Chapter 5.0

Chapter 5: Seek a Witnessed Accounting
Opening Scene: A Place of Keeping Three days have passed since Tomas Kade was carried through the starport gate.

The Cutter’s sickbay remains dim for his recovery. Its medical systems have brought the infection under control and restored much of what illness and poor nourishment took from him, but the repair to his abdomen still needs time. Kade is awake more often now. He can sit up and speak for a while before fatigue sends him back to sleep.

Náhri has made a place beside his bed and remains close whenever he is awake. Máren Tlohái Hídaska visits to hear Dr. Shone’s assessment and confirm that the terms witnessed at the gate are being kept. The Hídaska guards maintain their watch nearby. The Cutter’s narrow passages require everyone to make room for one another, but the arrangements aboard have become familiar enough that each visitor knows where to go.

Word of Kade’s passage has reached the city. Messengers come with inquiries about his health, the witness cords, and the agreement that permits treatment aboard an offworld craft while Náhri continues to keep him. Ziyótl takes care with each answer. A change of one word could make the agreement sound as though the Hídaska had surrendered Kade, or as though the Scouts had accepted a new obligation.

Outside, Sera has noticed some visitors returning by different routes. Captain Verik brings provisions and news of further questions at the starport. No one has openly challenged Kade’s movement. Still, the number of people asking about it makes clear that other Alejia are considering what the agreement might mean.

Kade listens from his bed while the latest news is discussed. Voss is sitting beside Kade’s bed. They listen as the questions being asked around the starport are repeated: who witnessed Kade’s passage, who now bears responsibility for him, and whether the same arrangement could apply to another Scout.

Kade glances at Voss, he asks for a moment to gather his thoughts.

Tomas Kade: "When they brought us to the Hídaska, we came together. Silvia, Feng, Ilse, Freja, me. I thought that meant we would stay together until someone decided what to do with us."

He pauses, looking toward Náhri and then Máren.

Tomas Kade: "The Hídaska took responsibility for all of us. I understand that much better now than I did then. But as the days went on, different people had reasons to speak for different members of the crew. Someone sheltered one of us. Someone tended an injury. Someone said a promise had been made, or an act needed answering for."

"I heard pieces of that," Voss says. "Never enough to know what was happening."

"We didn’t know either." Kade rests for a moment before continuing. "I kept asking where the others were. The answer always came back to who was keeping them, and who had witnessed what happened."

He looks around at the crew.

Kade’s hand settles carefully over the edge of his blanket.

Tomas Kade repeats again as if he was defending his actions during confinement "I kept asking where the others were. He looks around at the crew.
Tomas Kade: "We arrived as one crew. Now there’s an accounting for each of us."

EDIT NEW
What does the crew do next?

Kade can speak for short periods, and the questions reaching the starport suggest that someone else may be willing to discuss the missing Scouts. Each of you has a different way to help turn what Kade remembers into a witnessed accounting.

Virel — Liaison: What question would you ask Ziyótl and Máren to learn how the crew can seek an accounting for another Scout without changing Kade’s agreement?

Chaala — Leadership: Kade may remember names, places, or promises, but he needs rest. How do you organize the crew’s next steps and decide which lead to pursue first?

Dr. Shone — Medic: How much can Kade safely tell the crew today, and what signs would make you end the conversation?

Bohdie — Recon or Sensors: With Sera’s reports of visitors taking different routes and Verik’s news from the starport, what movement or contact do you try to trace?

Describe your approach and make the indicated skill check if you use that skill these are all average task targets with appropriate skill and stat DMs. You may take a different action instead.

Virel listened to Kade’s explanation without expression, occasionally glancing toward Ziyótl and Máren for any reaction or sign that his words might need adjustment. When Kade finished, Virel turned toward them with a respectful expression.

"We have listened to your words and to the obligations your people carry, and we are beginning to understand how each member of our crew now has a separate accounting."

He paused for a moment.

"However, there is another obligation that has not yet been spoken of. Among the Scouts, these people are not simply separate individuals. They are one crew, and they share the responsibilities that come with being part of that crew."

He glanced briefly toward Kade.

"We cannot erase the obligations that have formed around each of them. But neither can we erase the obligations each member carries toward the others."

Virel looked back to Ziyótl and Máren.

"We need to understand how the obligation of the crew as a whole can stand beside these separate accountings. How do we recognize both without breaking either?"

Chaala settles back, happy to let her cultural expert take the lead. She listens to and nods along to his points.

"It does make me wonder, and as long as we're on the subject, what parts of obligation can be transferred or aggregated. It seems that, while we deal with the Hidaska as a whole, the obligations attached to each crew rest under the Hidaska but maybe also others or some sub unit. If the obligation can be satisfied in aggregate, allowing the Hidaska to collect for all under thier knots, it might be faster. If doing so would cause problems in the future, then we would not pursue it."

Ziyótl listens closely as Virel speaks. At the mention of the Harrier crew as something more than its separate members, Ziyótl glances briefly toward Máren. The glance is not one of confusion. It suggests that Virel has approached an important Alejia distinction from an unexpected direction.

Máren remains still through most of Virel’s question. Only when Virel asks how the obligation of the whole crew might stand beside the separate accountings does Máren’s posture change. Máren leans forward slightly, hands resting upon the knees. Some of the reserve maintained aboard the Cutter eases.

Ziyótl takes several moments before answering.


Ziyótl: "The Hídaska accepted the Scouts together. The keeping belongs to the Hídaska. That has not been divided."

Ziyótl looks toward Kade before continuing.


Ziyótl: "But the obligations beneath that keeping were divided. Different members of the crew received shelter, food, treatment, protection, or words spoken on their behalf. Witnesses bound those acts to separate cords. The Hídaska continue to keep every Scout, but the accounting beneath each Scout is no longer the same."


Máren speaks quietly in Alejia. Ziyótl listens without interruption, then translates the words with care.


Ziyótl: "Máren says that the crew is one bundle placed beneath Hídaska protection, but each Scout now carries different knots within that bundle. The knots do not separate the Scouts from the Hídaska. The knots determine what must be remembered before any Scout may be moved, released, or carried before another authority."

Máren touches two fingers to one of the cords at the wrist, then places those fingers against another cord without crossing them.

Ziyótl watches the gesture.


Ziyótl: "One cord is the Hídaska keeping of the crew. The other cords are the obligations attached to the individuals within that keeping. The smaller cords rest beneath the greater one. None replaces it."

Máren studies Virel for several moments. The expression remains serious, but no longer closed. Virel’s words have not challenged Hídaska authority. Instead, Virel has recognized that the Scouts retain obligations toward one another even while the entire crew remains beneath Hídaska care and security.


Ziyótl: "The responsibility of the crew may stand beside the Hídaska keeping. It cannot remove a Scout from that keeping, and it cannot untie an individual cord. But it may give the crew a recognized reason to speak whenever one of the Scouts is accounted for."

Ziyótl glances toward Kade and Náhri.


Ziyótl: "That is already happening here. Kade remains within Hídaska keeping. Náhri continues to bear immediate responsibility for Kade. Your people provide the treatment Kade requires because the passage was spoken and witnessed. The crew’s responsibility did not replace any of those things. It allowed all three responsibilities to stand together."

Máren gives a small nod.


Ziyótl: "If the Hídaska recognize the Harrier crew as carrying a shared obligation toward one another, then the crew may ask for an accounting of every Scout beneath Hídaska keeping. The crew may ask where each Scout is sheltered, which Hídaska bear immediate responsibility, what cords have been tied, who witnessed those cords, and what must occur before another passage may be considered."

The importance of the answer becomes clear. The crew does not need to dispute Hídaska keeping in order to seek the others. The crew may instead ask the Hídaska to account for every Scout already under Hídaska protection.

When Chaala asks whether the separate obligations might be transferred or gathered together, Ziyótl becomes more cautious. Máren raises one hand, palm downward, signaling that the matter must be approached carefully.


Ziyótl: "An obligation may be transferred, but the transfer must remain within the Hídaska accounting. The Scout does not cease to be kept by the Hídaska merely because immediate responsibility passes from one Hídaska hand to another."


Máren adds several sentences in Alejia. The words come slowly and deliberately. Ziyótl waits until Máren has finished before translating.


Ziyótl: "Máren says that the Hídaska may gather the cords for one accounting. The cords need not remain hidden in separate rooms or carried in separate memories. Those who bear the cords, and those who witnessed the knots, may be called to speak before the Hídaska."

Ziyótl turns toward Chaala.


Ziyótl: "That would not turn many obligations into one obligation. It would place every obligation before one witnessed gathering. The Hídaska could then hear the accounting of the crew as a whole and the accountings attached to each Scout."

Máren makes a gathering motion with both hands, drawing several imaginary cords toward a common center. Máren then holds the hands apart, showing that the cords remain distinct even when brought together.


Ziyótl: "The Hídaska may receive satisfaction for obligations carried beneath Hídaska keeping. But satisfaction cannot be declared in one sum unless every cord has first been named. If the crew gives one payment without knowing all the knots, an overlooked witness or bearer may later say that the obligation was never answered."

Ziyótl pauses before addressing Chaala’s suggestion directly.


Ziyótl: "Your thought may still shorten the path. Do not first ask that all obligations be exchanged for one price. Ask that all the obligations be gathered into one witnessed accounting. Once every cord has been named, the Hídaska may determine which obligations can be satisfied together and which require a separate answer."

Máren gives a slow, deliberate nod. The response is more than permission to ask. It indicates that Chaala and Virel have found a form of request that respects Hídaska keeping while challenging the confusion created by the many separate cords.

What is now clear to the PCs is that neither Ziyótl nor Máren speaks of why so many individual obligations were created so quickly after the Scouts entered Hídaska keeping. Máren’s responses suggest that such complexity is possible within Hídaska custom, but unusual. The obligations may appear proper when considered separately. Only when gathered together does the larger pattern begin to emerge.
That is:
The Harrier crew was accepted as one group beneath the protection of the Hídaska. Afterward, a dense collection of payments, services, promises, and witnessed obligations accumulated around individual Scouts. Minor leaders within the tribe could each have added a knot while acting within a limited area of responsibility. No single act would have required the Custodial Warden to reconsider the Hídaska keeping of the crew. No single individual would have needed to see the structure being created.

The complication is real, but it is not permanent. A witnessed accounting would bring records normally held by separate Hídaska functionaries before the same authority. Every Scout could be named, every cord identified, and every witness heard. Differences in dates, payments, sponsors, wording, or repeated witnesses might reveal whether the separate obligations arose naturally or were encouraged as part of a larger design.

Such an accounting would not accuse the Hídaska or challenge Hídaska authority. It would give the Custodial Warden the first opportunity to see the entire accounting of the Harrier crew.

The path is now open, but the request has not yet been formally made.

How does the crew ask the Hídaska to gather the separate cords of the Harrier crew into one witnessed accounting?

Virel may use Liaison to frame the request in Alejia terms. Chaala may assist with Leadership or Admin by defining the authority and purpose of the crew’s request. Another approach may be attempted if the players describe how it supports the petition.

Task: Formally request a witnessed accounting of the Harrier crew

Primary Skill: Liaison
Supporting Skills: Leadership or Admin
Difficulty: Average, 8+
DM: +2 from Virel’s earlier Liaison success

There is also information that Bohdie may further reveal.

Bohdi is very careful with the Hidaska envoys aboard, taking care to not be seen checking and/or working with the sensors, satellites and JEEM upstairs. With JEEM’s help, he does his best to put tracking bugs an any activity seemingly related to Cade’s movement. He also sets the internal sensors to record the conversations around Cade for later review.

Bohdie looks over the patterns being recorded by the orbital presence with Sera’s observations added and compared. Coordinating with JEEM, they make sure each ‘runner’ gets a bug(tag) and starts processing sophant recognition on each one. Then he investigates by comparing the already known patterns with the new patterns.


Investigate skill + INT/EDU (2d6+4

Chaala thinks back to her time traveling to get back home after the loss of her ship. "If it's not documented it didn't happen. It's not much different from the most Vilani elements of our bureaucracy. We just need to get and review all the receipts and such. Then we can do a full accounting and get the Hidaska reimbursed for all the services that produced the obligation."