The other guards look around at each other a bit. Then the Cyclops says "Hey, if he's taking point he's gotta lead. " He starts following Willie. The other two he was hanging out with follow their friend. These three all have Remington 990s. A wiry human male falls in behind them wordlessly. He's got a Ruger 100 with a scope.

As Willie heads out, he quickly gets an impression they might be more just watching his back, as opposed to, well, watching his back.

(OOC: If Willie wants to stare at them he could make perception tests to try and spot other weapons or if any of their clothes are armored, etc.)

The road heading south is open and still looks like a road, just with weeks poking through and encroaching on the sides. The shade and falling leave and pine needles make the woods look fairly easy to move through.

Willie surveys the area and does a weapon and armour check. He fires off a few questions. " You men, " he figures that now they are actually going on a hunt they deserve to be considered men, " look pretty well armed. Those shotguns have slugs or flechettes? Any of that clothing fireproof?"



"That thing musta caught you by surprise. The woods look thin here. Does it get thicker farther south?"

The Orc replies first "These duds are supposed to be fire resistant, and we have both loadings. You never know what you're going to run into out here." The cyclops rolls its eye again. "Maybe that's in the ad copy, but everyone lying on a pew back there was wearing something similar. "

As Willie looks them over, the clothing has a stiffness he associates with being armored, but not very heavily so. The overalls also give them a bunch of pockets, and either handheld drills are very popular or some of them have handguns.

The cyclops continues in response to the other question " It isn't too bad walking deeper in the woods, but on the treeline you get all sorts of saplings, shrubs, vines, and poison ivy. Plenty of places to hide there. That's how I understand they got hit. I'm not even sure it was exactly hiding, maybe it was just flying quiet or low. "

The human in dreadlocks ads. "And, ya dig, something could be hiding behind any tree."

After walking a little longer the Cyclops says "We've got some non lethal rounds too, but I'm not in the mood with this thing."

The man with the rifle doesn't reply to any of this. Mostly he's looking over his shoulders behind himself as the group moves forward.

Willie chuckles and nods knowingly at the cyclops' comment. "Yeah, I don't much try to subdue with bullets. That's what fists are for. "

He notes the comment about flying, and includes 'up' as part of his scanning for trouble. He makes sure the spatial recognizer in his earbuds is turned on.

He notes the lot of them are behind him with drawn weapons. He also notes the rifle guy checking their six. These 'farm boys' are not stupid.

A silence sets in over the group as Willie moves along the path. Looks like they're leaving it to him how he wants to approach the area.

In the quiet Willie can take in some of the sights and sounds. For one thing there's another one of those drones up in the air, but it's quite a ways off towards the village, though it's slowly heading in this general direction, based on it's nose pointing this way.

Willie doesn't see any critters of any type, aside from some bugs, but he can hear birds around. With the tall grass and bushes on one side and trees on the other, there's plenty of places to hide.

For a moment he does spot a Cardinal. Seems like with all the metacritters about, normal bright birds should have gotten wiped out, but they still seem to be around.

The rest of the bird calls also seem like normal birds as far as Willie can tell. There are maybe some odd sounds that his ear buds can pick up, but they seem quite distant and distorted against the sound of the breeze.

Eventually Flatline chirps up in Willie's ear over the matrix <<Ugh. So I started with the guy who had it the worst. I was really on point with the first aid and magic if I do say so myself. Made some fans with that. But it hit me like a bus. So I'm going to be taking that rest after all. You can let me know if you think I should do more rests or just try and finish up as quick as I can while still doing my best work. Or I guess if we're going to need to bug out. I really hate rushing my work, and it really does matter, but drek happens.>>

(OOC: Not a single hit on resisting drain.)

Since people are talking, Lenny adds in <<Oh, and I boosted the radio in my comlink. Uh, I'm not sure what kind of radio you have in yours. Mind if I get inside and take a look? I could also maybe keep some awareness of your environment, or, I dunno something. At least I'd know if there was a risk of you not being able to get a message out. >>

Willie replies to both the team, << Go ahead, Lenny, get inside my head if you like. Don't be scared of what you find there. Flatline, I don't know how long this hunt is going to take. I know the boss lady wants you to hurry, but doing a good job is probably more along Brewster's wishes than a quick one. More likely to be hired a second time. >>

(OOC: Assuming that means you gave Lenny user level access to his comlink and has subscribed his eyes and earbugs. I'd have to do some hacking rolls and add some whining otherwise )

It only takes a few moments for Lenny to reply as he starts to check out Willie's PAN <<Wait. Get in your head? You have headware? Oh! You mean cybereyes. I see. And the earbuds right. Oh! Hey, you have two comlinks. That's really smart. I should really get a couple. Different IDs right. I need to get on that. Uh. I guess I'm kinda disguised in this helmet. That should count for something right? >>

A couple moments more. <<Wow. It's weird looking through somebody else's eyes. I guess in the trids that do that they must be running it through a stabilizing filter. You keep looking all over the place. Just jerking all over. That's a whole lot of green out there. By the way I'm not being a bad assistant. Flatline is just sitting around right now. He has me checking bandages, but since I don't really know what I'm checking it doesn't matter if I'm paying close attention.>>

There is a little pause, before he adds. <<Don't say it>>

Then he continues, happy again. <<So yeah, if you wanted to stick that comlink on your jacket or something I could use its camera too. I should really get a tacnet going. I can see how those things would be really useful. I mean maybe not when you're all alone out there, but if someone else was there too, and maybe a drone.

Darn it. How do you make any money as a Shadowrunner when you need so much gear?

Or is cool gear the whole point. >>

Lenny slips into thinking about some of the reasons he got into this.

Willie takes Lennie's idea and runs with it. He jury rigs the commlink to his armour. To discourage nefarious thoughts among his fellow hunters, he says, "Got a video feed here connected back to the church. They will be able to see what happens if we come upon some beasties. "

He muses to himself, "Or notice me getting shot in the back. Not that their shotguns would kill me right away. "

His comlink has a clip, and the box came with a set of straps for attaching it to someone's person in a variety of ways. The trick is more that he doesn't have pockets and the like on his back, however the back of his collar works well enough.

(OOC: 4th edition artists loved visible comlinks worn outside the clothes. Well, or the artists were told to include them. Since people use them via glasses, earbuds, and other AR gear or datajacks most of the time, they don't need to come out or fit in your hand like cell phones. )

As soon as things settle down Lenny says <<Ok Ok. This is cool! Yeah. Uh. I don't suppose you want your exploits recorded in three hundred and sixty degrees? I guess probably not. It's Ok. Anyway, uh, your comlinks could use better signal, but I think they're automatically forwarding off of something else with better signal. Probably one of those other guys has a comlink with a better signal that's forwarding things. So, maybe stay kinda near your friends? Maybe if that drone gets close enough your comlink could use that? >>

Back in the real world, the Ork says "Yeah, we're in contact with folks in the church too. Just a connected friendly world. So it's time for you to show off your mad commando skills. "

Willie turns to the ork and replies, "Gimme something I wanna kill, and you'll see."

His gaze lingers the appropriate amount of time he learned on the streets of Seattle. One junkyard dog to another.

The human in dreadlocks just kind of stares at the Orcs looking at each other. Not seemingly able to deal with it he starts fiddling around in AR.

"Hey mon. Remember the nasty burning bird we're supposed to be hunting? Let's just get. We might want to pick up the pace too. That'll give it less time to leave and us more time to look around if we need to try and find it. We can just head down to the road until you see the cutaway in the treeline and make a left down it. Gotta feeling we'll be able to tell where the others got hit."

"Thanks for the directions," Willie says in uncharacteristically conciliatory voice. He doesn't want to get into a gunfight here. Yet. Not ever if he continues to take Brewster's admonition to heart. Pain in the ass trying to keep in good graces, especially when it is to comply with a boss's needs.

Now that he has a specific geographical objective, he turns and picks up the pace towards what looks like the turnoff up ahead.

The group grows quiet as they lope on down the road. Wary. Or maybe just not feeling like talking. The path evidently doesn't see a whole lot of vehicle traffic. But Willie can see signs that there's somewhat regular foot traffic, metahuman or animal, as there is a trail of sorts through the weed and grasses that are attempting to slowly annihilate the old road.

It takes about ten minutes to reach the turn. In that Time Bongo can see that the drone isn't heading for him, it's actually going more in the direction of the church. An ARO appears in Willie's vision. Looks like Lenny whipped something together, a little pulsing circle labeled "signal strength" so far it's green. Lenny chimes in after getting it set up. <<Ok, it's actually pretty cool getting to watch like this. However, if you have anything else on you with a matrix signal, it might not be the worst idea to leave something along the road. It should automatically act like a repeater. This comlink work work, but I'm hoping you have, I dunno. A toaster or who knows what that would have a matrix node in it. >>

(OOC: If Willie goes all the way to the turn)

When he reaches the area indicated on the map, Bongo can see what looks like it once was a one way dirt road. Now the trees have largely closed in overhead, and grasses, weeds, brush and saplings have grown below where more light than usual in the forest reaches the ground. Again there's a path down the middle through the waist to shoulder high vegetation. Closer to the road there are a lot of cattails, probably where ditches once were.

An old sign, with much of the paint missing and acting like it might fall over from neglect and rot, indicates that this is "Area S".

Willie turns onto the side road. To Lenny he replies, << I don't know what things I have that have a node in them. Some time soon you can explain it all to me. Turning off the main road now. >>

He keeps to the middle of the path through the grasses on the dirt road. " I see how something could ambush here real easy. I got eyes front. You boys take care of sides and especially the back. Some things like to sneak up behind their lunch." His eyes front cover a wide arc from side to side.

"Anybody know what 'Area S' means? "

The path Willie is following is fairly narrow, though once past the cattails it seems rather solid to either side. Just covered in tall vegetation.

The Ork says "That sign? That old signs from... Well, I don't know how back far it goes, but a long time. Maybe before the awakening even. Maybe it was a camp area for little kiddies back when this area was alllllll fun and games. "

The Cyclops looks around side to side, and mumbles to himself the human with dreads (OOC: Though loud enough Willie can buy the hits to overhear) "We really ought to cut all this back. Now I'm surprised something like this didn't happen long ago."

Up ahead Bongo can start to see and area where the grass has been burned on both sides of the path, though mostly on the south side. It's also clearly been disturbed, such as by people moving through it recently. But things here are pretty lush. Only the tips are burned, leaving a good three or four feet of green grass, weeds, and scrub that Willie can't see through.

Willie slows a bit and exhibits even more caution. "Looks like ground zero up ahead. Keep alert. " He almost chokes on the admonition. Fuck, if they can't figure that out for themselves, no wonder they got flamed.

Since the others show no interest in getting ahead of Willie, when he slows, they slow. Staying on the soft but clear path there isn't much sound at all from the groups slow movement, though anything not down in the grass would be able to see them, especially the cyclops. The main sound is the rustling of the leaves, carrying comments Willie probably wasn't meant to hear from the Orc about "How did we wind up following this fragging genius" to which the human in dreds replies that "He must have the boat because he's captain obvious".

There are some bird sounds from the woods, but nothing that obviously sounds like some flaming awakened paracritter. Though Willie doesn't know if a Pheonix sounds that odd at all.

The path is clear as far as Willie can see straight ahead, until it goes up a gradual slope and then heads down again, out of sight. He eases from one side of the singed area to the other, ready to react to anything. But nothing jumps up over the twenty feet or so the fight seems to have occurred over.

Willie tries to figure out where the bird attacked from. Maybe the burn marks spread from one side to the other, or from back to front?

Looking at the scorch marks what Willie can deduce is that the scorch marks aren't in a line like a flamethrower nor circular like a fireball. More like a meandering path. Mostly one going above the grass, though in spots the scorch path gets lower in the scrub. No scorch line leads obviously into the woods in either direction.


However his cognitive enhancer lets him remember (OOC: buy 2 hits on a memory test) that someone back at the church had said that the attack came from the south.

Willie considers the situation. Go further on the road, or go in the direction from which the attack came. Maybe a nest that way?

"Bird came from the south, they said. Might be a nest that way. Let's go." He leads to the south from the middle of the burnt area.

It's a minor struggle to get through the scrub, but once a short distance into the wood, the shade from the canopy has prevented much from growing on the ground, and it's relatively easy to move.

Noisy though. It seems like the other guys are managing to find a crunchy leaf, branch, or twig with every step as they follow Willie at about the same distance as before. They've cut the chatter though.

Willie can see a fair distance between trees, because these don't have much for branches on their lower trunks and most are spaced a good ten feet from each other. Though again anything could be hiding between them or behind or rock or fallen trunk or branch. The canopy full of pine needles above would provide a lot of cover up there too.

In the distance, perhaps thirty yards away it looks like there's a clearing where more light is reaching the forest floor. A rocky area where the green is from moss or lichen on the boulders there instead of grass or scrub.

"Let's see what's in that clearing ahead," says Willie. "Seems to me that a bird that could flame on at a sneeze might want to hole up in a place that isn't so flammable."

He leads in that direction.

Willie advances on the area, keeping an eye on the rocks in case something pops up as the others start to follow.

(OOC: time for a perception check. Audio(2) with +3 due to actively listening and visual(2)(net -1 modifier). Then go for an initiative test (for surprise), with +3 if you pass a perception check. and then roll regular initiative. )

(OOC: rolls were in the ooc thread)

A cry rings out as a Phoenix, well, Willie might assume any flaming bird ought to be the Phoenix, comes out of the canopy. Either it can turn the aura off or it must have been entirely hidden by the canopy for a while. It's coming in between the two groups, heading for the lead Orc. In its wake is a path of singed pine needles and branches


The Orc seems to have been caught surprised, and the wiry wary human was looking away from the group to the rear. The human and dreads and the cyclops are tracking it, but they're moving to slowly.

Willie is faster. However as he looks at the others and the Phoenix he's aware of noise and light coming in at him from the rocks as well.

On the com, moving at virtual speeds, Lenny yells <<There's another one!>>

(OOC: Willie made his rolls and won initiative. So the ball is in your court. )

Suuuure. "Let's go south," he says. "Maybe there's a nest there," he says. No thought that the nest might have a %*&%^ MATED PAIR!

Willie steps to the side and turns sideways, hoping to be more able to dodge the second bird's attack. Because, let's face it, the others are gonna get fried for sure, standing there and gaping.

[OOC: There's that 'Heroism' Positive Quality again. ]

He unloads his first pair of bursts into the bird coming at the others.



Then there is the matter of the second bird. Does it come at him or at the others?

Willies first attack just barely connects with one of his bullets. However an unarmored wing doesn't respond well and the bird hits the ground instead of the orc. No longer having to hit such a fast moving target, Willie's next burst is devastating.

Willie dodges as the other bird closes talons coming in from above and behind (OOC: 13 dice after charging and superior position and it only gets one hit!)

Still mostly facing the group, he can see their shotguns raising in his direction where the remaining bird is. They might be able to get a shot at it around him, but Willie is suddenly very aware of being in the way of shotguns.

Weaving and dodging the second bird's attack, Willie gets nervous about friendly fire. he shouts "Don't shoot!"

(Ooc: OK, So it did just get one hit, but you should still roll defense...they sting even on a graze. Presuming you don't roll like crap and get knocked down so you still shout "don't shoot," the others will hold actions, so Willie is the next one up. He is in melee.)

Willie's been in tight spots before. He is calm and cool, even if the bird is trying to fry him.



With liquid smoothness, Quick Willie lives up to his moniker and dodges the flaming talons of the bird. The others seem to have heard his shout, and none shoots him in the back as Willie turns his weapon on the bird.

Once again Willie's first burst knocks the bird down, though he connects multiple times with this one. The bird goes down hard and doesn't manage to evade at all as Willie's second burst from above at point blank range starts the process of burying it in the ground.

The difference is this time Willie is too close to its aura. (OOC: 5DV fire damage, no defense roll. Twice. That's not enough to knock Willie down nor take him out no matter what you roll, so I'm going to proceed under the assumption that he seems all right to the other guys. If you throw glitch or something we'll sort that out with a little delay.)

It was all over in a matter of seconds. The others blink at the two downed birds, two of them having shouldered their shotguns and been ready to fire. But in a couple more seconds everyone is with it.

The wirey human keeps scanning the area behind, and the human in deadlocks is nervously jerking his shotgun around to different sounds, and seems like he was just about to waste a finch.

The Orc in the lead of their groups takes a few steps forward and gives a low whistle over the corpse of the first Phoenix. He kneels down and starts checking out the feathers.

The Cyclops seems to relax after a few moments. Seems to remember himself and manages a "Thanks. Good Job" for Willie. After a second of reflection he adds. "That was it? And one of them did that to all those guys? "

The wiry human doesn't turn around, but adds "They got too complacent. We like to think of these woods as our friend. Like things here go after other people not us. They shoulda had people with guns ready and eyes up. Not bumbling along like it's always a Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah day out here."

On the com Lenny says <<Whoa. That was a lot. You were jerking around way to fast. I just need a moment.>>

Willie turns to the others and then they see that he has some redness on his hands and face, but nothing serious. Always good to pretend invulnerability. Street cred goes a long way, even for an uncouth thug.

He nods to the cyclops. "These things are dangerous even as they die." he says. He joins the feather collection getting no more than half a dozen for himself. He adds, "Yeah, get as many of these feathers as you can. Probably worth something so you can buy more supplies."

To the wiry human he says, "Woods ain't friend to nobody. Things out here kill or get killed. Huh. Not much different from where I come from. Listen, if there was two of them, then my guess for a nest might be right. Let's go see if there are any eggs. I bet you could sell those for real money. Maybe get better armour and things."

The Orc takes a bag out of his overall's voluminous pocket and takes the birds whole. Though with all the shooting there are some loose feathers to get ahold of. "We want to show that we got them. And hey, mebbie they're good eats. "

The dreaded humans adds "So long as they don't rise up out of the ashes of the fryer. Ha!"

The cyclops at least gives a chuckle and groan as the human laughs at his own joke. The bunch of them amped up from even the brief firefight.

They follow Willie towards the rocky area that might have housed a nest

(OOC: This one is easy enough you wouldn't have to roll for it. There's a fire scorched area of rock with lots of little pebbles of different colors making it bottom smooth and with some give. Two eggs are there.)

Willie stashes his half-dozen feathers safely as they move further south. He also switches clips to have a fully loaded weapon ready. You never know.

"Ahah! A couple of eggs. Collect them too, and try to keep them from cooling off too much. Then let's head back to the trail."

Once valuables are stored away, Willie leads back to the trail. Once there, he asks the team, "Anybody know what's down the trail that way?" He points to the east, away from the road. "The map I have shows the trail just stops in the middle of the forest. Wanna go see? Maybe some more valuables to collect."

Of course, Willie is trying to execute Brewster's request to check out what is there at the end of the trail.

Willie stands with the others. The cyclops carefully holding an egg in one hand and his shotgun comfortably in the other. The human in dreads is holding the other egg in both hands, with his shotgun on a sling over his shoulders.

After Willie speaks there is a brief silence as the wind rustles through the tress and the tall grass on either side of the well worn path. A rut obviously formed by many trips. Enough to get quite comfortable and complacent here.

Shortly the Orc says "No idea. Let's get back to the church before there's any trouble...at the church. We ought to be there. They'll be glad to see these birds." He starts off down the path back the way you'd come, looking over his shoulder. The other three wait behind Willie.

Willie gets the message. He sets out after the orc. He messages Brewster, << Something is up at the place in the woods you suggested, but I'm being escorted not too subtly away from it. Not going to cause trouble by pushing it. >>

(Ooc: Willie's upgraded brain nags him a bit, and then he remembers it was flatline messing around with Lenny's map that he noticed something on this side of the river that might be of interest. Brewster just had a very general desire to know what's going on out here and how are they getting by and making money.

<<Actually, Flatline suggested it, but I bet it fits your query.>> Willie keeps an eye on his travel companions as he reports.

The other orc still has the lead, but the others fall in roughly as they had before, just this time they're going slow because of being careful with eggs versus expecting something to jump out. If anything they seem overly calm compared to how Willie thinks people ought to feel with all this tall grass nearby and trees not far away.

Their mood seem to improve once it appears they're all heading back to the church, especially as they get out of this side trail and to the old road.


(OOC: It's about a mile out an a mile back, but I'm figuring you spent enough time moving slowly or stopping being wary that takes over an hour).

As you move along Lenny chimes in <<Flatline says he's feeling better. He's about to start working again. >>

On the trail, as they others start joking about who the women will be more impressed with, Willie gets a reply from Brewster <<If you're trying to intrigue me you've succeeded. However to be clear while I enjoy intrigue as much if not more than the next fixer, I only pay for answers.>>

The other orc still has the lead, but the others fall in roughly as they had before, just this time they're going slow because of being careful with eggs versus expecting something to jump out. If anything they seem overly calm compared to how Willie thinks people ought to feel with all this tall grass nearby and trees not far away.

Their mood seem to improve once it appears they're all heading back to the church, especially as they get out of this side trail and to the old road.


(OOC: It's about a mile out an a mile back, but I'm figuring you spent enough time moving slowly or stopping being wary that takes over an hour).

As you move along Lenny chimes in <<Flatline says he's feeling better. He's about to start working again. >>

On the trail, as they others start joking about who the women will be more impressed with, Willie gets a reply from Brewster <<If you're trying to intrigue me you've succeeded. However to be clear while I enjoy intrigue as much if not more than the next fixer, I only pay for answers.>>

Lots of time as they walk back to the church for Willie to banter via the matrix. << Got you, boss. I'm not the one to convince others to do what I want them to do. That's more Bongo's shtick, or maybe Flatline's. I could take these mooks with little damage to me, but that would not go well with the locals, and definitely not fit with your instruction not to hurt your rep with them.

<< Speaking of rep and relationship, we're bringing some phoenix feathers and two eggs back. If you know someone who would pay for those, you could get a nice cut and get them some cash to pay for repairs and such. >>

Brewster replies <<I'm afraid I haven't yet found out about a paracritter that spits bullets. So that really does narrow things down. >> He pauses a bit after Willie mentions the eggs. <<Those aren't my typical business, but I'm flexible if they reach out to me. But don't encourage them my way. I might be interested in trying to figure out where else they might route any of that. I don't suppose you brought any RFID tags along with you? Those can be surprisingly useful. >>

<<But to get back to the point. I appreciate the complexity of your situation. Perhaps follow Flatlines lead if need be. I was hoping for information, but it's no good to me if they panic and fold everything up. Assuming they can do so. Perhaps more likely their associates may choose to go elsewhere with whatever they're up to if they get spooked.>>

For all that, it's getting to really be a beautiful day outside where Willie is walking. Keeping up with the quickening pace of the others as the other orc leads.

Willie replies to Brewster, << Nope, I don't have any of those tags. Lenny or Flatline might. I'll keep it chill. You know me. Mr. Smooth. >> Willie's chuckle at that comment draws a look or two from his fellow walkers.

Brewster replies <<....Yes. That might be the best approach. I'll be on hand as much as possible. Remember net access isn't guaranteed out there. >>

(OOC: You'll be able to get to the church if that's what Willie wants to do. So you could describe arriving in your next post. Let me know if he's up to something else or wants to chat with the others, but I'm not sure what else to reply to your last post with IC. Also it's really late here )

Willie and the Poor Boys arrive back at the church to find Flatline starting another round of healing. Willie goes to Larissa to report.

"Got two of them. Brought back proof plus some feathers and a couple of eggs you should be able to sell. Or, who knows, maybe train the chicks to be guard ... birds.

"So, I believe I fulfilled my end of our deal, doubly in fact."

Larissa inspects the birds, feathers, and eggs.

Shortly afterwards everyone else that's ambulatory does as well, except Flatline, who is deeply focused on his work. Lenny is there, despite the fact he should also probably be focused on his work.

There's some conversational buzz. The three talkative ones that went with Willie are talking about the action and the birds flying and blazing. They aren't telling any lies, but they're leaving out the details of who shot what.

Seeming satisfied Larissa nods at Willie. "Thanks. Probably would have been fine, bet with two maybe someone would have gotten hurt, and we don't need that right now. Your friend seems to be making good progress on those less injured. Maybe we'll be able to get going soon. I'll make sure to flag the funds as for you when I square up with your fixer. It'll be up to you two what cut he takes, but fixers are the one middleman I never cut. "

Once she stops talking, a message from Flatline pops up. <<I'm a little tired, but not where it affects my performance yet. However I'm moving on to the ones with the least wounds, I can take it a little easier with them probably. So I could be done in a few minutes...unless you'd rather I wasn't. You have a better feel for the lay of things now.>>

Willie nods at the mention of Brewster. "Yeah, keep the fixer happy. I'm not sure how much longer Flatline there is going to be. I don't like the idea of boating back to Baltimore in the dark. My little boat can't handle being run over by a freighter. Any chance we can hole up for the night somewhere here?

"Oh yeah, there's some kind of underwater thing with tentacles on its face just out from the docks where we landed. You got anything like a couple of grenades we could wrangle to deal with it if it comes after us on the way home? I dunno, seeing as I killed two birds in one sweep, maybe you could toss them in as a performance bonus?"

Big, toothy grin. His teeth haven't been brushed lately.

Larrisa takes a half step back and considers the situation. She turns over towards Flatline and asks. "Are you going to be much longer?!?!" He gives something of an uncertain expression, mostly at Willie, but then seems to make a decision and says. "I'll need to rest up a bit before the last batch. Like my last rest. But look at some of the results!"

There are a couple grumbles from folks not completely healed, but the results around the room are still miraculous to anyone not used to what healing magic can do on top of some good work with a medkit.

Larrissa says "It's not so late" But Flatline jumps in and adds "We need to take the long way back. Willie rushed here to get to your wounded, but we nearly died on the way. The ship just isn't meant for that."

Not entirely in on what's going on, Lenny nevertheless vigorously nods in agreement at that.

Larrissa and the rest are obviously unhappy about all that. She spends a little time mulling things over.

"Well" She continues. "It's a free country. I guess you can stay at the church or wherever after we're gone. Please don't burn it down. You should be safe behind some doors. Just don't go out in the open at night. Not even we do that."

Flatline looks like he's about to loudly protest, but then slumps like he's tired, pulls his jacket up around his neck and subvocalizes to the group <<I might be able to talk us into the town. Staying out here is a steamy pile of drek after our help and they know it. Look at them shift and look away. But is this actually what we want? Do you think what we're looking for is out there?>>

Willie turns to look out a window so as not be seen thinking in a way that could be messaging. << Yeah, they are being fishy. They don't want us in the town, and the boys with me didn't want me checking out what's down the path past where we found the birds. There might be something down that way that could satisfy Brewster's secondary offer. If we're willing to go out there at night. It could be scary, but then, so are we, right? The three of us can talk it over once we are alone. >>

He turns back to Larrissa. "I ain't of no mind to go past that thing in the water in the dark, or to dodge shipping that can't see us. If you can't find it in you to give the people who saved your wounded a place in the safety of the town, then I guess we will be stuck here for the night. You might consider leaving some food and water, though."

Diplomacy? Not a word in Willie's vocabulary.

She looks rather suspiciously at Willie. She seems to think a little bit, and nobody else seems to feel like interjecting, so she gets her time to eventually say " Brewster's couriers didn't seem to mind operating now. Or even at night actually. But you're a different crew with a different boat. So if camping sounds like fun I won't stop you. Just stay be absolutely sure to stay inside and you'll be safe, comfy, and dry. Toilets even work because gravity does. There are barrels with rainwater, cleaner stuff than you've probably ever had, and we can leave food as a token of appreciation.

The town....isn't necessarily safe. Best to avoid trouble. Part of the reason we're out here is that metahumanity has always been the biggest danger to itself. "

The others give a nod at that last bit, like it's a line they've heard before.

(OOC: Willie could start slinging social dice or asking Flatline to try if he wants a different outcome).

<<Maybe we can watch where these folks go after they leave us here. If they head back to wards the place they didn't want me to go, that is information. If they go elsewhere, maybe we can brave the night and do a small recce. I am not good at talking to people. You better take over, Flatline. >>

Willie looks at Flatline, as if expecting him to answer.