A New Set of Talons (closed)

[Ambrosios]

Hawthorne began stepping back nervously as the earth elemental rose up from the cave floor, not wanting to be in caught in the cross fire between the behemoth and Tempest's men. The griffons had soon gone at the creature with their harpoons and explosives, inflicting damage to it while the elemental viciously fought back. The harpooners suddenly getting skewered by stone spikes was hardly a pleasant sight.

The griffon tried continuing his retreat, only to painfully end up tugging on his left-hind leg. It had been secured in stone by one of the elemental's ground smashings, leaving Hawthorne stuck in place and completely vulnerable. The griffon desperately pulled at it as the battle continued, hoping he could wrench it free. He wasn't going to call for help, though. Tempest and her men would hardly appreciate the distraction, and it would only line Hawthorne up for an execution if and when the elemental was taken care of.

After only a few seconds of tugging, though, it became very clear that effort was getting him nowhere. His leg was firmly caught within the stone, and pure force alone wasn't going to pull it out. If only he had some sort of lubricant.

Looking down at his dyed feathers gave Hawthorne an epiphany. the griffon quickly spat into one of his talons, using the saliva to loosen the excess dye as much as possible. Once his talon was wet with the brownish saliva-dye mix, he quickly applied as much as he could to his leg. After feeling he had gathered enough, the griffon gave his leg another strong pull, hoping the make-shift lubricant would be enough.

[Red Charge]

Hawthorne's Lubrication worked, but unfortunately while yanking his leg out of the socket, he lost a fair bit of skin off it, and fell backwards, where one of the heavy griffons accidentally kicked him in the head rushing forwards with another hand cannon to shoot at the Elemental.

So far, four griffons were skewered on the walls, three more were still lobbing bombs at the elemental, and the two heavy griffons were firing their hand cannons as fast as they could. Superior technology gave them quite the edge, and the Elder Elemental had already lost an arm and a leg, literally. However it wasn't quite done yet. Another smash on the ground and the opening of the tunnel leading to his cave 'winked', crushing the two heavy griffons to death and destroying their cannons.

Tempest now charged forwards, her talons now with what appeared to be some sort of piston powered gauntlets. Charging straight for the golem, with a last punch she managed to remove its cone shaped head, but not before it had managed to dispatch of the last of her griffons, effectively burying them under a heap of stone. So there it was, a wounded Hawthorne was left with a very angry Tempest, her griffons dead, all for this prize she so sought after.

Hawthorne noticed a Harpoon gun near him. But of course, he had no training or knowledge on firing the weapon, and merely by picking it up, he could incite Tempest's wrath. She went immediately to the chest and grabbed it under her arm, moving back towards Hawthorne.

[Ambrosios]

Hawthrone was able to pull his leg from the stone, leaving behind a good amount of skin. Blood began to seep from the newly exposed muscle, accompanied by an immense stinging. Hawthorne was able to catch the last of the battle, the elemental taking out the rest of Tempest's thugs and Tempest herself dealing the final blow. Now he and her were the only ones left.

Tempest was off getting the chest, and Hawthorne had to think of what he would do next fast. Tempest might kill him now, or maybe leave him for more of her assassin's to get rid of him. Or maybe she would leave him alone. He really had no idea what was going to happen. There was a harpoon gun lying nearby, not that he knew how to use it. He also didn't want to risk an encounter with Tempest's gauntlets. If they had decapitated an earth elemental, he didn't want to know what they could do to his skull.

The professor walked around the weapon, but was careful not to increase his distance from it. He didn't want to rule it out as an option, but he couldn't think about picking it up until Tempest had her back turned. "This it, then?" he asked, motioning to the chest. "Those talons you were talking about?"

[Red Charge]

Tempest stopped mid air and glared at him. "I should have known." She said with a resigned sigh. Hawthorne of course had no idea what she was referring to until he bumped back into what seemed at first like another Earth Elemental, but it was only a moment later that it was revealed that a truly massive griffon the likes of which Hawthorne had never seen before was behind him. This griffon made Tempest's heavy griffons look like a pair of mewling kittens, quite frankly, he was large enough to take on that Earth Elemental single handedly, it seemed.

"Gregor." Tempest uttered the name of the Admiral of the 4th Fleet, Aeolus Fleet.

"Tempest." He replied back with his deep, rumbling bass. "We let you by at first, because you weren't really hurting anyone. But now one of my men is dead and you've tried to assassinate a citizen of Royal Rocks. It needs to stop here."

"I just killed an Earth Elemental, what makes you think I won't do the same to you?" Tempest challenged. The massive roc-sized griffon grinned.

"Because you know better than that."

[Ambrosios]

Hawthorne had no idea who Tempest had addressed, until he bumped into the individual himself. The surprised professor skittered in the other direction before realizing who it was. "Just another griffon," he thought, letting out a sigh of relief. A massive griffon, but just a griffon. Not another elemental.

Hawthorne was relieved hear it was someone from the military, Aeolus's own fleet even. It seemed he wasn't going to have to worry about Tempest after all. The lanky griffon stood out of the two's way, letting them settle the matter for themselves. As long as Tempest was out of commission and no longer a threat to him, he would be happy.

[Red Charge]

"You know why I'm doing this." Tempest said, "Just because you admirals are deluded fools, over-estimating the power of your precious Armada, I won't let the Griffon Kingdom fall." She spat.

"Again we come to this point..." Gregor sighed.

"The Armada was nearly destroyed in the Prism Wars, the Dreadnaught was downed even..." Tempest Started, "The Necrolord has every single dead griffon, dragon and pony since the dawn of time under his control! Do you really think your armada can handle thousands, if not tens of thousands of dragons, rocs, eidolons and griffons? Who know no fear or pain? Through whom your harpoons will pass harmlessly? Who will claim every one of your dead as a new member of their army, and grow stronger while you grow weaker?" Tempest's eyes nearly popped out of their sockets.

"You think you can stop them on your own?" Gregor asked, "Even if they did try to attack us?"

"No, but hopefully I'll be able to delay them long enough for The King to get back to his senses and rally you against them!" Tempest argued, "You don't know what I know Gregor, you haven't seen them, they spread fear and plague where they go, every griffon who even faces one is struck with their magical stench that paralyzes. They will end us all in one night!"

"The Pony Crusades could not stop them, you think you have any chance?"

"I am not going to attack them, I am going to prepare for when they attack us. Now leave me be! I'll leave this one alone if you do. But if I die here, not even you can protect him from all of the assassins that will come seeking his head!"

Gregor paused, seeming to try and balance between Tempest's capture and Hawthorne's life. "Fine." He said at last, "But you give me your word of honor, that no one will seek to harm this griffon further." He gestured at Hawthorne with his wing.

"You give me your word of honor you will not try to follow me." Tempest retorted. Both raised their talons in the air and gave the words. After which Tempest flew out through the tunnel, leaving Gregor and Hawthorne alone in the dark cave.

[Ambrosios]

Hawthorne gulped at Tempest's threat about what would happen if Gregor had her killed. She was dead serious about the matter, and being on the raw end of her anger was not somewhere Hawthorne wanted to be. Fortunately enough Gregor had let her go, and Tempest had at least given her word that the griffon would be left alone.

Hawthorne watched as she exited the cave, chest-in-talons, leaving the two other griffons alone in silence. "Is the Necrolord really as big of a threat as she says it is?" Hawthorne asked, breaking the calm that had filled the cave He kept silent for several more seconds, letting quiet refill the room before speaking again. "She certainly put getting those talons above all else," he said, looking over at one of the crushed corpses.

[Red Charge]

"The Necrolord could be, if he wanted to. He just doesn't seem to want to. Heh, he could have killed us all long ago if that was what he was going for. But he didn't, so why do we need to fear him now? I figure if we leave him well enough alone, he'll leave us well enough alone, isn't that what we want?" Gregor explained, sighing.

"Numbers are meaningless in a war against the undead, you can't fight the Necropolis, they'll always have more than you do, every griffon you lose..." He gestured at the corpses, "Is just another Death Glider waiting to happen. Come on, let's get you to a medic."

He began leading Hawthorne through the tunnel again, his massive armored form creaking against the walls, "You know, at least Aeolus got what he wanted."

[Ambrosios]

Hawthorne thought solemnly about what Gregor said. As he put it, there really was no way to fight the undead. The only way to avoid defeat was to avoid fighting at all. "And you're not afraid she'll incite something?" he asked. Tempest had said she would delay the Necrolord's army, but hopefully that meant waiting until they decided to attack first. With any luck, she would be waiting for a long while.

Hawthorne began following Gregor out of the cave, realizing and grateful that this was the nicest he'd been treated in the last few days. What he said about Aeolus, however, confused the griffon. "What he wanted?" Hawthorne repeated, hoping to prod an answer out of the bigger griffon. Aeolus had wanted to capture Tempest and to get a promotion, but that hardly seemed like what had happened. The soldier was now dead and Tempest was free. If anything, he had gotten the opposite of what he wanted.

[Red Charge]

"He got promoted, two ranks. Battlefield promoted him to Major." Gregor explained spreading his wings as he went through the waterfall, creating a path underneath for Hawthorne to go through and remain dry.

"Am I afraid Tempest will incite something? Did Cross Strike and his crusades incite anything? The actions of singles do not affect nations. The Necrolord is old and wise, he must see this, since he only ever hunts down the ones directly involved with the attempts to attack the Necropolis. I think in a way he's just trying to protect his own interests, as long as those aren't compromised, I don't think he gives a wooden bit about the rest of the world."

As they passed through the Waterfall, Hawthorne could notice a small zeppelin landed in the distance, a ride home. "Too bad about Aeolus. I never knew him personally, but he led us this far, we'll have him cremated... Don't want the Necrolord to have him, do we?" He asked, almost jokingly.

"He's on the zep if you have any last words for him."

[Ambrosios]

Hawthorne ducked his head under Gregor's wing as they passed through the waterfall. The Admiral's logic was sound. If history was anything to stand by, as long as the griffon kingdom itself didn't give the Necrolord a reason to attack, they wouldn't have to worry about him.

Hawthorne could see the zeppelin once they passed through the waterfall, which was good since his the condition of his wing likely wouldn't permit him to do any flying. "I don't know if I'll have any words," Hawthorne said simply, "But I should at least say goodbye. I owe him a lot."