Monster hunting, or at least the promise of it, had really picked up Gerhart's spirits. They still enjoyed helping people, but with the aftermath of the Sol Stone and everything happening around Charon it all felt like a bit much at times. There was a lot of strife and turmoil that he just wasn't prepared for. People in Moonglade started to look to him for help, but he didn't know what to do. For all intents and purposes, he was still just a dumb kid who was OK with swords.

The Winged Expeditionary Force gave him something meaningful, but simple. Find a monster. Fight it. Simple. He stood on the docks carrying crates off of ships as crews were starting to gather supplies to get everything together for this big hunt.
Lots of food and other camp supplies were going to be needed given the task they were undertaking. Heavy lifting and such, he could do that.

Gerhart grinned widely as he spotted Wolfe across the way, waving him down after setting another crate aside. "Oi! Wolfe! How are you? Didn't expect to be seeing you so soon. Hopefully Zarius isn't still upset about whatever happened with that orb thingy guy."

SPOILER: Click to show

Logistics Corps
The Logistical Corps is responsible for coming in and securing an area that has been surveyed and established. This team provides support and supplies, while ensuring members are outfitted and that the artillery is properly secured. Before any hunt can begin, the team must be properly supplied.

Quest Name: One box too many
Participants: Exactly two (you and one other, the other does not need to be interested in the guild)
Location: Indicated by Hunt Dossier
Post Requirements: 5 post per person, 200 words per post
Reward: Quest Completion
Description: Organization is the core of any hunt. It allows for speed and flexibility on the field of combat and helps prevent any surprises that may rear their ugly head. Your task is to assist the Logistics Corps with organizing the necessary supplies for the hunt. You will assist will bringing resources into an established area, such as food, gear and clothing. You will also be required to reinforce built artillery, making sure it is well defended and guarded as they will be vital in assisting with a hunt. You will also need to be able to take down and rebuild these devices in matters of seconds, relocating it around the battlefield if needed. Help with building barricades, setting traps and outfitting the other teams.

Blue turned around and smiled when Garhart came up to them with a friendly greeting. They hadn't seen him since they'd fought the Origin Matter together, but that hadn't been that long ago. It felt like a lot had changed since then, though. For one thing, they'd gone and joined the Winged Expeditionary Force and apparently so had Gerhart if he was also here to help move and organize all the supplies. They finished storing away the crate of ammunition, blue goo expanding from their hand to coat the crate and then retreating back into their gauntlet. They'd gotten a bit more comfortable using their ability more in the open, saying it was a magic spell to anyone who was curious enough to ask. They recognized just how helpful it was that the knight could carry so much of their cargo with so little effort, so there were no complaints at least.

"Oh! Gerhart! I'm doing great. I joined the Expedition! Oh, but you knew that, I guess. You did too, right? Why else would you be here?" Blue shrugged. "Uh, you think Mister Zarius might still be upset? You don't think he figured out what happened do you? I didn't think he'd be happy about me, um..." Blue trailed off nervously, not sure what to say. They sure hoped Mister Zarius didn't know the ooze had kind of eaten him and then spit him out. He'd been inside the Origin Matter at the time, but still. Blue decided to change the subject. "How's Cirice? I haven't seen her in a while, have you?"

For his part, Gerhart made no mention of seeing the ooze be a bit more oozey than last time. He either didn't notice or just didn't mind. Really wasn't his place to worry about it either way, you know? Some people are just ooze, life is weird.

"Nah I wouldn't worry about it. Zarius isn't the type to hold grudges." He grins and claps Blue on the shoulder before motioning with his head for the knight to follow him as they walked and worked. Walking, talking, working, it all usually helped Gerhart focus himself to be doing something as he talked or worked. Most of the time that worked at least.

"She's good, a bit hard to spend as much time together as we'd like being adventurers and all, but we try and make work best we can. Plus I got this." The ranger grins and fishes a leather strap from around his neck and shows off the ring Cirice gave him on Hearth's Day. "I'm always wearing gauntles so I can't slip on a ring, but this way I can wear it and its pretty close to my heart too." Gerhart grins even wider at that symbolism.

He looks of to the side for a moment seeing people wave them down. Seems they weren't just going to unload the cargo here, the caravan was planning to head a bit deeper into the mesa and stock up some fortifications there.

"Looks like we got more work to do."

Blue was relieved to hear that Mister Zarius didn't hold grudges. He was definitely a really nice guy, and super kind. The first time Blue had met him was when they'd first met Cirice and Zarius had bought her food and clothes.. And now Cirice gave Gerhart a ring! Whatever that meant. Looking closely at the ring on Gerhart's necklace, it actually reminded them of something. Didn't Blue get a ring from Gwen after they'd had dinner with her?

"That's a nice ring. What does keeping it close to your heart mean? Should I do that with the one I got from Gwen?" Blue asked curiously, having no idea what any of what Gerhart had said really meant. Were they supposed to keep the ring Gwen gave them close to their heart? Wait, Blue didn't even have a heart since they were an ooze. Would their core count? Right now, they just kept the ring in their stomach. Were they doing something wrong?

Blue's attention was pulled to the other workers waving. They grabbed a couple more boxes, hefting one under each arm, and waited for Gerhart to be ready to go before walking off deeper into the Mesa to help set up everything for the hunt.

"You know cause hearts are like a love thing ya know?.....Now that you ask I'm not sure why its the heart." He laughs gently as he tucks the ring back under his armor. "So I put mine there because I love Cirice." Gerhart's cheeks flush for a moment having never said that out loud before. "Y-you can if you want. It's up to you really. Whatever feels right for you!"

He quickly picked up some more supplies and hid his face. Blue didn't seem the judgemental type, but it was hard not to get self-concious sometimes. Gerhart didn't exactly hide his feelings at any time, but being sappy and soft was still something to get used to.

As far as the work at hand, they were loading up the last caravan to head off to a forward camp. It would be a long day of travel for the rest of the time across the sands. Which honestly, didn't sound that bad. A good chance to rest before heading to fight this thing. Gerhart climbed onto the back of a passenger caravan before offering a hand down to help Blue up.

"We got a few hours on the back of here Wolfe, how'd you meet Astrid? She speaks pretty highly of ya and knowing her that must mean you're a pretty good guy."

"A love thing...?" Blue repeated quietly. So hearts were related to love. Did that mean you needed a heart to love someone? Blue didn't have a heart, being an ooze, they didn't have any internal organs. Did that mean they couldn't actually love anyone? They thought they already did love Astrid and Cantio though. Were they wrong? Blue looked like they were deep in contemplation as they walked along with Gerhart.

Then, they came to conclusion, their face changing to a look of determination. If they needed a heart, they'd just get one! They'd had plenty of hearts inside them before. Yeah, those hearts had still been attached to the rest of whatever person or creature they'd been part of, but what difference did that make? They'd just need to make sure they didn't dissolve it this time. And then, they'd be capable of love! It was an absolutely fool-proof plan, in the ooze's mind. Just thinking about such a brilliant plan, Blue's mood picked up immediately.

They climbed up and sat in the passenger caravan with Gerhart, a renewed smile on their face.

"Oh, it's kind of funny. Me and Astrid actually met twice, sort of. The first time though, she didn't know it was me since I was a big wolf. We fought bandits together, beat a whole camp of them! And then the second time, I was actually human-shaped and in my armor. She thought my armor was really cool! We were escorting a caravan and then got attacked by a bunch of displacer beasts. It was really fun! We even got to keep some of the fur from them and made matching cloaks, see?"

Blue turned to the side to show the cloak of black fur on their back off better. The faulds around their waist were also made from the same material, which they showed off as well.

"Yeah, it's hard to explain, but it's just a sort of thing you know...like when a person makes you feel a certain way and they feel the same way. I'm doing a bad job of explaining it, but when it finds ya, you'll know." He grins and gives a soft laugh.

Gerhart settles back into the seat, letting himself stretch out a bit. Keep loose in case something does happen along the way, and he was just bad at remaining serious and focused every second of the day so relax he did.

"A big wolf huh? Are you a druid or whatever they are are called? I heard they can make themselves into animals and such." He gives a chuckle hearing about fighting bandits. Seemed about right for Astrid that would be how she met someone. "Those are pretty cool! I think I first met her fighting some yetis...well we thought they were yetis, but they were actually a bunch of dwarves that got cursed. We broke the curse then just kinda sent a bunch of naked dwarfs into the Pale City. No idea what to do with them."

He grinned and laughed, leaning forward to look at the cloak more closely. Displacer beasts are something he's never fought so it was cool to see up close. He'd have to talk to Astrid about trading some cool items with each other somewhere down the line. "That's cool though, having a friend like her makes this whole stuff easier."

Blue shook their head. "Nope, I'm not a druid. I think. I dunno what that is. I'm just really good with shapeshifting magic. It's not just animals I can turn into, you know. I can turn into other things. I turned into a chair once! That was fun. And then Astrid threw me at a guy with an imp." Blue bragged a little with a smile, pointing at their own chest with a thumb. They were proud of their shapeshifting abilities. They'd worked hard learning them and kept practicing and getting better at it. Now, they could even turn into objects and manipulate their size. "Astrid told me about the Dwarfs that were turned into yetis too, but she didn't tell me about sending them back to Pale City naked. So it was you who she did that with?" Blue laughed.

"Hmm, I guess so. She likes making stuff, so it's fun to talk about ideas. She's not the one that made the cloaks though. That was a guy in Moonglade that made them for us, and then we got them enchanted later. Making stuff is pretty fun. We built some houses together in Dragon's Cradle, too. That was a lot of work, but it was pretty fun. I'm not really good with all the little detailed stuff, but pulling the frames and stuff into place was easy. Have you ever built a house?"

"A chair huh? I suppose that does rule out druid....unless chairs are animals.....would a leather chair be an animal? Like if a druid got really into necromancy could they make the chair come back to life?"

He lets that thought pass before shaking his to clear the thought out. There were so many rabbit holes that could go down if they just followed that impulse. "Yeah, it was a very weird day to say the least."

Gerhart nods as he listens to Blue. This was nice, Blue was a good perfectly normal guy who could shapeshift, and it wasn't often any adventurer had time to sit and catch up, especially on the job like this. They were technically working after all.

"A house? No, I used to do a bunch of random handiwork before I decided I wanted to be an adventurer. The house I own now I just bought. Made some of the stuff inside, but the house itself was already built and everything. I'm definitely not a details guy...unless its skinning game. That I am really good at." The ranger gave a similarly proud grin this time. "You can make a lot of decent coin if you get the pelts just right.

Hmm. Blue had no idea whether a leather chair could be brought back to life. The intricacies of necromancy illuded them. So did the basics, and basically everything else to do with the subject. They didn't know what necks had to do with bringing chairs to life, or romancing them for that matter. Welp, Blue just shrugged.

"You bought a house? I didn't know that. I just live with Astrid and Cantio, but it's nice. I like having them around and there's a lot of room for all of us anyways. I didn't make the stuff in the rest of the house, but I did decorate my room with stuff I found while I was travelling. Have you ever visited? Cirice told me she came over to see Cantio once, but it must have been before I started living there. Oh, maybe we can visit your house!"

The caravan suddenly came to a halt, shaking all the passengers and cargo from the sudden stop. They'd arrived at their destination and it was time to start unloading everything and setting up the base camp. Blue got up, tucking a crate under each arm, and hopped down. They waited there for Gerhart to also emerge from the caravan before setting off to help out. The crates were dropped off where they were told to, and they started pulling the crates they'd stored in them out, the blue ooze emerging from their gauntlets and forming into the shapes of the crates before retracting again, leaving the crate behind.

"Livin with others ain't bad! Used to live with a pretty big group of others, but having a place of your own is nice too, ya know? Put your own style on things." He smiles as he tooks a look over the side of the cart to look down the path a moment before looking back to Blue.

"I haven't seen Astrid's place or met Cantio, is that the dad she's always talking about? She makes him seem pretty cool." When the caravan came to a stop, Gerhart similary hopped up to get back to work.

"You guys are welcome any time, just give me a heads up. I usually have a hunter's stew going, but it's nice to know in case there's stuff people can't eat or want to try." The ranger will pull a few crates off the side of the wagon to start moving with Blue.

The camp is still pretty basic, but it is starting to come together. Tents and food are already set up, it seems their trip was more about bringing in defensive supplies to start setting up watch towers and barricades. It's all coming together slowly, but surely. They still had a few days of work ahead, but a good start.