The well-dressed man settles at Tommy’s quiet table while the waitress records his account. Before the explanation can begin, the pub door opens and Gideon Pike enters without ceremony, carrying a slim folder.
Gideon is a tall middle-aged man in a dark wool coat, with close-cropped silvering hair, a lean face, and the controlled posture of someone accustomed to secure rooms. He scans the pub once, then approaches Tommy’s table.
Gideon Pike
Tommy, I need a private table. This cannot wait, and I would rather discuss it where the cameras and the staff record who is present.
Tommy
You picked a noisy night for urgent business, Gideon. Sit down, mate. We’ll keep the conversation contained, but nobody gets secrecy without a reason.
Tommy gestures toward the booth. Claire remains beside Alex, while Lena watches from near the service area and the well-dressed man stays seated with the waitress’s account still open.
Gideon Pike
A routine review of a former Ebonstone client uncovered a threat assessment naming Alex. The source is buried behind a legitimate consulting engagement, which means the paperwork looks clean by design.
Gideon Pike
I am offering paid work to investigate the audit trail. But the first step is not retaliation or exposure. We identify who commissioned the threat, then decide what the evidence permits.
Gideon places the folder on the table without opening it. His attention settles on Alex, while Tommy waits for permission to move the discussion into the private booth.
“You nod to Tommy before even glancing at the file. "On my tab, bruv."”
SUCCESS (Legendary Diplomacy, rolled -2)
Alex Mishyma
On my tab, bruv.
Tommy gives Alex a knowing look and draws the folder-bearing Gideon toward the private booth. The well-dressed man and the waitress remain at their separate table, their account still being recorded.
Tommy
Done, mate. Gideon’s meeting is on your tab, and I’ll mark it as a professional consultation, not a personal favor.
Gideon Pike
Appreciated, Alex. Understand that paying for the room puts your name beside the meeting in my expense record. That gives you access, but it also makes your involvement impossible to deny.
Tommy sets the folder inside the booth and pulls out a chair for Alex. The cost is plain: Gideon accepts the arrangement, but the recorded sponsorship gives the consulting inquiry a visible connection to Alex.
Tommy
There you are, mate. Your tab, your seat, and your name on the room log. Now let’s hear what Gideon found before the pub gets any noisier.
“"If I had any fear about this meeting or it's ramifications, I would not have put it on my personal tab, Mr. Pike." Your face is devoid of emotion as you open the presented folder, leafing thoroughly the data.”
SUCCESS (Legendary Investigation, rolled +1)
Alex Mishyma
If I had any fear about this meeting or its ramifications, I would not have put it on my personal tab, Mr. Pike.
Alex opens the folder Gideon placed on the table and works through it page by page, tracking dates, contract language, redactions, and cross-references with steady attention. Tommy remains nearby, watching the room while the consultation stays visible on the pub log.
The threat assessment names Alex as a target inside a legitimate Ebonstone consulting engagement. Its authorization trail passes through a dormant vendor account, then disappears behind a compliance review that was opened after the threat was commissioned.
Alex finds the structural weakness: the assessment was not merely hidden, it was deliberately separated from the payment and approval records. The separation leaves matching timestamps, a reused document identifier, and an unsigned revision that points toward an intermediary rather than the stated client.
Gideon Pike
You found the useful part quickly. The named client is a screen, and the unsigned revision is why I brought this to you instead of assigning it through ordinary channels.
Gideon turns the folder slightly, revealing a payment schedule and a clipped note from the internal reviewer. Alex has the complete picture now: the threat was commissioned through a disguised engagement, routed by an intermediary, and preserved because someone expected the trail to matter later.
Gideon Pike
So, Alex, you know what the evidence says. The question is whether you want the paid assignment to identify the commissioner, or whether you would rather walk away with the warning intact.
✓ Quest Accepted
Secure Gideon’s paid assignment to identify the death-threat commissioner
“"I've done a lot of bad things in my time. But for my name to be dragged in the mud like this? No... FUCK no. I'm solving this, my way. Your name and company are hidden. Assignment, accepted." You say in a grim tone.”
SUCCESS (Legendary Diplomacy, rolled +3)
Alex Mishyma
I've done a lot of bad things in my time. But for my name to be dragged in the mud like this? No... FUCK no. I'm solving this, my way. Your name and company are hidden. Assignment, accepted.
Alex closes the folder with deliberate finality. The grim acceptance changes the meeting from a warning into an engagement, while Tommy remains close enough to witness every term.
Gideon Pike
Accepted. The intermediary is Victor Hale. He commissioned the threat assessment through the dormant vendor account and used the compliance review to bury his authorization.
Gideon opens the folder to a sealed access authorization bearing his company’s signature. It grants Alex lawful review of the vendor archive, payment records, and internal audit trail without exposing Gideon’s company as the source.
Gideon Pike
That authorization is your advantage. Hale believes the archive is protected by corporate confidentiality. He does not know I have given you a documented path through it.
Tommy
Then keep the work clean, mate. Gideon’s name stays covered, Alex gets his answer, and nobody turns my pub into a battlefield for the privilege.
Gideon slides the authorization across the table. The assignment is active, Victor Hale is identified as the commissioner, and Alex has a lawful route into the records that can prove it.
Quest Complete
Secure Gideon’s paid assignment to identify the death-threat commissioner