The Prestige, my group of vicious assassins, just managed to cut a deal with the Hive for an unsteady peacetime, and, remembering that they were currently sitting at Wanted Level 3(!) and having dodged a few arrest attempts decided it was high time to remedy that. How? By going to prison on their own terms.
Enter The Circle of Flame, the Prestige’s sort-of patrons, who have a smuggling op going through Ironhook, hiding weird deathlands artifacts in care packages and ore shipments from the Mire. The Prestige asked the Circle if they need anyone offed on the inside, and as it happens, they do: Skinny Pete, a whisper who’s taken control of a gang of former Red Sashes who were rounded up following the destruction of their HQ (this was something that happened way back in a game we played during the playtest – the Red Sashes no longer exist as a proper faction on the map, instead split up into various smaller, more dysfunctional gangs), and is now trying to muscle in their operation.
So, The Prestige are going to prison for a while (a year, to be exact, though Frunel Bucharest, our Spider and resident jail-bird, may be pulling strings for a shorter stint), and they’re going to keep on plying their trade while they do so. I decided to structure this as a break game, with a starting situation and everything, and as an opportunity for me to reassess the way I’ve been running the game and make any needed adjustments. We’re gonna be doing time skips and playing with Ironhook’s super-heated pressure cooker for a few sessions. Should be fun.
Below are some materials I’ve put together – the starting situation (done pretty by the book, but fed by previously-established fiction – the crew have connections with the Billhooks as well, and they’re likely to be leaning on the Prestige as a result), and a map of Ironhook (with locations added on my own whim – your Ironhook may be different, and I’d love to know how!).
As an aside, Ironhook Prison appears to have become a weird locus for my current games of Blades – both parallel groups are having to get to grips with its inner workings, mostly due to their own goals and proclivities. As a result, I’ve been building a sizable cast of guard NPCs and prisoners. It’s pretty neat.
