I've discussed the Pink Panthers before. This clip is a Sundance short from the television feature The Last Panthers, which features (among others) the late John Hurt, and David Bowie's reworking of his Blackstar track is in the credits, for those nostalgic for a world pre-2016. Apart from giving the cunning among you an excellent Thrilling Chase moment (and some cool music to go with your game - the album's less than $10, Directors) it suggests a story idea.
Incidentally if you want to know more about the Pink Panthers I highly recommend the documentary Smash & Grab, available on iTunes.
In the Last Panthers six episode series (which I have not seen but would like to, and it is on iTunes, and I have free time, so YOINK!) the action opens with this heist, but soon delves deep into the criminal underworld that underpins heists like these. With the real-life Panthers what typically happens is that the heisted jewels are given to a Bagman to be sold to a middleman at whatever-the-current-rate is on the dollar, or Euro. The middleman forges whatever documents need to be forged, recuts the jewels when necessary, and sells the diamonds on. Diamonds being very easy to dispose of, the trade is relatively low-risk. Plus, it's basically unsupervised. Currency transactions are monitored when you're moving several thousand dollars at a time. Diamonds worth the same amount or more can fit in your pocket, and raise no alarms when you cross borders.
In the teaser the crooks get into the vault at about 1.50 and then something interesting happens. The lead throws what looks like high-value loot aside, choosing instead to rifle through a file box of stuff. The audience never gets a clear look at what the stuff is. It's organized, it fits into a small box, and looks like a collection of labelled packets.
If anything ever was a McGuffin, this is it. In series plot, the packets are individual diamonds worth hundreds of thousands, if not millions. In your game, they could be anything.
Say this theft targets a Conspyramid Node, a false front that pretends to be a jewelers but in fact provides the Conspiracy with X, whatever X is. X could even be diamonds, if you like, and the loss of same leaves the Conspiracy in a delicate financial position, or brings unwelcome attention from the insurance assessor.
Say the people who carry out the hit escape with the McGuffin, which is of vital importance at least to a National and possible International Node. Now the crooks have it, but everyone wants it. The question then becomes, how do your characters get close enough to the crooks to get the McGuffin without frightening off the crooks, or triggering a Conspyramid response?
Because there will be a response, a big, fat, screaming blood-in-its-eye response. The Conspiracy is pissed, and for once in a way it's not aiming its big guns at the agents. The four-alarm-fire bell is going off, and all the underworld wants to know where these crooks are.
The agents may also want to know something else: why the crooks targeted the McGuffin, and what they intend to do with it.
Of course, to find all that out they'll need to get close to someone who knows the crooks well. They'll need to get close to the Bagman. He's the one the crooks have been known to have used before, the one who they might use again - or at least trust, a little.
The recent resource guide features different scenario skeletons for several different possible plots, including flip operations where the goal is to subvert an important character and get them to do [X], whatever [X] may be. In this instance they have to flip the Bagman, so he'll tell them how to contact the crooks who pulled off the caper. The usual leverage won't apply here; the Bagman's known to be a crook, so revealing his criminal past or dodgy dealings won't work. Blackmail's probably a non-starter unless the agents can come up with some pretty convincing leverage.
Likely flip motivators include: kill a Renfield, or even a vampire. Prove convincingly that your knowledge of vampirology is second to none. Prove that you aren't working for the Node, perhaps by destroying Node assets. Use an Interpol (or similarly connected) Network Contact to reduce the Bagman's legal difficulties, perhaps by tearing up or losing some outstanding arrest warrants or getting the Bagman's friend out of prison early.
However, there is a time constraint. If the agents take too long, the Conspiracy will flip the Bagman. The Conspiracy has supernatural leverage at its disposal; it may even be able to divine the crooks' location through the Bagman's spilled entrails. Once the Conspiracy does that, the crooks probably have a very short shelf life.
So the scenario then moves from a flip operation to a Thrilling (possibly Extended) Chase to get to wherever in Serbia the crooks currently hide. If the Conspiracy gets there first then it gets the McGuffin. If the agents do, then they may or may not get the McGuffin but they'll definitely have to fend off or avoid the Conspiracy's rapid response team. Can the agents exfiltrate the crooks before the big bad bloodsuckers get there? Will it all end in blood & tears?
Enjoy!
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