With the containment building finished and a collection of silvered muzzles at the ready, Oldone was feeling a lot more secure with their Werebeast problem. The villagers all felt a lot more confident in their safety with those afflicted with the Werebeast curse able to be contained during the full moon. However, there was still the problem of all the villagers that were still missing that were most likely Werebeasts still running loose out on the mountain, uncontained.

"Alright, now that we got the equipment for it, we're ready ta bring back the villagers that're still out there. Desmond here said he can guide ya both to where he knows at least some of 'em are." Jessie addressed Blue and Astrid, holding a hand out toward a man they both recognized as the Weredeer that Blue had divebombed in the valley before they were ambushed by a bunch of Wererabbits. He looked a bit nervous, but also determined.

"We need to get as many of 'em back home as we can. Not just fer them either. We need to hunt again fer food, an' people don't feel safe goin' huntin' knowin' they're out there." Jessie finished his speech and gave a nod and a pat on the back to Desmond. It looked like through the whole ordeal, Jessie had grown a bit more confident in his leadership skills. There was nothing like a trial by fire to prepare someone for a difficult role, or in this case, trial by Ur-Beast attack, it seemed.

Blue gave a salute, ready to get going as Desmond stepped forward to lead the way.

SPOILER: Click to show

Quest Name: Food Distribution
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: Keeping the region strong means keeping its people healthy and fed. While it might seem menial, preventing our region from going hungry is extremely important. You can help by passing out food to the local communities, or visiting a more remote village and helping them harvest crops, gather food, or hunt. Whatever you can do to help feed the region will keep the masses happy.

Ideally, Astrid would really like to test the containment unit before bringing more people into the village, but with the full moon approaching, they decide it’s better to try to bring them back to ensure they’re all safe. There are only a few villagers still missing at this point, and since Desmond has an idea of where they are, the group can make quick work of not only finding them but also bringing back some fresh meat. As a special precaution, Astrid has her silver hammer and some silver salve to ensure a creature isn’t a werecreature before they down it during a hunt.

“We’ll make sure ta take good care of ‘em,” Astrid says confidently. Now that things are on the up and up in the village, folks have been treating her a little better, even if they still are holding some grudge against her for something completely outside of her control. As soon as this is all handled, including finding a solution for the curse, Astrid is going to look into things a little more deeply. Maybe she’ll find some answers.

Double-checking his quivers and bows, Desmond gives the group a nod and heads into the woods until he finds a game trail he’s familiar with and starts following it.

Unfortunately for him, Blue and Astrid aren’t the stealthiest. Blue has some skills in quiet movement and hiding, but Astrid is absolutely terrible at it.

As they travelled through the woods, toward the cave that Desmond remembered he and a group of cursed villagers had been living, the group managed to find a few animals that they were able to catch. The group wasn't the quietest with their clanky armor, but Desmond knew what he was doing. On a couple occasions, he turned and motioned for Blue and Astrid to stop and stay still while he drew a bow and fired.

With a quick test from both Blue and Astrid, Astrid using her silvered weapon to give it a light tap and Blue using their strange vision that could tell if something had magic affecting it, they were able to tell the couple or rabbits and a deer they caught were normal, non-Werecreature animals. It was also pretty obvious from the fact they didn't look like furry bodybuilders or attack them on sight like all the Werebeasts they'd encountered so far had.

The only unfortunate thing was that Blue Raspberry wasn't sure they'd be able to store their catches in their stomach without accidentally digesting the food meant for the village, so they'd just have to carry them the old fashioned way. Blue threw the deer over their shoulders while Desmond held the two rabbits by the ears over one shoulder. Desmond had been a hunter before getting cursed, so this was pretty normal for him. It was a bit odd catching a deer when he was now a Weredeer though. He probably would never feel comfortable eating venison again, even if he was cured. He wondered if the children and a few Dwarves that had become Wererabbits would feel the same way about the rabbits he was carrying now.

Pretty soon, the group reached the cave and stopped outside it.

"I'll stay here with the catch. I'll trust you two to do the same thing you did with the Wererabbits." Desmond whispered and Blue took the deer off their shoulders. "It's a bit foggy since I was a beast at the time, but if I remember right, the ones in there are Werebats. Good luck."

Astrid’s fought monsters before, and sometimes those monsters are just big animals. Hunting animals that aren’t dangerous is a bit different, but then again, she is very food motivated and had to get over the idea of killing small game to feed herself when she first started adventuring. It’s odd to be hunting again, this time with a professional, because hoo boy is she really bad at it. Bows are too finicky, they require too much finesse. It’s much better to just throw a hammer at something, she thinks.

Luckily, nothing they hunt seems to be a villager. At least they’re pretty sure they’re not villagers. When she and Del fought the Ur-beast, some of the creatures they fought were villagers who had been changed into regular animals, but as far as she could tell, those people all turned back into people after the Ur-beast was defeated. Hopefully, that means they all did.

When they get to the cave, she gives Desmond a questioning look. “Werebats? So we got some that can fly then?”

“Sure do,” Desmond says. “They’re bigguns, alright. Don’t get bit. That’d be a big problem.”

“Aye, it would be,” Astrid agrees, looking to Blue as she makes sure her armor is night and tight. “I’m gonna see how many are inside.” With that, Astrid’s wings unfurl from under her cape, and she walks up to the mouth of the cave and bangs her hammers together, sending vibrations through the cave to see how many living creatures are inside.

---

Bat Wings [post 1/3] - echolocation

From the returning vibrations, Astrid was able to detect a swarm of bats hanging all across the entire ceiling of the cave, but that wasn't what was important. Most notable were the half a dozen human-sized creatures scattered among the of sleeping bats. It seemed like they were sleeping. The nocturnal sleep cycle of a bat must have taken over, making them tired at this time of day, the sun still high in the sky.

But that didn't stop them from being awoken by the loud sound of metal banging against stone. Groggily, the six Werebats stirred, angry at the rude awakening in the middle of their rest. They dropped from the ceiling, flipping in the air and using the momentum of their fall to take flight toward the mouth of the cave, screeching angrily as they raced toward the one who had disturbed them.

"Oh shit!" Desmond said, exasperated, as he started running to dive behind some cover. He'd been expecting the two fighters to go into the cave to face the enemy, but now they were coming out, straight to where he'd been planning to wait for their return!

"Good job! Now we know there's six! I'll take those three!" Blue said happily, not knowing Astrid had been using any kind of echolocation and thinking her method was going perfectly to plan.

Blue prepared themself for the fight a bit differently. They didn't want to do any serious damage to the Werebats, just knock them out since they were just villagers that were currently a bit out of their mind, so they couldn't use claws or acid like they usually did. They just raised their electrified fists, ready to gently electrocute the incoming bats.

---

Lightning Armor (+1 charge)
Bare Hands

Ah, Astrid really should have seen this coming. Well, it isn’t like they were really planning to sneak up on the bats in the first place. Her echolocation returns to her the information of the six massive bat creatures stirring and flying right toward them along with dozens of much smaller creatures. In a burst of black wings and tiny screeches, the cloud of bats emerges from the cave with the very large werebats beelining straight for the group.

Blue has the right idea, putting up a protective field of lightning, and Astrid decides to do the same. If anything tries to strike at her, she’ll just let them do it as long as they don’t get through her armor! A flurry of wings and teeth come screaming toward her and Blue, both of them electrified. Astrid readies her hammers, not aiming to really hurt any of the werecreatures but moreover use them to keep the bats from getting too close. Seeing one diving for Desmond, Astrid flings her hammer through the air and strikes the bat in the back, knocking it off balance and sending it careening to the ground.

“Up here, dummies!” Astrid calls, making herself the biggest small target on the field. “Come an’ get some!”

---

Bat Wings [post 2/3]
Lightning Armor - 1 charge
Challenging Mark

The Werebat slid across the ground, getting a mouthful of dirt, and then looked back angrily at the one who had hit it in the back and was now taunting it. It spit out some grass and let out a screech before taking flight again, headed straight for Astrid.

Blue stood in the mouth of the cave, trying to swat the bats that flew past them, but the Werebats went higher into the air to avoid the knight's short reach with their fists. At lest they assumed they wouldn't be able to reach, but they were taken off guard as their arm extended to three times the length, smooth blue slime visible between the gaps in their armor of the stretching limb. One bat took a gauntleted fist to the face and fell to the ground.

Another bat suddenly felt a tug on its foot as it also flew toward the fleeing Desmond, and was yanked away and smashed onto the ground by a slimy blue tentacle coming from Blue Raspberry's other hand. Desmond leapt into the cover of some bushes at the base of a tree and hid while the bat with Blue's hand on its face twitched from the electric shock it was receiving and the other slashed and bit at the rubbery whip of blue slime, but was unable to do any damage to it.

Thankfully the other Werebats were no longer interested in Desmond, their attention fully on the two who were attacking them. Two of the creatures were already in Blue's grasp with one incapacitated, but that left four who glared and screeched angrily before diving at Blue or soaring up toward Astrid.

---

Soft Body
Rubber Whip

Well, at least they have the werebats’ attention. Blue makes fast work of a few that try to get distracted by Desmond, and Astrid takes off into the air. If she can knock them all to the ground, then Blue can stick them in the goo trap! “Get ready ta catch–” Astrid pauses, realizes Blue won’t really understand the flies and honey reference. “–’em in yer sticky goop!”

Gathering magic within her, Astrid dashes forward into the air, shoulder-checking the first werebat and electrocuting it midair with the lightning wreathing her body. It screeches in pain, struggling to stay aloft but failing. It plummets to the ground. Astrid gathers another burst of energy and charges into another. Again, it screeches and falls, leaving her floating with another charging her from below.

Astrid tries to dodge, but her recovery from the charge leaves her temporarily vulnerable. Luckily, the lightning armor protects her, even as the werebat tries to slash at her with its claws and delivers upon it a powerful, shock that sends it to the ground.

“Get ‘em, Wolfe!” she calls down, hoping they're ready to capture the werebats.

---

Bat Wings [post 3/3]
Lightning armor [post 2/3]
Rushing Charge [2/topic]

"Oh, right!"

The sticky goop! Blue had actually completely forgotten about that strategy. To be fair, it had been several days now since they'd last used it, but it had worked wonders the first two times they'd encountered a group of Werebeasts. It was a little embarrassing that they'd forgotten about it.

With a clanking sound, gaps in the metal plating of their boots opened up and started to pour out a slimy blue goop that expanded into a circle on the ground around them.

The trap finished being set right on time for it to start raining Werebats. Hallelujah. Blue stepped out of the circle of glue-like slime and let one Werebat fall right into the trap on its own. The other two Astrid had sent falling down were a little off course, but that wasn't a problem. With their still extended hand, Blue just grabbed one by the leg and slapped it down into the slime as well. The other off course bat was falling near enough to them that they ran over to it and gave it a smack with a slimy blue tail freshly grown from their back.

With a swing of the whip-like tentacle on their other hand, the Werebat that they'd snagged was added to the glue trap. Along with the one they'd shocked unconscious already who was already starting to change back to normal, that made... 5.

"Hm? Where's the last one?" Blue asked out loud, looking around. There were six of them, weren't there? Blue wasn't that good at counting yet, but they at least could count to six, and there were only five Werebats currently subdued. Aw no! Astrid had taken out three of them, so that meant it was Blue who missed one! They had to find it!

Blue was actually happy when they suddenly felt something bite down on their stretched out arm. They looked over to see the last Werebat with the blue, gooey limb in its mouth. It was already twitching from the electrical shock it received from the ooze.

"Found you! That's all of them!" Blue said happily, grabbing the bat and adding it to the goo puddle.

---

Goo Puddle
Soft Body
Prehensile Tail
Gauntlets Arm hit prevention -1
Lightning Armor

With all of the werebats stuck in the glue trap, Astrid lands roughly on the ground, rolling her shoulder a bit as she feels the impact from her charging into them. Some of the bats start recovering from the shock, so Astrid pulls out her silvered hammer and test them all to be extra sure these are their werecreatures. Once they’re positive, Astrid lets electricity take over the form of her arm, and she quickly zaps each of them with enough energy to knock them out.

Slowly, the werebats turn back into stark naked people again. Luckily, the group expected this, so they throw blankets over them until they start to wake up. Once they’re awake, they go through the motions to explain the situation and that they’re here to return them home to Oldone, complete with the meal they hunted with Desmond earlier. And so they do. The group makes its way through the forest until it emerges at the edge of the damaged village and reunites the missing people with their families.

Desmond explains that he knows a few other locations where some werecreatures might be, so the following days, Astrid and Blue go with him on hunting trips to seek any stragglers and bring the village some much needed fresh meat.

Eventually, the full moon comes, and it’s with great apprehension that the village waits the night out while they give their containment barn its first real test. Many of the cells and muzzles hold luckily, resulting in a night largely without incident. The next morning, Astrid and Blue make a few adjustments and repairs to ensure full safety because the next thing on the docket is to find someone who can help the villagers with a cure or some control over their curse. At least they can leave confident that the village will be alright without them for at least another month. That should be plenty of time to at least start searching.

---

Partial elemental manifestation
Lightning Armor [post 3/3]
Bat Wings [post 3/3]