Would You Like to Play Again? Book 3 : Everything Changes - Cover

Would You Like to Play Again? Book 3 : Everything Changes

Copyright© 2024 by James Howlette

Chapter 33

Fantasy Sex Story: Chapter 33 - Pathios deals with the aftermath of the Champion's Challenge. New enemies, old friends and more will appear. How will he and the others cope with what is to come?

Caution: This Fantasy Sex Story contains strong sexual content, including Ma/Fa   Fa/Fa   Consensual   GameLit   High Fantasy   Magic   DomSub   MaleDom   FemaleDom   Group Sex   Harem   Polygamy/Polyamory   Anal Sex   Cream Pie   Double Penetration   Pregnancy   Safe Sex   Sex Toys   Tit-Fucking   Big Breasts  

Popping into the armory, we removed our gear and went through the door that led to our dorm room. Most of the others were there, with the exception of Cassandra and Theresa. They were still at the quartermaster, working on their self-assigned tasks and would be up in a few hours for dinner. I checked in on Katie and she was still using the tendrils to work, but I knew she would figure things out about making duplicates of herself. It may just be a matter of her level or stats keeping her from that. We asked if she wanted to join us in the Onsen, but she wanted to keep working. Amenthia, Entivala and I spent a good few hours in the warm water. While we did touch and explore each other, it was less for sexual need and more for just intimacy. It did come close as both ladies decided to blow me at random intervals, both separately and together. I think they wanted to see how long I would hold off just taking them but given that three of our dorm mates could enter at any moment gave me pause to act on it. While I knew that Dilbar and Ilthvana wouldn’t care, I didn’t want to embarrass or alienate Theresa.

As we were going out, I saw that Cassie and Theresa had returned and I could tell by the look on Cassie’s face she was disappointed that she missed out on the fun. I gave her a kiss on the cheek and whispered I would make it up to her tonight, which put a big smile on her face. Tonight I helped in the preparation of dinner, which was fun. We had some decent steaks, so I lightly seasoned them, to not take away from the meat’s natural flavor. Seared all the sides and then added some herbs, along with butter, to baste the meat. Everyone was blown away at how simple it had been, but how much flavor it had given the meat. While we were eating, I went over what had happened in regard to my meeting with Esmerelda and Amber. The others were surprised as they hadn’t really heard many instances of inter pact house cooperation before. Dilbar and Ilthvana were sad to hear that Amber’s party member had left being an adventurer but understood the toll that fighting Silvia had taken. While we had survived it, the loss of our friend, as well as the others who had died, had been intense.

Dilbar and Ilthvana said that they would help with the quest. Cassie wanted to but there were things that she wanted to focus on in her rune smithing. She felt that she was on the verge of a breakthrough on some new runes she was working with and wanted to see it through. Katie also bowed out, as she wanted to be here to help her parents settle. Theresa was unsure at first but said she would do her best to be of use. I reminded her that she had more than a few companions now and she was slowly becoming a force to be reckoned with. She smiled and blushed a little before saying with more confidence that she would help. Over the next hour or so, we went over the plans. Figuring out if we wanted to come home each night, we were able to reach a village, so we weren’t wasting gold on inns. While the fact that our armory being set up to allow us to just walk into our dorm was advantageous, that may not be an option for Amber. We knew how we wanted to playthings, but the rest would be decided when we talked to Amber tomorrow.

With our plan set, though waiting for input from Amber, I sent raven detailing who would be in our party and what village in which we would meet. With all of that out of the way we lounged about with the others for a while, teaching them some various card games we had on Earth. They liked Texas Hold’em the best, but they were intrigued by cribbage. I promised that once I could get Brot’k to build me a board, I would teach them how to play. I was surprised to find that Theresa was unfamiliar with the game as well but looked forward to teaching her as well. I made a mental note of a few more games I could try and get made. Backgammon was a good one, as was checkers and chess. I knew of Shogi, which seemed like a much more advanced version of chess but didn’t know anything about it myself. Still with those and the cribbage board, it would be fun game nights in the future. One idea popped into my head, and I couldn’t help but laugh out loud at the absurdity of it.

“What has you laughing so hard?” Amenthia asked, causing the others to nod in agreement to the question.

“There was another game I used to play back home but given where we are and the life we live, it would be severely ironic,” I answered, only making them get more confused.

Relenting I explained, “I used to play dungeons and dragons. That is where a dungeon master would create a scenario or story that other players would participate in. It could be a small one-time event, or a longer drawn-out story. It usually took place in a fantasy setting where the players ended up playing adventurers that entered dungeons, fought monsters, and collected treasures, as well as glory. There were elves, dwarves, halflings, gnomes, humans, orcs and so many other races. Some were rogues, rangers, fighters, paladins, clerics, mages ... basically we would pretend to do what I now do for real!””

They all glanced at each other in surprise before the group erupted into laughter. They could see the absurdity of playing such a game when the contents of most of those games were now a very real occurrence for us.

“How did you deal with combat or interacting within the world?” Dilbar asked, as he worked to calm down from his laughter.

I gave him a crooked smile, “You roll a bunch of different dice. Rolling to see if you can do an action well, if you can bluff or intimidate, if you can dodge an attack, if you can land an attack, even what placement you get in the battle as it is turn based.”

Ilthvana groaned, “It sounds like a lot of math which sucks! So, how can a game like that be incredibly fun?”

“You need to understand that my world was more advanced in some ways and not so advanced in others. Most people were unhappy and looked for escapism to help deal with the stress and frustration. Dungeons and dragons was a way to escape from that with use of our imagination and a bit of dice. Some people only used that, while others would use miniatures, along with reproductions of various environments when there was combat. To us, a world like that is pure fantasy, filled with creatures and beings that we would never see. It allowed us to be more than what we were at our point in life and make a character that was everything we hoped we could be someday,” I explained, not sure if I got the idea across correctly.

The others sat in silence as they pondered what I said, even Theresa, as I suspected she hadn’t even heard of it before now.

“So you are playing pretend?” Ilthvana asked. “Like children do? Imagining better circumstances or fantastical adventures?”

I nodded, “Being an adult would be very tough for most people. Struggling to have enough money for food, clothing, and a place to live. Escapism was the way to help deal with the stress and frustration of it all. I can bet that there are people here who wish they could be in the dungeons but are either too scared or can’t bring themselves to take the steps needed to become one.”

“Still that is a wild thing,” Dilbar exclaimed as he scratched his head. “What other things did you guys do for escapism?”

I shrugged, “We watched television and movies, so that is like when everyone watched us at the challenge. You can get various sizes of displays, paid for various things to watch on them. There were also video games, which were like shows, only the person had direct input into how the game was played.”

“Wow, that is amazing, though I wonder why they don’t have such things here?” Katie exclaimed.

“Because while there is a form of consumerism, it isn’t as rampant as it was in my world,” I replied. “Products and objects of any and every kind to buy, advertisements to push and convince people to buy. Rising prices only further limit the available money that people have access to. Not unlike what started happening in Entivala’s home Kingdom. While the council does have rules in place to limit that kind of thing happening, it has still begun to take root. Greed is a powerful thing. Power and wealth can corrupt even the nicest of people over time, until you can’t even recognize them.”

Ilthvana sighed, “There have been retired adventurers who were like that. They had started off not unlike you did, but the fame and attention got to them. They became arrogant and self-important, and drunk on the attention they would receive.”

“It probably didn’t help that they were surrounded by people who would only enable that behavior,” I pointed out. “Because I have all of you, I am kept grounded and don’t get full of myself. I can give a perfect example of who could have ended up like that.”

“Who could you have known here that could have ended up like that?” Amenthia asked, obviously confused by what I had said.

Everyone looked at me in confusion and I glanced at them all before answering, “Darius.”

Everyone gasped at what I had said with Cassandra, Dilbar and Ilthvana visibly upset at what I had insinuated.

Before I let them get any angrier, I hushed them to explain, “It’s like this. If we hadn’t met, and Silvia hadn’t been removed for her behavior, then she would have stayed with the group. She would have kept going with her subtle manipulation of Darius, so that she could reach her end goal of fame and fortune at the expense of anyone and everything else. Over time if you guys argued or disagreed with her, she would have slowly poisoned the relationship you had with him until she could convince him to replace you. She would have created situations that would make things look like you are bullying her. This would help prove her point and the issues she would create would only grow.

She would have found others that would do her bidding and support her, thus enabling the fundamental shift that would have occurred. From there, the man we knew would have changed until he was unrecognizable. I have seen that before in my life with friends who hung out with or dated really bad people. They changed until they were someone you couldn’t recognize as that friend anymore and in a lot of cases that friend never came back.”

“Do you really think that it would have gotten that bad?” Ilthvana asked, in shock of the picture I had painted for them.

“You remember what she said in the training area,” I replied, causing her to nod. “Then add in all the shit she said when we fought her at the end of the Champion’s Challenge. She saw Darius as hers, not as an equal but as an object of what will get her what she wants, the rest of you were all expendable. A means to an end, which was to get the future and fame she wanted for herself. Even Darius would be a means to an end, one that would have either stayed at her side, or get traded in for someone even more famous and powerful should he not live up to her inflated expectations.”

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