Fantasy Cursed Island

[Deadwood Deer]

"Whoa, hang on, there," Jerry said, pulling his arm back, "You just promised you weren't gonna eat me. I've seen a few things."

 

[Fangs9090]

She let him pull his arm away before stepping back. She seemed disappointed, but didn't make a move to try again. She looked at him for a moment before her ears flicked and she looked towards the doorway again. Footsteps could be heard coming down the stairwell.

 

[Deadwood Deer]

"You don't bite me, I don't stab you. Sound- Oh, crap," Ducking behind some hanging body bags, Jerry pulled his knife, pulling the creature with him and making the 'shush!' hand sign.

 

[Fangs9090]

The footsteps grew closer until the source came into view. A fairly short creature that could best be described as a goblin stepped through the doorway. It had pale skin and red eyes, with red stains on its hands and mouth. It wore bits of metal that served as armor and carried a sword on its back. Upon seeing the empty shackles, it grabbed its sword and looked around, immediately becoming agitated as it looked to see if the girl was still there.

The girl stayed by Jerry, but she let out a quiet growl as she saw the goblin, her tail lashing behind her.

 

[Deadwood Deer]

Squatting down slowly, Jerry picked up a piece of something off the floor. Probably better not to dwell on what it might be, or might have been. Angling his shot so that it took off once the goblin was looking in the other direction, he tossed it at the door, making it sound like something had just stumbled on something on the way out. If the goblin was distracted by that, or went to investigate, he'd sneak up behind it and try to cut its throat.

 

[Fangs9090]

The goblin looked as heard something from the other room. As soon as he turned around though, the girl charged, clearly not one for stealth. She jumped onto the goblin's back causing it to start thrashing about as she held on. She kept her grip as she opened her mouth, sinking a pair of long fangs into its shoulder.

 

[Deadwood Deer]

"Well, there goes that plan," Jerry muttered, before grabbing the goblin's plate and driving his dagger through it's eye and into the brain. A stealth kill would have been preferable, but now he needed it to stop screaming before it got some attention.

 

[Fangs9090]

Between the two of them, the goblin quickly succumbed, collapsing to the floor as the girl let it go. After a moment or two, it began to decay rapidly like the wolf creature before, quickly turning into more of a mess than a corpse.

 

[Deadwood Deer]

"Why does everything do that?", Jerry remarked, "This curse is weird." He picked up the goblin's sword and gave it a few test swings in the air. Considering the goblin's size relative to himself, the sword was little more than a long dagger to Jerry, but it was a decent weapon, all things considered. "Do you know how to use one of these?", he asked the creature girl, "It's way more effective than biting."

 

[Fangs9090]

The girl looked at the sword before she shook her head. She held her hand paws up and unsheathed her claws. She paused for a moment before opening her mouth as well, displaying her fangs as a drop of venom dripped from one.

 

[Deadwood Deer]

"Huh, nifty. Wonder what kind of critter you are," Jerry wondered out loud. "Well, you've kinda got thumbs, sorta." He looked at the creature girl's paw hands. Five fingers, though shorter than a humans and a little thicker, padded like a cat's paws. Maybe some kind of beastfolk? "I let you out of the chains and you took out that thing, so we call it good?", he asked as he slid the sword back in the scabbard on the goblin's back.

 

[Fangs9090]

She lowered her hands and closed he mouth as she looked at him for a moment. She stepped closer to him, chirping at him in an attempt to communicate.

 

[Deadwood Deer]

"I can't understand you," Jerry said, "But I know you can understand me. Can you read Common?" He'd brought paper and ink to try and make a map of the place, but if the critter could communicate with it, Jerry could probably get by just memorizing.

 

[Fangs9090]

The girl tilted her head. She seemed unsure. There wasn't a whole lot to read down there after all.

 

[Deadwood Deer]

"Well, that's not a vote of confidence," Jerry muttered, "Okay, I don't have time to teach you how to read, so do you have another way to communicate?"

 

[Fangs9090]

The girl thought for a moment before looking at the paper her had. She brightened up as an idea came to her. She held her hand out for the pen and paper.

 

[Deadwood Deer]

"Oh, you do, sweet," Jerry handed her the pen and paper. "Do your thing."

 

[Fangs9090]

She took the pen and paper and sat back on her haunches as she started doodling something on the page. It took her a while, but she eventually finished and showed him the result.

She'd made a series of little, crude drawings. The first looked vaguely like someone's face, with pointed ears on the side and horns on top. The mouth was open, showing pointed teeth, so it was probably supposed to be her. A little speech bubble was coming from her mouth with an X drawn through it. The next drawing was of a more human-looking face, probably Jerry. There was a droplet shape next to him with an arrow pointing to the last drawing. The last one was similar to the first, except the speech bubble had squiggly lines in it instead of the X.

 

[Deadwood Deer]

"That's... hmm..." Jerry looked at the drawing for a moment, confused. How on earth was a little... whatever this thing was, a better artist than he was? He looked at the girl, then at the picture, and pulled out his knife. Flipping it around, he knicked the back of his thumb with the blade, making sure to bleed on the edge. "I think that's what you want," he said, holding the bloody dagger out to her.

 

[Fangs9090]

The girl smiled and nodded. She lifted herself up and held his hand to keep the blade still as she licked the blood off of it. Once the blade was clean, she let go and stepped back. There was a paused before she started coughing, clutching at her throat as she bent over and rasped, clearly going through a lot of discomfort. After a few moments of this, she coughed again a few times before finally calming down, panting to catch her breath.

 

[Deadwood Deer]

"I don't think you're supposed to eat things that make you do that," Jerry said, watching this go down after sheathing his dagger. "Although that might have been the poison hound."

 

[Fangs9090]

She shook her head before composing herself. "N-no.." She coughed again. "It's just the change."

 

[Deadwood Deer]

"Whoa!", Jerry jumped backwards in surprise, "Now you can talk?"

 

[Fangs9090]

She gave a nod. "In order to speak like you, I needed to be more like you. The only way I could do that is by tasting your blood."

 

[Deadwood Deer]

Jerry just looked at the girl for a few seconds mystified. "What are you?"