Chapter 6: Excursions

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Solomoriah
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Re: Chapter 6: Excursions

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rredmond wrote:Will presses as close to the glass as possible. "All our guys are okay," he'll say quietly, "you saw that they were all okay, right?" He'll turn to ask the closest passengers to them.
Baron von Malum replied, "Yes, I think zey are fine. Two of ze savages are killed, I think, but our people are fine."
rredmond wrote:Whether he get's clarification or not, he'll back to find the captain and find out what the next steps are.
Will found the Captain in the bridge. The crew was so preoccupied that none of them seemed to notice him. "Will, what are you doing here?" said the Captain. "Well, never mind, I'm sure you want to know what's going on. I've just ordered Chapman to begin bringing us down. We don't dare anchor among these tangled trees, but I'm going to drop the ladder and we'll try to hold position so our people can come up. It's too dangerous down there."
Nazim wrote:Artie looks down, awkwardly ashamed of his percieved power. "They are surprised by the gunfire, and Kordal is scolding them for being stunned by our quote-and-quote lightning. Apparently they are not supposed to show any fear in front of us, you know, eh... gods. I'll ask him what he knows of our attackers..." His words are quiet. He glances at Kordal, trying to reassure him that his men have done nothing wrong, but his glance could be taken any different way. He then makes sure that everyone else in the party is okay.
"I think we're all fine, Artie," said Monday. "Except for these poor devils." He gestured at the fallen natives, who were obviously dead.
Rosisha wrote:Simon crouches by the body and examines the woods, looking for signs of a hasty departure. He looks at the guard for a bit and smiles encouragingly, but stays focused on making sure he doesn't end up with a piece of pointy wood in his gut.
Simon looked around, but saw no signs of any further attackers. The native guard picked up a spear and began prowling through the trees.
Rosisha wrote:Once he is sure that it is safe, he will do a close examination. He wants to see what he can find: any kind of symbols, jewelry, or other information that might seem to indicate a tribe or allegiance. He is looking for something obvious: a tattoo of a bear, which might mean "bear tribe" or that his name was "Strength of Bears" or some such. He also wants to see what weapon the warrior was going to use after chucking his spear. Did he have a knife? An axe?
Searching the body of the fallen enemy, Simon found only a stone knife for a weapon. The man wore only a loincloth, but his body was marked all over with ritual scarification, and he wore red warpaint on his face.

"Mister Lars, is it safe?" came the voice of Reginald Monday. Upon hearing his reply, Monday said, "Go ahead, Artie."
Nazim wrote:He then addresses the chief in the native language. His words are quick, and lack the pauses he inserted before to appear insecure about the language. If Simon indicates that it is safe, he advances with Kordal to where the fallen enemy lies. "Chief Kordal, are you able to tell us who these men were? Why they attacked us?" Artie's nerves seem gone, and his expression now is only somber.
"They are our enemies, the Suran. They live near the river mouth. Their ancestors were our ancestors, but they strayed from the path of rightness and the worship of the sky gods. But surely, lord, you know all this?"
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Re: Chapter 6: Excursions

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Solomoriah wrote:Will found the Captain in the bridge. The crew was so preoccupied that none of them seemed to notice him. "Will, what are you doing here?" said the Captain. "Well, never mind, I'm sure you want to know what's going on. I've just ordered Chapman to begin bringing us down. We don't dare anchor among these tangled trees, but I'm going to drop the ladder and we'll try to hold position so our people can come up. It's too dangerous down there."
Will looks around, almost surprised that he's on the bridge,"Are all your best marksman down there? It looks like it's over but if there are more enemy natives, is there anyone up here that can help, and any weapon that can hit from up here?"
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Re: Chapter 6: Excursions

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Simon pauses after calling out that it is safe, and stands. He signals to the native that he is withdrawing to the main body, and lifts his gun. Keeping it light in his hand, ready to shift as he needs too, he falls back to the road, always scanning the woods for danger. When he reemerges into the clearing he will mention that it might be time to move forward, double time, at the very least, and to be even safer, it would do well to get off the path completely.
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Re: Chapter 6: Excursions

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With hand signs, Kordal indicated that his remaining men should carry their dead; the four warriors carefully removed the spears from their fallen comrades, breaking each as they did so, and then two men picked up the body of each warrior. Kordal took their spears, so as to leave their hands free; evidently he trusted the sky gods' protection.

At Simon's urging, the party started again at double-time into the still-quiet jungle.

...

"Bloody hell, what do they think they're doing?" cried the Captain, looking down at the clearing. "That cheeky bastard," he muttered further. "He looked right at me and gave me a 'thumb's up.' Monday, I mean," he continued, turning toward Will and Lt. Chapman; most of the remaining crew crowded the passageway outside. "He had to have seen us descending. Well, Chapman, do your best to follow them. Mister Thornton, perhaps you and I should adjourn to the lounge for a bit, as I'm sure the other passengers will have a thousand questions."
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Re: Chapter 6: Excursions

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Solomoriah wrote:"Mister Lars, is it safe?" came the voice of Reginald Monday. Upon hearing his reply, Monday said, "Go ahead, Artie."
Nazim wrote:He then addresses the chief in the native language. His words are quick, and lack the pauses he inserted before to appear insecure about the language. If Simon indicates that it is safe, he advances with Kordal to where the fallen enemy lies. "Chief Kordal, are you able to tell us who these men were? Why they attacked us?" Artie's nerves seem gone, and his expression now is only somber.
"They are our enemies, the Suran. They live near the river mouth. Their ancestors were our ancestors, but they strayed from the path of rightness and the worship of the sky gods. But surely, lord, you know all this?"
Artie nods and looks to do what he can for Lars, but glances back to Kordal to respond in the native language. "There are things we do not know, Chief Kordal."
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Re: Chapter 6: Excursions

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Will chuckles and shakes his head at the 'cheeky' remark.
Solomoriah wrote:... Mister Thornton, perhaps you and I should adjourn to the lounge for a bit, as I'm sure the other passengers will have a thousand questions."
"That's what I'm afraid of," Will murmurs, but he certainly complies taking the long walk back.
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Re: Chapter 6: Excursions

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Will was relieved when the Captain "took point," entering the lounge first and answering the many questions. Michael Lloyd motioned for Will to take a seat beside him; Dr. Burton was leaning over the front rail, apparently looking for his daughter. The cloth-wrapped mass of the Totem rested beside Lloyd on the table, with the book lying beside it, holding down an unruly mass of papers against the breeze blowing in through the starboard vent windows.

...

It was an arduous trek through the dark jungle; Artie found moving at a jogging pace while dodging branches and avoiding rocks a bit outside his recent experience. Once the party had left the clearing, there were precious few spaces where sunlight broke through the trees...

Until, at last, they reached the village of the Dalar. The village stood on a rise in the crook of the river, which was broad and fast-moving; an excellent natural defense, thought Simon Lars approvingly. The houses were all round, made of mud brick with conical thatched roofs on top. It looked to Simon as though the village might support twenty or thirty odd able-bodied men, with as many women and perhaps as much as three times that number in children. There were very few old people in sight, but then, Simon thought, they'd be inside in the heat of the day, wouldn't they?

The warriors carrying the bodies of the fallen entered the village first, and two women ran forward wailing, evidently the wives of the dead men. Kordal lead the way then, leaving the warriors to deal with the dead men and their wives, and led the party to an open space in the middle of the village.

It wasn't hard to identify the headman's house, even before he said, "Please be welcome in my home" and bowed. His wife was also gracious, and Reginald Monday returned their bows.

"It would be our honor," he said.

Artie felt a little odd... sure, he had known that savages often ran around nearly naked, but the bare-breasted women and entirely naked children he saw made him a bit uncomfortable after growing up in the South.

As they approached the house, Artie noticed that the door was covered with a richly embroidered cloth. Upon it he saw stylized, almost Egyptian, representations of a bull and a lion.

...

Below Morgana lay the village. "Oh, excellent, I see Catherine," said Dr. Burton, "and she seems fine. Our people all look fine." He returned to the long table and joined Lloyd and Thornton.

"Will," began Michael Lloyd, "Doctor Burton and I have been discussing the translation of the totem, and we think we have the first bit right. We were just about to continue the translation." As he said that, Dr. Burton began unwrapping the Totem.

Lloyd said "Bloody Hell!" and Dr. Burton just gasped as the Totem lay revealed... marked not by the lion and bull, but rather with stylized carvings of a hawk and a dove.
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Re: Chapter 6: Excursions

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Solomoriah wrote:...
Lloyd said "Bloody Hell!" and Dr. Burton just gasped as the Totem lay revealed... marked not by the lion and bull, but rather with stylized carvings of a hawk and a dove.
"Damn," Will says in amazement, and then forces himself to concentrate, just another confidence game he steadies himself, changing situations don't throw you... big guys named Louie throw you he smiles to himself just a little. "Let's just assume this change is normal, I'm guessing the hawk and dove were also represented on the walls where you found this, eh Doctor?" Will looks at the Totem for a bit, allowing Dr. Burton to answer or expound, hoping to bring him out of any shock-n-awe type of state. "Does this change affect the original thoughts on the translation."

Did they bring the knife, or any other Mondabe items down that we can change for any changes?

OOC: Sorry Solo, I don't seem to have noted in my notes (as Will will say) the translation, I'm not sure where it is. I don't mind searching, but if you happen to have it at hand... ;)
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Re: Chapter 6: Excursions

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"The translation? Oh, yes, my boy. My word, how did that happen? The pictograms seem the same, but the animals are different. The hawk and the dove, yes, they were on the walls of the temple. Other animals too... I'll have to go and get the photos."

"Did someone steal in and exchange this one for the real one?" asked Lloyd.

"Oh, dear boy, I doubt it," replied Burton. "This looks entirely authentic... how could someone have made a fake so realistic without seeing the original? No, however odd it seems, this must be the real thing." Looking around the room suddenly, Dr. Burton heaved a sigh of relief. "Nobody seems to have noticed us," he continued. "It appears the view of the village is too compelling."

"Let's finish the translation, Doctor," said Michael Lloyd. "I don't think it will take us long now."

...

In the village, preparations were underway for the promised celebration. Artie and Simon and the others watched as wood for a large fire was arranged, and hunters went out to secure fresh meat as the women began to prepare vegetable dishes. Kordal didn't need to give much direction, as it seemed everyone knew their job. He said to Artie, "Are there any special preparations which we, your servants, do not know of, or anything else you would have us do?"

Meanwhile, Monday turned to Catherine. "Perhaps you should go try to talk with the women, maybe even help them a bit. It would be a great advantage if you could communicate with them as efficiently as our Artie does."

"You want me to go off and cook, like a good little woman," she said, glowering at him. "I say, Simon, what do you think? Is a woman's place in the kitchen?"

...

Michael Lloyd transcribed the pictograms to a sheet of notepaper. As soon as he was done, Dr. Burton wrapped it up again and removed it to his quarters, so that no one would see the change. Meanwhile Lloyd turned his attention to the book, researching each pictogram and noting the possible translations; he and Burton then began arguing at length about how to put it all together. While he was curious about the inscription, Will quickly became bored with the endless discussion.

...

Captain Pelton called out down the main passageway, "Mister Mansel, front and center! There is work for you to do!"
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Re: Chapter 6: Excursions

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Solomoriah wrote:In the village, preparations were underway for the promised celebration. Artie and Simon and the others watched as wood for a large fire was arranged, and hunters went out to secure fresh meat as the women began to prepare vegetable dishes. Kordal didn't need to give much direction, as it seemed everyone knew their job. He said to Artie, "Are there any special preparations which we, your servants, do not know of, or anything else you would have us do?"
Artie was busy forcing himself to look away from the native women, or otherwise lost in his own thoughts. The chief's question caught him off guard. "Huh? Well, um... We... I... No-um-ehh... Let me see." Artie left chief Kordal to gather his nearby flight companions, still struggling to avoid line of sight to any of the female natives.

When he had their attention, Artie looked Monday and the others, asking them in english: "Well, the chief is asking me if we need anything. I can't imagine any advantage in asking them for a map. Maybe I can ask them for a compass? Or something magnetized? Any other ideas?"

While the others responded, Artie pondered over the chief's words. Suddenly, his eyes opened big. "Uh. Mr. Reginald... I-I mean, Monday, I think they are expecting us to do something. I can't say exactly why, but this party isn't the normal sunday brunch. And the chief's words, they talk of preparations, and it's more than just a meal. For what, I have no idea. Nor do I know exactly how to answer that without betraying our collective and very un-godly ignorance." Artie stopped and thought for a second, his right hand over the right side of his face. "Or maybe I'm losing my mind..."
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