Side Quest 3 - A Little Role Playing

Story by Smokescale Aquatos on SoFurry

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#3 of Hungry For Glory - Side Quests

Basil was enjoying her new state of being thanks to the curious mod whose creation was still shrouded in mystery. It had allowed her to tackle quests that would normally be too difficult for her to accomplish, and she was interested in this story about a big, nasty, red dragon. None of her efforts to get information from NPC's was working, so she decided to just roam randomly... not expecting it to turn up any details.

This is a YCH story commission for Basil Sanguine.

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"I'm tellin' ya, that there beastie is bad news!" said a filthy looking villager with a scar over one eye.

Basil sat at her table, trying her best to pay attention to the villager as he told his tale. She was still heavily swollen from her encounter with the amazon tribe. They had been content to remain right where they were, six in her womb, four further down in her sloshing sac. She had gained a fair bit of height since that evening, at least half a meter. It made getting around a little easier, but it did nothing for the intense degree of stimulation her 'children' provided her with. She was still wearing the headdress Neela had worn--before ate her at least. She still couldn't get over the fact that all of that had happened. Someone had written that scenario into the mod.

"I'll bet he is," the big, bloated, leaking snake said, "Can you tell me where he is?"

"Why? Yer not gonna be fool enough ta go lookin' fer'em are ya?" the villager asked.

"Why not? Can't hurt to creep up, maybe get a look at what I'm dealing with, get an idea of how much stronger he is. At the very least, I'll know what to avoid if he's proves more than I can handle." Basil said.

"Trust me, lass. Ye don't want none'a this beastie! Ain't none who set eyes upon'em an' what lived ta tell the tale!" the villager exclaimed, having quite the colorful bit of dialog written into him.

His animation was rather well done too, showing incredible attention to detail. Was he as the game developers had made him? Or was he modified by this mysterious mod creator? Basil wasn't sure, but she certainly would like to find out. Whoever had built this add-on she had been losing herself in every time she logged in had gone to rather extraordinary lengths to incorporate significant levels of sensory detail. So why wouldn't they put quality into the other aspects of their handiwork as well?

"I'd advise ye ta stay away where that blasted dragon lurks! I'll not be responsible fer sendin' another brave soul to his death!" the villager said.

Basil frowned and tried to continue conversing with him, but it only resulted in her going through the same dialog trees over and over, getting nowhere. There were a couple of options she had not tried on the first 'conversation', and when she went back to try them, they resulted in dead-ends, places where the details had not yet been made available. That suggested this fellow was still under construction.

"Okay, so you're not gonna be much help. I'm gonna hafta find these red dragon on my own." the large, plump snake lady said, then took a strong draught from her oversized wooden stein.

It had to be oversized to fit her new proportions. In fact, she had become so large that she needed to sit at one of the few tables in the corner of the tavern meant just for people like herself who could be classified as 'big and tall'. Initially, that little revelation tickled Basil to pieces. Now, she was too busy being frustrated by the lack of details pointing the way to the red dragon she had heard hints and clues about.

"I do not think this kind soul has any more information to give us." echoed a voice in Basil's mind, Neela hovering there within her, offering advice and guidance.

"Yeah, I kinda figured that out. I don't suppose you, Truva, or any of the kids know anything, do you?" Basil asked.

"I'm sorry, great one, but we do not. However, there is much we can share with you that might be of benefit should you find the dragon." Truva added, her voice just as disembodied and ghostly in the snake's ears.

"Well, if we find him, don't hesitate to share," the black and white snake said, took another drink, then set the mug back down with a sigh, "Think I'd have better luck just roaming around aimlessly. Who knows? Maybe I'll come across another group of travelers looking for safe passage somewhere and I can stick them in there with the kids."

She was only joking. The fullness gauge on her HUD told her both occupied locations inside her were still at capacity. Any more added passengers would render her unable to move without assistance. She climbed to her paws and waddled her way out from behind the table, aiming for the counter where the owner of the tavern was busy cleaning steins. He looked up as the big-bellied, big-chested snake approached. Ordinarily, someone so big might inspire at least a little fear. But not in an NPC lacking the programming to respond to her current state.

"Can I help you, miss?" the scruffy dog asked.

It was still a curiosity, being referred to as a lady. It was a shift that Basil had been trying to get used to, but she still found it necessary to suppress her giggles, at least when she was trying to stay in character.

"I've need of a room for the night. Have you any available?" she asked.

"We've always got room for those whose deeds tell of one who wishes to make the world a safer place to travel. I know of how you helped the cat tribe. You'll find the last room down the hall to be empty. It should be large enough to suit your needs, miss." the dog said.

A prompt appeared, detailing how much Basil would need to pay in order to stay at the inn. It wasn't a steep price, so she paid and waddled up the stairs and down the hall. She squeezed through the door, shut it behind her, and carefully laid herself down on the bed that was just ever so slightly too small to fit all of her on it. As soon as she had, she sighed and closed her eyes. Her belly and scrotum churned away as her children 'woke up'. They had been squirming almost constantly since they climbed into her, but they worked in cycles. They would slow down, twitching and writhing slowly while asleep, and growing more amorous, stretching their 'great mother' more and more when they awakened.

As it so happened, they seemed to wake conveniently when Basil wasn't about to engage in anything too strenuous or something that might require her undivided attention. She hissed happily and ran her paws over her engorged tummy, letting herself luxuriate in the delicious sensations running through her. She wouldn't let herself find climax, not here, not now. Whoever it was that wrote the mod also included an additional mechanic to how all inns worked. If she made too big a mess or broke the furniture, she would be charged an added fee. So, to keep from having to pay extra, she resisted pleasuring herself while her children tried to push her to the edge against her will.

"Be good in there, girls. Momma doesn't need another bill like the last two inns. You're all are getting expensive to keep. Gotta figure out how to turn down the sensitivity in there." Basil said to herself.

Sleep found her slowly, her swaying tummy rocking her back and forth as all of the feline tribe that was still solid inside her shifted about. Eventually, fatigue won out over stimulation and the snake drifted off. The night passed quickly, only a few moments to play the animation of game time passing. Basil woke to find another bright, sunny day greeting her. She left the little town behind and began wandering the wilderness.

As soon as she was out in the woods, away from civilization, specifically anyone who could try to charge her a cleaning fee, she leaned against a tree and fondled herself. She groaned happily as her children began helping out as soon as they detected her efforts. The snake sorceress' voice drifted through the woods, signifying to anyone within earshot that she was deep in the throes of pleasure, ready to make a vast, sticky mess.

"You must be cautious, great one. If you do not take care to avoid it, you may accidentally release one or more of your children in your fit of bliss." Truva said in Basil's mind.

"Yeah... that's... why I bought... a ring... that goes over the exit... keeps them locked in." the snake said, pumping her fingers over her impressive rod.

Leena joined in with her daughter, but not to offer obvious advice--which reminded the snake of a certain fantasy game about a boy in green and his fairy companion. Instead, she guided the snake's paws, helping her find the most tender spots. Truva joined in the effort, taking command of the serpent's tail, sinking it into the waiting petals already soaking her thighs. The python cried out happily as she came, making just as big a mess as ever, both from her throbbing, bucking shaft and her quivering nethers.

She had come to deeply love this mod and what it allowed her to experience. She would have to give the creator her thanks if ever she ran into him. If it even was a he. Once she had satisfied herself--with the help of her tribe wriggling away inside her--the snake continued her aimless search. She had no reason to be in a hurry. She was well away from where the drop off point for the amazon quest ended. And she was beginning to think she had no reason to complete the quest if the game would allow it.

The snake just waddled on through the woods, leaving a visible, sticky trail in her wake. She had read in the manual that her condition--the long trail she was making as she leaked and drooled--was a new status effect that came with the mod. It would make it easier for mobs and players with tracking abilities to find her. And so it did. It allowed the snake to keep well fed, both herself and her children.

Several sessions passed like this, Basil logging in, overwhelmed by the sudden, intense rush of sensation that came with diving back into the rotund, heavily pregnant snake she was online, and wandering about the wilderness looking for the dragon. The search was only broken up from time to time by 'random encounters' that were beginning to grow a little monotonous. She had already reached a high enough level that most of the general mobs caused her no trouble. She would need to move on to the next area soon, find a region with higher level beasts.

And then she came across a clearing. She would have missed it completely if it had not been for the sound of someone speaking that drew her. It was as if there was a one-sided conversation going on by a person with a deep, baritone voice. The snake approached the edge of the clearing slowly and carefully, not sure if it came from a player or another mindless computer-controlled sprite. What she found made her eyes go wide with awe, and perhaps a bit of fear.

There was the very creature she had been looking for; the red dragon. He was enormous, at least twice as tall as she was, heavy-set and stocky, but still terribly strong of build. He didn't stand on two legs, but he wasn't feral either. The dragon was tauric in design, and his lower half possessed a generous gut that sagged not far from the ground. His upper half was similarly equipped, possessing a chubby belly that looked surprisingly comfortable to press in against if one were to hug it. The creature wore nothing, likely because he had been designed that way. And because of that, Basil could see what he was 'equipped' with, and he was deeply impressive in size.

"Alright, let's try pasting that in place and refreshing. If we're lucky, it just might do the trick." the red, chubby, muscled, tauric dragon said to himself.

That was an odd thing for a non-player character to say, especially when there were no other players currently around for him to interact with. There was a floating text prompt over his head, signifying he was indeed the terrible beast Basil had been hunting for ever since she accepted the quest. So why did he talk like a real person? She continued to watch, studying what he was doing. In front of him was another sprite, this one a green dragon, only two legs to him, but built thick and well toned. He was dressed as though he were a blacksmith and the name 'Aron' floated above his head.

"If you do intend to go looking for the beast, you had best prepare yourself. Remember to purchase and equip the best weapons and armor you can find. It could very well make the difference, even for someone with an appetite like yours." the green dragon named Aron said.

"Not bad, not bad. Might want to tweak the dialog a bit, maybe clean up the animation a little, but I'd say he's pretty much done and ready to deploy." the red beast said.

That was when it dawned on Basil. The dragon taur standing there in the clearing wasn't actually a program-driven sprite, it was a player! And he was editing a sprite's interactive settings! That stunned the snake. She lost all fear and stepped out into the clearing, ready to see justice done upon this interloper.

"Hey!" she shouted, "What the hell, man!?"

The red dragon jumped almost three full meters in the air out of stunned fright. When he landed, the ground shook under his weight. In a flash, he whipped himself around to find the source of the voice. As soon as he spotted Basil, he sighed in relief, even running the back of one of his hand-paws across his forehead to 'wipe away the sweat' that didn't actually exist.

"Holy crap, don't scare me like that! I nearly had a heart attack!" the big fellow said, "Is there a problem? Something I can help you with?"

"Yeah! You can tell me how you managed to hijack an NPC so you can basically god mode against the other players! And you're editing stuff! How is that legal!? How have the system administrators not come down on you and banned your ass!? What else have you done around here!? You haven't been setting any traps in the code to steal personal data or something have you!? I swear I'm about two seconds away from reporting you to the developers!" Basil shouted, feeling as though she had been cheated somehow.

"Whoa, easy now. It's okay. The developers already know. I'm one of them! And I prefer the term 'commandeered' instead of hijacked. I mean, it's only fair, I built this big guy. What do you think? You like him? Or is he a bit much?" the tauric dragon asked.

Basil was once again stunned into silence. She was talking face to face with one of the game's builders. As she looked over the interface again, she saw an asterisk next to the dragon's identifying text. When she opened up his specific details, it listed more than she usually found in the bestiary files. This was indeed a 'god' as they were sometimes referred to in the MMO world, an administrator or moderator with additional permissions to resolve problems between players, silence or even ban trouble-makers, and isolate the blocks of code that happened to be triggering and perpetuating bugs. She was caught a little off guard and furrowed her brow softly.

"I... I guess... some might think he is. I think he looks pretty great. But that's beside the point. Why are you hijacking an NPC and not using your standard account? Also, what the hell is up with the quest I've been on to find you? There are almost no hints or clues to point me in the right direction! I just stumbled onto you wandering around randomly!" Basil replied.

The big dragon frowned, displeased with the attitude being shown to him. He crossed his arms in front of his chest as he lifted one of his fore-legs. The paw at the end turned and worked its digits as though it were a hand, operating some unseen part of the game's interface. Then, the paw snapped it's 'fingers' and the green dragon, Aron, vanished. No doubt he was saving his work and removing the sprite from the active game so he didn't accidentally leave it behind where someone might come across it accidentally.

Once he had done that, he began walking towards the heavily pregnant snake and bent down, lowering his head to look Basil directly in the eye at closer to her level. It reminded her just how much bigger the red beast was. That combined with the fact that he was being 'driven' by a developer made her start to tremble. She probably could have conducted herself with a little more decorum.

"You know... you could stand to show a little gratitude. You're talking to your digital 'god' after all, the one that made all of the things you're enjoying," the red dragon reached out with one of his hand-paws and poked the snake's belly with a single finger, "And from the look of things, you've been enjoying them quite a lot. I recognize that headdress you're wearing. You recently completed the first part of the amazon quest, I'm guessing. The fact that you came looking for me rather than taking them to their end point says you don't want to let them go. So how 'bout a thank you instead of giving me lip?"

"Wait," Basil said, "You're the one who build the mod? The thing that lets you eat people and stuff?"

The dragon stood back upright, his irate expression melting away into a delighted grin.

"That's right! I'm the pervert behind it all! Name's Heston! Pleasure to meet you-" he paused, looking over the snake's player data briefly, "Basil. Huh, you use your real name for your character name. Not too often you see that. Neat."

"Nice to meet you too, Heston! I have so many questions about the mod! How did you build it so fast!? The game hasn't even been out for a month and the mod is so extensive! Why on earth did you make it!? How did you manage to incorporate real world signal integration!? I don't even have to touch myself in the real world and the game sends enough signal to me to make me need to change my pants!" the snake practically shouted, beginning to ramble.

Heston lifted his paws and chuckled, trying to calm the sorceress down a bit.

"Honey, honey, easy! One question at a time!" he said, laying his lower half down to get comfortable, ready for a lengthy conversation, "Let's go in order with what you've asked so far."

Heston began explaining. He had been on the original build team and kept moving around, helping out wherever assistance was needed. It had given him a deeper operational knowledge of how the whole system worked. As he gained more and more experience behind the scenes, he got the idea to build a mod for the game. He had been toying with the notion ever since the first production meeting, but once he knew a good portion of the layout from top to bottom, he realized he could pull it off.

Once he started work on it, he found he couldn't bring himself to stop. He was obsessed with finishing it. He stayed in late trying to build it up and test it whenever he got the chance. None of the other devs knew about it. He worked on it in secret, desperately wishing to give the game a broader appeal and bring in others who might share his love of the less conventional, his 'unusual appetites' as he liked to jokingly call it. He also liked to think of it as 'corrupting other players', entice them to 'join the dark side'. It was all completely harmless after all. If someone didn't like the mod, they could just uninstall it.

The matter of triggering real-world sensation was far more complicated, moving into a realm that Basil had little expertise on, so she was a little lost. The notion that he wanted to 'spread his corruption', his love of these odd fetishes, made her giggle a bit, realizing she had ended up as 'one of the corrupted'. It had all been rather overwhelming--and a little confusing--at first, but she had come to passionately adore what had happened. She even expressed a curious state of mind, where when she logged out, the real world Basil actually felt a sense of loss and remorse that he couldn't still feel all the girls he was carrying in the game.

Heston explained that was something he was looking into. He didn't like that result, afraid it might make players want to spend too much time in game, ignore the real world. It was potentially a pretty serious problem and he intended to find a solution to it. After about an hour or so of discussion, going back and forth learning about the mod, sharing details about one another's lives and what they were enjoying in the game, the big red dragon decided he probably should get back to work. He only had so much time in his off hours to make progress on the mod, even if he really wanted to just sit and nerd out with Basil all night.

"Hey, I hate to be a wet blanket, but I had really been hoping to finish up the Aron model tonight. I'm really close so I'm not too concerned, but I'd love to get any feedback you have about the mod or the game at large." Heston said.

"Well, I have really been enjoying it. Like... a lot. My friends told me I should try your mod but I was skeptical at first. After my first encounter, I went from a skinny snake boy throwing magic around to a big, fat, sumo wrestler snake throwing magic around almost as hard as I throw my weight!" Basil said with a laugh.

"Yeah, I had hoped a few people might like that part! Lemme guess, using the belly as a weapon is pretty great, right?" Heston asked.

"Totally! It lets me melee even better than with a weapon! And then there was the amazon quest thing. That was... not what I expected! I did get an error when I was trying to accept the quest. I think it was because I wasn't the right gender. It turned me into a lady. A really well equipped lady. Then there was the whole 'blessing' that couldn't go into effect until that error was handled." the snake explained, idly rubbing her still wiggling stomach.

"Yeah, I need to look into putting in an error catching exception. Not everyone likes being turned into a busty amazon themselves." the red dragon said.

"Also, when the blessing takes effect and everything starts to grow... you might wanna slow that down, give the player a chance to really enjoy the experience. It went by way too fast for my taste. Looking back on it, I could have enjoyed letting it happen so slowly over time. Maybe have it take days, like even while I'm out doing other quests. I just have to stop and soak it in. Maybe you don't even realize what's happening at first, then a few days later you notice you're bigger downstairs, or your armor covering your chest doesn't fit as well." Basil said.

"Hey, that's actually a neat idea. I'll see if I can't work in something that gives the player a chance to choose how fast they wanna go; have it happen fast, only kinda quick, slow, or really slow. Let people enjoy the full range of options," Heston said, "You know, you've got a pretty good mind for this stuff. You ever done any game developing yourself?"

"Nothing so grandiose as this. I was 'an immortal' on a MUD back shortly after I got out of high school. All text-based, no graphical interface. Certainly no virtual reality or sensory feedback." Basil said.

"Well, lemme get add you to my friend list and you can add me to yours. I'd like to keep in touch. You can help me find areas where the mod can be improved." the dragon replied.

The black and white snake blushed and smiled, feeling like perhaps this whole interaction had turned into something much more than just two people geeking out. She had wanted to meet the person who created the mod, and it wasn't who she thought it was. At least, she was fairly sure it wasn't that naughty blue she knew of in disguise.

"Sure, that'd be pretty great," the serpentine lady said, then blushed further before she asked something, "Hey um... this whole amazon escort mission thing... do I actually have to deliver them where they're supposed to go eventually? I'm finding I'm having a lotta trouble getting up the nerve to go finish the quest."

Heston grinned broadly, reaching forward to press a large, powerful palm against her rather active belly. He felt over the swell gently, giving the dome a soft squeeze. It made her shiver. She closed her eyes, hoping he wouldn't stop that anytime soon.

"Really enjoying this little quest, huh? Here I thought it'd all be too intense for anyone to keep them in there as long as you said you've been carrying them. I guess it can get a little addictive. I might have to go run through it myself one more time, see how easy it is to get hooked on it. If it's that enjoyable, I'll have to think about adding a permanent option. For now, I'll suspend the timer on your instance and just let you enjoy it. A few more days and you'd start digesting them all, or absorbing them depending on your preference. They'd all vanish, and you'd be back to where you were before you encountered them, and you'd have to start the quest over to get back to it." the dragon explained.

"Really!? You can suspend it!? Let me stay this way!?" Basil cried, hugging her belly possessively.

Heston laughed and nodded, leaning down to give the serpent's stomach a quick little kiss. He was certainly of the sort that appreciated the look she had developed since she started playing.

"Of course. I'd hate for you to end up disappointed at the prospect if losing your girls," he said, going quiet as he dug around in the code for a moment, then smiled, "There we go, you're currently enjoying a no-time-limit version of the quest."

"Thank you," Basil said, almost breathlessly, suddenly feeling like she was almost on the verge of tears, "If I can do anything to repay you, help you bug-fix... or at least bug-find..."

"Well," Heston said as he started to grin, "As it so happens, I do need to run the mod's 'end game' instance through its paces. You feel like helping me see how big boy here works in combat?"

"What? Help you with end game stuff? Like a final boss fight?" Basil asked, "I don't think I'd be much help. I'm still kinda low level. I'd probably get stomped on almost immediately, especially if it's against you the way you are right now."

"It'll be fine! I'm an admin!" Heston insisted, "I can buff you up so you can last in a fight longer. And I can suspend the death subroutine. You'll just flop on the ground, be unable to move and stuff until you heal up. Kinda like a zombie!"

That didn't exactly help much on the point of assuaging fears. The serpent wasn't interested in being a zombie or undead or anything akin to it. But surely the dragon had not intended it to come across that way.

"Well, it'll take me a while to get back to full health and mana. I've gone a pretty long while without eating anyone and all the kids deplete my main fullness meter pretty quick." Basil explained.

"Oh, you need to heal up? Lookin' for someone to eat? Here, lemme get you something." the big red fellow said.

He began working through an interface the snake couldn't see, puzzling her softly. Then, in no time at all, another Heston appeared between the two of them. He was much smaller than the 'real' one, looking to be only slightly shorter than Basil herself. He was still tauric, meaning there was a good deal of mass to him. He just stood there, not blinking, not interacting, appearing to be without any personality or control programming to him. Basil looked from the duplicate up to the original, then back.

"I'm... supposed to eat him?" she asked.

Heston nodded with a bright grin, waving his hands towards her in a gesture that said 'go on'. The sorceress snake looked back at the smaller Heston, unsure if she was able to tackle something so large. There had to be more of him then there was Basil. But, he was an offering from a 'god'. It might be rude to decline. With a hint of hesitation, she stepped in close, poked lightly at the unmoving dragon taur and began working her jaws back and forth. He was going to be one hell of a meal, and she wasn't sure she'd be able to stuff him in, but she was going to try.

Basil opened her mouth, stretching her jaws a bit further in preparation to begin. In that moment, the smaller Heston stepped forward, closing the gap between them. He even lifted his arms and began pushing them into the waiting maw. It surprised Basil as she leaned in, not having expected any help. She almost gagged, but fought past it and simply swallowed. It pulled the chubby, muscular red dragon's head and shoulder into her grasp. Strangely, he tasted like cherry. She had expected something a little more along the lines of what she had sampled throughout the game so far. Had he been designed to be like candy? Were there other versions of him, different colors with different flavors?

A forced gulp brought the lady's focus back to the task at hand. Mini-Heston was literally pushing his way into her throat, stretching her neck out visibly. His broad chest slid into her mouth as she struggled to keep up with his pace. There was a sense about it that was slightly unpleasant in that she wasn't the one in control. But the idea of someone feeding themselves to her so eagerly was strong enough to more than offset that unpleasantness. She closed her eyes and let the dragon essentially climb his way down her throat. His forepaws began 'scaling' their way up her swollen front, bringing his waist to her lips.

A moan of subdued delight rose up from the snake while the full-sized Heston watched, a huge grin on his face as the scene unfolded before him. He wiggled his hindquarters back and forth slowly as he took in the sight of Basil's consumption of his smaller clone, perhaps enjoying her work on the same level that she was. She would have to check to see if there would be a sticky patch in the grass when he stood up.

The barreled chest of the taur's lower half began to slip into the serpent's mouth. Her stomach swelled visibly as her fullness meter climbed rapidly. It was approaching maximum, making her worry she was going to overdo it and end up overly encumbered. That would make it difficult for her to fight. The two fore-legs were pushed into her throat as the dragon taur lifted his hind legs, the broad paws making excellent use of her bulging front to climb up further. She groaned and groped at her expansive gut, feeling it sag down low enough to touch the ground while she stood, spreading out over the grass.

She shivered as she passed her recommended fullness, at least according to the game. She would be too big and heavy too move now. And she couldn't stand how good it felt. All her children were squirming like mad, feeling more like a colony of bees in her belly as they felt the presence of another visitor.

As soon as the duplicate's hindquarters were in her jaws, she didn't have to do anything about swallowing. The smaller Heston dragged himself the rest of the way in. It was one, long, loud, wet slurp that saw his muscular legs vanish, along with his chubby tail. Basil closed her lips and gulped, holding her absolutely enormous stomach, then let out an enormous, ground-shaking, bird-startling belch that carried for what felt like could be miles. The original Heston just grinned and scooted closer, wrapping his fore-legs around the-too-stuffed-to-move snake and pulled her close. Her cheek was brought to rest against his upper belly, feeling curiously soft in spite of his rather toned appearance. She had been correct in her earlier assumption about it being comfortable to hug.

"You like that? I'm planning on making a whole line of them! They don't attack, they just force their way into you so that you're too encumbered to walk!" the big red fellow said, sounding almost gleeful about the description.

Basil gasped for breath, finding it difficult to properly fill her lungs, at least when it came to the feedback from the game. In the real world there didn't seem to be any danger of suffocating. The snake found the big dragon's embrace rather pleasant, leaning in against him as he curled his thick arms around her. If that was how she was supposed to spend however long it would take to digest his smaller doppelganger, then she would be okay with that.

"He... tasted... like candy." she huffed.

"Yeah, kinda thinking about making some of them goo monsters, since those are so popular. It also gives them a way to quickly and easily consume others. If you wanna save your friend from being digested by a gooey version of me, you better start slurping him up! Just be careful, you might get a little something extra you didn't intend to gulp down! Like your friend!" Heston explained, almost giggling giddily.

A loud gurgle sounded from Basil's writhing stomach. She saw how quickly the duplicate was fading away, no doubt far faster than its creator intended once put into proper use. Her fullness meter wasn't going down quite as fast, but as she watched her belly, she could see the dragon taur pushing out, putting up a good 'fight' as he was digested. The gurgling and creaking continued on for several more minutes, making the snake squirm and shiver, then another tremendous belch escaped her. That was the sign that she had finished off the beast that had so eagerly pushed his way into her throat.

"Ugh... he's gone, but I still feel like I'm gonna pop." Basil said.

"Give it a bit. Also, check your stats." Heston said, still grinning so wide he almost looked menacing--almost.

The swollen sorceress brought up her status screen and began looking over it. As she did, her eyes widened. She had been restored to not just full health and mana, but her maximum of both had gone up significantly. She had several enchantments on her now, further enhancing her stats far beyond any measure she was capable of, and they had obscenely long timers attached suggesting she could log out and come back a week later and they would still be in place.

"Whoa! Talk about god-tier buffs!" the snake cried out, closing her status screen.

As she let the wave of revelation wash over her, the over-fed discomfort melted away. She quickly found she had the strength to get up and move around on her own once again. However, she found herself not wanting to pull away from that surprisingly comforting tummy of Heston's. He could tell she was deeply enamored with his figure, no doubt because she possessed something similar and had been enjoying it herself.

"Yup. They won't all give the same kind of enhancements once they're implemented, and they'll have much higher digestion resistance, but I like having a version I can give out like treats or rewards." the big dragon said.

"What, like training a pet?" Basil asked with a snicker.

"If you wanna play up that angle, I'm fine with that!" Heston said, laughing heartily.

The snake slipped out of the large fellow's grasp and began stretching, getting a feel for the new depth of her strength and power. She didn't want to get too used to it since it wasn't exactly permanent, but it was nice so far. She began bouncing lightly on her paws, her belly and chest wobbling in time with the movement. It made her children wriggle about quite strongly, which in turn distracted her with a mighty shudder.

"Ooo, okay, I think I'm ready if you wanna do this." she said.

"Alright, I've got a few scenarios I'd like to run through. We'll skip the actual end result animations for now. I'm more interested in the scripting and battle sequences, how the programming responds to in-battle conditions. Don't bother trying to learn how to fight against it, just try to hang in the fight as long as you can." Heston said.

And with that, the great clash began. Dragon fought snake, the former appearing to possess well more than enough health, strength, and stamina to outlast the latter. But then that was to be expected. Basil did her best to try and keep herself in the game as long as she could. As the simulations continued, she fell time and time again, brought back in an instant with an administrator's restoration command. But then something unusual happened after the third time she 'died'. Leena offered her not advice, but a boon that came from the quest she was in the middle of. It was a powerful healing ability, supposedly made possible by the collective mystical might of all of the cats she carried, including the tiger and bobcat mother and daughter she had eaten and absorbed.

It surprised Heston as he watched from behind the dragon taur's eyes, letting it act largely on its own and observing. He picked up on the little trick Basil's passengers were providing her with, deciding he might have to tweak and fine-tune it a bit as it gave the sorceress enough of an edge to survive longer than he anticipated. It could possibly be exploited to tackle the big guy earlier than he planned for people to be able to. But then combat balance wasn't the aim of this exercise.

On a couple of occasions, the black and white python screamed and charged, intending to tackle the big beast with an enraged belly flop. It knocked the tauric creature back a bit, taking Heston by surprise. The advantage was short-lived. A big, heavy paw came crashing down on the lady and she was put on the ground, ending the latest in the long line of testing fights. She lay there, panting and groaning for a moment before she rolled onto her back and lifted an arm.

"I... I think... I think I'm done." she said.

The red dragon's snarling, angry expression quickly melted away as Heston took direct control once again. He dropped down into a laying down position and pulled Basil back into his arms to let her recline and relax. He was already in the process of giving her another restore just like he had all through the fights, but now he was reaching down, massaging her very pregnant belly. At least one paw was. One of his fore-paws had curled around and began kneading at her churning scrotum.

"Alright, that's enough for now. I got a lot of good data. I'll be able to streamline it, make it all flow more naturally, hell I can even do a little load balancing. Thanks, I really appreciate it." Heston said.

"If you need my help again... I'd be happy... to assist." Basil replied, still a little worn out.

"I may take you up on that. How are you feeling?" Heston asked.

It was an odd question, but the snake saw no reason to avoid answering. He was the guy who made the mod. Maybe he needed that particular datum point too.

"Kinda worn out, like I've been exercising real hard. Kinda hungry. And I can't help it, with the girls moving around and trying to keep me from running out of health, I'm tingly all over," Basil said, arching her back as she felt the big paws on her belly and sac give a little squeeze, "Ooo, and what you're doing there is making it hard for me to concentrate. I'm... I'm gonna have to go waddle off into the woods and make another giant, sticky mess."

Heston chuckled, having expected at least a portion of the answer. It was why he was busy massaging the lady's various swells. He was slow to move to her chest, but eventually worked his way there as he found no resistance to his subtle, tactile inquiries. She even pushed forward into the paw groping at one of her breasts, leaving a sizable milk stain in his palm.

"Now why on earth would you want to go do that? If you need a little help with 'tension relief', you've got a big, willing partner right here happy to help you get what you're looking for." the dragon said.

Basil looked up at him, still huffing softly as she let her paws join his in the appreciation of her very generous curves. He was offering to help her 'cool down'. That was all that she needed to hear.

"Fuck it. Let's do it." she said.

Heston was on his paws in short order, careful not to jostle the lady about. He did however gently guide her onto her stomach. She found the posture to be more comfortable than she expected. She could feel all her girls pressing up against her from underneath and inside. Oh it felt tremendous. She wouldn't want to do it too often because it felt too much like she was trying to crush them, but it still was a wonderful little experience. Heston then stepped forward, towering over the lady, walking his way over her until a very sizable presence could be felt bumping against her from behind.

Basil turned her head to look over her shoulder. As soon as she caught sight of what was dangling down between the dragon's legs, her eyes widened and she began to squirm. The monstrous thing pressed against her and she gasped, then melted in a delighted coo as it slipped in, seemingly without any difficulty at all. The snake began to writhe happily as more and more of the dragon taur's shaft worked its way into the heated, soaked canal that had devoured six of her ten girls. Oh it was too wonderful to ignore. She didn't care how much she would end up swelling, if she was going to be too big to move or not. She wanted this.

And Heston happily obliged. He began to rock his whole frame on top of her, thrusting as gently as a great big thing like himself could. Even though he was taking the utmost care to not be too rough, it was still a lot of mass at his disposal, and his belly was keeping her well pinned under him. The soft, warm, sagging gut pushed down over Basil from above, threatening to press her into the soil below and make a snake-shaped crater. It made it impossible for her to slide about unexpectedly. That meant she was going to be held nicely in place as she was slowly rutted into.

She cried out quickly, soaking the monstrous shaft spreading her open. It dribbled down her sac, and even along the curve of her cat-filled tummy. Her shaft bucked about, contributing its own mess to what was promising to be a sizable patch in the grass. Heston wasn't much longer after, groaning out happily as he pushed deep into the waiting, quivering folds. A sudden surge of warmth flowed into her belly with such speed and size that it felt like a balloon popping inside her. Her belly swelled immediately, pushing her up off her knees.

The second gush, which came with very little time for her to catch her breath, added to the bulk of her tummy and lifted her further off the ground. She screamed and was brought to climax again as the big dragon 'god' on top of her was pushed up off the grass along with her. When everything finally settled down again, the snake was out of breath while the dragon just rumbled away in satisfaction on top of her. Basil could have just stayed like that all night, but it wasn't to be. She had to log out eventually.

"Damn... that was... intense!" she said between gasps for air.

"Mmm, glad you liked it. Check your stats, might find something interesting." Heston said.

Basil furrowed her brow softly then brought up the window again. What she found was rather stunning. A couple of the buffs his candy-clone had given her had become permanent. Several of her stats had jumped, and were going to remain there for the duration of the character's existence. Why on earth had he done that for her?

"You keep... powering me up. Is there something... you're going to expect... from me in return?" she asked.

"Not at all, aside from friendship and maybe the occasional assistance running through bug checks. Think of it as a 'blessing'... I don't use buffing orgasms on just everyone, you know!" the dragon said with a laugh.

"A blessing? You swell me up so I can't move and that buffs me even more than I already was. That's a hell of a blessing." Basil said, grinning an exhausted but happy grin.

"Just let me know if you wanna go another round." Heston said.

"I don't think I could stay awake," the snake replied, "It's getting late for me. I should probably go to bed."

"Logging out already? You strong enough to warp back to a safe house, like an inn or something?" the dragon asked, actually trying to look down under himself to address her.

"Nah. No way I can move like this. I'll just sleep here. It'll be fine." Basil said.

"No, I don't think so. I can't just leave a player out in the open like this. Let me give you a safer place to 'sleep', or at least a place for your character to sleep." Heston said.

He then pulled back out of the snake, going slowly to not make her jerk. The vast mast that had been crammed into her slipped free with a lewd slurp and he began crawling his way forward over her. His scrotum dragged across her rump, then up along her back. It felt huge, like it was big enough to house her without trouble. He was certainly going to play up the 'god' thing as much as possible it seemed. When he had walked all the way up over her, he stopped and lifted his tail, revealing a moist, glistening set of lips nestled in just above where his scrotum sagged from his groin.

"You're gonna put me in there?" Basil asked.

"Seems like a fitting place. Don't mind the others in there. Those are just NPC's I'm working on, trying to perfect their squirming animations. I can program them to let you have fun with them once you're in if you like." Heston said, actually trying to be as accommodating as he could.

"Nah, maybe later. I just... I'm tired and I'd like to crawl into bed." she replied.

"Fair enough." he said, then began lowering himself down on her.

Warmth quickly consumed the snake. She wasn't paying attention enough to catch all the details of disappearing into a big, burly, rotund dragon taur's womanhood, but what she did pick up on was rather inviting. The darkness that filled her vision kept her from being able to see much, until she was provided with a dim light from somewhere inside the creature. It allowed her to see the pink flesh tone of Heston's canal. Her form posed him no trouble at all. He just kept backing up and sitting down, yowling happily as he was spread over that hugely gravid, extremely active belly of hers.

With a cacophony of wet, watery slurps, Heston tugged her in until he could feel her paws and tail vanish between his hindquarters. His belly, already pretty impressive in size, sagged lower, actually dragging strongly on the ground now. He sighed and reached back, giving his bulging sides an appreciative pat. Inside the dragon's womb, Basil found comfort and company from the squirming artificial roommates she was given. It was too relaxing for her to do much more than say good night, then log off. She looked forward to waking back up in there and perhaps spending some quality time with her new 'god'.

When Basil did manage to find time to log back in, though only for a moment to check in with the dragon, she was once again greeted by the intense, soothing heat of the dragon's womb. He was walking about, making her sway and slosh about. It was such a delightful experience. She couldn't bring herself to want to leave. The snake stretched about, giving the big fellow reason to rumble loudly in delight. That rumble surrounded her, making her giggle. However, something felt off. She didn't feel the girls in her middle like she was used to. Instead, they felt like they had been moved lower down.

Basil began feeling over herself, gasping when she found she had two additional limbs and an entirely new lower half. A message appeared in her HUD, prompting her to open it. It was a note from Heston. She immediately brought it up and began reading.

"Hey, Basil. I didn't know if I'd get to talk to you again before I had to log off so I thought I'd just leave you a quick message. I hope you like the changes I've made. I thought it might make it a little easier for you to get around carrying your girls, and keep them fed while staying mobile. The game needs more taurs anyway, and I thought you'd make a cute one. Anyway, stick around in there as long as you like. And I'm glad you're enjoying my mod. Hit me up again sometime. We'll geek out some more. Maybe you can help me craft a few things, or at least do some more error catching with me."

The snake sorceress had been turned into a taur, because he thought she'd be cute like that. It explained why the girls all felt 'further away', while still feeling just as close, paradoxically. She wriggled and groaned, squirming about hard in the big dragon's belly. She checked to see if Heston was actually online, but he wasn't. The log showed he had just logged out just moments before she came back online. So that walking and swaying she was feeling was from the NPC version of himself going about whatever his programming was telling him to do. Something about that made her situation that much more amusing, and strangely enough, exciting. Maybe she could make the big, mean, red dragon hungry enough to eat a few players.

Elsewhere, in a comfortably appointed apartment, a VR rig was being powered down and removed. A short, squat, slightly chubby little lizard lifted the headset out of the way and he tugged the gloves off his little paws. He removed himself from the rest of the arrangement he had set up for himself. The red kobold sighed as he walked over to the computer his rig was connected to and took a moment to enjoy the sight of his in-game self, or at least how he liked to envision himself, trotting slowly through the woods, looking for players to do battle with, and likely devour. He was going to have to keep Basil fed while she sloshed around in his womb. And from what the kobold could tell, he was running in 'content mode'.

The little, crimson lizard turned off his display and rest a paw on his somewhat trim stomach. He ran the palm over the unoccupied tummy and sighed, feeling a sense of emptiness. He was already missing feeling how full he was with Basil in there. Hopefully she'd still be there when he logged back in. And if not, then oh well. He might be able to catch up with her again later. He left the rig behind and made is way to the bedroom, climbed into bed, and curled up before drifting off to sleep. Heston hoped his dreams would return him to the world he helped create.