Ash Replevin
| Ash Replevin | |||||||||
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| Part of La Famille Du Peintre | |||||||||
 Lucian Freud, Woman with Eyes Closed (2002) | |||||||||
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| Factions Involved | |||||||||
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ShadowHaven The Green-Eyed Witch | The Von Blainsteed Household | ||||||||
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Knack Gremlin Oberon Fidem Docteur Vega | Ludwig Von Blainsteed and Guests | ||||||||
Summary
A goofy little art heist!
Background
In 2012, a number of paintings were stolen from the Musée d’Art Moderne in Paris. The paintings were part of the collection of a deceased Dutch Investor named Willem Cordia. They are as follows:
Meyer de Haan ‘Self-portrait’ 1890
Gauguin ‘Girl in Front of Open Window’ 1888
Monet ‘Waterloo Bridge, London’ ‘Charing Cross Bridge, London’ 1901
Matisse ‘Reading Girl in White and Yellow’ 1919
Picasso ‘Harlequin Head’ 1971
Lucian Freud ‘Woman with Eyes Closed’ 2002
Supposedly, they were burned or otherwise destroyed but this year, these works allegedly resurfaced in the hands of a private collector, one Ludvig Von Blainsteed, a wealthy venture capitalist with a notable number of shares in Wuxing. Especially notable for a foreigner. He plans to unveil the works as part of a small, christening party for his new mansion in Snohomish.
The Meet
The team was gathered by their various fixers to a restaurant in Tacoma called, 'The Water-Lily'. A run down old place, barely held aloft through a series of criminal dealings (uncovered by Vega and Oberon's searches). They found the place empty but arrayed deliberately in the illusion of busyness, silverware scattered, chairs pushed out. The one occupied was populated by Vega (she entered through a back entrance and an alluring green-eyed person. Oberon was able to piece their 'mundane but dual-natured' mask and detect her weird elvar nonsense.
Once the gang was gathered, they were informed as to their target. The J wanted two things, the first was to uncover where Ludvig Von Blainsteed had got the paintings from. The second was to return one of the paintings to them, so she could determine its validity. They were also given background information of the Von Blainsteed mansion in Snohomish and his upcoming party in two days where he plans on unveiling the paintings to some close friends and family.
The team negotiated for 20,000 nuyen with 6k up front, as well as a drip feed of karma from the green-eyed witch themself. With everything in order, the team departed for Fidem's ('cramped') apartment to probably do some legwork.
The Legwork
Oberon, Knack and Fidem kick back while Vega runs matrix searches. The good doctor calls Isadora Windthrope to secure party access for the gang and Fidem uses her clout to get an invite as well. Oberon does basic background searches on each of the paintings, in order to secure material dating and compositions for the purpose of creating fakes. Vega calls Dominus Faust to help out with matrix searches. The two of them find out about Von Blainsteed's family (Venture Capitalists) and his Wuxing connections, as well the fact he is dating a UW Professor named Casey Sidewell. His brother, too, Alexander Von Blainsteed, is an angsty 20 year old who posts on the matrix about how hard life is for people with so much money. Ludvig is apparently a control freak and has somewhat tumultuous relationship with his SO, Casey.
With their basic legwork done, Gremlin takes 'the 'prax' and begins madly forging a copy of the Freud, while Knack and Vega move in to bother Casey at one of the bars they frequent. Extracting information from the woman, they learn several valuable pieces of information. First, the man is an asshole with a stupid name (according to them). There's a perimeter fence and least on rigger (probably an asshole), a security mage (asshole), a Wuxing connection showing up to the party and a family lawyer named Anderson Silvers. The following morning, Vega convinces Casey to break up with their boyfriend very publically at the party tomorrow.
The team gets all fancy curtesy of Fidem's fashion knowledge and call up Angi Harris for a getaway ride. With the slickest suits, the team slow-walks their way to the rented limo and rolls on out.
The Plan
1. Get painting access by convincing of him fakery and expertise
2. Create distractions with Casey and Fidem
3. Knack and Oberon swaps false painting with fresh painting after checking for security measures.
4. Provided the forgery holds, walk out!