Fwurg

[Mercury]

Jaicen looked around and found that there were trees both big and small. In fact, the whole thing here was trees, trees, trees. And rocks. And more trees. It was a forest after all.

However, what wasn't available were trees with low branches that were easy to climb. In fact, most trees pushed their branches as far up as possible, in an attempt to get closer to the light. The best Jaicen could find was a tree which was covered not in slippery moss but in the vines of ivy.

Ajava meanwhile made her way up an older tree despite the difficulty - though it was still slippery, this one had a bulging growth at the four meter mark, allowing her to run up the tree, then push off from the bulging growth to grab onto a "low" branch, low being quite a bit further up, but with her enormous jump, she managed to make it.

Trigiel found that climbing trees was, in fact, very different to climbing buildings - trees were far more slippery when wet, but on the other hand, they allowed you to dig into the wood, something not possible with concrete and steel. Using his Force Jump, Trigiel was able to make his way up to the lower end of the canopy, leaving just Jaicen on the ground.

While Jaicen planned his ascension, Shebi and Trigiel found themselves up in the canopy, with just one minor hitch. They were apperantly now in the middle of a nesting ground of a large flock of colourful birds. They'd probably best use a little bit of stealth to get up to the woman, who had somehow managed to get well above them, or they might disturb these bloated looking birds.

((OOC: A stealth check might be appropriate, but perhaps you have other powers you can use. Note that Jaicen is still on the ground below))

[Shebi Ajava]

Ajava notices that this is an actual nesting ground, which convinces her about the seriousness of the situation.

Looking around, she decides that with this many birds around one or two of them are bound to spot her. And knowing bird colonies, this means that these one or two will cry alarm. And then the whole flock will begin to take action; most likely something she'd rather avoid.

Falling back on her extensive experience from the wilds of Mirda, she observes the birds behaviour to get a feeling for their instincts. Believing that the Force connects all living things, she uses her connection with the Force to soothe the animals as she slowly walks among them.

She traces a path based on intuition, rather than simply forging forward towards the next branch that she jump off of. As she walks among the birds, she pays close attention to them, since an opportunity to observer these colorfoul birds is not likely to repeat itself.

((Check: 20 = 10 Force Level + 6 Intuition + 3 Wilderness Survival + 1 Befriend Animal -- Using Befriend Animal's default power to befriend local wildlife))

((OOC: I deliberately left the other two to fend for themselves here -- Ajava might go back and look for them if they don't show up later on.))

[Jaicen Hedoss]

Jaicen was a tad sad that he could not find a place to climb on a tree. Completely oblivious to the birds, he yelled upwards to the other Jedi: "Could you please pull me on your position? The other option is to cut down some trees, but that might not be the best idea."

[Mercury]

Ajava carefully moved amongst the birds, which watched her, but didn't seem to consider her dangerous for the moment. To them, she was a predator, but one that was hunting for bigger game than them and who's presence actually made things safer as now the smaller predators that -did- pose a threat to their nests wouldn't approach. ((OOC: Check succeeded!))

However, their almost tranquil mutual understanding was soon disturbed when the birds heard shouting below, and they started chirping to one another with agitation, which Jaicen could hear up above. Fortunately, they kept it at shouting... for the moment.

Caught in the middle of it all was Trigiel - Ajava the birds might be ignoring, but they seemed very suspicious of him, and he'd probably best act quickly if he was to avoid the animals anger!

[Fecta Trigiel]

Trigiel, seeing how the birds got agitated, decides to retreat from their nest for now. During his last experience with agitated animals (inside a laboratory), this also was a working strategy to not getting eaten. As the cyborg sees how Jaicen is utterly unable to get anywhere, Trigiel climbs down again to the lowest branch he could find. He looks for a vine or other rope-like material. If there was none, he grabbed his own 15 meter long rope and lowered it for Jaicen to grab.

"Careful," he said as softly as he could to Jaicen, "there are angry birds up there ready to eat you."

((Check: 15 = 7 Force Level + 6 Vision + 2 Force Vision -- Looking for a natural rope.))

[Shebi Ajava]

Ajava weighs her options.

She came here to accompany the two Jedi that so greatly wanted to come here -- the two Jedi that seemed least suited to visit this world. If they want to shout and make a ruckus, they deserve the shit they are literally calling down on their heads. She did, after all, warn them that she was not going to babysit them.

On the other hand, this is a a good opportunity for them to get an appreciation of nature, and the place the Force has in it. She feels that Trigiel still sees the Force as a tool to use when necessary. She has no idea about Jaicen. Yet, seeing him sputter around like this, she tentatively presumes that he too has a very tool-oriented mindset. Tools have the tendency to make everything appear as a problem to be solved.

Maybe she should go back, and teach them about this.


Giving up her chance to observe the birds up close, she stalks back downwards. Gently hopping from branch to branch as far as possible, letting gravity do the work for the last distance. She lands on the ground next to Jaicen, crouching to absorb most of the fall with her legs.

"Or", she speaks with a hushed voice, knowing Trigiel's cybernetics can easily pick up the sound of her voice, "you could look at this from another perspective. Many creatures have come here and went up into the trees, and not many of them had to use a rope. Why should you have to?"

"You are in no hurry. There is no reason to get up there as fast as possible. Slow down a bit, so you do not blind yourself to the world. The natural world has a lot to teach you. Especially this natural world."

She let slide the fact that Jaicen was actively trying to anger the Poopingbirds, despite being warned by the Xomlirga just moments ago.

((Check: 19 = 10 Force Level + 7 Fitness + 2 Acrobatics -- safely getting down and landing))

[Jaicen Hedoss]

"Well, I suggested other methods, like trying to meditate and try to talk to these living trees, since they are alive, but you guys did not respond to that."
You could probably not detect it, but he was a bit agitated by the arrogant Jedi Master.

"And these creatures are differently evolved than me, and did not have lightsaber accidents, yet the difference between organisms is the reason they are up there and I am here, not the force. The force could guide us though."
Jaicen then lets go of the rope/Tree Trigiel tried to provide for Jaicen, walks to a tree and sits down in front of it.

Trying to focus on the environment and the tree Jaicen tries to feel the force within the specific tree and tries to say: "Hello Sir Tree."
((Check: 10 = 5 Force Level + 5 Energy -- Trying to connect to the tree/environment))

[Shebi Ajava]

((OOC: @Jaicen: since you said "probably not detect it" I checked my scores, and assumed that with a 15 on (Force Level + Vision) Ajava has some idea that he is agitated, if that's not enough; let's throw it on a Jedi Master's intuition... Also, I wasn't trying to be arrogant, and that is definitely not the tone Ajava is using -- if Ajava uses a certain tone of voice, I'll explicitly state it.))

"It is up to you to try something, Jaicen.", Ajava replied friendly, "The fact no one responds to your suggestion is no reason not to try it."

She shook her head, as Jaicen's second sentence seemed to ramble on -- and somehow connect the concepts of evolution, lightsaber accidents and the Force.

"And I did not say anything about the Force, nor about lightsaber accidents. I only suggested that you look around before you turn to using tools and missing out on the intersting things on this world. Tools have a tendency to make you see every problem as only another obstacle to overcome, and that's a pity."

"Oh, and all living trees are alive", she smiles, "And the way trees reach the canopy is to grow higher."

[Jaicen Hedoss]

((OOC: Well, then you do, but revealing emotions is a bit iffy, since they are my emotions, which I decide if my character shows them or not. And I know that your character is not arrogant OOC, but that is not how Jaicen sees and feels it.))

"Hmm, that is true." Jaicen ponders after shebi's remark about living trees. "A well, I am trying to connect now. See you in a bit." And Jaicen closes his eyes, still glued on the back of his robot.

[Shebi Ajava]

((OOC: I completely agree with your assessment that revealing emotions is a bit iffy. But "probably not detected" means "not detected with a high likelihood" instead of "undetectable", so I interpreted that as you leaving it up to the other players to determine if their characters picked up the subtle hints of agitation. If you want, I'll update my post to reflect that Ajava did not catch them.))

[Mercury]

Trigiel was able to find some vines nearby, but withdrawing from the birds meant he had to go much lower into the canopy, leaving him out of sight of Ajava, and with still some way to climb up. If he did, he'd need to be extra careful as the birds were now "primed and ready". Regardless, he wouldn't know Ajava had dropped down besides Jaicen.

Ajava meanwhile landed safely by Jaicen, a rope coming slowly down from the canopy above them as Jaicen attempted to talk to the tree.

Unfortunately, the tree was not feeling in the mood for conversation and instead photosynthesised away as if Jaicen wasn't even there. Quite rude really, these trees. But Jaicen did feel a warmth from the tree. From all directions really. The whole forest seemed warm and alive. But the energies were up higher. Here they were still present, but dampened, not as strong as what radiated from up above.

With the rope / vines that Trigiel had lowered, perhaps Jaicen could make his way up and perhaps he could get a better connection there. Then again, perhaps that was technical thinking, as it more resembled wifi than then the spirit of the forest so to speak.

[Shebi Ajava]

Ajava ponders her actions. At the moment she has no way of more concisely expressing the ideas behind the lesson she wants Jaicen and Trigiel to learn. Ajava decides that she might as well go up into the trees again.

She takes a running start, and speeds back up into the tree she ran up earlier. Jumping from branch to branch, she stalks into the nesting ground again. This time she traverses the nesting grounds and continues her journey upwards.

This way, she would at least be above the Poopingbirds when they are angered by the other two Jedi.

((Check: 18 = 10 Force Level + 5 Vision + 3 Wilderness Survival -- Finding a route upwards))

((OOC: Not sure if I needed to take a check for continuing upwards, so I added the generic wilderness check. My checks for getting back into the trees and traversing the bird's nesting grounds have not changed. I repeat them here for ST convenience:))
((Check: 18 = 10 Force Level + 5 Vision + 3 Wilderness Survival -- Spot good tree))
((Check: 20 = 10 Force Level + 7 Fitness + 2 Acrobatics + 1 Force Speed -- Rank 1 Force Speed to run up the trunk and start dashing between branches))
((Check: 20 = 10 Force Level + 6 Intuition + 3 Wilderness Survival + 1 Befriend Animal -- Using Befriend Animal's default power to befriend local wildlife))

[Mercury]

Ajava managed to find her way back up into the canopy, passing by the poopingbirds and finding a spot to sit comfortably well above them from which she could watch the inevitable chaos down below ensue.

[Fecta Trigiel]

Trigiel waits patiently for Jaicen to climb into the tree.

He uses the time to meditate on his surroundings a little more. The cyborg closes his eye-light and focuses on the force. He tries to feel Jaicen, Ajava, the trees, the birds and continues along the way to get a better understanding of the forest.

((Check: 11 = 7 Force Level + 4 Intuition -- Meditate to feel his surroundings))

[Jaicen Hedoss]

"Allright then" Jaicen said after a minute, "I want to have a better connection, and top is the way to go then. And I was thinking I was being smart by not being technical and stuff."

Meanwhile TG-100 walked towards the rope and tried to fasten it around itself. He also checked the strength of the rope a bit, hoping mid-air he wouldn't fall down.
"I am coming up!" he said to Trigiel, hopefully loud enough so that Trigiel would hear him, but not loud enough to startle the birds. And TG-100 started to climb the rope.

((Check: 8 = 5 Force Level + 3 Fitness -- Trying to fasten the rope.))

((Check: 8 = 5 Force Level + 3 Strength -- Climbing the rope))

[Mercury]

((OOC: I've been putting this off long enough because I felt bad about it, but I believe it is time T_T))

TG-100 started to climb the tree, slowly making his way up the vine. With a hand from Trigiel, the droid - and Jaicen with it - were lifted onto the lowest branch.

For a moment, Jaicen felt a disturbance in the force, but he soon realised it was not the force that had been disturbed by his and Trigiel's efforts. Above them, the already agitated birds had decided that it was probably a pack of hunters that was climbing up towards their nest.

First there was a drop of brown rain which leaked onto poor TG-100's head, but before anyone could show any compassion for the droid, the skies bursted open again as they had the night before, but not with clear water this time. A cloud of brown sticky, smelly liquid launched itself down as the sound of a balloon that had been released before putting a knot in the tail end echoed through the jungle.

Within moments, the entire generic area where Jaicen and Trigiel had been - including the two jedi and innocent TG-100 - were covered in a layer of muck. No doubt if they had intended on eating the poopingbirds or their eggs, they now had entirely different concerns.

But at least they were up in the trees, and from here - with the pooping birds bowels emptied out - they would be able to reach Ajava without further incident.

Up there, the woman who had given them the climbing instruction earlier jumped onto the branch where Ajava was sitting, nodding to the Jedi Master.

"They are out of their element, aren't they?" she confided in the Veolian woman, with a look that combined pity, willingness to help and a hint of desperation as to how to do that.

[Shebi Ajava]

Ajava returns the nod.

"Very much so, I'm afraid."

"They were very excited to come here. But I'm not sure what they were thinking would happen here.", Ajava's face was more expressive than usual, mirroring that of the woman beside here.

Ajava does not have clue how to start explaining to the other two Jedi that they could've looked at how other creatures in the forest ascend the trees; and simply telling them to do so wouldn't give them the same insight as discovering it themselves would. Now they forged their way forward without really learning anything from the world around them. Besides "do not anger the poopingbirds", that is.

[Fecta Trigiel]

For a moment, Trigiel stands there, totally flabbergasted.

"Maybe I should had put some thought in why they were called 'poopingbirds'."

Then the smell starts to penetrate his smell receptors. Which both his hands tied with getting up Jaicen and his mind occupied with standing on the branch which is now probably very slippery, the cyborg just could not do anything about that. Therefore, Trigiel decided to tie the rope to one of the branches. With his hands free he cleans the worst muck from his sensors and joints. He let Jaicen climb the rest on its own.

He did wait for the young padawan though so they could go together to Ajava and the Xomlirga: "Well, that did not really went well..."

((Check: 15 = 7 Force Level + 4 Strength + 4 Mechanical Engineer -- tying the rope to free his hands))

[Jaicen Hedoss]

((OOC: Okay, sorry for responding too late, it goes so slow that I almost forgot about it. :D))

"Well crap." Jaicen said, covered in poo. "I should've taken an umbrella with me. BAH BAH BAH BAH." Meanwhile Jaicen's TG-100 continued climbing through the bushes. Arriving at Ajava and the Xomligra: "Well, that went less successful than expected." And while brushing of some poo from his head with a piece of cloth he says: "What could go better and what is our next Trial!".

[Shebi Ajava]

((OOC: I was on the verge of assuming you had stopped playing FWURG. When you did not post here, and you did not react to the Fwurg Aniversarry: Sunday 17 april 2016! invitation either, it was unclear if you were even interested anymore. Good to see you're back!))

Ajava raised an eyebrow at Jaicen's statement. She had the idea that he had the misconception that this mission was somehow a school where he would get graded, and then simply move to the next topic of study.

Her concern visible on her face, she looks to the Xomlirga to see what it would do.

[Jaicen Hedoss]

((OOC: No, I just forgot about it, with my moving, dating-issues and larps. The 17th I had to perform with my orchestra, but I didn't see the thread. My excuses. I really should post more often since I like it here.))

Jaicen sees the eyebrow on Ajava and a little bit confused: "Hmm, I still don't get it, do I?"

[Fecta Trigiel]

"I think I finally get it. But I think it will be a better learning experience for my padawan if I don't spoil my idea yet."

[Mercury]

Jaicen and Trigiel finally found their way to Ajava and the Xomlirga in the upper canopy of the trees. Up here there was much more light than below and everything was green, leaves vieing over sunlight, branches making their way through them like pathways, in turn covered with vines that had grown over them to cheat and get up higher.

"It is better not to anger the poopingbirds" the woman explained even though the lesson, like the two Jedi, had been covered. "Come, I will take you to the lake tree so you can wash. Try to keep up! And don't fall - its a long way down."

And with that, the Xomlirga shot off again, running barefoot over any horizontal branches, jumping onto another as she led the way north, swinging along a vine and jumping from tree to tree and from branch to branch like some sort of weird monkey. It looked like it was a lot of fun too, but damn, she was fast!

((OOC: Give me some checks to keep up with the Xomlirga! Lucky for you guys, this time there aren't any birds to hinder your progress. I will leave it up to you if you want to use jumping skills or speed skills or athletics ability, but you can only make -one- check for following the Xomlirga (you can still make other checks for other purposes). If you make more than one, I'll use the lowest value.))

[Jaicen Hedoss]

"Allright then. Let's do this." Jaicen said, still covered in some poo. "Shall we use the rope to bind each other together so if someone falls we don't have to start down?" If the answer was negative Jaicen's TG-100 started to walk somewhat carefully over the branches, following the woman. He did not trust the atlethics of his TG-100, so he did not run.

((Check: 5 = 2 Untrained Skill Force Level + 3 Fitness -- Joy, what a number....))

[Shebi Ajava]

"I think starting again from the bottom is the least of your problems if you fall.", Ajava says as she looks down into the depths of the forest.

"I do not want to be bound to you two. Being pulled down when someone else falls seems like a stupid plan. Why not simply find a route that matches your abilities?"

Ajava looks at the Xomlirga swooshing through the trees.

"I do not think you will like what I am going to do next. But I am confident that you will be glad that you learned this lesson by yourself, instead of relying upon someone else to pull you through."

Ajava took a running start of this big branch, and kicks off from the branch. Jumping from branch to branch, and bouncing off of tree trunks, she follows the Xomlirga seemingly without caring for the other two jedi.


Unbeknownst to them, she did not actually leave them alone. She just wants to give the impression she did. With a few dashes she moves out of their sight, and quickly stalks around to shadow them a few branches lower. That way, if one of them falls down, she can prevent them from falling to their death -- but this lesson of self-reliance is not something they will really take to heart if they know there is a safety net present.

Once the pair is near the Xomlirga, Ajava plans to quickly move ahead again to arrive before them. But she only does so if the situation provides enough safety that they won't fall to their deaths just as she moves ahead.

((Check: 20 = 10 Force Level + 7 Fitness + 2 Acrobatics + 1 Force Speed -- leaving))
((Check: 22 = 10 Force Level + 7 Fitness + 5 Stealth -- stalking the pair))