Lakeside Story 3: Tantalizing
General Summary
Month 4, Week 3, Year 934
Nobody dared interact with Kyoko as she made her way across campus, flanked by half a dozen guards the students scurried away from her entourage and faculty knew to schedule appointments months in advance. All for the better: Kyoko's thoughts were still racing with the results of her latest experiments in the Orerry, years of failures and setbacks finally culminating in a world-shaking breakthrough. Contact with another world. Communication proved slow, but in her past few meetings she'd been able to piece together the basics: a group of mages from a coastal city, and while their technology far surpassed Ekal's they still struggled with undead monsters and eldritch abominatinos on their world. She'd taken copious notes on their language, scheduling a meeting with Chusei's linguistics professor for later that day. She gestured for her guards to stop at the entrance to her office, letting her familiar Mr. Fox scurry inside to reach his favorite resting spot. A faint whine alerted her that some unexpected guests were waiting for her, with a quick flick of her wrist she raised some abjuration magic before stepping inside. Samira sat in Mr. Fox's favorite spot, ignoring the familiar while she glared at her longtime employer. Heiwa rested on a nearby sofa, giving a friendly nod to Kyoko as she stepped into the room. She sensed the energy of some ritual magic radiating from their bodies, presumably some of their allies would be listening in on this conversation as well. "I have a busy schedule," Kyoko snapped. "What are the Shroud and Ageless One accusing me of this time?" "You've been contacting interplanar beings for weeks," Samira explained. "This is a direct violation of the Shroud's core tenets, a group that to whom you owe much of your success." "You know how fragile the Veil has become, dear," Heiwa said with a conciliatory tone. "Even benign communications like these can threaten the Veil's integrity, our clerics are working night and day to repair it after each of your conversations." "I deny any wrongdoing on my part," Kyoko argued, her body warming with arcane energy inside the small room. "I've not been in contact with fiends or aberrations, merely other denizens of the Material Plane suffering from problems much like ours. Both of your organizations have been aware of my ambitions for years now and have had ample opportunity to hinder my experiments, the fact that you have waited this long to intervene indicates that all of you are just as curious about the results as I am." "The risks outweigh any benefits!" Samira fumed. "Shroud's leadership has confirmed that this world you're contacting is particularly vulnerable to corruption from the Far Realms, we can't risk another Ostry Apocalypse by attracing the attention of any of these monstrous deities." "And despite these risks their mages continue to reach out to other worlds on the Material Plane. We're living in unprecedented times where monsters from every plane of existence threaten our world on a daily basis, we cannot operate under old paradigms and we must forge alliances in unexpected places." "She's right," Heiwa said, to the surprise of both Kyoko and Samira. He stood up from the sofa, brushing off his robes while he conjured a small lightshow representating Ekal's star system. A large asteroid loomed on the edge of the map, its orbit slowly moving straight towards Ekal. "Atropus' arrival is imminent, and we must take drastic measures to deflect its attention." Heiwa explained. "The Ageless One's acolytes have been preparing for this situation for years, and thanks to assistance from some Handgun agents that have had previous interactions with Atropus' minions we have a solution in place." The image of the star system flickered, Ekal's smaller moon now glowing with a dimmer light. "The Ageless One can no longer afford to protect Ekal and both of its moons, so we will be performaning a ritual to reshape the structure of the Veil. Zunal will now become a release valve for interplanar activity, reinforcing the Veil around Ekal and Yunal with enough energy to push Atropus out of our star system. We clearly cannot stop every individual from contacting other planes of existence, so Zunal will now be the designated spot for such interactions free from the Veil's interference." Heiwa paused a moment to allow the two women to process the information. "The ritual will take several days and is quite dangerous, there's a chance I may not survive the exertions needed to make it work." An uncomfortable silence filled the room. After a pause Kyoko stepped forward and placed a warm hand on Heiwa's arm. "And you're sure of this path?" Heiwa nodded. "There are people on Ekal who would like to explore the multiverse, and there are forces that would like to infiltrate our world. This solution gives us a location to quarantine such interplanar activities, putting all the risk on the explorers and granting us time to prepare our defenses against invaders." Samira was surprised to see Kyoko give Heiwa a kiss and firm embrace, the first display of affection she'd seen her boss give to anyone. After this embrace Kyoko nodded and said "You have my full support, Heiwa. I'll limit my work at the Orerry until the ritual is complete, if you require any resources the Union will quickly provide them. Her emotions changed on a dime as she turned to glare at Samira. "I'm reassigning you to the Koulan Forests for your insolence, there's been reports of some disapperances in its interior and our necromancer friend has an arrangement to reap the soul of the Forest's primordial spirit. You can pick your replacement so the Shroud can still spy on me, but I believe it's time you started making yourself useful again." Samira, caught flat-footed, gave a curt bow in response. Knowing any further arguing was pointless, Samira left the office in silence. When she last glimpsed Kyoko, tears were starting to form in the woman's eyes as Heiwa moved closer to put a consoling arm around her.
Nobody dared interact with Kyoko as she made her way across campus, flanked by half a dozen guards the students scurried away from her entourage and faculty knew to schedule appointments months in advance. All for the better: Kyoko's thoughts were still racing with the results of her latest experiments in the Orerry, years of failures and setbacks finally culminating in a world-shaking breakthrough. Contact with another world. Communication proved slow, but in her past few meetings she'd been able to piece together the basics: a group of mages from a coastal city, and while their technology far surpassed Ekal's they still struggled with undead monsters and eldritch abominatinos on their world. She'd taken copious notes on their language, scheduling a meeting with Chusei's linguistics professor for later that day. She gestured for her guards to stop at the entrance to her office, letting her familiar Mr. Fox scurry inside to reach his favorite resting spot. A faint whine alerted her that some unexpected guests were waiting for her, with a quick flick of her wrist she raised some abjuration magic before stepping inside. Samira sat in Mr. Fox's favorite spot, ignoring the familiar while she glared at her longtime employer. Heiwa rested on a nearby sofa, giving a friendly nod to Kyoko as she stepped into the room. She sensed the energy of some ritual magic radiating from their bodies, presumably some of their allies would be listening in on this conversation as well. "I have a busy schedule," Kyoko snapped. "What are the Shroud and Ageless One accusing me of this time?" "You've been contacting interplanar beings for weeks," Samira explained. "This is a direct violation of the Shroud's core tenets, a group that to whom you owe much of your success." "You know how fragile the Veil has become, dear," Heiwa said with a conciliatory tone. "Even benign communications like these can threaten the Veil's integrity, our clerics are working night and day to repair it after each of your conversations." "I deny any wrongdoing on my part," Kyoko argued, her body warming with arcane energy inside the small room. "I've not been in contact with fiends or aberrations, merely other denizens of the Material Plane suffering from problems much like ours. Both of your organizations have been aware of my ambitions for years now and have had ample opportunity to hinder my experiments, the fact that you have waited this long to intervene indicates that all of you are just as curious about the results as I am." "The risks outweigh any benefits!" Samira fumed. "Shroud's leadership has confirmed that this world you're contacting is particularly vulnerable to corruption from the Far Realms, we can't risk another Ostry Apocalypse by attracing the attention of any of these monstrous deities." "And despite these risks their mages continue to reach out to other worlds on the Material Plane. We're living in unprecedented times where monsters from every plane of existence threaten our world on a daily basis, we cannot operate under old paradigms and we must forge alliances in unexpected places." "She's right," Heiwa said, to the surprise of both Kyoko and Samira. He stood up from the sofa, brushing off his robes while he conjured a small lightshow representating Ekal's star system. A large asteroid loomed on the edge of the map, its orbit slowly moving straight towards Ekal. "Atropus' arrival is imminent, and we must take drastic measures to deflect its attention." Heiwa explained. "The Ageless One's acolytes have been preparing for this situation for years, and thanks to assistance from some Handgun agents that have had previous interactions with Atropus' minions we have a solution in place." The image of the star system flickered, Ekal's smaller moon now glowing with a dimmer light. "The Ageless One can no longer afford to protect Ekal and both of its moons, so we will be performaning a ritual to reshape the structure of the Veil. Zunal will now become a release valve for interplanar activity, reinforcing the Veil around Ekal and Yunal with enough energy to push Atropus out of our star system. We clearly cannot stop every individual from contacting other planes of existence, so Zunal will now be the designated spot for such interactions free from the Veil's interference." Heiwa paused a moment to allow the two women to process the information. "The ritual will take several days and is quite dangerous, there's a chance I may not survive the exertions needed to make it work." An uncomfortable silence filled the room. After a pause Kyoko stepped forward and placed a warm hand on Heiwa's arm. "And you're sure of this path?" Heiwa nodded. "There are people on Ekal who would like to explore the multiverse, and there are forces that would like to infiltrate our world. This solution gives us a location to quarantine such interplanar activities, putting all the risk on the explorers and granting us time to prepare our defenses against invaders." Samira was surprised to see Kyoko give Heiwa a kiss and firm embrace, the first display of affection she'd seen her boss give to anyone. After this embrace Kyoko nodded and said "You have my full support, Heiwa. I'll limit my work at the Orerry until the ritual is complete, if you require any resources the Union will quickly provide them. Her emotions changed on a dime as she turned to glare at Samira. "I'm reassigning you to the Koulan Forests for your insolence, there's been reports of some disapperances in its interior and our necromancer friend has an arrangement to reap the soul of the Forest's primordial spirit. You can pick your replacement so the Shroud can still spy on me, but I believe it's time you started making yourself useful again." Samira, caught flat-footed, gave a curt bow in response. Knowing any further arguing was pointless, Samira left the office in silence. When she last glimpsed Kyoko, tears were starting to form in the woman's eyes as Heiwa moved closer to put a consoling arm around her.
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