Stories of Lore 27

Aryn’s Odyssey

Dear Johnson: Odyssey’s are one long continuous thing don’t go surfing around for different characters.

 

 

So this is what a Somnus office is like, kind of cramped. Oh well, back to dealing with this whole mess we find ourselves in.

I gather you’d like me to start with Kyven. So good news is we found him after…extensive effort, and I do mean extensive. He’s dead now so good news on that. Making the hiring of a computer expert and putting Renjala as the new master access a bit redundant but I guess the extra security never hurts. Everyone who survived is in the hospital now, so if you need something done around here you’ve just got Eleazor really.

We predict the stabilization of Auwana’s economy though the toll the war with Kyven took was expensive. That and other criminal gangs are still looking to fill yet another power vacuum. Zhuan might be ahead of the pack though since he has some of the old assets I left behind and he wasn’t really touched by this war on crime you’ve been up to this whole time. Hopefully you can stabilize things before another monster like Kyven shows up at least.

As for the conflict on this alien Zenaka place, it’s going in your favor I’m told. Though according to Elion and Xanis you might be in for a long haul. Taking over a fairly developed world with its own complex political structure, billions of inhabitants, and people with wildly varying opinions on even the simplest matter could be a longer process than just moving in and setting up shop. Even if this Ilivayas woman is dealt with, Xanis predicts that we can expect a long and bloody civil war across the planet if Kar’Soluth continues to offer any support at all. Given what we’ve told him about the drow, he has no doubt they’ll find a way to continue meddling. Though points out his contract still states he gets to go to Somnus soon, as that was one of the terms of him helping you…I mean us.

The skirmishes between you and the Kar’Soluth are still ongoing since they fight by spreading out and picking things off. Elion is still forced to amass the troops instead of allowing them to spread out and look for these smaller pockets and just deal with the guerilla tactics of the drow as best he can.

The Milenkosi has been sent to the middle planes to contain the infection for a little while longer. Though the ship is completely overrun by those weird valdir things..silnian? I’m still not used to whatever is going on with all these mutating people. Mutants, it’s still overrun by mutants of some various kind.

So as much fun as I’m having going through all these classified documents on the so-called Phantoms, it’s worth noting that they’re still messing with the system wide economy. Apparently their plan is to turn the economy back on and start solidifying their empire now that they crawled out of the basement all across the system. Mostly because this group your files label as ‘The Revenants’ have been hitting them hard ever since they started revealing their locations and they want the economy back on so they can build a large military force to protect them. Apparently one of their founding members was recently killed and they’re getting nervous.

Speaking of which, since you’ve been so kind as to get me security access to all these fancy classified documents I suppose it’s only fair that I let you know what I know about the Revenants. I put it in a file for you, just be thankful they’re not after you specifically. Ilex might start sweating though. Their little gang has never been that focused on you guys over their previous enemies of the Gauntlet and the Phantoms and just come around to clean up the scraps. Though with your alliance growing in power and now directly aligned with the Phantoms they’re bound to start paying more attention.

The Zenaka fleet is getting hit harder now that Ki’Ralcht is helping the Nomads. Specifically because they can get aboard anything, and Ki’Ralcht’s summoned platoon can make that a very scary prospect. Though the Vloz’Khress have summoners as well, it’s still a threatening boarding action.

 

On to matters at hand here at Jamalia, Haziel reports that Rikoy straight up disappeared off the planet somehow. We have heard no word from Faelyn about any ships coming to pick him up, though Haziel mentioned that someone else was here to take him and the remaining forces away. Currently our best experts on the matter think that short little Elym thing from Thenica just FTL’d in and back out without a ship. Which is an…interesting prospect but its the best explanation that Haziel can agree to.

Ankathi stole your conduit bind trick in order to use Sarnai as a puppet…like you do to Irae all the time. This has resulted in us being able to talk with her in greater detail about things. Evidently she knows more about the planes than anyone else, though doesn’t know how to explain it all in the most modern terms. That and she keeps spending her hour or two that she can inhabit Sarnai to roam around Jamalia and ask questions about every piece of modern technology we have, and we’re not even that modern you’ll recall. That and she likes to eat a lot, apparently medieval food sucks compared to what we have these days.

It turns out Ankathi might be some sort of genocidal witch known as a great calamity, but that’s just according to Vasia who notably has a very…personal relationship with the woman it turns out. Haziel’s recap of events just says Ankathi was “a thing that happened” that likely did destroy a few nations but Haziel didn’t like nations in the first place so she didn’t have much thoughts on the matter. Ankathi however seems to recognize Haziel very well, to the point of her being the only person Ankathi shows any sign of acknowledgement towards. She seems to respect that Haziel is an ancient of great power, even if she considers herself a step higher in her newfound divinity she seems most willing to share the secrets of her achievement with Haziel. Partially because Haziel is the only one that seems to get what Ankathi is trying to say with all her vague medeival terminology. So some people are concerned that Ankathi might try to create a new pantheon if she can recruit Haziel to becoming the next true Wilds.

Of course all this that we failed to keep quiet because of the huge explosion of celestial light accompanied by a bright flash that consumed Faelyn’s radar at the mere presence of Ankathi…the Phantoms are on their way to assess the situation. Valadeus of course but he said he’s bringing some others who are curious as to why we have both the ancient Haziel and the divine Ankathi in our one mid-sized colony on some backwater planet in the middle of nowhere.

Halaestra is currently undergoing the Eden treatment and…uh…we’ll see how that goes.

Also about that corruption coupon, no one other than you at Jamalia has that much money, and so it’d be going public to explain Eden and what she can do which could cause a cascade of problems. So…confirm? Also speaking of Eden, throwing dead aliens at her causes her to throw it onto her planet and just let them decompose. She has a very large and external digestive system I would call it.

As for the economy, even if we do go public to make some short term cash the problem is going to keep getting worse as long as we keep taking on new refugees. Which 40th day is all to happy to keep dropping off. However, it is stabilizing but you just can’t see it too easily. As people get settled in and start finding things to actually do they start producing a general positive effect but the new ones are coming in so fast that you can barely tell. I imagine at this rate since we can’t develop anything ourselves any further we’re going to start seeing secondary colonies sprouting up on various planets by colonists who can afford to do so themselves or can gather the manpower to do so. If we don’t fund the colony initially they sort of get dibs on the rights to do whatever they want with it even if we kind of own the planet. Still a general gain for us in the long run.

In the short term, Valencia might come around to repossess certain things or find other economic solutions once the economy is back up and running again. I’m not too concerned about it because in our very specific case, if our economic downturn produces enough growth of our influence in the Sol territories the Phantoms are liable to bail us out. Don’t forget, between Kanika and Faelyn the phantoms have money. Though since Lancaster, Ilex, and so on are not members of the phantoms they don’t have a daddy Valadeus to come in and decide ‘yeah this is fine for me’. With us building them that station within the Astral Warrens I imagine they’re at least inclined to view us more favorably than some of the other recently recruited liches.

As another option to fix our revenue, enslave all the refugees and get them to work. That’ll fix it really quick.

While I can layout the groundwork for arcuran sports, the economic issues prevent us from developing Helym into much.

Vasia said I should try delivering her report to you this month since she had something she needed to go do. Also she said something about the position being cursed? Given that I can’t really work anywhere else in Sol looking like this I guess being her assistant is kind of all I can do.

Contacting the bard has been difficult…again. He took his ships and disappeared into space so we don’t know about his ‘former employee insurance protection package’. Hrm? Oh Bardhe, that’s a confusing name.

As for the ichor experiments, well yeah it’s kind of lonely out here with nothing but roaming monsters to keep me company. At least they fetch breakfast for me though everything tastes kind of the same. I think they fed me a person too and I don’t want to talk about it. I’m not really sure I should go to Zenaka, if you haven’t noticed I’m not exactly experienced in active war zones. Though Vasia helped me pin down that the black pool over here is producing something very similar to the Koura parasites. It was actually one of these concoctions that got loose through the lab, they are aggressive and will burrow through hazmat gear if given the opportunity. They also seem weirdly good at knowing when they can and can’t escape from containment to make an attempt at doing so.

I don’t really know much about this other ichor you’re talking about at the warzone but Vasia’s report recommends building a new specialized facility for researching the ichor. Stating her own lab is insufficient as it has already proven to be a bit slippery. She has a draft for it though we can’t really afford to build it at the moment. Though finances being what they are right now we can’t really construct new developments. 40th Day’s prefab colonies had to halt production due to the current financial situation as well. She said plan B was let it do what it’s meant to do and just turn the monsters…I guess me…loose to see what it does once nothing is trying to control it.

Hey I’m not that dirty! They don’t need to wash their hands just for being near me! I mean yes I crawl around the ground all day because of the tail but…*sigh*

Uh this note she left just says “Adryn’s dead, peter in hospital a second time.”

Another one saaaays… “I’m not responsible for that idiot’s attempt to play scientist without me in the back of the freighter when I have three giant labs in Auwana – but say it more sarcastically and meaner” Oh wait I think I wasn’t supposed to read that out loud.

Cassir is back at Somnus looking over the Koura temple now that Lancaster has been secured and Kyven has been dealt with. Also it should be noted she does manage the cult and keep it running. Though she’s not going to go start some crusade out of nowhere…again.

We can’t produce any new ships until the finances have been sorted out.

One of the problems with your abilities and the war on Zenaka is you can’t always be there.  Your strike team with Elion is effective but as mentioned the drow spread out wide across the planet to operate in smaller groups and prefer to use guerilla tactics.

Seiyomi was mysteriously vague on all questions about his abilities and those tha the has seen before.

40th Day continues to ship refugees around and cause the continued economic obliteration of all the director’s assets except Sethis and Whitetalon who are in a different industry entirely. Vasia wrote it that way I don’t know why she said obliteration. It’s not – oh holy shit I found the finance book. Nevermind I get it now.

 

It didn’t take long after Kyven’s death for Aryn to be returned to us under somewhat mysterious circumstances. According to her she woke up on a shuttle already docked at Somnus and just had to walk the rest of the way over.

To that end, Aryn had a growth spurt and brought home a stray. She’s been asking around to see if anyone particularly wants her and has asked the other directors.

We’re still hunting down the remains of Kyven’s forces simply because we don’t want them latching onto another crime lord just like they did in the first place after the loss of Laura. Though Laura does point out it’s only a matter of time before the next one pops up given the state of the refugees. Part of the economic problems VSEC is facing has a lot to do with minimizing the chances that it will happen again.