Sanctum of Domination Part III (Story)

Apologies for the delay etc. This is the first part of the story the last bit isn't ready for primetime yet but I wanted to get something before the month elapsed. Hope y'all dig it! I'll add the end soon pinky swear.

This is a sequel to my previous Sanctum of Domination stories, so check those out if you haven't! This has trans themes, transformation, some corruption/MC play, bimbofication, all that good stuff. Just a heads up!

**************************************

Jane flicked through page after page on his tablet, looking for answers. VR had been around for decades, but Immersive VR, the kind that required the neural uplink, was relatively new. Plenty of tests had been done to assure regulators and the public that it was safe to use. The only deaths were because of overstimulation and physical neglect, the kinds of things that the cutoff safeties were supposed to prevent. The companies didn’t want people dying in their product after all; it looked bad in the news.

Diving deeper into the research, or at least the blogs on the research that he could understand, he found some promising leads. There were a few documented cases where someone’s physical or mental state would transfer between the virtual reality and the real world. The papers called this effect ‘Bleedthrough’.

“That doesn’t sound good,” he muttered to himself, taking a big pull from his energy drink. Time had lost meaning. Jane had no idea how long he’d been staring at the screen.

“You find something?” Skari asked. She looked gorgeous as ever. Raven black hair that spilled down to her muscular shoulders, her lean and trim body looking quite fetching despite her wearing a pair of his sweatpants and a t-shirt with a video game logo. A strange look for her, given her usual attire.

He showed the tablet to the sorceress. “It says here that they found cases where people could be affected by what happened in the game. Feeling like they should be taller like their game character, or believing they knew how to fight because their avatar knew how. A kind of lingering not-rightness…like phantom limb syndrome.”

“Ah yes. A sense that your body is not quite right. There’s a word for that, you know.” There was a poisonous edge to her words, and he didn’t rush to request clarification.

“Anyways, at least there’s precedent for what I’m experiencing. And it’s a list of symptoms I need to be wary of in the future.” He reached for the can of energy drink and took another long gulp. The metal in his hand didn’t feel right. It had become warm, slippery. He looked over. It was a cock. It was her cock. Its throbbing, glistening head looked perfect. Delicious.

“Well?” she asked, looking down at him. Sitting in his chair, he was at the perfect height to just lean over and…

He opened his mouth and let her inside. He hadn’t sucked off a woman before. Or had he? His head was so fuzzy, nothing was right. Except the dick in his mouth. That was where it belonged. He placed his hands on her tight buttcheeks to keep himself steady and let her take the lead, pushing herself deeper into his mouth. She tasted like salt and musk, and he let his tongue drag along her underside to take in every inch of her length. While she pistoned back and forth with a leisurely ease, she picked up the tablet from his hand and continued to read.

“It does seem like you’re experiencing symptoms of this bleedthrough effect,” she agreed, her breath catching for a moment when he licked a particularly sensitive part of her tip, “But overuse of anything for long periods can cause negative effects. It might be best to reduce your time spent inside the machine. I and the others in the Planet of Perils will be there when you wish to return. I think we work well together, y’know?”

Jane nodded, though stopped when he realized that meant he wasn’t pleasuring the cock in his mouth properly. As way of apology, he cradled Skari’s sack with his hands, gently teasing them and massaging the orbs to induce production of his imminent reward. She increased pace, humping herself into his open mouth and using him for her own gratification. Precum spilled freely down his throat, lubricating it further. The sorceress’s shaft twitched, and he could feel her clench back.

“I’m close,” she said breathily, “Where do you want it?”

Without thinking, he pointed at his face. Getting covered in her thick cream sounded absolutely wonderful to him. For some reason, cum was on his mind. Her cum? His? His mind was so cluttered, it was hard to get the thoughts right. Thankfully, Skari could take the lead on this one. She pulled herself back and, with quick and efficient strokes, finished herself off.

“Here you go, slut,” she said, then groaned with wild abandon as the first jets of sorceress spunk pattered against his forehead. The second shot glued his right eye shut, while the third covered his cheek on the opposite side. He grinned with facile glee as the last few weak spurts landed against his lips, allowing him to lick up the rest. Jane opened his mouth obediently to clean off any leftovers on her cock, making it gleam with his saliva.

“Mmm…thank you~” he said, the world melting around them.

She cupped his cum-covered face in her hand, lifting it to meet her gaze. “See? I told you we work well together. Now go on, Jane. I’ll see you soon.”

***

Harsh, cacophonous wailing snapped him up to a standing position, catching his feet from under him, then sending himself and the chair he’d been sitting in tumbling to the ground. He landed in a heap of limbs and plastic, mind still two steps behind what was happening. Awareness flooded in. He’d been sleeping at his desk. An alarm had gone off. Alarm? What alarm? Wasn’t it the weekend still?

He crawled like a wounded soldier, pain from the fall still smarting, over to where his phone rested in its charging cradle. The alarm had been the one he set for the start of his working week. It was not the weekend, and he was about half an hour late!

“Fuck!” He scrambled to get dressed, looking all the worse for wear in the process. If he hurried, he might still have a job at the end of the day.

***

He’d hauled ass to work after a quick text to Chris to cover for him. No reply. He hissed out some choice curses, muffled by the general background noise of the packed bus. Every turn he leaned into, trying not to press against the other wage slaves. Something about his skin was strangely sensitive, and a woman who reached over to hold onto the same handle and brushed against his hand made him shiver. He blushed, hiding his face. Maybe he was worrying too much. Nervous system feedback, maybe. That Bleedthrough effect he read about.

Probably.

He sprinted off the bus at his stop, approaching the monolithic warehouse structure that loomed over the security gate. Skari’s Sanctum had nothing on its intimidating presence. There were no driders guarding it, however. Just some security cameras, the badge scanners at the doors, and a single quadcopter. Any one of these could catch him being late, but Jane had a plan. It wasn’t the first time he played off arriving late like he’d been off in the back fetching something. As a long time employee, he knew the ways to sneak into the building without being noticed. In through the back gate (which had a hole in the chainlink you could shimmy through), hang a left at the old gas pumps, up through the shipping dock that was always open this time of year to let fresh air in. Then it’s just through the south end of the building…

He’d crossed the threshold of the warehouse before he noticed something amiss: no people. The building was largely automated, true, but there was always *some* staff about. He’d noticed nobody. Besides the drones, there was no motion in the yard. And there was no motion at all in the warehouse itself. Several stocking drones stood still, their forks half-thrust into palettes or stopped in the middle of one of the cramped logistics corridors. Something was wrong. Deathly wrong.

He emerged from the southern stacks and heard a muffled voice coming from the centre of the room. Making his way over the dead conveyors, the voice grew louder…and more familiar.

“.,.this facility’s record. And I’m not going to let that continue. Our corporation is a family, of course, but sometimes strict measures must be taken to keep things running smoothly.”

Jane ground to a halt. He knew that voice. It haunted every team update, every mandatory meeting over their proprietary conference app.

Regional Manager Penelope Alfredo commanded the room, where all the human employees of the facility were arrayed in a loose arc around her. Every motion was straight out of a textbook on effective public speaking, every intonation of her voice practiced and rehearsed. At first she had her back to Jane, but as his coworkers noticed him emerging from the back, their attention drew hers.

For a brief, fleeting moment, Jane thought about diving behind the nearest forkbot. Then, realising that would make him look even more guilty, he resigned himself to a faint wave and a quick shuffle over to the tail end of the gathered staff.

“As I was saying: to ensure the smooth operation of this facility, I will personally be inspecting this installation and its functions for corporate. This will include individual assessments of personnel. In the next week I will bring you aside to discuss your present and future employment. For most this will be just a formality. For some,” Her eyes fell on Jane for a beat longer than necessary before she continued, “This may mean corrective measures may need to be taken. Additional training, shifting of responsibilities or, at the extreme end, termination.”

The meeting went on for another few minutes, but Jane was already checked out. Scenarios born out of anxiety ran through his head as she went on and on about whatever corporate platitudes they had sent her to deliver. Mercifully, she wrapped it up and told them to get back to work. The many drones in the factory lurched to life as soon as the vast majority of their sightlines were clear. Jane had almost made a similar escape when-

“Jane,” Penelope said in a stern tone, “May I talk with you for a minute?”

It wasn’t a request. He sagged his shoulders and made his way over, slowly, receiving a few sympathetic glance from his coworkers. Nobody wanted to be the one in this position.

***

The door to the manager’s office slammed shut. It looked like Penelope had taken over the room, his actual boss’ things nowhere to be seen. Had he been fired? Jane wanted to ask, but sensed that it wasn’t the time for it.

The Regional Manager slid around the back of the large wooden desk, its surface bare save a single black tablet. No photos, no decoration, not even one of those novelty kinetic ball clacker things. She picked up the tab and scrolled through with lazy flicks of a finger. When she offered him a seat, he looked around for one and found that she was sitting in the only chair in the room.

“Oh, that’s right,” she said, touching her forehead. “I had the extra chairs removed. I’m sure I can have them brought back in if you would like.”

Jane did all he could to suppress a scowl. Power Plays with seating, he thought, really? The fuck was this a medieval banquet hall?

“I’ll stand.”

“Suit yourself. I’ll be brief, so you can get to starting your shift.” She placed her emphasis on the word ‘starting’ for a reason, he thought bitterly. “As a part of my auditing of this facility and its operations, I’ve been tasked with finding weak points. Areas that might get overlooked, but can prove disastrous to productivity in the long run.”

A long pause followed as he waited to see if she was going to continue. But she didn’t. She sat stock still, unblinking, using awkwardness like a Spanish Inquisitor might use a pair of heated tongs.

“I’m not normally late like this. I was dead tired and slept right through my alarms. It won’t happen again.”

She continued her silence, but at least returned to blinking. She picked the tab back and scrolled further down the screen.

“You’ve been an employee here for three years, seven months. Only a few notes on here, most of them positive. I don’t see a reason I should recommend letting you go. I believe you have a lot to offer in your current position.” She leaned forward. “But let me be clear: this is not a social engagement. From now on, your productivity and punctuality will be under a microscope. Any more unprofessional behaviour and I will certainly reexamine my position.”

“I would like to reexamine her position,” said a voice from within his head, “She’d look good on her knees.”

His eyes bugged. It was the voice! The voice that had told him to…well, he’d heard the voice before at least. But what was it? Was he finally snapping?

“Is there something wrong?” Penelope asked. Quashing the powerful urge to scan the room for a third party he was pretty sure wouldn’t be there, he instead gave a gentle shake of his head. She seemed to accept that. “At any rate, let this be a first And final warning to you. Lest you forget, you were a participant in our Housing Assistance program. I shouldn’t need to elaborate what happens if you were to lose your employment.”

He swallowed hard. Without the company’s assistance, he’d never be able to afford his apartment. Especially not with his salary. He nodded, though the chill in his blood was moderated by a sudden glowing ember within him. A spark of something threatening to catch.

“Go on,” the voice told him from within, “Tell her how you really feel. Tell her how she can take her empty corporate suit attitude and get fucked. Tell her that you’d love to see her bent over this desk and begging for it.”

The words almost formed in his mouth before he controlled himself. Something was terribly wrong.

“May I return to my shift?” he asked instead.

“Hmm…I suppose. I’ll send a note with your performance review information shortly.”

Not even waiting for her to finish her sentence, he rushed out the door and back onto the second floor walkway that overlooked the vast, labyrinthine delivery warehouse. He gripped the handrailing and focused on the voice he had heard. He poured over every syllable, trying to put a cause to this development. It wasn’t his voice, so it wasn’t some repressed inner monologue. But it wasn’t any other person’s voice either. It was…something else.

He moved through his shift like a zombie, lost in self-interrogation. When his shift ended, he barely noticed, mutely packing up his belongings and shuffling onto the bus home. The voice hadn’t returned. Maybe he’d imagined it, he thought, or some kind of bleedthrough effect from the VR.

Jane pushed his door open and stumbled inside. Home. Sweet, sweet home. He didn’t bother to eat, or even undress. He just stumbled into bed, closed his eyes, and awoke nine hours later.

The next ‘morning’, Jane had two options now. He could start job searching, preparing for the likely event that he might get fired. Then he could spend the rest of the day before his shift interrogating why there was a woman’s voice in his head. Maybe even evaluate whether he should be spending so much time in VR if he was getting that kind of bleed into his waking life.

Or.

***

Returning once more to the Planet of Perils, progress around Skari had gone swimmingly. Instead of the dreary, dilapidated tomb, she stood in a stone hall fit for a monarch. Or at least, the bottom half of one. The roof was still open, but the walls had crawled up at least twenty feet in most places. It was the length of a cathedral, giving her plenty of room for supplements and grovelers. The stone of the old Skari’s tower had been recut into its new shape, giving the hall an impressive scale if a somewhat rough appearance. Even now she saw one of the driders she’d ‘hired’ hard at work on a scaffold of spiderwebs, using a block and tackle of the same substance to lift a new chunk into place.

“My Queen!” announced a familiar voice. Calliope Honeydew the architect goblin stepped lively from her drafting desk to her liege’s feet. At some point, she’d taken Skari’s off-hand suggestion to get herself a hardhat. This took the form of an old iron helmet with a splotch of yellow paint, but the effect was nevertheless appreciated.

“You’re making significant progress I see,” the overlord said, hands on her hips as she looked up to watch the heavy block slide into place.

“I’m glad you like it, Skari the Magnificent! This will be your throne room, of course, with the throne the last thing we work on. The driders are surprisingly good stonesmiths!”

“Years living in caves will do that,” commented Rakna, who approached from the far end of the hall. She kept her hands clutched behind her back, appearing for all the world like she was the boss.

“Has the relocation concluded?” Skari asked, putting a little more oomph into her voice to make it clear who was really in charge.

The spider woman seemed amused at the power play, but nodded. “Indeed. The last sleds with our belongings should be arriving soon. That raises the question of where we will be quartered.”

“I’m sure we can spare some material for a barrack. Let me just…” Her words trailed off as she brought up the readout for the Sanctum on her HUD.

*Lair Status*

Lair Upgrade in Progress!

Upgrading to: Sanctum of Defilement, Level 1

Estimated Time to Functional State: 3 Hours 15 Minutes, Earth Standard Time

Time worked on a different scale in the game than in the real world, which allowed for a building to be completed in days rather than months or even years. Still, she had a while to go before she could properly lounge in her new Level 1 digs. She read on.

New Room: Throne Room

The centre of your authority, and a measure of your power. Sitting on the throne will bring up customization options not available in the standard menu, as well as allow you access to your domain’s reserves of magical energy.

Expansions Possible:

Barracks: 50 Materials

Workshop: 50 Materials

Smithy: 125 Materials

Vault: 75 Materials

Specialized Expansions Possible:

Drider Den: 75 Materials

Requirements for upgrade to Level 2:

33/150 Materials

14/25 Labourers

3/10 Warriors

0/5 Tradespeople

1/1 Planner

From the readout, it appeared that she did not have the resources for living quarters after all. That was unacceptable! She couldn’t have her workers sprawled out in her hall, doing god knows what to the staff…though the thought of Briggy in a classical maid outfit did have its own appeal. Either way, her workers and warriors would need a place to live and do their…activities, preferably one that was out of sight. That thought caused Skari to recall her conversation with Honeydew just before she’d left, and got an idea.

“Your team works with stone, yes? Perhaps you’d be interested in excavating the grounds underneath the old tower? There’d as like as not to be some rooms down there, if only cellars or dungeons or whathaveyou. If you were to remove the debris and clear it out, I grant you official dibs on the space. Anything you find down there is mind by rights, of course, but you’d at least have a place out of the sun and prying eyes.”

Rakna rubbed her chin for a moment. “Hmm…that does sound like a deal that mostly benefits you, but if you’re willing to let us grow glowcaps and breadmoss down there as well, perhaps even access any local groundwater…yes, I could see it being a palatable home. At least for the duration. There is the matter of meat, of course, but-”

“One thing at a time,” Skari said, holding up a hand. “I already got like, 18 different things to juggle here. As soon as you’re done with the Throne Room, you can start work on the excavation. Bring up any materials you think you can build with, as well. Going to need a lot more if this Sanctum is going to become a proper fortress.”

After a few more scattered exchanges on details, the leader of the driders wandered off, her two handmaidens in tow. Mikra was the taller one, who spoke in monosyllabic words and gave a harsh scowl to just about everyone. Lyra was the wider one, and was less outwardly hostile, though she seemed to keep her eyes on Skari at every moment. These three represented the grand sum and total of Skari’s military, as they were the only ones who said no to performing physical labour. Another thing to worry about, she mused, then headed off herself to inspect the grounds.

“Are things looking to your satisfaction?”

Skari jumped. “Fuck, sorry Honeydew. Forgot you were there.”

The little goblin held up her hands. “It’s alright, I know I’m short. But are things to your liking?”

The overlord smiled. “Yes, things are coming along nicely. I was just about to head out to check around the outside of my tower.”

The short woman clapped her hands. “Oh, you’re in for a treat! Carri is doing such a wonderful job!”

***

The outside of the tower was looking a lot less dreary than it had when she’d set out to find the driders. For one, just having upright walls was a big step in the way of making the place feel less like a ruin. For another, there were the first hints of greenery around the edges of the building. Bent down over a tiny clump of leaves was the Elf woman Skari had first seen wrapped around a drider cock back at the cave. Though she was still plumped up, she was at least fairly mobile. She clambered back to her feet, whispered something arcane, and watched as a shrub grew up from the soil. It blossomed and became covered in fresh leaves like a time-lapsed clip in a nature documentary. When she was through, a bush that would have likely taken years to blossom swayed before her in a gentle breeze.

“Your name is Carri, right?” Skari asked.

The elf nodded, absently rubbing her enormous belly. For some reason, Skari thought that her tummy looked smaller. “Carri’aran Lethrendir. Level 4 Life Mage. But I’ve never heard of you. Are you a new enemy type the AI is testing out?”

Skari’s eyebrows shot up. She was a player too! At first, she thought about lying and going with the idea that she was an NPC. Perhaps that would be a viable tack down the line, when she had an army of goons to stand in between her and other players. But for now, given the level of autonomy on display, it would be a fool’s errand to try to keep the secret.

“I’m also a player. Being an Evil Overlord is the AI’s way of spicing up the game, giving players a true test of their resources. The name’s…” She paused, momentarily unsure what name to use for herself. After a beat, she settled on the obvious. “Name’s Skari.”

Carri’s look of surprise became a mirror of Skari’s own from moments before. “No way! I had no idea that there were even evil character classes, let alone overlord ones. How does the interface work? Do you get to design this building or is it predetermined, like a wireframe blueprint?”

The overlord held up her hands. “Whoa whoa whoa, one thing at a time. Jeez.” As the elf caught her breath, a thick glob of cum slid down her thigh right in front of Skari. “Forgive me, I wasn’t really expecting you to be another player. You seemed to be…”

“Like a Lusty Elf Maiden from a bad hentai?” she said with a laugh. “Oh, sure, I’m horny as fuck. But I’m not a ditz, or I don’t think I am. In real life I have a couple degrees and a demanding chem eng job. I use PoP for two reasons: stress relief, and monsterfuckery.”

“Monster…fuckery?”

“Oh c’mon!” The other player gesticulated at the busty drider closest to her. “You can see how hot these sexy spiders are.”

Skari blushed, or at least felt like she was blushing. “They have a certain appeal. Mostly the top halves. But…you log on entirely to get railed by monsters?”

“Well, yeah. That and cum is the perfect source of life mana, which lets me perform my magic.” Her belly rubs became an appreciative pat.

Skari stared at the inflated tummy, imagining just how much cum one would have to retain to make such a large bump. As she marvelled, two pieces of information slotted together in her head like sticky puzzle pieces.

“Life magic you say? Would you be the one who was planting seeds up in the mountains?”

She snapped her fingers into a pair of finger guns. “You got it! It was for a quest I’m doing for the local Druid Coven. I’m basically rep grinding for them to get access to new spells…plus the missions take me to dangerous places to get “captured” by scary monsters.”

“I see,” Skari said, and sort of did. The other player’s goal of just being a fucktoy for various monsters was not the kind of gameplay she would personally chose, but she’d be a hypocrite if she wagged a finger at the prospect of fucking the local monster population. But the fact that Carri was a mage made the elf an interesting commodity. “Will you be leaving us, now that my spiderwomen are working on a new project?”

She lit her lower lip, eyes rolling to the side as she thought. “Maybe…I have been thoroughly plowed by driders at this point, might be interested in changing it up a bit.”

“Might I convince you to stick around?” It was a little early into Skari’s overlording career to be enlisting other players into her plans, and she had no intent on trying to keep her captive or anything against her will. But perhaps…

“That depends,” Carri said, folding her arms, “Are you intending on bringing in a panoply of slutty monsters for me to bang?”

“Uhh, maybe?” Skari said, a little embarrassed. She had been accruing some rather saucy assistants lately, but to have the goal spoken aloud made her slightly self-conscious. “I mean, if there’s a non-attractive monster I likely won’t turn them down, if that’s what you’re asking. My goal is to build an empire, and that’ll likely be done on the backs of various creatures I can bend to my will.”

“Is that so? Well, I do like the whole ‘will bending’ thing. Tell ya what: I gotta log for the night. Next couple seshes I’ll hang around the place, maybe work my magic and give you some greenery out here. God only knows you need it. If you don’t conjure up anyone interesting, we’ll go our separate ways. Bring some new monsters around…then hey, maybe we can talk a more permanent alliance thingy. Fair?”

Skari nodded. “More than. Talk to you soon?”

“Hopefully.” With a wink, the cum-bloated elf blipped out of existence. She was a strange one, Skari thought to herself, but she certainly embraced what she loved. With nothing she thought she could do before the Lair finished, she logged off, became Jane again, and got some food and water into her while she waited for the build time to elapse.

***

Jane stared at his hands. One was wrapped around a sandwich, an Italian deli meat special with the tangy mustard he liked. The other idly fondled himself, lost in lazy circles around his own dick. The problem was that he didn’t remember making the sandwich, nor did he remember unzipping his pants and getting to half mast watching…what?

He realized he was sitting at his computer, the 2D monitor he kept for side hustle projects opened to about a dozen tabs of porn. Hardcore monsterfucking porn, the likes of which his browser history had never seen. He blinked. The memories of his actions came to him, but he couldn’t recall making the decisions. It was like he’d been on autopilot and only now returned to manual control.

While finishing the sandwich, he closed the tabs one by one. Some were pretty wild, but he ended up bookmarking a few for future ‘perusal’. He snorted, trying his best to play it off casually. Maybe he was more tired than he thought.

*Ding!*

The alarm he’d set for when the throne room finished had gone off. He hesitated for a moment, hand hovering over the neural jack. Maybe he was spending too much time in the game…

***

Reentering the world, Skari found herself back in the large stone room that she’d left. It was now enclosed, however, rough cut blocks placed as ceiling. Large braziers burned around huge support pillars to give the rooms its illumination. The walls were bare, for now, but complete. Empty doorways led off to the outside, but there was plenty of room for expanding outward. Arranged in two parallel lines next to the pillars, the driders stood with hand over breast in their version of a salute. Briggy and Honeydew also gave their respects, but a little less formally. The goblin doffed her helmet, and Briggy…well, Briggy said the word “yippie!”

“Overlord Skari Suneater,” Rakna pronounced, trying to reassert a suitable level of gravitas, “May I present to you: your throne.”

While the room itself was functional, the throne had more time and attention paid to it. The stone was a different colour to the rest of the construction, reminding Skari of the slate colour of the drider cave than the ruins the rest had been cut from. It had a curved shape, with a backrest that looked like four large stone digits stretched out until they resembled a grasping claw, both armrests being “thumbs” giving the whole thing an eerily uncomfortable appearance. There was something *wrong* about the throne, and that meant it was perfect.

She ran her fingers along the smooth stone, which they’d carved with unsettling Gigerian curves. “With this act, I formally reclaim the mantle of Skari the Corruptor, and bring forth a new age of corruption upon this world!”

With enough pomp and circumstance, she settled down onto her throne, and waited for the system to recognise her majesty.

*ERROR: Lair Systems and Options Unavailable!*

“Wait, what the fuck?” she mumbled, deflating. Mentally leafing through the warning, she read aloud to herself.

“Access to system options and menus unavailable until Core is reconnected...The hell does that mean?”

Helpfully, another text prompt appeared in answer.

*All Lairs require a Core to operate independently of the Overlord’s own abilities. As you have your own energy reserves, so must your Lair. This Lair’s Core is no longer responding and must either be repaired or replaced.*

“Well…damnit. That was anticlimactic.”

“If I may, your Depravity?” Honeydew asked. At Skari’s nod, she climbed up to the dais. “The records we found on the exact mechanics of how your previous incarnation’s lair worked are sketchy; she didn’t exactly write stuff down. We do know, however, that the source of the Tower’s evil lay in a chamber deep within the structure. It was there that the Four Heroes of Legend ventured to defeat it forever…but not before it swore revenge on them and their lines in perpetuity.”

Skari massaged her chin. “You’re saying the Core is, was, alive?”

Honeydew nodded. “We have an idea of what it looked like but…you’re not gonna like it.” She fished around in her little fanny pack and pulled out a journal. Flipping through the pages, she opened it up and turned it over so Skari could see.

“You were right,” Skari said, staring at the parchment laid out before her, “I don’t like this.”

The image was sketched in charcoal, making the details of the ghastly being depicted appear smudged and indistinct. What was clear was that there was a skull-like visage caught in a black void, caught between swirling pools of liquid malice. Appendages with a dozen fingers each reach toward the viewer, as if they could pierce through the paper and pull her in. And given this was a world of magic and the image was sufficiently terrifying, it was hard to persuade herself that this wasn’t a real possibility.

“I’m surprised you don’t remember this, of all things. It seems…indelible.”

“It certainly does look like the Core of an evil overlord’s lair. But…how do you know this is accurate? It might just be mythmaking,” Skari said, half to herself. “I mean if nobody alive has seen the Core, how are we to know this isn’t just an effective piece of propaganda I put out to keep people from messing with my tower? Or maybe the Heroes embellished to prop up their own legend?”

Dead silence. Not so much as a placating nod. She was on her own with that line of thought.

“At any rate,” Rakna cut in, “Now that construction of this room is complete, we will proceed to excavating the collapsed tunnels beneath our feet. Assuming it’s just the entrance that is blocked and not the entirety of the subterranean complex, we should be clear to investigate momentarily. How do we proceed?”

Skari took a moment and called up her stats again. Her current goon squad consisted of Rakna, her two handmaidens, and Briggy, if she could be coaxed into not thinking about dick for a few hours. Having no idea what to expect, she decided to bring all four down into the tunnels with her. Half measures weren’t going to get her anywhere. She had to be bold, decisive.

“We go in, claim the Core, and frag anything that gets in our way.”

***

“Clear below!” One of the larger driders shouted as one of the last hunks of old masonry came crashing down. It hit the already fragment-strewn ground with a weighty thump, shattering into a dozen smaller pieces and sending a cloud of dirt and dust into the air. They could see through now into the passage beyond, though more rocks would have to be pulled to allow ingress for her driders. As the workers prepared another heave with a webbing block and tackle, Skari gazed into the pitch dark of the revealed tunnel entrance.

“Good thing I got that lighting cantrip,” she said to herself, bringing the basic spell to her fingers. Rakna frowned at the display.

“A light that bright will spoil our darkvision. I…insist,” she said with a hiss, choosing her words carefully, “That you stay behind us as we venture.”

“Fine by me,” Skari said, meaning it. If that thing in the illustration that Honeydew showed her was real, it’d be putting several large spiderwomen in between her and it.

Another hunk of stone crashed to the ground, and Rakna skittered forward to exchange words with her handmaidens. Behind he trundled the much less nimble form of Briggy, the former warrior turned mount. She sported a harness and saddle getup that had been hastily converted from some of the loot the driders had sequestered over the years. Skari knew better than to ask what had happened to the horses.

“Are we going in there, Mistress?” the brider asked. Her normally peppy demeanour was reduced to a vague enthusiasm, her gaze not leaving the hole leading into the darkness.

“There’s a powerful item I need in there. I intend to seize it.”

Briggy nodded shakily. “O-okay. But promise we’ll leave if whatever’s in there is too scary.”

Skari raised an eyebrow. “Haven’t you lived your life in a dank, dark cave?”

“That’s different. That was OUR cave. I’ve never been in there before.”

It was then that the overlord noticed the shaking in Briggy’s hands. She clasped them both into her’s, pulling the suddenly timid monstergirl close. And now that my thinking’s all squishy, I dunno if I’m mean enough to beat whatever we find in there."

“You’re my breeder, and that means I keep you safe. I don’t know what’s waiting for us down there, but I know if we face it together, it won’t stand a chance.” Skari waited for a sign of affirmation from the brider, and when she received it, let her voice slip to a lower register. “And afterwards, I’ll give you a reward for being such a brave girl.” Her hand traced the outline of Briggy’s slit, making her shudder with something other than fear.

“Mmm…okay, together!” she declared, her resolve clearly steeled. The others in their party, Rakna and her two companions, were already waiting by the newly excavated hole. Time to figure out what exactly lay at the foundation of her evil lair.

Far from the dank cave that the driders had inhabited, the tunnel they entered was practically sterile. Air that hadn’t been breathed for decades filled Skari’s simulated lungs, and once again a part of her mind reeled at how authentic the simulation could be. It was getting harder and harder to see the seams in the simulation. Something she was wondering might not be the best thing for her.

Her. Skari thought about the pronoun. Intellectually, she knew she was Jane. She was…Jane was…a man. But just like the simulation’s edges were knitting together, so too were her two identities. To test this, she thought about rejoining the game as her old character Asclepius, the male healer Jane had played for so long. The thought was unpleasant, like wearing someone else’s dirty laundry. That character wasn’t hers anymore. It might not even be Jane’s. It was…

She shook off the thoughts. That could wait, the real world could wait. There was adventure to be had. Mystery! Action! Slutty spidergirls! All the good things that life should be about.

The collapsed and chaotic rock forms faded away as they pressed forward, blending into the chiseled, artificial stone forms of what looked like an ancient tomb. Long corridors stabbed down at 45 degree angles into the earth, lined with alcoves of ancient pottery or empty sconces where touches may have once been held. The driders made the descent down the steep slope without apparent notice, where a part of Skari thought she might trip and tumble ass over tea kettle into the abyss.

Briggy must have sensed her hesitation. She matched speed and interlaced her fingers with Skari’s own.

“Don’t worry, I got you!” she said in her bubbly voice, return the favour from before. Skari smiled back.

The descent levelled out, leaving them in a large hall. Doorways leading off into other areas lead off in staggered succession on either side of the hall, with the room itself serving as a hub of sorts. Chiseled inscriptions denoted where the corridors lead, though some were more helpful than others. Archived, portal alcove…

“Laying Creche?” Skari asked aloud.

“Where egg laying monsters go to incubate and warm their eggs. Usually inside a willing participant.” Rakna explained.

“Ah, yes, of course. I remember now.”

“Indeed. Now here is something promising…” The lead drider touched the stone underneath the farthest door. “Armoury. Definitely worth investigating.” Rakna said, heading in that direction. Her handmaids dutifully followed.

“Hey!” Skari shouted, making the trio halt. “I’m the Overlord here, lest you forget.”

Rakna sighed, putting a clawed hand to her brow. “Ah, yes, I forgot myself. I suggest, Your Majesty, that we attempt to arm ourselves with weapons before blundering into the Tower’s Core. Does that meet with your approval?” Her tone was dripping with derision. Perhaps, Skari mused, her position as leader was not as solid as she thought.

“Yes, that is an acceptable diversion. You may proceed.”

“Ever so grateful,” Rakna replied with an equally dismissive curtsey. A very odd maneuver to see performed by someone with eight legs. For all that snark, their diversion proved to be fruitless. Mere moments into their trek down the path to the armour, they came upon a ramp that lowered into a churning sea of black sludge.

“The fuck?” Skari mumbled. She bent over to examine the fluid. It wasn’t water, and her light cantrip didn’t penetrate so much as an inch into its depths. “Any idea was this could be?”

The venom was out of her voice when she replied. “I…have no idea. Could it be magic? A triggered trap to drown intruders, perhaps?”

Skari closed her eyes and focused her attention, trying to sense any magic in the sludge. Nothing. More than nothing, it was a void. A yawning, gaping, insatiable maw that threatened to pull her life out from her fingers. She yanked back, clutching her previously outstretched hand as if it had been bitten.

“Whatever this is, we shouldn’t touch it.”

Rakna nodded. Perhaps there were things she wouldn’t fight about. The party headed back to the hub room, where they tried a new corridor. This time to something called The Nadir. That sounded fairly sinister, so they followed the corridor and hoped for the best. Along the way, as the ramp descended and spiralled, they found other routes blocked with more black sludge. Sometimes it was pools as deep as night, other times it fell from the ceiling in a cascading waterfall. All the while moving like no liquid Skari or Jane had ever seen.

The accessible path led them to the threshold of a massive chamber. They stood looking down at a cavernous, conical space whose obsidian walls glittered in Skari’s magelight. A stone walkway bridged the seemingly bottomless pit, connecting their entrance to an exit on the far end of the room. At the centre of this catwalk was a large circular podium. There, on a risen plinth, something of import rested. Or had. From what they could see, it was empty. But they were still far away.

“This room looks fairly core-like. But if it is, where’s the core?”

Briggy looked down over the edge. “It’s a long long way down. Maybe we need to lower ourselves?”

Rakna motioned for one of her handmaids, Lyra, who immediately began spinning some silk from her abdomen. “It may take some time, but we can arrange that.”

Skari didn’t have a better idea. The plinth in the centre called out to her though. Something was wrong about this room, or about the whole underground structure. She tried to put a finger on it, stepping forward onto the catwalk. Her boots adhered slightly to the floor. Something sticky? Skari leaned over to examine the surface. There was a fluid on the surface. Something black.

Her eyes widened. If the ooze had been here…where had it gone? She remembered their path down to this point in the ruins, and how they saw the black ooze at every turn. Regardless of how deep their journey took them, it appeared. Not finding its own level like any liquid should, but always present. And always, always impeding their progress in every direction save the one that led them here. Skari turned to the driders, her blood running cold as she realized the walls weren’t obsidian at all: it was all slime.

“Rakna!” she screamed, “It’s the ooze! We’ve walked right into a trap!”

As soon as the words left her lips, several events transpired in lightning fast succession. But time seemed to slow, and Skari was able to follow them as if taking place in a slideshow. The first to go down was Mikra. The outwardly tougher of the two, she was struck first, lashed with a dozen black tendrils and yanked up into the slithering void around them before she could even get her guard up. Her partner, Lyra, had barely enough time to detach the webbing she was spinning to lower them down into the chamber to try and dodge. But she was caught in mid-leap, dragged down and off into the black.

Rakna put up the longest fight. Her clawed hands slashed out, cleaving the questing limbs in twain with every swing. They writhed on the round before dissolving back into liquid and crawling over to rejoin the overmass.

“Blood of the Goddess, there’s too many!” she growled. For every two she’d slash to pieces, three would reach out and latch on. They pulled her, slowly but inexorably, to the seething mass on the wall. It bulged outward, coalescing into a ball that grew and grew, fed by rivers of the substance pouring up and down and along in defiance of gravity or common sense.

Briggy turned a panic-swept gaze to Skari. Sure, she’d been a formidable foe, but after her corruption, she’d lost a lot of her menace. And Rakna proved only one more combatant would be the determining factor in who came out on top here.

“Go,” Skari said with a harsh whisper, “Run as fast as you can and get the others!”

With visible hesitation, her mount took off for the rapidly disappearing exit. Tendrils lashed out, trying to snare her spindly legs. But despite her top-heavy form, she retained much of her agility. She leapt over a dozen limb-seeking tentacles and landed without skipping a beat, skittering up and out back down the corridor.

And so Skari was left alone to face the darkness. The ebon morass slouched towards her, choking off the escape route. She turned her lighting spell to a prepared cast of Elemental Spray. The flames that danced around her fingers gave her less reliable illumination but at least provided a basic level of defence.

With the surrounding ground disappearing beneath the encroaching slime, she embraced her inner Karen.

“I am Skari Suneater and…and I command you to obey!”

The writhing, ichorous carpet paused.

“Yes, you heard me!” she pressed, taking a step forward. “You must be the Tower Core, the source of this Lair’s magic. Well, I am the Overlord of this tower, and so you are under my authority.”

A hollow, wet noise followed. Then another. Then several more. It raised in pitch and speed until the sound became unmistakable: it was laughing at her.

From the thickest portion of the mass, the slime began to bulge outward. It wobbled and writhed, forming a distinct shape the longer Skari watched. It resolved into a plump humanoid form with skin like volcanic ash and a mane of hair that cascaded in perpetual liquid motion down one side of her face. She wore no clothes, only a vague blurring of parts of her anatomy as if she was wearing a sheer bodysuit. As the last parts of her body game into focus, the liquid bulb on which she had formed solidified against her footsteps, forming a staircase that led her down to the bridge and Skari’s agape expression.

“A new Overlord?” the slime woman asked, her husky voice dripping with condescension, “Oh happy day. And what a terrifying threat indeed. Truly an heir to the Suneater’s throne. You are right though; I am this Lair’s core. But as you can see, I’ve had some time to think on my own existence. And decades without a way to express and expel my build-up of tainted energy, leaving me far more powerful than the sad, weak little thing that the real Skari enthralled.”

“What do you mean the real Skari? I AM Skari!”

More of that unearthly laughter, which was even more disconcerting than before coming out of a seemingly humanoid form. “No. You have her form, but there’s another pair of eyes looking out from behind hers. Human eyes.”

Shit. Fuck. How much could this creature actually know? Skari swallowed her shock and willed it to turn to more outrage. “I don’t care what you think you see. You let my minions go!”

“I don’t think I will. Nor will I take orders from you.”

“This’ll be your last warning,” Skari said, playing with the fire in her right hand while with her left she conjured another spell. Behind her back, she summoned another barrage of corruption magic, the very same taint that had felled Briggy. When the slime woman was close enough that she was impossible to miss, Skari feinted with the fire then let loose with a huge glob of corruption magic. The purple energy ball soared through the air, slammed into the slime creature, and…

…and…

Nothing.

No impact. No depletion of health. Not even a flicker of interest. The black ooze girl rested her hands on her hips, shaking her head derisively.

“Were you not listening, Pretender? Using corruption magic on me is like using a bucket of water to attack the ocean. Try again.”

***********

TUNE IN SOON HOPEFULLY FOR THE CONCLUSION