//------------------------------//
// Fall of fort "honor" 
// Story: The Iron Chancellor 
// by Radical Centrist 
//------------------------------//

Setting: Raiders' hideout

Near the outskirts of the mountains to the west sat a dense forest, and within it there lied a burnt-out campfire with hastily laid out tents surrounding it, the tents housed a band of bandits who had just pillaged their way up north, demanding loot from the defenceless villagers and conscripting the moraless peasants into their ever-growing ranks. The warlords all seem to neglect their subjects and never send any patrols or forces to eliminate any bandit threats, as they were already too busy skirmishing their neighbours, protecting their precious mines which generated their main revenue and robbing their farmers for all they got. The bandits all knew this, as several of the villagers they looted were already barren of goods as the warlords and their army had already 'confiscated' them for their war effort. The bandit group was quite large,  consisting of 120 griffs and was still growing. This was due to the worsening conditions of the northern settlements, as several warlords had focused their attentions on the area and began fighting for it. Their reasons ranged from "protecting the poor peasants from the evil invaders," to "I just felt like it." However, their true intentions were to take over the resource-rich areas that were recently discovered, and the news spread quickly through an intricate web of lookouts and spying (not the infiltration-type, but more of the 'stalker' watch you from the shadows type). The northern settlements, once barely touched by war (however still suffering through the warlords running the area) were now an active battleground, which led many farmers and peasants to lose everything, resulting in them becoming bandits, as the risks no longer mattered, as they had everything to gain and nothing to lose. This vicious cycle kept on repeating itself, as they had no stabilising forces to stop it, and so the settlements all fell under anarchy, like every other one throughout the eastern realm. 

The bandit group called themselves the "Righteous Claws," to delude themselves as the heroes, and to clear any of their wrongdoings as being 'justified' or 'revenge,' however it was clear after killing several innocents that it was all a cruel joke. A lie to dampen the moral implications of joining a bandit party. The group did not have proper weapons nor equipment, however, it was blessed with the leadership of a deserting captain named Grazi Terrez, who was once a trusted notorious right-claw griff of one of the numerous griffon warlord in the north. However, he became disillusioned with the treatment of the peasants, and empty promises which were all dropped after a night of sleep by the warlord he was serving, so he mutinied with a squad of elite knights and attempted to assassinate the warlord during his sleep. The plot failed though, as the warlords' paranoia attacks that day had been severe, and he had stationed several morally dubious guards who served simply with the toss of a bit in front of their beaks to guard his chambers and kill any intruders. Luckily, Grazi and his treasonous squad escaped with their lives and equipment intact, however were forced into hiding. He attempted to gather up a regiment to take down the warlord, however, his greed for power and wealth blinded him, causing him to loot mindlessly and ambitiously plan an ascension to warlord-ship. 

Currently, Grazi was observing a small fort that waved a flag from the local warlord who administrated it. He had plans of storming the fort and expelling the foreign warlords' influence out of the area, so he could breathe easy knowing that their positions weren't being monitored whilst being in the open. He hated being in the forests. However, he was no fool, as storming a fort is far less fun and rewarding than raiding a defenceless village, but he had observed many weapons and armour coming into the fort over days. He had plans to steal them, march east, steal the food from the village near the path towards the castle to seige, control and consolidate power to become another warlord amongst many in the northern sectors. He also knew that the forts' garrison only consisted of 80 unmotivated, starving farmers from the nearby villages and also knew that they weren't allowed to wield the newly imported weapons in fear of them using them to rebel against their masters. However, he also knew from the recent import that there would be reinforcements coming to bulk up their garrison very soon if he didn't take the initiative and strike as quickly as possible. Luckily, he knew the forts' layouts and weak points as he had to manage it once during his service as a quartermaster captain. He just hoped that the forts' defences were unchanged from the last time he had managed it. 

Because of the aforementioned time restriction, Grazi had no time to plan the assault, nor did he have the luxury to surround the fort. Instead, he had devised a stealth operation, in which his squad and himself would infiltrate into the fort through a secret exit and seize the main gates to fortify it and force the gates open, at which time his peasant militia would have already had time to surround the fort and reveal themselves, forcing the forts' defenders to surrender in fear of being massacred. The two flaws he foresaw in this operation were that the lieutenants that he entrusted in ordering the militia in his absence might rebel, mutiny or desert, leaving him and his squad supportless or the secret exit being guarded closely or changed, as the warlords might have scrambled the defences to ensure that their mutinying captain wouldn't use it against them. Grazi could only hope.

Two lieutenants, Savoi and Tella were both entrusted with 60 griffs to surround their sections of the semi-circle around the fort, and they were struggling to effectively position their troops. They had both won their positions due to loyalty, and their devotion towards bits instead of morals had solidified their positions serving Grazi. However, they were by no means competent, as they had no military experience nor could they read or write, as they were simply farmers before joining the ranks of the "Righteous Claws". The seizing of the fort was impossible with a number this small, as they would either be forced to spread their lines too thin, and risk annihilation from a counter-attack, or be grouped up, leaving huge gaps in the lines for the enemy to use to escape or encircle them. Tella was stuck in this conundrum, as he continually scratched his head in the impossibility of the task, however, Savoi achieved a breakthrough. Despite the vagueness of Grazis' orders, Savoia grasped an idea of his strategy, which he deduced was withheld from them in fear of being used as a reason to mutiny against him, as the words around the griffs said that Grazi was still with them in the camp. Savoi realised that he simply needed to position his troops in the most open area, a place which the forts' defenders could see and fear, instead of positioning any in the forests, which the enemy couldn't see, but had to assume that they were there anyway. So why waste troops stationed in the forest, when they would assume there are anyways, with or without? Savoi reasoned. However, just before he was about to tell Tella about his discoveries, he stopped himself.  If I tell him about my plans, he would no doubt copy it, and knowing his selfishness as well as mine, he would claim it as his own... Savoi reasoned, as he had nothing to gain from revealing his plans to Tella and helping him. 

Tella, noticing Savoi in deep thought and about to approach him, asked "What's on your mind?" Innocently.

"Nothing just wanted to wish you luck in this battle," Savoi replied in an innocent tone, as he began grinning maniacally mentally, for he knew that Tella would fail not knowing that they were not preparing an attack. 

Grazi and his elite squad had snuck out in the night after telling his lieutenants to take over after citing that he was tired as an excuse, and not to disturb him. The squads' armour was tied together tightly, as to not rattle to disturb any of the guards that might be guarding the secret exit, Grazi was leading in the front as to escort his squad through the defences, which he knew as if it was the back of his claw. So far, Grazi and his griffs had not even seen a single guard on their way towards the main gates, as Grazi thanked the lords that the warlords were as still incompetent as before. So they continued crawling forward, until their pace became a crouch, to a hunch into a casual walk, as the tension around was so serene and safe, as there was no noise nor a guard insight towards the main gates. Even Grazi was perplexed with the lack of guards present within the fort, especially with the recent influx of weapons into the fort. During his time as quartermaster, without any weapons in the forts stockpiles, he could swear that he had at least 10 times the number of garrisons compared to what he was seeing now, as he was as disgusted as relieved to know that their security was so relaxed.

The band of infiltrators began to hunch once more, as they began to approach the main gates, however instead of meeting at least two guards guarding the entrance into the main gates' interiors as Grazi had expected, there were none, and the doors were wide open. However, this did not calm the griffs, as they began to feel like something was wrong with the place, especially with the chronic lack of griffs in patrols or guard duty. Grazi and his squad began thinking they were walking into an ambush. However, once entering and carefully scaling the stairs up onto the walls of the main gate, their view betrayed their suspicions, as the poorly-equipped peasants' conscripts who were meant to guard the walls and act as lookouts were sound asleep against the stone walls, facing away from the interiors as to not be discovered sleeping on their jobs. Grazis' squad found this amusing, and some began chuckling lightly, however, Grazi was baffled by the lacklustre defence for such a well-stocked fort. However, making sure that he could take advantage of the situation, he quickly ordered his griffs to begin tying them up against the individual walls that they were sleeping on. The guards all seemed sleep-deprived, as they did not even flinch upon the contact, and squeezing of the rope around their torso and limbs. This in response made Grazi finally chuckle at their undisciplined antics.

Savoi and Tella were waiting for the signal to reveal themselves from the forests to spook the forts' defenders. Tell a had spread out his troops dangerously thin as Savoi had predicted, and his griffs were all poised to jump out into the open to intimidate the defenders. Savoi had chosen to station the western sectors which faced the forts' main gates as to impress Grazi of his strategic mind, however, it had left the incompetent Tella to guard the eastern section, which he feared might collapse and sabotage the entire battle. But it wouldn't be his fault, so he paid it no mind. His soldiers were wracked with restlessness, as they attempted to calm their nerves from the incoming battle. As all the griffs say, you are more nervous when you foresee an incoming battle, than you are to die in that battle. Upon thinking about this, Savoi began inspecting his troops once more, to observe their makeshift weapons which they were wielding which were somehow intended to kill an enemy, when they could barely even chop through a termite-infested bark. During his inspection, he saw a faint light eliminating across the main gates of the forts. The signals! Savoi realised, as he began blowing a horn to order his men to advance, revealing themselves to the fort defenders as they left the thick forest, onto the start of the incline of the hill which was being lightened by the moonlight. 

The forts' defenders watched in shock, as all around them, they saw hostile griffons wielding weapons (albeit makeshift) began materialising out of the forests beneath the hill to surround their positions. Their shock soon quickly devolved into horror, as the front gates began to raise as if to welcome the sieging warband into the interiors. From directly opposite the forts' now-open gates, there seemed to be a massive army that looked poised to assault through the opening, and the eastern siegers seemed thinner, however still capable of regrouping to prevent any reinforcements. It didn't help that their fort was criminally under-griffed, as there was only 60 in total guarding the fort, only 10 of those being professional soldiers, and the rest being common pressed peasants. It would also take time to call up their reserves to griff their stations, as 30 of their peasant levies were still resting in their barracks. Upon seeing their hopelessness, as they were also completely lacking anti-air measures to defend against fliers the highest-ranking griff present, who was actually just a career soldier, called for the white flags to be unfurled atop the forts' centre keep. 

Grazi peered through the small gaps in the walls of the main gates to observe Savois' positioning of his griffs, and he was thoroughly impressed with its ingenuity. He always knew he had a good eye for picking out competent griffs from the moronic ones, but his previous fears of having to compromise in appointing the most loyal instead of the most capable damaging performance had been washed away with the performance he was witnessing, and soon enough he saw the white flag being raised for all to see. His squad cheered in triumph, as the firsts of his bandits-turned levies began entering and flying into the fort to witness the prize that they had taken without a single casualty. The forts' defenders had to watch on, as their occupiers began looting the stockpiles and the keep for any valuables or equipment that they could find. The biggest haul came when the crates that had recently arrived to supplement the defenders' weapons were opened to reveal several well-crafted swords, short spears, crossbows and halberds which were quickly picked up to arm Grazis' griffs for their upcoming campaign. 

Upon finishing their looting, Grazi finally ordered the defenders to be tied up and brought into the barracks' training grounds to be interrogated, to procure more knowledge about the enemy before they headed out to take a castle. 

"Where is your quartermaster?" Grazi asked the crowd of afraid griffs. When nogriffs answered, Grazi repeated in an impatient tone, "Where is your quartermaster?" An eerie silence followed again, however this time the fearful griffs all looked at each other briefly, until one finally stood up amongst the huddle to its hindlegs to speak. 

"He's currently residing in the castle east from here," The brave griff answered, despite his shaking he remained a coherent, and calm tone. 

"Castle to the east? How can he manage this fort from so far away?" Grazi responded sceptically, 

"It's because he didn't, he let out fort rot whilst living in luxury himself. We had actually requested those upgrades for our weapons a year ago, and it had just arrived now." The brave griff deadpanned to Grazi. "But most importantly, what will you do to us?" The brave griff faltered in his boldness slightly, when he asked those questions to Grazi. 

"You all know too much to be let go, the risk of any of you ratting us out to the warlords for a reward is far too significant of a risk to ignore." Grazi explained grimly, however, he recovered with a deal, "However... If you were to join me in my crusade against the warlords and free the common griffs,  you will be spared..." 

"So many had already given their blood for that hopeless dream, and all those we help elevate turned out to be worse than the previous warlord that we overthrew. What empty promises are you attempting to use to tempt js for your rise to infamy?" The brave griff monologued as if his words weighted a thousand souls.

"This is no negotiation, and you are in no position to garner any promises from me. It's either join or die my brave friend." Grazi cheekily replied as he saw no point in acting the angel anymore, as the griff seemed to have seen right through his lies and ambitions. 

"... At least you're honest..." The brave griff conceded, as he still wished to keep his life, so he slowly approached Grazi to shake his claws in agreement. 

"What is your name brave griff?" Grazi asked pompously. 

"Juan... Juan Petitte sir," the brave griff revealed, as he began walking into the barracks for a good night rest, but he was stopped by Grazis' wings. 

"You will be my third leuitenant Juan. I could use a realist like you to lead these 59 other griffs." Grazi proposed, but Juan could tell that it was clearly a demand. To this 'proposal', Juan simply nodded dumbly, and continued his way to the barracks, behind him 59 of the previous defenders all lined up to shake claws with Grazi and join his growing army. 

Grazi, after finishing recruiting 60 new soldiers into his army, looked over east towards the vast, dark blue skies to visualise the castle he would be soon sieging. He imagined of great splendour and power, as his beaks began to physically drool in his thoughts about the aftermath of the siege that he would be surely victorious in. Great ambitions of ruling the entirety of the north kept crossing his mind, being reinforced with his current success and achievements. The only thing stopping me now will be a small, insignificant village in the way of the castle. Grazi thought, as he began to memorise there being a village somewhere in between the fort that he was in to the way towards the castle. I will take the castle, stepping on the corpses of the village Grazi sinisterly thought, as he knew the strategic importance of the village to be used for resupplying or a rallying point for a possible counter-attack, meaning that he would need to take it before the warlord does. The last time I checked the villages, they were poor, decentralised and completely lacking any tools, no less a weapon. This will be easy! Grazi mentally laughed and blessed his luck, it would be an easy campaign.