Blue Raspberry flew forward, toward the giant bird. They didn't see what Cyran had done to suddenly stop the bird's attacks, but it must have worked. Even the cloudy minions had frozen for a moment as the lightning stopped coming down. They'd even managed to land a hit on the creature. With it no longer causing such problems, Blue Raspberry flew around to its back to land on top of it. With Cyran sliding off of their back, they transformed back into their armored form and grasped some of the oversized feathers in their hands. A thin layer of blue slime seeped over their gauntlets and boots and made their hands and feet very sticky, allowing them to easily cling to the beast.

They looked back to see how Cyran was managing up here with them. The footing was a bit unstable as the giant bird's back swayed up and down as it flapped its wings to remain airborne, and the feathers didn't provide the most even ground to stand on. Despite being a swift footed and dexterous Elf and Assassin, this was a difficult place to stay for very long. They didn't want their companion to fall off, so they wanted to lend them a hand, or maybe a tail.

"Grab on!" Blue Raspberry called to them as a long, blue, reptilian tail emerged from the back of their waist and extended for Cyran to grab hold of.

---

Slimy Hands
Prehensile Tail

Wolfe dropped both of them on the bird’s back, which was more than large enough to support their weight. Cyran managed to stay on and keep himself upright despite the weather hellbent on knocking them down.^[1] But he wasn’t sure how much longer he could keep himself stable. He watched, curious, as Wolfe grabbed onto the beast’s feathers and clung on like a gecko of sorts, managing to keep himself on with no problems. What was that substance? Was that something normal shapeshifters could do?

Whatever it was, Cyran supposed it didn’t matter, as long as it was keeping them both stable at the moment. Cyran grabbed onto the knight’s tail, gripping it perhaps a touch too hard in his fear of being thrown off and plummeting to his death.

As he did, the bird finally snapped out of its trance, shaking off the fear that Cyran instilled in it. With a roar that shook its entire body, the bird flapped its wings, attempting to call the storm to its aid once more.

The storm did not respond.

Enraged, the beast thrashed, now attempting to rid itself of its unwelcome passengers. Whatever Wolfe was doing held strong, keeping them firmly attached to the bird as it dived and twirled, zipping every which way.

“If you’ve got any spells to take care of this beast, now would be the time to use them!” Cyran called out. He had some spells, of course, but none strong enough to take care of a monster of this caliber. All he could do was provide support wherever he could.

The beast took a sharp turn, one that momentarily jolted Cyran enough to make him let go of Wolfe’s tail. It was only for a second, but the damage had already been done. Cyran made a mad grab to regain his footing, missing by only a hair’s breadth, and slipped off the bird’s back entirely. 

---

1. Cat’s Grace

As Blue Raspberry stood on the back of the bird, clinging to it thanks to the sticky slime on their hands and feet, they started to do their best to take down the mighty creature. Compared to it, they were tiny, and so their attacks had little impact on it. The electricity they naturally emitted had practically no effect on it, likely also because it was resistant to such magic as a creature of lightning itself. The ooze would just have to rely on other abilities!

As they thought to begin their acidic assault, the storm eagle suddenly snapped out of its stunned state and began the avain equivalent of bucking its riders off by flapping its wings harder and twisting around. The aerial maneuvers would normally be enough to shake any rider, but the ooze clung on with the sticky slime. Cyran, however, had no slime to help them cling onto the bird or to the rail Blue Raspberry had extended for them. They felt the grip on their tail release and turned to see Cyran being flung away.

They let out a sound of surprise and tried to grab for the man to stop them from plummeting down. They reached their arm out for them, their arm even lengthening oddly, the armor separating to show a blue substance between the gaps, but they missed, their sticky fingertips just barely not reaching in time. They stared helplessly as Cyran fell.

---

Slimy Hands
Static Stature
Soft Body

The ground was rushing up to meet him.

Cyran had often imagined how he would die, but somehow, tumbling to his death off a giant lightning bird was somehow not something he’d considered. A myriad of thoughts flashed through his head- eventually landing on acceptance- when the old scar on his back suddenly flared up.

The slow, gentle nudge of corruption came to a halt, throbbing pain ceasing its steady, drum-like pace. No, the pain became unbearable, like bolts of lightning scattering from the old, faded scars Rowan left upon him years ago, the ones that had never healed quite right since. Cyran gasped, still tumbling helplessly through the sky as the pain- something- broke free from his skin.

The miasma of dark energy erupted from his back, spreading outwards and taking shape as Cyran suppressed a shaky scream. Ever since that accident, he’d known something was brewing in him, twisted and gnarled like the roots of an old, dead, tree. But nothing like this had ever happened to him before. No, the seeds that Rowan had planted in him upon her death had finally sprouted, incorporeal magic taking the shape of a pair of large, spectral wings of pure void.^[1]

His fall slowed to a crawl as Cyran maneuvered his body into a better position, instinct kicking in like his body already had already known how to fly before he did. Cyran touched down on the ground for barely a second before shooting off into the air once more, heading straight for the bird that was still trying to shake Wolfe off its back.

He came to a halt just at the beast’s eye level, expression murderous as he raised a hand, finger extended outwards. With a dark bolt of energy, he hit the beast right in the eye, causing it to stagger as dark electricity spread from the wound.^[2]

The beast screeched, sights now set on Cyran now that it was no longer afraid of him, and it was ready to kill. It lunged for him, but Cyran was smaller and faster, and he ducked out of the way of its large talons, speeding through the clouds. He was not sure how much longer he could keep this up, but at least he had taken its attention off Wolfe on its back.

“If you’ve got something, please use it soon!” He cried out to Wolfe, hoping the knight would have a stronger spell than anything he could use.

---

1. Bat Wings
2. Chaos Bolt

Blue Raspberry was relieved that Cyran had sprouted wings, but also confused. Could every humanoid they knew sprout wings out of their back if they fell from somewhere high enough? Astrid had done the same thing after jumping off a cliff. Was this just a humanoid thing? Could they do that if they tried? Well, they could turn into a bird, but that didn't feel like it was the same thing.

They were broken out of their thoughts of wings by Cyran calling to them. Oh right, they were fighting a gigantic cloud bird and lightning summoning eagle, weren't they? Their arm still extended from trying to catch Cyran, the ooze began to drag their hand all along the back of the bird, releasing acidic ooze across its feathers. The giant eagle let out a terrible screech of pain as its skin bubbled and sizzled from the attack on its back.

Intelligent creatures generally have a certain amount of trouble they will tolerate while trying to obtain a meal that, once surpassed, they will cut their losses and flee to try and find easier prey. This giant eagle certainly was intelligent and having one eye blinded, having their magic abilities somehow sealed away, and an ooze on their back giving them the worst acid exfoliation treatment they'd ever experienced definitely surpassed their trouble meter. The creature continued its thrashing, trying to get the sticky ooze off of them, but couldn't shake them. Finally, they just turned around and flew straight toward the ground, landing a distance away from the caravan.

The eagle threw its back onto the ground to try and squash the annoying bug on its back. Blue Raspberry barely realized what it was about to do in time and threw themself off of its back to avoid being crushed, rolling and clanking along the ground from their leap, their still long and noodle-like arm flailing wildly. Now free of the ooze, the giant eagle picked itself up again and flew away, the remaining cloud birds following behind it.

Blue Raspberry's elongated arm reeled itself back in, returning to a normal, fully armored length as they sat on the ground, a bit dazed, but otherwise alright. Thankfully, they had no bones to break in that fall and their armor was sturdy. They straightened their armor out and turned their head around every which way, looking for Cyran.

---

Flesh Rend
Soft Body
Disjoint

Wolfe maneuvered the bird into the ground out of the way of the caravan- Cyran darted behind them, following along to make sure the knight wasn’t hurt. The bird crashed into the ground hard enough to shake the earth, creating a large cloud of dust that crackled with static, making it difficult for Cyran to see what was going on inside.

He landed on the ground right outside of the dust cloud, wings folding into his back and disappearing once again. As he ran up to the cloud, the bird flew into the air, retreating back into the storm clouds, deciding that the caravan was not worthy enough prey to deal with the trouble of an assassin and a knight bothering it. He watched it grow smaller on the horizon, uncomfortably reminded of a giant swatting at a gnat before growing tired of trying to kill the fly and leaving it alone. They may have been able to ward it off in search of an easier meal, but they had not been major threats.

Cyran frowned, realizing just how close that encounter had been. And if he hadn’t somehow sprouted those wings…

He didn’t finish that uncomfortable thought in favor of finding Wolfe. He jogged into the dirt cloud, looking for any sign that the knight had managed to get off of the bird’s back in time. He was clearly adept at shapeshifting, so with any luck, he’d managed to detach himself from the bird’s back and fly away in time.

Something about his abilities nagged at the back of Cyran’s mind, though he couldn’t quite place where from. He had never met a knight before- not that he could recall- but he could have sworn that he’d encountered someone with similar abilities to the knight’s own.

A few moments later, a familiar figure emerged from the dust, armor clinking loudly as they moved. The metal was scuffed and dented, but they looked otherwise unharmed, brightening when they saw Cyran.

Cyran couldn’t help but sag in relief. They’d both made it out of the battle relatively unharmed, and as long as Oriole hadn’t run into any trouble, they’d managed to keep the cargo safe. “Oh, thank Lunala you’re okay.” Cyran said, shoulders slumping as he smiled. “I saw the bird crash, but I couldn’t see if you’d made it out okay. Are you injured anywhere?”

As he fretted over the knight, that nagging feeling persisted, so he couldn’t help but ask, “Are you sure we haven’t met before…?”

Blue Raspberry stared off into the distance for a moment, through the cloud of disturbed dirt and dust that had been thrown into the air by the giant bird's back slam. Man, they'd really wanted to eat at least some of that bird. It was a shame to let it go, but they had no other option. It was far faster than them and already quite a distance away. It would be best to just forget about it and return to the caravan to finish their mission. They turned and began to make their way back to the wagons that were waiting for the now scattered adventurer escort to return before setting off.

The knight raised up two thumbs toward Cyran as they emerged from the dust cloud that was starting to settle back down. Cyran seemed relieved to see the knight fairly unharmed. They would have to get some repairs done to their armor and clean it, but it thankfully was otherwise intact.

They put a thumb and forefinger to the chin of their helmet and tilted their head slightly in confusion as Cyran mentioned the two may have met before. Had they? Blue Raspberry couldn't quite remember meeting the Elven man before, but they did have a habit of not paying enough attention at times and forgetting things, especially if they'd been distracted by something else at the time. Most likely food. But now that they mentioned it, Cyran did seem oddly familiar.

"Hmmmmm.... have we? I don't really remember, but now that you mention it, you are kind of familiar! Did we meet during dinner or something?" they replied energetically.

The knight reached both hands up, grasped either side of their helmet, and lifted it off of their head to show their humanoid face. Their unkempt, short blue beard, a toothy smile with enlarged canines, friendly electric blue eyes, pointy ears and messily slicked back blue hair were revealed.

It was only when the knight pulled their helmet off that Cyran placed where he’d seen them before. “Oh, you came to my orphanage a while ago! You and your friend Astrid brought some children for me to take care of.”

At the time they’d gone by a different name too, but Cyran couldn’t remember it off the top of his head. Though that certainly explained the strange shapeshifting abilities. Though he wondered why Wolfe couldn’t remember him…

“Don’t worry about it.” Cyran waved a dismissive hand, wearing a self-deprecating smile. “I have a habit of not sticking out in the minds of others. Why don’t we head back to the caravan?” He clapped Wolfe on the shoulder, making his way back to the road. They had a long journey ahead of them left to go.

Some members of the caravan were already poking their heads out of their tents curiously now that the sounds of battle had ceased. Cyran spotted Oriole running towards them, leading Cyran’s mare behind him. Both looked unharmed, if not a bit spooked, and when Oriole reached them, he latched onto Cyran like a piece of fungus, refusing to let go.

“I thought I saw you fall off the bird! And did Sir Wolfe shapeshift? That was amazing! Would you let me ride on top of you too?” He demanded in a series of rapid-fire questions, nearly breathless by the time he finished.

Cyran returned the hug before attempting to pry the kid off, but his attempts were in vain, so he simply let it happen until Oriole was reassured that he was still solid and breathing. “We’re alright. And only if Wolfe says yes, okay?”

A few minutes later the caravan leader re-emerged from his hiding spot, a stern look on his face. “You three kill that thing already? We need to keep going.”

Cyran pursed his lips. While he had promised not to ask questions, the urgent matter of this mysterious business was beginning to grate at him. But he was only being paid for safe transport, not to poke his nose where it didn’t belong. The leader urged the caravan on, and they continued their slow, careful trek through the lightning storm.

Their head still tilted, they looked more closely at Cyran. They did look familiar, but they still couldn't place them. Welp, it probably didn't matter that much! If it was that important, they would remember. Probably.... Well, maybe not, but there was still nothing they could do about it right now.

The knight's ego soared again as Oriole praised them. Standing tall and proud despite their armor being so messy from their tumble, they gave Oriole a smile even wider than they had given Cyran.

"Yeah, I can shapeshift into all sorts of things! I can give you a ride, no problem!" they said, pointing a thumb at their face.

The knight suddenly dropped into a pushup position on the spot. The blue ooze emerged from the gaps in their armor and their form quickly swelled in size, enveloping the armor completely. Their form shifted and stretched, a snout and pointed ears emerging from their head, a long tail emerging behind them, and their legs lengthening until they had taken the vague shape of a wolf. The form solidified and became more detailed, fur emerging and covering the body.

In hardly any time at all, a huge, blue dire wolf was standing there, tongue hanging from their smiling mouth, looking happily at Oriole. They lied down on the ground to let the boy climb on top, also looking at Cyran to silently offer them a ride as well.

Oriole gasped as Wolfe shifted into a literal wolf in front of them, rolling around before shifting into a crouch for Oriole to climb on. “Master Cyran, look! Sir Wolfe turned into a literal wolf!”

“I see.” Cyran said, watching as the bright blue dire wolf looked up at them with a dopey expression on their face, reminding Cyran of an overexcited puppy. He couldn’t help but feel grateful that Wolfe had taken a liking to Oriole- the thief needed companions, and it was rare getting to see him so carefree. “I think he’s offering to let you ride on his back.” Cyran said, an amused smile on his face.

Oriole wasted no time getting on Wolfe’s back, but rather than setting off, Wolfe the wolf looked at Cyran, tilting their head expectantly. It took a minute for Cyran to figure out what he was asking.

“Oh, you want me to get on?” He asked, blinking. “I’m not sure…” He trailed off as he considered the offer. Oriole was fixing him with a pleading look, and Cyran’s resolve was paper-thin when it came to his kids. “Oh, alright.” He said eventually as he approached Wolfe and climbed on behind Oriole. If Wolfe ran around, it would give them a chance to scout out their surroundings for any further threats. At least, that was how he rationalized it to himself- a smaller part of him just thought it would be fun.

“Just don’t stray too far from the caravan, okay? We need to keep them in our sights.”

With Cyran and Oriole both aboard, Blue Wolfberry ran off past the caravan. Several of the people aboard were a bit started for a moment when they saw the giant wolf suddenly run past, but seeing that it was only running past and not attacking, and also some of them noticing the two adventurer escorts were riding atop it, the commotion calmed down. They assumed the wolf was some kind of summon or pet that had previously been hidden away. None of them guessed it was actually a shapeshifting knight.

The caravan leader watched the group run past with annoyance.

"Where are they going? And where's that damn knight!?" he asked one of the merchants next to him in the driver's seat of the wagon, but couldn't receive any real answers from the man who just shrugged and shook his head. He scowled. If something happened to the cargo while those idiots were off having some joy ride on a wolf, he'd give them hell for it.

Blue Raspberry didn't think about their mission to escort the caravan at all as they ran around, just enjoying the wind on their face. At least they remembered not to run too far away from the wagons, and their running ahead of them made for a good excuse of scouting ahead. Not that they would think of such an excuse themself.

They ran close to the caravan for a while, though Cyran could not make out anything concerning on the horizon. A couple of animals darted past, but none of them seemed interested in the pair of travelers atop a dire wolf, which Cyran was grateful for. He didn’t want to have to fight another monster so soon after the first.

He kept the caravan in sight, and while nothing jumped out to attack them from behind, Cyran still felt wary leaving them alone for so long with both of their guards off galavanting off in the perilous scenery. Just as he was about to suggest they’d had their fun and they should turn back, Wolfe made an abrupt stop, nearly throwing Oriole off of their back before Cyran caught him.

“What’s the matter?” Cyran asked, pulling Oriole back into a sitting position, but he answered his own question when he looked ahead, and saw the deep, long ravine, like a crack in the earth, preventing them from passing. Cyran could barely make out the other side from where he was perched, but the message was clear- they would not be able to get their caravan across at this point. If it had been only a small number of them, transporting goods on Wolfe’s back might have been feasible, but they had entire wagons to deal with.

Through all the troubled thoughts in his mind as he tried to think of a way around this roadblock, one stood out in his mind- they were going to lose time, and the leader would not be pleased. Cyran sighed and resigned himself to another berating, as he patted Wolfe on the side.

“You should probably take us back to the caravan to figure out what to do about this.”

Blue Raspberry nodded their big wolf head and turned around, heading back to the caravan. The ooze could get across the gap easily, but that wouldn't help with the cargo, wagons, or horses that needed to get across. They weren't sure how to deal with this situation at all, so they hoped Cyran might have some solution.

The group made it back to the caravan and the dire wolf lied down again to let Cyran and Oriole dismount before transforming back into their humanoid form, redonning their armor. Their helmet also was on on their head again though it hadn't been when they had transformed into a wolf, it had been absorbed from its grasp under their arm earlier. Oddly, their armor, though still dented and scratched from earlier, was now completely clean of all the dust and dirt that had been on it.

With the three adventurers back, the caravan leader saw them and approached, stomping over, anger obvious on his face.

"Oh, look who's finally back! What were you doing, leaving us to go galivanting on some dumb dog!? We could have been attacked or something!" he fumed, his face red. "And where were you? Off cleaning your armor?" he added, looking the now spotless armor of the knight up and down. "We don't have time for some pretty boy to be slowing us down because they need to go get their hair done, you know! This cargo needs to be in Frostglade by the deadline, or no pay for any of you!"

Blue Raspberry was completely baffled. They had no idea what the man was talking about or why he was so angry. They leaned over to Cyran and whispered in his ear.

"What is he talking about? We're getting payed for this?"

Cyran’s guilt while being berated was cut short as Wolfe leaned over and whispered in his ear, and he suddenly had to clap his hand over his mouth to stifle his startled laughter. How did Wolfe not know they weren’t getting paid for this? Then why were they here? He could unpack this later, when they were done being shouted at by the caravan’s leader.

“With all due respect sir,” Cyran began slowly, “I was scouting ahead to make sure the path was clear. Rest assured that I would have been able to make a speedy return should any problems arise, but I think you’ll appreciate the information we managed to gather. There’s a steep ravine blocking our path ahead, and we’ll need to find our way around.”

“What do you mean? There isn’t a bridge there?”

“Not one that I could see.” Cyran tapped his finger against his chin as he tried to think of a solution. They could always make their way along the side until they found a bridge, but that would waste time and there was a chance that they wouldn’t find one at all. “Though it might be our only viable option, unless your carts can sprout wings and fly across the gap.”

The leader’s face turned a dangerous shade of red. He did not laugh Cyran's awkward attempt at a joke.

“If you can’t find a way through it, then you’re fired.”

“Listen.” Cyran snapped in an uncharacteristic moment of anger. He’d been patient until now, but there was only so much he could take from a man that didn’t seem to understand that they were escorts, not miracle makers. “Either you can take your chances climbing down the ravine and back up, and risk losing your goods, or you can take the advice of the people you hired to do a job, and we can find a bridge. Or have you forgotten who just took care of that bird for you?” He asked, gesturing towards Wolfe, who didn’t seem bothered in the slightest at the barrage of insults.

The caravan leader grimaced, but even he wasn’t foolish enough to admit that they should try to find some way across. He was a risk-taker, but when the outcome was guaranteed to end in some kind of loss, he was apparently at least willing to see reason. “Fine. We go around.”

With the matter settled, Cyran let out a breath he hadn’t known he’d been holding. Outright confrontation was… difficult for him, but it needed to be said. The caravan picked up their pace until they reached the ravine, with Cyran and Wolfe returning to walking alongside one of the carts with Cyran’s horse. As they walked, Cyran leaned over and whispered, tone incredulous, “Did you really not know we were getting paid for this?”

"Huh? Well, I was just helping out because they asked, I guess." Blue Raspberry responded to Cyran a bit unsure. The ooze really hadn't thought about getting paid when they'd accepted the job, just that they were helping out someone who needed it like an adventurer. Were adventurers supposed to be making money? This trip had been very informative. They were learning about being a knight and now they were learning about being an adventurer, both of which they had already thought they were but must have missed some details!

The caravan continued on its way along the ravine, the grumpy caravan leader obviously not happy about the situation, but left with no other choice. They kept their eyes peeled for any bridges across, or the end of the ravine, so that they could get back to moving westward toward their intended destination.

Blue Raspberry happily chatted with Cyran and Oriole as they walked alongside the train of wagons.

"So, you can grow wings from your back? That's pretty neat. Another friend of mine did the same thing once, jumped off a cliff and I thought she was gonna die, but then she just grew a pair of wings like you did and flew! I wish I could learn how to do that." Blue Raspberry said to Cyran with both excitement and curiosity.