I should have thought of this board myself, since it would have cleared up a bit of the current confusion. I tend to leave notes on personal boards when I need a plot device, but in a group this large, doesn't always work. But you're right; a group this large is a LOT of fun.

Okay, here goes. This is what's happening in the Lotus Lantern so far:

1) Set up with Sam and the Hunter's Curse in the saloon.

2) Errant Fairy drops first clue: a coded scroll.

3) Katsume decodes the scroll in time to allow us to meet our demonic attackers!

4) Desdemona obscures the path while Mei Xia warns the group.

5) Monkey requests that Shi Rui create a landscape which Kadinka can warp into a portal. She complies awesomely and even gives us a defending rockslide!

6) STOP POINT: Everyone now has a chance to post his or her "battle scene" or a crossing into the portal, or both. This also gives any late arrivals a chance to join in.

7) Right ahead: The characters, now safe for a moment on the Mongolian plains and stuck with each other after the rockslide, tell a bit about themselves to the others. (It's the "action, then introduction" approach.)