This mission was basically meant to serve as the fifth Finale piece for AIL. The idea was we'd finish off the scenarios and maybe set the seeds for a future revival. Ultimately, that's what we ended up doing; setting up the third season with three new player characters.

So instead of a traditional Rollover, I just did an update on the scenarios set in the last mission. I think it worked out well enough.

 
And there came a time when our world faced a threat like none ever before.

Some threats have passed while others continue to linger. Let's get an update on the status of the ten scenarios. Several of these events had already occurred or had been sensed to be coming in visions (and some of those predictions have indeed, come to pass).

They're broken down into related groups of problems.

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1. The main goal: Stop the visions and save the world by stopping Kadlin Bearsmasher by any means necessary.

3. Kadlin planned to transform the Farnsworthy tower into something far more ominous.

Kadlin and Konall are dead.

Their spirits ascended into the honored afterlife. Aleena was left with possession of the resealed glaive and instructed to dispose of it into a black star.

If the goal was "Kill the mage, save the world," then that part's taken care of.

Along the way, Kadlin did indeed transform the tower, basically turning it into our version of KOL's the Naughty Sorceress themed tower. The tower partially collapsed during a battle with Kadlin's summoned beast and the heroes, but a sliver of the dark ones was unleashed into the world during the battle.

The heroes attempted to pursue it in the Morlencir scouting ship. However, it was torn apart by the powerful demon known as. . . Larry! The ship was sent crashing towards the lands outside the tower!

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2. The Chrono dragon is dying. Time itself may be in danger.

9. Evil forces have stolen the Penultimate airship and upgraded it to the "Ultimate Airship."

10. In the vision the Feline Goddess showed Kadlin, the skies were on fire.

The dragon has been saved from the darkness... but the Ultimate Airship is expected to attack the dragon while it's still weak!

Catrina, Cattaras, their mentor Sliver, Becky and the space elf leader Jen lead a group into battle against the darkness which had poisoned the Chrono Dragon, sending it fleeing after nearly obliterating it. Jen then used most of her nanites to heal the dragon, allowing it to start recovering from its near fatal infection.

The redeemed paladin revealed that the Shinpire recently attacked and took control of the airship, upgrading it to its new ultimate status in order to attack the still weakened Chrono Dragon. The paladin spoke of his fears that this would ignite the Gia spirit. He specifically warned our heroes that this could set "the skies afire and (bring) a new dark era to the world."

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4. Seaside Town has fallen under control of the Penguin Mafia.

The town is still under their control and, according to Katherine Swift, getting worse. This problem doesn't seem to have been addressed at all. We do know several KOKOL town guards have either abandoned the city or gone to help in the massive assault on the former Farnsworthy tower (and on the seemingly limitless threats surrounding it).

Sebastian Dash and the Whiteclaw siblings have shown moving through the town is possible (although all three are highly skilled in stealth). Todd Blackpaws even worked a penguin controlled bar during the occupation.

Nevertheless, this is probably a problem that should be addressed.. once the more serious problems are taken care of.

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5. The Gnollish people and Knob Goblins started an uprising against Kadlin.

6. Kadlin's Elite 8 moved towards Degrassi as well to strengthen the Empire's hold on it.

Of course, she has those still loyal to her dark cause even though she herself has abandoned it. Still, the revolutions went well. Her brother Konall and Sebastian Dash lead an attack against the Goblin underground headquarters, forcing Kadlin to flee. Later on, Prince Blahking and King MTiger formed an Elite Seven of their own and lead them (and several allies) in a battle against Kadlin's Elite 8 just outside of Degrassi.

The heroes were victorious after a hard fought battle.

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7. Likely related to the Chrono Dragon's death and Kadlin's tampering with the dark glaive, portals have been opening at random around the Kingdom...

Todd Blackpaws and Sebastian Dash dealt with one at one point, fighting invaders from the Mirrorworld. Nevertheless, we haven't seen much of these. We might see more before they naturally stop occurring, since the Dragon has been cured and the Glaive is no longer controlling Kadlin.

But the odds are very good that we'll have to do something more proactive about them in order to get them to stop.

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8. Airships! Ships and airships everywhere!

Mostly they're coming because news of the tower and glaive seems to have spread around the world. At least one ship has engaged the Ultimate Airship in battle. However, we've heard very little about our visitors from around the world, which we know by now includes many allies and many more potential enemies.

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That's the situation. Basically, four threats have been resolved: the late Kadlin, her demolished tower, The Elite 8, and the Chrono Dragon's sickness.

Two potential threats are known: the airship which is going to attack the dragon.. and the redeemed paladin's fear this might lead to the ignition of the Gia spirits, which could lead to the burning skies Kadlin saw in her vision.

Three more problems have yet to really be developed. The status of the portals and the other airships. The Penguin mafia controlling Seaside Town.

The uprisings in Degrassi Knoll and Kadlin's former stronghold (formerly that of Catrina before her and the Goblin King before her) were both aided by our heroes. However, the people will very likely need additional help securing their free future if they are to have one.

Of course, the Elite 8 remain at large and the bosses of Hey Daze are in hiding or have returned to Hey Daze.

It would seem our heroes have a lot of work left to do!

So there it is, the start to the new mission. It would be over a month before a roleplay finally went up and another ten months before we got anything more than a sporadic roleplay, but eventually, we were back to full activity!

But I'll chronicle those problems later. For this, I'm going to mostly focus on what happened rather than how long it took.