Calamitous Intervention

Plantar's Last Stand / Toad Tax

TRIGGER WARNING - Blood is present in this chapter

Chapter Nineteen - Plantar's Last Stand / Toad Tax

The sun shone high in the sky, beaming down on the busy marketplace in Wartwood. It was the perfect time of year to be running a stand to sell produce and other fresh ingredients.

"Ah, the Wartwood Farmer's Market," Sprig began, "where salt-of-the-earth frogs come to sell stuff and fill up on free samples." He was leaning on a stand with a sign labeled "Gentle Jon's Expensive Jellies" before reaching over and grabbing a jar of jam, popping it open with his knee, and causing it to fly and land in his mouth.

A large, muscular green frog with tattoos on his arms leaned over toward Sprig, his eyes narrowing. "That wasn't a sample," he growled.

Nervously, Sprig spat the jam back into the jar. "Now it's like nothing happened," he said, but Gentle Jon wasn't amused and raised his spiked club threateningly. Seeing this, Sprig set the jar down and reached into his pocket. "I—I can pay for that."

Nearby, Luz brewed in the cauldron she brought to create more potions to ripen the tomatoes they were selling instantly. They'd grown popular among the locals, with enough demand to form a small line. Things had gotten much better ever since the human had created the new potion. Mrs. Croaker was next in line, approaching the stand.

"Good morning, Mrs. Croaker," Luz and Polly greeted as she reached down and grabbed a peanut-shaped yellow fruit with bumps from the basket.

"I'll take this here gangly gourd, Hopediah," Croaker said.

"Oh, I sense a batch of Croaker stew coming on," Hop Pop said, placing his arms on the counter and smiling. He looked down at the fruit and realized something was off. "Hmmm... Hang on there, Sadie. You don't want that one." He walked over and took the fruit, knocked on it, rubbed it on the side of his face to test the texture, then split it open to reveal a weird creature living in it. "Aha! It's a gourd maggot! These guys taste terrible."

It quickly crawled up and onto Luz, startling her. She tried to shake it off, but it didn't budge. "Uhhh... Is this thing dangerous?!" she asked, alarmed.

As she was panicking, Hop Pop threw the rotten fruit away before grabbing a fresh one and handing it to Mrs. Croaker. "Here, take this one instead. It's maggot-free."

"Classic Plantar honesty," Mrs. Croaker replied. "I've been buying from this stand since your father was running it. And y'all have never steered me wrong."

Luz smiled as she left, while Sprig and Polly looked bored. Sprig held the gourd maggot in his lap, which seemed harmless. "I like it when business owners actually treat their customers with respect," Luz said, impressed.

"That is the Plantar difference, Luz," Hop Pop told her. "You can't taste honesty. But if you could—"

"... it'd taste like a Plantar stand vegetable," Sprig and Polly finished with monotone voices, rolling their eyes, and the gourd maggot screeched shortly after.

"This stand is the heart and soul of our family," the old frog continued. "I don't know what I'd do if we ever lost it."

Just then, Toadie ran over to Hop Pop, handing him a scroll while yelling, "Bad news, everyone! Bad news! Gotta run away before you read it!" He then did a backward cartwheel, quickly hopping away while Hop Pop grumbled to himself, pulling out his reading glasses and opening the scroll to see what the fuss was about.

After he read it for a moment, his eyes widened as his glasses tilted downward. "Say what?! Mayor Toadstool is quadrupling the rent! And he wants it in three days?!"