Dungeons and Dickings: Fellowship Chapter 1 and 2
#2 of Dungeons and Dickings: Chronicles of Carnaleria
Crossover with https://tiktikkobold.sofurry.com/ / https://www.furaffinity.net/user/tiktikkobold/ Cynwrig and Tik Tik belong to them.
Dungeons and Dragons obviously does not belong to me and the title is obviously a dumb joke off of that, yadda yadda.
Posted using PostyBirb
Chapter 1:
"TAKE THE BREEDABLE ONES AND SLAUGHTER THE CHILDREN AND ELDERLY!" the ogre-sized hyena-gnoll chieftan had hollered as she rode through the little hamlet of Greenglade on an armored boar mount, holding up a crudely fashioned, jagged axe, giggling in chorus with the other gnoll raiders. The chieftain swung her cleaver-axe almost casually through the back of an older man's neck-spraying blood and viscera against the walls of one of the burning thatch-roofed huts.
They threw torches onto buildings, and the fires spread all throughout the flammable thatch roofs. The sparse militia spared by the Kingdom of Magnes raised their spears-only to be casually disarmed by a swift club, or simply slaughtered by an axe or spear wielded by the fierce amazonian gnolls.
The gnolls giggled as they dragged both carcass and unconscious guard to the middle of town. To a gnoll's tastes in both food and sex, there was little difference between living and dead.
Down one of the alleyways, a pair of gnolls loomed over a trembling mother holding her crying young daughter close to her chest. The mother shielded the crying girl with her back facing the gnolls, even as one of them raised their massive, jagged spear. Her daughter buried her face in her mother's bosom, muffling her cries. Both of them shut their eyes tightly as the gnolls' sinister jeering giggles assaulted their ears as they stomped closer-a foreboding tent rising up between their legs as drool and slobber poured from between the teeth of their fanged grins...
"DYNAMIC ENTRY KIIIIICK!" a voice erupted from the air. A blue streak flew in from the side-his foot smashing into the jaw of the massive gnoll, knocking them a few paces to the side, spitting out a knocked loose fang before they turned to face their assailant, who back flipped off of the kick and hovered in the air with his insectoid wings buzzing to keep himself afloat.
A four-armed, four-foot tall beetle moved fluidly into a dramatic pose requiring much flexibility and poise for the mother and child and any onlookers, which served little purpose other than to seemingly show off.
"Do not fear, Cynwrig is here, at your service, ma'am! You are safe..." he announced with as proud and strong a voice he could manage-his lower set of hands placing themselves on his hips, as he puffed out his chest and pointed with conviction at the two gnoll raiders. "For I shall vanquish them!"
The monstrous hyena like creatures were given pause. They slowly exchanged bewildered glance...before bursting into jeering high-pitched giggles as they doubled over at the tiny beetle hero.
"H-hey!" He growled-fuming with indignation at their mocking giggles, before launching himself once more-and letting loose a flurry of fists with all four arms-each fist smashing into the hyena's face from every which way, causing the gnoll to yelp!
The other gnoll snarled, before swinging the spear at the annoying bug. Cynwrig zipped just above the swing, before diving in a kick at the gnoll's kneecap, with his heel smashing into it with a nasty crack.
Suddenly, Cynwrig YELP!ed as he was swatted by the first gnoll's massive club, smashing him into the wall-which Cynwrig slid down unceremoniously, putting an end to his heroic dynamic entry...
And now, two seven foot gnolls looming over him-with a mass between their legs lifting their loincloths quite auspiciously.
"You're going to pay for that, prettyboy," they growled, muzzles drooling with blood and spit, as they hungrily gazed upon the beetle. "Gonna make ya squeal as they go in." They each reared back their spears, as their masts lifted up the cloth in front, allowing an ominous peek underneath.
"The weapons...?" he groaned with a wince as he eyed the spearpoints.
"...all of 'em."
It was then that a wolf's howl could be heard in the distance, piercing through the clashing weapons and panicked screams of the villagers. The gnolls' eyes were drawn to the source.
A small mouse wielding a naginata rode in on the back of a behemoth of a dire wolf. Wrappings bound her chest, and ties bound her leggings. A familiar pink scaled green-hooded kobold held tight around her waist, covering her mouth with her hand as she bounced up and down with the fast pace of the wolf.
"Tik Tik gonna be siiiiiiick," the kobold exclaimed, stomach churning from the rough ride without a saddle.
"Come on, focus! You said your friend left for this village, right!? Look, there he is!"
Tik Tik snapped to attention, and made an effort to swallow whatever part of her lunch was trying to come up. The wolf came to a skidding halt, which Tik Tik was grateful for as she stumbled off of the back into a tumbling roll upon her rump, covering her mouth as she grabbed her magic tome from her satchel absently...
The gnolls exchanged glances and burst into ear-splitting giggle fits once more, before charging Tik Tik.
But the mouse girl leapt in front of the gnolls. She glided her hand over the blade, setting it ablaze, and swung it in a wide threatening arc-the tongues of flame upon the edge of the blade licking at their faces, and the embers singing the fur upon their cheeks.
It was that brief moment's hesitation that bought Tik Tik all the time she needed...as a magic circle flared to life underneath her as she pointed a finger with conviction at the gnolls.
Several ethereal limbs shot up from the ground and grasped and groped at the gnolls. The creatures' eyes shot wide with panic, as they wrestled with the grasping and squeezing limbs-each hand grasping at a meaty, taut thigh, or running deft fingertips over the massive shafts underneath their loincloths. The hyenas whined and moaned at the chilling yet intimate caresses of the ghastly appendages...
Suddenly, Cynwrig, having been given enough time to catch his second wind, cried out defiantly as he dropped down from high the sky, and allowed gravity and his full weight to drive his heel between her ears, and flooring her with the decisive strike as she bled from her forehead.
The mouse vaulted up into the air using her naginata and swung her foot deftly upside the temple of the other-flooring her on top of her companion-their massive chests pancaking as they were sandwiched between their massive frames.
The young mouse planted her foot upon the back of one of the gnolls, panting a bit, as she let out a sigh of relief before turning her eyes to the beetle hero. "We made it in time I think...are you alright...?" She looked to the beetle. "Your traveling companion was worried about you."
Cynwrig grunted at his everything as he rose to his feet. "I'll live...thank you, Ms...?"
"Tik Tik meet Kari on way to catch up with Cynwrig! Cynwrig meet Kari, Kari meet Cynwrig!" The kobold cheerfully grasped the hand of each and mashed them together in a forced handshake between the two parties.
The nezumiko was only slightly taller than the beetle, though she became rather self-conscious in realizing that, for once in her life, she was the tallest of a group. Instead of shaking the hand, she bowed her head respectfully to the hero-beetle
Cynwrig rubbed the back of his head bashfully, caught offguard by the mouse's formally respectful demeanor.
However, just as suddenly as Tik Tik had introduced them, Kari shook her head and withdrew her hand. "W-we don't have time for this." Her face once again turned stony, as she leapt upon her mount. "Those raid is still ongoing - we have to act quickly!"
The black riding wolf let loose a piercing howl, before the nezumiko rode back into the village-with Cynwrig attempting to keep pace with his wings as fast as he could.
"Hey, wait for Tik Tik!" the pink kobold exclaimed, as she dashed as fast as she could after the two heroes.
***
It was in the town square where the gnoll chieftan had lined up several of the local militia, young men and women of the village of various shapes and sizes, all stripped down entirely and bared as naked as the day they were born-each of them chain and shackled around their arms and legs and, in the cases of some of the more tail-privileged species, their tails were taken into account and bound as well.
The towering ogre of a woman let out a high pitched giggle as she eyed each specimen up and down. "You people...have taken my people in as your gladiators and slaves long enough..." She snarled-drool dripping from her fanged, crazed grin. "You fuckers have fucked over my kin, my brothers and sisters, for as long as I can remember...sending your adventurers on quests to hunt us down for your sick sense of enjoyment. Well...no longer."
A dangerous glint sparkled in her eye as she ripped off her loincloth and cast it to the side, revealing a massive, ebony pillar-easily the size of the man's calf as she approached the face-down soldier, who could only whimper and shake, not daring struggle in the presence of all the guards holding him down. A gnoll guard on each side spread his cheeks as she stroked herself, giggling with delight.
"Today...gnolls...fuck...you..."
It was then that a hint of movement in her peripheral alerted her to an oncoming attack.
She raised her massive cleaver-axe to deflect the assaulting nezumiko flying at her-her naginata's flaming blade clashing against the bloodied jagged edge in a flurry of sparks and embers as she sent her flying back with the blocking blow.
"Word travels fast," the gnoll chieftan snarled, cracking her neck from side to side before brandishing her cleaver-axe properly in a loose stance, as the nezumiko settled into her's. "The guild posted a bounty already?"
"I just happened to be in the area...the guild doesn't know...yet...take your people and leave before they catch wind."
"Pfah! I do not fear the guild-let them come-I will capture them, too! Capture them just like the likes of you take my people into your colisseums and arena!"
"That is part of the contract between monsters and the citizens of Magnes! Those who threaten the safety of the citizens are subject to capture."
"It's part of the contract to hunt ALL of us down!?"
Kari's eyes widened. "What-"
It was in that moment of distraction that the gnoll chieftan snarled and charged, and swung a mighty downward cleave at Kari-who only barely managed to get the shaft of her naginata in the way, and knock aside the cleaver-axe-only to eat the massive boot of the gnoll chieftan, SMASHING into her face and sending her stumbling back with blood leaking from her nose.
"Our tribe's numbers have dwindled down to almost nothing because your people-the adventurers of Guild Perilous, capture MY people under the guise of 'protecting the roads!'" The chieftan's pupils dilated, a crazed gaze and grin upon her face as she giggled maniacally, pouncing at Kari and pinning her against the ground with all her three hundred plus pounds of weight. "Well, if we're going to be attacked based on an accusation, I may as well make it fucking true, huh!?"
Kari shuddered as the hyena's slobber drooled upon her face, and that massive length brushed at her thigh. Her eyes met her's-and in them, she saw all the pent up emotions-the chieftan's wrath would be unleashed on all these people...
And Kari would be the first to suffer it...she shut her eyes, and took a deep breath...per the rules of the contract...as the loser of this fight, she would have to-
"NEO...DYNAMIC ENTRY....KIIICK!"
A blue beetle engulfed in flame descended from the sky-the gravity from the drop and his entire weight concentrated into his foot crashing into the gnoll chieftan's cheek-sending her tumbling across the ground on her side with a high pitched yelp.
Cynwrig himself skid along the ground with his landing, as the gnoll guards left their posts to help their leader...
And as they got just a bit closer, Cynwrig spread his arms with a fanciful, dramatic pose. As if on cue, fiery explosions erupted underneath each of the gnolls, and sent them flying every which way, into buildings and sailing over the heads of the villagers of Greenglades.
Cynwrig pointed at the chieftan. "Evil doer! You will not escape the wrath of Cynwrig, hero of justice!"
It was then that Cynwrig noticed that the chieftan was not nearly as defeated as he had thought as she loomed over him, still pantsless, with her humongous cleaver-axe. "YOU 'HEROES' CAN EAT SHIT AND DIII-"
CRACK!
And it was in that moment, that the chieftan found that Kari was not nearly as defeated as she had thought as her boot slammed in the back of her skull. The massive gnoll proceeded to fall upon her knees and...unceremoniously...on top of Cynwrig, flattening him underneath her massive frame with a YELP! erupting from the blue beetle's mouth!
The gnoll guards exchanged nervous glances at seeing their leader be felled...and YELP!ed as they proceeded to turn tail, and run, leaving the burning hamlet and their captured prey.
Kari herself rose to her feet, sucking down deep breaths-but finding her legs didn't have the strength to keep her up. They turned to jelly and she fell back upon her rump, as she fell onto her back and blacked out, as she heard a high-pitched voice call their names.
"Cynwrig! Kari!"
And the gnoll chieftan's words echoed through her mind...
"The likes of your people...You heroes can eat shit and die." Chapter 2:
"So the gnoll chieftan was right? You've been acting as the staging ground for this quest!?"
The rotund village mayor nodded, resting his head upon his hands, as he looked at the three adventurers from across his desk, with them seated around a quaint little coffee table. "We were approached by a masked Magnes noble a few months ago. Essentially, we were to make a false report about our trading routes to be attacked in exchange for a large sum of gold...the winter has been harsh upon our village, so I...made the choice without any of the others knowing." He paused, and considered. " ...besides, the gnolls have always been a thorn in our sides."
"How?"
"The presence of gnolls drive away people from living here-their laughter tends to anger others, and they make merchants fear driving down the routes, even if they don't attack as much as we said they do..."
"So you decided to enlist the aid of adventurers to help clear them out!?" Kari rose suddenly, her eyes wide with disbelief. "But...this area of Carnaleria is their home too!" Kari shook her head, holding her fingertips to her temples. "This...this is wrong!"
The green hooded kobold wizard, tilted her head. "If gnolls no attack, how are they problem? Tik Tik is not sure if Tik Tik understand."
Cynwrig paused, scratching his head with one of his top arms. "I mean, some of them attack, is what I'm understanding-and those ones are subjected to this...'Contract.' But that doesn't mean all the gnolls should be punished just because a handful of them get out of hand."
"Please, you must understand, we did what we had t-"
Kari shook her head-her face twisting and contorting in disgust. "This...this is wrong on so many levels."
"Well, I'm sorry you feel that way-regardless, thank you for your assistance in the defense of our village, there's no need to concern-"
Kari stood suddenly, her white-furred cheeks now flushed crimson. "This is disgusting. I'm not gonna tolerate another word of this."
Cynwrig reached up to grab Kari's arm-but she yanked it away as she stormed out of the room, shaking with disgust.
The beetle looked between Tik Tik, and Kari, before deciding that Tik Tik had thigns in hand, and flew after the mouse. Meanwhile, the little pink kobold pondered what she had heard. The contract business was of equal parts concern and curiosity to her. Everyone that she had met thus far spoke of it as if an artifact or legend. As if the contract itself were magical. However, most contracts, she had found, were long-winded, non-magical, boring parchments full of numbers and seemingly meaningless details-and while many people she had met treated them similarly, it seemed everyone in Magnes knew what was meant by this 'contract.'
"Tik Tik new in Carnaleria. Want to know what everyone means by 'contract.'
"Ah, you are new to these lands? Well, I suppose I can give you a crash course...please, get comfy Ms. Tik Tik. Beth, please brew us a pot of tea..." He offered a smiel to the lizardwoman maid, who bowed.
"The Contract is older than I am, if you can believe it. Many millenia older than I am...it is a rule in the form of a largescale enchantment which binds the monsters and denizens of this land. It was cast during an ancient conflict as a way to at least attempt to stem the tide of uncontrolled savagery between us. The Contract states that monsters who prey upon citizens of Carnaleria are subject to be challenged by warriors we know as Adventurers in combat. In such combat, the victor is allowed to claim the winner's rights...if the monster wins, they are allowed to do what they will with both the original victim and the adventurer. If the Adventurer wins, then the monster is the property of the Adventurer as well as of Magnes, to be done with as the Adventurer sees fit."
"The most common form of this prize is simply an act of sex-a ritual which shows of the victor's conquest over the loser, which releases both from the spell after the ritual is done. However, some choose to use the contract to bind the will of the loser..."
Tik Tik hastily scrawled notes with her quill as the elder explained the Contract.
"There are many who still want this war to go on, who want to take advantage of the monsters, as well as monsters who wish to enslave humans out of vengeance."
"So what did you do?" Tik Tik tilted her head, eyes shining with bright curiosity. The shine from her eyes made his old heart shrink and shrivel with shame.
"...I...was not lying. At least, to Ms. Kazushige. The fields have been fallow this year, and my people were going to starve...if nothing changed, everyone here would have starved."
The wrinkles on his forehead deepened. "But for some reason, the field still is barren. No matter what we plant, nothing will grow..."
Tik Tik tilted her head. "May I see fields?"
The elder's eyes widened "Why, certainly." He started to hobble towards the door, which Tik Tik opened for him, before following him through the halls to the fields near the town hall. As the mayor had said, the fields were barren and bare-not even a single sprout had shown itself through the ground.
The kobold got onto her hands and knees and examined the dirt. Her eyes glowed with mana as she scrutinized the ground.
"What are you doing?"
Her eyes narrowed, as she saw the stink of forbidden mana permeating the earth-emanating from the ground in plumes of black smoke-invisible to the mayor's eye. "Tik Tik find curses."
"Curses?"
"The ground has been cursed. Nothing will grow here until curse lifted."
The mayor's jaw dropped as he stared at the little kobold revealing this to him. "But who could have-"
"Tik Tik don't know-Tik Tik is great wizard, and will fix curses! But not know who curse field."
"Oh that would be such a blessing to us!"
"Will need reagents for spell-need alraune sap and mandragora root. Do the greenburg stores have these things?"
"N-no...sadly we do not. Especially mandragora root, the best way to find that is at the Magnes black market..."
"Magnes...?"
***
Kari secured her rucksack to the side of her dire wolf, scritching between his ears. Her eyes sagged. It had been hard to sleep the night prior-the questions having eaten away at her until she could ask the mayor properly. And the answers now ate at her as well.
Sensing her turmoil, the wolf drew its tongue all along her muzzle, and she offered a brief smile to the wolf, flashing him a broad smile.
It was then she heard the buzzing of rapidly beating wings. And she turned to see Cynwrig trying to catch up with her, landing and panting.
"Hey. Sorry, Cynwrig was it? I gotta head to Magnes, the capital, and...handle some things. Wish we could get to know each other a little longer."
"Wait...wait wait...what sort of business are you handling exactly?"
"Well, someone has to fight for the monsters. There's a place I have to visit in Magnes which deals in trafficking captured monsters." She took a deep breath. "See, in Magnes, there're two districts that are known for dealing with things like this. One is the Red Light District-it's our...entertainment center. Lots of...interesting sights to see and things to experience there, if you get what I'm saying. I mean, there's fun to be had, if you have the coin and time to spare."
Her face tightened. "But then there's the Underground, which is...all the stuff that they have to keep out of the eye of the guards and the nobles. All the illegal stuff-at least, illegal on paper. The slavers, the apothecaries, even forbidden relics and artifacts are traded on the black market through word of mouth there." Her fingers clenched aroud the naginata's shaft tightly. "Something tells me that if I go there, I'll find out what's going on..."
"That sounds beyond dangerous," Cynwrig observed-his antennae wilting at the thought of what could lay in wait within such a place. It didn't take much imagination to think of what sort of danger a pretty little thing like Kari could attract. "Well, wait, me and Tik could come with you-we can't just let you go in alone."
"Tik Tik is on her own quest, right? And you're her friend?" Kari offered a smile. "You should stick with Tik TIk. Friends are precious. Keep the ones you have."
"But what about you? Are you going to take on this problem by yourself?"
She shook her head. "Not everyone's as fortunate as you two are. Some adventurers have to go solo."
The beetle shook his head. "Can't you just...wait a bit or something? I mean, maybe there's something in Magnes that Tik Tik will need, too. Just give us a day?"
"Tik Tik say just give us now!" The pink kobold ran down the path towards the beetle and mouse, skidding to a stop and panting in front of them.
"Need to go to Magnes, pick up reagents for purification spell!"
"Purification spell?"
"For the fields-will explain. Can Kari take Tik Tik and Cynwrig to Magnes?"
Kari blinked, and scratched the back of her neck. "Well, I mean, um..." She looked from Tik Tik to Cynwrig and back again. "Well, I guess I'm out of excuses, huh? Alright, I'll take you both to Magnes..." Kari leapt onto the broad back of the mighty black dire wolf, and offered her wrapped paw to Cynwrig. "Climb on."
He hesitated a moment, before he took her paw-and with a mighty heave, she yanked him aboard the massive wolf and placing him in front of herself, followed by Tik Tik-keeping her at the forefront of the three of them.
"It's weird being the biggest in a group," she giggled. "It's going to be a full day's ride, so hold on tight!"
It was then that she took off with the massive dire wolf galloping across the vast, green Fertile Plains, with the wind blowing in their faces as the wolf charged off towards the capital city of Magnes.
***
The sun had fallen beneath the horizon before they knew it, and the party were forced to set up camp for the night.
Tik Tik had set fire to the gathered wood with a small spell so they could warm themselves up by the campfire. The beetle had started to recline against a rock and stretched himself out.
All the while, the green hooded kobold grumbled, rubbing her rump. "Big wolf is rough ride. Butt is sore. Too much bouncing!"
Cynwrig chuckled at the kobold wizard's complaints as he leaned back against the rock, turning his eyes to the night sky. "Well, Kari said it shouldn't be too much longer..."
The pink kobold looked around, and blinked as she looked over the campsite. Her eyes wandered from the empty tent, to the pot of stew which they had hung over the campfire, to all that the gentle dancing campfire's light touched.
"Where is Kari?"
The beetle's eyes darted about. Indeed, the mouse had disappeared from the camp. He frowned. "I...mean she was here helping us set up. Maybe she went off to patrol?"
"Maybe go find her? Make sure Kari okay?"
Cynwrig pushed himself up. "Well...hopefully she didn't run into more of those gnolls...those things hit like a truck." His shell-flaps flew open and his wings buzzed madly as he rose into the air just above the trees, and took off in search of the mouse.
He spotted the city of Magnes, glowing in the distance even at this late hour with the massive castle in the middle of the city dwarfing everything else within the walled borders. He paused to take in the sight. Magnes was larger than he had bargained for-given its size, he imagined that it attracted a lot of work for those who aspired to be heroes, as well as advertised quests and bounties which would attract such heroes. He saw the little mouse sitting upon a nearby cliff's edge, who looked up and smiled at the approaching beetle. She waved him down with a small smile.
Cynwrig descended and touched down lightly behind Kari.
"Hey. Sorry. Needed to get away for a bit. Figured Tik Tik needed to rest after the rough ride, and that you'd stay with her."
"I mean...you could at least let us know."
"Normally, the people I party with just give me my space."
Cynwrig winced. "Sorry, I'll-"
Kari shook her head. "No. No it's okay. I actually appreciate it. Normally they're mercenaries or people in it for guts and glory. I don't mind you two."
Cynwrig scooted up along the grass, allowing his legs to dangle off the cliff edge and stretched as he leaned back on his lower set of arms. "Seems like there's no shortage of awesome things to do in this land. Never a dull moment."
"Yeah. Always something more to do." Kari nodded, her eyes staring off in the distance. Her ears wilted and her tail seemed to flop around like a dying fish with a weighted limpness, and a heavy sigh escaped her breath.
Cynwrig studied her with his compound crimson eyes. "You don't seem happy with that."
"I mean, sometimes I am. But then there are jobs like this that make you realize that the reason we have heroes is that people make so many dumb mistakes and end up having to pay us to clean up the mess." She took a deep breath. "I guess, sometimes, I think to myself, are people really worth the effort it takes to save them? How do I know that the people I save will end up using their lives for good? How do I know that it wasn't the monsters who were right?"
Cynwrig paused. He didn't have an answer for that. "I mean, being a hero was never meant to be an easy job, right?"
"Yeah, but that usually means big dragons and hordes of orc raiders that are robbing innocent caravans. Not...this." She shook her head. "I...hate complicated quests. You would think it would be easy to figure out who is doing good, who isn't. But...this isn't even the only quest that turned out like this. And it happens more and more. The other day, I took up a quest to protect a ranch from a giant garuda...come to find out, one of the ranchhands had stolen one of her eggs." Her face hardened with a restrained scowl. "I wanted to strangle him..."
Cynwrig reached over and gave her a squeeze with both of his arms. "For what it's worth, I think you're making the right decision here."
"Oh thanks." Kari rolled her eyes at Cynwrig, wiping something from her eyes. "Yes, it's such a tough decision to go after the slavers preying upon the innocent monsters. Such a dilemma."
"Well I mean...you're not even getting paid for this job, are you?" Cynwrig offered, reaching over and laying a hand one of her bare shoulders.
Kari chuckled, shaking her head, and sighed. "No. It's kind of what our kind are SUPPOSED to do. I mean, on paper...sadly, I don't think many adventurers would take the job if it didn't pay well enough-especially since it involves taking on the Underground itself. Which...begs the quesiton. Why are you coming along?"
Cynwrig blinked, and held up his hands in front of himself, removing his arm around her shoulders. "I mean...even heroines need heroes, right? Wanted to help you save the day and stuff!" He reclined back against his top set of arms, while posing with his hands on his hips, puffing out his chest.
"So...you want to be my hero, huh?" she rose to her feet, and stepped away from the cliffside, beckoning Cynwrig along.
Cynwrig flew after her as she guided him to a more open space...where she brandished her naginata.
"To be my hero, I have to see if you can keep up."
"W-wait, you want a spar now? Here?"
Kari took up a stance without her naginata-raising up her wrapped fists in a tight stance. A slight, coy smile danced upon her muzzle at the struck mute beetle. "I'm not very good with...talking. I like to handle things with a more hands-on approach." She beckoned him forward with a finger.
Cynwrig paused for a moment, staring at the nezumiko's odd ritual. "A-alright...!" He rose all four of his fists as he pumped himself up, darting back and forth with his furiously beating wings, before flying at the mouse with a battlecry. All four of his fists started to fly at the mouse.
Yet, her hands swiftly batted aside the punches of the four arms with swift chops to each of his wrists, becoming mere blurs.
He narrowly darted out of the way of a swift fist, barely whiffing his chin, before swinging a hard hook at her cheek, smashing into the side of her muzzle, and knocking spittle from her lips. He rushed forward in a headlong charge.
WHAM. The blue beetle clutched his face with one of his four arms as he flew back, the mouse cracking her neck, before settling into stance.
Huffing, he readied himself, for before flying into a hard kick at the mouse's face...
Her hand whipped out and snatched his leg. She whipped the beetle hero over her shoulder and slammed him into the ground shell-first. His eyes bugged out of his head at the impact, which knocked the wind from his lungs, before her stomping heel drove into the chest part of his exoskeleton shell.
The mouse ground her heel into him. Her figure was silhouetted against the moon above. In spite of her swift victory, she had but a sad smile...
While supporting herself with her foot on his chest, she reached back with her other leg. The nezumiko of Carnaleria were flexible, nimble creatures, and their toes were just as prehensile as their hands. She gripped his dick between her toes and started to pump his member, which had already risen to half-mast. Cynwrig yelped and shuddered as he felt the caresses of her foot all over his dick...
"Shhh..." she whispered, as her foot squished his dick against the tummy of his shell, milking him with each stroke.
Her tail snaked out and reached towards the underside of his ballsack. The fuzzy tailtip tickled at its underside. He arched his back, his balls quivering at the attention.
"Hee...you're enjoyed this, aren't you...?" she giggled as she teased the beetle hero, keeping perfectly balanced on her one leg as she continued to stroke and pump his dick to its full length...her own hands reached up and squeezed at her breast, as well as finger herself underneath her figure-fitting cloths, tracing the slit underneath the linen cloth covering her nethers, eliciting a moan from her lips...
Her prehensile toes felt heavenly running up and down his length. Cynwrig gasped in delight at it squeezing and milking his tiny dick, as if squeezing the cream from a pastry as she sandwiched it between her sole and his stomach. He found himself unable to resist the feel of her tight grip on his dick. His heart throbbed against his chest as he lay there, eyes fluttering as his dick throbbed with need for release.
"Come on, let it all out..."
Cynwrig let out a cry to the night sky as his body seize up in the throes of pleasure, his legs shaking and quaking. He felt his balls empty as his dick erupted all over his chest-a little of the juice nearly hitting him in one of his compound eyes, as Kari continued to jerk him off with her foot, draining him dry and leaving him a panting wreck underneath her feet.
"Heroes should have more stamina," she teased, as she picked him up and slung him over her shoulder. "...it's really weird being the big one."
Cynwrig let out a soul-sucked groan, as Kari carried his limp, spent body back to the camp...
Chapter 1:
"TAKE THE BREEDABLE ONES AND SLAUGHTER THE CHILDREN AND ELDERLY!" the ogre-sized hyena-gnoll chieftan had hollered as she rode through the little hamlet of Greenglade on an armored boar mount, holding up a crudely fashioned, jagged axe, giggling in chorus with the other gnoll raiders. The chieftain swung her cleaver-axe almost casually through the back of an older man's neck-spraying blood and viscera against the walls of one of the burning thatch-roofed huts.
They threw torches onto buildings, and the fires spread all throughout the flammable thatch roofs. The sparse militia spared by the Kingdom of Magnes raised their spears-only to be casually disarmed by a swift club, or simply slaughtered by an axe or spear wielded by the fierce amazonian gnolls.
The gnolls giggled as they dragged both carcass and unconscious guard to the middle of town. To a gnoll's tastes in both food and sex, there was little difference between living and dead.
Down one of the alleyways, a pair of gnolls loomed over a trembling mother holding her crying young daughter close to her chest. The mother shielded the crying girl with her back facing the gnolls, even as one of them raised their massive, jagged spear. Her daughter buried her face in her mother's bosom, muffling her cries. Both of them shut their eyes tightly as the gnolls' sinister jeering giggles assaulted their ears as they stomped closer-a foreboding tent rising up between their legs as drool and slobber poured from between the teeth of their fanged grins...
"DYNAMIC ENTRY KIIIIICK!" a voice erupted from the air. A blue streak flew in from the side-his foot smashing into the jaw of the massive gnoll, knocking them a few paces to the side, spitting out a knocked loose fang before they turned to face their assailant, who back flipped off of the kick and hovered in the air with his insectoid wings buzzing to keep himself afloat.
A four-armed, four-foot tall beetle moved fluidly into a dramatic pose requiring much flexibility and poise for the mother and child and any onlookers, which served little purpose other than to seemingly show off.
"Do not fear, Cynwrig is here, at your service, ma'am! You are safe..." he announced with as proud and strong a voice he could manage-his lower set of hands placing themselves on his hips, as he puffed out his chest and pointed with conviction at the two gnoll raiders. "For I shall vanquish them!"
The monstrous hyena like creatures were given pause. They slowly exchanged bewildered glance...before bursting into jeering high-pitched giggles as they doubled over at the tiny beetle hero.
"H-hey!" He growled-fuming with indignation at their mocking giggles, before launching himself once more-and letting loose a flurry of fists with all four arms-each fist smashing into the hyena's face from every which way, causing the gnoll to yelp!
The other gnoll snarled, before swinging the spear at the annoying bug. Cynwrig zipped just above the swing, before diving in a kick at the gnoll's kneecap, with his heel smashing into it with a nasty crack.
Suddenly, Cynwrig YELP!ed as he was swatted by the first gnoll's massive club, smashing him into the wall-which Cynwrig slid down unceremoniously, putting an end to his heroic dynamic entry...
And now, two seven foot gnolls looming over him-with a mass between their legs lifting their loincloths quite auspiciously.
"You're going to pay for that, prettyboy," they growled, muzzles drooling with blood and spit, as they hungrily gazed upon the beetle. "Gonna make ya squeal as they go in." They each reared back their spears, as their masts lifted up the cloth in front, allowing an ominous peek underneath.
"The weapons...?" he groaned with a wince as he eyed the spearpoints.
"...all of 'em."
It was then that a wolf's howl could be heard in the distance, piercing through the clashing weapons and panicked screams of the villagers. The gnolls' eyes were drawn to the source.
A small mouse wielding a naginata rode in on the back of a behemoth of a dire wolf. Wrappings bound her chest, and ties bound her leggings. A familiar pink scaled green-hooded kobold held tight around her waist, covering her mouth with her hand as she bounced up and down with the fast pace of the wolf.
"Tik Tik gonna be siiiiiiick," the kobold exclaimed, stomach churning from the rough ride without a saddle.
"Come on, focus! You said your friend left for this village, right!? Look, there he is!"
Tik Tik snapped to attention, and made an effort to swallow whatever part of her lunch was trying to come up. The wolf came to a skidding halt, which Tik Tik was grateful for as she stumbled off of the back into a tumbling roll upon her rump, covering her mouth as she grabbed her magic tome from her satchel absently...
The gnolls exchanged glances and burst into ear-splitting giggle fits once more, before charging Tik Tik.
But the mouse girl leapt in front of the gnolls. She glided her hand over the blade, setting it ablaze, and swung it in a wide threatening arc-the tongues of flame upon the edge of the blade licking at their faces, and the embers singing the fur upon their cheeks.
It was that brief moment's hesitation that bought Tik Tik all the time she needed...as a magic circle flared to life underneath her as she pointed a finger with conviction at the gnolls.
Several ethereal limbs shot up from the ground and grasped and groped at the gnolls. The creatures' eyes shot wide with panic, as they wrestled with the grasping and squeezing limbs-each hand grasping at a meaty, taut thigh, or running deft fingertips over the massive shafts underneath their loincloths. The hyenas whined and moaned at the chilling yet intimate caresses of the ghastly appendages...
Suddenly, Cynwrig, having been given enough time to catch his second wind, cried out defiantly as he dropped down from high the sky, and allowed gravity and his full weight to drive his heel between her ears, and flooring her with the decisive strike as she bled from her forehead.
The mouse vaulted up into the air using her naginata and swung her foot deftly upside the temple of the other-flooring her on top of her companion-their massive chests pancaking as they were sandwiched between their massive frames.
The young mouse planted her foot upon the back of one of the gnolls, panting a bit, as she let out a sigh of relief before turning her eyes to the beetle hero. "We made it in time I think...are you alright...?" She looked to the beetle. "Your traveling companion was worried about you."
Cynwrig grunted at his everything as he rose to his feet. "I'll live...thank you, Ms...?"
"Tik Tik meet Kari on way to catch up with Cynwrig! Cynwrig meet Kari, Kari meet Cynwrig!" The kobold cheerfully grasped the hand of each and mashed them together in a forced handshake between the two parties.
The nezumiko was only slightly taller than the beetle, though she became rather self-conscious in realizing that, for once in her life, she was the tallest of a group. Instead of shaking the hand, she bowed her head respectfully to the hero-beetle
Cynwrig rubbed the back of his head bashfully, caught offguard by the mouse's formally respectful demeanor.
However, just as suddenly as Tik Tik had introduced them, Kari shook her head and withdrew her hand. "W-we don't have time for this." Her face once again turned stony, as she leapt upon her mount. "Those raid is still ongoing - we have to act quickly!"
The black riding wolf let loose a piercing howl, before the nezumiko rode back into the village-with Cynwrig attempting to keep pace with his wings as fast as he could.
"Hey, wait for Tik Tik!" the pink kobold exclaimed, as she dashed as fast as she could after the two heroes.
***
It was in the town square where the gnoll chieftan had lined up several of the local militia, young men and women of the village of various shapes and sizes, all stripped down entirely and bared as naked as the day they were born-each of them chain and shackled around their arms and legs and, in the cases of some of the more tail-privileged species, their tails were taken into account and bound as well.
The towering ogre of a woman let out a high pitched giggle as she eyed each specimen up and down. "You people...have taken my people in as your gladiators and slaves long enough..." She snarled-drool dripping from her fanged, crazed grin. "You fuckers have fucked over my kin, my brothers and sisters, for as long as I can remember...sending your adventurers on quests to hunt us down for your sick sense of enjoyment. Well...no longer."
A dangerous glint sparkled in her eye as she ripped off her loincloth and cast it to the side, revealing a massive, ebony pillar-easily the size of the man's calf as she approached the face-down soldier, who could only whimper and shake, not daring struggle in the presence of all the guards holding him down. A gnoll guard on each side spread his cheeks as she stroked herself, giggling with delight.
"Today...gnolls...fuck...you..."
It was then that a hint of movement in her peripheral alerted her to an oncoming attack.
She raised her massive cleaver-axe to deflect the assaulting nezumiko flying at her-her naginata's flaming blade clashing against the bloodied jagged edge in a flurry of sparks and embers as she sent her flying back with the blocking blow.
"Word travels fast," the gnoll chieftan snarled, cracking her neck from side to side before brandishing her cleaver-axe properly in a loose stance, as the nezumiko settled into her's. "The guild posted a bounty already?"
"I just happened to be in the area...the guild doesn't know...yet...take your people and leave before they catch wind."
"Pfah! I do not fear the guild-let them come-I will capture them, too! Capture them just like the likes of you take my people into your colisseums and arena!"
"That is part of the contract between monsters and the citizens of Magnes! Those who threaten the safety of the citizens are subject to capture."
"It's part of the contract to hunt ALL of us down!?"
Kari's eyes widened. "What-"
It was in that moment of distraction that the gnoll chieftan snarled and charged, and swung a mighty downward cleave at Kari-who only barely managed to get the shaft of her naginata in the way, and knock aside the cleaver-axe-only to eat the massive boot of the gnoll chieftan, SMASHING into her face and sending her stumbling back with blood leaking from her nose.
"Our tribe's numbers have dwindled down to almost nothing because your people-the adventurers of Guild Perilous, capture MY people under the guise of 'protecting the roads!'" The chieftan's pupils dilated, a crazed gaze and grin upon her face as she giggled maniacally, pouncing at Kari and pinning her against the ground with all her three hundred plus pounds of weight. "Well, if we're going to be attacked based on an accusation, I may as well make it fucking true, huh!?"
Kari shuddered as the hyena's slobber drooled upon her face, and that massive length brushed at her thigh. Her eyes met her's-and in them, she saw all the pent up emotions-the chieftan's wrath would be unleashed on all these people...
And Kari would be the first to suffer it...she shut her eyes, and took a deep breath...per the rules of the contract...as the loser of this fight, she would have to-
"NEO...DYNAMIC ENTRY....KIIICK!"
A blue beetle engulfed in flame descended from the sky-the gravity from the drop and his entire weight concentrated into his foot crashing into the gnoll chieftan's cheek-sending her tumbling across the ground on her side with a high pitched yelp.
Cynwrig himself skid along the ground with his landing, as the gnoll guards left their posts to help their leader...
And as they got just a bit closer, Cynwrig spread his arms with a fanciful, dramatic pose. As if on cue, fiery explosions erupted underneath each of the gnolls, and sent them flying every which way, into buildings and sailing over the heads of the villagers of Greenglades.
Cynwrig pointed at the chieftan. "Evil doer! You will not escape the wrath of Cynwrig, hero of justice!"
It was then that Cynwrig noticed that the chieftan was not nearly as defeated as he had thought as she loomed over him, still pantsless, with her humongous cleaver-axe. "YOU 'HEROES' CAN EAT SHIT AND DIII-"
CRACK!
And it was in that moment, that the chieftan found that Kari was not nearly as defeated as she had thought as her boot slammed in the back of her skull. The massive gnoll proceeded to fall upon her knees and...unceremoniously...on top of Cynwrig, flattening him underneath her massive frame with a YELP! erupting from the blue beetle's mouth!
The gnoll guards exchanged nervous glances at seeing their leader be felled...and YELP!ed as they proceeded to turn tail, and run, leaving the burning hamlet and their captured prey.
Kari herself rose to her feet, sucking down deep breaths-but finding her legs didn't have the strength to keep her up. They turned to jelly and she fell back upon her rump, as she fell onto her back and blacked out, as she heard a high-pitched voice call their names.
"Cynwrig! Kari!"
And the gnoll chieftan's words echoed through her mind...
"The likes of your people...You heroes can eat shit and die." Chapter 2:
"So the gnoll chieftan was right? You've been acting as the staging ground for this quest!?"
The rotund village mayor nodded, resting his head upon his hands, as he looked at the three adventurers from across his desk, with them seated around a quaint little coffee table. "We were approached by a masked Magnes noble a few months ago. Essentially, we were to make a false report about our trading routes to be attacked in exchange for a large sum of gold...the winter has been harsh upon our village, so I...made the choice without any of the others knowing." He paused, and considered. " ...besides, the gnolls have always been a thorn in our sides."
"How?"
"The presence of gnolls drive away people from living here-their laughter tends to anger others, and they make merchants fear driving down the routes, even if they don't attack as much as we said they do..."
"So you decided to enlist the aid of adventurers to help clear them out!?" Kari rose suddenly, her eyes wide with disbelief. "But...this area of Carnaleria is their home too!" Kari shook her head, holding her fingertips to her temples. "This...this is wrong!"
The green hooded kobold wizard, tilted her head. "If gnolls no attack, how are they problem? Tik Tik is not sure if Tik Tik understand."
Cynwrig paused, scratching his head with one of his top arms. "I mean, some of them attack, is what I'm understanding-and those ones are subjected to this...'Contract.' But that doesn't mean all the gnolls should be punished just because a handful of them get out of hand."
"Please, you must understand, we did what we had t-"
Kari shook her head-her face twisting and contorting in disgust. "This...this is wrong on so many levels."
"Well, I'm sorry you feel that way-regardless, thank you for your assistance in the defense of our village, there's no need to concern-"
Kari stood suddenly, her white-furred cheeks now flushed crimson. "This is disgusting. I'm not gonna tolerate another word of this."
Cynwrig reached up to grab Kari's arm-but she yanked it away as she stormed out of the room, shaking with disgust.
The beetle looked between Tik Tik, and Kari, before deciding that Tik Tik had thigns in hand, and flew after the mouse. Meanwhile, the little pink kobold pondered what she had heard. The contract business was of equal parts concern and curiosity to her. Everyone that she had met thus far spoke of it as if an artifact or legend. As if the contract itself were magical. However, most contracts, she had found, were long-winded, non-magical, boring parchments full of numbers and seemingly meaningless details-and while many people she had met treated them similarly, it seemed everyone in Magnes knew what was meant by this 'contract.'
"Tik Tik new in Carnaleria. Want to know what everyone means by 'contract.'
"Ah, you are new to these lands? Well, I suppose I can give you a crash course...please, get comfy Ms. Tik Tik. Beth, please brew us a pot of tea..." He offered a smiel to the lizardwoman maid, who bowed.
"The Contract is older than I am, if you can believe it. Many millenia older than I am...it is a rule in the form of a largescale enchantment which binds the monsters and denizens of this land. It was cast during an ancient conflict as a way to at least attempt to stem the tide of uncontrolled savagery between us. The Contract states that monsters who prey upon citizens of Carnaleria are subject to be challenged by warriors we know as Adventurers in combat. In such combat, the victor is allowed to claim the winner's rights...if the monster wins, they are allowed to do what they will with both the original victim and the adventurer. If the Adventurer wins, then the monster is the property of the Adventurer as well as of Magnes, to be done with as the Adventurer sees fit."
"The most common form of this prize is simply an act of sex-a ritual which shows of the victor's conquest over the loser, which releases both from the spell after the ritual is done. However, some choose to use the contract to bind the will of the loser..."
Tik Tik hastily scrawled notes with her quill as the elder explained the Contract.
"There are many who still want this war to go on, who want to take advantage of the monsters, as well as monsters who wish to enslave humans out of vengeance."
"So what did you do?" Tik Tik tilted her head, eyes shining with bright curiosity. The shine from her eyes made his old heart shrink and shrivel with shame.
"...I...was not lying. At least, to Ms. Kazushige. The fields have been fallow this year, and my people were going to starve...if nothing changed, everyone here would have starved."
The wrinkles on his forehead deepened. "But for some reason, the field still is barren. No matter what we plant, nothing will grow..."
Tik Tik tilted her head. "May I see fields?"
The elder's eyes widened "Why, certainly." He started to hobble towards the door, which Tik Tik opened for him, before following him through the halls to the fields near the town hall. As the mayor had said, the fields were barren and bare-not even a single sprout had shown itself through the ground.
The kobold got onto her hands and knees and examined the dirt. Her eyes glowed with mana as she scrutinized the ground.
"What are you doing?"
Her eyes narrowed, as she saw the stink of forbidden mana permeating the earth-emanating from the ground in plumes of black smoke-invisible to the mayor's eye. "Tik Tik find curses."
"Curses?"
"The ground has been cursed. Nothing will grow here until curse lifted."
The mayor's jaw dropped as he stared at the little kobold revealing this to him. "But who could have-"
"Tik Tik don't know-Tik Tik is great wizard, and will fix curses! But not know who curse field."
"Oh that would be such a blessing to us!"
"Will need reagents for spell-need alraune sap and mandragora root. Do the greenburg stores have these things?"
"N-no...sadly we do not. Especially mandragora root, the best way to find that is at the Magnes black market..."
"Magnes...?"
***
Kari secured her rucksack to the side of her dire wolf, scritching between his ears. Her eyes sagged. It had been hard to sleep the night prior-the questions having eaten away at her until she could ask the mayor properly. And the answers now ate at her as well.
Sensing her turmoil, the wolf drew its tongue all along her muzzle, and she offered a brief smile to the wolf, flashing him a broad smile.
It was then she heard the buzzing of rapidly beating wings. And she turned to see Cynwrig trying to catch up with her, landing and panting.
"Hey. Sorry, Cynwrig was it? I gotta head to Magnes, the capital, and...handle some things. Wish we could get to know each other a little longer."
"Wait...wait wait...what sort of business are you handling exactly?"
"Well, someone has to fight for the monsters. There's a place I have to visit in Magnes which deals in trafficking captured monsters." She took a deep breath. "See, in Magnes, there're two districts that are known for dealing with things like this. One is the Red Light District-it's our...entertainment center. Lots of...interesting sights to see and things to experience there, if you get what I'm saying. I mean, there's fun to be had, if you have the coin and time to spare."
Her face tightened. "But then there's the Underground, which is...all the stuff that they have to keep out of the eye of the guards and the nobles. All the illegal stuff-at least, illegal on paper. The slavers, the apothecaries, even forbidden relics and artifacts are traded on the black market through word of mouth there." Her fingers clenched aroud the naginata's shaft tightly. "Something tells me that if I go there, I'll find out what's going on..."
"That sounds beyond dangerous," Cynwrig observed-his antennae wilting at the thought of what could lay in wait within such a place. It didn't take much imagination to think of what sort of danger a pretty little thing like Kari could attract. "Well, wait, me and Tik could come with you-we can't just let you go in alone."
"Tik Tik is on her own quest, right? And you're her friend?" Kari offered a smile. "You should stick with Tik TIk. Friends are precious. Keep the ones you have."
"But what about you? Are you going to take on this problem by yourself?"
She shook her head. "Not everyone's as fortunate as you two are. Some adventurers have to go solo."
The beetle shook his head. "Can't you just...wait a bit or something? I mean, maybe there's something in Magnes that Tik Tik will need, too. Just give us a day?"
"Tik Tik say just give us now!" The pink kobold ran down the path towards the beetle and mouse, skidding to a stop and panting in front of them.
"Need to go to Magnes, pick up reagents for purification spell!"
"Purification spell?"
"For the fields-will explain. Can Kari take Tik Tik and Cynwrig to Magnes?"
Kari blinked, and scratched the back of her neck. "Well, I mean, um..." She looked from Tik Tik to Cynwrig and back again. "Well, I guess I'm out of excuses, huh? Alright, I'll take you both to Magnes..." Kari leapt onto the broad back of the mighty black dire wolf, and offered her wrapped paw to Cynwrig. "Climb on."
He hesitated a moment, before he took her paw-and with a mighty heave, she yanked him aboard the massive wolf and placing him in front of herself, followed by Tik Tik-keeping her at the forefront of the three of them.
"It's weird being the biggest in a group," she giggled. "It's going to be a full day's ride, so hold on tight!"
It was then that she took off with the massive dire wolf galloping across the vast, green Fertile Plains, with the wind blowing in their faces as the wolf charged off towards the capital city of Magnes.
***
The sun had fallen beneath the horizon before they knew it, and the party were forced to set up camp for the night.
Tik Tik had set fire to the gathered wood with a small spell so they could warm themselves up by the campfire. The beetle had started to recline against a rock and stretched himself out.
All the while, the green hooded kobold grumbled, rubbing her rump. "Big wolf is rough ride. Butt is sore. Too much bouncing!"
Cynwrig chuckled at the kobold wizard's complaints as he leaned back against the rock, turning his eyes to the night sky. "Well, Kari said it shouldn't be too much longer..."
The pink kobold looked around, and blinked as she looked over the campsite. Her eyes wandered from the empty tent, to the pot of stew which they had hung over the campfire, to all that the gentle dancing campfire's light touched.
"Where is Kari?"
The beetle's eyes darted about. Indeed, the mouse had disappeared from the camp. He frowned. "I...mean she was here helping us set up. Maybe she went off to patrol?"
"Maybe go find her? Make sure Kari okay?"
Cynwrig pushed himself up. "Well...hopefully she didn't run into more of those gnolls...those things hit like a truck." His shell-flaps flew open and his wings buzzed madly as he rose into the air just above the trees, and took off in search of the mouse.
He spotted the city of Magnes, glowing in the distance even at this late hour with the massive castle in the middle of the city dwarfing everything else within the walled borders. He paused to take in the sight. Magnes was larger than he had bargained for-given its size, he imagined that it attracted a lot of work for those who aspired to be heroes, as well as advertised quests and bounties which would attract such heroes. He saw the little mouse sitting upon a nearby cliff's edge, who looked up and smiled at the approaching beetle. She waved him down with a small smile.
Cynwrig descended and touched down lightly behind Kari.
"Hey. Sorry. Needed to get away for a bit. Figured Tik Tik needed to rest after the rough ride, and that you'd stay with her."
"I mean...you could at least let us know."
"Normally, the people I party with just give me my space."
Cynwrig winced. "Sorry, I'll-"
Kari shook her head. "No. No it's okay. I actually appreciate it. Normally they're mercenaries or people in it for guts and glory. I don't mind you two."
Cynwrig scooted up along the grass, allowing his legs to dangle off the cliff edge and stretched as he leaned back on his lower set of arms. "Seems like there's no shortage of awesome things to do in this land. Never a dull moment."
"Yeah. Always something more to do." Kari nodded, her eyes staring off in the distance. Her ears wilted and her tail seemed to flop around like a dying fish with a weighted limpness, and a heavy sigh escaped her breath.
Cynwrig studied her with his compound crimson eyes. "You don't seem happy with that."
"I mean, sometimes I am. But then there are jobs like this that make you realize that the reason we have heroes is that people make so many dumb mistakes and end up having to pay us to clean up the mess." She took a deep breath. "I guess, sometimes, I think to myself, are people really worth the effort it takes to save them? How do I know that the people I save will end up using their lives for good? How do I know that it wasn't the monsters who were right?"
Cynwrig paused. He didn't have an answer for that. "I mean, being a hero was never meant to be an easy job, right?"
"Yeah, but that usually means big dragons and hordes of orc raiders that are robbing innocent caravans. Not...this." She shook her head. "I...hate complicated quests. You would think it would be easy to figure out who is doing good, who isn't. But...this isn't even the only quest that turned out like this. And it happens more and more. The other day, I took up a quest to protect a ranch from a giant garuda...come to find out, one of the ranchhands had stolen one of her eggs." Her face hardened with a restrained scowl. "I wanted to strangle him..."
Cynwrig reached over and gave her a squeeze with both of his arms. "For what it's worth, I think you're making the right decision here."
"Oh thanks." Kari rolled her eyes at Cynwrig, wiping something from her eyes. "Yes, it's such a tough decision to go after the slavers preying upon the innocent monsters. Such a dilemma."
"Well I mean...you're not even getting paid for this job, are you?" Cynwrig offered, reaching over and laying a hand one of her bare shoulders.
Kari chuckled, shaking her head, and sighed. "No. It's kind of what our kind are SUPPOSED to do. I mean, on paper...sadly, I don't think many adventurers would take the job if it didn't pay well enough-especially since it involves taking on the Underground itself. Which...begs the quesiton. Why are you coming along?"
Cynwrig blinked, and held up his hands in front of himself, removing his arm around her shoulders. "I mean...even heroines need heroes, right? Wanted to help you save the day and stuff!" He reclined back against his top set of arms, while posing with his hands on his hips, puffing out his chest.
"So...you want to be my hero, huh?" she rose to her feet, and stepped away from the cliffside, beckoning Cynwrig along.
Cynwrig flew after her as she guided him to a more open space...where she brandished her naginata.
"To be my hero, I have to see if you can keep up."
"W-wait, you want a spar now? Here?"
Kari took up a stance without her naginata-raising up her wrapped fists in a tight stance. A slight, coy smile danced upon her muzzle at the struck mute beetle. "I'm not very good with...talking. I like to handle things with a more hands-on approach." She beckoned him forward with a finger.
Cynwrig paused for a moment, staring at the nezumiko's odd ritual. "A-alright...!" He rose all four of his fists as he pumped himself up, darting back and forth with his furiously beating wings, before flying at the mouse with a battlecry. All four of his fists started to fly at the mouse.
Yet, her hands swiftly batted aside the punches of the four arms with swift chops to each of his wrists, becoming mere blurs.
He narrowly darted out of the way of a swift fist, barely whiffing his chin, before swinging a hard hook at her cheek, smashing into the side of her muzzle, and knocking spittle from her lips. He rushed forward in a headlong charge.
WHAM. The blue beetle clutched his face with one of his four arms as he flew back, the mouse cracking her neck, before settling into stance.
Huffing, he readied himself, for before flying into a hard kick at the mouse's face...
Her hand whipped out and snatched his leg. She whipped the beetle hero over her shoulder and slammed him into the ground shell-first. His eyes bugged out of his head at the impact, which knocked the wind from his lungs, before her stomping heel drove into the chest part of his exoskeleton shell.
The mouse ground her heel into him. Her figure was silhouetted against the moon above. In spite of her swift victory, she had but a sad smile...
While supporting herself with her foot on his chest, she reached back with her other leg. The nezumiko of Carnaleria were flexible, nimble creatures, and their toes were just as prehensile as their hands. She gripped his dick between her toes and started to pump his member, which had already risen to half-mast. Cynwrig yelped and shuddered as he felt the caresses of her foot all over his dick...
"Shhh..." she whispered, as her foot squished his dick against the tummy of his shell, milking him with each stroke.
Her tail snaked out and reached towards the underside of his ballsack. The fuzzy tailtip tickled at its underside. He arched his back, his balls quivering at the attention.
"Hee...you're enjoyed this, aren't you...?" she giggled as she teased the beetle hero, keeping perfectly balanced on her one leg as she continued to stroke and pump his dick to its full length...her own hands reached up and squeezed at her breast, as well as finger herself underneath her figure-fitting cloths, tracing the slit underneath the linen cloth covering her nethers, eliciting a moan from her lips...
Her prehensile toes felt heavenly running up and down his length. Cynwrig gasped in delight at it squeezing and milking his tiny dick, as if squeezing the cream from a pastry as she sandwiched it between her sole and his stomach. He found himself unable to resist the feel of her tight grip on his dick. His heart throbbed against his chest as he lay there, eyes fluttering as his dick throbbed with need for release.
"Come on, let it all out..."
Cynwrig let out a cry to the night sky as his body seize up in the throes of pleasure, his legs shaking and quaking. He felt his balls empty as his dick erupted all over his chest-a little of the juice nearly hitting him in one of his compound eyes, as Kari continued to jerk him off with her foot, draining him dry and leaving him a panting wreck underneath her feet.
"Heroes should have more stamina," she teased, as she picked him up and slung him over her shoulder. "...it's really weird being the big one."
Cynwrig let out a soul-sucked groan, as Kari carried his limp, spent body back to the camp...
Chapter 1:
"TAKE THE BREEDABLE ONES AND SLAUGHTER THE CHILDREN AND ELDERLY!" the ogre-sized hyena-gnoll chieftan had hollered as she rode through the little hamlet of Greenglade on an armored boar mount, holding up a crudely fashioned, jagged axe, giggling in chorus with the other gnoll raiders. The chieftain swung her cleaver-axe almost casually through the back of an older man's neck-spraying blood and viscera against the walls of one of the burning thatch-roofed huts.
They threw torches onto buildings, and the fires spread all throughout the flammable thatch roofs. The sparse militia spared by the Kingdom of Magnes raised their spears-only to be casually disarmed by a swift club, or simply slaughtered by an axe or spear wielded by the fierce amazonian gnolls.
The gnolls giggled as they dragged both carcass and unconscious guard to the middle of town. To a gnoll's tastes in both food and sex, there was little difference between living and dead.
Down one of the alleyways, a pair of gnolls loomed over a trembling mother holding her crying young daughter close to her chest. The mother shielded the crying girl with her back facing the gnolls, even as one of them raised their massive, jagged spear. Her daughter buried her face in her mother's bosom, muffling her cries. Both of them shut their eyes tightly as the gnolls' sinister jeering giggles assaulted their ears as they stomped closer-a foreboding tent rising up between their legs as drool and slobber poured from between the teeth of their fanged grins...
"DYNAMIC ENTRY KIIIIICK!" a voice erupted from the air. A blue streak flew in from the side-his foot smashing into the jaw of the massive gnoll, knocking them a few paces to the side, spitting out a knocked loose fang before they turned to face their assailant, who back flipped off of the kick and hovered in the air with his insectoid wings buzzing to keep himself afloat.
A four-armed, four-foot tall beetle moved fluidly into a dramatic pose requiring much flexibility and poise for the mother and child and any onlookers, which served little purpose other than to seemingly show off.
"Do not fear, Cynwrig is here, at your service, ma'am! You are safe..." he announced with as proud and strong a voice he could manage-his lower set of hands placing themselves on his hips, as he puffed out his chest and pointed with conviction at the two gnoll raiders. "For I shall vanquish them!"
The monstrous hyena like creatures were given pause. They slowly exchanged bewildered glance...before bursting into jeering high-pitched giggles as they doubled over at the tiny beetle hero.
"H-hey!" He growled-fuming with indignation at their mocking giggles, before launching himself once more-and letting loose a flurry of fists with all four arms-each fist smashing into the hyena's face from every which way, causing the gnoll to yelp!
The other gnoll snarled, before swinging the spear at the annoying bug. Cynwrig zipped just above the swing, before diving in a kick at the gnoll's kneecap, with his heel smashing into it with a nasty crack.
Suddenly, Cynwrig YELP!ed as he was swatted by the first gnoll's massive club, smashing him into the wall-which Cynwrig slid down unceremoniously, putting an end to his heroic dynamic entry...
And now, two seven foot gnolls looming over him-with a mass between their legs lifting their loincloths quite auspiciously.
"You're going to pay for that, prettyboy," they growled, muzzles drooling with blood and spit, as they hungrily gazed upon the beetle. "Gonna make ya squeal as they go in." They each reared back their spears, as their masts lifted up the cloth in front, allowing an ominous peek underneath.
"The weapons...?" he groaned with a wince as he eyed the spearpoints.
"...all of 'em."
It was then that a wolf's howl could be heard in the distance, piercing through the clashing weapons and panicked screams of the villagers. The gnolls' eyes were drawn to the source.
A small mouse wielding a naginata rode in on the back of a behemoth of a dire wolf. Wrappings bound her chest, and ties bound her leggings. A familiar pink scaled green-hooded kobold held tight around her waist, covering her mouth with her hand as she bounced up and down with the fast pace of the wolf.
"Tik Tik gonna be siiiiiiick," the kobold exclaimed, stomach churning from the rough ride without a saddle.
"Come on, focus! You said your friend left for this village, right!? Look, there he is!"
Tik Tik snapped to attention, and made an effort to swallow whatever part of her lunch was trying to come up. The wolf came to a skidding halt, which Tik Tik was grateful for as she stumbled off of the back into a tumbling roll upon her rump, covering her mouth as she grabbed her magic tome from her satchel absently...
The gnolls exchanged glances and burst into ear-splitting giggle fits once more, before charging Tik Tik.
But the mouse girl leapt in front of the gnolls. She glided her hand over the blade, setting it ablaze, and swung it in a wide threatening arc-the tongues of flame upon the edge of the blade licking at their faces, and the embers singing the fur upon their cheeks.
It was that brief moment's hesitation that bought Tik Tik all the time she needed...as a magic circle flared to life underneath her as she pointed a finger with conviction at the gnolls.
Several ethereal limbs shot up from the ground and grasped and groped at the gnolls. The creatures' eyes shot wide with panic, as they wrestled with the grasping and squeezing limbs-each hand grasping at a meaty, taut thigh, or running deft fingertips over the massive shafts underneath their loincloths. The hyenas whined and moaned at the chilling yet intimate caresses of the ghastly appendages...
Suddenly, Cynwrig, having been given enough time to catch his second wind, cried out defiantly as he dropped down from high the sky, and allowed gravity and his full weight to drive his heel between her ears, and flooring her with the decisive strike as she bled from her forehead.
The mouse vaulted up into the air using her naginata and swung her foot deftly upside the temple of the other-flooring her on top of her companion-their massive chests pancaking as they were sandwiched between their massive frames.
The young mouse planted her foot upon the back of one of the gnolls, panting a bit, as she let out a sigh of relief before turning her eyes to the beetle hero. "We made it in time I think...are you alright...?" She looked to the beetle. "Your traveling companion was worried about you."
Cynwrig grunted at his everything as he rose to his feet. "I'll live...thank you, Ms...?"
"Tik Tik meet Kari on way to catch up with Cynwrig! Cynwrig meet Kari, Kari meet Cynwrig!" The kobold cheerfully grasped the hand of each and mashed them together in a forced handshake between the two parties.
The nezumiko was only slightly taller than the beetle, though she became rather self-conscious in realizing that, for once in her life, she was the tallest of a group. Instead of shaking the hand, she bowed her head respectfully to the hero-beetle
Cynwrig rubbed the back of his head bashfully, caught offguard by the mouse's formally respectful demeanor.
However, just as suddenly as Tik Tik had introduced them, Kari shook her head and withdrew her hand. "W-we don't have time for this." Her face once again turned stony, as she leapt upon her mount. "Those raid is still ongoing - we have to act quickly!"
The black riding wolf let loose a piercing howl, before the nezumiko rode back into the village-with Cynwrig attempting to keep pace with his wings as fast as he could.
"Hey, wait for Tik Tik!" the pink kobold exclaimed, as she dashed as fast as she could after the two heroes.
***
It was in the town square where the gnoll chieftan had lined up several of the local militia, young men and women of the village of various shapes and sizes, all stripped down entirely and bared as naked as the day they were born-each of them chain and shackled around their arms and legs and, in the cases of some of the more tail-privileged species, their tails were taken into account and bound as well.
The towering ogre of a woman let out a high pitched giggle as she eyed each specimen up and down. "You people...have taken my people in as your gladiators and slaves long enough..." She snarled-drool dripping from her fanged, crazed grin. "You fuckers have fucked over my kin, my brothers and sisters, for as long as I can remember...sending your adventurers on quests to hunt us down for your sick sense of enjoyment. Well...no longer."
A dangerous glint sparkled in her eye as she ripped off her loincloth and cast it to the side, revealing a massive, ebony pillar-easily the size of the man's calf as she approached the face-down soldier, who could only whimper and shake, not daring struggle in the presence of all the guards holding him down. A gnoll guard on each side spread his cheeks as she stroked herself, giggling with delight.
"Today...gnolls...fuck...you..."
It was then that a hint of movement in her peripheral alerted her to an oncoming attack.
She raised her massive cleaver-axe to deflect the assaulting nezumiko flying at her-her naginata's flaming blade clashing against the bloodied jagged edge in a flurry of sparks and embers as she sent her flying back with the blocking blow.
"Word travels fast," the gnoll chieftan snarled, cracking her neck from side to side before brandishing her cleaver-axe properly in a loose stance, as the nezumiko settled into her's. "The guild posted a bounty already?"
"I just happened to be in the area...the guild doesn't know...yet...take your people and leave before they catch wind."
"Pfah! I do not fear the guild-let them come-I will capture them, too! Capture them just like the likes of you take my people into your colisseums and arena!"
"That is part of the contract between monsters and the citizens of Magnes! Those who threaten the safety of the citizens are subject to capture."
"It's part of the contract to hunt ALL of us down!?"
Kari's eyes widened. "What-"
It was in that moment of distraction that the gnoll chieftan snarled and charged, and swung a mighty downward cleave at Kari-who only barely managed to get the shaft of her naginata in the way, and knock aside the cleaver-axe-only to eat the massive boot of the gnoll chieftan, SMASHING into her face and sending her stumbling back with blood leaking from her nose.
"Our tribe's numbers have dwindled down to almost nothing because your people-the adventurers of Guild Perilous, capture MY people under the guise of 'protecting the roads!'" The chieftan's pupils dilated, a crazed gaze and grin upon her face as she giggled maniacally, pouncing at Kari and pinning her against the ground with all her three hundred plus pounds of weight. "Well, if we're going to be attacked based on an accusation, I may as well make it fucking true, huh!?"
Kari shuddered as the hyena's slobber drooled upon her face, and that massive length brushed at her thigh. Her eyes met her's-and in them, she saw all the pent up emotions-the chieftan's wrath would be unleashed on all these people...
And Kari would be the first to suffer it...she shut her eyes, and took a deep breath...per the rules of the contract...as the loser of this fight, she would have to-
"NEO...DYNAMIC ENTRY....KIIICK!"
A blue beetle engulfed in flame descended from the sky-the gravity from the drop and his entire weight concentrated into his foot crashing into the gnoll chieftan's cheek-sending her tumbling across the ground on her side with a high pitched yelp.
Cynwrig himself skid along the ground with his landing, as the gnoll guards left their posts to help their leader...
And as they got just a bit closer, Cynwrig spread his arms with a fanciful, dramatic pose. As if on cue, fiery explosions erupted underneath each of the gnolls, and sent them flying every which way, into buildings and sailing over the heads of the villagers of Greenglades.
Cynwrig pointed at the chieftan. "Evil doer! You will not escape the wrath of Cynwrig, hero of justice!"
It was then that Cynwrig noticed that the chieftan was not nearly as defeated as he had thought as she loomed over him, still pantsless, with her humongous cleaver-axe. "YOU 'HEROES' CAN EAT SHIT AND DIII-"
CRACK!
And it was in that moment, that the chieftan found that Kari was not nearly as defeated as she had thought as her boot slammed in the back of her skull. The massive gnoll proceeded to fall upon her knees and...unceremoniously...on top of Cynwrig, flattening him underneath her massive frame with a YELP! erupting from the blue beetle's mouth!
The gnoll guards exchanged nervous glances at seeing their leader be felled...and YELP!ed as they proceeded to turn tail, and run, leaving the burning hamlet and their captured prey.
Kari herself rose to her feet, sucking down deep breaths-but finding her legs didn't have the strength to keep her up. They turned to jelly and she fell back upon her rump, as she fell onto her back and blacked out, as she heard a high-pitched voice call their names.
"Cynwrig! Kari!"
And the gnoll chieftan's words echoed through her mind...
"The likes of your people...You heroes can eat shit and die." Chapter 2:
"So the gnoll chieftan was right? You've been acting as the staging ground for this quest!?"
The rotund village mayor nodded, resting his head upon his hands, as he looked at the three adventurers from across his desk, with them seated around a quaint little coffee table. "We were approached by a masked Magnes noble a few months ago. Essentially, we were to make a false report about our trading routes to be attacked in exchange for a large sum of gold...the winter has been harsh upon our village, so I...made the choice without any of the others knowing." He paused, and considered. " ...besides, the gnolls have always been a thorn in our sides."
"How?"
"The presence of gnolls drive away people from living here-their laughter tends to anger others, and they make merchants fear driving down the routes, even if they don't attack as much as we said they do..."
"So you decided to enlist the aid of adventurers to help clear them out!?" Kari rose suddenly, her eyes wide with disbelief. "But...this area of Carnaleria is their home too!" Kari shook her head, holding her fingertips to her temples. "This...this is wrong!"
The green hooded kobold wizard, tilted her head. "If gnolls no attack, how are they problem? Tik Tik is not sure if Tik Tik understand."
Cynwrig paused, scratching his head with one of his top arms. "I mean, some of them attack, is what I'm understanding-and those ones are subjected to this...'Contract.' But that doesn't mean all the gnolls should be punished just because a handful of them get out of hand."
"Please, you must understand, we did what we had t-"
Kari shook her head-her face twisting and contorting in disgust. "This...this is wrong on so many levels."
"Well, I'm sorry you feel that way-regardless, thank you for your assistance in the defense of our village, there's no need to concern-"
Kari stood suddenly, her white-furred cheeks now flushed crimson. "This is disgusting. I'm not gonna tolerate another word of this."
Cynwrig reached up to grab Kari's arm-but she yanked it away as she stormed out of the room, shaking with disgust.
The beetle looked between Tik Tik, and Kari, before deciding that Tik Tik had thigns in hand, and flew after the mouse. Meanwhile, the little pink kobold pondered what she had heard. The contract business was of equal parts concern and curiosity to her. Everyone that she had met thus far spoke of it as if an artifact or legend. As if the contract itself were magical. However, most contracts, she had found, were long-winded, non-magical, boring parchments full of numbers and seemingly meaningless details-and while many people she had met treated them similarly, it seemed everyone in Magnes knew what was meant by this 'contract.'
"Tik Tik new in Carnaleria. Want to know what everyone means by 'contract.'
"Ah, you are new to these lands? Well, I suppose I can give you a crash course...please, get comfy Ms. Tik Tik. Beth, please brew us a pot of tea..." He offered a smiel to the lizardwoman maid, who bowed.
"The Contract is older than I am, if you can believe it. Many millenia older than I am...it is a rule in the form of a largescale enchantment which binds the monsters and denizens of this land. It was cast during an ancient conflict as a way to at least attempt to stem the tide of uncontrolled savagery between us. The Contract states that monsters who prey upon citizens of Carnaleria are subject to be challenged by warriors we know as Adventurers in combat. In such combat, the victor is allowed to claim the winner's rights...if the monster wins, they are allowed to do what they will with both the original victim and the adventurer. If the Adventurer wins, then the monster is the property of the Adventurer as well as of Magnes, to be done with as the Adventurer sees fit."
"The most common form of this prize is simply an act of sex-a ritual which shows of the victor's conquest over the loser, which releases both from the spell after the ritual is done. However, some choose to use the contract to bind the will of the loser..."
Tik Tik hastily scrawled notes with her quill as the elder explained the Contract.
"There are many who still want this war to go on, who want to take advantage of the monsters, as well as monsters who wish to enslave humans out of vengeance."
"So what did you do?" Tik Tik tilted her head, eyes shining with bright curiosity. The shine from her eyes made his old heart shrink and shrivel with shame.
"...I...was not lying. At least, to Ms. Kazushige. The fields have been fallow this year, and my people were going to starve...if nothing changed, everyone here would have starved."
The wrinkles on his forehead deepened. "But for some reason, the field still is barren. No matter what we plant, nothing will grow..."
Tik Tik tilted her head. "May I see fields?"
The elder's eyes widened "Why, certainly." He started to hobble towards the door, which Tik Tik opened for him, before following him through the halls to the fields near the town hall. As the mayor had said, the fields were barren and bare-not even a single sprout had shown itself through the ground.
The kobold got onto her hands and knees and examined the dirt. Her eyes glowed with mana as she scrutinized the ground.
"What are you doing?"
Her eyes narrowed, as she saw the stink of forbidden mana permeating the earth-emanating from the ground in plumes of black smoke-invisible to the mayor's eye. "Tik Tik find curses."
"Curses?"
"The ground has been cursed. Nothing will grow here until curse lifted."
The mayor's jaw dropped as he stared at the little kobold revealing this to him. "But who could have-"
"Tik Tik don't know-Tik Tik is great wizard, and will fix curses! But not know who curse field."
"Oh that would be such a blessing to us!"
"Will need reagents for spell-need alraune sap and mandragora root. Do the greenburg stores have these things?"
"N-no...sadly we do not. Especially mandragora root, the best way to find that is at the Magnes black market..."
"Magnes...?"
***
Kari secured her rucksack to the side of her dire wolf, scritching between his ears. Her eyes sagged. It had been hard to sleep the night prior-the questions having eaten away at her until she could ask the mayor properly. And the answers now ate at her as well.
Sensing her turmoil, the wolf drew its tongue all along her muzzle, and she offered a brief smile to the wolf, flashing him a broad smile.
It was then she heard the buzzing of rapidly beating wings. And she turned to see Cynwrig trying to catch up with her, landing and panting.
"Hey. Sorry, Cynwrig was it? I gotta head to Magnes, the capital, and...handle some things. Wish we could get to know each other a little longer."
"Wait...wait wait...what sort of business are you handling exactly?"
"Well, someone has to fight for the monsters. There's a place I have to visit in Magnes which deals in trafficking captured monsters." She took a deep breath. "See, in Magnes, there're two districts that are known for dealing with things like this. One is the Red Light District-it's our...entertainment center. Lots of...interesting sights to see and things to experience there, if you get what I'm saying. I mean, there's fun to be had, if you have the coin and time to spare."
Her face tightened. "But then there's the Underground, which is...all the stuff that they have to keep out of the eye of the guards and the nobles. All the illegal stuff-at least, illegal on paper. The slavers, the apothecaries, even forbidden relics and artifacts are traded on the black market through word of mouth there." Her fingers clenched aroud the naginata's shaft tightly. "Something tells me that if I go there, I'll find out what's going on..."
"That sounds beyond dangerous," Cynwrig observed-his antennae wilting at the thought of what could lay in wait within such a place. It didn't take much imagination to think of what sort of danger a pretty little thing like Kari could attract. "Well, wait, me and Tik could come with you-we can't just let you go in alone."
"Tik Tik is on her own quest, right? And you're her friend?" Kari offered a smile. "You should stick with Tik TIk. Friends are precious. Keep the ones you have."
"But what about you? Are you going to take on this problem by yourself?"
She shook her head. "Not everyone's as fortunate as you two are. Some adventurers have to go solo."
The beetle shook his head. "Can't you just...wait a bit or something? I mean, maybe there's something in Magnes that Tik Tik will need, too. Just give us a day?"
"Tik Tik say just give us now!" The pink kobold ran down the path towards the beetle and mouse, skidding to a stop and panting in front of them.
"Need to go to Magnes, pick up reagents for purification spell!"
"Purification spell?"
"For the fields-will explain. Can Kari take Tik Tik and Cynwrig to Magnes?"
Kari blinked, and scratched the back of her neck. "Well, I mean, um..." She looked from Tik Tik to Cynwrig and back again. "Well, I guess I'm out of excuses, huh? Alright, I'll take you both to Magnes..." Kari leapt onto the broad back of the mighty black dire wolf, and offered her wrapped paw to Cynwrig. "Climb on."
He hesitated a moment, before he took her paw-and with a mighty heave, she yanked him aboard the massive wolf and placing him in front of herself, followed by Tik Tik-keeping her at the forefront of the three of them.
"It's weird being the biggest in a group," she giggled. "It's going to be a full day's ride, so hold on tight!"
It was then that she took off with the massive dire wolf galloping across the vast, green Fertile Plains, with the wind blowing in their faces as the wolf charged off towards the capital city of Magnes.
***
The sun had fallen beneath the horizon before they knew it, and the party were forced to set up camp for the night.
Tik Tik had set fire to the gathered wood with a small spell so they could warm themselves up by the campfire. The beetle had started to recline against a rock and stretched himself out.
All the while, the green hooded kobold grumbled, rubbing her rump. "Big wolf is rough ride. Butt is sore. Too much bouncing!"
Cynwrig chuckled at the kobold wizard's complaints as he leaned back against the rock, turning his eyes to the night sky. "Well, Kari said it shouldn't be too much longer..."
The pink kobold looked around, and blinked as she looked over the campsite. Her eyes wandered from the empty tent, to the pot of stew which they had hung over the campfire, to all that the gentle dancing campfire's light touched.
"Where is Kari?"
The beetle's eyes darted about. Indeed, the mouse had disappeared from the camp. He frowned. "I...mean she was here helping us set up. Maybe she went off to patrol?"
"Maybe go find her? Make sure Kari okay?"
Cynwrig pushed himself up. "Well...hopefully she didn't run into more of those gnolls...those things hit like a truck." His shell-flaps flew open and his wings buzzed madly as he rose into the air just above the trees, and took off in search of the mouse.
He spotted the city of Magnes, glowing in the distance even at this late hour with the massive castle in the middle of the city dwarfing everything else within the walled borders. He paused to take in the sight. Magnes was larger than he had bargained for-given its size, he imagined that it attracted a lot of work for those who aspired to be heroes, as well as advertised quests and bounties which would attract such heroes. He saw the little mouse sitting upon a nearby cliff's edge, who looked up and smiled at the approaching beetle. She waved him down with a small smile.
Cynwrig descended and touched down lightly behind Kari.
"Hey. Sorry. Needed to get away for a bit. Figured Tik Tik needed to rest after the rough ride, and that you'd stay with her."
"I mean...you could at least let us know."
"Normally, the people I party with just give me my space."
Cynwrig winced. "Sorry, I'll-"
Kari shook her head. "No. No it's okay. I actually appreciate it. Normally they're mercenaries or people in it for guts and glory. I don't mind you two."
Cynwrig scooted up along the grass, allowing his legs to dangle off the cliff edge and stretched as he leaned back on his lower set of arms. "Seems like there's no shortage of awesome things to do in this land. Never a dull moment."
"Yeah. Always something more to do." Kari nodded, her eyes staring off in the distance. Her ears wilted and her tail seemed to flop around like a dying fish with a weighted limpness, and a heavy sigh escaped her breath.
Cynwrig studied her with his compound crimson eyes. "You don't seem happy with that."
"I mean, sometimes I am. But then there are jobs like this that make you realize that the reason we have heroes is that people make so many dumb mistakes and end up having to pay us to clean up the mess." She took a deep breath. "I guess, sometimes, I think to myself, are people really worth the effort it takes to save them? How do I know that the people I save will end up using their lives for good? How do I know that it wasn't the monsters who were right?"
Cynwrig paused. He didn't have an answer for that. "I mean, being a hero was never meant to be an easy job, right?"
"Yeah, but that usually means big dragons and hordes of orc raiders that are robbing innocent caravans. Not...this." She shook her head. "I...hate complicated quests. You would think it would be easy to figure out who is doing good, who isn't. But...this isn't even the only quest that turned out like this. And it happens more and more. The other day, I took up a quest to protect a ranch from a giant garuda...come to find out, one of the ranchhands had stolen one of her eggs." Her face hardened with a restrained scowl. "I wanted to strangle him..."
Cynwrig reached over and gave her a squeeze with both of his arms. "For what it's worth, I think you're making the right decision here."
"Oh thanks." Kari rolled her eyes at Cynwrig, wiping something from her eyes. "Yes, it's such a tough decision to go after the slavers preying upon the innocent monsters. Such a dilemma."
"Well I mean...you're not even getting paid for this job, are you?" Cynwrig offered, reaching over and laying a hand one of her bare shoulders.
Kari chuckled, shaking her head, and sighed. "No. It's kind of what our kind are SUPPOSED to do. I mean, on paper...sadly, I don't think many adventurers would take the job if it didn't pay well enough-especially since it involves taking on the Underground itself. Which...begs the quesiton. Why are you coming along?"
Cynwrig blinked, and held up his hands in front of himself, removing his arm around her shoulders. "I mean...even heroines need heroes, right? Wanted to help you save the day and stuff!" He reclined back against his top set of arms, while posing with his hands on his hips, puffing out his chest.
"So...you want to be my hero, huh?" she rose to her feet, and stepped away from the cliffside, beckoning Cynwrig along.
Cynwrig flew after her as she guided him to a more open space...where she brandished her naginata.
"To be my hero, I have to see if you can keep up."
"W-wait, you want a spar now? Here?"
Kari took up a stance without her naginata-raising up her wrapped fists in a tight stance. A slight, coy smile danced upon her muzzle at the struck mute beetle. "I'm not very good with...talking. I like to handle things with a more hands-on approach." She beckoned him forward with a finger.
Cynwrig paused for a moment, staring at the nezumiko's odd ritual. "A-alright...!" He rose all four of his fists as he pumped himself up, darting back and forth with his furiously beating wings, before flying at the mouse with a battlecry. All four of his fists started to fly at the mouse.
Yet, her hands swiftly batted aside the punches of the four arms with swift chops to each of his wrists, becoming mere blurs.
He narrowly darted out of the way of a swift fist, barely whiffing his chin, before swinging a hard hook at her cheek, smashing into the side of her muzzle, and knocking spittle from her lips. He rushed forward in a headlong charge.
WHAM. The blue beetle clutched his face with one of his four arms as he flew back, the mouse cracking her neck, before settling into stance.
Huffing, he readied himself, for before flying into a hard kick at the mouse's face...
Her hand whipped out and snatched his leg. She whipped the beetle hero over her shoulder and slammed him into the ground shell-first. His eyes bugged out of his head at the impact, which knocked the wind from his lungs, before her stomping heel drove into the chest part of his exoskeleton shell.
The mouse ground her heel into him. Her figure was silhouetted against the moon above. In spite of her swift victory, she had but a sad smile...
While supporting herself with her foot on his chest, she reached back with her other leg. The nezumiko of Carnaleria were flexible, nimble creatures, and their toes were just as prehensile as their hands. She gripped his dick between her toes and started to pump his member, which had already risen to half-mast. Cynwrig yelped and shuddered as he felt the caresses of her foot all over his dick...
"Shhh..." she whispered, as her foot squished his dick against the tummy of his shell, milking him with each stroke.
Her tail snaked out and reached towards the underside of his ballsack. The fuzzy tailtip tickled at its underside. He arched his back, his balls quivering at the attention.
"Hee...you're enjoyed this, aren't you...?" she giggled as she teased the beetle hero, keeping perfectly balanced on her one leg as she continued to stroke and pump his dick to its full length...her own hands reached up and squeezed at her breast, as well as finger herself underneath her figure-fitting cloths, tracing the slit underneath the linen cloth covering her nethers, eliciting a moan from her lips...
Her prehensile toes felt heavenly running up and down his length. Cynwrig gasped in delight at it squeezing and milking his tiny dick, as if squeezing the cream from a pastry as she sandwiched it between her sole and his stomach. He found himself unable to resist the feel of her tight grip on his dick. His heart throbbed against his chest as he lay there, eyes fluttering as his dick throbbed with need for release.
"Come on, let it all out..."
Cynwrig let out a cry to the night sky as his body seize up in the throes of pleasure, his legs shaking and quaking. He felt his balls empty as his dick erupted all over his chest-a little of the juice nearly hitting him in one of his compound eyes, as Kari continued to jerk him off with her foot, draining him dry and leaving him a panting wreck underneath her feet.
"Heroes should have more stamina," she teased, as she picked him up and slung him over her shoulder. "...it's really weird being the big one."
Cynwrig let out a soul-sucked groan, as Kari carried his limp, spent body back to the camp, with his flaccid dick dripping its juices down her back...