Ken admires the big beast.  "That would be a great trophy Thomas.  I'd just rather avoid the thing myself."  Despite the holiday atmosphere, Ken will stay on edge and remain cautious.
This message was last edited by the player at 22:04, Fri 20 July 2012.

In reply to Ken Jenkins (msg # 70):

Neva didn't comment on the taste issue.  Perhaps Mr. Walker just hadn't been hungry enough to appreciate the meat.  On the other hand, he did seem to have tasted it before so that was something.

It's nice to know what they look like and it's weak points if need be.

Was all she said as her eyes kept darting back and forth from the cargo vehicle.

A (hopefully safer) site was chosen, camp was set up.

As the afternoon went on, all the expedition members bellied up to the bar set up by Linus. Some of the non-offworlder humans seemed a little bemused at drinking with Mirayns, probably a fairly novel experience for them.

Linus is equally comfortable serving Mirayn or humans, and is happy to do so for as long as people wish to continue the party.

Ken pulls Linus aside as he sips a drink. "Well done Linus, especially bringing the Miryans into the celebration.  I think this will gain some good will that might be helpful later."

Neva, while making progress with dealing with people, just felt that the party crowd, even on a safari, was a bit much for her to handle.  She sat over by the cargo vehicle where she had been sleeping and riding in and watched,  Making mental notes on how easily some seemed to deal with others as well as which ones were the more boisterous.

Linus looks a bit baffled.

"Whyever not? They are as much a part of the expedition as anyone else. Few come into Capital so I have not had many opportunities to get to know them, so I am making the most of the opportunity during this trip."

Ken lowers his voice.  "You saw the way many of the local humans treated the Miryans?  That kind of thing always comes back to bite you.  The least we can do is treat everyone here with respect.  We learned that early in the Marines with the different races and species that served."

"Makes sense... even if I'm Navy!" Linus grinned and passed Ken a drink. "See, still looking after you ground-pounders. As for the Miryans, they're people just like everybody else."

Ken laughs, raises his drink in salute to Linus and downs it;  "Well the Navy always knew how to drink!  And we always did need some one to take us somewhere to fight."

02-1108

The Holiday celebration went well, the humans and Mirayns got along well, or at least well enough.

A couple more days travel up the Nahahir brought them to the edge of the inland sea that was the border of the Great Swamp. Before them was the small village of Adylatra at the mouth of the river. Smoke from cook fires drifted into the overcast sky. Rain spattered down.

As they approached, Stanley said over the radio, "this village is of a coastal tribe. The people there should be friendly. Who wants to go in? I can come and translate, if need be."

Ken glanced at the others; "I for one would like to stretch my legs and see some of the native village."  He went over to Lorain;  "Do you want to come and see if we can find any rumors about your father's expedition?  It's been a few years but some of them may know something."

"I'll come along," said Linus.

In reply to Linus Spruance (msg # 82):

"I'll come along too.  Maybe I can find some sign of him."

For this trip he slung his shotgun, muzzle down, to keep the rain out of his barrel.

In reply to Thomas Walker (msg # 83):

Neva looked up from her spot.  "Well don't expect me to stay behind.  Somebody needs to keep an eye on you guys."

She smiled when she said it and got up to join the others.  She grabbed her weapons and slouched into a better position to let the rain fall off of her.

Stanley did a headcount. No one seemed interested in joining them, if they were, they could easily catch up.

"We'll land just short of the village, then."

He slung his own shotgun.

Ken nodded and checked his pistol and long arm.  "Should we bring any trade goods with us Stanley?  I'd imagine our money isn't much good here."

In reply to Ken Jenkins (msg # 86):

"Good idea> I was thinking of putting the hovercraft in, but doing trading now would save time."

Some trade goods were located, carried by Ken in a backpack. The vehicles were moored about 100m or so downstream, and they walked down a path to get to the village itself.

The village was located at the mouth of where the river spilled out of the inland lake/sea. There were about ten huts or so visible, but Stanley said that there were at least double that amount hidden in the jungle behind hedges and bushes cultivated as fencing. Near the shore was a slightly larger hut, the headman's resident.

Several shallow boats were pulled up onto shore, many more were out on the lake. (Mirayns made good fishermen, as one set of arms could scull while the other pair handled the nets.)

A couple of small Mirayn children ran up, squealing in their language. Stanley greeted them, then sent them off. The chieftan met them at the edge of the village, carrying a spear and wearing a baseball cap (IISS logo). They talked, Stanley translated, "he says hello and welcome."

OOC: This reminds me of Myanmar. The fishermen in Inle Lake would caste and handle the fishing nets with both hands. They would stand balanced on one leg, while hooking their knee and foot of the other around an oar to scull without using their hands.

"How do you say 'hello' in your language, Stanley?" asked Linus, looking around curiously.

In reply to Linus Spruance (msg # 89):

Stanley wore an expression that Linus was beginning to recognise as the Mirayn equivalent as a smile.

"It's..." he kind of gobbled and clicked. "Now you try it!"

Linus made an attempt..."!Kung!" but it didn't really come out quite right, he's not tried an epiglottal click before.

He grinned. "You'd better tell him 'hello and thank you for your kind welcome' on my behalf. I'd probably declare war or insult his grandmother if I tried..."

In reply to Linus Spruance (msg # 91):

Walker looked around, this didn't seem too different from any other village in the bush, it just had more arms than he'd seen in a while.  The IISS cap, on the other hand, pinged on his 'pay attention to me' meter.

"Stanley, could you ask the guy with the IISS hat where he got that?  I just want the story, not the hat."

Ken shouldered the bag and followed the others to the village.  He looked about curiously his time on other worlds spent more on killing things than touring about.  He watched Linus try to duplicate words in the local language and chuckled.  "I'll stick with using you as a translator if you don't mind Stanley.  My throat just doesn't work that way." He watches as the local leader approaches and bows.  "Can you ask about Lorain's father's expedition?  Perhaps gifts might help lubricate the conversation."

In reply to Ken Jenkins (msg # 93):

"I will. And about the hat."

An exchange in the native tongue ensued. Fairly elaborate, including pointing out over the lake towards the Great Swamp.

Stanley turned and said, "he says they remember when Professor Messandi came through here. He left a sick man here, Old Lin, who they thought was going to die but was picked up by another group. These were Imperial Scouts, charting the Nahahnir river (we are using their charts) for the planetary government and the League. They left the hat."

"They told Messandi something that got him very excited. There is a "road of stone", very straight, a ways away. Near a village in the Great Swamp called "Sanalaysa".

"He is willing to have someone take us. For suitable gifts, of course."