Admittedly, there was nothing Fish hated more than rainy field jobs. In the city it was fine, the rain help cover their steps and kept people inside which mean fewer prying eyes. Out in nature? There were no eyes to unpry, so the rain was just annoying and cold. They pulled their hood up over their face to at least keep most of it from their eyes.

They only reason Fish was out here was because apparently the kenku has to do things legitimately if they are going to do them as a part of the guild. These rules are stupid and Fish might just tear the whole system down because they have been mildly inconvenienced. Fine. If they want to do it this way, Fish will oblige for the time being.

Fish has recently gained access to the formula for Blink potions, something that could come in handy, but more ingredients were needed. Mainly, things that could help you teleport. In essence teleporting is just moving fast, so something that has enough potentially energy in it could be used. The Lightning Fields was flush with little fulgurites, formations only possible through lightning. Grounded up and added to a potion the latent energy could make it possible.

Fish just had to figure out how to recover one and worry about any beasts that might call this place home.

When Astrid hears that her mute friend Fish would be coming to Dragon's Cradle, she jumps at the opportunity to meet them in the fields. She's been so busy with everything else going on that she's barely had any time to look for crafting materials to make things for the Golden Consortium. She's found a few things here and there, but she has yet to find anything to bind those materials together for proper potions while on the move. Finally, she hopes to have some luck. 

On the back of her new pegasus, Arcus, Astrid flies down and lands a ways away from the little black kenku, the majestic flying horse slowing itself to a stop with the dull thud of hooves in the patchy grass of the fields. "Hiya, Fish!" she says, hopping out of the saddle and landing with her own thick thud on the dirt. "Hope yer doin' alright since last I saw ya. Ready ta find some reagents?" Pulling out her field guide, Astrid flips through the pages to look for some idea of what to get. "It says we need some kinda liquid."

---

Bringing pets:
Arcus - reindeer (pegasus)
Spicy Pawsage (pet pocket)

Quest info:

SPOILER: Click to show

Quest Name: All the small things
Chapter: One
Description: You have been sent out to locate and recover different types of reagents used to create and craft unique kinds of potions. This can be dangerous, tedious or just flat out exhausting, but this material can provide access to powerful effects. How you go about discovering and retrieving the material is completely up to you, as long as the requirements below are met.
Requirements:
- Requires at least two people (you and one other, the other does not need to be interested in the guild)
- You must make at least 5 post with each post being 150 words to complete the mission.
- You must locate and obtain reagent material (can be from nature or a creature)
- Once completed guild members will receive one Crafting Reagent
- Non guild members can go on this quest and pay 50 Solars to purchase one single use potion using this Crafting Reagent
- This quest can be completed multiple times.

“Fish estimated this would be a good place to find reagents. The lightning infused in the area could provide a good catalyst to help break down other items.” They turn to look at Astrid, tilting their head at the flying horse. That was new.

There were a lot of options they had for collecting liquids in this area. Fish had heard about the small pools of water that get struck by lightning, not to mention the menagerie of magical beasts that dotted the area. The question was how much fighting or sneaking they wanted to do. It did help having a local around though, Fish knew they could trust Astrid.

They turn to look back to the Lightning Fields. This was a worrisome place in some respects, wide and open. It wasn’t forgiving to someone who preferred having a plethora of hiding spots. Beggars can’t be choosers. Fish gave a quick check of their items once more before looking to Astrid.

“Fish is ready to go, if Astrid is. There are many options for reagents here, Fish would recommend we focus on one to collect before moving forward.” They nod firmly before giving the half-dwarf time to think and prepare herself before they head out.

“Oh yeah, I got a static root up in the mountains ta take ta the Consortium when I was first joinin’,” Astrid says. “That sure was a challenge…”

Her hand comes up to her chin while she ponders what they could get. “I think we’ve got a lotta options up here. If yer itchin’ ta fight somethin’ challengin’, we could go hunt a giant. There’s a bunch of ‘em up here, and they work with the Storm Raiders when they attack caravans. We could kill two bi–” Don’t. Fish is literally a bird. “We could take care of two problems at the same time,” she corrects herself.

Then she pats Arcus’ side, and the pegasus lets out an excitable snort. “We could fly overhead ta spot ‘em more easily. What do ya think about takin’ a ride on Arcus? If we’re real clever, we could even find a sleepin’ giant an’ just take a bit of their blood.” If Fish is down to clown, she climbs in the saddle and offers a hand to pull them up.

"Fish does not particularly aim to fight," A bold claim for a bird covered in weapons. "But Fish is prepared." They are prepared as always, with new skills and options if there were going to find themselves in a fight. Fish does like the ideal of just stealing some blood though, much easier. It's a giant, Fish is probably as big as a giant's beard hair. They would never notice a couple gallons of blood missing.

They tilt their head as Astrid cuts herself short. Metaphors and idioms never played well for the aviankin, so they were very unlikely to be offended. They give a small shrug at the correction before looking up to the pegasus. Interesting....it was a new experience, but Fish was not fond of riding horses. They usually ended up getting bounced around a lot.

Reluctantly, Fish does accept the ride though. Just keep them together and limit the complications. If they were going to try and be stealthy then it would be easier if they were already together. Fish held the saddle with a cautious look at the pegasus. At least if they got tossed the scarf would prevent them becoming a splat on the ground.

“It’ll be alright,” Astrid reassures Fish, helping them into the saddle to sit in front of her. “I’ll hold on ta ya if ya want.” Then she snaps the reins, and Arcus sprints forward across the grass, wings flapping as he picks up speed until he is able to take off into the air. While the run was a bit bouncy, soaring through the skies makes for a smooth ride with a beautiful view of The Dragon’s Spine in all directions.

“Ya ever flown before, Fish?” Astrid asks, leaning to the side to see them if they sign a reply. She’s spent a bit of time practicing sign language with her duplicates since she’s run into Fish a fair few times and expects to be seeing them more since they’re both in the Consortium. “I like it. Feels free. Ya can see the whole world ahead of ya, an’ all ya gotta do is pick a destination.”

---

Flight - Arcus

"Fish likes the ground. There's certainty in being on the ground." It might be a strange position for a bird-like creature to take, but flight as not something Fish sought out. They settle down into the saddle after a moment and get comfortable enough on the ride, but this is not something they seek to do regularly.

They'd heard a few of their kind wishing for flight, but it never made much sense to Fish. The sky isn't that special. There were also no shadows or places to hide in the sky, that might also play into it. Can't exactly dive into a cloud to get out of sight of someone....or could you? Fish had never tried it, so maybe there was somehting of use up here.

"Where will we find a giant?" Fish's eyes scanned the ground below looking for anything that might lead to signs of giants. The bird was honestly more curious to see a giant than they were to fly. Would it be easier to sneak up on them because of how small Fish is? Would they just feel like a little mite on the giant? Or are their eyes so big they can see better because they get more information? Fish had many theories to test.

Astrid watches Fish reason that they like the ground. “I can understand that,” she says. “Before I could fly, I didn’t much like heights. But if I was gonna be comfortable, I had ta find a way ta do that. Ended up throwin’ meself off a few balconies before movin’ ta a tower. The real test was hoppin’ off a cliff. It all turned out alright, just a couple bruises.”

She looks out at the horizon, tracing the mountainsides for any signs of giants. “Sometimes when there are caravans, some of the raiders team up with giants an’ split the spoils. But they ain’t always raidin’...” What do giants do when they’re not throwing rocks at passersby? Well, they’re big, so probably eating or sleeping or lumbering around.

Eventually, Astrid spots movement in the mountains, and surely enough, there is what appears to be an abnormally large and lanky man sprawled out on the mountainside snoozing after a meal of mountain goat. Perfect. “There’s our giant,” she says, pointing out the giant. “Think ya can sneak in an’ get what ya need without him noticin’? I can put us down at a distance or drop ya right over him.”

Fish is a little confused as to Astrid's approach to conquering a fear of heights....It didn't seem very scientific, but it did seem very Astrid. Perhaps Fish could learn a bit in approaching problems from a different frame of mind, though tossing themselves off a cliff wasn't on the schedule any time soon.

The aviankin scans the horizons with Astrid as they fly, wind ruffling their cape and rippling through their feathers. Giants seem like an unfair advantage to have for bandits. Really no one except adventurers bother going after giants. Easy pickings it seems. Their eyes snap to where Astrid points.

Fish stands on the rear of the horse looking down below. Thankfully fear isn't an emotion they process much, but it is a little unsettling when Fish realizes how high they are.

"Fish can drop down."

They wait for Astrid to fly over so they can time their drop just right. As they start to soar towards the giant Fish jumps off the mount and starts to free fall. Fish lets their little body just drop for a second before they grab the corners of their cape and it suddenly billows up catching the air and slowing their descent.

Soon the bird will become a flea on the giant's arm. The hope was that it wouldn't notice their landing....nor some of its blood suddenly going missing.

For someone who said they don’t like heights, Fish seems surprisingly willing to just jump off the rear end of a horse and plummet to the ground. Despite this, Astrid doesn’t worry too much as she watches them fall – she trusts them to be alright. Patting Arcus’ neck while the pegasus hovers in the air, she keeps an eye on the giant and glances at their surroundings to make sure nothing catches them off guard. It is pretty weird for a giant to be sleeping here, isn’t it?

When Fish reaches the ground beside the giant, they can see the area scattered in bits of fur, blood, and broken, discarded bones. The meal of mountain goat was more like a meal of mountain goats. Each snore of the giant is thunderous. Each breath threatens to pull Fish into its nostrils or blow them away. Fish the tiny aviankin is but a spec compared to the mountain giants of yore. Surely their blade will go unnoticed.

Things seem to be going well down below, so Astrid turns her attention back to the hillsides. They’re so far away from most humanoid civilization that this giant might just feel safe on its own. That is until she spots the head of another giant cresting the mountaintop as it lumbers forward. Oh crap.

“Uhhhh….” Astrid looks up then down then up then down. Is that enough time? It has to be enough time. She pulls out her war hammer in preparation. That’s when she hears the confused grunt of one of the giants coming over the mountain. Wait, GIANTS?

“Fish, time ta go!”

Fish can push past many discomforts in pursuit of scientific advancement, hence the ease with which they jump. They tuck and roll into the landing to keep momentum going as they run up the leg of the giant. For a moment it seems as if Fish goes unnoticed, their tiny, tiny frame barely even sinking into the giant.

They clamber up to the waist of the sleeping giant, pulling out the needles to draw the blood. This is where they run the most risk. Will it hurt or be nothing more than a mosquito bite to them? Fish jabs the needle in and there is a little sleepy grunt and rumble, but it doesn't seem to bother.

Fish is relieved, quickly moving to get to more draws of blood from the other needles. Just as they turn to run back down the giant starts to awaken at the sound of the others grunting. Feeling the little talons along it now, it absentmindedly just flicks Fish from its leg.

The bird is just able to get sand in front of it to soften the blow[1], but they are still sent flying. Fish soars in an arc through the air, spinning a bit wildly. They could use a catch at this moment.

---

1. Born from the Desert

To see Fish flung through the air like an ant flicked from one’s leg is a comedic sight. It takes a moment for Astrid to realize where they’re going spinning like that. Wait, Fish just got flung. The giants are on their way! Gotta move!

Grabbing the reins, Astrid turns Arcus around and charges through the air after the flightless bird. She doesn’t really have anything that’ll make them easier to catch, so instead she can at least slow their fall! Purple magic gathers in Astrid’s hand then fires off through the air, striking the aviankin. Suddenly, their spinning slows along with their descent, but it’ll only last a few seconds.

CRASH!!

A boulder comes whizzing past Astrid and Arcus, throwing the pegasus off his flight path, and slamming into the ground in a spray of dirt and rocks. The pegasus whinnies fearfully, scrambling to get away with each mighty flap of his wings. Astrid does her best to get the beast of burden to head to the ground with little success. Arcus wants to GO.

This isn’t working. Astrid looks to see where Fish will land, luckily with much less impact, whips out her war hammer, and flings it down in the same general direction. It slams into the ground, leaving a small crater from the impact. “Fish! Get on that an’ I’ll summon it back so ya can ride it back up!” she shouts. “Just screech when yer on! The giants are after me an’ Arcus!”

---

Slow - cast on Fish to slow their descent 

The sudden rush of involuntary flight was never exactly fun. Fish's own preferences about flight hardly mattered at this moment, it was more about getting a hold of their own momentum and figuring out how to adjust from there.

Fish once more clung to their scarf, letting it billow out and slow their fall. It was just enough to give Astrid a less wild target to hit. Fish shakes their head to get the dizziness away.

They barely catch sight of the hammer flying past and angles down to catch it. The moment their little talons grab hold of it, a loud half-giant's voice booms from the little bird "FUCKING GET YER ASS MOVIN."

Fish did not have time to remember a more proper phrase to mimic, this was the first one they remembered that would get the point across.

Of all the things Fish could screech, that is not what Astrid expects to hear. At least the intent behind it is plain as day, though. She glances down and sees the bird perched on the head of the hammer, talons gripping the haft, and she holds her hand out to recall it. The icy hammer lifts into the air and flings itself toward Astrid rapidly.

Even with Fish’s weight on it, it is unimpeded, soaring after the girl on her pegasus speeding away from the thunderous footsteps of giants chasing them below. One nearly catches the hammer with the swipe of its hand, but the hammer is too fast. Finally, the hammer reaches Astrid’s hand, and she snatches it out of the air, holding it so Fish can get settled onto Arcus, and the group speeds off away from the giants and out of range of their flying boulders.

Eventually, things settle down, and with plenty of distance between them and their pursuers, the group can finally relax.

“Well, that ain’t how I thought that would go,” Astrid says. “Are ya alright, Fish? Ya get what we came fer?”

---

Always There

It certainly helped the hammer's flight that all things told Fish was only about 25 pounds maybe and most of that was poisons and explosives. Fish elects not to mimic a scream, but they certainly want to. This is a lot of speed that Fish is not used to.

When they finally reach the half-dwarf they dive off the hammer and into the saddle. They take out both Flash Flasks and throw them out behind them, splitting both open with a crossbow bolt. The blinding light is enough to startle and scare off the giants. The group of them seemed more interested in what was going and and not super looking for a fight.

Fish catches their breathe and turns to settle back down into a seat. They ruffle around their bag before putting a thick beaker of blood in her hand, Astrid's share for the work. "Fish did get one for Fish, one for Astrid, and one to sell."

They were a little rattled still, but Fish looked as proud as Astrid had ever seen them for pulling that off.