Barrelbloom
Chapter One
Five torches flickered as they made their descent through the caves of the Undermurk, the labyrinthine network of caverns and tunnels stretching beneath the realm of Medea. The five party of the Iron Sparrows travelled through another gloomy cave as they had done for most of the past two days.
“It’s just that when I ed the Sparrows, you sort of implied that there was more structure to how you worked.” Squeaked Rachelle, the shortest and also the newest member of the group. Rachelle was a mage who had only done small solo adventuring jobs in the years since she left Uncanny University. The Iron Sparrows were not at all how she expected an adventuring party to operate.
“We have a system. That counts as structure.” Karabella chipped in from the back of the group. Karabella was the main swordswoman of the group. Due to her height and musculature there were rumours she had orc blood in her lineage, rumours she never cared about enough to deny.
“Gamblers have a system, what we have is closer to a modus operandi. We go into places where nobody has tales of yet, that way we’re usually the first to explore. Ain’t that so, Heilig?” Abadale the bard said, leaning on Rachelle’s shoulder as they walked. Like most bards, Abadale loved the sound of her own voice and was overly familiar with people regardless of how long they had known her. Rachelle had noticed her stories often contradicted each other, even in the short time they had known each other.
“The idea came to me when I realised that if we just waited for rumours to hit taverns for leads, we’d always be there after all the good loot has been taken. This way, we get first pick on the best gear and the most valuable loot.” Heilig was the leader of the group and a paladin. She was decked out in white armour that contrasted with her dark brown skin and helped her use holy magic in an aura. While Karabella was the sword of the party, Heilig was the shield. Though handy in combat, her main role was keeping the less durable of the party from being hit by enemies. She struck Rachelle as more focused on getting gold than she expected a paladin to be and even more mercenary than the rest of the group, despite technically all of them being mercenaries.
“Quiet. The tunnel just ahead of us is opening up. Be careful, there’s a drop.“ Larcene hissed from several yards in front of the group. Larcene was an elf burglar by trade and built like a gymnast but it was her eye for spotting traps and threats that she proved her worth to the party. Rachelle had so far found her very taciturn and spoke very little to her outside of warnings to the party as the thin elf scouted ahead.
The rest of the group caught up to Larcene and they found she wasn’t exaggerating about a drop. The age they had been walking through was an opening near the top of a large cavern that was about fifty feet to the bottom and shaped like a giant cylinder. As the party peered in, the sides of the cavern looked wet and reflected the light from their torches back to them with a purplish hue. At the very bottom was some sort of domed structure that didn’t look like it was naturally occurring.
Heilig pointed at the structure. “If I was a heap of gold, jewels and magic swords, that’s where I would be.” Her eyes were wide and it was clear she was excited.
“But anything could be down in there. What if it is treasure that belongs to a dragon?” Rachelle was doing her best to calm things down. The Iron Sparrows got more reckless than she liked when loot was added to the equation.
“Dragons don’t tend to get this deep.” Larcene said without turning her head, she was busy studying the other walls of the cave. “There’s also no claw marks around this age and this seems to be the only entrance. Meaning we’re unlikely to see a dragon any time soon.”
“And even if we do, a dragon doesn’t exactly get loot through legal means so anything we find in the hoard is legitimate salvage and doesn’t belong to the dragon anyways!” Abadale said. The bard once again using flimsy legalese she’d possibly gleaned from plays.
“I think what the tiny wizard is trying to understand is “How do we get down and how do we get out all in one piece?” Isn’t that right, Rachelle?” Karabella made a subtle nod at Rachelle. Rachelle blushed slightly under the gaze of the chiselled giantess and when she looked down she noticed the fighter had a hand ready on her sword’s hilt.
“Errm yes. I mean, I can get us all down with a slowfall spell but I don’t know any flying or teleport spells to get us back out again.” Rachelle said loudly but also with her head down trying to make sure she was heard whilst attempting to avoid anyone noticing her blushing.
“I have a rope ladder in my pack. We’ll use that.” Larcene said in her usual businesslike way, retrieving the ladder and pitons from her bag. As she secured the ladder and lowered it to the cavern floor she noticed that the source of the purple glimmer they’d first seen on the walls of the cavern was small purple flecks of something in the cave water. The particles didn’t seem to be moving in a natural pattern like an animal or monster but there was a definite pattern somewhere. The thief let her eyes drift from watching the purple sparkles on a wet rock caused by her torch, briefly zoning out. “There seems to be something in the rocks making the water purple. Don’t drink it.” she warned the others.
Rachelle’s staff was made from cedar with knots and kinks all the way down it and polished a deep red, it was slightly taller than her with white cloth secured around it to make her grip on it stronger in battle. She closed her eyes and held it to her forehead, murmuring the short slowfall spell. The laws of nature were only getting bent slightly but a small pressure wave from nowhere emanated from the mage like a gust of wind.
“Is it done? Are we ready?” Heilig asked once Rachelle opened her eyes again.
“We can go down safely now, yes.” Rachelle confirmed. To prove it she walked across and stepped out over the drop. As promised, instead of plummeting she slowly drifted down. After a few feet, she turned around seeing her colleague’s lower bodies slowly disappear from view. “Come on now! Don’t let me get to the bottom by myself! What if something’s down there?”
“Okay, okay, don’t worry, tiny wizard. We’re here to back you up.” Karabella said as she leapt over the threshold, playing along to Rachelle’s faux concerns. The rest of the group followed suit and walked over the edge, falling through the air like they were in water.
The party had some control on where they could drift as they went downwards and saw on the way down that the structure was in fact on a small island surrounded by a shallow pool of the same purple-tinged water the walls of the cavern were soaked with.
After landing on the stony ground Heilig exhaled and a blue aura emanated from her over several feet. Rachelle didn’t know how paladin aura magic worked, unlike her magecraft it required no wand or staff, no incantations. It just happened and worked. It was theorised at Uncanny University that it was something their patron gods allowed paladins to do because they were so pure of heart but Rachelle discarded that theory after knowing Heilig for just a few weeks. The aura itself calmed Rachelle and cleared her head for the task. It wasn’t a huge boost to her magical talents but it always helped, it reminded her of how it felt to open the university library’s window in the summer after the air had become stuffy. Abadale on the other hand, compared it to being better at tavern games after two or three beers.
Now she was closer to the domed structure Rachelle could definitely see that it was not natural. It was shaped like a giant igloo with an arched entrance hole big enough for even Karabella to get through without having to crouch. The outside walls of the building were unweathered and smooth.
“That’s strange.” Rachelle offered. “ The whole thing looks like it was made from a single huge rock but there doesn’t look like signs it’s been carved. I think whoever made this place just used magic to carve the rock away in one go. You know, there’s a few ancient Daggariit temples made a similar way—”
“Daggariit? Never heard of ’em. Were they rich?” Heilig asked, her focus staying on the entrance ahead of her.
“We don’t know, all that’s left of their cities are a few ruins but some very impressive magic swords were rumo—”
“Good enough for me, let’s go. Larcene, take the lead.” Heilig was never one for Rachelle’s history lessons and this counted doubly for history lessons that were just rumours.
Larcene went ahead into the structure, she shivered slightly as she left the blue aura emanating from their leader. Rachelle saw the light of the elf’s torch moving around inside the building, creating shadows in the entrance like a sundial. Larcene’s trap checks were preternaturally quick but somehow unerringly accurate as well. Just as the party were entering the structure, she called to them.
“Seems to be no traps or mimics. There is a fair amount of loot though and some of it appears to be magical. There’s also some writing carved into the floor if anyone can read it.” The rest of the party’s torches lit up the inside of the room and they saw she wasn’t wrong. Numerous chests, boxes, armour and weapons racks, and even a wardrobe were spread around the sides, now illuminated by five torches.
“Magical, you say? Dibs on any enchanted instruments or capes!” Abadale was about to dash towards the wardrobe when Karabella grabbed her by the collar.
“There only seems to be no traps. That’s not a guarantee it’s safe yet.”
“If Larcene can’t find a trap in here, then it means there’s no trap in here. Let her go. Rachelle, check that writing, there might be some of that rumoured history for you.” Heilig brushed past the tall fighter who let go of Abadale, leaving the bard to dart to the wardrobe.
“Don’t take too long, little mage, I can’t guarantee this lot won’t keep any magic staves or wands for themselves.” Karabella said to Rachelle as she looked about the room for a chest to start investigating.
“Erm, okay. Thanks.” Rachelle headed towards the writing near the centre of the floor. She had assumed when Larcene mentioned the writing that it would be something like a buidling dedication or possibly a signature by whomever made the place. Instead, it was a single word carved roughly into the stone floor with straight, shallow lines. The writing itself wasn’t something Rachelle could easily read. The characters were similar to common Dwarven but not quite what Rachelle had studied in the past. “Hey, does anyone here know any Old Dwarven? It might be a clue for what the name of this place is…”
“If I knew, I’d have read it for you when I saw it.”
“Ha!”
“Sorry, little mage.”
“...”
With no translation spell to hand and the rest of the Iron Sparrows unable or unwilling to help Rachelle was stuck trying to decipher the word herself. The first part of it seemed to be close to the current dwarven words for “jug” or “barrell”, possibly “cask”. And the second half of it seemed to be etymologically similar to the dwarf words meaning “sprout”, “plant” or “bloom”.
“What does it say?” Rachelle jumped with a start. Larcene was right next to her, curiously looking down at the word carved into the floor. Rachelle had been deep in thought studying the writing and the thief moved about so silently as a matter of course, she had scared the wits out of Rachelle.
“Don’t do that! Please!” Rachelle said, trying to regain her composure. “I don’t know for sure what it says. It could be the name of this place, maybe there’s more clues in these chests. Something about carrying plants in a drinks container, I think. It might be something like “Plant Jug”, “FlowerFlask” or “Barrelbloom”.”
Abadale didn’t care what was going on in the center of the room, her attention was fixed on the large wood and iron wardrobe she was rummaging through. Her current gear had been worn going through, up, then under some hills and now lacked the certain sense of style she normally went for. Short shorts over tights with a corset on top may have been good for getting information in town or performing at a tavern but out in the wilds and the Undermurk it had been a wretched time for her again. At least this time things have paid off and they were going to take home some treasure and maybe new gear.
The options in the wardrobe weren’t great. Some bog standard adventuring leather armour, a diplomat suit, a dress fit for a dowager, none of it was catching Abadale’s eye. Most of the clothing was either too old-fashioned to be cool or not old fashioned enough to be retro. The bard was close to giving up and start looking for a new rapier in the hoard when she spotted the perfect outfit for herself. It was somewhere like a cross between a wedding suit and a bridal gown. Its basic shape was a black suit with purple lining but it had a large collar fanning behind where her head will go and a tail on the suit that almost touched the ground like a bridal train. Abadale had fallen for it at first sight.
Abadale sized it up to herself and it looked the right size for her but on closer inspection, it seemed to be all part of the same piece and she’d have to climb into the thing. Her mind already made up, Abadale stripped her old clothing off until she was fully naked.
“What in the underrealm are you doing? If we had to escape now, you’d be stuck nude!” Karabella shouted from the other side of the room.
“You say that like I’ve never had to run away and get dressed at the same time before! When you’ve lived a life like mine and encountered as many jealous wives and unsharing husbands as I have, you learn to put on clothes whilst making a quick exit.” Abadale now realised she had the whole party’s attention. “And besides, there’s a lot of people who would pay a lot of money to see this body undressed. Think of it as a bonus for a job well done for you all.”
She wasn’t kidding. Although she wasn’t as athletic as Larcene or have the musculature that Karabella had, Abadale was a bard used to adventuring and performing and so had a dancer’s body. Her mousy blonde hair fell down past her shoulders stopping before her perky tits and trim figure. She took her time as she pulled the suit up her body, the “bonus” she was giving her colleagues was said as a joke, but it didn’t have to be one completely and like any good performer, she could tell who was watching and who was pretending not to watch her.
As the bard put on the suit it seemed to fasten itself for her, each button magically closing and securing itself. “Ooh, it seems to be magic as well! I’ve hit the jackpot here!”
“It doesn’t look very practical. You’ll have to move your whole body if you want to look behind you. What if we have to fight something?” Rachelle had moved to checking chests for treasure or possibly any clues to what “Barrelbloom” could be.
“If we have to fight something, I’ll be moving twice as fast and eliminating foes with three times the fury so this thing doesn’t get torn or damaged. Overall, it’ll be a huge improvement!” Abadale gave a quick twirl as she looked for her adventuring boots. Although she was sure the suit would go with anything, she was slightly disappointed she hadn’t found any better footwear.
She was putting on her boots back on when she felt a slight tickle between her legs. It was more than simply the fabric brushing against her lady parts. It felt intentional and targeted.
“Mmmm. This just got even better. You guys will need to find something really good to beat this thing!” The ministrations by Abadale’s suit moved their slow and gentle massage as she continued her search of the treasure.
“What do you mean? What kind of magic does it have? Are you sure it’s not cursed?” Rachelle looked concerned as she walked towards Abadale.
“Just that it wrapped itself around me perfectly. Don’t you agree?” Abadale looked Rachelle in the eyes as she caressed her own figure teasingly.
“I’m being serious! We don’t know why any of this stuff is here or who put it here! What if everything here is a cursed object?” The mage snapped.
“It’ll be fine! If it’s all cursed we’ll sell it as such. There’s always a mad wizard doing research somewhere and they love an ancient curse to investigate and categorise. They’re not getting this though, this is mine.” Abadale found the mage’s worrying cute but sometimes quite tiresome. “Now answer my question, how perfect does this suit look on me?” She made an exaggerated pose, using her arms and hands to frame herself like a portrait or poster for a troubadour’s show.
“Well, okay. Yes. You look really really nice in it.” As the mage turned away and back to whatever she was doing, Abadale saw she was blushing slightly.
Abadale opened a wooden chest and peered inside. Her suit’s lining was still teasing between her legs and though it was a slight distraction it didn’t stop the bard doing what she had set out to do. The chest was half-full,although there wasn’t anything that immediately caught her attention, Abadale hoped that underneath the various trinkets, nicknacks and otherwise useless junk, there would be something worth the effort.
The bard knelt in front of the chest and leant in to get a better look. The suit paused its massage as she bent into position. When she settled, Abadale could feel that her breasts were now receiving attention from the clothing, gently massaging her while she looked through the chest.
“Hmm, mixing it up a little, are we?” Abadale murmured to her suit as it surreptitiously felt her up. As she had no underwear on, the lining was moving directly against her body. Steadily in waves it played with her perky tits. The whole thing reminded Abadale of a time she seduced a minor royal who had a thing for wearing silk gloves in bed. Abadale was trying to what the duchess’ name was when the suit started playfully teasing both her breasts and pussy at the same time.
“Very keen, aren’t you?” Abadale said under her breath. “Let’s try and keep it down, little Rachelle will want me to take you off if I get too distracted. You don’t need to be gentle but I need to be quiet.” Abadale couldn’t tell if the suit even understood her as it teased her flesh until she felt her pussy beginning to moisten.
Despite the attention she was getting from her clothing Abadale managed to quickly find a few useful or at least expensive looking items in the chest, namely a dragon draughts set along with a bag of well-cut gems, both would be worth quite a bit when the party got back to a town. Her suit however, was starting to make things more difficult for her.
Where previously her breasts were being massaged, the suit was getting rougher with its treatment of its wearer with occasional nips and tweaks from within the lining. Abadale was getting used to the change when she started to feel the lining between her thighs start to shape itself and push steadily into her pussy like a cock from behind.
Surprised, she let out a loud gasp.
“Is everything alright over there?” Abadale heard Rachelle squeak in concern.
“Just peachy. I was just surprised by a bit of rare loot. I’ll show you it later.” Abadale replied, her arm waving the mage away without turning the rest of herself around, her slightly reddening face blocked by the suit’s large collar and the slow penetration her pussy was taking was apparently not being shown in the movement of the suit’s outer layers.
Abadale looked at her arm. It had dismissively waved until Rachelle was heard returning back to her own business. What was worrying Abadale was that she hadn’t been the one waving, the suit had moved her arm for her and had now returned to the chest she was investigating. She had also noticed that even though she put the suit on barehanded, it appeared like she was now wearing purple silken gloves. However this train of thought was interrupted by another smooth thrust into her pussy by the suit from behind.
“Wh—” was all she managed to get out as part of the suit’s neck enveloped the bard’s throat, mouth and nose, cutting her words off before they could be spoken, not even leaving room for a muffled yell.
The clothing wasn’t allowing any movement or sound to escape Abadale’s mouth. That didn’t stop her from trying in a frantic desperate attempt to try and make even a small sound, enough to raise alarm. But no matter what she did the material wasn’t letting any noise escape nor was it letting Abadale out. She wondered if anyone else had noticed her situation but all she could hear was Rachelle talking about an amethyst necklace she’d found and Karabella comparing swords.
Abadale watched as her left hand grabbed the rim of the open chest, her right hand then picked up an inexpensive looking candle holder from inside the chest, moved it in front of her face like it was inspecting it, then put it back down. She then felt the cocklike appendage glide into her pussy causing a silent attempt at a moan muted by the material covering her mouth..
Another object was retrieved from the chest, shown to Abadale’s face, then replaced as another thrust of the cock slid into her increasingly wet folds.The suit hadn’t let up its pressure on her breasts and now her pussy was being filled, the waves of silk concentrated on her clit.
The blonde bard tried her best to move free but to no avail, the suit’s lining had her completely at its mercy and was increasing its attack. Abadale guessed that it was picking up items in the chest and dropping them because that’s what she was doing before and now it was controlling her it didn’t want to raise suspicions as it silently fucked her near her unsuspecting comrades. She was reminded of background players on stage. Moving but not drawing attention.This brief idea was cut short as the suit’s silky cock slid in again. She was getting wetter and even more turned on by her torture but at this point could no longer tell if it was something she wanted all along or if it was an effect of the suit.
The consistent driving into her pussy mixed with the attention given to her clit and nipples was driving Abadale crazy. She was locked in place but could hear the other of her party looking through loot, not a single one of them able to help. It wasn’t long before the buildup was too much for her and she felt herself nearing an orgasm.
Her nipples were stiff, her clit felt like it was going to explode and the thrusting in her cunt kept going and going and going but then, just as she thought she was going to climax, it all stopped.
Abadale knew immediately what was happening. The suit had started out torturing her by fucking her, now it was going to torture her by not fucking her enough. Her suspicions were confirmed when after a short respite, it began teasing her pussy again.
The blonde was already desperate for release. She was using whatever tiny amount of give the suit had to move herself with it. The hope being that going just a little bit deeper, a little bit quicker or grinding herself a little bit harder would be enough to bring her over the edge.
She made another attempt to turn her head and call out for help but her movement was barred and her sounds muted. She felt the material around her neck tighten slightly. It felt less like a suit collar and more like an animal collar to Abadale, who had experience of wearing both, but the message was clear. The suit was in control and how she moved, how she breathed, and how she cum was up to the suit.
The phrase “Is she wearing the dress, or is the dress wearing her?” drifted through Abadale’s head as the tweaking the suit was doing to her nipples intensified to full pinching. As the suit possessively twisted and wrested her, the pain caused her eyes to roll back but she was beyond caring, the extra sensation was something more so Abadale pushed her own chest into it..
Abadale tried to take stock of her situation. She’d never been used this way and was loving it. She had previously liked some rough stuff but the suit had transformed her into a complete slut for pain. The aggressive pinching was no longer a consequence but a flavour of the pleasure delivered by the suit.
Abadale tried to open her mouth to speak again but this time was to try and beg the suit to let her cum. Still no sound was able to escape. Instead, the pinching ceased and the teasing of her pussy eased to a slow caress. Abadale was worried that it was over and she wasn’t going to feel the lining’s caress any more, her concern was short-lived when she felt a firm slap across her buttocks followed by another and another.
The spanking was steady and consistent like a metronome, delivering a blow to one of her cheeks, waiting a short while before delivering another and repeating after a short while again. Abadale was thrown off by the chosen cheek being selected seemingly at random but each blow consistently hitting the fleshiest spot each time.
The bard figured that no one else in the room could tell she was being spanked like this. That no matter how wet her pussy became or how red her arse cheeks got, her cursed clothing wasn’t going to betray its secret to anyone else.
The spanking relented but the suit was still too much for Abadale, she was trapped in a cycle of her sensitive spots being teased and fucked right up until an orgasm was almost within her grasp but denied release every single time. The bard was worried she was going to be stuck like this until she starved when she heard a commotion had started outside the Barrelbloom structure.
Abadale stood up. She had no choice in the matter, the cursed suit she was wearing was puppeting her and walking her towards the exit, still sending wave after wave of pleasure and massaging every inch of her body that it covered. As she walked, Rachelle came up next to her.
“Oh, that thing has a matching mask for your face too. You look very cool, Abadale. Like a lady bandit or a highwaywoman from a story!” Rachelle pointed at the part of the suit that was covering Abadale’s mouth and nose, the reason she couldn’t call for help as she got teased almost to the point of insanity.
Abadale wanted to tell Rachelle to get help, that the suit was cursed and it’ll take them all to cut her out of it and defeat it. But the words just couldn’t come out.
“Thanks. You know, I think this suit might already become my thing, you know? It might even be my trademark one day!” Abadale said from under the mask. She may have wanted to escape this enchanted silky prison, but more than that she now wanted to see the others trapped in suits of their own. They hadn’t rescued her and while she was begging for release, all she heard was their own chatterings. It was now she decided she was going to make them suffer like she had, and they were going to thank her for it.
Outside the other three Iron Sparrows were gathered at the water’s edge looking at what was left of a rope ladder floating in the water and partially dissolved.
“It looks like the water going down the side of the whole cave is corrosive and it melted the ladder.” Larcene said, not betraying any emotion in her voice.
“And that was our only way out?” Heilig was looking up at where the rope ladder fell from. There was about five feet of frayed rope dangling from the cavern they came in and that entrance was still fifty feet higher than they were right now. The paladin had her blue aura activated to try and keep a level head, using its holy magic to keep fear at bay.
“Unless our little mage here learned any teleportation or flight spells while we’ve been here, it would appear so.” Karabella looked a little annoyed at Rachelle. Abadale could tell she was doing her best to not snap but even despite Heilig’s calming aura and the fighter’s easy temperament, her nerves were a little frayed due to their situation.
“I haven’t, no. Sorry. But that’s not to say we still can’t teleport. There could still be spell scrolls or potions down here that we could use to get someone up and out of here.” Rachelle suggested.
“It’s a good idea to look but it’s a bit of a long shot. Any better ideas for a Plan A?” Heilig asked the group.
“I’ll do it.” Larcene said. “I’ll climb the cave wall and attach a new ladder.”