Forged Destiny [Book 3: Ch. 7, Ch. 8]

"From what I see, the biggest problems are the fact it flies and the fact we'll have to fight it at night," Ren mused. "I wonder if there's any way for us to account for that."

"We could take out its wings," Nora suggested.

"How would we do that? None of us use bows, and we can't wheel a ballista up here."

"Where there's a will, there's a way."

"Right now, I have neither of those things," Ren sighed. "It's not like we'd be able to hit it anyway. The Griffon will be too fast in the air. We need some way to force it to land."

I blinked and looked around at the area, recalling the Quest brief we'd all read through back at Beacon. The Grimm attacked camps and travellers, drawn by the fire they used to light the way. I looked back to the ruins and smiled as a crazy plan sprung to life. We knew exactly where the Grimm would strike. We knew the terrain we'd be fighting on, and had free time to prepare it in whatever way we liked.

"I don't like that expression," Blake hissed. She'd noticed the look on my face, namely the large grin. "You're about to suggest something foolish. I can just tell."

I grinned at her.

"I think I have an idea…"

—Forged Destiny [Book 3: Ch. 7]



I'd brought the thick fur cloak from Atlas with me, and laid it over my body so that my armour wouldn't reflect the moonlight. With my face pressed to cool grass, I watched the fake camp we'd set up in the ruins.

That had been a part of my plan, and a relatively simple one at that. If the Griffon attacked camps and travellers, then it was best we gave it a target. We knew where it hunted, even if we had no idea where the nest was. All we could do was draw it to us. On the other hand, we didn't want to be attacked while we were unprepared. Our camp in the nearby woods had been a careful thing, and cold without a fire.

[...]

A thought struck me. "We should set a fire it in. The flames will be seen for miles from up here."

"And draw other Grimm as well…"

"If the area were swarming with them, we'd have known about it. We didn't see any while we were camping."

Blake hummed but didn't argue. Instead, she turned away from me and towards the camp. There was already some wood there, us having set up a tent and a small pile of it the better to trick the creature. There was even a bedroll with some rocks in it that didn't really look like a person, but might have fooled someone looking down from several hundred metres in the sky. "It's not a bad idea," she whispered dejectedly. "Fine, wait here."

—Forged Destiny [Book 3: Ch. 8]