[D5LA] Operation Anticyclone

[Sinnya]

"Thank you, Grandmother," Sinnya said, politely and with obvious sincerity.

Not just because they'd avoided a quick trip to the forest floor, either. The visit to the Chaldi camp yesterday had left her feeling disoriented and unstable--everything they'd observed there was so wrong, so counter to everything she knew about the forest people, that Sinnya had almost found herself questioning whether she was the crazy one. That a Hbanu elder could hear the story and believe it made Sinnya trust her own judgement again, even if the conclusions to which it led were disturbing.

"Brother Ru'ni and I want justice for the people who got murdered in the Enclave. These laowai," she glanced again at Verse, Qareme, Jenna, and Vaya, "originally wanted to ask the Chaldi elders to share their wisdom about the Jedi and ancient times, but they're no friends of the Empire soldiers and their Sith allies, so now they want to help."

She spread her hands palm-up toward the Hbanu elder, an asking gesture. "On swoopwings, we might be able to get to the Chaldi village without the troopers noticing. Every one of these laowai could pass as tribespeople from a distance. Then we free as many of the prisoners as we can, let those Chaldi who don't support Sister Tirali get away..." she let the thought trail off. That was about as far as she'd thought through the plan. "They might know more about her plans. They can help warn the other tribes, and the Hidden Ones."

---
Step one, break out the prisoners.
Step two, ?????
Step three, profit!

[Dapper Dog]

She nodded and they confer amongst themselves for several minutes quietly even consulted the bones. Finally Mother Yugba gestured for them to return and said, “The Chaldi must be Chaldi, not whatever this Sister makes of them. We are Hbanu, they are kin, we are bound to aid them. You may join us, we shall allow you to ride as we do and touch the sky… let us hope laowai are quickest of learning yes?”

[Ru'ni Wayne]

"Mother is wise. You honor us with your trust and we will not fail you." Ru'ni replies as he steps up behind Sinnya and drops a hand on her shoulder, offering a gentle squeeze of gratitude.

[Jenna Karath]

"Let's hope," Jenna chimed in, stepping forward a bit, "I may not be a warrior," she glanced around, figuring that was the best way to say it in this area, "but I can assure you I know a thing or two about getting around unseen and will do everything I can to help get people out of there."

With that said, she glanced to Sinnya, then focused on Ru'ni, "Maybe we can make up for what you lost, save some other lives."

[Sinnya]

"I..." Sinnya blinked eyes that had begun to water for no reason, no reason at all. "Thank you. We didn't hope for so much..."

When Jenna stepped up, Sinn reached over to grab the human woman's hand (if Jenna cooperated in the contact) with a quick squeeze of thanks. Under ordinary circumstances her own habits around touching other people synced up with laowai norms, but at the moment she was feeling very Aznuri.

Then she swallowed as cold reason intruded. "You all have to know, though, before you decide to go...they have forty troopers with blasters up there, and a big anti-air gun that could take out a speeder, never mind a swoopwing. We'll have to be tricky to get in, and even if we're as sneaky as leafcats it's still going to be dangerous." She managed a slight smile. "The Hbanu are brave, so I bet that won't stop you. Now you know what to expect, though."

[Dapper Dog]

The Hbanu do not seem phased by such odds.

[Jenna Karath]

Sinnya taking her hand was unexpected and caught her off guard, but she didn't resist the contact. She even seemed emboldened by it. Looking to her with a small smile as she gave it a little squeeze in turn.

[Verse Aura]

"Touching the sky sounds pretty whizz," she said, eyes a little sparkly at the prospect.

[Dapper Dog]

The Habnu rally quickly gathering their hunters and warriors and riders, they offer to bring the allies with them though if they wish to get a crash course in riding they can though the Hbanu seem amused that some laowai would even try but they give them that chance.

OOC: Brief training montage grants a boost die to a Survival check for riding a swoopwing, this is a Hard Survival check with a boost die for harness, failure means the fail to mount and ride and the creature snaps at them and they suffer 3 strain and are forced to ride with a Hbanu rider. Success means they can ride. A player can always just ride with another Hbanu and skip this.

[Dapper Dog]

Mother Yugba tests her Hbanu impact bow, drawing the string and letting a practice arrow fly straight and true and pleased she nods to her fellow warriors. Old as she was, she would ride with the tribe for she remembered when the tribes were one and knowing the truth of what has transpired she cannot stand by and do nothing.

[Vaya Mer'darrow]

Vaya tried to take a deep, meditative breath as the Hbanu prepared... for war? It seemed so. She had known that this was a possibility, but hadn't liked it. Her presentation on the Board suggested that they might get swoopwings or the vague "allies," and she had known when she had written it that way that she was doing it because she didn't like the idea of turning these people into muscle for her expedition (which was how she thought of it -- hers, both a point of greedy pride and a lead weight of responsibility).

She knew that it was more complicated than that, with the Hbande having full free choice and knowledge and saddling up their swoopwings for the sake of their own deep ties. But that was it, it was complicated. But even the most amoral of her colleagues at the University would have balked, at least in public, if she had admitted to being involved in sparking internecine conflict among the locals in pursuit of a site.

Wishing she could trust the Force for guidance without feeling like an idiot, she found the right people among the Hbande to explain what she had learned of the Imperial Special Forces tactics and methods, a lead weight in her stomach as she connected the dry language of the Grand Army of the Republic Field Manual 30-2400: Counterinsurgency with the idea of these people and their swoopwings being shot out of the air with blasterfire.

ooc: I don't know how you plan to run the larger conflict; if I successfully Valuable Facts, can I give the Triumph to the (possibly offscreen and unrolled) mass combat roll, or equivalent, to help the Hbande?

The Habnu rally quickly gathering their hunters and warriors and riders, they offer to bring the allies with them though if they wish to get a crash course in riding they can though the Hbanu seem amused that some laowai would even try but they give them that chance.

OOC: Brief training montage grants a boost die to a Survival check for riding a swoopwing, this is a Hard Survival check with a boost die for harness, failure means the fail to mount and ride and the creature snaps at them and they suffer 3 strain and are forced to ride with a Hbanu rider. Success means they can ride. A player can always just ride with another Hbanu and skip this.

Vaya waved Verse forward, set her cooler on the ground, opened it, and started handing out small paper-wrapped packages with the solemnity of a Sargeant handing out thermal detonators. "Swoopings like cucklu fish," she explained. "Like, really like. Watch your fingers."

ooc: A third boost for a few people, maybe not everyone? Vaya will give priority to herself and Verse.

ETA:

Vaya gritted her teeth and offered the fish cautiously. There's a good swoopwing. She knew it was stubbornness to not just mount up with an experienced rider, but also, she was pretty good with animals from past experience, and she wanted to impress her hosts.

D5LA Ride 'em, swoopwing (Survival, hard, three boosts from montage harness fish): 4eA+3eB+3eD 1 success

[Ru'ni Wayne]

Ru'ni looked over the mounts and assessed them in an instant. He had talked the talk, and now he would make good on his speech on the TBD from the trip in. He strode straight up to the alpha leader of the pack and looked it in the eye.

An unspoken moment passed between them and the creature lowered its wing to allow him to mount more easily, it had accepted him and together they would bring righteous vengeance upon their foes.


Swoopwing Survival. Harness, training, gear boosts. Hard check: 1eA+2eP+3eB+3eD 2 successes, 3 advantage, 1 Triumph


1 advantage for boost to next ally. 2 advantage for boost to Jenna. Triumph for permanent connection with the swoopwing?

[Verse Aura]

Verse was excited to try and fly the beast...

...unfortunately she had no idea what she was doing.

And neither did the beast.

Survival, Hard, Boosts from training montage, harness, Vaya: 1eA+3eB+3eD 0 successes, 2 advantage


(fail, but maybe the 2 advantage can be spent on just having it refuse to fly and not having it snap at me for 3 strain?)

[Qareme Torth]

Qareme had listened to the lessons, paying careful attention. She was also given a fish that was supposed to help. However, the swoopwings took one look at the large Zabrak, then yanked the fish from her and flew away.

She wasn't sure exactly what she did wrong, but it seems she was sharing a bird, which was not the worst thing.


D5 LA Swoopwing survival. Harness+training+Ru'Ni boost. Hard difficulty: 2eA+1eP+3eB+3eD 0 successes


D5 LA Swoopwing survival. fish boost dice from Vaya: 1eB 0 successes

[Ru'ni Wayne]

As Mother Yugba tests her bow, Ru'ni looks on with a pang of jealousy, but he knows that tribal differences were common and the archers of the Hbanu had their own ways and traditions.

He was blessed enough to be allowed to ride beside them into battle. He would not press his luck by imposing on them for their traditional weapons as well.

[Dapper Dog]

As Mother Yugba tests her bow, Ru'ni looks on with a pang of jealousy, but he knows that tribal differences were common and the archers of the Hbanu had their own ways and traditions.

He was blessed enough to be allowed to ride beside them into battle. He would not press his luck by imposing on them for their traditional weapons as well.

"Your eyes hungers like a warcat," Mother Yugba quipped to Ru'ni as she tended to her swoopwing. Meanwhile Verse's creature just shakes her head no at the Jedi and Qareme earns a not so gentle shove from the wing of her swoopwing.

OOC: Verse takes no strain and the creature bonds with Ru'ni.

[Sinnya]

If Vaya had voiced her qualms about the ethics of the present moment, Sinnya might have retorted that in fact it was the Thirteenth Sister who'd chosen to stir up conflict among the Aznuri in pursuit of a 'site,' and that under those circumstances the Hbanu could kriffing well decide for themselves what they wanted to do about it. However, since Vaya kept her thoughts to herself, Sinn would remain blissfully ignorant of the existence of sentient subjects research review committees in all their complexity.

Besides, there were swoopwings.

Sinnya had been thinking about the elegant, dangerous avians ever since her first sight of them in the Chaldi village yesterday. Sure, planning to use them had been practical, but also, they were so cool. Sinn was slightly nervous at first, but as soon as she looked into the slit-pupiled eyes of the creature the Hbanu handler had offered to her, she felt its friendliness toward its sentient symbionts and its joy at the prospect of flying, and the same joy filled her heart. Off to the skies!


D5 LA--Swooping is good, actually. Hard survival, boosts from gear, training, and harness: 2eP+1eA+3eB+3eD 1 success, 3 advantage, 1 Triumph


I don't have the Animal Bond thing, but maybe with that triumph and advantage I can impress a new Hbanu friend with my swooping chops, or contribute to the expedition's success!

[Ru'ni Wayne]

"Your eyes hungers like a warcat," Mother Yugba quipped to Ru'ni as she tended to her swoopwing. Meanwhile Verse's creature just shakes her head no at the Jedi and Qareme earns a not so gentle shove from the wing of her swoopwing.

Ru'ni laughs goodnaturedly as he settles into his sest and caresses his steed. "Is it that obvious Mother? I am only a casual hunter, yet even I must admire the workmanship in your traditional bows. Perhaps one day I will prove worthy of training with your hunters. We are separate tribes, but one people. I think the near future will show us this even more."

[Dapper Dog]

She looked at the younger Aznuri and said, “You ride with us, and you may even die for a tribe not your own, and you do not fumble like laowai trying to eat fish head first.”

She gestured to one of the hunters and he handed her a folded bow and quiver with arrows. She said, “Give your enemies death, Brother Ru’ni.”

She offered it to him.

Meanwhile…

The swoopwing allowed Sinnya to ride and many of the hunters seemed impressed until a hunter approached wearing a mish-mash of outsider armor and a helmet to cover his face with a long swoopwing leather cloak.

Brother Ji.jpg (17.42 KiB) Viewed 7056 times

The hunter nodded and then pointed at Sinnya and then himself and made hand motions that the other hunters seem surprised at. One spoke, “Brother Ji says he will ride you, since you have taken to his swoopwing, Valia.”

[Ru'ni Wayne]

She looked at the younger Aznuri and said, “You ride with us, and you may even die for a tribe not your own, and you do not fumble like laowai trying to eat fish head first.”

She gestured to one of the hunters and he handed her a folded bow and quiver with arrows. She said, “Give your enemies death, Brother Ru’ni.”

She offered it to him.

"I ride in company I would be happy to die beside, if the Ancestors call my spirit to them today." He accepts the gift and clasps arms with Yugba.

"It saddens me to have to fight kin this way. But from death will spring a new life for the Chaldi. So is the way of the forest. The circle of life." He bows his head solemnly as he contemplates the duties ahead.

[Sinnya]

Meanwhile…

The swoopwing allowed Sinnya to ride and many of the hunters seemed impressed until a hunter approached wearing a mish-mash of outsider armor and a helmet to cover his face with a long swoopwing leather cloak.


Brother Ji.jpg
The hunter nodded and then pointed at Sinnya and then himself and made hand motions that the other hunters seem surprised at. One spoke, “Brother Ji says he will ride you, since you have taken to his swoopwing, Valia.”

“Uh, ride with me, you mean?” Still swoop-happy, Sinnya grinned at the newcomer. “Your swoopwing is beautiful, Brother Ji. And so well trained!”

[Dapper Dog]

He nodded and then pointed and gestured more and another hunter said, "He say, thanks... ah yes ride with you, is that not what I say?"

Meanwhile the Mother clasped Ru'ni's arm and then went to get ready.

[Sinnya]

“Sure.” Sinnya offered Brother Ji her hand. She thought the swoopwing, Valia, seemed happy to see him, though she was still figuring out how to read the creatures.

“Um, do you... does he...” She stumbled a bit over her words as a question occurred to her. “I don’t know those hand signs you’re using. Is that the only way you communicate?”

If so, she hoped he wouldn’t mind being strapped to a swoopwing with somebody he wouldn’t be able to yell at if she messed up...

[Dapper Dog]

"Oh he hears fine, but he lost his voice when young," the rider replied with a shrug. "Valia was a spirited creature, we say she speaks for him now."

Brother Ji got on behind her and the beast seemed elated... maybe?

[Verse Aura]

Verse, dejected by the beast's refusal to fly her away into the sunset, got off and joined whomever else would take her along for the ride, giving one last sad look to the swoopwing that rejected her.

Maybe it's... maybe I should go on a diet?