Title: In Darkness, Chained
Fandom: Eternal Dungeon (Dusk Peterson)
Rating: Mature
Characters: Layle Smith, Elsdon Taylor, Weldon Chapman, Durian Skyler (OMC), Fletcher Dawson (OMC)
Word Count: 25k
Author's Note: About 1/3 of this story first appeared as a series of draft posts in my LJ five years ago. This version represents substantial revision and expansion of those now locked entries. Since I started Dusk Peterson has made additions and revisions to her Eternal Dungeon series. I have attempted to (as much as possible) to bring this story into conformity with current continuity.
The events of this story are set during the events of
The Balance, before "A Prisoner Has Need".
Story first published in the Con*Stict 2011 'Zine.
Legalese: The Eternal Dungeon is Copyright Dusk Peterson. Some rights reserved. The text is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Noncommercial License (creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0)
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"The Queendom of Yclau espouses ideals of egalitarianism and encourages humane treatment of commoners and criminals. It is the birthplace of various reform movements. However, Yclau struggles with class divisions that are reflected in its punitive justice system. Yclau folk are believers in eternal rebirth, a concept that foreigners find puzzling.
In the Queendom of Yclau lies an underground royal prison that embraces the worst of the past and the best of the future. The Eternal Dungeon is old-fashioned in its equipment and ahead of its time in its treatment of prisoners, seeking to put their best welfare above all else. Torture is part of the process of assisting the prisoners." [
http://duskpeterson.com/eternaldungeon/index.htm]
(
Prisoners always play games with their Seekers, but the Eternal Dungeon has never seen a player this adroit, nor a game played at this level.)