They waded through the grasslands, with Alec's body on his back. Vivian had to forgo the use of her armor and instead wore just her sportsbra. It couldn't be strapped on tight enough not to get in the way, she'd strapped her knives on her back as her legs were too short.
Alec took his time to study each of the reed patches they passed. They looked like the stuff he was looking for, but he wasn't sure. "Is this dickweed?"
"Yes, why?"
"Because I need it."
"I don't think you should mess with this now. We'll come back here again later, okay?" she replied and pressed on to the edge of the swamp.
He took one more look back at the campsite as they stood at the edge of the swamp.
"Let's go in."
Alec nimbly jumped from the water on a collection of roots in front of them. He sniffed the air and listened closely. The swamp was filled with strange and unfamiliar sounds.
"You know, it's amazing how scared you were of telling me you had a pussy, but now that you actually are a pussy you have no qualms about flashing your new one."
It took a moment before Alec realized what she'd meant. A feeling of shame fell on his conscience and instinctively his tails wrapped between his hind legs as he lowered himself.
"Don't do that, I was joking."
"Yeah, but now you've made me aware of it." His sultry pouting voice replied.
"It's like watching a dog or a horse, it's normal that it's naked."
"Being compared to normal animals somehow doesn't make me feel better." He smiled wryly.
His ears perked up as a sudden sound up ahead drew his attention, his shame gone as he focused back on the task at hand.
They made slow progress. While Alec found he could often jump from tree to tree, even with himself strapped on his back, Vivian had no such luck. Combined with her smaller stature she found the roots and water often coming much higher on her body than it used to.
Alec leaped from a large rooted tree to a large partially submerged fallen tree. His nails digging deep into the wet bark. He found himself enjoying this body a lot more than he'd expected to.
Next to him Vivian was wading in chest high water until "Fuck, hold it." He heard her whisper. "I'm caught on something, keep an eye out for snakes."
Alec stood at the ready on a large fallen tree, his cat eyes scanning the nearby trees and water.
She tugged vigorously at something under water, until suddenly her hands came out with a big splash. She lost her balance submerged completely, but quickly resurfaced. "Fuck. Disgusting." She spat and snorted. She wiped some green plants from her eyes and stood still for a moment looking down at something Alec couldn't see.
"Are you okay?"
"Crap. Yeah. Just annoyed and disgusted."
"I think I saw a dry piece over there." He pointed with his paw.
"That sounds about right. Let's go."
Alec jumped on the land. He was getting good at this body. His paws were dirty though. He lifted a paw and stuck out his tongue just as Vivian arrived. "I wouldn't do that. This place tastes terrible, trust me on that one."
He put his paw back down.
Her clothes were soaked and adorned with various shades of brown and green. As she stepped on the land though Alec found out what had gotten caught. Her lowest pair of breasts were hanging loose. The large heavy breasts hung well below her crotch, closer to her knees than her crotch. Each breast topped with a large inch long teatlike nipple. A small tatter of the lower bra she'd used clung to her side.
"Stop staring." She grabbed the tatter and tore it off. Discarding it in the bog. She pulled out a towel from her pack and wound it around her body, much like when he'd first met her.
Seeing her exposed like this he felt a new sensation coming from deep within his body. He felt like she was out to take something from him, like he needed to stop her right here, right now. He felt his claws slide out from his paws. How good, how much safer would it feel if he just sank them into her. That way she couldn't take what was his.
"We're going to leave you here, your body, I mean. We'll also leave the packs here. I know this place."
Tearing his eyes away from her breasts, he managed to push the feeling away. This was insane, was he jealous? What would she even take from him. His claws slid back and he approached her. They removed Alec's body and checked him. He seemed perfectly fine. No signs of drying out and more amazingly to Alec. His body hadn't soiled itself yet either.
It wasn't quite like sleeping or a coma, but maybe more like it was just going on a break from life.
As she covered up Alec's body, he asked. "Is it really smart to keep using the same spots as last time?"
"It's the safest route unless you know a better one. From here we follow this path and we should start seeing signs of the Witch's domain soon. I'll point them out by then, for now stick to the land though. It's important."
Alec took one look at his well hidden body as they left it behind. It did not sit well with him leaving it behind like this, but bringing it along was much more dangerous.
He had no sense of time as the sun rarely showed itself through the thick upper foliage. Together they trudged on for what seemed like hours, but was most likely a lot shorter. Weird new smells drifted into Alec's sensitive nose. Actually, one smell seemed familiar, but he couldn't place it. New sounds joined the animal sounds, including a weird hollow sound. Like multiple people were moaning. Was this place haunted?
Vivian held up a hand and crouched next to Alec. Not that the height difference was that large anymore.
"Look over there." she whispered. She pointed to an oddly shaped tree. Unlike most trees, it's trunk was fairly narrow at the base and wider at the top where it basically split into two massive branches which went further from there.
It reminded Alec of a muscular man playing a tree in a school play. It was definitely a tree, an oddly shaped tree, but a tree nonetheless.
"You don't see it do you? Come sit before me."
Alec obeyed and Vivian pointed ahead. He followed her finger across the trunk of the tree. Near where the two large branches branched out he noted three small holes. Two above, one large one in the middle below. He narrowed his eyes and saw two small round marbles in the top holes.
"Are those eyes?" he gasped and for once he didn't sound sultry.
"Yes."
He peered closer, the hole below seemed to open and close, with the eyes above it, it reminded him of a... "Is that a mouth? Why does a tree have eyes and a mouth?"
"That wasn't originally a tree. That was an adventurer. The witch sometimes transforms people into sentries like this. Take a good look near the base."
He saw nothing at first, just a small oddly placed mushroom sticking out near the base. Then he saw it. It wasn't a mushroom. He could smell what it was and felt his female feline parts heat up. A large erect dick stuck out from the base. It was twitching, precum leaking out of the tip.
"What the fuck?" he breathed.
"That's part of the reason I told you not to jump on the trees anymore. If you or me touches any part of that tree it will moan. Its moan is part of the witches alarm system. She'll know exactly where we are. She transforms those adventurers and ensures they're constantly horny."
That at least explains the odd moaning sound he was hearing. "Is he aware? Can he talk or help us?" A great feeling of unease was crawling under his skin. What had he gotten himself into?
"He's probably more aware than he wants to be. And no. Something very important you need to know, some of the victims here can't be saved. Either due to the time since the transformation curse, or because they've just given up and given in to their new roles. At either of those points the spell can become permanent. It's safe to assume that this tree is past that point since it was here last time as well."
"Wait, what about you?" What rank mission was this? He wondered.
"I'm obviously still fighting the change and all the more reason not to waste time. Come follow me, don't touch that tree and keep a close watch for any others like it." She licked her thick lips as she crept past Alec.
Alec however remained where he was. "Wait."
"What?"
"What rank mission is this?"
"I don't know, why do you ask?" She was still looking ahead.
"Because I don't believe you. There's no way you of all people don't know what rank mission this is." Anger was bubbling inside him, reaching a boiling point. "Is the time pressure part the reason you asked me? Because you were in a hurry and needed anything, anyone to help and I was the easiest to ask? I imagine you saw me standing there. Unfamiliar, uncertain, also cursed and with an ability? Easy to manipulate and forced to do what you want? Like go after a very dangerous witch when he himself didn't have to?"
"S" She said wearily. Alec was stunned. S rank? He barely survived his E rank mission last time. And it was just the two of them!
She turned to face him, but kept her eyes on the ground and sighed. "Look, I'll be honest with you. Yes, I would've liked someone with more experience than you. Yes, I was a little desperate. I had already asked several others but they didn't want to tangle with the witch especially with me looking like I did. Then I saw you looking around, seeming very lost. I figured I'd talk to you see what you had, maybe help you if you weren't of use. From your build I expected you to be a rookie wizard, so imagine my surprise when I couldn't find magic on your card. And rookie like you would be easier to trick into coming with me while I still had time."
A feeling of betrayal hit Alec, even if he didn't know why. He was exactly as she said, he looked like, no he was an easy target. Confused and alone in this large dangerous world. He'd gotten by with his power, luck and the help from nice people. He had no training, no experience, no knowledge, barely any money. He had nothing. It was all true and still he felt a betrayed. It hurt, if he could've he would've cried. He felt his claws slide out. He felt it in his body, women, you couldn't trust them.
"Don't let those ears hang Alec." She put her hand between his ears and scratched. They perked up and his claws slid back in. "We've been traveling for nearly a week together. I have come to appreciate you and your power a lot more. You're much more capable than I thought, you just need training and experience. But more importantly I did mean what I said back then, a good special power can be worth 10 strong adventurers and an army wasn't going to help me anyway. We...I needed stealth. We can totally do this and I meant what I said."
She stopped scratching and looked him straight in the eyes. "I will help you get your dick back and we can do this."
It was reassuring, the way she met his eyes. A small part of him kept telling him to just leave her and turn back. Pick the weeds and leave. But he was here now, he'd gotten as far as he did because others helped him. He was going to see this through. He knew just how to dismantle the tension. "Let's just try not to end up with a bad case of morning wood."
Vivian snickered. "Thanks...and sorry for bringing you to something so dangerous."
"This is going to look good on my resume."
They crept on, careful not to touch any of the trees. Interestingly, Alec noticed that none of the trees were female. Did the witch have a sense of humor? Alec's ears perked up. "There's something up ahead." He whispered.
They hid behind a tall tree. Two large stones were at the base and a massive mushroom jutted upward from between them. Long thick vines hung between the trees above them. Vivian peered around one of the large boulders and motioned Alec to come see. Like a cat he sneaked silently forward.
A large fat creature stood in a clearing. It's hairless skin scaly and green. On it's bald head two small horns were visible. It was at least twice as tall as Alec's own body. It's massive arms as thick as small trees. It lumbered around the clearing on short legs with large feet. Dressed in a small dirty loincloth which did little to hide its impressive equipment. Boulder sized balls and a dick nearly half Alec's own length were clearly visible swinging around as it waddled the area.
It didn't seem to be doing anything except look around sluggishly. Alec's neck hairs stood on end. It lumbered to one end and stood still for a moment, seemingly lost in whatever thoughts could occupy a thing like that. After which it lumbered to the other side and stared at it's own massive gut.
"Does it work for the witch? Maybe I should take it."
Vivian held up her hand and her bow materialized. "I don't think that will help us nearly as much as your current form."
She licked her lips and Alec noticed she was fidgeting as she took aim. Her arrow moved fast, faster than he'd probably have been able to see with his human eyes and struck the creature down.
"What was what?" He asked as they approached the huge body.
She seemed sad as she inspected the creature. "Ogre." Alec noticed that on the loincloth, barely visible through the grime, was an emblem of some kind of shield. Seemed like a lion or some other animal with manes was depicted on the crest. The creature smelled horrible though, it's putrid stench invaded his sensitive nose.
Vivian motioned and they moved passed the body.