Glen - The Stinging

I experience an odd dream.
In it I am fighting a metallic, humanoid shaped being taller than two men. It had four large eyes on its chest and constantly shrieked in a manner similar metal grinding against metal. It's attacks are extremely slow, and predictable, but its strength can decimate boulders and stone structures as if they weren't there.
I cautiously dodge its attacks while moving closer and closer to its eyes, which look like a weak point. After preforming an uppercut, it is left wide open for an attack. But, before I can deal any blow, I awaken to find myself in a cave. A dull pain shoots through my right arm, which is riddled with scabs and dried blood from the throwing knifed the pin-cushioned it earlier. Dammit, I don't like being pierced...
I sit up and try to look around the room, but stop once I notice a large cloud of smoke circling around me.

"Ho? You're finally up? Certainly took your time, the others woke up before you." A rather irritated female voice spoke up from behind me. I quickly turn myself around to see who the voice belongs to, only to get a large cloud of smoke blasted into my face. Once the somewhat thick and eye irritating cloud of smoke clears up, I see what looks like a Girtablilu with an apathetic look on her face while lazily sitting on a pile of cushions and smoking from a hookah. She wore a transparent purple veil over part of her face and a purple sarong over her waist. Nothing was on her chest, and her modest breasts were in full view.
Of course, now this all makes sense. Getting dart-boarded by knives, being knocked out, waking up with a cave where the only source of light is glowing weeds, the awful smell of a particular type of tobacco favored around here; All of that points to one person I know.
I rest my chin in the palm of my right hand and sneer at the scorpion girl, "My my, this is the second time I've been knifed and dragged into a cave by you, Feliss. Felt like repeating an old event?"
She twists her face into a sneer with twice the amount of sneer as my own sneer, "Yes. Though at least that time I also netted an attractive husband out of it instead of a half asleep bum, a Dragon with two rags for clothing, and a mentally disturbed Kitsune."
The tan skinned scorpion woman in front of me that I am currently in a sneer off with is someone I once met over 8 years ago. At the time I was fleeing through the desert while being hounded by a bounty hunter who refused to give up on following me. The chase lasted for days, with him getting closer and closer with each day,  before the two of us were taken down by an an unseen assailant while confronting each other directly. It later turned out to be Feliss, who came to check who was causing a commotion near her cave and saw us trying to fight with overly exhausted bodies. She immediately took a fancy to the hunter, and made him her husband after a night of very rough and loud sex that was undoubtedly full of aphrodisiac venom.
Afterwards, she contemplated trading me off to a friend of hers for free water, but decided not to and let me stay for a few days. During that time we devolved a very odd friendship with each other. I also saw a grown man cry himself to sleep while covered in sting marks and muttering about how he's no longer pure. I felt somewhat sorry for him at the time.

For the next few minutes we sneer at each other in more and more painful ways, before defaulting to our regular faces.
"So why exactly didn't you respond when I made a signal?"
"I thought it was a bum being strangled."
".....And why did you suddenly respond later?"
"I was walking by and saw what looked like  bum choking a chicken and got closer before noticing it was you."
....mrhg....
"So where are my friends?"
"They're in the other room, sitting at the table."
The two of us moved into the other room, where I regrouped with Sarah and Ami. Sarah was sitting at the table, which looked like it was worth a small kingdom, while tapping her fingers repeatedly and making numerous holes with each tap. Ami was sitting next to Sarah, with her head resting in a puddle of drool. It would seems she finally went to sleep recently.

"Hey, you two." I greet them with a simple hand wave.
"MMMMgrgmgm" Sarah grumbles out a response without even looking at me.
"Rainbow road stars...." Ami blurts out something in her sleep. I'd yank her ear and wake her up, bu that'd be TOO cruel.
"Grade A friends there, Bumbles." Feliss sneers from behind me as she wraps a piece of cloth around her chest to cover her nudity.
....mggggggnnnnnn.... I grumble lightly as I take a seat and Feliss walk over to the other side of the table and plops her scorpion body on the ground with a loud THUD.
Sarah finally turns her head towards me and glares with her reptilian eyes, "Mind explaining why we're here? Shouldn't we be crossing the desert? And just who is this girl?" She rapid fires questions as her tail wiggled and waggled in an agitated motion.
I point at the Girtablilu "This is Feliss, an acquaintance I know. She lives here in this dark and smelly cave with her abused husband."
The scorpion girl crosses her arms and pincers while speaking up, "I wouldn't say he's abused. And did you just call my home smelly?!"
"Husband? She's married? Where is he?" Sarah cocks raises one of her brows while ignoring the pouting scorpion girl. She brings up a good point... Where is he? Did she kill him? Did he run away?
Feliss pouts harder, "He's in the nearby town gathering supplies."
"Anyway, I thought I'd ask her to help us get to the nearest town quickly so we can restock on supplies." I continue on.
"...You want me to help you get to town quickly?" Feliss speaks with a dry tone and a face that says 'Are you for real?'.
"Yes, I'm sure you know some underground cave tunnels, or something along those lines."
"Hmmmm." Feliss rests her chin on her right hand's knuckle and begins contemplating something, "Alright. I'll do it."
"Alright-"
"Under two conditions."
....
"What?"
Feliss reaches her tail around a shelf that;s behind her and picks up some wrapped object, before plopping down on the table, "Firstly, I want you to take a certain annoyance off my hands."
"What is it?" I ask as Sarah pokes at it with one of her claws.
"Open it and see."
I cautiously unwrap the cloth around the object with precision and care. I'm unsure of what's inside... After a few seconds I finally see the contents of the inside of the cloth. It's...a book? ...A book with golden plates for pages?! I eagerly pick up the book and begin inspecting it. It's covered in numerous little pictures that appear to have been carved onto it. It also has a rather intricate locking mechanism. Why would anyone want to give this away? Wait...why WOULD anyone give this away? There's got to be a catch with this...
"Just what's the catch with this?"
"Nothing, really. I mean, I just found it while cave exploring one day in what looked like some ancient tomb."
"I'd rather not keep this, it just seems off." I try to hand the book back to Feliss, but it screeches out in some distorted and high pitched voice, "THIS ITEM IS CURSED AND CAN NOT BE REMOVED FROM YOUR INVENTORY OR TRADED!"
WHAT?! CURSED?! I throw the book to the other side of the room, but it comes back towards me like some sort of boomerang! Sarah sighs and buries her face into her palm, as if I did something really stupid.
"AH! Why won't it go away?!" I freak out over the cursed book returning.
"Seems you can't get rid of cursed things..." Feliss mutters with a straight face.
"How come you were able to give it to me then?!"
"I don't know. I never touched it, so maybe that's why?" Feliss shrugs.
.....RRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!! I mentally scream as my face distorts greatly in anger.

-Book of the Dead(Cursed) has been added to the inventory!-

I lay my head face down on the table after managing to shove the book into Ami's giant bag of junk. Somehow it's staying there... Sarah pats my back like a dear friend but still looks at me like I did something stupid.
"Ready to hear the second condition?" Feliss speaks up while poking my head with one of her claws.
"Sure. Can't get any worse than a curse..." I mutter out without moving my head an inch from where it currently is.
"Fine then." Feliss claps her hands, as well as her claws, as if to get someone's attention, "Feris!" Feris? What kind of name is that? It sounds like a slightly different version of her own name-
?!
Something brushes against my foot! I quickly raise my head and turn to look around the floor, but see nothing. Odd.
I turn back around towards Feliss, but end up bumping my head into a small, shrouded person sitting on the table in front of me. The figure makes a cute and girly "AH!" before rubbing its head. Afterwards, it stares at me with it's Jade colored eyes full of wonder and curiosity.
I lean to the left and look at Felis, "Just who is this?"
She puts on a smug, yet motherly, smile, "That's my daughter, Feris." Daughter? I look back at the petite figure, and finally notice the obvious scorpion body sticking out under the shrouds. I must be going blind...
The young, shrouded Girtablilu continues to look at me with her curious eyes. I can't really tell when she looks like because of her attire, but chances are she's similar to her mother. I reach my hand out and gently pat and rub the top of her head. She giggles and happily lets me continue this...while jabbing at me with her underdeveloped tail. It seems she's not old enough to properly sting anything yet.
"So, what does she have to do with this?" I question the adult Girtablilu while being pelted by repeated jabs from the smaller one.
"It's quite simple, really. I want you to marry her."
"WHAT?" I flatly blurt out as I sit there and stare at Feliss. Is she serious?
"You heard me."
"...Isn't she a little young?"
"I'm not asking you do do it now, idiot. I'm talking about in a few years."
"Uhhh..." I look over to Sarah to ask what she thinks. "Just go with it. I need to eat something already." She gestures for me to hurry up and accept, while drool leaks down the corners of her mouth.
Dammit. "Fine, sure." I agree to her terms.
"Excellent!" Feliss claps her hands together and smiles. "Now that creepy book will be gone AND my daughter will be getting a good husband~"
"So where are those caves at?" I mutter and grumble.
"Oh, I'll tell you soon."
I slam my hands down on the table, causing the young Girtablilu to run towards her mother and climb atop her back, "What? Why?!"
"Simple-" An extremely loud and thunderous noise rumbles throughout the cave, "Because it's the one time of the year it rains, and it rains hard. The caves will be flooded for a good while, so you'll just have to stay here for now."
I bury my face in my hands while Sarah does the same.
"Look on the bright side." Feliss chimes in, "At least you'll have time to get acquainted with my daughter."
I sigh through my hands.