The Prologue (1941) - Part I

[jacemachine]

The boy nods his head at those who stepped up to go with him, acknowledging that the others would most likely follow as well.

With the streets congested like a sick toddler, the boys leads you north through alleys, across streets, through some family's backyard-- (their mongrel dog yaps furiously at your passing), crossing a downed wooden fence and through a dense grove of cieba trees. Along your journey you note passing by the sign for the Fortune Teller <location 7> Your final destination ends up on one of the quieter streets in the north. <location #8>

The neighborhood looks largely residential, but the property here is in much more disrepair than the rest of the town. Trees and weeds grow up at well through the yards of the nearby homes.

The boy doesn't seem to bat an eye though. He could have been strolling down the yellow brick road with Judy Garland and the Scarecrow. He'd been running ahead, then slowing down to keep pace with the group. He leads you all to a run-down former church.

The windows were of stained glass. Ornate but horribly grimy from neglect. Old rags and crumpled newspapers plug holes where chunks of colored glass had gone missing.

"This way." The boy says, before disappearing through the open double doors. Hanging above the door hangs a wooden sign reads:

El Púlpito ~ The Pulpit

From inside the smells of beer, tobacco smoke, and old sweat waft outwards. Interestingly, the Lounge on the Freighter had smelled worse somehow. In addition to the smell, the mournful music of a mariachi's guitar came out of the poorly lit bar's interior.

[jacemachine]

Standing off to the side next to his brother and the pack-horse, Paco mutters in spanish. "Permaneceremos afuera."

[BowenSilverclaw]

"Well, I guess we'd better go find out who wants to see us." John says as he strolls towards the entrance of El Pulpito.

[Neull//]

John follows the others

“Just stay sharp anyone, there is always the possibility of a trap. And someone should be staying out of the church to alert us in case something strange happens”

[j0lt]

Dr. Loder looks after Max and John.  "Paco y Esteban, espere afuera y adviértanos si están viniendo los nazis."

Releasing the snap on his holster, Dr. Loder enters the darkened doorway.

[jacemachine]

"Usted no necesita decirnos dos veces, señor." Paco says, nodding to his brother.

The forerunners of the group take those first few steps into the double wide open doorway. The heavy doors of the former church thrown back to allow a breeze to enter.

Your eyes all take a couple of moments to adjust from the noontime glare of the outside sun, to this dismal interior of the cantina. The smell of man, infused with beer, and something vaguely metallic hung in the air.

Standing in the vestibule, you are flanked by pews pushed up along the entrance's sides. Inside you see a long bar with a rounded edge running up through the center of the joint. A lone barman leans against the bar <H-11>, giving you a long bored look over his mustache. He doesn't greet you.

The walls are stone, as are the church's original pillars running up either side. However now they serve a less grand purpose. New walls of brick and mortar have been constructed between the pillars and the outside wall, creating individual booths. Each booth contains a round wooden table and at least two pews for patrons to sit in. There are lone tables and chairs added throughout the bar to accommodate for larger crowds... but that doesn't seem to be the issue today. Including the mariachi <D-13> and the bored bartender, the number of people in the place could be counted on one hand. Two patrons sit across from each other <M-12, M-14>.

You recognize the boy, sitting in a dark booth in the right rear of the room <E-6> talking with someone else who's in the booth with him... but who is just out of sight. The kid waves you over.

[spoiler=Pulpit Cantina Map][/spoiler]

[Nanshork]

Richard walks into the bar and over to the booth that the boy is in, keeping his slight amusement at what this church has become to himself.

[Tarotdragoon]

Russo however is not so restrained
"now this is my kind of church!" he snickers amusedly, casting a glance around the darkened bar the dust irritating his eyes, the smell of the place seemed to put him at ease and at the same time makes him feel restless, he was ready for some action and damn the consequence
"wonder how much it costs for a drink around here?" he nudges Kestrel grinning stupidly and scratching his mustache "cheep do you reckon? or do you think they dilute the drinks with holy water?" he snickers some more, loosens his boxy browning, walks ahead of the others, drunk on his own bravado and flops into the box with the unknown man shoving the boy gently but firmly across the pew
((adopting a Han Solo sorta stance))

"Ok" he says getting himself comfortable "so why do you want us, and how do you know we were going to be here?"

((spot:9

[BowenSilverclaw]

Somewhat surprised by the sudden increase in Russo´s bravado John calmly follows his traveling companion while keeping an eye on his surroundings.

Spot: 28

[jacemachine]

The man sitting in the shadows across the table from Russo smirks.

"Scram Kid-- Go meet with Pingo and tell that lanky bastard to get ready. We'll meet you two outside the town once things are squared away here. I've got some business to attend to in the meantime." The man said. Max immediately recognized the voice.

"No problemo. Pingo will be glad to get moving!" The Kid gets up from the pew, jogs out of the bar through the front door, and was gone.

The man wore a dark fedora low on his head, his white shirt was unbuttoned halfway, showing some sort of claw tied to a small leather pouch hanging from a leather cord from his neck. Over his shirt he wore an open vest.

He speaks again. This time directly to Max Hawkins. “I see you’re still wearing my hat you stole.”

He chuckles. “You're lucky that I found out about your little group Max. I had JUST sneaked into town to see a friend of mine about something, and he tells me that he had been in contact with some guy named Wilkes who said the League of Nations wanted to hire me again-- except that this time I wouldn’t be leading a bunch of Diplomats on a guided tour.

"To be quite honest Max, if they hadn’t told me that you had signed up, I wouldn’t be here-- I've got Nazis on my back-- And even though you stole my hat, I still owe you my life. You bastard."

To the rest of you he says, "Oh. I'm sorry, let me introduce myself, I'm Harrison 'Bones' Avery-- your Guide.”

[Tarotdragoon]

"Harrison Aver- Well I think we found our guide swift enough, I'm assuming you know him then" says Russo exasperated and a little disappointed, indicating the man in the fedora

"thats swell one big reunion, good god! why did I sign up for this, Barkeep!" Russo shouted off to the side "I need something, ANYTHING strong can you handle that?" he looked down and carried on muttering to himself about god forsaken jungles, ancient treasures the name of everybody in the group cropped up at least once or twice

[jacemachine]

The bartender removes his hands from below the bar, and goes to grab a bottle from the shelf behind him and sets it down behind the bar. He takes an old fashioned bar glass, and adds a red liquid to it. Then a pulpy yellow substance. He take the bottle from behind the bar and pours a clear liquid liberally into the glass. At last he squeezes a lime in his fist, crushing it enough that its juice runs down into the glass.

He shoves the glass in front of you and smiles. "Goce." Wiping his hands on a clean-ish rag, he continues to watch the group near Harrison's booth.

[Tarotdragoon]

((I'm gonna have to take a constitution check just to see if I don't die when I drink that arn't I?"))

Eyeing the drink Russo picks it up gingerly and sniffs it, wondering what the yellow stuff was, the liquid inside the drink swirled and Russo vaguely wondered if he shouldn't give it to one of the others to see if they died or not. he flipped a couple of coins from his pocket in the vague direction of the barkeeper keeping an eye on the drink.

((dex to be clever with coins? or sleight of hand?: 22))

"cheers," he said a little nervously and tossed the thing back as conversation started up in the room once more

[jacemachine]

((I'm gonna have to take a constitution check just to see if I don't die when I drink that arn't I?"))

You will need a Fortitude check to withstand the strength of the drink. You shouldn't worry about death at this time. That's after plenty of drinks. 

[Flay Crimsonwind]

Eisen had barely taken a step inside the building, but had listened to everything being said while keeping one eye out the window watching the way they had come*.

((More to come in a bit, after the check))
--Edit-- Fair enough! 
Eisen, for the first time since he got on the damn boat, relaxes for a second. Surprised noone else had been unsettled by his presence as a seemingly nazi soldier, Eisen goes over to the rest of the group centered around their guide. He nudges Kestrel and makes a motion of a cigarette, questioningly, and while waiting for that response turns to Avery. "So, should we call you Bones then? Eisen Abendroth, you may call me Eisen. I know you are currently a fugitive, but was there a specific reason for this place, at this time, to call us here? Obviously you are familiar with our need for you...?"

[spoiler=*]Just keeping an eye on the road. Spot: 15, taking ten, eyes on the road outside. [/spoiler]

[jacemachine]

[spoiler=the windows]
It is nearly impossible to look outside through the grimy stained glass windows. But golly, they sure are pretty!
[/spoiler]

[BowenSilverclaw]

John smiles and gets out a pack of sigarets and offers Eisen one. After that he turns to the others to see if they're interested.

"So...'Bones'...is there anything that needs to be taken care of before we can leave? We still need to pick up some of our belongings at the Jag' & Wolf, but apart from that, I think we're good to go."

He then gives a light to anyone who was feeling like a smoke before lighting his own cigarette.

[j0lt]

Dr. Loder pulls up a stool at the bar next to Russo and pulls out what little Guatemalan currency he has.  "Un mojito, por favor."

[Neull//]

“I see you’re still wearing my hat you stole.”

He chuckles. “You're lucky that I found out about your little group Max. I had JUST sneaked into town to see a friend of mine about something, and he tells me that he had been in contact with some guy named Wilkes who said the League of Nations wanted to hire me again-- except that this time I wouldn’t be leading a bunch of Diplomats on a guided tour.

"To be quite honest Max, if they hadn’t told me that you had signed up, I wouldn’t be here-- I've got Nazis on my back-- And even though you stole my hat, I still owe you my life. You bastard."

Max is really glad to have found Harrison so quickly…


The adventurer smiles
 
“You Son of a bitch! You are still alive I see…nice hat you are wearing there Bones…”

“Hey..be careful what you are saying..these men have just met me…I don’t want them to get the wrong impression…Remember? You lost that hat from me in our little game…I didn’t stole it..”

At that point Max sits down and speaks quietly

“You were informed well …we need you guiding skills…but first tell me why are those Nazis chasing you?”   

[jacemachine]

[spoiler=Russo]In the drink you recognize the flavors of cranberry, lime, and orange juices mixed with a heavy dose of tequila. A Fortitude Save please-- Target DC 14, or tie on a nice buzz.[/spoiler]

“You Son of a bitch! You are still alive I see…nice hat you are wearing there Bones…”

“Hey..be careful what you are saying..these men have just met me…I don’t want them to get the wrong impression…Remember? You lost that hat from me in our little game…I didn’t stole it..”

At that point Max sits down and speaks quietly

“You were informed well …we need you guiding skills…but first tell me why are those Nazis chasing you?”

“Yeah, well this hat isn’t as nice as my old hat-- but you’re right, I DID lose it to you, but to be fair you tricked me into putting it on the line!” He gives Max a shake of his head. “No matter. I got myself another hat just like it, except this one isn’t all greasy after being on your head. Heh.” He takes a swig of his drink, a amber-colored liquid.

“Yeah, the Nazis have been looking for me. It seems that they misrepresented themselves when they hired me for my services. We met in Orino Perro at ’the Goat’, you know the place Max. I didn’t know at the time that they were Nazis, but something about them stunk worse than week-old fish. It was these two guys looking to lead an archeology expedition up river and they had heard that I was the go-to guy when it came to Albert Dunning lore. They spoke to me in Spanish, but they had German accents. However they shoved a bag full of cash across the table, and my eyes lit up like The Times Square. I took the money, I took the job. Then I had the Kid follow them, and when it turned out they were Nazis, I did my little ‘Houdini Act’ and stiffed them. They been gunning for me ever since. Good news for you and your crew is I’m willing to use some of the loot to help you guys out. Just because I hate the Nazis and I think it’d be funny.”

"So...'Bones'...is there anything that needs to be taken care of before we can leave? We still need to pick up some of our belongings at the [hotel], but apart from that, I think we're good to go." 

“It’s funny you should mention that. I do have a couple of favors to ask.

“I met you guys here, because  Padre the barkeep is like a beloved old dirty Mexican uncle to me and I know that I can avoid the Nazis at this end of town. We’re also quite close to the North road from here, so we can get the hell out of Dodge in no time, but before we can do that, I need you guys to visit 2 of my friends in town and pick up a package each from both of them.

“First I need you to see a man named Reggie. He owns the curio shop in town.” He pauses a moment to wet his lips with his drink once again.

“Yeah, Reggie and I go way back. Along the way it turned out that we had a mutual interest in this dead explorer named Albert Dunning and a supposed lost city. Give him this letter and tell him that he’s fat.” Bones passes a sealed envelope across the tabletop.
“He won’t like it, but he never does. He’s supposed to give you a package that I’m going to need-- Be sure to tell him that everything better be there because I ain’t going to want to have to come back for anything Reggie ‘forgot’-- Oh, and  don’t let him talk you into buying any of the maps he’s got in the back. They’re all phony baloney. Beyond that he’s trustworthy. I mean, he wouldn’t sell us out to the Nazis.”

“Then, I need you to swing past the fortune teller’s as well and speak to a Haitian dame named ‘Madame Dessalines’. Tell her that I sent you, and give her this parcel.” He sets a 4”x 4” box on the table next to Reggie’s letter. The box is wrapped in brown paper and tied shut with a cord. “In exchange she should give you one for me. She’s a nice lady at heart, she’s just a little creepy. You can trust her though. She knows when to button her lip and she’s no fan of the Nazis either.”

He nudges Kestrel and makes a motion of a cigarette, questioningly, and while waiting for that response turns to Avery. "So, should we call you Bones then? Eisen Abendroth, you may call me Eisen.

“And yeah Eisen, go ahead and call me ‘Bones’ if you like. I’m real informal since I left the States a few years back. I’m sure I’ll learn all your names in time. Oh, and one last thing, be sure to bring your all of your gear, I’d like to spend as little time as possible in this place.

"Meet back here when you are through and we'll get going.

“I’ve got arrangements already in Orino Perro. I’m real close to the chief and his family. He and his people owe me a few favors, you could say. We’ll be able to recruit all the porters we need. I can negotiate a fair price for you as well." He give a winning smile.

"Once we reach Orino Perro we can pick up the ‘Halcón’ and take her as far up river as we need to go.”

Dr. Loder pulls up a stool at the bar next to Russo and pulls out what little Guatemalan currency he has.  "Un mojito, por favor."

“No tenemos hoja de la menta, señor.” Padre says in a gruff voice and a shrug. "¿Cómo hago para usted qué hice para este otro gringo?"