thebastion | [Day 206] Set my sail

Entry tags:

[Day 206] Set my sail

Who: Colin, Zulf, Tris, and Tobias
Open: Closed
When: 206
Where: On the Skyway, close to Terminal territory
What: It's time to make an offering of peace... Step one is finding the Ura group, however.
Format: Action?
Warnings: None planned, will be updated

The plague may have been taken care of on the Bastion's end, but there's still something that's been bothering two residents of the Bastion. The fact of the matter was that there was another group of survivors out there. Ura survivors. Considering the recent incident between them and a group from the Bastion, however, and it's clear that careful steps need to be taken.

That's why the group gathered for this recent expedition more or less looks rather harmless, which is just as Zulf prefers it, but can still take care of themselves, which is how Colin does. All the necessary items have been packed along with them, including a set of spare clothing for Tobias just in case and some of the cure for the plague. It's been a bit of a journey, but, well... here they are. The same place that the cure recovery group once was.

Instead of his usual attire, Zulf is wearing the outfit which a couple of the group might remember from Night's funeral. It's not his preferred wear, but... it's the most Ura kind of clothing he immediately has on hand. He'll have to rectify that for later... But for now he turns to the rest of the group. "Everyone's doing alright so far?"

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Tris raises an eyebrow at Colin. She disagrees with you there, but that isn't important right now.

"I think a horse would be least likely to alarm anyone, with those other two options."

"How are a ragtag band of Ura militia liable to react to a horse, Zulf?" Colin asks. "Will a symbol of Yudrig put them in better spirits, or worse? If it's a good thing, I say horse. If not, I say elephant."

Even as he's asking that, Colin is making his way towards the campsite. He's keeping a wary eye out for trip wires, and debris that could be housing a contact plate. Improvised traps always were unpleasant...

Edited 2014-07-14 02:07 (UTC)

<I haven't really gone around acquiring morphs from this place. If horses are the only one of those native to this place then horse might be the better option. If we're expecting trouble though... elephant might be better if only because I can shield you guys with it.>

Self-preservation? What's that?

"I'd like to at least go into this looking as though we're not wanting for a fight." While Zulf isn't particularly certain just exactly what elephants or polar bears are, the first sounds like something intimidating just by the way they're talking about it.

"At the very least, it should give them pause even if they are feeling more nervous and inclined to pull a trigger." Considering their connection to one of the Pantheon, well, it's not a good thing to recklessly hurt a horse or bull. They'll at least need the time to aim properly so they're shooting at the rest of them and not Tobias. "All I need is a pause to start talking with them."

"Sounds like the best pan then." Tris looks over Colin, then Zulf and Tobias the soon to be horse.

"Zulf, you should probably walk with Tobias when he shifts. Colin and I can be on either side of you. A horse with an Ura would be a better sign, right?"

Colin wanted to argue that he should be on point, but he knew she had a point. A couple of extra feet wouldn't make much of a difference, and though he could take a gunshot if it came to it, he was also carrying several devices that would react poorly if a trained sniper were to target them...

"Just don't get too sure of yourself, Zulf," he says warily. "We're taking all the precautions we can, but if they're as scared as it seems they are, they may not stop to answer questions..."

<All right. I'm going to head back a bit to morph - it's really gross-looking, you don't want to see it. Colin, can you keep track of time? I only have two hours in morph at a time.>

He adjusts his course and lands a little ways behind the group. It doesn't take much to start morphing, though it's incredibly unnerving as the hawk instincts slip away and horse instincts take their place. It also takes a few moments for him to adjust to the different eyes and ears, but finally the morph is complete.

Tobias doesn't usually morph horse, and so it takes him longer than he'd like to suppress the horse instincts well. The horse does want to run though, and so he rears back and lets out a whinny, before charging towards the group and stopping just before he barrels into them.

<I forgot how much they like to run...>

Tris seems to be catching on quickly, so there helps ease some of Zulf's worry. Colin? Just gets some eyebrows raised in his direction. "As a change of pace, I thought I'd try optimistic for once. I can always go back, if you'd prefer." Zulf knows his only real skills are in talking, however. If he starts doubting those in a time like this....

At Tobias' recommondation, Zulf firmly keeps his eyes away. It's only the sound of hooves stomping at the ground that has him nervously jumping out of the way before he sighs. "Horses are like that, I've found. Are you certain you're ready...?"

"No, no, just jump behind me if it looks like shooting's about to start," Colin says warmly. "I won't be happy about being a bullet sponge, but odds are I can handle it far better than you can."

He gives Zulf a grin, and then he nods at Tobias. "I think we're all set," he says. "It's all on you, Secretariat."

He hoped that he'd picked a reference that Tobias would get...

The name sounds vaguely familiar, and he snorts in amusement. He lowers his head towards Zulf. Yeah. He's ready.

<Funny enough this actually is a racehorse. I didn't bother to check the name, though... Cassie ended up being mistaken for one of the actual racehorses and ended up running the race. And winning.> That whole mission had ended up completely ridiculous. Thankfully he'd been out of some of the weirder parts.

Okay, now they have a horse. Tris looks him over again, eyebrows going up, then faces the wind once more.

"I'll let you know if I absolutely have to do anything noisy. I know horses don't like thunder, and I can warn you about that." Until then, its walk and listen?

It's quiet along the path. A little too quiet, maybe. There should be animals, even monsters about, but there's nothing around here. It's almost as if anything living is too scared to come to this place in particular.

The camp itself is abandoned, but not destroyed. Anything useful they could carry with them is long gone, leaving behind only a few things. The remains of a fire pit, a few overturned logs, and some spent shell casings. Anyone who investigates those will find that they are of a particular make and model of a gun, one that Ura typically use.

At the camp, there is a short note left on one of the logs. It's written in Ura, and it's hastily scrawled, like whoever was leaving it had to write it in a hurry. But even if it's written in a strange language only one of the party can read, everyone should be able to read the name at the top, because it's been written down several times in the Bastion already.

Whatever this note is, it's addressed to Zahi.

Zulf is far from surprised that everything has been packed up. Tobias and Tris had already confirmed it empty, after all. He stands back a bit just to let Colin have the chance to look over everything just in case when he notices the note. For Zahi-?

"Zahi stepped up when the attack happened, didn't he?" he asks Tobias even as he steps forward and leans over to pick up the note after making sure nothing is amiss with either it or the logs. It's not going to do anyone any good just sitting there, right? "I suppose they thought he'd be the one to come back."

Colin steps forward as well, surveying the area and scanning for explosives carefully. He also crouches to collect shell-casings, studying their dispersal pattern curiously as he does so. Had the Ura been shooting at something from here? Or were these just empties that couldn't be hauled back with everything else?

"What's that note say, Zulf?" Colin asks. He'll want a look at it later, he did buy Ura language skills at the Monument for just this purpose. But he won't exactly let anyone else know that if he can avoid it...

He can't be sure what direction the Ura might have been shooting in, but he can give a decent enough guess based on positioning. A typical gun ejects shell-casings to the right, and if there were any footprints left, he'd probably have a decent enough chance of determining where the shots were fired from...

<I asked him to, so yeah. I assume so. I took off.>

Right. Tracking. This is what he's supposed to do. A shame he doesn't have a dog or a cat morph anymore. ... He misses Dude. But there's work to be done, and he puts his nose down, sniffing a long to try to see if he can pick up a trail.

"... It's way too quiet." Tris rubs at one ear, then the next, as if making sure it wasn't just because her ears weren't warmed up or some of her hair is in the way.

"Something's about, or something happened here that scared the creatures off. I'm still not getting anything, but.." Be careful as you poke about.

Colin's logic-ing can give him a general idea of what happened. The shell casings are mostly on the south side of the camp, so whatever they were shooting at, it came from the south. The trail out of camp leads to the north-east, away-ish from the direction that the Bastion is in. Probably by coincidence, these Ura have no real way of knowing about the Bastion, not this far out, but it means that the group will have to travel further away from home to track them.

As for the note itself, this is what it says:

Zahi,

Even though everything happened so quickly, I was able to recognize you from a distance. My superiors told us to cover our tracks, to prevent others from finding us, but I feel that you should be an exception. If you come back and find this note, we can be found at the old training grounds, back where I used to play with your sons when we were children.

You are always welcome among us, but please consider the consequences before bringing any of your new friends with you. Tensions are running high as it is, and the presence of a large group of newcomers would serve as the spark to light the powder keg.

Best wishes,

Zed

It is entirely possible to track these people down now, and with an Ura in the group they may respond favorably. But there is the risk of them assuming things and attacking first, and this would be a large group, not just a dozen or so soldiers.

Very carefully, Zulf reads through the letter all on his own first just to get an idea of what's happened. An old training ground... He'd known some warriors before going to Caelondia, but would any training ground he know of be the same one as this specific one?

Either way, he reads it all aloud afterwards before taking a breath. "So there's that. I'm not sure if I know the location, so.... Tobias, Tris, we would be relying on your skills if we wanted to find them. If you're all certain that's something you want to do, at any rate." Zulf knows what he wants to do- there's no doubt in his mind. But he doesn't want to drag them into any possible danger they won't agree with.

"I don't think we count as a large group of newcomers." And as far as Tris knows, none of them would be immediately recognized from the last meeting. Which would be in their favor.

"If you want, I don't really know how well it would work on temper, but breezes can carry voices." Or at least, it isn't very hard for her to make them do it better. "I could try getting yours to carry head of us, if you think that your voice would be calming."

Tobias lets out a huff of air, flicking his tail in irritation.

<I don't think they'll take a non-Ura well. They said not to bring anyone else so I don't even know if you'll be taken well, Zulf, since it was addressed to Zahi. I don't want to leave them out here to die, but we have to make sure we don't lose anyone, either.>

He trots around for a few moments, thinking. <But... I think we should take the chance. Extend them an offer of peace and directions to the Bastion. It's not as if we're defenseless if they turn up and try to fight us.>

"We've got medicine for them," Colin says simply. "Medicine that they apparently need. If we don't find them, we're sentencing them to what we just went through... WITHOUT hope. I'm not going to let that happen."

He smirks, and he gives Zulf a look. "Again I say, if your people have a widely recognized banner of peace, a white flag or something, we could really use it..."

Zulf's going to want to hit him before this is all said and done, he's sure of it. That said, the dispersal pattern of the bullet casings doesn't seem to match with what they know of the events last time someone from the Bastion was here. At least, they don't mesh up in his head.

"I'd rather we find them soon, though," Colin says. "They were shooting at something from here, and they left not long after. WITHOUT policing their brass. That's never a good sign. I don't think these rounds came from the incident with the last party."

Zulf keeps his face as passive as he can as the rest of them go over their thoughts and options- a bit of a feat considering that he's generally a fairly open book when it comes to his emotions. When they all come to agreement, however, a slight smile appears on his face.

He would have set off anyway on his own if no one else had wanted to do this, but it's better to have some others watching his back.

The smile quickly drops at Colin's words, however, and Zulf gives a stiff nod. "Just keep your hands high in the air when we see them, palms out. But to find them... Tobias, do you know which way they went?"

Tobias doesn't know anything about bullet patterns so he just turns his attention back to Zulf.

<Not yet. But I will.>

He lowers his nose towards the ground and sniffs, seeing what kind of trail he can pick up. Hopefully they haven't done anything to hide their scent like run through water, because it'll be a pain if they have. Still, he lets go and lets the horse instincts do their work in picking up what he can.

Edited 2014-07-22 14:31 (UTC)

"They'll see us long before we see them," Colin says, shaking his head. "I don't even know their operational doctrine, but I know that much for a fact. All we can do is move on, and hope for the best. I'm pretty sure they headed North-east, but I'm not the best at reading tracks. And I'm betting whoever was in charge will be masking their trek soon enough."

Certain customs from back home were definitely being longed for right about now... A nice medical flag would have gone a long way towards settling his nerves. Even knowing a Red Cross on the box of medicine he was carrying would have put him at ease, but that was a Terran symbol, not even widely recognized throughout the galaxy. The likelihood of it being recognized here was practically non-existent.

He'll start after Tobias and Zulf once everyone gets moving. He suspects that there's a Ura scout out there with eyes on them already, if not a whole fire-team. But voicing THAT concern would do nothing but unsettle everyone else. There was no reason to panic the rest of the group with information they couldn't do anything about.

Edited 2014-07-22 16:31 (UTC)

"Particularly if they're hiding out of the wind.." Although that particular bit of magic hasn't been helpful so far. But Tris carefully keeps walking with glasses off just in case something useful comes up.

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