The Maiden's Gate by St. Onovan

Marovar Trisbey had grown tired of sailing. “The wide ocean is no place for a gnome,” his mother had told him before he set out. It was too late to change his plans though as he had finished paying off his bills for his ship The Dark Locust. Most sailors would consider a boat of his size unfit to sail the seas but that was where his gnomish ingenuity and his formerly large amount of money came into play. He had outfitted the ship with several of his own inventions including a steam engine and several advanced navigational tools that most of his crew barely knew how to run. “Blasted ruffians,” he told himself. “Those mushroom lumps would be stuck running from tax collectors if I hadn’t gotten them to come here.” The fact that his entire crew couldn’t run his ship for him seemed to be the only reason that they had survived so far. Or at least Marovar thought that his crew needed him. “Captain, land ho!” called his first mate, a human named Taradam, some ex-convict that had apparently been drinking himself to death after getting out of jail. Marovar got out of his golden chair in his quarters and walked up the stairs to the deck of the ship. Marovar looked around and saw his crew just standing around the deck arms folded glaring at him. “What are you dung heads doing here just standing? What do I pay you for?” The men started laughing. Renair, an elven outcast walked over to Marovar, “Since when do ye start paying us?” Suddenly Marovar felt a heavy foot kick his back and he fell to the ground. “This here be a mutiny. We found ye a tiny little home for a tiny little castaway. Now as the new acting Captain of The Dark Locust we plan on going home and saying ye got yourself killed while we sell this boat.” “You can’t do that. I saved all of you from the tax collectors. You owe me!” declared Marovar as he was getting tied up. “Oh, we know that. That’s why we didn’t toss ye into the water ter be eaten,” laughed Renair as three other crew members pulled up a rowboat. Marovar was lifted into the boat. “YOU CAN’T SAIL THIS WITHOUT ME!” cried the ex-Captain. “We can do whatever we want now with your instruction, bucko,” said Renair as he loosed the cables sending the rowboat into the water. Suddenly a hammer hit Marovar over the head and he fainted as his two ex-mariners began to row him to the island. When Marovar woke up, one thought made him extremely happy: he had the only set of instructions hidden on his arm. Marovar had heard of the treachery of the high seas and had planned for this far ahead of time, tattooing the instructions to his arm with an enchantment that only he could read. Sooner or later the crew would find that he had no instructions left anywhere on the boat and they would have to come back for him. He laughed as he thought of them having to grovel to him once more but when he looked out at the ocean he didn’t see The Dark Locust. “Maybe they knew planned on tricking me and hoping that I accidentally reveal where my instructions are,” he said out loud. The only response was the bird in the trees. “Well then, I suppose I better find myself shelter until they come back for me,” though Marovar as he stroked his brown goatee. The beach that he was left on has a long row of trees behind him and a large hilltop he could see peaking over the trees. He decided to walk in that direction. “What do ye mean ye didn’t find any instructions?” said Renair furiously. The crew had searched every nook and cranny of the cabin for any instructions. “That bastard must have planned for this all along,” he said thinking to himself out loud, “so he must have the map on him.” Crebon, a dwarf, who was leading the search came over, “Maybe we should wait ter bring him back. Scare him by leaving him on that there island for a few days and move the boat. T’would make him a bit more willing to work with us.” “Mighty good thinking Mr. Crebon. That’s be our plan for dealing with the scum Marovar.” The rain had appeared suddenly and Marovar was now running through the woods that offered surprisingly little cover from the rain. The hill seemed to be rather close now and Marovar figured he would most likely find a cave or better protection near it. As he got closer, he proved himself right finding what looked to be a city carved into the side. “Must have been some dwarfs that came here,” he told himself as he continued to run to the cave-city. Upon reaching the front, Marovar panted as he was finally able to sit down. He had come just in time as the lightning had begun to strike. “Marovar must have called the gods to strike revenge on us!” called Grothum, a half orc who was busy trying to put out a fire on the ship. “I don’t need any of that talk Mr Grothum or I’ll be keelhauling yer arse for insubordination!” replied Renair. The lighting struck the ship again for a seventh time creating another fire on the ship which now seemed more like a floating junk heap due to the damage. Then with a large crack the ship broke in half and began to sink leaving the crew struggling to find something to hold on to. The door in front of Marovar was immense and old. Carved out of some pure blue stone, Marovar was amazed by the craftsmanship of the door. The markings were in some lost language and showed pictures of magical beasts like dragons fighting knights in front of a large castle. Marovar pushed open the surprisingly light door and saw a lighted hall that was filled with wonderful smells. “Hello?” called out Marovar who suddenly heard his voice echo down the hall. “Greetings!” replied a voice from the other end. A small shape appeared at the other end of the hall shrouded in shadow that grew large as it got close. “My name is Halcyon Corrivan of the Blue Keep, how might I help an adventurer such as yourself?” said the man coming out of the shadows wearing a large blue monks robe. “I did not expect to see another living being I could talk to on this island after my crew marooned me here,” confessed Marovar. “Was your ship a small black ship?” asked Halcyon. “Yes, why do you happen to ask?” “Because she has sunk to the bottom of the ocean by now with a large portion of the crew.” “How can I travel home then now?” Marovar asked himself out loud. “My friend, being the amazing mage that I am, I can return you any time that I want. First though, I would like to have you eat something and relax. Your day has been hard and my house is now opened for you.” A young black haired elven woman suddenly appeared wearing a dress that did a superb job of revealing her large bosom. “This is my wife Elianna, and what is your name, I have forgotten to ask?” “My name is Marovar Trisbey, ex-captain of the ex-ship The Dark Locust.” “Well then the good sir Marovar would need to wash up,” said Elianna grabbing Marovar’s hand causing him to blush. “That is a splendid idea Elianna, now please go and our guest and do anything he asks of you,” said Halcyon grinning. Marovar followed the shapely elf woman up the stairs to the baths where he went inside closing the door. “My oh my, do we have another visitor to the Blue Keep said another female voice. A nude blond woman walked out of the steam. “My lady, please cover yourself up for it is not right to gaze upon your nude skin,” said Marovar covering his eyes. “Oh good gnome, my husband Halcyon has no problems with guests seeing his wives nude,” the blond human replied. “Wives?” asked Marovar who was shocked since polygamy was normally only practiced by orcs. “Indeed” said Halcyon walking in “for in my culture, a man with many wives is a man with many nights of good sleep. Now please let Giselle wash you before we eat.” Before he knew it, Marovar was being dragged through the mist by the comely woman who had suddenly begun removing his clothes. Marovar under the pressure of the situation suddenly fainted and fell on the floor. “Pity,” said Giselle who began to wash his naked body. When Marovar woke up he was dressed in a blue robe, laying in a large bed with Giselle wearing a red large corset and thong staring at him. “What are you doing here!” said Marovar in shock. “Master Halcyon asked me to wake you up for dinner,” she said getting up off the bed. Marovar decided to follow her down the stairs to the dining hall were Halcyon was sitting at a large table with another dozen women who oozed sexuality and wore equally revealing clothes. “Now that our guest has arrived, we may begin to eat,” said Halcyon who whistled summoning another 6 girls wearing only chef’s aprons to his side as they carried plates of food. “Dig in Marovar unless you would like to offend my wife Tiffany,” he said motioning to a large half orc woman who still looked incredibly attractive. Marovar filled himself at the table and began talking to Halcyon. “So you say that you have a way for me to be sent home?” asked Marovar. “Indeed my small friend. If you are so eager, I can send you home now,” replied Halcyon. “I would like that very much,” replied Marovar. Halcyon stood up from his seat and motioned Marovar to follow him. The pair walked up the stairs to a wooden plank door which Halcyon opened revealing another room empty except for a large bronze door marked with squares on the arch. “Simply wish to be sent home and think of where you live and then walk through the door,” instructed Halcyon. Marovar thought of his home in the city and walked through the doorway into a blue zone. “And so it seems our ex-member Halcyon has tricked another member into traveling through the Maiden’s Gate,” said a large man in a beard and a blue robe. “I suppose we need to transform this man,” replied another bearded and robed man. “Wait,” said Marovar, “who are you?” Another man with an extremely long grey beard walked over to Marovar. “In the days of the Kingdom K-Wren, there were many adventurers of all sorts and not enough people to stay in the kingdom. When our men grew tired of adventuring they came back wanting wives but the women who went adventuring and came back wanted nothing to do with these men. Our population began to dwindle so our King organized a group of brilliant minds to create a solution to his problem and so we created the Maiden’s Gate. It had the power to transform any actually living and thinking humanoid into a beautiful woman of that race and then made it impossible for them to reveal their past and they were then sent off to be married. It worked well until Halcyon, a new member, trapped us in here with a spell that let him feed off part of power. It has made us immortal but if we leave he fully gains our power and we become more of his wives. That is not a good proposition to us so we are trapped until we can think of a plan or until he frees us.” “So do you need to transform me then?” asked Marovar. “If we don’t, he just has the portal do it and he also brings one of us out. Now he goes off sinking ships and building his harem. So, in essence, you have to be transformed,” said another bearded man. The men suddenly began swirling in a circle around Marovar speaking an incantation. Marovar got dizzy watching and closed his eyes until the chanting stopped and when he opened then, the men were sitting on the ground looking at his naked body. When Marovar tried to cover up a man simply said “It’s nothing we haven’t seen before and it will be gone soon enough, right Phinom?” “Karactor,” said a wizard Marovar assumed to be Phinom. Suddenly Marovar felt a pulling between his legs and saw his penis begin to turn pink and retract into his body forming his vagina. “Seneptid,” said the wizard who had given the long explanation of the origin. Marovar turned his head and saw his small hairy legs suddenly become bald and then grow to size of normal elven legs. “Ifracor,” said another wizard who held his hands up to his eyes and began to shape Marovar’s legs into beautiful slender and tan female ones. “Lorpadom,” said another wizard and Marovar looked down to see his fat stomach suddenly get sucked in and his waist turn into a feminine shape with the same tan tone as his legs. “Riyumego,” said another voice and Marovar’s chest began to burn as two tan large breast rolled from his stomach up. “Futihum,” said another and Marovar’s arms grew long and slender with bright pink fingernails. “Neritasu,” said another and a brown shock of hair came down in front of Marovar’s eyes which changed from brown to a bright blue. “Bentariae,” said another and Marovar’s mind went blank. The wizards crowded around her putting on a long slender and revealing black dress like Marovar had seen on Elianna and then she appeared outside in the room again with Halcyon smiling. “Marigold, go answer the door,” he said, “we have some guests who came here for dinner tonight.”