Stephanie mulled it over. She was anxious to get out and start earning her keep. But... this world had taken so much and given so much. She had to know what was going on.
"I will stay, Mistress," she declared.
"Very well. Then Paul, seat yourself. You've heard this before; but I wish to tell the two girls my story."
"Of course Mistress." The wizard bowed and took a seat, this time on a couch opposite to Steph. Meanwhile, the two human slaves finished cleaning and resumed their places kneeling to either side of the dais, still wearing the remnants of Paul and Steph's cum. Luma waited until everyone was settled before beginning.
"I said I know much about this game, but I doubt you would have guessed how much. I, too, was once an 'adventurer' drawn into the Five Lands. Against my will -- at first." She smiled, a fond yet devious expression, savouring memories of a time long past. "Before the game, I was a bored graduate student who lived for Dungeons and Dragons and pulp fantasy."
She gestured past Ty, and the slave vixen turned her body as best she could to follow the movement. She saw a lanky man, wearing rimless glasses and dressed in rather messy dress shirts and slacks, appear in the centre of the room. He had his arms crossed, and looked dissatisfied with life in general.
"Only I had fantasies of my own. I carefully crafted my avatar for what I had assumed was to be a DnD campaign; but while I was not pleased about where I ended up, I was thrilled to be the sultry Drow sorceress I had envisaged."
The illusory man started as he shrank. His pale skin darkened to black, his dirty blond hair turning white in contrast. Hips flared and chest burgeoned; he -- or she -- raised her hands to cup her scantily clad bosom, a pleased smirk forming on her plush lips to mirror that on Luma's muzzle.
"My teammates were not so fortunate -- neither so careful in choosing their characters nor in evading the traps of this realm. When I changed, it was of my own accord; because I had discovered a magic more powerful than sorcery or wizardry. Sex."
The image began to shift again as Luma continued to speak, her eyes glowing. "I discovered the hidden powers of the courtesan class... and kissed good-bye to my lingering bourgeois morals..."
The illusion regained and surpassed her old height, her already lascivious clothing revealing more and more before finally melting into fur. The figure rolled her body to silent music as her curves became more pronounced, and a heavy ballsack dropped down into front of her vagina.
"...And became a Kitsune harlot."
Ty's pussy was clenching around Mistress' real shaft and the other slaves were teasing themselves with their hands as the spectral vision finished taking on Luma's shape, ending her belly dance by blowing a kiss to Ty. The real hermaphrodite laughed as she began to stroke her pet's hair; the vision dissolved into dissipating wisps of flame.
"Ah, but I wasn't just interested in sex. I knew my way around an RPG, and once I had accumulated enough power... I voluntarily submitted to the Witch Queen."
Ty's ears perked. She remembered that name from somewhere...
"Oh!" she exclaimed, sitting up. "The manual! We were..." She frowned, trying to recall the memory from what seemed a distant, unpleasant dream. "...We were supposed to defeat her."
"Yes." Luma nodded, an odd quirk to her smile. "And now, in a way, you're serving her. If you had defeated her -- a nigh-impossible task -- this world would be freed from its curse and all 'players' sent back to Earth. You see..."
A distant look came into her eyes as she kept stroking her slave's hair. "Long ago -- many, many centuries in this world's time -- the Five Lands were a beautiful, magical place, ruled over by five kingdoms. But: the king of Larangia died, leaving the throne to his daughter, a powerful sorceress who had bound herself to darkness to obtain even greater power. Before long Larangia was twisted into a dictatorship, and the queen -- now known by foe and ally alike as the Witch Queen -- began to conquer the other four Lands."
Ty shivered, turning back to Luma and hugging her for comfort. "If she's so wicked," she said, snuggling under Mistress' chin, "why do you work for her?" A worm of doubt had begun to gnaw at her brain. While she could not doubt Luma while she wore the collar, the ghost of her old fear of submission and her determination to return home had awoken.
"In a minute, pet. The Witch Queen's hosts swept through the Lands, smashing every army that opposed them. But desperate heroes continued to fight from hidden strongholds in the hills and forests. Eventually, a conclave of the last free wizards, witches and sorcerers was called, and they cast a terrible curse.
"That curse sealed the Five Lands away, both preventing the Witch Queen from invading other worlds and cutting off the main source of her power. They hoped that, without it, they could defeat her and undo the curse. However, even without her font of darkness, she was still by far the most powerful spellcaster in the Lands, and her minions were many.
"A few cities were liberated; some of her generals rebelled. A three-way stalement ensued. Hence, the Game. It was a back-up strategy of the conclave -- to summon champions from another world to aid them against the Witch Queen. Only they didn't realise that their "gate" into this world would manifest as an RPG in a mostly mundane universe."
She laughed. "As such, even with their class and race abilities, most of these 'champions' have fallen prey to the various perils, as you two have experienced. Ahhhh,"
She lifted Ty up, letting her now deflated cock slide out of her pussy and retreat back into its snug sheath. Then she settled her concubine across her lap, reaching up to tease at her nipples, making the vixen squeal with delight.
Since Ty was distracted, it was Steph who spoke up. She too was slightly disturbed, though not so much as Ty. She wanted too much to be used and fucked to go back to her dim memories of Earth. But that did not mean she liked the thought of serving someone evil. (Luma notwithstanding; for she could not conceive of her Mistress as anything other than good, loving and deserving of worship.)
In fact she honestly hated the idea of her divine owner being subject to anyone else, and that was at the forefront of her mind as she asked her question.
"So, Mistress, why do you work for the Witch Queen?"
"Because I believe she will ultimately win the war, and I want to be in her favour when she does. But I do not like her, and strictly speaking I do not 'work' for her -- I ensnare heroes for my own pleasure, it just happens to help her cause. In return she tolerates me, despite her tyrant's hatred of sexual freedom: partly because she believes my brothel keeps the masses distracted; partly because, while I hardly rival her directly, my Palace is such a swamp of lust that even she fears, lest she lose herself to its charms."
The two slaves giggled, pleased to think that this "Witch Queen" should be susceptible to their Mistress. It was almost enough to silence the dark thread winding through Ty's mind; and completely enough to satisfy Steph.
"I also serve as one of the 'bosses' of the campaign. You see, practically the only way to defeat the Witch Queen is with the Tome of Change, a volume sealed with many locks and marked with a strange, shifting sign. It was created as the 'anchor' of the curse. No-one knows where it is now; the keys were scattered by the Conclave to dungeons guarded by conjured monsters. The Witch Queen has managed to retrieve four of five needed to unlock it; one she keeps herself, three she has entrusted to her bosses."
"So, you have one?" Ty tilted her head.
"Yes. On the idea that if she held them all in one place, it would make them too easy to steal. She does not really trust me -- but I can do nothing with the key itself, and have no ambition to unseat her. The other two keys are in the hands of minions much less powerful but far more loyal."
"Hm..." something else was tugging at Ty's mind now. "A volume sealed with many locks..." Before she could focus on it, though, Steph stretched her legs and stood up.
"Are you finished, Mistress?"
"Mm, yes. You may go, if you wish."
She bowed. "Thank you." She held her arm out to Paul, who also rose from his couch. "I think I might need a bath too," she purred. "Maybe you could help clean me before showing me around."
Luma laughed. "Do as she asks, slave. Make our new bard as comfortable as possible."
"With pleasure, Mistress."
The two of them departed the throne room, Paul telling Steph that yes, the Palace had running water and showers, a luxury in the Five Lands but not unheard of.
Meanwhile, Ty was still struggling to remember. She was sure she had seen a book like that before...