Eagle Slayer Wanted Part 4 or End of the Road
Xia catches an eagle...or visa versa...
Riana screeches and brings her beak down for the kill, frustrated that the fox put up such a fight. Her prey is supposed to just let her kill them! None of this fighting back with weapons and trying to make deals and stuff! Seriously, don't they know the Rules For Prey Animals?
The fox still could not believe her own eyes, even as she tried to push the bird off of her with the remaining strength in her arms. But that strength was failing and quickly both due to her wounds and her own sizable girth. With horrible realization that all her glut and fine eating has served nothing but to fatten herself up for a birds dinner. Even she had to appreciate the irony that a bird catcher was about to be eaten by an eagle. That didn't mean she liked it...
"Trsk! TRRRRRRRSK!" Xia called out. The sound of the fat bellied fox's yips sound through out the woods and gradually come to an end...
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Trsk pulled with all his might against the post he is chained too. "Come on!" The little lizard pushes on the post now until the dirt around it begins to shift. He then pulls back on the post and it pops free. Falling back onto his tail the lizard scrambles on all fours, the post being dragged behind him. "I'm coming! Just hold on!" The lizard races around the fire even as it begins to die down. "Xia! Xia! I'm coming to..." THe lizard pauses at the sight of Kinktail still laying unconscious on the ground. He dashes to her side to make sure she is alive before turning his gaze to xia.
The Vixen is still breathing when he sees her. A terrible gash has been made upon the vixen's belly, from the bottom of her gut to her chest. Xia herself can't believe her eyes. It can't end like this...it...she can't end her days as an adventurer inside the gullet of some bird. The fox looks up at the bird on top of her. The last thing thing to go through the fat fox's mind before darkness clouds her vision. is the terrible realization that she would make an excellent meal...
Riana has started her grisly feast when she sees the lizard come rushing up. Spreading her immense wings, she screeches a warning, ready to kill him if he comes any nearer. But not eat him. getting indigestion is not on her to-do list. Turning back to the dead fox, she continues to fill her belly.
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The tavern is rapidly filling up with beasts as dinnertime approaches. Blisa, Ferdinand, Clarissa and Valerie are sitting at a booth, discussing something as the noise volume in the room raises considerably.
The door opens and a small flood of beasts trickle inside. Among them were two travel worn beasts. The lizard Trsk and and the rat Kinktail looked worse for ware. Their fur was covered with mud and their garments ripped in places. Kinktail's head was bandaged. After setting the rat unsteadily down into a corner table the pudgly lizard stalked his way across the room towards the chieftain's daughter and her body guards. "Ahem...m-miss?" He said with a nervous cough.
Blisa turns her green-eyed gaze ot the lizard, her ears perking. "Yes? How may I help you?" The bodyguards look at him warily, ready to fight him if necessary.
The lizard rubs at the back of his neck, "I er...regret to inform you that Xia's hunting party has...um...it has..." He swallowed back tears before blurting out the next part. "We failed Ma'am. We...we failed and..." He took a moment to compose himself.
Blisa blinks and orders an ale for the lizard as Valerie pulls up a chair for him. "What do you mean? It's alright, I'm sure it's not your fault. It's fine, just tell me what happened." When the ale comes, she pays for it herself.
The lizard sits down as if in a daze. He begins to chuckle. "We found the eagle. We found it alright. It came at us and completely ignored the bait." Trsk waves the post still attached to his leg by a chain. "It came down on us, death on wings from above. I managed to get Kinktail to safety but it...it..." How does one tell another that that someone they knew was eaten? "It ate the fox." The lizard comes out and says it bluntly.
The guards stares at the lizard in shock. Blisa is a little stunned, too, but then she breaks out into a wicked grin. "Well, I don't have ot pay her anything." She then stifles her smile for Trsk's sake. "That must've been quite a shock."
No amount of soothing can quench the fire that lights up in the lizards eyes. He may be as small as blisa but his voice carries an unusual edge to his voice that even he wasn't prepared for. "You little runt! She died because of you!" The lizard says as he knocks the offered ale away. "She only went out there because of you and all your fancy talk about a reward. She's dead! Eaten by an eagle and all you have to say is..." The little lizard points an accusatory claw towards the kitten before settling back into his seat and crying.
The other patrons of the bar pause in their drinking and eating to watch the show. Does the lizards argument make sense. Probibly not. But it is rather entertaining to watch.
Blisa fluffs up in anger. "It's not my fault! I was fully prepared to figure out how ot pay her should she succeed! And she didn't have to take up the job! It's not my fault that she agreed to chase after a giant bird that eats beasts! SHE chose that! I did not /make/ her do anything!" Valerie gets another ale and slips a slight sedative into it before offering it to the lizard. "That's horrible! I can't believe that Miss Blisa would do something as terrible as that! How cold hearted of her!" The vixen winks at the cat behind the lizard's head, then goes to rest a soothing paw on his shoulder.
The lizard flails his arms about. "Oh sure, send a beast like Xia against a monster like that." He snatches the drink and downs it one gulp. "She never stood a chance! Her and her gluttonous stomach were the end of her to be sure. She should have never have been out there in the first place but let...let me tells yousthomthing. You play-ed a paaaaaaaaw in her death you little...er...litlle...what was I gonna..." The lizard's head hits the table and he begins to snore. Perhaps the lizard was slipped a tonic too strong?
Even Blisa is surprised at how quickly and deeply the sedative takes affect. Valerie checks the bottle her powder is in. "He must not be able to hold it very well..." The cat begins ot chuckle. "Well, at least that annoying fox won't be in our fur anymore. Ferdy, please remind me to send thses 2 each 50 gold as compensation. Let's go." They all head out, and soon a couple of healers go to gently escort the rat and the lizard to the Infirmary.
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Xia Description
One can only imagine how much glut and idleness it would take for a beast in the prime of her youth like Xia to become so well fed. From her many chins to her tail there is not an inch of this vixen that is not touched by flesh.
The fox's brown furred body and her yellow under belly have begun to swell outward around her chest and flank, most notable is the large paunch that spills over her hips and threatens to graze the ground if she were to walk on all fours. Skin starts to show through her fur around the center of her tummy and stretch marks have formed around her sides, signs that her weight is rather recent.
A green vest adorns her chest. The an extra section of brown cloth has been stitched to the sides to make it larger. A pair of loose fitting dark green pants wrap around her waist as well as a yellow sash that stretches down to her knee across the left hip.
And of course no vixen is complete without her choice of weaponry, this one being a tall Halberd with a curved blade. Holes have been drilled into the back of the blade and out fitted with iron rings to give the weapon a little more power to her swing.