"So the argument must be won before the council of naibs." Chatt concluded.

"My naib is Merkur." Kroba said, waiting for the tension to abate. "He's not like Stilgar." Whatever that meant. Korba made way and gestured into the entryway into the caverns below the landing plateau of the ridge while looking around to the shadows among the rocks that most certainly hid sentries....

There was tension, but none jumped to their feet. It looked like they didn't misread the intention. Or it was some other reason. Korba looked at it. "It's a good knife." He said politely. "But it isn't a crysknife. And Liet is not here. Sheathe it." There was insistence in his voice. "Fremen wouldn'...

"Naibs must decide. Or Liet, if he comes on time. I understand there is urgency?"

"Liet is away. We've sent out cielago, and wait." Chatt paused, careful there. "Then I'd let them harm the Harkonnen. Just like I did when we traded with them. But is it that they can do it, or they can't and just want us do it instead?"

There was a murmur and shuffling of feet around them. Korba was half-abashed by this turned, but he composed himself quickly, though Bom could see him religiously awakened.

"Then you'd be asked: where is your crysknife."

The travelled maybe two levels down, though it was hard to say in a tube, and the board had only keywords, not levels. There were no guards posted here, no Harkonnen bravos brandishing their lasguns. Instead, a neat metal corridor, well-lit, leading to a number of what looked like offices in a corpo...

Chat shrugged.

"It seems that the question is less about the smugglers and more about the offworlders. The true issue the naibs dispute."

"It's bad to be so entangled with the smugglers." Stilgar shrugged. "They have a price for everything." Perhaps it were his genuine thoughts, or just a general sentiment among the Fremen he chose to be a mouthpiece of. And yet Dorian heard no malice in his voice toward those people. "So this is what...

What Bom realised was that he was among a collective of Fremen here who belonged to different tribes, had different naibs, and those naibs represented non-identical outlooks, perhaps even belonged to rivalling factions. Korba wasn't Stilgar's, so he must be here at the behest of another naib, as cou...

"That would be even more foolish. If you aren't afraid of our warriors, you should be of our women and children." Korba chuckled. "You have a way of going around though. We're far away from Harg Pass. This is the moment for the naibs to decide whether to let you outworlders run around more, or stop ...

"The favour the auditors asked my boss for was to give them an off-the-grid landing spot. Cave of Birds was the closest to the real thing we could offer them without betraying our own positions. Since it looks like Tuek wants them to succeed in some way though, he's also provided them with some dese...

Cybillus finished his drink. "Let's go then." He rose and started moving out of the bar. Those whose positions shuffled restlessly in reaction to that were likely those people Dorian had in mind. They were indeed many, as if there was indeed hardly an accidental patron in this place at this hour... ...

"Nothing we have here can force the Harkonnen to leave." Stilgar remarked. "How exactly do you want to cause it then?" He wanted an answer to this before he addressed the matter of the smugglers. Perhaps there were other issues related to that, like the opinion of those watching... [Understand 2 to ...

Instead, a familiar man would find him instead, right when he'd get into trouble by walking where the Fremen weren't allowing them to enter. https://i.imgur.com/QIm5I0U.jpeg "Careful." The man who, upon dropping the face flap revealed himself to be Korba, said. "Not every sietch can you just walk in...

Stilgar measured him. "Offworld help always comes with a barb. What exactly is that you're trying to offer here?" He asked with some scepticism, but also interest.

"Might not be that hard. I can show you the way to his office as a basic courtesy, though I believe if it's on House business that you're approaching him, I can't aid much beyond that. The interests of our houses are not exactly... aligned."

Stilgar would come over long before Dorian would reach any kind of perimeter they'd been implicitly awarded. There were probably eyes following him from beyond him.

"You look like you want to speak, outworlder."

"You probably mean the outsiders." He shrugged. "It's less work with them and more settling a debt of honour. Not mine, that of my boss. Still, we're in your hands because of that, clearly. It's got way out of control."

"I accept what you say. It still feels unclean though." Chani shrugged. "Something for later."

She of course had this Fremen characteristic of being able to sideline bugging concerns to revisit them at a less sensitive time. For now, it was all about approaching Orgiz unseen.

/scene

"You have already taken all our things." Bannerjee said matter-of-factly. "Except for our lives."

"He's a business acquaintance. I represent Richesian commercial interests, he's an importer of our fare. Mutellis are not known for operating in the tech sector though, are they?" It was Ayawa, but he wasn't correcting Dorian. He wasn't petty.

"It was hard. I'm not sure if they discovered us." Chani said matter-of-factly. Her attention was at the pathways among the higher dunes that allowed them some cover, even in the sun.

[Challenge Cleared] Bom and the others could tear down the camouflage just as Chani got behind the controls. Time was of the essence, as the hum-buzz-flap of the other craft behind them was audible to a keen ear. Once they'd emerge from over the massif, they'd surely take the chase. Fortunately, Cha...

[4 Successes, -2 for difficulty, -1 for subpar stillsuit + 2 for Constantly Watching = 3 Successes]
[12/15 Cleared]
[17 Threat]