SPYCRAFT : Blood Money (Medecin Sans Frontière)

[Tokiwong]

Kim nods listening...

"I wouldn't mind getting a closer look at the patients myself from what I have been hearing this strain is pretty potent... at least as my colleague professes... both the WHO and the CDC have given it the monker of some kind of super strain..."

Kim relaxes in his chair trying to find where he went wrong... or maybe just get a sense...

"Though perhaps it is just a localized strain heightened by the AIDS virus..." pauses for a moment, "personally I have a feeling we may just be dealing with a strain that has yet to be categorized..."

Kim fixes his glasses and glances to Luddite...

"Just my thoughts I guess..."

Kim turns back to Lana...

"Either way... I am glad to be hear to do what I can for the people... just let me know where I can get started... If this is anything like what experienced in the Congo or Somalia..."

Kim's face hardens for a moment in resolve... he then continues...

"Well then I can see that my colleague and I both have alot of work ahead of us..." he fixes his glasses.
OOC: Sense Motive +7 trying to find where he went wrong... or what context he is missing... Cultures +7 if that will help get a local context... Diplomacy +11 (convince her he is earnest and not a lecherous fiend... )... Bluff +10 as needed... and Gather Information +8

 

[Game Control]

Lana relaxes as Kim joins the biz talk and doesn't press on his earlier innuendoes. She even smiles as the faceman does his best impersonation of a serious professional hard at work. But her mood swing dramatically as Luddite mention that people in the WHO and CDC are underestimating the epidemics.

-''Are they out of their mind? And what is this load of crap about the WHO? They were convinced of the seriousness of the situation when we last talked, and the situation is now only worse than it used to! Take a look at these numbers and follow me in the camp, you'll see for yourself. Half of our new cases are TB related! Here, take these pills and masks.''

Lana tries to get the agents to follow her out of her office while simultaneously trying to get them to read the resume on her dossiers, take the pills and get the masks. She seems genuinely upset about the news Luddite gave her and eager to show her guest how the situation really is on the field.

[OOC: At last, I can post! Between my server and the board being down...

Anyway; Luddite, you see no mention of Dr Gournay in your reports. Considering this fact as well as the nature of the correspondence between Beaujolais and Gournay, this leads you to believe that Doctor Gournay is mostly a practitioner, involved with the patients most of the time and having little to do with research, statistics, report etc. Considering that Lana is leading you toward the patients' tents, this is good news. Now you still have to locate him and get an excuse to talk.

Kim;

Culture 10 + 7. All this tells you is that Lana Gauthier is from the Quebec province, most likely Montreal. This isn’t exactly a prude city and you guess that her culture has little to do with her initial reaction.

Bluff 9 + 10, Sense Motive 16 + 7. You think you do a nice transition from lecherous to professional. Her shift of attitude toward you would seem to indicate that as well. First impression counts, though. You're not sure you are off the hook.

There isn't much you can do to understand her initial reaction without additional info. Sense motive checks won't cut it.

BTW in case you haven't noticed, I've started to hide some of my NPCs skill check. Their sense motive, for example. Did they buy your bluff or are they just playing along? Stuff like that.]

 

[Tokiwong]

Kim follows along... looking over things giving them a cursory glance... he takes a pill and a mask.. and follows....

"Well I agree with you Lana, I mean Miss Gauthier. I have been following some of the developments coming out of this region and I have to agree the problem is getting worse..."

Kim sighs thinking...

"I have been hearing claims this new strain is proving immune to common TB vaccinations, any truth to that... just something from various reports I have seen when I was doing research on the Binga situation..."

Kim takes a position just to her left...

"Anything else I am missing? Just trying to get a grasp on the situation at hand..."

 

[Luddite]

Luddite follows along and does the same as Lana. He takes time to look around and get a better layout of the place.

How do you and the rest of the staff deal with living in close proximity to all of this? Do all of the medical staff stay on site?

[ OOC: I am tyring to find out where are the staff quarters? Also I try to get a good layout of the place. Where might be Grounay's Office.

BTW Did Lana have her "disgust" at the mention of the WHO or the name Beaujolais? Also was there any "Famailar" talk between Gournay and Beaujolais in the emails? Did they have some nickname for each other? Maybe a reference so some good time in Paris or something. I am looking for something I could reference to make it seem that I had been freindly with Beaujolais when I meet with him in New York (Not that I did, but like I want to pretend)]

Luddite conitunes to take notes and asks basic questions though out the tour.

This has been very informative. I was wondering if we could interview some of the Doctors and others of the medical staff. I would like to get their impression and words, to bring up the Human side of the issue at hand. Some times numbers are not enough. I have found that testimonals from respected staff members go along way in pushing a cause.

-Luddite

 

[Game Control]

Lana leads you on a tour of the facility, starting with the tent area; Dozens of very large tents containing roughly 50 patients each. They have bunks and very basics accommodation. A few doctors wearing the customary white clothing are in sight.

-''Yeah, we all live on site. Many members of the staff are infected with the new TB strain in a latent state. By the time we realized there was a new strain, it was already too late. Of course, as long as we stay healthy, we are reasonably safe. The problem of these people (she indicates the legion of patients) is that they aren't healthy. AIDS in a lot of case but also simply dirt poor living conditions. There isn't much we can do but isolate those who are identified as active carriers of the antibiotic resistant strain. These are the tents assigned for those cases. As you can see, they cover half the camp.

The strain isn't really 100% resistant to everything, that's just an exaggeration. But it's pretty damn tough. It's resistant to all commonly used antibiotics and while we have a few drugs that work, none are efficient. We need very strong dosage and the secondary effects are sometime just as dangerous as the disease for some patient. Not to mention that we simply don't have enough of those drugs that do work. Furthermore, some people on our research staff are saying that the TB mutates quickly and easily develops new resistance that it didn't have just a few months ago. To put it bluntly, the situation is bad.''

She points toward an isolated building that is clearly more modern than the others. It is only one story high and while built with bricks like most other cheap building, it has a modern thermal pump.

That's our lab. It's a restricted area given that we're running tests on the latest TB strain. Frankly, we shouldn't have to do this ourselves. It drains most of the resources of our lab which should be used simply to run standard analysis on our patients. But for the moment there is so few people taking TB seriously that we have to contribute. Our staff searches for the best way to deal with the disease.

Reacting to Luddite's request to run some interview.

-''Ok, but you have to make it snappy. We are understaffed these days and no one can afford to do some lengthy interviews during their watch. Of course, perhaps some of our staff will accept to talk to you while off-duty. That way you have plenty of time to discuss the situation. Don't insist if they decline, though. Some people on our staff especially value their free time.

[OOC:

16 + 7 sense motive; there is a hint of disgust in that last sentence.

Beaujolais and Gournay were on a first name basis in the e-mail. They didn't refer to their time in Paris as it seems they get together on a yearly basis and hardly need to delve so far in the past to find conversation subjects. Most recently they spent a week in Atlantic City.]

 

[Luddite]

[ OOC: Do you mean the last sentence "Some people on our staff especially value their free time." as if she is disgusted with how they spend their time?

Also back to the corespondance. Was there any game that was mentioned that they might play regulary, like cribbrige, or chess? ]

I will try not to waste anyone's time. As for your lab. Would it be possilbe to take a look inside, when it is safe. I would like to get a feeling for the methods you are using. I would also like to meet the person who runs the lab as well. Luddite looks at his "notes" A Doctor Gournay, I believe.

[ OOC: From what I have gathered there isn't much "security" around most the camp. But does it look like there is some active security around the Lab? Anything more then subtle deterent to keep the locals and the patients out.

Also if it were night time, how lit would the camp area. What would be the "easy" of some stealthy intrusion to the Lab? ]

-Luddite.

 

[Game Control]

Originally posted by Luddite
[ OOC: Do you mean the last sentence "Some people on our staff especially value their free time." as if she is disgusted with how they spend their time?

Also back to the corespondance. Was there any game that was mentioned that they might play regulary, like cribbrige, or chess? ]

[OOC:1-Exactly and 2-Poker.

Diplomacy 4 + 11 VS 2 + 5. I used Kim's diplomacy since you are working together and his is higher. I'd have rolled to see if you could have helped had it mattered.]

Lana seems hesitant but after some gentle insistance from Kim and Luddite, she gives in.

-''All right, I could get you in later this afternoon. You'll need to follow procedures to the letter, we're not kidding with security considering what we're handling in there.''

[OOC: Security wise, there's a padlock on the door to the lab and no windows. The lighting doesn't look very good around the camp but the admistrative building and labs will likely be reasonably well light because they have their own headlight above their respective doors.

Also, don't forget the two soldiers.]

 

[Tokiwong]

Kim smiles...

"Well that works... anything else you can show us in the meanwhile... just so I can get familiar with the surrounding area... and such."

Kim fixes his glasses...

"Idle hands and all that..." he thinks for a moment, "as an aside... your accent... is that French Quebec... Montreal? Just wondering I spent some time there working during my freshmen year in college... and it sounds somewhat familiar."

 

[Game Control]

I would also like to meet the person who runs the lab as well. Luddite looks at his "notes" A Doctor Gournay, I believe.[/B]

-''Actually, no. Doctor Gournay isn't part of the lab staff and never has been, he's over there with TB patients (she points toward a tent). Do you know him?''

[OOC: Bluff 5 + 2, sense motive 5 + 4 and 20 (kim, AD?). Luddite can't read Lana's expression.

Kim realizes that she's quite sharp and that the oddness of Luddite's question hasn't escaped her; how come you know the name but not the job?

If he's an acquaintance, you'd know he didn't work at the lab. If you simply read the reports you'd never have heard the name as he has nothing to do with the labs or the report. She's quite puzzled.]

 

[Game Control]

"as an aside... your accent... is that French Quebec... Montreal? Just wondering I spent some time there working during my freshmen year in college... and it sounds somewhat familiar."

She smiles radiantly.

-''Yes! Oh, I miss it so much. You don't know it until you leave it behind, but Montreal is a wonderful city. Where did you study?''