FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

The hooded ranger stands on the small hill overlooking the once crystal clear lake. On her journey to find the source of the corruption that gave birth to an aberrant horror in her forest, she finds herself returning to a place she hadn't seen in a long time. A pang of regret rushes past her heart as she considers the place as it was the last time she was here.

It had been a normal hunt for the ranger, seeking out dangerous animals and making her way around the game trails, hunting any intruders who would disrupt the natural order. Along the trail, she comes close to the crystal clear lake, a body of water where many animals stopped by and where some camps would be made by both foolhardy adventurers and poachers. Most rangers give this place a wide berth, as the fey are known to rest this far in the woods. Yet, on that day, she finds herself inexorably drawn to the crystal clear waters.

Baze wonders just what sorts of creatures make this place their home, and, as she looks at her own hooded reflection in the crystal clear water, the sound of splashing snaps her attention upwards.

"Help! Help!" the voice cried, a female voice, reptilian. Baze's eyes narrow as she looks over to see the struggling creature--a kobold like her. She throws off her cloak and drops her quiver and bow and jumps into the water after the drowning creature. As she approaches, though, a sinking feeling comes to her heart as she realizes that she is the only kobold she knows to inhabit these woods.

Just as the realization sets in, something zips by her in the water, pulling her down by the ankle. The ranger finds herself sinking in the clear waters, only to look down and see large eyes on a grinning face look up to her. The little naked water sprite giggles in the depths as she pulls the kobold downward, but Baze does not panic. Instead, she holds her breath and swims down beside the creature, much to the fey's confusion. She wraps her arms around the sprite's shoulders and pulls her in close, only to press her mouth against the creature's lips.

Up on the surface, a few seconds later, both beings emerge, the kobold gasping for breath and splashing to the shore, the fey rubbing her mouth with her arm and eying the kobold with a scrutinizing gaze. "What are you, some kind of pervert?" she asks, in a trickling voice in her own sylvan tongue.

Baze shrugs. As she does, she lifts her soaked shirt up over her head and responds in the same language. "Nah, I just figured if I was going to drown, I might as well get a last kiss in with a beautiful gal."

The creature, Baze recognizes now as a nixie, blinks, and giggles. "I'm Melu," she says, stepping out into the shallows and holding out a webbed hand.

Baze looks over her shoulder at her, smiles, and clasps her hand. "Baze," she responds.

As Baze steps through the dying grass, she can't help but shudder at the unearthly chill that suffuses the area. Despite the cold, the water has not frozen over. In fact, from a distance, it looks to be quite muddy. As she approaches, however, a strange boiling bubble and an acrid odor fills her. She brings her mask up around her nostrils to help ward off any foulness that has made its way to this once beautiful place. "Melu?" Baze calls out, hoping for any sign of her fairy friend. "Melu, it's Baze!" she shouts, her voice echoing in the tainted wood.

She curses herself. She shouldn't be so loud, not on a hunt. Whatever monster did this to the lake could still be nearby.

Baze sits on her knees by the side of the lake, the foul fetid stagnant water bubbling some unknown foulness into the air. She shakes her head as she looks down and clasps her hands upon the ground, bowing her head. "Whatever monster did this to your home, Melu, I hope that you did not suffer."

She wishes the fey's spirit a peaceful rest before she pushes herself up to stand, but a long, vine like tendril shoots out from the water and wraps itself around Baze's throat. The Kobold ranger gasps at the sudden lashing whip around her neck and claws at it desperately, but she was so caught off guard that it yanks her in and into the thick, bubbling mess.

Gone is the crystal clear water. Baze cannot rely on her eyes in this thick, muddy mire. She reaches for her pouch, desperately kicking to emerge from the water as she seeks her hunting knife. She pulls it free, and with a quick slash, attacks the invading tentacle.

Her blade, however, clashes uselessly against the tough skin. The monster has some form of protection against the mundane hunting blade. If only she could use her bow, she would then have the means of escape.

Luckily, the attack does seem to give the creature some pause, as it stops its dragging enough for her to kick against the lakebed and push her snout up above the air. With only her nostrils free, Baze has to desperately take a fleeting breath before the monster regains its resolve and wraps another tentacle around her waist, pulling her down into the depths once again.

She strikes at the tentacle, over and over again with her knife. Each time, the blade slides off, but the more she attacks, the more the flesh gives way. It's tough, but flesh is still flesh, and all flesh must yield at some point. Soon, the point of the knife drives into the tendril, and the creature's horrific cry, like the sound of a pig being strangled and a girl yearning for her parents, distorts the water around them. Perhaps now, Baze has found the source of her troubles?

Baze had heard that the fey could be quite tricky, so tricking one seemed like a good idea. When she wound up naked and laying in the shallows with her new companion, however, things seemed as far away from the harrowing circumstances associated with the fair folk as they could get.

Melu sighs, leaning her cheek against Baze's shoulder, her hand stroking along the kobold's underbelly as the calm crystal waters bathed them both. Baze, meanwhile, props her head up with her hands and basks in the cool of the water and the warmth of the sun. "This is paradise," she sighs, laying without a care in the world.

"Melu is sorry for playing a trick on you," she says, placing wet, thick lips against the kobold's cheek. "You're a great friend, Baze."

The ranger chuckles and pushes herself up. She pulls the Nixie close to her and pressesher nose to hers. "Yeah? Friends you can frolic with are the best kind."

"But didn't Melu scare you earlier?" she asks, "even a little?"

"What's this, I hear?" Baze asks, cupping a hand up against the side of her head. "Are you telling me that you pretend to drown people just because you have a thing for scaring people?"