Blue Raspberry clanked along the mountain path with Astrid, her pet hellhound and robot babysitter, Spicy Pawsage, and Charles, following close behind. The knight had a giddiness in their step as they marched up the slope. They were excited for what they were on their way to do, even though they didn't expect to be able to do it in a cave. They were going fishing! The ooze loved fish! They went exploring the ocean for a while after splitting up with Astrid once, and they had a great time eating all the seafood. Did it count as seafood if it was going to be from a cave? Well, they'd probably love cavefood too!

Blue Raspberry hadn't payed the greatest of attention as Astrid had explained the mission to them. They just got excited when she said something about a cave fisher and agreed to come along and help. They also didn't question at all why Astrid needed to bring her weapons and wear her armor, but the ooze was just used to wearing their own armor almost all the time anyways, maybe Astrid was too.

"Hey, is that the cave with the fish?" Blue Raspberry asked excitedly, pointing to a dark hole in the rocky wall ahead of them that the path lead up to.

SPOILER: Click to show

Quest Name: Hook, line and sinker
Chapter: One
Description: A simple mission, go into the cave, and defeat the fisher there. However as you enter you quickly realize its not just one, but four of these creatures. They can attach to surfaces, blend in to their environment and even emit sticky web like substances that can restrain enemies. This is a full out fight for survival, not only for yourself but for anyone else who might be stuck in there.

Requirements:
- Requires at least two people (you and one other, if the other participant does not qualify they will not gain the reward. )
- You must make at least 7 post to complete the mission with each post being at least 200 words
- Must defeat the group of cave fishers who have holed up and captured locals
- Once you complete this mission you have completed this quest chain and may turn in the mission.

With a crude map in her hands, Astrid looks ahead to where Blue Raspberry is pointing. The cave looks nothing like the drawing in her hands, but it's a cave, and it's roughly where they're supposed to be looking. That seems right to her! 

"Aye, that's probably it!" she says, rolling up the map and tucking it away. "But, we're not lookin' fer fish in there, we're lookin' fer Cave Fishers. Which... I guess are some kinda monsters that live in caves. Maybe they fish fer people? The mayor of that village said some of their folks have gone missin' after bein' attacked by these things, so we're here ta look fer them!" 

This cave seems pretty normal, not particularly different than most other caves she's been in. They've just got to be on the lookout for weird cave crabs. With that in mind, Astrid strolls right into the cave with her eyes peeled for anything unusual or any signs of the creatures they're here to hunt. It's wider than it is tall, which she's grateful for because she's short, and it gives her enough space to swing her hammers. This could be a relatively easy job, but if there are people inside, they need to move quickly. 

A good fifty feet in, Astrid's vision in the darkness spots two figures investigating some kind of webbing on some rocks. At first, she starts to approach cautiously, but then she recognizes the charcoal tiefling Zarius and somewhat recognizes a snowy leopard man. 

"Eh? Mister Zarius? What're ya doin' here?" she asks, throwing away stealth for clompy speed. "Ya remember me friend Wolfe, right?" Astrid motions back to the knight at her heels. "And Charles and Spicy Pawsage." 

---

Night vision

Zarius and Snow first found the cave a few minutes prior to Astrid and Blue's arrival. They were on the trail of a smuggler supposedly transporting some contraband across the Dragon's Spine to an unknown location. Aiming to intercept this smuggler for their own purposes, Zarius and Snow tracked the man through the wilderness until they arrived within the abandoned cave. Their progress was slowed in order to proceed with caution, wary of traps and any other hazards that may be within the cave. 

The two look up from the sticky webbed rock as they hear the sound of approaching footsteps. Zarius slips his hands into his pockets, his fingers on his knuckle knives in case whoever was cutting off their escape was hostile towards them. Peering through the darkness only to see two familiar faces appear out of the gloom, Zarius stands up and puts on a toothy smile. 

"Miss Astrid, what a surprise. If you are here looking for miners to save I am afraid you will find none." He gives a nod to Blue but then gives Astrid a confused look.

"Wolfe?...Ah, yes, good to see you as well Mister Wolfe." He nods to Blue as well though he is not sure why Astrid is giving a different name than before. Assuming there is a legitimate reason for it, he plays along. "This is Snow, they work for me."

The catfolk stands up as well and tucks their bow back around their shoulder. "Nice to meet you all."

"We were tracking a criminal and followed the trail to this cave. Seems they are hiding somewhere inside." The tiefling explains, gesturing back deeper into the cave. "What about you? What are you doing here?" 

"Wait, we're not looking for fish?" Blue Raspberry replied, surprised. _{"I really wanted some fish... Well, maybe these monsters might taste good..."} they mumbled to themself as they walked up the path and into the cave.

They were really surprised to see Zarius here, but not upset. They liked the Tiefling man. He gave them lots of food the last time they met! But they were also a little nervous. He had stared at Blue for most of the meal, definitely noticing they weren't entirely normal. They needed to do a better job of hiding that they were an ooze. Practically all of Astrid's other friends that they'd met already knew though, or at least that they were certainly not a normal human.

The knight gave a wave to Zarius and Snow, taking off their helmet to properly introduce themself to snow, revealing their humanoid face complete with blue eyes, hair, and beard, pointed ears, and enlarged canines in their toothy grin. "Hey, nice to meet you! I'm Wolfe!" they said friendlily, facing Snow. Their voice echoed down the tunnel. They may have been a little too loud. "We're looking for fishermen in these caves that are catching people cuz the mayor misses them!" They replied to Zarius, their explanation attempting to repeat what Astrid had said on the way here and completely botching it. They stood there with a big smile, as if everything they'd just said made perfect sense, and to the ooze, maybe it did.

The temptation for Astrid to introduce her hand to her forehead is high, but she's pretty used to Blue Raspberry's antics and misunderstanding. "Um, that's mostly right," she says, trying not to giggle. "The mayor of the village nearby said some creatures called Cave Fishers have snagged some of the locals. We're here lookin' fer 'em." 

She looks past Zarius at the fluffy cat person, and she struggles to contain a girlish squeal. They're so cute and fluffy. It's rude to ask to pet people, Astrid. It's rude to ask to pet people... "Nice ta meet ya, Snow. I'm Astrid! Mister Zarius might've mentioned me before. Ya know, after our last mission together, he got real inta it." Astrid gives Zarius a sly look, wondering if he'll add any context or try to correct before she says too much. She's still deciding if she'll let him live it down. At the time, Zarius was so out of it that she decided better than to press the issue. 

Charles speaks up, looking between the group then settling on Astrid. "Mistress Astrid, query: If the local populace is in danger, should we not pursue the missing civilians with more urgency?" 

"Oh, yeah," Astrid says, snapping her fingers together. "We could all go look together! Seems a weird place fer a criminal ta rush off ta. Must not be a local." At this point she notices the webbing strung between the rocks and the cave wall. "A big spider musta made that..." 

Snow tilts their head a bit and looks at Zarius with a curious head tilt.

The tiefling ignores the look and nods to Astrid and Wolfe. "Looking together is fine with me, the more eyes and ears the better." He gestures back to the webbing. "Cave Fishers explains the webbing, right?" He asks the catfolk. 

Snow nods. "Yes, Cave Fishers use webbing to hunt their prey and protect their nests. They are ambush predators so we will need to keep our eyes on the ceiling."

"Easy enough." Zarius starts to rummage through his bag and hands Snow a potion bottle. The bottle and its swirling dark purple contents is familiar to Astrid as she has one of her own.^[1]

Snow takes the potion and tucks it away in their belt pouch for quick access should it be needed. 

The tiefling then walks over and hands Astrid a small round object on a string and holds it out for her to take.^[2] "If we get separated, you can use that to communicate with us. The man we are after may be armed or have set up traps, be mindful of that in addition to the Cave Fishers and anything else that may be living in here. Snow and I can scout ahead if you and Mister Wolfe can watch our backs."

Astrid had proven before that she was more than capable of sticking to a plan and executing it to the best of her ability. Zarius wasn't too sure if Wolfe could do the same since they hadn't yet worked together on something like this. The strange man still was an enigma to the tiefling, but Astrid was pretty clever for her age and has clearly matured a lot in the recent months. He was willing to trust Astrid's judgement and give the blue-haired man the benefit of the doubt, at least for now. He didn't have the time to really look into who or what this Wolfe person really was, though it was pretty clear the Astrid was keeping some sort of secret for the man. 

"Let us go. Be careful." He nods to Snow and they start off down the tunnel to descend deeper into the cave, trusting Astrid and Wolfe to follow. 

---

[1] Potion of Shadows
[2] Talking Heads

Blue Raspberry looked at Astrid with a curious expression. They hadn't heard about this story before. What was her and Zarius' last mission together? The tactless, mood illiterate ooze just had to ask.

"He got real inta what? I never heard this story before." They asked innocently, not picking up on even the slightest hint of this not being something Zarius wanted to talk about from him not explaining a thing to Snow and ignoring her statement entirely. They looked back and forth between Astrid and Zarius for a moment, but received no explanation. They looked at Snow, sharing a look of curiosity and a hint of confusion.

Blue just nodded at Snows explanation and put their helmet back on. Cave fishers, right, that was exactly what they definitely knew they were here to fight, not fish! Of course they knew that all along! They'd keep their eyes on the ceiling!

But, then Zarius asked them to watch his and Snow's backs. Well, which way were they supposed to be looking?  Forward, at their backs, or up, at the ceiling? Do they keep their eyes on the ceiling, or on their backs? This was too confusing! They leaned down and whispered to Astrid as they walked behind the two.

"Astrid, I'm confused! Are we supposed to look at their backs, or at the ceiling?"

Astrid glances between Blue Raspberry and Zarius and decides to be a bit vague, especially since Zarius didn't quite remember exactly what happened during their last encounter. "Let's just say Mister Zarius likes ta play with fire." 

Seeing the communication device being offered, Astrid introduces her palm to her forehead. "Shoot! I knew I was forgettin' somethin' on our last shoppin' trip!" She once again forgot to find her own version of these communicators. One day she's going to remember to get them! Astrid takes it from Zarius and tucks it into a pouch on her belt. She'll be sure not to drop this one off a cliff. 

"Right, we'll stick ta the rear and watch yer backs," she agrees with a nod. Being that she and Blue Raspberry aren't the stealthiest nor the most observant of the bunch, it makes sense for them to hang back. With Blue confused, she looks toward them. "We're gonna stay back a little ways and make sure nothin' sneaks up on 'em from behind. That's watchin' someone's back. But check the ceilin' from time ta time ta make sure nothin's gonna drop down either."

With Zarius and Snow setting off, Astrid decides an extra set of eyes won't hurt. "I'll send Miss Melodia ahead with ya too," she says. A ghost who can phase through walls could be a helpful companion. Astrid summons forth the magic to manifest Melodia. "Hiya Miss Melodia, will ya go with Zarius an' Snow?"

"Zarius?" Melodia looks around, and her eyes land on the tiefling with a motherly stare. "How good to see you again, Zarius. I trust this mission will be less dangerous than the last?" 

"It'll be fine, Melodia!" Astrid says, dismissing her worries away with a wave of the hand. "Blue's here with me too. We're huntin' monsters and criminals!" 

"Yes, well, you two be careful. You're both heavy of foot and quite like getting into trouble," the ghost says with a sigh before hovering after the two scouts. 

---

Call Ghost

Zarius glances back at the two as Astrid calls upon Melodia. The whole ghost thing was still pretty weird to him but Astrid was a weird kid so he's learned to not question things too much. "Always a pleasure, Miss Melodia. Hopefully there will not be any angry Girallons in this cave."

Snow just stares at Melodia until Zarius gives them a sharp elbow to the side. "Ow! What was that for?" The catfolk hisses a bit.

"It is rude to stare at someone," the tiefling replies. 

"Can you blame me? I wasn't expecting a ghost." The catfolk huffs but refocuses on the task rather than the ghostly specter hovering near them.

Scouting ahead, the pair plus ghost move silently through the cavern. Snow hangs back a little bit, hindered by the darkness of the cave while Zairus peers through the gloom with his gleaming yellow eyes.^[1] So far there are no signs of any trip wires, hidden pits, or traps. Though they do come across more webbing as they descend deeper into the darkness. Some of the natural shapes of the cavern give way to more man-made architecture. 

"That's strange." Snow keeps their voice down as they look around at the blocks of stone clearly intended to define walls and archways. 

"Appears to be dwarven." The tiefling glances at the roof of the cavern with its handling stalactites. There's no movement...yet.

---

[1] Dark Vision

"Oh, got it!" Blue Raspberry replied to Astrid. They appreciated the clear instructions and explanation, something Astrid was probably used to having to give the ooze often by now. They walked along next to Astrid with a lot more confidence now that they actually knew what they were supposed to be doing. Blue gave a little wave to Melodia when she appeared as a friendly greeting to the ghostly woman.

As they descended deeper into the cave and the light of the cave opening faded away behind them, it became harder and harder for Blue Raspberry to see. They knew Astrid could see in the dark just fine, and apparently Zarius could too. Blue Raspberry ended up walking a bit behind Astrid, similarly to Snow and Zarius.

As the natural cave begins to give way to stonework and bricks, empty torch holders began to line the walls. For architecture made by Dwarves, a very stout people, the ceilings were incredibly high. Some sections of the wall, instead of being lined with the plain stone bricks, were constructed of stone pieces cut into a mural. One mural was of a mountain scene with a giant centaur standing over it all. It might have been more appreciated if there was any light to bring the colors to life, but the grout lines were enough to get the image across even in the dark.

More and more web hung between the pillars and walls above the group as they walked and eventually the tunnel split into multiple directions. As the group stopped and thought about which way to go, Blue suddenly felt something in the air like an electrical current that suddenly caught their attention. They stepped forward and whispered to Astrid.

"Hey Astrid, can you ask Mister Zarius if that criminal he's chasing can use magic? I think I just felt someone cast a spell in that direction." They asked and pointed to the tunnel on their right.

---

Expanded Mind

If Astrid had a copper for every cave she went into that turned out to be an old dwarf home, she'd have two coppers, which isn't a lot, but it's weird that it's happened twice. 

The half-dwarf slows her walk to a stop, seeing the relief carving of a towering centaur man. That must be Ginma! But something about the face seems angry. And he's pointing toward something in an adjacent mural. The area Ginma's hand points is covered by webbing, so Astrid squats down and tries to clear the web, but it's sticky on her gauntlets. She punches her fits together to create flames and burns the webs away, shedding a little bit of light and revealing some carved, geometric lightning bolts emanating from something at the bottom of the relief. 

To her dismay, whatever the bolts of lightning emanate from has been scratched from the surface. Some of the scuffs are recent, possibly from these Cave Fishers' legs. With a sigh, she stands up and looks around. Several other reliefs have worn away with time and scuffs from the chitinous creatures they're hunting. 

"Weird that Ginma seems mad..." she murmurs. If they weren't on a time crunch, she'd start exploring more details of this place. At least it's not too far from home, so they can come back another time if they need to. 

They continue down the tunnel to avoid getting left behind by Zarius and Snow. Her head tilts when Blue Raspberry calls out the use of magic, and she looks at them. "Aye, sure, I can ask 'im," she says, pulling out the communicator and speaking into it. "Oi, Mister Zarius, can yer criminal use magic? Wolfe says they can feel someone usin' magic farther in."

---

Following behind Snow and Zarius, Melodia also notices the dwarven nature of the cave. "Interesting," she muses quietly. "You know, Astrid recently came across a much older dwarf home in Frost Gale. The place was in ruins, and yetis made it their home. Strangest thing, though. The yetis spoke dwarvish. I suppose it'd certainly be strange if these cave creatures did the same." 

It's about that time that Astrid's voice comes over the communicator. 

---

Spitfire Gauntlets 
Talking heads
Call Ghost [post 2/3]

"I did not know that," Zairus responds to the ghost as they continue down the corridor before coming to an intersection with another hall running from left to right. "Those yetis sound smarter than the one I fought with Vikram. All it communicated was that it was angry and hungry."

The tiefling pauses a the intersection and glances down both pathways. One seems to end in a pile of collapsed rubble that might have fell down from the ceiling during an earthquake, while the other continues for a bit before turning a corner. "Left it is."

He starts down that way just as he hears Astrid’s voice over the small orb which he fishes out of his pocket. He frowns a bit and looks around before responding into it. "I am not certain. We will keep an eye out for anything strange though."

Snow looks around when something from the hall in front of them glints in the darkness. They squint at the stone surface which has a small hole bore through it when something flashes from behind the wall. The catfolk's eyes widen then suddenly glaze over as they take a step back from the wall.

Zarius notices that Snow is not immediately following him. "Snow, do not fall behind."

The catfolk nods and catches up with the tiefling. Silently stepping up behind him, they quickly draw their bow across the tiefling's neck and get him in a grapple.

Not expecting to be jumped by his own ally, the tiefling drops the sphere he was using to talk to Astrid with. "What are you doing?!" Zarius hisses and grabs onto the bow to try and pull it away from his throat.

The catfolk growls and throws their weight against his back, trying to overpower him. Zarius grits his teeth and bashes his head backwards into Snow's face and digs his feet in to keep his balance. Snow snarls one of Zarius' horns jams into the side of their face and some blood seeps through their thick fur. 

"Miss Melodia! Warn Miss Astrid and Mister Wolfe that something is wrong with Snow!" Zarius calls to the ghost. 

Blue Raspberry couldn't see that well in the dark, but they could suddenly hear some sounds ahead of a struggle. When Melodia's voice came over the communication device, it only confirmed that there was something going on ahead of them. Along with Astrid, Blue started to run forward to try and help, but the armored knight suddenly faceplanted on the ground with a loud, metallic clang across the stone floor. Just as suddenly as they had fallen, Blue Raspberry felt themself being lifted into the air by their feet! Stuck to the heels of their metal boots and binding them together, a thick string of white webbing was rapidly being reeled up toward the darkness of the ceiling above with the knight dangling upside down from it.

Blue thought of a solution as quickly as they could. The ooze's arm extended, the metal plates of their armor separating to expose the blue goo inside. Their ooze-covered hand hit the ground with a wet slap and stuck there. Their upward movement halted as they suddenly became stuck in the middle of some strange tug-of-war between the floor and the ceiling. The thread pulling them up grew more and more taut as the cave fisher above kept trying to reel in the knight that was now stuck to the floor.

The cave fisher attacking, someone casting a spell nearby, and whatever had happened to Snow occurring simultaneously, was it just a coincidence? There was no way. Whatever was going on, there definitely seemed to be some kind of coordination behind it!

"Don't worry, I'm fine! Go help Mister Zarius and Snow!" Blue reassured Astrid, giving a thumbs up with their free hand that was actually pointing toward the ground.

---

Soft Body
Slimy Hands

Skidding to a stop, Astrid whips around to see Blue Raspberry being dragged toward the ceiling, or at least, whatever it is sure is making an attempt. Her eyes follow the web, darting up to look at the ceiling only to see a creature that is slightly less horrifying than - what did that researcher call it? Larry?? Well, it's big, it's a bug with pinchers. It's some awful combination of spider and scorpion. 

Why do all the caves have ugly bugs? Why couldn't it be yetis again?

"I ain't leavin' ya!" she shouts, summoning forth her war hammer, sparking with electricity. "Ya can't see in the dark, and Zarius'll be fine. Probably!"

Astrid flings her hammer up at the cave fisher on the ceiling. The heavy, magical weapon slams into the chitinous armor of the creature, but it only cracks it. The creature screeches and snaps its pincers, scuttling back and attempting to take the ooze knight with it. Gravity takes the hammer, and it falls to the ground, leaving a small crater in the floor where it lands. 

Charles tries to dive for cover, but the Pawn's foot is caught in some webbing between the floor and wall. Despite his best efforts, he cannot free himself. "Mistress Astrid, report: This unit's foot is caught in what appears to be webbing. Additional report: this unit is unable to free itself." 

"Just sit tight!" she shouts, rushing back to Blue Raspberry and gripping their cuirass, trying to help pull them away from the webbing. 

"Mistress Astrid, analysis: Due to this unit's foot being caught, this unit is unable to 'sit tight' as you demand."

"Can it, tin can! I'll get ya in a minute!" 

If she had a knife, she could cut the webbing! Her hammers won't do any good!

---

Hearing the struggle over the communicator, Melodia looks over at Zarius. "It seems they've run into some trouble of their own." She can feel the magic keeping her around fading. "I'm going to return and tell them which way you went!" Then she phases through a wall, rushing toward her wards. 

"Astrid!" she calls, coming upon the scene and seeing Astrid struggle in a panic. There's no time to take it all in. "Astrid, the magic holding me will go soon. Zarius and Snow went left at the split!"

Through her teeth, Astrid replies, "'Kay! Thanks!"

Melodia's form flickers. "Try fire, dear!" she shouts as she fades away. 

Fire? Of course! "B-Blue, can ya take the heat?" the girl asks through a grimace.

---

Call Ghost [post 3/3]
war hammer - bonded, heavy, pale ice

Great. Of course everything goes wrong all at once. The tiefling hopes that Astrid and Blue can hold their own while he deals with Snow and hopefully whatever has driven the catfolk into a delusional attempt on Zarius' life. 

"I will apologize later." Zarius jams his head back to try and get Snow off him.

This time, the catfolk avoids getting hit with a horn to the face and tries to slam the tiefling against the stone wall. Zarius fortunately has a lot more hand to hand combat experience than the catfolk. He uses that experience to reverse Snow's hold and slam the archer into the wall.

Snow snarls and loses their hold on their bow. It clatters to the stone floor, then Zarius uses his tail to grab it and toss it far out of reach.^[1] The catfolk tries to rips their claws into the tiefling's arms, but Zarius' grip is not so easily broken.^[2] He forces Snow to the ground and throws a punch right into the side of their face. 

"Snap out of it!"

The catfolk winces from the blow, but it isn't enough to break the hold whatever foul magic has taken over them. Zarius huffs and draws his fist back to punch Snow again. He hesitates when there's a shout of alarm from down the hall. Oddly enough in the opposite direction from where Astrid and Wolfe are currently fighting a cave fisher. 

"Fucking hell! Damn bugs!" The voice shouts. 

Zarius narrows his eyes then swiftly knocks his fist into the side of Snow's head, knocking them out for the time being. 

---

[1] Prehensile Tail
[2] Iron Grip