Timnos hurls a trio of blue flames between the trees towards the disappearing boomfrogs. “The hell was that?!”

  “Not sure. Regroup. Tilly, top up everyone’s health as best you can. Wyn, you’ve been fighting these frogs before us; any thoughts?”

  Wyn shakes her head no. “This was different. They acted less like beasts, and more like soldiers. They had a plan. And there was that goblin in the woods.”

  “What goblin?” Tilly asks, confused.

  “I saw it too,” says Rennick. “It hid in the trees, and if I’m right, gave the frogs their commands.”

  “Alright. Let’s stay focused. Loot the corpses and let me think.” Elara says, her tone broking no argument.

  Elara paces the battlefield, while Wyn and the others walk to each of the dead boomfrogs and loot whatever they can from them. There isn’t anything useful beyond a bunch of crude essences, though Rennick does pick up a vial of gas from one of them.

  Froggy, of course, is happy to help with this process. He happily bounces from frog to frog, absorbing whatever essence he can. Tilly watches the lesser frog with curiosity glinting in her eyes.

  “What’s he doing?” she asks.

  “Boomfrogs evolve by defeating one another in combat. Little Froggy here absorbs what essence he can from them to evolve,” Wyn responds.

  Tilly snorts a laugh. “You seriously called him Froggy?”

  Wyn chuckles awkwardly. “He didn’t ask to be called anything else.”

  Timnos joins the conversation, his smug grin constant. “Froggy is pretty dumb. Like calling a cat Kitty. We already know what it is, so it doesn’t make sense to name it that.”

  Tilly rallies to Wyn’s defense. While she agrees with Timnos that the name is rather silly, she won’t miss an opportunity to take his over-inflated ego down a few pegs. “You got any ideas, smartass?”

  “Yeah,” Timnos says, his smirk widening. “Froggy McFrog Face. Rufus. Jeremiah.”

  Wyn rolls her eyes. “You know that first one is stupid. And those other two are just dog names!”

  “How about Boomer?” Tilly suggests.

  “Lord Hoppington of the Deep,” Rennick adds, joining the conversation.

  Wyn holds her hands out, gesturing for the onslaught of name suggestions to stop. “That’s so many names!”

  “And it’s not relevant to our current problem. Naming your pet frog can wait. We have work to do,” says Elara, looming tall over the group.

  Heavy silence falls over the eager frog-naming discussion. Even Froggy, who almost constantly makes some noise, goes silent. With only her words, Elara has dampened the feverish excitement of the group, throwing a heavy weight down on them all. Wyn gulps. She’s never been easy to intimidate, but Elara draws fear from a piece of Wyn’s mind she didn’t know she had.

  “Wyn,” Elara says, “any reason you can think of for the boomfrogs to act like this?”

  “The only thing I can think of is they’re under some sort of mental control spell. Try as I might, I can’t get Froggy to do much of anything. He just does whatever he wants and seems to enjoy my company.”

  Tilly suppresses a chuckle at Froggy’s name, a warning glance from Timnos silencing the sound in her throat before the sound reaches her lips.

  “Noted. Timnos, thoughts? You know about magic more than I do.”

  Timnos shakes his head. “I haven’t seen this magic before. I’m focused on my blue flames and know little else. You know better than me on that front.”

  Elara frowns and resumes her pacing. “This at least confirms my suspicion that the goblins and boomfrogs are tied together. Do you know how many boomfrogs they have left, Wyn?”

  “One second.”

  Wyn pulls up her quest menu and opens up her Boomfrog quest.

  Quest: Invasive Boomfrogs

  Requirements: None

  Travelers across the Arazid Mountains report an increase in Boomfrogs along Imperial roads. The creatures, while not dangerous, can grow into more dangerous varieties should they not be destroyed. Warning: if high-level variants have spawned, report back to Lethisburg immediately, and avoid direct conflict. The Arcane Consortium is not responsible for any harm incurred due to an excess of bravery.

  Objectives:

  Defeat Boomfrogs — 10/13

  Defeat Warrior Boomfrogs — 6/14

  Defeat Elder Boomfrog — 2/5

  Defeat Boomfrog Matriarch — 0/1

  It looks like quite a few of the boomfrogs died in their skirmish. It’d taken Wyn days to kill a handful of them, and now with a party of adventurers, her pace has greatly increased.

  “Between my hunting and the group we just took down, there aren’t many left. Three regular boomfrogs, eight warriors, three elders, and the matriarch. One of the elders escaped along with that goblin wizard. We could just follow their tracks, find out where their base is. Boomfrogs aren’t subtle creatures.”

  Rennick shakes his head. “That’s foolish. These goblins are smart and might set traps. We could walk right into them without warning.”

  Wyn quirks an eyebrow. “Do you have a better idea?”

  His silence is answer enough.

  Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

  “You’re both right. Following the trail is the best chance we have and could lead to a trap. If nothing else, we might learn something. Anyone have a tracking ability?”

  Nobody responds, but Wyn has an idea. Psai has proven useful in the past, mostly as a glorified flashlight and floating advice orb, but Wyn wonders if he could be helpful here.

  “Psai, do can you track the Boomfrog?”

  “Excellent question! I am able to see tracks in the ground consistent with boomfrogs, heading northwest from here.”

  Psai floats ahead of Wyn, and lowers to the ground, highlighting a frog-shaped footprint in the ground. Moments later, another footstep lights up, and a few more after that. For about half a dozen yards ahead of Psai, each footstep lights up, visible to all the party members.

  Tilly bounces with excitement. “Hooray for Psai!”

  Wyn smiles and pats Psai’s orb. “He has his uses.”

  “Come on,” Elara says. “Let’s move.”

  The group makes good pace, stopping just short of jogging to keep their energy high. With Psai lighting the boomfrog’s tracks, they have no issue following their target. They wind through the steep mountainous terrain, cutting through dark forests, and climbing up steep ridges. They take a pause every hour to rest before resuming their journey, keeping their energy and wits about them for the journey.

  After three hours of hiking through the mountains, they come across their first major obstacle. In front of them, a tall cliff face standing over 50 feet high, with deep rivets set in the ground at its base.

  “I believe our target used their muscular legs to jump above this ridge,” Psai says.

  Elara nods. “My thought as well. This is why we train. Climb, leap, use whatever you need to get up there.”

  Rennick is the first to act, shifting into the shadows before appearing on the ridge in a short-range teleport. He waves down to the others as they prepare. Elara is next, channeling essentia into her legs, causing them to glow bright yellow. She launches, getting over halfway up the ridge with a single bound, and begins climbing up the rest of the way.

  “Um… uh… Hey Rennick, do you have a rope?” Tilly calls out, her voice stuttering.

  Rennick’s lips curl into a scheming grin. He tosses down a long coil of rope. At first, Tilly grins with excitement, happy that Rennick is being helpful for once, only for that to fall into immediate dread. The coil of rope lazily spins through the air before falling in a clump on the ground.

  “Hope it’s useful,” Rennick grins.

  “You idiot!” Timnos shouts. “Use the rope to help us up!”

  Elara stares down at Timnos, her face contorting into a deep scowl. “And you should keep quiet. Want to let the whole Empire know we’re here?”

  Timnos grumbles and takes matters into his own hands. He activates another of his blue flame abilities, sending rockets of blue flame out from below his hands. Sweat creases his brow from the heat as he begins to slowly rise. While the display of fire magic is impressive, it’s not very practical, leading to Timnos rising slower than Elara climbs despite using ample magic.

  Only Wyn and Tilly remain to overcome the ridge. Tilly gives Wyn worried glances, not sure how either of them will manage to get up the side of the mountain. Thankfully, Wyn’s clever mind already works out a solution to make the climb easier. She can feel Tilly’s nerves pressing in on her, which only pushes her to think faster.

  She picks up the coil of rope. It is quite heavy and feels very sturdy. Wyn surmises it could carry their weight.

  “Tilly, how far up do you think you can throw this thing?”

  Tilly shakes her head. “Not far. My strength stat is really low.”

  Wyn looks to her other remaining companions, Psai and Froggy. Psai is just an orb and can’t interact with physical objects, so he is out, and Froggy cannot lift a rope this heavy. With no help from them , it is up to Wyn to find a clever way up. Elara watches down on them, tapping her foot impatiently, though her eyes show great interest as she watches Wyn’s movements closely. Wyn feels a small spark in her chest at that attention, a sense that she is being evaluated and not found lacking.

  Wyn takes her dagger out of her inventory and ties the rope around the hilt. Scanning the cliff, she spots crevices perfect for the dagger. If she can lodge the dagger into one of them, it should hold strong enough for her and Tilly to climb up.

  “Tilly, step back.”

  Wyn gives herself some slack on the rope and begins spinning it overhead, building momentum. Once she has enough momentum, she hurls it as hard as she can into the rock face, hoping to catch one of the crevices. It does not work the first or second time, but on the third, her dagger lodges in tight. She gives it a hearty tug. The rope holds true.

  A small thrill runs through her. For someone who tries to act confident, it is still a relief each time her ideas actually work.

  Wyn climbs up the rope with ease until she reaches the dagger. She was not able to get all the way up, but now she has more room to spin the rope. Wyn dislodges the dagger from the cliff and begins spinning it again, getting more slack to increase its momentum. With a final hurl, the rope flies above the ridge and almost finds purchase. It lands on the top and begins to fall.

  “Someone grab it!” Wyn shouts.

  Elara does so, catching the rope and holding it firm. With Elara’s might keeping the rope steady, Wyn climbs the rest of the way and joins the rest of the party. Her muscles ache from the effort, as climbing up fifty feet of rope is no simple task, but the pain is dimmed by the pride of success. Elara’s expression softens just a little, and it warms Wyn’s heart in a way she does not have time to examine.

  “Tilly, climb the rope,” Elara calls down.

  Tilly’s ears twitch with nervous energy. Wyn is far from strong, but Tilly is worse off. Wyn waves to her, encouraging her to try.

  “Worst case, Elara can pull you up, right?” Wyn calls down to her.

  Tilly takes a deep breath and grabs onto the rope, still held firm by Elara. She begins to climb. Wyn watches her closely, stomach tightening every time Tilly’s grip falters even slightly. About halfway up, Tilly’s foot slips from the rock face. She lets out a choked gasp and clings to the rope, her entire body shaking. She cannot seem to pull herself any higher.

  Rennick is the first to react. He crouches near the edge, peering down with an unsettling sort of fascination. “She is trembling. If this continues, she will not make it.” He reaches out his hand to the rope above Elara’s grip.

  Timnos leans over next, wearing an expression that mixes impatience with the desire to appear heroic. “Can’t let the girl die. We need a healer.”

  Elara nods once, holding firm to the rope. “Hold it steady. Do not pull yet.”

  Wyn moves to the cliff’s edge and calls down. “Tilly, you are alright. Just hold on. We have you.”

  Tilly does not answer, but Wyn can see her breathing slow as she listens.

  Elara plants her feet and braces herself. “Tilly, when I say now, push with your legs. The moment you do, we will take some of your weight. Ready.”

  Wyn feels her heart thud harder than she expects. She wants Tilly to make it on her own, but she also does not want her hurt. She forces her voice to stay calm. “You can do this. Just trust the rope.”

  “Now,” Elara commands.

  Altogether, the group pulls on the rope, with Wyn keeping close watch to make sure she doesn’t smash into the rocks. Tilly uses the boost to haul herself up several feet. She almost slips again, but this time Wyn lunges forward, grabbing Tilly’s wrists as soon as she reaches the lip of the ridge.

  “I have you,” Wyn says, pulling her up fully with a grunt of effort.

  Tilly collapses onto the ground, panting, ears flat against her head. Wyn stays kneeling beside her until her breathing evens out. Only then does Wyn allow herself a quiet exhale of relief.

  Timnos sighs. “Well then. That’s taken care of. Shall we continue?”

  Wyn glares at Timnos. “Give the girl a minute!”

  Tilly pats Wyn’s shoulder, her voice shaky, but improving. “It’s fine. Really. I’ll be alright.”

  Elara looks at each member of the group and decides. “We wait for a few minutes, then continue.”

  Rennick, who wandered a short way off, calls over to the rest of the group. “I don’t think so. I think we found our target.”

  All eyes follow Rennick’s voice, and see the maw of a deep cave leading deep into the mountainside. While it might’ve once been a natural cave, it has sense been expanded and carved to be much larger. At the cave entrance, wooden spikes jut out with the skulls of various creatures mounted on the end, a warning to all those who might dare enter this place.

  Elara joins Rennick near the entrance of the cave, examining it closely. “Goblins, definitely.”

  Timnos points to a set of magical lanterns lining the cavernous hallway. “Goblins don’t use magic.”

  Elara frowns. “A few days ago, I would’ve agreed with you.”

  Wyn agrees. “That goblin back in the forest used magic; this is no different.”

  Tilly, now mostly recovered from her scare up the cliff, joins the group. “This has to be a trap. No guards out front, a clear warning.”

  “Psai, do the boomfrog tracks go into this cave?” Elara asks.

  Psai bounces up and down in a nod. “An excellent question! You are correct; the trail continues down into the mine.”

  Elara sighs. “Then we have to go inside.”

  Tilly lets out a nervous “Eek!” before continuing. “And spring the trap?”

  “Anyone else have a better idea?” Elara asks the group.

  The group doesn’t respond, which is answer enough.

  “Be on your guard,” Elara says, stepping inside the cave. “We have goblins to kill.”