Keep in mind that your language skill is only a 2.  So you understand and can make yourself understood, but you're far from fluent.  Did you really want to communicate that elaborately?

He would definitely avoid using big words he doesn't know very well. Like, he would definitely avoid using the Portuguese version of antidisestablishmentarianism. But would he be able to say essentially the same information in a believable way, especially if he prepares his words before picking up the radio receiver? The most important thing is that he includes details that someone who isn't the radio man probably wouldn't know, so the captain believes he is really talking to the radio man.

I mostly only made my post so wordy so that I could get my intent across as a player without doing twenty back and forth conversation posts. If it makes more sense story wise, feel free to assume there was actually more back and forth with simpler dialogue of you want.I am not really sure how to adjust his words myself to accurately reflect Caduceus's lack of true fluency though.

Ah, so just some unfortunate touristas?  Not Aztlan desgraçados?  Ok.  Make sure the wreckage isn't blocking a waterway.  That Bichu shoulda known better.  Get back her soon.  Hard to monitor the border without your radar.

You rolled well, despite the headache.  So what's the plan now?  You're about a day's from the border, but with the engines on this thing you could probably do it in less if you didn't mind making some waves.  You've got a still unconscious guard and a few headaches all round.

“Well, seems like we should be able to ride this thing almost into town…” chimes in Duck, seeming worse for the wear, but relieved to be getting back to civilization.

“Take her downriver and then disembark before we get into town, then go from there?”

"Anything that gets us out of this place fast and with as few holes in us as possible.  This trip is my first, and hopefully last, trip to the jungle and I'm happy to do whatever gets us out of here five minutes sooner."

"Yeh. Never done too much swimming. Don't plan to start now."

Caduceus nodded. "It sounds like we are all in agreement then. Let's get the drek out of this beautiful murder-scape as quickly and safely as possible." Caduceus, unlike the others, would probably actually love to come back here some day. But as a legitimate vacation and not as a shadowrunner. Missions here were nightmares.

As they continued down the river, Caduceus did his best to keep their watercraft hidden with helpful spirit assistance. In the higher risk areas, he also augmented their defenses with some tech-affecting illusions as well. During downtime (when not recovering from drain) Caduceus familiarized himself with the boat controls. It was NOT like driving his motorcycle back home, but he hoped he could at least keep the thing from crashing if necessary.

When they neared Iquitos, Caduceus astrally projected ahead to scope things out and tell their rigger contact to get things warmed up. He didn't think they would be coming in hot, but did not want to wait a second longer to take off than they had to. He also asked to have all the gear they left in storage to be packed aboard the plane by the time they arrived.

As for their prisoner, Caduceus would be happy to leave him unconscious and under guard of spirits until the next sunrise/sunset. At which point he could find his own way back to civilization. However, he would ultimately let the others decide if they wanted to handle the prisoner differently.

The rigger jumped when Caduceus manifested in front of her "Drek mon.  Why you magic types always be sneakin' up on people like dat?!"

When the shaman filled her in on the situation, she winced.  "So you be comin' back with only half o' de clients then?  I'm glad I'm just gettin' paid for flyin' de plane...

I can keep de engine warm, but how ya plannin' to be dealin' with the customs man?  I'll not be flyin' with SAMs or drones on me tail."

She paused.  "You got the fruit, yah?"  On the shaman's nod, she continued "I'll be callin' Mr. J. an see if 'e can wire some cred ta oil de right palms.  'e may be takin' it outta yer cut, but at least we's gettin' ya home."

The two made arrangements for Caduceus to check in again when the group were ready to pass into the airport.

Slipping past the border was uneventful, though stressful.  The boat coasted silently at the pace of the river.  All lights off and conversation stifled as the concealing fog provided by the spirit would not necessarily conceal voices.  Eventually they'd made it far enough down-river that Hairy was comfortable starting up the motor again and the team made good time to Iquitos.

As planned, the group beached the patrol craft a little way up river and continued on foot.  A spirit would keep the craft concealed until sunset, so they had until then to get underway before questions started to get raised.

One more trek through the jungle.  But at least this wasn't Amazonian territory and it only lasted 30 minutes or so before you could see civilization.  Well, not *real* civilization.  Iqitos, despite being far larger than the tiny hamlet, was several orders of magnitude short of being a true metroplex.  Somehow, the runners found themselves longing for the smell of smog and the sting of acid rain.  At least an umbrella could keep the rain away, unlike these blasted insects.

The party of 5 was a bit large to flag down a ride and splitting up seemed ill-advised, so the group approached the airport on foot.  Caduceus made contact with the rigger again and was advised of when and whom to approach at customs, and they were breezed through with a knowing smile.

As the Skytruck lifted off, the runners felt an almost tangible relief that they were no longer touching South American soil. It'd been a hellish week, and they could literally feel the tension drain out of them as the plane gains altitude.

The precious fruit and the gear they'd "opted" not to take on the trip were safely stowed in the cargo hold.   As the engines droned, one by one the runners nodded off and slumped in their jump seats.

Some time later, a faint but annoying scratching sound awakened White Duck.  Slightly disoriented, he glanced around; everything looked okay in the cabin.  He turned around in his seat to try to discern the source of the scratching.  It was coming from behind the cargo door.

“Ah, fucking hell, what now?” Mutters Duck, instantaneously lighting up a cigarette once he’s on board, grateful for the recycled, hazy air and the stench of tobacco. He approached the cargo bay door closely, carefully, ready to rouse the others if there’s trouble. He barely cracked the door open, leaving it ready to slam shut just in case there was trouble, fully expecting there to be *something.* He didn’t have a chance to fully investigate the lead, but his postulations had him theorizing that the problem wasn’t the fruit, but whatever was *eating* it. He suspected that whatever it was had probably somehow made its way on board. Taking a deep inhale, he peeked through.

Caduceus's mind had already been threatening to wake up again when he noticed White Duck moving about. Begrudgingly, the shaman willed himself to full consciousness. He was not yet ready to bother getting out of his seat, but Caduceus did take a quick peek out the nearest window to check on the local cloud situation. It would be good to know exactly which types of sky spirits he could conjure up here.

"Check one two," Caduceus said over his subvocal mic. "Everything null persp back there White Duck?" The mage made sure his personal levitation was active, and he scanned the door that duck was headed toward (as well as the rest of the cabin) with his Astral Vision.

The adept carefully opened the door a crack and peered through into the darkness.  The scratching noise stopped.  Suddenly there was an enormous mass pushing on the door, curved hook-like legs scrabbling to make it through the opening and pushing the door wider.

White Duck reacted quickly shifting his body and shoving on the door to try to close it, catching the bodies of three creatures in the doorframe as he struggled to keep anything from getting through.  Unfortunately, one had been fast enough to charge through the expanded opening before the runner could close it.  The critter spun and skittered along the wall back towards the runner, greenish liquid dripping from its mandibles.

Caducius could get a better sense of what the creature looked like - and it wasn't pretty.  It was spider-like, almost 50 cm from head to back of its abdomen.  Numerous eyes on its head glowed a faint blue.  Each of its legs was tipped with some sort of claw - and the thing moved *quickly*.  Whatever it was, it sure as drek hadn't been the late Dr. Fukuhara's slide show on the way down...

White Duck currently has 3 of things pinned in the door and one that looks about to bite him somewhere or other.  He can hear numerous others scrambling about in the cargo area on the far side of the door.  Duck is probably strong enough he can keep the door pinned unless circumstances change, but isn't really free to attack without letting go of the door.  He also can't take advantage of his full combat pool while holding the door.

Caducius, you're strapped in and now *wide* awake.  Hairy and Kate are currently asleep, but can make a  body 5 test to be awake based overhearing Caduceus's question over the comms.  If you make the test, you can act next turn.  If not, I'm assuming things are going to get loud enough that you'll definitely be awake for the following turn without any rolls.  Getting unharnessed is a simple action.

Kate is unhappily woken from some much needed sleep by the comms.  She opens her eyes and unhooks herself from the chair.  "Somebody is going to pay for waking me up like this."  She gets her not happy body up from the chair and starts moving to the back. She grumbles, half to herself, "With the way things are going, we're going to knock this plane out of the air"


----

20:40, Today: Kate rolled 2 successes using 5d6 with the Shadowrun system with a target of 5 ((5,2,1,5,2)).

"Oh frag no!" Caduceus yelled as the spider-things came into view. This was not what he wanted to be dealing with on a plane. Not after what they had already been through in the jungle. After noticing one of the critters was going to try and bite White Duck, whom was the only person stopping more from getting into their compartment of the plane, Caduceus knew he had to act fast.

The critter looked to be fast and agile, so Caduceus opted to try and take away its mode of movement entirely. Without even unbuckling yet, the shaman began incanting his spell. "Snake, of land, city, and sea. Provide me the strings to make a puppet of the!" He wiggled his fingers, then pulled them apart tight, like he was pulling taught the stings of a marionette to hold it aloft. Across the plane, he attempted to levitate the spider-creature in a similar fashion. To hold it suspended so that its feet could find nothing to clamor along.

---

Initiative: 7

Attempting to cast Force 4 Levitate on the Spider-thing to keep it from being able to move anywhere. I have -1 to cast spells in combat. Does the -1 for elevation only apply to conjuring spirits, or to spells too? Feel free to make the rolls for me in whatever would be the most favorable combination, prioritizing successfully casting the spell without completely destroying my chance to negate the drain. I do have an Expendable spell Focus 2(Manipulation), if it seems necessary.

Levitate:
Type: P
Target: 4
Duration: S
Drain: +2(M)

"What the FRAG" Hairy's eyes flutter open to... spiders everywhere! "I thought we left this fragging jungle behind!"

He immediately starts slapping anything fuzzy and leggy close by him, and then hits the harness release button so he can go for where his guns are stowed...


Wakeup (yes)  2,4,5,3,4,5,2,2,3.
Initiative 23
09:53, Today: Hairy rolled 5 using 3d6 with the Shadowrun, Open Test ((3, 2, 5)).

Guns are in the cargo area, with the exception of side-arms

Duck braces his back against the door, seemingly incredibly creeped out by the passenger cabin’s uninvited guest.

“Frag this! Get the pilot to open the cargo bay doors! It’ll flush out anything not strapped down!” He exclaimed, kicking his legs out at the spider-thing in an awkward, dance-like attempt to keep the thing at bay.

“The corp’ll have to make due with the seeds I pocketed! I’ll pay y’all with my own money, I just wanna get back home!” He said, grunting as the cigarette fell from his lips and rolled onto the carpeted floor below for a few inches before being extinguished by his heel.

"What's flammable in the cargo hold and does anyone mind if the plane gets smokey?  I'm really drained but I want to go home now."

“Uhh no explosions or fireballs on an airborne plane please! That would probably get everyone killed! Damnit someone go poke the rigger!” He exclaims, wrestling between holding the door shut and kicking out at this spider-thing to keep it at bay.

Caduceus strained to cast his spell.  Up here, the mana felt sluggish like molasses and burned as his mind struggled to control it.  The spider creature struggled valiantly to stay connected to the ground, its clawed legs trying to dig into the stained carpet of the floor, trying desperately to get closer to the albino adapt, but Caduceus was able to tug it free of the ground.  It hung helplessly in the air, mere inches from White Duck's thrashing foot, mandibles biting furiously at at what it evidently wished was his flesh.

Your TN was 6 to cast (-1 from combat, -1 from being on the boundary of the manasphere).  Cast at force 5, as the spider had a chance to resist.  Threw all your pool at it.  You got 3 successes to the spider's 2, so that was (barely) enough.  Figured I'd save your fetish seeing as you had 2 karma.  Drain had 3 successes staging you down to light.
 Do you want to use karma to bring it down to nothing, and if so, how many are you willing to spend?

The rigger's voice came over the plane's speaker system even before White Duck could bark his order
What the FRAG did you guys bring on my ride!!  They're all over the drecking place!  DRECK!!  One of them's chewing on the wiring!  Put those buggers down fast or we're in trouble.

At Duck's suggestion, he responded Sounds good.  Your cargo...  Grab a mask when they drop.  There was a pause, then a slight whining noise which stopped abruptly At about the same time everyone's ears popped in the most painful manner they'd ever experienced.  Oxygen masks dropped from the ceiling over the seats - just outside of White Duck's reach.  When your hearing recovered, you could hear the rigger letting out a stream of expletives.  Stupid little fragger chewed through the control cable.  Back's only open an inch or so.  If ya want it the rest of the way, you're gonna have to do it manually.  Controls near the door.  Better do something quick before they cut through something *really* important!

The loss of pressure started sucking the spider towards the door - and dangerously close to White Duck's leg before Caduceus compensated and moved it away.

Everyone is currently at a -1 penalty due to the ongoing depressurization (disorientation from air flying around, ears popping, etc.).  You've got about 2 turns before oxygen deprivation starts to be an issue.  (After 2 turns, make a body test against TN 4 to avoid taking one stun.  TN increases by 1 each turn after that.  Each turn with an oxygen mask reduces TN by 2.)

The spiders trapped in the door are still trying to pry it open.  White Duck and Hairy can hear others scrambling around in the cargo hold area - apparently some of them chewing on things that the rigger would really prefer were not chewed on.  Hairy said he wants his guns - is Duck going to let him through the door?  You've got one spider thing currently 'helpless', though still potentially dangerous.

If you stay at altitude and use the masks, you can presumably wait the spiders out until they asphyxiate, but there's a risk they'll damage something vital in the interim.  You didn't notice parachutes...  Given their massive size, maybe they have super-fast metabolisms and will die fast.  On the other hand, assuming they used to be in the fruit, there's weird paranormal drek going on and for all you know they breath sunlight...

You could also descend to where the decompression penalty goes away (for you and the spiders) and where spell-casting/summoning is easier.  Other ideas?  Tell me what you all want to do.  If Kate wants to cast a fireball into the cargo area she certainly could ;>

Realizing his beautiful gun is still packed safely in cargo, so as to avoid it possibly hurting someone, he reaches instead for a grenade and winds up for a toss. Hearing Duck's comment, he puts the grenade away again... "I'm really not having as much fun as I should right now..."

Relenting, Hairy unshoulders his SMG. He doesn't even switch it to explosive rounds... And unloads half the magazine of gel rounds into the monster at the door.


No idea what the TN is. I have 4 points of recoil compensation, bipod, and smartlink, and I assume this creature is too close to miss. I'm dumping my whole combat pool. And out of deference to the party poopers, I'll stick to gel rounds for now.

11:17, Today: Hairy rolled 7 successes using 12d6 with the Shadowrun system with a target of 3 ((2,(6+3)9,1,1,5,(6+5)11,5,4,1,(6+3)9,3,2)).

Does it look like these creatures have eyes and would be impacted by flash-paks?

The one you can see definitely has eyes - all glowing a faint blue.  As to whether flash-packs will work on them, only one way to find out.

Will post the results of your action once I hear what everyone else is doing.

I am willing to spend 2 more to try and get it down to 0.

---

Caduceus clenched his teeth as the situation seemed to be going from bad to worse. He was still trying to decide what to do as he held aloft the critter trying to get at White Duck. After Hairy shot it, the shaman nearly dropped his spell so that he might cast another, but he stopped himself. "If that thing's dead, maybe I can float it to the right button to push." He put on his air mask even as he spoke over the team's comms. "Any side doors we could open?" he yelled more loudly to their pilot while he tried to figure out how dead his levitated critter actually might be.

---

I doubt this is realistic, but would it be practical for Caduceus to try and use his dead (hopefully) spider-critter to activate the cargo doors? He would float it across the dangerous cargo bay to press it against a button or flip a switch. Alternatively, are there other doors they could open? Like maybe a passenger entrance?

Kate, you don't happen to have the ability to conjure fire elementals, do you?

Re: Caduceus' karma re-roll - I had previously rolled on the premise you might do that - and failed spectacularly, so I'm afraid the drain is unchanged.  I'm going to move along, assuming that WD is focused on holding the door closed.

The control is more of a lever than a 'button'.  (Un-protected buttons that cause the back of the plane to suddenly open were somehow seen as an unsafe design feature :>)  So no, you can't really float the spider in and try to hit the control.  Also, if you did want to float the spider in, you'd have to open the door first.

Caduceus put on his oxygen mask as he asked his question.  Unfortunately the answer wasn't that helpful.  "Just the one in your compartment.  But I'd rather you didn't jump out until you DEAL WITH THE FRAGGIN INFESTATION YOU DRECKERS BROUGHT ON MY PLANE!!"

Caduceus wasn't quite prepared for Hairy's action - or specifically the momentum that would be implied by the SMG gel rounds slamming into the spider.  The spider hit the wall of the plane right next to White Duck and the shaman struggled to move it away again before it could scramble along the wall and bite its fangs into the albino's leg.  However, he quickly realized that the thing was no longer trying to scramble anywhere.  It hung limply in the air.  Apparently gel rounds worked.

White Duck continued to struggle with the door, but seemed to be loosing the battle as the combined efforts of the spiders on the other side slowly started to pry it open, the glowing eyes of two spider heads appearing as they tried to force the door wider to admit the rest of their bodies.

Seeing two more show up is all Kate can stand.

"I really hope there's a fire extinguisher on this thing.  In case I miss."

Kate summons what little energy she has left after all they've been through and puts it all into her spell.  With a little luck she can fry one of these things before she passes out.  Flames dance from her fingertips arcing toward the bigger of the two.  With that, she slumps into her seat.

---
Kate casts flamethrower for Serious damage

Kate rolled 1 success using 10d6 with the Shadowrun system with a target of 6 ((3,3,(6+4)10,4,1,5,5,3,4,5)).

Drain: Kate rolled 2 successes using 6d6 with the Shadowrun system with a target of 6 (((6+2)8,(6+6+1)13,5,3,1,4)).

"Eat light, motherfragger." Hairy pulls one of his flashpaks and sets it strobing. Hopefully with it shining from behind and the team and into the faces of the spiders, it'll impact them and not really him. Not that he cares. This isn't is first time lighting up the disco.

Once that's fired off, he'll aim at the spiders trying to open the hatch. With a mental flip, he shifts to regular rounds. Yeah, if he misses that means it'll be putting holes in their plane. But that just means he'd better not miss. (He'll shift to burst fire. Still using combat pool aggressively.)