Meanwhile, Back at the Ranch...

[Gryphon the Pure]

(Non-combat backstory)The carpenter had thought it a peculiar contract when he installed the door to this study, halfway up the wall and leading nowhere but a two-story drop to the ground. Equally peculiar was the view that anyone passing by might notice, of a doorbell puller hanging off the second-story wall of an otherwise unspectacular cabin. But to Stiltzkin and his kind, these oddities were utility.Stiltzkin looked up from his work to the jangling of the bell over the door. He hopped up on his chair and took a leap over his desk, rustling the papers spread across it as his tiny wings propelled him toward the door. He flipped the latches and stepped back as the door swung open. "I was beginning to think I would never see you again; alas one can only hope. Please, enter."A thin and fit young bear-like lad hopped onto the base of the doorway, and down from there into the room. A small red bauble bounced above his forehead, suspended by a tail-like spire extending from between his pointed ears. His head and body were wrapped in cloth, and he removed this outercoat and hung it on a nail beneath the door. "I cannot deny my destiny, old friend. Your hopes are of little hindrance. I am sure you know the reason for my visit?"Stiltzkin flew up to latch the door; as he did, he remarked, "It is not my place to know your reasons, but I have my doubts that you yourself know why you are here, Moguo." He stopped his wings and fell with a light thud to the carpeted floor of his study. He was by no means the lightest of moogles, but his image fit his personality, for he was old and rich with experience. He waddled across and set himself down upon a cushion on the floor, gesturing to another for his guest."My business is brief; I shall stand." Moguo replied as he shuffled toward the desk, whose legs had been shortened so as to accomodate the smaller stature of a moogle. He shuffled a few pages before finally stating his business, "The time has come for me to fulfill my destiny; I shall take up the arms of my forefather and lead this broken excuse for a governance to glorious victory over her oppressors. Where is the Halberd of Retribution?""I must say, you are a boy of vision, but I fear your eyes are larger than your stomach, and both smarter than your head. You cannot hope to lead a nation when you can hardly lead your high school class. Do you even know the true name of your grandfather's weapon?" Stiltzkin inquired."I am not a boy!" Declared Moguo defiantly, evidently still stuck on that point. After a few moments, he continued, "Of course I know its name: the Halberd of Retribution, taken as royal symbol by Kaiser Mog the first, following the death of Mortis Mercator the secon—""WRONG. Did you know that on the day of his coronation, Mog went through nearly an arsenal before choosing the blade which you know as the Halberd of Retribution?" Stiltzkin was now standing, but with his tiny moogle legs, one would hardly notice the difference. "Mog originally took the halberd in place of the Kaiserial blade of tradition, known as the Sword of Vengeance. The true name of the blade wielded by the Mog Kaiser is the Halberd of Vengeance. It is not a blade of holy judgement as your name for it would suggest. This blade is only as good or evil as its bearer." As he spoke, he stepped toward a cabinet against the back wall, and here he opened it to show the head of that legendary blade, gathered by Stiltzkin himself after the final battle.Moguo jumped across the room to stand beside Stiltzkin, gazing in awe at the blade locked behind glass in the old Moogle's cabinet. "It's so... short."The old man sighed and settled his stance. "You are even more naïve than I thought. The Halberd of Vengeance, whole, was more than triple this length, but in the Mog Kaiser's final battle, the weapon's head was removed by its brother, the Sword of Vengeance, wielded by Letifer Alcadian H'Graa. Their blades are of the same work, but the sword's edge met the halberd here, where there is no edge, and cut it clean off." Stiltzkin gestured to the cut, where the metal and wood were flat and polished. "It is in no condition to be used, but neither are you in any condition to use it. I guarantee I shall mend it better than it ever was before your destiny truly does call. Now—" and he slammed the cabinet shut as he said this, "—let us hear why it is you think you have come."