With how busy they’ve been lately, Astrid and Blue haven’t had a lot of time to help with some of the regional problems. To be fair, most of the regions problems haven’t been problems because the two new nobles were pretty productive. However, after a recent and honestly frightening encounter with an Ur-Beast in the western mountains of Dragon’s Cradle, Astrid is well aware of a village that took a particularly bad beating from the beast’s attack.

If she’s completely honest with herself, she doesn’t exactly want to go back to the village. They treated her poorly after– Well, best not to dwell on those things. If they want to think that it’s her fault, the least she can do is help fix things and clean up. After the attack, the village’s population was reduced to half of what it was before, so their struggle to keep resources around only grows worse by the day. Farming is hard when there are fewer people to farm. Rebuilding is hard without the hearty people to do the heavy lifting.

So, sitting in a wagon full of supplies with a caravan of people willing to help, Astrid lets her mind wander as her eyes watch the mountains in the west grow closer by the day. The brush starts to get thicker as they get away from the wastes until shrubbery turns to sparse trees at the base of the mountains until finally the wagon wheels shudder when they reach the rocky mountain path. Danger could lurk anywhere in the pass, so it’s time to stay alert.

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SPOILER: Click to show

Quest Name: Escorting Goods
Participants: Requires exactly two people (you and one other, if the other participant does not qualify, they will not gain the reward)
Location: Anywhere (Can be repeated for a different region)
Post Requirements: 5 post per person, 200 words per post
Reward: +10 Security for selected Region (+10 more if your home region)
Description: Your region needs you to help escort a caravan of supplies and goods into the city. These goods will help the region continue to survive, using these materials to build better infrastructures, feed the region and build its moral. You must guard the caravan and bring it home, defending it from any enemies or wild creatures and keeping the travelers alive. You can be creative with how and if the caravan comes under fire as long as the requirements are completed and the supplies make it to the village.

Blue hadn't been there during the Ur-Beast's attack on the farming village, but they had fought a different Ur-Beast themself in Frostgale and knew they were incredibly powerful. It took the combined efforts of Blue, Gerhart, and Cirice to bring that one down and Gerhart had been pretty badly flattened in the process. Ur-Beasts sure are monsters, and they had some weird magics they could use. The village must be in rough shape after facing one.

Blue was sad to hear what had happened to the village. They'd been there to help out with Astrid before, but it hadn't been such a serious trip. They'd had a fun time, milking cows, finding out just how bad Blue was at milking a cow, and moving buckets and barrels around to assist the farmers in their daily activities. It had only been their duties as new Nobles to go and inspect things, so the rest had been done by their own free will, just to make the villagers happy.

The wagon bounced and shook as it went up the rocky path, the cargo shaking and threatening to fall over. Thankfully, it had been tied nice and securely. Well, what little cargo actually fit in the wagon had been. A lot of it was safely stored inside the ooze's stomach, ready to be brought back out once they reached the village and used to do repairs and reconstruction on the buildings.

They couldn't bring back the people that had been lost in the fight, but they could at least make sure the village was in a state that would let new people move in and revitalize the place.

The idle chatter of the volunteers in the wagons behind the first keeps the trip lively. A few rough bumps are met with a chorus of “whoa!”s then a burst of laughter. At least they’re in good spirits. In the distance, Astrid can hear the bleating of mountain goats, a creature not uncommon in The Spine. If only there were some way to tell if they were cursed by the Ur-beast or not. Animals polymorphed by the beast are almost indistinguishable from real animals, and last time she was in the village, they expressed hesitation to go hunting because of this. Who knows what villager might be the deer you’re taking aim at?

As they travel down the path, the mountain becomes a sheer edge alongside it. Some pebbles trickle down, and Astrid looks up to see that the goats have somehow perched themselves on the nearly vertical surface and are licking at the salts of the exposed rocks, craving those minerals. They look so silly with their little cleft hooves somehow clutching at the tiny ridges to defy gravity. Astrid shields her eyes as she looks up at them with a small smile on her face.

One of the goats looks down and looks eyes with her. Then, somehow, its goatly eyes gather a fierce expression. Without warning, the goat leaps off the precipice and lands in front of the caravan. The horses throw their heads back, whinnying in panic.

That’s when the goat stands on its haunches, and it becomes apparent that this is not a goat, but a goat man, with black hands and ridiculous abs. And he looks angry.

The Goat-Man let out a bellowing bleat before dropping its head forward and charging at the frontmost wagon, its curling horns in ramming position. It ran startlingly fast, its hooves clacking rapidly against the stony ground, it's arms out to the sides as it ran. The closer it came, the more obvious it was that this goat was much larger than they'd thought it was from a distance. Its arms and legs were thick with powerful muscle and its chest and abs were defined even through fluffy white fur. This goat was built like a brick house, and charging straight toward them!

The driver on the front wagon called out to the others to stop, pulling on the reigns to make the horse halt its pulling. There was a clamor of confusion from the other drivers and volunteers. A few stepped off the wagons and peaked around the sides, screaming in fear when they saw the approaching mountain of a mountain goat.

"Don't worry, I got it!" Blue called to the others.

Blue jumped off of the front wagon and started running forward to intercept the charging Goat-Man. Their arms and legs shapeshifted, transforming into their usual blue-furred, wolf-like claws, ready for a fight. Blue was about to slash at the enemy when Astrid suddenly shouted out behind them.

"Don't hurt 'em! It's gotta be one a' the missin' villagers!"

Blue stopped their attack pulling their claws back, but the Goat-Man didn't stop its attack at all. With a loud thud, Blue was sent flying back toward the wagons, two of the plates n their chest dented in by the impact of the ram horns.

"Ow. Right, my bad."

The goat man releases another bellowing bleat and flexes victoriously at his successful strike. No knight will stand a chance against his goatly might! Punching his fists together, he scrapes a hoof against the ground, letting out a steamy snort in the cool mountain air. As if making some declaration, the goat bleats again, and charges ahead.

Before Astrid can get off the wagon to check on Blue and investigate the strangely behaving goat, half a dozen other goats come bounding down the side of the mountain while others just stay on the ridge licking the cold stone, completely unbothered by the situation below. Muscly goat men and women charge the caravan and start taking bites out of anything and everything. Their iron stomachs can handle anything, and food is scarce out here!

“Wait, wait, wait!” Astrid’s shouts are nearly drowned out in the commotion. “What the heck is goin’ on?!” She bounds up into the air, stepping on gathered wind and shouts down at the lead goat man. “Why are ya attackin’ us?! We’re comin’ ta help rebuild Oldone! That’s a farmin’ village that got attacked by an Ur-beast a few weeks ago!” she explains. “If ya take everythin’, we won’t be able ta help them out!”

Astrid’s attempts to make nice with the goat people don’t do any good. If their dead eyes could be red with rage, they would be. It’s almost like all they can think to do is attack! Thinking back, Astrid remembers that the Ur-beast cursed a bunch of people with the werecurse! If anyone here gets bitten–

“No one get bitten!!” Astrid shouts. “These might be were-beasts! Leave ‘em ta me an’ Wolfe!”

---

step of the wind

The volunteers didn't need to be told twice to leave dealing with this problem to someone else. Everyone scrambled back onto the wagons, hiding behind anything they could, barrels, sacks of food, stacks of lumber. Anything large and solid enough to give them some cover from the fearsome monsters that were munching on the fabric covers over the wagons and ramming their horns into the wooden sides.

They were lucky these Werebeasts were just mountain goats, and not something carnivorous like a bear or a wolf. Still, they were inhumanly strong. With each bash of their horns against the sides of the wagons, the wood splintered and cracked. One Weregoat grabbed a whole barrel, entirely full of dried rice, and lifted it up like it weighed nothing. They tipped it back, pouring the rice into their mouth, but mostly onto the ground.

These goats were mindless eating machines that attacked anyone that got too close! They needed to be stopped before all the supplies for Olden were devoured, or anyone got hurt, or worse, bitten! It felt a little weird that Blue Raspberry was the one trying to stop someone else from eating things they shouldn't eat for once.

Blue got back up, recovered from their unexpected flight. Their hands and feet changed back to normal, their gauntlets and boots reemerging. They didn't want to slash them, but they still needed to stop them, so bare fists it had to be.

"Astrid, get them onto here!" Blue called to Astrid as a puddle of sticky slime spread from their feet across the rock.

---

Goo Puddle

It’s strange how the simplest little trips can turn into absolute chaos with no warning whatsoever.

If anything, Astrid can at least check these massive goats to confirm that they’re werecreatures! She has a silvered hammer! Whipping out her trusty battle hammer, Astrid rushes up to a nearby goat person monching on some supplies and touches the hammer to their fur. It almost instantly sizzles and burns, and the goat person bleats angrily and headbutts her. Astrid gets knocked back, but manages to stay on her feet, dazed from the impact.

“Ouch…” she groans, rubbing her head. She really should start wearing a helmet, shouldn’t she? Another goat rushes up and donkey-kicks her in the back. That time she falls over hard. Seeing two goats approach, she manifests the magic of her cloak and teleports behind them, stumbling a bit on the landing. What the heck are they supposed to do here?

When Blue calls out, she looks over and sees the puddle on the ground! That’ll be perfect for capturing them! Astrid pulls her red coat tight around herself and expands to be twelve feet tall. The goat people panic and start trying to escape, and Kaijastrid starts scooping them up into her hands and plopping them in the growing goo puddle one by one until all seven are contained. Luckily they couldn’t bite through her gauntlets or she’d be on her way to having a bad time.

---

Battle hammer - silvered, ice rune
Immovable bastion
Cuirass -1 hit prevention
Displacer cloak
Red rogue’s coat
Spitfire gauntlets -1 hit prevention

With the puddle of goo holding all the Weregoats, Blue and Astrid were able to get them all contained. While Astrid turned into a giant to start tossing them in, Blue went around giving them each a light shock to keep them from struggling hard enough to escape the gluey trap. With all seven of them stuck and gently electrocuted, the caravan looked like it should be safe now.

Except for one thing.

"Help! It bit me, what do I do!?" One of the volunteers ran forward after all of the goats were contained, holding one bleeding hand out in a panic. He looked at Astrid and Blue with fear in his eyes, not knowing what to do. White fur started to sprout on his wrist and spread up his arm as his hand started to turn black. He screamed, trying to use his other hand to wipe the rapidly sprouting fur off of his arm as if it was something crawling on him. "What's happening!?"

Blue didn't know what to do either, looking to Astrid to do something.

The transformation didn't wait for either of them to come to a decision, the fur spreading across the man's entire body. His clothing tore as he grew larger, his muscles bulking up to resemble a powerlifter. A tail sprouted from his backside and horns rapidly from the sides of his head that was elongating into that of a ram. He threw his head back and let out a bellowing bleat as the transformation was completed.

Shoot! As hard as they tried to keep everyone safe, someone still managed to get bit! Crap! With the white fur sprouting along the man’s wrist, Astrid decides to take drastic action. She simply picks the man up and puts him in the goo puddle too.

“A-At least ya can’t be a danger ta no one there while we figure this out,” she says with a booming voice, but she doesn’t sound confident at all. Astrid doesn’t know the first thing about werecreatures! She doesn’t know anyone who does! Gah, if only they had some way of speaking with animals, they might be able to figure this out!

“Wait, don’t just leave me here with these beasts!!” the man cries, trying to escape the goo unsuccessfully. His screams soon turn into bleats as his face starts to take on a caprine shape. “AGGHHH-BAAAAAAAA!”

“It’s fine, it’s fine, we can figure it out!” Astrid says, panicking. “Werebeasts can turn back into people I’m like… pretty sure! Come on, goats, we know yer people down under there!!” She starts clapping and snapping, trying to get their attention, trying something. If all else fails, she could probably ask Blue to turn into a door and then she could go back to Sky Peak and try to buy a potion and then use all her magic trying to come back. Probably.

Blue had a very simple solution for dealing with dangerous monsters, one that they'd had a lot of success with in the past. Eat them. But, if these monster goats were people, they couldn't do that, especially if they were good people and not big jerks. The guy that had just been transformed was a nice man who had even volunteered his time to come with them to help rebuild a village that was struggling after being attacked. There was no way Blue could eat someone like that!

"Werebeasts can totally turn back into humans! I know a werebeast, and he changed back. It's fine!" Blue replied to Astrid, but the uncertainty was obvious in their voice. They did know one Werewolf, Edward, but that didn't mean they were an expert on Werebeasts. Not in the slightest. They didn't know how Edward managed to change back. They wished they'd asked him!

"Maybe, um... Just..." Blue muttered, looking to the captured Weregoats and trying to think of something."Maybe if we knock them out, they'll change back?" Blue suggested, shrugging. It was all they got.

They stepped up to the closest Weregoat, which happened to be the one that had charged them first, and put a hand on his shoulder, electricity jolting all of the Weregoat's fur to stand on end. After a few seconds, the beast went limp, but was still breathing, evidenced by their chest still rising and falling.

Almost immediately, the fur started to recede and the horns shrank, retracting back into the Weregoat's skull. Their body shrank, the bulging muscles shrinking back to much smaller proportions. Soon, the ram's face had changed back into one that was familiar to both Blue and Astrid, one with a shock white beard and mustache.

The old leader of Oldone, Jeremiah, lied in the puddle of blue goo, snoring quietly. He was also completely naked.

---

Lightning Armor

“O-Oh, that’s great!” Astrid stammers as the effects of the coat fall away, and she slowly shrinks back down to her four and a half foot self. “Good that they got some control, but… if they’re villagers, do ya think they’d have recognized us?” It’s a valid point. If the werebeasts are villagers from Oldone, why did they attack? Maybe they just don’t know how to transform back?

So when Blue suggests knocking them out, she can’t really argue with it. It sounds kind of awful, but hey, if it works, then it works. And surely enough, it works! Wait, that’s a naked old man. Wait, that naked old man is an old man they know! That’s the old man from the village! Astrid lets out a little gasp and rushes over to shake him awake. A bit of magic manifests from a patch on her clothes, and she gives the man a little burst of healing energy.

Werecreatures are quite hardy, and the little amount of healing wakes the geezer up. “Wha– huh?! What in tarnation!?” he shrieks as he struggles against the goo. “Where am I?! What’re all these goats doin’ here?!”

“Mister Jeremiah!” Astrid says, taking a blanket from one of the volunteers and putting it over him. “Hiya, sorry! Ya were an angry goat man!”

“An angry goat ma– What are you talkin’ ‘bout, girl??”

Over the next few minutes, Astrid quickly explains what she knows of the situation – an Ur-Beast attacked their village and many of the villagers disappeared. Things slowly start coming together for Jeremiah.

“Oh, I see… I musta been stuck in that there goat man form fer who knows how long…” He looks somberly at the other people that they’ve slowly been shocking into normalcy. “Seems like we’ve all been stuck in that there form…”

“We’re headin’ ta yer village ta try an’ help folks recover,” Astrid explains. “We’ll take ya back. Maybe we can find a few folks along the way?”

“That sounds mighty nice, little miss,” he says with a sigh. “But I’m worried if we can’t control our monstrous selves an’ we were a danger, we’d be puttin’ everyone in the village in danger… Feels ta me like we came out here tew avoid alla that…”

Astrid looks at Blue then at Jeremiah. “Well, we’re here ta help. We’ll find a way ta keep ya from hurtin’ other folks. Maybe we can get in touch with someone who might know about a cure! Or at least how ta control it!”

Jeremiah seems reluctant, but the other option is living out in the forest as a mindless goat man otherwise. “Maybe that’ll be best…”

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Comrade’s patch - minor healing 1/topic