the scattering

[groundrules]

And now, hard siege during Alem’s first log event, covering 27 January to 12 February.

This Arc relies on information sharing and troubleshooting solutions, whether to keep the watch towers standing, find the Reaper, hold back Rathakku or evacuate civilians. Don’t be shy!

As a refresher, character have individual assignment & notes — but rest easily, they can largely go anywhere in Alem and play out any prompt below.

Click each header for scenarios!

THE SCATTERING

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Alem’s chilly welcome includes a gift of weapons, clothes and meagre food provisions. You are quickly given your posts and grudgingly tolerated by fortress natives, many of whom accuse you of collusion with Rathakku or the merchant guilds. Expect unkind tests or teasing from soldiers who want you to prove your worth.

■ SLEEPING ARRANGEMENTS: rare beds and hard pallets in the Keep barracks, sharing broad rooms infantrymen. Alternatively, sleep in the Wards, with refugees or the sick.

■ ARSENAL: you receive serviceable weapons or inherited clothes — ragged, over/undersized and perhaps livened by fleas.

■ FOOD: scant, dry, hard and prioritised for the weak, young, sickly or actively fighting. Scarce additional resources, such as berries and deer meat, can be procured from the nearby forests on the lower half of the mountain.

■ ACCESS: characters can go to anywhere, except the Room of Seals. Entering the Watch Towers will be discouraged during attacks, unless you were assigned these posts.

■ Between 7-10 February, Rathakku will Claw — meaning necromancers, the dead and those who are incredibly sensitive to life and death are vulnerable to his thrall. They could be conscripted into his armies, if they exit the fortress or linger long outside. Ghosts might woo them to enter the mountain forests, and they will itch with wanderlust and a sense of incompletion. Comment here with an idea of what you'd like you character to do/a> if they are lured to Rathakku’s side.

■ NPCs: each fortress level has a designated NPC you can reach out to. Deimar will additionally be visiting the Watch Tower, following Stephen Strange’s taunts.

THE WATCH TOWERS

The first and most war-torn line of defence. The watch towers keep Alem standing — fend off their attackers.

       EASTERN TOWER

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■ Assigned to the Eastern Tower: Jinx, Vi, Hermione and Chu Wanning. Medic: Leonard ‘Bones’ McCoy.

■ Harpies frequently charge here, using their blade-sharp claws and deep fangs. They are humanoid but carnivorous and expressly prey on tower watchers. The scent of blood lures them — so Bones should quickly bandage wounds.
■ Bad weather hides their attacks. Beware the mists of 29 January and the blizzards of 3-6 February.

■ Cut the harpies’ legs if they fly away with you — better to risk a hard fall into the mountain’s snowy than being dragged into their nests.

■ They are vulnerable to loud sounds and vibrations. Set off the great, rusted tower bells to sound the alarm and repel them.

       WESTERN TOWER

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■ Assigned to the Western Tower: Eleven, Xie Yun, Kahl and Eda. Medic: Sarah Bishop.

■ Flurries of arrows frequently rain down, plain, fire or poison-tipped. They are shot in two broad attacks (morning and evening) by orc archers.

■ Sarah receives a kit of local ointment antidotes, but must make haste — the sickness spreads quickly and paralyses limbs. (Effects disappear over 1-6 hours, once the antidote is applied).

■ A rare few arrows are tipped with hallucinogen substances that trigger paranoid visions.

■ Orcs may try to scale this tower, using climbing hooks. Push them down.

       SOUTHERN TOWER

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■ Assigned to the Southern Tower: Jon Snow, Stephen Strange, Red and Finn. Medic: Wen Qing.

■ Irenia, Frost’s Scourge, an ancient, extremely large but slow dragon stops first at the Southern Tower before proceeding to other watch posts. She will turn back, if she is stopped here.

■ The dragon breathes down frost that can paralyse you in place, or freeze limbs. Wen Qing must prioritise warming the affected.

■ A few anti-frost shields have been supplied, but their magic wanes after a few hours. Use them as a last resort.

■ Irenia’s hide is tough and leathery, but she can be deflected by continuous attack. She no longer seems to hear or see as sharply.

■ She largely flies by, breathes ice and tries to pick up watchers in her great maws, then crack their bones or throw them down on hard stone.

■ Repel her for three consecutive days and she will not return for a week.

       NORTHERN TOWER

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■ Assigned to the Northern Tower: Kamala Khan, Wanda Maximoff, Merrin and Jiang Cheng. Medic: Anduin.

■ Demons draw large catapults near the fortress walls and throw strong projectiles at this tower — stone, large steel balls or even human or demonic.

■ The worst missiles comprise stones alight with ‘living fire’ — an extraordinarily hot blaze that can quickly incinerate tissue. Anduin should immediately attend to burns.

■ The tower is exceptionally weathered and structurally unsound, marked by large, destabilising holes. Kerasstone asks you to fix the infrastructure or guard his repairmen.

■ The ongoing damage sometimes triggers quakes in the fragile tower — hold on and don’t fall crumbling to your deaths.

■ Use the one-man crossbows and range weapons available, or the fixed large tower crossbows to shoot back and destroy the catapults.

THE KEEP

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Life at court, when the knives come out: barracks, royal halls and Crown Prince Haiva’s medical quarters await.

KINGDOM COME

The court of Alem bustles with rival proposals: the supporters of Crown Prince Haiva want to surrender the citadel, while proponents of former Regent Thyvault seek to raise the remaining armed forces in a desperate last stand against Rathakku. King Deimar, mere months in his rule, has opted to evacuate convoys and resettle them, after sealing away any last chance of Rathakku accessing hell’s gates.

■ The supporters of Haiva, Thyvault and Deimar wage frequent wars of words that accuse Thyvault of Deimar of usurpring rule, and Haiva of being too weak to lead.

■ Thyvault’s men slyly wonder if Deimar killed the beautiful woman he was seen wooing mere months ago in the fortress grounds. Proof of her death or continued survival would benefit the three causes.

■ The woman was last seen chased by a fair-haired rider into the frosted forests that Rathakku has peopled with monstrous wolves and undead Alem huntsmen. Interrogate hunters & commoners or track her down.

■ Tempers boil over Jan. 29-Feb. 5, with arguments frequently devolving into fights and shallow stabbing. As ‘supporters’ of the three gentlemen, you should defend their cause — but do pull back blows before you kill each other.

■ Deimar punished brawlers with a few days of penitent confinement in the barracks, where you are expected to reflect on your sins and attitude, and certainly not join the cliques of heavily drinking men playing dares and cards. Hold your liquor, survive the exceptionally spicy Alem meals and take advantage of the general inebriation to ask your questions of the brass — without showing your horror when you hear them boast that Thyvault’s men drove the local ice mermaid population extinct.

IS THERE A DOCTOR IN THE HOUSE?

The Haiva’s medics ( Bones, Sarah Bishop, Anduin and Wen Qing) are repeatedly called in to inspect his fits of sudden and elusive sickness. He exhibits a varied multitude of bizarre symptoms when his healers visit him:

■ Bones finds Haiva is a haemophiliac, his skin brittle like paper.

■ For Sarah Bishop, Haiva is overwhelmingly feverish, battling an unseen infection.

■ Wen Qing sees patches on Haiva’s skin that resemble decaying, moulding or gangrene.

■ Anduin notices Haiva’s skin feels clammy, his breathing stalled, as if his body were entering rigor mortis. He is very much alive.

Haiva is always weak, but gratefully and mysteriously cured of his symptoms within hours of his consultation. You can start a thread with him!

Info sharing with the medics’ club is caring!

THE CROSSING

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The bustling, stifling and overheated Crossing reunites the main ground-level gates and corridors of Alem’s castle. Merchants traverse the halls, volunteering their wares at exorbitant prices, while former Regent Thyvault leads the departing troops.

HAGGLE GAGGLE

■ Colluding merchants offer their less-than-stellar goods at heinous rates. You get 100 coins to haggle long, hard and to the bone for food, cloth and maps, amid war inflation. Offer your hair, your virtue, the ugly side of your fist as needed. No one will mind if you liberate a few wares.

■ Two of the most prominent merchants — boastful Batthour of the grains and stern Eles, vendor of maps, silks and steel — openly despise each other. Their apprentices frequently start brawling — stay out of their way or stoke the clashes…

■ Batthour and Eles are both open to trade, but seem distinctly disdainful of Alem, expressing pleasure from profiteering in its downfall. Group up to raise coin or other goods to trade, then put in your best offer. The next few Alem convoys require 500kg of wheat and at least three maps of eastward provinces to resettle.

THE WAR IN WORDS

■ WHEN IT GRAINS, RED POURS: Under Thyvault’s leadership, Alem’s scouts and infantry gather in the Crossing for final instructions then advance into Rathakku’s territory. You can join them on a mission to the Ivory plains at the bottom of the mountain, where a few frozen storage houses still have summer grains. Steal back the supplies, bypassing snow-buried traps and Rathakku’s lingering feral creatures.

■ King Deimar has prepared new missives for Rathakku. Multiple envoys can group up to ensure delivery down the mountain and into the warlord’s encampment in the Tattered Highlands. Your white flag buys limited patience from Rathakku’s demonic armies. Only two characters can directly interact with the warlord — Sign up for one of two spots by 23:55 GMT on 30 January. Note: Rathakku should be approached lightly.

THE WARDS

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The ill-lit Wards house the wounded, young, crippled or vulnerable of Alem, alongside those preparing to evacuate the fortress in upcoming convoys. Where there is sickness and overcrowding, expect poor provisions, the astringent scent of antiseptic, and a sense of residual decay. The lucky few sleep on pallets — while most dwellers take the hard ground and share dry bread. Soft-spoken Crown Prince Haiva visits regularly.

THINK OF THE CHILDREN

■ Weak civilians are often targeted by soldiers, who are frustrated by sharing their resources with ‘leeches’ who do not defend the citadel. Intervene to protect the vulnerable and redistribute any food that is unfairly confiscated. Prince Haiva will lend his scarce authority to correct any reported wrongdoings.

■ Learn to supply first aid, console orphaned children or widow(er)s and ease the spirits of those petrified by the recent murders.

■ A convoy prepares to leave on 9 Feb, with another due on 15 Feb. Pack the scant effects of the weak and plead for the gold or charity of the Keep’s gentry. Whatever resources you gain will greatly help the survival odds of those who resettle.

■ Inevitably, death visits some of the wounded. Professional grievers and coarse embalmers perform cleansing and mourning rites for survivors. Help them, or participate in the local habit of sharing tales of your most tragic sorrows, to distract them from their own.

WATSON ON DUTY

■ The investigative summary, as civilians can share them: five unrelated deaths took place over the past 11 weeks. Some speak superstitiously of a Reaper, who punishes the people of Alem for abandoning their fortress and sacred duty to protect the gate to hell.

■ The victims were all men aged 22-35 of diverse appearances and backgrounds. Some had minor injuries. They were all found without marks of wounding or sickness, bearing a white string bound to their wrists. One of the men was a foreign merchant.

■ Senior sorceress Althea searched the site and cleansed bodies, finding no evidence of magical interference.

■ Haiva has reinforced guards, but Deimar seems indifferent. Thyvault believes this is only an inevitably level of mundane crime.

■ Some nights, you might wake to the haunting song of a plangent woman. You enter a state of dreamy, confused hypnosis, drawn to a narrow, steep staircase you had not glimpsed before. You fumble towards the lake caves of the Gut’s Bind. Even the intrusive voices of Alem tell you to snap out of it and awaken — but your best bet is a companion’s help.

■ The staircase cannot be found again, come morning. The call is fainter for women, and does not affect the same person more than one-two nights.

■ Guards, sorcerers and civilians can answer your questions — but prepare your bribes and wooing.

THE GUT’S BIND

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It’s nice, dark and quiet in here, barring the comforting thrum of the forges. Paladins and sorcerers are hard at their elusive work, reinforcing the Room of Seals. Access to the Forges, mines and glacier lake caves remains liberal.

LAKES, MINES, MAYHEM

■ THE MINES: Characters deployed to find new escape routes find a series of corridors leading into the previously bustling gold mines, where ore resources remain well supplied. The territory is overwhelmingly shaky, with mine shafts and structures prone to collapse. They appear dusty, brittle, husked and far older than their actual age. Go deep enough and you can find sheets haphazardly strewn about and the remains of partly devoured demons.

■ THE LAKES: Saunter into a series of four interconnected ice lake caves, where the brutal cold is viciously wounding and pervasive. The first three caves give you no trouble, beyond ridiculously sharp icicles waiting to drop down. As you enter the fourth cave, you find gleaming stretches of golden, gleaming… scales that float on the lake waters. Grab one to study — but beware the starved creature that guards them.

■ THE FORGES: some entirely abandoned, some functional, all well-equipped at this time. Settle down alone, or in the company of Kerasstone’s people — the old blood that preceded even Alem’s settlement and holy seal in the mountains.

■ Keep an ear out for sudden sounds or unexpected steps behind you, as you travel the tighter and tighter passageways to find or shovel new exit routes through the mountain: some of Rathakku’s creatures appear to have… wandered in. They camouflage as stone and lay perfectly still in wait of their prey, before descending. They’re vulnerable to strong light and a jolly smiting.

LOCK YOUR DOORS

■ Paladins and sorcerers enter the heavily warded and barricaded Room of Seals every few hours. They emerge exhausted, their resources drained. Some also bear heavy gashes.

■ Characters are barred from entering and incarcerated for a day in one of the Keep’s jails or brought before Galatea’s judgement, if they attempt to sneak in.

■ Groans and screams can be occasionally heard from within, followed by spikes in the sense of deathliness of the place. Some paladins are never seen exiting.

■ You have one chance to enter, at midnight on 1 February, when the Gut’s Bind erupts into calls for healers to attend an emergency. Collapsed paladins are urgently pulled out, while sorcerers attempt to ward the room before ultimately fleeing to help their brethren. You can infiltrate and stay inside for 20 minutes before the stoked anger of the room completely overwhelms you, and you begin to bodily attack everyone and everything around you. This is a dangerous route: check in for one of three findings scenarios.

QUESTIONS

Comments

ENVOY RNG DRAW

[jatharin]

( The road to Rathakku is forest-bound, long. Down the mountain slopes, through crumbled paths, slithering demons cautiously rearing their heads before allowing the envoys their passage. A white banner is a tentative shield.

Rathakku, Rakkathu, the Lord Who Waits. His creatures, most possessed of too many mouths or absent the conscious will of living things, can hardly speak his name. He awaits on a litter in a primite encampment, spider-legs drawn beneath himself, the half of his human torso turned to accept warmth from nearby fire flame and wine poured generously in a rusted goblet.

A wide berth is afforded to the envoy. Every courtesy, though demonic eyes linger, greedy and yearning, over the human flesh of the courier.

Rathakku hushes his creatures, waving aside their interest — and the envoy close. )

Greetings. What do you have for me?


( ooc: both Wanda and Cassian can use this as a starter for their separate threads — only using the same open starter as it applies to the beginning situation of both characters. They were each given a separate scroll from Deimar, Wanda's dated around 5 February, Cassian's around 10 February. You can tag this thread ahead of these dates, but please make the date of events clear if you choose to make network posts about any of this!

It is up to you whether your character gives Deimar message to Rathakku, or invents another. Caution with Rathakku, you are in enemy territory!

Wanda carries a scroll that says, A few dozens, strong. Containable. The fortress occupies them.

Cassian carries a scroll that says, They are not yours to claw from us, do not meddle. Mind and contain your own evil.. )

[westviews]

[Wanda is not the diplomatic sort, usually more the cause for a need of diplomacy, but if anyone would survive an envoy delivery gone wrong, it would be the Scarlet Witch. She doesn't trust white flags, and it's clear that's how she feels about it as she cautiously approaches, disgusted by both the army and its master.

Scroll held in her left hand, Wanda resists the urge to ready her magic in her right. Her fingers flex when addressed, but no magic is summoned, nor does she move to hand over the scroll just yet.]

What are you hoping to hear?

[She can't imagine anything but a full surrender would appease this monster.]

[jatharin]

( He laughs, and it seems to a tectonic, rippling thing that booms from his chest and ripples in those of his followers. Their fangs gleaming, Rathakku's own mouth red-stained and cleaved in an unnatural smile absent finesse. Provoked more by animal instinct.

He wipes it with the back of his hand. )

You will tell me. You didn't walk here... to give me nothing. You know better.

( They fear him, he knows, these mortal and aimless coils. They fear him, because they know one day, when their limited loans on their flesh is done, their bodies are his. )

[westviews]

[It does feel like she's ventured into a nest that's only waiting for the wrong move to swarm.]

I did come here to deliver a message from the king. [She holds it up to show him, still rolled, still sealed.] I can take a message back from you, too.

[Ideally not in the form of her head on a stake, but surely there's something of substance this monster has to say, and she wants to hear it before she tells him anything.]

After a year of this siege and reinforcements arriving at the citadel, surely you have something substantial to say.

[jatharin]

Surely.

( He agrees, head tipping to the side with the mimicked curiosity of a cat studying its prey. She seems... foolish. Young. Unlearned. As if perhaps she doesn not understand how meagre the thread holding his patience has thinned.

Slowly, his claws curl in, waving the woman and her message forward. )

[westviews]

[She's less young but certainly foolish these days, and it'd be a lie to say that the knowledge that she's some myth meant to rule everything hasn't made her feel mildly invincible despite proof of the contrary. That would be the unlearned part.

Stepping forward, she hasn't watched enough period dramas to understand whether she should hand the scroll over or read it aloud herself. Not really her genre. So, she herself opens the scroll to read it to Rathakku.]

"A few dozens, strong."

[Her expression tightens as her eyes pass over the next word: Containable. She looks up from the scroll to Rathakku, measuring his reaction to either the words read aloud or the pause in which she should be saying more.]

[jatharin]

( He seems, for a moment, to study her, then the scroll she's unraveled — as if he cannot say which more confuses him. Brows pulled, the expression of his face entirely human in its bemusement.

He waits, drumming his claws on the arm of his litter. Waits, hissing a whistled pause to the demons at his side, who seem tempted to approach the envoy. Waits, hoping for understanding that never comes.

Then, carefully: ) ...is that it?

[westviews]

[You and her both, pal. Wanda makes the executive decision that the rest of the message is unnecessary, and the scroll disappears from her hands in a wisp of red.]

Expecting a surrender?

[jatharin]

( He... watches. Waits. Appears, to all intents and purposes, still uneasy with the conclusion of no more information to come. The woman burns the missive. A witch.

...interesting. If she were to die, here and now... )

Expecting... coherence. ( But his leer is long, content. Cat who's licked the cream off the bones of a canary. ) Dozens, then. So be it. Tell Deimar... he may keep half.

[westviews]

[Coherence would be nice.]

Half of what, exactly?

[jatharin]

If that was all his message...

( And his smile widens, feline-like, long. Teeth sharp and red-anointed. He's feasted on something, only hours prior. Something bound to flesh. )

Then this answer will suffice for him. And he will know.

( ...now, was it? )

[westviews]

What else would he have to say?

[There's an unpleasant pull to the corners of Wanda's mouth. This creature is disgusting, and she'll be glad to no longer have to talk to him, but she's not exactly thrilled at the messages shared here. It's nothing promising for the citadel.]

[jatharin]

Ask your master.

( He says agreeably, amusement starting to thin, to pale, to wane. There is a limit to his tolerance, when it is clearly tested.

The girl did not share all of Deimar's message. Cannot have. And if she intends to sit here, expecting answers, from him? Well, his grin only widens. )

Before I take every tooth from your mouth. And you cannot. Scatter.

[allforthecause]

[ Cassian makes his way down the long wooded path with a grim expression and few words to his companion, though he casts a glance at Kahl when he can afford to. He’s memorized the note and is still turning the meaning over in his mind, disliking it from any angle - the possessives of their “host” as well as the implication that there is a darker side to how welcome they are considered. He hopes he is reading into it.

His expression is schooled and impassive as they are led through the camp, his eyes locked carefully forward as he takes in as much of his surroundings as possible while still looking plausibly uninterested.

When he finally meets the lord of the siege, his expression doesn’t change. Rathakku’s visage doesn’t bother him - he’s met all kinds over the years. And he’s been in worse places.

It’s the open hunger that disconcerts him, but he trains his expression well enough. ]

A message.

[ he doesn’t pull out the scroll. ]

I take it you’re the one to hear it?

[ An obvious question, purposely asked to paint him a little slow. ]

[jatharin]

( And here stands Rathakku, waving his claw-saddled hand, each finger contorting breezily in the air, as if it might snag flash. As if it can rip it.

His smile is a tender thing, animalistic — the gesture barely learned. Mimicked. There is a part of him that is human-like in shape. But far more of him is simply bestial. )

I am he.

[allforthecause]

[ He wonders if this is how it would feel to deliver a message to a Hutt, with a Rancor waiting below.

Rule number one: don’t let the fear show.

He waves his hand almost idly back in the direction of the city. ]

Then I shall give it. From King Deimar.

He asks that you cease clawing for them.

[ The message didn’t specify ‘they’ and neither will he. ]

That you keep your own concerns rather than his.

[jatharin]

( He listens. He hears. And the laughter that bulges and bursts and spreads from his lungs is an ugly thing, half rot, half vibration. All despicable. )

And yet... he sends you to reassure me?

( Patient, almost exceedingly so. Condescending. )

[allforthecause]

[ He’s used to it. The condescension. The hubris and the arrogance. It’s the face of the empire - the one that doesn’t care about the lives it destroys or the people it subjugates. He knows it as well as he knows the pit of hatred that pools in his stomach when he sees it, the sneer that threatens to pull at his lips.

It makes his fingers itchy for anything that might be useful to him and missed if lost. He ignores the instinct and forces himself to shrug, self deprecating. ]

Would he send me if I was their keeper? [ He asks mildly. ] I’m just the messenger.

Is that what you wish me to tell him? That you need to be reassured?

[kahl_175]

[Without a mask, Kahl can't hide that he's scanning their surroundings for threats. But he doesn't really need to hide that. He's a big man in armor, with a big gun and a scarred face. He was created for war. Of course he's going to be looking for threats.

But they don't need to know that Kahl can think. He keeps quiet, a scowl on his face, like he's hungry and tired and on-edge, getting dragged out here to guard a little guy. It's better if they think he's just mean and stupid, while he's thinking through what sort of damage could be done down here. Maybe not right now, but he's getting a better look at this place. There's always weak points in everything.

And Kahl's getting a better look at their King, too. Rathakku looks like what would happen if Vay Hek got Infested. Somebody that's fine with tricking others into dying for him.

At least he's quieter, though.]

[jatharin]

Just... the messenger. Yes. And part of Deimar's latest... occupancy, aren't you?

( He leans in, the size and heft and distance aboard his litter guaranteeing he hardly invades Kahl and Cassian's space, even as he peers closer — unblinking, spider-like and strange.

There is a moment when he drags his claws across his mouth and seems to consider. Another when one of his demonic creatures steps forward, canine-like and slinking, sniffing the air. A third, when the atmosphere charges, and he seems ready to call an attack —

Then Rathakku waves them down again, calling his bests to settle. )

You reek of strangeness. Something... distant. Yes. I was promised you. I smell you. How many are you?

[allforthecause]

[ Cassian feels every hair on his skin must be standing straight - his whole body taut under what he hopes still looks casual. He’s pretty sure at this point it’s impossible to hide how tense he is.

But this? This is something he can work with.

He cocks his head to side, considering, dark eyes locked on Rathakku. If this goes sideways, they’ll need to run, but that’s something that he and Kahl decided before going in. No heroics. Just run.

For now, he can still play the game. ]

What’s it worth to you?

[kahl_175]

[Kahl raises his rifle, finger on the trigger. Pointed at the big demon kubrow-things. If this goes wrong, they run. But those things look like they can run faster. He'll have to take them down.

Then things settle down, but the feeling stays dangerous. Rathakku was promised off-worlders. By who? The one that snatched them away to this planet in the first place?

Kahl lowers his rifle slowly, but not because he trusts this quiet. He's readying to grab for one of his grenades now, if they need it. He's not sure if it'd kill things like this. But it would make a big dent.]

[jatharin]

More than you can afford to lose.

( But then, he has hardly begun to negotiate, hardly seen the two envoys before him. Now he measures them, finds them... at once wanting and bemusing. Sufficient.

They play a game, he knows, intrinsically. They play a game, as the girl did, and they hope to win. )

Less than you would think to ask. ( And politely: ) As of now, your lives.

[allforthecause]

My life is worth nothing to you.

[ he says it with the pure blunt knowledge of knowing he is correct. Sure, his life is worth something to him, but this creature would kill them in a heartbeat and not care. ]

So why pretend to bargain with it? It’s nothing to you whether I stay or I go - whether you let them eat me —

[ He gestures without looking to the creatures around him. ]

Or you let me walk out. So there’s no reason for me to trust you or give you anything more than I’ve been paid to tell you.

Threatening us won’t get you anywhere. Do you want information or not?

[ Bluff and bravado - like he would a Hutt - and he knows he’s taking a risk. The knife in his boot would be lucky to take down one of those creatures, let alone a pack of them, and while Kahl’s gun might keep up for longer it wouldn’t be enough.

But if Rathakku thought he could be bought…?

Well.

He’d much rather this wasn’t a suicide run, thank you very much. ]

[kahl_175]

[Kahl snorts, grumbling to Brasso.] Pay not great either. No profit here, brother.

[If Brasso wants to pretend to be a mercenary, Kahl will go along with it. The man speaks faster and better than he does. Especially right now--the unfairness of this place is making Kahl angry. When he gets angry, it gets harder to talk.]