Here we go with another mission finale! We titled it a prelude because it seemed to focus on only part of the cast. Although as I look it over, I think we managed to cover a pretty fair percentage of the overall roleplayers and key NPCs. The first and second parts are about the same size, with the third part being slightly smaller than the first two parts combined.

 
Even tho Bristle was in a hurry to see Icy again, he turned around to look back at the force field and wondered if they would ever be successful in getting thru. Torn between staying and helping or going to Icy, he shook his head.

With great resolve and a heavy heart, he headed off to his Icy. He only hoped Icy had missed him as much as he missed her. He would soon know the answer to that question.

Back at the scene of the force field, Hardwire was fidgeting with it, trying to find the weak spot that would show some odd fluctuation in the energy supplying the force field. Finding that would give them a way thru the barrier. As he searched, he started to find variations in the readings he was getting and suddenly found the lowest rate of energy outputs. He turned to tell Gem and McGuffin and remembered that they had gone to get supplies and would not return till midnight along with Sassy and crew. He would just hang around here and keep anyone from trying to breach the barrier. He couldn't let anyone get thru since they had no idea idea of what dangers were on the other side. Besides, there were enough people trapped there; they don't need anymore innocents possibly getting hurt in there.

by Binajane - handler of Mary Kate

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Bob hurried through Seaside Town, insomuch as Bob ever hurried; Shelldor sometimes wondered which of them was the turtle.

He had Susie’s familiar's in tow. He knew he had probably kept them a bit too long, but he really enjoyed studying the different types. Shelldor, for his part, would just be glad to be rid of the noise.

Susie smiled happily when her familiars were returned, and even gave Bob a kiss on the cheek, making him smile very goofily. He did mention to her that her baby yeti familiar had been acting very strangely, and he didn't know if it was usually like that. Susie pointed Bob to the strange goings on that had been going on around Spookyraven manor. Bob, wanting to look brave in front of Susie, declared that he would check it out. Shelldor, inside Bob’s pack, just rolled his eyes.

By Shelldor

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Earlier

After leaving Mary, Koumori went about surveying the area from the sky the area surrounding the Mansion. He saw Mary moving around on the ground and observed Mary, Dottie and Mr Penno moving an injured guard to the house where Dottie and Mr. Penno had taken him and Mary. As he flew to scout elsewhere, he suddenly saw a group gathered around a sole figure. Looking closer, Koumori recognized Ratsworth surrounded by his butler, Ratfink, and some skeletal rat minions.

Ratsworth was talking to Ratfink and said, "I want you to take six of these skeletal rats and patrol the area. Look for anyone left behind and bring them to me."

Ratfink picked out six minions and nodded to his boss. "As you wish sir." Turning to the minions, he motioned for them to follow him.

Koumori saw them heading in the direction of the building that Mary and her friends were in. It looked like he was sending out patrols. Maybe they had heard the guard or Mary? Koumori wondered. Must look after her. Can't let them find her and her friends. More determined than ever he swooped down on the minions in an attempt to change their direction so he could safely return to Mary and warn her. As he swooped down his wing blades came out in the event he needed to defend himself or Mary.

By Binajane

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Now

Mary Kate O'Toole kept checking on the guard and changing his dressings as needed. The guard had slept for some time and finally woke up. He looked at Mary in puzzlement and asked, "Who are you? How did you get in here? Can you get us out?"

Mary handed some tea to the guard. After telling him who she was and how she got there, she said, "Drink this and try to rest. You have some wounds that I had to sew up and I don't want you tearing them open." The guard looked at the dark brew, smelled the mint in it and slowly tasted it. It tasted strong and awful so he drank it all in one gulp to keep from gagging. The guard wrinkled up his face and said, "Yuck, that was terrible tasting. What did you put in there? Turpentine? But if it helps, I can take it."

Mary chuckled and replied, "It has some herbs in it to help you heal and ease the pain. I know it is not a pleasant taste but it does the job and was all I had with me."

Just as the guard settled down, Mary heard a disturbance outside. Putting down the teacup, she went out to see what was happening. Seeing the skeleton rats checking buildings, she worried that someone else might be injured and in need of her help so she moved out to do her own searching and at the same time making sure she was not seen. Being so intent on looking for injured, she didn't see the bucket until she kicked it and yelped. Lucky for her the rat was still close to the mansion and didn't hear her yelp, but she instinctively dove behind a low brick wall to try conceal her presence.

Mary worried that she had been seen when a rat started in her direction. Frightened, shaking and not thinking clearly, she was about to take off running when she saw something swoop down from the sky. She looked and saw her bat friend and knew he was protecting her. Using the distraction but still panicked, Mary ducked into a building close to the mansion, knowing she had to get out of sight and yet not let the rats know about the others. "Whew that was close," she said to no one in particular and gave a silent "thank you" to her bat guardian.

From her vantage point she could see a disturbance at the force field. She could make out some blurry images and thought she saw a section of the barrier wavering as tho someone or something was trying to get thru. "OMG! Wildfall is coming!

"What's that boy thinking?! He'd better not be crazy and try to get in alone. I have to go help him." Mary took off running to the barrier when she realized it's not her Wildfall coming thru.

by Binajane

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With the day growing ever later, even the late night dinner crowd in Marketplace began to thin on the last few hours of another exciting and unpredictable day in the Kingdom, although it was usually another few hours more before John Lyly's thousand eyes shut in sleep and silence would mostly bathe over the Marketplace streets.

To wade through Seaside at a busy noon is to drown in two thousand stories. On the other hand, casually strolling through its street at this time of day was kind of like being bathed in three dozen of the best of those stories.

Even when the real story was going down nearby at the force field just outside the Spooky Mansion.

Even in Seaside Town, a collection of unique individuals, oddities and hybrids and monsters of all sorts, these two stood out, especially as they walked side by side to the Market Square. Norman McGuffin, a rotund sailor, towered over his smaller companion, the tiny street urchin who referred to herself as Gem. Yeah, it was an odd pairing, alright.

"So what do you feel like having for dinner?" McGuffin asked, finally feeling some of the worry over Mary melting away under the impending prospect of a good meal. "Besides, we'll have to wait until that Hardwire guy finishes doing whatever he's doing anyway."

"What?" The diminutive Gem squeaked. Most people towered over her, and although McGuffin wasn't exactly tall, he towered over her more than most. "I didn't say anything about Hardwire?"

"Sorry," McGuffin answered sourly. "I was just reflecting since we need to meet him in what, just over an hour now?"

"Oh, I remember!" Gem squeaked happily. "I'll be so happy to be reunited with Mole, I just hope he's okay."

McGuffin frowned deep. "Go over again why you think your friend is in there?"

Gem glanced up at him. "I heard, well, that is to say Mary and I think that crack must of been made by someone trying to get out! No question! And I'm sure it's Mole! I mean.. I don't know it for a fact, but I know it."

"I guess," McGuffin said. "Just, I don't wanna see you get your hopes up and be disappointed, okay? I guess I'm saying try to manage your expectations on what we might find, okay?"

"Okay."

McGuffin wasn't sure if she was listening but chose not to comment. They wound through various stores and as they passed a gadget shop, Gem heard a girl nearby ask her two travel companions, "Eat hotdogs first?!"

Gem stopped to look at the two and got a sense of otherworldly presence from them. She picked up a trace smell of motor oil from the nearby gadget shop, mixed in with the scent of candles and, oddly, nacho cheese. Or was that from a nearby food stand? She wasn't sure.

The other female responded to the question by stating, they could "scarf down a hotdog or two while making our way back."

Delighted, the strange young girl turned towards Gem, noticing her interest. "Hi! I'm Becky Joy!"

Blackeagle had already started towards the hotdog stand and almost missed Becky's introduction.

"Hey!" Becky called out excitedly. "You look familiar!"

Bristle paused. "Becky Joy. Yeah, I remember you now. Not long after I met up with Sassy in your realm and we were captured, you were a part of the squad that rescued Sassy and us. Thank you for that, by the way."

"Yeah! Hi, Bristle!" Becky looked down at Gem. "Hi, Linger!"

"Hi!" Gem responded, before doing a double take. "Linger?!"

"Um.." Becky paused, deep in thought. (Okay, maybe not terribly deep.) "Noo.. too big. No! Too small?"

"No, I'm Gem!" Gem answered. "Linger's a big troll boy. I'm a small girl."

"Oh yeah!" Becky giggled. "I like Linger, though. He is all cool and stuff!"

"You should go with us to meet him," Bristle offered. "I was just grabbing some food for me and my gal Icy when I ran into Gem. Oh, Gem, you should go catch up with McGuffin so we don't lose track of him."

"Oh, I'd love to meet Linger again!" Becky paused. "I've not seen him since we split'ted up'ped in Degrassi! When we wuz lookin for Prince Baby and you were out tryin' to find the Toot. Oh, but. . ." Becky looked over at Blackeagle, who were now watching the conversation.

Bristle then had a fairly obvious thought. "So are you in town dealing with the force field?"

"We are," John said. "After we get a bite to eat. Join us if you'd like."

"Yeah," Sherri answered, reasoning, "if you're cool with Becky, you're probably trustworthy."

"Sounds good to me," Bristle said. "I can't stay though; I promised Icy I'd hurry back with the food."

As Bristle continued talking, SnowCatCuties watched the entire thing intently. She didn't want to tip her hand (paw?) yet but maybe these adventurers could prove useful to getting her into the force field.

Yeah, SnowCat decided, this definitely warrants my attention.

She decided to stick to the shadows and trail the group without being seen.

by Dash

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Bob headed towards force field that seemed to be closest to the Spookyraven manor, and hung back a bit, supposedly scouting the area (really trying to work up the nerve to enter). He had about worked up the nerve when he heard a loud “GROAR!” which caused him to hide again. From his hiding spot, he could see two rat thugs trying desperately to keep control of a chained, winged yeti. The temperature seemed to drop rapidly as the yeti was pulled closer.

As the group approached the manor, a hole in the force field seemed to open, and a strange, very old sounding voice could be heard from inside. "Hurry up you fools, I need that beast for my experiments!" As the rats struggled to get the beast inside, Bob noticed that the hole in the force field remained open. Then he felt something brush aside his shoulder, briefly noticing an orange and black streak out of the corner of his eye. Although when Bob turned in that direction, he saw nothing. Eerie.

When the creatures had gone inside, he slipped in and immediately regretted it.

"An intruder!" yelled a different voice. Bob panicked at the thought of being seen and turned to find the hole in the force field, but he tripped over his turtle. And the hole was starting to close!

Then, oddly enough, another voice from almost the same spot yelled, "I'm not an intruder!"

"Not you, idiot! Her!"

Well, Bob might have been quite panicked but he was still pretty sure he wasn't a 'she.' Shrinking back against the uncomfortable force field, he looked at the source of the voice.

But, no, both sets of eyes on the the two-headed Boss Bat stared towards another figure - a young teen with brown hair. She looked very much in good physical shape and very familiar.

"Mary Kate!" he yelled out before clamping his hand over his mouth.

Mary jumped at the sound of someone calling her name and turned to see Bob and another figure with him that she didn't recognize. Was that a CAT standing behind the Boss Bat? At least the figure resembled that of a cat but it had the stripes of a tiger. How was that possible? She had never met a tiger before. Then she thought she was seeing things or that it was a mirage. Maybe caused by the force field?

One of the Boss Bat's two heads turned towards Bob while the other stayed focused on Mary. "What do we got here, then? Two intruders."

"Learn to count, asshole," growled the figure from behind the Boss Bat. He spun around to see the imposing feline figure.

"Whiteclaw!" spat the right head.

"Cattaras!" whined the other.

Cattaras chuckled, obviously ready for a fight. "Right names, numb nuts, wrong order."

Both heads ignored the pithy response and sneered. "We brought a few rats to deal with you!"

Boss bat let out a whistle. From inside the mansion came several imposing figures. Mary Kate immediately recognized Baron von Ratsworth from their previous encounter. Cattaras, of course, recognized two of the Muri-Dan - Jerome and Mortimer, if he wasn't mistaken. A handful of regular muri-dan and a dozen large rats surrounded them.

Bob looked white as a ghost. Mary was shocked and furiously clenched her fists when she saw Ratsworth. Cattaras smiled briefly and then growled, jumping into action.

By Shelldor, Binajane and Dash

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The Jester King of Beasts phased back into sync with reality after floating to a safe distance from the Morlencir Queen. The Jester King's smile spoke to his insanity as he tried to stare down a woman who had often stood alone and stared galactic empires into blinking.

"What's a matter?" came a voice out of the Jester King's gray, dead lips. It wasn't his voice; it was Jen's. "Not used to being all alone?"

"Go ahead, do that trick some more." Aleena taunted. "Because you won't be able to do it much longer."

"'Maybe if I sound tough,'" the Jester King responded in Aleena's own voice, "'he'll forget the fact that I'm totally outnumbered and just lost my three closest allies so I can run like the coward I am.'"

"Your propaganda is useless!"

"Sad, stupid little elf," Jester King replied in Sebastian Dash's voice as he got dangerous overconfident- and dangerously close. Then he made the foolish mistake of switching to the voice of Konall Bearsmasher. "No wonder your friends left you. You're so. . . ."

Aleena shouted as she dove for the Jester. She pulsed with a purple hue and tackled the Jester to the ground - for his magic had momentarily failed him. "We'll keep getting better at this. All of us. And we will end you."

"Gah. . . . how did you . . .?" sputtered the Jester King. Aleena refused to let go, however - even when Paladin grabbed her and threw her into the air.

When Aleena came back down, she was a figure of knives. Her black cysuit grew golden swords jutting out from her arms, her legs, even her shoulders, with impossibly keen edges that would have sliced through black paladin's armor like air, except for one detail. Well, two details - she noticed a sign on a nearby tree saying "Blade free zone," but she could have probably safely ignored that.

Paladin's armor collapsed on the ground in front of her, suddenly glowing with radioactive heat. As it did, a stream of eerie, nightmarish dark tentacles crawled towards Aleena. Unreal and surreal strands of darkness that smelled like a corpse, radiated pure terror, and probably wouldn't even taste good with hot sauce.

It reached out flowing into her the way it flowed out of the armor. Aleena's blades caught in the dirt and she collapsed, winded. She tried to climb to her feet but found she could not move at all.

The Jester King started to speak, coughed violently, and finally spoke. "Oh, sorry. Were you saying something? What's a matter, princess? Black cat got your tongue?"

"What," Aleena had begun to protest, but her cysuit re-flowed upwards and covered her mouth in a mask. Behind the mask a gag grew into her mouth. Helpless to resist, she climbed to her feet under the power of the Black Paladin.

"Behold the supreme power of the Jester King!" he said, holding his hands over his head, laughing maniacally. Suddenly he stopped, dusted the dirt off his ugly puke green outfit, adjusted the bells on his hat and his broken jaw, and turned. "Let's get to our destination. I've got to use the lil' ghoul's room."

He walked off with Aleena forced to march behind.

By Aleena and Dash

We even got bonus bits by Shelldor!

It's a nice little bit of Finale but I can't think of anything specific to say. The Aleena story continues to be a sidestory for now but since that's in keeping with the tone of the mission, I don't mind it too much. It brings in a another AIL name in the next bit, however, which also sees more Sassy and more Somber Six.

Wow, these are really short notes for a Finale.