Raleigh finished up with BudReep and then watched on
as the Dralasite mourned the death of his new found
friends. Raleigh could see how one could become
attached to the little furry guys. They seemed
primitive at first, but under that they were savagely
loyal to their allies and intensely brave.
    Packing his gear up, he joined the others around the
two captive pirates. "I guess we should go meet up
with this chief?" he exclaimed to the entire group.
"Does anyone need to back to the Explorer for
anything?"
    Once he has poles for carrying, he will help tie the
two pirates up and even offer to carry one end. In
doing so, he will look at the two pirates and smile...
"Now behave, or Ill give my end up to one of those
Kurabundai." :)
    "Kah'liss, can you and LStyaric tote the spoils of war back to the
explorer? The rest of us will stay here, guarding the prisoners and I
chatting with our new friends. See if I can find anything out."
<The team's chronos crackle to life as Zhirrzh reports to the group that
the last pirate got away leaving in an explorer>
"Damn", Brenon said aloud. "We may be leaving soon guys to lets get a move
on... it might be possible to track that explorer....."
<Brenon speaks into Chrono> "Wildcard, come join the team. We're headed to
meet their leader"
Brenon will explain to the Kurabadai that he is awaiting their teams
return, then they can proceed to speak with their chief.
    When the team is together, Brenon answers Raleigh. "Thanks Raliegh but I'd prefer you rested that arm....we'll get it" With
that Brenon gives Raliegh a brief smile and a nod of the head, then proceeds to hoist the prisoner up with LStayric's help.
Once Zhirrzh joins the party and the vrusks, having stashed the team's
new spoils, return from the explorer the group follows the Kurabanda to
their tribe. The Kurabanda wait impatiently as you gingerly jump from tree
to tree, taking longer than the Kurabanda like to pass the prisoners
between trees. Near slips are taken with great humor with the Kurabanda.
The sun begins to drop and the shade of the Bachanda trees makes darkness
creep in faster than normal. You hope to reach the Kurabanda tribe before
nightfall, as travelling through the trees would prove an even more
harrowing experience.
   After 1 kilometer of travelling through the forest, Telgar spots a
Kurabanda hiding in the trees to your right. He turns to the group and in
silent hand gesture, motions to the hidden Kurabanda. Everyone
acknowledges Telgar and makes a mental note. These Kurabanda obviously had
distrust for the Frontier races and you had to keep a guard up. Soon you
begin to pass more Kurabanda standing guard in the trees. Some try to
conceal themselves, while others watch the returning party with great
interest.
   You soon see the village. About 70 huts are gathered around a massive
tree in the forest. The tree, extending 300 meters into the air, towers
over the others in the forest. Upon further examination, you see it is
actually two trees that have grown together, granting the massive diameter
and providing the support for the huge branches that sometimes stretch 100
meters. Some of the larger branches are 30 meters wide, granting a natural
roadway for the Kurabanda. Vines hang in great number all over the trees,
and you occasionally spot some Kurabanda using them gracefully to swing
from limb to limb. Wooden bridges tethered by rope connect other branches.
Around the base of the tree, large wooden extensions have been build,
serving as a central meeting place; the hub of the tree village. There are
several such extensions at different heights along the tree. Some
primative pulley-type elevators have been put in place and you see
Kurabanda hauling up supplies from levels below you. The huts of the
Kurabanda are made of sticks and limbs, their roofs of dried foilage. Some
of the huts are very large and could easily hold 30-40 Kurabanda.
   As you approach the large tree, the Kurabanda party is met by 10
warriors who seem pleased at the sight of the prisoners, but also question
Ermorada about the party. They also show sorrow for the dead Kurabanda.
Ermorada chatters with the guard, gesturing to the team often, charading
through the battle in a quick synopsis. The guards look to the party, then
welcome the group in. As you follow the Kurabanda, you notice four of the
guard peel in behind you, making sure you do not get 'lost'.
   As you walk along the wide branch, heading towards the center of the
two trees, many nearby Kurabanda hiss angrily at you. A few children
shriek and run away, leaping into their glaring mother's arms. You are led
onto the extension and into a large wallless shelter supported by six
wooden poles. You enter and toss the pirate prisoners onto the wooden
floor. Ermorada approaches you and speaks in his broken Pan-Galactic:
   "Ou...wat ere.....tak cheef ou uill." The Kurabanda gestures to a dozen
guards who appear and place themselves at intervals around the shelter.
"Guad...potek ou....ou wat ere....shamun cum....mak guid." With that,
Ermorada exits the shelter. You see the other Kurabanda drop their
prisoners about 30 meters away, hooking their poles into forked sticks to
keep them suspended. Many begin punching savagely on the helpless
prisoners who can do nothing but turn their heads from the attack. After a
minute of these beatings, some guards usher the Kurabanda away. They take
their place in front of the pirates, guarding them from further attack
until their trial.
   BudReeeep, standing just outside the shelters, explains that the
Kurabanda will get the chief, but it may be a while before he comes. In
the meantime, the guards are here to protect you, and Kurabanda shaman
will come soon to tend to any wounds. He assures you that their medicines
are not harmful and are made from herbs found in the forest. The Dralasite
says it's not quite BioQuick Ointment, but it seems to do the trick.
   Thirty minutes later, two elderly Kurabanda, led by a procession of 4
younger monkey-men carrying trays filled with bowls and bottles, enter the
shelter. The absurdity of the shaman's garb makes it difficult to contain
your laughter. Wearing gigantic headgear, adorned with the feathers of
what is probably the largest bird in the forest, the elder shaman hunch
over as they shuffle in. Each carries an intricately carved cane and they
both are weighted down by the many necklaces they wear, many of which have
carved idols and other trinkets attached. They pick out the wounded,
starting with Raleigh and Kah'liss, and shuffle over to each. The other
Kurabanda present the trays to the shaman who then begin their Ritual of
Healing.
   Crushing many of the herbs into wooden bowls, pouring liquids from the
small bottles, the shaman bless the concoction with arcane chants, shakes
of the cane, and rattling of their necklace charms. When complete, they
are left with a brown goo whose scent is very acrid and sweet. Inhaling
too much of the odor would probably be hallucinogenic. The ointment gives
a tingly sensation when placed over your wounds, but never the less seems
to make you actually feel a bit better.
{{ Heal 2 Stamina Points to everyone }}

   Once their ceremony is complete, the Shaman leave you with bowls of
soup. Although you question its ingredients (is that an eyeball??), those
of you who dare to try it find it surprisingly tastefull. They offer no
help or food to the pirate captives. The Shaman leave you to the guards,
who although are there to 'protect' you, some of their glares indicate
they are making sure you do not escape.
   Night finally falls upon the forest. Slowly, with increasing
precipitance, torches are lit throughout the village. The number of lights
give you an idea of how large the village is as you count fires from
above, below, and all around you.

    Telgar looks down at the soupy concoction placed in front of him. At first, he is hesitant to try it, but then he thinks back on the shark burgers and quickdeath meat he had eaten already while on this planet.
    "What the hell," Telgar says and takes a sip of the soup. Finding it to his satisfaction, and oddly tasteful, he gulps down the whole bowl full. Turning to Kah'Liss, Telgar simply shrugs while tapping his fingers on the edge of the bowl. He begins to let his eyes wander around the room and re-notices the hostage pirates. The irony of the situation causes Telgar to grin a bit. With all of the work the pirates had already done to capture the team and then now the Kurabanda, they just couldn't seem to get it right. They had yet to succeed and now some were actually prisoners themselves.
    Telgar turns to the pirates and says,"Maybe if your lucky, you'll be part of a ritual sacrifice," a smile spreads across his face,"or maybe even the next bowl of soup."
 After that satisfying bowl of mystery liquid, Brenon set his eyes upon
whom he thought to be the leader of that Pirate raid. 'We'll take that one
with us' Brenon thought to himself. 'He'd have a head full of knowledge,
numbers, access codes...etc....'.
    He looks to LStayric an asks, "LStayric, do any of these bastards look familiar to you?"
After allowing the tribe shaman to do his thing, Raleigh found an open spot and had a seat with bowl of stew in hand. He hungrily consumed the stew, surprised at how well it tasted despite it's appearance. He could only hope that none of the Kurabundai would tell him what was actually in it.

{Insert alternate post from below here if applies}

As night crept in on the village, Raleigh was becoming increasingly tired. He had already spent the majority of the day behind the wheel of the Explorer and now a firefight and trek through the jungle had taken it's toll. Not only that, as he gingerly felt his arm, but one of those bastard pirates had shot him in the arm again! Just when the scars of the last injury had begun to fade, he gets hit in the same place again. Wanting to take a shot at the pirates himself but not having the strength, Raleigh just sat there and watched, wanting nothing more right now than to sleep.
    Once done with his stew, Raleigh removed his jacket and gear, and placed on the floor in front of him. The left shoulder of his jacket was a deep crimson from the blood of the dead Kurabundai he had carried back. Sadness crept in on him as he realized that just hours before, this had belonged to a living, breathing, and no doubt innocent creature that did not deserve what he had received.
    Spying one of the pirates looking at the blood on the jacket with mock amusement, Raleigh waited until the pirate met his glance. With a smile, he winked and said, "I'll make sure you are the last one they kill." With that he spit at the pirate, hoping the thug would say something stupid.
    Brenon wipes his beard on his sleeve, drying the remains of the soup that
he had hungrily devoured. 'Damn that was good' Brenon thought to himself.
He then turned his view over to the captive pirates. 4 of those evil
bastards. He couldn't help but shake his head. They'd been lucky.
Brenon approached the prisoners.... and then addressed them.
"You two here, and your two buddies in the other hut are gonna get a
chance to win your lives back. But I'm gonna give you guys the first shot
cause I like you guys .... now here's what you gotta do...."
 You're probably wondering what would
happen to you if you came with me? Well, I can't make any promises as to
your future but I guarantee I won't kill you..or hack you up and eat you."
At this Brenon got the attention of several of the pirates. Seeing this,
Brenon continued, "Right about now you're probably asking yourself, 'What
have I got to do to be one of the two people that leave with Brenon?',
well, it's simple. It's unbelieveably simple. All you have to do is answer
my questions truthfully. I'll ask you some questions I know the answers to,
and I'll also ask you some questions I don't know the answers too. If you
answer any of these untruthfully, well, sorry, but your fate will be that
of the two dangling from the trees as little Kurabada cut your fingers off
for snacks... So here's the deal, I'm gonna take each of you, one by one
and question you, the two of you that answer my questions as honestly and
openly as possible, will each receive
"Get-Out-Of-Angry-Kurabanda-Land-FREE" cards....
With that said, Brenon then turns to Zhirrzh and asks him and Telgar to
carry one of the prisoners to the other side. Brenon was about to ask the
prisoners some questions....
Brenon will also instruct Raliegh, LStayric and Kay'liss to watch the
remaining prisoners and make sure they don't talk amongst themselves. Can't
have them collaberating answers.
    Zhirrzh glances back at the bound pirates, taking his eyes off their "protectors" for the first time since their arrival. He had refused the glop they had left for him, instead choosing to chew on some dried QuickDeath steak he had kept. Telgar came into his field of view as the enforcer bent down to grab one end of a pirate. Zhirrzh walked over and grabbed the other end and helped Telgar carry the human to the other end of the hut. After setting the pirate down, Zhirrzh picked out a spot close by and gave a flick of his wrist, sending his knife into his hand. He cast one final glance at Brenon's next project and went back to watching the Kurabanda as he cleaned his nails with his knife.
    As Telgar and Zhirrzh secure the prisoner; with his back facing the group.
Brenon begins to ponder on the tactics he'll use to break the pirates.
These were hardened men, trained, albeit poorly, they were trained
soldiers. Which meant they'd probably been trained for situations like
these. Brenon hated this game. What he hated even more was that he was good
at it. He preferred a good clean fight. But he knew what he was getting
himself into when he put sleep needlers in the trees. Brenon put on his
poker face, assessing the prisoners he knew they wouldn't squell quickly,
it was going to take some 'intimidation'. The first prisoner would probably
give him some lip.... well, Brenon was prepared for that. He'd make an
example of this first one...
    Brenon pulls Zhirrzh and Telgar aside and has a few words with then. Hushed
tones: "Telgar, I want you to strap his arm and hand down to that floor.
Zhirrzh, how sharp's your knife? I think we're gonna have to resort to
physical punishment with these two, we'll make the first one an example. If
he hesitates in his answers, Lop off a digit. Work your way from out to in,
pinky to thumb. Telgar, I want you to look ominously down on the prisoner.
Give him the impression that they is no escape. Let's get to work....."
    Zhirrzh then goes to the prisoner and he and Telgar loosen the restrains
around one of his arms. They then tie that arm and hand so that it lay flat
against thefloor..
Zhirrzh will then spread the prisoner's digits(aka Fingers) so as to fan
them out, he will then position his knife against the pinky as if to cut it
off.
    Brenon then speaks to the prisoner, "My friend, it's fairly obvious what's
happening here, no? Well, in case your mind is too muddled.... basically
I'm going to ask you some questions. If you hesitate, or you answer
untruthfully, I'll have my associate lop off one of your fingers. But
always remember, it's YOUR choice, not mine, not Zhirrzh's, not Telgar's.
YOURS. YOU choose whether or not you'll be staying with the Kurabanda, YOU
choose whether you'll need gloves or mittens. It's YOUR choice. Zhirrzh,
ease up on the blade a bit, let's give the poor lad a chance...."
    Brenon has to instruct Zhirrzh to ease up several times as the Yazirian
appears eager to 'lop' off digits.
    With that said and the scene built, Brenon will begin his questioning.
    Raleigh, showing signs of severe sleep disorder and exhaustion from the days activities, sighs loudly and begins to head in the direction of the events unfolding. Sitting down in front of the pirate, he breaks out his tech kit and smiles wearily at the pirate.
    "Hi," he mutters in a sleepy voice, trying his best to accentuate his lack of coherence, "Im the team medic and I'll be keeping you alive and awake during the next hour or so." Looking into the tech kit, and acting confused for a moment, Raleigh fakes a look of relief. "Wow, for a moment I thought I was losing my marbles." With an amused chuckle, Raleigh slides the techkit out of the way and the medikit into it's place. Looking back at the Pirate he smiles, "Now Im ready, Zhirrzh, you may begin."
   After strapping the surprised pirate's hand to the floor, Telgar watches as Brenon give his careful instructions on proper hostage etiquette. He glances over at Zhirrzh, who seems eager to make the pirate scream. This all brought back memories.  It had been so long since Telgar had enjoyed the sound of an enemy being tortured.  Ever since he had teamed with Kah'Liss, he had been subjected to more passive missions.  More often than not, they were just trying to keep one step ahead of the Corporations.
    The scene unfolding before Telgar was starting to serve as a quench for the thirst of true violence that the Academy had instilled within him.  Of course, this was more like an appetizer than a full meal.  Telgar had noticed that during this trip he had almost been searching for a fight, eager to engage in battle, and jumping at the first sign of being able to pull the trigger.  As he lets these thoughts run through his head, he turns and looks at the pirate.  Telgar grins down upon the dirty, battle scorched face.  He can see in the pirate's face that the message was understood; no matter what happened, the pirate was going to scream...
 

OOC
The prisoner answered the questions below - there may be some response from you to his answers, but to save time I answered all of your questions rather than go back and forth. If you have anything additional you want to ask, do so..
Also, there are some smartass answers from the pirate, and I don't know how you'd like to respond to it. But I continued answering all questions.

IC
    The Pirate stared angrily at the team of menacing men around him. Zhirrzh, having spread his fingers apart and threatening them with the knife, snarled at him. Screw them, he muses. They were all doomed anyway. He knows what the Kurabanda do to prisoners."You're not fooling me - those Kurabanda are going to kill all of us - they sure as hell look like they are protecting you, don't they?" The pirate spits on the floor.
    Brenon doesn't hesitate, he kneels down at the Pirates level. "Remember, it's YOUR choice. You can walk out of here a whole man, or crawl outta here half the man you were half an hour ago. YOUR choice."
    Brenon begins. "What is your name?"
    The pirate spits a snide chuckle. "Galaxy Glenn," he answers, copying the name of a Frontier famous cartoon fox, whose capital is a gigantic theme park in the Prenglar system.
    Zhirrzh doesn't hesitate. With a quick slice, he cleanly severs the pirate's left pinky finger.
    Shrieking in pain, the pirate tries to struggle, but Telgar holds him down tightly. The Kurabanda guards look on at the scene with amusement.
    "Now that you know we are serious," Brenon continues, "you will tell me what your name is."
    Raleigh lets the hand bleed a good many seconds before applying the bandages and ointment to ease the bleeding.
    "You cut my finger off, you assholes!!!" The prisoner shrieks. The second pirate, tied at the opposite end of the shelter, struggles to free himself, but LStaric and Kah'liss draw weapons, keeping him at bay.
    "Your name, please."
    The pirate swallows the pain that pulses through his arm. "Crat.....Crat Jacobs."
    Brenon nods. "Good. Now cooperate and we won't have any more...interruptions."
    "How old are you?"
        The pirate answers. "Twenty eight."
    "Would you rather accompany us, or stay with the Kurabanda? "
        Crat shakes his head as he looks at his bloody hand. His delayed answer, "I'd rather fuck myself all day in the desert."
    The blade comes down again, severing his left ring finger. The prisoner yells loudly, teeth gnashed. Tears gather at the corner of his eyes.
    "Keep this up and the only thing those hands are gonna be good for is playing Patty Cake," Brenon promises. "Now, would you rather accompany us, or stay with the Kurabanda?"
    It takes a few minutes for the pirate to compose himself again. His hand sits in a pool of its own blood. "You," he finally grunts.
    "What is your favorite color?"
            "....Green."
    "Why were you in the forest?"
            ".....we were hunting fucking Kurabanda for the hell of it..."
    "Who sent you?"
            "...Who sent me? No one sent me. We decided to get in the damn jeep and come out here."
    "How many were in your party?"
            The prisoner thinks, then shrugs. "I don't know. 10, 12, I think there were about 10 of us."
    "Have you ever heard of the Streel Corporation?"
            The pirate shrugs. "Streel? What the hell is that? The Merc company you work for?"
    "What can you tell me about the Red Devils?"
            The prisoner smirks. "There is no Red Devil." Zhirrzh grunts at him and lets the knife fall again. A third finger slithers away from the hand. After this new period of wailing, Brenon rips the sleeve away from the pirate's shoulder, revealing the familiar tattoo. "The Red Devil. Tell me about the Red Devil."
            "The f_cking Star Devil! It's the Star Devil. What's to tell? We're a group just like any other group trying to make a damn dime in the Frontier."

    "What is your specialty?"
            "I just haul in the shit when they bring it in. I run the cargo lifts and get the shit ready for export."

    "What weapons are you proficient in?"
            "I can shoot a damn laser pistol as well as the next f_cking man, I guess." He's becoming bored of the questioning as his throbbing hand takes precedence in his mind.

    "Are you right handed or left handed?"
            "F+cking right handed."

    "Are you married? "
            He grunts. "I'm not married to no damn whore. I'd like to spend my own hard earned credits."

    "How long have you been on Volturnus?"
            He pauses, breathing heavily. "I don't know. Five months, maybe."

    "What is your favorite drink?"
            He shakes his head. "Blagon Twister."

    "What is your favorite place?"
            "Ain't a favorite place. The whorehouse on Claxton Ave on Triad  is pretty fun."

    "Have you met anyone in this room before today?(Brenon is intentionally
trying to trip him up here)"
            He raises his head weakly and looks around. "No."

    "What is your partner's name over there on the floor?"
             He shrugs. "I call 'im Amar."

    "How old is he?"
             "What the f+ck do I look like his mother f+cking mother? I don't know how old he is!"

    Brenon pauses. ""Don't know about you, but I think I'd rather run my fingers through a woman's hair again."
            "Look, you can cut my f+cking arm off, but I don't know how old the bastard is."

    "What does he do? What is his specialty?"
            "He's a damn techie. I don't know. He fixes computers and sh_t."

    "Do you like him?"
            "What is this, Dr. Glunger's Interstellar radio show? I work with him, I'm not marrying the asshole."

    "Who amongst your party was leading you? What was his name/description?"
            "Yeh, that was Swag. Swag Raston. Brought us out here to have a joy hunt on some of these monkey assholes. He's a foreman, directs some of the mining operations."
    "What's your favorite game?"
            "Well, gee, teach, can we have recess and play some good old football? I love that game so f_cking much."

    "Do the Star Devils own any Star Ships? If yes, what kind?"
            "No ships. Nada. We grew f_cking wings and flew to Volturnus. Of course we have ships. We're not some two bit pirate clan in a hobbly broken down freighter. We're business, man, business. I don't know what they have - I came in on a cruiser. I think there is a fighter or two here. You're probably the assholes they shot down a month ago, aren't you?"

    "Why are the Red Devils on Volturnous? What brought you here?"
            "I told you. Ore. Nice ore on Volturnus. Something about Truane's Star dicking around for years and not setting up operations here for some political shit red tape. We came here and we're having at it. Can't help it if we're a bit more efficient than some planetary government. What brought me here? The sunny f+cking shores of Volturnus. They pay me. That's why I'm here."

    "How did you hear about Volturnous?"
            "You hang out in the right spacer bars, you hear about jobs. I came in with the Star Devil and the Star Devil came here and I followed. I'm not some damn Astronomer or something."

    "Do you have any known or treatable diseases?"
            The pirate weakly grins. "Yeh I got a bad case of the clap that the whores on Triad gave me. Other than that I'm fit of health.

    "Any kids?"
            He laughs. "None that know I'm their pop, at least."

    "How big is your operation on Volturnous? How many bases and personnel?"
            He shrugs. "I work at one place....I think there's another to the north....I think there are two...f+ck man, i just work here for the credits."

    "Could you take us to your base of operations?"
            "Yeh, I could take you. Ain't far from here....to the East."

    "How long since you ate last?"
                "Ate before we came out in the f_cking woods."

    "Are you thirsty?"
                "...I could use some water, sure."

OOC
    End of round one.... Continue from here....