Lewd Dungeon, Chapter 376

Chapter 376 – Mind Matters

In the end, she had decided to pick up two new slaves, along with the information about where she could find someone who could help Ricardo with his arachnophobia. It cost her a little more than she really would have liked, but getting the information was important. Plus, Sherush gave her a bit of a discount, she was buying the pair.

Dhon

Dire Hellhound Male

Level 25 Unholy Defender / Sworn Defender

Titles: Well-Endowed, Tough, Strong, Slave

The first was the dire hellhound she’d been considering. Better than she had expected, honestly. With a defensive class and a defender profession, Dhon would be a beast of a fighter under normal conditions. Adding in Tough (which doubled his CON for calculating his HP) and Strong (which double his STR for carrying things or melee weapon damage, including natural weapons)? That was just nasty.

Plus, she’d heard things from some of the other women in Swamptown about the Dire Hellhound pet the bosses of the Black Temple kept with them. There were times where a team was feeling worn down by the Black Temple, and weren’t up for the boss fight, but didn’t want to wait a week to go back into the dungeon so that their [Escape Charm]s could recharge. Those teams could try the second ‘win condition’ for clearing the Temple: satisfying the succubus sisters and their hound.

The Guild didn’t like to talk about it, but there was a quietly thriving trade for ‘exotic pets’ amongst adventurers, thanks to this Dungeon. Not just the ‘normal’ ones, like various dog-like or cat-like creatures, either. She’d seen the requests at the Guild for a Slime Lord with the Slave title, or wanting a captured Seeder Bush.

Nalaea Trisrie

High Atlantean Female

Level 25 Force Magus / Dedicated Scholar

Titles: Genius, Slave, Accommodating

The second slave she’d picked up was a supporter, primarily. Atlantean was basically ‘space human with anime hair’, from what she’d seen, and Nalaea was a nice catch. Not exactly beautiful, but she had lovely B-cup handfuls with rosy buds, along with that ‘mousey librarian’ look going for her, especially with the pair of enchanted glasses she wore.

Force Magus was the basic Tier 2 version of Force Mage, and the same for Dedicated Scholar with the Scholar profession. Nothing too special, which is why her price was lower than some others. Still, Scholars were generally useful in a lot of situations, since knowing more about different topics helped figure out how to deal with obstacles. And a Force Mage was able to make solid constructs out of force, allowing them to create walls, bridges, cages, and more. Oh, and the [Magic Missile] spell was a Force spell, which meant that they were masters of the quintessential “don’t care, doesn’t miss” spell in a mage’s arsenal.

Of course, if there was a problem, it was that the slaves came with nothing except their [Slave Brand]. Well, other than the enchanted glasses Nalaea wore, but those were, apparently, soulbound, and couldn’t be taken away. Dhon’s brand was on his left hindquarters, but Nalaea’s was enticingly locate just above her cleanly shaven snatch, like a womb tattoo. As delicious as it was to look at her, though, she did need to get them some proper gear before heading out into the dungeon proper. Probably better to do that first, honestly, before seeing about Ricardo’s issues.

Fortunately, Dhon just needed some basic armor, and he’d be good to go. They could work on getting more enchanted gear to boost his stats and such as they went, but a wolf the size of a horse didn’t exactly need much in the way of weapons when it had teeth, claws, and hellfire on its side. Some plate armor made of chitin that felt light as plastic but was harder than steel would do nicely. Even better, it had durability and self-repair enchantments on it, along with a 5% Strength buff.

Outfitting Nalaea, however, was more problematic. A robe, belt, shoes, bracers, and staff were the bare minimum she needed. They could worry about anything more than that later, but without at least that much she would be too vulnerable, even if the Genius title made her magic more effective. Yes, the [Mage Armor] spell was part of her toolkit, but one couldn’t rely entirely on that!

They ended up needing to sell most of the lower-level materials and gear they’d picked up so far in the dungeon. Actually got a decent price for them, since the different types of plant matter were foreign to this area, and anything metal or wood fetched a higher price, thanks to a lack of forests and mines in the area. It wasn’t enough to completely equip the Force Magus, but she did have the bare minimum. That would have to do.

“Oh, visitors from abroad! How wonderful!” A pair of voices (one soft and seductive like silk on skin, and the other rough and rugged in ways that made Gracie want to climb the owner like a tree) rang out in perfect synchronization as they entered Dreamy Delights, the shop that Sherush had directed them to. It was a smaller shop, a little off the main thoroughfare, but still close enough that you could find it easily, so long as you had some simple directions.

Kelrya

Dreameater Succubus Female

Level 30 Mindshaper / Abyssal Courtesan

Titles: Virgin’s Bane, Kinbred, Accommodating

Mazix

Dreameater Incubus Male

Level 30 Mindshaper / Abyssal Courtesan

Titles: Virgin’s Bane, Well-Endowed, Kinbreeder

Looking to the sound of the voices, Gracie saw basically exactly what Sherush had prepared her for. Kelrya and Mazix were twins, a Succubus and Incubus of the Dreameater subtype. Supposedly, they shared all things, even the same bed, and their [Appraise] results backed that up. However, they were the foremost experts on healing mental damage or dealing with traumas in Khav-Szarol.

There were plenty of reasons for them to be here, according to the lore of this setting, Gracie had found. Even the spider-people did not react well to encounters with Slime Lords or their kin, and some of the things people had seen, and done, haunted them. They also served to help married individuals ‘let off some steam’ without actually cheating, as what happened in a dream wasn’t actually real, right? However, their biggest source of business (other than the Dream Brothel) was in ‘adjusting’ captured slaves.

A slave that ran from their owners typically had one of two reasons for doing so. Either they were the rebellious type that refused to accept their fate, or they were the victims of some trauma from a particularly cruel or uncaring Master. In either case, simply hauling them back to Khav-Srokzas in chains would do nothing but create more trouble. Sure, some Masters enjoyed breaking the defiant ones, and relished the fear in the eyes of the broken ones, but they were outliers, since most Masters wanted their slaves to do the work they were purchased to perform as well as possible.

If the slavers did not have a class like Mindwarper, which could forcibly rewire a creature’s mind, then the twins were their best bet for removing those rebellious feelings and easing any traumas that they might be carrying in their psyches. A [Sleep] spell to put the creature under, and then one or both of the twins would slip inside the creature’s dreams, which was one of the racial abilities of the Dreameater subtype. As they fed on the creature’s dreams, they guided the dream, helping to heal their mental wounds, reduce their traumas, and ensure that a rebellious slave felt grateful to their Masters for owning them.

“Hello there,” Gracie said, smiling. “Mistress Sherush recommended you, saying that you could help with a problem one of my pets is having.”

The incubus, Mazix, raised an eyebrow. “Oh? Sherush doesn’t sell faulty goods, so it must be something with a slave you brought with you? A bit of trauma from a bad runaway, perhaps?”

“No, nothing like that. One of my pets has a rather acute fear of spiders. To make matters worse, he’s an assassin, so you can imagine the trouble I would be in if he lost control while in this outpost, to say nothing of when we make it to Khav-Srokzas. I rather dislike spending time in chains, outside of a bit of play, you understand.”

“Oh, darling, I know just what you mean,” Kelrya said, knowingly. Even when you’re normally the one with the whip, sometimes it can be delicious to let someone else be the one with the power. Have you tried using it as a reward for those scrumptious pets of yours?”

“Yes, actually,” Gracie grinned. “Though I cannot do it too often or they start to get a bit too big in the head, and not the fun one. Still, I’ve found that a few orgasms helps soothe their injured pried when I have to discipline them, so this is the first trouble I’ve had since I acquired the majority of them four years ago.”

“A successful Mistress, both in battle and the bedroom, then?” Mazix licked his lips hungrily. “Mmm. I would just love to get a taste of you, dear.”

“Perhaps we can negotiate that as part of the fee,” Gracie nodded. “But first, Ricardo, come out.”

The Shadowblade rose up out of her shadow, like a dolphin cresting the water’s surface. Quickly, his eyes darted around, before he relaxed, not seeing any of the Dogik nearby. Gracie was well aware that his daggers had almost emerged from their sheathes.

“Oh, dear,” Kelrya nodded. “Yes, I can see what you mean. I’m assuming that this is despite any orders you’ve given him?”

“Yes. I try not to go too heavy-handed on the commands, usually. It never ends well, from what I’ve seen. Either they break, and are mostly useless, or they resent it, and start trying to find ways to circumvent your orders. Just recently, I heard word of a slave who rebelled against a cruel, but careless Master, taking full advantage of a number of loopholes in his orders. Like how the Master never explicitly ordered him to warn him of a psychic lure, or never ordered him not to cast [Silence] on himself, so that he couldn’t hear the Master screaming orders to save him.”

“Yes, I know those types well,” Mazix sighed. “I cannot complain too much, of course, since a fair portion of our business comes from foolish Masters who did not order their slaves carefully enough, and allowed them to break free. But still, you have to wonder how some people got slaves in the first place, if they were so stupid.”

“Well, at any rate,” Kelrya smiled, “I believe that we can help your Ricardo out. The question is how. Removing that particular fear is possible, but the larger the change the more it may shift other things, as the mind rebalances. Something slightly easier would be to shift the fear to something else. For instance, someone with a fear of serpents gaining a fear of enclosed spaces, instead. Or, one could give him a different focus for that mental pattern, such as an addiction to something instead.”

“Ricardo, which would you prefer? This is your mind they’ll be affecting, after all. Keep in mind our current and future plans, though.”

“Oh, and before you get any ideas, scrumptious,” Kelrya smirked, “the only way a healthy man like you would get away with shifting your very pronounced fear of spiders into something like ‘sex addiction’ would be if you wanted to be constantly unable to think of anything else. But depending on how… restrictive your preferences are, expanding those could compensate for losing your fear.”

Gracie chuckled as Ricardo emulated a fish out of water for a moment. Clearly, he had been thinking that ‘sex addiction’ would be a great way to deal with his fear of spiders. Typical man, though it would be the first thing any of them would consider, given this dungeon’s themes.

“Say I’m a heterosexual man only interested in those with a human-like physique. How big an expansion are we talking about?”

Mazix looked over their group with a critical eye. “Oh, I’d say that, if you went that route, you’d be open to ‘play’ with anyone in your current party. Minus the hellhound. Probably. But at least you won’t be lacking for company, hmm?”

Ricardo took a breath, considering his options, and then slowly breathed out. “All right. I can live with that.”

“Good boy,” Kelrya whispered, appearing at his side. Gracie hadn’t seen her move. But, given that they were dealing with mental magic types, it might have simply been that she was not allowed to see her move. Either way, the succubus touched one finger to the Shadowblade’s temple, and said, “[Sleep].”