<div class="floatright"><div class="spoiler_container"><div class="spoiler_header" onclick="hideSecond (this);" role="button">Ghesta and Rakhem</div><div class="spoiler_body">(http://i.imgur.com/w2rfe77.jpg)</div></div></div><br/><strong>“Tune the Æthertube back to the main wave,”</strong>Lia said to her second sisterwife who sat closest to the modest size cathoderay Æthertube screen that their family had been able to afford.  Lia’s second sisterwife, Virsin, nodded and lazily reached over to adjust the controls.  Along with the third sister wife and the women’s husband, they all lazied about on cushions lightly dressed and cuddling in a state of semi arousal as they flipped back and forth between the two contestants they’d favored and the main wave.  The image of the armored woman named Esther was replaced instead by the commentators but then briefly cut away to a rugged looking man with a long scar across his face.<br/><br/>The elven nobleman Thorrim Cardalian, a long running commentator’s voice could be heard as the Ætherwave resolved, mid sentence,<strong>“...elcome our first of two special guest commentators this year.  From the Paricum irregular army, Commander Chandler Rakhem.”</strong><br/><br/>The rugged man nodded and hints of grey showed at the temples of his thick brown hair,<strong>“Just Rakhem, please,” he said with a face that looked like it was used to scowling.”</strong><br/><br/>Again the elven commentator Thorrim’s voice could be heard off screen as he said,<strong> “Of course, thank you for joining us and offering commentary on the battle tactics.  Now of course those who know your record understand why you’re here, but why don’t you explain to those who don’t know your exploits what you can bring to the commentary here at the main wave for this year?”</strong><br/><br/>The gruff scarred man seemed to sigh slightly, but nodded curtly,<strong>“I had originally formed a band of mercenaries in my youth.  But after the orcish skirmish of 428, the Queen of Paricum requested that my band which had succeeded in breaking the orcish advance where the Royal army had not, join up as an official arm of the Paricum military.  I’ve led troops and directed guerilla warfare on scale ranging from entire squads down to small two man strike teams.  More to the point, I’ve had experience fighting in almost every climate on Eden, even leading rescue ops into Pandora’s lands east of the Erusrin.  I was asked to be here this year because of my ability to gain insight in the battle tactics of the contestants and how the environment may affect them.”<br/><br/>“Oooh, he’s rather handsome isn’t he?” </strong>Virsin said reaching out to touch the Ætherwave screen, tracing her fingers across the cross cut scar that marred the human man’s face.  Her two sister wives chuckled and nodded, but their attention remained raptly on the screen.<br/><br/>The screen shifted showing Thorrim’s face as he spoke again.  Thorrim Cardalian, an immaculately dressed elven man nodded.  Thorrim of course was a long term announcer for the contest.  It was odd to see him sitting alone, as many had grown used to seeing his co-host a human man named Norris by his side.  However age had begun to catch up with Norris and as his health had failed, his voice had begun to go.  He had retired at the end of the previous year’s broadcast.  There was much speculation about whether or not he would be replaced, or if even Thorrim would also retire soon.  Yet the elf nodded towards the second guest host and said,<strong>“and speaking of your troops, that leads us to our second guest today.  She is probably even more well known to anyone who has been watched our broadcast from five years ago, as she was a contestant that made it to the reaping levels safely.  After a bout of notoriety, she joined Rakhem’s irregulars, and has continued her legend as a survivor and a champion.  Please welcome the beautiful and talented Ghesta.”</strong><br/><br/>The sound of the audience inside the studio where the three announcers sat was quite positive, and drown out the words of the woman who now appeared on the Æthertube.  Still the image of a corrupted yet very beautiful woman appeared.  With red skin, striped with black, like a demon and long fleshy horns that extended from the back of her skull in place of hair, she looked monstrous in a way.  Yet at the same time there was no denying her gorgeous features.  Not only was she extremely feminine in the face, but her revealing outfit exposed the ample chest she had and smooth well formed body she had.  Her smile was simply captivating as she nodded and waited for the applause to die down before trying to speak again.  When she did her eyes sparkled and her teeth were a dazzling white behind dark reddish black lips,<strong>“Thank you Thorrim, and yes, it’s just Ghesta please.  I’m sure those who want to dig through old records can find my family name, but we parted ways years ago and I have no wish to drag them up again.  But yes, I’ve been fighting alongside Commander Rakhem for a few years now…”</strong>Her hand stretched out and the screen expanded to see her take his hand in one leather gloved hand.  He returned her grip amicably, though his face still betrayed no emotion.  She gave it a squeeze before leaning forwards in her chair, a sight that exposed the wide valley of her breasts to the eyebot that was currently waving her.<strong>“But not only do I have no small experience fighting in the irregulars, but as you know, I was a contestant in 432.  I knew so little when I entered, even after a year of training.  Don’t forget that was only the second year that the priests had allowed sponsorships and even though we had a sense of what was going to happen, none of us had really much of an idea.  I guess I got lucky and managed to secure three separate sponsors before entering, and that gave me a huge edge at the early levels.  Some girls were so frightened of what might happen that they didn’t even try to secure sponsorships.  Others were so greedy that they actually let sponsors take their virginity that year.  That was before each girl was assigned a judge you see, and the sponsorship ball went on all night, with no time limit.  Those girls… they didn’t last very long in the dungeon as you can imagine.”</strong><br/><br/>Thorrim interrupted the red skinned beauty,<strong> “Yes, and there’s been some debate about that.  Why don’t you tell us what happens to a contestant who loses her virginity before the dungeon begins?  Why did the rules change from the original agreement that only virgins may enter the dungeon?”</strong><br/><br/>The Ætherwave slid back to Ghesta who smiled again,<strong>“Well, any historian of the dungeon can tell you that in the second year of the dungeon, in the year 36, the nation of Jintala refused to send candidates.  It was such a breach that the peace treaty almost ended then and there.  But it was obvious that the goddess Pandora was willing to allow a tiny bit of flexibility in the contract.  Essentially the mortals had to do everything in their power to try to follow the agreement, but she understood that even fate sometimes made fools of the best of planners.  So it was decided that the judges of Cyril would make sure that as long as the mortals did their very best, they were trying to honor the contract.  If something happened to a girl shortly before the entrance to the dungeon for that year, it would be understood that all of humanity was not to blame, but just that girl.  She would be punished, quite severely, and if she was lucky, only lethally.”</strong><br/><br/>Rakhem grunted, but Thorrim asked,<strong> “Only lethally, if she was lucky?  What do you mean by that Miss Ghesta?”</strong><br/><strong><br/>“Just Ghesta, thank you Thorrim.” </strong>the exotic beauty said.<strong> “Any girl who had been found to have lost her virginity in any of her three sacred holes would be given a major detrimental curse before entering the dungeon.  It practically guaranteed failure.  If she was lucky, she fell at the hands of a lethal beast.  If she was less than lucky, she might be raped before being killed.  But if she was truly unlucky, she fell to complete corruption or to the void, becoming a monster or a part of the void itself, losing who she was completely.”</strong><br/><br/>Ghesta repressed a shudder at that thought.  But Thorrim took the conversation back over.<strong> “Well that certainly is a horrible thing for the girls to consider, but lets address that issue.  You were born a human girl, but obviously, you faced quite a bit of corruption yourself, as anyone can see.”</strong><br/><br/>Ghesta nodded, the soft fleshy tentacle like horns that fell behind her head swaying slightly as she did so.<strong>“Yes Thorrim, I still consider myself lucky however.  The changes to me were mostly physical in nature and not mental.  While I’ve been cursed with a higher libido than most women, and I admit, a touch of blood thirst, my mind remained mostly untouched.  My body as you can see went through a bit of change however.  I lost my hair, my skin turned red, then was streaked with black, I grew these tentacles out of the back of my head, my body became far more voluptuous, and even my face changed a little, becoming far more feminine.  But still, my mind remained and so I was able to take the first exit from the reaping level and rejoin the world.”</strong><br/><br/>Thorrim turned then to images being displayed on an Ætherscreen behind him, showing recaps of what had already been broadcast, in the early few minutes of the arena.<strong> “So Commander Rakhem, lets get back to you.  There was a lot of drama in the opening of this year’s arena.  Who would you like to point out as being notable?”<br/></strong><br/>Rakhem gestured at the screen with a thin wand of white ash and the image on the screen changed to the warrior Esther.  In their comfortable den, Virsin, Lia, their thirdwife Mida, and their husband Shance all cheered when the determined warrior appeared on screen.  But they quieted down quickly to hear Rakhem’s analysis.<strong> “Here, this is one worth watching.  She’s driven, she’s obviously trained, and while she entered the arena already armed by a sponsor, she also had something else, knowledge.  She knew exactly which treasure chest she wanted and ran straight towards the void to get to it.  I don’t know what those blades were that she risked herself for, but they obviously were worth it for her.  After she got them she began running keys and was still through the portal with plenty of time to spare.  She’s got a plan, she’s determined, and now she’s well equipped.  These make her a force on the battlefield.”</strong><br/><br/>Rakhem waved his wand again and the image shifted to a pair of almost completely naked elves.  The sisters Sinthra & Chindra wore nothing but boots and some jewelry, exposing their gorgeous bodies and tattooed flesh.<strong>“These two are an interesting dynamic.  Apparently they’d been training for years, and when one of them was chosen for lottery, the other also volunteered.  While the mage was the first through the portal, her sister was only one key behind her, meaning they are probably not too far separated in the dungeon, and obviously plan on working together.  They will be interesting to watch, especially as their chosen form of combat means that they will be gloriously naked most of the time.  These two are my… ahem… personal favorite.”<br/><br/>“Finally,”</strong>Rakhem waved the wand again and the screen shifted to a reddish brown haired woman in what could only loosely be described as chainmail.<strong>“This woman, Lydia, is interesting to me.  She came into the arena very well equipped, magical armor, a blade, and a small backpack, she obviously secured some powerful and wealthy patrons.  But instead of taking that advantage and trying to get through the portal as quickly as she could, she spent almost a lethal amount of time in the arena, almost being caught by the void as she waited for the last moment before entering the dungeon proper.   But what really makes her interesting, to me at least, is that she didn’t delay to try to collect more equipment or gear, but instead to help fellow contestants.  She helped this woman out of a net, and this monster girl free herself from a mimic.”</strong><br/><br/>Ghesta interrupted,<strong> “That’s not a monster girl, not technically.  Her name is Shugar and she’s half bugbear, she was born that way not corrupted.”<br/></strong><br/>Thorrim nodded,<strong>“Indeed and she was also the first to officially lose her virginity here on the wave, lets see a replay of her encounter with the mimic shall we?”</strong><br/><br/>Lia raised her voice again,<strong>“My love, change it to Lydia’s wave?  I want to see what that girl is up to."</strong>Virsin nodded and tuned the Ætherwave tube over to the wave that corresponded with that contestant.<br/><br/><em>“And you must be Lex. Dex and Lex. I like it. You know, I really could have used your help back there, with those keys, I mean, that was close. And this mud, you ladies watching back at home, you should really get this stuff. If I wasn't in constant danger to my life and soul, it would be awesome, but I've got to get clean."<br/></em><br/><strong>“Oooh,”</strong>Virsin said excitedly,<strong>“Can we?  Can we get some mud Lia?”</strong><br/><br/>The woman shrugged her shoulders,<strong>“I don’t know, we’ll have to ask the priest of Cyril in town if that’s possible somehow.  Now shush, I think she’s going to try to find a bath, that might be exciting to watch.”</strong><br/><br/><strong>“No, my turn, I want to see if those elven sisters found each other yet,” </strong>the man in the room said.  Shance sat up and pointed at the screen,<strong> “Tune it to Sinthra’s wave my sweet.” </strong>Virsin nodded and adjusted the set again.<br/>