Chapter 2: Rising Action
Jolissa had fought warlocks, ghouls, and dragons, but right now, the fear of a single, creepy cave rattled her down to her tingling armpits. Driven by curiosity and a thirst for adventure, she traversed this secluded, musty dungeon, where snickers and rustling seemed to hide in every shadow and stone.
The roots pierced the ground like serpents, slithering across the cave floor, brushing against her armored boots and nudging her toward something far more unsettling.
A strange, shuffling sound drew her attention to a corner of the cave. Odd shadows danced on the walls as if mocking her unease. She lowered her hand to her sword, steeling herself for the worst. Slowly, she approached the oddity, eyes unblinking.
"W-what's this?" she mumbled with her first stutter since joining the service.
A monstrous creature, akin to a caterpillar of grotesque proportions, emerged from the corner. The walls seemed to shake with each movement while long, fuzzy fingers stretched and groped the air. Tiny gusts of wind tickled Jolissa's unarmored armpits, instantly pricking her skin and daring the leviathan beast to explore further. Invisible feathers danced a jig inside her armor, sending shivers throughout her core and an unexpected pool developing in the crotch of her leather trousers.
"What trickery is this?" Jolissa demanded, her confidence wavering only slightly. The caterpillar creature seemed unthreatened by her fighting prowess.
Maybe it didn't understand her language, or perhaps it saw her armpits and feet as a challenge, rather than a weakness. Then again, maybe she was seeing the worst in everything while nerves played their relentless game.
As Jolissa's eyes narrowed with determination, her armpits threatened to tell upon them all.
Suddenly the monster lashed out with its long, fuzzyy fingers, tickling playfully in Jolissa's exposed armpits.
Helpless against this surprise assault, Jolissa's breath hitched, and before she knew it, her laughter echoed through the cave, reverberating in equal parts fear, surprise, and sheer, honest enjoyment. With each of its movements, the tickling sensation spread—from her ribs to her sides, and lower still to her swelling loins.
"Okay, okay!" Jolissa half yelled, half giggled.
This bizarre creature, this tickle monster, threatened to shatter the one thing no enemy had ever managed to dismantle—her façade of solidity and strength.
Her mind scrambled to think of ways to escape, commanding her legs to walk away, urging her arms to draw her sword. But a raging battle within her body opposed her thoughts. A flood of electricity scorched her nerve endings, forcing her knees to threaten collapse. Her arms shook with repressed laughter, rendering her useless against the tickling.
The monster moved away from her armpits, and began tickling her unarmored bare feet instead. Her feet were arguably more ticklish than her armpits, and the fuzzy dancing fingers of the monster drove Jolissa's shrieking laughter to new levels of intensity.
A gust of wind accompanied each finger dance, further delighting the beast.
Jolissa, with her newfound tickle predicament, made ungraceful attempts to side-step out of reach. But every time she moved away, those confounded roots beneath her feet seemed to ensnare her as though they, too, wished to get in on the fun. Her armor clunked and clattered against the cold cave walls with futile flails of her arms, but the tickling monster pressed on.
Not knowing whether to laugh or weep, Jolissa collapsed against the nearest rock formation, her sword abandoning any semblance of usefulness.
"You fiend! Please, I beg you," she pleaded, fighting her involuntary response to writhe in pleasure.
Her strength lay in her battle prowess, her sharp intellect, and her unparalleled fortitude, and yet now she faced a foe that threatened to bring her to her knees—and not in the way she was used to.
Tickling.
The tickling behemoth continued its offensive against her vulnerable and ticklish feet. Jolissa's chortling laughter filled the cave as her tensing legs frantically kicked in a mad attempt to escape the infernal fingers' tantalizing touch.
"Who is laughing along to my despair?" she demanded, gripping the edge of her armor in hopes that it would ground her.