The experience with the Winged Expeditionary Force had certainly been interesting so far. It seemingly sprung up just as quickly as all the monsters started appearing. Leandros was curious how something so quickly could come together, he had hoped to talk with the people at the center of it all but they seemed rolled up in their work.

It made sense, from what he experienced with Taki these beasts were tough. They were more clever than most and certainly more deadly by far. It was hard to predict what their leader was capable of if these things were so hard to deal with. There was a lot more of surveying work that needed to be done it seemed. 

That night he was at the stables brushing down Byrr. The bristle knocked loose clouds and clouds of sand with every stroke. He shouldn't be surprised this would happen out in the Mesa. Still, it was a pain for them both. Leandros would be brushing sand out of his coat for weeks after they returned to Capitol Landing.

Complaints and mutters were cut off by the sound of something in the distance. He looks back over his shoulder towards the distant horizon. What was going on? 

SPOILER: Click to show

Quest Name: Allied Forces
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: Your previous efforts have awakened a response from the creatures, your base has been ambushed in the dead of night, have you prepared your fortifications properly? With your camp reeling from the attack, guild leaders have realized this hunt may be more than they are prepared for, and assistance is being requested. We need you to reach out to a member of another guild (Fighter's Guild, Mage's Guild or the Golden Consortium) and help convince them to lend a member to assist in the hunt. This can be done through letters, messengers or approaching one yourself. Make a convincing plea for assistance, as we will need all the help we can get.

In the distance! Nightcaller trolls!" Someone shouted out, alerting everyone to start preparing for battle. Weapons were grabbed from racks. Anyone who had taken off their armor to rest for the night was hurrying to put it back on. They didn't have much time. The trolls were distant, but they were running toward them quickly.

How the trolls knew their location, no one knew. But, they were running directly towards it despite their distance and blindness. They'd been charging long before the bell started ringing. As they grew closer, it became obvious. They hadn't known the camp was there at all. They were chasing someone who must have wandered off and was now foolishly leading them back to the camp!

"What was that idiot thinking!? This isn't a sightseeing trip!" One of the higher-ups in the Expedition Force growled as he watched the scene through a spyglass. They were here to set up a base camp and fight extremely dangerous creatures! Who in their right mind would just go wandering off into the night!?

Archers readied flaming arrows and waited for the trolls to come within range. Soldiers and knights held up weapons and shields right behind them, ready to step forward to defend them. Among that line of knights was a knight in an intricate, dark blue suit of armor with a helmet that had small horns on the sides and a cloak and faulds made of black fur. Strangely, their hands were empty.

Blue had fought a few of these trolls before and knew how nasty their blood was. They didn't want to get that stuff on them again, so they decided to try and rely on other methods of attack than their usual claws. They weren't good with a bow and arrow, but they knew how to chuck a ball of acidic slime or electrocute something.

As the calls rang out across camp, Leandros made his way back to where his group was camped. Gilder was already sprinting off to join the archers on the tower. The scout had plenty of training shooting at night and the fire from everyone's arrows puts out little torches on the road ahead.

Leandros would take his halberd and start to head towards the front. Th trolls continue their charge after the poor page who had just wanted to go to the bathroom. This was a heavy price to pay to pee.

"PLEASE HELP THEY ARE SO CLOSE PLEASE OH GODS!" He cries and sobs as he runs.

A troll leaps forward to try and overtake the boy, but just before it can land a halberd impacts into its side. Leandros extends the reach of his swing[1] and brings the hammer end into its side to drive it into the dirt.

The page scrambles forward, tripping face first into the dirt as he ducks before picking himself up and running past Leandros and Blue. His chest heaves and lungs burn while he catches his breath in relative safety.

Gilder looses an arrow into the troll, fire searing into it to cut off its healing. The knight drags it along the ground a moment before rolling it back towards its group and resetting his stance.

---

1. Titanic Reach

Volleys of flaming arrows came down on the trolls, embedding themselves in their flesh and setting them ablaze. This was the most effective strategy the Expedition Force had thought of after learning of the trolls' ability to heal being cut off by flames. The usual soldier didn't possess fire magic. But, the arrows weren't as reliable as they might have hoped. The flames died out quickly, most of the burning arrow tips being extinguished by the troll's blood or snuffed out within the troll's thick hide. They realized they needed something a lot more reliable.

Several trolls grunted as a blue ball bounced between them, cracking their ribs with the force of its impacts. Eventually, the bouncing sphere lost its shape and burst into a coating of blue slime on one of the troll's legs. Blue readied another ball in their hand, ooze seeping through the gaps in their gauntlets to form a blue sphere, before tossing it right at another troll's face like a fast pitch. The troll screamed in pain as the sphere burst on its face, coating its whole head in acidic slime that burned away at its skin.

Blue was helping damage the trolls, but they wished they were doing more. They really needed to work on their lightning abilities more. They'd have to try and remember that for later.

It was lucky that the group of trolls that had chased the man back to camp was fairly small. Not a whole raiding party. They must have come across him by accident and considered him easy prey, not expecting to be lead back to a small army. The fight was difficult and left several injured, but the trolls eventually all met their ends and the injured were able to be treated.

---

Bouncing Bubble
Acid Bubble

Leandros hesitated a moment as the big blue ball bounced around at a strange pace. In that moment, one of the trolls was able to claw at the knight's chest but thankfully the thick armor helped prevent it from cutting deep.[1] Leandros pulled his halberd back and stabbed it through the stomach before using his strength to throw it back to the group, another fire arrow hitting its leg.

The few trolls that remained roared at the group and pounded their chests in a sign of strength before being slowly picked off one by one. Leandros flourished his blade to flick the sickly looking blood off of it. He lets out a sigh of relief before looking to Blue with a bright smile.

"It's good not everyone was dead asleep. That was impressive work, is that a spell of some sort? I've never seen a spell look that....ooze-like." The knight holsters his halberd along his back as he meets with Blue, pushing his hair back from out of his face.

"This camp could certainly use more people confident with magic....I don't think oil and rags will be enough to do any real damage if we were to face a more substantial force."

"Oh yeah, thanks. Yeah, it was just a spell! It just sort of looks like that. Magic, right?" Blue floundered, trying not to sound suspicious and failing miserably. Shoot, did their attacks give them away? No, he was asking about what kind of spell that was. They did manage to make the balls of slime look like they were casting spells, didn't they? This guy was impressed with them though. That was a good thing!

"You're right, we could use more competent mages in this group. Specifically, we need fire mages. The flaming arrows are a start, but in a real fight they just won't hold up." One of the lead members of the Expedition said as he clapped a hand on both knight's shoulder. "So, you know any fire magic?"

"Uh, no, sorry. Just lightning and... slime.... magic." Blue replied, trying to think of a good way to describe the spells they'd used. Maybe just calling it slime magic was the best way to go. They already thought it looked ooze-like, so maybe they'd just lean into that.

"Slime magic? Never heard of that, but I guess it looked pretty effective." The leader said with a shrug before continuing. "Well, we need fire magic if we want to fight these trolls. I know who you are, Lord Wolfe. I know you're in the Mage's Guild, so you're going on a mission to go get us some fire mages. And you're going with him. Both of you get some rest. You're leaving in the morning. We don't have time to waste"

With that, the man gave them both a pat on the shoulder before turning and walking off, leaving them alone. Blue watched him walk off for a moment before looking to Leandros.

"Guess we're on a mission together! Nice to meet you. I'm Wolfe." They said cheerily, holding out a hand to shake.

"Our smith can do some enchanting, that's how Gilder's bow can shoot fire arrows, but I doubt we have the time to travel back to Sol City and then wait for an army's worth of weapons to be made and enchanted." Leandros put his hands on his hips.

Sometimes he regrets not spending more time learning spellcraft. There were plenty of fighters out there who could blend magic and fighting at the same time, but he wasn't one of them. Was it his naturally gentle disposition that made it harder to pick up offensive magic? He knew how to heal and protect others, but hurt? That was all left up to the blade.

Leandros turns to accept Wolfe's handshake, his thoughtful expression brightening with a smile, "Leandros Aurthurian of Capitol Landing. It's good that you have connections within the Mage's Guild, that should give us a great opportunity to find friends. Though perhaps we should look beyond simple fire...Is there anyone who might specialize in more protective areas? Maybe we can help prevent these accidental run-ins if we can magically scout the area from time to time as well."

The ideas are offered over to Wolfe for his opinion. It's hard to keep up with what mages are capable of these days, the knight just saw Wolfe toss lightning and acid around with his hands so clearly there was a lot on the table.

"Oh, yeah, probably! There's lots of people in the Mage's Guild, so I bet we could find someone like that." Blue replied after giving Leandros a firm handshake.

Blue was no expert in magic. All of their "spells" were really just inherent abilities of the electric ooze, some of which they were still slowly discovering themself. They'd only gotten into the Mage's Guild because they were able to pass their slimy abilities off as magic, and Astrid and Morrigan had handled all the paperwork stuff. All Blue had to do was help find some cursed tree and bring a piece of it to the Mage's Guild as part of their application.

Honestly speaking, they probably didn't really deserve to be in the Mage's Guild. The Fighter's Guild might have served them better, being able to learn combat techniques, but everyone else in their family and several of their friends were in or had wanted to join the Mage's Guild, so they did too. At least now it seemed like their membership could prove helpful to the Expedition. The Winged Expeditionary Force, an organization dedicated to fighting monsters, felt ironically more like something the ooze actually fit into.

The evening passed quickly with Blue and Leandros told to get some rest early so they could leave early in the morning. Blue went to bed in their armor, lying down and letting their form collapse back into ooze contained within the metal plates. In the morning, they had breakfast and then met Leandros at the edge of camp ready to leave for the Mage's Guild.

"Ready? Let's get going. It'll be faster to fly." Blue said before shapeshifting into a giant blue bird. They totally forgot that they had forgotten to even mention the night before that they could use "shapeshifting magic". "Climb on."

The knight had just finished securing Byrr's saddle when Blue arrived. He seems a little disappointed having spent the morning oiling the saddle and brushing the horse, but that feeling is quickly replaced when Blue just shape shifts. Unsure if coffee has been invented or not, Leandros knew he certainly wasn't awake enough for whatever was happening.

It was hard to argue though, this would be a lot faster. It also solves the problem of only one of them having a horse. Though, the more concerning part is getting over the strange sensation of riding another person. This was going to be a morning to be sure.

He just nods and climbs on, very, very uncertain how to settle himself. The knight was also concerned about his weight being too much, but Wolfe appeared to be a strong man. That translates in all forms, right?

No time for questions, at least not at the moment.

"I BELIEVE WE ARE LOOKING FOR THE COPPER ROOFED TOWER JUST OUTSIDE OF TOWN. MY WIFE SAYS COPPER CAN BE CONDUCTIVE SO IT IS GOOD PRACTICE FOR CHANNELING LIGHTNING." He calls out over the winds, still trying to be polite and make conversation.

Blue had never really thought of how strange it might be for people to ride them while they were transformed into an animal. They'd let quite a few do it by now without a second thought. Astrid had ridden on their back lots of times. To them it was like offering a piggyback ride. It just didn't occur to the ooze that even that might be a strange thing to offer to someone they'd barely met. They just hadn't grown up with the same inhibitions as most people. They hadn't done much growing up at all, really.

Blue also wasn't aware of the small field office that the Mage's Guild had up in the Arid Mesa. With just a quick description of the place given by the leader of their expedition unit the night before, they searched around the small inhabited area along the coast until they saw a building that matched the description from the air. It was a good thing the leader had though to mention to copper roof. It was the most distinguishable feature from above.

They landed in front of the tower and waited for Leandros to dismount them before transforming back into their armored humanoid form. Blue just went right up to the door and opened it without knocking. As the door swung open, there was a startled yelp from inside.

"Who are you!?" A squeaky voice called out from off to the side.

Looking around, the tower wasn't nearly as fancy as the main guild hall back in Capitol Landing. In fact, it looked awfully shabby. There was a handful of robed people within who looked surprised to see Blue and Leandros in the doorway, a couple of imposing, knightly figures entering a place of magic.

"Hi there! Are any of you guys fire mages?"

For Blue this was a dime a dozen experience, for Leandros it was a first. Given that he has always been rather tall and large for a child, usually he carried others and not the other way around. Any worry about it quickly faded though, not really worth thinking about the weirdness when you were trying not to fall off.

He barely waited for Blue to land before hopping off though, heavy armor clanging as he did. A sigh of relief left him as he fixed back his hair while they walked, settling back into his knightly look.

Leandros reached forward to knock but Blue threw it open before he could. He just gives a little smile and laugh.

The mages themselves didn't look too impressive, it was far from the scholarly outfit his mother taught at. He would've thought even just a few mages in a place could make a place look like anything.

One small scaled hand slowly raises up as a little kobold creature stands up in his chair to be seen over the paperstacks, "I-I a-am, what do y-you need?" The creature had thick red scales, but some definite scratches and burn marks along them. He was either a very accomplished fire mage with the work burned into him, or a very very bad one.

"Perfect! We need some fire mages to help fight trolls! Are there any more here?" Blue asked cheerfully. They'd found one! Now they just needed a few more and they'd stand a fighting chance against those trolls.

Things weren't so perfect for their friend though. The already skittish Kobold's face drained of color and he started trembling.

"T- trolls?" He repeated with obvious fear and apprehension, quickly trying to think of some way out of being dragged off by a couple of knights to die fighting in some battle. He wasn't made for battle! He was barely made for magic, a screwup of a fire mage. They wouldn't want him around anyways if they didn't want their own allies getting just as scorched as their enemies.

"Wait, did you say fire mage? My bad, I'm not a fire mage! I'm a... a flyer mage! Yeah! I thought you said flyer mage. My mistake." The Kobold said, hiding their burn-scarred hands behind their back and backing away. "Sorry, can't help you. Gonna have to find someone else. Look somewhere else, even. No fire mages here."

The others around the tower made noises of agreement. If any of them at all was a fire mage, they were just pretending not to be. It seemed none of these people were too keen on fighting trolls.

Blue crossed their arms in front of them and looked disappointed. They didn't think anyone here was lying, naively believing them all. Even if any of them were fire mages though, it was probably for the best to look elsewhere.

"We are not intending to send anyone to the frontlines, but we need people who can better defend the camp." Leandros hopes that by softening the offer they can pick up the morale, but that didn't seem to do much.

He sighs and puts his hands on his hips as he looks over the group. They certainly were a skittish lot, many of them looked barely old enough to be on their own let alone thrown at a group of trolls to hope for the best.

Still, they had to do something. The WEF had enough fighters, they really didn't need more swords and arrows. They needed fire. Perhaps the Golden Consortium, but he wanted something more reliable than potions that could go anywhere.

"What about enchanting? Fire runes can be added to weapons from the safety of camp. We just need a few people willing to help to speed things along."

The chatter picks up again, the offer of at least staying in camp seems to have grabbed back the attention of a few. It sounded like that meant they wouldn't have to fight which would keep them safe.

"A-and pay sir?" A tiny voice picks up from deeper in the room.

Leandros shares a look with Blue for a moment, "I imagine the Winged Expeditionary Force will be able to pay you."

"WE COULD ACTUALLY GET PAID?" Well, it seemed coin was the great motivator as it always was.

Blue turned to Leandros, their expression of surprise mercifully hidden from the mages by their helmet. They were going to get paid? Did that include them? Ah, Blue always forgot to ask about that kind of thing. They never really had money on the forefront of their mind. No, that spot was usually occupied with thoughts of food, though the ooze did find coins pretty tasty. They usually just got handed a bag of coins at the end of things and didn't question it. They were more motivated by the thrill of adventure and chance to taste something new.

These mages on the other hand, the money was what got them moving. They started packing up quickly, getting ready to set off. More of the mages were willing to go now that there was actual pay on the table than they'd expected. Blue wouldn't be able to carry so many people on their back though.

Blue leaned over to Leandros and whispered. "I can't fly with this many. How do we bring them all back with us?"

If they turned into a bird, they could carry Leandros and maybe one or two more on their back. They were strong, but no matter how much they could lift while standing on the ground, there was a limit to how much they could actually fly with. They could also create a cloud to carry a few more on, but that also had its limits. There were still more that wanted to come along. Should they make more than one trip, or find some other way to transport them? Travelling by foot would be slower, but it might just be faster than if they had to make multiple trips. Maybe some of the mages had ways of flying?

Admittedly Leandros was unsure of what deals Blue had made, he had specifically turned down receiving any regular pay from working with the Winged Expeditionary Force. He was wealthy enough that the funds could be better spent elsewhere. Like, for instance, incentivizing some nervous mages to give it a shot.

He looks to Blue with a sheepish laugh, not expecting the scramble. "We will just have to whittle it down to the two best options, I will catch a wagon back with the rest so as not to over tax you. We may end up a half day behind, but at least then the fire mages can start figuring out what they need."

The small silver lining in the fact that they were all so young and underfed meant they were all pretty light. They also had meager possessions, so the packing was done and over with pretty quick. Leandros puts his hands over his hips and surveys the group a moment. This really is not the auspicious group he was anticipating, but they had no time for appearances....or experience as it seemed.

"The two fire mages can head out with Wolfe here, the rest of you can follow me to a caravan. The W.E.F is hauling supplies daily so we can offer protection. Show us your skills and you'll climb the ranks pretty quickly. Ready to go?"

There is some more enthusiasm in everyone, but it is still muted and unsure. The kobold and a tall halfling, about the size of a short human, approach Blue and stare up at the ooze. It seemed these would be his charges for the trip.

"Shall we then? Looks like everyone is ready."