The room I was shoved into was huge and looked to have once been a dining hall that had been turned into a makeshift nursery. Toys of all types were scattered around, most of them crushed and broken. Whoever or whatever lived here had made several blanket and pillow forts, giving way too many places for someone to hide. The place smelled, the odor a foul mix of human waste and a musky scent, like something from an animal.
“Uh, hello? Junior, are you here?” I asked, trying to spot the “child” through the debris of the room. While I looked around, I summoned the hound, giving him instructions to find whoever else was in here and not to harm him even if he was attacked. The hound gave a low whoof of agreement and started to sniff around.
The hound stopped near a large pile of sheets and blankets, pointing his nose toward the pile and growling softly. Whatever was in there wasn’t something the dog didn’t want to have anything to do with, but he was a good boy and was going to warn me about the threat. Above the dog’s low growl, I could make out another rumbling sound that was a mix between a wheeze and a snore.
The kid I was supposed to play with and care for must have been taking a nap. I was fine with that, figuring that my performance rating for this summoning would probably be based primarily on how long I could keep performing the task given to me. The longer Junior slept, the better off I’d be.
Shushing up the dog, I looked for somewhere to park myself. The room was filthy, and there were dirty plates and bowls everywhere. I assumed that whoever fed Junior did so in a hurry, dumping off the chow and making a break for it. If they had to feed him that quickly, there was no way servants would come in here regularly to clean.
As far from the front door as I could get was a broken sofa that I plopped down on while I waited. The hound curled up next to me but kept his eye on the pile of bedding that Junior was hiding under. Minutes passed and I began to wonder how long the summoning would last for. Wands had a time limit, but if these people were as wealthy as they seemed, they probably splurged for a higher quality wand that would allow the summoned being to stick around longer.
About the time I figured that I was in the clear, the bedding shifted, and the snores became a whine as Junior tried to unbury himself from the bedding. I wasn’t sure what I expected, but the sight of Junior wasn’t it. Instead of a human toddler I was seeing what looked like a monster from a bad science fiction movie.
Junior had a humanoid body that was little kid chubby, and he stood about four feet tall. His skin consisted of leathery scales and his face had several spikes growing out of it. The mouth had morphed into a beast’s snout, and was filled with sharp, needle-like teeth. Junior began to whimper and cry, a long tongue snaking out as he built up to an ear-splitting volume.
This was bad, and I went ahead and summoned the rest of my crew. I was careful to give each of them instructions not to harm Junior, I really wanted to get a good rating on this summoning if I could. Rupert, then Lillia was summoned, but I ran into a problem when I summoned the ghoul.
As soon as the ghoul appeared, he recoiled from the noise that Junior was making and hissed loudly at the monstrous child. Somehow hearing this over his own wailing, Junior turned toward my group, his cries lowing in volume as a wicked grin appeared on his face. He stared at us for a solid minute, and I figured that maybe I should try and talk to him.
“Hi there Junior, how are you doing today? Did you have a good nap? Did you want to play?” I asked in that overfriendly voice that most of us reserve for small children or pets.
“Play!” Junior babbled as he began to move toward the group. It was oddly disturbing how he walked, Junior had the stumbling gait of a toddler, but seeing that coming from such a monstrous figure freaked me out. His hands reached forward as he approached; cruel-looking claws grew as I watched. Instead of pudgy, scaly hands, Junior now had scaly hands with eight-inch claws sticking out of them like he was some kind of fantasy monster version of Wolverine.
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“Uh, scatter guys, I think it’s best if we don’t let Junior catch us. Remember, we can’t hurt him,” I ordered. Following my own advice, I ran back to the far wall as the others spread out across the room. It was no good, since I was the one that had spoken to him, Junior seemed to zero in on me as his first playmate.
The room was a mess, and it didn’t make for a quick getaway. Thankfully, the mess also hindered Junior and he stumbled and dropped on his butt more than once. I was worried at first that he’d hurt himself when he fell, but it seemed like he was used to the occurrence and brushed it off in his mad dash to catch me.
Junior had a look of glee plastered on his face as he chased me, babbling “play” over and over as he ran. He was gaining on me and the last thing I wanted was for him to catch me and end this summoning session too early. The nearest summoned creature was the hound, so I gave him an order I’m not proud of.
“Hound, move in and try to play with Junior, let’s see what he does.”
The hound dutifully obeyed my order, barking in a friendly manner to get Junior’s attention. Slowing his approach, Junior turned to see the dog wagging his tail and barking excitedly. Giving a giggle, the giant monster toddler turned and approached the dog.
“Doggy, pet doggy,” Junior muttered. I almost expected him to stop and try to pet the hound, but that wasn’t to be the case. Instead of trying to pet and cuddle with my summoned pup, Junior lashed out with his claws, tearing into the poor beast. The hound gave a yelp of surprise before turning into mana vapor.
Junior swatted at the vapor, giving a huge belly laugh. His distraction allowed me to put more distance between us. The room we were in may have once been some grand dining hall, but even a large hall seemed like a cramped space when a monster toddler that you couldn’t fight back against was trying to kill you.
His amusement over the hound’s demise and unsummoning ended quickly and the toddler stumbled back to his feet and began to look for his next victim. I ordered the ghoul up next, opting to hide myself from Junior’s line of sight by ducking behind a broken table. I waved for Rupert and Lillia to do the same, taking cover while Junior went after the ghoul.
“Play!” Junor shouted as the ghoul hissed at him and ran for the nearest wall. A large tapestry was hung up there and the ghoul used his own set of rather impressive claws to scurry his way up. Undeterred, Junior moved to the tapestry, grabbed ahold, and pulled. The tapestry tore from the wall, and with a squeal, the ghoul fell to the ground. The impact sounded bad, and the ghoul must have injured his feet or legs as his speed dropped considerably.
Junior caught up to the ghoul and swatted at him with his oversized claws. The blows cut through the leathery hide of the ghoul like it was paper and severed its spine. Just before the ghoul reverted to mana vapor, he lashed out with his own rather impressive claws at Junior. It was Riposte, I had forgotten that I had linked that ability to him.
I held my breath as I waited for Junior to begin wailing in pain from the ghoul’s blow and for my rating to plummet. Instead, the claws seemed to not harm Junior in the least and he looked around for another playmate. Looking closer, I could see the ghoul’s attack hadn’t even penetrated the scaly skin of Junior. If the monster baby was this powerful as a toddler, would anything stop him when he was fully grown?
Rupert was the next minion to take one for the team. Sadly, dwarves weren’t known for their agility, and Rupert was quickly caught and dispatched by Junior. Dwarves were many things, but outrunning things was just not in their wheelhouse. Lillia stepped up to the plate, doing better than Rupert but also being caught rather easily. She did manage to block one of Junior’s swipes with her shield, but his claws sliced right through the reinforced wood.
It was my turn for toddler terror when Junior sniffed out my hiding place. As I fled, I noticed a weakness in Junior’s pursuit. He was faster than me, but he had trouble reacting to rapid direction changes. I zig zagged my way around the dining hall, trying to use the debris and clutter to my advantage.
“Chase, catch!” Junior chuckled. I turned to look at him just as he opened his tooth-filled maw wider than it should have been able to open. Junior’s long tongue lashed out, easily covering the six-foot lead I had on him. The slimy appendage wrapped around my waist and pulled me toward the monster.
I gave a rather unheroic shriek as I was pulled into Junior’s clutches, opting to close my eyes as those deadly claws closed in.
You have been killed by claws severing your spine. This summoning is now complete.
Your performance rating is calculated as Very Good.
Your rewards will reflect the summoning tier of 1, rank 4, and your performance rating of Very Good.
You have earned 10 experience points.
You have earned 9 summoning points.
You will now be returned to your personal space.