follow that paparazzo

...clearly the thing to do is show up at the paparazzo's home and (convincingly) threaten to ruin his life forever if he doesn't hand over the photo. Abuse your position of power, really.

>>541501
go E

>>541503

>follow that paparazzo

I don't understand what you are trying to say.

>e

Bushes

You dive into the bushes where the rustling was coming from. You are thankful that you remembered to put on your impeccable suit before you left Mindy's house as it is providing you with much needed protection from the scratching branches of the bushes. Your vision is greatly impeded by the thickness of the foliage.

The paparazzo is no longer here. That slippery bugger is a lot faster than you gave him credit for.

There are more bushes to the North, East and South. Mindy's apartment door is to the West.

There is a business card here.

You hear rustling to the East.

>>541504

>Show up at the paparazzo's home

You don't know where that is.

You hear rustling to the East.

>Threaten to ruin his life forever if he doesn't hand over the photo

You shout loudly at the retreating paparazzo, shaking your fists and making general threats of violence and mayhem. You ask him if he knows who you are. You threaten to take his job.

Reputation has gone down by 5 point(s)! Your reputation is now 95.

You hear rustling to the East.

>Abuse your position of power, really.

You intend to do plenty of that tomorrow when you are in office. You have already done plenty of that with Mindy earlier.

You hear a car door slam, followed by the screech of tyres to the East.

Continue east, get his license plate number.

Maybe from that, you can identify the paparazzo, maybe take some kind of effective action against him before this all goes public. Although, really, we don't have much time. How long does it take a juicy picture to hit the presses- hours? Or less, depending on the tech level.

Practical stuff- what resources do you have to draw on, here?

>>541510
Get card. Look card.

It's a Honey-Trap you fool. This was a set-up from the beginning. Go to the meeting place this fool will demand you go so that he may blackmail you ahead of time, set off a minor explosion to cause a distraction, shoot him repeatedly in the confusion then go to his house and burn it down, eliminating the evidence.

>>541510
>You shout loudly at the retreating paparazzo, shaking your fists and making general threats of violence and mayhem.
Never, ever do that again. Nothing good can ever come from that, what if the paparazzo has a microphone? Then he now has ruining audio to go with the picture it already took!

Take the card. Listen carefully where the rustling comes from. Follow.

>>541610
>>541686
> Get card
You pick up the card

> Look at card
This red and white business card is cut in the shape of a rounded trapezoid. Bold letters cover the front and back. It reads:
Edwin Smith
Staff Writer & Photographer
!!News
90-107 Carrs Maggie Road
Tel: 3744 6523
Mob: 7805 7127

>>541608
> e
The bushes outside of Mindy's apartment are particularly thick and verdant. The branches are especially prickly.

> e
The bushes outside of Mindy's apartment are particularly thick and verdant. The branches are especially prickly.

> e
74th Street
74th street is a major artery into the city for those who wish to avoid toll roads and is usually jammed up during the day. At night, however, it is much quieter, almost deserted.

You rush out of the bushes, covered in leaves, twigs and branches just in time to see a taxi cab drive off into the distance.

> get license pate number
The number is IS 9780

> check time
The time is 12 AM. You have until dawn to clean up this mess.

> i
You have a mobile phone, a wallet, a business card and a bag of evidence. You are wearing an impeccable suit, an expensive watch, a platinum tie pin and fake Italian shoes.

>>541611
> Consider conspiracy theory
Yes, yes... you're sure that this was all a set up by the opposition to get you. They will pay. They will ALL pay.

Your sanity has dropped by 5 point(s). Your sanity is currently 12.

> Consider violent plan
Hm... not a bad idea. You'll need to get plenty of C4 and guns, not to mention a lot of matches and gasoline. You'd have to find a reputable dealer of guns and C4 first, though.

On second thoughts, this is not a very good idea. Your morality is too high (50) and your underground contacts (10) is too low to carry out such a plan.

All right, you have the photographer's name, address, and you know his car. That should be enough to clean this up.

>violent plan
No, no. We can do better than that. We know who he is, we can bring other pressures to bear.

We go for the strong-arm payoff. Basically, show up at his house, or business, or where he's going to be, with some toughs you can trust (your group has some muscle, right?). And then you very politely offer to pay him off and take the photo off his hands while implying horrible retribution if he doesn't take the offer, or if he tries this again. The soft yet hard approach.

Keep your cool this time, and watch what you say. You're a politician, and he's a reporter. Don't want to get screwed worse.

>>541697
Well, for a less violent plan, sneak into his house and release anesthetic gas into the ducts. When he loses consciousness, move in with a gasmask and write "WE KNOW" in huge red letters across his ceiling, possibly in blood of some kind. Arrange his body so that it's the first thing he sees when he wakes up, while observing him from a distance via binoculars, and when he's busy freaking out, phone him and politely ask for that photo he took of you. He'll have to give in at that point!

74th Street

74th street is a major artery into the city for those who wish to avoid toll roads and is usually jammed up during the day. At night, however, it is much quieter, almost deserted. There is a pawn shop across the road to the East. The road stretches onwards to the NorthEast and the South. The exits are West, East, NorthEast and South.

A taxi is pulled up against the curb.

>>541715
> Consider strong arm payoff
You have Edwin Smith's phone number, name and office address.

You do not currently have access to toughs. You would need to call the party for that. Calling the party will let the party leader know that you screwed up. Letting the party leader know that you screwed up is committing career suicide. You will need to use alternative methods to find toughs.

You do not have any money. You gave it to Mindy.
You will need to use alternative methods to get money.

>>541765
> Consider anaesthetic plan
You don't have Edwin Smith's home address.

Darn. This is awkward. You have enough power to have something to lose, but not enough to actually do anything about it.

Stop and think. What resources do you have to call on? If you can't afford to call on the party directly for help, do you have a friend you might be able to call on? People who might owe you favors? Or people who might be willing to have you owe them a favor?

>You don't have Edwin Smith's home address.
Couldn't you find it out with the information you already have on him? The internet, or census, or tax filings, or phone registration, etc. You should be able to look that up, or know someone who has access to that kind of information and can look it up quickly.

Do you have a cell phone? (For calling people, and/or internet browsing).

>>541894
> examine mobile phone
The mobile phone is a sleek black Nokia 3115 that comes with its own belt pouch. You got this when mobile phone technology was starting to take off and it has served you well over the years. In fact, you have it on good authority that this phone is completely indestructible. Laura keeps bugging you to get one of those newfangled smart phones but why fix something that ain't broke?

The phone contains contacts for: Edwin Smith, Gus, Hangdog Dean, Home, Laura, Mindy, Party Leader, The Party Emergency Line and Xiao Ming.

Putting something in the subject line so updates stand out from suggestions isn't a bad idea.

So we know who Mindy is, calling your wife won't help, you can't afford to bother the party leader or the party emergency line with this, and calling home won't help.

So who are these other people? How do you know them, what do they do, might they be able to help, etc.

That's a good idea. Sorry I haven't had time to update lately. Real life got in the way.

>>542173
> Examine Gus
Gus is not here.

>Examine mobile phone contacts
Edwin Smith: The paparazzo that took your picture. You don't know him very well.
Gus: Your best friend in college. Come to think of it, you haven't talked to Gus in a good long while.
Hangdog Dean: You don't know much about this guy. He gives you evidence, you pay him cash and nobody ever speaks of it.
Home: Your home number
Laura: You'd rather kill yourself than talk to her.
Mindy: Ah, sweet, lovely Mindy, with her beautiful silky hair and her voluptuous figure. She's so wonderful to you that it's so easy to forget that you've pay her for her services.
Party Leader: He-who-must-not-be-disturbed. The head honcho himself.
The Party Emergency Line: Self explanatory
Xiao Ming: This guy in Chinatown. He's the one who first introduced you to Mindy. You keep his number on you in case he ever wants a favour (and is willing to pay for the favour)

Hmm. Well, the only numbers that look like they might be useful are Gus and Dean. Gus is a longshot though- since you haven't seen him in a long while we don't know if he can be trusted with this kind of thing, or how helpful he'll be.

Dean, though. Evidence is good. If you could frame up or discredit the paparazzo, you could cover yourself. Or counter-blackmail him.

>>542716
> Call Dean
You pick up your mobile phone and call Mr Dean. It rings for some time before being answered.

"Yo S-dawg, how's it hangin'?"

You wince. You forget how frustrating it is to speak to Mr Dean. His so-called street accent is very much an affectation gleaned from the viewing of far too many American gangster movies and video games. Still, he is your only source of evidence.

Ignore and/or tolerate Dean's ridiculous accent and explain you need everything he can dig up on one Edwin Smith. You're going to need enough to blackmail or completely discredit him, and you've got a tight timetable.

>>543397
> Ignore Dean's accent
You take a deep breath, swallow your pride and just listen. It's frustrating, but you can just about ignore the falsities of Dean's accent if you squint.

>Ask about Edwin Smith
"Edwin Smith? That kinda guy's not the kinda guy I hang out with, you dig? I like to keep things on the down-low, on the low-low, you know? Different worlds, man, different worlds."

>Tell about tight timetable
"Man, sounds to me like you gotta problem."

>Ask about Blackmail
"Dude, that ain't my style. You want me n' the boys should gank him? It'll cost ya, though."

He's offering a hit? A murder might be problematic, although that depends on your position, and how well you could cover up your involvement later (you did just call the criminal who would execute said hit from your personal phone. Unless Dean's a pro, or your new position will give the weight to quash an investigation, this will come back on you later).

Arranging to have him accosted and the incriminating photographs recovered might work, but you've called a man who deals in evidence. Putting your own in his hands might be a dangerous proposition- blackmailing you could become his business, or he could sell it to someone else.

>>544167
>Consider ganking offer
Dean is hardly what one would call a pro. A thug at best, if his falsified accent is anything to go by.

>Ask Dean about Offer
"Eh, make it so he can't get inta work tomorrow, yo."