The Empire Club/Session 15

Last Time:
*The Club decides to spread rumors about Cassie with the goal to flood the field and confuse people about the meat and blood outfit.
**Christophe, eager for bigger and better stories than our petty affairs and wanting to start the move to a denouement, goes with the most salacious option to cause some drama
**The rumor melange that takes hold is that Cassie is making a point about depredation, and using occult symbols to do so. Only Dalthadi rituals could be used to do so 
*Cassie is kicked out of her house by Doctor Sorothin as a result. She launches a public attack against the Empire Club as being a Dalthadi den of sin
This Time:
*Dealing with the disaster that is Cassie
**Cassie is a guest at the expense of the SNPs at the Hotel Egemont with a spectacular view of the Aeldrum wastelands
*The whip visits Mme. Gauthier
**They fight for respect and dominance in Mme. Gauthier's office
**The whip makes it clear to Mme. Gauthier that the Cultural Coalition would rather have its importance in governing the club remain unknown. They do not benefit from having their influence over a major institution being made public and attacked like this.
**Mme. Gauthier makes the argument that the SNPs could be made a common enemy by the Coalition and other powers. Push back a little against the rumors, but not too forcefully. Label Cassie a know-nothing, debutante.
***Have many of the religious parties and other political factions support the Club
***The whip counters that many other religious factions might just let the Cultural Coalition and SNPs sling mud at each other
***Mme. Gauthier brings up that the Minister of Finance is a member of the club and that the Industrialists are unlikely to abandon him
**They squabble about the office decor and architecture, "It's neoclassical." - Vince
*Magda's idea - The Stepford Wives Solution
**"Christophe, Is lobotomy still practiced in Aeldrum?" - Wes' opening line
**We oppose Cassie by bimbofying her. We have The Butcher poison her so that it looks like she had a drug overdose/psychotic break.
**Rather than lobotomize her, we can just have an artist release some film of her from a decade ago
*Magda and Cassie do lunch
**Magda sees Cassie make a statement to a few tabloids
*Cassie does an interview with a journalist to reveal Magda 
**Cassie's interview is interrupted by someone offering her a very large novelty drink
**Cassie chases the individual away, but keeps the drink for later
*She drinks it in her room and is caught by the paparazzi to be an actual drunk. Her reputation does not do well
*The board decides they should probably vote Cassie off the board and look for who's funding her
**They may also invite the paparazzi in to explore the Club and see that there's nothing Dalthadi going on
**Magda and Mme. Gauthier look into Cassie's finances and realize that she is committing massive fraud and embezzling from everyone and everything (including the Empire Club, the Club is mildly implicated)
**Cassie's debt is somewhere on the order of 30-50 million ducats. (For reference the Empire Club has a valuation of ~22 million ducats.)
**Dalton looks to "launch the toxic asset bomb that is Cassie to the Izoth estate"
**The financial threat that Cassie poses is the real threat to be dealt with
*Cassie issues a weak response to the news story of the day
*Frank the Basalt Man lets the Club know that he is proud of his progress and invites the members down to visit his workshop
*Cassie leaves the Hotel and is accosted by some thugs who tell her that Patrocles needs his money in the next three days.
— We learn about girls, guns, and girls that are guns thanks to Dustin —
*(The rest of the Club goes to visit the Finance Minister, they ask him what his favorite gun is. He reports that he does not shoot guns.)
*They for real invite him to the Empire Club and let him know that they will need to file suit against a board member. 
**He allows his tea cup to shake for exactly 3 seconds to communicate his dismay.
**Mme. Gauthier lets him know that the Club has found financial discrepancies in her records and that the club would like him to place a civil asset forfeiture against her and to slow roll the case
**The Minister points out that he might have a conflict of interest given that Carl Sorothin is a close friend of many members of the Government. He offers to circulate a memorandum to the Aeldrum Credit Council and will see what he can do to keep it out of criminal court
**Aeldman Historical Society can add us to Aeldman Register of Historic Places, give us a nominal grant, and give the Aeldman govt standing to sue Cassie in civil court, and get us listed as plaintiffs and not collaborators – this is the final plan. The Baron gets a seat for his trouble
Category:Session Summaries