the frustration was worse, but either way it made her blood boil and her skin tight.

"I was like you, once upon a time," the man said.

"We all were!" the woman agreed.

"But then we..." he eyed a patch of flowers clinging to the wall beside the lever, "stopped to smell the flowers."

"Life is so much better down here," the woman said. "We have food and water, and plenty of companionship." She then reached between her legs as casually as if she'd been scratching the back of her neck and started to stroke herself. Already she sounded wet. She hummed. "Our needs are always well met. Perhaps you'd care to join us?"

The man began to stroke his cock. It had come to life upon merely looking at the flowers. His size was impressive, impressive enough to tempt Aconite, but she was on a mission, and she couldn't let herself become distracted. And, if she gave in, she'd be trapped like them. "Alas, I can't at the moment. My desire to best this dungeon is too great."

"You don't know what you're missing!" a third voice called. When she looked, she saw a grinning man with another man and a woman entangling him in their arms, planting kisses on his cheeks as their hands sought to please him and themselves.

"I appreciate the offer," she said again, "but I must be on my way."

"Well, if you insist..." The woman gestured to the far end of the amphitheater with her free hand. There was another threshold, one sealed with heavy iron bars. "The rest of the tomb is beyond there." She shivered, humming again with pleasure, clear, wet ribbons beginning to drip from between her thighs. "This doorway will take you down to a chamber filled with draugr."

"Draugr?" Aconite echoed with intrigue.

"Aye," the woman said with a moan. She fondled one of her breasts. They were the size of apples, tipped with dark nipples. She pinched one and gently twisted it between her fingers. "Be careful, they're not nearly as polite as we are and tend to be a bit rough on strangers."

The man walked up behind her and set his pale hands on her wide hips. They both grinned. "A very rude bunch, but a fun treat if you seek otherworldly pleasures." He slipped his cock between the woman's legs, his shimmering red tip emerging like a small, freshly washed tomato in her lap.

"And they're only the beginning," the woman said as she slowly leaned forward, still keeping her eyes on Aconite. "Beyond them are monsters just as insatiable. Few get very far, and so those monsters must be ravenous." She winked.

The man grabbed the woman by the arms, trailed his hands down to her wrists, and pushed his cock into her. They both sighed. "There's a switch over there," he said as he started to thrust. "One on our side, another on their side." The clap of their thighs prevented any silence as he took a breath. "Be sure to close it when you cross over. We prefer our more peaceful lifestyle!"

"Mm, indeed!" The woman smiled. Her breasts swayed in tandem with the man's thrust. "Best of luck, adventurer."

"Best of luck!" the rest of the chamber moaned. The entire room had devolved into clusters of fornication, of sucking shafts and licking slits, cocks in quims and asses, fingers prodding and exploring.

Aconite finally found her feet once more. "Thank you all," she stammered awkwardly. She turned and strode stiffly to the other side of the amphitheater. Just as the man had said, there was a lever, pointed up towards the ceiling. She brushed away the cobwebs, took it in both hands, and pulled it down, thankful that it didn't require a stroking to work. The iron bars moaned as they sank into the floor, crunching grit as they dropped for the first time in ages. She crossed through the threshold, flipped the switch on the other side as requested, and crept into the darkness before her.