Session export: GJW XVII - [Team JeOoAyEr]

Portown was where people from all walks of Collective life could mingle. In a way, it was the heart of Nei'kapo, somewhere everyone could have in common. It was only natural that when the Taldryanites received their orders—"Find Rath Oligard"—they begin their search here. Wherever the Collective’s leader was, he knew someone who walked the streets of Portown. After all, he didn’t live and work alone in that giant mansion of his, and the people who worked for him had to eat and shop somewhere.

As if on cue Aylin popped up into view with her mouth stuffed with dumbling like food.

“The foof is fanfasic,” she said with a stuffed mouth.

“Ugh, you are such a child.”

The Nautolan just grinned widely as she emptied her mouth before speaking again, “Thank you! Means I didn’t lose my inner child. Either way, don’t they say you find the person were you least expect it?… Or something like that.”

Siky chirped in agreement to which Aylin gave her little droid a thumbs up and then looked towards the little group.

“Plans?”

“Find out who takes food to the Oligard Estate so we can use them as an infiltration route,” Erinyes explained. “I doubt Rath himself comes down here, but one of his guards or staff probably does. Once we find them, we have a way to our target.”

“Look for anyone who looks like they might be a Collective agent. They probably stand out like… well, like we do.”

“Rath Oligard seems like the kind of person who rules by fear and an iron fist. You know, the same things he accuses us of doing,” Erinyes snorted. “Everywhere has its social climbers, people who would do anything to get on the good sides of those in power.”

“Someone’s bound to have enough of an ego to brag that they work for the guy in that big, gaudy mansion. It’s just a matter of listening and being persuasive until we find out who they are.” Listening and gentle persuasion were far from Erinyes’ preferred tactics, but if she’d learned anything from being a diplomat, it was that solutions didn’t always require violence.

Aylin nodded while the plan was explained, but her mind was already running in different directions. Sure they weren’t exactly friends around here, but the vendors wanted to make sales one way or another. A bit of buying here and there might also loose lips enough that they would speak.

“Hmm… a status symbol? Can we poke enough to cumble the symbol?”

“How would you suggest we do that? Make them look bad until someone challenges us on Oligard’s behalf?”

“Something like that. Watch this,” Erinyes said, then raised her voice so everyone in a nearby radius could hear it. “The Brotherhood is running rampant in the system trying to kick down the Collective’s door and Oligard’s letting them do it!”

After a moment’s pause, Erinyes reached out with the Force to judge the reactions of the crowd. Most of them were trying their best to ignore her and go on with their day, but a few spots of light shone through the emotional gloom: frustration, indignation, defiance. Whether those feelings would help or hurt her case, she didn’t know, but at this point she’d take any kind of momentum she could get.

“I don’t see any Collective soldiers down here, just a bunch of zealots with pitchforks,” Erinyes continued. “What happens if the Brotherhood sends real troops to capture this district? Are we supposed to fend for ourselves?”

Now, fear was starting to collect in a current among the crowds, and Erinyes’ preaching was starting to turn heads. “What’s this ‘we’? You’re not from around here,” one woman called out, as if the Brotherhood scout team didn’t stand out enough already.

“Yeah! Just leave, we don’t want any trouble!” another man shouted.

“Aylin, get ready to scan for any outgoing comms,” Erinyes said. probably unnecessarily; the Nautolan was smart and very good at her job. With any luck, there would be Collective informants in the marketplace who were relaying Erinyes’ attempts to disturb the peace up to their commanders on the Oligard Estate grounds. Interrogating them, and hopefully slicing their comms, would get the team a step closer to finding Oligard himself.

The Neti had been wandering through the town for a while already. He was horrifically lost after he’d wandered off the shuttle. It’d been quite a strange day so far. He’d fallen out a window of the facility he was kept in, snuck aboard a ship soon after. After realising Erinyes was using the ship and had taken off, Ood decided he was safe and could take a nap. Once landed, Erinyes left the ship, supposedly off to do something urgently since she hadn’t even locked the ship or raised the gangway. He had carefully chewed through his straight-jacket and then emerged into a market. It’d been awhile so he decided to go shopping for groceries. An hour later, still not finding any vendor selling said groceries, he’d given up. Half an hour later, he jumped up and wandered to a stall after realising it was an antique market.

Standing in the rapidly angering crowd, Ood watched as a female Zeltroni, or was that Zeltron? Regardless of who or why, they were preaching against someone called Oligard. The name sounded familiar, the haze of his medication still fully obscuring various details his mind was trying to fill in. As the crowd grew more and more upset, the Neti looked around and assumed the speakers were the enemy, even though that looked just like Erinyes, and was that an Aylin lookalike?

Leaning in, Ood remarked to a woman who was seemingly leading the mob. “Should we perhaps seize these outsiders and deliver them to the mansion? I mean, listen to what they’re saying…” Somehow, thank the Force, nobody seemed to notice Ood was not a local himself as he began to help efficiently organise the mob and organise the march to carry the now ‘captured’ group towards the Oligard mansion.

“We should probably also call the boss right? I mean to tell him we have captured these people in town?” The Neti leaned in once again to try to manipulate the mob surging around him by this point. “Hang on, shouldn’t we disarm and tie them….gurk”

Ood’s hands moved fast, one quick smack and then pretending to catch him. “Whoa buddy, you need to better hydrate..” A while later, a large segment of the mob had turned back in order to head back to the village while about five were still there, leading the unrestrained, still armed, ‘prisoners’ towards the front gate of the rapidly approaching mansion.

At the gate, two security guards stopped the group, listened to the explanation from the six locals and a few minutes later, the three guards ordered the five locals to head back to town, they would handle the prisoners. “Someone run ahead and go call the boss about this attempted invasion.” Ood the security guard remarked. Sometime later a device on Aylin’s belt beeped to indicate an outbound message. Turning to the other guard, the old Neti smiled. “I’ll take them to the dining room, can you go check with the kitchen when the meal will be served? We can’t keep our guests waiting too long right?” Once they were alone and into a room with a massive table, Ood looked over the group and asked. “So what are we doing here?”