Tale 4-5 - Hungry For Glory 1
#21 of Treetop Shorts Collection
Elisha was a rather fond of her swords and sorcery game. The virtual reality interface made the game feel pretty real, which made it all the more enjoyable for her. When her friends insisted she install a new mod for the game, she had her doubts. After all, user-made content was kind of hit-and-miss a lot of the time. But it came pretty highly recommended. The real question was, just what did this mod do to the game? And was it something she was interested in at all?
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"Alright, let's just get this mod installed and see what it's all about." Elisha scrolled through her heads up display, locating the package her friends told her she just had to try out. The transparent pane of illumination showed the directory tree as she hunted. Within only a few moments, she found the installer and activated it.
"Glutton for Punishment mod. Sounds like it might make this game a lot more challenging!" The wolf grinned as she watched the prompt go through its usual installation details. Once it was completed, it notified her as such and she dismissed the window.
The world around her didn't look any different, just a typical swords and sorcery style open world dungeon crawling game. She didn't feel any different, the usual sensory input remained as it was for this kind of VR. Maybe she had to find an enemy to fight to see some sort of change.
With a flick of the wrist, Elisha entered a command through her HUD to properly equip herself for combat. In a flash of brilliant light, she was suddenly dressed in armor and leather, doing little to properly cover her. A large sword hung across her back and a mystical gauntlet covered her right hand. The sultry paladin was ready for battle! Off she ran, charging forward, expecting enemies to lunge from the bushes or from behind the trees, her cleavage bouncing visibly with every footfall. It was a fine means to distract her enemies. 'Taunt' was one of her highest level skills.
After about five minutes, her gait slowed and her expression turned to disappointment. Finally, she came to a stop and she frowned.
"Well this is just boring. Did someone come through here and clear this area out before I arrived?" She grumbled, surprised by a sudden new sensation that had not been there before. Her stomach growled loudly. She was hungry. Sure they had implemented something like that already, but nowhere near as realistic. It was meant more just as a way to notify the player they needed to feed the character. This was far more realistic.
"Did they amp up the sensory input? Feels like I'm actually hungry out in the real world." She checked her stats in the game to make sure, and sure enough, 'Katiayna The Pure', something of a joke among her friends, was quite famished.
"Guess I'll head to a town and get something to eat." With that, she turned south and marched her way down the path. So far, the new mod wasn't really amazing her.
A short distance down the road, a creature darted out from the brush across her path, startling her. When Elisha finally calmed herself, she sighed seeing it was only a little rabbit. Just as she was about to begin down the road once more, the 'rolling for initiative' prompt appeared.
"Really? For a little bunny rabbit? Are you kidding me?" The prompt scrolled through the possible results until it settled on one. It was quite low. Then she saw the rabbit's initiative appear. When it stopped, it showed at least three times her value, "What!?"
Immediately, the fluffy little white bunny lunged at her, its eyes blazing green, his mouth open with gnarled, drooling fangs. This was no ordinary rabbit! It pounced and struck, landing a surprisingly considerable blow!
Elisha cried out in surprise as she was knocked back, a good sixth of her health taken by the attack.
"The hell!?" She drew her sword and frowned, "Alright, let's do this!" She swung, missing the lapin by only fractions of an inch before it attacked again, landing another blow. This time, it took more than just a sixth. She was down below three quarters of her health meter at this point. With a growl, she shoved her gauntlet forward and commanded its use, selecting a stun spell. The gems running along its curves lit up and a blast of light rushed forth from her palm, striking the evil hare. It cried out and fell to the ground, twitching.
"Down for three turns, more than I'll need!" She spun her sword and lifted it high, still somewhat disappointed by the mod, and then a new prompt appeared. She paused.
--Select a command: attack, fatal blow, defend, wait, run away, swallow--
Most of these commands she was familiar with. She had forgotten it would appear when an enemy had fallen prone like this. She would have to change the game back to active control to get rid of these in-battle prompts. But, that last one puzzled her.
"Swallow?" She had forgotten to turn off voice command. The option was selected and an scripted animation began to run, taking control of her. The wolf put her sword away and she reached out, gripping the hare by the scruff. It twitched as she lifted it into the air. And then something rather strange happened. She opened her mouth and began shoving the creature in!
Had she been able to talk, she would have cried out in protest. She crammed it in strongly, working her jaws around the sizeable meal, gulping loudly and wetly until the rabbit was just a lump in her throat. She swallowed hard one last time and the bulge slid down. In seconds, her stomach surged outward as the rabbit landed inside with a bounce. A noisome belch escaped the lupine as she was released from the automated sequence. She whimpered and rubbed her jaw a little, feeling a little sore.
"The hell was that!? Literally swallow!?" She looked down at her belly, poking the rather noticeable protrusion, feeling rather uncomfortably full. Part of her was horrified, and part of her was quietly intrigued. The plates of her armor covering her abdomen strained, forced outward, stretching unrealistically to deal with the added mass in her middle. Whoever designed the texture didn't intend it to work like this. She groaned, holding her gut as another prompt appeared before her.
--Select a command: hold, release, digest--
Her stomach growled and gurgled angrily at her, demanding it be permitted to do what it wanted to do with its occupant. Elisha moaned again and leaned forward a bit.
"Fine! Digest! Just end the battle already!" The gurgles from below grew audibly louder as a series of prompts appeared, showing how much damage the rabbit was taking to its health meter. It wasn't much. Again the prompt appeared and she selected digest again, making a change to the settings. From there, it switched over to active from passive control and the turn-based combat became automated. The rabbit's stun also faded and it immediately began to squirm wildly.
It almost knocked the wolf onto her rump as she felt the little creature fight so strongly. She couldn't decide if she was in pain, or if she was actually enjoying it. It was then she noticed something. Every point of health the rabbit lost, she gained. Digesting the little sucker was healing her! Maybe there was something to this after all! After a few moments of constant 'acid damage' as she could only imagine it was, the victory prompt appeared. She had killed the rabbit! But her stomach was still pretty big. It hadn't shrunk at all. It only stopped moving. And she found herself missing the wriggling.
"Ugh... good, it's over. What kind of exp did I get from the fight? Can't be much."
What scrolled past showed only minimal exp for the kill, but the method carried with it bonuses. She had gained experience in 'swallow', as well as 'digest'. And while those skills increased, it provided a little additional general experience too, not to mention a small addition to her gold.
"Huh, bonus exp for the method. Okay... not so bad." From there, she saw both swallow and digest gain a level, granting another tiny bonus to experience. The level-up showed her what she could gain proficiency in.
Practicing 'swallow' would let her gulp down larger targets or get better at keeping them from escaping. Either option provided a tiny bonus to the other so it wasn't only one option over the other. Practicing 'digest' would allow her to deal more damage to her target each round, counter resistance effects, or increase her capacity. Absentmindedly, she made a choice for both, not sure she really cared one way or the other. As she read and chose, her belly gurgled away, forcing her to belch one more time. When it happened, it forced her to look back down. What she found was a much smaller swell, and shrinking further.
"Oh good... it does go away." The hit point prompts continued, her life meter being replenished and her hunger stat shrinking, but not going away. Finally, her middle was trim once more and she sighed in relief, no longer feeling so full. Her health was restored, and she even got one or two short buffs for her troubles! Suddenly, this mod was seeming a little more interesting. And as her hunger bar started to fill back up again, she began to consider utilizing it again.
The trip to town was peppered with small encounters, mostly rabbits. As she worked through them, she continued to use this new 'swallow' attack of hers, using it as a finishing move until she realized something. The more health the creature had when she swallowed it, the more health she could recover, and the more 'digest' and 'swallow' experience she earned. And the lower her health was, the bigger her bonuses would be. She could let them take her to close to death, stun them while they were at full health, then swallow them and gain the maximum amount of experience Possible! And level both skills quickly! It was a nice little trick!
Soon, she started trying to balance her stats in all attributes of both skills. She wanted to see just how far this could go. Soon, she was swallowing down two, even three enemies without beginning to digest until they were all eaten. The bigger her belly, the more she enjoyed it! And the more she stuffed into herself at one time, the greater the bonuses. Not game-breaking huge, but enough to be worth the effort. And the stimulation.
As she entered town, she was working off a somewhat sizable kobold, roughly half her height, armor and all. She couldn't wear it and selling it wouldn't yield enough gold to be worth it. She gave her sizable gut a firm pat as it gurgled away, the creature squirming and complaining angrily as it ran low on health. When it finally reached zero on its life meter, Elisha whimpered, disappointed that the wriggles had stopped. She had grown to rather enjoy them over the last half hour. As her noticeable belly began to shrink, making rather lewd noises, she entered the tavern, looking for bounties or quests.
"Sorry Miss, but there just isn't much that needs doing around here that I know of. Might want to ask some of the other folks. They might have a task for ya. Can I get you something to eat while you're here?" The barkeeper, a tall, heavyset bear, tilted his head softly.
Elisha chuckled, hiccuping loudly as she rubbed her still rounded tummy, "No thank you. I'm actually not terribly hungry right now. Maybe later though. Thanks for the tip." She turned about, belly still sticking out a bit as she looked around. Her hunger meter was almost completely empty at this point. What she saw were only a few patrons seated around the tavern. None of them had the tell-tale quest symbol over their heads, which meant anything they might have to say would provide a quest only if she talked to them long enough.
Unceremoniously, the paladin crossed over to the nearest table where a young, slender tiger sat, dressed in the robes of a white mage. With a heavy plop, Elisha landed in one of the chairs at his table.
"Hey there. You a healer?" She grinned toothily.
"Yes. I am. Can I help you?" He seemed somewhat annoyed at her sudden intrusion.
"My name is Katiyana The Pure, and I was wondering if I could help you actually." She leaned back, trying to keep from rubbing her stomach with too much vigor.
"I don't believe so. Not unless you're willing to escort me somewhere. There would be many dangers." He sounded just as pre-programmed and modestly stilted as all NPC's did.
Elisha chuckled and let a tiny burp escape her as her gut smoothed back out finally, "I'm game. What kind of dangers are we talking?"
"Many and great. I am traveling to the Marble Palace to the east, seeking enlightenment and furthering my abilities there. Between here and there lies a dark forest filled with monstrous creatures that I cannot overpower on my own. There are even rumors of a dragon in the area. Perhaps with a paladin such as you at my side, I could make it through. Do you accept?"
The wolf pondered the notion for a bit, reading over the prompt showing the possible benefits as well as a short description of what encounters she could expect. At the bottom of the pane was the usual 'accept' or 'decline' choice. She tapped 'accept' without any delay.
"Thank you Katiyana. My name is Salano and I welcome your assistance. We can leave at any time." He stood, providing the 'temporarily joined your party' fanfare. Then came a new prompt.
--Swallow ally?: Yes, no--
--By swallowing your ally, you can keep them safe in your stomach and will not digest them, even if you swallow and digest enemies. If your ally is a magic user, they can cast spells both inside and outside you, attacking or supporting. You can release them at any time. When you swallow an ally, you will be subject to encumbrance rules based on your level, strength, and inventory. Ally cannot empty your hunger meter.--
A broad grin spread across her lips as she came to a decision.
About an hour later, the wolf was leaving town. She had paid the local blacksmith a visit to upgrade her armor. It didn't cover her stomach now, which was quite enormous and spherical, which she was loving. She chuckled and held her vast gut as Salano bounced away in her stomach, swaying with her every decidedly burdened step.
"Hope you're comfy in there kiddo. It's gonna be a long trip." She hiccuped, shuffling away at a slower pace than she would had it only been a rabbit or kobold. In this one instance, she rather enjoyed being 'encumbered'.
"I am well, thank you. Never have I met a paladin who could so completely protect someone. You truly are a hero." It had to be text added by the mod, and it amused her.
"Yep, that's me, Bottomless Katiyana. Hero of hunger!" She snickered, realizing the title needed work. She would have plenty of time to figure it out on this quest. She was going to grind her gluttony skills like mad. That dragon sounded like a tasty fight too!