Collecting rocks was not exactly high up on Fish's priorities but when they heard they could collect a catalyst or two from the adventure they became a bit more excited. They had a few ideas for potions that could be maade with that, so for the science they would do so.



It was a long trip out to Stargazer's Field, but the damage was already evident. The horde of Geonids had trampled the field and turned the beautiful grass into mud and chaos. This was a far cry from the beautiful destination Fish had been told it was. Fish looks through a spyglass, scanning the field before tucking it away.



This was far too many for Fish to just blow up and clena up the rubble. Fish hated jobs that couldn't just be blown up. They would have to be creative. Speaking of they, Fish looked up to their traveling companion with a curious expression. Blue was not a naturally occurring hair color for most creatures. Granted, a two and a half foot tall bird that is a trained marksman and thief wasn't exactly normal either so who's to judge? They at least looked competent which was good, maybe they had a good idea for collecting rocks.

Blue Raspberry had seen a lot of birds, they'd eaten a lot of birds, and they'd fought half bird half people before (and then promptly eaten them), but they'd never actually worked alongside a bird before. This was a first for them. Honestly, it wasn't the strangest thing they'd ever done though. It was hard to do anything weird enough to surprise the ooze, and Fish being a bird didn't phase them at all. Astrid was way weirder than Fish.

The knight in heavy metal plate armor looked down at their avian companion for this mission. They'd been sent to gather some rocks. Easy! Blue had eaten lots of rocks before, so this was nothing! The two of them should be able to clean this up in no time. Unfortunately, Blue hadn't really listened that well when the problem was described and didn't realize the "rocks" they had to gather were actually living creatures running amok. They couldn't eat living creatures without those creatures not staying alive and the little Geonids didn't deserve to be munched just for being scared after their home was broken into.

"Um. Why are the rocks running around? Are those the ones we're supposed to be collecting?" Blue asked, pointing to the field swarming with the tiny rocks. "So, how do we gather them up....?"

SPOILER: Click to show

Quest Name: The Rocks that Roll
Participants: Two or more
Location: Moonglade
Post Requirements: 5 post per person, 200 words per post
Reward: +1 Renown, +1 Stone, +1 Earth Catalyst
Description: Some dumb archeologist were digging out in the glade, and without investigating first, tunneled into a nest of Geonids. The disturbance caused the nest to scatter, trying to flee for safety, which was further complicated by the researchers trying to hit them with axes and picks. Now 500 of these small rock like things are just everywhere, disturbing travelers, getting into homes, and just being an overall pain. Your job is to go in, and some how round these things up. Use force if you need to, but the longer they stay out the more danger they are to others and themselves.

Fish had so many questions for this man, but Fish would have to explore them later. They look over the scene with Blue, looking back up to them after they ask the question. Well, seems like he didn't have an immediate answer.

"Fish has never done work as a herder before." As has become customary, the bird first begins with sign language to see if Blue understands that. They give them a moment and if there is no recognition, they will instead resort to writing things down.

"Perhaps if we can scare them back towards the hole they came from.....what are rocks afraid of? Erosion?" They look back over to the geonids who certainly are causing lots of minor havoc across the area. This wasn't going to be easy, was it? Fish originally took this because it seemed simple enough, but now the regret was setting in. Fish did not enjoy doing actual work.

In some respects, Fish felt lied to. No one had actually lied to them, but Fish had to be mad at someone. Could Fish just blow them up? Blue didn't seem like the type that would get behind that idea. What about poison? Can you poison rocks? Maybe, Fish is willing to try.

They didn't show any indication of understanding Fish's sign language at all, just looking down at the motions and gestures in confusion. Was this some kind of dance? Was Fish trying to make a secret handshake with them? No, that probably wasn't it. They took out their chalk and slate and started writing on it. Blue bent down and looked at the writing, nodding along as if they understood it. When it seemed like Fish was done with their message, they stood back up and crossed their arms in front of them for a moment before finally speaking.

"Yup, I still don't know how to read!" They laughed with a shrug.

"Alright, welp. I guess I'll have to come up with something. Leave it to me!" Blue stated confidently, pointing a thumb at their own chest. This was fine. They could come up with a plan themself! They had to gather up all the rocks. That would be a lot easier it they had something to put them all in, but they couldn't use their stomach without killing the things and they didn't want to do that. A bag? Maybe they could try herding them into something.

"How about we try herding them? Are you good at herding? I've never done it before myself, but I heard dogs are rally good at it!"

The knight suddenly dropped to all fours and began to change shape, most of their armor suddenly slipping away and into their form except for their cuirass which changed shape to suit their new form. Quickly, a big, blue-furred wolfdog with armor covering its torso was standing in front of Fish with their tongue hanging out the side of their mouth.

---

Shapeshifter Plate

Before Fish can properly think of an alternative method of communication, suddenly the man is shifting into a large blue, armored dog. Fish was learning just how weird the world could be today. Blue would likely be the weirdest person Fish has met so far, but all right. It is what it is, Fish would work with what they got.

Seeing as talking and writing didn't work, Fish would just act and see if they could work together through just actions. The bird hops up onto the back of the dog, standing up on Blue's back. They tap the front of the armor to try and signal for Blue to go forward. If Blue starts moving, Fish is dexterous enough to keep their balance so long as Blue doesn't go into a dead sprint. Fish hoped this would work, they would hate to have to resort to mimicking for their sole method of communication.

Fish waits to see if that works before trying tapping to the left and to the right to get Blue to turn in those respective directions. If they could work out this rudimentary communication system then herding the geonids might actually be possible. The few that wear near them do seem to be moving in the opposite direction of them. This was working somewhat.

Unfortunately for Fish, Blue immediately went into a sprint causing the bird to have to hold on tight as the wolfdog ran toward the swarm of geonids. Luckily, their fur was easy to hold onto. It practically held onto Fish for them, it being oddly sticky. The geonids ran away from them as they came close, afraid of the much larger creature suddenly darting around them.

Now they just needed to figure out what to actually herd them all into. Blue wondered if Fish had any ideas, but then remembered they had no way to communicate, so they wouldn't know even if they did. Dang, not being able to read was really troublesome sometimes. Maybe they should get lessons at some point. They could learn it if they tried, couldn't they? They were really good at learning. They were practically an expert at pretending to be human. Kind of. At least they were much better now than they used to be!

They turned their head to look back at Fish on their back and see if they were trying to communicate anything to them. Were they tapping on their back? They hadn't realized, but now that'd they'd noticed they could feel it clearly. They'd been too lost in their thoughts, but now they began to follow the directions Fish was giving, changing direction according to the bird's tapping on their back.

Fish is almost tossed off, but they take hold of the fur. They realize a good tug is a much faster way to direct Blue anyways. It takes a bit more practice for Fish to get the exact perfect spot between hard enough that Blue can feel and respond and careful enough they aren't just ripping out fur.

As they start to circle the geonids, Fish opens their beak and the sound of distant barking comes out.[1] They'd read about herding dogs before, they barked to collect sheep. It must be exactly the same for rock creatures right?

Well, they were right but only in the sense that the rocks were responding to any sound and not specifically the barking. At this rate they would be here for days.....but inspiration hits the bird. They would have to be much more specific than just using generic sounds. The geonids may be literally dumb as a box of rocks, but they have fears. Fish would have to tap into that.

Their beak opens once more, but now eminating from them is the sound of pickaxes hitting stone. That should work better to scare them! Little geonids start rolling away from them with much more urgency. It's working!

---

1. Sound Throwing

With the yanking of their fur on their back from Fish giving Blue Dogberry directions and the sound of pickaxes scaring the geonids, the herding progressed smoothly. All of the ones that had been running out in the open had been gathered up into one huge herd in the middle of a field with Blue Raspberry circling them to keep them contained. Now they just needed to figure out how to keep the little things there while they fished the rest out of the houses. Now might be a reasonable time for them to divide and conquer.

Blue looked back at the little bird on their back and spoke in a voice that was a bit deeper than usual and slightly garbled. They really needed to practice speaking while in the form of an animal some more. They weren't completely used to it yet, usually just staying silent while in animal forms since animals couldn't talk, but they'd realized they weren't totally bound by that logic since they weren't totally the animal they transformed into. It was only skin deep and in form, but their insides were still entirely blue ooze just like in their humanoid form.

"I can keep them here. Go get the rest from inside the houses."

This was working surprisingly well. Fish wasn't entirely convinced it was going to work at first, but somehow they are pulling it off. Between the mute bird and the ooze that can't read they miraculously managed to figure out a way to communicate and coordinate these efforts. Though for any future missions, Fish might take the time to at least teach Blue to read. Make things a little bit easier on them next time.

Fish hops down as they come to a stop to look over the few houses. Thankfully they were on the edge of a town so only a couple of houses to go through, but this would be difficult. Fish couldn't just charge in pick axe noises a blazing, that would just scare some poor town folk. The kenku watches quietly a moment before another idea strikes. Geonids had a language or at least some method of communicating, rudimentary, but it was something.

The bird hops towards a house using their sound throwing to mimic the sound of a geonid. Rocks jostling against other rocks. Slowly one starts to roll out and towards the bird.....then another...and another.

Soon there is a small pied piper of rocks leading geonids across the fields to gather up and rejoin the flock. Herd? Pile? What was the correct group name for geonids?

While Fish gathered the few stragglers from the houses, Blue kept the gathered geonids together, the wolfdog circling the rumbling herd of tiny rocks. Once they were all together, they just needed to be put somewhere that they wouldn't have to keep herding them like this. While they herded, Blue glanced around for somewhere like that, and managed to spot one.

A big cave in the side of a hill that looked perfect. They didn't even realize this cave was actually the same exact tunnel that the archeologists had dug and released the geonids from in the first place, but what container could be more fitting than just putting them back where they belonged? A nearby boulder would make a great plug to keep them in there too.

Fish returned with the last of the geonids and Blue set to work herding them all over to the tunnel, dashing from side to side to keep them gathered and directing them in the correct direction. They rolled and tumbled into the mouth of the tunnel until every last one of them was right back where they belonged.

Quickly, Blue changed back into their humanoid form, redonning the rest of their armor as their cuirass shifted back into its normal form on their torso. With inhuman strength, the knight picked up a huge boulder and moved it into place in front of the cave, trapping the geonids inside. They didn't seem to mind at all, though. Back in their home and with the opening ceiled, the rocky creatures were comfortable again.

Blue let out a sigh of accomplishment as they stood with their fists on their waist.

"We did it! That was all of them, right, Fish?"

---

Gauntlets of Ginma
Bull's Strength

It was a very, very strange sight for the few homesteaders that made their living out here on the outskirts. A blue-tinted hound chased and corralled a bunch of sentient moving rocks. At the same time, a small bird creature that sounds like a pick axe and/or rocks rubbing together is running around collecting up the others. For many, this night had simply been too much and bottles of spirits are grabbed. Repairs can wait ontil the morning.

Fish helps lead the tiniest of earthquakes back towards the cave that Blue has spotted. The little elementals seem a bit confused as to what is happening, but the return to a cave seems welcome. They had their little escapade of freedom into the great open sky. Time to return to the calm and comfortable familiarity of being a rock in a cave.

One by one the rocks start to disappear from sight as they just meld into the scenery. Fish scans around, but it doesn't seem like there are any stragglers. Though, at this point they would be much more managable for the people than a literal horde.

Fish looks up to Blue and gives a firm nod. It was the only bastion of communication they had, Fish wasn't going to subject them to the horror of FishSpeak, the unholy combination of too many voices and syllables. But Fish does resolve to figure out some way to communicate with him some day.