Collan, Niil and Nightshade: Seekers

[Nightshade]

"I do not specifically, no.  However I will look for anything out of place."

Actions: search for anything that stands out/seems foreign to a crawler and seems technological.

[Collan]

Collan nodded and made a mental note to seek out counter-surveillance training. That would be extremely useful.

"Should be safe enough at least."

"Ch'lana probably won't be too happy to see us though..."

[Niil Spaar]

Niil laughed, although with a bit of nervousness.  "Well, probably not me.  The last time I saw him, I told him off.  But . . ."  Niil hesitated and motioned Collan aside for a private conversation.  "Collan, Demaia told me something right after you left her room.  She told me that Ch'lana's a deeply troubled man.  I saw that something was eating at him back on the ship - and I regret the tone I took with him - but I didn't have a clue how bad it was.  She told me that he went on that ship, expecting to die. Hell, maybe he even wanted to.  Remember the thermal detonator? He survived, but she's not sure he knows what to do with his life now."

He sighed.  "Demaia told me that Ch'lana could probably use a friend, even though he might not realize it.  And I agree with her.  That's why I came out here.  Nothing as selfish as looking for an . . ."  Niil caught himself before he said "Master",  ". . . instructor, although I wouldn't turn an offer like that down.  I want to show him that his life can have a purpose again - and a family of sorts, if he'd like.  And he deserves an apology from me after I acted like an ass back on that ship."

[Collan]

Collan nodded, "I was hoping something else with him, but that is not likely to be true either. Still, the Empire is coming and he needs to know about it. Hell...he may still have that death wish."

He looked down the pathway.

"If I were him, I'd have laid traps for the unwary who came calling. Mr. Wilton have you been done there before?" Collan's tone was much kinder than earlier, though still business-like. It didn't carry the detachment or slight sense of benign menace he'd attempted earlier on Wilton.

[GM Craig]

Jeremy shrugs. "Yeah, once. But I wasn't really awake for it. He has a few alarms and such, but nothing lethal."

You start to pick your way down into the ravine, using ladders and crude walkways to go, level by level, near the very bottom of the ravine. Along the way, a board you stepped on tilted, and a metal canister filled with rocks fell over and bounced and careened down the ravine, raising a hell of a racket. Father along, a motion sensor hidden in a pile of rubble activated and started a high-pitched screaming. You do avoid several other noisemakers, but by the time to get to the lowest level, there is little doubt anyone here knows you are coming.

At the bottom of the ravine, moisture-slick boards and metal plates scavenged from a wind turbine form a walkway over a narrow but rapid stream of water. Following the walkway, you come to the narrow end of the ravine, where what appears to be a natural spring flows down a jumble of rocks. Sitting in that spray of water is a small water wheel connected to a power generator. Power conduits leading from that small generator are tacked to the rock, and lead through a small opening in the wall. Beside that opening is a closed door with a lit access pad.

"In there," Jeremy says.

One of you goes to the door and opens it. It slides open slowly with an extended, tortured groan of metal on metal.

Inside is a dimly lit series of rooms extending into the rock face. As you enter the main room, you become aware of a loud snoring coming from one of the side rooms. The place is a mess - it looks like someone came in and trashed the place. You get the feeling it was once orderly and tidy, but debris, items and knick-knacks have been strewn all over this chamber.

Picking your way through the mess, you make it to the doorway where the snoring is coming from. There you see Ch'lana, slumped back in a chair, snoring loudly. On the table and the nearby counter, several plates of half-eaten food lie mouldering, apparently abandoned for several days. The dirty dishes battle for space on every flat surface with a series of bottles - all of them empty.

On Ch'lana's lap as he sleeps, a 3/4 empty bottle is clutched tightly in one hand. The whole room smells like a combination compost heap and distillery.

Ch'lana is completely oblivious to your presence, despite the noise of your entry.

[Actions?]

[Collan]

Collan noted as they entered, "I don't think the alarms would do much good today," there was something in his voice when he spoke, a mixture of pity, tinged green with disgust. This place was awful and rancid. The food itself was a metaphor for what Ch'lana was doing to himself. What would make a Jedi fall so far from grace?

"You know he won't be happy when we wake him, so maybe we should just start cleaning up for him and let him wake up on his own."

[Niil Spaar]

Niil stood, speechless, at the mess around him, and his eyebrows flew up to his hairline when he saw the state that the Jedi was in.  The suffering this man must be going through!  Niil got the creeping feeling that Ch'lana almost welcomed the Imperials to find him.

Walking slowly up to the passed-out man, he looked around for his lightsaber.  It would probably be a bad idea to try and rouse Ch'lana if it was within reach; he might blindly make a grab for it and activate it.  "Guys . . . I'm going to try and wake him in a little bit.  Yeah, Collan, good idea . . . can you, Jeremy and Nightshade, ummm, maybe try and clean the food and bottles out of here in the meantime? And . . . oh, hell, let's see if we can get our hands on a bucket of cold water.  We might need it.  I don't know if we have enough time to let him wake up on his own."


OOC:  Gonna give Ch'lana a visual inspection to find his lightsaber.  I'd rather get it out of his reach first.  Then I'll try and wake him.

[GM Craig]

[OOC: It is there on his belt, obscured slightly by his clothing.]

[Nightshade]

Acknowledging the words of Niil and with a wary eye out for any trouble from the drunk, Nightshade keeps his opinions to himself and sets about doing what he can to tidy up, or at least clear off some surfaces.

[GM Craig]

Niil relieves Ch'lana of his lightsabre without incident. He doesn't even snort, just continues snoring.

[Actions?]

You could easily spend a couple of hours here cleaning up. It looks like Ch'lana will be unconscious for longer than that.

[Collan]

"Let's get the bottles and food cleaned up," he looked at the one still in the old man's hands, "All of them."

Cedwyn felt a spark of kinship...the black depression to drive him to a state like this must be as bad or worse than what he'd felt before he escaped his enslavement.

[Niil Spaar]

Ack!  Simultaneous posts again . . . 


Niil was both relieved and dismayed that he was able to get Ch'lana's lightsaber away from him without any fuss.  Again, he stared down at the drunken Jedi and felt sorry for the man.  There was a story there that would be absolute hell to try and wring out of him.

Clipping the lightsaber on to his belt in the meantime, Niil muttered, "Yup, all bottles, empty or not.  Collan, Nightshade, if we're gonna be here for awhile, maybe the two of you could go topside and get our crawler out of sight?  And maybe bring down  our food stores and medkit while you're at it?  I think we have a fair bit of caffeine packets left.  We're gonna need it.  Or I can go back to the surface with Nightshade if you'd like to stick around here, Collan."

[GM Craig]

[not much space to hide the crawler, though you can try and break up the silhouette by creative parking among the wind turbines.]

[Collan]

"I'll go up," Collan replied, smiling, "I might be able to park it better."

[Niil Spaar]

Niil threw a crumpled-up piece of paper at Collan's head for the wise-crack, but turned his attention back to cleaning up the place.  Sooner or later, though, they'd have to try and wake Ch'lana up.  Likely sooner.  They were running out of time; if the Imperials weren't already at Tezest, they'd be damned close.  And they also had one extremely irate bounty hunter and her team sniffing for them.


OOC:  Do some cleaning (toss out any existing booze, too), and get a pail or bucket of cold, clean water. We might have to dump it on Ch'lana.  Eep.