The War of the Dragon Kings IC

[NeoSeraphi]

Her attack strikes true, and she cuts the man down brutally!

The bandit leader growls. "(Common) Tsk...alright, alright. We know when we're beat."

He nods to the archer, who quickly helps her out of the tangleroot.

[Diachronos]

Castiana gives the man a hard stare. "Since you weren't willing to take my lord's advice and leave us be, I see no reason you should be allowed to keep his money. I'd recommend returning it."

[NeoSeraphi]

The bandit frowns. "(Common) Hmmm...well, I guess that's the risk that comes with being greedy. Fine." He tosses a sack of gold coins to her. They pick up their man and run away.

Castiana stares at the bag with disbelief. There must be at least two thousand coins in here...he gave up all that to try and protect her? ...She better make sure not to wear herself out again. She should be the one keeping watch, not him.

[Diachronos]

Castiana kneels beside Sol and places her hand over his head injury, channeling Bahamut's grace to heal him. I guess Shyvana and King Austere were right to question whether I was right for this...

Spoiler: Healing

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(1d6+1)[5]

[NeoSeraphi]

Sol sits up and looks at her. "O-oh...I'm sorry, Castiana. I guess I didn't manage to protect you."

[Diachronos]

"No, I'm the one who failed. I'm supposed to be protecting you, not the other way around."

[NeoSeraphi]

Sol shakes his head. "I...I am not useless, you know! ...Or at least, I thought I wasn't. I thought that I could perhaps handle a few thugs on my own. I'm a grown man, after all. But I guess I was wrong."

He seems downtrodden by the whole thing.

[Diachronos]

Castiana places a hand on his shoulder. "As much as I hate to admit it, Your Highness, there are some, like those thugs, who don't listen to any kind of diplomacy that isn't being made without a blade to someone's throat. They're not the sort that a prince should have to make deals with."

[NeoSeraphi]

Sol sighs and yawns. "Well, I believe I best take my turn resting now. Good night, scaletori." He rolls over and closes his eyes.

[Diachronos]

Castiana returns to her seated position beside him, keeping an eye out for any other signs of trouble. Hopefully those thugs wouldn't end up returning with a larger group...

[NeoSeraphi]

Castiana isn't waiting long before she hears a low growl. A pair of emaciated wolves walk towards her. They can clearly smell some of her rations in her bag.

[Diachronos]

Castiana frowns and gets out a pack of dried meat from her bag, tossing it to the wolves. One less day's worth of food in case things went bad, but she'd rather conserve her strength for a fight that can't be avoided.

[NeoSeraphi]

The male wolf keeps an eye on Castiana while the female wolf hungrily devours the entire packet. Once she's done, the two of them walk off.

Sacrifice for your partner, hm?

Castiana thinks perhaps she should say a prayer to Bahamut before her mission.

[Diachronos]

Castiana closes her eyes and grips the hilt of her sword. Great Bahamut, I've no right to ask this of you in light of my previous failure, but... please grant my your guidance on this mission, that I may bring Prince Sol home safely to his family and his people.

[NeoSeraphi]

Castiana feels a great purpose and strength rise in her. She senses that she must not doubt herself.

Sol wakes up a bit later. As the two of them walk, Castiana realizes with embarrassment that she did not return her prince's money to him yet.

[Diachronos]

Castiana pulls out the bag of gold and hands it to him. "I apologize, Your Highness, I completely forgot. Here is what those thugs took from you."

[NeoSeraphi]

Sol looks surprised. He shakes his head. "You retrieved it from them. Keep it for yourself."

Castiana has obtained 2000 gp.

[Diachronos]

The tiefling blinks. "Are you sure, Your Highness?"

[NeoSeraphi]

Sol nods. "It is fine. You spent some funds on travel preparations for the both of us, right? So consider this your reimbursement."

The two of them enter the forest. Sol looks around in confusion. "Um...it's pretty big in here. What are we supposed to do, just walk around aimlessly until we bump into the unknown party?"

[Diachronos]

"That seems to be the best option, short of calling out to them and drawing all kinds of attention to ourselves."

[NeoSeraphi]

Sol sighs. "You don't have any way of tracking these people, or any idea of how we might scout ahead or cover more ground? What if we miss them entirely and they just head into Aurelius territory?"

[Diachronos]

Castiana blinks. How had she failed to think ahead about that sort of thing? "Well... I'm at a loss for what to do, then. I can't leave your side to scout ahead or cover more ground."

[NeoSeraphi]

Sol crosses his arms and concentrates. "Um...well, I guess there's no helping it then. So, which way should we go then?"

They can head towards the western end of the forest, the eastern end, or keep heading north.

[Diachronos]

"It might be better to start from one end and move toward the other." She starts heading to the east.

[NeoSeraphi]

Sol follows behind her.

They walk in silence for a moment before Castiana hears a surprised "eek!" behind her.

She turns around to see Sol being harassed by a flying woman.

Spoiler

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"What are you even doing here? Get out of my forest! This is neutral territory, you know! Dragons like you aren't welcome here!" she says, brandishing her sword at him.

[Diachronos]

Castiana puts herself between Sol and the tiny woman. "Please, we mean no harm. We are investigating a sighting of strange individuals moving through the forest, and merely wish to confirm whether they mean any ill will toward our kingdom."

[NeoSeraphi]

"Huh? Oh, a tiefling. That's a rare sight in these woods."

She flits over to Castiana curiously. "Sorry, but you know, being sandwiched between two dragon nations really isn't easy for a small forest of fey. I can't just look the other way here, that would be a sign of weakness."

[Diachronos]

Castiana frowns. "Surely there must be something we could do to prove that we aren't intending to act against the denizens of the forest, isn't there?"

[NeoSeraphi]

"It's not about whether you're here to do anything bad to the forest citizens. It's about you being here. Period. You and the half-breed are trespassing."

[Diachronos]

She narrows her eyes. "This 'half-breed', as you call him, is the prince of Aurelius."