Yoni is sitting in a place in the base camp, looking at various finances
Yoni: And in terms of camp expansion, we have all the new people who came here, so we’ll need supplies, and we’ll need money to buy said supplies
Yoni looks at another chart about her personal finances, she remembers what she said about how any hole that’s a little too large would be questionable to the rest of her family. There’s also the issue of future excursions, and it’s not exactly like she’s getting paid more than what she’d be making if she stayed with her family in Rome managing their businesses and assets.
Yoni: How are we going to pay for all of this
Yoni continues looking at her finances, and then goes to look at some other numbers, data about adventuring. Adventuring is an expensive endeavor, but it’s how her family got her fortune. Yoni looks and fanagales with some numbers in her data.
Yoni: So if I pay for this, and then find something I can sell or profit off of-
Yoni’s thoughts are suddenly interrupted by being bumped into by Lilac
Lilac: Oh my god Yoni, I’m so sorry-
Yoni was a little startled by the sudden physical interruption, but she supposes she probably should have moved her work into a tent instead of on top of some random crate.
Yoni: Oh no problem Lilac, I probably shouldn’t have been working on this stuff out in the open.
Lilac: What are you working on?
Yoni: To be blunt about it, my money. I wonder what I can do to get more money so I don’t have to worry about running out?
Lilac: Are you really running that low on money?
Yoni: Well no, but I’d rather not have to worry about that, if my bank account dips below the seven-figures my family will want to pitch in and help me out?
Lilac: And you don’t want them to do that?
Yoni: They have to pay damages to the city of Rome because of that thing my sister did that one time, and I’d rather them spend their own money on the city and their own adventures than have them have to focus on me. I’m an adult, I should figure out how to keep my own bank account in the million range.
Lilac: You are…very rich
Yoni: Was very rich, I had about 11 million in personal finances and donated a lot of that money already to people who need it. I’m also one of the primary financial backers of the Century Corps in addition to being one of its primary financial personnel.
Lilac: People in the guild can be one of its primary backers?
Yoni: Apparently so
Lilac: Hmmm, well as much as I’d like to continue this talk of finances, Atoll and Atlantic were planning a search for one of Pandora’s secret bases in the valley and I said I’d go with.
Yoni: A secret base?
Lilac: Yeah, Atoll was talking with Centus about potential areas Pandora’s bases could be and Atlantic and Atoll decided they’d head out to an area they suspected one might be
Yoni: Hmmm, well I need a break from scheming up how to make the numbers in my accounts go up
Lilac: Are you offering to come along
Yoni: I don’t see why not
Yoni and Lilac move through the camp to where Atoll and Atlantic are getting ready
Atoll: I don’t know how Pandora thinks she is, hiding secret bases all over the place
Atlantic: Technically all we’ve been doing as Century Corps members is raiding villainous secret bases so it’s nothing new
Atoll: Explain what you mean by that
Atlantic: The White World was one big secret base for Optica, we raided Henry Gavel’s secret base, you raided Pandora’s underwater complex, Department X’s base was raided during the Adamite Key hunt, Department X’s Baltimore lab was raided by Necra and her squad a while back, Olivia led a raid party on Kutakahra’s house, I was twice now involved on an attack on my own old home, the Century Corps attacked the Soulight Valley Sinners Sextant camp accidentally and they just raided Rahihi’s fortress
Atoll: Okay, I kind of see your point
Lilac: You left off the part where Hoard had her dragons burn the fortress to the ground
Atoll and Atlantic turn around to see Lilac and Yoni coming out behind them
Yoni: Hello guys
Atlantic: Oh…uh…what’s your name?
Yoni: My name is Yoni, I’m what you might call “the big money lady”.
Atoll: Oh yeah the rich lady
Yoni: Can’t really call myself rich since the first figure in my bank account is a 1
Lilac: Yoni’s coming along with us because she wants too
Atoll: No complaints
Atlantic: Are you paying us?
Yoni: No, you already get paid…
Atlantic: Sorry, rude question
Atoll: My friend Atlantic has a lot stereotypes about rich people that she believes
Lilac: Stereotypes?
Atlantic: How many yachts do you own Yoni, since you are so rich?
Yoni: Is she for real?
Atoll: Yeah, these are totally out of t-
Yoni: My dad owns all our yachts, we own 2
Atoll: Okay nevermind
Atlantic: I thought all rich people owned at least 47
Lilac: What is a yacht?
The group can hear the turning of wheels as someone else approaches
Tranjoh: Hey guys I heard you needed a ghost wagon
Atlantic: Did they just say, “Ghost Wagon”
Tranjoh: Let me show you what I mean
Tranjoh shows Atlantic and Atoll the Ghost Wagon in all it’s glory
Tranjoh: Tada!!
Atlantic and Atoll look at it with a mix of awe and horror
Tranjoh: So where are we going?
Atlantic: We’re raiding Pandora’s base and….how is that thing exactly a ghost?
Tranjoh: It’s possessed by the spirits of those who died inside the wagon
Atoll: Freaky
Lilac: Are you coming with us, Tranjoh
Tranjoh: Yeah, why not
Yoni: Sick
Atoll: We should leave now since we’re already prepared
Atlantic: Sounds good to me
Lilac: Yeah, let’s just go
Begin Mission: Looking For The Door
Atoll, Lilac, Atlantic and Yoni join your party, Tranjoh joins your unit reserve
After walking some distance from the camp, some members of Sinners Sextant move to attack the party
Atoll: Well this is going to be more than just a simple pillage
Tranjoh: Is it fun any other way?
Fight against the group of Sinners Sextant
When you win
Yoni: They seemed disorganized, I wonder where their leaders are
Lilac: Well Ayev and Kiko were blasted off of a cliff, they might have a new leader
Atoll: Actually from personal experience you can fall from deadly heights and survive, if Pandora can survive falling in the Earth’s Mantle, than Ayev and Kiko can survive whatever distance they fell from
Atlantic: You seem pretty sure of that Atoll
Atoll: You bet I am
Atlantic: I bet you ten dollars there’s a new leader in charge
Atoll: You’re on
If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.
Begin heading down towards The Valleyside Cave
When the party is 20% towards The Valleyside Cave
Atlantic: Atoll, do you have any idea how Pandora might have survived you throwing her off that platform and her falling into the Mantle
Atoll: Well I don’t know Atlantic, that was surprising, and honestly terrifying how she did that
Yoni: My main question is,Pandora supposedly built a base underwater and hired Sinners Sextant.
Atoll: Well what about that?
Yoni: The ocean depths have intense pressure, like to the point where you need a submarine to even enter the deepest reaches, yet she built a whole underwater memory extractor or something under the Mariana trench so close to the Mantle. She had to get thousands of soldiers and tons of materials to the bottom of the ocean and then build that thing with debilitating pressure. To do so she must have had to use thousands of submarines.
Atoll: Well I didn’t exactly think about it like that, but we found out there was a false bottom, so Aoenen just drove the submarine through it and we could swim down there and you could breathe down there just fine, like we found this lost explorer down there.
Yoni: That still had to cost like a ton of money to even get to the false bottom, Pandora must be like, really rich
Atlantic: How many yachts do you think Pandora owns?
Lilac: I still don’t know what a Yacht is
Acantha separates herself from Lilac again
Acantha: It’s a really big, fancy boat
Lilac: Thanks!
Resume towards The Valleyside Cave
When the party is 40% towards The Valleyside Cave
Tranjoh: One thing I’m personally wondering is why Pandora supposedly had secret bases in the valley, why wouldn’t she just put all her power in Rahihi’s fortress?
Lilac: Probably because she was planning to betray him, since she did steal all his assets and pay for Sinners Sextant, best to have a secret lair
Atoll: If she is in said secret lair, we’re gonna kick her ass
Tranjoh: Well why would she have more than one base?
Lilac: I imagine some of these bases would be like soul energy storage units, although I imagine we’ll find no soul energy where we’re going
Atlantic: So we’re going to the base to find what, where it is?
Atoll: There could be other stuff inside, like maybe she left some stuff about her plans, or communications or-
Yoni: Or money!!
Atoll: Are you always this cash obsessed?
Yoni: Sorry I like treasure
Atlantic: I thought all rich people liked treasure
Yoni: You’d be surprised
Tranjoh: Who doesn’t like a good treasure hunt?
Yoni: My dad didn’t, I had to argue with him for years to get him to even consider the idea briefly
Tranjoh: You think he didn’t want to adventure because he was probably already wealthy and didn’t want to chase more riches in fear that he might perish, leaving you without a father? Like, that just seems to be my observation.
Yoni: Wait, I never thought about it like that….
Tranjoh: See how he’s adventuring now that you’re an adult?
Yoni: Huh, that’s an interesting perspective, thanks Ghost Wagon warden
Tranjoh: You’re welcome, rich person
Atlantic: I mean she can’t be that rich, her family only has two yachts
Atoll: Weren’t you essentially kidnapped by some “rich nobles” as a child, how are you so out of touch with your sense of wealth?
Atlantic: They weren’t rich, just evil. And how do you know what rich people do?
Atoll: Atlantic, what was I doing before the guild?
Atlantic: Oh right, never mind that was rude for asking
Atoll: Thank you
Resume towards The Valleyside Cave
When the party is 50% towards The Valleyside Cave. They see a sizeable group of Sinners Sextant and two other Sinners Sextant members, who look familiar
Sinners Sextant Member: Hey, stop hiding behind that rock and accept your fate dirty traitors
Shane: Who is even giving us our orders anymore, it feels like Ayev lost the plot on this one?
Sinners Sextant Member: We are uh, well I don’t know but you betrayed us in a pivotal moment and thus it’s revenge time
Farat: Pivotal would imply that the moment was important, and not just what happens regularly at this point, where we are involved in some big final battle against the Century Corps
Sinners Sextant Member: Listen you bring up some valid points, but I have no idea what I’m doing with my life, so as a scattered remnant of whatever Sinners Sextant force was left here and I was left behind because you two decided to believe a stranger that betraying us was a good idea, and now you idiots are stick behind a rock
Shane: Idiot would imply we’re dumb
Farat: Maybe let me handle the language stuff from now on
The Century Corps looks upon the scene
Yoni: Whoops…
Atoll: Who are those guys, I don’t recognize them from the Mariana excursion
Yoni: Shane and Fart I think, they helped us when I asked them to betray their group
Lilac: It was an incredibly well timed betrayal
Atoll: I know who had a really poorly timed betrayal
Acantha: Ok, listen here you little shit
Tranjoh: Shouldn’t we help out our allies?
Atlantic: They have a point, let’s go get em guys
Fight against Sinners Sextant
When you win
Farat: Thanks for the assist
Yoni: You’re welcome!
Shane: Honestly we got really lost on the way to Century Corps base camp
Farat: Maybe we should have found an “ordinary” wagon like that one
Tranjoh: Hehe, hehe, sorry
Farat: Forgiven
Atoll: So, you defectors want to be part of the guild
Lilac: I believe I said they could
Shane: You did say that
Lilac: Yeah I’ll keep my word
Farat: Good
Atlantic: If you want you can follow us on what we’re doing, which is looking for one of Pandora’s hidey-holes
Shane: Pandora?
Farat: I think they mean that weird benefactor with the lava leg
Shane: Oooh
Tranjoh: Follow me
Shane and Farat join your unit reserve
Resume towards The Valleyside Cave
When the party is 70% towards The Valleyside Cave
Atlantic: I wonder why we haven’t run into any of, any of, what’s that guy’s name?
Lilac: The warlord? That’s Rahihi
Atlantic: Why haven’t we seen any of his goons?
Lilac: I don’t know?
Yoni: Well typically power vacuums get filled
Lilac: I think the power vacuum for Rahihi actually was filled
Atlantic: Really?
Lilac: By The Century Corps, but like not in a tyrannical way
Atoll: The way you’re describing it sounds like it would be tyrannical
Lilac: Well, it’s not, by occupying the state of something like an order keeping entity, we’ll be able to keep a somewhat basic order on the valley before a force that gives the people of the valley the future they desire comes along to fill the power vacuum.
Atlantic: You’re making it sound like overseeing a period of change in your home is going to be easy’
Lilac: I know it won’t be, and not everyone wants to give up their old lives, but we’re going to continue to fight for the future
Resume towards The Valleyside Cave
When the party is 90% towards The Valleyside Cave
Farat: Ghice often fought for money and pride, simply put he chased the bag and chased his ego
Shane: Where are you going with this?
Farat: Well, I was wondering, what exactly do Ayev and Kiko fight for? We’ve worked for them for some time, but what exactly do they believe in?
Shane: You…are asking the wrong person
Farat: I get that, but the largest unanswered question I’m hitting at is what is the organizational philosophy of the Sinners Sextant? What do they even do anymore? There’s no clearly defined objective other than “Destroy Century Corps”.
Shane: That is true, I know that much
Atoll: It is moments like these where I’m glad The Century Corps has a clearly defined mission.
Resume towards The Valleyside Cave
When the party reaches the Valleyside Cave, they don’t see any Sinners Sextant nearby, just nothing outside the cave, with an obvious wall
Farat: Well we tried, let’s go home
Atlantic: No, it’s never that simple
Yoni: I think either two things are possible here, a key is nearby or there’s a mechanism on the wall that moves it
Farat: That is ridiculous, what about the third option which is it not being here
Yoni: You’re welcome to try that too
Atoll: We’re already here we might as well try Yoni’s idea
Tranjoh: Oh, I’ll look around for the key
Tranjoh searches around for a key with their Ghost Wagon.
Lilac: So what mechanism on the wall would you say does it?
Farat, exasperated, walks into the cave to the wall
Farat: See, there’s no mechanism
Farat puts their hand on the wall
Shane: Farat, are you sure there’s really nothing there
Atlantic: Have you tried moving it Fart
Farat: FART!! Is that what you think my name is?
Atoll: That’s what Yoni told us
Yoni: Sorry I forgot a letter
Farat: Unbelievable
Shane: It’s not that unbelievable, your name is Fart afterall
Farat: Oh haha
Farat in anger, smashes their hand against part of the wall
Farat: Call me fart, that’s sooo funny
The wall behind Farat begins to descend, revealing the inside of Pandora’s secret base
Farat: Yeah laugh at me
Lilac: Farat, look behind you
Farat: And why should I do that, is it-holy shit
Farat sees the secret base being revealed to everyone
Lilac: Well let’s go in
Mission end
Tranjoh: I didn’t find the key, so-
Tranjoh sees the Open Door and everyone going inside
Tranjoh: Oh hey wait for me
Yoni: Keep up
Tranjoh runs inside with the rest of the party, entering Pandora’s secret base with them. As they look on in the base, they see the metal walls mixing with the rocky top of the cave. Various machinery lining the area, along with some stray canisters of soul energy and a small plastic tub full of gold
Yoni: Ooooh, Oooh
Atlantic: Oh go ahead money fingers, take that gold for yourself
Yoni: Don’t mind if I do
Yoni rushes over to the tub and picks it up
Yoni: Tranjoh, can I load it into your wagon?
Tranjoh: I want a 10% cut
Yoni: Count yourself in
Atlantic: Well if they get a cut I want a cut
Farat: Ooh ooh me too I want a raise
Shane: You’re not getting paid right now
Farat: Do you want money or not?
Shane: Oooh I would like money
Yoni: Fine, I’ll give everyone 10%
Tranjoh: Actually I want 15% now
Yoni: Yeah, take my gold
Atoll: We just found it
Yoni: It’s mine, it’s mine
Yoni laughs a little, having fun with the situation
Tranjoh: I’m being serious
Yoni: I know you are
Lilac walks over to a device, it looks like a communications relay
Lilac: Should I touch it?
Atoll: I mean, if you can tap into Pandora’s network…
Lilac: I’ll see what I can do
Lilac messes with the relay for a minute, before it turns on
Pandora (Relay): Ayev, how is my soul energy?
Ayev (Relay): As soon as I got knocked out of the fortress, I went over to check with your old forces. 87% of the Soul Energy you wanted to collect has been transported out of the valley, it’s being transported to the destination you have outlined.
Kiko (Relay): I’m not in the same place as Ayev, but I’m also connected to the relay, I’m currently rallying any forces that want to defect to your side after Rahihi’s defeat. We’ll be meeting in the destination you have instructed
Pandora (Relay): Any disparate forces of the world that want to rally to my banner, get them under my control. Any other stragglers from Department X, the Cult of Sheyane, Pionin’s Truth-
Ayev (Relay): Not from that group
Pandora (Relay): Why not?
Ayev (Relay): Nothing
Pandora (Relay): Regardless, any disparate combatants will be important for our plans. See you at the location
Ayev (Relay): See you soon
Kiko (Relay): I will too
The relay cuts out
Lilac: I think that was a message that was already sent
The relay is dead
Atoll: We can’t intercept them, unfortunate
Atlantic:
Atoll:
Farat: For being so pro-Centennial, Ayev has no problem working in everyone else to further their own goals
Yoni: They’re a snake
Atlantic: Lilac, can you try seeing where they’re going
Lilac kicks the relay, nothing. Nothing in this lair is online.
Lilac: Seems like that was the last message before they killed the system
Tranjoh: Should we also bring the Soul Energy back to the base?
Tranjoh points to the disparate canisters of Soul Energy
Shane: That could be a good idea
Lilac: We might as well
Tranjoh: Load it up
The Century Corps loads the Soul Energy canisters into Tranjoh’s wagon and sets off back to the camp
Later that night at camp, Yoni is doing more calculations next to the new tub of gold they have
Yoni: So, I believe if I give 65% to all the people who were there, I still get 35% of it, and thus I’ll be able…to give it to everyone else later. Well this is what I signed up for.
Yoni is looking at the container when someone else walks up to them again
Lilac: I see the work never ends for you
Yoni: Heh, you could say that. I never had any presumptions that this wouldn’t be expensive, but I never really cared too much about my own personal financial growth. I could have stayed in Rome, taken over my father’s enterprises and become monstrously rich myself. I think my choice to help the Century Corps is worth more than any dollar in my bank account individually, it just so happens that this thing is expensive.
Lilac: I guess the good news is that Pandora and Rahihi likely still have hidden riches and treasures we have yet to recover, any asset would probably help get more money flowing into the Century Corps.
Yoni: I do thank you for thinking about operations from my perspective Lilac, I’m sure you’ll be a great part of leadership in the Century Corps when the time is right
Lilac: I’d want to believe that much.
Yoni: Now, do you want your share of the money
Acantha splits herself from Lilac again
Acantha: We, would like the money
Lilac: Oh you
Yoni: Acantha’s so old she probably cuts out coupons
Acantha: Pff, what, no, I never did, any such activity….
Lilac: What are coupons?
Yoni: You will learn in time Lilac, in time
Yoni laughs a little, before transitioning into giving Lilac her share of the spoils.
