With a successful week helping a small village harvest their vegetables quickly, Astrid and Blue Raspberry started off into The Wastes only to be stopped by the village leader, Gregory. The red-headed man pulled them aside, asking if they could do an additional favor for him since they're heading back to Sky Peak. His request was a simple one: escort a delivery of the food they helped harvest to Sky Peak Village and ensure the delivery is confirmed by Count Thadda. 

Astrid, of course, has no idea who that guy is, but he sounds important, so they can probably figure it out. This information confuses Gregory, but he doesn't question the tiny dignitary. After all, she and Wolfe helped his village tremendously. So, with a new mission, Astrid and Blue Raspberry set out with a couple of carts packed with vegetables and rice bound for their hometown. It works out well. Sure, she and Blue could have just flown themselves home, but this is convenient and it ensures the tasty and tempting treasure loaded on the carts will make it there safely. 

So, off they go, along the base of the mountain toward their first stop: the base camp where the path to Sky Peak begins. 

---

SPOILER: Click to show

Quest Name: Escorting Goods
Reward: +10 Security for selected Region (+10 more if your home region)
Chapter: One
Description: Your region needs you to help escort a caravan of supplies and goods into the city. These goods will help the region continue to survive, using these materials to build better infrastructures, feed the region and build its moral. You must guard the caravan and bring it home, defending it from any enemies or wild creatures and keeping the travelers alive. You can be creative with how and if the caravan comes under fire. As long as the requirements are completed and the supplies make it to the village.
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 protect and guide the supplies to the region head quarters
Once you complete this mission, you have completed this quest and may turn in the mission
Can be repeated for a different region

Don't eat it, don't eat it, don't eat it, we have to deliver it, so don't eat it. You don't need it, you just ate not so long ago, don't eat the delivery or Astrid will be really mad at you, we need to bring it back to Skypeak Village with us, so don't eat it...

Blue Raspberry sat inside the cart that was also full of tasty, tasty vegetables that they'd enjoyed while they and Astrid had been staying in the village to help harvest and move all the produce. Now, they had to keep reminding themself that they couldn't eat any of this stuff. It was a delivery that they were supposed to be protecting, not eating. But... those radishes were so good... They especially loved the leaves on top... The ooze would have been drooling if they could.

They needed to get their mind off the veggies!

"Uhh, I'll uhhh, scout ahead!" Blue suddenly said to Astrid before their armor was enveloped in the blue goo and absorbed, their shape changing into a blue-furred wolf. They leapt out of the back of the cart and took off running past the cart. The wagon driver was startled for a moment when he saw the wolf suddenly rush past, but calmed down when it seemed to have no interest in attacking the wagon at all. Wait, wolves weren't native to this region. And why was it blue? He tilted his head in confusion.

The horses pulling the cart start panicking at the sight of a massive predator animal, their primal urges telling them to flee immediately. Their heads toss back and forth, and frightened whinnies escape the draft animals. 

"Whoa, whoa! Hey!" the driver shouts, trying to get them back under control, but to no avail. The horses turn from the road and bolt off the path. Astrid bounces around in her seat because of the rough road, and she holds on the best she can while the horses charge straight ahead into the brush. It's so rough, the driver gets thrown from his seat and tumbles back into the sacks of vegetables. 

"WOLFE!!" Astrid shouts, helping the driver right himself. She clambers into the driver's seat and attempts to collect the reins, but they bounce around wildly, making it difficult to grab them. 

"Wolf!!" the driver of the second cart echoes, shouting for the third driver behind him. He pulls out a crossbow in case the animal comes charging back toward the caravan. Luckily, he keeps his cart from veering off road. He didn't quite see the knight shapeshift into the giant blue wolf, and he doesn't comprehend that there might be a good, literal reason that the knight goes by Wolfe. 

"Woops... Did I do that?" Blue Raspberry thought to themself as they looked back and saw the panicked horses pulling the wagon off the side of the road and heard Astrid shout for them along with all the cart drivers for some reason. Maybe they hadn't thought things through when they'd turned into a huge predator and ran past the horses...

Thankfully, the cart was unharmed along with all its contents. The driver managed to calm the horses down once they were pushed back into their seat by Astrid and Wolfe was no longer in their view. The blue wolf ran over to the other side of the road to hide in the grass before any more horses or drivers saw them and freaked out. After a moment, an armored knight suddenly popped out of the grass and walked over to the first cart, their hands in front of them with their fingers touching.

"Are you okay...?" They asked the driver, a bit of an apologetic tone to their voice that confused him.

"I'm fine, thanks. Did you see where that weird wolf went? It really spooked the horses, appearing out of nowhere like that! You two had better find it and chase it off so this doesn't happen again."

"Right..." Blue replied sheepishly as they looked at Astrid.

It takes a lot of effort for Astrid to gather the reins and pull back hard on them to get the horses to eventually come to a stop. When she does, the driver clambers into his seat and keeps the reins tight then gets down and starts to comfort the frightened animals.

Astrid takes a deep, calming breath, definitely startled over the whole escapade. "Aye, sure was a weird wolf," she murmurs sardonically. The half-dwarf isn't mad, per se, but she's definitely a little frustrated. Blue didn't mean anything by it, though. She's just got to help them think things through a little more. Why did they jump out of the cart so suddenly anyway? They did look uncomfortable. Maybe they were... whatever the ooze equivalent of constipated is?

When Blue emerges from the brush, she looks at him with a quizzical look mixed with despondence. 

"Ah dammit," the driver grumbles from the side of the cart. 

"What's wrong?" she asks, her attention turned away. 

"One of the wheels is broken," the drive laments, pacing back and forth and rubbing his face. One of the wagon wheels was broken nearly in half by their off-road adventure, likely having struck a rock at a bad angle with too much force. 

One of the wheals being broken just made Blue Raspberry feel even more guilty for the whole situation. It was their fault the cart had been pulled off the road, and now there was a problem they couldn't do anything to fix that was caused by it. They mentally searched around inside their stomach, seeing if they had a replacement wheel, but they couldn't find one. The closest thing they had was an old ship's steering wheel that they'd snacked on while diving in the ocean, but they didn't think that would work as a replacement. It was a bit rotted from being underwater for who knows how long.

"Hmmm. We should be able to make at least temporary repairs, but it'll put us a little behind schedule. Damn wolf." The driver muttered as he looked the broken wheel over.

"Oh, yeah, I'll go scare the wolf away... Sorry..." Blue said as they turned and headed back to the road, dejected.

"Hey, what's going on? What are we waiting for?" The driver of the second cart pulled to a stop and looked to the knight for some answers on what was happening to the other cart.

"One of the wheels broke. They need to repair it."

The driver of the second cart suddenly launches into a rant about "how he told Gregory they should have one spare wheel per cart, but noooo Gregory thought things would be fine!" It's a long-winded rant, not directed at Blue Raspberry at all, but they definitely get the feeling that this is a particularly heated subject for this particular driver. 

Astrid pulls out her tool kit and climbs off the cart to look over the damage. Her face cringes a bit when she sees how badly the wheel is broken. She could probably make the repairs with her tools and some scrap metal the ooze knight could cough up probably. She scratches anxiously at the earring she made to match one for Cantio, and an idea pops into her head. She might be able to draw on some of Cantio's power to magically make the fix! The problem is that they can't just pull the wheel off or the whole thing will fall over. Astrid needs some help with this - some particularly strong help from her best ooze friend. She peeks around the cart to see them wandering off to "scare away the wolf" with dejected ooze body language. 

"Oi, Wolfe!" she calls. "I could use yer help! I need ya ta lift the cart's weight offa this wheel, so I can make some fixes! Wanna come help me?"

Blue Raspberry turned around and perked up a bit as they heard Astrid calling for their help. They could help fix this! They hated messing things up and not being able to do anything about it, but now they could help solve the problem they created! They ran over immediately, the driver they'd just been talking to a bit exacerbated at the sudden abandonment of the conversation, but at least they'd heard enough to understand the situation well enough in their small exchange as well as from Astrid's shouting. They just shrugged and waited.

"Yeah! Course I'll help!" Blue said happily as they ran up to the cart. One of the back wheels had been the one to break, so the ooze went to the back of the cart to lift it up. Of course, the wagon was very heavy, it being almost completely filled with the harvested produce. Lifting it would have been impossible for most people. The driver scratched his head, trying to piece together the situation. Was this guy really trying to lift the wagon all by hi- WHAT IN THE NAME OF SOLARIA!?

The back of the cart was actually being lifted off the ground by the knight! With the wheel freed of the cart's weight, Astrid was free to work on the repairs.

The half-dwarf grins at the ooze knight as they rush over, knowing full well that they were probably beating themselves up over the mistake. Giving them opportunities to help fix it always cheered them up, and this time seems to be no different. Getting a good grip, Blue Raspberry lifts the cart and holds it up enough for Astrid to be able to work on it. She sees the driver's face absolutely flabbergasted, and she giggles. 

"What? Ya didn't see us helpin' with the harvest?" she teases, using her tools to work the wheel off the axel. "Let me know if ya get tired, Wolfe, and I'll make a coupla duplicates." 

The driver shakes his head, definitely shocked by the might of the singular knight. "This is incredible! I wasn't part of the harvest, but everyone said you two were something else! Er, what do you mean by 'duplicates,' exactly?" 

"Just a bit of magic," Astrid says with a wink. She works to force the wheel back into a sort of shape, then she decides it's a perfect time to test the earring's magic. The girl focuses hard on her connection to her adopted father until it manifests in the form of Cantio's fix-it spell. Golden magic envelopes the wagon wheel and slowly starts to stitch the broken wood and metal back together. When the glowing fades, the wheel is perfectly pristine, as good as the day it was made! 

Astrid does a little happy dance with her hands then spends a few minutes fitting the wheel back on the wagon and checks the axels for any other damage. All seems well, so she signals Blue to set the cart down gently. The wheel holds, and the wagon is fit for travel again! Now all they need to do is get back on the road. 

---

mending - Cantio's Eternity (ear)ring - 1/day

The driver hopped back up into the front seat and carefully lead the horses to turn the cart around. Blue walked beside the cart, checking to make sure any large rocks didn't get in the way and damage one of the wheels again as the cart moved through the grass, back onto the road in front of the other two carts.

"Alright, we're good to keep moving! Any of you see that wolf?" The driver called to the other carts and they answered negatively, shaking their heads. "Must have run off on its own then. Whatever. Let's get going!"

Blue Awkwardly sat next to Astrid on the back of the cart, once again surrounded by all the temptingly tasty vegetables that they'd been trying to get away from when they caused the whole mess. They leaned in to Astrid and spoke quietly, not wanting the driver to hear. They had helped fix the problem, but they still felt like they should try and explain what happened. 

"Sorry... That was all my fault... I just..." Blue hesitated, embarrassed. "These veggies are so tasty and I didn't want to eat them. We're supposed to deliver them, right, so... I was just going to go find something else to eat, but then I scared the horses. I'm sorry." Blue apologized sadly.

With them piled back into the cart and back on the road, Astrid settles into the nest of potatoes and turnips with Blue Raspberry. When they apologize, she looks at them. There's still some frustration boiling under the surface, but Astrid doesn't let that color how she talks to her ooze best friend. No, she does what Cantio would do: she's understanding. Maybe in another world, she'd try yelling about their mistakes, but she knows that doesn't help. It just makes you feel worse. She knows that well. 

Astrid pats their arm in a comforting manner. "I figured ya were tryna do the best thing," she says gently. "It's alright. We managed ta fix it. Horses spook pretty easy, and now ya know that." Reaching into her back, she pulls out some jerky and offers it to the ooze. "Here, eat this fer now. We can eat as much as we want when we get home, but this stuff is fer other people so they don't go hungry neither."

With the lesson underway, she settles in against her best friend the hungry ooze and they continue their journey to Sky Peak. 

---

Luckily, the journey is pretty easy besides the scare with the horses. They fight off a couple of real wild animals looking for a snack, but nothing too threatening to the group as a whole. When they finally pull into Sky Peak a few days later, they're tired of the cart travel and smelling like dirt and raw vegetables. They're in front of city hall when they disembark, and there's a group of people ready to receive the goods.

Most front and center of all these people is a dark-skinned man with long hair twisted into multiple braids. The man is muscular, someone with a build that makes uses of each limb. He carries a weapon and seems ready for combat at any moment. His golden eyes meet the group with a stern gaze as he steps over, looking over the unlikely mercenary pair - but they are the only armored individuals in the group.

"You two are the escorts Gregory mentioned?" he asks, his deep voice rumbling across them like thunder across the fields. 

"Aye!" Astrid says with a smile, offering her hand to shake. "Astrid Stormstone and Wolfe at yer service!" 

The man looks over the two of them with a discerning eye. "A child and a knight. Interesting. Are you this man's squire?" he asks. He doesn't turn down the handshake though, and his expression shifts when he realizes how firm Astrid's grip is. She is too well-armored to be a squire. He's made a mistake. 

"Nope, not a squire, just a friend! Nice ta meet ya, mister...?"

"Thadda. Count Thadda." Finally, he frees his hand from Astrid's grip and offers a handshake to Wolfe. "Good to meet you too. Anyone who helps my village deserves my respect and my thanks."

"Yer village?" Astrid asks, tilting her head. "Are ya in charge of Sky Peak?"

"I am..." Thadda's eyes are drawn down to the girl again. "I've seen you around before."

"Well, we live here," she says, grinning. "The big new house at the end!" 

Thadda's eyes light up with recognition, and he coughs slightly to cover his embarrassment that he didn't recognize them sooner. "Our newest dignitary. Forgive my ignorance Miss Stormstone."

"Just Astrid's fine," she insists. 

"Very well, 'Just Astrid...'" A smile plays at the edge of his lips. "Well, welcome home. Thank you both for delivering the supplies safely. You two seem capable. I believe I've heard tale of your exploits. Should I ever need assistance, can I call on your aid?"

Astrid grins, putting her hands on her hips. "Sure can! We're the adventurin' sort! Real good at fightin' monsters and whatnot!" 

Thadda knows better than to ask a child where their parents are. The conflicts in the lands always lead to orphans. And now that he's getting a better look at her, he knows he's seen her on the streets. Clearly, something changed for her, and he has no doubt that her partnership with this Wolfe has something to do with it. 

"Good," the man says simply. "You're free to return home for a deserved rest." Without a goodbye, Thadda starts working with his laborers to take inventory and get the supplies sent to the right places.

As she walks away, Astrid looks at Blue Raspberry. "He seems nice. Let's go eat! I know yer itchin' fer a feast!" 

"Thanks!" Blue cheered up as they took the jerky. This was meant to keep them satisfied for the rest of the cart ride, so they had to make it last. They ate it as slowly as they could, which was pretty much in an instant. They stuck the piece of jerky into the bottom of their helmet and it was slurped right up like a dollar bill being inserted into a vending machine. The jerky was great, but it wasn't a lot. Still, they were grateful for the meal. They could control their appetite for now and not eat the cargo.

---

The knight stood next to Astrid in their most knightly stance. They had no sword or shield at the moment to raise, so they stood with their arms at their sides and their body as straight as possible. Count Thadda's misunderstanding was reasonable considering the dignified appearance that Wolfe was giving off in their full plate armor, their face hidden beneath their helmet and their displacer hide cloak flowing slightly in the wind. They looked as if they could be Astrid's knightly bodyguard.

The majestic appearance was immediately ruined once Count Thadda said they could go home and rest. "Bye!" Blue Raspberry gave a quick farewell, saluting and then giving him the finger guns as they backed away before turning and walking away with Astrid.

"He seems nice. Don't know why he wanted us to count his name though."

Blue was super excited to go home and eat! A feast sounded great to the ooze who could eat a whole feast on their own and more.

"Oooh! Can we have potatoes? I loved those potatoes! Especially the ones that still had dirt on them! That was some good dirt!"