Chapter 06

Navigating the grid of the woods was fairly easy, though time consuming. There was no direct path forward so we walked until arriving at a perimeter of impenetrable bramble. The fruits were long dried, and gnats swarmed the air in anger.

Over time the tiny bugs dealt enough damage that each of our health bars suffered a two point loss. It was annoying to deal with, but we followed the perimeter until it met at another wall of bramble, forming a perfect corner. That wall eventually led us to an exit.

The exit was a wide path with trees clasped in each other’s clutches far above. Their leaves had long died but hung from the branches. I guessed that no wind or rain could batter them off. When a sedated wind passed over our heads, the leaves rustled and not a single one fell.

The path began to widen at some point. The tree limbs overhead kept their clutches. The trunks had only grown taller and bent to provide an increasingly larger dome overhead as we continued.

“Ehk,” Ulfert said, from a few paces ahead. “Sodden.”

We arrived at his side and nearly slipped on wet earth. The forest floor was terribly muddy and hidden beneath centuries old leaves.

“It stinks here,” Meine said, wrinkling his nose.

Ahead in the center of the dome, a chalky fog had risen. Had manifested. It rolled upon us suddenly with humidity and malodorous vapors. A pair of giant wide set eyes startled us and we all crouched in an attempt to become hidden.

The eyes were reptilian and hovered at a bit of distance. They looked to be made of bright orange agates that held perfectly round orbs of nights without stars. They watched unmoving, unblinking.

All the while, the fog thickened. An indecipherable stench grew in strength. Crow’s wings flapped in the canopy.

“No question about it,” Osmond whispered. “That has to be the boss.”

The eyes blinked. First with a clear layer of lids that screened the iris colors. Then with a cartilage-white layer, then with grey scaled reptilian skin.

“D-Dragon,” Ulfert said.

Meine equipped his short bow. He pulled a steel tipped arrow from the quiver at his side and knocked it to his bow’s string. He drew back and aimed for the only thing we could see. The eyes.

“Get ready,” Osmond said. “As soon Meine’s arrow strikes, I’ll rush in.”

Our bard took up his lute and began strumming. It was another haunting song. His fingers strummed over the instruments strings and sound was formed seconds later in a lag. I imagined entranced corpses dancing to the crawling melody.

“Just another moment,” Eugammon said.

Our archer held steady. The song continued until it left us as though an entity of its own. It grew fainter as it echoed around the forest floor. Then a thick white outline of the boss appeared in the fog. The outline wavered as it was struck with a thousand sound waves. The tracing of white revealed a massive blob with eyes that stuck out the top of its head halfway.

“What is it?” I said.

Meine let his arrow fly and a trail of ripped fog appeared in its wake. The arrow whistled as it spun. When it struck, we heard a distinct crunch and the boss bellowed a croaking roar of anger and pain. The roar turned into a strangled burping that shook the very earth. Leaves were finally shaken from their stubborn stems and cascaded upon us.

Osmond rushed in towards the boss. He didn’t make it far before slipping on leaves and mud, slamming straight onto his back. Mud splashed out from beneath him and we all heard the breath leave his lungs.

We cast our mana bars wide and the blue mana glowed neon in the fog. Ulfert left my company to begin creeping out in a wide circle. Meine knocked another arrow and our bard side-stepped opposite the direction Ulfert went.

The thick white outline of the boss shifted sideways and it was then that I realized what we were up against.

An enormous toad.

After the boss finished shifting, the outline of its head lifted monstrously tall. A thick outline stretched from its head area and extended far, far out towards us. The long outline didn’t stop stretching and I realized from the speedy length, that it was the toad’s tongue. We all realized it too late, and we couldn’t warn our warrior in time.

Osmond had just gotten to his feet when a sickeningly green tongue came unveiled from the pall of fog. It wrapped around the warrior and his club, and coiled in a tightening squeeze. Ulfert was beside the tongue in a sudden ribbon of shadow. From shadow, he leapt forward delivering a clean slice to the tongue.

His slash was vicious. The rogue had put all his heart into it. His kukri came away flinging an arc of burgundy blood.

The toad’s tongue vibrated from the volume of its owner's hoarse bellows. It pulsed a neon green and I saw Osmond’s health bar flash green as well. Then it plummeted halfway.

Ulfert doubled back for another strike, but Osmond and the tongue were gone in the blink of an eye. Meine hesitated to fire his arrows. Eugammon carried on, and Ulfert was lost to the fog.

“Zekaidean’s Anvil!” I said, and slammed my flagstaff down.

It activated, but stuck in the mud. A ghostly blue anvil slammed down, making no impact on the sodden earth. No leaf crumpled beneath it. A ghostly blue winged hammer appeared and the form of a laughing dwarf wrinkled the air, and leapt up to wield the hammer. Upon grasping it, his form disappeared. The winged hammer came down and struck with choral notes on the anvil. Beams of rippling gold light moved out omnidirectionally.

I heard a smack of lips and a terrifying cry of pain. Then Osmond’s health bar depleted to nearly 25%. As Zekaidean’s Anvil chimed with each strike, I saw his health climb a bit.

I tried to pull my flagstaff from the mud but it refused to draw out. I gave a hearty tug and ended up slipping down, covering myself in mud and leaf.

Osmond’s agonizing screams shook the very droplets of mist and fog. I had no choice but to abandon my sunken flagstaff. I brought out four healing potions and kept two in each hand. I ran towards the outline of the boss, while concentrating on keeping my mana bar with me.

The outline of the boss began to move wildly. Ulfert’s health bar began to take damage. The closer I came, the better I could discern the sounds of battle.

Zekaidian’s Anvil continued to chime, healing +2 to all.

“Tosin!”

“Tosin!”

“Tosin!”

Ulfert called out for me. Meine called out for me. Eugammon shouted for me. I stumbled upon the towering form of the boss. It sat like a pile of clay mixed with fossilized excrement. Warts covered its hide. Meine had used them as climbing points and stabbed at the boss with his arrows. Ulfert hung from the handle of his kukri blade which was buried beside the eye of the boss. Osmond dangled between the lips of the mouth of the toad. The warrior swam in a pool of saliva that pulsed a corrupted green.

The warrior’s health bar was taking about 3 points of damage at a time. Zekaidean’s Anvil was healing him 2 points at a time. Gold bands of light raced past us from my flagstaff behind us. I slid to a skidding stop and hurled two Pyrrhon’s potions at the warrior.

The healing liquid tinkled and sloshed in the glass as they soared forth. They burst into a million evaporating particles, dousing Osmond, and bringing his health back to around 85%.

The boss began to move. Its eye twitched back and forth. Then its long legs unfolded and wiggled for traction.

Eugammon’s melody changed all of a sudden. The boss’s outline dissolved from existence. Then the bard said, “break! Break! Break! Your legs and limbs shall break!”

Warped X’s appeared against the boss’s hide, followed by the sound of stretched leather and dry skin cracking. The toad burped in pain and its health fell a bit. Osmond cried out in a sudden loosening of the boss’s tongue and lips.

I pocketed the other two potions I held and rushed to the warrior. He was struggling to breath through the gloop of saliva that engulfed him. His hands scooped the horrid liquid from his mouth and he gasped for breath before becoming covered once more.

“Osmond!” I said, and plunged my hands through the gloop and pulled at him. He dislodged for a moment and his head came out from the dripping drool.

With a mighty kick of its legs, the boss leapt. We were airborne.

Eugammon's shouts were quickly falling behind as we soared to the canopy of the boss’s domain. Fog and mist were dragging at my tunic with grasps of sticky thermals. Above me, Ulfert was hanging onto his kukri for dear life. His dark cloak was hanging fiercely round his neck. Meine was riding upon the toad’s back with one hand bringing down an arrow. His other hand was ripping out the other arrow.

Zekaidean’s Anvil was chiming below us. Each strike was sending out a golden beam of light. Each of us were briefly lit in the passing light. Ulfert was roaring as his kukri blade was dragging in a cruel slice across the toad’s massive body, from eye to gut. The boss’s health bar was plummeting down to halfway. The toad was twisting to address the sudden damage.

Then we were falling.

None of us could do anything as we fell. We were helpless. Zekaidean’s Anvil still chimed beneath us. Directly beneath us. I could cast more spells as long as I was near the articles and runes. If I couldn’t free the flagstaff from the mud, I could still use the items individually.

At least the ground was softened with mud. The boss landed first in a rumbling gurgle of pain.

Eyeughhhhhhhh!

I landed belly first in the mud and my breath was knocked from my lungs. I must have taken a tremendous amount of damage, but I’m pretty sure I broke every single potion bottle in my bag.

Osmond was spit out and he shot past me on a slide of saliva. Our archer bounced off the boss and cried out, “whoa-oa-oa,” as he spun through the air. He crashed beyond a veil of fog.

Ulfert slammed to the ground beside the boss, losing his grip on the kukri blade. He received a sharp kick from the toad and was sent careening across the boss’s domain.

The boss’s health dropped quickly. For every second that passed, it was losing health. Its mouth was open in shock and its tongue shook with hesitation. It gurgled in pain.

It scrambled its legs and tried to gain traction. I rolled away and struggled to force my body to resume breathing. I couldn’t get my breath back from the slam. A white symbol appeared over my health bar. The symbol was of a cloud puffing air from full cheeks.

As I finally started to catch my breath, the boss tried to leap away. Its strong kick delivered it nowhere. It simply stayed put, despite the force of its tried leap.

Zekaidean’s Anvil rang a final time. It’s gold beam of light came from the center of the boss and healed each of us +2 as it passed.

The boss attempted to leap again, but it was stuck. The monster had fallen right onto my flagstaff, impaling itself in place. Through the gash Ulfert’s kukri blade had opened, I could see part of the staff.

“He’s stuck!” I shouted with a hoarse, battered voice.

Osmond came running in and slammed up against the open mouth of the toad. It gurgled and groaned as its health continued to deplete. A green pulsing glow emanated from its tongue. Osmond’s health bar still pulsed green as well.

The warrior jammed his hands into the mouth of the tongue, searching for something. A moment later he pulled out his gloop covered club. His face was wild with joy and he boomed a warcry as he began bashing the face of the toad in.

Ulfert came stumbling back and frantically searched for his kukri blade. Beneath the twitching foot of the toad he found it.

I watched helplessly as my team quickly brought the boss’s health to zero.

When it died, we all fell back to the mud and watched its body deflate like melting pudding. In the next moment, the boss shredded away in tearing cinders, leaving behind a green-gold chest beside my battered flagstaff.