Zanther Wolf, sadly, isn't around on a regular basis, but he's managed to produce solid stories when he is around. Let's take a look at his sole contribution to the mission.

 
Earlier, in the city of Honorburg

As the day started out and his stomach growled, Zanther was on the hunt again for his friend Becky. And now, with his nose to the ground he searches for her unique scent....of blackberry mash pie. He had been searching for a while, but hadn’t found that smell. "Nope that’s some stinky mushrooms... there are some mmmmmmm brain-meltingly-hot chicken wings...... eww an asshat!" He stopped and sat and shook his head and just looked around. He wondered how in the Kingdom could he have lost Becky again.

After looking around a bit, and not seeing anything of use to him, Zanther jumped and grabbed a footing on the fire escape. He leapt across the alley to the other buildings fire escape and climbed up to the top of one of the buildings. As he perked his ears up, Zanther started scanning the area hoping to be able to pick up anything on the whereabouts of Becky or anyone else he knows.

Zanther’s ears perked up at the sound of a yell; he padded over to the edge of the building and looked around trying to pinpoint where the yell came from.

Zanther stepped back and then ran towards the edge and took to the air. With him gliding through the air, Zanther got the smell of an old, but familiar ally. As he glided, he got curious and went to investigate. He finally who was giving off the scent - his mentor Shelly!

The girl stood on a rooftop, wrapped in a long black cloak which danced in the wind in a vapor trail behind her. She watched over the city. Without glancing over, she spoke to the winged wolf as he landed behind her. "You've been searching for your friend. It's been days now, hasn't it?"

He folded his wings behind him and looked up at Shelly and nodded to her question. He sat down and sniffed a few more times and still could not find Becky’s scent. He then turned to Shelly with a worried look and a bit of shame that he lost someone that he was to protect. He caught a whiff of the large meaty sandwich that Shelly began to unwrap. She knelled, rubbing his ears as she held the sandwich before the sentient wolf.

"Do not despair too much. Like yourself, your friend Becky is capable of making her own decisions.. and of handling herself, though she may at times seem unlike it."

Zanther could smell at least three or four kinds of meats on it. It slowly dripped a a strand of cheese off the side. Not just that, but Wolf could also smell mustard, a dash of pepper, and a few unfamiliar but delicious smelling spices on it.. Yum!

As he sat there he stared at the sandwich, he could feel his stomach rumble a little as he wagged his tail He whimpered and looked back at Shelly as she slowly unwrapped it. "I've learned something that may be of interest to you." She smiled sweetly. A sweet but serious smile.

As he panted he tried to act like he was begging for a scrap of the sandwich, then tilted his head and looked at Shelly, wondering what she found out, then he pinned his ears back. With Shelly closer, Wolf sniffed then snatched the food and began eating it happily.

The mood changed a little at her next words. "Becky seems to have been captured some days ago. During a final battle, she was.. misplaced.. into another dimension," Shelly finally said, sadly.

Zanther dropped the sandwich, whimpered, and began to pad around nervously. He turned back and looked at Shelly for guidance.

Shelly's voice reassured him. "Eat the rest of your food, and we'll transverse the city to the location of the hideout. With hope, my mystic ability and your magic will be enough to open a portal between worlds.. with this. I've borrowed it for our use."

She showed him a crystal wolf shaped statue which glowed a full spectrum of colors; it was the same one she had asked him to retrieve from criminals when they'd arrived to the city.

He took a deep breath and started to relax and nibble a bit on the remains of the sandwich then looked back at the crystal figure, all the while thinking how he'll be able to do the task. He slowly started to not worry since they knew that they would find a way to reach Becky and could bring her home. After that, they left and travelled to another part of the city, where he saw a hotel with a large hole in the side. He sniffed the air, tuning out dozens of scents to focus on Becky's. He started flying towards it, but Shelly firmly ordered him, "Stay your flight, champion! Remember, she's already gone from this world, and the inner confines of the building may be well guarded. What we want is outside.. use your skills, which I helped you learn. Detect the magic; your nose will not lead you to her .. yet."

He closed his eyes and started to remember his training, he used his magic to feel out where he thought Becky might be inside, but felt as if he could both sense her and not at the same time, as if encountering a shadow. He looked back at Shelly uncertainly and then started as is he was going to enter the building, but stopped with a very bad feeling. Zanther’s detection skills had greatly improved, in that he was right... the building was rigged with magical and conventional explosives.

As he took a paw step forward he perked his ears up and then looked back at Shelly and whimpered in his attempt to get her to go get help. Quickly he started to follow the scent that he thought was Becky’s. As he ran through the halls the explosives went off and walls around him were falling or blowing outwards, until one nearly collapsed onto Zanther.. As Zanther dodged the rubble, he noticed the magical explosion seemed to open a gateway.. No.. something else had formed the gateway, but the explosions were warping it.

As he approached the rift, he could feel that something was different, but he could not put his paw on it. The energy that came from the rift made his fur stand up, as well started to affect the surrounding area. As he stood in front of the rift he turned his head back to see if Shelly was still standing there, then a weird feeling; like something warm and fluid feeling. Suddenly, Zanther looked around and tentacles from the rift slowly wrapped around him and pulled him into the rift, although he wasn't sure if he was physically moving at all. In the matter of seconds he watched the surroundings change from a city to a familiar looking forest. He looked around and smiled, thinking he was back in the Distant Woods, but the place didn't smell right. It took him a few seconds to realize, but some of the trees seemed slightly different species as well.

As similar as it looked and even smelled to home, it wasn't.

After getting some bearings, he wandered his way through the forest he came to a clearing and he could see what looked like a village on the side of a nearby mountain.

As alluded to earlier, this's the only time we'll see Zanther Wolf during roleplaying although I got to have some fun writing him into the Finale. Next up are a couple co writes with Dash, which still won't quite get us to the halfway point of roleplaying. Sadly, I don't know when we'll actually get to see more of Zanther Wolf, but hopefully, this won't go down as his last piece in AiL ever.