“Well, somebody had fun last night!”

Siora’s laughing voice met me as I stepped into the common room, the next morning. The paladins blushed deeply and hurried out the door, groggily supporting each other as they dealt with the consequences of too much wine. Of course, they’d probably be longer than the course of a morning trying to sort out the emotional hangover of a brother waking up still buried in his sister, but that wasn’t my problem. I’d had my fun, and gotten some useful information during some pillow talk between rounds.

With them gone, I turned to find the source of the teasing comment, and found it easily. The other three members of my party were all together already, eating their morning meal at the same table we were at yesterday. Catching the barkeep’s eye wasn’t difficult, as there were all of two other people in the common room at the moment, so I signaled for my meal and some water, and headed over to the table.

Siora looked fit to burst with questions, but she held them until I was seated. Then the dam burst, and they came rolling out in the excited whispers of someone who knew that they had just gotten their hands on some juicy gossip. “So, who were they? And more importantly, how were they?”

I chuckled as I saw Vestele also watching the conversation with interest, while Fartooth did not seem to care. “Well, their names were Balde and Gery, and they are brother and sister.” I paused to allow the twins to titter a bit, and then continued, “They are paladins of Red Knight, but one of my baubles, a bit of smooth talking, and some wine loosened their lips, along with their armor straps.”

Fartooth nodded then. “So, you were not just playing around, then? Good. The sooner we can be away from this human place, the better.”

Siora sniffed, and played like she was wiping a tear from her eye. “They grow up so fast. When we last met, you were just a cute little girl, and now, here you are, seducing sibling paladins into your bed to use your talents to get information from them. I’m so happy!”

Vestele swatted her sister playfully on the shoulder. “Sister, we’re both happy that Mel has grown up, but perhaps we should listen to what she found out, and then go over what we all discovered while we were apart?”

I winked at Vestele, as the server came up with a plate holding some cooked eggs and bacon, along with some bread, and a mug of water. Not the most exciting breakfast in the world, but there were plenty of people who didn’t even get that much. As the server moved out of earshot, I looked at them, and continued.

“Well, the followers of Red Knight believe that the two siblings that are rivalling are the sons of the King of Adarra. The king is old, apparently, and no clear succession exists. So, when he dies, there’s likely to be civil war. Not exactly uncommon for brothers to squabble over the throne. If it didn’t match a prophecy, then I doubt anyone outside the country would pay much attention to it.

“While we were resting between rounds,” I paused at Siora’s delighted squeal about there being multiple rounds, and then went on, “the brother mentioned that there was trouble forming to the south, and east, in the land of Therda across the see. Someone has declared war on the magisters, and it is throwing the entire region into chaos.”

Vestele snorted at that. “The Magocracy of Therda are all a bunch of racist, classist assholes. The only reason no one’s blown them up is because the only thing that distracts them from their internal backstabbing politics is when another back offers itself up for stabbing by trying to attack one of their own. Besides, none of us are pure human. They’d try to enslave all four of us on sight.”

“True enough. But this threat is apparently much more than someone just stirring up trouble. According to the rumors, someone decided to open a portal to the celestial planes. As in, a permanent portal. And the armies of ‘goodness’ started pouring out. In the middle of Therda’s slave pens.”

The priestess winced at that. “Oh, goddess, that was a stupid move. What were they thinking, that they could just yank celestials from the higher planes and lock them in chains at will? And that the celestials wouldn’t find some way to strike back? Or was this part of some kind of revolt?”

“No one knows.”

Vestele sighed. “Well, that is probably worth our time, at least. Even if we don’t do anything to help those idiots, leaving a permanent portal to the higher planes in the material plane would eventually end up being bad news for us. Those types tend to smite first, smite second, smite a couple more times for good measure, and then maybe get around to asking questions, if they can think of anything beyond their ‘goodness and light’ idiocy.”

I chuckled. “Though you can reason with some of them, one on one. Remember that time in the crypt beneath the temple?”

“Ha! You got me there. You did manage to talk our way out of that fight, which is good. We still barely made it through the final battle.”

Siora leaned forward. “Well, that leads into some interesting news I heard, while I was searching the city’s underbelly for interesting tidbits. It seems that the lord of Breledo has been very busy, lately. Several shipments have come from Therda recently, all for the lord.”

I raised an eyebrow, interested. “What kind of shipments? The Therdans are not exactly known for exporting goods, and any they do put out into the world are not things a city lord would often wish to own, unless they were being very naughty indeed.”

Siora shrugged. “That, people aren’t really as clear on. Some people are saying artifacts, or records that the magisters want to keep out of ‘holy’ hands, or even slaves. One rumor even said that the city lord was helping smuggle people out of Therda before the angels could kill them all.”

Fartooth nodded. “The shipments are real. The men down at the docks have been talking about it quite a bit. Regular as clockwork, twice a month. Always gets unloaded after dark, when the docks are empty. And a ship from Therda is expected to dock today.”

Siora blinked at that. “So, how reliable is that information? Not the rest, but that the ship will be docking today?”

“One of the dockworkers got word from their lover on the ship by a sending stone. They’ve been communicating like that whenever his ship is coming into port. So, unless something comes up, the ship should be coming in after the midday meal.”

I nodded slowly. “Hmm. If we’re looking for trouble, then stopping by to ‘inspect’ the shipment may allow us to find out what is happening, both here, and in Therda.”

Vestele sighed. “Then, if we’re headed towards Therda, I did find some interesting news. Therdans apparently attacked the naval base in Mythgrave, in Bliydan. They raided the yards, and stole several of the kingdom’s airships. Coincidentally, this happened just after a portal was detected opening in Therda.”

Fartooth chuckled. “Interesting. They got invaded by angels, and decided to steal some flying warships to fight against them? Nice, but what does that have to do with us?”

Vestele grinned at the kobold. “Well, if we found ourselves in Therda, and happened to come across a flying warship, what is to stop us from just… taking it? After all, who would the Therdans complain to? Bliydan?”

We all got a good laugh at the thought of the Magocracy complaining to the people they stole ships from about the ships going missing. Wiping my eye, I said, “So, we go down to the docks tonight, and see whether there is anything interesting in this shipment. If there is, we break things up, decide whether we are breaking the lord, and then head over to Therda. Sounds like fun.”

Siora looked at Fartooth. “What kind of defenses will be in place around the docks?”

“Around the docks themselves? Nothing to speak of. It is a fairly standard human port. It is designed to be easily accessible, and moving goods through quickly. The problem will be around the meet itself.”

The kobold leaned forward. “The dock workers do know that there are foreign-looking guards from the lord’s castle that come down to guard the meet. And the dock worker with a lover says that there’s always more security on the ship. He saw a few of them, one time when he went to meet his ‘friend’. Those guards were all openly wearing Thedran military uniforms, but his lover was under a magical compulsion not to speak of it.”

Siora nodded. “So, unknown number of enemies, unknown abilities, but probably military training, and military equipment. That won’t be easy, if they are anywhere near strong enough to be a threat to us. Granted, there aren’t many people who can be a threat to the four of us together (five, if we include Ebonheart), but we need to prepare like they’ll be elites.”

I raised an eyebrow. “If an army of angels is invading their country, won’t all the elites be off, trying to close the breach? Or even just stem the tide? Why would they be here?”

Vestele shook her head. “Most, if not all, of the publicly acknowledged elites will be there, sure. But the high-ranking magisters are all rumored to have high-level slaves for personal protection, and other ‘assets’ that they use for their dirty work. Those won’t be going to the front lines until the front lines come for their masters.”

I sighed. “Those kinds of leaders are scum. Politics is the bane of all existence, in this world or the next. I hope that I never have to deal with those kinds of backstabbers. The games and all of that. Give me a nice, simple fight where I can just blast a hole in whoever is giving me trouble over that, any day.”

Siora giggled. “And what about you, then? I heard a rumor that an ‘Ice Queen’ was uniting the monster tribes in the north, building them into an army. And yet you’re here, with us?”

“Heh. I am no queen. The tribes follow me because I’ve proven my strength to them, time and again. And I’ve brought Auril’s blessings to them, while warding off her ire, which is important when one lives on the glacier. I may have set them against the little towns and villages, so that they can get some experience, and blood the newest troops, but I hope to be back before any of the major battles come, when we take on some of the true rulers of the glacier, and carve out a land for ourselves.”

Fartooth barked a laugh. “You are uniting all the tribes? Monsters too?”

“Well, not just monsters, but most of the army would be goblins and orks, with a few trolls mixed in, and an elite core of Frostfolk. I have the general who would have always been leading my troops in the field in command. She has the temperament and training for strategy, which I lack.”

Vestele nodded. “And you don’t fear them trying to push you out? Or maybe take control of the force away from you on a more permanent basis?”

“That is as Icedawn wills it. Personally, ruling a country isn’t my desire. But my power was necessary to unite the tribes. So long as there is something for them to follow, the tribes will likely stay united, for the most part. They’ve tasted the strength that can come from a common cause. We’ll just have to see if it falls apart in the end.”

Siora grinned. “And on that note, I think we’ve decided on a plan of action. Now, I want ALL the details about last night, ‘Lady’ Rimedancer! Everything!”