[Quest] Iron Henry

Iron Henry

Hidden: Quest Details

Difficulty: Easy (3 posts per person)
Party Size: 2-3

Location: Druuk Island
Season: Summer

The crown prince of the Frog Kingdom (basically a civilization of talking frogs) has fallen in love with a lower-class woman of the Bantam Tribe. In order to impress her in his proposal for her hand in marriage, he has sent out a job for a few stray freelancers to take up the role of 'thieves' and 'hardened criminals' for him to defeat. Act like the perfect villain and make sure to be defeated by the crown prince's power in front of the object of his affections!

Objectives:
• Lose to the crown prince.
• Ensure that he marries his waifu in the Bantam Tribe.

@The Admiral @Roland Rutledge
​

Alpha was never the type for dawdling. Well, that would be a lie. She was always up for lazing around and failing to make it on time to important places at important times unless it interested her (if so, in that rare situation, she would reliably arrive at precisely five minutes before the occasion, rightly dressed and leaning back and forth on the balls of her feet). She enjoyed skedaddling, taking in the sights and sounds as the boat rocked back and forth, to and fro, until the sight of swimming schools of fish and the shadows of the lurking manta rays faded into the distance and she was, instead, lost in the new scenery presented to her. Druuk Island was beautiful in a wholly different way compared to the open sea. What it lacked in natural presence and the aroma of sea salt waves and summer scent was instead rectified with the shuffling of villagers and the heavy men who lifted crate after crate on and off ships barely distinguishable from one another.

As she left the cabin, alongside her menagerie of bestial companions, she couldn't help but dimly notice that even the ship that she herself had boarded was ironically plain and neatly-docked in a straight angle that was identical to the other ships. No mark was there that would've told the world that Alphabet Chocolate herself had once boarded the ship: no crayons of bright, unyielding colors; no distinguishing err of the wooden construction formed from rough play; no signs of claws against floor planks nor holes from the pecking of a parrot's beak; and, finally, there was not a hint of anything left behind. No trash littered the bottom and it was spotless without a single footprint or tile out of place. It was unnaturally so, especially compared to the rest of Terrasphere which managed to immerse many with its cutting realism. Alpha sought to remedy the situation and, as she left, grabbed her dagger and forged her initials at its hull. They'd thank her for it later, when the workers would get lost navigating the pier and had no idea where the boat went.

After that debacle was over, Alpha found herself roaming around the outlying forestry that encompassed much of Druuk Island. The humanoid residents usually stayed near the sea with their fisheries and trading posts being their main source of income. The only ones she'd find in the woods would be unexplored areas and the land that belonged to the man (or, as she recalled from reading the quest log, a talking frog that seemed to be something out of a Disney movie) who had requested help had been of a kingdom deep in the swampy waters she was treading through now. "Bonjour!"

She turned, startled at the sudden voice alongside her entourage. Out of all of them, only Corn seemed to have known the source of the sound as, no matter how much she looked left and right, she found no one. Corn's squeals brought their attention down low and, with it, they met face to face with the frog prince himself. He looked much different than she expected and she felt a bit proud of herself for only screaming a little bit when the frog spoke once again. "Are you, mademouiselle, one of the three I have employed? Fantastique! Mi amor would certainly be impressed with a lady as large as you yourself, no offense belle fille!"

 

Druuk Island had gone from boring to stupid with depressing rapidity, so much so that the Admiral now found himself dreading the place. He had, perhaps mistakenly, assumed that a place filled to bursting with criminal scum and wretched villainy would be an interesting place to explore and get into some trouble here and there, but if one was not inducted into a very rigid and dull pirate crew then they were lazy or insane. Perhaps both in many cases. It was like an Island of Lost Toys if all the toys were legos left about your house for you to step on, and he was not having fun anymore.

As a matter of fact, he was disliking Druuk Island with such vehement intensity that when a quest popped up to fight some noble or some such, he accepted it without hesitation, hoping to actually let off some steam and maybe reconcile his feelings about this place. Alas, after accepting, he had noticed the finer details involved such as the fact that his employer was a frog that he was expected to lose to. This was beyond ridiculous but he was already committed and so he merely trudged up to the shoreline where a girl and a proverbial circus of animals stood, speaking with the Frenchman in question, who was very difficult to see on the ground. Looking the younger girl over, he sighed and shrugged and approached, removing his treasure goblin from his inventory and placing it on the ground to add to the giant collection of creatures on the shore.

"My name's not important, YARRRRRRRRRRH!" he said in his worst pirate accent. In fact, it was a Brooklyn accent. Because why not?
"All you need to know is I'm the scourge of these here seas, what be looking to... help you out. YARRRRRRRRRRRH!"
There was absolutely no reason he could see to take this seriously, up until the frog tried to fight them to impress its one true love of the Butter Tribe or whatever. At that point, if the frog was some sort of bullshit one-hit-kill super NPC meant to screw with them, he'd quit the quest and run for the god damned hills.

 

Roland gripped onto the handrail of the ship with white knuckles as he forced himself to stare at the horizon. Having spent most of his life locked inside of his room, Jinn, rarely ever found himself doing outdoor activities. So when the option of taking a boat from Stockbon to Druuk Island presented itself, he didn't know any better. The trip apparently took hours, and it wasn't until the coast line had disappeared over the horizon that Roland realized his error as he lost his lunch over the side of the vessel. Since then, he had been in a staring contest with the horizon as he tried to settle his stomach, not that it had helped much. He had the option of logging off of course, but he couldn't get a good estimate of when they'd arrive, meaning if he were to miss it, he would wind up having to take the entire round trip back over.

Eventually, they pulled into docks much to Roland's relief, and he quickly made his way off the ship. If he were going to own a ship one day, he'd need to figure out a way to get over it. Focusing his attention on the problem at hand he realized that he didn't really have any precise directions to the quest location, but he could guess that the supposed 'frog civilization' didn't exist within the port cities, like this he turned to head out of town reflecting back on the quest. Admiral had sent him a quick message about it, but it hadn't included much details other than mentioning that other guild mate of theirs, the kid. Roland guessed it made sense; the quest was straight out of a fairy tale book, most kids would be more interested in this journey than others. Thinking of which, most of those tales would have the primary ensemble gather in a remote wooded area.

Making his way from the city on the shore line Roland easily made his way into the inner portion of the island which was primarily made of a wooded area, where he looked for the rest of his team. He had to search it quite well until he came across the small group of characters surrounding a talking frog. Immediately he could tell The Admiral wasn't going to take the quest seriously, as he was already making up some horrible American accent. Roland forced himself not to grit his teeth, but he knew the quest was inherently ridiculous so he'd best not get too serious himself. Still, he wanted to get off to a decent start of moving it along.

Roland crouched down next to Alpha, whom he flashed a friendly smile, before talking to the odd frog creature. "Ok." Roland said trying to sound serious while feeling ridiculous, "Tell me exactly what the plan is here because beyond acting like hardened criminals I'm confused as to what exactly we will be doing here under your uhh esteemed employ." Roland balanced his elbows on his thighs while he awaited the amphibian's response.

 

Alpha was off fawning at the stranger's goblin, she failed to notice the approach of an acquaintance she had met twice so far. "Aww, hello there," she cooed, ignoring the others. Terry pawed at the tails of her blouse, hoping to grab her attention. Unfortunately, she was completely enraptured by the tiny, greedy creature. The goblin looked unscrupulous and even the dense Alpha seemed to catch on quick. "Would you like some gold?" she smiled, rubbing its head as she filched a coin from her pocket and placed it on the tiny beast's head. The sudden meeting with the frog had frightened her out of her wits and, traumatized from the scare, she resolved to ignore the frog's presence as much as possible. She'd come to later, the frog supposed.

Meanwhile, unaffected by her departure, the frog stared straight at the purple-haired and screaming man, as if judging their very souls. It scratched the bottom of its chin with webbed fingers before nodding slowly. "Acceptable, I suppose. Not as magnifique as I had imagined but it will do. I'll brief you over your mission right now, you nameless fellows!" the frog gave a small bow, adjusting the crown that laid on top of its head. And then, with a seductive voice befitting that of a Frenchman, he had begun to spoke in a flirtatious, baritone voice. "Tis a blessing that whatever deity up there has blessed me with the presence of deux bel homme, oui? And a belle fille as well! And a lovely lutin over there!" he winked at the treasure goblin before scooting closer to the crouched Roland's ear, leaning in and whispering as if it were all a secret. "Don't tell the big guy or the animals round here but I find you my favori."

Before he could speak more, he whipped his head around. There had been a sickly cough and, out from the swampy surroundings around them, a glob of what could only be called pure goop and slime rose up from the waters. The frog froze and Alpha immediately turned her attention away, tensing up. "What's that?" Alpha tilted her head curiously at the happening. The frog gulped. "Mi amour!" he tossed a glance back at the three, desperation shining in his features. Then, with terribly bad acting, he dropped to all fours and had his face on the ground. "R-Run mi belle! I will hold these fiends off!" and then the goop responded and Alpha freaked. That was definitely not an animal in there and it was talking slime. She fainted.

"Frederick!" a high-pitched, pomp voice resounded through the area. "Please, get up! You can fight them, my love!" she cried.

@The Admiral @Roland Rutledge