As she walks through Moonveil Village, Astrid uncomfortably tugs at the collar of her new padded shirt. Well, it's new to her, used to someone else, but it was cheap and in good enough condition for her to consider it purchased. After she took a good whack to the back in her last adventure with the mysterious wolf, she decided to use the rest of her reward money to get herself another piece of protection for her core. Real metal armor was much too expensive, but this was a good second best with what she had. If she wanted more armor, she'd have to earn it, and the way she intends to do that is by taking up a posted job on the town board. A group of merchants leaving the village put in a request for an escort through Shadewood because it's dangerous and full of monsters. This seemed like a great opportunity to test her mettle. 

So through the village she walks, adjusting the chain from which a simple wolf head pendant dangles to sit on her chest. It's not particularly fancy, but nothing she has is. She earned it all herself, and that's satisfying enough in and of itself. Finally, she reaches the end of the village that exits towards the Shadewood, and she shakes the nerves from her shoulders.

Gathered near the gate are four wagons, most of which are covered with burlap tarps and one of which has a full frame and canvas cover. At a glance, she sees at least one merchant per cart. Hopefully, these merchants will take her seriously and not laugh her off because she's a kid. That happened with the last job she attempted. This time, she puts on a serious face. Astrid is very strong and not to be trifled with. She's a defender of justice (and merchants)! Astrid squares her shoulders and approaches with her chin held high. 

"Mornin'," she says, trying to sound tough. "I'm Astrid. I saw ya posted a job lookin' fer escorts!" Shoot, too much energy in that last bit. Will they take her seriously? It doesn't seem that way, as two men seem to be holding in a laugh. 

The elven man with a turned-up nose speaks first. "Are you here on behalf of a knight, perhaps? You look like a squire, girl." 

Astrid frowns something fierce. "No, I don't need no knight," she replies. "I'm perfectly strong on me own. Saved a coupla merchants from a buncha bandits just some days ago."

Another man peeks out from behind a wagon, and his face lights up. "Oh, this girl! The odd one I was telling you about with the big wolf pet!" The other merchants seem a little more interested now. "Where's your wolf friend, girl?" 

"Wolfie went on their own way," she says, not bitter at all. "I can do jobs meself. I was out ta hunt them bandits on me own. I'm not scared."

"It doesn't matter if you're scared," the elven merchant says. "What matters is if you're capable on your own."

Astrid doesn't see this conversation going anywhere like this but tries not to get discouraged. 

Blue Raspberry walks up to the carts where they can see the merchants talking to a little girl with horns. Wait, that little girl with horns looks oddly familiar. Is that Astrid? Didn't they just help her fight a bunch of bandits not long ago? Maybe she'll recognize them. Wait, no! They'd been a wolf when they met her! She called them wolfy and had fed them a lot of bandits and food. Maybe they should turn back into a wolf again to say hello. Oh, but they'd taken a job to protect a bunch of merchants. They were trying to continue protecting good people like they'd been taught. They couldn't take the job as a wolf since they'd already taken it as a knight. That was sad.

They picked up their pace and came up behind the carts with a wave. One of the merchants spotted them approaching and returned the wave with a raise of their hand. The man nudged one of the others who was preoccupied by Astrid and they looked up to also spot the approaching knight.

"Ah, finally. That knight is here. What was your name again, Blueberry or something?" the elf said, a bit condescendingly.

"Blue Raspberry!" the knight said with a slight bow and salute. They looked around at the merchants and then down at Astrid next to them. "Hello As-tounding day, today, isn't it?" they said, catching themself before saying her name. They shouldn't know her name. They weren't Wolfy right now.

"Right. Well, we're all ready to go now that you've finally arrived. Let's get moving." the elf said, an eyebrow raised at the knight's weird name.

The familiar clanking of armor catches her ear, and Astrid gets a more excited look on her face upon seeing someone clad in a full suit approaching. A real knight in real armor! And they're joining this mission? That's even better. All reservations and annoyances about the merchants' behavior melts away as she fawns over the suit.

Astrid snaps her feet together and bows deeply to the knight before her. "Hello, Sir! Good t'meetcha!" That's "sir" with a capital "S" because she heard that's a title for knights regardless of who they are under the suit. This is a bona-fide knight! She rights herself and grins up at the helmed face. "It certainly is an as-tounding day now that yer here! I'm Astrid! Astrid Stormstone at yer service." With no hesitation, she offers a hand clad in oversized gauntlets with scratches and minor dings speckling the surface out to the knight to shake. "Ya said yer name was Blue Raspberry? That's an interesting knightly title. I thought raspberries were red?" Her head tilts a little in thought. "Though I s'pose black raspberries exist, don't they? Is there a whole court of fruit knights with berry names?" Astrid means no offense by this question; she is genuinely asking. There's still much she doesn't know about the world yet. 

While they chat, the merchants load themselves up in their carts and prepare to leave. 

Blue Raspberry thinks for a moment once they hear Astrid's questions. They didn't really know anything about knights or titles or courts. They didn't think their name was a title at all, but she did for some reason. Was it a title? They'd been called a knight lots of times before, but they never really were questioned about it. People seemed to just think they were a knight because they wore a full suit of armor, so they'd just gone along with it in the hopes their disguise wouldn't be seen through. Had this been a mistake this whole time?

"Nice to meet you. Uh, Blue Raspberry is just my name though, isn't it? I don't know about a court of fruit knight with berry names.... maybe? I'm not in it though." they said to the girl, a bit unsure.

While they stood there thinking, the carts began to move forward, the horses walking along. The merchants sat in the driver's seats of each of the carts while Astrid and Blue Raspberry were expected to just walk along behind or to the sides.

"I think we need to start walking." the ooze knight said to the little horned girl as they started to run to catch up with the carts. They'd begun their journey on the road. They'd be approaching the Shadewood soon, where they were really expected to do most of their job protecting the carts and the merchants.

"If there's no merry court of berry knights, you should make one!"

When the carts lurch forward, so too does Astrid. Her legs are shorter than her new knight friend's, but she keeps up with them nonetheless. The excitement shows on her face and in her voice evidently. A million questions rush through her mind, but she reminds herself they're here to do a job, and that job is protecting the merchants from the dangers of Shadewood. So, she limits herself to one topic. For now. 

"Where'd ya get yer armor?" she asks. "Didja win it in a tournament? Or take it from a monster's lair? Was it made special for ya? Tell me all about it! And yer adventures!" With each question, she strikes a new pose; from victorious, to monstrous, to regal. Then she remembers her manner. "Oh, um, please?" The manners are definitely an afterthought because she's already found herself distracted studying the different pieces of armor covering her new companion. It's an exquisite set with fine details, perfectly polished with nary a scratch. This knight must have an excellent smith making and repairing their armor. Astrid decides her next line of questioning will cover that topic. 

The trees slowly grow denser, darker, and more twisted with each step that draws them closer to Shadewood.

Blue Raspberry remembered how they had found the armor on a corpse in the sewers of Sol City. They'd eaten that corpse and stolen the armor along with a pouch of coins. Of course, that probably wasn't what Astrid was expecting to hear nor was it something Blue Raspberry wanted to tell her. That would be awkward, especially when she seemed so excited to hear the grand tale of how they had acquired the armor from some tournament or adventure. They'd just make something up. It wasn't lying, it was... made up story telling. It should be fine.

"Uh, yes, I got my armor from... a ruined temple. Full of cultists who were sacrificing... people! To a god they called the Crimson Sea... Man." Blue Raspberry started, trying to think of a good, real story to base the tale on. They ended up thinking of their adventure where they had found some clues to some rock or something and replaced the prize with the armor instead. Of course, they also tried to make it more interesting and embellished some details.

"I fought the cultists with a friend of mine. One of them tried to ambush us on the road by throwing a dagger, but I... caught! It... with my hand. And I threw it back at him, but he hid behind a tree. My friend could summon a wolf, so he used that to catch them and I grabbed him and shocked him until he gave up and told us about the cult hiding in the temple ruins and their god. We went to the temple and we beat all the cultists there who used magic and weapons and tried to kill us to sacrifice us too, but we were both super strong. We beat them and my friend found... this armor! and let me keep it as a gift since he already had some. Yes, it was very exciting!"

While Blue Raspberry speaks, Astrid seems absolutely enthralled by the story. She nearly trips over a raised root more than once during the span of it. "That's incredible," she breathes. "Yer a regular seasoned adventurer!" Her eyes seem to shine in the darkening woods, her irises shifting to an almost shimmery golden hue as shadows fall around them. It's entirely possible that she's just that taken in by the stories. It's also possible she is an equally odd a child as Blue Raspberry is a wolf. 

"I didn't know people could summon wolves," she says thoughtfully, turning back to watch where they're walking so she can stop making a complete buffoon of herself in front of a regal knight. "I've only ever seen one wolf before. It was in the other parta the woods, in Moonveil Forest. It was really big and kinda sticky and smelled a bit tart. It seemed like it was always hungry, and it ate things whole! People too!" Astrid looks up at the knight. "Are all wolves like that?" During her whole last adventure, she never considered that the incredibly smart, bizarre wolf was one that someone skilled in magic summoned. Perhaps they'd summon the wolf again and she could see her friend? (But also give it a good whack on the head for running away from her.)

"Hm, yes, that sounds like a completely normal wolf to me. I'd imagine they're all like that when they're that large. Do you like wolves? Did you like that wolf?" Blue Raspberry answered very confidently. They were completely wrong, but they wanted Astrid to believe they'd been a normal wolf instead of an ooze, so they just confirmed everything she said about them. That was definitely how giant wolves acted. It didn't matter if they knew nothing about wolves.

As they spoke, one of the merchants on the closest wagon turned and looked at them over his shoulder with a funny expression.

"What? Wolves aren't like that at all. They hunt in packs and they don't eat people whole. They're also not sticky and don't smell tart, they smell like dogs. What are you talking about? That wolf sounds really weird. Hmph. That story must be completely made up." the man said before facing forward again to continue driving the cart.

Blue Raspberry was shocked. Wolves don't do those things? They'd been completely wrong? What would Astrid think about Wolfy after hearing what the merchant had just said?

"I don't think that wolf sounds weird, I think they sound really amazing! I would love to be friends with such an amazing wolf!" Blue raspberry said, looking down at Astrid with their gauntlets on their hips.

As they were having this conversation, they officially entered the Shadewood. The path became much darker, the sun blotted out by the thick canopy of leaves. Several large, yellow eyes watched the caravan moving from a distance, waiting for the best moment to ambush their new prey.

Astrid ponders on what the merchant says. "Wolves smell like dogs? Well, this one didn't. It was really real! That other merchant saw it! He said so when I walked up! It's the only wolf I ever met, and it was the coolest too. Found me these gauntlets and left me this neat necklace." She holds up the pendant dangling from around her neck for a moment then holds it in her hand and looks at it. "I s'pose that was its way of sayin' goodbye. Better than what me ma did."

The merchant on the cart grumbles, "Sounds like a lot of horseshite to me." 

"D'ya go 'round smellin' horse dung all the time?" she asks just earnestly enough to mask the snark. One of the other merchants lets out a stifled laugh, and she grins at the attention. "I'd say that coupla bonafide proven adventurers know more 'bout wolves than you do, mister."

The irritating elf calls back to them from the front, "Then if you would be bonafide guides and lead us through these dangerous woods. That is what we're paying you to do, is it not?" 

"Nothin' dangerous has happened yet," Astrid says. "And if it were ta happen, me and Blue Raspberry will defend ya to our last breaths!" Again, she strikes a pose, hammer held aloft proudly.

The caravan continues through the forest for some time, and Astrid makes not-so-idle chatter with Blue Raspberry the whole time. Around them, the woods seem to loom. It should feel like a bright and cheery late morning, but the canopy only allows a speckling of light to guide them along the path. Each cart lights lanterns to cast flickering spheres of visibility around them. It makes the trees seem even creepier and monstrous. Anything could be lurking in them. Things quiet down around them, and Astrid takes to being more and more vigilant, not impeded by the darkness and ready to lead the way should the lanterns not be enough. Her eyes shimmer in the low light^[1], and the atmosphere grows tense. The sound of a twig snapping catches her attention, and she whips her head in that direction, into the dark forest. For a moment, she thinks she sees two green eyes staring at her from the pitch. They're gone as soon as she tries to focus on them. Slowly, her hand reaches for her hammer and opens her mouth to speak.

She's interrupted by a quiet, warbly voomp sound, and the whinny of a surprised horse shatters the relative quiet. A massive dark feline sinks its claws and fangs into the horse, two tendrils with spiked ends flail about and knock the merchant off his cart to the ground. Two more voomp, voomp sounds, and a ferocious feline roar sends the caravan into chaos.

---

^[1]Night Vision

The merchants scream and scurry into the carts for safety, trying to find any shelter they can from the attacking beasts that are appearing around them out of nowhere.

Blue Raspberry runs forward, toward the nearest displacer beast, the one currently biting into a horse's back. The knight's armor starts to spark, small arcs of electricity dancing between the different plates and links of chainmail. The run up to the beast and punch out at it. The giant feline releases its grip on the horse and lets out a pained growl before turning to glare at the knight that had just struck it. Little bits of smoke waft off of the fur where they had punched the beast, the electricity burning the fur. But, their electricity clearly hadn't been enough to take the beast down for good.

It leaps off of the horse and swats at Blue Raspberry with a giant paw, but they step back out of its reach, a bit clumsily. Another arc of electricity leaps off of the knight and connects with the swung paw, making the beast cry out in pain again. It lands on its legs and wobbles. The paw that was struck by the electricity is clearly a bit damaged and numb. The tentacles on its back strike out at the knight, but are also struck by the arcs of electricity. Blue raspberry steps forward and continues to punch at the beast, having no weapons in hand.

After the repeated strikes, the electricity coursing through it repeatedly, the beast collapses to the ground. There's no time to celebrate the victory, though. Looking around, the ooze can see five more beasts around the caravan slowly trying to get at the merchants cowering in the carts, hiding behind barrels and crates.

Up to this point, Astrid had been so focused on Blue Raspberry's armor that it only just occurs to her that the knight carries no weapons. That is, until she witnesses the knight spark with electricity and punch the lights out of the big cat thing. The sparks remind her of something else, but she has little time to think about what it is exactly. This knight is capable, but they can't defend the caravan on their own. Three more giant tentacle cats are after the merchants at the front, so she gives Blue Raspberry a look then rushes up there.

"That's three each!" she shouts. "Yer one point ahead of me!" Is it a competition? Of course not, but Astrid has to prove herself a worthy adventurer both to the snooty merchants and to impress the knight so perhaps she could be a squire or even a knight herself one day! Granted, she's never fought these creatures before, and she has no idea what the weird shunting sound they keep making is until she sees for herself as a monstrous feline appears directly in front of her. Astrid yelps in surprise and swings her hammer up as only a reaction. It catches the beast by the jaw with a mighty CRACK! and then the cat is no longer in front of her. She hit it so hard, it was knocked a good fifteen feet to the side and lies limp with blood and drool pooling from its mouth. 

Astrid considers that both a lucky hit and a win. She'll take it. "One point fer me!" she shouts and looks ahead. One on one with the cats didn't seem so bad. Two on one, however, might be a problem for her. One of the cats at the front strikes towards the snooty elf with a spiked tentacle, and she manages to distract it by rushing up and taking a swing at it. Before her eyes, the world seems to bend and warp around the cat for a split second before it disappears from view. Voomp! It appears behind her and slashes her back, but luckily her recent armor addition softens most of the blow. The claws only graze her skin. 

"Hey!" she whips around and swings again with the hammer. "I just got that! Ya can't rip it already!!" Moonglade seems to be full of strange versions of animals. Wolves, cats, and she half expects a tree to get up and walk away. She believes fully that these cats can understand her regardless of if it's true. 

---

Bull's Strength
Armor (padding) 1/1 hit reduction

Blue Raspberry sees Astrid is being attacked from both sides by the vicious beasts and runs over to try and assist her. As they're running toward the beast, they're still not one hundred percent proficient at moving so quickly in their armor. They've been practicing and greatly improving, but they trip over their own feet as they run and land directly onto the back of the displacer beast that's attacking Astrid and grab hold of it. The beast lets out a cry of pain as it's electrocuted by the bolts arcing off of the knight, their tentacles flailing wildly as they twitch and convulse. After a moment, the beast suddenly vanishes from the space, appearing on the opposite side of the cart with the knight still on its back. It collapses to the ground, the smell of burnt fur and some smoke filling the air around it.

Blue Raspberry is a bit disoriented from the teleportation. They slide off of the back of the beast and stand a bit dizzily to their feet, stumbling a little. They grab a hold of the side of the cart to steady themself before holding up two fingers for Astrid to see that they joined in the little competition and are keeping count of their victories as well.

As they lean against the cart for a moment, another displacer beast is infuriated by the loss of two of their pack, It vanishes, reappearing directly behind Blue Raspberry and swings a heavy claw at the knight's head, taking it clean off.

---

Helmet
Lightning Armor

When Blue Raspberry disappears, Astrid rushes around the cart to where she heard the sound of a beast blinking away is and is relieved to see the knight wobbly, but overall unharmed. It's two to one in their competition, and there are six big cats in total. She turns her attention back to the one at the front of the caravan but doesn't see it immediately. Perhaps it fled in the battle? So she hears the sound of teleportation near Blue Raspberry and whips her around to face the beast only to watch its mighty claw take the knight's head off in one clean swipe.

The helmet clatters to the ground, faint bits of lightning arcing off of it. Astrid stands there, stunned, frozen, having witnessed someone she decidedly looks up to murdered in cold blood. These monsters are powerful enough to separate a man's head from his shoulders. What if they hit her too? She survived an avalanche, she can survive these monsters. But now she's fighting three displacer beasts alone. Fighting. Right, fighting! Fight and live! People depend on you to keep them safe! 

She shakes herself back to her senses and finds herself and Blue Raspberry's still standing corpse surrounded by two of the beasts. Then she hears the cries of one of the merchants from the front of the caravan. It sounds like the stuffy elf. "Hang on!" she yells. "I'm comin'!" Astrid hefts her hammer and swings at the feline blocking her way but misses and throws herself off balance. She didn't notice how shaky she was after seeing someone die. Of course it's awful, but get it together! One of the beast's tentacles smacks her in the back, and she stumbles forward, nearly falling on her face. Not again, not after the club man. But oh, does it hurt. She grips the hammer with both hands and slams it into the side of the beast blocking her from the front of the caravan. It roars in pain and stumbles to the side. The tentacles lash out to protect it, and she bashes them both away before landing a final blow with her hammer. The tentacles fall limp, but the other beast appears beside her and gnashes out to bite her hand. The fangs crunch her gauntlet but leaves her unharmed. They can't take another hit like that, and she uses all her strength to rip her hand free of its mouth. 

"Get out of me way!" 

---

Gauntlets (hit reduction 1/1)

The displacer beast rears back, ready to bite at Astrid again, but it suddenly roars out in pain as electricity crackles between its teeth and sparks fly from its fur. It teleports away, revealing the headless knight standing behind where it had been, their arms outstretched in the now empty air.

The beast reappears toward the back of the caravan, staggering from the shock it just received, and glares at the headless knight. Blue Raspberry turns around to face it, their stance low and their arms wide, as if they're trying to block the creature from getting past them. After a moment caught in this standoff, an opaque blue blob of ooze popped out of the neck hole of the knight's cuirass and forms into the vague shape of a humanoid head, like the head of a faceless mannequin.

The displacer beast is a bit caught off guard by this strange display for a moment, but growls in anger quickly, recomposing itself and preparing to attack. It teleports again, directly behind Blue Raspberry and tries to take their head off a second time, but the strange knight isn't surprised this time. Their neck bends forward far farther than any human should be capable of to dodge the strike, and their arm twists and bends backward, contorting oddly to reach back and punch the beast in the jaw. Lightning arcs from the knight onto the beast and it falls down, defeated. The arm bends back into a normal position and holds up three fingers to Astrid.

The merchants cry out again for help, but this time the voice of the snooty elf isn't among them. The merchants are all cowering beneath the cloth covers of the carts, paying much more attention to the looming beasts than the two adventurers. The ooze rushes over to their helmet on the ground and puts it back on before any of the merchants notice. Thankfully the helmet is mostly undamaged, only some scratches and a slight dent on the side where it struck a tree after being sent flying. It could likely be repaired easily.

---

Disjoint

Astrid is at a loss for words with what she just witnessed. Her mouth opens and closed, half-word sounds stammering forth while she watches Blue Raspberry, who seems to take on their whole namesake in form and color, put their helmet back on like nothing happened. She wonders if one of the beasts struck her in the head. She must be imagining things. And if she's not, well that's probably the coolest thing she's ever seen. 

The merchants' screaming draws her attention, and she points at Blue Raspberry. "I want to know more later!" Then she rushes towards them to assess the situation. That's five beasts down, and the last is nowhere to be seen, but she keeps her hammer at the ready since they could appear out of nowhere. She quickly peeks under the carts and identifies three of the four merchants. "Where's the elf?" she asks quickly. "Did he run off?? The forest is dangerous!" 

"He didn't run off, the last beast dragged him away!" cries the merchant who was in the last cart and didn't believe Astrid's story about the big wolf.

"Dragged him away?? Was he dead??" Astrid doesn't know a lot about these beasts, but it seems weird to her that it would drag someone away who wasn't dead.

"No, he was kicking and screaming! You need to save him! He didn't make it to cover so he could hide!" 

Astrid looks past the cart towards Blue Raspberry. Of course it was the snooty elf. 

"We'll find him. I promise."