Forging Ahead

# Incoming Transmission
# Source Identifier: Manifold Ghosts
# Destination Identifier: TE3-Firebrand#Her Glorious Command#Starlight Ebbing#Muse IX#Unquiet Journey#*
# Subject: Help to complete the Mytenean Various Forge
# Message Begins

The Mytenean Societal Corps is working to finalise long term plans for the construction of a Various Forge on Mytene - the current situation has accelerated plans that the Corps has had in process for some time, and with the cooperation of the Unquiet Journey, proposes to complete the Forge on Mytene.

Accordingly, a range of capable individuals are sought to advance the project - the aid of capable adventurers and explorers, skilled negotiators, expert technicians will all be greatly appreciated and well compensated. Full details will be provided on arrival after vetting.

- Manifold Ghosts

# Message Ends

• Manifold Ghosts - Phil
• Red Nine - Katie

• As a result of their investigations during Package Management, as well as some Starsighted dreams shortly before setting out, Manifold Ghosts has a list of the exotic components they require to complete the Mytene Various Forge, and some leads on where to source most of them.
• Red Nine talks to Aces High's organisation before setting out. Ace has enough problems on her plate right now with the ongoing war, but is aware that the Myteneans had been trying to stick their noses into the war as a means to gain clout with the Galactic Cooperation, and this new Forge is scheme in the same vein. Perhaps if there were a way to leverage this? Red persuades Ace to provide her with a rudimentary remote control device, which could be used for future leverage if included in the Forge somehow.
• The party start out by heading to Ace's World, as there are opportunities to obtain the THiNK and MedPod here.
• After being savaged by a migrating flock of Goosehawks (Geesehawk?), the party arrive at Whistle Stop Town to find it abandoned and ravaged by the war - a recent development, as the town was fine the last time Ghosts was here. Micro Management's Battle Arcade is still standing, but guarded by l33tsp33k-uttering robots which appear to have been fending off bandits here to scavenge the aftermath.
• Getting past the robot defences, the party find a single hacker in the arcade, hooked into the holodeck and playing a game. Rather than interrogate the hacker and risk having to bargain for the holodeck - which contains the supercomputer they are after to act as the 'THiNK' component - the party knock out the hacker and simply take the holodeck.
• Outside, the remaining robotic defences engage some bandits, which the party also engage. When the bandits are dealt with, Ghosts interrogates them, and discovers that a rival group of bandits stole the Ace's Organisation MedPod when it was recently brought through Whistle Stop Town on the way to help with the war effort.
• While Ghosts is distracted with the bandits, Red subtly attaches their Ace remote inside the supercomputer.
• The party arrange for the supercomputer to be extracted to the spaceport by some Mytenean agents, while they go looking for the bandit group that took the MedPod. Tracks lead out of Whistle Stop Town towards the boundaries of the protection provided by the Ace's World ship heart. This leads the party to worry that the MedPod has been taken into Decay, where it would surely be destroyed.
• Bandits run in from the Decay, pursued by the decaying remnants of their land vehicle. Interrogation reveals that the bandits drove into the Decay because they thought they would be safe - their bandit clan has somehow come into possession of a ship heart of their own called 'Sixy' which is strapped to one of the clan's vehicles, and they rove the wasteland under its protection. This is the clan that stole the MedPod.
• The party set out into the Decay, following vehicle tracks. They defeat more decaying vehicle remnants, and eventually find the bandit convoy, which is indeed lead by a ship heart strapped to the front of the truck. While some bandits affectionately call it 'Sixy', its name is in fact 'Keter 6a', and it has some serious problems. It has declared itself the 'true' seed ship heart of the moon, and has a one-sided nemesis-ship with the Ace's World ship heart as a result, which it dubs a 'pretender'. While Keter 6a is as powerful as any other ship heart, its intense pride means it will not use its power to help itself, and has instead been building a band of loyal followers to carry out its objectives - namely sowing general chaos against Ace's World.
• The party engage the bandits, at which point Keter 6a's chief mystic Reality Swaps the encounter elsewhere to keep 6a safe from the fighting. When the bandits are defeated and the world swaps back, the party take both the ship heart and the MedPod they originally came for. While Keter 6a would be entirely capable of stopping the party on its own, its pride remains too much, and it instead spends the journey back to Ace's World being angry at the party.
• There is a brief tension as the party re-enter Ace's World's influence and the ship heart auras overlap. Manifold Ghosts stays with 6a at the border while Red Nine goes to negotiate with Ace's High to be able to take the MedPod away.
• After negotiations, Ace's High gives permission for the MedPod to be taken and used in the Mytene Various Forge on the condition that she gets a major stake in the new forge, as well as favourable treatment in any further Mytenean attempts to bring the Ace-Altarian war to an end. Red Nine agrees to make this happen.
• The party travel to Mytene, taking the supercomputer and MedPod. They also take Keter 6a, which Red Nine ejects from the ship as they pass the moon Keter 6b. The jealous ship heart crash lands on the uninhabitable moon.
• On Mytene, the party rendezvous with Forever Depth and debrief them on what has happened so far. Depth is able to provide directions for how to access Mytene's seed ship heart to collect the Terraforming Residue, as well as suitable containers to hold it. The site has been heavily built over since the founding days of Mytene, but is accessible via the old sewer system.
• The party make their way through the sewers, fighting past amphibious Ikthyds which have made their home here, before eventually finding a cave system that leads to a medium-sized chamber. The rock walls of the chamber are laced with a dark, sticky substance: Terraforming Residue, left over from the terraforming process that was centred here long ago. The party gather as much residue as they can while fending off waves of Ikthyds, then make their escape back to the surface.
• The party then set off in search of some Extract, heading to the coordinates that Manifold Ghosts previously obtained from the Unquiet Journey. This brings them to a small warehouse near the edge of ship heart range in Mytenea - perhaps not the manufacturing facility one might have expected.
• The warehouse is staffed by a single individual, who is being harassed by some Aspexx representatives who are keen to buy the operation, despite it not being for sale. The party evict the Aspexx intruders, and talk to the staffer who goes by the name Copper Tea. Tea explains that:
  • The Extract is produced at a 'shelter' outside of ship heart range, then delivered here for distribution to the Unquiet Journey (their only customer at present, who consume everything they produce and demand more)
  • The Extract is produced by 'magic' that Tea does not fully understand - the party would need to ask 'The Yonderer' who operates the shelter, who is apparently a member of 'some kind of ancient cult' (Tea is not a member, just a paid sales and admin assistant)
  • Aspexx have been harassing this cult to give up their secrets since forever, since Aspexx are unable to reproduce the Extract in their laboratories
  • It is not trivial to increase production of The Extract - the Unquiet Journey has been asking for ages and the short answer is 'no'; the long answer is 'when the Yonderer says so'
• Copper Tea is persuaded to provide the party with the location of the shelter, which the party set out to find in the hopes of being able to source more Extract. After battling through some decay monsters, the party are able to locate this shelter.
• Here the party meet Yondering Mountain (and their pet guard Raktors), who had apparently foreseen the party's arrival. They are able to explain more about how The Extract is produced:
  • Here on Mytene, The Extract is extracted from special cave slugs - physically indistinguishable from regular cave slugs, but Yondering Mountain receives 'Yondering visions' which direct them towards which slugs are the correct ones to pick
  • In other systems, the creatures are different but the process is the same - 'Yonderers' spread out across the galaxy, following their visions to the appropriate creatures
  • Trading the produced Extract to the Various Forges funds the mission of the Yonderers to protect these blessed creatures
  • Breeding the 'special' slugs will (generally) not produce a 'special' child slug - it is up to the universe to bestow its gifts upon the creatures it chooses
  • This is why it is not trivial to increase output of The Extract - the only way is for 'the Yondering Star to will it so'
  • Therefore, if the party want more Extract they will need to wait for the stars to align - or learn to share the limited supply with each other, or find some other means to stretch the limited supply
• This is not the answer the party were looking for, as it effectively confirms there is no way to increase Extract production. However, Red Nine is struck by an idea, and uses an Intervention to try to bestow upon the mind of some individual on Ace's World with a vision of where they might find a blessed creature. Only time will tell what effect this had!
• Before leaving, the party are at least able to obtain a small quantity of Extract from Yondering Mountain.
• The party return to Mytenea, and reconvene with Forever Depth at the Forge construction site. They have now obtained a suitable supercomputer, a MedPod, and sufficient Terraforming Residue to construct the Forge. They also have a small amount of Extract to fuel a few augmentations. The final component, 'the Sacrifice', still eludes understanding, but Forever Depth suggests that maybe this will become clearer once the other components have been installed.
• It is unclear exactly how construction should proceed, but Manifold Ghosts works with the Mytenean Industrial Core scientists to puzzle it out.
  • First the supercomputer and MedPod are hooked up to the existing facility.
  • It is then suggested that the supercomputer could be used to analyse the Terraforming Residue to determine its purpose - analysis equipment is hooked up for this purpose, and after a while it is determined that the Residue provides a rich tapestry of biological analysis at the molecular scale which the supercomputer could cross-reference with any biological questions it sought to answer.
  • As next steps are discussed, one of the scientists poses the question of whether a Various Forge is, in itself, Various. This eventually leads to the suggestion that maybe a component of organic flesh is required. Perhaps this is 'The Sacrifice'? Manifold Ghosts gouges out a portion of their flesh, severely injuring themselves in the process, and places this within the MedPod to sustain it.
  • In furtherance of this, and in order to get them out of her head before they cause real problems, Red Nine uses an Intervention to transfer the large number of 'souls' hosted in her mind from previous exploits into the Forge Core.
• The pieces are now all in place. To finish the Forge Core and seal it from the outside world, Manifold Ghosts tinkers. This goes less well than hoped: the end result is a success, but there are many consequences.
  • N.B. The tinkering score was 17 with 6 consequences. The exact list of consequences has been lost to time (due to delay in writing up this debrief), but the major/important ones are listed in the appropriate parts of the Consequences section below.

• Manifold Ghosts uses Mk II to complete the new Forge's construction. (See Consequences for details.)
• Manifold Ghosts talks with the Forge staff on Unquiet Journey and with Copper Tea to try to negotiate for some of the Extract supply to be sent to the new Forge on Mytene. While the Unquiet Journey aren't super happy with this, as they are already not getting as much Extract as they'd like, they ultimately have no compelling reason why Mytene shouldn't get any at all. Copper Tea is happy to sell to either group, so long as they have sufficient goods and services to trade to support Yondering Mountain's endeavours. Ultimately an agreement is reached where a small portion of the Extract produced on Mytene will now be sold to the new Mytene Forge, and the rest will go to the Unquiet Journey as before. This does not cost Manifold Ghosts any of their own Clout as ultimately it is the Mytenean Industrial Core's Clout that is being exchanged here, though it is also clear to Ghosts that without their intervention this agreement would not have been reached. Ghosts gets the impression that while the Unquiet Journey would prefer to be receiving all the Extract (and more), this agreement will remain stable so long as the proportion of Extract received by both Forges broadly matches the proportion of demand for the services of both Forges.
• Red Nine debriefs Aces High on everything that happened, in particular where Extract comes from. She explains about the Intervention she performed that should mean that someone within Ace's Organisation might soon start to find these creatures themselves.
• As part of the deal where supercomputer and MedPod from Ace's World were used to build the Mytene Forge Core, secret negotiations commence between Ace's High and the Mytene Societal Core to discuss ways that the war between Ace's World and the Altarians might be brought to an end with Mytene's assistance. Red Nine involves herself into these negotiations, and emphasises the brutality of what Her Glorious Command has inflicted on the people and culture of Ace's World. She further highlights that the Galactic Cooperation and Mytene's lack of engagement in the war so far effectively means they have blood on their hands.
• In private to Aces High, Red Nine also highlights the existence of the 'Challenge Vending Machine' facility present on Ace's World, and floats her 'Ballistic Vending Machine' idea, as well as a new suggestion of Extract-coated sticky bombs.
• Red Nine informs her Divine Sect of the creation of the Mytene Forge, and notes both the donations from Ace's World that made it possible and the many 'souls' she infused into it, essentially forming a Reliquary. She suggests that the Sect treat this Reliquary as a divine gift from the Ace's World ship heart, and revere it as such.

• Mytene now possesses a fully operational Various Forge, and the supplies to operate it.
• The Forge is fully functional, however has the following notable quirks:
  • There is a large sign on the exterior that appears to read “With thanks to the generous donations of Arse's World”. No-one is quite sure how Manifold Ghosts managed to mess that bit up, but rumour is they have sent a grovelling apology to Ace's World and intend to fix it as soon as possible.
  • The Forge Core is completely sealed and inaccessible, with no access hatch or similar - only breaking it open by force would work, which would likely destroy the Forge itself. Whether this is a design flaw is a matter of debate among MSC's engineers: on the one hand an access hatch is just good design, but on the other hand it is understood that the Unquiet Journey never allows anyone access to their Forge Core for Reasons, so maybe having it permanently sealed is actually a good thing?
  • Unbeknownst to anyone except Ace's High and Red Nine, there is a remote control device embedded within the Forge Core (and now inaccessible). It is not especially powerful, and for now is doing nothing, but presents a potential point of leverage for Ace's High in future should she so choose. (Note that as Ace and Mytene are currently on agreeable terms and working together towards a common goal, Ace currently has no reason to use this.)
  • Fragments of 29 crew members of the crashed ship //Infinite Energy// are embedded within the Forge. Rumours abound as to the influence these 'souls' (or whatever they are) have on the Forge, from weird noises during forging to 'haunted' augments, but none of these have been independently verified. In any case, their presence does not seem to be preventing most Various from wanting to use the Forge.
  • The overall architecture of the Forge at the point of construction is aesthetically quite bland. However, in addition to the many Various who visit the Forge for augments, there is also a steady stream of pilgrims from the Divine Sect of the Ace's World ship heart. These pilgrims take it upon themselves to gradually adorn the new Forge with decorations befitting of 'a ship heart's gift', and with time the Forge starts to resemble something more cathedral-like. The Myteneans take no issue with this (in fact the Mytenean Societal Core may see it as a net positive for cultural exchange).
• Any Various character may now get new augments from the Mytene Forge instead of the Unquiet Journey Forge.
  • Mechanically these augments function the same regardless of Forge.
  • Aesthetically augments from Mytene may have a more industrial and sleek design as compared to the more improvised and practical design of augments from the Unquiet Journey. The description of these is left to player discretion.
  • There are subtle differences in the experience of receiving an augment from the Mytene Forge versus the Unquiet Journey Forge. Character opinions may vary on whether this is an expected consequence of going to a different Forge, or caused by something more supernatural about the Mytene Forge. Players may choose to have minor 'haunted' non-mechanical roleplaying effects of their choosing associated with augments obtained from the Mytene Various Forge if they wish.

• The Mytenean Societal Core and Ace's Organisation are in ongoing secret talks to bring about an end to Ace-Altarian war in a manner that counts as victory for Ace's World and furthers the MSC's goal of gaining Enhanced Societal Status with the Galactic Cooperation.
• The Mytenean Industrial Core and Unquiet Journey are currently in an uneasy truce regarding the distribution of Extract between their two Forges. This should hold so long as nothing disrupts the situation further.

• Somewhere on Ace's World, a member of Ace's Organisation starts getting strange dreams…

• +3 Clout with the Mytenean Industrial Core for getting the Forge built.

• Severe Injury: chunk of flesh removed for the Sacrifice. Mechanical effect: -4 max hits.
• Tinkering consequence: lose 4XP worth of abilities as per the Various 'System Firebreak' skill.
• Ace's High has accepted your apology for the signage error, so long as you get it fixed pronto. For every mission after this which Manifold Ghosts plays without fixing the sign by the end of downtime, -1 Clout with Ace's High.

• +3 Clout with Ace's World for the combination of embedding the remote device in the Forge Core, providing the information about the Extract, the intervention relating to the Extract, and the assistance with diplomacy with Mytene.
• No longer has 29 crew member fragments in her head.