(Part 2 of 4)
It was early evening when I finally left the library. Richie and Emily went off in one direction, he lived in the upperclassmen towers with a roommate and she had an apartment off campus, I think by herself. Emily had never mentioned that she shared the space with anyone. I went in the other direction towards the freshman housing on the western edge of the sprawling campus, in no hurry to get back despite the darkness and the cold. It was a crisp winter evening and the campus felt dormant. There was a little walking path that wound around some of the older buildings on campus that I liked to take to kill time. It wasn't anything other than spaced out concrete slabs that cut through some shrubs and old oaks that bent over the path to form a canopy, though in the winter it was just bare skeletal branches reaching over me. But the passage felt like a little secret I could have all to myself for a while.
As I neared the dorm my phone buzzed in my pocket.
"Hey bud. You mind staying away for a while? I got those swimmer chicks back at our place."
Jay was living his best life.
"NP." I fired back. The path split and I took the way that I hadn't planned.
"Thanks. Owe you one. I'll let you know when we're done." I saw that Jay had turned his notifications off.
The path led me straight to the student union, which unconsciously I knew would be my destination. Resembling an old castle, the union was a stone eyesore in the center of campus. If not for the demolition cost of razing such a sturdy structure I'm sure it would have been deleted from the grounds years ago to make way for something new and shiny. Instead it squatted a significant location and the campus grew up around it, new buildings of glass and steel bearing the names of donors that cast long shadows on the aged facade. Over the years since it was built, the student union had become an anachronistic building out of time. Snaking ADA compliant ramps were added to the rear and side entrances, a garish LED message board outside the main entrance announced blood donations drives and a chance to meet comfort puppies during the stressed out times of finals and graduation, and an old wooden board advertised the food court inside. The court was nothing more than some vending machines and a student staffed coffee shop that was never open past noon. It was clear that the university, as a whole, had mainly forgotten about the building. Its stone edifice and adjacent college green conjured up nostalgia for a time when university life meant something different and images of the two were still used in promotional materials, but the pictures barely resembled the reality.
Only the lower level of the union was lit up from the inside, the upper two floors were almost entirely dark. The building corners that faced the green had small curved towers and a row of weathered stone crenelations ran between the turrets. I learned during my orientation that the second and third floors had rooms available for students to meet for activities. The university didn't seem to care what they were used for, but the space had to be reserved and unlocked by a staff member. The basement, however, was open twenty four hours to anyone. The free nature of it, combined with the old furniture and lack of internet, was what made it unappealing to everyone else. Our orientation tour guide didn't even bother to go inside the building, it was only at the start of the second semester, desperate for a place to get away, that I found myself inside for the first time. To just about every other student, the old castle in the center of campus was nothing more than an antiquated backdrop to their collegiate experience. Maybe something to pose near for a graduation day photo.
But they didn't know the space like I did.
I needed to get some actual schoolwork done, whether I liked it or not. And this was as good a place as any. Better than others actually. My history paper was due on Wednesday and I had barely worked on it. I had my class notes in my backpack and the text was downloaded on my tablet, so I had everything that I needed to write the paper. I followed the path to the student union in the hope of being able to focus without any distractions.
Plus, I was enormously horny and the swollen cock in my pants led me there like a divining rod. Each step closer sent a pulse through my balls, tiny bolts of pleasure born in my crotch and surging through my body.
The main floor of the student union was busier than I expected it to be. There were couches and tables that made it feel more comfy than the library and it didn't have the expectation of being a place for schoolwork. About a dozen students were scattered throughout in small groups. I edged my way along the perimeter of the room and down the steps to the basement. Halfway down the dry heat greeted me and I peeled off my coat before I even sat down at my usual table.
The room felt normal, almost hibernating. There were no rattling pipes and the hissing noise that frequently came from the boiler room was silent, even the dry warmth felt like the regular heat of a building in winter. The two other solitary students didn't look up at me when I passed, both were engrossed in studies. Without drawing any attention to myself I looked over their bodies for any sign of arousal and I saw none.
I was relieved and disappointed. After all the obsession I had put into the room right now it was just like any other space on campus. But at the same time this is what I needed to stay in school and keep my scholarship. I needed an environment that wasn't pulling at my attention all the time. I pulled out my class notes, opened the text, and started to outline the paper. My notes were more complete than I expected and I was actually more prepared for writing than I thought I would be. I was focused and in around two hours I had the essay just about done, a little light editing and proofreading was all it needed. When I needed to be productive I was able to work efficiently. It was a double edged skill for sure, a time saver but one that also encouraged last minute work.
The other two students had departed at some point. I got up, leaving everything but my bag with Hunters & Harlots in it at the table, and went upstairs for a moment. I wanted to see if Jay had sent a message and there was no reception in the basement for it to come through. Upstairs, I sat on a couch for a minute waiting to see if he had reached out. There was nothing from Jay, his notifications still turned off.
With nowhere else on campus to go I went back downstairs. I was feeling tired and, more than anything, I wanted to be in my own bed and going to sleep. It was silly that I felt the need to honor some sort of vague bro code that existed between Jay and I, that I had to stay away because he had some girls in our room. But I didn't want to rock the boat with him. And maybe someday I would need him to return the favor.
Instead I recognized that I had the student union to myself and I grabbed Hunters & Harlots from my bag and put it on the table to read. Immediately the heat in the room ramped up and the overhead pipe shook a soothing rattle that reverberated through my body. I nodded my head to acknowledge that I felt it, whatever the presence in the room was, I wanted it to know that I was aware that it was here with me. Beneath the table my hand searched for the deep scratches of the carved name, Isca, and found a warm spot of wood. I didn't need my eyes to tell me I had located the letters. My fingers traced the cuts etched into the surface. From there it wasn't far for my fingers to find my cock.
All roleplaying books have a section about how to run the game, the basic principles that guide play. Whether it's for a Dungeon Master, Game Master, Keeper, or whatever the referee is called. H&H was no different. For the Pleasure Master there was a chapter entitled Giving Pleasure. It was a part of the book that I had not spent much time with, more concerned with understanding the basics of how the game mechanics worked. But now that I was preparing to run my first session of H&H I wanted to dive into the theories and expectations for my role.
Typically this part of the book would talk about how it was the job of the game master to interpret rules, move the story forward, and make sure that everyone was comfortable in how the game was played. The approach here was a little different, resembling those concepts in spirit but choosing to focus instead on how to make the experience as charged as possible at the table, how to pull from the characters a fantasy experience that was unlike anything else. The sole piece of art in this section depicted a group of players, not their characters, gathered around the table. Above each floated a thought bubble that peeked into their erotic fantasy. All of the players imagined at least one other player, though in the bubbles each was styled in the trappings of fantasy armor and robes, in a sexual act. Among the group of five there were multiple pairings of sex and pleasure. Beneath the table some of the players touched themselves or their neighbor. That was what this game wanted from its players.
I had to admit that I liked the look of it.
But the game couldn't just devolve into a nonstop sex romp, otherwise it would become a parody of itself and the erotic elements would become routine and lose their power. Instead, the PM was advised to increase tension and ignite a slow burn to spark the sexual fires for the questing party. Adversaries couldn't all be easily seduced by the charm of the characters, nor could flashing some tits lead to conquering any obstacle. Of course, some enemies could be overcome by a great rack or a deep dicking. That was part of the fun but it couldn't be everything. Like in any roleplaying game, there needed to be challenges that could only be solved after exploration and gaining knowledge. It could be easy to view H&H as nothing more than an excuse to create sex scenes and vent off horniness, which I'm sure would work fine for a limited time. But I was hoping that there would be real adventure contained as well, I loved the shared narrative that the game was striving to create.
And even more I liked slowly ratcheting up the tension. I wanted to see Emily squirming in her seat when she found her character tempted by two enticing options. How would Richie react to not getting off when his character came up short? The dramatic elements of the game were starting to come together for me and I was enormously excited for it.
I finally pulled away from the book for a moment and checked the time. Suddenly I felt exhausted when I saw how late it was, well past midnight. The heat of the basement had been sapping my strength and my brain felt depleted, my body tired. The room's warmth massaged me into a peaceful cocoon. With still no word from Jay I decided to close my eyes for a moment and get some rest. I put my arms in front of me and cradled my head as the calm essence of slumber spirited me away.
When I opened my eyes I was on all fours in the forest. Shallow breath came from my heaving stomach and, startled, I pulled at the long emerald blades of grass and the twisted roots from the towering trees around me. The air was heavy, humid, and teeming with life and energy. I felt connected to all of it. The sounds and scents came together to form the heartbeat of the forest and I synched with it unconsciously. Yet, even more powerful than the external force was the immediate desire inside of me. Manifested by the raging hard on between my legs, it felt as if all the lust that had been growing inside of me had finally taken over. I moved slightly and my cock rubbed against the ground. I froze in place, afraid that another movement, no matter how slight, would send me over the edge. Paralyzed, I tried to calm myself and collect my thoughts.
