When they got close to him, Joe pointed to a club wielding frog and turned to face another mob, pretending to be wary of it while taking a rest break close enough to the kids that they could speak a bit. He sat in such a way that he faced his target but could see the kids settle in to fight the club frog.
“The club wielding frog-things are the easiest to deal with. Garnedell, you focus on blocking. Zilnek, Kilniara, just bash the living tar out of it. It should be easy enough for you guys. Just be careful. The thing is actually pretty fast, so Garnedell, you need to focus on keeping the siblings from being hit.
“Also, stay away from the staff frogs! Those things will kill you! They are tough! The club ones are yours. Don’t take any of the other frogs, although you probably could handle them OK. Just don’t touch the staff ones. OK?
“Wait until I’ve started hitting my frog to get yours. I’ll move back in defense so I’m standing near you when you fight yours. OK?”
Garnedell nodded but Zilnek and Kilinara replied with a quiet, “OK.”
“Right. Give me a second. You guys discuss your plan and point at your frog as if your planning to fight. It’ll give me time to get back for you guys.”
The kids did exactly that, actually going over their plan while pointing with a bit of exaggeration at their target frog. Joe started his fight and backed towards them quickly, before turning so he could keep an eye on the three kids while also fighting his monster. The three kids quickly engaged their club frog-thing, Garnedell busy trying to parry all the frog’s strikes.
Joe ended his monster quickly, then turned to face the kids while ‘panting’ with hands on knees. He looked exhausted but was tense as he kept his clubs in hand and watched the kids, ready to intervene at a moment’s notice. He’d planned well enough and was only a couple meters away from the kids when his fight ended, then took the opportunity to pretend to stagger a bit so he could get closer before collapsing his hands to his knees to rest.
He looked around quickly to make sure there were no other frog-things around before watching the kids, not putting too much attention on them as he wanted to maintain the fiction that they were unrelated. After a few moments, Joe saw that they were handling themselves well, although Garnedell was certainly faster and better equipped to handle the exhaustion while the siblings showed their exhaustion and slow response time.
When the monster was close to collapse, he stood and prepared to fight his next monster, looking around. He didn’t actually head towards another monster until he was certain that the kids had pretty much already defeated the frog-thing. He planned his movement such that the monster would die before he’d passed by the fight.
His timing was perfect and the monster collapsed when he was only half way to passing them and he let out a smile before congratulating them, “Nice job, you three!” Joe flicked his eyes towards them but kept his focus on his supposed next target.
The three jumped around a bit excitedly while Garnedell smiled a large sheepish grin while the two Acokzau praised his defense.
“That was amazing, Garnedell! We usually have to fight a lot longer and more carefully! You really let us fight so hard and well,” Kilniara gushed.
“That was really easy! So easy! I can’t believe it! You’re so good at defense Garnedell,” Zilnek offered as well, the two boys offering each other the weird sliding handshake. Huh… Guess it’s a greeting and a sign of congratulations and happiness… this place's high five? I’m going to have to teach them a high five… or maybe a fist bump… both? … Yeah, definitely both!
Joe left the three but offered one last piece of advice, “Rest a bit to get some of your strength back then take another one. Make sure to only get the club frog-things. Definitely stay away from the staff ones!”
The three called out affirmatively, quietly, and Joe moved on, clearing out the more difficult froggies in the area, especially the staff ones. The two teams fought independently for about thirty or so minutes, the three teens only able to take out three while Joe was able to handle a good 10 on his own, now able to easily kill them quickly.
Joe had everyone stop for a five minute rest near each other while he had the three kids go over their recent combat experiences, critiquing one another. Joe offered his own comments quietly from the side, although he made sure to keep himself separate. He even took the time to kill another frog that had gotten too close to give the kids more time to critique.
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They spent another thirty minutes on the second floor before Joe called an end to their time and asked them to get ready to move on to the next floor. Joe took he time to look at his cudgel skill but was a bit saddened to see that the growth was only minor, after all the combat on the first and second floor with the skill only raised another twelve percent to thirty five percent even after almost half the day. He wasn’t too far behind, but he’d hoped to finish a third per day but he’d only finished to a quarter yesterday and still was at a third; far from the hoped two thirds complete he had hoped to achieve by the end of the day.
Joe headed towards the third stage entrance first, clearing out some of the monsters on the way and giving a couple of the club froggies to the three kids. Joe made it to the next stage entrance but slipped into the shadows of the entrance and waited for the other three to catch up. He kept to the shadows as he eyed the kids although he kept an eye behind him as well to make sure no one was coming from deeper in the dungeon. The kids got stuck on a sword wielding frog and Joe felt a bit of worry but calmed when he saw Garnedell doing well enough to keep the frog’s sword from doing any harm.
They made it to the entrance and once inside, Joe greeted them warmly before turning to head down the tunnel together. He glanced back quickly but found no one else coming to the third floor nor anywhere close that they could catch up to them without some serious speed. Joe made sure to stay to the back but the four traveled together although Joe did setup a precaution in case they met anyone coming the other way.
“Just to make sure guys, we can hang out but if we hear anyone coming, I’m going to hang back and pretend to be a solo adventurer, OK? You guys just keep going ahead and I’ll hang back to separate myself.”
“Yes, Joe,” Garnedell said.
“Yes, Master,” the siblings spoke.
Joe sighed. Going to have to break another habit… again. “I don’t like being called a master.
Zilnek replied with surprised enthusiasm, “But why? You really are a Master. One of the greatest adventurers I’ve ever seen. Ever! You can take the,” Zilnek dropped to an excited whisper, “Goblin King alone!”
“Oh… that kind of master. Well, I have some skills but I’m not a master yet. Any of my martial arts teachers back home, or any other master of martial arts, would likely have lots of bad things to say. Heh.”
The three looked to one another, the siblings boggled but Garnedell was a bit used to Joe’s statements denigrating his basic combat skills.
“Your masters are stronger?”
“Much. I’m… not bad, but average at best for a martial artist. There are many who are much better… much stronger. I guess I’ve had a greater variety of training, with more weapons… I’m more diversified, I guess. But, there are those who could kick my butt in any of the styles I’ve practiced.”
“Wow. But you were able to kill the mukfrogs so easily and quickly. I was worried when the magician got his suffocation bubble on you, but you killed him so quickly and easily. You even almost broke free of the suffocation bubble with just physical movements! That… that was amazing,” Zilnek popped in excitedly once again.
Joe cocked his head a bit, “Mukfrogs? Those are the monsters on the second floor? Frog is a good name, but why muk?”
“Mostly they live in swamps. So, muck. Mukfrogs.”
“Huh. OK. That makes sense. So, how do you guys feel about your fight with the.. um… Mukfrogs?”
“It was great. Just like you said. Garnedell defends really well and we are able to work together to take them down so easily,” Zilnek empatically stated.
“Yeah! We were such a good team! It was so much better than when Zilnek and I fought,” Kilniara quietly but excitedly added.
Garnedell nodded without saying anything, although he did have a hint of a blush on his cheeks.
“Good. Now, it’s true that Garnedell is better at defense, but you guys have very poor weapons. Still, you need to learn to use them for defense for yourselves! If Garndell gets hit or hurt, you guys go down fast. And honestly, Garnedell needs you to defend because he’s taking all the risk by being the focus of the attacks. If he gets hurt, you guys need to be able to defend yourselves enough to finish the fight so you can protect Garnedell and get the healing he will need! Don’t get too excited. All three of you are still pretty weak! But I’ll try to help you all.”
The three kids nodded excitedly, affirming Joe’s statements but Joe cut them off quickly with a wave and a very quiet hissing, “Shh!”
The three froze and Joe also listened quietly before he heard what had caught his attention: muffled conversation and footsteps.
“Alright, you know what to do. Keep going, talk excitedly about your fights and learning. Don’t talk about me. I’ll meet you at the third floor safe area or right at the entrance if there is no safe area. OK?”
The three quickly nodded and Joe turned around to quickly walk back to the entrance to the second floor. He waited for almost two minutes before he heard the footsteps and muffled conversation. He continued waiting and smiled when he saw the telltale flickering glow of a torch lighting the walls around the corner in front of him. He then made a running dash, making sure to jingle his bag and equipment loudly before panting and sliding down to sit against the wall while gasping and leaning his head against the wall as if he’d collapsed there, exhausted.
A few seconds later, the incoming group came around the corner and saw him on the floor. Joe hid a grimace as he saw several soldiers in the group, obviously returning from seeking him. Joe nodded to the group as they walked by, although he kept up his great heaving panting.
One of the soldiers nodded and greeted him in passing, “Well met. The god’s blessings on your continued adventures.”
“You as well, soldier!”
The soldier looked at him a bit funny when he said that but did not stop, although Joe heard a muttering statement he didn’t quite catch from the man. Joe waited for the group to pass, listening carefully both ways before sliding close to the second floor archway once again and watched as the soldiers meandered across the monster grounds towards the safety zone. He watched for a short while before turning and head deeper in. Hope that was enough to erase the trail! Really don’t want too much attention on me!
<Continued ~ 3/10>