FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

_ Val _

They walked down the tunnel, approaching the light until they could see... A grate, shining light down into the sewer system, connected to the tunnel. Val groaned aloud, slapping one hand to his face. "No wonder she gave the information so freely, there's more to it than the tunnel!" he sighed in annoyance, then continued, "But unfortunately all we can do is continue." The sewer system was simple. Small tunnels with a walkway on the side, wide enough for one person easily, and Rengar with difficulty, then grates at varying places to empty the waste buckets into. The stench was awful, especially to Val's sensitive nose, causing him to tear up slightly, so he turned, "Tobi, can you do that thing you did before? Where you changed the scent?" He nodded, sticking a hand under his cloak, and slowly the awful scent faded again. He knelt down, looking for tracks, trying to catch a scent, but unfortunately the stone walkway didn't do much for leaving footprints behind, and the smell of the sewer would mask any other. He picked a random direction, nodded at the others to follow, and started walking.

They had been walking for a while, occasionally hitting a dead end, always accompanied by small mocking grumbles from Rengar about his tracking skill. The ursari was clearly getting restless and bored, shifting his axe from one shoulder to the other, back in it's sling, and back to the shoulder again, but there wasn't really anything Val could do about tha- "And there's just one thing I don't get about this whole thing," Rengar suddenly spoke up, "How has the guild not been found before? Like, the King's Rangers are supposed to be a cut above the rest, and, even with the sewer maze, it hasn't exactly been the most hidden. You'd think the best trackers would have found this." Val paused for a moment, thinking, before shrugging, "The king said they had been busy with other matters, right? Or maybe his majesty had been planning this test for a little while, I wasn't allowed to hear about the tests other rangers had to go through, but I'm pretty sure all of them were equally difficult, if not harder than mine." Tobi piped up, a curious expression on his face, "I don't know, but... What else would the rangers be working on? Could the king be planning an offensive on Caezu?" seeing a look of confusion on Rengar's face, the fox continued, "You know, to the north, the kingdom we," a slight smirk traced on his face as he kept going, talking as if he would to a child, "The kingdom of Vilgo, have had a rocky relationship with for practically as long as I've been alive? He could be searching for a way to breach the walls and take the castle itself." Val's face brightened, "That'd be good! If we could take Vilgo, there would be so much less worry of a major offensive from their side. Maybe everyone could actually be at peace, and the king and the nobles could focus more on helping out those who are struggling to get by." Tobi's smirk pretty clearly showed his feelings on that, and they ended up falling into silence after that.

_ Tobi _

They knew they were getting close when they found the traps. Val was in the front, followed by Rengar, then Tobi was, y'know, keeping guard from the back. Being helpful! He was the one helping to produce the light when the sewer grates weren't frequent enough. But suddenly, there was a click, and a whiz, and suddenly Val threw himself to the side, and two feathered darts suddenly appeared in his side. Rengar took the worst of it, his thigh almost looking like a pincushion. Tobi had a brief moment of dizziness pass, from the pain? Not likely, too slight. Rengar swaying uneasily confirmed his suspicions. Poisoned darts. Luckily, he was prepared, and with a quick, "Here, the darts were poisoned, I'll fix it.", he withdrew his orb from the concealed pocket in his cloak, shining with the image of the full moon, even from down here in the sewers, made a gesture with it, and tapped the ursari on the arm. Quickly the bear regained his feet, and they kept moving, but with all of them watching for more traps. Eventually, the stone of the sewers led to a wooden door in the wall. Decorated simply, with a painted black skull banner above it, and "KEEP OUT" scrawled below it. After all the previous traps, there was no way the door wasn't trapped, right? Apparently not, as Val looked it over, then moved aside for Rengar to take the lead into the guild proper.

_ Rengar _

This section of the guild was comprised of one main hall, where most of the members moved about, whether simply relaxing with the drinks from the bar, watching - or even participating in - the fighting ring, or planning the next minor hit, as well as a bunch of smaller rooms, mostly for simple lodging or storage. The main hall was fairly impressive, while not as big as the king's hall, it was a spacious expanse, and further made Rengar question how they hadn't been caught yet. There was no way to remove all of this, it would be pretty clear what the place was if someone unintended were to stumble in here. Things just didn't add up. Suddenly, he was jarred from his thoughts by an impact, as he bumped into a smaller figure that had been walking by him. An indignant "Hey, watch where you're going!" reached his ears. Looking down, he saw a gnoll, a hyenafolk, staring up at him. He actually was an intimidating figure, only around 6 feet tall, but fairly well built, and with an attitude of someone much bigger. Confidence or cockiness? Hard to tell, but they definitely looked like someone with experience. Light brown fur, almost the color of sand, but not quite, with light red spots that stuck out on his muscles. They also, strangely, had horns? Rengar hadn't seen many hyenafolk, but he didn't remember that being a common characteristic of the species. They glanced down, raising a clawed paw up to their face to examine it, rubbing it against his tunic, the color of night and shadow. "You know, I'm feeling generous today, had a good haul earlier. If you kneel down and kiss my boot, I'll forgive and forget, how's that?" Rengar smiled, baring his teeth. Something in him felt kinship in some way to the gnoll, all of this was fun to him, and the ursari hadn't had the chance for much fun in a little while. Alright, he'd play this game. "Are you sure? Something tells me you'd end up missing a leg if I did. Wouldn't you just prefer to walk away?" the hyena laughed, scoffing at him. "Oh, you don't know who you're talking to! I am Titan Arum, he who made his way through a fairy portal, and bested the Feywild, so much so they made a new portal purely to get me out! I've slain scarier individuals than you, bear." people were starting to turn, the loud bragging exchange hard to miss. Val, behind him, said something he couldn't make out, but Tobi responded quietly, and they disappeared into the crowd. No matter to Rengar. He spread his arms wide, muscles rippling under the layer of fur, "Hah, do you seek to challenge me? I've fought pups still wet behind the ears bigger than you! I fought five fools at who attempted to beat me at once, and came out on top! It took seven of the city guards to even come close to bringing me down." Titan, the gnoll, responded with a grand gesture, sweeping his hand to the ring in the corner, "Big words for a big fellow, but as they say, the bigger they are, the harder they fall. Care to match your words with skill?"

They made their way over to the arena, the gnoll making a big show out of stretching, and bouncing on his feet. He was lightly armored, wearing the black leather tunic with a matching set of greaves, and a belt made of bones, of which Rengar wasn't sure, wrapped around a pauldron of the same material. The ursari just let his cloak fall to the ground, exposing his bare (or bear, heh) chest, the only thing he was wearing was his loincloth, and that was all he would need. The hyena listed a couple rules, no weapons, no leaving the arena, it was over once one of them knocked the other unconscious. Rengar felt happier than he had in a bit. It had been a while since he had been able to just blow off some steam, and he could already feel the familiar haze entering the corners of his vision. This would be fun. Titan called for one of his buddies to count it down, and the sparring match would begin in three... Two... one.