Written by Peter Weilnböck
Published on: 2026-02-26
Session 9: Some shopping and the second meet with deSantis.
Apparently the best way to get around the Sierra Nevada is by off-roading. I don’t think Kaori would be up for that, since she really is more of a city gal.
But weirder: Thalmak has asked us what we are and what our long term goals are? Has this chummer no idea about a shadow runner team? And worse: when I explained that we are like the team in “Resurection Breach” he said that he has never heard of that! I mean, its only the biggest Anime in the last decade, maybe ever! I thought about offering him a copy of the first 5 seasons, but apparently he looked it up in the matrix, and you will believe what this halfer said: “Eh, not for me.” Drekhead.
Discord mentioned that he thinks it’s “not bad”, but that Cylian’s voice is annoying. Not bad! Fragging “not bad”! I though more of him. I might need to reevaluate how I view him. Drek, I might need to reevaluate that for the whole team! On the other hand, it might have been just a hidden jab against Thalmak. I mean, Cylian is a bit like him, isn’t he? Ex military gal, fond of chemistry, grumpy most of the time? Not big into explosives, but otherwise? And a rather sexy orc lady, and not a old dwarf, of course.
Talking about old dwarf and ancient history: The halfer also mentioned that he was one of the first dwarfs, born right in the first wave after the awakening. I have no fragging idea what to do with that. That makes him ancient! How long ago was the awakening? 60 years? Yeah, I think 60 years exactly. Crazy.
Maybe a bit more relevant at the moment: Thalmak not only knows his way about explosives, as he has just shown, but after Discord probes him about what he acutally can do, he tells us, that he also knows his way around chemistry in general, and that it would be oh so useful if he had a chemistry shop. And we should buy it for him? What the drek? But some shopping would be a good idea in any case.
Just dropped of Thalmak at Pike place. He spouted something about ancient history, that this was the founding place of StarBucks. Looked it up, seems that it was a large coffe shop chain, before it got gobbled up by the Azzies. I wonder why they did not keep the name around, even though it seems like it had been a rather prominent, well loved brand?
Anyways, I am on my way to drop of Jace and Romeo @ Nathaniels. Jace is worried that Romeo will fall over and die when his drugs run out, and this might be a real possibility. In any case, not a bad idea. He insists of changing and getting a shower first though. And of Romeo being clean and having on proper clothes as well. So I performed a little dance of dropping of Jace at his place, before swinging by Romeo’s and then coming back with Romeo to pick Jace back up. He said he will need some time. I guess to prepare. Dirty little lovebird.
Discord stuck around his old gang, they planned to hang out at his chummer Two $hort’s place. Since this omae is not only a fence, but also a pimp, I understand why he might want to let off some steam there. Violence does heat up the blood for some people. My obviously slightly nervous passenger is a clear example for that. Not that I mention anything, I value my life.
After the talk yesterday that we should buy the chemistry shop for him, Thalmak made another turn. We discussed and decided that not only a chemistry shop, no also a armorer shop would be a good idea. And, that while the Steel Lynx is fine and dandy, they agreed that a more indoorsy drone that can handle stairs etc. would be a better choice to bring in the back of Kaori. So we also decided to buy a Ruhrmetall Wolfsspinne. Together. Would have bought it alone, since I now have the funds, since it is an absolutely whizz machine. Terrifying as well. But I appreciate that we share the cost. Nobody besides me can rig it, so it will be effectively mine in any case.
What did I want to say? Ah, yes, after all the fuzz about we buying if for him, then sharing the cost, Thalmak then went ahead and orderd it just himself. Weird omae.
The Armorer shop I share with Discord and the Wolfsspinne with Jace. Romeo offered to buy some decent firepower for our new many legged toy. I think I will call her Barbara, or Barbs.
Fancy drek. The place we are meeting the Johnson this time is a mexican fusion restaurant called “The Hole”. Did not sound fancy, but the whole area is upscale, so we dressed decently. Well, we tried, each to our abilities. Romeo dressed fancy, Jace put on a suit and the rest of us wore more or less clean clothes.
The place was in the sub-basement of one of the downtown skyscapers. Walking up to it, the name started to make a bit more sense. The entrance was designed to look like a black hole, the wall and hallway around it with the swirly light patterns you see on pictures from deep space telescopes.
The door itself was pitch black. Not dark. Not black. Pitch black. I could not make out any details, I would not have been able to find a doornob. It was more hearing the swish of the automated sliding door than seeing anything. The hallway behind it was the same kind of unnatural black. In the light from the hallway we were standing in, we could see the dimly lit figure of our elven waiter - a pretty one, in a nice uniform remenicent of some sci-fy space ship crew. She led us through the pitch black hallway into a private room, which was dimmly illuminated by projections of stars, swirly galaxies and colouful nebulae floating above the black table. The Johnson was already waiting for us there.
The menu was quite mundane. I ordered chilli con carne. While we were waiting for the food, deSantis started to talk biz. Discord immediately asked if he wanted to get another book. “Not a book, something way more interessting.” “Two books?” Joker. The Johnson remained professional and told us that he had heard that there was a new grove of bristle cone pines. Which would have been interesting in itself, according to him. But the trees in this grove are already thousands of years old, even though it only appeared recently. So he expects it to be an alchera, and another stable one at that. Since most of us did not know what he was talking about, he asked if we heared of the Deep Lacuna in LA. Well, of course. Thalmak chimed in that he had been there when it formed. That halfer really has gotten around in his many years. So, deSantis suspects the new bristle cone pine grove to be another stable alchera, since it seems like the rumors about it already accumulated over multiple years, originating at different points in time. Since he was talking about rumors, I am not sure how reliable his information is, but he seems willing to lay out some cach to find out and take some samples there.
The hitch? Its inside the PCC. And while the Pueblo Corporate Council does encourage tourism, it has strict laws of taking souveniers. (Unless of course you buy them from the PCC). So it will be a bit of a smuggling operation. And to reach the PCC we will have to either cross the Salish Shide lands or go via boat and approach the northern Sierra Nevada from the south.
Before deSantis has named a number, Romeo already starts to negotiate. Discord chimes in with how dangerous the last mission was, and since Alchera are usually unstable, nobody knows what would happen to us, if it vanishes while we are in there.
After a bit of back and forth, deSantis tells us that he is willing to pay 50k up front. And another 150k upon successful completion of the mission, that he would like to join this time. He also will take over the travel expenses, and possible rentals in the PCC. This is a large pile of cash, so I am happy. Thalmak is not, though. He starts to negotiate again about expenses for special equipment. It seems however, like our Johnson does not like that too much and he shuts him down rather quick. “This is what the up front payment is for. If you prefer, you can get the 150k upon completion, and I am willing to reimburse you for the expenses up to a limit of 50k.” Even the thick skull of the dwarf quickly calculates that this actually a slightly worse deal than before.
So we stick with the original offer and accept.
The food has arrived. The kitchen seems to be not only fusion, but also likes to deconstruct the food. The chilli con carne is a almost clear pudding? Jelly? With sparkling dots inside, again reminding of the fathomless deep space. It is also delicious.
So it seems we will probably take a boat to the PCC. And for travel organize a Ford-Canada Buffalo, that I will modify with a smuggling compartment. This RV sleeps 6, so it is perfect for us.
Discord asks if we will need to fell one of the trees, but deSantis thinks this would be barbaric, since they are invaluable witnesses of bygone eras, since they get so old. No tree shall be harmed in our name.
Bristlecone pines are whizz! They usually get thousands of years old, and seem to not die, unless they get felled or the environmental conditions become not suitable anymore. They grow in groves in areas where other trees can not survive. I have looked at some pictures, and they truely are amazing! I am happy that deSantis does not want to fell one of the trees and take it with us, but just gather some cones, a branch or two and take a core sample by boring into a trunk.
I spent the last 4 days with Discord helping Thalmak fireproofing Discords armored jacket. Drek, this is annoying work. Lucky the fragging armorer shop had arrived quickly.
And now all of them are quite familiar with my garage, since we set up the two workshops in a corner of it.
Thalmak is not so bad when you are working with him for a while. Gruff and strange, but not a complete asshole.
But I am happy that Jace and Romeo just buy new stuff, that already can withstand Thalmaks fiery hobbies.
Thamlmak also now started to use the shop to put some chemicals inside grenades? Fragging freeze foam. Drek he has strange ideas.
This session they got 10k NY each, to total of:
This session consisted mostly of in character banter which was nice. Unfortunately I was to tired to properly note most of it down or remember it clearly until todays write up. This was a rather nice change of pace compared with the battle taking the whole session last time.
You can read a different perspective in my spouses brillian write up.