It's been 2 months since your last run.  Deduct the cost of your lifestyle(s) accordingly :>

Caduceus - few of your contacts have names and none have any details.  I'm going to make up some stuff for one of them, but if you can give the remainder a name and 1-2 lines of description/relationship/quirks, that'd be appreciated going forward...

Caduceus picked up a call from Dr. Korotz, his old "Practical Thaemetology" professor.  It'd been at least a year since the two had touched base, and the good professor saw fit to make up for it by bringing the snake shaman up to speed.  On *everything* -  the current state of the university "You wouldn't believe what they're charging for parking these days - even for tenured faculty!", the political feuds within the college "I'd have fired her, but of course they saw fit to give Gerald the chair and he couldn't stand up to a mouse." and his current medical status "so finally I went in to have it lanced.".

Caduceus had instinctively tuned the old man out, listening with half an ear while he searched for a clean pair of socks and waited for the professor to get to the point.
" ... blah blah job blah blah blah Amazonia blah blah blah leave soon."

That grabbed his attention.  The weather in Seattle had been more dreary than usual, alternating between a light drizzle, an outright downpour and - on at least too evenings - real freaking snow.  The parts of Grid Guide that still worked hadn't been programmed to deal with the white stuff and it had taken at least a week for the city to clean up the mess.

The thought of a visit to the warm sandy beaches of his homeland was most appealing - especially if there was a chance a Johnson might pick up the price of the tickets...

Unfortunately, once the good Doctor paused enough to allow a couple of questions, it was evident that he didn't have a whole lot of detail.  He had a time and a place - because he'd apparently seen fit to make an appointment for you without clearing it.  "Well that's your sort of work now, isn't it?"  His opinion on the relative value of "your sort of work" was clear from his tone.

Ten p.m. at the Gravity Bar North, a trendy nightspot.  A place like that generally meant nuyen.  And nuyen was always welcome...

Caduceus enjoyed catching up with the professor, even if it did remind him exactly why he hadn't touched base in over a year. The Dr. was certainly a thorough individual when it came to his stories, and small doses were about all he could handle.  But when he eventually left the man's office, it was with a job offer in a prime destination. He wasn't sure about the details, and was a bit nervous about the lack of any, but the shaman still found himself hoping that it worked out for the best.

When he got out to his motorcycle, Caduceus called up White Duck. "Hey Duck. I got a line on a potential job if your interested. More details to follow tonight at ten, at the Gravity Bar North.  Meet me there? You could bring your janitor too for some extra muscle if you want. I was thinking about calling that runner Noruas put us into contact with too. Koby. We can make it a club event." He emphasized the word club, implying their new magical group.

"Hai, sounds like a good idea- go ahead and call Barfy Dancer there and I'll see if Hairy wants to tag along. Dear god I hope he knows how to keep his mouth shut at a meet with a J though." he cackles. The sound of a cigarette lighting up lending reason to a brief pause in dialect.

"We oughtta think up a name for our intrepid little group. Just grabbing it out of all the superhero team group names seems improper. Anyway, I'll at least be there." After hanging up, Duck lets Hairy know about the job, offering to share a cab there once the time draws near. Regardless of whether Hairy comes or not, Duck's there, at the bar, already flirting with some half-drunken woman who is starting to get handsy.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm up for some work. Listen, as a salesman, I should probably take tha lead. Face is basically my gig, ya know?"

He's happy to take a cab and split the fare.

Duck laughs and shakes his head.

“Not on this team it ain’t, omae. My negotiation game was already strong, and you can thank the fact that it’s now magically enhanced thanks to that ritual you tried to muss up for a sorry ass hunk of change a far cry less than what I had in my pockets at the time. Listen, you’re playing for a big league team now. Keep your thoughts during the negotiation to yourself, and it’ll net you ten kay. If you decide to speak up and we all end up getting paid less, not only is it coming outta your checks, but I’m not going to be giving you another shot at netting a solid job with us again so ka?” Duck sighs, wondering to himself how in the world the spirits, as they were, could fathom how useful keeping this ork alive could possibly be. Not only did Hairy try to burn down Duck’s shop with him in it, but he played fast and loose with explosives in a populated area, he didn’t seem to have many valuable skills outside of miraculously staying alive, and he was mysteriously cocky.

“I swear Hairy, I’ll find you some fun to have, but you gotta dial this shit back and let Snakes and I handle this one. I can assure you that it’llbe directly beneficial to you if you really wanna make some serious scratch.”

"I'll give Kody a call then," Caduceus said before hanging up and calling the other Shadowrunner. He gave Kody all of the same information as he had given Withe Duck. Then the shaman prepared for his night out by putting on his nicest clothes and least obvious armor.

Caduceus arrived over an hour early on his motorcycle to get a good sense of the place. He made note of its astral defenses (or lack thereof) and looked for any local spirits. He then conjured a City Spirit outside to give him protection for the night while he was outside the establishment.  A writhing mass of power cables coalesced into the shape of an electric man. "Please Guard me while I am in your domain tonight. And to anyone who tries to harm me, fill them with Fear, make them Confused, and get them into Accidents." He gave the spirit a mischievous smile before heading inside.

He then gave a greater effort to conjuring a couple inside the nightclub.  Which was one of the other reasons he arrived so early. He knew he wanted to conjure a strong spirit, and wanted enough time to recover from the strain on his body from doing so.

To the first he said, "Please keep me well Guarded, and if anyone tries to harm me, make them have an "Accident"." To the second spirit, a big muscular bouncer-type pulsating with sonic energy, he said, "I'll keep you in reserve in case things go pear-shaped." He then ordered a water and recovered in the corner.

---

Caduceus will conjure a Force 3 City Spirit outside.
01:15, Today: Caduceus rolled 4 successes using 6d6 with the Shadowrun system with a target of 3 with rolls of 5,1,1,5,(6+2)8,5.  Conjure Force 3 City Spirit.
4 Services. All used. Guard, Fear, Confusion, and Accident.

01:23, Today: Caduceus rolled 2 successes using 6d6 with the Shadowrun system with a target of 3 with rolls of 1,4,2,1,3,2.  Drain.
No Drain.

He will then conjure a Force 3 and Force 6 Hearth Spirit inside.
01:24, Today: Caduceus rolled 2 successes using 6d6 with the Shadowrun system with a target of 3 with rolls of 1,4,1,(6+4)10,2,1.  Conjure Force 3 Hearth Spirit.
2 Services Both used. Guard self and Accident to enemies.

01:25, Today: Caduceus rolled 3 successes using 8d6 with the Shadowrun system with a target of 3 with rolls of (6+5)11,1,2,3,5,2,2,1.  Drain.
No Drain.

01:33, Today: Caduceus rolled 1 success using 6d6 with the Shadowrun system with a target of 6 with rolls of 5,5,(6+5)11,2,5,2.  Conjure Force 6 Hearth Spirit.
1 Service, held in reserve.

01:34, Today: Caduceus rolled 1 success using 8d6 with the Shadowrun system with a target of 6 with rolls of 5,1,4,(6+1)7,4,5,1,5.  Drain.
Medium Drain.

01:36, Today: Caduceus rolled 2 successes using 6d6 with the Shadowrun system with a target of 4 with rolls of 1,2,3,(6+2)8,5,1.  Stun Recovery Willpower Test.
Recovery time is 30 minutes per box of stun. He should be able to recover at least two boxes of stun before the meeting starts.

Gravity North is quieter than the downtown version, but is still very much in keeping with its reputation as a place to "get business done".

Caduceus has no issue summoning his spirit outside.  The electrical man shoots a few sparks between his "fingers" in acknowledgement of the shaman's instructions, then partly walks and partly slithers over to a nearby street-lamp which it then coils around and 'merges' into, presumably to keep watch.

The bar itself is well-warded and there's a metal-detector and troll with a wand at the door and decent-level fire elemental giving the bouncer some astral cover.

Let me know if you're going to try to sneak anything in - or try to convince someone to loo the other way

On the inside, Caduceus is offered his choice of a seat at the bar or a booth.  He notices several awakened members of the staff and a few elementals and spirits keeping an eye on things inside the establishment as well.

You can choose to change your mind on summoning while inside.  If you want to stick with your rolls, I'll also need an Astral Stealth.

Over the course of the next hour, he sees several "Johnson party?" groups get escorted up the stairs, which is presumably where the private meeting rooms are.

Koby receives the call from Caduceus while heating up some tofurkey in his mom’s microwave. He nods and mentally hits down the location and time.  He quickly scarfs down the boneless fake poultry and cleans up before heading to the meet. He arrives about 30mins earlier than the expected time. Noticing the metal detector and guard, Koby decided to leave his gun in his car before walking in.

With that much security, Caduceus won't try to sneak in any weapons, and he won't risk getting kicked out by conjuring spirits. He will save his strength to banish them instead, if the need arises. Or to conjure some later. Caduceus doesn't really expect things to get that dire anyway. So I guess he'll just hang around for an half an hour with his water, getting acquainted with the place and staff members, then chat with Koby for another 30 minutes until the meeting starts.

In reply to White Duck (msg # 5):

"Hoi, 'shit'? Imma professional. I was hired for a job and I did it. You wanna talk, ya go ahead. But you got questions about my game, I'll happily twist your elf-posing head off your neck 'til it's clear." His tone of voice doesn't suggest he's upset. Just matter-of-fact. If there's some questions about what he does, he'll provide evidence vis-a-vis twisting off heads.

When the car arrives at the bar, he'll ask, "you want me doing overwatch or what?"

Duck grits his teeth. Spirits be damned, he wasn't going to allow Hairy's threats to continue, especially when it might get in the way of the job.

"Did your job? If you call failing to do your job doing your job, and running away like a coward and dropping grenades in a public space when you fucked it up accomplishing something, clearly, you're delusional." he gets out of the car, removes his coat, then blocks Hairy's entry to the bar.

"Now, I don't accept threats. You wanna have a pissing contest, so I'm gonna beat the shit out of you here and now before you buck me when it would obstruct the job, whatever that job is." Duck puts his dukes up.

"So, take your fucking shot and apologize when I'm about to knock you the fuck out, or apologize now. Either way, you're done threatening me or any member of my team." With that, Duck motions for the ork to come at him.

The bouncer at the door quirks an eyebrow and looks both ways to see if the pair are potentially blocking any would-be customers.  Seeing none, he shrugs - apparently content to let things proceed, at least for now.

Hairy puts his fists up and mentally engages his reaction enhancers. He winds up for a solid punch and then... stops. He looks Duck up and down for a moment then laughs, wagging his finger. "Hah, ya almost had me. Goddam, fighting outside a meet. Okay, okay, I'll find a place to setup I guess. Jus' don't you frag me over. We're a team now."

He playfully slaps Duck's shoulder with enough force to topple a lesser man, and turns around to scope out the neighborhood for a fire escape or low roof he can clamber up to.

Duck snerked, wondering idly if he could get the ork to finally show up for fight club Thursdays. Hairy always knew when to dial it back, at least.

“Probably something to learn from that.” Thought Duck. He thumbed out a credstick with 10k balanced on it. It would probably be enough to get the guy on his feet. Who knows, maybe this one would scrap up some grenades. He flipped it i to Hairy’s pocket as he passed him, moving inside to look for Cadeuces.

Hairy found himself a comfy spot at a parkade kitty-corner to the venue.  There was a tense moment when the sniper already keeping an eye on the night-club got touchy about the unexpected company.  However, Hairy's winning personality - or perhaps his willingness to share his wares - quickly diffused the situation.  Soon they were quietly swapping stories while scanning the surrounding area through their scopes.

Over time-period he was in position, several high-end vehicles (and a few lower-end ones) dropped off individuals at the club.  A couple had bodyguards, most did not.  Unfortunately there was no way to know which one was "your" Johnson - though it was generally possible to figure out who was a Johnson and who was a runner.

-----------------------

The inside of the Gwas clean but comfortable.  A few individuals sat quietly at the bar, others talked in low voices at relatively private booths.  A low hiss undercut the music playing over hidden speakers, suggesting at least one white noise generator was in play as well.  Servers circulated to take orders but otherwise kept out of the way.

After calling several other "Party for Mr. Johnson?" groups, one of the waitresses approaches Caduceus and the two with him to escort him upstairs.  At the base of the stairs, you undergo a brief patdown by one of the bouncers before being escorted to the second floor.

Eventually, you were seated in a private room with your potential employer - a tall, well-dressed human. He was calm enough to let you know he'd done this sort of thing before, so you weren't surprised that he got right down to business as soon as the waitress closed the door behind her.

"Thank you for coming," he said. "I represent a local agricultural company that's trying to obtain plant samples from the jungles of Amazonia. We had made arrangements with the Amazonian government for an authorized expedition into the country, but those arrangements recently fell through. So now we have a fully-equipped scientific expedition with nowhere to go ... unless we can get into Amazonia through a less official route, if you catch my meaning.

We have transportation, supplies and local guides ready to go; all we need are some people with experience crossing borders on the quiet. I'm told you're a resourceful group; would a hundred thousand nuyen divided among you be enough to buy your services for a week?"

“Well sir, I gotta say, I’m glad that you already have the structure in place. It tells me you know logistics quite well. You also seem to have some business saavy. With that in mind, I’m going to have to respectfully decline your initial offering on behalf of my team. An old mentor of mine used to tell me that when you scope a project, you can get fast, good, and cheap, but you only get two.” Duck flips a cigarette into his mouth from his coat, a purple and gold zippo appearing in the other hand, coming up to the end of the butt, and lighting it. He leans back a bit and takes a drag, blowing the smoke politely outside of the booth.

“You’re running on a strict timeline, so fast you need. We have a reputation for efficient, discrete, and successful work amongst our clientele. Can’t help it, we’re just damned good at what we do. However, like I said, you can’t get all three, right? We ain’t cheap. I’d greatly appreciate it if your next offer was a more legitimate one. It would have to be in order for us to take on a project so wide in scope.” Duck grins, taking a sip from a drink he ordered from the bar and looking to the Johnson for his reaction.

OOC: Will make whatever the appropriate social rolls are here, just let me know my TN after Good Reputation and my adept powers are considered. Also, I’ll go in and recolor in a few- posting from my phone as I’m jhaving some home internet issues.
This message was last edited by the player at 06:10, Fri 16 Nov 2018.

Base TN is 7.  I'm not seeing your new powers on your character sheet, nor am I seeing an edge for "good reputation" - perhaps it's not updated?

Koby decides to order a club soda before the negotiations began. He decided to let the others take the lead in the negotiating the price since he was sure his new team members would be able to get them a good deal. His main focus was to look out for them in other aspects.

As Caduceus sat and listened to the deal being negotiated, he couldn't help but feel a tinge of worry that he may have wasted his friends' time. It was his own contact that had gotten them this potential gig, after all. If they couldn't cough up the right price, then he would owe Duck, Koby, and Hairy an apology. But he would wait to worry about that when it became relevant. He had a feeling the Johnson was just lowballing because that is what Johnsons do. Drek, it is what he himself would do in the Johnson's place.

The shaman took a deep breath and set his focus on other tasks for the moment. Namely, he kept an eye on the astral to make sure no magical trickery was afoot. After all, one well-placed suggestion could have White Duck agreeing to be compensated with a truckload of circus peanuts or something. Not on my watch, he thought to himself. Caduceus made sure to get a good glimpse of everyone's auras. Both for future reference, and to know who was magically active so that he could keep an extra close astral watch on those who were.

The edges of the room glimmered slightly with a ward of reasonable strength.  Caduceus guessed it was at least a force 6, possibly higher.  This was definitely a high-end meeting place as wards on the individual rooms was uncommon.

The Johnson was mundane with a bit of headware.  Most likely a data jack, though other augments were a possibility.  He was confident - obviously someone who had done this thing before.  And at the moment the snake shaman could see a few read pulses of irritation, though they were quickly suppressed.

"Perhaps I wasn't sufficiently clear about the expectations.  Flight arrangements and clearing customs will be taken care of.  Payment for the guide is taken care of as well.  For a week of your time you are being paid enough to put bread on the table for half a year.  An all-expense paid trip to the tropics in exchange for keeping my team safe.  I can give you 20% up front, but I think the base offer is more than generous as it stands"

For the record, the payday you made on the last run is *far* from typical in the Shadowrun universe.  100k is equal to 20 months of a medium lifestyle and isn't out of line for a week of bodyguarding.

EDIT: grammar
This message was last edited by the GM at 17:17, Wed 21 Nov 2018.

Now that he had a more thorough understanding of the astral atmosphere, Caduceus allowed himself to relax a bit more. He remained off to the side and continued to observe the exchange, both physically and astrally, but left the actual negotiations to White Duck. If they couldn't get a better offer, so be it. But if they could, well, then all the better.

Duck seems unfazed by what the Johnson considers to be enough to put food on the table for half a year.

"Right, so what I got out of that is a 20% advance on pay for the job. Perhaps you could detail any potential issues we might encounter, identify any bonus opportunities we might find appealing, or any other actual perks of this job? An all-expense paid trip to the tropics would be great if we were going there for a vacation, but this won't be, especially not if we run into any awakened jungle critters. Speaking of awakened jungle critters, that could be the very tip of the iceberg, as you have yet to inform us as to the potential opposition we'd face, as you aren't trying to hire us to go there and ride jet skis." Duck leans forward, picking up his drink and taking a gentle sip, his demeanor calm.

"You know, the free trip to the tropics bit might work for any timeshare sales you have scheduled for today and appear to be confusing this meeting with. To me though, it honestly sounds like the kind of filler in a sales pitch that adds no value and obscures the bottom line. We'll be outside of our usual access to contacts, goods, and services, we'll be traveling on your dime, which could very well leave us stranded, and we'll be having to look after a team of researchers who might very well get distracted by the pretty scenery you're pitching to us and get themselves into trouble. We could use some more details, as presently we don't even know how many folks you want us to look after, what sorts of threats you're anticipating in order to hire us to begin with, or even what exactly your team is after. Since I don't take my coffee black or my contracts at a minimum, you may want to consider sweetening this deal a bit. To be direct, I'm still on the fence, and the grass on your side isn't any greener at the moment. A 20% increase in base pay might fertilize the grounds just enough to hop us over, but an advance isn't something we really need in the first place."
This message was last edited by the player at 16:39, Thu 29 Nov 2018.

The Johnson leaned back, looking somewhat annoyed.  "Local fauna are the principle reason for your presence.  No opposition is expected.  There should be no issues with the initial customs agents so long as you keep calm and let our guide do the talking, however there's certainly a possibility of patrols within the jungle.  It's an escort mission.  Your job is to keep my 3 botanists safe and un-interrupted.  Departure is in two days and you'll be looking at 6 days in the jungle.  2 days in, 2 days out, 2 days contingency.

If you're looking for a sweetener, Amazonia contains a good range of raw natural ingredients that could prove of value to the right people here if you know what you're looking for.  You're welcome to bring back what you wish so long as your primary focus remains the protection of my scientists and the fruit they're there to acquire.

I can bump the final payout by 10k.  If that's not sufficient, then I'll be on my way to find someone who's a bit hungrier."  He put his hands on the table, getting ready to push back his chair.

EDIT: Fixed spelling
This message was last edited by the GM at 03:55, Sat 15 Dec 2018.

Caduceus continued to sit back and observe, letting his attention drift around the room, on both the physical and astral levels. What he head, however, was sounding more and more promising. The more details the Johnson revealed, the more reasonable the offer sounded. Duck was right not to accept the terms without getting the details, but now Caduceus was hoping that this deal wouldn't fall through. Some time in the tropics sounded like a good time, work or no.

He might have to brush up on his knowledge of rainforest critters though, if they were going to be out in the wilderness. Last thing they would need is to go halfway across the world only to find out they were going to be traveling through rockworm territory. The guides would hopefully be able to help with that too though.

Duck's look betrays nothing. He calmly takes another sip of his drink and a drag of his smoke, looking around. Knowing Cadeuces well enough at this point, he noticed the shaman's ears perk up at the mention of magical plants. Julia, who is from the area and who sells these very types of goods in the shop, could probably provide some intel on what to gather as well as a place to fence whatever they find. With a short sigh, Duck looks to the Johnson and nods.

"Alright, we'll take you up on that."

The Johnson nodded in return.  "Good.

Departure time will be 2pm Sunday.  I'll send the departure information by around 10 that morning.  You'll be lugging whatever you choose to pack, so best to leave the kitchen sink at home.  Also, while the guide can finess a few things, heavy weapons are going to draw attention neither we nor you will want."

He removed a credstick from his pocket and dialed in the agreed advance before authorizing it and sliding it across the table and standing up.

"If there are no further questions, I'll leave you to your shopping and other preparations and we'll see you in about fort-eight hours."

You can get in a few more questions before he walks out the door if you have any

As the Johnson was getting up to leave, Caduceus finally spoke up to ask a question. "Do you have any more-exact map coordinates for the area we will be traveling to? I would like to look up the specific type of terrains we will be moving through, and what sorts of wildlife we might encounter. Not to mention the weather..." Caduceus liked the wilderness just fine, but had never been much into camping or extensive hiking. So if the terrain was going to be rough, he wanted to know ahead of time. He might invest in a conjuring focus or two as well, specific to the terrain, if he felt so inclined.

"We'll be flying into Iquitos, then heading west.  The guide will share the specific target coordinates once you're across into Amazonia.

The rainy season finished a month ago, so expect hot & humid.

The room's booked until the top of the hour if you need it."

He exited, closing the door behind him, leaving the three runners to think about what they'd just signed up for.

=================

Across the street, the elf next to Hairy nodded and began breaking down their weapon.  "My team's done.  Good luck an' see ya around."  He moved swiftly down the stairs and hopped into a van when it pulled up to take on himself and a couple of others coming out of the nightclub.

So - what's next?  Do you guys want to hang out at the club with Hairy keeping overwatch?  Head elsewhere to chat?  Call it a night and meet up tomorrow?

OOC: Sorry for the late post, but I have one last question before the Johnson leaves.

IC: After Caduceus had asked his question, Koby decided to ask a question too.

Do you know if there are any other human or metahuman organizations and or elements in the region that we are going through? Do we know if the region we are heading to is claimed as territory by any particular organization?

Hairy waves at the sniper as he packs out. "Good workin' with ya. See you around?"

Hairy will wait for the team to leave, try to spec out the car. Johnson's sometimes have nice wheels, and it would be good to recognize it in the future, for whatever this job is.

"Obviously there'll be the border guards.  No specific groups beyond that that we're aware of.  It's pretty dense territory.  Could be some locals I suppose, but nothing major.  The satellites just show jungle and water."

The Johnson has now left your room.

Duck eyes the door after the Johnson leaves, looking to the other two on hos team that are present. “So, anyone interested in a little side action on this one?”

"Not only am I interested, but it sounds like our employer doesn't even mind if we do. So long as we don't get too greedy, I'm sure." Caduceus's mind was already running through his list of contacts, trying to figure out who would be best to tap for info on the treasures that Amazonia's forests would have to offer. He needed to throw together a guidebook of sorts containing the flora and fauna that would be easy to transport and provide a nice payout. Not to mention he might want to procure some handy ways to transport goods discretely. "Let's find a nice spot to discuss the finer details. Places like this always make me feel like the walls have ears." Caduceus scanned the room on the astral one last time before drinking the last of his water and standing up.

The room is pretty sterile on the astral.  The room is warded with a lower force ward.  It wouldn't keep out someone who was determined, but doing something to the ward would presumably alert local security.  No signs of violence, though there's definitely a taste of conflict or opposition - which makes sense in a space primarily dedicated to negotiations.

Koby smiles back at the other two.

Yeah, let's take this conversation elsewhere.  I'm sure our new brother (Hairy) would probably like to join in on this chat.  Shall we go?

He stood up to join Caduceus and indicated the door at WD.

Duck just manages to hold back a sigh at Cadeuces’ enthusiasm. Something about this one seemed off, but he couldn’t quite put his finger on it. His thoughts about being in over his head for such a small payday would have to wait.

“That’s not exactly what I meant, but you’re right, this would be better discussed elsewhere.” Duck headed out with the team, down to collect Hairy, and then out back to the secret underground comic shop where half the team now worked. He sat back and grabbed an idle comic, not breaking his no smoking inside the store policy dor anyone, not even himself, and he waited until everyone was settled back in.

"Wow, a hundred-ten kay! That's some big money. Big money. Alright, so like... how do we plan a job in a place we've never been? Like, can we get some brochures or somethin'?"

"That's what I was thinking, more or less," Caduceus said in reply to Hairy. "I'm going to tap some of my contacts and see if I can't drum up a list of things to try and avoid, as well as things we should keep an eye out for. Like maybe some sort of rare plant worth its weight in gold? You guys got any other questions I should be asking my contacts while I'm at it?" The shaman pulled out his pocket secretary and began organizing his thoughts in the form of a list.

"A good car dealership? No way I'm walking."

“Might be looking too far out if you wanna talk to a good parabotanist. That’s pretty much Julia’s bread and butter. Hell, she’s even Amazonian. First thing we really wanna look into is an alternative exit strategy, honestly. The J’s pitch stunk to high hell, he glossed over too much for there NOT to be an elephant-sized chunk of valuable intel swept under the rug, and I dunno if it’s just me, but any time some suit tells me I shouldn’t be concerned about fine details, I get incredibly concerned.” Duck drums his fingers and calls for Julia in the back of the shop.

“One thing’s certain though, working for that fuckin’ creep. We should also investigate who we’re working for and what their intent is. You don’t send a research team to gather materials, you send them when a new discovery is made. We’ll probably get more detail once we find out who we’re guiding.” He looks to Hairy.

“By the way, Check your pockets, omae, ten kay already there in one of em’. I suggest buying more grenades if you can get em.”

"It never hurts to be cautious," Caduceus conceded to White Duck. Caduceus didn't necessarily agree that their Johnson reached the level of sleaze that White Duck implied, but he trusted the guy enough to at least check it out. "I can make some calls to try and get some more info on our employers. I am certainly interested in Julia's input about parabotany too, but I do have one or two other contacts who's opinions I value as well when it comes to that sort of thing. Nothing personal. Anyone want me to see if I can get them a false-bottom suitcase or something along those lines?"

"Yeah, I saw the money. I'm assuming that's for run supplies, and not you tryin' ta buy off my good behavior."

He furrows his brow for just a moment, before returning to his normal demeanor. "I got a good look at the car, and had some time with his sniper. Good guy, would camp with again. Not sure if you know anyone who can run the plates or anything."

The sniper wasn't clear he was there for a Johnson - and if Hairy had to guess, based on the vehicle he left with, it was more likely he was there with a different runner team, presumably for a different job.

Did Hairy have radio communications with the team so he knew when the meeting with the Johnson started and when it ended and a description of the J?  If so, he can probably narrow the Johnson's vehicle down to a couple of possibilities.  If not, he's probably got the plates of 20+ vehicles, though he might be able to narrow it down a bit based on a post-description of the J.

Duck nods to Hairy.

"Money was for you, omae, do with it what you will, but if you can scrounge up things I can throw that explode, we could both put em' to good use. As for running the plates, let's hold off until we have something solid we can suspect of em'. Honestly, if you can shoot, we could probably use a long-gun too. You know my options are sort of limited at a distance from that whole fiery underground chase thing." Duck looks to Cadeuces, his fingers dancing over a small deck of trading cards in lieu of a cigarette, which he noticeably avoids smoking in-store.

"Yes, fake luggage for sure. I'd also like to suggest you look into alternate transit options when it comes to getting back, just to be on the safe side."

Caduceus nodded to White Duck. Definitely a good suggestion. The shaman went to a quiet corner and dialed up one of his more notable contacts, Sly Mike. The man was a little greasy, but trustworthy. Especially after what the two of them had gone through together. And the man knew his craft and knew it well.

"Sly Mike, it's your old pal Caduceus. I've got a need for some unique items. Think "smuggler's suitcase" for an as-yet determined item. Doesn't have to be a suitcase. I'm mostly just through my options at this point. I'm open to your expert suggestions. And speaking of expert suggestions. Any tips you have for border crossings are welcome as well."

"Ahhh. Snakey!  Ees good to hear you voice!

Smuggling?  Hmm...  Da, I find you something probably.

Ah, you have esteemated size on dees 'undetermeened item'?  For gems, or RPG, or mebbe Johnson who needs for getting lost?"

EDIT: formatting
This message was last edited by the GM at 21:01, Fri 11 Jan 2019.

"Alright guys, I'm gonna go do some shopping."

Since no one else seems to need him at the moment, Harry will hop in his car and drive over to his old stomping grounds, see if he can hook up with the gang and score some gear, and intel on what's worth bringing back as souvenirs in the chemical world.

(Connection: 3 Loyalty: 6)

PM

Koby stops Hairy just before he leaves and asks him for the details of the Johnson’s plate. He wasn’t sure if he could contribute much to this new ‘family’ yet, but he’d give it a try. After Hairy leaves, Koby goes to another corner of the store with better signal and calls Noruas.

Hey Norry, I need you to look up a plate for me. He reads out the plate information recorded by Hairy and continues on, Please let me know if you or your kinda better half have any information on the regions of Amazonia. Oh, and is there anything I should be on the look out for that might be worth selling from that place?

"This for a job?  It'll take me 30, maybe 45.

Haven't had much to do with the folks from down south, other than the Aztech wonks, and those are best avoided.  I'll see what I can dig up on background though.  In terms of stuff to bring back, there's always stuff to bring back if you know where to look.  Where are you going exactly?"

"Unknown as of yet. Nothing too big though, I don't think. Bringing it back from Amazonia, if that helps you know what we'll be up against. If you know anything in the nature-world that might be worth bringing back from there, and you got buyers for it, I'm interested in sales pitches. Can't make any guarantees though." Caduceus wouldn't trust most of his contacts with that much information, but Sly Mike was one of the few exceptions.

<grey>"Amazonia?  You so lucky!!

Unless you are eaten by crocadile.  I hear they very big.  Mebbe don't go near swamp.

So, you are talking live specimens?  Ees needing refrigeration or something?  Or just compartmant you can be using for raw ores?

Amazonia is beeg place.  Where you going?  When you going?  I can mebbe put out feelers, find buyers.  Mike, he always find the buyers, hey?"</grey>

Well, I don't know where exactly I'm going, and that's why I need you to look up that plate for me.  The owner of that plate seems to have some sort of stake or project in Amazonia.  If you can find out what or where that is, then you will know where I'm headed.  Otherwise, I'm kinda in the dark as well.  BTW, I'll be going with your former teammates Ducky and Cad, they send their regards.

"Right now, your question is sort of the equivalent of 'is there anything worth bringing back from North America?'  I'll run the plate.  And once you're there, if you're somewhere with coverage, you can give me a ring if you need me to hack a tree or something.  And at minimum, you can bring me back a bottle of rum or tequilla or whatever dreck they make wherever you are."

Sure thing.  Just make sure you get me the details on the person who that plate belongs to.

Hairy's 'plate' is a bit more of a list right now. "Sorry chummer. Next time put me on a radio or somethin' and I'll just grab the one."

"All I know is we'll be among jungle and water, west of Iquitos. We're departing on Sunday. I'm not sure if refrigeration is strictly necessary, but would probably be good to have that option if it's available. Keep things fresher longer and whatnot. If I learn more about what we'll be dealing with or have access to, I'll let you know."

I'll presume that with Hairy's semi-accurate notes about arrival departure times and subsequent discussion about when the Johnson turned up and left, together with a description of what said Johnson looked like, Hairy's Mag-3 scope and his excellent descriptions ("corp stiff", "corp stiff with attitude", "hot corp stiff"), you can narrow it down to a couple of relatively high probability plates.  No need to amend your posts Koby - will presume you asked for both to be run.

"Will do chummer."

As promised, 30 minutes later, Koby received a text:
QUCZ-00237: Reported stolen five hours ago from a Genetique lot.  Genetique is an Aztech subsidiary into biotech and gene-tech.

HWOR-95115: Pool vehicle for a minor player named Green Growth International (GGI).  They do stuff with flowers and plants.  No known mega-corp affiliations

Tequilla.  And not the cheap stuff.

====================

"You weel have wehicle?  Refrigeration ees taking power, ees not easy for carrying and ees harder for concealing.  Or maybe I sell several options and you choosing when you are knowing more?"

Seeing the message, Koby smiles and chuckles at the last part of the message.

He responds with a message of his own:

I'll see what I can find.

Once he finishes sending back the text, he walks back to the others in the group to share what he has found.  He sends a copy of the details he had gotten from Noruas to the other members of the group and allows them a couple seconds to read it.

Any thoughts on the matter folks?

PM

"I believe we will have a vehicle, at least for the important stretches, but I suppose several options would be good. Even just something that is well insulated from the heat would probably be good. Or jars to put preservative chemicals in them maybe?" Caduceus shrugged, even though Mike couldn't see him. "Could you see what you can scrounge up for me? Unless there was anything else you needed to know, I have a few other calls I should probably make. Tight schedule and all..."

Duck looks to Julia.

"So, wanna get together a shopping list for the store for this Amazonia trip?" he asks casually while the pair enjoy a quiet moment in the shop. Duck thumbs through an old reprint of "House of Secrets" volume 92, the introduction of Swamp Thing. Duck's bags were already packed, but he thought about all of the things he'd utilize in a jungle and wondered if his city-dwelling gear would be adequate.

"Think I need to go shopping for jungle stuff too. Got any advice on that?"

"I weel find for you.  You come tomorrow night and see?"

=============================

"Hmm.  For you, sun screen is most important mi fantasma pálido.  While there will be shade, the sun will quickly turn a gringo like you into a lobster.  Oh, and spray for the bugs.  If I was there, I would make you some, but it is hard to find the ingredients here.  Good boots, perhaps a machete for the vines, clothing that will not mind the wet or the heat.  A good hat.  The jungle is a paradise for an hour, but for one such as you, it will be a hell before long, I think.  Let us go shopping and I will find something for you"

If you're willing to put up with her teasing as she dresses you, she'll get you outfitted in appropriate clothing, complete with a machette, hat, some decent bug spray and a few changes of clothes for ¥600.


EDIT: formatting
This message was last edited by the GM at 17:59, Mon 21 Jan 2019.

"Tomorrow night? Yeah, I should be able to make that work. See ya then." Caduceus hung up the phone with Mike, then headed over to the others to let them know the details.

"So, I just got off the phone with one of my guys. He's going to set us up with an assortment of luggage with hidden compartments and similar things." Then, noting they were discussing clothing, he added, "I got a clothes guy too, so if you need help finding anything specific, he might be able to help hook you up."

"I was thinking I would call one of my deckers and see if he could compile us a list of valuables in the area we are headed to. Then assuming it is a lot of nature-based stuff, contact my shaman buddy to see if he knows what people who would be interested in buying so we know where to focus our attention. And if we think we might be collecting animal specimens, maybe I could also ring up my mortician friend and see if they could hook us up with some appropriate preservatives. But we'll worry about that when we come to it." He looked to the others to see if they had any suggestions to modify that plan.

Yeah, that sounds like a good idea Cad.  It would be a good idea if you can hook us up and get us some sort of storage container for each of us so that we can collect stuff to bring back.  Just let me know how much the containment unit might cost.  If you don't mind, I'd like to join you in looking for some of that stuff to sell.  I don't know of anyone in that business, but if you can help me sell my portion of it, we could probably make a nice side bonus.

Hairy needs to also go shopping for some additional camo. Nearly forgot about that. Same contacts, jungle, full-suit. A helmet to go with would be swell too. You want me to roll negotiations for that?

Yes please

PM

Caduceus's mortition responds first.  Kaira usually worked nights.  She said it suited the work.  "It depends what you're preserving and how big.  Bugs and stuff you can just just dry out.  But for animals, and other things with blood, you can either stick them in a vat of formaldehyde or replace the blood one-for-one with a preservative.  I can get you some of the chemicals, but the gear to actually do the replacement isn't cheap - and it sure as drek isn't portable."

The feedback from the decker comes the next night.

Virgin anything might get you a few nuyen from the local area talismongers. However, if you're looking for a better return, here are a few possibilities:
- Shotozumi is looking to replace his school of piranha.  Apparently the last individual he fed to them had a concealed a grenade and blew himself up to avoid being eaten, but took most of the fish with him.
- The wood of the Sangra Del Diablo is pretty valuable.  Just don't let the tree eat you
- If you can catch one, the feathers of the Alicanto are worth far more than the gold they're made out of
- There's a lot of Orichalchum in the region, though finding a spot the Jap-corps haven't already mined out is going to be a bit challenging

So far, Hairy's got a new outfit and some things that go boom, White Duck has some new duds (though you didn't confirm you were buying ony of them) and Caduceus will soon be picking up some special luggage.  You've got leads on the two plates you identified.  There's 24 hours to go before your flight is scheduled.  Any other shopping, investigation, entertainment or anything else you want to do in the interim?

Duck indulges himself the shopping spree and picks up outfits for the rest of his crew, calling and taking sizes/measurements in advance.

Sorry for the delay boss, busy workweeks ongoing. Get back to me with my total- Assuming 1800 since Hairy already has an outfit?

So a similar set of duds for each of you, Hairy excluded?  Julia can swing that - she knows you well enough she can pick appropriate sizes.  She could have done that with White Duck too, but then she wouldn't have had the chance to make you into her temporary Ken doll...

We'll make it an even ¥2k and she'll grab Hairy some sun screen, repellent, boots and a machete.

Anything else anyone is doing?  (And no worries about real life intervening)

To Kiara the mortician he replied, "Don't think I will be interested in replacing any fluids where I'm going, but I'll take a jar or two of formaldehyde if ya got it. Thanks chummer."

---

Then, to Lord Abyss, he replied, "Thanks for the info. That is exactly the type of stuff I wanted to know. Don't think I'll be bringing back any live fish, but I'll certainly keep an eye out for the others. You don't happen to have a field guide for recognizing a Sangra Del Diablo, an Alicanto, or Orichalchum, do you? If not, I'm sure that's something I could look up myself. By the sounds of it I'll know 'em when I see 'em."

---

Finally, Caduceus dialed up the owner of a snake-dedicated shamanic lodge he knew of. "Mr. B? I may be coming into certain items from Amazonia in the near future that could be of use in upgrading lodges or for creating fetishes. Could you send out your feelers and see what the interest level is for such items? And if anyone is looking for anything specific that they would pay more for? I got about 24 hours or so."

Kiara arranged to drop off 2 1-litre used pickle-jars full of formaldehyde when she was done work - which was right about the time Caduceus usually pulled himself out of bed.
"50 Nuyen - plus you owe me a coffee date when you get back from whatever dreck-hole you're off to..."


The way I hear it, the Sangra del Diablo is more likely to find you, than you find it.  However, if you see a bunch of blood-like sap on the ground, you've probably got your tree.
Alicantro looks like a golden hawk.  Literally golden.  Don't try to bring back a live one.  Planes with them aboard have a habbit of falling out of the sky.
Orichalcum is goldy-orange and makes you fart magic rainbows or something.  If you're gonna find any, it's because it's too buried or concealed for the Japs to have already found it.  One pound'll net you a couple mil.  Make sure I get a cut :)


Charles picks up your call on the first ring.  "Ah, Caduceus.  Nice to hear from you son.

Amazonia, eh?  Most plants from there would have at least some value, spared the poisons we've dumped into so much of the world here in the north.  A lot has to do with the collection.  It's important to respect the natural space you draw them from.  If the spirit of the plant is injured, it will be of little use.  Even stones may have value.  Listen to your totem and he will guide you.  I'm sure I can find a market for at least some of what you find.  Keep a watch out for our bretheren.  They are far more numerous in those lands, but not all are friendly.

Koby sends White Duck a text message with his sizes and requests him to buy things on a list:

1) Grapple gun
2) Grapple line (100m)
3) Stealth line (100m)
4) Catalyst stick
5) A/D harness
6) A/D kit
7) Rope (50m)
8) Microflare launcher (BTW, is this a one shot per load kind of launcher?  Or does it have a clip or magazine?)
9) Microflare (25 rounds)
10) Ration bars (24 bars or 8 days worth.  I forgot how its sold.)
11) Some sort of navigational GPS for the region.
12) Respirator
13) Regulator for respirator
14) Some sort of harness or backpack to hold everything in.
This message was last edited by the player at 05:25, Wed 30 Jan 2019.

"All good advice," Caduceus replied to Charles. "I will be sure to follow it. Thanks again. I'll talk with you more when I get back." After hanging up the phone, he began making arrangements for the last items he would need for the trip. It sounded like White Duck had basic clothing and stuff under control, so he focused more on other items. He already had a survival kit, so all he would need to do there was make sure it was up to date and in good repair. He did want to collect some antidote patches though, since who knew what kinds of plants and animals they would encounter. And some binoculars. Never hurt to be able to see far when you were outside. Some ration bars and microflares wouldn't hurt either, in case of emergency. Maybe a container with a lot of compartments too, for storing some of his finds.

---

I marked off 50 bucks for the formaldehyde.

Shopping List:
Binoculars, optical glass variant. Lowlight and Thermographic if available.
5 Microflares
Pack of 10 Ration Bars
10 antidote patches, as good as I can get.
Tacklebox with a lot of lidded compartments.

Julie was able to swing pretty much everything on Koby's list, with the exception of the stealth line and catalyst stick.
Also includes camo suit and survival kit even though you didn't request those IC

"Don't know what he thinks he needs those for.  Where you're going, there's vines aplenty.  Just don't grab a snake by mistake."

White Duck sweet-talked her into not adding her usual markup, bringing the cost to a quite reasonable ¥4,600

"You do realize that the canopy's going to be 10 meters thick, right?  So your flare's gonna scare the dreck out of a few birds and fizzle in some wet leaves.  Presuming you're lucky enough that it doesn't just bounce off a branch and set fire to your head.  Yet another reason to always wear your hat..."

Caduceus was quickly informed that he can have low-light and thermographic, or he can have all optical.  If he wants low light or thermographic too with optical, he's going to have to learn himself a spell or two.  She digs up a single rating 5 patch and a couple of rating 4 patches.

"That's the most I can do on short notice.  So don't get bit."

I assumed you also wanted a micro flare launcher.  Also got you 10 days supply of ration bars, as that's how they're sold.

¥1,500

She also digs up a set of forearm guards for White Duck himself (¥150).  They look used, but functional.  She eyes him quizically when he asks for additional armor for under his suit.  She digs around and pulls out an armored vest. (¥130 if you take it)

"You're gonna sweat like a pig"
Layered armor rules will apply, so you'll be 6/3 wearing it, but suffer a +2 penalty on all quickness-related tests

============================

Sly Mike meets Caduceus at a warehouse and seemed unusually pleased with himself.  He's standing beside a pair of 2' x 2' x 2' crates.  He reached in and pulled out a small roll-aboard suitcase and opened it, showing it was empty.  Then with a big grin, he flipped a small lever tucked within one of the swiveling wheels and the bottom of the suitcase popped up, revealing a 4-cm deep compartment, approximately the size of a sheet of legal paper.

"Do not use for guns.  And not so good for airport.  The X-Rays, she will see what ees there, so make eet not suspicious on X-ray.  But good for checkstops.  Ees best to fill with dirty underwear and sweaty socks.  They not search so close.  And maybe eet confuse da dogs."

The next thing out of the crate was a locking briefcase.  Set the right code and a panel was released.

The last was a good-sized black backpack.  A small zipper hidden at the bottom revealed a 2-inch compartment.

"But that ees not all!"

He popped the lid off the second crate and pointed to the contents.  Caduceus leaned over to see - an empty crate.

"Ees nice, da?  Now take this and hold near bottom"  The fixer passed over a small, but fairly heavy magnet and Caduceus leaned into the crate, his arm extended.  The fixer yanked him back.

"Niet!  On outside.  Here."  He guided the shaman's hand down to the bottom of the crate.  When the magnet came into contact with the side, one of the boards of the crate rotated down, exposing an insulated area covering the width and depth of the crate with a height of about 5 cm.  On one side was a thin cilinder.  Mike gestured to it.

Ees liquid CO2.  You turn dial and releases small spray.  Keeps content cool.  Like fridge.  Lasts, mebbe 2 days, depending how much you dial and how hot ees crate.  Very nice, yes?  Second crate, she ees same.  I tell you Mike fix you up good.  Even weeth only two days.

And for you, only ¥15k.  Ees good deal, da?"

Ok, shopping is done, except perhaps hitting the Stuffer Shack on the way to the airport in the morning.  Everyone update your inventory and your cash on hand.  Then tell me in the OOC thread what you're bringing.  Kate, this'd be a good time to make your entrance... :>

Kate leans into the conversation.

"Did I hear you guys are heading out of town?  for... business?

I could help... I am good in a fight with magic and, well, I need to find a place to go quick.  Family business problems.

I can take care of myself"

"Oh wow, Mike, you have really outdone yourself here! These are great!" Caduceus entertained himself for a moment, playing with the hidden compartments on the different objects. Then, with a slightly sunken face, he added, "But some of these are a bit bulkier than I had envisioned. I'm not sure I'll be able to trek through a jungle with a crate strapped to my back..." He gave Sly Mike a tight-lipped frown, then said, "I'll definitely pay you what's fair for the time and effort you put into these, but I'm not sure it will be feasible to bring all of them with. Let me consult with my team quick and see what their thoughts are."

Caduceus stepped a few paces away to ring up his team members and get their opinions on which containers they should bring along.

---

I figured whoever wants to give their opinion on the containers could be the one Caduceus called directly.

Copying my roll from the OOC thread.
14:08, Today: Caduceus rolled 2 successes using 5d6 with the Shadowrun system with a target of 4 with rolls of 5,2,5,1,1.  Negotiation (Bargain) with Sly Mike.

A few days before the trip, Hairy will start staging his bags in the comics shop. Duffels full of grenades and little glass vials of chemicals, a backpack of clothes and bags of chips, all topped off with a light machine gun and two belts of ammunition.

"Alright, I think I got everything... You think they'll have someone to help carry stuff when we get there? Cause I got one of those rolling shopping carts out in the car."

Just a note that the meeting with the Johnson was 2 days prior to departure, so I'm assuming Hairy meant "a few hours" rather than "a few days"?

I'll give a couple of days for people to tell Caduceus what they want brought, then we'll get you guys on the road.  (Or in the air, as the case may be...)

Kate walks over more directly.

Guys?  Do you need a fire elementalist to help keep you safe?  I'm available and ready to travel

Duck scratches his head.

"Uhh, well Kate you're welcome to come along if you want, but logistically that seems a tad unfeasible. We've already agreed to the terms of our contract, had international travel arranged for us, and gotten geared up. Plus, I have no clue why anyone would *want* to come to the jungle with us. Our last gig had us at some high rolling superglue party but this one's likely to have us dealing with lots and lots of bugs and stinky plants." Duck looks around to the others gathered.

"I'm not about to split the pay either. The J on this one made me nudge him pretty hard for scraps compared to what I'm used to making. Definitely down to help you out and have you tag along for any local work in the future though." he laughs nervously, apologetic in tone, but decidedly unsure as to how to simply have Kate "tag along".

In reply to White Duck (msg # 82):

Kate looks around, anxious.

"Well, ummm... I could go and maybe work for what I can find that's worth something and you guys could split Johnson's pay?  I'd just need a ride, I don't need much and I've never been to a jungle that isn't made of concrete."

Duck tosses his hands up in the air, seemingly exasperated.

“Eh, fuck it, fine. Congratulations, you’re hired. At this point I’m working for pennies, so you get half my cut. I’m not going to let anyone else get a smaller payday outta this.” He scratches his chin, a thought running through his head.

“Get some gear or convince Julia to take you shopping. We’re going on an expedition. Pick up some bug spray. You need any nuyen to get you set up?” He asks, thumbing through his watch-phone’s contacts to Copperhead’s number.

With a bit of back and forth, Caduceus was able to talk Sly Mike down a little bit (to ¥14K) and seemed pleased that the snake shaman seemed happy with what he'd been able to provide.  "You be haveeng safe treep!  An mebbee when you are comeeng back, I can be selling what you are carrying in these hidey places.  Das Vedania!"

==================

Copperhead's line goes to voicemail.

Three hours prior to departure, White Duck gets a text with directions to a private airport to the south of Redmond.

EDIT: fixed math error
This message was last edited by the GM at 03:02, Fri 15 Feb 2019.

Kate looks hugely relieved and grateful. "Thank you so much! I promise I'll be useful! Um, I have a little money and would really like help picking out what I need. Julia? Can you help?"

Kate looks at Julia. More than ever her inexperience shows in her face.

Duck shares the address with the rest of the group, hitching a ride with anyone who happens to have a vehicle or taking a cab himself, gear for travel in tow.

When he got the call, Caduceus grabbed his gear and took a cab with White Duck and anyone else who joined them, since he didn't know what the parking situation would be with for his motorcycle. That, and motorcycles weren't exactly built for hauling a lot of luggage.

"I'm curious to meet the people we'll be working with," Caduceus commented as his eyes flickered between normal and astral space. "Hopefully they aren't a bunch of hapless chumps that need constant babysitting." He consciously avoided glancing over at Hairy, Kate, and Koby when he said that, since he hadn't been on any "real" jobs with any of them yet.

Hairy helps load the trunks into the cab, checking the bags, pulls on his travel hoodie, and schleps his way to the cherry-red Westwind Turbo parked in the comic shop's lot. With a boop-bawoop the car unlocks and he climbs in. "I'll meet ya'll at the gate?"

Julia will get Kate outfitted for the same ¥600 as everyone else.  Adjust your cash accordingly.

You make your way to Hangar 8 of a small corporate airport bright and early ... well, early for some of you, anyway. The guard at the gate looks at you, checks a sheet of photographs and waives you through.  There's a bit of an issue with Kate, but after a quick phone call, the guard is satisfied and waves you through.

The ground crew is loading up a Hawker-Ridley Sky truck with crates of all sizes, shapes and descriptions, hopefully including some decent chow. Mr. Johnson seems to be overseeing things, and he looks more than a little relieved to see you.

"Great!" he says, "Thanks for coming. Let me introduce you to the people you'll be traveling with." A few strides across the tarmac take you to where a black-haired Asian elf is lecturing one of the ground crew on handling a certain crate with the utmost care. "This is Dr. Fukuhara, our ecologist," Johnson says. Fukuhara looks you over, gives you a perfunctory bow and resumes his instructions to the sweating workman without breaking his rhythm. The Johnson smiles wryly and moves on.

He next introduces you to Dr. Sanders, a mildly overweight human ethnobotanist, and Dr. Al-Mansour, who specializes in something called "phytogeography." You're not quite sure what kind of metahuman Dr. Al-Mansour is; he looks like a cross between an ugly elf and a skinny ork, with beady eyes, olive skin and pointy teeth. The Johnson introduces you as "the security consultants we discussed." Dr. Sanders smiles a bit nervously and offers to shake hands; Dr. Al-Mansour simply looks you over and says, "Good morning," with no sign that he thinks the morning is good at all.

"You'll all have plenty of time to get acquainted during the flight," Mr. Johnson murmurs as he eyes your bags. Probably trying to figure out which ones have the guns in them. "'I'll have the ground crew stow your, uh, luggage, unless you'd rather handle it yourselves. The passports are on the plane already."  He looks at Kate with a frown.  "Except yours of course.  More notice would have been appreciated.  I'll have something printed for you and figure out a way to get it to you when you land.

For a Johnson who'd just been inconvenienced, he seemed to be taking it quite well.

"Takeoff is in about thirty minutes, so you'd best get moving."

EDIT: formatting
This message was last edited by the GM at 05:38, Sun 03 Mar 2019.

Kate grabs her things and gets moving.  She has a pouch that she holds onto but most of her stuff she happily lets others deal with.  Once in the SkyTruck, she looks around confused.

I'm new to these things.  Where do we sit?

A crewmember jerked his thumb to a small door leading toward the front of the plane.  It opened to reveal a set of seats that, while not exactly plush, look more considerably comfortable than those Kate'd seen in the trids of cargo carriers ferrying troops to and from the Corp Wars.  There was door open to one side leading to a set of stairs back down to the tarmac.  Another door led to the crew cabin where a rigger sat slumped, apparently going through pre-flight checks or something.  Other than that, the front of the plane was currently empty.  Apparently this flight wouldn't involve cute stewardesses serving martinis...

Hairy leans in to Kate, "this in't gonna be bumpy, is it? I never rode on a plane before." But he follows in regardless and, if other people seem to be doing it, will buckle in as well.

When Duck gets out of the cab, the tons of his skin shifts from his regular albino white to a darker, more tanned skin tone, one reminiscent of his family back home. His hair is jet black, styled meticulously as always. He wears a pair of reflective avaitors, and, since he wasn’t quite in the jungle yet, one of his usual understated, but still stylish suits, finished off with a simple black tie. He’s got a carryon bag and an old Swiss Army backpack that looks a bit contrasting with his attire. He nods to each of the researchers courteously, smirking as Dr. Fukuwara is introduced.

“Hajimemashite, Fukuhara-sama.” He says, seeing an opportunity to put into practice a strong manga habit, having learned the language so he didn’t have to wait for new releases to be translated.

“Anata to shigoto o suru koto wa kōeidesu.” He turns to the Johnson, nods in Kate’s direction.

“Apologies, sir. As a last minute addition, I knew the paperwork should have been on us to complete. Unfortunately my regular contact hasn’t pulled through. Suffice it to say, she will be compensated by us to honor the original terms of our arrangement. Your courtesy is greatly appreciated, as she is a capable individual. She will be a significant asset to the success of this operation, and I can assure you that the inconvenience will be worth it.” He bows politely, hoping his words had some effect in smoothing things over.
This message was last edited by the player at 01:43, Sun 03 Mar 2019.

If White Duck's language skills surprised the professor, it didn't show.  Dr. Fukushara gave a polite nod, but immediately returned his attention to those the loading of equipment.  Whether that was because of the importance of the equipment or the relative unimportance of a group of shadowrunners wasn't immediately clear.

Mr. Johnson nodded in response to White Duck's apology/explaination.  "Yes.  Good.  Understood.  If you can please ensure your team's equipment is stowed securely, we can get this 'show on the road'.  Or at least in the air."

Duck looked around to make sure the rest of the team got loaded up, relieved he got a nod back from the doctor and not stared at oddly because he’d inadvertantly told the man he had a crab’s testes or something. Wait, did crabs *have* testes? He wondered this idly as he boarded the plane once everyone was safe and secure. Taking his luggage on as carryons, he took a seat next to Cadeuces on the plane.

“To answer your question, no idea, but I ran teamless for awhile back in NOLA. Sometimes you end up pleasantly surprised, other times you end up getting shot at because some douche breaks out a panther cannon and blows off his own foot during an interrogation. It’s best to hope for the former and prep for the latter, in my humble opinion.” He shrugs, pulling out a deck of cards.

“Wonder if they’ll let me smoke in here?”

Caduceus helped stow all of their cargo on the plane before greeting too many of the crew. White Duck seemed to have that aspect under control already. He floated one of his crates full of gear using Levitation spell and did his best to carry the rest of his gear himself. He did ask Hairy for help with his second crate, however. Caduceus had never been known for his bulging muscles.

But once everything was in place, the shaman took a few moments to get a better spiritual sense of the place. He walked around the plane, looking at the auras of the crew and what wards might be in place, just in case anything stood out. He didn't expect to find any red flags, but would rather check than not.

Once satisfied, Caduceus took his seat next to White Duck in preparation for departure. "I couldn't tell ya. Just... try not to burn down the plane though. That would be a terrible start to our trip." Caduceus smiled at his own joke. He wasn't sure if he wanted smoking to be off limits or not though. On the one hand, he didn't want to have to smell cigarettes the entire way, but on the other hand he wasn't sure he wanted to find out what Whit Duck was like after hours of being deprived of his nicotine. In the end he was more or less indifferent.

"Suppose I should ensure this plane has proper accident protection for our takeoff," Caduceus commented. "After all, we are on the clock now." The shaman breathed deep and let his essence connect with the sky above them. He called out to the spirits of the very air they breathed so that they may Guard the aircraft.

---

13:16, Today: Caduceus failed (no successes) 2 successes using 5d6 with the Shadowrun system with a target of 4 3 with rolls of 3,1,2,1,3.  Conjure Force 3 Wind Spirit.
2 Success, used for Guarding the airplane and preventing accidents on takeoff.

13:16, Today: Caduceus rolled 5 successes using 7d6 with the Shadowrun system with a target of 3 with rolls of 1,3,1,3,4,(6+4)10,4.
No Drain.

The plane appeared unremarkable.  Somewhat dirty with the odd patch but it seemed airworthy enough - not that Caduceus could necessarily tell.  No corporate logos and no wards.  The pilot was a female dwarf with a prominent data jack in the middle of her forehead.  Certainly an interesting fashion choice.  None of the passengers (running team excluded) showed as being magically active.

A small cloud coalesced in response to Caduceus's call then dissipated after receiving instructions.

Once everything was loaded, the Johnson had a couple of private words with Dr. Fukuhara who then signalled for everyone to board.  The plane created as the cargo door rose up and ground crew closed the passenger door and rolled back the stairs.  A few minutes later, you were airborne, bulked into your seats with varying degrees of excitement, fear and boredome.

The coastline was a foggy blur behind you as the Skytruck leveled out at its cruising altitude. As you unbuckled your seat belts and start to stretch, Dr. Fukuhara stood up at the front of the cabin and cleared his throat. "If I could have everyone's attention for a few moments ... ? Thank you. I'd like to take this opportunity to familiarize everyone with the objectives of our expedition and to answer any questions you may have." He pulled down a viewscreen from the ceiling and begins running through slides and photos with a hand-held remote.

"The object of our search, as most of you already know, is actinidia amazonensis, or the Brazilian kiwi." The slide showed a brown, furry oval about twelve centimeters long, growing on a thick, woody vine. "While similar in most respects to actinidia chinensis, the common kiwi or 'Chinese gooseberry,' it differs in several important respects. The most obvious of these is the size of the fruit, which is in some cases twice as large as the common kiwi. This difference is often attributed to the magically altered growing conditions in Amazonia, but it may also be a result of certain species-specific alkaloids in the region's soil. The most common of these is a variation of physostigmine, which ....."

You could feel your eyes glazing over already. It was going to be a long flight.

White Duck's question was answered after the first half hour of the presentation, when Dr. Saunders leaned back in his seat and lit up a cigar.  Doing so earned him a small frown, but no other reprimand, apparently leaving White Duck free to indulge as well.

It's a 6 hour flight - what's everyone doing, presuming that the presentation doesn't run quite that long...

Kate listens with diminishing attention to the presentation wondering why they needed runners to pick fruit.  She's happy to be away from her "family" and able to strike out on her own.  But, it would have been nice if it had been something, you know, exciting to tell people about.

She brought a long a few things to read but should probably get some sleep.

By the time the presentation ends, her curiosity hits it's height and she leans toward Harry and asks, "So, ah, why are we taking all this hardware to go pick fruit?"

Dr. Fukuhara seemed nonplussed.  "We will take care of picking the fruit.  Your hardware might contaminate it."

Dr. Sanders turned in his seat smile and gave Kate a slight smile.  "Your hardware is to make sure we get to the fruit and back again.  Did you know that the Lachesis muta can grow over 3 meters in length and can shoot its venom a meter further than that?  Not only is it's venom poisonness, it's highly corrosive as well.  Burned the back of the hand of a guide's hand clean off when I was studying for my masters."

Dr. Al Mansour snorted, his arms crossed and still facing the front.  "That was what, 30 years ago?  That's long before the Amazonians started pumping the forest full of mojo.  Could be double the size or able to fly or both by now..."

Ignoring the discussion, Dr. Fukuhara opened a yellow folder of and began passing out handouts.

"These are summaries of the key points from the presentation.  I will of course be happy to answer any questions you might have while we are en-route.  Oh, and I have chips if you prefer those.  There will be a brief quiz before we land to ensure everyone is adequately briefed."

"Uhhhh..." says Duck, shutting his window and letting his skin and hair go back to pale. Certainly relieved, he distances himself a bit from Cadeuces and lights up a cigarette thankfully. He raises his hand, waits until he is acknowledged, then continues.

"Yeah, so during negotiations, the man who hired us kinda shrugged off any major threats. I was thinking we might run into some particularly grumpy revolutionaries or something, not *giant fucking snakes*." he sighs, exhaling a plume of smoke. It's clear at the mention of this that he's not very happy with it. Turns out, Cadeuces is the only snake he's fond of.

"I'm not happy fighting giant anything. Piss off any megafauna, and personally, I might just let it eat you. Your boss didn't give us anything near 'fight a giant animal' pay, so you better be collectively prepared to tread carefully and avoid pissing off any magically enhanced native species." he states, plainly. After what he'd seen from the last run, he shudders at the mention of a chip, asking plenty of questions during the presentation and learning what he can from the lecture. While the doctor's busy explaining, he uses the distraction from his own questions for some opportune larceny in the form of swiping pocket secretaries, particularly that of Dr. Fukuhara.

"It won't be that bad," Caduceus commented in response to White Duck's worries. "I hope. Most animals should be easy to scare off or lure away with magic, especially if I get the local spirits to help us out. For anything else, well... we got Hairy and his guns." The shaman cracked a wide smile, suddenly very glad that they had someone who brought along a lot of firepower.

Caduceus grabbed one of the handouts that Dr. Fukuhara was passing out. "I was wondering though, Dr. Fukuhara, what is so special about these kiwis? By that I mean, why hire us instead of some corp mooks? Are they contraband?" Caduceus's tone of voice indicated that it was no concern to him if they were. "Or do you have additional needs for our particular skill sets?" Again, Caduceus's tone of voice indicated that it was no concern to him if they did.

---

Once his questions were satisfied, Caduceus would go back to his seat, buckle in and leaf through the handouts. Then, once finished, he would feign taking a nap and go astral. In astral space he would get a good up-close look of everyone's astral signatures and not any cyberware everyone had. Then he would take a peek through all of the crates and equipment to see if anything stood out on the astral among them.

Finally, after returning to his body, he would make an effort to get to know Katie a bit better. As the other mage of their group, he would want to get to now her strengths so that they could better coordinate their efforts to provide magical protection once they landed.

In reply to Kate (msg # 99):

Hairy, firmly buckled with his own safety harness and from the seat next to his to be sure, responds to Kate, "I carry this much when I hit my corner Stuffer Shack, and their fruit are all gummies. No idea what this place is gonna be like. Sounds like there's a megafauna there too, ya know."

Hairy does try very hard to be quiet and learn something, but by hour two, he's got a pretty bad case of the fidgets. Bouncing his knee, playing with his knife, checking over gear that doesn't need checking ('do all the buttons on my jacket snap? Yup.')

"This particular retrieval exercise is not, precisely, authorized by the local authorities."

"Amazonia turned us down cold"

"Err, yes.  So a degree of stealth will be necessary to avoid both border patrols as well as local fauna.  And perhaps certain flora.  I assure you that none of us will take any actions to attract undesired attention.  We trust that you will complete your contract and safely escort us both into and back from the jungle.  I believe your ride home and certainly your payment is contingent on the safe delivery of the kiwis - and of course, ourselves..."

Those of you who manage to stay awake throughout the presentation, or take the easy route and just read the handouts, are able to glean the following:

The Amazonian kiwi is a large fruit that grows on a vine. The team is expected to gather enough samples of the plant to thoroughly analyze them while still leaving enough untouched raw materials to start a domestic crop in the UCAS.

The fruit is apparently edible; however, legends among the local natives suggest that it might be hallucinogenic. Therefore, no one will be permitted to eat any of the kiwis during the expedition. (Dr. Sanders says this sternly, but with a sly twinkle in his eye that might lead one to think he plans to disobey his own ruling at the earliest opportunity.)

Though the expedition has not pinpointed the exact location of the plants, satellite imaging has indicated a number of likely-looking sites. Dr. Al-Mansour has mapped out a route that covers several of these sites while still allowing the team to take advantage of river travel whenever possible.

Is there any indication on why they might be hallucinogenic? Do they have any information already on the fruit, or is it just hearsay from the locals?

Duck takes active notes during the meeting, making a particular note to meet with Dr. Stanley as soon as his presentation is over. Next to it, he doodles a small caricature of himself eating a giant kiwi, drawing his own eyes as tight spirals, labeling the whole thing as "Eat the trippy kiwi."

He looks up, raising his hand.

"What reasons in particular did Amazonia turn you down for? Seeing as you initially went through the proper channels, I'd like to get an adequate explanation of your rationale in persisting with the task regardless of the consent and good graces of the folks that own the jungle. Additionally, have you properly arranged for river travel, or are we going to have to secure a boat for ourselves? I haven't been shrimpin' since I was twelve or so, and taking my daddy's boat out into the gulf is a far cry from navigating the world's longest river system."

"Well, as you know, Amazonia is not necessarily a fan of megacorporations or their affiliates.  I believe the translation of their response is something along the lines of 'our land will not tolerate continued bio-exploitation of you or any of your ilk'.  It's hard for scientific knowledge to thrive in the face of such non-forward-thinking policies.

As for its use, we have a client who has a strong interest in the properties of the fruit, but I'm afraid I can't share more.  The hallocinogenic properties are not of primary interest and have not been confirmed.  In any event, we will require all specimens collected for research purposes.  There is to be NO sampling.

And yes, the large crate in the back is our boat.  It's one of the newest models and should be more than adequate for our needs."

“Neat. Who’s your navigator? Will you be hiring locals?” He asks, not exactly intent on piloting one of those things if he didn’t have to. He didn’t want to add getting everyone lost in the rainforest to his resume.

Projecting feels difficult.  It takes a great deal of effort to push your astral form out of your body and, once out, you feel weakened and somewhat drained.  The astral plane is dull and lifeless.  There are sparks from your companions and a concerning glow from the latrine, but other than that, the area is lifeless.  The faintness of the manasphere makes it feel as though you're looking around  a dark cavern with only a small match trying to illuminate the area.

You can roll a search, but add a +4 penalty to the base 4 TN.  And you'll need to resist 6M stun.  On the plus side, you didn't try this on a sub-orbital :)

"We have arranged for a local guide.  He'll meet us when we arrive."

Let me know if I messed up any of this.

Caduceus is searching on the Astral, so I rolled Aura Reading (Auras) for his search. I made a roll for Symbolism as a potential companion skill too, since science equipment might show up oddly in the symbolic astral realm. For the stun resistance I used Willpower, since it substitutes for Body in astral space.

Searching with Aura Reading (Auras)
10:26, Today: Caduceus rolled 1 success using 5d6 with the Shadowrun system with a target of 8 with rolls of 1,4,(6+5)11,2,4.  Aura Reading (Auras) - scanning science gear.

Potential companion skill, Symbolism
10:28, Today: Caduceus rolled 1 success using 5d6 with the Shadowrun system with a target of 8 with rolls of 3,(6+3)9,4,3,1.  Symbolism - potential companion skill.

Resist 6M Stun
10:34, Today: Caduceus rolled 1 success using 6d6 with the Shadowrun system with a target of 6 with rolls of (6+1)7,4,3,4,5,1.  Resist Stun with willpower.

Yeah, Caduceus is going to be taking it easy for the rest of the flight and try to wear of some of that stun damage... Base time for recovery is 6 hours. Divide that by successes from a recovery test. Willpower vs 5 (2 base + 3 stun).

Recover from stun
10:40, Today: Caduceus rolled 1 success using 6d6 with the Shadowrun system with a target of 5 with rolls of 4,4,2,1,3,(6+5)11.  Recover from stun.

It will take him a full 6 hours to recover from his search attempt. :-( Such is the life of a Shadowrunner. How much longer is the remaining flight time?

Rolls looked good.  You need 2 successes on the companion skill to count as a success, so that's 1 success

In the darkness, Caduceus isn't able to make out any signs of life and the equipment is mostly technical stuff that doesn't register well on the astral at the best of times.  He's able to figure out what's the boat and can see at least one thing that looks like some sort of a gun, other than that, some camping supplies and a bunch of stuff he can't recognize or understand, at least not from this plane.  He returns to his body with a nasty headache, though it's feeling a bit better before the drone of the jet engines change for landing.

Flight time is about 9 hours.  You'd have started exploring after about 1.5, so you've got another 1.5 hours before landing if you want to try to knock off another box.

EDIT: fixed formatting
This message was last edited by the GM at 16:08, Fri 22 Mar 2019.

Caduceus returned to his body feeling absolutely drained. He reminded himself to avoid astrally projecting at this altitude in the future, if at all possible. Even with all of the effort he had expended, he had not come up with much. The gun he had (probably) spotted was interesting, but not all that surprising. But he supposed his lack of results was notable in and of itself. At least now he knew they weren't smuggling in magical equipment or invasive species. Probably. His search had not been a very easy one to execute.

The mentally-battered shaman spent most of the rest of the rest of the flight dozing, reading through the pamphlet, and chatting with anyone who sat near him. Nothing too strenuous. He hoped to be back in tip top shape by the time they landed. Both physically and magically.

Duck spends the majority of the flight looking over the team’s itenerary, familiarizing himself with the maps and any other available relevant data, just in case the one person the scientists hired as a guide catches a stray bullet. He’d seen plenty of old movies about jungle cannibals and wasn’t about to become a subject of some found footage documentary. “Never again...” he mutters to himself, vying to keep away from any mission that put him in such a remote locale that he couldn’t just walk to the store and pick up a fresh pack of smokes. Good thing he’d picked up a whole carton for the trip. Even tossed it into a resealable plastic bag to make sure they didn’t get wet. He lit up another, idly glancing out of the window as he lit it, then resumed his studies.

Kate spends the first part of the flight looking through the window and trying to hide her excitement on being on her first "real" run through the shadows... even though it's watching people harvest plants. Not what she expected.

Any docs she's given, she tries to read and memorize to be as helpful as she can.

The runners occupied themselves as best they could for the long remainder of the flight.  Caduceus sleeping.  White Duck chain0smoking to the point where the interior of the plane was partly obscured by the haze.  Kate by studying the provided material and Hairy by absent-mindedly removing screws from things and then putting them back in the same place.  Mostly.  He was pretty sure...

Koby seemed to spend an inordinate amount of time in the plane's washroom, and the odd time he came out of it, he looked rather green.

Dr. Fukuhara and Dr. Al-Mansour were also focused on preparations.  The former by reading through paper documents, the other apparently scanning chips.  Dr. Sanders enjoyed the odd cigar and peered interestedly out the windows - at least when there was anything interesting to see.  He spent the rest of the time reading or chatting up anyone willing to listen.

As the Sky truck began its lumbering descent toward Iquitos, you wondered how the city ever got built. There were no roads to speak of leading to the place - just the airport and the huge, shining curve of the Amazon River. Apart from that, everything was jungle: a lumpy green carpet stretching off in every direction. That's what you're going to be traveling through for the next week.  Looks like fun.

The plane touched down on a runway just barely long enough. You steppped outside just as the local ground crew rolled the stairs up to the Sky truck's door. The heat hit you like a brick wall, and the humidity made it feel like you were swimming instead of walking. Oh yeah, this was gonna be a fun little hike.

Waiting at the bottom of the stairs was a gaunt, fiftyish, unbelievably tanned human wearing worn military fatigues, dark sunglasses and a toothy grin. "Oi, chummero5," he says. "I've taken care of customs for now, but the sooner we get unpacked and on our way, the less attention we attract, hmm? Have the pilot taxi this monster over to Hangar 2 and let's see what you've got."

Koby made it to the bottom of the stairs before leaning over to the side and heaving up what appeared, by this point, to be just bile.

"Bumpy ride?"

“Yeah, don’t mind him, he seems to do that a lot.” Says Duck as he emerges from the jet after Koby, giving him a friendly pat on the back and checking to see if his new teammate/ritual brother-type figure is OK.

“Maybe you know where we could score some weed? That might help.”

Caduceus stretched his muscles as he exited the plane and promptly scanned the area with his astral sight. He mostly wanted to know if any spirits were around paying attention to their group, but he was also eager to see what brand new astral signatures the surrounding area might possess. It had been quite some time since he had strayed too far from Seattle, much less this part of the world. He had forgotten just how humid Amazonia could get.

He also took a few moments to breathe in the fresh, non-smoke-filled air and called a local wind spirit to his side, but did not give it any commands just yet.

---

Caduceus is just getting a general sense of what the astral is like in the area. He is also conjuring a force 3 Wind Spirit, just in case he needs it.

21:38, Today: Caduceus rolled 3 successes using 5d6 with the Shadowrun system with a target of 3 with rolls of (6+6+4)16,3,1,4,1.  Conjure Force 3 Wind Spirit.
Three services.

21:39, Today: Caduceus rolled 7 successes using 7d6 with the Shadowrun system with a target of 3 with rolls of 3,4,4,5,(6+5)11,(6+4)10,4.  Drain test.
No Drain.

"I might know someone.  For now, stick him in the shade and get your pilot to move the plane.  I want you guys unloaded and away from here before shift change."

Dr. Fukuhara injected himself, "Actually, they're my team.  I'm the expedition lead.  But yes, we'll move the plane.  You are Mr. Bichoo, I take it?"

The tan gentlemen eyed the professor up and down, then shrugged and nodded.  "Okay, vamos! Let's get moving."

Caduceus found the astral environment quite invigorating.  While the airport was still a commercial area, the astral was much cleaner and more vibrant than Seattle.  The wind spirit appeared more energetic and swirled happily, awaiting commands.  In the distance, Caduceus could see the canopy of the jungle and a faint swirl of energy from the trees, teaming with life.

The plane roared back to life and the caro-hauler taxied to a nearby hanger.  Once it was inside and the engines were quieted again, the rigger lowered the rear door.  Bichoo hurried up the ramp and poked into a couple of the crates.  As soon has he pulled back the tarp on the largest one, he laughed.

"This boat stay here.  We'll take mine."

”What the drek? This place is as rancid as a bouncers armpit. Is it like this every day or you all just turn up the heat for us?”

Hairy will stay with the plane and grab his bags out as soon as he can. But it doesn’t take five minutes for rivers of sweat to be running down his face and soaking into his gear.

”How far we traveling in this?”

Duck also breaks a sweat fairly quickly, but still smells of juniper and cranberries somehow. His skin starts to darken the moment he gets off of the plane, slowly and in large blotches, like what happens when you press your thumb against the surface of a mood ring. By the time he takes the last step from the stairway exiting the plane, the tones match that of a someone native to the area. He pulls his hair up, having kept it black throughout the trip, and tosses on an old, weather-worn CAS New Orleans Saints baseball cap. Much to Hairy’s chagrin, it turns out his ears are round. He flips on his aviators and nods to the guide.

“I’m Duck. Pleased to meet you.” He extends a hand to shake, showing a bit of dazzlingly white teeth in a brief smile. For someone who smokes so heavily, it’s only a moderately curious thing about him. He glances to Hairy for a moment and makes a mental note that he gets less ‘elf-boy’ remarks with darker skin tones, idly wondering if he should keep the tan on more often. When the orc’s mouth was closed, he wasn’t such bad company.

“What kinda boat you got, Bichoo?”

Kate notices the heat but it's no worse than Summer back home and that's not a problem for her.

I'm Kate, what kind of boat are we travelling on? I'm not used to travelling on water so I hope it doesn't rock too much"

She looks at everyone else, hoping to match their cool

Dr. Sanders and Dr. Fukuhara overcome their initial outrage and interject over top of the runners.  "This is our expedition and our equipment.  We invested significantly in acquiring and shipping this vessel.  I assure you, it's top of the line and can meet whatever requirements you might have."  "It's pre-fitted with mounts for my equipment.  It'd take at least a day to retrofit another vessel."

Bicho leaned back against the crate, his arms crossed, "You think you can get a new, expensive boat like this across the border? You might as well paint 'ILLEGAL fOREIGN RESEARCH' on the side in big orange letters. If you want to get a boat into Amazonia, you need one that looks like it belongs here. One that the border guards know. That means we take mine."

He briefly responded to White Duck, "Not so big and fancy as 'dis one, but it'll do.", then turned his attention to the crates.  He peered into each one before pointing at Hairy, then Kate, then Dr. Al-Mansour to lug them out of the cargo hold.  Some of them he shook his head at and shoved them back further in the hold.  "This can stay here."

Dr. Fukuhara's looked like he was putting considerable effort into maintaining his normally calm demeanor.  "How are we supposed to complete a scientific expedition if we don't actually bring the scientific equipment"

Bichoo paused and stroked his chin for a minute.  "Well , my boat is not so big, you know... I tell you what. We can leave behind these electronics or half the food. What do you think?"

Before the professor could respond, Bichoo cracked open the crate with Hairy's LMG and lifted it out.  The sight of the weapon was enough to distract him from whatever retort he'd been about to give.  "Nice pea-shooter."  He puts the lid back down, then shoves the crate back with the electonics.  Something like that?  Border patrol'll hear it a mile away.  Worse, they'll assume your a rebel, which means they won't bother trying to take you - or anyone with you - for questioning.  Pistols, rifles, knives.  Maybe a small SMG.  Anything bigger than that, anything that goes boom, and you're just begging for trouble.  Besides, We 're just trying to explore the rainforest, not blow it up."

He continues to dig and holds up Kate's lined coat.  "Ya gonna wander through the jungle with this?  You'll cook!  Besides, What good'll it do you?  None, against a snakebite, or a basilisk's eyes, or a caiman - they don't eat you until after they've drowned you. Armor might help against the border patrols, but if you get into a fight with them, you've already lost."

He also tosses a couple of satellite phones from one of the professors' bags.  "Govenment monitors the airwaves.  We'd have a chopper on us inside of 10 minutes the second you turned this on.  Short-range is ok, but nothing powerful."

Kate looks crestfallen as she realizes how far out of her element she is.

Duck scratches the back of his head. Feeling vindicated about packing light, the Louisiana native raises a skeptical eyebrow when the guide insists on the equipment being kept back.

"Say, bruh, you're already getting paid. You might have these guys in a bit of a bad fix since you're taking carte blanche to rule out half our gear, but that ain't how contracts work. You were ready to try and fleece us out of half our gear before the plane touched down on the ground, don't think that's not immediately apparent. Tell you what though. You want a little lagniappe, that's fine cher, you figure out a way to let us keep the research equipment, you can keep the boat. My clients need that stuff, so call up another friend with a boat and get him to tote it too, pay the man with what you make selling off the boat. You and I both know yours ain't the only trawler the patrols recognize, and a shiny new vessel fresh outta the crate is gonna fetch you more than enough to cover the extra costs and the inconvenience." He takes out a pack of cigarettes, flips one into his mouth from the distance of his pocket and lights it, taking a small puff, blowing the smoke to the side as he eyes the guide with a soft sigh. His voice is calm and even, like that of someone well-accustomed to being told he can't have what he wanted and getting it anyway.

"Look, we both gettin' paid. I recognize somebody trying to rip off tourists, and I ain't having' it. Ya'll got caiman here? We got gators where I'm from. Y'all got anacondas? We got water moccasins and more fuckin' mosquitoes than all the birds in your jungle could eat. I didn't fly all fucking day and agree to go into the middle of a goddamned jungle just so some asshole can try to rip us off for half our shit right when we got off the plane." He takes the cigarette, spins out a fresh layer of ashes, then holds his hand up, the smoke trailing behind it, its brown-stained filter peeking out between his index and middle fingers.

"So ditch the trying to rip off the stupid gringos routine and do your fucking job, or we find someone else with an old piece of shit boat who could use a new one. You and I both know a new vessel is a solid deal, so you'll figure out a way to make it work, or we'll get back on that plane with *all* of our shit and the next team this corp hires to come down here will probably be on the hunt for some jungle tour guide who thought he could get away with fucking with some touristas." he takes another drag.

Anyone that’s worked with Duck in the past probably notices the shift in his vernacular to that of a born and bred Cajun southerner, and the look in his eyes to be that of someone who very well might throttle someone to the ground and slap the taste from their mouths, but this guide didn’t know Duck at all. He probably had no clue that someone who knew the water well enough to establish that any vessel large enough to hold both his team and a team of researchers had to have enough cargo space to fit the equipment too. He was not too pleased the guide these researchers hired was treating the cargo load like his own personal shopping mall, and he remembered to ask this corp to let he and his team handle logistics if he decided to work with them in the future, as the current situation very well wouldn’t be happening.
This message was last edited by the player at 15:56, Fri 05 Apr 2019.

Bichoo leaned against the crate and eyed Duck for a minute.  "First, I'm not fleecing anyone.  I got no use for this electronic dreck.  I'm leaving it here on your plane.  If you like, you can think of it as saving you the loss that'll happen when it sinks in the boat.

You booked one boat and one guide.  Ya want to book two, it's your time and your nuyen - and your hoop if the extra attention a pair of boats brings results in your samples being confiscated.  My job is getting you to where you're going.  Your boat ain't gonna do it.  My boat ain't gonna do it if you load it down with all this dreck.  Ya wanna call someone else, go for it.  I'll wait."

With that, he pulled himself up onto one of the crates and pulled out a cigarette.

Dr. Fukuhara looked back and forth between Bichoo and the no-longer albino, clearly unsure what to do and somewhat nonplussed at his role of expedition lead being so easily replaced.  "You don't have a partner with another boat we could also use?"

<green>"Nope."<green>  The guide took a drag, one leg swinging easily off the side of the crate.

At the bottom of the ramp there was a 'clunk' as Koby tilted over from his sitting position and his head hit the floor of the hanger.

EDIT: fixed formatting
This message was last edited by the GM at 16:27, Tue 09 Apr 2019.

Duck has a flash of concern on his face, looking to Cadeuces and nodding towards Koby, letting the healer do his work while he continues his. He looks to Dr. Fukuhara, then to Bichoo.

"One moment please, obviously I need to confer with our mutual employer." he says, taking Dr. Fukuhara aside.

"Not certain as to who hired this guide, but I'm aware your team is clearly going to have some issues if the objective is research and you can't bring along the equipment to *do* the research. It's ultimately your call as to whether or not you go forward with you task with this variable. I'm no scientist, but I'm pretty damned good at risk assessment, and I'd assess that our safest option would be to get back on that plane, hire a more competent professional as your guide and vet him thoroughly next time around, and we leave now with all of our mission assets in tact. You opt to continue from this point on, and you're downright guaranteeing we all end up seeing the very worst effects of Murphy's law, which as you should clearly see is already a factor here." he sighs, pinching off the ashes of his smoke and repocketing it.

"My team was hired to keep you and your team safe. Unless you're interested in being left in the middle of the jungle without even having the equipment required for you to do your jobs, in the interest of your own safety and that of my people, it's my professional reccommendation here that you cut your losses and abort this mission here and now, before it gets some or all of us killed."

When Koby fell, Caduceus rushed to his side to see if there was anything he could do to alleviate his discomfort. White Duck seemed to have the logistics under control for the moment. Caduceus noticed Koby was looking pretty rough after the flight, but he wasn't sure Snake's healing magic could do much for the runner in his current state. At least not with the spells Caduceus knew.

"It might be a good option to leave Koby here to watch over the stuff, if needed," he mentioned to the group. "If it comes down to leaving some equipment behind, that is. He's not looking so great anyway. And we did bring one extra crew member than originally planned..."

Bichoo nodded and continued to puff away as Professor Fukuhara followed stiffly down the ramp.  Dr. Sanders follows along.  Al-Mansour remained on the plane, arms crossed and eyeing Bichoo with distaste.

When he reached the bottom of the ramp, the Japanese man turned to White Duck.  His words were quiet, but cold.  "Your purpose here is to provide protection from external threats.  It is NOT to undertake negotiations on my behalf.  If you see a specific security threat, I will thank you for sharing it.  Otherwise, please do not interfere."

With that he took out his phone and steps away a couple of feet to make a call and began speaking rapid Japanese

If you wish, you can roll to see how much you can pick out.

=========================

Koby was not in good shape.  He was feverish and his eyes had taken on a pinkish tinge.  He was mumbling incoherently.  This didn't look like damage or a toxin, but rather some form of virus or possibly a systemic infection.  Not the sort of thing Snake had ever helped him intervene with before.  At home, it'd definitely be time to head to the local street doc for something a bit stronger than an aspirin and possibly even an IV.

Duck is left with a quizzical expression on his features. He had pointed out an obvious threat to security in the first place, but he was more worried about this Doctor’s terse response to any shakedown attempt. He marked down mentally that the expedition lead, as foolhardy he was in exerting whatever authority he thought he had, was going to pay the karmic price for his hubris, and that Duck and the rest of his team might end up paying some of their share too. After all that, he didn’t see Dr. Fukuhara doing any negotiations of his own. He took his cigarette and moved over to Bitchoo.

“Hell man, now I just gotta ask. Were these researchers saavy enough to pay you for a return trip, or are you to take us there and go on your merry way?”

Hairy looks at his LMG again, mumbling to himself, "not that loud. It's a big jungle anyway. Like to see border patrol try an' take it." He considers it again. Without his LMG, he's left with his sub-machine gun and all his explosives. He puts it back in the box and figures he'll wait to see what the bosses decide. If he sees a crate going with a little empty space, he might see if he can sneak it in, just in case they change their mind later.

"Booking was for airport to airport including customs with up to 10 days plying the river and jungle.  Body return for key personnel where possible."  Bichoo's face doesn't provide much clarity as to whether you or your teammates fall within the 'key personnel', but your past experience suggests the probable answer.

Dr. Fukuhama stomped up the ramp, returning his phone to his belt.  "Fine, we'll do it your way.  We pack as much as the boat can safely hold, but we'll leave the rest behind. 

Bichoo stood up and ground the remains of his cigarette into the deck.  "Good choice.

Figure out what you really need and the rest of you can lug it to my jeep."

He leaned back against the frame and looked at Koby and Caduceus, then turned back to White Duck.  "Dunno what's up with your teammate and don't really care, but if he flakes out like this in the jungle, he's gonna end up as food for a Cayman or something else.  Not trying to be harsh, but when we need to move, we need to move and we're gonna be hauling enough gear that lugging a body isn't going to fly for long.  If you like, I can give you the address for a clinic in town.  Not fancy, but they're clean and your friend'll still have all his organs intact when we get back."

Caduceus, you're free to make a roll, but the objective is to get Koby (mostly) out of harm's way for a bit until his player is able to rejoin the game.  So the roll probably isn't going to have the desired effect - or at least he's not going to be up to travelling for a while.

Caduceus laid a hand on Koby and closed his eyes, then focused his energies on his ill teammate. He willed ephemeral snakes to slither from his fingertips into and throughout Koby's body, absorbing any toxins they came into contact with. But between the exotic nature of the ailment and Caduceus's general lack of skill with this spell, there was not much he could do to alleviate his friend's condition.

He stood up and looked to Bichoo. "Yeah, the clinic is probably the right choice. Whatever he contracted, let's just hope it isn't contagious." Caduceus gave Koby one last regretful look, then moved to help unload what he could. He decided he would leave the crates behind for now, since they were so bulky and there was limited space, but he made sure the rest of his gear came along with him.

---

I had Caduceus cast Cure Disease, but between his low level in that spell and story reasons to have Koby remain ill, I didn't bother calculating all the rolls needed for it. Hope that's alright.

Duck helps Cadeuces with Koby as the rest of the team reorients itself, sighing and looking to Cadeuces.

"You booked this one, right? The tidings are not so great, I'm noticing."

Bichoo pulled out his cell and spoke some rapid Portugese.  "Cab'll be here in about 5.  I'd recommend holding onto anything valuable.  It's a good place, but no point creating temptation.  The cabbie will wait for you and take you to the Golfinhāo once you've got your friend checked in."

The scientists filtered through their gear, occasionally arguing about what to bring and what to leave behind, but eventually settled on a selection that fit - mostly - into your guide's jeep.  Bichoo cranked the ancient landrover's motor a couple of times before coaxing the vehicle to life.  "With the gear, I've got room for two".  He pointed at Dr. Fukuhama,   "I guess that's you", then at the rigger who'd managed to make herself scarce during the cargo hauling exercise "And I guess you'll need to go to your hotel."

"The rest of you can make your way there on foot or find a cabbie who speaks English.  Marina's about 10 blocks down the hill and a bit South.  Tell the port master you want the  Golfinhāo and he'll show you where she is.  I'll talk to the airport guards and they'll keep an eye on the plane and remaining gear until we're back."

With that, he backed out of the hanger and headed to the gate.  He spoke a few words to whoever was at the gate and one of guardsjogged over with a padlock which he put on hangar  door once everyone had left.  The Landrover disappeared into the streets of Iquitos, the primarily motor-cycle and scooter traffic making way for the larger vehicle.

A cab pulled up a few minutes later to pick up Koby, Caduceus and White Duck, leaving Kate and Hairy to provide 'protection' for the remaining two scientists.  Some gesturing from the party at the first cab driver soon produced a second cab.  It wasn't exactly well-suited to carrying a pair of sweaty orcs and a Formian all in the back seat, made even more unpleasant as they were jounced around by the city's heavily potholed streets.  On the plus side, the port master was able to easily direct you to Bichoo's boat - where he promptly had everyone offloading his vehicle and moving cargo to the vessel.  By the time you were all finished your clothing was dripping with sweat.

=============

The clinic was attached to a small Catholic mission.  The nurse at the front desk examined Koby briefly.  "Senior Bichoo, he say your friend stay with us for one, mebbe two weeks?  We help him be feeling better.  You can make donation?" - she gestured to a sign on one wall listing 'suggested' donations.  The rate was reasonable and the clinic seemed clean.  Nothing suggested that that the nuns who ran the place were likely to be organ leggers, so after getting the unconscious physical adept squared away in his room and answering the doctor's questions about their companion, White Duck and Caduceus returned to the waiting cab and joined their friends back at the docks.

=============

The Golfinhāo was a smallish cargo hauler refitted to carry passengers and looked at least 40 years old.  Spots that had once been scoured of rust and repainted were now rusting through again.  You each were assigned to your own "private cabin", which was an elaborate description for a too-small bed, table chair and pair of shelves.  Hairy and Kate could only fit on the bed by bending their knees to an uncomfortable angle, and even then they couldn't move much.  The two toilets on board emptied into the water below and the "shower" involved a hand-pump that funneled water from the river - whose intake Bichoo assured you was well-forward of the toilets.

On the plus side, the boat did have a few concealed compartments Bichoo showed you for storing weaponry - or on the trip home, you supposed, for samples.

"It's getting dark.  We will leave first thing tomorrow.  Traveling at night is unwise."


Anything else you want to do before hitting the water?

Hairy, let me know how hard you're pushing for your LMG.  You (or someone speaking on your behalf) will need to make some rolls if you want to displace some of the scientific equipment - and raise Bichoo's ire - by taking it along.

In reply to DeusEx (msg # 134):

Kate gets on slowly, looking nervous about the boat.  Water is _not_ her element.  Seeing her "quarters" she puts down the bag she brought and hurries back up on deck, not sure which is worse.  The tiny "quarters" or the water on all sides.

"What's the worse that can happen?" she says and then starts listing things in her head.

"Hey, ah, guys... is this the way these trips always begin?"

Duck, lounging out on the ship's bow and playing with his deck of cards, shakes his head. Making sure nobody else is within earshot, he sighs.

"No, normally it doesn't become a clusterfuck until *after* people start shooting, then we start to shine. This clusterfuck is a whole new clusterfuck entirely. Sorry in advance that I brought you here, kid. You couldn't have picked a more stereotypically-gonna-die people to lead this expedition or a more probably-gonna-leave-you-in-a-jungle guide for this little trip. It's like the first ten minutes of a friggin' horror movie." He takes a drag of a seemingly always there cigarette, then shakes his head and looks longingly out into the jungle.

"What I wouldn't give for some good ol' corporate infiltration, sneaking around, getting in bar fights, and interrogating people."

After leaving Koby with the nuns (giving them a proper donation and conjuring a hearth spirit to Guard him until sunset), Caduceus helped pack the boat with their supplies. When the others started talking about the trip thus far, he couldn't help but add his own opinions to the conversation.

"It's true, things are starting off a bit rough, but I don't think it's quite as bad as you're making it out to be. True, our actual job description was blurrier than it should have been. And I doubt we will walk away from this gig with a handful of new best friends. But I think so long as we let everyone run their own areas of expertise without getting in their way, us runners will make it back in one piece. Even if everything goes terribly and we end up stranded in the wilderness, we still have the spirits on our side. Man, you guys should really see how this place looks on the astral..."

And on that note, Caduceus grinned before calling up a river spirit to watch over their boat during the night. Like an anaconda slinking through the water, the river spirit drew near. "My watery friend, please Guard this boat and its crew throughout this night. Keep us from ill fortunes."

---

Conjuring a Force 3 River Spirit:
22:19, Today: Caduceus rolled 3 successes using 5d6 with the Shadowrun system with a target of 3 with rolls of (6+3)9,2,3,3,2.  Conjure Force 3 River Spirit.
Three services gained. Using them all to Guard the boat and crew until sun up. And if there is still an available service after that, then I'll have it Materialize, just for flavor.

Drain Test:
22:19, Today: Caduceus rolled 4 successes using 7d6 with the Shadowrun system with a target of 3 with rolls of 2,(6+1)7,4,2,2,3,4.  Drain test.
No drain.

The first day of travel was uneventful, mostly sitting on deck watching the trees go by. The river was more than a kilometer wide here, and you passed lots of fishermen and other local boaters.  They waved as you glided by, but din't seem terribly interested in you.  The first night's camp was also undisturbed. Other than keeping your eyes open for caimans, there hadn't been much call for your abilities yet. That might change soon, though; the following morning, Bicho said you were coming up on Leticia, the town that marked the border between Peru and Amazonia. He dropped anchor a few kilometers shy of the town to finalize plans for the border crossing.

"The border guards know me," he said. "I take tour groups through here a few times a month. They check passports, count heads, sometimes search the boat, but never very hard. We should be able to slip past them posing as turistas."

"But before we do anything else, it's time for an ancient river ritual ..." Bicho smiled wickedly. "You'll make believable tourists with a little protective coloration." He opened up a cardboard box and pulled out ... oh, no. T-shirts - T-shirts that said, "I Survived the Amazon With Captain Bicho."

In your choice of neon orange or lime green.

Sorry, forgot to post about the results of the manifestation of the river spirit.  It was larger than you were used to and very vibrant.  Bichoo was sleeping below decks come morning, having pulled second watch, but you did get a good rise out of a couple of the scientists, one of whom went for their tranq gun.

Duck sighs, and grabs an orange one. Looking every bit out of place here, he passes as a tourist easily, down to taking out some tanning lotion and whitening his nose before he puts his glasses back on. He carefully considers the number of things he wants to fling around nearby, lighting up yet another smoke.

Hairy will try to make a convincing argument that the gun will fit. "It's tiny. Look at it. The boat don't need a shower. Or I can jam it under my cot. Leave the chainsaws, this will cut through trees if ya want."

If he's denied again, he's going to be sour for the whole taxi ride and packing exercise. If he can bring it he's only slightly less sour. It's a really nice gun. Would definitely help. Really, anything would help this awful country. He's going to avoid showering in brown water too. Easier to just wipe his pits off with an orange t-shirt when he needs it. The whole place smells like an armpit, so who's going to notice his?

Rolled (4,5)

"I would have rather you handed these out on our way back," Caduceus joked, taking a lime green shirt for himself. "Their message would be more accurate that way."

After putting on his new attire, Caduceus stood next to the side of the boat and traced a serpentine line along the railing. He repeated the process several more times, reaching out with his senses to conjure another river spirit. The one that had guarded them faithfully through the night had disappeared at sun-up, as spirits tend to do. Not only that, but they were now far enough away that this length of river surely would have been beyond its range regardless.

When one of the watery spirits showed itself, Caduceus gave it the simple task of keeping their hidden supplies Concealed. The shaman then promptly conjured a second spirit to provide the vessel and crew with some basic Guarding against accidents. Nothing too excessive.

---

Conjuring a Force 3 River Spirit:
16:17, Today: Caduceus rolled 1 success using 5d6 with the Shadowrun system with a target of 3 with rolls of 1,1,2,(6+4)10,2.  Conjure Force 3 River Spirit.
One service gained, and used (concealment)

Drain Test:
16:19, Today: Caduceus rolled 4 successes using 7d6 with the Shadowrun system with a target of 3 with rolls of 3,4,2,1,1,(6+1)7,5.  Drain test.
No drain.

Conjure a second Force 3 River Spirit:
16:20, Today: Caduceus rolled 1 success using 5d6 with the Shadowrun system with a target of 3 with rolls of 1,2,1,3,2.  Conjure Force 3 River Spirit.
One service gained, and used (guard)

Drain Test:
16:21, Today: Caduceus rolled 3 successes using 7d6 with the Shadowrun system with a target of 3 with rolls of 2,1,3,(6+3)9,2,(6+1)7,2.  Drain test.
No drain.

Bicho doesn't seem particularly moved by Hairy's proposed alternatives.  "Tell ya what.  We can bring whatever toys ya need to 'compensate', or we can bring your share of the rations.  And if you pull the trigger on that thing and it brings down the border guards, I'm gonna be capturing a rogue Aztlan rebel."

Bicho is serious.  If you bring the gun, you're on your own for food - though you can try to get your fellow runners and (perhaps with some intimidation) the scientists to give you a share of theirs.

The scientists put on the shirts as instructed, though Dr. Al-Mansour looks particularly uncomfortable.

When Caduceus reached out for the water spirit it came easily and was a bit larger than he'd expected.  The second was significantly larger - obviously more powerful than what he'd been looking for.  Looking out on the astral, the river and the jungle around it positively glowed with energy and growth - almost unnaturally so.  The despite the glow, the snake within him could easily discern the life-forms among the trees - eyes peering out, monkeys leaping from tree to tree, a vibrantly shining bird feeding her young high in the canopy.

You've got a force 4 spirit hiding and a force 6 spirit guarding.  I'll wait another day or so for Kate, then move things along.

Keeping things moving :>)  Hairy, let me know if you're bringing the gun and going to try to scrape by on part rations.

If this place was a town, then you're Lofwyr. Leticia loomed ahead of you - a jumble of buildings, a couple of big gun towers and one very fast, very well armed patrol boat. There must have been a hundred boats parked along makeshift docks and beached right on the shore. Hard to believe, but Bicho's boat looked state-of-the-art compared to the rest. You doubt any of the docked boats were actually made in this century. Bicho was right-if you'd taken your own boat instead of his, even the animals and trees would have known you were coming to do something illegal.

You could tell just by the look of the place that no one had ever called Leticia home, except for the poor slobs who had nowhere else in the world to live. The village seemed to have sprung up just to keep the border guards company.  Most of the buildings looked flimsy and transitory, except for those gun towers (which you couldn't stop looking at), the military building (at least that's what it looked like, with its satellite uplink dish, real doors and windows, and the guy in uniform packing a big gun in front of it), and something that looked like a open-air bar. The rest of the Village was wood and tin lean-tos, with open-pit fires scattered among them. It made the worst neighborhood back home look ritzy.

Bicho pulled his boat over to an open spot in front of the military building. It was time for you to play tourist.

Let me know if anyone's doing anything as you approach the town or before Bicho deals with customs.  If not, I'll try to post again before the end of the weekend.
This message was last edited by the GM at 21:11, Tue 14 May 2019.

As the boat pulled up to its stop, Caduceus looked through his binoculars and pointed at the monkeys on the treeline. "Would you look at those! So cool." He did actually think they were pretty cool, even though his enthusiasm was mostly just for show. He tried hard to give of a genuine touristy vibe. With their gear already tucked away in their proper spots, the least risky move was probably to simply wait and see what happened.

The team and the scientists did their best to look and sound as touristy as possible as a guard sauntered out of the military building and hauled himself aboard the boat and spoke at length with Bichoo in rapid-fire Portugese.  Bicho handed over the group's passports and the guard spent several minutes poking around the ship - apparently more concerned about stow-aways than whatever gear the party was transporting.  He didn't pick up on the hidden compartments at all.

After satisfying himself that there was no contraband or illicit personnel aboard, the guard returned to the wheelhouse where there was more discussion, this time more animated.  As the conversation went on, Bicho was obviously getting more and more upset.  However, a firm word from the guard seemed to shut him up.

The guard then stomped down from the wheelhouse and held out each passport at arms length, making you remove your sunglasses and hats as he compared the photos with your faces, some of them now partially sunburned, having not applied Julia's lotion with quite the frequency required.

Pocketing the passports, he raised his voice to be heard by all of you, though his heavy accent required concentration to follow, "Border ees closed today. You sleep in town or on boat. I keep passports for tomorrow."

With that, he hopped down and headed back toward the building.

Caduceus did his best to hear what all the fuss had been about as he continued to act "touristy." It would be good for his team to know ahead of time about any snags that may arise. Caduceus just hoped his Portuguese hadn't gotten too rusty. There hadn't been too much opportunity to use it since he had moved in his teens.

16:32, Today: Caduceus rolled 2 successes using 2d6 with the Shadowrun system with a target of 4 with rolls of 5,4.  Portuguese roll.

Caduceus isn't able to catch every word, but he understands enough to have a pretty good sense of what's going on.  Football.

Specifically, a championship match between the current top Amazonian and Aztlanian team.  The guard (and his fellows) don't intend to be out on the water in their patrol vehicle and so they've closed the border until the game is done.  (Given that the border is always closed from dusk to sunup, that means you're stuck here until morning.)

Bicho made a number of complaints about keeping to schedule, damage to his reputation, etc. but the guard wasn't having any of it.

Not seeing a lot of stuffer shacks around, Hairy relents, and stows the big gun with the airplane.

Stopping at the checkpoint, Hairy keeps a sharp eye out for any trouble from the guard towers. "Drek, I'm not staying here overnight. Bet even the fleas have fleas. We can't sneak by at night?"

Hairy was somewhat surprised when the scientists take up his call.  He wasn't used to others thinking he had a good idea...

"Exactly.  We can't very well sit on our thumbs.  We have no time to waste!  As soon as the sun goes down, you and the runners can paddle us out of here and we'll be on our way in just a few hours."  Dr. Saunders eyes lit up, apparently enamored at the notion of sneaking away.

Bicho didn't seem to have caught the wave of enthusiasm though.  He scoffed.  "Sure we can.  And the next time I sale into town, they impound my boat.  Oh, and how were you planning on getting home without your passports?

We stay put.  Sailing in the dark's a bad plan even with permission."

EDIT: fixed formatting
This message was last edited by the GM at 05:25, Tue 21 May 2019.

Once the guards had moved away and only the runners and scientist crew were nearby, Caduceus spoke up. "We might still be able to convince them to reopen the boarder," he admitted, referring to himself and the other 'runners. "But our job is to keep you safe, and the safest course of action is to sit tight for the night. And we know from before that you guys frown on us stepping beyond the scope of our agreement..." Caduceus hoped they caught the undertones of being open to negotiations. "So I guess we better make ourselves comfortable here." He gestured at the dumpy little "village" with one hand.

Whether anything became of the shaman's words or not, once he was alone with his fellow runners, he would tip them off that the boarder guards were closing down for a football game. And that they may decide to reopen if they knew they couldn't see the game.

Duck shakes his head slowly at the discussion of sneaking off in the middle of the night. He's strung up a hammock along the back side of the boat and chimes in when he hears the present discussion.

"So, are you guys the ones trying to win a fraggin' Darwin Award, or are you really convinced, with the tens of years of education amongst you, that it's a good idea to sneak off into a foreign jungle, at night, against the advice of the guy you hired as a local guide? You think we're just gonna paddle on out there with no knowledge of the terrain, no way to get through customs, and everything'll be honky-dory?" he rubs a palm against his face almost instinctively.

"Let's say against all likelihood that you stumble right over what you're after- what's the plan on getting it back to the boat after you've found it? Surely you geniuses have thought that far ahead, right?" he takes a drag of his cigarette, the red-orange embers lighting up a face that again has gone pale with the recession of the sun.

"Now, y'all wanna stop behaving like the first people to die in a horror movie and sit tight for the night? Maybe I'm just some uneducated southerner and all, but I'm certain I wanna get the hell out of this place more than any of you. Perhaps you can explain why you're all so eager to do this that you're willing to toss out just about every lick of common sense you've got to even *think* about trying that option?" He sits up in the hammock, twirling the cigarette in his fingertips, making it look like a singularly focused lone firefly against the near-black backdrop of the night.

In reply to White Duck (msg # 152):

I'm new here and I don't know if I get a vote but I'm with him.  We should hold tight until morning.  I don't think running into a jungle with no plan to get out is a smart idea

Faced with rather strong opposition, the scientists back down, though they don't look happy about it - and Hairy's unexpected pleasure at having his idea supported by the scientists dims somewhat.

"beautiful" Leticia lies before you, it's approaching lunch time and the team had nothing to do and nowhere to go.  Perhaps one of you brought something to help pass the time. If you
had been back home, you'd have hit the bar and drink and drink and drink. Maybe Leticia's has a watering hole-doesn't every town? You could even watch the game, learn a little something about soccer.  This trip might not be so bad after all...

What's everyone doing?

Dangling his legs over the side of the hammock and hopping up, Duck looks to the scientists.

"I'll give it to you guys that waiting around is pretty boring, too. If you want to go into town yourselves, I can escort you, possibly try to drum up some leads on what we're looking for too, depending on how discrete you're trying to be. That a fair compromise to you guys? We should be good to go, so long as none of you cause any trouble and don't start any fights I can't finish for you."

Hairy sulks in the corner after his idea is shot down, but perks up at the thought of alcohol. "Yeah, I wanna get some drinks. Maybe find some ladies. Any of you speak Spanish?"

In reply to Hairy (msg # 156):

Not thrilled at the prospect of being nowhere near solid land (or fire) for the night, she looks up "I'd like to go into town and maybe see the place.  I could use a drink too"

"It's Portuguese, not Spanish," Caduceus corrected Hairy. "And yeah, I speak it. Probably not a bad idea to call it Spanish though. It'll make you seem that much more of a tourist."

Caduceus rubbed his hands together eagerly while looking around at the surrounding landscape. "If you guys think you can watch the scientists for a while, I would love to take this opportunity to browse the wilderness nearby. Maybe collect some shamanic supplies. I could take one or two of our charges with me, I suppose. Some of them might want to check out the forest too. I'll make sure to wear my subvocal mic in case anything comes up."

The notion of alcohol - or anything - to help replenish the sweat that has already soaked your vibrant shirts was most appealing.  And the thought of something cool was even more inspirational.  Dr. Saunders was definitely on board and even Dr. Fukuhara seemed like he might join the group.

As you gathered up what you might need for an evening out on the down,  Dr. Al-Mansour burst from below decks, his arms laden with sat-maps and all kinds of charts. "I found a place!  Only a few klicks from here," he said, showing the only emotion you'd seen on his face for the entire trip. "And we can walk there!"

He plopped the charts down on the deck and started pointing excitedly, talking about moisture gradients, temperature profiles, nutrient densities and a bunch of other gobbledy-gook that didn't make a whole lot of sense to any of you - but which soon had the scientists looking like someone had just offered to be their date for prom.

After asking a few questions, Dr. Fukuhara stood up and gestured to the runners.  "Shore leave's cancelled.  There's a promising site less than an hour's walk from here.  If it pans out, we can head back up river and all be home tomorrow."

Al-mansour nodded happily.  "I know we'll find them there.  I know it!"

Bicho leaned against the wheelhouse and spit over the side of the boat.  "You're idiots."

The statement was all-inclusive, but he was glaring at Al-Mansour as he said it.  "It's going to take you at least two hours to get there and the same to get back.  Add on the time you spend humping trees, it'll be well past dark by the time you get out.  Plus what do I do if one of the guards comes back.  I might convince him that one of you got eaten by a river python, but not all of you..."

The thought of a giant snake didn't make a dent in the scientists' fervor.  "We're going.  Grab your gear"

Bicho turned his gaze to the runners, waiting to see what you would decide.

EDIT: fixed colors
This message was last edited by the GM at 02:06, Fri 24 May 2019.

"So you hear two terms, 'giant snake' and 'at least two hours' to get there and back, but you make a decision to ignore the warnings of the guide you hired our of fervor?" Duck scratches the days' worth of white stubble that's peaking out from his face. He looks to Bicho, spiking his cigarette over the side of the boat.

"Uh, sorry, no, you're not going. We were hired to keep you safe, and since you were so eager to ensure that I stick to my role, Dr. Fukuhara, that's going to include keeping you safe from your own hubris. Congrats, you're staying, in the interest of your own safety, and I'm now going to notify your boss about the persistent ignorance of security protocols in pursuit of your agenda." Duck cracks the knuckles on one hand and stands between the group of scientists gearing up and the docks.

"If it's there now, it'll be there tomorrow, and we'll be able to safely extract it and be home just a few hours later. Unless you come up with a damned good reason for this urgency, doc, and explain it to me, I'm going to knock anyone who tries to disembark this boat and go traipsing into the jungle in the middle of the night the fuck out in the interests of doing the job I was hired to do and protecting you from your own foolhardiness. So, you're gonna sit tight." Duck takes out his pack of cigarettes, grabbing four of them, fanning them out in a hand, and he waits for the expected protest.

In reply to White Duck (msg # 160):

Kate takes a cigarette.  "Kill joy"

Dr. Fukuhara pulls himself up to his full height - which is still a good four inches shorter than White Duck.  That said, he manages to look imposing.

"You seem to be somewhat confused as to who's in charge here.  You were hired to protect us while we complete our objectives.  We cannot complete our objectives from the boat.  We have a candidate site.  It must be reached by foot.  All of our candidate sites must be reached by foot.  So, like it or not, you're coming into the jungle."

"The border guards expect us to be departing at daybreak, particularly given the fuss our captain made about not being able to depart.  They will be suspicious if we stay - correct?"

He looks over at Bicho who slowly nods, though he doesn't look happy about it.

"We're not going to skip checking a promising site, especially when it could save us days of time.  Furthermore, the border patrol is going to be distracted by the game, which should make it easier to leave with our equipment now and come back with specimens than it would be if we were to do it tomorrow.  If you want to get paid - or even want a flight home, go get your gear.  The sooner we leave, the more daylight we have.  As I understand it, the game starts in 10 minutes.  I want us headed to the trail in 15."

Bicho shrugged.  "Your funeral.  I'm staying with the boat.  If someone comes to check, I'll try to convince them you went to bed early so you're ready to go tomorrow."

You can make a negotiation or leadership roll if you like, but it's going to take a lot of convincing to keep this trio from marching into the jungle - and it's your pay-check if you don't go with them...

“I told you the terms, Doctor, and this is the second time you’ve decided to ignore the warnings of your security team. If you wanted a team to blindly follow your orders regardless of risk, you should have gone with in-house assets and not hired a contractor. As it stands, you don’t get to re-dictate or interpret the terms of my contract as it suits you. Seeing how you’ve not even arranged to get our team back safely to begin with, you don’t have a vested interest in the lives of me and my crew to begin with, and seeing as you are willing to lead your own team into an extremely hazardous situation because your own cost/benefit analysis sees a not-fully-investigated shortcut as worth risking the lives of eight other people, YOU are the biggest threat to your own team’s safety in this mission. I am concerned about the lives of your team though. Concerned enough to give up my payday and lay you out right here on the deck.”
He points to the jungle.

“Giant snakes don’t recognize your education, your corporate clout, anybody’s payday, or who has authority over whom. I’m not asking you right now, I’m *telling* you. Stand down. You have the option to pursue this site in a situation that isn’t extremely hazardous, and you’re putting everyone’s lives at risk instead. I’m not going to allow you or any members of your team off this boat, and I *will* knock your ass out and throw you belowdecks.” He doesn’t break eye contact with the doctor, and expectantly waits for the doctor to ignore him and attempt to proceed.

Will roll whatever I need to in order to get him to listen. Just give me a TN.
This message was last edited by the player at 18:06, Thu 23 May 2019.

Based on your approach, sounds like an intimidation roll is in order.  It's an open test, so no TN.

Dr. Fukuhama stood there for a moment as his face quivered in rage.  His hands squeezed into fists and he managed to bite back whatever response he was going to give.  Instead, he stalked away and yanked out his phone.  It took him three tries to get a connection - whether that was because he was too angry to hit the right buttons or because the service there was too lousy to make a link wasn't completely clear.

Once connected, he let loose with a stream of angry Japanese, only quieting down when a guard stepped out of the military building to see what the commotion was about.  While few of you were that conversant with Japanese, everyone on the team had seen enough trid shows to pick out a few choice curse words.  White Duck was able to follow more of the conversation, though the professor was speaking so quickly that it was hard to catch everything.  "Incompetent", "Useless", "Arrogant" and a few other adjectives were clear enough though.

Finally finished, the professor paused and listened, nodding a few times before stalking back and thrusting his phone out at White Duck triumphantly.

"Someone would like to talk to you."

It was, of course, Mr. Johnson.

Rather than dishing out the expected brow-beating, the team's employer seemed relatively calm.  "I understand there's an issue with the completion of our contract?"

Duck nods and takes the phone calmly.

"No issue with the terms of the contract, but your science team lead seems to have a habit of trying to be everyone's boss, and is not at all keen on allowing us to do *our* job and keep he and his team safe. He wants to take his team off into the jungle, right now, with little to no prep aside from 'grab your things, let's go'. The guide you've hired insists that it's stupidly dangerous to leave in the middle of the night to investigate a potential site, and I'm inclined to agree with the one person on this expedition who is familiar with the terrain and more knowledgeable than all of us about any potential dangers it holds. My team isn't a group of jungle commando-types, we're from the sprawl, just like your science team, presumably." he smiles to Fukuhara politely, then turns away and walks to the bow of the boat for a bit of conversational privacy.

"I understand that we're already on a dangerous assignment of questionable legality, that we're already going to take risks, but assuming you want your personnel back alive, it's my job to negate those risks when possible and to minimize them when they inevitably occur. We are just trying to do our jobs. Dr. Fukuhara has suggested we go unprepared, in the middle of the night, into a jungle that none of us are familiar with, as opposed to heeding our guide's advice and waiting a few hours for it to be exponentially safer to do so, simply in the interests of coming home earlier. Even if your project is a time-sensitive one, if your whole team dies in the jungle, your project won't be completed, those of us that survive won't get paid, and you'll have to end up sending an entirely different team of scientists down here, which is invariably going to cost you a lot more than a few hours of daylight."

He takes a drag of his cigarette, turning to keep an eye on the scientists so they don't bolt.

"I know this is unfortunate to hear, but the risk is severe enough here to make me willing to forego my payday in order to keep my team alive. I didn't sign up to take directions from someone who is clearly inexperienced in leading anyone but his peers, and it's disheartening, to say the least, to realize that he apparently has the survival instincts of a lemming. Someone not intent on letting us do our jobs and keep your personnel secure, your package delivered in-tact, or heeding any and all warnings simply for the sake of shaving a few hours off of the trip. I had to threaten to detain him, quite simply because I don't want anyone to die out here. There a few less risk-averse options I can present to you that would accomplish your goals in a succinct manner, if you're open to hear them, and I'm mutually open to suggestions, if you've got them, but I'm going to need a *damned* good reason to put my team and yours in an extremely unnecessary and risky situation. I sincerely apologize for the inconvenience, but if the good doctor is foolhardy enough to skip rope under a helicopter because he likes the breeze, I'm not gonna tell my people to jump just because he said so."

The other line was quiet for a good minute.

"I see.  Well...  "

He spoke quietly

"Am I speaking to you alone right now?"

After White Duck responded in the affirmative, he continued.

"Good.

First, be aware that there is a degree of time pressure on our end.  Taking an inordinate amount of time to mitigate every possible risk will not meet my objectives.  You have approximately 6 days - including travel time.  I will leave it to your discretion as to how best to best mitigate the risks within the timeline available."

"Second, one of your risks is that you have severely insulted my lead scientist, who is not going to handle this loss of face well.  I suggest that you begin to look suitably chastened.  And perhaps move the phone a bit away from your ear."

"YOU WILL **NOT** PHYSICALLY THREATEN MY STAFF AGAIN!!  DO YOU UNDERSTAND??"

The entire group had no issues overhearing that bit...

"Now please pass the phone back to Dr. Fukuhama and I will explain the order of command."

White Duck passed back the phone to the professor who accepted it with a broad grin.  The grin gradually shrank and became more forced as he continued to listen.  After a few minutes he closed his phone.  He paused a few moments before addressing his fellow scientists.

"Given the time this has consumed, and to ensure we have maximum light to examine the specimens, we will defer our search of the candidate location until tomorrow."

Turning to White Duck and the other runners.  "I thank our contractors for their concern for our safety.".  It wasn't the most genuine apology you'd ever heard, but it was certainly more than you'd expected.

"And now, I think I shall rest for a few hours to better prepare for our excursion tomorrow"  He headed below without giving anyone a chance to say anything further.

Bicho eased himself up from his lounging position and gave White Duck a nod of respect.  He headed towards the wheelhouse, pausing to slap Dr. Al-Mansour on the back.  "Better luck next time, eh 'Sour?"

The scientist's moth, which had hanging open at the sudden reversal of Fukuhama's position, closed and tightened into a scowl that was even fiercerthan usual.  He gathered up his charts and stomped down the stairs, slamming the door of his cabin.

Dr. Sanders leaned awkwardly against the railing and tapped his fingers against the wood, looking from one runner to another.

"So, ah... drinks?"


3 karma for everyone.  +1 for White Duck for messing up my plans in an interesting way.  Let me know who's going drinking with Sanders, who's staying on the boat to watch the other two scientists, and who's going with Caduceus to wander in the jungle (if you still plan to?  It might be best not to let the scientists know where you're headed if you do...)

I'll try to start the new thread on Monday.

Duck makes a decent showing of bowing apologetically before Fukuhara retreats, then resumes his normal posture, earnestly relieved the doctor called his boss. He hopped off from the boat and offered assistance to any disembarking.

"No drinks for me. Something tells me they don't have pina coladas here. I'll tag along to make sure you folks don't piss off any locals without backup though." he smirks to Cadeuces, then heads over.

"Troubling flight, but I managed to land her safely. Can you ask your friends to watch over any personnel staying on the boat and alert us if anyone tries to bolt?" he asks with a sigh. His hands were shaking a bit in what his fellow runner could easily identify as contained anger, tinged with a bit of anxiety.

"Hated having to do that, but pissing off personnel is a hell of a lot better than having deceased personnel."

"Agreed," Caduceus said. "I will stay here to monitor the situation. I will be sure to keep anyone from slipping away unexpectedly, and send a spirit to fetch you if they do. If you hear a wind spirit howling over the town, come back."

Kate can't for a minute believe any part of this is going to go well, considering the "confusion" so far.  So, seeing as some are leaving the boat, she's going to go with them for drinks to make sure that when things go badly, they have some firepower.

The fact that she's on a boat surrounded by water is totally not the point... really...

"I'm up for a drink and I don't mean river water.  Who all is coming?"

"Drinks. When Fukihama shoots Duck in the back, I want to be drunk enough to enjoy it."

The back and forth is, well, definitely interesting. Where he comes from, they usually just have a knife fight and move on, but these two really seem to enjoy the foreplay.

Caduceus waited for everyone to leave who wasn't planning on staying aboard the boat, then got to work. His sharp mind had been working to formulate a plan where he could guard their "associates" and explore a bit of the wilderness at the same time. After all, he didn't want all of the secret compartments that he worked so hard to procure to go to waste.

Once he was alone on the boat, Caduceus inhaled a deep breath of the fresh clean air. He reached out into the sky, drawing on the purity of the environment around him. When he exhaled, a wind spirit coalesced before him, taking on the guise of a few dry leaves and flower petals tumbling in the wind. "Thank you for coming," Caduceus said with a smile. "Please watch this boat and its passengers. If anyone other than myself tries to enter or exit the boat, come and tell me. To the people leaving, other than myself, do your best to slow their Movement." Once the spirit was clear on its tasks, Caduceus made an effort to conjure it a buddy.

Once another spirit appeared, this one more like a cloud of butterflies, Caduceus greeted it similarly before giving it instructions. "I want you to watch for people entering or exiting this boat too. If the person isn't me, Confuse them. Then go fly over the town and let create the loudest howl of wind you can muster without destroying anything. My friends should come running back here once you do." When it seemed the wind spirit grasped Caduceus's intent, he focused on the next phase of his plan.

Caduceus found a nice quite place aboard the boat where he felt he wouldn't be disturbed for a few moments. He lay down and took a napping position, then left his body for a jaunt into astral space.

His first stop was to go check on the two researchers. He wanted to make sure they weren't planning on venturing out on their own in the near future. He also scanned their auras for any glaring hints of deception or defiance he might need to worry about. After that, the shaman set out to go investigate the river and shorelines for any promising locations to find shamanic supplies. He was on the search for items or areas with particularly pure auras, even among this paradise of purity. He could cover ground faster in his astral form, and was also invisible unawakened human eyes.

After scanning the nearby area, Caduceus returned to the boat. He skimmed the buildings near the shore first though to check for anyone who might have eyes on their boat. He then checked on the researchers belowdecks one more time, just in case, then returned to his body and woke up.

After changing into a shirt that was not bright neon and discarding any excess gear, Caduceus double checked that his snake-tooth talisman necklace was still secure around his neck, then cast Levitate upon himself. As his feet lifted ever so slightly off of the boat, Caduceus relished in the sensation. It was not the first time he had made himself levitate, but normally it required a great deal of his concentration. But with his new totem, he could focus on other things. Like conjuring another spirit.

He made sure his knife, binoculars, and empty toolbox were secure before reaching out spiritually to contact a new river spirit. The shaman floated over the side of the boat away from shore and touched the tip of his toe into the water beyond. He sent out a ripple, beckoning an untasked river spirit to heed his call.

When what he could only describe as a Swamp Thing lookalike appeared in the water below, Caduceus said to it, "I am going to be traveling your shores and would appreciate it if you could Guard me to help keep me safe. I would like to remain discrete as well, so any Concealment you could assist me with would be appreciated too. If there is anything else you can do for me, I will let you know later." Caduceus then set out toward the nearest site he had visited earlier, making sure to keep low above the water and out of sight of any onlookers if possible. He hoped the game would keep most people busy until sundown, when Caduceus hoped to be back. But if he needed to pass by any crowds, he had another spell or two he could still employ.

---

People on the boat should still be Guarded by the river spirit Caduceus Conjured earlier, so I am not worried about assigning a spirit to that. There should also still be a river spirit helping to Conceal their hidden supplies.

Conjure Force 3 Wind Spirit.
10:32, Today: Caduceus rolled 2 successes using 4d6 with the Shadowrun system with a target of 3 with rolls of 1,2,3,5.  Conjure Force 3 Wind Spirit.
Two services, used. "Let me know if anyone tries to enter/exit," and Movement on anyone leaving to slow them down.

Drain Test.
10:34, Today: Caduceus rolled 6 successes using 8d6 with the Shadowrun system with a target of 3 with rolls of 3,3,3,(6+4)10,1,4,1,3.  Drain test.
No drain.

Conjure Force 3 Wind Spirit, again.
10:42, Today: Caduceus rolled 2 successes using 4d6 with the Shadowrun system with a target of 3 with rolls of 1,1,3,(6+1)7.  Conjure Force 3 Wind Spirit.
Two services, used. Confusion, send howl over town to signal others.

Drain test.
10:49, Today: Caduceus rolled 4 successes using 8d6 with the Shadowrun system with a target of 3 with rolls of 2,2,5,(6+6+1)13,4,5,1,2.  Drain test.
No drain.

Astral perception to see what you can find that's potentially useful in range.
11:09, Today: Caduceus rolled 1 success using 6d6 with the Shadowrun system with a target of 4 with rolls of (6+3)9,3,3,3,3,2.  Assensing.

Assensing complimentary skill.
11:11, Today: Caduceus rolled 2 successes using 5d6 with the Shadowrun system with a target of 4 with rolls of 3,3,1,5,4.  Aura Reading (Auras) - complimentary skill.

Cast Force 2 Levitate upon himself using his Sustaining Spell Focus 2. Saving all 6 Spell Pool dice for drain roll.
15:24, Today: Caduceus rolled 2 successes using 6d6 with the Shadowrun system with a target of 4 with rolls of 4,2,2,3,(6+3)9,3.  Cast Force 2 Levitate on self.
Two successes means max speed of 14. He can levitate 220 pounds/100kg (or more?), which equals Caduceus + a decent amount of other stuff he might grab.

Drain test.
15:30, Today: Caduceus rolled 5 successes using 12d6 with the Shadowrun system with a target of 4 with rolls of (6+3)9,3,1,5,4,2,1,4,1,3,(6+6+5)17,2.  Drain test - Force 2+2 medium.
Five successes should mean the medium drain is reduced to no drain.

Conjuring a Force 3 River Spirit.
15:39, Today: Caduceus rolled 3 successes using 5d6 with the Shadowrun system with a target of 3 with rolls of 2,5,(6+6+1)13,1,5.  Conjuring a Force 3 River Spirit.
Three services, two used.

Drain Test.
15:41, Today: Caduceus rolled 7 successes using 7d6 with the Shadowrun system with a target of 3 with rolls of 3,4,5,3,(6+1)7,3,(6+4)10.  Drain test.
No Drain.

Here is a mundane Stealth roll for Caduceus trying to hover out of sight discretely. I should note that he is not planning to cross the boarder, and he wants to be back at the boat before sundown, when all his conjured spirits will disappear.

15:51, Today: Caduceus rolled 1 success using 3d6 with the Shadowrun system with a target of 4 with rolls of 1,1,5.  Stealth roll, if needed.
Five, not including his spirit's assistance.

White Duck, Kate, Hairy and Dr. Sanders all disembarked and headed into 'town'.  Even if they hadn't spotted the local watering hole from the river, they'd have had no trouble finding the place with the raucous cheers emanating from the building and the adjacent patio.  An old-style 2-D flat-screen was projecting the domain and it appeared that most of the residents - including some who were well below legal age - were gathered to watch the game.

The bar-keep diverted his eyes from the game briefly to take orders but swiveled back to catch the replay as the Amazonian team scored their first goal, sending the volume a good 20 decibels higher.

Whatcha drinkin' and how much ya spendin?  Feel free to elaborate on how the evening goes...

==============================

It was about 2 hours before sundown by the time everyone had either departed or settled down on the boat and Caduceus could begin his preparations.  As before, the summoning went easier than expected and the spirits who arrived were larger than usual.

Dr. Fukuhara was in his bunk nursing a bottle of something or other.  Whatever it was seemed to have taken the edge off his emotions.  He certainly wasn't a happy camper, but it didn't seem likely he was going to be going anywhere.

Dr. Al-mansour was busily pouring over his maps.  His aura was tinged with the red-black of barely concealed rage, some of which looked like it had been there for a while.  It was harder to predict what he was going to do for the remainder of the evening.  However, the wind spirits were flitting back and forth between the rooms often enough that the snake shaman was pretty sure he'd have ample notice if the phytogeographist decided to go for a stroll.

The jungle was vibrant - glowing in a way that made Seattle's most verdant parks look like ashen barrens.  Everything was alive - and growing like crazy.  The background of vital greens and golds made it hard to figure out what was worth exploring.  There were certain plants, flowers and both small and large animals in abundance.  A few of the snakes hissed a greeting and at one point he saw a pair of nagas swaying hypnotically in some sort of mating ritual.

The challenge, of course, was knowing what would have value on the market back home.  Thankfully, Caduceus's magical training was in more than just spell-casting.  He had a fairly deep academic understanding of the magical world as well.
He knew that live specimens - whether critters or plants would require careful treatment and management for them to retain their value between the time of collection to the time of sale - management that could prove difficult to provide, depending on how their search went.  So he instead focused on looking for content with a magical aura that was not itself alive - and thus easier to preserve.

He found what he was looking for after about an hour.  A nest high in the treetops with a pinkish magical tinge that stood out against the green and gold.  A huge nest, in fact - one that the snake shaman could lie in quite comfortably - and which he was thus happy was empty.

In physical form, he sped along the surface of the river, a mist rising up to help conceal his passage and the faint cheers and boos from the village center suggesting there weren't a whole lot of people likely to be looking his way.  It took him about half an hour to get to the tree-top.  Once there he found a number of discarded feathers - 6 in total that were in relatively pristine shape.  They had a golden hew and glowed with magical energy.  He scooped them into a container he'd brought along for the purpose.

By the time he returned to the boat, the sun had set, leaving the pier largely in darkness, which was good as the fans were starting to wander back towards their boats.  Their good spirits suggesting that Amazonia had pulled off a win.  Hopefully that would put the guards in a good mood the next morning.

Once he had the feathers stored, Caduceus took a quick peek in on the scientists.  Al-mansour was still working away.  Dr. Fukuhara had apparently passed out.

You have 6 feathers, worth about ¥6k each provided you find the right buyer and don't do anything to degrade their quality or aura during the remainder of the trip.  Let me know how you're planning to carry/store them.

Also, you can roll to refresh your spirits if you want anything keeping watch overnight as your previous summonings vanished at sundown.

Kate leans back with a beer in one hand and an eye on the crowd.  If they're this pumped up now, they might get completely out of hand if Amazonia loses.

And that's how she's going to spend the evening.  Beer and paranoia.

After returning to the boat, Caduceus put his new finds gently into the briefcase he had brought along. The main compartment. The secret compartment would be much too cramped for the feathers he had found. He would shift them over to the secret compartments in his crates once they returned to the airport. For now the sturdy casing of the briefcase and its number lock would have to keep them protected.

Beaming with barely contained excitement over his find, Caduceus still opted to keep his treasure a secret at least until they were on their way home. For now, the fewer people who knew about his "treasure," the safer it would be. He wondered to himself if these were indeed feathers of the Alicanto that Lord Abyss had mentioned. But then again, what else could they be?

Still overcome by the paradise around him and the bounty that it had to offer, Caduceus set about conjuring some fresh spirits to watch over them throughout the night. A little whirlpool of a spirit appeared, and Caduceus asked it to Guard the boat and its guests, and to Conceal their hidden gear once again.

Then, largely out of curiosity, Caduceus reached out to the spirits of the river once again. He reached deep into the core of his being even as he reached deep into the depths of the river. He called upon the most powerful spirit he dared, merely to see what was here. He knew his attempts wouldn't be without personal cost, but it was an opportunity he did not want to pass up.

Caduceus could feel his joints ache, his muscles bruise, and several veins bulge as he gave his conjuring everything he had. In the end he slumped against the rail of the boat, exhausted.

But a spirit had indeed responded to his call. And it made his jaw drop...

---

Conjure Force 3 River Spirit.
20:39, Today: Caduceus rolled 2 successes using 4d6 with the Shadowrun system with a target of 4 3 with rolls of (6+5)11,4,2,2.  Conjure Force 3 River Spirit.
Two services, used. Guard and Concealment.

Drain test.
20:41, Today: Caduceus rolled 5 successes using 8d6 with the Shadowrun system with a target of 4 with rolls of 4,5,(6+1)7,2,4,1,2,4.  Drain test.
No drain.

Conjure a Force 9 River Spirit.
20:46, Today: Caduceus rolled 1 success using 6d6 with the Shadowrun system with a target of 9 with rolls of (6+3)9,2,4,1,2,3.  Conjure Force 9 River Spirit.
One Service, unused! Sweet!

Drain test.
20:48, Today: Caduceus rolled 1 success using 6d6 with the Shadowrun system with a target of 9 with rolls of (6+3)9,4,2,3,5,(6+1)7.  Drain test.
One success equals serious stun. Hopefully he will have the 6 hours available to recover though. We'll see.

Stun recovery test.
20:55, Today: Caduceus rolled 1 success using 6d6 with the Shadowrun system with a target of 5 with rolls of (6+3)9,3,2,4,4,1.  Stun Recovery Test.
One success means it will take a full six hours.

Actual force = 11.  What's your explanation for summoning it?  ('Your own amusement' might not go over well...)

His reasoning, other than "to see if he can," is to have it available in case of an unforeseen emergency. That, and to bask in its grandeur. Maybe even learn from it in some abstract spiritual way.

Hairy is happy to go for rotgut. His spending is modest, for as long as he's sober. Once the game is going, he'll cheer for whomever is getting cheers, and might give goo-goo eyes to the pretty waitress if she seems like she might have a taste for ork meat.

The game went on for about 3 hours with a great deal of screaming, drinking, booing and ended with intense celebration - more than enough to keep a nice edge on Kate's healthy paranoia.  To Hairy, the game appeared pretty boring.  No weapons.  Not even any armor.  Just a whole lot of skinny dudes running around a grassy field chasing a ball.  But these folks were definitely into it.

White Duck faced a few odd looks when he kept declining drinks, but everyone was too caught up in the game to take any profound offence at his failure to taste the local product.

Kate and Harry did their best to make up for his abstinence.  The local beer was a bit sweet - and definitely potent, though the bartender was willing to pour harder stuff too.

Hairy's hopes for companionship didn't fare as well.  The local women were early clearly taken (whether by marriage or pre-arrangement for the evening) or much too old or young for even Hairy's morals, so he had to settle for drinking - unless he wanted to pursue Kate...

==========

The form that rose up out of the river was almost as wide as the boat was.  The deep eyes of the snake-like face swirled with currents and eddies that called out to Caduceus and threatened to suck him in.  The body itself appeared to meld with the river with water cascading up into and out of the form, occasionally carrying a fish.  The immensity of the form and the power it conveyed, together with the energy he'd expended trying to summon it left the shaman more than a little weak in the knees.

WHAT IS YOUR NEED?

Caduceus turned his nervous knee-shaking into a respectful kneel. "You- humble me," was all he managed to say at first. The shaman knew it was an odd thing to saw, but he was currently overwhelmed with awe. Once his thoughts began to be more coherent again, Caduceus collected himself and said, "My need is one of preparation. The need to plan for the unplanned-for. I wish for you to help me if the need arises, but I hope that the need does not arise." Caduceus could not tell if he was speaking sagely, or still incoherently, but hopefully it did not matter.

"Regardless, I hope that I can glean some wisdom and insights from your presence this night. Thank you for heeding my call."

---

I will post in the other thread later today or tomorrow. I didn't want to leave the spirit unanswered in the meantime though.

It doesn't eat you, so I guess that went well... :>