{"sf1_id":594054,"sf2_id":"dmB90Gye","title":"The Unintended Curse Ch17","author":"Tootall","words":1599,"posted_at":"2013-09-23T01:49:00.000Z","tags":["Blob Monster","Character Development","Stroy progression","Tootall"],"url":"https://fse.anthro.fr/stories/594054-the-unintended-curse-ch17","original_url":"https://sofurry.com/s/dmB90Gye","image_url":"https://cdn.sofurryfiles.com/submissions/thumbnails/2a/4b/2a4bc4ac-99d2-40f9-b8c3-885bd8d6d3bb","description":"#17 of The Unintended Curse\n\nQuick update to the story and hopefully the continuation of the story. I hope to get a bit deeper into the storyline and to that make it a bit more Realistic.","content":"THE UNINTENDED CURSE\n\nCh. 17\n\n\u0026nbsp;\n\n\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp; To say the least, our stay there at the lord's estate was a nice change of pace.\u0026nbsp; Don't get me wrong, spending time at sea had been an experience, but staying in such fine accommodations as that of a lord's estate was just what was needed to get back our land legs.\u0026nbsp; To which the three; four if you include that of the blob now controlling the lord, of us really enjoyed the stay.\u0026nbsp; The only problem was that our stay at the lord's estate wasn't getting us any closer to the elves homeland and to that our individual goals.\u0026nbsp; To which found me at the door of the lord's private study about ready to proceed with the plans for the next leg of our journey.\n\n\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp; \"Enter,\" said a voice from within after I'd give the door a polite rapping with my host's knuckles.\u0026nbsp; To which I depressed the latch on the door and entered into the room.\u0026nbsp;To say the least, the lord of this place was probably one of the most wealthy/prosperous people I'd ever come across, and to I wondered how he'd come by all this wealth made me feel a little uneasy.\u0026nbsp; \"A little different than what you expected, isn't it,\" said a voice that drew my attention from the ornate tapestries on the walls to a figure sitting behind a desk.\n\n\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp; At first glance my host's heart skipped a beat at the mere sight of the man who'd nearly ended his life, but it was only a moment before I had his heart quiet down and back to a normal rhythm.\u0026nbsp; \"I knew that you were fairly well off, but all this,\" I said as I swept a hand across the room, indicating everything \"is a bit much.\"\u0026nbsp;The figure across the room laughed once, replaced his quill back into the inkwell, and lounged back in his chair.\n\n\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp; \"One of the many perks of a successful merchant,\" he stated simply as he gave me a very pleased smile and to that motioned for me to take a chair that was before the large/oak desk that he sat at.\u0026nbsp; The seat itself was lush and very comfortable; another sign of a successful businessman/merchant, and it seemed that this lord loved to show off all his riches.\u0026nbsp; \"And what brings you to my study?\"\n\n\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp; It was a bit unnerving to have to deal with the lord in this manner; since in truth he was actually under the control of a piece of me or more precisely to that of a blob monster, but prying ears could ruin it all for us and to that our newest acquisition to our growing support.\u0026nbsp; In short, if anyone were to find out that the lord had been taken over by a parasite/blob-monster then he'd be taken away and there would go all our chances to use him to further our goals.\u0026nbsp;\"Through our...interactions, it's come to my attention that we may be taking advantage of our host and don't wish to put him out for too much longer.\"\u0026nbsp; This got the lord's eyebrow to rise, but the meanings behind my words eventually sunk in and he nodded.\u0026nbsp; \"I'm sorry to say that our party has pressing matters elsewhere and to that we must depart.\"\n\n\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp; The lord gave a bit of a nod to that and leaned forward in his chair.\u0026nbsp; \"That is a bit unfortunate,\" he stated simply, \"For I heard from one of your associates that she was getting to enjoy her time here.\"\u0026nbsp; I couldn't help but sigh at that and knew that he was referring to that of the younger sister elf.\u0026nbsp; I really couldn't blame her for enjoying her stay here; I mean after all she'd endured from her captivity to here there hadn't been that long for either sister to really relax and let down the guard.\u0026nbsp; \"But I believe it to be for the best.\u0026nbsp; After all, it would not do for my business to have un-collared elf slaves running about my property.\"\u0026nbsp; I couldn't help but raise up my eyebrows in confusion but at the lord's slow nod I knew that what he'd just said had some more meaning to it.\u0026nbsp; As if to quench or answer my confusion, the lord straightened, pushed a few sheets of parchment forward, and indicated that I should look at them.\n\n\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp; Not really understanding what this was all about, but knowing that if he found it interesting or something I needed to look at, then I'd probably find it interesting as well.\u0026nbsp; Heck, he was a-part of me at one time so it did seem reasonable that something attracting his attention would do so for me as well.\u0026nbsp; Picking up the parchments I glanced over them for a brief moment and raised an eyebrow.\u0026nbsp; \"And these are supposed to mean...what exactly?\"\u0026nbsp; I asked as the papers only showed a random bit of number, but to the trained/lord's eye they meant...\n\n\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp; \"Product,\" he stated simply and to that I began to look at the numbers in a bit different light/way.\u0026nbsp; \"Those numbers represent Product and to that...\"\n\n\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp; \"A lot of product,\" I interrupted, to which I looked up to him and saw him nod.\u0026nbsp; \"But that doesn't really mean much, I mean, in order to earn something you have to sell something.\"\u0026nbsp; To which the lord nodded slightly to and rolled his hand as if saying that I should continue along that line of thought.\u0026nbsp; \"But what is this 'product' he moves?\"\n\n\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp; \"And that is the right question,\" the lord smiled/nodded, and then stood up to walk around his desk.\u0026nbsp; \"I've been going through the books and I can tell that this 'product' that is moved is bringing in quite a tidy sum of funds.\"\u0026nbsp; To which was evident by the plush furnishings but I was getting the distinct impression that he was goading me on.\n\n\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp; \"If you've gone through his records, then you've probably found out what that product is.\"\u0026nbsp; To which he stopped in mid step, lowered his head, and let out a long/drawn-out sigh.\n\n\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp; \"Indeed, I have.\"\u0026nbsp; But even though he found out something such as that, he didn't really seem to find that information all that pleasing.\u0026nbsp; \"And you're not going to like what I found.\"\u0026nbsp; It was this that got me out of the chair as well and to that standing next to him, but when I placed a hand on his shoulder he seemed to slump a bit more.\u0026nbsp; \"They're...elves.\"\u0026nbsp; At hearing those words I felt a sudden lump in my throat and it became hard to stand.\n\n\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp; He was there in an instant and to that helped me to sit my host down in the chair I'd just vacated.\u0026nbsp; 'Elves...he deals in elves...,' my mind repeated the words over and over again, as if saying them could push through the doubt of disbelief at hearing what I so didn't want to hear.\u0026nbsp; Eventually my head raised and I saw the lord kneeling before me and to which he gave me a nod.\u0026nbsp; \"How long has he been doing this...,\" was what I wanted to ask, but the lord just shook his head and sighed.\n\n\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp; \"That really isn't that important right now.\"\u0026nbsp; I was about to ask him what could be more important, but the lord simply held up a hand forestalling my question.\u0026nbsp; \"In truth, I'm glad you came to me to inform me that you want to leave,\" he stood up but didn't take his eyes from meeting mine.\u0026nbsp;\"It so happens that a client is going to be coming by in a few days to...inspect or possibly purchase several...products.\"\u0026nbsp; He let the last word slowly as if saying it was a bit hard on the tongue and I knew that he knew more than he was letting on.\u0026nbsp; After a bit he finally turned to look at me over his shoulder and I couldn't help but let out a long breath.\n\n\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp; \"You know more about the situation with, whoever is coming; so I'll defer to you and whatever ideas you've got,\" I said back to him to which he nodded and looked away.\n\n\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp; \"Like I said before,\" he paused for a moment before he began to pace back and forth, \"It's a good thing that you're deciding to leave fairly soon.\u0026nbsp; But now knowing what we know about what type of product I deal in, what are we going to do about those products?\"\u0026nbsp; He paused in his pacing to face me and nodded for me to finish the train of thought or more precisely to come up with a solution to helping those elves that were going to be sold off to this person.\u0026nbsp; \"Not to mention, I don't believe that you want to leave this, (The lord gestured to his body) person off without punishing him for his deeds,\" to which I nodded to him.\n\n\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp; Still feeling a bit paranoid of being overheard from prying ears, I reached on over, took out a blank piece of parchment, dipped a quill into an ink well, and began to write out my ideas for not only that of the \\*\\*\\*hole of a lord, for that of the elves that were still held within the lord's prison, and finally how my counterpart that was within the lord to rejoin/merge back with me.\u0026nbsp; Once finished I handed the drying ink/parchment to the lord and after quickly reading over it he gave me a nod in agreement to my plans for all.\n\n  \n  \n\n","series":{"name":"The Unintended Curse","previous":"https://fse.anthro.fr/stories/560136-the-unintended-curse-ch16.json","next":"https://fse.anthro.fr/stories/736122-the-unintended-curse-ch18.json"}}