Maria awoke slowly, groaning slightly as she sat up. Sleeping on the ground, especially outside, wasn’t particularly comfortable. Not even the sleeping bag cushioned her from the one rock pressing into her side all through the night.

The wind was gentle, and though it was slightly chilly, the tent Chariot had pitched helped block most of it. She was still sleeping peacefully beside Maria in a tunic and soft trousers.

Quietly, Maria undid the ties keeping the tent flaps bound tight, and climbed out.

The sun was only just rising.

Their camp was nestled in a small clearing between two trees. Another tent was across from Maria, housing Tanalia and Lycia. Their tent flaps were left slightly open. She caught glimpses of Tanalia as the tent flap whipped in the wind. She was naked, shamelessly sprawled out while Lycia was curled up into a ball against her. The demi-human had changed into a soft woolen tunic, with matching trousers, and a cloak wide enough she could completely wrap herself up in it like a blanket, which she was doing. The camouflage coloring almost made it look like she was wrapped up in a cocoon. Her ears gave her away though, as they poked out from under the hood.

Between the two tents was a makeshift fire. That had gone out during the night. Maria rose quietly and retrieved another bundle of sticks before igniting the campfire with {Flames}. It was a good idea to start breakfast when everyone woke up. She had gone out, and gathered ingredients before departing, leaving them in her inventory for safekeeping. The pot materialized in Maria’s hands, to which she placed atop a grate over the fire. After pouring in some liquid, she got the stew going, tossing the ingredients in. The sky transitioned from dark to a soft palette of purples and pinks as the sun gradually rose over the horizon.

She was thankful Chariot carried the camping equipment in her inventory. Tanalia brought little to contribute to the camp though, aside from a morning view.

One by one they all awoke.

Lycia unfurled from her curled-up position, and stretched, pushing Tanalia as she sprawled out and yawned. Her ears perked up, and her tail started to wag as she sniffed the air, and crawled out of the tent on all fours. “What are you cooking?” she asked intently.

“St-”

“Wait, don’t tell me!” Lycia cut Maria off and sniffed the air. “Carrots... onions... potatoes aaaaaaaand…”

“Spinach,” Maria chuckled.

“Hey, I said not to interrupt me!”

“Show off.”

“It smells good.”

“Thanks. I’ve never been much of a cook. I just know a few recipes my mom taught me.”

It didn’t take long for the others to wake, and by the time Maria was finished with breakfast, the four sat huddled around the warm fire.

Lycia sipped at her stew, licking the broth off the side of the bowl when she was finished. Her ears were flat against her head.

“Are you feeling okay?” Chariot asked her.

“I am. I’m just… nervous.”

“So you’re not okay,” Tanalia said.

“N- No, I am. Haven’t you guys done something scary before?”

Maria scoffed. “Way more in the last month than ever in my life.”

“I haven’t used one of these before.” Lycia retrieved the invisibility potion from her inventory and shook the vile. The liquid inside was a tint of light gray, and bubbling, despite there being no heat under the flask. “What if something goes wrong?”

“Did you brew it correctly?” Chariot asked.

“Of course I did… I hope. Invisibility potions aren’t impossible to brew, just a bit time-consuming.”

“Are you sure you thought this plan through?” Maria asked.

“Of course I have!”

“Griffons have more heightened senses than we do,” Chariot explained.

“So do I. I already walk barefoot, so I can move a little quieter, I know how to sneak around, I’ve done it before.”

“Yeah, but you also mentioned that invisibility potions don’t turn your clothes invisible,” Maria said. “Wouldn’t it see you coming anyway?”

“No, I just have to get naked.”

“You’re fine with that?” Maria perked up excitedly.

“She is,” Tanalia said with a sly grin.

“Of course I am! I don’t have that big a problem with people seeing me naked. Here, I can prove it,” Lycia grabbed the hem of her tunic and started lifting it.

“N- No, no, no, that’s fine,” Chariot quickly said. “You don’t have to prove it. Your word’s good enough,” she chuckled awkwardly.

“No, I want to see her prove it,” Maria quickly said. “Just so we know she’s okay with it.”

“She doesn’t have to,” Chariot reinforced.

Tanalia grabbed the hem of Lycia’s tunic, and hoisted it up over the demi-human head anyway, leaving her blind as the shirt blinded her, and left her arms awkwardly straining upwards. She was braless, and against the chilly morning air, her nipples had hardened.

“Tanalia!” Chariot shouted.

“Fine,” she groaned and pulled the demi-human shirt back down. “She doesn’t have a problem with it, I don’t know why you’re getting so worked up. Don’t go thinking I wasn’t aware of what you two were doing last night.”

“At least we’re decent right now,” Chariot blushed. “You’re still naked!”

“And that’s a problem, how?”

“It isn’t,” Maria said, her eyes wide as her gaze darted between the elf and the demi-human.

“Anyways,” Lycia continued, trying to get the conversation back on track, “It’ll be quick. I drink the potion, strip, sneak over, pluck a feather, and we run away, simple as that.”

“And what if something goes wrong?” Chariot asks. “What if the griffon spots you anyway?”

“It won't, I’ll be careful.”

“But what if it does? Do you have a backup plan?”

Lycia stared absentmindedly at Chariot for a moment before quietly slurping her stew.

“She doesn’t need a backup plan,” Tanalia said. “I don’t have backup plans and I’m alright.”

Chariot narrowed her eyes. “That’s the problem with you.”

“Having a backup plan is a good idea,” Maria said. “I haven’t faced a griffon before either, and I’d at least want to know that in case something goes wrong I can fall back on something.”

“It’ll be hard to come up with a plan without knowing the layout of the land first,” Chariot said. “We can come up with something more concrete when we find the nest. For now, the plan can be as simple as stepping in and intervening if anything goes wrong.”

“If something goes wrong, then I do know all the basic spells,” Lycia said.

“You do?” Maria glanced back at her.

“Mhm. I’m not a high level, I just needed enough skill points to learn them all. That way I can use them in potion brewing. It’s quite helpful.”

“You’re going to battle a griffon with level-one spells?

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

“I’d rather not, but I can if I need to.”

Tanalia scoffed. “You’re lucky we’re here.”

***

When they reached the base of the mountain, Maria craned her neck back to look at it. A dense, pine forest ran up the steep slopes of the mountainside. The ground was brown with mulch, dead twigs, and thin green pine needles. It never ceased to amaze her how beautiful this world looked. Compared to the relatively flat and destroyed roads of where she was from, seeing such grand mountainscapes that she could have only read about in books was something that was never going to get old.

They combed the mountainside, searching for any signs of the griffon's nest. Of course, they kept their eye on the sky as well. Maria was more nervous about the griffon silently swooping down to finish her off in the blink of an eye than she was tumbling down the mountain.

It took nearly a day of searching, but the group was able to come across the griffon's nest, perched atop a cliffside with a steep slope leading into the pine forest. With where it was the beast could overlook nearly the entire pine forest, and thankfully it wasn’t home. The cliff it was built on however wasn’t the easiest to move around on. The drop below, while not a straight one, was a gradual slope of gravel, and smaller rocks. One tumble-down wasn’t looking like the most fun experience. There seemed to be several small crevices up the slope as well, deep and wide enough to hide in if they needed to. Maria approached the nest. It was made from thick branches, pine needles, straw, and bones. To their back, was the face of another cliff, though one with a narrow walkway up. Dense foliage and fauna ran along the base of it, giving the group plenty of places to hide.

Maria pursed her lips. They were high above the forest, with nothing but boulders and bushes to hide behind. Further along, the cliff path was a large boulder and a mound of overgrown vegetation that slipped over it, making the boulder glazy and soggy looking. They could hide behind them, or perhaps split up to be less noticeable.

“I have an idea,” Maria said. “Tanalia, why don’t you stay hidden up on that perch above.”

“Why?”

“You can keep an eye on the griffon from above when it returns. If anything happens while Lycia tries to get the feather, you can shoot it unsuspectingly with an arrow.”

“Why not hurl a sticky bomb at it? That’ll do more than an arrow.”

“What if you hit Lycia?” Chariot asked.

“Yes, what if you hit me?” Lycia chimed in. “OR what if you burn up all the feathers?”

“Do you even have any more sticky bombs?” Maria asked.

“No, I ran out some time ago. They aren’t easy to buy, you have to craft them, but I haven't had time to harvest slimes for it following the two of you around.”

“And let’s keep it that way,” Chariot said.

“You’re no fun.”

Lycia hopped into the nest and started looking around.

“What are you doing?” Maria asked.

“Hoping that it lost one of its feathers in here. It doesn’t look like it though,” she said with a pout.

“Then we wait for it to arrive and we can just kill it,” Tanalia said.

“We don’t have to kill it,” Chariot said. “I don’t know about you, or the others, but I speak for myself when I say I’m not too eager to fight a griffon, especially if it’s going to be dark out.”

“I’m not either,” Maria said. “Lycia and I can hide behind that boulder over there. Chariot, you could hide in the bushes, and spring out in case anything happens.” That way we have three different points we can attack the griffon from in case we have to.

“That sounds like a decent plan,” Chariot said.

“Sounds boring,” Tanalia added.

“That doesn’t make it a bad plan.”

“It does to me.”

“I like it,” Lycia said. “Let's do that.”

“What do we do in the meantime?” Tanalia asked.

“We wait.”

The elf groaned and glanced tiredly up at the cliff face she had to scale. She started muttering something passive in elvish, but Maria didn’t quite catch any of it. She followed Lycia over the bushes lining the wall of the cliff. There was a large boulder beside the bushes from which they could hide behind, and remain undetected. At least, that’s what she hoped. Maria sat down with Lycia and waited… and waited… and waited. As the silence persisted though, she looked over to the demi-human. She looked bored herself waiting for the griffon's return.

“Hey, Lycia,” Maria said.

“Hm?”

“I’ve been meaning to talk to you about Moffavan.”

“What about him?” Lycia tilted her head.

“He seems… harsh.”

“To me? I know, he comes off that way but I know he cares about me.”

“I don’t think he does. I’ve seen this kind of thing back where I’m from. I don’t know the whole story between you and him, but from the sounds of it he didn’t want to take you in, and the only reason he did was so you would stop bugging him.”

Lycia’s ears fell flat against her head. She went still and took a deep breath. “I… I know.”

Maria looked back at her somberly.

“I’m trying to stay positive, but I know he doesn’t like me. I want to work under him though, I’ve looked up to him my whole life. I know that if I can do good enough I can turn that around. Nothing I do is working though.”

Maria stayed quiet for a moment and sighed. “At least you’re aware of it.”

“This has to work though. I can prove myself to him if I can brew this potion.”

“And what if it doesn’t?”

Lycia shook her head and clenched her fist. “I- It has to.”

***

The wind howled. As the sun set, and the sky turned orange and red, an unsettling sickness rose from the pit of Maria’s stomach. At first, she thought it was what she had eaten for breakfast that made her feel so awful, but it was the stress. An entire day they waited, and with each passing hour closer to dawn, the possibility of the griffon showing up grew larger and larger.

Long shadows were cast on the forest from the towering peaks above, and from which the wind swept through. The scraggly cliffs carried a symphony of whistling echoes that, while oddly calming, did nothing to relieve Maria of any tension.

A cry traveled in the wind.

Amidst the towering rocks, the creature finally appeared. It soared effortlessly through the air, its mighty wings outstretched. The Razerfoot Griffon's powerful talons, sharp and deadly, dangled beneath its massive body. As the creature banked left, preparing for a graceful descent, Maria caught sight of something in their grasp. A corpse of some kind. Dinner most likely.

From a distance, the griffon appeared larger than life, but as it grew closer, Maria's heart only raced more and more. It landed in the nest, dropping the corpse of a deer into it. Its body, muscular in stature, was covered in a sturdy layer of brown feathers. There was but a single streak of white feathers that wrapped around its torso like an inflatable tube. The griffon was adorned with a fierce crown and a curved beak. It surveyed the pine forest below with an intensity that matched its reputation. Intelligent eyes, like gleaming orbs of amber, caught the setting sunlight and reflected a piercing gaze that seemed to penetrate Maria. She only peeked out so far from behind the rock, not wanting it to see her. The beast arched its head up and let out a primal roar that echoed into the valley below. It sent a chill down Maria’s spine. The griffon then let out a low rumble, a mix of contentment and territorial warning, its long tail coiled up like a pig’s. It stood tall, its body exuding confidence and dominance, its wings folded neatly against its muscular body. It turned and knelt over to devour the deer.

Maria could only watch as it tore the animal to shreds with ease. The bones snapped under the might of its beak-like twigs beneath her boot. The skin was peeled effortlessly; it was like how Maria would peel the skin off of a chicken. Blood and viscera splashed up onto its beak, staining its yellowish-gold coloring. A pungent smell, worse than the smell of the griffon itself, reeked in the air.

Maria: Yeah, maybe this was a bad idea.

Tanalia: Too late now, we're stuck here, unless we want to alert it of our presence.

Chariot: Do you think it can smell us?

Maria: Maybe. As long as we keep still and quiet, we should be alright.

Tanalia: I don’t know how it can smell us when it’s scent is that strong.

For another grueling hour, the group had to sit still in silence. The griffon had left nothing of the deer, not even bones. It had finally curled up in its nest and closed its eyes. Even sleeping its breathing was heavy. The sky had completely darkened, and the group was left with nothing by the moonlight to see. Maria looked back at Lycia, who had been sitting behind her for some time. She looked nervous, her ears flat against her head, and her eyes wide as she tried to control her breathing. Maria made a gesture with her hands, asking if the demi-human was ready. When she got a nod in response, she messaged Tanalia.

Maria: Tanalia, get your arrow ready.

Lycia retrieved the invisibility potion from her inventory, and slowly uncorked the vile. The bubbling ceased upon the liquid's contact with fresh air. The demi-human looked at the potion for a moment, hesitating at first, before downing the liquid. She quickly slammed her elbow against her mouth and tried to hold in a cough.

Her skin faded first, revealing her muscles and blood vessels before they too faded. Layer by layer her body faded before there was nothing left but pure transparency. There were no reflections or obvious indicators that she was even there, save for the clothing she was wearing. With how it looked, Maria wouldn’t have second-guessed she was sitting next to a ghost. Lysia’s tunic, trousers, and cloak all levitated naturally. They soon started to undo themselves. The cloak fell, and Lysia’s tunic was lifted, before falling limp atop the cloak. The trousers soon followed, bunching up as Lycia slipped them off until all Maria could see was a pair of floating panties. They too fell limp and were tossed aside.

Maria stared at the pile of clothes. “God damn it! Why couldn’t she have drunk the potion after she took them off?” She screamed internally.

The pebbles shuffled a few feet away, then another foot, then another. Even though Maria couldn’t see her, it was easy enough to tell where she was walking. The earth wasn’t doing her any favors. Maria’s thumb started to press hard against her silver ring and rub it.

As she drew closer, the griffon settled. The beast rose its head, and Maria held her breath. Lycia had stopped moving. The griffon turned its head slightly, looking in Maria’s direction. She ducked behind the cover of the boulder and waited. Her heart was beating in her ears.

Maria: Is it still looking my way?

Tanalia: Yes. Stay hidden.

Chariot: It's laying its head back down.

Maria: What about Lycia?

Chariot: She’s out there?

Tanalia: I saw some of the ground shuffling, but I wasn’t sure if it was her or not.

Maria: It was. Keep an eye on her.

Maria peeked out from behind cover. The griffon stirred, and lowered its head again, nestling into the mound of straw and pine twigs.

Lycia took another step forward. She soon stood before the nest, and, hopefully, within arms reach of the griffon.

Maria waited with hilted breath for something to happen. She lost sight of just where Lycia was. She had stopped walking, and with the griffon completely still, it was impossible to tell. Then, a single white feather rose and was plucked from the beast.

The griffon's tail launched to the side, coiling around the invisible girl before the tip of it snapped against her, and she let out a shrill cry of pain.