The Sampson Inheritence

[Shadell]

Jacob speaks up. "So we are supposed to work it out amongst ourselves in this place?"

Lawrence nodded. "Yes. I will be here to render my legal assistance and properly record if anyone leaves."

[Knight Errant]

"Seems simple enough... what is there to be divided then? In other words, what we going to be haggling over?"

[AshK]

"That's what I was wondering as well."

[Shadell]

"Seems simple enough... what is there to be divided then? In other words, what we going to be haggling over?"

Lawrence reached into his briefcase and produced several sets of paper.

"This estate. Mr. Sampson's Summer home, approximately 300 million dollars worth of stocks, bonds and other investments including key interests in several major companies, and... a few other things as well."

[AshK]

"That sounds interesting."

[Knight Errant]

"Why the haggling? I mean... split even between us that would be more than enough to live great for the rest of our lives..."

He looks at the rest of them. "I mean... come on... dont you think so?"

[Zoey]

Emil nods. "That would be way easier and faster. Why not do that?"

[AshK]

"I think that's a good idea as well."

[Alissa of Someday]

/Glancing at the rather frenetic array of property for a moment, Will pauses./

"What exactly...does the will say?"

[Shadell]

"Why the haggling? I mean... split even between us that would be more than enough to live great for the rest of our lives..."

He looks at the rest of them. "I mean... come on... dont you think so?"

Lawrence smiled and started to answer. Be dramatic the will had said; besides, it was more fun this way. He allowed the group to talk for a few moments, sitting and watching the group dynamics. Splitting it evenly was a good idea; but, it greatly diminished the profits any individual could make. If they just took all seven days and five people decided to split it evenly amongst themselves then they could easily almost double the substantial fortunes they'd be inheriting. Of course, no one would want to be in the excluded minority. Of course Sampson had anticipated this outcome. Which is precisely why he'd written the letter.

/Glancing at the rather frenetic array of property for a moment, Will pauses./

"What exactly...does the will say?"

Lawrence smiled. It was the smile a shark, or perhaps a lawyer, gives when it encounters a helpless little fish that has almost swam into its mouth without even realizing that there is a hungry shark around.

"I'm glad you asked." Lawrence began. Slowly he reached into his briefcase and produced a short hand-written note. "Actually, as part of the terms of the will; I am not allowed to read the exact wording of the will to you. However; Sampson did leave a letter explaining why he bothered to set up a lottery like this instead of relying on the age old practice of nepotism." Lawrence, with exaggerated care, produced a pair of reading glasses and in a slow, almost monotone, drawl, began to read the note.

"Hello. I am Jeffrey Sampson. If you're listening to this I'm dead. Don't bother pretending to be sad, my death means that you people hearing this have, through no merit of their own, walked into an opportunity to inherit money and power beyond your wildest dreams. Besides, I'm not the kind of person who gets missed. I made my own fortune by crawling to the top of a pile of corpses so to speak. I overcame those above me and used those below me. Through luck and ingenuity I came to rest on top of the pile. And that is why you are here.

I could easily have given my substantial wealth to those I know and love or some charity. Indeed, a small portion of my fortune has gone to those aforementioned interests. Unfortunately I carved out a small kingdom during my lifetime. I created, not necessarily an empire; but, a substantial fund that could easily be put to important use in the world. My nephews, nieces, cousins, etc, (I have no children) are woefully unprepared to deal with this amount of money in such a way as to not destroy everything I've created. I wouldn't trust them to manage a shoebox much less over a quarter billion dollars. Of course, I could have gone to some trusted heir; but, that's simply boring.

And thus, I have created this process. You entered your names in a random lottery and won. Clearly you have good luck. Now, you must prove your intelligence. Turn to the people sitting around my table. Every one of them is your enemy. Backstab them for they will surely twist the knives they plant in your back. Whether the knives be literal of figural I care not. I care not, so long as you cannot be found guilty of any crime before you obtain enough wealth to hide that crime. Work through what means, but divide my fortune through bargaining, treachery and trickery. These, along with the previously noted luck are the skills through which I have amassed my fortune. Much as ancient cultures rewarded those with the largest biceps or the quickest legs, I have decided to reward those with the cruelest and most agile minds. I care not to what end you work; but, so as to prevent conclusions contrary to my Darwinian intent from occurring I have established a set of rules regarding your debate. Six of these you will here now." Lawrence paused. "The note is signed Jeffrey Sampson."

After smiling for a few moments longer Lawrence continued. "The three conditions I can give you are thus. 1. It is acceptable if one person alone inherits all of my wealth while the others get nothing, or sums less than 500,000 dollars. 2. You must stay within the grounds for seven days. If you leave for whatever reason you are not permitted to receive anything less than 50,000 dollars. 3. You are not allowed to here either the number, or the nature of other rules until they come up in debate, at which point Lawrence will reveal them to you. 4. Lawrence has my authority to arbitrarily reject any agreement he dislikes. 5. If you can not receive a satisfactory agreement by the end of the seventh day, all of you will receive 10,000 dollars and be forcefully removed from the premises. 6. You may, at any time, take 10,000 dollars and give up any rights to the rest."

Lawrence smiled as he gave the group but a moment to let the words sink in. "Now, as for the rule you have just happened upon." he coughed briefly and adjusted his glasses, "9. Obviously I will not allow you to divide the wealth evenly amongst all contestants. Such a classically liberal conclusion would defeat the entire purpose. Rather, I wish the most Machiavellian of you eight to succeed. Therefore, under no circumstances are more than 6 of you 8 to receive any amount of money greater than 500,00 dollars."

Lawrence removed his glasses and carefully placed the note back into his briefcase.

[Ookalf]

Sounds... needlessly complicated.

[Shadell]

Lawrence glanced at Ashley. It was needlessly complicated; but, as the person who was in charge of making sure those rules were followed, the complications lay most harsh on his end. And he would not be rewarded for mastering them at all. Actually, he was lucky, as Sampson went the plan seemed rather simple. The man usually took more steps to ensure his plans succeeded than the comparatively simple rules he'd set down. The man practically seemed to scheme of twelve strategies at once. It was what had enabled him to become so rich.

"Sampson had very special intents. Of course, as the potential inheritor of up to 300 million dollars you can hardly complain if the rules are complicated, can you? Besides, there's always the simple rout of eliminating everyone else here if you don't want to deal with a convoluted set of rules."

((The rules should only come into effect during any sit downs with Lawrence, those won't be the focus, so don't worry about them so much unless you seriously intend to win this by bargaining and business behavior in a civil setting. They're to encourage under the table actions.))

[AshK]

"Okay care to explain a bit more?"

[Zoey]

Emil looked at everyone on the table with a conserned face. This was going to be way harder than expected, but he quite didn't get something. "So old man. What, we have to cage up everyone in the basement or make them dissapear? How exactly do we win?"

[Shadowmaster]

While the others were asking questions, Jim sat there, taking in the informations and thinking. All these rules...as opposed to the alternative. It would definitely be easier to get rid of everyone else, and I seriously doubt I'll be the only one to think of that. Though it seems more than a few want a peaceful end to this whole ordeal. Maybe I can make an alliance with them... Oh well, there'll be time to think of ways to win later. I'll just take all this in for now.