The Four Treasures

I nodded silently at Ma'Lar as he walked out of the bar.

"Come on, Valin, we better take care of our half breed companion," I said loudly to the sellsword, feigning ignorance of the sounds above. I reached out to grab Alex's limp arm, but suddenly heard the sound of splintering wood from above.

I laughed a little. "Griffins..." I said to Valin. I heard a massive impact as Ma'Lar hit the floor above us, then a screech of outrage from the proud creature.

I heard his call, and, with a look to Valin and the paladin (who was just coming to), drew my blade and rushed out onto the street.

I wake up and try to figure out where i am. My eyes are so bleary. I then see Valin "Why was i unconscious?"
I try to stand up, but fall back down. Then try it again to stand up and see that we're still in the pub, feel my head for blood then when i feel none, i relax. I see the barkeep has gone i slowly try to remember everything that happened when i can't remember anything except this splitting head ache i sigh and asked "What the heck did i do in the last few hours."

~???~

"STOP!" The cloaked creature croaked. Thadan waited, letting the hooded thing account for itself but still wary of it. The creature was short, like a halfling, but his low, raspy voice indicated otherwise. With his remaining arm, the creature lowered his hood. Thadan blinked and nearly looked away in disgust.

It was easily the ugliest creature he had ever seen--except for maybe zombies, anyway. Its face was bloated and green, with a mop of slimy hair and gigantic yellow eyes with huge black pupils. Its mouth seemed to literally extend from ear to ear, and its ears were little more than nubs on the side of its face. the fingers on its hand were webbed, and its skin was mottled and warty all over. It dropped its weapon to show that it meant no harm, and when the Gryphon released its broken arm, the nasty creature simply popped it back into place, rotating it around and then shrugging as if it was no big deal. The gash from the bite seemed to be healing already.

"Croakin' gryphon just jumps in and breaks my arm..." the creature mumbled.

"What--who are you?" Thadan asked hesitantly.

"Me?" the creature seemed to suddenly realize he wasn't alone. "I'm Gregory Thal'dokk, bullywug at your service." He bowed low, shaking slightly as he hoped that the gryphon wouldn't eat him. "And may I ask who you are, and if you usually break the arms of poor, helpless creatures?"


And now for the stats:
Full Name: Gregory "Croak" Thal'dokk

Gender: Male

Age: 18

Birthplace: Yallah Castle

Father's Name: Frederick Samuel Thal'dokk

Mother's Name: Fiona May Thal'dokk

Race: Half-Frog (but you don't know that)

Eye Color: Black (Yellow eyeballs)

Height: 3' 2"

Occupation: Apparent thief or assassin

Class Type: Thief/Rogue

Appearance: With his hood on, some might expect him to be a human child. What horror they experience when he reveals himself! He is a short little creature with very frog-like features, but with a more or less human anatomy. His skin is greenish, slimy, and covered with spots and warts. He always wears his black cloak, with tattered tan shorts underneath. He stands slightly stooped, with long, powerful legs and feet and webbed toes and fingers.

Weapon(s): Simply dagger, hand crossbow, and bodily weapons (super-long tongue and fists/feet).

Spells: None

Special Skills/Natural Abilities: Self-healing salve naturally generated from his skin heals flesh wounds slowly and keeps them from getting infected. He can store a lot in his mouth and stomach and can regurgitate it manually on enemies or on the ground, or wherever he feels it would be helpful. He also has a trick or two up his sleeve that will be revealed later...

Brief History: Gregory is proof that the frog prince kept his original DNA when he transformed. Abandoned at birth when his mother was scared almost to death at his extreme ugliness, he is nevertheless a prince and still the only heir to the throne of Yallah (of course, neither he nor the other characters know this). He lives as a thief or as an orphan, whichever suits him better, and is constantly searching for a way to become a human like his father did. He has a lot of knowledge of the streets and the woods and pretty much anything that could be used for survival. He is almost completely illiterate, but he talks well enough.

Chaotic Good

I laughed as I stepped out into the sun, looking at the odd creature before me.

"Problems with the local frog king, Ma'Lar? Stand down, this creature is no threat to us," I said with a chuckle. Despite my laugh, I was uneasy around this creature. Everything about its very existence screamed chaos. In appearance, it looked like a Bullywug, frog men that dweled in swamps and marshes, albeit a small one. Something about it was out of place, but I couldn't place it. My studies of these species was only so expansive.

I left my sword drawn, but allowed the tip of the blade to drift to the ground.

"Who are you, bullywug?" I demanded, taking a chance at guessing it's race.

Valin Norovir:
"What did I do in the last few hours?" the Half-Blood asked me. I smiled, and chuckled, and said to him in Elvish (as I hoped he had at least this much of his Elven heritage mastered) "That is best left for another time, suffice to say that you were overcome with human brutishness, and bullied the barkeep." I took my waterskin, opened it up, and poured it on the Half-Blood. "Get up, now. There is something important to be weary of outside. Come, let us away!" I said, lifting him up, and drawing my sword, as well as pulling my hood over my face. Finally, when we get outside, both Seraph and Thay'den were both standing around, idly, talking to what looked like a very ugly goblin. By the time I got closer, though, I realized it was a Bullywug, a frog-man, of the creatures that dwell in the swamps, bogs, and riverbeds of this country. "Such a dirty and disgusting race" I thought to myself as it approached. I heard Seraph as him who he was, and I heard no answer, so I slipped into the shadows behind the group, in the trees, and drew my dagger. Then I quickly and silently snuck behind him, put my dagger lightly in the small of his back and said,
"Yes, fair Bullywug, tell us who you are and what your business is, if you have any sense of self-preservation" A sneer cut across my face.

~Gregory Thal'dokk~

Wondering how someone could get behind me faster than a gryphon could answer a simple question, and deciding that the dagger at my back was a more immediate threat than the idle bird-creature, I threw up my webbed hands in surrender and replied.

"I didn't mean no harm! I jus' 'eard about some gatherin' of warriors, and was wonderin' what it was all about! Honest!" Please don't kill me, elfie-man, I silently begged, almost wishing I still had my dagger in hand to defend myself.

The man nudged me with his dagger, "Who are you then?"

"I'm jus' a poor orphaned bullywug, s-sir!" I said, shaking nervously once again, "My name is Gregory Thal'dokk, but most people jus' call my 'Croak.' It rhymes, y'know?" I tried to smile, but it came out as more of a grimace, or maybe a nervous twitch.

Valin Norovir:
I realized that the Bullywug was no more a thread than my left nipple. I sheathed my dagger, and hit him in the place where the dagger had been. Hard. He flew far forward, towards Seraph and Thayden.
"Why?" I asked him curtly. "Why did you bother trying to meet us, as you say you were. Did you think you were going to join us?" I said, scornfully. "As you yourself said, you are an orphan. And Orphan Bullywugs don't get the necessary training to become warriors, that is necessary to keep themselves and their parties alive." I added. I crossed my arms, and waited for the others to do something.

~Croak~

I was surprised by the blow, and was barely able to flip over and land nibly on my long legs before I hit the ground. Finally freed from danger, I was able to clearly think about how little respect these warriors were showing me. I didn't really care much; I was used to it by then. That blow, though, was just too much for me.

"'Ey! What do you know 'bout bein' an orphan!" I shouted at the elf, "I lived all around this town and out of it, and I lived through more danger than mos' people see their whole dang lives! I sure as heck know how to defen' myself, an' you'd prob'ly be able ta learn a thing or two from me, elfie!" My pride restored, I hopped over to my dagger and grabbed it, sheathing it mid-hop as I distanced myself from the others, standing near an open window away from the gaping hole that the gryphon had made.

"So," I said, calm again, "Anyone gonna tell me what's all goin' on here that's gotcha all worked up like the tarrasque is comin' ta town or somethin'?"

I looked back and forth from the bullywug to Valin, barely able to stifle a chuckle.

"Leave him be, Valin...as far as I can see, he has done nothing but defend himself from Ma'Lar, here..." My sword remained pointed at the ground, but still unsheathed. " 'Tis not his fault he cannot move as quietly as to sneak past us."

I turned to the bullywug and said, "Heard of us, have you? From whom? When? And where?"

"The big man's got i' right," I said, returning to my usual smug attitude, "and as for 'ow I 'eard o' ya's, well, let's jus' say I know some people..." I hopped quickly across the room and jumped down near the large nobleman-type, still wary but apprecieative of the defense. "But none o' ya's answered my question--what's gotcha all so worked up?"

I discretely leaned back onto one foot, balancing myself better as the bullywug approached me.

I raised the tip of my sword a few inches, prevenitng him from coming any closer.

"No nearer, bullywug. Though I understand your intent, you still smell of Chaos. I am Seraph Belfast, Templar of Justice and Retribution. If your intentions are just, you have naught to fear of me. By your very nature, something about you sets my spirit ablze with suspicion. I would reccomend you do not touh me, no matter your intentions. You would not like the results. You have connections, you say? I would advise you to tell us of these connections quickly, else we will have a problem. We are hunted men, it seems, for reasons we will not disclose." I looked to my companions when I said that, making sure they understood.

I wisely stayed away from the man, fairly certain that he would back up his warning. "I...uh...don't wanna indicate anyone..." I began to wonder if maybe I shouldn't have said anything about how I knew about these guys. My friends were already in trouble with the city government because of their thievery, something necessary to keep them alive when no one would take them in or give them work to buy food. "I jus' know a lotta people aroun' town, tha's all. They saw you's guys all comin' here an' so I thought I'd check it out."

"Unfortunately, Croak, you don't really have a choice in the matter. Your life depends on giving us information. Those hunting us killed my father, and have taken various others captive. My father was the Avatar of Justice, bullywug. There would be no higher justice than avenging him. I will let nothing, and no one stand in my way. Who are you protecting, and why?"

I narrowed my eyes, and raised my blade higher, till it was level with his throat.

"We are not a group to interefere with, Croak. It would not be...wise."

I gulped audibly. Sorry guys... I have no choice... But I sill hesitated. These guys could be government spies, or city soldiers. It was bad enough that the city officials knew even the little they did about the band of orphans that I had befriended; telling them any more would be nothing but pain for my friends.

"I... they..." I tried to think of something that would keep my friends safe without getting me killed, "they're jus' friends, mos'ly my age, some even younger. No threat to big guys like you, right?" I hoped that he wouldn't ask for specifics...

"If they're just friends, why protect them? If they have done no wrong, why defend them?" I smiled at the bullywug.

"I would speak to these friends of yours. If I deem them nonthreatening to my task at hand, they have nothing to fear from me...or anything I might be able to say." Looking at the others, I saw Valin staring at me as I were a fool, and Ma'Lar standing idly, watching with mild interest.