Torley's smile grows to match. The dance begins.


There are many ways to pay. An accomplished solver of problems such as yourself must have many different needs. Why don't you tell us what you believe would be fair return for such valuable information?

"Actually, in a general way I am quite easy to please. You want this valuable asset? Given me nuyen, 50,000 to be exact." Hippo smiles at the face.

What an interesting proposition. I would like to counter with something that worked so well with our friend Finnegan. He needed some work done by experts such as ourselves, and in return he gave us the information we sought from him. I have no doubt that a man of such stature in your community as yourself has many business dealings under way at this time.

There must be one in which we could help. Our help to you, for your help to us. Easy!

Hippo gives the suggestion a good long bit of consideration, at least it seems that way for most of the team. Torley knows that this is exactly what the fixer wanted as soon as he made that outlandish opening bid.

"I don't know if I would be getting much value for using oyibos for any work around here. It is not likely you know you way around and you certainly can't blend in here..." Hippo seems to remember something (Torley knows this is what he intended all along), "...I suppose you could take a package for me to VI, and then we can see what I can manage about dis thief."

Now we are talking, says Torley. You bring us around to what you really want. We would be interested in a little courier work. Of course, there are packages, and then there are packages. What were you thinking? I suspect something more than a consignment of pounded yam.

While Torley was talking, Sammy tried to remember if this VI that Hippo mentioned was a place and if so, where it was. She knew there was a kingdom of ghouls on this continent and she'd rather not go there if she could avoid it.

"It is a poor courier that questions what they are carrying, especially one that is doing it as a favor. I need a delivery made to a regular customer who works the desk at the Federal Plaza, (OOC: NOT the hotel you were at already) Oyibos can get through the checkpoints more easily and walk around the island without trouble. I can even tell you that the security on the north Go-Slow is especially accepting of folks who have 'forgotten' their credentials on the island after a day out shopping and will let you pay the fines in person." Hippo smiles.

"We don't need to know what's in the package," Sammy said, "but we do need some information. Size, weight, special handling instructions, those kind of things."

Hippo will signal to someone in the restaurant and a man will approach and place a satchel, like a large woman's purse, in front of him. From his manner and the noise it makes, you assume it is some kind of crockery or heavy glass.

It looks like time to fish or cut bait. We need info, and he says he's got it. All we have to do is carry his contraband through the scrutiny of the authorities. Sounds like fun!

Torley glances at his teammates, looking for any hint they don't want to do what seems necessary.

The team seems ready.

Alright. The deal is agreeable. We'll be back as soon as we can. Torley reaches for the satchel.

"Just a second," Sammy said, having a look at the satchel in the astral, "Just to make sure we're on the same page. Is this fragile, or will it go boom when we shake it or something? Just so we can take the correct precautions."


assensing: 6d6t5 2

You sense nothing magical about the bag.

"It is in sealed crockery pots, don't throw it, don't drop it, don't hit anyone or anything with it, take to the hotel and give it to the clerk working at the desk. Nothing could be easier." says Hippo, taking a bite of something that looked quite tasty.

O'Connor was relieved that the fat fixer and Torley had stopped dithering about and hashed out a deal. He didn't care what the package was or what it was for. He just wanted to get this over with, and then maybe track down a hit or two of zen.

Torley picks up the package gingerly, nods to Hippo, and looks to his team. Let's go. Lead the way, big guy, he says, looking at O'Connor. Something's wrong, he thinks to himself. I'll watch him to try to figure out what.

Amazingly, your van and driver are still waiting for you. You are pretty sure it has more to do with the promised tip Clem gave him, not the bodily harm that O'Conner threatened. When he was told you were headed for Victoria Island he was very glad he stayed.

The "Go-Slow" absolutely lives up to the name, the traffic moves at between 0 and 10 kph, mostly on the low end of that scale. Walking between the cars and the lanes are merchants of everything imaginable that a metahuman could carry, up to and including the metahumans themselves. Food, water, trinkets, clothing equipment and drugs are brought right up to the van. Lil Homie makes a point to indicate certain sellers for the team, until a scantily clad woman makes him an offer in Igbo that makes him seriously embarrassed and he quiets down.

Snow purchases a bracelet for a few naira from a little girl hopping along at her window for a good half kilometre showing her different pieces

O'Connor nearly jumped for joy when the merchants started appearing. He bought a half dozen zen tabs. He asked the driver, "How long do you think it'll be from here?" O'Connor desperately hoped they had at least an hour. He just needed an hour.

Although Lil' Homie didn't translate what the woman had said, it wasn't hard to put two and two together. He gave the guide a teasing grin, "You want her? Consider it a bonus."

Zen can be had, for 50 naira per tab. Apparently it is not very common here, there is a weed that is highly addictive here that is awakened form of Khat that has a similar effect. That said you will easily have an hour on the bridge, more like three.

Lil Homie shakes his head hard, "She wanted to do everyone on the bus, WHILE they were on the bus!"

Sammy gave O'Conner a dirty look when he offered the woman to his guide.
The rest of the trip she keeps a watch, both on the physical plane and the astral. She also suggested to wrap the package into some clothes in a backpack, to secure it against breaking and to hide it from prying eyes. She also uses her improved invisibility spell to hide the backpack further. It gave her a headache, but that she was used to.

Torley disguises the package with materials the group pull out of their travel kits. Underwear works wonders to keep prying fingers and eyes averted. At least, his does.

O'Connor laughed at the boy's panicked denials. He noted Sammy's disapproval, "I'm just teasing him, relax." He popped one of the zen tabs, "I'm going on a trip should be back in a half hour or so."

Zen Duration: 1d6 2
Duration: 20 minutes

It is probably a good thing that O'Conner was out of it, the group encountered two different groups of Area Boys collecting tolls for 'occupancy violations' from their van. Clem simply paid the requested sums to each one, draining the group of 100 naira.

The last half kilometer takes as long to drive as the entire rest of the trip. You could easily walk or maybe crawl the distance faster than the van is moving, but there is no guarantee that the crush of humanity would let you pass, or that you would have any possessions by the time you made it to the gate.

Once you reach the checkpoint, the last few merchants desperate for a sale are shoved away violently by some seriously well equipped military types. They talk to the driver, who tells the tale he was instructed to give, that he is bringing a bunch of oyibos back to their homes, but none of them seem to have their proper paperwork for returning.

You are all requested to disembark for questioning.

Torley sighs. Looks like I'm up again.

Torley steps out of the vehicle, and approaches the officer who instructed them to exit it. He smiles a sheepish smile, spreads his hands apart in a display of lost confusion.

I'm so sorry, Officer. This is all my fault. I was supposed to keep all our papers in a bundle together, and I left them back at our hotel! I'm usually a much better traveler than this. Please. help me out here so I can make up for my foolish mistake. At the hotel, the concierge warned us that without papers we might have to pay a fine. I would happily do that just to put this silliness behind us. We're all tired and just want to get home.

The soldier hears your story, "How much naira do you have on you?"

Sammy kept concentrating on keeping the backpack invisible, so she couldn't really help out all that much. In an emergency, she could, but for now, she would let Torley handle the situation. He was much better with the talking than she was anyway.

Torley scanned his team in an obvious fashion, letting on that there was some kind of commlink communication.

More spread hands and sheepish smiles. To the guard he says, "Look, I know how frustrating it is to put up with careless tourists who don't do their paperwork correctly. My friends and I can pull together what cash we have left, and it comes to 277 naira. That's all we have left after eating and market exploring. Can we just pay that fine and get home? We promise to be more careful next time, and we will put in a good word at the hotel about the efficiency of the bridge security."

Let's see how that works.

The guard considers haggling, but decides against it.

"That will cover it, do yourself a favor. Stick close to your hotel from now on, or join a tour group. Oyibos tend to get taken advantage of in Lagos. You are lucky you didn't end up ghoul food."

Getting into the gate is no further issue, there is no other search, but shortly after that you do have a problem, once it is clear that you are going all the way to Victoria Island, your driver brings the van to a halt at a cab stand.

"Can't go."

After a few moments of hurried conversation with Lil Homie, it is clear that the driver had some business dealings with people on Victoria Island and if he goes there and is scene, he is likely dead. He will be glad to wait on Lagos Island (that is the district where the Go-Slow connects to the island part of Lagos, not the mainland) to take you back, but he is not driving any further.

O'Connor, while annoyed at the inconvenience, doesn't push the matter. It wasn't worth it to pay the cabbie to take the risk, and if he was spotted it would probably compromise the job. He shrugged, "So how big is this island? Should we get a different cab, or just walk the rest of the way?"

"I'm sure there will be cabs on the island," Sammy said, "if there are on the mainland, there certainly will be on the VIP island, no?"

"There is a train that travels between the districts. It is nothing spectacular, just a means for the people who don't live in the highrises to get to and fro. Looks like the is a station over there that will take us to a point a few blocks from the hotel." Snow offers, having reviewed the data she had on the islands.

"Sounds good." O'Connor took the lead towards the station Snow indicated.

Sammy followed the group while keeping her backpack invisible. She also from time to time shifter her view to the astral to check if someone was following them, or paying undue attention to them.

They all try, but none of them looks like a tourist the way Torley looks like a tourist. "Wow. Look at that building!"

Your best efforts to not look out of place on the train are doomed, you are the only non-black non-humans on the train. Though not crowded, the train is busy, you will not find an empty car, though if some of you stand it is easy to stay close. You are traveling with the third shift workers that can’t afford to, or are not required to live in the posh areas you are traveling to. You get some looks, but most are occupied with their boring wage slave commute routines.

OOC: faro, give me three astral perception checks.

Once they found a spot to sit/stand, Clem and O'Connor motion everyone to shield Sammy and the package from the crowding masses. If they we're being tracked, the train car would be a good ambush spot. This could turn into an even bigger clusterfrag than the Needle in an instant. He did what he could to assess potential threats.

Perception: 7d6t5 2

None of you perceive any threat as the train crosses the man-made water divide between the districts. Any curious glances you get are dissuaded swiftly by glares from Clem or Bullet Storm. Snow will quietly indicate to the group when they arrive at their stop and you disembark without incident. The hotel that is your destination is around 200 meters from the station.

After a brief conversation, O'Connor took point on route to the hotel and Clem guraded Sammy. The others were directed to cover the rear.

Perception: 7d6t5 1

The Federal Palace hotel is truly one of the luxury hotels that people talk about when they talk about luxury hotels. You are approaching it from the service side, so you can see the places that the trucks roll up to make deliveries and the service entrance for employees (a few of whom walk a head of you from the train), but even these are quite impressive.

O'Conner wouldn't dream of trying to walk into one of these joints in downtown Seattle, so because of his lack of experience you are actually saved from the truly daunting front entrance and stroll back across the grand lobby. The elevator entrance is the first one you come to street side. This lobby entrance is much closer to the front desk and (naturally) the elevators.

O'Conner manages, just barely, to avoid the door swinging open widely as a half dozen young men flailing and falling through them burst into the night. The youths are well dressed, laughing and are clearly VERY intoxicated.

O'Connor's supernatural reflexes saved him from a bloody nose. He went to draw his sidearm, preparing for an attack. Luckily for all parties, he realized the truth of the matter before anything happened. He groused about the drunken tourists before heading into the hotel.

A quick joke/put down came to the tip of Torley's tongue, but uncharacteristic wisdom restrained him. He followed the team in.

Torley made for the door but was suddenly grabbed by the arm "Hey wait, your tha guy from the ozzer hotel! You cos me money you sonoffabishh!" Torley was turned into a familiar face, the younger Englebrecht, Viktor. The rest of the young men stop laughing and get a look like a pack of dogs ready to pounce.

O'Connor was going to let Torley handle the asshat that was yelling. He did however adjust his clothing so that the machine pistol on his hip was obviously visible to the rest of the drunk pack.

Clem was going to hang back but then she saw Con turn around and come out to start to flash the hardware, She stepped in front of him to cover his being seen and whispers "Security here is AAA, if someone sees that we may not make it off this island."

Torley looks the man in the eyes and summons the Voice to Command him, "Go home!"

Sammy was still keeping up the invisibility spell on their package, so she was a bit slower to react. And just their luck to run into that idiot again. She got ready to defend herself, but made no agressive move, hoping that the situation could be resolved without violence.

The South African's face goes from a feral snarl to a look of abject confusion, "But...but I AM home, thish hotel ish my home?"

Snow gives Starlet a poke and whispers, "Keep going." she moves to put herself between the thugs and the mage.

Oh for the love of ...! What a disappointment to his father this lout must be.

Torley decides another shot, weakened by the repetition of this magic but less able to be misunderstood, would be needed. Voice: "Go to your bed!"

Viktor starts to comply, but he is grabbed by one of his buddies, "What is wrong with you Vik? Curb stomp this meta-lover trash and get your money!" He pushes him back toward Torley then turns to Clem, "Yeah, I said it, wacho gonna do bout it, tusker BITCH!"

Sammy had been walking on, but now she waited, outside easy range for those guys, just in case she was needed. She had seen what the security uniforms looked like on their last trip here, so she could use those if needed, but she hoped it wouldn't be. Just their luck to run into these idiots again, she thought.