No one knows for sure when the warden as we know him came to be. We can’t even say for sure if it started the blizzard over Soversey or if it moved there because of it. All we know is that the warden made it’s nest in the frost keep, and that it comes down the mountains a few times a year to raid some of the smaller villages and feed it's brood. It avoids larger cities with their better defenses, and instead focused on the more isolated villages scattered around the woods of Flolon. The only time they’re truly safe is during the brief summer months when the snow melts and it’s too warm for the warden to use it’s powers consistently.

  Back when it first started prowling the lands a hunting party was formed from some of the strongest and bravest warriors Flolon had to offer. They rallied together to brave the storm and march on the frost keep. None of them ever returned from that mission. Every few generations a party comes along that thinks they can defeat it, and every few generations a handful of people die needlessly.

  Instead of trying to remove the problem the people of the land started to find ways to fortify against it, and kill it’s spawn before they get too powerful and keep their numbers down. They built shelters of enchanted stone, that could become monuments of heat at a moments notice. It takes a powerful amount of magic to maintain, and so it can’t be used for long or too frequently since they just didn’t have the mana.

  While the warden’s hunting call could be heard for miles, they made an emergency bell to alert villagers to seek shelter. They had rung it too long this morning, the warden destroyed the source of the noise when he arrived in Saburn in the early hours. The enchanted buildings had proved effective so far, but they knew they wouldn’t hold forever. The warden had already grown accustomed to the heat thanks to it’s strange shield, sooner or later it would figure out the points it needed to break to get inside. It had already found the imperfections in one of the first shelters they had built, resulting in the destruction of a northern town called Chilside.

  Their only advantage so far was that the warden had the same intelligence as any other beast and could be out smarted. Along with one other thing. While it didn’t burn up like it’s children did anymore, it still held onto it’s primal fear of fire. The spawn have a potent venom that could freeze a person in about an hour, but the venom reacted faster in people who have magic as if they were feeding off it. The stronger a person’s magic, the faster they froze.

  Here in Saburn they found a way to make an antidote out of the bodies of the fallen glaceade centipedes, which they supplied to the surrounding villages. They actually weren’t sure if the warden himself was venomous anymore. No one who had ever been bitten by it had survived, but for other obvious reasons.

  We can’t tell you anything about the ice keep it dwells in unfortunately. None of us have ever been there, and there aren’t any stories about it from the others who’ve tried to kill the warden. Since the city became the ice keep, no traveler has gone in and come back out alive. To be fair they don't come back dead either, they simply don’t come back at all. So the only real advice we can give you is do not go there, it would be a fools errand to try to fight it in its own nest.

  “I think it’s suicidal to try to fight it at all, but it seems like ya’ll have made up your minds.” Meridia leaned forward on her arms as she finished. Chiru was sitting behind her, fretting with her hair. The two of them had told the story of the warden together, filling in for the other if one forgot a specific fact that could help with. It was very helpful, but the crew still had questions.

  “Why has the king never tried to stop it?” Aka asked. The magic of the town hall had long since shut off, and while it was growing cold it wasn’t unbearable yet.

  Chiru shook her head sadly. “While not every party we told you about went after it on the king's orders, some of them were. Many kings have tried and failed, and at some point there was a bounty for it. Eventually the current king had to put a stop to that as well, as it was only encouraging travelers to head to their deaths in hope of a huge reward. After the bounty was removed a number of the village chiefs went to the capital to petition him to send in an army, but he wasn't going to risk his forces for the sake of a few small villages. Not that I am aware of it's full history, but as far as I know your crew is the first to actually injure the beast."

  Aka made a displeased clicking noise with their tongue and leaned back. Willow raised a timid hand next, and asked, “Well, you keep saying we shouldn't fight it in it's nest but is there somewhere else we can fight it? Have you ever tried to lure it into a trap or something before?”

  “Personally no, I’d rather keep the thing as far away from me as possible. But that doesn’t mean it can’t be done,” Meridia frowned.

  “A few years back it destroyed the shelter in Chilside and killed a number of people. The survivors abandoned the town and it’s been like that ever since, but they left the enchanted marble intact. I can show you all how to activate it and you could probably use that to your advantage. It won’t cover you from the warden, but it’ll keep you warm and repel the glacedea.” added Chiru, then she snapped her fingers. “Oh! And you won’t have to worry about anyone getting in your way, since no one lives there anymore!”

  “It sounds like our best option yet, where is it?” Keizeron asked her.

  “It’s pretty far north, a few days from here on land, but im sure it’ll be faster on your ship.” Meridia shrugged.

  Sola leaned over to his captain. “We’ll have to pass by the capital anyway,” he pointed out. “And it’s not like it’ll be any further than the ice keep was going to be.”

  “You’re really doing this,” Meridia breathed, rocking back in her chair. “How would you even lure it there? Even though it’s hunting was interrupted this time it might not come back out until it heals, and even then it wouldn’t chose an abandoned city with no prey.”

  “Oh, I’m not concerned about that. We have something it needs.” Keiz managed a wry smile.

  “Still not going to tell us your secrets captain?” Meridia rolled her eyes.

  “Is it the reason the warden chased you? Meridia mentioned that it noticed you as soon as it saw you. I’ve never seen it target someone before.” Chiru added hopefully. “It’s promising, how can we help you?”

  Meridia almost fell out of her chair she swiveled to look at Chiru so quickly. “We haven’t agreed to-”

  “We need heat touched equipment,” Mea chipped in immediately, taking advantage of Chiru’s generosity. She was not going to freeze her ass off chasing this stupid monster through the snow any longer than she needed to.

  “And any of that antidote you can spare?” Sola added.

  “We are not a charity!” Meridia interjected loudly.

  “But we could be survivors chief,” Chiru responded, standing up. “Besides, I made the potions so I decide what happens to them.”

  The two women faced each other for a long moment while the crew of the Fortunes Favor watched awkwardly.

  (( “Do you even need us at this point?” Blair asked as Caine argued with himself.

  “If any of you have suggestions feel free to cut in,” Caine replied with exasperation, holding his hands out.))

  “If I may,” Aka raised a hand to interject. “We can pay you a fair amount for the equipment, if you can consider us killing the warden as a partial payment.”

  This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

  “We have money?” Zero asked while Meridia considered the offer.

  Finally the orchish woman sighed. She stood up, stretching her arms out. It had been a long day for her, between the raid and then dealing with this strange group of travelers. “Alright, I’ll see what I have that I can spare right now, and we can decide on a price. How many pieces do ya’ll need?”

  “I do not need one to function,” Zero piped up.

  “So five?” Meridia confirmed. Keizeron nodded and she shrugged. “I should have at least that many, though I don’t really recall what we have. Do you need a room for the night?”

  “No, We should get back to the ship. We’ve left it unmanned all day.” Keizeron replied curtly.

  ((“We’re not doing a good job of getting these people to like us,” Zenith observed.

  “We killed a bunch of monsters attacking their village, what do you mean we have to be likable too?” Winter replied. “At least I rolled high enough on persuasion to get us those enchanted items.”))

  Keizeron looked around at his crew. Each of them looked exhausted, with the weight of what happened to them wearing on their expressions. Sola still looked pale from being poisoned, Aka was itching at the bandages on their leg, Willow looked disappointing they weren’t getting a room at an inn, Mea was starting to fall asleep on Zero’s shoulder. It couldn’t be helped, Duchess had been guarding the ship by herself all day while they worked with the townsfolk and got information. While Duchess wouldn’t be fending off any attackers, she could alert Keiz immediately if any trouble arose. Keiz could tell she was safe in this dock, because the cerade kept sending him images of ice and snow, and all the hot coco she wanted to drink for a job well done. She deserved a nice rest for her work today as well.

  While Aka, Keizeron, and chief Meridia got ready to look at the heat touched gear the village had to spare the rest of the crew prepared to head back to the ship. Saburn didn’t really specialize in heat equipment for newcomers, they were tiny and far enough inland that people who got here had already acquired the necessary gear. That meant that most of the gear they had on hand was for the villagers who already lived there, leaving the variety on hand to be quite small.

  Meridia dug through a chest in the back of a very messy office. It was fairly dark, with only a signal solar lantern lightening the room. It was clear the office was more for show than actual function, most of the items on the shelves and desk were covered in a thin layer of dust. Yet Meridia moved around it just fine, pulling out a few items from the chest and chucking them to Keizeron.

  She handed over a few rings, which in Keizeron’s experience were effective but expensive since they were so highly sought after. Enchanted rings were good in theory, they looked nice and people liked them, but having too many on at the same time without figuring out which enchantments reacted badly to each other could result in lost digits, or worse, magical over saturation. Using too much magic at once through a new magical item could result in a person getting sick. It affected people in different ways, but the condition was always unpleasant and could even damage a person’s ability to use magic. Keiz had had it once in the academy, when he was practicing with a new spell book. He had been bedridden for a week, since the over saturation prevented healing spells from working on him.

  Eventually Meridia laid out a number of suitable items for them to look through. Along with the rings there were a few other accessories, like a hair clip, a necklace and an ear cuff. The only things she had that weren’t jewelry were a few hats, a pair of boots, a belt and an ornate looking dagger. The dagger immediately caught Aka’s attention, and they struggled to rationalize taking it when they few blades they used were exclusively for throwing.

  ((“Actually, it might not be a bad thing to have a last resort weapon.” Winter said aloud, even though the struggle they had been facing about the enchanted weapon up until this point had been an internal one. “Aka is a ranged fighter, but other than their horns they don’t really have an option if someone gets too close.”

  “Horns? Aka has horns?” Lucky repeated in alarm.

  “Have you not seen any of the art done for the podcast?" Blair scoffed. They would know, they'd drawn most of it.

  "I know we say lamb a lot because Aka is the youngest of the crew, but they are a full adult ram. Just, a short one. I have a racial trait that allows me to headbutt someone for piercing damage, but no one has gotten close enough for me to need it yet.” Winter had been dying to use her horns, but it just didn’t make sense for her ranged fighter to be in melee with anyone. They also hadn’t fought any humanoids yet unless you counted the brief moment when Lycus attacked them at the temple.

  “I cannot WAIT until Aka gets pissed enough to ram someone, it’s going to be great,” Ren grinned.))

  After a few minutes of deliberation, Aka and Keiz settled on five of the items they were presented with. Aka took the dagger for themselves, a hat pin for Keizeron, the hair clip for Willow, one of the rings for Mea, and the belt for Sola. Then came the price.

  All together the five items were worth a few hundred gold, but Aka managed to talk Meridia down to a hundred and fifty gold, given they had helped out that morning and were going to get rid of the warden for good. They seemed so confident even Keizeron believed they had a fool proof plan, despite knowing they didn’t have anything solid yet.

  “We do not have that much,” Keizeron whispered to Aka as the chief got the items ready. He had been sitting in silence as Aka negotiated, listening as the price went from completely unaffordable to only just barely unaffordable. They had already spent most of their shared ship funds on food and other necessary items.

  “I do,” Aka informed him simply, catching him off guard.

  “You do?”

  “Keizeron, my parents run the second most successful map making company in Regililis, do you think they would send me off with nothing? I’ll buy this with my personal funds and you can just pay me back when we kill the warden and get the next piece of the rod. That was the deal right? Our sponsor will pay for each completed mission?”

  Keizeron frowned. That was how it worked, to a degree. They had weekly wages on top of that, so it wasn’t like they had to hold over until they finished a job to get paid. But Keizeron didn’t like the idea of forcing his navigator to buy their supplies even if they were one the offering. That, and he didn’t want to be indebted to them.

  Unfortunately he didn’t have a better option. It was abundantly clear they needed the equipment and he wasn’t going to get a better price for them. What he wasn’t expecting was Aka to pull out a piece of paper from their bag and draft a document for him to sign promising he would pay them back.

  “Is this necessary?” Keizeron sighed. “Do you think I wouldn’t pay you back?”

  “Of course I trust you captain. This is just for my records,” Aka handed over a quill and ink as they assured him.

  Keizeron still read through the entire document before signing and handing it back. He didn’t think Aka would try to deceive him, but he had learned his lesson when he was younger. Not all of his school mates were so straight forward. It was almost refreshing to have a crew mate so thorough that they brought their work with them despite the hassle it must have been. At least the document was simple, just stating that the Fortune's Favor as a entity owed Aka back for the funds used. No time limit, no interest, just the navigator covering their back.

  The pair rejoined the crew at the docks, and handed out the new equipment they gathered. Mea sighed with relief when she put on her new ring. The heat it gave off was warming without being overbearing. The red gem it had clashed with her blue complexion, but it was a small price to pay if it kept her from freezing solid. She felt mittens shift in her hat at the sudden warmth, and wondered briefly if they could use the ring to help with their thermoregulation training.

  As she held out the pretty piece of jewelry to look at it on her hand she realized Aka had put it on her ring finger and she grinned slyly. Once Aka had handed out the last of the gear Mea sidled up next to them, holding her hand out. “What are we?”

  “What do you mean?” Aka looked confused, taking a very small step back.

  “You know giving a ring in our culture is a sign of a relationship,” Mea responded with a giggle. She wiggled her eyebrows at Aka while the younger crew mate clearly struggled to even grasp what she was talking about.

  “What? No, I-” Aka looked flushed, their face turning a bright red.

  “I picked out the ring for you,” Keizeron said calmly as he made his was up the plank and onto the boat.

  “Ah,” Mea sighed, crossing her arms as Aka took the chance to escape the situation. Willow and Zero followed, leaving Mea alone on the docks with Sola.

  “You sure gave up on that quickly,” Sola observed. He had put on the belt, but had a sash he wore around his waist anyway. He simply put the new equipment on, and tucked it under the sash.

  “It’s no fun to flirt with the captain, I’ll just get in trouble again,” Mea sulked. “But Aka get’s all flustered when I tease them, it’s way funnier.”

  From up on the deck they heard Aka huff with annoyance, and then the door to the lower deck slam shut. Whoops, Mea had thought they were out of ear shot already.

  “Maybe don’t flirt with them if they don’t like it?” Sola sighed. He knew that Mea didn’t mean much by her flirting, it was just who she was, but Aka clearly didn’t see it that way. He had seen crews fight over such miscommunications before, and didn’t want this crew to argue over something so petty.

  Mea frowned, twisting the ring on her hand as she spoke. “I’m just trying to help, they’re just so formal and stiff all the time. I don’t think I’ve ever seen them relax. Or smile.”

  “I’ve seen them smile,” Sola replied, almost a little smugly. Then regretted it as soon as Mea’s eyes lit up.

  “Oh?! Is that what this is? Are you jealous?” Mea immediately turned to teasing Sola, patting his shoulder affectionately. Sola rolled his eyes at her, but to her surprise he didn’t say no. “Wait, seriously? I thought you were straight?”

  “Aka’s not a guy, I would argue that-” He paused, not wanting to say something she could use to tease him later. He didn't necessarily think it was a bad thing he thought Aka was cute when they smiled, but he didn't feel like she needed to know that. “You know what? I don’t need to tell you anything, because it’s none of your business."

  “You’re no fun!” Mea pouted, but dropped the subject and followed him onto the ship.

  ((“She has dropped nothing, I ship it!” Ren declared to the table after the session ended.

  “Annie Mea is going to cause so much drama,” Zenith sighed. He spared a glance at his partner, but Caine didn’t say anything to stop either of them.

  The dm hid a smile behind folded hands while Ren, Lucky, and Blair laughed and tried to come up with ship names. On the other side of the table Zenith and Winter tried to look serious about it, before joining in on the fun. Caine loved seeing how the characters interacted and let their relationships grow. Despite having never played dnd before, Ren seemed to be a natural, and knew how to get the others to want to interact with each other. If only Caine could figure out how to get Lucky to role play more, as they were the one who got the least amount of screen time. Air time? Podcast time. Regardless, Caine had a plan for her, that he hoped they could get to soon.

  “No, we can’t call the ship Sokka, that’s already something.” Zenith shouted suddenly, and Caine looked up.

  “Well you both have short names, we don’t have a lot of options.” Lucky pointed out.

  “You’d think coming from the homestuck fandom I’d be better at this,” Blair rubbed their temple. “I used to come up with wild ship names all the time.”

  “Well I guess we’re just going to have to let the characters develop more,” Caine suggested, clapping their hands together. They started to pack up their supplies while the rest of the players did the same, and Zenith stopped the recording. They loved how the story was going, but they had only just started. There was still so much to do.))

  Deciding that the docks of Saburn were safe enough, Keizeron sent the crew to sleep without needing someone to stay up on guard. They needed it, even Keiz had burned through his mana reserves after being kicked by the warden. He slept soundly, uninterrupted by dreams with Duchess curled protectively on his chest.