FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

The tavern was not quite seedy, but certainly on the rougher (or more "rustic") end of the spectrum then Tarpaw was used to. The floor in the common room was covered with bare, unvarnished planks, and the tables were made from sturdy, plainly carved oak. The lanterns burned cheap unscented oil that left the air hazy and rather greasy. It was pretty empty, but this close to the docks it was clearly a sailors bar, and this early in the day most sailors would still be sleeping off their hangover from the night before.

Looking around the bar, the orange and black furred maned wolf spotted the group he was looking for and adjusted his robes. They were heavy, durable robes for travelling, embroidered with the symbols of various gods. Tarpaw had discovered over the years that appearing to be a cleric or priest got him more jobs than straight up declaring he was a warlock.

Stopping by the table, Tarpaw looked over the four figures sharing it. One was a naga with purple and silver scales, his coiled bulk serving as a chair while his torso leaned on the table. For clothing he had a sword belt and a striped blue and white tunic. Directly opposite Tarpaw were two kobolds, their orange and red scales covered by faded, salt stained finery as they shared a chair and glowered over the top of the table at him.

The creature who drew most of Tarpaw's attention, however, was the rat. He had light brown fur, with a darker brown crest of hair running between his ears and down his neck. He was dressed in tattered trousers and an orange velvet sash that wrapped about his waist as a belt, before crossing his chest. He was clean and tidy and looked less like a rogue then the other three, yet there was something about the way he stared at Tarpaw that made the wolf shift nervously.

"Captain Orel?" Tar asked cautiously, "Of the Naralan?"

"Perhaps," the rat replied, his tongue licking the square bottoms of his buck teeth, "Who's asking?"

"I'm Tarpaw," he held up a piece of paper, "Harbour Master said you were on the lookout for a cleric for a job?"

The rat instantly shifted his stance, a wide smile splitting his narrow muzzle as he took the proffered paper, he read over the introduction from the harbour master and nodded, "Perfect... Yes, this is a good recommendation. You're hired."

"What? Just like that? Don't you want to see my skills first or at least tell me about the job?"

"Nope," the rat grinned and stood up, pushing back his chair, "I'm in a hurry, you see. We're only in port for a few days, and there is something I need to get inland. This letter of recommendation will do, get your gear and meet me by the inland gate in an hour."

That's how Tarpaw found himself approaching the gates leading out of town with a backpack hanging off his shoulders, and his staff held firmly in one hand. The rat was waiting for him in the lee of a warehouse and he'd changed clothing. He was now wearing a heavy black leather armoured coat with steel shoulder pads over simple grey cotton clothing, with a large hood pulled up over his head. He grinned as he spotted the wolf and fell in beside him, carrying a large halberd balanced on one shoulder.

"So Tarpaw, let's get going, this should be easy enough now that you're here."

The wolf followed his employer out of town, waiting until the guards on the gate were out of ear shot before asking, "What exactly is this job? If I wasn't so desperate for coin right now I'd have refused to come. I don't usually do jobs without knowing what I am doing."

Orel grinned sideways at Tarpaw and his long, pink tail coiled up around the wolf's hips for a friendly hug, "Oh don't worry, the reward for this job is more than worth it, but I am in a rush so we really need to hurry."

"Well, what is it then?" Tarpaw asked curiously as they turned off the main road and started to follow a path that wove up the hills surrounding the town.

"It's a simple job," the brown rat squeaked. "I need someone with your sorts of powers to help me retrieve a relic from the Murkwood."

Tar froze in his tracks and stared at the rat, "You... want to go into the Murkwood? Have you lost your mind?"

"Sure," the rat looked back and grinned, "I have a map with a path to the shrine, so don't panic. We're not about to just walk out into the mud and sink."

"Ok..." Tarpaw frowned but resumed his walk, following the enigmatic rat captain cautiously, "So what is this relic, anyway?"

"You don't need to know that," Orel squeaked softly, looking out from beneath his hood toward the wolf, "You are here to use your magic and help me get it."

"Strange that you're doing this yourself," Tarpaw mused, trying another track, "You have a crew, don't you?"

"Yes, a crew of sailors. They're good at sailing the ship and fucking each other, but they'd be useful as a lump on a log in the Murkwood. Besides, this is personal."

Tarpaw sighed and pulled up the hood of his own robe to try and shade himself from the tropical sun, and fell in behind the rat. It was a long walk to the path the rat had picked, leading them up to the top of one hill before skirting the top of another. Palm trees and tropical jungle filled the land on either side, and the humidity skyrocketed as they found themselves lost beneath the canopy of trees.

Orel revelled in the heat, but inside his robe Tarpaw was growing sticky and sweaty. His armour was heavy and warm, and the robe was designed to look fancy but was thick and not really suitable for a heavy jungle walk. He was relieved when the tree line suddenly broke and they found themselves at the top of a hill leading down into a wide, flat valley.

"The Murkwood," Orel squeaked with satisfaction, pausing to survey the vast swamp stretched out below them, "We should be able to make good time once we reach the bottom."

The trail they followed through the edges of the swamp was at first along a raised ridge of tough, wiry green grass and moss that raised up above the pools of stagnant water and thick flats of brown mud that stretched out in either direction. The humidity was somehow worse then the jungle. The air was thick with water, and every breath Tarpaw took felt like he was drawing in as much water as air. The only saving grace was a small drop in the temperature, and occasional breezes, heavily laden with salt but refreshing nonetheless.

A good hour into the swamp, however, Orel walked off the last trailing ridge of moss coated earth. Tarpaw watched the rat's bare pink paws slide down a hillock of mud and submerge with a squelch into the thick brown muck.

"What..." Tarpaw started to say, freezing up and clutching his staff, "Why are you going down there?!"

"It's the route, you oaf." Orel pointed ahead, "See that next hillock? The ruins we want are over there. We cross this flat, and then we're there."

Tarpaw peered ahead and could just about make out the next hillock of dry land. It was a good two, maybe three miles away across a vast expanse of flat brown mud.

"I see it, but surely there has to be a better way across?"

The rat was shaking his head and turned to start walking further out, his legs sinking up to their thighs with thick squelches of mud, "Nope! Come on, my map says it isn't that deep. Get down here and let's get across before it gets late. You wouldn't want to camp in the Murkwood, would you?"

Tarpaw paused at the edge of the dry land, then carefully pulled his backpack off his back and tugged his heavy robe off. Bundling it into a ball, he bent over to stuff the bundled robe into his backpack. Then he stepped down into the mud, trying to hide his blush at the way it oozed up around his feet. The mud rose to his ankles, his next step saw the mud squish up to his knees, and by the third step he was practically wading.

Mud sloshed and squelched around his waistline as he forced his legs forward. Each step was a struggle of pushing through the thicker clay compacted beneath the watery liquid surface layer. Orel didn't seem to be struggling, so Tarpaw aimed to follow the rats wake. This only saw him sink lower, the churned up mud couldn't take his weight after holding up Orel so Tarpaw sank up to his stomach.

Grinning inwardly the wolf struggled onward, forcing his body forward through the mud. It continued like this for a good mile or more, Orel leading the way, breaking a trail through the slimy, thick, oozing clay and Tarpaw following the rat. The wolf's tail was buried beneath the muck, trailing and slithering along behind him as he pushed his way forward through the creamy, thick muck.

As they journeyed onward, Tarpaw started to relax and enjoy the feel of the clay beneath his feet, letting his fingers trail through the mud ahead of him to grip and tug and pull himself forward. Then the muddy ground beneath him suddenly shifted, tilted forward and Tarpaw had time to yell and hold his breath before he tipped forward and went under.

He had a final glimpse of Orel tumbling down the muddy slope before he was washed down. Mud oozed and rolled all around him, a thick claggy clay sliding and slipping and slithering and gripping his body. As he slid to a halt at the bottom of the pit and clawed his way back up, Tarpaw was covered from head to toe in a thick, clinging coat of mud.

Orel was no better, the rat was sprawled on his back nearby, clutching his halberd. He'd been reduced to a smooth, liquid brown mass. Sitting up, the rat shook his head and sent specks of mud flinging off his ears, looking around before pointing up the side of the pit.

"Ok this is it! Tarpaw, dismess them! Quickly!"

Twisting around, putting his weight on one arm that sank up to the shoulder in the mud with a squelch, Tarpaw looked at what the rat was pointing at. Sliding down the side of the pit they were in--no, oozing out of the wall of the pit--was a humanoid shape. It had arms, a thick flat face of mud with a wide open mouth that pooled and bubbled with mud. Two black eyes and what might have been a nose gave it definition but its torso continued down as one solid bulk of shifting, flowing, living clay as it oozed toward them.

"What the hell is that!"

"A temple guardian," Orel said, he'd pushed himself up to his knees, "It's why I needed a cleric, quick! Dismiss it!"

"I... I can't do that!" Tarpaw shouted, struggling to free his arms and legs, "I can't...."

"What! But that's basic temple instruction!" Orel growled angrily, "How can you not know how to dismiss an elemental!"

"I'm not a Cleric!" Tarpaw shouted back, "I just say that to get the jobs... if you'd told me this back in town I'd have got a scroll or something."

"Ugh, bloody useless..." Orel squirmed upright onto his feet, "Well I'll have to use plan B, then. You distract it," the rat whacked Tarpaw between the shoulders with his halberd, pitching the wolf forward into the mud at the base of the elemental creature.

"What, no--H-hey, help!"

Tarpaw shouted and started to struggle as the elemental rolled over him. It didn't bother with its arms, just oozing and sliding across Tarpaws body with its bulk, pulling him under as if the mud had grown a hundred hands that gripped and tugged and pulled! Mud oozed and bubbled around his struggling form but he was sliding deeper by the second!

"OREL!"

Twisting around Tarpaw was just in time to see his companion collapse in on himself. Orel was literally coming apart, his muddy outline squirming and shrinking as smaller objects leapt out of his tail. Each one was covered in mud but being lighter and smaller ran across the surface of the liquid quagmire easily. They were boiling out of Orel's tail, there must have been a hundred of them, tiny rats each one coated with mud from nose to tail tip. As for Orel, he had vanished, shrinking down inside his clothing which was starting to crumple inwards. Heavy coat, trousers, shirt all were vanishing as the rats continued to leap out of Orel's tail.

Tarpaw couldn't quite believe what he was seeing and then as Orel's clothing collapsed all the way and his halberd fell into the mud one final, larger rat scrambled up onto the surface and was instantly surrounded by the boiling horde of rats. Somehow the horde was carrying Orel's halberd, and the swarm started to move away from the mud monster clinging and gripping Tarpaw.

"OREL!" Tarpaw screamed again but the rats ignored him, they were squirming up the side of the pit, supporting and helping each other, forming a sliding, undulating, rippling motion of slick, mud coated furry bodies. The biggest rat reached the top first and turned around, helping to pull more of the swarm up over the lip of the pit.

Tarpaw struggled and cried out one final time as his head started to sink into the muddy creature gripping him. The biggest rat looked down at him for a moment before vanishing over the edge of the pit, and then Tarpaw gurgled as his mouth filled with mud and he was pulled beneath the surface.

Mud was all he knew then, it clung to his body, teasing, tugging, ripping his clothing off, tearing away his backpack. Squirming and wriggling as hard as he could all Tarpaw managed to do was turn and slide deeper into the muck!

It was clinging to his body, squeezing him, teasing him! Something inside his body was growing needy, a tightness centred on his groin. He was drowning, sinking into the mud and yet the panic was all his own, not a need to breath or break free! It didn't help that his body was ignoring panic and giving into enjoyment. This much mud squeezing over and sliding across his body had him rock hard. His heavy clothing, weighed down by the mud, was gone.

Whimpering softly, Tarpaw found himself giving in, a paw wrapped around his knotted canine cock as he jerked off. If he was going to drown in mud, then he was going to enjoy it for as long as he could! Groaning softly Tarpaw started to realise he didn't need to breath, mud was filling his mouth, pouring down his throat but he wasn't choking or drowning. Groaning to himself, he tried to paw off faster but his hand was heavy. The mud coating it was thick and as he tried to grip his cock his hand squished and melted, oozing around the solid mass of his cock.

Clawing at the mud, Tarpaw felt his hands melt into the mess, the wolf shrieking in surprise as his stumpy arms collapsed next. He had a moment to feel the rest of his body unraveling. Flesh--no, not flesh, mud sliding off the stiff core of his torso. His legs and tail collapsed and oozed into the substance of the elemental holding him.

Then without warning everything squished in, for a moment he felt mud pressing up against his torso, squeezing around his cock and skull and then everything got confusing and liquid. His body exploded in an orgasmic rush of liquid, the solid matter that had been him mixing and melting into nothing but mud!

For a long moment Tarpaw just lay there, trying to pull himself together. He could feel his being spread throughout the thick layer of mud. His brothers were calling to him, urging him to pull himself together and join them. So slowly, carefully he pulled himself up and out of the mud he had melted into.

Shaking his head, blinking open his eyes Tarpaw looked around dumbly. He was at the bottom of the pit, scraps of his clothing were slowly sinking into the mud and as he looked down he realised he didn't have any legs!

Like the mud elemental, his torso continued down, blending into the mud. Spreading his arms the wolf flexed thick muddy fingers, ran a hand up his chest and then across his head. It was still vaguely wolf shaped but now it was oozing mud.He dug his hand into his head, and to his shock there was no skin or fur beneath the surface, just more living mud!

"No... I..." Tarpaw started to say then paused, confused. "Why..." he looked around. Why was he down here? His job was to protect the temple, there was an intruder out there. He was already fleeing, he'd been distracted, his brother guardians had been forced to stop an attack from some mammal and now the rats were fleeing back across the swamp!

Clawing his way out of the pit, Tarpaw turned and slid, his oozing body sliding across the surface of the mud. It was too late, the rat was out of reach. The temple still needed him! Turning back, Tarpaw started to descend, his body melting, merging into the mud, spreading out, ready to wait for the next intruder. He was the mud. the mud was him. This was his home now. He was his home. Guard., Wait. Watch. Keep the temple safe.