The Dead Setters only had 2 players this week, but what were we gonna do? Not play?

The Dead Setters only had 2 players this week, but what were we gonna do? Not play?

The Feast For Crows Caper

I was running for Teatime the Whisper and Raven the Hound. Last week the gang allied with the Crows’ formerly alive former leader, Roric, who was currently a vampire in charge of an upstart gang called the Vultures, a bunch of loyalist Crows who bailed on Lyssa when she betrayed her master and some new recruits who didn’t mind working for the undead.

The plan was Infiltration. The gangs deemed a ground approach too risky, due to the Crows’ network of scouts and paid-off Bluecoats. Roric and his Vultures would cause a distraction in the tunnels below the Crows’ HQ while Teatime and Raven (they argued for more help from the Vultures but Roric said he needed his men with him) used the rooftops to parkour their way to the watchtower roof.

Because the gang didn’t take downtime between sessions, I considered that the Crows didn’t know they were at war yet. Still, they were a Tier higher than the Dead Setters, and this and that and this and that.

Didn’t matter. 6 on the engagement roll, and we picked up as the PCs rolled the tower guard and went for speed, blitzing down through the watchtower before the Crows could muster an organized response.

Raven was on fire. She ably tracked Lyssa down in the middle of the Crow leader’s personal gearing-up montage and opened fire. Lyssa tossed a vial of ghost oil on the wall behind her for an escape route, while the 3 thugs (Marie, Fist, and Handy) with her downed rage essence and moved in.

What followed was a lesson in what happens when a Hound survives enough Desperate knife fights. Even though I felt I was harsher with incoming Harm and consequences (“The thug grabs both your arms and pulls, dislocating both shoulders” or “Marie bumrushes you back, grabs your head and bashes it against the wall until you die”), Raven had 4d6 to resist with Prowess and then armor on top of that. Lowest she rolled was a 5, too. Most of the time it was sixes – or multiple sixes, so she took the incoming harm from the rage-thugs while Teatime handled offense on Lyssa, smashing her alchemical vials with ghostkinesis, forcing the crimeboss out the ethereal hole she’d made in her wall. Raven got a shot off as Lyssa’s “boss fight clock” filled in, blowing a hole through the woman’s mouth just as she reached a squad of loyal Bluecoats.

Me: “You got a 5 on that roll, so of course I’m going to reduce the effect to keep her alive – barely. However, do you want that shot to be debilitating or disfiguring?”

Raven: “I know it’d be better next time for it to cripple her, but Raven would disfigure her.”

I’m only realizing this now, but we learned something about Raven right then (and I immediately messaged her player to let him know to mark that XP).

We left the duo victorious against the rage-thugs, but they’re still surrounded in the Crows’ headquarters with 8 stress each. If more players can play next week it should be a hell of a flashback.

#heestcomplete