InfoMurder
| InfoMurder | |||||||||
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| Factions Involved | |||||||||
| ShadowHaven | |||||||||
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Ashford Cailleach Chneasta | |||||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||||
| None | |||||||||
Summary
A mysterious masked lady hires a pair of runners. She needs a problem in the form of a late-night talk show host solved - dramatically.
Background
Alex Jameson, a conservative conspiracy theorist personality, has been damaging the reputation and business of a fair number of people. There are strong hints these are targeted efforts backed by rival corporate interests - though digging that up wasn't in the job description.
The Meet
In a middle-class masquerade-themed club, the team met a Mrs. Johnson dressed and themed as one of the fair folk. While she showed distaste for Ashford's lack of effort in blending in, merely wearing a domino mask, Callieach's faux-carved-wood druidic mask and witch outfit helped impress their employer. After a short back-and-forth, the two secured sixty thousand for the assassination, with an extra eight in reimbursements for equipment and bribes.
The Plan
The two mages made calls to assess the situation. Ashford's conspiracy theorist contact, Blaze, doesn't happen to know much. Neither does Brainchild on Calliach's ask, though the note on who he's contracted for various services gets her attention anyway. Food is covered by a catering service - which means there's a security opening to get something inside of the man. With something dramatic necessary, the team witch suggests adding liquid explosives into the food; on asking experts in the syndicate she's linked to, this turns out to *not* just be a vampire being out of touch with how things other than blood actually taste.
The Run
While Calleach gets the tools sorted out, Ashford calls to a chef in a position of notable authority in food supplying to ask for a favor. Careful negotiation, and enough money to let the average worker take a two-and-a-half-month vacation from their job, allows him to get the route ready. The assassination devices arrive soon enough - liquid plastique blended with the kind of artificial flavoring that makes street-level soy food palatable, packed into ground beef, along with a custom detonator made from a miniature RFID chip and a very small battery.
A ticket is acquired for the studio audience, and Ashford is tasked with carrying the shortwave transmitter inside to ensure the detonator can receive its signal to trigger. While sneaking the explosives through is entirely up to luck, Cailleach does her best to weigh the scales by making a nuisance of herself. Playing at being a reporter, openly being a mage, and knowing they have security to identify her as a vampire - three things all equally frightening for their own reasons - she intentionally goads the security into focusing on and trying to drive her off without giving them legal cause to detain her.
This successfully pulls enough attention from the catering staff that their unwitting cargo can get through inspections. While a chemsniffer can be coded to pick up common and consistent toxins, when it comes to food, too many poisons and irritants have legitimate culinary uses for accurate matching on every possibility without careful attention being paid to it.
While Cailleach gets accosted by the police outside after a nonviolent altercation with security, and barely manages to avoid being detained for causing trouble, Ashford does his best to blend in with the crowds and bide his time. After the larger commercial breaks and the host and his staff had eaten, the magus waited for a good, climactic moment in the show's fervor - then sent the signal. Even in small, contaminated amounts, the explosives were enough to deal fatal damage to someone from the inside. The assassin thus fled with the crowds as if he were just another panicked bystander, and they were able to meet up to deliver the news to their employer.
Aftermath
Like real professionals, the pair of mages delivered the report to their employer and received their payment without asking any questions, then left. It's possible there was more involved - but if there was, it's not their business. Thirty thousand to each of them would make sure of that.
Run Rewards for Dear Helena (Deadly, 20 RVP)
- ¥30,000 (15 RVP)
- ¥4,000 to cover gear or favors paid for during the run, losing any unused (negotiation bonus)
- 5 Karma (5 RVP)
- 2 CDP
- Optional for Cailleach Chneasta: Too Pretty to Hit (3 RVP)
- Optional for Ashford: Innocuous (5 RVP)