DM Jelani |
Auriel brings his autoscroll over to Horus and connects them. Then he touches a few places on his and the data is transferred over. It reads as follows:
Field Report Proxima XII GS 995
"Encountered the flagship of the mercenary group known as The Blood Claws while in orbit. I wasn't able to make a complete examination but the ship was aprox. 500 meters long, in the heavy carrier class. I counted six short range laser cannons and five fighter ports. I estimate that she could hold anywhere from 15-25 drones or fighters." -Varus Gelled Astro Guild Surveyor
Horus Hightower |
Horus shares the information with Leo and anyone else who is interested (uploads it to the excelsior, if possible).
"We could probably take on the carrier, but if we don't lure away its fighters, we almost assuredly would be boarded and suffer casualties. If we do engage, I would recommend that it be on our terms."
Turning to Auriel, he asks:
"How long until the next Arcanicite shipment is ready for transport?"
Horus Hightower |
"I was thinking that we might be able to set up a trap or lure using the shipment. If nothing else we might be able to winnow down our list of suspects. It's something to think on."
DM Jelani |
Fortune's Temple:
Reggie answers Grunk by saying, "I've been here for about twenty years now. Back when I got here this place was a complete sh*t hole. No where to drink or gamble on the whole planet, it was an untapped market. Slowly built this place up since then, as a sort of monument to Lady Luck." he says, lifting the golden dice around his neck and kissing them.
Auriel's Chambers:
"I would suggest you go and talk to all the suspects at a minimum, where are the rest of the officers? Perhaps if you asked around the businesses on Main Street you might come up with something." Auriel suggests. "Like I said, whoever is doing this has inside information, if you tried to set up a trap it would likely be ignored just like my last one was. Why risk exposing themselves or their carrier ship for one shipment?"
Kimefe |
"Going around and talking to all the places seems like a good idea--I think we should get on it."
Kimefe will proceed to dress in something nondescript and head out where ever other people don't go.
Sorry about being gone all week instead of just the first half. Got sick and was stuck in bed 'til a few hours ago.
DM Jelani |
Fortune's Temple:
Reggie looks Grunk over, "You look pretty strong. I guess if you were planning on staying here for a while I could give you work as a bouncer. Pay's not great though."
Kimefe - Grunk, Walter and Syarha are in Fortune's Temple though I think we've lost both Walter and Syarha. Leo is with you, as is Horus. Where did you want to go?
DM Jelani |
Kimefe goes into the various shops and government buildings, talking to people she sees there and on the streets. She eases in the name Blood Claws here and there, but no one seems to know anything. When she asks in the entryway to Thog's Place, the old orcish woman claims to know nothing as well.
Sense Motive Please
Kimefe |
Leaving the building without a word, Kimefe heads to Fortune's Palace at tells the others about the lead at Thog's Place.
"I would have interrogated her myself, except for the matter that I do not have much skill in that area. I thought that perhaps a larger group would have an easier time of getting the info we want."
DM Jelani |
Since Syarha seems to have stopped posting as well, we'll go with the assumption that her and Walter ran off and went AWOL. Guess this isn't what they signed up for.
Kimefe approaches Grunk, and tells him what she saw. Reggie, overhearing, turns towards them. "Ah, you're after the Blood Claws. Why didn't you just ask me Grunk? They have a guy hangs around Thog's Place sometimes. He's not always there, but might be someone who could tell you where he is if you play your cards right."
Leo and Horus, what are you up to at this point?
Grunk Bigfix |
Grunk rubs the back of his head in embarrassment "I was trying to be covert Ops." He smiles "Just ended up making a fool of myself really. About the Blood claws what time is this guy normally hanging around? Who could we ask?" He turns to Kimefe once Reggie replies "Reckon we should just bust into the joint?"
DM Jelani |
"I don't know exactly who it is, I've just heard that their guys hang around some times. Thog's Place opens up 18:00. I wouldn't recommend breaking in, they've got a decent security system and the constable's a hard ass." He leans in close across the bar and whispers "If I don't miss my mark, this has something to do with the pirates, yeah? Are the Blood Claws behind all that?"
Horus Hightower |
"I think that I'll go have a chat with this constable, James Blackburn. I might be able to get a read off of him and if he's not the conspirator, he might make for a useful ally in our search."
Grunk Bigfix |
Location: Fortune Palace
Grunk stares at Reggie for a long moment not really sure whether to trust him, eventually he shrugs "Someone has hired the Blood Claws. Our job to find out who. You got any idea who would wanna do that?" Grunk places credits on the bar enough to pay the bill and the information. "Could you also let us know if you spot anything...suspicious."
DM Jelani |
Fortune's Palace:
Reggie responds to Grunk, "I have no idea who would want to hire the pirates. I hope you catch 'em though. Business has been sh*t since they started raiding the system. I don't get out of the Palace much, but I'll keep my eyes and ears peeled. Sooner those pirates are gone the sooner more people start gambling here."
Elsewhere:
Leo and Horus make their way down to Main Street, noticing the same dichotomy of living standards that the others did. They find the 'building' labeled Security easily. The door is open. Inside there is a plain black reception desk, and behind it a pretty young human woman in a feminized version of the black security uniform. Her blonde hair is pulled up into a neat bun, and she smiles as they enter. "How can I help you folks today?" she asks pleasantly. Behind her on the left side is a door labeled Constable that rests slightly ajar. On the right side is a key carded door that leads back to the jail. To the immediate right of the entryway are several sofas and a viewscreen table displaying a federation news broadcast.
Horus Hightower |
Horus takes Leo's cue:
"Hello miss, I am Ensign Hightower and this is Junior Lieutenant Gotrum. We're here on official Federation business and were wondering if we might be able to speak with the Constable."
DM Jelani |
"Federation you say? One moment please, let me see if he's available." She stands up and goes back into the office, shutting the door behind her. After a few moments she returns and says, "Right this way please." gesturing to the office door.
Inside sits a middle aged human man behind another plain black desk. His thick grey mustache dominates a tanned, weathered face. What remains of his hair is shaved close to the scalp. His uniform is unbuttoned down far enough to expose some chest hair. Without getting up or taking his foot off the desk, he says "Tracy says you boys wanted to see me?"
Grunk Bigfix |
Hahaha remind me never to drink that stuff again ;)
He falls back against the bar and scrabbles to hold himself up right, "Maybe not a good idea to have a fight though." He looks up at Kimefe and smiles at her "Never realised how beautiful you are." He finishes with a wink and a lick of his tusks.
Horus Hightower |
"Constable Blackburn, I presume. I am Ensign Hightower and this is Junior Lieutenant Gotrum. We've been sent by the Federation to look into the raids on the arcanacite cargo ships. As the law planetside, we were wondering if you have had any success at determining the perpetrators or how they seem to know exactly when to strike."
Grunk Bigfix |
Grunk smiles If you insist. He plonks himself heavily onto the chair What am I doing. I should have snapped her for that talk.
Grunk sighs "Anything we can check out from in here Reggie. Any windows we can watch out of to across the way."
DM Jelani |
Constable's Office:
"Yeah, I'm Blackburn. Sit down fellas." he says motioning to the two chairs facing the desk. "Want a drink?" he asks, pulling a bottle of whiskey from a drawer and pouring himself a glass. After they respond he continues, "I aint had much motivation to solve that case to be honest. This place has gone to sh*t ever since the damn guild brought in all the money. We've got greenskins swarming all over this place like flies. Hell, they even got their own bar right on mainstreet now." He seems to be mostly addressing Leo, even though Horus was the one who asked. He gives Horus' devilish features several sidelong glances. "If those pirates can drive all the offworlders away, and put things back to right who am I to complain?"
Fortune's Temple:
No windows in a casino Grunk. It's bad for business. I do have some security cams though. Wanna come back to my office to wait for this evening? That'd let you keep an eye on things outside."
Don't forget you have communicators, you can talk to each other whenever you want. Even though you're not in the same place.
Leo Gotrum |
"No thanks." Leo responds to the constable's offer. What a backwater sheriff, there is a time for drinking and a time for working and they're the same, he thinks.
A bit brunt Leo answers: "Well I'll be honest with you Constable, this has become our headache since the guild and thereby the federation is involved. My only interest is to see the shipments secure and that means no pirates. As for problems planet side I'll lend you a hand if I can, but never at the expense of the guild. I think the greenskinns are here to stay, but I might be wrong."
After pausing for 5 seconds he adds while glancing at Horus: "You might bee pleasantly surprised of what others races bring to the table."
DM Jelani |
Fortune's Temple:
Reggie leads Kimefe and Grunk through a plain door at the back of the gambling floor, and down a hallway past several doors to a lift. He presses his thumb to a pad next to the door, and it opens. The lift goes up for a second or two and then opens into a lavish office. The floor is covered in thick red carpet and the two large couches are upholstered in gold colored cloth. There's a mahogany desk with a comfortable looking chair behind it. Off to one side is a minibar. "Bring up cameras A and B please." he says. Two rectangular images appear suspended in the air in front of his desk. He walks over and grabs them, dragging them until they are hovering in between the two couches. "State of the art illusions. You can drag them anywhere you like, or pull on the edges to resize them. If you want to stop the feed, rewind, fast forward or anything like that just say it out loud. The VI will follow your commands. Well, make yourselves at home. I'll be downstairs if you need me." he says with a small bow, turning to go back down in the lift.
Horus Hightower |
"Thank you for you time Constable."
Horus gets up to leave and turns to Leo,
"I think that we'll have to recommend the establishment of a permanent Federation garrison planetside to guarantee guild member safety.
Leo Gotrum |
"A thought worth considering Hightower." Leo responds as they leave.
When they exits the office and is out in the receptions area Tracy is, he adds in a normal voice, so she can hear it: "Hightower I wonder if everyone in the security shares the constable's opinion?"
He finds his communicator and broadcast to every member of the team: "This is the XO, status report."
Grunk Bigfix |
Still in a stupor Grunk is marvelled by the technology he sits himself heavily next to Kimefe "Wind back to yesterday starting at six pm. Then roll through at x4 speed. Lets see if we can catch out dodgy."
He hears the XO's call "We having a CCTV party in Fortunes Palace. Scoping out Thog's place. Care to join us? Just tell Reggie Grunk sent ya."
Kimefe |
Kimefe skips one of the screens back to the time Grunk called out, while keeping the other one on live feed, she then responds to Leo.
"I have reason to think that the orc running Thog's Place knows something about the Blood Claws, but Bigfix went and got himself drunk, so we thought we would wait for everyone else before going in."
Leo Gotrum |
Visibly shocked by the message Leo responds "Not understood, repeat last transmission CWO" doubting what he just heard.
While waiting for the response from Rivyan, Kimefe message sounds through the communicator. "He did what?" Leo responds in equal parts surprise and disdain. He continues in a more clam tone of voice: "Where are you now?"
Kimefe |
" We're in the office of Fortune's Palace. Reggie--the owner, has given us access to the security cameras viewing the outside area so that we can watch for anything suspicious out front of Thog's Place. Reggie believes that the Blood Claws spend time at Thog's, and I got the sense that the orc at the front counter there was hiding something when I asked around."
Leo Gotrum |
Now certain he heard the CWO right Leo bursts out: "By the tusks I'm gonna skin 'em alive!" He regains some measure of control, takes the communicator again and tries to reach the Excelsior: "FEF Excelsior this is the XO over."
He turns to Horus with a trace of malice in his eyes: "Going AWOL, that was a bad choice."
Leo Gotrum |
"Captain, this is Gotrum. Ensigns Tungsten and Screething commandeered the lander from CWO Rivyan and took of. I don't know why. I suspect they're going awol. Do you want us to continue down here or head back? We're currently doing recon."