Heart of Oak

Home is Where the Heart is

The home tree had gotten some upgrades since Oakengrove's trip to the beast town. Through some clever speech craft from Oakengrove, he'd secured a supply of materials in return for new equipment. The town effectively employed Frida, and sometimes begrudgingly, worked around the clock.

Since the unannounced arrival of the red-scaled lamia, Oakengrove had been on edge. It was worrying a few of the others who dwelled there. Oakengrove's private quarters were at the highest point in the tree where he ranted and raved in blissful solitude. That is until Saea caught him in the middle of one.

The slime popped her head into the room, pushing the magically grown wood door ajar. "You alright?"

Oakengrove stopped mid-step, slowly turning his head with wide eyes, as if caught with a hand in the cookie jar. "Oh, Saea," he let out a sigh of relief and fixed his appearance. "Just thinking aloud is all. I find it to be easier than letting my mind do it."

"That snake guy, did he really cause that big of a problem?" Saea stepped fully into the room, closing the door behind her. "I've never seen you pace like this."

Oakengrove turned and took a seat upon a crudely grown tree throne. "It's more so what he said to me. Listen to this: 'Florism must not fall to the hands of a dead god.'"

Saea's facial expression shifted, visibly showing her confusion.

"He referred to me as a dead god, a threat to this faith of Florism." The giant treant then pointed to the chainsaw sword that lay idly on a grown table. "He attacked me with this. I've known tree-felling methods to use tiny blades on chains to do sawing motions, often done by teams of lumberjacks. It's effective compared to using a woodcutting ax. However, this doesn't even require a person. It runs on its own magic."

Saea walked up to it and poked one of the tiny blades. It was dangerously sharp, and there were two on every link of the chain. "A weapon designed specifically for you?"

Oakengrove nodded. "I suspect he had time to plan for this and that makes matters so much worse."

"How so? You killed him, didn't you?" Saea turned to look at him.

"Aye, I did. But not without my own war scar." He lifted his left leg and showed the underside of his stubby root foot. It had a hole carved into it.

The small enoki mushroom walked in from the other side of the room, sensing his distress, and approached the wound. A faint dusty white light emanated from the mushroom's hands, but the wound saw no regrowth.

"Whatever he made that weapon from or enchanted it with, I'm not sure, but it caused permanent damage." He set his foot back down and sighed. "There's also a possibility that he made more. We're seeing the dawn of a new era of technology, one that works with magic."

Saea nodded quietly. "What's the plan, then?"

"For now, we keep steady the current course. Khar has been doing regular scouting trips, and I sent Falcher northward to Huma. I must know where this technology is coming from. I am making another trip to the beast town in a few days."

"What about the rest of us?"

He stroked his ivy beard. "Honestly," his hand then migrated upwards and scratched the top of his head. "keep this tree safe. I don't want to do anything without appropriately planning for it and dealing with potentially an entire religious hierarchy sounds like a nightmare that requires time."

Saea walked up to him and hugged him, enveloping his entire body in her blue-yellow slime.

Oakengrove raised a curious brow. "Oh? What's this for?"