The Ballad of Baro

[coolcoyote]

(Not an actual rp but a follow up for a my first character here, Baro the fox! This story is cannon until otherwise posted o.o)

It took Baro forever to work off the pounds he put on at Redwall. And since Forever has yet to happen he has yet to slim down since his stay at the famous Abbey, which is proving to be a bit of a problem as he tries to navigate the deadly swamp and marshes. He pauses to catch his breath, leaning against a tree.

How did this happen?

Like most stories it began in a tavern. Baro hardly remembered all the details as his belly was full of ale. It was a busy night of gambling, drinking, eating and telling stories to pay for all the above. He remembers the pine marten's though. Tall sleek looking beasts dressed in clothing almost tribal but able to speak in a more civilized tongue than Baro could.

They enjoyed his stories and knew of a place he could make a quick coin with them. A place called The Lost Wood.

A name like that should have been the first warning sign, Baro reflects. As a story teller he should have known a clear plot hook when he saw one.

The promise of easy coin however was strong. And so Baro's last adventure began. It was... surprisingly uneventful, at least in the beginning. The marten's over joyed the fox followed them proved to be friendly guides. And rather chatty. Aata and Lalia they were called and went on and on about their village. A vermin town where vermin actually got along, the food was plentiful and the rum never ran out.

Baro didn't buy into the cool aid, and half way through the raft ride there he was certain that they were just luring him off in the woods to steal his kidneys.

It wasn't until Baro actually laid eyes on the village that he started to think there might be some truth to those rumors. The village was spread hap hazardly across a hill raising high out of the swamp. There was a party going on, one so loud and rowdy that thirty minutes away from the dock.

Baro always considered himself to be an odd looking beast. He was a brown furred fox in a red furred fox world, he wore a long flowing red coat with flames stitched onto the sleeves, leaving it open simply because it no longer fit around his portly tan furred middle.

But these beasts, they were truly odd. They wore 'civilized' clothing but more like a tribal beast. Nothing seemed flush or in unison. Be it the buildings or the beasts.

"Welcome! Welcome my Friends! Who have you brought for us this time?!" Warning bell number 2 came in the form of a large bare chested monitor lizard coming up to Baro and giving him a back breaking bear hug in greeting. "Oi! What did you feed this one, cake? You could feed an entire family for a week on the meat on his bones!"

Baro let's out a paniced meep even as the monitor lizard ruffles his head fur with his nuckles. "I'm kidding. I'm kidding. I would never eat you. Not with out pepper, right?" He nudges Baro in the side, "I am Jaskar, the current chieftain of the village. Welcome welcome! Tell me, are you hungry?"

"As long as I am not on the menu, then yeah." The marten's behind Baro break up in laughter. "This is baro! He's a story teller! A good one!"

"Capital! Please come! The Lost Woods is always welcome to those who like to party~" the lizard wraps a hand around the foxes shoulder, leading him into the village. They were quickly lost in a sea of drunken beasts dancing in the streets.

"Did I come during a feastival?" Baro asks, eyeing the many pots of boiling foods available to eat with some skepticism. He could smell the spice from here.

"Nope, it's just Thursday. We had a big catch of fish today. Got to celebrate that, right? Here, let's get you into the partying mood." The monitor hands Baro a beer and the next day Baro wakes up in the inn. He was resting on a hammock, his clothes cleaned and folded on a countertop next to where he slept. His stomach was swollen to the bursting point and he vaugly remembered through the pounding head ache that he had tried to guzzle down an entire pot of stew.

The fox groans. There were parties and then there was THAT. His entire body ACHED. He was going to be spending the entire morning here in bed wanting to DIE.

It was then that the door opened. Aata burst in, big grin on her face as she shouted, "Hey!your up! That's great! Jumbo the rat just brought in a haul of shrimp, there is going to be another party, are you in?!"

"Heck yeah!" And so the story goes...

[coolcoyote]

And so the days turned into weeks. The warning signs were clear as day but it was easy to ignore the obvious with a healthy does of ale running through your viens every day and every night. Food really was plentiful and it quickly began to show. The only reason Baro didn't cart himself around in a wheelbarrow​ was due to the nearly nightly dancing.

The beasts here we're really a simple lot. Working in the day, enjoying the spoils of their labors at night.

But, even though the brown furred fox could push aside the growing sense of dread building inside him, Baro could not completely ignore it.

Aside from Jaskar the big friendly lizard of death running the show out of the city hall, which was the only place off limits to visitors on the island, it was the fact that there were no OLD beasts. Truly old beasts. The oldest beast Baro saw was Jumbo the rat Fisher, he was in his early forties at the very least. To be fair, with all the drinking going on each night Baro would be surprised if he didn't drop dead at 30 let alone 40.

And then there was the plaque.

One morning while out shopping for a party with Aata and Lalia a group of small children came running up to Baro, displaying an oak wood plaque with his name in gold letters. "Look Mr. Baro! Look! They made your plaque!"

"My what now?" Baro reached for for the wooden frame, only to have Aata grab it out of the child's paws and scold him, "Fer shame! Ye know better than to go messing about the town hall, go on, scoot before I box your ears!" The dibbuns disperse with great haste leaving Baro shocked. In all this time Baro has never seen either of the marten's raise their voice.

"Am I...missing something?" The fox raises an eyebrow.

"Oh, it's just a silly tradition. Don't worry your fuzzy little head about it. Lalia, can you take Baro around the market? I'll take this back to where it belongs." Aatas nervous nature only fueled the foxes curiousity as did the dibbuns choice of words.

"They made /your/ plaque..."

------

It didn't take much for Baro to sneak away from the feasting that night. He really didn't want to do this. He wanted to enjoy himself at the partyyyyy, not sneak around like a spy, busting into the town hall in the middle of the night. But he needed absolution. He needed to know that he wasn't going to be fed to some swamp monster on the eve of the full moon. Mostly he had to prove to himself that it was ok to go back and gluttonize himself to death.

Unfortunately the truth didn't take as long to find as he wanted it to. Breaking the lock of the door Baro steps into a large amplatheater in the center of the town hall. A large circular building filled with the towns treasures... and trophies.

A history of the city was on display here, from beginning to end, a tapestry of vermin coming together to form a village where they could exist in peace...

There was probably more to it but honestly, Baro could hardly notice what with all the heads mounted on the walls. Foxes, stoats, weasels, vermin of all kinds on display as trophies on wooden plaques. There were dates under their gold plated names. Years. Always the same date but always the year after the last.

They spread out five years in advance even, the last five are blank, awaiting a beast to be stuffed and mounted onto it.

Baro's name was scheduled for five years down the road...

The fox takes this all in stride. Standing stoic and still. Finally he sighs, rubbing his eyes. "Figures." He says, "It just figures. I finally found a place I could be a vermin and then..." The beast slumps, "I liked it here..."

"You still could like it here."

Baro nearly jumps out of his skin as Jaskar simply appears through the door behind him. "Look on the bright side! At least now it won't be a surprise...right?" The lizard rubs the back of his neck as he laughs. His laughter dies off. "Listen. It's...not what you think..."

"You are fattening me up for some horrid ceremony to KILL me." The fox says flattly.

"Ok, so that is exactly what it is. Each ear for the Fall Feast one beast is chosen to, uh, provide the feast. It's chosen at random. Aata was slated to be our feast eventually but if you can find a willing sacrifice or stranger to fill your place you are spared. This is a time honored traditional dating back to-"

Baro kicks the lizard below the belt, shoving him onto his tail as he dashes out the door. "No! Wait! Please come baAAaacK!"

And so history meets the present. The fox knew that he couldn't out run the lizard for ever. But he only needed to elude him for a short while. The fox avoids the party below, half surprised they have not been organized to hunt him down already. Isn't that what a group of Savage canabals does when their fatted calf goes missing?

Making his way through the swamp land surrounding the village Baro is more worried that he doesn't see Jaskar coming g after him. That means the lizard is and the fox just hasn't seen him yet.

He reaches the docks, "Oh hai Baro! Why are you not at the-gah!" And into the water Jumbo the rat goes as Baro pushes past him, leaping onto the raft. Grabbing the oar he begins trying to push the raft off the docks, but the weeks prior hardly trained him for such physical exertion.

"Will you please just listen to reason!"

Baro screams as Jaskar simply appears, again, in front of him. Holding the oar like a weapon Baro shouts back, "Will you stop THAT! And will you stop trying to act like my friend? Friends don't eat friends!"

"Well, they do here..."

"Shut up shut up shut UP!" The fox shouts. "Do you know how messed up that is? I don't want to be eaten! I spent my whole life trying not to be eaten! All of my siblings, my cousins, my unless and aunts, they all ended up in the gullets of snakes and birds and canabal squirrels. I am the LAST Flavious, and I want to live to a good old age of 50 and die of liver failure, like a nature intended!"

"It's not like you we are going to eat you /this/ year. We give the feastee's enough time to properly enjoy themselves before..."

"Before they are BEHEADED!" The fox practically screams. "In FIVE years. FIVE FLIPPIN YEARS. What kind of life is that??"

Jaskar shakes his head, waving his arms, "Nah, nah nah. You are looking at it all wrong Baro. You are not going to die in five years. You are are going to live like a KING for five years, enjoying all the spoils, the dancing, the partying, a soft bed, no worries, rum every night and all the food your belly can hold. Each day, every day. For five years." The lizard's smile disappears as he adds bluntly, "Isn't that what you were always looking for anyway? The easy life and darn the risks?"

Baro opens his muzzle to speak, but...hesitates. His muzzle snaps shut as he tries to find an argument. A word, a phraze to bring against this logic that appeals only to his greed. And in the end...

[coolcoyote]

"...he made a surprisingly good argument." The creatures around Baro let out laughter as the fox opens his muzzle wide, letting Aata drop a grape into it. He swollows and his stomach groans in protest. There was very little benefit to feeding the fox on the day he was set to be doomed, other than to add stuffing. And stuffing they added, the fox leans forward to see his belly taught with over indulgence to the point of bursting.

There was a time when Baro still held hope of living it up on the island and sneaking out the night before he was to be slaughtered. Those hopes died when his fleshy stomach began to graze the ground even while standing.

Every inch of the fox is covered in fleshy meat. From his tail to even his ears. Mobility was lost on the fox, but he has a fleet of beasts to tend to his every needs. Making sure he is comfortable before the end.

"Would you like another slice of pie?" Aata asks. The Fox peers at the offered food. He knew it to be good, for had several slices all day. Engorging himself to the point of bursting.

"No...I think I've had my share of pie." The fox draws a deep breath, "I...I'm ready." Baro smiles slightly, "Some might say I wasted my life on pleasures, fattening myself up for other beasts to feast on. But I led a full life even before coming here. I have no regrets."

The Fox's smile fades as he turns to a beast sharpening a ceremonial dagger on cutting stone. "Must you do that /here/?" He asks. The staff of beasts around him change their purpose. They grab the fox by his arms and legs, binding them as if they were needed. Lalia paints a giant Black X across his stomach. He laughs as the brush tickles his skin, which is exposed from the amount of feed in his swollen guts.

"This doesn't look like beheading." The fox says, nervousness returning to his voice.

"Of course not silly." Jaskar laughs. His laughter is cut short as he peers at Baro. "You have been preparing for this day for five years and never once you looked up how it proceeds?"

The fox gulps, belly rising and falling g with panic as the beast approaches with the knife. "Y-you know...I'm suddenly having regrets. Why not have another slice of pie! N-now hold it off until next-" Jaskar grabs the fox by his chubby muzzle.

"The time has come Baro. For you, there is no more pie. There is only...The End. Do you have any last words?"

Tears well up in Baro's eyes. He closes them, stealing himself for the pain that is about to come. He sighs, coming to terms with his fate. "In fact, yes. I-"

And then the knife peirces the X across his flesh.

And so the sacrificial victim was then slaughtered. The blade slices through the foxes fatted belly like a hot knife to butter. A series of cuts exposes the foxes middle.

And so the victim is thusly gutted, his fur harvested and his meat roasted to a tender golden brown and somewhere along the line to the stew pots Baro, dies.

It is a rather...grizzly afair best left to the imagination. Afterwards the feast begins...