"I thought it was another half a day before we reached the village?" asked Roxie.
"That was the information we were told, did we unintentionally take a shortcut or is this Constance fellow just full of useless information?" "I trust him about as far as I can throw him." scoffed Krysis.
"The important thing is we're here." replied Felix. "Dabi you go scout ahead." "Dabi, Dabi, Dabi? DABI?" Felix looks around "Where the hell did Dabi run off too?"
Zander points ahead towards Dabi already in the village, sneaking around. "There he is," said Zander.
Felix looked over and found Dabi with his eyes, Dabi had a knife out and was moments away from silently taking out a villager when his eyes met Felix's and Felix gave him a signal to stop. Felix mouthed the words "We're not here to kill" Dabi reluctantly put his knife away and vanished back into the shadows.
A few uneasy moments passed without sight or sound from Dabi when he suddenly reappeared within the party. "The staff and chieftain are currently in the center of the village, there's four, maybe five able bodied men capable of defending the village and chieftain. This doesn't feel like the home base of an evil tyrant."
"Something's off about this whole job." Felix said "I don't like it, I'm gonna go talk to this tyrant myself."
Felix got up to walk into the village and the rest followed. He announced his presence to the village. "Hello Druids, my name is Felix, what a nice place yall have here."
A few friendly villagers smiled and waved at him welcoming him and the party into the center of the village. "Hello travelers." a maiden proclaimed "My name is Esmerelda, what brings y'all so far into the forest?"
"We've heard rumors of a tyrant hiding in this forest, terrorizing nearby villages. Does anybody have any information on this individual?" Felix asked.
"We know nothing about any tyrant in this area, can you tell us what things you've heard?" Esmerelda responded.
"Well let's see, the rumor goes, a village chieftain, in these woods, has found a powerful staff, and is using its power to force all the druids in the area to work under him for fear of death. That's about that gist of it." Felix stated.
"Our village chieftain does possess a staff with powers, but he did not find it. That staff has been passed down from one chieftain to another for 1600 years, and it holds no destructive power. Its abilities are limited to minor healing and making dirt fertile for farming. I'm afraid your information has led you to the wrong village." proclaimed Esmerelda.
Just then a large man emerged from a hut, he stood tall comparable to Zander in stature. Grey skin with snow white hair, he had an aura about him as calm as a flowing stream, in his right hand stood the staff Constance described. "Hello travelers, you've caused quite the commotion in my village this morning, but I'd like to welcome y'all to stay for the day regardless. My name is Sessile, the chieftain of this village."
The entire party all looked at the staff then looked back at each other repeatedly back and forth till finally Felix spoke up. "It's good to meet you Sessile, I don't mean to be blunt, but we need that staff."
"And what business do you have with a village heirloom?" Sessile asked.
"This might just sound like greed to you, but we've been offered a lot of money to retrieve that staff, and whether the rumors of you being a tyrant are true or not doesn't change the fact that staff needs to come with us. Seeing as you and your people are of a gentle nature it appears two things are clear to me, one our employer is just some noble scum, and two we're not gonna have to risk our lives against a warlord." Felix explained.
"And what makes you so confident I'm going to just roll over and hand an artifact that's been in my village's possession for almost two millennia?" Sessile asked
"Because you're a benevolent man, and would never risk harm to the ones you protect." Felix stated.
"NO! You can't, Sessile don't do it, this is wrong!" Esmerelda shouted.
"It's ok Esmerelda, this land has become naturally fertile over time due to the staff's power, we don't need it during the planting season anymore, and haven't for nearly 300 years, let them have it. Naturae sees all and will not let her devout followers suffer, and Vitos judges all in the end." Sessile proclaimed.
"But wasn't the staff a gift from Naturae, won't she be angry?" Esmerelda asked.
"Vitos judges all." Sessile said as he smiled at Esmerelda.
"Thank you for being understanding." Felix replied.
"And a tad judgey." Dabi mumbled under his breath.
Felix approaches Sessile to retrieve the staff, he hesitantly wraps his hand around it and just as Sessile releases his grip he leans into Felix's ear and whispers ominously. "Vitos judges all, good or bad it's your intentions he sees."
As Felix returns to his party with the staff, Roxie runs over to Esmerelda and says. "Here, it's not much but with your fertile soil they should come in handy." She hands her a bag of Lupus plant seeds. "I was saving these for a special occasion I never planned out, but I think they would be more useful to y'all. They're Lupus seeds, probably 40-50 of them, take the petals from the plants they bloom, mix with fresh spring water and they'll produce a minor healing potion probably equivalent to what the staff could produce. A way of saying I'm sorry."
Esmerelda begins to tear up and says. "Thank you, that was very kind."
The party bids their farewells and begins their trek back to town, staff in hand. "Well that was easy." Krysis stated.
"Too easy?" Zander asked.
"I don't know Zander, sometimes Fortunis smiles on us." Felix replied.
"If Fortunis had anything to do with this, I wouldn't be here with you." Roxie sarcastically retorted.
"If Fortunis had a hand in any part of my life, I wouldn't be here at all." Dabi silently said to himself.