Session 05 - Insider Information and a Date With Bachelor #1

Fritz: I haven't been on a date since my college days!

Stan: Neither have I.

*Stan is clearly in his 40s*

Plot points/Scenes

Planning the Heist - Stage 2

• It’s now Saturday, we go to see the builder guy (Timothy Ryder)
  • [Varis was on a short adventure trying to take down a small cult trying to make sentient robots, wasn’t a big deal, gets advantage on his next “cult check”, but he’s back now]
  • Plan is to go to the builder, drop some hints that we got from the Janitor that suggest we know more about the building than we actually do, and hopefully get the Builder to spill some beans on more sensitive information
  • Plan is to tell the Builder he’s in the running to win an award (print off an award form) and that we’re on the committee that awards this award (trifocal committee hats)
    • Added to the party inventory, huzzah
• Knock, knock, knock
  • Satan himself answers (first trial of the voice changer)
    • “Enter, I’m busy”
  • Kind of a workshop, suits of armor/clockwork things, drawings up in the corner, Timothy’s hands are greasy and he appears to be in the middle of a project
    • J: “We’re judging nominees for an award. You get a plaque and 10,000 gold coins if you win.”
    • T: “1,000 gold? That’s a lot of-”
    • J: “10,000 GOLD!”
    • D: “but I offered a guy 100 gold and you said that was a lot”
  • “Tell us about yourself”
    • Talks about fixing up the other buildings in the neighborhood (the additions/modifications we saw yesterday)
    • Talks about working on the library, kind of a prized project
    • Talks about working on the capitol building, but that was a long time ago…
      • J: “Ooh! Actually, the committee is very interested in that, something about sponsorship through the Capitol Building or whatnot. Tell us about that.”
      • He catches on. “So….who do you guys work for?”
      • Jalan has to admit this isn’t an official Empire project, Timothy lightens up when he mentions this
  • “Tell us about your work on the Capitol Building”
    • Came up with the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd drafts of the building, attended to the most worrisome design flaws
    • Jalan comes right out and asks for schematics
      • Timothy says versions 1 and 2 are technically public record and he’d be glad to discuss some of the flaws in the original designs but wouldn’t be at liberty to discuss solutions to those flaws or the final design of the building
      • Original design built over the top of a sewer (recommended to seal the sewer original design not structurally sound, especially place designated for sensitive information, especially coming from below (recommended structural support directly beneath sensitive area suggested long sight-lines throughout the building, long hallways, etc…, building (against his recommendation) added lots of plants and doors (for cover implemented security systems, especially in safety deposit systems; didn’t oversee those additions but they were quite pricey and he’s confident they were well implemented
    • Timothy: “You know, if that place gets successfully broken into, I’ll give you 100 gold on the spot.”
    • Fritz *coughs*: “I’ll raise you 100 on that.”
  • “You guys wanted to talk about the library?”
    • Fritz eagerly says yes
    • “Easter egg” rooms in the library, secret rooms opened from within the library itself, find the right books in the library and bring them back to him, he’ll tell us more about it
    • Says it’s the crown jewel of his achievements
    • Fritz votes to abandon Operation Save Jalan’s Ass in favor of exploring the library, Jalan is not amused
  • Mentions Kirby Venteicher as “the only other person in town” that could possibly win this award if it’s based on architecture, we mention that it’s technically a community service award (hopefully gets him off our asses if neither him nor Kirby ‘wins’ the award)
• Fritz has the feeling that Timothy was a pompous asshole and he was definitely hiding something (crit failed insight check), Varis’ crit success reminds him that Timothy mentioned though he recommended certain revisions, he didn’t oversee them and they were expensive so there’s a good chance they weren’t implemented

The Heist - Outlining the Plan

• Jalan will climb along the outside the building, get onto the correct floor, and throw a rope down to the rest of us
• This week on “Jalan Wants to Beat Up Drant”:
  • D: “I’m not a good enough actor to pretend to have you beat me up.”
  • J: “I mean...it doesn’t have to be pretend.”
• *CUE DRESS MONTAGE*
  • We’ll go out on a lunch date with the Janitor, then go clubbing with the Mage
  • But Fritz doesn’t own a dress
    • Party half-heartedly skims their inventories for things to make into a dress, after the best thing offered is 50 feet of hempen rope Fritz suggests that we rich assholes just go buy one
      • DM: “So, is it skanky, flirty, or classy?”
      • F: “Is there an in between?”
      • J *points at the sexiest dress there*: “What about this one?”
      • DM: “It’s literally a two-piece swimsuit, with a thin strip of cloth connecting the two halves.”
      • F: “uuuuuUUUMMMMm no”
      • J: “why not??”
      • V: “i’m just going to back away from this sexual tension”
    • Decide on a combination of casual and flirty, not skanky/classy
• Stick around the dress shop while the dress is altered to fit Fritz, Varis rolls a Nat 1 on luck, overhears some gossip that the God Emperor is having a National Audit Day tomorrow (Sunday) and that everyone will be in the building working
  • Well, shit…..PLAN INITIATE

  Lunch Date With Stan the Janitor

• Choose a diner (local livestock/farms) - “Patzeria”
• Introductions
  • DM: “What did I name this guy? Steven?”
  • Anna: “Stan.”
  • *5 minutes later*
  • DM (as Stan): “H-hello! I’m Steven.”
  • Anna: “[Stan.]”
  • DM: “Dammit.”
• Milking him for information
  • Skipping the awkward as fuck RP, Fritz with a CHA bonus of 0 gets a Nat 2o, but some excerpts:
    • F: “I haven’t been on a date since my college days.”
    • S: “Neither have I.”
    • *Stan is clearly in his 40s*
    • ________
    • S: “I’m always down for trying unique alcohol. This place has...something with lobster juice? And a beer with a chocolatey aftertaste?”
    • F: “I’m feeling adventurous. Let’s go with the lobster juice.”
    • DM: “It tastes like a combination of lobster juice and ethanol.”
    • *collective gagging*
    • ________
    • S: “Alright, you’re clearly nervous. What is it?”
    • F: “Well, I know my friend told you I wanted a favor, and I don’t want to seem like that’s the only reason I came today-”
    • *Drant giggles, DM, drunk on the power of his new soundboard, plays “BECKY, LEMME SMASH”* - (DM: "but it was fitting!" F: "i will not deny you that")
    • F *to offscreen* “You guys come out here then!! you owe me so bad for this...”
  • BUT with that Nat 20 she’s able to sweet talk him into giving up all the juicy details
    • At the beginning of each week, he’s given a key which he’s only supposed to use 1/day, there aren’t limited uses but it’s logical to guess it tracks his uses
    • Has to use his voice to get in and there’s a retinal scan
    • Just so happens to be an extra set of keys in the secretary’s desk (b/c a lot of guards lock themselves out of places a lot)
    • Reminds us of the time lock (4 minutes long)
    • Main issue is getting the key that lets us into the super secret area, and the voice/retinal scan
• Offers to show Fritz around the building, she says “how about right now”
  • Leaves an actually decent tip when he pays the check
  • On a keychain of 25 keys, the 20th one lets him in. He’s sheepish. “After you.”
    • F *wary*: “I guess….I guess I go in first. BUT I -...no, I just go in.”
    • DM: “MAKE A DEXTERITY SAV- I’m just kidding”
    • F: “I’m beginning to think this guy is taking me to his secret murder dungeon”
  • Walking in, the receptionist, slumped over, maybe be asleep, pen in hand
    • F: “Or DEAD! …….is she dead?”
    • On an insight check of 6, she’s pretty sure the receptionist is dead and Stan is Freddy Krueger
• Getting into the more secure areas
  • S: “It’s just protocol, but you’ll have to wear a janitor’s uniform”
  • *5 minutes later*
  • S: “They don’t have one in your size...wanna hop in the trash can”
  • Talks to a person (or people) casually, then says a phrase
    • “Monkey Mountain”
  • This secret room has SNACKS
  • He says that the good stuff is in there (points to super secret room opened by the magic rock and 4 minute timer)
    • Fritz convinces him to open the super secret room by begging him, saying there might be a mini-bar in there, he says there’s a 50% chance trying to open the door will alert the front desk, she says “just tell them you’re trying to keep the place spic and span for the audit”, someone does come investigate (takes them 2 minutes to come from the front desk but it was the receptionist who was asleep so don’t count on so large a window) but he convinces them it’s fine
• In the secret room
  • Rows and rows of filing cabinets
  • A giant 60-foot safe
  • Stan mentions he doesn’t see a mini-bar, but that he’s never checked this mysterious looking cabinet in the corner
  • While he goes over to said cabinet, Fritz looks around - filing cabinets are labelled alphabetically, she goes to K for Kendith (Jalan’s last name)
    • Finds his file right away but doesn’t have time to pick through it, rather than grab the whole thing she opts to put it back and just remember where it was
    • Takes the remaining time she could’ve used to look through the file to stealthily shut the filing cabinet drawer
  • In the nick of time, Janitor comes around the corner with Pseudodragon Vodka (HELL YA), comment that that shit is super expensive and comes from overseas (HELL YA IT IS), since the cabinet is stocked with bottles, they take a bottle and skip town, room locks behind them
• On the way out: Fritz rolls Nat 20 on Luck….receptionist says “wait wait, I need these to be shredded” and dumps a whole bunch of papers with government secrets into the trash on top of Fritz
  F: “I begin stuffing papers into my bra.”
  • V: “....you’re a gnome. Exactly how many papers can you fit in there?”
  • F: “Shut up, maybe two sheets, I’m trying”
• When the Janitor starts unloading the cart, Fritz takes a moment to hide the government papers under something to retrieve when we re-enter the building tonight, ixnay on the apers-in-the-bra-pay
• Stan hands the bottle of Pseudodragon Vodka to Fritz as a parting gift and they part ways
• SO DM DOESN’T FORGET [although we left the papers in the building and haven’t investigated them yet]
  • Contain information on Carissa’s schedule and personal dealings
  • “millennium Artifacts” and their Locations [shiiiiit, fam]
  • Some of the items that are contained within the vault that are said to be destroyed, along with the disposal method of each of them (where/when/how)

Plot type

Session

Parent Plot

Act 1: Just Your Normal, Everday, Morally Ambiguous Power Company