Gerhart always felt himself able to breathe a little bit easier when he was in Moonglade. The familiar sights and smells made the ranger's mind settle that much more quickly. He knew what to expect in these places as well. Gerhart was also usually able to walk with a bit more pride here, seeing the impact of his work.



"I should count myself lucky, the Ranger of Moonglade is traveling with us. I have never felt safer." The noblewoman chuckled from the back of her wagon.



Gerhart gave a sheepish smile and tried to wave it off, "Is that the nickname I get? I promise you, the stories are probably more fiction than fact." The really went all out on the nickname....though admittedly Gerhart probably would've been more embarrassed if it was something more elaborate or gaudy.


He never was good at taking compliments or trying to shy away from them. It was difficult being humble, but not self-deprecating to the point Cirice would scold him again. The recognition was nice though. Even if certain members of his family thought it foolish, he had a reason to care about this place. A few wrongs to set right and all that.

Perrath's time in Moonglade has been well spent. Many residents revere his goddess, and because of this, he's more willing to serve them in most cases. While he hates to lower himself to having to serve a few nameless nobles he could not care less about, but travel requires coin as does maintaining one's lifestyle. At least this partner of his for the journey seems to be a capable young man if not a bit spunky for his tastes. The curse of youth, the dragon decides. 

As the armored dragon approaches the group, his pale yellow eyes look between them and then he lowers himself in a polite but showmanly bow exposing the wicked looking greatsword on his back. "Greetings, my lord and lady. I am the paladin of the moon known as Perrath," he says grandly. "My goddess finds it in our best interest to serve you all on this day. My fellow adventuring partner and I will ensure your safe return." Then he raises his head, chin held eye and looking down at the naïve and rich couple with scorn masked behind a charismatic smile, though his glance cuts toward Gerhart.

"The Ranger of Moonglade, eh?" he muses, walking over to introduce himself. "Well met." Simple pleasantries. He doesn't care about this partner either, but if the man has a title, well, he could be a useful ally in future endeavors. 

"Don't think much of it, I'm a ranger, I'm from Moonglade, pretty much that explains the whole thing." Gerhart grins as he offers out a hand. "Gerhart Stanislav. Let's hope this is just a long and boring walk, but good to know someone else with a good amount of skill is with us."

The smile and hand shake is warm and genuine from the ranger. A placid and accepting expression, his opinions on nobles were complicated, but there was no hidden disdain in his mannerisms.

"Paladin of the moon hm? Like the Moon Mother or Lunala?" Might as well make conversation while they walk. Though....was Lunala a thing anymore? He never paid attention to the gods and rarely traveled with priests or religious folk. If this man doesn't know that the gods are supposedly dead should he tell him? That seems like a difficult conversation to broach, 'hey nice to meet ya, your goddess is dead. Anyways, long walk ahead of us.'

Maybe just table that until a later date, the dragonkin carries a pretty big sword, no need to test how good he is with it. Just stop the dumb thoughts before they become dumb words Gerhart. Reel it in.

Hm, the boy has some zest and a willingness to jest. Perrath can't help an amused smirk across his dragon snout. "A boring walk would give us no opportunity to prove our glory," he says. 

With everyone present, the carriage driver snaps the reins, and the cart lurches forward. Perrath walks alongside Gerhart while they speak, his long black tail dragging along the ground. 

"Indeed, a paladin of Lunala, the Moon Mother," he confirms with a proud expression. Finally, someone who has some respect for the lady of the night. That is one thing he enjoys about Moonglade. Of course, Perrath has heard all of the talk and conspiracies about the state of the gods. Whispers travel through the streets, and it is part of why he is journeying to Eclipse City in the first place. He needs to find a center of worship and learn the truth for himself. His abilities granted to him by the Moon Mother have not faded, so his confidence in her has not faded. Still, it troubles him, but as a representative warrior of her faith, he can not let his own resolve waver. 

"What of you, Gerhart, Ranger of Moonglade? Do you follow Lunala and spread her blessings?"

“Look what glory gets you, weird nicknames cause people don’t actually know your name.” He laughed and motioned with his head back to the wagon as they started walking.

A fight was probably coming their way though, despite his protests they traveled with a noble’s wagon. Or what other adventurers might call a giant target Honestly a group of enterprising bandits would be a little silly to not try and make a quick coin or two charging for a roll or just plain extortion if they were boring. He rested the palms of his hands on the pommel of his swords just to be ready in case of anything.

“Me? No not really….didn’t exactly have a…religious family.” That was an understatement. His birth parents just had other concerns like raising a son that the gods just weren’t a big focus. His adoptive father on the other hand loathed the very concept of religion itself and would probably see people like Perrath or even Cirice as idiots for being duped into working for them.

Gerhart himself was also now in an incredibly strange position. He basically housed a god or at least some sort of pseudo-deity, but their pact came more from mutual understanding and not so much service.

"If glory doesn't earn you a nickname, or better yet a title, then you've not done anything worthy of the thing," Perrath says confidently. The simple statement speaks volumes to Perrath's current opinion of the young warrior. The human's clearly made a name for himself in his short time on this planet. 

Perrath keeps his eyes peeled on the mushroom forest as they walk along the road and chat. "That's a shame," he says, hiding a slight hint of disdain for that fact. He hasn't decided if it's better for someone to be unaligned from the gods or to worship one other than his own. The warrior is a youngling, does that excuse him? Perrath is not sure. "You have yet to feel the rush of power granted to you by a higher power. To feel the very will of your god or goddess running through your veins is a sensation like no other. It is truly exhilarating. To cleave thr-"

Suddenly, Perrath stops and looks around alertly. "Ranger Gerhart, I do have one clarifying question to ask you before we continue farther." There's something moving in a bush. The look in Perrath's eyes as they cut over to his mission partner is almost sinister but there is a hint of eager playfulness before the look back to the bush. "How do you feel about cleaving your enemies asunder?"

“I wouldn’t say that.” He says the words under his breath with a muted chuckle as Perrath mentions not dealing with a higher power. The difference was just his wasn’t widely known.

He listens to the rustling, ears always tuned to nature. It didn’t sound particularly large are threatening so he didn’t make too much of it. Gerhart does turn an eye when Perrath turns a bit more violent. “I don’t exactly have the size of blade to do quite that, but I won’t stop you.”

There’s a brief moment of hesitation, the calm before the storm, those few moments when the muscles tighten up before pouncing. Out from the underbrush a rabbit comes sprinting and Gerhart relaxes back with a laugh. “just a harmless rabbit.” As he grins believing the threat gone there is more rustling.

Just behind the rabbit, a very hungry looking myconid bursts out…then several, then a horde as the floor of the forest seems to come alive. Dozens, if not hundreds, of hungry looking mushroom like creatures are swarming past them. The pile over ankles and start to threaten to overwhelm the group if nothing is done soon.

The boy isn't opposed to wanton violence. Excellent. Then he'll have no issues with Perrath cleaving through whatever emerges from the brush! The paladin draws his greatsword, a twisted black blade that seems to thrum with some sort of negative energy. He readies himself for what emerges, an upward slash prepared to cleave the enemy asunder. When it leaps forth from the brush, he brings the blade up in a quick motion, instantly halving the- rabbit?? 

The two blood chunks of fur and meat land with dual soft thuds. Perrath's shoulders fall, looking disappointed. "Well..." That's embarrassing. Save the moment. "Well, if this had been a true enemy, you can see what would happen to it!" he says triumphantly. 

But then dozens if not hundreds of tiny mushroom men emerge from the brush, their hunt cut short by this hulking dragon creature! They instantly turn their eyes to the dragon and his partner and charge into battle! Tiny myconids stab at his feet and clamber up his form. He rips them off, swatting at them with his tail. This is annoying, a pain, and they're too small to easily hit with a sword. 

So he switches tactics. Purple and green swirling sickly magic spreads from Perrath's hand like a cloud of disease. Myconids caught in its wake begin to shrivel up and stumble until they collapse as dehydrated husks of themselves. 

"Driver, go!" 

---

Prehensile tail
Wither

OK, maybe there should be the tiniest amount of concern for the dragonkin's seeming bloodlust. He didn't seem the type to go berserk and attack everyone, but he also didn't exactly seem like the merciful type.

Gerhart tries to stop the cleaving of the rabbit, but he's not gonna put his hand out, it'll get chopped off along with the rabbit. He does give a little laugh seeing how proud Perrath is, but before any smart ass quips can escape they are descended upon by mushrooms.

The ranger draws his sword and swings, sending gusts of air to dice up a decent chunk of the crowd. His free hand takes the popping pebbles from his pocket and slams them into the ground.

Normally it would be nothing more than just annoying, but it takes small chunks out of the little mushroom folk. For the most part, this is hardly a challenge, but they are quite troublesome. Small, ravenous teeth clang against his greaves as they try to bite through and connect.

"Don't suppose you breathe fire or like....know fire magic?" He didn't want to be presumptious, but it would be super helpful right now to just burn away a good swath of mushrooms.

As quickly as many of the mushroom men withered, more emerge from the forest to take their place, rushing the two warriors and trying their best to weigh them down and consume them. Gerhart’s comment irks Perrath particularly. “What, was destroying a swath of them in one motion not enough for you?”

The carriage lurches forward, but it’s stopped by the speedbumps of myconids in the way. The horses panic, struggling through the mushroom mire.

“This is ridiculous,” Perrath growls, gripping his greatsword in both hands and swinging it through the crowd of mushrooms, cleaving through them. Sickly green flames lick off the blade, tearing at the myconids, but not presently able to do much more than just cut them. “Can you send a gust of wind in that direction?” The paladin motions ahead of the cart where the horses are stuck in the muck. “I’ll wither them, you blow them away! Then we get on this blasted cart and flee!”

He sure is making a lot of assumptions.

Gathering up magic in his hand again, the same cloud of disease spreads across the mass of myconids, withering a large collection of the ones around the cart. He kicks some off his feet and jumps onto the step on the side of the cart. “Let’s go!”

---

Wither
Soul Slicer (1 stack)

"Flames do great against plant guys, might stop coming if they see fire. Just thinkin' up ideas here." He gives a little smirk and laugh as his blades continue to whirl through the horde of mushroom men.

It is a seemingly endless effort though, escape was going to be a much faster way to deal with this problem. Of course, the cart gets stuck as they start to talk about getting out of here. Perfect timing. Just what they needed really now that they mention it.

While he doesn't exactly have just a simple gust of wind, Gerhart does have something as he wheels around. He crosses his blades in an X before slicing out sending little gusts of wind to dice up the mushrooms^[1] and give the horses enough space to get going. Gerhart looks to the cart seeing it get some movement then back to the hoard of mushrooms ready to continue the chase.

"One last thing..." The ranger lets the cart get some distance before he sheathes his blades and turns to face the mushrooms. He holds out a hand and a sudden blinding flash^[2] sparks out stunning the mass of them. He then turns and with surprising burst speed catches back up to the cart^[3], diving into the back with a grin. "Made it."

---

1. Wind Cutter
2. Blinding Clasp
3. Rushing Charge

With Gerhart’s efforts combined with Perrath’s own, the cart has enough of a clearing to charge ahead. No one is happier about this than the horses pulling at the front. The driver, who took a couple of minor wounds from the myconids, also seems relieved. Perrath waits at the ready, his sword poised for any other assailants as long as they’re trekking through the mushroom forest. Luckily, the mushroom men are quite small, and their little legs can’t keep up with the strength and speed of draft animals.

Finally, they clear the giant mushroom stalks, and everything manages to relax. The horses fall into a gentler gait, and Perrath finally lets himself relax. His sword finds its resting place in its sheath on his back again.

“That was troublesome,” he says with a sigh. “I commend your efforts. You seem well equipped to keep a cool head in an overwhelming situation if you still find humor in even something as chaotic as that. A good quality to have.”

“Are we away from the danger?” calls the noble from inside the carriage.

“It seems we are for now,” Perrath responds. “And our destination is within our sight.”