Welcome to the start of the first official mission in Adventures in Loathing! For being the first official mission, we had some pretty decent activities on the boards, although I'm hoping future missions blow it away, if you get my drift. Prince Blahking, Sebastian Dash, and Konall Bearsmasher all made return apperances here, as did Fluffy Hamster, who appeared as a cameo in the sample Rollover.

This also saw a couple of new debuts for AiL: Fenninarnos and Raw Hide showed their faces for the first time, as did another surprise entry into AiL - TheChad, who showed up during the second collaboration between Sebastian Dash and Prince Blahking.

It was a bit of a delay after this, due to some misfortunes on net and communications, but AiL is currently starting up it's second official mission. Here's to a good many more, with a good deal less downtime between them!

On to a very well written Rollover- Your Funkiness's first Rollover marks the official start of AiL!

Konall stood outside his hut on the icy peak, splitting logs with his haxxor. Suddenly, his left pocket began glowing. He removed the item he had stored there, a compass. The needle of the compass was not made from lodestone, and thus it did not point north. Instead it was made from a small bit of tourmaline, a black crystal that glowed in the presence of magic and pointed to the source. The stronger the power of magic, the more the crystal shone, and the more it was deflected towards that target and away from others.

There was only one person strong enough to make Konall s compass glow so brightly it would shine through the fabric of Kronall s kilt, and that person was Blahking. Kronall distrusted Blahking as he did all mages. You never knew what a wizard s goals are. They kept an aura of mystery, and did not bother to let commoners know anything they didn t absolutely have to. Blahking was better than most, but Kronall still kept one eye on him, two when possible.

Spaz became a blur as he zipped around the newcomer with amazing speed. Blahking ignored the demon as he spoke, Are you ready for the meeting?

Yes. I m just gathering the last of the firewood, the Nord replied as he began picking up logs. I wasn t expecting you so early.

I like to be prompt. Blahking replied as he picked up a load of his own. Although he could have levitated all of it into position, he chose to do it by hand. Konall knew the mage did so out of respect for Konall s aversion to magic, though Konall would not have done anything to stop him from using a spell. Hmm A wizard who resorted to physical labor when it wasn t absolutely necessary. Maybe Blahking wasn t so bad after all. This could all be another of his manipulations, of course, but it didn t feel like it. Come to think of it, Kronall had never known Blahking to be much of a manipulator, though that certainly didn t mean it never happened.

Konall opened the door to his house and ushered the wizard in. Both set their loads by the fireplace. As Konall shut the door, he gestured at the interior and said, It s not much.

I understand. The creature comforts of life are nice, but they weigh you down when you want to travel. My own quarters are considered quite Spartan. That reminds me, do you have a store room?

Konall s house was a round hut about thirty-five feet (11 meters) in diameter. Over the years he had added onto it. There were currently four smaller huts budding off of the main one, each about twenty feet in diameter. Konall opened the door to one of these, revealing a wall lined completely with shelves. Blahking opened up his sack and upended it onto the floor, dumping out its contents. The sack was one of those that could hold an infinite amount of items, but you had to empty it completely before you could use anything inside. Consequently, there was soon a mound of weapons covering the store room and going up to four feet tall in the center. All of it was Knob Goblin gear. Konall guessed that the previous owners no longer had a use for it. The two clan members exited the room, and the Pastamancer shoved the door closed.

It was then Konall heard a scratching on the door. When he pulled it open, he didn t see anyone. Then a voice squeaked, Hi! Konall looked down. At his feet was the largest hamster he had ever seen, though it was still pretty small. The trapper instinct in him was going nuts. Still, Nordic tradition demanded protection of any guest who sought refuge in your house. Clan members whom you had invited were certainly no exception.

Soon another clan member appeared at the door. This time it was Dash. Konall greeted the rogue with a nod. This nod communicated Konall s respect for Dash s talents and an acknowledgement of the adventure they had recently shared. Dash returned with a nod that implied a thank you for Konall s sentiments and a desire to adventure again soon. And women say men never communicate.

The thief turned to Blahking and said, I m done scouting. It s much the same as we thought it would be. I ll deliver my full report when we re all ready.

Konall began laying out furs on the ground around the perimeter of the hut. Since he was a trapper, there were plenty. He eyed the Fluffy Hamster, a potential pair of mittens, and immediately shoved that thought out of his mind.

Within an hour, the last of the adventurers had entered Konall s house, and so the berserker began talking. In order to explain why you re I ll here, I first need to tell you about an event that happened a few days ago. I was out hunting in a new area, when I found an igloo in the middle of an ice field. I decided to take a look. Turns out it was the entrance to a mafia penguin villa. The whole place is carved into the ice. All the furniture, the walls, the pillars, everything is made out of solid ice. You might think the place would melt, but it doesn t. You d be surprised how much ice can stand up to the heat. Anyway, for more details I ll turn the floor over to Dash.

Konall sat down as Dash replaced him at the center of the room. The rogue began, After Konall told us what he found I was sent in to do some scouting. There are dozens of enforcers patrolling the place, and they seem pretty tough. However, they travel in a circuit, which means you can move around them. I wasn t able to explore the entire place, but I did see most of it. There s a kitchen, a dining commons, living quarters, a barracks, a sparring room, some lounge areas, and even a wine cellar.

Hold on a second, Konall interrupted, If there s a kitchen, there has to be a stove. And if there s a stove, then there s a chimney.

Correct, Dash replied. However, the chimney is pretty narrow, though it might fit Fluffy. You could also drop something down it I suppose. The rest of us will have to go through the entrance hole in the igloo. The passage is guarded, but it s just two penguins. I plan on going in first and taking them by surprise. Dash sat down and gestured to Blahking.

The prince stood up and addressed the adventurers. Now you re probably wondering where you come in to all of this. The knob goblins are looking for the Orb of the Sun, which is somewhere in a crevasse in the plains. Our goal is to get the penguins looking for this item as well. You ll be disguised as knob goblin soldiers and sent in to pretend to be looking for information on this orb. We don t actually care about the item, we just want to make the penguins start looking for it. I ve stocked the storage room with a vast array of knob weapons and armor. There are also knob goblin familiar collars for Fluffy and Zanther. Once you find the equipment that works best for you, you can have Kronall make any adjustments you may need. And remember, if you get captured or killed the penguins will find out about our ruse, and we fail. That means that we can t afford to leave anyone behind, even if they re dead.