The attack happened five days later.

“THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT, PETE!” Aqua screamed as the enormous, granite-encrusted wallaby thing smashed its tail into the wagon we were hiding under.

“SLAGIT, HOW IS THIS MY ELFIN’ FAULT!?”

“YOU WERE THE ONE TALKING ABOUT FATE AND EVERYTHING BEING FINE JUST FIVE DAYS AGO!”

“I THINK FIVE DAYS IS MORE THAN ENOUGH TIME FOR IT TO BE CONSIDERED UNRELATED!”

“I’LL UNRELATE YOUR BEARD FROM YOUR FACE IF WE SURVIVE THIS!!”

“Both of you, shaddup!” Richter hissed from where he was crouched behind a wagon wheel. “Stoneskin wombats are mostly blind. It’s just goin’ after tha loudest sound!”

Eh, wombat, wallaby, same difference. It was just another garden-variety Aussie murder mammal. It looked like a squash-faced disproportionate kangaroo, with a sheath of stone on its back, kind of like an armadillo, and a club-like tail on its rear. It also had short stubby arms with wickedly long talons built for digging out stone and flesh and a mouth full of far too sharp teeth. Aqua and I shut up, and the wombat spun away as Balin came roaring up behind it. He smashed its nose with his axe and there was the sound of metal on stone as flakes of rock spun off in all directions, one narrowly avoiding my thigh. The wombat reared onto its hind legs, rising up to its full three-metre height, and roared back.

I moved further beneath the wagon and peeked at the quest in the side of my vision.

Quest: Roadside RumbleKill the monsters attacking your caravan or drive them off! Monsters Defeated: 1/5

Rewards: +0.2 Strength