Violence, Drugs And Other Pasttimes (Black Lagoon Quest)

It's still kind of funny that we got such horrible rolls right from the get go... Okay, well it fucking sucked at the time since we had just started, but now we can look back and laugh... hopefully. Maybe that view doesn't have much of a leg to stand on, so I can understand people disagreeing with me as a kneejerk reaction.
 
Huh, it's alive. The main character is actually alive

[X] The best damn prosthetic money can buy
[X] Become familiar with the factions of the city
 
It's Black Lagoon, so that's probably going to become a thing eventually, but for now, no. It just reduces your physical penalties somewhat.
Something well worth it I think. This is Black Lagoon, we do not want to be reliant on crutches or a wheelchair when things inevitably go to shit, it could cost us an arm and a leg!
 
[X] The best damn prosthetic money can buy
-[X] A Gatling gun leg like at the end of Planet Terror

[X] Become familiar with the factions of the city
 
awesome its back!

[x] i want a panda-dog or a pandog, heck a caucasian shepherd (one of the biggest guard dogs) would be sweet too!

[X] Become familiar with the factions of the city
 
Your character sheet now reflects your disabled status. I chose not to have it affect your direct stats, since those are far too general to apply to the situations in which a missing limb would hinder you. Let me know if you have any questions.
 
Slightly Redundant Infodump: The Update
[X] The best damn prosthetic money can buy

[X] Become familiar with the factions of the city


All cooped up and with no place to go, you decide to learn about the city you're now a part of. Yolanda herself drops by with a pile of files, which you accept with some gratitude. Honestly, you don't even feel that bad about losing your leg now. Maybe it's the painkillers, but knowing that you'll have a fancy robotic leg eases the pain significantly. It's not like you were hugely athletic anyway, even if you did miss having an entire limb to use.

Still, your work continues. Honestly, you're in the hospital. There's almost no reason to jump straight to work, from an objective point of view. No one was going to attack a well established neutral clinic except the utmost idiots, and there was no way you were going to jump into a gunfight soon, given that gunfights near the church were exceedingly rare. But there was no fucking way that you were going to let this shit happen to you again.

So you turn to your first group of study. Hotel Moscow was the local branch of the Russian mafia and was run by Sofia Pavlovna, even though she is commonly referred to as Balalaika nowadays. A former Soviet sniper, it looked like Captain Balalaika never really left the military, instead opting to turn to crime and continue to enact violence. Easily one of the most violent crime groups in the area, almost all of Hotel Moscow's operations were run under force of arms. Extortion was obvious, but they also had a hand in weapons dealing. Not serious enough to really matter, but it was worth noting that they supplied many of their own weapons and armed the majority of small time street gangs.

But regardless, the other main source of revenue was actually prostitution. They oversaw a large majority of the prostitution rings in Roanapur, which went hand in hand with their extortion operations to provide their main income. Not to mention that the prostitutes were happy to have the backing of a disciplined cadre of enforcers. It was a bit surprising, since the Russian mafia was pretty big in the human trafficking business. Then again, it sounded like Balalaika didn't get along with all of the higher ups, given that word on the street was that she was an unrepentant hardass. And the highest tiers of international crime groups usually had its fair share of fat cats, so some disagreement would not surprise you. And if Balalaika wasn't popular back in the mainland, well, you might be able to use that. Thoughts for another time.

Finally, there was Hotel Moscow's interactions with the other gangs. Her entrance was certainly… explosive onto the scene. As soon as she set down she practically launched into a war with the Triads. There were criminal groups that liked to negotiate, but Hotel Moscow was certainly not one of them. Reading the files, you can be pretty sure that the only reason they settled into a truce with the Sun Yee On Triad was because the Chinese group had been so entrenched that it would have been irrecoverable on either side. You were glad that they didn't have the main stock in the drug trade, since getting on their bad side was very solidly not in your best interests.

This actually brings you to the next group, the Thai branch of the Sun Yee On Triad, run by a Bai Ji-shin Chang. Mr. Chang was an experienced member of the status quo, in good with his bosses, a slick dealer, and overall everything that Captain Balalaika was not. And yet, all accounts seem to say that they have established some sort of rapport. If Chang's actual skill with firearms was anywhere near his rumored level of expertise, it wasn't hard to see why. Well connected, lethally skilled, and booming with diplomatic skill. Out of any of the rats in this sewer drain, Chang was the man to beat.

His Triad was no less endowed. The Triads were the main supplier of opiates such as morphine and heroin, much more so the latter. They also had a pretty hefty amount of ecstasy along their drug routes, but the nightlife was mostly hoarded by the Russians, so Roanapur was largely used as a gateway to smuggle rave drugs rather than the final destination. Not that that was very limiting towards revenue, but it made it hard for the drug to lend much to their local power. You hated to admit it, but if the Church wanted to take over the drug trade here in Roanapur, they had to somehow outplay the Triads. Which was your job. Luckily, their remaining ventures were limited to small time organ trafficking and mass smuggling of cheap electronics and other goods.

Despite the relatively non-violent nature of their crimes, the Triads were also the most vicious of the criminal groups, even in Roanapur. Torture, kidnapping, targeting families, the Triads were not particularly interested in honor. Or, you know, general courtesy. Luckily, that was mostly dedicated to people who betray them rather than people who fight them. Still, if you fuck over Balalaika, she'll kill you. If you fuck over Chang, he'll break you. You wonder if Chang would consider it betrayal for the Church to cut in on his drug trade, given the fact that many of their weapons locally seem to come from here.

The other two major criminal powers are the Italian Mafia and the Cartels. The Mafia is strong as an organization, but their leader Verrocchio is an idiot. The man pisses off his allies and in ineffectual against his enemies. Overall, his presence has earned the Italians a bad rap among the other groups in the city, and the only thing keeping him as any sort of a major player is the amount of money he can bring to bear. Namely, more than any of the others. Still, you can't get to the top with just cash, and that's shown in his position. Hotel Moscow are the only ones who can be considered at the tops, with the Cartel and Mafia as serious underdogs.

Of the criminal groups in Roanapur, the Italians probably were the third largest in maintaining the drug market here in the city. The majority of what they had were drugs that they bought off of South American cartels, ones not based in Roanapur. They, like every other gang in this city, made money off of extortion, but their limited amount of territory and reliance on foreign producers kept them from really financing themselves, instead relying on the motherland to keep themselves afloat. If it wasn't for the reputation that came from having a stake in Roanapur, you would bet that Verrocchio's boss would have pulled the plug on this operation forever ago. You doubt it was exactly turning him a profit directly, if the numbers were right.

Then there were the Cartels. If the Triads were vicious, these guys were barbaric savages. In extortion, the Russians threatened, the Triads implicated, and the Italians were their slimy selves. The Cartels were the type to hurt people from the get go, and that did not net them much popularity. You could chat and greet your Russian or Chinese, even the rare Italian enforcer if you kept up with payments, but the Cartels treated it like a sign of disrespect, and tended to kick down doors and kill people for the offense. Not like they are wanton murderous savages, just easily offended murderous savages. Their leader, Abrego, is a coward, but he knows the business. He tends to take very little offensive action, happy to keep his place and restrict his more abusive actions to civilians, like any school yard bully or small time thug.

Then again, it's not hard to see why. The Cartels provided the majority of drugs to Roanapur, everything from cocaine to meth. Either all the other gangs buy from his dealers, or the civilians of Roanapur buy from Abrego. In the status quo, Abrego maintains enough of a presence to give himself a big name in the international crime community, while still raking in the cash from his drug related operations without painting a target on himself. If the Church was going to do more than take a share of the market, then you would have to yank the drug business out from under Abrego's feet. And he may avoid confrontation, but even the most cowardly rat gets dangerous when you corner it. And without his drugs to keep his operation afloat, Abrego would be spitroasted and he knows it.

The last faction of the city can basically be summed up as everybody else. Little gangs of groups big enough to go international, but not big enough to really matter in this place. This consisted of smaller Triads, smaller Mafias, smaller cartels, and some gangs of varying ethnicities. There were even a few terrorist groups that made use of the city's lawlessness to hide out in. The police force was also included in this category, since the level of corruption there was enough that you were more likely to see a cop help a criminal out than to see him stop one. But for the most part, the police were impartial observers to Roanapur and the criminals that rule it. You had to wonder what they were paid for exactly.

You look up from the files and put down your pen as one of the nurses comes in to check on you. Shortly afterwards, Dr. Peng comes by to check on your leg. After his inspection, he gives a few curt nods and sits on the chair at your bedside. You put down the files again, since you had gotten into the habit of marking on them even while your leg was being checked. You didn't get to your level in number crunching just based on some Rain Man style talent.

"Yeah Doc? What's up?" Peng frowned at you, but he seemed to ignore the nickname for now.

"When you opened your mouth the first time in this clinic, I learned to hate you. We have your type in here all the time. Stupid thugs that think nothing of their next dose of drugs, or violence, and blow off everything with stupid humor. Your humor may be stupid, but you have proven you are not. Day after day with your nose buried in files, making notes on notes. I haven't seen dedication like that since med school." I blinked at the unlikely praise, then shrugged.

"Well, it's what I'm good at. Not like I have much else to do, so I might as well get a leg up." You grin at your own pun, while Peng twists his face into a scowl.

"See, there again with your stupid fucking jokes. You should stop doing so in my presence before I fill your IV with morphine and adrenaline and see what happens." Still, the unpleasantness drains out of Peng's face soon enough, and he grunts. He digs in the inner pocket of his lab coat and pulls out a small strip of paper. "But, I've seen enough to know that you are skilled despite all of that. My finances are shit, and I was told you are some sort of finance expert. Call me if you want a job on the side. Everyone wants to be on the doctor's good side after all. You never know when you might be on my table. Or on of your enemies are." Before you can reply, he drops the piece of paper on your lap, which you grab to reveal a phone number. Then Peng is out of the door with a short "You'll be released tomorrow." leaving you to gape at the door that he had just left from. Then you smiled and put the folded piece of paper on the nightstand. That could come in handy, after all.

A day later and you're sitting in a wheelchair in your priestly robes. And it sucks. You had been an east coast guy, but this place must be burning you alive. As Eda cheerily pushed you up to the church, you groaned in heat induced suffering. Why were you the one who had to burn? Why God, why? You could even learn some actual Bible quotes, just for some goddamn shade. Eventually you entered the church proper and your prayer was granted. Not that you were planning to hold your end of the bargain.

"Ah, Brother Joshua, what a pleasure to have you with us again." Yolanda spoke from the aisle as Eda and I came into view. I remained silent for a few seconds as I sucked in a few deep, air-conditioned breaths. Then i turned to her as she followed up. "And I do hope those files were helpful. It's been a sad two weeks without you. We were all praying dearly for your swift recovery." Considering none of these people had met you, and only Eda visited semi-often on her drinking trips, you doubted that was necessarily the case. Still, you chose to answer appropriately.

"Of course, Sister Yolanda. As a matter of fact, I managed to get through all the files, and annotated them as well. They were interesting reading." Eda chuckled a little at Yolanda's surprised face, and I was suddenly very tired. I had spent too much time in the hospital to be sitting here in this overheated weather trying to parse through vague words. "Now, I'm going to go to fucking sleep. It's too damn hot to pull this shit today." In spirit for Roanapur, none of the praying patrons batted an eye at this, though you think a few people made the sign of the cross and muttered Amen when you said that. Behind you, Eda chuckles louder.

"Well, that can be agreed upon. Here, I'll push you to your room, Mr. Preacher." Before Eda can get too far, Yolanda speaks up again.

"Well, I can't begrudge you your rest. Still, Eda and I have agreed that it would be unwise to leave you alone for the time being, while you adjust to Roanapur and your own condition. I will be taking stock of our incoming shipments and who is paying for them tomorrow,and if you want to learn more of the conventional business, it would be valuable." Eda snorts from behind you.

"Or, and here's just a thought, you could come with me on my pilgrimage to the nearest bar in search of holy drunkenness. Trust me, the fastest way to get used to this city is to drink it away, and I don't think you're on much pain medication anymore, right? The best view is the street view." Yolanda shrugged as she sighed in resignation.

"I suppose that is also a possibility. Or you could stay here and mingle with our other subordinates. It is useful to know who you are working with, and they do tend to be an alright group, if not particularly skilled enough to matter." One of the Brothers walking by shot an aggrieved glance at Yolanda, but she just raised an eyebrow at him, unimpressed, until he turned red and left. You chewed your lip as you considered. Apparently they had no intention of just letting you be to your work tomorrow.


[] Go with Yolanda and learn more boring numbers. Guns are involved, at least.

[] Go with Eda and get to know the city. Alcohol is very involved.

[] Stay and meet the grunts. On the upside, you know who you're working with. Downside is that they're grunts.
 
[x] Go with Yolanda and learn more boring numbers. Guns are involved, at least.

@The LD Man sometime in the last quarter of the update you switched from second person to first.
 
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