Pay me in Venison

Information

Status

Ongoing

Year

2025

Author

CatAtTheHelm

• Prologue and Chapter One excerpt - Stub
  Jun 18, 2025

Reviews

Community Reviews(10)

• Natasha Velkirk (Zach or Zach)Royal Road

  ★★★★★ 5.0

  Venison has a consistent vibe that it manages, and it is that, that brings me back all the time. Its feels like it takes happiness in merely being. As though the act of existing is something to celebrate, and I must say that this story makes me think the same, if just a bit.
  Being distracted by my existential dread for a few minutes is nice, but what's really nice is when I can expect to be distracted for a few minutes every time I see the little red dot by Pay Me In Venison.
  The author does good work, and I wish more people could do as I do and spend all day reading, just so more stories like this that don't get the attention they deserve can get that attention. Afterall, they deserve it.
• Gameknight2169Royal Road

  ★★★★★ 5.0

  This is one of the few great stories where I read or watch or listen, and once it's done, I just sit there with emptiness. I know I will never be able to read it for the first time again. I will never see these people cry, laugh, sing, act, and live so vividly for the first time again. And yet, there is no bittersweet ending. It's a solid, realistic, but good ending to the struggles that Andray and Fuzzy have gone through, and leaves room for more.
  Read it. I promise you won't regret it.
• Blu_SkyuRoyal Road

  ★★★★★ 5.0

  I'm always delighted to find a story on Royal Road that has not only likeable characters, a coherent plot, and engaging writing but also a satisfying ending! It combines classic fairytale and fantasy tropes (noble kings, evil stepmothers, exiled princes) with some of my favourite currently popular ones (reincarnated as an animal, mage protagonists, and non-humans having different but not greater or lesser societies).
  People do get injured or die, but the story maintains a fairly light tone, so there is a measure of plot armour for our major characters - and honestly, I don't mind that at all. No major deaths for the sake of shock value or grittiness here. Read this one when you need a pick-me-up. 👍
• luda305Royal Road

  ★★★★★ 4.5

  This is a great little story.  Basically, the evil stepmother tries to murder the prince and princess from the first wife.  The princess dies, but is offered the chance to become a spirit beast and guardian to her now-disabled brother, whom she loves dearly.  The price though is that she doesn't remember who she is or why she wants to protect him, which is a bit of sweet melancholy.
  From there, shenanigans happens.  Spirit beasts are rare, but apparently common recognized and because of that, they get special treatment from various groups.  I don't want to spoil anything, but suffice it to say, that the pair grow significantly during their time together.  Also, a cougar is basically a large cat, so prepare for cat jokes.
  The author has an easy to read writing style that works well with the premise of story.
• scartacus60Royal Road

  ★★★★★ 4.5

  Une fiction courte et sympathique à lire, il n'y a pas beaucoup d'action ou de combats à proprement parler, je le placerais plutôt en tranche de vie. On suit les aventures d'un couguar garde du corps qui à a peu près les mêmes habitudes qu'un chat c'est a dire de faire caresser et embêter les gens.
• vtech1855Royal Road

  ★★★★ 4.0

  I really enjoyed this story. The settings were varied, characters were distinct, and the story wasn't convoluted. I like the world that the author created using the usual things like goblins, trolls, and other magical/fantasy beings.
  The dialogue was a little stiff/formal at times, but maybe that's just me, and there are some typos that should be picked up with a proofread.
  Without spoiling anything, this story hints at the possibility of a sequel, or at least firmly establishes a world and inhabitants if the author wants to focus on another character. My recommendation is one of the Goblins.
• IxtaRoyal Road

  ★★★★ 4.0

  This is a solid story with a fun and simple style, good grammar, and an MC that's a bit different from the norm.  It only has two minor flaws that, if fixed, would make it 5 stars instead of 4 in my mind.  First, the characters are good and have fun personalities, but are somewhat shallow.  The good people are good, the bad people are bad, and there's really no inbetween.  The second is the usage of humor.  I fully enjoy the sense of humor in the story, but the author never leaves a scene without a joke.  Evil people doing evil deeds are pranked and laughed at.  Highly ranked members of government and nobility squabble like children and have slap-stick humor applied as punishment.  It hurts the development of tension and investment of any serious emotions in the story.  Removing the jokes from a few select scenes could significantly increase their impact.  However, if you just want a light read, then I definitely recommend it.
• possumflavoredRoyal Road

  ★★★★ 4.0

  Enjoyed the premise so far. A touched rushed feeling, but somewhat expected since its apart of the 55k challenge. Few can keep the rushed feeling away while doing it, and it is only a little. I think its greatest weakness right now is lack of detail in desciptions to paint a picture of whats going on, though there are a few scenes that this is not an issue.
• OnyavarRoyal Road

  ★★★★ 3.5

  This is a nice story I am deciding to follow along.
  So, I am generally pretty critical with stories, and my ranking goes from decent and enjoyable stories (2 stars) over good and great stories up to the best stories I can imagine (5 stars, and only for finished stories).
  The main character is a wild beastly cougar, 'unexplicably' intelligent and refreshing to read. Author clearly did some research on the animal or at least cats, so her portrayal is well-done, both as a cat and as a narrator of human-level intelligence. So far, there have been some baddies, but it is more a dynastic conflict where the protagonists are naturally taking their own side - I didn't see any "cosmic evil" side yet which is refreshing given some other stories around.
  The story plot itself is a bit bland, but mixes action, dialogue and time-skipping pretty well! I did find plotholes and inexplicable coincidences, but nothing that cannot be explained by elaborating a bit more why characters fixate on some actions/methods when the alternative would have been an easy and promising choice instead of facing hardship. Not to mention that the bad guys are bad at being ruthless. Also, a fantasy court situation is looming as far as I have read, and those are usually ahistoric cringefests. But aside from that, there is also a lot to praise in the unique premise, and the story works as long as you don't try to actively spot mistakes.
  Style is pretty good, but at some points awkwardly written (author claims the story was rushed). Reads fluently otherwise, and as mentioned before, keeps a good balance: No infodumping, no endless battle scenes, no overly stilted dialogue. Just solid writing.
  In principal, the grammar is okay, except for some few errors. What makes it a bit annoying that the author acknowledges them in the spelling suggestions, but hasn't yet fixed them.
  All in all, I just found a good new story and gladly recommend others to read it as well.
• KarasaphRoyal Road

  ★★★★ 3.5

  I love everything about this story. The theme, the characters, the concept, the perspective, the dialogue, the world...
  But I rarely laughed at all. This is labeled as a comedy, and while there are funny and entertaining situations, the jokes don't land. But the story has everything going for it. An easy plot, a tragic human character and our turned lioness. A deep heartfelt story with a great message, something that really gives me hope.
  But reading it feels more like a chore. Maybe it's the rewrite, but I am not sure if I feel like continuing to read the story from the Chapter XIII - rewrite. I really wish I could give the story more stars, but it didn't meet my expectations.
  It's refreshing that there aren't any large mysteries in the story, just the world and the conflict at hand. But I just struggle to finish it. Maybe because things are a bit too easy for our protagonist once she learns to mindtalk?
  I can still recommend the story though. Fuzzy is cute after all and the princes situation is something unique among the stories here. It's a great story about being pulled out of dispair and that's why I loved the first chapters a lot!