The Found Arcana - Chapter 9, The last Tarot card Options

[Beta]

Tamarind regretfully leaves her drones in the van. Well, other than Beauty. First she pulls out her tools and removes the bird's taser. At the least it is still a good set of eyes, and she feels better having it with her.

When they get to the room and see the letter she really wish that she'd been able to bring in Stitch, as she'd rather that the drone open the envelope with its arm. But then she thinks a bit more, and concludes that she should manage to open it with Beauty.

"I'm sure I'm being paranoid, but Raven or Bobby can you check for magic on the letter?" Meanwhile she gives it a hard check for matrix presence. Presuming that there is no magic or matrix on it, she will open the envelope, then command Beauty to reach in and pull out the contents of the envelope.

[Thanee]

Rachel breathes a sigh of relief, when they make it back to the casino without any incident. She was a little worried, that something would happen outside, but everything stayed quiet. Probably the quiet before the storm, she wonders. Something is going to happen at some point. Hopefully, it is not going to be too bad.

"Yes, of course," the witch replies to Tamarind's request, and shifts her senses to the astral to check the room, and especially the letter, for any magical shenanigans.

[Jack_Spade]

Bobby answered Lysander:
<<Thanks, I'll get in contact with them. And yes, those offers are well below what we are going to sell for. 50k is currently the highest offer.>>

Leaving Raven to look at the envelope, Bobby gave Frisson and the Collector a quick call: <<The auction for the card currently stands at 50k. Are you interested in matching?>>

[Gilga]

Frisson comments >> I cannot match these only got 15k for this, but I am reliable, and my money is already with your contact. The collector says 55k, but you deliver the card to me.

[Gilga]

As much as a technological and magical examination is concerned, the letter is genuine. It reads, "I wish you a pleasant stay at the Gates, Tammie."

[Jack_Spade]

"Well, we have the first offer above what we would get paid, any suggestions what I should answer?"

Bobby asked the others.

[Tecumseh]

"Leave the cookies," Mato says, scowling. At some core level he realizes that this is a hotel and that the hotel staff have access to the room - how else could they clean it - but right now it seems like an operational security risk.

"Let's decline housekeeping for the time being. Or any sort of hotel service, for that matter," he suggests. "Anything directed toward us or specific to us has the potential to be compromised."

He holds up the digital encryption key. "If we trust the safe deposit box then we're the weakest link at the moment. I'll tuck this away in the smuggling compartment unless someone can suggest somewhere more secure." There's a hidden slit in his pants that gives him easy access to the concealed compartment in his left cyberleg.

He goes over to the cookies and uses his olfactory sensors to detect if there's anything amiss. He also uses his chemsniffer ring that he got for the job at Pike Hall.

As to Bobby's question, Mato asks, "Well how are we handling the auction? Are we doing a first-price sealed-bid auction, where everyone only gets one opportunity to bid? Or a more traditional auction where we're the auctioneers and we're going to constantly update bidders about the current winning price?

"The latter gets us the best price, but the challenge is that we might not select the best price. I think we want the flexibility to steer the card to an intended recipient. If that's not the highest bidder - and if we've effectively informed everyone what the highest bid is - then there could be complications.

"I would say don't respond. Give us the most flexibility to slip the card into the stream when and where we want it. To avoid ruffling any feathers we can always claim that proffered payment was unique, or alternative, or something better suited to our needs than straight nuyen. Might be a lie, but could help the losers save face."

[Beta]

"Agreed, with what we are doing, money becomes a secondary thing to optimize, primary is figuring out how to get the card where we want it to." She was pretty sure that the room was safe, but there was no need to state to say the 'where' out loud.

Tamarind tried not to scowl. It doesn't tend to put people in a good mood. But this had all the hallmarks of having to make a hard decision, the kind where people's basic assumptions came into play.

"We are agreed that the primary goal is getting this to where we want it to go, correct? I mean, I need money, but we took a contract and all."

[Thanee]

Rachel raises an eyebrow at the comment about the cookies.

"Better safe than sorry, I suppose."

She thinks it is being overly paranoid, but the others have been doing this for quite a while longer, so maybe they have had their share of bad experiences.

"As for the housekeeping, we could also ask them to always send the same person. So, if someone else shows up, we know that something is wrong."


"As for the auction, this isn't only about money, but also reputation. We need to tread carefully here."

[Jack_Spade]

Bobby shrugged: "Fine by me, I'd have put a fixed time limit on the auction and said the best offer wins at the end of the day. Which one that is, we don't have to disclose. Personally, I don't want them to have too much time to get their ducks in a row to attack us. We just have to do more, to advertise the time limit. That should light a fire under Nightmare's ass - if he actually wants the card. I'm less and less sure, that Vala has all the facts on that."

[Tecumseh]

Mato nods. "That sounds like a good plan. Fixed time limit. 'Best bid wins' with no definition of what constitutes 'best'."

He drums his cyberfingers about Bobby's last point.

"If Nightmare doesn't want the card then this whole job is shot. If Nightmare isn't going to actively pursue it then... we'd have to trick the Halloweeners into taking it. That's a steeper mountain to climb."

Mato wonders if terrain metaphors mean anything to Bobby, who can just turn into an eagle or a mountain goat or anything else that's oblivious to topography.

"No, let's assume that Nightmare does want it, if only to embarrass us or because it thinks that we don't want the free spirit to have it.

"Who else should we tell? Five Fingers Gau?" This is a local talismonger and jerk. "I wouldn't mind if Nightmare plucked it out of his smoldering fingers."

He looks to Tamarind but then realizes she might not know that many people in Seattle yet.

He then turns to Raven. "Do you know any talismongers? They might know people who would want such a thing."

[Thanee]

"I asked her about those cards before, and her recommendation was to stay away from them," Rachel replies.

"I really doubt she has the kind of clientele for this."

[Tecumseh]

Mato nods at being reminded of that exchange.

"I feel like we know more people that this," he says mostly to himself, although he acknowledges that he's a part of the problem.

If AM were here she could slip something to Janet Dime, he thinks. Jawsey could drop some info to Comcomly, maybe even McElroy from Pike Hall. But he's not going to say this part out loud because it might sound like Tamarind and Raven aren't as useful as the absent members of the agency. Hell, in this instance Mato isn't feeling very useful either.

"To Bobby's earlier point, should we get some surveillance up in Redmond?" he asks. "Tamarind, a pigeon, or Raven, a spirit? It seems like we should be keeping the pulse of the Funhouse, and maybe HQ as well. That will give us some clues about what to expect. Bobby, what about that shoeseller who is paying you back over time?"

[Jack_Spade]

"That guy has as much contacts as a typical mall shoe seller who is married with kids. Forget about it. I'm giving Andrew, our Yakuza contact, a heads-up.
While we are at it: Hey Tamarind, how good are you at spoofing? We should hack one of the low level comms of one of the Halloweeners. With that we can spoof a message to Carn-Evil that tells him about our auction."

Bobby followed through on this announcement:

<<Hey Andrew, as a courtesy to you: We are at the moment conducting an auction for a client. Merchandize is the Fool from a certain deck of cards. The auction will run for the next 16 hours, best bid wins - just in case you have a boss who's interested in that kind of stuff.
Best
Bobby>>

[Tecumseh]

"What?" Mato asks Bobby, utterly confused.

"I'm not saying to get the shoeseller to sell the card. I'm saying let's get him to report on what's happening at SIS. Like, 'are the Halloweeners on a rampage,' that sort of thing."

Mato scowls, wondering how that suggestion could have been misconstrued, especially since he had also suggested one of Tamarind's pigeons and one of Raven's spirits.

[Jack_Spade]

"Oh sorry, my focus was somewhere else. Yeah I can ask him to keep us informed. Though I don't see why - unless he catches the bad guys carrying a barrels of petrol into our flat. And even then there's nothing I would want him to do. Anything less than a full fledged spirit won't be able to protect our home."

Bobby replied, still typing away.

[Gilga]

Andrew responds very quickly >> Thanks, Bobby San but I am not particularly interested in playing cards; is there anyone specific you want me to pass a message to?


@A bit later that night 23:30 Frisson texts shortly after. >> I got a vibe that you are looking into other offers. I wanted to change your mind, so I send you a few <fire emoji> pictures to get you in the right mood for a deal.


As I promised, I am the most exciting to deal with - I am not like these boring collectors that would put your card on display. So what do you say? 15k for a clean sell?

There are no dirty pictures, though; the pictures are of buildings. A closer inspection shows the Five Finger Talismonger shop, Cutty's gym, sys HQ, and the Gates casino.

[ Spoiler ]

PS: Five Fingers Gau may have the contacts to sell a tarot card because he hired you to buy and resell the card in the past.

[Jack_Spade]

Bobby texted back to Andrew: <<Just wanted to include you - no pressure. Maybe someone in the syndicate is interested in the Tarot cards.>>

Bobby texted Frisson back: <<... you are an idiot if you think that would work. We are a cuttout for the seller, exactly to prevent a situation like that. We are a detective agency - with a full mage and a matrix wizard on retainer. Targeting our contacts... You have no idea what a world of trouble you'll be calling down on yourself. Hand in a better offer or lose this number.>>

[Tecumseh]

"I was thinking that the shoeseller could report on neighborhood activity. Wouldn't have them do anything other than be eyes and ears. Certainly don't intervene in any way."

He's actually pleased when the threat comes in from Frisson. If anything it's almost a relief that things are starting to play out as expected.

Bobby replies quickly though.

"Woah, let's string them along a little bit," Mato suggests, perhaps too late. "A threat like that is a way for us to save face if that's the best way to get the card to Nightmare.

"SIS HQ, who cares. Cutty's Gym is mostly concrete and metal so there's little to burn. Besides Cutty, of course. Wouldn't want him to get torched. Five Finger Talismonger shop doesn't mean much to me but it might to you. Gates Casino, I'd like to see them try." He rotates his shoulders and rolls his head around his neck. "We could get some exercise."

Mato taps his chin thoughtfully.

"Really what we should be doing is counteroffering. Break the rule and tell them what the bidding is at. Give credence to the threat but tell them that with the financial resources available to their backer that they should be more competitive. We're willing to discount off the top bid but not that much. They think we're soft humanitarians just because we're not psychopathic pyromaniacs. We can't be wholly callous but nor can we walk from an extra 40K. That's the line we should walk."

He has another thought.

"If we sell it to Gau, the Halloweeners will likely extort it out of him. That might get us a better price, and help the pretense that we don't want the Halloweeners to have it." He holds his hands open to leave the idea hanging in the air. This would be putting Gau's hoop on the fishing hook, but it's known that Mato doesn't have a high opinion of the man so he's willing to suggest it.

[Gilga]

Frisson responds with a selfie and texts >> Oh, I like you already! You are invited to drink with me at the bar on the first floor.

She is caucasian, perhaps French, a slim blonde elf in a black biker jacket, and is holding a bottle of an imported beer, and her smile seems inviting.

[Jack_Spade]

"Does anyone else want to meet Frisson? I'm not much on bartering, but I'm great at not getting intimidated."

Bobby asked the others while he got ready to go down to the bar.

[Tecumseh]

Mato spends a moment thinking about the best way to handle this.

"I'll go too," he says, reasonably confident in his ability to resist her feminine wiles because apparently his "type" is a dark-haired Latina elf in business clothes rather than this blonde biker chick.

He debates the best approach for Raven and Tamarind.

"Raven, do you want to work the rest of the bar to look for the blonde's backup? Anyone paying attention to me and Bobby instead of you is suspicious.

"Tamarind, on overwatch?"

His tone indicates that these are suggestions rather than instructions. He looks to see if anyone has better ideas.

[Thanee]

Rachel nods to Mato.

"I guess, I could do that... but I need a moment to change. Judging by the pictures she sent, she might have seen all of us before."

She then looks into a fitting dress and appearance for the casino bar.

[Jack_Spade]

"Alright, I'll go ahead once you have disguised yourself. Let's see if this strongarming firebrand isn't actually working for Nightmare - that would make this whole thing pretty easy. But I don't think we have so much luck."

Once everyone was ready, Bobby went down to the bar with Mato in tow.

[Gilga]

The bar is busy, and the gambling floor is packed mostly with low-level suits looking for some thrill after work. Frisson stands out as neither rich nor trying to look that way. She would have been more in place in Redmond than in the Gates, but you have never seen her in Redmond. She does not seem particularly alert, and as far as you can tell nobody is watching over her.