|MrCr0cod1le| What? What’s your idea?

|Brindle_Fox244| Well, his ear turned toward us, so I think he’s still listening. So we’ll see how he feels about being ignored.

Interesting. Kind of far fetched, but they could always come back if Waif didn’t follow.

|MrCr0cod1le| Ok, I guess.

And with that, they all scrambled out of the thorns and into the open. Brindle walked over to the dead pond and stood there with Silver at her side.

|MrCr0cod1le| So what now?

|Brindle_Fox244| We talk. Amongst ourselves, with Silver...and about Waif, in hopes that he comes out to listen.

So, mentioning Waif’s name was important to her plan. That made sense, since NPCs had to respond according to keywords.

|KngWutsHisFace_th_3rd| Silver, why does Waif hate you so much?

Silver :: The wicked hate what is good.

|~Gold~Vein~| Spires and Cravens are both kinda arrogant, huh? I mean Waif calls Silver ugly and stupid and would probably say that about every Spire. But, Silver seems to think of himself as morally superior to everyone.

Yeah, but what could be expected when these two creatures were made to be enemies? Then again, Gold Vein could just be saying that because he knew it would use Waif and Silver’s names, since that was part of the goal right now.

Speaking of which… He looked over toward the briars again. Waif peeked around the side of the entrance, looking at them intently. Good.  Maybe an insult would draw him out all the way.

Waif deserves it, though. He’s evil, and unhelpful, and spiteful.  |SevenAteEight|

Waif  :: Not evil. Just ourselves.

Got him.

Silver :: Being yourself means being evil. How can you say otherwise when your purpose is to bother, trick and destroy?  What's worse is that your kind never even seems to understand how awful you are.

So the NPCs responded to each other sometimes? Nice.

Waif  :: You all bother me.

|Brindle_Fox244| Then why are you out here, Waif?

Waif  :: So I can bother you back.

|~Gold~Vein~| So he is spiteful.

How do you plan on bothering us? |SevenAteEight|

Waif pricked his ears forward, his creepy grin spreading wider before he bolted out of the briars, across the ravine, up the path, and out of sight.

Only a puff of dust remained in the creature’s wake, drifting away in moments. No one said anything at first.

|KngWutsHisFace_th_3rd| Well then

|MrCr0cod1le| Great. Now look what you did.

Sheesh. How was he supposed to know that would happen? He ignored the thieves and darted after Waif, though he was careful along the ravine trail. Once he was out, he saw Waif waiting at the top of the nearest hill, watching intently. Footfalls pounded up the path as all the others joined him.

|~Gold~Vein~| So how are we going to catch him?

Good question. Waif moved across the ravine far faster than he ever did. Their avatars might not have a chance.

|Brindle_Fox244| Look, he’s waiting for us. He wants us to pay attention. Ignore him, but keep talking about him, and he’ll probably come back.

That was probably all they could do, and it did work before. Might as well try it again, since it would be hard to do anything else.