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Basically, our protagonist wants to get revenge on an evil warlord and his minions (not the cute kind) for the destruction and butchery of his home village and all those who he loves.

He decides to "get biblical on their... I mean them" and begins to plot a plague. He currently lives near a massive pond where millions (*read lots) of frogs dwell. He is very smart, but the general tech level is very low (so please no DNA splicing, or magic). I believe that numbers and chaos will be key.

The Protaganist is a Blacksmiths apprentice (almost one in his own right). He has access to a top-of-the-line smithy. He has access to a massive storehouse of raw metals. He is very quick with his fingers and specializes in making small, yet useful metal objects. He has been planning his revenge for a long time and has a secret cave where he stores his stuff. He loves playing with animals, especially frogs, but not as much as he hates the evil warlord.

What can he do to his army of frogs to weaponize them?

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  • $\begingroup$ What species of frogs? Do their skin/flesh/etc. produce psychotropic substances? $\endgroup$ – Babika Babaka Aug 12 '15 at 14:09
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    $\begingroup$ During raining season he can release thousand upon thousand of tadpoles where the warlord currently reside, be patient soon they will morph into poison dart frog! now you officially dethrone him muahahahaha! $\endgroup$ – user6760 Aug 12 '15 at 14:13
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    $\begingroup$ "I'm sorry, are you saying 'fraud protection' or 'frog protection'?" $\endgroup$ – Doug Warren Aug 12 '15 at 14:48
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    $\begingroup$ My question was, How to Weaponize them. i.e. (though not tech level appropriate) frog + c4 = hop + boom $\endgroup$ – WhyEnBe Aug 12 '15 at 15:08
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    $\begingroup$ Laser beams. On their frickin' heads. $\endgroup$ – Richard Aug 12 '15 at 21:48
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New Answer:

Frogs have so many disadvantages as a weapon system. They are tiny, fragile and retiring thus making them useful only for indirect, sneaky, nasty attacks. Frogs can't even reliably climb stairs. Poison is the only equalizer here since direct physical trauma isn't possible with this weapons delivery system.

Whatever chemical weapon the frogs deliver must either kill the minion outright or cause him to kill himself or attack another minion and kill them. Personally, getting the minion to kill himself or one of his friends is the most satisfying, so let's go with hallucinogens. Anyone who's unprepared for a hallucinogenic high is really going to have a hard time. Their superstitious minds will come up with angels, demons, devils...whatever their world-paradigm offers.

Let's assume that there's a frog that produces such a hallucinogen, one that causes visual and auditory hallucinations but also triggers the brains various threat centers. The effects are a mashup between Google's Deep Dream and Scarecrow's Fear Spray. Let's give it a nice long half-life of 18 hours before the effects wear off.

The Latest in Frog Gear

Equip each frog with a time delayed sack attached to their back. Let them lose in the barracks, kitchens and in higher places in the fortress. After the time delay kicks off, a tiny hole appears in the sack and the weaponized hallucinogen begins to spread whenever/wherever the frogs hope. If the powder is fine enough, it may be an inhalant or a contact poison (either way, it doesn't matter. The minions won't have any idea what hit them.)

Aftermath

In a matter of hours, the fortress will tear itself apart as everyone exposed to the hallucinogen temporarily or permanently loses their mind(s). Heck the strain may be so bad they develop second minds and lose those too. Even if the overlord survives (unlikely given how he's an object of fear among the minions), he'll never be able to raise an army again given the terrifying way he lost this one.

Old Answer:

Poison the water supply

Standard survival knowledge says that if you see a dead thing in your water supply, don't drink from that water supply. Dead things equals some really really funky stuff. Further, the bite of the monitor lizard is not in itself lethal, rather the infection that comes from that bite causes massive sepsis and then death. Contaminating the water supply will lead to sickness or death for a significant portion of the fortress.

How you gonna do it?

Collect a few hundred frogs, (doesn't matter what kind) then kill them. (Exactly how many frogs you need will depend on the size of the stream feeding the fortress. Bigger streams will require more frogs. Sorry frogs!) Mangle the bodies a little to increase the surface area. Put that all in a big barrel and toss in some manure and raw pork for good measure. (Raw pork in anaerobic atmosphere may get you the holy grail of poisons, botulinum toxin. It's worth a shot.) Seal the barrel, leave it in the sunshine for a few days so it's nice and ripe. Go up stream of the fortress and take the barrel with you. Transfer the contents of the barrel to several burlap sacks. Build a small dam to make a quiet portion in the stream. Tie each sack to a large rock and heave it into a dammed pond. The juicy mixture in each sack will leak out and contaminate the water. Repeat this procedure several times till the fortress is a puking their guts out or dying.

You could have used any animal for that

Perhaps but as the OP states, there are lots of frogs around. Frogs aren't especially useful as weapons, outside the application of poison frog toxins to arrows or swords. Frogs can't be herded, they have a long growth cycle that must occur in an environment that humans don't especially like and they die really easily.

Psychological Attacks

Disguise yourself as a holy man of some kind. Lower tech levels generally means an increase in superstition so it shouldn't be hard to foist yourself of as a prophet. Start spreading rumors that frogs are a very evil omen and that anyone seen in the company of a frog will soon die. Kill a minion or two in a really gruesome fashion then sprinkle the area with enough frogs to garner attention when the minion is found. Do this a couple more times. Eventually, the other minions will come to associate the appearance of frogs with a horrible death. Sneak into the fortress and spread a few hundred frogs around. The place will go nuts! Panic like that may offer lots of opportunities for throat slitting.

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  • $\begingroup$ I've decided to add on a comment, rather than my own answer - because the strategy isn't really a weapon without your answer - but tadpoles eat underwater plants, dead material, etc, and feed fish. They then emerge on land where they eat lots of insects, and land-based animals can eat them. If the protagonist did your strategy, and killed as many frogs as he could, he could also be causing starvation of fish, and other predators, reducing food all around. Also, assumably the frogs are eating something - and there are so many. Those insects may start overrunning and also aid in disease. $\endgroup$ – DoubleDouble Aug 12 '15 at 17:12
  • $\begingroup$ Recent research on Komodo dragons has discovered that, contrary to previous belief, their bite may in fact be venomous, causing shock, hypothermia, and loss of consciousness, although perhaps not death as such. $\endgroup$ – Wad Cheber stands with Monica Aug 13 '15 at 0:35
  • $\begingroup$ @Green - No problem. It doesn't really change the thrust of your argument, but it is interesting at any rate. The issue is still being debated in the academic community. $\endgroup$ – Wad Cheber stands with Monica Aug 13 '15 at 0:40
  • $\begingroup$ @Green - On a side note, would you be able to edit the question? For some reason, I can't edit it, and the word "Lets" is annoying me to no end. It should read "Let's weaponize frogs". $\endgroup$ – Wad Cheber stands with Monica Aug 13 '15 at 0:41
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    $\begingroup$ @WadCheber, I did what I could. The fix looks like it's working. $\endgroup$ – Green Aug 13 '15 at 0:45
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They just discovered some frogs which have spikes in their head and actually headbutt to inject highly venemous poison into potential predators.

If these were the frogs living in the pond, he could take all their food and make trail of it leading to the warlords castle. He could do this by putting it all in a wagon, cutting a hole in the container and driving it to the castle, maybe crashing it through the gates. The frogs would then (maybe) follow the trail to the castle the next night and infest the food supplies and everything else. Trying to remove them would result in being poisoned.

This idea is pretty far fetched but thought it might be an interesting alternative! If not just to consider how different traits of the frogs could affect the method of weaponisation.

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    $\begingroup$ Alternatively he could just put one in the warlords bed! $\endgroup$ – Varrick Aug 12 '15 at 15:18
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The first thought that comes to mind is poison dart frogs. Another aspect would be if they died the smell would become over whelming. However, the reason the "frogs" were significant in egypt was because they were considered sacred and they couldn't kill them.

Whats sort of technology levels are we working with? is this modern tech? 145th century etc? Magic available. If so why not enchant the frogs with spells or make them self destruct like a hopping grendade.

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    $\begingroup$ Stinking piles of frogs certainly would be a deterrent for me. $\endgroup$ – Josiah Aug 12 '15 at 15:29
  • $\begingroup$ Making frog sacred and then inserting millions/lots of frogs into the environment seems like a pretty great idea. $\endgroup$ – Wayne Werner Aug 12 '15 at 16:34
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Poison seems to be your best option.

Your protagonist can make poison arrows and snipe the minions one by one.

He could also use live frogs, for example by introducing hallucinogenic frogs in his enemies water or food supply, and then use the confusion generated by the hallucinating minions to infiltrate the camp and kill the warlord.

I don't know much about frogs but I think the most poisonous ones live in tropical climates/forest. But it's not a problem if you can imagine your own species.

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  • $\begingroup$ Joist a point to bear in mind about poison dart frogs. They aren't poisonous when kept/bred in captivity. I'm not sure if this is fully understood now, but last time I heard, it was thought that they accumulated it from their environment by eating venomous insects. So frog poison is still useful but it would be difficult to equip a whole army with it. I don't think this applies to hallucinogenic toads. $\endgroup$ – Dave Halsall Aug 12 '15 at 15:15
  • $\begingroup$ @DaveHalsall In this setting, the frogs aren't kept in captivity, OP said they live in a lake. I'm not talking about equipping an entire army, just the protagonist (is my English this bad?). $\endgroup$ – Babika Babaka Aug 12 '15 at 15:20
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    $\begingroup$ @SpaceLizard Correction "is my English that* bad?" :P $\endgroup$ – Ryan Aug 12 '15 at 16:07
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    $\begingroup$ @SpaceLizard Your English is fine. I didn't even realize you weren't first language until you said something. $\endgroup$ – Adam Phelps Aug 12 '15 at 16:39
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Although there may be no magic in your world, if people are superstitious enough, he can play on their fears and demoralise his enemies (or cause them to defect) by discovering how to breed lots of frogs. Most tadpoles are predated before reaching maturity, so it may be possible to grow lots by keeping them in a protected environment (there could be problems with cannibalism though). He can then release them secretly and play upon an existing prophecy or claim some sort of divine curse.

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Drain the lake the frogs live in (preferably in the direction of the enemy). The combination of a massive flood and a few million poisonous frogs looking for new homes in their wells/ponds should cause the enemy a few problems.

No society is more than three meals away from revolution. (Or drinks)

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