I had fun with this one.

Seaside Town had gone through some real devastation during it's last few missions of Season one. The town was in the middle of a celebration when the Knob Goblins invaded, waging war and trying to burn down the city before botching a zombie summoning spell.. which resulted in the dead rising and fighting everyone in sight, including the Knob Goblins, who had by the point the attacks began to ramp up, become absorbed into the Feline Empire. The strain on the town left it shattered and broken; it was closed down several weeks.

The interim mission, Generic Summer Vacation Week, covered part of the downtime, letting us keep up with our heroes after the first time skip. As you'll see, there was another time skip after that mission, setting us up to open season two with...

Well, read on to see that part!

 
(Opening by Dash)

 
Due to unexpected delays and safety issues, it was nearly eight weeks after the end of Summer Vacation month that Seaside Town finally reopened.

The Princesses swamped the town in order to host the grand reopening. Reporters flocked around Seaside Town but no one, even those allowed to aid in its reconstruction weeks ago, were allowed in, outside of approved workers. Several dozens of guards guarded the town from the thousands of onlookers, coming from faraway lands. Fireflies of all colors gathered on this cool fall morning. They were all there. Knollish teens. Border drug smugglers. Knob Goblin representatives. Penguin mafia elite. Hippies, frat boys, New Meenasotah-yah-sure-yabetcha hunters, mages, warriors, citizens eager to return to their home, and anything in between.

Thick black smoke rose steadily from the impromptu campfires outside of town. The scent of burning meats, unwashed hippies, booze and toxins of any sort, perfumes, demonfire, furs, and anything else you could think of mixed with dozens of familiar and unfamiliar scents. There was a sense of excitement, undercut by the inescapable taint of loathing, fear, and conflict.

Dawn had cracked barely an hour earlier when a rumbling caught the attention of a massive crowd. The Kingdom of KOL had chosen to make its presence felt for this event with a rather impressive convey, being lead by Prince Blahking and King Mtiger themselves. A barely noticeable furball on Blahking's shoulder slept a peaceful sleep, not once threatening to fall off. MTiger came along with two dozen of his finest soldiers and KOKOL allies. Well known bartender Higgy had accompanied them.

They arrived and chosen a spot near the gates. Even as they settled in, another group made their way to camp just opposite of the Kingdom of KOL.

The Feline Empire, lead by Cattaras Whiteclaw, along with the Black Paladin, Jester King of Beasts and several of their elite soldiers.

The tension between the two was immediately obvious and seemed destined to burst into violence at any second. For whatever reason, that second never took place. It was nearly a full two hours later when the strummings of a live band, dozens and dozens of musicians, could be heard, their collective music rising from behind the walls of Seaside Town like a beam of light.

Then several beams of bright multicolor lights shone up as a platform extended itself over the high curtains surrounding Seaside Town. The eyes of the public turned upwards to see the Council of Loathing emerge on top of the platform, smiling down. The Nice Sorceress, the most enigmatic of the Council, spoke through voice enhancing magic.

"Attention citizens, welcome to the new and improved Seaside Town!" She started with. The cheering lasted several minutes, so loud even she hesitated to speak over it.

The Knob Goblins weren't cheering, and the Penguins weren't very loud, but they were the exceptions to the rule of cheering.

"We encourage you to tour the town when it opens after our eight hour celebration!" She proclaimed. "There, you can learn additional information on the unfortunate kidnappings of both our King and several hapless princesses! Enjoy!"

That caught.. a rather mixed and confused reaction, actually.

"Also, we've got free meatpies and tomato paste covered Yeti meat extract!" The Nice Sorceress called out loudly, hoping to get a more positive reaction. She only got small cheers for her efforts. She kept trying, but people were just eager to get into the town. When they finally did, they saw a disturbing Penguin Mafia presence, as well as a large section of the town under the control of the Feline Empire. They also saw more three, four and in a few cases five story buildings than ever, in addition to a Waffle Hey Daze building on the right side of the town. The fountain was larger than ever. Of note, except for the newly added waffle house and a Penguin store, nearly every store in the Market Square had at least two versions of it. Weird.

Rising at an epic six and a half stories, the Council's dome towered over everything else in the town. Other new attractions included an observatory and "R U Catgirl?," the trendy hot new "fashion for furries" clothing and weapons store.

 
Remainder by Catrina and Dash

 
Finally, Cattaras Whiteclaw, on his sister queen's behalf, managed to track down the Nice Sorceress to press for more information. The Nice Sorceress didn't seem very willing to share the information at first- until Prince Blahking showed up, also interested in learning more.

"Something tells me it would be impossible to find the King right now," she admitted. "So it might be better to focus on finding the princesses."

"Do we know who kidnapped them?" Cattaras asked tersely.

"We're supposed to believe you had nothing to do with this?" Prince Blahking asked, eager to make his opinions clear on this one. His eyes narrowed. "Where is that sister of yours, anyway?"

Cattaras looked at the Prince and gave him a knowing smirk. "The way things were going when I left she's probably on the bed talking about killing Daisuke and M'Tiger- especially M'Tiger."

"Ahh, yes. We'd heard of her impending child." Blahking made a face. "Hopefully, the responsibility of caring for a new life will compel her to act a bit less irresponsibly."

"Ahh, your sister has given birth recently?" Nice's eyes lit up. "Why aren't you with her for the occasion, then?"

The fire rose in Cattaras' eyes and he bared his fangs at Blahking. "She will now act to protect her child from all threats- like any good mother." He then turned to the Sorceress, losing his ire. "In Hey Deze... well I will not bore you with the details- the Prince here can fill you in - I'm sure he's heard the full tale- but after those events I'm pretty sure she'd kill ME if I got anywhere near that!"

Blahking blinked, either taking his meaning or confused as Hey Daze. Either way, he simply cleared his throat. "So do we have details on who might have kidnapped them, if we're to assume this isn't the Feline Empire's doing? Penguin Mafia, perhaps? Though this would be a bit too low class crime for them."

Cattaras couldn't help himself. "You saying the Princess is 'low class?'"

"No, but stooping so low as kidnapping," Blahking clarified. "It seems more the level of.. well, you, quite frankly."

Cattaras growled deep and snarled at Blahking again. "Listen princey. Only reason I haven't gutted you yet is that sis want you to be one of the last. But you keep trying to impress the ladies by wiping your boots on me and I'll have to-"

Blahking looked ready for a fight then and there. To the surprise of both, the Nice Sorceress raised her voice. "Enough of this petty fighting!"

Blahking sighed. "She's right, of course."

"I'll have to insist that your little factions work together for the greater good." The Nice One's genuine smile returned to his face. "I'll arrange an award for whoever is able to fulfill these rescues, of course. And I've arranged several assistants to this end."

Cattaras shrugged. "Fine by me. Gives me an excuse to steer clear until the kitten is weaned."

Nice smiled at Cattaras. "I take it, then, that the lovely Catrina will be...."

A cat- an actual cat, not much larger than Cattaras's fist- brushed up against the Sorceress's leg, wanting attention. Oddly, it had boots. Almost as oddly, it spoke in a deep, rich voice. "Pardon me, sir, but what manner of life are you, cat or human? For I've yet to see one of your ilk."

Cattaras laughed at the question- at both of them actually. To the Sorceress he shook his head. "If she doesn't it will be a waste. Right now she's got HUGE.. um... tracts of land." His eyes fell to the cat. "My ancestors were the masters of Savannah and plain. I am Feline."

"Ah, then it's a pleasure to make your acquaintance." The cat stood in much the same manner Fluffy Hamster tended to, swooping his hat. "Though it's sad the meeting is under such sad circumstances. Three of the reigning princesses of my homeland, the half ogre princess of the Fairyworld lands, her Majesty of the Joyous Woods, and the Princess of the Ninth sea, have gone missing. It is my task to see them returned."

"And my task to see my mother returned." The next one to make her way in resembled nothing so much as what you'd expect from a human Catrina Whiteclaw, right down to the white skin. Oh, she wasn't quite so endowed as Catrina, and her dress was one of a princess, but other than that, you'd swear someone had taken Catrina from five years earlier and put her into human form and royal dress.

Unfortunately, her face made it quite clear she didn't wish to be here. "I'm the princess heir of the noble Unified Kingdom of Paragon."

For a moment Cattaras's face went blank, his tail wandering around aimlessly as his mind fought for control over his emotions- especially before they showed too much. He stepped forward and knelt- actually knelt- before the white skinned human. "We will do all we can to save your mother."

"I should hope so." Her face betrayed no emotion other than sorrow, as if she were quite used to being curtsied to. "She's all our Kingdom has left. The last years have been very rough for us."

"Rough for us all, young lass." A much, much older woman stepped in, hunched over to seem even smaller than her barely four and a half foot frame. Her face betrayed her age through winkle atop of winkle, though the woman herself shone with a grave nobility. "I be the watcher of this gathering of royalty, though I do admit, I'd hardly been prepared for an airship to swoop in!" Her wizened old eyes turned towards Cattaras, with a mischievous smile on her face. "Best ye young fellas not spend too much time fawnin' over my beauty now. We've many a princess to save and if me old bones be honest, very little time to de doin' it in."

The talking cat stood on its hind legs again, an anxious look in his face. "She's right. I don't know if this is your enemy, ours, or an entirely new entity. I just know I don't like the feel of this at all."

Cattaras rose and bowed to the older woman, although he didn't kneel. If anything he felt like showing even more respect to this one. Even small as she was she reminded him of.. well of his mother. "Agreed. Frankly though I've been too preoccupied with one single foe this past year to keep tabs on other foes- especially those of my enemy."

"There be a pair of princesses you would want to take special note of," she noted in a grim voice. "One be an old ally of yours, Prince, an Adrulian Princess known as Riko."

"Ah, a valued ally at one time," Blahking said, weighing this information. "Thank you for notifying me of it."

"And I wonder if ye knew the old Goblin King had im'self a sister, did ye?" The elderly woman asked.

"A sister?!" The cat dropped to all fours and gasped. "Wait.. what Goblin King?"

Cattaras tried- he really did. But he'd been there and- well he snickered. "One and one and two is eight..."

"Indeed." The Nice Sorceress paused. "It's true. One of the kidnapped princesses was the very well travelled and worldly older sister to the late Knob Goblin King. I expect she be returned in better condition than her dear brother whom she so often mocked."

Cattaras answered. "Not to speak ill of the dead. Or more like the dead, risen and killed again... but she probably let him off easy in the mocking department."

"I'll let you get to work then," the Nice Sorceress suggested. "We don't have an adequate number on the princesses kidnapped, but there seems to have been a coordinated assault on our forces only hours ago. Worse, in the chaos, it seems additional princesses were kidnapped by old rivals of their own. We know a rogue Shinpire airship was involved, presumably acting of its own volition. You might even find multiple enemy groups are after the same princess. I wish you luck and assure you you'll have the full cooperation of both Seaside Town and the Travelling Princess's committee.

"Further, instinct tells me you'll be spending weeks if not months fulfilling this mission. But don't give up. Their fate is now in your collective hands."

With a nod, she turned to exit, leaving Cattaras and Prince Blahking to deal with the white skinned princess heir, the elderly woman, and the talking cat.

The news isn't that surprising given the title of the mission, but it sets the ball rolling. And I'm happy with how I did Seaside Town as 'bigger and better.' Ironically, a short bit after the AIL zombies invading Seaside Town, KOL itself had skeletons invading the cannon version of Seaside Town. Whereas KOL had the town smaller at the end, our version ended up bigger.

hmm.. go figure.