That morning, Finn introduced his new friend Kasen to his even newer friend Ferrety. The two men, plus the ferret, continued down the road until they came to a small town. There were rows of small houses, vendor stalls, a few shops, and a tavern. Finn decided they should go to the tavern first, as there would probably be people there who could answer some questions. Primarily, if there was a healer nearby that could remove a curse. When they entered the tavern, a few sets of eyes from patrons at various tables glanced briefly at the hunter and knight who had just entered. Just as quickly as the eyes saw the two figures, they returned to their meals and conversations. Kasen led Finn to the bar where the tavern keeper was cleaning a horn cup.

"What will it be for ya?" the middle-aged man asked.

"What do you mean?" asked Finn.

The man looked confused at the reply.

"We got ale, bread, bread and stew, or milk."

"You have ale? Like beer?" Finn asked. "You serve it to anyone?"

"For five coppers I do," the tavern owner replied.

Finn placed one of his silver coins on the counter and said, "We'll take two!"

Soon, two cups, brimming with amber liquid were placed before the men. Each picked up a cup.

"Cheers," said Kasen.

"Skaal," Finn replied. He didn't know what the word meant, but he read in his books that some warriors said the word before drinking. Also, he had occasionally spied on his father saying the word late a night while raising a drink to the darkness of the forest. Finn then took a big gulp of the tepid ale. It was Finn's first time drinking an ale. He found that the liquid made his stomach feel funny. Then he belched loudly.

"I like ale," Finn said cheerfully.

"Maybe just stick to one for now," Kasen suggested.

Finn turned man behind the bar. "Excuse me, do you know if there are any healers in town."

"Depends."

"Depends on what? I'm in need of a healer to cure a curse. Do you know of any?" Finn asked.

The man raised an eyebrow at the young hunter. Kasen, picking up on the social clue, slid a pillar-shaped gold coin across the bar to the man. Without looking at the coin, the man took it and slid it into his pocket.

"There's no one in town that is capable of curing a curse. Your best bet is the weird wizard that lives in the nearby swamp. Be careful though. The swamp is full of dangers and the wizard… Well, let's just say he's a strange one."

Finn and Kasen finished their drinks after receiving basic directions to the nearby swamp. They left the tavern and went to the local general goods store. The store had a variety of food stuffs, adventurer's equipment, and even a small assortment of weaponry. The owner of the store was an old dwarven woman with a long, braided beard. Kasen stocked up basic food and some supplies to maintain his sword and armor. One item hanging on the wall caught Finn's attention. It was an arrow unlike any other he had seen. The shaft of the arrow was covered in the spotted fur of a cheetah.

"What is that?" Finn asked, pointing to the arrow.

"Ah," exclaimed the bearded woman. "I see you have a fine eye for arrows. You must be quite the archer. That is a special arrow. Its a speed arrow. Guarantied to be faster than you target unless you target is faster than the arrow, and that's a promise."

At that moment, Finn knew he had to have the arrow.

"How much is it?" Finn asked

"How much do you have?" asked the dwarf.

"This much," Finn said pouring the remained of his coins onto the counter.

The shopkeeper looked the coins and placed on to the side.

"For you? I'll make a deal," she said. "This cover it."

She scooped all the coins but one into her apron and handed Finn the speed arrow, which he promptly placed in his quiver. Finn held up his last remaining coin.

"What can I get for this?" Finn asked holding the silver coin up.

The shopkeeper looked around her shop until she spotted her shop's rodent trap that had caught two big rats in the night. Rats and other rodents ate her profits in the night so she had laid traps out the night before. She had a plan.

"For a special customer like you, I will sell you two giant rats. Two for the price of one. What do you say?"

Finn thought that sounded like a great deal, too good to pass.

"I'll take them," Finn said enthusiastically.

Finn joined Kasen outside the shop with a new arrow, two giant rats in a small cage, and no money. Finn was proud of his bartering skills. Kasen shuttered at the sight of the caged rats.

They left the town and headed for the swamp. The soil soon became squishy and squashy under their feet. Leafless trees with stands of moss filled the landscape. Ground became wetter and wetter until water came up to their ankles and then to the tops of their boots and then to their knees.

"I have an idea Finn. Start gathering some branches and logs from those trees," Kasen said, as he took out his sword and began slashing the trunk of a dead tree.

After a short time, the two had constructed a simple raft of logs and branches lashed together. Finn and Kasen stood on the raft and used longs poles to push their raft deeper into the swamp. They were able to move rather easily through the deeper water with the raft. Finn was the first to see it.

A small wake appeared on the still water one-hundred feet away. Something, just under the water, was swimming towards them fast. The wake got bigger and bigger. Kasen unsheathed his longsword and Finn notched an arrow. Just before the the wake reached the small raft, it stopped, as if whatever caused it drove deeper. Kasen and Finn waited for a monster to leap out of the water, but nothing happened and Kasen sheathed his sword. Suddenly, the raft rocked as if hit my something large.

"Whoa!" Kasen let out as he lost his balance.

He was about to fall off the raft.

"Grab my hand," Finn yelled.

Kasen grabbed Finn's hand, but his with his heavy armor on, Kasen pulled Finn with him as they both splashed into the water. They quickly got to their feet as the water only came up to their waists. They slowly moved onwards, keeping on the alert for whatever had knocked them from the raft. Ahead, they saw a smoke coming from the chimney of a small domed hut.

"That has to be the wizard's hut," Finn said.

Just as he said that, something large slithered from behind the hut. It was a giant python snake. Another giant snake appeared from the other side of the hut. The two giant snakes glared at Finn and Kasen with flicking tongues. Ferrety farted and hid within Finn's pack.

"Uh-oh," Kasen exclaimed as he drew his sword.

"Wait!" Finn said. "The rats! I know what to do."

Finn opened the small wooden cage and grabbed one of the big rats. Finn threw the rat towards the first snake. As if on instinct, the giant python snatched the rodent out of the air and swallowed it in a single gulp. Finn quickly threw the last rat to the other snake, which ate it in the same manner. The snakes having just eaten a large, fat rat each became disinterested in the two adventurers and slithered off into the swamp away from the hut.

"Impressive Finn. I was curious as to why you bought two rats. i thought you got them for dinner, but i guess you had a plan all along," Kasen said.

"Yep. Now lets go find the wizard. I bet he's inside." Finn said.

The entered the small hut and saw bottles and jars filled with strange ingredients all along the walls. In the middle of the hut was a tall, gangly man with long disheveled hair stirring something in a large black cauldron.

"Well hey there dudes, what's goin on? Like, you bring any munchies with you?" asked the man.

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"I do not know what munchies are," Kasen replied.

"Yeah. My name is Finn and I am looking for a wizard that can cure me. I have been bitten by a werewolf," Finn said.

"Groovy. Like, my names Shaggy and Im, like, a wizard of sorts. I'd love to cure you of your lycanthropy situation, but I like, need something first man," said the strange wizard.

"You can cure me? What do you need?" Finn asked.

"Like, i need the eye of a giant toad. Yep, that'll do it," replied Shaggy. "They're all over the place out here, so it shouldn't be that hard to find one, man."

"We will return with haste with the ingredient you require," Kasen said with seriousness.

"Groovy," replied the wizard.

Finn and Kasen left the hut and set off in search of a giant toad. In the distance they heard a very deep Rrrrriiiiiiiiiibbbbiiiiiiittt and figured that had to be a giant toad. They walked towards the rumbling croaks of the toad. Once they got near, the noise from the giant toad caused the shallow water to ripple and make tree branches shake. They came to the clearing in which the giant toad sat. It was huge, nearly fifteen feet tall and as wide as an elephant. It looked large enough to fit a horse into its mouth.

"Ok, lets get that eye." Finn said.

Finn notched an arrow and loosed it towards the massive amphibian. The arrow stuck into the face of the toad, but didn't seem to cause much damage to the large beast.

"Uh-oh," Finn replied as he readied another arrow.

"Arrrrggh!" Kasen yelled as he charged the toad with his sword raised.

The toad opened is massive mouth and suddenly a long tongue stretched out towards Kasen. The knight narrowly avoided the tongue from hitting his face by raising his shield just in time. The tongue smashed into the shield and stuck to it. The toad violently retracted its tongue, pulling the shield from Kasen's grip. Kasen was nearly pulled from his feet as helpless watched the beast eat his shield. Kasen continued charging towards the monster as it opened it's mouth a second time. Just as it did, an arrow shot by Finn entered the creatures mouth. The impact of the arrow into the soft flesh in the back of the toad's mouth caused the toad to quickly close its mouth.

Now, Kasen was upon the beast and began slashing it with two hands on the hilt of his sharp sword. The blade cut deep into the throat of the beast, but its skin was thick and stretchy. The cuts did not appear to be life-threatening for the toad. Finn continued peppering the toad with arrows. Just then, the wide jaws of the toad opened. Before Finn could shoot another arrow, the tongue lashed out and struck Kasen in his chest. Kasen tried slicing the tongue with his sword, but only managed a glancing blow before he was swallowed whole by the giant toad.

"No!" Finn yelled.

Finn aimed for the toad's eye and released an arrow. The arrow went deep into the toad's pumpkin-sized eye, causing it much pain and blinding it in one eye as eye-goo oozed from the wound.

"Yes! Oh, oh no. I need the eye. I can't hit the other eye," Finn said out loud to himself.

"Finn pulled one of his special arrows from his quiver. This arrow was what he called a fire-arrow. When notched on the bow, the head of the arrow would ignite. When it struck its target, the arrow would burst into a ball of fire and ignite the target. Finn pulled back hard on the flaming arrow, drawing the bowstring tight. When he thought he couldn't pull any harder, he pulled it back just a little bit more. As soon as toad's mouth cracked open, Finn released the arrow.

The arrow slammed into the back of the toad's mouth, filling it with fire. The toad croaked and slumped into the ground, smoke pouring from its mouth. Finn had defeated the giant toad. The side of the toad began to jiggle and wiggle. The tip of a sword pierced the skin of the toad from the inside. The sword moved downward creating a slash in the side of the toad. Gooey innards poured out of the wound, along with a slime-covered man in armor.

"That… was… disgusting…" Kasen said as he wiped toad guts and slime from his face.

"Eww. Don't touch me," Finn said. "That's really gross."

While Kasen tried to clean himself up, Finn set to work removing the toads eye. Being a skilled hunter, Finn quickly removed the one remaining eye using his dagger. He carried the large eye in his arms the entire way back to the wizard's hut.

"Here, I got the eye of a giant toad. Can you cure me now?" Finn asked the wizard.

"Alright. It'll just, like, be minute man," Shaggy the wizard said.

Shaggy took the eye from Finn and plopped it into his boiling caldron.

"This was, like, the last ingredient i needed. Thanks guys, this'll come out great," said Shaggy.

The strange wizard stirred his strange concoction for a few minutes, before taking a ladle and scooping some of the strange liquid into a wooden bowl. The man took a big whiff of the steaming bowl.

"Mmmmm, delicious," said the Shaggy.

The wizard murmured some incantations and made a gesture with his hand.

Poof!

A spoon apparated in the wizard's hand. He scooped the concoction into his mouth, again, and again until the contents of the bowl filled the wizard's stomach. Finn and Kasen could only look on in confusion as this strange man ate the toad eye concoction that was supposed to prevent Finn from turning into a werewolf. The wizard Shaggy belched loudly.

"Oh man, that really hit the spot. Thanks for bringing me that giant toad eye. It really brings together my toad-eye toadstool stew," Shaggy rubbed his belly. "What a good lunch!"

"Lunch?" said Kasen. "We nearly died getting that eye. I was swallowed. That was just for your lunch?"

"Well, it was to die for. I'm stuffed," said Shaggy.

"I thought the toad eye was for the cure for me? So I don't turn into a werewolf."

"Nope. I was just hungry and couldn't think about anything else," Shaggy grabbed a small bottle sitting on a shelf among a sea of other bottles. "Here man, drink this and you won't have to, like, worry about being a lycanthrope anymore."

Finn took the small bottle. It was filled with a silver liquid. Finn removed the cork and quickly drank the contents of the bottle. It had no taste. Suddenly, Finn's entire body felt as though it were on fire, but only for the briefest of moments until he felt normal again.

"Is that it? Am I cured?" Finn asked.

"Like, yeah man. No more howling at the moon for you," Shaggy said.

"Thank you," said Finn.

"No problem. Can I interest you two in some stew?" asked the wizard.

Finn and Kasen looked that the large toad eye bobbing in the boiling cauldron. It was revolting.

"No. No, thank you. We must take our leave now," Said Kasen.

They said their goodbyes to wizard Shaggy and left the hut. Once a few paces away from the hut and out of earshot Kasen said, "What a strange person."

"Yeah," Finn said. "What a weird man."

Finn looked back to the hut only see it was gone, as if it had never been there.

"I think we should go," Finn said.

Kasen agreed.

The two made their way out of the swamp until the ground became solid and headed back to the nearby town. It was nearly dark as the sun was just beginning to set. They could see the buildings of the town ahead as they heard screaming begin. Large wings flapped in the night sky. A large man-sized creature with wide, leathery wings flew over them, away from the town. The flying creature carried a screaming man in its clawed feet.

"AahOOOOooool," the creature screamed as it flew towards the darkness.

Finn and Kasen ran to the town with weapons ready.