thebastion | Event: Day 336 [open]

[Ryu is a very early morning person. He doesn't like the night, so at the first crack of 'dawn' he's up and moving, heading out towards the Skyway.]

[... But he doesn't get far this morning before he spots the envelope and knife. He heads over to it and pulls the knife out, frowning. Who would do that to a tree? But this looks important.]

[... He glances at the envelope, trying to see if there's anything legible on it.]

[Nope, nothing on the outside of it! But the envelope seems to be sealed shut via knife, there's no wax seal or glue or anything holding it shut.'

[He'll just open up the letter to check it. There might be something dangerous on it and he's pretty good at resisting stuff.]

Bring the two you have captured to the lagoon in seven days.

If you comply, we will not harm you.

If you do not, we will burn the camp to the ground.

[Yep that's all that it says.

...in English, by the way. Can Ryu read English?]

Edited 2015-07-31 04:10 (UTC)

[He squints at it, looks at it, and frowns.]

[Some of these words look like words from the Eastern Kingdoms but not totally and...]

[... nope. No luck. He folds the letter back up and heads back into the Bastion. Someone here's gotta be able to read this!]

[In an astonishingly convenient coincidence, the first person Ryu will see upon returning to the Bastion is one of the handful of people who know English. Rob hasn't noticed Ryu yet, likely related to the fact that he looks kind of sleepy and is yawning. He's also shirtless, very white where his tank top usually is, and has prominent and ugly scars on his left shoulder and left cheek. He doesn't look like he's busy with anything at the moment though.]

[Ryu runs over towards Rob, holding the letter. ... The knife is safely tucked into the belt of his pants. No sense in wasting a knife, but running with one is a bad idea.]

Rob, I found something I can't read. Can you read it?

[~~But you run faster with a knife!~~

Rob jumps slightly at the sudden Ryu, having not been paying much attention to his surroundings.]

Dunno. I can only read English, and maybe muddle my way through a couple of other languages, so there's a good chance I won't be able to, but I'll take a look if you want. I might be able to at least identify the language so we know who to ask.

Okay!

[He hands the envelope over, looking at him expectantly.]

There's nothing else in the envelope aside from the note. I checked it. ... It was held to a tree with this knife.

[He gestures to the one on his belt.]

... You can have it if you want.

Edited 2015-07-31 22:00 (UTC)

[Rob raises an eyebrow upon hearing about the knife, but he'll ask after he looks at the letter. He takes the envelope from Ryu, opens it, and starts reading. By the way his brow quickly furrows it's probably obvious that it isn't good news. After a moment he remembers that Ryu has no idea what it says so he reads it aloud.]

"Bring the two you have captured to the lagoon in seven days.

If you comply, we will not harm you.

If you do not, we will burn the camp to the ground."

We need to show this to Colin.

[He's already starting to head towards Collin's workshop.]

[That? That kind of language puts him instantly on guard. It makes him think of the abandoned village, and what happened to the children, and -]

[No. He has to stay calm. He nods at Rob's words and tries to focus on them. They make sense.]

Maybe Paarthurnax, too. He might know, too.

[Grandpa Paarthurnax knows everything, after all.]

Edited 2015-08-01 00:31 (UTC)

[Colin is wide awake and at work in the workshop. Plenty of stuff that needs building these days, he's barely had the time to go out to the scrap yard these last few days.]

[If Rob and Ryu come to see him, he'll glance up once they cross the threshold of the workshop.]

Yeah, Paarthurnax should know too.

[Colin undoubtedly knows how Rob normally enters the workshop by now. That Rob simply strides in, already calling out loudly (for him) before he's finished stepping inside should probably say something.]

Colin? We've got a potential problem on our hands.

[He's practically shoving the letter at Colin.]

[Ryu nods and watches as Rob hands Colin the letter.]

I found it outside the Bastion, stuck to a tree with a knife.

[Colin turns his head to look at both of them, and he arches an eyebrow.]

Say what?

[He takes the letter and reads it... his expression darkens almost immediately.]

You did well to bring this to me.

They really think that this is going to end well for them. Idiots... May I see the knife?

[Ryu nods, and hands over the knife to Colin.]

Considering their last encounter with us? They didn't do as terribly as they could have. They probably think they can come up with some kind of strategy that'll fill in the holes their last one had. Like dragons.

They're planning things that they think will deal with us. And they're not doing anywhere near as badly as they could be.

[Already wearing gloves due to his work, Colin inspects the knife carefully, , scowling at the remnants of tree on it. HUMANS... He's just checking for fingerprints on the handle. As well as remnants of blood or any other sign that the knife has been used for anything besides letter-pinning. He wants to make sure he gets the right people when push comes to shove.]

Corsican policy is to never negotiate with people like this when they make demands. We need to get to the Ura and see if we can get them out of there... but I suspect that's something they expect us to do.

[The knife is not visibly bloody, but there are traces of animal blood and various other materials on it. IE it was used regularly for hunting/cooking/a lot of things before being used to stick a letter to a tree. In fact, the knife itself looks really cheaply made, and the handle has a 'made in China' stamp on it, so it was probably chosen for this task because it was proving to be not so useful for survival.

The letter itself definitely has fingerprints all over it. The topmost layer is very easy to grab a scan of, but there are at least a few other sets on the paper too. Likely this was from a communal stash of paper, and was handled a few times before being used for this letter.

The freshest set of fingerprints are small, though. Not child-small, but they definitely belong to someone with smaller-than-average hands.]

[Rob watches Colin examine the knife, an eyebrow going up slightly at the last part.]

"We do not negotiate with terrorists" is something that sounds reasonable, but fiction and reality tend to provide situations where negotiating could have prevented bloodshed and other negative effects. We're also not in Corsica anymore, Toto.

But moving the Ura... That's hardy something that can be done quickly and subtly, even assuming they're willing to move rather than stand their ground. We don't exactly have many mass transit options here.

[Ryu keeps quiet, trying to think things through. Most of the Ura... they've all had to survive, but they shouldn't be involved in this.]

[He can't let another village burn. He can't allow himself to let more people die.]

I'll go. I can defend them. I'll... I can be their guard while they decide what to do.

Reality also tends to offer hard lessons that indicate that if someone can get something through menace, they have no reason not to continue.

[He looks at Ryu... then he reaches up and, very lightly, bops Ryu on the forehead with his index finger.]

No. No solo defense. If we send someone, we're sending a group.

I'm just saying we shouldn't limit our options too much right off the bat. But if we're gonna be dealing with those guys again I'm gonna build up our stock of resistance potions in case they set more traps like the last one.

[He gestures at the knife.]

Any thoughts?

[His whole body tenses as Colin bops him. It's very difficult to keep his emotions under control. He's never been any good at it, and he's never seen much reason to keep anything other than anger under control.]

[But right now... he's trying to hold back from crying. He's shaking very slightly as the image of dead villagers flashes in front of his eyes. His voice is tight when he speaks again, too.]

Fine. Send a group. But I can't -

[He takes a breath, trying to calm himself down.]

I know it's not the same. But the Empire captured an entire village to get to me. They killed a lot of people, some in front of me, just to get me to go with them. Even if it's not just a 'me' but an 'us' that needs to act...

... I'm not letting another village burn. I don't... I'll do whatever I have to in order to save them.

Think, Ryu. You act on instinct, you're likely to walk right into a trap. I'm not saying don't do it... I'm saying do it, and beat the trap in the process. Look before you leap. That's all.

[He puts a hand on Ryu's shoulder then, a much more comforting gesture than the bop.]

We've got a week. If we can't come up with a plan to protect them in a week, we don't deserve the chance to act in the first place.

[He smiles then, and then he looks at Rob.]

I think they're desperate. This knife is cheap, well used. Kinda insulting that this is what they use, really, but they probably preferred to lose a piece of cheap steal than lose a quality blade.

I think whoever goes to this needs to invest in some armor. I also think we need to talk to the prisoners and get some answers, if not a discussion.

And I think if discussion fails... We crush them and everything they hold dear.

Event: Day 336 [open]

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Sorry, sorry, last night was awful on so many levels...

/pats

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