Runners
Carol Turpentine
Kitten Caboodle aka Kit
Creature
Aradia
Tabasco
Creep

The team readies themselves for the gala in a few days time. Creep takes advantage of the final touch construction chaos at the building site to sneak in ahead of time and insert himself into the ducts, where he can crawl around, surveil, and get an eye on security and layout. Kit and Carol do some research on the layout of the building as well as gather some info on it’s sister structure in Dubai. The configurable maze, on the 5th-8th floors, is the site of the main VIP portion of the gala, and will likely be set to it’s highest security/privacy setting, making exterior surveillance difficult. They discuss having Creep use a data tap to get Kit access to the maze controls if needed, but decide not to rely on that.

The team brushes up on social skills, and comes up with appropriate backstories. As the team travels downtown, they notice that there are some large protest crowds and clashes, just short of riots, seemingly advocating for either “stay” or “leave” with the recent vote tally from the informal poll at the music fest having riled things up. The team does a little research and sees that a lot of the “leave” faction seem to have backing related to the Real Americans and the Pacific Independence League, both of which are at least partially funded by Ghostwalker. The “stay” faction seems to have some local funding from a new group called the “Sons of Snohomish”, which almost for sure is a metaracist org based on name and location, and which the team has a job to investigate. They plan to dig in more on both sides in the future.

Tabasco reserves Bernie Carter and his armored cab for the evening, and Aradia and Creature rent a short distance town car, while Carol and Kit travel in another. On arrival, they spot a few people watching over the crowd and arrivals, as well as some notables from around town. Tabasco ID’s some organized crime figures from the Downtown and Bellevue families, but they don’t seem to have tickets to the VIP area. Aradia approaches the rumpled dwarf doing surveillance first off, and they have a friendly (on the surface) but probing convo about who exactly they each are. Recognizing each other’s magical abilities, they exchange contacts.

Aradia also gives a nod to the elf who watched them arrive but is ignored, and offended. The team in their 3 groups heads upstairs fairly quickly, seeing that most of the political and corp movers and shakers do so, not lingering in the semi-public soiree in the atrium. Creep re-positions himself near a private corner of the 3rd level of the maze in order to try to observe any quiet convos any VIPs might have there.

The other 2 pairs of the team make some conversation at the maze entrance with some of the various figures, and meet a Seattle government official, Chuck Beale, who they manipulate into revealing that he is the one compiling the list of delegates for the FS referendum, and that this meet and greet will give them a chance to make their cases to him. Kit manages to snag a copy of his hand print. but fails to scan his irises. They also meet a very jolly Horizon rep who creepily doesn’y have handprints when Kit tries to scan them. Most of the other VIPs cleverly rebuff handshake attempts.

The team finds out about a bit of drama between a few of the reps: the SSC guy really does not like the Telestrian sent on behalf of Tir Tairngire, and the PCC rep sent up to advocate for Seattle as a treaty city doesn’t think much of the SSC rep. Omnistar wants in, and their rep Rahel Juric makes Tabasco as a runner after he drops some hints, and hires him to ensure she gets on the referendum list, and hunts at more future related work. Creep overhears the UCAS govt rep get berated by Margaret Telestrian, who suggests that her vote will be amenable to bribes, but she’d prefer he offer her the best one. She also hints at some scandals in his background, which the team only finds some whispers and hints of online. Creep repositions a few times and overhears some more convos as well.

The ARES rep (who Carol steers clear of) and the Renraku rep seem to be planning to work together to push the “stay” vote, as both have a lot of contracts they might lose if things go the other way. The Horizon rep seems VERY good at navigating the maze and stumbling into convo’s at interesting points, and claims not to have a preference or agenda. This is also Beale’s line, who claims to just be excited to be in the room where it happens. The Pacific Independence League rep makes Creature as a drake beholden to the Sea Dragon, and suggests that both of their masters will want the same result so they should work together. Miranda King, here on behalf of Spinrad, confers with the Wuxing/PPG rep, and both seem open to either outcome, but interested in the possibilities present.

King seems to almost recognize some of the team, especially Creature, but doesn’t push it, so they avoid her as well. Telestrian eventually threatens the team into doing some work for her, having noticed Creep in the walls. She’s very friendly about it all. but seems like a real social predator, and Carol is a little spooked. The team decides to throw caution to the wind and steal Beale’s commlink, make sure Juric is on the list, and then send it before returning the link, in order to create a situation where it would be too embarrassing for him to admit what happened. Aradia distracts him by questioning the integrity of the process, and he goes off on how he is very neutral and wants an unbiased discussion with even opinions on all sides as well as some undecided.

Carol snags the link, though Beale seems to have some exec protection training and almost spots the palming. Kit does the hack, gets the full delegate list, and decides to add not only Juric but also Ceri Gilbredes (the PIL/Ghostwalker rep) and King (Spinrad), hoping this will give the “leave” faction a head start, and keep Stuck from killing them. Creature handily returns the comm to Beale’s suit, and the team disengages, needing to head out to do a quick B&E job for Telestrian that evening so as not to get Creep into hot water, plus wanting to get on her good side in the hopes of swaying her vote.