Play@YSDC

"I see. We're civilians working for the American government. We were sent here to try to find out what happened to Major Ellis. We want to make sure there aren't any problems when the ANA takes command of the base. Your men are good soldiers, and we want to be good allies."

"You must be Rahimi," says Craig, switching to English. "I'm a translator too. This is Dr. Tyner. I was hoping to find someone with some local knowledge of the area."

"Yes my name is Yasim Rahimi."
Replies the translator in English.
"I am from a neighboring province and have spent a lot of time in this one so I know a lot about it. And I know for sure that that mountain is best left alone."

"I've heard that it's a dangerous place," Tyner agrees. "But we've got a job to do. I know you understand the importance of duty. Maybe you can tell us anything else you know about the area. Are there any dangerous animals, maybe some waterholes or springs?"

Rahimi replies.
"I do not know about any springs, but I do know that animals will be the least of your worries if you go their. The Taliban patrol around those areas, and I heard they attacked the last patrol that went looking for that American who went missing. Besides, Varjita Mountain is home to a cursed placed. To go there is to tempt the wrath of God."

"That explains the reaction I got when I mentioned the mountain," says Craig. "What can you tell us about the curse?"

"The place is cursed."
Repeats Rahimi.
"Everyone knows this. Even in my home province the village elders and nomads will warn you about Kali Ghati."

"Is Zahir Quluj particularly knowledgeable about Kali Ghati and the curse?" asks Craig. "I'd like to know more about it: its origin, what form it takes, what happens to those who fall victim to it, that sort of thing." Not only are their lives on the line, but this also interests him as an anthropologist. He is keen to know how legends like this get started and are transmitted down through the generations, and of course the kernel of truth behind them.

"You would have to ask him." replies Rahimi. "We never talked about it any of the times I went to the village. I wouldn't mind going with you to the village, as long as some soldiers came along too, but from the sounds of it you don't really need a translator."

Pfc Crawford walks over to Alex and hands him the laptop. “ it's took some doing sir, but I've managed to recover most of the data on the drive and it seems accessible” Alex smiles “ damn good job Crawford, drinks are on me later.”
Alex settles down and starts scanning the data. “the others need to see this” he thinks to himself.
“hmm that name zunbils seems familiar” Alex wrack his brain trying to remember where he has heard it before?

Cotton wrote:"You would have to ask him." replies Rahimi. "We never talked about it any of the times I went to the village. I wouldn't mind going with you to the village, as long as some soldiers came along too, but from the sounds of it you don't really need a translator."

"Thanks for the offer. We better go back and find Alex, see what he's come up with. We'll get together and decide about taking a trip to the village."

Sounds like the village is a safe enough place. Might be OK to let some of the locals come along, but I'll ask Craig what he thinks. he's the expert on these people and their land.

"Yes, thank you," says Craig. "I can translate, but what we could use is a guide with knowledge of the village and the area around it."

"I can go with you to the village tomorrow, assuming that Captain Byers is ok with sending myself and some soldiers with you to the Quluj Khel. I believe that I technically work for him." Replies Rahimi.

And I should point out that your characters have spent a few hours going around the base at this point so the sun will set soon, and you all know that traveling around this area at night would be extremely dangerous.

"That would be great," says Craig. "I don't think getting Captain Byers's permission will be a problem. We should probably leave tomorrow at dawn. I'll see you then." He then goes with Dr. Tyner to seek out Alex.

Alex Baxter:
You know that the Zunbils were a people native to this area from the 7th century until the Islamic conquest of Afghanistan in 870 AD. The Zunbils worshipped the sun, which they referred to as Zun. You know that some idols of Zun depict him as a dragon, and that worship of Zun was coopted into the Hindu religion and eventually largely forgotten.


Reynolds and Tyner:
Reynolds and Tyner will find Baxter while the tech wizard is still working on the computer; although he will soon be done.

(OOC: You guys can go check out that "spoiler" part I left in the message to Maelstrom a couple posts back if you haven't already.)

Tyner figures they all better be ready to leave at dawn. That means not only arranging for Rahimi and a couple of soldiers to accompany them, it means packing the necessary supplies. Plenty of water and sunscreen, of course; some rations; first aid kit; the usual. He hopes the base can spare a jeep or two, maybe a humvee. A sidearm would make him feel good, too.

After talking to Alex about the stuff they found on the disk, he figures Ellis ran into some kind of violent cult. He hopes it isn't much more than that.

As they make arrangements for sleeping that night, he suddenly remembers to take along the coded notebook. He shows it to Craig on a hunch, to see if the pattern matches any language he's familiar with. Anyway, fooling around with it before they settle down for a good night's sleep will kill the time.

"We'd better talk to Captain Byers before we turn in and get his permission to borrow Rahimi and some ANA soldiers to escort us to the village," says Craig, taking the notebook and examining it.

OOC,I don't actually have the Cryptography skill (I don't even see it on the character sheet), but there may be someone on the base who does.

Captain Byers will gladly lend you Rahimi, and 12 American soldiers. You will go in two separate Cougar MRAPs (mine-resistant ambush protected vehicle); they both sport a M2 heavy machine gun through a hatch on top. It will be you three, Rahimi, and a driver and medic in one Cougar, and the second Cougar will have the other 10 soldiers (also including a driver and medic) as an escort. He is adamant about this, and you can tell he is probably paranoid about losing more men.

This is an army base so anything you guys want in terms of body armor, weapons, and supplies you could probably get pretty easily; so if you want anything specific let me know, if you're fine with whatever I will give you a list.

SigInt, which stands for Signals Intelligence, is the skill that covers cryptography. It encompasses encryption, communications intelligence, electronic intelligence, surveillance of radio and digital communications, and the making and breaking of codes. None of you have the SigInt skill, but a Bureaucracy roll will allow you to both find someone on the base who does and convince them to decode it.

"This cloak-and-dagger stuff doesn't mean anything to me," Tyner says as he flips through the notebook. "I wonder if I find can somebody on base who can handle it."
After trying to convince somebody to tackle the notebook, Tyner figures he's wasting his time. He keeps running into "hurry up and wait" and Catch-22 and other military red tape. He hands it to his colleagues.

"You guys monkey with this thing. I'm running into a blank wall. Meanwhile, I'm going to check out our equipment."

This is what you would be offered in the way of supplies, but you can choose what you'd like to take with you. Rahimi, since he is a translator, will only be taking the body armor, a pistol, and food and water.

M4 carbine- 30 rounds (2 reloads), Damage: 1D12, Armor Piercing: 3, kill damage: 10%
M9 pistol- 15 rounds (2 reloads), Damage: 1D10
M67 hand grenade (x2)- kill damage: 15%, the skill that governs grenades is Athletics
M9 bayonet- Damage: 1D6 (1D8 if affixed to rifle), Armor Piercing: 3
Tactical Body Armor- It is the same kind of armor the soldiers would be wearing, and in game terms would have an armor rating of 5. This means that if you are wearing this and get attacked for 6 points of damage you subtract 5 of those points and only actually take 1 point of damage to your hit points.
Medical Kits
Enough food and water for a few days (just in case)
(I think that anything else you could want that are small things, like say flashlights, we could just hand wave and say that you have when and if those things come up)