Heart of Oak

The Fallen Kingdom

The warmth of summer was fading. The open sea was very calm and the Green Thorn Warband was enjoying their subsidized trip out west, to a land far, far away aboard the Fortune's Maid. Roderick and Sedel were below deck in the crew quarters, resting on some footstools and using an empty barrel as a makeshift table.

Roderick leaned on his elbow, raising a brow towards Sedel. "Just to refresh my memory, you said you encountered a dune ant?"

Sedel shifted her gaze back over to him, coming back to reality after a fleeting daydream. "She called herself Simadger. She was one of Oakengrove's guards, I'm guessing."

"Which makes me wonder, we never saw the lamia again before we were sent away." Roderick let out a sigh. "Hopefully he's alright, seemed like a decent fellow."

Sedel shrugged. "I'm a little more skeptical of his motives. Caught him mumbling something as he ventured off without us. Something about a false god."

"Religious folk are always like that," Roderick shrugged it off, himself not being religious. "Skepticism and paranoia when they hear something like a miracle happening, but it wasn't told to them by their clergymen. With Castias being the head druid, he's likely to be the most paranoid."

"This didn't feel like typical paranoia though, or even skepticism. This sounded like premeditated intent." Sedel argued. "It's been rattling in my head ever since we left."

Roderick sat upright and placed some dice on the barrel. "We got paid either way and look at us now, we're off to slay some gnolls and save a kingdom."

There was still a sinking feeling in Sedel's gut. "You saw how powerful that Oakengrove character was. Aren't you in the least bit worried?"

Roderick clasped his hands together. "If you worry about everyone else, you'll never have time to take care of yourself. We as a warband have to look out for ourselves first. Once we have nothing to worry about, then we can focus on everyone else's problems. Until then, don't obsess. You'll only lose more sleep over it."

"I know, I know, I just, it's weird only being hired for a one-way escort mission, especially into the woods." Sedel grabbed a six-sided dice and lazily rolled it, landing on a four.

"Sedel, don't fret. He's a druid for hell's sake and more capable than this whole warband, truth be told. He'll be fine. We were just guides rather than bodyguards. Besides, this dune ant you mentioned, she sounds like she's strong enough to best a Huma battalion."

"Perhaps. I follow Enderia, and Enderics and Florists were not always kind to each other," Sedel replied.

"Huma is way to the north and hasn't taken part in a war for almost a century, Rykensvik and the Basar clans are both allied and predominantly Florists, the Solists and Etrurians are an ocean away," Roderick reached out and placed a firm hand on her shoulder. "I know you want to mend things, but you aren't clergy. You have no say or control over that. It's not your fight."

Sedel unleashed a very drawn-out and heavy sigh of defeat. "I suppose," her mind drew back to what started the conversation. "What did you want to know about that dune ant?"

Roderick split the dice and handed over a cup. The game of liar's dice had begun. "Did she really look like her wild counterparts? Like honey-pot ants?"

"I suppose. She didn't have a swollen gaster and her color was more brown than yellow." Sedel shook the dice in the cup and slammed it down, peering into what she'd rolled. "I say there are two threes."

"I raise you three fours," said Roderick, not even having looked at his hand. "What'd she have for equipment?"

Sedel pondered for the moment, "I call bullshit." Then lifted her cup to reveal a singular four. "A shallow sickle and what looked like another creature's shell as a shield. Wore really heavy layered plate mail for armor, too."