It took a few days, but once they arrived, Nolan and Feris knew that something wasn't right. Even Crow gave them side glances. The gate leading into the settlement had four Griffons stationed on its battlements. Outside and in front of the gate were another ten lead by a lieutenant. After a lengthy interview by the Griffon officer and a very intense, yet cursory glance, they were allowed inside. The three wolves made their way to the settlements tavern and were able to secure lodging. They made their way from the tavern to the merchants quarter. Once registered, they set up a small kiosk.

They brought in a great deal of food, medicine and basic care items that they "sold" to the ponies at much reduced prices. They spent that day selling and trading. Feris, who was a master of conversation and innuendo, did a great job of lowering the ponies anxiety and stress. Feris was also able to subtly let the townsponies know that things were going to change soon, and that they had to be ready for it. Back at the tavern, Feris taking poetic license with Nolan's First Hunt, reworked and retold the tale in such a way that Pony and Griffon alike was put at ease, as everycreature loves a story of a heroic figure fighting and slaying a monster.

As the story ended, with the hero being granted a knighthood by the beautiful princess, the Griffons paid their tabs and made their way outside. The ponies stayed, and in quiet and hushed tones, Feris and Nolan explained who they were and why they were here. The ponies were relieved to know that the Princesses knew of their plight and were sending soldiers to help them. The wolves also learned that there was a small mercenary company present, bu the vast majority of the Griffon occupation force were regular army soldiers.

The next day Nolan stayed at the kiosk while Feris and Crow explored and just got a feel for the lay out of the settlement. Crow returned hours later and in Wolven explained to Nolan just how many soldiers were actually there. The report almost made Nolan swear. There were more than 100 mercenaries and closer to 200 or more Griffon Army troops. This was starting to look like more of an invasion force than a raiding party. Crow and Nolan spent the rest of the time that day at the kiosk talking in hushed tones and in Wolven about their options.

Feris rejoined them as they were closing up. Back at the tavern, Feris and Nolan told a tale of Fenris to the joy of most those in attendance that night. Alone in the room the three shared, the full details of the military occupation forces in the settlement.

"The Griffons have 150 mercenaries and close to double that in actual army troops. Crow has sent a message to Tempest alluding to that final count. Even with an accurate count, Tempest doesn't have the forces as far as we know, to properly take the settlement back, even with the townsponies helping. If we could weaken the numbers and open a gate or blow a hole in the wall, it would make it more likely for Tempest to retake the settlement. If we move quickly tomorrow night, we could take out one of the gates guards and the shift of sentries that are on guard outside the gate house." Feris said as he laid out a few items to outline his thoughts on taking the gate.

"Okay, but that still leaves us with close to 400 soldiers. Now, I have no problem taking a gatehouse and holding it against the Griffons. Unless they have some siege equipment, we could possibly hold them off for days, probably weeks. But we don't have the numbers inside the settlement or the supplies to make that work." Nolan pointed out.

"Indeed. I have a plan for that. We could hold a feast for the Griffons. If we spend the day hunting, we could bring back enough meat to feed all of them. As we cook it, we lace it with Wolfs Bane and Nightshade. Maybe not enough to outright kill them, but definitely make them sick. Fenris willing, they'll even be hallucinating, which is in our favor as well. I know that we'll find those plants in the area. On our way in I saw Oleander flowers. One of the pony merchants is an herbalist by trade, has White Snake root. With all of that, we could poison the meals. The Griffons would be extremely sick and hallucinating at worst, dying at best." Crow Caller said as he laid out his plan.

Nolan lowered his head in thought. Without knowing how many troops Tempest had gotten as reinforcements, Nolan could only guess. Poisoning enemies was an underhanded tactic. But even Fenris had had to face large numbers of opponents with little to no help and had to do some dishonorable things to prevail. In Nolan's mind, the similarities could be easily seen, and given the total numbers, Nolan couldn't be judged too harshly by his people. The pony's were another matter. But they had asked for the wolves help. Complaining about it after the fact and without ever giving guidance was pointless, and more to the point, petty.

"We hunt and we gather the plants needed. We will offer a feast to the Griffons of poisoned meat. These are my orders as War Leader. When we leave the following morning we will tell all the Griffons we see of our plans to give them a grand feast, playing into the fact that they think that they will be able to keep the settlement. We will say that the feast is to create a good relationship between out peoples. We'll attempt to affect as many of the Griffons as possible. The ship and the gate will most likely fall outside the scope of this plan, but the plan will still help with the gate. I also wouldn't be surprised if many of the army troops don't partake. We need to see if the pony's have access to fireworks. If they do, we can have them fire a few volleys in salute, then target the ship and the main Griffon encampment in the port. If they can do that from several angles, responses will be limited and confused. The risk to them, while not zero, will be much reduced. If timed properly the fireworks will distract the gatehouse guards enough that we can sneak in and kill them, then signal Tempest and his troops and our fellow Hunters to move up and take the gatehouse. Once they have a way in, they can work on retaking the settlement." Nolan said, as he laid out his plan using elements of his companions plans.

"Bold. Very bold. I like it. It reminds me of the story where Loki and Fenris had to outwit Silvaris, the Ice dragoness." Feris said with a smile and nod.

"But is it too bold? And more importantly, will it work? This would probably work if all we had to deal with were the mercenaries. But they are lead and supported main line army troops. I doubt their commander is going to be so easy to fool." Crow posited. Nolan grimaced as he nodded his understanding.

"You make good points, but unless we have any other ideas that would allow for us to gain an advantage over the Griffons, I don't see us having better odds. The three of us, once the food is distributed, have to take the gatehouse. That's at least fourteen of them, and as many as twenty eight if we do it before a shift change. We would be horribly outnumbered. If they were mercenary troops, I think we could handle it. But the Griffons at the gate will most likely be army troops. If we get the first shift packed up and are in control of the gate when the second shift arrives, we would be able to hold them off until the pony force arrives. Feris, you'll be staying behind tomorrow to set things up with the pony's and get that White Snake root. You'll also need to spread the announcement of the feast to as many of the Griffons as you can. Crow and I will go and get as much wild game as we can get as well as the other plants. Feris, see if you can get some corn as well. I've been told that Griffons go wild for the stuff. If we can sweeten the pot with corn, they might just eat more of it and be far more affected by the poison. Whatever you do though, don't oversell it. If they get suspicious of it, we'll have more trouble than we know what to do with." Nolan cautioned as they went to bed.

✴

The following morning, Feris woke up before the others and left a note telling them that with all he had to do that day in preparation, he wanted an early start. He left and made appropriate inquires as to where he could buy enough corn and in what ways Griffons enjoyed it most. On the cob or off, as long as they were covered in copious amounts of butter seemed to be the most popular. Feris couldn't help but wonder at that. It seemed as if Griffons, Wolves and Pony's all enjoyed corn the same way, though of the three, only Griffons seemed to be obsessed with it. From what Feris could gather, in times where hunting and fishing were poor, and raiding and piracy weren't able to bring in enough food, Griffons could subside on corn and other such crops alone, though they had to lay large amounts in store every year to ensure that there was enough to go around. To put it mildly, Griffons, by and large, were terrible farmers, and their kingdoms didn't really have the right soil or enough of it for a lot of sustainable farming. Because of how mountainous their lands were, they couldn't rely on hunting like the Wolven did, and changes in the ocean could affect fishing greatly. Corn, barley, oats, beans and wheat were about the only crops the Griffons could reliably grow throughout their lands. In the southern most section they could also grow rice and potatoes.

The Griffon kings would trade the limited crops with each other at very low prices as they all knew that those plants would keep their people alive in hard times. This was also the reason why many Griffons went into the military, joined mercenary companies or pirate and raider gangs. As a soldier, a Griffon was guaranteed food, and aside from what the nobility got, it was some of the best food to be had so as to not be a burden for their families. As a mercenary, raider or pirate, a Griffon was able to get out of the Griffon kingdoms and find ample food that way, so any food that would have gone to such Griffons would be able to be given to others. Most of the mercenary and pirate groups had foraging rights outlined in their contracts of employment. The Griffon lands were considered to be a bit depressing due to the hard terrain they occupied.

As Feris made his musings, he was able to secure all the corn he would need, as well as plenty of butter and a good supply of White Snake root. He was also able to get a few long tables and the like, some big cooking cauldrons for the corn, and a cooking and serving area only a few blocks from the main gate. While Feris doubted that they would be able to get any of the army troops to come, he hoped Fenrir would smile upon them and have a few show up.

Nolan and Crow Caller, having gotten up a bit later than Feris, found and read his not to them. They weren't concerned as Feris had a great deal to do by himself. They packed lightly and went out hunting. As they passed through the gate, they mentioned how they were going to be hosting a feast for the Griffons in the hopes of strengthening relations between the Wolven and Griffon poeples. They mentioned they were hunting for deer and boar.

The birds didn't seem to care, just so long as they were back before the gates closed for the night. Nolan hunted while Crow gathered the plants they needed. They spent all of the morning and well into the afternoon gathering what they needed. Nolan managed to get four large bucks and a very, very large boar. Between the five, there was something like 800 to 1000 pounds of cookable meat. Combined with the corn that they hopped Feris had been able to procure, it should feed all of the mercenaries to the bursting point, and hopefully a few of the army troops as well. They returned and were let back in, and soon found where they were to set about their work.

There were a number of Griffons who were already getting all the tables, chairs, plates and cutlery set up, as well as cooking the corn. They also brought with them some fish. While this was unexpected, it would help provide one more layer of coverand chaos. Nolan and Crow started to cook the deer and boar, slow roasting the meat with a steady infusion of the poisonous plants. None of the Griffons seemed to notice, and even if they did, it looked as if they weren't well versed in the dangerous plants of the lands they were in.

All of the cooking and meal preparations took the rest of the afternoon, and as the sun was setting the plan was ready to begin.

"Where in Fenris' codpiece is Feris?" Crow asked Nolan, concern and exasperation in his voice.

"I'm not sure. And that worries me. I know that you and I can take out the current guard detail at the gate, but to hold it until the pony forces arrive, we need Feris." Nolan said as he looked around, and smiled reassuringly to some of the Griffons.

"Until we know otherwise, we keep to the plan and hope that he catches up. Otherwise, we improvise as much as we have to."

They split up and made sure to mingle with the Griffons as much as possible, and helped the Griffons to get more food and drink. The mercenaries were completely stuffed, and they had managed to even feed the fifty army troops that had walked in. The fireworks display launched off, and there was still no sign of Feris. Crow Caller looked at Nolan and they both knew they were out of time to wait for him. They slipped out and made their way to gatehouse, hoping that Feris would meet them there.

Author's Note

So, I know that I had mentioned in my last blog post that I was going to get this chapter out yesterday. Sadly I had a family issue crop up, so I wasn't able to get it out today. I managed to have a few hours and I busted my butt to get it out at the end of the day today. I hope you enjoy this chapter. We'll soon be getting to a bit of action, which I think you'll all like.