Horand Heist
Irja explains what they want her to do; copy the 'bet book' at Horand Dog Track. With the information in this book anyone could make a lot of bets that will always pay out more than the inlay. The extra difficulty here is that copying it will be useless if the dog track found out they did so because then they'd just suspend operations and bring in new dogs. They need at least a week before the crime is discovered. This might completely rule out intimidating, blackmailing, or charming staff as the risk of them breaking down and reporting the crime is high.
Rhes Haghed has brought in a gnome, Nesmin Zimmlar, who is to do the copying as he is trusted by them and good at his job (it will likely take him between four and six hours). They have less than a week to pull this off so Irja could really use her nephew's help. She can't just disappear as the criminals gave her a magical tattoo which they can use to track her, and perhaps do even more. But she tells them she did a lot of work already; they can pull off this job and make some nice money at it.
Fortunately she has done her due diligence and thus knows quite a bit about the track.
Location
Dominating the area is a large, elongated building with a public area and a staff area, stands are built up against the public area to the north and south where the two oval tracks are. The eastern part of the main building is the staff area. To east of the tracks are the dog kennels and between those are sheds with everything needed for the dogs.
Public area
The entrance is on the west side of the building, leading to a large lobby with betting counters to the north and south. Money from the betting counters is dropped down pipes which lead to a well protected underground vault. The second floor of the building contains different food vendors and lavatories that use magic to remove any waste. The top floor is a VIP area with its own catering and a great view of both tracks.
Staff area
This has its own entrance on the east side and internal stairs. The ground floor holds staff rooms including a break room and a small kitchen though food is brought from the public food court whenever possible. There are doors from here to the counters. The second floor contains administration offices mostly and there is a door here to the public food area. The third floor is the operations center from where the races are coordinated. There is a door from here to the VIP area.
The operations center itself is divided in four parts. A balcony circles three sides of the floor from which flags are used to communicate with people on the ground, though during races there will usually also be at least one person around who can cast a message spell. It also from here the announcers commentate on the races, an intricate system is used to amplify their voice across the stands.
According to Irja's sources the bet book is stored in a strongbox in the southeastern part of the operations room every night. There are supposedly three keys to the strongbox; one held by the head of operations, one held by the vice head of operations, and one held by the owner.
Owners
The track was bought, and renamed, by the current owner about fifty years ago. This Renn Horand, married to his third wife, the much younger Mia Sabba from Haza, is no longer involved in day to day operations but he can still be found at the track multiple times a week. He has four children. The eldest, from his first marriage, is Steuner, who isn’t involved in the business and spends most of his time at his pig ranch near Botunn.
His other three children are from his second marriage. The second son, Wirlig, married to Silbe, is the current head of operations. The third son, Griech, a notorious playboy, who technically is head of client relations, only comes in when fancy takes him. The youngest child and only daughter is Piccia “Pick”, dating Sam Gänsekrote, she has recently convinced her father to let her use her experience from traveling abroad by giving her the head of marketing job.
Staff
Head of Operations - Wirlig Horand. While technically in charge, he depends a lot on the work of two of the senior staff; Peter Friedman and Karl Muller. His assistant is Jess Kannfeld, a very attractive and very organized half-elf.
Vice Head of Operations - Peter Friedman. Has been here ever since Renn bought the place and can be considered a friend of the family.
Head of Administration - Karl Muller. This dwarf was brought in soon after the takeover and is a financial genius.
Head of Client Relations - Griech Horand. Absent most of the time. His assistant is Xerb, a gnome man of indeterminate age.
Vice Head of Client Relations - Dagmara Domińczyk. From Vilda, Not much is known of her prior to joining the company.
Head of Marketing - Piccia “Pick” Horand. Has come in with all kinds of new ideas including the upcoming 12 Hours of Horand.
Vice Head of Marketing - Neb Backer. Halfling, he is not happy being passed over for the head job which he thought was rightly his.
Head of Kennels - Sam Gänsekrote. Recently promoted to this position. Is responsible for everything dog related.
Head of Security - Gerri Kellman. Dwarf wizard of some repute. She has been with the company for a long time and is both feared and respected.
Operations
There are a small number of security guards present at the track both day and night with at least one having some magical capabilities. They normally stay inside the main building, going out to patrol the grounds every two hours. A few alarm spells using the audible alarm version are cast at the start of every night shift at key locations with designated guards being exempted from setting it off.
On days when races are being held, which is usually about three days a week, extra security is brought in, often they are locals who have been doing this for a long time and are relatively cheap. On some occasions Bruised But Not Broken people are hired as well.
On non-race days the public area will be virtually empty, but the staff area will still be busy, as will the kennels. At the end of any race day the Ott will send multiple wagons with a few squads of soldiers to collect all the money made, half of it is theirs. They then transport the money to the Helfrau Schwestern Bank (HSB) in the Old Town ziek.
On both race days and non-race days the bet book will normally be on a desk in the operations center. During race days it will be consulted and updated quite often, on other days, much less so. On non-race days the operations center will usually have about six people around, on race days it can be four times as many.
Upcoming events
Yesterday there was a regular race day.
Tomorrow evening Tayon Orthryn of Thal Sivale is throwing a party at his home; at least a few Horands will be there.
Three days from now there will be a new event at the track; the 12 Hours of Horand. Thought up by Piccia “Pick” Horand, this is the first time they are organizing it. Normally most dogs will race only once a day but in this setup there will be multiple heats with the winners going through to a next round until at the end of the day there will be a final race with the eight dogs that have won all previous rounds.
Six days from now there will be a regular race day.