<div class="floatright">(http://i.imgur.com/LIMXBUh.jpg)</div><br/>Zerxel's fine fingers slid the tension trigger along with the lid as she opened the chest, but even her skills failed her slightly as the lid opened fully and she heard a soft click and snap.  She'd misjudged the distance of the lead wire.  She felt the vampiric blood flowing through her veins however as she dropped the trigger and her hand shot out, lightning fast, and grabbed the thin cord as it broke free of the trigger mechanism.  It was winding back into the trap itself and she managed to pinch it, stopping it with only an inch of line to spare.  No way could she have ever moved that fast without the gift of Lady Lulia's blood in her veins.  She breathed a soft sigh of releif at the supernatural reflexes and pulled the trap mechanism away from the inside of the treasure chest, setting it down beside on the soft sand.  It looked like a pressurized tank, though what it sprayed was unclear.  Oil and a striker would be a common flame trap.  But Zerxel doubted it was anything so mundane, especially for the dungeon.<br/><br/>Peering into the chest however, it suddenly seemed worth it.  There at the bottom in two black canvas holsters sat throwing knives.  Three knives, about the length of her middle finger and slightly longer, per brace.  Each brace, or holster, had straps that looked like they would affix to her boots or strap around her wrist or arm.  Her first thought that it was handy that the chest contained something she wanted, but then she remembered the magic of the dungeon always provided something useful for the contestant who opened it.  As she reached in to take them however she heard a laugh and the sound of a magical effect triggering,<strong>"Hope whatever was in there was worth it drow bitch.  Maybe I'll see you inside, if the void doesn't get you."</strong><br/><br/>She turned to see the half orc, Yanna, fading away as the sending stone flared to life with a magical aura.  She started to stand up, ready to charge the orc woman, but it was too late.  The magical energy from the sending stone blew outwards, literally lifting her off her feet and sending her against the black wall of smoke.  It felt like hitting a brick wall, but didn't really hurt her that much, probably because she'd been right next to it anyways.  But then the wave of magical energy flowed through her body, and she felt it, like a liquid wave of water flowing from her ears down to her toes, it felt refreshing and pleasing, and if she admitted it to herself, a little tingly.<br/><br/>She tried to stand, but it was like trying to move through jelly, her movements were very sluggish and it seemed like time was moving too slow for her.  The treasure chest in front of her faded away into nothingness.  A glance to the sides showed the other three, including the one she'd 'fried' with a lightning bolt also vanishing.  Then the strangest thing began to happen.  The wall of black smoke off to her left faded away, dissipating like smoke on the wind.  She could see into the next twenty by twenty foot section of the arena.  There an elven woman bearing a glowing staff and a human girl with a longsword fought.  Flames burst from the elven woman's hands singing the human.  But the human brought the sword down in a vicious overhand chop, driving it right into the elf's shoulder.<br/><br/>Zerxel's mind supplied the names of fellow contestants she knew, Evii and Terra.  Zerxel watched as Terra brought the sword around and slashed horizontally, red elven blood following in the wake of the strike.  Evii spun with the blow and fell after a turn and a half down into the sand at her feet.  Terra wasn't reacting to the smoke wall, maybe from her point of view she couldn't see Zerxel?  But then the human woman looked down at the elf and sprinted over to the sending stone in the middle of her 20 by 20 room.  Keeping one eye on the fallen elf, she began stepping on sections of the sending portal as they lit up.  But Evii didn't move, not even twitch, and Zerxel had to wonder if Terra had dealt the elf a death blow.<br/><br/>She watched as Terra completed the pattern on the sending stone, and it flared to life, just as the one had beneath Yanna's feet.  Again a wave of white light washed out, filling the 20 by 20 room that she was in, though it didn't enter the area that Zerxel was in.  When the white light reached Evii's body however her form was gently lifted from the ground and carried along to the wall furthest from Zerxel before she was set down on her feet.  The elf's eyes blinked open and she touched her neck, seeming surprised at the lack of blood, before confirming that she was uninjured by touching the shoulder where the sword had sliced into her.  Then her gaze slid upwards, towards Zerxel, and now it was clear that Evii could see the drow, some forty feet away.  Then objects began re-appearing.  Four new chests, two along each of the longer walls.  And directly between Evii and Zerxel, a new sending stone appeared.  It was clear to Zerxel that she'd lost the first round of the arena, and Evii was to be her round two.<br/><br/><br/><div class="spoiler_container"><div class="spoiler_header" onclick="hideSecond (this);" role="button">ooc</div><div class="spoiler_body">After the magical light from the sending stone washes through her body, <strong>Zerxel now has an arousal rating of 4.</strong><br/>If she wishes to try to avoid masturbating, you must make a willpower roll.  Roll 3 d 6 and if the result is 3 or less, she fails and begins masturbating as she watches the scene between Terra and Evii.  A 4 means an automatic reroll, and a 5 or higher means she manages to avoid temptation and you can do whatever you like.  Unlike the normal rules for masturbation and reducing lust, there's not enough time for her to actually fully masturbate, it's just more that she feels compelled to play with herself until the chests and sending stone re-appear, at which point she can act normally.<br/><br/></div></div><br/><hr/><br/><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><strong><br/>"Oh, and there's a perfectly timed strike from contestant Terra,"</strong>Rakhem the announcer said over the Æther to everyone who had tuned into the main dungeon's Ætherwave.<strong>"Now, normally a strike like that, across the neck would have been a killing blow, no doubt."</strong><br/><strong><br/>"That's right Rakhem,"</strong>purred his cohost and one time dungeon contestant herself, Ghesta.<strong>"But the magic of the dungeon can transcend death, and we've got an interesting situation this year.  The contestants have to battle each other in order to be the only one to use the sending stone.  Be it a sex battle, guile, bargaining, outwitting, or like we just saw, near mortal combat."</strong><br/><br/>Rakhem's face nodded on thousands of Æthertube screens across Eden as he agreed with his co-host,<strong> "That's right, and of course there's treasure chests for those who want to equip themselves, but we all know they might be trapped, and that would give a contestant's opponent an advantage to either take the sending stone or the other chests.  But look, Terra is standing back up now, and the wall between her arena space and the next is opening.  Lets go back to the action and see who it is."</strong><br/><br/><strong>"Oooh,"</strong>Ghesta cooed,<strong>"This is one of the two drow in this year's run, contestant Zerxel.  Lets see what she's going to do Rakhem!"</strong><br/>