In Dungeons Deep Ch. 03

It was interesting, learning a bit how the dryad both ate and rested. It made him wonder about the differences between himself and his companions, both inside and out. What if it turned out that humans were the rarest creatures in the dungeon? Hell, he might actually be the only one. There was no telling who made it in, or out, or if anyone ever did either with any kind of frequency. At least he didn't have to worry about companionship. Lug and Runa were human enough where it counted. Particularly Lug, given their relationship.

They each had a second helping, emptying the pot. Rat meat was a little on the stringy side, but by the end of dinner he didn't care he was eating it. Even with his wounds, he felt good, full. Nourished and growing in strength. "That was great, Lug. Thanks for dinner."

"Yes, my compliments as well Lug. You tend your hearth quite admirably." Runa chimed in, smiling as she slowly sank down to settle in her pot for sleep.

Lug blushed and nodded, smiling as she returned their dishes to the kitchen to rinse everything out. When she was done she returned to the cot, where Hogarth pulled her in to snuggle atop his chest. The small stove at the foot of the bed was more than enough to make up for the lack of blankets, but a regular size bed with regular blankets would be a welcome addition.

"You nice and comfy, Hogarth? Nothin' hurtin' too much?" She said softly as she looked up at him, large eyes full of concern.

He smiled reassuringly, reaching out to trace his thumb around her cheek in a light caress. "I'm just fine. Got my snugga-Lug to keep me comfortable." It was a good thing she didn't quite comprehend what being corny was. She just smiled broadly and nuzzled against his abdomen, her head of wild hair briefly obscuring everything below his sternum.

He was closing his eyes and about to murmur a goodnight when he felt her wiggle lower and gently slip her hands into his underwear. Up until this point, they'd had sex on any and every whim that came along. Even minor injury hadn't been much of a deterrent, which was why he felt blood instantly begin to flood to his groin. The only problem now, was they had company. He hadn't initiated any attempts at sex since Runa had awakened, but now Lug was in full caregiver mode. She wanted to take care of all his needs, and with how urgently she was stroking at his cock, hers were pressing as well. Which made it all the more concerning as he looked over to see if Runa was still awake.

Most of her body was concealed by the pot when she hunkered down to sleep. Just the fuzzy top of her head, the bridge of her nose, and blessedly closed eyes. She was already asleep! Hogarth drew in a shaky sigh of relief, then looked down as Lug was sitting up. The laces of the shirt she wore were already untied, releasing an overflow of cleavage that threatened to spill out. It had taken her very little effort to learn his tastes, particularly since she embodied so many of them. She smiled her small, shy smile at him beneath the shadow of her loose bangs and drew the shirt tighter to force them free in a single, jiggling burst of breasts. The woman was far too clever.

Hogarth shot a nervous glance towards Runa again before sliding his hands up to fill them with quivering flesh. "Alright, but we have to be quiet." He whispered.

Lug moaned softly as he touched her, though her expression pulled towards confusion. "Quiet? Whyzat?" She had dutifully whispered back, even if she didn't know why. Pulling up the edges of her shirt, her round bottom popped free and she began to wiggle her crotch against the length of his dick. Liquid heat spread across his skin, spread that much faster by her strong, nimble fingers.

"We don't want to wake up Runa. It might bother her to see us." He struggled to keep his voice even as she lined his head up with her lips and sank down while he spoke.

Lug shivered and moaned as Hogarth filled her to capacity, bringing a hand to her mouth to stifle herself as requested. For a moment she simply sat in place, wiggling just a little as his cock throbbed inside. He took the opportunity to play with her body, kneading and bouncing her ample bosom in his hands, tweaking their rosy peaks and savoring the way she melted under his touch. He gave her nipples a single, slow twist that teased into being almost painful before letting his hands slip away to rove across her ribs and down her back. Nails long enough to bite into skin pressed down the small of her back and then over the bubbled cheeks of her ass.

Lug groaned and wiggled as he grabbed her, looking at him with large pleading eyes while battling to stay quiet. Unable to sit up, he gripped tightly to her bottom and put the muscles of his thighs and buttocks to work. She happily rolled into his constrained thrusts, bouncing her plump body up and down on his crotch. Grunts and moans spilled between them like water through a cracked vase. Lug would lose herself and pull at her own nipples, staring down at him as she groaned deep from her chest only to jam her thumb into her mouth to try and stifle the sound.

Shifting one arm to grip her middle, Hogarth brought their coupling to a pause to quickly and clumsily change up their positions. Her hair splayed out all over the cot as he lay her on her back and enveloped her in his embrace, her short legs snatching hold of his hips as they spread around him to take his dick.

She started to squeal in delight but his mouth muffled the sound, lips and tongue crushing together in a sloppy kiss overshadowed by the churning pleasure shared below. Why they were being quiet at all drifted out of focus as he fucked his wild little lover, his hunger for her plush body and clenching pussy demanding priority over all else.

Lug's body trembled in a quake that sent her inner walls into overdrive, squeezing and milking desperately for seed. Feeling her orgasm brought his own running to catch up, pleasure spiking higher and higher with each pulse. On a random whim he cracked one eye open to tilt his gaze towards the pot where Runa slept.

Only she wasn't sleeping. The slender, green skinned woman was sitting in a reclining position, her back against the rim of the pot and her short haired head lolled to one side. He could see a flush of darker color in her cheeks, and her lower lip was gripped between her teeth. Half lidded eyes were watching it all, while her body shivered and wiggled ever so slightly in place.

Holy shit, she's masturbating to us. Hogarth was already sliding towards the edge of release. Lug's squealing voice tried to escape their kiss again as he redoubled his efforts, pumping with wild desperation. He could feel her heels digging into him, her hands clawing over his shoulders. She knew he was close and it sent her into a frenzy. Hogarth felt a deep, primal grunt growl its way from his belly to his throat as he pinned Lug beneath him and impaled her to the hilt. The kiss broke and released every moan and outcry of ecstasy, his face pressed into her neck and hair as he bore down upon her and came.

Lug mewled and mumbled his name as he filled her, her pussy squeezing every time a fresh gush of seed pumped against her womb. He held her tight, paralyzed by the storming passions thundering through his mind and body. He didn't relax until he felt the vigor deflating in his cock and the aches of his injuries begin to trickle back to life.

Before pulling out he kissed Lug again, caressed her face, savored her sweet smile and adoring eyes. Then they turned back over so that Lug could lay atop him once more, whispering their good nights because they were still trying to be quiet for some reason.

Hogarth peeked again towards Runa to see that she was settled down into her pot, eyes closed, though her face was still flushed a rich shade of green. Closing his eyes, he wondered what sort of complications loomed around the next corner as he fell asleep.

Since Lug had tasked him with resting for a few days, the next morning was a lazy one. Breakfast was carrots and mugs of meat broth. The three of them talked over plans for reorganizing the rooms, building better furniture and how best to expand on their little potted garden.

"Once my leg's on the mend we can start collecting dirt out of the collapsed room. There's plenty of stuff to hold it in out there too. Since we have the faucet, that barrel can be repurposed too. The drip coming in can feed into planter boxes instead."

The plans were pretty simple, given how little there was to actually rearrange. Since there was no natural sunlight, the only concern they had for the plants was space. Magic supplemented their growth in place of sunlight, when they weren't being supernaturally boosted to harvest. They probably could have reduced the garden to seeds and only grown them when necessary, but it felt better having living plants growing in the room. It was also less taxing to grow them slower, so that was an added bonus.

Eventually they were left with nothing to do, so they poked through the various trinkets and books they had found. None of the books were readable, but at least one had pictures. Hogarth realized it was one of the first books to come to his collection, found in the hidden cache of the study.

"At least this one has pictures." Hogarth echoed his thought aloud idly while watching Lug flip through pages. Back in the cot, they'd piled enough fur and rolls of fabric to allow him to sit at an incline. Naturally Lug had claimed his lap, and the two poked through the short stack of books together.

"Ooh, Hogarth! They isn't just funny pichers. These're witch scribblin."

Hogarth leaned closer as the smaller woman excitedly flipped through pages. "What are witch scribblin'? Scribbling? Like a spell book or something?"

"Is when tricks are saved for using later. The best kitch witches trade skins with witch scribble tricks to others, for tending the hearth." She traced her finger around the elaborate knots and swirls of ink. "This book has good tricks, I think."

"Huh. How can you tell? Can you read any of this?"

"Can't read. Stoneriver scribblin' is differnt. These got no aibee sees. Can feel the tricks inside 'em, the colors they shine. Here, feel." With that, she threaded her fingers between his own from above his knuckles and pressed his hand to the page. After a second or two, he felt the fuzzy tingling sensation he'd come to associate with magic. It was strangely distant, like feeling from across the room even though it was right against his hand. Magic was weird.

"I think I sense it, but how do you tell the color? What does the color even mean?" He asked, while pressing harder against the page. They both flinched a little when a spark jumped from the paper and onto his leg, making a patch of hair briefly stand on end. After a second they both laughed, and Lug patted his leg gently where the spark had landed.

"Color is where tricks come from. Green tricks are from the Green Mother, who watches all hearths and gave us greens and mushies to grow. Other tricks come from different color places. Kitch witches only need the green tricks, cuz they make the hearth strong. Other colors is usually risky."

Runa poked her head in from the kitchen and cleared her throat gently before stepping into the room. "I think I can expand upon her insights. Much that I recall is instinctive, but the tricks she refers to are I believe spells related to her inherent affinity and spiritual ties. The Green Mother she mentioned must represent nature, or agriculture in some way. Her devotion strengthens her ability to use magic. I have no knowledge of a specific deity related to these aspects, it is my nature itself which connects me to such branches of magic." As if to emphasize, she extended her hand and briefly transformed her fingers into literal, leafing branches before shedding them into the other hand to return to normal.

Smiling, Runa returned to the kitchen, crushing the leaves she'd created between her palms as she went. Once she was out of sight he heard Lug grumble and watched her flip through pages irritably. "S'what I said...is tricks of different colors. Magic that does other stuff. Not good stuff, like green tricks."

"She was just trying to help explain the magic you two use, is all."

"More words, bigger words, better words. Knows green tricks, is big and tall. If you made 'er a hearth tender, she'd be the bestest, not me. She could give you big green babies. Mine might be big like you, but maybe not...maybe they'd be runty like me and not as good as the green ones?" She'd let go of the book and instead gripped his knees as anxieties she must have been bottling up popped out all at once.

Hogarth wasn't sure what set up those dominoes, but they'd certainly begun falling now. "Lug, Lug..." He gave her a firm squeeze around the middle. "I know I went along with the hearth tender thing, and we didn't really talk about anything else since, but my people are different from yours. Well, some are. You know I've told you before, we don't really have packs where I'm from. Just families, and some only small ones. Others are different, but in my clan we only have one hearth tender."

"Only one..? But how do they keep the hearth strong, the pack big, if there's only one?" She shifted in her seat on his lap, turning atop him so that she could look him in the eyes with her own wide and watery from her mixed emotions.

Offering her a crooked smile, he brushed some of the wild bangs she had out of her face. "Since we don't have packs, there's just the one hearth tender, and she's special. The only babies made are hers, and the man who would be the pack master shares the work to keep the hearth strong. That way the hearth tender doesn't have to do everything alone."

"That's...weird. Menfolk makin' food, cleanin' stuff?" She seemed genuinely perplexed by the idea.

"You do realize I've cleaned stuff here, right? Swept up dirt, moved pots, wiped off counters and cleaned out dishes."

The realization on her face was amusing to watch. "I guess...yer just so big and weird already, I didn't think about it."

"Jeeze, sorry for being so weird." He snarked, which brought a look of horror to her face he stifled by kissing her. She murmured something petulant sounding then melted into his arms. They kissed like that until all the tension had left her.

"I'm a human, you're a...from the Stoneriver clan. We have different ways of doing things. I'm not sure what's gonna happen, but you're my hearth tender. My only hearth tender. You're special. I'll never replace or abandon you. Promise."

"Ookies." She murmured, her head nestled under his chin as she squeezed him in another hug. "Yer a weird manfolk, Hogarth. But it's good! It's good weird. The best weird."

Hogarth wondered if this was what it was like to be married, or at least what a long term relationship must be like. It was such an easy chemistry, physically, mentally. There was no interference either. No social media, no television. It was just himself and Lug, making each other happy, taking care of one another in the ways they knew how. Runa's arrival had added a few unpredictable elements, but so far they'd caused no real issue other than Lug's bout of insecurity. Compared to every other relationship he'd ever had, it was no contest. While the strangest, it was also by far the strongest he'd ever experienced.

All it took was leaving reality as he knew it behind to find it. Maybe the dungeon really did reflect his desires. He tried not to wonder if that was a good or bad thing as they finished the rest of the book.

"So, how do people learn magic, anyways?" He asked once the book had been shut.

Lug sat up into his lap and stretched her arms high above her head. She was just shaking off the fatigue of laziness but the pose turned flirtatious when she realized where his gaze had been pulled.

"Learnin' tricks is easy, and hard." Her arms fell around his shoulders, and she scooted so that her breasts continued to push towards his eyes. "Easy cuz all you gotta do is feel it...pop." She wiggled her bottom deeper into his lap, molding herself against his groin. Since he'd been mostly bedridden the last few days, there was only a threadbare pair of shorts and her loincloth between them. It took very little effort for her to set that particular tent.

"So what's the hard part..?" Hogarth murmured, pulling the furs up in what seemed a futile effort to conceal what they were probably about to do. With the blankets drawn up around her hips, he felt at least a little better about slipping his hands underneath them to grope her butt.

A rosy flush of red spread across her face and down her neckline. She smiled as the color reached the tips of her ears, arousal heating rapidly between their bodies. "S'like an arm, or a leg you can't see. Can't use it a lot at first, gotta keep doin' it over an over..." She began to grind purposefully into the bulging material underneath her, her eyes wide and yearning as she stared up at him.

"Fuck." He breathed the curse out softly, then looked towards the kitchen room. There was just enough wall and angle to conceal most of the area from sight and vice versa. "Runa, could you ah...stay in there for a while? Lug and I need some privacy."

For a moment nothing was said, a stab of worry piercing through the arousal. Then a throat cleared. "Er, yes, of course! Just, ah...that is, tell me when you are finished. Speaking, or, well. I will be mixing some fresh elixirs."

Hogarth paused to listen, waiting for the sound of utensils scraping or a pot being moved, anything that might suggest Runa was doing whatever it was she was doing in there. Lug had no similar concerns to his own. Instead of waiting, she dropped her arms from around his neck and plunged between his legs. He tried to listen while her strong, nimble fingers freed his cock and stroked it to full mast. He gave up the effort when her touch turned slick, her fingers plunging into her entrance in turns to ready his tool to do the same.

He was going to try and be quiet. It was the least they could do. Short of kicking Runa out of the safety of their home base, this was the closest to private and intimate they could get. There was no telling when they would be able to have a safe, private space to themselves so they were going to have to get used to doing things a little less than privately.

When Lug scooted forward however, he forgot to do something crucial. He forgot to tell her they were being quiet. The smaller woman used her grip to push the swollen mushroom tip between her labia and probe the entrance to her sex. She then proceeded to moan as she wiggled her way down his cock. She only got louder as she went, her voice rising to a throaty cry that ended in a husky whine when he was fully enveloped.

There was no doubting what they needed privacy for, now. No room to even pretend. If he were mortified enough, he might have stopped then and there. If he weren't mortified at all, he probably would be popping a nut that very instant. Exhibitionism wasn't really something he wanted, but there was certainly something to the situation at hand. One woman desiring and being pleasured by him, another listening to it.

He didn't get much time to reflect. There was only so much distraction he could entertain before the woman in his arms stole all his focus. Her plump figure wiggled against him, flesh jiggling as she squeezed and stirred his cock around inside her. Lug raked her hands up his chest, staring up at him with half lidded eyes full of lust. Hogarth fell into her gaze, then both drifted shut as they began to rock into each other.

Groans and gasps were muffled as their lips met and their bodies bucked in earnest. The bed creaked and complained beneath them, as if the sounds they made weren't enough to reveal their love making. Hogarth was too drunk on his lover to worry about it anymore. Her desire, her affection for him was a naked flame. Powerful, vulnerable, hungry. He'd never felt so good as he did in these moments, feeding that flame, protecting it, keeping it close. She was riding hard and every time her bottom mashed down around his cock, he could feel her trying to squeeze out the seed within.