A Plan Is Formed And Enacted And Kind Of Changed The Plan Worked I Guess But It Turned Out Kind Of Weirdly Well Maybe Not But Just Read It And Judge For Yourself I'm Not The Boss Of You
Featuring Drell, Ephraim, Faye, Prim, Gryphon Gale, Myeloch and an overabundance of Barts
"Aaight, so, I got this plan - genius plan, just so's ya know - uh, and it's real big and it's basically the ultimate revenge plot. And I figured, like, hey, we could make it, like, a team building thing or something? Maybe? I dunno to be honest, we can do whatever- buuuut if you guys are super-cool enough to help, I was thinkin' we should give the Gryphon Galey Goolies a taste of their own medicine. And we're gonna go see 'em anyway, but I figured we should pick our time real shrewdly, make sure- aah basically what I'm sayin' is we should go and take a sneaky-peeky at them and jump in with the important stuff the second they start eating. But I mean... I'm big and heavy and loud, so I'm not really the, uh... reconissance specialist? Heh. But uh, yeah... what do you guys think? Wanna have a bit o' fun?"
Ephraim grinned as the Barts seemed to rile themselves up at the idea. "Sneaking up on them when they're most vulnerable, huh? Well, sure beats fixing someone's leaky pipe. I'm in-- and, I got just the sneaky boys to do the job."
The sun continued its downward arc toward the mountains as the people of Shessalie went about their day. Most of them, at least, as some chose to loiter outside the town's inn in the hopes of catching sight of members of the famed Gryphon Gale. Rumors buzzed about why they had come, but these spectators didn't actually care, only really wanting to meet celebrities. The innkeeper had already kicked out several for disturbing his guests. They still did their best to peek through the windows or sneak in through the back, to no avail. It appeared that the Gryphons were staying in a room on the newly built third floor of the inn, making it that much more difficult.
"Hey, psst... Eph... " whispered Ith'drell to her Valbestian partner in crime. Well, pseudo-crime. She yawned, slumped against a tree. "Just, uh... Just let me know when a good time to go in is, and I'll get to it, I think I'm just gonna, uh... nap or something."
Ephraim shrugged. "I'll let you know a little beforehand. Bart's got eyes everywhere, so it shouldn't be too long now."
The Barts had already quickly infiltrated the inn, and a few stayed behind to let him know when the others were done. Getting the group to settle in the previous night had him wishing that he'd slept in that morning; that said, sticking around was certainly worth sticking it to the innkeeper who denied him lodging the day before. The Barts already in the building had split off into several factions: one group had headed into the upper areas of the inn, nesting themselves in bedposts and perching themselves on walls; another set countless small, weak, tripwire-like threads in doorways and the dining area, and reinstating them whenever they were pushed away. All the Barts had already been instructed on who to look out for-- and what guild mark to look out for, in case of unexpected guests-- and so only left tripwires alone when those people had passed. Some groups stalked specific members of GG to ascertain their position, and a final set left to the kitchen to
raid keep an eye on the food before it was brought out and
harass remain aware of any other patrons of the inn.
It was odd, then, when the Barts returned to Ephraim confused about whether or not the investigation had been completed, seeming as if they
wanted to bite him into attention but also unsure as to whether or not their job had been done. Noting their confusion, Ephraim leaned in as they began to attempt to explain the situation using as little silk possible. They first dropped a brown thread onto the grass with two small lumps of white next to it, and then a singular Bart ran away from the brown thread and then left a small heap of black and blue thread underneath itself. Ephraim scratched his hair, and called some other Barts over.
"Seems like they're eating," Ephraim said as some Barts ran out of a drainage pipe with an estatically scavenged chicken wing, "but... I guess they're missing someone?"
"And what the hell are you two doing." Faye asked just below the tree as she had just walked by. She had her arms crossed and looked kind of not amused.
"Buh- oh, uh, hey- whuh?" Drell hesitated for a moment, half phased-out from dozing and half deliberating on who to address first. "Uh, hi Faye. We're waiting for our eight-legged recon to let good ol' Ephraim know when the Gryphon chumps are eating. Y'know, so we can crash in - as a form of super noble revenge. Man, have you seen some of the stuff this guy's lil' Barto boys can do? It's pretty, uh... gnarly? Imagine that gnarly is still a word that people use for a sec so I can describe it as gnarly. Ok? It's gnarly." Ephraim nodded.
It was at that moment that a small blue bird flittered down from the tree, landing amongst the Barts and sending them scattering-- much to Ephraim's immediate dismay. It hopped after the nearest one, prodding at it inquisitively with its beak, inadvertently interrupting what may have turned out to be an ethics lecture. The Bart (with the help of another) spun itself a small blanket in an instant and began to hide within it, trembling as the rest of the Barts in the area began to quickly group up from a distance and close in.
Ephraim groaned at the sight as he ran in to shoo away the bird. "No, no, don't do that! I know you might want to eat
them, but it wouldn't be the first time they'd eaten one of
you, either."
"You're going to do... what?" Faye asked as she climbed up the tree to get a view of what they are looking at. Faye was a pretty good climber so that wasn't too hard for her until... she saw one of Ephraim's spiders and nearly slipped. "Wait... they've eaten an entire bird?" Faye repeated what Ephraim had just said. Faye attempted to pick up the bird to keep it as far away as possible from the little spiders.
"At least twice. Probably more."
The bird turned to look at Ephraim, head tilted curiously to the side. Then, too quickly to really follow, morphed into Prim, sitting in a squat position by the spider with her head still cocked in the same position.
"Something tells me the've never tried their luck with one quite like me. Found out why they're scared of me by the way."
Faye backed off immediately. "Woa..." she said with a straight face.
"No kidding," Ephraim said as he plopped back onto his tush. "I mean, I don't doubt that they haven't tussled with somone like you, buuuut I'm not 100% sure what was in Bartholomew's diet before I found them. Either way," Ephraim continued, leaning in and quizically looking at Prim, "turning into a bird? That's a new one, but keep on doing that and you'll give my poor Barts a heart attack."
"Oh, it's fine," Prim said, waving her hand dismissively, "They just have to get used to me! I'm sure they can manage. So, what's the plan? Are we making mischief? I love mischief."
"Yoooo... did you see that?" Drell gaped. "Prim was a bird!"
"I did tell you," Prim giggled "Don't be so shocked."
"Saying '
I'm kind of a bird' and
literally being able to shapeshift into a bird are a couple degrees of separation from eachother, Primmo," the armoured lady grinned, sitting up.
"I never thought I would have to agree with Drell, but she's got a point here." Faye agreed with her face as stiff as always. "Anyway, what is happening here?" Faye turned her face towards the window of the Inn that the tree was close to and only saw a bunch of Griffon people eating. "And you want to disturb them while eating, Drell...?" Faye raised an eyebrow.
"
Hell yeah, you're right on the money, Faye," said Drell. "Though we got actual business with 'em, so it ain't just for rude-venge. There's just the rude-venge bonus."
"Okay, but what are we actually doing?" Prim asked.
Ith'drell reached into her helmet to rub the back of her head. "Uh... honestly didn't have much of a plan besides just going in there as soon as they were busy eating and trying to talk to them as busy-like as possible while they were still chewin'."
"Ephraim should flood them with spiders or something," Prim offered.
"I would, but--" Ephraim sighed-- "as much as I'd like to ruin the innkeeper's day, I don't know if we want to, uh,
tarnish the guild's reputation by having Phoenix Nest be 'the guild that infested the local inn in record time.' Although... the entrance
would be pretty cool..." Ephraim thought about it for a moment as he came around to the idea. "If we can keep the rest of the inn unaware of the fact that we're only flooding the dining area, I could do it."
"Where's the fun in caution?" Prim asked, starting to poke at a Bart with the tip of her finger.
Faye shrugged and sighed at the same time. "Just make it quick. Before they notice us anyway." Faye spoke as she was still sitting on a branch. Technically... She would be the first they would notice so Faye jumped down and landed almost perfectly, using her own magic to wrap her feet up until her knees with black magic to nullify the impact.
"Oh, uh- yeah, you're right," said Drell, lifting herself from the ground with a mighty heave. "Aaight folks, vengeance calls."
Prim giggled, rubbing her hands together with mischievous glee.
Ephraim found it hard to not begin to share Prim's enthusiasm and to disregard the possible issues with the guild's image. "Fine, fine," he said, feigning discontent in his tone but unable to hide a smile on his face, "we'll flood the inn." Through no shortage of hand movements and small nudges, he began to coordinate Bartholomew's movements into pipes and gutters towards the entrance of the inn's dining room, although it was difficult to do so and still maintain a level of secrecy at the same time. Ephraim looked back at the others with a slightly nervous grin. "Alright, I'd ask about who's making the momentous entrance first-- besides the Barts-- but I imagine Drell would like to leave an impression. Am I right?"
Drell shook her head and shrugged, "Huh? No, that's silly, why would I-? Last one to the inn's a dork!" And with that, she took off toward the inn at a very brisk walking pace.
"Now we're talking!" Prim laughed with glee as she trotted after Drell.
Drell and Prim entered the inn to a scene of rapidly escalating chaos. The entry hall filled with people fleeing from the adjacent dining room, screaming and shouting for help. The inn's counter was unmanned, the girl who normally stood behind it standing on top of it as her eyes darted about the place in fear of a hidden terror. Her father could be heard in the other room, likely attempting to deal with the source of the commotion. Amidst the cries of the entry hall refugees, he could be heard shouting something about a "goddamned Valbestian".
Huddled in the corner was another familiar figure, Simon of Gryphon Gale. He had yet to notice the Phoenix girls, what with his face buried in his knees. His companions must have stayed in the dining room despite everything.
"Lookin' good!" Prim said to Simon, grinning and giving a thumbs up.
"Aw jeez, the spiders," Drell murmured; this whole spider-flood plan had caused a little more commotion than she'd originally intended, and in her haste to get going she'd pretty much forgot it was actually happening. Were the Gryphon Gale members even still eating? Well... one of them, at least, wasn't. "Uhh... you...? Oof. Uh, you guys... ok?"
Simon poked his head up to see the source of the voices. He then sprung to his feet, abruptly shifting gears as he pointed at them with one of his keys. "I don't know how, but this is all you guys' fault, isn't it?" he accused, glaring menacingly. He might have looked threatening if not for the fact that he was a few feet shorter than Drell and still trembling from the incident. His other hand pulled a marble-sized lacrima from his pocket and held it near his face. "Get over here," he told it. "They finally came."
"All me? Dude, I wish I had spider control. It's- uh, what I mean, of course, is I do have spider control but didn't use it in this instance- seriously, dude, you ok? You look shaken up. Your guild buds in there?" Drell jabbed a thumb at the door to the dining room.
"Couldn't have been me," Prim said smugly "They try to avoid me for some reason."
"Hmph. I guess it doesn't really matter. We'll find out if you're lying during the fights, which'll be a good chance to pay you back in full," he threatened as he slowly backed his way up the nearby stairs. "You're lucky Egan isn't the type to hold a grudge over something like this, though facing him at all will be more than enough payback. He's in there with your master, and Harmonia should be there soon too."
"Master?" Ephraim said, as he strolled in with a bite of an apple. "Damn, if I had known he'd be there, I wouldn't have caused so much trouble. Can't imagine this'll go down well, since I haven't really uh, met the guy...." Ephraim sighed and whisked his right hand emphatically to catch the attention of some Barts. "Anyway, hi, spiders were all me. I'm sorry for the trouble, even if you had it coming." The Barts dropped a small scarf onto Simon before returning to the larger group. "Here. A consolation prize. For when we win."
Faye stood in the door opening, trying to avoid any spiders as much as possible. "We might've overdone it." she shrugged. "This was just payback for disturbing our dinner last night and for your rude little lady friend." Faye stroke the hair out of her face and glared at Simon. She probably shouldn't be provoking but ah what the hell. Faye was just glad Blanche wasn't here and also wasn't at the diner last night. She probably wouldn've found all of this barbaric.
"Eh, yeah this might be kinda just a li'l bit out of scope," Drell shrugged, worry creasing her features just for a moment. "But it should all be fine seeing as nobody really got hurt, right?" She paused for a second and blinked before continuing more quietly, "Uh... nobody got hurt, right?"
"I dunno," Prim said "Is our arachnaphobic friend over there hurt? He looks a little worse for ware." She idicated Simon again, looking at him mischeivously.
"That's enough!" Simon threw the scarf to the ground with all his might, causing a soft thump as it hit the ground. He pointed his key at the group once more. "We can do this here and now, agreements be damned!"
"Now now, there's no need to do anything rash," spoke a familiar voice as Myeloch Latare stepped into the room. He held out his hand and in it appeared a potion. The instant he uncorked it, a soothing aroma filled the inn, and the panicked townspeople quickly began to calm down. He flashed a smile to the group of young wizards. "Why don't we go back and finish our meal? It wouldn't do for the food to go to waste. The rest of you are free to join us!"
Simon, now a bit more level-headed, grumbled and lowered his key. "Alright…
If they get rid of the spiders, I'll go back peacefully."
Myeloch was already halfway to the dining room. He looked back at the others. "Shall we?"
The situation had been de-escalated, but it had not been forgotten. Fact and fiction alike had spread about the incident, and a few of the townspeople were giving the Nestlings dirty looks, much like the ones Simon was giving them from across the dinner table. Next to him was Egan, his face scrunched in a different expression.
"I wasn't the one who unleashed a horde of spiders upon innocent townspeople, but as the one who invited you all here I'll have to apologize for the incident regardless." He pinched the bridge of his nose in his disappointment.
"Sounds like I missed a hell of a time." said Harmonia next to him, clad in her armor as always. "I could have guessed that little Simon would be scared of spiders, but man do I wish I'd gotten to see it!"
Myeloch merely wore his usual smile. "I'm just glad they didn't do anything before I could tell them the little Bartholomews were harmless. Well, in this situation at least." He turned his attention to his guild. "So, what brings you here before the others?"
"Payback for ruining our food." Faye whispered under her breath and glared at Harmonia, loud enough for some to hear. "Curiosity, sir." Faye answered to Myeloch with crossed arms as she sat back in her chair.
"Payback for how rudely our meal was interrupted," Prim said plainly with a shrug.
"Yeah..." Ephraim nodded. "Originally we were just here to interrupt them as rudely as they did us, but we may have gotten...
carried away."
"I mean, it's not
strictly that...?" Drell shrugged and sent a glance the way of her guildmates. "We kinda all decided we were going to take you up on that offer of a job 'n' fight, and you said to come find you so here we are. We were planning to show up during mealtime and leave before ya finished, because apparently that's just the standard for that kinda thing - that's all kinda gone out the window now, though, and now the whole situation's sorta devolved into a big heapin' helpin' of chaos to the point where I'm not even really sure what we're doin' anymore and-"
"Wait, really? I just thought messing with them sounded like fun," Prim cut in, legitimately surprised by this new information.
Drell snorted as she failed to fight off a grin, "Prim, please, I'm tryna do a, uh-"
"Try harder?" Prim suggested.
"STOP- aaight, so this has got kinda rough and stuff and I guess we're rivals or something or whatever but I never really got the whole rivalry thing anyway and I don't want bad blood because bad is in the name of it so it kinda goes without saying that it's bad-"
"As bad a big Doom?" Prim cut in yet again, this time with mock shock and horror.
"
Badd-er, uh,
worse, is the word, I think - I just think we got off on, like, the wrong foot. Like, eight whole feet, all of which were wrong, so, uh-" the big, armoured lady thrust a big hand out towards Simon and smiled a big smile. "It's a pleasure to, uh- is 'pleasure' the right-? Uh, the name's Duke Ith'Drell, it's great to meet ya. Meeting is what we're doin' right here."
Simon looked at Drell's hand and his face contorted in anger. He stood up and slammed his palms on the table. "After what your guild has just done, did you really expect us to just forgive and forget!?" A brussel sprout from his unfinished meal rolled onto the floor, not much of a loss when he hadn't taken a bite since returning to it.
"Yikes!" Ith'Drell let out, her smile barely wavering as she angled her outstretched hand more toward Egan.
"Simon." Egan addressed his guildmate, who was quick to listen. "In a battle, the one who wins is the stronger one, regardless of anything else. You know this. They've employed a psychological attack against you, their enemy, to improve their chances in battle, and if it results in your loss then it is proof that you are weaker than them. Keep that in mind." He didn't look at Simon as he spoke, focusing more on clearing his plate of the steak that once adorned it. Once that was done he took Drell's hand and gave it a firm shake.
Simon fell silent, mouth hanging open in disbelief before he slumped back into his chair to sulk.
Faye let out a small snort, listening and quietly sipping the tea in front of her she seemingly got out of nowhere.
"Ayy, that's what I like to- fu- enemy? Psychological attack?" Drell's brow furrowed in half-confusion-half-mirth. "Dunno what kinda operation you think we're runnin' here - in fact, don't think there was much of an 'operation' to speak of. 'Mess' is probably a better word," she chortled. Ephraim shook his head off to the side in disagreement, but remained silent and pensive.
"Wow Egan, you're in a good mood today, letting this slide so easily," said Harmonia as she leaned back in her chair. "You were that happy to finally meet your idol, huh?" Unlike the others, she had decided to skip dinner.
"Oh my," piped Myeloch. Egan ignored her, while Myeloch finished his own meal of assorted greens.
Harmonia reached across the table for Drell's outstretched hand. "I don't know about calling us rivals since that would imply you're even in the same league us, but I'm always happy to have another punching bag!"
"I'm kinda starting to like her," Prim voiced nonchalantly, ignoring the tension in the room, "We'll have to see about that punching bag thing though."
Drell's arm met Harmonia's with a clang. "Easy fix: don't call us rivals, dude. And that's
Duke Punching Bag to you, yeah?" She turned again to Simon, arm still outstretched. "Aaight dude, what you want? You want me to buy ya a drink? Stand in spiders? You want to psychological-attack me? I'll take it, it's whatever."
"Oh she means it." Faye sighed as she shrugged her shoulders, kind of surprised Drell is able to do something in return for others. "Look dude, it wasn't anything personal. Just a little payback. If you want to take it out on us, you can take it out on us on the battlefield." Faye spoke to Simon, already regretting her words.
"You mean he can try," Prim chimed in happily.
Ephraim built up his nerve and stepped in before Simon could say anything, shaking his head at Drell and allowing himself to get in between the two. "Actually, whatever it is you want from Drell, I'll do instead. Bartholomew is my partner, and I led him into this inn. Granted, you're still taking this way too seriously, and I stand by you all somewhat having it coming,
and I don't really regret it all that much, to be honest-- but I'm in control of Bartholomew, so
I should be held responsible for your anger."
Simon walked right up to Ephraim and pushed his finger into the Phoenix's chest. He looked him in the eyes and said, "You don't get to decide how much things are supposed to matter to me. Not you, nor anyone else." That said, he took a step back and a deep breath. "But Egan's right. I shouldn't let this get to me, lest I lose before the battle's begun. Your reckoning comes later." His balled-up fists made the statement questionable, but regardless he sat back down and continued poking at his meal.
"And now you get an idea of what we have to deal with back home," Harmonia informed them. Simon scowled, but he managed to keep quiet. "And you can be sure he's not the only Gryphon with a twenty-foot stick up his ass."
Drell shrugged, "Welp, ya can put on the record that I tried."
"Well, now that that's settled we can get back to business," Egan spoke. "What's left of it, anyway. If that red-haired boy hasn't changed his mind then we have at least one fight for sure. More would be welcome, but one is all I asked for. I'd have asked your preferred arena, but it seems Myeloch already had one in mind. We'll be doing it at your hall's training ground. So unless you have anything more to say, we can get started now and worry about the rest later."
"This might be a good chance to get information from them before people start going unconscious," Myeloch added cheerily.
"I'm good," Prim chirped, "Just tell me when I get to hit things."
Drell took the short silence that followed as an invitation to speak up, "Aaight, I gotta ask, like-" She gestured wildly at Harmonia. "Is that, like- I mean, what
is that? Uh- not you, the, uh- is that even armour? Because it's... I mean it's throwing up a lotta... interesting questions? For me?"
"Pretty cool, eh?" said Harmonia "It's a magitech suit built by Cassius Burgess, brightest mind in the industry right now. I wouldn't exactly call it armor though. The metal is thin and light so it doesn't do a lot of protecting. It does a number of other things but it's mostly made to enhance my magic. The glowing lines are actually liquid lacrima, flowing throughout as both a power supply and as an easier way to pack a few extra spells, and the whole thing's enchanted to sync with my body as if it were part of me. It's actually a prototype I'm testing, so don't expect to see a bunch of them walking around the Capital."
"Aaahh, dude, that's like... that's bananas," the big, armoured lady responded, nodding sagely. "Tech's gettin' crazy here in the capital. Heck, I still think winches are awesome."
"Yeah, that's about the reaction I expected."
"Oh but uh, speakin' of bananas, hey... check this out-" Drell's hand had snaked its way behind Myeloch's head. The mischievous smirk on her face abruptly fell the moment when, instead of her hand passing through his form harmlessly, she found herself prodding her Guildmaster in the back of the head. "Ey, wha- wait a sec! You're really here?"
"Yup! I'm really here," said Myeloch, ever smiling. Drell offered her hand to shake, which he happily accepted. "I can't be here all the time with everything the council asks of me, which I can't exactly refuse in my situation, but I figured I should make the effort to be here for this little bout of yours. In part because I want to see what my Nestlings are capable of, but also because I know the Gryphons can be a bit…. eccentric. Yes, let's go with that. I know full well the sorts of wizards old Master Yvonne likes, so I thought it prudent to come, just in case."
"I have nothing but respect for our master," Egan chimed in, "but a mantra of 'strength at any cost' is sure to attract a certain crowd. And our master is happy to receive them if they're willing to work hard."
"So... about that bout?" Prim slipped in casually.
"You're right, we've wasted enough time." Egan stood up, and his guildmates followed suit. The three were different in their own ways, but they were all equally eager for the upcoming battles. "Onward, to Phoenix Nest!"
"Onward indeed. Is everyone ready?" Myeloch asked. He didn't wait long for an answer before summoning his staff and bathing the group in light. When it faded, they saw not the inn, but the guildhall instead. "Don't worry, I left another me behind to pay."
He gestured to the stairs leading down into the training field. "Shall we?"