Contacts

"It's not always about what you, but rather who you know," ~Old Nofre Proverb

Contacts in Zephyr - Tales from the Void

An important part of investigations as Agents in and around the Commonwealth is being about to reach out to people with certain sets of skills and resources you need to complete your assignment. Contacts are the people you have met throughout your travels and previous jobs that can help you when you are in a pinch.
In order to determine your starting contacts and their attributes, an Agent receives a number of Connection points equal to 1 + Charisma modifier (with a minimum of 1 point). When spending a Connection point to acquire a Contact, the Agent first chooses a Contact from the list below. If the player so chooses, they may also provide a brief backstory associated with the Contact - perhaps how the Agent met them or where they currently work.
Contacts work much like tool proficiencies in 5th Edition. Having a contact gives the Agent the ability to make checks when attempting to procure good, investigate areas of interest, or drum up certain types of work. In order to make a check, however, the Agent must first get in touch with the Contact and then potentially negotiate arrangements on how the Contact will pursue the request - this is particularly true of dangerous or expensive requests.
A Contact has three primary attributes to consider when interacting with an Agent: Loyalty, Reach, and Influence. It is largely assumed most Contacts will not be directly involved in combat, so many of the traditional attributes are unnecessary. However, the Mastermind can develop these as needed.
The maximum a Contact attribute may ever be is 6.
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Anatomy of a Contact

Loyalty. This determines the relationship between the Contact and the Agent. Most Contacts start with a Loyalty score of 1, meaning they are an acquaintance and likely more interested in money from the Agent than the history between them.
A Loyalty check (see below) will determine the Contact's willingness or availability to help.
Reach. In order to determine just how effective a Contact can be, the Agent and Mastermind must consider reach. This is a measurement of how deep they can go into their field of area of expertise. Less reach means higher cost and makes it more likely a Contact will refuse the work. The higher the reach the more likely it will be they know something about what the Agent is looking for within the Contact's area of expertise.
Influence. Within the Contact's Reach, how much influence do they have? With a score of 1, they know a guy who knows a gal related to the task at hand. With a 6, they are the mover and shaker in this topic and people in their field will instantly know their name.
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Making Contact

The first step is to reach out to the Contact for help. The Agent makes a Charisma (Negotiations) check with a step DC equal to Moderate (10) + 1d8 Availability - the Contact's Loyalty score. Success means the Agent was able to reach the Contact, able to convince them to listen to the proposal, reminded them of a favor they owed, or perhaps all of the above. Failure simply means the Contact was not available or unwilling to talk about the work this time around.

Charisma (Negotiations) check vs. DC 10 + 1d8 Availability - Contact's Loyalty

Determining Risk

After meeting with the Contact, the Agent then makes the pitch and tries to convince the Contact to do the job. How likely is it the Contact will be able to complete this task depends entirely upon the risk and their Reach.

Risk	Step Modifier	Description
No Risk	0	Trivial requests like delivering food or asking for directions.
Easy	1	These are everyday types of requests. Setting up a meeting lower-level management or petty crime bosses. Locating hard-to-find, but legal goods. Navigating to a location not considered dangerous.
Chore	2	Getting a contact to loan equipment up to 500 notes. Access to a syndicate Node. Grey Cap patrol schedule. Meeting with a mid-level crime boss. Finding an illicit goods dealer
Concerning	3	Find or give access to a restricted area in a low-level syndicate facility - back of a store front, a medical lab, weapon runner trails. Locating a specific, high value item in the city
Risky	4	Short-term loan of up to 5,000 Notes. Access to mid-level syndicate facilities and information. Blueprints, departmental budget records, ancient vault entrance. Detailed historic information on an ancient burial site
Perilous	5	Access to high restrictive areas such as syndicate headquarters or intelligence facilities. Meeting with high level executives or politician. First hand account of journey through forgotten labyrinth
Ludicrous	6	A loan for up to 50,000 Notes. Meeting the CEO or owner of small- or medium-sized syndicate. Get a message to the Sovereign. Find the exact weapon used in a specific battle during the Unification War

Is the Agent asking a gun runner to find them a new pistol (low risk) or are they asking the Crown Prince's butler to get the Agent access to the Rynmark Royal Palace (ludicrous risk). When determining the final DC of a task, the Mastermind must first consider whether or not it is a request the Contact is capable of completing - its Feasibility.
In order to determine Feasibility, subtract the Contact's Reach score from what the Mastermind determines to be the Risk modifier listed on the table below. This is the Feasibility and is the Step modifier to the DC of the Contact check.

A few notes

If the Mastermind determines there is no way a Contact could complete the task, then there is no need to determine the Feasibility and the the conversation is over with that Contact.
No Feasibility can be lower than 0

See Rules & Mechanics for more information on DC Steps

Risk - Reach = Feasibility

Determine the Cost

Finally, how much the Agent is going to have to pay in order to accomplish the task - hey, money keeps the lights on in Rynmark, pal.
The Cost to the Agent is in the form of Wealth. To determine the final Cost, subtract the the Contact's Loyalty from the Feasibility of the task and compare it to the table below. This is how much it will cost the Agent to complete the task.

Feasibility - Influence = Cost

How much is this gonna cost?

Cost	Wealth Expense
1	1
2	1d2
3	1d3
4	1d6
5	2d3
6	2d4

Keep in mind, this is not just money for the Contact, but also the funds necessary for bribes, pay-offs, information, purchases, and anything else related to the request. In other words, trying to hustle the Contact will not usually result in a reduction in cost.

Completing the Task

Finally, after all of the costs and risks have been established, the Agent reduces their Wealth score by the agreed upon amount (from the table above) and the Contact starts their legwork. The Agent now makes a success check by rolling 1d20 + the Agent's Proficiency bonus + the Contact's Influence attribute. If there is a given or established DC for the task, the Mastermind should use this. If no, the DC is equal to DC 12 + the Feasibility Step of the . If successful, the task is completed in the time frame listed in the Difficulty table above. If the roll is unsuccessful, the task or job was not completed and, well... thems the breaks, kid.

d20 + Agent's Proficiency Bonus + Contact's Influence vs. Task DC

Improving Influence, Loyalty, and Reach

Each time an Agent invests Connection points into a Contact, they may increase one of their attributes by +1. Any time an Agent may gain an attribute point from leveling up, they may instead choose to gain 3 Connection points. 
Additionally, Contacts may also gain attributes through work performed for the Agent. Whenever a critical success is rolled on the final success check for a Task, the Contact gains +1 to an attribute chosen by the player.