| abstract
| - There were a number of hounds in the Malazan Book of the Fallen, all of them supernatural. They included:
* Deragoth
* Hounds of Light
* Hounds of Shadow
- In my career as a HR rep. for Sam's Club my life has been pretty boring. I file reports of sexual harassment, deal with work condition complaints, inter-company relationships, and such other things. I start out everyday with a glass of homemade iced tea, and start filing paperwork. It's a tedious job that I didn't want in the first place but it was the only option in my life at one point and then I just stuck with it. All I ever really look forward to is the New Years party. Everyone from the company gets together and celebrates the passing of the year... and to get drunk off our asses. But something so awful happened it made me quit my job immediately and my therapist thought it would be a good idea to get my story in writing to rationalize my situation. Two years ago at the party, I was trying to take advantage of the drunk-as-hell Jenny from management. I knew trying to get one of my bosses into bed went against the company protocol that my job was built on and once she came out of her hangover it would take every ounce of mercy she had to not fire me but hey I was a little buzzed too. As I was just about to get my boss to come back to my place the electricity went out. Some of my co-workers jumped at the sudden change of scenery. The non-inebriated part of my mind tried to get me in a better state of mind, as the regional manager tried to calm a bunch of shitfaced employees. I used my phone light to guide my way to my office. I hobbled over to my desk and I reached for what was left of my tea, I slammed it and realized it was not enough so I proceeded to the kitchen for some coffee. I never drank the awful stuff but I was desperate. Holding my phone in front of me I couldn't help the feeling that something was moving in the darkness. I always was paranoid like that and the rational part of my brain told me that it was just my imagination. I made it to the kitchen and kicked myself for not thinking that if the lights were out the microwave would be down too, then I remembered that there was a coffee machine that probably had some still in the pot. I found the pot and drank it all as fast as I could, trying to avoid the taste. I waited a few minutes and it finished the rest of the job. Now as close to sober as I could be in this situation, I went back to my co-workers. I felt a mixture of horror and confusion when I found they were not in the lobby as they were before I left for my office. That wasn't the confusing part, though. They could've gone outside to get help. The strange part was that one lamp was on and as I walked over to the side table it rested on I found a few strands of hair. I assumed the hair was the a result of some drunken prank. I heard a growling noise behind me, I turned to only see something scamper off into the darkness, all I saw was a leg that looked like it belonged to a wolf. Now my mind has played tricks on me but nothing even close to this, there was no need to stay in that area so I headed outside. As I progressed, I felt the creeping suspicion that what I saw was not in my head, I kept hearing soft scratching noises. I found Susan from shipment on the floor with a big cut running along her right leg and a gash on her forehead. I tried to wake her up, good news was she was still alive, signifying that by the grunts she gave out when I jabbed the toe of my shoe into her ribs. I know it was sort of cruel, but it did give me the sign that she was alive. Bad news was that she was in no state to move and I was not strong enough to lift her. She was not heavy, I was just weak. I wandered on looking for her husband or anyone who could help her. I got to the front door eventually to find it was locked. I was flushed with confusion and anger at the same time, I mean if it was not bad enough I couldn't find my co-workers I couldn't even exit this building. I heard a footstep and I was filled with joy, another person was here. "Hey, Susan is hurt. You need to help me get her out the fire escape." What I heard damaged me solely due to its alien quality. A bark that sent chills down my spine. I panicked, it wasn't a voice of anyone I knew. In the light of my phone I saw a figure creep into my field of vision, it was a hound like creature that was coated in short black fur. I gazed into its yellow eyes and it filled me with sheer terror. It had an unnatural smile carved into its snout. I hauled ass to my office knowing it was a bad idea because I am not the most physically inclined person but when that adrenaline hit my I was at my peak. I only had a moment to react to any problem in my way such as a table or chair because of how fast I was going but I didn't care. I heard it behind me, a malevolent snarl and the sound of claws scraping the ground assaulted my ears. I finally made it to my office, I closed the door in a tired flurry. I laid against the door in hopes it would be thwarted by my attempt to barricade my office. While thinking about how I was to escape, I completely forgot that there was some sort of beast on the other side of my office door until I realized there was a scratching on the door. That one door was all that kept me from that thing and now it was slowly being dismantled by it. true fear was coursing through my veins. Suddenly, I heard a scream and then a growl. It had left but I still didn't leave the safety of my office. It was 3:00 and the first cracks of daylight would soon be seen by the world, and that's when I would run for it. I returned my attention to my office wall. I decided that it was safe outside so I slowly opened the door. The suspense I felt as the door creaked was unbearable. It was still dark out so I naturally I reached for my phone... just my luck I left Netflix open but I didn't notice and for my inattentiveness my phone died. I knew Adam down the hall was a smoker and was bound to have a lighter or a book of matches in his office. I ran my hand against the wall to keep me from veering off into darkness. I found Adam's office, I opened the door and found some matches after some fumbling through the drawers in the desk. Grabbing them from the desk I lit one up, and in the new found light I walked to the fire exit. I was halfway to the door when I remembered I completely left the unconscious Jenny. I kicked myself and turned around... I froze. There it was in a pouncing stance, its inhuman grin slowly transmuted as its snout peeled back splitting into four slices of flesh revealing a row of sharp, yellow teeth. It made me piss a little, I outran it once but I doubted my ability to do it again, I decided to back up slowly until I could think of something else. I kept backing up until I hit a wall. "Fuck," I thought as I had no plan to escape. It pounced and I quickly dove to the left and started to get up again. I dashed to the nearest day, I made it to the hallway and ran into the nearest office. I heard its growl and its footsteps as it passed. I was in the clear. Crouched, I took a step and the worst thing that could possibly happen became so. When I took that step the floor creaked under my weight. I stopped dead in my tracks. I heard it come back for me, it paused and what I assumed to be sniff but what sounded like a slow slurping sound. I didn't move, I didn't think, I didn't even breath, I just stood there as it decided what it heard was imagined or came from a source other than me. It finally went another way, but just to be safe I waited five more minutes. I slowly opened the door and headed towards the mail room where the fire exit was, if any exit would be unlocked it would be that one. Fuck saving Susan, fuck finding everyone else. I had to leave NOW. I rounded the corner to see the door to the mail room, suddenly my match went out. DAMN. I lit another to find that thing staring at me, but more importantly it was blocking the door, its snout was back to normal but something about it was wrong, I slowly backed up. It started to growl again. Shit, I backed around the corner as it followed me. I lost it there, I charged even though my most primal instincts were telling me this was a predator and doing this was certain death. It jumped at me. Its claws dug into my shoulder and its face was inches away from mine. Its snout split again and its jaw unhinged; its breath smelled like blood, shit, and death. I kicked it off and as it fell one of the flesh strips touched me emitting a wet slap. If I had not been in a life or death situation I would have vomited on the spot and I did vomit a bit but as I was running, I wrenched the door open and ran straight through the mail room. I knew it by heart as I spent a lot of time in there when I just needed to take a break. As I ran I heard it bark but it was far behind me. I wondered what was taking it so long but I took it more as a blessing than something to question. I couldn't see so I ran into the door, but the pain subsided. I felt for the doorknob and then twisted it. The faint light of the sun rising hit my face and I heard it behind me. As the beast stepped it cringed a little, its eyes were adjusting and I took my chances and ran to my car. It chased me, this is when my legs failed and I tripped, it jumped on top of me. My primal instincts kicked in, my adrenaline pumping like blood, as it was about to bite I took hold of its head and pushed it off, I ran faster than I ever did that day and when I was safely in the car I returned home. I called the police to investigate, they came back saying that we just blew a fuse from having every light on and a lot of appliances. Susan was just drunk, she tripped and cut herself on a table with a sharp edge. I quit my job the day after, I never went back to that place again. If anyone has any information on that thing please contact me through the profile on this site.
- Hounds are a type of demon dog. They range from low-level to high-level, and have relatively high speed. All hounds but the lowest level regular Hound have a breath attack. Usually, if hounds are gathered on a dungeon floor, they will all be of the same type, so don't expect it to get any easier due to enemy friendly fire since hounds always have superb resistance to the damage type of their breaths. Hounds will generally stay at least one square away and either bite you, or breathe on you. As such, ranged weapons and spells tend to be better at killing them, with the exception of dark and chaos hounds, which can blind you. Eating the corpse of a hound may grant you resistance to whatever damage type they are of. Also, all but the cerberus are capable mounts. As of version 1.13, hounds are less likely to use their breath attacks.
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