Gnoll More, Gnoll Less
"Glanor!"
Glanor felt something prod him, though the sensation seemed miles away. He snored and unconsciously moved away from the source of the poke.
"Glanor!"
"In the morning," the dwarf mumbled.
Silence. He slept peacefully, dreaming of beer and dwarvish brewmaidens. Drunken rest was the best.
SPLOOSH!
Glanor awoke shivering and soaked. As ice-cold water ran down his beard he raised his arms off the bar, knocking a mug down. He cursed and lamented the spilled alcohol.
"Finally!" a voice said behind him.
The dwarf rubbed his tired eyes. He turned around and looked in the blue eyes of a young woman clad in dark leather armor--Larsa, the party rogue.
"Och, lass," Glanor said. "What's tha' hurry?"
"Algar is gone."
"Gone?" Glanor groaned. "What's he gotten 'imself into this time?"
"According to the townsfolk," the rogue said, throwing D a rag. "Gnolls."
Glanor wiped his sodden face and beard. "Gnolls? That' shardly a level appropriate encounter for one lad, even 'im!"
"I know. That's why we're going to rescue him."
"Och," Glanor jumped off his stool and shouldered the axe that had been leaning against the bar. "He's going to love that. 'Casters up?" The rogue shook her head.
"Let's go wake 'em."
Glanor turned towards their rooms.
"No."
Glanor stopped. "No?"
"No," she repeated. "You know how they'll be. They'll bicker for an hour and then set to actually preparing their spells at which point they'll actually be useful. By then it might be too late."
"Too late?" Glanor chuckled. "I can't believe ye've got a soft spot for the paladin."
"Well, he does lay on hands pretty well."
There was silence between the two for a moment. Then, they both burst into laughter.
"Yer a joker, Larsa," Glanor guffawed. "He would never...he would never..." the dwarf shook his head. "Ye aren't a wee bit worried about the gnolls?"
"Not at all. I consulted the Wealth Equivalency Table last night and we're actually overgeared and richer than the standard of our level. Unless they have magic, we should be fine."
"Savages," Glanor snarled. "I doubt they'll have magic. I'm always surprised they have the intelligence to speak!" "Says the Barbarian."
"Class title, not me behavior. Also, I am of normal intellect. Charisma was me dump stat."
Larsa sniffed. "Don't remind me."
"Ha ha ha. Are ye ready?"
The rogue twirled a nasty looking dagger and smiled. "Always."
The pair left their housing behind and set off towards the forest the gnolls resided in and where Algar had gone, at least according to the townfolks' information. They stopped on the edge of the forest. The only one of the two with a rank in Tracking, Larsa entered to scout alone, leaving Glanor to sharpen his axe with a whetstone and allowing him to time to focus on his rage so that he could release it at a moment's notice. Sometime later, Larsa reappeared.
"Well?" Glanor asked.
"No sign of Algar," Larsa replied. "And only one gnoll. Spellcaster by the look of it."
"How could ye tell?" "Robes."
Glanor nodded. "Ahh."
"Not a wizard either. He was petting a weasel."
Glanor scratched his head. "A druid with a poor choice in animal companion then."
"Or a very gimp ranger?" "A gnoll, remember?" Glanor said, snickering. "Let's err on the side of caution. You sneak around while I distract, get some information from him, and then you can eviscerate him or somethin'?"
"Sure, I'll take you to him."
Glanor followed Larsa into the forest. They moved quickly and quietly, their movements unhindered by their light armors. After the dwarf had counted a little over six hundred paces, the rogue held up a hand> they came to a halt behind a thick cedar tree. Larsa pointed and Glanor followed where she gestured until his gaze fell upon a robed gnoll sitting in meditation in a small clearing. Though the gnoll possessed no physical armaments of any kind, the dwarf knew the gnoll could shapeshift or unleash nature's wrath upon him if he really was a druid. Glanor looked over to Larsa only to find that she was gone. He sighed and hefted his axe before making his way to the gnoll. As soon as he stepped out of his cover, the gnoll's eyes opened and his attention snapped to the dwarf.
"Welcome, visitor," the gnoll spoke in an oddly melodic tone. "What are you here for?"
Glanor paused. He had not expected such a greeting from the foul creature.
"I'm looking for a paladin."
"A man of sword and faith?"
"Yes. We were told he had gone off to fight those like you."
"Like me? Why would that be? I have no ill intent. I only wish to follow nature's precedent. Others of my kind are not here, I do not associate with my peer."
"Huh," Glanor grunted. "No paladin? No gnolls?"
"I have not seen a sentient two, only you. It sounds like you have been misled; perhaps you should look elsewhere instead--urk!"
The gnoll shrieked as Larsa appeared from behind him, piercing his body with two daggers, one to the front and the other to the back. He fell to his knees, his lifeblood dripping onto the forest's floor.
"Gods that was annoying to listen to," Larsa said, kicking the gnoll so that he lay flat on his front. "Probably lying too."
"Maybe..." Glanor muttered. "He seemed pretty honest."
"I yet live," the gnoll coughed, looking up at the dwarf. "Only a moment more, no thanks to the shiv you give."
"Oh, shut up," Larsa snarled.
The gnoll pointed a bloodsoaked claw at the dwarf.
"You who have showed me some mirth will be the vessel of my rebirth," he said, before turning his head to Larsa. "You who have--"
Larsa bent down and quickly cut the gnoll's throat. The gnoll attempted to say a few words more, but all that came out were incoherent growls. He made sputtering sounds for a moment longer. Then, he expired.
"I did tell him to shut up."
Glanor stared wordlessly at the corpse. He wasn't so sure they had just killed an Evil creature. He wasn't even sure they had come to the right place...
Suddenly, the gnoll's body glowed with a soft, green light. Glanor and Larsa both took a step back and watched as the light rose out of the body. It hung still over the corpse for a moment, and then split into two parts.
"Oh crap," Glanor muttered. "Run! RUN!"
The two adventurers took off in opposite directions. The dwarf didn't look back, but he could feel the light dogging him. He dove behind a tree and looked up just in time to see that the green energy had altered its path so it would not hit the tree. He raised his axe as though it would defend him from the light just as it suffused his form. He shuddered as his body felt tingly for just a moment. Then the glow was gone.
In a haze, Glanor got to his feet. Then, a sudden surge of vertigo overcame him, causing him to drop his axe and fall to his hands and knees. He stared at the odd growths of rough patches of brown hair on his arms. He had always been hairy, but not this hairy! With a start, he realized he wasn't growing hair, but fur! Hearing his feet pop and sanp, he looked past his broadening chest to his legs. These lengthening limbs were covered with brown fur, but more so than his arms. Worse, his unshoed feet had shifted into a bestial, canine configuration almost like a...almost like a--
Almost like a gnoll's.
Glanor cried out in agony as his skull began to stretch and shift into a longer, less compact form. The pain was so intense that the dwarf had to close his eyes while his face extended into a muzzle, his ears moved upwards and became thinner, pointed and covered with fur, and his teeth sharpened into predominantly meat-chewing points. Once this all was complete, he brought a now pawlike hand to his face. His beard was gone. Now, his whole head was covered with fur. He touched his small, wet black nose and sneezed. Before he could explore the changes on his head any further, an intense pressure and tightness in his legs and especially in his chest caught his attention. His dwarf-sized armor was no longer suitable for his not-quite yet gnoll sized body. Thinking quickly, he tore off his leather pants, sighing in relief as his bushy tail was set liberated. It was more of a relief when he did the same for his armor, though he was also greeted with a surprise as two furred mounds bounced free from their tight confines.
"Wha--" Glanor breathed, his voice rougher yet higher pitched.
He brought his hands to the mounds. They were hefty and most assuredly real. Gulping, he got to his feet, wincing as the unsupported breasts bounced around. Standing at his full height with a now digitigrade stance, he was over seven feet tall, two and a half feet more than before. This was of less concern, however, as he looked past his breasts, beyond his stomach, and to his now flat crotch. He placed a hand down there, shivering as he rubbed against the outer lips of a female sex. He was--she was--no, she had been turned into--
"A gnoll lass?" Glanor whispered. "What sort o' spell..."
She looked to the dead gnoll. She hadn't been the only victim of his spell...
"Larsa?" she called. "Larsa?"
Glanor squinted. At the fringes of her vision, she could see a pile of what looked to be Larsa's armor, but not the rogue herself. The new gnoll sprinted over, cursing her new wobbling assets with every step she took. Once she arrived at the armor pile, she noticed something was squirming beneath Larsa's discarded chest piece. She bent down and lifted the armor piece and found a writhing female gnoll baby underneath.
"Larsa?" Glanor asked.
The gnoll baby replied with a wail. In response, Glanor's body shifted once more. Her hips cracked and widened, her nipples pink colored darkened, and her breasts swelled and began to drip milk. Recognizing the baby's call even though it hadn't said anything recognizable, she bent down, picked up the gnoll, and brought her to her right breast. The babe began to suckle, causing the pressure in Glanor's milk-laden breasts to be somewhat relieved. When Glanor actually realized what she had just done, she was stunned. A few minutes ago, she had been a dwarf barbarian. Now, she was a gnoll bitch, breastfeeding a regressed party member.
"Definitely shouldn't have killed the gnome," Glanor said to the baby gnoll, though she wasn't truly angry at Larsa.
At these words, Glanor felt a churning and then warmth in her abdomen. A moment later, her stomach expanded as her womb became home to growing life. Remembering the gnoll's words, Glanor knew she would soon be giving birth to his reincarnated form.
Pregnant and nursing, Glanor wondered what her next course of action was. She couldn't very well return to town like this, could she? What would she even tell the others?
She shrugged. She could always think about that later. Now, she had to make sure Larsa was well fed.