Picture made by the wonderfull  Faudka

This is a story about ocelot adventurers, lizard people, and gingerbread type traps. It has humor but ultimately it is a PG ish horror story with some darker moments.

If you have ever read a story by me, then you know where this is leading too.

Enjoy!


Have a Heart Adventure trap


Gark tensed, having heard the sounds of footsteps approaching. This was it, he thought, his moment had come. He stretched his limbs as much as he could to keep them from cramping up, but there wasn’t much room in his hiding place. It was mainly a hole in the dungeon wall that he could cram his scaly hide into.

If not for his hidey hole, the red paint on his scales would stand out from a distance, as were the rules of the Great Hunt.

Only the best hunter would be bestowed the honor of Grand Hunter… as well as the rewards. Grak would prove to his tribe that he wasn’t a runt by bringing down the biggest, baddest prey, and most dangerous prey.

And there was nothing more dangerous than an Adventurer.

“For the tribe!” Gark made a blood curdling shout as he leapt out of his hiding place, thrusting his spear downward at the heart of the beast before him.

THWOK

Is the sound one’s skull makes as they are caught in mid air by the fluffy paw of an adventurer.

“Let go! Let go!” Gark squirmed in the adventurers paw, kicking his legs in mid air, unable to reach the beast with his spear no matter how hard he tried to stab her.

The adventurer, a decidedly feline one, raised an eyebrow, unable to comprehend the hissing noises of the little monsters language.”A Karbu Beast, here?” She sighed, flicking the little reptile away from her with the least amount of effort. “Lame.”

Gark crashed into the wall and slumped to the floor, struggling to shake the stars out of his eyes.

He half expected to see the adventurer trying to finish him off, but the feline was already moving further into the dungeon.

“H-hey! Don’t you ignore me! I need to slay you!” He hissed before leaping to his feet and chasing after her.

The adventurer was female, about average height for an ocelot, even if she did tower over the tiny lizard. Her frame would be considered ‘burly’, her muscles tempered by living in and out of taverns. Even so, the ocelot’s casual assortment of armor left her small but growing beer belly exposed.

“Now what was the next landmark I needed?” The ocelots words were unknown to Gark, but he could tell by her tone that she had lost interest in the reptile trying to kill her, that and she completely turned her back to him to pull out a map.

“DIEEEEEEE-!” He leapt again, only to have the adventurer back hand him in midair. It was as if she were swatting a fly.

“Blast it, I know I should have turned left at the Statues of Despair,” The ocelot suppressed a growl from her stomach. “Rooms filled with treasure, my spotted butt! All I found so far are dusty ruins and one small, annoying… KARBU!”

Gark’s latest charge was stopped short as the ocelot turned, her heavy war ax crashing into the stone before him. He made a ‘meep’ before stumbling backwards, landing on his tail end.

Lifting him by his snout, the adventurer looked at him with a steady, fearsome glare. She seemed to examine him, her eyes boring through his scrawny body rather than at him. “Puny monster.” She chuffed, “Get lost before I make a boot out of ya.”

The ocelot dropped the lizard onto the floor, and without any more fanfair, proceeded to march off into the dungeon as Gark could only scurry off to safety.

Tears were running down his cheeks.

What kind of monster did he just try to fight?

_____---__----

As it turned out, a rather lost one.

Talia ‘Terror’ Turvy let her shoulders slump as she came to yet another four way intersection. “Is this… the same intersection I was at an hour ago?”

She turned the map one way then the next, starting to realize why she got it at a discounted price.

In a fit of anger, the ocelot tore the map to shreds.

“Who needs a map anyway. I can do this the old fashioned way.” The feline cracked her neck and rolled her shoulders. “Good ol’ adventurer intuition will save the day. I will be led by my SKILLS! And EXPERIENCE! And awesome good looks and…”

The ocelot sniffed the air, “The fresh smell of cooking brownies?”

Of all the smells one expected to find in a dungeon, chocolate was not one of them. “I have to be hallucinating.” She sniffed the air again. Gradually Talia’s walk turned into a run, following the trail of baked goods to their source. “This is hunger getting to me. Or I’m about to stumble into a dragon’s kitchen…”

The latter comment made her slowdown, forcing herself to be more cautious.

The light coming from the doorway ahead was the first she had seen other than glowing crystals. The light is warm, and spilled from a narrow opening in the hallway before her.

Talia came to a stop, shielding her eyes from the bright light before her eyes focus…

...on heaven.

If one thought heaven involved more food than one could shovel down their gullet in one's lifetime.

The room before her was set up like a miniature indoor park. The square shaped room was divided into four different sections, each with their own garden. A large fountain was in the center of the garden, with cushioned beds along the outer edges.

And it was all made out of chocolate.

Or some kind of sweet, Talia admitted she could not name what every type of treat the plants were made out of, only that the flowers, the trees, the plant life, were all made out of something sweet and milky. The furniture, the tables in the center of each garden that were laden with cakes, were made out of gingerbread.

“Yeaaaaaaaaaaaaah, this isn’t a trap at ALL.” Talia’s tail twitched nervously behind her. She was fairly new to adventuring, but even she had the sense to avoid this place. It just SCREAMED gingerbread house.

But her attention was captured by the big, ornate doors on the other side of the room. They were made from stone and gold. No one built ornate doors for nothing, nor did they plant a candy garden to protect it if there was nothing here to hide.

That and, she was a cat, so curiosity was at play.

“Blast it.” Talia examined the enterence to the room. It was just that; an aperture through a stone wall. There were no slits for hidden doors to slide down, nor was there any actual door to the opening. Nonetheless, she waved her ax through the doorway, waiting to spring a trap on the other end.

Then, slowly, she stepped through. She had to duck low and shimmy through the doorway, but otherwise… nothing happened.

The only sound she was greeted with came from the bubbling fountain of chocolate. Talia sighed. “Of course nothing is going to attack me, overtly. Not until I take the lure.” Her stomach grumbled, “Yeah, I know… but it’s a trap.” Her stomach grumbled again. “I promise to stuff us silly when we get back to the tavern, but right now, we have work to do.”

The ocelot cringed, “I’m… talking to my stomach now. Great. Just great.” She sighed, choosing to get to work.

Keeping her eyes upward and away from the garden of delights, Talia made her way to the ornate door. This however, only served to blind her from the cieling full of glowing, yellow crystals.

Coming to the door, the ocelot examined it for traps, then she looked for obvious key holes or levers. Finding none, she eventually fell to hammering at it with her ax.

“Fame and (TWACK!) fortune, here I (TWACK!) come!” (THWACK!)

After an hour, she finally slumped against the door in defeat. “I can say for certainty, that the door is not made out of gingerbread.” Her tail twitched. Rubbing her chin, Talia stared at the garden. There might be a hidden lever out there, somewhere.

Covered over by an obvious trap.

Made of food.

And she was STARVING.

“This… might have been a bad idea.” Looking longingly at the food, Talia began to think, “Maybe it’s all for decoration?”

She shook the thought away. Endless food, warm light, peaceful surroundings, this entire room was designed to lure thieves into a peaceful sleep. Assuming the food wasn’t all poisoned, what ever horrible doom was waiting for Talia, it would come after she fell asleep.

“If this place wasn’t bad news, that little lizard fella would be skipping about in that pool full of chocolate. No, I need to get out of here.” She stood, stomach growling savagely at the room filled of food she cannot eat.

“M-maybe just a bite? NO!” She shook her head, marching past the first garden. She had to shut her eyes at the chocolate fountain, trying to ignore its smell. “NO. NO. NO.”

She made it past the other gardens and to the exit.

Where she pauses.

Glancing left, then right, she shivered. Tail twitching savagely behind her, Talia forced herself through the narrow door and to safety.

Once outside, she breathed a sigh of relief, “And they said you had no impulse control. Ha! Proved them wrong, didn’t you?” She laughed.

...until she saw a little bit of chocolate icing on the tip of her tail.

It must have accidently brushed onto her tail into a tree as she left the room. Rolling her eyes she shrugs, “One little taste won’t hurt, right?” Grabbing the icing off her tail, she took a lick.


-__--_-_---_

Talia groaned. She never knew what it was like to eat until she was going to burst. It… wasn’t as pleasant a feeling as she imagined.

After sampling the garden, and the table full of sweets, and washing it all down from the chocolate fountain, Talia relaxed on one of the many couches around the circular center of the room.

The frame was made from gingerbread, but the cushions were made out of brownies. Despite sinking deep into the gooey center of the brownie, the substance didn’t cling to her clothes or body.

“It’s not really chocolate.” She belched, sighing with relief after doing so. “I wonder what kind of mad science made this place.” Her breathing was labored, and while stuffed silly, she still grabbed at the cushions below her, ripping off a piece of the brownie and shoveling it down her gullet.

“They know how to bait a trap, I’ll give them that. Now, all I gotta do is stay awake. Can’t fall asleep. Can’t… fall…”

Hours later, Talia awoke with a start. Her ax was in her paws instantly, fur on end as she glanced about the room, ready to fight…

...nothing.

The room was unchanged. No one was with her. No traps had been sprung.

Calming herself down, Talia leaned back into the chair. There was one noticeable change, and that was herself. Her white underbelly seemed to have… ballooned outward, enough that she had to undo her belt. “Eeeesh.” While prodding her stomach with her paw, “Well, if the food doesn’t kill you, it will kill your diet…”

She laughed, but it felt hollow. “Ok, so… food is highly addictive and quite fattening. But that’s manageable, as long as I-” She paused to cram more of the brownie couch into her muzzle.

Immediately she stood up, tail puffed and heart racing. “A-addictive. R-right.” Her eyes fell upon her exit, but then drifted to the ornate treasure room door. It was still there, unchanged. Unmovable. Still refusing to reveal its secrets.

With a sigh, Talia relented. She could find the door again, with the proper tools to pry it open. Gathering her belongings, and struggling to keep her armored leggings upright without a belt, Talia moved for the exit she came in from.

Her gaze lingered however on the garden, this time out of curiosity more than hunger. Tilting her head to one side, she finally realized what had been bothering her about this room the entire time.

Nothing changed.

She went on a rather large gluttony spree last night, clearing off an entire table. And yet, all the tables in the room were full with snacks and treats once again. Even the plants she sampled (gorged on until she was stuffed silly) were unharmed.

Standing over one table, she ran a paw across its gingerbread surface. “Did… someone restock this?”

Tempting fate, Talia reached out. Hesitantly she grabbed ahold of a treat before biting into it. The sweet rush was almost too much to handle. It took all her will power to limit herself to two treats, plus a third.

Nothing seemed to happen.

Tapping her chin, Talia grabbed ahold of the tables leg. With a show of force, she broke the table leg off. Then, after dipping the leg in the chocolate fountain, she sat down on the couch and waited.

With a noisy crunch, Talia ate as she waited, as if waiting for the table to suddenly sprout a new leg.

It didn’t.

And it continued to not regrow the missing leg for the next hour. Or at least until the adventurer grew bored and decided to try something else.

Diet be darned, she was not ready to give up on that treasure. Not when she came so far. She spent the next half day examining the room, from the walls to the lights to the fountain. Munching away at snacks as she did.

She could FEEL the pounds packing on. But if the worst she had to suffer was a little exercise afterward, she would gladly pay that cost for her weight in treasure.

Eventually, the cat grew wrathful at her lack of progress and took her anger out on one of the couches with her ax. Her anger sated, she sighed.

“I see how it is now.” Chuckling darkly, she pointed at the door, “This is a false lead! You’re a fake door! Arn’t you?” She shouted, “You are just here to distract me from my treasure! Well, I’m no fool!”

Gathering her belongings, Talia flicked her tail at the door before walking to the exit. The door casually ignored her insult.

“Blasted, stupid trap room. Doesn’t even have a real trap!” Talia bent low and then squeezed herself into the open exit. “Who builds a trap room with no trap? What is the POINT? Why…” She squirmed a little, “Why can’t I fit through the door…”

Unable to pull her new, bulky figure through the door, the ocelot laughed and rested her head against the stone, “Oh, I am so glad no one else is here to see this. This is just… this is…” She laughed, sucked in her gut and…

...nothing.

Walking herself back into the trap room, Talia threw off her armor. She leaned in again, and pulled herself through.

But only halfway, before she became stuck around her stomach.

“This isn’t happening.” Talia closed her eyes, grunting with effort as she struggled to get through the door. “This isn’t possible!” She clawed at the floor outside but, nothing helped.

With growing horror, she realized that the trap had done its work.

She was too fat to escape now.

_-_-_
______

Talia hoped against hope that the ornate treasure door was real, because after spending several hours hacking away at the entrance she came in at, it was her only hope for escape.

“Stay calm. Think this through.” The ocelot was looking plumper, being the nervous eater that she was. “There has to be a release of some kind. You don’t want to be trapped in your own gingerbread house of horror, now do you? So if I was a monster who built an overly complicated food trap… what would I do to escape it.”

She glanced slowly about the room, while snacking on a pastry flower. Her tail twitched ever fiercer, until finally she screamed. Waving her ax about the room with frenzied anger, she slashed up the tables, the furniture, the plants.

Nothing escaped her wrath, until finally she fell upon the fountain. “I am not going to die here. I am not going to be… be fattened up like cattle for some monsters stew! I am Talia the Terror blast it!” She stomped into the fountain’s base, sinking to her knees in chocolate. “I’m not going to die here!” She repeated herself, again, and again with each ax stroke to the fountain.

Until finally it broke.

Talia screamed as chocolate rushed out towards her face. Flailing her arms she slipped in the fountain and fell into chocolaty bliss.

_____----____-

Talia always liked a sweet treat here and there, mostly to deal with the stress.She liked cakes and tarts and meads and sweet wines.

Talia never saw gorging herself with them though, not until her belly was ready to burst. Eventually the pain of stuffing herself with every treat in the room brought her out of her crazed feeding frenzy, leaving her only with the consequences.

She was quite obese now, well past pleasantly plump, or even fat. No, she knew full well she was heavy and rotund. She found herself sitting on one of the couches. It had grown back since she had passed out.

The rest of the room was still in a state of half regeneration, even the tables half grown out of the very ground. Next to one of them was a hole that she had dug in search of some machine or gizmo that might be down there. All she found was two feet of dirt before reaching a hard metal floor.

The dirt too, of course, was made out of chocolate. Which she ate. With gusto.

Her eyes glanced at the exit. There was no way she could fit through there now.

There was no way she could fit her morbidly obese self through the ornate door either, if it opened...

Talia had no real idea how long she was down here. Days, weeks, months? It must have taken her some time to get so BIG.

Folds of flesh dominated every inch of the ocelot, spreading out the distance between the spotted stripes of her hide. Her limbs, her neck, even her tail, was left rounded. If she leaned forward far enough, her engorged stomach would easily rest on the floor.

If only she had left when she wanted too.

With a sigh, Talia leaned back on the couch, making herself comfortable. It was time to face facts. She was caught. There was no escape. There was only the long wait until whatever laid this trap came back to...

The thought of being torn to shreds by some unknown monster made Talia gulp. If this was her fate, she should have just let the little lizard monster eat her.

Reaching out a paw to a nearby table, Talia grabbed a plate full of cookies. “If this is the end… then I might as well enjoy it…”

And so she did.

For about five minutes until she heard a click.

Eyes wide, the ocelot turned to not the ornate door, but the entrance she came from. With a loud rumble the wall began to raise upward from the floor, exposing the hallway on the other side.

“I… I’m free!”

And then the the light of the room fell upon the creature outside. First she saw the legs, ending with talons as long as she was tall. And then she saw its yellow underbelly and firey red scales, and then her eyes fell upon its elongated, alligator like head.

The dragon like creature narrowed its eyes upon the ocelot.

“I’m dead!” She shouted, rolling off the couch.

“I THOUGHT my trap caught something.” The monster rumbled. “My apologies, I would have come to collect you sooner but-” he stopped as a gingerbread couch broke against his snout.

“Is that… really necessary?” He said without so much as a flinch.

Talia responded by screaming. Backing away until she reached a table, she began flinging pastries at the creature.

“Right, well then. As I was saying. (SPLAT!) If you would be so kind as to…( SPLAT!) Miss, please, you are acting like a-” CRUNCH, the table went as it was hurled against him.

“ENOUGH!”

With one swift lunge, the monster overpowered Talia, pinning her to the ground with a single claw. Desperately she reached for her ax until the monster leaned closer, fire burning in all four of its eyes.

“I. DARE. You.”

Talia gulped, and began to cry. “Please don’t eat me! I’m sorry I messed up your garden thingy. It won’t happen again, please don’t eat me!” her cries turned into whimpering, “Ok fine! Just make it quick. J-just don’t chew me up while I’m still alive! I’m allergic to pain.”

The monster raised an eyebrow, “I’m not here to kill you.”

Talia closed her eyes, imagining how it would feel to have monster teeth tearing through her soft, meaty bits. She must taste rather sweet by now. “Don’t roast me either! Or… or cook me! Or… you know what, can I go back to pleading for my life?”

“I’m NOT going to eat you.”

Talia dared to open one eye. “Y-you’re not?” She scowled, “Why not? You already ruined my diet, and my career! I can’t exactly go adventuring in this condition, can I?”

Talia felt the monsters claws wrap around her, gently, to scoop her off the ground. “Believe me,” The monster began to walk out of the room, “There was a time when I would have gladly gobbled you up and used your hide as a warning to other thieves.”

Seeing the ocelot begin to cry again, he said, “But the wife finds it too cruel and had me instal a catch and release adventurer trap.”

“C-catch and release?”

“Yes. I caught you, and now I can release you. The end. Period. Don’t come back or I will feed you your own tail. Etc etc.”

Talia blinked. What… what was going on? Did she finally crack? Was she making all this up just to deal with the horror facing her? Was the monster just putting her at ease before the slaughter?

“You know, a simple cage would have been easier.”

“Oh, I know. But the last time I forgot to check one of those the adventurers had all starved and cannibalized each other. It was a horrible mess to clean up and my wife threw an absolute FIT. Ugh, the jelly traps were even worse… At least this one keeps you alive if I forget to check it every year.”

Talia paused. She really didn’t want to imagine what spending a year in that horrible dungeon would be like. Would she even survive the month?

“So… wait… the big ornate door…”

“Fake.”

Talia made a ghastly noise of anger, shock, and confusion at the same time. It was alarming enough that the monster finally set the ocelot down.

“I went through all that, for a FAKE DOOR?” she pulled at her ears. “I went through all that for nothing?!”

“You managed to keep your life, that’s not nothing,” the creature said, showing off his teeth in a way that made Talia quite down. The monsters voice turned sour once again, “There. Safe and sound. Now get out. Go be free to do… whatever it is you beast creatures do. If I find you here again, you will find there are more unpleasant ways to meet your end than a room filled with chocolate.”

With that, the creature left her alone, with none of her belongings and only the scraps of armor that still managed to cling to her bloated body.

It wasn’t much, but she was happy to just have her hide intact. No matter how much more of it she had.

The ocelot even recognize the area. She was standing at the entrance to the dungeon! She… she actually escaped!

So much as it were.

With a grunt of effort, she grabbed onto either side of her expanded gut to hoist it high, carrying her bulk as she waddled towards the exit.

She never saw Gark sitting alone on the steps to the dungeon until it was too late.

There was much yelling and shouting as the two crashed into each other. Talia came to a stop at the bottom of the stairs, shouting profanities in three different languages. She kicked the lizard away from her, “Puny little rat! Get away from me!”

Panicked, Gark scrambled for safety, grabbing his spear to defend himself. He readied himself for a fight, but clearly, he was not prepared for the sight before him.

Bruised from her fall, and stuffed to the gills with food, Talia struggled to stand. “Blasted, stupid scaly nuisance! Why on earth is it…” she turned her angry gaze at the lizard, “Well go on, get out of here!” she shooed him off.

But Gark did not leave.

He continued to prod the ocelot with the butt end of his spear as Talia got back to her feet. “Stop that!” Talia flailed her arms about, to shoo the little creature away. “So help me, I will-” She yelped when Gark switch to the bladed end of his weapon, jabbing her lightly, but painfully in the side.

She yowled and took a swing at Gark’s head in retaliation, but the little lizard ducked easily under her blow, side stepping out of Talia’s field of vision. “Why you little scamp! I’m going to make luggage out of you!” She swung at him again with her claws, and again, but each time to no avail. “Hold… still you little… little…”

Talia was surprised she was already out of breath. They couldn’t have been fighting that long, could they? She paused, leaning forward with her paws on her knees, struggling to breath. Slowly clutched onto the sides of her fleshy stomach, eyes widening with relation to the danger of her situation.

She turned to flee, but the lizard was already there beside her. With a gentle push of his claw, Gark sent Talia falling backward onto her rump.

This could not be happening, she thought, she was NOT getting bested by a little Karbu beast. Even rookie adventurers could punt them across the room!

“Ok, ok. Just hold up a sec.” She held out her paw for the lizard to stop his advance. When he didn’t, Talia began to scoot herself backwards. “I’m sorry for earlier, ok? But you have to admit. I was only defending myself! I let you live, right? So…” Talia saw the odd gleam in Gark’s eyes. An almost feral delight to catching such a plump meal. “S-so why don’t we let bygones be bygones! Water under the bridge, right?” Talia laughed nervously while still scurrying backward.

“Y-you look like a hungry little fellow. Why don’t I-I show you this room I found in the dungeon. You would love it! It has all the food you would ever want to eat!”

Talia yelped as she felt her back press against the stairs. With her back to the proverbial wall, Gark stopped any further thought of escape using the butt end of his spear, running the weapon deep into tge flesh of Talia’s middle.

It gave her a preview of where the bladed end was about to go as Gark leaned closer.

“Not so puny now, eh?” He hissed in a broken form of Talia’s own language.

“No! Please! Don’t!” Talia’s grew wide with fear as Gark raised his spear high over his head.

This couldn’t be how it ended. She was supposed to be rich and famous, not skewered by some backwater reptile!

“No! No no! No no no nooooooooo!”

And the spear came down...


_ _ _..._ _ _


Gark leaned back and sighed with pure contentment. His normally green scales were painted with bright orange markings, the traditional paint worn by those bestowed with great honor.

Having won the contest, Gark was given the privilege to dine at the chieftain’s right claw, and received all the rewards that came with it. Fame, a bag of shiny rocks, and first pick to all the delicacies of the feast his little belly could hold.

Creatures of every kind passed by on the table; roasted, skewered, grilled, or stewed, every monster caught in the contest was cooked to perfection. Gark gorged himself until his belly was so swollen, the skin between his scales were exposed.

Gark’s new garments were almost regal looking, being made from the hide of several exotic creatures caught in the great hunt, and he took some pleasure in knowing that they would have to be re-tailored already to fit after this feast.

“That was quite the victory, Gark.” Most of the conversation around the table went ignored by Gark as he feasted, but the voice of the chieftain tore him away from his meal, “You cut it close, bagging such a find on the last day of the contest. Did you have to go to a beast-kin village to find a creature so well fed?”

Gark joined in with the chieftan’s laughter. “N-no. I actually found the ocelot in the dungeons.”

The chieftain scoffed in disbelief while using a knife to slice into one of the many cooked dishes. “What was she doing in the dungeons? She could hardly fit through the village gates!”

Gark reached for the platter the chief was eating from. “She had a mishap in the room filled with cake.”

The chieftain laughed again, “The cake room? Really? What kind of idiot stumbles into a trap so obvious?”

Gark bit into the rib bone, strippting it of meat. “A delicious one.”

With the rib cleaned, Gark tossed it behind him before reaching for another. It clattered against the floor where the other ocelot bones were accumulating.

Talia may not have reached the fame she had been hoping for as an adventurer, but as a feast… she went down in the history books of the Karbu beast tribe as a legend.