“Let’s start out the bidding with... REI!” The weasely Slave Auctioneer cried out with a bit of excitement. “For such a fine and obedient specimen of Underworld Slave, I find it fair to start auctioning at four-thousand gold pieces!”
Hearing her name called, Rei slowly raised her head to look up at the crowd gathered round. She slowly walked to the edge of the podium, turning around in place to show off her body to the potential masters. It was all very mechanical how she went at it, as if she wasn’t all there in the head.
Licking her lips as she saw the thing and scrawny girl with the pretty face and color of hair, Nelfania was quick to snort out, “Four-thousand!”
“We have a call for four-thousand!” The Auctioneer cried out.
“Four-thousand?” The Dungeon Keeper Malbrin scoffed. “I’ll bid four-thousand and five hundred gold!”
“And we have four-thousand and hive hundred from the dark elf!” The lithe slaver called out. “Do I hear five-thousand?”
“Five-thousand!” Ranma called out, quick to join the fray finally. He wasn’t going to leave the girls to end up as a sacrifice or be tortured or something possibly worse.
The slaver pointed to Ranma. “And there’s a call of five-thousand gold from the new face!”
“Five-thousand and two hundred!” The overweight woman cried out. She didn’t like that new little shit. He was scrawny and she hated scrawny people! It was why she preferred Bile Demons and Trolls, the pot-bellied creatures that they were... she only took on Mistresses because they delighted in the same dark pleasures as she did when it came to tending to slaves.
The Slaver smiled as the bidding on this rather quiet and in his not-so-humble opinion, rather useless and annoying Slave was going well enough. “And that’s a bid for five-thou-”
Sidarian raised a hand and called out, “Seven-thousand gold for the albino.”
“Ah, such a steep jump!” The slaver clapped his little stubby hands together. “Seven thousand to lord Sidarian.”
Ranma frowned. Two could play at that game. “Ten-thousand gold!”
The Slaver grinned widely. He thought seven-thousand was a good price for this piece of slave that acted as if she were soulless, but ten-thousand? Oh, Skorm MUST have been smiling up at him! “And we have ten-thousand! Going once, going twice...”
“Hold!” The Dark Elf called. “If I’m to go any higher, I wish to see if this slave is worth it...”
“Ah, as is your place, my lord.” The Slaver turned back to the slave. “REI!”
Without being told further, Rei worked the slip of cloth over her off without much effort. She then held her arms out and turned around in place, showing off every inch of her pale skin. Indeed it was such a find, for not one mark was on her body.
A fact that made Ranma blush lightly, but he hid it pretty well... and he got the bad feeling after such a sight, this would make things continue.
He was right.
“Eleven-thousand!” The dark elf called out again, ignoring how two of his ogres were arguing with each other. That girl really had such an exquisite body; he only knew dark elves to have such a beauty to their albino skin. She would do well as one of his.
The Slaver grinned widely as the price just went up amongst this competitive group. “Eleven-thousand gold on Rei!” He shouted as said slave still stood there in the nude, not making any effort to cover her assets.
Ranma’s eye twitched, and not just because Rei seemed to have no sense of modesty either. What the hell was with this bidding?
The dark elf smirked at the pigtailed youth. That would show the upstart. Eleven-thousand was really too much to pay for a slave anyway; he really didn’t think anyone would top that.
“Twelve-thousand!” The skinny human called out. “And I’ll go no higher!” His four Goblins patted their clubs in their hands to look intimidating.
Licking his lips, the Slaver couldn’t believe his luck. “And we have a bid of twelve-thousand gold!”
“Thirteen-thousand!” The obese female of the group oinked out in a shrill piggy squeal. “Thirteen thousand gold for the skinny bitch!”
“And we have a call for thirteen-thousand for the skinny bit-REI!” The Slaver caught himself.
“Fifteen-thousand!” Ranma shouted out, getting thoroughly annoyed with how this kept bouncing back and forth between him and the others. He just wanted to buy the girls and get them out of here!
The Slaver grinned widely. Already, Rei had fetched three times what he thought he could get from the girl. Thank Skorm for the petty jealousy that Dungeon Keepers could feel for one another. “And that makes fifteen-thousand for delectable Rei here! Are there anymore takers?”
“Seventeen-thousand!” Nelfania squealed. She was going to be damned if she let this little toothpick beat her to the beauty she wanted to beat the tar out of.
The Slaver clapped his hand. This was turning out to be such a terrific bid for such a bland slave.
Ranma growled. He was just SO SICK of this. Turning towards the large and revolting sight of the female Dungeon Keeper, Ranma told the woman, “Withdraw the bid.”
At that, the four Mistresses of the portly woman turned to glare at the pigtailed one.
Turning back to meet the gaze of the one who would give her a command, Nelfania asked in a haughty tone, “What did you tell me?” Her Bile Demon seemed to mimic her ire, as his hands tightened around the chain of the spiked ball it connected to.
Sidarian smirked a little, showing numerous of his teeth to be sparking with gold. “This should be interesting...” he whispered to one of his Warlocks, whom nodded his head in agreement with his master.
“I said...” Ranma said in a calm yet powerful tone of voice. “Withdraw your bid.”
“Or what?” The portly woman challenged, raising a ham-sized fist up towards the pigtailed boy, daring him to try anything.
Pausing for a moment in words, Ranma still held the woman’s glare. He matched with one of his own as he told her, “Or I have you killed.”
The Mentor raised an eyebrow. He didn’t think this Keeper would have the gall or any dark notion towards threatening to kill someone yet... oh, this boy was just full of wonderful surprises.
The woman let off a defiant, condescending laugh. “And how will you do that? I see no servants here.” She then pointed a thick finger at Ranma as she commanded, “Destroy the fool”
The Bile Demon raised its weapon quickly as it started swinging its spiked ball. It so loved destroying pathetic little humans like this one.
The Mistresses also started to flank around Ranma, all preparing to pounce and have their fun with him after they left the smelly pustule get the first blow. They so loved toying with pathetic humans.
Despite being surrounded, Ranma held his cool. Through his Dungeon’s eye, he could see that the Horned Reaper had finished with the rather arachnid group and was looking bored. Perfect.
Raising one hand, Ranma made a simple gesture of snapping his fingers. In a sudden spout of fire and brimstone, the Horned Reaper appeared, towering over everyone gathered in the establishment.
The minions of Nelfania stopped what they were doing, and even the other Keepers and their minions had to stare. A Horned Reaper. This young one had a Horned Reaper?
Then the tension was broken as the spiked mace slipped from the shivering Bile Demon’s hand; getting sent back to the side and hitting one of the Mistresses in the head, causing her to fall to the floor in a twitching, bleeding heap.
“Horny,” Ranma said the name of his servant as he turned to the large red-skinned demonic entity. “You said you wanted something to kill...” he then pointed to Nelfania.
The fat woman was quick to raise her hands, waving them in a warding gesture. “Oh, oh no! It’s quite all right! Just a small misunderstanding!” She chuckled nervously as she saw the grinning demon hold its scythe at the ready. “I was just about to retract my bid, really!”
Ranma smirked a little. “I thought you were...” he turned to look at the slaver. “Fifteen-thousand gold.”
Slowly coming back to after the shock of seeing a Horned Demon summoned in his Slave Auction, the Slaver nodded his head. “Right. Fifteen-thousand gold... going once... twice... SOLD to the Dungeon Keeper with the Horned Reaper!”
Placing his hands on his hips, Ranma smiled with a bit of pride. Yeah, he could get used to this...
The Mentor for his part just grinned a little knowing grin. ‘Power corrupts. Absolute power corrupts absolutely,’ he thought to himself with a dark glee.
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(Posted Sun, 14 Jan 2007 05:17)
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