The Agency (Closed, Started)

[Quintley]

Purnima squinted at the screen, looking at the map that Jones had scribbled on the back of a folder. It was better than nothing. Marginally. She was still baffled by the fact that there were apparently no maps or directions in the hotel at all. Hidden rooms were understandable, particularly if the management were involved with smuggling, but this level of secrecy seemed like an inconvenience more than anything.

"Do you honestly think smoke-bombs is going to scare anyone?!"

She was starting to wonder if the younger agent was being deliberately obtuse. "We don't want to scare anyone! Surely you know that it's easier to get information from your targets if they are not panicking?" In most cases, that is, she thought, glancing at Lars.

Purnima sighed, and made an effort to keep the patronising note out of her voice. "Mr Jo- Simon. This distraction should be enough to occupy the security team, but not enough to warrant the attention of the police. Or the fire department, preferably. What if you planted these, er, small bombs in the kitchens? Or started some small fires there? I imagine that would keep the staff busy without upsetting the conference guests." After a pause, she added "Assuming you can find the kitchens, that is."

"I'm sure you won't mind playing the part of my wife or lover Ms. Zolnerowich."

From the way that the blonde woman had been speaking to Benjamin earlier, Purnima rather doubted that the Russian would enjoy playing his consort. She interjected. "You speak about every language in the book, correct, Varvara? Perhaps you could be Mr Crown's secretary and translator. Then you both are free to...ah...mingle, without needing to keep up the pretense of a relationship."

 

[DarkRawen]

"Shame. I thought a bright mind like yours would have come up with something rather interesting to play as. However, that is but a small disappointment. I guess I'll have to play the 'escort' again."

Simon grinned.

"Hey, give me a moment, and I'll come up with something much greater than that!"

He looked over at the ones that would be going, Ben, Varvara, and possibly someone else, possibly Richard. His eyes turned more serious, as he kept thinking, removing any kind of suspicious identities and so on. Politician was way too risky, someone there might be expected to know who they were, after all, especially if they made enough money to stay at the hotel. Unless they kidnapped someone, that wasn't a viable option, and even then it was risky at best. It was an expensive hotel, but they couldn't bring too much attention to themselves, so not celebrities...

Hm, it'd be best to think of someone who has a lot of money, but not that much of a presence.

His attention got snapped away by Ben and Purnima.

"You'd be amazed at how people react to fire alarms going off. Make do with what you have I suppose, but I'd prefer the fire department be called in to handle it rather than the police or a bomb squad."

"We don't want to scare anyone! Surely you know that it's easier to get information from your targets if they are not panicking? Mr Jo- Simon. This distraction should be enough to occupy the security team, but not enough to warrant the attention of the police. Or the fire department, preferably. What if you planted these, er, small bombs in the kitchens? Or started some small fires there? I imagine that would keep the staff busy without upsetting the conference guests. Assuming you can find the kitchens, that is."

Now, this was just getting plainly insulting, though he kept smiling, surely they didn't mean anything by it.

"I told you, I'm a professional, I wasn't intending for this to look like some sort of terrorist attack! I said scare because... well, because scare is a stronger word."

He tilted his head, examining the people who probably never had even touched a bomb before. Was he going to keep excusing that fact, and explain it to them, or was he going to make it clear that he knew what he was doing.

I don't want to make anyone angry. I'd rather be on good terms with everyone.

While that was what he thought, in reality, he ended up settling somewhere in between.

"I was thinking of putting a couple of bombs close to, or in the kitchen, and some in the areas where the central heating, as well as the--- well, of course I'd make it make sense!"

Simon huffed at the last part, letting his annoyance show, slightly, but making sure to smile again.

"But fine, if it makes you more comfortable, I'll keep it to the kitchen. I'm sure you can plan enough to compensate, after all, you're both really good at this kind of thing."

Praise, almost as if it were some kind of apology for letting himself get annoyed. Such an odd habit of his.

"I've got a few covers in store that should work just fine," he said "I think the best one for this would be my old corporate executive identity, I'm sure you won't mind playing the part of my wife or lover Ms. Zolnerowich."

"You speak about every language in the book, correct, Varvara? Perhaps you could be Mr Crown's secretary and translator. Then you both are free to...ah...mingle, without needing to keep up the pretense of a relationship."

That reminded Simon of his initial task.

"Oh, right, I had a cover! How about,"

he started, gesturing eagerly, this was part of his interest, after all.

"Varvara is a rich, American business woman, whom has taken Ben as a trophy husband? She can be.... Felicia Owens, and he can be Dimitri... lemme see, something Polish... well you'll have to choose that yourself! However, Varvara is the slightly older, more experienced and clever of the two, while Ben is just sort of stupid, a bit young, very into the luxury life-style, and if you bring some more people, they'll be renting another room, being his friends that Varvara--- well, Felicia is paying for because Dimitri insisted that his sort of parasitic friends come along! Like this, you'd not need to make an effort to make people underestimate and trust you! They already would do that to Felicia because, let's face it, most men in power seem to be looking down at women, and Dimitri is just some jerk of an air-head, only meant to be eye-candy!"

He seemed really fond of his new creation, a cover that would both be interesting to step into, and something to make them, if not invisible, easily underestimated and thus less likely to be suspected of anything.

"And, it makes use of the fact that Varvara is clever and independent, which I don't think is a negative thing at all!"

A bit too much, was it? Nah, he meant well when he said it, all he was guilty off was showing his approval for her, which shouldn't be an issue at all.

"That's more interesting than being a secretary or a someone's lover, isn't it, Varvara?!"

 

[Tortilla the Hun]

Renart continued taking mental notes on the group's cohesiveness. It appeared that gears were likely to grind, but not to the point where the machine would be left inoperable. He felt like he was watching a blacksmith at work. The process was rough, took quite a bit of hammering, but with fortune the end result would get the job done. "Out of curiosity, exactly how much have you said about this 'friend' of yours, Simon? Are they expecting anything in particular?"

 

[The Harkinator]

"Simon, you're overcomplicating things with the cover identities. Let Ben and Varvara work out the details between themselves." Said Richard, aware that detailed and personality rich cover stories were important for espionage but making them too specific could lead to problems. By trying to heap too many aspects onto the relationship there was the danger of creating a caricature that could be spotted a mile away. The 'High Flying Wife and Trophy Husband' (trademark pending) was an increasingly stereotypical couple seen in popular culture and celebrity life. People can be good at spotting lies and performances and each new aspect to the performance increased the risk. Richard always liked to keep things as simple as possible.

"I think the idea if some of us checking in before time is a good one too. I volunteer for that since I'd prefer to be familiar with my surroundings when I'm in there. Blueprints are good and all but actually knowing the place will help." Richard declined to mention he had heard the hotel had a nice restaurant and wanted to try their salmon tagliatelle. Some jobs have perks and he could always charge it to one of the dummy companies the agency had. He could pose as a businessman in town for a week or two.

 

[Terratina.]

"My, my, someone is letting fantasy interfere with reality." Was the the retort to Ben's lewd remark. Varvara also gave a slight chuckle at the suggestions, "Life isn't pulp fiction, Simon. And Ms Sarin -- no -- all of you, why do you insist on putting us together?"

Varvara leaned in as she continued, "It's much simpler if we weren't joined to at the hip."

She then began to fiddle with a nearby pen as she took in various aspects of the numerous suggestions and made them her own. Aftewards, there was a smirk on her face as she shifted her accent to that of a New Yorker.

She then threw her idea into the ring, "Felicia Owens here, from Ignite Solutions. Whaddya think?"

Of course she would seem a bit obnoxious, that was the point. As for that phoney company, well, she had plans for that. Something which could excuse the presence of a stupid blonde American.

Slipping back into her natural accent, she went on, "Ben can take to the political stage, people like him were born for that sort of thing. Also... Sorry to be a bit of a pochemuchka, but do we think we can set up a sponsorship deal with this British politician?"

"Naturally, I'm sure setting up the dummy company will be easy." Varvara added.

 

[IFS]

"My, my, someone is letting fantasy interfere with reality."

"Not at all Ms. Zolnerowich, I simply thought the position of a mysterious lover would help accentuate the allure you wield so well," he said with a shrug, "It also lets us both hassle the clerk about a shared room, and there is nothing preventing a couple from splitting up to look around or some such, and attaching it to my existing cover makes it more protected from scrutiny, though of course the choice of cover is in your hands."

The only suggestion of the others he had an issue with was Purnima's, having to keep up the pretense that he didn't speak english could be useful of course but it also meant that he couldn't apply his skills directly as easily. He wasn't certain that Varvara spoke Arabic either, which would be the best if the languages he knew to use for such a cover. Simon's suggestion put him a bit too much out of the spotlight, but all the same he could manage with the suggested position.

"Felicia Owens here, from Ignite Solutions. Whaddya think? Ben can take to the political stage, people like him were born for that sort of thing. Also... Sorry to be a bit of a pochemuchka, but do we think we can set up a sponsorship deal with this British politician? Naturally, I'm sure setting up the dummy company will be easy."

"Hmm, that could certainly work," he said "Provided we can set up the dummy corp in time that cover should work just fine, forming one on such short notice might leave it a bit vulnerable to scrutiny, but that cover should work well enough, welcome aboard Ms. Owens."

 

[Lotus_Gait]

The conversation and subtle snipings between the other agents washed over Lars with little effect. He knew that anywhere a group of skilled individuals gathered, a proverbial "my-dick's-bigger-than-your-dick" contest inevitably surfaced. It was even worse with the mercenary types. Sighing loudly, Lars stalked impatiently towards the door.

"You guys iron out the par-tic-you-lars," he growled around the still unlit roll-up, "and fill me on the details later. I'm going for a smoke." He put his hand on the door and turned his face to the group. "Be seeing ya..." He chuckled, pointing a finger to his fake eye, before exiting the room.

 

[The Harkinator]

Be seeing ya... Said Lars, leaving for a cigarette break. At least he smoked outside, unlike Y.T. who seemed intent on giving everyone in the room a cough.

"How long is he going to make jokes about the eye? I swear those are the only jokes he makes, you'd think he'd mix it up but no it's all about his name and the eye." Said Richard, once Lars had left, "If we ever do a secret Santa, whoever gets Lars has to buy him a joke book." Richard smiled, sometimes he said stupid things to alleviate tension.

 

[DarkRawen]

"Out of curiosity, exactly how much have you said about this 'friend' of yours, Simon? Are they expecting anything in particular?"

He smiled, but shook his head.

"Hm, no, I just mentioned a friend of mine. I'm using the cover name of Damien Collins, though, so keep that in mind. I'll also be wearing a black wig and kind of green contacts, though I'll meet you later to prep you further."

The others seemed a bit opposed to his suggestion of a cover, especially Richard seemed to think that he was adding too much details. As much as Simon respected the other as a fellow undercover spy, he felt that his method was his own. While he rarely took the identity of a real person, he spent a lot of time building up his fake ones, spending more than a week required you to have an answer ready for anything from personal belief to favourite colour and what they thought of the current economic situation. Especially habits were something he enjoyed mimicking and making, to the point of no longer knowing which habits were his own, and which he had just kept from an undercover mission.

However, that said, he also knew the importance of letting someone decide for themselves. He'd mostly made up a cover as a challenge, making something at least remotely different from what the people before had suggested, and, while he didn't like the idea of setting up a dummy company this late during preparation, he knew the agency was good at making a paper trail where there was none.

Tired of the discussion, Lars left the room, but not before making a cheesy joke involving his name, and then one about his fake eye. Simon almost felt like adding one on his own, though he preferred to keep quiet about that particular thing. Instead, he noted what Richard said.

"If we ever do a secret Santa, whoever gets Lars has to buy him a joke book."

He wasn't sure what he'd need it for, or if it was even useful to note something like a joke, but he did, if nothing else he might use it for his next identity. Checking his clock, he realized that they'd been talking for quite a while.

"Wow!"

he exclaimed.

"I've been talking way too long, I was supposed to get something to eat almost an hour ago! It sounds like you guys have a plan, though, so I say go with it! I'll see you later!"

With that, he turned off the camera, and laid back in his bed, closing his eyes as he went through the other people's habits and movement, tone of voice and personal traits, merely because he could. They'd be fine, he was sure of it. This mission was going to be fun!

Spoiler: Current plan

Unless someone objects in the chat, this is the current roles of everyone:

Y.T. (Whom I'll have to remove from this RP unless Mest gives me a really good reason not to) will have obtained the blueprints and provided the others with it. She then leaves. (Because Mest hasn't posted, nor replied to my PM :/ )

Simon will use his bombs in the kitchen, then interact with Lars' distraction in order to divide the attention of the guards and police.

Lars' will enter during the early parts of the mission and create chaos/do his part.

Renart will have gone undercover as a new worker, and will explore and obtain parts of their objection through that role.

Richard will rent a room a bit earlier than the rest, and use the time to eat get used to the layout of the hotel, then sneak around during the mission.

Varvara and Ben will rent later, though individually, and use their charm/whatever they can to obtain stuff, gain trust, and so on.

Purnima will have the blueprints, talk to everyone over the communicators, and give them further instructions. If she wants to, she can try to have someone inside attempt to hack the cameras in the hotel, thus giving her further knowledge about what's going on.

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October, 201X, London

"The Agency"/The Pink Diamond Hotel, 8:00 P.M.

Mission Night


The group worked out the details between themselves, and started working towards the mission night. Simon introduced Renart to the manager, and he got hired that very day. Setting up the dummy corp went well, and, Richard, Varvara and Ben managed to get their covers sorted out well, making it through the hotel's checks with the hotel none the wiser. Y.T. got the blueprints from the government database, and they turned out to be the real deal. After that, the hacker left, stating that her part was done, and expecting the pay sent to one of her accounts, as she was done with socializing.

With everything set up, the group was ready, the hotel as a target seemed unprepared and ready for the taking, whatever secrets the client wanted, the spies would attempt to steal away.

 

[IFS]

Ben put on an officious air as he entered the hotel, his expression reflecting someone who was used to quick service and getting his way. He approached the front desk at a brisk pace and tapped his foot restlessly while waiting, even checking his watch once or twice.

"Excuse me," he said stiffly "I have a reservation, I'm meeting with some important representatives of Ignite solutions."

He'd called in to set up the reservations a few days ago, it was a bit last minute certainly but significantly easier than trying to talk his way into getting a room. Doing that would leave more of a mark of his presence as well, regardless of whether he succeeded or not.

"My name is Mr. Harper, Jonathan Harper," he said "Keep an eye out for me next election."

He wondered how the others were getting along, the early stages of any mission were crucial to success after all. Almost any plan eventually met with problems, it was how long that they could go until those problems arose that mattered.

As the person fetched his room key he glanced around, then spoke "This is a nice place, I'll be sure to recommend it to my friends," he said "Do you know if any of the people I'm meeting with are here? Important looking fellows, they'd be representing a number of different interests."

With luck the person might give him some clues as to who the people they were looking for were, and maybe even where said people were. He just had to be careful how he asked to avoid suspicion.

Spoiler: Roll

Deception- try and get some information out of the person working the desk. His skill modifier of +4 should apply.

 

[Quintley]

Purnima was parked two streets away from the hotel in a standard Agency nondescript van. It was rigged with a couple of monitors, which would help her to keep an eye on things if somebody managed to hack the hotel CCTV, and - worse case scenario - would function as a last resort getaway vehicle. The tech inside was a few years old, which suited Purnima fine, as she wasn't exactly up to date with her computing skills (although she would never admit that).

She checked her watch (for about the fourth time in a minute). The conference ought to be kicking off about now. "Jonathan" and "Felicia" should have no problem mingling up front. Time to get the other agents moving along. Purnima adjusted her headset, making a universal call to everybody who had remembered to put their earpiece in. She snapped over the microphone - "Sarin. Report your status and location."

 

[Tortilla the Hun]

[HEADING=3]Three days before the mission...
[small]Pink Diamond Hotel, London
8:01PM[/small][/HEADING]

Beneath the streets, aside from the increasingly busy garage of valets finding spaces, below the bustle of guests checking in at the lobby, at the end of a ramped concrete maintenance tunnel, the doors of a freight elevator slowly closed and began its ascent. At twenty miles per hour, its cargo was being taken to the topmost conference level to begin cleaning the rooms from there to the last at the bottom. The man inside could easily tell the difference between the maintenence elevator and those available in the lobby, the most notable other than the size was the wider array of buttons. Buttons for floors that weren't available for the common guest, which wasn't surprising. What was surprising was the sheer amount. There were far too many private levels for even the most upper-class of hotels. The man knew which floors his keycard granted him access to. He was curious what could be on the floors it didn't. There was a distinct ding as the elevator came to a halt. Adjusting the tweed flat cap atop the short crop of salt and pepper hair and, as soon as the doors opened, he pushed cleaning cart along, whistling a tune as he went to work.

 

[The Harkinator]

Mission time. Richard had spent the last few days living in and exploring the hotel. He had identified two locations he was most likely to find information in:

1. The Hotel's offices and staff areas.
2. The targets hotel room.

"Sarin. Report your status and location."

"I'm just leaving my room, can I get a confirmation on the targets room? Planning to proceed there and investigate." Said Richard, hoping there wasn't any security outside the room.

Before anything else, Richard had to find the private lift. It was unlikely such high profile guests would stay in the same part of the hotel as everyone else.

 

[Terratina.]

The henpecked hotel staff shrunk away from "Felicia" as she charged around the place making sure that everything was up to standard for the meeting. Few could handle her New York attitude as she went about her business, yakking off to (presumably) her higher-ups, who must've been burning the candle at both ends and... her own mother?

"Sarin. Report your status and location."

"Oh hey Mom, I'm doin' fine. Yeah, just doin' some busywork, preppin' the meeting room. I ain't gotta minute to talk, so give Vinny and the kids my love, yeah?" Internally, Varvara sighed in annoyance - couldn't Sarin tell that already? Mobiles were easy things to track and a rather convenient thing to contact HQ with, especially as the signal was being bounced around the globe to suit her cover.

Spoiler: Roll

Infiltrate a workplace in preparation for the mission and blending completely in. Fair (+2) difficulty, Skill Appilied: Disguises/Infiltration: (+3).

 

[DarkRawen]

Ben

"This is a nice place, I'll be sure to recommend it to my friends. Do you know if any of the people I'm meeting with are here? Important looking fellows, they'd be representing a number of different interests."

The fellow behind the desk sighed, and shook his head.

"No, I don't, Mr. Harper," he said, sounding somewhat annoyed, as well as remarkably uninterested in Ben's question. "And I can assure you that everyone here is important, some less than others." It was obvious that it was intended to be an insult, though the man went back to his other work as soon as he had spoken. Either something Ben had said had hit a nerve, or the man was in a bad mood, though it was clear that he wouldn't be up for chatting about the other guests.
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Purnima

The van Purnima was sitting in was too far from the hotel for her to tell when the conference started, but the location was ideal. It was far enough from the hotel for it not to stick out, yet it was parked in a quiet area, for London at least. She had the blueprints of the hotel in front of her, and it was clear that there was secrets the hotel were hiding from the looks of some of the rooms, they were small and lacked windows, if the blueprints were correct. It was detailed enough to show elevators and stairs, even the secret ones, as it had been taken from the hotel's own database. Some of the guest-rooms were marked by a number and name, information that Renart had provided.
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Renart

Renart spent most of his working hours moving from room to room. While it seemed to be a somewhat tiresome way of scouting out the rooms at first, he soon learned to look for the right things. With the access to a lot of the politicians' rooms, he was able to provide Purnima with information about what politicians' stayed where, though he did not get the chance to find out what every room was. He also got a greater understanding of what the hotel looked like, and how to navigate it.

Mission Night

At 8 o'clock, Renart was still working due to an evening shift. He'd been pushing the cleaning cart for a couple of hours, but there was no one keeping an eye on the area he was currently in charge of cleaning.

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Richard

Apart from learning more about the hotel, Richard found out that the meals at the hotel was as delicious as the beds were comfortable, and that the staff was eager to please. He also quickly found out that the guards were nowhere to be seen in the guest-areas, and that a lot of the guests in the hotel stayed in their room, the spa, or the restaurant, very few lingered around the halls, as successful people were far too busy for small-talk.

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Varvara

No one had suspected a thing when Varvara had told them who she was, and she'd manage to keep fooling them as "Felicia" the business woman took control, making sure everything was just like she wanted it. Even as she spoke to her "mother", the staff suspected nothing, and instead did their best to follow her wishes.
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Simon Jones, Staff Meeting Room

"Sarin. Report your status and location."

As Simon was somewhat busy now, being briefed by the people responsible for the safety during the conference, he just kept quiet, turning up the microphone sensitivity so that Purnima could hear what they were saying.

"I expect you to know the drill by now, don't be where the guests can see you unless it's absolutely necessary, or you're wearing something that looks subtle. I've already told you where you're supposed to go, so---

"Ehm, I was assigned to the, ehm, that one place, right?" Simon asked, sounding like somewhat of a ditz. It was all a guise, of course.

"For the sake of--- Collins, I've told you twice, you're in charge of keeping an eye on the cameras.

He figured that'd be enough of a reply to Purnima, though he almost chuckled at what Varvara said. It had to be, soon the bombs would be going off, after all, and he couldn't afford to get suspected now.

Spoiler: Rolls, Simon

Bombs in ze Kitchen: [+3] Difficulty, +3 in skill, as well as +2 as a gadget, so that's a +5.

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Spoiler: Results

(as the online dice can be d3, I'm rolling d3 instead of d6, where 1 is minus, 2 is zero and 3 is plus.

Ben: Difficulty: +2. Result: -3 + 4 = 1 (Failure)
http://orokos.com/roll/186816

Varvara: Difficulty: +2. Result: 0 + 3 = 3
http://orokos.com/roll/186817

 

[IFS]

Simon

"KABOOM"* the bombs went off in the kitchen, load bangs drawing attention from any near them without inflicting any real damage. No one was sure what happened at first, but security personnel were quickly called away from their positions to investigate. It was unclear how long the distraction would last for but for now so long as they avoided the kitchen they would meet little resistance.

*noise may be slightly exaggerated

Spoiler: roll

Simon: difficulty +3. Result 0 + 5 = 5 (success)
http://orokos.com/roll/187210

The people in the conference room were understandably distressed by this, though employees of the hotel quickly arrived to try and maintain an uneasy calm, at least until the situation could be fully investigated. The current explanation was that the bang had resulted from an electrical short of some sort. The kitchen was of course a mess from both the bang and the ensuing ruckus, but no one seemed to be seriously hurt.

 

[Quintley]

"Oh hey Mom, I'm doin' fine. Yeah, just doin' some busywork, preppin' the meeting room. I ain't gotta minute to talk, so give Vinny and the kids my love, yeah?"

'Mom' mumbled something under her breath about where Varvara could stick Vinny and the kids, and brought up the ground floor plans of the hotel up on one of the monitors. The meeting room was easy enough to find. Purnima was fairly confident that Varvara could look after herself for the time being - although her attitude was rather grating at times, the Russian woman was a very competent agent.

"I'm just leaving my room, can I get a confirmation on the targets room? Planning to proceed there and investigate."

Purnima turned to the notes that Renart had provided on key rooms. "Most of the conference guests have been given rooms on the fourth and fifth floor. You should also investigate the Deluxe Suite on floor 6. From what I can gather, guests can only access floors 5 and 6 via a private elevator. I imagine you would need a special keycard to use this lift. Alternatively, Richard, there should be staff-only staircases between the floors - these are likely to be locked or concealed but I can give you a rough idea of where they should be."

She checked the time again. "You might have to avoid a few stragglers heading for the conference downstairs, but the security should be--" She was interrupted by a blast of static in her other ear. Simon's foolproof distraction, no doubt. "Er, as I was saying. The security team will be occupied for a while."

"...You're in charge of keeping an eye on the cameras."

Purnima switched over to Simon's channel. "I need you to watch those cameras, Simon. Can you see any security patrols on the upper levels of the hotel?" Ideally, she would have liked to see the CCTV feed for herself, but Purnima was aware that Simon's technological expertise was rather limited to destruction, and she didn't want to risk anything else blowing up. Not at this stage, anyway.

Spoiler: roll

Leadership score is +3, if relevant. I don't want to overrule anyone else's plans, though

 

[Tortilla the Hun]

[HEADING=3]Two days before the mission...
[small]Pink Diamond Hotel, London
11:53PM[/small][/HEADING]

While others were wrapping up their shifts for the night, Rupert Pelham, as was displayed on his name tag, still had a few more hours to go. This was very fortunate considering what he had planned. The cleaning wasn't particularly thorough, but good enough to show that it was clean. Moving through the lowest conference level on his to-do list, he pushed the cart into one of the dim, empty rooms and away from the view of the security cameras in the hallway. Locking the door behind him, he quickly began to undress. Beneath the custodial coveralls, the man was dressed in all black form-fitting clothes with a climbing harness around him. He replaced his tweed cap with a black jeep cap and set it aside with his coveralls. Beneath the can liner in the cart's trash bin was a pair of vacuum cups which were soon removed and fasted to carabiners on the man's harness using a couple lengths of kernmantle ropes.

German is such a fun language, 'Rupert' thought to himself as he climbed onto a table beneath an air duct. Using a screwdriver from one of the pouches on his harness, he unfastened the grate and gently placed it on the polished wood he stood on. He wasn't exactly looking forward to what he had to do next, recalling the times he had to do it before. Cracking a couple glow sticks and securing them in sleeves on each side, he thought to himself reluctantly, These things are never as clean as the movies make them out to be...

[HEADING=3]Night of the mission...[/HEADING]

"Sarin. Report your status and location."

"Custodian. Finishing up on the eighth floor," Renart spoke with a strong Scouse accent into the comms, looking around the room once again out of precaution. Giving himself the all-clear, he prepared to make his way to the lower levels once again, regrettably not by using the elevators. "Ready to clean up down below, just say the word."

 

[The Harkinator]

Well, there goes the distraction. That would keep security busy long enough for Richard to get exploring a bit. Purina had suggested either finding a keycard or using the staff only staircases. Richard decided he would be better off getting a keycard for the lift. If he needed to move around it would be better to have more than one method of travelling between floors. Purina had also identified the Deluxe Suite on the 6th floor and Richard made that his first target.

Step 1: Find a keycard.

The most logical place to find a keycard providing access to the other rooms would be to swipe one off a guest from that part of the hotel. Stragglers would be making their way to the event and Richard could pickpocket one of them for their keycard. He made his way to the private lift and it wasn't long before a likely target came out of it in a hurry. The man was just slotting his pass into the inside pocket of his jacket as he left the lift.

Richard would simply brush past him in the corridor and take it. It should be a simple job if he was quick enough and the target would be in such a hurry he may not notice for hours. As the target passed him in the corridor Richard brushed past him, pretending to be on the phone and made his move for the keycard.

 

[IFS]

"And I can assure you that everyone here is important, some less than others."

"Hmph, I'll make note of this when I tell my associates about this place," Ben replied coldly, then answered his earpiece (disguised as a bluetooth phone headset) as Purnima checked in "Ah that must be them now."

"Sarin. Report your status and location."

"I've just arrived, ah that's where we're meeting? Fantastic I'll see you there," he replied, taking a moment to deposit his luggage with an attendant who would take it to his room and heading off to the conference room. The person behind the front desk hadn't been any help, but hopefully he would be able to get more information from the various 'important people' at the meeting.

He quickly arrived at a restaurant in the hotel where the meeting was being held, and was somewhat amused to find it was more of a formal party than a business meeting at least for now. Makes it even easier to mingle though, time to see what all this is about. There did seem to be a set up for more serious discussion in the center of the room, though he would have to get closer to find out what it was about.

He smiled confidently and approached a moderately attractive woman who was participating "Excuse me miss," he said, smiling warmly at her "I've only just arrived, would you mind filling me in on anything I've missed?"

Spoiler: roll

Attempting to get information out of the woman +4 deception, +2 from Charmed, I'm sure.

(details on the party gotten from Rawen via skype)