Frantic footfalls echoed through the darkness of dungeon corridors as two lost souls ran for their lives.

	“Madame Vianna! Please… slow down!” Pleaded a heavyset donkey boy, his hooves splashing through a puddle, “I… I need to catch my breath!”

	The fox woman ahead of him slowed her pace as she turned to look back at her companion, holding her torch steady while calling back “You know we need to keep moving! Whatever we heard back there is definitely getting closer, and if it’s like anything else in this place I’d rather it not catch up… Besides, we’re almost out of this pit, I’m sure of it!”

	The donkey shook his head, his run slowing to an exhausted stumble as his breaths grew harsher and strained, “Please… I just need to…” The male came to a complete stop, the rolls on his hefty gut folding as he bent over to place his hands on his knees and take wheezing breaths. His dark green tunic seemed far too small for his body; several buttons on his shirt long having popped off to let his wobbly tummy hang exposed over pants that seemed far too tight on his tubby legs and rump, all seeming to imply that his corpulence was a recent development. The donkey looked up at the vixen as she stopped as well before he groaned, “Just for a minute!”

	Vianna sighed as she turned around, but nodded, “Okay Desmond…” She said as she held her torch up high, peering into the darkness past the burro, searching for any signs of movement, “But no longer… we can rest fully once we know we’re safe…”

	Desmond grunted as he looked behind him, seeing not much more than she had, “How do you even know where we’re going…” He said, pausing to wipe the sweat from his brow, “This place is like a maze!”

	“Yes… that’s because it is,” The vixen said, placing a paw on her own stomach. While her body was nowhere near as portly as her associate’s, it was clear that she was now nearing a chubby frame. Her pudge wasn’t quite a hindrance yet, but it was beginning to make her beige linen outfit feel tight, straining the belts that held her adventuring equipment, “These tunnels, whether designed to or not, are probably meant to confuse and deter intruders… or maybe keep them trapped…” She gulped, her eyes gazing into the distance now, “Make sure that they stay so they can be… Well…”

	The donkey frowned as he patted his bloated belly, “Fattened up… I still don’t know why but… I really hope we make it out of here before we find out…”

	“Don’t worry friend… we will,” The vixen said, placing her paw on his shoulder and smiling, “We’ll be back to the Exploration Guild in no time. I’m sure we’ll be able to find a way to reverse what’s happened to you too.”

	Desmond smiled at that and nodded. He was about to say something to the fox, but before he could they were interrupted by a soft splash from the corridor behind them, “That was… but that means it’s still following us…” Desmond whispered breathlessly.

	Vianna nodded, “Whatever it is sounds big… We need to keep moving.”

	“Okay…” The fat donkey boy replied, still grinning, “I think I’m ready no-HRK!”

	The vixen yelped as she saw what had silenced her partner, her eyes widening in terror. A thin, syrupy green mass was falling from the ceiling right into the donkey’s open mouth. The stream of ooze thickened as it continued to flow into the male’s gullet, Desmond trying to stop the flow with his paws but only managing to slow its progress as it poured between his fingers. Soon he gave up trying to fight it, finding that his hands were more useful massaging his gut as the already enormous belly began to swell even more, looking past the ooze at Vianna as he whined in discomfort.

	“Desmond! Oh gods! …don’t try to fight it!” She shouted to him, not even sure if her advice would help, “I-I think I can…” She bit her lip as she pulled open a leather satchel she wore to desperately fumble through some potions.

	Meanwhile Desmond was still unwillingly consuming the slime attacking him, his belly growing ever tighter and larger as he held it in his hands. The last remaining buttons of his shirt finally burst free, letting the overburdened garment fall open to expose more of his growing paunch and heaving moobs. By the time Vianna finally found the vial she was looking for, the last of the slime creature had dropped from the ceiling and made its way past the helpless donkey’s lips, causing him to let out a heavy belch as he gasped for air.

	“What…?! What the-“ Desmond groaned as his overstuffed stomach gurgled loudly, “What WAS that! What just happened to me?!” He grunted sharply past gritted teeth as he grabbed at his massive stomach, “Oh gods no…! I think it’s still…!”

	“Just relax… it looks like a slime got the j-jump on you…” She replied, trying as best she could to hide the concern in her voice. She stuck the vial in her mouth, biting down on the cork to hold it so she could retain her grip on her torch. She examined and felt Desmond's belly with the other paw; his gut felt rock hard now and was now so big that it sagged down to his knees, “There was… a lot of it… b-but I can help! Slimes don’t usually do this sort of thing, but it’s not unheard of and there are ways to fix it. All you have to do is drink this and it should be… “

	She stopped mid-sentence, her eyes widening with absolute dread before whispering, “….there’s something on my leg…!”

	The Vixen yelped, moments later dropping the vial and her torch to the stone floor with a clatter as she was suddenly yanked backwards by her ankle. She immediately disappeared out of view past Desmond's belly as she hit the ground before being dragged off into the dark howling and screaming.

	“Vianna? VIANNA!?” Desmond shouted after her, his stomach wobbling tremendously as he tried to waddle to her rescue, causing him to clutch it once more as the pain in his gut halted him, “DAMMIT! Need to… hhnngh! Get this thing out first…!”

	The Donkey glanced about at the floor until he found the vial of potion Vianna had grabbed for him lying next to the fading, though thankfully still lit torch. Desmond waddled towards it, grunting and huffing as he tried to bend over and reach the object, not even coming close as his swollen stomach got in the way. After several attempts and a great deal of cursing, he finally gave up.

	“VIANNA!” He called out once again, wincing and braying as he clutched at his belly, the slime squirming within once more. To the donkey’s dismay, he was beginning to realize, astoundingly, that he was hungry, “Whatever this thing is doing… It can’t be good...”

	“Believe me…” A voice whispered to him, feminine and dripping with menace, “It’sss not…”

	Desmond's ears twitched, but the rest of his body froze entirely. He tried to let out a scream but found it was caught in his throat. He was only able to free it as the last light from the torch sputtered out and left him in complete darkness, his cries mixing with the laughter echoing from behind him.

	Another cheerful day was coming to pass over the small village of Little Silverhorne. The sun shone brightly down upon the town square as men and woman of all races and creeds passed by one another, waving and cheerfully exchanging greetings before resuming their errands. The small town was a veritable beacon of prosperity, growing in so many different ways: whether it be the crops the village profited from, or the people living in it, both in population and hefty girth, or the town itself as new homes and buildings were raised. Little Silverhorne was truly an idyllic community, and from what Uturi could see, the closest thing to paradise she had ever witnessed.

	As the newly arrived deer girl walked through the town center, passing by a fountain being worked upon by craftsmen, she couldn’t help but feel like she was turning heads. The young redheaded and brown-furred doe didn’t think that it was her appearance at first, as she never considered herself as somebody eye-catchingly attractive. She always felt she was a bit average really, with no real curves to speak of and nearly flat in the chest. Others had called her things like “cute” or “dainty” before, but she never thought those were the kinds of qualities men or women found particularly appealing. Yet as she caught a few more glances she realized it might have been the bow slung over her back, or perhaps her leather armor that concerned them. To her, these were merely the tools of a ranger, things that felt as though they were a part of her, but to these peaceful townsfolk they might have stood for trouble. 

	She soon found she wasn’t the only one in town equipped this way as something caught her eye across the square. One man in particular stood out to her amongst the crowd, a scowling hyena , his fur dark grey and spotted, the man in nearly full plate armor leaning against the outside of a tavern, making certain to stay to the shadows. He looked up at her, his gaze catching hers and making her blood run cold before he slipped away through the bar’s front door. She saw the sunlight catch upon a metal heater shield he carried upon his back, and the hilt of the sword sheathed at his side, before he slipped away into the dark. Unfazed by how ominous the brief encounter had been, the girl hurried her way across the cobblestone streets and into the very same bar.

	Inside it was dimly lit and smoky, but still had a pleasant feel to it thanks to the sound of patrons laughing and chatting as they ate, the sight of waitresses and barmaids running to and fro with fine ale and hearty dishes, and the succulent, heavenly smell of freshly cooked food of all kinds. The tavern was so appealing that Uturi had to remind herself that she was here to conduct business, not to grab lunch, so she scanned the packed dining hall until she saw what she was looking for. There in the far corner, as far away from any of the other patrons as he could get, sat the man she had seen outside, her eyes drawn to him by the glint of metal in the soft light. She could see that he had taken his cuirass and shield off, probably to make it possible to sit comfortably, but beyond that kept every other piece of armor donned. Now that she got a closer look at him, he seemed to be in his mid-twenties, perhaps just a couple of years older than herself.

	As she moved towards the hyena sitting there, she saw that he was already looking at her, and while his eyes would occasionally dart about the room towards the other patrons they didn’t stray long from the approaching doe. As she came closer, Uturi felt she had to be certain, “Well then, I suppose you must be from the Exploration Guild too, Remus right?”

	Even before she was done speaking, the male lifted a gauntleted finger to his lips and hissed at her harshly, “Shut your fool mouth!” He whispered at her as he glanced in the direction of a passing waitress, “Seat yourself before you get us both killed!”

	Trying to hold back a laugh, more due to the fear of hurting her new partner’s feelings than worrying she’d lose her life, she did as he told her, taking the chair across the table from him and lowering her voice, “I’m sorry, but I can’t help but feel you’re being a bit dramatic…”

	“Just being careful…” He whispered back, “Don’t bring up our guild, don’t bring up our job, at least not until we’re alone… I thought this place would be less crowded, should have known better, considering…” He shifted uncomfortably in his seat, his plate armor clinking softly amongst the bar chatter. Uturi only smirked playfully as she looked him over, noticing that the only thing on the table between them was a small, full glass of water.

	“Alright… Shall we get something to eat then? The food looks pretty good here for such a small village.”

	Remus finished glaring suspiciously at a pair of men chatting at the next table over before looking back to her, “This isn’t a game kid...” He grumbled, “Or have you really not noticed what’s going on around here?” 

	“Of course I’ve noticed! I’m a ranger, I have to rely on my senses more than you do I’d bet!” She said, raising her voice enough to make him cringe, “And what I’ve noticed is there’s nothing TO notice, this place is peaceful, quaint, and… well, dull...”

	The hyena boy could only growl to himself as he looked down at the glass of water before him, “I knew they’d send some rookie on this job, it’s like they want us to fail!”

	“Excuse me?” The deer grumbled back.

	“You must have seen it, Miss Ranger! How every single person in this town is… is fat!” He whispered, gesturing around them, “Even in this room alone you can see it!”

	Uturi rolled her eyes, but looked about the room anyways. As she did so, she realized that Remus was right: Everyone else in the bar with them ran the gamut from very chubby to massively obese. Each time she looked at a new patron it felt like they were the fattest person she had ever seen… until she caught sight of the next one! Not only that, but as she gazed about the room she saw that every single person had a plate before them piled with large portions, and it was rare to see somebody without food in their mouths. It was indeed somewhat unsettling, but the doe still didn’t see it as anything to be alarmed about, “Well this is a pretty wealthy community… with all the grain and produce they sell to other parts of the realm, it’s no wonder most of the people here are eating well themselves…”

	“Just look at them,” Remus scoffed, “When’s the last time you’ve ever seen people nearly as large as those here? You surely noticed… how else did you know I was your partner from the guild?”

	Uturi thought to herself for a moment as she brushed a red lock of hair from her eyes before finally saying, “Your armor I guess? I mean…. That must be it. Otherwise I don’t understand what you’re…”

	“You must have known I was an outsider, whether you realized it or not, because you and me are the thinnest people here.”

	Her eyes widened and her mouth hung open as she finally understood how her partner had felt this whole time. There was something wrong with this town, and worst of all they were right in the middle of it and stuck out like a sore thumb. Uturi suddenly felt as though everyone in the bar had noticed and was watching them, “So you think there’s something wrong with them? Like they’re hexed to grow big?” 

	Glancing at his water again, Remus replied, “Maybe…”

	“But who would do such a thing? And why?” Uturi snorted. She was willing to entertain Remus’s delusions now, but still found it all so ridiculous. What would anybody in their right mind have to gain from fattening up an entire village?

	“I… don’t know…” the hyena admitted, “But still, we should be careful.”

	Before she could ask him more about the town, the two were interrupted by the arrival of a waitress, “You two want some grub?” Her voice rang, sweet and heavy like dripping honey.

	The deer and hyena looked up at her, a rather robust elf maiden carrying a large, steaming plate of roasted duck and boiled potatoes in one hand and two mugs of beer grasped in the other. Uturi looked over the elf girl before her, taken aback by how tubby the blonde was, her belly sagging over the top of her skirt and her bosoms looking as though they would spill over and out her overburdened corset at any minute. The doe gulped and tried to push this image out of her mind as she thought of her reply.
	The waitress stood there for a moment, looking the two over as she waited for one of them to respond. Remus couldn’t stop staring the elf down as if she were a threat and Uturi could have sworn that the woman’s happy expression soured a bit when she caught the hyena’s gaze. The doe shifted uncomfortably in her seat, now feeling as though it were much too big for her, even more so than normal for the tiny deer girl. Uturi couldn’t tell if Remus’s paranoia was contagious, or if he really did have a point. 

	As the elf spoke again however, it certainly seemed to reinforce the latter possibility, “What’s wrong? You guys don’t have any gold? I’m sure we can open up a tab, you both must be starving after your travels…”

	“Actually…” Uturi began, certain that Remus was about to spit venom at the waitress. He was already growling softly at her, but Uturi was in the middle of trying to diffuse the situation more peacefully, “I think we’re going to be leaving now…”

	“Leaving!” The tubby waitress chuckled, drawing the attention of some of the heftier patrons around them, “You must be mad! You poor twigs haven’t even had a bite yet!”

	The growl began to rise in Remus’s throat, the canine almost barking his words, “My partner just said we were leaving!”

	This time the frown upon the elf woman’s plump lips was unmistakable as she slammed the tray onto their table, sending it rattling and nearly toppling over Remus’s glass. Uturi almost leapt from her seat in surprise, but the armored hyena remained undisturbed, still baring his teeth at the waitress as almost all the other customers looked over at them nervously. The hyena boy ignored them, grabbing his cuirass off the floor as he prepared to leave, “Take that plate away wench, we will not be eating!”

	“If… you wouldn’t mind…” Uturi meekly added, sighing to herself.

	The waitress placed her hands on her considerably wide hips as she scolded the two, “It is a free meal! Who in their right mind would pass that up? Both of you should be ashamed of yourselves, spitting in the face of our hospitality! Balking as we offer you a share of our bounty while people starve in places like Mightreach, wishing they had your good fortunes!”

	“Starving, huh?” Remus said as he stood up, grinning ear to ear while poking the hefty servant in the gut, “Is it because you ate all their food bar wench? Now step aside porker, me and m-“

	Remus was completely caught off guard as the waitress slammed her incredibly bulky belly into him, the force enough to send the stunned canine into the wall, his chainmail undershirt clinking as he tried his best to stay on his feet. Before he could even catch his breath and reach for his sword, the elf maiden was already before him, pinning him to the wall with her hands to each side and her doughy but firm paunch pressed against him. He dropped his cuirass to the ground with a clatter as he was crushed, gritting his teeth in pain as the elf spoke calmly, “You don’t understand me dogbreath… You want to stay in our village, you better learn our ways…” She hissed softly, her sweet voice growing even sultrier as she pressed her substantially curvaceous belly and tits against him with even more force, “And that means clearing your plate, asking for seconds, and earning your girth like everybody else…”

	The barmaid pressed even harder against him, forcing the air from his lungs and the links of his armor to bite into him, even through his tunic. Remus tried to cry out in pain, but all that escaped his throat were weak gasps.

	“Get off of him!” Uturi shouted, the doe on her feet the moment her companion was attacked. She kept her hand to the hilt of her dagger, but was desperately hoping that somebody else would intervene first. As she looked through the tavern once more however, she discovered that everyone had conveniently gone back to stuffing their faces and guzzling ale.

	“Oooh, I think your ‘friend’ is a little jealous,” The waitress smiled, nodding towards Uturi as the elf cooed seductively at Remus, brushing her braided golden locks away from her swollen bosoms before shoving them into the squirming hyena’s face, “She is clearly threatened by a real woman such as myself, a woman with curves and a nice... soft… body… Perfect to squeeze and love, don’t you think so puppy man?”

	Remus only grunted and gasped as she pushed her extremely exposed cleavage against him. His cheeks burned red even as he struggled to push the heavy maiden away from his body, sweat dripping from his brow from both his attempts at resistance and the heat coming from the blubbery elf. As his breathing shortened though, his struggles quickly weakened, his vision starting to cloud and fade.

	She frowned as she looked down her nose, and breasts, at him, “Yes, yes, that is all a puny weak man such as yourself would say! If I even wanted a twig like you, I doubt you could handle me, not without some meat on your bones! You shouldn’t shy away from your meals, maybe then you’d be more of a man than a pathetic dog, somebody with the strength and pride to heft a full belly before him. Maybe then your deer friend would pay you more attention, but don’t worry, once you run out of breath I will fix all tha-OOF!”

	The barmaid stumbled as Uturi’s elbow slammed into her side, almost keeping her balance before falling into one of the empty tables nearby and crushing it beneath her weight.

	“Should have watched your back!” Said the deer girl, swiftly scooping Remus’s gear from the ground as soon as she heard gasps from the townsfolk around them, gripping the dazed hyena’s arm before tugging him towards the exit, and muttering “We’re out of this damn pigsty…” 

	They met no resistance as they left through the front, most of the other patrons too busy either helping the fallen maiden up or murmuring fearfully amongst themselves. Even as they had made it safely outside though, Uturi still felt like they were in danger, “So much for keeping a low profile…” She grumbled.

	Remus was still catching his breath, gasping heavily while he clumsily reached for his cuirass. Uturi shook her head, but lifted it closer towards him before he tugged it close and hugged it protectively to his chest, “I… huff… unh… told you these people were nuts!”

	The deer girl snorted a chuckle, “Yeah, okay, I believe you now, but you didn’t help going off on her like that.”

	Frowning, Remus looked back at the tavern warily, “You saw how she acted and heard what she said to us, she obviously would not let us leave so easily, at least not without eating all that food.”

	Uturi looked at him before frowning herself and staring at the ground thoughtfully, “I suppose you’ve got a point there… But now what are we supposed to do? We caused quite a scene back there.”

	The hyena nodded, “That we did, and if there’s some wickedness at work here then it’s almost certain that there’s more than an individual behind it. There was surely somebody back there at the bar involved in it, if not the barmaid herself,” He pondered, looking over the piece of armor in his hands, “Either way, those corrupting this town will know there are outsiders here, ones that have already caused them more trouble than they’re used to.
”
	“You’re really convinced all these people are out to get us, aren’t you?” Uturi sighed, “Then again after what I just saw I’m starting to buy into it too… And if you’re right about this, we should get moving, it’s getting dark, any ideas on where to head next?”
	Remus nodded to his partner as he went over his plan, “We need to get some information about our job. I’ve got some leads already so we’ll start with those.”

	The hyena was already moving, fastening his cuirass on while he walked through the streets with practiced efficiency while Uturi followed closely behind. The streets were much emptier now that the sun was setting, but she still didn’t feel safe anymore. 

	“About that, what exactly is our job anyways?” She asked, easily keeping pace in her leather armor, “I know one of our guildmates went missing around here… but if it’s a sign of trouble, it seems odd to send other members without hiring soldiers to protect them.”

	“They did send a soldier m’lady. Me…” The hyena knight replied, not even looking back at her.

	“Wait, what?” She asked, jaw almost dropping, “But they said that you’d be the one who’d fill me in on things! That you’d be leading the mission! You’re just a hired grunt!”

	“I don’t give a damn deer woman-“

	“My name is Uturi!” She spat.

	“…I don’t give a damn Uturi, I just take jobs, do my work, and get paid. I’m surprised they didn’t send more than us to find your master, but like I said I don’t worry myself with details... it just means more gold for me.” Remus said as he looked over the houses they were passing by.

	“Master? The guildmaster?! Vianna Monroe!” Uturii said, her mind reeling at the very prospect, “What… WHY, how?!”

	Remus stopped and turned to see her having some sort of mental collapse and grabbed her roughly by the shoulder with one paw while covering her mouth with the other, “Keep your damn wits about you! There are bound to be people looking for us after that mess we caused, you want them to find us?”

	The frantic doe squeezed her eyes shut, taking deep breaths before grabbing at his paw and pushing it away from her, “I’m… I’m fine, it’s just… Why wouldn’t they tell me any of this? Why would they tell you?”

	Remus shrugged, “They told me I’d be meeting a rookie, maybe they just don’t trust you yet?”

	“I’ve been a member of the Exploration Guild for over three years…” She said, her voice growing soft and distant, “I haven’t been an initiate since I was a teen…”

	“Oh…” Remus replied, grimacing to himself as the conversation came to a dead halt. He watched as Uturi started walking again, though aimlessly now, not even waiting for him to lead her. Before he let her pass him however, Remus placed an armored paw on her shoulder, “Look… Maybe this guild of yours doesn’t trust you, but maybe that’s why they still sent you. This mission must be important if it’s your Guildmaster we’re after, maybe they want you to show them who they can trust?”

	Remus felt a sudden jolt of confusion at what he had just said. He didn’t want to see his partner in such low spirits, especially if they had to work together. But for a moment he didn’t feel like he was trying to cheer her up to be sure she could carry her weight; It almost felt like he felt sorry for the deer girl. He pulled his paw away from her shoulder, but before he started walking again she pulled him into a hug, the deer fighting back tears as she murmured, “Thank you…”

	The hyena only chuckled as he patted her on the back, “Yeah, sure, and thank you for saving my ass back at the bar. Just pull yourself together though, huh? I have a feeling we might still have a lot to go through before this is all over.”

	The two walked down the streets of Little Silverhorne as night slowly fell. Remus truly had no clue how right his statement was, and if the two knew what lay before them then they wouldn’t take all the riches in the world in exchange for one more second in that town. For now however, the hyena was blissfully unaware and for the first time in a while he caught himself genuinely smiling.

	The shadows in the wealthier part of Little Silverhorne grew longer as the sun shrank beyond the horizon, swelling to cover the streets like a tide before a few attendants went about lighting lamps to push them back once again. Uturi and Remus walked over the stone cobbles, these much older and more worn than the ones in the town square, and there was silence between them as they looked about the manors. Thanks to Remus however it wasn’t an awkward one at least, and Uturi was the first to break it, “So what are we doing here…? You think Vianna might be in one of these old manses?”

	“Not exactly…” Remus said, “She might have been here before, at least that’s what a few of the friendlier locals told me. They said she came here to talk to the parents of some missing girl.”

	Uturi rubbed her chin as they neared a mansion at the end of the road, “Then goes missing herself not long after… No way that’s coincidence.”

	“Yes, those were my thoughts as well. The family is very rich, own a great deal of land around these parts. Usually it's not hard for people of their status to find a helping hand in matters like this... and yet nobody seems able to find their kid.” He said as they finally reached the mansion's doors, the hyena grasping a rusty knocker on them and slamming it loudly, “Hello? We're here to meet with the Berrywaters!”

	They didn’t need to wait long before one of the house’s servants, a brown haired ocelot girl, opened one of the doors to greet them. By this point it was no surprise that she was pretty fat as well, almost bursting from the maid outfit she was dressed in. She was actually one of the thinner residents they had met, but Uturi couldn’t help but think she must feel uncomfortable in those clothes. Yet the maid was all smiles as she spoke to them, “Hi there! Something I can help you guys with? I’m sure the Mistress wouldn’t mind treating you two to a hot mea-“

	“No thank you,” Remus said, pushing the door open, the plump ocelot girl shying back a few steps as he made his way inside, “We’re here on business only.”

	“S-Sir! I c-can’t let you in without the Mistress or Master’s ap-p-proval…!” The maid cried meekly, gasping as Uturi stepped in after him, “N-No, please wait miss!” She pleaded, locking the front door behind them and running in front of the two as they entered the main foyer, a lavishly decorated room with stone tile floors and a grand staircase leading to the second floor, “I can fetch the Mistress! Just please, wait here and don’t touch a thing!”

	“That’ll be fine,” Uturi nodded, looking over to Remus and smiling as he nodded curtly.

	And with that, the feline maid ran as quickly as she could up the staircase, her pudgy rear shaking back and forth as she did. Uturi looked over at Remus and couldn’t help but notice he was staring after her as she reached the end, the girl panting a little but still energetic enough to run through a wide set of oaken doors at the top. It wasn’t one of his usual scowls oddly enough, in fact he almost looked interested, “Remus…? Back at the tavern, what that woman said, was it um…”

	The hyena averted his gaze from the maid almost immediately, instead choosing to look over at a portrait of a young, surprisingly thin cow girl nearby, “I’m not sure what you mean Uturi.”

	“You do!” She said, blushing a bit while she folded her arms, “What she was saying about… um, big girls. Do you agree? I mean, do you…”

	“Am I attracted to larger women? As odd as it is to bring it up now, I believe that’s what you’re asking,” Remus replied.

	“Er yes, well are you…?” The deer gulped, this whole conversation turning out to be more uncomfortable than she had expected, “I don’t mean to judge… just wondering I guess?”

	“And how do you know I like girls at all?” He grinned.

	Uturi’s face grew even redder, and she looked away embarrassed, “Well I guess I merely a… assumed…?”

	“I know, I’m just making it harder for you,” He chuckled, the sellsword scratching the side of his face ponderously as he walked over to get a closer look at the painting, “I’ve been fond of plenty of women in my time, including plumper ones, and I still enjoyed their company.”

	“Oh, well… Okay then,” She glanced over to the painting then back to him, “But I mean, do you prefer them or…”

	Remus lifted his paw up to silence her, and for a moment Uturi felt an intense twinge of shame and regret, fearing she had offended him. His next words though brought a surge of relief through her, “Quiet, I think I hear someone coming…”
	As Remus silenced her, Uturi listened carefully. At first the thuds were soft, and she could barely hear them even though they were repeating at regular intervals. Soon enough they grew louder and, as the two waited in the foyer staring up the stairs in the direction the sounds came from, thunderous. The two partners exchanged quick glances before their attention was drawn back to the double doors at the second floor as they began to rattle in their frames. Uturi took a moment to reflect on just how wide the doors were before they swung open to reveal why.

	Standing at the landing atop the stairs was a cow woman who now stepped forward, the weight of her bare hooves shaking the banisters of the stairway as they revealed themselves to be the source of all the commotion. Uturi stood there, gaping in awe as she saw the Mistress of the house. Even Remus seemed visibly surprised, his eyebrows arched as he caught sight of the cow. The titanic bovine looking down at them past bloated breasts and a boulder of a belly had to have been the fattest person in this entire town, and in a town where everyone was portly this fact alone stood as testament to her size. She wore quite a bit of jewelry, most of it much too small from the jeweled rings adorning her sausage-like fingers to the golden necklaces swallowed by neck fat, but they suffered little from her mass compared to the dress she wore.

	Every breath she took looked strained as she wheezed, her sizable bosoms heaving against the white silken gown, the brown-furred orbs pressed tight against it even though the once exquisite garment still looked as though it were many sizes too large for Uturi herself to wear. The gown might have once been a thing of beauty, but now it was ruined by a large tear down the middle that ran from the bottom almost all the way up its length, stopping just short of the cow’s breasts. This left the dress wide open to expose her colossal belly, the intact parts of the garment flowing around to the sides of the massive paunch like an improvised and very expensive cape. What little that remained of the front of the gown was stained heavily, most likely from sweat and food such as the large turkey leg she chewed on even now.

	“Well then!” The Mistress boomed, her voice regal with the inflections of southern Bitemarsh, distinguishable even past the deepness given to it by her girth. Said weight had affected her speaking in other ways as well, the bovine constantly pausing to take heavy breaths before continuing, “Tell me why it is you have come to my home?”

	Remus shook his head as if snapping free from a trance, still taken aback by the appearance of the cow woman. She waited for him to compose himself, taking a bite of the turkey she held as he spoke, “Well Mistress, you see we have come searching for-“

	“A handout?” She bellowed while grinding the food between her teeth, “You two look like the hungry type, I didn’t even know there could be anyone so skinny left in Silverhorne… But if you came here looking for scraps, go bother somebody else. I’m a very busy woman and I don’t have time for dealing with the rabble anymore…”

	Uturi stepped forward, “Madame Berrywater, the thing is we aren’t from this town at all. I am Uturi and this is Remus,” She explained as she motioned towards the canine, “We are from The Exploration Guild, and we came here looking for someone; we have heard you were looking for somebody as well… And we want to help.”

	“You mean Sally…?” The woman gasped softly, her expression almost immediately changing from one of indifference to that of pain and grief, “Servants… help me…”

	Two maids appeared from behind the Mistress, one of them the ocelot from before and the other an even fatter human woman, so plump that her pale belly could be seen sticking out from between her top and skirt. They each grabbed one of the Mistress’s blubbery arms as she carefully walked down the stairs, the wood trembling beneath each slow step she took. Remus and Uturi watched the trio descend, the cow and her servants already starting to pant heavily from their own exertions.

	“Hold on now!” Remus exclaimed as he held his hand in the air, “There’s no need for that, we can meet you upstairs!”

	“Please Sir Remus, I know my physical state…” She grunted between gasps, “And I will not let it limit me, not yet. I am still a lady regardless of my size, and I will greet my guests as they should be greeted…”

	Remus wanted to object further, and Uturi did not look too comfortable either, but they remained quiet as the Mistress descended the rest of the way with the maids aiding her, her exposed and gargantuan gut swaying and bouncing with each stair. Finally she made it to the bottom, wheezing heavily while her lighter servants caught their breath as well, though still held onto her to make sure she did not keel over. Now that she was closer, the deer girl couldn’t help but notice the bovine’s strong scent, her repugnant odor mostly a mix of perfume and sweat; an example of the clash between elegance and girth just like her outfit. She looked at the two, speaking even as she still struggled to regain her energy, “Tell me what you came here for… who is it you need to find?”

	“It’s our Guildmaster. She went missing around these parts,” Uturi answered, “We’re not sure why but Remus was told she may have been searching for a missing girl…”

	Remus nodded, “The Guildmaster’s name is Vianna Monroe, a vixen not much older than I, or so I hear.”

	“Yes, yes… Vianna…” Lady Berrywater sighed. She waved her free hand to signal the maids, and they let go of her arms, the Mistress shoving the turkey leg into the paws of the ocelot servant, “She was indeed here, but that was over a week ago… She said she was here in search of a nearby castle, and when I told her how that was the place we thought Sally disappeared to she promised she would bring her back to us. I should have known she wasn’t coming back by now, but she was the first person we sent looking in so long…” She trailed off, absentmindedly wiping the juices from the turkey onto her belly.

	Uturi watched as the hefty woman waddled over to the portrait hanging on the wall, her rear wobbling visibly even beneath her flowing gown, the long fabric trailing on the floor. Looking down at it, Uturi noticed small cracks webbing their way over the stone tiles each time the Mistress’s hooves met them, realizing that much of the floor showed slight disrepair just from her strolls. The deer followed behind the obese woman though, taking note of how the thin cow girl shared her hair and some of her fur color, “So that is Sally then?”

	The cow nodded, or at least tried to despite the chins in her way, “Yes… my daughter… She left us on her own you see, almost three years ago now, moved out to a nearby farm. She didn’t like how protective her father and I were… But we still kept an eye on her, making sure she was safe in her new life…”

	“Daughter?” Asked Remus, “I had thought her a ward of yours, you look much too young to be her mother.”

	The bovine let out a short, throaty chuckle as her plump lips curled into a slight smile, “You flatter me Sir Remus… But come, I need to check on my husband,” She paused as she looked back up the stairs, the servant girls suddenly looking paler than usual, “Maybe you two could meet me up there… I might be a while. In the meantime, please feel free to look around…”

	“Thank you Mistress…” Uturi said, bowing before her.

	Remus smiled and bowed as well, “We are grateful for your hospitality fair Lady, and look forward to conversing further.”

	“As do I,” Lady Berrywater said before turning to face the stairs, grabbing the turkey leg again to allow both servants to assist her in the harrowing ascent.

	Uturi and Remus looked around the foyer, trying to figure out what to do in the meantime…

	While Madame Berrywater was preoccupied climbing the stairs, the two partners left the obese cow woman behind as they looked about the mansion. At first it was more of a distraction while they waited to speak with the Mistress again, but as they were walking down a musty side-corridor, Remus suggested they should look about for any trace of Vianna as well.

	“Not a bad idea…” Uturi said, gagging as she accidentally ran into a cobweb and frantically tried brushing it off, “Ech! Though I doubt we’d find anything here, especially not in this part of the house…”

	“Probably not… It looks like nobody’s been here for a long while,” Remus agreed.

	The entire hallway was covered in thin dust, even on the floor, and it seemed as though cobwebs clung to every other surface. The dim lighting from only a few candles and the fact that the doors were boarded up and still looked to be their original size also suggested this particular hall’s disuse, at least by anyone but the thinner servants of the house, “Lady Berrywater must have sealed this wing off when she grew too big for it… maybe these rooms weren’t important enough to her for remodeling…”

	“Seems you think that the Lady’s weight gain was a recent development… could she not have been large her whole life…?” Remus questioned the deer.

	She stopped to look around the hallway, shaking her head, “No… No she couldn’t have been…” She replied, placing a paw upon one of the sealed doorways and wiping the dust from it, “Otherwise she wouldn’t have fit through these! And I really cannot see her living her whole life at such a size, nor anyone really… she was just so…. Unnaturally huge, something made her that way.”

	Remus raised an eyebrow as he smiled at her, “True, though I would have thought the dress was a dead giveaway…”

	The deer girl’s eyes widened, surprised she had missed something so obvious, but nodded, “I suppose so, yes…”

	“You’re distracted,” Remus said as he looked the ranger over carefully, “Is that it?”

	Uturi’s eyes darted over to find his, though she gulped a little as she met his gaze, “What makes you think that?”

	“The dress, the fact that I heard the Mistress’s approach, among other things…” The hyena warrior chuckled softly to himself, “Well either you’re distracted, or you’re a very poor ranger, but I’m willing to give you the benefit of the doubt.”

	The doe snorted and frowned at him, “Well thanks I guess… There’s just been a lot on my mind though. The situation in this town for one, and then the fact that my guildmaster has gone missing and nobody even bothered telling me…”

	“I suppose that’d be enough to bother anyone,” The canine said before looking over to a nearby door, apparently the only one in this hallway that had been widened to fit the heftier occupants of the house, “That’s strange…” He said as he walked over to it and grabbed the handle, “This one room seems like it’s important to the owners…”

	“Pfft, now who’s distracted?” Uturi smiled before Remus reached for the door.
	As the hyena boy pulled open the door, he let out a slight huff before speaking over his shoulder, “It’s just the bathroom…” Before stepping inside.

	“Oh right, completely worth checking out then,” Uturi smirked as she followed her companion into the room. Despite her initial lack of enthusiasm, the doe had to admit it was a pretty nice area, if a bit simple. The floor was a stone tile similar to that of the foyer, though quite a bit more roughly chiseled so that it looked more natural, working well with the understated look of the plaster walls. What immediately caught Uturi’s eye however wasn’t the stonework, but the enormous brass bathtub that sat in the middle of the room, not large enough to make the place feel cramped, but still big enough to fit four or five people comfortably and, much like many things she was seeing today, larger than anything else of its type she had seen, “Okay, I guess that’s something…”

	“Quite so,” Remus said as he removed a gauntlet to rub his paw to the gleaming surface of the tub, “Looks and feels almost brand new…” He muttered, his fingers squeaking against the polished metal.

	Uturi’s ear twitched as she considered what Remus said, “And yet still looks too small for Lady Berrywater to fit in comfortably…”

	The hyena boy chuckled before gently punching the ranger’s shoulder with his still-armored paw, “Now you’re getting it!”

	The deer girl meeped at the playful blow, rubbing where it hit before continuing, “But that just doesn’t make sense! This tub looks like it’s been commissioned recently, two months ago at most. It must be for one of the servants or something…”

	“A servant’s tub this big, made of brass? With this much detailing?” Remus asked, pointing to the clawed, sturdy feet that balanced the tub and moving his finger up to indicate the intricate floral designs just below its rim, “The Berrywaters seem to treat their servants well, but not THAT well.”

	“Then that means… Lady Berrywater must have bought it for herself and her husband,” Her eyes darted to meet Remus’s as she scoffed at him, “But you’re suggesting…! No, this tub is suggesting that she’s managed to gain hundreds of pounds in the span of, at most, months! But that’s not possible!”

	“After what we’ve seen so far, would you really say so ranger?” Remus said.

	“I… maybe not… but then how? What is wrong with her? What is wrong with thistown?”

	Remus replaced his gauntlet, making certain it was secure on his paw before staring at his reflection in the monstrously wide basin, “I’m not sure… but I fear it doesn’t bode well for your guildmaster... Let alone this Sally.”

	“Gods, I hope that isn’t the case…” the doe said, “But Vianna is the guildmaster for good reason. If anyone knows how to handle something lik-“ Uturi stopped as she heard soft panting coming down the hallway.

	“The Mistress will see you now!” Gasped the ocelot maid as she came to a halt outside the doorway, paws planted on her thighs as she caught her breath.

	It wasn’t much longer before the two travelers found themselves in the foyer once more, ascending the staircase themselves this time. They paused for a moment at the top, allowing their guide to catch up with them before she opened the double doors and led the duo down a wide and richly decorated hallway, its cleanliness standing contrast to the one they had just seen. The maid stopped at the end of the short hall and stood in front of another fairly wide door before turning to face the two guests, “The Mistress and the Master are ready to meet you, but please be polite… They haven’t exactly fared well after young Sally went missing, and it’s hit the Master’s health espec-“

	“Please Miss,” Remus said, pushing the feline aside and causing her to let out a squeak as he made his way into the room, “We may be adventurers, but we’re not tactless dolts.”

	The ocelot girl whimpered and mewled meekly to herself as Uturi followed Remus in, “I think he means we’ll be fine,” She grinned. 

	The bedroom they found themselves in seemed to match the rest of the manor’s décor: elegant yet at the same time not too outlandish, unless of course you considered the bed itself, built large and sturdy, modified like so many other parts of the house to fit the owners’ growing size. It wasn’t the bed that caught their attentions though, but rather its occupant.

	Uturi almost fainted at the sight of the house’s Master, the male so massively obese that it was nearly heart-wrenching. His belly sagged and spread out before him as he leaned back against a mountain of pillows, the bloated paunch clearly immense even though it was partially covered by silky white bedsheets. Atop this rested two plump moobs that sagged to each side of his gut somewhat, rising and falling in tandem with each slow and heaving breath. His arms were likewise enveloped in thick layers of blubber, one reaching towards a plateful of chocolate cake that laid upon his the light brown fur of his apron-like stomach, the other resting atop his flabby chest. The morbidly obese bull was grabbing a large chunk straight from the cake as the two walked in, squishing it between clumsy fat fingers. Wasting little time, he shoved the mess past his lips, smearing and dropping rich frosting and heavy crumbs over them and down his many chins as he amazingly continued to feed himself even now. A shiver crawled up Uturi’s spine as she realized that the male cow was nearly twice as large as his already horrendously corpulent wife.

	The Mistress of the house herself was present as well, and sat next to the bed. Her tremendous bulk was supported by two large chairs, but even then her rump fat spilled over the edges a fair amount, though still given decency by what was left of her gown. She too was eating, though from a bowl of cherry sweet tarts, her etiquette little better than her mate’s as she chewed and slurped noisily. She stopped abruptly as Uturi and Remus entered the room, a blush spreading over her tubby cheeks as she caught their shocked gazes, and she hastily attempted to swallow the fair amount of sweets still crammed in her mouth. Once she did she cleared her throat and grabbed her husband’s paw in hers, giving it a firm, but gentle squeeze. The Ocelot servant had followed Remus and Uturi into the room, seating herself in a chair on the other side of the Master before beginning to soak a cloth in a bowl of water.

	The bull ceased stuffing his pudgy face immediately, grunting and licking the frosting from his lips as he huffed and wheezed, struggling to speak, “Please… fuuuhh... Forgive… urf…”

	Madame Berrywater silenced her spouse with a gentle shush before addressing her guests, “He asks you forgive him… and I ask the same of me, for our current… predicaments. Our bodies… our situation may seem obscene, maybe even repugnant… But I have to assure you, it is of no fault of our own we are this way… It may be hard to believe, but…”

	“We know,” Remus interjected, stepping further into the room, his nose twitching at the smell of sweat and musk, “You were not always fat-…”

	Uturi ribbed him in the side with her elbow as she walked up next to him, though she herself struggled not to offend their hosts as the cows’ stench overwhelmed her senses and made her woozy, “What my partner here meant was we realize your state has been caused by… unnatural forces, and it is possible that the source of your woes may be affecting the townsfolk as well.”

	The Mistress sighed and nodded solemnly, “Yes, but how could you two have known? Did you not say you had just arrived?”

	“Nobody outgrows a gown like yours, or a tub like the one downstairs so quickly through normal means…” Remus said, pausing for a moment, “With all due respect Madame… And then there’s the fact you haven’t decided to replace either…”

	Madame Berrywater frowned and nodded again, her chins pressing together before she spoke, “Yes, because… well we figured it wouldn’t do any good frankly. We’d just as likely outgrow them not long after spending the gold…” The bovine said, her eyes looking away from the doe and the hyena to avoid their own before grabbing another handful of tarts and shoving them into her mouth. Her husband had likewise gone back to eating his cake almost right after he had addressed the two, seemingly having forgotten their presence entirely.

	Uturi was appalled at what she was seeing, unable to believe the two could keep stuffing their faces so fervently like this in front of them, especially after what the Mistress had said literally moments before. The ranger knew it was horribly rude for someone of her station to question one of such noble birth, but her concern for the well-being of the Mistress and her lover had started to make her reconsider staying her tongue.
	“Then why do you continue eating!?” Uturi blurted out, her arms outspread, her brow furrowing in a mix of outrage and concern, “You realize that if you don’t stop, this will only get worse! It could kill you!”

	Lady Berrywater looked up from her snack, tears coming to her eyes as they met Uturi’s. The pain of the bovine’s expression was enough to make the ranger cringe, a surge of shame speeding through her now, “I’m… I’m sorry…”

	“It’s alright,” The cow said, sniffling as she wiped the tears from her eyes with a big, meaty arm, “We would stop if we could, but… the food is…”

	“Poison… hurrgh…” the bull grunted, gazing up at his wife with a brief look of concern before he continued his sloppy gorging.

	“Yes…” The Mistress continued, “Poisoned… The food began coming around the same time things began changing in Little Silverhorne, about half a year ago… delivered to our doorstep, packages and baskets,” She began to sniffle even more now, “Things addressed from our friends, we figured it was them trying to console us after our daughter had been missing for so long… by the time we had found out the truth, it was too late… we became… addicted.”

	“But why would your friends do such a thing?” Remus pondered, scratching his chin, “There seems to be a sort of corruption affecting the town as a whole, but…”

	The noble shook her head, “We don’t believe it was them, but rather the new ruler of the town and its holdings, a man who came to power around the same time we received the food…”

	“And you said this was around the same time things changed in the town?” Uturi said, “Who is this man? What is his name?”

	Neither bovine said anything for a moment, the bull once more pausing momentarily from his meal to exchange a glance with his mate before she finally spoke, “We… don’t know. All of the villagers here have only ever called him one thing…”

	“’Lord L’…” The bull gasped as he lapped and suckled the frosting from his plump fingers.

	“Strange…” Remus said, tapping his chin with his paw.

	“Very much so,” Agreed Uturi as her ears twitched, her eyes wandering down to the ground in thought, “So this Lord L is the mayor of this town?”

	“Not exactly…” the cow woman frowned, shifting in her seats and sending a creaking groan through the room, “He didn’t come to power through any official means, the mayor simply stepped aside once he took power… but everyone else here doesn’t seem to care. It’s one thing for someone to come along promising safety, wealth, bounty, but when a person actually delivers on those promises people seem more than willing to look the other way… We aren’t even sure if word about it has reached the Capital yet.”

	“Er… but how is that even possible?” Uturi sputtered, “Somebody takes over a chunk of Bitemarsh, a whole town, and the Ruling Council doesn’t even know about it for months? It’s practically secession! Rebellion!”

	Remus continued to think on the matter before saying, “It’s simple really: The Council doesn’t know because nobody wants to tell them. It was hard enough for me to get any information out of the locals, let alone a scrap on this Lord L, so obviously they don’t trust outsiders, possibly to avoid confrontation with the Capital. A nobleman appears from nowhere and declares himself absolute ruler… it sounds impossible for it to escape notice, but when he comes with assurances of prosperity, a way of life beyond The Council’s grip, and more than enough food to keep even the poorest of peasants not only satisfied but full…”

	“Who in their right mind would want to throw an opportunity like that away?” Lady Berrywater sighed, letting out a hollow laugh.

	“But you did!” Uturi said, frowning at the implications, “Didn’t you…?”

	The noblewoman nodded, “Yes… Somewhat… our investigations into our daughter led us to think she’d been taken to the same castle this Lord L now resides in. We didn’t trust him before, but now with this food… we’re trapped.”

	“Trapped?” Remus said, quirking his brow, “How do you mean? Blackmail?”

	Uturi gasped, “He isn’t threatening your daughter, is he?”

	“He would never admit he even knows where she is…” Lady Berrywater sighed as she nibbled on another tart, “He wouldn’t dare to incriminate himself like that, for the same reason he hasn’t had us outright killed. We may not be what we used to be, but our family still has roots in this town. If we were to disappear without cause or reason, or if word were to leak out that he was threatening us, he would risk losing support, I’m sure! Instead what he’s doing is even worse in some ways... After we became addicted to the food sent to us, it began to come in larger quantities and with more frequency. Eventually he didn’t even bother hiding it anymore, we knew without any doubt the crates of food were coming directly from his castle… At first…” She sniffled, tears once more beginning to well in her eyes, “When we realized, we tried to just not eat it… to get rid of the food and ignore the hunger pains… But there was just so much of it, and the smell….!”

	Lady Berrywater’s husband looked up at his wife, his plump paw squeezing hers gently as he huffed, “It’s alright…”

	“But it’s not dear…” She said, squeezing his paw back as tears rolled over her soft, doughy cheeks, “It isn’t… Lord L wants us to stop looking, so he’s killing us… Nobody in this town will notice if we eat ourselves to death…”

	“By the gods…” Uturi whispered, starting to feel more than a little sick.

	“It’s not just that either…” Madame Berrywater continued, “We’ve grown dependent upon him, not just for the food but other things as well… The clothing, the furniture, even the bath tub you saw. He’s somehow able to create all of these things and trade them to the residents… for gold.”

	“And I’m guessing you don’t care to be indebted to this Lord L?” Said Remus.

	Before she could answer, Sir Berrywater stopped eating, letting out a grunt of discomfort before grabbing for his chest. The Mistress gasped as she saw this, but her husband merely waved his free paw at her dismissively as the Ocelot girl placed the soaked rag on his brow, “Just indigestion… mmff… dear… nothing to worry… hnnngh… ‘bout…”

	Madame Berrywater let out a worried sigh, waiting for her husband’s discomfort to pass before she finally answered Remus’s query, “It’s not that we are afraid of losing it all, Sir Remus, when your child is gone... material things start to lose their value… it’s just that the last thing we would want is for our money to end up in this Lord L’s coffers, being used towards whatever disgusting plans he has in store for our town… and maybe for those who’ve gone missing like our Sally…”

	Uturi could only stand there for a moment, digesting what the Mistress and, to a limited extent, her husband had told the two. She considered the missing girl, wondering what they could do for her. At the same time though she knew that she and Remus were already in way over their heads, and she had a feeling that their mission here in Little Silverhorne had only just begun. If she told the Berrywaters that they would help them, they might not be able to keep that promise.
	Uturi frowned, glancing over at Remus for a moment before speaking, “We will find her Madame Berrywater or at least what has happened to her if we cannot, I promise you.”

	Remus shifted on his feet, and though he was behind her the slight noise did not go unnoticed by Uturi, but they both remained silent for the time being.

	Sally’s mother sniffled as she tried to hold back new tears and looked at Uturi, her husband lifting his head up as best he could to do the same as they both heard and were surprised by the deer girl’s words, “You really mean this?” Madame Berrywater said.

	Uturi nodded and smiled, “Yes Madame, I do. I cannot promise we can bring her back though… neither of us can.” She said, cringing a bit as she saw the sudden pain in the bovine woman’s eyes, “But we can promise you, we will do all we can to find answers, won’t we Remu-“

	But the hyena warrior was suddenly heading for the door, and by the time Uturi could muster anything to say to him he’d already stepped through and closed it.

	“You godsdamned idiot…” She muttered under her breath, her ears drooping as she looked at the floor.

	Madame Berrywater leaned toward the deer, her chairs creaking once more as she placed her hand on the ranger’s arm gently, “It’s alright dear… We know we shouldn’t be too… hopeful. Not after so long. But if you can find any information about Sally… if you can bring us any closure, please… it would be a great service to us, no matter what Uturi.”

	The deer girl nodded, biting her lip as she looked up at the cow noble to meet her gaze, “I promise you Madame Berrywater, I will.”

	“Thank you…” The bovine said as she pulled away, returning to focus on her bedridden mate, “Now if you would excuse us Miss Uturi, I must attend to my husband and he needs his rest. And it looks as though you need to attend to your companion as well... May your journey be blessed by fortune, and I hope to see you both soon, adventurer.”

	“Thank you Madame.” Uturi said, smiling before opening the door and stepping out into the hall.

	Remus was waiting outside, standing to the left of the door with his arms folded, “You meant well, but that was foolish of you ranger…”

	The deer girl groaned as she decided the best way to reply to her disgruntled partner…
Uturi wanted to just ignore Remus, she wanted to just walk down the hall and forget about his attitude like the deer normally might with someone. But as she glared at the hyena and she thought about Sally’s mother and father, she knew she couldn’t do that, not this time, “There was nothing foolish about it!” She growled at him, “There was no reason to just walk out on them, especially after what I said!”
Remus stepped closer to Uturi, an action most likely taken to remind her of the fact he was over a head taller than her. The heyena’s voice was calm, though the irritation Remus felt rose up beneath it, “Yes there damn well was reason. You can’t promise these people anything deer, especially not something like that. Our job here is already complicated enough and I don’t need you making it worse…” 
“How is it making it worse?!” Uturi hissed at him, holding her arms outspread, “If we’re already looking for one person, what harm would there be searching for another in the same place! Think about it!”
“No, you think about it!” Remus spat, “First of all, we barely have direction! All we know is we need to head to some stupid castle and somehow find out where the guildmaster is! Not to mention we don’t even know what kind of opposition we might face, considering owner of said castle has enough power to take over an entire village and is literally killing people who get in their way! That doesn’t seem complicated enough for you, because I sure as hell am starting to think I’m not getting paid enough for this kind of bullshit!”
Uturi scoffed, shaking her head, “Are you seriously telling me you don’t care about these people? About what’s happening to their town, or what could have happened to their daughter?!”
“Of course I do!” Remus said, growling past his teeth, “But I also care about being realistic, about not making these poor people promises we CAN’T keep!”
“Maybe we could keep them if you took that stick out of your ass and worried about something other than your own safety!” Uturi shouted.
A furious growl shook it’s way from Remus’s throat, before he turned away from Uturi and walked down the hall, “I don’t need some novice ranger judging me, I’m going to get some godsdammned air…”
It took all her resolve not to go after him, to hold back from chewing the hyena warrior out for running away yet again, but Uturi resisted. Knowing it would do no good, and that Remus was far too stubborn at this point to see reason, she merely groaned with pent-up frustration as she leaned against the nearby wall and held her head in her paws. Perhaps had Remus maintained a cool head, perhaps if Uturi had followed him down the hall then the events soon to come might have played out differently. Sadly, considering the tragedies that would soon befall those involved, they did not.

Remus let out a huff as he reached the bottom of the stairs, running his paw through his hair as he tried to calm himself down. He didn’t count on such a simple task backfiring though, grunting sharply as one of the dark strands became snagged in the chinks of his gauntlet, “Dammit..!”
The hyena yanked it free, ripping the hair out in the process and grunting further as he thought to himself, ”Why does this have to be so damned difficult? Why is SHE having to complicate things so much!” He sighed, tugging his gauntlet off and looking at his paw, closing it into a fist as he saw the scarred palm beneath.
Remus’s breath grew heavy as thoughts flooded his mind. His contemplation did not remain uninterrupted for long though, as the sound of metallic clattering rang from down one of the halls nearby. Immediately he slipped his gauntlet back on, his ears standing at attention as he trotted out of the foyer, but instead of entering the same corridor as before, he entered the one at the opposite end of the hall. While he was walking down the hallway, Remus realized the source of the noise was most likely the kitchen, guessing the sound was possibly some kind of utensil being disturbed. Though he didn’t know his way around, he assumed it’d be located in the vicinity of the dining room, the hyena making his way into and through the large chamber and heading for a door that lay behind the dinner table, finding it ajar. Remus paused a moment, making sure to place his paw on his sword’s hilt before opening the door completely with the other and stepping into the dark room beyond.
The flickering candlestick sitting on a counter at the other end of the room might have brought comfort in any other situation, but Remus only saw it as another sign of things gone awry. He carefully approached the weak light source, looking around the room carefully as he did so, knowing all too well how easily the candle could be bait for a trap. As he reached the candlestick, the canine pulled his paw away from his sword, moving it to pick the light source up by its handle before looking back around the room. The candle unfortunately didn’t provide much illumination though, and it was actually when Remus heard the sound once more did he find its source as his boot collided with a brass pan on the floor, sending it sliding across the room.
“Shit…” He cursed under his breath, looking around to be sure he hadn’t alerted anyone. It seemed as though he hadn’t, but he was still sure somebody had been here to knock the pan over. Taking a closer look around the room, Remus saw two likely hiding places for any possible intruder. The first was obvious: a doorway on the other side of the room that opened onto stairs leading into some kind of cellar. The other was a man-sized alcove to the left of the doorway that was covered by a white curtain.
Remus began to reach for the curtain, pausing as he glanced down the stairs and into the darkness waiting below and pondering about who or what may be hiding within it, waiting for him to turn his back, “Maybe it’d be best to head down there first…”
Turning and cautiously making his way down the steps, the hyena held his candle down low to better cast its light into the gloom of the basement. Once he reached the bottom of the steps, he could almost see the entirety of the cellar from the candle, though it seemed there were still plenty of hiding spots. 
Thought it wasn’t an especially large room, the basement was crowded with an assortment of crates, barrels, and sacks. Remus assumed they were likely used to store food, making it a pantry of sorts, though the assorted herbs and roots that hung from the ceiling added weight to his hypothesis. Regardless, the warrior was less concerned with the purpose of the containers than what could be lurking behind or even inside of them. The cellar was at least somewhat tidy, the boxes and sacks mostly set along the walls to leave the middle of the room open. It wouldn’t be too difficult for him to sweep the place to find whatever it was that had knocked over the pan in the kitchen.
The hyena boy lifted his candle towards the ceiling, sweeping it about to get a better view before moving over to the nearest object large enough to hide an intruder. Once he drew near the large oaken barrel, he set the candle down on a crate next to it before tapping the barrel’s lid with a gauntlet, hearing a hollow thud from within.
“Hmm, probably not full of grain or oats…” the canine grumbled before gripping the lid’s handle and lifting it up. Glancing inside, Remus was almost disappointed not to find an intruder, but a few measly cabbages instead, wilted and browning, “Great, I guess I’m getting a-head of myself here,” Remus grinned, apparently not understanding the difference between lettuce and the actual vegetables he was punning at.
Closing the lid, Remus glanced about the rest of the basement. Though the room wasn’t huge, he could still count almost thirty good hiding spots, and if there were somebody else in here then turning his back to check them all was a bad idea. Just as the hyena was thinking that he needed a way to narrow his search, he spotted a large chest at the other end of the room, sitting just a few feet away from the back wall.
Grabbing the candle once again, Remus crept closer for a better look. As he drew near, it didn’t take him long to realize that not only was the chest big enough for him to fit inside, but it was also ajar, if only ever-so-slightly: If there was indeed someone hiding down here, then this was the perfect spot.
The hyena warrior drew his sword and steeled himself for a fight as he slid the tip of the blade beneath the chest’s lid and thrust the container open as quickly as he could.
Instead of being greeted by a cornered burglar as he expected, what burst forth was a billowing cloud of dark, pink smoke. Remus tried to back away from it, fearing some kind of poison, but found escape impossible as the thick smoke continued to spread forth from the chest. Soon enough, the cloud had filled almost the entirety of the basement, sending the startled hyena coughing and sputtering as the strange mist was drawn into his lungs.
“Wh-What the fu-Huurrk! Ackk…! Huuuurrrrr….!” The male wheezed, struggling to breath as his vision was clouded by the seemingly thickening miasma. As the smoke showed no signs of dissipating, breathing only became more difficult for Remus as his coughs grew louder and more forceful. Before long the hyena boy was literally choking, dropping his sword and the candle to the ground as he fell to his knees, clutching at his throat as his eyes watered and his vision began to fade.
Just as he felt like he was about to pass out, the smoke finally seemed to clear, and the shadows cast by the spilled and still-lit candle flickered into clarity past the pink haze. As Remus’s wracking coughs settled though, he noticed that the last of the cloud was condensing, pulling together into a singular thick area in front of him. Once this small mass was all that remained, Remus wheezed one last time, sucking in the mist like a vortex until no trace of the bizarre cloud remained.
“What… what was that?! What the hell was THAT?!” He snorted, gasping and huffing as he pulled himself to his feet. He considered his sword and the candle for a moment, before deciding instead to peer into the chest now that he had the chance, finding it to be completely empty, the interior the same exact color that the mist was. Remus dragged one of his fingers across the surface of the interior, drawing his gloved hand closer to his face and finding a film of the pink stuff resting upon it, like fine dust, “Poison…? Have I been…”
Remus’s words were interrupted by another sudden cough. This time however he caught sight of more of the pink mist as it spewed from his nostrils and mouth, “A-Aaahhhhggghhh….!” He groaned, stumbling backwards as an unexpected pain tore through his stomach, “Damn…! Need to get back upstairs…” He grumbled, cringing as his paws gripped the plate armor covering his belly, “Gotta get medicine…”
Before he could even turn to leave however, another pain hit the beleaguered hyena square in the gut. He bent over and grunted harshly through his teeth, his mind reeling as he began to feel nauseous. Slowly, but steadily, he became aware of a different sort of pain around his stomach as he broke out into a cold sweat, moisture dripping from his brow, “Need…. Help... Need... N-Need…”
Remus’s stomach gurgled fiercely and the pain abruptly returned, followed by the new sensation of discomfort he had felt until the hyena boy realized it was his cuirass tightening around his abdomen. His paws shook, suddenly feeling clammy as he moved them over the chestplate’s leather straps, wondering how they could have become pulled so taught. The canine tugged the straps loose, only to feel them slip from his paws as they came undone, the chestplate sliding free as it fell from his body with a loud clatter against the cellar floor. As soon as the warrior had seen what was causing so much pressure, he let out a gasp.
Before him, sticking out a good two feet, was a bulging curve of a belly. His bloated gut sagged over his lap, partially exposed as the chainmail tunic and the shirt beneath rode up its curve. Remus brought a trembling paw to touch the bare, furry flesh, only to feel them suddenly sink into a few inches of flab as his gut surged outwards with disturbing speed. Even as he continued to hold onto his stomach in his armored paws, the hyena could feel it stretching and swelling, growing heavier and heavier in his very grasp, “No, dammit!” He panted, cringing as he coughed out even more of the fattening dust, “N-No, this can’t be happening, not when I was so careful!”
Even as he lamented his current situation, Remus was starting to realize he hadn’t been through the half of it. Not only was his belly continuing to surge outwards, but he was starting to feel the rest of his armor growing increasingly tight as well. Pants and legplates began to squeeze against his ass and thighs as they engorged with fat and cellulite, gauntlets began to creak as the sausage-like digits filled up the spaces within, and a swollen, girthy set of moobs was beginning to strain the shirt and chainmail that rode up his fat belly. In mere seconds the hyena boy was wincing and then groaning in pain as he felt the plate metal armor that had once protected him begin to dig into the bloating, soft flesh of his fattening body. Remus’s paws moved quickly as he cursed under his breath, loosening straps and pulling free his armor and shield as fast as he could, the various pieces of his outfit crashing against the ground next to his breastplate. Even though the hyena warrior had years of practice, he nearly stumbled over as he fumbled with pulling his boots off, his balance thrown off completely by his ballooning body and his rapidly increasing weight. Finally though, he felt sweet relief as he tore free of his chainmail tunic, tossing it on the ground and panting heavily as the pain was ended, the pressure removed with the last bit of armor.
“Emperor’s blade, no wonder everyone in this gods-forsaken town is so fat! Foul sorcery… or alchemy, or whatever it was, it acted so godsdamned fast…” He whimpered, gripping his disgustingly bloated, sagging gut in his now bare paws and hefting it to get an idea of its weight. The hyena groaned as he realized that his new gut’s girth and shape had more in common with an overstuffed sack of flour than the once-toned abs he used to possess, “So many hard years of training, so many bloody years shaping my body into perfect fighting material… gone in an instant… Godsdammit, how could I be so stupid!” He thought, cringing hard.
The hyena shook his head, trying to clear those thoughts from his mind as he focused on the present. He couldn’t let thoughts like that get to him, not now, no matter how true and disturbing. He had fought in enough battles to know that you didn’t survive by giving up when you were knocked down. While this wasn’t exactly a battlefield, there seemed to be some kind of war being waged on this town, no matter how unconventional, and this trap he had triggered was just another attack. Whether it was meant for him or one of the inhabitants of the house didn’t matter, what did was that he had to warn Uturi and the Mistress. While Remus turned towards the stairwell and started to leave the cellar, he took solace in the fact that at least whatever affliction the strange dust had stricken him with, it at least left him thin enough to still move around with ease.
PLINK!
Ears twitching, Remus stopped cold in his tracks. While at first he’d thought the sound had come from somewhere in the room, he soon realized the source was actually much closer as the same noise repeated once, and then twice more. His heart sank in despair as he caught sight of a small round object flying free from his belly, the broken shirt button sliding across the stone ground before him as a terrible realization dawned on the obese canine. The stomach pains he had felt before only confirmed his fears for him as they returned with even more intensity now, signaling that his unnatural weight gain was still far from done. He gripped his belly again and let out a startled yelp as his shirt swung open, letting his hefty, engorged moobs rest freely and fully exposed atop his vast gut. As if jealous of the damage his top had received, the warriors already strained pants began to tear in several different spots, the sounds of shredding fabric breaking the uneasy silence of the cellar as they finally gave out under the boy’s billowing rump and thickening thighs. Not to be outdone however, the seams of Remus’s shirt joined in the chorus of tears and rips, falling to shreds beneath multiplying layers of arm flab. It didn’t take long for Remus to realize he had never stopped growing at all, but only thought he did due to no longer being squeezed continuously by his armor. By the time he had come to this conclusion, the only bit of clothing left clinging to his now morbidly obese body was the cloth underwear he wore, now turned into a thong after being swallowed between his mammoth, pants-shredding buttocks.
“No… huff huff... No, no, no! Why won’t it stop?!” Remus grunted thickly, finding it harder and harder to breath as he grew fatter and fatter, “When will it stop…”
Remus found himself once again trying to pull himself together. He began to move towards the stairwell as fast as he could, though by this point he had already gained so much weight that his thighs were now rubbing together, his massively bulky and heavy body reducing his walk to a slow, laborious waddle. It felt like somebody had tied over a dozen large sandbags to him, his ballooning, blubbery body becoming increasingly burdensome as rolls began to pile onto his massively corpulent form. With each and every step the wretched fatass took, his fat seemed to quake with greater intensity, his elephantine buttocks crashing into each other with every lurching movement before he finally found his escape cut short. As much as he wanted to, as much as he NEEDED to, Remus found it impossible to lift his legs another inch. His energy was already completely spent, the colossal hyena struggling to catch his breath, his fur absolutely drenched with sweat, and his heart pounding as if it were about to burst. 
The worst part?
He had only moved a few feet.
“Dammit… huff huff… gods help me… it can’t end here! Not like this!” He groaned heavily before mustering all the strength he could and shouting, “UTURI! LADY… huff! Huuurrrr…! LADY BERRYWATER! HELP….! P-Please help….”
At first Remus had worried his efforts were in vain, that the cellar was too deep underground and his pleas fell on deaf ears. But as he looked up the stairwell he could see a shadowy figure standing at the top of the stairs, obstructing the faint moonlight that shone in through the kitchen window. Before he could get a good look at it though he heard a loud creak, and then the whole doorway went dark as whomever was standing there watching him closed the cellar door, trying to silence him even further.
“W-What… fuck! No!” Remus growled, the timbre of his voice thickened by his new girth, “DAMMIT, NO! ….hufffff …wheeeeeeeeze! GET BACK HERE… You… Y-You…!”
Another cough sputtered drool and that accursed pink mist past Remus’s thick lips, shaking his triple chins as he desperately struggled to catch his breath. His heart was beating like a drum now, his blood rushing with both exertion and panic. Who was that? Was it the person who had made the noise he had been initially investigating, who had set this trap? What were they doing now? Was Uturi safe? Remus wheezed and gasped, struggling to breath. He was lucky he had been so healthy when he’d gained all this weight, otherwise he’d be having a heart attack right now.
Unfortunately for Remus, despite this infuriating distraction his weight gain hadn’t slowed one bit, the hyena only made aware of this by the sudden tightness of his underwear against his crotch. The overburdened garment lost it’s struggle, snapping apart, the sweat-soaked rag falling to the ground between his chubby footpaws. He was thankful for what was now an apron of a belly, if only because it allowed the titanic and nude warrior to retain SOME modesty. As the weight piled on, Remus’s knees trembling and energy all but spent, he found he had no choice but to collapse, falling onto his mammoth ass as gravity finally pulled his immense body to the ground. The now nearly 700 pound hyena’s flabby body was still jiggling from the impact when he began to try to get back onto his feet. Despite having said feet placed firmly on the ground, and despite his still powerful muscles buried beneath all that fat, Remus could barely lift his ass an inch, achieving little more than causing his still swelling body to wobble even more violently. He was stuck on his big, fat ass and slowly starting to resemble a bloated, grey-spotted blob instead of the hyena warrior he really was.
“Come on, godsdamn you…! Hurrr… huff…!” He whimpered, attempting to rock his huge body forwards as he pushed his feet harder against the ground, only struggling more and more as he steadily grew heavier and his energy was drained even further, each attempt becoming more futile as time went on, “This can’t… nnnnffff… this can’t be happening…. Huff… not to me dammit… Grrr…! I just need to…. Huff.. huff… I just need to get up… Come on!”
Stuck on his ass, completely helpless, the Hyena’s mind began to fill with panicked thoughts just as his body continued to fill with fat. The image of the huge, brass bathtub returned to his mind, the one he had thought obscenely large and yet quickly enough it would be too small for him to fit in… if that wasn’t already the case. The rapid gain of the Berrywaters that once seemed impossible made so much sense now that he was a victim of it, and yet Remus was powerless to tell anyone of it now. He whimpered weakly as he tried one last time to get to his feet, but now found his legs almost impossible to move due to all of the energy he had wasted and the rings of fat now encircling them both.
Now nearing almost 850 pounds, the canine adventurer certainly wasn’t going anywhere in his current state. He stopped struggling once he realized that he could barely feel his legs, let alone move them now, and instead he fought mentally to stay as calm as he could. The titanic,  obese hyena gnashed his teeth together fiercely, somewhat due to the now ever present pain surging through his guts as the poisonous dust continued to assault his body, but mostly because of the mix of humiliation, dread, and self-loathing he now felt. He cursed himself a thousand times for his stupidity, for making a foolish rookie mistake that could very well leave his body in this horrible state for the rest of his life, effectively destroying what little dreams he had. 
As he continued to bloat even now, his immobile, fat-swaddled body spread steadily across the floor. He grunted and winced with discomfort as he vaguely felt his humongous bulk crawl across his armor, low, rumpling groans escaping from under his tremendous ass as it slowly crushed the sturdy plate metal into scrap. A slight warmth indicated that his bloating rear was now approaching the still-lit candle that lay on the ground, the heat growing with intensity before a brief spike of pain shot through his blubbery body as the surging flesh snuffed the tiny flame out, sending the already dim room completely into darkness. He wondered briefly how long it would take for one of the servant girls to find him like this, and how they could possibly get him out of here if they couldn’t fix this, when the door at the top of the steps creaked open once again.
Pale light briefly flooded the dark room, illuminating Remus’s view only slightly before a shadowy figure once again obstructed it and the door swung shut fully with a slam. The steps creaked and groaned as the figure approached through the pitch-black dark, whistling merrily as it drew closer to the immobile and helplessly obese hyena boy. Whoever it was stopped their jaunty tune once they drew near, and Remus felt a small hand press against his vast belly momentarily, then pull back.
“Ach! Now what’ve we got here?” A female voice with a heavy, westerlands accent said, “Let’s git a good look at yeh now, shall we then?”
Remus heard a soft scraping before a diffused light filled the room once more as the person lit a match. The hyena grunted as he tried to look down at the woman, but found that his head had become just as immobilized as his legs due to the rings of fat surrounding it. He gave up trying to crane his fat neck almost immediately when he realized that even if he could look down, his gargantuan gut and moobs would likely just eclipse the speaker from view.
“A’yup, hard ta tell just from lookin’ at ya, but you sound like a lad, and… och, SMELL like a lad! Yep, definitely a lad ya are, what a shame…” She continued before delivering a firm kick to Remus’s gut with her boot, sending it wobbling wildly, “See, that’s strange! Complicates things a little. Only man that’s s’posed to be in this house is the bull, and none o’ the servants are canine according to what we know…”
The hyena grunted sharply from the pain of the kick, letting out a powerful belch that expelled even more of the pink gas, then growled as fury began to fill him. This wasn’t one of the servants at all, most likely it was whoever had set the trap. Remus briefly felt satisfied that the suspicions about an intruder were proved to be correct, but that satisfaction was quickly mollified when he realized said suspicions had landed him in this tight spot. The gigantic warrior tried desperately to speak, finding it even harder than before as his fat-choked voice groaned out, deep and strained, “Uhhhnn… huff…. Huuuhhh… who… mnnf… Who are… nhhn….!”
“Having trouble there, are we tubbo? Hah! ‘Who am I?’ Who are YOU! That’s the problem here. Seems the other scouts’ reports of ‘interlopers’ is  true… Said you was a ‘hyena man’, they did! And judgin’ by these stretched ol’ spots o’ yours…” She said as Remus felt her hand again on his sweat-soaked fur, rubbing his fat gut, “I’m guessin’ they were right… Hehehe…”
The growl in Remus’s throat only rose further, but it was weakened and lazy, barely threatening as spittle flew past his plump lips and landed on a slope of fat chins and neckfat, “When I geh…. Huff huff huff...! Get… thin… urrrghhh… enough to... unnnghh….!”
The woman let out a hearty laugh before she kicked Remus’s belly even harder, exacerbating the pain roaring through his insides and causing him to let out a thick, husky yelp, “You don’t get it, do you!” She laughed as she walked around his tremendous body. At the very least the hyena’s expansion seemed to finally be slowing to a halt, but that was little consolation when he was already over half a ton and completely immobilized. The hyena boy could barely lift his arms anymore as they rested on the sagging, plump rolls of his belly, “Nah, you just do not…” The voice said, now behind him, “You’re stuck like this hon… Ye’ll never be able to get on those chubby little feet o’ yours again! And ye’ll most definitely never be able to get any kind o’ revenge on me… Oh you poor tubby bastard….”
Remus’s heart thundered, his blood pumping with rage and slight fear as he tried to growl louder, drool spilling down his chins. Again this was more sad than frightening, especially since his snarls were constantly interrupted by desperate gasps and wheezes. The once healthy warrior groaned as his growls ceased completely, the massive hyena’s fur and even the black mane that coated his head absolutely dripping with sweat as he realized with a twinge of shock that simply getting angry was causing him unbearable exertion. By now the woman had reached the chest that had caused this whole mess and was inspecting it, admiring her handiwork.
“My, my, they said that stuff were magic! Looks like they were right about that, haha! Only put a little bit o’ it in this chest, small pile really, and it made you fatter ‘an a prize sow on market day!” She said, giving his monstrous ass a smack and sending it jiggling, “Oi! Who am I kiddin’, yer so fat you’d make a hippopotamus blush! Ahahah! Pah-Theh-Tick! And oooohhhh, look here now…”
Remus grunted softly as he felt something being tugged free from beneath his humungous ass, realizing that it was his sword, “Hah! Quite a nice blade you’ve got here big guy! Strong enough to survive being sat on by you, amazing aint it! A wee bit large, but I’m sure I can get a few gold for it at a shop… YOU sure as fuck won’t be needing it anyways!”
A whimper escaped from Remus’s lips now, his ears flattening in shame at the momentary but audible lapse in his resolve. He regained his composure soon enough though. If he couldn’t kick this person’s ass, then at least he could try to get some information out of them he figured, “Why… why are… huff… rooohhhhh…  urrghhhh…” 
Well, at least he tried…
“Shut up, yeh godsdammed mongrel!” The woman said before kicking Remus in his flabby side, eliciting another pained bark from the hyena warrior, “Your gonna need to save what little breath ya have for MY questions!” She said as she walked around in front of him again, “For example… the scouts said ya were with a ladyfriend… a lil’ doe girl… Is it true then?”
Remus didn’t say anything, the only sounds coming from him the constant panting and the occasional stomach gurgle and grunt.
The woman wasn’t silent however, and Remus’s ears perked slightly, his breath quickening as he heard his own blade slowly scrape across the ground threateningly, “I’m gonna ask you again fatty boy. There anything ya can tell me about that deer friend of yours…? What’s ‘er name…”
Again, Remus refused to even let the lady know he was listening, and even as he felt the blade she had took lightly pressing into his fat stomach he did his best to ignore it.
“Last chance fatty!” The woman said in a sing-song voice before pushing the blade more firmly into Remus’s overflowing belly fat, starting to draw blood and staining his gray fur, “Tell me what you two are doin’ here and I’ll let you live…”
As the blade sank into him even just that little bit, Remus wanted to cry out in pain. Instead he caught hold of his scream before it could escape his throat and channeled it into a growl. Unlike his previous attempts however, this bark had some bite to it, even if he could only keep it up for a few seconds before it succumbed to his wheezing gasps. It seemed to work though, to the hyena’s surprise, as moments later he felt the woman remove the blade.
“Ya have guts lad, both literally and in the moxie sense o’ the word,” The voice said, “But it won’t matter a bit in the end. We were hopin’ to take the cows out without fuss, but you two fucked that up right proper... So were gonna have to go with ‘Plan B’…”
“Plan… buuhh… urrfff…! Hnnghhh…! Plan… B…?” Remus grunted, dread starting to fill his massive body once again.
“Aye! See, we got a buncha boys waitin’ outside, and once I sneak back out there and give ‘em the signal… well…” She chuckled to herself before heading slowly towards the stairs, “We didn’t want things to get messy, but you nosin’ about down here leaves us no choice. Shoulda just kept your fat nose to yourself. Don’t worry about deer girl though, were gonna keep ‘er alive for the time being so she’ll tell us what you won’t.”
“Dohh… don’t… mnnff… you…!”
“Relax tubby! Like I said we’ll keep her alive for the time being… Can’t promise ya after she squeals though, heheheh… I’ve got a bunch o’ that pretty pink pollen left over you see… And I’m miiiighty curious how much of it that skinny little bitch can eat before she pops like a big, fat deer balloon…” The woman cackled as she snuffed out the match, once again sending the cellar into darkness, “As for you? Well I don’t know what my bosses will do with you once they get their mitts on ya, or even how they’ll get you out of here, but that’s something for you to fret over.”
Remus heard a series of creaks echoing through the dark as his unseen adversary slowly climbed her way up the steps, “Don’t worry though, I’m sure you’re proper fucked, lardass. Unless ya got an in with Lord L, then anyone who goes up to his castle aint ever seen again… Hell, that’s the only reason I’m blabbin’ so much to you! But oi, look on the bright side: At least you’ve got a nice, big cushy seat to listen to all the ruckus that’s gonna happen upstairs. I’m sure you won’t have to listen hard to hear all them screams, even down here! Anyways, toodle-loo, tubby!” And with that, the door at the top of the steps opened one last time before the shadowy figure stepped through into the kitchen beyond.
As the door closed, the room was once again filled with darkness and silence. As the hyena was left alone with his thoughts, regrets, and anxieties, he realized he would have almost preferred the taunts of his enemy. What was going to happen to him now that he was almost 1,500 pounds of useless canine blubber? What the hell was this ‘pollen’ and how could it have done so much damage to his once fit frame? And worst of all, what would happen to the Berrywaters and their servants, what would happen to Uturi?
All these questions, all these worries, maybe they could have been avoided if he wasn’t so goddsdamned stupid. He let out a whine, only a little happy that nobody could hear the pitiful noise now. The one thing he’d been trained from youth to do, the one thing he’d still wanted to do deep down even after he had left the military of his far away homeland was to protect those who needed it. To protect people like those in the house above. 
He couldn’t now: He’d never be able to again.
Another groan rippled through the immobile hyena’s hideously fat stomach once again, but this time it wasn’t painful. This discomfort wasn’t a direct result of the poison, instead it was caused by something that disgusted the hyena even more, something that would no doubt only grow over time: Hunger.