“We have a mission?” Phovos blinked as she stepped into the office alongside Retvik, Tenuk and Elksi. “Is it a fun mission or a normal mission?”
“Should be a standard mission.” Galyn stood up from his large office chair, towering over three of the four crew mates. “Kinisis has requested that I send you out on, in her words, a good old scavenging mission. A chance to grab some interesting new supplies.”
“Scavenging or stealing?” Elksi asked, ignoring the odd look everyone was giving her. “Both are fun!”
“Scavenging. Definitely scavenging…” Retvik muttered. “Do we have a plan for this mission, or are we going to quickly peek in, see what we can find and get out again? The last time you sent us to scavenge, we returned covered in pink slime thanks to a Life Goddess toying with us.”
Galyn took a piece of paper from one of the folders on his desk and laid it out in front of them. On it was something that clearly looked like an abandoned Voidborn ship with tons of ornate, golden rings. However, there was also a weird, flesh-coloured lump at the base of the ship.
“I didn’t think Voidborns would abandon a ship like that!” Tenuk exclaimed, examining the paper. “What IS the horrible growth on the bottom? Is it corruption?”
The elder Decay Lord grunted, then flicked through his folder for more information. “It is not corruption or anything too dangerous. Unidentifiable but also somewhat known, based on the… nests… that Life Goddesses like to create. Whatever it is though, it burns easily, so if you get into trouble…”
“I shall set it all on fire then,” Retvik frowned. “You do realize I can do more than just burn things.”
“Of course, Retvik,” Galyn responded sympathetically. “This is a chance to find some very nice resources. More exotic gear that we cannot simply summon from thin air..”
“When you say ‘we’, you mean us Decay Lords or do you mean Life Goddesses or something?” Phovos seemed uncertain. “Kinisis seems to have no problem getting what she wants.”
Galyn closed his eyes, tutting. “It is more of an ‘us’ scenario. Kinisis would like the whole thing to be destroyed, but she also wants to loot the remains, mostly for her own unusual pleasures. Whatever you manage to plunder will be split between Kinisis and the rest of us.”
“Oh, we get to keep some of it this time?” Phovos was still a little bit uneasy. “This kinda feels rather random.”
“How so?” Galyn asked.
“I… I don’t know. I’m just getting weird vibes from this whole thing. Going to an abandoned Voidborn ship and looting it seems… I don’t know, just… off. Doesn’t feel right.”
“To be fair,” Elksi interrupted. “You say that a lot. About most missions. This one will be fun!”
Phovos relented. “True, true…”
“You seem excited about this, Elksi!” Tenuk smiled. “Any reason why?”
Elksi giggled a little. “No real reason. I just want some more of those cool, gold sculpture things that we find in Voidborn ships. I am making a tower of them in my bedroom.”
“Good point!” Phovos lightened her mood a little. “We could always do with more of those cool, gold sculptures…”