Funny little note: The penguin's last name, Sciformigus, is based on a type of penguin, but that's all I'm sayin' here.

There's also my little attempt to prelude this mission, although it ends up being a false herring, so to speak.

The roleplay also starts with something out of the ordinary- it starts with a POV section for a NPC member of the Penguin Mafia. The second section then focuses on Sebastian Dash sneaking around.

And who knows? Once we're past the "Elite Seven," maybe we'll dig into the "Somber Six" someday!

Check it out below!

Life had always been alternatively fast and easy, or hard and cheap for penguins like Spencer Sciformigus, who always used to brag to his family how he already had a jewel encrusted wedge shaped coffin picked out, and how he'd probably need it in the next five or six years.

Spencer was known as being one of the loudest, most obnoxious members of a loud, obnoxious, powerful penguin family. He came into the Penguin Mafia, figuring he'd be a don, maybe have a few litters by different penguincitas, and then die in a last stand fight against a younger, more powerful Don, who'd probably mess up things, anyway.

It didn't turn out quite like that. The Penguin mafia didn't care how well respected or powerful his family from his last life was. When he signed on with them, he about became their property.

Life went on for him, although as he lay bleeding after being left for dead, it looked like that was about to change. He'd never accepted his reassignment to Penguin Chef Assistant, even six months after being assigned it. The attack by whoever it was who attacked him was far more unexpected than kitchen duties.

The main sub sub chef's assistance, who Spencer only knew by his Mafia name, Flighty Fredrick, went down after they strangers had taken Spencer and some of the tougher penguins down with ease. One of them had called the strangers fishfood. Spencer had heard some vulgar language in his time in the mafia, and then some, but that was just disgusting!

Freddy was the only one of the lot that'd ever been nice to Spencer at all. Treated him with a bit of respect. Now it looked like he was. . .

At first, there was only one of the Knobs. Though he didn't look anything like the Goblin that Spencer had in his head. Then there was another, and before Freddy even realized how much trouble they were in, a third showed up, that drawfed even the taller stranger. It musta been a full two and a half penguins tall! None of the other penguins were running off, though, so Spencer knew he couldn't afford to, either. No matter how badly he wanted to.

So they charged forward. Before he knew what was happening, the smallest of the strangers had plunged the knife into his belly. He swatted the larger Goblin away with no problem before even realizing he'd been stabbed.

He'd been stabbed. Spencer resisted the urge to vomit then and there. He kept his focus. There'd be backup. They wouldn't let important staff members die and not help.

There HAD to be backup. Spencer felt dizzy as he watched the strangers decimating the Penguin chefs.

They'd pay for that. They'd pay for it in blood, by the fish buckets. Spencer thought it was just his vision blurring over at first when he heard one of the Goblins bragging about some kind of mechanical fog to cover their tracks. Spencer didn't smell anything. . . maybe it was orderless. . . everything was going black, and the screams and the sounds of battle were getting further and further away. Spencer just wanted to drift off to sleep and never wake up . . .

Everyone was going to sleep . . . nothing was . . . making sense.

Blackness overtook him to the point he hardly felt himself being stepped on during the stranger's escape.

 
-----

 
Having just gone through a major battle, and having been damaged for it, Dash wasn't looking forward to trying to get the rest of these documents into the Penguin's hands. They knew they had a lot more fighting on their hands. There wasn't any question of it by this point. Yet, the base had been strangely quiet.

Dash made his way east, towards the less used storage areas. Not only would it be easier to slip in and plant the forgeries, but the warehouse was in a corner dark enough for Dash to stay mostly to the shadows and out of sight. Hopefully. Dash wasn't happy with having gone through a major battle with so much work still to be done, and he suspected Blahking wasn't happy that it had happened, either.

Ducking past the sparse assortment of guards and penguins wondering around outside wasn't all that hard, although Dash found it ironic to find a pair of penguins relaxing at what, for penguins, was probably a romantic picnic setting. Dash ignored the scent of fish, easily staying out of sight.

Although he'd only been here a few hours, the chill was starting to get to Dash, and he was pretty sure the wind was picking up. Dash was constantly reminding himself on the short trip across the villa to slow down, and a few times, he struggled to move fast enough to avoid being seen. His limbs were stiffer than usual. Probably from the cold, and the fights.

Although more preliminary scouting would have been useful in identifying his primary goals, Dash had a reasonably clear idea where he wanted to go. Of the three ice and snow covered warehouses, the one to the right was both the least guarded and the best protected by the natural shadows of the nearby towering wall of ice.

Oddly, Dash hadn't expected quite so much bloodspill during the mission, even taking into account the presence of that psychotic Raw Hide. The sole guard for the warehouse was sorely distracted tonight, making it easy for Dash to slip by him. He let the guard live, against his better judgment, and hoped he wouldn't soon pay for it.

Dash was sure something was about to go very wrong in general. Even at twilight, there was enough "roof" not covered with snow to allow Dash visibility. The whole thing, not surprisingly but oddly, was shaped like a giant oversized igloo. A few tables, with wooden legs but otherwise made of ice, caught Dash's attention. Those would be a good place to leave his latest "clues." Fortunately, Dash had become adapt at forgery during his time in Honorburg, and his difficult dealings with certain groups there. The war between the Council of Gray and the Maltrese Mafia had taken to the streets when the Circle of the Fifth Maltrese, a sub-organization rooted deep within the Maltrese Mafia, had gone rogue and tried to take over the Council from Contessa Gray herself.

The event that saw Gray's husband, long thought to be in a coma, return as the monstrous Hamellion Gray. Although most of the heroes were engaged in battle, Dash and a few other heroes were instead commissioned to much more subversive activities. Dash, the adorable but highly innocent Puffiloffigus, the manipulative but heroic General Goodness, and the also manipulative but dangerous femme fatale Rashiel were assigned to head up a small task force operation which often required them to come up with creative solutions in their quest to sabotage the subversive ploys of both sides.

In this case, Dash had done a simple writeup of a "Knob report" claiming the "Mechanical fog" was a smashing success, as was their attack on the Knob Goblin kitchens. Dash had to rewrite it a few times so it didn't directly contradict the other forged little notes, letters of authenticity, and alleged orders sent to the "Goblins" which Dash had already planted.

Dash could see freezer after freezer. They were transparent, if cloudy, Dash could make out snowcones and frozen pasta locked within. Dash heard a Penguin Patrol coming directly at him in the near distance but easily ducked leaped onto one of the storage racks. Leaping that high onto something made totally metal and mostly ice wasn't all that easy or safe, but it beat running into a Penguin patrol.

Dash made his way through the densely stacked penguin supplies, balancing himself with large stacks of pasta spoons, or any of the various bins of Penguin outfits and spoons. It was advanced almost beyond Dash's point of comprehension, compared to the rest of the Kingdom.

After making his way far enough from the patrolling penguin to be sure he wouldn't be spotted, Dash hopped back to a main section of the warehouse. Dash wasn't expecting to find such an assortment of maps and deadly weapons in the warehouse. He'd have to double back here when he had time to pick out something useful.

Dash made his way to the back of the warehouse, relieved he only had a couple of more documents to leave. After this, maybe he could double back to Blahking and make sure nothing went wrong with the enigmatic stranger Dash had found only hours earlier.

The whole operation was starting to make Dash uncomfortable beyond his ability to tolerate.

At least if all went well, it'd be over soon.

After leaving the last couple folders on the backroom desks, and sighing an obligatory sigh of relief, Dash gave the warehouse interior a last glance. This hideout had certainly given him new insight into the mysterious Penguin Mafia. Dash was about to leave when he had a feeling he couldn't explain.

This was too good a chance to let pass without exploring a bit. Whoever office this belonged to, Dash got the sense from the fine paintings and ice sculptures, it was someone important. Dash riffled through the drawers quickly, still eager to get out of the warehouse and back to his team. Most of the items Dash found were personal items, pictures of young penguins sliding down large ice slides, and information Dash already had months ago.

Dash heard steps and voices closing in, just as he was going through a folder marked "Penguin plans: The Mountains." Interestingly enough, there was an entire section devoted to the rumors of a mysterious bird. . .

Which sounded a great deal like the one Chad was babbling about earlier.

Dash glanced at a page marked "the Somber Six," but those footsteps were getting uncomfortably close, and from the sounds if it, there were more than a couple sets of penguin feet.

Dash hadn't realized penguins walking on ice would make noise, but he wasn't complaining about the advanced notice. Dash slapped the folder shut, slipped it into a pocket in his Knob Goblin outfit, and set out to escape.

As far as Dash was concerned, the sooner this was over, the better.