Beist was almost too caught up in his curiosity to pick up on Astrid's awkwardness and Gerhart's intention to lead the subject of the conversation away from the gods being dead and get them back on track. He was already pulling out a notebook and pen as he crouched down closer to Astrid, not wanting to miss anything she said. But, he hesitantly put it away and stood back up before clearing his throat, his ears drooping in embarrassment.

"Y-yes, we should focus, shouldn't we? Investigate the kidnappings. Right." He muttered, partially to the others and partially to himself to try and clear his thoughts of the Sol Stone from his mind. Maybe they could discuss that later, once they stopped people from disappearing. That was a much more important matter to take care of, after all.

Beist lead the group off to the side, out of the bustling crowd in the city square, and slightly into an alleyway. Once there, he reached into a pouch on his belt and pulled out a potion that would be familiar to Astrid, the contents constantly changing color and viscosity within. She'd also be familiar with his reasoning for drinking such a potion at the moment. The giant beast man stood out far too much in a crowd. If he was going to keep a low profile and not be seen a mile away by the kidnappers they were trying to catch, he'd need to change his appearance and this potion could do just that. Kind of.

Gerhart, however, likely had no idea what this tonic was about to do. "I'm going to change my appearance a bit so I can stand out a little less." Beist explained simply before popping the cork from the bottle and downing the contents. He could feel the odd sensation of the potion still changing its texture and viscosity as it slid down his throat.

With their current locale, he decided the best race he could change into to stand out the least was probably a Fellblood. It would also help his tail and horns not seem strange if they stuck around, which they seemed persistent on doing every time he'd tried his potion so far. The same went for his second pair of arms, but there was no race he could turn into to make those look normal.

Beist began to shrink, the fur on most of his body receding and the scaled parts of his arms and tail smoothing out into dull blue skin. His face shifted, his animal-like mouth and nose morphing into a much more human shape. His nose was wide and round with a prominent bump. His teeth changed to normal humanoid teeth, though the small tusks remained in the corners of his mouth which was almost entirely obscured by a thick, bushy beard and mustache in the same grey color his fur had been with streaks of a lighter, silvery grey. The hair on top was much the same, short and pushed back with a pair of antler-like horns growing out along with a smaller pair of horns between them. His eyes looked exactly the same, baggy with bright emerald green irises. When the transformation was complete, Beist looked just like a dull blue Fellblood with grey hair with antler-like horns and a tuft of fur at the tip of his tail. His build was also the same- broad, muscular, and slightly pudgy. He also, of course, still had four arms and stood at a height of seven and a half feet. Unusually tall, even for a Fellblood. At least it was a lot shorter than twelve and a half feet.

Throughout the transformation, Beist clothing had changed size with him, his vest, buttoned shirt, and slacks staying perfectly fitted to him. He looked into the crowd beyond the alleyway and realized his clothing definitely didn't fit in with the locals. His clothing suddenly started to transform into similar clothing to the locals, a long black and dark red coat that went down to his ankles with a belt around the waist, a white buttoned shirt, black pants, and black leather boots. After a moment of thinking, he also added a pair of black gloves. With the coat, he was able to hide his second pair of arms inside it to blend in better.

Beist smiled to Gerhart and Astrid. "Well, what do you think? Do I look like one of the locals?"

---

Beist's Transmutation Tonic
-Baloth Muscles graft (right arm)
-Baloth Muscles graft (left arm)
Morph Suit

As soon as Beist pulls out the tonic, Astrid’s eyes light up. She definitely recognizes that weird liquid! She managed to get her hands on it herself (whether by making or purchasing it or getting it from the Consortium is left to be discovered). Before them, Beist transforms into a spiffily dressed but still quite tall Fellblood.

“Aye, close enough! A bit too clean if ya ask me,” she jests. “Just throw a bit of ash on yer shoulders, an’ ya’ll be good ta go!” With her hands on her hips, Astrid lets out a little laugh.

Just then, there’s a yelp from a nearby rooftop – a yelp that sounds exactly like Astrid, oddly enough. Spicy Pawsage spins around in the direction of the yelp, his lips pulled back in a vicious snarl and flames licking at the sides of his mouth. He lets out an angry bark, and behind him, the darnest thing happens: Astrid starts disintegrating. Tiny sparks of electrical magic mix with the ash of the air and start to carry her away.

Her expression is shocked as she looks at the position of what used to be her hand. This isn’t supposed to happen! Astrid’s voice becomes desperate. “Somethin’s happenin’ ta me main self! It was just up ther–”

As she tries to point, the replicant fades.

Strangely, Gerhart doesn't seem to be too confused or off put by the sudden transformation from Beist. He just smiles politely, hands on his hips, and waits for it to all change. Some magic you just can't rush, you know? Some magic was all big and fancy happening immediately and other times you kinda had to let that magic take hold.

"Just stand around here long enough and you'll get the ash, no worries." He laughs before settling back down. Gerhart turns to the roof with a confused look. Was this a fake/real Astrid the whole time? He still wasn't sure if the Replicants were like...actual people. Did they feel pain?

"HAL!" The ranger looks up to the sky and gives a sharp whistle. "Scan!" A loud caw cracks the nearby sky as the kestrel takes off from its perch to get them a literal bird's eye view.

"C'mon Beist, something's going on." He starts to take off where the replicant started to point, stepping off pads of air to get some height and onto the rooftops to see what he can spot.[1] The ranger looks around trying to find foot prints from the half-dwarf in the ash.

---

1. Step of the Wind

Beist was immediately thrown into confusion as the Astrid before him was apparently a magic duplicate and was now disintegrating, and something had just happened to the real Astrid that was likely the source of the sudden scream he'd just heard and now they were chasing after someone and Gerhart was running on air and there was a giant bird and oh dear, this was too much, too suddenly for an old man! How did he keep getting into such situations? Was it going to be like this every time he ran into this girl?

Beist scooped up Awd and the other dogs and ran, stopping at the wall as Gerhart jumped up onto the top of the building where the real Astrid had just been. Beist looked up, pondering just how he was supposed to get up there. He couldn't fly. Drat, if only he'd waited a moment before using his potion, he might have chosen some race with wings, but it was too late.

"Dora." He said as tapped one of the charms hanging from his horn and suddenly a large griffon appeared beside him, looking around curiously. The griffon spotted the blue Fellblood after a moment and looked like she recognized him despite his altered appearance. Beist just smiled and gave her a rub on her beak. "It's me, Dora. Just using the tonic again. There's no time, we need to hurry." He quickly explained as he went around to her side and climbed onto her back. She seemed to understand, taking off immediately and landing on the roof with Gerhart.

He climbed down and looked around for any tracks or clues as well. Awd climbed down and started sniffing around for a scent to follow.

Having heard that there was a kidnapping cult afoot (again, for some reason), Astrid did the most logical thing to her twelve year old mind: a stakeout. Except for the stakeout, she really needed some bait. What’s better bait than a seemingly helpless little girl wandering the streets?

Apparently, her very actual self set up on a rooftop makes for a better target. Why did her replicant have to go and start up a conversation with two imposing figures?? Why did she let herself get so distracted that she didn’t notice a couple of bozos on drakes flying overhead? While she was invested in what was going on down below, two masked figures lept off their drakes, landed behind her, and when she tried to fight back, they slapped some strange manacles that cut off her ties to magic.

And just like that, they hoisted her up onto the back of one of these drakes, and now that’s where she is – wrapped in a drake’s claws and being toted over Darkveil toward the top of Mount Drakolt. She’s pretty sure she saw the kidnappers high five and giggle like children despite having the voices of grown men.

Well, this certainly has not gone to plan. Astrid can’t even summon her hammer! And the manacles make it hard for her to maneuver her hands, not that that matters since her arms are tightly pressed into her sides by the drake’s hold on her in its talons. At least she managed to get a scream out, just in time by the looks of it since she can see two familiar winged beasts and their riders making their way for her.

Scanning the sky, Halcyon is able to spot a pair of drakes flying off in the distance. That seems suspicious even to the bird, so he sends a ping down to his rider below. On the rooftops, Beist would see Gerhart just stop and look up a moment.

"Drakes. Probably what got Astrid, hope she can keep up." Gerhart grins and nods towards Dora. Thoman seems to immediately know the next steps and jumps towards Gerhart, the ranger catching the dog on his back carrying him piggyback style.

He makes his way towards the wall and starts to sprint towards the edge of town where Halcyon would have a chance to get low enough. With full confidence, Gerhart leaps off the wall when he reaches a corner. He holds out an arm for Halcyon to grab on to, the kestrel plucking its rider out of the sky.

"Up you go!" Thoman wags his tail as he climbs his way up the side of the bird, thankfully the size of his claws relative to the bird only hurts a little bit. When the goodest boy is settled into his part of the saddle it's Gerhart's turn. He has just enough upperbody strength to swing himself up to catch onto a strap of the saddle.

"Let's go Beist, they can't get too far!" Gerhart grins and calls back to the other, seemingly not worried about the 6 or 7 ways he could have just died in the last 30 seconds. He survived, no need to worry about the past.

That was at least 10, no, 11 ways Gerhart could have just died or at least gotten seriously injured pulling the stunt he just pulled. Beist just watched, appalled, at the display of absolute disregard for safety. But, luckily for Gerhart's ears, there was no time for him to give the young man a scolding for his recklessness. They had to chase after the drakes that had whisked Astrid away.

Beist picked up Awd and slipped the little Raccoon-Dog into his shirt, letting the little creature nestle himself comfortably into place. Beist was used to Awd sleeping there often, so much so that he always left his shirt partially unbuttoned beneath his vest on habit to let Awd easily climb in and out.

With Awd tucked away against his stomach and Spicy Pawsage held in his arms against his chest, Beist quickly climbed back onto Dora who took off to follow behind Gerhart and the Drake-riding kidnappers in the sky.

There was really no hiding their approach in the open air. The huge bird and giant Griffon stood out far too much. The Drake-riders looked behind them and easily spotted their new pursuers.

"Damn, I knew this one was too easy! She's got friends!" One of the riders called to the other. They both flicked the reigns and their Drakes picked up speed, hoping to outpace their pursuers.

Seeing that her friends are on their way to come help, Astrid presses out against the talons’ grip on her to free her hands enough to move. Then she fumbles with the gag hastily tied in her mouth. Even with the limited movement her hands have, she manages to break the cloth. Does she use this opportunity to shout for help? No, she uses it to be sassy, as a twelve year old does. She even decides to play along with this, pretend like this was her mastermind plan.

“Aye, of course I’ve got friends!” she shouts up at the rider above her. “If ya had two bits of sense, ya’d have been lookin’ out fer others an’ realized I was just the bait!” It’s a fib, but not quite a lie. "Yer in fer it now!"

“What the? How’d you get ungagged?!” one of the goons shouts, his voice muffled by the winds.

“Ya got poor quality of work, I tell ya what!” Astrid snarks. Shifting her arms, she tries to free them more from the talons. If she can get enough leverage, she bets she can break these weird magic-blocking manacles!

“Forget about her for now!” the rider of the drake carrying Astrid says. “Go get them off our tails!”

“On it! Time for a snack, Viper!” Grabbing the reins, the other rider turns his drake around to go take on Beist and Gerhart on their mounts.

“Don’t ya dare hurt Dora an’ Hal! They’re very good creatures!” Astrid’s protests fall on deaf ears, and she struggles while the drake speeds off toward the mountain.

---

Bull’s Strength
Viper - black drake with earth breath

If Beist didn't like the move Gerhart just pulled, he should probably look away. Of course, he wouldn't know what was happening until it was too late as Gerhart wouldn't communicate this plan. Halcyon just seems to start climbing and getting some altitude. At first it's a good plan as it prevents the drake's from aiming at them both at the same time.

It's likely when Gerhart starts to stand in the saddle that the fuzziest of grandpa's gets nervous. "All right Hal, dive."

The ranger grins as the kestrel reaches the apex of its climb and starts to dive towards one of the drakes. He waits a moment, adjusting his aim. Thoman perks up to act as the spotter for what is about to come, helping his master dial in the shot.

With no warning, Gehart leaps from the saddle and begins a freefall towards the drake as it starts to angle up towards him. Perfect. Gerhart twists past the drake's open mouth to hit the rider with a lariat to the neck at terminal velocity.[1]

The force of the hit rips him from the saddle and pulls the dragon into a spin. When this happens, Halcyon dives in to sink its claws into the drake and start ripping at it. Gerhart lets the bandit fall from the rest of however high up they are, the man is unconcious and not going to wake up.

"GET ASTRID! I'M FINE!" Gerhart sure hopes his voice can be heard over the rushing wind. Starry markings pop up along his face and neck as wings unfurl, taking a few hard flaps to correct his free fall and stop the descent.[2]

A path is cleared for Beist.

---

1. Guillotine Drop
2. Beacon of Light

Beist got incredibly nervous as he watched Gerhart stand in his saddle, on a flying bird, high in the air. How dangerous! He wanted to shout out to the man who, in his eyes right now was acting like a reckless youth, to stop that this instant! He was going to get himself killed! Beist screamed and looked away, covering his eyes with his hands when Gerhart leapt from Halcyon into a skydive straight toward the Drake rider below. He'd have to save a serious scolding for later though.

At the sound of Gerhart's voice calling for him to get Astrid, he parted his fingers enough to peak through and looked to see Gerhart had managed not to dive straight into the toothy maw of the Drake and had actually hit the rider dead on, pulling him off of the Drake's back. BUT NOW THEY WERE BOTH FALLING! THIS WAS NOT FINE! AGH! Scolding for later, scolding for later... For now, he'd just trust Gerhart's words and go after Astrid. If he found the man was a stain on the pavement below, it was the reckless youth's own fault! Beist felt bad just thinking that. No, he should save Gerhart! He didn't want him to splat on the ground! Astrid would be fine for another moment, right? They'd catch up to her. But, what if Gerhart knew what he was doing and Beist just messed things up by going to his aid? Agh! Beist couldn't decide what to do, looking back and forth between Astrid and Gerhart.

Luckily, Dora didn't hesitate at all, and flew straight for the Drake that was still flying away with Astrid in its claws. Beist looked down to see Gerhart had somehow stopped himself from falling, glowing marks on his face and... did he have wings now!? Alright, this was fine. Nothing strange here. Just keep flying. Everything is fine. He took a deep breath to calm down.

Dora closed the distance between her and the fleeing Drake and then kept pace with it, staying close. "You are the real Astrid, aren't you? Are you alright?" Beist whispered as he reached out two hands, grabbed the chain between the manacles on Astrid's wrists and pulled it apart. With a loud clink, one of the links snapped, giving Astrid free range of motion with her hands, thought the magic blocking effect was still working, the metal cuffs still on her wrists.

The Drake rider looked back at the sound of the chain breaking and saw the griffon and Fellblood on his tail.

"Hey! No kidnapping who I just kidnapped!" He shouted as he pulled a spear off his back.

---

Bull's Strength

Astrid watches in absolute awe as Gerhart totally destroys the guy who just went off to attack them. Halcyon and the drake duke it out midair, spinning and clawing at each other until the drake roars and releases a spew of hot, murky breath into Hal’s face. Seeing this, Astrid shrieks for Gerhart.

“Oi! Halcyon’s getting mucked!” she screams for Gerhart. The bird is hardy and well equipped for combat, but that doesn’t make the drake any less dangerous.

By then, Beist approaches on Dora, and the guy decides that whispering is the right way to communicate when wind is rushing past. “Huh??” Astrid calls. “What’d ya say??” With his mighty hands, Beist frees Astrid’s arms from the drake’s claws and breaks the manacles. Ah, freedom! Now if only she can squeeze free! As she braces her hands against the tightening claws, the rider above notices them and shouts.

“Well, maybe ya kidnapped the wrong person! Ya ever think of that?!” And then she makes the silly decision of trying to use her position of nobility for once in her life. “That’s what ya get fer tryna kidnap a proper noble lady!”

“Wait, you’re a noble?!” the rider asks. “Oh you’ll be worth even more for the sacrifice then!” He smacks his drake’s neck on the side as an indicator that there’s something nearby, and the drake looks back to see Beist and Dora and lets out an ear piercing screech. Its throat fills with hot, muck and then it expels it directly at them.

Uh oh. As hard as Astrid tries to manifest any magic, she can’t, not even from her cloaks!

---

black drakes - earth breath

Gerhart had hoped the mount would lose its focus when it lost its rider, but these guys are well trained. The drake has a few more offensive options than the kestrel, but Halcyon is tough. He claws at the drakes throat and face as it goes for the legs. A quick talon kick to the face gets enough space for Halcyon to take off.

From the kestrel's back, Thoman barks from his side saddle at the drake. "YOU ARE LUCKY TO NOT BE FACING ME BEAST!" He lays a paw into Halycon to heal some of the shallow scrapes.

"DONTWORRYIGOTTHEM!" The words come in a blur as Gerhart speeds back up past them to start chasing down Halcyon and the drake.[1]

The ranger comes up with an upward slash along the drake's shoulder as he passes. It whips its tail around to slam into the man, Gerhart hooking an arm around it to hold on and not go spiraling through the air.[2]

"OK Fair enough, that one hurt." He grunted as the drake thrashed and writhed in the air trying to shake him off as fast as it can. Halcyon soars off, banking back around to come and assist with some more speed.

---

1. Rushing Charge
2. Padding hit prevention used

Beist let out a sigh as Astrid shouted out, completely ruining the point of his whispering. He was trying not to attract the Drake rider's attention, but now he had it completely, along with the attention of the Drake itself now! And on top of that, Astrid announced that she was a Noble, just making herself an even bigger target and making everything worse. This kid really needed to learn to have a bit more tact.

Beist, on the other hand, needed to learn to handle pressure better. With the Drake aiming its muddy breath at him and Dora, all he thought to do was cry out in panic and hug the Griffon's neck in fear. It was just thanks to Dora ignoring him and dropping into a dive that they both managed to avoid a face full of muck.

"Oh, thank you Dora! Ah!" Beist whimpered, still hugging her tightly. Dora rolled her eyes.

Getting close would be a lot more difficult now that the Drake rider was on guard. But that gave him an idea. With his attention on the large Griffon and Fellblood on her back, he shouldn't notice a tiny delivery to help Astrid out. Beist pulled a small bottle from his pocket and a small white snake with golden wings from his beard.

"Oh, no wonder you're screaming and crying was interrupting my sleep, there's something exciting going on out here! Let me handle this! I'll defeat them in an instant, none can handle the majestic power of the great Quetz-" Pretzels 

"Pretzels, bring Trashjar to Astrid, okay?" Beist interrupted, holding the bottle up to the snake.

"Delivery!? That's all!? I'm a fearsome, celestial being, not a mailman!" Pretzels complained indignantly.

"Yes, delivery, and then you can fight or whatever, once Astrid is freed." Beist sighed.

Pretzels seemed satisfied enough with the promise of future glorious combat, wrapping himself around the bottle and holding it tightly as he darted off, up to Astrid while Beist and Dora kept the Drake's attention on themselves.

---

Ginma's Familiar (Pretzels)
Oozeling (Trashjar)

Oh yeah, encouraging this drake rider to keep hold of her at all costs doesn’t do Astrid any favors. Just when she thinks she might get some leverage to break free, the talons grip her tighter and threaten to crush her armor around her chest. “Ack!” she sputters before shouting, “Suffocatin’ me won’t do ya no good either!”

As the drake holding her recovers from spewing its breath, it beats its wings powerfully to send itself careening forward through the air in an attempt to make a getaway. Fortunately, the mighty Pretzels approaches! The little guy probably says something haughty, congratulating himself on his speed and ability to do just about anything, but Astrid can’t understand him. She just sees the little guy and perks up.

“Hiya Pretzels!” she says quietly as the quetzal approaches. “What cha got fer me? Ooooh….” From his grasp, Astrid takes the little oozeling in the jar and looks at it curiously. She’s never seen an ooze this tiny before, but she knows oozes are acidic, so maybe she can get the drake to release her! Popping the cork on the bottle, she turns it upside down and gives it a shake to try to get the ooze out of it. To her surprise, the ooze is persistent and clings to the jar with all of its might. “Let goooo!” she curses, shaking the jar harder.

Bits of acidic ooze fling out of the jar and strike the drake’s toes, and it screeches in pain, unintentionally releasing Astrid from the one splashed with ooze. Astrid flops down, dangling only by the drake’s other talon’s hold on her legs. She can instantly feel the blood rushing to her head as she sways violently with the drake’s thrashing. At least now she has an opening! Pressing her hands against the talon’s, Astrid squeezes herself free… and promptly begins plummeting to the ground.

No problem, she thinks! I’ve got wings fer this! Except the wings are magical. So she falls.

There's the thought to quip something smug and joking towards Astrid, but this drake is putting up a fight. If this thing would stop thrashing this would be so much easier. The ranger flaps his wings a few times just to push him up and onto the drake's back.

The creature isn't large, but it's vile hatred for Gerhart makes it hard for him to climb forward. Despite his best efforts, little progress is made as it twists and twirls through the sky. Luckily, he does make a great distraction as an annoying fly.

On his next pass, Halcyon rips into the drakes wing and tears a hole in the leather sending it into a spiral. Gerhart once more drops and starts to freefall, whistling for Halcyon.

"YOU GOT THEM?" Gerhart calls back over to Beist and Astrid. The kestrel has already started to make his way back to pluck Gerhart out of the sky when they meet again.

He was curious why Astrid wasn't just flying off. Was she just deciding to take it easy for once? These guys did seem pretty easy to take care of, so it's not like they desperately needed her. Still, seems kinda lazy.