After an exhaustive set of roleplays and co writes, I start the Finale off like I often do. I start to write up the individual stories of the player characters and key NPC's so I can eventually bring them together.

This one includes Lady Whiteclaw, Sir Fumblies, Zanther Wolf and Xodus, as well as a few others.

 
Dark, ominous creatures dotted the horizon line. Some had skin like leather; the skin on others flowed like poisonous smoke.

Some roared while others made no sound at all. A few hissed like serpents. Some hardly moved while others were almost a blur of motion.

To a one, however, they had two basic traits in common. Every creature in this pack, or army, or whatever you'd call these hellspawns, had bodies which seemed to absorb the light, constantly cloaked in dark shadows. Their beady red eyes, however, burned brightly like hot coals on the forge. Other than their eyes, the creatures were mostly black and grays, though some had a touch of color to break up the monotony. A light silver claw, a red patch of feathers or fur, or set of yellow ratlike fangs among a set of otherwise black teeth.

Their eyes were on a small settlement to the south of them, a settlement headed up by Konall Bearsmasher himself. It was a proud settlement of people who were used to staying on the move. Their ranks included experienced warriors. The most dangerous were the guests from the same dimension as Konall and his sister, the mage Kadlin, one of which stood with them.

Kadlin's eyes lit up slightly as she focused on the distant images. "I'd estimate there's about two and a half, maybe three dozen big beasts tops, as well as more smaller monsters."

Konall snarled. "What, you've got counting magic now?"

Kadlin shook her head. "Good vision. I did a quick count."

"What were the glowing eyes for?" asked Sebastian Dash. The "Dashing Rogue" had joined them only hours earlier, and he'd brought three others with him.

"Helps me see," Kadlin responded. "Not everyone's gifted with amazing night vision."

Or dawn vision in this case.

"We could try to sneak around them," Dash suggested, even though he was still spoiling for a fight.

"That's just stupid." Konall's eyes narrowed slightly.

"How exactly is it stupid?" Dash was also spoiling for a confrontation with Konall. "Our goal isn't to fight anything that comes up. It's to get to Mountaincenter Village. Why not simply avoid the problem?"

Konall glared at Dash. "Does this look like a problem we can sneak around?"

"Maybe not if you were in charge, but.."

"What's that mean?!" Konall asked. "In case you missed it, scrawny, I am in charge here."

Kadlin stopped the two before they could get into a face to face confrontation, at which point a fight might have been inevitable. "Enough. With or without a confrontation against the dark beasts, we've got enough fights to handle; we don't need infighting on top of it."

Sebastian Dash turned sharply towards her. "A traitor's going to lecture us about infighting, hm?"

Konall roughly grabbed Sebastian's arm. "You need to back off."

Dash yanked his arm away, ready for a fight. "Get your paws off of me!"

"I said, 'Enough!'" Kadlin's eyes lit up as winds danced around her lithe form. Dash looked ready to fight them both, but stopped at a familiar voice.

"She's right, Dash."

Ignoring Kadlin, Dash and Konall turned to greet Aleena. The girl certainly knew how to command a room. Probably had something to do with being a queen of her race of space elves before her ship crashed to this planet.

Aleena continued. "We can't afford infighting, or delays. Konall is in charge of this group of people, and he's proven himself as a leader."

All too well, Aleena knew the challenges of having to assume leadership under unexpected conditions.

Konall paused, unsure what to say, so he simply said, "Thank you, Aleena."

She turned to the Viking, looking him deeply in his eyes. "And Dash has proven himself as an ally, as have you. I've travelled planets, but Dash is the only one here who's travelled to this planet. Or dimension, I should say. We need him working with us. Not against us."

"I was here briefly before, but you're right, Aleena." Konall turned towards Dash, offering a handshake. "So are you with us?"

Dash hesitated. "I... yeah, I'm with you."

"Aww, lookie. Tight as thieves, as the 'spression goes. "The one thing I'm not 'earin is a plan, though. Looks like you'll need all the 'elp you can get, and Ozzie and I wanna be the first t' volunteer, if no one objects t'that. And like I said, 'All the 'elp you can get.'"

Ozzie, standing behind her, waved meekly, doing his best to hide the uncertain look on his face. He jumped, started, at a voice behind him, to "Hudson's" embarrassment.

"I should like to travel with you as well." The young woman with the mesmerizing dark green eyes starred at the gathered warriors (and Ozzie). Like the members of Konall's tribe and unlike any of the others, she was part of this dimension, and not the home dimension to Dash, Konall and the other adventurers. Dash had come to know her by the name of Sassy Snake.

"I don't know about that," Dash said. "These beasts are quite dangerous."

Konall signaled for the others to be quiet for a moment while he pondered. "Okay, after pondering for a moment, I've come to a decision. Whiskey can be served with beef biscuit, but really should be saved for a special occasion such as Knot Slanding meat. Also, I'm taking my warriors and any volunteers to tackle the beasts. We'll do our best to drive a hole in them so we can push our way through, but we'll also end them all if that's what it takes to get through safely. Once we get to Mountaincenter, we'll meet with whoever's in charge."

"Lady Whiteclaw. A more honorable duplicate of our traitorous Catrina," Dash answered, clearly bitter about it.

"Right. Kadlin, Aleena, and Dash, congratulations, you just volunteered to go with. Thank you, by the way." Konall smiled. "As for you three.."

"With all due respect, Mr. Bearsmasher, she's insisting we come," Ozzie said, finally getting a word in edgewise. No easy task with this set of warriors. He got a kick in the shin from "Hudson" for his comment. "Er, that is to say, the lady and I would quite like to come. As would Jo, er, as would Hudson here."

"Aw, quite nice av you to volunteer us," Hudson said, smiling and trying not to glare. Sassy Snake picked up on it all.

"Let me at least accompany you towards the battle," Sassy Snake suggested. "I'm a trained healer as well as a musician. I could help tend to wounds if needed. Hopefully it won't but you never know. Besides, I've heard a lot about these creatures; I think it might be a good idea to share that knowledge with all involved."

"Done," Konall said. "I'll gather some warriors for this and get us some morning food. No use doing this on an empty stomach. Take care of whatever you need to and meet us near the rations area in half an hour. Try not to be late or there might not be enough food for you."

The others nodded or responded verbally, then met with each other and went their separate ways in various combinations.

 
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The minds of Jarlsboris Wildfall and Obatalatress Summer had been trying to keep up with what was going on since they arrived in this strange world. They'd lived most of their lives in Ireaca, a major island located somewhere roughly between the lands of the Feline Goddess (Catalina Island) and Loathing Kingdom, ruled 'wisely' by the Council of Loathing.

They'd been lost in the forest for a while, having woke up later than the others. They'd fought each other already, partly due to the stress of the situation and partly due to the drugs pushing them into a fighting mood. The two reunited, vowing to stay together and to put their fighting aside. They then started towards a settlement which Wildfall said he'd seen in the distance earlier, only to be interrupted by a flash of light and the loud sound of air being forced away from a two hundred pound body which hadn't been filling the space a mere millisecond ago. Almost like a muffled bang.

After fighting an oversized lizard (which had been with a sword and shield), Summer and Wildfall assumed the worst, diving in to attack the new threat. Cyber Sunset didn't have time to orient himself or teleport away before Wildfall caught him in the midsection with Wildfall's trademark wooden shillelagh. Sunset stumbled back, seeing the two circling around him. The man who'd caught him by surprise had pale skin and held his weapon quite effectively. The darker skinned woman kept her distance as she unstrapped two identical knives from her thighs, looking just as dangerous as her male companion, if not more so.

Sunset realized he was in for another fight but wasn't sure why. With the two moving in to attack again, Sunset didn't have much time to figure out what was going on.

 
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Further to the south, a figure watched the encampment with great interest when something to the north caught his attention. For a moment, the South Ireaca born wanderer best known as Xodus decided to ignore it, dismissing it as simply another battle, one he had no stake in. He had one goal here and one alone - to retrieve his countrymen.

So determined to find your countrymen, and now that you're close, you don't even recognize their presence?

The unwanted symbiotic being in Xodus's body spoke to him in a self-superior, amused voice.

"I warned you to stay out of my thoughts!" Xodus chastised. "And I've no idea what you speak of."

I don't need to peer into your mind, Repenter. The sword which I consumed to get here had recorded the dimensional signal of those teleported. I can sense the signal - and violence. And, perhaps, a meal to the north.

Without a word, Xodus turned north and set out to retrieve his countrymen. He wouldn't bother to require a teleport out of Opaque until he was a bit closer. He could move quite fast on his own, and he preferred saving Opaque for when he could use it to get an idea of what was going on.

That changed some minutes later when Xodus got close enough to get a good view of what was going on.

 
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Looking to end this unknown threat before he could prove to be a problem, Summer pulled a knife free and hurled it at the stranger's head, but the stranger- Cyber Sunset- teleported out of the path and behind Wildfall. Cyber Sunset swept Wildfall's legs before Wildefall realized what was going on. Summer turned at the sound of Wildfall crashing to the ground, but by then, Cyber Sunset had teleported out of sight.

"Where are you, coward?!" she called out, clearly ready to battle more. "If you want to be a champion, you'd best come and fight me!"

Looking on from behind a nearby tree, it suddenly clicked in Cyber Sunset's mind. They must be more strangers under the influence of the drug! Come to think of it, Sunset had seen the female briefly during the incident back in Honorburg. He teleported a fair distance away from the girl, who was rushing to help her friend to his feet. Before he could speak, another figure appeared in front of Sunset.

Another teleporter!

Xodus lashed out with his fist, catching Cyber Sunset with enough force to send him flipping backwards through the air. Although it seemed obvious this swordsman was attacking Xodus's countrymen, Xodus couldn't say with any certainty they didn't deserve it.

Nevertheless, he remained honor bound to protect his troublesome colleges.

He figured the blow would keep the stranger unconscious for a few minutes while he determined what was going on. Acting on little other than instinct to a flash out of the corner of his eye, he ducked at the last second, avoiding what would have otherwise been a lethal attack from the female South Ireacan known as Summer.

She neither smiled nor frowned, nor did the almost vacant look in her eyes betray any emotion other than pure, unfocused rage. As Xodus continued parrying and avoiding her deadly attacks, he tried reasoning with her. "You must be insane, woman, to strike a Repenter. Cease this foolish attack now!"

Even if he were willing to engage her in a meaningless battle, which he was too smart to do, the penance required he return them home. There was also a penance preventing him from using physical force on a woman. Of course, that didn't leave him helpless. He continued to parry her attack, realizing her partner (boyfriend? friend? associate?) would soon attempt a two one situation. Indeed, even as Xodus continued to parry against Summer, Wildfall took a position behind Xodus. A foolish mistake to think only two of them would even stand a chance against a Repenter!

Xodus didn't bother to take his eyes off the woman as he made his move.

Moving quickly enough to be a blur to most human eyes, the Repenter Xodus dodged back behind Wildfall, nailing him in one fluid motion with a kick to the back. The force sent Wildfall crashing into Summer. Xodus was already on his feet as he did, readying in case they were somehow able to avoid the collision.

A Repenter was notoriously hard to take by surprise when his attention was on you.

Although Summer pulled her blade to avoid stabbing their countryman, there was no miraculous counter or dodge, although to his surprise, the force wasn't enough to take her off her feet. She either had more balance or strength than Xodus expected.

The Repenter turned towards the recovering figure in the odd green outfit and charged, intent on finishing him off with Xodus's spear, a weapon which he wielded with near inhuman expertise. The stranger with the wild blue hair vanished before Xodus's spear could connect. Sensing the stranger behind him, Xodus spun around, parrying the stranger's double bladed sword which seemed to almost sparkle with lightning. Quicker than even Wildfall could, the stranger aimed his golden sword at Xodus's legs. As he used the blunt side of the sword, it was obvious he meant to slow Xodus down rather than cut his legs off. Nevertheless, Xodus leaped over the attack, using the blunt end of the spear to vault over the stranger's chest.

Xodus turned back for another possible attack from his crazed countrymen. It didn't make sense. Wasn't the swordsman just battling Summer and Wildfall? With teleporting skills that could very well rival Xodus's own but no apparent limitation on how often he could use the ability, the swordsman might even prove a challenge to a Repenter. Better to finish him off now.

Xodus lifted the spear above his head, but an errant burst of frigid air blew it from his hands. He looked around. No. Not simply a change in weather; that was near hurricane like force yet focused into a single blast of air.

Xodus was under attack from a new figure!

 
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Although the guards claimed the two were guests, Sir Fumblies couldn't help but notice there were an awful lot of guards for a supposed escort- and that they kept a rather attentive eye on both Sir Fumblies and his ally Cattaras Whiteclaw, whom Fumblies was less than pleased with. The march stopped short when a familiar figure rushed up to Cattaras, eager to see for himself if this was the Feline he remembered.

"Zanther Wolf," Cattaras said, stopping to pet the winged wolf which stood in front of him. "So the Philler Gang captured you as well?"

Zanther shook his head 'no,' then whimpered slightly.

"Ah! I understand," Cattaras said. "You came here to rescue a friend? Becky, is it?"

Wolf whined, then growled slightly. Cattaras tensed up a little.

"Is that a threat? She's as much a friend to me as you. Look, mutt, we'll talk later. We've got to meet the proprietor of this castle."

Wolf walked on ahead, tail wagging and head held high, causing Cattaras to shake his head and laugh.

"Fine, join us if you want," Cattaras called out. Fumblies shrugged it off, eager to meet with Catrina... or this 'other' Catrina. Fumblies couldn't get his head around the concept until he, Cattaras, and Zanther Wolf walked into the throne room and saw what looked like Catrina, Daisuke himself and...

Another Cattaras! Fumblies tensed up at the prospect of a fight, while Cattaras sneered. Zanther stood behind the two passively.

"At ease, good Sir Fumblies. I am not the woman you know," this other Catrina Whiteclaw said. "And while I'm eager to speak with you, gathering your allies is of the utmost importance. We believe whatever Kwadlin's planning, it could mean destruction for both of our worlds. You two are but the first key to stopping whatever his unholy plan is."

Fumblies shook his head. "I've figured that much out already. My only question is where is he? I'd like to take the fight to him directly, Catrina."

"Please, refer to me by my proper title of Lady Whiteclaw," she said with an air of noble authority. "And trust me. Once we've gone about gathering the others from your dimension, we'll give both Kwadlin and my despicable former master Zedika Dark more fight than they'd ever imagined possible!"

The animistic, violent look in her eyes reminded Fumblies and Cattaras of their own Catrina, but neither were sure if that was a good thing.

Next up, I'll draw the groups together and bring them into position for the final battle of the mission.