The specific hall that the Wyldwalkers were led to was massive, though calling it the main hall was something of a misnomer. There were a few halls, and while the ‘main’ hall wasn’t the largest, it was the one most commonly used for large announcements. According to Sasha, they very rarely used any other one.
With how stuffed to the brim the main hall was at the Matriarch’s call, though, Niko wondered if it might have been a better idea to use one of the larger, less frequented ones. The hall itself reminded him somewhat of a much fancier auditorium, though unlike in his previous life, there was only the sweep of quiet murmurs and a tenseness that filled the already gathered audience. No one expected this to be good news, not in the manner in which they were summoned.
And as Anya stepped out on the platform, expression severe and a palpable, powerful aura writhing within her body, Niko assumed they weren’t wrong.
“As some of you are aware,” Anya launched into speaking without any preamble, “There are hostile presences seeking to attack Riizen. Less than an hour ago, simultaneous attacks were launched on the various encampments that were found, and four of the five were dispersed successfully.”
Only some showed any relief at that, noticing that Anya was not smiling at the unveiling of that information. “Unfortunately, one of the strike teams was unable to deal serious damage, and instead suffered significant casualties. We have, however, discovered powerful beasts that appear to be willingly aiding the Dawr Goblins. As such, it is likely that one of our neighboring mountains has joined in this assault.”
The mood in the hall plummeted at that, grave expressions all around. Niko leaned in to Sasha, seeing her tail freeze mid-air. “How bad is that?” He whispered.
Sasha turned to him fast, expression incredulous, before she regathered herself, “Right, you wouldn’t… It’s bad. It would be like finding out that your Fortress City was marshaling an army to take Greenleaf for themselves.”
He nodded at that, looking back ahead as he considered that. Niko wasn’t certain how large Ar’Kladdi was, but he knew that just having it called a ‘Fortress City’ indicated how much of an army they had. Though Niko noted that they didn’t say which mountain was attacking them, not that Niko himself knew anything about the surrounding beast mountains, but he figured that was an important detail.
Sure enough, Anya continued after allowing the news to sink in, “We don’t know for certain which mountain it is, but Sliver Peak seems the most likely.”
A wave of unrest surged through the gathered beasts, but Anya silenced them, “Each Clan is mobilizing for the possibility of a full scale war, you are to report to your household commanders within the hour, or return to your duties as instructed. Those of you who are combatants are to be allocated locations with your commanders, and you will obey the highest authority present.” She then let her aura loose upon the collective beasts within the room, “We are the Blue-Claw Clan, and we are no strangers to fighting Sliver Peak. Let them remember why they slunk away, beaten and afraid, all those years ago. Make them know what we do to those who would invade our home.” Anya growled low at that, and Niko felt a very real tremble run down his spine at the palpable anger that came from her. Answering growls and shouts answered her, and Niko almost felt himself carried along with it.
Rapidly, people began moving, and the Wyldwalkers moved off to the side to make space. Niko met his companions' gazes, settling a touch longer on Sasha’s, “Let’s see if we can catch your mother; she’ll know where we can be the most help.”
Sasha nodded appreciatively at that, “Yes, I’ll go speak with her. We must be quick.”
Niko watched her seemingly vanish before his eyes, and if it wasn’t for the minute amounts of essence that still escaped her form, he wouldn’t have even known she was there. But then, she moved, and Niko lost track of her entirely.
“Peck me, her stealth is too good now.” Niko grumbled, getting a snort and an eye roll from Skye as they followed her around the dispersing crowd.
“If you could see her all the time, it wouldn’t be a very good stealth pattern, now, would it?” The half-elf teased, but then added seriously, “So, we’re all joining another war?”
“It does seem that way,” Dachna scratched his stubble-covered chin thoughtfully, “Y’know, I’m beginning to fear that this pilgrimage is leaning a little more into big battles than not.”
“There is no better way to test one's mettle.” Thokk rumbled with a chuckle.
“At least I don’t have a shop to blow up, this time.” Stella said wistfully.
Ronald laid a comforting hand on her shoulder, “Riizen is much more well defended than Greenleaf was. And this time, there are a lot more combatants ready to fight.”
The others nodded at that, with Niko keeping his misgivings to himself. Whatever happened, he liked Riizen, though he hadn’t been here for very long. The people here were hardly different from Greenleaf, and they were supporting the human city in the aftermath of disaster. If nothing else, he owed them for that, and with Sasha and Thokk now a part of their team, helping Riizen was virtually a requirement.
When they reached the platform, Anya’s gaze flicked up to them, doing a double take when she landed on Niko, “Oh, your tier up was quite dramatic, hm?”
Niko shrugged, “Seems so. Normally I’d like to practice moving around more, but the situation being what it is…”
“Indeed. I would usually celebrate my daughter’s tier up as well, but time is pressing. As I was saying to Sasha, I would prefer not to have you all on the front lines. But we do not have that luxury.” She paused for a few seconds, leaving the silence hanging between them all.
Niko noticed her gaze follow after the last few in the room, and it was Ronald who started at that, thought with a quieter tone, “There’s something else that’s wrong, isn’t there?”
Anya didn’t speak yet, waiting until the doors were closed before nodding, and then in a clipped tone, said, “Follow me.”
She didn’t wait, turning on her heels and walking away to a backdoor. Nonplussed, Niko followed after with the others. Sasha seemed no less confused, but they followed, feeling a rising sense of wariness as they moved through the doorway and then the adjoining hallway. Quick in pace, they reached a room at the end of the guest wing, where Anya strode through the open door.
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There, Ottowan waited, and Niko blinked in confusion as he saw the various pieces of gear sitting around the room.
“Your modified harness and packs are there,” Anya gestured to the object on the middle of an equipment bench, “I had the work expedited. I’m informed that the pilgrimage won’t allow you to take things for free, but you’ll have more than enough work to balance this out soon.”
“What do you need from us?” Ronald asked, eyes flicking around the room with his eyebrows furrowing more the longer he looked, “There’s some pretty powerful stuff in here.”
“Ottowan?” Anya looked over to her steward.
“The room is secure,” The black cat inclined his head fractionally, “No one should hear us.”
The Matriarch nodded, “The information given out there wasn’t wholly accurate. We dispersed four of the five encampments, but not without casualties. The Dawr Goblins drew on their fallen to empower those that remained. Our forces fell back, but we’d managed to assassinate the leadership of several of the tribes. Only two Warlords remain that we know of, though we haven’t found one of the encampments. We believe the one Skye and Niko encountered is in hiding for the time being.”
“That’s a good thing, right?” Mithel seemed confused, “You guys hit them hard and took out their leadership, that should make the coming battle easier.”
“Ordinarily, we would agree, but it seems that the Shaman’s have organized the remaining Dawr and are leading them to join with the Dawr tribe that is allied with Sliver. We aren’t aware of how long their strange blood essence will empower them, but they’re already marching and attacking anything they can get their hands on. The Rava Clan and Greenscale Clans are slowing them with skirmishes, but every loss is empowering the Dawr.” She grimaced at that, “If nothing else, they are numerous enough that such a strategy seems effective thus far. Given that, we’re putting together several strike teams that should be capable of killing a Shaman. They appear to be holding the energy together, and we hope that their loss will destabilize that advantage.”
“Seems that jumping into their midst isn’t exactly ideal?” Dachna asked, his tone neutral in spite of his words.
“Not as such,” Anya replied dryly, “I would prefer not to send my daughter or her friends to their certain deaths.”
Ronald considered the request before nodding slowly, “It’s possible, but we’ll have to attack when their forces are already engaged. We know what the shaman’s look like, and are at least somewhat familiar with how they fight. But, they’re definitely going to respond to our attacks.”
Ottowan spoke then, “There will be intervention squads on standby for the strike teams that will do their best to give you room to breathe. It’s expected that champions, possibly one of the remaining Warlords, will respond to these strikes. Our higher tier combatants are going to react when these individuals show to the field.”
“So if we hold out long enough, we’ll have support.” Niko murmured, not liking that in the least, but he knew that there wasn’t much to be done about it. The shaman’s were a major target, they needed to die.
“We can do it.” Sasha declared, before grimacing, and looking to Ronald, “Well, of course, that’s my belief.”
Ronald chuckled, but if he – or anyone else – was annoyed at Sasha for basically volunteering them, he didn’t show it. “I agree, but please excuse us for a moment.”
Anya looked to her daughter with concern for a moment, before she gave her what Niko thought was a reassuring smile. The Wyldwalkers huddled, aware that nothing they said was going to escape either of their hosts’ ears.
“Sorry for blurting that out,” Sasha’s ears were tilted back, self-chastened, “I know we’re supposed to be a team now.”
“Don’t worry about it,” Ronald shook his head, “But, just so we’re all on the same page; can we do this? I’m voting ‘yes’ with Sasha.”
The sabrecat brightened at that, and immediately found herself searching the others expressions.
“I’m against it,” Dachna began, but before Sasha could look disappointed, added, “…is what I’d like to say. We’re here, involved, and probably already tied into this by the pilgrimage. That other mountain’s forces are my biggest gripe.”
“We have no idea what they’re really capable of,” Mithel agreed, “But, Riizen has treated us more than well, so I’m in.”
Skye nodded in affirmation, “We can do it.”
“I will defend my home, to the last.” Thokk rumbled.
“I still have a lot of stuff to learn from Riizen’s crafters, and I’m not leaving until that’s accomplished.” Stella nodded sagely to herself.
“Friends!” Charlotte chittered, giving Niko the impression that she was excitedly interested.
He eyed the spider, before shrugging, and saying, “Cluck it. Friends!”
Charlotte danced at that, and Niko couldn’t help but smile at the display.
Ronald turned back to the Matriarch, “We’ll do it. We’re going to need to prepare quickly though; Mithel needs to concoct a few potions from some ingredients here with her new pattern, and Stella needs to modify whatever we need to take with us from here.”
“I thank you. You may have a few hours to work with, but I would rather you work fast. The addition of Sliver makes things more difficult to predict.” Anya nodded, “If you need anything, take it. Ottowan and I must convene with the rest of the Clan Heads and prepare.”
“Good luck, Mother. Will you awaken Father?” Sasha asked, before rubbing her head against the Matriarch. Anya smiled, returning the gesture.
“You as well, my daughter. And I cannot, but I’m sure he’ll awaken if need arises. We just need to do our best until then.” Anya ruffled Sasha’s head with her paw, before leaving.
Niko turned his gaze to Mithel, who broke out her alchemy kit and began calling out things for the others to get her. Simultaneously, they selected gear they wanted from the walls, and Stella set to work modifying and recurving sigils into them. One of her patterns allowed her a greater amount of enchantments that she could bestow on things she herself crafted, but at the very least she’d be able to get some effect by adding her own touch to the objects. Considering much of their gear was simply outdated, that was the most they could do in such a short time span.
He looked around, wondering at what he could do, before his eyes settled on the mushroom-lure potions that Mithel had concocted. An idea formed as he grinned, “Hey, someone help me get my harness on, I’m going to go bring over a friend!”
Charlotte perked up at that, and Niko hastily corrected, “Sorry, not actually a friend. I’m pretty sure it’ll try to eat me if it sees me.”
“Friend?” The confused spider looked bewilderedly at Niko, as if she had many questions in mind, but was quickly derailed as Mithel asked for several sticky threads from her.
‘Hopefully it’s sense of smell is as good as I hope it is.’ Niko mentally crossed his fingers, ‘Well, maybe not too good, though. I don’t want it trying to eat me. We all tiered up, so surely the mushroom smell is gone…’ The moment he thought about the possibility, he not so subtly knocked on the wood beneath him superstitiously, hoping that he wasn’t going to be making their problem much bigger.