Holtzmann, week 9 of year SA 929
At this week's session we had three Travellers: Graham Clark, Dietrich Smith and a fellow known only as C-418 or C4.
Clark and C4 are senior staff in the motor pool in the household of Count Murietta, one of the Contenders. They are usually serving the Count's son, Lord Francisco, a Naval officer.
Some while back, Carter and C4 made an impression on Lord Francisco when they were instrumental in recovering a data device which someone had stolen from Murietta's estate.
When Lady Elise Kindrick, a friend of Lord Francisco (not his fiancee) came to him with a problem, he knew just the guys to help resolve it. Lady Elise had accepted a marriage proposal from the son of Marquis Tellez, a prominent nobleman. Her fiancee gave her a piece of heirloom jewelry which she would wear publicly at the party when they announced the engagement. The party was a week away.
I bet you can guess where this is going.
Sure enough, somebody had pinched the heirloom. Lady Elise hadn't told her fiancee, as the news would certainly end the engagement and cause a big scandal. She went to Francisco, instead, who promised to help.
Clark, C4 and newcomer Dietrich began their search on three lines. Clark interviewed Elise to identify suspects, while C4 probed Holtzmann's underworld. He contacted a local fence to see it the heirloom was 'on the market'. It wasn't but the fence agreed to keep an ear out and share info. For a price, of course. Dietrich canvassed the starport, to see it it was being moved off world.
Elise explained that the heirloom was stolen during a party at her house, when there were dozens of guest and servants swirling about.
Clark narrowed the list to three likely suspects, all of them friends of Elise, to whom she had shown the heirloom.
Dietrich whipped up some surveillance bugs, which Clark secreted in three flower vases. He impersonated a delivery service and got the flowers into the homes of the three suspects.
Lat that night the bugs sent out a burst transmission of audio recordings. Reviewing the tapes, one conversation stood out. Isabel Castro and her father, Baronet Castro argued about “why did you make me do that. She's my friend” and “I can use it to get us out of our financial troubles” and “they'll get it back in the end”.
Figuring this was their best lead, the gang set up a stakeout of Castro's residence to gather intel for a bit of burglary. Clark followed Bt. Castro to his work, and learned he held an unimportant post in the General Administration division of the Imperial government. Everyone with a title on Holtzmann works for the government.
C4 spent the day watching the house and taking notes. That evening before packing it in, he noted that someone was watching him. Clark, C4 and Dietrich attempted to surround the two snoopers, and confronted them on the street some blocks away from the Castro residence.
One of the pair gave them the slip, but they collared the other. It turned out that they were sent by the fence, who must have been thinking of going after the heirloom himself.
Clark reported to Francisco and suggested that he get his dad to take the fence out of play. Murietta is highly placed in the Ministry of Justice.
They hurriedly made a plan to break into Castro's place and recover the heirloom. The party was just a few days away. Francisco offered some help – he would invite the Castro family to a social function the next night, to get them out of the house for a few hours.
The following night, the trio rolled up to Castro's residence. Clad in dark clothes and face masks, and carrying gear and a map of the residence. Public records can be very helpful – and are often only an Admin skill throw away.
Clark kept the rented getaway vehicle ready down the street as C4 and Dietrich probed the house. Some light was showing inside, meaning the staff was still there. The guys had acquired stun sticks in case they had to subdue the staff. They're the good guys here!
Oddly for a cold climate like Holtzmann, the upstairs office window was open. They scaled the wall and slipped in. A quick look around the office told them that someone else had been looking for something recently. Out and down they went. C4 aimed his shotgun microphone at the first floor study window. He heard two voices threatening a third voice, demanding to know “where is it”. They further threatened 'the two ladies in the other room'. Dietrich retrieved their shotguns from the car. He and C4 smashed the window and dove through.
We rolled for surprise, and they got it on two fellows also dressed in dark clothes and wearing face masks. One was 'a big guy' and the other 'a little weaselly guy'.
It was about at this point that Clark got an urgent comms call:
“Clark, it's Lord Francisco. Baronet Casto is here, but his daughter's not with him. He says she forgot something and ran home to get it! She'll be there any second! Get out of the house!”
The surprised hoods failed a morale check (surprise, guns trained on them) and tried to flee the room.
Dietrich dropped the big guy with a blast of shot, and C4 threw his stun stick at the weaselly guy. Now, as an aside, I love the thrown weapons mechanic in CT. It is always a hoot when someone tries it. It worked.
And then a car drew up in front of the house, and deposited Isabel outside the front door.
Clark didn't lose a beat. His player said “we're going from house breaking to house defending,” and rushed forward to intercept Isabel before she got inside.
Now, if a man in dark clothing rushing up out of the dark and grabbing at a young lady by herself isn't a “throw for reaction” moment, I don't know what is. I assigned a -4DM to the throw based on the circumstances.
The result was 5, may attack.
She did.
Clark stoically endured two rounds of Isabel beating him with a purse, scratching his face and pulling at his hair (two successful melee attacks, for 5 and 6 damage respectively!) before he got across to her “we work for Lord Francisco – asked us to watch your house knowing you'd be out – likes to take care of his friends – we saw burglars breaking in - my guys are inside taking care of it.” Another reaction throw, unmodified resulted in a 7 – she was willing to listen to him and stopped hitting him.
Inside, another thug down the hall in the living room hear the shot and commotion and called out "what was that?" C4 responded "that depends. Are you with the burglars?" The answer came in that the thug began firing blindly towards the study. C4 leaned out and snapped a shot at him. No target armor, no target cover, short range, attacking with a shotgun with skill – I told C4's player “just roll the damage dice”.
The cook and housekeeper were not in the line of fire, so they were terrified but unharmed. Dietrich and C4 trussed up the thugs as Isabel and Clark came in the front door.
Feigning ignorance, Clark asked Isabel what the thugs could have been looking for. She broke down and told the whole story. Her father induced her to steal the heirloom to use as leverage with the Marquis. Either he would have ransomed it back to the family, or pretended to have recovered it for a reward, or ask Tellez for a promotion to a better position in the government (which would pay better). Isabel asked them to please return it to Francisco so he could give it to Elise. She begged that her father and she would be left out of the story. Clark agreed. Lord Francisco wanted the whole thing handled as quietly as possible, to avoid scandal and preserve Elise's engagement.
The trio took the heirloom and the now damaged thugs and made off. The thugs were left in a public park where the cops could find them. Good guys, remember?
The heirloom was back in Elise's care by the time of the engagement party and only Francisco and the Travellers knew the whole story.
The next week Lord Francisco was ordered to return to space, so the trio will have some time off to pursue other ventures. Before leaving, Francisco mentioned that he has friends in Navy Intelligence, so they should be on the lookout for a call from them. But that's another job.
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