The study-room door opens hard. Priya enters with her tablet under one arm and a folder of printed closing notices in the other, visibly shaken but determined. The pages tremble once before she lays them beside Rusk’s marked export.
The Realtor with the Tablet
A new purchase is scheduled before nightfall. Rusk’s office has already requested another deleted listing, and this one is still active in the system.
Priya unfolds the notices across the table. The closing address, buyer entity, and appointment time sit beside a referral code that matches the account she traced through three shell companies.
The Realtor with the Tablet
The referral account is here again. If the closing documents carry the same submission trail, we can connect the scheduled sale directly to Rusk before anyone signs.
She pushes the folder toward you, then checks the library’s clock. At the cul-de-sac, the seller in the red cardigan, the seller with the moving-truck keys, the neighbor clutching a folder, and the neighbor by the mailbox remain with the sellers and the paranoid CEO, while you and Priya are still separated from them at the library.
The Realtor with the Tablet
We cannot wait for publication. Tell me where to send the export, or tell me how we reach that closing first. Either way, we need to move now.
Her finger rests on the matching referral code. Outside, buses hiss along the wet street, while the closing time on the notice leaves only a narrow window for intervention.
✓ Quest Accepted
Delay the scheduled home closing
✓ Quest Accepted
Send the export to a secure recipient
““This report needs to go to someone secure. Someone I trust who can publish it. I have a friend at the plain dealer. Send it in a file addressed to Lee Grant. He will know what to do. I’ll let him know it’s coming. While you do that, I’m going to go have a chat with our friend Calvin…””
FAILURE (Superb Investigation, rolled -2)
Maya Patton
Send the report as a file addressed to Lee Grant at the Plain Dealer. He will know what to do. I’ll tell him it’s coming. I’m going to have a chat with Calvin Rusk.
You read the realtor with the tablet’s guarded pause and the study room’s exposed glass before committing to the cleanest route. Your ethics keep you from trimming names or allegations for convenience, even though an edited file would move faster.
The Realtor with the Tablet
The export is on my tablet, not with you. I’ll address the complete file to Lee Grant, but the secure relay may reject the supporting records.
The realtor with the tablet starts the upload without altering a line. The relay accepts the message header, then refuses the attachment because its archive contains protected portal data and the file exceeds the transfer limit.
The Realtor with the Tablet
It failed, and the relay locked the attachment after the attempt. Lee has the notice that a file was addressed to him, but not the evidence itself. We cannot simply resend it.
The failed transfer leaves the report stranded on the realtor with the tablet’s tablet and creates a record without exposing its contents. She keeps the device and printed notices while you take the verified Rusk address from the marked export.
The Realtor with the Tablet
Go to Rusk if you must, but do not expect the file to protect you yet. I’ll preserve this copy and find a delivery route Lee can actually receive.
“I write down an address on a paper. “That is Grant’s home address. Take the tablet there and copy everything onto his computer. I need to delay this deal by any means necessary. I have to go to Rusk.””
FAILURE (Good Reasoning, rolled -3)
Maya Patton
That is Grant’s home address. Take the tablet there and copy everything onto his computer. I need to delay this deal by any means necessary. I have to go to Rusk.
You write Lee’s address on a sheet of paper and slide it across the table. Reading the realtor with the tablet’s guarded posture, you make the instructions precise, while your ethics keep you from suggesting a disguised or selectively edited copy.
The Realtor with the Tablet
I can take it to Lee, but I cannot copy protected client records onto his computer without his authorization. I will show him the complete file and let him decide what he can receive.
The realtor with the tablet follows the address, but the tablet’s archive remains locked behind her brokerage credentials. Lee can receive the report notice and inspect the papers, not obtain the full digital evidence as ordered.
The Realtor with the Tablet
Lee will have the notices and a firsthand explanation, but the tablet stays with me. I am not leaving protected records on a computer I cannot secure.
The delivery attempt creates a witness and a paper trail, but not the copied archive. You leave the realtor with the tablet preserving the tablet and head for Calvin Rusk’s office, with the closing still moving toward its deadline.
“I hold up a hand. “Wait a minute. Redact any sensitive details that may cause harm to the victims in the file. You have to do this one way or the other. Families will suffer if we cannot do this.” I step forward and hug her. “Please. Be careful. This is bigger than you or I.””
SUCCESS (Legendary Diplomacy, rolled +3)
You raise a hand, then step forward and hug the realtor with the tablet. Her guarded shoulders stiffen, but your reading of the room catches the moment her resistance gives way. Your ethics keep the request focused on protecting victims, not merely making the file easier to send.
Maya Patton
Redact any sensitive details that could harm the victims. You have to do this one way or the other. Families will suffer if we cannot. Please, be careful. This is bigger than you or me.
The realtor with the tablet exhales against your shoulder, then steps back and studies your face. The appeal lands as a responsibility rather than pressure, and the tablet’s locked archive no longer looks like a reason to refuse.
The Realtor with the Tablet
All right. I will remove private addresses, account credentials, and anything that could identify a family unnecessarily. The transaction trail and Rusk’s referral link stay intact.
The realtor with the tablet opens a redaction copy and begins marking the sensitive fields. She also finds a broker audit log attached to the archive, showing Rusk’s office requested the active listing by name.
The Realtor with the Tablet
This version is safe to show Lee, and the audit log gives him a clean lead. I can send the redacted file now, then preserve the protected original for verification.
The sanitized export leaves the tablet under the realtor with the tablet’s control while a readable copy goes to Lee Grant. Your path to Rusk remains open, and the families’ private details stay out of the report.
Quest Complete
Send the export to a secure recipient
Attribute Upgrade: Reasoning Good→Great
“I go to rusk now.”
SUCCESS (Great Agility, rolled +3)