Izzy felt a scroll being thrown down on her head. She looked up and glared at the bird. For people who prided themselves on being gentle and kind, those of the Castle certainly trained their animals to be unusually impolite.

She took the scroll off her head and read it. Rolling her eyes, she crumpled it up in her fist. "Foolish, foolish girl! Can't she see she is only hurting herself and her own people by this?"

Izzy stood up, walked over to her chair, and patted the little bundle in a blanket she kept there.

~Riella

A shivering dryad stood outside the Tower gates in the rain, tapping her foot impatiently in the mud. She didn't really mind the mud, being a dryad, and she didn't mind the rain, either, but the Tower had a wonderful tendency for attracting lightning, and dryads did not like being electrocuted.

She pulled her cloak tightly around her shoulders, and muttered, "This hadst better be worth it."

Elle, otherwise known as the Mad Scientist in Training, came sauntering up to the Tower. She glanced around at the others who had already arrived and then walked over to the sign-up desk that contained the documents to sign.

"Sorry I'm late my dear dark overlord. I had a bit of a mishap in my lab that required my attention." she said as she signed the papers.

"Oh and might I have The Mountain by the Trans-Siberian orchestra?"

Once all of her papers were in order, she gathered her things and then went to wait for further instruction, carefully looking over the others who had already arrived.

A shivering dryad stood outside the Tower gates in the rain, tapping her foot impatiently in the mud. She didn't really mind the mud, being a dryad, and she didn't mind the rain, either, but the Tower had a wonderful tendency for attracting lightning, and dryads did not like being electrocuted.

She pulled her cloak tightly around her shoulders, and muttered, "This hadst better be worth it."

"Rose!" Izzy cried in delight as stepped out of the tower, seeing her invited guest had come to her parley. "My little future villain! I'm so glad you decided to come."
In her hands, the Silver-Tongued Speaker held the bundle in a blanket she had been keeping safe. "Don't worry. This isn't a weapon or anything. Rather, it is the matter we need to discuss."

~Riella

"'Little future villain'?" The dryad scoffed at the misnomer, and, still rather suspicious, proceeded to poke the bundle the Silver-Tongued minion was holding with a ten foot pole. "What is it?

Izzy glared at The Villain-to-Be. "Don't poke it!" Carefully, she lifted the blanket off of one end, revealing the face of a very sick crow.

"It's dying," Izzy explained. "It's been poisoned. I tested it in my evil lab down in the dungeon, and it turns out that it drank coffee with a toxic substance in it called MO2. The only place it could get coffee is your castle.

"Now, I do not say these things in blame of you. I am merely warning you of possible danger. If there is MO2 in your coffee, some of your little friends and Minions may get deathly ill from it too. If I were you, I would find out what is causing it, or who is putting it there.

"You may be wondering why a Minion like me would do something so nice as to try to help you like this. Well, I'll tell you. I want to make an exchange. I gave you this information to save your lives (when I could have kept it to myself and let you all die), and in return... I was wondering if you or any of your peers could somehow save my poor crow with any of their healing balms?"

~Riella

"MO2?" The dryad said, puzzled. "Forsooth, I am not familiar with that. I do know, however, that the baristo, Fritz, hath an endless supply of caffeinated sugar, and it sometimes finds its way into the coffee. I shalt have to speak with him about that. Again. Methinks it may not be safe for crows to ingest, and possibly humanoids as well, but all we good minions seem to have suffered thus far is hyperactivity."

Rose looked down at the shivering little crow. However much she opposed the Tower, the tenderhearted dryad had a fondness for all woodland creatures, and this crow was no exception.

"Very well; I will take this poor bird to the Good Queen and see if anything can be done to help it. I promise to nurse it back to health if it is in my power to do so, and return it to thee when it is well again," the dryad said solemnly as she took the bundle from the minion.

She turned and began the long trek back to the Castle, muttering something along the lines of, "I hope the Castle cats don't have a taste for bird."

Since the doors of the Lair of the Spoiled Rotten were shut, Dot had been wandering aimlessly about the countryside when she wasn't locked in the Dungeon of Scholarly Drudgery. Not that she was always in the Dungeon. She was often allowed into the Bright Tower of Happy Students Who Get Mostly A's where the sun only sets when all homework has been completed. But that's another story.

One day during her wanderings, Dot came upon a fork in the road. To the left was a bright castle gleaming with sunlight. To the right was a tower that was one moment brooding in shadow and the next lit up with random fireballs. Obviously, she turned right. I mean, who wouldn't want to go towards a dark tower with random fireballs shooting out of it? She soon found her way to the gates of the tower and looked up expectantly. It reminded her very much of the Lair. She boldly knocked on the gates hoping to be allowed to enter.

"Oh, just let the Terminators know what changes you want made. They've been programmed not to hurt any of you. Perfectly safe to approach them. Though I hope none of you happen to have Connor as your last name. They get a bit ... edgy when they hear that name," the Grand High Dark Overlord revealed to his Minions.

The gates of the Tower slowly creaked open, complete with the appropriate groaning, shrieking squeak of rusted hinges. Not that the hinges actually were rusted or in any need of oiling. The sound was generated by small speakers craftily hidden in the gates themselves. Dark overlords do have appearances to keep up.

The opening of the gates revealed a a glimmering hologram of a particularly strange looking creature.

"Greetings. Welcome to the Tower of Shadow and Flame. Please be careful as you cross the moat. The Tower's DRDs just completed a rather nasty job of removing the latest set of corpses from the moat. Once you enter the Tower, be sure to fill out the membership forms quickly. The Terminators won't attempt to kill you for ten minutes after you arrival. Filling out the forms will insure your safety."

With his message delivered, the hologram vanished.

Dot was appropriately impressed with the sound effects and holographic message. "Ten minutes to fill out paperwork (probably in red ink with seven witnesses and all that sort of thing) or I get blown to pieces. Perfect. I like knowing where I stand," Dot said to herself as she crossed the moat with the necessary amount of caution. Once safely across and inside the Tower, she quickly began to fill out the paperwork and so became one of Booky's Eternal Minions. When she was done, she looked about the Tower casually wondering who else was dwelling in this delightful abode.

Boe was absent-mindedly riding the Almost Endless Escalator up and down repeatedly, enjoying listening to his chosen theme Parlay over and over, when he saw Dot filling out her membership forms. "Ooh, another minion!" He exclaimed happily.

"Hello there," he said as he approached. "A perfectly wretched day, isn't it?" As if backing his statement, a bright flash of lightning streaked down outside, accompanied by a guttural roll of thunder.

"'lo, I'm Dot, or Dotty, depending on who's talking to me," Dot said to Boe. "Do thunder and lightning always accompany appropriate statements around here?"

"Hello Dot. I'm Boe, or...." he tried to think of another common variation of his name, but couldn't come up with any. "Or Boe. I don't think the lightning always does that, but it certainly is fun when it does!"

Dot nodded thoughtfully, still trying to take it all in. "So, what happens she now?" she asked.

"The Wym dies" Joe said, answering Daughter Of the King's question. I drew my Pistol and placed it against the back of Bookwrym's head "Don't feel bad, boss. This isn't anything personal, the castle pays better... And if anyone tries to stop me, the'll be the next to go"