Zilan Wine, Part Two

 

Where the Travellers finish a very educational encounter with a bureaucratic maze.

This note is from our November 30, 2014 session and was mostly written by Carl with edits and additional material provided by Kay and myself. Carl took the photo of the board and I created the other illustrations with Sketchup and rendered them in Kerkythea.

Continued from: Zilan Wine, Part One.

Date: 215-1104 Imperial.

Location: Port Aramamx over the planet Aramamx in the Aramis Subsector.

When we left off, the crew was trying to navigate through the bureaucracy of Zila. We needed to get five (5) specific forms signed and set before the close of business 238-1104].

This need was based on a strong desire (from all of us and the Fireau et Fille winery) to take to space in the wee hours of 239-1104.

At close of business 238-1104 the contract Fireau granting Tukera exclusive rights to export their wine was set to expire. Fireau the senior planned to take the negotiations down to the wire and then tell Tukera he was not renewing. Then we would take off from the winery itself with 30 tons of Zilan Eiswine. Two employees would also accompany us to Aramanx. (No great cheers from us at that).

If we could not get the forms completed correctly, Tukera would likely flood the system with a cheaper and lesser wine and then try to pass it off as better than Fireau's.

Just as I skipped over the bureaucratic mumbo jumbo last time, so do I this time.

Good idea, Carl, you had to have been there for the paper chase. Inspired by the map in the Arkham Horror game, I made a schematic showing the relationships between the various locations that the characters visited. - Terry

A couple highlights are, however, worth noting:

On or about 227-1104, we noticed that we were being followed by a mysterious stranger. Some counter surveillance and following of our own told us that it was Tukera personnel keeping an eye on us.

At one desk the receptionist appeared more helpful than many others, and Fig arranged to meet for dinner and dancing. Sadly, due to his unfamiliarity with local cultural customs, the evening was not a spectacular time.

I deleted the details in the interest of decorum. It involved offending the lady over comments about her brightly dyed armpit hair and the string of unfortunate events that followed. - Terry

Sam and Medicus had been out in Polykarp Province getting their own forms filled out and when we called them to let them know we were being followed, Sam decided to come back to Startown and put himself and Medicus up at a hotel, so they did not come back to the ship, making it harder for the followers (we had identified two of them by this time) to know we had more crew.

Leon took over the brokerage duties this time at the port to sell the 50 tons of cargo that we brought from Aramanx. He also retrieved the 20 tons of radioactives that we had stored in a warehouse the last time we were here and loaded them onto the Skylark. Sam suggested, wisely, that we also buy 30-tons of freight containers and put them into the cargo hold so that any watchers would see that we were fully loaded for take off.

Nearing the end of our time to get the forms, we were down to only needing one. Sam is far and away the most adept of the crew at navigating administrative things, so he went to the meeting we had scheduled directly from his hotel room. For a complete change, this person was an anti-bureaucrat. When Sam came across very competently in things paperwork, she was turned off and required much convincing to sight our last form herself.

On 236-1104 the Fireau et Fille office in Startown was trashed, leading us to expect more trouble later.

We did get the papers all signed, and on 238-1104 we headed out to Polycarp Province, the location of the winery. Sam and Medicus separately took a local shuttle from their hotel. We believed that Tukera was unaware of them, since they had been in Polycarp or at the hotel during all of the following-us-around time.

The Skylark flew over in the evening, arriving about 2200 Imperial time, which was about two hours before dawn local time. We passed over the paperwork to the Fireau legal team, and with their approval commenced to start getting ready to unload the empty cargo containers to make room for the wine.

Continued in Zillan Wine, Conclusion.

See Also: Dramatis Personæ, Skylark 2, Campaign Starts, The 2nd Adventure, The Chamax Plague, Horde, Shadows, Research Station Gamma, Twilight's Peak, Prison Planet, Leedor on Aramis, First Call at Zilla.