FoE RPG G0 - #030 Trap and Truth

[00:11]<SpiritOfFate>	Hawkeye's clear night sight can see most of the guards either around the palisade, or the borders. The way to the main hall is clear, but she can also see a zebra on the roof of the hut the group is in.
[00:12]?	Hawkeye grits her teeth. Her curiosity is going to have to wait. She skulks away from a few guards, toward the group's hut. If the zebra atop it is looking for trouble, he's found it. If not, and he's protecting them? Then the sniper will go on about her stealthy way and peep at forbidden treasures as planned.
[00:16]<SpiritOfFate>	Hawkeye can see the zebra is holding a pouch of something
[00:18]?	Hawkeye gets out her sniper rifle and looks at the zebra through it. There's just so much she doesn't know about their culture.... this could be a protective dust, or a... waterproofing... thing? No, it's probably poison or flammable or something. She growls, flipping up her eyepatch to make sure that spirits aren't involved HERE too, since they seem to be everywhere ELSE. And should that zebra look...
[00:18]?	Hawkeye ...like he's about to pull a fast one, well, there's a .308 hollowpoint with his name on it in her rifle's chamber...
[00:21]<SpiritOfFate>	There is a blue mote flowing from their frozen pouch necklace. The other pouch he is holding seems to have some kind of dust. He digs a small hole on the straw hoof of the hut
[00:23]<Hawkeye>	Dammit. Knew he was up to no good... but better not to wake everyone up! Hawkeye slinks up to the side of the hut, twirls her lasso, and pitches it at the unsuspecting zebra, hoping to yank him off the roof before he does any harm! And if he was helping, well... better to have not killed him for it.
[00:31]<SpiritOfFate>	The  lasso manages to catch the zebra
[00:34]?	Hawkeye yanks the zebra backward off the roof, directly onto her back to soften the landing. Again... too many unknowns. What if it were F'zala trying to do them a favor? Too risky. Better safe than sorry. She can always shotgun them if they're hostile. Hard to unbreak a neck.
[00:36]<SpiritOfFate>	The zebra falls on your back, startled.
[00:38]?	Hawkeye shakes the zebra off and levels her shotgun at the equine's head. "Hey," she says. "Mind explainin' what y'all are doin' to muh friends?" she says, completely deadpan, and flips the zebra's hood off their face.
[00:43]<SpiritOfFate>	The zebra eyes go wide. "It's too soon. Too soon. I just followed the command of the whisperer."
[00:45]<Hawkeye>	"Ah said EXPLAIN, not mutter gibberish," Hawkeye growls, nudging the zebra's nose with her shotgun. She doesn't recognize him, at least. "You got about ten seconds to explain, in plain, non-mystic language, whether y'all are tryin' to HELP, or HURT muh friends, and *how*. Starting... now." She pulls the hammer on the shotgun back. "One.... two..."
[00:47]<SpiritOfFate>	"It's just a sleep powder!" He says, cowering.
[00:48]<Hawkeye>	"Three. And you need them asleep sounder and longer WHY?" Hawkeye says, her one eye an inch from literally flaming. "You're real good at giving answers. But not to the questions Ah'm asking. Better improve at that, right quick. FOUR."
[00:53]<SpiritOfFate>	"The scouts were going to move them to the cave. Something about a kidnapper and getting more pearls. The ponies that brings us pearl were looking for you. I'm just an alchemist, that's all I know!" He closes his eyes
[00:55]<SpiritOfFate>	Buck gallops to you. "What is going on?"
[00:56]?	Hawkeye lowers the shotgun. "Alright. Now we're gettin' somewhere," she says. "So y'all are working with the slavers, then. That's low an' rotten." She spits on the ground next to the zebra. "Ah hope y'all realize that it's a good thing it was ME who caught y'all. If it'd been Ignis, he'd'a roasted you alive, real slow." Hawkeye stops and shushes Buck. "This feller was tryin' ta drug the others, so...
[00:56]?	Hawkeye ...they could drag 'em off and trade 'em for pearls. Ain't that right?" she asks the zebra.
[00:58]<SpiritOfFate>	The zebra nods nervously, muttering something about the devourer and a ritual.
[01:01]<SpiritOfFate>	"In this land nopony is too keen on freedom." He stares at the zebra. "So, what now?"
[01:01]?	Hawkeye closes her eye and lets out a sigh. "Now? Ugh. Ah don't know. Y'all better say that again, you lop-eared, bark-chewing box o' rattlesnakes," she says. "Real slow an' clear, like y'all would explain to a filly. Or Ah let this other slave here, who really don't want to go back to bein' a slave, stomp yer traitorous brains out." She looks at Buck. "There's low, then there's 'offer your guests a...
[01:01]?	Hawkeye ...place to sleep, then sell them' low."
[01:05]<SpiritOfFate>	"We need pearls for t-the warding rituals, or we are all doomed, even the unknowing- uh, the... foals! T-they are in danger too! The devourer is unyelding, and the cursed tree will smother us." The zebra says, panicked.
[01:08]?	Hawkeye shakes her head and looks at Buck. "See, Ah knew there was a reason Ah didn't just shoot him. How am Ah supposed to put him down, knowin' he was just tryin' to protect family?" She slumps and sits down on her rump, hard. "Well, hang me from the rafters and call me a chandelier... get up an go, ya idjit." She waves a hoof at the zebra. "And tell your whisperin' buddies that we need to have a...
[01:08]?	Hawkeye ...REAL talk. Y'all can't just keep usin' pearls forever. We're gonna solve this problem o' yours. Permanently."
[01:12]<SpiritOfFate>	The zebra nods nervously.
[01:12]<SpiritOfFate>	"Can we trust him?" Buck asks
[01:14]<Hawkeye>	"No," Hawkeye says, glaring at the zebra. "Ah think they've already proved that. But th'least we can do is wake the others an' let 'em know we can't trust 'em. And if them zebras are smart, they'll realize that they cain't just keep gambling on gettin' more pearls. Eventually, one day, they're gonna run out." She shakes her head. "Ah wouldn't wanna be them when that happens. Or, they can...
[01:14]<Hawkeye>	...help us help them. Then we both win. Now go on an' tell 'em that." She waves at the zebra with her shotgun. "Go. Now."
[01:15]<SpiritOfFate>	The zebra scurries away
[01:16]?	Hawkeye sighs again. "Buck... any chance we can just leave this planet an' find a nice new one to live on, where folks can trust each other again an' not worry about freaky spirits an' witchcraft?" she grumbles, heading for the hut door. Time to wake the others... with some not so pleasant news...
[01:17]<SpiritOfFate>	"Out of the old walls, we can go anywhere. Maybe there's somewhere like that" He says.
[01:20]?	Hawkeye snorts, this time with a half smile. "Sure, sugarcube. We'll go see them walls after we help these zebras stop bein' idjits, convince them griffon mercs to stop bein' idjits, rescue all them idjits that are on drugs, and then get all our favorite idjits back to their families," she says. "Assumin' we don't get et by spirits, set fire to by robots, or gunned down by slavers along the way..."...
[01:20]?	Hawkeye ...She steps into the tent.