Bruce sets out determined to provide a veritable cornucopia of snack foods, but he faces a crisis! Chris (Dmitri Baranov) and Chuck (Percy Winston-Smythe) show up early expecting to go off and see Kung Fu Hustle. Chris argues, "Come on! Come see the movie! Everybody's doing it!" Chuck points out, "And besides, there's already lots of food here anyway!" All go off to the movie, and agree that it is really a wonderful flick with something for everyone.
Ernest (Carlos Juan Victor Sanchez) shows up later on to grouse about having family responsibilities. He is also inexplicably full of all manner of things he'd like to see in the fourth edition of Dungeons & Dragons. He draws a clear distinction between "good complexity" and "bad complexity." Paul (Smith) shows up later on to protest, "But I like the complexity! It goes well with my chicken!" Tim (Christophe Joseph Pépin) doesn't show up at all. Everyone assumes that he must have all sorts of important things that need doing.
From out in the distance, someone screams, "I need a bucket! Get me a bucket right now!" Nobody understands why.
The crippled Musaraigne d'egrappage enters Venus orbit. Smith suggests, "I could land her right at the equator! I think the seas there are just shy of boiling! The heat will be good for my phlogiston exchanger!" He eventually agrees to plot a course to where the heliograph tells him to, the Lac du Charles near the city of Neue Paris. Carlos Juan Victor Sanchez grabs the wheel of the vessel Musaraigne d'egrappage and announces that he will pilot the ship down to a landing better than the last one he managed. He cries out, "Tell me something so I get a bonus!" Captain Percy Winston-Smythe scowls, "Fly straighter!"
The Musaraigne comes to a surprisingly smooth touchdown out in the middle of the lake. Dmitri Baranov congratulates Sanchez, "Hey Spaniard! Looks like you didn't even squash any fishermen!" Sanchez seems disappointed, but still folds back the masts and sets course for the shore.
Moments after touchdown, the characters see a swarm of natives in canoes paddling up towards the ship. Many of the locals seem intent upon selling various goods to the ship's crew. Baranov asks, "Are they offering sexual favors?"
Winston-Smythe replies, "I'm not sure. But I saw some of the men buying bottles of something on board. You go tell the men no drinking or drugs until I say so."
Baranov heads to the upper deck to brutalize some crewmen. He picks up his extra-heavy starter on the way.
The water of the lake is laden with swampy smells of dead fish and oil. The weather is hot and marshily humid. As the characters come into view of Neue Paris they are able to see that it is divided into three parts. The city proper is placed upon the highest land available, set some distance back from the lake. The older part of the port is constructed mostly of native wood and stands right up against the lakeshore. All of those buildings have visible flood damage, testament to the eccentricities of the local weather. Next to the old port is the massive elevated bulk of the Place du Rivage. The newer part of the port is built on top of it, out of reach of the most serious flooding.
Sanchez comments, "All this really takes me back. It reminds me of when I was in South America fighting with Bolivar!"
There are a wide variety of riverboats around the port, plus three aetherships at dock. The riverboats range from native canoes on the low end to mid-sized paddlewheel steamers with phlogiston boilers on the high end. Most of the French vessels look to be built to carry cargo, with only minimal concessions to passenger comfort.
The aetherships include:
Winston-Smythe examines the Chasseur Bravez' injuries and comments, "Hah! Looks like she tangled with more than she could handle!"
Sanchez reminds him, "We're not looking too good right now, either."
Baranov casts in with the English officer, "But you should see the other guy."
The characters take particular notice of the Zwerver. They are somewhat surprised at her presence, as they had been under the impression that the French and Dutch colonies on Venus were not permitted to trade directly. Catherine Iphegenia Pépin points out, "A foreign ship at this port is a direct violation of basic Mercantilist doctrine! I cannot imagine how the French authorities could tolerate such a thing. Unless money is involved."
The other characters are surprised, as they hadn't previously thought that Catherine Iphegenia was such a committed mercantilist. Sanchez chuckles and preens, "My little mourning dove is full of surprises, si?"
Baranov gently points out, "My English, she is not so strong. But still I think that you meant to say morning dove, did you not?"
Sanchez merely smiles enigmatically.
The Musaraigne pulls up to the quay, giving the character an opportunity to become acquainted with the Harbormaster, Francois Coté. He walks up to the ship and call out, "Musaraigne d'egrappage! I must speak to the ship's master!" The characters end up sending Catherine Iphegenia out to speak to him because the rest of them are apparently too retarded to speak to strangers in French.
Baranov reminds Sanchez, "You should be careful letting your woman talk for you - people will say that she carries your balls in her purse."
Sanchez points out, "It's a very big purse. She has a servant to carry it around for her. A burly servant."
Winston-Smythe congratulates the Spaniard, "Good rejoinder there, old boy!" Baranov just looks confused.
Catherine Iphegenia talks to Coté for a while, then explains to the others that the man is harbormaster, and that there is a docking fee of 50 Lv/day. She also points out that if the characters wish to simply anchor the Musaraigne out in the lake, they may do that for free, though the Harbormaster's men will not be watching over it in that case. She has already taken the liberty of paying the docking fees for the next three days. She also mentions that the one drydock at the port is currently busy repairing the damage to Chasseur Bravez, but after that work is complete it will be available to repair the damage to the Musaraigne.
The characters quickly obtain an estimate of the repair cost. They figure that repairs will cost about 12,000 Lv. Baranov speaks for everyone when he says, "I say we bill that to Pépin."
Sanchez offers a small objection by noting, "I'm not sure Pépin has that much on hand. We may need to cover it out of our trading profits. What's your Merchant skill like?"
Baranov responds, "Twelve. A Russian always keeps his eye on the bottom line."
The characters briefly discuss the problem of fixing aetherships on water. It turns out that there are two strategies for fixing problems underneath the waterline: roll the ship, or send ssaug workers underwater. Winston-Smythe asks, "They breathe water?"
Baranov tells him, "No, but they can hold their breaths for a ridiculous amount of time!"
The Englishman curses, "Damme! We missed out on a form of betting back during the voyage!"
The characters quickly work out a simple division of labor: Baranov and Winston-Smythe will work on selling the rum to the locals, while Sanchez finds a way to sell the pornography and a way to move the guns to the Dutch. Smith gets to go with the merchants because Sanchez is not confident that he can come up with sufficiently good lies to convince the mechanical man that everything he's doing is legal. Pépin and his cousin will go to the Harbormaster's salon in the afternoon to mix with the upper crust of Neue Paris, such as it is.
Once the Musaraigne is tied up and the docking fees paid, Baranov asks Winston-Smythe, "Can I give the crewmen their alcohol?" He is willing to allow it, but points out that the ship is still loaded with valuable cargo so letting the entire crew get ripping drunk just as the characters are planning on leaving for a while seems like a poor plan. Watch arrangements are made. The crew is informed that there will be no shore leave for three days, but that there will be a reward to make up for it.
Baranov gives the watch crew the big phlogiston flare gun, with instructions to shoot it off if there is trouble. He mentions, "I got the idea from Kung Fu Hustle. Man, that was a good movie." None of the other characters have the slightest idea what he's talking about, but they agree that it seems like a good plan.
Smith hears that he can get weeskein boots from Wim Polgerein on the Rue de Mar. He heads over there immediately to get some, over the useless objections of Baranov and Winston-Smythe. He returns from Polgerein's shop to boast, "Look! Weeskein condoms! Swank!" He spends 10 Lv on boots. Nobody asks how much he spent on condoms. Or what use he might find for them. Combined with the finery he purchased on earth, Smith cuts a very disturbing picture as he walks the streets of Neue Paris. The picture only gets stranger when he locates a strapping lad to buff him and knock out the dents. Baranov suggests that Smith should tell the fellow about the condoms.
Dmitri hears that a native troublemaker called the Red Soggy is building a cache of guns out in the wilderness. He tells the others, "Hey! I think I might have just found us a buyer!"
Sanchez mentions that he has heard stories of a hidden soggy holy city in the bush. He offers that that might be a good place to go look for the Red Soggy. On the other hand, there's also supposed to be plague out there.
Catherine Iphegenia hands Sanchez a bottle of Dr. Hansen's Remarkable Selenium-Infused Elixir and instructs him to drink three spoonfuls a day. Winston-Smythe cautions, "You're going to go blind, Sanchez."
The characters also discuss the problem of weeskein trading. The key trouble is that weeskein skins are only available in plentiful quantity in the Dutch colony, which the characters don't have direct access to. The characters evaluate several ways to transform the Musaraigne d'egrappage into a Dutch ship, ranging from the trivial to the impractical. Then one of Sanchez's comments causes Baranov to realize that Catherine Iphegenia can actually do forgery. He congratulates the Spaniard, "Truly you have agreed to marry a useful woman!" Arrangements are swiftly made to have Catherine Iphegenia work up some Dutch papers.
The characters finally break away from their shopping and rumor mongering long enough to find some local traders. They eventually end up talking to Germain Kercher at his offices on Place du Rivage. He indicates that he is willing to purchase the characters' rum and other trading goods once he has had a chance to inspect them and arrange some local buyers. He points out that he also has good connections to the plantations out in the hinterlands and can arrange good cargos for the characters to bring back to Earth. The characters agree to give him a few days to evaluate their goods and come up with an offer.
Sanchez hits the port, seeking out the kind of low-grade taverns where he can find wholesale buyers for his goods. He quickly learns that the worst taverns in town operate out of the derelict buildings in the old port, and that that's where to find the smugglers and black marketers of the lowest stripe. He wanders through several places without luck until he learns that all sorts of scum can be found at the Rusty Bucket. He passes word to the others who quickly arrive to back him up, drawn more by the promise of cheap, low-grade booze than any sense of loyalty to their companion.
It is quickly obvious that an optimist was responsible for the construction of the Rusty Bucket: the place has a basement. The characters can hear the water lapping beneath the floorboards. It is obvious that some of the floorboards are pretty nearly rotted all through. Winston-Smythe surveys the place and tells the others, "Remind me never to hire a French civil engineer."
Baranov points out to Smith, "You'd better just step on structural supports. I'm not sure the rest of the floor can hold your weight, and I really don't want to have to fish your metal ass out of the basement."
Smith concurs, "I'm way ahead of you, huu-man. Someone has already marked out where they are with chalk."
Sanchez calls out to the barkeep, "Rice wine!"
Baranov yells, "Whiskey!"
Winston-Smythe orders, "Grog!"
Baranov notices that the bartender fills all three orders from the same keg. The drinks cost 2 sou each, and it is clear that the characters are getting what they paid for, or maybe a little less. The alcohol is strong, but harsh. It tastes like moonshine made from rice and something Baranov can't recognize. Then he figures out it's ghessesh, a local cabbage-like plant.
The other patrons are ruffians and tough-looking locals. The characters overhear a conversation between one fellow who claims he's going to make a fortune smuggling weeskein hides, and another guy with a missing front tooth who warns him that the government hanged a fellow out in the plaza for weeskein smuggling only a few days ago.
Sanchez reassures the bartender that he's not trying to find weeskein. He's trying to sell an entirely different type of goods. He slides a lithograph across the bar, whispering, "This is what I'm moving. Here's a free sample..."
The bartender mops his brow, "Whoa!"
Sanchez goes on, "We got it in volume, out of Amsterdam, from Detlef the Skunk."
Baranov suddenly realizes what might be going through the bartender's mind and points out, "Mind you, we're only selling the pictures, not the woman!"
Winston-Smythe chimes in, "And none of it is previously used!"
The bartender suggests that they actually want to be talking to Giscard the Hammer, a fellow sitting on the far side of the room.
Giscard the Hammer is quite a sight. He has long, straggly hair on one side of his head, but nothing but a mass of red scar tissue on the top and other side. He is missing several teeth, and the ones he has left are unhealthy and yellow. He is flanked by two massive armed ssaug whom he refers to as Number One and Number Two.
Sanchez shows Giscard his wares. Giscard immediately becomes harsh and angry. He threatens to have his bodyguards kill Sanchez, but then he thinks better of it and growls, "I cannot talk to you people." He stalks off.
His aide, a ravaged-looking fellow apparently called the Scotsman for his accent, tells the characters why Giscard reacted so badly. Giscard was once an Intendant who emigrated from France to take up the life of a colonial plantation owner. But he got caught in a tribal dispute. The Dessukoshesh tribesmen scalped him, but that wasn't the only body part they took. The Scotsman indicates that most people know this story, know that Giscard is sensitive about the subject, and take polite measures to avoid bringing it up.
Baranov instantly decides that the bartender has some explaining to do. A second later, the bartender realizes that he has a pressing appointment in the next county. Baranov chases the man through the back room of the Rusty Bucket and out into the street.
A few minutes later, the bartender comes back into the bar. He is heavily favoring one leg and one of his hands is bandaged up. Sanchez tells the other characters, "Good news! Free drinks for everyone!"
It turns out that the bartender's brother is also a participant in the flesh trade, and can't come up with merchandise that can compete with what the characters are selling. Sanchez, rather incredulous, asks, "And you didn't send us to him? You sent us to be killed by the criminal instead? Someone here doesn't have much of a head for business."
The bartender just stares back in mute panic. By this time, he is willing to do anything to avoid being fed to the killer ro-bot or drowned in his own basement.
The characters decide that they need to send some consideration to Giscard as an apology. They put together a package consisting of some fine brandy (from the bottles that Basile Nicolas gave them), plus several rifles and a keg of rum. Giscard accepts the gift, but the Scotsman lets the characters know they should not do any business with him in the future.
The bartender's brother is a guy named Richard. He lives in Neue Paris, in a seedy house, one of four or five apartments in a big pile of stone and concrete. The bartender reaches the door, bangs on it and begs, "Richard! Richard! Could you let me in? I have some strange men to see you!"
Baranov cuffs the man, "Way to sell it, moron."
Richard opens the door and assesses the situation, "Ansel! You idiot!" The characters quickly discover that he is both a brothel operator and owner of all the brains in the family.
The characters negotiate a price of 2.4 times their original cost, or a total of 6480 Lv. Richard pays them 2000 Lv up front with the 4480 Lv balance to be paid in three months along with 10% interest (4980 Lv with the interest). As a side benefit, the characters arrange free "services" for the crew, but expect that Pépin will need to do a lot of health inspections later on. Baranov agrees to drop the interest charge by 30 Lv in exchange.
The characters arrange to hire a townhouse in Neue Paris for 50 Lv/month. The place comes with furnishings and two Ackatack servants. Sanchez hires a separate townhouse for himself and Catherine Iphegenia, relying upon Catherine Iphegenia's money to pay the rent.
With their various sordid tasks out of the way, the characters clean themselves up a bit and head over to the Harbormaster's house to meet with the upper crust of Neue Paris society. They find that the conversation is dominated by the recent failure of the Gihon-Taggart Compagnie. Apparently, old man Taggart is being shipped back to Earth in chains. One local notes that it looks like he hadn't paid most of his people in about two months, so it's actually lucky for him that he's going back to Earth: if he stayed around Venus, he'd be a dead man. The other question on everyone's mind is who will bid on the Gihon-Taggart refinery out at Montre de Fleuve.
The characters are interested in the situation and start asking questions about the company's business and the reasons why it failed. They learn that the company was involved in refining petroleum products taken from open seeps in the Montre de Fleuve delta. Most folk believe that the company's failure was caused by a combination of the problems inherent in operating in the middle of nowhere and Old Man Taggart's extravagant lifestyle. A rice trader points out that Taggart spent a lot more time in Neue Paris than he did at Montre de Fleuve, where his business was located.
Two days later, the characters venture back to speak to the trader Germain Kercher. His base offer to them is triple their cost for the rum, and half-again their cost for the other goods. The characters agree to this deal. He also offers to sell them local rice at a cost 250 Lv/ton. But he has another offer: he will cut 20 Lv/ton off the price of rice if they look for his man Janosz Engel. He explains that Engel is his minor partner and lieutenant. He headed out to speak to some plantation owners several weeks ago, and by now is long overdue. He last heard from him two weeks ago, and expected him back last week. He wants the characters to head up to the plantation he sent his last letter from and find out where he is.
The characters are more than willing to sign up for this, as this kind of task is right in their area of specialty. Kercher provides them with a guide and two Ackatak bearers. The guide Toussaint claims to be a nails-tough army veteran and an expert tracker. Winston-Smythe has some doubts. Kercher also comes up with a small riverboat for them to travel in, though Toussaint warns that this is the dry season so they will still need to travel some of the distance overland.
Their destination is Shallowstream Plantation, owned by Renard Bancul.
The characters bid the Pépins adieu and head up the river. They estimate that the journey will be 350 km by river and another 35 km overland. At a speed of 6 km/hour, the characters will cover the waterborne portion of the journey in four days if they travel 16 hours per day. Smith checks the riverboat's boiler prior to departure and determines that the boiler is undercharged with phlogiston. He purchases enough to fully charge it for 3 Lv per day, enough for ten days.
Sanchez buys a lot of Dr. Hansen's Elixir, enough for everyone. Baranov buys a lot of quinine. Winston-Smythe buys gin and shows Baranov how it works better when you mix quinine with gin. Baranov notes, "Lots of things work better when you mix them with gin. Talking to my parents, for example." Nobody in Neue Paris has ever heard of mosquito netting. Sanchez borrows Baranov's rifle, reasoning that the mosquitoes are probably large enough that firearms will actually work better than netting.
The characters decide that they'd like to have more firepower available on the riverboat, so Baranov hires a local carpenter to build a mount for a swivel-gun on the bow for 100 Lv. There's no time to do the work before departure, so the carpenter agrees to accompany the characters (though he refuses to leave the riverboat).
The characters take two uneventful days to cross Lac du Charles. They notice that running natives on the lakeshore are easily able to keep up with the rivercraft. They play whist to pass the time. Baranov loses every day, while Winston-Smythe does very well for himself. Even Toussaint gets involved, though he loses too. In an effort to improve his chances in the game, Toussaint tells the characters about some of the local fish, including a thing in the lake about the size of a gar that can take a good chunk out of yer whatsis.
Baranov suggests, "Smith! Stick a limb in the water."
Smith agrees, "Okay. Hand me your arm."
Baranov prefers to not hand any of his body parts over to Smith's care, so instead he continues listening as Toussaint describes the manticore and the Venus gator. There area also giant venus flytraps in the forests. Finally, the tentacle mother sometimes tips over riverboats, but they're rare.
Baranov asks, "Do they call it that because the last thing most people who see it say is 'mother!'?"
At the end of the third day, the characters stop at River-Mouth Town, a big soggy encampment located appropriately enough at the mouth of the river. Toussaint arranges for the locals to provide food, including ghessesh stew. The characters listen to how the stuff is prepared, and quickly conclude that it is almost exactly like kimchee stew. With river eels. None of which answers the question of how the characters would ever have heard about kimchee stew.
Baranov decides that he's not going to let this sort of detail bother him. He digs in to dinner with gusto, calling out to the locals, "More eels! More eels! They're fully of slickery goodness!" several times.
He notices that Sanchez is also really enjoying his dinner. He asks why. Sanchez replies, "This is nothing like paella. Besides, I never get anything like this to eat at home."
Winston-Smythe cringes at a particularly ethnic bit of his own dinner and agrees, "And I'm sure you'll be the better for it. What I wouldn't give for a good bit of English cookery right now. Preferably something grayish and boiled."
The next morning Sanchez reflects, "Those natives were pretty nice, for VC. They didn't try to frag us. I bet they're in league with the Red Soggy, though."
A day farther upriver the characters reach the point where they must abandon the riverboat and walk inland. They leave one of the ssaug and the carpenter to watch the boat, then head towards the plantation with Toussaint and the other ssaug.
Then the characters see burned timber floating down the stream. Sanchez goes into stealth mode and takes point. He warns the others, "Careful! Someone has cultivated here!"
Smith asks, "And this means?"
Sanchez replies, "I don't know. I have no agronomy skills."
Soon enough, Sanchez spots a house hidden behind a stand of trees. The place looks burnt. He doesn't see any laborers around, human or otherwise.
Baranov advances behind him and finds two burned granaries. Then he finds a dead human on the ground, apparently an overseer of some kind. A bit further on, he finds another body, this of a middle-aged woman. He deduces that he is looking at the remains of Madame Bancul.
While Sanchez moves carefully through a stand of trees to the east of the plantation compound, Winston-Smythe moves into the burned-out main house. He finds Engel in a back room, badly injured. He deduces that a native tomahawk hit Engel. There are blue bloodstains on the floor and two expended muskets nearby. He calls over to Baranov for help. Baranov arrives and binds Engel's wounds. Engel moans, "Hundreds... hundreds of them..."
By this time, Smith has stomped his way to the North edge of the plantation grounds. He sees something moving under the surface of the flooded rice paddy. Then a native warrior rises up and throws a tomahawk at him. Smith shoulders his musket and shoots back.
Then the drums start to the North. And to the East. And to the Southeast.
Smith runs straight into the rice paddy, eager to slaughter the native. Four natives pop up to attack.
Sanchez notes, "woo, Smith found a whole nest of them. Looks like he's doing okay, though. Hey, I just got an idea for the title of a children's book: Smith Takes the Bait."
Smith brings out his scything blade and whirls this way and that, chopping natives into bloody pieces as they struggle to pierce his metal hide. Smith shouts out, "Woohoo! I'm a lawnmower in a pond full of piranha!"
Back at the main house, Baranov and Winston-Smythe discuss the virtues of simply running away and letting Smith slaughter natives until he hits his preset kill limit.
Sanchez spots four natives lurking in the East paddy. He shoots one. The survivors throw tomahawks back. He yells, "Soggies in the perimeter!"
Winston-Smythe takes a shot at one of them around Sanchez, but misses.
Baranov grabs Engel and yells, "Marines, we are leaving!" He runs to the docks to look for a boat. "Boats! We're leaving in the boats!"
Sanchez heads for the house, pulling a pistol as he runs. Winston-Smythe runs for the docks.
Smith ignores the ongoing retreat and announces, "I am going to murder some natives!" He is initially disappointed. Then he surges for the boat and murders two natives along the way.
Sanchez yells back at him, "Run, Kill-Dozer! Run!" Smith takes a wound as he rounds the barn with six natives in pursuit.
Baranov throws Engel into the boat, then leaps behind him. He discovers that a native was hiding under the dock. The native strikes out with a tomahawk and a blood-curdling scream, "Yaaa!" Baranov's breastplate takes the hit.
Baranov murmurs, "I love you, breastplate." Then he cuts the native into pieces.
Winston-Smythe realizes that Sanchez isn't going to make it. He turns and readies his musket. Sanchez wins the competition he was having with Smith: he has seven natives coming from one direction, and four about to cut him off from the flank.
Winston-Smythe observes Sanchez as he flees from eleven natives. He imagines that the natives are thinking, "Goddamn Spaniards can run! Not like those cigarette-puffing French who are so easy to run down!"
Sanchez wheels around with two pistols and blazes away at the lead tribal, who dodges. Baranov returns from the dock to help out. He guns one down.
Baranov, Sanchez, Winston-Smythe manage to form a firing line against ten soggies. The soggies take several casualties, while Winston-Smythe takes a scratch. Baranov enjoys a brief duel with a native chieftain armed with two axes, interrupted as Smith realizes there are several other tribesmen watching and stomps past to chop them to pieces. The tribesmen scatter.
Baranov wins his duel fairly rapidly, crippling the chieftain's arm. In an unaccountable kind gesture, he binds the ssaug's arm and applies a selenium poultice.
The characters pile into a small boat with Engel and head back down the stream to the riverboat. Baranov spends his time binding everyone else's injuries. Smith tells him, "Don't waste your effort on me. I'll be fine."
Baranov asks him, "How many did you cut down?"
Smith muses, "Hmm... Seven."
Baranov claps Smith on the back, "That's more than all the rest of us combined!" He tells the others, "We should get Smith racing stripes and a Mexican Hat Dance theme song!"
On the way back to Neue Paris, Engel describes how the Dessukoshesh swarmed all over Shallowstream, killing and burning as they came. He has no idea why they attacked. He didn't know Renard Bancul all that well. He thought the man was stern, but not abusive to his native workers.
Germain Kercher is very happy to get his business partner back. He gives the characters the promised discount. Pépin is paid 22,920 Lv after covering the repairs to the Musaraigne d'egrappage (The total was 34,920 Lv before repairs). He can afford 88 tons of rice at 250 per ton.
The sale of the rum clears Smith 3000 Lv, Sanchez 6000 Lv and Baranov 4500 Lv. This still leaves 1000 Lv in vellum and the guns unsold. Baranov gives Winston-Smythe 2000 Lv as a bonus for a job well done.
The proceeds from the improper lithographs go to Pépin's share, in part because much of it won't be payable for three months.
Pépin plows his money into buying 100 tons of rice (22,000 Lv). Winston-Smythe and Baranov each put in 2200 Lv to buy 10 tons (20 tons total). Smith contributes 3300 Lv to buy 15 tons of rice.
Baranov spends 100 Lv on ghessesh moonshine and 100 Lv on rice wine. He quickly figures out that nobody on Venus is making liquor of high quality yet: plantation owners brew all the rice wine he can find as a sideline and all of it is pretty raw.
The characters turn to the fifty ssaug they brought with them. Half of them are Ackatak tribesmen and are essentially already home. Fifteen more can find their way home on their own. The remaining ten come from the Dutch territories and need more help. The characters figure they'll be able to help them if they actually end up selling guns to the Dutch.
The session ends with the characters back in Neue Paris, ready to sell their vellum and their guns. Each character gains four experience points.