Fable - Ask Monsters In A Cage

[Harlowe]

Harlowe's head cocked to the side like a hawk who had suddenly seen a mouse of interest. She hadn't seen anyone go through the change yet; she was usually too busy being sent off on some other mission to stick around and see how Nazara or Vix did it. But if Doyle was one they brought to the Contract Makers then maybe she would be allowed to watch. From what she had slowly pieced together it was not complete randomness that decided your monsters form. It all linked back to a sliver of your darkest bit of personality.

The vampire cleared her throat as the awkward silence began to stretch on; Felice staring adoringly at Doyle, Matias staring at Felice as though she had grown two heads and Doyle, who looked like he might shit himself.

"Let's just get going shall we? We found them nearly half way through the tunnel, the Saint only knows how much further the rest of these groups has gotten." The last thing they needed was an ambush now with the monsters at less than optimal strength. "We'll worry about Vix and Doyle later. Come on kid, spit it out. Where is it?"

 

[Felice]

”Shh, it’s ok, I know you won’t tell anyone,” Felice said in a surprisingly calm voice. Half of her red hair coiled around the poor wretch, forming a chair of sorts to keep him comfortable. Her eyes darted towards Matias once Doyle was secured.

”You’re scaring him.”

She cleared her voice and in as confident of a tone as she could manage added, "everything will be fine. Just let me do the talking." When Harlowe chimed in she gave a half-nod, the weight of Doyle's body preventing her from a complete up-and-down of her cranium. "Doyle? Can you please let us know where we should proceed to?"

Slowly the man who was hoisted upon a throne of crimson locks nodded before he pointed down a nearby street. "Th-that way I believe. Entrance is supposed to be at the b-base of a monument."

Felice placed her first foot forwards, prancing down the road with the captive human bobbing up-and-down atop her head. "By the end of this Vix will be so proud of us that one tinsy contract will be the least of her concerns!" Truthfully, the hair monster didn't know Vix all that well but she was pretty certain that between her charm, Harlowe's guile, and Matias' snark they'd make out just fine.

 

[Matias]

"Kress fuck, I'm going to die in my sleep." Matias said as he threw his head back and let out an odd sort of chortle.

His fingers came up and pinched the bridge of his nose.

The Frost Giant found himself quietly wondering what sort of curse had fallen upon his companion as she scooped up the enemy soldier and carried him forward. Matias was sure that she was either drunk, or had somehow been enraptured by Doyle's cha-

No.

No.

That couldn't be it. The soldier was about as charming as a piece of plywood.

If Felice had somehow fallen in love with this moron in the last ten minutes then he would seriously have to question her taste. Nevertheless he followed after her, shaking his head and looking at Harlowe with a serious gaze of; Can you fucking believe this?

He had no idea what they were going to tell Vix.

"Th-that one! There is-there's another entrance in the sewers to a deeper tunnel. Some sort of escape we were told about."​

Doyle said, hurriedly pointing a finger as they entered a small town square. In the middle of it was a tall stone statue depicting a riderless horse, it's eyes beset with strange ruby like stones.

"Looks like a statue to me." Matias commented dryly, clearly not believing the fool. A question did niggle at the back of his mind however.

Just who had told them about such a tunnel?

 

[Harlowe]

Harlowe just returned Matias' look with a tight-lipped smile, though a laugh was clearly bursting to escape.

As she followed their rather odd leader - a human sat upon a hair-demons head in some sort of throne - the vampire cocked her head and tried to listen to anything beneath them. Her hearing was growing better by the day and sometimes she could hear a whispered conversation a few streets away. Heavy, reckless soldier feet should be no problem at all, especially if they were beginning to get towards the surface.

She folded her arms and looked at the statue with barely concealed dislike for the entire situation.

"If the king knew about all this before, why has he waited till now to use these tunnels in?"

And there... a footstep 12 feet below.

 

[Felice]

"It's not just a statue," she insisted.

Doyle may not have been the best looking or smartest human she'd ever encountered but he wasn't a liar. Felice knew that they could trust him. Still, Harlowe's inquiry piqued her own interest and the tremble in Doyle's body alerted her to his own reservations.

"I d-don't know why the king waited. Maybe it, maybe a stratagem of some sort? I-I'm just a foot soldier."

He truly was a pure and innocent man. They'd have to endeavor to keep him safe until they could get back with Vix and Matias could explain the necessity for the contract.

Felice's hair gently tightened on the captive, securing him a bit better. "Shh, it's ok." Clearly there must have been a spy within their midst. Perhaps a desperate general or commander who had bargained for his life with the enemy force. "Just tell us how to descend into this secret pathway."

"P-press its eyes in. I think both or maybe it was, uh, just the right one?"

He clearly couldn't recall the exact manner to activate it. Probably because his poor little heart couldn't deal with all of the fear and stress they'd put him through. Another clump of hair flattened and rose up, patting the captor on the shoulder.

 

[Matias]

Matias let out a sigh.

He did not have super hearing, and he did not have a great amount of trust in Doyle either. In fact he was wondering if they'd now have to carry him around everywhere for the rest of their lives.

Given the man's personality he was pretty sure accepting the Contract would just turn the man into some sort of slug monster. Maybe a slime. As he babbled on about the eyes Matias only rolled his. He stepped up to the statue, looking at it for a moment, then simply reached out and touched it.

The temperature around them suddenly stopped, frost gathered upon the ancient marble.

Matias glanced it up and down, then took a long step back. He glanced one more time at Harlowe, wondering if the Vampire would try to talk some sense into Felice before all of this was up. Then he balled his hand into a fist and struck the statue as hard as he could.

A thunderous crack echoes in the square, and the statue suddenly exploded into a thousand pieces.

Much to the surprise of those in the tunnel below.

 

[Harlowe]

"I don't think that's---"

Harlowe's hand froze half outstretched towards the frosty lunatic when the statue exploded into shards of icy marble. Slowly her fingers curled into her palm and she gave a soft sigh. She could hear the muted cries of surprise beneath their feet but it was the fainter, quieter sound that she had been trying to warn Matias about. It was like a tiny little thread snapping. But that thread triggered the little bolt which triggered the lever which...

The ground beneath their feet began to shake.

She heard the men below die first in the explosion that ripped through the tunnel and exploded upwards out of where the statue had just been.

"... a good idea," the vampire finished quietly as they watched the flame catch onto the nearby thatched rooves.

 

[Felice]

Felice shuddered as the temperature dropped, several tresses of hair folded around Doyle to blanket him from the sudden cold, and her cedar eyes blinked rapidly as the hair demon tried to process what was unfolding before her.

Clearly the statue-entrance had been booby trapped. With explosives. That Matias had just set off.

"CAREFUL," she cried out as she attempted to envelope both herself and her human pet in crimson hair. She'd learned already that her hair was extremely resilient but Felice was pretty confident that her hair wasn't fire-proof. The best she could hope for was to shield herself, and the monster trio's captive, from any shrapnel.

The only silver lining she could see from all of this was that any of their foes who had been near the entrance were likely dead. But now a fire had started in the town square and any element of surprise they had was gone.
She rocked back and forth on her heels and eyed over her two comrades. "So, uh, now what?" Did they just jump down into the catacombs? Not knowing what lie ahead? That sounded like it would put Doyle into unnecessary danger.

 

[Matias Vaquero]

Mat was thrown half-way across the square, his body bounding and tumbling for a few moments as the explosion threw him backward. Fire licked at his skin, scorching across his flesh and causing small searing joins of agony to lace through him.

Fingers tightened and he let out a groan as he pulled himself up from the ground.

Small flickering flames landed around him, catching on some of the thatched roof tops. His head spun as he stood, hand coming up to pull through his hair. Lips thinned, and he took in a breath. Fog drifted from his nose a second later. "Augh."

The Frost Giant groaned.

Had he been a man Matias would have been little more than a scorched corpse now, but the only wound that seemed to mar him was a small patch of scorched flesh on his shoulder.

Slowly he looked around, head still in a haze.

"Guard the tunnel..." Matias slurred. "I'll uhh...i'll take care of the fire."

 

[Harlowe]

The second before the explosion erupted Harlowe had run; it was every monster for themselves when it came to it. Once the smoke had cleared and the ground had settled her figure appeared from the mists, leaning up against a building that had been just out of the radius of the blast. Ironically not too far from where Matias had been thrown. She glanced down at him with an almost bored look before picking a bit of dirt from her nails.

"There's nobody down there anymore. Not even to eat," meaning there were no corpses. The explosion had incinerated them and the ash that floated into the sky was not just down to the thatch that was currently being burnt away. "Once the fire's out we'll have to find a way to reblock it," or anyone would be able to just waltz in now the trap had blown. Harlowe walked over to offer Matias a supporting arm.

 

[Felice]

Once she was certain the "action" had passed and she could tell that none of the flames had spread to her fire-colored locks the young monster let out a sigh of relief. She assessed the damaged crater that the explosion had left in its wake, coming to a similar conclusion as Harlowe but without the hypersensitive senses that could confirm that there wasn't anyone in the direct vicinity of that tunnel.

At least, not anymore.

And when the jotunn mentioned that someone needed to guard the tunnel there wasn't any good reason to think that Felice shouldn't be that someone. Her hair folded over as she gently laid Doyle down on a pile of rubble. "Shout out if you need anything, you should be far enough from the fire."

He gave a nod in return and the harionago took a few steps closer to the large hole in the center of the plaza.

Tendrils of hair reached out to grab a few stones that she hurriedly hobbled together in a pile. Clumps of scarlet grasping at shades of tan and white bricks, forming a loose wall around the edge of the hole. "Well, this looks awful..." she said intending for it to be only to herself but realizing just after that the vampire could likely overhear her whispers.

"Wow Doyle! This looks great!" Her exclamation came as a result of thinking quickly as she threw a few pieces of the lumber in a stack in front of the crippled man. She could always blame the poor job she had done on him.

 

[Matias Vaquero]

Mattias heard Felice shouting, his eyebrow perking as he took a look at Harlowe. "Is...is she in love?"

He asked, head still spinning.

"I'm not sure we're allowed to love." The Frost Giant frowned for a moment, imagining what a monster wedding ceremony would look like. A small smile touched his lips as he imagined Vix in a bridesmaid gown.

Not that the Dream Eater would ever consent to such a thing.

Swaying slightly still, Matias reached out and steadied himself on Harlowe's arm. A breath shook his chest for a moment. "Right, fire."

The more important thing.

His eyes closed, and he concentrated. Another breath filled his lungs, dragging in deep, chest rising. Then slowly he breathed out. He focused on the cold in his core, that eternal frost, that bitter chill which now constantly sat within him.

He reached for it, and then dragged it out.

His breath flowed from him, and with it came a great frost. The townsquare seemed to shiver, stone, thatch, and fire itself quivered as the temperature dropped to the extreme. A hiss entered the air, and the flames that had caught slowly began to die.

 

[Harlowe]

Harlowe's reaction to the thought of a Monster Wedding was the polar opposite to Matias': she looked equal parts appalled and disgusted. But then again she had been thinking of Vorto, the Slug Monster.

"I don't think it's love," she said quickly and sent a silent prayer up - or down - to whatever God it was that looked over the Damned. "At least, not a romantic kind of love. More the love you'd have for a... pet," like a really good pet. Not the pet who chewed your slippers and pissed up the wall but the one that greeted you warmly after a long day and slept with their head in your lap because they didn't want to be a moment without you.

There wasn't much that could make a vampire feel cold but a Frost Giant's breath was one of them. Standing this close to the source especially made her teeth clench. Once the fires were all out she allowed herself a tiny shiver and rubbed at her cold nose.

"But if it is love then... well I think we need to be happy for her. Even Monsters deserve to be happy," she sighed. "Come on," she begun to help him over to where Felice was still sorting out the mess.

 

[Felice]

Red hair shook as the demon-girl shuddered. Even being as far away as she was, the jotunn’s breath lowered the air temperature. Doyle let out an exasperated sigh and scrunched his arms together to brace himself from the cold.

”Don’t worry,” she reassured him, ”once you take the contract you’ll probably become an ifrit or a fire breathing salamander, ooh! Or a monster that’s immune to the cold.”

Felice saw a tear drop from the man’s eye and carved a wet path down his cheek as he focused on the stubs where his feet had once been. “I-I don’t want to be a monster. I want to go home.”

A frown of sympathy and disappointment filled out the hair-beast’s rounded face.

”Shh, don’t talk like that. It’s not so bad.” Her crimson hair threaded itself around the destitute man and lifted him back up. Wrapping partway around his mouth to ensure her two companions didn’t overhear anymore of his completely untrue reservations about monster life.

As they neared she perked up. ”No one’s come through, I blocked part of the entrance but I figured we may want to explore the tunnel? Or do we make the entire thing unusable and report back?”

Strategy was never Felice’s forte.

 

[Matias Vaquero]

Matias frowned for a moment, glancing towards the tunnel entrance.

He was reminded of the siege of Calais. They had encircled the city for nearly three months with neither side gaining ground. Even trebuchet had been all but useless against the ancient stone walls, a fact which had confounded Matias' Liege Lord to no end.

They had only won the battle when one of the wretches from the city had pointed them to smuggling tunnel the city itself had been using for supplies. "Tunnels like this have ended more than one battle."

The Frost Giant said with a glance towards Harlowe.

"But..." He looked around. "Vix will have heard that explosion."

Or one of the others. "So maybe it's best if we're not here by the time she comes, you know...take the initiative."

At least then they could delay being screamed at.

 

[Harlowe]

If the noise of boots and hooves and scales on cobbles was anything to go by more than Vix had heard that explosion. They were not far away from what she could judge and would be here any minute. Harlowe gave a crisp nod to the Jotun and without another word snatched him up by the waist and threw him over her shoulder and did the same to Felice on her other side. If the human came along would be down to her. The vampire's heels cracked the cobblestones as she went from standing into a flat out spring that took them five streets and another square over into a deserted part of the city they had been sent to patrol three days ago.

She set them down outside the disused church.

"Are there any other tunnels?" she turned to the groups new pet with a scowl.

 

[Felice]

Felice hated when Harlowe did that. Being picked up and carted off like a shopping bag was so completely out of her wheelhouse. But this time, she found it difficult to object as she tried to keep her grasp on Doyle tight lest he fall and injure himself even further.

And, as if being carried around wasn’t bad enough, they found themselves right outside of a church. Felice hated churches. The scarlet-haired demon always felt like she was mere inches from bursting into holy flame when she stepped foot in them.

”Go on,” she urged Doyle with a reassuring nod.

The foot soldier eyed up each of the cohort of monsters before him and then took a deep gulp. “N-no, I don’t b-b-belive so. There’s a,” he stopped for a moment and steeled himself. The harionago could tell the poor innocent creature before them wasn’t supposed to tell them what else he knew but it was impossible to know for certain what strange thoughts whirled through his mind. After a while he pressed on, “if y-you turn me… back over to my nation… I’ll tell you where they’re stashing the… e-explosives.”

An eyebrow was raised at that little statement. She didn’t bother to look at the frost giant or the vampire but she assumed they were just as surprised as she was. This was all awful news to hear, completely terrible, probably the worst scenario poor little Doyle could’ve offered them. Felice was certain that the three of them were all in agreement that he'd be joining them in the monster company.

Of course, for her comrades it was likely the news that there were hidden explosives somewhere in the city that bothered them the most. For Felice, well, it was related to his stated desire to be separated from the trio.

She barked up before either of her colleagues could get a word in. ”Doyle! You cannot go back to your home. Your feet were destroyed by this oaf over here. We’re going to get you a contract.” At that, she crossed her arms and pouted. This was not up for discussion.

 

[Matias Vaquero]

Matias dusted himself off as Felice dubbed him an oaf. His head turned immediately, eyebrow raising and mouth opening before he snapped his lips shut and shook his head.

This...'situation' with Doyle was starting to concern him slightly. "Yeah Doyle."

The Frost Giant said, not a small amount of attitude in his tone.

"You can't go back, they'd probably throw you to the wolves by what I heard of 'em." That was entirely untrue. Matias had never once heard of their foe before the start of all of this. San Siveia was so far from Cortos that it might as well have been in the Blightlands. "You're one of us now."

Perhaps if they encouraged this whole thing Felice would be a bit more...normal. "Let us know where these explosives are, and we can get on to getting you legs."

Probably, maybe. It was always hard to tell what the Contract would give you. Matias hadn't seen many people turned since he'd signed his own, but it was always a curious thing.

 

[Harlowe]

Harlowe had had enough.

Usually she was as icy as her hardened skin when it came to such things. Quiet. Watchful. Calculating. The only times that had changed in her short tenure with the Regiment had been when she was filled with bloodlust or drunk. It was a pity for Doyle that she had only had one human to eat.

In a step that cracked the cobbled stones under her heels she was in front of the oily man and lifting him up by his shirtfront like he weighed nothing more than a mewling kitten. The man's eyes turned as large as saucepan's as she brought him to her face where the black veins were beginning to spiderweb out from her eyes and crack along her features.

"Listen here you wretched little pup, if you don't tell us where they are truthfully I'm going to take you back to the rest of the Regiment not to get a contract, but so all the monsters who haven't eaten can have a little taste. Most of us prefer our meals fresh. They'll eat you piece by tiny peace for those of us who feed off pain and fear and in those moments you'll tell us where the explosives are anyway. You'll give us your mothers address in those moments so we can go and do the same to her. So why don't you save us all the trouble and spit it out. Now," she snarled.

 

[Felice]

Felice felt a mixture of emotions. On the one hand, her pet human was being threatened and her maternal instincts said she had to protect him. On the other, her two best friends were beyond annoyed with Doyle. She is was just starting to get into the cool crowd of the monster corp.

Before she could say anything though the poor wretch caught her gaze and saw the defeat for himself. There wasn’t any chance that Felice would step in to help him here. Doyle’s only play was to tell the truth.

“T-the eastern wall, near the granary,” he said with shoulders rising up and down against the stone walls of the church that Harlowe had pressed him against. “There’s a s-shack against the wall.”

”Thank you.” Felice finally offered while taking a step forward. ”We’ll keep you safe now.” The demoness offered while casting a questioning glance towards her compatriots.

 

[Matias Vaquero]

Matias looked at Felice and shrugged.

It was impossible for him to overstate just how much he didn't care about Doyle, or what Felice did with him. If she wanted him to get a contract, then she could get him one...presumably. He wasn't entirely sure how that worked even now.

What mattered to him was not getting killed, and finally being able to fucking eat something. Hunger didn't wear on him as much as it did Felice, Harlowe, or many of the other monsters. But he could still feel it. That constant gnawing irritation.

"Great, so there's more explosives." He frowned.

Matias would leave the Doyle question to Felice.

"But that's not bad, that booby trap would have worked nicely." Although... A frown touched his lips. "If Doyle knew where the explosives are...and there are other ways into the city."

Shit.

 

[Harlowe]

Harlowe dropped the man on the assumption Felice would catch her new toy. She had really been hoping he wouldn't cooperate so she could have eaten right there and then. Instead she took several deep breaths and ran her nails through her hair in order to get her temper and hunger back under control. It didn't help with Matias connecting the dots out loud that she had already been concerned about. Somehow it made it more probable that was exactly what was about to happen.

"They mean to punch holes in the defences and then flood through I would guess," if she were any sort of a soldier which she was. Her lips pressed into a thin line and she turned in the direction of the part of the city Doyle had described. There could be more but how many and where?

"Perhaps we need to go and tell Vix..." however much she hated the thought.

 

[Felice]

Tentacles of hair surged forward and caught poor Doyle before he could plop onto the hard cobblestone pathway. The man yelped at the sudden motion of falling and then being tugged by six distinct threads of red.

”Vix definitely needs to be consulted before we do anything,” Felice offered while dusting off a fleck of dirt from the captured man’s shoulder. The sooner they got to Vix the sooner they could get their captive his contract and then she’d be freed from having to coddle him. She hadn’t thought of herself as fragile when she was still human but it was difficult not to after the transformation.

But, enough of Doyle, the explosives really were a threat. She had to sell them both on that idea.

Clearing her throat she added, ”there could be more explosives than just those. We’ll need the whole army to fan out and search the city. We can disarm the ones by the granary after Vix knows the situation.” She left out the part about getting Doyle his contract as soon as possible, realizing it was unlikely either of her comrades cared.

 

[Matias Vaquero]

Matias pinched the bridge of his nose. "But...maybe we could...I mean...no..."

The Frost Giant rankled at the thought of getting Vix involved.

Felice and Harlowe had both been offered their Contract by Nazara, The Shade. Matias had met the man once or twice before of course, and he was...reasonable. Terrifying in his own sort of way, more...soulless than some of the other monsters, but more genial than some of the others.

Vix?

She was a Nightmare, literally.

A dream eater. Succubus. Whatever the fuck you wanted to call her. The woman could drag out your worst fear and weld it into your eyes, make you shit yourself out of sheer terror. When she was angry it was like a whirlwind of horror. Matias didn't want to face that. Not af-

"WHAT IN THE EVER LOVING FUCK DID YOU DO?!"​

The words broke through the din of silence that had been hanging over the square outside the church.

Behind them stalked a woman. She was a slight thing, but leathery wings hung curled upon her back, small horns jutted from her forehead, and bright red hair that almost matched Felice's hung down to her shoulders. There was a fury to her as she walked forward, anger clouding her expression.

"I told you to stay put! Not blow up a statue! This town is already on the edge of burning us all on a pyre."​

 

[Harlowe]

Harlowe had been about to tell Matias to giant-up when the demoness in question stalked into the square towards them. Hiding the wince and making her face go smooth and cold in the way her mentor had taught her, the vampire turned smartly towards the demoness at the attention with her heels smartly pressed together and her hands by her sides. The perfect soldier.

"Ma'am, we thought to take a patrol to ease the..." it was still hard to think of the need to eat people as 'hunger' when she could remember the hunger that had afflicted her when she was human. The two were nowhere near on the same level. "We heard people and investigated - we captured one," she gestured to Doyle hanging limp and afraid in Felice's hair. "There are tunnels all the way under the city Ma'am, this one says there are explosives hidden too."