IC Story Thread: Chapter 1, Gamorr - the Diplomats

As the transports rumble and lift off packed with bodies, perhaps the most salient thing that you notice here which hasn't been as noticeable before, is that ... Gamorreans have very different personal hygiene standards ... from what might be more common in the Inner Core.

The trip is a relatively short one though, 10 minutes or so, and you soon land in a small, clear-cut field amongst an otherwise dense, but low, jungle canopy.

Upon disembarking, you see there is a small building, possibly some sort of military outpost based on it's appearance, at the fringe of the clear cut area.

There is some hubbub as the Gamorreans organize themselves into smaller hunting bands, which Forest translates for you as it goes along.

You're welcome to either each of you go with a different band, or stay together with the both of you going with a single band.

As you disembark, a humid, windless heat hits your skin and breath, as well as an earthy - but not unpleasant - smell of plant aromatics and the natural and healthy process of plant-decay that underlies everything in an ecosystem like this.

After the hiss of the doors and the roar of the shuttle engines subside, the sound of insects and distant animal squawks and hoots fills the ebbing silence.

The area is one that has been clear-cut a long time ago, and you can see at it's fringes that the forest is fighting to reclaim the area with tall ferns and shrubs and dangling vines obscuring the boundary between clearing and wilderness.

The Warlord is again speaking, this time with the aid of his shuttle's loudspeakers to overcome the ambient cacophony, and Forest translates. The speech is just oriented toward coordinating hunting grounds and time-lines, so that all groups know where they can and should be, and by what time they should return to the clearing, for their results to count in the competition.

After that, the groups each begin trudging off into the... jungle, you think is the closest word for the kind of forest this is. And this where First bids you farewell, as he doubts his ability to navigate the terrain. Once you breech the natural shroud of plant-life that hems in the clearing, you find there is little undergrowth beneath the canopy - except for large fungi growths. The ground is uneven, with rocky protrusions here and there, and most of the surface you walk upon is squishy. Water pools quickly in your footsteps, but is just as quickly re-absorbed by the ..."soil" (which is characterized by some sure of thin-stranded, tangle ground-cover that almost looks more like coarse hair than any plant you're familiar with.

Kolibri reaches out with Force and he feels it flowing through him, he also feels it flowing through the living things near him.

There is ofc Cevron and the Gamorreans, but there is more than that. So much more. This strange fungus jungle teems with life. He senses a few creatures below ground level, they must burrow within the strange coarse and tangled fiber substrate, or be submerged in the waters or muddy soil of pooled water.

And he can also sense life in the canopy above. No doubt the origin of the squawks and hoots.

...

Cevron finds that he's picking up the words of the Gamorreans decently well, the few guards whom you're all familiar with from the previous evening must be simplifying their speech or slowing down and over-pronouncing their grunts and squeals. Or perhaps the primer was just somewhat useful.

Between gestures and one word directions, you get the impression that they're going to start by laying down some traps. Placing polished bits of metal on the ground, along with some snares, and then signaling that a net or javelin can be used if any Quizzer come for the bait (the shiny things). Those who choose to lie in wait can cover themselves with camouflaged cloths.