It's the nature of the game, of course, that players come and go. Some stays, even great characters, are only around for a short while. Others, like Konall and Zed of the third faction (Blood Clan) lasted much longer. Heck, KOKOL associates Dash and Cat are still around!

We've gotten a lot of great debuts in Season 3, with Mary Kate and Koumori being two notable examples. Heck, we already had SnowCatCuties debut this mission! And we got an amazing debut right here as well - Iris! As you'll see, she's got ties to one of the KOL groups off the bat. Stay tuned for the impressive debut of not only Iris but a new Somber Six member as well!

 
Warning: Minor cursing

Iris set her feet firmly on the grounds of the Plains and surveyed the land. She had been on the Airship for so long, it seemed other-worldly to be below the clouds and blue sky. A breeze blew, and she caught the aroma of grass that had been blooming under a hot sun, followed by the stench of goblins from the Cobb Knob not too far away. She wrinkled her nose in disgust and pulled out one of her knives and idly twirled it while she looked around. For a moment, she considered heading down to the Knob to gut some goblins, but she didn't want to have a whole goblin army around her ears.

Not by herself. Not since...

She hurriedly broke away from that train of thought and pulled out her map. She didn't have a compass (yet), so she calculated the location of the sun to see which way was Northwest, where apparently a town called Seaside resided. That's where the Council of Loathing was, and perhaps some fun touristy things. The Mafia Penguins had taken over the town, from what the Quiet Healers had quietly told her, so maybe she could also get some decent gambling in. Or pickpocketing. Pickpocketing a Penguin was very dangerous if they caught you, but mercenaries and thieves who lived to tell the tale said the pocket loot was completely worth it. Satisfied that she could make it to town well before the day was over, Iris sheathed her knife and stuck her map into her boot before setting out eagerly.

********

Iris set her feet firmly on the deck of the Penultimate Fantasy Airship and held her chin high and proud while the ship's Burly Sidekick looked her up and down.

"DIS DA NEW EMPLOYEE?" He roared. Iris wasn't fazed. One of the details in the job description was that he roared even when he wasn't angry. "SHE DON'T LOOK LIKE MUCH. AND SHE GOT A LOT OF STUFF." He poked at her bow, and then her arrows, and then her knives.

Iris pursed her lips haughtily. "I'm a very good fighter, and all my weapons have a good use," she said as respectfully as she could.

"HARHARHAR! A SMALL THING LIKE YOU, A GOOD FIGHTER? THAT'S A GOOD ONE!" he roared.

"The Spunky Princess is a very fierce fighter, from what I've heard," Iris replied. "And she is very small herself."

The expression on the Burly Sidekick's face darkened (mostly because his huge, furry black eyebrows bunched together over his eyes in a frown), and he roared, "SPUNKY PRINCESS IS A GOOD FIGHTER BECAUSE SHE'S A SPUNKY PRINCESS, AND YOU AIN'T SPUNKY, IS YOU?!?!" He threw his huge cyborg-gun arm at Iris (without having to take it off!) in a blow, but Iris jumped out of the way just in time. The Protagonist, who was across the ship, started running to give her aid, and Iris saw out of the corner of her eye an ethereal creature stand up, but she quickly swept her feet around the burly guy's legs, hooking and jerking up, and decked him!

The Burly Sidekick looked completely shocked, and Iris notched an arrow on her bow, just in case. He blinked a couple times, and then began to laugh. "HARHARHAR! I PITY DA FOOL WHO DOUBLECROSSES YOUR PATH."

A Quiet Healer was suddenly at their side, and Iris realized that this is what she had mistaken for an ethereal being. She was tall and wispy, with the palest glowing skin, and pale wispy hair, and the palest glowing eyes. She moved almost completely soundlessly.

"You are hurt," she said very quietly, taking the Sidekick's human arm.

"IT JUSTA SCRATCH," he said cheerfully.

"... .... ..." went the Quiet Healer, and the tiny red mark on his arm went away. "Iris was hired by the captain, which means she's one of the crew now, which means we are all family now. We are not each other's enemies, and we must not come to blows ..." She trailed off quietly, and Iris was a little taken aback that she couldn't hear whatever tangent the Healer was on, but then she remembered that the job description also mentioned that the Quiet Healers were called quiet for a reason. "...." the Quiet Healer finished and turned to Iris. Her glowing eyes startled and mesmerized her.

The Burly Sidekick grinned and stuck his hand out to Iris, still sitting. "WELCOME TO DA CREW."

********

It was high noon when Iris finally came to the town. Even at the outskirts she could hear the noise from what was presumably a marketplace, or perhaps saloons. There was lots of yelling and the general cacophony of crowds. She came to the top of a hill and quickly looked the town over. At the far end she could see the Clan Halls, and a brightly colored cake-shaped building with the description "Familiar Arena." There were several rows of decrepit-looking buildings and lots, a sketchy looking train track, rows of nicer looking houses and what were presumably brothels or hotels, as well as other buildings.

She made her way down and began to look for the Council building. The crowd seemed to thicken here and there; at some times she was walking almost by herself along the road, and then at others she was bumping shoulders with dozens of creatures at a time- everyday people, Knollish and forest folk, furry animals, and she could have sworn she passed an elf or two. When she turned to look, though, she bumped a little more sharply into someone and was greeted with, "Ay! Watch where ye're goin' you clumsy bitch!"

She decided it would be prudent to not ask people for directions to the Council. There was no telling how friendly other people would be to mercenaries or Adventurers, and at the moment she would prefer anonymity.

After another disorienting hour among the noisy streets, Iris finally found what she was looking for. She gaped in awe at the dome of the building, bright from the sunlight, and then mustered her courage and started up the steps. A cool breeze whooshed past her, cooling her from her morning's exertions, and she eagerly approached the entrance and went in. The noise of the town seemed to fade almost completely, and Iris basked in the silence...until she realized that it was perhaps a little too quiet, even for a Council.

She hurried along, and suddenly came to a curtained off area. Pulling a curtain aside, she looked in. There were two long rows of tables, and very high seats, almost like thrones. But no one occupied them. The room was completely empty except for a Penguin who was enjoying a martini, and a scribe who was shuffling and scribbling through scrolls and mumbling to himself.

"Ah, ahem." Iris cleared her throat. "Excuse me."

The scribe barely glanced up.

"Excuse me, where is the Council?"

"Eh, out to lunch," the scribe replied briskly, still muttering.

"When will they be back?" This was replied to with a grunt, so Iris tried again. "I'm an Adventurer, well, mercenary, and I was wondering if there was anything that they could hire me to do."

"Out to lunch, nothing to hire," the scribe said.

The Penguin spoke up. "Perhaps you could go amuse yourself until the Council returns," he suggested. "Or you could go run the riffraff out of the Back Alley for us, that would do nicely." He sipped his martini and stared at her with his beady eyes. He kept sipping and staring, and the scribe kept mumbling and scribbling, so Iris finally left.

It had gotten very hot outside, and Iris was parched from all her walking, so she decided to go have a drink somewhere while she waited. She went to the Madness Bakery and purchased a strawberry tart, and then made her way over to the Arena. Bets were being placed on familiars for the evening rounds. A small stand was selling thermoses of an unknown liquid, so she took a gamble and bought one. She watched a short fight between two saber-toothed limes, but all they did was spit at each other and shake so much salt that the entire theater had to be cleared until it was swept up and aired out. For some reason, watching the fight stirred up memories.

********

A week or so after being hired, Iris made her way up on deck after a huge meal with the crew. Those cooks knew how to cook! And the soft green echo eyedrop antidote martinis were particularly refreshing, even if they were a mouthful.

She had been making her rounds, walking along the sides of the ship, when she suddenly got an eerie feeling, and the hairs on her arms and the back of her neck stood up. She crouched down and began to run, looking over the railing to see if someone had somehow gotten on board.

Before she was halfway down the port side, she heard struggled breathing and saw a head pop up on the starboard stern. Followed by shoulders, and then a body. The adventurer was partly climbing up the ship, and partly being flown by what appeared to be musical notes! It was clear that his mysticality {or moxie?} was running low, though, because the notes, holding onto the edges of his clothes, were flapping laboriously and looked about ready to slip.

"Intruder!!" yelled Iris, notching an arrow. "INTRUDERRRRR!"

She loosed the arrow, but one of the notes let go of the pants and took the blow. The adventurer shrieked as he dropped in the air just slightly, but the other musical notes flapped furiously and he regained air and was brought over the deck.

The Burly Sidekick stormed up the stairs onto the deck and ran at the intruder with a roar, but was suddenly stopped in his tracks when the intruder pulled out an accordion and began to pummel the Sidekick with musical sauce (musical... sass?). The Sidekick roared again and tried to run despite all the gravy.

-----------------------------

Iris notched another arrow quickly and shot it, but the intruder played furiously and turned the arrow on Iris! A split second before it flew at her, Iris threw up her hands and summoned enough moxie to consume the arrow in flames. Fire still spewing from her hand, she concentrated and threw out a branch of fire at the intruder. He suddenly shrieked as his shirt and eyebrows first singed, and then caught on fire. He fell to the ground, writhing in panic, and his accordion made an awful screech, and then a "ping!" as a string inside it snapped. The Burly guy recovered himself with a roar and ran full speed at the intruder, who screamed and launched himself overboard. The Burly Sidekick and Iris ran to look over the rail just in time to see his shirt (or what was left of it) being extinguished as he fell through a cloud, and seeing him play his bent accordion frantically, causing confused, haphazard musical notes keep grabbing and then dropping him, His scream of "EIEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!" echoed throughout the sky and then faded in the distance.

"HARHARHARHARHAR!!" the Burly Sidekick laughed. "MAN I PITY HIM. DAT SURE WAS A FOOL OF A FOOL." He grinned at Iris. "DAT WITH THE FIRE WAS PRETTY COOL. WHERE YOU LEARN DAT?"

Iris chuckled nervously at the near-miss (no pun intended, either!) and admitted, "I learned that I could manipulate fire when I was probably 5. I don't know how I can do it. I just can."

"WELL DAT REALLY COOL." he was impressed. "YOU SHOULD SHOW ME SOMETIME. I'LL TALK TO DA BOSS ABOUT GIBING YOU A RAISE."

And that's how, at the end of every week, the Spunky Princess made sure that Iris was given her very own Penultimate Fantasy Airship chest, which not only had extra wages in it, but random little treasures, picked up from...wherever it was that they got their loot.

******** ********* ********

Iris had been a well-loved employee of the ship for well over three years. She was rich in funds and friends and fun adventures, and was such a keen warrior that every day of the week she was a personal bodyguard to someone on the Airship. That was where the good part ended, though: before, only a few careless adventurers would try to board the ship and steal the legendary chests, and now random portals started popping up in the sky and from what they could tell, poured Hey Deze monsters into the land below. It was very disturbing, but they were sure that they were safe as long as they stayed in the air...

Iris was awoken from a deep sleep in her cabin in one of the lower decks, by what felt like someone choking her. She coughed and spluttered herself awake, just as a Quiet Healer entered her room. "We must go, quickly," she said. Smoky purple fumes were seeping into the room fast, and Iris gagged. She thrust her hand out and fyoom!- fire ejected out into the hall. It didn't seem to do much to the fumes, they seemed to shrink from the flames and just billow into other parts of the room. The wood of the ship, however, snarled eagerly from it.

"Stop!" the Quiet Healer said, sharper than Iris had ever heard any of them speak. Iris sucked the flames back with extra moxie, to make sure no embers were left on the timber. "The flames will do nothing... We must leave..." the Healer passed her hand over Iris and the choking sensation left.

"What's happened? Where are we going? What about the others?" Iris demanded as she shoved her boots on and grabbed her cloak and weapons.

"The others are on their way...we have a backup airboat. Leave them," the Healer added firmly, as Iris paused at her generous stack of chests.

"....." she murmured something and the fumes thinned enough for Iris and her to walk through, though her skin stung slightly, even with her leather boots. ".... No fire. ... " the Quite Healer reminded Iris absently through her murmurings.

For once, Iris was afraid. The entire ship was darker and quieter than she'd ever seen it. She stayed close to the Quiet Healer, and clutched her arm when, as they ascended the stairs, maniacal laughter echoed out from- behind them, far in the hall!

"What was that, who was that???" Iris whispered as they paused to look around right before going on deck.

"I don't know. Someone has sabotaged us." the Healer whispered back. She squeezed Iris' hand. "The airboat is ready, it's waiting at the bow for us. The captain will sabotage the helm to keep the intruder busy while we undock, and he should be finished by the time we leave. He can at least try and jump to reach us, if not..." the Quiet Healer trailed off quietly. Iris met her gaze, nodded and squeezed her hand again, and together they emerged on deck.

The deck was completely clear and quiet, but just in case, Iris and the Healer snuck along in the shadows. Iris could see the airboat waiting. She could see the black pigtails of the Spunky Princess peeking out over it, even though she was lying or crouching down. Iris' heart began to beat faster... And all of a sudden the ship jolted and a red light illuminated everything as a portal beamed open and monsters spilled out onto the ship.

Chaos immediately ensued. Iris caught the blade of one goblin with the edge of her knife before gutting him. "Run! I'll catch up!" she yelled to the Healer. The Quiet Healer obeyed, running silently to the bow while Iris flamed several goblins who tried to give chase. Iris engaged in a duel with three goblins, using both her knives, parrying and jabbing back. She killed one and flamed the other two, and then had to take a leap to avoid being charred by a charging beast who was being roasted from an encounter moments before.

Then she was suddenly flung against the rail when another troll booted her in the chest viciously. He then leaped on top of her and grabbed her throat in his grimy fingers and began to squeeze whatever breath might have been left out of her. Iris tried to consume his entire head in flames, but her consciousness was leaving fast, so she put what effort she could into catching his hairy knuckles on fire. It worked. He released her with a scream, and then screamed even more and ran as his hand, and then his arm, caught on fire.

Iris sat up, coughing and gasping for air. She was very disoriented now. The lack of air, and the smoke from the charred goblin flesh, was choking her, and all the noise seemed to add to the suffocation, blanketing her in pure senseless sound that that made her ears pound. She staggered and tried to get her bearings. She finally located the airboat, tripping over dead bodies, mindlessly cutting at running goblins, and coughing for air.

She caught sight of the four Quiet Healers in the boat, and someone else untying the docking rope. She saw two or three of the Quiet Healers look in her direction through the smoke and red light, and stretch out their hand towards her, their lips moving silently. Instantly, the pressure in Iris' ears was relieved, and she could think again, and hear- and the first discernible thing she heard was the Burly Sidekick roaring.

"GO!!!" he roared at her between regular roars.

She ran as fast as she could toward the bow, and saw with a sinking heart that the boat was already flying away from the ship. She heard the pounding of feet after her, and automatically ran faster, and suddenly found herself being hoisted into the air and flung towards the boat. The Burly Sidekick jumped into it right after she landed.

They flew away quickly (for an airboat), and watched through the starry night as the monsters stomped on the deck of their beloved Airship. A while later, the portal vanished, taking the monsters with it. The purple fumes soon billowed around it, and the chilling crazy laughter could be heard as they sailed away on the little boat. Whoever was still left on the ship was captured, for sure, if not dead.

Iris lay down, still coughing and coughing, in a slight panic, even as the Quiet Healers murmured over her...

********

"Hey!" some guy nudged Iris, making her cough in startlement.

"Uh, excuse me. Yes?" she asked uncertainly.

The man looked at her good-naturedly. "They've swept it out, and another round is about to start!" He indicated the Cake-shaped Arena.

"Oh. Yes, thank you!" Iris forced cheer into her voice. Her thoughts were miles away.

She watched another familiar battle, whilst sipping another drink, and then another. Then she returned to the Council, only to be told they were still out. Iris realized with discouragement that it might be days before they agreed to see her. "Or finished lunch," she thought sarcastically.

By this time it was nearly evening, and she was more than a little buzzed. For no apparent reason, she walked out of Seaside and began to walk back to the Plains. She miserably wanted to go back to her old life. She missed the Airship. It didn't stink of small strange creatures, and the winds that blew didn't bring sneezes from dust and grasses with it.

She wondered if the Quiet Healers had been right with their diagnosis and prescription after all....

********

The boat was docked on one of the small porches of the Castle while builders were building a new Airship for the Sidekick and Quiet Healers and of course the Princess. "Building" wasn't the right term; they were upgrading the airboats that Iris, the healers and a few others had escaped on. Combining two of them and using those for the foundation for a new craft. It would be far superior to the smaller airboats, even it if could never compare to their lost airship.

Iris hadn't felt like herself lately. She had terrible nightmares, and an odd amount of noise made her lose her concentration and also made her completely, unreasonably anxious.

Then one afternoon a few days later, when Iris was pacing the halls looking for something to do, all the Quiet Healers corned her. "My dear, you are not well..." one of them said sympathetically.

"You really need a break from here, from all this..." said another.

"..."

"..."

"..."

Iris felt anxiously impatient. "What do you mean?" she asked.

"Your nightmares..." said the Quiet Healer with the glowing violet eyes.

"The sweats..."

"The panic..."

"Your sense of suffocation..." they all suggested. They all trailed off quietly and murmured for a moment, and then the one with the glowing blue eyes spoke up loud enough for Iris to hear. "There's not much we can do for you. We've done what we can, but you need fresh air......"

"....."

"....."

"....."

"....."

Iris thought she was going to go mad, trapped in a literal corner with a bunch of Quiet Healers murmuring in front of her.

"Fresh air?" she asked, keeping herself in check. "As soon as the Penultimate Airboat is up and flying, I'll have plenty of fresh air for me! And I can help us recapture our airship from Shinpire, too!"

"...."

"...."

"...."

"...No," said one of the Healers.

"No," they all agreed quietly.

"No?" asked Iris.

"No, you need fresh air from somewhere else."

"A change of scenery," a Healer explained. "You need to go below-"

"Onto land," interjected another Healer "-and rest and recuperate. Maybe find another adventure. Maybe lots of adventures."

"..... ..... .... ..... But you can't stay up here. It's not good for you."

They all suddenly trailed off and their glowing eyes focused and unfocused, focused and unfocused, and they hummed to themselves. Iris watched them for a minute, and then tried to move. They let her extricate herself from the corner, and said nothing more.

"O-kay...?" Iris said uncertainly. The Healers all nodded at her in agreement and wandered off dreamily.

Iris thought about it that night, and before she went to bed one of the Quiet Healers spoke to her privately and urged her to go, The next morning Iris was packed with an extra change of clothes, some traveling blankets, and a sack of meat.

"But what do you suggest I do- just travel until I find an adventure?" Iris asked them skeptically.

After half an hour, with plenty of quiet pauses, the Healers explained the situation in Seaside. "We heard they had a terrible time with some rats, or maybe it was bats..." one of them said. "I'm sure YOU could take care of that easily enough, Iris."

"Or get rid of the Penguins. Or ally yourself with them. Who knows. No one really likes them."

"Or just go travel by the sea and take a relaxing beach vacation."

"The point is, you need therapeutic time to yourself."

"Take care..."

"We will miss you, Iris..."

********

Therapeutic indeed, Iris thought irritably as she walked through the Plains. It was...well, plainly here. She stopped in awe at the the beautiful sunset, though. The sun had been making its way lower, and now everything was bathed in dark orange and shadow. The Beanstalk wasn't terribly far away. It looked impressive and menacing as the sky was going dark. She couldn't remember what it looked like in moonlight on the ground, but maybe that would be nice to see.

"THUD!"

The ground trembled slightly and the Beanstalk shook.

"THUD!"

Even the clouds seemed to shake.

"THUD!"

"THUD! THUD! THUD! THUD!!!"

Iris dived into a small ditch in the ground to watch the Beanstalk. It soon became apparent that it was shaking from the weight of a Giant coming down! Iris watched as he set his big booted feet on the ground and looked around. Iris was glad she had hidden, because the giant looked very out of the sorts. He grumbled quietly to himself and stared out beyond the plains. Then he began to walk. "THUD. THUD. THUD."

Iris lay perfectly still as he walked past, and he took no notice of her. She could hear him grumbling under his breath about "verily" and "no one appreciateth the Renaissance." He quietly (for a giant) stomped his way across the Plains.

As his dark fedora was about to go out of sight, Iris decided to follow him. It was strange for a Giant to leave the sky, and if he went by any towns they would probably be terrified.

She ran after him as fast as she could, the grass under her feet hissing and crunching. The sky was starting to go a darker orange with dark blue when she finally caught up to him. She stayed a ways behind, walking briskly as she tried to catch her breath. He was still muttering to himself, and as the lights from Seaside came into view, he turned sharply from his path and seemed like he was going to walk past it. He stayed just on the outskirts, oblivious to his little companion, until they came near a part of the town that Iris hadn't noticed. It was a very creepy mansion, and it seemed to...shimmer. There was definitely a shimmer to it. The Renaissance Giant looked at it thoughtfully, though grumpily, and then, after looking around, got on his hands and knees to peer into the house. Then he rapped on one of the upper-floor windows with a large knuckle.

Iris moved closer in the shadows and listened with growing horror as the Giant spoke with whoever opened the window from within. A moment later, someone reached a ghastly, bony hand out at the Giant and dark swirls emanated from the fingertips and engulfed him. A moment later, the Giant was considerably less of a Giant. He was still a Renaissance Giant, to be sure, but now we was only half as tall as the house. He walked over to the door and someone let him in. From where she stood, Iris could only see a tall, thin creature garbed in black clothes before the door shut with a creak and slight boom, and then utter and eerie silence fell.

Whatever that entire exchange was about, Iris was grimly sure that it was no good, and that the Council of Loathing surely needed to know that the Renaissance Giant had just made some sort of deal with a ghoulish looking character in a decrepit, ghoulish looking mansion.

Wow this is a big piece; longer than anything else in the mission other than the third part of the Finale. But there is a LOT going on. I love how we get to see not just Iris in the present but her backstory as well - and it's very well put together.

The voter referred to this piece as "super good" and to the "use of descriptions" as "amazing." In other words, it was very descriptive, with the voter repeatedly praising the use of sound in it. It also earned Iris 3 points for Best Solo roleplay. To reinterate on what I just said, "When I talk about descriptive writing, a lot of what I mean can be seen here." The voter mentioned having high hopes for Iris for future missions. As I write this, she's gotten a co-write for the next mission up as well. Also, the Giant introduced at the end is the forth member of the Somber Six to be introduced. While I introduced the first two (Baron von Ratsworth and the Boss Bat), it's always been my goal to try to get four different KOL/ AIL players to fill out the other four spots. (They consist solely of enemies from the actual KOL game, used in AIL for a slightly different purpose.)

It's worth noting the fifth member of Somber Six is introduced in the finale, while we're still waiting on the final member to debut. With this amazing solo (the voter also complimented the accents and pacing of it), we're basically into the final stretch of roleplaying. We'll keep moving down that stretch with SnowCat's second and final solo for the roleplay, with a three handler roleplay after that.

Keep reading, everyone!