You decide that, at the very least, the fish hasn’t openly threatened you. Looking at your party members they seem to have come to the same conclusion. Horton, actually looks ready to flip as he turns to what is probably the only fight he’s ever had a weight advantage for in a pose that shouts aggression.

“I’d ask you to try saying that to my face, but I don’t think I could take your looks directly without retching.” The crusader lays down the gauntlet for the party as you pull your wand out of the waistband of your swimsuit. The snap of your waistband seems to be the signal to commence hostilities. One of the tiny men shoots into the air on a blast of force magic, Horton flies toward him on a loud blast of his own.

The exchange happens so fast your eyes can barely keep up. Horton looses a blast of force magic in midair, killing his momentum but aimed directly at the small assailant. The green clad man swings his shillelagh and your attuned magic sense can feel the magic coursing through the weapon as he uses it as wand to dispel the blast from his path. The small man continues on an intercept course with Horton’s face, but the halfling is already swinging his other fist. A tiny “oof” announces a hit as your eyes are drawn towards another casting.

The other man is using water magic and running full tilt along the water’s surface towards Lyrrica. All Lyrrica has on hand is her knife, and with the way the small men can leap about she is at a disadvantage. You vault over the rock to put yourself in between the two. The splash you make doing so staggers the wee man, and gives you a stroke of inspiration. Instead of directly attacking, you take advantage of his distraction to push your own magic into the water he’s running on. The small man cries out in surprise as his footing becomes normal water and he sinks.

You shout for Lyrrica to watch the fish as a loud cracking sound precedes Horton flying backwards over the rock and into the water. The other tiny assailant is readying a water spell to emulate the trick his friend was pulling. Mal is into the shallows by now and charging at full tilt towards the man. Mal is even worse off than Lyrrica, his sword, shield and armor all lying on the shore. Still, the Nekon is bellowing a war cry as he bears down on the shillelagh wielder. The small man leaps first, but Mal surprises everyone by simply stopping and crossing his arms. The tiny man’s arc of travel falls far short and in his surprise the green clad fighter drops into the water with a subdued splash. Mal watches the tiny man fall at his feet then leaps into the air in a belly flop atop him.

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A sudden surge of magic catches your attention as the man you had dropped into the water shoots out of the lake like a leaping fish behind you. He accelerates in midair with a force blast and there isn’t time for you to react. Before he can bring the shillelagh to bear, Lyrrica simply reaches out and flicks the man with her finger. The blow knocks the pint sized warrior senseless and he spins through the air out of control till he lands on your chest and slides into your swimsuit.

Lyrrica shouts in indignation and immediately rushes over to you and starts fishing the little man out over your protests that you can do it yourself. Mal walks over carrying the other man’s unconscious form.

“Ferocious for their size, still, not a battle to be boasted of.” His helmeted voice sounds disappointed at the brevity of the scuffle. “Horton, how fare you friend?”

“M’fine, just knocked the wind outta me.” Horton replies as he floats up to the rock.

“Wow! You guys are pretty good!” The fish says from where he lays on the rock. It doesn’t seem to mind being out of the water. “You definitely earned a wi… oh. Hmm. Well this is awkward…” The gathered party looks down expectantly at the fish.

“One of you already made a wish, I can’t give you another one without overwriting it. Trust me, you guys want this wish to come true. The binding isn’t very strong though, is this from the well in Jihmanee?”

You and Lyrrica both react to this, making the others look at you. You nod to the fish, even though you can’t remember what your wish was at all.

“Okay! I can still make this work!” The fish plucks a scale out and places it on the back of your hand. The scale glows with magic for a second before disappearing. Left behind is an enchanted rune. “I’ll help the well out. This rune will let me come back up the good intentions with some magical muscle. Don’t worry about knowing when to activate it, the well is pretty good with its timing. Anyway, thank you for the help! You can count on me to pay you back!”

With that, the fish flops off the rock and swims off before any of you can even think to question it further. The rune on your hand makes you curious. It’s of the ancient style, their true meanings lost to time, but their power unrivaled. You have every indication that the fish meant what he said, and the infusing of the magic carried none of the warning signs of a curse. You would need an elder wizard’s help even beginning to dispel something of this complexity anyway, so there’s not much point in worrying about it as the nearest elder wizard is on the other side of the continent.

“Seamus… are you alright?” The small men are stirring on the rock. Mal reaches out and grabs them to prevent the fight from resuming.

“Patty… I think I was in heaven. It was soft and smelled nice.”

Ignoring Lyrrica’s trembling rage, you suppose you’ll have to decide what to do with these two.