(OOC: Like in the other thread this is a bit of a soft start to get Lenny going while they fill in some details. Some, like how Lenny looks, could be done here and moved over. I've linked Lenny's character at the bottom of the first post in the OOC thread with the others. Also I'm pretty sure Lenny doesn't have the freebies factored in yet, but the other players started RPing while working out some details.. )

As Quick Willie, Lenny, and Flatline head towards the docks where Willie's boat is parked they get a call from their Fixer Brewster.

You'd gotten a short VR call from the chromed elf in his blazer, but now he's audio only.

<<Sorry for the short notice. But sometimes opportunity knocks, and it's bleeding and not negotiating as much as it could.

In this case the bleeding individuals are down near the old Blackwater nature preserve. Willie is new to town and many in Baltimore spend their whole lives surrounded by the comforting pavement, so let me fill you in. In the time after the awakening, rural areas became dangerous as pets, farm animals, and even opossums turned into deadly beasts.

I believe that's the main reason one can get permits for automatic rifles these days.

Nature preserves became more dangerous in particular, and Blackwater was the worst in the area. Small towns were being abandoned even before the awakening, just because people would rather live in a tiny apartment in the big city than a sizable house in a backwater town.>>

He absently sends over a map link
https://maps.app.goo.gl/zKskukfYiATCoWVp7


<<So losing the little towns like that around Blackwater wasn't much of a surprise. But usually cities of some size would hold. But Blackwater had too many critters causing too much trouble. Eventually a rampage by a twenty meter long Juggernaut caused even Cambridge and Algonquin to finally be abandoned. They did eventually put it down, so don't worry about that. But the damage had already been done, and they'd just lost some people before that to a Mist Lynx.

It's awful far to the north to see a Juggernaut, and rather far south to see a Mist Lynx.

Something else to point out is that the area also seems to get more wild spirits than it should. However for some reason those seem to avoid ever materializing. But they are a serious threat for any astral forms.

Despite all that, there are still people there. Some of whom are wounded and want help, which is where you come in. They indicated they're in an old Church, not wanting to move the patients.>>

He sends another link
Church: https://maps.app.goo.gl/F1S2WE8qgXsRHnTF9

<<Probably the closest approach by boat is via Slaughter Creek >>
Slaughter Creek Marina https://maps.app.goo.gl/THsijyJik5MhaKno6


<<So the job can be as simple as hustling out there, using some first aid and magic to fix some people up, and then get out and collect 10k to split among three.

But you've got a chance to get paid twice. I've worked with these people before, arranging delivery to the abandoned town they seem to have moved into. >>


"Town" https://maps.app.goo.gl/SEw9kLUYCJQkiJ2t6

<<But it doesn't make sense to me. Why are they there? How are they surviving? Perhaps most importantly how are they making money? Is there a reason they aren't trying to get Docwagon to send out a helicopter from Salisbury if they do have money? I have something of an itch to scratch about that whole area really.

You could double your pay for getting me some answers. Just don't sully my reputation with them.

My only contact out there is a woman that goes by Larissa. They contact me via a sat link that they don't leave on. But my couriers have gotten pings from nodes. So they're probably using their own ad hoc wireless matrix. That's where having a hacker may be useful. You'll want your own satlink if you want reliable contact with the outside though.

I'd suggest you get going soon to keep daylight on your side. But I can make quick arrangements with my existing mob contacts at the docks if you need something. Since you haven't met each other.

Well, you have a while to introduce yourselves. But Flatline has the medkits and the magic. Willie has the boat. Lenny is a "medical assistant and bodyguard" if anyone asks, which is also true. >>

He shares pictures of the group, along with the picture of and location of Willies boat (An SC Otter, a five meter long open topped speedboat) and goes silent.

-------------------------------

The docks are fairly busy. It's a Friday in April and the weather is good. The mob keeps tabs on the "downtown" parking garage and docks as small speedboats, water taxi's, and utility boats head out and in. They don't bother many people. Either they have info stored in files and are using AR, or they learn people's faces fast, or they just know if the tab on the boats is paid along with their "extra fee." and let anybody in who doesn't appear to be obviously stealing.

Or maybe they only particularly care about their own shipments. It'd be hard to tell without observing for a while. (OOC: But in any case all three are able to RP arriving, parking, and walking out to the boat without trouble, if you don't make some.)

They occasionally give a dirty look at the fancier "uptown" boats when one is lowered into the water from above and heads out. Presumably without having to pay the family.

Willie arrives at the docks and squares away his bike. He thanks the staff for their "diligent care" of his vehicles, and heads to his boat. He does a standard check of fuel and serviceability of his Otter, checks his own gear and weaponry, and settles in to wait for the other two to show up.

Given Brewster's directions, he figure it will take the Otter between two and three hours to get to the destination. "Huh." he thinks. "Paranormal animals and wonky spirits. This could turn out to be as good as a bug hunt!" He checks his weapons again.

"Yeah. Why would anyone want to live there? Good question."

The lanky man looks about, gaze moving between the two other runners he's been assigned to work with.

Lenny has sweat come off his brow, covered by a helmet which goes well with his lined coat...but in a way that makes him look like he's a background extra on Geek the Mage for some go-gang of the week. The short human fugits a little as he stands there, waiting for someone to speak.

"Um, do you need any matrix, hacking, activities done? I can do that...I didn't know if you were told," Lenny's eyes dart back and forth, not that anyone can see them, "I am a hacker...

"...but you probably knew that..."

The small man lets out a breath he didn't know he was holding. He stops standing at attention so much and the others realize he's a little shorter than they first thought.

It's obvious that this guy is a total noob to the shadows...

Sign--

Wacky

Willie grew up on the streets. He was the big, dumb ork kid who survived by beating the crap out of anyone who bullied him or made fun of his slow thought processes. He made the score that paid for his augmentations by murdering two gangers for the credstick they took from the rich dude they had just murdered. He is lightning fast and part of those augmentations has made him a lot smarter.

Willie is supremely confident in his own abilities and loves to live on the edge. He and Lenny will be great friends.

"What the frag is Brewster doing," he thinks, " hiring this guy? Well, let's hope he lives till next week. Maybe some coddling -- Whoa! Where did that word come from? -- some coddling will help him calm down. But he ain't gonna take me with him if he kaks."

He stands up from his comfy seat on the boat and comes over to Lenny. He tries to seem reassuring, but really he just looms over Lenny like a bear.

"You must be Lenny. Brewster said you would be on this run. I gotta say I don't know how much matrix work we're gonna need out in the bush, but he must know something. If drek hits the fan, stay behind me. I'm a pretty good shield."

Seeing the others being chatty, Flatline steps onto the boat, and starts looking around. "Whose boat is this? And is there a place for the portable stretcher and my backpack? It's full of medical supplies and the bag is supposed to be waterproof, but I don't want to find out it isn't".

Instead of the bright colors of an EMT's gear and white jacket of a doctor, flatlines coat is a dark armored duster and he stretcher and backpack are olive.

"I didn't want to lug all of this, but when I called Brewster back for more detail on their medical condition he pointed out that he can't just contact them when he wants since they don't leave the satlink up. So I brought what I could. At least what I want to hike with. Actually if the group is rough could you take the stretcher Lenny? The best way to pretend to be my assistant would be to actually be my assistnat.

I don't have a good feel for the technology side of things. But I find it...disconcerting to not be able to call back or keep tabs on things. I think the idea is Brewster wants you hacking these people while we're supposed to be...well are...helping them. But I hope you have an uplink, something with some good signal, and some extra cameras and whatnot to keep tabs on the boat. "

Willie likes Flatline. To the point and all business when there is a job to do. Willie wonders if he is into drinking games. Bongo tries, but ... yeah.

"The boat is mine, " he says, "and yeah, there is room for your gear. Seeing as Brewster says there are nasties in the forest, we might need your medical gear ourselves. While you two square away the gear, I will pull us out of the marina and get us on our way. I figure it'll be two or three hours before we get there. It would be good to get as much done as possible in daylight. "

Willie fires up the engine and pulls the boat out of the slip at the marina at a crawl. Once the gear is tied down, he adds, " Sit down and tight folks. I like speed!"

Out in the open channel, Willie lives up (down?) to his name Quick Willie and cranks up the engine. The prow lifts, and they're off!

Willie has a big grin on his face.

"Um, okay sir--I'll do that if you don't mind taking bullets for me...no one's ever offered before..." the squirrely man says as he looks around, memorizing people's faces.



Lenny nods, his helmet bobbing a bit as he does. He checks his commlink and selects a few programs to load up and have at the ready in AR before securing the stretcher as best he can. The hacker's eyes dart about quickly taking it all in--he's finally on a shadorun! This is it! Now he'll be able to impress the woman he's fallen for an maybe even get a date. The only real concern is how to bring up a big secret like being a shadowrunner and having it be believable, but he's sure to think of som--



"Huh? What?" is all Lenny can get out before the movement of the boat cutting threw choppy waves sends the small human bouncing in his seat Lenny frantically grasps the side of the boat, hanging on to the hawser. His helmet bounces as the sail through the water, his breath increasing.

As they move, he seems to find himself a little bit more and calms, realizing that everyone realizes just how new Lenny is to the shadows.

Sign--

Wacky

It's a bright clear day, at least in the sky.

With the NAN and CAS having broken off from the UCAS, Baltimore is the closest port for traffic from most of Asia as well as south and central America, Africa, and still a popular port Europe. Most of that traffic along with shorter range haulers and barges, fishing boats, and pleasure craft are all crowding through the Patapsco and threatening to smash Willie's Otter.

Fortunately his boat is fast and nimble, perhaps unfortunately the great many wakes give him ample opportunity to try and catch a little air.

It's a crisp day working it's way as the day approaches noon from the fifties to the sixties. The spray of water over the bow would be uncomfortable, except everyone is wearing armor. It's potentially a godsend for Lenny in his heavy gear.

Flatline sits in one of the forward facing seats, trying not to fidget with his medical gear and bracers on his arms under his armored coat. "I've responded to quite a few emergencies. But never had to sit around and wait. Baltimore feels big but it doesn't take all that long to get from one part to another. You get to the action fast. I suppose that must mean nobody has immediate life threatening injuries. Maybe broken legs and flesh wounds they're hoping I can patch up and then mojo them back on their feet. Still, annoying."

He starts to add "So how about you guys?" but thinks better of it and lets the engine noise drown out the question as he resumes watching the waves.

(OOC: Sorry for the delay in posting! Somehow missed that it was up. We're still sorting Lenny out a bit, if your characters feel chatty. But he's mostly ready to go I think. It occurs to me I should give Willie a closer look too probably, but part of this is a chance to sort things out. In terms of moving forward if you aren't feeling so chatty, Willie could either make some decisions about how he'd like to approach where he's going, or just indicate he heads to the dock that Brewster flagged.)

Willie is having a grand old time dodging the traffic and catching air time. He also catches the drift of Flatline's query. "Bongo and I were together in Seattle for a while. Things got a little hot so we decided to check out the other side of the continent. Our fixer there connected us to Brewster. We've explored a bit. Found a few good drinking holes, and a poetry reading place!

"This is our first paying job here, though. Glad to hear you can patch people up. That gets needed a lot in this business. 'Course guys like you, Lenny, you can get hurt even sittin' at home in your easy chair, huh? All that matrix Googlin' and all."

The nervous man nods to Willie's remark, "That's why I always have my Bio-Feedback filter up and running--even if I'm just doing things in AR. You can't tell when someone might use some Black IC on you or Black Hammer..."

Lenny shudders at his own words.

"I don't know why anyone would want to do that, so I just use Blackout myself if I have to...it's a program that leaves someone alive but they'll wake up later...but with a head ache..." Despite his passive words, they're said with a bit of guilt.

Lenny continues to run Sniffer, looking for any hidden nodes that might be transmitting and then runs Analyze when he finds them.

Sign--

Wacky

Willie chuckles. "Alright. I'm on a mission with two people who prefer to save lives. Should be interesting. Meh. That's our mission this time anyway. Maybe there'll be some bugs to deal with."

Flatline seems to want to follow up on Willie's comment about hangouts, but seems to think better of it and instead says "You mentioned running into bugs. I'm really hoping to only run into the mundane type of those. However there are maybe other things that might be out there. Either of you big game hunters or should I be ready to run?'

A bit later Flatline gives Lenny a nod "I appreciate having fewer people needing medical care. Brain damage is the worst too."




As the ship goes on Lenny is scanning ahead with his comlink. He's mostly finding the nodes for the ships themselves because the PANs of crew, RFID tags, and the like don't have strong enough signals (OOC: Because of the kind of squirely way Shadowrun handles signal ranges. Or rather how it works makes perfect sense if everything has an identical receiver).

Sometimes the nodes are open and can be analyzed, however they're just for connecting to shore systems and like, but would connect to tougher systems running the ships.

There's a lot of heavy construction at the tiny island that was the site of the old Fort Carroll. Lenny can get some hits from nodes there, and that's the sort of thing the might be tempting for a quick hack where usually one couldn't get close enough. Of course if Willie keeps going eventually you'd get dumped.

In Willies mind the cerebral booster almost seems to have a life of its own. Getting him to think about things logically. He'd guesstimated three hours for the trip. But he starts rolling numbers over in his mind. The otter is rated that it can be safely handled on smooth water at a maximum of 45 meters per three second interval or 54 kilometers per hour. Three hours gives time for a course staying near land, avoiding maritime traffic, and slowing in the choppier bay waters. However a course of only seventy kilometers could be charted if one were more direct. Running that at the smooth water max speed would halve the time.

(OOC: But require just one little vehicle test to stay safe).

The craft can go at higher speeds than the safe maximum, which could lower time to an hour (OOC: vehicle test threshold of 2 instead of 1, and generally a shocking experience for passengers.)

It's weird. Sometimes, now, Willie can be thinking about one thing while keeping up with a conversation about something else. Never could do that before.

While Flatline is talking, Willie figures he could crank up the Otter and get there faster, but he doesn't know how well his passengers can handle the ride. It would suck to have to turn back and fish one or both of them out of the drink. He keeps the speed ... bearably fast but not enough to bounce his passengers out at one of the bigger waves.

"I figure we'll follow the west shore until the bridge for Hwy. 50, cross over to the east side at the narrows there, and then hop from point to point across those narrows until we get to the marina near the church. We'll have to walk from there. If Lenny can get a hold of them by then, maybe we will know better about walking or meeting or what."

To Flatline, he says, "Well, by bugs I kinda mean anything animal-like that wants to eat me. I figure we'll meet something like that out in the nature preserve. So far I've been faster and deadlier than anything like that. Yeah, I can shoot."

This wave. THIS ONE is just the thing he figures could dump them. "Yeeeeehaaaaa!"

Lenny gives a bit of a sight of relief as his commlink comes back with nothing to really report. The small man's eyes stay glued to the waves, looking for this island he's suppose to land on.

As a hacker whom works for Shiawase, he's never really been on a boat before. Or even on an island. This is all new to him, like some grand adventure. Lenny keeps telling himself to think of it that way and hopes it'll suppress the tension/terror he feels as the Otter skims the water's surface.

Sign--

Wacky

Willie asks Flatline, "You do any of that magic ooglie booglie, or are you a strictly tech type of healer?"

Lenny's eyes dart to Willie. The n00b shadowrunner never thought to even ask what his fellows did! He decides to listen intently, trying to glean info without showing how inexpensive he truly is...

Sign--

Wacky

Flateline nods "when I said mojo them back I didn't mean with my sexual prowess chummer. I'm mostly about getting people healthy and back on there feet but I try to have a range of spells, just in case. Normally spirits can back me up on whatever I lack, but Brewster made it sounds like that's a very bad idea like that. There are other spirits out there that don't like outsiders, and since spirits in the astral and kind of like....hmmmmm....somebody in glowing body paint in a blacklight club, they can get spotted fast. Brewster doesn't seem to know why that's the case, but I've been convinced I don't want to find out. Actually I'm hoping I can keep the magic subtle in general. He said those spirits don't like to materialize, but being in the middle of trying to deal with a healing spell is a bad time to find out he's wrong. "

Flatline's monolog is interrupted as a wave makes him grasp onto the frame of the speedboat.

However the boat stays true under Willie's hands. Perhaps more unnerving for Lenny than the lurching craft is the the Matrix slowly vanishes, along with sight of land. The land comes back on the other side of the bay, but the matrix doesn't

(OCC: barring firing up the satlink).

However as the boat nears slaughter creek Lenny gets some wireless pings. Something with a stronger signal. A drone by the "smell" of the sniffer program's output. He doesn't see it yet.

"I get your drift," says Willie.

"Now I recall Brewster giving a brief rundown on us. We're coming up on the docks where we will have to leave the boat. Any chance, Lenny, you could find a link to the people we need to help? I think it's a Larissa we're looking for.

"And Flatline, you have any sense of magical drek just waiting for us to be late lunch?"

"Huh.", Willie adds. "Lenny, if you get a link, any chance you can acquire a satellite image or some other kind of map of the target locale? It would help."

Flatline had gotten lost in thought. "I'll keep my eyes up and slip into the astral sometimes. But without spirits I'm no scout. I expect to be busy shortly after we get on solid land. The perimeter will be your business. " he thinks for a moment. "I'm going to assume astral projection is a horrible idea here too. Can't patch anybody up from the astral anyway."

As Willie mentions it, Lenny starts setting up a satlink and sends a file over of a recent commercial satellite image of the area.

Other parts near Blackwater look more different with the towns falling into ruin. However this corner of things was already pretty wild. The woods haven't encroached into the area with fields as much as one would expect, and there are still gravel roads, which implies somebody used them since the area was official abandoned. Still, not much on this side of the river, and the buildings here look partly collapsed.

There's definitely more going on with Tyler's island though, especially just over the bridge near the Marina and Church you're heading towards. Nothing too civilized, but a community in simple buildings and tents along with the older structures, and it looks like a wooden wall of sorts and earthworks have been erected to form something of a compound.

After sending the images, Lenny ads. "Nothing in mutual range except the drone."

"Alright," Willie says. "Thanks for the image, Lenny. That helps." Bongo had told Willie that occasionally praising a teammate helps the team work together better. Willie is still trying to figure out why that is the case.

"We're entering Slaughter Creek now, so we are a couple of kilometres from the marina. I can carry a lot, so when we make land let me put that heavy duffel bag over my back and we can travel faster. I'll take point as we head towards the church, and Flatline you be in the middle, seeing as you are the main reason we are here. Lenny, you take up the rear, and keep an eye out behind us. I suspect you will be good at noting things that could be trouble.

"All of us should have weapons ready. Lenny, you say there is a drone up. Must be theirs. Can you link to our objective through that thing? Let them know we are coming? I don't wanna get shot by a scared farmer."

As they approach the marina, Willie ponders the defences around the settlement. In the failing light of day, he catches a glimpse of the barricade in the distance off to his right. "Looks like the people here have a compound set up, with a defensive barricade. So, if they expect nasties, we can too. Especially as it starts to get dark. Be alert. " Lately, as his improved cognition has started pulling together experiences into knowledge, Willie has become increasingly comfortable doing more than shooting at whatever somebody else or raw instinct tell him to kill. Like planning.

Leading? Well, maybe not yet.

(Ooc: Well, maybe I'll play Lenny some. They spoke about who he is based off of. Though that's a little hard. Luckily being quiet at first works. )

Lenny mumbles a while until Flatline says. "Just speak up and say what you need to. The boat is too loud for that."

Lenny pauses for a bit, straightens under the weight of his helmet and days. "The drone isn't accepting connections. It isn't meant for communications. At least not with us. I could hack into it. But do you want me to say "I just hacked your drone to say hello!" "

Lenny is looking in the direction of Willie, and Flatline is silently looking that way too. If Willie was hoping there was someone else sitting next to him that they're looking at to be the leader he's going to be disappointed.

Willie looks a bit exasperated and confused.

"Look, if it was me, I'd be letting them know we're on the way, but it's up to you, Lenny. Flatline, this is your run. We're here to heal people and that's you. I'm here to keep you alive and get you back. So, I can come up with ideas, but somebody else is gonna have to make the call. I don't do that for anybody else but me."

He picks his nose, flicks the snot out into the water, and stares ahead to the upcoming docks.

Sometimes I wish I didn't get more brains. Getting other people to see the light is fraggin' frustrating.

"Yeah, yeah, OK. Lenny, get the people in the loop. Let 'em know we are comin'. If they don't like the hack, they can fraggin' well heal themselves."

Flatline eyes Willie while Lenny is presumably doing something.

"Alright. In the clinic I'm used to telling people what to do, and this is about to become my clinic away from home. I'd like Lenny to look like he's working with me, once we're around people, but I'm all for moving faster to that."

Suddenly Lenny interrupts with a yelp. He seems to be having a little trouble getting words out, but Willie and Flatline get pinged with an AR feed.

The feed is the view from the drone, up in the sky. Either Lenny is guiding it, or it's still flying a preset route, but Lenny has a camera looking at where you'd going. The yelp would be in regards to a definite dark shape under the water near the marina, partially illuminated by the high sun. It looks vaguely like a fat alligator with a squished face, maybe with some catfish like whiskers.

Lenny appears to be messing with the AR feed, and after a few attempts that throw odd shapes into view, a line shows up next to the creature, indicating an estimated six meters in length.

Willie slows the boat to a crawl. "Anybody got anything explosive to toss into the water to drive that thing away? I got nuthin'. "

He turns the boat nose towards the beast. If things go bang in the water, there will be a wave or two. He readies his machine pistol. maybe Ex-Ex rounds will be all they have.

As the others th8nk about his request, Willie reconsiders. If that thing comes out of the water.at them, he isn't going to waste time with the small stuff.

He switches to the AK and sets it to full auto mode.

Lenny chuckles and pulls out his weapon. A taser.

He then looks on as Willie takes out the machine pistol. "Uh. It isn't funny when you do it. "

Flatline says "I'm not a combat mage, but I don't feel like I need to carry weapons. Lightning probably isn't much better than the taser, but if I can lock eyes with a critter I should be able to stun it. "

he pauses to think a bit "Unless that's some kind of dragon down there. I can't see it well and I've been more interested in metahuman biology than parazoologoy. "

Lenny is thankful for his helmet hiding expressions as that manages to startle him. "Could it be? Would one just be swimming around."

As Willie switches over the the AK Lenny says "Ok. Uh. Better I think. A little. But we don't know what this is. Can't you, I don't know. Do some fancy boating?

"My thinking exactly, even if we don't have a way to stop the thing in the water."

Willie is left-handed, so he tries to manoeuvre the boat around to the right, so his left hand is free to shoot to the left if necessary. A gentle drive, trying not to get the creature excited. Heading for the right-most slips.

"Lenny, if you have control of the drone, or can take it, could you buzz closer to the beast. Maybe distract it with what looks like a big, noisy bug? Might be a more attractive meal than we are."

(OOC: If I'm understanding correctly you're looping around. to get at the Marina. This still puts you sort of close, as it's fairly close to the docks to the north, and the opening isn't that wide.)

Lenny says "I'm trying to spoof them by sending out the data the thing sent on it's last circuit, but they'll be pissed if they realized we're screwing with their drone. On the other hand, I'm not getting eaten!"

As Willie loops around he sees the drone, a small blimp with solar panels on the top. It's surprisingly quick and dropping altitude. Lenny ads "I'll see if I can get the drones shadow to go over our aquatic friends eyes. "

The drone levels off about five meters above the water as Lenny adjust the position, it flies around in jerky loops. Lenny is clearly frustrated with it as he adds "Geez, this thing has lousy handling when it's dropped gas and is maneuvering. Oh wait, ok, that got it's attention. Now I just need to lead it away and get that back up in the sky. OH DREK!"

Near the drone a fin seems to breach over the water, but on closer inspection by Willies eyes it's not a soft fin like a shark should have, but a boney plate and there might be another following, but in that moment it hocks a huge loogie, or something like that, at the drone. (OOC: this drone has horrible handling, I even gave it some dice for being a blimp and all it did was nearly critically glitch). The drone pitches nose down and is driven the short distance to the water by it's propellers, and the creature breaches the water and swiftly moves in on it.

(OOC: I'll treat the loogie as a surprise, but it's on initiative 9 to get to try and smash/eat the drone)

Willie figures he's a little under eighty meters from the thing, having given it a wide berth. No indication it's noticed the boat yet.

"What the drek is that thing?" Willie exclaims. "If that spit is an attack, what's in the spit?"

In the past, Willie would have just shot at the thing. If it's food, eat it. If it's a danger, kill it. But now, he tries to calculate whether he can get to the dock safely while the beast is occupied with the drone. He keeps driving in the loop around the beast, speeding up ever so slightly, ready to gun it if the thing turns towards the boat. His SMG is at the ready.

DGIF, he thinks to himself. Yeah, it makes sense.

The boat had been continuing it's curving path around the south west while Lenny had, for a time, coaxed the critter downstream to the north.

Willie could have gotten a pretty good look at the docks. They aren't in good repair, but they're still there. There aren't any boats on them, at least not ones still afloat. Similarly empty is the seating at the nearby bar, which a sign identifies as having been, in a coincidence of name, Palm Beach Willies.

The boat is now only thirty meters or so from edge of the southern dock. Though things look a lot more solid as you go inland within the artificial harbor.

From the overhead look the drone had given them, Willie figures the safest place to put the boat is in an inner harbour by the shore between the southern dock and the middle one. He keeps the craft going at the same pace; not revving the motor so as not to attract the critter's attention. There appears in the image to be some kind of slipway for loading boats into the water. He heads for that.

As long as he can, he keeps an eye on the critter. Even so, he says, "Good work with the drone, Lenny. As I dock the boat, let me know if you see the thing coming at us."

Lenny sends a feed from the drone. It get to bounce in the water for a moment, too buoyant to sink and probably capable of floating out, but it doesn't get a chance as the creature rapidly closes with it. As it rotates Lenny switches to the camera as it's mouth bites down on the drone. The group gets a decent look at it's head. With a little time researhing in the matrix someone could probably figure out what you're dealing with. For the moment it looks armored but has something more like a salamander's skin between the plates. It has arms like it could move on land, but doesn't seem to be using them to swim, so more like a crock.

It's face has larger versions of the whiskers on a catfish. It's hard to tell if it can make them move like tentacles or if they just sort of flop around.

It chomps onto the drone and pulls it under. However it's still shallow enough to get a signal out this far, and you can hear electric engines whirring. However it does not take long before the signal is lost.

It also doesn't take long for Willie to get inside the Marina. And by the time the signal is lost the boat is halfway to down the artificial harbor.

"Good Job!!?!?! They're going to be so pissed!" Yells Lenny. "And we're going to have to interact with them. They'll figure it out! What will these backwater weirdos do to me. I don't want to get sodomized on my first run!

Ok, Ok, I got the signal from the controller for the drone, I just need to hack into it and make it look like an accident, I saved most of that telemetry. If the drone glitched the data would be corrupted anyway. I can do this. I can do this. "

Lenny keeps mumbling to himself and then goes limp. Either passing out or slipping into VR.

Flatline seems to wonder which and stares at him for a while that odd way magicians sometimes do. Eventually he says "I think he's ok, just bothered. Not the best time to have a member of the team down though. " He stands up and tries to look around, and says "Well, I wasn't expecting much of a welcome wagon, but maybe somebody? Though they said to go to the church, so maybe the weren't planning to come. I do occasionally see somebody on the other bank look over their wall, and they don't seem to be getting all worked up or shooting at us, so maybe that's as much welcome as we're going to get. "

Willie pulls the boat up to a tie point by the ramp. He secures the boat and then helps Flatline unload the gear. With no one in the boat, it looks just like all the other stuff lying around in the marina. Once all that is done, he gently picks up the recumbent Lenny and carries him onto land.

"Looks to me like he's off into LaLa Matrixland. Lets load up the gear between the two of us. If he isn't awake in a minute or two, we can either carry him or poke him awake. " He gives a wide, toothy grin at the idea. Smg still in hand he takes up a guard post. Water beast evaded, now there's just land and air. Well, a 360 lookout keeps the water in view too.

Damn thing shot some kind of goo, so that could reach us on land, too. Willie makes sure they are a good five or ten meters away from the water.

It's a bit after noon at the docks. The air is still a little crisp, and there's a slight breeze. It's actually a pretty nice day to get out of the city. But in the sixth world most city folks know to be a little nervous about actual nature.

However you seem quite alone for the time being.

After a minute Lenny comes around. "Ugh. Drek. I got overconfident at how easily I got in. I could have just left some security logs. Or done things a little more cautiously. But I set off an alert. I tried to make it look like it was the fault of the control node and just crashed the thing. They couldn't prove there was any hacking involved. But I don't see any Knight Errant out here!

The timing of us showing up is just too close. They're gonna know. Can we just bail?"

Flatline gives him a look and says "No. Beside the people that need us, I've got a job to do and a rep. Just shut up and focus on helping me patch people up."

Lenny doesn't sound very confident when he says "OK". But then he adds. "The control nodes is in the town over on the other side of the river. Maybe word won't spread? "

Flatline hands Lenny his bag and starts off towards the road. Weeds and roots are starting to crack through it. But the road is still obvious and pretty intact.

Willy takes up the point position with his smg at the ready. South to the main road and then east toward the intersection to head south to the church.

As the trio moves along Lenny is jumpy, but Flatline seems increasingly absent minded as you move along.

Willie occasionally picks up movement in the woods and grass, but whatever it is out there it isn't making a beeline for you, nor doing something that seems coordinated.

As the church starts coming into view Flatline finally starts speaking.

"Ok. So I've been thinking, and looking at some maps. Here's the thing, I need to patch people up, but Brewster wants some information. I was hoping we could get all chummy. Maybe have some dinner. Maybe Lenny does some hacking. Anyway we'd find something juicy enough to be worth the Nuyen.

But that might have not worked in any case, and how we've got Lenny here worried about his hoop. We might not be able to just piss the night away together here. It also occurs to me that if anything does go down having us all bunched together just makes an easy target.


Now, looking at the satellite images there are some areas that people are obviously doing...something. At least one of them is on this side of the river. "

He pings Willie with some coordiantes.
https://maps.app.goo.gl/dsQ6Q4Bcxjar5FT86

That little path is still there, and there's definitly disturbed earth at the end of it. It's pretty hard to make out what through the trees.

Flatline continues

"Now, most people ignore these folks as just weird, far as I can tell. But maybe Brewster got a whiff of something.

If something is going down, it occurs to me that it might not just be that there are unfriendly spirits out there. Maybe somebody has spirits on extended duty to hunt astral forms. Keep the snoopers out. Anyway if whatever is going on there is interesting, maybe the sport is always guarded.

Except that today the drek hit the fan somehow. They've had something like a mass casualty event. So while I'm patching people, Lenny can assist and maybe hack something.


...But somebody quick could check out the other spot.

If anybody asks we'll say you got some cover and should check on the boat, which isn't entirely false anyway and wouldn't be a bad idea.

But I find if I focus on the job I give out a pretty good "shut up and get out of my way" vibe. "

Or maybe you should take Lenny too in case there are cameras or something

That gets Lenny's attention. He turns his helmet towards the woods.

"Uh, wait, uh. I'm. I'm good at multi tasking and wouldn't want to slow him down or leave you alone. I can be on coms, especially behind this helmet. "

He switches to addressing Willie. " If you're in range I can handle hacking from here. I might even be able to watch your back. You know, if you put it on your back."

Willie considers. "How about we get to the church first and figure out what happened? Maybe see the injuries are from animals or weapons. With that info, we can figure out what questions to ask. I like the idea of faking to check on the boat, as long as they don't see me go the wrong way.

"At the same time, one orc out by himself surrounded by four hell hounds will not end well for the good guys. If we are asked to escort the injured back to the compound, that could give us an opportunity to do some scouting too. Like, 'you wait here while I check out the perimeter', or something."

As they walk along, Willie does some checking of his own on Lenny's feed. The buildings on this road are still there. However the rod and gun club and the house to the south of the church look to be in pretty bad shape, with plants starting to grow through the windows and roofs. The church at least has some tarps down on the roof and, zooming in, what looks like plastic sheeting over some windows.. Not fancy repairs, but at least it might be dry and not too moldy inside.

Eventually Flatline says "Well, maybe you're onto something in regards to asking about what happened. Maybe we can find out if there are threats in the area without tipping them off too much.
We could use the boat excuse later. I'm still nervous about getting too deep into their little village. These folks aren't normal to start with, and they may suspect we trashed their drone."

Lenny adds " Do you think they might buy that the creature took out the drone? I mean it's the truth. I don't know how far it can spit. Maybe they don't know either? Maybe we leave out some details? Maybe if they ask we say the drone did seem to be flying low. But that's also a reason to go check on the boat, and a reason to be in cover if anyone asks instead of being in the boat. Like Willie could say that he wanted to make sure we got to the church safely and the situation was under control quick. Do you think they'd buy it?

Maybe if you go to the village I could stay with the boat?"

Flatline looks like he's thinking of rolling his eyes, but then the reality of the situation seems to weigh them down. He says "Let's just get people fixed and figure it out from there. The rest is optional. We don't actually have to do anything else, and Brewster was worried about his reputation out there. Lenny, see if you can intercept their communications, maybe we can learn something from that, but don't go all limp again."

As you get close a woman in denim overall and a white shirt waves you over towards the main entrance. Walking past the "education wing" you can see they have put plastic up over the broken windows.

Flatline subvocalizes. "Alright, from now on keep our internal communications to subvocals or AR".

As you go inside the woman says "My name is Larissa, I called you down here. Well, I think things should be pretty evident."

As you walk into the main area of the church, the nave, with the old wooden pews. Many have been pushed together to make something of a bed for the injured.

With a quick head count their looks to be eight injured, and eleven metahumans standing uninjured to acting as guards. It seems like they must have gotten a bulk discount deal on shotguns and overalls. It's quite a blended group of people of different metagroups, so at least Willie isn't the only Orc with two down and three standing.

Although one of the wounded is a Satyr and one of the guards is a cyclops. That's a bit more odd.

Based on the wounds and also the clothes these people have been burned, fairly badly. They're bandaged up and maybe oiled?


Obviously still not doing well.

Larissa asks Flatline "Alright, magic them up so we can get on with things."

Flatline replies "It isn't that simple. Also you only get one chance with magic. You want to do as much as you can without it first. I also need to prioritize. We aren't exactly wells of infinite mojo, especially if we're pushing it as much as we can. Come on Lenny."

The two of them get busy, with a few onlookers following them around. Willie finds himself more or less ignored off to the side by the entrance, along with the shotgun wielding cyclops, an orc, and a human in dreadlocks. They're aware of Willie, but not paying especial attention as they keep tabs on what's going on inside and occasionally glance outside.

As they approach the building, before Larissa can hear, Willie cautions Lenny, "No point in bringing up the drone at all. Might not even be theirs. Deal with it if it comes up."

Inside, Willie scans the people in the church. Outsiders in more ways than one. Shotguns seem to be their choice of weapon, or maybe that's all they could get. If they don't have slug ammunition, they might as well be throwing pepper for all they would do to Willie's armour. Good to know.

The two near him keep looking outside. Maybe that's a clue. From long experience, Willie knows he can't chat people up, but the least damage is done if he keeps to the truth and the obvious. And it helps if they think he is stupid.

He looks out one of the windows and then turns to the two near him. He wipes his nose on his sleeve and says, "Drek! What did that to you guys, and is it still out there?" He looks out the window again. He actually really wants to know the answers.

The Orc laughs and gives a look at his dreadlocked and one eyed companions "Ha! I told you guys one of them was gonna ask that first thing. Shoulda made you bet on it."

The Cyclops rolls his eye, which is a pretty impressive as eye rolls go, and says "Nobody wulda taken the bet."

The human in dreadlocks add "Ya. You need to ask Larrissa to make it all official like, and maybe get asked along to settle things. But it was a Phoenix. Didn't seem to follow us. Doesn't seem too sneaky anyway, but it's good to keep eyes on the forest."

Willie's curiosity is piqued. He approaches Larissa.

"Boys over there," he indicates them with a thumb from a clenched fist and then, noticing a dab of nasal mucus on the thumb, wipes it on his pant leg. "Boys over there say this drek happened because of somethin' they call a phoenix. I never heard of one of those. Doesn't look like you folks are all that set up to deal with it, though. You got any plans for how to do that once and for all?

"'Cause it seems like if it's still around, you might need to call the medic line again."

Larissa is hovering over Flatlines shoulder as he applies chemicals that he directs Lenny to hand him.

Lenny is....perhaps not doing the best job of this. He seems distracted, which gets him the occasional glance and glare from Larissa.

He's also still wearing his helmet indoors, which is getting him stares from everybody else.

However Flatline works fast and professionally and is keeping a fairly steady flow of commands going, asking the others around to move someone this way or hold their arm back or to get some clothes off them or to hold a compress down. Larissa looked a bit like she was going to say something a couple times as Willie makes his way across the nave, but she doesn't manage to in the time he's paying attention to her.

She also doesn't take her eyes off Flatline and the wounded as Willie talks to her, which his enhanced mind deduces is very much for the best.

"Yeah. We're pretty sure it was a Phoenix. We really try and just stay clear of all the critters around here. If anything they sort of act like an extended security perimeter around our home, or at least the threat of them does. But sometimes we have an incident, and I don't plant to wait around to have it repeat. The priority is the wounded, but my next is making sure there aren't more wounded. A Phoenix isn't all that big, and I don't think very durable. It just caught them by surprise. I expect we can handle it ourselves fine, but I might be willing to make a deal for some extra assistance. "

Willie gives a big toothy (tusky?) grin. "I like fixing problems, especially if I get paid for it." His grin turns into a pensive expression.

"Course, I gotta know what kinda drek I would be facin' and what the risk/reward ratio is. So, what the drek is a phoenix? And, what would come my way If I provided my services?"

(OOC: i was working on a whole reply, however it hit me that looks like a call for a negotiation roll if there ever was one. I'll be able to sort it from there.)

(OOC: Hah hah. Negotiation. Right.

Negotiation: CHA 2 + Negotiation 1 = 3 dice: 2 hits !!!!!!! Both 6s!

Holy shit!)

Willie's grin is particularly enchanting today.

(OOC: At least he didn't embarrass himself or cause an issue!)

After some back and forth and wheedling while Flatline works through the group eventually a deal is reached where she'll be willing to pay 450 nuyen for them, at least Willie, to lead point through the area where the Phoenix was and they suspect still is. His to keep if the thing has moved on. Nine hundred if they find it and take it out. She does explain a bit about this Phoenix. The critter that got the name isn't some self resurrecting giant. It's a big as birds go, but smaller than a metahuman and unarmored. It isn't a walking flamethrower like a hellhound either. Its gotta get close. The rest of her people figure they should have an easy enough time with it themselves, but she'd appreciate a little extra insurance.

(OOC: Ooops. Gotta run. Sorry for the lack of flourishes on this post).

Willie has no clue yet whether that is a good price, but he's in the mood for some action. Besides, there's something Bongo said about parts from special animals being valuable to magicians. If it's a magical bird, maybe a few feathers collected will add to the pay. Maybe on the sly?

"Sure. That'll do. I could use some action. Do we go now while there's light? The medics are gonna be busy for a while."

In response to Willie's question, Larissa addresses Flatline, who she's never entirely stopped watching, "How long do you think this will take. If you've been listening, would you want to join in going after the Phoenix?"

This is the third time she's asked Flatline about how long this will take, as that's what she started with while Willie was talking to the guards, so his tone is a little short "I said it's hard to predict. I take a little longer if there's a need. I guess I could predict how long it would take me to cast the spells. However there's no way to know how hard the kickback on me is going to hit. I have professional standards. I'm not casting again if I'm not at my best. That means waiting for me while I get my head straight. And I'm really going to make sure I've got my head on straight if I'm going to head out after some paracritter."

Larissa frowns for a third time at hearing some variant of that. "Well. Maybe that means we'd better get on with it, I'd like to get over that bridge in daylight. Are you going helmet guy?"

Lenny doesn't seem to notice her talk to him as he absent mindedly holds onto bandeges in one hand and a big tube of ointment in the other. Larissa gets louder "You! Are you going to help get the Phoenix?!?!"

The extra volume causes Lenny to jolt a little and he embarrassedly mumbles "Uh. I'm. I'm more of a helper than a hunter. I should stay wherever Flatline is. "

Flatline just keep doing what he's doing and doesn't argue the point and Larissa purses her lips but doesn't either.

She then speaks up, loud enough for everyone in the room to hear. "Ok, our new friend is leading an expedition to get that Phoenix before this happens again. Going sooner means it's more likely to be around. I want to see four to six of you going with him. "

She then sends a location to Willie's comlink.
https://maps.app.goo.gl/sWqZvHatEuuBHVndA

Here's where it happened.

One of the wounded lying near the group adds "It came out of the trees to the south."

Larissa looks at Willie as if she's expecting him to make the next move. As if to justify his existence, Lenny shows up in Willie's ear over his link. "I've been listening to their communications. So far nothing about killing us for breaking their drone."

Willie locks and loads, and heads to the door. "That's about a klick away to the south. We can get there in a quarter hour, easy." He knows as it comes out of his mouth that he is not endearing himself to these folks, "Come on, farm boys. Anybody who's going, let's go."