Log:Ebon Guard: Who's Eating the Worm?
Who's Eating the Worm?
OOC Date: November 10, 2017
Location: Mandalore
Participants: Vraag Rengh, Barquo Dentoo, Grozryyhn, Papo Agora, Ayeeou Wanaii, Tig Follox, Ebon Guard
The ride to Mandalore is a long one. Fortunately the Omen is quite a large ship. The Action VI Bulk Transport hurtles through the slipstream of hyperspace, the white blur of stars whipping past in bright white streamers. Personal quarters for the crew, as well as lounging areas and exercise facilities provide a wide range of things to do to pass the time however.
Finally the ship shudders as it drops out of hyperspace and the rusty red vision of Mandalore hangs in the black void of space far ahead. Vraag is on the bridge and he quickly sets the ship on a preprogrammed route that utilizes data gathered from a certain sliced satellite to guide the Omen in to a preset landing. As the ship breaks through atmosphere, the dull gray expanse of desert sand stretches out as far as the eye can see. Soon, the shape of a small shanty town can be seen nestled between two dunes, the Omen diving through the air to turn and eventually drift to a landing in the sands. The ship itself is almost as large as the entire town.
Vraag speaks over the comms, his voice authoritative and clearly carrying some bit of frustration at his earlier meeting with the leader of the Mandalorian Revivers. "Calling all crew, meet at the boarding ramp," he says, short and sweet before he makes his own way and upon reaching the exit, walks down to stand at the base, his boots pressing into the sand.
A lithe figure in ebon guard armor strolls down the boarding ramp. Barquo is chuckling to himself as he makes it way to the sandy ground a golden t-visor scanning the horizon before he says "You think Doc managed the flight without getting space sick?" he draws his blaster and holds it at the ready as he scans their surroundings.
"Ha - ha." Papo deadpans, coming up behind Barquo. Her expressionless visor turns upon the slicer and she leans close enough to whisper "check your shoes" before stomping off the entry ramp. Did she puke in his shoes? Probably not. "What do we have, boss?"
Clearly the odd one out in all of this is Grozryyhn. He's not dressed in any fancy armour. Heck, he's not dressed in /anything/. Nor is he in fact mandalorian. He is a wookiee - standing at the impressive height that those who represent his species stand at. With black coloured fur with tones of slate and ebony, he strides into the area when called upon. To be fair, his existence on this ship may be a surprise to the surrounding crew. He had only approached Vraag about joining the group, after all! And since then, he had been sort of stowed away in the corner of the large vessel as it plummeted through space at great speeds.
With a curt nod to those others who have gathered, his brown eyes take in the bodies of this crew. "worowl, woeieowl wrall rwowoal rwowoal. grarrrl grarrrl wrall woeieowl worowl rwarrl rwal, rwarrl rwowoal." Big arms fold across his chest in a strong fashion. At the very least he looked imposing?
Tig Follox is in armor, but her helmet is hung off her belt as she comes in. The shorter Mando ducks the tall Wookie, eyeing him as she scoots towards Vraag. "Smooth landing," Tig chirps to Vraag as she saddles up to the control panels to do a few checks on the systems.
Ayeeou had the time, so she was happy to accompany Vraag and his compatriots. She's spent most of the time better familiarizing herself with their medical facilities and making some notes on things they might want to add as time and finances allow. When they drop out of hyperspace, she wraps up what she's doing and gathers some supplies for once they debark.
She's dressed for the desert, so her skin is as covered with light cloth as possible including a scarf for her nose and mouth, though that hangs loose to one side at the moment. She has a wide-brimmed hat as well, to help keep the sun off her head. The amphibian is probably not looking forward to this. At all. Once they've landed, she joins the others at the ramp and smiles to the rest.
Vraag points toward a few cylindrical durasteel bottles resting in the sand at the base of the ramp before explaining simply, "Water. It can get hot out here." He offers Tig a nod and says, "Thanks. Next time I'm going to let you do the honors. Thanks to your and Barquo's work with the satellite, we can pretty much map out this entire area." He pauses as Groz speaks, tilting his head to the side before he reaches into an ammo box on his pocket. Pulling out a small translator droid, he powers the device on and then clamps it magnetically to his shoulder before saying, "Guys, this is Grozryyhn. I was telling him about what we do and he seemed interested, so I invited him out."
After a moment he looks toward each in turn before saying, "Satellite imaging showed this town, so we're going to go in and see if we can't earn their trust. Get them on our side and hopefully see if we can't get them on board for what we have planned." He shrugs his shoulders after that, because who can really know how the natives will react.
Pushing away from the ramp, he begins to walk toward the town, his right hand drifting to rest on the pistol on his hip, pulling it free as he walks. The town itself looks more or less deserted. A sheet over the door of one shanty flaps in the slight breeze, a door somewhere squeals loudly as the dry climate does nothing to help it's lubrication needs.
The slicer reaches down and grabs a bottle of the water and slides it into one of the carrying pouches at the small of his back. "Judging by the satelite imaging there isn't a whole lot of water nearby." Barq hesitates for a moment before grabbing another couple bottles "The locals may need this more than we do." He looks the Wookie up and down before giving him a quick nod.
He starts following behind Vraag his pistol at his side drawn and ready but not pointing anywhere. Under his breath he says "You don't need an archaic mask to help people and do the right thing." he grumbles and shakes his head.
When he's formally introduced by the Mando leader, the wookiee lifts a hand to wave meekly at those around him. The smile on his face widens, the canines viewable as his black lips curl up a smidgen. He nods at the instructions from Vraag, opting to maybe only say something when spoken to. Even with the translation droid, sometimes it could get a bit confusing. Especially with lots of discussion happening! He does take one of the bottles though, very aware that his thick black coat could likely cook him alive in this weather if there is any chance.
Without even any boots on, Groz feels the warm surface of the planet beneath his hardy soles. With a loud huff and already feeling dirt in his fur, he bristles. The shower after this is going to be quite nice.
Yee's eyes move to the water. It's possible she already wants to just soak her head in it. She takes two bottles with her. The air is dryyyyyyy... She smiles at the others though, then, and quietly follows Vraag. The light armor she's been loaned doesn't seem all that comfortable for her, nor does the blaster she wears. She still doesn't seem. Keeping as much moisture in her mouth as possible.
"Scanners up and on," the short pilot says as the systems check on the ship feeds out information. Tig Follox scans it, seems satisfied, and takes her helmet off to thump it over her head. She pulls her pad out, marking coordinates and other info to the others' devices. General layout, key buildings. Some of it is a bit guesstimatey, but it's a good little nugget of information about the town layout. "Good for the skin," Tig comments aloud as she strides into the sandy wasteland.
Vraag leads the approach toward the shanty town, his t-vizor turned in a direction that allows him to watch that flapping bit of fabric idly as he walks. "Seems quiet," he says toward his crew, eyes skirting left to right before asking, "Does anyone see anyone? At all?" His stride slows as he passes between the first few buildings, glancing around at all of the buildings closely.
As the group moves further into the town, they see nothing for some time... until all of a sudden do. It is a sound at first, the loud gasp of a female some distance away, and then the pounding of feet in the sand. Vraag wheels toward the sound, but the source becomes plain to see soon enough as a human women comes sprinting from between the buildings, stumbling and slipping in her haste as she cries out, "Help! Please help me! Us!" She looks much too thin, her skin pulled tightly to her bones, her eyes sunken and her hair unwashed as she finally stumbles and falls, her hands gripping Barquo around the waist.
The slicer's blaster is holstered quickly as the thin woman stumbles toward him. His arms scoop down and grab the woman under the arms "Sithspit..." the slicer says in depressed fashion. He picks up the woman so that her neck is cradled with one arm and her legs cradled in another "Doc, Ayeee... little bit of help." the lithe man sinks to the sand trying to keep the woman off of the hot surface. He looks up to Vraag the golden T-visor hiding the obvious emotion in his voice. "It's getting worse here boss."
The new faces did not go unnoticed by Papo Agora, and the medic flashes them both a grin that they cannot see. "You'll need your shots, of course." Papo grumbles over her shoulder to the Wookiee, eyeing their new doctor up and down with a nod of greeting. She's slow to warm to new folk. The Mandalorian falls in beside Tig once they're out, snorting at her comment - but frivololity falls away quickly. "Bait!" She immediately barks at Bark, just by instinct - but she pauses and yanks her medpac free. "Move." All business now that there is BIDNESS. "Please calm down or I'll have to sedate you." She's probably not serious... Right?
"rwowoal rwarrl grarrrl rwarrl grarrrl." Groz jokes to Tig after she remarks about how good the air is for her skin. Unable to hide the smile on his face, the wook delightfully strides along with the training mandalorians. This is a rare feeling for him. Something that is actually tangible. Like he's actually making a difference. Taking in a long and slow breath, he sweeps his gaze about at the shantytown-esque establishments. His nose wrinkles in the air as a gust of wind blows through.
The screaming female causes his attention to wheel about. His mouth falls open in surprise at the woman, no doubt surprised by her thinly shape. "rwarrl rwarrl grarrrl rwowoal grarrrl grarrrl rwarrl rwarrl rwarrl, worieowl?" He grumbles and grunts, still not sure on how healthy humans /should/ look. They came in too many shapes and sizes for his liking. Regardless, he sort of watches the actions as they play out, pursing lips tightly.
Mini-Translator Droid - 11017 repeats after Grozryyhn, "No good for my fur. She is far too skinny for a healthy human, correct?"
Tig Follox snorts a laugh at the Wookie. "Yeah, you're going to have to condition when you get back, huh?" Her helmet turns and, obviously, has no expression. But there is amusement in her voice. "I like this guy," Tig comments to Vraag as she moves to go shoulder to shoulder with Papo. Tig's almost about to go help when she jerks back at Papo's exclamation. "Bait for /what/?" she asks the medic as if the woman would know. Regardless, she slides her bow out and extends it.
Despite the hostile (to her) environment, Ayeeou does look all around as they walk with great interest. The condition of the 'town' causes her to frown a little. So does the lack of people. At first. Then there's the woman running towards them, and her obviously poor condition, and that frown deepens. She is the new girl, so she naturally defers to the other medic. Though, she opens her bottle to give the too-skinny one some of her water. "Here. Drink a little. Let us help you."
As Barquo lifts the woman up into his arms, he will be able to tell how weak she is, even though her dirty fingers scrabble and scrape as they attempt to find a grip on the plates of his armor. She does not resist, though, and as Barquo kneels into the sand, the woman can do little to resist Papo or Barquo. Her hands drop to hang from her arms, knuckles dragging the sand as Ayeeou pours water into her mouth. She tries to swallow, though the dryness of her throat forces a cough from her, water splattering from her mouth and splattering Barquo's helmet even as it runs across her cheek and falls to her hand and the sand below.
Vraag steps forward, looking the woman over closely before he shakes his head and says to Groz, "She is much too thin, yes." He glances around, as if to check that no one is creeping in on them while they're all otherwise engaged, then looks back toward the frail and frantic woman. "Are you the only one here? Where are the others?" The woman does not respond, but rather makes a pained and scared whine of pain.
The slicer looks back down to the woman in his arms and as he looks down the golden visor rotates toward the womans arm. "Pardon me Doc." he stands as he says this and then says "What in seven hells is that on her Hand?" there is a small worm/leech that is currently latched on to the womans hand. The previously emotional slicer looks around for a moment and then curses "Sithspit. Check your waters, check yourselves... it came out after it sensed the water hit the sand."
True to Barquo's words, closer inspection of where the water was spilled shows around five or size of the dull red scaled worms emerging from the sand. Short and fat, they emerge from the wet sand and sway back and forth, as if attempting to catch the source in their tiny sharp teeth.
"Oooooh!" Rather than recoil and distance herself from the tiny worms, Papo is immediately enraptured. "Ooooooh!" She repeats, thunking a step back away from the woman. "Uh, uh... Shit, name? You!" She points to Yee. "Keep an eye on her, please? I'm going to try and bag one of these. Could be good for the skin." A smirk is hidden by her visor as she shuffles through her belt, finally pulling a vial and tweezers from her medpac. "If it's screwing with the people here, we should at least know what it /is/." She explains, almost sheepishly, because she can already feel the weird looks she's going to get from this.
Groz circles the immediate perimeter, squinting at the surrounds as best he can as the frail woman is comforted and cared for. He cannot see anything either. At least, nothing out of the ordinary. It was all just far too quiet for his liking! "woeieowl grarrrl rwarrl rwarrl rwarrl rwowoal rwowoal rwoarl wrall rwarrl rwowoal grarrrl wrall rwarrl grarrrl." He admits uncomfortably. "woeieowl wrall rwal rwarrl roarrl."
With the revelation of a WORM being on the woman hand, Groz's eyes widen in terror. His body was far more lanky than most. And covered in black fur. AND he had no armour. It could take ages to find a worm like that! But despite that he starts to pat himself down, big ol' hands running down his arms and legs. "rwarrl rwoarl wrall wrall rwal?" He barks in annoyance. "woeieowl rwarrl."
Mini-Translator Droid - 11017 repeats after Grozryyhn, "All this quietness is making the hair stand up on the back of my neck. I just cannot see anything. A parasite of some sort? Cunning buggers."
"Yeegh!" Tig Follox urks out, backing up and adjusting the bow in her hand. Her visor is pointed down, fixated on the little things. "Papo you're a kriffin' weirdo." The Mando shudders and backs up away from the tail end of the group to check their surroundings. "Are we... bait for worms? It usually works the opposite way, right?" Her helmeted face is up and attempting to scan the area around them
Ayeeou looks like she has no idea at first what Barquo is talking about. "What? What did?" But then attention is drawn towards those worms, and she ohhhs quietly as she steps back from them a bit. Just to be sure she doesn't end up with one crawling on her while she's doing other things. When Papo is fascinated, she doesn't look bothered. Life forms are fascinating. When prompted for her name, she says "Ayeeou. Or Yee. I will try to remove it from her." Since there are plenty others to study, she doesn't have to try to save it, though. From her kit she takes a small torch. It won't be pleasant, but burning it might be best to start. The rest can be removed when it's dead. "Hold her still." she says, then presses the hot end to the creature.
The worm begins to lash to and fro as Ayeeou heats it, tail swiveling and flapping back and forth before finally relenquishing it's hold and falling back down into the sand and soon burrowing away like it is running from the visitors. The woman moans and shakes her head, a few tears pooling into the corners of her eyes as she moans out, "No... noooooo. It found me, they found me... my daughter.... My poor daughter!" Vraag steps back from the group, looking quickly around as if trying to find out who 'they' are that has found her. Not putting together that she is referring to the worm.
Barquo Dentoo just holds onto the woman for the moment. He scans the horizon and then says "I wonder..." he looks to the town and then lifts the woman over his shoulder with a grunt. He pulls one of the three water bottles from the nape of his back and untwists the cap slightly so that it won't fall off immedietly. The slicer then turns and throws the water bottle, away from the town and away from the ship, as far as he can. As it lands the lid pops off and begins draining precious water to the surface of the planet.
"I feel obliged to tell you all that armor is no excuse for hazard gear." Papo grumbles, eyeing Yee and the Wookiee for an extra moment. "If this is a parasite situation, we may not be technically equipped for this..." She has one of the sands from the worm pinched in her tweezers - she drops it in the vial. "Vraag, I'm going to run some tests on this and make sure we're not in immediate danger." 'or already infested' goes unsaid. She levels a finger at Yee. "Don't kill anybody." And with that, she is leaving her crew in those capable, amphibious hands, the doctor turns and lopes back toward the ship, patting Bark and Tig's shoulders as she barrels past.
"woeieowl rwarrl rwarrl rwowoal." Grozryyhn announces. The wookiee had no weapons on him, so he would be near useless in a fire fight. But he DOES have his arms. And presumably the token wookiee strength to reveal other arms off. Or in this case hold someone very still. "woeieowl rwarrl rwowoal rwowoal rwowoal grarrrl rwowoal roarrl rwal." Well, that's good. Right? Right. And so he does, moving to secure the frail woman from squirming too much as heat is applied to try and get the worm free.
"wrall rwarrl rwarrl grarrrl?" The wookiee queries as Barquo throws the water bottle. "...wrall rwowoal rwowoal rwowoal wrall grarrrl?”
Mini-Translator Droid - 11017 repeats after Grozryyhn, "I can hold her. I will try not to break the unhealthy woman. What are you doing? ...we might need that water later?"
"You should take that woman back to the ship," Tig barks after Papo with an edge in her voice. She's picking up her feet, attempting to stay out of the way of any worms that might want to pop up around her. "Rrgh. So this is Mandalore, huh? Lovely." She focuses on Vraag. "What now?"
Ayeeou watches intently, as the burned worm lets go and burrows away. "Hm." she says, then watching the woman as she reacts strangely. "Perhaps they release an hallucinogen?" she ventures. "Some kind of chemical that affects the brain." She lets the others focus on the other things, and nods to Papo as she goes to study the worm. Her attention remains on their patient. "Yes." she agrees. "Let's take her back. But be careful that there aren't more of those inside her."
Vraag looks back toward the woman, shaking his head as he leans toward where Barquo has her and says, "Your daughter? What daughter? Is someone else here?" His line of question first seems as though it will be ignored, but then finally the woman's eyes snap open wide, staring at him fearfully before she says, "Yes... in the house... the only one left. We were afraid to leave... now I have doomed us. Vraag turns his head toward the nearby house, the one with the sheet, then points toward Groz and says, "See if there is a girl in there, quick!" Looking back toward the others he nods and says, I think we need to get out of here too.
As Barquo throws the bottle of water and the liquid spills free, the group will be able to see the sand shifting beneath the wet sand, churned aside as yet more worms break free of the surface, wagging about and looking for nourishment.
"Groz I'll take care of this woman you go get her daughter and hurry... those long legs o' yours will carry you faster than mine will." he looks at the churning surface of sand and begins repeating the process with another bottle of water. "Groz I'll keep them distracted from the village!" he starts walking back toward the ship, moving as fast as he can with a woman over his shoulder. He rotates and tosses the second water bottle so that it creates a trail leading away from the village. "I hope this nonsense works!"
Grozryyhn doesn't have to be told twice. Legging it for the house, the large native from Kashyyyk bounds for the home that the head mandalorian pointed at. Bustling through the billowing curtain that presumably protects the entry of the shantytown establishment, he growls and grunts a greeting of curiosity. Not too aggressive though, knowing that any small human girl could freak out if they just saw a gigantic creature storm into their home. If the daughter is in clear view? He will just lunge forward and pick her up in a cradling type fashion. Turning his own personal translator on, he grunts. "wrall wrall. rwarrl rwowoal rwowoal rwal rwarrl rwarrl rwowoal woeieowl rwarrl."
Mini-Translator Droid - 11017 repeats after Grozryyhn, "Don't worry. I'm here to rescue you from the evil worms."
Tig Follox bends her neck left and right, popping a joint and heaving out. Bark's experiment gets a noise of disapproval. "I'll go with the big guy. Make sure not to sweat too much," she comments to the wookie as she arms her bow. "If you do sweat, I guess. I don't kriffin' know." Tig marches just behind him, still scanning their surroundings.
The Nautolan does look over to where the water landed and is spilling out, and her already large eyes widen further at that churning. "Interesting." she says, though then she focuses on the poor local. She, too, moves as fast as she can back towards the ship, to get the women to the medical bay.
Tig Follox bends her neck left and right, popping a joint and heaving out. Bark's experiment gets a noise of disapproval. "I'll go with the big guy. Make sure not to sweat too much," she comments to the wookie as she arms her bow. "If you do sweat, I guess. I don't kriffin' know." Tig marches just behind him, still scanning their surroundings.
Vraag sort of stands in the middle between the two groups, his head swiveling as Barquo and Ayeeou make their way back toward the Omen, while Groz and Tig head toward the house. They find the girl in short order, laid on a rough wooden table that as if they had been trying to refrain from touching the ground with their bare feet. She is asleep, or otherwise unconscious, her breathing rapid and weak and puts up no fight as the wookiee lifts her and carries her free. Vraag is waiting and he gestures them back quickly. "Let's hurry up. The woman said they were all that was left... but I don't even see any bodies. We need to get out of here," he calls out. Once they've caught up, Vraag lets them take the lead back to the ship, while he brings up the rear and once everyone is on board, closes the ramp of the Omen.
