Dungeon of Envies: Archway Puzzle

The five of them found themselves in a room with five exits besides the one they entered from. Each of the exits were archways barred by portcullises and had a symbol over each arch. Next to each exit were holes that seemed to fit thin bricks. There were three columns of holes next to each.

Upon inspection it was clear that when filled in each row would read something like ______ is envious of ______’s ______. The group then looked at the pile of bricks in the center of the room. Kitty went and picked up a few. “These two say Mary and boobs. I see a few other names and body parts. Oh, this one says brains. So I guess it isn’t just physical things.”

Aubrey said, “Okay, first thing to do is sort the bricks then. Put names to the right and anything else to the left. Try and stack the same things together on both sides as well. I’m going to look around a little bit more before joining all of you with the sorting.”

The group got to work sorting the bricks. Aubrey took note of the symbols above each door. The first was a cow with really large udders, followed by what looked like a peach, then a brain, a silhouette of a woman in a dress, and a wand reminiscent of the wands they were given in the last challenge. She also found a set of instructions, explaining the room.

Aubrey went and joined the others sorting the bricks. “So I found some instructions. Obviously we need to put the bricks in the various holes in the wall.”

Ellen placed another brick in the names pile. “Yeah, one problem: there are more bricks than holes.”

Aubrey nodded, “I figured, considering what else the explanation had. First we’ll be splitting up, one person for each archway. Then we’ll meet up in the third chamber. There is some convoluted riddle that I believe means that there isn’t a singular right combination. There are wrong combinations, though, and we’ll be punished for them. From what I could tell, a combination of things will affect the next room each of us experiences. The symbol over the door, what we fill in for the envys, and who goes through each door.”

Hilde asked, “Any idea what each of those things affects?”

“Not exactly.” Aubrey said, “I was hoping Ellen might turn into Talia and try and use the boost to her intelligence to figure it out more. But it seems like there is something special where whichever arch I go through, we fill in the blanks like Aubrey is envious of blank’s blank for everything or blank is envious of Aubrey’s blank. Also, if we match the envies to the symbol.”

Kitty asked, “Any idea what the symbols mean?”

Aubrey nodded, “Boobs, ass, mental characteristics, clothing style or looks, and our TFs.”

Mark stared at each of the symbols. “I don’t think you’re wrong exactly, but I’m not sure you’re totally correct either.” Mark held up a brick that read, ‘Lion-girl Transformation’. “I feel like the cow might also be for your animal girl TFs specifically. Also, while I agree the peach is for your butts, I feel like it should be something more too. Otherwise, the first two categories are rather limited, while the other three are really broad.”

Ellen stood up and dusted off her hands as she transformed into Talia and went to read the riddle, with Aubrey taking her spot in the sorting process. There was a momentary silence before Hilde bluntly asked, “Okay, so who here is envious of the others? Anything anyone is willing to cop to? Also, has anyone found a brick for Master yet?”

Everyone glanced at everyone else and awkwardly remained quiet. Kitty did say, “I found a few Mary bricks but no Mark bricks. Also, there seem to be fewer Mary bricks than there are for all of us.”

Hilde nodded, “Makes sense, I suppose. Cassandra wouldn’t expose Master’s secrets to us. I bet Mistress is supposed to be the target of the envy if we use those bricks.”

Ellen said over her shoulder, slightly annoyed, “Aubrey… you didn’t tell us about the important part here.”

Aubrey replied, equally annoyed, “Shut up, Ellen. I didn’t mention it for a reason. Think about it carefully, and you’ll understand why.”

Ellen frowned as she reread the last bit of the instructions. ‘If Mark is present, he must select a proxy to receive any penalties or rewards amongst his team members. The team member need not be present. If one is not selected, one will be randomly selected among those present.’ Why wouldn’t she want Mark to pick? Wouldn’t that be better? Also, he could pick Chloe or Merida since the rest of us might already be getting these things. “Yeah, I don’t see a reason we shouldn’t tell him about this.”

Mark looked up at Ellen, then back and forth between her and Aubrey. “Tell me about what?”

Aubrey replied, “Please don’t worry about it, Mark.”

Ellen put her hands on her hips, which, using Talia’s form, made her look adorable instead of stern. “If you don’t give me a reason, I’m telling him.”

Aubrey let out an exasperated sigh. “How about this: everyone BUT Mark goes and reads it, and we vote on the choice to tell him.”

“How about you just tell me what it is, as I’m right here and a goddess damn adult,” Mark said, annoyed with Aubrey. Mark also felt another stab of annoyance in the back of his mind.

Ellen gave Mark a curious look at his use of goddess instead of god and wondered if he realized he had done that.

Aubrey said, “Because I’m trying to be fair and not put you in an awkward position.”

Hilde had zipped over and read the instruction really fast. “Hmm, at this point you might as well tell Master what it is. I don’t think Aubrey was wrong to want to keep this secret, but the cat’s thrashing and meowing in the bag at this point; might as well just let it out.” Hilde resumed her sorting, which was far more organized and extensive than anyone else had managed at this point.

Aubrey threw her hands up in the air and just went back to sorting as well.

Kitty shrugged to Ellen, signaling she didn’t really care.

Ellen said, “Mark, you’ll need to pick someone to take your rewards and penalties for whichever path you take. It can be anyone on the team, not just those of us here. If you don’t, one of us here will randomly be selected.”

Mark frowned and turned to Aubrey. “Why didn’t you want to tell me that? It’s rather important info.”

“Because who would you pick?” Aubrey asked back. “It isn’t that I was worried it would be Chloe or me. It’s because no matter who you select, you’d have chosen. I know that it says rewards are possible, but let’s be real, our luck with things like this hasn’t been the best. Not to mention my ‘rewards’,” She put air quotes around rewards, “ last time were a new permanent transformation and an upgrade to an existing one. Neither of which were purely positive. Who here is really going to volunteer for another ‘reward’ transformation?”

The question was rhetorical, but Ellen’s hand shot into the air. Ellen lowered it in embarrassment a moment later and shifted back into Lucia’s form, except her hair remained brown, signaling she was in control and not Lucia. “Sorry, Talia’s desire to be transformed is… strong, to say the least. I don’t actually want that. Just so we’re clear, Mark.”

Lucia chuckled in the back of her head, “Not even if it was something about getting trussed up and at Mark’s mercy?”

“SHUT UP!” Ellen mentally shouted at Lucia and blushed. Lucia continued to laugh but didn’t say anything else.

Aubrey continued, “So, I figured the fairest option was the random one.”

Mark said, “Sure, and I could still choose not to pick.”

Aubrey looked at him, slightly doubtful. “Really? Because it doesn’t make it clear how the choice is made. Maybe now that you know about it, if you have a preference, it will pick that person. Can you honestly say that among those on our team, if you had to pick someone to get a penalty, that you don’t have a ranking?”

Mark frowned as he knew that while he did care for all of the women in his harem, it wasn’t equally.

Aubrey sighed, “I thought so. I’m not trying to make you feel bad, and it isn’t a problem that you feel that way. It’s just the way things are. That’s why I didn’t want you to know about it, because if you choose someone, they’ll feel like they're at the bottom of your list.”

Hilde had finished the big pile a little while ago and started combining all the piles. She had just finished sorting the last brick and said, “Oh my GODS. Master, just pick me. I’m volunteering. There, the problem is solved.”

Mark looked at Hilde. “Seriously?”

Hilde turned to Mark. “Sir, I’m here for exactly one reason. To help Astrid. Pleasing you is likely to help with that. So I don’t care; I knew I would get more transformations when I told you to upgrade your staff TF. The things from here are all likely to be temporary; if they aren’t, then I still don’t care. Aubrey, if you don’t like your new TF or upgrade, come talk to me after this round. Sadie is in front of you in the queue, but I can fix some of the problems with them if you want. That is actually true for everyone.”

Kitty said, “Wait, what are you talking about? I thought you could only make temporary changes to our TFs.”

Hilde tilted her head to the side. “Oh… I guess I didn’t actually mention it. Sorry, I sort of forgot that all of you don’t have a way of knowing what everyone else’s TFs are. I notice it within a few moments of looking at each of you. I selected a main path at the beginning of the round. It added something to the boon where the changes I make can be permanent, and I can essentially use previous alterations as a base for the next time I tweak the same TF. Don’t worry; the permanency is only by making the tweak available for purchase in the BP store.”

Everyone but Mark was staring intently at Hilde. Kitty looked like she was about to pounce on her. Mark said, “Hey, how about you don’t all try and crowd Hilde at once? I know you all probably would like her to work on various transformations you have, but remember she needs to spend her time fixing the glitches first. So please be respectful, and realize that it isn’t a short process either, and she can’t do too much at once, or she risks causing problems for herself.”

Hilde nodded, “I’ll set up a process after the challenge. I’ll do my best for anyone’s issues, but realize some of your issues might be beyond fixing. Now, I’ve got all the names in stacks over on that wall in alphabetical order, except for bricks with Mistress’s name on them. Those are the short stack at the end.”

Aubrey looked at Hilde, unimpressed. “Did you really do that just to make that pun?”

Hilde continued, ignoring Aubrey, “The words are sorted mostly the same way, but I did make a few exceptions. Like I grouped breasts, boobs, tits, titties, and the like. Also, on the names, there are exactly enough bricks for either the first or second name slot to be filled by the same person, with the exceptions being for Mira’s, Meribelle’s, and Mistress’s names. I’d also like to point out a nuance here: Lucia has her own set of bricks, meaning Lucia could be envious of something Ellen is not. The bricks also specifically only refer to Mistress, not Master.”

Ellen chimed in, “I think I figured out a bit more of the riddle. The accuracy of each envy is the most important bit. The rewards and penalties are based upon the names and envies. There is also something for each thing that matches the symbol, but from what I read, the symbol is more of an indication for the upcoming room instead of this one. Aubrey was correct; there is a substantial reward if all the names on one side of the arch you step through are yours. In Mark’s case, I don’t know if that actually means his proxy’s name or Mary.”

Kitty said, “Well, that’s easy to solve, Hilde; just tell us things you’re envious of Mary. That would cover both bases.”

“Ummm…” Hilde really thought about it. “I mean… I guess that she’s the harem Mistress?” Hilde didn’t even seem sure about that.

Kitty asked, “You can’t really be telling us there isn’t anything about Mary you wouldn’t want besides her position.”

Hilde thought about it. “I mean… nothing physical, that’s for sure. I guess her Smelling of Roses TF would be convenient, but I don’t think I would call myself envious of it. Look, Kitty, I know you might find it surprising, but remember I’m much older than I look, and I’ve come to accept who I am and know what I want for the most part. I don’t think there is much I’m envious of anyone in the harem for, and the things I am… I’m not sure I want to share.”

Aubrey asked, “So who wants which archway then? Mark any preference?”

Mark looked at the symbols again. “I would prefer the brains or wand, I think, but I’ll take whatever since I’m not the one taking any penalties here.”

Hilde said, “Master is not taking the cow, or I withdraw my volunteer status. Same goes if you try to make me take that arch as well. Otherwise I’ll take any of the other four.”

Aubrey said, “No way am I going through the cow either. There is a 100% chance that if I go through it, I’ll get a cow-related TF for sure. Just because Cassandra would find it funny.”

Ellen looked down at her breasts. “Kitty, any chance you’d be willing? I… I might have let Mark talk me into making these bigger than I should.”

Kitty said, “I was sort of eyeing the clothing option, but I’ll take it if you’re really against it.”

Hilde looked at Kitty and said, “You really should take the cow option, as we can easily maximize your rewards if you do. With your temporary TF, we can just put in Kitty is envious of Ellen’s, Aubrey’s, and…” Hilde took a moment to think about who would have the third largest breasts. “I’m not sure, Chloe’s or Merida’s breasts?”

Ellen asked, “Wait, couldn’t she put me and Lucia? As Lucia would also have these.” Ellen hefted her massive breasts up slightly.

Hilde nodded, “That’s an option, but it could backfire. I think it would be safer to put someone else.”

Kitty frowned, “Hilde, be quiet. You aren’t the boss of me.”

Ellen stepped in, “Kitty, you’ll go through the cow arch because I’m asking you to, right?”

Kitty looked at the massive mammaries of the woman and nodded vigorously.

“Good. We’ll also go with Hilde’s suggested envies for you. Understand.” Ellen said in a stern tone.

More nodding.

Hilde said, “So, Aubrey, Ellen, if Kitty is taking cow, which do you want: peach, dress, brain, or wand?”

Ellen chimed in, “Aubrey, I wouldn’t take brain if I were you.”

Aubrey said, “Why not? If the next challenge is about the symbol, then being smarter would be useful in a challenge about brains.”

“True, but it wouldn’t surprise me if that room has a penalty where you get dumber. You were worried Cassandra would do something to you because it would be funny for her. Considering the show and…” Ellen glared towards Mark for a moment. “From what we’ve seen of Mark’s tastes, you could wind up a dumb blonde.”

“I’ll take the peach.” Aubrey immediately replied.

Ellen said to Hilde and Mark, “If you don’t mind, I’ll take clothing.”

“That leaves Brains and Wand for us, Master,” Hilde replied. “Not to be insulting, but I think I should do the brains arch over you.”

Mark just nodded, not commenting further. The group spent the next hour and a half discussing possible options, but no one was particularly keen on sharing who they were envious of. Rather, most of the conversation focused on speculating who was envious of those present and for what. Eventually, Hilde mentioned Ellen should try transforming into the others to see if she could get in their headspace. She was reluctant to do so at first, but after significant coaxing from the others, she relented.

She refused to share anything specific after she started doing that. She did offer to mention if she was certain something was wrong, but considering the easy answers they came up with for Kitty’s and Mark’s arch, she only needed to help Hilde with her options since Aubrey didn’t want to leave any of her selections up to someone else. Aubrey also refused to put hers in until after everyone else had left, as she didn’t want to share her choices.

In the end, they picked the following.

Cow Arch: Kitty

• Kitty is envious of Ellen’s Bazangas
• Kitty is envious of Aubrey’s Udders
• Kitty is envious of Merida’s Chest Pillows

Peach Arch: Aubrey

• Aubrey is envious of Allie’s pregnancy
• Aubrey is envious of Isa’s pregnancy
• Aubrey is envious of Isa’s Childbearing hips.

Dress Arch: Ellen

• Talia is envious of Ellen’s Playing Your Part TF
• Hilde is envious of Mary’s Smelling of Roses TF
• Aubrey is envious of Talia’s Wardrobe

Brain Arch: Hilde

• Sadie is envious of Laura’s Confidence
• Ellen is envious of Hilde’s Tiny Tits
• Chloe is envious of Hilde’s Perfect Height TF

Wand Arch: Mark

• Talia is envious of Mary’s You Are Who You Eat TF
• Talia is envious of Mary’s Let’s Give it a Boost TF
• Talia is envious of Mary’s Free Samples TF