Ripped from the Headlines: Wine Heist

This week's post is inspired by a Guardian article about a daring wine heist in which two thieves with plausible faces suckered a Spanish establishment and walked out with priceless wines.

The TL/DR: the seemingly respectable pair booked a suite at Atrio in the city of Cáceres, which has a 2-star Michelin restaurant attached. While the front desk (and thus the security camera system) was unattended one of them crept into the cellar and made off with 45 bottles, including 'a valuable 1806 Château d’Yquem and at least six other 19th-century bottles' (from the article). The hotel owner alleges that the pair must have been stealing for a collector, since the bottles are easily identifiable and could not be sold on the open market.

My take: whoever it is must have an excellent understanding of the hotel's infrastructure, and further, that this probably only happened because of Covid. It's difficult to imagine an establishment as prestigious as this so under-occupied as to allow easy access to the wine cellar unless there weren't as many staff and customers as usual. Even one more pair of eyes could have prevented this. 

You have to wonder what the thieves' Plan B was if the staff member at reception returned before the person swiping the wine got out of the cellar.

We've talked about wine before. We've even talked about Château d’Yquem, three bottles of which were among the hoard found under the floorboards of a Czech castle. 

From James Cleur

Let's gamify this.

The Double Tap ruleset introduces Cameos: "The Director can set scenes in these instant locations, run the thriller action montage right through them, or just sprinkle them into her subconscious. 

Each Establishing Shot includes a quick “stock footage” description, followed by the extras (and any Cameos) you might run into there, three clues, and any sensible rules effects."

So:

Michelin Starred Restaurant. 

A holy temple of cuisine. Many spend all their lives trying to book a table here. Others, the apostles of gastronomy, consider this place home. Those who have the privilege of dining here do so in hushed reverence. It takes passion and talent to obtain even one Michelin star, never mind more than one. There are only 13 restaurants with 3 Michelin stars in the whole United States.

No muzak here; even the architecture is a cut above, a blend of modernist fantasy with elements of ancient splendor. Though every possible pain is taken to ensure the guest's comfort, those with some Tradecraft experience notice the security cameras thoughtfully placed here, there and everywhere. The architecture may be a cut above, but the designer planned for every eventuality.  

Attentive staff bustle back and forth between tables, each highly trained and experienced; you have to be the best of the best to work here. Those fortunate enough to find a place may stay for years, perhaps decades, becoming a fixture of the establishment. The chefs are world-renowned and many who come here make the pilgrimage specifically to sample that particular chef's version of a favorite dish, which shall be different from any other version of that dish they may have sampled before. 

It's not unusual to see the great and famous, perhaps playing at Gordon Gekko, preferring to be seen to be here rather than seen to eat here. Nevertheless those who find their way through the front door are often simply the wealthy, for whom fine dining is less important than expensive and famous dining. Those at that table over there - the one being attended to personally by the chef - are those who came here to eat. When all is said and done, a Michelin restaurant prefers those who prefer food. Money's important, fame important, but fine living trumps both. 

extras and cameos: A VIP and their entourage, including bodyguards sat at the next table trying not to look like a bunch of thugs. A well-placed NPC or Cameo, like an Edom Legacy or Duke. A Russian plutocrat conspicuously out of place, trying to look as if they belong. A couple enjoying their Diamond Anniversary. A day trader with money to burn wondering what all the fuss is about, making loud and inappropriate telephone calls to the displeasure of all. A highly placed government official, Conspiracy asset or similar ranking apparatchik. An agent's Familiar Foe (p 52, Double Tap). 

clues: Though the staff are as attentive as you'd expect, for some reason they're avoiding that table over there. The fellow in the expensive suit seems particularly pale and sickly. Those with Occult notice peculiar sigils worked into the architecture, as if set up as a means of warding off evil - or inviting it. That painting - isn't it a [INSERT USEUFL NAME HERE eg Francis Aytown from the Dracula Dossier]? How peculiar to see one of those in this establishment; it seems out of place.

rules effects: due to the proliferation of security cameras any Infiltration attempt is at +1 Difficulty. Any overt violence increases Heat by +1, in addition to any other Heat increases that might normally accrue. Agents with Excessive Funds or High Society pools of 2 or more are fawned on by the staff, and possibly also the chef. A successful Theft here (the artwork, the contents of the wine cellar, similar) gives the agents Excessive Funds for one scene only.

in a fight: Horrors! That such a thing could happen here! Alcohol and fire - try not to clock someone with the 1806 Château d’Yquem. The VIP's bodyguards are probably armed. That chef's knife could be very useful but so could the steak knives, in a pinch. Why not use a table cloth like a cloak, for cloak-and-dagger fighting?

in a chase: Terrain varies between cramped and open and the architecture isn't helpful; damn difficult vaulting a modernist masterpiece. A restaurant whose main structure dates back to the Nth century might have old secret doors and passages known only to a favored few. Even more modern restaurants might have a 21-Club style secret door hiding the wine cellar. Running through the kitchen isn't going to win you any friends but might get you out the back way through the deliveries door. A quick Disguise as staff might work, if the staff are already friendly (on account of that High Society pool of 2 points or more) - the staff knows how difficult it is to keep the paparazzi at bay. On the other hand the staff all know each other very well so that same Disguise may be your doom, if the staff aren't friendly.

That's it for this week. Enjoy!