The Prologue (1941) - Part I

[Tarotdragoon]

[spoiler][/spoiler]

"spit on me?" Russo steps back "well don't you worry about that I'm more than used to being sat on, usually with nice fist sized bullets than gizzard juice though" he adds under his breath

he follows Eisen for a bit dodging around the carts and baskets and deckhands thinking about how to make himself useful, while he didn't want to loose Eisen or Richard (the german was sure useful for those tight spots with other less savory germans, and that rifle of Richard's.... well that rifle...) he was also running what the hispanic man had said through about the inns, he wondered if the man was on the level...

"Eisen" he said, "I just want to go check around town, perhaps meet up with the others, that man said he may have a guide for us, I would prefer it if we knew how far the Nazi had got in their search but I don't speak German" he shrugged "also I have something in the luggage I might need you to pick up for me if I'm not back in an hour, It's a couple of machine guns, wrapped in a cream tarp, used to be bolted to my plane, kinda precious to me for some reason... can't think why"

[jacemachine]

"Right. I suppose I'll be staying here then while Eisen goes inside to handle this." Richard said. "Where are you off to, Russo? Would you like us to try to meet you somewhere if this takes quicker than expected?"

[[ So rather than splitting the party into thirds, we will keep it to two threads of game play. As it stands, Eisen is heading into the the Dock Master's office <location #3>. And Russo will need to declare a target location to head for. If you've been posting in this thread, keep doing so. Once Dr. Loder, Sgt Kestrel, and Max Hawkins are located, they will once again resume posting in this main thread.]]

[jacemachine]

Eisen takes his leave and makes his way towards the building. Dodging five goats and their owner. They ba-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah angrily at his passage.

The door is wide open. Looking in he sees.

[spoiler]The Office is a really just a benched waiting room with a desk. It is dusty and dry. There is a rusting fan blowing air at a sweating over-weight Guatemalan man. He sits in a wooden chair. Behind him the wall is lined with filing cabinets in various shapes of repair. The room smells of old socks and bananas, oddly.

There is a bulletin board on the wall near the entrance, quite a number of messages in a variety of languages are tacked into place. "Well, how about it?" Richard inquires dryly to Russo.

[Flay Crimsonwind]

[spoiler]Takes 20 on a spot check to examine the board, Spot: 25 to examine board.[/spoiler]

Eisen ignores the old man, unable to communicate anyways, and stops for a second outside the room. He takes note of the people in the room. SS? There WAS something here very important to Hitler, the greasy lard-bucket traitorous hog. Loyal men to Hitler; if it had been Eisen on his own, he'd have walked outside, torched the building, and shot any who exited, he can stand soldiers of Germany embroiled in the conflict, but not those "loyal" pigs! In any case, it was time to get moving. Taking the envelope out of his pocket, he opens it to examine the contents; looking for anything that might make the SS officer suspicious.

Upon seeing it's content, he steps into the room, curiously examining the board of messages. Once finished, he turns around to give each man inside a good look, and walks to the desk with a polite nod to anyone who cares to look at him. Stepping to the desk, he hands over the list of equipment, the cash, and the note. He has no idea if he's being ripped off, but he doesn't so much care; hopefully Kestrel knew what he was doing.

[jacemachine]

[[ Historically speaking, the SS were in charge of Hitler's archaeological investigations! http://greyfalcon.us/Ahnenerbe.htm
]]

[spoiler= Eisen & the Envelope]
It's a good thing you checked the envelope.

This is the white envelope that Wilkes handed to Sgt Kestrel on the deck. On it's front it reads in ink: Dockmaster. It is thick, roughly an inch, possibly more.

Inside the envelope you immediately notice that there is a thick wad of cash. Guatemalan currency mostly, but some of the bills are from neighboring British Honduras. You aren't quite sure of the conversion but you think that this is enough to feed a small family for a month.

There is also the claim slip for your party's cargo and a and a handwritten note to the Dockmaster. In English it simply says: Per our previous arrangement. Gracias.


[[ Let me know if you do anything different! Also, I will have to wait to give you the contents of the board. It is located inside and it requires that spot to be made from close inspection. ]]
[/spoiler]

MEANWHILE...


Richard gives Russo a hard look. "Well?" He looked around to see if perhaps Russo's attention had been snatched away by the sight of a pretty girl.

[Flay Crimsonwind]

[spoiler]AH! Thought I might wanna check. Editing the last post, I'll just cut the irrelevant text with the talking to the dock master, and make the spot check inside.[/spoiler]

[Tarotdragoon]

[spoiler] [/spoiler]

((spot: 23))

Russo shields his eyes from the glare of the sun and casts a sharp eye about his surroundings, ignoring the goats (and the smell of said creatures) and looking hard at the town

"I'm still considering, the others should be around the town by now right? I'll try and meet up with them, if I'm not back within an hour or if you get bored" he smirks "come look for me at the Ciudad de Perros tavern"

[Nanshork]

Richard nods. "Alright."

[jacemachine]

[spoiler= Eisen and the Dockmaster.]
The sweaty man looks up at you, as you step up to his desk. Behind you two more people have stepped into line. The men preceding you having finished their business and left. The Nazi with the TIME magazine looks bored. He gives you a brief nod as he catches your eye.

<Location #3> and the docks. At the moment. Eisen has left you and Russo, and has entered the . He is currently out of sight.

A shepherd with 5 goats passes by you, muttering in Spanish about the rudeness of the Germans. (This is the same man who Eisen had nearly had a collision with a few posts earlier.)Dock workers busy themselves around you.[/spoiler]

[Nanshork]

Richard gets bored and examines the bulletin board next to the Dock Master's office.

[spoiler]
Spot: 33

Woo, natural 20, if only they auto-succeeded on skill checks!
[/spoiler]

[Flay Crimsonwind]

He offers.

Thinking for a second, it occurs to Eisen that he has no idea what he was supposed to do after he'd gotten the envelope delivered. He turns; Richard talked to Russo longer; he might know something. "Thank you for hat offer, and I'll gladly accept it. Give me a moment to speak with my companion, so I can give you a decent location. I might have to wait a bit for another companion to tell us where we're staying, but I'm grateful for the help. Back in a moment."

While leaving, he moves over to the board, inspecting it for a second*. Meeting Richard at the door, he asks in a bit of a hushed voice, nothing too conspicuous, "The dock master's willing to get the cargo into town for us. Any place you can think of? We don't know what inn we'll be staying in, so that isn't really an option. Should we just wait for Russo or someone to come find us? Somehow that seems a bit anti-productive... in either case, it'll take anywhere between one to three hours to get the cargo. Russo should be back by then, but... well, we ought to have a second idea, just in case he gets distracted..."

[spoiler=*]Does my previous spot count work, or should I roll a new one?[/spoiler]

[jacemachine]

[spoiler]

[[ I will be informing you gents on the results of the Bulletin Board, as both Eisen and Richard had good rolls. You don't need to reroll the Spot, if you are just wondering about the results of the Bulletin Board.  ]][/spoiler]

[Nanshork]

Richard thinks for a moment.  "Russo said that he could be found at the Ciudad de Perros tavern, but I'm not sure if dropping the equipment off at a tavern is a good idea.  And I don't feel like waiting around.  Any ideas?"

[Tarotdragoon]

[spoiler][/spoiler]

Russo walks off during the lull in the conversation, passing the decking and onto the land, immediately feeling a little uneasy, he concentrated on what he could see rather than feel and kept his ears peeled for any snippets of conversation while walking into the market street.

((gather information?: 13

[jacemachine]

[spoiler= Russo]
Your Gather Information check results in gathering only General Information.

Market Day is on everybody's lips. At least the ones who speak the same language as you -- This town is currently filled three times it's usual population, people from all the local villages and farms have come out to ply their wares and to party, so to speak.

You are on the outskirts of the Market itself at the moment, but you can easily make your way in deeper. (There's STUFF for SALE!  -- You hear a man shouting from a booth that he has Stuffed Monkeys for sale! how can anyone pass THAT offer up?)

There is a rumor that you keep hearing, but mostly from people with big smiles, that anyone going into the jungle is doomed to be eaten by this "El Abuelo" while they sleep by their camp fires at night, and if it isn't that... lesser spoken about are the cannibal tribes. But people seem to have less of a gleam in their eye when they mention them...

You've also heard a peculiar rumor about the leader of the Nazis; apparently, when the first platoon was preparing to head into the jungle a week earlier, they had bought the entire town's supply of Sugar? More sugar has come in off the boats since then, but already there are rumors circulating that if the second platoon ever decides to leave and join the first group, they would be taking even more sugar with them... Why would they even WANT that much sugar? is the the consensus amongst the locals.

You learn about a place called  . It's owned by a Brit named Reginald, and it sells things that a more discriminating eye might find interesting. It's located at <location #6> is not far from the Market area.

You also learn that Ciudad de Perros Tavern and the Caribbean Hideaway Inn are to the South. Near the shoreline.

[/spoiler]




[spoiler= Eisen & Richard]
Goats for Sale... Cheap Mules for Rent... Crew Members needed for various ships that come and go from port here... private messages from locals trying to get in touch with friends "Hawkins. Don't go too far..." and "Jorge! I'm sorry about your sister! Can I make it up to you?"

The thing that you BOTH take notice of is this:
HAVE YOU SEEN THIS MAN?? written in a number of languages... the German's are advertising that they are looking for a local guide named "Harrison 'Bones' Avery" and if anyone knows of his location, to PLEASE contact them at the "Jag' & Wolf Hotel".

Either he's been gone a while and they can't find him either OR this could be the reason that he wasn't readily available when the League of Nations men tried to contract him for this job.

[[ A couple more are posted on the official Map Descriptor in the Props Post ]]


[/spoiler]

[Flay Crimsonwind]

Eisen gets a bit of a gleam in his eye; something he already knew, but good that he remembered to communicate it to Richard. He lays a finger on the poster; better to cover his language than to try and speak in muffled tones, though the place was shifty enough he didn't worry much. "Ah, yes, the soldier at the dock mentioned something about this. He asked me to report to him immediately if I saw this person. Looks like they're after him as well. In any case, hold on, I think I have an idea..."

Moving back into the office, Eisen goes up to the dock master, and speaks in a hushed, but not conspicuous tone of voice; a man speaking privately to a business partner. "About moving the goods, I'd like to say again that I'm quite grateful; I've been asked to additionally take a heavy cream colored tarp wrapping up some firearms, belongs to a friend of mine we're to meet in town, if that's possible. In regards to location, maybe a hotel or inn would be best. What hotels are in the area?

Also, I'm to meet the friend at the Ciudad de Perros tavern, and I'd love directions to there from here, if you could."

[Nanshork]

Richard nods and waits.

[Tarotdragoon]

Russo listens intently and heads of in a vague southerly direction, hoping to find the tavern and have a good drink ((and more gather information checks))

he moved through the market shoving away any overly enthusiastic shoppers and casting a curious eye over the multi coloured stuffed monkeys and wondering about what he was hearing. sugar? how unusual, what could they want with all that sugar? could It have something to do with that mythical monster? perhaps he should check out that curiosity shop the old man was on about to see if there's anything interesting lost in his own thoughts Russo continued onwards keeping a sharp eye out for any pretty young local ladies.
((spot: 12))

[jacemachine]

[spoiler=Richard & Eisen]
AND the 'Ciudad de Perros tavern'? Then there is only one that I would recommend you. There is a place called the 'Caribbean Hideaway Inn' and it is located right next to the tavern that you seek. It is a little...  well, you will see. The other inn in town is the 'Jaguar & Wolf' but our other German..." He eyes you cautiously, hoping not to offend says the Dock Master. He then explains to you how best to arrive at your intended destination.
[/spoiler]

[spoiler=Russo]
You notice a local boy, possibly 12 or 13 years old, wearing a NY Yankees baseball cap. It is worn and dirty, much like the rest of his clothes. He seems to be following you, and he has an expression of curiosity on his face.

When he discovers that you are looking at him. He pretends that he is suddenly VERY interested in a fish stand that he just happened to be passing at the time. He pulls out a folded scrap of paper, looks at it, then stuffs it back into his pocket.[/spoiler]

[j0lt]

Winding his way through the crowd, Dr. Loder approaches Russo without attracting too much attention.  "I see you got off the ship okay, where are the others?"