Alex explores the bar

With his rubber squeaking as he moved, Alex bypassed the cloakroom and went straight into the bar. There were relatively few people here, so he ordered a bottle of beer from the barman and decided to have a wander around. He looked over everyone in the room, but couldn't see anything suspicious, so after a few minutes he went into the rear room. There he found a whole suite of rooms, some pitch black, some dimly lit. This area was completely deserted as he walked through it. The rooms seemed to be themed - a kennel, a stable, several bedrooms, several dungeons. There were contraptions and furniture in all of them, which he could not work out what they were for.

He stepped inside one room that had four or five such contraptions - a leather padded wheel set against one wall, a set of stocks, a rack, several cages and what looked like a vaulting horse. As he looked closer, he could see that it had thick leather straps attached to it. He pulled at one experimentally - thick and very strong.

"Are you interested in trying it?"

The voice from behind him was deep and close and he jumped - the background music had stopped him from hearing the man approach. He turned to find that the man behind him was about 4" taller than he was. He was wearing leather jeans and boots and his torso was bare except for a leather chest harness. He had thick leather bracers on each wrist.

"I said, are you interested in trying it?"

"What, this, oh no, not really." Alex backed away slightly and to his surprise the man moved forward.

"Ah - first time is it? No need to be shy. After all, you have the right gear already." The big man paused. "But, I don't want to anything ... I'll leave you be."

Alex almost let him go, but this guy was trying to connect with him and he might be able to get some information out of him.

"Wait. Sorry, it's just that I'm a bit nervous."

The man smiled to himself before turning around. "Of course you are. Don't worry, that's not uncommon. We can take it slow - and only go as far as you want."

"Yeah, sure OK."

"Good. Now why don't you take that jacket off?"

Alex wriggled out of the jacket and looked around for somewhere to put it. The man took it from him and put it on a hook near the door.

"Now, there are some rules to be followed, lad - and this is one of them." As the man turned back from the hooks, Alex could see that he was now holding a thick rubber collar in his hands. "We have to make sure that everyone knows who's in charge." He spoke softly and in a soothing voice as he stepped closer. Alex realised that refusing would stop whatever was happening, so he simply nodded. The man quickly stepped forward and wrapped the thick collar around Alex's throat. He then secured it with a padlock.

"How does that feel?"

"Umm well, Ok I guess?"

"Just OK? Well, let's see what we can do to raise the game shall we?"