The scientists' auras looked normal enough.  They were physically tired, but pretty happy at the moment.  The runners less excited, but at least nothing had tried to eat them in the last 6 hours.  Well, other than mosquitoes, but even Kate had given up swatting at the annoying parasites.

Caduceus's spirit contemplated him a few minutes before responding to his question.  "What need the constrictor of an ant?"  Its tongue flicked once or twice more before it faded from view.

The area Bichu had found was probably as good as was likely to be found in a jungle environment - a place where stony ground left a good 40 meter clearing.  Not exactly awesome line of sight, but a good sight better than the average distance of 5-10 meters between trees.  A short distance away, a stream winding its way toward the river would provide a source of drinking water - or perhaps even a chance to clean up.

"Ayacucho is about 2 days hike, so long as the trail holds out."  His face twisted into a grimmace.  "We could have done it in about an hour by boat..."


Between them, the party had enough gear to put up 4 small shelters.  The scientists commandeered three.  Bichu declined the last, preferring a hammock he hung between a couple of trees.  The guide disappeared into the bush and returned with a trio of cat-sized lizards which he roasted over a small fire.  It wasn't quite the bonfire Hairy had envisioned, but the oppressive heat and humidity of the jungle didn't diminish much after the sun went down when there were no river breezes to cool things down.

However, the light was welcome and with food in their belly, most of the group gathered around the fire to talk.  Dr. Saunders produced a flask from somewhere, which he passed around.  Even Al-Mansour loosened up a little bit.  Who would have guessed he was into baseball...

Anything anyone wants to do before bedtime, or shall I advance to tomorrow?

Hairy is happy to figure out shifts. He doesn't plan to sleep too soundly that night, even when he's off, and he keeps his firearm at hand.

Kate volunteers for second shift and to keep the campfire burning.

Duck stays relatively vigilant throughout the night, making sure the scientists and the rest of his team have a good time, he knows the journey is less than halfway finished, and sees no solid cause to let his guard down and celebrate.

Caduceus conjured a couple more spirits to protect the camp once the sun went down, but was much less demanding this time. He made requests rather than orders. And he spent a good portion of his time before sleeping sitting in quiet meditation, attempting to connect more deeply with the wonderful auras of the Land surrounding them.

The shaman woke for the early morning watch, so that he might conjure more protective spirits as the sun rose.

To clarify - Duck are you planning not to sleep at all?  (There'll be a potential for stun penalties if you don't get any rest)

White Duck, Caduceus and Kate hit the hay, leaving Hairy to take first watch.  The scientists talked a bit longer before heading to their 'tents'.  A couple of them stayed up a little while, presumably journaling their findings or maybe writing home to momma.  Hairy didn't know and didn't much care.  Soon the crackling of the fire and the distant hooting of animals or the odd rustle of something in the bushes was the sole source of noise.  Well, that and the slapping...  The light of the fire might have kept the bigger predators at bay, but it seemed to attract flying insects - and a large portion of them were hungry.

A little after 1am, Hairy woke up Kate to take second watch.  It took a fair bit of poking to get her attention, at which point Hairy's heightened reactions were the only thing that kept him from getting a solid punch in the face.  The insects had settled down a bit by this point, though the jungle was still active.  Kate would have done pretty much anything for a bath.  Or a pizza.

About 4:30, she knudged Duck with her foot and threw a couple of rocks at Caduceus's sleeping floating form to get them up to take final watch.  As the sky started to turn a slightly lighter shade of dark, foreshadowing the coming sunrise, the level of activity in the jungle started to increase a bit.  Caduceus was about to start summoning a new set of spirits when suddenly a scream of sheer terror echoed through the camp.

The runners turned to see Dr. Sanders tear open the wall of his 'tent', flailing his arms wildly. He whirled around and then raced toward the small fire, his shallow breaths sounding like stifled screams.  As he came closer, the runners could see that his face was pale and covered with sweat. His left arm was a bloody mess from shoulder to elbow, and his right hand clutched Bicho's bloody machete as if his life depended on it. He stared at you, barely seeming to see you, and raised the machete above his head.

"Get ... it .. , off . . me .. ," he said between gasps, and slammed the blade deeply into the flesh of his arm.

Hairy knows the order of business here. Knives are for Duck. He pulls his gun clear and peeks in the tent for what is biting the scientists, ready to shoot first and leave questions to the academic review board in the other tents.

"What are you doing!" Caduceus yelled reactively as he saw Dr. Sanders appear to attack his own arm. He was already rushing over, deciding on which healing spell would need to be administered first. Was he tripping on some of that kiwi drug?

However, Caduceus knew better than anyone that not all enemies appeared on the physical plane. There was a real possibility that there actually was something on Dr. Sander's arm. Caduceus focused his sight on the astral plane and adjusted his strategy accordingly.

---

Initiative Roll:
21:39, Today: Caduceus rolled 1 success using 1d6 with the Shadowrun system with a target of 4 with rolls of 5.  Initiative, add 6.
Total of 11.

First thing, Caduceus is going to see what is going on with Sanders on the astral before deciding what else to do. Is there a hostile spirit or spell affecting him? Is his aura all drugged up?

Kate abruptly stops falling asleep and jumps up.  She tenses up and starts looking around.  Something is going to get burned, she's tired of holding back.
----------------------
09:54, Today: Kate rolled 1 success using 1d6 with the Shadowrun system with a target of 4 (((6+2)8)) +9 gives Initiative of 17).

07:01, Today: White Duck rolled 2 successes using 2d6 with the Shadowrun system with a target of 0 with rolls of 2,4.  Init. Reaction 6 gives an initiative result of 12.

Duck rushes in as quickly as possible to disarm the scientist and get the man some medical attention. Knowing it’s his job to keep the clients alive, he moves to disable but not seriously injure the man any further than the man has injured himself.

07:05, Today: White Duck rolled 4 successes using 6d6 with the Shadowrun system with a target of 4 with rolls of 1,(6+3)9,5,3,5,(6+3)9.  Unarmed Combat.

In some ways, the runners had been primed and waiting for this.  Their honed responses had them instinctively looking for threats.

Hairy's SMG was in his hand before his head left his bedroll.  He charged over to Dr. Saunder's 'tent', his smart-link recticle scanning for targets.  The lighting of the early dawn was dim, but more than sufficient for the orc's sensitive eyes.  Unfortunately there was nothing to shoot.  Hairy could see a few ants climbing around a few pieces of the purple kiwi sitting near the professor's bedroll, but no other motion or heat signatures.

Kate leaped to her feet, hands at the ready looking for a target to roast.  However, aside from a monkey sitting in a distant tree who was chittering and gesturing at Saunders, there were no obvious threats.

As White Duck raced toward the injured scientist, Dr. Saunders started waiving the machete madly in front of him, trying to defend himself from his 'attacker'.  Normally attacking someone wielding a 2.5 foot razor-sharp knife bare-handed wouldn't be a wise course of action.  But in this case, Saunders seemed to have trouble figuring out what direction the adept was coming from and the man was already suffering from blood loss.  Plus, Duck would put money on the fact that the scientist had never held a sword before in his life.

White Duck easily slipped past the swinging blade and delivered a precise blow to the scientist's wrist, kicking the blade away as it fell to the ground.  Saunders collapsed into a ball, clutching his mangled arm crying and muttering something under his breath.  "I didn't eat it, I didn't eat it...".

Saunder's aura was riot of color, but it wasn't totally obvious to Caduceus what was going on.  Other than that the man was confused and terrified.  That much was super obvious...

Bichu stood up, his shotgun at the ready as the other scientists crawled out of their tents.  "What's going on??"

Initiative of 23

EDIT: fixed formatting.
This message was last edited by the GM at 15:39, Thu 16 Apr 2020.

"Can you hold him still?" Caduceus asked White Duck. "With all that blood loss, I should probably heal him as quickly as possible. If you know some sort of sleeper hold or something, I would suggest using it. His aura is going haywire with terror and confusion." He hoped inwardly that Sanders wasn't under the Fear and Confusion effects of a disgruntled forest spirit.

The shaman scanned the camp, glancing quickly at everyone on the astral. "Everyone else alright?"

---

Is everyone else accounted for? Does anyone else's aura look troubling at a glance? What sort of wound are we looking at in regards to target numbers for a Heal spell? Feel free to roll for me if it will expedite things. Especially if combat has ended. Snake shamans have penalties to casting during combat.

Duck takes a knee next to the man and tries his best to calm him down. “Hey omae, you’re alright. Best thing is they can make you a new arm. For now though, you need to calm down and let us heal you up. We’ll get you patched up, we’ll all make it home, and you’ll be back comfortably in no time.” Not accustomed to soothing anyone, Duck assists Cadeuces in his task whatever way he can, not really sure what to do about this, but highly suspect that something’s up with this fruit.

Saunders continued to mumble under his breath.  He didn't acknowledge Duck's questions, he just rocked back and forth as blood from his wound seeped into his clothes.  A monkey in a nearby tree hooted and gestured then scampered away.

Dr. Fukuhara joined Hairy, peering into the tent, then stood up and shook his head.  "Fool..."

Dr. Al-mansour walked over to the bloody machete and picked it up, examining it.  He pointed it at Bichu.  "This is yours, isn't it?  How did my friend come to have it in his tent?"  His voice was cold.

Bichu's response wasn't.  "Your imbecil FRIEND asked to BORROW it.  Why should I say 'no'?"  The guide's grip on his shotgun tightened and it was aimed pretty close to the goblinized professor's head.

Caduceus didn't need his astral vision to see they were both pissed.  No one else seemed to be any the worse for wear - beyond overtired and covered in insect bites.

"Please hold off on killing each other until I manage to stabilize our dunce-doctor here," he said to the other non-runners in their party. He trusted his companions to do what they could to help ensure everyone stayed alive. To White Duck and the injured scientist, Caduceus said, "Try not to move. This will take time."

With that, Caduceus rested his hands gently over Saunders' wounded arm and began to concentrate. His shamanic mask flared up, giving the shaman a distinctly serpentine appearance as his powerful magic flowed. He communed with Snake as he channeled his totem's power through himself and into his injured patient. "Snake. Counselor. Mistress of knowledge unknown. Please help this fool to shed his wounds so that we may more easily discover the secrets that led to their creation. There is knowledge to be gleaned here. Please aid us in uncovering the unknown." He continued to whisper similar sentiments to his totem until he felt he had done all he could to close Saunders' wound.

---

Casting Heal 6 on Dr. Saunders. Using 10 of 14 Dice for sorcery test.
22:18, Today: Caduceus rolled 7 successes using 10d6 with the Shadowrun system with a target of 3 with rolls of 4,3,3,(6+3)9,1,4,2,2,4,(6+1)7.  Cast Force 6 Heal.
It should take 5 or less rounds to heal him 5 or less boxes of health.

Drain Test vs. medium stun.
22:24, Today: Caduceus rolled 8 successes using 10d6 with the Shadowrun system with a target of 3 with rolls of 5,5,1,2,4,5,(6+1)7,4,4,5.  Drain test.
No drain.

Hairy inserts himself between the two. "You don't murder no one until we're off the job, got it?"

He's not (intentionally) flashing his gear, but his intent is clear.

Saunders seemed a bit freaked out by the shamanic mask, but he also seemed freaked out by quite a few other things that no-one else could see.  White Duck had no issue keeping the man from running though.

Caduceus's magic regenerated flesh and sealed closed the arm leaving not even a hint of a scar, but it didn't appear to do much to help the poor professor's mental state.

Dr. Almansour scowled and threw the blade on the ground, then stalked off to his tent and began gathering his things.  Bichu looked like he was going to say something further, but glanced at Hairy and started taking down his hammock, though his shotgun remained resting against a tree within easy reach.

Sorry all for not pushing things forward faster.

What's everyone doing next?

Hairy watches the two stalk off. He climbs into the tent and examines the fruit again (carefully! Covering his hands before he picks it up) looking for signs of it being consumed, or any sort of pollen or juice. He knows a few drugs that make an ill-prepared user crazy. Fruits are basically chemical water balloons.

He watches the bugs too. Roaches he knows. This place has way, way too many kinds of insects, to the point that he's wondering if someone is pranking him.

Caduceus let out a long breath of air as his spell took hold and became permanent. "Now what do we do with him?" the shaman wondered aloud to his fellow 'runners. To Dr. Saunders himself, Caduceus asked, "Do you know what happened, Dr. Saunders? Before your arm started bothering you? Did you eat some of your fruit? Or lick a toad?" Caduceus didn't really expect his inquiry to yield results, but figured he should at least ask. He could always try to probe the man's mind, too, but was unsure if it would yield any better results in Saunders' current state.

“We take him with us. We figure out what happened, then we calm everybody the hell down.” Says Duck, teaching absentmindedly for a smoke that wasn’t there. For such a low-paying fun, this has turned out to be a comedy of errors. He couldn’t wait to get home safe. The paycheck he was getting didn’t come close to justifying having to work with other teams. He moves off to Talk with Bicho, since Cadeuces was already asking questions of the injured scientist.

“Yo, hell of a day would be an understatement eh?” He says, smirking and hoping his attempt at some minor levity would crack the man’s shell.

Hairy swatted away the ants and grabbed a piece of the fruit, managing to avoid getting stung in the process.  Some of the fruit was definitely missing, but if there were human teeth-marks, the ant's foraging had erased any obvious evidence.  There was no sign of pollen, though there was definitely juice - which was a bit sticky.  He wondered belatedly how he was going to get it off his gloves...  Whatever the hallucinigen was, there were no smells or visual cues that he recognized.  On the other hand, nature had a bountiful supply of new and exciting compounds that had only multiplied since the coming of the Sixth World.

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

If Dr. Saunders heard Caduceus's questions, it wasn't obvious.  He continued to rock back and forth, clutching his now-healed arm - apparently oblivious that it was no longer injured.  With some gentle coaxing, the shaman was able to get the scientist to stand.  At least he no longer seemed to be in the mood to hack at anything...

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

Bichu snorted in response to White Duck's comments and sent a final glare in Dr. Al-mansour's direction, before he started taking down his hammock.  "We'd best get going.  We need to make the village.  Someone better keep an eye on loco and make sure none of the other dimwits eat anything they're not supposed to!"

Caduceus sighed. He did not really expect Saunders to give him any useful information, but he had hoped. "Well, I've never learned any detox magic, and I think you are well past the point of being aided by antidote magic..." The shaman looked him up and down with defeat in his eyes. "I suppose we'll have to heal you up with good old-fashioned Time."

Duck nods, then packs his things. He moves over to Cadeuces.

"Did you get any info out of him?" he asks, eyeing one of the bags of giant kiwi and keeping an eye on the perimeter as he talks.

"I don't think he ate any of the fruit, but it seems like it's still involved in what happened somehow. There any way you can get a peek at it in the astral and see if there's anything fishy about it?"