MK's handler, BinaJane, was nice enough to help me get this one kicked off.

It makes use of the Council of Loathing, who so far have been in the zero mission, and first three official mission Rollovers of Season 3. This one is the start to a pretty successful mission, I'd say.

 
Late one night, assistant Dottie and her daughter Pete met with fishery owner and council member, Carlo Penno, in Market Square to discuss the most recent robbery of the fishery.

"What did they get in the robbery, Dottie?" asked Carlo.

"As far as I have been able to find out, they stole several important files from your safe. Those files contain names, dates and amounts of money that was paid in return for either special favors or kickbacks for certain council members," said Dottie. She handed him a sealed folder. Carlo opened it up and started paging through the papers.

"If that information falls into the wrong hands a lot of people could be in serious trouble," said Carlo.

"Yes that information was for shall we say 'services rendered' and there are some very important names on that list. Especially the kickba.." Dottie stopped, seeing the penguin shaking his head.

"One does not discuss such matters in detail in public, my dear. Especially when we are to meet with such a distinguished guest shortly. There are those who might get the wrong impression of a simple legitimate business-penguin such as myself."

"Ohhhh, I am so sorry, was not thinking," stammered Dottie. "I won't let it happen again."

Pete heard her mom and Carlo talking about a special guest and started tugging on her mom's shirt, "Mommy, Mommy, is this the special surprise you promised me? Is this my daddy? When do I get to see him?" cried Pete.

Carlo and Dottie exchanged looks and Dottie blushed, explaining that the special guest was not her father but an associate of Carlo's from the Council and that he was not the surprise that mom was talking about.

Pete burst into tears over the news that the special guest was not her father nor was he the special surprise for her birthday and both Carlo and Dottie tried to console Pete, talking to her about plans for her party. This seemed to appease Pete and occupy her while Dottie and Carlo continued talking about the special guest.

"I am so sorry, Mr. Penno, for Pete's outburst. She misses her dad so much and thinks every stranger is her dad. He left the family right after she was born so Pete has never known him," said an apologetic Dottie.

He waved her off with a fin. "One needn't apologize for family, my dear assistant. Why, one of my granddaughters is her age." Carlo turned to Pete and said, "Pete, I have a very important job of a bright young lady like you."

Pete looked up at Carlo with wide eyes and asked, "You have an important job for ME….. What is the job? I am just a little girl."

"Your mother and I have a very important meeting to attend with the special guest from the Council and I need you to be very quiet and sit here and write down everything you would like at your birthday party." Carlo handed Pete a tablet and pencil as he lead her to a table in the back of the room that was far enough away that she couldn't hear the conversation but within sight that she could be seen by her mother.

"Oh thank you, Mr. Penno, I will be very good and make my list for you." Pete smiled as she happily settled in at the table intent on making her birthday party list. After a while, the wrinkled skinned, gray haired, rotund young Council member arrived.

"Whooo!" the council member called out. "I brought the grape juice and I'm ready to party down!"

"Grape juice is fine for children and old people but I prefer Kaluah coffee myself," responded Carlo, indicating for his assistant to grab a bottle of Kaluah and a pot of coffee. "Anyone want to join me for a drink?"

"Later, old man, I got grape juice! Woooo!"

For a moment Pete glanced up at him from the other room, shook her head and made a face. Then she went back to writing her very important list.

"So what did ya want from me? Whoo!"

"To stop making that annoying noise, first," Carlo responded as he sipped his coffee. "And second, I wish for a couple of problems to be.. dealt with, Council member Cheatum."

"What, these two chicks here? Cause I think you could just fire them but if you need me to.."

"What?!" Carlo took another sip of his coffee. "No, you blithering simpleton. These fine ladies are my assistant and her daugher and fall under my exclusive protection. Watch your words, lad."

"Ohhh, gotchya then!" Cheatum downed another swig of grape juice. "So what's up, my brother penguin?"

"'Sir' will do nicely."

"Um.... sir." Cheatum bowed his head.

"The Rat King and the Boss Bat," Carlo answered. "The Rat King's been ordering thefts around the Kingdom of certain individuals. Suzie and her little pet fighting arena, even Degrassi Knoll and Gnollish's villages got hit, according to my sources. I'd like to round up the Council and have those Adventurers who come flocking around to put them in their place. Not killed, just.. rough them up. Rough their crews up. Their allies."

"You would?" Cheatum looked confused. "Aren't those your boys? Part of your crew? I thought you had them under your flippers. That's what I've always heard anyway."

Carlo's glare could have silenced a screaming Yeti, if they weren't so infamous for hating penguins. It silenced the Council member, though, and so Carlo spoke. "It's true they are associated with some penguins, although not with me personally nor with any of my allies. But those other penguins I'm sure would agree we do not wish for the rats to become a.. disruption.. to the good citizens of the Loathing community. No, my good friend, this can not stand.

"This is an act of open defiance and must be met with the Council's full attention in a dramatic, definitive and powerful response!"

"I understand what you are saying, Sir, and if I might make a suggestion on how to approach this. Let me bring this to the attention of the Council and that way you will not be tied to it and no one can say this is a triad war," replied Cheatum.

The penguin seemed to smile, though it's hard to tell with a beak. "Yes, I belive that would be most prudent. Let us discuss the details of the vermin's recent activities then.."

They had a lengthy discussion about the incidents and brought them to the attention of the rest of the Council during the next meeting:

• Suzie and her 'little pet fighting arena' having a variety of her fighting pets kidnapped
• Degrassi Knoll lost research information on a new grass seed project
• Gnollish's village was robbed of security plans for the next month detailing protocols for cargo shipments the Gnolls provide security for.

The Council ultimately decided to write up a note on the above issues for any adventurers interested in helping. It detailed the incidents above and a few others. The letter also contained specific instructions for the adventurers.

Council of Loathing

So fine adventurer, we personally wanted you to undertake this task, whoever you are, for your unique skills in whatever it is you do. We're sure it won't be that dangerous. Probably. Your goal is simple. Go beat up the Boss Bat. He should be hiding in his bat hole (Ladadada dada dadah BATHOLE) when he isn't out starting trouble. It's full of bats, so you'll get to enjoy dealing with them as well. Don't kill the Boss Bat, though. We don't want to start an incident. Yeah, that's the ticket. No, really, seriously. Trust us. Don't kill the Rat King either. You'll find him usually in the Distant Woods around the Typical Tavern, which we think he's going to try to take over. So go there and help out Bart Ender if you can as well. He's the bartender. Duh. Anyway, don't kill them. They're probably planning to ambush you right now or something though so be careful. We'd also like to quickly announce some awards for Adventurers who gave us some minor help with out meeting with the Penguin Mafia during the last mission. Two missions ago. That Wildfall guy earns himself a pack of random assortment of leftover seeds of things we didn't want. Some of them are actually pretty cool, I guess. If we threw in cool ones by mistake. Anyway, him and his friends can probably find them in the daily dungeon. We left them there. We'll send him specific instructions later maybe. That Alys chick gets something special, too. We got a bunch of Haiku katanas for a good price thanks to our penguin friends. We're not giving her one of those, of course, but they threw in a haiku utility blade that she can come pick up anytime she's free. Finally, we're randomly giving Turtle tamer Bob a new familiar, a wind-up Jackass Plumber figure. We don't know what it does. We just know it hates turtles. Sorry, Bob. Anyway, all you have to do is come down, fill out a few forms and then pay a modest undetermined fee and it's all yours. Oh, and you won a cereal bar, but I'm sure no one cares about that. More recently, we asked adventurers to bring us the Toot Oriole so we could meet with the Toot who had been missing for some time. We'd like to extend a special "thank you" to the one known as Sassy Snake for personally bringing the Oriole to us. After discussing her report, we've decided to offer Sassy a special silver flute, which she can pick up from us.. after she does the council a special secret favor, of course. After discussing this mission with Sassy and others, we've decided to also extend our congratulations to the fine couple known as Jarlsboris Wildfall and Mary Katherine O'Toole. We've personally send them each matching outfits made of leather and the finest silks. Well, actually, of pleather and the third finest silks we could find cheap. But hey, no complaining. We also understand that, after reviewing logs on the recent rescue of their clanmates Sebastian Dash, that KOKOL will be sending a home cooked Chrono meal to Cattaras Whiteclaw, a handcrafted Chrono necklace to Morlencir princess Jen, and a bit of Chrono candy to ice mage Becky Joy. We have no idea what any of that does nor how they can pick it up, so bug KOKOL about it. See you all soon. Happy Adventuring! Grocery shopping list: Vodka, cereal, more vodka, socks and lunchmeat (whatever that is)

 
(Special thanks to Mary Kate's handler Bina for helping me with the Dottie & company meeting)

I really like this one for the start to a mission. And the rats and bats made for really unique enemies, which set the scene for some really interesting stories as you'll see during roleplaying for the mission. We'll kick it off with Shelldor, Mary Kate and Wildfall. We'll also see Blackeagle and Sassy Snake early on.