Labrintho, the city of glory and riches! It is a gigantic, enchanted city, walled and magically protected. It is a labyrinthine place built up in layered rings, rising into a great spire but also said to extend uncounted levels deep into the ground below.
Each level of the city contains a different environment with its own unique dangers that can be explored and conquered to gain glory, riches, and artifacts of great power! Spread through the dungeon-like city are safe heavens, the smallest of them little more than protected mid-dungeon encampments while the largest are self-contained cities!
Adventurers come from all across Alaria to enter the city. Experienced ones come to test or prove their skills and might, while novice ones come to gain experience. Some come in search of riches while others come chasing down rumors of ancient and powerful treasure. Others come simply to say they’ve been, seemingly drawn there as if the immense magic of the place has called them to it.
It’s also a city of secrets and mysteries, yet these mysteries seem to go unnoticed by most who have never entered Labrintho. Among these rarely noticed mysteries is the fact that few who enter Labrintho ever leave. Those who seem able to notice this suspect that the riches, glory, and comradery of like-minded individuals prove too addictive to leave behind. Others can’t help but wonder if the place is more dangerous than the legends suggest.
Yet even those who notice how few return from entering Labrintho’s walls seem to notice that the women drawn there NEVER leave. And that IS something that should go noticed as far more female Adventurers are drawn to the place than male ones. Yet such an easily observable fact is never noticed by anyone outside of Labrintho’s enchanted walls.
Could these mysteries be going unnoticed for a reason? Perhaps. Perhaps Labrintho’s magic is so immense it can affect the world outside its enchanted walls. Calling people to it from all over Alaria. Calling men who are ripe for corruption who will stay to become perverse dangers equal to those native to a place full of perverse dangers. Calling women who are strong, attractive, and will put up valiant but doomed fights as the enchanted city of dangers and its perverse inhalants have their way with them!
* * *
Rhuna Irontaker’s pace increased as the road she was following overtook a hill, allowing the Orc Priestess her first proper glimpse of the enchanted city of Labrintho. It stood on the horizon, its towering spire so tall that it was obscured by clouds. At its base was the great wall surrounding the mysterious city, walls that she saw were tall and wide enough around they could have hidden the largest of the city-states her travels as a Priestess of Naiona, Goddess of Exploration and Discovery, had taken her through.
They call it a city, she thought as she looked in awe at the towering place of mystery and magic, but I’ve never heard details of what that means. The legends and tales talk about endless dangers to explore along with riches and treasure beyond imagining to discover. In Naiona’s temples all across Alaria it is spoken of in hushed tones. It is a worshiper of Nainoa’s divine duty to explore and discover as doing so is a form of worship as powerful as direct prayer to the priestess.
It was why Rhuna had come, her journey to Labrintho a kind of religious pilgrimage. Although in the prime of her life Rhuna was still young, a full Priestess but one that hadn’t yet had the years to prove herself to her goddess.
She’d begun as many Priestesses of Naiona did: she’d taken up the life of an Adventurer. Rhuna now had some, although not much, experience under her young belt. But she’d found she didn’t care much for adventuring with others. Every party she’d tried traveling with had left her feeling… dissatisfied. Limited. Held back! She needed the freedom that came with traveling, and adventuring, alone.
As she made her way down the winding road that ran through the peaceful, rolling hills of the open land that surrounded Labrintho Rhuna found herself thinking about the adventures and quests she’d undertaken on her journey here. Every moment alone had been more thrilling and fulfilling than what she’d undertaken when with a party. She could move at her own pace, exploring and discovering as she pleased and not needing to move at anyone else’s pace.
While memories fluttered through her mind the young Orc’s eyes rarely left the looming presence of Labrintho growing steadily closer to her. As the clouds and mist that clung to and surrounded the towering spire shifted there were times what it was obscuring seemed to change. Once she swore the towering spire at the center of the city had become a colossal tree covered in buildings. Another time she thought the concentric circular levels that made up the spire had become hard obsidian stone pulsing with sinister magic and sharp edges. More than once the tower seemed gone, replaced by a mountain larger than her mind could comprehend, yet each time this happened the mountain appeared differently.
“What is this?” she muttered, clinging to the emblem of her goddess that hung from a necklace around her neck. “An illusion? Distortion caused by the magic and enchantment on the city? Or is this something real I’m seeing?”
She fell into deep thought, trying to puzzle out this mystery. What if Labrintho was such a place of mystery because it wasn’t, in fact, a single place? What if the walls surrounding and hiding the “city” really acted as a portal of sorts? What if when she passed through a gate into the great city of mystery she’d be going through a portal taking her somewhere distant?
The young Priestess chuckled, not quite dismissing the idea as stupid, but doubting she was right. It was just a flight of fancy, a mental whim that was helping whet her appetite for discovery and exploration.
As she drew ever nearer she noticed another oddity. From all she’d been told there was only one road leading to Labrintho from the direction she’d come from, and all said it led straight to the gates into the enchanted city. Yet now that she was close she could see other roads, paths, and foot trails moving through the rolling hilly fields around her. All close enough that she could see other figures moving down the paths, but none close enough for her to make out any details of those figures. Some were on foot like her, others rode horses, while still others were in carriages or even part of caravans.
I’m certain those roads and paths hadn’t been there earlier, Rhuna told herself. Many of the hills were high enough to see all the surrounding land. I COULDN’T have missed them. This is magic! An illusion? Perhaps, but I doubt it.
She looked up at towering spire of Labrintho, smiling knowingly at it. A place blessed by Naiona, I’m certain of it. Maybe not JUST a place her divine power has created, but it has to be at least influenced by her divine might. Maybe it’s a kind of grand temple! A magical place of endless exploration and discovery where those searching it don’t even understand their journeys are a form of worship to Naiona.
As she drew near to the city’s great gates the other travelers on the other paths disappeared. She had expected to see the paths meeting hers, creating crowds waiting to enter the city together. But no other travelers appeared, leaving her wondering if they had been illusions after all.
Maybe each path brings a traveler to their own gate, leading into a different part of Labrintho. Then she remembered the way the towering spire had seemed to shift and change. Or maybe we’ve all found our way to different gates that will take us to different interiors.
The excitement and joy she felt, and knowing the beginning of an open-ended quest of discovery was only one gate away, left the young Orc bouncing with eagerness. Her heart was pounding as she approached the immense, intimidating gates, wondering what she’d need to do to make them open. She saw no guards and the gate was far too large and heavy for her to have any hope of opening it on her own.
But then, just as she drew close enough to need to stop and ponder what to do, the gates creaked and opened. A ripple flowed through the air, bursting out from the opening doors. Rhuna closed her eyes, inhaling deeply as the wave hit her. “Magic,” she whispered, savoring the taste. “All of it unknown to me,” she added, her heart aflutter. “So much to explore and discover,” she added as she opened her eyes to see what the gates had opened to reveal.
The sight stunned her and it took her a few moments of shocked silence to fully process what she was seeing. The gate had changed while her eyes had been closed. It was smaller, wasn’t it? She tried to remember how big it had been or even what the doors had been made of. The harder she tried the more confused the recent memories were.
Whatever it HAD been it was now an almost unremarkable gateway with open wooden doors leading into a bustling city! She walked forward, slowly and with her heart pounding, as she took in the sight of the city before her.
At first glance it was like countless ones she’d traveled through on her journey here. A busy place packed with people of all races, its roads filled with carts, carriages, horses, and crowds on foot. A prominent place, perhaps the capital of a small kingdom or a central trading hub full of shops and dwellings. She half expected to turn a corner and see an Adventurers’ Guildhall.
Yet the longer she looked about the more different and unusual the place seemed to be. The architecture of the buildings, which at first glance had seemed familiar for this region of Alaria, was revealed to be anything but. The majority was what one would expect, but nearly every building had accents or touches from distant lands. It gave a sense of the city being a melting pot, a collection of all the peoples of Alaria in one place, stewing to become something unique.
But this can’t be all there is, Rhuna realized. Labrintho has to be so much more than this city. Or was I right? Did the gate take me somewhere else? Is that Labrintho’s secret? It’s nothing but a massive portal?
When she looked over her shoulder she saw the towering walls surrounding Labrintho. They were massive and imposing, towering over even the tallest of buildings she could see and looking so perfectly smooth she wondered if even with the aid of magic one would be able to scale them.
Then she turned back around, looking “ahead” to where the towering central spire of the enchanted city SHOULD be. What she saw left her disoriented and confused. There was… nothing? No… there was SOMETHING. Mist. Clouds? Something shimmering and shifting, as though the central spire had yet to choose what shape it would take.
A feeling washed over her, a sense that she shouldn’t look in that direction right now. THAT mystery would be revealed later. For now her focus should be directed into the city she was standing in. Now it was time to explore and discover what was HERE.
I’ve intentionally left out any meaningful description of Rhuna. As an Orc she’ll have green skin and be physically stronger than the average Human her age/build. But what kind of build should that be? (choose up to 3 options from this poll)
What kind of encounter will Rhuna have in this strange city during the next entry? (choose up to 4 options from this poll)
After that encounter is finished (which may or may not take another entry) Rhuna will be journey into Labrintho proper, but it has yet to choose the form it will take for her. This form will help set tone/the kinds of perverse dangers she’ll face. What will it be? (Choose up to 4 options from this poll)
Philo Hunter Erotica 