Or. We could set fire to the vault once we take the stuff we can carry.
It has a literal sarcophagus full of semtex. All we need to do is set a timer, and it'll blow the entire place sky-high.
Oh my
god people.
When the plan is "try to subtly steal things without alerting the Technocracy and giving them reason to send people with Time 2 to poke around at the location of the theft", guess what
doesn't keep things covert?
Yes. You guessed it. Acts of domestic terrorism like "Blowing up the home of a Hollywood producer with semtex".
So. Yes. We are going to take what we can, and we are going to leave the rest where it is. We are not going to destroy it to "keep it out of someone's hands". We are not going to draw attention to ourselves. This is a heist, and that means we are going to stay on mission, get in, get out, and get even (by stealing LaCroix's stuff).
Loot...
So, choose three things you're looking for from this set of bulky or otherwise difficult to move objects. One of them has already been chosen for you.
[X] An old-style Iteration X quantum computer, potentially rich with valuable data.
[X] Several old paintings which seem to have mystical power imbued in their paint and their artistry. Most of them show scenes which are terrifying and ever so slightly tinged with eroticism.
[X] A file cabinet full of documents.
These documents are ones that LaCroix has his ghoul keeping in a vacuum-sealed vault. They are things he is protecting as well as his personal memoirs from his living days and his "would get him staked by the Camarilla" heretical copy of the Book of Cain. That means that they are important. They may be details on the inner workings of the Camarilla (so they're valuable to all kinds of interested parties), they may be information on his dealings with al-Saud (which would be very useful for the party), they may "merely" be his extensive financial records which Donald could use to carve off bits of LaCroix's business empire. They're a party box, but they're a party box of things which are all promising.
As for the paintings - well, they're liquidatable assets. Paintings have resale value on international black markets, and as Donald has PU 4 he can no doubt find a way to render them down into primal energy if they can't be sold. I don't know what they do, and I don't really care - but classy art theft is a vital part of heists and might mislead people who are after us. And hey, they'll look good hung up in Donald's office.
Jamelia: "Terrifying scenes tinged with eroticism. In your office."
Donald: "Well, I need something to look at that's terrifying and yet subtly erotic for those times when you're not in here criticising me."
Jamelia: "..."
Donald: "Hah! Rendered you speechless! Score one for the Donald!"
EDIT Changed from the paintings to
[X] The Film Reels
...and Plunder
Same thing. Choose three things in total from the moderately more convenient stuff that can be easily carried out. One has been chosen for you.
[X] Several briefcases worth of hundred dollar bills.
[X] A Hermetic Sword of Mars. Most Technocrats can identify these weapons-they were a common tool of House Janissary, wielded easily by even untrained men and women and capable of cleaving through even heavy cyborg armor.
[X] Ownership papers for various low-class housing projects in Los Angeles.
The ownership papers are assets which can be laundered and sold on. Nothing fancy, but PU says that you can draw PE from assets and transfer them around. Or just sell them for Resources. Either/or.
As for the Sword of Mars, it's either something that can be rendered down for PE by extracting the trace exotic materials which went into its construction as well as the various rare alloys which are kin to primium (like orichalcum, siderite and lunargent), or potentially - given the kinship in parts between the Hermetic paradigm and the Technodigm - it's possible that Henriette might be able to stabilise its unstable RD construction into something more Techno-acceptable (add a lattice of nanotubes and a monomol edge) and then Rose can use it.
Because I have the gut feeling that we may well need her to cleave through heavy cyborg armour, and her primium daggers might not cut the heavy cyborg mustard. Hells, Rose might even be able to reforge it herself, by calling on her Reina knowledge for swordsmithery. But we'll need PE if we are going to convert it, hence the other choices including things that can get us PE.
Evacuation Considerations:
So, with that in mind, how are you going to get yourselves out of the mansion?
[X] Write-In: Problem Alchemy To The Rescue
Sitting in the impromptu command centre, Donald spins on his office chair. He's got numbers on fast-dial prepared on his laptop, and he's wearing a headset. "Ashford. Guo," he says. "Designate your extraction targets and send me details on them. If they have name-tags or serial codes, this will make things easier."
"Uh... yes!" Rose says. There's the sound of quiet debate between her and Wufan. "So... they're serial tagged. Collections 0023, 0102, 0002, 0007, 0026 and 0082. Wufan's sending the pictures now and..."
He listens to her descriptions. He's a little surprised at some of the things that LaCroix has down here.
"Good. Strike team, leave the vault, re-seal it, and blend in with the staff. Henriette," he says, glancing at the redhead who looks better with her speech. "Remember that voice synth I asked you to prep with Mr Mallion's profile. Bring it online, please."
"On it," Henriette says, leaning over her computer. She's not typing here - it's all being done wirelessly. "Voice synth active on your machine."
[Henriette - Forces 2 - With access to profiles of the man harvested from social media, she can create a voice synth which makes the speaker sound like the target. It's a lot easier over phone lines, when you don't have the issue of lip synch. Enhanced by Int + Computers]
[Donald - Entropy 2 - The people there are tense and on edge, and they suspect that there might be an attack at some point. It's perfectly natural for them to have items moved away to a safer more hidden location. Hell, they're expecting it. As long as everything seems right, Donald can play off the stories that people tell themselves and channel truthiness to make things
feel right so the system works just like it's meant to. Enchanced by Manipulation + Subterfuge, and "Narrative Inevitability" speciality applies.]
With a press of a button, Donald sends the emails to a certain armoured van service operating in the LA area. They're quiet, precise, and respond well to queries for their services. He's used them before. But first he has to coax Mallion's estate into letting the armoured van just waltz in.
"Henriette, make Mallion's cell go flat. Don't want him calling up and interfering," he says.
"ETA... oh, right now. Done."
"Good." He dials the number of the household manager that Henriette scraped from Mallion's phone. "Jameson," he says tersely, mimicking Mallion's manners. He's been listening to those phone calls, and now with Henriette swapping his voice, he sounds right too.
"What is it, sir?" says the man's very English underling.
"There's been a call from a friend of a certain acquaintance of mine," he says. "He's sending a truck to move certain things that he wants kept somewhere else." He makes sure to get the hint of unquestioning obedience in there. "He's worried about security. He says he wants to move 0023, 0102, 0002, 0007, 0026 and 0082. Prep them and get them ready for the D'Accord armoured van so they can be collected."
"Sir? Are you sure that..."
"He
has to get it done before the sun goes down tonight," Donald says, letting urgency creep into his voice. "He wants to know they're safe! Get it done, Jameson!"
"... very good, sir," the man says. "Is that all?"
"Yes. My cell's low on battery so it might go flat before I get home, but I'm coming back as planned. See you later." Donald hangs up, and switches his line to Rose and Wufan. "I've got an armoured van coming and have got them to prepare those items for transport - I pretended to be Mallion. I want you two on that van, to keep it safe. And steal it if the LAPD try to stop it. You'll almost certainly be followed. Keep it quiet, keep it under the radar, and if all goes as planned, you should be able to lose them in rush hour traffic."
"If you want me to hack the traffic control network, I've already done that," Henriette injects smugly. "I also have a microdrone in place by the entrance to his estate to get override access to the armoured van so I can drive-by-wire if needed."
"... thank you, Henriette," Donald says.
