Pre game current events (Alyssa)

[Anastasia]

I need to talk to you about the Prime Alyssa's from, so sidestepping that in this round up.

Good afternoon, Miss Songsteel. I have the report on gathered intelligence, ma'am. Where would you like to start first?

You are correct, this doesn't include the local world.

The Deep Ethereal scouts report strange dreams of devil-kin, ma'am. They are fighting mixed force of mortals and celestials and generally losing. We believe it to be a reflection of the Aurora's battle for Lifasa, but this is not confirmed.

Yes, ma'am. The diviners will cast on it this evening. That sort of battle is impossible to hide and it gossip from it swirls around planar trading hubs. Discovering the accuracy of it should not be difficult.

Ma'am. Beyond that, we have reports of a garden of dreams sighed in the Deep Ethereal. A Dreaming Garden, as our source names it. Our scouts report they may have seen eladrin within, but were not able to get close to confirm it.

No, ma'am. The Dreaming Garden vanished into the mists of the Deep Ethereal.

I will have your research assistant consult the lorebooks, ma'am.

The Astral is quiet. As I previously informed you, the planar breach involving the lower planes and Limbo has been sealed. The only issues are in the reverberations from that conflict. Analysis suggests that a period of recovery following that conflict is inevitable, and no great things were happening before that. Queen Vlaakith of the Githyank is unquestionably the strongest force in the Astral, and she has been relatively quiet lately.

Our intelligence in the elemental planes is more limited, as right now most of our focus is elsewhere. Nonetheless, we have a few items of interest. Firstly, strange ghosts are noted to be roaming Vacuum. Little else is known right now, but we have confirmed and reliable information on it. Please be aware in case you planned a trip there.

We also have information of a lost treasure in Ooze. Details are scarce, but a treasure ship of the Githyanki was lost after a planar mishap, and according to our information, was lost in the vicinity of the Drowning Mountain, a landmark within Ooze. We consider there to be good odds that the treasure is still there and unplundered, as few care to venture into Ooze.

Finally, we've heard rumors of trouble in Ash. A powerful elemental claims to be the new Archomental and is taking over. Details are sketchy right now, we only know about it because a scout was blown off course.

As for the afterlives?

Yes ma'am, we do have some, as requested.

Mount Celestia is having some manner of religious event. The pinnacle of the mountain is aglow, bringing great joy to the natives.

We've heard there's a lot of devils migrating to Acheron as well. Some manner of upheaval in Hell. According ot sources, the warlord of the First Hell has fallen. I believe the proper term is regime change, ma'am. Speaking of, a new devil lord has taken over. I believe his name is...Lixer, ma'am. According to ancient arcana, he is a devil who commands necromancy and the undead. Mmm, yes, somewhat like Orcus. That is not unfair to say, ma'am.

Onto other realms. We recently received an entreaty for a parley with Malcanthet, Queen of the Succubi. It is your choice if you wish to treat with such a being, ma'am. Her goals are unknown at this time.

Yes, the message has been determined as reliable. It's your choice, ma'am.

Rumors from Hades suggest that the land is alive. No, I am not kidding, ma'am. All of the scouts that went there report an overwhelming feeling of being watched and that the land is alive. Perhaps this is a shared delusion, I do not know. But they are all certain of it, including agents that are normally reliable.

Finally, one of our agents passed through Ysgard and into the divine realm of Tempus. There he claims to have met the Red Knight, who spend some time asking about you. I am not certain as to why, as she did not choose to share her reasons with him. Suffice to say divinations on the matter have been fruitless, beyond a general sense that we are not in danger from it.

That's all for now, though I expect our efforts will continue to bear fruit. What will you have us do, ma'am?

[Iron Dragoon]

Hmmm... The Deep Ethereal and devil-kin... With the news of Aurora's victory and this new Lixer, it could be some kind of remnant force probably trying to flee somewhere they think it'll be hard to find them... See if we have anyone experienced in the Deep Ethereal. If we can manage to find whatever's in there, we might be able to bargain the information away. Aurora's surely looking to clean up, and the afterlives will be high on the devil's defeats. Might be able to use it to make some inroads there if we can get it done fast enough.

As for the Astral... That breach was a fairly major event and the Githyank are... Githyank. Still, if the Queen has been quiet she's either shoring up forces or dealing with something... That breach could have longer lasting effects than anyone thinks, or could have caused more damage she's trying to deal with. Try to make contact. Be subtle, but if we get a hint of anything like that, offer assistance. The Githyanks would make a valuable ally.

Ghosts in Vaccum? Odd. Look into it. They came from somewhere, and some sudden outpouring of the dead isn't something we want to be ignorant of.

As for Ooze... We could use the treasure as a war chest, but... If it's a Githyanki treasure... Go ahead and start the inquiries with Queen Vlaakith as mentioned, but have our diviners try to find the exact location. They have a landmark to work from, so they should be able to get more detailed information. If we can locate it, we may be able to use the information to garner goodwill from Vlaakith. Still though... Try to make contact with whoever is in charge over there. If Vlaakith is unresponsive to us, we don't want whatever Ooze-lord is there to be hostile to us when we go for the treasure. But be quick, if I recall correctly, Ooze tends to be some level of corrosive. I'd like to get the whole damn ship out. Those things are worth studying.

Get more information on Ash. We've too little to work with there. Our diviners are going to be putting in overtime, it seems. Make sure we get some extra workers assigned to help take care of them. Don't want them burning out from exhaustion.

Celestia during festivities should be more welcoming. I can't imagine they don't know anything about this Lixer, either. Make some inroads there and see what we can find out. If we can avoid putting that on the diviners, all the better.

Malcanthet? Seriously? Wow. Huh. Demons. Bleh, always dangerous to deal with. Or ignore. She could forget about us as easily as taking offense at being ignored. More the latter, I imagine. Succubae are doubtlessly unused to be ignored. Who or what did she send to entreat with us? That may give us a clue to how serious she is about this. Have whoever we send to Celestia made aware of her attempts. I can imagine what the celestial response will be, but they're far more practiced at watching and figuring out demons than we are. We might get some help there.

Hades... Keep an ear out. Have our Celestia envoy mention it. I doubt we can afford to expend serious effort looking into it, considering what else we have going. Keep a tab on it, though. Have our people look for information on it when they're out and about.

Now the Red Knight... That's someone we need to put real effort towards. We're completely lacking any real military strategy outside of small group experience, and we don't have forces of our own... She could be a very valuable ally... And she knows it, damn her. It'll cost us. More than we want, likely, but we need it. Let's get into contact with her and see where it goes.

Appraise the other Regents of this, but keep it quiet otherwise. I don't need the whole Order up in arms wanting to go treasure hunting in Ooze or trying to capture ghosts in Vaccum for experiments. Or trying to summon random Succubae for information and 'fun.' Anything the horny fools around here says to one will instantly get back to her, and that's the absolute last thing I want.

That's all for now. Get back to me with updates. Until then, I'll be either in my private laboratory or... I don't know. I may go out and stretch my legs. Find some ruin and plunder it. In any case, you know how to contact me.