The outskirts of Starlight City were messy and disorganized, but at least they weren't nearly as bad as some parts of the city itself. There was a lot less rubble to deal with wen there was a lot less buildings in danger of collapsing. The biggest worries in the farms right now were a few holes in the ground that had collapsed and some fissures that had opened up after the earthquakes. Those were dangerous and difficult to fix. It'd take either some powerful earth magic or a ton of dirt to fill those up and restore the landscape.

A lot easier to repair but also causing trouble for the farmers at the moment were some broken fences that had allowed some of their animals to flee from their pens. Terrible for the farmers, but a bit of a lucky break for Yasei who was in need of some work. He didn't mind taking a job to go fetch some lost sheep. Work was work and money was money. Helping these people out also felt pretty good.

The farmer looked from the huge Lion-Dog to the other man they'd hired for the job and nodded. While he repaired the fence, he expected them to go retrieve his escaped sheep.

Yasei also turned to the other man and offered a hand to shake while looking down with what he imagined was a friendly smile, but might have looked a bit intimidating thanks to his fangs and tusks.

"Yo! You can call me Yasei. Let's work together, huh?"

SPOILER: Click to show

Quest Name: Cattle Around
Participants: Two or more
Location: Anywhere
Post Requirements: 4 post per person, 200 words per post

Reward: +1 Renown
Description: A local farmer has reported that their livestock has gone missing, having broken free from their pen late in the night after a earthquake rattled their fencing. Now many of the farmers cows, bulls, donkeys or goats are scattered throughout the wilderness, and need help getting back to their pen. While the farmer repairs the fences, you need to gather up the animals and return them home safely and unharmed.

After such a strong earthquake it stands to reason that repairs would be the first order of business, after all even if this part of the island wasn't hit as hard as the city and it's immediate surroundings, the farms had still been damaged and as an island nation the Crescent Isles would have a harder time importing food than a country in the mainland, so Farms and their livestock were of utmost importance to get in order as fast as possible.

it seems Arashi's companion for this mission was some sort of Yokai a Koma Inu, similar if quite a bit bigger than some of the traditional statues of the isles. It was interesting to meet such a creature, he felt laid back despite his appearance and ancestry, a thought which would be confirmed as soon as Yasei turned to him to present himself.

Arashi instinctively extended his hand for the handshake while holding his elbow with the other hand, a traditional martial arts handshake... he still wasn't completely used to being laid back mostly with people who could be or looked like they could be his seniors. "I'm Arashi, Nice to meet you, and yes let's." He said with a smile, he was glad Yasei was laid-back even he himself looked a bit wooden in comparison, he rathers being overly formal than not enough. Still while socially inept he was not really intimidated as far as fear was concerned, he tends to be an anxious mess when meeting new people, but is rarely afraid of them.

"Let's hope they haven't wandered too far."

Yasei grasped Arashi's hand firmly and shook it. It was obvious just how strong the huge Koma Inu was from his grip. Yasei wasn't nearly as formal as Arashi, nor as introverted. When Arashi spoke about hoping the sheep hadn't wandered too far, Yasei clapped a hand on Arashi's back hard enough to nearly knock the man flat on his face and let out a laugh. "We can hope!"

It would be nice if all the sheep were still close by, but that probably wasn't the case. With all the shaking and panic, those sheep probably ran all over the place. He wouldn't be surprised to find them stuck in some crevices or trying to climb up out of some sinkholes. At least there weren't that many predators around here with how close they were to the city. The sheep should probably all still be alive out there. Welp, they'd better get looking!

Yasei put a hand to his chin and looked around humming to himself before stopping and smiling wide.

"Hmmm. Let's try this way first. I got a good feeling about it!"

Without waiting for a response, he set off at a brisk pace, his wooden sandals clopping through the grass. Yasei had a gut feeling that this was the right way to start looking for those sheep. Yasei never let himself get caught up in trying to think too hard about something. He liked to go more by instinct rather than thinking things through carefully, and it usually worked well for him. Quick decisions were better than not doing anything at all because you spent too long trying to decide what to do, in Yasei's opinion. And there wasn't much to go on at the moment anyways, really.

As Yasei Shook his hand Arashi noticed not only the strength but also the confidence the Yokai had, as he clapped Arashi on the back he had to shift his weight and push back against the hand so as to not lose balance... As Yasei Chose a way to go Arashi followed him, he didn't really have any better ideas and he also agreed that it was better to try something than to stay stuck on thinking how to act. While it depended heavily on the situation, the riskier something is it's generally better to think it through before committing, low risk quests like this one don't need so much consideration. They just had to find the sheep and bring them back, and without much to track them on account of the landscape being a mess after the earthquake, just looking around would be the more pragmatic approach.

Arashi didn't have trouble following the Koma Inu he had to speed up a little to catch up since Yasei had done so before him. still he didn't struggle to get next to him and keep the pace. "Well, that's better than anything I got, so... lead the way." Arashi would follow for a bit and pay attention for any signs of sheep, or sheep activity.

Heading off in their pretty much random direction, it actually didn't take long for Yasei to spot one of the lost sheep grazing on some grass on the edge of a grove of trees. Ha! He knew he had a good feeling about this direction for a reason! His gut never betrayed him! Well, except when he ate some cheese that one time, but never mind that.

"One down!" Yasei announced with a chuckle as he picked up his pace, walking faster toward the sheep.

The sheep stopped its grazing and looked up at the approaching Lion-Dog, its eyes going wide. In its eyes, Yasei wasn't a rescuer coming to bring it home, he was a huge, scary looking predator rapidly approaching The sheep turned and ran immediately with a frightened bleat. Yasei was surprised for a moment that it suddenly ran off, but then looked completely serious.

"OY! Get back here!" Yasei yelled and started running after it, which just scared it even more. But, for Yasei's size and rather rotund appearance, he could run surprisingly fast. The sound of his wooden sandals clopping on the ground repeated rapidly. "Here, little sheepy, I'm not gonna hurt ya!" When he got in close, he leapt forward and grabbed the sheep before tucking into a roll with it clutched to his front. The sheep let out another frightened bleat as he stood with it in his arms.

"One down!" He repeated cheerily.

Arashi Spotted the sheep almost as fast as Yasei, as the lion-dog called out to it and began running towards it, Arashi tried to reach out to stop him but it was too late, he was already out of reach and the sheep had been alerted a sheep chase had begun, Arashi drooped his head a little, "I guess that's a way of doing it..." he walked behind them, looking around in case there were more sheep. As Yasei caught the first sheep, and proclaimed his victory over sheepdom, Arashi gave him a thumbs up.

Looking still for more sheep, as he got to Yasei he heard another bleat from farther behind the trees, Hurrying to his side he hoped his partner for this mission wouldn't dash towards the sheep just yet. "Wait, let's see how many there are I'd rather not scatter them by trying to catch them... Let's try to herd them in the right direction." he went past and through the trees where he saw what must be the rest of the flock, there were 20 or so sheep grazing on a clearing, they seemed alert but not in panic, they were looking around but weren't fleeing just yet, Arashi remained hidden just in case. after all they might startle and scatter. Hopefully Yasei wouldn't attempt to catch all 20 of them...

Arashi turned back and talked to the Lion-dog "Hey Yasei, the rest of the flock is over there... do you think you could go around the clearing, keeping your distance, and come out from the other side so they run towards the farm? I'll stay here to guide them in the right and round up the stragglers..." Arashi thought it was a sound plan... Hopefully it would turn out that way, and if no setbacks presented themselves they could get the job done quite quickly!

Yasei followed behind Arashi, holding the sheep he'd caught like a baby in one arm. The sheep laid there, its legs tucked in as it pondered just how it ended up like this.

"Oh, that's a lot of sheep! You think that's all of them?" Yasei whispered excitedly from behind Arashi, not well hidden at all behind the trees like Arashi was. Thankfully, the herd didn't notice him while they were busy grazing on the grass in the field. His smile widened as he listened to Arashi's plan and he nodded.

"Sounds like a plan!" Yasei replied, clapping Arashi hard on the back before setting off, giving the clearing a wide berth. He didn't want to ruin the plan by startling the sheep, so he tried to keep as low a profile as he could, which was, to say, not very low. The huge figure of Yasei was like a moving hill trying to creep through the bushes and trees while still holding onto a sheep in one arm.

It would have been considered a miracle that Yasei made it all the way to the other side of the clearing without the herd noticing him, if that had actually been the case. The sheep just didn't seem to care, really, too focused on what must have been some extremely tasty grass.

On the other side of the clearing, opposite of Arashi, Yasei suddenly burst out of the tree line and roared, his voice sounding out across the clearing, all of the sheep suddenly raising their heads to look in his direction before fleeing away from the assumed predator.

Arashi watched as Yasei tried... Stealth. It wasn't quite working, but it wasn't quite failing either, the sheep were either as dumb and stubborn as the last barn animal Arashi had found all the way over in king's valley, or they were really focused on that grass! maybe it wasn't normal grass? Just as this thought crossed Arashi's head, Yasei jumped out of the bushes at the other side of the clearing and with a roar, the sheep looked at him for a good second, they seemed somewhat jittery... suddenly they darted towards Arashi at a speed that seemed impossible for a sheep.

With barely any time to react the sheep stampede ran over Arashi, he had managed to jump the first 2 sheep, but they moved in a tightly packed formation at lightning speeds so he tripped on the next sheep bounced on two more and ended on the floor being stomped by sheep he never even imagined that the slower more docile cousin of the goat could be so fast and have such hard hooves despite it's woolly and soft body...

Covering his face he could do nothing but wait for the sheep to stop trampling him. Thankfully they didn't seem to need guidance as they all dashed towards the farm on their own...

After groaning a bit Arashi got up he looked back towards the clearing "That definitely wasn't common grass..." and he would be right the clearing seemed to have a lot of tiny shrubs with strange leaves... it seems the sheep weren't lost at all... they had just went for a little... recreational trip Either way they were already almost at the farm... whatever they ate just left them with high energy... Maybe the first sheep was just a bit of an introvert the poor lad...

Yasei let out a loud, boisterous belly laugh as he walked through the clearing back to Arashi, the one sheep still tucked under one arm. With his other hand, he reached down and grabbed Arashi by the back of his robe and lifted him into the air before placing him back on his feet.

"Was that part of your plan? You're not as good at dodging sheep as I would have expected!" Yasei asked, still laughing so hard he put a hand on his stomach and bent over slightly. That had just been too hilarious to watch! He had to wipe a tear from his eye with all his laughter

"Ah, sorry! Sorry! I mean, are you alright?" Yasei asked, waving his free hand in front of him. Still, he was chuckling and smiling wide, obviously not that concerned and still finding the whole situation hilarious. He pointed in the direction the sheep herd had run off in, back toward their pen. "Let's go after them, huh? Maybe it'd be a good idea this time to both be on the side they run away from." He said, trying to stifle his laughter.

He gave Arashi a heavy slap on the back of encouragement. He was ready to set off to follow the herd of sheep, but then his nose twitched. What was that smell? He turned back to the field the sheep had been grazing in curiously and looked around. His nose lead him to a small shrub, which he picked a branch off a gave a good sniff. Curiosity got the better of him as he also gave it a bite, chewing and swallowing some of the leaves.

"Ooh..." Yasei giggled and turned toward Arashi again for him to see that the Lion-Dog's pupils had grown as wide as saucers and he was smiling wide, though that part wasn't unusual. "This is some good stuff..." He said slowly, less energetic than usual and then chuckled.

"Ugh.... no it wasn't..." Arashi stretched a little and grabbed his shoulder. "I'd thought I'd be too honestly... I didn't expect them to be so fast though. Or so hard hooved..." he groaned as he moved his shoulder around. "I'm fine though, just... Hope that doesn't still hurt by tomorrow..."  He looked towards the sheep, which were already almost at their pen. By the time he looked back towards his companion it was almost too late, "Wait! don't!" Okay nevermind it wasn't almost too late it was already too late, Yasei already had a mouthful of the leaves the sheep had been eating, as his eyes grew wider Arashi could only mutter, "I'm pretty sure that's not your average grass..." with a sigh he hoped the Koma-Inu wouldn't cause much trouble in this state, they just had to return to the farm and be done with it... How hard could that be?

"Yeah it certainly looks like it is... I had figured that was not just common grass by the reaction of those sheep... either way, we should start to head back, The sheep have probably gotten there by now." Arashi turned around again and began heading towards the farm. "Let's get going shall we?"

Yasei giggled and his steps were a bit unsteady, but he did follow behind Arashi back toward the sheep farm. He stumbled a lot, catching himself on trees to keep himself from falling. Whatever that grass was, it was strong. He'd only had a tiny bit, and it was affecting him so much. Anyone else migh have wondered how much of an effect those sheep had felt being so much smaller than him, but the thoughts going through Yasei's mind weren't nearly as profound.

The thoughts going through his mind were mostly "What's this thing?" Yasei looked to the side and noticed the large pink shape out of the corner of his eye. He wanted to look at it more and find out what it was, but it was gone. And then it was back again, but only for a moment before disappearing. This kept repeating, and so he started turning to try and get a better look at it, but it kept staying just barely in the corner of his vision and only while he was looking to the side. What was that and why was it avoiding him!? He needed to catch it! He reached out and arm to try and grab whatever it was, but it was staying behind him, so it wasn't easy.

If Arashi turned around to look at Yasei, he'd immediately notice that the Koma-Inu was chasing his own giant, fluffy pink tail with incredible determination.