FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

The moon was full, but shrouded in dark clouds, sending down rays of light into the woods below. Further off in the distance was the silhouette of a fortress. In the woods was a clearing with four figures huddled around a fire. All of them appeared to be sitting down, and all of them appeared to be very different beings. There were two tents set up around the golden glow of the flickering flames. Each brown colored tent could give up to two people shelter.

"No bloody way! Keep that thing away from me!" A red haired dwarf woman yelled out with a look of disgust on her face. The dwarf was twenty-seven years old. She was dressed in a light brown leather coat with a breast plate over it. All of that material hid her c-cup breasts and her rather firm body. She wore light brown leather trousers that appeared to be especially padded around both knees. Her boots were made of leather, chainmail and steel plating. Every step she took made a satisfying metallic sound. She reached four foot and eleven inches in height, making her a smaller target. Her eyes were hazel in color, and her hair was cut short, with messy straight strands of hair everywhere as if she had only just woken up. Her pale skin bared a few freckles. The dwarfs nose was what some called a button nose, quite small and cute. She hated being called small and cute. Nearby, her small buckler shield was by her side along with her sheathed short sword. The buckler shield was circular in shape, and made out of strong steel. It wasn't that big, being only eight inches in diameter allowing for quick movement. She was sitting with her legs crossed, leaning slightly away from the nearby blaziken.

The blaziken held up a big grub, the wiggly creature trying to get out of his grasp. "Come on! Three gold if you eat it!" The blaziken exclaimed with a chuckle. The blaziken was dressed in chainmail leggings, and nothing more. He usually wore a brown quiver on his back, but it was by his side instead, along with his long bow. The blaziken was only twenty one years old. His bright blue eyes darted between the grub in his grasp, and the dwarf who held a disgusted look on her face. He sat with his legs stretched toward the fire, his feet being warmed by being so close to the flames.

"I am not about to put that nasty thing in my mouth." The female dwarf near spat back at him.

The male blaziken let out a small laugh before replying. "I am sure you have had worse things in your mouth, Hilda! And for less gold!"

"I will roast your chicken ass on this fire if you don't shut your beak!" Hilda yelled back to the feathery archer.

A gallade sitting next to the blaziken simply shook his head. The gallade was wearing scratched up platemail on all of his body, except both arms and his head. The steel was clearly worn out, as if it had seen a lot of action. The right side of his face looked scarred up from an encounter with a fire ball to the face. The pink scars were clearly visible, covering one cheek, his right brow, even going over his temple. The skin was pink where his scars were, yet the rest of his skin remained pale. The gallade was thirty-four years old. His weapon was a very large halberd, a big devastating pole weapon. His halberd was six feet long, the wood that formed the shaft was dark. The halberd had a very long sharp spike on the end of it. To the left, about a foot below the steel spike was a triangular shaped blade, and on the right was that classic small axe shape that most weapons of this type had. His bright red eyes looked to the Blaziken. "Janus, do you have to keep taunting people?"

"Of course he does! He is Janus the anus." The dwarf angrily spoke up, wanting to annoy that blaziken just as he had done to her.

The blaziken just laughed her comment off, he was never really one to get too offended at words. "Hilda isn't such a pretty name either." He quickly pointed out. "And at least I don't smell like an anus."

The dwarf suddenly got up to her feet, her hands balling up into fists. "Are you saying I do?!" She shouted back at him.

Janus saw an opportunity to really annoy her, and he took it. He liked seeing her angry. "Well, your people's homes are basically just giant assholes in mountains sooooo..."

The gallade quickly got up as the dwarf lunged for the blaziken. Her small hands wrapped around the large pokemon's neck, her grip tightening as the large blaziken tried pushing her off. The gallade had to get behind her and pull her away with all his strength. For a small woman, she was really strong. "Calm down Hilda! He is just trying to get a reaction out of you!" He told her as he held her a few feet away from the blaziken.

"It bloody well worked! Happy now, bird brains?! Better sleep with one eye open, or else you're going to wake up as a eunuch!" The dwarf yelled out to the six foot tall blaziken.

Janus coughed, rubbing his neck. "Going to take more than your tiny hands to end me, princess."

The gallade then stood in between the both of them. "Look, I know you two hate each other but this has to end. We have to work together, not against each other."

The dwarf looked very pissed off, but eventually she sat back down. "Robin, why did you have to bring along this overgrown chicken anyway? He's all talk and no balls." She questioned the gallade. She knew that Robin and Janus were both friends, but Robin was well aware of how much she hated Janus.

Robin sighed, knowing things were going to be difficult between these two. "We all need each other for this job, like it or not. If we went in one person short, then we might not make it out alive." He told them both.

Janus chuckled before turning his attention to Robin. "So going in one person short is a bad idea. What about going in with one short person?" He asked as he pointed to the dwarf.

"Ha ha ha! I have never heard that one before." Hilda sarcastically replied as she rolled her eyes. "I guess you have to make jokes about others when your name is anus."

The gallade wished that they would both just hold their tongues for once. It was then that he noticed the forth member of their party was still meditating. The fourth member of the party was an alakazam, dressed in brown robes that covered up nearly every part of her body. She was sitting with her legs crossed, her snout pointing towards the ground. She prayed to the god of light, on old god that was still worshipped in some parts of the world. The alakazam had her hood up, hiding most of her face in the shadows. Only the golden glow of the flames in front of her gave any clue as to what she really looked like. "We should all follow Thea's example. I do not see her complaining when everyone around her is yelling." Robin the gallade said to the dwarf and the blaziken.

Thea, the female alakazam then let out a faint snoring sound. She was always a heavy sleeper. Once she was asleep, there was no waking her up unless someone physically slapped her. Her mace was on the floor nearby. Her weapon was a morning star, it was made up of a metal shaft that was wrapped in leather. At the end of that shaft was a single solid metal ball with many spikes sticking out of it. When swung, it had a lot of crushing and piercing power behind it.

Janus chuckled as he heard the faint snoring. "Well, not everyone is such a heavy sleeper." The blaziken replied.

"She is lucky, she doesn't have to listen to your bollocks." Hilda mumbled to herself, trying to hold her tongue but failing to do so.

The gallade guessed they should probably all get some sleep, before Hilda and Janus start throwing punches. "Let's all get some rest. We have a big day ahead of ourselves. By morning, we should reach the black fortess." Robin told them.

The blaziken chuckled a little. "Who comes up with these names? I mean if you're going to call a place something that sinister, then of course evil stuff is going to happen. It is like you're inviting it to stay." Janus said.

"It wasn't always called the black fortress." Robin quickly informed him. "It was called Pike Point, it was established to stop a village called Fordin from falling victim to attacks from one of its neighbors when things got heated. Neither settlements attacked each other, so over the years it became a trading post. A few years later, everyone at Pike Point vanishes. Everyone thinks both settlements are attacking each other, and both send soldiers to investigate. Only a few came back, and those that did were never the same." Robin finished, seeing both Janus and Hilda looking very curious. Hilda was the first one to speak up.

"Why do you think that there is something valuable at that fortress?" The female dwarf asked.

"Because before the local mines ran empty, the merchants at Pike Point were the biggest sellers of gold anywhere in the world. Do you know how many tons of gold could be up there just waiting to be claimed? That gold could give my family a nice new home, it could pay for anything we want. We would never have to struggle through life as scavengers ever again." Robin told them with a smile on his face. All his share of the gold was going straight towards making sure his wife and son wouldn't have to sell themselves as mercenaries, or worse. He had to do bad things just to make sure his family eats. But if they succeed in finding gold at the black fortress, he wouldn't have to worry about where their next meal is coming from ever again.

"Welp, we best be getting some sleep! We don't know what we will face tomorrow." Janus said to the dwarf and gallade as he now stood up.

"First smart thing that has came out of your beak. But in case you're forgetting, it's your turn to keep watch, anus." Hilda quickly replied as she stood up, and stretched her arms and legs.

The blaziken didn't look that happy, but he knew he certainly wasn't going to get anyone here to take his shift. Janus watched as the dwarf woke up the alakazam. "Goodnight ladies, and be careful Thea. I think that dwarf wants to bed you." Janus said with a chuckle.

The alakazam simply looked back to him with her bright golden eyes. "Foul creature, keep your thoughts to yourself!" Thea replied sharply. She then headed into the tent with Hilda.

Robin couldn't help but smile as he heard that reply. "You're making friends fast. I will see you in the morning Janus." The gallade told him before crawling into his tent.

Janus knew that the women weren't exactly fans of him, but without him, things would just get boring. He could just imagine that if he wasn't here, they would all be boring each other to death with chitchat. A full hour passed, and the blaziken was standing with his bow in both hands. He was just walking around, feeling bored already. He was actually looking forward to going up to that black fort. Suddenly, something let out an old eldrich screech. The unholy sound of some unknown beast screaming sent chills down his spine. The sound resonated throughout the entire forest. "What the hell was that?!" Janus thought aloud as he pulled an arrow out of his quiver. The screams continued throughout the entire night, waking up everyone. Everyone crawled out of their tents, looking to the fort in the distance. All in the camp felt uneasy as they gazed at the building. None knew what horror they would have to confront in order to reach that gold.

In the morning, everyone packed up their tents and walked on. Everyone had a backpack on their backs, some larger than others. Their backpacks looked fairly similar though, being light brown in color. They all pushed on through the woods, only to come across an old disused path. The gallade was the first to step on it, and examine what looked like the tracks of wagons. This path must have been used fairly frequently because no grass grew on this path at all. "This should lead us straight up to the fort." Robin told the others.

Janus yawned a little as he looked up at the path, and to the fort in the distance. "My legs ache just imagining what the walk will be like." He sighed.

"Stop thinking about it and get moving, bird brains!" Hilda angrily replied as she walked on in front of the others.

The alakazam shook her head, disapproving of how Hilda was now the one hurling bad names at the Blaziken. "There is no need for name calling from any of you." Thea told them all as they followed Hilda.

Janus smirked, seeing another chance to annoy the women. "That's right! Take the old hag's advice!" He yelled to the annoyed dwarf.

Thea's expression quickly changed to one of shock at his words, before then changing to one of anger. She held her tongue this time, but she was desperately wanting to just yell what a vile annoying creature he was. She had never had the displeasure to meet someone quite like Janus before. "You should think before you speak, your words often come across as hurtful." She politely told him.

"That's kind of the point." Janus replied as he walked along. It didn't take long for a question to pop into his head. "So, what does a monk lady like you want with gold? Can't be drink or sex, you're not allowed to do that fun stuff are you? Bet your gash has crusted over from lack of use!"

"You keep your corrupt mind off my privates! If you must know, my share of gold is going towards the temple. It is in dire need of repairs. It is one of many temples from long ago, I wish to see it preserved for many more like me to bask in the light." Thea told him.

"You're going to risk your life for gold just to save some old building? That's stupid." Janus simply responded.

Thea didn't look happy at all, but she knew something like that would be his reply. "And what things do you intend to buy with your share?" She questioned the blaziken.

"A nice big house! And lots and lots of food and whores! Maybe even eat food off whores if we get enough gold." Janus replied to the monk.

"Be careful, temptation will lead you down some dark paths..." Thea's tone of voice turned very serious.

"You sound as if you speak from experience. What dark paths have you been led down Thea?" Janus asked curiously.

"My past has nothing to do with you. I am simply giving you some advice." Thea restrained herself from coming out with harsher words. She knew Janus was the type of person that got off on annoying others, she tried not to give him the satisfaction.

Hilda's voice soon ended the conversation as she yelled on over. She was a good thirty feet in front of the others when she stopped, seeing something that caught her eye. "You all need to see this!"

Robin was the first one to walk over to Hilda's side to see what she had spotted. It was a wooden sign, the post was embedded into the grassy earth. As soon as everyone saw the sign, Robin began reading it out. "Two-hundred men descend, ready to defend. One hundred decay, twenty go insane the next day. Seventy stand and fight, they should have taken flight. Fifty survived, but all wish they had died." Robin then noticed something etched into the sign post. "It says turn back..."

Thea looked a little worried as she saw swords buried half way in the ground. They looked rusted up, some even looked slightly warped. "Poor souls. Do you think those graves belong to the same people in the story?"

Hilda could see the worry in Thea's eyes. "They aren't the same people anymore, they're just corpses. We should move on."

Janus chuckled, seeing how much the story had gotten to Thea. "The story is probably just that! A story made up by someone who found a few rusty old swords. I find it hard to believe that how many died in the story? Over a hundred? I doubt that whatever is in there is that powerful." The blaziken told them all.

Robin knew for a fact that it wasn't just a story, but he didn't want to cause a panic. Thea was already looking a little shaky, she didn't need to be told that there maybe a good chance they will die on this expedition. "As long as we stay close to each other and do our jobs, nothing is going to harm us." Robin said. The gallade then began following the sword and shield baring dwarf up the slightly upwards sloping dirt path.

The archer, the polearm baring gallade, the mace wielding monk and the dwarf warrior all pushed on up the paths for a good half an hour. The noises they heard the night before could no longer be heard. Perhaps whatever made those noises was nocturnal. Eventually, they found their location, a huge fort with equally huge walls. The walls were at least fifty foot high. There was a big metal portcullis gate, but it was currently raised. It gave the four gold hunting adventurers easy access to the fortress through the twenty foot high archway. All four of them walked through, walking into the fortress courtyard. The courtyard was absolutely massive, but the ground was made up of nothing more than mud. Not a single blade of grass was to be seen anywhere. It was as if the ground itself was dead, no signs of life left in it. Around the thick fortress walls, there appeared to be wooden stalls set up. Some of the stalls appeared to have doors leading into the walls of the fortress behind them. In the middle of this menacing courtyard was a broken fountain. It looked as if water was supposed to spurt forth from a wolf's mouth and flow into the circular pool beneath it, but the wolf's head appeared to be broken off.

"It takes some force to break a structure like that." Robin said to them all. Deciding to take a closer look, he walked towards the broken fountain. Something with great force behind it must have smashed into it.

Janus looked beyond the water fountain, seeing the door to the fortress was open. The heavy wooden doors looked to be intact. "That is strange. If everyone here died, why did no one think to lock themselves away into the most heavily fortified building in sight? There is no damage on those doors..."

Hilda hated to admit it but he was right, it was strange. Usually during an attack, those who couldn't fight took refuge in the most heavily fortified building they could find. "They could have been killed before they even knew they were under attack."

Robin found that hard to believe. "That would require a lot of planning, and more than one psychopath to pull it off. But, I suppose if there was a huge amount of gold to be gained..." The gallade wasn't sure what to think of this.

Thea wasn't liking all this talk of death and killing. It was nothing more than speculation anyway. "Let us move on." She simply said as she walked on over towards one of the broken down shop stalls. The female monk wished to find something of use, perhaps even something that told them of what happened.

Hilda decided to join Thea, which quickly got the Janus' attention. The large male archer smirked before opening his beak. "Going to get some alone time with your girlfriend are you? Let me guess, you're the man in the relationship." Janus reviled the dwarf.

"Go bugger your own arse with a rusty bread knife!" Hilda angrily spat back to Janus before storming away, walking through a small archway with Thea. "That bastard bird! I want to smash his beak right into the other side of his face!" The dwarf ranted.

Thea looked back to her, sighing. "Ignore him, his mind has been soured by this world." The monk replied as she returned to looking around the room she was now in. She spotted some crates and tables. There was nothing of use, as if this place had been raided.

"That bastard was sour to begin with." Hilda simply replied as she now climbed on top of the crate, sitting down on it. As she sat their, she noticed a familiar smell lingering in the air, the foul smell of death which led her to believe someone died in this room.

Thea was about to give up on searching for stuff, but then she noticed something under another nearby crate. It looked to be a piece of parchment. The alakazam used her telekinesis to lift the heavy wooden crate couple of inches above the ground, gently putting it down next to the archway they came through. "There is something heavy in that create, you may want to open it." Thea told the dwarf as she bent over to pick up the parchment.

Hilda got off her crate, and walked over to the one next to the door. "What's on that piece of parchment you have?" She asked whilst drawing her short sword. She started to kick the crate repeatedly, loosening it up enough to slip her blade through the cracks of the wood, using her short sword as a sort of crowbar. However, when she slipped her sword through the cracks of the crate, her sword slipped into something. Hilda knew she hit something, she just didn't know what.

Thea looked to the piece of parchment, but the writing on it was totally illegible. It looked as if it had water or some other kind of fluid spilled all over it. "I cannot read it." She told the dwarf before she heard the sound of wood breaking, and the dwarf yelling. Quickly, the monk turned to look towards Hilda, only to see a monstrous creature on top of her.

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Author's note: Now it really begins. Thank you all for the views, thank you to BigBossSonic once again for editing for me!