FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Cheki looked her target audience over. They were a motley crew of canines, but they seemed to have the whole 'adventuring as a group' thing pretty down pat. The big one, Judas, was a big white dog with short fur. He looked like the youngest of the four, but he was larger than the rest. His short fur and twitchy nature made him look even more juvenile, like a puppy in a body way too big. The skinny one's name was Merkha, but she didn't like him too much. He was always condescending and bitching about something not being just right. She had to admire his attention to detail, though- the way he dressed wasn't especially fancy, but there wasn't a speck of dirt on it despite being in a filthy tavern. Rolf the wolf seemed to be the one who kept the group on the path to riches. It was subtle, but the other three showed deference to him. They wouldn't eat until he started, and always let him have the last word on anything. Then there was the smallest one, Murray. He was a cute little fox, and he knew it. He got free alcohol, free food, and she was pretty sure he got free sex from the hookers for being so damn endearing. Not that his cute looks would ever work on her, she told herself. Though they looked like a group of typical guys sitting in a bar, they had impressive titles under their belts. None of them were the best at what they did, but they worked well together.

She drank a shot of courage and approached their table. Judas was the first to twitch in response, but it was Murray who spoke to her first.

"Hi, I'm Murray! Do you work here? What's your name?" he asked, fluffy red tail wagging in a giddy manner.

Cheki brushed his soft tail away. "My name is Cheki, and I'm here to make you an offer. I'm going to investigate the missing scientists in the Arach ruins, but going alone is unnecessarily dangerous. If you come with me, you act as backup in case things go south- all the investigating, planning, and provisioning, as well as half of the pay, goes to my account."

Murray's tail froze mid-wag and the other three looked at her with dubious stares.

"I'm sorry, what?" Merkha said.

"Which part didn't you understand?" she asked, polite as she could be.

"The part where we get paid half," he said. "We could take that job on by ourselves without you and get paid in full- that job isn't especially high priced, and with an eighth of the cut..."

Cheki cut him off mid-sentence. "You're going to play body-guard in a well documented ruin on a budget that's not yours, and you want to gripe about pay?"

Merkha slammed his fists on the table.

"Don't you interrupt me, you lit-"

Rolf cleared his throat.

"What Merkha means is," he said, "is that we were already considering taking the job, and that it would be more profitable for us to not take your offer. So unless you have a better offer, I'm afraid we won't accept your proposition." He interlaced his fingers and put his hands on the table in front of him. "I'm sure you understand that it isn't personal."

"Did you pay the grounds fee?" Cheki asked.

"What? No, of course not. We'll be investigating on behalf of the college, so that won't be an issue," he said.

"Not true," Cheki said. "The college itself doesn't own the ruins. They belong to the spider nobility here, and the guards take 'donations' very seriously. The grounds the college guys went missing on doesn't give a damn about them or the college they're from. They already have the dead people's money, and the college isn't going to find a better research site any time soon. They're going to collect fees, and it's going to be expensive."

"Well, I have an idea on that," Judas said, rolling his boulder-like shoulders. "I say we don't pay it at all, and if they stop us, we make 'em sorry for it."

"That's so like you!" Merkha said. "Always going for the violent approach! How about you think of a way that doesn't involve breaking someone!"

"Well, we either pay someone, or we don't," Judas said, shrugging. "I don't see much other option- they won't be happy if we don't pay, but if we do pay, it hurts our budget a lot more."

"Well, Cheki knows a lot about it," Murray said, "How about we ask her?"

"Who is Cheki?" Judas asked.

Cheki blushed- she didn't tell them her name, but Murray already knew it. How much else did he already know about her?

"I'm Cheki," she answered. "And the answer is that it takes about a fourth of the pay you would receive for investigating this."

The others mumbled to each other. A fourth was of the pay combined with the other costs was quite a bit- travel and food alone would cost them more of the check. Now expenses looked like they totaled over half of the pay.

"How do you plan on bypassing these costs?" Rolf asked.

"I know people in the academy who can forge us student ID's," Cheki said. "We all look young enough. If anyone asks about Judas, we can say he plays sports."

Judas tried to figure out if she was insulting him, but he couldn't make up his mind, so he let it pass.

"I see. And for food and transportation?" Rolf asked.

"That's what the ID's are for. I made friends with the cooks while I was at the college. Every day, they cook almost double what they need so the nobles' children won't go hungry. Every day, they throw food away. With student ID's, we're allowed to get as much food 'to go' as we need. So we go in, grab the stuff that's travel-safe, then hit the road, get into the ruins complex, and get paid once we find the bodies of the college kids."

"And the grounds fee?" Merkha asked.

"The guards are fat, lazy, and don't patrol. If they did, they would have found the college kids by now. Once we sneak past the main gate, we win," she said.

"Wow, you're pretty smart," Murray said, his feathery tail brushing against her leg. "But are you sure you wanna come? It might be dangerous. Besides, you can still get your pay without having to go. Once you get us the ID's and food, you don't have to stick around if you don't wanna."

"What? Why is that even a question, of course I want to come. I'm not going to let you four take my first big mission from me."

"You guys heard her," he said, smirking. "She wants to come with us."

"I- no, you're coming with me!" she said.

He grabbed her hand and looked into her eyes, innocent as a new born lamb.

"Well, since we want you to come with us, and you want us to come with you, let's all cum together," he said.

"Huh?"

Before he could explain his joke, Murray's chair flew out from beneath him, replaced by Judas's foot. Rolf was choking back a nose-beer explosion, and Merkha was groaning at the pun.

"What's going on, what's so funny?" Cheki asked.

"Nothing," Rolf said, "Judas's foot slipped. That's what we're laughing at. Before Murray gets us thrown out, I'm going to accept your offer."

Murray stood up, wobbling, just a head taller than Cheki.

"Hey, it was a legitimate proposition," he said, chuckling.

"It being a proposition was the problem," said Merkha. "If the bartender heard that-"

"Wait," she said, "you said you accept? Are you all good with that?"

"Of course we are. If Rolf accepts it, it's a good deal," Judas said.

Nobody argued or looked put off- even Merkha looked pleased with following the decision.

"Well," Rolf said, "let's go."

...

After a week of preparation, they were in the ruins. They already searched through all the public areas, and it was clear to everyone that there was nothing there. They sniffed over every scratch, pressed every pebble, even tried to activate a few defensive enchantments in hopes they were teleportation devices. They were not.

"So, what now?" asked Judas, brushing his charred fur off.

Cheki paced, trying to think up another place in the public section they didn't already look. She knew they already looked everywhere- between her and Merkha's thoroughness, nothing was untouched.

"Cheki, is everything alright?" asked Murray.

Cheki nodded, thought about it, then shook her head.

"No, I don't think so. The students aren't here, but they didn't check out at the gate. They're somewhere on grounds, just not the public section."

"There's a non-public section?" Judas asked. "Why didn't we go there first?"

"It's dangerous," Cheki said. "Not just the living guards, but the dead ones. The public sections are the ones that have been deemed safe for study. They have relics of the Arach empire and their culture, maybe even what brought their downfall. But the private ones haven't been cleared yet. There's all kinds of fel magic that could lurk in those halls."

"Well so bloody what?" Merkha asked. "You have us- we can handle any threat that gets thrown at you."

"I trust in your abilities," she said. "It's just that I don't know what's down there. It could be anything the Arach wizards could make a thousand years ago, so pretty much anything you can imagine. Do you know what they could do with web? Ridiculous things, that's what. And you only wish they were fatal!"

"How many areas are down there?" Rolf asked.

"I don't know. I know how to get to the main entrance, but that's it. Like I said, it's not open to the public. It might just be another closet, or it might be an entire underground coliseum."

"There's only one way to find out," Murray said. "We have to explore your private areas."

The others groaned.

"What?" Cheki asked. "At least he's showing initiative!"

The other three looked at her, a little surprised that she understood the come-on. The last few days taught them how naive she was.

"I mean, sure it sucks that we have to go down there, but at least he's ready to do it," she continued.

"Yeah, sucks," Murray said, staying close behind her. "Let's go!"

They both started off toward the restricted area with the others tailing behind.

Cheki thought about their options. Though it was true there was no official documentation, there were rumors about the nature of the traps in each of the passages. The entire complex once belonged to an enormous royal family large enough have its own economy, and different passages were meant to stop different kinds of people. She thought about the different things she heard about them, and tried to decide which passage was the right one to take... not to mention how to get in!

((Two votes to make: One, how to get past the inner ring of security guards, and two: Which passage to take if they do!))

On getting past: Feel free to vote for them in the order you most desire to see them happen, and feel free to use such descriptors as 'if X fails, then Y' and so on.

A: "I know the guards here are trained for combat, but most of them don't expect combat. We could probably just rush in, knock some heads, and tie the guards up in their own silk. I know I wouldn't expect trouble at 2 a.m. working security at a place that kills people inside it. Of course, they do have to deal with grave robbers from time to time, so they might be well trained. (70% success rate.)

B: "Of course, most of these guards are pretty lazy- we might be able to just hop through the holes in their security until we're inside. It would only take one serious guard to ruin those plans, though... (80% success, but if it fails, the party may be rather far away from the entrances. (1/4 chance of being too far from them to retreat into them.))

C: "We could also just try bribing them, but I don't think the guys will be a fan of that idea. Still, they signed the contract, and they're getting the money they're owed. It'd come out of my own pockets, so they couldn't say anything about it." (90%, but if it fails, the opportunity for a surprise attack is virtually gone.)

((If getting past the guards fails, the group retreats into a tunnel at random if they can successfully sneak away.))

Which tunnel to choose (assuming the prior's success):

A: "I remember a worker being injured in the gray tunnel before. I don't think he died, but he never came back to work. Someone told me he got put in an insane asylum. Maybe the students went there looking for a good scare?"

B: "Of course, they could have gone to the green tunnel if they wanted some excitement. Someone said it used to be a road to a young emperor's room. Maybe they were going after the royal family's jewels."

C: "But if they were really after the jewels, they probably would have gone to the gold tunnel. Someone told me they found a lot of expensive things in there- tributes to the dead or something. I guess even the Arach honored their dead at one point. I wonder why they stopped..."

And finally, a vote that is NOT going on through Cheki's head...

Is anyone BUT Murray going to try and get with her?

Don't forget, you're not restricted to voting for what's above! Those are suggestions, but you can vote for anything you'd like.