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Message: <blockquote data-quote="johndaw16" data-source="post: 3423238" data-attributes="member: 12033">RikoI definitely feel a bad vibe coming from both sides as I stand between Daniel and Grandbanks. I almost want to speak up and say it's not my fault we're stuck in some freak show. Not much to be done other than wait for this Elder character though.Presumably if you follow these huge pipes in far enough some of the branches start poking up into the streets. Treking through the sewers doesn't sound nearly as nice as hopping on an auto-transport, but I suppose that's what we're in for.---Your "guides" lead into the small squatters village silently. As you walk along the narrow suspension "alleys" of the place, curious faces peer at you from all sides. Most of the homes here are sad affairs. Most of them are makeshift shelters, tented roofs made from scrounged tarps, tape, and cardboard, with walls and floors of styrofoam or sheet metal. All told maybe a couple of hundred people could live here you think. Bird droppings cover everything and the entire place reeks of filth. Your little party comes to a halt in front of the single most impressive home in the whole place. A steel cargo container, like the ones the mega-container ships bring up the Bay, has been suspended in the center of the village. It hangs in the air more than 50 feet away from the nearest concrete wall. Chains, cables, ropes, and wiring coil around the container so thickly you can barely see the steel underneath. These makeshift cables stretch off into the distance to their anchors in the concrete walls. A makeshift deck has been built around the container, pieces of wood, steel and cardboard woven through the cables. The doors to the container are shut, but Bender sits outside it with an older man standing next to him. As you stand before the container Bender and the other two man take their leave backing off back onto the bridge that brought you to the container. The older man looks relatively clean and healthy, if a little skinny. He has greying hair, a short neat beard, and is dressed in a faded pair of canvas work pants and an older leather bomber jacket over a white t-shirt. Well, c'mon inside I haven't got all day. Lets see what you three have got on ya. The old man turns and opens one of the doors to the cargo container and you can see that the inside is furnished like a small trailer home.The old man takes notice of your reluctance to follow him into his home. He turns back to your group, his hands tucked into the pockets of his jacket. You don't have to worry about me, I won't rob you. There's a toll but I'm not interested in money.He turns and steps into the container, taking a seat on a beat up threadbare recliner. You three going to come inside or do you want to talk out there in the stink and the wet? ---Daniel I turn to Grandbanks and Riko and sort of raise my eyebrows, as if to say, Well, what choice do we have? I take a step forward. Ah, sorry we're all dazed and confused, sir, just don't think we've ever seen anything at all like this town you have hangin' off the cliffs here. It's incredible. I don't try too hard to smile this time, because I don't trust myself to do it without looking crazy nervous, and he might get insulted. Instead I just try real hard to look sincerely impressed with the town. That much isn't hard at all.---GrandbanksSo what's he want? If he's a junkie, he'd be happy with money. Money gets food, guns, clothes, anything you'd need. Needs a favor, maybe? Sh-t. Maybe he's one a them cult f-ckers an wants our souls or to hack off a piece of us or get it on with Riko or somethin.I shrug and go on in with Daniel. Not like we could break and run for it up here. Not like we're any more screwed in that trailer than out here. Besides, this guy ain't as creepy as the other ones. At least he knows what stink is, not like those other guys. Christ.I hope he don't take my cigarettes and coffee.---RikoI slink inside behind Grandbanks and shut the door to this cargo container behind me. I'm more than happy to be away from the skeezballs that dragged us up here, and it might just be my imagination but it smells a little less bad in here. I'm going to need a shower like crazy once we get up to the Corr.---The old man smiles wryly as you all enter. He seems to be amused by your behavior. Sit down, make yourselves comfortable...please. My name is Cage, I guess you could say I'm who's in charge around here. Cage settles back into the recliner, propping his feet up on a old crate and pulls a flask out of his jacket. Kid you can keep your compliments to yourself this place ain't nothing special, nothing but a haven for some of the people that fall the farthest down the cracks. We don't need your money or your lives so you can stop looking so nervous now.Cage pauses long enough to take a long pull from his flask, What are you three carrying on ya? You got to be on your way into the Corr, and folks from the Zones don't go into the Corr unprepared. So what you got? I'll stop ya if anything interests me.---RikoI glance back and forth between Grandbanks and Daniel, but they seem hesitant to speak up. I list off my stuff quietly, I'm not thrilled about giving any of it away to some hoodlums, All I have is money, some paper and pencils, an old deck, water, and some tylenol. Oh, and a change of clothes. I wonder to myself if paper and pencils might be high up on their list of wants. I'll be a little pissed to give up my drawing pad, but I suppose at this point I can always buy a new one.---GrandbanksI hand the guy my backpack.Maybe Daniel will give up those two pistols of his from the case, and this old guy will just let us out with the rest of our stuff.Sh-t. This was supposed to be a f-cking easy little shopping trip.---DanielI got a couple of excellent guns I'm not crazy about parting with. But I bet you could get some use out of them, or else sell them for something more than decent. You seem like an astute enough businessman to be able to take care of that nice. I smile as I slip my hand into my bag and dig out the pistols that we got from the briefcase. ---Cage takes a moment to think over what you three have said. He seems to be appraising you each individually, gauging your honesty or maybe he's trying to figure how much grit y'all got. Either way you guys start to get fidgety after a bit.Well y'all sure ain't got much we need. Girl let me see those clothes, and what size are you shoes negro? And I'll take a look at those guns. And whats in that big bag there, eh? Cage looks pointedly at the long bag that holds the Daniel's two shotguns. Looks like you might be able to get out of this place just fine, maybe minus a few articles of clothing. Funny how some places even money doesn't count for anything anymore. What's this world coming too.----RikoI shuffle through my bag and toss my extra shirt, pants, and socks onto the old guy's table. Nothing so nice that I'll miss them.---DanielI try real hard not to show how startled and relieved I am that he wants to look at this useless load of boom. I've been desperate to unload instead of our mountain of cash. Also try not to shoot Riko a "What the hell is wrong with this guy?" look. Coupla shotguns, man, excellent stuff. Here, go on and take a look at them. I hand over all four guns, the shotguns and the pistols, keeping hold only on my own personal weapon.I pause while he looks them over. Now that's a lot of fine boom you're holding onto there. I don't see that you've gotta go and take a man's shoes off his feet on top 'a all that.---RikoBoys never ask for direction, so I speak up while the old man is looking through our stuff, So Cage... what's the best way up into the Corr once we're on our way out?---GrandbanksIt's lookin like we're gonna get out of here with our cash an our pistols an ours skins, and without having to kill anybody either. Almost wish I brought extra clothes to give this old guy to say thanks for bein decent and not f-ckin everything up.Wonder what's wrong with my shoes.---Cage chucks the two BACA pistols back towards Daniel, Ya can keep those, der hot and I don't want anything to do with em. But these shotguns will do nicely.He then looks over Riko's clothes, holding her shirt up to judge her size, These will do fine too, and I'll let you keep your shoes since you'll be needing on your walk up.So you want to go up to the Corr?  He nods to himself as he speaks, stuffing Riko's clothing into the bag with the shotguns. Supposing you wanted to hop one of the industrial transports in; normally that'd be fine. But I don't think you want to go that way now. Some fancy lady got killed up there a few days back, found her and a big dealer laid out in one of the alleys. There's been BACA all over the PIZ ever since, you won't see em but they're there.Since you're from the Zones I suggest you go another way, unless you want to spend a long time getting questioned by the BACA. I've been sending anyone thats come our way through the pipes, they stink but no one pays them much mind.---DanielI glance at Riko. Fancy lady died? That's about another way of saying the same thing that batsh-t dude was babbling about in Eddie's. Eh, if we play our sh-t right, it'll keep on having nothing to do with us. Thanks for the tip, man. Where do we go to get into the pipes, and how do we find our way once we're in there?---You can reach the pipes from here fool, you can't miss the three huge sewer drains out there. Cage chuckles at Daniel's apparent naivety. I kinda like you three so I'll give ya a light or two and some glow sticks. You'll need to head up a bit at first, till ya hit the access tunnels to the optic lines. The you just walk along those until you hit outskirts of the PIZ. After maybe 5 miles or so you should be able to hop a transport above without the BACA spotting ya. They're really only scouring the area close to the murder scene. ---RikoNot a bad trade, I hadn't thought to bring a flashlight... not that I had planned on wandering around through sewer tunnels either of course. Well, thanks for the advice and the lights... I'm not really sure if we're free to go or what, so I sit around some more to see if Cage has anything else to say to us.---Cage stands up after he's stuffed Riko's clothes in with the guns, and tosses the heavy bag further back into the recesses of the trailer. He then walks over to a large metal cabinet and begins to rummage around in it for the promised lights and glow sticks. You can go on and open the door, holler for Bender and tell him you're going up through the pipes and that you've paid your way. ---GrandbanksI pick up my backpack Cage left sittin on the floor an cross to open the door. Hey, Bender! We paid and we're takin the pipes.Soon as we get outta earshot, gonna talk to Daniel about those pistols. Somebody like Cage afraid of havin them, and for free, probably means we don't want them either.</blockquote>

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