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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Eccles" data-source="post: 3566165" data-attributes="member: 5675">By 11 am the next morning, we were back in the arena, fully equipped and having been scanned by a series of wand-wielding mages. We were then raised in the winched lifting platform to the screaming noise of the arena. We stood alone, as a referee announced our names to the crowd, before shouting out,“And the Rough Diamonds will fight Mad Tooth the hungry!”We looked at one another. Mad Tooth the hungry? That didn’t sound like the frost salamander we’d been told about by one of the guards. Perhaps the rumour in the Coenoby from the previous evening that the salamander had fallen ill and had been taken to a cleric was accurate. At the same time, a cry came from the far side of the arena. Talavir, chief of the guards, appeared and looked hassled. He shouted to the referee that they were having a tough time with ‘Mad Tooth’. With a tremendous roar echoing from behind him, he ducked back through the archway whilst uncoiling a glowing whip. .oOo.As tem slow minutes passed, we stood around nervously as the crowd became ever more irritable, even angry in some quarters. Small coins began to fall down into the arena, and the referee cast a spell to ward himself from the missiles which began to fall around him. Some quarters of the stands were on their feet, yelling and screaming in fury before the doors to the arena slammed open, and a massive iron cube was dragged in by 20 rope-hauling guardsmen. Each side of the huge box was emblazoned with the words “Mad Tooth” in fresh red paint which still dribbled and ran down the sides. The box itself shook and crashed with the roars and thunderous movements of whatever was inside, and each heavy movement sent water sloshing out of the base of the iron cube. As the box was pulled into the centre of the arena, we backed off cautiously and some of the irritable crowd members began to jeer and turn their attention to us. Suddenly, the box stopped moving, and the 20 guardsmen dropped their ropes and dashed for the way in, heaving the solid doors shut behind them. We could hear an incredibly heavy bar falling into place and locking us in with the beast in the box.A single rope, raised on a pulley, was hauled up to Raknian’s box – he took up the rope in one hand and smiled condescendingly down on us as he pulled it with a sharp tug. From the box, there was a metallic ping as a complex series of weighted pins flew from the sides of the crate, and simultaneously the four painted iron walls fell outwards, crashing to the sand of the arena floor. .oOo.As the dust settled, we could see an absolutely massive squat and ugly form, seemly a truly colossal frog, but with three eyes which extended from its slimy green head on a tentacle. Its front legs branched into pairs of long writhing tentacles, each clearly capable of reaching a long distance. It opened its mouth, revealing row upon row of razor sharp teeth and a massive pink, barbed and sticky tongue. We all turned to Endo, expecting him to tell us about the creature, but it was Malachite who spoke quietly. “That’s a froghemoth. The very worst the Barrier Peaks have got to offer. It can swallow a horse in a single mouthful, and is completely unharmed by fire. It will also shrug off great amounts of electrical charge. It’s got to weigh at least 5 tonnes, how they captured it I don’t know.”“RIBBET”The croak echoed around the whole of the arena which fell still in an instant; the only movement being Flynne scrabbling to draw an arrow, dashing off to one side and firing an arrow which sank into the creature’s thick hide but which seemed to have no effect other than drawing its attention. Flexing its legs, the creature hurled itself up into the air, and slammed to the floor near my elven companion, with one of its long front tentacles already curling around him. The tentacle curled instantly around Flynne and tightened, and he writhed in agony at the pressure. Malachite produced the rod of quick casting, and tapped Igmut on the shoulder, giving his features the sheen of stone before casting a second spell which sent chunks of ice crashing from the clear blue sky around the creature, hammering it with cold and beating hailstones. Meanwhile, Sheba dashed to far side of the arena on the other side of the froghemoth. Endo, meanwhile, dashed away to a safe distance and sent a series of bleak and dark lines hurtling at the creature; his spell struck the flank of the beast where it burst into a shower of ineffectual sparks. As I began to sing encouragement, Igmut stepped forwards and swung his heavy sword at the creature twice; the second blow struck true and burst with sunlight. We held our breath, but the damage was nothing like as grievous as we were accustomed to – his arm wasn’t as strengthened as it usually was by empowering magics. The creature opened its gaping maw and simply tossed Flynne in with a flex of its tentacle. The mouth closed, and it swallowed. We could see Flynne’s struggling form as he lashed out on his way down the froghemoth’s throat. Malachite tossed the rod of quickening to Endo, and cast a spell on himself, whilst Endo (still moving backwards) cast two spells – one generating a skeletal hand and sending it hurtling towards Igmut carrying his second which burst into dramatic effect. Igmut’s pale green skin darkened considerably as he swelled and grew upwards. His armour warped and twisted to wrap around his new shape as he stood facing the froghemoth as a large and saggy-breasted hag. I kept singing, louder than ever with the hope that my voice might reach Flynne in the creature’s belly and help him in his efforts to break free.Wading in, Igmut clawed and bit at the froghemoth, his sword and spear forgotten in his enthusiasm. Great tears and rips appeared in its side, whilst at the belly, Flynne’s rapier bit twice, stabbing through the stomach wall, but his hands didn’t quite manage to tear a way out. Suddenly, we could see the blade stopped sawing and fall free from nerveless fingers. Flynne was dead, killed by the creature’s vicious stomach acids. The froghemoth bit down at Igmut, but the teeth simply scraped along the line of his armour. Its tongue glanced off his thick green scaly hide, whilst tentacles began to lash out at him. Only two of them were sufficiently powerful to grab hold of him, and they wrung at his massive body like a dishrag before dropping him to the dirt. However, the stony spell and other enchantments now flowing through his system meant that he simply stood back up and continued his assault on the beast. I noticed at this point that Malachite had stopped chanting, as a huge white bear appeared next to the creature, adding its claws and teeth to the assault, whilst Endo (a metal magical rod gripped in each hand) cast spells as though there would be no tomorrow. A tremendously dark and powerful ray of enfeebling slammed into the creature’s head, tearing through its magical defences like a bandsaw and the beast sagged under the tremendously powerful draining energies. A second spell saw the beast wreathed in spirits which began chattering and tearing at its wounds.I joined the spellcasting, giving myself, Malachite and Igmut the gift of speed, and the effects of my spell were immediately visible as Igmut, revelling in his hag-form, clawed and tore at the creature, ripping lumps of flesh out of its sagging form.Weakened, many of its blows crashed off Igmut’s armour, but he was again grabbed and twisted by two of the tentacles. I could hear his joints popping as it twisted at him, but he was again safe within his stony enchantments.A rhino appeared and crashed into the froghemoth, which bit at the incoming grey beast, but the damage was insufficient to stop the rhino’s momentum. The rhino’s heavy horn crashed at great speed into the froghemoth, driving the point through the back of its mouth and into its brain. The creature moaned once, and then collapsed..oOo.Although we worked quickly to cut Flynne’s body free, the acids had done their work and he was dead and terribly maimed. Once we had been given the gold trophy and 10,000 gold pieces, we once again pooled our resources. Once again I crept out of the Coenoby and once again purchased a trememdously powerful scroll, and shortly after I had returned then Igmut ensured that Flynne could recover.As the arena overhead echoed with the cheers at Auric’s victory, Flynne coughed and rose from his bed, screaming and clutching at his wounds as the acid damage disappeared in the glowing light of the resurrection spell.</blockquote>

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