FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Janus went on ahead, scouting what was up the massive staircase while Robin, Thea and Hilda all stayed behind. All three of them kept a close eye on the massive scolipede just in case in sprung back to life. They didn't need anymore surprises. Within a few minutes, Janus walked back down the staircase with a sigh. "There is nothing up there. It's just a bunch of wrecked beds and dried blood stains. There's also more staircases leading up to the watch towers, but there's nothing up there either. It looks like this place has already been plundered." He told them all, the disappointment in his voice seeping through into his words.

The dwarf did not look happy at all to hear that. "We did not just kill those things just to walk away with nothing! There has to be something here!" She yelled as she looked around the massive hall they were in. It was a big place, she believed there had to be something left. She went to go find another door perhaps. These kinds of places always had some kind of basements, dungeons perhaps. Maybe what they were seeking was locked away somewhere.

Robin began to regret gathering them all to come on this fruitless expedition. He genuinely thought there was something to all those stories, but now, he was beginning to wonder if the gold had already been plundered long ago. "Maybe it was a mistake to come here..." The gallade painfully admitted. He realized that if this really was a bust, then they had wasted money on the supplies they brought with them.

Thea could see that he was disheartened by the news Janus brought him. "Our journey here was not in vein. At least this place is safer for all, now we have disposed of the beasts living here." She told him, trying to look on the bright side of all this.

"Over here!" Hilda yelled to the other three, who now came running over. At the side of the massive staircase was a simple wooden door. When the dwarf opened it, she saw a long narrow passage with a seemingly endless set of stone stairs leading downwards into the cold dark earth.

Thea was the first to arrive, looking down to the passage alone made her feel a little claustrophobic. "Are we going to descend?" She asked the others.

Robin looked down to the dark stairs with a smile on his face. "We have came this far, we might as well push on." He replied to Thea as he took his backpack off, and pulled out a torch. "Can you hold the torch for us Thea?" He asked. She was the only one who wielded a weapon that did not require her to use both hands. Hilda had her sword and shield, he had his halberd, and Janus had his bow.

"I can do that." She simply replied as she watched Robin hold out the torch to Janus, who then lit it simply by sliding his bare hand over it. Robin then handed over the lit torch to Thea.

As usual, Hilda began to push on without the rest of them. She was followed closely by Thea, then Robin and Janus. This narrow passage suited Hilda, having grown up in the mountains where there were many tight passages in dwarves architecture, at least in the poorer parts. Where as many people would feel claustrophobic in a place like this, she felt right at home. She kept her sword and shield raised, just in case. The way ahead was pitch black, anything could come stumbling out of the darkness. She was ready to stab anything that came at her. Quietly, they walked together down the stairs, all moving at roughly the same time. "These stairs seem to go down further than I thought... Just like home." She said with a smile.

"I don't like this place, too cramped... I feel like these walls will collapse in on us at any moment." Thea replied to the dwarf.

"I wouldn't worry about that. It seems solid enough." Hilda replied to the alakazam. The dwarf actually got along well with Thea, even though they had very different beliefs and came from very different places.

Hearing that from a dwarf mad Thea feel a lot better. If anyone knew about subterranean structures, it was the dwarfs. Their homes and even their main source of income was all in the mines they made. They were creative in their ways, not only mining out resources but also clearing out room for more homes to be built. Despite being underground, their homes were very well ventilated using old techniques passed down from one dwarf to another. "What made you leave your home?" Thea inquired.

"The guards started coming after mercenaries, so I had to leave." Hilda mumbled.

Thea guessed by her tone that she didn't want to divulge all the details. Or perhaps she just wasn't exactly thrilled with the idea of having to leave her home and her people. She was about to ask if she missed her home, but she decided against it. Thea didn't want to seem nosey. "I never imagined that one day, I would be happy to be near a sellsword." Thea told her.

"You're happy to be around her?" The blaziken chortled. "How happy do you get when you're around her?"

"Take your snide insinuations else where, fiend!" Thea scowled.

"Just because you use big words, it doesn't mean you're smarter than me." The blaziken replied as they continued to move on. He smirked, knowing that he was pissing her off more and more with every word that slipped out of his mouth.

Thea had to hold her tongue once more, deciding against fighting his horrid words with more hateful words. Eventually, they came to the end of the stairs. A wooden door stood in their way, but it was unlocked. Thea watched as Hilda pushed the door open, and walked in. As Thea walked in, the room was suddenly illuminated by the flickering flames of her torch. The room was ten feet in width, and twenty feet in length. Pressed against the walls were many crates and barrels. The stone roof hung so low, Janus' head almost touched it. "Be careful, we do not know what may reside in these barrels." Thea warned everyone.

Janus smiled a little as he walked over to one barrel. "It says ale. Might be worth the risk." The blaziken brought his face close to the barrel, sniffing at it. He was trying to guess if there was still ale in there.

Hilda's eyes shot wide open as she saw Janus looking as if he wanted to open up the barrel. "If you dare open that barrel, I will open up your skull! The last time I opened up a fucking crate, a fucking mangy mutt tried chewing my face off. So pull your ugly mug away from there and let's move on."

Janus pulled away from the barrel with a sigh. He wanted to know if there really was ale in there. "I want to know what is in there." The blaziken told them all firmly.

"So do I." Robin chimed in, thinking about how they could sell a full barrel for a good amount of coin. If they don't find some left over gold, then this could pay for the expedition. At least then they wouldn't be taking a loss on this venture. "Let's find out what's in that barrel."

"You cannot be serious! You're both going to open that after what happened back there?!" Anger flowed through her as she watched the two men about to open the barrel. Hilda felt a hand on her shoulder, Thea's hand.

Thea was concerned that Hilda was about to lash out at the two of them, so she tried her best to calm her. "Let them open it. It will be on their heads if something goes wrong."

"Those bastards will get us killed if they keep taking stupid risks like this." Hilda replied, loud enough for the two men to hear. They were already taking a massive risk just coming to this place.

Janus recovered a metal cup from Robin's backpack before then holding it underneath the corked hole. "Come on, let's see if we've got ale!" He eagerly awaited the gallade to uncork the barrel. Quickly, the cork was pulled free, causing a stream of brownish liquid to flow into the cup. The gallade then corked the barrel as Janus sniffed at the liquid in his cup. "Hm, smells about right." Janus then proceeded to down the liquid, but almost as soon as he did, he dropped the metal cup to the ground, grabbing his throat.

"Shit! Spit it out Janus!" Robin yelled as he saw the blaziken dropping to his knees, sounding as if he was choking.

Thea rushed over to his side, kneeling down next to him. Before resting the torch on the cold hard stone floor. She then proceeded to take off her backpack, looking for the yellow potion that helped the flesh heal, or perhaps he needed an antidote. She tried searching for both in a rush, hardly noticing Hilda who walked towards the blaziken. The alakazam quickly turned her head once she heard a loud slapping sound. "Hilda! What are you doing?!" She exclaimed once she realized that the dwarf just slapped Janus across his face.

"Shit, you look like a woman but you hit like a man!" Janus stopped holding his neck and instead started to rub his cheek. He thought it was a little harsh to be slapped like that over a joke.

"He was fooling you both." Hilda simply replied as she rested her back against the wall.

Thea shook her head as she stood up. "Why would you do that at a time like this?" She asked, wanting to know what was going through his head when he did that.

"To lighten up the mood! Everyone is so gloomy and serious. Why can't you all look on the bright side? We are all alive, and you all still have me!" Janus happily smiled, causing Hilda to groan. His smile then turned into a gleeful grin.

"Let's stop here for a while, maybe have a little drink before we move on." Robin felt like they had earned the right to rest for a few moments. This seemed like the perfect place to do just that.

Using wood they scavenged from around the room, they made a small bonfire to keep them warm whilst they ate and drank. Hilda quietly drank, before then noticing Thea was still drinking water. "Why do you drink that stuff? Don't you monks drink ale?" She asked the alakazam.

"I have my reasons." Thea replied as she drank from her water filled canteen. Her supply of water was running low, she may have no choice but to drink ale if they stay in this place longer than a day. He felt a little bad about even thinking about drinking the stuff.

"I am sure they are good ones." Hilda drank up, guzzling the ale. The alcohol didn't seem to have much of an effect on her at all, dwarves seemed to have a natural resistance to the stuff. "This stuff is weak."

Janus was standing near the barrels, trying to read the words etched into them. "Hey! We have honey mead! We should sample it to make sure it's not poisoned." He chuckled.

"Don't get too drunk, we need to stay alert." Robin replied to him as he watched Janus fill his canteen with honey mead.

Janus walked towards the others before then sitting down next to Robin. "So, thoughts on what's going on in this place? Got to be some kind of weird old magic hasn't it? That's pretty much the explanation of everything that isn't understood these days."

Robin shrugged in response. "I don't know what is going on in this place, but I heard stories. People have said they have been here before. They say that monsters live beneath this place, and I am starting to believe them. There was one person I talked to before I gathered you all. He said that he went down, deep into the earth. There was a door, and behind that door was gold. Many, many bars of gold."

Hilda had a hard time believing that. "How do you know he was telling the truth? And why didn't he take the gold for himself?" She quickly questioned the gallade.

"Well, then things started to get weird. Saying something about eye eating leeches." The gallade just left it at that, not wanting to talk about what horrid things that soldier told him.

That last part very quickly got Janus' attention. "I'm sorry, I must have misheard. I thought I heard you say eye eating leeches... Well, I am going to be covering my eyes from now on."

Robin chuckled a little. "He could have just been going mad at that point."

Hilda didn't like the sound of this at all. No one really knew if there was gold in here or not. That man he spoke of could have just been mad and dreamt it all up. Or worse, just outright lied. "If there is no gold in this place, someone's face is going to get smashed in. This entire place makes me feel like shit, I don't like it here."

"This place makes me feel dirty too." Thea told the dwarf, before then noticing the blaziken smirking. She had a feeling that he was going to say something she didn't like.

Hilda could see him opening his mouth. "Close the beak, bird boy." She scoweled, staring right at the blaziken.

"Ohh, touchy are we? Or are you just protective of your new nun girlfriend?" Janus smirked, seeing the dwarf balling up her hands into fists once again.

"Keep pushing it, and you will find my sword lodged in your feathery arse." Hilda threatened as she glared. They hadn't known each other for long, but already a rivalry had formed between her and the blaziken.

"Hah, I guess I know who wears the pants in the relationship now. Well, you do look a bit like a man anyway." The blaziken taunted her. He actually thought that she was rather pretty, but he wasn't about to compliment her. He would much rather see that look of anger spreading across her cute face.

Hilda quickly stood up, but Thea quickly spoke as she grabbed one of the dwarf's wrists. "Don't waste your anger on him, he isn't worth it." Thea tried to calm her.

"A few bruises and burns is a small price to pay to shut him the fuck up!" Hilda yelled.

Robin smirked for a moment, looking right at the blaziken. "You sure do like taunting her don't you. It's almost like you have a crush on her."

Janus simply smirked right back, already seeing what Robin was trying to do. "Not my type. What about you Robin? Don't you think she's good looking? Or do you think she's pig ugly?" He questioned him.

"Although I think she is pretty, I am already taken." Robin replied, not wanting to offend the angry dwarf.

"Good, because I don't want either of your ugly arses!" Hilda yelled, wanting to just shove her fist into Janus' mouth to shut him up.

"Ohh, hit a nerve did I?" Janus chuckled before then drinking from his canteen.

"I hope you choke on your drink." Hilda mumbled, clearly very angry. She wanted to bash his brains in. If she didn't need him, then maybe she would do just that. "Bastard." She sat back down, glaring right at the blaziken.

Thea frowned as she looked towards everyone. "We shouldn't turn against each other, especially in a place like this. If we are to face more beasts, we must stand together."

Robin knew that Thea was right. This was probably the worst place in the world to turn on each other. "You don't have to like each other, just try not to get each other killed." He said to them.

"Alright, father." Janus sarcastically replied to Robin as he rolled his eyes.

Hilda enjoyed the small meal consisting of bread, biscuits, cheese and salted meat. It tasted better than some of the things she had to eat in the past. She barely listened to the conversation Janus and Robin were having, but she did however take notice of a book that Thea had pulled out of her backpack. "What's that you're reading?" She asked.

"Oh, it's just something I found a while ago at the temple. No one came to collect it, so I started reading it." Thea happily told the dwarf.

"Is it any good?" She curiously asked the alakazam.

"It is interesting. The main character is a dwarven man. Maybe you know of someone by the name of Crewe Normanic?" Thea inquisitively asked.

Hilda shook her head before shrugging. "No. Who's he?"

"He's the author of this book." Thea informed her. "I have never heard of him either."

"Reading isn't something I think would be fun. It was annoying enough just to learn how to read." Hilda responded, remembering how hard it was to make out what meant what. She used to confuse numbers with words too.

Thea began to wonder something about this dwarf. "When did you learn to read?" She asked her.

"About a couple of years ago. One of the rich people I worked for taught me, before she got an arrow in the eye. She was nice, I liked her." Hilda replied before sighing, and staring back into the flames of the bonfire.

Thea noticed the sad tone the dwarf spoke with, it made her wonder how she got close with that rich woman she spoke of. It was also the first time she had heard the dwarf actually say that she liked someone. "Why did she teach you? I have never heard of someone with money willingly making friends with their mercenaries."

"She wasn't like normal rich bastards. She talked to me, and listened to what I said instead of just giving orders. I thought it was just a way for her to try getting something from me. I thought maybe she was going to ask me to kill a few lords and ladies, but she never did ask me to. She just wanted me to guard a few of her fancy paintings. Can you believe that? That foolish woman trusted me with her expensive valuables. I told her right then and there that she was an idiot for trusting a mercenary with her valuables." The dwarf told Thea.

"What did she say after that?" Thea asked, growing ever more interested in this dwarf's personal history.

"She said that she knew that she could trust me. She was a good judge of character, most of the time. She was a bit clueless about what life was like for the poor. Silly woman had everything handed to her on a silver spoon. She didn't look down on me, it was like she saw me as a normal person. She even gave me a place to sleep."

"What was she? A dwarf? Human?" Thea asked the red haired warrior.

"She was a lopunny, she always dressed in these really pretty, perfect dresses. She tried getting me to wear some, but I just felt ugly in them." Hilda replied, preferring to keep her body covered in armor.

Thea smiled a little, guessing there might be a soft side to this warrior. "I am sure you looked great in those dresses." She replied to her, not wanting the dwarf to feel ugly.

"Err, thanks..." The dwarf awkwardly replied, turning her gaze to the floor. A light blush spread across her cheeks.

When Thea noticed the blush, she couldn't help but wonder how close the dwarf and the lopunny really were. She didn't dig any deeper though, she didn't want her to think that she was flirting or anything like that. She just averted her eyes, looking to the flames. "The fire burns low."

Robin looked to the flames, letting out a sigh whilst standing up. "Let's move before we get a nasty surprise."

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Author's note: Thank you all for reading. :) I do enjoy brightening up people's days! So Q&A!

*Q: * Will there be darker more dangerous beasties?

A: Oh yes, much darker! And way more deadly! Wouldn't be exciting if these four were safe all the time. :)