The Prologue (1941) - Part I

[jacemachine]

"FanTAStic!" the man says in thanks. "My name is Carlos Garcia. MUCHOS gracias, mi amigo. Is this your first time to Beautiful Puerta de Santa Boca?"

Finally other passengers come back up to the deck. Carlos glances towards them, but stays put at his place along the rail next to Russo. He takes a long drag from his smoke, and exhales in satisfaction.

Steam whistles belt out the impending arrival of the ship. "Looks like it won't be long now." Carlos says, making small talk. "Alright a promise is a promise...

"Safari-hat guy is here because he's heard the legends of the jungle beast 'el Abuelo', and he's here to punch it's ticket.

"Mr. No-Smokes is here because his heart has been recently broken and he has come to Santa Boca to get away from his troubles.

"And you El Signor, have come to Santa Boca because you have heard of how beautiful our women are. Oh! I can't wait to get back home!"

[Tarotdragoon]

[spoiler][/spoiler]

"HA HA!" Russo bleats out a huge false laugh taking out a cigarette from his pocket putting it in his mouth but not smoking it,

"You Signor have a sharp eye and a sharp wit my friend"

((Bluff check 18))

"It is indeed my first time here and you struck the nail firmly on the head, he-" Russo nods at Richard "is indeed after something in that hot steamy jungle of yours over that way" he gestures vaguely with his arm, relaxing on the rail with the Haitian "maybe the famed 'el Abuelo' maybe not. My German friend here, well I don't like to pry, but we are both here to sample the local air so to speak, I however am  looking for something a bit more hot and steamy than the jungle HA HA HA!" he doubles in phony laughter once more nudging the Hispanic man in the arm cajolingly in the sort of good humor that can only be shared between men,
he slows his laughter and shuffles the map into his hands again

"tell me friend," he says pointing to Santa Boca on the map and the little pencil mark, still smiling "you know any local short cuts or directions to this place? I hear there is something there worth sampling" he smirks in a dirty sort of way glancing at the local awaiting a response.

[jacemachine]

"Short cut? I can do one better! I know the best guide in town!" He says beaming proudly. "I can introduce you to him if you'd like. He's my brother. He can get you to Orino Perro. No problem!" He changes the subject, "...and if you are going to be in town long, I suggest that you stay at the 'Caribbean Hideaway Inn' it's right next to the 'Ciudad de Perros Tavern'. A lot of sailors stay there, and you'll see why when you get there." He says with a gleam in his eye. He takes another drag on his smoke.

"I can either show you when we get to town, or I can meet you there later. I have some errands I need to run before I even get a chance to go home. It's Market this weekend you know!" He says.

[[ Russo: Success! If he thinks that you are Bluffing, he seems to give no indication. ]]

[Tarotdragoon]

[spoiler][/spoiler]

"A guide? and your brother no less, Signor! you do us too much kindness, let me just talk to my compatriots"

he pushes off the bar leaving the dark bearded hispanic man to his cigarette and called over Eisen and Richard

"oi! noi possa dipenda su questo uomo?"

[jacemachine]

Carlos calls after you."Amigo! You do not have to decide now. I'm just giving you suggestions. If you are still in town tonight, drop by 'Ciudad de Perros Tavern'. I will by you and your friends a round!  I am meeting my brother there for a few cervezas and to watch the fights. My dame will be joining us. I can see if she wants to bring along friends. " He turns and goes towards the other passengers, the he calls back again over his shoulder, "Thanks again for the light! Maybe I'll see you guys later!"

He is greeted back amongst a group of passengers. A set of four. Two women and two men. He shakes hands with the men and gives the women warm hugs. Soon they are talking rapidly in what seems like Spanish, but they are too far to hear. Only snippets of conversation blow in your direction with the breeze every now and  again.

Richard stares towards the port. The town of Santa Boca sprawling out across low hills that eventually give up and become mountains.

The town looks haphazard. with paved roads and buildings at odd angles with one another. The majority of roofs appear to be the red clay Spanish shingles. But every so after thatched huts rise up amongst the crumbling colonial style buildings. And... no Swastikas could be seen flying over the town. That was always a good sign.

The streets and paths in the city are filled with travelers. Men, women, and children in bright colors and patterns. Horses, mules, and carts of all sizes and shapes move through the congested streets. You can see the center of town from your height on the ships deck.  The Market that Carlos had mentioned. It took up that entire section of town. Shops of every shape and size were set up for business. Tents, stands, blankets, carts... if it could be used as a surface to sell something, it was. Various fruit vendors could be easily seen, but everything else was indistinct. It would be something to check out in person.

The Steam whistle blows again in succession. *TOOOOOOOT! TOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOT!*
The 'Kingston Queen' has just docked. A gangplank is set up between the deck and the dock.

[[ I need everyone to give me a SPOT check please. ]]

[Flay Crimsonwind]

[spoiler]"Mr. No-Smokes is here because his heart has been recently broken and he has come to Santa Boca to get away from his troubles."[/spoiler]

'Mr. No Smokes? Broken heart?' Eisen thought to himself, chuckling inwardly as it was said. Not quite a broken heart. Maybe for country and honor, maybe, but somehow that's not the impression he was getting. He let Russo talk through this one; he seemed to have found his compatriot's useful characteristic. Smiling to himself, he just takes deep breaths of the cool air, letting his lungs fill with the air, not quite as clean as he'd hoped.

That's when he notices the ship docking. Neatly folding the paper of John's belongings into his fatigues pocket, he turns to make his way to the gangway, seemingly waiting for his fellows.

[spoiler=Spot Check]Spot Check: 25 (natural 20!) upon entering port.[/spoiler]

[jacemachine]

[spoiler][[ I'm waiting on Russo to do a Spot then I will continue. ]][/spoiler]

[jacemachine]

The passengers on deck are directed by the crew to form a line, as a long gang plank is raised to the ship's deck. Carlos and his group have entered the line and have begun to move down the gangplank. But progress is slow.

You find yourselves next to Richard towards the back of the line. You are still on the deck of the ship, only five of the passengers besides yourselves remain at the top of the gangplank.

[[ Eisen, feel free to post in the meantime if you wish to add anything after receiving that PM in your mailbox. ]]

[Tarotdragoon]

[spoiler][/spoiler]

((spot: 7 dear god that was awful))

Not impressed at all with being ignored Russo cast a quick glance around the deck and over the side before walking over to Eisen and Richard as the moved to get down the gangplank, he looked back to the still smoking man he turned back,

"hey you two! this could be important! this guy-" he jerks a thumb over his shoulder "-says he can get us a guide, I'm not sure If we should trust him, he seems on the level... maybe this ride is just making me paranoid but for all we know he could be an informant"

[jacemachine]

Richards attention seems to be placed elsewhere. In fact, Eisen is looking down towards the dock too. Whatever it is that they have noticed, Russo just doesn't see it. Maybe they are just overcome by the appearance of the Caribbean town.

"Puerta de Santa Boca"

[Flay Crimsonwind]

[spoiler]I'd post a spoiler, but the avatar site has some sort of problem for me; the email button does absolutely nothing at all, not even a note that something's happening occurs on my computer. That being said, the reset button works fine... any way I could jack the image that you know of?[/spoiler]
Eisen makes a quick step to get himself between Russo and the soldiers, shooting Russo a hard "shut your mouth!" look as he goes. He doesn't suppose that they'd be terribly proficient with English - after all, not all Germans are - but he'd rather not take the chance to find out whether Russo could get himself killed, even if Eisen and Richard could get out of it. Getting his papers out quickly, despite the pack and rifle, he gives a smile to the men checking papers as he walks toward them. he indicates towards Richard and Russo, Showing his military papers, he prays they are as friendly as he's trying to be.

[Tarotdragoon]

"shut your mouth!"

[spoiler]crap I hate missing spot checks[/spoiler]

Russo stepped back and stuck his face back at Eisen

"excuse me!? Listen here you german-" he spied the men in nice clean Nazi  "-ah cachi!"

[spoiler][/spoiler]

Russo ducked his head down quickly, hoping to divert attention away from himself,
((sleight of hand: 15

he folded his hand around his pistol and quickly stuffed the map into his pocket with a slight crisp of folding paper

[jacemachine]

At the bottom of the gangplank, a group of 4 men dressed in German uniforms are standing with 2 other men, both with darker skin, and wearing (possibly some sort of local police) uniforms.  Checking passenger's identification as they step off the plank. The Germans are looking up the gangplank as if they are looking for someone.

"Heil Hitler" responded a humorless German. His hair was cropped short. His eyes were blue and his hair was blonde. There was a certain national resemblance between him and Eisen.

He listens to Eisen as he looks the group over with a discriminating eye. He takes in both Richard and Russo, but could it have been that he lingered just a moment longer on the Italian mercenary?
He says aloud as he looks his passport.

"I am here with my associates to hunt the beasts of this region. It is purely for pleasure." Richard responds.

[Flay Crimsonwind]

[spoiler=I know, finally.... he always kinda looks like this....]
[/spoiler]

Eisen manages to keep his cool; it's actually relaxing just talking to another soldier from the homeland, though he tries to sound as respectful as possible, since as a soldier, he would be operating within his jurisdiction; rules must be kept. Italians were allied, but... well, they're about as useful as the French as a militant-peoples, and just as boisterous... Eisen was not so against Naziism that he couldn't recognize the obvious stereotypes in the world. I mean, what could be more obnoxious? Americans joining the war? Laughable; it shouldn't even come to that...

[jacemachine]

The Nazi smiles warmly at Herr Abendroth.

"Ja! Sie sagen das wieder! Jene Italiener!" He shakes his head wearing a broad smirk. Yes, he knew those Italians all right.



He pats Abendroth on the shoulder, and waves the group past.

[Tarotdragoon]

[spoiler][/spoiler]

Russo was sweating bullets, Nazi straight from the port? maybe he should have got in the fishing boat...

he listened to the exchange understanding little save his name and something about Italians, hopefully it was nothing incriminating, he tried but for some reason just couldn't recall just what his second country's stance in the war was. Silently he swore that he would pay more attention to politics once he got out of this.

"uh, what?" he asked as the constable addressed him, Russo hadn't noticed the guy as he had approached Richard and him

"Here on recreation," he said trying to sound as italian as possible, "with friends, here to sample the local delicacies" he adds with a slightly nervous but boisterous wink

((bluff: [urlhttp://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/2006939/]15[/url]))

He watched the extended exchange and breathed out a large sigh as the germans waved them past, leaning towards Eisen he waited until the guards were occupied before whispering "I think you got us out of a very tight spot there, that could have gone very badly"

[jacemachine]

In this area are the docks. They bustle with activity as dockhands and crewmen alike scurry about with moving cargo from the various boats and ships to and from a variety of warehouse-like structures.

Behind you on the ship, a large wooden boom crane is getting in position above the main cargo hold of the Kingston Queen.

There was quite a bit of cargo in the hold, and you are aware that it may take some time for the expeditions gear AS WELL as the personal equipment of Sgt. Kestrel.

That thick envelope, the one with the handwriting on the front, sits in Eisen's pocket. A reminder to try to find the Dock Master.

[Flay Crimsonwind]

With the nazis out of the way, and potentially useful later, Eisen gets his act together. He's packed, but needs to get Kestrel's belongings out of the way, which might or might not require trucks instead of mules. "First thing's first; let's get this team equipment found, unloaded, and on its way into town. We have a lot to discuss..."

[spoiler]Spot Check: 23 to find Dock Master. Spot or Search??? Back in a bit...[/spoiler]

[jacemachine]

Eisen takes in his surroundings. Looking around he sees what looks like it could be some kind of office.

[[ The description for the Dock Master's office has "opened up" on the game map of Santa Boca. Location #3. Please read the relevant info and decide what to do next. ]]

[Flay Crimsonwind]

"I'd just as soon get the unloaded goods taken care of quickly. That building..." he points towards the old building he assumes to be an office of some sort, "...looks like the place to start. I'm not going to say you have to come with me, but it might be a better idea. Of course, if you would prefer to find the others and establish a meeting place, that would also be an excellent idea. If you encounter any more soldiers, just act like an Italian or American tourist. They might spit on you, but they'll probably leave you well enough alone as long as they haven't got a reason to be suspicious; not all nazis are well-learned agents." With that, Eisen just starts along at a brisk pace towards the Spanish-looking building close to the dock. He pauses for a bit, remembering that he has to stop working as an individual agent, and while he has every intention of moving to <<Area #3>> He has no interest in abandoning his two partners.

[spoiler]You want it typed out like that, maybe?[/spoiler]