LogDead Drop Vienna-Jason-12

Game log for the 2020-11-08 session of Dead Drop: Vienna, as taken by Jason

We decide to tackle B. Braun Pharmaceuticals next, and Ditch devises an air route to San Juan. We land at the Lajas Air Park.

Winston's research has told us that the firm was founded in the 19th century by Wilhelm Braun, who invented the first dissolving stitches. The same firm invented the disposable syringe. The factory in Puerto Rico has only been operational a few months, and though it's ostensibly just making tubing and other low-tech parts, they do free vaccinations for the locals. That's a huge improvement in the local standard of medical care.

Maribelle goes to try to study the place. It's in a farm area, across the street from a Catholic above-ground cemetary, so she has to be careful to avoid being seen. The building is an enormous rectangle, four stories high but probably broken into two very tall levels. There's a guard at the reception desk, but there's no extensive grounds or major security. A fence is about the limit. They're runing two shifts.

Wilmer gets himself a disguise featuring a frequently-broken nose, then approaches a guy to see if he can get access. Luis Alvarez is a would-be union organizer, and Wilmer presents himself as a trade inspector who thinks someone at the factory might be lining his pickets. Alvarez immediately points the finger at one Juan Dominguez, who is cruel to the employees but obsequious to the Germans. He might be covering up something. Also, the last man who tried to unionize the plant went missing. Wilmer promises that if he can get in, and if it turns out that counts of outgoing product don't match the paperwork that the locals have signed off on, then there will be a major enforcement action, and this Dominguez guy might certainly get caught up in it. A couple days after their first meeting, Alzarez gives Wilmer a whole ring of keys to copy.

Ditch tries to find the firm that built the factory and get access to the blueprints. He's able to do so, no problem. The big anomaly he finds is a second floor room with enormous power capacity, probably for refrigeration.

Angel tries to see if anyone she knows from a previous vacation here can help her, but comes up short. Instead she strikes up an acquaintance with Klaus, Inga, and Helmut. Klaus and Inga are doctors; Helmut works QC, and seems to find her very attractive. He mentions that he'd love to take her on a tour of some of the pretty spots in the countryside, but it has to be next week, because their boss will be in town for the next few days. The boss is Friedrich Zall, but the other two Germans at the table give him dirty looks when he says that name.

We come up with a plan to split our efforts. One team will set a fire in the office under the lab, while the other sabotages the exterior water main to disable fire suppression.

We come in the door and things are more or less as expected, except that there are people there and they're speaking German. Winston speaks that language and can tell that someone is very unhappy with the progress they're making in their experimentation. Certain people need to redouble their efforts or face the consequences. The shipment done now has to go into immediate distribution. Oh, and Angel recognizes that Klaus and Inga.

Flashback: in case this happens, Wilmer assembles some pistol silencers out of available items. Due to a totally failed role, they make the guns very hard to aim.

Angel, Wilmer, and Winston try to sneak past and get into an unoccupied room. Winston knocks something off a desk, but Wilmer manages to catch it before it hits the ground, so it's all silent. They get to the stairwell and can either set a fire in the lab itself, or torch some open boxes on the factory floor.

Outside the building, Ditch and Maribelle are sabotaging a water main. They try to take the valve apart, thinking maybe they could jam it up, but it's under pressure. As soon as they start in on it, water sprays everywhere, and they have to lock it back down and try something else. They decide to look for a manifold on the roof, so Ditch climbs up there.

Inside the building, the infiltrators have made it to the lab. There are no voices up there, though they do hear a light thump at one point. None of the keys they got work on this door, so they're stuck trying to pick the lock. Before they can get to it, they hear someone coming up the stairs, and have to duck into one of the other labs before the guard catches them.

Ditch sees where the water line comes in, and can see where the branch lines come off it. There's no manifold, but damaging the pipe would get the job done. Ditch just grimaces and crushes the pipe himself. Since there are no toolmarks, it looks like it could have happened at any time, and nobody noticed. That should reduce the efficacy of the sprinklers. Ditch notifies the team of this success via radio.

Looking around the lab, the interior team finds flammable chemicals and a bunsen burner. Maybe if someone left it on, it would get hot enough to ignite some papers, or some hexane. Winston had looked up some good ways to start fires, and gives Wilmer advice. It works a little too well and everyone has to hustle to avoid getting caught up in it. The fire looks accidental, which is good, but now the team has to vacate the premises. They crouch in the hallway and in a few seconds, the fire alarm goes off.

Ditch is climbing down from the roof when the alarm goes off.

Flashback: Ditch left a stolen box truck in the center of the road with two flat tires about half an hour ago. That will help delay the fire department's response.

From downstairs, Winston hears someone yelling about the need to secure the samples. The team rush across the hallway into a different lab and wait for people to enter the cryo lab.

Outside the building, Maribelle makes sure Ditch gets down OK, then goes to prepare for the getaway.

Inside, the scientists are trying to rescue the samples from the lab. Ditch suggests letting them and taking those samples later. The team adopts that plan. The scientists do complain about how the sprinklers aren't working, and one of them responds that this is what happens in third world shitholes. The walls for the burning lab are starting to burn through. Klaus the scientist asks whether they could get it all in one more trip. They hand the canisters off to the guards and go right back in. The team decide to go to the lab opposite the cryo lab, break a window, and get out that way. They manage to avoid being spotted by those damn overdedicated scientists, break a window, and exfiltrate down. Maribelle advises them on how to do so without being seen. Angel almost gets spotted as one of the guards runs around the parking lot to that side of the building, but the guard gets distracted and she's able to make it.

Now Maribelle has to shadow the scientists, with help from Winston. It's clear that they're heading to Lajas. Maribelle tries to pick a route and technique that will let the team beat them to the airfield, but they're moving so fast that she can't get around them, and Maribelle has to back off. We arrive second and find the Germans looking around Ditch's plane.

Flashback: Ditch has rigged the airplane to explode if anyone else tries to pilot it.

Winston can hear that one of the guys has already tried the hanger, and found nobody there. They'll have to send someone to town to call Helmholtz and have him send a plane. Klaus and Friedrich start emptying tanks out of the car while Inga heads for the car, at which point the team opens fire and Inga dies a whole lot. Friedrich heads for the hangar and Klaus heads for the plane. Ditch shoots at Klaus and wings him, though Klaus drags himself behind the plane. Wilmer shoots at Friedrich but can't hit anything with his jackass homemade silencer. Winston pulls a rifle and shoots at Friedrich too, hitting him squarely. Angel fires her pistol at Friedrich and misses. Maribella gets a couple rounds off at Klaus, who falls.

Ditch pursues Friedrich around the hangar. Wilmer follows, not close, taking an AK out of his duffle bag as he goes. Winston moves to cover the other side of the hangar. Angel moves to finalize Klaus. Maribelle trails Winston. Ditch spies Friedrich and tries to shoot him in the back, and manages to tag him. Wilmer opens fire as well and gets a grazing hit. Friedrich is moving so fast that he's now reached a ditch and gotten out of sight.

Maribelle goes to secure the vehicle with the samples inside, setting demo charges in the trunk. Ditch goes chasing Friedrich, with Wilmer trailing a good 20m behind. Angel has now ensured that Klaus is a goner. As Maribelle works, Winston sees someone moving in the back of the car, and calls out a warning. Maribelle slams the trunk and shoots through the back window, grazing the target. Friedrich leaps through the remains of the window and tackles her. Wilmer calls out a warning on the radio and shoots at Friedrich, but misses and hits Maribelle. Interfering with Friedrich's meal is a moral victory, right? No. Not actually.

Angel looks around the plane and sees Friedrich on top of Maribelle, so she shoots, and also misses. Maribelle tries to escape and wriggles away, though she's only low crawling. He reaches out and grabs her by the ankle. Wilmer comes running to try to intervene, but Ditch had gotten farther out and will take longer to come back. Winston tries to shoot Friedrich again and gets effect on target this time, L1A1 rifle peppering the vampire. Friedrich hisses, "Who are you?" at Winston, who replies, "Drug dealers!" Maribelle tries to roll over and get a self-defense shot off but misses. Angel fires her pistol again and grazes the foe. Now Friedrich lets go of Maribelle and leaps up and back, giving himself cover from Winston. He calls out, "We can make a deal here! If it's money you want, it's money ou shall have!" Angel responds with another gunshot, and hits center mass. That knocks the bad guy down. Maribelle limps over to administer the coup, only for the vampire to roll aside at the last moment. She misses.

Friedrich runs for it. Maribelle calls out a warning on the radio. Wilmer comes around the corner shooting through the car and gets a hit for once, knocking Friedrich down again. Maribelle goes cyclic, and Winston moves so he can do the same. Ditch goes to assess the situation, sees Friedrich still, and starts to work on some decapitation action. When he's done, the usual heinous shower of gore ensues. We then go to work loading up the loot and the bodies, with the intention of dumping it all over the ocean, which we do. We are able to save some medical supplies and a briefcase. The briefcase, of course, is full of intel.

Back in Vienna, one of Wilmer's contacts has left a message at a dead drop. They want a face-to-face meet in a nice quiet location. It's an urgent matter. Wilmer, Winston, and Ditch go to the meet, but Winston travels separately.

A man Wilmer worked with in Hungary, Adam Key, is waiting with someone Wilmer recognizes as a player, but can't name. Adam's at first phased by Wilmer's disguise, but the countersign works. Key introduces his contact as Pavel Kovarik, and explains that Pavel needs help through unofficial channels. There's a French smuggler who needs to die, and it can't be connected to the Czechs. The work has to be done before a shipment of weapons leaves Marseille, or else the shipment has to be intercepted. The Czechoslovakians would owe the team a favor, and could share information about Nazis. Wilmer makes affirmative noises, and Pavel passes him some microfiche.

That will be a new score, and we will need to finish downtime at the start of next session.