The small farming village was built on steppes built into the mountainside, stone brick walls holding in the soil and water used for growing the rice and other crops. Stone stairs  and walkways were built between the fields, their houses slotted in wherever they could find a bit of space. It was small, but lively. The villagers were already hard at work gathering the crops together into bundles, but there was still much to be done. The harvest was unusually bountiful this season thanks to the perfect amount of rainfall and favorable temperature. Something to celebrate if it didn't also mean such a heavily increased workload now that it was time to pick it all.

Blue Raspberry climbed the stone path leading up to the village excitedly, their armor clanking along with each step. They'd never farmed before, but form what they'd heard, farming meant food, and the gluttonous ooze loved food! This should be great, especially with their bestie, Astrid, right alongside them!

"And you just put the seed in the ground and it just turns into food, just like that!? You can just get food right out of the ground, just like that? No way! Why wouldn't everyone just do this? I'd do it! Ah, but seeds taste so good... I dunno if I could wait...."

SPOILER: Click to show

Quest Name: Food Distribution
Reward: +10 Security for selected Region (+10 more if your home region)
Chapter: One
Description: Keeping the region strong, healthy and fed is the key to a happy civilization. While it might seem menial and pointless, helping our region stay fed is extremely important. You can help by passing out food to the local communities, or visiting a more remote village and helping them collect their crops or goods. Whatever you can do to help feed the region will help us keep the masses happy.

Requirements:
Requires exactly two people (you and one other, if the other participant does not qualify, they will not gain the reward)
You must make at least 5 post to complete the mission with each post being at least 200 words
Must detail feeding and helping the region
Once you complete this mission, you have completed this quest and may turn in the mission
Can be repeated for a different region

Astrid lets out a hearty laugh, having given Blue Raspberry a basic explanation of farming - at least one from her understanding. "It ain't all that easy, ya know. Ya don't just plant some seeds an' water 'em an' plants spring up with food!" she says through a giggle. "Remember when we found them fruit trees in Moonglade? Then when we went back, all the fruit was gone? Grown food don't last forever, but some folks got a good way ta store it."

Recently, Astrid received some letter of sorts proclaiming her as a dig ne dairy, whatever that is. It said something about partaking more in activities in Dragon's Cradle to help the region, and honestly, she's happy to. As someone who's gone without food, she wants to do what she can to make sure everyone gets a share and doesn't go hungry. By the sound of it, this small village on the far edge of Dragon's Cradle needs some extra hands to collect the crops. While she doesn't know the first thing about being an effective harvester, she's strong and can lift lots of things, so carrying and loading things will be a lot easier! Maybe she and Blue can use their magic and know-how to find creative and fast ways to collect a lot of food at once. 

"Oh, that guy over there looks like he's in charge," Astrid says, pointing over at a man who seems to be directing farmhands and other volunteers around the field. 

"The rice needs to go half onto that cart and the other half into the store. The potatoes need to be harvested still, oh, and the carrots. How are the radishes coming along? Are they all harvested yet?" The man asked another man, a sheet of paper in his hand that he double checked and then triple checked, marking things off as he went. He seemed incredibly busy, trying to make sure everything was harvested in time and properly distributed to where it was meant to go.

The man had a clean-shaven face with pale skin and short red hair that was mostly hidden under a large straw hat. He wore a pair of overalls overtop a simple shirt and sandals on his feet. When he finally had a moment to breathe and noticed Astrid and Blue, he walked over and offered a hand to Blue.

"You must be the new dignitary we were expecting, Dignitary Stormstone! I'm Gregory, the head of the village. We're happy to have you, we could really use the help right now!"

Blue bent down and whispered into Astrid's ear. "I think he's talking to you."

Gregory glanced between Blue and Astrid, before looking surprised and a bit panicked.

"I'm so sorry, my mistake! Dignitary Stormstone, it's a pleasure to meet you!" he corrected himself, offering his hand to Astrid.

This situation is not uncommon for Astrid and Blue Raspberry. With Blue Raspberry appearing as a fully grown adult and Astrid being a literal child, people often begin by addressing the knight before her. Sometimes this is something they can use to their advantage. Not in this case. 

Astrid loves a good handshake, and she happily takes Gregory's hand and shakes it with enthusiasm, careful not to yank his shoulder from his socket. "Nice ta meet ya, Mister Gregory. I'm Astrid, and this is Wolfe. We're here ta help ya with the farmin', obviously. Neither of us have ever done it before though, so we'll need a bit of teachin'."

It's a huge surprise to Gregory at Astrid's grip strength, and he struggles not to shake his hand out when she releases him. There's palpable relief on his face when she doesn't draw any attention to his mistake. "R-Right. Thank you, Miss Stormsto-"

"Astrid!" 

"Miss Astrid, right!" Gregory says, a nervous smile on his face. "Well, there's lots to do here. That group over there is digging up the root vegetables, and this one here is working on harvesting and loading rice for storage. We'll show you the right way to collect everything, of course. Do you have a preference for any kind of work?"

"We're both pretty good at carryin' and liftin' stuff," Astrid says with a big grin. "And I'm good at fixin' stuff if ya got anythin' needin' repairs. I'm a smith!" 

Blue Raspberry nodded along, their hands on their hips proudly as Astrid listed off their skills. The list was admittedly short in this situation, but they were proud nonetheless! They were both amazing at carrying things!

"Hmmm, so you're both strong... Alright, let's see..." Gregory consulted his list, looking down it for any tasks that he could assign to the two new helpers. "The crates of potatoes that have already been harvested needs to be moved onto the wagon over there. Give me a moment to find another hand to help with tho- Uh."

Gregory looked up to see Wolfe already running over to the crate of potatoes and lifting a stack of two of them on their own. It normally took two people to carry one of those crates! He blinked a few times before looking down at Astrid with a look of disbelief. She wasn't kidding when she said they were good at lifting and carrying things!

"Uhhhh.... We could use some help pulling the potatoes out of the ground. Um, are the both of you going to go and do all the work in armor? I don't... That looks heavy. But, I mean, it's fine!"

At this point he was kind of afraid of what these two could do, but also very curious.

The tiny dignitary can't help laughing with Blue already rarin' to go. With little effort, they already start lugging sacks of potatoes, leaving Gregory in shock. Astrid drums her fingers on her armor with a bit of a grin. "Aye, we're both real practiced with our armor. Barely feels like it weighs a thin' anymore," she says, grinning confidently up at Gregory. "Sounds like we're yer potato pickers today. Leave it ta us!" 

"Right, my boy over there will show you the right digging technique then," Gregory says, motioning to another redhead in the field. "Thank you again!" 

"Ya got it!" With that Astrid heads to the field to learn how to harvest potatoes. Once she has the proper technique, she focuses hard and creates a few replicants: Bstrid, Cstrid, and Dstrid. It's kind of draining, and it shocks the farmhand (and Gregory from afar), but she rolls her shoulders and the squad of Astrids get to work together. 

---

It doesn't take long for the grueling work to threaten to wear Astrid and her squad of duplicates out. Suddenly, they all have a greater appreciation for where their food comes from. 

"There's gotta be a better way ta do this," she huffs tiredly. 

"W-What if we made a tool ta help with it?" Bstrid suggests.

"Aye! Maybe like a waterwheel, but fer dirt and with trowels!" Cstrid adds. 

"Oh, and make it so we can have a horse pull it!" Dstrid shouts enthusiastically. 

Before long, the squad of Astrids abandons the field and starts digging through a shed looking for metal and tools. 

Gregory looked over to the field where Astrid had been working and noticed she, along with all her duplicates, was gone. Before he could walk over to ask about it, Blue Raspberry ran back up to him.

"Potatoes are moved! What next?" The knight asked eagerly without a hint of fatigue even after moving all those crates. What the hell were these two? One nearly crushed his hand and could make copies of herself and this one ran back and forth repeatedly carrying crates that would usually take four people on their own and didn't seem tired at all, and both of them did it all in heavy plate armor! Is this what dignitaries are supposed to be like? They were both proving to be a huge help though.

"Uhh, could you help move the rice into the store house? It's that building over there." Gregory pointed out the sacks of rice needing to be moved and the store house down the path. Blue Raspberry gave a salute before running off to do the task, picking up two sacks of rice under each arm and running off and carrying them over to the building. Like that, it'll only take two trips. It would have taken a lot more for any of the normal workers here. All Gregory could do was take a deep breath.

Now, where was Astrid? He turned back to the potato field and looked around, but he couldn't go searching for her with all of the work he still needed to do. Another farmer came up to him to report on another task needing to be done and he noted it down.

It isn't long before there's a heavy amount of debate from a chorus of the same voice coming from one shed. Not long after, a design is settled on, and the four duplistrids set off on their tasks to make a new tool for the farmers. One locates a smithy and heats up the forge, two gather materials, and the last one rushes to Blue Raspberry to collect whatever other odd things or materials she might need from their storage gullet. With everything collected, team A Through Dstrid gets to work. 

Without progress being made in the field for over an hour, Gregory starts to get a bit anxious, and just when he goes to check on the weird girl in the shed, the double doors fly open with explosive force. 

"BEHOLD!" Unknownstrid declares. Behind her, the other three Astrids haul out something that looks akin to a cart to be towed by a draft animal, however there is a massive wheel of dense wood and metal trowels very much like a waterwheel in the center of it. "Get us a horse, Mister Gregory!" 

Gregory nearly had a heart attack when the door burst open, and he has so many questions, but clearly this kid has something in mind, so despite being flustered, he quickly procures for them a draft animal. The whole scene has drawn a bit of attention, and one of the Astrids describes how to hook it up to the animal while doing so. Then they lead the horse to the field, line it and the cart up with the row of potatoes, and demonstratestrid pulls a lever on the cart. Tension in ropes releases and lowers the trowel wheel into the dirt. They give the animal a push, and it starts dragging the contraption through the dirt, turning the wheel counter-clockwise, and lifting dirt and potatoes into the air and depositing the unrooted vegetables into a bin that sits between the animal and the wheel. 

It works! The group of Astrids all celebrate and give each other high fives for a job well done. 

Then the duplistrids dissolve into nothingness and the remaining Astrid plops down in the dirt for an impromptu nap.

Gregory just watched in disbelief as the contraption was pulled across the field, harvesting the potatoes faster than all four Astrids had been able to and then some. The potato field was going to be fully harvested in no time at all. The crates filled faster than they could move them and get more empty crates to replace them. This- this was actually turning into a bit of a problem!

"Hey, uhhh" Shoot, what was the guy's name? Oh! "Hey, Wolfe!" Gregory called out to the knight that was running rice sacks and waved him over.

"Yes!" Blue Raspberry ran up, rice still beneath their arms. They looked over to see the device in action and Astrid snoozing on the ground. Yup, that looks like something Astrid would make.

"Forget about the rice for now! We need you to start moving these potatoes instead!" Gregory said, sounding mildly panicked as he tried to adjust the whole schedule to account for the sudden drastic increase in potato harvesting speed.

"On it!" Blue dropped the sacks of rice on the ground and gave a salute before running to help move crates of potatoes. Thankfully, the sacks didn't break when they hit the ground, but Gregory flinched at the sudden dropping of the precious produce. Well, he did say to forget about the rice.

Astrid's power nap rejuvenates her enough to wake up a short while later to see the fruits of her labors. Things around the farm turned into a scramble in a short time, and suddenly there's a lot of produce in sacks and crates harvested! Her potato picker hasn't fallen apart yet either. A successful test! She gets to her feet and quickly gets back to work, helping the scramble.

By the day's end, the entire potato field has been harvested, and the various farmhands are absolutely exhausted from it all. Gregory has worked on a new harvesting schedule around this contraption, estimating that they can harvest the rest of the vegetables in record time over the next couple of days - as long as the harvester doesn't break. 

"Th-That thing is incredible," he says. "Y-You've completely turned around our harvest schedule. We'll be done within the week..!" 

Astrid gives a tired thumbs up. "Glad ta help. We'll stick around ta make sure the machine don't break and help ya load stuff. Those boxes and sacks sure are heavy!" 

"They are, but you both are so... Well you're quite strong and clever! Really, we can't thank you enough."

"Of course!" Astrid says with a grin. "We're happy ta help, and we can't let perfectly good food go ta waste!"

"Well, at least allow us to feed you while you're here. I insist!" 

Astrid looks at Blue Raspberry, and there's an unspoken conversation about how they will not be eating these people out of house and home. It comes from a particular look. Blue Raspberry knows the one. Then Astrid looks at Gregory. "If ya can make sure we both get seconds, we'll take ya up on it!" 

As promised, Gregory makes sure that Astrid and Blue Raspberry are well-fed and well-rested throughout the week that they spend in the small village. By the last sundown, the root vegetable fields have been completely harvested, packed, and stored as necessary so Gregory can divert labor resources to other harvesting activities. Astrid shows them how the harvester works so they can maintain it, promising to come back and make repairs if they just call on her. 

Finally, the two farmers in armor make their way home to Sky Peak with a job well done and community helped behind them.