ximilia | text | un: andy

Archaeology is neat. Apparently art theft and art dealing is the way to go on this planet. Shaun and I teamed up with Xichen and Huaisang to dig around ourselves. [ pun a little intended. ]

Most antique trading here ends up with the objects at the Museum in Vrefesea, and Hortensia seems to have found something significant on her pre-death last dig, an artifact Jove was attempting to sell to a higher bidder than what the Museum was offering. The deal fell through.

The Museum is missing an artifact in the form of a fancy book, with a reward out for its safe return, and Huaisang and I were able to confirm it as the same object Jove was looking to sell. It's an antique book about the early days and people of Novis Nox. The Museum hired a certain Detective Val Pinot to track it down, but no one we spoke to seemed to think he had it in his possession yet.

It looks like there's a good chance this book is the orb. A book orb. The Borb, according to Shaun. [ yes of course andy is going to roll with that, it's fucking funny. ]

[ she attaches a picture of the borb from the newspaper. shaun helped her figure out how because he's a champ. ]

Viveca said the Borb was in Vrefesea, and Hortensia looks like the last person who physically had it, with the Day family on their way to her funeral. And now Jove is dead, but it's hard to imagine none of the other siblings don't know where the book might be.

[ and that's it, well thought out conclusions are for squares. ]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

That's possible. Kill him, frame the siblings, then the.

[She can't believe she's typing this.]

Borb is remarkably less expensive.

It's a lot of moving parts for something you could have bought, though.

[ you can do it, natasha. borb it. ]

There are others out there who are tracking the orbs too. It might be convoluted on purpose.

It could be.

Is that something you've seen much of before? A wildcard like that.

It happened in the last two missions.

This gang called the Bouldersnakes was after it in Scorpion's Bend, and some dick calling himself the Highest One was seeking it in Giva to return home, whatever his home is.

The Highest One? Really?

Not exactly subtle, was he?

Especially considering he did in fact choose the name himself. Then capitalized his pronouns and everything.

It felt great to punch him in the face.

I'm a little jealous and I didn't even meet him.

[But he sounds very, very punchable.]

At least no one's been quite that narcissistic so far.

I'm sure there'll be plenty of chances for you to throw a punch of your own. Fake gods are everywhere.

[ speaking as an ex fake god herself, they really do pop up a lot. ]

So far. There's like 50 siblings, one of them's bound to be a little full of themself.

So I've noticed.

[Though it's hard to say exactly how fake Asgardians are.

Natasha isn't one to get too hung up on the theological implications.]

I'm not sure we'll run into any minor deities, but as far as punchable faces go, we're going to have local law enforcement tripping over themselves.

[ a god could walk up to andy and use divine powers and she would still tell them to their face that they're stupid. she and divinity just don't go hand in hand. ]

As a whole, we're not always good at blending in either. You spoke to Pinot, right? Does knowing he's from the museum add new context to anything he said to you?

A little. I can't say it's a shock. Makes sense with how much he knew about the family and some of his assumptions.

He made a comment about how artifacts leave trails and are more trouble than they're worth. Pretty clear he's had some professional experience with the matter.