Sometimes you rolled a crit. Other times, you whiffed.

This was the other time.

Ettamri, sped by her steed and possessing abnormal strength, sent her lance flying through the air with force that few other humans could emulate. Though she lacked still the skill and experience that many other veteran soldiers possessed, her brute power and material resources made up for it, and the lance struck true.

But that was it.

Slimy as it was, the rolling toad’s flesh had naturally picked up thick amounts of soil, grass, and stone, the terrain itself creating a rudimentary armor around it, and that earthen defense had been sufficient in preventing the lance from piercing too deep before it was naturally flung off into the distance by the toad’s rotational force. No doubt, more blood had been drawn, but that was all that was, and, like a demented snowball, the rolling toad continued to accelerate further, Ash’s own skill with the bow being wholly insufficient for such a miraculous shot at the eyes. It was both offense and defense at once, and, worse than that, it looked as if the toad wasn’t even going to be able to stop of its own accord.

That didn’t matter, of course, to Matteo or Gwyn, who ran together, boots striking hard as they pushed their way through the tall grass. Even at full sprint though, it was clear that they were too slow, the building momentum of the toad ball gaining more and more speed as time went on. Neither thief nor priest ran faster than the other, but as time passed, Matteo became the first whose pace began to flag. A week of panhandling and soup drinking wasn’t enough at all to grant him the strength necessary to continue, and soon, it wasn’t Matteo who was pulling Gwyn along, but Gwyn who had to pull Matteo along.

And in such situations, there was no way that either of them would be able to dodge without sacrificing the other.

So, who made that choice?

Moments before they could both be flattened, Gwyn pushed Matteo aside, the thief tumbling away as the giant toad smashed into the priest. There was clear ‘thump’ before Gwyn was sent flying, the buoyancy of the inflated toad saving her, perhaps, from being crushed underneath, but also separating her from the rest of the group.

And there was no situation where a separated, prone priest was of any use.

The toad rolled on, gathering more earthen mass as it continued its path towards Gwyn.

If it rolled her over this time, there was no doubt that she’d be completely pulverized, nothing but a bleeding fleshbag filled with broken bones.

Ettamri Belarence

---

"Tch." She was distinctly annoyed now, but that electric feeling of excitement didn't dissipate. It should have died, so why won't it die? It should just lie down and accept its fate. That feeling intensified even more when it was the priest that took the blow and was now in the path of the toad. Had it been just the thief, she would have been content to let him die.

"Get off."

Grabbing Ash suddenly, she picked her up from the saddle, and dropped her near the thief, near throwing her into him.

Lowering her body, Ettamri finally took out the large greatsword, its well maintained appearance belying its crude make. It was more akin to a large piece of sharpened steel than any well made greatsword, but she had used it long enough to trust in its durability and strength. Feeling her lean lower, Horsey started to gallop, knowing what she wanted him to do. Without the extra weight of another person, the destrier galloped through the plains like speeding demon, carrying the livid knight on it near the rolling toad with seemingly little effort. With her entire strength of arms, she swiped towards the side of the rolling frog, with the strong part of the blade where the impact was strongest.

Practically tossed from the horse, Ash landed right by Matteo. The warrior was indeed strong to be able to pick her up like she was nothing. But tossing her onto the thief was dangerous. In fact, where it not for the fact she had to protect her bow from the fall, she would have struck him in a sensitive area. Thankfully, she didn't and simply continued to roll on the ground. Not any more worse for wear than she was before, she rose to her feet. After all, a frozen soldier was a dead one. Soon to be, anyways.

"Get Muu!" She commanded Matteo. She would take over the job of protecting the healer, since Matteo so obviously wasn't good at it. Her hand slapped his back in an effort to shock him out of whatever stupor he would be in and she pointed out the direction in which Muu had fallen.

She dashed towards the dislodged lance buried in the tall grass. She had a pretty good idea where it landed. If even Ettamri's power couldn't pierce through the dirt and slime armour, who would be able to say that the frog's power couldn't? It was a risky idea. A bad one. But it was better than doing nothing. First, get the lance. Then, protect the healer. If she had been faster than a horse, she would have been able to help protect the healer. She couldn't, though. She was only human.

Gwyndolyn

---

She grimaced in pain as she rose up to her feet, feeling her body ache as something must had broken inside of her from the force that had impacted her. Flying some distance ahead of the frog from the attack, it still placed her under immediate threat of being crushed by its massive weight although instead she was on her own now. Despite the faint smile that briefly showed on her face, she pushed aside the miscellaneous thoughts inside her head as they were irrelevant for the situation in hand.

To run or try to flee was probably a viable option had she been in her best condition, but even slightly moving herself shot pain through her torso. Wiping away the smile that briefly crossed her face as she winced, finding even breathing at the moment to be quite irritating as she muttered the words of a prayer.



Despite the rumbling of the toad as it approached closer and closer, she continued her prayer in confidence of not only herself but her god as well, continuing verse after verse until it completed. Staring down the frog as it came closer and closer, planning to make sure that she would be able to release the spell when she saw the optimal opportunity to.


She said steadily when the opening presented itself, summoning a shimmering screen of energy that was transparent in front of her, aiming to cover her position once again. But the only difference this time was the fact that it was sharply angled, aiming not to stop the whole force of the frog but instead be enough to have it bounce off with its momentum.

It hurt. It hurt. It hurt. Why couldn't it just stop? The brunette, if she still even had any hair, had already lost track of time. Was it seconds? Minutes? Hours? It didn't matter. What mattered was that Muu was still alive.

As the singing sensation of pain on her head seemed to have pretty much reached its peak and adrenaline kept pumping into her system, Muu slowly started to perceive her surroundings again. Mainly the sensation of touch. She was, apparently, lying on something firm. The ground? She hadn't even registered the pain in her back initially.

Was the frog still alive? Did her group abandon her? Did they kill it? Would she end up as a dessert? Clearly, she lacked information. Yet, she knew the worst action was un-action. She had to act. Something, anything.

...

Despite the girl's face practically nonexistent, Muu actually arose between the long grass strands and started to... walk. Half-lost, but firm, into a direction she wasn't even sure of herself.

She'd saved him.

Why?

Heart thudding in his chest, the wavy-haired Thief could barely comprehend what had happened for a moment. They'd been running, he'd been wheezing from the effort, pace slowing, body failing him-- and then--

Is she all right?

Stunned on the ground where he'd been pushed at the last second, tall grasses arching over his head, Matteo didn't know.

A storm of hooves and then Ash being tossed towards him was enough to shift his thoughts to other things. Awed by the dual close calls he’d had with first the toad attack and now a flying ranger, Matteo gave a jerk as Ash shouted at him. Secretly relieved that his task of protecting the priest had been taken from him (it hadn’t been his idea to begin with, so of course it wasn’t going to be any good) he looked around for Muu.

“Ah! Right,” he said belatedly to Ash, recovering, and then took off at a stumble and then a full run. Even after their brief rest, his muscles screamed at the effort. He could see Muu’s bright red scarf over the tall grasses and hurried towards it. The bladedancer was walking, at least-- that’s a good sign. “Muu! I’m right behind you, keep going!” he shouted as he drew near.

From here with his nearsightedness (and lack of glasses) the girl still seemed all right. Certainly injured somehow, but not (obviously) disfigured. Still calling out, urging his fellow amnesiac on towards a more toad-free zone, Matteo had to trust the other three would be all right.

Ettamri was no hero of great repute, no saint of great virtue, but in that moment, galloping down upon the colossal beast, her armor gloriously pure even in the dreary light, the image she cut was certainly heroic, the blade she cut with more than sufficient. The lance had been foiled by the toad’s earthen defenses, but with the momentum of her warhorse, the sheer strength of her arms, the honed edge of her blade would be thwarted by nothing less than tempered steel.

A singular strike sheared through dirt and stone, muscle and fat, leaving a massive gash in the giant toad. It was a wound that would have been instantly fatal if not for the size of the creature, but even disregarding that, it was a blow that the beast felt. Hot air and bodily fluids gushed out towards Ettamri, the tremendous spray of blood coating both herself and her steed as she passed by, while the toad itself was rapidly deflating. By the time it reached Gwyn the combination of its own increased mass and its deformed shape had reduced much of its once ferocious speed.

Against that, there was no way it’d be able to smash through the ward that the Keeper of Light bestowed upon its faithful. With a dull thump, it struck the shimmering barrier and was summarily repulsed, a mere meter away from Gwyn.

The toad gurgled once more, but as quickly as its chest could inflate, the gaping wound on its side deflated, air streaming out. A white fluid seeped from its punctured eye, while its left hindleg twitched, unable to obey the commands that its brain sent down to it. It still had three limbs left, still had its tongue, still had its tremendous mass, but it was certainly in no condition to fight anymore. A smart predator picked when to fight carefully.

With what remained of its mobility, the red-striped toad scramble-crawled away, seeking an impossible escape from the horned monster upon its fearless steed.

Ettamri Belarence

---

A spray of blood, the large sword bathing in blood, as did she and her horse.

With a grunt of annoyance, almost a low growl, she turned the horse around, gaining speed once more towards the wounded frog. Getting up and crouching on the saddle, Horsey moved faster and faster as it sped up to a full gallop, before finally veering off and slowing down once Ettamri leapt from the saddle, twisting mid air in a surprising show of agility and dexterity, spinning once before slamming her and her sword's entire weight upon the toad's head. Any doubts that the toad wasn't quite dead would be swiftly dispelled once she simply tore the sword out, ripping its face in two.

There was a moment where it seemed she would start hacking away at the corpse, as she breathed heavily on it, but taking a deeper breath, Ettamri seemed to calm down, taking a small cloth from Horsey's saddle as it slowly paced up to her.

Glancing towards the hunter, she spoke, her voice loud enough to pierce the now silent place. "Hey, you, hunter. Your turn with the frog. Sunface-" Ettamri looked towards the healer. "Are you alright?"

She wasn't needed. That's what Ash thought. Single-handedly, Ettamri had managed to take down the frog herself. In fact, all of them were dead weight in this fight. Though, Ash's value was slightly higher than Muu and Matteo's, considering the fact that she tracked the beast and retrieved the lance for their carry. She gave it back to Ettamri, careful not to poke the warrior, the horse, or herself with whatever caustic blood-goo was on the tip.

"Muu is," Ash cautiously said, "badly injured. Matteo is with her right now, but she needs help from you." Her demeanor was concerned, but also fearful. Less so of the now-deceased toad, more of the emboldened warrior considering those two as dead weight.

Now it was time for her to dismantle the toad. What did they need to prove that the toad was the one in the bounty? Probably the eye, right? No normal toad had an eye that big. If she got a bit of the flesh around it, that only meant they could verify the skin color too. She recovered the arrow lodged in the toad's body and began her work on carving out the creature's eye. Carefully, she sawed and cut around the eye with her machete. The arrow would act as a handle as to not touch any of the visceral goo that had damaged Muu so much. Well, even if she was hit with caustic spurts, their healer could just fix her up, right?

"Ettamri, do you want to keep the frog skin? It might be sellable, but it's also heavy and probably toxic."

Ettamri Belarence

---

@Burger

Muu? Matteo? Who were those again? A moment of slight confusion before she remembered those two had names as well. Utter waste of space; can't even get the priest out of harm's way. Had she been injured badly, Ettamri would have ripped an arm out of them both as recompense.

"Take everything you can that's valuable. I doubt the skin would be harmful unless you tried to eat it. Get any useable or edible bits of meat as well." Finding solid dry spot, she sat down, before turning her gaze towards Ash. "Or rather, aren't you the hunter? I'll rely on your judgement on this matter, but remember you and the other two will be bearing most of the weight."

Gwyndolyn

---

She gave a smile towards the warrior, a presence that was greatly appreciated even if they did smell a bit like toad, before steadying herself on her feet as she looked around the field. Quickly accessing each individual in their party as she gauged who needed her assistance the most, already having a good idea beforehand who needed it but now confirmed.

"Yes I am, thank you for the concern! What an impressive display you gave everyone, I would love to talk about it some more but..."

She said warmly before requesting,

"Can you bring me to our Blade Dancer?"

Taking a sharp breath as she motioned her hand over to Muu and then everyone else in general. Nodding towards the hunter as she acknowledge and took her observation before verifying it with her own, for having the same findings didn't hurt.

"I will give everyone a look over but I believe she deserves our concerns the most right now. "

Taking a deep breath and exhaling it out, she thought over the fight as she felt that a good serving of motivation and congratulations was deserved for everyone. Even if they did not feel like they deserved it, the situation currently right now was more like they needed it, being something that would rally them up for the road ahead.

For the method of polishing the three greenhorns didn't matter, as whether they took on the easier ones bounties first and helped refine their skills or overcoming a trial like this one, it all would keep them ready for the next few bounties on their list and so long as they grew properly, it was all good.

Muu continued existing!

She wasn't doing the best, but the brunette was nonetheless still around. It wasn't even that hard to tell how long she walked, as her sense of touch was still intact, the Blade Dancer counted each and every step. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. Maybe it was better to run? Or...

Whoom

...no. It certainly wasn't. Landing with her corroded face right into what was most likely the ground settled pain started to make itself known anew. It still hurt. She had to go on but... why? What was the point? With pretty much all of her other senses robbed she was akin to a living vegetable.

What if the frog took pity on her? Or rather, decided to be merciful in the cruelest fashion possible? After having killed/eaten the others, of course. Somewhere in the back of her mind, she could hear their initially silent voices becoming louder and louder. Despising her. Mocking her. Why was she, the weakest, the only one spared? It was unfair. Not right. She was weak. Terrible. A disgusting piece of human trash. No wonder they hated her.

Was she even still able to cry in this state? Likely not. Could she bite off her tongue? Maybe but... even for that, she was too scared.

Truly despicable.

It was done, and with such swiftness that Matteo barely registered the toad's fate as he saw Muu fall, landing face-down in the grasses. At least we’re out of its path now. From afar, only the horrible croaking served as any indicator of their bounty’s demise. Occupied with his unresponsive teammate, Matteo couldn’t see exactly what the enormous monster’s final injuries had been, but it was clear this amphibian would roll no more.

One more thing was for sure: he owed the priest. Just one more debt to add to the pile.

(On a more positive note, a dead toad meant a successful mission. No thanks to Matteo, but a win was a win.)

As Gwyn prepared to heal the face-down Muu (who Matteo now belatedly saw had been hit with some kind of acid spray-- of course such a brightly-colored creature was poisonous, that made sense) the Thief cleared his throat. “Ah… excuse me. Thank you, back there. If that had been me, I’m sure I would be dead now.” Squatting down and lowering his voice, he added “I don’t think I ever got your name properly.”

Not wanting to disrupt the helmeted healer’s concentration, Matteo stood up again and approached the body of the toad. Ash was already there, sawing away at the beast’s single remaining eye. “Toxic, hm?” Matteo echoed Ash to himself and walked around the beast’s side, keen to investigate where its red-striped skin had been ruptured.

I’ve never had much luck crafting poisons, he thought as he leaned forward to examine the acid which had apparently melted the Bladedancer’s face. Back when he’d been training with the Thieves’ guild he’d spent a whole day being sick after a potentially fatal combination of toxins had gone wrong. He was no chemist, that was for sure-- but perhaps if he collected some of this, it would prove useful later-- either to sell or as a meager supplement to his own weapons.

After the great wound the lady knight had inflicted, there was plenty of toad fluids to spare. He hoped. He wrapped his hands in the sleeves of his robes to help protect his skin and took a deep breath. Rustling in his meager (nonexistent) possessions, he managed to find the empty booze bottle he’d taken from the other beggars at the gambling ring and did his best to collect a substantial, non-dirt-filled sample.

Over the gray skies, the Silver Moon recruits got to work. With a prayer, Gwyn brought healing light upon Muu’s face, the Blade Dancer’s flesh seeming to dissolve and then smooth over. Despite the horrific pain and the loss of her vision, the damage dealt by the giant toad’s poison had been largely superficial. Terribly, painfully superficial, but still superficial. Soon enough, Muu was able to open her eyes once more, her previous trials appearing as if it was nothing more than a bad dream.

But like all bad dreams, the phantom agony lingered.

Ash, on the other hand, as the highest performing member of the original trio, further proved her usefulness. First the tracking, then landing an actual arrow, and now being given the masked warrior’s trust in appraising the value of the corpse. She was certainly moving up in the world, even if her importance was still largely based off her out-of-combat skills. The sheer mass of the toad meant that skinning it entirely would be an insufferably exhausting task, but that sheer size also meant that, if Ash chose to, she could certainly get large portions of leg meat from the toad. That was practically chicken if she butchered it carefully. The question of weight was always worth consideration though. The eyeball was heavy enough, and stank to high heavens. Unless the party was stopping right beside the toad’s corpse to eat a midday meal, was it really going to be worth it, lugging around more meat around with her? It wasn’t like there was a convenient stream nearby for her to clean the kill with either.

Those were just hunter things though, nothing for Matteo to consider.

The toad being covered in thick dirt was a blessing in disguise. Getting the poisonous slime off its skin would have been immensely dangerous with just the thin sleeves of his robes as protection, but with dirt caking it, prospects became much easier. All he had to do was clump up the dirt that laid right over the toad’s skin and then awkwardly force it through the narrow bottleneck…but Matteo liked to live dangerously. He was a gambling man, after all, and the safety of toxin-infused dirt paled in comparison to the greater reward of pure toad toxin. Standing over the toad’s split face, with brains and organs and blood and fat and bone all mixing together like a gory ice cream cake, the thief did the best he could with his sleeves and with his bottle, trying to extract what fluids he could. But blood got in. Mucus got in. Grisly fat and meat got in. Everything got in, alongside the slimy, translucent fluid that had been upon the toad’s skin.

He got something, at least. Collecting slime, it turns out, was much less dangerous compared to mixing poison. For his reckless behavior, all Matteo got were strange rashes upon the palm of his hands, as well as sleeves that had been contaminated to the point that they were in desperate need of soap and water.

Ettamri Belarence

---

Her temper flared for a moment, looking at the thief nonchalantly strolling up, as if he didn't just let their most valuable member be attacked by a large toad. Perhaps it was just as well, that the priest chose then to speak; had she not interrupted Ettamri's train of thought, Matteo would perhaps also need medical treatment.

"Can you bring me to our Blade Dancer? I will give everyone a look over but I believe she deserves our concerns the most right now."

"Hmph. Understood."

Putting away the greatsword, Ettamri picked Gwyn up with almost no effort, holding her in her arms in a bridal carry. Horsey was cooling off and grazing a bit away from the group, thus she simply brought her over to the injured Bladedancer. She supposed she was thankful the bladedancer didn't die, if only so she could serve as an extra hand during the next few bounties.

She was indeed the hunter. This was her call to make. Though, her expertise remained in the realm of "four legged mammals". Toads weren't exactly similar to a deer. She definitely couldn't gather every bit of skin off the toad. Rather, it would be better if she just gathered a few sheets of the skin. Light enough to carry, enough to use for something and not be a worthless amount to sell, but not valuable enough to risk their lives for. But before she could deal with the skin, she had to get the meat. After all, it would be better to get the meat.

Food was food. Even if there was no stream to properly gut and clean a toad, she could still avoid dealing with all of the (probably toxic) organs by gathering the leg meat. Enough for a meal, at least. She really needed a work knife, but her machete would have to do. The goblin guck had been cleaned off and it had since not seen any use, save for chopping the occasional innocuous branch. With a bizarre level of accuracy that could only be described as terribly imprecise, she chopped hunks of leg meat off the toad. Actually was it a toad or a frog? What was the differences between the two? Froad, it would be referred to henceforth. Sounded stupid, but whatever. With newly claimed hunks of meat, she began work on a fire. She tore brush from the ground, making a pit of tinder and making sure she wouldn't accidentally start a fire in the plains. Besides not having a water source, the location itself was pretty good. There was little chance of a sneak attack, and if they got in trouble, they could just run and let whatever predator eat what was left of the froad.

Using any sort of bush, grass, or stick she could find, she made the fire and began to try to cook the meat chunks on her machete. It was... something. If Ash had a backpack, this would be so much easier. She could just carry necessary supplies with her. But that was thoughts for another time. First, a meal that would have to be slowly tested. Then, she would gather the skin.

Wincing at the rashes on his hands, Matteo sawed at the hem of his sleeve with his knife and wadded the torn fabric into the neck of the bottle to stopper it. It wasn’t pretty, but poison didn’t have to be. He stowed it away carefully and looked around. Ettamri and Gwyn were near the injured Muu while she was being healed. It looked like Ash was working on getting a fire started to cook the butchered toad meat. Better than rabbit, Matteo thought, and then wondered how he’d gotten to the point where he considered frog meat to be a luxury. Maybe somewhere around the point where he’d started asking for spare change on the streets.

As Ash built herself a fire, Matteo went around the other side of the toad for some privacy to change out of his rash-inducing, blood-and-toxic-body-fluid-covered robes. The air was still cool with the threat of rain and he shivered as he pulled on his older, neutral-colored clothes. They stunk like alcohol and unwashed beggar, but at least they were harmless. He bundled up the tight blue fabric under his arm, then came around the toad to check on Ash.

He’d been hoping (really hoping) she’d be done by now and he wouldn't have to do anything to help, but it looked like there was still a lot of work to be done. Or more like a lot of toad to be cooked, he thought, eyeing the mountain of frogflesh and Ash’s lone machete. He audibly sighed, then took out his two knives to offer to Ash. "You can use these too, if you want. I'm willing to taste it first if you’re worried about poison.” Honestly he was just hungry, but maybe he had some kind of resistance to lingering toad venom after inhaling toxic fumes back at the Guild, who knew? He'd take the risk.

It was a soothing, warm, feeling of something positive that made Muu wonder if she actually died and was now in the afterlife. Not cold and scary at all. But as the feeling intensified and she slowly regained her lost senses, that grim thought was quickly replaced by one of renewed hope - and disbelief.

Did that really just happen? Her wounds, her suffering, this crippling wound, just like that? Maybe she had lost consciousness and was, instead, dreaming? No. This felt too real for that. Just accept it. So, the toad was dead? There was certainly no tension in the air.

Tears, that Muu was initially incapable of producing, now swelled up as she started sobbing, before rising up and hugging Gwyn tight, maybe a little too tight. "Thank you..." She whispered in a weak voice. It was a weird mix of gratitude but also not so great feelings.

This went on for only a few seconds before her mind wandered to Matteo and Ash, releasing Gwyn from her tight grip. Were they alright? They wouldn't throw her away now, would they? Once again she had been useless, after all. But a quick glance ensured they were alive, and well.

Gwyndolyn

"You did perfectly fine today, with some more practice you'll definitely get there. Trails such as these build..."

She thought for a moment,

"...character for the future. I'll be there to make sure you shine at your best, even if you fall down. "

Gwyn said with a smile, looking at Muu as she gave a comforting pat on the girl's head while locked within the hug before glancing at everyone else, not seeing any other issues that were obvious or needed immediate handling. She took the time for herself, casting another prayer of healing for herself to mend the injuries she sustained against the frog. The task of performing these spells were starting to take some effort as within the short span of time, she had already released a series of them.

But after healing herself though, she moved herself once more to check the others even if they had no apparent injuries, for that was the job as a healer and it wasn't something that's done easily.

Firestarting was half skill and half prayer, and this time, at least, Ash’s prayers were answered. Sparking her tinder, the hunter’s fire soon bloomed hot, the dry grass devoured by hungry flames. There wasn’t much that could be considered substantial fuel, only more grass ripped out by the roots though, and the hunter found herself constantly scrambling for more. Upon her machete blade, fats and oils sizzled, while the white-ish meat of the toad itself seared quickly. It definitely wasn’t looking like anything that was going to be appetizing, but for those who hadn’t been able to afford meat, for those who had practically subsisted off soup for the last week, anything of substance was going to stimulate their appetite.

Under the guise of checking for poison, Matteo went for the first bite as Ash continued to scramble about for more dry grass. The rashes on his hands made the experience of picking up hot, freshly ‘cooked’ food off a heated blade much more unpleasant than it already was, but after the thief popped the first cut of meat into his mouth, he simply couldn’t resist going for the next. It tasted like chicken. Bland, unappetizing, unseasoned chicken that wasn’t even cooked in a way that made it tender. It was chewy, tough, and smoky. If he had tasted literally anything else with texture in the last week, Matteo probably wouldn’t be so eager in eating more.

But it was meat. It was protein. And it was glorious.

...

Some water to wash down the dried meat would be great right now.