Reply To: Jungle Drums IC

  • Imladir

    Member
    August 30, 2017 at 6:29 pm

    [Caroline Chapelle – 05:10, Monday March 22nd, 2077 – In the air, Between France and South-America] #53

    Caroline cocked an eyebrow when Milo asked to talk to Talis “You know, you can’t marry that one?” She shrugged, and with a few waves of her hands, called Talis back. She had asked for it, and it wasn’t like it was hard or risky anyway. Talis wasn’t the strongest spirit ever after all. She focused back to her notes then, not really paying attention to what Milo and Talis were saying to each other.

    When Rhea came to fetch her, Caroline followed. She waited patiently for the introduction, then started her briefing. From the looks of things, she didn’t seem stressed, and obviously had made speeches before. She wasn’t the best orator ever, but she was still able to deliver her briefing smoothly “The first thing to know about Bogota is that things change from one day to another. As such, I’m afraid I can’t give you anything really specific about the place, which means I’ll stick to the general situation.”

    She flicked something on her ‘link, and continued “One would believe that after the war ended, the situation in Bogota would stabilise and become more welcoming. It was indeed the case for a few months, but it’s now worse than ever.” She paused, pensive, then shrugged “Maybe not, but bombs in the streets aren’t much of an improvement over artillery bombardments. Anyway. Bogotá is mostly in the hands of gangs, affiliated to either Amazonia or Aztlan. They’re not shy about those affiliations, which often leads to eruption of violence. Most of the time, it only impacts the gangs themselves, but as often happens in those cases, there are almost always civilian casualties. So as the first lesson to keep from this is ‘do not deal with the gangs if you can avoid it’ She paused, and grimaced “Sadly, that’s often impossible to do so completely, since they control pretty much everything, but stick to the basics and do not get involved in anything.”

    She rubbed her chin, looking at the crowd for a second “Now, for more general advice. Never ever travel alone. Always at least two, preferably three. Most of you don’t look like you’re locals, which means that by their standards, you’re rich. That makes you primary targets for thefts at best, ransoming at worse. And yes gentlemen, that includes the restrooms. As for women, always with men. It’s distasteful, but they’re kinda macho down there, don’t expect most of them to deal with you as anything more than someone else’s woman. Try to always be with someone who speaks Spanish, either version is fine most of the time. Carry a firearm if you know how to use it, but only concealed, and you only draw if you’re planning 1) to use it 2) to finish whatever is going on, definitely. For those of you who know how to use one effectively, I’d recommend a good knife. It draws less attention, it’s less noisy if you use it, and it’s less likely to escalate things even more.” She paused, then frowned “And for some reason, the locals respect people carrying knifes more than those with guns.” She seemed puzzled by that. From their expressions, some of the men she was talking to agreed with that sentiment, which puzzled her, but she didn’t stop to ask “Of course, you should always carry the strict minimum, and do not ever show anything of value. Do not get into any kind of vehicle you do not know, at least outside of the…well, I don’t know if I’d say ‘nicer’, but at least the less rough parts of town. Oh, and do not, ever, go into a brothel outside of said areas. I’d say not at all but…” She shrugged “There are a lot of those in the seedier sides of town, most controlled by gangs. But if the theft and kidnapping risks are not enough to prevent you from doing it, just ask the doctors the kind of diseases you’re likely to catch there. Speaking of diseases, do not ever drink water you didn’t personally decontaminated or that wasn’t handed to you by someone you absolutely trust. I’m sure we have plenty of kits to do just that, always carry one, and if you don’t know how to use it, learn how. Food is less of a problem, but I’d recommend avoiding anything but the simplest things if you can.”

    She tapped her lips for a second or two, pensive, checked something on her ‘link “I think that’s all for now. Once on the ground, we should try to keep tabs to the major events and current players, just to know where we should tread lightly, but that’s for then. In the meantime… Questions?”