Sunday Afternoon Game Report - The Troubleshooters RPG, Session 5
Yesterday afternoon, the Sunday afternoon gaming group came out and continued play in their The Troubleshooters RPG campaign. You can read about the previous session of the game by following the link. This post is longer than usual, so I've put it behind a cut so that folks who don't want to read any detailed rpg posts don't have to.
CHARACTERS:
Felix Travert (SteveR) - Wilderness Photographer
Yvette Zay (Tammy) - Security Consultant
Margareta Rosenqvist (GM NPC) - Air Stewardess
Saturday, April 15th, 1963
The morning dawns crisp and clear, an average early spring day in northern France. After dealing with their morning ablutions, the characters head down for breakfast. Pretty much all of the Vincoeur family is present for breakfast as the characters descend around 6:30 to 7:00 am. Alain greets the player characters, bids them be seated, and the servants bring in the breakfast dishes. Realising that the Vincoeurs do not discuss business at meal times, Yvette Zay steers the conversation towards small talk. About half-an-hour to forty-five minutes later, after the breakfast dishes are removed, the Vincoeur patriarch gets down to business. Jacques Vincoeur asks how matters are going, and Félix Travert says they seem to have attracted someone's attention. He says that he was run off the road last night while returning to Loisier. Natalie says that *he* attracted someone's attention. Margareta Rosenqvist adds that she had some shelving dumped on her in the records room while she was working there yesterday, and was fortunate that Claude was there to help her. Remy says that it was indeed fortunate that he was there. Yvette adds that she was warned off the investigation as well. Jacques says that they are indeed making progress.
Jacques asks what the player characters plan to do this day. Félix says that he photographed some of the records from Le Fatima de Boeuf when he was in Reims, and was hoping to find a place to develop the pictures so they have something to compare the winery's records with. Jacques says that there is a darkroom down in the basement, and Félix says that it would be perfect. Félix says that he'd appreciate some help with the development of the photos, seeing as he's still a bit shaky from the night's encounters, and Alain says that he can help him with the process, since he's knowledgeable about the science of photography. Yvette adds that the player characters need to talk to both François Marchaud and Luc Mazerin during the day. Alain says they'll both be at the winery today, which will be quite busy with tastings, given that it's the weekend. Yvette says they would also like to talk to Yves Fournier, if possible. Jacques says that Fournier was at the winery yesterday, returning some faulty wine to them. Yves will likely be found today in Loisier, perhaps at his hotel or at the local airfield. Alain says he'll see them later, and takes Chloe with him, saying they need to discuss some business matters. Slowly but surely, the other members of the Vincoeur family leave the breakfast area to go about their business or enjoy their day.
Yvette says they should get on with the photography development, and Félix says he'll go back to his room to get the camera. Margareta says she thinks she's going to go and do some more research in the winery, but Félix asks the two women to see if they can find Alain so he can go and develop the photos. An exasperated Yvette says that she's going to go to the winery to see if she can talk to Luc Mazerin, and since Margareta is going to the winery as well, Félix should go and get the camera and then wait for Alain to return or go in search of him when he's ready. Margareta decides to go in search of Alain.
Félix returns to his room to get the camera, and sees the door to his room is ajar. He peers inside and sees the room is a mess, having been totally ransacked. He steps in to go in search of where he left the camera and, failing to see there is someone still in the room, is hit over the head and goes down, unconscious. [He gains two Story Points for voluntarily failure.]
Back downstairs, Margareta returns with Alain, and Yvette tells the two that they're just waiting for Félix to return with the camera. Some time passes and the wilderness photographer does not return. Yvette goes upstairs and seeing the door is ajar, cautiously approaches the door. [She fails her Alertness check.] She calls out for Félix. He moans, recovering consciousness, and she sees the room ransacked and Félix lying on the ground about 2 metres into the room. She sees no sign of anyone else. She talks to the recovering Félix, who tells her he's been better, and explains what happened when he came upstairs. She looks around the room [using her Security Skill], and sees the aggressor got in through the window, with the window partially shattered and the broken glass is on the outside. She assumes the attacker came in through the door but left through the window. She turns back to Félix, seeing that he's got the obvious bump on the head, but nothing else about him is unusual. Félix searches for the camera, and finds it lying near the credenza, smashed beyond repair, the film inside fully exposed to the light and now rendered useless. The even more exasperated Yvette tells Félix that Alain and Margareta are waiting downstairs, and he should go down and tell them what's happened; she says she'll stay in the room to look around a bit more. Félix takes the broken film that he can from the camera, hoping that something can be salvaged from it, and heads down to the main floor.
Yvette finds nothing else, no rope leading to the ground from the second floor balcony (some 8 metres down), but does find some scuff marks on the window sill and on the balcony. She checks the ground below from the balcony[, succeeding at a Search roll but only because she spends 2 Story Points to flip the roll], and finds there are (moderately deep) gouge marks from a boot or boots. She determines that because of the age of the chateau, there are typical hand- and foot-holds that someone could have used to climb up to the second floor or descend. Going back into the room, she determines the damage rendered and the search for the camera was methodical, though leaving the camera remains where they are was almost taunting Félix and her friends. She determines the camera was destroyed or struck with a hammer; the hammer was not something that would have been normally found in the room.
On the ground floor, Félix explains to Margareta and Alain what has happened. Alain is highly angry and shouts for the majordomo, Pierre Cornel, who arrives, and tells him what has happened. Cornel says he will alert Luc Mazerin immediately, and leaves. Félix says he hopes that perhaps something can be salvaged from the remains of the film, but Alain says he has other responsibilities and it will take at least two days. Félix agrees that he'll permit Alain to assign someone else to the job, and after Félix gives him the protected film remains, Alain heads for the basement, saying he'll see Chloe later. Félix and Margareta talk, and when she asks whether she should wait for Yvette or arrange for transport to the winery proper, Félix says he thinks that they should not split up as it seems to lead to them being attacked. Margareta points out that by not splitting up, the tasks will take longer and mean they will be at the Vincoeur winery longer and delay their return to Paris. Félix and Margareta go upstairs to check on Yvette.
Arriving at Félix's room, he and Margareta talk to Yvette and learn what she has found. They tell her what happened downstairs and the family's reaction (well, Alain and Chloe's at any rate), but aren't sure whether Luc Mazerin will come to the house or not. Margareta suggests they go down and look at the prints outside his room, saying that there were prints found outside the record room after she had the shelves fall on her, and thinks they should compare the prints. Going downstairs and leaving the house, they emerge into the bright sunshine of the morning. Félix leads them towards the side of the house where his room faces. As they walk, Margareta comments, "Too many suspects, but also too many things that are starting to...click a little." She tells them she doesn't think it's Remy, as he's too obvious, and it's not Alain, because she trusts him with her life. And she also believes that François isn't responsible either, because of how long she's known Alain and his friendship with the family. She says what bothers her most is that the missing wine is recorded in the main Inventory, but not as having been shipped. That means it's happening in Shipping & Receiving and that means it's an inside job. The three conclude that they really do need to talk to Luc Mazerin, the head of security, especially in light of what Félix learned at Rochefort Securitée.
Arriving near the wall beneath Féelix's room, Yvette checks things out and succeeds at a Security roll [she rolls Good Karma, and gains a Story Point]. She sees that from the point of impact, the person in question was wearing boots. She points them out to Margareta [who fails her Search roll, and spends 3 Story Points to get a Clue instead], and curses out loud. Margareta explains that when she and Claude went out to look at what could be found outside the records room at the winery after the shelving fell on her, the prints they found were not those of an "intruder" but those of a security guard who showed up afterwards. These prints match those of the security guard, and she remembers that the security guard's name was Henri Comtois. The characters note that this means the thefts *were* an inside job. They determine that the prints lead to to the road, which leads back to the winery as well as to Loisier. The characters agree they need to talk to Claude, but they also need to talk to Luc Mazerin, the head of security. However, as they note, this doesn't tell them what's actually happening with the disappearance of the wine and how it's been taken. They start walking to the winery, and start to discuss what they know of the disappearance and thefts of the Vincoeur wines and other pieces of information they've learned that may be relevant. Margareta says that when she was in Shipping & Receiving the day before, when they were taking care of the last shipments of the day, there were security guards present - but there just too many other people present and going about their business. Again, too many suspects. They discuss the matter of the iodine use (since Yvette feels that it's relevant).
Around 9:30am, the player characters and Margareta arrive at the winery to see that there are several cars present as people and staff are arriving for the wine tasting. The characters look around, and Felix notices that the doors to Shipping & Receiving are all locked up. Margareta notices that Claude Arcand is just entering the main reception area, and points this out to the others. The characters notice different types of people going into the winery for the tasting, but many of them are the bourgeoisie. Yvette notices several security guards in the area, dressed incognito and not wearing uniforms. She asks Margareta if she sees Henri anywhere, but the airline stewardess says she doesn't even see any security guards present, though Yvette superciliously says they're present. Margareta says that she can see that Hauptman is heading in again, and the player characters head inside. It is a very busy morning inside, as there are many more people present than normal due to the weekend and the wine tastings. Annette, the Wine Hostess, looks quite overworked already. Margareta and the others look around and she spots Yves Fournier [she rolls a 55 on her Alertness check for Good Karma, and gains a Story Point]. The three characters make their way over to where Fournier is. As they walk through the crowd, Yvette spots François Marchaud and also spots Chloe Vincoeur (who is just emerging from the Inventory records area, and relocks the door).
Félix and Yvette, along with Margareta, reach the area where Fournier is sitting at one of the tasting tables. He and Margareta greet each other like old friends. Fournier tells her and the others that the insurance company is paying for the plane, and that he'll have a new plane hopefully in the next two weeks. Margareta says that she heard that Fournier was bringing back something for the Vincoeurs. He tells her and the others that he was bringing back a faulty batch of wine from Paris. The Vincoeurs asked him to do so because of the cost of shipping the crate commercially. He says he doesn't know why the plane was sabotaged, but assumes it had something to do with Margareta and the player characters. Yves says he doesn't know anything about the faulty wine or the problem with it, though he knows that it came from a Parisian restaurant called Le Fatima de Boeuf. The restaurant's sommelier delivered the wine to the airport; he was planning the flight to Reims and Loisier, and the player characters' need for a flight was just coincidence. When Félix inquires, Fournier tells him that the crate of faulty wine did survive the crash. Fournier says that Alain Vincoeur has guaranteed that his first flight with the new plane will have a cargo of wine, to help offset some of the costs. The characters engage in some small talk with Fournier before disengaging with him.
The player characters go in search of François Marchaud, and spot him getting reading to head for the elevators heading down to the wine caves. Marchaud leads them to a small office off the tasting area, so they can talk in privacy. François also mentions that he first discovered the wine was missing 6 months ago when Alain asked him to look into some standard stock vintages they carry, and discovered that there was wine missing, specifically a case of 12, and two extra bottles. Margareta starts by telling him that they have records for the wine that disappeared being manufacture but not for the shipping of those wines. He explains that he doesn't handle the day-to-day business; Claude handles the inventory of what's available, and Natalie handles the shipping aspect of the business. Technically, Natalie has to sign for everything that ships out, but she has several assistants that help in this regard, notably Gaspard Cartier. Remy also has to sign for certain stuff, since he's Marketing, and has to sign for some of the wines, some of the bi-products, and so forth. François informs Felix rather knowingly that all Claude Arcand signs for is the Inventory, such as when they receive wine-making materials and the like, but those would also be co-signed for by Natalie. Receiving, not shipping. Yvette asks François about the winery's security, and he tells her that most of the cameras are for show. Only two cameras are real, one for the main shipping & loading dock, the other for the same out building that they built two years ago. The only real security for the winery is the guards provided by Rochefort Securitée. Every so often they'll catch guards trying to steal some of the wine, and they'll even let them get away with poor quality vintages. Mazarin was hired by the family, who oversees the guards from Rochefort Securitée, and the security guards work both to guard the chateau and the winery. Luc assigns the same personnel usually to the house separate from those who work at the winery. Yvette asks if any security guards or people have been hired in the last six months, but François says she'd have to talk to either Guy Allemand, head of Personnel, or Mazerin himself. [She earns a Story Point for the good question.] He tells Yvette that he doesn't think that Rochefort Securitée knows about the wine thefts/disappearances, as Jacques and the family doesn't really want this made public as it could destroy the family's reputation and wine market value. Yvette tells him what they know about the restaurant, Le Fatima de Boeuf, and the problems with them. Marchaud tells them that he trusts the people who do the individual bottling of the wine, although some of it is handled by the new-fangled automation equipment. François is surprised when they tell him that there there is no record of the disappeared wines being shipped, and says this implies to him that the switching of the wines in the bottles are being done outside the winery. They talk about the iodine solution, but that leads them nowhere. The faulty wines are disposed of, he tells them with the records being kept in the R & D division. They also talk about the wine bottles and the labelling process, and learn more about that and how the process works. The player characters come to realise that the wine bottles and the labels themselves are not part of the problem, and can't be duplicated that easily. Fran%ccedil;ois explains that the percentage of wine that disappears from the winery is low, about 25-28%, but this is acceptable, but also takes into account winery personnel and family that take bottles for personal use. He also explains that they concern themselves in this regard with higher quality and value vintages, and that most of the disappeared wines they're checking on are lower vintages.
The player characters and François are interrupted by the loud sound of shattering glass from outside. Marchaud immediately moves to the door, and opens it. The characters are greeted by a cacophany of sound and what sounds like a riot going on inside the reception and tasting area. There is a disturbance as a customer is not happy at not being able to take the bottles of wine he's purchased home, as they'll not be ready for another two weeks. In anger, he threw a glass or three down to the floor, resulting in what happened. François moves towards the disturbance. Yvette looks more closely at things, and... At first, it appears like a normal incident with an angry customer, but then she notices [spending a Story Point to enhance her information] that Hauptmann is no longer there, and she sees one of the fake mechanics from Le Bourget, and the door to the main shipping/receiving area is ajar...and even as she watches, it closes with an audible click. No one should be in the Shipping & Receiving area right now. She alerts François that someone just went into Shipping & Receiving. When she says she's sure, he tells her to stay where she is, and he goes to the door Yvette indicated and opens the door [with his key]. Meanwhile, Margareta notices that both fake mechanics from Le Bourget are moving towards the player characters. As François pulls the door open, there is the sound of a gunshot. Yvette rushes towards the door, and pulls Francois back but too late: he's been shot! The crowd in the reception and tasting area immediately panics and starts to flee in the opposite direction, making it easier for the two fake mechanics to get to the player characters and Margareta.
Félix and Margareta confront the the two fake mechanics, but both have guns pointed at them, somewhat concealed by their coats. One of them says they were warned to stay out of this business, and says they should remember that. Margareta ignores the two gunmen, and uses her air stewardess charms to calm the public down [using her Charm Ability, she flips the failed roll by spending 1 Story Point]. She herds the panicking people back to the wine tasting area, and then shuffles them out of the winery and to safety. While the others are distracted, Margareta moves to the stairs leading to the upper level and access to the office area and cranes on the second floor of Shipping & Receiving [she succeeds at her Sneak roll with Good Karma, and gains a Story Point]...
Félix confronts the two fake mechanics, but they don't tell him anything and force him at gunpoint to move towards the door to the Shipping & Receiving area. They are joined by Annabelle, who has taken one of the wine tasting guests as a hostage.
Meanwhile, Yvette pulls François to cover, and attempts to treat his injuries; she manages to bandage the wound but he's still bleeding. She looks around for something that she can use as a weapon, and she sees lots of bottles of wine. She moves around a bit, and gets a glimpse into the Shipping & Receiving area. [She fails the roll, but flips it around using 2 Story Points to succeed.] The lights are on in the shipping area, and she sees three individuals moving about and one of them is Natalie! A female voice speaks to her from behind and says to her, "Stand up and turn around, Miss Zay." Still holding the bottle she picked up, Yvette turns to see the two fake mechanics threatening Félix, and Annabelle - who is holding one of the wine tasting visitors hostage. Annabelle orders them into the S & R part of the building, and they go through the door. There are actually five people there, other than Natalie, and one of them is the security guard that Margareta would recognise [Henri Comtois]. Félix and Yvette see that the people here are busy loading a van with several cases and some individual bottles of wine. Natalie asks Annabelle who she's holding hostage, and then tells Annabelle to let the wine tasting guest go as they have the player characters and don't really need him. Annabelle quickly slugs him across the back of the neck, and the civilian goes down unconscious. Annabelle tells Yvette to put the wine bottle down on one of the nearby tables. Yvette is tempted to do something with the bottle of wine, but resists and puts it down on the table as ordered.
Natalie tells Annabelle, whom Yvette notices is carrying a wand-like device, that they should be done loading in about twenty minutes. Annabelle tells Yvette and Félix they were warned not to interfere, but Yvette asks Natalie why she's doing this and betraying the family. She says it's because of that cur, that womanizer, who treats her like dirt and doesn't respect his family - she doesn't mean to hurt the Vincoeur family, but it's all to get back at Remy, her faithless husband who goes after other women-- She suddenly asks where their friend, Margareta, is. Annabelle says that she's back outside with the civilians. Natalie orders one of the two fake air mechanics to keep an eye on the door. When asked, Natalie tells Yvette that they've switched the wines as a delaying tactic, and to be honest, it also discredits Remy's part of the business and makes the revenge even sweeter. Natalie is about to tell her something about Annabelle's connection or purpose, but Annabelle tells her to be quiet. Annabelle does tell Yvette and Félix that the "additive" they add to select bottles makes the drinker more susceptible to suggestion, and that the younger crowd coming into Le Clione (one of their favourite targets) are young now, but in a decade they'll be the power brokers and will be under "their" control and influence. Annabelle tells Félix that their purpose in doing so is about world domination and control. Félix and Yvette also learn that it was Henri, whom Annabelle says they call "Hammer Hands", who destroyed his camera with his bare fists. Annabelle says that while the records were somewhat incriminating, since they had her signature as well as the ones she had faked from Remy and Claude (she's had years of practice faking their signatures), she had the camera and film destroyed just because she wanted to destroy something of Félix's. [Petty vengeance and all.] Seeing Félix and Yvette's looking in the direction of the cameras, Natalie says they'll destroy the camera and the film before they leave, as they don't want to leave any loose ties. Natalie tells Yvette that with the disappearance of her and her friends, Natalie's life and job will be safe, and Annabelle adds that they have many friends who will concoct stories about the gunshots and all. "Why, it could have been wine corks exploding out of bottles!" she adds, with a laugh. And Annabelle adds that no one will believe their story when all is said and done, as Yvette and her friends will have no memory of the events - nor will anyone else at the chateau or the vineyard.
Annabelle tells Henri that it's time, and he fetches what appears to be a ray-gun from the van. He points it at the camera, there is a hum, then concentric rings of energy emerge and strike the camera on the ceiling, which explodes. The two female villains start discussing what to do about the player characters. Natalie goes over to a rack of wine, picks a bottle out the rack, goes over to the table with it, and pours wine into several goblets. She says to Yvette and Félix, "Have a drink. I insist." She pulls a wand-like device similar to that held by Annabelle. Félix goes and picks a goblet off the tray. A voice suddenly speaks from all over the warehouse, echoing around. Margareta says that she doesn't know who the red-head [Annabelle] is, but she says that Natalie has forgotten one thing - her. Annette counters that if she doesn't come down from the upper level, they'll put burn holes in her friends. Margareta says she doesn't think so, and Margareta lowers the boom literally on one of the fellows loading bottles onto the van. [She uses her strength to lower one of the crane winch mechanisms, having to spend 2 Story Points to flip the roll.] The fellow gets smacked into the ground, letting go of the case of wine he was moving which explodes when it hits the ground.
Using the distraction that Margareta has provided, Félix throws the goblet of wine at the thug behind him, Hauptmann, blinding him with acid burns on his face [because of the doctored wine]. Then all sorts of chaos erupts as the fight begins. Hauptmann attempts to attack Felix, but fails. Yvette grabs the bottle of wine that she put on the table. Annabelle fires her wand-like weapon at Yvette, who can't get out of the way, and is hurt and finds herself unable to move or act. Félix punches Hauptmann but he's too tough for Félix's physical prowess. Margareta drops another of the booms on another of the thugs [gaining 2 Story Points for a Good Karma check], crushing him. Natalie fires her energy weapon at Margareta, who dodges out of the way, the metal where the blast strikes exploding. The thugs fire pistols at Félix and the paralysed Yvette; Félix is seriously injured [taking 4 points of Vitality, switching it for the Wounded condition] by his attacker, while Yvette suffers a flesh wound. Believing the operation to be compromised and fouled, Annabelle says they have to cut their losses and aims her wand weapon at Natalie! Félix launches himself at Annabelle, but she dodges out of the way. Margareta attempts to literally throw a wrench into Annabelle's plans, but misses her quite badly with the wrench. Natalie isn't putting up with this, and attempts to fire her weapon at Annabelle. Annabelle fails her attempt to get out of the way, and suffers some major damage and becomes paralysed! Hauptmann sees what's going on, and dashes for Annabelle, picking her up and looking down into Félix's face. Yvette suffers some more minor damage [1 Vitality point] as the thug fires his gun at her again. The other thug fires at Félix again, and injures him but also stuns him. Félix rolls out of the way, and tries to get to cover. Margareta throws another wrench at Natalie, but misses striking a bottle of wine which showers all over her. Natalie runs for the door at the far end of the loading area. Hauptmann, carrying Annabelle, goes to the van, opens the door, and bundles Annabelle into the van. The thug that attacked Félix moves towards the van, while the other thug attacks Yvette again, striking the crate of wine she's using for protection; she hears the sound of dripping wine. Yvette throws her bottle of wine at the thug who attacked her, but misses. Margareta attempts to strike Natalie from behind again with a wrench but misses. Before she escapes, Natalie gives Margareta a pure, venomous look. With both Félix and Yvette severely injured and paralysed, they watch as Hauptmann guns the van which crashes through the docking area door, and he and Annabelle escape. As Natalie nears the door at the far end of the warehouse, it opens, revealing Luc Mazerin and a couple of guards. "Going somewhere?" he asks her.
A couple of days later, the player character and Margareta learn what has been going on. Natalie is taken into custody, and her personal records of the transactions give everything away. Her motivation, as she explained it to the player characters, is clear. Natalie was making a 30-40% profit on the stolen wine, and several other winery people were dismissed due to possible connections to the plot. In addition, Henri Comtois and a couple of other security guards are taken into custody as well, based on the evidence that Claude found. The player characters learn that the Vincoeurs don't know what drug was in the wine, but Alain suggests that it had to do with susceptibility and influencing powerful people into doing what they, whoever "they" are, want. François is doing fine, as he received medical treatment relatively quickly due to the winery staff's quick thinking. The wine was being switched at an outside location, which is currently deserted, and Natalie isn't talking. Annabelle and Hauptmann got away clean, though the somewhat damaged van was found abandoned just outside Reims. The cameras did not record the events, as the weapon fired at them completely disrupted the electrical feed. French National Security took possession of the weapon that Natalie used, though they had hoped to acquire the other special weapons.
The players also receive good news. Jacques, Alain, and Remy talked matters over. They didn't realise how deep the plot went or that Natalie was involved. The Vincoeurs have agreed to pay the characters 10,000 francs [increasing the Credit Skill by +1%] for their "assistance", as well as the bottles of wine owed them. The player characters spend the night at Chateau Vincoeur, and will fly them back to Paris the next morning. Talk over dinner that night revolves around the mystery. It turns out that Natalie had nothing to do with the wine being switched for the Italian vintage at Le Fatima de Boeuf. The sommelier brought it to the attention of the restaurant, and the Winery, because they didn't know. And the Vincoeurs have hired the sommelier to work at the winery, since she's obviously got the palate for it. :)
At one point, Remy goes over to Margareta and talks with her. "You realise, I'm not attached any more," he tells her. Margareta blows him off, giving him a good punch to the face as she does so.
Sunday's session of The Troubleshooters RPG campaign was a pretty good one, and wrapped up the player characters' first adventure. The session worked out well, and several plot threads were left open, as *censored!* is just too good a villain not to use again. The players seemed to have a good time of it, though it was obvious that Tammy felt out of her depth at points and got quite frustrated with matters several times. SteveR seemed to enjoy himself this session as well, but had a rough time of it remembering names of characters throughout the adventure, and his character didn't really work all that well with Tammy's.
Overall, this was a good wrap up session for the first The Troubleshooters RPG scenario that I ran, and I'm looking forward to running the game again in the future. This may be a while, as I need to work out how to involve both players (especially Tammy) in some of the plots in future as well. So we'll see what happens in the future. :)
CHARACTERS:
Felix Travert (SteveR) - Wilderness Photographer
Yvette Zay (Tammy) - Security Consultant
Margareta Rosenqvist (GM NPC) - Air Stewardess
Saturday, April 15th, 1963
The morning dawns crisp and clear, an average early spring day in northern France. After dealing with their morning ablutions, the characters head down for breakfast. Pretty much all of the Vincoeur family is present for breakfast as the characters descend around 6:30 to 7:00 am. Alain greets the player characters, bids them be seated, and the servants bring in the breakfast dishes. Realising that the Vincoeurs do not discuss business at meal times, Yvette Zay steers the conversation towards small talk. About half-an-hour to forty-five minutes later, after the breakfast dishes are removed, the Vincoeur patriarch gets down to business. Jacques Vincoeur asks how matters are going, and Félix Travert says they seem to have attracted someone's attention. He says that he was run off the road last night while returning to Loisier. Natalie says that *he* attracted someone's attention. Margareta Rosenqvist adds that she had some shelving dumped on her in the records room while she was working there yesterday, and was fortunate that Claude was there to help her. Remy says that it was indeed fortunate that he was there. Yvette adds that she was warned off the investigation as well. Jacques says that they are indeed making progress.
Jacques asks what the player characters plan to do this day. Félix says that he photographed some of the records from Le Fatima de Boeuf when he was in Reims, and was hoping to find a place to develop the pictures so they have something to compare the winery's records with. Jacques says that there is a darkroom down in the basement, and Félix says that it would be perfect. Félix says that he'd appreciate some help with the development of the photos, seeing as he's still a bit shaky from the night's encounters, and Alain says that he can help him with the process, since he's knowledgeable about the science of photography. Yvette adds that the player characters need to talk to both François Marchaud and Luc Mazerin during the day. Alain says they'll both be at the winery today, which will be quite busy with tastings, given that it's the weekend. Yvette says they would also like to talk to Yves Fournier, if possible. Jacques says that Fournier was at the winery yesterday, returning some faulty wine to them. Yves will likely be found today in Loisier, perhaps at his hotel or at the local airfield. Alain says he'll see them later, and takes Chloe with him, saying they need to discuss some business matters. Slowly but surely, the other members of the Vincoeur family leave the breakfast area to go about their business or enjoy their day.
Yvette says they should get on with the photography development, and Félix says he'll go back to his room to get the camera. Margareta says she thinks she's going to go and do some more research in the winery, but Félix asks the two women to see if they can find Alain so he can go and develop the photos. An exasperated Yvette says that she's going to go to the winery to see if she can talk to Luc Mazerin, and since Margareta is going to the winery as well, Félix should go and get the camera and then wait for Alain to return or go in search of him when he's ready. Margareta decides to go in search of Alain.
Félix returns to his room to get the camera, and sees the door to his room is ajar. He peers inside and sees the room is a mess, having been totally ransacked. He steps in to go in search of where he left the camera and, failing to see there is someone still in the room, is hit over the head and goes down, unconscious. [He gains two Story Points for voluntarily failure.]
Back downstairs, Margareta returns with Alain, and Yvette tells the two that they're just waiting for Félix to return with the camera. Some time passes and the wilderness photographer does not return. Yvette goes upstairs and seeing the door is ajar, cautiously approaches the door. [She fails her Alertness check.] She calls out for Félix. He moans, recovering consciousness, and she sees the room ransacked and Félix lying on the ground about 2 metres into the room. She sees no sign of anyone else. She talks to the recovering Félix, who tells her he's been better, and explains what happened when he came upstairs. She looks around the room [using her Security Skill], and sees the aggressor got in through the window, with the window partially shattered and the broken glass is on the outside. She assumes the attacker came in through the door but left through the window. She turns back to Félix, seeing that he's got the obvious bump on the head, but nothing else about him is unusual. Félix searches for the camera, and finds it lying near the credenza, smashed beyond repair, the film inside fully exposed to the light and now rendered useless. The even more exasperated Yvette tells Félix that Alain and Margareta are waiting downstairs, and he should go down and tell them what's happened; she says she'll stay in the room to look around a bit more. Félix takes the broken film that he can from the camera, hoping that something can be salvaged from it, and heads down to the main floor.
Yvette finds nothing else, no rope leading to the ground from the second floor balcony (some 8 metres down), but does find some scuff marks on the window sill and on the balcony. She checks the ground below from the balcony[, succeeding at a Search roll but only because she spends 2 Story Points to flip the roll], and finds there are (moderately deep) gouge marks from a boot or boots. She determines that because of the age of the chateau, there are typical hand- and foot-holds that someone could have used to climb up to the second floor or descend. Going back into the room, she determines the damage rendered and the search for the camera was methodical, though leaving the camera remains where they are was almost taunting Félix and her friends. She determines the camera was destroyed or struck with a hammer; the hammer was not something that would have been normally found in the room.
On the ground floor, Félix explains to Margareta and Alain what has happened. Alain is highly angry and shouts for the majordomo, Pierre Cornel, who arrives, and tells him what has happened. Cornel says he will alert Luc Mazerin immediately, and leaves. Félix says he hopes that perhaps something can be salvaged from the remains of the film, but Alain says he has other responsibilities and it will take at least two days. Félix agrees that he'll permit Alain to assign someone else to the job, and after Félix gives him the protected film remains, Alain heads for the basement, saying he'll see Chloe later. Félix and Margareta talk, and when she asks whether she should wait for Yvette or arrange for transport to the winery proper, Félix says he thinks that they should not split up as it seems to lead to them being attacked. Margareta points out that by not splitting up, the tasks will take longer and mean they will be at the Vincoeur winery longer and delay their return to Paris. Félix and Margareta go upstairs to check on Yvette.
Arriving at Félix's room, he and Margareta talk to Yvette and learn what she has found. They tell her what happened downstairs and the family's reaction (well, Alain and Chloe's at any rate), but aren't sure whether Luc Mazerin will come to the house or not. Margareta suggests they go down and look at the prints outside his room, saying that there were prints found outside the record room after she had the shelves fall on her, and thinks they should compare the prints. Going downstairs and leaving the house, they emerge into the bright sunshine of the morning. Félix leads them towards the side of the house where his room faces. As they walk, Margareta comments, "Too many suspects, but also too many things that are starting to...click a little." She tells them she doesn't think it's Remy, as he's too obvious, and it's not Alain, because she trusts him with her life. And she also believes that François isn't responsible either, because of how long she's known Alain and his friendship with the family. She says what bothers her most is that the missing wine is recorded in the main Inventory, but not as having been shipped. That means it's happening in Shipping & Receiving and that means it's an inside job. The three conclude that they really do need to talk to Luc Mazerin, the head of security, especially in light of what Félix learned at Rochefort Securitée.
Arriving near the wall beneath Féelix's room, Yvette checks things out and succeeds at a Security roll [she rolls Good Karma, and gains a Story Point]. She sees that from the point of impact, the person in question was wearing boots. She points them out to Margareta [who fails her Search roll, and spends 3 Story Points to get a Clue instead], and curses out loud. Margareta explains that when she and Claude went out to look at what could be found outside the records room at the winery after the shelving fell on her, the prints they found were not those of an "intruder" but those of a security guard who showed up afterwards. These prints match those of the security guard, and she remembers that the security guard's name was Henri Comtois. The characters note that this means the thefts *were* an inside job. They determine that the prints lead to to the road, which leads back to the winery as well as to Loisier. The characters agree they need to talk to Claude, but they also need to talk to Luc Mazerin, the head of security. However, as they note, this doesn't tell them what's actually happening with the disappearance of the wine and how it's been taken. They start walking to the winery, and start to discuss what they know of the disappearance and thefts of the Vincoeur wines and other pieces of information they've learned that may be relevant. Margareta says that when she was in Shipping & Receiving the day before, when they were taking care of the last shipments of the day, there were security guards present - but there just too many other people present and going about their business. Again, too many suspects. They discuss the matter of the iodine use (since Yvette feels that it's relevant).
Around 9:30am, the player characters and Margareta arrive at the winery to see that there are several cars present as people and staff are arriving for the wine tasting. The characters look around, and Felix notices that the doors to Shipping & Receiving are all locked up. Margareta notices that Claude Arcand is just entering the main reception area, and points this out to the others. The characters notice different types of people going into the winery for the tasting, but many of them are the bourgeoisie. Yvette notices several security guards in the area, dressed incognito and not wearing uniforms. She asks Margareta if she sees Henri anywhere, but the airline stewardess says she doesn't even see any security guards present, though Yvette superciliously says they're present. Margareta says that she can see that Hauptman is heading in again, and the player characters head inside. It is a very busy morning inside, as there are many more people present than normal due to the weekend and the wine tastings. Annette, the Wine Hostess, looks quite overworked already. Margareta and the others look around and she spots Yves Fournier [she rolls a 55 on her Alertness check for Good Karma, and gains a Story Point]. The three characters make their way over to where Fournier is. As they walk through the crowd, Yvette spots François Marchaud and also spots Chloe Vincoeur (who is just emerging from the Inventory records area, and relocks the door).
Félix and Yvette, along with Margareta, reach the area where Fournier is sitting at one of the tasting tables. He and Margareta greet each other like old friends. Fournier tells her and the others that the insurance company is paying for the plane, and that he'll have a new plane hopefully in the next two weeks. Margareta says that she heard that Fournier was bringing back something for the Vincoeurs. He tells her and the others that he was bringing back a faulty batch of wine from Paris. The Vincoeurs asked him to do so because of the cost of shipping the crate commercially. He says he doesn't know why the plane was sabotaged, but assumes it had something to do with Margareta and the player characters. Yves says he doesn't know anything about the faulty wine or the problem with it, though he knows that it came from a Parisian restaurant called Le Fatima de Boeuf. The restaurant's sommelier delivered the wine to the airport; he was planning the flight to Reims and Loisier, and the player characters' need for a flight was just coincidence. When Félix inquires, Fournier tells him that the crate of faulty wine did survive the crash. Fournier says that Alain Vincoeur has guaranteed that his first flight with the new plane will have a cargo of wine, to help offset some of the costs. The characters engage in some small talk with Fournier before disengaging with him.
The player characters go in search of François Marchaud, and spot him getting reading to head for the elevators heading down to the wine caves. Marchaud leads them to a small office off the tasting area, so they can talk in privacy. François also mentions that he first discovered the wine was missing 6 months ago when Alain asked him to look into some standard stock vintages they carry, and discovered that there was wine missing, specifically a case of 12, and two extra bottles. Margareta starts by telling him that they have records for the wine that disappeared being manufacture but not for the shipping of those wines. He explains that he doesn't handle the day-to-day business; Claude handles the inventory of what's available, and Natalie handles the shipping aspect of the business. Technically, Natalie has to sign for everything that ships out, but she has several assistants that help in this regard, notably Gaspard Cartier. Remy also has to sign for certain stuff, since he's Marketing, and has to sign for some of the wines, some of the bi-products, and so forth. François informs Felix rather knowingly that all Claude Arcand signs for is the Inventory, such as when they receive wine-making materials and the like, but those would also be co-signed for by Natalie. Receiving, not shipping. Yvette asks François about the winery's security, and he tells her that most of the cameras are for show. Only two cameras are real, one for the main shipping & loading dock, the other for the same out building that they built two years ago. The only real security for the winery is the guards provided by Rochefort Securitée. Every so often they'll catch guards trying to steal some of the wine, and they'll even let them get away with poor quality vintages. Mazarin was hired by the family, who oversees the guards from Rochefort Securitée, and the security guards work both to guard the chateau and the winery. Luc assigns the same personnel usually to the house separate from those who work at the winery. Yvette asks if any security guards or people have been hired in the last six months, but François says she'd have to talk to either Guy Allemand, head of Personnel, or Mazerin himself. [She earns a Story Point for the good question.] He tells Yvette that he doesn't think that Rochefort Securitée knows about the wine thefts/disappearances, as Jacques and the family doesn't really want this made public as it could destroy the family's reputation and wine market value. Yvette tells him what they know about the restaurant, Le Fatima de Boeuf, and the problems with them. Marchaud tells them that he trusts the people who do the individual bottling of the wine, although some of it is handled by the new-fangled automation equipment. François is surprised when they tell him that there there is no record of the disappeared wines being shipped, and says this implies to him that the switching of the wines in the bottles are being done outside the winery. They talk about the iodine solution, but that leads them nowhere. The faulty wines are disposed of, he tells them with the records being kept in the R & D division. They also talk about the wine bottles and the labelling process, and learn more about that and how the process works. The player characters come to realise that the wine bottles and the labels themselves are not part of the problem, and can't be duplicated that easily. Fran%ccedil;ois explains that the percentage of wine that disappears from the winery is low, about 25-28%, but this is acceptable, but also takes into account winery personnel and family that take bottles for personal use. He also explains that they concern themselves in this regard with higher quality and value vintages, and that most of the disappeared wines they're checking on are lower vintages.
The player characters and François are interrupted by the loud sound of shattering glass from outside. Marchaud immediately moves to the door, and opens it. The characters are greeted by a cacophany of sound and what sounds like a riot going on inside the reception and tasting area. There is a disturbance as a customer is not happy at not being able to take the bottles of wine he's purchased home, as they'll not be ready for another two weeks. In anger, he threw a glass or three down to the floor, resulting in what happened. François moves towards the disturbance. Yvette looks more closely at things, and... At first, it appears like a normal incident with an angry customer, but then she notices [spending a Story Point to enhance her information] that Hauptmann is no longer there, and she sees one of the fake mechanics from Le Bourget, and the door to the main shipping/receiving area is ajar...and even as she watches, it closes with an audible click. No one should be in the Shipping & Receiving area right now. She alerts François that someone just went into Shipping & Receiving. When she says she's sure, he tells her to stay where she is, and he goes to the door Yvette indicated and opens the door [with his key]. Meanwhile, Margareta notices that both fake mechanics from Le Bourget are moving towards the player characters. As François pulls the door open, there is the sound of a gunshot. Yvette rushes towards the door, and pulls Francois back but too late: he's been shot! The crowd in the reception and tasting area immediately panics and starts to flee in the opposite direction, making it easier for the two fake mechanics to get to the player characters and Margareta.
Félix and Margareta confront the the two fake mechanics, but both have guns pointed at them, somewhat concealed by their coats. One of them says they were warned to stay out of this business, and says they should remember that. Margareta ignores the two gunmen, and uses her air stewardess charms to calm the public down [using her Charm Ability, she flips the failed roll by spending 1 Story Point]. She herds the panicking people back to the wine tasting area, and then shuffles them out of the winery and to safety. While the others are distracted, Margareta moves to the stairs leading to the upper level and access to the office area and cranes on the second floor of Shipping & Receiving [she succeeds at her Sneak roll with Good Karma, and gains a Story Point]...
Félix confronts the two fake mechanics, but they don't tell him anything and force him at gunpoint to move towards the door to the Shipping & Receiving area. They are joined by Annabelle, who has taken one of the wine tasting guests as a hostage.
Meanwhile, Yvette pulls François to cover, and attempts to treat his injuries; she manages to bandage the wound but he's still bleeding. She looks around for something that she can use as a weapon, and she sees lots of bottles of wine. She moves around a bit, and gets a glimpse into the Shipping & Receiving area. [She fails the roll, but flips it around using 2 Story Points to succeed.] The lights are on in the shipping area, and she sees three individuals moving about and one of them is Natalie! A female voice speaks to her from behind and says to her, "Stand up and turn around, Miss Zay." Still holding the bottle she picked up, Yvette turns to see the two fake mechanics threatening Félix, and Annabelle - who is holding one of the wine tasting visitors hostage. Annabelle orders them into the S & R part of the building, and they go through the door. There are actually five people there, other than Natalie, and one of them is the security guard that Margareta would recognise [Henri Comtois]. Félix and Yvette see that the people here are busy loading a van with several cases and some individual bottles of wine. Natalie asks Annabelle who she's holding hostage, and then tells Annabelle to let the wine tasting guest go as they have the player characters and don't really need him. Annabelle quickly slugs him across the back of the neck, and the civilian goes down unconscious. Annabelle tells Yvette to put the wine bottle down on one of the nearby tables. Yvette is tempted to do something with the bottle of wine, but resists and puts it down on the table as ordered.
Natalie tells Annabelle, whom Yvette notices is carrying a wand-like device, that they should be done loading in about twenty minutes. Annabelle tells Yvette and Félix they were warned not to interfere, but Yvette asks Natalie why she's doing this and betraying the family. She says it's because of that cur, that womanizer, who treats her like dirt and doesn't respect his family - she doesn't mean to hurt the Vincoeur family, but it's all to get back at Remy, her faithless husband who goes after other women-- She suddenly asks where their friend, Margareta, is. Annabelle says that she's back outside with the civilians. Natalie orders one of the two fake air mechanics to keep an eye on the door. When asked, Natalie tells Yvette that they've switched the wines as a delaying tactic, and to be honest, it also discredits Remy's part of the business and makes the revenge even sweeter. Natalie is about to tell her something about Annabelle's connection or purpose, but Annabelle tells her to be quiet. Annabelle does tell Yvette and Félix that the "additive" they add to select bottles makes the drinker more susceptible to suggestion, and that the younger crowd coming into Le Clione (one of their favourite targets) are young now, but in a decade they'll be the power brokers and will be under "their" control and influence. Annabelle tells Félix that their purpose in doing so is about world domination and control. Félix and Yvette also learn that it was Henri, whom Annabelle says they call "Hammer Hands", who destroyed his camera with his bare fists. Annabelle says that while the records were somewhat incriminating, since they had her signature as well as the ones she had faked from Remy and Claude (she's had years of practice faking their signatures), she had the camera and film destroyed just because she wanted to destroy something of Félix's. [Petty vengeance and all.] Seeing Félix and Yvette's looking in the direction of the cameras, Natalie says they'll destroy the camera and the film before they leave, as they don't want to leave any loose ties. Natalie tells Yvette that with the disappearance of her and her friends, Natalie's life and job will be safe, and Annabelle adds that they have many friends who will concoct stories about the gunshots and all. "Why, it could have been wine corks exploding out of bottles!" she adds, with a laugh. And Annabelle adds that no one will believe their story when all is said and done, as Yvette and her friends will have no memory of the events - nor will anyone else at the chateau or the vineyard.
Annabelle tells Henri that it's time, and he fetches what appears to be a ray-gun from the van. He points it at the camera, there is a hum, then concentric rings of energy emerge and strike the camera on the ceiling, which explodes. The two female villains start discussing what to do about the player characters. Natalie goes over to a rack of wine, picks a bottle out the rack, goes over to the table with it, and pours wine into several goblets. She says to Yvette and Félix, "Have a drink. I insist." She pulls a wand-like device similar to that held by Annabelle. Félix goes and picks a goblet off the tray. A voice suddenly speaks from all over the warehouse, echoing around. Margareta says that she doesn't know who the red-head [Annabelle] is, but she says that Natalie has forgotten one thing - her. Annette counters that if she doesn't come down from the upper level, they'll put burn holes in her friends. Margareta says she doesn't think so, and Margareta lowers the boom literally on one of the fellows loading bottles onto the van. [She uses her strength to lower one of the crane winch mechanisms, having to spend 2 Story Points to flip the roll.] The fellow gets smacked into the ground, letting go of the case of wine he was moving which explodes when it hits the ground.
Using the distraction that Margareta has provided, Félix throws the goblet of wine at the thug behind him, Hauptmann, blinding him with acid burns on his face [because of the doctored wine]. Then all sorts of chaos erupts as the fight begins. Hauptmann attempts to attack Felix, but fails. Yvette grabs the bottle of wine that she put on the table. Annabelle fires her wand-like weapon at Yvette, who can't get out of the way, and is hurt and finds herself unable to move or act. Félix punches Hauptmann but he's too tough for Félix's physical prowess. Margareta drops another of the booms on another of the thugs [gaining 2 Story Points for a Good Karma check], crushing him. Natalie fires her energy weapon at Margareta, who dodges out of the way, the metal where the blast strikes exploding. The thugs fire pistols at Félix and the paralysed Yvette; Félix is seriously injured [taking 4 points of Vitality, switching it for the Wounded condition] by his attacker, while Yvette suffers a flesh wound. Believing the operation to be compromised and fouled, Annabelle says they have to cut their losses and aims her wand weapon at Natalie! Félix launches himself at Annabelle, but she dodges out of the way. Margareta attempts to literally throw a wrench into Annabelle's plans, but misses her quite badly with the wrench. Natalie isn't putting up with this, and attempts to fire her weapon at Annabelle. Annabelle fails her attempt to get out of the way, and suffers some major damage and becomes paralysed! Hauptmann sees what's going on, and dashes for Annabelle, picking her up and looking down into Félix's face. Yvette suffers some more minor damage [1 Vitality point] as the thug fires his gun at her again. The other thug fires at Félix again, and injures him but also stuns him. Félix rolls out of the way, and tries to get to cover. Margareta throws another wrench at Natalie, but misses striking a bottle of wine which showers all over her. Natalie runs for the door at the far end of the loading area. Hauptmann, carrying Annabelle, goes to the van, opens the door, and bundles Annabelle into the van. The thug that attacked Félix moves towards the van, while the other thug attacks Yvette again, striking the crate of wine she's using for protection; she hears the sound of dripping wine. Yvette throws her bottle of wine at the thug who attacked her, but misses. Margareta attempts to strike Natalie from behind again with a wrench but misses. Before she escapes, Natalie gives Margareta a pure, venomous look. With both Félix and Yvette severely injured and paralysed, they watch as Hauptmann guns the van which crashes through the docking area door, and he and Annabelle escape. As Natalie nears the door at the far end of the warehouse, it opens, revealing Luc Mazerin and a couple of guards. "Going somewhere?" he asks her.
A couple of days later, the player character and Margareta learn what has been going on. Natalie is taken into custody, and her personal records of the transactions give everything away. Her motivation, as she explained it to the player characters, is clear. Natalie was making a 30-40% profit on the stolen wine, and several other winery people were dismissed due to possible connections to the plot. In addition, Henri Comtois and a couple of other security guards are taken into custody as well, based on the evidence that Claude found. The player characters learn that the Vincoeurs don't know what drug was in the wine, but Alain suggests that it had to do with susceptibility and influencing powerful people into doing what they, whoever "they" are, want. François is doing fine, as he received medical treatment relatively quickly due to the winery staff's quick thinking. The wine was being switched at an outside location, which is currently deserted, and Natalie isn't talking. Annabelle and Hauptmann got away clean, though the somewhat damaged van was found abandoned just outside Reims. The cameras did not record the events, as the weapon fired at them completely disrupted the electrical feed. French National Security took possession of the weapon that Natalie used, though they had hoped to acquire the other special weapons.
The players also receive good news. Jacques, Alain, and Remy talked matters over. They didn't realise how deep the plot went or that Natalie was involved. The Vincoeurs have agreed to pay the characters 10,000 francs [increasing the Credit Skill by +1%] for their "assistance", as well as the bottles of wine owed them. The player characters spend the night at Chateau Vincoeur, and will fly them back to Paris the next morning. Talk over dinner that night revolves around the mystery. It turns out that Natalie had nothing to do with the wine being switched for the Italian vintage at Le Fatima de Boeuf. The sommelier brought it to the attention of the restaurant, and the Winery, because they didn't know. And the Vincoeurs have hired the sommelier to work at the winery, since she's obviously got the palate for it. :)
At one point, Remy goes over to Margareta and talks with her. "You realise, I'm not attached any more," he tells her. Margareta blows him off, giving him a good punch to the face as she does so.
Sunday's session of The Troubleshooters RPG campaign was a pretty good one, and wrapped up the player characters' first adventure. The session worked out well, and several plot threads were left open, as *censored!* is just too good a villain not to use again. The players seemed to have a good time of it, though it was obvious that Tammy felt out of her depth at points and got quite frustrated with matters several times. SteveR seemed to enjoy himself this session as well, but had a rough time of it remembering names of characters throughout the adventure, and his character didn't really work all that well with Tammy's.
Overall, this was a good wrap up session for the first The Troubleshooters RPG scenario that I ran, and I'm looking forward to running the game again in the future. This may be a while, as I need to work out how to involve both players (especially Tammy) in some of the plots in future as well. So we'll see what happens in the future. :)