The Young Goblin Chaos Association (YGCA) has pulled off an elaborate prank on the Goblin Council of Elders, thrown the nation into temporary panic and walked away with twice its funding.
The prank, Operation Mindwarp, ran for weeks. First came cryptic symbols on cave walls and public monuments hinting at an approaching apocalypse. Then came the "random" events: a sudden outbreak of synchronized sneezing among Council members, the disappearance of every drop of fermented mushroom juice from the Council's private reserves, and a horde of "squirrels" in tail-hats performing a synchronized dance routine in the middle of a Council meeting, which the Council, having only just lost a province to goblins in tail-hats, took very badly.
The Council, convinced it faced a dire threat, scrambled to investigate, while the YGCA watched from the shadows.
The finale came during a live broadcast of a Council session. As the Elders debated the meaning of the signs, a giant hologram of Grungle Gristle appeared before them. Gristle, it turns out, is a secret YGCA member. He revealed the whole scheme and delivered a scathing review of the Council's imagination and sense of humor.
The Council was outraged, then impressed. It declared the prank a masterpiece of goblin mischief and announced it would double funding for mental gymnastics nationwide, calling the prank proof that the programs work.
"This funding will let us reach even more young goblins and unleash their full potential for chaos," said Gristle, speaking for the YGCA.
The Council says it holds no grudge. Several Elders were overheard asking where a person might find a very large robot.
