Part 1
Laura had been looking forward to the escape room for weeks! She'd heard about the new escape room place that had just opened last month called Locked in Escapes. So far, the reviews she'd heard of the place were great, and there was one room that her and her roommate Judy had their eye on. It was called Lady Crimson's Dungeon; it was the toughest room offered by Locked In and they couldn't wait to try it out! Also being college students, it fit within their budget, and they figured it would be a fun way to spend a Friday night.
After class on Friday, Judy caught up to Laura walking back to their dorm and said "Hey roomie! You ready for tonight?"
Laura replied "Of course! I've been looking forward to this for weeks, and I love a challenge! On their website it said it was the toughest room they had, so I guess the real question is are you ready?"
Judy laughed and said "Bring it on! We'll escape for sure!"
Laura looked back at her friend and chuckled "Ok sounds like you're ready to go, I just need to grab some dinner from the cafeteria first and then we can head out, ok?"
"Sure thing, meet you back at the dorm!" 20 minutes later Laura arrived back at the room and the two of them got ready and headed out the door.
Both were slim brunettes in their early 20s and were almost finished with their degrees. They also both shared a passion for bondage, as Laura discovered the one day when she walked in on Judy hopping around the dorm room desperately trying to find the key to her handcuffs and leg irons. Because of their common interest, this new escape room was right up their alley!
The description on the site read: You've been kidnapped by Lady Crimson's lackeys, chained to the wall, and blindfolded, how will you make your escape? She said she was coming back in an hour to 'deal with you'. You don't want to stick around to find out what that means. Will you escape in time, or forever be her pet?
Judy and Laura both couldn't help but get a little wet at reading the description when they made their booking, and they were excited to try out the room.
They got off the bus and headed up to the building where Locked In was located, they entered and Laura confirmed her booking with the girl at the counter. She pulled out the waivers for both to sign and said, "You're positive you want to go ahead with this room? It's our toughest room, and only has a 1% escape rate. With only two of you it's going to be especially difficult!"
The girls both said, almost in unison "We can handle it, bring it on!" Once they'd signed the waivers the girl at the counter said,
"Alright, all set! We'll go over some basic rules and I'll get you two readied for your experience."
She went over the basic rules about not touching anything in the room they weren't supposed to, unplugging cords, lifting ceiling tiles, that type of thing, but basically anything else was fair game. They were also told that they'd be watched on cameras the whole time in case they needed a hint, or there was an emergency. Part of what made the room so difficult was that they were only allowed 1 hint each for the whole hour. After that she produced a couple serious looking blindfolds and a set of shackles for each of them from the chest behind her.
"Whoa," Laura said as she saw what was in store.
"I know they look a little intense but it's part of the experience, and we'll be right here if you need us, don't worry," the girl said with a smile. "Now, let's get you locked up!" She slid the shackles around Laura's wrists and locked them in place with a padlock on each one, after that she put the blindfold over Laura's eyes. The blindfold was one that belonged in the dungeon of a Dominatrix; Laura had seen something similar before. This looked more like a head harness than a blindfold, the only part that was missing was the gag. It also had locking buckles in a few places; the girl locked a few strategic ones so it couldn't be pulled off without the keys.
Laura sighed and knew this was going to be much harder until she found the key for it. Both women were getting turned on from the situation, being kidnapped had been a fantasy for both for a while. Although, the real thing would likely be much scarier had either of them managed to get into that situation.
Judy got the same treatment as Laura, after they were locked the girl led them into the room. It was a main room and then a few smaller cells off the main room. The cells were only about 8 ft square, clues littered the floors and walls of each cell.
She led Laura into the one cell while Judy waited blindfolded in the main room, she asked Laura to put her hands in front of her and she faced her towards the wall. Laura could hear a chain being pulled from the wall and felt as the girl attached the chain to her shackled wrists with another padlock.
She quietly said, "Ok, all set. I'll get your friend locked in the other cell and then let you guys know when you can start!"
She locked the door to Laura's cell on the way out to the main room and led Judy into the cell beside Laura's and did the same thing, once she got to the main room she said,
"Alright ladies, your time starts as soon as I close this door."
They heard the click of the door to the main room closing, Laura immediately started trying to pull her hands out of the shackles, but of course it was no use. They were tight fitting around her wrists, she began walking forward in the room feeling her way around with her hands in front of her. Little did she know that she and Judy were on the same chain that was looped through the wall!
As she started walking forward, it pulled on Judy's side and prevented her from moving more than a couple of inches away from the wall, "Hey!" Judy exclaimed, "Hold up, we're on the same chain I think!" she chuckled.
There was no response from Laura's side of the wall, the walls between the rooms had been sound proofed to prevent communication. They would have to find the walkie talkies in the rooms to talk to one another.
Laura got down on the floor and started feeling around for a key. As she reached the corner of the room, she felt what she thought might be a small duffle bag. She felt around for the zipper and discovered a combination lock keeping it closed, not that one, she thought to herself. As she stood up, she felt something small hit the top of the head harness, she felt around and it was the key, "Yes!" she exclaimed.
She gave the string a tug and was able to use the key after that, it fit into all the locks on her harness. She let out a sigh of relief as she unbuckled the harness and removed it, there was no need for her eyes to adjust as the room was dimly lit.
She eagerly looked around the room for her next clue, just then she felt herself being pulled towards the wall by the chain. On the other side of the wall Judy had begun her search for the key to her blindfold, much like Laura she started walking forward with her hands in front of her until she reached the wall at the other side of the room.
What Judy didn't know was that her key wasn't in the room, it was part of Laura's next clue, she would have to wait for Laura to unlock her door and unlock Judy's before she could give her the key to her blindfold. Laura glanced at the clock and saw they'd already used 15 minutes, she tugged on the chain again so she could resume her search, but felt it immediately be pulled back through the wall. It was at this point it occurred to her that Judy and herself were connected by the same chain. "Judy, hang on! I want to keep searching for clues!” no answer, "…Judy?”
At this point Laura decided to use her hint, she waved in front of the camera until a staff member saw her and a voice was heard over the speaker in her room "You wanted a clue?" said the voice of the girl they met when they came in. Laura looked up at the camera and said,
"Yeah! How come my friend can't hear me? I need to get her to stop pulling on the chain so I can look around the room." The voice replied,
"The walls have been soundproofed as part of the game; you'll have to find another way to communicate. Do you see that duffle bag in the corner? There's a walkie talkie in it you can use. If you put together that puzzle in the opposite corner it will give you the lock's combination!"
"Ok, thanks!" Laura said and tugged on the chain a couple times as sort of a signal to Judy that she needed it. She felt the slack come back and began tugging the chain through the wall again. She walked over to the little table and saw the picture on the front of the jigsaw puzzle box, "50 pieces?" she said, "They really don't make this easy!"
She poured the puzzle out on the floor and glanced up at the clock, only 35 minutes left in their escape. She could see that there were 4 red numbers painted across various parts of the puzzle's scene, she'd only have to put those pieces together to figure out the combination. After another 7 minutes, she put those parts of the puzzle together and saw the 4 numbers, 8 3 9 2. She began to dial them into the lock in different orders 8392, 8923, 3928, 8932 and heard a click. She was excited she could now get into the duffle bag for her next clue, she pulled out a key and a walkie talkie.
She pressed the button on the walkie and said "Judy, can you hear me?" She felt the chain being pulled through the wall again, Judy felt her way over to where she heard Laura's voice coming from "Judy? You there?" As she reached down, she felt the walkie talkie in the corner of the room and picked it up.
"Yeah! I'm here Laura, this game is super tough, huh? I hope we can figure this out!"
Laura laughed and answered, "yeah it's been hard so far but I know we can do it, do you see any clues around your room?"
Judy replied, "I'm still blindfolded, I haven't been able to find the key. Where was yours?"
Laura explained where she found her key to Judy, she felt around the corner of the room where she found the walkie talkie, "Hmmm, I'm not feeling anything, I'm going to ask for my clue ok?"
"Sure, go for it! We're stuck otherwise." Judy waved her hands around the room since she couldn't see where the camera was, to get the attention of the staff and asked, "Can you tell me where the key for my blindfold is?"
The girl on the other end replied, "Sure, it's over in your friend's cell. She'll have to find a way to unlock her door and get it over to you."
Judy relayed the clue to Laura via the walkie, and moved closer to the wall so that Laura could pull the chain through and start looking. She tried the key she found in the duffle bag on the door to her cell, it opened! She saw in the main room that there were still a bunch more clues they needed to solve to get out of the room. The chain also stopped her right at the door, so she couldn’t get over to Judy's cell to release her.
She turned around and went back into her room, she saw that the clock read 18 minutes left, she knew they didn't have a moment to spare if they wanted to be successful at solving the room. She glanced around the room for any more clues, she saw a small lockbox with a 4-digit combination lock with letters sitting on the floor in the middle of the room. On the wall with the chain, she saw "Silence is golden," written on the opposite wall she saw, "It's missing."
She had no idea what the clues were referring to and pondered it for a few minutes, as she picked up the harness from the floor it occurred to her, the ball gag was missing! She picked up the lockbox and dialled in 'ball' as the combination, the box opened! Laura was feeling a great sense of accomplishment at this point, she felt awesome being able to solve all these clues.
Then she heard a voice announce, "15 minutes left," from the speaker in her room. She tried the key on the lock holding the chain, the lock opened, and the chain dropped to the floor. Even though she was still shackled, she could now leave her room to go help Judy. She pushed the button on her walking and said "Judy! I got out, I'm going to come help you now, ok?"
Judy replied, "That's awesome! Please come save this damsel in distress!" she joked as they both laughed.
Laura soon ran into her next obstacle, the door to Judy's cell was also locked from the outside, she'd have to find the key in the main room if she wanted to get her out, she looked around the room and saw all the clues, she didn't know where to begin.
She then noticed a black light sitting on the table beside the entrance to her room, she turned off the lights and shone it around the room, scrawled on one of the walls she saw "Salvation is before your eyes," and looking around in the dark some more she saw more writing "2 heads are better than one" and an arrow pointing to the left. She turned the lights back on and saw the cabinet the arrow was pointing to.
She noticed 3 large 5-digit combination locks keeping the cabinet closed. Laura was stumped at this point, she tried to ask for another clue and the girl replied "Sorry, you've both used your clues for this game. Good luck!"
She sighed and wasn't sure what else to do, ready to admit defeat she radioed Judy "Hey, there's a lot of clues out here and I can't seem to figure them out, I don't know if we'll be able to do this in 10 minutes." Judy responded back "That's ok! This was fun even though I didn't get to do much!" she said.
Laura tried to decipher what clues she saw as best she could, but she resigned to her fate and watched the time tick away on the timer…00:05, 00:04, 00:03, 00:02, 00:01, 00:00. There was a beeping as the time ran out, the hostess opened the door a short time later and entered with the keys for their shackles. She looked at them with a slight smile, “Sorry ladies, not this time. But feel free to come back anytime and try again! You gave it a good effort.”
Laura and Judy were a little disappointed they couldn’t solve the room, but they were warned it was especially difficult with only two of them. With that in mind, they shrugged off their disappointment and gathered their belongings from the lockers in the lobby.
“Well, that was fun.” Laura said with a slight grin.
Judy agreed, “Yeah, even if we didn’t get out in time, it was still a rush!”
The women waved goodbye to the staff of Locked In and left out the front door. The street was quiet as the women exited Locked In; the summer evening was setting in as they walked down the street. They walked beside a black van parked on the street, suddenly the side door of the van opened and a couple of men in ski masks whisked them both into the van. Rags soaked in chloroform were shoved over their mouths and nose and before they could put up much of a fight, both women had drifted off.
Laura awoke but quickly realized she was just staring at blackness again; the blindfold was back on. What's going on? She thought to herself, she felt the shackles around her wrists still and she reached up to pull the blindfold off but realized her hands were trapped in fists. On both of her hands were steel fist mitts held in place by nuts and bolts at the base of each mitt. With her hands in fists, she couldn’t twist the bolts to remove them.
She began to panic and desperately tried to move the harness off her head, she felt the cold steel trapping her hands as she rubbed the fist mitts against the harness. As she moved her hands down, she felt a thick steel collar encircling her neck which was locked at the back. "Whmm Th Fnnck?" she said as the ball in her mouth readily stifled her speech.
She started screaming for help and tugged as hard as she could on the chain, she began feeling around for the door where she remembered it being in the room, as she got close to the door she felt a huge jolt of electricity surge through her from the collar around her neck. She screamed in pain and dropped to the floor, as she crawled back to the wall as best she could she felt resistance on the chain as Judy was testing her situation on the other side of the wall. Was this some kind of nightmare? They had failed the room, but they should have been let out by now! Who was keeping them this way?
Suddenly a woman who sounded as though she was in her mid 30's spoke over the speakers in both rooms. "Hello Laura, and Judy. I am Lady Crimson and you both now belong to me! In the fine print of your waivers was a lease agreement which was to take effect if you failed to solve the room. The rooms you were in earlier, were replicas of the rooms that you're in now, minus the clues of course, these rooms are in the basement of my mansion. According to what you signed you're both leasing these rooms from me for the next 25 years!"
Judy screamed hopelessly into her gag at this point and began banging her fist mitts against the floor, trying to find some way to get them off, but they remained securely encircling her fists. Lady Crimson continued talking, "The agreements you signed were to be my servants in exchange for room and board, but if you can pay off the remaining rent you owe me for the next 25 years then I can release you. At $2000 a month you would need just over half a million dollars if you were to pay it off today! This amount will be reduced each month as we get closer to the end of your leases."
Both girls began sobbing as they knew getting out of here would be next to impossible. "But don't worry ladies, I'm looking forward to taking good care of you. I think in time you'll both make fine pets, enjoy your rest, you've both got long days ahead of you tomorrow."
As the speakers shut off, both women slumped down to the cold cement floors of their cells and cried themselves to sleep.