Big Damn Heroes: Part 1

[in_the_latin]

So, Denouement and the Philosophers have let Serenity off the hook, but not before they took one of their own back into the flock. Is Serenity going to take this standing down?

Not if the captain has anything to say about it.Anyway, this is the preliminary planning for Kaoru's rescue. Before they can bust down doors and play the role of Big Damn

Comments

[son_of_the_lake]

Bydan is Hisoka's hometown. He will contact the militia he and his dad belong to, the Bydan-Licere Volunteers. This is a coalition of shipwrights, timber workers, merchants, martial artists, port officials, and dockworkers. They know Bydan and the surrounding area and have many informal and unoffical information sources and contacts within the city and the port. They can find out quickly what ships are currently in dock, who owns them, the names of crew, what cargo they are carrying, where they are from and where they are going. They are very discreet and will not inform the Bydan Police. They will also offer backup if Captain Reynolds wishes it.

[in_the_latin]

Officially, there are shipments of mana crystals, steam engines, scrap metal, and other building supplies, along with dried goods and other simple foodstuffs. If the paperwork is looked over, they'll find that they all are to be delivered to one Doctor Franz Forrestor...one of the names connected to Serenity's last job. If asked, the mana crystals and machinery are for what's supposed to be environmental research. That's also not accounting for black market goods delivered under the radar or hidden as other kinds of shipments.

In all cases, deliveries are to be made from the ship to a location on the outskirts of Bydan. As of note, deliveries have been made to this location off and on for about half a year at this point. While several of the deliveries have all ready been made, it may be possible to catch the rest beforehand. There are also some black market dealings they may be able to look into, but that goes for a few members of Serenity as well.

[son_of_the_lake]

Oh good. XD

Questions:

1) Are all these shipments made by the same shipping company, or different ones?

2) Can Hisoka and his contacts come up with the exact address of this delivery location, or will somebody have to follow a delivery vehicle to the place in order to find it?

[in_the_latin]

1) Different companies

2) Tailing will have to be in order. How do they plan on doing this?

[son_of_the_lake]

It depends on a few things:

How are the deliveries made? Does the ship use only its own personel to make the deliveries? Or do they hire Bydan people to do this?

What would this particular shipment consist of? Would it be a small enough number or size of items to hand-carry, or large enough that it has to be carted by wagon? Or somewhere in between?

Does "on the outskirts of Bydan" mean east or south towards the river-branches, or west or north towards the Bydan Forest?

[in_the_latin]

1) The ship's personnel are the ones who usually make the deliveries. Sometimes the client went so far as to pay extra for this.

2) They tended to order supplies in bulk, so the wagon would be most likely.

3) Northeast, between Bydan and the river bend. It's closer to Bydan than the river itself.

[son_of_the_lake]

So, tentative plan:

Hisoka will get the info from his contacts as to the name of the ship that's carrying the cargo, and what time it will dock, and at what tower or field. He will take Dean with him and they'll pretend to be dockworkers, with the collusion of the real dockworkers, most of whom know Hisoka's family. They'll simply hang around until the ship unloads it's cargo.

After that, they'll have to play it by ear. One thing is, Hisoka knows every street in town, so once the wagon heads out, he'll have an idea of how to anticipate which of the main streets that wagon will have to take. So they won't have to stay right behind it all the time.

But after that, what they do will depend on what kind of neighborhood they are going to, how populated it is, and what kind of building the cargo is going to be delivered to.

[in_the_latin]

A few things first

1) Isn't Hisoka still on the Convoy? When did he and Souji leave?

2) Will any other PCs be involved besides Dean? Even if they aren't at the docks with them, there's other crew members that might be useful in other ways (such as casing different areas of the city and keeping an eye on the wagon).

[son_of_the_lake]

1) Can't speak for Souji, but Hisoka left whenever he had to in order to get back in time to tail Forrestor's cargo shipment.

He had already lined up standby transportation back to Bydan for himself and Souji (if Souji wished), as soon as he set foot on the Convoy. He likes to think ahead.

So when Kaoru disappeared and Captain Reynolds posted his call for crew members to dig up info on the situation, he reached out to his Bydan contacts first and then hopped on a flight north.

Of course, this is assuming that Kaoru disappeared AFTER the Convoy concluded its rescue efforts at the (former) Hegua Lake Basin. If this is not the case, let me know and I’ll adjust Hisoka’s timeline.

2) Other PCs would be VERY WELCOME! Apologies, I should have said that to start with.

Another question: Will the actual rescue occur as soon as the characters have located Kaoru, or will that be organized as a separate operation?

[in_the_latin]

1) That works. Also, she disappeared the day after Amicus, so the timeline should be fine.

2) It will be separate. While Mal wants to find the location, there's no telling what's actually there, which may require some extra planning.

[son_of_the_lake]

Okay, will do. And thanks!