The patrons
"What the bloody hell?" Someone blurted, the burly man from the bar, rising up from where he sat at the bar and slamming down a heavy mug. An air of intoxication and anger washes off of him. In turn, the barkeep looks at you too now, with his hands wretching his apron with a huff as though to say, "Not again!"
"What is that?" A woman shouted, her dress fluttering at her ankles when she stumbled backwards shocked and scared at your appearance. You reach for the necklace again, but it's fallen! Your eyes sweep over the floor, but suddenly your senses are overwhelmed with their increased prowess. As a Sphinx, your eyes have begun to shift to the vision of a feline. The colors are fading out of the world around you while the smells are taking on a new, sharp clarity.
The bar, while before just smelled of alcohol and musky dirt, now seems to explode with the scents. You smell the honey in the mead, sickeningly sweet from where it brews behind the bar in massive containers. You smell the sweat of the man at the bar, lumbering closer with his fists clenched. It beads on his forehead, but from the intensity of the smell filling your nose, filling your mind- you'd swear he was sitting on top of you. You smell the meat over the spit in the back room, a boar rubbed with herbs that's starting to crackle with heat. It makes your mouth water instantly, a sudden hunger exploding through your body. You smell the couple that's made love in the upstairs in of this establishment. You can smell the earthy scent of sex on them. You smell the courtesan in the corner's perfume, thick and overly flowery to mask her age which you can also smell like the stench of death from one unfortunate drinker here.
You head starts to pound with the overload of information coming in while you still search for the necklace, but it's no where to be found. All you see are the legs of the tables and chairs, the clumps of dust and hair that's gathered despite the barkeep's wife incessant sweeping throughout the night. The amulet is no where to be found! You try to turn to see it, but sudden motion jolts you into freezing still.
"A Sphinx! They bring nothing but trouble!" The burly man from the bar lunges forward towards you, inches away from contact. You stumble back, but the strange legs buckle beneath you as you try to stand. You grab for a table to steady yourself, but instead your claws rake through the wood, leaving deep furrows. Your back doesn't want to straighten, sending you slumping forward against towards the dusty floor. Your head is pounding. You back is aching. Everything is flooding your senses at once.
"We can corner it! Trap it and go for the wings!"
"The wings?! What about the claws? It will tear us to shreds!"
"It?" you think, realizing that you have been downgraded to an animal status, a dangerous piece of wildlife. For a second, you almost feel stung by their comment before they lunge forward towards you again, hands groping for weapons.
"Avoid them and just try to wound it!"
"Agh!" you cry, searching again for the amulet only to stumble on your strange feet when you stamp them down to hard. Slipping forward, you plant both of your front feet onto the ground to settle onto all four legs.
"You've angered it!" The woman cried; her voice shrill and cracking in the confined space.
Written by Picklessauce69 on 11 July 2015
