Ask Onderon Exclusionary Evidence

[Acklay]

Mars didn't know a ton about Eryn - the sentiment probably went both ways - but the woman seems like she could stick to her guns, and the two had hit it off well enough to make working together the logical next step. They'd met in a bar uptown while Mars had been scouting out potential leads into a job. To be fair, she'd mostly just been relaxing, so the two bumping into each other and starting a conversation had been mostly coincidence. One thing led to another, and now they were on their way to someplace in Onderon's less-wealthy part of the city, where the man they were going to see had pinned his address.

"So, you think he's got what he says he has?" There was a decent chance he was either lying to try and pull a fast one on the two, or he had something he thought was far better than it actually was. If he somehow happened to have the real deal though, there would be a nice heap of credits in her future. Both of their futures, potentially. Force artifacts were tasty prizes for the Crimson Dawn, especially if they could get those interested in such things to fight for it with crowns and credits.

The cyborg woman was without her visor, but her eyes were still narrowed in concentration as she sped down the road. Speeders were cheap to rent; they were quick and easy transportation for two, too. They were about three minutes out from the waypoint she'd set on his address.

tag: @Cybrexian

 

[Eryn Alenath]

It was a rarity that Eryn found her way to her home-planet these days. There was no sentimental value it held for her, no longing to return, but when she found herself in the Sector it was always good to hold up near a bar that serve the drinks just the way you like. She certainly hadn't figured she get chatting to the half-cyborg, half-who-knows-what that was speeding them towards their destination now. Mars seemed more than capable for what they'd devised when they met though, so that had to count for something.

"I hope he does." She replied, tapping at her gutted datapad in her lap, the thing sacrificed to make a rudimentary frequency scanner. It worked, if you hit it in the right place. "Seems a strange thing to lie about though, no? Not exactly something small-fry people lie about down the local Cantina to look good to their friends." She ducked below the windscreen, the wind whipping her braids around and getting in the way. She'd never really been into the Artifact hunting game before, but if the pay-out was as good as Mars eluded to, she could happily make it a regular occurrence.

"What was his name again? Maruk-some-such? Keeps to himself by the looks, but there's traces of deals and and undercounter shadiness if you dig deep enough on the Holonet. Good sign, yeah?" She shifted in the Speeders seat, adjusting the pair of blaster pistols tucked under her bomber jacket, and glanced at the timer. A minute out.

"Scanners seems clear. Either that means there's no comms chatter coming from his address, or it's broken." She wrapped her knuckles off the top side again, the screen remaining clear still. "If he's got someone lying in wait, they're not chatting on comms."


@lizziie

 

[Acklay]

"It's possible he's overestimating the value of what he's got. A clue to the location of a force artifact could be legit, or just a dud." That wasn't to say Mars didn't think it was worth checking out though. Eryn said she thought it would be strange for the man to lie about it, and though she didn't necessarily agree with that, the man really didn't seem like the sort to lie for a lie's sake.

"Maruk...Maruk Ol-something. Olies?" Mars let out a small laugh. "Ah, kriff, can't say I remember either." Maruk Olies, or just Maruk, seemed to Mars like the sort that didn't lie to lie, but he certainly read like he loved to barter. She wouldn't be surprised if he tried to game them into paying way more than what even he thought the thing was worth. "Seems like a good sign, yeah. I doubt he'll try to hit us when we're not lookin', but I expect him to try and pull the rug out from under us."

Eryn said scanners were clear, and they arrived about twenty seconds later. The sun had set since then, so the streets had grown dark and shadowy, illuminated only by the harsh colors of neon signs. There were a couple of people loitering about - smoking cigarras, drinking, or talking - but none of them paid Mars or Eryn any mind for the time being. The address brought them across the street from a shady motel to an out-of-the-way townhouse or condo sort of building.

"Olies' Oddities..." Mars mumbled under her breath as she read the sign next to the door the two arrived at. "Ah, so I was right!" Maruk Olies indeed.

"Ladies first?" Mars grabbed the door handle and pulled it open, then gestured for the other woman to head inside with a cheeky smile. As per usual, the cyborg wore a long black jacket to cover her shiny metal arms and conceal any weapons she had on her, but when she swept her arm to usher Eryn in, the other woman would be able to see the WESTAR pistol holstered in her belt. Mars had come prepared too, just in case. Always good to have insurance when meeting old men in shady places.

tag: @Cybrexian

 

[Eryn Alenath]

Eryn slipped out of the speeder and stood in the glow of the neon above, the harsh blue and green glow illuminating the white streaks in her hair. She tugged the collar of her bomber jacket higher and rolled her neck with a subtle crack. Scanner may have been clear, but she was taking no chances. She glanced around them, the street quiet and suitably dark. Eryn enjoyed these parts of the galaxy; no one ever looked twice.

"Hah hah." She mocked, a ghost of a smirk crossing her lips as she stepped into the opened door. Inside lived up to the name above the front for sure, a mad collection of items stuffed into shelves and containers. Eryn scanned the room swiftly as she crossed the threshold, moving to the side as she entered so that Mars could fit. The room was a mixture of a museum and a pawn shop, cabinets of strange looking jewellery that glinted in the glow of a single dulled yellow light on the ceiling. There were stacks of memory chits, blinking screens scrawled with text and somewhere a viewscreen seemed to crackle and fizz with a Holonews Broadcast hissing into focus. The air was thick with the smell of dust and lubricant, a sharp and dry contrast to the humid air outside.

Eryn swept the room once more before she approached what looked like a counter at the far end, a myriad of strange looking items covering the surface. A stone set into a golden cage, a mummified hand curled in ancient agony, a scattering of rings set with gems that danced in the darkness. Beside the wall sat a cage, carapace covered insects moving slowly within as they secreted a near opalescent trail behind them. She let out a low whistle, muttering to her companion. "Someone has a hoarding problem..."

At the rear of the room behind the counter, a thick durasteel door ascended and flooded the room with harsh light. Silhouetted against it was a slight figure, Human by the looks, dressed in a drab black suit that had been worn a few too many times. The figure stepped from the light, their pale wispy hair dragged back into a ragged ponytail under the wrap around goggles that covered the eyes.

"You must be Maruk?" Eryn offered, her body tense as the figure stiffly walked to the counter. She made a conscious effort not to reach for the pair of blasters holstered under her arm, the skin on the back of her neck beginning to prickle and crawl. She tore her gaze from the figure as the door closed behind, near certain that something was amiss.

@lizziie

 

[Acklay]

Mars was not materialistic and she was seldom sentimental. It was nice to have nice things - though that was a privilege she'd only recently afforded to herself - but this? "Hoarding indeed..." There were shelves from floor to ceiling crowded with knick-knacks up to and spilling over the edge, and bits and bobbles of varying value scattered over every available surface. It was almost claustrophobic how dense with things the place was, but if nothing else, it was a feast for the eyes.

The further they went in the more there was to digest. It seemed that despite his hoarding issue, this Maruk guy at least had an eye for the peculiar, which was a decent sign.

"He's an idiot if he doesn't have some kind of security on this place..." she commented in a quieter tone as she searched for a camera, a motion detector, or anything really. With all the clutter in the room, she'd need to keep an even more careful eye to spot such things. At first, Mars didn't see much, but soon she began to see a repeated object in the room. Little statues of birds that were identical other than varying colors were littered around the room. Upon closer inspection, the cyborg woman found that they were quite obviously hidden cameras. "The clutter has one use, then."

Quickly, and just before the man appeared, Mars picked up one of the little birds to inspect it. "Oh?" To her delight, she found it was wireless. It meant his security was probably operating off a wifi signal, and that she could have access to his entire system through a remote port scanner entry.

Mars put it back down before Maruk entered and shuffled her way up to join Eryn at the counter as the man they'd come to meet entered the room. He looked just as eccentric as she'd expected, and he was just as wiry and askew as his hair. When Eryn asked him if he was the man they were meeting, he gave her a nod, then cleared his throat to answer further.

"M-hmm. Yes! I am Maruk. Maruk Olies at your service." His voice was raspy like that of a smoker's, but Mars had no issue understanding his words. Unlike Eryn, she did not find herself particularly at unease in the situation, as her upbringing in the lower levels of Coruscant had put her in contact with people much shadier than him. The door closing behind her did not raise any alarms either, though Eryn's apprehension slowly began to lend its anxiety to Mars. She could be a bit of a sponge, if not very emotional herself.

"You've come about the clue, correct? The location of the artifact? The so-called Ring of Artis?" He spoke again, this time giving the pair of women a thin-lipped smile that revealed a set of poorly maintained, yellowed teeth.

"What is this clue?" Mars inquired. "Is there a reason you still have it, rather than seeking out the artifact yourself?"

roll to look for security: 99/100
tag: @Cybrexian

 

[Eryn Alenath]

Eryn kept a wary eye as the man spoke, glancing over his shoulder from time to time to that back door. Mars was likely right, he probably wouldn't try anything stupid, but that is what kept gnawing at her. Probably.

"The clue? Yes, yes." The eccentric man chuckled quietly, once more flashing his teeth as he reached up to tug down the goggles, revealing a pair of sunken, aged blue eyes. Despite the wrinkles around they were still bright, twinkling almost mischievously in the dull light.

"The clue." He repeated, reaching to toy with a ring on his little finger. "It's part of a star-map, yes? One of my collectors found it while digging in the ruins of some ancient city. Not the usual place to find such things, no? It's encoded, encrypted, a riddle, but I managed to figure out the planet. From there you're on your own!" He chuckled once more and reached to flick the glass case with the strange, slow insects within.

"Me? Look at me!" He exclaimed, grinning. "I'm old and these bones are no good for hunting treasure these days. I did try and get one of my regular explorers to take a looksie, but he declined when he saw where the map leads." He chuckled briefly before stopping himself. Eryn got the impression the man didn't get many visitors.

Folding her arms with a creak, Eryn crooked a brow and cleared her throat. Just as aware as before, her body tensed once more, though this time it wasn't nervousness or fear. "And where does it lead, which planet?" She shifted her weight from one side to the other, chin lifting as she tried to get the measure of the man. Small and old, maybe a little eccentric, but the frailty seemed an act. Even if his body was aging, his mind and eyes seemed as sharp as ever. That mischievous twinkle never far.

"Aradian." He said rather ominously, a grin forming. "Where the very air you breath is poison...Or so the legends say."

@lizziie

 

[Acklay]

"So he's too old and his regular doesn't like the location." That seemed fair enough to the woman. Why risk his old bones to look for a treasure that might kill him when he could sell the star map off and still profit? Still, Mars felt as if there was something he wasn't telling them. Eccentric folks like these always had something to hide. She knew it from experience.

The planet's name didn't ring a bell, but if the air was poison as he said, it probably just didn't have a breathable atmosphere. That would make the venture much more dangerous, but it wasn't the end of the world. It'd take extra precaution on her part. But his ominous tone of voice and knowing grin didn't do much to comfort her, and the cyborg woman decided she didn't like the man at all. Maybe it wasn't the greatest reason, but it was too late.

"Right..." Mars trailed off, glanced at Eryn to give her one of those subtle looks women often exchanged under men's noses, then looked back at the old man. "And you have the map here?" She then turned to look back into the shop as if she might spot it among the clutter.

"No... no, no, no. I keep it safe in the back where sticky fingers can't swipe it. Nothin' like a vault and a few cams, huh?" He chuckled to himself. "So, you lookin' to take it off my hands?"

"What are you askin'?"

"4,500 credits, or 3,645 crowns, if you've got them."

Mars was glad her eyes didn't bulge out of her head when he said that, but her eyebrows were certainly raised. "4,500 credits? Is he kriffing insane?" She didn't have that, and definitely not the crowns. He chuckled at her reaction, then took on a thoughtful look for a moment before saying, "Hmm... perhaps for you two lovely ladies, 4,000 credits."

"Does the vault come with it?" Mars asked dryly.

"Not for 4,000 it doesn't!"

Maruk's roll for secrecy: 16/100
roll for getting info: 74/100
tag: @Cybrexian