TOAD AMBUSH!

 


Hook: The trundling carts of passersby irritate you, today. The rain's been bad, the tracks are flooded, and the road is narrow. You sidestep many wheeled vehicles - most one-horse-drawn - on this throughway between towns. You'd heard there might be a dealer in the underground market, there, who might have what you need to satisfy the old wizard's request before he helps resurrect your friend... Chances were already slim you'll get back in time, and you know the laws there are strict... To save time, you took a trail the locals said was dangerous this time of yea- Busy with these thoughts this foggy, wet, and miserable spring day, you aren't prepared for the violence with which you are wrenched from your feet, backward, into the sludge inside the ditch along the roadside. Your companions shout in alarm and you hear the hiss of swiftly drawn steel from several of them and the sharp twang of arrow fire, all muffled as you struggle to right yourself and pull your head out of the muck... As you finally manage to sit up, you notice the shield at your back has been ripped clean off. It likely saved you, because, just to your right, up the hill paralleling this part of the road, you see a dark, sallow, hulking shape struggling with it. A toad, the size of a large black bear, is scraping at its face to free the shield from its mouth and tongue. Eventually, it is able to scrape the shield off with a splay-fingered hand, then notices you sitting in the water of the ditch. A hungry light ignites behind its massive orbs it has for eyes. The gold flecks in the irises flash as it launches its whole frame in your direction, opening its wide, gaping maw, and releasing its tongue at the same time. You scream in terror, once, as the lumpy-hide and bulk of the creature bears down on you from up-hill... You find yourself cursing at the fact you didn't heed the old man's warning about dangers in this part of the land during this time of year... The wet season brings out all kinds of opportunists looking for whatever comes crawling out of the earth when it floods.


Details: This track is not often used, for this reason. The rainy season is a hard time for farmers and travellers alike, so, most avoid this trail until deep summer... A group of large toads have taken up residence in the forest and marshy landscape of the small hill near the road. They ambush deer and other smaller animals, even humanoids. Monsters, included. The high vantage of the hill gives them plenty of advantages. The darker areas around the pond are marshy ground. The patches of darker clumps in the water are clusters of reeds and cattails.

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