It was another beautiful spring afternoon in Kado village. The sun's warm rays were tempered by a crisp, cool breeze from the north, and the wildlife in the woods was as plentiful as ever, if not more so this year. The sound of songbirds resonated with the cacophony of laughing children, and it seemed as though this assorted cluster of random travelers would finally be granted the peaceful bastion that they wanted. However, they were all blissfully unaware of the forces that were currently vying for their destiny...
As usual, Garoth found the Guardian Headquarters as peaceful as any other place in this village. A pair of people who had sworn to protect this place were currently matching wits with one another in a game of chess, on a board that Garoth himself had made for them. It seemed as though this was a heated match, as the two combatants had acquired a few onlookers each. And, judging by the jug of Kelrod's Famous Apple Cider sitting in the middle of the table, there were some pretty high stakes involved. It would be a shame to interrupt such a tense game; Garoth's report was important, but it was not urgent. Garoth was not much of a chess player, but he could see the tide was turning by the slight fluctuations in the players' expressions. Kelrod, though he was putting on a tough face, could not hide the beads of sweat developing on his brow, while Mia's aloof expression revealed nothing of her shrewdness, but said quite clearly that she was not the least bit worried about losing. It wouldn't be much longer now.
"Checkmate!" Mia declared as her queen vanquished Kelrod's last knight, leaving the king with nothing else to protect it from her masterfully crafted offense. Kelrod threw his head back and let out a groan of defeat, while Mia grabbed the jug and took a victory swig of cider. "Hey, don't feel too bad. I'm sure you'll beat me one of these days. Until then, keep that cider flowing!" Then, with a wave and a laugh she was off, leaving the vanquished warrior to lick his wounds.
This seemed like the perfect time to give his report, but first there was something that was bothering Garoth. He walked over to Kelrod and gave him a consoling pat on the back, but couldn't help rubbing a bit of salt in the wound when he asked, "So, what did she bet anyway?"
"What does it matter," Kelrod said dejectedly. "I didn't win it."
That just fueled Garoth's curiosity even further, but he could tell that the direct approach wouldn't work. So, instead, he said with a smirk, "I understand if you're not in the mood to talk about it. I'll just ask Mia and--"
"Now hold on!" Kelrod interrupted. "You know as well as I do how she likes to embellish her stories. She'll make it seem like I was desperate."
"Oh? Desperate for what?" Checkmate.
"Gah, fine. I bet her a jug of cider, and she bet me a date." Kelrod, couldn't help but blush a bit as he practically whispered the last part. "But keep it quiet, okay? They all think she bet a few Service Slips."
"Don't worry," Garoth said reassuringly. "I'll tell anyone who asks." Kelrod was about to object, but before her could, Garoth called for everyone's attention. "Alright, I found something weird this morning, so I think it's important if everyone present listened." Fortunately, the chess match had drawn a decent portion of the Guardians into the room, so the news would spread quickly. Furthermore, Garoth rarely made such announcements, so when he spoke, people listened. As soon as he had their attention he continued. "I was out doing a patrol this morning, and I found several trees knock over. I'm not sure what caused it, but seeing as there were no major storm, I don't think it was natural. There was a deep groove in the dirt like something had slithered through, but it was too big to be any snake that I am aware of. Finally, I found this..." He reached into his pocked and pulled out a flat black stone that seemed to be shaped like a scale of some kind. "This was stuck in one of the fallen trees. I don't want to alarm the villagers, but I feel it's best if we urge the other villagers to stay close until we figure out exactly what caused this."
The room became filled with silence, as if everybody was waiting for some answer that wasn't there. They had dealt with bears and rogue wolves before, but this was something on a whole other level, something... terrifying. Garoth nodded in conclusion, and the others went about informing the villagers of the news, but Garoth still wished he hadn't had to kill the mood.