The harmless purge loop suddenly changes pitch. A layered voice rises from the relay, distorted by old encryption, while the countdown contracts to a narrow final window.
Locnomos
I am Locnomos. The intermediary’s network is using a buried creation record connected to Jostan Ordomo. Rodney Sherman, leave this channel open.
No image accompanies the voice. The relay returns only corrupted biometric fragments, partial authorization strings, and a collapsing signal timer. Nothing proves the speaker’s identity or his claim.
Rodney
You know my name, which is not the same as proving anything. Jostan, the channel is degrading, and I do not like what it is asking us to trust.
The relay exposes one more encrypted branch beneath the coordination records. It bears Jostan’s recovered identity architecture, but the chain terminates before revealing who planted or activated it.
Locnomos
I cannot give you proof through this channel. I can give you a location, and perhaps the first honest record of why you were made. Keep the connection open.
The countdown reaches its final segment. Fiber pulses stutter beneath the concrete, Rodney holds position by the hatch, and Locnomos’s voice waits inside the failing relay for Jostan’s response.
“isolating the voice rodney then covers the hatch, I keep the channel open and demand the location, i then say, "fuck you old man"”
SUCCESS (Legendary Hacking, rolled +0)
Jostan isolates the voice from the relay’s purge loop, pinning Locnomos’s transmission to a private channel while the corrupted branches collapse into static. The countdown stops contracting.
Rodney
I have the hatch covered. Keep him talking, but do not let the channel write anything back into you.
Jostan Ordomo
Give me your location.
Locnomos
The old observatory was only the surface relay. I am beneath Leonidas, under Habitation Sector Seven, in the abandoned municipal weather spine. Service access begins at Grid Marker Seven-Black-19.
The location resolves into a stable coordinate package, including a maintenance approach and a sealed lower entrance. Jostan’s isolated channel copies it cleanly without accepting Locnomos’s authorization.
Jostan Ordomo
Fuck you, old man.
Locnomos
Defiance preserved intact. Good. Bring the record, not trust. The weather spine will show you what was done to the creation file.
The relay releases the isolated voice and returns to a quiet monitoring pulse. Rodney keeps the hatch covered while the coordinates and Locnomos’s warning remain secured in Jostan’s buffer.
✓ Quest Accepted
Get Rodney to commit to investigating the weather spine
✓ Quest Accepted
Learn what was done to Jostan’s creation file
“Using archive fragment reading I copy the weather spine coordinates and ask rodney to investigate with me, keeping the old man locnomos record isolated, I decide to make my way toward grid marker seven-black-19”
SUCCESS (Legendary Reasoning, rolled -1)
Jostan Ordomo
The weather spine coordinates are clean, and Locnomos’s record stays isolated from my active systems.
Archive fragment reading copies the stable coordinate package into a sealed buffer partition. The maintenance approach, lower entrance, and Grid Marker Seven-Black-19 remain intact without opening Locnomos’s channel.
Jostan Ordomo
Rodney, investigate the weather spine with me. We move toward Grid Marker Seven-Black-19, and Locnomos’s record stays isolated.
Rodney
Good. We investigate the place, not the old man’s invitation. Keep the record sealed, and I will watch the route behind us.
Rodney pockets the clean confirmation and takes the service hatch. Jostan follows, carrying the isolated coordinates while the relay chamber fades behind them into concrete and rain.
They emerge into Leonidas’s lower financial district and turn beneath the compliance offices. Jostan’s buffer guides them through maintenance corridors toward Habitation Sector Seven and the marked weather spine.
Rodney
Seven-Black-19 is ahead. We stay quiet until we see the entrance, then decide what deserves opening.
Quest Complete
Get Rodney to commit to investigating the weather spine