"My people..." he begins, then seems to think better of what he was about to
say. "Humans." He says flatly. "Because I don't apologize for my fond wish
for the destruction of the race and class system that oppresses humans and
debases kandar, I am -- to the extent that I am known at all -- unpopular
with the powerful in this city."
"As for my visit to castle, I was in the area visiting settlements of free
humans and teaching them to read and write. Some kandar would call that
alone a crime." The hint of a challenge flickers across his face. "While
there I had... a rather unpleasant dream about the castle, which I had never
before visited. But my dream drew me there."
[OOC: Tim, didn't we drop off the prisoners in that town where we caught the
power-waggon?]
"I understand what you're asking. But I tell you, I speak the truth. The
rest of our group can vouch for my actions since I joined them. As for
everything before that, ask around with some of the local magistrates. They
don't like me one bit, but they should confirm my identity at least."
"And if my word isn't good enough for you, well, I'd rather you or one of
your agents didn't start poking around in my brain. And yes, I have the
mental wherewithal to stop you, or at least slow you down. But I hope it
doesn't come to that."
>From: Tim
>Reply-To: kalyr+mission@phoenyx.net
>To: kalyr@phoenyx.net
>Subject: Re: Kalyr: 97c - Debriefing (Dharak)
>Date: Sun, 7 Nov 2004 13:12:37 CST
>
> >The teacher regards the kandar seriously. "The first thing, I think,
>should
> >be that we establish a measure of trust between us." He pulls back his
>cloak
> >(which he spent a good deal of time cleaning last night) to reveal the
> >energy weapon. "Nicked this from the bad guys. Came in quite handy. If we
> >hadn't appropriated all this extra firepower, I dare say you and I
>wouldn't
> >be chatting here so enjoyably." He smiles. "But the last thing I want is
>to
> >get into a contretemps with you Mechanists. So here." He slowly removes
>the
> >weapon from his belt and hands it to Zavan, grip first.
>
> >"Don't worry, this isn't the business end."
>
>Zavan takes a look at the weapon. "One of those. RK-18, I think. Or
>worse, an illegal copy. Don't recognise the lettering at all. We
>don't want these on the street; they'll fall into the hands of the
>wrong kinds of people
>
>Dharak notices the writing on the barrel when Zavan points it out;
>it's not only in a language Dharak does not know, it's in a script he
>doesn't recognise.
>
> >"Now, to answer your question, my name is Dharak. I'm from the West, but
> >I've lived in Calbeyn long enough to get a few of the right people angry
> >with me. I'm a teacher of my people, and sometimes I go out into the
> >wilderness to spread my modest knowledge among the free brothers and
>sisters
> >there.
>
>"Who you call 'your people'?, Zavan asks, "And who are the 'right
>people' you have made angry? Why do you think you have made them
>angry?". There's something a little threatening in his tone of voice.
>
> >"During this trip, I stumbled across the Mentalists' castle, and
> >seeing that it had been attacked, I entered to find out what assistance I
> >might be able to offer the survivors. I indeed met some survivors, as
>well
> >as the rescue party your guild and the Mentalists jointly sent. Shortly
> >thereafter, we were attacked outside the castle walls by the psionic
>monster
> >that had ravaged the castle. We killed it, with considerable difficulty."
>
>"What were you doing in the area?", Zavan asks, "I believe it is a
>sparsely populated zone; hence the Academy of the Mind choosing the
>location. Did you have some business at the castle?".
>
> >"We then went to find Jathren, who I understand had been wounded earlier
>in
> >the expedition. I joined the group willingly, for it seemed that its
>mission
> >had dire implications for my people. Jathren and the others seemed glad
> >enough to have my assistance. At any rate, we went to reconnoiters what
>was
> >rumoured to be the site of some ancient kandar technology. Long story
>short,
> >we found a functioning mirror and had a series of progressively bloodier
> >scraps with its operators -- who included Karmorkis, humans with strange
> >accents, those Quaan cat-men, and at least one far weirder creature, most
>of
> >which are, I'll wager, not of this world, and all of whom were armed with
> >weapons such as that one. We escaped with prisoners, one dead and one
> >seriously wounded."
>
>Zavan nods as Dharak tells the story.
>
>"What happened to those prisoners?", Zavan asks.
>
> >"On our return, we were intercepted by a huge flying power waggon piloted
> >by, I believe, more Karmorkis. Its energy weapon killed one of our
> >prisoners, and likely would have done us all in had not Reylorna mentally
> >incapacitated the Karmorkis, causing the thing to crash. Then made our
>way
> >back here."
>
>"It sounds like you have seen a lot of combat; I've never heard of a
>mind-bender bringing down a sky-raft. I would not have thought that
>such a thing was even possible!"
>
>"Forgive me for asking these questions, but there have been
>unfortunate incidents in the past where individuals who have been
>represented organisations hostile to our Guild have managed to
>infiltrate the organisation. The security division is therefore very
>reluctant to hire freelance agents such as yourself because we cannot
>always trust those whose history and ultimate allegiance is not known
>to us. This does not mean that I automatically consider you to be an
>enemy, but it does mean we cannot afford to assume you are what you
>say you are".
>
>"Do you understand what I'm getting at?"
>--
>Tim Hall
>Weblog: http://www.kalyr.com/weblog
>Photos: http://kalyr.fotopic.net/
