The caravan continued on its way toward Oldone, now with more passengers than it had started. The group of Weregoats had all been transformed back into their human forms by knocking them unconscious and then reviving them with a little magic, but they weren't exactly cured of their affliction. They all gathered into one wagon that was cleared of other passengers to try and avoid any more accidents. The one volunteer that had already been bitten and cursed was with them.

Blue had handed out clothing to all of them, the ooze having a plethora of outfits inside them, some of it made for them by Cantio, some of it just picked up and eaten at random. More than a few of the outfits were whatever someone was wearing when they'd been consumed by the ooze, but no one needed to know that. They were just glad they didn't have to make the trip naked, even if the clothing didn't fit them perfectly. Some of it might have fit them better if they were still in their beastly forms, the clothing being made for the muscle-bound human form of Blue Raspberry, but there were no complaints.

The village started to come into view. The volunteers were just glad they hadn't been ambushed by any more packs of Werebeasts, whether mountain goats or some other animal.

The villagers noticed the approaching caravan and spread word fast enough that Jessie was already waiting for them by the time they reached the entrance and came to a stop. He looked like he wasn't sure whether to be happy to see the caravan coming to the village's aid, or mad to see Astrid, who a lot of the villagers still seemed to blame for the whole incident, but his face suddenly became surprised and then teary eyed as he spotted the old man that had stepped out of the last wagon in the line and started walking forward.

"P-pa!? Yer alive!" He called out, running forward to give Jeremiah a hug, but Jeremiah held his arms out and stepped back, not wanting to infect his own son with the curse by accident.

"Jessie! I am, but... We need to talk."

SPOILER: Click to show

Quest Name: Patrol Duty
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: The wilderness is full of wild, dangerous creatures and enemies of the realm constantly lurk in the shadows, waiting for their chance to make a strike. You can assist your region by patrolling the borders, standing guard in a village or town, even venturing into other regions to keep an eye on things. You can detail your patrol however you like, throwing any kind of obstacle your way.

Riding to Oldone with a caravan full of people affected by the Ur-beast curse is both awkward and nerve wracking for Astrid. With their wits finally about them, the group tries to piece together what happened, and they’re at least grateful they managed to stick together. Still, none of them know exactly how they got cursed except for the basic explanation of the attack – Astrid conveniently left out the details of the Ur-beast specifically shouting her name. She figures they’ll find that out soon enough…

Seeing the villages spreading word, still giving her looks even though she helped solve the problem that she couldn’t have predicted, brings her back to her days on the streets. She does her best not to dwell.

When Jessie runs up to embrace his father, the man he never expected to see again, he’s shocked that the older man keeps his distance and shakes his head slightly. “Wh-What? We can talk later, pa! I can’t believe yer back!”

“Nah, son, this is important,” Jeremiah insists. Looking over his shoulder, several others are hesitant to embrace their loved ones even though it’s evident they desperately want to. The old man rubs his head. “That there Ur-beast cursed us all ta be werecreatures it seems,” he explains. “At least that’s best I can gather from it. We don’t know a lot. Astrid and Wolfe got us back tew our normal selves, but anythin’ can happen. So until we can figure it up, we’ll keep distant. We don’t know what might make us change back. Sounds like full moons will do somethin’ tew us, so we gotta figure all that up. ‘Til then, these two brought us supplies and folks that’ll help us rebuild, and they offered ta go out and look fer more folks that might’ve been turned animals.”

Jessie was obviously upset at the news. It was horrible conflicting. On one hand, several of the missing villagers had returned. People their families had thought dead, killed in the sudden attack and taken away somehow, maybe to be eaten by wild beasts or who knew what. They were all glad their family and friends were actually alive. It also meant that maybe at least some of the other missing villagers were also out there, mindlessly attacking whatever came near and in need of some help, which lead to the other hand. The returned villagers might be a danger to themselves and everyone else in the village. If they suddenly transformed back into their beastly forms with no control over themselves and started attacking everyone, the village might be better off without them all.

Jessie looked especially heartbroken at such news. "I can't do this. I'm not a leader, like you." He sighed, shaking his head while looking at Jeremiah with teary eyes. He'd been so happy to see the old man, not only because he's his father and he was relieved to see him alive, but also because he'd thought he could be freed from the burden that the old man's absence had forced on him. Jeremiah was a much better leader than Jessie. He'd be able to deal with all the village's problems much better than Jessie could ever hope to. That's what he thought to himself.

"Sure ya are. Yeh've been doin' just fine here without me. I can tell." Jeremiah spoke comfortingly. He wanted to embrace him, but the fear of the curse still held him back. "And these people all came to help out too."

Astrid watches the reunions around them and can feel some pride knowing that they could help. It gives her some encouragement to go searching the forests as soon as possible to try to find anyone else they can. So, she steps forward with a confident expression.

“I’m real sure that the only way ta pass on the curse is ta bite someone when yer in beast form,” she says. “So once ya get the supplies unpacked, we’ll start getting a safe spot built fer anyone who does turn ta beast unwillin’ly. Until then, Wolfe an’ I are gonna go see if we can’t find more folks. Now we have some idea of what ta look fer, it might be easier. An’ then I’ll go lookin’ fer someone who can either tell us how ta control it or how ta cure it. I’ll make it a special project ta make a suit fer someone ta avoid gettin’ bit if someone does turn. Promise.”

Then she looks at Blue. “Let’s get movin’. There’s lotsa folks here that can work on this, but the two of us can handle a buncha werebeasts.”

Jessie reluctantly pipes up, “Um, actually, there’s… One of the hunters swore he saw somethin’ up north of here. Weird deer man. Swore it was gonna eat ‘im, so he left it alone.”

“Sounds like a lead ta me. Let’s go, Wolfe!” Astrid then manifests the magic to summon Arcus from his calm afternoon grazing in a pasture near the house then climbs into the saddle and takes off in a northward direction to go look for this strange deer man.

Blue quickly transformed into a giant bird to follow behind Astrid, taking off into the sky with a strong flap of their wings.

The forest around here was difficult terrain to traverse, the hunters from the village only safely doing so because they'd grown up exploring it and learned from their parents. The ground was rocky and uneven, with steep cliffs scattered throughout it. Tree roots that couldn't break through the stone to dig down into the soil grew up over the ground, making it easy to trip and fall far down the mountain. Only a few fairly safe paths were carved out in some places to make it easier to get to nearby important places, like the river, or the road to Sky Peak Village. There was also a road that headed north, down into a small valley where the deer grazed and were easier to hunt.

Flying over the forest, the valley came into sight. The grass was speckled with wildflowers and the occasional stump left over from a fallen tree, the rest taken away by either nature or whoever cut it down. A few patches of rock also stuck up out of the grass, the mountainous terrain being sure to make itself known even here.

There were a few places to hide, but overall the valley was open. Wherever this Weredeer was, it shouldn't be too hard to spot as long as it was still in the valley, especially with their bird's-eye view.

In all honesty, Astrid is a little anxious that this unusual deer is just the Ur-beast making a different kind of appearance, but if it didn’t immediately try to kill the hunter, it might be okay. Even still, this whole situation around here has her a bit on edge. Sure, it’s been handled. Somewhat, but it’s a struggle either way.

Doing her best to keep focused, she leans forward against Arcus’ neck and lets out a heavy sigh. Saving at least one more person is worth it. Maybe they’ll find even more people as they spend time in Oldone and go on a few more patrols in the area. That’d be really awesome. Then people can be less upset.

Luckily, it’s easy to see from up here, so that makes it easy to keep an eye out for any dark moving shapes in the grass. After a while of flying quietly, she sees a particularly large buck sniffing around and grazing in the meadow. Sitting up, she points it out to Blue. “There’s somethin’ there! Maybe we can catch ‘em without ‘em noticin’! If there's more, maybe they've got enough of their wits ta tell us!”

Blue nodded and started to fly lower, to an altitude they could safely drop from. For the ooze, that was still a surprisingly high amount, at 200 feet above the ground. Once they were low enough and in position, the bird morphed, the wings shrinking down into arms and then becoming encased in the armor plates. Without wings, Blue plummeted down, straight toward the deer below. Wind whistled through their armor as they fell.

When it heard the sound of the incoming ooze, the deer looked up. It was definitely a Weredeer. It stood up on two hooved legs, its arms thrown out in panic. It was very large, taller than any of the Weregoats had been, but with a leaner but still quite muscular build. The antlers on its head looked unusually sharp and threatening.

Like a literal deer in headlights, it didn't move at all, frozen in place as the ooze hit it right in the chest, the power of gravity alone making the hit strong enough to know it on its back with a booming thud, sending some dirt and chunks of grass flying.

Blue stood up, the impact of the fall being absorbed easily by the goo, their whole body squashing and stretching to mitigate the force and absorb the shock.

They looked at the Deer-Man that was already starting to transform back into a human at their feet and gave Astrid a thumbs-up to come down and use her magic to wake the man up. Then Blue remembered something. "Oh, right." Blue said as they took out a blanket and threw it over the naked man.

---

Cat's Grace

What Astrid expects is for Blue to drop some of the sticky goop down on the deer or at least around the deer. What she certainly does not expect is for Blue to dive bomb the deer full force to knock it out. Hopefully, werebeasts are hardy creatures because that sounded and looked painful. A mighty splat indeed.

With a pained expression, Astrid directs Arcus to fly down then she hops off and examines the weredeer. It sure were a deer, though now it is a man. She’s not entirely sure that the basic healing magic she can do will help here. Something’s definitely broken. Better safe than sorry. She pops out a little blue crystal and cracks it, letting the magical, glowing water drop into the man’s mouth. Broken bones fuse themselves back together and the man groans as he awakens.

“What the…?”

“Hiya, mister,” Astrid says. “Are ya from Oldone?”

“Oldone…?” he echoes, rubbing his head. “Yeah… Yeah, that’s my home. What…are we doing out here?” Astrid briefly describes the situation leading up to this, leaving out the exact details of how they caught him, and the man’s eyes go wide. “Oh gods, I remember! That awful monster attacked..! I remember transforming. Oh gods, how many others?”

“Probably a bunch. Ya seen anymore?” Astrid asks.

“I…” Holding his head, the man thinks hard about the last few weeks. “I…think there’s a cave nearby. I think there are more there…? And…” He sniffs at the air, realizing he can pick up familiar scents easily. “Oh, that’s weird. There’s more all over.”

Astrid looks at Blue. “I think we’ve got our work cut out fer us lookin’ fer all these folks…”

---

Essence of the north

Blue looked around, trying to spot any more Werebeasts. The Weredeer guy had said there were more of them all over, but they couldn't see any. Were they hiding? How good was this guy's sense of smell?

"I don't see any- ow!" Blue suddenly cried out, lifting their leg out of the tall grass. Clinging to their leg, teeth crunching through one of the plates of their armor, was what looked like... a buff rabbit? Just a little shorter than a human child, the rabbit looked like a tiny bodybuilder with a coating of brown fur and big ears. Blue shook their leg, kicking the rabbit off and sending them flying back into the tall grass.

Blue ran over to Astrid and picked her up, not time for explanation or asking for permission. They had to get her out of the grass before she got bitten by one of the sneaky little things too! The ooze didn't feel anything strange. Maybe the curse didn't work on them since they weren't actually a humanoid, but it would almost definitely affect Astrid!

Blue put Astrid on top of a large rock that was sticking up out of the grass. She wouldn't necessarily be safe, but she'd at least be a lot harder to sneak up on there. Blue also picked up their frightened Weredeer friend and put him up there. He would probably be unaffected by the Wererabbits too since he was already a Weredeer, but Blue didn't know that and didn't want to leave him to get bitten. Even if he didn't turn, he could still be seriously injured.

With them both up on the rock, the ooze let another puddle of slime seep out of their feet and spread. Time to use the same trick they'd used on the Weregoats on the way to Oldone.

---

Leg Hit Prevention -Greaves
Goo Puddle

Astrid hears the crunch of Blue’s armor and immediately dreads that it’s going to need a fix. She figures they step on something but then she sees the rabbit go flying off. Huh? That’s wei– Suddenly, Blue hoists her up without explanation and sets her up on a rock along with their new weredeer friend.

“Uh, Wolfe..?” she asks, getting her balance and looking around. Where the rabbit landed, she sees the grass moving and some high pitched screeching. Then there are more screeches to the left. And even more from the right. What’s going on? As Blue preemptively starts spreading goo everywhere, a mass of fuzzy rabbits suddenly descend upon the group! A tidal wave of cute furry… Oh gods those are on two legs! They’re rabbit people! Their chomping teeth are enormous!

The front line of rabbit soldiers gets stuck in the goo, and the ones behind them start to trip over them. The ones in the back instead bend down and launch themselves into the air, descending on the group! In a panic, Astrid pulls her mantle up to act as a shield. Rabbits slam into it and fall off with tiny squeaks, landing in the goop below.

“The heck is goin’ on?!”

"They're werecreatures!" the man cries. 

---

Rime Mantle

Blue is careful not to hurt the Wererabbits too badly as they smack them away and into the goo puddle. They screamed and tried to hop out of the sticky trap, but it held them in place. These ones were a lot smaller than the other Werecreatures, which made them a lot sneakier. Their legs were surprisingly powerful for their size, but that was it. The rest of them wasn't as strong as the Weregoats had been, except maybe their bite. The two enlarged front teeth were a lot more threatening than the dull, herbivorous teeth of the goats and the deer.

When the last one was stuck in the goo and no more kept coming, it seemed like they could take a breather. Blue looked at the crunched plate on their leg. They still felt fine. No fur or rabbit ears sprouting from them. Maybe the armor had blocked the bite enough the teeth from transferring the curse. Or it was just impossible to give an ooze the Werebeast curse. Who knew? They weren't going to keep testing it. It'd be a serious problem if Blue turned into a Werebeast of any kind. What if they went crazy, but were still able to use their abilities? Who knew how many people the ooze would devour before being stopped. Who knew if Astrid would be one of those people.

The crunched piece of armor vanished, pulled into Blue's ooze, and was replaced with a fresh one and then they turned to Astrid.

"Let's wake these ones up and bring them back to the village and then look for that cave."

Of course, by wake these ones up, they meant shock them all unconscious and then revive them. If it worked on the Weregoats and their Weredeer friend, it's gotta work on these ones too.

---

Blacksmith's Wishbone

It’s not an easy effort to keep the wererabbits from biting them, but Blue’s goo trap works wonders for this situation. Once they catch their breath and make sure there isn’t more danger, Astrid hops down and manifests lightning through her hand, giving each oversized rabbit a gentle shock. To her surprise, several of them are young villagers, children even! Come to think of it, she really didn’t see a lot of kids last time she was here dealing with the Ur-beast. No wonder the villagers were so worried. The Ur-beast must have ripped through a field the younger people were harvesting and cursed them in one fell swoop.

Astrid shakes the worry away. They can get these people back now. It’ll be a pain, but with Blue’s ability to transform and also make a bird cloud, they can bring them back more easily. Arcus can carry some, and if they’re fast enough, so can Astrid with her own wings. So that’s what they do. The flight back is a bit grueling and tiring for them all, but when they get back, they see the volunteers and villagers have already started unloading things. When they arrive back with the unconscious children and the one weredeer, several of the villagers break down in tears and rejoice at being reunited with their precious loved ones. It isn’t a large village, so every loss left a gaping hole.

Astrid and Blue talk to Jessie and Jeremiah. People are worried about the werefolks turning and hurting them, so the next step needs to be proper enclosures to keep people safe. While they work on that, the leaders can count up folks and see who’s missing, then Astrid and Blue can go finish looking for them.