Entering through a door that was padlocked when a minor lived in the house, you find a basement dungeon of gray floors and purple walls, filled with mostly black furniture, though there are a few splashes of color here and there. The huge bondage bed with trundle off to the left is covered in colorful blankets, and the cage in the back right corner has rope lights hanging around the top. The wall of toys is also a riot of colors; floggers, paddles, ropes, dragon tails and other assorted implements hang waiting to be used. At the far end of this wall there is a table full of smaller toys and a stand with stereo to provide musical ambiance to the players. Benches and chairs sit beneath the toys for voyeurs and students alike.
Directly ahead is a bondage table, padded on top and with rings all around the edges. Throughout an evening this will be used for drumming, wax play, bondage, needle play and many other things. Taking up the center of the room are two pieces, back to back. A raised St. Andrew’s Cross faces the entrance, and a Bishop’s Chair faces away. Both are full of tie-off points to accommodate the various sizes and shapes that frequent this play space. Just to the right of these hangs a padded swing from heavy chains. A suspension ring hangs off to the right of that, completing the center line.
Back over by the bed, there is an ottoman resting quietly under a diagonal whipping post. Behind those are the raised spanking benches. The black is Kat’s favorite, usable either standing at one end or kneeling on the other. The red, one of the newest pieces, was made for her 50th birthday, and can be adjusted between a spanking kneeler and a high seat, depending on the users’ needs. The very first piece of furniture in this dungeon, the stocks, rest against the back wall.
The back wall is the flogging wall. A St. Andrew’s Cross with many eyelets, sometimes called a lacing cross, is flanked by open wall where many practice their flogger aim on Wednesday nights. To the right of that, beside the hexagonal cage is a curling bench turned bending stand. On the other side of the cage is a second door, leading to a tiled bathroom complete with oversized shower stall. Off in the opposite corner, behind the spanking benches and stocks is a curtained off wood shop where most of these pieces found life.
His Kat and her first husband had this house built with no kinky intentions in mind. He paid for an extra row of block in the basement with the idea of putting in a drop ceiling, but never got around to doing much at all with the space. Some six years ago, after the founding of MORAL (Mid-Ohio Rose And Leather) a dungeon was needed to throw their first party. His Kat and Big Daddy Stone decided to convert their basement into the needed space. The group got together, pooled resources and began creating the space. They cleaned out 15 years’ worth of accumulated stuff and set to work. Gray and purple were chosen as MORAL colors. An electrician helped set up the canister lights with a mind to where play stations were going to be in the future. At that first party, folks brought in some portable crosses and the stocks. After, only the stocks remained, and Big Daddy Stone set to work filling up the rest of the space, as well as reinforcing the stocks with heavier wood.
They wanted to create a space where they could always go and relax and play. They wanted a place where friends could come, learn and have fun together. The sounds of playing fill their house, but rarely leak out to the neighbors. The giggles and screams of pleasure are a comfort to them, even when they are sleeping.
Everything was created with versatility in mind, so that everyone could come and share in that space. The big bondage bed was created with a trundle so that more people could pile on, and more people could stay over if needed. The center cross was put on a raised platform to elevate smaller bottoms for larger tops. The black spanking bench was made at such a height that Big Daddy Stone could sit while using it if he need to. He had even begun creating pieces for CBT – a piece dubbed “the dick guillotine” was his first, though some would say that the headbox, given a lack of sanding in the front hole, may be used for CBT as well.
When asked about the challenges of having a dungeon in her basement, His Kat responded mostly with amusement. She had to keep it locked when her son lived with her, until he was 18. On his 18th birthday, she sent him down to see it, though she was pretty sure he’d managed to peek before that. Repairmen, cable guys, and real estate adjusters all try their hardest not to acknowledge what they see, staring at the ceiling for the wires or pipes they need, or taking only cursory glances around. The neighbors have never complained about noise, though they do get a bit antsy about the cars filling the street once a week these days. It is a public street, though and guests are careful not to block driveways or the fire hydrants.
His Kat enjoys having friends over to use the basement and only finds this a challenge during her work day, when she has to be careful of noise coming over the phone line. Big Daddy Stone’s woodworking projects posed a similar challenge, requiring careful coordination of power tool use. But hosting parties and having a place where friends can play is always a joy, and she and Sir Mark are keeping an eye out for a good basement and maybe even some surrounding woods as they look for their next home. They will create a new dungeon when they move, drawing inspiration and furniture from their current space and whatever they find in the new.
