Episode II: The Gathering Storm IC Thread 3

[RandomLunatic]

"We are kinda blind here. Can ya go get a fix on our target?"

[Hyperbolic sine]

The Kel-dor is silent for a moment, not moving a muscle.
“Are you with the police?” he asked calmly.

"You wish we were. Who sent you?"

Spoiler: OOC

Show

Still ready to shoot.

[Thundercracker]

Coruscant:

“My name is master Py Ken,” the kel-dor said, turning to face you slowly. You can now see the lightsaber swaying slightly from his belt.

“Javi was an acquaintance of mind,” he said carefully, “I was investigating his disappearance. How do you know him?”

He studies you appraisingly, and you feel almost as if you’re being dissected by his eyes, like some kind of test subject in a government lab.

[Hyperbolic sine]

Gial, though without letting it show, eyed the lightsaber with worry: he recalled how the possible involvement of the Sith had come up back when they were discussing the mission, and this Kel-dor could very well be one of Darth Maladi's underlings. The dissecting stare wasn't particularly pleasant, either.

"How curious. I was investigating the same thing." he replied. "See, he stole something from my employer...but I wanted to get his side of the story. Too late for that, it seems. You don't happen to know something about that, do you?"

Spoiler: OOC

Show

Still ready. Also, did the Kel-dor look sincere? There's apparently no opposed roll to sense lies in SWSE, only Will Defence.

[Thundercracker]

Coruscant:

“Perhaps,” he replied, “I had paid for his services to acquire a krayt dragon pearl. They are exceedingly rare and I had hoped to study it on behalf of the Order to determine if it’s properties could be replicated. Alas, it appears all did not go as planned.”

He glanced at the body again momentarily.

“And what is your story?” he asked.

[Hyperbolic sine]

Hmm. So he knew about the pearl.

"I see. Well, my employer was the seller. Unfortunately, your friend decided to double cross us and flee with both the pearl and the payment...or that's how it looked like, anyway. A very stupid move, so I wanted to get his side of the story, check that there wasn't a third party involved...which is why I hope you'll understand my reason in being suspicious." Gial replied, keeping his blaster steady. "But if you are who you claim, then perhaps our interests align."

[Thundercracker]

Coruscant:

“You’re employer was to sell the pearl?” Py Ken asked, “it would seem Javi would act as broker one last time.”

He nodded.

“Perhaps, our interest align,” Py Ken replied, “at first glance it would appear Javi died of blood loss and infection. I had intended on searching the apartment for leads.”

[Hyperbolic sine]

"...Very well." Gial said, finally lowering his blaster. He wasn't trusting this Py Ken yet, but the Kel Dor was still outnumbered. He approached the body to examine it (but without letting the jedi out of his field of view).

"Seem like gunshot wounds to me. Well, he did kill our guy...by the way, how did you track him here?"

Spoiler: OOC

Show

Perception (1d20+15)[17].

[whoiam]

"Invisibility isn't usually as helpful as you'd like when you're indoors... but I'll see how far it can take me."

Zavi would activate cloak again for her reconnaissance mission. Should be good against security cameras at least...

Spoiler

Show

Assuming I've read everything correctly, Zavi can keep Cloak active (using up her standard actions) walk (move action), Sense Surroundings (swift action) and spot people coming into or out of her detection radius (reaction) simultaneously. Should be enough to check ahead, see how far they can go before they hit opposition. Taking 10 on everything, so 16 + total concealment for her Stealth checks and 29 for her perception.

[Thundercracker]

Coruscant:
“He told me he was going to meet the seller, I didn’t hear from him after that,” Ken replied, “after making some inquiries, I found he’d been involved in a shootout and had fled to the undercity. Which led me here.”

The body has not been dead that long. Blood has soaked through bandages and into the bed, and congealed on the floor where it is still drying. A medkit lays open and scattered across a nighttable, and you also spot a comlink among the bacta patches and gauze. The black satchel from the security video lays in the corner of the room.

Zoccom:

The stairway opens into a large room, perhaps 100 or 200 feet across. There are several screens up around the room and a long runway stage snakes around the floor, with poles interspersed throughout at varying intervals. There are a few scantily clad or nude females of the mostly human variety making their way along the runway to the repetitive music you’d heard earlier. A (vacant) performance stage is set up on one side of the room, while a bar is set on the other. There are perhaps 10 or 15 people in the room total, including staff. There are also several other exits (at least 4, perhaps more) from the room, all currently closed.

[RandomLunatic]

Shyar slipped into one of the unoccupied changing rooms to wait, and occupied herself looking for a hat or something to hide her face from cameras.

[whoiam]

Under cover of music, Zavi can go to check through all the exits - that is, getting close enough to peek through them. Admittedly, unless their target is fairly close to one of the doors, she's probably not gonna see him that way. But who knows? She might get lucky.

To keep her cover, Zavi won't approach any door that's guarded - just in case. But she will take note of them for later.

[Thundercracker]

Zoccom:

Zavi spends some time studying the exits. Two of the exits are on either end of the looping runway, and presumably lead to changing rooms. One door marked employees only sits adjacent to the stairs, and one, presumably to the kitchen or storage area, stands next to the bar. Another employees only door is at the far side of the room, and one more is marked exit. There are no windows.

[whoiam]

With that being about as much as she can check without starting any ghost stories, Zavi returns upstairs to confer with Shyar.

"Our target seems to have set up shop in a strip club, " she notes, more amused than anything else. "No wonder twi'lek girl wanted rid of him. Not exactly a choice of headquarters that screams 'I respect my female employees!'. Anyway, bottom of the stairs is where the 'magic' happens. Odd design of room - a bar, three sets of employee doors, no public 'freshers. If I had to guess, I'd say our man's holed up in one of the 'employee only' areas - there's one behind the stage, one behind the bar, one in the middle of nowhere. I doubt he'd be behind the bar, but he could be using either of the other two. Can't see enough through the doors to say which one we should try.

Maybe we should head back to that Bothan you found. 'Convince' her to escort her friend down to the bar, or something? Clearly the swimming facilities aren't *that* high security an area, and if you're travelling with someone who clearly isn't me, you shouldn't draw too much attention. 'cause form what I can see, the only other way to get down without risking suspicion is stripping to your underwear and mingling with the 'performers'."

[Hyperbolic sine]

"Hmm. I see. So, do you think he was trying to double cross us, or that someone else got involved?" Gial asked, leaving the bedside and reaching for the satchel. Of course, he knew it was the latter, but he wanted to gauge Py Ken's answer.

[RandomLunatic]

Shyar growled in irritation as her search of the lost-and-found failed to turn up any headwear.

"Our headquarters is a strip joint," she pointed out, referring to the Lucky 7's.

"Dere's another way. Ask da guy for a job. Again." She passed her carbine to Zavi, and in a bubbly, airy voice associated with women who spell their names with completely unnecessary Ks, said, "Would you be a dear and hold this? Be careful-it's loaded!" Then she quickly folded and stuffed her poncho, and pulled down the hood of her thinsuit so she didn't look like a cat burglar. She collected a towel from the towel rack. "So do your invisibility trick and follow me."

Shyar went back downstairs. Before she stepped into the camera's view she looked down, covered her head with the towel, and started carrying on like she was drying her face and hair. Once she made it into the camera's dead zone, she unceremoniously slung the towel into the corner, its purpose complete.

Then she went through and into the bar area. Just because of proximity, she tried the employee-only door next to the stairs first.

[Thundercracker]

Zoccom:

Nobody really pays you much attention. You make your way to the door next to the stairs and find yourself in a backstage area, reminiscent of theater backstages with dressers and mirrors and lights all over. There are three ladies in the back, two human, one near human with greenish skin and hair. All are scantily clad. You see two exits from this room, heading to the stage out front, and another exit in the back, presumably another entrance.

One of the human girls (the dark haired one) takes one look at Zavi and grimaces in disgust.

“Who are you, what are you doing back here?” she asked.

Coruscant:

“I am not sure,” Py Ken replied, “I don’t think he would double cross anyone, his profession was bringing groups together, and a reputation is important for someone like that. But, in my experience, desperate people can do desperate things, so I could not say for sure.”

Inside the satchel you find bundles of credits and a datapad.

[RandomLunatic]

Shyar blinked and looked around, confused. "This... isn't an office. I think we've been pranked," she said to Zavi, just to confirm the the other woman was not invisible like Shyar expected, then stepped in front of her before the dancers twigged to the fact Zavi was packing heat.

"We were looking for work, and it seems we've been given bad directions. Could you tell us where the manager is?"

((Deception - (1d20+17)[25]
Persuasion - (1d20+9)[22]))

[Hyperbolic sine]

"Hmm."

Here are the credits, but...

"...I see no pearl." Gial said, strapping the satchel accross his shoulder and pulling out the datapad, booting it up. "And I doubt he'd have had time to hide it somewhere else, in this condition. It does indeed look like we had a party crasher."

Spoiler: OOC

Show

If necessary, best of (1d20+22)[36], (1d20+22)[34] to improve access.

[Thundercracker]

Zoccom:

“The other employees only door, the one not next to the bar,” the woman said, pointing in the general direction of the office.

Coruscant:

The datapad’s battery is about to die, so after plugging it in you’re able to slice into it. The encryption is excellent but it’s no match for your skills. You find that it’s actually often connected to Javi’s comlink. There are all kinds of records on the datapad, meetings and potential offers. After writing a search and executing, you’re able to narrow down to a contact called Anfopor. You’re also able to see the notes about Py Ken.

It appears Javi had been soliciting for a buyer of the pearl prior to acquiring it, and had settled on Py Ken, but Anfopor offered as much as 50% what Ken had paid. Javi had to turn him down repeatedly, as he’d already agreed with Py Ken.

[RandomLunatic]

"Thanks. Wish me luck!" Shyar said, waving and then ducking out of the changing room. Once outside, she paused and glowered at Zavi for a moment while waiting for her to decide how to play this, then went to the other employee door she had been directed to.

[whoiam]

The still-invisible Zavi can only look on in incomprehension as Shyar directs her glare to somewhere Zavi isn't.

She decides that with the background 'music' down here, she's probably safe enough chatting with Shyar. Ultimately, she risks a whisper of "Still too likely to go wrong if they see us both together, but don't worry, I'm right behind you. Just don't let the door close too quickly."

[Hyperbolic sine]

Hmm. Interesting...

Now, in theory the mission was complete: Darnon had been dealt with, technically, and the credits had been recovered. Going after the pearl wasn't by any means mandatory. Still, perhaps there was merit in trying to bring the exchange to completion; now that he had become officially part of the Syndicate, building a reputation benefitted him as well, and perhaps he would be able to get an "assisant fee" out of Py Ken.

"Say, does the name Anfopor ring any bell?"

[Thundercracker]

Zoccom:
The two of you make your way across the floor of the strip club, drawing some odd stares along the way. The door is locked.

Coruscant:

A brief expression of distaste crossed Py Ken’s features before returning to impassiveness.

“Anfopor is a Kubaz, known for his connections among the criminal underworld,” he replied, “how is _he_ involved?”

[RandomLunatic]

Standing to one side of the door so that she'd only be visible to somebody in doorway, not the room beyond, Shyar raised her hand and knocked.

[Thundercracker]

Zoccom:

There is no answer at the door for a moment.

Then it opens a crack and a portly human fellow peers out.

[RandomLunatic]

Shyar briefly cast her eyes up and down the length of opening for one of those security chains used to keep doors from opening all the way.

Then she looked back at the guy behind the door. "Hi, are you the manager here? My plant closed down and I'm looking for work," she said, turning side-on to flaunt herself as best she could through through a gap a couple centimeters wide.

((Perception - (1d20+4)[18]
Deception - (1d20+17)[34]
Persuasion - (1d20+9)[22]))

[Thundercracker]

Zoccom:

“No, come back tonight, in about four hours,” he replied.

You catch enough of a glimpse of the room. You manage to see a table, an overhead light, and that he’s not alone in the room. He slams the door in your face.

[RandomLunatic]

Upon hearing the word "no", Shyar shifted her weight and tried to shoulder-check her way into the office.

((STR - (1d20+4)[15]
Init - (1d20+10)[30]))

[Thundercracker]

Zoccom:

The guy behind the door apparently has his foot behind it to stop anyone from simply shoving it open. He recovers quickly and forces you back, slamming it shut in your face with a loud bang and click. You hear some shouting inside the room but aren’t able to make out words over the music.