Bobby just nodded and presented the stoic mood that polite behavior in the NAN culture expected for interaction with law enforcement.
Nonetheless, he opened his astral eyes to look around for magical scrutiny from the border guards.

The agent asked a number of follow up questions, probing the story a bit. But ultimately the story was simple enough and the team consistent enough that they were sent on their way.

The current drizzle is supposed to clear up by dawn, but at the pass they have to cross it might be turning to snow around midnight, so there is some incentive to travel quickly.

"Alright, time to fly."
With the border behind them, Bobby took AM out of the glove compartment and set her carefully on the backseat with the pack containing her clothes.
"Turn around so you can transform back without hitting your head."
With that, Bobby dropped the spell and went about getting his top half free of clothing.
That done he turned into a large owl, leaving his gear on the seat.
One last look on the map and the direction of the compass and Bobby took off into the cold night through the open window.

AM obeys but by the time she is human again, Bobby is already gone like an eager beaver... well eager owl. She instructs Trouble to follow Bobby and help him following his lead and then dresses quietly uncertain about her emotions but grateful to be in a familiar form. Her body with all its minor flaws is more comfortable than some other form. She is happy to reunite with her deck, and she wears the sophisticated pistol and verifies that her reagents are still present. finally, she wears her spiderweb earrings --- earrings that give her comfort in her connection to Iktomi. As much as she fears the complicated great spirit, she owes him a lifetime of adventures, and wonders that she could never dream of before she developed her talent.

After some awkward silence, she asks Mato "So where are we? and what is the plan?"

Mato pulls the car through past the border stop. He speaks once it's in the rearview mirror.

"I think we got lucky," he says. "I saw the guard speaking subvocally. Couldn't hear him, but I could see his Adam's apple moving. The supervisor behind him seemed to shake his head once, then nod once. Not sure how the guard would have seen that, but maybe there were DNI instructions that accompanied it."

He turns to look at AM in her cat form.

"I think Iktomi was pleased with your transformation. Perhaps seeing you this way is good fun for Iktomi. Or perhaps we're being lured into the spider's web. A trap would be even more fun, would it not?"

He turns back to the road.

"There will be snow over Snoqualmie Pass but the roads should be well-maintained. I'm more concerned about Blewett Pass, where we cut north. Fewer cars, fewer plows. It can be dark and icy."

He looks to Bobby.

"Not sure how long it will take you, but it will take us a couple hours."

After stopping the America to retrieve the cyberdeck and the Walther out of the smuggling department, Mato presents them to AM.

"Loaded with gel right now, just in case we got stopped in Bellevue," he says of the Walther. "Might be good to start that way in case Brent is in the background. In case we need to go loud, here are two mags of explosive rounds."

He pulls up a simple map of the route. The megacorps put the good stuff behind paywalls - mapsofts aren't free, ya know - but the basic route is available online.

"We're heading east over Snoqualmie Pass. There are a few different ski areas up there. One or two of them offer night skiing, so you'll see the hills all lit up with corpers. In fairness, I can understand why. It's quiet after dark. Serene, even. There's a stillness in the mountains at night that you don't get during the business day.

"Then, once we're over the pass, we'll cut north on Highway 97. That's Blewett Pass, which is a bit dicey in terms of road conditions. We'll go slowly. There are a couple towns before then if you need to stop for something hot to eat or drink. I know we kind of went straight from the meet to the job without a dinner break.

"We'll pass through Leavenworth. It's pretty. A few generations back the town was dying so they decided they needed a gimmick. Now the whole place is styled like a Bavarian village. I've never been to the Allied German States so I couldn't say how accurate it is, but it's pleasant.

"Then we're heading up this canyon, following the river. I'm not sure how we're going to thread the needle between the Aztechnology research facility and the Salish military restricted zone. Maybe we just hug the riverbank? Can Trouble help run interference in terms of keeping us concealed? I suspect both sites will have magical security, especially since they'll be expected to spy on each other. Maybe Bobby can help us scout out an alternative route. We'll know more once we get closer."

Over time more of AM's search efforts come back, adding a few details to what the group already knew. She pulls up pictures from people's rafting adventures that show steep hillsides to each side of the river, with trees clinging to the rocks. There is no sign of a road or path along the shore, but it is a steep hillside, not a sheer canyon wall, it should be possible to walk along it, with some effort. Although more than one rafter grumbled about the strict 'no going to the shore' rule that the rafting company had, suggesting that security does pay attention along the river.

At the altitude that the rafting is at it should be rare to have freezing weather, so the river itself should not be frozen, so simply walking down the river is not an option either (barring magic). Floating down the river, through Bobby's magic or a stolen raft, might be more feasible.

The military facility is officially designated as a drone testing and training site. Flights nearby need to be registered with the base (this does not seem to stop the 'Wild Orc Ranch' from bringing people in from Seattle by helicopter, nor running heli-skiing expeditions. The Aztechnology facility does not advertise its purpose, but AM eventually finds her way to slightly better sattelite photos and there seem to be both storage tanks and large radio dishes, but no obvious reason to have both at one facility. The somewhat better picture does fuzzily suggest a a building on the island, in about the middle, with trees scattered over the rest of the island.

When Bobby flies close, he can make out a substantial spirit wandering around the airspace above the Aztechnology facility. A bit of more careful observation suggests Watcher spirits patrolling the edges of the military facility, a bit above tree-top height, although not closely enough to have overlapping perception ranges. Their timing, and even direction, seems random at first glance. No doubt there is a pattern to it, but it would take longer observation to map it out.

AM loads the ex rounds and explains "I learned the petrify spell to disable someone quietly. If I need a gun it is very loud already.

She explains "Trouble can conceal us, but I've sent him to follow Bobby as I figured he is in more danger than us right now. As for approaching, we can try and get in by flying very close to the water surface. If we come from the south we avoid the research facility and the military base. The only reason to get close to them is if we want to start at the wild Ork ranch and get to the island by rafting. Aside from the drawbacks of being close to sensitive facilities, I never rafted before, so I feel that the south is the easiest access.

In the meanwhile, let's shorten our distance to the island and go grab something quick to eat. "

Bobby enjoyed flying. In fact it was such a great sensation, that he more than once had overstayed his endurance, forcing him to land somewhere very quickly, before he no longer could hold the spell.
That in turn had given him a very precise measure of just how far and long he could push himself. Trouble's magic added a new kick to this. Now he flew with such high speed that slight drizzle actually hurt.
On the plus side, the flight took a lot less time that way.
So when he reached the general area and opened his third eye, he was able to make out the magical security quite clearly.
Now it was just a question of threading the needle.

Something few non-magicians grasped was that in the astral light didn't matter but matter did: It made no sense to hide in shadows, but particles in the air like smog or fog very much did impede perception.
Consequently, he climbed higher until in his estimation the rain obscured his aura enough to cross between the two installations.

Bobby didn't think that he had been seen. The rain certainly made it hard to see the patrolling watchers (the spirit over the Aztechnology base was higher and brighter, so he could still spot it reasonably well). It is also possible that they just were not worried about anything at the altitude that Bobby was soaring at.

Meanwhile Mato and AM had found a charging/petrol station which was well stocked with vending machines carrying everything from soy burritos to Caff-in-a-can to warm gloves.

Mato, following his milkshake, is wary of more sugar. He opts for the Cup-O-Soup products to go the salty/savory route. Then a thought occurs.

"We should get some clean food," he says. He means 'for Brent' but is paranoid not to say that part out loud at a gas station. "Something warm, something for a bit of energy."

Mato buys an insulated mug and fill it with hot cocoa. Then he does the same for some packaged ramen. It's not a feast, but it might be just what the ork-street-samurai-pretending-to-be-a-doc ordered. After all, one of Mato's fondest memories - as far as food is concerned - was being sick as a child (which happened a lot) and eating saltines and juice after not having anything to eat for two days. The saltiness of the soda crackers practically exploded in his mouth, and rinsing it down with juice was pure rapture. Reflecting on this, he buys some crackers and juice for Brent too.

Back in the car, he pulls a few throwing knives from the small smuggling compartment on his thigh while sipping at his soup.

"Let's try the ranch," he suggests to AM. "The kidnappers had to get to the island somehow so you know there's a way to get there that won't set off all sorts of nearby security. Maybe we can 'borrow' a boat from the ranch. I'm a Wild Ork so those boats are my birthright."

This is Mato being dryly humorous.

"When we get close enough, see if there's any sort of electronic security. If the coast is clear, I'll pinch a boat and we can float downstream. Is Trouble conveying anything about the situation yet?"

AM says "Alright, ranch it is" She selects a burrito and some soda water, very carefully eats the Burrito. "That you are" she responds with a hint of a smile, "... but I'll fly because I am not wild enough. "

As they get ready to leave, she searches for some dry clothes in case they get wet, and some extra clothes or at least gloves for Bernt.

Having passed by the Aztec and military installation, Bobby took a sharp curve, following the river to the island shed, looking for signs of habitation and/or magical security.
Depending on what he finds, he either circles a bit more or lands in a tree nearby. In any case, he indicates for Trouble what to report back with a quick mental connection.

The most precarious part of Bobby's approach was as he drew level with the spirits to each side of the river. However he'd timed his descent well, and he was still moving at very high speeds due to Trouble's magic, and he managed to dive down without drawing any obvious response on the astral plane. Trouble remained high above, where he could still keep a spiritual eye on Bobby--at least as best as it could through the rain -- but staying above the attention zone of the various spirits.

The river was 15-20 meters below the ridge top to each side, so once Bobby had dropped out of line of site of the spirits had a bit of space in which to lose speed. Once he's slowed down he can turn easily enough and circle the island.

The island is rocky around the edges. There are some trees, where they have found pockets of soil -- they are well spaced, separated by strips of dead grass or bare rock. A few are bare-limbed deciduous trees, the rest rather more luxurious looking pines.

In the middle of the island stood a fair sized building, looking much more like a shed than a house, at least as well as Bobby's owl vision resolves (his eyes are better at spotting movement than details of construction). It stands on concrete pillars around 1.5m high (exact height varies with the ground). Lightly sloped roof of corrugated steel. Simple steps, about a meter wide with a simple banister down each side, run down from the door, towards a fair sized fire pit with accompanying stumps and rocks to sit on. The building appears to have two long narrow windows, mounted high along each side wall. The windows are about 25cm high and a meter long, starting near the wall with the door. They leak a small amount of light, it would appear that it is not very bright inside and that the windows are covered. By the lack of light coming through the door it likely does not have a window in it.

There are no obvious signs of humanity other than the building. No boat along the shore, no outhouse, no large murderous drones.

Bobby perched in a fir tree about 20m in front of the entrance and listened.
When after a minute nothing happened, he turned into a squirrel, moving forward and under the hut, looking for the astral barrier that was supposed to be there somewhere.

Trouble follows Bobby to a degree but stays out of sight in case there are spirits. When Bobby goes down he tells him "Let me know if you need anything for me."

Bobby used the telepatic connection to reply: 'Keep an eye out for tr... the opposition. I don't believe that they would leave their hostage unguarded.'

The cat spirit answers, appearing perhaps too calm as if this entire situation is more of a curiosity rather than an exciting or dangerous situation. "I'll keep an eye, I can approach via astral, on the one hand, I have no physical form so no risk for physical detection, but I lack your experience with avoiding being seen. It was quite a feat how you used the clouds and raindrops. Do you want some concealment to improve your odds?"

The squirrel smiled: 'That would be very helpful, thank you. Yeah, just keep still between the fir branches, and you shouldn't be seen easily.'

While they take a break from driving, Mato has had an opportunity to look at the maps of the Wild Orc Ranch. They are however rather cartoonish and clearly not precise or to scale. However they do give him enough context to make sense out of some pictures pulled from the matrix. All of which tells him what he was looking for: the building where they store the inflatable rafts for the white water rafting is near the river, beside where they launch them. That is at least several hundred meters and down a slope from the main cluster of buildings at the ranch. Building specific security aside, it was likely that any activity near that building would not be seen from the main complex.

Where he and AM are pausing there is snow around, with more coming down soon by the forecast. However when he asks AM to find out, she reports that Trouble says that the ground is not white, except on some of the rocks near the river (which is likely frozen spray, not snow). More description of the island gets relayed too -- the part near the building is somewhat higher, with rocky slopes up from the water. However at the upstream tip there is a stretch of rock shelving into the water (although with some ridges of ices running across the rocky beach right now. East of the building, on the downstream side, there appears to be some gravel beach.

When Jack runs under the house, he can see bits of an astral barrier running just below the bottom of the actual floor, although much of the astral barrier is blocked by support beams, scrap boards that have been tacked in places between the support beams, and what appears to be drift wood and a few paddles put on the scrap boards. He also spots a rolled up mass of dark rubber or plastic which could be a deflated raft.

Trouble carefully follows Bobby to materialize as a cat and then sustains the concealment power to further hide Bobby. He does not move much from the bush he is in, not wishing to be discovered. She takes a moment to augment herself with magic and then suggests. "Mato, the Spirits can make you invisible and silent if you wish them to help. You can steal the raft, I'll park the car out of the way, and you meet me out of the ranch a bit downstream."

'Trouble, we are on the right track. There is a barrier here. I'll try to find a way in and see if I can penetrate it.'

Bobby changed again, this time into a rat.
Climbing up and overhead, he looked for a crack large enough that a rat could squeeze through - or if necessary start gnawing at the boards to make it large enough.

That done, he concentrated on the barrier, trying to guess it's strength. In his many forays into places he wasn't supposed to go, he had developed his own trick to deal with barriers. He could try to squeeze through, but with a high strength barrier that could take very long. He could try batter it down, but that would be quite noticeable while taking also longer than he was comfortable.
Instead he now knew a trick to break barriers with a single focused strike.
The feedback he could receive from that was considerable though, so he needed to know exactly how strong it was to gauge which method to use.

Asense Barrier: 10d6t5 4
Boost Body: 8d6t5 1
Shape change F4: 15d6t5 4
Drain resist: 7d6t5 4

Mato nods to AM.

"Do a quick scan for wireless security, if you can," he suggests. "I doubt there's much out here - too many false positives for motion detectors or the like - but if there are any cameras or maglocks maybe you can nip them in the bud."

Of course, Mato has ways around physical security too, but if AM can do it from the sky via radio waves - VHF or UHF or SHF, whatever - then so much the better.

With that he pops out of the car. He's mindful of snow and footprints himself, although that's more out of habit. He's not really expecting anyone to be tracking him out here.

This makes sense, right? he thinks to himself. Just an ork in a suit in a boat in a river in the mountains in the winter at night.

He proceeds on foot, grateful for the insulation in his long coat. He gives the main cluster of buildings at the ranch a wide berth, heading down toward the river where the inflatable rafts are stored.

Are they even going to have air in them? he wonders. Would you leave them inflated over the winter?

Well, he'll worry about that when he gets there. Bobby's on point; Mato is just the backup plan. He has no idea how strong the current is or what the odds of being pulled past the island would be. Or, should Brent need to be removed from the island via boat, whether Mato is strong enough to paddle upstream or ... maybe he'll just run the rapids at night with Brent in the back of the boat, neh?

AM takes out her canteen and lets Tatanka exit, she then sips from the canteen. And swallows the terrible water which is part of the ritual. She asks Tatanks to take a look at the ranch for living things, and magical defenses. Then she performs a quick matrix scan, asking for Iktomi's help and feeling that the Trickster's attention is elsewhere, perhaps with Trouble. She submerges in hot sim and rallys the results to Mato as he exits the vehicle.

Trouble tries to follow Bobby's technique to descend without being noticed, but apparently without similar levels of success. As it approaches about the level that the Aztechnology spirit hovers at, that spirit communicates with Trouble. 'Hello Little Thing, playing with the rain drops. Are you having fun? Perhaps you should come over here, I know games that we could play." It seems to be drifting toward the river side of the Aztechnology property as it communicates.

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

Bobby get's a good look at the ward. It is solid, stronger magic that Jawsey can generally manage, but on par with what he's seen from AM (force 6). When he looks with his physical eyes, he can see that the floor above his head has some sort of membrane coating under the wood, covering gaps and likely being upleasant to chew on, but he finds a place where it had bubbled away from the wood and split open, and in that gap he finds a spot where something mouse sized has already chewed a very small gap in a seam in the sub-floor. He'd have to enlarge the hole or get even smaller to pass through.

But as he is examining the possibilities there, he feels his fur rising, and a quick look around notices a small spruce tree (whose needles seem to fade into another dimension instead of coming to a point) floating into view on one side of the building, while one of the white capped waves surges out of the water, looking vaguely horse like as it surges onto the shore.

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

AM confirms that the matrix coverage around the Ranch is very sparse. There is enough to make a network, but lower quality devices would struggle to function properly. There are a couple of cameras, but a quick check finds that they are not models equipped with low light or IR vision -- at least not off the shelf. The 'boat shed' itself has a fair number of matrix enabled tools, barely ticking over data as they sit nestled in their charging docks, as well as nine inflatable rafts, and two air compressors. Switching to the astral she doesn't see anything down towards the river right now.

Once he is out of the car and some distance from the road, Mato can hear music coming from the main lodge. To hear it at this distance they must have it cranked up inside. The odds of anyone who is in the main lodge hearing much of anything down by the river is low. ( But then again, air compressors are also pretty loud, should he need to inflate a raft). When he reaches the storage shed he notices some frozen mud near the door which captures some footprints. He sees that the door to the shed is closed by a simple padlock (R3, purely mechanical)

'I've just been discovered from two spirits. Expect the kidnappers to make an apearance within the next minute.'

Bobby managed to think at Trouble, before he had to drop the spell and focus completely on suriviving. Being a rat wasn't the best form in these circumstances. All he could do was react as lightning fast as he could.
Static electricity made his fur stand up as he charged at the plant spirit. With some luck the spirit though he was an awakened critter. In any case he prefered the spirit that wasn't likely to engulf and drown him like a rat out of hand.

Trouble makes a funny face at the spirit, waves it a bit but does not verbally respond. Detected or not he needs to help Bobby. However, when Bobby says that he was detected, Trouble dematerializes to prepare for combat.

AM notifies Mato that it is all clear, and before he leaves she casts the silence spell at Mato just to be sure, it would prevent Mato from directly making a sound if he needs to break a window, or a lock, or inflate a raft. If she has to choose between invisibility and silence in a night with no suitable cameras she'll go for silence considering how stealthy Mato can be.

The footprints don't surprise Mato; he fully expected that the kidnappers would have also stolen a boat. What's a bit more surprising is that the lock is intact. Did they pick the lock, steal a boat, then reattach the lock to cover their tracks? He can't imagine that the ranch employees would be checking on the shed during the offseason. Or are the kidnappers staying at the ranch? That would keep them nearby without having to shiver on the Island with Brent. An interesting thought, but Mato isn't in a position to investigate at the moment.

Mato looks at the lock, maybe giving a wistful sigh for the lockpicking implements he left behind. This would be easy enough, but he didn't want to bring restricted items to Bellevue. Why would he need them for a meet at an ice cream parlor? No way they'd go straight to the job...

Making a mental note to keep them in his smuggling compartment in the future, he checks the lock, sees how it's attached to the door. Maybe a real badass would just be able to squeeze it, to crush it like a walnut, but he's doesn't want to spend unnecessary time just flexing in the forest while the others were (maybe) waiting. He can squeeze locks on his own time.

Removing his glove - so as to not damage the glove - Mato swings his fist straight down at the lock. It's a small target and an awkward angle, but in the end carbon-fiber-and-titanium win out over whatever the lock was made out of. It shatters and drops into the snow.

There's a trace of... guilt (?) over the lock. He wishes he didn't have to destroy it. But, on the other hand, he's about to steal a boat, so the lock itself is hardly of consequence.

Just an ork in a suit in the snow stealing a boat in the mountains at night, he reminds himself as he puts his glove back on and pulls open the door to the storage shed to see what's inside.

Mato finds that the storage shed is well organized, with the rafts deflated but spread out on shelves, easy to pull up to either of the two air compressors. PFDs ('life jackets') are arrayed on the wall by size, and paddles standing up in bins by length. A quick look shows that the air compressors run on small fossil fuel engines, and have very clear AR instructions for starting and using it

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

The plant spirit sends a wave of wild energy towards Bobby, attempting to remove the spell that he is under. Meanwhile the water spirit canters around the building, moving casually but covering twice its length in each stride, reaching Bobby in only seconds. As it approaches it dives through the air in a manner that horses absolutely do not, apparently. trying to slide right into Bobby.

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

The Aztechnology spirit is, of course, not bothered by Trouble throwing off its physical form. It keeps talking "They sent a few spirits for me to play with, they understand how bored I get. But it has been HOURS since the last one. You could come play, I promise I'd let you return to your home plane once I captured you -- it is just for fun after all." Fortunately it does not put any magical persuasion behind its words and Trouble is not compelled to either answer or to go play -- but it does get the sense that were it to enter into the Aztech spirit's demesne, the powerful spirit would be on it in a moment.

Mato pulls out the deflated raft and carries it to the shore with an air compressor. He retrieves a couple personal flotation devices along with a couple paddles. Then he goes through the AR instructions to initiate using the air compressors to inflate the rafts.

He doesn't have a good sense of what AM's magic can accomplish but he stays close to the compressor just in case the bubble of her spell can mute the engine. His preference would be to wait elsewhere, to use the compressor as a distraction so that he could flank anyone who comes to investigate. He wishes his earbuds had a select sound filter in order to help ignore the noise, but they don't so he'll have to depend on his other senses to keep him aware. The burning fossil fuels overwhelm his olfactory sensors so he triggers their override to ignore them. Then looks around, keeping watch for anyone or anything that responds to the sound.

AM remains parked at the side of the road and uses her time to retain the car out of sight. She keeps Tatanka as an early warning in case someone comes after Mato. In the meanwhile, Trouble is mildly curious but a bit worried by the big spirit - and the nature of its games. He has no time to think about it because Bobby is at its highest priority. "got to help a friend. You can help too if you want" he says and dematerializes. He does not look back but is instead moving as fast as he can toward Bobby and would fearlessly jump any spirit that attacks him.

The sudden reformation back into his natural shape nearly was Bobby's undoing. But thanks to Trouble's movement power, he had cleared the room under the hut before he could become helplessly trapped there.
He saw the watery tentacle reach for him, trying to engulf his arm - but that was something Bobby had trained against. The movement was miniscule but crucial. Just a circular motion of his arm that allowed him to bring it down on top of the tentacle. The result was spectacular, as the stored elemental energy inside his now much larger body was released in a single, violent discharge.
The watery shape boiled instantly into vapor and Bobby could see the form vanish in a flash.
That left the tree form spirit. Without hesitation, Bobby flicked his naked leg forward in a stomp kick - aided by his still impressive momentum, ready to unleash another lightning kick into the essence of his assailant.

Bobby shreds the plant spirit just as easily as the water spirit. Given that one or both of them were probably bound, Bobby just cost someone a lot of nuyen! However if he has angered anyone it is not readily apparent, all he can hear is the sound of the rain and the river and his own breath. On the astral, Trouble finds it less peaceful, with the dissolution of the two spirits leaving the astral disturbed. However Trouble does not see any other astral beings around for the moment, other than the Aztechnology spirit which is looming over the cliff, apparently at the very edge of its territory, peering down to see what is happening.

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

AM is surprised by Peshtigo suddenly showing up in her AR again. <<The path opened up again! Brent didn't eat or drink and he stayed awake and he thought it might be a little more than three hours and it was so here I am! Also he says some matrix items just went live near him, drones and guns and cameras. He wants to know if those are yours? He might be able to mess with them but he doesn't want to let the kidnappers know he can do that until you are there to rescue him! >>

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

Mato gets the air compressor running, in eerie silence thanks to AM's spell. Looking around he sees bits of ice frozen to the bank of the river in places, but the water appears to be moving quickly enough not to have frozen over all the way. Still, it has to be cold enough that spending any time in the water would be a danger even if you didn't drown. He certainly hopes that nobody sabotaged the other rafts or played other tricks to make sure they would not be pursued down the river.

Once the raft is full, Mato pushes it into the water. He looks to see if bubbles or gives any other indication of losing air. If it seems like it will support his weight, he'll jump in with a couple oars and a couple PFDs.

He's not really worried about drowning; he has an internal air tank for that. Hypothermia is a potentially larger concern, but only if he falls in the water. If that happens then he'd need to watch his head so as to not knock his brains out against some rock in the middle of the river.

Would his skimmers work on the surface of the water? Perhaps, but he wouldn't be able to extract Brent that way. Still, it was interesting to think about.

If the raft seems buoyant then he pushes off and begins paddling downstream.

AM asks Peshtigo to wait ">>Not yet, but hang in with me for a bit"

Through Trouble AM passes a message to Bobby, the Cat hovers next to Bobby too slow to interfere with what was going on. "AM says that some technological security measures, are online near Bernt. Can you confirm his position?"

In the meanwhile, AM takes a matrix look for herself at the surrounding of the ranch and the complex to see if there is any security response to the boat stealing, or to Bobby's rescue attempt.

Bobby let the power fade away, feeling the burn even this brief moment of power had caused.
Trouble's voice on the astral stopped him wondering about who the conjurer was and focused him at the task at hand.

'No, but I intend to find out. Subtle is over, I'm going for speed now.'

Bobby concentrated again, strengthening his body and turned himself into a 600 kg Kodiak to batter down the physical defenses, followed by the magical ones.

Rearing up on his hindlegs, Bobby brought down the full weight and power of his claws against the sidewall where he suspected Brent's prison would be located - and where it was less likely that someone had rigged a trap for some unwary one entering through the door.

AM's heart is racing, Bobby is there alone and there is a fight, and possibly a mage. >> Mato, Bobby was discovered either he gets Bernt or we'll have to extract him as well. I am working on the matrix, what is your status?

Mato is not terribly surprised to hear that Bobby is going it alone. He's a bull in a china shop. Usually it's a metaphor but in this case it's entirely possible that Bobby is currently a bull.

<<On the river>> Mato responds. <<I need to thread the needle between the Aztec research facility and the Salish military base.>>

Mato finds the start of his trip easy enough, with the river throwing nothing more complicated his way than an occasional eddy. However after a couple of minutes it threads itself through a series of protuding rocks and underwater ledges, with strong eddies in places. The danger here is not so much getting dumped as getting stuck on a rock or in an eddy


That obstacle is barely clearned long enough for Mato to catch his breath before he finds himself going over a meter high drop, rapidly followed by two more.



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

Bobby turns into a massive bear -- which is actually a good fit for this area, most likely --and triggers his adept powers to become even faster and tougher. The building is solidly built, possibly in consideration of full-time bears or maybe simply of high flood waters, but it is not a bunker. One strike from Bobby's massive claws rips a substantial hole in the side of the building, exposing the ward.

Before Bobby strikes the ward however his adept senses warn him of danger in time to recognize a flying-eye drones zooming in on him, and he realizes that the one at eye level is about to unleash a strobing light. While he is reacting to that danger, he also hears the whine of an electric engine rapidly spinning up, in the direction of the fire pit.

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

AM finds that all is calm at the Ranch, at least matrix-wise. After all, it wouldn't be easy to haul the rafts up to the highway without being spotted, and who in their right mind would launch themselves down river without a guide?

It turns out that Mato sucks at river rafting. Maybe he's not the Wild Ork he imagined himself to be. He places more trust in his sense of balance than it deserves.

He hits some protruding rocks and winces. It's dark, he tries to console himself, moments before hitting an underwater ledge. D'oh! It's only by luck - or the blessing of the Great Spirit - that he doesn't pitch head-first into the cold, dark river.

There's no way he could have seen that in the dark, right? Nor the strong eddy that spins him around 180 degrees so that he's facing upriver moments before the raft goes over an unexpected drop, then another, then another.

OOF! he thinks as his titanium knees are knocked into his non-titanium chest. He flattens out and seizes the rope that goes around the perimeter of the raft. It keeps him onboard but doesn't stop the boat from hitting a few more rocks and taking some more damage.

Did anyone see that? Mato wonders. Did Trouble see that? Am I going to live this down?

Suitably chastened by the Great Mystery, he gets back up on his knees and starts the awkward process of spinning the raft around so that it's going downstream bow-first.

Trouble is unaware of the additional danger, and of the drones that lurk because they are barely visible in the astral and he would not know to look for them. However, with the barrier gone the cat spirits give in to curiosity and looks inside the treehouse. If he finds Bernt inside then AM would approve Peshtigo to have Bernt help out on the matrix side.


AM kept her attention on the treehouse to see if she can see the matrix devices that Bernt wants to help with - and perhaps pull her own weight on matrix warfare.

Mato soon comes into a narrow chutewhere the water is fast and full of standing waves -- the white water at their crests lets him see those at least. For better or worse that long stretch of very high speed current will speed him toward the island, although he'd certainly enjoy it more if he can stay in the raft. Just as he's approaching the first wave his matrix devices start sending out alerts that they cannot find matrix signals.



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Trouble can vaguely see movement of at least one living aura on the other side of the barrier, possibly if it focuses it could garner a little more information.

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To AM's disapointment, although the vicinity of the ranch has a decent matrix mesh, she still doesn't have a direct link to the island, it seems to be in a dead zone.

The drone in Bobby's face was annoying enough for him to hessitate and swat it away with one of his claws.

Attack Drone: 18d6t5 3

The gas was a nasty surprise, but nothing he could do about. So he tried to hold his breath while he tore down the barrier.

AM realizes that she is all alone in the woods, and cannot help via matrix connectivity. She breaths heavily, and keeps alert for any danger coming her way. She instructs Trouble to verify that Bernt is there as quickly as possible - and she wants to be able to call Trouble to her so he can accelerate here into following Mato minus the extreme water park experience. Somehow being all chromed out allows for some leeway in the definition of dangerous that does not suit the fragile elf. Trouble would help Bobby attack the barrier if it is not shredded, and if it can get inside the hut would try and contact Bernt, and tell him that they are coming to rescue him and that he can help matrix-wise.


attack barrier (astral combat): 10d6t5 4
Damage is 5 + 4 net hits.
Once inside he'll have a look.
perception: 10d6t5 3

Maybe it is the odd, bobbing movement of the Flying Eye, but Bobby's paw barely brushes the drone. Of course, with the electrical energy around Bobby's body barely touching is plenty to fry the drone.



The mana barrier is strong, but Trouble gives it a hard astral clawing. The spirit feels its claws penetrate through the barrier, but the barrier manages to maintain itself, barely

Bobby finished the swing by coming down on the barrier and breaking it hard.

Mato sees the coming chute and grits his teeth. The river is dark and full of malice. He doesn't have time to worry about his Matrix devices saying they can't find signals; instead he needs to worry about gravity and what it's about to do to the boat.

He paddles like man, trying his best to avoid the worst of the waves. The boat jumps and heaves like a bucking bronco. Perhaps his reactions are good enough to keep the boat from flipping, but given his track record so far he wouldn't want to depend on them.

Why is this so hard?? he thinks to himself. This is probably why most people don't white-water raft at night in the winter.

Bobby rips apart the ward -- at least for the moment. The darn things won't stay down for long, but he has a couple of seconds without the barrier in the way. While he is focused on what is inside, part of him notes his eyes and the sensitive tips of his nose starting to burn -- whatever the gas is, it has an effect without inhalation.

Bobby has torn a hole in the wall easily big enough for a the average person to fit through, although it might be tougher for a bear. There appear to be open backed plastic shelves against the inside of the wall, as an empty shelf is visible through the hole (making passing through it that much more awkward). The view through the gap is dominated by an orc in an armored jacket and helmet, aiming an Ingram smartgun in Bobby's direction. Slightly behind and above the orc is a pheonix-like fire spirit. A smaller figure is sprawled on the floor in the far corner of the room, only partially visible behind the orc.

Trouble does not see any purely astral forms in the part of the room that it can see. Before Trouble can react to enter the room or take other actions, it sees the fire spirit send a wave of magic at Bobby.

Bobby is suddenly hit with the knowledge that to stay where he is will be a certain death, and that his only hope is to flee

Mato "successfully" navigates the drops. Would an optimist say that the boat is only half-full of water? Either way his shoes are wet, and so it his suit below the knees.

His legs are metal so he's not worried about hypothermia yet, but if he finds himself in the water then that could be a serious concern. His commlink is waterproof, right? Or at least water-resistant? Guess he'll find out, not that there's a Matrix signal to confirm it. Maybe once he's past the various military bases and research installations.

The inflatable raft is stable and he appreciates that, but steering it in fast-moving water is like trying to fly a blimp in a hurricane. He continues on, wondering if Bobby will have everything wrapped up neatly with a bow by the time Mato finally gets there.

"Well, frag..." Bobby was able to think before the pure animalistic terror overcame him and short circuited every conscious thought.

Few people appreciated just how fast a Kodiak can move. Having the movement power on one was something else alltogether. Leaving a spray of dirt behind him, Bobby ran like all hell's devils were after him specifically.