Day 1 | Evening | Any Landing You Can Walk Away From...

[Kannon]

[I won't be pedantic here; let's assume you closed the hatch before departing.]

[Hadrian Martikova]

When Bern divvyed up the camp supplies his pack became over encumbered. He hid that fact since he was the only civilian in the group. And the ants made him visibly recoil since he'd missed them completely. That thought made him wonder what else he'd been missing up to that point. All of this effectively killed any confidence he had left in his own abilities. But there would have been very little indication of any of this in his body language. And he was otherwise taciturn as they continued their trek.

(Have their been any more explosions in the distance?)

[Kannon]

[No.]

So far, no more of their lost equipment could be readily found on the way. But as it was getting darker, it was also getting... brighter? At first they didn't seem to discern why was that but once a certain threshold of luminous contrast was crossed to their likely amazement they discovered that leaves of certain trees glowed blueishly. Ever so faintly, and then stronger. It didn't seem like the standard bio-luminescence, however, even though at this scale it would be impressive nonetheless. Something else was at play.

[Laila Bridger]

"Well, that's a new one."

Neither particularly well-read in non-fiction nor exactly the most thoughtful of souls, Laila had little else to contribute.

But she did drop back to check on Hadrian.

"Hanging in there?"

[Ambrose Pantazis]

As the darkness encroached on them, Ambrose pulled a glowglobe out of his crash kit. Before he could activate it though, he looked back to see what Laila was drawing attention to and took note of the blue tint the dim light was taking on. "Seems a bit out of place. I've seen something like this out on the water, but never in the trees like this."

[Bernard Martikova]

"Some comfort in the fact we're not going in here completely blind." Bernard looks at the leaves with some curiosity as they trekked their way thru the forest, avoiding that ant hill as far as he could. "Sort of pretty in a haunting way."

[Kannon]

Thanks to the glow, it was easier for them to notice that the jungle was getting less dense and more traverseable. Some distant sound of crashing waves finally pierced through all the avian and insect noises of the rainforest at night. Fortunately, nothing had jumped out on them so far and now was less likely to do so.

Just when glow trees became sparser, they still managed to witness the next phase of the jungle's nightlife - patches of plants of the undergrowth started briskly flowering, attracting pollinators, and that included the ants they had already seen. Some of them smelled nice, the others rather pungently, and there were those which had the odour of a decaying corpse.

[Optional Ecology or Survival Roll vs. Average]

[Hadrian Martikova]

"Well, that's a new one."

Neither particularly well-read in non-fiction nor exactly the most thoughtful of souls, Laila had little else to contribute.

But she did drop back to check on Hadrian.

"Hanging in there?"

"Mhmmm, yeah I'm good." He lied, "Just keeping an eye on things." He somehow managed a grin despite his misery. "I would ask how you're doing but... you seem to be in your element."

The mushrooms didn't seem to surprise him.

Survival vs Average: 2eP+1eA+2eD 4 successes, 1 threat

[Kannon]

Wild rubyberries! Hadrian knew them, they were very edible!



[Threat stored]

[Ambrose Pantazis]

Ambrose doubled back when his lead started to take him firther from the group. "What've you got there? Oh, nice find Martikova. Those'll be a nice supplement to our rations. Add some much needed flavor too."

He took up a guard position, looking outward so the others could gather some of the berries. Making use of this small break, Ambrose examined the blue glow emanating from the leaves. He also toggled off his glowglobe to check the berries for any residue of whatever was causing it.

-----
D1, Evening, ALYCWAF, Blue Berries?, Ecology: 1eP+2eA+2eD 2 successes, 2 advantage

[Kannon]

The berries Hadrian found, for once, were just berries, no residue of them. The glowing leaves were mostly too high to investigate too closely from the ground level, but the glow seemed to be coming from the juices circulating in them through veins, not from anything they oozed, and an ever so gentle a pattern of brightening and dimming could be discerned. They were also evenly spaced on the twigs, never clustering, as if they repelled each other?

Either way, Mr. Bravo soared off to 'participate' in collecting rubyberries.

[Laila Bridger]

"Mhmmm, yeah I'm good." He lied, "Just keeping an eye on things." He somehow managed a grin despite his misery. "I would ask how you're doing but... you seem to be in your element."

She gave a species of go-to-hell grin.

"I've had a lot of experience in complete shitstorms. You're doing fine, especially for a first-timer."

And then there was locally-supplied food! And they didn't even need to beat anybody up to get it...

[Bernard Martikova]

Well, he didn't want to say it, but everything going okay so far. Some food (also a small source of liquid), some light, most of their gear in varying degrees of state. "Little brother over there has got a good head on him for this stuff, fortunately. Not too bad so far." He didn't know the first thing about plants.

"Could much much worse for survival." He paused and looked to the others, keeping his eyes forward, not just looking past the trees, but thru them. "So, where do you all hail from? Likely know where we come from, if my brother and I did our task right and we tried to sell you some wine."

[Laila Bridger]

"So, where do you all hail from? Likely know where we come from, if my brother and I did our task right and we tried to sell you some wine."

"Born on Ecaz. Served there, on Grumman, been doing merc-work here for the last three years."

[Bernard Martikova]

"Oh yeah, Ecaz; the Fogwood planet. You do some art as well? Not assuming everyone there does, of course." Bernard smiled as he looked at her. "Grumman, though I know of from stories from other veteran Atreides soldiers about serving there during the war; never had the pleasure of going there myself." He sighed deeply. "Well, I'm damned lucky to have you around here in this particular shit-storm, Bridger."

[Laila Bridger]

"My only art's profanity, Sarn't. Practiced it a lot on Grumman, because that was a pig's ear."

Young as she was, it might have been hard to picture how young she must have been going into that particular war.

[Bernard Martikova]

"My only art's profanity, Sarn't. Practiced it a lot on Grumman, because that was a pig's ear."

Young as she was, it might have been hard to picture how young she must have been going into that particular war.

Bernard laughed at her comment. "It's a good fucking art, that's for sure."

[Laila Bridger]

"Fuckin' right it is. More therapeutic than prayer, an' it leaves more scope for creativity."

[Hadrian Martikova]

"I've had a lot of experience in complete shitstorms. You're doing fine, especially for a first-timer."

"Yeah... so about that-" He started to say when out the corner of his eye he saw the berries. "Oh, those are edible if I recall."

He bit one of the berries to be triple sure and waited to see what it did to his mouth. Once sure it was safe to eat he finished it and caught everyone else up.

Then everyone chimed in and we're caught up to the present. Hadrian knew they'd eventually have time to talk. For now at least they had food, and a few more finds like this? Especially an animal or some fish. And they'll have a calorie rich meal in the making.

"I... don't know about those mushrooms. Not sure if they're safe to eat."

[Kannon]

It was possible to mentally mark the location of the rubyberry field as the wall of trees seemed to be thinning directly to the north. The gibbous moon showed itself before dusk would fully set in.