[TEXT TO KEITH]

» I have Kipp.
» I'm so sorry, Keith. Are you still at the station? We can come to you.

[TEXT TO ATREUS]

» Well today is turning out to be awful, isn't it? Vallo could give us a break.

I woke up this morning with this weird urge to do yoga. I haven't done yoga a day in my fucking life. What the hell have I been doing the last week?

Filtered to Atreus and Leon Orcot.

Hey, thanks for watching Ridley and Mac for me while I was "gone". I hope they weren't too much trouble.

[ VALLO PRIME, RESCUERS, & REBELS ]
Got what we were looking and more. No surprises, but we'll do a full debrief after dinner for anyone that wants it.

Magic types, you're going to be needed asap though. Meet you at the command room.

VALLO PRIME, RESCUERS, & FLIPPED REBELS

Full disclosure, I am not a full-time employee with the magic department at the DOA, but so many of us are gone and you are stuck with me, delivering good and bad news. Hello!

The good news is that thanks to the brilliant researchers in both our Vallos looking into where Bronislovas's resting place might be located on the other side of the portal, we're pretty damn sure of where it is, between his notes, so many books, and what info we got from Beketh. The thought is that it's within a cave system in one of the mountains by the city. Here's a map, for your reference:

[pretend there's a cool looking map here with probable mountains highlighted]

Unfortunately that's more or less all we can do on our side for now, so it's up to all of you fine people over there to pick up the trail. If we can do things, we'll do it, just let us know.

And now the bad news: the portal is causing some oddities. The portal monsters from a few months ago are back, seemingly being created by or summoned by the portal itself. If you have fighting skills of some sort but aren't already involved with defense, please reach out to Evie and Kara and they'll get you sorted as needed.

The other odd thing is that the area around the portal seems to be, for lack of a better way of putting it, turning into what we can only assume the other side of the portal looks like. Buildings are suddenly in disrepair and there's a lot of graffiti talking about your Revenants and how disliked they are, missing people posters, that kind of stuff. This started yesterday and the area affected has only grown today, so it would appear we're on even more of a timetable than we thought.

All right, that is all I have for the moment, so...go team?

SANS REVENANTS AND CO CAUSE THEY SUUUUUUUK

I know some people on the other side were worried about some of ours that were captured. We've gotten everyone back to base, a few injuries but nothing too serious. The extra numbers came in handy and we're grateful for the the help.

I'll admit I was focused on other things with the rescue on deck, and I'm sure a few others were too, but those who had a chance to talk in depth with Bronislovas, anything we should be moving forward with on our end to get everyone where they belong? We've got a few people who could use a couple days before doing something else that might cause a run in with the Revenants, but we're good to start working on a plan if there is one.

[FILTERED TO VALLO PRIME, FLIPPED REBELS (THAT INCLUDES YOU ELI), & RESCUERS]

Testing, testing. Are you getting this? We're using my connection to the Black Lion and the quintessence tech in my arm to form a bridge between the networks. Basically, we're playing telephone through a giant sentient spaceship. Stop by and thank him for me? I'm sure he's stressed by all of this.

Anyway, assuming someone is reading this, on the other side of the portal is a parallel Vallo. We've made contact with a group of Outlanders here and confirmed that they are alternate versions of some of our lost people. Most of them have lived here for years and some have different memories of their home worlds. They've formed a rebellion against another group, made up of more of our lost people. They call themselves the Court of Revenants and they're the reason this message is filtered as best as I can get it.

Please be aware that Council members might look like someone you've lost, but they have apparently taken control of this Vallo through force and terror. There is a stalemate between the Council and the Rebels because any physical violence here creates what they call Echoes - spectral enemies that attack anyone close by and only stop when the fighting stops.

Now I'm sure you're wondering where our Outlanders are. I've been told the people here suffered a violent headache and a flash of memories that then faded when the portal opened on this side. It can't be a coincidence. I suspect our people are tangled up metaphysically with their counterparts. I have no idea how to separate them. If you have any theories, please don't be shy.

As for the rescue team, everyone is accounted for and safe. Our focus right now is planning a recovery mission. A few rebels were taken captive just before we arrived. Keith is We will get them back. In the meantime, please feel free to use this post to brainstorm and reconnect. Since I know it'll be a question on your minds, here is the list of the captured:

• Ashton Greymoore
• Dorian Storm
• Keith Kogane
• Luffy
• Nancy Wheeler
• Noctis Lucis Caelum

And a list of the Council and their allies:

• Caleb Widogast
• William Laurence
• Henry Townshend
• Kellach Donnallen
• Ostyia Rabalska
• Teddy Kaplan-Altman
• Billy Kaplan
• Abigail Blyg
• Lan Xichen
• Lee Thompkins
• Joshua Rosfield
• Julian Blackthorn
• Ronan Lynch
• Serefin Meleski
• Silas

Anyone not on either of these lists should be able to see and respond to this post. Okay, enough rambling. Time to see if this actually works.

Good morning, everyone. I know we've all been feeling tense as we wait for word from our volunteers who went through the portal. I know that brings with it an inherent feeling of helplessness; I'm sorry there isn't more we can do on that end at the moment. However, we do have news.

The DOA received a call from the Vallo Police Department early this morning. Late last night, Dahlia Argent, of Beketh coven, turned herself in as a party in the portal beasts incident back in November. Along with our people, her sister, Luciana, was taken by the portal, as well as some Vallo residents - the exact number is currently being investigated. DOA leadership was invited to come speak with Ms. Argent, and we've learned the following:

A group of Vallo natives have been working on ways to open a portal to send Outlanders either back to their world or out of Vallo permanently. The teleportation circle found by Sam Wilson in December, as well as a portal that opened on Geliara Academy's grounds and the theft of the Ashurbanipal amulet in November were all early, failed attempts at targeting Outlanders. The November 10th incident with the portal beasts was the closest they've come to success, but they didn't have the correct knowledge to close the portals without threatening the rest of Vallo.

This group has been using the teachings and research of the Guide of Existence, also known as Bronislavas of Beketh, whose body is on display in the Vallo Museum of Natural Magicks. They've made attempts to resurrect him for his assistance - if you remember, the museum was broken into back in August and that particular exhibit was temporarily closed; this was an attempt to take one of Bronislavas' bones for the resurrection process. This plan also failed.

After discussions with VPD and Beketh, they've agreed to let Outlanders take matters into our own hands. We've been granted permission to resurrect Bronislavas and, hopefully, both get more answers on this portal and his assistance in bringing the missing back home. If any of our community have the appropriate skills for this task, please let us know here, and the DOA will facilitate any way we can.

Huge thanks to everyone who helped tackle trying to get our sudden spacecraft up and talking to us yesterday. Been a while since I've gotten to do that whole thing, was kind of nice. Sadly we didn't get much out of it before a small fire erupted (that was not my fault thank you very much, Shiro). But uh - notes I guess if anyone was curious!

• So far no one has claimed it as something they recognize from their world.
• Which makes sense because what we did find points to having been in Vallo, at least a Vallo.
• There's directional mentions to some standard stuff but one to "THE FOREST" which we couldn't tell if that was something in the ship at one point or pointing towards a waypoint type thing like we have.
• We managed to get a message from the comms system before the fire:
This is Captain Alarie, Vorerra Squadron, requesting immediate assistance from Starship V.A.L.L.O. in— The rest was lost.
• Black lugged the ship back to the Castle of Lions so if anyone wants to scope it out or keep doing some work just hit us up!
• There were no signs of alien monster eggs or identity thieving slimes.
• Keith finally stopped crying tears of joy.
• Nevermind.

( I'm not saying I feel a crazy amount of vindication right now, but... )

I was downtown on a call with the station, when I came across part of a spaceship. Weird thing is that it looks like it crashed here? But awhile ago. I think we definitely would have noticed it being here though by now and I vaguely remember there being a boarded up building for rent around here before, but me and our station inspector can't find any evidence of it being under this beautiful hunk of junk. I called it into the city and the DOA (hi Shiro!) and I'm waiting to hear back something about that.

Weird Vallo thing probably?

The inside's wrecked, but the comms system looks like it might be salvageable. I'm not techy enough to work on this, but would love help figuring it out to see if we can maybe get some logs or security footage out of it. I was thinking about reaching out to Enki to see if Mei or anyone could lend us a hand if we don't have any Outlander brains on it.

It seems I've inherited a meadery. I can't let the place fall I don't know why in the void he thought I could

If anyone's looking for work, especially of the evening/late night variety, come see me. I need a couple of bartenders. The pay is good enough that you won't rely on tips and the patrons are usually well-behaved. The work is easy: just pull the right lever and stop when the glass is full. Sufficiently well-trained monkeys are also welcome to apply.

I am never going house hunting again.

[Yelena]

Drinks?

[Atreus]

Hey, can you watch Chris tonight?

So we've got quite a few of the Flerkens who didn't decide to adopt a human for the moment over at the Castle-ship. I've set up a livestream from the cameras going here [link]. Very much recommended viewing if you need a pick me up. Or just because.

If you run into any more just give a heads up to Carol and we can get them reunited with their friends here.

[ they're contained in very large space that is basically a cat's dream with lots of places to run, jump, climb, etc. the stream itself will toggle between various viewpoints and cameras with the option to view just one specific camera if wanted ]

ATTENTION ALL THOSE WHO HAVE COME ACROSS KITTENS WITH MOUTH TENTACLES!

Some of you might remember when I introduced my cat (Goose) about two years ago. Goose is an alien in the shape of a cat known as Flerken. All of the info on Thor's post is true of her species back home. Here in Vallo, Goose's more toxic elements - both the claws and more extreme uses of tentacles - have been dulled, presumably by whatever kind of magic Vallo likes to use to keep us here. I'm pretty confident the same will hold true for any of the kittens' toxic elements, too, and they should be ultimately harmless.

After rounding up the 39 begging for attention from Thor, I've picked out enough familiar patterns to say these ARE Goose's kittens. I don't know how many are here, but at last count, I'm seeing mention of 48 - that includes 39 from Thor, 4 from Atreus, 1 from Orym, 1 from Wanda, 1 from Darlington, and 2 from Ty. There could be up to 69 more running around Vallo.

If you've found one (or one has found you) and you feel comfortable holding onto them for the time being, great, but please drop a line here to let me know where you have them, just in case. If you don't feel comfortable, that's fine, too. Again, drop a line here, and I'll come by to pick them up. We have a safe space to keep them until we figure out what's going on.

Please don't attempt to kill them.

Carol, have you checked on Goose lately? If so, did they seem...pregnant?

Because there's a gaggle of flerken at the base of this tree I'm at and I'm only counting around 39 of them. I suspect there's more elsewhere since they're capable of laying up to 117 eggs, but I'm hesitant to leave this tree until this group is contained because at least their focus is on me at the moment.

Team B, I'm sending you my coordinates. I will need assistance containing this group. They have a mess of tendrils that protrude from their mouths that they use to eliminate their opponents by eating them and their scratches are toxic to humanoids. We're going to try not to harm them, but we need to herd them away from the public.

Anyone that comes across a seemingly innocent, unclaimed kitten may not want to startle them.

Finn got to hang out with Molly, our tortoise, this morning. The giggles when we helped them hand her some lettuce to snack on was easily one of the cutest sounds I've ever heard in my life. She's pretty cute for a reptile, too. Look at her.



Oh, and - Happy (late) New Year to everyone!

Lance and I just got done fighting a couple of weird chimera type of assholes with sharp hooks for arms in the forest. We were clearing some underbrush, when jumped us from the trees. They were uncomfortably close to the cabin, but wards kept them out. (Thanks Teela and Atreus.)

They can leap pretty far, they're also twice my height, and they like rushing you. So watch out, whoever's out in the forest. Sending coordinates to patrol now.

I intensely dislike the feeling of lost time.

Hi?

Hello?

Hi hi hi hi???

HELLO!

Does this work? They said it work, how do you know when it works?

[...]

OH LOOK! There the words are! It works!

These guys here and Not-Zoro said I should introduce myself. They also said the food does not always try to eat you back and I really hope they are right. Food should not try to eat you. You eat food. That's the way it goes.

Hi, I'm Monkey D. Luffy, Captain of the Straw Hat Crew and FUTURE KING OF THE PIRATES. Perhaps you've heard of me.

The hangover is a little brutal this morning, but a toasty fire and this cash prize are fixing me right up. Thank you to everyone who worked on the race. It was incredible. Sometimes awful and terrifying? But only in the best way. Really, you guys are geniuses. I'm going to need that resort trip just to stop feeing twitchy every time someone comes around a corner too fast.

Great job to all the other racers too. I bombed last year, so please excuse me while I swim around in this win just a little longer. I won't rub it anyone's face.

Well maybe Atreus's face, but only a tiny bit.

[ Posted is a photo of one of these laying sad on the ground, a clear hole torn through it, Speki and Svanna standing in front looking rather smug ]

Well... we got a day out of it at least I guess.

Some of the kids at the Youth Centre have been hard at work making holiday crafts and cards to sell. I've got a page going here [ link ] where you can check it out and purchase anything that might catch your eye. They're fundraising for a trip to Blizzard World in the spring so all purchases will go towards that.