FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

It was a quiet foggy morning in the sleepy farming village of Southdrift. The locals had just started their work for the day. The few shops were opening their doors, while the farmers were preparing to tend to their crops and animals. Everything seemed peaceful, humans and beast-folk working together while the children ran around playing. Life was good in Southdrift. Good, that is, with the exception of their nervousness about one neighbor in particular. Just outside of the village, up on a large hill was a large log cabin. It was old, but well maintained by its resident. The Southdrifters didn't dare speak her name, fearing it was cursed (though many had long forgotten what it even was). They instead called her 'The Lady of the Hill'. She was an older woman, who had lived up on the hill longer than most could remember. Where she came from or when she came to live on the hill was anyone's guess. No one really knew much about her, and she came down from her hill rather infrequently. She would only appear on foggy or cloudy days, usually in the late afternoon hours. Her arrivals foretold by the echoing toll of a bell. She would simply drift through the village going about business only she truly knew. Buying seemingly random things from the shops. And then disappear back up the hill just as quickly as she came down.

There were many rumors, hushed whispers about the Lady of the Hill: stories of strange lights and sounds coming down from her home late at night. Rumors of people entering the cabin, never to be seen again. Many thought she was some sort of dark sorceress, planning some evil scheme too horrifying to imagine. All were too afraid to confront her, fear of some unimaginable retribution kept them from razing the cabin to ground with her inside. They had no solid evidence that she was a threat to the village either. Her irregular visitations were swift. So, what reason was there to be afraid? She was only ever in the village for brief periods at best, with not very much spoken to anyone. And yet no one could really place the cause for fearing her; she simply had an unnerving presence about her. A room would suddenly fill with palpable tension when she entered. Throughout the years village elders had always maintained a simple rule, that it was better to leave her be than draw her ire. Even the rebellious youths kept a wide berth around her hill, just being in proximity with her home seemed to deter most anyone from getting close.

So, the residents of Southdrift opted to turn a blind eye, pretend the hill and its eerie and mysterious resident simply didn't exist. The villagers strongly discouraging travelers from straying near the place. Many didn't heed the warning, and were later seen fleeing the village screaming, after daring to enter the cabin. Mercifully, the Lady of the Hill never seemed to take offense to such incidents. On occasion Adventurers would pass through and find the hill to be a curious oddity. Some would inquire about it; others would outright investigate it. The ones that did either found nothing, fled in a hurry, or simply vanished. It only raised more questions about the mysterious woman, questions no one dared to ask.

This particular morning was suddenly disrupted by shouts coming from down the road. The villagers were quickly put on alert, fearing it was an attack. But that was fortunately not the case, a trio of Adventurers were hurrying towards the village. A wolf man and two humans, all three were dressed in matching light leather armor. The wolf man was carrying one human on his back. Said human was screaming in agony as he was carried. Something bad must've happened out in the wilds. The villagers were quick to rush in and assist, bringing them into the village proper, straight to the small inn.

“What happened?" The innkeeper, a kindly old goat asked as he quickly cleared a table.

“Giant spider got the drop on him while he was scouting from a tree. It bit him in the leg and he fell." The other human explained.

“He landed on the leg he got bit on too. We don't have any anti-venom or healing magic. He's the one who knows healing magic." The wolf man added as he set the injured man on the table, “Please tell us you have a healer."

“Oh dear… We do have a healer. But he left the village earlier this morning to gather herbs, his apprentice went with him. There's not much we can do." The innkeeper frowned, “I'm sorry."

“Can they be called back?" The human asked worriedly.

“I don't think we could find them in time. They could be anywhere in the neighboring forest by now." The innkeeper shook his head.

“There has to be something we can do!" The wolf exclaimed in a panic.

The innkeeper sighed, “…I'll see what I can do and hope for the best."

“Thank you." The two Adventurers said in unison.

“Nnngghh…it…BURNS!" The injured human cried out as he writhed on the table.

GOOOONG…GOOOONG…GOOOONG…

“What?" The wolf perked up and looked around, “Is that a church bell?"

“...We don't have a church bell." The innkeeper said as he stopped what he was doing, completely frozen, “…But she does."

The sound of a distant bell continued to ring out, then a shadow suddenly fell over the front door of the inn. Smoke wafted up from under the door as the knob slowly turned.

“Oh no…it's her!" The innkeeper let out in a hushed tone, piecing together what was approaching.

The Adventurers looked first at each other, then towards the door as it slowly opened, both were concerned by the innkeeper's words. More smoke bellowed out into the room; all warmth seemed to have been sapped from the inviting space. A silhouette stood tall in the doorway; the distant tolling of a bell suddenly gave way to a soft almost sinister jingling as the figure stepped inside. The smoke thinned revealing a lean womanly figure holding a staff. The wooden staff had a gnarled hook at the top, a short chain with a censer hung from it adorned with bells. She was dressed in a long hooded sleeveless coat, black with a green inner lining, almost trailing along the ground. Wearing black elbow-length finger-less gloves, a green crop top, and loose fitted black pants. Leaving a decent amount of pale mottled skin visible, but also showing her to be covered in strange tattoos. The hood obscured most of her face, just hints of a feline snout visible, small silver bells adorned her large ears, with a final bell around their neck all jingling in unison.

“My, oh my, what have I stumbled upon today? An injured human? And no healer around to help?" She said with a soft almost raspy feminine voice, “For shame. I suppose I may as well step in then!"

“W-who are you?" The uninjured human Adventurer asked nervously.

“Not now, not now, let's see what the problem is." The strange woman ignored the question with a dismissive wave of her paw and walked right up to the table.

A crow suddenly flew in from the still open door and landed on her shoulder.

“Ah there you are Areba. Distracted by shiny things again?" She said as she looked over the injured man.

“Hey are you-" The wolf started saying before the innkeeper quickly silenced him.

“Shhh! Don't…just don't upset her." He said in a hushed tone, eyeing the woman nervously, “It's best to leave the Lady of the Hill be."

She didn't seem to pay them any mind, instead focused entirely on the injured man. Letting go of her staff as she looked him over, it somehow remained standing freely on its own.

“Looks like a nasty break. Let's fix that shall we?" She spoke to him as she swiftly unfastened and pulled down his pants.

“AAAARRGGH!" He yowled in pain.

“Oh, hush you, I've barely done anything." She ignored his cries and looked over his leg, “Ooooh and a nasty bite too! Nothing I can't fix however!"

His leg was swollen and heavily bruised, two puncture marks were swollen with an angry red color. She could see his flesh changing color before her eyes, the venom was acting fast killing off the flesh of his leg. He'd die before long at this rate.

CAW!

“Areba shush, I'm working." She chided the bird on her shoulder.

She dug through a pocket on the inside of her coat and pulled out a cylinder of wood, “Alright then dearie. I'm going to extract the venom and mend this leg. Now I must warn you, it will hurt. A lot! So, I need you to bite down on this."

It didn't take much convincing to get him to bite down on the wood, when she presented it to him.

“Alright, on three…" She said as her paw was enveloped in green flames, “One…THREE!"

She suddenly grabbed his leg tightly right around the bite wound.

“MMMMMMMMNNNNNNNNNNNGHHHHH!" The man screamed around the piece of wood, biting down hard on it.

She kept a tight grip on the wound, the sound of flesh burning could faintly be heard over his screams. She held him down with her free paw, keeping him still as she did her work.

“Just a little longer, I know it hurts." She said in a soothing tone, “Almost… and done!"

She let go of his leg, the color was quickly returning to a more natural color, the swelling going down almost instantly. Thick sickly yellow fluid was pulled from the bite wounds as they closed up, congealing into a floating blob in her paw. An imprint of her paw was still on the man's leg as he slumped back, having passed out from the pain.

“Look Areba, this venom is brighter than any I've seen! This is a most exceptional specimen! And we didn't even have to go out to the forest to get it! Absolutely fascinating!" She said aloud as she studied the blob of toxic goo, “Germaine a flask please."

She snapped her fingers and suddenly a tall figure emerged from the smoke surrounding her. It was a skeleton! And one dressed in a finely tailored suit black suit.

“You needed a flask milady?" He asked in a smooth polite tone, offering a volumetric flask.

“Yes, yes thank you Germaine. This was a most unexpected find! I'll have to study it later." The woman said as she carefully guided the venom into the flask and stoppered it, “Take this back to the lab, I'll return once I've finished my shopping."

“Of course, milady." Germane bowed his head as he took the flask and disappeared into the smoke as quickly as he appeared.

“Wh-…what just happened?" The human Adventurer asked, trying to process what just happened.

“Hmmm? Oh! Adventurers! I should've guessed, welcome to Southdrift!" The strange woman said as she turned around, as if only now noticing the other two Adventurers.

“Just who are you?" The wolf asked, equally confused.

“Oh dear, where are my manners! I get so caught up in things, formalities just go right out the window!" She said as she pulled back her hood.

Without the hood it was easy to see that she was indeed a feline, completely fur-less with more tattoos around her eyes and cheeks. Her left eye was an eerie green, but her right eye was a vibrant purple. Strangely she seemed both young and old at the same time, her features suited someone middle aged, yet carried herself as someone much older and wiser.

“I'm Kibetha Gravemoor, Lady Kibetha Gravemoor." She said with a cheery tone, “Or Lady of the Hill if you're more familiar with that particular title."

The innkeeper who had been stock still up to this point, suddenly collapsed to the ground.

WHUMP!

“Oh dear, another patient already?" The feline woman said with some concern, “Today is full of surprises it seems! Up you get."

She effortlessly helped the goat up from the floor and onto a chair, carefully looking him over. The innkeeper groaned as he started to come to.

“Hmmm…just a slight bump on the head, you'll be right as rain!" She said gleefully as she headed for the door, “I'd stick around, but errands must be done!"

The two Adventurers just stared at her, neither quite understanding what was going on at this point. This strange woman just waltzed in out of nowhere, treated their friend, barely introduced herself and was already leaving.

“Who…?" The wolf started to ask.

“Lady of the Hill!" She exclaimed as she put her hood back on, “EHEHEHEHE-HAHAHAHAHAHA!"

She cackled as her staff flew back to her paw with a flick of her wrist. The door of the inn slammed shut behind her as she vanished just as quickly as she had arrived.

“What the fuck just happened?" The two Adventurers looked at each other completely lost.