Blue felt the squeeze on their legs from Astrid. That must have been some kind of signal! Uh, for what though? Had they talked about any signals? What were they supposed to do if she squeezed their legs? Attack them? Was that the signal for "this is going wrong, time to attack" or was it "this is going perfectly, keep going"? Wait, why would they need a signal to just keep going? That didn't make sense. Or did it? No... Yes? No.

The two guards looked at each other as "Geoff" stood there blankly, internally debating, trying to figure out what to do next.

"Uh, Geoff, you okay there bud? That was just a joke, you don't have to get your imp to bring us croissants." One of them said worriedly and placed a hand on their supposed friend's shoulder again. Even for someone who's been drinking, there was something odd about the guy and they were beginning to be concerned.

The two imps however, were looking increasingly suspicious. Yeah, that squeeze was probably the "this is going wrong" signal. Blue gave Astrid a couple pats on the sides of her head with their hidden arms and then went in for the attack.

The guard was caught by surprise when a surge of electricity suddenly raced up his arm from the hand he'd been comforting his friend with and shocked him. At the same time, Geoff's hands transformed, the claws extending and blue fur growing over them until they looked like something one would expect to see on a werewolf and one thrust forward, straight for the imp on the guard's shoulder.

---

Lightning Armor
Eldritch Claws

Astrid has no idea what’s going on outside the coat besides what she can hear. Blue seems to have frozen up. What the heck is– The ooze taps her head as some signal. A signal for what? Are they walking forward?

Suddenly, powerful electricity surges through Astrid. Even with her natural resistance, it somehow bypasses that and gives her an incredibly painful shock. If she weren’t paralyzed by it, she’d have let out a yelp. Her legs buckle underneath her as Blue takes on a wolfish form to attack the guards and their imps.

“What the fuck?! There’s a kid under there?! Geoff, it isn’t 'bring your kid to work day'!!” one guard cries, cautiously drawing his weapon. The imp on his shoulder screeches and fires off a bolt of flames at “Geoff.”

“That ain’t Geoff, idiot!” the other guard shouts as the wolfish claws rip through his imp, narrowly avoiding his throat. “Kill ‘em both!!”

Astrid can’t make herself move effectively enough to attack, but maybe she can… At least get herself out of danger? Magic warbles the air around her form just as one of the guards strikes down at her. His blade collides with only stone. Astrid’s completely disappeared from existence.

“EH?!?!”

Melodia sees her vanish suddenly, and the invisible ghost woman shouts, “ASTRID!?”

The magic holding Melodia fades.

---

Extended Charge/unstoppable bolt (Blue) - overcomes Astrid’s resistance and paralyzes her for 2 posts [post 1/2]
Fire bolt (imp)
Peel From Reality (Astrid) - gone until next post
Call Ghost [post 3/3]

Blue tumbled back as Astrid suddenly collapsed below them, making the fireball shot by the imp soar right over them harmlessly. Their tumble pulled the cloak off of Astrid and exposed her to the two guards. Shoot, they forgot! They'd never fought anyone while standing on Astrid's shoulders before. They'd just used their lightning without really thinking about it at all and now they'd shocked Astrid!

Blue didn't really want to kill these two guards. They may work for a pretty bad group, but they actually seemed pretty nice. They were really friendly to Geoff. They didn't seem like horrible villains, just a couple of guys stuck in a bad situation. Blue was just going to take out the imps and give the two guards a shock to knock them out so they could get through the doors and continue their mission. But, everything changed when one swung his sword straight down at Astrid who was just lying on the ground helplessly in front of him.

Blue didn't even process that Astrid had suddenly vanished before being struck, they just became furious. The sparks of blue lightning crackling across them turned red. The little, oddly proportioned thing morphed and grew, rapidly expanding and twisting, the blue fur on the hands spreading to cover their entire body until they were completely transformed into a huge, blue wolf which immediately pounced on the man who had just tried to kill Astrid.

"What the fu-" The man began to shout, but couldn't finish as teeth bit down on him and electricity coursed through his body. Astrid could just watch from her spot outside of reality as the wolf went on a short and savage rampage, furiously ripping apart and consuming the two guards and their imps before transforming back into the armored ooze knight and frantically looking around for where Astrid had disappeared to.

"Astrid? Astrid!? Where are you!?" Blue called out, forgetting about trying to be stealthy as they searched for their friend. They hadn't accidentally eaten her, had they!? No, surely not! They would have noticed, right? They paused for a moment to look through their internal catalogue, hoping, praying she wasn't in there. They were relieved to not find her, but they still had no idea where she actually was! All they could do was keep looking. Did she go through the doors without them noticing? But why would she do that and leave Blue behind? Did she go back the way they came? "ASTRIIIID!"

---

Shapeshifter Plate

There are only a few seconds of nothingness, an empty void, around Astrid. What happened? Why is she in this empty void? Before she can process that she can see vague, shadowy shapes, something pulls her back into the material, exactly where she left, collapsed on the ground. Blue’s desperate shouting hits her first.

“Huh? Wha..? Blue?” she blearily says. Astrid’s limbs still feel so heavy, but she manages to push herself to her knees. “Blue, Blue, quit– quit shoutin’. I’m here, I’m alri–” When she notices the two guards and their are just pieces of viscera on the floor, her stomach drops. Their mangled bodies intermingle with her memory of Vikram’s broken corpse on the floor of the temple in Sol City.

Suddenly, Astrid looks extremely woozy, and her eyes seem to stare into the distance. What strength she managed to find leaves her limbs. 

This is unusual for her. Blood, gore, broken bones, Astrid's seen it all through her adventures. But now, in this moment, she wishes she could be anywhere except beside the puddle of warm red liquid pooling on the floor in front of the doors. 

When Astrid reappeared, Blue immediately dropped to their knees and picked her up off the floor into a hug.

"Astrid! Where'd you go!? I thought you were gone! I don't know what I'd do without you!" Blue choked out in a voice that sounded like they were half a second away from flooding this hallway with tears. Blue held her close, squeezing her against their plate armor which was thankfully spared being covered in gore thanks to it being absorbed into the ooze while they had mauled the two guards, but the fronts of their legs were now covered in the blood spreading across the floor.

"What happened? And why are you so floppy?" Blue asked, noticing how limp Astrid was in their arms. They didn't realize that her paralysis was due to their own electrical shock they'd given her while standing on her shoulders.

While Blue was clutching Astrid, a commotion was coming from beyond the two doors they'd been trying to get through. Blue's frantic yelling had definitely been heard and their stealth was ruined. There wasn't anything else to do now but just go in there and wing it.

"Alright. Time to go get those bodies and get out of here."

Blue picked Astrid up as they stood back up, princess carrying her in their second pair of arms that grew from their sides. They put their helmet back onto their head and pulled out their shield, holding it in front of Astrid defensively. They would have preferred to turn into a wolf to do this, but it would have been difficult to put Astrid on their back and she couldn't climb on herself all floppy-like. This was good enough. Blue took a runner's stance and then charged right through the doors.

---

Extra Arms
Disgruntled Shield

Blue pulling her into their arms draws Astrid out of her daze. “Huh..? Blue?” Oh, they’re… Oh, no, they’re really upset… Feeling starts to return to her limbs, and Astrid reaches around their neck to hug them. “I um… I was just… gone fer a minute. It’s alright, I’m here.” How could she do something to make her best friend panic about losing her like that? She feels incredibly guilty as she hugs them tight. “S-Sorry…”

“I just got a bit shocked,” she says quietly. “I can feel now, it’s alright.” Her voice is feeble, but she tries to be as reassuring as she possibly can. It’s hard given the situation. They’ve drawn the attention of the people behind the door, and before Astrid can get to her feet, Blue picks her up and protects her with this odd-looking shield with a face on it.

“Oh good! Finally, you’ve let me– OUCH!!”

The shield shrieks as Blue charges through the doors. A couple of confused guards had just made their way to the doors and are thrown back by the force of the doors slamming open. Both guards and their imps clatter to the ground. The imps hiss and jump up to fire off magic toward the charging knight, narrowly missing and striking the walls instead. Confused shouting erupts in the room full of people perusing a gallery of stolen goods.

Across the room, the white-haired woman watches with fierce, silver eyes. With a single resounding snap, she calls the attention of the guards in the room, and a silvery-white light illuminates her from behind, shifting to a shade of red as a portal to some other plane opens. A large silhouette emerges and lets out a roar.

“Kill them.”

It was shear chaos. Imps shrieking as they flung fireballs, Blue screaming as they charged through display tables and knocked guards to the side, the shield complaining as their face was bashed into display tables and guards. Stolen goods and drinks flew through the air. The patrons scattered, confused and scared by the whole situation. The pale lady watched on passively, a drink still in hand as a huge, horned devil emerged from the portal and ran toward Blue and Astrid with a loud roar.

Some more guards ran in, aiming their crossbows at the pair, and firing. Bolts went wide with a static buzz or were swiped away by two slimy tendrils that grew out of Blue's shoulders or the tail that emerged from the back of their waist. The huge devil charged toward them both, and swung its arm wide to slash at Blue's back.

Blue wasn't expecting the hit, and tripped to the ground, dropping Astrid and the shield. Astrid skidded across the ground and underneath tables atop the shield, who cursed as its face slid over the dirty, alcohol soaked floor. Blue dropped to their knees, the plates on their back damaged, but they were at least unharmed themself. That didn't stop them from being angry at the devil now looming over them.

Throwing subtlety and caution to the wind, Blue began to rapidly grow, the plates of their armor separating to make room for the now four-armed, twelve-foot-tall, six-foot-wide humanoid ooze that turned around and swiped at the devil with their own set of claws that sizzled with acid and sparked with electricity and punch with a huge fist at the same time. The devil wasn't expecting that at all and was sent flying with a sizzling gash in its chest to crash into the guards behind it and lie limp, paralyzed by the shock it received.

Blue didn't wait around. The ooze ran back to Astrid to make sure she was alright, ignoring and just absorbing all of the tables and the merchandise atop them as they went.

---

Static Field
Dancing Chains
Prehensile Tail
Red Rogue's Coat
Eldritch Claws
Lightning Armor

Any attempts at stealth have long since been thrown out the window. Maybe they really should have just started with this approach. It really does suit them. When Astrid is sent sliding across the floor on a shield sled, she looks back at Blue as they drop to their knees. Focus up! There’s work to do!

Despite the shield’s complaining, Astrid scoops it up and gets to her feet. Her war hammer manifests in her hand, and she looks around at all the guards charging over to surround her. There’s no time to look for the coffins with the bodies. First, she has to make sure she doesn’t become one of them! Protective lightning manifests around her form, and just as a spear is jabbed toward her, Astrid disappears, teleporting outside of the group surrounding her. The guards let out a confused cry only for Astrid to whip her hammer into the back of the one who tried to stab her. He can’t even get a scream out as the lightning strikes him and paralyzes him.

She quickly turns her attention to the next one and charges him with the shield held up at the ready. Using her electrified body as a weapon, Astrid slams into him. The shield complains; the guard falls. As the others try to get in close, Astrid throws her war hammer at one with so much force that it ricochets off and strikes the other, leaving them in a pained, paralyzed heap. Looking around, she sees Blue send the huge devil flying across the room and sparking with electricity, and a giant Blue Raspberry charging toward her even though they barely fit in the room with low ceilings. The tables don’t stand a chance.

Where are the bodies? Where are the coffins?! Her eyes land on a collection of wooden caskets laid out side by side with lids peeled back. “There they are! Let’s get ‘em an’ go!!” Astrid shouts, pointing. She ducks under tables with heavy steps on the stone floors and quickly slams the lids closed. “Dinner time, bud!”

The Pale Lady watches this with an unimpressed interest, and the frost gathering on her wine glass suggests an imminent threat. With the snap of her fingers, an icy wind blasts across the room

---

Lightning Armor (post 1/3)
Blink (Displacer cloak)
Storm Lord
Rushing Charge (1/2 per topic)
Resounding Rebound
Permafrost (Pale Lady) - prevents next ice spell to become immune to heat/fire
Sheer Cold (Pale Lady) - freezes area, slows enemies, x2 damage from blunt/blades, makes it hard to hold weapons (Astrid counters with spellblade abilities)

Blue went straight to work, grabbing the closed caskets and slurping them into their giant torso. They were stored away in seconds, along with a plethora of random objects that used to be between the ooze and the caskets. Guards were smacked to the side with a swing of their arm or tail. While they just devoured whatever objects they happened to step on, they were trying very hard not to consume any people. Not after their mistake in the first room they'd entered and then their rampage in the hallway.

A sudden wave of cold hit blue and the ooze slowed down, their gelatinous body starting to freeze up and solidify. This wasn't good! They had to get out of here as soon as possible! More guards kept coming, ganging up and swinging weapons at the giant ooze. Swords clanged against the armor plates along their body. A few swords hit their unprotected bits and chipped off some shards of frozen slime. Fireballs flung by imps struck their body and hurt, but somehow the heat didn't seem to alleviate the freezing cold at all.

The attacking guards backed off as lightning sparked up their weapons and shocked them, making their arms too numb to keep attacking, but they were just replaced with more guards. Blue kept swinging their fists and tail, taking them out, but it felt endless. They had what they came for. It was time to get out.

Blue extended one of their arms out and swung it straight into the brick ceiling above. With a loud thud, cracks spread across the ceiling and some of the guards looked upward with fear. Another punch, and more cracks spread. Some bricks began to fall from above and the guards scattered just before a third punch broke a hole clean through. Bricks and dirt rained down. Blue grabbed Astrid with one hand and used their elongated arm to pull themself up and out of the room, finding themself in the middle of what looked like... someone's cellar?

Off to the side, at the top of a wooden staircase, an extremely confused and scared woman with a pot of water in her hands stared at the giant ooze monster that had suddenly emerged from the hole in the middle of her cellar.

"Sorry!" Blue called out as they put Astrid down and shrank back to their usual size and normal amount of arms and tails for a human being.

---

A lot

With the caskets safely tucked inside of Blue, Astrid turns back to the approaching guards only to be blasted in the face with a freezing wind. It burns at her skin and threatens to make her lose her grip on her war hammer if the thing weren’t bound to her. The shield, on the other hand, is not so easy to hold. She shoves it into Blue’s goop just before the surface of their oozey outside freezes. This is bad. Things are bad, and they’ll be worse if Blue can’t move.

Thinking quick, Astrid reaches into her pouch and shoves a chocolate in her mouth, the same kind of joke chocolate Morrigan tried to give her before, except this time she’s expecting the spice. Heat emanates from her mouth and through her limbs, then like a burp, she releases it. Hot air spews through the room, blasting everything in the general area. At least she hopes this will help Blue, but… for some reason, the icy wind from the lady at the table doesn’t dissipate??

Oh no. That didn’t work. Now what?!

That’s when Blue starts beating on the ceiling, creating for them an escape path. Astrid just has to do what she can to hold everyone off in the meantime. Gripping her hammer, she flings it full force at anyone who dares approach her, but they’re too numerous. Imps scratch and claw at her, and she grabs them and throws them off. They’d be hot to the touch if they weren’t affected by the ice blasting them.

Debris crumbles and falls on her head from above. Blue broke through! The ooze quickly scoops her up and lifts them both through the hole in the ceiling, but the cold air continues to blast up from below. She barely even notices the situation they’re in, but in her panic, she grasps at the magic connecting her to Cantio. Golden light erupts from the flower-shaped earring and travels down Astrid’s arms to her hands. Tendrils of soft light grasp at the hole in the floor and before their very eyes, the floor starts to repair itself. As if having been stitched back together, the cellar floor is completely closed off without a trace of the damage left behind.

Astrid falls back to sit on her butt, breathing heavily and still emanating heat from the chocolate. That was bad.

---

Dragon’s Chocolate - heat wave
Pale Lady - permafrost prevents sheer cold from being affected by heat
Cantio’s Eternity Ring - Mending (1/topic)

That was exhausting, but at least now they were somewhere kind of safe. With the hole closed up by Astrid's magic of borrowing Cantio's magic, the mob below them had no way to follow them up. Blue, looking like a professional, chivalrous knight now, turned to the woman at the top of the cellar stairs who had just witnessed them burst through the floor as a giant goo monster.

"Um, official Mage's Guild business ma'am!" Blue called to her and she just stared back for a moment, glancing between Blue and Astrid and where the hole used to be. "M- Mage's Guild...?" She stuttered, trying to figure out what was going on.

"Welp, we gotta go! Bye!" Blue gave her a quick wave and then walked up the stairs and past her. She absentmindedly took a step back to make room for them to go by with Astrid. It didn't take long for Blue to find the front door of the house and leave, walking right into the street as if nothing happened. Mission accomplished! They had the bodies safely stored away and had gotten out of there safely. Now they just needed to get back to the Guild! A job well done!

The woman took one more look down into her empty cellar. Well, now it was empty. It used to be full of food and other things she'd stored down there! Her confusion suddenly turned to anger. Mage's Guild! She was going to make sure they paid for all the damages! She went straight to work writing a very strongly worded letter.

Down in the secret base below, the pale lady looked even more furious. The devil she'd summoned slowly got back up with a groan. "Useless." With a wave of her hand, another portal opened up below the devil and he sank down into it before it vanished. The one good thing was that all the rubble that had fallen down suddenly went floating back up to repair the hole. The bad thing was that now they couldn't follow them through it, and the goods and men smashed by the falling debris didn't get repaired by whatever magic had sealed the hole.

The drink in her hand froze solid and then burst, sending shards of ice flying every direction, except somehow, toward her. Oh, whoever those two were, they would pay for this disaster. They would pay dearly. She'd make sure of it.