[IC] Lost in Dreams [Elijah]

[ericthered]

Ivan: "OK, how do you plan to explain it to the others? Its not terribly easy for us to move around with the prisoners. And we won't let you go off on some scouting expedition without one of u--- I just volunteered, didn't I? Right, we'll go and at least talk to them again, and see if we can work anything out. "

The scouting expedition will have to be in the morning-- and the secundians don't seem to have made their decision yet. Elijah will have a chance to talk to them relatively soon when he has guard duty in the afternoon.

[Talosian]

Elijah agrees to the scouting mission, and will occupy the time until his shift with the Centran datapad he'd previously distracted himself with. (The catalog of worlds datapad.)

[ericthered]

Ivan gets permission from Harold to go on the expedition. Its true purpose isn't stated, of course.

its not terribly difficult to find the tribe. As the two of them approach (wearing skins, but carrying fire-arms), people recognize elijah, and several children come running. Elijah quickly recognizes fast tongue, who starts talking before anyone else can.

"Lost! You are here! I thought you left. Did the fire mountain convince you to come back? Who are you with? No, you will not give me his proper name. You have a talking axe? thats what those are, right? If you have your axes you must have found your tribe! So you are Found. We call him lost, so now you are Found. Or is he Found now and you are something else?"

Ivan gives Elijah a glance and a roll of his eyes. "I am watching axe. my friend needs to speak to the the elders of the family."

Fast Tounge: "The men are out, will you be happy talking to my mother?"

Ivan nods, and Quick Tounge runs off to get her.

Small Hands and Sees Much come to talk to the two men.

[Talosian]

Elijah chuckles. "I'm definitely still Lost, in every sense of the word." He finds somewhere to sit while waiting for the women to arrive, and invites them to join him when they arrive. "Your fire mountain spoke to me last night, though we didn't get along very well. It apparently brought me here, though why it brought me instead of someone else I cannot fathom. I told it that I didn't know how to solve your problem, but it made it extremely clear that I would find a way or suffer the consequences, so here I am." He looks intently at both women before continuing, "Like I said, I don't have a solution, but I do have some information to pass on. The decisions, however, will be yours to make. The problem you face is that the prey population in your territory has been hunted to a dangerously low level. If something doesn't change, people will starve."

"I don't know the lands around here well, but the ideal solution would be to move your territory. There must be lands that have not been claimed or hunted, but I don't know where you'd have to look." Elijah grimaces. "It was expressed to me that the lands to the south were ideal, but as I understand it, that is the land of the Terrible Claw tribe. I don't know enough of them to know who would win that battle, but I'd recommend avoiding the bloodshed if you can." At this point, Elijah retrieves the bow he'd been working on*, "The other possibility is to change your hunting methods. If you can find a way to successfully hunt the water mountains, that should solve your problem, at least temporarily. This is... Well, it's not a talking axe, exactly. Think of it as a tool to throw small spears very far, and very fast." Elijah explains how bows work and are made to the best of his knowledge before continuing, "I don't know if you will be able to make this work, but if you can, you should be able to use them to hunt the water mountains without putting yourselves at risk."

"As I said, the choices are yours to make, but I will answer any questions that I can." Elijah turns to Ivan and adds, "And if you have any suggestions, I'd welcome them."

*I don't remember if he took the incomplete bow prototype with him, but I figure that either he's had it, or he left it with the tribe and can find it. If not, oh well.

[ericthered]

The woman seem to disprove when he mentions he didn't exactly get along with the fire mountain, but nod with his explanation, not saying anything. The bow was left at the camp, but fast tongue knows exactly where the children put it (it has been a favorite toy, known as 'the no-talking axe'). Ivan listens quietly up until fast tounge brings back the axe. at which point he breaks into laughter:

Ivan: "That? you want them to go hunting water mountains with that? that's not a bow! Thats a bend stick with a little spring in it. They can make arrows all right, and this will technically launch arrows, but it won't take down a -- actually, you know what? you [points to Elijah] aren't trained in this, but I am. What was the old volcano thinking! I've been wandering around this place with a head full of ancient survival techniques for who knows how long, and the fire mountain asks-- I'll tell all of you what. I'll build the bow. I just want an audience with the volcano."

The women are quiet for a moment, before one says "The fire mountain only talks to shamaan..."

[Talosian]

Elijah chuckles, "I make planes, not bows." He waves his stick-bow, "For a urban civilian, this is pretty good." Elijah frowns when the women say that the fire mountain only speaks to shaman. "Huh. I don't know if it'll communicate with me again, or if it could communicate with you... I had the impression that I was the only one that could hear it last night."

[ericthered]

Ivan: "that might explain why the mountain picked you instead of me. In which case-- <explicative>. I needed to talk to him. Do you think next time you see him you could alert me? And then 'interpret' between the two of us?"

"Any way, we've go to get you back: you have guard duty. I'll take care of the teaching though. Urban civilian. Its better than most could do, I suppose. Anything left to say to these folks?"

------------------------------------------------------------------------

While Elijah is guarding the prisoners, he is told yes: They do want to attempt escape.

[Talosian]

"Yeah, I can try. I don't know if the mountain would put up with it, though. It was a bit crotchety, and we didn't part on friendly terms."

------------------------------------------------------------------------

What time is it? Elijah doesn't think he'll have a chance of freeing them unless he's on guard duty and it's already night. Also, does Elijah know where the remaining Bar-gas round is? Would he be able to access it stealthily when the time came?

[ericthered]

Ivan: "We each have something the other one wants. Its the basis for all negotiation. I bet we can get him to talk."

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Its just after noon, so yeah, no breaking out now. Elijah will probably be able to find the bar gas if he puts some effort into it, but he doesn't know off the top of his head. Accessing it stealthily is a trick -- its not in an easily accessible place, but its not behind a loud clanky piece of metal either.