They got that itch again, the need to run around and go somewhere far from home. And they'd ended up pretty far. All the way from their home in Dragon's Cradle, they'd journeyed through the Ashlands, Zeinav, King's Valley, the Marsh Flats, and now they were all the way in the forests of Moonglade again. It was a bit nostalgic. This was where they'd met Astrid for the first time, both as a wolf and in their armor. But Astrid wasn't with them this time. She was off on her own adventure somewhere else.

They reached down and picked up a fallen tree branch off the ground, several leaves and some acorns still attached. They stuck the whole thing through the gap in the top of their cuirass, the branch sinking in farther than it looked like it should have been able to. Tasted exactly the same as the ooze remembered.

Another wave of nostalgia hit them. It was ironic that they could even experience such a feeling when they were less than a year old, but it hit them just the same. They dropped onto their arms and their form shifted, the ooze enveloping their armor and growing rapidly, the ooze sprouting into fur and their limbs changing shape. The giant blue wolf stood in the forest, looking exactly the same as they had the day they'd met Astrid. They took off running through the forest with their tongue flopping in the wind and the corners of their mouth turned upwards in a dopey smile.

SPOILER: Click to show

Quest Name: Greedy Grubs
Chapter: One
Description: Turns out a new invasive species of insect has made the woods their home and are eating all of the lantern light bulbs, completely destroying the ecosystem. You are being asked to find one of the hives and remove or destroy it. This is easier said than done however, as the insects are large than most and deliver very painful bites and stings.

Requirements:
- Requires at least two people (you and one other)
- You must make at least 6 post to complete the mission with each post being at least 200 words
- The insect can be any kind but is hostile and dangerous and must be removed from the area.
- Once you complete this mission you have completed this quest chain and may turn in the mission.

---

Shapeshifter's Plate

Cirice has never really been to Moonglade proper. Growing up on the Crescent Isles she’d heard tales of it from her mother and her family that came from Eclipse City, but she’d never been herself. When Gerhart had mentioned that he was from Moonglade it made her curious to see the area that he grew up in.



Wandering through the Lanternlight Woods was quite different here than the bamboo forests of her home. The trees wave in the breeze and cast shadows on the forest floor that fascinate her. The birdsong filtering through the air is uplifting and bright and Cirice's spirits are high as she traipses through the woods alone. Its more trees than she’s ever seen in her life, far more than she expected. Its going to take a while to try to find the area that Gerhart mentioned he was from but she follows the small violet moon hanging over her head, traveling ever northward.



There’s a rustle in the underbrush somewhere nearby, but it doesn’t startle her. Probably just some small, innocent woodland creature going about their daily life completely and blissfully unaware of her presence. At least she can hope so.

Blue Wolfberry ran through the woods, just enjoying the freedom and the feeling of the wind through their gooey mimicry of fur. Their paws thudded as they hit the ground, whatever pinecone or acorn they landed on being gone when the paw lifted back into the air. The forest was shady thanks to the thick canopy, but then they suddenly spotted something strange. A purplish glow from a tiny moon floating beneath the branches.

They stopped running and tilted their head curiously, moving closer to it. They wondered if they could eat it and what such a thing might taste like. They'd seen the moon in the sky lots of times and some people had said it tasted like cheese. Blue loved cheese! What if this little purple moon tasted like cheese too!?

They pounced forward through the bushes, their snout snapping at the moon floating through the sky as a scream shouted out from below them. The moon in their mouth burst into moonlight, tasting like nothing but cold and darkness before disappearing and leaving them entirely unsatisfied.

The giant wolf looked down to see who was screaming and saw... Cirice! Why was she lying on the ground beneath them? That was weird, but it was nice to see her again! Their tail wagged behind them as they stood over her, not thinking about how terrifying it might be to have a giant wolf standing over you.

Somewhere very nearby there’s a flash of motion and Cirice feels her spell fizzle and pop like a balloon as she lets out a startled scream. Before she can really move she’s knocked to the ground, hitting her head hard and knocking the breath from her lungs, cutting her scream short. The gargantuan hulking form of a wolf stands atop her, and its all she can do to hold her arms in front of her, shadowy claws half-formed on her fingertips as she tries to hold off the creature¹. But it isn’t the coarse texture of fur her fingers find, but sticky goo…? The dizziness clears from her vision and she realizes the wolf above her isn’t attacking, but just smiling down at her with a familiar grin and swishing tail.

“B-Blue? Blue Raspberry? Is that you?” She asks with incredulity, blinking at the massive blue wolf in confusion as her terror and the shadows around her subside. “Where did you come from?”

She groans, feeling a throbbing in the back of her skull where her head hit the ground. “Ow… You got me good. Please let me up.” She wriggles out from under him, sitting up and rubbing the back of her head, her palms filling with soft violet light as she heals the knot forming on her skull².

---

1 Death Swipe
2 Minor Healing

The big blue wolf nodded vigorously. So she did recognize them! It had been a while since they'd last seen each other, fighting harpies, running up walls, slurping up harpies, and eating food together! It had been a great time! They were happy to see her again. Then they noticed her struggling beneath them a bit, shadowy claws on her fingertips. They could sense the spell woven around her hands and could tell those were supposed to be weapons. What did she make those for?

They backed up to let Cirice wiggle out from under them more easily and sit up. They sat down and started to change back into their humanoid form, their body shrinking down and shifting in shape. The fur retracted back into them and their armor reemerging until the familiar, completely normal knight stood in front of Cirice. They held a hand out, offering to help Cirice back up to her feet.

"Yup! It's me, Wolfe! I started going by Wolfe instead. You know, for some reason everyone kept saying my name was weird. So call me Wolfe! But it's good to see you again. Whatcha doin' on the ground? Oh! Did you get my gift? The completely normal knight stuff?"

---

Expanded Mind

Cirice takes his hand and dusts herself off, “Right, I forgot Cantio mentioned you went by Wolfe sometimes… I think Blue is a cute name. Are you going by Wolfe because you are a big goopy wolf? Yeah I mean I got your jar of… Whatever that was. What was it exactly? Its blue and gooey, is it some of your fur?”

“You scared me, I thought I was getting attacked. I’ve heard there are like really big, scary bugs out here in the woods and I thought I was being attacked when you jumped on me and knocked me down. So how have you been? It's good to see you too. Been a long time.”

Before she lets go of his hand she pulls him into a hug. The knight is much taller than her but she pulls him in and gives him a light squeeze anyway. “What are you doing out here? I’m trying to pick some flowers to bring to Gerhart, I think he’d probably like them. I was also trying to find the place he’s from but I wasn’t having much luck. Do you know Gerhart? He mentioned Astrid before so I figured you probably know him as well.”

Blue gave Cirice a hug in return, lightly squeezing her against the front of their cuirass. They'd had more practice with hugs thanks to Astrid. They would have been very confused by someone suddenly throwing their arms around them before. Once they separated, they pulled their helmet off their head so Cirice could see their face while they spoke. They held the helmet behind their back for a second and when they pulled their arm back out, the helmet was gone.

"Oh, you met Cantio! I didn't know you met my new dad! He's really nice, isn't he?" Blue replied in surprise. They'd never seen Cirice at the house, so she must have been there when they weren't. That was too bad, it would have been nice to see her there. Wait, did she visit before they started living there? Well, that was fine. They were meeting again now.

"You think Blue is a cute name? Thanks! I like it too, but I also like the name Wolfe. I like wolves and can turn into one, so it felt right, right? And it was what Astrid called me when we first met because I was a big wolf then! Uhhh, yeah! It's some fur... Have you tried using it?"

When Blue heard that they'd scared Cirice and knocked her down, they looked horrified and gasped.

"Ah! I'm sorry! Are you okay? My bad! I've been good, but are you hurt? I didn't see you there. I saw a moon and thought it might taste like cheese...." Blue trailed off, embarrassed and guilty.

"Gerhart? No, I never met them. Astrid never mentioned them." Blue said, still a bit dejected. Their posture slumped a little.

“No no I’m okay, I hit my head a little, but I healed it already. Don’t worry. Use the fur? I wasn’t sure what it does… What does it do? I’m sure you’ll meet Gerhart one of these days, I’ll introduce you if you like! He’s… Very important to me.” She pats his back gently. “I’ll call you Wolfie then! Blue Wolfie! The best of both worlds!” She giggles.

“Wait, your dad? He didn’t mention that when I was at Astrid’s house… But… You’re like… The same age…?” She cocks her head in confusion. “How does that work? Wait, do you mean like… In a sexy way?” Her voice drops a little into a conspiratorial whisper.

She looks around the woods, as if trying to see if anyone was around to listen to their conversation. There's more rustling in the bushes but this time its just a small rabbit that is spooked when it sees them.

“But… Why did you try to eat my moon, its magic silly. I’m sure it didn’t taste very good. It just shows me north and gives some light. If you’re hungry then I can give you some of my food. I have some muffins that I brought with me if you like.”

Blue was a little surprised when Cirice called them Wolfie. That was exactly what Astrid had called them when they'd met! How did she know? They hadn't met until way after that. Well, at least she wasn't hurt. Anymore. That was good. And now they got another nickname, too.

"Ok, Blue Wolfie then! Best of both worlds!" They gave a toothy grin and a thumbs up, but then looked confused. Wait, what worlds was Cirice talking about? They didn't know any worlds except this one. Also, what was a sexy way? Cantio had adopted them like they had Astrid. Was that sexy? It was a little sad to hear Cantio hadn't said he was their dad, but they trusted Cantio enough not to try to hurt them like that. It probably just didn't come up or something. Cantio was really nice to them. _{"I don't think it's in a sexy way....? Are we the same age...?"} They muttered before shrugging.

They stuck their hand behind their back again and pulled it back out, but with a glob of the blue goo in the palm of their gauntlet. The blue goo suddenly shivered for a moment and then stretched and twisted into the shape of a hammer before changing color and texture to match. It was like a perfect little replica of one of Astrid's tools that she used in her forge often.

"It can turn into things, see? But it's not very strong, so you can't really hit things with it or anything. Still, I thought you'd like it..." Blue sounded disappointed that Cirice hadn't used the glob of goo they'd sent her at all. Maybe they should have included instructions, but they didn't think of it at the time. They'd had to get someone else to write the cards for them since they couldn't read or write.

"Sorry, your moon looked really tasty, but it just tasted kind of cold and dark. I thought moons were supposed to be made of cheese. Oh well." Blue shrugged again and then gave an excited smile. "Did you say there were big bugs around here? I love big bugs! Where were they? Can I have a muffin?"

“Oh that's really cool!” Cirice replies, her eyes sparkling with wonder as she watches the goo twist and contort into the semblance of a blacksmith’s hammer, “I did like it! I have it here!” She pulls a small and a drab grey fabric bag with a shiny Platinum Corp logo that’s been embroidered around in purple and blue thread with little cowries shells and stitched hearts added as decorations off her belt. She reaches in, deeper than her hand should go and pulls out the gift. He can see that the jar has been decorated with pressed flowers glued to the glass carefully in the shape of a heart. “I’ve heard of humans giving their loved ones bits of their hair to remember them by, I thought it was something like that! I didn’t know it would become things, that's incredible!”

“Of course you can have some muffins! I offered!” She reaches back into her bag and pulls out an entire basket of day old starberry muffins, offering it to him with a smile. “I promise these are tastier than my magic, but they aren’t made of cheese. The moon isn’t either. Its made of… well magic and light. Mother moon is up there shining down on us in all her glory!”

“If you like big bugs I was warned that they’re deep in the forest eating the lantern lights. I was told to avoid the eastern side of the woods so they’re likely that way. Are you-are you going to slurp them up like you did the harpies?”

Blue eagerly took the basket and shoved an entire muffin into their mouth where it practically vanished with no sign of chewing or swallowing at all. "Thanks! You're right, these are much better!" They said happily as they continued shoving muffins in their mouth. The muffins tasted far better than that moon had.

"Hair? Is that really a thing humans do? I just thought you'd like it, but yeah! That part too! I'm glad you like it." They were just glad she didn't think it was weird. If people gave each other hair normally, then that was great! It wasn't really hair though, but that was fine. Wait, did this make Cirice a loved one? They didn't have a lot of loved ones, they thought. They weren't really entirely clear on what a love was, but Astrid and Cantio said they loved each other and Astrid said she loved Blue, and they'd said they loved her too, so... Wait, are Cantio and Astrid loved ones? They've been loved, so it made sense...

"Mother moon? Is that your mom? Your mom's the moon? That's pretty neat." Blue asked before shoving the last muffin in their mouth and handing the basket back to Cirice. They patted the front of their metal cuirass with a smile. The muffins had been good, but of course, the ooze was never full and the idea of slurping up some giant bugs sounded great to them.

"Yeah, bugs are delicious! Especially big ones! Let's go!" Blue started to trek off toward the big, juicy bugs anticipating the feast before them, but then stopped, turned around, and looked at Cirice.

"Um, which way are they?"

“Oh um okay…” Cirice slipped the now empty basket back into her bag. At this point she didn’t question how exactly Blue does what they do, she just goes with it and hopes one day she’ll understand. “I don’t really understand the custom either… But no Mother Moon is my goddess, she’s all of our mother if we follow her and believe in her, she cares for all. She’s up there smiling down on us always.” She smiles at Blue serenely.

“If you’re wanting to eat bugs they’re this way.” She points east, “I’ll help you take them down if you like. I’m no Astrid but I can do a little damage.” She offers him her arm as they walk.

“So what were you doing out here Wolfie?” She’s happy to chat and take in the sights of the wood as they wander in the general direction the bugs were said to be seen in. “Were you hunting for food? You seemed quite hungry. I’m surprised you hadn’t ran into the bugs and gobbled them up already!” Teasingly she pats his cuirass.

Soon the laternlights that give the wood its name are swinging above them, making the entire forest seem to glow from within. They’re beautiful but as they look closer they’re marred. Large bites have been taken out of many of the plants. Cirice lets go of Blue’s arm and prepares to protect herself as they head further into the dense underbrush. Soon they can hear eerie buzzing. “I think we’ve almost found them.”

"Wait, Mother Moon is my mom!?" Blue asked in surprise. They didn't know they had a mom! And she was a goddess!? Do oozes have moms? But they watched an ooze split into more oozes. But that ooze was a lot dumber than them and couldn't make itself look human... Did they have a mom!?

They looked up at the sky in confusion. They didn't see any moms up there. If they did have a mom, would she be an ooze? But if she was also Cirice's and everyone else's mom, would she not be an ooze? This was so confusing. Wait a second. She's only your mom if you follow her? Blue didn't follow any moon moms. So she wasn't their mom?

"Wait, no, I don't follow her... She's not my mom then, right?" Blue sighed in relief. Wow. They hadn't even realized how stressful it was to suddenly be told you have a mom you didn't know about. It was like a crushing weight had suddenly been dropping on their chest and then picked right back up a moment later. Melodia was like their mom, wasn't she? She was Cantio's ghost wife, and Cantio was their dad. They'd have been really sad if she was suddenly replaced by a moon they'd never even met before. Still, it was weird to think she was up there and always watching them with a smile. That was a bit creepy. Even Blue didn't smile all the time.

Blue just shoved the thoughts out of their mind and regained their cheerful demeanor. "That sounds great! You helped with those Harpies. I'm happy to have your help." Blue replied happily as Cirice linked her arm with theirs. They didn't mind it and walked along arm in arm.

"Just exploring. It's fun to just go off running around sometimes. I'm always hungry though, so I can't wait to find those bugs. Yeah, if I had already run into them, I probably would have!" Blue laughed lightly.

When they started walking beneath the half eaten lantern lights, Blue looked around at them all. Man, what a waste! They didn't even eat the whole thing, these bugs! They reached up and plucked a bulb with some large bites already taken out of it. If the bugs liked eating these, they probably tasted pretty good right? They stuck the bulb in their mouth. It was alright. It didn't taste like anything special, really. They were kind of sweet. The best part was the glowy bit, but even that wasn't as good as one of those green lumps with the wooden ball in the middle. Hopefully the bugs would taste better.

Blue's smile widened when they started to hear the buzzing. They were close! The trees were a bit denser here than in the other part of the woods. Moving around as a giant wolf would be a bit difficult. They should probably finish killing all the bugs before starting to eat them. In that case...

The boots and gauntlets of the knight were enveloped in blue goo that seeped out of the gaps in the armor and absorbed before the limbs shifted and changed shape. Blue's hands and feet grew into large, wolf-like claws and legs with blue fur that could have belonged to a Werewolf. From beneath the chain skirt, a large, blue-scaled tail like that of a giant serpent grew out. Blue Raspberry was ready for combat! They looked at Cirice with a toothy smile.

"You ready to go?"

---

Eldritch Claws
Prehensile Tail

Brow furrowed in concern, Cirice tries to puzzle out what exactly Blue is thinking. He’s unlike anyone else she’s talked to, asking such off the wall questions and doing strange things. “Um yeah, sure she doesn’t have to be your mom… She’s like a Mother to us all, not literally Wolfie…” She giggles.

Blue is certainly a strange man, or whatever he is. She’s convinced that he isn’t what he appears, despite his assertions otherwise. He just casually plucks a lantern light and plops it in his mouth as if it was the most natural thing in the world. Nothing about him should surprise her but it always does. “Always hungry, huh? That sounds expensive.”

As he shifts into a hybrid wolf form she just gawks at him curiously. “Wow… Huh? Oh uh yeah! I’m ready!” She summons some shadowy claws of her own and gives him a thumbs up¹. He’s got weird goo but she has shadows, time to go to work!

They quietly creep around a small clump of trees and there they are! A swarm of large insects with long proboscis and dual sets of bat-like wings stab their needle-like appendages into the bulbs of the lantern lights above. Each bug appears to be the size of a child and there are at least seven they can see.

Cirice swallows her disgust and points at the bug nearest the center, filling its mind with terrible maddening whispers². It buzzes angrily and the swarm moves to an attack formation, but the bespelled bug instead jabs its proboscis directly into the belly of its nearest friend. The other stirge lets out a pained sound and loses altitude, but the others come flying towards the pair of wayward adventurers!

---

1 Death Swipe
2 Whispering Madness

Blue Raspberry sensed the spell Cirice released at the big bug and watched as it took hold, making it attack its own fellow pest. They didn't know Cirice had that kind of magic, to mess with minds...

"Nice!" Blue gave Cirice a quick thumbs up before running out of the bushes toward the approaching swarm. One swooped down on the knight, aiming their sharp proboscis right at the gap between their helmet and cuirass, trying to impale them straight through the neck. A slash of Blue's claws nearly cut the thing entirely in half, the wound sizzling with acid and slightly singed from the electricity dancing between their sharp nails. It fell to the ground, dead.

Seeing the first one savagely sliced apart, the rest of the swarm scattered and tried to surround them with a couple passing by and headed Cirice's way. Another sharp proboscis aimed straight for the back of the knight's neck, but a serpentine tail reached up and smacked it to the side with a surprising amount of force even for its large size. The bug flew to the side and hit a tree with a crunch, its exoskeleton breaking and its fluids splatting across the bark.

One more bug swooped down from the side, but Blue moved so the proboscis only hit them in the pauldron. Immediately after striking the metal, the bug was zapped. Blue lightning arced between the metal armor and the flying bug and it fell to the ground, twitching.

The bugs were dropping like significantly smaller bugs, but from the buzzing noise coming from beyond the trees, there were more approaching and there were already two headed straight for Cirice.

---

Expanded Mind
Eldritch Claws
Prehensile Tail
Bull's Strength
Crackling Structure
Arms Hit Prevention (1/2)