Danor was not a violent man, but he didn't have many other options for now. Perhaps in time he could prove his intellectual worth and there was room for advancement. He figured it was at least worth a try, his amazing new body might as well be put to good use, and maybe he would even enjoy a change of pace.
"Very well Mister Gembuckle," he agreed, "I'll see Mister Whitcut about the debt collector job. Thank you for this opportunity."
As soon as he finished speaking the bell above the entrance jangled. A stout, old, gray bearded dwarf entered, clomping over to the third desk in the room. He hopped up onto the chair, resting his feet on the table. Despite having fewer books and apparatus than the other two desks, his was considerably less organized and messier.
"Bolsly kept moaning about the late payment fees but I managed to squeeze the gold out of him" the dwarf pulled a jangling pouch from his belt and tossed it onto Mr Gembuckle's table. "He had some family heirlooms hidden under the floorboards that should cover his debt."
Mr Gembuckle sat back behind his table and pulled out a hand lens.
"Adequate," he commented, examining and weighing each piece of jewelry in the pouch, "This is Danor Cloudbuck by the way, wants to be a debt collector. Mr Cloudbuck, this is Bodim Whitcut, my partner."
"Hmph, the lad don't look like he's even been in a tavern scuffle," Whitcut snorted, looking Danor up and down, "Who else you worked for?"
"Uhhh-" Danor paused.
"He says he was a bookkeeper," interceded Mr Gembuckle, "But we haven't had any other applicants. And you need the extra muscle."
"I don't need no quill kisser who wants to play body guard running around underfoot all day," grumbled the dwarf, hopping down from his chair and approaching Danor who was still sitting, unsure of how to respond.
"Well you could always take Gob with you." Mr Gembuckle suggested, now examining a pearl necklace.
"And leave your wrinkly ass to guard the vault? What're you gonna do if someone tries to rob us, bore them to death with charts?" scoffed Mr Whitcut, circling Danor, "Besides walking around with a green-hide in tow makes the deadbeats more likely to run, I prefer when they put up a fight." He punctuated this with a few light jabs at Danor's shoulder, strangely he only wore one gauntlet.
"Which is precisely why you need someone along" remarked Mr Gembuckle indifferently, "You aren't as capable as you were thirty years ago."
The dwarf turned and slammed his gauntlet on Mr Gembuckle's desk, "I'm just as spry as I ever was!"
"Six clients have already managed to out run you this year." replied Mr Gembuckle without looking up, "If your age isn't the problem then it's your stubby dwarf legs."
"Hmph. Fine." Mr Whitcut relented, grabbing a scroll of parchment off the top of his own desk and stomping off, "I'll take him along for today. But if he slows me down for even a second he's out. You coming or not?"
Danor jumped when he realized he was being addressed and swiftly scurried behind the dwarf as he made his way out the door.
"Thanks for giving me a chance Mister Whitcut" Danor gushed, "I won't let you down."
"Yeah yeah, settle your horses, I get enough ass kissing from debtors who can't make payments." Mr Whitcut waved him off, "And don't call me Mister Whitcut."
"Yes...uhh boss." Danor ventured.
Bodim grunted, reading down the list scribbled on his scroll while they walked, "You know what you're doing then?"
"umm...not exactly" Danor mumbled sheepishly.
Bodim sighed with impatience, "Most of the time I'll just need you to stand around and look big. Don't smile, the deadbeats won't take us seriously. Don't scowl either, the high payers might take offense. And don't speak unless spoken to. Sometimes they'll try to fight, if they do, fight back. Though with two of us, chances are they'll run, if that happens chase them down. Make it to the end of the day without any major fuck ups and you got the job. Any questions?"
Danor quickly tried to memorize all his instructions when something Bodim mentioned earlier popped in his head. "If they're going to run anyway why don't you just buy a second orc slave?" puzzled Danor.
"By the stones, do you want the job or not?" grumbled Bodim, shaking his head "We got a lot of clients in no-orc sectors and registered orc-free establishments, meaning if we got a second orc I'd still be going solo a quarter of the time anyway. Any thing else?"
Danor somewhat wanted to wear a different outfit so as not to be fighting and chasing people in his formal garments. However he had a feeling Bodim would have sharp words for him if he requested any sort of delay for a wardrobe change.
"No boss."
"Good, we're coming up on the first house now."
-
For the most part, the rest of the morning and afternoon was uneventful. They walked all around the city knocking on doors and collecting payments. Most debtors (or their staff) handed over their gold with little issue. Some required a stern glare from Bodim when the count came up short, but in the end most of the numbers were squared away. Every few hours they deposit what they had collected back at the office. It was not a good idea to be strolling around carrying large amounts of gold.
As the sun began to set they approached a small house in the middle class district.
"Right lad, I've saved the best for last," announced Bodim, hopping up onto the doorstep, "The two in here haven't answered the door the last few times I came around to collect. Their contract is a month overdue so we can legally take property up to the value of their debt."
"What if they're not home?" asked Danor.
"That'd be a shame, I was itching for a tussle." grunted Bodim, pulling a rod from his belt which suddenly expanded into a large hammer.
"But how would we get in then?"
"Well let's not get ahead of ourselves. I'll start by knocking." grinned Bodim. He clenched and unclenched his gauntlet into a fist three times, sparking a sudden glow from beneath the steel. "Try not to break anything by the way, I don't want the landlord on my ass for repairs."
When he finished speaking his glowing palm slammed into the door causing it to fly open, revealing a lithe yet muscular elf standing in shock to the side of the room in front of another door.
"Eredan Sigual, great to see you again! You've lost weight!" chortled Bodim.
"You can not simply come barging into my home dwarf!" objected Eredan, crossing his arms. "What do you want?"
"Just what's owed me by you and Horus," Bodim answered, gleefully getting his hammer ready "Now should we do this the easy way or the fun way?"
"There is no need to become violent," Eredan stated with a slight tremor in his voice, raising his hands in surrender "I do not have the gold, but you and your lackey can take anything you would like from upstairs."
"Oh can we now?" Bodim asked suspiciously, moving to rest his hammer over his shoulder. He pulled out a glass ball with a spinning golden needle. The needle swung around before settling on the door behind the elf, "I think I'd prefer what's down here."
"You are not to go in there!" Eredan objected, before being shoved to the side by a quick shoulder barge from Bodim.
"Danor, if you could?" Bodim nodded towards the door as he blocked off Eredan. Danor stepped forward and reached for the handle when the elf shouted out.
"Horus, run!"
In an instant Eredan picked up a nearby vase and smashed it over Bodim's head. The door suddenly flew open smacking Danor in the face. A tall, thick, muscular man, burst out running into the street.
"Stop him!" shouted Bodim, elbowing Eredan and swinging back his hammer. A rolling heat spread through the pain in Danor's bleeding nose as he blindly chased the man out the door. Despite Danor's recent increase in weight, his athletic legs propelled him forward like a ballista allowing him to quickly tackle the runner to the ground. The man kicked Danor in the chest but Danor kept him held down and rolled him onto his back, punching him in the face. Horus brought his arms up to guard his head as Danor began pummeling him in an attempt to smash his nose in. Soon Horus was begging for mercy and the boiling inside Danor evaporated into a dry intense heat spurning him to push into something further.
"Settle down lad!" Bodim shouted, grabbing his arm, "Killing one of our clients would be bad for business."
Danor snapped out of his rage breathing heavily as his inner burning began to cool. "S-sorry, I don't know what came over me..."
"Not to worry," assured Bodim, walking around to the squirming man while looking at the glass orb which was now pointing at the man's chest. Bodim reached down and yanked off a chain around the Horus's neck. "Bring him in the house."
"Yes boss" replied Danor, dragging the man by his flailing feet. When the man was pulled inside Danor noticed the man was starting to feel lighter. Slowly Horus's clothes became looser until his boots plopped onto the ground. Danor looked down to see his captive was gradually shrinking into his clothes. The man who had been taller than Danor was now a slightly pudgy halfling dangling one foot off the ground.
"Put me down!" yelped Horus, muffled by the tunic which now covered his head completely, "And give me back my medallion!"
"Don't let him go until I say!" ordered Bodim, hauling the elf over to the banister and restraining him with rope, "Give him a shake, let's see what falls out."
Danor obeyed, causing a few loose coins to clattered to the floor. He didn't stop shaking the protesting halfling until a palm sized pouch plopped out. Bodim picked it up and peeked inside.
"Quite a collection you lads have in here," he remarked, reaching in. Despite the pouch's size his arm sunk inside halfway to his elbow. He pulled out a small vial and squinted at the label before cocking an eyebrow at the halfling, "This is certainly different, who'd you have to go for to get something like this?"
"Hey that's private!" blushed the halfling who was still hanging upside down. By now he had managed to free himself of his over-sized tunic revealing his small potbelly, "Give it back!"
"Hey I'm not here to judge, you want to turn yourself into a codpiece that's your business..." smirked Bodim, storing the medallion and pouch into his own satchel, "That is unless you're doing it on my silver; this necklace and these potions cover about half your debt. So what else you got?"
"That's everything!" trembled the halfling, "So unless you wanna take the tunic off my back, get out!"
Bodim snorted, clomping over to the unconscious elf and slapping him in the face.
"Hey leave him alone!" yelled Horus.
"Wha-whass happened?" Eredan slurred, as his eyes fluttered open.
"You messed with the wrong dwarf is what happened" growled Bodim, thumping his hammer against his palm, "Now if you got any gold hidden away you tell me now unless you want your puny partner to meet my hammer as well."
"No do not hurt Horus!" Eredan pleaded, eyes wide, seeing his struggling friend's predicament, "It's all in the barrel beneath the stairs."
Bodim went to the cupboard under the stairs and emerged with a small chest that gave a hollow rattle of coins.
"This still isn't enough," grunted Bodim "You got any other jewels or magic trinkets?"
"N-no" stuttered Eredan unconvincingly. Bodim sighed and brought out his orb needle again, it slowly rotated to point directly at the bound elf.
"Now this here is a nice belt you got," smirked Bodim, running the orb up and down over Eredan's body, "It should just about cover the rest of your debt."
"No! Do not take my belt!" cried Eredan, trying to squirm away as Bodim undid the gold buckle, "Please take anything else! I need my belt!"
When Bodim pulled it away, Danor saw the rune etched leather strap, was long enough for a man at least ten times Eredan's size. That was until the skinny elf began expanding. After a few moments of struggling against his bindings, his lean muscles grew soft and and flabby. His thin stomach bulged into a blob the size of a bear and his gradually growing ass split the seat of his trousers wide open. Soon the fine fabrics were on the floor in tatters revealing the elf's long slender penis which was slowly being engulfed by the fat pad beneath his massive gut. In only a minute, where once was a thin stylish elf, was now a blubbering obese, naked slob with pointy ears. Danor was so intrigued and strangely aroused by the scene he did not hear his name being called.
"Pop your eyeballs back in lad!" growled Bodim, nudging Danor's foot roughly with his hammer. Danor snapped out of his trance and apologized. Bodim started heading out the door, "Drop the half pint, we're done here."
Danor looked down at the miserable halfling still dangling by the ankles and flipped him around. Horus's trousers were too loose and fell to the floor before he had a chance to catch them, leaving his very bushy, short stubby cock exposed. After stuttering out a quick apology, Danor plopped the halfling's little bare bottom on a table and followed Bodim out the door. The dwarf was standing outside with his gauntlet glowing again, however instead of destroying anything, he gently placed it over where his hand print had left a burn mark on the door and pulled backward. The door closed and the splinters flew back in place as the lock and jamb repaired themselves.
-
Making their way back to the office, Danor shoved his hands in his pockets in an attempt to hide the erection raging in his trousers. Bodim appeared a lot less grumpy and Danor figured he would be in a cheery enough mood to answer some questions.
"What happened to those two?" Danor asked.
"Way I heard it they got on the wrong side with a chubby halfling sorcerer." replied Bodim, when they reached the edge of the upper district, "They were two of the most popular dancers in Goldwick, classy human-elf double act. But couldn't do the old routine when they got turned into a midge and a blob. Needed a loan to buy potions that would restore them. Only they must've pissed that sorcerer off royally because whatever he did was so powerful, the potions didn't stick and they had to keep buying more. The belt and medallion were probably enchanted to make sure the transformations from the potions didn't revert."
"But why didn't they pay back what they owed then?" Danor puzzled, as they made their way past the stores and businesses getting ready to close, "After they got the magic items they wouldn't need to keep wasting money on potions."
"Looks like a classic example of alteration addiction." snorted Bodim, as they approached the office "Seen it a few times. They start with just wanting to lose a few pounds or gain a little more muscle, maybe a few extra inches on the old pecker. But then that ain't enough. Gotta be skinnier or stronger or hornier. Soon they ain't satisfied being themselves, want to be someone else, or something else. Before you know it they're blowing months worth of coin to spend a day as a chamberpot."
Danor started to feel sorry for them, "I hope I didn't hurt the short one too bad, I don't know what came over me."
"You're acting like you've never punched anyone in the face." snorted Bodim, pushing the door of the office open and stepping inside, "Why would a softy like you want to be a debt collector anyway?"
"I don't know. I wasn't good enough when I applied to be bookkeeper," Danor explained, following him in. Gob was standing completely still in the middle of the room, his face void of any expression; Mr Gembuckle was nowhere in sight.
"If you ask me you dodged an arrow." commented Bodim, walking past Gob and unloading his pouch onto Mr Gembuckle's desk, "You wouldn't want a job under Phiny all day. He'll work you to the bone then feed the bones to the dogs. There's a reason that clerk position has been open for years."
"Why do you work with him then?" Danor asked, waving his hand in front of Gob's unmoving face. A gem inside the silver collar around his neck was pulsing red.
"He's a sharp business man, and makes me a lot of gold," reasoned Bodim, opening a cabinet behind his desk to pick out a dusty bottle, "But the only thing he cares about is money. I might be a hot head but he is cold as ice. If it were possible Gob would be in slave mode twenty four hours a day."
"He seems to care about you," Danor mused, taking a seat in front of Bodim's desk, "Isn't he the one insisting you hire some extra protection?"
"Ha! When I die half of the company assets goes to my brother back in Stonehill, and Phiny wont be able to play with the big boys for a while." Bodim explained, hopping up onto his own chair behind the desk, "So he wants to keep me alive as long as possible, even if it means paying some lug to walk around as a meat shield... Speaking of which you didn't do half bad today, job's yours if you want it. I like to settle business over a drink, but when Phiny comes back he'll have a contract longer than my belt for us to sign."
As Danor was about to accept the offer, the bell above the door jingled and Mr Gembuckle entered with a halfling in a dark blue robe following behind.
"Did you find Mister Cloudbuck's performance satisfactory?" Mr Gembuckle asked without so much as a hello.
"He'll do if it'll shut you up about me needing an assistant." responded Bodim, uncorking the bottle of wine.
"Very well, this is Healer Bivern," Mr Gembuckle gestured to the halfling, "he will be administering a medical examination before you sign your employment contract."
Healer Bivern stepped forward and asked Danor to remove all his clothes.
"Uhh...Can we do this somewhere more private?" requested Danor, starting to blushing, "Maybe we could use the back room..."
"As a security precaution, no one is permitted in the back room unless they're under contract..." Mr Gembuckle droned, as he scribbled down on a long roll of parchment. "...or if they're wearing a collar."
"Speaking of which, why don't you take Gob off slave mode." Bodim suggested, pouring out the wine into two goblets, "I'm sure he's suffered enough for whatever minor nuisance he offended you with."
"If you insist." Mr Gembuckle sighed, reaching to the tablet on the side of his belt. After giving it a swipe, the ruby gem on Gob's collar flashed amber and the orc stumbled forward. Mr Gembuckle did not look up from his parchment. "What have you learned?"
The orc was clutching his head in pain and moaning but managed to whine out a response "Gob no more wave when see orc come in."
"Come on now" Healer Bivern interjected, as he prepared his implements "I don't have all day."
Danor sighed and began stripping off. Even though his new muscular body was nothing to be ashamed of he was still quite shy about these things. In a minute he was completely nude with both his meaty hands covering his genitals. Bivern started prodding him with odd instruments and muttering under his breath with the lights occasionally glowing out of his fingers. As much as Danor did not want to get an erection in front of his new employers, his cock started to stir.
"Nervous are you lad?" asked Bodim with a knowing smirk. He held out a goblet of wine, "This should help."
Danor took one of his hands off his crotch and accepted the drink. Bivern gave the goblet an annoyed glance but didn't say anything.
"Here's to a beneficial employment," toasted Bodim. They clanked the cups together and took a drink. Danor started with a sip, but as soon the first splash hit his tongue he realized how thirsty he was and started to take in more. The sounds of sparks mixed with a gasp from the halfling cut through the silence. As Danor was about to finish off his cup, the finger that was running a circle around his chest gave him a light shock. Immediately after, a bright light smacked into his wrist, causing his goblet to fly across the room, spilling the last few dregs onto the floor. He looked down to see the halfling standing a few feet away with a thin wooden rod pointed at Danor's hand.
"What was that for!?" erupted Danor, feeling a boiling anger rise over him faster than he had ever felt. He clenched his hands into fists, exposing his cock and balls. He stepped forward ready to smash that little face in but something large suddenly swung down in front of him blocking his path. Bodim was standing on his desk holding out his hammer.
"Calm down lad, I'm sure ther-" he was cut off as Danor knocked the hammer out of the way and kept advancing.
"Gob, restrain Mister Cloudbuck." ordered Mr Gembuckle dryly, as though he was mildly annoyed at the disturbance.
As Danor stomped forward to the quivering healer he suddenly felt himself suddenly lifted off his feet as two arms came up from beneath his shoulders holding him back. Danor struggled but Gob was stronger than him.
"Please Mister Cloudbuck," trembled Healer Bivern, "allow me to explain."
After a few more moments of trying to break free, the boiling heat gradually settled.
"Fine," Danor grunted, going limp, "this better be good."
"During the examination I noticed, there was a fluctuation of magic as you drank the wine. It seems the alcohol was having a strong reaction to something." Bivern explained, slowly approaching and waving a steel rod glowing blue up and down Danor's naked body, "Have you had any spells cast on you or have you taken any strange potions lately?"
Danor thought back trying to remember the past few days. There was a light haze over everything but then he recalled that friendly dwarf who had given him the potion. "Yes I had a potion of orcish strength. He said it would make me strong as an orc."
"Well that's not all it's doing." Bivern observed, as his instruments hummed and blinked, "Have you experienced any difficulty performing mentally challenging tasks? Unusual bouts of intense rage? An increase in sexual frustration?"
Danor nodded with a worried expression.
"It looks like you're turning into an orc. Tusks and all."
Danor was about to utter a denial when he saw a patch of skin on his right hands suddenly start growing green.
"AHHH! You gotta help me!" yelled Danor, looking down at the rest of his body, still restrained in Gob's arms and noticing more patches of darkening skin, "Change me back!"
"I can slow down the change for now, but once it has fully taken place it will be permanent," Bivern explained as he started sending cold energy through Danor's body, "I can brew an antidote to transform you back to normal, but the ingredients will be extremely expensive, at least three thousand gold pieces. Alternatively I can brew a potion to halt the transformation, keeping you in your current form, it wont give you back your mental capacity and you might retain some orcish habits but it'll only cost half as much."
"I can't afford either of those!" cried Danor, "How much time do I have to get the money?"
"By my estimate the change will complete before sunrise." sighed the Healer, stepping back. There was no more he could do for now. "And the potion itself takes a few hours to brew so if you don't have the gold right now..."
"We may be able to assist you in that matter." floated Mr Gembuckle's voice from behind Danor. "Release him Gob."
Danor dropped to the floor and turned to face Mr Gembuckle. "You'll really help me Mister Gembuckle? Thank you!"
"Well it won't come without a cost." continued Mr Gembuckle, for the first time Danor saw a hint of a grin in the corner of the old man's mouth, "When you revert to normal you will work for me as my clerk until you pay off your debt. Rather fortuitous as that was the job you came here for in the first place."
"Remember what I said before," warned Bodim, there was a sudden thud as the dwarf jumped down from his desk, landing in front of Danor, "We could also loan you the money to stop the transformation. Stay as you are, and you could work for me instead. Take a moment to think about it."
"But not too long." urged the Healer, as he returned all his gear into his travel case "Whatever you decide, do it quickly. The apothecary has already closed shop but I might be able to catch him before he heads out."