[D5LA] Operation Anticyclone

[Dapper Dog]

He touched the weapon and to show trust he replied in their native tongue, “I see you bring peace, brother. If you speak for these laowai then follow. We heard from other tribes that there was an attack on the exiles, it seems too evil to be true, is it so?”

He turned allowing Ru’ni to be armed and started walking.

[Ru'ni Wayne]

Ru'ni resecured his bow and knife and smiled to the crew of the TBD as he led them deeper into the forest.

"It is true." He replies sadly. "Some of the tribe of Rygor came to aid in the time of need, including these. They have shown themselves to be friends of The People and that attack you heard news of, that is part of why we are here. Are the returned Exiles settling in well? I have not had time to look in on all who chose to return to the old ways."

[Dapper Dog]

The twi'lek Aznuri led them to a lift, well not electronic based but using more analog power of some kind based on ropes and pulleys. he responded to Ru'ni, "They are of the tribes, we hold them close and they will remember."

[Vaya Mer'darrow]

Vaya watched Ru'ni navigate them through the opening contact with approval. She had been cramming on the Anzuri dialects, enough to follow the conversation given that she knew the context and basically what Ru'ni had planned to say. She also had practiced with Sinnya on the flight over, enough to get through a respectable rendition of "We thank you for your hospitality, Brother of the Anzuri." A full conversation would probably have her and her interlocutor bouncing back and forth between Anzuri and Basic, but that kind of pidgins was pretty standard in such exchanges.

She examined everything she saw that had been touched by Anzuri hands with great interest, although she didn't presume to pull out her recorder.

Ooc: Forgot to mention earlier: I got the results of some knowledge checks from the library thread, which assume I included in the IC briefing (“it was on the board!”). One was on the customs of the Hbane and Skull-Eaters, and gives me/us a boost die on social checks when we act on it. The other was on Commander Poule’s platoon, and we get a boost die when countering their tactics in or out of combat.

[Sinnya]

'We sky-called and children of the sky-called won't forget that," Sinnya told her fellow Twi'lek as the tree-elevator creaked upward. Sinn wasn't in full tribal kit, as Ru'ni was--her mother had never shown her how to wear it or even told her in so many words which tribe she'd come from, and Sinn had never felt confident enough to claim the traditional clothing and paints, except in her own particular piecemeal way. Still, her command of the language and her bits of jewelry--real Aznuri work, not than the tchotchkes people in Rygor sold for the amusement of tourists--usually made her identity more-or-less legible to others of the forest people

"So many blameless people were killed, and most of the survivors lost their homes. I don't think anything's too evil to be true anymore, older brother."

---
Can I use the Sense basic power to get a feel for whether he's being more or less straight with us here, and/or whether our presence is making him feel more nervous than we intend to? Sinn is inclined to believe that he is totally on the level, but after the last "Surprise! Stormtroopers!" moment she's also a mite paranoid.

If it's so obvious that there's no point rolling/no consequence for failure, I'd also take that for an answer

[Dapper Dog]

OOC: Make a Sense check.

[Sinnya]

D5 LA--sense!: 2eF 1 Light Side, 1 Dark Side


One LS pip should get me "the current emotional state of one living target"!

[Dapper Dog]

D5 LA--sense!: 2eF 1 Light Side, 1 Dark Side


One LS pip should get me "the current emotional state of one living target"!

The Aznuri is wary but there is a feeling of trust and concern.

[Ru'ni Wayne]

As they continued on, Ru'ni kept up the small talk. "Have you had much chance to speak with the other tribes much since the attack? You are near the Chaldi, yes?"

[Jenna Karath]

While they walked, it wasn't quite her place to speak for the group with the Aznuri. Certainly, that was better left to those of their group that were both brought along for this very matter and had the history themselves. Which allowed her to focus away from the conversation, slightly, and examine the forest around them. Making efforts to learn what she could out here, see what she could, because it was far different and removed from the urban environments she'd grown up in and known all of her life.

This might have even been the first time she was surrounded by so much nature...

[Dapper Dog]

As they continued on, Ru'ni kept up the small talk. "Have you had much chance to speak with the other tribes much since the attack? You are near the Chaldi, yes?"

"We are but we have not heard from their elders in weeks, there warriors say they are well but in seclusion," the Aznuri replied.

[Vaya Mer'darrow]

Vaya exchanged a dark glance with Sinnya, carefully framed a thought in the newly learned language, and said "That is not the way it is." A phrasing that implied not only misunderstanding, but falsehood, if not necessarily on the part of the speaker. Even if this man wasn't someone in the highest authority, he had been trusted to greet the outsiders. She watched his reaction with her antennapalps extended.

[Dapper Dog]

Vaya exchanged a dark glance with Sinnya, carefully framed a thought in the newly learned language, and said "That is not the way it is." A phrasing that implied not only misunderstanding, but falsehood, if not necessarily on the part of the speaker. Even if this man wasn't someone in the highest authority, he had been trusted to greet the outsiders. She watched his reaction with her antennapalps extended.

He looked at her with confusion and said in the Aznuri tongue, "They speak with two mouths then?"

[Vaya Mer'darrow]

"Sister Tirali does," said Vaya, nodding seriously. "We think the other elders she keeps..." she paused, switched back to Basic, "at blasterpoint."

[Ru'ni Wayne]

Ru'ni subtly repositioned himself between Vaya and the guide. Hearing such words from an outsider could lead ro an unpredictable reaction.

[Dapper Dog]

Ru'ni subtly repositioned himself between Vaya and the guide. Hearing such words from an outsider could lead ro an unpredictable reaction.

He looked at Ru'ni angrily to see if he agreed with these crazy words.

[Jenna Karath]

"We don't mean to speak poorly," Jenna said, chiming in quickly as well, "but we have the best interest for your tribes at heart and.. have you noticed the troopers on Swoopwings, yet?"

[Ru'ni Wayne]

Ru'ni pulled out the recording he found last night and played it. "It seems there is a group within the Chaldi who wish to rule all the Aznuri. They have made an alliance with the skydevils to help them each reach their goals."

"It was one of the Chaldi who scouted the attack on the Enclave." He places both fists clenched together over his heart, a sacred vow among his people.

"This is truth, and Sister Tirali wishes to sit atop the throne of bodies. The skydevils even now break bread in the lands of the Chaldi, it cannot be allowed to stand. Profiting from death and misery is not the Aznuri way."

[Vaya Mer'darrow]

Vaya kept looking directly at their guide, but took a moment to glance at Sinnya. It was the young woman and Ru'ni that she most wanted to speak. She had time to doubt her wisdom in bringing this to a head here, now, but perhaps convincing this smaller audience before they had a larger, more important one to upset.

"This is truth, and Sister Tirali wishes to sit atop the throne of bodies. The skydevils even now break bread in the lands of the Chaldi, it cannot be allowed to stand. Profiting from death and misery is not the Aznuri way."

"I also have a recording, of Sister Tirali and her allies discussing her plans." She doesn't bring up that it mentions the Calm, because she had told Ru'ni that and he hadn't seen fit to mention it yet. They might really take that one badly.

[Dapper Dog]

He nodded and gestured for them to follow through the village and the many roped walkways until they got to a large central structure open to the air. He moved to speak to one and whispered to an elder and then they gestured for them to come forward.

Mother Yugba.jpg (13.99 KiB) Viewed 6718 times

Her face had purple glowing paints on it to mimic a skull and she smiled a toothless grin and then said in basic, “This child of Hbanu is Mother Yugba, you come to the Hbanu, we are children of the skies and mothers to the swoopwings. You say the Chaldi elder speaks with two mouths, but they are kin… you bring grave news laowai, speak and make the words sing or you will be thrown from this place.”

[Vaya Mer'darrow]

Vaya desperately tried to remember from her research how literal thrown from this place might be. Pulling out her datapad and commlink, she said "Sinnya the sky-touched took us to the Chaldi when we recorded this message yesterday. She will speak to the truth of it." She played the recording in full, and braced herself.

Tiralia spoke, “Inquisitor, your interest in the Calm unnerves some of the people but I do not hold to the old foolish superstitions as they do. I have positioned warriors loyal to me and with Commander Poule the meager defenders of the Calm will be out matched.”

“Good, this will please my Masters and in term your own power will grow. The Laowai will grow to fear the Aznuri and all will serve their new Queen as long as she faithfully serves the Empire,” 13th Sister replied.

“The Aznuri Endure,” Tiralia replied.

Commander Poule cut in, “Inquisitor this line is compromised, traced the source to the ship, clearing this line.”

[Sinnya]

Sinnya made the proper gestures of respect to this elder--at least the version she knew; these things varied a bit from tribe to tribe, but the spirit usually translated all right.

"We met only one Chaldi elder when we visited them yesterday, grandmother, and dozens of troopers. We asked Sister Tirali about the other elders, but she talked in a circle around it, and she didn't have any explanation for why the troopers were keeping people inside some of the houses. Guarding them so they couldn't come out. Verse here saw." She took a deep breath, lekku quivering minutely with tension. "It's not seclusion if laowai with blaster carbines don't let you, uh, un-seclude. I think some Chaldi warriors have listened to the offworlders' promises and taken their gifts, while other Chaldi people--maybe most Chaldi people--do not want all this to happen. But those ones looked scared. And then we heard this communication."

"I thought..." she glanced at Vaya and Ru'ni. "If we could get in to the Chaldi village secretly, and see if the other elders want to speak with us, we could get to the bottom of this. Or take them out, if they don't want to stay. Everybody who's locked in those guarded houses, if we can."

[Dapper Dog]

OOC: Charm check at Average get a boost die flipping a Destiny.

[Sinnya]

D5 LA--Charm the nice elder, Vaya with the skilled assist, boost from Vaya's earlier research, boost from DD, GM destiny: 1eP+2eA+2eB+1eC+1eD 4 successes, 2 advantage


The combo of Twi'lek puppy eyes and Balosar smarts was apparently convincing!

[Dapper Dog]

D5 LA--Charm the nice elder, Vaya with the skilled assist, boost from Vaya's earlier research, boost from DD, GM destiny: 1eP+2eA+2eB+1eC+1eD 4 successes, 2 advantage


The combo of Twi'lek puppy eyes and Balosar smarts was apparently convincing!

“Her words sing,” she said after a long moment of thought.

“How can we help the elders and kin of the Chaldi?”