(Not sure where best to categorize this — it’s somewhere on the border of Actual Play Reports and Discussion… Hopefully this works!)
My group is going into their third session this week, and loving the final system and setting as I expected they would. We play once a week on Roll20, and I’ve been putting up a post on our Facebook group a few days before each session to help everyone get in the mood. We’re only a couple sessions in, but I figured this community might enjoy seeing what I’ve put together for them — I’ve been including a brief mention of the previous session’s events, and at least a few rumors to bring the world to life a bit more (and give them leads for scores). Feel free to steal whatever you want, and drop suggestions for further developments or interesting rumors you’ve used in your groups!
Between Sessions 1 and 2:
BLADES IN THE DARK: Sunday 3/5 @ 6:00 pm PST!
We join our crew of shadows as they find their place in the underworld of Duskwall. Having successfully burglarized Lyssa’s apartment at the behest of their friends in the Hive, our thieves will meet again in the boiler room to choose their next score.
The Clermont Gallery in Nightmarket is preparing to open an exotic new show, featuring supernatural art from across the isles — including a one-of-a-kind oil painting supposedly created by a man possessed by a long-dead artist.
A leviathan hunter ship — the ominously named ‘Her Damned Whispers’ out of Lockport — has docked in Duskwall several weeks ahead of schedule. A gang of urchins that watches the comings and goings at the docks claims that the ship found something even stranger than the leviathan blood they’re unloading, and that the captain is in a hurry to get it back to Lockport.
The Church of the Ecstasy of the Flesh collects tithes from each district seasonally, focusing on just a couple districts at a time. This is the last week of collections in Nightmarket, and the church has hired on the usual band of mercenaries to beef up security at the local chapel. At the end of the week, the collected offerings will be moved to a vault in the Sanctorium in Brightstone.
And there are many other whispers on the streets, if you know where to go to hear them…
Between Sessions 2 and 3:
BLADES IN THE DARK: Sunday 3/12 @ 6:00 PST
We join our crew of shadows — now known as the Lilies — as they prepare for their most daring score yet. The average criminal in Duskwall wouldn’t dare steal from the Church of the Ecstasy of the Flesh, but nothing about our daring scoundrels is average. With the help of their new cohort of thugs — the Tadpoles — the crew will assault the tithing wagon as it makes its way through the district, and will assume the identities of their victims to gain access to the vault of the nearby chapel. Daring!
Last week, the Lilies were successful in stealing a strange new oil painting from the Clermont Gallery prior to its public reveal. The painting, advertised as the “Sevoy Square”, was supposedly done by a man possessed by the spirit of a long dead artist — Stavrul Sevoy. The art is a simple black square on white canvas… But both the lurk and the whisper of the crew saw unnerving images within that black square.
In Nightmarket, a crew of spies and thieves known as the Wraiths are claiming credit for the theft of the Sevoy Square. A taxidermy frog was found pinned to the painting’s now empty frame, and the rumors out of the Wraiths suggest that this is the calling card of a new member… Will the Lilies allow their reputation to falter in order to avoid a conflict? Or will they stand up to the Wraiths and claim credit where it’s due?
Meanwhile, rumors swirl on the streets of Duskwall…
The leviathan hunting ship “Her Damned Whispers”, having come to port ahead of schedule last week, has suffered sudden tragedy. Gossip-mongers share grisly rumors that most of the ship’s crew turned up dead overnight — it sounds as if only those who weren’t on the ship were spared. The ship’s captain and surviving officers are hurriedly hiring any able hands, and have stated their intentions to leave for Lockport by the end of the week — forfeiting the haul of leviathan blood that is still being refined. In the meantime, the ship lies dark and dormant, looming ominously on the water.
In a drunken rant, a worker from Gaddoc Rail Station lets slip that the Empire is moving a shipment of weapons to Duskwall. The shipment is set to leave Wintercliff later this week, and should arrive at Gaddoc Station after a few days of travel. The worker was arrested within a day or so of this disclosure, but the whispers among Duskwalls more nefarious elements continue unabated.
Excitement is building for the annual Barrister’s Ball in Charterhall. Hosted yearly by the lords and ladies of the city council, the event celebrates the tireless efforts of the city’s lawyers, judges, and other civil servants. The ball is always preceded by a parade down Clerk Street, ending at the famous Templeton Hall where the ball takes place.