IC New Beginnings DAWN Options

[pbangarth]

Torley doesn't need to be told twice. Even police at home find smooth talk annoying. In a foreign land like this, who knows how long it would take to extricate himself, much less the others. The women's plan to blame sexual assault on the men is a good one. Hopefully this isn't one of those places where the woman is always at fault.

He keeps pace with O'Connor.

[Necrogigas]

Once they were out of the immediate area, and seemingly in the clear, O'Connor slowed Torley, "Let's hold up a sec. Need to fill in Starlet, and pick a place to meet up." He made the call himself given that they couldn't risk Torley's tech jinx acting up.

[farothel]

Sammy didn't want to get into a fight with hotel security, so she moved to the closest other exit and tried to get to the others as quickly as possible. When she got O'Connor's message, she acknowledged and ran off towards the rest of the team.

[Necrogigas]

After conversing with Starlet, O'Connor started moving again towards the meet point. He turned to Torley, "Let's grab Starlet and get the frag off this island." His mind was racing even faster than his body usually did, *Frag, what do we do now? Actually need a plan this time around, drek. Okay, first things first, we get back to the fixer and get our intel. Second we secure the idol and Jane's invite. After that we find out what's happening with Snow and Clem. Step after that depends on what we learn.*

[pbangarth]

Torley faces a dilemma. He is the silver-tongued smooth-talker of the team. He should be shmoozing the women out of trouble. But ... there is almost zero chance the approaching cops are going to listen to anything, and are likely to throw anyone in arms reach into jail. Can't do much from in there. If they succeed in the search for the stolen item, then maybe a grateful King will put in a word. Or ... a newly successful Jane can throw some cred in the right direction.

"I'm with you, O'Connor".

[Necrogigas]

O'Connor felt a bit better after coming up with at least the framework of a plan. He asked Torley, "When we report back to the fixer, can you ask him to keep an ear out for what's happening to Snow and Clem? If their situation is completely fragged, I doubt the cops are gonna give 'em a comm call. I ran because we do have a job to do, and I trust Snow to handle things. Given how this culture deals with women though, I think there might not be a way for her to win.

And if they are totally up drek creek, I'm abandoning the run, at least until I can save them. I get it if you and Starlet don't or can't. You mentioned the two of you are tied to Jane in some hush-hush way. Just thought I'd give you a heads up."

[pbangarth]

"Saving the two of them is top of my mind, too. I just think going in guns blazing is not the best way. Sometimes you have to turn power against power to get your way, rather than batting your head against a wall, hoping to break through. Not that I don't believe you have a hard head, big guy." Torley gives his signature grin. Wish I felt as confident.

[Necrogigas]

O'Connor nodded, "Well, we'll figure it out when we know what we have to figure out."

[farothel]

"What is going on," Sammy asked as she reached the others, "and where are Snow and Clem?"

[Necrogigas]

O'Connor gave a sigh, "That group of pricks actually had some bite to back up their barks. Fist fight broke out. Clem choked out one, but then got tased. Snow also took one down, but it was near a double KO. She told me to take Torley and leg it, so that we could get this job done. By now, Clem and Snow are probably half way to lock up."

[Crossbow]

The team is able to get on the train leaving Victoria Island without incident and return to Lagos. During the drive back you all receive a text from Snow.

--We are fine, it looks like we are going to spend the night in a holding cell, mostly due to our weaponry. You should have seen the look on the rich boys faces when they took our hardware, I almost laughed. Our IDs seem to be holding up so we shouldn’t have any problems, probably end up with whatever counts as a disorderly conduct ticket around here, once the courts open in the morning. I have also sent word to Jane so that should help too.
--Don’t send a reply, I am sending this from my headware and I am going to shut it down after sending this to avoid risking detection.

Returning to the restaurant, you find that Hippo has left word for you.

“You are looking for an Igbo adept known by the name Silence, got no address, but he is known to frequent a brothel and bar called the Dancing Ork in Agege.”

[pbangarth]

Torley nods at the news. Looks like we are free and have a date. Best to follow up right away, seeing as others are on the job, too.

[Necrogigas]

O'Connor let out a breath of relief after receiving Snow's message. He was now free to focus on the run, and could put aside suicidal heroics.

He agreed with Torley to a point, "Time's against us, but we should take a moment to hash out a plan." He chuckled at the irony of him of all people advocating thinking through their actions. He continued, "We're at almost half strength and lack any tech ability. We're only getting one shot at this."

While he had strong opinions on how they should approach this, he knew that the other two would be more aligned to each other. He'd let them lead the discussion, and provide counter points rather than put forward ideas that would be shot down out of course.

[pbangarth]

So, why don't we list what we know. Work from that. This adept named Silence was good enough to sleaze through some serious defenses around the King's stuff. We are short two of our members, but we have a good fighter, some good magic, and ... me!

If Silence frequents this Dancing Ork in Agege, chances are he has friends there, or at least acquaintances who might consider helping him out.

Time is short, as you say, so waiting till tomorrow might be a problem.

We were told Silence hangs with some gang to the north. Do I have that right? Not sure.

Anything else?

[farothel]

"I didn't know that he hangs out with gangs," Sammy said, "of course, that doesn't mean it's not true. We should indeed go as quickly as possible, despite being short-handed. Luckily this location means that having less tech support isn't the big problem. I think we first have to get some information on this Dancing Ork 'bar' before we go there. It's always good to know on who's turf we're going to be. And I guess this adept will most likely be geared towards stealth rather than combat."

[pbangarth]

We could discuss as we travel. What's the best way to get there?

[Crossbow]

Lil Homie comes to the rescue again, he has actually been in the Dancing Ork and gives you the layout of the place. It is an Area Boys hangout; they have a compound less than a kilometer away. It sounds to O’Conner’s and Starlet’s ears like an Old Western saloon type place, big open room with an upstairs for more private encounters. The driver will not be able to get you very close, this is one of those areas with few roads and is mostly built up out of the swamp with footbridges everywhere. He can reach an open area market that sits roughly halfway between the brothel and the compound.

[pbangarth]

Torley strokes his chin, then grins. That answers that question. Now we just have to figure out how to convince an adept sitting in a hangout of a ganger outfit to give up the thing he stole. My kind of day!

[Necrogigas]

O'Connor rubbed the back of his head, "Even before that, we need to identify this Silence without alerting or spooking him. If he's at this brothel instead of a bolt hole, then he must has local protection. Given his name and the job he pulled, good money on our thief disappearing in an instant if we have to tangle with any type of bodyguards."

[pbangarth]

Torley pipes up after some reflection. Well, it might help that, over the course of the last day I've picked up a little Igbo. I think I could carry on a simple conversation. This might help in the Dancing Ork.

Maybe I could pick up info just by listening in. We, or I, will still stick out unless Sammy can make us or me look a little less conspicuous.

[farothel]

"I can do that," Sammy said, "but I have to stay in sight of you, or it won't work. There are two options. The easiest is a Makeover, but that gives the least changes. It's like visiting a beauty parlor. What they can do there, I can do with the spell. The other option is Physical Mask. With that I can add an illusion and make you look like someone else, within limits. The advantage of this one is that I can do a lot bigger changes, but I have to sustain it and people can see through it. With Makeover the changes are smaller, but permanent... well, just like any other treatment at a beauty parlor is."

[pbangarth]

Torley considers the information they have. Some ideas get bandied about, and he decides to offer a course of action.

Here's what I think is a plan. Sort of. Sammy, you do your mojo and make me and you look like ordinary farmers or fisher folk from this neck of the woods. Maybe our little buddy here can suggest a place that is close enough for us to be in town, but not so close that there is likely to be someone in the bar from there.

That covers us looking right, and my limited vocabulary possibly acceptable. That leaves you, Sammy, who can't speak the language. This is where your acting chops come out. We pretend to be like so many of the locals, a woman browbeaten by her domineering husband. You play the meek, frightened 'little woman' who says nothing and looks to me if and when someone speaks to you. I answer, like the misogynist asshole you KNOW me not to be. He smiles that million nuyen smile.

O'Connor, you cover the likeliest exit in case Mr. Silence decides to make a run, or if we do and you need to cover our retreat. Inside, we observe, and try to figure out who is our target. Once we have him pegged, we decide how to proceed.

How's that sound?

[Necrogigas]

The plan seemed like it was as good as it could be. Con nodded his agreement to it, "Plan seems good. I'll post up at the intersection where the pathways to the market, brothel, and warf meet. I can move to intercept no matter what route the target takes. You'll just have to tell me where Silence is headed."

[farothel]

"Okay," Sammy said, "just let me check a few things."
She had a look at a few pictures of people to make sure she would get everything right. Then she got casting, starting with Torley before doing the same herself. She kept the general height and weight of each of them to make it easier, just changing things that they looked like natives of the same height and weight as they did now. She even kept Torley a human and herself an orc to keep things easy.

[ Spoiler ]

physical mask 1 (force 3): spellcasting: 13d6t5 4
drain: drain: 9d6t5 6
no drain

physical mask 2 (force 3): spellcasting: 13d6t5 4
drain: drain: 9d6t5 1
1S

[Necrogigas]

O'Connor looked towards Lil' Homie, "Either of you have a burner comm we can give Lil' Homie? He can watch the brothel from the outside and tell us where Silence goes if he pulls a runner."