Haukland, 1015
Rijtsfaal stared at the waves on the shores of Haukland in boredom. The Feathisian Organization for the Liberation of the Fatherland had sent two representatives to Haukland to meet up with their foreign contact, a griffon by the name of Tcatnok.
Turning to Gebakken who was talking to one of the locals. Rijsttafel could quite clearly see that he was enjoying his time here, after all, Gebakken was a merchant before the annexation and joined the FOLF after dodging the draft. He clearly knew much about Haukland and many of the merchants.
Rijtsfaal groaned and looked back at the sea. They had been searching for two days since their arrival, their only lead was that Tkatnok would have a contact waiting for them on the west beach, but so far they had no luck in identifying who it was. The waves lapped against the beaches lazily. His thoughts turned back to life back before he joined the FOLF. He lived a simple life as a farmer, not earning much but lived an honest life. Rijtsfaal worked on the land owned by his father, which was also owned by his father's father, which also owned by his father's father's father, and so on.
But that simple cycle of life was disrupted by the invasion of Feathisia by the Imperials over in Griffenhiem. His farmland notably was ruined when an Imperial bombing run hit his farmlands due to the column of Feathisian soldiers who just so happened to be marching near his farm.
With his livelihood ruined, Rijtsfaal at first didn't want to join the Resistance. He - like many farmers - protested against the Imperial Government, demanding compensation for their destroyed farmlands. What followed was a crackdown and the ceding of Feathisian farmland to Imperial businessgriffs, and that's what properly pushed Rijtsfaal and a bunch of other farmers over the edge.
Since then, he had been running around Griffonia and wherever the Griffonian Empire went. Sabotaging railways, cutting telegram wires, and hampering construction with the few resources they had. The FOLF was soon joined by various other resistance organizations, ranging from The People's Resistance Front in Skynavia to the Aquelian Royalist Restoration Organization.
Even as the Imperials tried stamping them out, war after war brought more and more resistance fighters that were more than willing to overlook ideological and cultural differences to fight against the common threat.
And that brought himself back to current situation. The Imperials were at war with both the River Federation and the Wingbardians, getting itself bogged down in a two-front war. The River Federation had somehow managed to contact the FOLF and asked if they wanted some assistance in their resistance endeavours.
They planned to meet by sundown on the fifth of March on the Southern port of Haukland. Rijtsfaal and Gebakken arrived here several days earlier, under the guise of a couple of fishergriffs who decided to stop around in Haukland. Their foreign allies told them that there was something with Tactnok that they wanted for FOLF to pick up. After arriving in Haukland, Rijtsfaal and Gebakken had to play the searching game, trying to find the whereabouts of the elusive contact.
Rijtsfaal turned back to Gebakken to see him waving away the new friend he made. A local griffon with a grey coat. Probably an actual fishergriff.
"You done looking for drinking buddies?" Rijtsfaal joked.
Gebakken merely rolled his eyes, "While you're sitting on yer ass looking at the sunset, found our little Riverlander friend's location. He's at the fish n' chip restaurant around the corner,"
Gebakken was a scrawny griffon, jokingly called "Slank" due to how thin he was. The tips of his feathers were of a yellow shade like of grain, and the rest were of a brown colour which showed his Herzlander origin, in contrast to Rijtsfaal's Feathisian Trademark Grey.
"Why a fish n' chip restaurant?"
Gebakken shrugged, it was better to go along with it then question your supplier's quirks.
The Isem Fish n' Chips restaurant on the corner of the street was a small institution. Many patrons came and went, but the restaurant remained. The restaurant itself had seen many things, smugglers, lovers, and many more.
Rijtsfaal and Gebakken entered the room, ringing the bell above the door. Gebakken wore a trilby while Rijtsfaal kept his bowler hat on. Several patrons took a look at the entering griffons. There were griffons, ponies, and several other species, most of them merely glanced at them before returning to their meals.
Both of them walked up to the counter, taking off his hat, Gebakken faced the cashier.
"I'm here for a... uhh..." Gebakken took a piece of a paper with some writing from his hat, "a so-called 'Special Meal' from a friend that goes by the name of Tkatnok,"
The cashier tapped her chin, "Tkatnok? Don't you mean Tcatnok? Griffon with a limp? Weird Accent? Fucked up beak?"
"Ah yes sorry," said Gebakken, "I just say Tkatnok just to piss him off,"
The cashier smiled, "He's in the back, been waiting for you for some time,"
Gebakken nodded and slid the cashier several Idols and walked to the back of the restaurant, Rijtsfaal followed him while keeping an eye on the many patrons of the restaurant. Most of them only paid them a glance, knowing full well of their intentions here.
The back part of the restaurant was run down, there was fungus on the ceiling and several cockroaches ran around on the floor. Gebakken looked in disgust while Rijtsfaal paid the little creatures no mind, having lived on a farm his whole life, bugs weren't a problem to him.
Reaching the backroom of the restaurant, near the cold storage room, the duo entered a room with a table in the centre and a griffon waiting for them at the back of the room. True to the cashier's description, Tcatnok had a fucked up beak, one whose top and bottom parts, if closed, did not meet.
"Tcatnok?" Rijtsfaal asked.
"Who's speaking?" The griffon inquired, his accent a combination of Wingbardian and New Marelandian.
"Rijtsfaal, and this is my partner Gebakken" - Rijtsfaal pointed at the griffon next to him - "And we heard you had something that could help with our business venture in Feathisia,"
"Well then, glad to see we ended up meeting the right people then, Signore," Tcatnok said, "And before we continue, nothing leaves this room, capisce?"
"Indeed Mr Tcatnok," said Gebakken, walking over to the table where a duffle bag sat. "What devices do you have?"
Rijtsfaal made sure the door behind them was locked before walking to stand next to Gebakken. Tcatnok walked over the table, and Rijtsfaal took note that the cashier was true about the Griff's limp. "Well you see, R&D has recently made quite an advance in explosive technology,"
Tcatnok opened the duffle bag, revealing several white blocks. Texture similar to wallpaper and white similar to the whitest snow.
"We were hoping for explosives Mr Tcatnok," started Gebakken, "not illicit substances,"
"No, no, no," said Tcatnok, waving a dismissive claw, "This is a state of the art, E-4 Explosives. Completely resistance to physical shocks, fires, and just about everything a normal explosive would explode from. You would need one of this-"
Tcatnok pulled out a small stick, with a small notable button on one end
"-a detonator to blow this baby up,"
"Interesting, how big of an explosion can this thing do?" Inquired Gebakken, not wanting to waste time. Rijtsfaal looked at the several blocks of explosives with the worry of its destructive capabilities.
Tcatnok shrugged, "R&D didn't give specifics, but they said you could knock out a beam of a structure with only half a kilo,"
"Half a kilo?" Exclaimed Rijtsfaal, "Quite Impressive!" The usual type of explosives that they usually used was dynamite, the very easily blown up type and where you would need at least two kilos to blow out a beam of a structure.
"Crystals and a whole lot of chemicals, it also causes fire in the area that just blew up," Tcatnok answered, quite nonchalantly. "R&D wouldn't disclose the full list of ingredients,"
"How much do we owe you?" Asked Gebakken.
"This is all free, just create as much chaos as possible, my superiors want to make the Imperials focus elsewhere other than the fronts," Tcatnok placed the block and detonator he took out earlier back in the duffel bag. "This is fifteen kilos, and this-"
Tcatnok pulled up another duffel bag, but bigger than the first one, and placed it on the table.
"-is twenty,"
Gebakken smiled insanely at Tcatnok, "Thank you, Tkatnok,"
"It's Tcatnok, and leave before some other patrons get too interested in what we're doing here,"
As the two Griffons exited the restaurant, a duffel bag with each of them. The sun had just passed its apex and many more creatures were walking the street. Adjusting his trilby, Gebakken began walking back to their pick up point with Rijtsfaal behind him.
As they rounded a corner, Rjitsfaal turned to Gebakken.
"How do you think we're gonna use this?" Rijtsfaal asked.
"Dunno, from what our friend has said we need to create as much chaos as possible to draw their attention away, how're we gonna do that?"
"Well, no matter what we're gonna do, we're doing this for the Fatherland,"
"For the Fatherland,"