“Well, that is unexpected,” Ru-lah flatly.

Both she and Trickster were staring at a slightly rusted and faded, metal door marked EXIT. It stood by itself, without any walls to hold it up. Ru-lah said it reminded her of the funky, magical door at the end of the book Prince Caspian. Trickster took her word for it and checked it and found that it was locked. He quickly set about working it open.

“I hope it doesn’t make that annoying buzzing sound when I open it.”

The paladin huffed, “I honestly think that is the least of our concerns. Let us hope that this takes us to wherever or whatever this congregation of beats is supposed to be. And if we get there, let’s hope that we don’t have to fight our way out of it. That could be messy and bad for us if there are too many of them.”

“Don’t be such a worry wart,” Trickster said as he got the door unlocked. “Yes! Gotcha! I could do this even without my high stats. After you, m’ paladin lady.”

He bowed as he opened the door for Ru-lah. She gave him a smile as she walked in. Her mood had brightened considerably after getting a chance to talk with her mother. And after hearing what Velnir had pried out of her, it all made more sense to Trickster. But what did make sense to Trickster is what they saw on the other side of the door.

The first thing to assault their senses was the smell. It wasn’t a barnyard stench. That would have been welcomed! No, this was nauseous reek of sweat. Stifled, adolescent and poor body image sweat.

Following on those stinky heels was the sight. What Rulah and Trickster stood gapping at, was a convention of Furries. Furries were parading around everywhere. Tons of wolves, bears, horses, a number of unicorns, zebras, otters, puppies, cats, and even more. But where they would have been in costume, the costumes were now the people.

Bright and overstuffed cosplay suits had taken on a life of their own. It was not a Five Nights at Freddy’s vibe of cartoonish creatures, bt a strange blend of the realistic with a dash of 90’s cheese. In a word, it was all wrong.

“Okay… We found the congregation of beasts. But where do we go from here,” Trickster asked.

“I think we need to find a way out of here,” Ru-lah answered carefully. “Look! Those are electrical lights. And this looks like your usual cliche hotel where these kinds of conventions could happen. And the air is really humid.”

“That helps account for the stench,” Trickster deadpanned.

“Indubedebly,” his friend agreed. “So it would stand to reason that once we break out of here, we should be back in Miami proper. And then Akerbaza is supposed to be near water, and the rest of the gang, right? We need to beeline it for the beach!”

“This is just getting so weird. This isn’t even D&D anymore!”

“Well, that’s thing. D&D can become whatever you want it to be. So many role playing games are based in the fundamentals that makes Dungeons and Dragons what it is,” Ru-lah said. “It can be tweaked to accommodate adventures in space, battles on the high seas, post apocalyptic landscapes, and so furry conventions could only be plausible.”

Trickster grimaced and said, “And now it is reality. Well, let’s get out of here as fat as we can. People are already giving us odd looks.”

Indeed, animals all over were giving them weird looks. Some of them were muttering about humans being present, and how they didn’t belong. Some were also a little too interested in the strange forest behind them. As they walked through the doorway and closed the exit behind them, the talisman in Trickster’s hand crumbled into white ash.

Noses wrinkled all over and animals started parting ways. A few complained that security should come and throw out the intruders. Some asked if that was even plausible given current circumstances. Others just complained that it was a strong smell. It was the second group that caught the friends’ attention.

They tried to chase down some animals to ask them some questions about what was going on, but whenever they got close, the Furries would yelp and scamper off. Mining information was going to be difficult. Trickster and Ru-lah just gave up and started looking for another exit or at least the entrance. Oddly enough, they didn't find anything. And when they retraced their steps back to the exit door, it wasn't there anymore.

Standing later on a balcony overseeing a large ballroom crowded with dancing and mingling Furries, Trickster complained, “This is another puzzle! This sucks! Why did we have to come here to find the Motley Lot!?”

“I agree,” Ru-lah mused. “Why would we have to come here? We need to get somebody to talk to us.”

“But everyone just runs off because we are not animals!”

“Nice for once to not be seen as one,” Ru-lah commented dryly.

Trickster shook his head. He was not going to comment. He wondered if he should use his last die, but decided against it. He just needed to watch the crowd. Ru-lah took a seat and relaxed as he continued to scan the crowd. He needed to find someone who was acting out character for this strange convention.

He finally caught something that looked promising. There was a small band that appeared to be having a animated debate, with one of them trying to escape through a large set of double doors. It was a salamander accompanied by a nervous looking giraffe, a neon colored red panda, and neon leopard.

The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

Furries, he grumbled to himself.

“Hang on a second, I think I might have found some people who can help us out,” He said to Ru-lah. “I’ll be back quick!”

Before she could respond, Trickster sped off down the stairs to head them off. He used his cloak to get down there even faster and pass through the crowd of strange animals. A lot of them got really worried as he passed by, but they seemed too shocked to know what to do.

Soon, Trickster pulled up in front of the group and became corporeal again.

“Hi guys! Can I talk to you for a second?”

The leopard reached out and took his hands and shook him fiercely. “Another human! At last! I can't tell you how happy I am to know that there is salvation to our situation! When did you turn back?”

“Turn back? I haven’t,” Trickster began to say.

“Neon Leopard, I don’t think this guy was a furry before,” the red panda said.

“He looks more like a guy from ComiCon,” the giraffe said.

“My name is Neon Leo-, arg! Vin-Vince,” the leopard, named Vince, finally managed to say. “Damn, I hate this! This place has completely screwed up our identities!”

“Slapper Mander, where are you going,” the panda called out.

“You guys can chat with the human,” The salamander said. “I need to get out of here that Wenchful Wolf catches up with me!”

Wenchful Wolf, Trickster thought wildly. What is up with furries!?

“Wait guys, please hang on a second,” Trickster said quickly. “Please, what is going on here?”

“Well, things got really crazy when out suits became our bodies,” the giraffe began saying. “We came here to check this place out, and then there was this strange ripple thing, like whooohooo!”

The giraffe began shimmying and waving his neck about like a rubber band.

“Jed! Never do that again,” the panda said seriously.

“How come you can say his name right, but you struggle with mine, and N-N-N-Nate’s,” the leopard complained.

“Because Neon Leopard, you can’t forget Jed’s name!”

Shivers ran up and down Trickster’s spine, but he suppressed it as the red panda yanked Slapper Mander back with a yank of his tail.

“Youch! I need to get out of here! I can see her coming,” he protested.

“Fine, we can talk and walk,” Trickster said, giving a passing group of chuckling heinas a wary look.

As the group began walking, he began again, “So let me get this straight. You guys came willing to a furry convention-”

“I was just joking when I said we should go,” Neon Leopard, actually Vince, said shakily. “I didn’t ever imagine that we would go through with it.

“-and you then experienced a strange shimmer that turned everyone here into this. Was it grey?”

“Yes,” the other four said together.

“And it made everyone start going really strange. Some people started acting way more like animals. And I mean in all kinds of ways,” Slapper Mander, actually Nate, quickly said, glancing behind them.

“The same thing happened to me and my friend, but we got stuck in a Dungeons and Dragons campaign.”

“You are into D&D,” the giraffe said, brightening up. “Would you like to play sometime?”

“Neon Neck, arg! I mean, Jed,” Vince stammered. “I think now is not the time for that!”

“Why the mix up with the names,” Trickster asked.

“We chose these as our furry names,” the red panda said. “I’m Neon Panda by the way.”

“Pleasure,” Trickster said, gingerly shaking her hand.

“Oh Slapper Mander,” a high pitch voice sang out.

Nate visibly paled. “Oh no guys. Pumpkin patch! Pumpkin patch. PUMPKIN PATCH!”

“Pumpkin patch,” Trickster asked.

“It’s his safe word,” Neon Panda said, shrugging.

“That’s a terrible safe word,” Trickster said as a busty, sandy wolf jumped right into the middle of the group.

“Hello Slapper Mander,” she said in a suddenly husky voice. “Come, they’re playing the call of the wild back on the dance floor.”

“You’re on your own, buddy,” Neon Panda said.

The wolf snatched up Slapper mander’s tail and started dragging him off. He clawed at the ground helplessly as he was pulled away, shrieking, “Pumpkin patch, guys! Pumpkin patch!”

“He was a good salamander,” Trickster said, lowering his hood. “With a very unfortunate name.”

Other animals started howling, hooting, roaring, and making a general ruckus as the unhappy amphibian was carted away. Trickster began to feel a little more uneasy than before being around all of these furries, one of whom was about to cross the species divide in all kinds of wrong ways.

“Maybe we should go and help him out,” Jed suggested.

“Nah,” Neon Panda said. “He’ll figure things out.”

“I’m morbidly curious to see how this goes,” Vince said, transfixed on hi screaming friend.

“Let’s not and say we did,” Trickster replied, but the other three were already moving. “Okay, don’t listen to the human.”

“Look buddy, we would also love to figure out what on earth is going on here,” Neon Panda said. “But all we know is that one moment we were sweating to death in these costumes, and then it was like some kind of wave hit us, and we became these creatures! And it feels like we’ve always been them! And everyone is stuck in here. We can’t find a way out.”

“We even tried holding a hand against one wall and following it to the exit,” Jed said. “But we came back to the spot we had been just after three turns! There’s no sense to this maze!”

“That’s because no one has any time for your logic, Jed,” Neon Panda snapped.

“Pumpkin Paaaaatch!”

“Darn, Ru-lah and I were thinking of possibly trying that, but we figured it was best to first get some answers from the people who had been here longer,” Trickster griped.

“How come you’re not an anthropomorphic animal like the rest of us,” Vince asked.

Trickster shrugged and replied, “Well, my friend and I were playing Super Smash Brothers when the same wave that hit you guys hit us. We then had to play her roommates to the death within the game to win our freedom.”

“That sounds so cool,” Red Panda gushed. “I would have been Captain Falcon and Falcawn Pawnched Jed in his stupid Jed face!”

“Hey,” the giraffe protested.

“You know it’s true Jed. You’re the wooooorst!”

This got Vince laughing. Trickster managed a chuckle. How could they be so calm with everything that was going on? And with their friend getting dragged off to be violated?

“Puuumpkiiiiin Paaaaaaatch!”

He then said flatly, “I can tell you, it wasn't really that fun. But since you brought it up, ever since this whole episode started, I’ve felt like I;ve been multiple people in one body.”

“That’s called going insane,” Neon Panda quipped.

“Yeah, yeah, I get that. But, I’m not really Trickster, the guy you see before you! But I feel like I have always been him! And when I was in the Smash Bros game, it felt like I was MetaKnight.”

“You played as that plep! We could never be good friends,” Red Panda huffed.

“That’s just because she sucks at fighting off MetaKnight and Kirby,” Jed laughed.

“Quiet you!” Red Panda suddenly looked very angry.

As they re-entered the ballroom, Trickster averted his eyes from the center of the dance floor. He had already had enough of that will Velnir to not want any part of this. As he looked elsewhere, he saw that Ru-lah was having an animated conversation with two interesting figures. Both wore robes and had hoods up to cover themselves. One had big furry ears that poke through the hood, while the other had large spikes and spines that protruded menacingly all down the back.

At first Trickster was worried, but he then saw that the paladin was speaking happily with the two figures. He excused himself from the sad group and made his way back up the stairs. Once he was at the top, Ru-lah waved him over.

“Trickster! These two just ran into me, and I think they can help us. Let me introduce them. This is World Eater and Starsinger.”