Stories of Lore 51

 

Further updates from the team re-establishing contact with Haleh’s previous conquests. A lot of them had actually heard that Haleh was gone due to being captured by Rahlken, they had independence day parades and everything. They weren’t terribly happy to see our teams returning to talk about taxes. Two of them actually opened fire on the exploration crews. The largest grouping was also reached, which is a star system over from the planet that Eleazor wound up encountering her upon. They are a lot less disgruntled by the information. Apparently it was her former home base and most of the people there were in it for the long haul with her. Though rather than re-establishing contact they asked us to tell Haleh to come pick them up. They lack for space transportation but they are a bunch of nomadic scavengers who just drive around all day. The place she left them at wasn’t terribly hospitable to the variety of species she had collected and they aren’t too keen to stay there if Haleh’s not coming back anytime soon.

For her part, Haleh snuck away from the Hasao Tei to get back to her garage in Diadem. They just keep a team of ‘royal guards’ following her around. She turns out to barely notice them or Dunchek since her whole method of operating previously involved just having people follow her around with no sense of direction. She now occupies two positions. To the Hasao Tei she is sort of a princess, no real authority but a lot of pull. To her own gang of aliens with bad attitudes she’s their formal leader. In the meantime she has been prepping a ship to head off into the Reach and resume her adventures.

As for replacing the turrets with other traditional stationary defenses, sure we can do that. Some bigger cannons and missile launchers will probably work fine.

They are just there in spirit, I don’t wanna add more rows to every colony for things that just do and cost the same as the basic turrets. They shoot things real gud.

 

The diplomatic envoy from the Playatis, mostly consisting of two nerds we picked up from their academy, is on the way to Cayetano. Though they ask what the purpose of establishing an embassy with them actually is. They tend to be aware that their role in galactic affairs is to be a pit stop and making anything that looks like an alignment to any foreign power, particularly one with our reputation, might aggravate others who regularly pass through since it shows unnecessary favoritism.

As for Koda’s report, we do still know about the one hidden in an asteroid floating around in Sol, though it is very difficult to locate now that our memberships have expired or been revoked depending how you look at it. We’re looking for a single specific moving rock among a bunch of other big moving rocks. Asmodan is also uniquely talented in stealth, we’ve been keeping an eye on the sensors around Sol but the way space traffic moves it is hard to tell if anyone is visiting this asteroid or not. It is likely he has someway to omit the movement of pirates in Sol from traditional sensors. The first part of any plan to attack the asteroid station would be to find it, and while Asmodan himself is good at hiding it pirates are known for terrible operational security. So that will come down to finding and interrogating or tagging other pirates in the system most likely.

Solvang is also suspected to have setups across the Western Reach but that is more of a hunch than anything actually confirmed. Judging by the angles of attack we once suffered from Solvang, either they spread out early or they have a base to the northeast, mostly east, of Sol territories and to the south of Cayetano.

We’ve also promoted a new general since you were so insistent.

Don’t expect it again without making a solid case.

 

His name is Ranwe, Slayer of Ogaba, He Who Stands, The Great Wall, He Who Shall Know No Fear, The Unbound Wisdom, Slayer of Hashhash, Creator of the Silly Hat, The Soul Seer, The Moonborn, The Sun Catcher, The Quiet Roar, The Specter of Nikibalas, Blazing Fire, Like The Thunder, Slayer of Nenanket, Eternal Blossom, He who is Dark as a Forest, Skin of Stars, Thunder that Rolls Over Clouds, The Hair of the Earth, The Night Lion, The Dancing Song, Born to an Elder’s Wisdom, The Mountain River that Cleaves the World, He Who Sees the Final Dusk, The Dawnwalker, Wild Like Killiteket, Slayer of The Eternal Raging Starbeast Who Knows No Equal, Speaks with Heaven, The Gliding Snowflake, Slayer of Sun Rising Above Horizon, Speaks with Star Walkers, Fights with Wolves, Champion of Brightland, and Democratically Elected Mayor of Brightland.

He’s an arcuran if you couldn’t guess.

Quylla’s comments about drawing out Asmodan are sparse as she isn’t terribly familiar with him as a person. Her best guess would be that targeting his territory in the kingdom would get his attention since every demon lord really likes keeping their territory due to how necessary it is to function within the kingdom politics.

The quirk is Asmodan is known for being rather sneaky and using other people to solve his problems for him. Just as last time we were in his territory, he had Vloz’khress show up rather than show his own forces. So you would probably need to hit him anywhere he is the sole presence of, but since he is just a networker for many other criminal aspects he has very few holdings that are just all about him except for the Kingdom territory, but the entire demon kingdom is right there as he exploited last time.

That was all she could really come up with. She did also mention that the only thing she knows of that could probably find a way to hurt him directly are a group of masked vigilantes- The Revenants. She described The Revenants basically.

Preparations for a tournament and festival have begun though we’ll need to figure out the actual day for it and see who is going. I put a little thing on sheet for it.

The portals around Diadem are more of an arcane job, without the vastness of space the pandem portal mechanisms would be needlessly expensive. It’s just going to take a bit to manually lay down some cables.

We started building the University Campus, though I suppose we’ll have to do some marketing for it. Pandem really took off for us because we were using it left and right during a period without heavy technological restrictions on using it. Most people who can actually travel to Diadem might be a little more reluctant to give up the ability to fly their own ship.

Jiyan has taken the Outsider after some time preparing it for the voyage. We await any reports.

Also it should be noted your incarnum bodies are obvious to any incarnum user and you still have that skeleton face, so

The Moncayo Chapter master has been sent for anti seduction training. Eerihild said to just drop them off at Ohalyn’s for a week and wear their dick out. I declined her suggestion.

As for Irae, she didn’t threaten me but she’s just constantly cranky so maybe everything sounds like a little bit of a threat. Though you should consider that just because you can look like a drow doesn’t mean you can blend in with them. Of all the races to pose as, this is the worst one since their whole culture is built on espionage and sabotage. Say the wrong phrase and become a target since you’d basically just be a coconut among them. Larazja kind of is one too though. You can get away with it among the masses but be wary when dealing with high society such as the Vals.

As for Operation Catcall, we have some complications already as expected. Mostly in terms of planning as we try to get everyone on board all at once and in their places. They have whatever concerns are on their mind.

Aikane pointed out that even though she’s just in this to survive at this point, asking her to relinquish her territory to the new matriarch means that they will be in a weaker position without any demon lords to represent her interests to the Council of Lords. Also this is my own note but I feel like taking a demon lord’s territory from them is bound to cause other problems. Specifically this one. She’s being pragmatic at the moment but she did get to power by being a shapeshifter that could infiltrate things until she worked her way up the chain. Rendering her newly homeless has a very high chance of us being paranoid for the next two decades if we lose track of her. So just something to think about. Then again maybe we’re not paranoid enough and she’s been inside of the FVS the entire time somewhere.

The Son of Voriuk isn’t totally against the idea but notes a problem with the plan. Kharla is normally kind of insane and dumb, except whenever her children are under threat. Then she suddenly becomes very sharp and has an intense attention to detail. Presenting him as mortally wounded to her will make her suddenly very aware of what he’s actually telling her to do. This is a pandem expert when she’s lucid enough to put two thoughts together and might notice something fishy. Not to mention until Kiel’nada is out of the way she’s never far from Kharla and is equally difficult to pull this kind of stunt on. particularly because house Vloz is one of the oldest houses and has a lot of traditions regarding consulting with demons. All of the children are half demons after all and converting to a celestial figure like Ankathi is not really a spur of the moment kind of change to tradition.

The Daughter of Voriuk pointed out seceding from Kar’Soluth and not fleeing the demon kingdom is just suicide. With most of the demon lords dead, the instant Kharla is gone the whole territory is going to be split between Asmodan and another demon lord on the west side of the territory named Corson. Right now the only protection their holdings in the demon kingdom has is the fact that Kharla is terrifying and backing that up is Yasrena. Even demons are scared of Jaal’darya in particular. If she were to revert to the holdings the house would have on Thenica that was only recently repaired in the wake of the Revenant attack, they are now neighbors with the rest of Kar’Soluth or Shetou. Both very dangerous people for her to be next to with the only available ally being in a whole other star system. To even consider that part of the plan remotely viable she’d need you to destroy house Sarghess or convert them as well, kill Yasrena, and destroy House Song. That or destroy Asmodan and Corson while leaving a large enough force to defend the territory while it rebuilds. Vloz’Khress is one of the oldest houses and as such is geographically located in central areas of drow culture. If Kharla suddenly disappears to join Ankathi and then a whole chunk of the house leaves to join the FVS, they’re going to notice if Vloz’Khress immediately secedes and her reign would be short indeed. Especially since Yasrena is going to be kind of pissed off and is in fact allied with Asmodan, so there goes any chance she has of holding the old lands. Their mining operations are not a suitable new location to move to and likely wouldn’t last long anyways.

Her argument can be summed up as: Destroy Kar’Soluth and then we’ll talk about leaving Kar’Soluth.

She also noted that none of your plan requires her to cooperate with you to become the new matriarch, she can kill her sisters on her own and if her mother outright leaves then nothing is in her way. So she’ll just sit back and watch then deal with any obstructions once her mother leaves herself.

The Daughter of Saabalios is sort of also of the same mindset but with less words, not sure which of those two will manage to kill each other but your plan to ship her off to start a new house from scratch isn’t terribly appealing compared to taking over the ancient house Vloz she was born into, it has a lot of prestige attached to the name not to mention actual resources.

 

Aryn is off to Diadem to pack up her bags and get ready for the voyage to Nelta.

As for sabotaging the daughter of Sabaalios, attacking her credibility has largely resulted in her attacking people questioning her credibility. So that one is amusing at least, she is a rather straight forward person.

Michael has gotten us actual numbers about the military in the rift and even right outside of it. I suppose the problem here is the assumption that their whole military force is there. All of that belongs to Sakhessa for the most part. There’s the other Phantoms with their own armies to consider. I forwarded a list of what we know from casual spying for the time being. Some of it is just unverified guesswork though and they are known for keeping their assets a secret so there are likely pieces hidden from the board if you get what I mean. I also may have overestimated some elements to err on the side of caution. We know Kanika has the legendary Tarrasque that she lichified but we have no idea what other secretive super lich weapons she might have laying around. I have a suspicion though judging by some of our reports from within Beldobaan that they have another legendary monster deep in hiding simply because no one survives witnessing it. Though with our monster historians on the job, they think she has a False Hydra hidden somewhere in her ranks. We also know she has beholders but no idea where or how many. Unfortunately we know she has an underwater fortress somewhere on Thenica but we’ve never been able to find it. Not sure how much aquatic forces will come into play in a space war though.

The other bit of wild guesswork is aliens. We know they expanded rapidly and took over several alien assets though we’re not sure which belong to Selona, whether or not Selona would get involved, and how many forces that would even include if relevant. Estimations for Asmodan are also extremely difficult since he holds not only his territory in the demon kingdom, but also his pirate expanse which is very spread out within the galaxy and purposefully hidden. The other issue with his pirate assets is guessing how many would actually fight for him versus how many just use his services as a pirate organizer guy. Again estimates err on the side of going high.

As for Asmodan’s pirates, we definitely don’t have a membership anymore. At best we can just look for other pirates with big mouths since pirates aren’t exactly known for keeping quiet if you get them some drinks.

In regards to getting a Nah Base established

We’ve set up an office front at House Linsun to keep an eye on things but the attempt to get into House Song is much more difficult. Their cultural traditions were formed while living among drow for the last few centuries and as a result they are extremely difficult to infiltrate.

Same story but different problems with infiltrating Asmodan’s pirates. Without our old membership we can’t find them, he also knows who we are. Unlike many members of the Phantoms besides Kanika, Asmodan is a direct buddy of Arkaric’s due to their shared love of breaking laws just because they find it funny. As a result he’s picked up a lot of tricks about keeping people like us out, because he runs a criminal empire and a lot of governments would love to get a man on the inside.

As for finding Elasyn,, its pretty much in the heart of the Western Reach. I updated the map for you. However given who is there, I imagine its one of the rougher places in the galaxy.

Also we can’t really put emplaced defenses on the ships or the flotilla directly. Acquire more ships to improve its combat abilities.

 

Well for the negotiations, Sakhessa pretty much offered all your demands before we got to even say anything about it. She’s being awfully nice considering we’re absolutely fucked if we fight them. Then again I guess if you live literally underground for a few thousand years you would really rather not have your return to the surface spoiled by war.

 

The Thing in the Dark isn’t interested in having kids while at death’s door, apparently they’re less scientific in their approach compared to…well us around here. Pfft, morals.

Also if you want an earth elemental construction team for the mountain, that just costs a shockingly low amount of money. They’re a lot more interested in coming to visit a new interesting place and “partying up the place”. Most of the expenses don’t have to do with paying them so much as transporting them.

Also the teams are at Jydoq now, there were no incidents with your mysterious quarry either way. We already know they know about the overmind stuff, they aren’t biting at the chance to accomplish basically nothing. In the meantime the teams looking for the assassin have at most reported that they do have some leads. Specifically, Kennae’s apprentices know that it doesn’t actually stick around our base camp as much as you might think. It’s also been assassinating other jydoq all over the place, it just sometimes swings around and remembers to take more shots at you or Kennae. Also that this particular thing was last spotted in one of the major cities stabbing a major governing figure.

No I don’t need a ‘jean’. It’d mat my fur. As for other friends, I have Craylin and the other ichor minds. That and Si Yeon visits now and then, though usually to check a bunch of numbers. She keeps taking the temperature of the ichor for some reason. Notably, she is still completely immune to the ichor. There’s just a weird blind spot whenever she is around.

Judging by a rare report from Averill, he’s still roaming around the Reach looking for your salvagers. Though its becoming clear that the odds of them being found within any reasonable time frame is incredibly low. The Reach is a massive…pseudo anarchic civilization? There’s not much in the way of paper trails out there basically.

Vasia points out that the high variance in Zenakans implies that there are more things you can start to control than just the elite status and finding out those things might be interesting since you’re already impregnating hundreds of them. We already know how to recreate the elite status anyways.

Zaikies doesn’t know that much about what to do with the archeological confirmation of the fact that the Blaiken were both effective and brutal. Though it does leave him to wonder what their culture has become over the thousands of years of isolation, with some of their only appearances in the larger galaxy indicating something violent about them.

 

Our colony aboard Diadem has finished initial construction! Now its all shiny, too bad its dark and spooky down here by the factories. Also you didn’t respond when I asked you to name it so I named it Le Havre when Lancaster asked. Paperwork and all that.

 

We’re still rallying up everyone before departing for the eastern galaxy with the Iron Cradle. We’ll be passing by a station that the Cult of Lucidity found called Kuhas station if you need a bathroom break. It will be the last stop we know of before we traverse into the great unknown to see just why all those other ships were never heard from again when they undertook this same mission. Turns out its a lot of logistics to get everyone from everywhere aboard a single ship before takeoff. Also we were getting the turret additions ready.

In other news, the study of Adrienne reveals that it has to do with her core rather than the hands itself that enable her to do what she can do. We have already tried using cybernetic prosthetics for arms before, as Adrienne has, but they were never fully functional. It has to do with something mentally available to Adrienne, likely the both of us too. This magical ‘it’ factor lets her use her hands with the dexterity she is known for. The problem is to study that in further detail, I’d have to kill her to take the core apart. That or you. Can’t really take apart myself though.

We actually already can swap cores between bodies in most cases, the newer more modern models have this ability. Arsene suffered from being one of the older models, like me, who cannot do that. The real quirk is designing an appropriately heavy mech body that interfaces properly with our cores and simultaneously, doesn’t suck. We’ve been working on that for ages though, so were our creators at Siwa industries.