New day's findings...

[tomcat]

The companions finished the breakfast and decided it was time to start another day of their investigation. Most went to their rooms to use the refreshers and shower up, only to regroup once they were ready for their day.

Dan led them first to Neja - it was time the lady revealed everything she knew. They knocked on her door and she opened it, allowing them to enter.

[watanabe]

Emerging from the refresher, Kara felt refreshed as if something had given her a magical pick-me-up.  Looking around she smiled and followed as Dan took the lead, and hung back towards the edge of the group.

OOC:

I sent you a PM Tomcat... 

[tomcat]

[OOC:] Hey everybody, I know how PbP can kind of stagnate when it comes time to RP'ing back and forth (waiting for someone to reply to an inquiry, or waiting for your GM to post a damn post! ). Anyway, my point is, to expedite the conversation with Neja, if you just want to give me a post with all the questions that you would ask her and I will give a narrative and all dialogue based on the Q&A.

[GandalfOfBorg]

OOC: I apologize, crises at home abound 
Dan thanks Neja for seeing them and with as much compassion as he can muster asks her about her relationship with the deceased and of what she remembers of that night.

[BrianM]

We know there was a Rodian at the scene, and we know she saw him from her reaction to Brim. Brim would like to know if she remembers anything in particular about the Rodian, or if she thinks she could identify him or his companions from a picture. (BTW I have assumed here that the Rodian is male, but that's not necessarily the case)

[donimator]

Sam simply remains to the back and records Neja's responses to the questions (he's starting to get a sense of how droids are perceived on this world!). If time permits after the questioning, he will try to track down some computer aid that would let him analyze the recording to check for truthfulness or at least for the sense if she is holding anything back.

[tomcat]

OOC: I apologize, crises at home abound 

[OOC:] I hope all is well, Matt. It seems that a few of us are going through some tough times right now.

Now to our story, Caden will be the one who tries to warm up Neja... he has the best persuasivness.

Caden's Persuade
Neja's Will 11 Persuade +8, Indifferent attitude -2
-------------------------
Roll(1d20)+6: 20,+6 Total:26 CRIT! Nice Success



Neja watched as the party entered her room, her face a mask of indifference. It was evident that she still did not trust her saviors and wondered what was next. Though Dan had led them in, it was Caden who broke the ice. He flashed one of his smiles that had won him plenty of attention in many a port, "Good morning... did you get some good rest?"

Her demeanor quickly changed, and her face cracked a smile of its own. "Yes. Thank you. This place is very nice... who lives here? You all?"

Caden chuckled at that, "No... I am afraid that this is a bit more than my cred chip can afford. No, this is the residence of Senator Ranie." The name was immediately recognized and Neja began to retreat back behind her wall. "It's okay, it's okay," pleaded Caden. "He's a friend and I promise you, you are safer here than anywhere else... 'cept maybe the Aegis."

"Sorry, I just don't know who I can trust anymore and what people want from me. After seeing Draf coming at me with a knife... I have known him for years."

Dan interjected quietly, "Neja, I know you are scared, but the only way we can help you is to find out who killed Senator Seelig, and to do that, we need to know what you know."

"I told everything to the police," the woman replied. Dan continued, "I know you did, but we are a special task force employed by Seelig's friend, your current benefactor, Senator Ranie, and we need you to re-tell everything that happened. Can you start back at the beginning, when you first met Seelig... and why? And bring us up to the night of his murder - tell us everything you remember."

At Dan's question, Neja gave an awkward smile... surely they didn't need her to tell them why Seelig had come to her. Caden smile, too, as he sat down, "What happened Neja?" Behind him Brim, Kara, and Sam stood. The droid silently recording the whole conversation; the Rodian trying to be as unobtrusive as possible, knowing her fear of him, although he had questions of his own; and Kara sat quietly, staring out the window while aimlessly picking at her boot - her eyes a bit glazed.

Neja began to recount her story from when Seelig, an officer of high standing within the church, had discreetly approached her for her services. She was an entertainer and she had caught his eye some time past when he had entered the establishment where she worked, disguised as a commoner. The relationship, if one would call it that, grew and Seelig became her benefactor. He kept her with good food, health care, clothing, and money... and all she needed do was fulfill his needs. It was a very equitable arrangement for both of them, and time passed with no one discovering their relationship.

She went on in regards to his duties as barrister of the church - tending all legal and political relations between the church and the planetary government. Seelig was also a senator and so his combined duties kept him very busy. She did not know how he was able to maintain the stress and work load that he did, but he was always energetic and... awake. When their times together occurred, he had a voracious appetite that she needed to appease and Neja commented on how Seelig would go and go, only to collapse into deep sleep. It was here that she brought her story to the night of his death.

Dan asked, "What happened that night?"

"It was another night, like usual... Seelig had me picked up and brought into town. We had dinner and then made love. I was drifting to sleep when I heard the chamber doors open and four assassins entered the room. Seelig rose to face them and I hid." A bit of shame crossed her face, but then she pointed to Brim. "An alien like him led the others and he was the only one that spoke."

"What did he look like?" asked Brim. The Rodian did not realize that the characteristics of his people were not easy to differentiate by other races. Neja shook her head, "Like you if you must know. He was tall. Thin. His speech was broken like he didn't know our language completely. And his... hair... or whatever that is on your head, was longer and it had colorful beads in it. He began to threaten Seelig and wave a blaster in his face. Said something about Varta knowing... and the senator denied doing anything. He said he did what he had been told. The other three men just grabbed the senator, they branded him and then they killed him."

[watanabe]

Kara was feeling somewhat jittery, and while she felt good, she knew that the high she was on would eventually come crashing down.  While she wasn't one who was very skilled in interrogation as she was often quite blunt in conversation, she wanted to get things on the move at the same time.

Kara looked at Sam and nudged the droid and in a low voice whispered.  "You think you can make this go any faster?"

[GandalfOfBorg]

OOC: Knowledge: Galactic Lore to recognize Varta   Roll(1d20)+8: 3,+8 Total:11

Dan thinks about the name "Varta" for any meaning and comes up short.  "Who or what is Varta?"

[sdrotar]

Said something about Varta knowing... and the senator denied doing anything. He said he did what he had been told. The other three men just grabbed the senator, they branded him and then they killed him."

Caden's stomach turned a bit. While he had witnessed - and caused - violence in his life, this particular crime seemed unnecessarily repugnant.

He had heard of such things before; generally surrounding organized crime. It sounded to him like the man was the victim of some kind of mob hit. Given their experiences the previous day... a rather confident one.

Caden suspected that they were all in far more danger than they had bargained for.

[tomcat]

[OOC:] Hey Shawn, nice to see you back.

New post coming tonight.

[tomcat]

Neja shook her head at Dan's question, "I don't know. I have never heard the name before."

Somewhere in the city of Salis D'aar, Puk pushed through the beaded curtain out of a smoke-clouded back room. He nodded at the shadow that stood before him and felt a bit of a chill when he looked at the shape. He was an assassin of great skill, but even he could tell danger when it was close. The Shade spoke, his voice a whisper, "I have some more information for you. Pictures and even an ID... seems there are some non-Bakurans looking into the murder of Seelig. One is a Rodian - unknown as to the identity - and the other is a man from the Outer Rim, named Qinos. It seems that he has spent time in Hutt territories." A holographic image of both Brim and Dan appeared above a holodisk in the Shade's hand.

Puk rubbed his chin, tilting his head as he did - the beaded tendrils atop his head softly clicking together. He was not well-versed in the languages of his associate and spoke Rodian... which the Shade knew well. "Seelig left a long list of associates on his world, I cannot kill them all... besides it is not my orders."

"Well the thugs you sent last night to kill the girl failed... and I am sure it is because of these two. I feel it."

Puk nodded already hearing of Cho's failure. "Then they will all be killed - the girl, the Rodian and the man. I will see to it."

"That may be wise. I think the two found something in Seelig's office in his apartment. I am sure that Varta doesn't want any connection here on Bakura. Seelig was successful in getting the namana processing labs in place and the product that is coming to the street is proving more addictive then Sticks. I hear the Gora might even become concerned with Varta's operations."

Puk looked up at that, "The Gora are far from here and the namana won't interfere with their business. Varta has nothing to fear. Seelig is dead and he is the only one who knew that the Hutt was ever involved here. I have setup my traffic so that no one knows anyone except one level higher than themselves. Besides... it's your job to make sure that security remains tight. Isn't that what Varta hired you for?" The Rodian assassin stood up and returned to the namana den. The room was clouded with an acrid blue smoke that smelled overwhelmingly sweet. Puk sat back down in the chair and grabbed the hooka pipe mouthpeice and drew deep on the intoxicating smoke and allowed his mind to fall into that huge abyss of forgetfulness.

Meanwhile, the Shade watched as Puk's bodyguards all stood close with weapons exposed. "He needs to get off this planet before he draws more attention," he thought. The shadow turned and left the namana den, his mind running through everything that was going on here on Bakura. The planet had an illicit treasure - the namana fruit. It was a small, yellow-orange, fruit that had a large pit. The fruit could be processed into multiple forms, such as liquor and candy, but it also could be mashed into an oily juice that when put over a flame gave off hallucinigenic smoke. If the oil was consumed directly, the individual could suffer long-term impairments and hallucinations. The pits were also used by drying them out and grinding them into a flakey herb that could be smoked. Yet most growers did not give up the pits as they were the perfect source to keep the inventory by growing new namana trees.

Namana had only one legal use - the church allowed its production and during the most holy seasons of the year, the congregants were allowed to consume a diluted portion of the drug. Thus was Seelig bought - for both his position in the church and government, and to procure the needed namana seeds to produce the inventory.

Outside the den, the Shade drew upon the Force to cloud the minds of all those around him that might take notice of his passage.



[OOC:] My use of namana is a stretch from canon, but I don't care... I need it dark for the story.

[sdrotar]

[OOC:] My use of namana is a stretch from canon, but I don't care... I need it dark for the story.

OOC: Canon, schmanon. It's nice when it's there, but it should never get in the way of a good story.

Of course, I didn't know it wasn't anyway.

[tomcat]

[OOC:] Thanks Shawn! I appreciate it when you guys give me some freedoms to write within the tale and don't hold my toes to the canon fire.    (D

And truthfully, I didn't know this stuff was so evolved either, until I started searching around Wookipedia.

[watanabe]

Kara was wondering if it would be better if they tried some intimidation tactics on the Neja, but realized after her ordeal yesterday, that it might not go as well as she planned.  So she felt around her jacket to make sure she still had the last two viles she had secreted inside.  Feeling them there, she felt some comfort and relaxed for a moment.

OOC:

I don't mind canon breaking, as long as you let us know we are canon breaking.  That way I know that I don't have to perfectly fit within a universe as some GM's like.  I admit in most cases I try to stay in canon, but I always find I need to make stretches in places.  So I fully enjoy the idea Namana being a drug.  And I like to escape the trap that is canon, so we feel more free to affect the universe around us.