Longshore Crew session 1

Session 1 of the Longshore Crew campaign.

Play started with the Longshore Crew hanging around in the GEO Patrol headquarters in Longshore. They received a radio call form a Long John prospector at sea to the north of Longshore that he had fished a body out of the sea and was bringing it in. The characters decided to wait for him to arrive.

When they got the body, it was obvious that it had been in the water for quite some time. Lt Kalina Esta and Dr Gary Fulmer co-operated in a post-mortem examination of the body. They discovered several interesting facts:

• the body had been the water for a few days (fingers, toes, eyes, etc. had been nibbled away and there was other decay consistent with that length of immersion)
• surviving tattoos on the body allowed Kalina to recognise the corpse as being David Transon, a Native Warden from the nearby village of Keepsake
• there was no sign of major trauma to the body: no deep wounds, no fractures, no major injuries
• there was a patch of accelerated decay in the centre of David's chest. It may have been caused by a minor wound incurred before David went into the water
• there was an unknown small-molecule poison in David's body. It appeared to be the cause of death, unusual due to David's know anti-poison biomod. Both Kalina and Gary were excited about the prospect of writing a paper describing this new poison
• there were some Sunburst scales on the body

Searches of David's Wardening history revealed little, beyond a profile typical of working Warden. He showed a prevalence for investigating eco-crimes caused by Incoporates and prospectors.

In an attempt to trace David's movements, the team decided to fly to Keepsake (a Native village of a few hundred people). There they met a variety of people and learnt a number of things.

When they arrived, they were the first to break the news of David's death to the community. Reactions to his death were varied: most people were upset, but not greatly so; some people, especially a certain Jessica Saunders, were very upset; others, including Gustav Saunders, were not upset at all.

The village Chair, Eleanor Johnson, and the local Native Patrol officer, were eager for the body to be returned to the village for a funeral. Capt Trovar Ingama said that they need to keep the body for further investigation.

The characters also met George Sefanova, a representative of the Native Emancipation League. (The NEL is a Native organization that does various good deeds for Native communities; it has been linked to the Poseidon First! eco-terror group). He didn't have much to say to them.

Gary spent much of the time on the beach, chatting to a 'fin called Sweeper via is shiny new CICADA. He learnt of the only other cete in the vilage, a 'fin called Defender. Sweeper was friendly, but warned Gary that Defender was not, and did not like Newcomers.

Meanwhile, the other characters investigated David's hut and maincomp. They found little out of the ordinary in the house, but did find some more Sunburst scales in the storage area under the hut. Investigating the maincomp found various records of David's work, including a list of names ('Wayne', 'Gregor', 'Jessica', 'Tsano', among others) and a personal journal, containing entries such as "J is the most wonderful woman I could wish for," "I think G may suspect," and "This news changes everything."

During this investigation, Kalina noticed Jessica Saunders hanging around David's hut. A brief conversation through hers sobs led Kalina to believe that David and Jessica were having an affair.

Jessica then returned to her hut where Gustav, her husband, was waiting. The characters monitored their conversation with remotes, but picked up little more than a distraught Jessica being comforted by a friend and Gustav being moody.

Later, Trovar decided to bring Jessica to the plane for an interview. Discreet use of the pheromone scanner confirmed that she was, indeed, pregnant. The interview revealed little, but raised a number of suspicions concerning the Sunburst scales and why she was trying to conceal her knowledge of Wayne.