Chapter 41

Carl, Donut, and Ferdinand settle into a secure meeting room at the production facility after Carl receives a new magical tattoo. Gnoll security guards conduct weapons checks on the group, and Zev arrives with alarming news: the tunnel node to the Aryl system has gone dark after the failsafe was triggered, an unprecedented event that has cut off communication and travel to that entire star system.

Carl arrives in the production facility and experiences disorientation from the transition. Donut complains about being separated from him and the hygiene problems it's causing at the base, pushing for shower installations. Ferdinand teleports in disheveled and panicked, having apparently not left a bar in some time. Three gnoll security guards (including one named Neelii) conduct weapons checks on all three of them as part of standard security protocol for the warlord council meeting. Ferdinand is extremely nervous and defensive during the check. Zev arrives and reveals critical information: after Formidable teleported away, her ship stalled at its destination. When orcs manually triggered the failsafe system, the Aryl tunnel node—which serves the system of a previous crawl location—went completely dark. This is unprecedented; tunnel nodes have never gone offline before in known history. Zev explains that Aryl was the site of a Squim-conducted battle royale crawl a few years prior with tens of thousands of people still in the system on mining and reclamation ships. The AI from that season had stopped communicating weeks ago, and a team was investigating when the node went dark. No one knows if the system is destroyed or merely cut off from communication. It will take at least three light cycles for confirmation. The old Borant gate system cannot function without the node. Zev indicates it's time to proceed to the council meeting.