IC New Beginnings DAWN Options

[Necrogigas]

O'Connor gave the rifle to Snow and nodded, "Ready to go." He turned to Lil' Homie, "Lead the way."

[Mercy]

By the time Snow exits the building with Con, Jane, and Lil' Homie, she is already dripping sweat. The bandanna she has around her head keeps the dripping water from her eyes, but her thin shirt is soon plastered to her chest. The bag strapped around her shoulders hangs at her side and contains medical supplies, of which a large part is bottled water. Realizing that dehydration could be a real threat here, Snow is looking for any water vendors so that she can refill her bottles, adding water purifying tablets to each one. The newest gen tablets are pretty much tasteless, not like some of the earlier ones she has used in the past.

Looking around as they walk, Snow realizes that she is gathering some attention and mentions that to Con. "Not sure if these guys have seen many Elves around here. I hope that is not going to be a problem."

[Necrogigas]

O'Connor replied sarcastically, "Two sexy foreign elves strolling through the slums, what could possibly happen?" He kept a wary eye out for any threats, the problem being differentiating between those just getting an eyeful and those planning something. He stepped closer to the two women, "You both should stay within eyesight and arm's length."

Perception (Visual): 7d6t5 3

[Crossbow]

Before she heads out with Con and Snow, Jane gives some final instructions to Starlet, "Feel free to hire the hacker, but don't get to keyed into the island. Samriel is not going to be anywhere his image can be recorded. Hit the bars and the other hotels near the waterfront, I don't expect you to run into him, but if he came in by water someone might remember him and give us a lead. Also, remember he is here to sell something, so that might be an line to look into."

She hires a couple of okada for her group and they are soon zooming through streets at breakneck speed for the arms market.

She also hired a guide for Torley's group and the boy is awaiting instructions.

[farothel]

Sammy looked at the little boy, a bit the same as the one following O'Connor around.
"We need to check some things on the docs," she said to him, guessing he knew at least some English, "bars, hotels, people who know who arrived there in the past weeks."

Then she looked at Sam.
"Anything else I forgot about," she asked him.

[Necrogigas]

As they sped along to the gun market, O'Connor asked Jane, "Will our exit have the same cargo capacity restrictions? I might want to do some personal shopping at this market before we leave town."

[Thvor]

Sammy looked at the little boy, a bit the same as the one following O'Connor around.
"We need to check some things on the docs," she said to him, guessing he knew at least some English, "bars, hotels, people who know who arrived there in the past weeks."

Then she looked at Sam.
"Anything else I forgot about," she asked him.

Sam shrugged. "We came in by boat, but isn't it more likely our target flew in? We ought to check both, of course, but I don't think he had the same 'issues' we did. I'd say let's check around the airport first."

[farothel]

"Let's start with the water," Sammy said, "at least we've been there. Let's take the okada like the others did. It looks like the best way around here."
She looked at the boy Jean had hired to be their guide and gave him instructions to get some okada to bring them all to the waterfront. As soon as the bikes where there, she let Sam and the guide handle the negotiations, as she couldn't understand the language."

[Crossbow]

As they sped along to the gun market, O'Connor asked Jane, "Will our exit have the same cargo capacity restrictions? I might want to do some personal shopping at this market before we leave town."

"We are leaving the way we were supposed to arrive, but remember, you have a job to do."

[Necrogigas]

O'Connor literally had to bite his tongue to keep from giving a snarky reply. He'd implied that his personal shopping would be done during any downtime. Looked like Jane was going to be a grade-a slot over everything however. At least she finally allowed them to know the exit plan, if only vaguely. He didn't like how cagey she was being about it. Things felt off, O'Connor suspected a double cross was in the cards for them. Why else refuse to give hard details about the exit strategy? If they could double check her plan, it would show that she only had passage for herself, that's why.

O'Connor was of half a mind to blow Jane's brains out right then and there, but held off, for the time being anyway. He didn't have definitive proof that she planned to off them, and she may be necessary to getting their hands on the stolen goods. It must be worth a small fortune for all the trouble Jane was going through to get it back. It'd probably be enough to recoup the payday Jane wasn't going to give them and get them home.

O'Connor messaged Torley, <Finally got Jane to tell us a bit about the exit plan. Flying out, but no real details. There's something up about this. While we're split up, you should make seperate arrangements for us. Might also want to poke around the airport and figure out if the reason she's so mum about the whole thing is because she only bought one ticket, if you catch my meaning.>

[Crossbow]

"Let's start with the water," Sammy said, "at least we've been there. Let's take the okada like the others did. It looks like the best way around here."
She looked at the boy Jean had hired to be their guide and gave him instructions to get some okada to bring them all to the waterfront. As soon as the bikes where there, she let Sam and the guide handle the negotiations, as she couldn't understand the language."

The boy takes you back to the waterfront, and guides you to an area where the ratio of Caucasian to Ebony skin shifts dramatically. There is also an uptick in signs written in English, advertising rooms for rent or refreshment and recreation of various, usually unsavory, kinds, along with goods for sale.

[farothel]

when they arrived at the docks, or whatever passed for docks in this city, Sammy looked at Sam.
"There's no way we can search every place ourselved," she said, "I think it's best if we do a couple, ask around, pay a few naria for information, but letting it be known that there is more to be earned for a tip that leads us to this guy, alive of course. Since greed seems to be the driving factor here, that should give us a lot of people who are searching."

She thought about it.
"Maybe we can tell them that the guy is our friend and he wasn't there were we were supposed to meet and we're a bit worried about him. In this city that's quite believable, right?"

Spotting a fairly deserted alley, she steered that way.
"I first want to put a couple of safeguards in place and I don't want too much of an audience while doing so."

In the alley, she first cast her spell to make her faster and then called a spirit of water on standby in case it would be needed.

[Crossbow]

The Dúdú Dúdú Ôjà weapons market is an astonishing place. People are here literally selling tanks, and with a volume discount. There is a semi-truck full of weapon cases that has a seller demonstrating a rifle that O’Conner knows damn well is a prototype that is still in development with HG. There are mercenary teams shopping for Milspec drones and terrorists haggling over biowarfare agents. Snow even takes note of some high ranking members of the White Vory doing some shopping The only thing you don’t see is any of the little knots of locals that Lil Homie identifies as Area Boys when you passed them on the way here.

The armorer that you are introduced to takes the work, and after being talked out of mods you can’t afford, gives them to you for cost. He can’t ID your elf though, and neither can anyone else, though it takes you several hours and a lot of bribes to accomplish that.

[Necrogigas]

O'Connor was definitely coming back here before the job was done. The kid in a candy store feeling wore off though as their search turned up no leads. He was really starting to despise the incessant bribery. He couldn't believe they had to grease palms to learn nothing. At least it was Jane's money going down the toliet and not his. He would've shot someone for the audacity of expecting to be paid to be of no help. He turned to the elves, "Where to next?"

[Crossbow]

The team on the docks doesn't fair much better, dropping some time in the most busy spots, spending about 100 naira in the process. They do end up on a wild goose chase when someone confuses Samriel for a wasted ex-combat biker that tore up the Die Nasty the night before last.

When you track down the flop where the guy is sleeping off his most recent bender, the only real similarities are the ears.

[farothel]

Sammy takes our her comm and luckily on the docks the reception is quite okay. Time to get an update from the other team.
>>Hey guys. We have no luck so far. You guys doing any better?<<

"Unless we get another message," she said to Sam, "let's go and have a look at the port masters office. They might know, at least as soon as their memory has been cured by infusion of money."

[Mercy]

Snow shares Con's frustration at the situation. And it is not like she can use her body to get any answers here, either. The best part of the area is that the presence of all this high-tech weaponry, the vendors have made sure that the matrix is very available here and Sammy's message comes through very clear. >>Hey, no luck finding the guy here, either. No problems getting just about any weapon or armor we could ever want, if we had the money. Moving away from here now.<<

[farothel]

>>We're going to check with the harbour master<< Sammy wrote back. >>It's probably a dry hole anyway (and what a great thing something dry would be here), but you only know if you try it.<<

They went to what was euphemistically called the office of the harbour master and luckily there people spoke something other than the local dialects. With the picture and some money they tried to get information.

[Thvor]

Sam doubted that they were going to be able to find anything at the waterfront, but still wanted to do his best. As their guide led them towards the harbormaster's office, he shifted his posture slightly and adopted the air of someone with natural authority--someone who was obeyed simply because of who they were. Stopping just inside the building, he slowly scanned the room, clearly displeased with what he saw. Turning to their guide, he sniffed and loudly declared, "Why are you wasting my time? I told you I needed someone who could actually help me find him, not...whatever you call this place." He used English, expecting those in the office to understand at least some of what he said--or at least the tone with which he said it.

[farothel]

Sammy wasn't sure what Sam was doing, but she was quite sure he had some sort of plan, so she kept silent for now, looking at the guys in the 'office' and their reaction to the little theatre.

[Crossbow]

"I call it The Office of the Harbormaster, if you are looking for someone or something that came through here, I might be able to help you." says that fattest man you have seen on the continent. That is really not a high bar to achieve with the malnourishment so common here, but this guy is morbidly obese by Western standards. "Lester Finnegan, what can I do for you?"

The man clearly sees money walking in his door and is looking to get paid, Torley notes.

[Crossbow]

"Ikeja, the district around the airport is the next largest cluster of foreign business." Jane doesn't look particularly pleased that they haven't gotten a single lead yet, but there is an additional agitation you wouldn't expect from such a professional operator. She seems to be genuinely concerned about the conditions that some of the locals exist in. The gap between the haves and have-nots is particularly striking here, where the people doing business are sunburned foreigners and the locals are all in subservient roles, if they are lucky.

[Necrogigas]

While Lagos was a more extreme example, the plight of the locals was also the lot of the denizens of Redmond. O'Connor was unmoved by the crushing poverty and nigtmarish conditions of this city. For him, this was normal everyday life. He found Jane's concern odd though. He couldn't fathom anyone in their line of work being a najve bleeding heart type. He figured she had to be playing them or at least messing with them. He decided to play along, "Should probably take that heart off your sleeve and hide it away. In a place like this, compassion is a weakness that marks you as easy prey."

[Crossbow]

Jane look at the banger and gave him a nod as she put a little more steel in countenance. But she also replied "I know you grew up hard in the Barrens, omae, but I would bet Lil Homie would sell you his sister to have your life. It's just a whole 'nother level here."

[Necrogigas]

O'Connor shrugged, half conceding the point, "I suppose you're right. Though I've yet to see true next level depravity and horror. So far its been the same old same old, just constantly at full tilt." He mused on Jane's seeming soft side, "Drek, maybe we should've paired Jane up with Torley. I'm no good at sussing out people's intentions. The people I know are super upfront with their intent to kill me. I still think its concerning that she's keeping our exit plans vague. On the other hand, empathetic people aren't exactly cold blooded killers. Maybe its a rouse? Frag, I dunno.*