Neither Lost Nor Found
| Neither Lost Nor Found | |||||||||
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| Factions Involved | |||||||||
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ShadowHaven Argent Alexander-James Brodrick Johnson III Rachael Raven | Rival Runners | ||||||||
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Hamilton Mara Oathbane |
Courier Pickpocket Unknown Employer | ||||||||
Summary
In which the runners retrieve a seemingly-innocuous stolen piece of jewelry.
Background
Argent has a problem - a woman who works for his boss had an amulet that was entrusted to her stolen. While it is valuable in its own right, the amulet also has psychometric impressions upon it which could be used to identify his boss - ordinarily smudging rituals are performed on potential sympathetic links, but the necklace was a personal gift and never had this procedure done to it. Aware of the potential risk this poses, and seeking to avoid any problems for the Laesa or the woman who lost it and inadvertently created a potential operational security breech, he has dipped into his personal funds to hire runners who can retrieve the item discretely on his behalf.
The Meet
The runners are each contacted individually and invited to visit Silver Linings, a dive bar in Loveland, to have a drink and a chat with Argent; they all manage to arrive (and avoid antagonizing the Ancients patrons) without issue. Argent apologizes for the short notice and fills them in on the situation - someone stole something from a woman he works with, and he'd like them to get it back - he offers them ten thousand nuyen for the retrieval, which Mara and Oathbane (using the power of being very pretty) negotiate up to fourteen thousand, as well as a bonus for the identity of the thief. They accept the job, share a toast to their success (after checking the wine for leas, naturally), and get to work.
The Plan
With Hamilton providing transportation, the trio head to the Peach Pit, the club where Alyssa (the woman who had the necklace stolen) works. Argent asked them to be discrete in their investigations, so they pose as regular patrons (with mixed success) and manage to find Alyssa on one of her breaks - she says that when she was working last night someone must have lifted the necklace off of her, though she is not sure who did it. Oathbane uses her vast rippling techno-brain to make short work of the club's host, accessing the security footage from the night in question; downloading a copy for herself, she peruses the footage and manages to identify the patron who took the necklace off of her. Alyssa is unable to identify the man, though a bit of asking around finds another dancer who tells (for a small bribe) that he is a regular at The Butterfly Effect.
Since The Butterfly Effect is a private gentleman's club and none of the team are acquainted with it's proprietor, Mara contacts Brody J to ask if he can help them gain access. He is, naturally, a member, and after some sweet-talking he agrees to get the trio inside the club. Heading to Bellevue, they are able to avoid the worst of the SIN checkpoints and the 405 Hellhounds thanks to the skill of their driver, and soon arrive at their destination.
The Run
Unfortunately Brody J neglected to mention that he has used up all his plus-one's at The Butterfly Effect, so shenanigans ensue when the group arrive and need to sneak in through the back door - Oathbane disables the fire alarm, Mara provides invisibility and concealment, and Hamilton elects to wait in the car to provide a speedy getaway while keeping an eye out via fly-spies. Working together, the elves get inside and act as arm candy for Brody J (always a good apron) while looking for the man from the footage. Even with the aid of Hamilton's Mona Lisa program they have little luck at this, so Mara elects to get a private dance and offer money to one of the workers to help them like at the last club. She finds Rachael Raven working and takes her to a private room, where she questions her about the man; Rachael proves to be reluctant to divulge information about regular customers, but some gentle persuasion (and a sizable tip) from the mage loosens her lips. She tells Mara that he is usually in on weekends after midnight, so the team set up a stake out and hunker down to wait.
After some time, Hamilton is able to spot out the man approaching using the vision magnification and facial recognition software on his flyspy. Mara, disguised as best as she can, with sword in hand and a spirit guardian waiting on the astral, confronts him in an allyway and plays up the menacing act - while she doesn't have the aid of her usual charms in this, she is able to frighten the man enough into confessing that he did take the necklace from Alyssa, and that he was supposed to leave it in a dead drop for his employer tonight. She "persuades" him to give it to her instead in exchange for not telling her employer who he is, and he wisely hands the necklace over, seemingly ignorant about its value and wondering what all the big deal is over some jewelry. Deducing that he is a street-level runner who really doesn't need to have the Laesa after him, the team decide not to tell Argent about him, instead placing a flyspy at the dead drop location to wait for someone to pick up the necklace.
Unfortunately for them, whoever the employer is thought ahead and sent a courier to pick it up - when the drop proves to be empty, the courier contacts the burner commlink number they were given. Oathbane is able to intercept and listen in on the call, but all she hears on the other end is a warped voice confirming they understand what the courier says, and the call ends before she can trace it. The flyspy follows the courier, but they simply proceed with the rest of their nightly jobs before returning home. Stymied and with no leads to go on, the team return to Loveland.
Aftermath
Argent proves to be happy with the team's performance - while they did not find out who was ultimately responsible, the thief did not seem to realize the importance of what he had, and they recovered the necklace before his boss found out it was missing. He pays them their promised fee, and offers to work with them again in the future should they wish.
Rewards
14k nuyen 5 karma 2 CDP +2 Laesa rep Optional Contact: Argent (C1/L3 Fixer) for 3 RVP or 6 CDP Optional Contact: Brody J (C4/L2 Loveable Idiot) for 5 RVP or 10 CDP Optional Contact: Rachel Raven (C1/L1 Exotic Dancer) for 1 RVP or 2 CDP