Fable - Ask Monsters In A Cage

[Harlowe]

The tent was basically deserted and the tent flaps suddenly sewed themselves shut, right in Harlowe's face. She sighed and turned back to watch the rest of the events unfold.

The humans who had been sitting at the bar looked around in bewilderment and rose to their feets, cowering back from the man literally changing in front of their eyes. One of them looked as though he might have been about to laugh or make a comment no doubt about actors getting too into their roles but one look from Harlowe and the words died in his throat. Then the fear begun to set in that was so natural to humans.

"H-hey man, we don't want no trouble just let us out."

 

[Felice]

There was clearly something very off about this place. If only her pals had listened to her and gone to the more reputable tent...

She stared up at the large tiger-like beast before them whose voice thundered through the room.

"It's not a very funny joke," she mused aloud, ignoring the likely glare that Matias was pointing towards her. In the background she could notice the mortal attendees beginning to wriggle and squirm in fear at the demon-like creature standing in the center.

Whatever this thing was he wasn't part of the regiment. He was something different, born of "natural" processes or some ritual completely alien to them. And, for one of the first times since her second birth the chill of fear ran over Felice.

Her hair fell limp but she stood on the balls of her feet, ready to attack or defend depending on how this situation played out.

 

[Matias Vaquero]

Matias found himself running through a list of excuses in his head, trying to come up with something to say. He had absolutely no clue in fuck what this thing was standing in fornt of him, and without that knowledge he felt like any decision he made was wrong.

Briefly the Frost Giant glanced at Harlowe, then looked to Felice.

Neither of the other two monsters were stepping forward, save for Felice offering a small opinion on the…quality of the joke being played. Matias reached up, rubbing a hand across his face as he was sure their death was imminent. ”I think it’s…best…if we just leave.”

He glanced at Felice.

”Right?” The Frost giant took a step forward, but before he could make it far the demon spoke again.

“STAY WHERE YOU ARE! ALL OF YOU!”​

His voice boomed.

“Do you know how much you’ve cost me? How much money these rubes would have spent?!”​

The demon demanded, stepping towards Felice and Matias.

 

[Harlowe]

"Are we the rubes?" The guy next to Harlowe exclaimed, turning to his two compatriots. Both of them shushed him.

Harlowe crept forward whilst the demon was focused on her two friends and picked up one of the bar stools quietly. She had fought alongside Naz and Vix many times and had noted several weaknesses. That didn't mean any of them would apply to this particular demon - holy artefacts and murmured chants seemed to be a bit hit and miss. What had always worked on both was being hit rather hard.

Summoning all her strength and quietly sending up a prayer to whatever God there was looking over Monsters, Harlowe swung the bar stool with all her strength at the demons head.

 

[Felice]

Felice had to resist the urge to fidget or attack or run. The giant tiger-man before them was intimidating and he'd asked them all to stay put. Worst still he was going on about how much money they'd just cost the guy.

A brow poked upwards as she tried to look around the man and towards the so-called 'rubes.'

They looked like peasants, maybe they had a few hundred coins between them, but it didn't seem like he lost out on that much money. "I dunno, they look pretty poor to me. I really think you should consider running your operation a bit," she stopped speaking as a bar stool collided with the beast's head.

"Holy shit," she said as the thud of the attack resonated through the tent.

 

[Matias Vaquero]

"IT'S ABOUT THE LONG TERM GAI-"​

Before the massive tiger man could finish his sentence Harlowe smashed a stool over the back of his head. The dense wood shattered over the Demon's fur, clattering into a dozen pieces as the Vampire's strength smashed it into him.

The Raksha did not move an inch.

A low growl resonated within the creatures throat, his head slowly turning as he peered down at Harlowe. An expression of pure and utter disgust painted his features, his jowls slowly pulling up to show teeth that could snap bone.

Then without another word the Raksha snapped his fingers.

The carpet below Harlowe suddenly jumped up, wrapped itself around the Vampire and crushing at her body in an instant. Constricting like a viper. At the same time the chairs behind Felice and Matias jumped up, their seats growing teeth and chomping at the two monsters as they came to life.

 

[Harlowe]

Harlowe helped as the carpet writhed to life below her feet and then bound her in its prison. She didn't need to breathe so though it crushed her bones it at least didn't affect her breathing in the way it would a human. The only problem was, was that the demon might still think she was human and be expecting her to faint. If she acted limp would he drop her or loosen it enough she could get free? It might be worth the act.

She begun to take deep, gasping breathes as though she were fighting for air as the carpet tightened and tightened, the demons expression looking almost satisfied...

And then she allowed herself to go limp.

 

[Felice]

Seeing her friend swallowed by carpeting and toothy chairs come to life convinced Felice of only one thing. The Regiment absolutely had to get one of these tiger men.

For now though, she sprung into action. Two clumps of red hair tightened and then flew forwards in an effort to break one of the chair-monsters that approached her. Simultaneously another strand of hair grew in length and made its way towards the striped demon attacking them.

The sharp end of her assaulting length of hair would, with any luck, impale the beast and then form a hook to stay embedded within its flesh. Unless, of course, his skin was more durable than it looked.

Then it’d just bounce off.

”Harlowe!” she cried out, unaware that her vampiric friend was faking the suffocation act. ”Matias, HELP her!”

 

[Matias Vaquero]

Matias let out a curse, taking half a step back and kicking his boot out. The Chair seemed to flip over to the side almost immediately, letting out a strange sort of hissing noise that the Frost Giant couldn't quite identify. Then it suddenly flipped itself over and began to charge at him again.

Palm thrust outward, a wave of cold rushing over the rickety wood. Ice formed almost instantly, and the creature seemed to wobble and slow as it was frozen solid. Then he heard Felice call out to him, his head whirled.

Fingers snapped.

The carped wrapped around Harlowe felt the same chilling touch, cold settling in on it's fibers as Matias hopefully froze it in place.

A hook of hair pierced through the Rhaksha's flesh, stabbing through his heart...but no blood spurted from the wound. Not even a fleck. He looked down for a moment, scowling that odd tiger like scow, and then suddenly disappeared.

Seconds later his form blinked back into being mere steps from the other two unrestricted monsters.

"ENOUGH!"​

He shouted, vines of silk springinging from his clothes that moved to bind around Matias and Felice.

 

[Harlowe]

Ice crackled along the rug and froze it solid. The demon wasn't paying it the slightest bit of mind now she had gone limp like she had hoped. So he did think her human. Or at least weak. But as he sought to tie the other two monsters, Harlowe flexed her arms and shattered the frozen rug. Then, using her lightning quick speed which turned into liquid silver, Harlowe dove to the bar, grabbed a knife, then returned to press it against the demons throat.

"Yes, enough," she hissed. "Let my friends go. Slaying demons is not new to any of us."

Almost in a detached fashion she wondered if this demon new Naz and Vix.

 

[Felice]

Ok, that was helpful to know. Tiger-demon-things didn’t bleed. Felice had to wipe at her eyelids as the creature went ethereal before reforming.

Then, almost as if he was imitating her, he sent silks in the same way she’d have used her hair to bind someone. They moved fast, faster than her own hair could maneuver even. Whatever this thing was it was talented, that was for sure.

Despite her best efforts the redhead wasn’t as quick as her silver haired friend and found herself bond but clumps of hair sandwiched between her body and the silk were durable enough to prevent any sort of constriction.

Other than the area surrounding her mouth which the demon, rather rudely, ensured to bind. Maybe he knew she had a silver tongue and would talk her way out of this mess.

Harlowe moved and held a knife to the beast’s throat. Joy swelled up in Felice as she saw her friend alive and well. Echoing the sentiment she mumbled through fabric, ”yfuh enuff, we dfon’f phfwanna huft youff.”

 

[Matias Vaquero]

Matias' position wasn't much better than that of Felice.

The silks bound and wrapped around his body in an instant. Of the three of them he had always been the slowest. The Frost Giant did not dart or speed, he lumbered. The weight of his body was truly that of a Giant's, but the silks that surrounded him did not care.

"KWILL ZHE FWUCKN BSTERD!" Matias intoned through the same muffled scream as Felice yelled out, though all three of them seemed to have forgotten that the strange demon had just survived being impaled through the heart.

The Rhaksha seemed to bare it's teeth, leaning forward.

The Blade Harlowe pressed against his throat would feel pressure, and then suddenly nothing at all as the Demon literally fell through her.

One moment he stood behind her, and then within the span of a breath he appeared behind the Vampire. His massive pawed hands wrapped around her head, and with a mighty wrench snapped her head to the side. Not a death blow for any Vampire, but the Raksha hardly seemed to care.

"One Hundred Thousand Crowns."​

The demon declared.

"Three days, or all of you die. No matter the little contract you signed."​

 

[Harlowe]

Having your neck snapped might not have been a killing blow for a vampire but it was debilitating. Harlowe's body dropped to the floor with a thud: she would be out for a few hours.

 

[Felice]

Felice simply nodded as the fabrics loosened and released the two monsters. It was obvious now that he was letting them go and expected payment later. "Only one hundred thousand? Easy enough," the concept of money was something rather foreign to her. A single crown would've been a lot back in Cerak but she figured boasting about their chances couldn't really hurt... right? And they were monsters, they'd just steal it and make Matias carry it around.

Before anything else Felice rushed to Harlowe's side and placed a hand on her throat. Thank god, she wasn't breathing, that was a good sign. At least, she thought so?

"We need to get her out of here," she whispered back to the jotunn.

 

[Matias Vaquero]

"Three days."

It warned.

The Raksha seemed to stare at Felice, it's featured crinkling as another low growl escaped it's throat. Then suddenly it snapped it's fingers and then disappeared in a wash of silken clothes. Along with everything else in the tent.

Furniture curled in on itself, carped drew into the ground, and within a second the three monsters stood in the middle of an empty tent. Or rather, one stood and the two others were on the ground. "I errr..."

He nodded.

"Yeah, we do." Matias said as he stepped over towards Felice. "She should be alright."

The Jotunn had seen Harlow taking a spear to the throat, having her neck snapped wouldn't be too much of a problem. Quickly he bent down, grabbing Harlowe off the ground and pulling her into his arms. "Let's fine someplace quiet."

He said with a frown.

 

[Harlowe]

Harlowe sat up with a gasp some good few hours later and touched her neck gingerly. Nobody had warned her vampires still felt pain quite acutely. It had seemed like a rotten cop out to her. Though she supposed if a sore neck was all she was suffering for having it snapped she should be grateful. With a groan she rubbed at her pounding head then glanced around the small bit of swamp they had retreated to.

"What happened?"

 

[Felice]

They'd nestled themselves into a quiet little bog just past the pier. Still within view of it and with Doyle circling overhead to keep an eye out for ambushers or more constrictive strands of silk.

A sigh of relief exploded from Felice's lungs as Harlowe awoke. "Thank goodness, you were out for awhile," Matias had assured her that Harlowe was fine but actually seeing the silver-haired vampire revive was the only thing that convinced Felice. "Can you walk? Do you need Doyle to carry you?"

And, right, there was one other matter that they needed to address as a group.

"We have to go gambling some more." They had to earn one hundred thousand crowns somehow.

 

[Matias Vaquero]

Matias let out a sigh. "I don't think gambling is the way to do it."

The Frost giant Interjected, though realized that Harlowe had probably no idea why in the fuck they would ever gamble again after what had just happened.

To say that it had all turned to a disaster was an understatement. His hand scratched at his face for a moment, pinching the bridge of his nose. "That thing...that killed you."

It seemed rude, given they were 'things' themselves, but he wasn't sure how else to describe it.

"It wants one hundred thousand Crowns from us." Matias filled her in. "In three days time."

A frown pulled at his lips, head shaking. Gambling wasn't going to cut it, not with that amount.

 

[Harlowe]

Harlowe rubbed at her neck some more. Having a bone broken didn't exactly make you want to jump up and do the things bidding which had snapped it in the first place. She just felt angry.

"Counter idea; we have three days to find something to kill it," surely someone in the regiment would know. There were enough demons there, maybe they knew how to kill their own kind. She pushed herself off the ground and brushed the back of her legs clear of dirt from whatever she had been laying on.

"There must be something."

Nothing was unkillable.

 

[Felice]

Felice was pretty sure that gambling was still their best out but she wasn't about to contradict both Harlowe and Matias. She crossed her arms and contemplated for only a moment before agreeing with the vampire's plan.

"Yeah, someone in the regiment has probably heard of this thing," the redhead said matter-of-factly, "I can ask Osiris."

There were many archivists and scholars back at the regiment. Tomes and scrolls that documented creatures and fables that had been long forgotten by time. By those bound to mortality. Osiris was, well, competent enough but being a giant tortoise meant his answers always came slowly. Cautiously.

"Maybe we can just blow the whole thing off too." Felice was pretty sure the tiger-man didn't know how to track them. Maybe.

 

[Matias Vaquero]

Matias ran a hand over the stubble on his cheeks. "Well..."

He wasn't really opposed to the idea, mostly because at this point he was fairly confident in his ability to kill things. Still, he'd seen that creature take a tendril to the chest, a blade to the back. He wasn't entirely the damned thing could be killed.

A frown pulled at his lips as Felice suggested blowing the whole thing off.

"No...I think..." His head shook. "Maybe we do both?"

A shrug rolled over his shoulders. "Gather the coin, and find out what in the fuck that thing actually was."

And how to kill it.

"Best case scenario, one less demon...thing in the world, and we're a hundred thousand crowns richer." A prospect that he did not mind in the least.

 

[Harlowe]

Matias made a good argument. Being richer was a far more appealing prospect than being money down like they were right now. The regiment barely got paid enough to cover the resources and every monster liked some of the finer things in life they wouldn't get from the soldiers coin. There weren't any rules against killing off duty either... She just hoped this demon wasn't related to one of the regiment ones. Nah...

"Good idea," Harlowe nodded and folded her arms over her chest. "To make that much money that quickly though we're going to have to steal something... and maybe somewhere close where we can go ask Os about demon weaknesses," that wouldn't be suspicious at all.

 

[Felice]

"Both works for me," Felice agreed enthusiastically. Seeing Osiris again would be a fun enough adventure on its own and the monster group had yet to pull off some sort of big heist.

Ironically, a big heist was the cause of Felice's death when she was a human.

She'd leave that part out though as they planned whatever thievery they were going to attempt. "We'll have to steal something pretty big or priceless to make that much coin though." Which usually meant a lot of security. Not that it would matter much if three terrifying monsters strolled in to dispatch a few hired muscles.

 

[Matias Vaquero]

Matias stroked a hand over his stub bled chin.

He tried to think of half a dozen things that they could steal, something that would either be light enough or available enough that they could actually grab it with just the three of them. After a few moments an idea came to mind.

"I have a thought." He said to the other two. "First we'll have to find Osiris...and If I remember right you said they were headed south."

They all had that pull of course, what lead them back to the Regiment. "There's a city, called Revmire. Just outside Cortos."

The place was one of the few cities on that side of the river which had escaped domination by Vel Anir, apparently mostly by paying them off.

"They're basically a giant bank. Do business with most of the Free Cities, Oban, Vel Anir and probably the Empire too now." He shrugged. "High security...very high security, but a hundred thousand crowns shouldn't be hard to find."

 

[Harlowe]

Harlowe clapped her hands together.

"Sounds like a plan," the young vampire was all fired up which was very unlike her. There was just something about having your neck snapped that pissed you off. She was eager to repay the favour with that shitty tiger demon. How dare he ruin tigers? They were her favourite animals.

"DOYLE!" the manticore was always nearby Felice. Or maybe it was Matias the big lug now stalked. Either way he seemed to listen to all three when called. Harlowe could barely even remember what he was like as a human.