Boggy terrain with low grasses and small shrubs became prevalent a few hours south of Far West, with the numerous hills shrinking in number until only a handful gave the occasional high ground to avoid the muddy ground and murky pools. The air was humid and smelled faintly of old decay as Dryth scanned the surroundings for nay rocks with moss on them sticking out of the puddles and ponds nearby.

  "I like pork." Sindri declared.

  Dryth sighed. "I know you do, it's what bacon is."

  "What? How is bacon pork?"

  "All meat from a pig is called pork, bacon is specifically a cut from the belly of a pig that's been cured. Now can you please look for mosstoads?"

  "I am looking!" Sindri protested. "I haven't seen any yet."

  "I don't even see anything that looks like rocks at all, let alone toads disguised as rocks." Dryth complained, shaking his head. "Let's go a bit farther and look some more."

  He walked down the hill and back into the muck. Dryth mad a face as he stepped into the mud and his boot sunk down with a squelching noise. He'd thankfully gotten some good boots with the money they'd gotten from the gremlin hunting job, along with a pork chop for Sindri back at Far West. It was the first thing they'd spent their money on, since neither of them knew what they were going to need on a day to day basis with their new, if hopefully temporary, career. After deciding their first job was to hunt down monster toads, or frogs, whichever they were, Dryth had decided to spend a bit on premade boots. They didn't fit perfectly but they were good enough with an extra pair of socks stuffed in them and they were keeping most of the damp and wet off of his feet.

  Sindri, in his dry spot around Dryth's neck and shoulders, trembled as he tightened his coil. "I think I see one."

  Dryth slowly set down the foot he'd had raised to leap over what looked like a particularly deep mud hole. "Where?"

  "To the left, see that log that's stuck in at an angle? Right next to that."

  "That?" Dryth pointed at the rock sticking just a fraction out of the water. "That looks just like a rock. These things must have really good camouflage."

  "It's temperature is just a little bit different than the water its in." Sindri slithered down Dryth's arm and hovered above the water's surface, his tongue flicking in and out. "No proof that it's the toad we want, but it's not a rock."

  "Want to go with the same plan as before, with the gremlins?"

  Sindri looked down at the water with dismay. "And go into the water to try and bite it? But my feathers will get wet! And look at all the dirt in the water!"

  "We don't have to do anything you don't want to, but what's your plan if we don't do that?"

  "It's just sitting there. Let's shoot it from here."

  Dryth pointed at the green carpet on the still creature's back. "We need to bring the moss back intact if we're going to get paid, though. The only thing I can see right now is the moss, so if we just shoot it we'll probably damage it." He looked down at the sack tied to his belt next to his water skin and his empty pockets. "We don't have anything to dry you off with though, so I get if you don't want to go in there."

  Sindri slowly traveled down Dryth's leg into the muck. "It's fine." He sighed, "I'll do it. You've been getting cold and wet even with your new boots, it's not fair if you're the only one getting dirty. And you're right," He said with a little more gusto as he startled circling round to the other side of where the toad was sitting. "The point of this is to do the job, not just find something for me to snack on. Although this toad does smell tasty..."

  Dryth ignored Sindri's muttering about whether or not this toad would taste better or worse than other amphibians he'd consumed before and focused on scanning their surroundings. He didn't spot any more hidden toads now that he'd seen one and knew what they should look like and there were no other signs of there being anything else around them. No ripples in the water, so movement under the surface, nothing. Reassured that they weren't going to get ambushed during their ambush, Dryth watched Sindri launch himself across a gap and land on the log that loomed over the toad.

  "I wonder why they do this." Sindri mused as he arranged himself into perfect attack position.

  "Do what?"

  "Sit in the water all hidden like this. That's usually an ambush predator trick, but these things don't act like that according to Holter."

  "No idea. We can ask him if he get's back, maybe that book of his will tell him. If not, I'm sure we can find out if you're really interested."

  Even looking back after the fact Dryth wasn't really sure what did it. It could have been Sindri's shadow looming over it, it could have been Sindri's mere presence that close, it could even be that mosstaods could somehow pick up on the pair's psychic chatter. No matter what the reason was, at that exact moment the mosstoad threw itself outward away from its hiding spot without warning and slammed to the ground a few feet away, leaving a small but noticeable crater underneath it. It turned to face Sindri and upon seeing him the bulbous toad let out and angry cry that sounded like a warble mixed with a chirp.

  "It makes cute noises!"

  "It's a monster and we're here to kill it, don't call it cute!"

  "I didn't say it was cute, I said it makes cute noises, and it does!"

  "That's the same- Watch out!"

  The toad inhaled, making it's already round body swell into a spherical shape. As it did droplets of water gathered in its mouth into a large ball. Once it reached the size of a head the amphibian artillery threw it's back legs forward and launched the orb in one motion, sending the watery payload directly at Sindri. Thanks to Dryth's warning Sindri had just enough time to slip under the log and use it as cover. The projectile landed on the log with the force of a bowling ball as it burst and sent water slashing everywhere. The log cracked and groaned and Sindri had to slither back to avoid falling into the water as part of it snapped under the force of the blow.

  The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

  "It shot at me!" Sindri exclaimed with a mixture of offense and interest. "I didn't see it draw a card!"

  "So? Monsters might be able to pure cast for all we know! Kill the thing!" Dryth drew and fired Sparkle Dart, which hit the toad in the side as it sent out a burst of soundless pyrotechnics.

  The toad warbled angrily as it noticed a second opponent then let out an even angrier one that sounded more like a scream of rage as Sindri's Sparkle Dart hit it in the chest. It responded by leaping to the side and letting loose another series of watery bombardments. Each individual member of the salvo wasn't as large or powerful as the first attack it had fired, but it was unleashing it's offensive much faster than the first time, filling the air with wave after wave of liquid attacks.

  Dryth sloshed through the mud and water as he avoided the assault, firing back his own attacks when he got the chance. The toad was so obsessed with attacking that it just sat there and took every blow the pair sent it's way. While stepping to the side to dodge one of the falling orbs Dryth slipped and fell in the mud. The toad took immediate advantage of the opening and fired a shot directly at Dryth. It landed right on top of him and drove him deeper into the mud.

  "Dryth!"

  "I'm good! It hurt, but only as much as a decent punch in the-" A new, deeper warbling croak cut through Dryth's message to Sindri. "Shit, there's another one!"

  The new, slightly larger toad hopped into view over the furrow of mud that Dryth's body had thrown up as he'd been pushed deeper into the muck. It's eyes glinted savagely as it croaked again, then it opened it's mouth directly at Dryth. Instead of a swirling ball of water it started spraying a stream of thick and sticky mud at him, covering him as it tried to bury him in place. Once Dryth was liberally covered it croaked again in glee and hopped down onto his chest. It didn't use the full force available to it, it just lightly landed on him and started inching closer, it's mouth opening wide, revealing rows of pointed teeth.

  Before it could bite him Dryth manage to finish wiggling one of his arms free and he snapped it up, his hand just inside it's mouth. The toad looked like it was about to enjoy it's first portion, but Dryth had other ideas. He drew a card, manifesting it in its proper position with the angling correct, and fired a sparkle dart directly down the toad's gullet. A second card appeared above Dryth's head as a bright flash, it's intensity magnified by where it was going off, erupted from inside the toad. This card was facing the wrong way, with the text out and visible. However, no one was there besides the dying toad to see what Dryth's new card from the lesson with Ewan was.

  For a brief instant Dryth's eyes looked completely black as the card activated and covered his eyes. He blinked and they cleared up again, letting him see the dead toad sitting on his chest. It's mouth was still open but there was the faintest bit of steam trickling out from inside of it.

  "Dryth, are you okay you-"

  "I'm good! I'm just a bit stuck. Kill the other one."

  He could hear multiple loud splashes coming from every direction as the other mosstoad continued with it's indiscriminate rampage, accompanied by the random angry croak as it took a hit from Sindri in between salvos. Dryth kept wiggling himself back and forth to try and get out of the mud as he pushed the dead mosstoad off of his chest with his free arm. He'd just managed to free his other arm and topple the corpse off of himself when the splashing noises went quiet.

  "Sindri? Did you get it?"

  "Yeah, I got it. Where are you?"

  "Same spot I've been it. Damn thing caked me over with mud."

  Sindri's head popped up over the edge of the small hole. "Oh, hi."

  "Hey. Other one definitely dead?"

  "Yup! I shot it a bunch of times then bit it with my Fangs of Light. It's definitely croaked."

  Dryth groaned in humor related pain. "No!"

  "Yup!" Sindri giggled.

  "Ah, to face these monsters without injury only to be wounded so deeply by my own companion!"

  Sindri giggled again. "You need any help getting out of there?"

  "No, but can you drag the toad up while I dig myself out?"

  It took Sindri a few good tugs to get the toad out of the hole and Dryth some effort to dig himself free. When he was finally upright he did his best to brush the mud and dirt off his clothing as he glanced over at the other dead mosstoad, which was on it's side where it had been launching from. "Alright. Only one more left then. Carrying them back is going to be annoying though, this one weighs like ten pounds." He kicked the body of the toad he'd killed.

  "Is that going to be too heavy for you?"

  "No, but it's going to take awhile to get back, so I'm glad we have enough daylight to-" A sharp pain radiated down Dryth's leg as a dozen tiny knives punctured his skin. "Ah! Motherfucker!"

  Sindri whirled around in a flash, his metallic coloring making him into a shimmer as he coiled around the third mosstoad that had bitten into Dryth. He squeezed tight, forcing the toad to release Dryth's leg, and spread his wings. Twin fangs burst into being with a subtle flash, glowing constructs that enveloped his regular fangs that grew to over a foot long as he hissed angrily. He threw his head forward with a psychic cry of rage, driving the fangs into the toads under belly, once, twice, then three times. The toad croaked in pain and thrashed about as Sindri bit into it, then laid still.

  Dryth hopped away from the scene, holding his injured leg away from the water and muck as he made his way toward higher ground, chanting "ow, ow, ow" as he went.

  "Are you alright!?" Sindri demanded, still perched on top of the dead toad.

  "No, that fucking toad bit my leg and it hurts like a bitch." He pulled his pants leg up carefully, trying to keep the mud covering him away from the punctures left by the toad's teeth. "I'm not going to die or anything though, I've been bitten worse by dogs. Thankfully the boot caught most of it and the rest is in my calf." He grabbed his waterskin, still fully sealed and not compromised by the swamp water, and poured clean water over the injury to clean it. He let out a pained hiss from between his teeth as he made sure that each cut was free of dirt.

  Sindri slipped closer, staring at the wound. "What are we going to do?"

  Dryth shot him a look as he put his leg down and tested it. "Haven't you ever been injured before? I can still walk on this, it's just going to take us even longer than I thought it would when we were talking about heavy dead toads."

  "You can?" Sindri looked at his leg curiously. "If my wings get injured it's a really big deal."

  "Really?"

  "Yeah, until we're a lot bigger than I am now, coatl wings are pretty fragile and don't heal quickly. Not without magic at least."

  "Huh. Well, my leg's gonna sting while I walk and I think I'm going to have to rip off part of this sack that didn't get soaked so I can make a bandage to keep my nasty pants out of the wound, but I can walk on it." Dryth scowled at the toad that had bitten him. "Stupid thing better be worth the money."

  After making the temporary bandage and throwing the three dead toads into the sack they started making their way back toward town.

  "Remind me to keep an eye out for healing cards of any type, or to ask Ewan about learning healing spells. Or both, remind me to do both. It'd be a good idea to have at least one available in case your wings do get hurt or something else like this happens in the future."

  "Good idea. I'll definitely remind you."

  "Thanks. And keep an eye out for more toads while I lug these ones back. Turns out they definitely are ambush predators and I don't want to get attacked by another one while my arms are full."