The folder slides to a stop in front of Max Mason. The Private Investigator watches him over the desk, shoulders tight, waiting for the choice to land.
Max Mason
The file is heavier than it looks.
Max takes the manila folder. Inside are stills from the viral video, a blurred face circled in red, and a printed address for a shuttered office on Delancey Street.
The Private Investigator
That upload hits hard because it looks clean. Someone wants it to spread. And they want you on the hook.
A fresh thud rattles the apartment door, and the frame shivers again. The investigator turns his head, listening, not relaxing.
The Private Investigator
If they know you got that folder, they may come back tonight. But if you want the truth, that address is where the trail starts.
✓ Quest Accepted
Protect yourself from whoever is at the door
+ New Item Acquired
Manila folder
“Can we get out of here before they break through the door?”
NO (Even, rolled 74)
The heavy thud against the door repeats, louder and more deliberate than before. There is no time to slip away unnoticed.
“What should I do ?”
SUCCESS (Good Reasoning, rolled +1)
Max sets the folder down just long enough to pull the chain lock free. The door buckles again, and the private investigator shifts from the desk toward the apartment entrance, urgency tightening his shoulders.
The chain snaps taut as the door jerks inward, then holds. The wood groans, but it does not give.
The Private Investigator
Take the folder and go. Now.
Max Mason
What should I do?
The Private Investigator
Leave through the back stairwell. If you stay, whoever is out there gets both of us.
Max has the lead in hand, and the apartment is no longer the safest place to stand. The thudding at the front door continues, hard and impatient, while the investigator stays by the entry, ready to hold it as long as he can.
“I head for the back stairwell”
SUCCESS (Good Agility, rolled +1)