Knives, Guts, & Coins: Episode 2: The Nothing & More
The Crew:
– Tumnas Withers – Tycherosi Slide
– Elo Powell – Tycherosi Whisper
– Cyrus Watson – Tycherosi Leech
– Izaya “Naruka” Orihara – Akorosi Spider
– Nyrys Eageran – Akorosi Hound
So the Bravos group, still unnamed, started their tale within the worn down coal warehouse of the Lampblacks. The place was poorly manned, the gang having suffered terrible losses in their war so far. Henner, the heavy hitter of the group, had been gunned down in an ambush only a week ago. The Bravos, with the slide being a good friend of Bazso, had been contacted with an offer to be the wall against the hungry Red Sashes.
Welcoming them in, the group was offered the job to go and make a strike against the Red Sashes to get them off of the outskirts of his HQ. One of their vice dens, a brothel known as “The Nothing & More”, was poorly staffed now and would be an excellent target for the group to strike against.
With the Slide being friends with the gang, the Bravos eagerly accepted (albeit with the Leech being hesitant for only 1/4.of the coin of whatever is there). We immediately switched to planning phase.
Truthfully, this took longer than I wanted. I have come to realize I really need to stress the importance of flashbacks. It’ll save us a lot of time and wandering around and I’ve come to accept that I will have to offer more suggestions for players to latch onto before they grow comfortable in taking the initiative on it.
The group gathered information fairly well though, learning a layout of the place and, with a critical success, Tumnas learned that the owner wasn’t just a skilled duelist but was a Whisper who claimed the souls of the men he killed. After considering the possibilities, the group decided on letting Elo kick open the front door with their thugs in tow, Tumnas would be hidden amongst the enemy, while the others would try to burn a hole in through the rooftop to get a solid aim on the enemy.
The night was raining hard while the more quieter elements of the plan moved into position, waiting for their distraction. Thunder and lightning was all around as the echoes of those who died flicker in and out of the reality. The whisper, with his small group behind him, kicked open the front doors, drew a blade, and went after the first Red Sash in front of him. A fight began to break out, giving Tumnas a chance to sneak into the “private” dens to try and punish those that were there and make Red Sash territory feel dangerous.
Naruka, Cyrus, and Nyrys moved on top into a successful position to begin cutting a hole. However, a watchout caught sight of them and the enemy began to converge upon them. We ended with the owner, a man named Myre Vale, emerging and summoning his ghost to attack.
This was a test of using all the random generators like street, building, people, I even rolled for what the shrine outside of the brothel was dedicated to. It was very good and I think added a lot to the immersion, I especially like that there is enough there to grasp the attention of players with things like smell, sights, and sounds. Over all, an excellent learning experience.