Rich Man gathers the invoice and delivery log, keeping the receiver cord taut as he leaves the loading ramp. The empty Popsicle Joint stays behind him, fluorescent and silent.
Jonas Sutter
The former dispatch office is nearby, across the alley and up the narrow stairwell. I can guide you, but I cannot accompany you.
The route ends at a cramped room above the adjoining warehouse. Route folders sag on wooden shelves, a dead wall clock shows 2:17, and a filing cabinet bears delivery copy numbers.
Jonas Sutter
Look for VC-184. I remember a folder tied to that copy number, probably in the middle drawer. The manager kept the key.
Rich Man
The dispatch clock stopped at the same time as the shop clock.
Jonas Sutter
He controlled every route folder and signed out the cabinet key himself. If VC-184 is still there, it may show who received those four missing sleeves.
Dust lies undisturbed across the cabinet handles except for a clean crescent around the middle drawer. Jonas Sutter remains only through the receiver, while Rich Man stands alone in the office.
✓ Quest Accepted
Retrieve the VC-184 folder
✓ Quest Accepted
Identify who received the four missing sleeves
“Retrieve the VC-184 folder and Identify who received the four missing sleeves.”
SUCCESS (Fair Investigation, rolled +0)
Rich Man grips the middle drawer and pulls. The locked cabinet resists, then his legendary strength tears the catch free with a sharp metallic report.
The drawer opens. Dust spills over his shoes, and the clean crescent becomes a broad smear. Inside, the VC-184 folder lies between route files dated the same week.
Rich Man
The folder is filed by delivery copy number, not by driver.
He opens it and finds the original receiving sheet beneath a carbon duplicate. The shortage is marked in blue: four vanilla sleeves transferred before delivery.
A recipient line identifies the transfer: Northside Diner, received by clerk Mara Venn, with the manager’s initials beside an instruction to bill the shop account.
Jonas Sutter
That name fits. Northside Diner took occasional stock, but it was never supposed to come out of a counted delivery.
The forced drawer hangs crooked, and footsteps stir somewhere below in the warehouse. Rich Man has the folder and a named recipient, but the office is no longer quiet.
Quest Complete
Retrieve the VC-184 folder
Quest Complete
Identify who received the four missing sleeves
+ New Item Acquired
VC-184 Folder