I love the way things come together in this one.

Fumblies, Aleena and I help but this story is mostly thanks to Konall and his handler.

 
Writing assisted by Dash, Fumblies and Aleena

 
"...And anyway, when I grabbed the sword there was a flash of light and I was standing in Seaside Fountain." Konall laughed halfheartedly.

Mtiger's laugh was more genuine. "At least and at last, you have returned to your home world. And not a moment too soon, my friend. Fresh enemies gather for war, ready to steal what little freedom remains in this kingdom. The incident to the south is bound to upset many."

"What incident?" Konall asked?

The King sighed. "The forces of the Penguin Mafia move to overtake our Degrassi regional outpost. The order has been sent to those who would occupy it in our name to abandon it, though no response has been received. Earlier today, we made the hard decision to avoid intervening."

Konall frowned. "And we're not making ourselves a new set of feather tuxedos because?"

Mtiger looked out of the window rather than make eye contact. "We've but two simple goals. Eliminate the threat of the slavers who would infest our lands, and settle this issue with the traitorous Catrina. I see little need to engage an enemy faction as dangerous as the Penguin Empire at this time. It's my decision that we shall not engage this enemy over an outpost we'd intended abandoned long ago." He turned towards Konall. "This includes you, of course."

"We can't just surrender to the penguins!"

"Our former outpost is meaningless in the greater story, Konall." Mtiger held his ground. "Let them have dwell there. The insidious birds have as much stake in stopping the overland threat as we do."

"It's not about the outpost for them. They're testing us, seeing how far they can push us. We take it back and slaughter them. If we don't fight now, we face a bigger one later."

"Unlikely they would need to 'test' us," Mtiger said with a frown. "But should we need to deal with them in the future, we shall do so on our terms rather than theirs. In any case, I have spoken my last word on the subject. For the time being, we shall not intervene."

A number of words came to Konall's head. Idiot! Coward! Fool! But the word he actually said was "Okay."

It seemed as if Mtiger had more to say, but he kept silent.

Konall strode down the halls. Things were a mess. Mtiger was making poor decisions. The slavers were wreaking havoc. They still hadn't finished undoing the chaos Kwadlin unleashed on the kingdom in their absence. Plus the deal with the penguins. Konall needed to relieve some stress, and there were only two places he could do that. And right now he felt he'd rather have Aleena in his arms rather than a keg of ale. He knew where her room was and he strode down the castle hallway to meet her.

He opened the door to her room, they had gotten that casual by now. But what he saw caught him off guard. Dash, shirtless, lying on his back on the couch, Aleena on top of him covering him with kisses.

"What's going on here?" Konall asked, not even knowing why he did. This hurt, not because it was unexpected, but because it was completely expected. Konall had always known that she didn't return the feelings he had for her. He'd tried to pretend that wasn't the case, but the illusions were shattered now. Unfortunately, Dash didn't have a good view of the Viking.

"Hey," Dash asked, innocently enough. "Any luck with the king?"

"No. I haven't managed to get lucky at all." Konall stopped. "I'm sorry for intruding. I'll leave now." He turned around and walked through the doorway.

"Konall, wait!" Aleena felt her throat catch and her heart nearly stop.

The only reply Aleena heard was Konall's footfalls as he got farther and farther away from her.

"I have erred, Sebastian. I should go after him."

Dash shook his head. He looked sick to his stomach. "No.. I know Konall. He needs some time alone."

. . .

Olin the Devastator looked over the ramparts. A delegation of penguins approached the gatehouse. 10 enforcers and one consigliere. The enforcers were tough, equal to three warriors picked at random from the outpost each. But the consigliere was clever, and that was worse.

"Get out of here you bunch of suits." Olin yelled from atop the ramparts.

"We simply wish to discuss a business venture," replied the consigliere. "We would appreciate your hospitality."

"I got a gift for you," said Olin. "Let me get my crossbow."

The consigliere shook his head. "Now, now. This is not the time for violence." The time for violence will be soon, if you don't do what we say was the unspoken threat. "My associates merely want to purchase this installation, which the Kingdom of the Kingdom of Loathing has neither need of nor the resources to hold onto."

"Not for sale."

"How unfortunate. We offer ten thousand meat."

"That's ridiculous. It's worth a thousand times that."

"It would be, with the manpower to hold onto it, which you lack. As it is, the first party to come along and claim it from your feeble grip will take hold of it. You have, what, fifty fighting men in there? My guard and I could likely seize the fortress at this moment if we so chose, not that we would engage in such unscrupulous behavior. We simply admire the architecture here and wish it to pass into flippers that are better suited to take care of it."

Olin thought to himself. They were down to closer to thirty warriors, and in a fight Olin and the other warriors would likely lose. Not that this group of penguins would move now. They waited for sure opportunities or they didn't resort to force. That's how they stayed in power.

"Not for sale," said Olin. "And not for conquering either. Now get lost before we fire the catapults at you." Technically only one of the catapults was working right now, but they didn't have to know that.

"How unfortunate," the consigliere said. "Your rudeness will gain you bad karma. And such karma will be your downfall."

The consigliere looked up as a new set of visitors arrived - a small army. It was none other then the Fumblies' Command lead by a rather disgruntled looking Fumblies.

The last couple of weeks had been challenging for him on a personal level. He had found out that he had been used as a pawn by his so called mentor and as a result was now leading his entire military force to the Feline Empire's base in Degressi Knoll. This trip was meant to take them to the farthest reaches of the Feline Empire to allow Fumblies a chance to clear his head. Yet to get to the base, he had planned to set up shop in for a while he had to pass this particular outpost, since it sat on the border of the Knob Goblin Kingdom. He had decided to approach the outpost in order to get an update on things deeper in the Knoll. As he had approached the out post with a few of his Knob Goblin soldiers he saw that there was something going on near the out post's entrance.

The penguin consigliere looked.. displeased.. with the arrival of the Fumblies Command. "You've picked a bad time to visit, my friend. The outpost isn't taking visitors at this time."

"Don't dare try to speak for us," Olin threatened. "They're welcome if they need respite or wish to trade. We just hate penguins."

"Do you know who you are talking to, feather face?" Fumblies was in a mood unlike any those who how knew him had ever seen. He looked at the Penguin for a moment and wondered what business the Mafia had with this outpost.

"We certainly have no ill will towards one of Lady Whiteclaw's errand boys," another penguin said. "In fact, we've a deal with your kingdom which your queen sees the wisdom in honoring. Surely, even a commoner such as yourself would know how foolish it would be to cross us."

Fumblies smiled darkly, looking up at Olin for a moment then back at the Penguins as if contemplating something. It was obvious that every member of his command would follow him to death. "What makes you think I am on Feline Empire business?"

"It doesn't mat.." the penguin consigliere started to say before casting his eyes to the north. Something approached. Something that worried the penguins to the point they began to chatter briefly. The penguin consigliere cut them off, holding his flipper up. "It would seem that you've.. other business to take care of. We'll leave you to consider our offer. We will be back. When we are, we shall settle this matter with finality."

The other penguins turned, following their lead. The penguin consigliere turned back, his beak held high, defiantly. "I can see Konall and some of his men coming this way now. I would have thought your fort had a surplus of Vikings with poor decision making skills."

With that, the penguins turned, waddling off into the distance and planning their soon return to seize the underdefended outpost.

A masterful set of circumstances and reaction. It also sets up the formation of AiL’s third faction very nicely. As you’ll see, it sets other stories into motion as well!