After fleeing the helicopter scene, Bob was able to resume driving Sam’s van, picking up the crew along with the semi-conscious mage Twitch.

Upon arriving at the harbour, they found the only boats available at 3:30AM on short notice had ties to the Ares corporation. It was at this point Rob elected to mention the existence of a secret underground smugglers tunnel between Seattle and Victoria, known as the ‘Pop’ Tunnel. They managed to buy ‘tickets’ from the gang members guarding it, and drove down the tunnel without incident.

The team met with their contact, Mr. Johnson, who was upset at their failure to secure Fiona, and assigned them three additional cohorts (his replacement squad) to finish the job:

• Thomas ‘Gears’, the Ork weapons specialist/wheelman
• Nathan ‘Rambo’, the Ork tracker/survivalist
• Neil ‘Sam’, the Elf smoothtalking assassin
• The mage Thomas ‘Twitch’ has left the party, while he recovers from magical drain.

The group initially splits up, while they retrieve personal belongings from the city. Nicolaj purchases a new sniper rifle via a contact of Thomas. Rambo scopes out the city for potential sniping locations, and settles on the gardened rooftop of the nearby Parkside hotel, where they rent a single room. Upon discovering the tracking device they placed on Fiona’s clothing has been discarded in an alley, the team sets out upon the town seeking clues. Clothing stores, ice cream parlors, and CCTV camera systems are perused, before Rob asks the assistance of a Lone Star friend of his. The beat cop suggests he question the reclusive ‘information enthusiast’, Mr. Mayor. Michelle manages to crack a major Lone Star security feed, downloading a large volume of camera records for the whole waterfront area. While she searches through it with Rob, the rest of the party seeks an audience with Mr. Mayor.

The man, later described by witnesses as having “very nice tusks, a well fitting suit, and impressive ears”, parlayed with them in his data sanctuary, an impressive display of hardware that included a ‘perfect’ person finder. After revealing the true identities of the mercenaries in the room, he declared he could help them find their target, but that his help would come with a price: the tracking down of a special pair of cybergoggles, by force, from an ex-partner named Fred. The goggles were heavily modified, and connected to his Truegrid person locator.

The group reconvened by the Docks, and following a helpful tip from an extremely drunk passerby, infiltrated the Warehouse where Fred worked. While the two hackers continued to search through the video records, Nathan, Neil, Nicolaj, and Thomas ascended the building, via grappling hook, rope, stairs, and elevator. Bursting into the target office, Rambo assaulted the goggled man inside, killing him and securing the headware. Having been told by Neil it was an alarm system, Rob hacked into and firmware reset a small Linksys router located on the desk. Sensing their job complete, the crew descended the building via the balcony rope, just as the Warehouse security arrives on the scene. Sprinting down the docks, they’re stopped by Dock security, who pincers them with the Warehouse guards.

WILL OUR FAIR HEROES SURVIVE? TUNE IN NEXT WEEK!

– Nebual