Dungeon of Darkness 1: Pet Shop

A party of adventurers delves deep into a dark dungeon in an effort to stop the evil growing within before it can become too powerful to be stopped. Unfortunately, the elaborate traps of the dungeon seperate the party, leaving them vulnerable to it's magical machinations...

Jessica the Beastmaster and Katalina the Blue Mage are lucky, it seems; they're both uniquely suited to taking on the area they end up in, lichen-covered caverns filled with magical beasts. But the dungeon won't let them leave so easily...

-----

The Paladin yanked on the well dressed woman’s shoulder, hard, as she interposed herself between the squishy wizard and the wall, shield up just in time to deflect the volley of poisonous arrows. “Watch it, Katalina,” she muttered.

“It’s not my fault that it’s the third arrow trap in as many minutes Valerie- look out!” she was cut off as a lance of ice sailed towards the pair, this time putting herself in between the trap and her comrade. She took the spike straight on, and it vanished into thin air with a faint hiss.

“Company!” A third voice said, as a wall grinded open and a swarm of skeletons flooded out. A blonde-haired, blue eyed giantess of a woman dressed in furs stepped forward and shattered the first rank to bits with a crushing blow of her hammer.

“Justine, duck!” Katalina shouted, as she pulled somewhere deep within and the fireball reappeared. The Blue Mage sent it sailing into the midst of the mob of skeletons and pinning a quartet of them against the wall. “El, your turn!”

The air behind the party shimmered, and a fourth member of the party came into view behind the group. “A-Ah, right, I’ll do my best!” she said, starting to chant a spell as more and more skeletons came out of the hidden chamber. One of them managed to break through the defensive line and came towards Elizabeth, sword raised.

A whip cracked and wrapped around the skeleton’s arm, before a sharp tug ripped it from the socket. As Elizabeth’s fireball went sailing into the fray, blowing a dozen to bits, the fifth and final member of the team came forward and kicked the stray to bits. “Another wave’s coming in - there must be a summoning crystal in there…” she said.

“I-I think Jessica’s right…” Elizabeth said, nodding her thanks to the woman. “But how can we reach it?”

Jessica brought her fingers to her lips and let out a sharp whistle. A massive canine beast - she called him a dog, but he seemed closer to a dire wolf - appeared. With a few whispered words and a pat on the head, the beast seemed to understand and lunged forth into the chamber, dodging between the legs of the next wave of skeletons. After a few more moments of holding strong, the party was relieved when the skeletons suddenly lost cohesion, piles of bones clattering to the ground lifeless. Shortly afterwards, the massive canine returned, a glowing red crystal in it’s mouth.

The party relaxed almost as one, taking deep breaths as the adrenaline died down. They were still in hostile territory, of course, and to think themselves safe was foolhardy - but it seemed that the drawn out battery of traps had run dry for the moment.

From the first steps into the elaborate rooms and winding torch-lit halls of the expansive dungeon, the party had faced threat after threat, even their abilities as top-class adventurers tested to the very limits. The assorted chambers and sub-chambers were filled with monsters, while the corridors connecting them were bedecked with more spike-traps, pitfalls, and arrows than the royal treasury. Most other adventurers would have long since retreated, dragging their injured or worse with them - but this party was confident and determined.

Failure wasn’t really an option. The local towns had been decimated in recent months, as raid after raid by monstrous creatures came from the dungeons. Residents locked their doors and stayed inside, praying that it wasn’t their night to be taken, never to be seen again. Even the nearby city, with its walls and guards, was beginning to have nightly reports of disappearances. Magic users, or even those with a mild attunement to the supernatural, could feel evil festering, a cancer growing stronger beneath the battered stoneworks that denoted the dungeon’s ground-level entrance.

The party was the strongest team in the local area, and had been asked by the Adventurer’s Guild to take on the task. Seeing as they’d been in the region for ages and knew the locals, they could hardly agree fast enough - besides, Justine thought it would be a fun challenge and that there would be some nice loot, although the party leader Valerie was of course primarily concerned with the safety of the region.

Thus, the team had made their preparations and pushed into the winding hallways. It was rougher than they had expected… but Valerie and Katalina were the sorts who always believed it was better to be over prepared than under prepared in their dangerous line of work, so they had the provisions for the task all the same.

“We should have tried to hire a Rogue…” Katalina said as she leaned against the wall next to Jessica, taking a moment to give affectionate pets to her hound. “All these traps and tricks, we don’t really have anyone equipped to deal with it.”

“Do you think any freelancers would have agreed?” Jessica said with a chuckle. “I know that they’re considered a greedy bunch and all, but they’re also practical. All the gold in the world doesn’t mean much if you’re dead or turned into some mindless minion. Besides, we have our trap detector right here, isn’t that right, Spot?” she said, giving vigorous rubs to the large dog, who licked her face before rolling onto his back in a playful manner.

“I swear that the more intimidating your pet is, the more cutesy of a name you give them…” Katalina said with a sigh, smiling and leaning against her childhood friend.

“I give all my partners cute names! You included, Kat!” Jessica said indignantly, although the effect was undercut by her frizzy red ponytail flying around with the movement of her head.

The pair laughed a bit, the tension of the intense situation seemingly leaking out of the air around them. It was nice to have a friend, in such a desolate and dangerous situation - it made it so much more bearable.

After a few more minute’s rest, the party continued onwards through the dungeon, Jessica and her trap-smelling hound at the fore. They made good time, all considered, fighting their way through another two fights and managing to avoid a bevy of traps, before finally reaching the stairs down to the next floor.

“Be careful going down,” Valerie said, “The stairs are usually safe, but going between floors does mean we’ll be facing even worse dangers up ahead…”

The group looked at one another, and nodded quietly, resolute in their conviction to keep going. They proceeded down the stairs slowly and cautiously - just because the passageways between floors of a dungeon were usually safe didn’t mean they always were.

The next floor was nearly unrecognizable as the same place as the previous; it was much more like a rough-hewn cavern than anything man made, the paths less like halls and more like tunnels, lit by gently glowing pink crystals dotting the walls and ceiling. The team continued quietly, not wanting to risk the noise of chatter alerting any minions or monsters to their presence.

This was made a moot point as, after Jessica stepped into the third tunnel, the floor began to shake. A deep grinding noise reverberated through the caves, and the party went into defensive positions. But this time, the noise wasn’t the herald of an oncoming horde of monsters.

Jessica yelped, and the party turned to see her half hidden by the floor as the tunnel seemed to sink into the earth. “Jess!” Katalina cried out, leaping after her and sliding into the tunnel just before it became too tight to fit. They heard more shouts from above, as something went on with the others, but they were cut off as the tunnel fully sank below the ground and cut them off from their fellows.

Then, the pair was sliding down, down into the darkness of a new tunnel as it turned into a steep incline, further and further away from the party.

-----

Eventually they tumbled to a stop, and they could catch their bearings. “Ugh… where did that take us…?” Katalina muttered, sitting up. She’d landed surprisingly softly-

“On top of me, apparently…” Jessica grunted.

Katalina looked down and realized she was on top of Jessica. She blushed fiercely and rolled off of her friend. “Sorry, sorry!” she said.

“It’s fine!” Jessica stood up, looking around and shortly finding where Spot had landed. “So, did you see what happened with the others?”

Katalina, still blushing, shook her head. “No, the tunnel closed off before I could.” She looked around the caverns they were in - while the walls and ceiling looked much like the previous area, the floor was covered in a strange blue grass. “I think we ended up deeper in… but there’s rarely a part of the dungeon that can’t be accessed more than one way. So I guess now we look around for a way-”

Spot suddenly started barking at the darkness ahead, and the pair peered into the gloom. As Katalina made out a pair of glowing red eyes in the darkness, she noticed a swirl of wild magic growing.

Without thinking, she jumped in front of Jessica as a massive fanged feline leapt out of the gloom, it’s fangs and claws glowing. She caught it with her arm, grimacing a bit from the pain but relying on her blue magic to absorb the harshest parts of it’s attack. She felt it surge into her, before she threw it right back at it - she slashed at it with glowing blue claws from her hands, causing it to recoil.

Jessica had caught her breath and was on it in as it disengaged, whip cracking out, keeping it at bay but not hitting it just yet. “Hey, you don’t mess with us, we don’t mess with you!” she called out, Spot at her heel growling at it.

“Do you think you have this?” Katalina asked, shaking out her hands. “It’s living, that’s for sure, so it should be in your purview.”

“Of course I do!” she said. She stepped forward, cautiously, as she rifled through her pouches for something.

The feline monster seemed tense until she pulled out what appeared to be a chunk of meat. She tossed it to the ground in front of it, and stepped back a bit to let it have it’s food. It sniffed suspiciously, then started scarfing it down…

The process was slow and steady, but since the treat had been laced with a calming potion, it went significantly faster than it could have. Jessica was good at her job, and putting her one on one with most beasts that weren’t too monstrous to be tamed, she could have them eating out of her hand in minutes. The large feline - it seemed like some kind of jaguar, but with strange spiraling marks across it’s fur - seemed no exception.

“Good kitty!” Jessica said, stroking it under the chin. In response, it started to glow again, this time a calm blue - one that lit up the room they were in.

“Guess we don’t need a torch…” Katalina said with a tired sigh. She looked to where the feline had been lurking before, and saw something glinting - and unlike the cat’s eyes, it was something metallic. “Hey, what’s that?”

In a small alcove where the feline monster had been hiding sat a chest. “Sweet, even in this kind of place there’s loot!” Jessica said, bringing Spot over. The dog sniffed it, and didn’t seem to take issue, so the Beastmaster figured it was safe to open. Inside, along a smattering of coins, was something interesting… “Oh, a new whip!” she declared, taking it out and comparing it to hers. Her own was of good quality, but the new one made it look like an amateur's work.

“You get far too excited about those things. You know what the guys back home used to say about it?” Katalina said as Jessica examined her new toy.

“Yep, I do. It was fun. One of them asked me to step on him.” Jessica said cheerily. “They were a bit less flattering about you, though.”

“O-Oh… did they…” Katalina suddenly wanted to hide in her clothes, but unlike their sorceress she was wearing a dress rather than oversized robes. “A-Anyway, who cares what they say? I’ve got magic! Your new pet- er, partner, gave me something to remember her by!” To illustrate the point, she cast the new spell again, her spectral blue claws returning.

When they faded, she sighed - her fingernails had grown out and pierced her gloves from inside, sharp and long. Running her tongue over her teeth, she also felt significantly more pronounced canines - the downsides of blue magic was that when you opened yourself up to magic, you opened yourself to a good bit more. It was temporary, but certainly irritating.

Katalina coughed, and stood straight. “Anyway! We’re lucky that we fell into a part of the dungeon with this kind of enemy. If the others on this level are beast-types, I think we’ll walk out in better shape than we came in.”

Jessica pocketed her new weapon and nodded with a knowing smile. “Of course. Let’s keep going - I think that’s a path ahead.”

-----

As it turned out, that section of the dungeon did have an array of magical beasts that seemed almost tailor made for the pair that had been dropped into it. They made steady progress through the dungeon, Katalina collecting new powers and Jessica collecting new partners as they went. The monsters didn’t seem too strong so far, being well within the abilities of the two to take down.

CRACK went the whip, leaving a harsh red scar on the flank of a giant lizard. “Down! Down!” Jessica shouted harshly as it stumbled back, keeping a heel on it as it tried to stand again. “I’m the one in charge here, now. I don’t want to hurt you, but I will if I have to!” Jessica had run out of treats, two monsters back, and was forced to take a new approach to taming… she didn’t like hurting them, but as the monster lay down submissively, she felt a sudden thrill.

It was wrong, of course, but… obviously it wasn’t that she was taking pleasure in the whipping or the pain. She was glad she’d gotten the whip she did - it seemed to have a magical aura that emphasized her commands, making it far easier to tame the magical beasts so she didn’t have to be quite as harsh as she would with her normal whip. She’d always been a challenge seeker, and a different method of taming than normal was certainly a challenge to face. She looked over to see how Katalina was doing against her own foe.

Katalina circled with what seemed to be a large bull with a snake for a tail. The bull snorted, a hefty, harsh sound, and charged, horns gleaming. Katalina braced herself, channeling magic, and let out a shockingly loud roar in response. There was clearly magic to it, as the air visibly rippled in front of her. As she roared, her hair grew out, gaining length and volume until it nearly touched the floor.

Whatever beast’s spell it was seemed to work, as the bull slowed and tried to turn away at the last second, suddenly terrified - but it’s momentum was too great, and it pushed into Katalina. Without the effort originally in the charge, it faltered before contact, turning what would have been a painful and debilitating injury into something the Blue Mage could take - both in terms of endurance and in magic.

Grinning fiercely, fangs bared, Katalina caught it by the horns and threw it’s magical enhancement right back at it. Bull horns suddenly sprouted from her head and glowed bright blue as she headbutted it, the horns imparting intense force to the blow and knocking the bull back and right out cold.

Dusting herself off, Katalina felt at the new horns, and marveled at her lengthy hair. “Wow… that doesn’t usually happen.”

“Should I be worried?” Jessica asked concernedly, walking over with her newest pet following meekly behind her.

“Oh, it’s no problem,” Katalina said, waving off the worry. “I just think that’s the first time I’ve had to absorb and use this many spells so quickly. It’s taking a bit to wear off, but if it lets me use these spells more, I think it’s good for getting us out of here.”

“Well, you’re the expert. Let’s keep going…”

-----

The minutes turned into hours as the pair continued, getting more and more tired but mostly avoiding injury through judicious use of magic and Jessica’s beasts. Each beast they encountered seemed more vicious than the last, forcing Jessica to be even more vicious to try and tame them or Katalina to more aggressively fight back with spells that were continuing to change her body.

The chamber they’d entered was one with a surprisingly high ceiling, for reasons that had quickly become clear as monsters attacked from above. Katalina hadn’t managed to acquire much in the way of long range magic, but what she did have was a fairly lengthy scorpion-like tail from the last set of monsters - it lashed out towards the monstrous bat-things that circled above her, keeping them at bay.

Meanwhile, Jessica tried to wait for one to get close enough to whip, feeling frustrated at her uselessness. But then, she noticed something different - near the back of the swarm was a rather different kind of monster. She found herself licking her lips, as she had an idea form…

The monster at the back let out a shriek as it felt something wrap around a leg, and pull it down to the ground. The grip loosened, but before it could get back up it felt the bite of the whip across it’s back once more, and then a sharp heel on the mark. “I didn’t know harpies could live down here…” Jessica muttered to herself. “But it doesn’t matter, they’re monsters all the same, so I guess you fit in the theme.”

The bird-woman, with the upper half of a human and lower half of an eagle (and wings of one instead of arms), squirmed under Jessica’s heel, shrieking with anger and pain. Another crack of the whip emphasized that. “Quiet! You’re mine now, you hear me? I know you’re as dumb as any other animal, but that should get through, shouldn’t it?”

The harpy struggled for a bit, but as Jessica grinded her heel in, it suddenly started to settle. “Good. Kat, get over here, I have an idea.”

Katalina, keeping the bat-monsters at bay with her long-reaching tail, backed towards Jessica carefully. “What is it? I’m a bit busy!” Despite her words, there was a smile on her face as she swatted at the monsters - this was kind of fun…

“A way to get you in the air.” Jessica said. She turned to the harpy. “Magic. Now.” she commanded, pointing at Kat.

The harpy, with a dazed look in her eye, complied, sending a slash of wind towards Katalina’s back. She cried out with surprise, but it was a weak attack and didn’t breach her defenses too severely - it did cut a large hole in her dress, though. But Katalina understood quickly, and used her newly gained spell.

Wings sprouted from her back, automatically flapping forward to launch a blade of wind into the swarm of giant bats. “Ow! We’ll talk about that later!” Katalina grumbled, before launching into the air, her nails/claws and teeth already glowing as she began another spell.

The bats were a threat if you couldn’t reach them, but now that she could, it was an easy battle - she cut them down one after the other with ease, hardly noticing their attempts to use magic on her except to use it against them; they made themselves incredibly agile while slowing their foes, but that didn’t work so much when a more powerful magic user could take that and do the same in reverse with even more intense effects.

Of course, that had some influences on Katalina as well - one of her eagle wings seemed to shift, losing it’s feathers and turning rough and leathery like one of the bats’ wings. While it was hard to tell in the flurry of combat and under her clothes, her rear end swelled moderately, along with her bust, her curves deepening and getting more exaggerated. She didn’t notice, too focused on the last of her victims - she brought the nearly dog-sized bat down to the ground with her claws around it’s head, practically pouncing on it as she brought it to the floor.

That was the last of the monsters in that encounter, and Katalina blinked, shaking her head. “Well, that was… intense. Good thinking… what kind of monster did you take down?”

Jessica nodded, as she finished attaching a collar to her newest acquisition - the set of collars had been acquired earlier in the dungeon, and certainly helped with keeping the more monstrous creatures in line. “This one helpfully donated her spells.” she said cheerfully, bringing the harpy forward by a chain. The harpy didn’t seem to mind, seeming entirely docile and calm now.

Katalina rose an eyebrow. “Huh… harpies? That’s not normal for this kind of cave… thanks for the wings, all the same.” she said, looking at the feathers.

“I think this is the most often you’ve had to use these spells. Are you sure you’re ok? There’s a lot of traits stacking on you…”

“Oh, I’m fine. It’s taking a bit longer than normal to wear off, but I figure it’s just because of the frequent use. Besides, isn’t it cool to have wings?” she said, laughing a bit.

The movement set her long, fluffy hair that looked more like a mane shaking, and emphasized the extensive changes she was under - the claws, the fangs, the hair or mane, the tail, and now the wings… and Jessica could have sworn she was curvier than she had been. She was really cute, wasn’t she? The Beastmaster wondered how one of those collars would look on her; she was certainly getting enough monstrous traits for it to not look out of place…

“Though, you say you’re worried about me, what about you? Are you really ok with acting so harsh to your would-be partners?” Katalina asked, looking over Jessica. Her outfit seemed tighter than it had been, more revealing… and when had she gotten new heels? Those were long, and sharp!

“It’s fine.” Jessica said, shaking her head and snapping herself free from her reverie. “It’s… probably not ideal, but with how monstrous some of these creatures I’m trying to tame are, it’s essential they know who owns them. If they think they can just take over, I’m lunchmeat - so they have to understand early, and thoroughly.”

The pair stood quietly for a bit. “Well…” Katalina said after a bit, breaking the silence. “We’ve been going at an incline for a bit, so I think we’re probably near the level we lost the others at… shouldn’t be too much further, right?”

“Right. We just need to be careful.” Jessica agreed.

-----

It had gone so wrong, so fast. One minute, they’d been in good shape, approaching what seemed to be the way out of that part of the dungeon stronger than they had been when they’d entered - Katalina with her spells, Jessica with her menagerie of magical beasts. Said menagerie started getting antsy. Jessica had to whip a few of them to keep them moving forward - but shortly, they met the thing that the beasts were afraid of.

The monstrous behemoth was the size of a small house, bulging with muscle and with claws as big as a human - nothing like anything either adventurer had seen before. The fight went… poorly. Katalina had charged in, drawing streaks of blood on it’s hide with her magical claws and injecting it with scorpion’s venom from her tail, but it simply swatted her aside and into the cavern wall. Several of Jessica’s newly tamed monsters were thrown about like ragdolls, unable to even hurt the thing. It was too wild for even a high level Beastmaster like Jessica to tame - when she tried to whip it, it just got annoyed and struck her hard enough that she heard a distinct crack as she was thrown to the ground.

The beast advanced on Jessica. She could feel it’s heated breath as loomed over her, and knew it was going to either just kill her, or maybe eat her. She braced herself as she heard it preparing a spell, launching it at her…

“Leave her alone!” Katalina cried out as she leaped into the line of the spell. She made it just before the fire reached Jessica, and she shouted in pain as it scorched her - but at the same time, there was a flash of blue, and the steam of fire seemed to vanish.

Jessica looked up to see Katalina standing over her, now naked as the behemoth’s spell burnt her clothes off. It was hard to tell that she was even human from that angle, with how she’d changed… and as she snorted fire while absorbing the spell and preparing to throw it back, that seemed even harder to believe. Fur appeared in tufts across her body, concealing the important bits as it grew out into a pattern just covering her chest and hips.

Letting loose a primal roar of challenge, Katalina charged the behemoth again - and this time, she was ready for it. She breathed fire onto it just as it had shortly before, forcing it back. When she got in close it tried to throw her once again, but this time she caught the blow. Her on muscles bulging out as she continued to channel the magic of every beast she’d so far encountered, she managed to divert the blow - and then leapt into the air, and onto it’s head. Her horns seemed to lengthen and curl, becoming sharper and harder, while her hands flattened and extended out into hefty paws with much, much longer claws. The behemoth was unable to reach her on it’s head, and she clawed at it, and stabbed it with her tail, again and again and again.

For Katalina, it had been an easy choice. She had to protect Jessica at all costs. Even if it cost her what was left of her humanity - and that was exactly what it did. She found she enjoyed what she was doing. She had been enjoying it for the last several encounters. The display of strength, claiming dominance over another predator and protecting her territory. The behemoth had thought it was the big boss of the place, but here she was, showing it she was the top of the food chain. All that mattered, after all, was who was strongest - and as a Chimera, Katalina combined the strengths of every beast in the caverns; it was no wonder the behemoth couldn’t compete, she thought with a sadistic grin.

It bucked hard, and managed to make her lose her balance, but she kept her claws in it’s head with bestial strength and ended up thrown in front of its face. She didn’t let it do whatever it was planning, though - she summoned up another gout of fire, sending this one directly into its mouth as it prepared it’s own.

The behemoth went limp all of a sudden, the light fleeing from its eyes, slumping over and nearly falling on top of Katalina. She jumped away with surprising grace, seeming no worse for wear as Jessica stood up. “...Katalina, are you alright?” she asked - something about the way the woman was swaying, and… well, the mad giggle coming from her mouth.

Katalina whirled on Jessica, and the Beastmaster saw something she hadn’t before - along with the obvious changes, Katalina’s eyes had changed, becoming slitted like a cat’s. “Heeey, Jess~” she giggled. Jessica had barely noticed she had started to crouch before she was bowled over by the pouncing Chimera. Katalina looked down at her with a bestial smile and predator’s eyes. “Why don’t we have some playtime, my lovely little human~?”

“Katalina, you need to snap out of it - you’re no monster, you’re-” Jessica started, but she was muffled as Katalina pushed a kiss onto her. Jessica could swear she was purring as she did.

“Shh, human~ The big kitty’s having her fun now. You just lay there and be a good toy, ok~?”

Something about that phrase made Jessica snap to attention. Toy? No, she wasn’t the toy in that scenario. If Katalina wanted to act like one of Jessica’s beasts, then she could be treated like one! “I’m asking you to move,” she said in an icy tone, “If you don’t, I will have to demand it.”

“Aw, that’s cute~” Katalina said. “What’re you gonna do about- whoa!”

Jessica, with a force of will and sudden strength, shoved the Chimera off her chest and leapt to her feet. Katalina backed off, prowling around Jessica in a circle on all fours. “Now, are you going to listen to me,” the Beastmaster said, cracking her whip in the air, “Or am I going to have to make you?”

With a feline growl, Katalina lunged at Jessica. The pounce was sidestepped this time, now that Jessica was prepared for it, and the whip cracked out across Katalina’s back. She cried out, but somehow, Jessica didn’t feel bad - if anything, it excited her. As the Chimera scrambled to her feet again from the missed pounce, Jessica didn’t let her recover - another crack of the magical whip sent her sprawling, and Jessica walked forward. “Do you understand me, beast?” she snarled.

“Ah! Ah! Y-Yes, Mistress!” Katalina cried out - there was a tinge of pain in her cries, but they were overwhelmed by the pleasure in her voice.

Jessica didn’t even pause to notice the comment consciously - but it made an impact, and a strong one. Amplified by the whip’s magic, it broke whatever pretenses Jessica still had about her actions. “Good! Then you understand your punishment!” she shouted as she lashed out with the whip again. As she did, her clothes began to change - her simple leather gear blackened and seemed to recede, rapidly becoming much more revealing. The leather in the newly exposed regions was replaced by silken lace.

“Ah~ Thank you Mistress~ Thank you for giving this bad kitty what she deserves~” Katalina cried out, suddenly far more docile. To her simplified world view, there was nothing conflicting about this - as Jessica stepped forward and pressed a spiked heel into her stomach, it was simply showing that despite being a mere human, Mistress J was strong enough to dominate her; by the same token that the other beasts ought to be subservient to the Chimera, Katalina would be subservient to her Mistress.

Jessica’s transformation continued as she ground in her heel, reveling in the control and power she felt. Her hair fell out of it’s ponytail straightening out as it fell to her hips, while her clothes continued to change, a new fur cape appearing on her shoulders. “You called me a toy, did you? More evidence you’re nothing but a dumb animal - you should know full well what our relationship is.” She ground her heel in further. “Tell me what I am to you.”

“Nnn… You’re my Mistress…” Katalina practically moaned.

“And now tell me what you are to me.” Jessica continued, cracking her whip once more.

Katalina writhed with pleasure beneath Jessica, barely able to get a coherent word out. “I’m your pet, Mistress! Your loyal loving Chimera!”

Some part of Jessica realized something was wrong. But that part was drowned out by the part of Mistress J that knew this was the most right she had ever felt. Katalina was her property, her toy to do with as she pleased - and she loved that. It was simply the most satisfying thing she could imagine. She knelt down, taking her heel off her self-declared pet, but only so she could snap a spiked collar on her, to truly mark her as owned. “That’s right. You’re my pet, my lovely little slave. And you love that, don’t you?”

She hardly noticed the finishing touches of her transformation. The gleaming black metal tiara that formed on her head, or the half-mask in the shape of a wolf’s face that covered her eyes. She didn’t notice how it had affected her former partners, morphing the friendly dog Spot into a three headed nightmare hound and returning her tamed beasts to their former vicious natures.

“Of course I do, Mistress J!” Katalina said, practically purring with satisfaction as she felt the collar on her. She’d been thoroughly tamed - at least, when it came to Mistress.

The newly minted ‘Mistress J’ smiled at her assorted pets and slaves. “There are still heroes lurking about, my pets. I want you to find them. Feel free to have your fun, but make sure you don’t break them - it’ll be much more fun to turn them. Herd them into the places they’re meant to be. I’d ask what you think about that, but it doesn’t matter; I am your Mistress, and you will do as I command.”

With their Mistress laughing maniacally behind them, the beasts dispersed into the halls above. Mistress J crooked a finger to Katalina, and the Chimera cheerfully fell into step behind her - it was time to go on a hunt!