My dearest audience,
Hello how’s your day been so far?, I’m going to keep telling where we left of, we got ourselves a half made plan in order to scout, find and kill the bloodthirsty warmonger that had been prowling the town of Branwick for days, all of this according to the town folk, one of the many reasons they didn’t fly out of danger was the fact that one, they are griffins, pride is part of their nature and when you are a flying predator half lion/half eagle running away is not an option. I mean think about it their claws are even more bigger and detailed than a bald eagle and even those birds have natural karambits as their claws.

The other and more important was the sawmill, even though it had been fixed and looked like a normal building, it was the oldest one in the town, even though it didn’t started as an industrial building. In the history of the town the ancient sawmill’s foundation was made out of old stones that were brought straight form the western mountains to build a second castle in the dangerous corners of the kingdom , as a promise from the old king Grover himself to expand the kingdom and proclaim the savage lands that expanded further beyond the eastern border. Strange Runes and Glyphs were carved here and there specially in the corner stones. With this said the building itself was a simbol that they didn't wanted to lose.

And as a last reason as an example, one that is a feeling that is quite familiar to every kind of people, this town was their home, they sweated, bled, cried and toiled for it for many years. And many of them weren’t going to give it up with out a fight, even as abominations attacked them over and over again. Besides a town closer to the Borderlands was a proof that Griffonstone’s heart was still beating on and on. Close to the border, a natural resource for wood and metal, it’s what any growing nation needs in order to progress.

Still it wasn’t enough to make me want to fight for this kingdom, to die in the process of saving lives is a noble cause but I’m not exactly hero material, I have no redeeming qualities or virtues like those heroes of old. I could sympathies with their pain and suffering, and even praise their valor but I was scared out of my mind of the whole situation.

Who in the right mind goes into the darkwoods to fight mutated creatures?, you don’t see humans going to the wild searching for wendigos with a shotgun, right?, specially when all we had to do is just wait for reinforcements and let the army deal with this mess. I mean we weren’t army or had any military background, I felt that we were playing a dangerous game and taken it like a quest from an old RPG. Hardly ever in every armed conflict, you don’t simply end the fight just because you kill the Big Bad Guy.

Yet here we were, planning on how to face this situation and do the unthinkable, a search and rescue a form of an attack in a tactical view of some sort, it was the unexpected option that any enemy wouldn’t be ready for it, “when the enemy is standing still, force him to move”, it felt like poking a hornets nest. Worst case scenario not only we all die, but we force the enemy to make a full assault on the wall, even if with the arrival of newly troops, the town was in peril.

We would need the rest of the stationed troops in Erden to even make a difference. All of this taking in consideration that every single night that Minotaur turned normal animals into monsters, a long with his hostages in which who knows what he was doing with them. So He kept making his army bigger by the moment while we stood with practically our numbers. Humans don’t have magic, for as far that I know, but our firearms did put a serious advantage against his monsters.

Like I told you before the divisions of the squads was like this, Team America would take Prag and Wojtek and the Eurobros the other 2 slavs and we will scout the biggest of locations in which many Griffins believed this “Mad Scientist” was keeping the hostages. So we divided the locations in which a guy like him would make his lair, one was an old abandoned fortress of the firsts days of Griffonstone, even older than their golden age. It did made sense, a fortress, castle or medieval fortification that had stone walls, towers, etc, no matter how decayed it’s still a perfect place for a hideout or base for any one.

The other one was a mine, the typical mine that looks creepy straight out of a Horror film, with it’s own network of tunnels made by the previous clan of dogs who took residence there, if our guy started experimenting with the Diamond Dogs first, that means that he has his own slave labor force to expand and get resources for himself, an access to a source of metal is a good way to make it to the top. Besides if you were to be attacked the only thing you’ll have to do is to dig your way out or collapse the tunnels to cover your retreat and start all over again.

The reason the slavs group were divided was because we liked the idea of having messengers or more like people who could draw a signal, remember what I told you about the contents in their bags? the other 3 people were robbers, yeah you heard me, criminals, their preferred method of breaking in was simple, pick a building, break in, steal what you can get your hands on it and then set something on fire 2 block down below while you ran in the other direction not precisely in this order.. Normally this guys weren’t your typical wanna be gangsters, they only went for big bureaucratic government buildings, since they could get a couple of CPU’s and printers that were worth somethings, a little anarchy against “The Man”.

And many of those buildings had installed a basic form of alarm, corruption in places of power is normal in many countries and they like to buy the cheapest of materials and keep the rest of the budget for themselves. Their way of doing things most of the time twas to set up a “bomb” with the fireworks that scared the night watchmen and call the fire brigade, the alarm would go off everybody would leave the building and with masks and some tools, they get in and out in seconds.

Still didn’t explained their guns, who looked like they stole it from their parents or uncles. a sawed-off 12 gauge pump action shotgun and a couple of makarovs that has seen better days. I guess these guys were messing around when they got pulled into this world and this was a new chance to start again.

If you live in poverty or are in a bad place and the chance to make real actual gold came to you, many would just jump to the occasion. The rest of us just wanted to go home, but for the others this was a new beginning, and carrying a gun in medieval times is like carrying a bazooka and use it against cavemen. but even that could go wrong on so many ways. But I think that our little trio of troublemakers wanted to see how far we could go and when the chances of getting a job straight out of a noble knight that came with gold and reputation, was more than enough to accept the second chance. “When life gives you lemons”,. Right?

They said that they used to crawl through the underbelly of derelict buildings all the time, their main experience was to get in through the sewer system, many main buildings in Ukraine, Lithuania, Poland and every other that belonged to the other side of the Iron Curtain had a network of tunnels connections that could get you inside almost everywhere in the city. The fear of nuclear annihilation made the soviets built in a couple of cities a networks of old bunkers and communication centers, even though they were left to rot or were transformed in something else. Some parts of that Network still existed.

Prag’s little sister Ludmilla or Milla for short, was the best tunneler of the 3, she had some experience in making improvised explosives with little resources, even though her criminal background was “tainted’ to say the least, she had a knack for chemistry. with little powder from some bullets and some ingredients from an apothecary in the town she began to make pipe bombs, or the closest thing to a pipe bomb as it could be. Not exactly firecrackers but it’ll have to do. And her body frame was small and she helped the other 2 to get inside in many places in their little “adventures”.

Aliana was the last of the group, at first she looked like a dude, short hair, piercing in her mouth and the body of a Crossfitter, not unappealing but it confused everyone at first sight. She of course was the older of the group but her face , yelled “old anarchist” , the only thing missing was the crossed logo of the A on her bag or clothes. Typical late 20’s that still believes that her phase is not over....yet. Ask her about how her relationship with her father is and she’ll beat you up for sure.

So the girls went with the Eurobros and the guys with us, effective for both sides, only I hoped that the griffins don’t miss their mine if it suddenly explodes because Milla made the fuse of her “inventions” a little bit shorter than expected. We left the town and went deep into the woods, marking trees with X’s in case we had to make a full retreat and find our way back.

The forest wasn’t that bad, maybe it was the whole experience so far into this world that made me kinda want to forget everything and go back to that youtuber making rantings of the last Ace Combat game, after a couple of hours of walking and trekking, we found the keep...

The whole thing looked like it was going to fall apart by it’s own weight, nature has done a number on it, we didn’t see any sentry or guards or any of the monsters outside. The Stone wall restricted our vision on what was inside but there was no noises or movements so far, we made camp just on the hill up top giving us a perfect look of he whole place.

The courtyard was empty but we could see big footprints of a big animal, perhaps as big or even bigger than an elephant just on the outside of the main gate like it was leaving the place, couldn’t make it out of what kind of animal though, we waited until the night fell, knowing full well that the other group had a window of 1 more day to return to town with some Intel on their objective. Otherwise they had to light up the explosives and shut down the mine entrance, buying everyone some time until the army arrive. But if the mine was the place were the hostages were being locked up, then we condemn those poor souls into a horrible fate and everything we did was going to lead into a last stand in Branwick. If we were going to fight anyway, I would like to do it with the survivors we picked up if there were any of them left.

That’s when we saw a light on the tower, far in the corner adjacent to a cliff and hugging what was left of the Western wall, a big silhouette moving form one side to the other, and then a flash of dark purple light appeared. That’s when the illusion surrounding the keep “glitched”and we could see some of the griffins in cages protected by a couple of those were-dogs and some sort of lizardmen. They looked like the ones from Total War War hammer, only smaller and with a dumb look on their faces, then the “glitch” stopped and everything returned to normal and empty. Austin told Prag to go back to the town and tell the Captain of the news, if the captain approved we could try to save the griffins on our own or we could wait for his help.

If Prag made a run for it, it would take him 40’ to get to the town unless they were being attacked. so in order to figure out how to respond, Prag would sent a signal lighting up a colorful rocket, that would tell us that operation “Chicken Little” was a go go, if it was a single firework it will said that we found the hostages and will wait until morning.

One way or the other the town would be attacked immediately the moment we returned and we will have to be a part of the defense. If those prints in the mud going farther away, the worst was yet to come.

Waiting in the cold of the night sucked, not being able to light a fire, warming ourselves with our damp gillie capes and eating bits and pieces of cold food made all of us miserable, Austin and Lucy had some experience with hunting and you could see how the patience held up so far. After an hour Prag returned, he said that the town was being attacked in small numbers by smaller critters, barely anything worth getting the attention of the guards, but he managed to climb in and out of the wall without drawing attention in order to deliver the news.

According to him, the moment he said we found the rest of the hostages alive, the Captain and the rest of the town folk went ecstatic, many wanting to rush into the dark to get their families and friends to safety. But when Prag told the about the cages and especially the lizardmen, they just went silent. They asked him about the banners, if there were some, what uniform or color, or if they wore some sort of distinct armor.

There was no time for details and Prag did the best thing he could and told them that we could go in and try to save their families as well as to kill the bastard, one stone two birds or just get the griffins to safety. He left the fireworks and came back to us unseen.
We heard the signal and with Mary on top of a tree gave us the OK to proceed with the mission. Locking and loading our guns we made our move.

Captain Heinrich Silver Feather.

The evasive human was gone, the one they called “Prag” explained the situation of the keep and left with out a trace above the wall. The fireworks remained in the claw of Captain Silver , one would just go into the sky and simply explode, the other one would make a small light show, He told the rest of the officers the result of choosing one or the other and their consequences, for us, for them, for everything that was on play.

The small group of distinguished officers looked around, seeing the faces of those they have sworn to protect and ponder on their choices, even the idea of not choosing either was still an option, but even if sacrificing their kin was a choice they didn’t have the heart to make it. With a determined look on their faces one of the officers of the guard lifted the Flag of Griffonstone among the banners and with the help of another they lit the medium sized colorful rocket, the projectile went upwards in a straight line and then exploded, hundreds of little sparks glowed the night sky with a different variety of colors like little suns piercing the darkness, the last thing Sergeant Francisco and Lieutenant Gribaldi from the 10th steel guard heard was the sound of war horns coming from down below where his brothers and sisters in arms blew as in supporting their choice, hoping that rescue goes well and the favor of their ancestors bring luck to the humans who were going to embark in a dangerous task.

Meanwhile on the other group

Milla was never a top grade student, not because of her grades but because of her backgrounds, the assimilation with her older brother, just another college dropout whom had a reputation of going against the authorities like so many others of his age, put a taint in her family name like carrying a curse that it was nearly impossible to get rid of, the lost generation they were called, a generational gap in the society of the former soviet satellite they called a country.

Unless you had connections or if the people who were up top would spare a couple of grams of attention at what supposed to be the future of their country, you were out of luck of succeeding in life. It was no surprise for anyone that if you didn’t play their little game by their pathetic egomaniac set of rules, then you were cast off or “invited” to leave, and why would any of them spare you? after all there were an incredible amount of others willing to fill the empty seat that you left behind.

Public education was brutal, but it also created a competition ground weaving out the weak or lazy from the rest, it was a way to prepare the students for the reality of the world specially if you were trying to be a doctor or any type of professional. It’s not about just being the best but to give the students a brutal, competitive ground to become the best.
Milla found herself studying to become a Chemical Engineer, even though she was still in first year of the basics courses of Chemistry 101, everything related to work and study in a fully equipped lab, filled her life with joy.

Her main problem was that even if his big brother was a criminal like many people said, he was the one bringing the bread to the table. Her parents died when she was little and her grandma was getting older by the years and could barely sustain herself. Even if the old soviet bloc was gone, “thanks the heavens for that”, the country could barely sustain the social programs that allowed the poorest of the country to rise up of their brutal situation.
It was like a pendulum either you are a slave of the state like her parents and grandparents, or you were a tool to be used and discarded by some corporation, the middle class was either gone or hiding somewhere else.

So when her Institution started to become more privatized because of lack of founding a new generous company needed of assistants stepped in, Milla didn’t like the idea that much at first, but as long as she could pay her courses with a part time job in the lab, she didn’t object. Besides that gave her experience and a look at her bright future.
Tragically even if she still could pay her tuition, everything else became more expensive. With war going on and the big Russian government just acting like the old starving soviet bear, a known shadow began to casts itself on the Orient of Europe. Life became more depressing and she ended up helping her brother with his nightly break ins.

Her brother whom was called in the group “Prag”, was a tall lanky pale man, even though he was as smart as her little sister despise of what he believed in, he was going to study to try to become a lawyer, but without money it was impossible to get that education. He still thought of the world in her sister and believed that his sacrifices would pay in the end, it tore his heart to see her sister trying to convince him to help him in his nightly activities in the city.

But when her sister decided to step in the robbing, her little input of disguising their break ins with a fire accident in big old government buildings, the fruit of their labor became bigger. It wasn’t just the computers that they stole but the information inside what had more value and gave a bigger reward.

Her experience with explosives were not that extended, she knew the chemicals and their mix, but she actually never made them with this amount of measure. She only made small disposable and untraceable enough to cause a fire or just a raise a fire alarm. When news began to run about her last gig, the stealing of PC’s that belong to certain political party containing a fair amount of delicate information, the authorities began to turn more violent towards the “undesirables” of the population, with his brother status as a known crook even among their kind They knew that it was a matter of time that they could either get caught or worse.

That's when Aliana,an older friend of Prag and the muscles of the trio, managed to get her ex-boyfriend stash of guns and the 3 moved out of the city towards a safe area, until all the situation calmed down. Instead they found themselves in another forest with other people with bigger guns aiming at them.

Making bombs is an art to be taken seriously,the mixing of any chemical doing it the wrong way or even a sigle mistake in the mixing, could bring horrible results. Milla used the used shells of the 12 gauge as a form of measure, but when the apothecary of the town of Branwick told her that she could use her set of Alchemist glasses, she was more than thankful. Milla talked with the elderly griffon while she worked in making the closest thing to pipe bombs.

Selina was the name of the Apothecary and she explained a little about the world the humans just “drop” off, she talked about the history of Griffonstone and the surrounding kingdoms, the moment she mentioned Equestria, Milla nearly drop a glass that contained a mix. A whole kingdom made out of color pastel ponies, with cutie marks and magic, in which was protected by the alicorn sisters for nearly a 1000 years. It felt like when her grandma told her stories of places of wonder and adventure, in her mind she could barely contain her little innocent childhood version squealing with joy at the idea of even getting there one day. The idea or studying magic or anything related to it was an opportunity she didn't want to let go. Maybe this was just a fresh start after all.

In the present, the sight of the caves to the mine filled her with dread, it’s one thing to crawl through a gap in a wall, another to make that gap in the wall and another to have the horrible chance of getting stuck in a tiny hole in the darkness of an abandoned mine.

But with Aliana on her side and the golden reward of Captain Silver echoing in her head was enough to make her focus on the task ahead. Just the idea of learning magic with cute little ponies in a kingdom far more kinder than the one they arrived was the motivation to keep moving forward with the mission.

According to the plan they were to explore the main tunnels of the mine and if they found the hostages rescue them, shut the tunnels with explosives, then run like hell all the way to Branwick and fight until reinforcements arrive.
All in all not the worst plan she heard, but with little time to think about a better one and with lives on the line they had to make do with what they got. 2 of the side tunnels lead nowhere, rusted picks and metal carts filled the sideways tunnels and the main tunnel, like a caricature theme park attraction, had a steeped angled drop just enough to walk the way down but enough to lose your balance if you weren’t being careful.

The darkness enveloped the whole way down for the exception of the barely lit torches that were in the walls to either side, that’s when the group began to set up the explosives, they went for the key structures and the ones that could fall even with the lightest of forces to bring down the weight of the mountain, being very careful Milla tied up the fuses to a large main one that dangled in the ceiling of the mine like a dangerous string web. Every thing was set up on the biggest boulder that formed their ceiling above a little platform that gave way to the stairs going down.

Otto began to hear voices down below, little moans of pain filled his ears, he called up the group with a whisper and told Aliana to stay with Milla while the rest of the group went down even further to investigate. Milla worked diligently while Aliana looked around the cave searching for anything in particular, when Milla said that all was set ready to blow, they heard a loud roaring inside the cave.
There were silence for a moment until gun shots began echoing inside the mine all accompanied with the screaming of the Europeans who were fighting for their lives. The shouting, screaming, and full auto fire of one of the guns continued sounding in the cave down below.
Then all of the sudden as soon as the group came to sight in the lowest of lights, Milla finally heard what they were screaming about “DRAGON!!!!” and big wall of fire went in a horizontal way from one side of cave to another, bringing light to the whole place. That’s when they found out the the main tunnel was the most recent addition to the mine, the marks of gigantic claws scrapping and leaving scars on the sides of the walls indicating that this dragon decided to nest here.

Otto, Nap and Toledo took a stance in the upper part of the platform with the mess of the strings of the explosives behind them a couple of meters away. They began firing down while Aliana helped a wounded Maquis to climb up. Elsa on the other hand screamed at Milla to light up the fuse in order to blow up the mine and trap the fire breather inside, Milla didn't wasted much time and did as told. The guys trying to play heroes decided to hold up until the dragon got a little closer to the explosives in hope to kill it with it.

Once the 3 ladies passed the firing line and moved to the entrance of the cave, they looked behind and saw a horrible image. The explosive’s fuse were damp and never managed to go all the way, the other one was that the Dragon was deformed in a horrible way and was chewing the body of Toledo, Nap screamed bloody murder and fired again and again panic filling his body. Otto on the other hand was telling them to run for their lives.
Then a second maw opened up from the throat of the mutated Drake and fire came out, burning the remainder of the males of the group alive and for the luck of the poor souls outside, setting up the charges of explosives on the wall. Ashes and rocks were the only thing standing inside the tunnel, but the full force of the mountain fell on the monstrosity that killed their companions. There was no sight of any type of corpses, only rocks pilling up the whole entrance of the mine.

There was no time for mourning their dead, they had to go back and tell The captain on what was coming towards them, if they were right neither the charges nor the collapse of the mine was enough to bring down the Dragon. And after they have seen, the Wall that protected Branwick won't be enough to hold on this new enemy.

To be continued.

Author's Note

Okay here's the new Chapter, I'm thinking on remaking the whole thing and fuse some of the chapters, but so far I like the length I'm leaving so far. But still want to write a lot more.