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?"