Above The Tower of the Mad Mage

Rosey woke up early, her sleep being restless. For one, the gag was a frequent annoyance, making it hard to even breathe; on the other hand, she was nervous for the day ahead would bring. Some part of her, deeply rooted in her subconscious, knew she'd be arriving to the tower soon enough, and that it might not be as easy as just waltzing in there and being freed.

"Here. Stop here." Rosey's voice, or more accurately an approximation of Rosey's voice created by the gag, said. It sounded very, very similar to her, truth be told, if only missing her subtle verbal tics and pauses. More robotic, much like a text-to-speech generator. But still her.

Around the cart was mist in every direction, mist white and thick like cotton balls, mist which made one doubt if they could even see their own feet. The man guiding the cart stopped, and Rosey jumped out of the cart as fast as her chained together feet might take her. Grabbing her satchel from the cart, she saw it begin to shimmer, fade, and then just disappear from all of existence

Great. She was alone in the misty swamps of Circejul. It was up to her and her alone to get to the tower.

Well, not really up to her, more up to her collar and heels, truth be told. She felt her left heel twirl her around, and the collar shock her when she slouched a bit into the walk. The heels would compel her left foot forward, then right, then left, then right. Her bracelets would move shrubbery aside for her, making use of her hands. When she saw a pond of muck and whatever else the swamp had for her, she tried her best to put the brakes on the heels.

They would not stop. She walked through muck, up to her mid-thigh, then near her chest trudging through it as best a chained, heel-bound woman might through thick sludge. After close to 30 minutes in the muck, she felt it become soupier, then it went to her knees, and then she was on solid ground once more.

A burning sensation covered every part of her body that had touched the mud, and she went to check her interface.

SYSTEM MESSAGE: BEGINNING AUTOCLEANING PROTOCOL FOR NPC- "Rosey Cheeks *Active*" TO ENSURE CLARITIY

..........PROCESSS........COMPLETE!

Before her very eyes, Rosey witnessed the burning sensation work its actual magic, as all the disgusting mud faded from her outfit, falling to the ground and disappearing in a haze of pixels. Once it was gone, Rosey's outfit was back to its normal appearance, with even the uncursed dirndl looking the part of perfection. Looking away from the mud covered ground, Rosey felt the heels compel her forward.

The ruined tower was there, before her very eyes, looking all the part of a mad man's hideaway.

Part cobblestone, part metal spikes, it certainly could be described by one word: terrifying. It jutted up, looking mighty thin for a tower which housed the mans projects, Rosey imagined there had to be a portion underneath. Rosey took a step forward. The wooden door was opened, and she was soon faced with a personal decision, the heels having brought her far enough. Up the ruined stairs, or down the bleak looking stairs.

She chose up, if merely to cross that choice off her list. Ascending the stairs was a hassle by itself, seeing as she had to take a step, bring her foot up, making sure the chain between her legs wasn't caught, then repeat the whole process. She was happy when she reached the top of the tower, her steps being cut off by the fact that the rest of the steps upwards were crumbled, and after that, it was a sheer fall.

A small device sat ontop of wood, in the middle of the spiral of stairs, just barely covered to stop the raging wind. Beneath her was white. The mist stopped any sight seeing she might have wanted. Rosey checked her GUI, as a vibration came, and a voice spoke in her mind.

"BEFORE YOU LIES THE MIST, PRODUCED BY ARGATHUS'S MAGICAL MACHINES. DARE YOU EXPOSE THE FOREST....LIFTING IT FROM THE BLINDING MURK?" It was deep, rich with sincerity, sounding much like one would imagine a forest would. The test was repeated for her ease of understanding.

THE DEVICE SPEAKS TO YOU: BEFORE YOU LIES THE MIST, PRODUCED BY ARGATHUS'S MAGICAL MACHINES. DARE YOU EXPOSE THE FOREST....LIFTING IT FROM THE BLINDING MURK?

Mist Generator: [X] On [ ] Off

Rosey contemplated for a second. Turning the mist off now would help her once she was free, that was true enough. Surely something negative could not come from turning off the mist?

Mist Generator: [ ] On [X] Off

Rosey felt a small vibration across her entire body, as if the equipment were thanking her for the good deed of turning off the equipment; she was more focused on a loud sucking sound coming from below, as the mist pulled back from the edges of the forest, then, slowly, concentrated around the tower, disappearing completely after a large guttural sound. Rosey could see....well, everything. Far off in the distance was most likely the dirt path the cart had taken, and then her general path to the tower.

A ding, completely different to her GUI's ding, made her look down at the small device she had pressed.

The mist rushed out from the edges of the contraption, overtaking the top of the tower for a brief second, before turning and jerking around.....forming something. Rosey felt like it was time to show herself out, knowing her luck with random encounters at this point, but she felt the heels dig in, the corset tighten, and the collar tingle with electricity.

The mist stopped swirling around, eventually settling to four small dots, looking as if they contained a forests worth of blinding fog. Rosey felt the hand wraps urge her forward, and she felt her GUI ding.

"THANK YOU, WISE ADVENTURER, FOR ASSUMING THE BURDEN OF THE MIST ON YOUR SHOULDERS. THE FOREST KNOWS YOU DID NOT DO SO LIGHTLY." The deep voice boomed once more, repeated again on her interface....

THE DEVICE SPEAKS TO YOU: THANK YOU, WISE ADVENTURER, FOR ASSUMING THE BURDEN OF THE MIST ON YOUR SHOULDERS. THE FOREST KNOWS YOU DID NOT DO SO LIGHTLY.

Item(s) Auto-Equipping!:

Murky Contacts of Blindness (NO LVL, Cosmetic)

Argathus often worried about home defense, and more important then that, he worried about what he might do if someone were to reach his tower and make him flee. Condensed here is hectares worth of mist and home obfuscation, in the safe and easily transportable form of contact lenses! Of course, Argathus made sure every one of his creations had uses, no matter its state. Displays itself to any without Magicians Eyes as one's eyes merely being grey in color, but actually attaches itself to the eye to make vision impossible! Don't you worry, humble wearer of Argathus's equipment, he installed a trusty version of echolocation and uses a personal set of patent pending Intelligent Cosmetic Magicules to supply perfect directions to the wearer. Usually cooperates to help the user, mostly. Will turn off its special abilities if attempting to be removed. Not removable without Minor Class: Cosmetologist and Minor Class: Ophthalmologist and Surgery skill >= 125. [Cursed] [Wearer Gains Buff: Blind]

Earrings of Connections (NO LVL, Cosmetic)

These earrings are perfectly designed to sync with the Murky Contacts of Blindness (NO LVL, Cosmetic)! They supply your new powers of sight without seeing! Their amazing hoop design with send our burst of noise, and once it bounces back, will process the noise and build a mental map for you. Once complete, will repeat process, slowly building out map of the local area for the wearer. In order to ensure noise properly reaches to build correct maps, will alert enemies to your presence. Not removable without Minor Class: Piercer and Minor Class: Ophthalmologist and Surgery skill >= 125. [Cursed] [Wearer Gains Ability: Echolocation] [Alerts all enemies in dungeon to presence]

Buff Gained!:

Blind (Duration Infinite) - Beauty is in the eye of the beholder! An unfortunate phrase for one who cannot see.

Ability Gained!:

Echolocation - To see through noise is a unique method of viewing the world, truly. And now you get to experience it! With proper timing, you'll build a great mental map, and it'll be like you aren't even blind! Uses 1 point from intelligence to connect with brain to create mental black and white maps for wearer.

Rosey blinked. Nothing occurred. Had the description been wrong, was she actually blind? She didn't feel like it. Then she blinked again.

Everything was grey, then black, then....nothing. Not even black. White? No. Nothing. Not even color.

She felt the wind on her face, the gag down her throat, the rustle of the earrings, but saw nothing. Until the first buzz came from the earrings. She saw herself first. The map bounced off every edge of her body, depicting her like a black and white drawing made on a shitty computer, with a few lost pixels.

Her heels, the chain between them, her tightly encased legs and body covered by the dirndl, the collar, the gag, her new hoop earrings....all of it. She could see every bit. Then, she saw a rough view of the world around her, first the wood, then the stones around her, then the stairs. Then she could see....well, she could see what was below her. It was low-res, super terrible quality, and took all of her focus to 'navigate' the map, but she could see it.

The stairs that brought her up her, the swamp floor....after that, her concentration had to be too **** to view past that. She took a step, unsteady and trying to correlate the map with reality. It was a terrible struggle.

She felt the heels gently take control, and she fought with them, stumbling forward, unaware of her surroundings. Her body locked up like a mannequin with a metal rod up its back, and she correlated the world around her to the map. Rosey was mere millimeters from falling.

The heels turned her around, and she felt herself lose control over them completely, relegated to the passenger seat, merely suggesting where to go. They stopped when the loud voice spoke up once more.

"ADVENTURER, YOU WILL RECEIVE THE FORESTS BOON FOR YOUR SACRIFICE. PERHAPS IT WILL MAKE YOUR STRUGGLES EASIER." A surge of power hit Rosey, and she felt herself grow in confidence, reflexively opening her GUI, the gesture easy enough by this point that she actually could do it blind. The text seemed to...touch her mind, permitting her to read it.

Ability Upgraded!

Echolocation --~~##@)(*-> Advanced Echol///////////////ocation!

Advanced Echolocation - To see through noise is a unique method of viewing the world, truly. And now you get to experience it! With proper timing, you'll build a great mental map, and it'll be like you aren't even blind! Having gotten used to regular echolocation, you now create great enough mental maps that if you concentrate hard enough, you can 'see' color on your map! Uses 3 point from intelligence to connect with brain to create mental colored maps for wearer.

NPC has reached state sufficient for new Status!

Status Effects (Permanent) Gained!

Idiot! - Your intelligence has wrapped into the negatives, meaning you're, well, dumber then a rock, since they have a 0 on our scale. No shame in that, plenty of people get by. Just don't walk and chew bubblegum, etc., and you'll be beating those rocks in no time. Modifies any current titles, taking precedence, bestowing title 'The Idiot' on you. Will effect your actions! [LOCKS CHOICES]

Title Currently: Rosey Cheeks 'The Idiot Maid'

Rosey blinked. She took a second. Her map refreshed itself like a computer screen might. She was now in the world of color, if merely very....splotchy colors. Old movies from a century ago might have beaten her regarding her color and pixel count, but Rosey tried her best to take it as best she could.

Front step with her black heel onto the grey stair. Right foot forward. make sure her chain didn't get caught. A lot of steps to go. Rosey could think in quick bursts, focused on guiding the heels with her willpower and map. They listened somewhat, and Rosey soon felt the wind cease, and her shivering stop; soon enough she began to descend downwards again , using her right hand to balance against the wall as her left foot hit the grey stairs.

Ahead of her was the depths of the tower. She knew it. And she knew Argathus had to be in there, somewhere. Amidst rocks and ruin. Among traps. He was there, or something was which would free her. It wasn't just her desperation speaking. One thought stuck in her mind as she trudged forward down the steps. Even with all the restrictions and her mistakes, she had one goal:

Freedom