Galactic High

“This…is concerning news,” the High Priestess of Elphil, a short reptile-like Squa’Kaar, murmured under her breath as she read Elysandra’s letter.

“Mother, they spoke the truth?” the junior priestess asked. The younger Squa’Kaar had expressed scepticism when Alora had requested to meet with the High Priestess at the Temple of Hope, but had dutifully led them to her. “I wasn’t aware we had a holy site like that all the way out there…”

“Nor should you have been,” The elder shook her head. “It’s a need-to-know secret by our church, and few others in the city know of its existence.” She looked up to the group. “How did you come to be there?”

“Corvin Enterprises knows about it,” Nika answered. “It was one of their executives that hired us to find out what was going on. He’s the son of the last druid guarding the place.”

Several of the locals in that area knew about it too, before they were all killed or captured, Chiyo pointed out. Though I don’t think the nature of the shrine was known to them.

“A bunch of hermits wouldn’t have been considered a risk.” The High Priestess shook her head. “That wouldn’t be a problem, but Corvin Enterprises? That is unfortunate.”

“If it helps…” Alora interjected. “The son seemed sincere to me in the end - I think he will assist his mother with what she needs.”

“His two companions were shady as fuck though!” Sephy pointed out, and Jack nodded in agreement. “Couldn’t find any info on them!”

“Yeah, they seemed more interested in the threat we found, they didn’t ask about the shrine itself,” the human confirmed. “And we didn’t tell.”

“That is fortunate.” The High Priestess nodded her head. “We shall charter a flight and send some good people to assist. Does anyone else know of this?”

“Yes, we delivered a letter to a Greenwarden Circle of Sentinels nearby that was on the way here, and they took it seriously,” Alora confirmed. “Their leader affirmed that they’ll spread the word and muster a military force to further investigate what we’ve discovered.”

“Very well, we shall speak to them on this matter.” The High Priestess nodded. “Thank you for bringing this matter to us. We may be in touch with further questions, if that is acceptable?”

“It is.” Alora nodded.

“Very well.” The High Priestess of Elphil nodded as the diminutive Squa’Kaar looked to several other figures within the room. High Priestess Cornelia of the Church of Astara and Inquisitor Faegleal looked on, concerned, while a few other representatives from other faiths looked stoic as they left the room.

“This may certainly answer some questions,” Faegleal pointed out once she and the group joined High Priestess Cornelia in her office. “I had planned on contacting you soon anyway to give you an update on our pending investigations.”

“What updates?” Jack asked, coughing violently as he suddenly perked up from his lethargy. “Have you guys found anything on Dr Grine?”

“By Astara Jack you need to lie down!” High Priestess Cornelia shook her head. “I don’t know what’s happened to you, but you look terrible! As far as Dr Reyaz Grine is concerned we’ve found nothing firm. The Paladin leading the investigation believes he’s found a previous bolthole for the ‘good doctor’, and has definitely discovered the remains of some of his experiments, but so far hasn’t found anything current. We know Grine is good at hiding his tracks based on his encounters with Devil’s Daughter, but he hasn’t had to deal with this heavy a response before. It’s only a matter of time before we pick up a scent.”

“It is likely his unknown ally is hiding him magically.” Inquisitor Faegleal shrugged. “But more people involved means more people to slip up. I take it you don’t remember anything else about the mage you saw during the Klown attack aside from what you told us?”

“Sorry.” Jack shook his head with a sigh. “That night was a blur, and it’s not like…um…working hard the past two days has helped. If I remember anything else I’ll speak up about it!”

“Understandable.” The Inquisitor nodded. “But while that avenue is closed to us, another has opened that you should be aware of.”

“Yes.” High Priestess Cornelia continued. “We’ve recently concluded our investigation of the Spawn of Nekdon site. We tracked your passage as best we could, as well as that of Dubakuu and the Risen he had with him, but we couldn’t find any sign of anyone else having been there, save for the heart of the ritual site.”

“But wait…” Jack asked. “Inquisitor, you said what we’ve been up to this weekend might answer some questions, how does that relate to this?”

“We’re getting to that.” The Inquisitor confirmed as she relaxed in the armchair she had taken for herself. “But first, please humour us. What do you know of Nekdon?”

“That they’re the spooky god of secrets and dark shit?” Jack answered, remembering what he could from his lessons. “And is apparently dead.”

“Yes.” High Priestess Cornelia nodded. “The Whispering Lord was first and foremost a god of dark knowledge, but secrets and undeath were part of his known portfolio. Many considered him an evil god, and the actions of their clergy reinforced that belief, though there was a sharp decline in worship which became apparent about fifty years ago. At the time the cause for this was unknown, though it is now believed that Nekdon died during this time and was unable to grant clerical powers to his worshipers.”

“You know, I keep asking this question.” Jack asked with his eyebrows raised. “But how sure are you that Nekdon is dead?”

“Our goddess herself has decreed as much,” Inquisitor Faegleal answered quickly. “Though we don’t know the circumstances behind it.”

“Where are you going with this?” Alora asked.

“Magical analysis tells us that the Spawn of Nekdon was summoned between thirty and forty-five years ago.” The Inquisitor replied, with a grim expression.

The group gasped at that realisation.

“You’re saying it was summoned after Nekdon’s death?” Sephy asked incredulously. “How!?”

“That’s what we intend to find out.” The Inquisitor nodded. “We have ways and people to bring in that can help, but it will need to be done carefully and covertly. We’re telling you because you were, and may still be directly involved but we trust you to keep quiet about it.”

The group all nodded at that.

“Summoning a Spawn of Nekdon and giving it enough to sustain itself requires considerable power and ability - especially this long after Nekdon’s death, where the Spawn should have starved,” High Priestess Cornelia began slowly. “Even if Dr Grine was bluffing when he spoke to you, Jack, it is still firmly in the interests of the Temple of Hope to identify the summoner and eliminate the threat they pose.”

“And you and your group of adventurers just discovered a possible suspect,” Inquisitor Faegleal noted. “I have my suspicions about what you may have discovered, but based on your reports of this entity Jack encountered after destroying this…’cocoon’...I know for sure they could be powerful enough.”

“It’s an unknown,” Cornelia admitted. “But until we can learn more from our ongoing investigations, it’s something new to go on, and I will not have us sit idle and wait for some other calamity to happen.”

Do you have any other suspects? Chiyo asked.

“None with the motive.” Inquisitor Faegleal shook her head with a grimace. “And we have nothing on the wizard who assisted Dr Grine.”

The grave news hung in the air for a moment, until High Priestess Cornelia spoke again.

“Jack, have you contacted the people I recommended you speak to?” The wolf-like woman asked with raised eyebrows.

“Yeah…” Jack nodded, and Cornelia’s eyes briefly flittered to something on her desk.

“Jack…” the woman gently began with a deep sigh. “I don’t need to have a truth circle on my carpet to know you’re lying.”

“I don’t need a damn shrink.” Jack shook his head but then sighed as he looked back over the past few days and decided to amend his usual answer. “It’s not going to change anything that’s happened, so I’ve just got to suck it up and deal with it the best I can. And if I struggle to do that, at least I can talk to my friends who’ve experienced this shit right there with me.”

Cornelia looked at Jack for a few moments, before she reluctantly nodded. “Well, at least that’s an improvement. Still, you should speak to the people I told you about, they’re good at their job.”

Jack nodded his head, feeling guilty over disappointing the woman who had been the first person to help him on his arrival to this strange world, but also felt a weight lift from him as he admitted to at least talking to the others about his thoughts. While he’d never seen a therapist in his life, he was confident there was no way some overpriced yuppie could even begin to unravel the crap he’d had to endure…

“You kids have all been through a lot,” Inquisitor Faegleal spoke up again. “Rest a bit and we can give you some healing, though it appears you’ve already received much.”

“Yes.” Alora nodded. “My healing magic has kept everybody stable, but we’ve reached the upper end of its effectiveness. Some rest will do us good.”

“I would recommend you lay low when you get home.” The Inquisitor nodded. “If even a third of the reports I’ve seen from your activities at Cypherport are true, I’d be careful.”

“We will.” Alora nodded as the group got up to leave. “Good luck with your investigation, and please let us know if we can help!”

“Well, that was pretty pointless…” Sephy muttered to the others as they left the Temple of Hope, heading home while the streets were still active. “Temple investigators haven’t found shit and the only link they have between the Spawn of Nekdon and what we found is ‘Power Level’. They must be desperate.”

Alora wanted to refute that, but couldn’t. Sephy had a point.

“Doesn’t matter, it’s out of our hands now. We’ve been paid and done our ‘civic duty’ in letting everyone know of yet another city-ending threat in the making.” Nika shrugged. “And they’ve got the resources to deal with it even if things have slowed down. At least they said they’ve found some stuff on Dr Grine, maybe they’ll be able to track him down?”

Maybe, Chiyo agreed as she wobbled slightly with her levitation. But I get the horrible feeling that we won’t know more until the enemy makes the next move…

“It doesn’t sound like there’s much we can do until they resurface either.” Jack sighed, groaning as his stiff-limbs somehow managed to still move under his own power.

“Sure there is!” Sephy spoke up with a grin. “We’ve just completed a job! Let’s enjoy our payday!”

“That we can do!” Alora chuckled. “I’ll let everyone at home know we’re back!”

*****

“There they are! Obeda, could you please put the kettle on and make some tea!” The sound of one of the Squa’Kaar could be distinctly heard from their home district.

“Sounds good to me…” Jack groaned under his breath as he stumbled along the familiar dirt path. “I need to sit down…”

“Woof!” Dante barked, looking at Jack with concern.

“Damn Jack, you’re getting worse…” Nika pointed out.

I think we all are, Chiyo admitted. Hold on, we’re nearly there!

Finally the automated district doors opened by Alora’s command, and the group stumbled home with a shared sigh of relief.

“You guys look terrible!” Rayle pointed out as the Squa’Kaar climbed down the guard tower to greet them all as they entered.

“Feel it too…” Sephy grunted back.

“Please, sit down!” Rayle panicked as Obeda brought out some teas. “What happened?”

“Barely any sleep and almost total non-stop action…” Nika replied with a tired, joking smile. “So business as per usual…”

“You guys want any pizza?” Bentom called out from the house. “What toppings do you want?”

“No mushrooms!” Alora called out so vehemently that it spurred the others to quickly echo the sentiment.

“Oooookay!” Bentom called back slightly confused. “I’ll order a few by drone and bring them to you, there’s some soup if you want it too!”

“Yes please!” Nika called back as she sat down on the ground and laid back, not even bothering to take her backpack off.

“Well, Zayle and I have some good news for you!” Rayle perked up as the rest of the group slumped down to the ground.

“Oh yeah?” Sephy asked.

“We’ve been out a few times for a few jobs with Karzen, Bentom and Obeda…” the Squa’Kaar began. “And we’ve been on a few supply runs in the meantime, so there’s a few more solar panels for you, but also…”

What? Chiyo asked.

“We were able to travel to a few of the lakes around the city!” The Squa’Kaar exclaimed. “We were able to bring some water back with us with Zayle’s water spirit and I’ve been learning to create water too…”

“Wait a minute, are you saying what I think you’re saying?” Sephy perked up.

“Yep!” Rayle smiled warmly. “We’ve filled your hot tub!”

“Sweeeeet!” The Skritta grinned, though she still couldn’t be bothered to shift herself from where she lay.

Agreed! We can drop in the Lesser Lifestone and use it to recover! Chiyo added, looking to the tub in question that had sat there unused ever since they’d had it installed, with the recent troubles in the city making it a poor purchase in hindsight.

“That would be for the best.” Alora agreed. "Come on, everyone up!”

“Awwwwww!” Sephy jokingly groaned as Rayle struggled to pull the Skritta to her feet.

“Suck it up everyone!” Alora laughed. “After fighting off assassins, monsters and spooky shit this is what finally breaks us? Getting up and walking about 200 metres to our house?”

Sephy, can you enable our personal commlinks now we’re home? Chiyo asked the Skritta as the Ilithii simply floated up above the ground.

“Sure, no problem!” Sephy answered and quickly fiddled with a few settings on her commlink. “I-WOAH!”

The instant their commlinks were reconnected, they buzzed to life in a frenzy, with screen after screen lighting up with missed calls, unread messages, and notifications stacking one on top of the other.

“Does this usually happen after doing this kind of thing?” Jack asked rhetorically, already knowing the answer to be ‘no.”

“No.” Nika murmured as she stared at her commlink , ears twitching in confusion. Her usually sharp eyes widened as she scrolled through an endless string of missed calls. "I think something’s up."

“I’ll check in with Luvia.” Alora decided as she quickly scrolled through her phone.

Repeat calls from our friends. Chiyo said, biting her lip. Flagged as urgent. We did tell people we’d be low contact over the weekend but we didn’t give specifics to anyone not living here.

Jack looked down his notifications, spotting a few initial notifications from Nya, followed by two from Kritch at around the same time, then a whole smattering of calls from various friends and acquaintances several minutes later according to the time stamps.

“Well, it looks like everything’s been falling apart without us, huh?” Sephy joked, though there was a nervous edge to her voice. "And we’ve only been gone for what, two days?"

“Hey Luvia!” Alora called the dragon, trying to sound chipper through her exhaustion. “Just checking in to let you know we’re back!”

There was a pause as Alora listened to the answer.

“It’s okay, we’re-” Alora began, before she was interrupted by the dragon on the other end.

“Yes, we were Cypherport us but-” Alora continued, before being interrupted again.

“No, we haven’t seen the news yet, we’ve just gotten home.” Alora asked confused, her face in an expression of worry at whatever the reply was.

“Okay, we’ll watch the news…” Alora nodded, giving the others a serious look. “But-”

Another pause as Alora’s face turned grim. “Yes we got attacked there but we all got away and…”

Alora paused again as she stopped and pointed to the house, motioning for everyone to move.

“Yes Jack’s fine…” The Eladrie giggled despite herself. “And the rest of us are okay too. We…”

Another pause as Jack could hear some frantic sounds on the other end.

“Yes, we’ve all taken a lot of hits and Jack’s probably the worst out of all us, so we’re going to take a dip in the hot tub and…”

Alora looked slightly confused for a moment as she heard some kind of noise from the other end.

“Um…Luvia? Are you still there?”