The Long Hand of the New State

## Background

Mailman is working covertly away from NIL to do his own scheming, and knowing of Óphis' somewhat testy relationship with the organisation, figured he'd be the best to team up with to exact such plans. Epitaph... was a sort of accessory, with also excellent infiltration skills.

## The Meet

The meet, on the Matrix, was rather comfortable, Mailman outlining the fact that he would very much like Tomasz Koprowski's phone, swapping it with a bugged version, for surveillance and other political machinations. Both of the runners figure this to be an easy job, Óphis somewhat at ease by a familiar runner, and Epitaph happy to go along with anything, smiling and nodding with their little angelic Matrix persona.
Mailman had confirmed a handful of details about Koprowski, mainly his predatory behaviour between frequenting cafés, restaurants, clubs, and the like, alongside his frequent delinquent sort of reputation as a Tricity Ambassador, despite annoyingly, being begrudgingly good at his job.

## Legwork

Legwork really started as the two had landed in Tricity, Óphis being pulled aside by airport security (under suspicion of being a naga) and Epitaph left to panic as they were on their own with no one to look after them. After some time apart, both of them using their contacts to get through that minor set back, and both of them being situated in the airport hotel to start scheming. Knowing of Koprowski's habits, both of the runners had figured that doing the subtle swap was best at a café the ambassador frequented, also known for his frequenting of being predatory toward the staff, to which the possibility of everyone being distracted would work in their favour
All they needed to do was to stop at Soybucks to pick up the bugged phone in their rental car, and then off to go stalk this Koprowski for his routine, which included observing him going into this governmental building to actually do some work. His bodyguards, an Oni mage and a woman with extensive cyber, was also sized-up and considered at this point. Seeing him disappear into a place where neither of the runners felt confident enough to actually infiltrate, they both decided to go off to the café he frequented to exact the plan there.

## Run

The café was actually quite pleasant, the staff kind including a twink that Epitaph horribly stuttered in front of whilst ordering the second meal of the day, having this string of cafés being quite convenient and pleasant, aside from the general vibe of this being Tomasz' typical haunt, to which the staff were all understandably wary and traumatised from. Over musing with pastries, killing time and deciding on how to best distract Koprowski and his bodyguards (a plan of which included a journalist Melchior Wydra and an increasingly embarrassing phone call) to which the two concluded that the best distraction would be to let the ambassador continue on with his usual perverted behaviour, which seemed unfortunately the best option
Once the atmosphere in the café had considerably shifted to one of uncomfortable, the two runners had decided that Koprowski's arrival was imminent, to which both Óphis and Epitaph had adjourned their rather relaxed coffee-drinking for the satyr to change into an incredibly convincing disguise, and for the naga to stand guard outside, lest there be any complications. Tomasz soon arrived with his two bodyguards, promptly sat down, placed in his order, and then had decidedly turned to harassing the twink that had to deliver it to his table. Unfortunate for the twink, lucky for Epitaph who easily slinked up next to the ambassador, switched the phones, and had started to slink away, before...
The cybered-up woman had decided that Epitaph was far too close to the whole altercation that everyone was looking away from and compartmentalising on their own, shooing the satyr off, to which they had gladly and promptly left, and the exchange was done just as simple as that, stowing the swapped out phone in another Soybucks before the two could leave Tricity and return back to Seattle, with Mailman being very pleased.

## Aftermath

**Horizon World News** - **Tricity Bioweapon Attack Kills Ambassador to UN, Sickens Governor**
Late Wednesday night, Tricity ambassador to the UN Tomasz Koprowski was found dead by authorities, the cause of death determined to have been due to a buildup of toxins in the man's lymph, likely from bacterial production, although no bacteria capable of doing so was isolated from the cadaver. As Koprowski had met with Tricity Governor Gerard Koza earlier that day, Koza was inspected for symptoms quickly. No sooner had he been taken to the hospital, the Governor experienced racking pain and complained of a 'horrible itch' all over his body. Upon treatment with copious amounts of antibiotics, Koza eventually regained a stable condition, but is currently bedridden, his advisor Szczepan Kasczynski attending to gubernatorial affairs in his stead.

## Rewards

* ¥18, 000 NuYen
* 4 Karma
* 1 Knowledge Skill Rank: Polish Language

## Player After-Action Reports

**...epitaph**: i always revel in the chance to visit tricity and poland, i always love when work does that. however, i'm a bit annoyed that i still had to work with such a serpent. they even had threatened me, at some point. anyway, it wasn't so bad, i only wish that i was with my other half to truly sight-see, i'm definitely not one for ordering things and making booking on my own... was i crossed? possibly, but then again, i couldn't really care less, as long as i got to go home and got paid enough for it... :pray: