As the group charges forward with weapons swinging, and the pirate do likewise, one of the pirates calls out, "How about if we talk first? You guys are trapped on Volturnus whether you kill us or not." He does not relax his guard and will attack if attacked. The pirate who called out is pirate number 3, currently armed with an axe and attacking Jim and Alzarix.
ALYSON: If Alyson hears him. She yells out,"Everyone hold your attacks. A deal is being offered."
CIARA: When one of the pirates suggests they talk first, Ciara's expression turns wary. "How about you stop trying to kill us first!" Ciara keeps up her attacks on the pirate she's facing unless he backs away, making it clear he's no longer attacking the group.
ALZARIX: He will hold his attack unless attacked. If attacked he will attack back.
GM: I will send the next turn with assumption that Mykel, Alzarix, George, Jim and Carter stop attacking but remain wary and ready to continue the battle if necessary. I will assume that Ciara will continue to attack pirate 2 unless pirate 2 steps back (i.e., if pirate 2 ceases attacking but does not step back, I will assume that Ciara will attack).
GM: I plan send the next turn later today or tomorrow.
CIARA (GM): If Pirate 2 makes it clear he is not attacking, she'll hold her action.
All combatants seem agreeable to listening to whatever it is that the pirate has to say and, while they remain wary and watchful, they stop attacking for the moment.
The pirate who spoke up says, "Look, you guys are in a bad way no matter how you look at it. Even if you kill us, you are still stuck on this planet. You can never get offworld. I know that you are some of the passengers who escaped us when we captured the Serena Dawn. Here's what I propose. We have no reason to keep any of the passengers of the Serena Dawn. The only thing we want is to keep the UPF and everyone else off of Volturnus for awhile so that we can tend to some business here. We plan to hold the passengers for a couple of months and then send them all back to Pale unharmed. Why beat yourself up and try to survive on this hostile planet? Give yourselves up to us and we will escort you to safety. You will be fed and given adequate quarters and then, in a couple of months, you will be back on Pale none the worse for wear."
ENSIGN FURY: George waits for others to speak up first and, when they don't, he replies, "That sounds like a very bad deal. You guys have been trying to kill us since the Serena Dawn entered this system. What assurances do we have that a single word that you are speaking is the truth? How do we know that, even if we do surrender, you won't simply kill us out of hand." George remains very watchful of the pirates, suspecting some sort of trickery.
ALZARIX: That all sounds fine and dandy, but I myself find it hard to trust. The first one of you I met on the ship, insulted me and shot me with his pistol. Then here you want to talk about this but the first action you talk is to shot at us with lasers rifles. You and yours seem to be putting for a rather bad perception of intent.
CARTER: Not believing what they are saying - not the feed and water and DEFINITELY not the "send them all back to Pale unharmed" since we will have time to gather names and all kinds of information on them in the interim.
CARTER: keeping an eye on where all the pirates he can see are and ready to start where he left off trying to get some more nicks on his nightsstick...
ALYSON: She says, "No way. You blew up the ship. Killed people. Time for you to die."
CIARA: "That's quite an offer, but we cannot accept it. As the others have said, your group has done nothing to earn our trust. We prefer our chances on our own here. Why don't you lay down your weapons and we'll spare your lives. Then you can go back and tell the others we're not giving up. Maybe you can just let us be, how about that?"
The pirate turns to address Ciara, apparently seeing her as the most level-headed. "Okay, so you don't trust us and don't have any reason to seeing as how we've been shooting at you." He smiles as he says this.
"So we can go back to fighting and you'll kill some of us and we'll kill some of you and one side or the other will win but people on both sides will die. Or we can bargain some more. Laying down our weapons is no more palatable to us that it was for you for exactly the same reason. With no weapons, there would be nothing stopping you from killing us out of hand. So how about this. We go our separate ways and no one dies. You try to survive on the planet for awhile and either live or die and, if you live, you will probably seek us out at some point and surrender so you can get back to civilization. Or maybe you won't. Maybe you find a nice place on Volturnus and decide to live out the rest of your days here."
The pirate leader points down the passage behind him and says, "the exit to the caverns is thataway. You should reach it after a couple of hours of hiking. We'll hang out here for a couple of hours and then follow, with the assumption you will be long gone by the time we reach the exit. I expect that you guys will be watching your backs expecting that we might try something and we will be cautious in case you guys try to set up an ambush in the tunnels ahead or at the exit." He pauses and waits for the group to respond to the offer.
CIARA: The young scientist nods to the pirate on his assessment. She glances at the others then replies, "That sounds reasonable. Let me confirm with the others and we'll let you know our decision."
ALYSON: Alyson hears the new offer and says, "You could have wired the exit. You could know another way out of here. You been here a lot longer plus you can track us with your copter."
PIRATE LEADER: "Yep, those are all true statements. Maybe we wired the exit to explode. Maybe we know another way out of here. We have a jetcopter that we might divert to keep searching for you though personally I don't see the point. Meanwhile, you guys back off a few meters and talk it over and we'll back off a few meters and anxiously await your decision." He smirks as he says this last bit.
ALYSON: Alyson says,"How about this one of us will watch you while one of you watch our group. Just to make sure either group will try to screw the other."
PIRATE LEADER: "You mean right now while you are talking things over? Sure. We're not going anywhere."
GM: The two groups separate, with the pirates retreating back the way they came and the group returning to the tunnel entrance to the cavern. Both groups are in sight of each other and are watching each other warily as they talk quietly.
CIARA: "It is curious but my guess is they didn't think we'd be so well armed and overrun their position. Thus it was an attempt to avoid getting killed but it's an excellent question. My question is, are there any downsides to us accepting? I don't have a problem defending myself from attack but I'm not sure I can bring myself to gunning down someone asking to negotiate."
ALYSON: Alyson making sure her voice dosen't carry ,"Why offer us this deal? Do we out number them or are we better trained then they are?"
ALYSON: Alyson says,"They started this fight. Killed people who shouldn't have been killed. Are they regrouping for another fight. Using this to get an upper hand by calling more of their people in? If we follow their tunnel they could be setting up another ambush."
ALZARIX: I think we have the upper hand they all looked a bit beat up. I say we send our robot in there to collect there weapons and if they want to object than so be it otherwise we will just mossy on down to the exit. After all they can get more weapons when they get back to there base.
CARTER: Not a fan of negotiating with murderers and people that shoot first and ask questions AFTER we charge and engage them. This sounds like a threat (do what we want or else...) and I disagree with talking to them any further.
ENSIGN FURY: "A couple of points that I want to make. First is that I generally agree that we can probably defeat them. As Alzarix says, we have the upper hand. We seem to outnumber them - I counted five of them - and some of them look a bit beat up. That said however, I don't think we will defeat them without taking casualties on our side so we need to be prepared to bury our own dead after this battle."
ENSIGN FURY: "My second point is whether we gain much by fighting them. Assuming we defeat them, we will obviously gain their gear but is that worth the death of one or two of us?"
ENSIGN FURY: "That said, my vote is to avoid this battle and depart, watching for any signs of betrayal. They will probably be doing the same."
GM: I was out of town for a long weekend but plan to send the next turn tomorrow. My assumption at this time is that the group will avoid the fight if the pirates hold up their end of the deal and will head down the passage being wary of any traps that might lie ahead of them as well as guard their rear so that they are not surprised by pirates overtaking them. If this is not what the group wants, let me know.
ALZARIX: Passing them makes sense to, but we need to get going soon before they get there feet back beneath them, either way we go. |