Pulse of the Imperium

The damp, refreshing jungle morning helped the team gathering to seek trail of the murderers of the Muadh awaken and be ready. They converged on the gorge area which Ambrose had descended into with Efren and Kiran the previous day.

The morning light signaled a new day. A new day the people who'd torture and discarded those young Muadh walked this jungle. Ambrose would do his best to correct that. In the near future.

The first step was tracking them down. Hopefully, they'd been sloppy. Relying on the brutality of nature and the indifference of man to cover their tracks.

The day came and (fortunately) nothing too bad came with it. No more angry mantas attacks, supplies were good, spirits were high.

"You feeling alright after your little injury, Pantazis?" Bern caught up to him, glancing up and down to ensure he was safe, doing his best to keep a eye on things as they trekked along the path some followed the other day.

Cuyler wasn't a tracker, but she was very perceptive. She wanted to be useful and this seemed more productive than waiting at the thopter. At the very least, she could keep an eye on their surroundings while the others focused on the trail.

"Yeah Sarge." He flexed his hand, "Right as rain and ready to rock.

I'm a bit surprised you aren't sticking with your brother and heading out to find the local Muadh. Did you figure I'd be the bigger trouble maker?" He asked jokingly.

The arrival of Cuyler was equally surprising. "Lady Gray. I wouldn't have bet on you gracing us with your presence on the trail. But I guess anyone who can survive Arrakis shouldn't be underestimated."

The jungle was more inviting than the previous day, its bustling biodiversity more a point of curiosity than a source of menace. Its verdancy in the light of the morning, peppered with the colours of birds and flowers, iced with remnants of the morning mists, seemed as inspiring to the eyes as an elaborate meal would be to a palate. It certainly made Cuyler feel creative and think of novel cuisines.

Of course, it was most likely misleading, given their general threat sense and prior experiences. But it was damn hard not to lower the guard a little bit.

Something that could bring back the focus were the machete-like cut marks leading deeper into the jungle. While not always easy to trace as jungle seemed to be re-expanding at astonishing rates, they must have beed made for the sake of an easier pathway to somewhere in the rainforest.

[Survival, Perception or Vigilance, Hard with a Challenge and a Setback, the choice indicating different approaches, everyone can try.]

There was slight movement ahead of them, and into focus came Lydia who hadn't followed immediately.

"Don't fall behind, this way" she said simply, turning to lead on following the tracks she found

D2 something wicked thread. Survival, Self-reliance statement. . Boost from knife, removing setback from tracking. hard with an upgrade: 3eP+1eB+2eD+1eC 2 successes

He really didn't know much about following a trail, but his senses were always sharp to danger abound. Bern kept his senses attuned to the natural world around him, preparing himself with gun in hand for something bad.

~~
Day 2 | Morning | Something Wicked This Way Comes | Vigilance in this troubled times

Net Successes: 3; Net Advantages: -2
Triumph!

Cuyler was well aware that the beauty of the jungle did not reflect its dangers.

- - -
Day 2 | Morning | Something Wicked This Way Comes, Hard Perception, Uncanny Senses, “What one wishes were true is seldom so.”: 1eA+3eP+1eB+2eD+1eC+1eS 0 successes, 1 advantage, 1 Triumph

[Before Ambrose adds his effort: triumphs can be stored for future rolls, used fore one-time permanent skill raise or used to make a quick discovery that may or may not be related with the pursuit.]

"Best listen to the nice lady with the big gun. Words I've lived by most my life." Ambrose offered as they trekked ahead.

He did his best to keep an eye out on the markings in the trees, but the resilience of the jungle was on full display and his mind wandered to other things. Namely the various ways he could extract justice once they found the culprits.

Mr. Bravo seemed content to nap lazily, nestled into a nook he'd worked into the top of Ambrose's kit.

-----
Statement: "Salvation through duty"
D2, Morning, Something Wicked, Perception: 2eP+1eA+1eC+2eD+1eS 0 successes, 1 advantage

No perceiving here.
1adv banked

[I need declarations from Cuyler and Bernard on triumphs before making resolution post.]

Lydia made sure that they would pass quite a distance into the deep jungle along the machete-carved track, and unperturbed by any natural traps, topographical or biological. Before they would arrive at any destination that would break this relative monotony of nature's wet glory, Cuyler, whose thoughts were otherwise wandering, had accidentally spied a glint in a tree hollow, one of those Ambrose could identify as 'glowtrees' even though they weren't demonstrating this property in daylight...

A bit later, Bernard would think he had seen something too. It looked like...

[Letting one Triumph to resolve while waiting for the other Triumph declaration.]

[Player Pool: 2/0; GM Pool: 2/0]

While not wanting to delay the group or be separated from them, Cuyler was curious about the glimmer.

"A moment please. I thought I saw something."

She approached quickly and carefully.

When she looked into the hollow by climbing to her toes, she could directly see the source of the glint. It was a black, metallic eye, with some matte lens to limit reflectivity, so it was a small miracle that she'd noticed it. It seemed to be butted hard into the tree's core, possible extraction requiring some tool. Cuyler wasn't an expert on such things, maybe it was something out of the Assassin's Handbook, maybe not, though no needle had sprung with her initial glance. To her, it looked Ixian though, mostly because anything suspiciously sophisticated or technologically mysterious looked Ixian to people and triggered unease about possible violations of the Butlerian precepts. It seemed to be operational, and the eye was facing her, watching back... There was no telling if it had any remote connection.

Quickly falling in step behind her, Ambrose remarked, "Buddy system. There's no saying what kind of traps or diversions may have been left out here between the Muadh and the cartel. Hell, even our VIPs might've left some surprises behind."

Lydia had stopped, arms crossed, watching.

"I imagine this isn't the only one." She nodded and stepped back. She turned to face the direction the lens was facing. "Is it just watching the trail?"

It seemed so.

"Well, it's already seen us. If there was an immediate threat, I'd likely be dead now." She moved back towards the others. "But, we don't know what will happen if we cross the path of another."