A cat person? Their hair was purple? Blue Raspberry didn't understand what Cyran was talking about until they looked at their still clawed hands. They were coming back to their senses after eating and being healed by whatever they just drank. They sat there, staring at their clawed hands in bewilderment, turning them to see the back and front for a while.

"Huh... I've never done this before..." they mumbled as they reached up and felt the ears on top of their head.

At that moment, they also realized that they were only half dressed for some reason. Their memories of changing back from a cat to a humanoid form were a bit hazy. They looked around for their armor in confusion before realizing it was actually just still stored inside them with a surprised look.

"Oh, yeah, I think I can change back all the way now! Sorry." they replied to Cyran as they stood up. They gave a thumbs up and shifted their form again, the ooze that was visible for a moment as they did so a bluish purple color, and soon enough they were back in their full suit of armor again, their helmet tucked under their arm. Their residual feline features were also gone, their ears, fingernails, and eyes back to normal. The only oddity of their appearance, besides the usual ones, was the purple hair and eyes.

"I'm good now." they said, offering Cyran a thumbs up. They placed the helmet on their head, hiding their hair and eyes, and stepped out of the wagon with Cyran.

They managed to get rid of the feline features, but their hair and eyes were still… purple for some reason. The color didn’t matter as much- it could be hidden behind a helmet, and they’d managed to produce the rest of their armor from seemingly out of nowhere. At least they seemed all healed up and good to go for the rest of the journey.

Cyran followed Wolfe outside the wagon and set off in search of the caravan leader, who somehow managed to look even more angry than he had when Cyran last saw him. “Where have you two been? Fooling off again?”

“We were getting ready to set off.” Cyran replied smoothly, which wasn’t technically a lie. “But we’re ready to go now. Are you going to waste time yelling at us or do you want to get to Frostgale?”

The leader decided that another confrontation wasn’t worth it. They had a lot of lost time to make up for, and they still had a ways to go before they reached the country’s borders. He got the horses moving, and the caravan set off in the direction of their destination. Cyran kept a wary eye on Wolfe, worried that they might not be up to making the journey. But they seemed fine, in good enough spirits to chat happily with Oriole, who was asking about their fight with the seahorse creature.

“I didn’t know you could turn into a cat, too!” The thief turned around to look at Cyran accusingly. “Master Cyran, why can’t you turn into a cat?”

If nothing else, Cyran was glad that Oriole’s hero worship only seemed to have grown over the course of their journey… even at his own expense. “I’m not a shapeshifter.” Cyran replied, to which Oriole responded with a petulant frown.

“Well, you’d be a lot cooler if you could.”

He went back to talking with Wolfe as Cyran scouted ahead, when he spotted a break in the dark patch of storm clouds, and rays of light in the distance. They had finally made it through the storm to the other side.

The caravan leader looked up to see the break in the dark clouds and his deep frown softened somewhat. It looked like they were getting close to their destination. Soon he wouldn't have to deal with these awful adventurers anymore. One of them was starting to get more and more petulant, and that knight guy was just weird. Didn't he fall off the bridge and die or something? How did he come back? He'd been sorry that the man had died since that meant less protection for the caravan, but he'd also been excited to not have to pay him. Maybe he could just lower both adventurer's payment and say it was for ineptitude.

He glanced back at the knight and kid that were walking alongside the caravan, chatting away. What were they so chummy for? He was paying them to guard his cargo, not make friends with each other! And that other guy was probably off relaxing somewhere, using scouting ahead as a lame excuse. He couldn't stand these adventurers.

"Stop all that useless chitchat and guard the damn wagons! What am I paying you for!?" the grumpy man called out to Blue Raspberry and Oriole before facing forward again and huffing in annoyance.

Blue Raspberry was surprised to suddenly be shouted at for no reason. They looked at Oriole, their confusion evident even with their face hidden by their helmet.

"But... we are guarding the wagons...?" they mumbled quietly. "I'll go over there, I guess." they said to Oriole before moving over to walk on the opposite side of the train of wagons.

Oriole pouted as the nasty caravan leader shouted at Wolfe for talking to him, making the knight shuffle dejectedly away from Oriole and Master Cyran, off to watch the other side of the caravan. Wolfe was just being nice and keeping Oriole entertained! They didn’t even have to listen to him talk their ear off, but they did because they were a nice person who seemed like he cared about people. According to Master Cyran, Wolfe didn’t even know they were getting paid for this!

To a young man who had made a living robbing people in the streets of Zeinav just to get enough food in their stomach, that kind of charity was unheard of.

And the caravan leader had been mean to Wolfe this entire trip!

Oriole leaned over to his teacher, who was still watching the surrounding area in case any more threats tried to pop out at them. Master Cyran, Oriole had learned, was a really patient person. He didn’t let much bother him unless it was something really serious. That was what Oriole liked about him, especially since Cyran had helped him out of a bad place when the assassin could have simply stabbed Oriole for trying to rob him blind and gone about his day. But in Oriole’s opinion, sometimes that kindness was misplaced.

“Why aren’t you doing anything about him?” Oriole asked, frowning. “He was just really mean to Wolfe.”

Master Cyran sighed and shook his head. “Oriole, there are some things that just aren’t worth fighting over. I don’t want to anger the man and risk him firing all of us. We really need this money…”

“But he insulted Wolfe. And he insulted you.” Oriole pointed out. “Are you really going to let him get away with that?”

Master Cyran didn’t say anything, but Oriole already knew what his answer was.

“Fine.” He huffed. “If you won’t do anything, then I will.”

Oriole spun on his heel and snuck off before Master Cyran could say anything else. He may have been quiet, but he wasn’t a thief for nothing- Oriole had a penchant for getting himself into trouble, and that was exactly what he was going to do right now. Thankfully, one of the advantages of being a young apprentice was that people didn’t pay much attention to him as he slipped through the people and wagons, even unnoticed by the leader, who was off barking orders at someone else.

He approached Wolfe, keeping his voice low as he whispered, “Psst. Wanna get back at that jerk?”

Blue Sadberry walked along the side of the wagons, a bit lonely. They'd enjoyed talking to Oriole and Cyran as they travelled, but the caravan leader had suddenly decided to dislike that and made them stop. They didn't see the problem with it. They'd still done their job, protecting everyone from the monsters they encountered so far. They even got stabbed a bunch by a big spider monster. What was that guy's deal? Why was he so mean?

They were surprised by a whisper from behind, jumping slightly with a clanking from their armor and turning around to see Oriole looking back at them mischievously. They looked around to make sure no one was paying them any attention and then leaned down with a smile to Oriole. Getting back at that jerk sounded fun. He seemed like he might even be someone they'd describe as a big jerk, but they thought eating him might not be a good idea. They were only allowed to eat people if Astrid called them a big jerk, and Astrid wasn't here to do that right now.

"Sure! How do we get back at him? Do you have an idea?" they whispered excitedly and listened far better than they usually did, not letting themself be distracted by thoughts of food like they often were.

Oriole was happy that Wolfe seemed excited to pull off a revenge prank and that they were no longer upset about being yelled at. But when Wolfe asked if Oriole had any idea what they should do, Oriole came up blank. His usual trick items were back at the orphanage- all he’d brought along were his lock-picking tools.

“… Pants him?” Oriole suggested first, for lack of a better option. But pantsing the man didn’t seem humiliating enough. Whatever they did had to stick, had to really show him that he was a jerk.

“Wait! You’re a shapeshifter, right? What if you transformed into some kind of animal, and we spooked the caravan master a little?”

And then maybe they would pants him, but that part was optional. Either way, Oriole wouldn’t let that jerk get away with upsetting his mentor or his new friend!

On the other side of the caravan, Cyran was keeping an eye on the caravan master. He had a feeling that he knew what Oriole was plotting, and while he couldn’t let himself get involved… he could always turn a blind eye. He would intervene if things went south, but Oriole had to learn how to pick his own battles, and he couldn’t profess any love for the caravan leader. He would just sit back and see how this played out.

"Yeah! That sounds like a great idea! What should I turn into?" Blue Raspberry replied excitedly.

They thought about it with Oriole, trying to decide what creature the shapeshifting ooze could turn into to give the grumpy caravan leader a fright. The list of animals that they actually could turn into was probably shorter than one might expect for the ooze, but they couldn't turn into every creature under the sun. There was a limit to the forms they could take on. Typically, it had to be the form of something they were familiar with, often something they'd eaten once or twice before in their travels, though even then they couldn't turn into everything they'd ever eaten. Even Blue Raspberry wasn't completely sure why they could change into some things, but not into others. Perhaps some creatures were just more complicated.

Blue Raspberry just listed off some of the creatures they were capable of taking the shape of, not explaining how or why to Oriole. Eventually, the two smiled to each other mischievously after settling on the form Blue Raspberry would be taking. They made sure no one was looking their way before the knight's body changed, their armor disappearing into the purple goo and after a moment, Oriole had a purple-scaled snake in his hands, ready to prank the caravan leader.

“Yes, a snake is perfect!” If Oriole’s arms were not full of Purple Snakeberry, he would have been rubbing his hands together conspiratorially at such a scheme. A snake would be the perfect form to give the caravan master a scare, while not being overly violent. “I bet if I sneak you up on his cart, you’ll give him such a fright that he’ll fall over in shock!” Oriole said triumphantly, the idea making perfect sense to him.

Yes, this would be the perfect justice for that jerk!

“I know you can’t respond to me right now, but thank you for being so nice to Master Cyran.” Oriole whispered as he snuck closer to the cart where the caravan leader was sitting next to the driver. “I won’t let that jerk get away with insulting you guys.” With those words, he crept closer to the cart, sticking to the shadows like Master Cyran taught him.

Meanwhile, Cyran was watching his apprentice try his hand at sneaking when the caravan leader snapped his fingers, getting Cyran’s attention. “You- elf- where are the others?” He demanded before shaking his head. “Doesn’t matter, I need you to get your ass up here and help me navigate.” He held up the map in his hands, shaking it expectantly. “We should be getting to the border soon and I don’t want us getting turned every which way!”

“Of course.” Cyran sighed, making his way up to the cart, helping the leader make sense of where they were and how far they still had left to go. As he was talking, he noticed movement out of the corner of his eye- a snake in a familiar shade of purple.

Ah, so that was what Oriole had planned.

Cyran gave the snake a subtle nod behind the leader’s back in greeting, turning his attention back to the map while Wolfe went about his business scaring the man. As promised, he would not interfere.

In the shadows, Oriole, who had just released the snake, was stifling his giggles behind his gloved hands.

The purple snake quietly slithered forward as the caravan leader was focused on his map, trying to navigate the train of wagons to their destination in Frostgale with the help of Cyran. They huffed in annoyance as they drew their path across the map with their finger, trying to see where they had gone away from the path. The answer was fairly obvious. They must not have fully corrected their course after needing to take such a far detour thanks to the unexpected chasm. They'd drawn their path across the Lightning Fields without doing their homework properly, and so hadn't been aware of the chasm's existence until they came across it in person. An amateurish mistake that the man would never admit to making.

"We were supposed to pass by a large rock a day ago. This map must be wrong! It's missing landmarks and full of ones that don't exist! At this rate, we'll pass the damn fort by miles. We'll miss the deadline if we have to turn back around. This is ridiculous! You're an adventurer. You should know how to navigate or whatever, you help get us back on track and then go find those useless pals of yours and tell them to get back to work!" he complained to Cyran as he handed him the map.

He knew he probably should have hired an actual navigator instead of just trying to take on the task himself to save some solars. He hoped the experienced adventurer would be able to solve this. Adventurers travelled a lot. Surely they must have some navigation knowledge! The  leader hadn't even wanted to hire guards. That's why he'd settled on just getting a few adventurers for cheap instead. And he was glad he had hired them even if he would never say it to them, or anyone really. They definitely would have died to that giant bird without them. But still, he grew increasingly annoyed by their lack of focus and seriousness. They needed to stop being so relaxed and focus on their job! He hardly noticed at all as the purple snake began to slither up his pant leg.

“I’m sure it’s just because we got turned to the side- if you see here, we’re here, near this landmark…” A flash of movement from the purple python nearly caught the caravan leader’s eye before Cyran jabbed at a picture of a rock on the road, turning his attention back to the map. “Look, we had to follow a ravine here and got turned northward. It’s actually putting us closer to Frostgale’s border here.” He gestured to the line between the countries that they were getting close to. It seemed that their detour had actually set them closer to the country than expected.

Cyran flashed the leader a patient smile. “See? We will make it in good time.”

The leader grumbled, looking reluctant, though even he could admit that they were lucky enough despite their setbacks. Just as he was about to say something, though, he felt something odd at his pant leg. The caravan leader bolted up in shock. “What was that?”

“I didn’t see anything.” Cyran lied.

“I swear I felt something. You didn’t see anything? You’re supposed to be watching for any threats!”

“I have been watching for threats.” Cyran said as the caravan leader stood abruptly, trying to figure out what was causing that strange crawling sensation, frantically clawing at his pant legs, but he was too late to stop whatever was happening from happening. He kicked his leg in the air, suppressing a terrorized scream that sounded more like a cat’s yowl than a human scream.

“Get it off of me!” He cried as Cyran sat there with a nonchalant expression on his face, in no particular rush to get to his feet and help. The caravan leader wobbled in the cart, frantically tearing at his pants before he tripped on his own two feet, falling face-first on the pavement. As he tried to get his pants off, his belt came loose, and he… pantsed himself as he fell, nearly flinging the python into the air.

Behind the wagon, Oriole couldn’t contain his laughter. Wolfe had really shown that guy! Hopefully now for the rest of the journey he would be too embarrassed to be any more of an asshole, and Master Cyran and Wolfe would be able to complete the trip in peace.

Purple Snakeberry landed on the ground, hidden inside the thrown away pants of the caravan leader who was rolling on the ground, their hands on their face. The snake slithered out of the pants. They were about to simply make their escape under the wagon, but they thought of something fun. Their head whipped around to see the man was too distracted by their fall to do anything, and grabbed the pants in their mouth. They started to devour the pants, slurping the legs into their mouth like oversized macaroni noodles.

The caravan leader got to their knees and removed their hands from their face, a trickle of blood running from their nose which had hit the ground rather hard when they fell. They looked at the blood on their hands and let out a weak cry of alarm before placing one hand back onto their nose again. Out of the corner of their eye they saw the movement and turned to see the bottoms of their pant legs disappearing into the snake's mouth. They just stared in silent horror for a moment before suddenly starting to shout for help.

Blue Raspberry immediately turned and fled under the wagon, ignoring the shouts of the man behind them. They came out from the other side of the wagon and slithered up into the back of the wagon. Hidden inside, they quickly reassumed their armored knight form and stepped out of the wagon just in time to see the caravan leader emerged from around the corner with a look of panic.

"You! Knight guy! Where have you been!? A snake! A snake attacked me and it-" he looked down with incredible embarrassment. "It ate my pants...!" he mumbled, knowing how preposterous his story sounded.

"I was just keeping guard and heard shouting a came over. You said a snake ate your pants? I'll look for it immediately!" Blue Raspberry gave a salute and ran away, pretending to look around for a pants-eating snake.

Cyran watched as the snake disappeared with the caravan leader’s pants under the wagon, only to pop back out in his human form, offering to help the leader search for his pants. Cyran stood frozen for a minute, unable to stop from wondering how he always managed to find himself in these kinds of pants-related shenanigans. He was not a trickster or a malicious person by any means, and yet, this marked the second time he’d found himself either directly- or indirectly in this case- causing someone to lose their pants.

He sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose in exasperation as Wolfe went off ‘in search of the mysterious missing pants’ and Oriole giggled quietly in a corner, clearly pleased with himself. He figured now was a good a time to put an end to these antics as any before these two children, Wolfe included in that statement, got into any further trouble.

“I will go find your pants, sir.” Cyran promised. “And… the snake that took them, if I can.”

He set off after the snake in question, who was poking around in some tall grass, not particularly hurried. Cyran made his arrival as silently as ever, putting his hand on Wolfe’s shoulder to get his attention. “You’ve got the pants, right? It was a funny joke, but we should return them to the leader now.” He said with a ghost of a laugh, expecting Wolfe to produce the pants from a hiding place around here somewhere.

“I don’t know, they said a snake ate them.” Wolfe replied, attempting to keep their voice straight but failing to stifle their giggles.

Cyran immediately stopped laughing.

“… Did you eat his pants?” Cyran asked in disbelief- the idea was so ridiculous that he didn’t even want to entertain it, but given that he’d watched Wolfe eat a piece of glass without so much as flinching, and throw up an entire hoard of treasure in his bathroom, it was not outside the realm of possibility.

“Oh, you definitely ate his pants. Okay.” Cyran sighed again. “We’re about to enter Frostgale, he’s probably going to need something to keep himself warm. I’ll go dig through the supplies to see if there’s any spare clothes.”

He spun around, ready to make his way back to the wagons, when a stray thought stopped him. Had he been too rude? He hadn’t been attempting to a hold the knight, especially when it was not his place to do so. Hastily, he added, “But you made Oriole smile, so thank you for that. No more pranks, though.”

He made his way back to the wagons in search of a spare pair of pants for the unfortunate man who was still red-faced and barking orders at frazzled subordinates. They needed to get back on the road soon if they wanted to make it to the border on time.

Blue Raspberry was glad Cyran wasn't mad at them for the prank and that Oriole had enjoyed it so much. They had fun pulling it off themself. But, it was time to get serious again. They got a little payback on the caravan leader for being so rude to all of them, but they still had to do their job and keep the wagons safe and moving.

The caravan leader was arrogant and spiteful and had ordered the wagons to stop until the snake had been found and his pants retrieved. They practically forgot about their supposedly tight schedule and close deadline now that they had been made to look like a fool. It was a little suspicious, but then again, he could just be that much of an idiot. It was hard to say. Blue Raspberry didn't think very deeply into it though, not really noticing anything out of the ordinary. Facts not piling up usually weren't noticed by the ooze.

Blue Raspberry walked behind Cyran and put a hand on their shoulder to stop him. They looked around for a moment to make sure no one was paying the pair any attention. Walking forward to stand next to Cyran, they put their arm behind thair back and pulled a bundle of cloth from beneath their cloak and handed it to Cyran nonchalantly before continuing to walk forward, ahead of him.

The unusually smooth maneuver for the knight was almost immediately ruined by them turning around and giving two thumbs up before turning and running off absolutely chalantly.

It also didn't help that the bundle of cloth in Cyran's hands was soaked in a purple, slimy substance.

Wolfe stopped Cyran before he could return to the caravan. Cyran paused, tilting his head to the side curiously as Wolfe reached behind their cloak and pulled out a purple, sticky, goop-covered bundle of cloth and dropped it right in Cyran’s arms.

“Um.” Cyran paused, searching for the right words to make sense of this utterly incomprehensible situation. Wolfe certainly seemed proud of themselves, as they started walking forward with a casual demeanor, leaving Cyran more puzzled than he’d been before. “Uh, where did this come from?”

Wolfe only turned around and flashed Cyran two thumbs up, turning back without a word, leaving Cyran with only the certainty that he would not be receiving an answer as to where this article of clothing came from.

“… Alright then.” At least it wasn’t as bad as when they’d left a mess in his bathroom back at the orphanage. Cyran ran his jacket sleeve over the pants in an attempt to get some of the purple hoop substance off; his attempts were in vain, as it seemed to have seeped into the fabric, but it would have to do for now.

He grimaced, wiping his sleeve on his own pant leg- it would need to be washed later- and made his way back to the group after Wolfe. The leader turned his nose up at the proffered pants at first, until Cyran explained with as much patience as he could muster that these were the best they could do, and it was better than wandering around with bare legs. Eventually, he relented, though he bitched a great deal about the weird purple stuff while he did so. Once he was finally dressed once more, he barked an order for the wagons to resume their truck, and they continued on their way back onto the road, rapidly approaching Frostgale’s borders.

As they grew closer to Frostgale, the air became colder. A chill breeze blew across the caravan and white clouds filled the sky in the distance. Their destination was rapidly approaching.

Most of the crew felt relieved that they would be finished this journey soon. The adventurers weren't the only ones tired of the caravan leader's attitude and they couldn't wait to arrive in Frostgale. However, one crew member was quickly starting to dread their arrival. Blue Raspberry felt sluggish, the cold making their ooze start to freeze and solidify. Moving around became increasingly difficult as the weather grew colder. Their conductive metal armor didn't help at all either. The knight ran slowly up to the only one in the caravan that they thought might be able to help them in this unexpected situation that they really should have expected.

"Cyran, I'm freezing! And smoking! How do you survive in this cold?" they asked the man urgently, but quietly, trying not to draw any of the attention of the others.

Everyone's breath was starting to become visible in the cold, the white vapor blowing out of their mouths as they exhaled. It made it obvious that Blue Raspberry didn't breath in quite the same way as those around them. The white mist escaped from the gaps in their armor as they breathed through what passed for their skin in a similar fashion to an amphibian. They wrapped their displacer beast cloak more tightly around them to try and hide this from view.