Since it's only a two part Finale to a rather large mission, it shouldn't come as too much of a surprise- this one's a long read!

Voting arrived in three sections between the first and fifth of February 2012. This piece went up on the tenth of that month, with part II going up eight days later and voting going up a few hours after that.

Then it was only another couple days til the Rollover for the new mission was up - although that Rollover was written by Cameron.

Overall, I'm really, really happy with how much writing I got done for the Finale in around two weeks.

 
Infestation part 1 of 5

 
Amidst the chaos and confusion sweeping over the Loathing Kingdom in these trying times, Sir Fumblie Falanges found his world had suddenly gone quite dark. Having a massive hand wrapped around your head tends to have that effect on a person.

Sir Fumblies struggled to pull one of the fingers off so he could slip away, but the creature holding him, Hunk, had a grip like iron. Worse still, Fumblies could feel the immense pressure on his skull as Hunk started to slowly tighten his grip. Fumblies couldn't get his sword at the right angle to try to attack Hunk's hand or arm so Fumblies tried building up a spell. Maybe heat to burn Hunk's hand or electricity to shock him into letting go. But Fumblies couldn't get the concentration together when his skull felt like it was about to be crushed.

Although several of the others attacked Hunk in hopes of distracting him, even more allies had to deal with Hunk's fellow escaped-from-Hey Daze rogue, the grandiose and malicious Dr. Darth. Meanwhile, Fahari made her way towards the front of the action, pushing her way past Dr. Darth's so called Darthbot Troopers. Creatures of magic or technology? Fahari wasn't sure nor did she care. They moved with a lack of grace, each armed in metallic and heavy plastic which served well the attacks on the Troopers.

Bulky in appearance and form with white metallic limbs and patches of gray and green metal in a similar style to their master, the lumbering and slow-witted Troopers had the advantage of some impressive looking energy based firearms. Their blasts took the most powerful of Fahari's temporary allies off their feet, injuring and wounding in a concussive wave of blasts.

For the moment, Fahari ignored it, less by choice than by necessity. She knew Sir Fumblies to be in mortal danger. He was obscured from sight by the masses of allies and enemies, but her keen hearing and nose kept her apprised of the situation.

Blessed Goddess be, no!

She'd known Fumblies was in trouble. However, she wasn't prepared for the sight of the mammoth Hunk standing with his hand wrapped around Fumblies's head, holding him off the ground. Without thinking, Fahari leapt through the air, grabbing Hunk's hand. His fingers were thicker than her arm! Nevertheless, she had strength of her own. Her claws sunk into Hunk's thick green flesh, drawing howls of pain from Hunk although he refused to let go.

Slowly, however, his grip started to slip away from Sir Fumblies.

Hunk roared and fought her, wanting to tighten his grip and shatter Fumblies' skull. "Get OFF HUNK, stupid blackfur woman!"

Whatever comment Fahari made came out as an exasperated grunt. Nevertheless, she seemed to be winning the strange struggle against Hunk until a blast from Dr. Darth's caught her, sending her tumbling away from Hunk and Fumblies.

She heard a sickening crunch right before she crashed to the ground and blackness started to overtake her vision.

 
Be Free or Die part 1 of 4

 
To the north, Sassy Snake heard some very strange music. As that was going on and Fahari was blasted off of Hunk's oversized hand, three members of an impromptu camp set out hunting for food. The camp, of course, consisted of the slaves freed from the cave even further south as well as the adventurers and travelers who'd actively worked to free them.

The slavers, it was turning out, were quickly becoming a major problem to the Kingdom as a whole.

First, sentries and guards were assigned. Cattaras had to be talked into staying back with the camp to act as the main guardian. He also clearly needed to rest and recover although his Feline male pride prevented him from accepting that fact.

Of the entire group, several had suffered injuries and exhaustion and required rest and the care of other camp members. Even so, there were several offers to take up hunting, gathering and guard duties, including an impatient Summer.

She insisted on going alone but Lalucia had talked her into taking Kvarca and Darson. Kvarca, after all, was Lalucia's top hunter and Darson was Becky's most serious travelling companion. Although elderly, he was quite the fighter, having survived many dangerous campaigns with Becky and before that as a part of the Knob Goblin Kingdom.

Todd and Lalucia gathered the others and quickly established the fairest plan. They'd spread out the furries, those of Catalina Island descent. Humans with animal like fur, their senses, often more powerful than a human's, would prove an invaluable asset as sentries or hunters.

Nikovi was chosen as the first furry for the sentry position; he had some experience in this type of job in his long lifetime. He figured it'd be easy enough. After all, they'd probably decimated at least a third of the slavers in the cave. Maybe as many as half of them or more. He could hear the first hunter team arguing quietly several feet away. It brought a smile to his face and a relaxed flick to his tail.

It felt weird. It had been weeks since the last time Nikovi smiled. Maybe months. Things had been going badly before the slavers found him trying to drink away his guilt, and the time spent enslaved could graciously be described as utter hell. He'd been lucky enough to see the young one's earth attacks combined with the young lady who wielded ice magic. Nikovi, too, had fought where his hurt ankle allowed. It felt like his foot would fall off on the march north but a few hunters had gotten him some medical herb which helped the pain vanish.

He felt good right now. Proud of his part in this amazing rescue operation.

His smile suddenly vanished with an unfamiliar sound. His ears fell flat to his side as he thought the worst, but he reassured himself it was simply one of the animals, probably wandering to the distant woods.

Maybe he should warn the hunters. They seemed to be getting further away. They weren't heading this way, but he could probably break his post long enough to let them know. Besides, it was probably nothing. The north side of the distant woods weren't exactly known as being host to especially dangerous animals.

So if it was nothing, why was his heart beating so rapidly?

The scents. They'd let him know exactly where..

Oh no.

Without waiting to confirm what was going on, Nikovi turned and started running as fast he could. He recognized their stench. He didn't stop to think about how the slavers had gotten so close before he finally scented them out. He didn't stop to think about where he was heading, other than back towards camp, or what would happen next.

Unfortunately, he didn't think to scent out the path in front of him, either. He ran directly into another crew, smacking into the biggest of the slaver thugs and bouncing off his large body.

The smile Xuin the Defiler gave him would haunt his nightmares, provided he lived long enough to dream again.

Continued here.

 
Infestation part 2 of 5

 
Fahari heard a sickening crunch as she crashed to the ground and blackness started to overtake her vision. She focused on her training, willing away unconsciousness, fighting the effects off and casting her eyes on Fumblies. She'd expected to see him dead and was pleasantly surprised to see otherwise. She had an idea of what had happened but for the moment she focused on battle. She avoided a force blast from Dr. Darth. The blast struck a nearby Darthbot Trooper instead. Another Darthbot swung a glowing sword at Fahari, who spun behind the Darthbot, grabbing the weapon out of its hands as she did. She sliced clean through the Trooper, causing it to explode. That certainly took her by surprise.

Sir Fumblies let out a sigh, relieved his plan had actually worked. There was a period of a few seconds where Hunk's pressure on his head let up during Fahari's attacks, although Fumblies had no idea what caused it. It was enough time for a desperate last attempt. He used it, forming a loose fitting 'helmet' of ice between his head and Hunk's hand, then built up the ice to force his head down, out of Hunk's grasp. The sound of the ice being crushed made Fumblies sick as he realized that easily could have been his skull instead.

Nevertheless, escaping the Hunk's mighty grasp was a far cry from defeating the oversized brute. Fumblies wasn't going to overpower the Hunk, even with the aid of his brutes and the army. Fortunately for Fumblies, brute force wasn't his specialty anyway. Cunning and shrewd tactics, sometimes with a bit of luck, were.

They green skinned (or gray skinned, Fumblies wasn't quite sure) brute roared.

"Big talk," Fumblies said, firing a massive fireball into Hunk's chest. Hunk laughed it off. Fumblies stepped back to do it again but tripped again, this time over a discarded pole axe. On the upside, it allowed him to fall under the blast from Dr. Darth, who seemed to have turned his attention back to Fumblies.

Fahari jumped to his side, followed by Scaros and a few of the brutes who were still on their feet. Then, unfortunately for Fumblies, Father Crimbo himself stepped out, a rather large burlap sack in his hand.

"As expected, we find our target amidst this ragtag group of adventures," Dr. Darth said confidently, folding his fingers into a temple. "This pleases Dr. Darth greatly."

"Great, Father Crimbo," complained Sir Fumblies who had enough of this fight already and didn't want to prolong it. "You couldn't have just stayed back and let us handle it?"

"Kid, I can handle myself," Father Crimbo said. With that, he aimed his hand at Hunk and blasted the large handsome green monster with an array of candy, which disintegrated on Hunk's chest, forcing him back a step or two.

"That isn't the point," Fahari said, scolding Father Crimbo. "If they're after you, there's no reason they needed to know you're here now. Now, instead of splitting their forces, they simply have to get them into our position."

"Not if they don't get the chance," Scaros said confidently. The princesses had promised to stay back, out of the range of danger, although Scaros wasn't sure if he trusted them not to try to get in on the action.

"Very perceptive, Catalinan. That is our very plan," Dr. Darth said through his mask, confidently. With that, he slid a small section of his gauntlet aside, and then pressed three buttons below the original surface with a needle point from his armored glove. The needle automatically retracted then as the cover blended itself seamlessly back to cover his armor. "But the genius of Dr. Darth, in life or after death, defies your pathetic attempts to intervene."

"In that case," Fahari said, her panthress-like eyes narrowing. "We shall simply finish this fight now."

With a mighty yell, Sir Fumblies sought to bring his full might down on the forces of Hey Daze.

 
Be Free or Die part 2 of 4

 
The horsebound Sebastian Dash spotted a nightmare in the distance long before he came to the edges of the camp. Dash recognized the slavers from Catrina's description of them. Nasty looking things. From the looks of it, they were involved in a major raid. One Dash hoped to put a stop to.

Normally, Dash would start weighing his odds of survival and victory and start calculating every possible advantage he could gain to maximize the both. This time, his attention was more on another faction swiftly making its way to battle. Daisuke and Kadlin were in the lead, flanked by the Jester King of Beasts and Black Paladin.

Dash hopped off his horse and sent it back towards the camp, knowing he could trust in the horse to get to its destination. Dash prepared for a fight but quickly realized that the Feline Empire weren't heading towards him. The Black Paladin started towards Dash, but Daisuke grabbed him and yelled something which Dash couldn't quite make out.

Dash watched the Feline Empire warily, although he wasn't overly surprised when they attacked the slavers. Shrugging, Dash circled away from them, forcing his way to camp. An unnatural snowstorm was battering the slavers in the distance so that's where Dash would be heading, hoping it was the icy powers of Becky Joy. He battled through the slavers, but they proved much, much tougher than anticipated. Dash was no slouch himself, however. He kept the mirror-coated broadsword in its harness, preferring to use his original broadsword, Bad Beats.

To his extreme disappointment, Dash couldn't help but notice Black Paladin had the two thugs from earlier following him. They were the thugs Dash and the space elves had left in a Seaside Town prison earlier. Guess it failed to hold them. Dash should have known. Rounding out the group were a large number of Knob Goblin Elites as well as three prominent figures which Dash couldn't quite identify. Two males and a female.

The Feline Empire punched a hole through the unorganized slavers, who were far more numerous than expected but clearly unprepared for an assault.

Acting on instinct honed through years of battle, Dash snapped his head back, allowing him to barely avoid the arc of a deadly looking sword. Before Dash could act against his assailant, the attacker fell to the ground. A women with dark skin walked over, pulled her hunting knife out of the slaver's back, and nodded to Dash. "I'm Summer. Hopefully you're on our side. For your sake."

Dash nodded. "If you're against the invaders, then I am."

"I remember you from the other world, actually," she said. Rather than continue speaking, she turned her attention back to the never-ending wave of slavers. From a distance, Dash could tell Daisuke was taking control of the slavers who confronted him with a lethal aggression. Or.. was he? Dash had fought Daisuke and knew his style as well as the abilities the Feline trio possessed. They didn't seem to be fighting as lethally as usual.

Dash couldn't place his finger on quite why. Instead, he focused on following the Ireacan, Summer, who seemed to know what was going on. Dash would need to get updated on the situation as soon as the more immediate concern of surviving and fighting off the slavers was dealt with. Unsurprisingly, Summer made her way towards the ice storm which was battering several slavers, forcing them to stay back.

Even before he got close enough to see Becky, backed up by some familiar and not so familiar allies, Dash could tell her powers were starting to give away. If Dash knew her well enough- and he probably did- she'd revert into a non-combative state soon under the sustained pressure of using her powers so long. She couldn't help it, Dash was sure. Just a part of her personality and the nature of her abilities. Even with Todd Blackpaws playing music designed to boost her attack power and her magical stamina, sooner or later, the ice storm would fall, and they'd be in trouble.

Not if Dash could turn the tide before then.

"Glad you showed up," a voice came from behind Dash. Dash felt his mirror-coated sword being lifted from its sheath. He spun around, seeing Cattaras using it. "Don't whine. I'll give it back this time. Promise."

Dash simply nodded. Summer joined her light-skinned Ireacan friend whose name Dash forgot. Dash took a moment to wonder who else might be in this motley crew when silence suddenly fell over the battlefield, followed by the sounds of a stampede.

Dash and his allies could see a group of slavers riding in atop large, four legged great gray beasts, each looking bigger than a house. Dash heard a single, wise command from Becky Joy, of all people.

"Scatter!"

 
Infestation part 3 of 5

 
"Take them down!" Fumblies ordered the others. "Fast and hard. We've got a more important job, and there's no time for this distraction."

Fahari nodded her head in silent agreement. She'd heard the horrific tales of the slavers. This was, indeed, just a distraction. One she had no taste for but one she knew was far too dangerous to try to sneak away from.

Fumblies had his brutes engage the Darthbots. Hunk slammed his fists together, bringing a shockwave at Fumblies and Fahari. She leapt high into the air, avoiding the shockwave, and came down to catch Hunk in the face with an expert kick. Hunk swung blindly at her. She just barely dodged, knowing the odds were in his favor in a straight up brawl; sooner or later he'd catch her and do real damage.

Half a dozen brutes jumped on Hunk simultaneously, bringing him down. More Knob Goblins moved to pile in on the Hey Daze spawned brute, but he shrugged the brutes off, sending them flying in all directions and taking most of the advancing Knob Goblins out as well.

The great green beast bellowed, loudly proclaiming, "HUNK IS THE STRONGEST AND HANDSOMEST THERE IS! Hunk will-"

Whatever he was saying was interrupted as Hunk stumbled forward, courtesy of a haxxor attack from behind! Fumblies and the others were delighted to see Konall Bearsmasher had joined the fight, although Father Crimbo looked more disturbed and worried.

"Hunk needs a breath mint," Konall said, twirling his haxxor dramatically. "Seriously, I can smell your breath from behind. That's just gross."

"Hunk WILL FEED on YOUR BONES!"

Hunk stood up to his full massive height, towering over Konall. Hunk leaned forward and roared. Despite standing several feet away from Konall, the roar had enough force to lift Konall's hair back.

"What in Hel's domain do you eat, anyway? Stale crap?" With that, Konall rushed forward to attack, only to be cut off midway by one of Dr. Darth's force blasts from behind. Fahari leapt towards Dr. Darth, hoping to blindside him but was blindsided herself by a stream of cards which were slightly bigger than her. As Admiral Alice said, Curiouser and curiouser.

The knight Fumblies turned to the source of the attack and only saw a plump woman adored in a black velvet robe which was covered in glossy, reflective black heart symbols.

"Oh, I see you brought your mom to the fight, how nice of you," the Kingslayer said, preparing a spell to use in case she proved to be more of a threat than she appeared, which Fumblies knew to be likely.

"How DARE you insult the Queen of Hate?! Cardmonkeys, destroy him!"

Fumblies scoffed. Scaros and several Knob Goblins were behind him, ready to fight the cards off, although cards didn't seem like much of a threat to Fumblies. "Card monkeys? Are you kidding me?"

Fumblies rushed forward, ready to take the many cards out by the dozens, but tripped. This time it wasn't himself living up to his name but rather dozens of slick strands of gooey wet noodles which had entangled his legs. He cut them free with a small flame, only to feel the impact of a seal clubbing club to his back. Fumblies spun around and fired a lightning zap at the aggressor, who looked, oddly, like a mannequin of a newbie adventurer with features of all six classes. The strange non life dodged easily and Sir Fumblies noticed a small white humanoid looking mouse with a steering wheel attached to the head of this un-person. It dodged with a disco like move.

"Sad Sir Fumblies," the mouse said. It spoke?! "Do you really think an adventurer such as yourself can defeat the Adventurer suit, which has the power of the six archetypes of loathing? I, the mouse named I, shall answer that for you. No. You don't. I, I, am unbeatable!"

With that, I the mouse summoned an elemental saucesphere around himself and a large mosquito to his side, quickly using a burst of empathy to make it faster and more dangerous. Er, to the high degree a twenty pound mosquito could be.

"I agree with making this fast," I the Mouse said, taking a moment to pose dramatically. "We're due for a delicious lunch at the 7-Eternal! Where 'Not even a mouse can get enough.'"

"OPENS EVERY DAY FROM SEVEN AM THROUGH ETERNITY!" For some reason, Hunk stood up and posed dramatically as he roared that. A cadre of Darthbots and card minions surrounded them to keep the heroes from taking the inexplicable break in the action to attack.

"Yes, their almost-nearly fresh brewed coffee and doughnuts, a dozen for four slivs and a quat of meat, are the perfect compliment to my daily morning executions!" Queen of Hate proclaimed, as tiny smoke images of doughnuts and hearts drifted over their head.

"Yes, Dr. Darth finds the cowardly service, cutthroat discounts and overly excessive selection to be..." Darth paused to take a dramatic deep breath which sounded quite mechanical. "Agreeable."

"Oh, shut up," Fahari said, finally breaking through the line to attack Dr. Darth, payback for the blast earlier. Hunk grabbed her midpounce, payback to Dr. Darth for the save from her earlier pounce.

Scaros and his troops found themselves under attack by I's familiar and hot sauce attacks while Fumblies starred down Dr. Darth. Fumblies threw a large fireball spell at him, but a magical barrier deflected it. The armored Darth dropped the shield and prepared to blast Fumblies, but twin blades slammed into his gauntlet, slicing them and causing a backfire!

Darth starred in outrage at the attacker, an otherworldly looking elf with twin blades extending from her otherwise night black outfit. Though skin tight, Darth could tell it to be an item of futuristic technology. The outfit also included a pair of large wings and a body harness which allowed her some flight. Before he could ask how she dared, she dared to speak.

"I am Jen, an ally to the Kingdom of KOL," she explained in an authoritative voice. Three more of her kind joined her. Another of the elves flew. The other two walked. "Speaking on behalf of the land of the law, Tarvel, Glyn, Raven and I require that you stand down and surrender."

"Surrender to you pathetic humans? Never!" Dr. Darth swore.

Glyn couldn't help but smile. "Had a feeling you'd say that."

And with that, the fight was back on!

There's only one more piece to go - the Finale part II, but you won't be surprised to hear it's a good long read!

Hopefully you'll also find it satisfying, awesome and maybe even epic. Note: Although I wrote this one myself, there's many lines in here I can say were suggested by some of my players, who helped me flesh out some of the little details for the story.