“Ugh... damn Slaadi. I should kill them all.”
“Mina, you should go see a priest; you haven't been feeling well since that Slaadi attack last week.”
“I am fine, dammit! I don't need to go see a priest. I need to finish this Slaadi poison before I....”
“Before you what?” He eyed her a moment before a realization came to him. “…you’re infected, aren’t you?! That does it; we are marching straight up to the temple and getting a priest!”
“No! I need to finish this poison, I'm going to test it on the egg...if it works, then I know it is ready.”
“But Mina...you have never been good at magic. The last experiment of yours backfired on you and now you can only use magic formed by your breath. You are so accident-prone…please Mina, don't give your life away for this.”

Mina had heard enough and slammed the door to her room in her friend’s face. She locked and warded her door with her odd breath-magic to stop any intrusions; she was so close now, so close to finding a way to get rid of those Slaadi, that she dare not stop now. The Slaadi egg buried within her chest was a constant reminder of how accident-prone she really was. It was Mina who had accidentally opened a portal to Limbo, it was Mina who, when trying to close the portal, caused it to expand into a tear between the planes. She hated herself, she truly despised herself, she always did the wrong thing. Not on purpose of course, but it was her fault all the same.

Years ago Mina had angered a priest of Beshaba and was cursed with bad luck…MAJOR bad luck. She had tried to make amends but was unsuccessful. So, she spent most of her days inside where her bad luck couldn't hurt anybody. She had been convinced by her friends to finally come back outside. That was, however, until she opened the portal by accident; since then, she stayed indoors, trying to rectify her mistake. Every day she got weaker and weaker, the egg sapping her life force to sustain itself.

The council of wizards had stood by for long enough; they had to do something about Mina. Her friend had told them of her being infected, and this made them spring into action. They grabbed a priest from the temple nearby and told him of the situation. Then, they marched their way through the tower to Mina's room. It had been a week since she slammed the door in her friend’s face; at first, they talked about barging in, but realized that they should at least give her a chance to come out by herself. Knocking on the door they waited…nothing. No sound, no response. They tried again…once again…nothing, no sound, no response of any kind. They nodded to each other, and, after dispelling the wards on the door, they burst through. What they saw was not a pretty sight.

A small green Slaad; sitting on top of what used to be an elf, eating away at the remains. The gasps from the wizards startled the Slaad and he scrambled off of the bed and ran between the legs of the wizards. Quickly realizing what happened, the wizards gave chase and tried to stop the little beast before it got away. The Slaad turned the corner and spun around; as the wizards came around the corner he breathed out a spray of acid at them. As they groaned in pain, the Slaad took the opportunity to run as fast as his little legs could.

As he got outside the tower his instincts kicked in and he ran as fast as he could towards the planar tear. The wizards soon came rushing after him, casting spells left, right and center in a pure rage. But as with all things their spells didn't come out so well as their focus was completely gone. One of those wizards realized this and yelled out at the top of his voice to the other wizards trying to seal the tear up. “GET THAT SLAAD!!!” The wizards stopped their work and glanced to the small green Slaad running their way.

They started casting defensive spells to protect themselves. The Slaad noticed this and took a deep breath; before the wizards could finish their castings, a stinking cloud of gas poured out from the Slaad's mouth. The stench dazed the wizards long enough for the Slaad to run through their legs and towards the tear. One of the wizards giving chase cast a spell and blew the cloud of gas away. They were gaining on the little creature now, every one of his steps met by three steps of theirs.

The Slaad was getting tired…his little legs were not ready for such running...but his survival instincts were taking hold. The wizards were literally inches away.

The Slaad screamed at the top of his voice, stunning the wizards, and then he was off again, moving a lot faster than before. They could only watch as the Slaad jumped through the tear and dove into the stream of chaos. The Arch-mage sighed and ordered the tear closed immediately. The last image that those wizards saw was the Slaad floating down the stream laughing all the way.

4th June 2012