8;

 2022.10.28  Session 8 (Unrecorded session)

Continuing in the buy-in for Common Raw Materials, Virgil buys 4 tons (17,000 Cr).  RUR-67, wanting to learn about finance, is persuaded by Capt. Derwatt to buy 2 tons (8,500 Cr) with a precious cash reserve of 40,000 Cr that was conferred to it by MATERNOSTER.  [There are only 3 tons of space left to option more Common Raw Materials.]  But mostly RUR-67 is looking around, observing, trying to figure out humans at "play".  RUR-67 looks at the sun, the sand, the sinusoidal decomposition of the wave-equations...and is unmoved.

Virgil shares that the man he contacted at the bar, Richard, revealed that "art" refers to artifacts.  Richard hinted that normally artifacts are relics of early settlement, or relics from sophonts that are older, but these artifacts "looked like pieces of wood".  Richard didn't elaborate much further, because he was getting drunk.

The PCs call Sarosho Cardozo at the number given by Brianna.  Cardozo only has 5 tons of Luxury Goods to send as freight.  He doesn't have any more, but arranges a meeting for the PCs the next afternoon with "Lady Karoleena", a wealthy patron who may have a lead on more future employments.

Virgil and Wilson take an airbus over to Akapulko again.  Virgil is trying more reconnaissance work and tries a different bar called the BoVe Ameeketso Kloobo (Frontier-Verdulan Friendship Club).  The crowd here is more like retired government workers and diplomats from both sides of the border.  Virgil tries to listen in to conversations.  As this is at some remove, I gave him a task to roll 6+ with a Bane (disadvantage).  He sits down next to a table with 2 Verdulans who seem to be retirees from some government bureau.  He pieces together that their concern was the "Stranguloy" ("Strangers" or "Strangelanders" (in the sense of odd), which in the Frontier are called the Skraelings).  They are a mysterious third branch of humanity known only from radio signals 100s of light-years away. (edited)

[20:13]

Virgil introduces himself to these two men, who give their first names as Petro and Yakobo (Peter and Jacob).  The two feel at ease discussing with Virgil what they know about the Stranguloy from the pitifully poor video transmissions received from deep space.  It's public stuff.  The public of the Verdulan Federation have been told the Stranguloy are too far away to be any threat.  Petro and Yakobo talk about their work:  an interesting mix of image enhancement techniques on the poor signal, and cultural deductions and comparison from intense research and object-matching of the blurry images to items from cultures present and past. Very little can be deduced about Strangulo culture from the images available, and the audio of their language has been untranslateable to this date except for some words referring to people and places as old as Old Earth itself.  Virgil gets the impression that Yakobo is bittersweet about his work years, spending a lifetime but having few concrete facts to show for it.

Captain Derwatt joins Virgil; more chit-chat.  At some point (lubricated by drinks) Virgil and Wilson do a back-and-forth tale:  they tell a whopper about having discovered an unknown ship in Frontier space of a strange design.  Petro and Yakobo are amazed at this, imagining it may have to do with the Stranguloy.  They press for details.  At that moment the Verdulans don't seem to have caught the PCs out in their lie.  They are on the cusp of dropping everything and phoning this tid-bit out to their old office!  The Verdulans show one image from their datacomp with the PCs about the Stranguloy (Handouts:  Artwork:  Unknown Skraeling Crew).

Brogan and Tōmō surf, compete, appear adequate and relatively even in surfing skill.  They attract some interest from the ladies.  Tōmō does feats of strength, and Gerry's route is to use Persuade.

Astria opts in for 3 tons of the Common Raw Materials (12,750 Cr).  She spends her time simply, on the beach. (edited)

[20:14]

Ronnie tries to make contact with the underworld, asking around about "art", goes to Kuban Pete again.  [No results, as far as I remember.]  But he easily scores some feeherbo (weed) for 40 Cr.  It's probably legal or unenforced anyway.  The drug-vendor asks if he wants to purchase more or move more of this product, and hints that there are drug vendors eager to hook up with starship crews.  The people involved in this trade are Rokuloy, a name for low-lifes who can't afford the best beaches, but only the unfinished, "rocky" beaches of the planet, not developed for resorts.

RUR-67 approaches Astria because it has developed a problem.  Its taste-buds are emitting a constant taste of vinegar, and Capt. Derwatt is not around.  It asks Astria for help.  The problem is in establishing baseline voltages in the taste-buds, and one of them is out of whack.  Astria partially solves it.

The next afternoon (Day 72-73), Capt. Derwatt, accompanied by Virgil and Ronnie, go to the mansion of Administrator Karoleena Rudgsheeldo III aka Lady Karoleena.  Her name is very old-money; like, millennia old.  The mansion is in another beach town in the Akapulko area and it costs 10 Cr transit fee to get there.  The mansion is quite out of place in this tropical paradise, because it looks like an unadorned 3-storey stone castle, with a moat!  Two goons flank the portcullis gate.  The PCs are greeted by two "chiefs" of a fierce appearance, one fat, one thing.  As they enter, Virgil notices things mounted on the east wall, which look like misshapen, polished lumps of wood.  Could this relate to the "art" he found out about?

Lady Karoleena, a matronly middle-aged woman, is seated at the "queen" end of a U-shaped arrangement of tables.  A younger woman in a black cocktail-dress is seated on the side and is introduced as Ursula.  The PCs are invited to take chairs and sit inside the "U". (edited)

[20:14]

Lady Karoleena offers more jobs transporting the Luxury Goods, as she obtains them.  She says she is willing to pay more than the usual freight charges.  She will pay 10,000 Cr per ton per parsec of travel, but the PCs must keep these jobs completely "off the books".  But the availability of shipments is not something perfectly predictable.

The PCs return to their resort.  Late that evening, Capt. Wilson Derwatt hears a tapping at his window.  He pulls the drapes apart a crack, but the window is blocked with splotches of blue and green.  He pulls the drapes wider, and a creature with mottled skin and four red eyes stares back at him.  It is a Savrette, the indigenous sophont of Flostono, clinging to the glass and wood of the hotel with the pads of its toes in the manner of a gecko.  The creature speaks Verdulan in a chittering, too-fast way.  He gives his name as Sibrinlichinripitlian, which Wilson in his mind shortens to "Sir Lich".  Sir Lich goes into a chittering, tweeting talk that he is offering to pay for a cargo to be transported from the Ribikur system, a Mars-like planet known to be surfaced entirely with sea-green copper oxide (just as Mars is rust-red from iron oxides.)  Sir Lich refuses to disclose the nature of this cargo, only asking that it should be delivered from Ribikur (3 parsecs away) to here and that the PCs should be discreet about it.  Sir Lich offers a business card with a number, and then pads away across the hotel roof and walls and out of sight.

The next day the PCs discuss that job, and consider taking a detour to Ribikur, come back to Flostono and then hauling the Luxury Goods .  But it takes 4 weeks to go to Ribikur and back, plus fuel refining and maneuver time.  And they would have to leave cargo behind here in storage, as their cargo hold is full-up at this point and they would need room.