Interlude Two - New York

#### Keep Your Enemies Close

* About a week later, back in New York. The call has gone out, and Caduceus has a new job for the group
* Everyone is gathered around the breakfast table (Asian delicacies) in HJubert's in-town house. His mother and hamster form the backdrop.
* The discusion centers on how the group are going to proceed
* Ares Carter is starting to show somewhat Simian signs (occasional yellow eyes, a new scale-like upper back tatoo)
* Ares Carter attempts a joke
* Hubert Smith will make noises of giving Caduceus his fortune upon his eventual demise, in order to make the group seem safe in the organization's miind
* Ares Carter and Dr Samuel Taylor-Thompson have a heart-to-heart. Ares Carter tells Dr Samuel Taylor-Thompson of the compact with the Serpent. When Ares Carter' shirt comes off we see the scales
* Ares Carter is no longer merely deadly, but now feels leathal as well
* Hubert Smith is plannig ahead, and puts the Oklahoma City detective agency on retainer sometime in the future (next downtime)
* Minnie finds out about a fire in the Redhouse Docks that feels like Mob activity.
* Dr Samuel Taylor-Thompson finds that Ares Carter is apparently immune to poison. Dr Samuel Taylor-Thompson realises he could speed up the transformatio. Ares Carter' fangs are also coming in
* Ares Carter opts to speed up the scalification process, as that would provide some level of armour with no obvious bad side-effects. This is hidden as a complicated piece of tatoo art performed by Dr Samuel Taylor-Thompson
* Ares Carter is also partially immune to anesthetics, so the deep scarring is quite painful
* Minnie walks in on Dr Samuel Taylor-Thompson cuting up Ares Carter.
* Minnie goes down to the docks, and sees Martino Brazziano meeting with some goons in a warehouse
* The group regathers on the footsteps of Caduceus HQ. They're escorted up to floor 7
* Debrief by Mr Gonzales
* Next task is to go to Iceland and deal with snake people worshippers of Tsathoggua who have set up operations inside a volcano underneath a glacier which is an old active snake site
* According to Caduceus, the group are now "Trusted Agents"
* Minnie gets a delay in departure so that she can have a night's worth of research
* Mr Gonzales has a private word with Hubert Smith, whilst Ares Carter listens in. Mr Gonzales requests that Hubert Smith specifically retrieve a canister, the power source behind some immense calculation machine. Doing so may well be a way to get an invite to the Conneticut estate
* The group decides to look up the mob before they depart

#### Honey Heist, Fit The Second

* It's a usual Thursday afternoon in New York City. The group has tickets to Iceland but first there are the events of the night to deal with
* Hubert wants to use the run against the mob to try out his Icelandic costume(s), but decides on mob wear (a white suit) instead
* Minnie just wants to find out if the mob are going to be a help, a hindrance, or are neutral
* "If it doesn't work, I do have a lot of bullets" - Ares
* As afternoon turns to evening, they head to the Diner that they know is a goon meeting place.
* Minnie goes in first, Ares and Hubert come in as supposed bodyguards. Dr Sam waits upstairs in the Diner as backup
* Minnie grabs a drink and sneaks downstairs to try to get close to where Gonzales is talking to a couple of younger goons
* Hubert fails to get himself and Ares into the downstairs area, as it is a Family establishment and Ares' weapons are an issue. Hubert goes down on his own.
* Hubert has a word, and manages to set up a meeting with the higher ups by talking to Conzala, He says he's working for Caduceus
* Minnie sneaks the maps of the docks that the mobsters were discussing over as she leaves.
* The maps are of Caduceus warehouses
* The list is of Italian sounding names, with lines drawn through some of them
* Hubert comes up with a plan, involving raiding the warehouse before tomorrow's meeting
* There's a lot of discussion over exactly what Brazziano and Bonanno (Broccoli and Bananas) know, and what their plans are.
* They copy, then dispose of, the documents
* They arrive at the Red Hook Docks around midnight
* Lancet cases the area
* Hubert stays outside the fenced area, helps the rest climb the fence
* Ares and Minnie easily make it over, but a wandering guard arrives before Dr Sam can make it over. Dr Sam and Hubert try to get into the shadows
* Hubert misdirects the guard, and Dr Sam gets over but cuts his hand on the barbed wire

#### A window to the heart

* Minnie goes to climb up onto the roof of the warehouse using the crane points on the side and finds a locked skylight. The windows are also reinforced with chicken wire, etc.
* [[Ares Carter[[ goes to check the state of the ground floor windows. They find non-moving guards staring out from inside the warehouse, dressed in Caduceus uniforms
* Hubert Smith is acting very intoxicated, and he pretends to hide in front of some barrels.
* Hubert Smith has managed to draw both gate guards into the road, but overplays his hands, and the guards end up bringing him in as they call the police
* [[Ares Carter[[ recognizes that the guards inside are breathing, but are very still
* Dr Samuel Taylor-Thompson, [[Ares Carter[[, and Minnie regroup to discuss what to do next
* Hubert Smith is recognised by name, and also as a member of Caduceus. The guards call the main Caduceus number. Hubert Smith tries to pull the phone wire, and the alarm is sounded
* Having been handcuffed to a chair, Hubert Smith strikes down one of the guards.
* Hubert Smith then picks up the phone and speaks Naacal into it. Whoever is on the other end is sending reinforcements.
* Dr Samuel Taylor-Thompson, [[Ares Carter[[, and Minnie hear the alarms and the approaching dogs
* They climb up towards the roof, just before they see Dr Gonzalvez come out through the warehouse main cargo doors
* Hubert Smith tries to run away from the dogs, but they catch up to him. However, Hubert Smith is sufficiently massive that the dogs are not capable of stopping him
* Hubert Smith jumps off of the docks, and swims out towards the moored boats. He gets on a boat and manages to start the engine. and eventually escapes into the night
* Meanwhile Dr Samuel Taylor-Thompson has unhinged the window lock, and Minnie goes in.
* Inside are several locked boxes. She sees Dr Gonzalvez come out of one of the offices, go to the large trap door which he opens, and goes down into. Apparently a lower warehouse from which there are insect like noises.
* Minnie heads out, and as joins the other two, there are some cars that pull up outside, and have words with the guards as Hubert Smith is inexpertly getting away (only occasionally colliding).
* The three jump into the water, but [[Ares Carter[[ dives in too deep, and hits their head on an underwater wooden quey support, getting rescued by Minnie. Dr Samuel Taylor-Thompson merely drinks in some water polluted by motor oil.
* Hubert Smith finds a beach off which he leaves the boat for. He finds a telephone booth, calls mummy "I've done it again". She gets him into a party being hosted by the Mayor of New York City as an alibi.
* The four reconvene at 6 am as Hubert Smith slips out from the party.
* Hubert Smith suggests that he falls on the proverbial sword to save the other three from Caduceus' ire. [[Ares Carter[[ argues that the bridges are not burned yet
* The decision is to fast-track the groups departure for Iceland, before the shit hits the fans

#### Trivia

* Chat headcannon is that Minnie's cat wanders into scene whenever Alex's cat shows up for snuggles
* From Jackson in chat in the intro to part three:
	+ Hear me, henchmen of this hollowed hall! Howl and hoot if you must, but heed my hallowed history. For it is a harrowing tale of hubris and hate, of how humanity heaped upon itself a horror so heinous, that it haunts us still. But hope springs eternal, and even now, it hums in our hearts, a hymn of harmony, a harbinger of a new dawn.
	+ So let us heave ourselves up, and hold hands, and hasten towards the horizon of hope. For in the end, it is not hatred, nor hurt, nor harm that will win the day, but humanity, in all its hopeful, and harmonious hues. In short, Hubert is your humble heavy with a humungous heart.
* Later modification, having gone through human hands
	+ Hear me, henchmen of this hallowed hall. Hold your howls and hoots, and heed this history; a harrowing heresy of hermetic hubris. Heaped here are a hundred hissing horrors so heinous that they hitherto hinder, haunt, and hammer us into helplessness.
	+ However, we harbour hope. It hums high in our hearts, a halcyon hymn, a harbinger of health. Halt hesitation! Hold hands, heave up, and hasten hence to the horizon. Hatred and hostility have no happy end. Heroic humanity, in all its harmonious hues, will have its hurrah.
	+ Herewith, Hubert is your humble huckleberry, a habitually hedonistic heavyweight with hardly any hair and a humongous heart. Hey, has anyone heard from his hamster?

### Statistics

#### Luck Spent

 Interlude Two, #2
 Interlude Two, #2