FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

When Carter answered the request for a cleric on the local quest board, he expected this to be another simple case of hearing bumps in the night. At worst, he thought the young couple might have a ghost on their hands. Either way he hadn't felt the need to bring the whole party. The silver dragonborn could pull his holy symbol of the platinum dragon from his plate armor and turn undead. At worst if the house really was haunted--the ghost would flee and no more danger would befall them. At best, he'd put on a pretty light show, earn his pay, and return to the others with some spare cash for extra provisions.

The reality had been less accommodating. His first step into the manner was punctuated with the sound of the front door slamming shut behind him. He turned mace drawn to find a blue will of the wisp. He knew then that this was not a case of a simple, benign undead. Where one wisp gathered, more were sure to come. They had the ability to sap one's strength and the dragonborn was ill-equipped to handle them alone. He made for the door and battered against it with all his might. It rattled but did not budge. He whirled around, shield in one hand, mace in the other, ready to combat the wisp. Perhaps he could break its hold on the door. To his surprise, the orb of flickering, ghostly fire floated far down a dark, dim, wooden hallway. He tilted his head, eyes darting to every angle of the room, looking for the orb's companions yet none appeared.

Carter saw something in the darkness. Beckoning to him from the edges of the wisp's firelight was a flickering tip of an appendage in the shape of a paint brush. He kept his eyes on it to keep watch for any sudden moves. The strange tendril twirled and spiralled in the shadows. The wisp bobbed side to side, seemingly in tandem with the tendril's motions. With his exit cut off and evil clearly present, Carter steeled himself and stepped closer to the wisp and the strange tendril. His mace and shield albeit steady as a stone felt cold in his hands as did the rest of his body.

He marched forward steely eyes trained on his quarry. All the while the appendage spun and danced and juggled the blue flame before him. The motion of the flame combined with the tendril he could barely catch the outline of was rather distracting. It gave him a headache. He blinked rapidly. His foot caught on something in that instant and he stumbled. When he straightened to his full height, his foot felt cold. A quick glance told him all he needed to know. His boot had vanished.

He snapped back to full attention. Footwear or no, he had a holy commitment to smite evil where it lay. He marched forward.

There were now two wisps. Surprised, he grimaced but proceeded. He would march towards evil come what may. No matter how distracting their dance was, spinning around in an infinite helix that seemed to overwhelm his visual cortex--

Another stumble. He coughed and grasped at his other foot, now also bereft of boot. A chill wind brushed his forearm, now missing his usual gauntlet. He growled, irises closing into an even more reptilian state as he began to rush forward even faster towards the three rings of flame that spun and danced before his eyes--. Every step felt like he was getting closer and yet those flames were always out of reach. Every step, the manor seemed to get colder.

He braced himself for a disturbance--a rush of movement at his feet. While he wasn't able to dodge the strike this time either, he did manage to spot what kept tripping him. Orange and white fur attached to an appendage very much like the one he was pursuing. A tail, long and soft yet completely prehensile retreated into the darkness. A chill shot through his legs and chest, now exposed to the elements of this freezing atmosphere.

Once more he rose to give chase down this corridor that seemed to go on forever. Once more he ran down the corridor as five wisps swam through the air in an intricate pattern. He could see the outline of more tails behind the flames flicking and making the wisps weave together, whirling and twirling in an infinite circle. The ache in his skull seemed to get worse and worse and he tried to keep his eyes off the wisps--he truly did but the temperature became unbearably freezing if he wasn't keeping a constant pace towards the fire.

Come to me...

_ _ He shook his head as a voice echoed in his mind without a sound. As he did so, he gasped. All over his body, he had four other wisps attached to him. He attempted to brush them off, wrenching his body from side to side. Instantly, a wave of fatigue wracked his body and his knees went weak beneath him. He reached for his holy symbol and found it gone. In a panic, the dragonborn tried to force these flames away with his hands. To his shock, he succeeded. They fell away from his body, leaving his silver-scaled, muscular wall of a form unscathed and unclothed.

And then, they joined the spinning circle of tails and flames, creating infinite and intricate patterns he didn't want to look away from.

Tails and flames. They spun round and round before his eyes. He tried to look away, to help this maddening headache cease. With his body fatigued, all he achieved was to look down at his own chest--his own scales. Like a mirror they reflected that enchanting light. It was like he was made of the flame and that idea made him feel so viscerally warm.

Come to me, little dragon...Quickly now...

_ _ A lithe and long tail entered his field of vision and curled underneath his chin. With a gentle touch, the tail tilted his gaze up where more tails awaited. They surged towards him, bringing the flames nice and close. One by one, the wisps surrounded him, bobbing and dancing up and down with a slow, deliberate gait. They shared their inviting heat, embracing him like a lover. Weakly he reached for one, but he couldn't raise his arm high enough.

"Noooo..." he said, surprised at how tired he sounded. How helpless he was but to stare at the flames that bewitched him.

Watch the lights. Feel my tails...come to me...

_ _ He nodded up and down and it took him far too long to realize that was because a tail was wrapped around his head, guiding it up and down.

Forward. He had to walk forward. To...to stop the evil. The evil within these flames. These warm, WARM flames. He nearly fell over on his first step. Thankfully, the tails wrapped around his limbs, keeping him upright as he chased the flame. He needed to follow. The flames created a convenient line for him. So long as he followed that line, he knew he was doing the right thing. For...For someone important. Someone he devoted his life to that he couldn't quite recall the name of. A wisp hovered before his eyes and the memory grew duller and duller as his mind became as weak and feeble as his body.

Come to me now. That's it. Almost there.

_ _ His fearsome face smiled blankly. A coil of tail supported his shaky arm as he reached upward towards the flame. His hand got warmer and warmer as he approached. He was going to do it. The cold would end. The flame drew him forward and the tails wound softly round his body encouraged him from behind. His hand grasped the flame.

Except it wasn't a flame. He never left the main hall. There were no tails and there were no wisps.

Before him stood a fox statue with nine tails. Its eyes glowed an ethereal blue color, one that had drawn the dragonborn to it. Planted on its forehead was a shimmering talisman covered in red ink that Carter had his fingers curled around.

With a placid smile and without hesitation, the paladin removed the talisman. The twin torches lit with red flame behind the statue shifted to a ghostly blue. Two blue eyes appeared in the darkness. Just on the outskirts of light, Carter could see the outline of an imposing figure with shoulders far wider than a carriage and muscles that rippled with power both physical and magical. His belly engorged outwards and bore a symbol of demonic power that burned with blue fire. The shadowy outline's facial structure was vulpine in shape and against all logic, he could see a toothy grin where the maw would be.

Good boy...

_ _ Nine tails winded out from the darkness. Carter's mace and shield clattered to the floor as he welcomed them. This house was so cold and only this beautiful creature's tails could keep him safe. Muscular, furry, warm tails wound tightly round his limbs, binding them behind him as he was lifted into the air to look his Master in the glowing blue eyes.

Renounce your God. Swear your fealty to me.

_ _ "I...I cannot renounce my God..." spoke the dragonborn as a tail coiled round his neck. His body become more entwined in his Master's nine tails until he was warmed from head to toe and he knew true happiness. He gasped, speaking in utter rapturous need. "You are my God...and I swear my loyalty to you."

The eyes in the darkness narrowed as the grin grew. Excellent. Now come to me... The tails would over his muzzle, binding it shut. His eyes were covered. His form disappeared inside a mass of prehensile fur and muscle. Let the shadows embrace you.