Blades in the Dark – The Crimson Snow – Sessions 5 & 6
The last couple of weeks have seen the Crimson Snow dealing with a favor called in by Setarra, whom Ves has had dealings with in the past. Setarra informed them that Lord Scurlock was after a group of criminals to conduct a heist for him, in order to locate a mysterious artifact. Unfortunately, this artifact was located within the Lost District, in the possession of a powerful vampire. The crew immediately set to work trying to uncover all they could about vampires, the Lost District and how to get past those pesky lightning barriers… Ves decided to chat to former colleagues from the Morlan School of Unnatural Philosophy, and uncovered some useful information, Hadius called in a few personal favors and ended up chatting to a member of the Deathland Scavengers selling scavenged wares in the Nightmarket. And Banks tried and largely failed to pull the strings of some nobles. They were eventually able to obtain a device to bypass the barrier (though it didn’t come cheap), and set out for the Lost District.
During their investigations, they learnt that the Spirit Wardens seemed to have some vested interest in the Lost District, and had been patrolling along the river, and so the crew decided to wait for the post dawn fog to descend upon the city, and they called on a hired gondolier to ferry them across. Once through the barrier, they set out exploring the district, and before long, attracted the attention of a large number of feral ghosts. They tangled with the ghosts a few times, before being able to locate the manor where Scurlock informed them the artifact was being held. Banks used an electroplasmic lance, borrowed from the Silver Nails, to fend of the ghosts long enough for them all to make it inside the manor. The ghosts did not follow, so they presumed the building was warded against the spirits by its mysterious owner.
They set out exploring the manor, tripping a few arcane wards along the way but seemingly not attracting the attention of their Vampiric host… They located a laboratory and guest room where some quick thinking by Hadius and a lot of luck on Banks part, got them past a series of strange electroplasmic devices within the lab, and able to pocket some valuable alchemical reagents and a fine vase from the guest room beyond. Continuing their explorations they found their way to the hall where the artifact, a strange series of runic disks, was being kept on a pedestal at the far side of the room. They noticed the shadows within the room behaving strangely, and Ves, with the aid of his spirit mask, was able to see that a seething darkness, some kind of summoned horror, was being kept in the room as some kind of arcane watchdog.
After dealing with the extreme terror the creature provoked, Hadius decided to edge his way around the room to obtain the artifact, the creature seemingly kept bound by some kind of arcane tether. Hadius returned safely, and Banks in an act of pure recklessness, attempted to move along the other wall, in the same way to locate a strange tome toward the other corner of the room. He attempted to use his borrowed electroplasmic lance to ward of the creature, but unfortunately the creature struck, dissolving the vast majority of the lance, and very nearly killing Banks. Rather than risk further injury the group attempted to head back to the entrance hall the way they had come, only to find some arcane construct, in the form of a metallic sphere, floating in the corridor. Hadius attempted to sneak past it, only to set of another alarm, the group then, fearing a confrontation with the vampire, fled out the door.
And with a mass of ghosts in hot pursuit, they fled back to the barrier and through to the other side. Unfortunately, the fog over the city had well and truly lifted and revealed a number of Spirit Wardens waiting for them on the other side of the river. They tried to evade them, but the arcane powers of the Spirit Wardens foiled their attempt, as they demonstrated their, until now, unknown ability to teleport. The Spirit Wardens insisted on confiscating the items they brought into the city from the Lost District, but some fast talking by Hadius, let them keep the alchemicals and the artifact, though they lost the rest of the loot they had brought with them.
The fallout of their mission, was gaining the favor of Lord Scurlock, at the expense of their relationship with the Spirit Wardens and the Silver Nails (who were more than a little pissed that Banks had destroyed their lance). And with all payouts the mission required, they were left with 6 coin as their payment, feeling that it really probably wasn’t worth the effort it took, owing favours to demons they discovered, is a situation they are keen to avoid going forward. (though there were plenty of desperate rolls during the score, so they got some good XP at least! :p)
GM’s Notes – These sessions were the first time I ran a pre-planned score with the crew, and the first time they spent more than 1 session on a score. It was tough, but full of some great roleplaying, some super tense moments and it managed to nudge Hadius and Banks over the limit of their stress for the first time, so the players are now keen to have the chance to play out their new traumas of Paranoid, and Reckless respectively. It’ll probably still be only very occasionally that I run pre-planned scores with them, because the self directed style that Blades normally allows is, I’ve discovered, a lot of fun and gives the players a great deal of agency in how they relate to the setting. Though the fact that they kind of backed themselves into a corner with this one, made sense. I’m still struggling a little bit with Load. In theory it seems like a clever mechanic but my players have never really felt particularly restricted by it – they always seem to have plenty of load to spare during scores, even longer, more elaborate ones like this one.