[SP-F2] You've been CURSED! Hit the Frog and TOAD! COMPLETE

[Mari 1]

Mari thought she had answered all the riddles correctly; she was so very sure of herself. And yet…and yet…she had found herself in this situation. Sitting in the middle of the busy streets of a starter town; the witch cackling high above her. Mari looked down in a puddle of water; and the reflection of a pale pink frog stared back. Mari tried to scream; but the only words that came out were

‘Ribbit, Ribbit’

The cackle of the witch grew louder; as she disappeared into a puff of smoke.

Well now, Mari had gotten herself into a pickle. Just how was she meant to overcome this?
 

[Mari 1]

Mari was flabbergasted, how did this happen? HOW? She was a frog! A FROG! A slimy, disgusting, albeit oddly pink coloured frog. Mari stared at her reflection in the puddle again, her big bulbus eyes, a pale blue blinked, first one then the other – great she couldn’t even blink properly.  She tried to stand but flailed about helplessly before landing into the puddle of water with a small ‘splash’ She tried to call out for help, but no one heard; “Ribbit! RIBBIT!”
 

[Mari 1]

Right….RIGHT! Mari was determined to fix this as quickly as possible! How was she meant to run a guild as a frog? Mari first tried to open up her HUD – lifting up a webbed foot to swipe down.

Nothing.
Nadda.
Zip.
ZILCH

Great, so as a frog she couldn’t message anyone to come collect her from the street. Mari was on her own. First thing was first, she had to figure out how to walk..no wait… run? No…what did frogs do? Jump, and hop? Yes that!

Mari had to figure out how to jump and hop.
 

[Mari 1]

After a few minutes of rolling around in the puddle, trying to get her act together, Mari had finally figured out how to, well, hit the frog and toad! She had managed to hop a few feet forward – but had to quickly jump out of the way as a passing player nearly stomped on her. Mari could feel her itty bitty froggy heart pounding hard against her itty bitty froggy chest.  Oh gosh Oh gosh if I get squished will I die? I don’t want to die a frog! Mari thought to herself. She found shelter underneath a shop windowsill. Taking a deep breath she had to wonder, what should she do? How would she un-frogify herself?
 

[Mari 1]

The princess and the Frog

That was a fairy tale that Mari knew all too well, most people should know it or one of its many renditions. The selfish prince is turned into a frog and must find a beautiful princess to break him of his curse. Mari frowned, well – she thought she frowned. She was a frog, and frogs don’t exactly frown.

Where was she supposed to find a princess here? She barely came across other female players – let alone royalty.

“Ribbit…”

Mari inwardly sighed. Why couldn’t she have gotten an easier curse to deal with?

[Mari 1]

The busy street began to quiet down, foot traffic wasn’t as heavy and when Mari was sure she wouldn’t be crushed to death she hopped out from underneath the shop window and down the road, she wasn’t sure where she was going, but anywhere was better than standing still. Mari thought she would try to make her way to an NPC ran store – perhaps she could gather some information from one of them, as long as she didn’t hop into a restaurant or store that would make a quick meal out of her.
 

[Mari 1]

Mari found two things wrong with being a frog
1) It was EXHAUSTING – she felt as though she had hoped for miles, for days, even weeks! But really, she had only just hoped across the street to a nearby general trader.

2) SLIME and DIRT: Mari hated being dirty, and boy was she filthy, covered in thick translucent mucus which seemed to act as an adhesive for all the dirt and grime that littered the streets.

Mari also found that she couldn’t open or close doors, but luckily, she was able to squeeze UNDER the door, and that is exactly what the little, pink frog did!
 

[Mari 1]

Mari squeezed under the door of the shop and with a POP! She was through! Mari bounced onto a wicca basket, then hopped onto a chair, then she jumped up onto the counter! There, an old man was working, serving a customer – once the old man had finished serving the customer Mari drew in a deep, deep breath and gave the biggest, loudest Ribbit she could master!

“R-R…RIBBIT!”
 

The old man didn’t notice, Mari tried again, this time even louder


“R….R….RIBBIT!”

The old man finally turned to look at her, his old tired eyes widened. “Why do my eyes deceive me? Is that a rare Pink Frog?” Mari shook her head, sending trails of mucus flying off her little amphibian body, but the old man didn’t seem to get the hint, he licked his lips. “Oh my! I hear that Pink Frogs taste delicious!”

Delicious!?

DELICIOUS!

Mari was NOT delicious! SHE was a person! A very unlucky, very cursed person! Mari managed to jump out of the way just as the old man dived for her. If frogs could cry, she’d be crying right now. Oh gosh! A hungry old man wasn’t a princess!

[Mari 1]

Mari leapt out of the way again, as the old man angrily tried to catch her – now wielding a Knife and Fork! Mari tried to aim for the door but the old man stood in her way, towering over her – salivating, “Nowhere to run now my delicious little morsel!” Mari gave an eep! As close to an eep as a frog could go, and bounded out the way, she noticed an escape, the window! YES! The window!

Mari hopped toward the window, as she jumped out she thought to herself ‘sayanora sucker!’ She wanted to say it but he wouldn’t be able to understand her anyway.  The man wanted to eat frog, not speak frog.

[Mari 1]

Mari had to catch her breath after escaping the hungry, hungry NPC. That was odd. Was the NPC trying to eat her part of the curse? Mari wouldn’t put it past the game to do something as devious as that. The street was still quiet – and Mari was able to hop on over to another store – She squeezed under the door just like she did the first one. This store looked like it was an Alchemists store.

Alchemists! OF COURSE! Maybe she could just get them to make a potion or a crystal to turn her back into a human, that was easier than finding a princess. Mari just hoped that this NPC wouldn’t try to eat her either…or use her as an ingredient in a potion!
 

[Mari 1]

Mari with a bit of difficulty hopped onto the counter and gave a large “Ribbit!” This caught the attention of a wiry man with large googly goggles over his eyes. “Ehhh? What’s this?” He tweaked his glasses, trying to get a better look at Mari. Mari puffed out her chest,  staring defiantely at the man. As if to say ‘go ahead and try buster!’  

“Ohhh A rare Dendrobates tinctorius ‘Azureus’!” he said in delight as he carefully prodded Mari with a stick. “In laymans terms, a poison dart frog!”

[Mari 1]

Mari blinked, a what? She was a poison dart frog? POISON? Then WHY on EARTH was that man trying to eat her? Mari had to suppose that NPCs wouldn’t get poisoned, and this man, he didn’t seem like an NPC – at least Mari didn’t think so, last she checked NPC’s didn’t pick their nose with their Alchemic utensils. Mari tried to get the strange man’s attention by waving a webbed foot at him.

“Ehh, zis is unusual behaivour for a froggie frog.”

Mari nodded furiously! Yes! YES she was getting through to someone.

“Iz zis a quest?” Mari shook her head. “Are you an NPC?” Mari shook her head again. “A Player?”  Mari nodded.

YES! She was communicating! 

[Mari 1]

The man had put gloves on, wet them and scooped her up into his hands, Mari allowed him to do this; despite how embarassing it felt to be so small and fragile. At least she was confident this man would not eat her.

“How doz a player turn into zis frog?”

Mari gave him a deadpan look, how was she meant to answer him? She gave a “Ribbit!” giving a huff, what was a frog going to do? Go “OH yeh a witch cursed me!” Mari looked around to see if there was anything she could use to communicate with him.

She noticed a pen and paper nearby, and hopped down, attempting to pick up the pen in her webbed feet , she tried to draw a witches hat and lightning bolt.

It….looked something like this…

 

“Vat is that? A Vitch?” Mari nodded, as she tried to shake the pen free from her webbed foot. “A Vitch did this to you? Iz zis an event?” Mari nodded again, giving a happy “Ribbit!”

[Mari 1]

The man scratched his chin, “Hmmm Zis iz a conundrum. Hav you been to ze merchant?” Mari gave a nod, “any luck?” She shook her head. She liked her new friend, even if he was a bit of an oddball.  Communicating was going to be hard. How was she supposed to say she needed to kiss a princess?

Could she even DO that with her being toxic and all?

[Mari 1]

Mari’s friend, the Alchemist with the odd speech pattern was now sitting on a stool in front of the table. He had fetched her some more paper so she would be able to better communicate with him. He was also working on some sort of concoction, “I think I got zis…”

BOOM!

Whatever it was blew up in his face, he removed his goggles blinking, “I don’t think I got zis.”

[Mari 1]

Mari wondered what he was doing, he seemed to be very involved in his work, and it had blown up on him….twice! Meanwhile Mari was drawing a crown. With long flowing hair, aka squiggly lines underneath it. To symbolize a princess, if he had heard of the story, maybe he would get the hint.

“I have done it!” 

Mari gave him an odd look, done what?

[Mari 1]

“Zis!” He said as he held out a strange glowing orange liquid. “Vill turn you bak into a human!”  Mari leaned forward as the Alchemist, as kind as he was, lowered the vile to her so she could look inside it, it smelt oddly pleasant, like poppy seeds and oranges. Would such a thing really cure her?

The Alchemist placed the liquid in a spray bottle. “All ve need to do iz spray dis and viola! Cured!”  He held it out to Mari and gave her a quick spray.

As the liquid hit her, she felt weird, nauseous.

Then there was a loud bang and a puff of smoke!

[Mari 1]

The smoke cleared, and Mari noticed that she was still small…so it didn’t work…Dammit…She opened her mouth, to speak,   “R-Ribbit!”  The tone of the ribbit was different, Mari looked down at her webbed hands; instead of pink they were now green. So did he just change her colour?

“Ack! Zis just turned you into a Green Tree Frog! At least you are not poisonous yez?”

Mari sighed. Drat! She thought he was onto something; guess she would have to go for the princess route! 

[Mari 1]

Mari sighed, and hopped on over to the picture of the crown and hair, tapping it with her webbed foot. The man, that friendly, oddly speaking alchemist adjusted his goggles. Peering closely at the paper. "Ahhh...I see, ze princess and ze frog no?" Mari gave a nod, The man picked up the paper and scratched his chin. "Yes...yess zat makes sense, ve need to find a princess no?" He gave a laugh. "It's a shame no? I'm conzidered a prince in my community. If only I were a lass, I'd give you ze kiss of life. yes?"


Mari didnt find it very funny, she stuck out her tongue, it flicked out and attached itself to his goggles, since they were strapped to his head Mari was sent flying to his face. 

SPLAT!

She landed on his head, and flailed wildly. This was not a good day for Mari...not a good day AT ALL!

[Mari 1]

The Alchemist laughed, "Oh  hey zere, careful, careful." He gently pried Mari off his face and placed her back on the desk. "I guess zis is a delicate matter no?"

 

He turned around and pulled out a strange pink potion. "I von this from a vitch too. I vas going to save it for a battle but if you vant..."

 

He paused, taking a swig from the potion, there was another puff of smoke. Then, when it cleared stoof a very, very well endowed girl with long flowing locks, slender legs and bright green eyes. 

 

"Did zis work?" She asked as she picked up a piece of reflective glass. "OH My!" She gasped as she dropped it. "I am gorgeous!"

Mari, if she could gasp she would too, what in the hey! He got a potion!! He got a POTION from the witch and she got....she got turned into a frog!
What an outrage!