--- Case of the Missing Birds: Part 1 ---
"We suspect Fowl Play"
"One minute! I'll be with you in just a moment!"
Tharros blinked as he heard a young woman's voice coming from the back of the house he had walked into. Looking around he saw a large room filled with sturdy well worn furniture. In the corner there was a small self-playing violin playing a soft simple turn.
"Thank you for waiting. I always seem to be in the middle of something when we get a guest."
From the next room a young red headed woman stepped out, pausing in startlement when she catches sight of Tharros.
"I'm sorry soldier, I wasn't expecting a response from our request so quickly."
"Oh!" She said as she raised her hands to her face. "I'm getting ahead of myself again. I'm Anju, are you here to help with our missing Three Sorrows Poultry?"
Tharros nodded as he pulled out the mission request from his pouch, showing her the official Contribution Board seal on it.
"Oh wonderful, the storm we had the other day broke the repairs my brother did on the fence and some of our flock got out."
"I know they are safe in these parts but I do worry they will get sick eating random things out in the wild."
"Let me show you where you will be bringing them back to." Anju said as she gestured for Tharros to follow her.
Tharros followed her out and around the house to where the flock was clucking away. He could see in the distance where a hole in the fence had been inexpertly repaired then broken again. A young man was lazily working to fix the hole while Anju kept speaking.
"My father is the local Master Craftsman, but with how busy he's been rebuilding the town from the Trials he hasn't had much time to work on the fence. My brother tries his best but he still has a lot to learn from Father."
"Let me show you how to handle the birds. Seven of the flock are missing, if you aren't careful you could hurt them trying to bring them back."
Tharros is a bit uncertain would they be the ones getting hurt. The birds were as tall as his waist and had to weigh more than a child. He would have to bring them back one at a time, there would be no way he could handle more than that at once.
--- Case of the Missing Birds: Part 2 ---
"The Fowl Mouthed Man"
As Tharros wandered the town looking for the escaped Three Sorrows Poultry he was surprised at how busy it was. Everywhere he looked he saw people running back and forth carrying construction supplies or turning those supplies into walls and buildings.
As he looked around he could see in the distance one of the birds he was looking for. Heading towards it he had to dodge around one of the men running round. Tharros could hear the man complaining under his breath about how hard the boss was making them work. Tharros expected the man thought nobody could hear him, but cultivators, even as newly started as himself, had much better senses than mortals.
At first Tharros tried to gently herd the Three Sorrows Poultry but it refused to cooperate. Giving up he picked up the bird, immediately it started frantically beating its wings trying to get away. As he started heading back towards Anju's house he tried different ways of holding the bird to find one that didn't involve him getting repeatedly smacked by its wings.
In the end he ended up holding the bird over his head, being very glad he was a cultivator since the bird was flapping its wings hard enough he thought the bird would fly them both away.
On the way back to Anju's house he saw or heard several of Three Sorrows Poultry, including one that had gotten itself into a stack of crates and seemed stuck. He was glad they all seemed fairly close by, it would make it a lot easier to collect them all back to where they belonged.
A few birds later he was bemoaning his earlier confidence. With all the reconstruction going on what was normally a neatly organized town was turned into a maze with the birds being in the strangest of places. The worst so far being one that got into a small town square that seemed to have been entirely fenced off to the point he had to climb onto a roof to get in there.
As Tharros headed towards the main road into town he passed a giant of a man constantly yelling instructions to the various builders running around. Once he found one and was on his way back he had to pause and wait while a group of builders moved a bunch of supplies across the road. While waiting the man he had heard earlier noticed Tharros holding the bird above his head and came over.
"What are you doing with my Three Sorrows Poultry?" He demanded. Not pausing for a second he continued, "I bet they got loose again, I knew I shouldn't have trusted my lazy son to fix that fence." *Cluck*
As the bird on Tharros' head gave a cluck that sounded suspiciously like approval, the Man continued "No matter how much I try to teach him he refuses to learn the simplest parts of being a builder." *Flap flap* "I bet he is paying you to find my birds before I notice his work failed. Well don't think for a second I'm going to let him get away with doing subpar work. You're a soldier so you know how important it is to do a job right." *Bakaw* "Be careful holding my bird, you might hurt him!" *Buck-buck-buck*
"You aren't one to put in halfass effort and expect full pay." *Swack* "Stop slacking off and make sure that you find the rest of my Three Sorrows Poultry." *Cackle* "When you do, make sure my good for nothing son doesn't give you any lip paying the full amount you are owed." *Cock-A-Doddle-Do*
Without another word he turns around and starts yelling at the builders that finished moving the supplies. With a look up at the Three Sorrows Poultry you held over your head the entire time, squawking up a storm the entire time, you continue on back to Anju's house glad that after this you only have one bird left to find.
--- Case of the Missing Birds: Part 3 ---
Tharros groaned to himself as he finished pulling himself onto the clifftop. As he rolled over onto his back he wondered how the last Three Sorrows Poultry had gotten up here. He had spent most of the day wandering the town looking for the last bird without luck so when he had spied the brilliant white plumage at the top of the cliff behind the town he had been excited.
Very quickly that excitement turned into confusion and frustration when he realized there wasn't a path up the sheer cliff and he had to climb up the hard way. Luckily he had been paying attention on the way up so knew the route he would be able to safely jump down while holding the bird. Finally having caught his breath he got up to start finding where the bird was hiding.
It didn't take Tharros long to start hearing the Three Sorrows Poultry clucking. However he quickly drew his sword and started running when he heard the panic in its voice. Bursting through some bushes he found the bird, but also a wolf that was stalking it.
At the same time Tharros was taking in the situation the wolf noticed Tharros and immediately lunged at the bird. Leaping towards the wolf as fast as he could, he swung his sword at the wolf's head, catching its head right as it was trying to bite into the bird. It wasn't a clean blow so the wolf was still alive but it had drawn heavy bleeding and knocked it off course enough it only got a jaw full of feathers.
While the wolf jumped back to protect itself from Tharros the Three Sorrows Poultry started screaming it's head off while running away, leaving Tharros between it and the wolf. He could see the wolf lowering itself to the ground, considering how to get past him to get at the bird. He shifted his grip on his sword and stretched himself out making himself as big as possible to intimidate the wolf.
They stood off like that for a few seconds while the bird continued to scream in the background. Tharros got himself ready since it seemed like the wolf was still going to try and attack. Before either of them could move the clearing was covered in a deep shadow and a massive screech split the air. In an instant the wolf turned and bolted away as fast as it could.
As Tharros turned towards the screech he felt a massive thud and heard the Three Sorrows Poultry go silent. Fearing for the worst he was surprised to find the bird still alive, standing in front of an absolutely massive creature the size of a boulder. As he took in the details he was surprised to realize it was a massive bird, one that actually looked very similar in fact to Three Sorrows Poultry itself. As he stood there confused and fearing for his life, he was awed when the massive bird started speaking.
"Put that stick away boy, you couldn't even ruffle my feathers with that tiny thing." The bird's voice was deep enough to make Tharros's bones vibrate, and as it continued speaking the wind from its voice tried to make his hair escape his cap. "Now, who are you? I came here expecting to have to protect one of my children. Instead I find you about to throw away your life trying to protect him."
With a roll of his shoulders to make sure all his bones were still in one piece Tharros explained, "Greetings Great One, I am Tharros Ateleioti, 1st Stage of the Golden Devils Legion, a family in the town below the cliff keeps a flock of Three Sorrows Poultry that got loose after a storm damaged their fence. I was tasked with finding the missing birds. There was one still unaccounted for and when I saw this one's bright white plumage at the top of the cliff I mistakenly thought he was one of their flock."
With a deep rumbling hmm the spirit beast considered Tharros. "I would normally assume someone saying that to be lying to try and save their life. However, I can tell you have no greed in your eyes for my child. You appear to have no idea of the power of my great Instant Sorrows Vulture bloodline. As reward for attempting to save my child I will give you the chance to prove the truth to your words. If you are lying I will kill you out of hand for my children to eat."
With a sharp bark to the small beast making it fly off into the forest the great beast turned back to Tharros, "I will not give you the chance to waste my time by trying to run away." With that as the only warning, it spread its wings with a sudden gale and lifted off grabbing Tharros in its talons. "We will go directly to this presumed flock and I will see the truth for myself."
--- Case of the Missing Birds: Part 4 ---
In the light of the setting sun Tharros had a view of the town he never would have conceived of. He couldn't hear anything over the sound of the wind but expecting the grand beast to have no such difficulties he attempted to direct it to the correct edge of town. He was relieved when the Instant Sorrows Vulture did turn to the correct direction.
Within a short few minutes they were diving down towards the correct house. Tharros had barely started to consider if he would be crushed by the landing when the talon he was gripped in was violently swung around as the bird landed on one leg. After landing Tharros was unceremoniously dropped to the ground where he had to take a moment to get his wits together.
When he finally stood up and looked around he saw all of the Three Sorrows Poultry still as stone. In the distance stood both Anju and her brother near the almost repaired wall, Anju holding to her chest what seemed to be the last missing bird. Behind him he heard the deep voice of the Instant Sorrows Turkey.
"Well then, It appears you weren't lying after all. There is indeed a flock here that looks similar to my own children. Thinking on it, I do seem to remember one of my weaker descendants a few centuries ago choosing to live alongside a human family in this area. It appears their blood continued to disappoint and now all that's left is this shameful flock, barely better than mortal creatures."
"Boy, as reward for telling the truth I shall give you a gift grander than you will ever see, a single drop of my blood. When you are in danger, drink it and it will give you the barest fraction of my bloodlines power for a moment. More than enough time to defeat any foe you would ever face. Now take it so that I may leave and no longer suffer the shameful sight of these creatures."
Tharros frantically started searching his pouch for something to hold the great beasts gift, quickly finding an array etched bottle, meant to hold water safe during long marches in the desert without breaking. Holding it out to the Instant Sorrows Turkey he watched as it used its sharp beak to peck a minor wound into one of its legs. With effortless control of its body it flicked its leg at Tharros while it leapt up to fly away.
As if through a great aqueduct Tharros watched the drop of blood soar through the air straight into the bottle without staining the edge of the lip at all. By the time he finished sealing the lid and looked up the great beast was no longer visible. All he could do was look at the bottle in the last moments of the setting sun and see the blood within glowing a more brilliant red then could have ever been imagined.
Behind him he heard the Three Sorrows Poultry that had started the entire adventure start clucking. As if awoken by the sound Anju and her brother started moving and ran to Tharros demanding to know what was going on.
---
Edited to have all 4 parts in 1 threadmark since its so short.
@occipitallobe reward will be a brilliant red Sorrowful Blood Potion (LST) please.
