Last night I had the opportunity to experience Blades in the Dark as a player for the first time (I’ve GMed it a ton…

Last night I had the opportunity to experience Blades in the Dark as a player for the first time (I’ve GMed it a ton though). In appreciation, I made beef-and-onion hand pies for the group.

We decided to create a daring duo of Bravos.

I played D’ruva Hakan (alias: Salt), an Iruvian Hound with a psychic link to his hunting pet, a cunning desert cat called Sand (imagine a mastiff size sphynx cat).

My friend Sam played the role of Ralf “Silver” Williams, a Skovlander Leech who secretes Quicksilver from his skin.

We wound up with an interesting mix of faction statuses. An initial dip in reputation with the Bluecoats turned to a net +1 after we determined that Conway, a crooked Bluecoat, was our crew contact. As a result, Ulf Ironborn took a disliking to our gang for a net -2. We decided that our hunting ground is on the doorstep of the Lampblacks, to Baszo’s chagrin, for a -1 with the Lampblacks.

We started the session getting called in for ‘the talk’ with Baszo. After managing to convince Baszo that we weren’t averse to causing problems for the Red Sashes (a lie, since Salt would prefer not to mess with his countrymen), we made a beeline for our contact to see if he had a lead on any openings in the Lampblack’s defenses.

We learned of a rumor that the Lampblacks were going to make an attempt on Mylera Klev’s life at a hookah bar run by the Sashes. So, we hatched a cunning plan to ‘rescue’ Klev and ingratiate ourselves to the Sashes.

We planted our Elite Thugs in the bar to cause a disturbance at the moment of the assassination, ensuring that the Sashes would be handicapped dealing with the assassin, and Salt and Silver took up positions to come to Klev’s defense instead.

The plan worked like a charm, with Silver incapacitating one assassin with drown powder while Salt used his unusual weapon, a bullwhip, to trip another assassin into crashing down on the bar, discharging his blunderbuss into a third assassin. The fourth, and last, Lampblack surrendered after Salt drew his pistols on him, commanding him to stand down.

In gratitude, Mylera Klev gave us a tip on a juicy claim held by the Lampblacks and promised future rewards for loyalty and assistance.

During downtime, Silver filed a police report with our contact to reduce heat and Salt indulged is vice: obligation to the Iruvian Consulate. Salt is, in addition to an ambitious criminal, an ex-military spook doing intelligence work for the consulate. A deniable asset that the ambassador can write off when captured by Imperial authorities.

Also, the hand pies were delicious.