Fable - Ask Monsters In A Cage

[Harlowe]

"I'M NOT A REAL DWARF!" Harlowe thundered and the words echoed off the cavern walls causing more of the bats above to detach themselves and flap around screeching before once more finding a perch on which to rest. The dwarf-nee-vampire folded her arms crossly over her chest and glared up at both of her friends. Despite this being her idea she regretted it enormously.

Taking a deep breathe to cool off her temper she looked at the runes above anyway just to make sure she couldn't somehow read them and was pleased to find the transformation had not gone that far.

"I can tell you I can smell clean air from those two, salt from that one, and the forest after rain from that one. And that one... I smell nothing." Which was in itself odd for a vampire.

 

[Felice]

"Jeez, ok, we know you aren't a real dwarf." Felice said quickly before moving on to her next thought, "I vote for the clean air one." Then, a thought occurred. "Wait. Can you smell bats?"

In theory the way that smelled of clean air was the least likely to be home to a colony of bats but you never really could be too careful. And there were already so many bats here. They kept screeching about and nesting on Harlowe. If the way out contained even more bats then Felice was going to have to just accept that she was going to be caught by First Trev.

While completely averting her gaze away from Harlowe and Harlowe's horde of bats the large orcish figure nodded and said, "well, I guess it's decided that we'll take whichever path has the least number of bats."

Now she just had to hope that Harlowe could smell bats.

 

[Matias Vaquero]

Mattias shook his head. "I'm not sure 'no bats' should decide our direction."

Although it did likely mean that direction lead to more tunnels, the Jotunn wouldn't have felt right if he hadn't objected.

"But." He added. "It's probably safest best to get the fuck out of these tunnels."

After all, none of them had any idea of where they were going. If they continued to run around down here they could be lost for days. Time they simply didn't have before that Demon came for them. No, they had to get out and back as fast as possible.

"So, lets go." He motioned.

Someone had to make the decision.

 

[Harlowe]

Can I smell bats?! Harlowe mouthed to herself incredulously. Well, she could, but not in the manner Felice probably thought. She could smell their blood as much as she could smell Matias' or hers and she could hear the beats of their tiny little hearts. She shook her head causing the one that had settled there to fly off screeching to its brothers in the ceiling.

With Matias' input Harlowe nodded and then headed towards one of the two tunnels down which wafted clean air.

Luckily for Felice, there were less bats down here. The tunnel was wide enough that they could walk side by side but the roof was low meaning only Harlowe did not have to stoop as she walked. One by one the bats which had decided to join her took flight and vanished back the way they had come until only one remained pressed into her neck fondly.

The tunnel curved and wound like a river going sometimes up and sometimes down until eventually light appeared.

 

[Felice]

Well, there you go, as usual Felice had been right. They'd prioritize the path that contained the least number of bats. Honestly it was frustrating sometimes that neither Mattias nor Harlowe gave her genius the credit it likely deserved.

"Great, we'll take the path without any bats!" She declared as the large frame of a muscular orc bounded down the wider hallways only to discover that there were still bats... just a whole heap of a lot less of 'em.

The trek through this part of the caves was long and her back began to ache from how low she had to bend over to squeeze through the low ceiling of the place. Felice's mood was elevated when the faint light at the end of the tunnel poked into view however. "I knew it! We're nearly there."

And the timing was impeccable. Felice didn't know precisely how much longer they had in these bodies but she assumed the potions had to be wearing thin soon. Not that she was complaining, being an orc had been fun but she was ready to shrink back down to her normal size so that she didn't have to set her spine at such an angle to make it through this cave.

 

[Matias Vaquero]

"We're almost at the e-" Both Mattias boots and words came to a sudden stop.

The Frost Giant's face suddenly turning an odd complexion, his fat face contorting itself, and then he violently vomited. A green brackish liquid spewed from his lips, and before Harlowe and Felice's eyes Mattias began to undergo the opposite transformation that had earlier occurred.

His entire body seemed to shake, twist, a racking cough tearing at his lungs as he nearly doubled over.

Fingers clutched at his stomach.

An incredebly loud roiling noise echoing out as Mattias began to shift completely. The skin on his flesh withdrawing, his hair growing out once more, and the angular shape of his face once more taking whole farm. The scars etching through his skin as though drawn there.

"Kress-fu" Mattias said, hurling once more. "Kress."

 

[Harlowe]

"Wai-"

Harlowe wasn't sure who she was asking to wait. Probably the sudden rising rush of nausea she could feel as she suddenly projectile vomited all over Felice and Mattias' legs and then up their torso's as the vampire's legs suddenly grew shooting her from 3ft to close to 6ft. The sudden upwards motion only made her more ill and she clutched her stomach as it shrunk, her face changed until all that was left was the giant beard with specs of blood and green fluid coating it.

"Urgh," she groaned.

 

[Felice]

Everything was going so well. They could see the end, they were practically home free. Nothing could go wrong now tha-

The most unfortunate thing about reverting back to her old form was that it coincided with Harlowe growing in size. Instead of just Felice's orc legs and torso getting covered in bile it was the entirety of her body until the foul liquid flowed over the front of her newly reformed red bangs.

Sure, Felice vomited too. She had the same shakes and severe abdominal pain that her two friends did. But it was being completely covered in vomit that was the hardest thing to shake as she resumed her old form.

"This is the worst bank in the entire world." Felice just stood there, dripping, after she finished speaking.

 

[Matias Vaquero]

Matias clutched at his stomach desperately, as though the motion alone would alleviate some of the unpleasantness he was feeling.

It was as though his entire insides had been thrown onto the ground, turned upside down, and then shoved back into him. His heart thundered in his ears, his head ached, and even his tongue felt as though it had been raked over the claws of a cat.

Gold and jewels sat strewn about his feet, now covered in vomit and sewage. "I hate this."

The Frost Giant said in agreement with Felice.

His head turned up, lips immediately shifting into a look of utter disgust as he noticed Felice now absolutely covered in bile. "H-ho-I don't-"

He shook his head.

"We need a river." No, a fucking ocean at this point.

 

[Harlowe]

"I'm so sorry," Harlowe whispered hoarsely and wiped at her mouth. Vomit quite literally dripped from the walls around them and the smell was enough to make her want to retch again. In fact the very sight of Felice covered so thoroughly in vomit nearly set her off again. Yet in that moment the pure absurdity of what had happened hit the young vampire and from the groaning she began to laugh - something she wish she hadn't done for it hurt her stomach to laugh.

"Top tier monster regiment recruits we are," she shook her head. "Couldn't even kill a demon, can't handle a witches potion," she laughed hysterically again and winced with the agony that came with it.

 

[Felice]

"On the bright side, if First Trev sent assassins I think they'd run in terror at our smell," she grinned and picked up on Harlowe's laughing. Allowing a small chuckle of her own.

There wasn't much else you could do in a situation like this but laugh.

Despite feeling the grossest she had in her entire life Felice bellowed out laughter along with her vampiric friend. Clutching at her aching gut as she did so. They weren't going to be killed by that demon, they'd managed to rob a bank that the smartest minds of the Regiment told them was impossible to pull off, and all it had cost them was the very last shred of dignity they had left.

Felice looked towards Mattias as her laughter finally stifled. "A river would be great and uh, when we brag about this to the rest of the Regiment," another small giggle escaped, "maybe we leave this part out?"

 

[Matias Vaquero]

A small grin touched Mattias face as the two girls giggled with one another. Lips parting in a wicked smirk as he shook his head. "Yeah."

He said with a nod of his head.

"Yeah maybe we do." Slowly the Frost Giant pulled himself up. A hand still resting on his stomach, head shaking as he took in a deep breath and steeled himself. Slowly, painstakingly so, he gathered the sacks he had thrown to the ground.

He took another long breath, motioning to the others.

"Let's get cleaned up." Mattias said as he began to walk. "Then get this shit to that demon."

Then their debt would be cleared, and everything would be okay.

...Probably.

Slowly the three of them began to make their way, walking through the tunnel until finally reaching the light of day once again. The sun was shining over head, cheerful and warm, and in the distance Mattias could hear the sound of rushing water.

Before long the trio of monsters found themselves perched upon the side of a river, slowly scrubbing at the filth now half covering them. ”Honestly.”

Mattias remarked. ”Not the worst thing that’s happened to me.”

 

[Harlowe]

Harlowe kicked the last of her clothes off and waded into the river. On their squelching way out of the city they had pilthered themselves replacement rags that would do until they got back. As for what they had been wearing, the vampire intended on burning them all. Holding her breath out of memory rather than necessity, she submerged herself entirely under water.

"I hate to ask but what is the worst thing then?" she asked once she emerged, her hands going to her hair where she began to comb her fingers through it, dislodging bits of vomit and slime and the goddess only knew what else.

 

[Felice]

"Yeah, let's GET this demon!" All they were really doing was paying him off so he didn't kill the three of them but the bravado felt pretty great.

Oh. Harlowe picked up on that quick. The worst thing that had ever happened to him wasn't getting covered in vomit after they were forced to rob a bank to repay a demon that wanted to murder them?

Her face lit up slightly at the thought of hearing some juicy gossip that had been kept from her. "Yeah. What's the worst thing?" A sly grin was plastered on Felice's face as she echoed the vampire's words.

 

[Matias Vaquero]

Mattias glanced over towards the two women for a brief moment, stopping with an arm raised in the air as he scrubbed his pits. "Awfully curious, aren't you?"

His head shook and he let out a long sigh.

"Well I got murdered once." The Frost Giant pointed out, though he wasn't sure that particularly counted in this incident. After all, the two women had shared the same fate as him, otherwise they wouldn't be here. "But."

He continued, heading off a rebuke from either of them. "Before that I spent a few months in a siege."

A frown pulled at his lips as the memories flickered through his mind. "Water was pretty scarce, and the enemies damned the sewers so..."

Mattias shuddered, still remembering the smell.

 

[Harlowe]

Harlowe wrinkled up her nose.

"Gross."

The siege they had just found themselves in, the one that had resulted in Doyle becoming a part of their crew, had been trying but she had to admit the smell had been one of the minor things on her lists of complaint. Hunger had been far worse. But then again, everything was worse in an odd way when you were human. Once she was sure she was as clean as she could get in a river, Harlowe waded out, dried herself off, and dressed in the village clothing they had stolen.

"Do you think we have to go back to his casino to find him or will he just find us?"

 

[Felice]

"Yeah, I suppose it's hard to top dying," Felice said aloud as Mattias continued speaking.

She simply nodded as Harlowe agreed that it was a gross situation and the hair demon refrained from speaking her mind for once. There was no way that Mattias drank piss-water. That wasn't what he was implying was it? No, he didn't, it just smelled really bad.

Felice's hair coiled itself around a few times, straining as much water out as it could as her hair follicles scrubbed themselves clean. Once finished they formed into the shape of a bucket and began dumping water over her flesh as she used her hands to finish washing up. "Dunno," her words slightly muffled by splashing water, "he'd probably hunt us down but might be safer to at least head in the direction of the casino."

They wouldn't be able to ride Doyle with all of this gold but if the Rhaksa hunted them down maybe they'd get brownie points for at least heading in that direction. There were still a ton of questions left though.

Would the Trev Bank send assassins after them? Would the demon be satisfied with their tribute? Did Mattias drink piss-water?

 

[Matias Vaquero]

"I think if we let time run out we're going to end up in some kind of mystical hell-hole." The Frost Giant said, running a hand through his hair and deliberately scrubbing it more than was probably necessary.

There was no way in fuck he was going to smell like vomit after all this.

"Better to find the casino." He said, then glanced over towards Felice. "And not gamble this time."

In his head he could already imagine the Demon offering them a bargain, and Felice scrambling just because the damned thing said 'double or nothing'. His eyes flickered over towards Harlowe, expression stern as he added. "Right?"

Figuring that the Vampire's word would hold a little more weight with their hairy friend.

 

[Harlowe]

Harlowe seemed to come to the same horrible thought as Mattias did; Felice taking the demon up on some double or nothing bet that boiled down to the flip of a coin.

"Right," she said hurriedly and wrung out her hair. "Absolutely no gambling," Harlowe would never take Felice gambling again in whatever amount of time they had left on this planet. Once everyone was dressed and ready the vampire put her fingers in her mouth and whistled shrilly. Doyle appeared, ever faithful, a few minutes later with a bloody maw - the remains of some kill he had been enjoying before they'd summoned him. The trio of monsters clambered onto the great manticores back and then they were off.

Even with Doyle it took them two days to get back to the shanty town and Doyle set them down in a clearing in the surrounding forests so they still had a good half hour trek to make to their destination.

 

[Felice]

Sometimes, very infrequently, she wondered what her life as a monster would've been like had she not been stuck with two killjoys. "Look, I'm not going to gamble, but hypothetically speaking if we did gamble we don't have much to lose!" They were already down, they didn't have a coin to their name, there was only upside to gambling now! "But fiiiine," it was Harlowe's insistence that finally put a pin in it, "no gambling this time."

Or at least, they wouldn't gamble in the tent of the Rhaksa.

Doyle did his best but between the weight of the gold and the long trek it took far longer than any of them had expected. Had she still been human Felice knew that her back would be aching from such a journey but such were the benefits of being a monster.

"I'm just saying," she began one last time after their two day flight, "we could gamble at a different tent. They can't all be run by vicious demons." Each syllable was spoken as they inched closer to the shanty town.

 

[Matias Vaquero]

"I'm pretty sure they're all run by the same vicious demon." Mattias countered almost immediately. Wondering if the thirty seventh time saying the same thing would finally sink into Felice's brain.

A point of order that was starting to get real tiresome to talk about.

Their journey had taken longer than any of them had wanted it to, and now their time was almost up. If Mattias had to guess, they likely only had a few hours left before the Rhaksa's deadline was up. A fact which might explain the sense of impending doom hanging over them as they walked.

Cresting a hilltop the three monsters came in sight of the shanty town. Tents still set up, small wooden shacks still proudly displaying brightly colored signs for all sorts of games and foods. People still streamed in and out of the village of sin, but the Frost Giant had eyes for only one thing. "Come on."

He said to the others as they walked into the town.

"We're nea-" Before he could finish, something seemed to shift. The tent that had been on the street just up ahead now standing nearly three blocks further away. "Did you..."

He frowned. "I think..."

No, he had to be mistaken. Mattias hoisted the bag on his shoulder and walked forward, and yet with every step came no closer to the tent.

 

[Harlowe]

Harlowe was pretty much at the end of her proverbial tether. Trying not to strangle Felice on the journey back and the toils of the last few days, not to mention how horrific her stomach still felt from the potion, she was in as foul a mood as any had ever seen her. So when the tent disappeared and seemed to reappear half a mile away, then again when they reached it, the vampire finally snapped.

"FUCK THIS," she shouted and threw down the bag she had been carrying, gold coins clinked and half spilled out onto the pathway. "IF YOU WANT YOU'RE GOLD IT'S HERE, BUT WE'RE DONE!" she had no doubts the demon was lurking near enough to hear.

 

[Felice]

"Yeah! Fuck this!" Finally. Some action.

Felice didn't really concern herself with politics or philosophy but if she ever bothered to she thought she would've probably been an anarchist. It was just way too much fun to destroy things. Judging by her actions the redheaded monster assumed Harlowe must've been an anarchist too.

Her hair went limp and the bags of coin fell to the pavement. Felice flung one of the crowns, adorned with dazzling gemstones, in the general direction of the roaming tent and echoed the vampire's previous words. "We're D-O-N-E!" If the tent wasn't trying to run from them she likely would've attempted to set it on fire.

With a wide smirk she proudly proclaimed, "I bet you didn't even expect us to pull it off." It was the closest she was going to get to another gambling game with the casino demon.

 

[Matias Vaquero]

People turned their heads, looking at the trio of monsters with a mixture of curiosity and greed. More than a few people began to step forward as Gold was tossed onto the ground, their hands wiggling with eager avarice.

Mattias saw them, and immediately his hand lashed out in a wave.

Massive spikes of ice sprang up from the ground, forming in an instant from the moisture just beneath the surface. A yelp of pain wen up as one pierced the foot of a bystander, crimson coloring the opaque ice as the man howled.

"NO ONE!" He shouted. "BUT THAT FUCKING THING GETS THIS GOLD!"

Hushed whispers ran through the crowd, and then suddenly the tent sprang into place directly before them.

One of it's flaps shoved to the side, and the massive tiger-like humanoid stepped forth from within.

"You lot are just terrible for business, aren't you?"​

 

[Harlowe]

That feeling of dread that had crawled up the back of her spine like a spiders legs on her bare flesh was back when the demon appeared. This time, however, her anger far outweighed her fear. Having the tent deliberately run from them in order for them to miss his deadline by a few minutes was a dirty trick and one Harlowe could not stand. Her lips curled in obvious distaste revealing the points of her fang to one side.

"Fuck your business. Here's your gold. We're done," she said with great emphasis making those gathered whisper to one another.