Episode 142: The Griffin Rescue

The heroes get word that Oleander's griffins have gone missing and it's up to them put a rescue plan in place. And some old friends show up, bringing much needed power to the mission that comes in handy when an unexpected enemy shows up. 

Transcript

The Griffin Rescue

Once upon a time in the land of Atheria, there was a princess Nea and a princess Lulu and they went on the most amazing adventures. They had just healed Princess Ellery’s village from chaos and managed to save her royal advisor’s life. 

When the town had finally settled down, a carrier pigeon flew in with a note for Nea and Lulu. The note was from Oleander, an old elf friend. The note explained that their help was needed at once because Wahl’s three baby griffins had disappeared. 

With Morrenvale healed (for now), Princess Nea, Lulu, Phin and Coryn headed over to the Oleander’s hut on the edge of the Forest of Forevermore. 

When they got there Oleander was beside himself worrying about the griffins. To their surprise, O’Lah, Wahl and Prince Paul were there as well.

They rushed over and greeted there old friends, catching up on their adventures all across Atheria. It was just as Nakisha, Ruby and Simon had said. The three of them had been traveling together, restoring the temples.

“I brought you both here, Wahl and the princesses, as their have been rumors the ogre, K’Orloch and a boy named Victor have decided to use the badlands as a safe house and have been stealing supplies and animals all across Atheria.”

“You think they took the griffins?!” Princess Lulu exclaimed, for she was partial to griffins. 

“Victor must be the boy who had the orange crystal.” Nea exclaimed.

“They’ll pay for this.” Wahl added, for he was the one who rescued the griffins in the first place when their mother was attacked by trolls. 

Oleander nodded. 

“There’s an old bunker to the north, on the way to the Tranquil Ruins. Be careful though, the ogre horde have grown strong and are gathering all around Atheria. King Bealock wants those crystals as well. You never know who you might run into.” 

Nea, Lulu, and Coryn were familiar with the bunker. They had come across it while trying to retrieve the Devorian Crystals from K’Orloch, Victor and a Skyrabian girl before.

As they headed out to the bunker and through the Badlands they came across an old friend from Moorenvale, who was lost.

“Hi ho! Haven’t you become a mixed bunch!” Asher said noticing there were four humans, an elf and two ogres all traveling together. 

He recognized Nea and Lulu from when they help save the farmers outside of Moorenvale. 

He formally introduced himself to the rest of their party, “I am Asher,” then asked if they might be willing to do him a favor. 

“What do you need?” asked Princess Nea. 

Asher looked from side to side, “Well, I must find a small elf farm up here in these Badlands. I was told by Nakisha to deliver a package.” 

“Well, maybe we can help.” Nea offered, remembering the magic compass they found. It was a compass that would point in the direction of whatever someone was searching for.

She walked over to him and handed him the compass. Immediately the compass pointed in the opposite direction from which Asher was hiking - and the same direction as Nea, Lulu and their friends were headed. 

“I could use a small distraction myself,” said O’Lah. “Why not. Let’s help him.”

“Me too!” agreed Phin. 

Coryn, who was an elf, was a little more curious about the package. He knew that the Badlands used to be inhabited by elves. Not just any elves, but elf royalty. Some legends said they were still there under an enchanted spell. 

“What do you have in the package?”

“I’ll tell you what,” Asher said, ready to make a deal, “get me to the farm, safe and sound, and I’ll show ya.”

Paul immediately took the bait. “Of course!”

So they followed the compass until they came upon a small elf farm out in the middle of nowhere surrounded by a field and an orchard and a few animals - far less animals then they would expect for a farm out here.

Asher walked up to the door. Lulu noticed there were still a few baby birds, a pig and two goats left in the animal pens to the side.

The door slowly opened.

“Asher, what are you doing here? You can’t be here!” exclaimed the elf inside. “It’s too dangerous, we’ve already lost most of our animals. We can’t lose anyone else.”

“That’s why I’m here.”

“And your friends? They will draw too much attention.” She whispered, trying to keep her voice down. 

“Not with this.” He said pulling out a small prism.

The elf recognized it immediately. It was a special magic prism. The type that changed someone’s physical appearance - or the appearance around them - to be something else. These prisms were used by elves across Atheria to hide their existence and allowed their towns and cities to be camouflaged. Different prisms were enchanted in different ways. This was how the Forest of Forevermore and the Forest of Nevermore stayed hidden.

“It’s too dangerous out here.” Asher said, “You need protection. You have done a great job keeping watch, but if the ogres get too close. You are too important for us to lose now that we’re this close.”

“Ok, hurry! Hurry inside.” And they all entered the small farmhouse.

As they all sat inside, one of the elves used the prism to create an illusion around the farmhouse. For anyone that didn’t know it was there, they would see a large hill and the only way to see them would be to walk around the fake hill one direction then walk back the other direction and then crawl through a small cave. 

That night, the adventurers asked the elves about the griffins and they shared that the animals - the three griffins and a red dragon - were being held close by in a large pen.

The group decided that the next day they would head over to the pen and rescue the griffins, but not before Lulu, Coryn and Asher decided to spend some time with the animals out back, including a few little ducklings. 

***

Early in the morning the adventurers decided to head out to the camp. 

When they got close enough to see the griffins and Cinder, they were surprised to see how big the griffins were. It was like they had aged five times the normal speed of a griffin.

“Yep! That’s definitely magic,” Coryn said. As an elf he was more familiar with griffins than other races.

They decided that the best thing to do would be to conceal their identities in case they were found out. Princess Nea and Lulu had magic cloaks that would turn them into ogre versions of themselves and would use them to get close to the pen and free the griffins. The rest of the group would hold back and, if needed, use their crystals to protect them.

Nea and Lulu made there way to the pen and slowly opened the gate. The griffins and the red dragon, upon seeing the girls barely moved. They could smell Princess Nea and Lulu even underneath the magic cloaks. They could tell they were old friends. 

“This is Cinder!” Nea whispered, recognizing the red dragon from the Withered Isle. 

Meanwhile Lulu just hugged the griffins. 

“Lulu! We need to hurry!” she said, using her red crystal to burn the ropes that held them down. 

Then something completely unexpected happened.

“Quack!” 

Lulu froze in her tracks. It was coming from her pocket - a small bird sound. 

“Quack, quack!” it came again. 

Nea looked at Lulu, astonished. Lulu reached her hands in her pockets only to find a stow-away baby bird. Not just any bird, though, a duck. One of the ducklings from the night before must have hidden themselves in her pocket to stay warm. 

Lulu tried to hold it’s little beak shut, but it quickly bit her hand. 

“Ow!” she said, dropping the duck on the ground. 

“Shhhhhh!” Nea said, but it was too late. An ogre guard made his way out from one of the tents and whistled, signaling other guards.

“What do you think you two are doin?” yelled the guard. 

Before Nea could turn around, or Lulu could get out her crystal, behind the guards floated a large ominous figure followed by the ogre K’Orloch, the tricky elf Hazel and the boy Victor. This floating figure was one they’d never seen before. He carried a large staff that he pointed towards the princesses which immediately froze their hands and feet. 

“It looks like we have company!” he said. “They’ve walked right into our trap. The two princesses who have been ruining my plans. Finally here, and they were silly enough to bring their crystals. Did you really think those cloaks would fool me?”

The guards next to him just stood there with their spears. 

Who was this wizard, the princesses thought. Was he behind all the crystals after all? 

“Let’s have some fun with this little duckling.” He said, referring to Lulu (and not the duck). “It seems you have a fascination with ducks. How would you like to become one?” he smiled, pointing his large staff at Lulu and giving a chuckle. 

The K’Orloch and Victor smiled. However, Hazel looked unsure. 

What the wizard or his friends hadn’t noticed was that the ropes that Nea had burned were loose enough to free the griffins and Cinder by now. And just as he was casting his spell, one of the griffins jumped towards the guard and in front of the wizards spell. Cinder let out a blood curdling scream. 

As his spell completed it hit the griffin instead of Lulu. And right before her eyes the griffin began to transform into a duck.

K’Orloch fumbled for his black crystal but he was too late. 

The rest of the party had gotten close enough and were starting to use their crystals on the mysterious wizard. 

“Quick!” Paul shouted, “For Atheria!”

The four of them pulled out their crystals, which began to spin together. Nea and Lulu could feel the dark magic weakening. They held out their two crystals as well. A huge circle of blue, purple, gray and orange light began to swirl and then burst from the group, while another swirl of red and yellow began heading for the floating wizard. 

Realizing he was surrounded by more Keepers, the wizard chanted a spell which created a billow of black smoke from his staff that encompassed him, his guards and the others  before the rainbow surge of power could reach them. There was nothing left but an empty black cloud of smoke which the beam of multicolored light flew through. 

Immediately Cinder screeched loudly. Sad that the wizard had escaped. The whole party stood there for a minute. 

The Keepers had had their first encounter with a dark wizard and needed a minute to catch their breath. It was clear now that they had to be much more careful if they were going to finish healing the temples, there was a greater force at work. 

The end.