The Tale of Gauge Quack

Zleiph was pacing around frantically, worried that the spell would mess up again. Finally, he convinced himself to go ahead with the suggestion to change Gauge into a frog and nearly hollered “give me a frog!” I tried to put one in his hand, but by this time he was nearly running in circles. I grabbed his arm and put the frog in his palm; he reached for his knife and hesitated. Concern was evident upon his face, but finally, we managed to convince him to continue with it.

Zleiph closed his eyes, raised the blade, spoke the spell and pierced the frog, then dropped it to the ground. My gaze darted from Zleiph, to Gauge and I was shocked at what I saw. In the midst of the pile of clothing Gauge had been wearing, there was a frog! The spell had worked! Gauge appeared to be no longer ill and made a noise as if trying to speak. I was astonished at what came out.

“Quack?” Gauge jumped on his little frog legs towards myself and Zleiph. Apprehensive and unknowing of the difference in the species I looked at Zleiph. Zleiph looked at Awiiya. Awiiya volunteered to obtain a book from the Cabin about the new species of frog to either affirm or dismiss the possibility of danger.

“Hmm…” Zleiph tilted his head and looked at Gauge. “How interesting… a quack frog”

A Quack Frog? What’s a Quack Frog?” I asked.

Zleiph pointed at Gauge and said dryly “That is a quack frog”

Awiiya returned with a book about frogs and read to us a bit. “The quack frog is not dangerous, it’s only distinguishable characteristic is that it quacks much like a duck”

With that said I knelt down and scooped up Gauge and looked at him. “Are you ok? I mean, do you feel ok?” Gauge leapt from my hand and landed on my shoulder. “Well… I suppose that’s a yes” I turned and looked at Zleiph “So now what?” Gauge wriggled and moved about on my shoulder as Zleiph, Kafuuka and myself, along with input from Awiiya, tried to decide what to do next.

Finally, the movement of Gauge caught my attention, and I removed him from my shoulder and looked at him. “Whatsamatter? Are you hungry? I know of a spot not far where there’s lots of froggy treats” Gauge quacked again and I took it to be a yes, so I carried him off to Willow’s Walk, where I gather my frogs, where the gnats and mosquitoes are abundant, and let him down in the reeds at the bank to dine to his little heart’s content. After some time, he hopped over to me and I carried him back to Tree.

Apparently, in our absence, not much was decided. If Gauge was returned to his prior form, then there was a risk of the poison returning in his system. Awiiya commented that it would take about a week for the toxin to work itself out of Gauge’s system, so, with that in mind, we tried to figure out a way to cure the poison and Gauge as well.