The Blades in the Dark game we began in July wrapped up last night. I am a little melancholy about it. It feels nice to have had a good long run. It’s a rare case for me, both as a GM to be able to see a long game through to a reasonable stopping point & to have four players willing to commit to such an extended game without it unraveling for one reason or another along the way.
“The Brimstone Imps” took a bit of a turn in their final caper. Some in the crew were of a revolutionary bent & the crew had taken some jobs making ties with Skovlander resistance factions within the city of Doskvol. In their last score, however, they determined to steal the “spectre helm” from the radio room of the HIS Swiftsure, an Imperial turret ship which the Grinders gang had themselves stolen & were refitting for a Skov guerrilla mission across the sea at Lockport.
Some in the crew decided on this course for its daring, some for coin & some to prevent the Grinders from undertaking what may have been a suicidal venture, as likely to harm the cause of Doskvol Skovs as help it.
The crew’s Leech, Basran, was killed during the score, sacrificing himself to save his rival Stazia whom he was in love with despite his best interests.
Complications, events & dice conspired to require the crew needing to leave via “Basran’s Elevator.” Even without Basran, there were now five of them wanting exodus & the elevator’s basket could safely lift and transport but four souls. Any left behind were likely to be possessed or worse by encroaching deathlands ghosts.
With the search lights of the Imperial coast guard below closing fast, the crew elected the desperate route of risking all to leave none behind. The crew’s mastermind Cimres, donned the spectre helm & allowed Basran’s beneficent spirit to possess him, guiding him as pilot and scientist. The winds carried them towards Doskvol’s lightning barrier but they were now too low!
They had one final chance to lose ballast in the form of a crewmate, trusted contact or the rival Basran sacrificed his life for. If they did not, nothing but a “6” would suffice to prevent all of their deaths on the barrier. They again choose “all or none.” Surely some final effort or artifice on Basran’s part would carry them over the top?
Basran’s ghost made the slow portentous roll:
“1”…
“1”…
“6!!!” YES!!!
The balloon and remaining crew landed hard but safely in the mire pits of the Dunslough district. The balloon, aflame, was lost but the crew returned safely to their hidden railcar lair in Coalridge.
I hope to see the Brimstone Imps again someday, but if fates prevent, such stories we are left with!
Sounds like it was a blast, gotta love those tension filled rolls.
Wow. What a final roll.
Great story!
What was your plan it they rolled 3x 1’s?
We established before the roll that a miss meant the death of all the crew. It would look something like the basket hitting the top of the lightning barrier. All aboard would have been electrocuted & then plummeted twelve stories. Ugly.
There were other missed rolls and decisions that had brought them to that dire state. I’m so glad that six came up because I really do think a “Season 2” is a possibility for these characters some day. There are still so many open threads and opportunities in the Dusk. Maybe with “Ghost Basran.”
edit: there was a fourth die (inconsequential) that followed the “6” It happened to be a “1”. But none who tell the tale recall it that way. Not as good a story. 😉
I would tell it:
“Three 1’s and a 6!”
When you say a miss, is that 1-5?
No. I’ve taken to calling 1-3s “misses,” but that’s not actually a BitD term so far as I can recall.
edit: I also sometimes call 1-3s, “Eels”. I suppose Doskvol citizens might like them, but they kind of gross me out. 😉