If it were up to Percy he would have gone a much different route for helping the man, namely putting him out of his misery. He sneers at the bandit as he comes back to conciousness and subsiquently ran off. Good riddance....though the shark was growing worried about what the fuzzball was storing in his fur if a magical healing snake is in there.

"Tch....I doubt ye know it well." He grumbled, much more careful about his tone this time. It wasn't so much angry as it was....frustrated? Perhaps even a little sad....hard to tell.

The anger does flare up when Beist mentions their next task is back in the same town they had just left. If he could turn red with rage he would.

"WHAT DO YE MEAN ITS BACK IN THE SAME FECKIN TOWN.....Son of a..." He breaks off into a burbling primordial speech that is not hard to interpret as swearing. Percy takes the moment to do his own rant before he slowly runs out of steam ending in a haggard breath.

"....fine...fine. Back to the inn I guess....its fine I suppose, at least after whatever it is we gotta do, then beds are right there fer us and it ain't like we gotta go find something again....FINE....uh...lead the way, I don't understand shite about navigation on land. Trees are confusin."

---

SPOILER: Click to show

Quest Name: Mold on the walls
Chapter: Two
Description: We have received a report from a local tavern owner that an ooze has taken up home in the cellar of the establishment. It is causing issues for the owner and disturbing its guest, spoiling goods and lashing out at people. We need you to venture to one of the taverns or inns in Charon and SAFELY remove the creature from the building. It might strike out at you and try to defend itself, so you may need to fight, but please dont kill the creature, and instead remove it from the premises without too much harm.
Requirements:
- Requires at least two people (you and one other)
- You must make at least 5 post to complete the mission with each post being at least 200 words
- Must Fight off and quell the angry Ooze
- Must find a way to remove it from the building without killing it
- Once you complete this mission you gain access to chapter three. (which needs to be a separate topic)

Beist tried to keep a positive outlook and a happy expression on his face, but he flinched slightly as Percy lost his temper for a moment at the news they had to go back to where they'd come from. It was a bit annoying, Beist understood. He didn't blame Percy for his reaction to the news and at least his reaction had been contained to just shouting and a bitter attitude. Things could have been much worse. He could have lost control and turned back into his Werebeast form or lashed out. Beist would just consider this a good outcome.

"Quite right, a nice rest after dealing with this next problem will be well deserved, I think. And then we'll be ready to face the next task Lloyd wrote out for us. Well then, I'll just lead the way. Trees certainly can look very alike, can't they? Very easy to get lost and turned around in the forest if one doesn't know the proper way of navigating it." Beist replied, still keeping positive. He'd spent plenty of time in the forest, so he was well experienced with travelling through them. The white snake slithered back into the fluff around his neck as he started walking through the woods, leading the way back to the inn.

"You must be more comfortable navigating in the sea, yes? I've never met a Triton before. Only read about them, and used a potion to turn myself into one temporarily, once. Quite beautiful, the sea, though I must say I'm more comfortable on land. Where are you from, if you don't mind me asking?" Beist tried to have a bit of small talk as they travelled back now that they didn't need to worry so much about being stealthy, not having an ooze to sneak up on. He was genuinely curious about Percy and where he might be from. He still wondered if it would be inappropriate to ask for a blood sample from the Wereshark man though. Maybe once they'd gotten to know each other a bit better.

---

Bringing Pets
Griffon (Sleigh Bell) in pet pocket
Woolful (My Best Friend) in space pocket
Mephit (Stables) in space pocket
Snow Owl in pet pocket

His hands are roughly shoved into his pockets as he follows after Beist. Grumpy as he was, the fuzzball was one of the few people to not immediately look for a way out once the job was done. For as abrasive as he was, Percy was still a humanoid and having other people around wasn't bad. Maybe one day he would realize more people would stick around if he wasn't a jerk.



He does keep an eye out for more bandits as they start to make their way back out. He wasn't gonna let Beist get shot again. Percy cocked an eyebrow when Beist started to ask after him. This was definitely new social territory, sharing backstories and such.



"The Isles....don't know if our collection o' huts had a name er whatever like regular villages....we eh...weren't exactly keen on outsiders." Boy if only he had known the reason why beforehand....maybe he'd have been a different person. Too late to think about that now.



"The ocean ain't one to lie to ye...no curvin paths, no strange shadows and shifting light...just the water and the sun...certainly a lot more feckin peaceful than this....fewer slimes too which ain't half bad."

"Oh, The Isles! I've visited a few times. Lovely place. Is your whole village also Weresharks? I can understand why they wouldn't be very welcoming of visitors if that were the case. My family and I lived alone, in the woods, not part of any village."

Beist looked back at Percy as he walked along ever now and then, making sure he was still following behind. The path they took was a slightly winding one, having to weave its way around thick clusters of trees they couldn't walk between and shrubs they blocked their way. It wasn't a perfectly straight path, but it was about as efficient as they could get without just mowing down the forest in front of them or flying over it. Beist thought once or twice about bringing Dora out to ride back to town, but now the problem was the thick canopy of leaves and branches above them that would prevent her from being able to fly up into the sky. Perhaps if they found a clearing they could have rode the griffon back the rest of the way, but they were already fairly close.

Beist chuckled. "No lies in the ocean! That's a good one. There's a plethora of creatures that use disguises and camouflage. More than there are on land, even. And there's plenty of slimes in the ocean. As I said, they are amphibious. And in my opinion, there's far more terrifying things living in the sea than some little slimes." Beist replied amusedly, thinking Percy must have been joking. That is until he realized he'd been thinking something incorrectly.

"Oh, do you mean you travel by boat? In that case, yes, I suppose you're right. No paths or shadows. Though I still prefer navigating on land. I like my paths and such." Beist shrugged. He'd assumed the Triton would travel through the sea by swimming underwater, but now that he thought about it, the man's outfit did look like something he'd see a ship captain wearing. That, or a pirate, but he certainly wasn't some brutish pirate! Maybe. No, actually, that did seem possible... Oh well, best not think about that...

It didn't take much longer for the two to reach the edge of the forest and emerge into the open fields near the town.

"Tch....that's one way to put it." The gruff and barely contained anger talking about his village is hard to miss. It is a long and complicated story and Beist could tell it's probably not one Percy enjoys telling.

Percy actually would not have cared about just plowing through the shrubbery, but he does follow the fuzzball's path. He didn't care if the bramble tore through his clothes, but then again his clothes weren't nice. It was probably time for him to get a new pair of trousers anyways, these ones are starting to get a bit threadbare.

"Things in the ocean may be sheisty lil pricks, but the ocean herself? She ain't gotta lie to ye...but aye...mosly through boat if I can find passage fer a time....I can imagine yer thinkin it and aye, I can just swim places if I want...but think of it like yer walkin. Sure, ye could walk all the way to Zeinav, but...lot feckin nicer on a wagon isn't it?"

He pauses a second before anticipating another question, "An' no I can't turn into a full shark, just...what ye say back there but my kind aren't strangers to the sea even without my feckin condition."

Percy rolls his neck to the side, just barely stretching open the gills on the side of his neck to give Beist a chance to see them if he looks back. Upon closer look, it would be easier to see his more fin-like ears as well.

"Oh yes, I understand. I actually have a wagon myself I usually travel in. Definitely beats walking everywhere." Beist agreed, nodding absentmindedly.

Beist couldn't help but stop for a moment before bursting out in laughter at the idea of Percy turning into a full-on shark in the middle of the forest. The absurdity of it just tickled the old man's funny bone in a way he hadn't expected to happen while travelling with the gruff, irritable Percy.

"That's such a silly assumption some people make about Werebeasts, isn't it? Just absurd! Turning into an animal takes a lot of effort and magic, not just someone giving you a bite." Beist chuckled after getting most of his laughter out. How people came to the conclusion that Werebeasts could turn into the full animal form of whatever beast they were cursed with was a mystery to him. Druids worked hard to learn how to shape their form into an animal. He would know, since he was one. It felt like a bit of an insult to think his efforts and magical abilities could have just been given to him by the very curse he'd put in so much effort to cure himself of, albeit not entirely successfully.

"Oh, so is your whole village Tritons as well? I'd love to meet them, but I suppose that would be difficult since you said they don't take kindly to strangers." Beist sighed as the two of them passed through town and back into the bed and breakfast they'd first met in.

The man who Percy had stolen his breakfast from was apparently still there, now eating what looked to be lunch. A sandwich of different vegetables and some kind of sauce. He sat at the same table as before, reading a book.

Beist walked up to the counter and peaked over it to the innkeeper behind it.

"Hello there, my companion and I are here to help with the slime in your cellar." He introduced himself and Percy politely, gesturing toward the Triton. "Oh, uh, also, could I order an everything bagel with cream cheese?" Beist added after his stomach grumbled from beneath the counter loud enough for the innkeeper to hear it.

It had been a long walk into and out of the forest and in his excitement for the research, he hadn't realized just how hungry he was until now. Even in his smaller form, he had the same need for food as his true form did, but a much smaller stomach. Because of this, he ended up eating much smaller meals, but far more frequently.

Percy gives the fuzzball an odd look, he wasn't really telling a joke but all right. The two were slowly becoming an odd pair, maybe some intrinsic bond forming because they are both used to being assumed monsters. It might be more true about Percy than Beist, but still it was nice when people weren't total pricks. And Beist was zero percent prick so it was even better.

"It ain't that hard....though I ain't exactly a normal case. Guessin' ye were turned er whatever at random, aye? Didn't go quite the same when I was a kid..." He sighs, whatever, why is he bothering to hide it or protect them? They did this to him after all. "Even if I woulda taken ye, ye wouldn't 'ave liked it....but I ain't even sure that place is around anymore. Ain't been home since I left...some feckin 18 years ago."

When they got closer to the building, the backstory exposition clams up. Beist earned the right to hear it, these townsfolk didn't. He gives the man a mean look and makes a move, but just to scare him. His lunch is safe for now.

"Just whatever meat ye have...cook it or don't I don't care. Put it on Lloyd's tab."

"At random? Oh, no, I was never turned into a Werebear, I was born one. My mother was one when she gave birth to me and my brother." Beist corrected the misunderstanding, shaking his head.

Beist just nodded his head as Percy told him how he wasn't even sure his home was still around anymore. He didn't want to stir up bad memories, so he let the conversation end there.

"I didn't know Lloyd offered to pay for our meals... Well, put my bagel on Lloyd's tab as well." Beist said the innkeeper with an innocent smile. The man behind the counter raised an eyebrow and shrugged. Of course, Lloyd didn't have a tab here. He didn't even know who Lloyd was. But, these two were here to get rid of the slime in his cellar, so if he could get them to do that for the price of a steak and a bagel, why not?

"Cellar's over here. Food'll be ready when you come back from dealing with that slime. How about it?" The man replied, looking toward Beist who seemed to be the more talkative of the two.

"Wonderful." Beist said as he followed the man behind the counter and to a door. Opening it up, it led directly to a flight of stairs down into the cellar. Beist just went right in, walking down the stairs. The air smelled a bit damp and there was a noticeable scent of mold that certainly shouldn't be found in any reputable eating establishment. But, this wasn't the fault of the inn. The source of the smell was the slime that was sliming around, moving from barrel to crate, looking for anything it would consider food.

Born a werebeast? Well that was new....As far as Percy knew his clan wasn't born into it...you would think that would make it even easier to control, but maybe it comes down to personality. Percy was aggressive and hungry for blood like any shark, while Beist didn't seem much like a bear except for the fuzz.

He wrinkled his nose as they headed down into the basement. Something about the smell of mold always bugged him. It was oddly wet, but still earthy. He couldn't explain why but it felt like it was taunting him. Though he took most things as personal slights just on principle.

It was quiet down here except for the both of them. Percy glanced around slowly, trying to spot anything. In the small quiet created by their searching there was a jingling of wine bottles. The mold tried to sneak behind a rack of bottles but had grown too large.

The amorphous blob was a dull earthy grey tone, nearly melding into the fieldstone wall behind it. Was this thing camoflauging itself or is it always that color? Whatever the answer is it will be hard to just ask it as it tries to tuck itself away.

Beist took a handkerchief from the pouch on his waist and held it over his nose and mouth to try and block some of the moldy smell and keep from breathing in any spores. His nose was a bit more sensitive than most people's, and the smell started to bother him rather quickly. He handed Percy a spare handkerchief as well when he noticed his wrinkled nose.

Looking around, it was a bit dark and the slime's coloring helped it camouflage itself, but it was still easy to see as it jiggled and shook while trying to squeeze behind the wine rack. It had reached an impressive size. Far larger than the slime they'd seen in the forest. Beist was interested to see that this one had gotten so large without feeling the need to bud into more slimes, but that was research that could wait until after this one was no longer ruining this bed and breakfast's cellar.

Now the only problem was how they were going to catch it. They needed some kind of container to trap it in. Luckily, thanks to the slime's eating spree, there were a number of barrels that had been emptied of their contents. Beist walked over to one that had a lid on the ground next to it and picked it up with two hands. He held it over his head easily, showing he had a surprising amount of strength for his size.

"Let's trap it in this. Be careful not to touch it. I know someone who stuck their entire arm inside an ooze once. It nearly resulted in their death, and definitely did result in a horrendous amount of pain." Beist warned nonchalantly before giving a thumbs up with his remaining free hand. If anything like that did happen, he would be sure to heal Percy. He had left out that he and his familiar's healing magic was the only reason the man who had stuck his arm into the ooze hadn't died.

"And what.....we're supposed to ask it nicely to just wander inside o' that barrel then?" He looked towards Beist before looking back to the mold.

How in the however many hells this world has is Percy supposed to just get it to go into the thing? He grumbles as he moves to where the slime is to just try and get a look at it again. The move was probably to try and just scare this thing out and hope to get the drop on it.

Percy scours the room for something he can use....what scares a mold? There's a bit more grumbling before he looks back to Beist.

"I suppose ye aren't keen on just burning this feckin basement with all the alcohol down here, aye?" He sighs as Beist likely agrees that burning down the building is bad.

Still, maybe the alcohol could help. Percy grabbed a particularly dusty bottle from one of the racks and just broke off the top since he didn't have a corkscrew. He took a whiff and winced. Sour. The 'good' thing about being an alcoholic is he had a pretty good nose for when things went bad.

Percy throws the bottle towards the mold, hoping the splash of something gross and also the surprise of glass and violence in its direction would push it into the open.

"Hmm..." Beist hummed as he stroked his beard and gave it some thought. How would they get the slime into the barrel? That was a good point. He could talk to animals, but Beist couldn't talk to oozes. Asking it nicely sadly wasn't an option. What did oozes like? Well, there was one obvious answer to that. Food.

"Oh, we can lure it into the barrel. Just give me a moment." Beist called to Percy as he started conjuring up some bait. With his hand outstretched toward the ground next to him, he concentrated for a moment, and a small crack formed in the stone floor. From the crack, a long woody stalk grew straight up before a single branch extended out and from it a flower quickly blossomed, then dropped all of its petals and began to grow into a roundish, green fruit. In seconds, Beist had grown a single perfectly ripe pear that dropped from the branch into his hand which he then threw into the barrel.

With that finished, Beist looked over to Percy to see... him throwing a bottle of wine at the ooze. Well, at least it worked to startle it and get it to stop trying to shove itself behind the shelves for whatever reason. Beist picked up the barrel's lid and walked closer, repositioning his grip on the barrel so that he was holding it in front of him with the opening facing forward.

"Here, into the barrel. There's a tasty treat for you in it." Beist spoke slowly and gently. The ooze didn't understand a word he said, but it did seem to react to the smell of the pear. It approached him hesitantly and he set the barrel down. Curiously, like a stray animal, the ooze went into the barrel and swallowed the pear whole. As soon as it was fully inside, Beist put the lid in place and trapped the ooze within.

With a sigh of relief, Beist tucked the now ooze-filled barrel beneath an arm and turned to Percy. "Well, that went smoothly. Now, let's have lunch."

"Go on now ye shitegob, into the feckin barrel." Percy would continue clanking bottles together since it seemingly didn't like the noise. It was also entirely possible the thing just didn't like Percy and Beist's much calmer demeanor was more enticing. Also the lure of food was hard to resist.

"So....how do we make sure that thing aint gettin outta there....er do we just kinda like...toss it back outside and hope it properly fecks off?" The shark reaches to take the barrel if allowed, just sort of assuming it was too heavy for Beist despite the strength display earlier.

He doesn't seem intent to smash it or harm the ooze, just a weird burst of being sort of polite to another person. Rare, incredibly rare, but it happens. Whatever the plan is, Percy is ready to head back up the stairs and get some food going. They had been walkin all day and he was getting kind of sick of it.

With Percy reaching out to take the barrel, Beist was a little surprised by the polite gesture from the rude shark man. It seemed he needed to get to know him a bit more before judging. Though, to be fair, his earlier behavior had been quite a lot to judge him by. Maybe he was just cranky in the- Well, actually, it wasn't morning when they'd met. But he did seem like he'd just woken up. Maybe he was cranky after waking up, no matter the hour.

Beist let Percy take the barrel, but the barrel was surprisingly heavy given the ease of which Beist had been holding it. It was nearly filled to the top with ooze, which was practically water. It was almost a full barrel of water, which wasn't exactly light. It looked like he was struggling a bit, but he was managing to lift it and Beist didn't want to insult him by taking it back as much as he felt he'd have a far easier time. He just offered to help carry it up the stairs.

When the two of them were back up to the ground floor, the innkeeper had been true to his word. A bagel and a steak were waiting for them behind the counter.

"Is it in here?" The innkeeper asked curiously, poking the top of the barrel which gave a sloshing noise and moved to the side slightly. That was enough to confirm for him that the ooze was captured and contained. What they did with it, he didn't care as long as the thing didn't find its way back into his cellar.

"I think I might keep it with me for a bit and study it. Maybe if it's nice, I might even keep it. I did say it might be nice to have an ooze as a companion. I can load it onto my wagon once we finish eating." Beist said as he sat at a table with his bagel, the barrel of ooze next to him. As he ate, he pulled out the notebook with Lloyd's list of tasks for them.

"Oh. Oh my, our next task is... Did Lloyd write this list backwards or something? This really should have been the most important one!" Beist shook his head. "There is an elder ooze making its way from Moonglade into the Marsh Flats that we need to stop!" He informed Percy with concern filling his voice. He scarfed down his bagel quickly and got up to head to the door, the ooze barrel tucked under his arm.

---

Bull's Strength

Percy does hold the barrel aloft, but he did not think an ooze could be so dense. Through a mix of stupidity and spite, the triton does soldier his way up the stairs. The blue skin turns a little purple under the strain, but he refuses to accept help for the moment.

The barrel is set on the ground at the top of the staiurs with a huff. They could roll this damn thing out of here for all he cared. Should've set the stupid thing on fire. He grumbled and rolled his shoulder.

Grabbing the steak in hand, Percy bites into it and right through the bone portion of the T-bone cut. The crunch offers a nice textural difference....or he truly was a garbage eater like his tiger shark blood.

"An elder ooze?...The feck is that? Is it just like...bigger er what? Wrinkly?....Can oozes be wrinkly?" Percy followed after Beist at a much slower pace, waiting to grab a mug of ale.

The little fuzzball certainly had a lot of energy that was sure. Good things sharks never sleep...or is that a myth? Percy isn't entirely sure, he is just part shark, not a registered sharkologist.