[D5 SMS] Sandworm Watching

[Bomilcar Thorvald]

Bomilcar looks to the man. The thopter would need a place to be kept to avoid being damaged if they were to ride out the storm. There was a chance that it could go down because of the storm when they head back. "Get thopter to safety. Good luck with storm." The implication being that if the Sardaurkar wants to risk the storm that's his prerogative.

"Come back after storm, if still alive. We'll find way back if not," he coughs out, the talking getting to his throat. He nods to the man. The Thorvald bastard clearly has more faith in the cave than he does in the thopter near a storm that was already killing communications.

[Kannon]

The Sardaukar scoffed and got back to the craft, taking it back to the Chin Rock.

The Sietch below awaited.

[Bomilcar Thorvald]

Bomilcar unwisely took the lead, out of habit. At an instinctual level he knew better and should have just stayed near Ahmina, but his training and surprisingly his curiosity drove him to move forward in the front.

[Kannon]

He would soon enter a bigger cave; utterly dark. The presence of bats above their heads was detectable even through nose filters of their stillsuits, though there was also some chirping movement. It wasn't 'the sietch' yet, but the entrance had to be somewhere around, for the stones under their feet were polished by centuries of walking.

[Kannon]

It was a real sietch, Ahmina knew it, one her people used at least intermittently. That meant a lot of things, including secrets no outsider should ever know. If an offworlder were to be let into it, it should be under special pledge, a bond of water, and only in limited manner. She was sure he couldn't find the entrance to the sietch proper in this cave if she did not show him.

[Bomilcar Thorvald]

Producing a glowglobe from under his jacket, he tapped it on and lit the way dimly for the two of them.

[+2 threat to have glowglobe]

[Kannon]

The light dispersal stirred the creatures above, amounting to hundreds of wings. Even though the light didn't exactly reach them - a portable glowglobe was too weak - some sought a new place to perch under. It was like a ripple across the slope foretelling a threat of avalanche.

Then, Bom would recall a fraction of conversation from the Count's banquet, between the Suk Doctor and the Guild Banker: all predators on Arrakis were adapted to be water-stealers. Those bats, they likely were blood-drinkers...

[Bomilcar Thorvald]

He picked his footsteps quietly and put his hands around the glowglobe to further limit the light it gave off. He wasn't trying to get himself killed by a swarm of bats.

[Ahmina]

Mention of an old Fremen woman and, especially, of a Tahaddi al-Burhan picked Ahmina's curiosity. Was this outlander put to the test? Perhaps. Maybe he could prove himself different and understand the Fremen way.

Ahmina's steps became shorter, letting the man slowly outpace her. When the glowglobe came alight she was outside of it's immediate radius and she only sinked further in the darkness as to not lose the darkvision she was gaining.

Let us see how you adapt

[Kannon]

The smell of bat feces was overpowering; there might or might not have been an air current. The cavern was surprisingly large as the pathway led deeper below the narrow entrance; and yet, it was strategically sound to imagine that if such space was used by anyone, it was to a strategic purpose of having a lookout over the Pass. What was the way forward though?

The light was dimmed to the point it didn't disturb the bats; however, it also didn't provide much advantage this way, just preventing from tripping on a slippery walkway that at this point had no beginning or end.

Curiously, the storm outside, which was likely approaching, couldn't be heard in the slightest. An odd stillness of sound, just steps.

[Bomilcar Thorvald]

Bomilcar started looking for a path through, hoping to get beyond the bats so he could use his light more freely.

[Kannon]

A citation from the Orange Catholic Bible appeared in his mind out of nowhere.

When God hath ordained a creature to die in a particular place, He causeth that creature’s wants to direct him to that place.

Why wasn't Ahmina saying anything? Why was she away and behind, not taking the lead? Surely, she should be showing him the way.

His heart was for the meek, and the meek shall inherit the universe. But who were the Fremen? So far, they had appeared to him both self-reliant, and self-contained, paying Harkonnen with brutality for brutality. With a specific sense of fairness, but still. This didn't seem to begin to exhaust who they were though. What would their place be hiding, and was he even supposed to reach it? Perhaps he couldn't find the way forth because it was maliciously covered from him, and his Fremen guide had been taking care that he wouldn't find anything, or that he wouldn't leave this place? He'd dismissed the Sardaukar without thought how it could influence the odds of his survival...

The bats seemed to be everywhere, there seemed to be no escape from the rustling ceiling of their simmering agitation.

[Bomilcar Thorvald]

He looked to the bats on the ceiling and then to the ground, the light at his feet. He tucked away the glowglobe once more. Curiosity... was not enough. Not to get him through this. His heart may waver at the confusion, but it did not feel fear. Was he putting too much stock in the Fremen? Or were they here? Were they watching him? He didn't know, but last time he was out in some unknown place with Ahmina... they had stalked and observed. He pulled a small cup from his things. Something that was far more useful on other worlds where water could be found and drunk readily, a cup that he used when he didn't trust the cups of his host. And he carefully drained a bit from one of the catchpockets into the cup. Water.

At a loud whisper, hopefully not enough to disturb the bats. "For children of Arrakis. Some of my life."

Ahmina was included in the offering as he turned to look for her.

[Kannon]

Bom's right instincts collided with the primal brutality of life on Arrakis. Kindness was a double-tipped blade. There was a rustling then a screech from above, and several shapes darted down toward Bom's cup! It wasn't even Bom's words; those creatures were this sensitive to any water!

[Bomilcar Thorvald]

Bomilcar was a bodyguard. He knew to react to the unexpected as quickly as possible, and he had already been wary of these bats. His finger immediately goes to his shield belt and flips it on. These creatures had no hope of getting through the shield without any understanding of how they worked and driven by thirst.

He sighed as he made his way toward the exit so that he could eventually set the bowl outside. Hopefully they'd just tear the cup apart and their activity would send them out in search of water elsewhere.

"Unfortunate."

[Kannon]

The bats plopped against him like and avalanche, wearing his shield down in dozens of impetuous hits. Of course it was worse for them, they slipped off the Holtzman field rattled or injured, sometimes dead, and their own turned on them, cannibalising their water. It was a gory show of Dune's cruel necessities.

Getting toward the exit would be harder than what he'd wished: uphill, slippery, and under the weight of furious, though decreasingly impetuous, bats, as the shield prevented the molecules of water vapour from exiting too rapidly.

[Bomilcar Thorvald]

He was slow and steady in his efforts. He did not wish to end up slipping and spilling this water trap that he was carrying.

[Ahmina]

A voice came in the dark

''You have good instincts...but no wisdom to guide it''

a pause

''Drink it: it is safer in your body in a cup''

[Bomilcar Thorvald]

He does as told drinking from the cup. "Five days. Wisdom of Arrakis takes more," he says. "Teach me?"

The onslaught of bats likely continues for a bit.

[Ahmina]

''Wisdom comes at a cost. Are you willing to pay?'' the voice replies

[Bomilcar Thorvald]

"Always pay costs," he says, pointing out the scar.

[Ahmina]

''We will see'' she replies ''Follow me''

Footsteps now were audible

''And keep your light closed...there are other ways to sense your path.''

[Bomilcar Thorvald]

He turns the glowglobe off and tucks it away, nodding to her.

[Ahmina]

Now in the lead Ahmina began looking for the hidden sietch's entrance

''Tell me Bomilcar...who are the rulers of Arrakis?''

[Bomilcar Thorvald]

The literal answer was Harkonnen, the bigger answer was the Emperor, but the Fremen would not think that way. It would be something connected to the cycle of life here. Hebe had spoken of the creatures seeking eternity. The most powerful and capable survivors that lived with no real predators... "The sandworms."