SUMMARY:  In the enchanted land of The Realm Twice Forgotten, Mr. Mimblegast sends his 14-year-old ward off to battle... and the child is immediately killed.  This is not the first time this has happened, and the Council of Enchanters vote to banish Mr. Mimblegast to a more mundane plane, and forbid him from training any further warriors.  Meanwhile, in Glendale, California, divorced and struggling mom Gladys deals with her oversensitive son, Milton.  There's a knock at the door: it's Mr. Mimblegast, in earthly garb, inquiring about the room to rent.

Video by Annette Fasone ~ Photos by Aaron Francis

SUMMARY:  The evil Sybil and her lackey Gorthak are servants to a mysterious voice.  The voice, knowing Mimblegast is vulnerable, summons a Golem to destroy anybody who is kind to him.  In Glendale, Mimblegast is unable to prove his finances or provide references that don't make him look insane, and Sybil is ready to throw him out... until he proves adept with her kids, getting Milton to do his homework and giving her teenage daughter Darcy advice for dealing with the mean kids at school.  But then, a thumping is heard.  And it's not their annoying neighbor Mrs. Lackerbee, who, it turns out, is on vacation.  It's the laundry room... and Mimblegast leaps into action to protect the family from the shambling Laundry Golem that emerges.

Video by Annette Fasone ~ Photos by Joshua Benton

SUMMARY:  The laundry golem attacks!  Bereft of his magic powers, Mimblegast tries to ward it off with card tricks and other mundane magic.  But when Darcy realizes that the Golem is only attacking those who are kind to Mimblegast, she unleashes a stream of put-downs and insults... nearly breaking Mimblegast's heart, but causing the Golden to let him go.  And then, Darcy argues, since the Golem has let Mimblegast go, it's being kind to Mimblegast... and so the Golem destroys itself.  As a shaken Mimblegast gives Darcy his thanks, Gladys enters.  Mimblegast, Darcy and Milton spin an unconvincing yarn, but Gladys isn't buying it, and demands to know what's gong on.

Video by Annette Fasone ~ Photos by Zachary Bernstein

SUMMARY:  Mimblegast spends an awkward evening at the local karaoke bar, where he is confronted by Gladys, who is furious that he has put her family in danger.  The kids come looking for the both of them, and Mimblegast, sadly and reluctantly, tells the kids he doesn't like them so that they won't beg their mother to let him stay.  However, when they all try to leave, the karaoke DJ reveals that she is actually a Siren, forcing them to stay and dance for her amusement.  Her name is DJ Widowmaker, and she tells Mimblegast that, on behalf of her employer, she's going to enjoy destroying him.

Photos by Aaron Francis

SUMMARY:  Gorthak confesses to his shrink that he's jealous of a fellow Orc who recently died a glorious death on the battlefield, while he's stuck working for a boss who can't even seem to kill a feeble and de-powered old wizard.  Meanwhile, Mimblegast, Gladys and the kids are literally being forced to dance until they drop by DJ Widowmaker; so long as they can hear her music, they are poweless to resist.  She has offered Mimblegast a ghastly choice that he refuses to make - choose which two will survive, and the siren will set them free and kill the other.  Mimblegast finally says he will choose - and he chooses a challenge... a karaoke challenge.  If he wins, his friends go free.  If he loses, she can kill them all.  DJ Widowmaker, amused, agrees.  Mimblegast proceeds to crash and burn in his rendition of Journey's "Open Arms," which the siren nails.  However, she doesn't get to gloat for long... Gladys has used the distraction of the contest to put in her earplugs; she's free of the siren's control, and she stops the music, freeing her family and vanquishing Widowmaker.  But Mimblegast's unseen enemy is still out there, plotting and scheming, and worse is to come... 

Video by Annette Fasone ~ Photos by Marian Gonzalez

SUMMARY:  As Sybil thrills Gorthak by sending him on a suicide mission - for which he embraces her and calls her the best boss ever - Mimblegast astral projects himself back to The Land Twice Forgotten to seek help from the Council.  Mistrustful, he tells each of them a different place where he's allegedly hidden the mundane family away.  The only one who seems happy to see him is Ona, with whom Mimblegast shares a moment of vulnerability... and possibly the family's true location.  However, once he leaves, Ona calls her true master - the same mysterious overlord who Sybil and Gorthak are working for - and tells him where Gladys, Milton and Darcy are hiding.

Video by Ari Radousky ~ Photos by Aaron Francis

SUMMARY:  Gorthak arrives in Glendale, where he attempts to fight cars - one of which is driven by Gladys, who plows into the heavily-armored Orc.  It turns out that Mimblegast's visits to the Council were a set-up to lure their enemies to them.  With Gorthak captured and tied up, he has Christmas dinner with Mimblegast, Gladys, Milton and Darcy... and he ends up bonding with them.  When Gorthak realizes that he's been betrayed by his employer, he whispers the name of Mimblegast's mysterious enemy into his ear, and Mimblegast looks stricken and betrayed.  Gorthak's phone rings, and Mimblegast takes it and answers, confronting the villain over the phone... who said he wishes he could see Mimblegast's face when he realizes that Gorthak is a bomb.  Mimblegast's eyes widen in horror, and he throws himself on Gorthak to protect the family just as the bomb goes off.

Video by Annette Fasone ~ Photos by Aaron Francis

SUMMARY:  Mimblegast guides a very distractable Milton through a forest in The Realm Twice Forgotten, hunting a pixie.  When Milton cannot best the pixie at wrestling, the creature is instead incapacitated by an arrow... shot by Darcy, who now has only one eye.  The captured pixie can grant only three wishes - and they cannot be major wishes that disrupt the order of the world... which means they cannot wish anybody back to life.  Darcy and Mimblegast wish for directions and food, but a grieving Milton won't accept the rules and is about to wish to bring somebody back... when Gladys arrives and talks him down.  Gorthak is dead, and although they bonded with him "in a ridiculously short amount of time," he's not coming back.  It transpires that Mimblegast was wearing armor beneath his clothing and was able to shield the family from the bomb planted in Gorthak, but the shrapnel took out Darcy's eye... and, unbeknownst to the kids, there's a cursed pieces of shrapnel edging closer and closer to Gladys's heart.  Only the Dark Lord can reverse the spell and remove it.  Gladys demands that Mimblegast tell her the whole story.  Mimblegast is reluctant, saying the name of their foe would mean nothing to her, but ultimately consents to tell the tale over dinner.  And he warns her that their foe will prove hard to defeat... because he's already killed him once.

Photos by Victor Isaac

SUMMARY:  Mimblegast tells the tale of his old ward Longo, who was fried by a dragon thanks to a mistake on Mimblegast's part.  Mimbegast left him for dead, but he actually clawed his was out of the dragon's belly.  Now in a wheelchair with horrific burns and unable to speak without use of a computer, he is tended to by Ona, who helped him plot his revenge.  Now believing Mimblegast and the family to be dead, the two plan to rule The Land Twice Forgotten, with Longo as its Dark Lord.

Photos by Aaron Francis

SUMMARY:  An exhausted Mimblegast and family encounter Gabby the Wince Inducing, who is not pleased to see him.  Mimblegast begs her to train the family in magical combat, finally admitting that he's not a very good teacher.  Gabby refuses at first, but finds a withering challenge from Darcy too much of a blow to her pride to resist.  Meanwhile, her companion, Eric the Scantily Clad, who is none too thrilled with his station in life, learns of the enchanted shrapnel and warns her that any stress will speed it's journey towards Gladys' heart. As Gabby trains the family, a troubador sings a ballad of Mimblegast ("Mimblegast is taller than a life-size statue of a man who's six feet tall!") over a training montage.  The family triumphantly set off to catch the Dark Lord by surprise... but the troubador betrays them, calling Longo to tell him that Mimblegast and his friends are still alive.  "Nobody ever suspects the inspirational troubador," he tells the audience.

Photos by Aaron Francis

SUMMARY:  Mimblegast and the family arrive at the Council's chambers, where they are taken less than seriously.  Gabby arrives and betrays them, but before she can slaughter them, Darcy shoots her through the heart, over Gladys' objections.  But a moment later, Gabby lurches back to life, and a horrified Gladys carves her up with an axe.  And then... Gabby arrives again, alive and well and very much on Mimblegast's side.  Ona enters the chamber and reveals her plan: she has made a deal with the Faceless Ones, an untrustworthy race of shapeshifters.  She feels the Realm Twice Forgotten is ruled by incompetents, and that Faceless Ones will replace all the members of the Council... except herself, concentrating power in the strongest.  Mimblegast says they're all fine - the Faceless Ones have no power over them so long as they all stay within sight of each other so they know who's real and who's a duplicate.  And with that, the lights go out...

Photos by Joshua Benton

SUMMARY:  The lights come back on, and to test who's real, at Milton's suggestion, they ask each other questions that only the person being asked would know.  However, it's a ruse; Milton is the duplicate.  He's been taken by the Faceless Ones.  Milton's captor has disguised himself as videogame great Gabe Newell in order to gain Milton's trust, but it doesn't work.  The Faceless Ones can only exist on this plane when duplicating a human, and they want to try out being individuals.  And Milton accidentally gives "Gabe" an idea: to be free of human influence and truly become individuals, the Faceless Ones will have to kill all of the humans...

Photos by Travis Snyder-Eaton

SUMMARY:  SOME TIME LATER: Mimblegast and the family have challenged Death to a game of Settlers of Catan. If they win, he shows them how to defeat Longo. If he wins, he gets their souls.  However, as the family argues and then makes up, Death balks at the thought of an eternity of family drama and instead decides to give them a freebie, telling them to seek the Eye of Eternity.  But it all may be a feint, as Death knows the object is guarded by deadly persons or things yet unknown, and thinks he'll be seeing them all again very soon.

Photos by Marian Gonzalez

SUMMARY:  Ona and Longo make their plans... but a potential schism between the two is revealed, as Ona genuinely has plans to try to use her siezed power to improve things in the Realm Twice Forgotten, while Longo is only interested in revenge.  Meanwhile, Mimblegast and Gladys are hiding in a cave... and Mimblegast tricks Gladys by casting a sleep spell on her, to keep her safe while he takes it upon himself to face an incipient danger alone.

Photos by Aaron Francis