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Earning a Hero's Place

Part 1

For EyeofHorus789

By Draconicon

Gunthir's Glade was a far cry from the wealthy streets of Thuural, as far as Veros Tynn was concerned. The half-elf walked with his hands in his pockets, looking more than slightly disparagingly at the various carts and wagons that lined the streets of the small town. Not one of them could have compared to the meanest business in the greater city more than a hundred miles north, nor could they have been welcomed under the banners of the Tynn family empire. Just imagining one of them wearing the sigil of his mother's business made him roll his eyes with a small, rueful smile.

Goes to show how long I've been in the big city... He shook his head. This is hell.

As he fingered one of the many gold coins that he had in his pocket, he imagined what would have happened if he had stayed back in Thuural. He probably would have kept his house for a little bit longer; the property was paid off - though not entirely in his name - and he had more than a little bit of money stashed away. Sure, the parties, indulgences, and all the other little time-wasting activities would have to have stopped, but -

Are we going to be serious with ourselves, hmm?

He paused where the street met the village square, pausing to look up at the sky and stare at the passing clouds. The stillness here exceeded any quiet moment back home, and it was still so strange not to be battered the minute he stopped moving. No passing traffic, no wagons threatening to run him over, nothing but the stillness of a quiet village where nothing ever happened.

Did he stand out? Probably; he had rich silk clothes, with a red overcoat and a violet garment beneath, with long, billowing pants that flared out toward the ankles and dark leather boots. Golden buttons gleamed, polished by his butler one last time just last week before he'd been sent away, and -

Well, best not to think about that. He fondled the coins in his pocket one last time before pulling two free, fanning the golden disks between his fingers before sighing.

"Well, gonna have to make those last," Veros muttered under his breath. "Won't be seeing an allowance for a month..."

Which meant that there was no point in buying up some wine and potions for a wild night in; that'd suck away more than half of what he had, and he doubted that he'd be able to make that back soon.

"Hey!"

The half-elf looked up. A half-orc waved at him from a nearby rooftop, shirtless and carrying a stack of shingles under his arm.

"You looking for something, new guy?"

"How'd you know I was new?"

"You ain't shouting at me to get to work!" The half-orc laughed. "Where you from? Some big city?"

"Yes. Thuural, as a matter of fact," he said, walking out of the middle of the street and standing under the half-complete rooftop. "Why do you ask?"

"Thought so. Too rich-looking. Go take a mud-bath; it'll keep the stupid people from bothering you."

"Thanks, but no thanks." Laundry was going to be expensive with these clothes. "Can you point me towards the Hero's Guild?"

"You? Heroing?"

"Well, everyone's gotta start somewhere. And who knows? I'll rise to the top before anyone's the wiser, I'll bet."

"Heh. Two gold on that, new guy."

"You got that. I'll be at the top in a week, or my name's not Veros Tynn."

"Whoever that is."

He winced; so much for people knowing the family name out here. Half-orc or not, if it wasn't one that people immediately jumped at, then it wasn't something that he could trade off for credit. One more thing to adjust his plans around.

"So, where do I go?"

"Take the south road from the square, then take the third left. Keep going until you reach the spring, and you'll see the headquarters there."

"Alright, thanks."

After a moment's hesitation, he thumbed one of the gold coins to his other hand and tossed it through the air. The half-orc caught it almost as if by instinct, then blinked at the bright shine in his palm.

"The hell -"

"For your pains, good man!"

I'm going to regret that, he thought. I'm going to regret that, a lot...

But at the same time, at least it would buy him some good will. And better to give a little extra to someone than to offer something and ask for change. Some generosity in the beginning bought more good will later; that was what his mother said.

Personally, he was already wincing at the lack of indulgences that he'd be able to buy out here with one less gold coin. Sure, he had another sixty-some in his pocket, more than enough to pay his expenses if he was able to get a room at the guild, but at the same time, it was one gold less. Damn his impulse control.

He walked down the cobblestone streets of Gunthir's Glade, the shade of old trees casting shadows on every street with few breaks for actual light to come through. The main square had been uncovered, but the rest of the trees - from what little he remembered of his father's talk about his old days adventuring - happened to be the remnants of an old deal that the earliest inhabitants of the Glade had made with an old druid. The trees would remain, being part of the city, and the forest itself would provide protection against the worst that nature could offer against them.

The rest of the dangers? Well, the people of the Glade had to sort that out themselves, and from the sound of things, they had done just that with their branch of the Hero's Guild.

Not that it's probably going to be that strong, he thought as his boots carried him down the street. He took the turn that the half-orc had mentioned, shaking his head. So far from the center of civilization, in a nothing-town like this? It'll be a bunch of jobbers that do escort duty from time to time, pulling security...

It sounded boring, but better boring work than the alternative that his parents had offered after his last fuck-up.

The road eventually led him to the spring, and he had to admit, whoever had built the branch building had done a damn good job. The outside was framed with stone, looking like it had been called out of the earth by a divine spell and shaped to the specifications that they wanted for the manor-like structure, but the panels were filled with still-living flora. He recognized spell-touched plants, how they had a slightly different sheen to them than the natural thing, and whistled as he saw the way that the thorn-bushes had been encouraged to grow into the walls, creating paneling that was at once sheltering and protective for those on the inside.

The building itself was shaped like a long rectangle. Its front door faced the spring - an unprotected water source that shimmered with surprisingly pure water - and ran a good hundred feet long to the far end of it. Two stories tall for the majority of its length, it gained a third level toward the back end with a balcony that allowed it to look over the rest of the town.

He approached the building, watching as the guild banners of purple and gold flicked and waved over the building itself. It was a massive thing, though not quite so large as the five-story structure back in Thuural. He remembered the sheer artistry of that building and the many commissioned statues that lined its exterior walls. Internal floors of marble, great sweeping staircases and inner balconies, marvelous feasts to show off the wealth of one of the central branches of the powerful guild: it would have been a paradise.

Instead, he was stuck here, banished from the rich city to the country bumpkin lands, and -

I am going to have to watch that thought, Veros stopped himself, resting his hand on the front door. Even if there's just bumpkins out here, they could have a few mind-readers.

Shaking his head, he pulled on the front door -

"Oh ho, someone's got bad manners!"

And was immediately thrust backward as the door slammed open without warning. He yelped, jumping back and managing to land on his feet a good three paces back, but only barely.

As he looked up, however, his jaw dropped. Standing in front of him and blocking the way into the guild-house was a massive creature, standing a foot taller than him and covered in a dirty yellow-brown fur coat. Thick black spots dotted it from head to toe, and the only thing covering it and keeping it modest was a loincloth around the middle. Thick black nipples stood out from its chest, and heavy breasts hung forward, and he sputtered -

"Gnoll? You - how are you -"

"Hyena," the creature said, chuckling. "But you're not the first one to get it wrong, and probably ain't gonna be the last."

"But - how -"

"The Guild has a lot of beast-people, or at least, this branch does. The boss keeps a lot of us around since we do better here than we do in the city. And probably still do, considering the way that you reacted to me, heh. Come here. Let me get a sniff of you."

Veros wasn't sure that he entirely trusted the answer, but at the very least, it was a hell of a lot more coherent than any wild gnoll would have been. Whether it was really a hyena beast-person or a monster that was lying about its background, it only had its own rep to lose if it tried to hurt him. He pushed himself to take a step forward, leaning in until the creature did the same. A hot pulse of air across his neck was followed by a short lick, then a deep, satisfied grunt of a growl.

"That's the stuff. You're the person we were told to expect, eh? Ms. Tynn?"

"Mr.," Veros corrected.

"Ain't never seen much need for the whole differentiation. When you live around this much magic, you're going to see some serious shifts, kid. But Mr. or Ms., this is your home now. Or, will be."

"What do you mean, 'will be'? My father told me -"

"Oh, yeah. Tynn-boy sent us a letter recommending ya, but I get to see if you're good enough to get in the hall. And trust me, I take a little bit of convincing." The hyena chuckled, cracking its knuckles. "But we can do this the easy way, or the hard way."

"Money?"

"Fuck no. You can kneel down and suck me off, or we can have a quick sparring match. And if you can stay standing, I'll let ya in."

He stared. The very idea that he would have to prove himself just to get through the doors was not what he had been promised. The Tynn family was supposed to have doors open to them wherever they went. Their trading empire covered the continent, and his father's deeds had spread through the civilized world. His mother was one of the great rulers of Thuular. How did that not count for anything out here?

The hyena smirked, crossing its arms over its chest. Its loincloth twitched slightly, and he bit his lips as he imagined what lay down there. Nothing that he hadn't seen before, but certainly something that he hadn't done anything with while sober. He cleared his throat, shaking his head.

"I'm sure that we could come to a reasonable accommodation, but...if it must be one of those, I will take a sparring match."

"Pity. You look like you'd be fun to throat-fuck. Tongue-first."

"..."

"Alright, kid. You want to go with bare hands, or you got a weapon you prefer?"

"...I don't suppose some spell-slinging would be allowable?"

"Sure."

Probably the answer that he had least expected. Even as he blinked in surprise, the hyena was metaphorically rolling up its sleeves, flexing muscular arms and flicking hands that were already starting to sparkle.

"Heh, ya didn't think that a beast-person like me could cast? Trust me, I'm full of surprises."

"...Oh."

"So...show me what you got."

Veros swallowed. This was going to be a great deal harder than he expected.

#

Five minutes later...

"Ha! You took it like a fucking champ!"

Durna - the hyena guard - laughed as she dragged him through the doors. Veros could barely keep his footing, and his clothes were scorched and smoky. His formerly perfect hair stood out as if a lightning storm had passed, and his pack was as pock-marked and damaged as a field of crops from an acid rainstorm. He felt like hell, and he could barely shuffle his way forward.

Five minutes. Five minutes was a fucking eternity when he was dealing with someone that knew that many spells. If nothing else, however, it had proved that Durna was a hyena and not a gnoll; none of them were that smart, and certainly none of them were willing to laugh that hard after a win.

She - for she was a she, as well, despite other pieces down below - led him through the entry hall. Other beast-people, a collection of felines, canines, and a few other species that were certainly more forest-based than city-based, were gathered around various tables having their lunches. Here and there, he saw more humanoid races, but they were rare compared to the beast-folk. He wondered just how many humans and elves there actually were in the guild-house compared to what he was used to.

Durna sat him down at one of the tables and walked toward the bar, and he slumped against it, face-down. A deep groan escaped him as he let his pack hit the ground.

"Ugh..."

So much for this being an easy gig. Fighting just to get into this damn place, and now, everything was ruined. His clothes were covered in smoke and soot, he'd need a bath, and he looked positively filthy. The sweat and grime that caked him now put the mess of travel to shame, and even the scrolls of water and cleanliness that he had brought from home for the long days on the road wouldn't be sufficient for this. Hmmph. Hmmph, he thought.

Thunk.

He tilted his head to see that the hyena had come back. Durna had thumped some tankard or other in front of him before sitting down with something foamier for herself. She chuckled.

"Well? Drink up."

"Thanks..."

"Oh, don't tell me you're going to be a sore loser about this shit."

"Tired."

"Kid, if that tired you out, the boss is going to run you ragged."

He groaned; that was something else that he really didn't want to think about. Hard work. Hard work was the devil's business. Which one, he was never entirely sure of, but it was certainly damned inconvenient. Pushing one hand against the table, he managed to sit upright again, grabbing his tankard and looking in. Looked like water, or at least, something clear. If it was something stronger, he wasn't even sure that he would mind at this point.

A quick drink confirmed that it was water. He chugged it.

"So, what gets you sent this far south, city-boy?" Durna asked. "Not often that someone comes this far out if they got connections."

"You want the long story or the short one?"

"Short one works for me."

"Burned down a house during a party."

"...Fucking shit, really?"

"Well, you get a little drunk, try out a charm spell from someone, and start showing off with something new -"

"Heh, damn. And here I thought that rich people didn't have to deal with accountability."

"Most rich people aren't Tynns," Veros muttered, taking another drink. "Don't know what it'll be like for their grandchildren, but mom and dad had a very clear idea of responsibility, and they're not letting me shirk it. More's the pity."

"For you, maybe. But hey, good for them. So, you ever done much heroing, city-boy?"

"No."

"Heh, oh, the boss is gonna love that."

Not liking the sound of that at all, Veros was about to push for answers when something wet and slippery passed under the table and brushed his ankle. He paused, feeling a slight burn afterward, and slowly looked down.

It wasn't a dog, or even an elemental creature that he had half-dreaded. Instead, it was a gelatinous creature, bright green and glowing slightly, and it was slowly reforming itself after pushing under the table in a more compressed form. His eyes widened more and more as it got bigger and bigger, eventually becoming a cube about four feet long on all sides, and four feet tall.

As it wiggled back and forth, Durna reached out and patted it along its top surface. The point where she made contact dented slightly, compressing and then pushing out again.

"What...the hell...is that?" Veros asked.

"Oh, this is Blub," the hyena said. "This is the little mascot of the branch. Real friendly, and a great assistant to everyone. Carries just about anything, and considering how they're made, means that you can stuff a shit ton of stuff in the ooze without worrying about it exploding. Perfect pressure for carrying stuff around, you know?"

"Blub," the ooze bubble-talked.

First a hyena doorman, and then a gelatinous cube that worked as the in-house servant. What was next? Some goblin that worked as the librarian, or -

Veros blinked, an understanding coming to him like a lightning bolt. He slowly looked around the common room, seeing every beast-person in a new light, and he slowly brought his eyes back to Durna. She smirked at him over the edge of her cup, cocking her head to the side.

"Yeah? Something on your mind?"

"...This isn't a guild-house for people, is it?"

"Depends on how you define people, kid. And I'd be real careful about -"

"Gotcha!"

Without warning, a drow leaped out of the shadows. Before Veros could reach for any weapon, the dark elf grabbed something around Durna's neck and pulled. He heard the sound of a cord snapping -

POOF!

And just like that, the hyena went from two-legged to four-legged, but not from going feral. She was a 'taur with four paws on the ground, her lower body as large as a horse's, while her upper body remained furred and...vaguely humanoid. Much larger rumped, though, as the drow that had pulled that trick found out; he was launched all the way across the room and slumped over another table.

"Damn asshole," Durna muttered, shaking her head as she turned back to her drink. "Had to know that'd happen."

"...I'm losing my mind," Veros muttered.

"Heh, heard that before."

"This place is insane."

"Nope, just really uninhibited."

He was starting to see that. As he looked around, he rephrased his earlier thought. This guild-house wasn't for 'people,' in that it wasn't for the more 'civilized' races. He saw a few elves, less humans, but other than that, the place seemed more at home for what one might call monster-folk. There were many beast-people, but also full-blooded orcs, kobolds, and even a mind flayer at one of the tables, carefully consuming something that Veros really didn't want to take too close a look at. A shiver ran down his spine as he realized just how many threats surrounded him, and more, just what it might mean if he actually got in trouble.

How powerful are these people?

Durna herself had to be at least an order of magnitude higher than the security guards back at the Thuural guild-house, and he imagined that the other members of the Hero's Guild were even stronger. A mind flayer - a fucking mind flayer - would be a challenge for most of the elites at the other hall.

How...

"Freaking out?" Durna asked.

"Mmm-hmm."

"Well, don't worry about it," the hyena-taur said, pushing her mug away. "The boss'll set it straight."

"Oh, gods. Who is he?"

"She, actually."

Another new voice. He groaned, slowly tilting his head backward -

"Mmmph!"

And found himself with his face buried in purple tit-flesh. He yelped as he pulled his head back down, gasping once he pulled himself away, the smell of sweat and flesh and scales clinging to his face as the sound of laughter echoed in his ears.

"Heh, and here I thought his father was prudish."

"Ah...ah...what...in the hells..."

No sooner had he caught his breath than his chair was spun around with him still in it. Veros yelped as he was leaned back against the table, pinned in place with a scaly foot on his belly and forced to look up at the Guild Mistress.

She was not anything like what he expected. Not least because she was a two-legged dragoness, covered in deep purple scales from head to toe and with long white horns curling up and back from her head. Her eyes glowed with a darker purple than her scales, a magical light that he'd seen on other mages that had too much mana to be contained in the body at once. It was hard to look away, at first, but then he realized that it was even harder to look back.

After all, she was completely naked. Her breasts, large enough to completely bury his head between, still didn't quite look out of proportion. She was nearly seven feet tall, after all, and it meant that she could carry more there without it looking too much. A little chub rounded out her stomach rather than the slender build of all the elves that he had seen, and lent her a slightly matronly figure.

And then...

Then he saw the half-hard cock sticking out from between her legs. Slightly over ten inches long and getting slightly bigger, the purple cock with the deep magenta head oozed pre-cum on sight. He gasped, his eyes going wider as it loomed over him as she drummed her toes on his stomach. Each little drumbeat of the five digits seemed to make her cock rise that much higher, revealing the heavy balls and the hint of a slit behind them.

"So, you're Mr. Tynn. Better looking than your father was."

"You knew -"

"Knew, used, abused, conditioned, trained. Take your pick, dear. Now, it's your turn."

Dad - holy...

He'd known that his father had some other relationships besides his mother, though that had been the only official, legal one. The idea of his dad getting pulled into this creature's machinations, though -

"Get up."

Veros stood up without thinking about it, his body already obeying on self-preservation instincts alone. The dragoness still loomed over him, her eyes flaring with that strange hypnotic light. He kept wanting to look back only to remind himself that it was a bad idea if he wanted to keep any sort of sense.

"Hmmm, skinny, a bit weak. How would you describe yourself?" the Guild Mistress asked, tapping her chin.

"Some thief skills, some training under a sorcerer -"

"Oh, multi-talented."

"Yes, ma'am."

"But not very skilled."

She chuckled, and his heart sank before it could finish rising. The dragoness circled him, walking around him and leaving him feeling like someone had just hung him out for the wolves. Every step thumped in the silent guild-house, and he knew that everyone had to be watching what was about to happen to the new guy.

For all that he had felt arrogant when walking down the streets, there was something about the dragoness that sucked that confidence right out of him. He didn't have that much training when it came to magic - certainly not enough to deal with Durna - but he had enough to feel the raw magical energy spilling off the dragoness. It was worse than the time that he'd visited the college of the arcane back in Thuular; the magic there had been so rich and potent that it had made him sick to his stomach just to be in the building.

This was worse. This was so much worse. This felt like it was breaking him down and rebuilding him just being around the dragoness. There was something about her very being that felt like it was breaking down reality and putting it back together without even trying, and he bit back a whimper as she pressed against him from behind. Her cock slid against his ass, grinding against the slight curve that his pants made as she pressed closer.

"That said...you have your father's ass. I'm sure that if you can't beat your opponents, you can distract them long enough for your partners to do the job."

"I'm not...I'm not some...slut."

"No? What are you, then?"

"I - I'm Veros Tynn."

"And what is that supposed to mean to me?" the dragoness asked, a clawed finger sliding under his chin and stroking ever so sharply so close to a blood vessel. "What does a name mean?"

"I...I...I am Veros Tynn. Scion of the Tynn family. I have learned the basic spells faster than any of my fellow students, I - I know the catechisms of every greater and lesser god, and I know the words of the trees, and I have learned from great blademasters and -"

He gasped as her finger pressed up. The point of her claw didn't quite break the skin, but it came scarily close, nearly pushing through his flesh in that moment. He went up on tiptoes as the dragoness leaned in closer still, her breasts on either side of his head and spilling over his shoulders.

"You are nothing," she whispered.

And in that moment, with her aura of power and the sheer potency of the magic oozing through her scales, that was nothing less than absolute truth.

Veros Tynn ceased to exist as a cohesive being. As he breathed out, he faded into nothingness, his body and consciousness spread out through the world. He became one with the trees, with the earth, with the animals, with the water. Everything that existed upon the earth, he became a meager part of, so small and so slight that he might as well not be there at all. In that moment, he had the utter understanding of what nothingness was, of being so inconsequential that the world would never know what he was, that he existed, or that he had ever been there. Nothingness, in all its horror and completeness, was his state of being.

And then, he was released, and he came back to himself.

The half-elf stumbled to the ground, falling to his knees and gasping for breath. He hugged himself around the middle, feeling his flesh, the strands of his hair along the sides of his head, the sheer tightness of his own body around him and the limitations of being in just one person once more. The ragged breath that strained through his teeth and filled his lungs hurt as he came back to reality.

"Nobody starts as anything, Tynn. You were born to great people. That doesn't make you great. And that doesn't mean that you will become great. It just means that they can try and make you that way. If you can't achieve greatness on your own, what you just saw will be fate. Heh. It's everyone's fate, really; the someones just hold it back longer than the no-ones."

"...I...I understand..."

"Not yet, but you will."

The dragoness stepped on his head, pinning it down to the wooden floor. She didn't quite grind her heel in, but she didn't have to. She held him there without even trying. He blushed as she kept talking.

"You're part of my guild now. That means that you will do what you're told, or you're out on your heels. No, let me rephrase that. You're out on your heels after I change you to something worth it to someone else."

"Nnngh..."

"Your father called in a favor, and I'm feeling generous. I'm going to give you the chance to be a hero. To earn a living and a name. Until then, you'll be called something else. 'Tynn' is not your name any longer."

"Nnngh...It's...my name..."

"No. It's not."

He felt heat against the back of his neck, and he gasped as he felt the name of 'Tynn' fading from his mind. As he tried to hold onto it, the feeling of his own identity - Veros Tynn, the core concept of himself - changed. He felt the second word disappearing, fading. He could still see his mother and father, could still see that name hovering over their heads, but he couldn't see it with him. To apply it felt...wrong.

Instead, he saw -

"Veros Toy. That'll do."

"Nnngh..."

"Oh, naughty. Growling." Grind. "Is not." Push. "Permitted."

The pressure of her sole forced his head into the ground and turned it sideways, his jaw forced open by the weight of her pressing down on him. He drooled on the floorboards as the dragoness looked down at him, shaking her head.

"Veros Toy. That's your new name. In a minute, I'm going to have Durna take you to get a collar with a tag on it - yes, you are going to wear a collar. No arguments, or I'll take away a little more than just your name. Do you understand me?"

"...Yes..."

"Good boy. Once you have your collar, you'll be given to your mentor, and we'll talk about your first mission. Judging from your fight with Durna, you're going to need a serious bit of training before you're ready for the first real mission out there, but you'll get that. I just need to decide which of our heroes is a good fit for you...inside, and out..."

A shiver ran down his spine as her foot finally lifted from his face. He rubbed the back of his neck, feeling something back there that hadn't been there before. It was like a brand, a rune pushed into his neck, and he couldn't tell just what it looked like from touch alone. Yet, it burned, as if it was glowing to pull attention to it. His cheeks flared with heated embarrassment as he slowly got back to his feet, and it didn't fade as Durna grabbed him by the arm and dragged him along.

Oh gods, what is going to happen to me out here? he thought. What the fuck is going to happen to me?

The End

Summary: A spoiled little man is sent to a guild to make up for some of his crimes, and finds out that it is not the sort of guild that he thought it was.

Tags: M/H, Half-Elf, D&D, Fantasy, Adventure, Guild, Punishment, Hyena, Beast People, Goo, Gelatinous Cube, Teasing, Foot Fetish, Drakina, Dragoness, Various Species, Uh-Oh, Bottom of the Pile, Working From the Bottom, Cursed, Name Change, Series,