Bartja turns to S'Krllk as Notui chirps away.

Speaking quietly he says "That area we circled around...  You figure we're anywhere near the Sathar area that Appleburg was talking about?"

Smiling his lopsided smirk to Notui, Bartja considers his gear.  Bright, shiny objects seems to be to their liking.  With a sudden realization, Bartja pulls out his flashlight and holds it towards Notui.  He then flicks it on, then off, then on again.  He waits to see if Notui will come forward to take the offered gift...

One of the Notui takes the gift and plays with it while another goes to one of the nests and brings back something. It is a similar flashlight, but is of alien design. He flicks it on and off a few times as if mimicking what Bartja has done. The alien design, Bartja sees, appears to be of Sathar origin based on the markings on its side.

A minute later, the leader comes out and says to you--and you can finally understand through your polyvox--"You, come. Follow."

He then beckons you to follow him into the covered round tent on the right.

Bartja accepts the Sathar light and give S'Krllk a knowing glance and slight nod of the head, then follows the leaders into the round tent without letting on that the Polyvox is finally starting to work.

S'Krllk looks at the Sathar light, and then mentions the 'helmet' the leader was wearing. "Let's hope our fate isn't the same as the Sathar they've met."

Bartja nods in agreement.

"I'm starting to think the Sathar have not gained control of these people yet.  I'm also starting to wonder if that EMP device is Sathar or something from these guys.  The winged ones in particular seem to be of a higher order and may have technology beyond what we see here.  If they're defeating Sathar in battles instead of trading with them, then we might find allies  here in our struggle."

You are taken into the large tent. In "nests" sit three more of the winged version of this species.

The one who led you here points to empty nests across from them and your polyvox translates--finally--his words as, "Be seated."

You take a seat and are offered some seeds to snack on.

The elder of the creatures sits in the middle and addresses you. He is hunched over and much older than the others.


"We are Notui. I am Stone-Eye. You met Beet Chest who bring you here. This is my Council. You understand? Why you here? Where you come from?"

Bartja looks at S'Krllk to see if he would like to speak first, then does the Yaz thing and clears his throat to reply through the polyvox.

"We come from the stars, different worlds than your own.  There is a mighty war in the heavens between the creatures of different worlds.

As you can see, I am different than my colleague, and we come from different worlds.  There are many varieties of worlds and just as many different creatures on them.  We are working together, trying to stop those who bring darkness and destruction wherever they go throughout the stars."

Bartja sits back to wait for the translation and boldly tries some of the offered seed-snacks.

The chief nods quickly like you would expect a bird to do, and then says, "You come with worm people?"

S'Krllk says, quickly, "no, the Sathar do not have others traveling with them, only those forced to serve them."

S'krllk quickly responds. Maybe it is because he looks like insects they would normally eat, or maybe he says something wrong, but his statement does not go over well. (Personality Check: 14:27, Today: GM Heath rolled 99 using 1d100. Crit failure.)

The chief rises to his feet and points a feathered spear at S'krllk. "YOU SERVE THE WORM PEOPLE? These 'SATHAR'?" The others also rise, for the first time looking hostile.

One of them who had his arms crossed the entire time rises and says with disgust, "We eat worms, but we also eat bugs."

This message was last edited by the GM at 05:32, Thu 29 Oct 2020.

Bartja tries to interject;  "What my friend was trying to say is that the worm people are part of the destroyers we fight against!  Wherever they go, they kill and enslave.  We try to set the people free wherever we can from the worms."

Bartja knows that his mechanized appearance won't help his arguments or interactions with these people, but after S'Krllk's gaff (whatever it was), he can see that there is little to lose.  Soon they will be fed as lunch if something doesn't turn this meeting around, and quickly!

Bartja (who only has a 35 personality score) attempts to rescue the quickly spiraling conversation. 16:18, Today: GM Heath rolled 29 using 1d100. Success!

After Bartja speaks, the chief says, "Your companion speak not the Notui tongue well. You come to fight worm-men?"

Beet-Chest also sits. He had been traveling with you for several hours and only saw the one misstep when you shot the dinosaur creature. He seems pacified.

But the one with his arms crossed says, "The enemy of my enemy may also be my enemy."

Chief Stone-Eye says, "What Fire-Claw say is true. Do you seek to kill Notui?"

S'Krllk sat calmly as the Notui reacted with anger, saying only, "we don't seek to kill anyone. If the Sathar weren't trying to kill us we would welcome them. Can you see that Bartja and I are from different peoples, but work together? We have other friends here from other peoples, as well."

Bartja takes some hope from the unusually positive reaction to his explanation.  He tries to add to what S'Krllk has said.

"The worms and their friends are our enemies.

We would be friends with you.  If the worms are your enemies too, we would help you fight them!"

Although they're not wings, Bartja stands and spreads his arms as he speaks to show his flight flaps, hoping they will make him more identifiable to these people and gain some empathy through familiarity of some kind.

Now that the PolyVox is translating, Bartja has another moment of insight.  Turning to Beet-Chest, he adds "I'm sorry for harming your mount.  Before we met you, our only encounters with those creatures was when they were trying to eat us.  My people prefer to not be eaten and those that would eat us are our enemies."
This message was last edited by the player at 22:10, Thu 29 Oct 2020.

Beet-Chest laughs, though it is more of a hawkish screech. "That is not my mount. That is our dinner. We feast tonight. But you ruin some good meat with thunder weapon."

The Chief says, "Notui do not understand fighting. Killing is for food or defense only. We do not understand this word...war...and do not understand why intelligence kills intelligence. Thus, Worm men must be animals and not intelligent. Worm men burn Notui. Fire is not for Notui. Fire come from heavens. Lightning. Three full moons ago, fireball come from heavens. We think it message from gods, but soon Worm men begin burning Notui with flame and lightning weapons."

He rises and beckons you to the door to take you someplace. "Come, follow. I show you what we find of Worm men."

Relieved, Bartja follows Beet-Chest gladly.

"I like your sayings.  Worm-men kill everywhere they go and we try to stop them.  I think this makes them not intelligent, but more like animals.

I am glad to I did not hurt one of your creatures to be saved.  I am looking forward to the feast!  Better to eat those giant animals than to be eaten by them!"

Bartja relaxes a little as they go to see what the Notui found of the Sathar arrival three months ago...

S'Krllk mumbles something suspiciously like "probably tastes like chicken" as he gets up to see what the enterprising bird men have on the worm people. This is a common statement for Vrusk, as their gustatory receptors phylogenetically differ from those of most other races.

Bartja stays close to S'Krllk and is glad they were not disarmed by the Notui.

"Mmmm, chicken..." he can be heard to say quietly in anticipation of a feast.  Although not overweight by any standard, Bartja has a voracious appetite and eats like it's his last meal.  Those who know him might be used to it, but to strangers he often appears to be barbaric in his table manners.

They walk you out of the tent and over to the large tent on the other side. Letting you in, they show you the inside, which is filled with various stored food items at a near freezing temperature. Their "nest" is well insulated and smells of preserving salts.

Beet-chest points to two figures on the far side. You see two dead Sathar bodies. "I take this from one of these," he says, pointing to his helmet with the Sathar writing on it. "We do not fight. We do not understand violence except for food. Yet they burn our people and do not eat them. We do not understand. We find these bodies already dead and bring them here. They have crash in vehicle."

Bartja turns to S'Krllk and speaks loudly enough that the Polyvox can translate to Beet-Chest.

"So they're subject to the EMP also!  This is great information, but it deepens the mystery.

Beet-Chest, are there many other peoples on your world?  Are there peoples who use machines like us?"

Beet Chest says, "We know of no one who use machine. Great black pyramid in south appear one year ago, but no people. Worm men come three moons ago, have machines. We have peace before then. We can take you to crash vehicle or black pyramid, but we do not fight. Against our upbringing."

Bartja give S'Krllk a knowing glance as if to say, "now we're getting somewhere!" and continues the conversation with Beet-Chest.

"How far is the great black pyramid from here?  Are the worm men at the Pyramid or somewhere else?"
This message was last edited by the player at 06:33, Fri 06 Nov 2020.

When responding about the black pyramid, Beet Chest points in the general direction of the center of the EMP and says a unit of measurement your polyvox does not understand. "Black Pyramid hosts evil. Destroys what it touches. We stay away. Worm men sometimes in area in between. That all we know."

One of the winged Notui enters where you stand around the dead Sathar and other items and says, "Strangers come. They seem to be friends with these creatures." He indicates you.

Beet Chest leads you out of the tent. Near the entrance to the settlement, you see Porter, Desi and Orvo.

OOC: I'm creating a new thread for everyone to use. You can start posting there.