Ask Uncouth

[Maeve Byrne]

The Colonies were important to the citizens of the core, but not so much that they will go out of the way to lend assistance when needed. Often it is volunteers who are sent before politicians from the FWA send their Rangers or other officials to investigate serious issues beyond the core. Though, it was only a matter of time before some attention was drawn to a specific world in the colonies: Uquine. There was nothing too special about the system, land was rich for farming, many forests covered continents were good for timber, and these factors would draw in laborers from other systems. However, the problem with Uquine, was it tended to import more resources than export, almost making it a burden for other systems in the colonies. Ignoring it for as long as possible seemed to be the best choice of action for many. There was enough talk lately of rumors surrounding these workers who came to Uquine for work that some things could no longer be ignored. Once advertised by villages and their farms in need of extra hands, many workers would come from neighboring systems to make extra credits. However, this season, there seemed to be rumors that were deterring people from seeking work, and the people were growing restless and irritated, especially to the idea of having to invest in droids to help, which were never as reliable as blood and flesh.

For one individual visiting Uquine on an extended leave, this situation sounded sloppy, in fact, she would have shamed who had done this work to incite such nasty stories of disappearances and superstitions. It interfered with her own work, but that would be the point of her work in general, illicit those superstitions while continuing to work out the kinks to plans. She too needed these laborers to continue to come to Uquine, it was a constant source of help for her own projects that seemed to occupy a few of the missing individuals until next harvest. Things were going rather well until people had to start making a fuss, or perhaps she had gotten too sloppy in her work, it was clearly possibly both situations, but it certainly slowed her plans for the moment. The cogs in her mind turned and calculated to how she wanted to continue with her project, and though the smartest idea was the slow and lay low for a little while, that would seem to be useless.

The biggest trouble seemed to come when people started to speak of a Jedi visiting Uquine. Rumors or not, this was an extreme bother, Jedi seemed to always poke their noses where they do not belong. An interference to the natural shift to chaos and for Maeve, she detested the idea of having to start over elsewhere, however, there may be the idea she did not, it just all depended if these rumors were true: a Jedi on Uquine? Who would be the unfortunate sap to be sent to a world that is so disinterested by the FWA's powerful elite?

@Mr. Teatime

 

[Hannibal Grayza]

Once again, Hannibal seemed to find himself in an incredibly rural sort of place fairly outside his standard operating area. Uquine came off as a garden world in the making, featuring export of useful natural goods and importing the kinds of things one didn't find wandering the forests and hills of such a place. He hadn't precisely been sent to the planet by the council so much as they had pointed Uquine out to him expressed that they would appreciate his going. There may have been some self-aware commentary regarding Jedi mysticism and the young Master's significant lack thereof in relation to superstitious farmers, but Hannibal suspected they just wanted to make a good impression by sending a Master to investigate the rumors floating about.

The Catspaw touched down in a designated landing area on the outskirts of one of the more populous and industrious areas that had been attributed to some of the mysterious goings on. He had just finished figuring the sort of dress for the situation. He'd opted for some practical attire, although he'd opted to roll up the sleeves to the elbow to reveal his variety of colourful tattoos and inked-in scars. Avariety of generic Jedi gadgetry and pouches adorned his belt alongside a pair of lightsabers hung on the left side, one his original and the other a black and gold number originally belonging to Sol Puara while his DG-29 hung down on the right on a slung holster.

Hannibal stepped down the ship's ramp shortly after landing, instructing his astromech to lock it down until further notice in his father's native language, lit a fresh cigarra, and headed toward the "town" with his seeker droid in tow at his left side. To the young Jedi it had the clear look of a place that would be described as utilitarian. Slightly haphazard and with a lack of much luxury of any kind, it was most certainly a work camp even if it was a larger and busier example.

It didn't take long for a representative of some sort to meet him, having waited on the well worn walking path after Hannibal had announced his impending landing. Hannibal offered his hand to shake, which the man took hesitantly in his own. He clearly didn't quite know how to handle a Jedi showing up or how to speak to one, but his awkwardness was smoothly ignored by the young Jedi.

"Hannibal Grayza, pleasure to meet you," he greeted with a half-grin and a firm shake of the representative's hand, his tone friendly and conversational rather than anything even resembling formal. "I'm here about the creepy stuff, natch. Why don't you show me around and tell me of your troubles?"

@GABA

 

[Maeve Byrne]

The representative who came to meet Hannibal looked to be about middle-aged, but it his age could easily be misinterpreted by how weathered his skin looked. The blue pigment of the tholothian's face seemed to be even more pronounced against his tan leathery skin, however, his dark violet eyes spoke louder of his troubles recently. He was surprised to see the Jedi extending his hand to shake, he never encountered a Jedi, though quickly took it as he realized he had let it idle for a little too long. "It is nice to meet you also, I'm Dax, and I'm not so sure if you want to be here for the creepy stuff." he released the Jedi's hand, pausing, seemingly anxious about the mere thought of what has been happening to their location specifically. "I'm sure hope you're up for this, Hannibal." he patted the Jedi's shoulder and beckoned with the nod of his head for Hannibal to follow.

"I'm not a superstitious person, nor a simpleton either, and I'm afraid that is what the core takes us to be here sometimes. There is no exaggeration to the disappearances and the odd reappearances of...well...they are not the work hands we had when they first arrive here." he explained leading the way back to the heart of the camp. The worn road was a short walk, practical, clearly have seen many visitors, "I understand people change, but not like this, some go missing, but some come back, different, as though they had entirely lost track of time. They would be gone for months, but only believe they were gone for a few short hours. Most recently was an engineer or ours, everything was fine all day, the next morning he was gone...then he showed up sixty-three days later, that was longest, I counted." Dax explained, leading Hannibal to the infirmary, "He was our most recent, the others...we probably shouldn't have kept them here, but we sent them back to their families, it gets costly keeping the infirmary full." he said in a low tone, as though he expected someone to overhear.

"Besides the disappearances though, we get odd feelings, some in the dead of night, we awaken to noises that come with the fog. On the plus side, this stuff has created some really great ghost stories to drink to, you ought to hear some of them." he glanced to the Jedi, "Great ones to spook the kids...maybe even the adults." Dax grinned, trying to find some positivism to the situation.

@Mr. Teatime

 

[Hannibal Grayza]

Hannibal followed the older gentleman along the path while listening to his tale. In short, people were vanishing and then showing back up later with no memory of where they'd been and some vaguely paranormal type stuff on the side. Such things would be commonly dismissed by most no doubt, but Force users could do some crazy stuff. The benefit of the doubt should be given here. Besides that, examining the people in the infirmary might lead to some knowledge regarding the spooky goings-on.

"Not to worry, Dax. I'm pretty good at figurin' stuff out. For now I'd like to see these disappeared folks still around for myself." The young Jedi grinned over at the representative and gave him a friendly pat on the shoulder. "We can swap stories later." First things first, though. Examining those affected by whatever mysterious mysteries were causing people to wander off. It sounded like some mythical fae nonsense, although Hannibal was mostly sure fairies didn't exist. Then again, the galaxy is a strange place. Hannibal had personally experienced a good amount of what most people would call 'magic', so who knows?

Nonetheless, Hannibal had a vague feeling of discomfort. Something was off about the situation, he could just tell. Coulldn't tell what precisely was setting off his radar just yet, though. There was no obvious danger so far, and he likely wouldn't get a good sense of things until he further involved himself. So he internally shrugged and moved to step into the infirmary, the Force idly flowing through him and into the building to get a proper 'look' at the people inside. He was looking for any oddities in their auras that may be presence, tampering from others or similar, while also looking out for deception. Might as well keep his bases covered.

He stepped up to the nearest one the representative pointed out and offered him a kind smile. "Hiya. My name's Hannibal, I'm here investigating the strangeness going around. What's your name?" he asked with in a mildly soothing tone. Of course he already knew the man's name, it was written down on a bedside information docket standard to most medical practices, but reading someone's general state while they answered questioned helped with accuracy.

@GABA

 

[Maeve Byrne]

With a pat of the shoulder, Dax nodded and mentioned to come find him when he was done, but left the Jedi to his own devices as he entered the infirmary. On the outward appearance of many who occupied the beds, they looked relatively healthy, unharmed, but there were other characteristics that the Master Jedi would begin to notice as he furthered inside. The first was no one spoke and everyone sat in silence, though it would be easy to pass them all off too interested in the Jedi, none seemed to draw their gaze to the man who had just entered. Though, further inspection would reveal more answers in their eyes, glossed over as though they were still trying to process their experience that many had no memory about.

When Hannibal greeted the man, he did not stir as he sat up against the headrest of his bed, and begun to fiddle with the IV line in his arm. Hannibal would notice the dark veining up and down his arm as one of the elderly nurses working in the infirmary approached to calm the man, "Hello, you must be that Jedi they sent." she said with a huff, her own voice scratchy and lower than one would expect, "You won't get much from him, we haven't heard him speak since he returned, but I think its the infection." she said pointed to the darkened veins in his arm, "It started the other day." she frowned, "But we're hoping the bacta will take to it soon. They all had the infection when they came back."

The man fussed and weakly fought with the nurse before another aide came with a sedative to calm him, "You might be better off speaking with the Kessurian over there. He remembers the most." The elderly nurse pointed in the direction of a younger member in the infirmary, his red-brown skin and horns seemed to make him stand out in the white of the hospital room. He seemed more alert as he looked up to when the nurse directed the attention toward him, but would quickly advert his gaze.

____________________________________​

Meanwhile...

Maeve could feel the flickers of light that seemed to fill the nearby camp, it was distracting, but she hoped her own strength in her dark abilities would buy her enough time to finish her project. If that was not the case, she would have to start over elsewhere, and though it would be an inconvenience, it wasn't too terrible of one. She fiddled with the shard of the bled kyber crystal, trying to find its fight into the pattern of ruins etched into the glass of the holocron-like object. Every piece had its purpose creating one of balance in order to create the imbalance she needed. There was no need to lay low until the Jedi left, she felt it was nearing time to what he could see as the first of her many accomplishments.

With a final albeit gentle press of the bled shard, the object begun to glow, the dark presence seeped from the forest, blanketing the neighboring villages with a sudden heaviness.

@Mr. Teatime

 

[Hannibal Grayza]

The young Jedi listened to the nurse's explanation, though his eyes were busy looking over the dark veins through the bedridden man's arm. The man, and the others, felt distinctly off somehow. Foggy and sick. Hannibal suspected it wasn't merely the sedatives or some mundane 'infection'. He was well aware of what the colloquially known blood poisoning looked like, and this didn't seem like it. If it was ordinary septicemia or one of the other variants bacta should eradicate it fairly quickly. His eyes narrowed imperceptibly for a moment before he turned to the young Kessurian man. He seemed at least somewhat cognizant, at least compared to the others.

Hannibal walked over, his soft smile reasserting itself on his face. "Heya. As you probably just heard, I'm looking into things around here. Y'mind telling me if you remember anything?" He intentionally altered his impression in the Force, a calm and friendly presence. Maybe it would help the guy relax and get him talking, and it was less intrusive than something like a mind trick. Any bit of information the young Jedi could get could be valuable, but he wasn't exactly in the business of draining the knowledge out of people.

Before the Kessurian could answer, a tingling sensation ran down the back of Hannibal's neck and for a moment he thought he heard whispers. He had to resist the urge to turn and look, but he definitely knew what he was feeling. A sense of danger and darkness from the general direction of the forest. It definitely hadn't been there just a moment ago, which was probably not the best sign. He decided in advance to keep his questioning short before moving on, double-clicking the commlink on his belt to signal his astromech the need for moving at faster than walking pace.

If another Jedi were here Hannibal would be betting a Sith was involved at this point. Of course it could be some kind of other Dark Side something or other, but when was that ever the case? Hannibal spread out his senses, extending it farther out to see if the shadowy presence was having an effect on anything that he could determine. Doubtless this would make his own presence more obvious, but it may also give him a trail to follow to the source or a clue as to what the point of it was. He'd still rather not just blindly go into it, and as he suspected this investigation had the potential to turn into a manhunt, whatever he could get would be nice.

@GABA

 

[Maeve Byrne]

The Kessurian teen's eyes followed the Jedi Master as he approached his bedside, eventually looking down at his lap when the Jedi stopped at his bed. He looked back up, the nervousness in his eyes seemed to fade and his shoulders dropped slightly to the nonthreatening effects that pulsed through the Force. He smiled and then glanced at his hands as Hannibal asked him if he could remember anything and the kid nodded.

"Yeah, but it will sound completely silly." he shrugged, "I've tried telling the nurses and Dax but they said it is just in my head, probably hallucinating." He sighed, eyeing the Jedi carefully to gauge his reaction to see if he would believe his story.

"It reminded me of the stories parents tell their kids when they do not listen, monsters that steal people. I went as a dare with the other guys, check out the forest, call their bluff on the strange things that were happening." The teen shook his head, "Just so happened I came face to face with a demon: red face, glowing eyes. It spoke and I felt the need to do as it said, but the spell stopped working and I was able to break free. I didn't recognize where I was, everything looked warped and scorched." he paused, his own gaze falling on the images of his memory as he watched himself for a moment.

"I just remember running after that, and luckily ran into a search party. I was told I was gone for days, but it certainly did not feel like that." the Kessurian looked at the Jedi, a quizzical look forming on his face, "Like something out of a fairy tale." he smirked, "I can still feel its eyes watching, occasionally it feels heavy...like now."

As Hannibal would finish listening to the young worker speak about his experience, the Force shivered, sending a sharp pulse that made it distinctively clear of dark intentions. The malicious whispers beckoned the Jedi to follow to their master, the dark witch.

@Mr. Teatime

 

[Hannibal Grayza]

The young Jedi waved off the Kessurian's concerns and listened attentively to what he had to say. He took note of the important little details. Certainly Hannibal would question the other young man's descriptions if it weren't for the fact there were practically comatose people laying about and the entire town knew rumours of what was happening. He could also literally feel whatever dark influence was slinking, seeping its way into the little working town, like oil across a durasteel street, finding its way into every little crack. Whatever it was, it was unacceptable.

"Don't worry, I believe you, and I don't think you're crazy. You've been real helpful," he reassured the Kessurian with a gentle pat on the shoulder. He also tried to share a little bit of the Light with him, just to see if it might help him, at least temporarily. Nevertheless, he could feel the call. Could be a trap, really. Of course Hannibal almost always expected a trap. Call it healthy caution. But as what felt like the tinglings of electrical energy ran down his spine, he also knew he was going to go looking for trouble anyway. That was basically why he was here, to deal with a problem. A problem that was certainly confirmed to be Dark in origin.

"I'll come back and visit ya. Get some rest, alright?" He waved in a friendly sort of way and turned to go, exiting the medical area. Once outside he turned to his seeker droid. "Ego, scan and record. It's time to get to work." If Dax was still around somewhere nearby or on the way he'd let him know he was going to search the forest, but otherwise Hannibal could deal with that later. He steeled his resolve and got to walking, heading toward and, eventually, into the forest.

The Dark presence wasn't exactly subtle, and the young Jedi had always been good at finding what he was looking for one way or another. He'd get there eventually. Probably.

@GABA