Torley thinks for a minute about who he knows in Lagos. Well, the harbormaster seems like the kind of guy who has fingers in many pots, in more ways than one. Maybe he knows something. We made a deal with him once, I'll check the drop box to see what he gave us about Samriel. Though, we already found him, so don't know what new info we might get. But with one successful deal done, the harbor master might be willing to help us again. Sounds like a plan.

Jane calls the airport, and finds out Dobri will be ready to fly by 10am. That will put you back in Lagos by the afternoon. A courier arrive with a massage from the Adegoke.

Just so it is clear, do not interfere with our efforts in Lagos. I want the thief to stand trial, AND the statue returned. Do this and you will be given entrance to the auction.

You have a few hours before you fly, is there anything that needs doing here?

Torley pipes up. Hey, Sammy, didn't you say you made friends with one of the magicians here? Any chance you could get him to talk about the Ifa tradition in Lagos? Maybe find out where to go, or who to talk to?

"Yeah, someone named Taa," Sammy said, "I can give it shot. It might cost me a few autographs, but that's okay. Let me check to see if I can find him or her."

She moved to the entrance of their compound and asked the guards there if she could speak to a magician named Taa.

A few minutes later, a young man appears in the simple garb of the devout here. Since Starlet is not one of the folks who speaks the local language, his greeting has to be translated to her.

"Hello, it is good to see you again, I had heard you were leaving this morning, so I didn't think I would."

"Yes, we've been asked by your king to go after the thief," Sammy said. She wouldn't be telling any secrets as that would also have gone around.
"So I wanted to ask if you can give me some aura signs from the thief," she asked, "it might be easier to find him or her."

Apparently Taa is quite the embarrassing type on any plane, because asking him this makes him visibly uncomfortable once it is translated. "Oh, I am not really very accomplished at such magics, as I said, my supervisor was only able to find the barest traces of the thief's passage. None of us saw anything at all."

Seeming to be desperate to of use somehow, he produced a datapad from his robe. "I made a point of gathering that local telesma data you wanted, some of it is even our own research we have done, so it won't all be stuff you could have probably found on the Matrix. I could beam it to your comm if you like..." , he trailed off, realizing he had just essentially asked a celebrity for her phone number. He was like a deer in headlights and looked ready to bolt.

"Just make a local connection and beam it over," Sammy said, taking our her public commlink. She didn't know all how it worked in the background, but she knew that there was a way to do it. And she sort of knew how it worked.

Torley strokes his chin for a minute. Do we need to do disguises before we disembark in Lagos? In case O'Connor's friends are still looking for him?

Jane will offer her take, "It's up to you, but if the Yoruba are stomping around Lagos looking for this thief, I would say the Area Boys might have their hands full if you don't make anymore trouble." She stares hard at the two men, "That means PAY THE BRIBES."

The flight back to Lagos is uneventful, Dobri has gotten the right clearances and paid off the right people that there are no last minute inspections to be dealt with. Before you leave Jane makes sure you each have 2 days pay to handle things on your own.

Now that you know what to do, the interactions for converting what money you need to the hawala is almost routine. Lil Homie manages to grab the driver of a decrepit minibus that you will all fit into, the only question is where are you going? To your rooms, the waterfront or somewhere else.

Torley puts in his two Nuyen worth: The only local connection we have who seems to know anything, at least anything he's willing to share, is the waterfront weasel.

You head for the waterfront, where you find Finnegan’s office empty. Five naira to a local has you the location of the portly Caucasian, at a bar down the road a piece ‘conducting business’. You find him at a back table in the bar, he looks pretty happy for a man with smallest pile of naira at the table. Then Torley notices a young man across the table from him, a rich white boy slumming in the ‘bad’ part of town and looking well into his cups. Only a matter of time before someone has to find this kid and make sure he pays his tab.

Lester sees you coming and rises out of his chair, which signals its relief audibly, and waves you over to the bar away from the gambling table. Joining you he says to you , “Good to see you lads and lasses, to to what do I owe the pleasure?”

Sammy would let Torley do the talking, but she did open her senses to the astral and checked out all present, with special focus on Finnegan.


assensing: 6d6t5 2

There is nothing glaringly unusual on the astral, Finnegan appears mundane, but with the general background count it is hard to be sure.

O'Connor scanned the room as Torley did his thing with his contact.

Perception: 7d6t5 1

Torley smiles broadly at the port manager. Our last enterprise with you turned out profitable for both you and us. We are hoping we can do some more business with you, and keep the profits flowing.

In your position in the Port Authority, you must have a good sense of what comes into the city. We are looking for someone who came to Lagos in the last day or so, with ... cargo ... of a sensitive nature. We would like to find him, and the cargo, and talk business. If you could give us a lead, we would be happy to compensate you for your knowledge.

"You seem to be to looking for a lot of people with a lot of things. Did you ever find your elf? I am guessing not, since you are still alive. I certainly don't mind helping you, are you looking to make the same arrangement? I see your crew got a little bigger and rougher looking, we could move you into actual collections if you aren't too squeamish about putting the squeeze on the deadbeats."

Torley lets out one of those laughs, the kind that burrows deep and comes back out with a smile you can't help. "Sure we found him. And here we are. It's all in a day's work. I think we can make an arrangement, but time is against us, so we can't be doing anything that will take days. Watcha got that needs brains and a silver tongue, more than muscle?"

Finnegan looks amused, but dismissive, "You realize you are in Lagos right? That kind of work is rarely needed here. Tell me who you are looking for and maybe I will have a better idea of what I need you to do in return."

Torley considers this for a moment. I get your drift about Lagos. A guy can try, though. Well, what the hell. Sometimes truth, or an approximation of it, is actually useful.

We're looking for a man, possibly Igbo, who came here with an idol valuable to the Yoruba and their king. We want to acquire that idol. We have a time limit and need to get on the case right away. If you can help us, we'll be willing to help you.

"You are looking Adegoke's Thief?!?! HAA! Of course you are, every wannabe bounty hunter in Lagos that isn't Igbo wants that guy, and a few Igbo too, and there isn't even a bounty yet!! You know Adegoke's army is already in town, you are going to need to get a move on." Finnegan laughs genuinely.

Big grin. Well, I did say time is critical. So, can you help us?

"I can't tell you who did the job, but for a thousand naira I can put you further down the road than most folks, to someone who can."

Bartering is sooo much fun! But, one of the things Torley has learned about negotiation is that sometimes the best result comes from cutting the other guy a break. No problem. I'll cover that cost right now. Let's get to it. He covers the payment out of his stash.

A Thousand naria, that was about fifty nuyen, Sammy calculated in her head. She looked at Sam and gave a slight nod. They could spare that much without too much trouble. And if she had learned one thing during her time here, it was that money was everything. It didn't have to be much, but there had to be some.

Finnegan pockets the tokens offered, throwing a careful glance at Clem as he did so,

“There is restaurant up the coast on Lagos Mainland, by the University, called The Three Friends. After the dinner crowd leaves, it fills up with all the best local fixers. Always there is half dozen or more in the place. Ask for Hippo Kojoli. Tell Hippo I sent you. Don’t worry, you recognize him—Hippo is the fattest fixer in Lagos. He knows everyone in the city, and I’m sure he tell you more.”

Torley gives a nod to Finnegan. Sounds good. Thanks for the information. To his partners, Well, let's go!

"Good idea," Sammy said. As soon as they were all outside, she looked at the others.
"Now, how are we going to get back to the other side of the bay," she asked.

O'Connor shrugged at Sammy's question and turned to Lil' Homie for an answer.

Lil Homie kind of shrugged, "University isn't on Victoria Island, Lagos Mainland is the district just north of this one. We can drive."

The Three Friends is popular with the university crowds during the day. On the walls are faded posters of exotic cities like Portland and Paris. You are not incredibly out of place as long as weapons are concealed, there are a few paler skin students at the school, until the dinner rush starts to clear. The locals take over then and you stand out more and more.

Seeing as it's too early for the fixer, Torley gets the team a table, and asks for menus. We might as well sample local culinary delights while we wait. Dinner's on me!

"Sure, why not," Sammy said, "as long as it's not too exotic. I really don't need fried devil rat or tiger penis or something like that."

There is no tiger penis on the menu, it is mostly easily made West African comfort food, lots of starches, very little meat and some really unusual (for North Americans) leafy greens. What meat there is is either fish or fowl, with a few 'exotic' soy products that imitate the nuggets or burgers you can get from a Stuffer Shack back home.

Notably Lil Homie will not enter the restaurant, or sit at the table or order anything unless told/asked to do so. He is used to acting as a guide and will not think to ask.

As they entered the building, O'Connor noticed Lil' Homie standing back. He motioned for the guide to follow, "Oi, hurry it up." When Lil' Homie hovered awkardly around the table, O'Connor pointed to a seat, "Just sit your hoop down already." After looking the menu over, he passed it to the kid without comment.

He turned to the group, "So how high a price are we willing to pay for this?"

Torley cracks one of his big smiles and says, "Hey. Any meal on assignment could be the last. So let's enjoy!"

"Talking about why we're here in the first place."

The kid will look over the menu and point to the soy burger and fries, "Can I get one of these?"

"Sure, get two if you want. Looks like you could use it."

After asking their local guide for a few dishes what exactly it was, Sammy ordered something that was not too exotic, but she kept away from the soy as well. That she could have at home, here she could have real food at a reasonable price.
"So," she said to the others, "we gonna ask around for this guy we have to meet. We have a name, but we don't know what he looks like."

Torley takes a stab at being a local. I'll have a couple of servings of suya for the table, and [to maybe get a browny point or two from the Igbos in the crowd] for myself I'll have the abacha and ugba.

I think once the dinner crowd thins we will see him, as our port authority helper told us he will stand out as the most obese of the bunch of fixers who show up. I guess he is called Hippo Kojoli for a reason!

Clem chooses to order local and simple as well, "The fattest fixer in Lagos should be enough of a description, I would think.""

She is proven to be correct in her assessment. Once you finish eating, most of you anyway (Lil Homie seems determine to finish the second plate of psuedo-fries), and the crowd of students and day laborers trickle out, an immensely obese ork male with rich black skin and silver-capped tusks trudges in from the back and makes his way to a nearby troll-sized booth where a laden table is already pulled away and waiting for his occupancy. Any lingering doubts are gone when you see the thick gold chain with the word HIPPO (in English) on the dangling pendant of under the aforementioned creature. "The most ostentatious could be said as well."

There are already a few hopeful locals waiting to petition for work and his teeth flash in the light as he speaks to them, but he notices you as well, as you are the only outsiders still sitting in the restaurant.

O'Connor scanned the room trying to spot armed security.

Perception: 7d6t5 1

You are in a room full of fixers, yes there is security

"I would play it straight," Sammy said, "we're interested in information, that's it. We can then haggle over the price when we get there. I'm sure we have something that he wants, even if it's only nuyen."

It takes about an hour for Hippo to finish with his petitioners, during that time plates are coming and going from the kitchen at regular intervals, so the table in continuously restocked. A couple of the people who were speaking with him seemed to want to linger specifically to finish some tidbit.

When the last one clears his plate and leaves, Hippo waves for you join him. In spite of the fact that he has been eating and talking for a bit, there is not a trace of any debris or crumbs on his person. "So my new friends, what is that you need from Hippo!" he says, tusks still shining.

Torley leads the way over to Kojoli's table. His walk is a fine example of confidence mixed with respect. Strut, but don't insult the local strongman. He smiles at the reference to him and his team as "new friends". He was wondering how to refer to Finnegan.

"Pleased to meet you. I admire your choice for a place of business. The food is good, and it looks like a lot of business in this town is worked out here.

My name is Torley. My associates and I have traveled far and need help finding" [big smile] "... someone who has something. Our old friend Finnegan over at the port authority told us to seek out Hippo Kojoli, for if anyone in Lagos can help us, it would be the man who knows all that happens here.

We are looking for a person who came recently from Ife, carrying an object that matters a lot to people there. That object interests us. We would like to find that person, and ... negotiate. We trust we can work out an arrangement with you to our mutual benefit."

Sammy let Torley do the talking, but she switched her view to the astral and had a look at this fat bloke. It was Always a good idea to figure out what they were up against.

Starlet

Hippo is a mundane, in a fairly good mood, you also note one uninitiated awakened among the security in the room.

Torley

"Oh! You are looking for Adegoke's Thief! That is a very valuable piece of information, yes I can help you with that, but what are you willing to pay The Hippo?" The fixer's smile grows brighter.